William Dawes was a Boston tanner, militia officer, and one of the two riders—alongside Paul Revere—who carried the alarm that British troops were marching toward Lexington and Concord. A lifelong Bostonian, Dawes left the city through the Boston Neck gate, the only land route out of town, after securing permission to pass the British guard. His route took him through Roxbury, Brookline, and Cambridge, where he warned local militia leaders before converging with Revere in Lexington. After the two were detained in Lincoln, Dawes escaped and continued the alarm on foot.
Before the Revolution, Dawes was active in Boston’s militia and political networks, including the Sons of Liberty. After the war, he lived in Marlborough and later Boston, working as a leather merchant. He died in 1799 and is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, though a cenotaph also stands in King’s Chapel Burying Ground.
