The 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride to warn that the British were coming will take over Boston on April 18. The trek will be re-enacted by two men, one by foot the other by horse.
“There will be many around here. There will be many around Old North Church and the Revere House,” said Michael Lepage, the actor who will be portraying Revere on foot. “When I was very little, my mother read me the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and I was captivated by it as a boy.”
Walk to Old North Church
Lepage will leave Paul Revere’s home in the North End and walk his way to Old North Church before reaching the pier. It was inside Old North Church that Robert Newman, the church sexton, lit two lanterns to signify that the British troops were coming by sea.
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“I hope in the future it is written properly that the signals in that belfry, in that steeple, were not to me, they were from me,” said Lepage, speaking in character. “It’s amazing that years later I would send others up to the steeple of this church to warn others in the country side of Charlestown. It was in case I did not get out of Boston.”
Once Lepage reaches the water, he will join other period actors in a boat and row across the river to Charlestown. It is there that he his particular journey will end, as Lepage is learning to ride a horse, but he has yet to master it for the full ride.
“This summer I am indeed going to take lessons to ride a horse to be the full Paul Revere,” said Lepage. “There will be a man dressed pretty much like I am, and we’ll have some sort of an exchange, and he will get on the horse and he will gallop off.”
Paul Revere’s ride
The horseback Paul Revere is First Sgt. Matthew Johnson of the National Lancers. “They are the Mass. Organized Militia, they fall under the purview of the National Guard,” explained First Sgt. Johnson.
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He has been doing the reenactment ride for 29 years, but has only been with his horse, Law, for the past three years.
“As long as you get them in a certain gait or speed, you work to keep them there,” said First Sgt. Johnson, “After Charlestown, it’s probably about another 17 miles or so.”
On the night of the anniversary, he and Law will only be riding down Main Street in Charlestown as part of a shorter route. On April 21, the pair will ride the full trek from Boston to Lexington as part of another reenactment that will also see another rider portray soldier William Dawes. Dawes also rode that night to warn that the British were coming.
