Robert Newman (sexton)

Robert Newman (March 20, 1752 – May 26, 1804) was an American sexton at the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts.

He is considered a Patriot in the American Revolution for hanging lanterns along with vestryman John Pulling[1][2][3] in his church's steeple on April 18, 1775, part of a warning signal devised by Paul Revere during the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

After pretending to go to bed on the night of April 18, Newman snuck out of his house undetected by the officers and joined vestryman John Pulling and Thomas Bernard, who assisted him with the signal.

Bernard served as a lookout while Pulling and Newman went to the belfry, the tallest structure in the area.

Using a code devised by Revere, Newman hung two lanterns in the church's belfry to warn Patriots that the British were about to descend upon Lexington via the Charles River.