It has long been debated who exactly fired “the first shot heard around the world” during the American Revolution. To add to the debate, was this truly where the first bloodshed occurred as well? Or was the first bloodshed of the Revolutionary War over twenty miles away in Salem, Massachusetts?
Joseph Whicher was a resident of Salem, Massachusetts when Colonel Alexander Leslie came to town searching for reportedly hidden weapons on February 26, 1775. A series of events led to a standoff at North River with Colonel Leslie on the shore demanding men on the other side of the small causeway to lower the drawbridge that had been raised. The Salemites refused, claiming that the road and therefore the drawbridge was private property.
Seeing that they were at an impasse, Colonel Leslie noticed three gundalows –– large sailboats that some sources referred to as gondolas –– and ordered his men to go and seize them. The Salemites began destroying them first, angering Colonel Leslie. However, as the Salem Gazette argued, “what law was forbidden to put a hole in his gondola if he was so minded?” Regardless of any laws being violated, the Regulars threatened the men with their bayonets.
Joseph Whicher, the foreman of Colonel Sprague’s distillery, stood before them and destroyed another boat then tore open his shirt and dared them. One frustrated soldier lunged forward and pricked him in his chest with his bayonet tip. Whicher fell back onto the boat, but was only mildly injured.
Little to nothing can be found of what came of Joseph Whicher except that he was incredibly proud and for the rest of his life was known to show off at any slight provocation “the first wound received in the war of Independence.”
Sources
- Barnes, Eric W. "All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men." American Heritage Journal, Volume 11, Issue 6, October 1960. Available at AmericanHeritage.com.
- Endicott, Charles Moses. "Account of Leslie’s Retreat." Salem: William Ives & George W. Pease Printers, 1856. Available at Archive.org.
- Fischer, David Hackett. "Paul Revere's Ride." New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 9780195098310.
- "Leslie’s Retreat or How the Revolutionary War Almost Began in Salem." Historic Ipswich. February 22, 2023. Available at HistoricIpswich.net.
- "Leslie’s Retreat Marker." Historical Marker Database. Available at HMDB.org.
- Paine, Ralph D.. "The Ships and Sailors of Old Salem." Reprint Publication Maryland: Heritage, Inc., 2007. Available at Google Books.
Edited by Alisa Grishin