Where history and legend meet in the famous American story

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Turning Points in American History
Watershed Moments and our Progress Toward the American Promise
Watershed Moments in History
What is the Real Story of Paul Revere's Fateful Ride?

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.
Many Americans have heard these immortal words from Henry Wadsworth Longfellows' poem ([link removed]) , "Paul Revere's Ride" about that fateful night 247 years ago.

The legend tells us of how Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston to warn patriot leaders that "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

But history tells us those were not his words and he did not warn the colonists alone. In fact, Revere and several other riders (like Samuel Prescott ([link removed]) and William Dawes ([link removed]) ) made multiple ([link removed]) trips around the Boston countryside to warn patriot leaders of the British invasion and prepare for the coming battle.

Perhaps most surprisingly, Revere actually yelled "The Regulars are coming out" ([link removed]) , because he considered himself to still be British.

The warning allowed the patriot leaders to assemble their army of militiamen and prepare to fight the British. The two forces collided the next day at Lexington and Concord, marking the first battle of the American Revolution.

While not as well-trained as their opponents, the American militiamen possessed a tremendous amount of courage. When lead company commander Captain Isaac Davis was asked if he was prepared to fight the Regulars, he responded, "I haven't a man afraid to go."

Davis himself died in the first British volley, but the Minute Men responded with a volley of their own, the fateful "shot heard round the world." Stunned British forces began a chaotic retreat toward Lexington, all the while facing a constant hail of bullets from brave American Minutemen.

The battle ultimately ended in a surprising victory for the American colonists and their army of untrained militiamen.

The memory of that battle has been cemented in the American story and become an important part of the American identity and standing for freedom.

In many ways, Revere’s warning contained the seeds not just of a revolution that would change the course of world history, but seeds that became firmly planted in America’s founding principles ([link removed]) . Revere, and many other American colonists, risked their life and liberty to ensure that the generations of Americans who followed them could pursue happiness.

While we know that Longfellow's words immortalized Revere, we will never know the person who first misquoted Revere. But whoever made this change recognized the unique place America held in world history: a nation founded on liberty, a word that Longfellow wrote: “shall echo forevermore! ([link removed]) ”
The Jack Miller Center is responding to the warnings about the lack of solid civics education in our schools with aggressive programming at the university and K-12 levels.

We believe that “The battle for the soul of our nation will be won or lost in the classrooms.” With your help, we can win that battle and preserve what those brave men in Boston fought for 247 years ago.
The battle for the soul of our nation will be won or lost in our
classrooms ™ — Jack Miller

At the Jack Miller Center, that battle is our sole mission. We are the boots on the ground, working to bring the American political tradition and history back to the classroom. Please consider a tax-deductible gift ([link removed]) to JMC. Your donation, large or small, is an investment in the future of our country—for you, for your children, for your grandchildren.
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.

We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
www.jackmillercenter.org

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