Famously mythologized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride” (1860), this lantern was used on the night of April 18, 1775, as a signal arranged by Paul Revere with the Charlestown militia the week before. “One if by land, two if by sea”: one lantern if the British regulars left Boston over Roxbury Neck and two if they crossed the Charles River. The signal worked, leading to the first battle of the American Revolution. Numerous lanterns were made in this form in Boston in the 1760s. Advertisements for “lanthorn leaves” in the Boston newspapers may refer to sheets of imported tinned steel that would be made up into lanterns. This lantern is built around four slim cylinders of tinned iron that are capped with cast pewter finials. The slightly domed top is pierced decoratively by five or six different punches, as are the two cylinders above it. A suspension ring at the top allowed for lanterns like this one to be carried through the dark streets of Boston at night. Lanterns played both practical and symbolic roles in the pageantry of protest in Boston. In 1766, the Liberty-Tree was hung with hundreds of lanterns to mark the repeal of the Stamp Act. On the numerous occasions when customs officials and others were tarred and feathered, they were forced to carry a lantern to shed light on their humiliation. This lantern was acquired by Cummings E. Davis in 1853, who added it to his significant collection of objects connected to the history of the town of Concord, MA. Davis’s collection would later be purchased by the Concord Antiquarian Society, now operating as the Concord Museum. It continues to illuminate the numerous objects, places, and figures that witnessed the early moments of the American Revolution.