Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — It may not be the most well known story in American history, but it helped lead to revolution.
The Somerville Museum performed a reenactment of the Powder Alarm Sunday to commemorate its 250th anniversary.
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On Sept. 1, 1775, General Thomas Gage, the colonial governor of Massachusetts, ordered British troops to remove a stockpile of gunpowder from a building (the Powder House) in Somerville.
Rumors spread across New England about the possibility of war, leading to thousands of armed colonists converging on Cambridge, demanding the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Oliver. After he complied, the crowd dispersed.
1 of 4 Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
2 of 4 Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
3 of 4 Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
4 of 4 Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
The events made militiamen realize they needed a better system of alert and response in case war actually did break out. Thus, they created the minutemen, companies of soldiers that could be ready to respond to military threats quickly and efficiently.
"Six months later, we have a system that 4,000 militiamen show on the 19th of April, 1775 (the Battles of Lexington and Concord), hence the significance of the Powder Alarm and our history today in Somerville," retired Col. Lawrence Willwerth III told WBZ NewsRadio.
"All these things that led up to Lexington and Concord that people sometimes forget, but we may not have had a Lexington and Concord if it hadn’t been Somerville, you know, for the Powder Alarm," said Lt. Col. Geoffrey Love.
WBZ's Suzanne Sausville (@WBZSausville) reports.
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