Paul Revere

A hero to me is a kind hearted, amazing, brave and curious person. Paul Revere is a hero because he rode on horseback through the night to Lexington. He did this because he had to warn people the Redcoats were coming.

Paul Revere of Boston, Massachusetts, was born on January 1, 1735 and died May 10, 1818 at the age of 83. His father was a French Hugguenot, Apollos Revoire and was a silversmith. His mother was Deborah Hitchborn, a member of a long standing Boston family that owned a small shipping wharf. Revere was married twice and had 8 children with each woman. His first wife was Sarah Orne and his second was Rachel Walker. Of his 16 children only 11 survived. His major accomplishment during the Revolutionary War was on April 18, 1775 when he alerted the colonial militias that the Redcoats were coming. This is known as "The midnight ride of Paul Revere" from Boston to Lexington. When Paul Revere was 65 years old he invested $65,000 to set up a mill in Canton, Massachusetts to roll copper into sheets. When he was a young boy he and his friend Mickey always went down to the harbor to watch the ships. He realized the iron fixtures rusted and was smart enough to know that when copper touched water for a long time it did not rust. He knew he could make a lot of money doing this.

Paul Revere was truly a hero. He believed in the cause of American freedom and liberty and never gave up the fight. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and he devised the plan for the North Church tower signal lights of one if by land and two if by sea. He was brave and courageous because he rode in the middle of the night and could have been killed by a wild animal or by the British. He crossed the Charles River late at night and kept going on horseback to warn the colonists that the British were coming. When questioned by the British he had already told another colonist what his duty was. He stood up to the British at gun point.

He was a major of infantry in the Massachusetts militia. He also exhibited selflessness when 10 months after the Battle of Bunker Hill where his friend Joseph Warren was killed and his body left there in an unmarked grave. Paul returned to find his body, identified it by his false tooth and gave him a proper burial with a marker and grave.

In summary I believe that Paul Revere was an American hero because he believed in the American cause. He devised a signal system at the North Church to warn if the British were coming inland. His brave midnight ride to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock and to warn the colonists to move the munitions that the British were coming helped change the course of American history.