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William Dawes and Paul Revere were two of several men sent to Lexington by Dr. Joseph Warren via different routes to Lexington. William Dawes arrived in Lexington 30 minutes after Paul Revere. Dawes and Revere were sent to Concord to warn the folks that the Red Coats were coming to seize and destroy the stores belonging to the colony, the main objective of the Red Coats’ march.
On the road to Concord, Dawes and Revere met Dr. Samuel Prescott returning from Concord. The three were halted by several British Regulars. Dawes and Prescott were able to escape. The British soldiers led Revere back to Lexington where he was freed.
William Dawes played no further part in the events at Lexington and Concord nor is there any reason to celebrate William Dawes as the hero of Lexington.
Dawes joined the army in the siege of Boston, fought at Bunker Hill and won a commision as Commissary to the Continental Army. He died at age 53 and is buried at King’s Chapel in Boston.
My source on William Dawes is Paul Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fischer.
Dean Dakin
Cumberland