Overview

• Communities across New England are hosting reenactments and parades this week to honor the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s midnight ride and the opening battles of the American Revolution.
• Revere, alongside William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, warned militias of British troop movements on April 18, 1775, sparking the Battles of Lexington and Concord the following day.
• The colonial militias, composed of ordinary citizens, faced 700 British troops, resulting in 93 American and 300 British casualties and leading to 20,000 militia converging on Boston.
• The resistance was catalyzed by widespread opposition to the Intolerable Acts, which included gunpowder seizures, restrictions on town meetings, and forced quartering of British soldiers.
• Modern commemorations highlight the collaborative networks behind the midnight ride, countering the myth of Revere as a solitary hero popularized by Longfellow’s 1860 poem.