On this day 250 years ago in Salem, Massachusetts, Patriot militia confronted a detachment of the British Army in an event that is now called the “Salem Gunpowder Raid” or “Leslie’s Retreat.” This raid almost, but did not, start the Revolutionary War.
Colonel Alexander Leslie sailed on the HMS Lively with a detachment of approximately 250 men of the 64th Regiment of Foot the short distance from Boston to Marblehead, Massachusetts landing at mid-afternoon. Their mission was to march from Marblehead to the adjacent town of Salem and to seize cannon (not gunpowder) that General Gage’s spies reported were hidden in a barn in Salem.
Unfortunately for Gage and Leslie, the Patriots knew the British were coming. Patriot spies organized by Paul Revere passed along word that the British were embarking to sail to Marblehead and then would raid Salem. As soon as the Lively docked at the harbor Major John Pedrick of the Marblehead Militia raced to Salem with word that the “Regulars were coming” ahead of the British march and the Marblehead Militia was called to arms. When the British detachment marched into Salem, men had poured out of church (it was a Sunday) and gathered in the streets of Salem. Except for a few hidden pistols, the Militia of Salem did not bring their muskets to church so the crowd was unarmed albeit numerous. They did however pull up the drawbridge on the King’s Highway over the North River in Salem. The barn where they knew the British were heading was on the north side of the river, not that it mattered because the Patriots had already removed the munitions stored in the barn to other hidden locations.
But the Patriots were ready to make a stand. They refused Leslie’s orders to lower the drawbridge and began destroying boats in the river that would allow the British to cross. The unarmed crowd surrounding the British taunted the soldiers. When Leslie demanded the location of the hidden cannon and arms, Richard Derby, who owned, and had helped conceal, some of the weapons replied “Find them if you can. Take them if you can. They will never be surrendered.” The British fixed bayonets and advanced to try and intimidate the crowd. Joseph Whicher, the foreman of a distillery in town, bared his chest and was “Sufficiently pricked to draw blood,” according to later historian. Whicher would be the only casualty of the day, and he proudly showed off his scar for the rest of his life. Sarah Tarrant leaned out the window of her house and dared the British to shoot her.
The frustrated Colonel Leslie threatened to order his troops to open fire on the unarmed crowd. Salem Militia Captain John Felt was at the front of the crowd and shouted back “If you do fire, you will all be dead men.” Felt was not bluffing and Leslie knew it. Although the immediate crowd was unarmed, on the north side of the bridge the Salem Militia had turned out under arms and were joined by the Militia from nearby Danvers. And behind Leslie’s detachment the Marblehead Militia had turned out and a thousand militiamen under Col. Azor Orne blocked the road back to Leslie’s ship. Thousands of militia under arms from the surrounding towns were rushing to Salem and Marblehead.
Leslie was no fool and the Patriots had no intention of attacking the troops unless the British fired first. So Leslie negotiated a deal with Colonel David Mason of the Salem Militia and Rev. Thomas Barnard Jr. If the Patriots lowered the bridge so Leslie could march to the barn in accordance with his orders, he would turn the column around and march back to his ship in Marblehead without searching anything. Both sides honored the deal, but the British column had to march back to the ship to the jeers of the Patriots in ignominious defeat.
Also on this day, three “mechanicks” who were gathering intelligence on British troops in Boston at the direction of Paul Revere were arrested and sent to Castle Island in Boston Bay to be incarcerated by the Royal Navy.
https://www.discoverconcordma.com/articles/579-the-salem-affair
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=48471
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/february-26-1775/id1788369259?i=1000696118264
Fischer, David Hackett, Paul Revere’s Ride (New York, 1994) at pp. 59-64.
On This Day In The Revolution 
One response to “On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — February 26, 1775”
It’s interesting how the patriots defeated the British in this “engagement” without firing a shot. If half the patriots were as gutsy as Joseph Whicher and Sarah Tarrant, I don’t blame them for turning around, tucking their tails, and running.
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