Sermon: Leslie's Retreat, or Why Marblehead Is Not Concord

Two hundred fifty years ago tensions were rising between the British government and the Patriots.  A key issue was which side, if fighting ever broke out, would have access to the guns and gunpowder which was stored around the Boston area.  In April of 1775, Britain sent troops to Lexington and Concord to try to put these elements of war firmly in the hands loyal to the crown, but the Patriots fought them and thus the war was started.  Six weeks earlier, another British army troop tried the same maneuver in Marblehead and Salem, but the Patriots mustered several militia units and raised a drawbridge and drew a stalemate which prevented violence from breaking out at that time.