After the 4th of July, I find myself still thinking about the beginnings of our country and all the people who stepped up to offer their own lives for our freedom. I was thinking about Paul Revere’s ride and remembered that he wasn’t alone. It bothers me that historians have left out the others who rode that night warning “The British are Coming.”
Paul Revere started out on April 19, 1775 near Lincoln, Massachusetts. William Dawes and Samuel Prescott rode with Revere to warn colonists about the British advance. When they encountered the British patrol, Revere was captured however, Dawes and Prescott managed to escape. Revere was detained, questioned, and released a few hours later without his horse. Dawes fled back towards Lexington, while Prescott continued on to Concord. Prescott reached Concord and alerted the town but Revere's capture effectively ended his ride…no horse equals no transportation.
Although reports from that time talk about Sybil Ludington’s midnight ride also, historians usually declare how insignificant her ride was to Paul Revere’s. But, if you read the reports her ride was crucial in rallying local militia to resist British forces and she rode twice the distance of Revere to bring the warning. So, why are Dawes, Prescott and Ludington left out. I suppose it is because of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Paul Rever’s Ride”…it begins “LISTEN, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…nothing about his fellow riders. I suppose that LISTEN, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Sybil Ludington just doesn’t have the poetic ring that Paul Rever has. Many school children in the 1800s and early 1900s had to memorize that poem. It’s worth looking up the real facts if you like to know real history.
