Paul Revere’s Ride – “Two If By Sea”

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Paul Revere and other American patriots rode into the night of April 18, 1775, warning Minute Men and militias in Massachusetts that British troops were crossing the mouth of the Charles River from Boston to seize their guns and quell their budding rebellion.

Their ride, and the American Revolution, were triggered by a simple signal: two lanterns hung from the bell tower of Boston’s tallest building, the Old North Church. Two lanterns meant the troops were crossing the Charles River at the Boston Harbor or “Two If By Sea,” and the next day, the British were met in Lexington and Concord by armed militants in skirmishes that became known as “the shot heard round the world.”

Revere is credited with developing the signal plan: One lantern if the British marched out of Boston via a land bridge to the mainland; two lanterns if they rowed boats across the mouth of the Charles River from Boston in their march to Lexington and Concord.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized – and romanticized – the events 85 years later with his famous poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride”, which included the stanza:

“One if by land, and two if by sea; and I on the opposite shore will be, ready to ride and spread the alarm through every Middlesex village and farm, for the country-folk to be up and to arm.”

The signal activated a network of riders — including Paul Revere and William Dawes — who spread the word across Massachusetts’ countryside. By morning, colonial militia were ready for British forces in Lexington, where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired, and then again as the battered British moved on to Concord.