Given the brouhaha caused by Sarah Palin’s recent account of the activities of Paul Revere on that famous night of April 18, 1775, I thought it might be helpful to post some information and some links from The Massachusetts Historical Society’s official blog site – The Beehive:

Paul Revere’s Ride

Series: From Our Collections , MHS in the News
By Elaine Grublin
A recent news story has resulted in renewed interest in Paul Revere’s famous ride to Lexington, Massachusetts on the night of 18 April 1775. Within our collections the MHS holds three accounts of the evening’s events, all written by Revere. Two of the accounts are a draft and fair copy of a deposition likely prepared for the Provisional Congress in 1775, shortly after the events occurred. The third document is a letter written by Revere to Jeremy Belknap, founder of the MHS, circa 1798, in which Revere offers a detailed description and some reflection on the evening’s events.

Paul Revere’s deposition, draft, circa 1775 – here

Paul Revere’s deposition, fair copy, circa 1775 – here

Letter from Paul Revere to Jeremy Belknap, circa 1798 – here

In addition to the documents listed above the MHS holds a large collection of Revere family papers – spanning several generations – which is available to researchers in our reading room. A guide to the collection is available here.

2 Responses to The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere ~ In His Own Words

1. kad barma says: June 6, 2011 at 4:51 pm

   Thanks for the links–these are great documents, and amazing that we can see the original images. You might want to edit your links–I think there’s an extra “http” in there that inhibits them from working, at least for me…

2. Marie says: June 6, 2011 at 5:27 pm

   Thanks for the advice kad! I think I fixed the problem… sorry inept technical skills. There was an extra “http”…