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Thursday, July 02, 2015

The Midnight Ride of Dr. Prescott?

A doll drama based on true historical events.

APRIL 16, 1775
Lexington, Massachusetts
“Hello Lydia, I was hoping to meet you.”
“Hello Dr. Prescott, I am glad to see you as well.”
“Lydia is your mother, Mrs. Mulliken, at home? I must speak with you both.”

 Yes, let’s go inside.”

“Mother, Dr. Samuel wanted to have a word with us.”
“Mrs. Mulliken, I have received instructions from Concord for a new flag, an American flag.  I have a picture here. General Washington has had one made already in Philadelphia. I knew you and Lydia could do this for our militiamen to rally round.”

"Here is the sketch of the new flag."
“Yes, of course we will Dr. Prescott.”

Next day
APRIL 17, 1775
"Lydia, Let me carry that for you!  You should not walk here alone!  
Especially carrying the materials for our new flag!"
"Don’t be silly it’s daylight and who cares that I have some fabric and scissors in my basket?"
"We must all be careful Lydia, unrest with British rule is growing, and events are taking a more serious aspect. Please, do not walk alone anymore!"

Next day
APRIL 18, 1775 Dusk
“Dr. Prescott I came to find you!”
“I am just finished looking in at the Petersen baby. Lydia, you should not be alone out here at night!”
 “Dr. Prescott! Your brother Abel stopped at our door, looking for you, he says someone must go to the Clarke Parsonage in Lexington, there are important happenings afoot 
and they need a swift rider! Abel said he was riding to warn the colonists to the West.
That’s all he would say!"
“Come with me Lydia to get my horse, Penny, she is tied just here at the alleyway. 
Then I will see you safely home.”

“Quiet, Wait til they go inside.”

“Finally they are gone. I can see your mother on the front step Lydia; 
you will be safe from here.  I must go!”
“Yes, I can see mother waiting. Go Samuel and be safe!”
“I promise I will see you again soon!”

At the Clarke Parsonage Dr. Prescott is surprised to find, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and two other men, William Dawes and Paul Revere.  Mr. Adams explains that they have instructions that must be given to the Military leaders at Concord, Massachusetts. 

“Ah, I am glad you are here Dr. Prescott, Mr. Revere has set his signals in the North Church.  The British are landing troops and we must warn the leaders in Concord to make safe our supplies and weapons and to be ready for battle! Mr. Hancock has prepared a message for the leaders there.  Yourself, Mr. Revere and Mr. Dawes are riding for Concord, we must be certain this letter reaches our military forces there in time.”

"We have a long run before us Penny, let’s go!"

"More Riders are joining the run!"

Oh no! Revere and Dawes have been captured!

"It's up to us Penny, this way! Over the wall!"

“Soon that flag will be changed for good! 
Not much farther Penny, keep going girl! It’s almost dawn!”

APRIL 19, 1775  DAWN
“We made it Penny. Now you can rest.”
“Dr. Samuel has brought an important message sent from Mr. Adams and Mr. Hancock. 
Secure our supplies and muster our troops!”


Two days later...
APRIL 21, 1775
“Dr. Samuel, Your back!  I was worried.  We heard two riders had been captured by the British!”
“That was Paul Revere and William Dawes. I nearly got caught myself!
Penney and I escaped by jumping a wall in a field!
Before I left Concord I heard that both men escaped, they are fine.”
“Look Samuel, I have just finished the flag.  I think it is just like the one Betsy Ross made.”


A little more than a year after these events, on July 4th 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Continental Congress and our country was born. 

While Paul Revere is most recognized for his midnight ride, there were two other men who rode with Revere that night; William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott.  After Revere’s light signal was put into the bell tower of the North Church to alert the colonists in Charlestown of the British movements.  Revere and Dawes then went to the Clark Parsonage to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock, believing they were going to be arrested.  Samuel Adams and John Hancock felt that this force was too large a movement just to arrest 2 men, so they sent the riders on to Concord, Massachusetts to warn the Continental leaders there.

Dr. Prescott actually met Revere and Dawes on the road, after they had left the Clarke Parsonage. 
(I had Dr. Prescott meet them at the parsonage just for the fun of it) 
Revere and Dawes were both captured by British troops before reaching Concord.
Dr. Prescott apparently escaped the British troops by jumping a wall in a field.  Revere and Dawes both escaped soon after their capture, but did not make it to Concord that night.

There were actually more than 40 riders, going in all directions that night, warning the colonists about the British movements.  These riders names are, sadly, lost in history.

Note to all you historians out there:  I created the story of Lydia and Dr. Prescott from tidbits I uncovered.  Dr. Prescott did actually court Lydia Mulliken, the rest I made up.  I made believe that Lydia was one of the flag sewers just for fun. (She had to do something patriotic for our story!) This is not based on any historical information.


4 comments:

Flo said...

Cute historical adaptation! I especially loved the pictures of Penny running and jumping, looks like you had fun with that. Martin and Emma did a good job!

Brenda and Sophie said...

Thank you Flo! I did have fun with my photo editing. I like how my Penny pix came out too.

Sophie ended this year (5th grade) studying the American Revolution and this post really grew out of that. She took Elle to school, wearing a colonial dress I made, for her Colonial presentation.

We learned a lot about that night ride that we NEVER knew before!

Anonymous said...

Wow, very impressive! Thanks for sharing!

Brenda and Sophie said...

Thank you! I learned a lot putting this together. It was a lot of fun too. : )