Question #1215. Asked by
curious.
Last updated Sep 13 2016.
Revere left several accounts of his ride, and although he states that he borrowed the horse from John Larkin, neither he nor anyone else takes much notice of the mount, or refers to it by name. Revere calls it simply "a very good horse." In the years since 1775 many names have been attached to the animal, the most exotic probably being Scheherazade. The only name for which there is any evidence, however, is Brown Beauty.
"Samuel (Larkin) ... born Oct. 22, 1701; died Oct. 8, 1784, aged 83; he was a chairmaker, then a fisherman and had horses and a stable. He was the owner of "Brown Beauty," the mare of Paul Revere's Ride made famous by the Longfellow poem. The mare was loaned at the request of Samuel's son, deacon John Larkin, and was never returned to the owner."
According to this source, the famous horse was owned not by Deacon John, but by his father - if true, this would mean that not only did Revere ride a borrowed horse, but a borrowed, borrowed horse. That it had a name is difficult to prove in the absence of corroborating evidence.
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