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За последние 60 дней 1 выпусков (1 раз в 2 месяца)
Сайт рассылки:
http://esl-school.ru
Открыта:
27-02-2010
Адрес
автора: job.lang.improve-owner@subscribe.ru
Статистика
-1 за неделю
Совершенствуй свой Английский Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride
Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride While many schoolchildren have learned about Paul Revere from the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, fewer remember the historical details about Revere’s midnight ride that Longfellow did not include. Sent by Revolutionary Joseph Warren after British army activity suggested that the troops were beginning to move, Revere rode to alert the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to move military supplies away from town. Little over a week later, the British commanders in the colonies (as the United States was then known) received orders to “disarm” the rebels, literally meaning to take their arms away, and to imprison their leaders. British General Gage was told to conduct this mission with the utmost secrecy, so as not to inspire further rebellion among the colonists. However, Warren found out about this mission and told Revere, as well as another colonist named William Dawes, that the British troops would sail from Boston for Cambridge, and eventually Lexington and Concord. The two men were sent to warn leaders in Lexington, as well as militias in the area. Meanwhile, Revere had previously asked the sexton of a church to signal by lantern to let Charlestown residents know about the movement of the British troops. One lantern in the steeple window would indicate that the army was coming by land, while two lanterns would signify that it was coming by water. Secretly rowing across the Charles River, Revere rode to Lexington and warning almost every house he passed. Many patriots began to join him on horseback; by the end of the night, as many as 40 men may have been riding throughout the county. However, unlike the apocryphal legend, Revere never did should “The British are coming!” To do so would have made him conspicuous to the British troops, as well as to the colonists. The system that Revere and his fellow patriots used is known as “alarm and muster,” which the group had developed after an ineffectual colonial response to an alarm in September of 1774. By using this system, the Americans were able to deploy local militia quickly in the event of an emergency. In fact, this system had been used in early colonial battles in the “Indian wars,” but had fallen out of use during the French and Indian War. Unluckily, Revere, Dawes, and another revolutionary were stopped by a British army control. The other two men were able to escape, but Revere was captured and held for questioning by the British. He informed them that the army was coming in from Boston, and also let it be known that a large number of patriots were gathered in Lexington. A British major led Revere towards Lexington, but approximately half a mile from the town, a gunshot rang out. As they approached, the town bell began to ring, which the captives told the British major was the militia’s call to arms. Taking heed of this, the British soldier decided to let his captives free and to head back to his base to warn his commander. The battle on Lexington Green had begun. Meanwhile, Revere made his way to the house of a nearby friend, where both John Hancock and John Adams were lodged. During the battle, Revere aided Hancock’s family as they escaped from the town. Paul Revere would remain politically active for the rest of his life. He was passionate about the Federalist cause, and particularly concerned about the economy and power of the United States. Even after his 1811 retirement, Revere still contributed to petitions and political discussions. His actions were long remembered; even 40 years after his death, Longfellow’s poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,” infamously beginning “Listen, my children, and you shall hear/Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere” commemorated his heroic actions. Though the poem is less than historically accurate, Longfellow constructed it this way deliberately, in order to make the subject even more poetic and dramatic, ensuring that the patriot would live on in the memory of the nation.
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