Hvem sagde the british are coming the british are coming?
Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Revere red gennem det nuværende Somerville, Medford og Arlington og advarede patrioter langs sin rute, hvoraf mange af dem satte sig til hest for selv at advare dem. Ved slutningen af natten var der sandsynligvis op mod 40 ryttere i hele Middlesex County, der bragte nyheden om hærens fremrykning. Revere råbte ikke den sætning, der senere blev tilskrevet ham ("Englænderne kommer!"): hans mission var afhængig af hemmelighedskræmmeri, landskabet var fyldt med patruljer fra den britiske hær, og de fleste af Massachusetts-kolonisterne (som overvejende var af engelsk etnisk oprindelse) betragtede stadig sig selv som briter. Reveres advarsel var ifølge øjenvidneberetninger fra turen og Reveres egne beskrivelser "De regulære styrker er på vej ud". Revere ankom til Lexington omkring midnat, og Dawes ankom omkring en halv time senere. De mødtes med Samuel Adams og John Hancock, som overnattede hos Hancocks slægtninge (i det, der nu kaldes Hancock-Clarke House), og de brugte meget tid på at diskutere handlingsplaner efter at have modtaget nyheden. De mente, at de styrker, der forlod byen, var for store til alene at skulle arrestere to mænd, og at Concord var hovedmålet. Mændene fra Lexington sendte ryttere ud til de omkringliggende byer, og Revere og Dawes fortsatte ad vejen til Concord ledsaget af Samuel Prescott, en læge, der tilfældigvis var i Lexington "på vej tilbage fra en venindes hus på det akavede tidspunkt kl. 1 om natten".
Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Riding through present-day Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, Revere warned patriots along his route, many of whom set out on horseback to deliver warnings of their own. By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's advance. Revere did not shout the phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"): his mission depended on secrecy, the countryside was filled with British army patrols, and most of the Massachusetts colonists (who were predominantly English in ethnic origin) still considered themselves British. Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "The Regulars are coming out." Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half-hour later. They met with Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were spending the night with Hancock's relatives (in what is now called the Hancock–Clarke House), and they spent a great deal of time discussing plans of action upon receiving the news. They believed that the forces leaving the city were too large for the sole task of arresting two men and that Concord was the main target. The Lexington men dispatched riders to the surrounding towns, and Revere and Dawes continued along the road to Concord accompanied by Samuel Prescott, a doctor who happened to be in Lexington "returning from a lady friend's house at the awkward hour of 1 a.m."
Paul Revere