Historical person
William Dawes
1745–1799
Dawes was active in Boston’s patriot movement and was trusted to carry messages outside the town. On 18 April 1775 he left Boston by the land route through the Neck while Paul Revere crossed the Charles River. Dawes reached Lexington and continued towards Concord with Revere and Samuel Prescott.
A British patrol broke up the group; Prescott escaped to carry the alarm onward, while Dawes was thrown from his horse and returned to Lexington. William Dawes was a Boston patriot courier who rode by land to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock on the night before Lexington and Concord. William Dawes was born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay and died in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
David Hackett Fischer’s Paul Revere’s Ride reconstructs the political intelligence, communication networks and military decisions that led to the fighting at Lexington and Concord. Revere emerges as an important organiser and courier, but Fischer places his journey alongside the work of Joseph Warren, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott, town committees, express riders and militia officers throughout Massachusetts.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring William Dawes (1 book)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.