Paul Revere's Other Rides

On September 16, 1774, as delegates wrapped up their second week of deliberations, a dusty express rider from Boston reined up at the City Tavern, just north of Second & Walnut Sts. As the city's premier hotel, the City Tavern — built by Carpenters' Company member Thomas Proctor — was the hub for news, gossip and sociability. The rider was none other than Paul Revere who the following spring would make his famous ride to warn the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord that British troops were on their way to capture American military supplies stored at Concord.

On this trip, however, Revere had in his saddlebags a copy of a declaration recently issued by the leaders of Suffolk county, which included Boston. The Suffolk Resolves denounced the Coercive Acts of Parliament, called for formation of militia units and demanded an embargo on trade with Britain.

Seven months later, in April, 1775, Revere made a second hurried trip to Philadelphia, again galloping up to the Ctiy Tavern. His news electrified the city. At Lexington and Concord, not far from Boston, British regulars had fought American "minutemen" in thee first engagement of a war that would end eight years later. Within a few weeks of Revere's arrival, delegates convened the Second Continental Congress in the Assembly room of the State House, now Independence Hall. On June 15, 1775, the Congress elected a delegate from Virginia — George Washington — to lead the war for independence.