Seven and a half weeks before the “shot heard ’round the world” at the Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the conventional start of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775, a long-overlooked encounter between the British Army and the townspeople of Salem, Massachusetts, almost sparked outright war. At a river and over a bridge, American colonists’ desire for independence reached a fever pitch as they stood their ground against the distant kingdom of their heritage.
Known as Leslie’s Retreat, the standoff took place on February 26, 1775, when British Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Leslie led a raid to seize suspected cannons from a makeshift Colonial armory in Salem. Instead of finding artillery, Leslie encountered an inflamed citizenry and militia members ready to stop his search. These colonists flooded Salem’s streets, preventing Leslie’s passage and forcing him to negotiate. Ultimately, the Salemites convinced the British Regulars to stand down and return to Boston. No shots were fired, and no one was seriously injured—aside from the boundless pride of the British occupiers.
Had Charles Moses Endicott, a retired sea captain and Salem’s unofficial town historian, not taken it upon himself to publish an 1856 text about the failed raid, it might have been lost to history. Called Account of Leslie’s Retreat at the North Bridge in Salem, Endicott’s chronicle was based on eyewitness and secondhand testimony from elderly Salemites. Its title used the word “retreat” to reinforce overwhelming local sentiment about the circumstances of Leslie’s departure. “Here … we claim the first blow was struck in the war of independence, by open resistance to both the civil and military power of the mother country; comparatively bloodless, it is true, but not the less firm and decided,” Endicott wrote.
To mark the 250th anniversary of Leslie’s Retreat, as well as the upcoming 250th anniversary of America’s founding on July 4, 1776, the city of Salem hosted a slate of commemorative events, including a re-enactment and a National Park Service exhibition. As Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo says, “The events of February 26, 1775, are of enormous historical significance for Salem and our nation. They reflect the resilience and strength of this community and of the colonists more broadly.”