“Powder Alarm” Commemorations in Somerville & Cambridge, 1–4 Sept.

I’m participating in a series of free events at the start of September to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the “Powder Alarm” and the start of Massachusetts’ political independence from Britain.

For the people of Massachusetts, that independence began to coalesce more than a year and a half before the Declaration of Independence.

On September 1, 1774, the royal governor sent soldiers to Somerville and Cambridge to seize gunpowder and other militia supplies.

In response, on September 2 thousands of Middlesex County farmers marched into Cambridge and demanded resignations from all royal appointees in town. By the end of that day, it was clear that the governor no longer commanded any authority in most of Massachusetts. In the fall, towns set up an independent legislature and started to prepare for war.

Sunday, 1 September, 9:30 A.M.
Spark of the Revolution
Nathan Tufts Park, Broadway and College Avenue, Somerville

The Somerville Museum is partnering with the City of Somerville to produce a reenactment of the 1774 events at the Powder House, with remarks by Gen. Thomas Gage and other royal appointees, followed by a living history fair. The fair will include docent tours of the Powder House, activity tables, and even a scavenger hunt of the park! More information to be posted here.

Monday, 2 September, 1:00–5:00 P.M.
Rebellion along Tory Row
Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge
History Cambridge, 159 Brattle Street, Cambridge

Two of the mansions where Loyalist families lived in 1774 are hosting a range of events, indoors and out, for different ages and interests. People could, for example, enjoy what’s happening on the Longfellow–Washington grounds, join the first leg of my walking tour, and then sit down for a talk or two at History Cambridge.

• 1:00–5:00: Family games and activities at Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site.
• 1:45: J. L. Bell leads a walking tour of the colonial estates along Brattle Street, starting at Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site.
• 2:30: Prof. Robert J. Allison lays out the political situation in Massachusetts in 1774 at History Cambridge.
• 3:30: Michele Gabrielson speaks on Revolutionary printers and 18th-century media literacy at History Cambridge.

One more enticing detail: Because this Monday is Labor Day, Cambridge parking rules will not be in force.
Wednesday, 4 September, 6:30 P.M.
The Powder Alarm and Political Change
Cambridge Public Library

In the library auditorium, four historians discuss the history and significance of the 1774 Powder Alarm, including its political context, how it affected Cambridge’s Loyalist families, and the most basic fight for liberty along Tory Row. Here are the panelists:

• Dan Breen is a professor of Legal Studies at Brandeis University. He received is Ph.D. in American History from Boston College, and is now putting the finishing touches on a book about the public monuments of Boston.
• Caitlin G. DeAngelis, Ph.D., served as the head Research Associate for the Harvard and Slavery Project and as a Lecturer in History and Literature at Harvard University. In addition to articles about individuals from eighteenth-century New England, she is the author of The Caretakers: War Graves Gardeners and the Secret Battle to Rescue Allied Airmen in World War II.
• MaryKate Smolenski is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Boston University. She studies the memory of the American Revolution through print and material culture, and is particularly interested in how descendants of Revolutionary-era Loyalists remember their ancestors.
• myself. My book The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War recounts the Powder Alarm as the launch of a month of seizing and stealing artillery.

End the summer with the start of independence!