Time for our bonus post from Stories of Our Holidays! This will be the last post ever from this book. I really had fun doing this series, and I hope you enjoyed it, too.
The Story of a Minuteman
Revere Concord before shouted minuteman Lexington lantern nineteenth British powder signal April
Paul Revere was a minuteman. He lived in Boston many years ago.
There were many minutemen in Boston.
Do you know why they were called minutemen? They were ready any minute.
What were they ready to do? They were ready to fight for their country.
At this time there were many British soldiers in Boston. We call them Redcoats. Can you tell why?
They were going to march by night to Concord and Lexington. We had some powder and guns there. They wanted to get our powder and guns.
Paul Revere heard about it. He made up his mind to get word to the minutemen in Concord and Lexington.
So he left Boston before the Redcoats.
One of his friends was to let him know which way the Redcoats were going.
His friend said, “If the British leave by land, I will hang one lantern in the old North Church. If they leave by boat I will hang two lanterns.”
Paul Revere waited for the signal. At last two lanterns shone out from the old North Church. That told him that the British were leaving Boston by boat.
He jumped on his horse and started off. He rode fast all night.
He woke the people. He shouted, “The British are coming!”
In the morning the minutemen were ready to fight the Redcoats.
The Redcoats went back to Boston. They did not get the powder and guns. This was on the nineteenth of April 1775.
*****
The above story is mostly true. There are two key things to consider here, though. There is one line that says that they were ready to fight for their country, but there was no country yet. There were only colonies. So it would be important to keep this in mind. In this same vein, it is unlikely that he shouted that famous phrase “The British are coming!” since they, themselves were British. He probably didn’t shout anything. He probably just let the minutemen know, and word spread. The phrase “The British are coming!” is in common psyche because of the Longfellow poem Paul Revere’s Ride.
Well, thank you for following through my series of posts on Stories of Our Holidays. Stay tuned for other series that may (or may not) interest you!
