What is a \u201cwell-regulated\u201d militia?\u00a0 How did Salem and Timothy Pickering give it shape and point toward the Second Amendment?\u00a0 The story is now 250 years old!\u00a0 \u201cI gladly embraced the opportunity which then presented, of applying to the service of my country the little knowledge & experience an office in the militia had led me to acquire, by writing the following plain rudiments of the military art.\u201d\u00a0 Thus wrote Timothy Pickering to George Washington in 1775.\u00a0 That letter is preserved in the National Archives.\u00a0 His book \u201cAn Easy Plan of Discipline of a Militia\u201d was conceived in the contested public discourse of Salem 1774 when the Massachusetts Provincial Government moved from Boston to Salem.\u00a0 Divided loyalties and need for a practical manual of arms for the militia to defend Salem led Pickering to simplify earlier regulations.\u00a0 With Washington and now as adjutant-general (later quartermaster-general), Pickering\u2019s \u201cEasy Plan\u201d was adopted across Washington\u2019s Army.<\/p>\n
Join Charlie Newhall<\/strong> and Bob Erbetta<\/strong> to learn about this turning point of the politics of Salem in 1774, Pickering\u2019s role in reshaping the Militia, and the coming of the American Revolution.<\/p>\n Newhall, an Early American historian and history teacher at St. John\u2019s Prep, will present the Salem story and Erbetta, a co-founder of Marblehead’s Glover\u2019s Regiment (in 1974) and a highly experienced reenactor, will walk us through the actual manual of arms and drill of soldiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Join Charlie Newhall and Bob Erbetta to learn about this turning point of the politics of Salem in 1774, Pickering\u2019s role in reshaping the Militia, and the coming of the American Revolution.","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":461,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","_tribe_events_is_hybrid":"","_tribe_events_is_virtual":"","_tribe_events_virtual_video_source":"","_tribe_events_virtual_embed_video":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button_text":"","_tribe_events_virtual_linked_button":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_at":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_embed_to":[],"_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_event":"","_tribe_events_virtual_show_on_views":"","_tribe_events_virtual_url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[],"class_list":["post-460","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n