A 14-Year-Old Historian Brings the First Day of the American Revolution to Life

On this episode of Our American Stories, you’ve probably heard that during his famous midnight ride through the Massachusetts countryside to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the impending British occupation of Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere shouted, “The British are coming!” But that’s not quite true. Sabrina Bhattacharjya, a 14-year-old history enthusiast and founder of Lex250, shares the real story—and brings to life the first day of the American Revolution. We'd like to thank Constituting America for turning us on to this story.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from where the West begins in
Fort Worth, Texas. Up next, the story from a young
woman on the first day of the American Revolution, courtesy
of Constituting America, an organization dedicated to educating, empowering, and

(00:32):
inspiring young people across America on our founding documents. Go
to constituting America dot org to find out more. Let's
get into the story.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hi, I'm Sabruna band Charia, and I'm a fifteen year
old on a mission to bring the American Revolution back
to life. Today. We need to go back two hundred
and fifty years ago on April eighteenth, seventeen seventy five,
to Boston, Massachusetts, more specifically, to the house of doctor
Joseph Warren around eight pol. Doctor Warren was a well

(01:08):
known colonist. He was an important figure in seventeen seventies
Boston and charged with revolutionary spirit. Doctor Warren caught worried
that the regulars what the colonists called the British forces
representing the Crown, are coming to see his arms and
conquered and capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two important
rebel leaders who were staying in Lexington for the provincial Congress.

(01:34):
He sends express writers Paul Revere and William Dawes to
alert Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were staying with
their family, Reverend Jonas Clark, Lexington's minister, and his wife,
John Hancock's cousin, Lucy Bow's Clark. It's about now when
Joseph Warren goes into the Old North Church to send
out the signal. If the regulars were coming by land,

(01:59):
one lantern. If they were coming by sea, there would
be two. This is where we get the famous phrase
one if by land to if by sea. The lanterns
hung in the steeple would only be shown for a
couple of minutes, but this was the signal the entire
city could see. The Regulars had decided to come by
sea to get to Lexington. And you're probably wondering why

(02:22):
I'm calling them the regulars. It's because in seventeen seventy
five everyone was burtished, and that just would have caused confusion.
What do you mean we're coming? Paul Revere actually never
said that. He most likely either said the lobster backs
are rout, the regulars are route, or the red Coats
are coming. Paul Revere goes through Charlestown, up and around

(02:45):
through Mystic and gets to the Handcoff Clark house. About
thirty minutes later, Revere is met with Sergeant Monroe from
the Lexington Militia. He tells them keep it down. Family
is retired and would not like to be disturbed by
the noise. Noise, You'll have noise enough before long. The
regulars are out, Revere says, Yelling from the rooftops. John

(03:07):
Hancock hears and invites him inside to chat. A few
moments later, DAWs joins. Both talk about the information that
doctor Warren sent to these important men. But this kept
twelve year old Elizabeth Clark up. She was worried what
was going to happen to her family because the regulars
were coming for them. She told all of her siblings

(03:27):
to be quiet and to go to bed, and laid
in her bed and listen to the conversation with the
men going on downstairs, which was extremely important. Her mother
bursts into, telling her, Elizabeth, you must help miss Dolly
Quincy hide her valuables. They're coming to loute our house,
her and Dolly Quincy Hancock, John Hancock's fiance at the time,

(03:51):
hid things under leaves, potatoes, and anything else they could find. Afterwards,
Elizabeth went back upstairs to bed, but something still wasn't
quite right with her. Dolly needs to go get her
father from Boston, and she's very worried about it. Nonsense,
it's the middle of the night and there's soldiers coming

(04:11):
for me. Ridiculous to even bring up, says John Hancock.
Dolly replies, recollect, mister Hancock. I am not under your
control yet. I will get my father and rescue him
from Boston, she says. To the richest man in Massachusetts.
She was probably one of the only people who could
say this. Hancock and Adams are packing up their belongings.

(04:33):
It's not right for me to leave them. Dear men,
are my friends. Hancock says to Adams. That's foolish. You
don't even have your musket. What use for you? Adams responded,
and Adams eventually reasoned with Hancock and decided it was
the right thing to leave, and he was putting the
family and the town in more danger by staying. On

(04:54):
one condition. Hancock says, you bring the salmon we had
for dinner. Yes, this is something Hancock actually said. He
was hyper fixated on their fabulous feasts they had earlier.
That was enough to get him to leave. The belfry
in the center of town started to ring. It was

(05:15):
the alarm for the Lexington Militia to assemble on the
green at Buckman Tavern. There were about eighty patriots, but
about seven hundred regulars coming towards Lexington. No wonder Paul
Revina had to ride out. We were greatly outnumbered. Two
men carried a trunk with John Hancock's important documents. To

(05:35):
this day we don't know what was inside, but the
trunk still exists and is at the Blister Historical Museum,
and all we know is that in the wrong hand,
John Hancock would be a dead man. The regulars were
actually headed towards Concord and were only stopping in Lexington
to capture these two rebel leaders. So when they saw
the men assembled on the green, they assembled to both

(06:01):
sides were told not to fire. Captain John Parker, the
captain of the Lexington Militia, told its men standard ground,
don't fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to
have a war. Let it begin, Pierre, with the sun
barely being up at five in the morning, someone fired.

(06:22):
We don't know who, but there are many theories which
will never be able to be proven just because we
don't have that information. This was the first shot of
American liberty. This was the start of the American Revolution.
The Regulars went on the rest of the day to
have a similar event and conquered, but instead their leader says,
for God's sakes fire. The colonists chased them all the

(06:46):
way back to Boston the same way they came. This
was the first day of the American Revolution. It left
a profound impact on American history and the history of
the world.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
And a special thanks to Sabrina Baticharia where website is
Lexington two point fifty and nothing brings us more joy
than young people falling in love with their country. The
special thanks also to Constituting America for turning us on
to this story. Go to Constituting America dot org to
find out more about their great work, The story of

(07:22):
the first Day of the Revolution. Here on our American Stories,
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(07:44):
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