1775: Paul Revere's Ride - Part I

Those are the opening lines of the immortal poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was one of my father’s favorite poems and  Those are the opening lines of immortal poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was one of my father’s favorite poems and because of that I memorized it when I was 7 years old. Revere’s task was to ride through the countryside and call out the country-folk to arms to resist British tyranny. As the poem said, Revere was across Boston Harbor in Charlestown to watch the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston to see if the British were going to march out of Boston on land or take boats across the harbor and through Charlestown. It would warn the local militia’s which route the British would take. If one lantern was hung, then they would march over land, but two would signal the water and across the harbor. Most of April 18, 1775 was cloudy and rainy in Boston, the visibility was not good. Revere was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to see “Old North” as it was known. But late in the evening a cold front moved across the region, and by the time of the signal, the weather cleared and the visibility was excellent. Revere saw the two lanterns clearly across on the opposite shore and rode into history.

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