yeah, longfellow really helped paul revere's historical stature. until that poem, he was not even a minor player. matter of fact, i recently read 'the fort' by bernard cornwell. now, it's fiction, but it has some historical figures in it, including paul revere. he's not exactly a beacon of patriotism in that book-or apparently in the real setting that was the basis of the book(the penobscot expedition). yep, longfellow did that fellow quite a favor.
in his notes at the books' end, cornwell mentions a book by david hackett fischer about paul revere's ride. fischer describes the poem as "grossly, systematically and deliberately inaccurate".
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