Village Training Field

Location: Intersection of Centre and Ingersoll Streets Danvers, Massachusetts

In Grateful MemoryThe defense was a prime necessity to the early settlers of Salem Village, and as early as 1671 the male inhabitants began meeting here for military drill. This preparation was heightened in 1675 during the King Philip War in which many villagers took part. In 1709 Deacon Nathaniel Ingersoll willed this field "to the inhabitants of Salem Village for a training place forever."

In the 1770s Danvers alarm companies began training here in anticipation of troubles with Britain, and it was from this spot that Danvers minutemen responded to the Lexington Alarm of April 19, 1775. Danvers, with more than 300 men in 9 companies, was the most distant town to respond to the alarm, and in the ensuing action lost 7 killed, 2 wounded, and 1 captured, the town suffering the most casualties save for Lexington itself.

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