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Life Arts    H3'ed 4/17/21

On the 18th of April in '75...

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(This is an edited version of the article, "The Midnight Ride of ... Sybil Ludington" published on OpEdNews on April 18, 2011.)

Sybil Ludington, statue by Anna Hyatt Huntington (color added)
Sybil Ludington, statue by Anna Hyatt Huntington (color added)
(Image by Wikimedia (Anthony 22))
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April 18th, 1903, was my grandmother's birthday, which was why she often regaled us grandchildren with a review of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem, Paul Revere's Ride:

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;

Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year

While many Americans today believe Longfellow's version as gospel, the poet took significant liberties in his retelling of the story. Revere was one of many dozen riders that night, some of whom even rode longer distances.

And sadly, Revere's artistic contributions -- his unequalled silversmithing skills -- have been eclipsed, undeservedly, by the ghostly vision of him galloping through the shadows.

At the time of Revere's ride, many of the Patriot leaders, including John Hancock and Samuel Adams, had bounties on their heads, and had left Boston to hide out in the countryside. So it was to warn them of possible impending capture or assassination that both Paul Revere and William Dawes were dispatched from Boston to ride separate routes to Lexington.

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

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Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, (more...)
 

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