The Truth About Paul Revere's Ride

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Paul Revere's Midnight Ride is a legend of the American Revolutionary War - galloping through the Massachusetts' dark to warn Sam Adams, John Hancock and the rest that the British were coming. The next morning, those Patriots in Lexington and Concord were ready for battle. But what really happened? Who was Paul Revere? Why has his name gone down in history?

Don's guest is Michael Hattem, historian of the American revolution and author of The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History.

Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the 18th of April 1775, the night before the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the night before the shot, heard round the world.
0:12.0	In Boston, the black bulk of a British man of war swings round its moorings in the bay, its masts and spars outlined against the moon.
0:21.2	While on the shore, noises can be heard behind the walls of the barracks.
0:25.4	British regulars are up to something, and the people of Boston, those good sons of liberty,
0:30.2	are on to them.
0:31.9	A horse takes off from the northern shore, galloping through the night to steal a march.
0:44.3	When the soldiers arrive in Lexington as the sun begins to rise, they will find a surprise waiting for them. This midnight ride is the stuff of poetry.
0:48.3	A hurry of hoofs in a village street, a shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, and beneath from the pebbles
0:55.9	in passing a spark, struck out by a steed flying fearless in fleet. That was all. And yet,
1:04.0	through the gloom and the light, the fate of a nation was riding that night, and the spark
1:09.3	struck out by that steed in his flight,
1:11.8	kindled the land into flame with its heat.
1:15.3	Saddled on the back of that horse,
1:17.4	riding his way into legends and our history books,
1:20.4	was none other than Paul Revere.
1:27.1	Music Welcome to American History Hit. I'm Don Wildman. Great to have you here.
1:40.0	The year is 1775. In England, the Industrial Revolution has begun to rumble.
1:46.2	Adam Smith is writing his economic treatise, The Wealth of Nations, while James Watt
1:51.4	redesigns the steam engine. Over in Vienna, an astonishing 19-year-old genius named Mozart
1:57.7	has already cranked out his first 30 symphonies. King George III sees his
2:02.5	British Empire expanding into the Pacific. Captain James Cook is lauded for adding Australia and New Zealand
2:08.8	to the colonized jewels. However, here in North America, there is terrible unrest, and not just
	...

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