Thread by @CamEdwards

It was right about now, 243 years ago, that Paul Revere left Dr. Joseph Warren's home in Boston and began his journey towards Lexington and the history books.

Before Revere left Boston, he had to assure that Patriots across the Charles River in Charlestown would get word of which route the British Regulars would be using to reach Lexington. For that, he enlisted the help of Robert Newman and Thomas Bernard.

Revere knew almost every son of liberty in Boston, thanks to his booming business and his never-ending networking. Newman happened to be a church sexton whose family reluctantly housed British soldiers to help make ends meet. He had access to the belfry at Old North Church.

Bernard served as the lookout as Newman and Captain John Pulling, a vestryman at the church, climbed to the belfry with two lanterns. Revere, meanwhile, would have been hurrying along the cobblestone streets to his home right about now.

The two candlelights twinkled above the city of Boston for only a few moments. They would have been difficult to see a couple of miles away in Charlestown, but the patriots of Charlestown were keenly watching. The Regulars would be leaving through Boston's Back Bay by boat.

Robert Newman, John Pulling, and Thomas Bernard slipped out of the church and into the footnotes of history. Revere, meanwhile, has reached his home. In fact, by now, he's kissed his wife goodbye, and was on his way "to the north part of town, where I had kept a boat".

As Revere makes his way to the boat, patriots in Charlestown are busy. They're getting Revere's horse ready, as well as sending a messenger of their own off towards Lexington, where Samuel Adams and John Hancock were hunkered down in the home of Rev. Jonas Clark.

Revere, meanwhile, is in his boat as it crosses the Charles River. Serving as oarsmen are Joshua Bentley and Thomas Richardson. Legend has it that the pair forgot to bring a cloth to muffle their oars, and had to knock on the door of a friendly home.

A lady opened an upstairs window, and the pair quietly made their request. A moment later a set of wool underwear flew out the window and into the waiting hands below, still warm from their wearer.

As Revere and his compatriots are crossing the river, they can't help but notice HMS Somerset taking up a good part of the river channel. The 64-gun ship was meant to stop any river traffic from getting through that night. The only traffic on the river WAS Revere.

As Revere later told a friend, "It was then young flood, the Ship was winding, & the moon was Rising. They landed me on Charlestown
side."

The rising moon cast a shadows on the water that night, & somehow Revere managed to escape the attention of the watchmen on the Somerset.

Once on dry land, Revere conferred with several local patriots, confirming that the British would try to reach Lexington by landing in Cambridge and marching from there.

Revere, in turn, was warned of British patrols between Charlestown and Lexington. And then, said Revere, "I went to git me a horse."

Revere wouldn't get on the road until around 11 p.m., so we'll pick up our story then.

Revere heads north on his mount, Brown Beauty (loaned by John Larkin, a Charlestown resident) across the Charlestown neck and towards the Lexington road. Soon, however, Revere was in danger.

"I saw two men on Horse back under a Tree", he later wrote.
"When I got near them, I discovered they were British officer. One tryed to git a head of Me, & the other to take me."

Revere turned his horse "pretty quick" and headed back towards Charlestown, the British officers in pursuit. Cutting again, he headed down the Mystick or Medford Road. One officer cut across a field to intercept Revere, but got bogged down in a a clay pit.

The other officer was on a horse that was no match for Brown Beauty, and Revere soon was free of his pursuer.

(I love the fact that Paul Revere's ride has a high speed chase, btw. How can Hollywood keep making Transformers movies and ignore great stories like this one?)

Revere's trip to Lexington was relatively uneventful after that (though the night had much more excitement in store). So, for the next few minutes, imagine a warm spring night, soft breezes, and the sound of the galloping horse as Revere sped through the night on his mission.

Revere's closing in on Lexington now. Along the way, as he described it, "In Medford, I awaked the Captain of the Minute men; & after
that, I alarmed almost every House, till I got to Lexington."

Revere didn't yell out "The British are coming", however. At the time, the distinctions between British and Americans weren't really present. This was still a familial dispute, not a war of independence.

As Revere arrives at Rev. Clarke's house, he calls out to the watchman stationed outside. The guard, Sgt. William Monroe has no idea who Revere is, and basically shushes him, telling him not to wake up the residents.

Revere loses his shit on Sgt. Monroe, yelling that "You'll have noise enough before long! The Regulars are coming out!"

Revere storms up to the house and starts pounding on the door. A few moments later John Hancock and Samuel Adams poke their heads out of a window.

Hancock says, "Come in, Revere. We're not afraid of you."

I imagine Revere rolling his eyes at this, but the historical record is silent.

The first thing Paul Revere asks is if William Dawes had arrived. Dawes is another messenger who left Boston a half hour before Revere, but by a longer southerly route across Boston Neck and up through Cambridge. Nobody's seen him.

Revere informs Hancock and Adams that a large force of Regulars are marching towards Lexington to arrest the pair, and then likely to Concord to seize or destroy the powder and arms there.

Revere had it half right, btw. There were no plans to arrest Hancock or Revere. Revere got his bad intel from Joseph Warren, who had sources in high places in the British garrison, including (allegedly), the wife of General Gage. the military governor of Massachusetts.

Now, you'd think that the news of hundreds of troops coming to arrest you would prompt some panic, or at least concern among Hancock and Adams. Yet they show no signs of leaving in a hurry. Even Revere has allowed himself to sit down and rest for the first time in hours.

Right about now William Dawes comes walking into the home. He's made it safely from Boston, but now his horse needs to rest. Revere says only that "we refreshed ourselves" for the next hour, but it's a pretty good guess where they headed.

Buckman's Tavern is close by, and its likely the "refreshments" are going to be taken there.

Yep, we know the British are on the way, but we're gonna stop for a few drinks first.

This is where we depart from #RevereInRealTime, because Revere has a long night ahead of him and I have to be up in six hours. So.. skipping ahead...

Revere and William Dawes get back on their horses around 1:45 a.m. and head off towards Concord. The town bell is already sounding in Lexington, and soon the entire countryside would be aware of the alarm being raised.

Revere and Dawes are making their way to Concord when they come across a fellow late night traveler. Dr. Samuel Prescott lived in Concord, and was returning home after an evening spent sparking with the lovely Lydia Mulliken.

The three get to talking, and Prescott reveals he's a patriot as well. Revere comes up with a plan for the three of them to alert every home they come across on their way to Concord, as well as to ask those sleepy farmers to help spread the word as well.

About halfway to Concord, in the little hamlet of Lincoln, they run into trouble. The three are separated, calling on houses, when Revere spots a pair of British officers. He then realizes that the two are actually four. They're outnumbered.

Dr. Prescott manages to jump a fence and get away, but Revere isn't so lucky. As he makes for a treeline, six more officers on horseback appear and order him to dismount. It looks like his ride is over.

Dawes manages to escape as well, but is thrown from his horse when it gets spooked (and runs away) and decides to walk back to Lexington on his own once the coast is clear. It's just Paul Revere and a boatload of Regulars.

The officer in charge asks for Revere's name, and he gives it. Revere's well known to the soldiers garrisoned in Boston, and Revere says later "the others abused me much." Verbally, it appears, as the commanding officer tells Revere the men won't hurt him.

Revere is a little sassy with his captors. He tells them he knows what their aims are and that there will "be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the Country all the way up."

The officers do not respond well to this.

One rides off (presumably in a restrained panic) and returns a short time later with Major Edward Mitchell, who claps a pistol against Revere's head and demands that he answer some questions or he will "blow his brains out".

Revere's goal is to keep the Regulars and any patrols away from Lexington. So, he tells Mitchell that a force of hundreds of men are assembling there, and it's really not the best idea for their outnumbered forces to remain in the area.

Mitchell isn't listening, but the other troops are a little freaked out by what Revere just told them. Still, they head out back to Boston. Towards Lexington.

As they get closer to the town, they hear a gunshot from the direction of the village green. Mitchell asks Revere about the sound, and Revere replies that it's part of the effort to "alarm the country". A few minutes later an entire volley goes off from the same direction.

Now the soldiers are getting a little panicky. Major Mitchell orders Revere off Brown Beauty, and the Regulars take her away. The officers ride off as fast as they can to the east, leaving Revere on foot. He begins to trudge back to Rev. Clarke's home.

Revere's ride is over, but his night still has plenty of action, including being present when the first shots at Lexington Green were fired a few hours from now. That's a tweetstorm for another day. /end