Paul Revere House and the 'midnight ride' myth

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1860 poem 'Paul Revere's Ride' popularized the image of Paul Revere making a lone midnight ride to warn of the British approach. The Paul Revere House at this address was Revere's home in 1770–1800 and is preserved as a museum. Historians note that Revere rode with other riders and that the poem compresses and dramatizes events; the idea that he rode alone and shouted 'The British are coming' is considered a literary embellishment rather than a literal contemporaneous report.