But four hundred men, perhaps more or less,
An armada of gundalows assembled post haste
And took to the river, their plan to transgress
Langdon’s forewarning. Towards the fortress they sailed.
Five men and their captain the garrison manned.
Sorely outnumbered, they attempted a stand,
Refusing surrender. All quickly were jailed,
And England’s loathed flag was in no time replaced.

Powder was loaded and soon hauled away,
Taken by Sullivan’s men to safe shores,
To Durham’s Meeting House, ’cross the Great Bay.
Hid ’neath the pulpit until, come the spring,
It would fill John Stark’s muskets. Revolution would bring
Those who were governed and their governors
Finally to blows, fierce battle engaged
In Concord and Lexington, four months anon.
Pushed past endurance, completely enraged,
America would face her first Rubicon.

When back in England, the king heard the news,
His anger waxed bitter. Like a match to a fuse,
His fury ignited. His patience was spent
With the colonists’ protests, dispute and dissent.
Certain he was, now, of the course time would forge.
Premonitions of carnage assaulted King George.
Concessions exhausted, the crown now must fight.
To crush rank rebellion, he would harness his might.

Set into motion, in Portsmouth that day
By Paul Revere’s news so boldly declared,
Patriots proved they were more than prepared
To fend for themselves, to break clean away
From English oppression, for liberties prized,
The colonists’ fervor at last undisguised.
From open rebellion on New Hampshire soil
To a Lexington bridge, British might would recoil.
Out of wilderness, settlers a nation had hewed
From forest and prairie, from iron and clay.
With Revere’s Portsmouth journey and the raid that ensued,
History was changed – pray, forget not today.

Poem copyright © 2003 Nancy W. Grossman. All rights reserved.

SEE ALSO: Compare to the original poem
in the Midnight Ride Virtual Museum