Paul Revere

Paul Revere was a Boston silversmith, engraver and political activist who became a messenger for the patriot movement before the American Revolution. His ride on the night of 18 April 1775 warned that British troops were marching towards Lexington and Concord, although he was one of several riders. Revere later served in the Massachusetts militia and took part in the disastrous Penobscot Expedition, after which he was court-martialled and eventually acquitted.

Revere appears in Esther Forbes’s Johnny Tremain, where he is part of the network of Boston artisans and revolutionaries surrounding the fictional protagonist. Historical fiction often follows Longfellow’s famous poem and turns the warning ride into a solitary heroic act. More accurate novels include William Dawes, Samuel Prescott and the collective intelligence system that made the alarm effective.

In John Jakes’s The Bastard, Philip arrives during the imperial crisis that precedes the Revolution and becomes involved with printers, patriots and political organisers, including Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere. In Bernard Cornwell’s The Fort, Peleg Wadsworth and Paul Revere take part in the land campaign, while naval commander Dudley Saltonstall hesitates to attack the British ships in the harbour.