William Dawes needs a poet

Meh. Doesn't have the same ring to it. It's tricky to rhyme anything with Dawes. Gauze. Claws. Straws. Flaws.
But rhyming Revere is so clear, my dear.
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the 'midnight ride' that kicked off the American Revolution, the legacy of Dawes, the
on that fateful night of April 18, 1775, to warn Lexington that the Redcoats were coming, is receiving renewed focus.
And with it, comes an old question: Is this all about a poem? If
Advertisement
There is no question that their legacies are unequal. Revere, a patriot leader and famous silversmith, has statues and a city named after him. Dawes is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave in Forest Hills Cemetery.
Is this all simply because Dawes was trickier to rhyme?
'We all kind of kid about how nothing really rhymes with Dawes,' said Barb Moberg, president of
Advertisement
Catchy poem is perhaps an understatement. It's been theorized that 'Paul Revere's Ride,' with its unforgettable opening line of
'Listen my children, and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,'
is the most memorized poem in American history.
The poem has been criticized for historical inaccuracies and poetic license (Revere did not actually wait for the '
And there is no question that the 1861 poem made Revere into a household name, 86 years after the midnight ride, and more than four decades after his death. And it happened at a time in American history when he risked sliding toward obscurity. Instead, 10 years after the poem came out, the town of North Chelsea was renamed in his honor.
'Scholars would have known about him, but not every kid would have heard of him, and the poem vaulted him from the corridors of history to the popular imagination,' said Kostya Kennedy, author of the new book '
Kennedy and others have shown that Revere was a much more important figure in the story of the revolution, already a known figure on the night of April 18, who was better able to rally support from the towns he galloped through.
'This is not to lessen Dawes, for what he did required just as much courage as what Revere did, but quite frankly his ride was not nearly as impactful,' Kennedy said. 'If there's only one person who is going to be remembered from that night, it should be Revere.'
Advertisement
Dawes, on the other hand, took what was arguably the more dangerous route, having to travel straight through a British checkpoint at Boston Neck, the narrow stretch of land that connected Boston to the mainland before the area was filled in. He was given the assignment precisely because he was basically an unknown tanner. The Redcoats knew to be on the lookout for Paul Revere. No one knew William Dawes.
Other factors contributed to Revere's legacy flourishing while Dawes became the answer to a trivia question. Revere
Charles Bahne, a historian, tour guide, and Dawes scholar, was part of a group of researchers who discovered that Dawes — and 27 other relatives— had been unceremoniously moved at some point in the 19th century from the overflowing King's Chapel Burying Ground, near Boston Common, to a plot at Forest Hills that belonged to the family of his first wife. While there is still a plaque honoring Dawes at King's Chapel, there is nothing to mark his actual grave in Jamaica Plain, a fact that the Dawes descendants group has tried and failed to rectify.
'This is just another one of these things that seemed to work against Dawes' legacy,' Bahne said. 'Revere had all these other things in the revolution that he would have been known for today even if [he] hadn't done the ride. Dawes, no. That was the biggest thing he ever did in his life.'
Advertisement
And Revere had the poem, and what a poem it was, written as a rallying cry just as the country was on the verge of civil war, composed by America's most-famous living poet.
'Longfellow isn't just talking about the revolution; he's talking about the union which we have to preserve,' said Nicholas Basbanes, the author of '
'It was written with the meter of the clippity-clop of a horse, brilliantly crafted to stick with you,' Basbanes said. 'And at the time, Longfellow was probably the closest thing to a rock star, so it was circulated everywhere.'
The Paul Revere poem, like his other popular works such as '
It's a pop song you can't get out of your head, easy to knock but impossible to replicate. And for Dawes, people have tried, most notably in 1896, when Helen F. Moore published the complaint '
I am a wandering, bitter shade,
Never of me was a hero made;
Poets have never sung my praise,
Advertisement
Nobody crowned my brow with bays;
And if you ask me the fatal cause,
I answer only, 'My name was Dawes'
Billy Baker can be reached at

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

14 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Beaches left with 'heartbreaking' amounts of litter after hottest day of the year

The UK's beaches were left covered with 'heartbreaking' levels of litter after thousands flocked to the seaside during the weekend heatwave. The hottest day of the year so far of 33.2C was recorded on Saturday afternoon in Charlwood, Surrey, and those kind of temperatures brought huge numbers to the country's beaches. Sadly, the sheer multitude of visitors brought the problem of littering, with many reports of rubbish strewn across the sands including broken bottles, discarded food, used nappies - and even a child's mattress. One of the worst affected was Brighton beach in East Sussex, where thousands flocked over the weekend. But one resident and litter picker, Sammie Alpin, 33, said she was left "heartbroken" by the rubbish left on the sea front on Saturday. She posted video and images on her @the_plastic_coast Instagram account showing the state of the beach. They showed bins overflowing with rubbish on to the beach and seagulls picking their way through litter and plastic bags. Plastic bottles, drinks cans, rubber dinghies, flip-flops and even an insulin pen were left abandoned along the pebbles. "What are we teaching the kids of today?" asked Alpin, who makes art from beach litter, in her video, saying that she was left "heartbroken and overwhelmed" by the rubbish. "I knew it would be bad today but it's still heartbreaking every time it happens," she said. "Brighton and Hove have hundreds of bins along the seafront, people just can't be bothered to carry back their rubbish." Her video received a number of comments from angry users, with one saying: "I used to think this was down to a lack of awareness, but it's not an excuse any more. "It's a lazy, selfish act of entitlement. People who just assume someone else will sort it out." Another said: "It's quite embarrassing actually, that this is how the British general public act when the sun comes out. "Every summer it gets like this and every summer I question my choice to live in this city." One user said the situation was similar at Bournemouth beach in Dorset. They said: "Same here in Bournemouth... tourists in their thousands come to our beaches and leave a complete mess behind." Pictures from Bournemouth showed rubbish all along the sea front and overflowing bins. Tom Hayes, the MP for Bournemouth East, posted on X: "Absolutely shocking. We all need to take responsibility for our own litter, but that means there should be more bins — and more frequent collections — during busy summer months. Absolutely shocking 😞 We all need to take responsibility for our own litter, but that means there should be more bins—and more frequent collections—during busy summer months. I've previously written to BCP Council about bins on the beach. It shouldn't be this hard to keep our… — Tom Hayes MP (@TomHayesBmouth) June 22, 2025 "It shouldn't be this hard to keep our beautiful town clean!" Retired Gill Nicholson, 70, said she saw used nappies, broken bottles, rubbish and even an abandoned cot mattress while walking her dog early in the morning near the beach in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. While she said local street cleaners did a good job in cleaning the mess up by the following day, workers nonetheless "have their work cut out". She told Yahoo News UK: "I feel so sorry for the street cleaners. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any enforcement of laws regarding littering throughout the UK. "We live in a wonderful place and we need to protect it." In Wales, visitors to Sandy Bay in Porthcawl on Friday were greeted with lots of litter across the beach, the Valley Times Facebook page reported. On Saturday evening, RNLI Lifeguards Lincolnshire said they were "disappointed" at the litter left on Skegness beach that day, and posted images of the rubbish. In Folkestone, Kent, Facebook user Kathie Peel posted images of litter in the water along the beach. She said: "People who have visited sunny sands today and 'forgotten' to take their rubbish home with them should be ashamed! All along the beach rubbish and dirty nappies in the sea. Absolutely disgusting." Andrea Butcher posted an image on Friday of a rug and other litter left on Formby beach near Liverpool, writing: Free carpet on the beach. I hope today's visitors enjoy sitting in the litter which was left by yesterday's visitors. Perhaps it'll highlight the need to take their rubbish home? Probably not." In March, a report by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) revealed that the amount of plastic rubbish found on UK beaches had increased by 9.5% from 2023 to 2024. It said more than 15,000 volunteers picked up a combine three quarters of a million pieces of litter last year, an average of 170 items per 100m of beach surveyed. It said the most common items were plastic fragments, followed by single-use plastic packaging such as crips packets and sandwich wrappers. The MSC said plastic pollution "remains a huge problem for our marine environment". Plastic items can take hundreds of years to break down and can choke marine animals, with contaminants making wildlife less resilient to the impacts of climate change. The MSC said plastic in the ocean has a "devastating effect" on marine wildlife, as fish, seabirds, sea turtles and mammals can ingest or become entangled in plastic, which causes suffocation, starvation and drowning. It said plastic kills about one million seabirds every year.

New York Post

30 minutes ago

• New York Post

Ancient Roman shoes after discovered after being buried for 2,000 years

Volunteers were baffled recently when they unearthed not one but two ancient shoes at a historic British site. The discoveries were made at Magna, an Ancient Roman fort in Northumberland, in late May. The Roman Army Museum, located near the fort in Brampton, made the announcement. Photographs show volunteers holding the remarkably preserved leather shoes, which have maintained their form despite being buried for 2,000 years. A volunteer named Jo found the first shoe, which 'seems to have all of its sole layers intact,' the organization said. The shoe's heel area is still attached to it; its outer sole still contains hobnails. Officials said the find sheds light on how these shoes were crafted. 'This gives us a really good look at how Roman shoes were made: Multiple layers of leather were used to form the sole, held together with thongs [leather strips], stitching and hobnails,' the Roman Army Museum said. 5 Photographs show volunteers holding the remarkably preserved leather shoes. Roman Army Museum 'These also reinforced the outer surface for walking and are found on many styles of shoe.' Officials were unable to determine the size of the shoe, as a toe area was missing, but they said it 'would have been a large shoe when complete.' The volunteer beamed about the find, telling officials that it 'really puts you in touch' with the Romans who lived at the fort. 5 The shoe's heel area is still attached to it; its outer sole still contains hobnails. Roman Army Museum 'It's always exciting to find anything that hasn't been touched for 2,000 years, but a shoe is such a personal item,' said Jo, the volunteer. Before long, another piece of footwear was found. The second shoe was roughly equal to a U.S. men's size 14, which impressed the volunteers. 5 Officials were unable to determine the size of the shoe, as a toe area was missing. Roman Army Museum The find 'immediately drew impressed gasps' from volunteers and staff archaeologists, according to the museum. 'Although in this case [it was] only one of the several sole layers, the sheer size of the shoe and guesses about who could have worn it dominated the conversation,' the organization said. 'Measuring in at 32cm long, the equivalent of U.K. men's size 12-14 in modern footwear, could this one be the largest in the Vindolanda Trust collection? We certainly look forward to finding out!' 5 The find 'immediately drew impressed gasps' from volunteers and staff archaeologists, according to the museum. Roman Army Museum Volunteers also recently dug up pottery fragments, tent pegs and other rarities, but the shoes stole the show. Magna is situated near Hadrian's Wall, a Roman wall designed to protect the northern border of the Britannia from the Picts. 5 The second shoe was roughly equal to a U.S. men's size 14, which impressed the volunteers. Roman Army Museum The fort was established around 80 A.D., predating Hadrian's Wall by a few decades. Last month, a nearby fort made international headlines when a couple found an ancient depiction of a Roman goddess during another volunteer dig. Fox News Digital reached out to Vindolanda Trust for additional information.

Yahoo

9 hours ago

• Yahoo

B-2 bombers involved in US strike on Iran nuclear facilities return to Missouri Air Force base

KNOB NOSTER, Mo. (AP) — The B-2 stealth bombers that dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities began returning to their U.S. base in Missouri on Sunday. An Associated Press journalist watched on a clear but windy afternoon as seven of the B-2 Spirit bombers came in for landing at Whiteman Air Force Base. The base, about 73 miles (117 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City, is home to the 509th Bomb Wing, the only U.S. military unit that operates the B-2 Spirit bombers. The first group of four of the stealth aircraft did a loop around the base before approaching a runway from the north, while a final group of three arrived within 10 minutes. The day before, the B-2s had been part of a wide-ranging plan involving deception and decoys to deliver what American military leaders believe is a knockout blow to a nuclear program that Israel views as an existential threat and has been pummeling for more than a week. According to U.S. officials, one group of the stealth aircraft headed west from the base in the U.S. heartland on Saturday, intended as a decoy to throw off the Iranians. Another flight of seven quietly flew off eastward, ultimately engaging in the Iran mission. Aided by an armada of refueling tankers and fighter jets — some of which launched their own weapons — U.S. pilots dropped 14 30,000-pound bombs early Sunday local time on two key underground uranium enrichment plants in Iran. American sailors bolstered the surprise mission by firing dozens of cruise missiles from a submarine toward at least one other site. U.S. officials said Iran neither detected the inbound fusillade, nor mustered a shot at the stealthy American jets. Dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, the mission carried out a 'precision strike' that 'devastated the Iranian nuclear program,' U.S. officials said, even as they acknowledged an assessment was ongoing. For its part, Iran denied that any significant damage had been done, and the Islamic Republic pledged to retaliate.