Patriots Day Re-Enactment Starts with Riders, Horses From Framingham

Tomorrow, for many in Framingham, it is Marathon Monday, but it's also Patriots Day.

And for the 236th time, there will be a re-enactment of the ride of Paul Revere and of fellow Patriot William Dawes, whom some may not know also rode that historic evening.

The famous Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem recounts a historically-inaccurate account of the ride of Paul Revere. It also forget to note the ride of Dawes.

During the Patriot's Day activities in Lexington today, Andrew Tobin of Franklin will recite a poem to remind the public of Dawes' place in history.

Tobin, a member of the National Lancers, headquartered here in Framingham, will portray Dawes in a play in Lexington today. Tobin gave Framingham Patch a reading of his Dawes poem. (Watch the attached video.)

But Tobin will also ride as Paul Revere, in the 236th Annual Re-enactment of the famous midnight ride. He will ride a horse name Taps, a 17-year old male, that lives in a stall in Framingham at Camp DiCarlo.

Today (April 14) at 11:30 p.m., the Lexington Historical Society, with the Lexington Minute Men and the National Lancers, will re-create Paul Revere's arrival at midnight at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington. The public is invited.

And on Monday, the ride will be re-created by members of the National Lancers, out of Framingham, and end in Lexington.

This year from the North End to Medford, Col. Richard Reale, Jr. will portray Revere and from Medford to Lexington 2nd. Lt. Tobin will portray Revere.

And from Roxbury to Arlington, Sgt. Matthew Johnson will portray Dawes and from Arlington to Lexington Major Daren Reale will portray Dawes.

For additional information on the ride, click here.

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The History of Paul Revere's Ride from the National Lancers website:

Contrary to popular belief, Paul Revere did not set out on the night of April 18th, 1775 to alert the countryside to the impending British march.

His specific goal was to ride to Lexington to warn two prominent Colonial leaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, that their lives might be in danger. Having departed Boston by boat across the Back Bay, and narrowly averting notice by the H.M.S Somerset anchored there; he procured a strong, quick Yankee horse and rode west toward Lexington.

He avoided British patrols by taking a detour north through the village of Mystic (today's Medford). It was near midnight by the time he arrived in Lexington at the home of minister Jonas Clarke, where Adams and Hancock were staying. After alerting the household, it was decided that the approaching British force, by all accounts a large one, must have an object other than the capture of two prominent Yankee Whigs. They decided that they must be after the stores of munitions located farther to the west, in Concord. Revere again rose into the saddle. Accompanied this time by another rider, William Dawes, he set off to warn the citizens of Concord.

Paul Revere's Capture in Lincoln: Shortly after departing from the Clarke house, Revere and Dawes met another patriot on the road, Dr. Samuel Prescott. He joined the pair of riders and the three men agreed to stop at every house they passed on the way to Concord and warn the inhabitants of the British advance. Their luck ran out just over the Lexington-Lincoln town line. While the others were warning some families at a small cluster of farms, Revere ran straight into a British ambush. At first, he saw only two soldiers and called to his friends to help him overpower them.

As Dawes and Prescott arrived, the British held the three riders at gunpoint and herded them into a nearby field. Before they could question them however, Prescott suddenly turned his horse and galloped away into the dark woods. Revere turned in the opposite direction and also tried to escape, but was chased down by more British soldiers joining the initial ambush party. While the British focused on Revere, Dawes managed to get away. The understandably irate British soldiers questioned Revere for a short time. He informed them that the entire countryside was being warned of the approaching British force.
The reconnaissance troops took Revere with them as far as Lexington, where it became clear that he had indeed been telling the truth - the countryside was beginning to take up arms. Here in Lexington, they released him and rode east, as fast as they could, to warn the main force already on the march from Boston.