Paul Revere's Ride

by Fischer, David Hackett

• ISBN13: 9780195088472
• ISBN10: 0195088476
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-04-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Paul Revere's midnight ride looms as an almost mythical event in American history--yet it has been largely ignored by scholars and left to patriotic writers and debunkers. Now one of the foremost American historians offers the first serious look at the events of the night of April 18,1775--what led up to it, what really happened, and what followed--uncovering a truth far more remarkable than the myths of tradition. In Paul Revere's Ride, David Hackett Fischer fashions an exciting narrative that offers deep insight into the outbreak of revolution and the emergence of the American republic. Beginning in the years before the eruption of war, Fischer illuminates the figure of Paul Revere, a man far morecomplex than the simple artisan and messenger of tradition. Revere ranged widely through the complex world of Boston's revolutionary movement--from organizing local mechanics to mingling with the likes of John Hancock and Samuel Adams. When the fateful night arrived, more than sixty men and womenjoined him on his task of alarm--an operation Revere himself helped to organize and set in motion. Fischer recreates Revere's capture that night, showing how it had an important impact on the events that followed. He had an uncanny gift for being at the center of events, and the author follows himto Lexington Green--setting the stage for a fresh interpretation of the battle that began the war. Drawing on intensive new research, Fischer reveals a clash very different from both patriotic and iconoclastic myths. The local militia were elaborately organized and intelligently led, in a mannerthat had deep roots in New England. On the morning of April 19, they fought in fixed positions and close formation, twice breaking the British regulars. In the afternoon, the American officers switched tactics, forging a ring of fire around the retreating enemy which they maintained for severalhours--an extraordinary feat of combat leadership. In the days that followed, Paul Revere led a new battle-- for public opinion--which proved even more decisive than the fighting itself. When the alarm-riders of April 18 took to the streets, they did not cry, "the British are coming," for most of them still believed they were British. Within a day, many began to think differently. For George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Thomas Paine, the news of Lexingtonwas their revolutionary Rubicon. Paul Revere's Ride returns Paul Revere to center stage in these critical events, capturing both the drama and the underlying developments in a triumphant return to narrative history at its finest.

Author Biography

David Hackett Fischer is Warren Professor of History at Brandeis.

Table of Contents

Maps	p. viii
Introduction Paul Revere Remounted	p. xiii
Paul Revere's America the Patriot Rider's Road to Revolution	p. 3
General Gage's Dilemma the Agony of an Imperial Whig	p. 30
First Strokes Thomas Gage, Paul Revere, and the Powder Alarms	p. 44
Mounting Tensions Inevitability as an Act of Choice	p. 65
The Mission British Plans, American Preparations	p. 78
The Warning the Midnight Ride as a Collective Effort	p. 93
The March the Ordeal of the British Infantry	p. 113
The Capture	p. 129
The Alarm Paul Revere and the Other Riders	p. 138
The Muster the Rising of the Militia	p. 149
The Great Fear a Rural Panic in New England	p. 165
The Rescue of John Hancock, Sam Adams, a Salmon, and a Trunk	p. 174
The First Shot the Fight on Lexington Green	p. 184
The Battle a Provincial Protest Becomes a World War	p. 202
A Circle of Fire	p. 233
Aftermath the Second Battle of Lexington and Concord	p. 261
Epilogue the Fate of the Participants	p. 281
	p. 297
	p. 308
Historiography	p. 327
Bibliography	p. 345
Notes	p. 373
Acknowledgments	p. 423
Index	p. 425
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.