When Paul Revere died in 1818, his obituary never mentioned a midnight ride. This episode explores how poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow transformed a well-liked Boston silversmith into an American legend, deliberately blurring fact and fiction to inspire a nation on the brink of civil war.

We follow Longfellow’s abolitionist ties and friendship with Charles Sumner, his 1860 visit to the Old North Church, and the publication of his poem in The Atlantic Monthly as South Carolina seceded. Then we compare the poem to the historical record and trace how the myth shaped American memory, from the colonial revival to statues and soaring prices for Revere silver.

• Why Longfellow set out to create a homegrown American mythology in the 1850s
• How a climb up the Old North Church tower and family ties to Revere’s commander inspired the poem
• Why the poem’s December 1860 release served as a call to preserve the Union
• The key historical changes, including the lanterns, the river crossing, and the erasure of William Dawes and Samuel Prescott
• How the legend grew through lantern ceremonies, myths about Washington’s teeth, and a Boston equestrian statue