Powder House Day

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Powder House Day in New Haven, Connecticut, is celebrated annually to commemorate the events of April 22, 1775 when the Governor's Foot Guard, under Captain Benedict Arnold, demanded the keys to the powder house in order to arm themselves and begin the march to Cambridge, Massachusetts, marking the entry of New Haven into the American Revolution.

When news of The Battle of Lexington reached New Haven, Connecticut on April 21, 1775, the Second Company of the Governors Foot Guard voted to assist their fellow Massachusetts patriots.

Although the New Haven town meeting had voted the day before not to send aid to Massachusetts, the Foot Guard decided overwhelmingly to go. With the blessing of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards they confronted the selectmen, who were meeting at a Beer's Tavern, and demanded access to the powder house.

"You may tell the selectmen," Arnold reportedly said, "that if the keys are not coming within five minutes, my men will break into the supply-house and help themselves. None but the Almighty God shall prevent me from marching." The keys were reluctantly handed over and supplies and arms were taken for the march to Cambridge. On July 2, 1775 members of the Foot Guard escorted General George Washington to Cambridge after his overnight stay in New Haven on his way to Boston to take command of the forces around the Greater Boston area.

The Governor's Foot Guard stages an annual recreation of the events on a Saturday in April. After a memorial service at New Haven's Center Church on the Green (the same church where Arnold's wife was later buried in the cellar cemetery), the re-enactors march across the Green to City Hall, where a member of the Foot Guard playing Arnold demands the keys to the powder house from the current mayor of New Haven, who plays his Revolutionary predecessor. Despite his later deeds Benedict Arnold is still considered a hero in Connecticut.