Framingham troop brings Revere’s famed ride to life

The National Lancers have been performing these reenactments since 1904, following the paths of both Revere and the lesser-known William Dawes, who met up with Revere early on the morning of April 19, 1775, and helped him warn residents of the British advance.

The riders who trace Revere’s path will start Monday in Boston’s North End and advance through Charlestown, Somerville, Medford (along modern-day Route 60), Arlington and into Lexington. The Dawes reenactors start in Roxbury’s Eliot Square, and ride through Brookline, Cambridge and Arlington en route to Lexington.

A total of four riders (and four horses) travel the routes of the two men, switching off along the way to make the trip less arduous. Belmont resident Leonid Kondratiuk, a retired Army colonel and director of militia affairs at the state adjutant general’s office, will portray Revere as he rides the final stretch of the route, and is due to reach Lexington Common at 1:15 p.m.

Last year, Kondratiuk rode the first leg of the Revere ride, starting in the North End. Along the way, children crowded the streets, many reciting with him Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.’’

“It was one of the greatest things I’ve ever done in my life,’’ said Kondratiuk.

Holliston resident Paul Tobin will ride the first leg of the Revere ride, before Kondratiuk takes over. Dawes’s ride will be split between Dennis Williams of Merrimack, N.H., and Christopher Tobin, Paul’s brother and fellow Holliston resident. Outriders also escort the reenactors, making sure the riders and the horses are safe along the route.

The National Lancers were created in 1836 as a volunteer troop of militia cavalry, and acted as the ceremonial escort of the governor of Massachusetts. During the Civil War and World War I, members of the group were called to active duty.

In recent times, the Lancers have again returned to mostly ceremonial duty, although they were ordered into active service during the Democratic National Convention in 2004 to guard Camp Curtis Guild in Reading.

The group has been reenacting the rides of Revere and Dawes for more than a century. This year’s riders were chosen by Richard Reale Jr., the executive officer of the Lancers, based on service to the group in the past year. The Lancers own the horses used in the reenactment and other ceremonial events.

Many of the horses that spend their final years living on the group’s 56-acre Framingham farm, near the Sherborn border, have illustrious backgrounds. Some have retired from pulling caissons caskets at Arlington National Cemetery, including one horse that transported the caisson carrying the remains of President Ronald Reagan.

“Coming up to our place is like Club Med,’’ Reale said of the horses. “They get a lot of room to play.’’

The Lancers have their own riding school at the farm to teach recruits who want to join the organization. “Everybody has to go through the one year of training,’’ Kondratiuk said. “We train our riders in the riding techniques of the US Cavalry.’’

That means using manuals, saddles and tack dating to the 1920s.

To prepare the horses for the Patriots Day events, the Lancers start riding them along public roads, first in quiet Sherborn and then moving up to Framingham, accompanied by an escort from the Middlesex sheriff’s office. The rides both condition the horses for their long trek on Patriots Day and get them used to the noise of riding among crowds.

The original ride of Paul Revere began the night of April 18, 1775, when he managed to escape Boston’s Back Bay by boat.

After being set ashore at the Charlestown ferry landing, he borrowed a horse named Brown Beauty and started on the long ride to Lexington.

Revere set out to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock, visiting Lexington, that their lives might be in danger from the advancing British troops. After accomplishing that, Revere and Dawes headed toward Concord — where local militiamen had stored munitions — to warn residents. They soon met up with a third rider, Dr. Samuel Prescott.

But just as the group crossed into Lincoln, they ran into a small group of British soldiers. Revere, who had been riding ahead of the other two men, was captured. Dawes and Prescott escaped. The British soldiers questioned and released Revere.

When British soldiers arrived at the Lexington Green later in the morning, shots were fired, and the first battle of the Revolutionary War had begun.

The National Lancers will participate in a lighting service Sunday at the Old North Church in Boston’s North End, arriving at 7 p.m. At 11 p.m., they will take part in a short reenactment of Revere’s arrival at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington.

On Patriots Day, the Revere rider will leave Hanover Street in the North End at 10:30 a.m. and reach Lexington’s Battle Green at about 1:15 p.m. The Dawes rider will leave Eliot Square in Roxbury at 10:30 a.m. and reach the Battle Green at about 1:25 p.m. At both locations, a 10 a.m. ceremony will set the stage for their departures.

Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@globe.com