Leslie’s Retreat 250th Reenactment
February 22, 2025 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
FREE
The Salem Gunpower Raid of February 26th, 1775, known locally as “Leslie’s Retreat”, was a significant incident leading up to the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. On Sunday, February 26th, 1775, Lt. Colonel Alexander Leslie of the 64th Regiment of Foot embarked from Castle Island in Boston Harbor aboard the HMS Lively to confiscate some cannon the Salem militia had recently secured. Leslie’s orderly landing and march from Marblehead to Salem was noticed and the alarm raised. By the time he arrived in Salem, the drawbridge across the North River to where the cannons were stashed, had been raised. A large rabble of Salemites had formed surrounding and upon the Bridge – a tense situation only grew more excited as British troops attempted to requisition some small boats to cross the North River.
After a few hours and stiff negotiation between Col. Leslie, Captain John Felt, Colonel Timothy Pickering and Rev. Thomas Barnard, an agreement was met. The frequently cited account of the incident by Charles Endicott mentions, “By the prudence and praise-worth forbearance of Colonel Leslie, any serious collision with the troops was happily averted”. Under a lesser officer than Leslie, it is easy to imagine the inciting incident of the Revolution starting at our North Bridge rather than Concord’s. The drawbridge would be lowered, Col. Leslie and his troops would march 30 rods (~500 feet) into North Salem to do their search, accomplishing their mission of searching for the guns, before returning to their vessel in Marblehead Harbor and ultimately back to Boston. While no shots were fired that day, the incident is historically significant on several counts and deserves our recognition and commemoration. A British magazine published April 1775 stated that “the Americans have hoisted the standard of liberty at Salem”, clearly viewing this as an inciting incident to the anticipated conflict.
On February 22nd 2025 at 11am there will be a reenactment of Leslie’s Retreat
MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON
To learn more about Leslie’s Retreat Reenactment visit the Salem 400 website
