A short history of Rhode Island

by George Washington Greene

Providence harbor was now fortified between Field and Sassafras Points, and a battery of six eighteen-pounders erected on Fox Point. The Beacon was proved and found to shed its light over an area extending from Cambridge to New London and Norwich, and from Newport to Pomfret. All through August the preparations for war continued. The live stock was removed from Block Island and the islands of the bay. The incipient navy was enlarged and the Rhode Island delegates in Congress instructed “to use their whole influence for building at the Continental expense, a fleet of sufficient force for the protection of these colonies, and for employing them in such manner and places as will most effectually annoy our enemies, and contribute to the common defence of these colonies.” This recommendation led to the appointment of a committee of which Governor Hopkins and John Adams were members, and which presently laid the foundation of the Continental Navy.

From time to time there were sudden alarms. Once it was given out that Providence was to be attacked, and the works in the harbor were manned and the troops called out. But Wallace, contenting himself with taking a brig from the West Indies and plundering the shores, retired down the bay. In October he was reinforced, and after holding Newport in suspense bombarded Bristol. Domestic enemies also were to be guarded against. George Rome reappears and is sent to Providence “to be dealt with according to his demerits.” Furnishing supplies to the enemy or holding correspondence with them was made punishable with death and forfeiture. Exception was made in favor of Newport on account of her exposed situation. The sufferings of the poor both in Newport and on the islands were so great that the Assembly found it necessary to come to their assistance, helping some to move away and supplying others with provisions. How business suffered may be seen by the repeal of the statute of limitations. In November Governor Wanton was formally removed from office and Nicholas Cooke elected in his stead. With the burning of the Gaspee the sword was drawn, with the deposition of Governor Wanton the scabbard was thrown away.

Meanwhile new emissions of bills of credit were made and the overwhelming debt overwhelmingly increased. But it was no longer the debt of a single colony but a part of the war debt of all the colonies, and therefore Congress assumed forty-five thousand pounds of it as such. Of this forty-five thousand pounds a hundred and twenty thousand dollars were presently paid. One more battle was fought in Narragansett Bay, and one more day set apart for fasting and prayer.

We have seen that Rhode Island had called for a navy. In November Congress took the subject up, appointed a marine committee and voted to arm and equip four vessels. Esek, brother of the Governor, was put in command of them with the title of commodore. Two hundred and fifty Rhode Islanders followed Arnold through the wilderness, and none of all the invading army bore with greater fortitude the privations of the weary march or fought more gallantly under the walls of Quebec than Christopher Greene, Samuel Ward and Simeon Thayer, all of whom we shall meet again on the ramparts of Red Bank. Over a hundred were sent to Philadelphia under Captain Whipple, to serve in the new navy.

Meanwhile at Newport and on the islands the presence of the British squadron held men in constant alarm. A considerable force was encamped at Middletown, and a constant watch kept up to guard against the secret machinations of the disaffected. Row gallies patrolled the bay and a night guard was established. But in spite of every precaution the trees were cut down on Hope Island, twelve dwelling houses were burned and their occupants plundered on Conanicut, and the live stock carried off wherever a secure landing could be effected. General Lee, who had been sent from Cambridge to direct the fortifying of the island, made his entrance into Newport at the head of eight hundred men, and after imposing upon the suspected a comprehensive oath and giving instructions for the erection of fortifications, returned to the army. To express their sense of his services the Recess Committee voted “that one of the best beds, with the furniture taken from Charles Dudley, be presented to General Lee.”

In the last days of December there was a riot in West Greenwich to prevent the enlistment of minute men. In the middle of January there was some sharp fighting on Prudence Island. In the course of the first day the British, who had come up in twelve vessels, landed two hundred and fifty men, drove off a body of a hundred minute men, burned seven houses and carried away a hundred sheep. Next day reinforcements arrived from Bristol and Warren and the fighting was renewed. This time the victory was with the Americans, and after a battle of three hours the enemy were driven to their ships with a loss of fourteen killed and many wounded. War in one of its worst forms raged at all the most vulnerable points of Narragansett Bay.

And thus the gloomy days went by, slowly but surely bringing nearer and nearer the now inevitable problem of independence. Rhode Island, with her hundred and thirty miles of coast line, her two navigable rivers, and triple passage from the ocean, was in constant exposure. We have seen how she was harassed by Wallace in January, 1776. In February more houses and a windmill were burned and more stock plundered on Prudence, and a descent for plunder made on Point Judith. With this last the names of several persons suspected of being Tories were mixed up, giving the Committee of Safety much to do. Difficulties between the citizens of Newport and the soldiers under General West, encamped on the island, arose in a measure from the same cause. West resigned because men whom he had arrested as Tories had been set at liberty by the Assembly. Among them was Governor Wanton.

The first act of the eventful drama closes with the evacuation of Boston, on the 17th of March. For a day it was believed that the British fleet was entering the bay, but the alarm proved false. The American army went to New York, passing through Rhode Island on its march.

While these events, so grievous in the present, so full of a glorious future, were passing, Samuel Ward, who had so nobly represented the highest conscience and culture of Rhode Island in the Continental Congress, was dying of small-pox in Philadelphia—the advanced post of civil heroism. An upright and conscientious man, who had drawn from books and men those lessons which make men wise in judgment and firm in principle and bold in action. Had he lived a few weeks longer his name would have been foremost among the signers. A marble monument was voted him by Congress, “in testimony of the respect due to his memory, and in grateful remembrance of his public services.”

The last Colonial Assembly of Rhode Island met on the 1st of May. On the 4th, two months before the Congressional Declaration of Independence, it solemnly renounced its allegiance to the British crown, no longer closing its session with “God save the King,” but taking in its stead as expressive of their new relations, “God save the United Colonies.”