“One if by Land, Two if by Sea”: The Signal Lanterns of Old North Church

On the night of April 18, 1775, the Patriots of Boston needed a way to warn their allies across the Charles River how the British army planned to move against the militia stores at Concord. The signal was simple and prearranged: one lantern if the troops marched out “by land” over Boston Neck, and two lanterns if they crossed the river “by sea” toward Cambridge.¹

The lanterns were hung in the steeple of Christ Church in Boston's North End — known today as the Old North Church, built in 1723 and the oldest standing church building in the city.² Paul Revere arranged the signal as a backup plan: if he were captured trying to leave Boston, the men waiting in Charlestown would still learn which route the British had taken.³

Two lanterns were displayed that night, signaling that the regulars were crossing the water.¹ By tradition the sexton of the church, Robert Newman, climbed to the belfry with John Pulling to show the lights, while Captain Thomas Bernard kept watch below for British patrols.⁴ The lanterns were held aloft for under a minute — long enough to be seen across the river, short enough to avoid drawing the eyes of the British troops occupying the town.⁵

It is worth noting how the famous phrase entered our memory. The words “One if by land, and two if by sea” come from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1860 poem “Paul Revere's Ride,” written some eighty-five years after the event.¹ Longfellow compressed and dramatized the history, and in the decades right after the Revolution few Americans dwelt on the lantern signal at all; it was the poem that fixed it as a national symbol.⁶

There is a quiet irony in the practical outcome: because Revere succeeded in slipping out of Boston by boat and beginning his ride, the lantern signal he had arranged proved unnecessary as his own means of warning.³ Yet the lanterns did their work for the Charlestown men, and the image of a light in a church tower — a place of worship pressed into the service of liberty — has never lost its hold on the American imagination. The Old North Church remains an active congregation and one of the most visited historic sites in Boston.⁵

SOURCES

1. “The Real Story of Paul Revere's Ride,” Paul Revere House (paulreverehouse.org).

2. “Old North Church,” American Battlefield Trust.

3. “The Role of Paul Revere's Lantern Lights,” Language of Lighting, 2022.

4. “Who Actually Hung the Lanterns in Old North Church?” Boston Magazine, 2017.

5. “Paul Revere's Legendary Ride and Old North Church,” Brewminate, 2022.

6. “One if by Land, Two if by Sea …,” History News Network, 2022.