MIDNIGHT RUN

One tends to forget when dealing with dates and historical events that a lot of other stuff happened which led up to the particular commemorated event. Thus so far as the American Revolution and the 4^th of July 1776 is concerned, many things occurred before that date which are just as noteworthy, and were indeed noted at the time. The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow depicted much of American myth and legend of the 19^th century in his poetry; Paul Revere’s Ride, being an instance in point. It was first published in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly 86 years after the event.

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

Indeed few people would have been alive in 1861, who were actually present on the night of April 18–19, 1775. Hours before the battles of Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere performed his "Midnight Ride". He and William Dawes were instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren to ride,  with identical written messages, from  Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the movements of the British Army, which was beginning a march from Boston to Lexington, ostensibly to arrest Hancock and Adams and seize the weapons stores in Concord.

The British army (the King's “regulars”) had been stationed in Boston since the ports were closed in the wake of the Boston Tea Party, and was under constant surveillance by Revere and other patriots as word began to spread that they were planning a move. On the night of the 18th April, 1775, the army began its move across the Charles River toward Lexington, and the Sons of Liberty immediately went into action. At about 11 pm, Revere was sent by Dr. Warren across the Charles River to Charlestown, on the opposite shore, where he could begin a ride to Lexington, while Dawes was sent the long way around, via the Boston Neck and the land route to Lexington.

DAWES

REVERE

In 1896 Helen F. Moore, dismayed that William Dawes had been forgotten, penned a parody of Longfellow's poem:

 

Tis all very well for the children to hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;

But why should my name be quite forgot,

Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?

Why should I ask? The reason is clear—

My name was Dawes and his Revere.

Dawes, a 30 year-old Boston tanner, was well known to the British sentries at the town gate on Boston Neck and was able to pass through the checkpoint that evening despite a lockdown. Dr. Warren sent both men, to be certain one of them would be able to evade the British patrols. Dawes left about 10 P.M. and rode 17 miles (27 km) in three hours. He met with Revere shortly before 1 A.M. at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington, in the early morning of April 19, 1775, hours before the Battles of Lexington and Concord initiated the American Revolution.

The trajectory of the Boston Neck along today's Washington Street. Land to the north and west, formerly a tidal marsh, has since been filled in. The much narrower and shorter Fort Point Channel remains to the southeast.

For a long time, historians of the American Revolution as well as textbook writers relied almost entirely on Longfellow's poem as historical evidence creating substantial misconceptions in the minds of the American people. In re-examining the episode, some historians in the 20th century have attempted to demythologize Paul Revere almost to the point of marginalization. While it is true that Revere was not the only rider that night, that does not refute the fact that Revere was in fact riding and successfully completed the first phase of his mission to warn Adams and Hancock. Other historians have since stressed Revere's importance.

On the evening of the 18th April, 1775, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, having attended the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in Concord and wary of returning to Boston, were guests of Rev. Clarke. Dr. Warren feared they might be captured and thus Dawes and Revere with news of the advancing British troops.

The Hancock-Clarke House, Lexington

On the 18th April 1949, in keeping with independence from the United Kingdom, and the passage of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland was formally declared to be The Republic of Ireland.

It was also, apparently, on the 18th April 1954, that Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power in Egypt and became prime minister, thus eventually leading to the nationalisation of the Suez Canal and ensuing crisis. Decidedly the 18th April has not been a good day historically for the British.