Thanks for your answer!
I was looking for something else, but this is fascinating reading. Note that someone shot at the captain with full intent to kill him:
(there's some material before this- so the link at the bottom will take you to the full story)
Escalation of resistance into violence
The British officers did, in fact, hold low opinions of the Americans, and did not try to hide their feelings. They suspected every American of being a smuggler. Very soon, Rhode Island newspapers began printing complaints that local residents were insulted and treated roughly by the British. Shortly after that, Rhode Islanders began to use violence to express their grievances.
For example, in 1769 a group of "ruffians" attacked an assistant to the Providence customs collector. They tarred and feathered him, and then beat him. This man, Jesse Saville, had testified against a local merchant whose vessel was condemned. Saville had boarded the vessel at night, when he was off duty, to search secretly for smuggled goods. The local citizens considered him a spy and an informer. Later, Newport customs collector Charles Dudley was also attacked and beaten. Rhode Islanders hated Dudley because he showed favoritism and discriminated against merchants who had signed the non-importation agreements. He took bribes from his favorites, although he pretended to be above such behavior.
Rhode Islanders took violent reprisal upon the British ships, as well as upon customs officials. In 1764, the St. John was fired upon by the gunner at Fort George, in Newport. This action was upheld and defended by the Rhode Island colonial government. In 1765, another British ship, the Maidstone, was also a victim of local violence in Newport. One of its launches was stolen and burned. In 1769, the Liberty, under Captain William Reid, was boarded by "unknown persons" while the captain and crew were ashore. These persons cut the ship's cables and let the ship drift ashore. There they cut down the mast, scuttled the ship, and burned its boats.
In all of these instances, the Rhode Islanders had serious grievances to redress. The British vessels often stopped local ships, and searched them, without any evidence or information to justify their suspicions. The attack on the Liberty, for example, came after it seized two ships that were quickly able to prove that they had not violated the trade laws. As for the St. John, it was one of many British ships that practiced impressment: boarding an American ship, kidnapping one or more of its sailors, and forcing them into service in the British navy. In general, Rhode Islanders regarded the Royal Navy captains as the most hated symbols of British oppression in the 1760's.
Enter the Gaspee and Lieutenant William Dudingston
The sloop Gaspee had been on duty in colonial waters since 1764, under Captain Thomas Allen. Because impressment was a prominent part of his job, he and his ship earned hatred and fear in several American colonies. In 1768 the Gaspee was overhauled, and turned into a two-masted schooner. This increased the ship's speed, and enabled it to operate with a smaller crew. When the Gaspee returned to duty along the Atlantic coast, Lieutenant William Dudingston replaced Captain Allen in command.
Lieutenant Dudingston soon had a reputation throughout the colonies for insulting, humiliating, and even beating Americans who offended him. In 1772, he and the Gaspee were transferred to the New England area from Pennsylvania, where he had seized so many ships that the British authorities feared riots might break out. Since Rhode Island was notorious for its smuggling activities, Dudingston was permanently stationed there by early March, 1772.
We have seen, in the letter from Nicholas Brown and Company to Captain Abraham Whipple, that some Rhode Islanders were willing to go to any lengths to continue their illegal business activities. Dudingston, on the other hand, was equally determined to stop them. He pursued wealthy merchants as well as small traders and fishermen. He made it clear that he would send seized vessels to Boston, instead of allowing merchants to petition for return of their goods in local courts.
Lieutenant Dudingston hounded small, often innocent, packet boats engaged in local commerce. He also took supplies for the Gaspee, such as pigs, poultry, and timber, from local farmers without their permission, and without paying for them. When information about his actions reached Rhode Island Governor Joseph Wanton, Dudingston scorned the governor's request for a meeting between them to discuss local residents' complaints. The governor wanted Dudingston to present his commission personally, so that Dudingston's authority, and its limits, could be made clear. The lieutenant refused, saying that he was required to present his commission only to British Rear Admiral John Montagu, Dudingston's superior, who was stationed in Boston.
From this account, it is obvious that Dudingston wasted no time in making a host of enemies in Rhode Island, from the most insignificant small trader on up to the colony's governor. In fact, one reason for Dudingston's reluctance to leave the Gaspee to meet with Governor Wanton was his fear of attack or arrest once he stepped on land. Eight prominent Rhode Island merchants, including John and Nicholas Brown and Thomas Greene, had signed a complaint against Dudingston, after the Fortune, a Greene family ship, was seized by the Gaspee. Dudingston had outraged the local merchant community by sending the ship and its cargo to Boston, to be held there until a smuggling trial took place.
Rhode Island business had close connections with Rhode Island politics. Governor Wanton was a member of a wealthy merchant family. The Wantons of Newport belonged to the same political faction as the Browns and Hopkins of Providence. Stephen Hopkins, a merchant and a former Rhode Island governor, was Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court during the period of the Gaspee incident. This court had received the complaints against Dudingston.
Governor Wanton was both shrewd and sophisticated. He thought that Rhode Island's interests would be best served by trying to reason or bargain with British ship captains to get them to modify their overzealous behavior. He had already met with Captain John Linzee of the Beaver, another vessel stationed off Rhode Island. Captain Linzee was courteous, but offered the Governor little hope of cooperation. Governor Wanton had met Lieutenant Dudingston when the Lieutenant first arrived in Rhode Island. At that time, the governor diplomatically tried to get across to Dudingston this message: "Take care, be careful how and whom you search, and if you do I will cooperate with you for your own peace and safety." But Dudingston ignored the message. He was as righteous and arrogant in his attitude toward Governor Wanton as he was in directing the Gaspee to harass Rhode Island shipping.
All during the spring of 1772, Lieutenant Dudingston and his crew, assisted by the Beaver under Captain John Linzee, disrupted commerce along Narragansett Bay. Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor Darius Sessions kept Governor Wanton informed of increasing complaints that local people were being unjustly insulted, and that trade was interrupted. Letters went back and forth between the Governor, Dudingston, Vice Admiral Montagu in Boston, and British Colonial Secretary Lord Hillsborough, in London. Admiral Montagu supported Dudingston in his letters and reports to London, while Governor Wanton forcefully stated the case for Rhode Island.
Drumbeats signal destruction for the Gaspee
This was the situation when, on June 9, the Gaspee tried to stop the Hannah, a small packet on its way up Narragansett Bay from Newport to Providence. Captain Benjamin Lindsey of the Hannah refused to drop anchor, even after warning shots were fired from the Gaspee. Dudingston ordered a chase, and the Gaspee pursued the Hannah up the bay. Crafty Captain Lindsey, thoroughly familiar with the bay and its tides, maneuvered the chase so that the Gaspee ran aground on Namquid Point. This spit of land was only a few feet below the water, even at high tide. Because the tide was just going out at mid-afternoon, when the Gaspee ran aground, Captain Lindsey knew that the British would not be able to free their ship for twelve hours or more.
Captain Lindsey arrived in Providence in the early evening. He immediately informed John Brown of the Gaspee's situation. Without hesitation, Brown instructed his loyal sea captain, Abraham Whipple, to gather and prepare longboats. He also recruited a young boy, Daniel Pearce, to walk up and down between the south end of Main Street and Market Square, beating a drum. Daniel call out the news that the Gaspee was grounded. He summoned those interested to a meeting in Sabin's Tavern at 124 South Main Street the northeast corner of South Main and Planet Streets. Here the expedition to destroy the hated Gaspee was organized, and a captain designated for each longboat. Captain Whipple was in overall command of the boats. John Brown was the expedition leader.
Altogether, including the eight boat captains and John Brown, about sixty-five volunteers rowed away from Fenner's Wharf, directly across from Sabin's Tavern, at about ten o'clock that night. John Howland, later a prominent businessman and proponent of public education, was fourteen years old at the time. Many years later, he wrote about standing on the wharf and watching them go. He knew Daniel Pearce, and along with other boys, probably accompanied the drummer on his march.
The attack on the Gaspee
At the mouth of the river, Captain Whipple ordered the boats to line up and sail abreast down the bay. The night was dark and moonless. This made navigation more difficult, but kept the silent boats hidden from the Gaspee sentinel's sight until they were with in 60 to 100 yards of the ship. By getting so close undetected, t raiders were safe from the Gaspee's eight large guns. When the sentinel and Lieutenant Dudingston spotted the boats, at about 12:45 a.m., the Gaspee was already surrounded.
When Dudingston challenged the boats and ordered them away, someone, probably John Brown, claimed to be the sheriff of Kent County with a warrant for Dudingston's arrest. Dudingston ordered his crew to take up their small arms and fire at anyone who tried to come on deck. Shouting and cursing, the Rhode Islanders stormed on board the Gaspee. One of the attackers, still in a boat, took aim and fired at Dudingston, fully intending to kill him. The bullet passed through the Lieutenant's left arm, breaking it, and lodged in his left groin. Dudingston fell, badly wounded and bleeding, but not dead.
At this point, confusion reigned. The Gaspee's sailors, almost all of whom had been undressed and asleep below deck, were soon overcome by the raiding party. The Rhode Islanders outnumber the British by almost four to one. Brown and Whipple ordered Dudingston to surrender, promising him that the crew would then be unharmed. As hard as it was for him to accept this order, the lieutenant agreed. While the crew were tied up and put into the boats, Dudingston was left bleeding on the deck. He was so hated by his attackers that they watched him suffer without pity. In response to Dudingston's calls for medical aid, Captain Whipple ordered the wounded lieutenant to beg for his life on his knees. Dudingston later said that he was so weak at that point that he asked to be medically treated or killed.
Finally, John Mawney, one of the raiders and a trained surgeon, was summoned to the ship's cabin to tend to the lieutenant. He managed to stop the bleeding, and bandaged the wounds with linen, even using part of his own shirt. Dudingston, in gratitude, offered Mawney a gold belt buckle. Mawney refused it, but Dudingston convinced him to accept a silver one.
After going through the ship's papers, and removing most of them, the leaders ordered the boats to take the crew ashore. The sailors were landed, along with the wounded Lieutenant Dudingston, in the Pawtuxet area. The Rhode Islanders then rowed back to the Gaspee and set it afire. Dudingston, dressed only in a shirt and a blanket, was taken in by a local resident and the British sailors watched from shore as their ship went up in flames and burned to the water.
An event that nobody heard or saw
Next day, everyone in Providence, Newport, Bristol and other towns on the bay knew what had happened. They had seen the smoke, and many were aware of the fire and explosions during the night. But, from June 10, 1772 until a year later, when the investigation of the Gaspee incident was closed, not one person in Providence admitted to knowing about it in advance, or knowing either before or after the fact, the name of any person involved.
Years later, after the Americans successfully won their independence from England, the stories were told and written. Some Gaspee affair participants then marched in July 4th parades every year, honored for this act of rebellion. But on June 10, 1772, no one in Providence noticed, or later remembered, that young Justin Jacobs was parading up and down the "great bridge" between the east and west side of town wearing Lieutenant Dudingston's gold laced officer's hat. His friends hushed him up and hustled him away when he began telling everyone who would listen just how and where he had gotten it. For all practical purposes, Rhode Island's governmental authorities never heard about this incident, or about any other indiscreet bragging from young, exuberant raiders of the Gaspee.
The Rhode Island authorities investigate
Majority opinion in Rhode Island clearly approved the burning of the Gaspee and the personal attack on Lieutenant Dudingston. There were, of course, those who opposed violent actions -- some out of principle, others because they feared military reprisals by Great Britain upon the colony. Local government officials, whatever they felt, had to try to prevent punishment from falling upon the colony as a whole. They therefore immediately began a formal investigation.
Lieutenant Governor Darius Sessions, accompanied by Rhode Island's Vice-Admiralty Court Judge, John Andrews, went from Providence to Pawtuxet on June 10th to visit Lieutenant Dudingston. Sessions wanted to make sure of Dudingston's well-being and proper medical care, and to question him. The Lieutenant refused to give a statement, saying that he would save his testimony for the court martial that he knew he must face in England for losing his ship. Dudingston also refused the Rhode Islanders' offers of help, but he did allow Sessions to send a doctor to tend him. He also granted Sessions and Andrews permission to question the Gaspee crew. Dudingston, in fact, still feared for his life if he described his attackers or repeated any names that he heard mentioned among them.
Sessions and Andrews took depositions from several Gaspee crew members. Their testimony convinced the Lieutenant Governor and the Judge that neglecting the affair would be very dangerous. Sessions wrote to Governor Wanton, recommending that the Governor issue a proclamation and offer a large reward for "apprehending the persons who have thus offended." Governor Wanton immediately did so.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dudingston had written his version of the affair to Vice Admiral Montagu in Boston. Admiral Montagu also questioned Midshipman William Dickinson, who brought him the news of the Gaspee's loss. Admiral Montagu wrote to Governor Wanton, informing the Governor that he was sending the information to England. Governor Wanton also wrote to the Colonial Secretary, claiming that the Gaspee's oppressive and unjustified harassment had provoked such violent reprisals. Nevertheless, Governor Wanton assured the English Secretary of State that he would spare no effort to discover and punish the guilty.
Conflicting testimony
By mid July, Lieutenant Dudingston was on his way back to England aboard the Beaver. He had spent several weeks recuperating at the home of Jahleel Brenton, on Brenton's Point, in Newport. Captain Linzee shared Dudingston's own fears for his safety, and mounted a marine guard outside Brenton's house until Dudingston was well enough to travel.
Governor Wanton might have let the matter rest once Dudingston and the Beaver were both gone. Early in July, however, Admiral Montagu sent the Governor a story told by Aaron Briggs, a black indentured servant from Prudence Island, who admitted to taking part in the attack on the Gaspee. Aaron said that, on the night in question, he was rowing from Providence to Warren. On the way he met a boat coming from Bristol, with armed men in it, who insisted that he join them. Aaron said that this boat joined the boats from Providence, and that he was present throughout the night's events: boarding the Gaspee, shooting Dudingston, removing the crew, and burning the ship. He named John Brown and Joseph Brown of Providence, and Simeon Potter of Bristol, as being involved, and accused John Brown of firing the shot that wounded Dudingston.
Aaron Briggs ran away from Prudence Island in July, taking a boat and rowing out to the Beaver. One of the Gaspee sailors, now on the Beaver, saw and claimed to recognize him. It was after he was questioned, beaten, and threatened with death by Captain Linzee that Aaron first told his story. But once he told it, he maintained its truth throughout the investigation.
Governor Wanton's immediate response was to try to question Aaron himself, but Captain Linzee refused to turn the boy over to the sheriff. The sheriff then took affidavits from Aaron's master, Samuel Tompkins, from other members of the Tompkins family, and from Aaron's fellow servants. These witnesses attested that Aaron had been on the island the night of the Gaspee burning. The servants claimed that he was in bed with them, in their quarters. The family said that the boat Aaron claimed to be rowing that night was under repair and unusable at the time. They also said that he showed up to do his early morning chores at the usual time the next day, acting quite normal; and that nothing he said or did before running away suggested his participation in the Gaspee raid.
Conclusion of the local investigation
No further local investigation took place. When the General Assembly met in August, its members approved of the actions that the Governor had taken -- the proclamation, the offer of a reward and the report to England -- and authorized him to continue the investigation in whatever manner he considered to be appropriate. Other than issuing the proclamation and trying to question Aaron Briggs, Governor Wanton did not make an effort to discover or prosecute any individuals. The news of the Gaspee incident was well reported throughout the colonies, however. Newspapers from New Hampshire to South Carolina reprinted stories about it from the Providence, Newport and Boston papers.
Although official responses condemned the destruction and violence, the public expressed neither surprise nor sorrow. Most people agreed that the Gaspee's fate was a natural result of the English government's policies after 1763, and of the arrogance with which most English naval officers carried them out. There was, however, general concern over England's inevitable reaction to the burning of a royal vessel. The colonials awaited news of it, with no real idea of what kind of action England would take.
gaspee.org |
