Updated at 8:45 p.m. ET

Sarah Palin defended her account of Paul Revere and his midnight ride, insisting that his warning essentially represented a message to the British that the revolutionaries weren't going to back down.

"I didn't mess up," the potential GOP presidential candidate said this morning on Fox News Sunday. "I answered candidly and I know my American history."

Last week, while the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee was visiting Boston on her tour of historical sites, Palin said this about Paul Revere: "He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms."

Today on Fox News, Palin criticized the "gotcha" moment from last week that has gone viral on the Internet.

From the Fox News transcript, here's what Palin said today:

He warned the Americans that the British were coming, the British were coming, and they were going to try to take our arms and we got to make sure that we were protecting ourselves and shoring up all of our ammunitions and firearms so that they couldn't take it. But remember that the British had already been there, many soldiers for seven years in that area. And part of Paul Revere's ride -- and it wasn't just one ride -- he was a courier, he was a messenger. Part of his ride was to warn the British that we're already there. That hey, you're not going to succeed. You're not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have. He did warn the British.

The website for the Paul Revere House in Boston has an account of what happened the night of April 18, 1775. It explains that Revere was instructed to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that "British troops were marching to arrest them."

The Paul Revere House also says Revere "alarmed" the countryside on his way to Lexington and upon approaching the house where Adams and Hancock were staying was told by a sentry not to make so much noise. That's when Revere warned "the regulars are coming out."

As for whether the bus tour is making her think more or less about seeking the White House in 2012, Palin said she believes the response she's been getting has been an "affirmation" that a leadership change is needed.

"I haven't interpreted it's about me," she said. "It's been about the message."

Palin said she's "still trying to figure out the lay of the land" about the 2012 GOP presidential field and whether there's a place for her to run.