What Was Paul Revere Trying To Prevent The British From Doing?

In his midnight ride on 18th April 1775, before the day of the battles of Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere was trying to prevent British Red Coats from devastating the American Revolution at an early stage.

Now, probably a question may arise in your mind – did he succeed?

My answer is yes; of course, he succeeded in doing the job properly.

Even still today, this one is one of the major causes why Paul Revere’s life is gloriously remembered by people of the United States of America.

[Interesting Fact: Did You Know? On 18th April 1775, During His Midnight Ride, Paul Revere Never Sounded The Alarm Saying “The British Are Coming” Though The Line Is Gloriously Associated With His Name. Actually, This Famous Phase Was Attributed To His Name By Some Historians After Many Years of The Success of The American Revolution]

But How Did Paul Revere Succeed Preventing The British?

In the midnight ride of April 18th, 1775; he and his other co-riders informed American militias that the British (military) were coming to capture them and destroy the weapons that they were gathering at Lexington and Concord.

Getting the information about the Britishers’ movement, they immediately relocated all their weapons to a safe place and got ready for confrontations against Red Coats.

Many historians want to say, if Paul Revere and other associate riders didn’t do it, chances were high that they (American militias) couldn’t succeed.

[Interesting Fact: Did You Know? Paul Revere Came To Know About The British Troops’ Movement Towards Lexington And Concord From Joseph Warren, Who Was Then A Member of The Sons of Liberty Organization. Interestingly, Joseph Warren Came To Know About The Threat On 18th April 1775. On The Very Same Day, He Immediately Informed Paul Revere And Another Person William Dawes Through Tow Secret Couriers]

How The British Were Trying To Devastate The American Revolution? (Part 1)

In the year 1774, the Parliament of Great Britain passed 5 punitive laws to punish American colonists for the Boston Tea Party.

The British authority’s action widely angered colonists.

Therefore, in response to the British Parliament’s 5 Intolerable Acts, the 13 colonies decided to get unite and take some major actions to counter them.

In 1774, from September 5th to October 26th, 12 of the 13 British American colonies came together in the First Continental Congress.

Throughout this meeting, the colonies decided to take some major actions against Britain.

Such as putting an economic boycott on English goods’ imports, setting up American militias for probable armed conflicts against Red Coats, etc.

These actions and counteractions from both sides almost ended up all the relationships between Great Britain and the colonies.

Now it was almost certain that they would soon get involved in armed conflicts at any time.

Part –2

With the assumption of an inevitable military conflict, patriots of the colonies secretly started gathering weapons at various places in the Massachusetts province; especially at Lexington and Concord.

But somehow, probably via spies, the British armies located in Boston city came to know about that.

Therefore, to destroy the weapons and capture patriots without any bloodshed, 700 English troops from Boston city marched towards Concord and Lexington.

The date was 18th April 1775.

Part – 3

But all their purposes transformed into dust when Joseph Warren (A patriot from Sons of Liberty) came to know about the British troops’ movement through a secret source.

The same day (18th April 1775), he immediately informed Paul Revere and William Dawes about the inevitable danger.

So, to inform the militias, they too immediately started their movement towards Lexington and Concord.

On the 18th of April at midnight, Paul Revere made his glorious horse ride towards Concord and Lexington and he did it successfully.

Knowing that patriots immediately concealed all their weapons and got ready for a face-to-face confrontation.

What Was The Result That Came Out After Paul Revere’s Prevention?

Because the rebels were already alerted, hence they did not suffer much during the battles.

But on the other side, the British military’s casualty was much higher than the patriots.

Here is its data –

• Patriots’ casualties: 49 killed, 39 wounded, 5 missing.
• British casualties: 73 killed, 174 wounded, 53 missing.