Paul Revere: the warning network between Boston and Concord

Paul Revere: the warning network between Boston and Concord

Paul Revere rode toward Lexington on April 18, 1775, to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were leaving Boston. The word regulars identified the professional soldiers of the British Army. Many Massachusetts colonists still understood themselves as British, even while resisting parliamentary measures and royal authority. The warning concerned the movement of those soldiers into the countryside. Revere was one participant in a wider alarm network involving William Dawes, local militia officers, messengers across the Charles River and riders continuing toward Concord.

Military preparations had intensified during the preceding months. After the elected Massachusetts legislature was dismissed, Patriot leaders organized a Provincial Congress in October 1774. The new body assumed authority over militia forces and collected military supplies. General Thomas Gage, isolated with his troops in Boston, decided to send an expedition to seize and destroy stores at Concord. His orders to Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith concerned weapons, ammunition, provisions and equipment. They did not direct Smith to arrest Adams or Hancock, although Patriot leaders feared that such arrests might occur.

Dr. Joseph Warren sent both Dawes and Revere to carry warnings. Dawes took the longer land route through Boston Neck and surrounding towns. Revere planned to cross the Charles by boat, then continue on horseback from Charlestown. He had already arranged a lantern signal with associates across the river: one light would indicate departure by land and two a movement by water. The signal provided another way to communicate if riders could not get through. It was addressed to fellow organizers, rather than being a message that Revere alone needed to receive.

Two lanterns appeared in the North Church tower as the troops prepared to cross toward Cambridge. After collecting his boots and coat, Paul Revere went to the waterfront. Two friends rowed him past HMS Somerset and brought him safely to Charlestown. Colonel Conant confirmed that the signal had been seen, and other messengers were already being sent. Revere borrowed a horse from merchant John Larkin. Richard Devens, a member of the Committee of Safety, warned him that mounted British patrols might intercept riders along the road.

Paul Revere left at approximately 11 p.m. After avoiding a patrol outside Charlestown, he changed his intended route and rode through Medford. There he alerted militia captain Isaac Hall. He continued through Menotomy, now Arlington, stopping at houses to spread the warning, and reached Lexington after midnight. The journey required selective contact with trusted households as well as speed. A rider attempting to evade patrols could not simply announce his whereabouts everywhere. Local knowledge and the responses of people along the route helped carry the alarm onward.

At Lexington, Adams and Hancock were staying with the Reverend Jonas Clarke. Sergeant William Munroe had posted a guard after receiving earlier reports of British officers in the area. Revere delivered his message there. Dawes arrived at about 12:30 a.m., having completed the land route. The two men then continued toward Concord to check that the military supplies had been dispersed or hidden. Dr. Samuel Prescott, a Concord resident, joined them along the road and agreed to help. The warning now depended on three riders traveling together.

A British patrol intercepted the group near Lincoln. Dawes turned back toward Lexington, while Prescott escaped over a fence and continued to Concord. Revere was detained and questioned. He told the officers that the countryside had been alerted and militia would oppose the expedition. They eventually released him, but kept his horse. He returned to Lexington on foot and helped Adams and Hancock prepare to leave. Prescott's arrival in Concord, meanwhile, set bells ringing and brought the town's militia and minute companies together.

Colonel James Barrett organized efforts to remove or conceal supplies at Concord. In Lexington, Captain John Parker assembled his militia, dismissed them with instructions to be ready, and later called them back as the troops approached. The British soldiers had spent hours crossing the Charles and waiting for provisions before beginning their march. By the time they moved into the countryside, bells and alarm gunfire made clear that secrecy had been lost. Smith sent ahead light infantry to secure crossings and dispatched a request for reinforcements back to Boston.

The first confrontation came on Lexington Green on the morning of April 19. British troops then continued toward Concord, where militia companies had already mobilized. Fighting spread along the road during the return toward Boston. Paul Revere had not completed the entire ride to Concord, but his crossings, signals and household warnings belonged to the system that brought the towns into action. Dawes, Prescott, Conant, Hall and many local organizers carried other parts of that work through the same night.

• Paul Revere House, The Real Story of Paul Revere's Ride — www.paulreverehouse.org
• Paul Revere House, Robert Shimp, Revisit the Ride: What Did Paul Revere Actually Say? — www.paulreverehouse.org
• National Park Service, Minute Man National Historical Park, April 19, 1775 — www.nps.gov