The Midnight Ride Continued Paul Revere, meanwhile, was questioned. He informed them that the British plans for the evening were well-known and the whole countryside had been warned. He also said that five hundred men were on their way with fifteen hundred more to follow. He was then questioned again when another officer rode up and he gave the same answers. When they returned to the road, Revere was joined by several other officers and four prisoners. The whole party now headed back toward Lexington. As they neared Lexington, they set the other four prisoners free after cutting their bridles.
At around 2 A.M., Deacon Larkin's horse is taken from Revere in exchange for a tired horse of one of the officers and then he is let go. He made for Reverend Clarke's house, arriving there at 3 A.M. to find it bustling. John Hancock wanted to stay and fight, while Samuel Adams and Reverend Clarke were pursuading him to leave, since he was the president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and as such, a high traitor. Revere left with Adams and Hancock, but then Hancock realized that he had left behind a trunk full of papers concerning the Provincial Congress. Revere went back to Buckman's Tavern where the trunk was located. As the gunfire started at Lexington Green, Revere was preoccupied with retrieving the trunk and didn't see who fired first.
