Summary Of Paul Revere's Ride

On April 18, 1775 Paul Revere made a ride through Boston that would last in memories and textbooks long past his death. His work to alert the colonists of the arrival of British troops has echoed through history, and was memorialized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem Paul Revere’s Ride . It is true, that story has become folklore, but there is another story that remains hidden behind the tale: the involvement of Rachel Revere. Rachel Revere, wife to the infamous equestrian, wrote to her husband not long after the ride because she was concerned for him. Paul Revere had been captured after his ride, and though later released, he was freed without a horse on which he could return home. Within the letter Rachel Revere had enclosed 125 pounds, and sent it with Benjamin Church—a member of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts and the surgeon general of Washington 's troops—to deliver to her husband. This letter was never received though, because Church, a spy, turned it over to the British. The money contained within the letter was also not received, and it is assumed that Church pocketed the money before passing it to the British . …show more content…
Rachel had been left to care for not only the home and business, but “with six stepchildren, aged five to seventeen, and a new baby of her own behind British lines” . Rachel Revere, not unlike the other wives of the American Revolution, is the supporting structure to the fame and notoriety of her husband’s ride. His acts as a Patriot were both impressive and influential, but it was his—and other men of the time’s—absence that had the greatest affect on the role that women had in the outbreak of the Revolutionary