Skip to main content

Secondary sourceBook1860

Paul Revere's Ride

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1860

Longfellow's 1860 poem about Revere's midnight ride, which created the popular legend of the lone rider though it is not historically accurate.

This poem, written decades after Revere's death, created the popular legend of his midnight ride that still shapes his fame today.

Ask Paul Revere about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Scanned page 27 of an 1861 magazine, headed 'Paul Revere's Ride', showing the poem's title and opening stanzas in two columns of printed text, with prose from the preceding article above.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Paul Revere's Ride," The Atlantic Monthly, 1861.

About this source

What it is

This poem was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1860 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in January 1861. It tells a partly fictionalized version of Paul Revere's ride on the night of April 18, 1775, warning of British troop movements.

Why it matters

Longfellow wrote the poem as tensions over slavery pushed the United States toward civil war, hoping to inspire Northern readers with a story of courage and urgency. Though based on research, the poem changed many facts for poetic effect. It became hugely popular and shaped how generations of Americans remember Revere, turning him into a legendary lone hero rather than one of several riders who spread the alarm that night.

Look closer

  • Why might Longfellow have changed historical details instead of sticking strictly to facts?
  • What was happening in the United States when this poem was published, and how might that have shaped it?
  • How does a poem like this differ from a historical account written by someone who witnessed the events?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Paul Revere on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Paul Revere sources

Meet the AI Paul Revere →
Hand-colored engraving titled 'The Bloody Massacre' showing British redcoat soldiers firing volleys of musket smoke at a crowd in King Street, Boston, with bodies on the ground and a Town House building in the background. Verse text and a caption appear below.Painting

Primary source

The Bloody Massacre

Paul Revere · 1770

Oil portrait of a man with short brown hair in a white linen shirt and dark green vest, resting his right hand against his chin. His left hand holds a polished silver teapot on a round wooden stand. Tools lie on the dark wooden table in front of him against a black background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Paul Revere

John Singleton Copley · 1768

A large polished silver punch bowl on a glass pedestal in a museum gallery, with engraved inscription and scrolling decoration around its outer rim. Behind it hang gilt-framed portraits on gray walls, including a man in a white shirt and dark waistcoat resting his hand on his chin beside a teapot, and a display case holding silver pieces.Artifact

Primary source

Sons of Liberty Bowl

Paul Revere · 1768

Exterior front view of a two-story wooden clapboard house with a shingled gabled roof, diamond-paned leaded windows, and a stone foundation. A brick chimney rises at the right, and a dark wooden door with a metal grate is on the ground floor.Artifact

Primary source

Paul Revere House

c. 1680

Oil portrait of an elderly man with white hair, shown from the chest up against a dark background. He wears a black coat and a white cravat, and his face is turned slightly to the right, looking toward the viewer.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Paul Revere by Gilbert Stuart

Gilbert Stuart · 1813

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Paul Revere now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions