Authors:
Historic Era:
Historic Theme:
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October 1960 | Volume 11, Issue 6
Authors:
Historic Era:
Historic Theme:
Subject:
October 1960 | Volume 11, Issue 6
Lexington and Concord may argue for another hundred years about where the shot heard round the world was actually fired, but to the town of Salem, over on the Massachusetts coast, the question will remain largely academic. The point of the discussion, after all, is where the War of Independence began, and Salem has her own claims to the honor. It was at Salem’s North River Bridge, two months before the clashes at Lexington and Concord, that British troops first met armed American resistance—and retreated. Although no shots were fired at the North Bridge (not to be confused with the Concord landmark of the same name), at least one bayonet was brought into play, and the first American blood was shed.
All during the winter of 1774-75 rumors of patriot activity at Salem had been drifting through British headquarters in Boston. The military governor of Massachusetts, Lieutenant General the Honorable Thomas Gage, had kept a suspicious eye on the town ever since autumn when the colony’s General Court, meeting in Salem against his express orders, had set itself up as the Provincial Congress, thus bringing rebellion more or less into the open. Then, in February, 1775, Gage learned from a well-placed informer that the Congress was creating an ordnance depot at Salem and had assembled there a sizable number of cannon. Gage decided to act. If he did not seize the weapons at once, his troops would soon be lacing them on the battlefield. By taking the Americans by surprise, he might still avoid an armed collision.
But secrecy was of the utmost importance. Since Gage was aware that all British troop movements in the city of Boston were closely watched by the patriot information service, he assigned the Salem mission to the 64th Infantry Regiment, stationed at Castle William on an island in Boston Harbor. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Alexander Leslie, son of a Scottish earl and an experienced soldier. On February 24, Gage ordered Leslie to have his men ready to embark for Marblehead, the small port next to Salem, the following night.
The regiment sailed on schedule at midnight Saturday, February 25, without being noticed by the evervigilant patriot spies. Only one near-slip occurred. In the early morning after the departure of the troops, Castle William’s milk supplier arrived in his wherry to find the fort deserted except for a skeleton guard. To keep this information from reaching the patriots in Boston, the milkman was held until the regiment returned.
Shortly after noon on Sunday, the ship dropped anchor in Marblehead Bay: to all appearances she was merely a British vessel on patrol. Only members of the crew were visible on her decks; Leslie’s orders were to keep his men under hatches until two o’clock when the townspeople would have returned to church after the noontime intermission in the all-day service. Gage was no stranger to New England. He knew her inhabitants well and had timed the expedition accordingly.
Gage was right