Lantern, 1765—75; hung from North Church, Boston

Tinned iron, glass; probably manufactured in England. Concord Museum, Concord, MA.

One if by land, and two if by sea ...

It was two; meaning that the redcoats would cross the Charles River to begin their march to Concord.

The Old North Church lantern reputed to have been used by sexton Robert Newman has a provenance that cannot be certified. But it has a tradition of being one of the lanterns he used.

Acccording to the Concord Museum:

The collector Cummings Davis (1816—96), acquired this lantern around 1853 with the history that it was bought in 1782 by Captain Daniel Brown, of Concord, from the sexton of Christ Church in Boston, and affirmed by the said sexton at that time to have been one of the two lanterns flashed from the belfry of that church by order of Paul Revere on the evening to the 18th of April, 1775.

Perhaps the most important element in Washington’s military education during the French and Indian War was his development of a strategic sense. The struggle for the Forks of the Ohio had started as a Virginia affair, but it quickly took on an international prominence. Washington became one of the men at the center of the conflict. Although he had a limited understanding of the European politics and diplomacy that helped to fuel the war, he nevertheless sensed the crucial importance of Indian affairs. He also perceived the strategic value of the different regions of North America — such as the Middle Atlantic, the Ohio, and the Hudson Valley — and learned how British ministers thought of conquering or defending a continent. Most of all, he learned how war could become a battleground for the competing ambitions and interests of the various colonies.

— Edward G. Lengel

General George Washington: A Military Life (2005)