Paul Revere, William Dawes or Samuel Prescott

Who actually warned the countryside on April 18, 1775 that “the Regulars were coming?”

Generations of school children heard, and in many cases memorized, Wadsworth’s Poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere elevating this Boston silversmith to the pantheon of American heroes. Even today if you ask Americans who alerted the New England countryside outside of Boston that “the British were coming” or more properly that “the Regulars were coming” most would say it was Paul Revere. But, as with many American events that have morphed into myths there is much more to that story and perhaps two other men deserve at least equal credit with Revere: William Dawes and Samuel Prescott.

In this two day activity students are divided into three groups supporting either Revere, Dawes or Prescott tasked with researching this event and then preparing a case for why their assigned person should be given the most credit for warning the countryside.