Samuel Prescott: physician-patriot.

Abstract

It was not Longfellow's legendary Paul Revere, but a young physician who roused his countrymen from Lexington to Concord, 200 years ago. It is time to underscore a small footnote in the history of this country's revolution. The image of Paul Revere has remained untarnished since 1860, when Longfellow's Wayside landlord told of the midnight ride. 1 Yet the truth is that Revere was taken prisoner by the British outside Lexington, and it was a young physician, Samuel Prescott, who actually carried the alarm to Concord. CONCORD PREPARATIONS As an early spring of 1775 approached, the patriotic citizenry of Concord was well aware that Crown-Colony relations were reaching a breaking point. By order of the First Provincial Congress, their little town had become a virtual arsenal; cannon, powder, musket balls, and the sundry provisions of war were deposited in private houses and barns. One of the many concerned citizens was the