Complex sentence: The New Salem Bicentennial Commission and town historian later speculated that this event might have occurred earlier, at the time of the Powder Alarm during 1774, a precursor to the events at Lexington and Concord.
Split into simpler sentences: The New Salem Bicentennial Commission and town historian later speculated that this event might have occurred earlier, at the time of the Powder Alarm during 1774. The Powder Alarm was a precursor to the events at Lexington and Concord.