55-532: [REDACTED] Abraham Whipple [REDACTED] John Brown [REDACTED] William Duddingston The Gaspee affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution . HMS Gaspee was a Royal Navy revenue schooner that enforced the Navigation Acts around Newport, Rhode Island , in 1772. It ran aground in shallow water while chasing the packet boat Hannah on June 9 off of Warwick, Rhode Island . A group of men led by Abraham Whipple and John Brown I attacked, boarded, and burned
110-675: A career in the lucrative trade with the West Indies , working for Moses and John Brown . In the French and Indian War period, he became a privateersman and commanded privateer Game Cock from 1759 to 1760. In one six-month cruise, he captured 23 French ships. In 1772, Whipple burnt the first British naval casualty of the American Revolution , the revenue cutter Gaspee , in the Gaspée Affair . The first to unfurl
165-573: A lull of inactivity in 1772, thus inaugurating a series of conflicts that culminated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord . The British authorities called for the apprehension and trial of the people responsible for shooting Duddingston and destroying the Gaspee . Governor Wanton and Deputy Governor Sessions echoed those same sentiments, but they lacked any enthusiasm for punishing their fellow Rhode Islanders. A British midshipman from Gaspee described
220-509: A man before you hang him." Three years later, the Rhode Island General Assembly appointed Whipple commodore of two ships fitted for the defense of the colony's trade. On June 15, 1775, (the day the sea captain received his commission), Whipple led his men to capture the tender to frigate HMS Rose . After cruising in the vicinity of Narragansett Bay , he headed south to Bermuda to procure gunpowder for use by
275-591: The Boston sailed home to the colonies, taking three prizes en route. Upon his return, Whipple received command of a small squadron— Providence , Ranger , and Queen of France . On one occasion in mid-July 1779, this group of ships encountered a large British convoy in dense fog off the Newfoundland Banks. Whipple concealed his guns and ran up the British flag. Thus disguised, Whipple cut 11 prizes out of
330-575: The Continental Army . Whipple sold enslaved people as part of his mercantile career; in November 1763, Whipple sold an enslaved woman named Deuse to Nicholas Brown & Co. As American colonists began to express their opposition to the policies of the Crown , acts of defiance became increasingly prevalent. An early incident occurred on June 9, 1772, when Whipple led 50 Rhode Islanders in
385-524: The French and Indian War (the component of the Seven Years' War in North America) in an attempt to increase control within the colonies and to recoup the expensive cost of the war. The British Parliament argued that revenue was necessary to bolster military and naval defensive positions along the borders of their distant colonies and also to pay the debt which Britain had incurred in pursuing
440-555: The Gaspee in effigy and other entertainments. Abraham Whipple Commander Abraham Whipple (September 26, 1733 – May 27, 1819) was an American naval officer best known for his service in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and being one of the founders of Marietta, Ohio . Born near Providence , Colony of Rhode Island , Whipple chose to be a seafarer early in his life and embarked on
495-544: The Gaspee to the waterline. The event sharply increased tensions between American colonists and Crown officials, particularly given that it had followed the Boston Massacre in 1770. Crown officials in Rhode Island aimed to increase their control over the colony's legitimate trade and stamp out smuggling in order to increase their revenue from the colony. Concomitantly, Rhode Islanders increasingly protested
550-739: The Stamp Act , the Townshend Acts and other British policies that had interfered with the colony's traditional businesses, which primarily rested on involvement in the triangular slave trade . Along with similar events in Narragansett Bay , the affair marked the first acts of violent uprising against Crown authority in British North America, preceding the Boston Tea Party by more than a year and moving
605-478: The Thirteen Colonies as a whole toward the coming war for independence . The British Customs service had a history of facing strong resistance in the Thirteen Colonies in the 18th century. Britain was at war during much of this period and was not in a strategic position to risk antagonizing its overseas colonies. Several successive ministries implemented new policies following Britain's victory in
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#1732766288525660-639: The United States Navy have been named USS Whipple in his honor. There is a Whipple Street, Avenue or Court in almost every one of the 39 municipalities in the State of Rhode Island. Rhode Island Royal Charter The Rhode Island Royal Charter provided royal recognition to the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations , approved by England's King Charles II in July 1663. It superseded
715-477: The capture and burning of the British revenue cutter Gaspee . The ship had run aground off Pawtuxet while chasing the packet Hannah . The burning initiated an exchange of notes between Whipple and Captain James Wallace of HMS Rose . Wallace wrote, "You Abraham Whipple on June 10, 1772, burned his majesty's vessel the Gaspee and I will hang you at the yard arm!" Whipple responded, "Sir, always catch
770-420: The triangular slave trade , which formed the backbone of the colony's economy. DeFrancesco noted that British regulations had threatened the ability of Rhode Island merchants, many of whom participated in the attack on the Gaspee , to profit from slavery and the industries which were dependent on the slave trade, such as the rum and molasses trades. DeFrancesco wrote that the colonists' "supposed fight for liberty
825-646: The 1643 Patent for Settlement and outlined many freedoms for the inhabitants of Rhode Island . It was the guiding document of the colony's government (and that of the state later) over a period of 180 years. The charter contains unique provisions which make it significantly different from the charters granted to the other colonies. It gave the colonists freedom to elect their own governor and write their own laws, within very broad guidelines, and also stipulated that no person residing in Rhode Island could be "molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any differences in opinion in matters of religion". The charter
880-589: The American frontier and were among the founders of the town of Marietta, Ohio , and the first named proprietor of Charleston, Vermont . Granted a pension by Congress in recognition of his distinguished service in helping to win American independence, Whipple died at Marietta, Ohio , on May 27, 1819, and was buried at Mound Cemetery in Marietta. His gravestone reads: Sacred to the memory of Commodore Abraham Whipple whose naval skill and courage will ever remain
935-520: The Assembly, it was Voted: That the box in which the King's gratious letters were enclosed be opened, and the letters with the broad seale thereto affixed be taken forth and read by Captayne George Baxter in the audience and view of all the people; which was accordingly done, and the sayd letters with his Majesty's Royall Stampe, and the broad seal, with much becoming gravity held up on hygh, and presented to
990-592: The British blockade on the night of April 30, 1778, damaging HMS Lark and outrunning another British ship during the escape. Tacking for France, the Providence crossed the Atlantic Ocean unmolested, bearing important dispatches relating to agreements between France and the American colonies, and reached Paimboeuf . After acquiring guns and supplies for the Continental Army, the Providence and
1045-425: The British in general. A local sheriff threatened Duddingston with arrest, and Admiral John Montagu responded with a letter threatening to hang as pirates anyone who made effort to rescue ships taken by Duddingston during his operations. On March 21, Rhode Island Deputy Governor Darius Sessions wrote to Governor Wanton regarding Duddingston, and he requested that the basis of Duddingston's authority be examined. In
1100-516: The Patent of 1643–1644, recognizing their corporate existence and compelling recognition from their neighbors as well. The patent produced a confederacy of the four settlements, not a united single colony. John Clarke went to England, then ruled by Oliver Cromwell , to have the instrument revoked in 1653, then remained in England for the next decade and became the agent to represent the interests of
1155-885: The Star Spangled Banner in London, Whipple was also the first to sail an ocean-going ship 2000 miles downriver from Ohio to the Caribbean, which opened trade with the Northwest Territory. Abraham Whipple was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of Rhode Island. Whipple was born on September 26, 1733, to Noah Whipple Jr. Abraham Whipple and Sarah Hopkins were married on August 2, 1761. They had three children: John, Catherine, and Mary. Catherine later married Colonel Ebenezer Sproat of
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#17327662885251210-668: The Thirteen Colonies. The Reverend John Allen preached a sermon at the Second Baptist Church in Boston which utilized the Gaspee affair to warn listeners about greedy monarchs, corrupt judges, and conspiracies in the London government. This sermon was printed seven different times in four colonial cities, becoming one of the most popular pamphlets of Colonial America. This pamphlet and editorials by numerous colonial newspaper editors awoke colonial Whigs from
1265-637: The attackers as "merchants and masters of vessels, who were at my bureau reading and examining my papers." Admiral Montagu wrote to Governor Wanton on July 8, nearly a month after the burning of the schooner, and utilized the account of Aaron Briggs, an indentured servant claiming to have participated in the June 9 burning. Montagu identified five Rhode Islanders, in varying levels of detail, whom he wanted Wanton to investigate and bring to justice: John Brown I , Joseph Brown , Simeon Potter, Dr. Weeks, and Richmond. Governor Wanton responded to this demand by examining
1320-401: The boundary lines for Rhode Island Colony, though it was nearly a century before Massachusetts and Connecticut stopped disputing them. Rhode Island's General Court of Commissioners convened at Newport on 24 November 1663 for the last time under the parliamentary patent of 1643–1644. The inhabitants and legislators gathered to learn the result of John Clarke's decade-long efforts, described in
1375-419: The charter is the right of conscience that it extended to the Rhode Island colonists, which became the "sole distinguishing feature of Rhode Island's history". A third distinguishing point is its "democratic liberalism" which allowed the Rhode Island colonists to elect their own officers and make their own laws, so long as they were not contrary to the laws of England. The provisions were very flexible, allowing
1430-556: The chiefs of the supreme courts of Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey, the judge of the vice-admiralty of Boston, and Rhode Island Governor Wanton. The Dockyard Act passed in April demanded that anyone suspected of burning British ships should be extradited and tried in England; however, the Gaspee raiders were charged with treason. The task of the commission was to determine which colonists had sufficient evidence against them to warrant shipping them to England for trial. The commission
1485-521: The claims made by Aaron Briggs. Samuel Tompkins and Samuel Thurston, the proprietors of the Prudence Island farm where Briggs worked, gave testimony challenging his account of June 9. Both men stated that Briggs had been present at work the evening of June 9 and early in the morning on June 10. Additionally, Wanton received further evidence from two other indentured servants working with Briggs, and both stated that Briggs had been present throughout
1540-527: The colonial records: At a very great meeting and assembly of the freemen of the colony of Providence Plantation, at Newport, in Rhode Island, in New England, November the 24th, 1663. The abovesayed Assembly being legally called and orderly mett for the sollome reception of his Majestyes gratious letter pattent unto them sent, and having in order thereto chosen the President, Benedict Arnold, Moderator of
1595-404: The colony William Coddington , Nicholas Easton , Samuel Gorton , John Weekes, Gregory Dexter , Randall Holden , John Roome, Samuel Wilbur, Jr. , Richard Tew, Thomas Harris, and William Dyre . The charter specifically required that the adjacent colonies permit the people of Rhode Island to pass unmolested, due to various acts committed in the past by other colonies. It also minutely defined
1650-494: The colony to make its own laws, guaranteed religious freedom, and did not require oaths of allegiance. Three points in the charter distinguish it from any other royal patent that had ever been granted. It acknowledges Indian rights to the soil, which was far different than the European doctrine of " possession by right of discovery " which was part of the "royal prerogative". Historian Samuel G. Arnold writes that "Rhode Island
1705-483: The colony. On the return voyage, Whipple transported naval recruits to Philadelphia . Upon her arrival there, his ship, Katy , was taken over by agents of the Continental Congress and was fitted out as sloop-of-war Providence . Whipple was commissioned a captain in the Continental Navy on December 22 and was given command of 24-gun ship Columbus . From February 17 to April 8, 1776, he commanded
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1760-429: The convoy, eight of which contained spoils of war valued together at over one million dollars (roughly 25.7 million in 2024 dollars), making the venture easily one of the richest captures of the entire war. Whipple then cruised off Bermuda before arriving at Charleston, South Carolina . On December 23, 1779. British forces threatened Charleston, which was at the time a key Continental port. The threat led Whipple to move
1815-730: The deputies were to be chosen by their representative towns. The entire legislative body would be called the General Assembly and would meet in May and October, though the places and times of meeting could be altered. Benedict Arnold was named in the charter as governor and William Brenton named as deputy governor until the first election. The charter named William Boulston , John Porter , Roger Williams , Thomas Olney , John Smith , John Greene, Jr. , John Coggeshall, Jr. , James Barker , William Field, and Joseph Clarke as deputies. It also lists primary purchasers and free inhabitants of
1870-471: The fledgling Rhode Island colony. Commissioners of the four settlements forwarded ideas to Clarke concerning a possible union of the settlements into a single colony. The overthrow of Cromwell's Commonwealth and the Stuart Restoration necessitated getting a charter from the new King . The Royal Charter of 1663 confirmed everything that the Patent of 1643–1644 had given, and it granted power to
1925-419: The groin. The boarding party casually read through the ship's papers before forcing the crew off the ship and setting it aflame. A few days after being forced off of the ship, Duddingston was arrested by a sheriff for an earlier seizure of colonial cargo. His commanding officer Montagu freed him by paying his fine and then promptly sent him back to England to face a court-martial on the incident. Joseph Bucklin
1980-559: The guns and crews from the Continental Navy ships in port on shore to reinforce the land batteries and repulse the expected British assault. However, after a rugged four-month siege , the overwhelming pressure of British arms forced the Continental forces to surrender on May 12, 1780. Whipple remained a prisoner of war of the British until he was paroled to Chester, Pennsylvania , at which point he took no further part in
2035-488: The jurisdiction of this Colony." Duddingston returned a rude reply to the Governor, refusing to leave his ship or to acknowledge Wanton's elected authority within Rhode Island. On June 9, Gaspee gave chase to the packet ship Hannah but ran aground in shallow water on the northwestern side of the bay on what is now Gaspee Point . The crew were unable to free the ship, and Duddingston decided to wait for high tide to set
2090-421: The laws to consider "the nature and constitution of the place and people there". The government was to consist of a governor, a deputy governor, ten assistants, and a house of deputies: six from Newport, four each from Providence, Warwick, and Portsmouth, and two from every other town. The governor, deputy governor, and assistants were to be chosen annually by election at Newport on the first Wednesday of May, and
2145-552: The letter, Sessions includes the opinion of Chief Justice Stephen Hopkins , who argues that "no commander of any vessel has any right to use any authority in the Body of the Colony without previously applying to the Governor and showing his warrant for so doing." Wanton wrote to Duddingston the next day, demanding that he "produce me your commission and instructions, if any you have, which was your duty to have done when you first came within
2200-409: The night in question. Thus, Wanton believed that Briggs was no more than an imposter. Duddingston and Montagu challenged Wanton's assertions, Montagu saying that "it is clear to me from many corroborating circumstances, that he is no imposter." Historian Joey La Neve DeFrancesco argued that the Gaspee affair resulted from the desire of the colonial elite in Rhode Island to protect their involvement in
2255-462: The perfect view of the people, and then returned into the box and locked up by the Governor, in order to the safe keeping of it. The legislature voted the following day that words of humble thanks should be delivered to the King and also to the Earl of Clarendon . They voted to give a £100 gratuity to Clarke and £25 to Baxter. The Charter was not replaced until 1843, 180 years later, in order to extend
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2310-506: The pride and boast of his country. In the revolution he was the first on the seas to hurl defiance at proud Britain, gallantly leading the way to wrest from the mistress of the ocean her scepter, and there to wave the star spangled banner. He also conducted to the sea the first square rigged vessel built on the Ohio, opening to commerce resources beyond calculation. Born September 26th, A.D. 1733. Died May 27th, 1819. Aged 85 years. Several ships of
2365-580: The ship HMS Liberty in 1768 on Goat Island in Newport harbor. In early 1772, Lieutenant William Duddingston sailed HMS Gaspee into Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island to enforce customs collection and mandatory inspection of cargo. He arrived in Rhode Island in February and met with Governor Joseph Wanton . Soon after he began patrolling Narragansett Bay, Gaspee stopped and inspected
2420-589: The ship during the first Continental Navy - Marine Corps amphibious expedition—the cruise to New Providence , in the Bahamas, to seize essential military supplies from the British garrison at Nassau . After returning north to New England , Whipple captured five British prizes before March 27, 1778, when his ship ran aground off Point Judith , Rhode Island . After stripping the ship, the captain and his crew abandoned her and escaped capture ashore. Assigned next to command 28-gun frigate Providence , Whipple ran
2475-409: The sloop Fortune on February 17 and seized 12 hogsheads of undeclared rum. Duddingston sent Fortune and the seized rum to Boston, believing that any seized items left in a Rhode Island port would be reclaimed by the colonists. This overbold move of sending Fortune to Boston brought outrage within the Rhode Island colony, because Duddingston had taken upon himself the authority to determine where
2530-535: The solicitor and attorneys general, who investigated and advised the Privy Council on the legal and constitutional options available. This included charges of arson in royal dockyards but the idea was dismissed as not legally credible, as Gaspee was not in a dockyard when it was burned. The Crown turned to a centuries-old institution of investigation: the Royal Commission of Inquiry, made up of
2585-672: The trial should take place concerning this seizure, completely superseding the authority of Governor Wanton by doing so. Furthermore, it was a direct violation of the Rhode Island Royal Charter of 1663 to hold a trial outside of Rhode Island on an arrest that took place within the colony. After this, Duddingston and his crew became increasingly aggressive in their searches, boardings, and seizures, even going so far as to stop merchants who were on shore and force searches of their wares. Public resentment and outrage continued to escalate against Gaspee in particular and against
2640-416: The vessel afloat. Before that could happen, however, a band of Providence men led by John Brown I decided to act on the "opportunity offered of putting an end to the trouble and vexation she daily caused." They rowed out to the ship and boarded it at the break of dawn on June 10. The crew put up a feeble resistance in which they were attacked with handspikes, and Lieutenant Duddingston was shot and wounded in
2695-718: The war against France. One policy included deputizing the Royal Navy's officers to enforce customs laws in American ports. The Admiralty purchased six Marblehead sloops and schooners and gave them Anglicized French names based on their recent acquisitions in Canada, removing the French accents from St John , St Lawrence , Chaleur , Hope , Magdalen, and Gaspee . The enforcements became increasingly intrusive and aggressive in Narragansett Bay . Rhode Islanders finally responded by attacking HMS St John in 1764, and they burned
2750-620: The war. Upon the conclusion of hostilities, Whipple took up farming near Cranston , Rhode Island. For the rest of his life, he remained a farmer, with the exception of two spells of seafaring as master of merchantmen, first of the General Washington and then of the St. Clair . With the formation of the Ohio Company of Associates in 1788 and the initial westward migration into that territory, Whipple and his family became pioneers on
2805-489: Was in fact a fight for the freedom to profit from the business of slavery", and claimed that celebrations of the incident in Rhode Island represent "New England’s historical amnesia on slavery." Pawtuxet Village commemorates the Gaspee affair each year with its Gaspee Days festival. This multi-day event includes fireworks, arts and crafts, and races, but the highlight is the Gaspee Days parade, which features burning
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#17327662885252860-446: Was not replaced until 1843, after serving for nearly two centuries as the guiding force of the colony and then the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Historian Thomas Bicknell described it as "the grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed". The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations began as settlements in Providence , Newport , Portsmouth , and Warwick . The settlements banded together under
2915-529: Was the first solemn protest" against taking land from the Indians without payment. Roger Williams established this policy when he settled the colony by paying the Narragansetts for the land, and his views were maintained by those who followed him there. These views were set forth by Clarke in his address to the King, and thus became incorporated within the royal charter. A second remarkable point in
2970-591: Was the man who shot Duddingston; other men who participated included Brown's brother Joseph of Providence, Simeon Potter of Bristol, and Robert Wickes of Warwick. Previous attacks by the Americans on British naval vessels had gone unpunished. In one case, a customs yacht had been destroyed by fire with no administrative response. But in 1772, the Admiralty would not ignore the destruction of one of its military vessels on station. The American Department consulted
3025-488: Was unable to obtain sufficient evidence and declared their inability to deal with the case. Colonial Whigs were alarmed at the prospect of Americans being sent to England for trial, and a committee of correspondence was formed in Boston to consult on the crisis. In Virginia, the House of Burgesses was so alarmed that they also formed an inter-colonial committee of correspondence to consult with similar committees throughout
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