[Ads-l] Paul Revere Quote

Thu Apr 13 23:34:26 UTC 2017

Depositions about the events of April 19 were taken by the patriot leaders around April 22, 1775, mainly to demonstrate that the British "regulars" had fired first at Lexington.  These depositions were sent to England by a fast schooner, which had departed later than the British ship bringing the British report on the "transactions" but arrived earlier.  The American reports were published in Britain before the British government knew of the battle via the report from its colonial government.

I wonder whether any American deposition of 1775 contain the phrase "the regulars are coming (out)".

Joel

      From: Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 6:51 PM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Paul Revere Quote

Eyewitness account recorded 50 years later.  A man who says that he served as an orderly Capt. John Parker that night reports that Paul Revere said, "The Regulars are coming out."

Elias Phinney, History of the Battle of Lexington, Boston, Phelps and Farnham, 1825.

"I, William Munroe, of Lexington, on oath do testify, that I acted as orderly sergeant in the company commanded by Capt. John Parker, on the 19th of April, 1775 . . . .  About midnight, Col. Paul Revere rode up and requested admittance. I told him the family had just retired, and had requested, that they might not be disturbed by any noise . . . . "Noise!" said he, "you'll have noise enough before long.  The regulars are coming out."

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 3:37:38 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Paul Revere Quote

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Poster:      Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
Subject:      Re: Paul Revere Quote
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My intuition tells me that Revere is more likely to have said "The Regulars=
 are coming" or "coming out" than "The British are coming."=C2=A0 The Briti=
sh troops in Boston were I think commonly referred to as "regulars", perhap=
s because that term referred to the "standing army" that the colonials were=
 so antagonistic to, especially when imposed on their soil.=C2=A0 Of course=
 this does not identify a source for Fred, but perhaps searches for "the re=
gulars are coming" phrase may turn up something "the British are coming" do=
es not.

I see that Wikipedia agrees with me that Fischer's "Paul Revere's Ride" is =
the preeminent source on its subject.

Joel

      From: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=20
 Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 2:03 PM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Paul Revere Quote
  =20
The Paul Revere Wikipedia entry specifies the exclamation "The
Regulars are coming out" and the supporting references given are
certainly worth examining. Yet, there is still an interesting cultural
question of when the version with "The British are coming! the British
are coming!" emerged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere

[Begin Wikipedia excerpt]
. . . most of the Massachusetts colonists (who were predominantly
English in ethnic origin)[44] still considered themselves
British.[45][46] Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of
the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "The Regulars are coming
out."

Revere, Paul (1961). Paul Revere's Three Accounts of His Famous Ride.
Introduction by Edmund Morgan. Boston: Massachusetts Historical
Society. ISBN 978-0-9619999-0-2.

Fischer, David Hackett (1994). Paul Revere's ride. New York: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-19-508847-6. This work is extensively
footnoted, and contains a voluminous list of primary resources
concerning all aspects of the Revere's ride and the battles at
Lexington and Concord.
[End Wikipedia excerpt]

Here is an 1851 citation with 'The British are coming! the British are
coming!' I do not think Paul Revere was mentioned in this tale. Also,
the 1853 citation I gave previously was based on a memory of the War
of 1812, I think.

https://books.google.com/books?id=3Dll03AQAAMAAJ&q=3D%22British+are%22#v=3D=
snippet&

Date: April 1851
Periodical: The Republic
Volume 1, Number 4
Article: The Tory and his Sister [as told be the old corporal]:
A Life Scene of the Revolution
Author: Thomas H. Whitney

[Begin excerpt]
On receiving the information from poor Debby, who was almost
frightened to death, he left her with his mother, and ran to the
quarters of the colonel, crying, as he went, 'The British are coming!
the British are coming!' and thus the whole town was set in commotion
in an instant, and the people thrown into a panic of consternation.
The frightful atrocities that had before been committed upon peaceful
villages, by the hirelings of the crown, had implanted a dread in the
hearts of the patriots, and the startling cry, 'The British coming,'
was a signal of horror to the defenceless people.
[End excerpt]

Garson

...
  =20

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