It is said that Paul Revere absent-mindedly forgot his spurs and sent his faithful dog trotting home with a note pinned to his collar. A few minutes later the dog returned. The note was gone, and a pair of spurs was in its place.
As Fischer adds, “The reader may judge the truth of this legend.”
The horse Revere rode that night was Brown Beauty, a mare belonging to Charlestown resident John Larkin.
Revere, upon arriving in Lexington, did not say, “The British are coming!” as we all learned. Most people residing in America thought of themselves as British too.
What he said was, “The Regulars are coming out!”
Source: David Hackett Fischer’s Paul Revere’s Ride.
It’s a great book! Better even than his recent book on Washington’s crossing of the Delaware that won the Pulitzer Prize.