the two symbols were one lantern if they came by land and two if they came by sea.
This is in the first stanza of Longfellow's poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere written in 1861. He is telling how Revere would know how the British came into Boston . One lantern by land and two lanterns by sea from the Old North Church. In this way Revere would know how to warn the colonists. As a point of reference Revere did not finish his ride.
Lanterns
No code. Revere was told to warn the men in Concord and paid 30 shillings for the job. He never finished his ride because he met a British patrol and his horse taken away. Dawes never got to Concord either because he fell off his horse. Prescott is the only one to get to Concord.
Paul Revere made an engraving of the Boston Massacre in his silversmith's work. All of his work was sent to different customers around the world. Thus spreading the new of the Boston Massacre.
It would mean that the British are coming by land.
the two symbols were one lantern if they came by land and two if they came by sea.
A lantern One if by land, and two if by sea
This is in the first stanza of Longfellow's poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere written in 1861. He is telling how Revere would know how the British came into Boston . One lantern by land and two lanterns by sea from the Old North Church. In this way Revere would know how to warn the colonists. As a point of reference Revere did not finish his ride.
He told his friend to stand in the belfry arch and hang one lantern if the British came by land, and two if by sea and when he saw that two lanterns hung, he rode his horse down the towne streets and sounded the alarm "British boats be in the water! Minutemen, stand attention! Man the boats!"
I believe the cliche you are referring to is "bats in the belfry." A belfry is a bell tower, commonly located on the topmost part of buildings, namely churches. Bats commonly fly around them in their erratic fashion. To say one has "bats in his belfry" is to say he is a bit batty, or considered to be somewhat crazy.
Lanterns
This line is from the 1861 Longfellow poem the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. " listen my children and you shall hear the midnight ride of Paul Revere. On the eighteenth of April in Seventyfive. Hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend if the British March by land or sea from town tonight hang a lantern in the belfry arch of the North Church tower as a signal light. One if by land and two if by sea. And I on the opposite shore will be." One reason he states in the first lines of the poem that hardly a man remembers is because the poem was written almost a 100 years AFTER the event. By the way Revere didn't finish the ride because he ran into a British patrol and Prescott did get the job done.
No code. Revere was told to warn the men in Concord and paid 30 shillings for the job. He never finished his ride because he met a British patrol and his horse taken away. Dawes never got to Concord either because he fell off his horse. Prescott is the only one to get to Concord.
This saying refers to a signal used by Paul Revere during the American Revolution to warn of the approach of British troops. "One if by land, and two if by sea" instructed that one lantern lit in the Old North Church meant British troops were advancing by land, while two lanterns meant they were approaching by sea.
Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to warn the Patriots of the approach of the British soldiers. Robert Newman was instructed to hang one lantern in the church tower if the British approached by land, and two if they were coming by crossing the Charles River. He hung two lanterns, because the British were crossing the Charles River.
I believe the cliche you are referring to is "bats in the belfry." A belfry is a bell tower, commonly located on the topmost part of buildings, namely churches. Bats commonly fly around them in their erratic fashion. To say one has "bats in his belfry" is to say he is a bit batty, or considered to be somewhat crazy.