That he warned the British that the American militias knew they were coming while detained by a party of their officers. Which is factually correct, but not a part of the 19th Century poem that everyone thinks is the whole story.
Hmmmm....Blotto posted this...
Wrong? Ooooooops….The defining scholarly book on the topic is “Paul Revere’s Ride” by the Brandeis historian David Hackett Fischer. Go to the Google books link….click on “contents”…select “The First Shot”… [Ed: embedded the link]
“Mitchell repeated Paul Revere’s warning that 500 New England men were mustering in Lexington. He told of the alarm bells and signal guns, and the volley of musket-fire near the Green….Others also remembered with vivid clarity this electrifying instant when they halted on the road, and Paul Revere’s warning reached them through the mouth of this highly excited captor, Major Mitchell.”