April 18th - Paul Revere Day

"Listen little children and you will hear about the midnight ride of Paul Revere. He's going up the alleys and down the streets, crying (insert school name here) can't be beat!"

That's a little cheer I remember from my early cheerleading days back in grade school. There's hardly a person alive you doesn't know the story of Paul Revere's infamous midnight ride. Of course, if Longfellow hadn't written his own poem about the event, erroniously giving Revere all of the credit, we may not even know the name Paul Revere. For, despite common myth, he didn't actually make it on his midnight ride to Concord. Nor was he intially trying to warn the town of approching British troops. On April 18, 1775, Revere set out to warn Samuel Adams & John Hancock their lives were in danger. Once he'd delivered this message,(sometime after midnight) it was determined that the British must have further plans other than capturing two prominent leaders...the stores of ammunition in Concord. Setting out on horseback, once again, this time accompanied by William Dawes, they're plan was to warn the citizens of Concord. Along the road they met up with another patriot,Samuel Prescott, who joined them. While Dawes & Prescott were warning families, Revere was captured by British troops. The others fled, but continued their mission.

With this warning, the American troops were prepared the next day for the onset of the American Revolutionary War. No one knows for certain who fired the first shot in the War for Independence.


To make an Apple Tansey (a recipe from Colonial Williamsburg)
Take three pippins, slice them round in thin slices, and fry them with butter; then beat four eggs, with six spoonfuls of cream, a little rosewater, nutmeg, and sugar; stir them together, and pour it over the apples; let it fry a little, and turn it with a pye-plate. Garnish with lemon and sugar strew'd over it.