Paul Revere's Ride "Paul Revere's Ride" (1860) is a poem by
American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the
actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775,
although with significant inaccuracies. It was first published
in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. It was later
retitled "The Landlord's Tale" in the collection Tales of a
Wayside Inn. The poem is spoken by the landlord of the Wayside
Inn and tells a partly fictionalized story of Paul Revere. In
the poem, Revere tells a friend to prepare signal lanterns in
the Old North Church to inform him if the British will attack by
land or sea. He would await the signal across the river in
Charlestown and be ready to spread the alarm throughout
Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The unnamed friend climbs up
the steeple and soon sets up two signal lanterns, informing
Revere that the British are coming by sea. Revere rides his
horse through Medford, Lexington, and Concord to warn the
patriots. Composition and publication history  L