“Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.”

Boy do I ever remember having to memorize that poem in Mrs. Humble’s 8th grade literature class! Thankfully we only had to memorize the first two stanzas, a couple in the middle and the last two, but it was still hard! My favorite lines are

“A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;”

The fate of a nation….gets me every time.

Today is the 234th Anniversary of that fateful ride taken by Paul Revere. To celebrate The Home School Freebie of the day has some great FREE downloads available all weekend. There are two audio downloads, one a reciting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, the other an old time radio show about Paul Revere’s life. Then there is a pdf listening guide that accompanies the radio show and also an art study guide about the paintings and sculptures depicting Paul Revere and the Minutemen.

Please go and take advantage of these great resources to enhance your study of the Revolutionary War or early American history.