Mmzornes's List: Cold Case Discussion

• Yet,  despite this tale, there were many riders who went out the night of April 18 and in the  years following, warning the colonists of the approach and movement of the British  forces. Four men and one woman made late night rides, alerting the early Americans of  what dangers lay ahead. They were Paul Revere, Samuel Prescott, Israel Bissell, William Dawes, and Sybil Ludington.
• On the night of April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren sent Revere to send the signal to  Charlestown that the British troops were on the move. Revere rode through northern  Boston, through what is now Medford, Somerville, and Arlington warning the American  patriots about the enemy's movement.
• Contrary to popular beliefs, Paul Revere never shouted the phrase "the British are  coming," and instead rode swiftly and in secrecy northward. His journey ended in  Lexington where he met other Sons of Liberty John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
• Afterwards, after meeting up with William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, the three men  went their separate ways to improve their chances of escape from British officers  stationed along the road. Revere would be captured by the British, but his comrades  would be more successful in their journeys.
• On the night of  April 18, Joseph Warren assigned Dawes, along with Revere, the mission of riding north  to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of their impending arrest, and  to alert the colonial minutemen that the British were on the move. Dawes would arrive  in Lexington approximately half an hour after Revere, because the latter's horse had  supposedly been faster.
• From the Hancock-Clark house in Lexington, the two men chose to ride onto Concord,  meeting Samuel Prescott along the way. Unfortunately, they were met along the road  by British soldiers. The three men split up, Dawes riding into the yard of a country  house along the way, where his horse threw him off and then ran away. Unable to locate  his horse, Dawes was forced to walk back to Lexington.
• With permission from Joseph Warren, Paul Revere arranged for Samuel Prescott to  meet himself and Dawes on the road from Lexington to Concord the night of April 18. A  native of Concord, Massachusetts, Prescott was familiar with the territory and would be  able to serve as a guide for the two men on their nighttime journey.
• When the three were met along the road to Concord by British officers and were forced  to split up, Prescott would be the only one of the three to eventually reach Concord,  carrying Warren's news to that part of the state. His knowledge of the terrain, and his  daring horsemanship allowed him to reach his destination safely.
• Israel Bissell (also known to history as both  "Isaac" or "Trail" Bissell) was the man who made the  longest ride in mid April 1775, starting around the 13th of  that month. According to legend, a professional post rider  for the American colonists, Bissell rode four days and six  hours along the Old Post Road, covering a total of 345  miles in that time. According to the story, he shouted  along the way "To arms, to arms, the war has begun," in  the sensationalist manner which would bring the most  attention, and most likely make the best newspaper  headlines.
• The last of the famous night riders was, surprisingly, a woman. Although she would not  make her journey until April 26, 1777, her service to the American forces was  remarkable. The daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington, Sybil, at the young age of  sixteen, would make a journey double to that of Revere (totaling 40 miles) to warn the  colonists at Danbury, Connecticut of the approach of the British.
• Commissioned by her father, who knew that Sybil was familiar with the terrain, the  young girl set out at 9pm the night of April 26 through Kent to Farmers Mills and then  returned back home again, damp from the rain and exhausted, just before dawn. The men she recruited were too late to save the town of Danbury, which had been set aflame  by the British, but they were able to drive the enemy troops from the area.

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• As that group grew, it came to be known as the Sons of Liberty. And grow it did! These were not the leading men of Boston, but rather workers and tradesmen.

• Secret radical groups in the colonies adopted this name and worked to oppose the stamp tax and other later parliamentary revenue programs.
• Membership in the Sons was largely middle class with more upper-class representation than lower.
• Samuel Adams and Paul Revere headed the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts.

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