Leslie's Retreat - Salem, MA, 1775
British Colonel Alexander Leslie Fails to Capture Rebel Cannon
Jan 24, 2008
In November of 1774, Colonel David Mason was commissioned by the Massachusetts Committee of Safety as an artillery officer. He had some experience in this during the French and Indian War at Fort William Henry. At the end of the war in 1763 he had formed an artillery company in Boston, MA. He was a self taught inventor who even had discussions concerning electricity with Benjamin Franklin. He had bought 17 old French cannon, 12-pounders, and was having them refit and mounted on carriages in Salem.
Colonel Alexander Leslie Sent to Capture Cannon
An informant alerted General Thomas Gage in Boston of Mason’s activity and he made immediate plans to capture the cannon. On a cold New England Sunday morning he sent a contingent of 240 troops, the 64th Regiment under Colonel Leslie, to do the job. They left Castle William by ship and were destined to embark at Marblehead. They chose Sunday as they thought it would catch the erstwhile Puritans ensconced safely in their Meetinghouses. Gage had not taken into account that the Mariners of Marblehead, for practical economic purposes, could not afford the same religious devotion for which the rest of the Puritan population was known.
Salem Meetinghouses Alarmed
Leslie landed his troops between 2 and 3pm at Homan’s Cove on the Marblehead neck. Their plan to rely on a Lord’s Day surprise was quickly thwarted by the Marblehead folk who quickly spread the alarm to Salem where the faithful were indeed gathered for the afternoon services. The cry of “The foe, the foe, they come!" was heard throughout the town of 5000 souls and a prearranged drum beat tattooed just outside the meetinghouse door. Colonel Leslies soldiers marched resolutely in single toward Salem with the drum and fife corps playing “Yankee Doodle”. They got as far as a draw bridge called the North Bridge in Salem when they were halted as the bridge had been drawn up to the opposite bank.
“If you do fire, you will all be dead men!”
When faced with the resolution of the Salem residents on the north side of the bridge, Leslie was urged by his Lieutenants to fire on the crowd. At that moment, Captain John Felt was unable to hold his peace any longer. He shouted at Leslie in a voice that was unmistakably heard by civilian and soldier alike, “If you do fire, you will all be dead men!” It was quickly becoming the kind of situation that could begin a war and the mood of the crowd was in no mood to delay it. Another man, Joseph Whicher, while helping to scuttle a few gondolas that might have aided a British crossing, was verbally accosted by a few hotheaded Redcoats. He opened his shirt and dared them to bayonet him right there. One redcoat got close enough to prick him and draw blood before Leslie restored order.
A Humble Yet Circumspect Retreat
More bloodshed was spared that day by the redoubtable minister of the First Church in Salem. Pastor Thomas Barnard, himself a recently “reformed” Tory, began the delicate negotiations. By this time in the curiously consistent manner that these New Englanders had perfected, word had gone out and any armaments that would have been procured were safely being hurried off to various safe locations. Finally, Colonel Leslie, seeing the futility of either persuasion or force, agreed to leave if given the chance to fulfill his orders by searching on the north side of the bridge. He was given leeway to march his soldiers fifty rods past the bridge if he agreed to immediately return to his ship. To this Leslie consented and then retreated to his transport. He sailed back to Boston empty-handed, though without any further effusion of blood.
Sources
Leslie’s Retreat at the NorthBridge on Sunday Feb’y 26, 1775 by Charles M. Endicott, 1856, Ives and Pease Printers
The Essex Gazette Issued February 28, 1775 by Timothy Pickering
The Spirit of Seventy-Six edited by Commager and Morris, 2002, Castle Books
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