"Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year."
Henry W. Longfellow
Longfellow wrote this poem in 1860 ; published it the following year in The Atlantic Monthly Magazine. There on the eve of the Civil War, the poet was attempting to rally Union sentiment by venerating a hero of the American Revolution who had alerted colonial patriots of impemding suppression by British troops marching from Boston towards Lexington and Concord. It was then that the first shots were fired in the American Revolution and the long struggle to establish a new independent nation. In time, Thomas Jefferson and others declared that "all men are created equal" and eventually a Constitution ratified as the Supreme law of the nation.
All this because of several people (Revere was not the only messenger) alerted the colonial militia of the King's army en route to further diminish their freedoms ? While there is a much more complex 'back story', this overview is accurate. Scholars have demonstrated that although Longfellow somewhat embellished details, Revere's ride and the aftermath signaled 'turning points' for Americans.
It is afternoon of April 18, 2025, as I write this--- 250 years since that celebrated date. Fifty years ago today, my former seminary roommate and I happened to be in Boston at the same time--- he and his wife accompanying a youth group from their church in New York state and I attending a History conference. We arranged to meet at the Observation Room atop the John Hancock building. Looking North,with a full panorama of Boston below us as dusk approached, we heard on the self-paced guided tour words to the effect that at a particular location we could see the Old North Church where Revere and ally arranged lantern signals at dusk to indicate British troop movements . . . 200 years exactly since that date. We both immediately caught the fact and had goosebumps !
Compared with many nations, the United States is a relative newcomer. While the fulfillment of our Principles has often been erratic and incomplete, commitment to human dignity, common good, and the rule of Law must not be abandoned nor relinquished. And though the 'British Redcoats' are no longer the instruments of tyranny and suppression, they have contemporary counterparts.
Longfellow's poem remains a call to action, reminding us of the courage of our ancestors: "So through the night rode Paul Revere,
And so through the night went his cry of alarm . . .
A cry of defiance and not of fear . . . And a word that shall echo forevermore ! For borne of the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last.'
In the hour of darkness and peril and need
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere."
Satchel
alerting
