Leave Me from Daros Films on Vimeo.

When I got there, out started six officers on horseback and ordered me to dismount. One of them, who appeared to have the command, examined me, where I came from and what my name was. I told him. He asked me if I was an express. I answered in the affirmative. He demanded what time I left Boston. I told him, and added that their troops had catched aground in passing the river, and that there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the country all the way up.

It sounds like she's recounting what she learned about Revere that day ('...where he hung out as a teenager...' etc.) which probably included that during the night of the midnight ride, Revere was in fact stopped by British officers and told them that a colonist militia would intercept them on their way to Lexington - where they were in fact marching to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams and seize their weapons (thank you wikipedia).

So most of what everyone has been laughing at was actually correct (sort of, anyway - he obviously wasn't riding for the purpose of warning the British, as she seems to indicate). But I also thought it was at least fairly common knowledge today that the midnight ride was a secret mission, most notably much quieter than the fictionalized account in Longfellow's poem and that the here were certainly no "warning shots and bells."

I'd have to think the contrast between the legend and the actual history is covered in the tour. My guess is that she was half-paying attention to the tour guide, leading to a jumbled recount of what she learned that day.

Which would be fine, since partial attention is probably what most people afford their tour guides when they visit historic sites. But (regardless of whether she admits it or not) the purpose of this bus tour is to keep the media focused on her as she tests the waters for a run at the presidency from behind the theme of "connecting us with our founders". And she's obviously sticking to that script, doing her best to appear inspired by this stuff.

So it sounds like the big laugh over her historical revision is probably a touch unfair but the closer look it took to reveal that reaffirms what about 75% of us already know about her, that she's all image and no substance.