THE MIDNIGHT RIDE
On April 7, 1775, British Army activity suggested the possibility of troop
movements. Joseph Warren - an American doctor who had joined the Boston
Committee of Correspondence and was by this time one of its top-two leading
members - sent Revere to warn the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, then
sitting in Concord (the site of one of the larger caches of Patriot military
supplies). Soon after delivering the warning, Concord residents began moving
the military supplies away from the town (Miller, 186).
One week later, General Gage received instructions from Secretary of State
William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, to disarm the rebels, who were known to have hidden weapons in Concord, among other
locations, and to imprison the rebellion's leaders, especially Samuel Adams and John Hancock with Dartmouth supposedly
giving Gage considerable discretion in his commands (Brooks, 37-38). Gage issued orders to Lieutenant Colonel Francis
Smith to proceed from Boston "with utmost expedition and secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and
destroy... all Military stores.... But you will take care that the soldiers do not plunder the inhabitants or
hurt private property." Gage did not issue written orders for the arrest of rebel leaders, as he feared doing so might
spark an uprising (Fischer, 85).
Between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. on the night of April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren told Revere and William Dawes - another
Bostonian who was intent on repelling British rule - that the king's troops were about to embark in boats from Boston bound
for Cambridge and the road to Lexington and Concord. Warren's intelligence suggested that the most likely objectives of the
“Regulars'” - as the British were known - movements later that night would be the capture of Adams and Hancock. They did
not worry about the possibility of regulars marching to Concord, since the supplies at Concord were safe, but they did
believe their leaders in Lexington were unaware of the impending danger that night. Revere and Dawes were sent out to
warn them and to alert colonial militias in nearby towns as well of the movements and goals of the British troops (Brooks,
41).
In the days before April 18, Revere had instructed Robert Newman, the sexton of the North Church, to send a signal by
lantern to alert colonists in Charlestown as to the movements of the troops when the information became known. In what is
well known today by the phrase "one if by land, two if by sea", one lantern in the steeple would signal the army's choice
of the land route while two lanterns would signal the route by water, crossing the Charles River. Revere first gave
instructions to send the signal to Charlestown before crossing the Charles River by rowboat, slipping past the British warship
HMS Somerset at anchor. Crossings were banned at that hour, but Revere safely landed in Charlestown and rode to
Lexington, avoiding a British patrol and later warning almost every house along the route. From there, the Charlestown
colonists dispatched additional riders to the north (Boatner, 622).
Riding through present-day Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, Massachusetts, Revere warned patriots of the troop
movements all along his route, many of whom immediately set out on horseback to deliver warnings of their own. By the
end of the night there were probably as many as forty riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's
advance. It is often thought that while riding his horse through town that Revere shouted out, “The British are coming!
The British are coming!” However, Revere’s mission depended on secrecy and the countryside was filled with British
army patrols, thus making it highly unlikely that any such phrase was actually shouted out. Plus, most of the Massachusetts
colonists (who were predominantly English in ethnic origin) still considered themselves British (Fischer, 110). Revere's
warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "The Regulars are coming
out”. Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half hour later. They met with Samuel
Adams and John Hancock, who were spending the night with Hancock's relatives (in what is now called the Hancock-Clarke
House), and they spent a great deal of time discussing plans of action upon receiving the news. They believed that the forces
leaving the city were too large for the sole task of arresting two men and that Concord was actually the main target (Brooks,
50). The Lexington men immediately dispatched riders to the surrounding towns, and Revere and Dawes continued along
the road to Concord, accompanied by Samuel Prescott- a doctor who happened to be in Lexington "returning from a lady
friend's house at the awkward hour of 1 a.m." (Murrin, 205).
Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were soon detained by a British Army patrol in the town of Lincoln at a roadblock on the
way to Concord (Boatner, 622). Prescott jumped his horse over a wall and escaped into the woods; he eventually reached
Concord. Dawes also escaped, though he fell off his horse not long after and did not complete the ride (Fischer, 131-144).
Revere was captured and questioned by the British soldiers at gunpoint. He told them of the army's movement from Boston
and said that British army troops would be in some danger if they approached Lexington, because of the large number of
hostile militia gathered there. He and other captives taken by the patrol were still escorted east toward Lexington, until
about a half mile from Lexington they heard a gunshot. The British major demanded Revere explain the gunfire, and Revere
replied it was a signal to "alarm the country". As the group drew closer to Lexington, the town bell began to clang rapidly,
upon which one of the captives proclaimed to the British soldiers "The bell's a'ringing! The town is alarmed, and
you're all dead men!” (Fischer, 136). The British soldiers gathered and decided not to press further towards Lexington,
instead deciding to free the prisoners and head back to warn their commanders. The British sentries confiscated Revere's
horse and rode off to warn the approaching army column as well. Revere then ran to Rev. Jonas Clarke's house, where both
Hancock and Adams were staying. As the battle on Lexington Green unfolded, Revere assisted John Hancock and his family
in their escape from Lexington, even helping to carry a trunk of Hancock's papers (Miller, 198-200). This is where "Paul
Revere's Ride" unofficially ends, as the battle has now began and his duties of warning others of the ensuing British troop
movements are now complete.