If you went to school in the U.S. you probably heard the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that begins, “

“Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…”

The fact of the matter is that Paul Revere made some of the journey but wasn’t the one to alert the Massachusetts colonists that the British were approaching.

He did ride towards Concord, about 20 miles, but was captured soon after by a British Patrol. His horse was confiscated and he was escorted back to Lexington under armed guard. It is also known that a third man in Revere’s party, Dr. Samuel Prescott did alarm the militia in Concord.

Thankfully there were other riders, about forty of them, who carried on the journey, most notably 23 year old Israel Bissell who galloped off to Worcester. Arriving there in two hours he changed horses and headed to Philadelphia, a distance of about 350 miles in only six days.

Side note: Paul Revere never owned the horse he rode out on. It was “borrowed” from a neighbor, Samuel Larkin, and never returned. The horses name is believed to be Brown Beauty.