Paul Revere rides again in Medford

Sporting a Red Sox shirt and a tricorn hat befitting the occasion, Jack Laskey sat
patiently on the side of High Street waiting for Paul Revere to arrive. The call went out several times, “Five more minutes.” Laskey kept looking. When Revere arrived on his trusty steed, he did not disappoint.

Laskey, who was with his grandmother, Donna Laskey, was one of many children who attended Medford’s Patriots’ Day celebration, “Revere’s Ride, Medford’s Pride,” on Monday, April 21, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution.

Families cheered as Revere rode his trusty steed up to Captain Isaac Hall’s former
home, which is now the Islamic Cultural Center of Medford (ICCM), and befitting the current times he arrived with police escort.

Revere, played by Lancers Brigadier General Richard Reale Jr., yelled, “The regulars are out” before dismounting. He woke up Hall and his wife by yelling and banging on their door and then went inside to issue the warning.

“I’m with the National Lancers,” Reale said when he took the mic, “which is the mounted military unit of the Commonwealth. The lancers were incorporated into state service in 1836 and have been re-enacting the Paul Revere ride and the William Dawes ride since 1910.”

Dawes also rode out on that fateful night on the same mission, to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that British troops were headed their way, but he remains a little-known figure. Revere started on a northern route while Dawes headed west.

A 2012 article by Christopher Klein published on History.com starts, “Poor William Dawes Jr. All guts, no glory.” Klein provides insight into why Revere became famous while Dawes became “the Rodney Dangerfield of the American Revolution, getting no respect at all.”

While pausing at Hall’s house, Reale offered a little history quiz for the youngsters in the crowd.

“Does anybody know who Paul Revere’s horse was,” Reale asked. “What was his
name? I’ll give you a hint, he was a brown horse.”

Someone in the audience got it, Brown Beauty.

“Portraying Brown Beauty today is Union, and even though Union looks like he’s brown, he’s not brown, he’s not a brown horse,” Reale said. “He’s a sorrel, close to brown but not brown, almost like a chestnut.”

“Does anybody know why Paul Revere rode this famous night almost 250 years ago,” he asked.

The answer came from the audience: to warn people that the British were coming.

“I’ll give you a little secret,” Reale explained. “Paul Revere didn’t say the British were coming. He said that the regulars were out.”

During that period in time, many people living in Boston and the surrounding area, were British. So, British military troops were referred to as the regulars.

“And, do you think Paul Revere rode down the street yelling ‘The regulars are out’? He didn’t do that,” Reale said. “I do that, he didn’t do that. Why wouldn’t he do that? He’d get caught. The British Regulars would capture him. So, he had to do it all quietly and in secret.”

Revere did end up getting caught by the British that night. Both he and Dawes made it to Lexington, but on the way to Concord, Revere was captured while Dawes escaped.

Revere’s ride into Medford on Patriots’ Day capped a day of events that began that
morning with a ceremony at the Salem Street Burying Ground and continued with
activities for all ages in Medford Square.

After Reale’s remarks, people got a chance to pet Union and the other horse, Liberty, and to meet the young members of the Lancers who tended to the horses during the event.