Alex Cain will discuss the colony’s response to the British threat and examine the Massachusetts militia and minuteman system before Lexington and Concord.
In October 1774, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress ordered the towns across the colony to prepare for war with England. In response, the colony entered a wartime phase that included creating minute companies, stockpiling arms, ammunition, and equipment, and establishing a defense network ready to mobilize if the redcoats marched from Boston into the countryside.

About the Speaker:
Alexander Cain, JD, graduated from Merrimack College in 1993 with a degree in economics and from the New England School of Law in 1996 with a juris doctorate. He directs a Merrimack Valley-based vocational program that introduces high school students to advanced manufacturing and skilled trades careers. Alex is a well-respected and highly sought-after speaker who frequently lectures on the military and social influences of 1775 Massachusetts. He has published multiple research articles that have shed new light on the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, the Siege of Boston, and the loyalist refugee experience during the American Revolution. Alex has also published two books; We Stood Our Ground: Lexington in the First Year of the American Revolution and I See Nothing but the Horrors of a Civil War and is the author of the blog and podcast “Historical Nerdery.” He resides in Massachusetts with his wife, Paula. They have two adult children, John and Abigail.