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What's so important about April 19,l 1775 Why April 19, 1775?The day prior, an “unimpeachable source” (believed to be British General Gage’s American-born wife) informed Dr. Joseph Warren that British troops would deploy for Concord the night of April 18, in order to seize Colonial military supplies believed to be stored there. This wasn’t the first time they had done so—in September of the previous year they had seized 250 barrels of gunpowder from the Massachusetts Provincial Powder House in Charlestown. The route the British planned to take was not initially known: they might take boats from Boston to...

It's been 233 years since a scared but determined group of Massachusetts militiamen stood on the village green in Lexington and faced off with British regulars who had entered the town searching for powder and ball. No one knows who fired the first shot but the result was tragic. Eight militiamen were killed and 10 wounded in the first pitched battle of the Revolution. No one could have forseen what would ensue over the coming years; independence, hardship, civil war, and the final victory at Yorktown. But there is little doubt that as a result of British oppression in Massachusetts,...

As darkness began to set in, colonials began to attack the front of the column. There were a few cavalry units made up of older, experienced men who rode to within shot of the front of the column, dismounted and fired with great accuracy, then mounting and riding away only to reappear elsewhere. Now and then, the Regulars would fire cannon scattering the Militia who would quickly materialize again as the British column approached Menotomy. At Jason Russel’s house, British soldiers invaded the house killing eleven Americans, including Russel who was later found bayoneted at the foot of the stairs....

PROVINCETOWN - The wreck of the British warship that Paul Revere eluded at the start of his famous ride has resurfaced in Cape Cod’s shifting sands. About a dozen timbers from the HMS Somerset III were spotted on a Provincetown beach after erosion from recent storms.

[Link only]Sarah Palin defends her take on Paul Revere's ride

BOSTON -- Paul Revere gets all the glory for his midnight ride. After all, it was a stirring tale of patriotism told by a great storyteller. But one young messenger who called the colonists to arms during a remarkable five-day dash across five states is a mere footnote -- a man mentioned in historical documents that didn't even get his first name right. They called him Trail. His name was Israel Bissell, and he is one of the Revolutionary War's most unheralded heroes. Bissell, a 23-year-old postal rider when the war broke out on April 19, 1775, rode day and...

Sarah Palin Explains Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride Jim Newell— It's been at least a few seconds since we last checked in on Sarah Palin's Tour de Grift, which stopped yesterday in Olde Boston Towne. Her bus visited such historical sights as Paul Revere's old shack, where Palin explained the colonist's famous "midnight ride" before the 1775 battles at Lexington and Concord.The Internet is aflame in scholarly debate over this interpretation:He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town...

...Paul Revere, born in Boston in 1734... After the death of his father in 1754, Paul enlisted in the provincial army to fight in the French and Indian War... When the war was over, he returned to Boston to take over his father's silversmith business, only to fall into financial difficulties during the Stamp Act of 1765. Frustrated by this gave him cause to join the Sons of Liberty... On the night of April 18, 1775, Joseph Warren sent Revere to send the signal to Charlestown that the British troops were on the move... His journey ended in Lexington where...