Editing Salem, Massachusetts (section)

===American Revolution===

On February 26, 1775, [[Patriot (American Revolution)|patriots]] raised the drawbridge at the North River on North Street, preventing British Colonel [[Alexander Leslie (British Army officer)|Alexander Leslie]] and his 300 troops of the [[64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot|64th Regiment of Foot]] from seizing stores and ammunition hidden in North Salem. Both parties came to an agreement and no blood was shed that day, but war broke out at [[Battles of Lexington and Concord|Lexington and Concord]] soon after. A group of prominent merchants with ties to Salem published a statement retracting what some interpreted as [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] leanings and professing their dedication to the American cause, including Francis Cabot,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Mary Caroline |title=Famous Families of Massachusetts |date=1930 |publisher=Boston, Little, Brown |chapter-url=http://library.albany.edu/preservation/brittle_bks/Crawford_Familiesv1/Chpt9.pdf |chapter=The Cabot Family |access-date=2016-07-19 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408100500/https://library.albany.edu/preservation/brittle_bks/Crawford_Familiesv1/Chpt9.pdf  }}</ref> William Pynchon, Thomas Barnard, E. A. Holyoke, and William Pickman.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jkgSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA127 |title=The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution |first= James H. |last=Stark |year= 1910 |publisher=The Salem Press Co. |isbn=978-0-7222-7679-2 |access-date=2012-11-10}}</ref>

[[File:Salem Harbor Fitz Hugh Lane.jpeg|thumb|''Salem Harbor'', oil on canvas, [[Fitz Hugh Lane]], 1853, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]]]
During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the town became a center for privateering. The documentation is incomplete, but about 1,700 [[Letters of Marque]] were granted during that time, issued on a per-voyage basis. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers and are credited with capturing or destroying about 600 British ships.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/privateers.html|title=John Fraylor. Salem Maritime National Historic Park|publisher=Nps.gov|access-date=2012-09-03}}</ref> Privateering resumed during the [[War of 1812]].