Two Lanterns Changed the World
By April 18, 1775, the Sons of Liberty were in quite the quandary. British soldiers were traveling the countryside confiscating the colonists’ weapons, so they needed a way to alert the Minutemen that their arrival was imminent, giving them time to hide their firearms.
Dr. Joseph Warren approached Paul Revere and William Dawes, informing them that General Gage planned to march on Lexington and Concord, and the militia in the area needed to be alerted. Dawes was specifically tasked with informing John Hancock and Samuel Adams that they were in danger of being arrested.
Revere and Dawes couldn’t just sashay out of Boston and deliver their messages. The city exits were heavily guarded, and anyone out and about after nightfall could be arrested on the spot. If both Revere and Dawes got caught, they were screwed, and Revere knew it. He also knew just the guy to help him devise the perfect back-up plan.
Captain John Pulling had been Revere’s best friend since childhood. As adults, they were business associates and members of Boston’s Committee of Correspondence, an organization that gathered intelligence on and tracked the movements of the British troops in the American colonies. Pulling was also a vestryman, or elder, at Christ Church (better known as the Old North Church)which was really going to come in handy.
