The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

In The Hesperus Prophecy, Declan and James begin their journey through Clypeate headquarters in the Room of the Honored. Both men are overwhelmed by the vast collection of rifles and swords, especially weapons from the Revolutionary War. Bruce explains these were donated by members of the Continental Army, further puzzling Declan.

Seeking clarification, the professor asks “As in the British-are-coming, one-if-by-land two-if-by-sea, midnight ride of Paul Revere, Revolutionary War?”

Although Paul Revere wasn’t the only one riding through Massachusetts that night, alerting revolutionaries that the British were coming, he is the most famous. Paul Revere is immortalized by the poem “Paul Revere’s Ride”, and below is the first, and most quoted, stanza. If you’d like to read the full poem, click here.

Paul Revere’s Ride

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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 Wadsworth Longfellow