“One if by Land, Two if by Sea”: Paul Revere’s Ride 250 Years Later

When Paul Revere undertook his midnight ride to alert minutemen in Massachusetts Bay of the pending approach of British troops on the night of April 18, 1775, few would have guessed how legendary that trek would become. This talk will explore not just the events of 1775 leading up to the mobilization of Boston’s Sons of Liberty and the need to warn locals of the planned crackdown on local government, but also the longer legacy of Revere’s famous ride to Lexington. In particular, we’ll focus on how the story and mythology of Revere’s ride served to inspire a nation at times of turmoil in the years since and consider what lessons we might take as we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.