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9781421410067 Academic Inspection Copy

Prelude to Revolution

The Salem Gunpowder Raid of 1775
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Before colonial Americans could declare independence, they had to undergo a change of heart. Beyond a desire to rebel against British mercantile and fiscal policies, they had to believe that they could stand up to the fully armed British soldier. Prelude to Revolution uncovers one story of how the Americans found that confidence.On April 19, 1775, British raids on Lexington Green and Concord Bridge made history, but it was an episode nearly two months earlier in Salem, Massachusetts, that set the stage for the hostilities. Peter Charles Hoffer has discovered records and newspaper accounts of a British gunpowder raid on Salem. Seeking powder and cannon hidden in the town, a regiment of British Regulars were foiled by quick-witted patriots who carried off the ordinance and then openly taunted the Regulars. The prudence of British commanding officer Alexander Leslie and the persistence of the patriot leaders turned a standoff into a bloodless triumph for the colonists. What might have been a violent confrontation turned into a local victory, and the patriots gloated as news spread of 'Leslies Retreat.'When British troops marched on Lexington and Concord on that pivotal day in April, Hoffer explains, each side had drawn diametrically opposed lessons from the Salem raid. It emboldened the rebels to stand fast and infuriated the British, who vowed never again to back down. After relating these battles in vivid detail, Hoffer provides a teachable problem in historic memory by asking why we celebrate Lexington and Concord but not Salem and why New Englanders recalled the events at Salem but then forgot their significance.

Preface
Prologue
1. The Most Loyal Town in the Province
2. Spies Like Us
3. Leslie's Retreat
4. Intended and Unintended Consequences
5. Memorial Exercises
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggested Further Reading
Index

""Prelude to Revolution is a well-told story that deserves to be read. Although it is written for an undergraduate audience, graduate students and the public would also profit from and enjoy this work. As Hoffer walks the reader through the event and how is was remembered and then forgotten, he reveals something of the practice of the historian's craft, even as he resurrects a dimly-remembered event.""

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