gaspee

1. The Burning of the Gaspee
A Presentation of the
Gaspee Days Committee
V3.2004 Left Mouse
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2. The Burning of the Gaspee
Overview
• The Colony of Rhode Island
• The Attack on the Gaspee
• And what led to….
INDEPENDENCE
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3. The Burning of the Gaspee
The Rhode Island Charter
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4. The Burning of the Gaspee
The Rhode Island Charter
• Granted by King Charles II of England
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5. The Burning of the Gaspee
The Rhode Island Charter
• Granted by King Charles II of England
• To Roger Williams in 1663
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6. The Burning of the Gaspee
The Charter gave the Colony many
freedoms:
• freedom to elect their own Governor
• freedom for their own court system
• freedom for their own religions
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7. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Over the years, people of Rhode Island
became used to doing things their own
way.
• But, this gave the British problems later
when they tried to tax the American
Colonies.
• King George III needed tax money to pay
for the French & Indian War that ended in
1763. 7

8. The Burning of the Gaspee
• British troops had protected the
American Colonies during the French &
Indian Wars.
• Rhode Island depended on sea-trade of
items that now were being taxed.
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9. The Burning of the Gaspee
• People of Rhode Island often smuggled to
avoid paying these taxes.
• The HMS Gaspee was a British Royal
Navy ship sent to the American coast to
stop smuggling.
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10. The Burning of the Gaspee
• The Gaspee was captained by Lieutenant
William Dudingston.
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11. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Dudingston and the Gaspee began
patrolling waters in Rhode Island in
February of 1772.
• Dudingston wasted no time in stopping,
searching, and seizing all types of boats
and ships in the bay.
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12. The Burning of the Gaspee
• The crew of the Gaspee would threaten
and beat-up the men on the ships they
seized.
• They also stole livestock, firewood, and
food from local farmers.
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13. The Burning of the Gaspee
• This alarmed the Providence merchants,
who asked Governor Joseph Wanton and
Governor and Deputy Governor Darius
Sessions for help.
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14. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Heated insults and threats were
exchanged between Gov. Wanton and the
Royal Navy’s Admiral Montagu.
• Lawsuits were filed against Dudingston.
• Wealthy Providence merchant and sea-
trader John Brown and other ‘Sons of
Liberty’ made a plan to get rid of the
Gaspee.
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15. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Brown had previously run aground at
Warwick’s Namquid Point, and knew
about its dangerous hidden sandbar. (It’s
now called Gaspee Point.)
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16. The Burning of the Gaspee
• On the afternoon of June 9th, 1772, one
of Brown’s ship captains, Benjamin
Lindsay of the cargo sloop Hannah, left
Newport and headed for Providence.
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17. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Dudingston and the Gaspee demanded
that the ship stop to be searched.
• The Hannah refused, and a chase up
Narragansett Bay began.
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18. The Burning of the Gaspee
• At 3 pm the ships reached Namquid
Point where its sandbar was covered by a
high tide.
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19. The Burning of the Gaspee
• The Hannah was lightweight, empty-of-
cargo and sat high in the water.
• The Hannah easily sailed over the point,
inviting the Gaspee to pursue.
• The deeper-hulled Gaspee followed, ran
hard aground, and became stuck.
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20. The Burning of the Gaspee
• After suitable insults were exchanged,
the Hannah quickly proceeded up the
river to Providence and reported the
plight of the British schooner to John
Brown.
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21. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Brown had his ship captains round up
several large longboats, and sent out a
drummer to recruit people of Providence
to join in a raid on the much-hated ship.
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22. The Burning of the Gaspee
• That night a large crowd of merchants,
sea captains, and younger men met at the
Sabin Tavern to plan the attack.
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23. The Burning of the Gaspee
• By 10 pm, seven or eight boats rowed
silently down the river on their mission of
destruction.
• Each boat carried eight men with their
faces blackened with camouflage.
• At Pawtuxet Village, the boats were
joined by another boat of men from
Bristol, Rhode Island
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24. The Burning of the Gaspee
• In the darkness the boats set off for
Namquid Point, where the Gaspee sat
helplessly aground.
• By 1 am, the sentry aboard the Gaspee
spotted the approaching boats and called
out the alarm.
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25. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Capt. Abraham Whipple, leader of the
attack, hailed the ship and declared that
he was there to arrest Lt. Dudingston.
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26. The Burning of the Gaspee
• A few shots were fired from the Gaspee in
response.
• Young Joseph Bucklin, 19, took aim with
his musket and wounded Lt. Dudingston
with a single shot.
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27. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Then men in the boats scrambled on
board the Gaspee and soon captured her
crew with no loss of life.
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28. The Burning of the Gaspee
• The crew of the Gaspee were tied up, set
in the boats, and kept as prisoners
overnight in Pawtuxet Village.
• They were all released in the morning.
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29. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Lt. Dudingston was carried below deck,
where his wounds were treated by a young
medical student, John Mawney.
• Dudingston was then set ashore into a
house in Pawtuxet Village to recover.
• Meanwhile, John Brown, Abe Whipple,
and others plundered through the papers
and the few valuables aboard the Gaspee.
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30. The Burning of the Gaspee
• At about 5 am, they set fire to the ship,
and left in their longboats.
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©Karl Doerflinger

31. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Flames soon reached the gunpowder
storage, and a loud explosion ripped the
Gaspee apart.
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32. The Burning of the Gaspee
• The boats returned to Providence at dawn,
and the men were warned to keep silent
about what happened.
• To their great credit, Rhode Island citizens
kept mum about the events, even though
many participants were well-known.
• As many raiders were related, there were
extra good reasons for all to keep quiet.
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33. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Of the approximately 64 patriots that
took part in the burning of the Gaspee, we
know the names of only 26.
• Perhaps you are related to one of
them….. and Abraham Whipple
Captain Harris
Joseph Brown
Paul Allen
John Mawney
Shepard
Turpin Hopkins
John B.Smith
Joseph Bucklin
Ephraim Bowen
Simeon H. Olney
Robert Dunn
Justin Briggs
Samuel Sutton
Aaron Jacobs
Benjamin Page
Thomas Potter
Joseph Jenckes
Rufus Greene
Abial Brown
Simeon Swan
Joseph Kilton
Benj. Brown
John J. Tillinghast
Nathan Salisbury
Hammond 33

34. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Rhode Island leaders quickly realized
that the British would be furious at them
for the burning of one of His Majesty’s
schooners.
• Dep. Gov. Sessions and others quickly
made plans for damage control, so that
Rhode Island’s charter would not be
taken away by an angry King George III.
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35. The Burning of the Gaspee
• By offering a reward for the attackers,
Rhode Islanders pretended to be
outraged about the attack.
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36. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Officials also claimed they did not know
who the attackers were, even though the
names were widely known.
• Even so, the British still did not trust
Rhode Island to bring the raiders to
justice.
• The King offered an even larger reward.
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37. The Burning of the Gaspee
• The British also created a commission of
inquiry to find out who the attackers
were.
• This commission of inquiry bypassed the
local Rhode Island courts that the British
didn’t trust.
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38. The Burning of the Gaspee
• They were able to charge suspects….
• and send them to England to stand trial
for charges of treason.
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39. The Burning of the Gaspee
• This bypass of local courts, and of
sending suspects out of the local area for
trial, would make defense impossible.
• Local courts tended to side with the
defendant; British courts would not.
• If sent away for trial, persons charged
would find it hard to have witnesses to
help prove their innocence.
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40. The Burning of the Gaspee
• A trial by a local jury of peers was a long-
established right for all Englishmen.
• The bypassing of American courts, and
the threat of removal of these rights of
local trial created alarm in all the other
American Colonies as well.
• Samuel Adams, the famous Boston
revolutionary, was also much alarmed.
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41. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Samuel Adams suggested that
Committees of Correspondence be
established between the Colonies to
discuss such threats to their liberties.
• Shortly afterwards, Virginia created the
first of the permanent Committees of
Correspondence.
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42. The Burning of the Gaspee
• This was the first step towards uniting the
separate Colonies that would later join
together as the …...
United States of America.
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43. The Burning of the Gaspee
• And it was the eventual result of the
actions of Rhode Island patriots…...
‘Those That Burned the Gaspee’
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44. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Meanwhile, Rhode Island officials
scrambled to protect both their Colonial
Charter and the identities of citizen
raiders.
• The officials interfered with the British
commission of inquiry.
• RI Gov. Joseph Wanton tried to weaken
the power of the commission.
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45. The Burning of the Gaspee
• Dep. Gov. Sessions gave excuses to
witnesses so that they did not appear
before the commission.
• He arranged for witnesses to testify
against what other people said before the
commission.
• Other witnesses were threatened so that
they did not appear at all.
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46. The Burning of the Gaspee
• RI Judge Stephen Hopkins would not
allow any suspects identified by the
commission to be arrested and delivered
to the British.
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47. The Burning of the Gaspee
• The commission of inquiry never could
get enough evidence to identify any of the
attackers of the Gaspee.
• The commission gave up and went home
by June of 1773.
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48. The Burning of the Gaspee
• No one ever stood trial for the destruction
of the Gaspee.
• This was the result of uncooperative
Rhode Island citizens, judges, and
officials.
• It was America’s….
‘First Blow for Freedom’®
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49. The Burning of the Gaspee
For further information on the Gaspee
Affair visit the Gaspee Virtual Archives at:
www.gaspee.org
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50. The Burning of the Gaspee
written and directed by
Dr. John Concannon
“Royal American Medley”
background music courtesy of
The Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps
Fort Myer, Virginia
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51. The Burning of the Gaspee
This Program was Produced by the
Gaspee Days Committee
April, 2004
Program ©Gaspee Days Committee
Text only is public domain material and may be
freely distributed.
Copyrights may apply to graphic
and audio material.
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