Paul Revere rode from Boston to Lexington and Concord in the night of April 18, 1775 to warn colonists that British troops were marching to apprehend rebel leaders and confiscate their arms. He arranged for lanterns in the Old North Church tower to signal if the troops were approaching by land or sea. After seeing British officers while riding, Revere evaded capture and alerted Sam Adams and John Hancock in Lexington before continuing with others to Concord. Though stopped briefly, Revere helped warn the colonial militia and his midnight ride became legendary.

1. Midnight Ride of
Paul Revere

2. Tensions in Boston, Massachusetts had
been building for months. The colonists
had grown more and more unhappy
about the series of taxes passed by
Parliament:
Party
Sugar Act,
Currency Act
Quartering Act
Stamp Act
Townshend Act
Tea Act- led to the Boston Tea

3. The primary goal of the Brittish regulars
was to apprehend the leaders of the
opposition, Sam Adams and John Hancock.
(leaders in the revolt)
Sam Adams
John Hancock
There secondary goal was, to take the guns away from the
colonist.

4. Silversmith
Son of Liberty
Boston Tea Party
Organized an Intelligence and
alarm system that kept track
of British Troops
Official courier for the the
Massachusetts Committee of
Correspondence

5. On the night of April 18, 1775,
silversmith Paul Revere left his
small wooden home in Boston's
North End. That home is still
standing at 19 North Square and
is a national historic landmark.

6. Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year. He
said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

8. Old North
Church
The church sexton, Robert Newman, climbed
the steeple and held high two lanterns as a
signal for Paul Revere that the British were
marching to Lexington and Concord by sea
and not by land.

9. .
Revere's two friends rowed him to Charlestown They
used pieces of cloth to muffle the sound of their oars
so the British Warships wouldn’t hear them..

10. 10:00
This lantern is at the Concord Museum in Concord,
Massachusetts. Revere called his signal lights "lanthorns". This
one hung in the steeple of Christ Church, the Old North
Church, Boston's tallest building, as a signal:
One if by land
Two if by Sea

11. 11:00 Paul Revere arrives
in Charlestown at night and
borrows a horse from a
friend.
11:15The moon shone bright. I had got
almost over Charlestown Common... when I
saw two Officers on Horseback... I was near
enough to see their Holsters & cockades... I
turned my horse short about, and rid upon a
full gallop for Mistick Road."
-P. Revere
Paul Revere spots two British
officers on horseback during his
midnight ride.

12. Paul rides along Mystic Road,
alarming all the households he sees.
"The
regulars are out!“
11:30 PM: As Paul rides
through
Medford, he crosses an old plank
bridge over the Mystic.

13. 12:00 Midnight: Revere
arrives in Lexington.
Warns Sam Adams and John
Hancock
Billy Dawes and Dr. Prescott
join Revere and continue to
Concord.

14. Revere left Lexington with Billy Dawes and Dr. Prescott to
warn the militia at Concord.
The three were stopped by a British patrol
Revere was taken prisoner.
Billy Dawes lost his horse, but escaped on foot.
Dr. Prescott jumped his horse over a stone wall and made it
to Concord.

15. I saw four of them, who rode up to me, with their
pistols in their hands, said G-d d-n you stop. If you go
an Inch further, you are a dead Man...we attempted to
git thro them, but they kept before us, and swore if we
did not turn in to that pasture, they would blow our
brains out . . . (from a statement made by Paul Revere)

16. Revere was released without his horse and returned to
Lexington.
At Lexington he joined Adams and Hancock and fled to
safety in Burlington.
Revere returned to rescue
valuable papers in Hancock's trunk.
When the British arrived on
April 19, the minutemen
were waiting for them.

17. Through all our history, to the
last,
In the hour of darkness and
peril and need,
The people will waken and
listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of
that steed,
And the midnight message
of Paul Revere.