he explained to me some of the inaccuracies in longfellow's poem.let's start with its most famous line. >> "one if by land..." >> "...and two if by sea." >> it's wrong. the british were never going by sea. so it was a river, not a sea? >> it was definitely a river, not a sea. and as a matter of fact, we might even say it was the back bay and the charles river, as opposed to a sea. >> whis accurate is that the signal was given from this boston church, called old north church. the poem goes on to say that revere was across the river waiting for the signal. >> "and i on the opposite shore will be, ready to ride and spread the alarm through every middlesex village and farm." >> and, in fact, he wnot on the other side of the charles river. he was being rowed across the charles river by two friends while the lanterns were being hung. >> then there's this part. >> "and lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height..." >> "...a glimmer, and then a gleam of light!" >> "...he springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns..." >> "...but lingers and gazes, till full on

the context was longfellow, he was a timid guy and weary of engaging in politics but was a very good friend with paul sumner who was an outspoken abolitionists. from 1850s through the '60s, longfellow was more and more taken up with abolitionist and the institution of slavery so he sort of infused with this fashion i have to do something about it. he had several years earlier written poetry about slavery. midnight ride of paul revere is to warn of the red coats coming. the passion is infuses is about ending slavery and the cause of the union. so, if you read it through and actual actually -- jill lapore goes through, there are many references through the poem, you know, they go back past a cemete cemetery, paul revere does on his ride, a cemetery only for the black dead. he talks about a hanging of a slave. the whole idea is whoa are engaged in this moment, the early 1860s, that is a threat to the stability of the union and a threat to the -- threat to the ideals that inspired founders during the revolution. it's komg come down to a childish ride of paul revere and it's a creed and i

they joined other americans in the revival of longfellows song of hi watt, a and poems took place in hundreds of southern venues. hiawatha reflected the south. a region where he could not serve. southerners latched onto their own native embodiness of nobility and honor. southerners needed to whiten their indians and link native virtues to those associated with the lost cause. in 1878, a biography of the creek warrior william weatherford who fought with the red sticks explained he battled the u.s. army not because he was a savage, but because -- and i quote -- the first transgressions were committed by the white people and he was fighting for the liberties of his nation. weatherford was a hero with whom white southerners could identify. following the war, he returned to alabama and established himself as a planner. although he died before removal, most of weatherford's descendants remained in the south where, according to his biographer they intermarried with whites which we will nigh extinguished all indian blood in his descendants, the weatherford became white. osceola, the seminole