Class 
 Book 
 
 F-EO 
 
I 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON 
 MARKING HISTORICAL SITES 
 IN RHODE ISLAND 
 
 1913 
 
TiiF. Fkkncii Cwii' Cround, Providence 
 
Bttxtt of SI|oJJr Jalattli attli pront^i^nre piaittallotifl 
 
 Report of Committee 
 
 /" 
 
 ON ^ J-Z. 
 
 MARKING HISTORICAL 
 SITES IN RHODE ISLAND 
 
 MADE TO THE 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 AT ITS 
 
 JANUARY SESSION, 191 3 
 
 PROVIDENCE, R. I.: 
 
 E. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, PRINTERS 
 I914 
 
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 Do 
 FEB 
 
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 To the Honorable^ the General Assembly of the State of 
 Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: 
 
 The Executive Committee of the Rhode Island Historical 
 Society to which, in connection with the Secretary of 
 State, was committed the task of marking Historical Sites 
 in the State of Rhode Island respectfully begs leave to 
 submit the following report. 
 
 The Executive Committee appointed the following 
 gentlemen a subcommittee, "the Committee on Marking 
 Historical Sites, " to superintend the placing of memorials: 
 Wilfred H. Munro, Chairman; Clarence S. Brigham, Amasa 
 M. Eaton, David W. Hoyt, Norman M. Isham, William 
 MacDonald, Walter E. Ranger, William B, Weeden, 
 George F. Weston, Charles P. Bennett, Secretary of State. 
 
 This Committee has erected memorials as follows : 
 A tablet was erected at Nockum Hill, Barrington, on 
 June 23, 1906, in accordance with the earnest request of 
 another historical association. The tablet bears this 
 inscription : 
 
 THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 
 
 IN MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 WAS FOUNDED NEAR THIS SPOT 
 
 A. D. 1663 
 
 REV. JOHN MYLES 
 
 BENJAMIN ALBY JOHN BUTTERWORTH 
 
 JOSEPH CARPENTER ELDAD KINGSLEY 
 
 JAMES BROWN NICHOLAS TANNER 
 
 FOUNDERS 
 
On July 1 8, 1906, a tablet bearing this inscription was 
 placed on the Governor Bull House in Newport: 
 
 "the governor bull house" 
 
 THE oldest house IN RHODE ISLAND 
 
 BUILT, IN PART, IN 1 639 BY 
 
 HENRY BULL 
 
 GOVERNOR, UNDER THE ROYAL CHARTER, OF THE COLONY OF 
 RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE 
 
 PLANTATIONS 
 IN THE YEARS 1 68 5-86 AND 169O 
 
 On August 8, 1906, the Gilbert Stuart House, North 
 Kingstown was marked by a tablet with the following 
 inscription : 
 
 GILBERT STUART 
 BORN HERE I 775 DIED IN BOSTON 1 8 28 
 
 A GREAT AMERICAN ARTIST 
 
 TAUGHT BY WEST AND REYNOLDS 
 
 HE YEARNED TO PORTRAY OUR 
 
 GREATEST CITIZEN 
 
 HIS PORTRAITS EMBODY 
 
 THE WISDOM AND DIGNITY OF 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
On October 2, 1906, two tablets were erected to mark the 
 site of the Roger Williams House and Spring, on North 
 Main street, Providence. The inscriptions were as follows : 
 
 A FEW RODS EAST OF 
 
 THIS SPOT STOOD THE 
 
 HOUSE 
 
 OF 
 
 ROGER WILLIAMS 
 
 FOUNDER OF PROVIDENCE 
 
 1636 
 
 LTNDER THIS HOUSE 
 
 STILL FLOWS 
 
 THE 
 
 ROGER WILLIAMS 
 
 SPRING 
 
 To commemorate the fortifications thrown up at Field's 
 Point, two tablets were erected on ]\Iay 16, 1907, bearing 
 inscriptions as follows : 
 
 FORT 
 
 INDEPENDENCE 
 
 ERECTED 
 
 ON ROBIN HILL, 1 775 
 
 STRENGTHENED, 1814 
 
 THESE EARTHWORKS 
 WERE THROWN UP 
 
 IN 1775 
 AND STRENGTHENED 
 
 IN 1814 
 
On May 27, 1907, the Reynold's House, at Bristol, was 
 marked with a tablet as follows : 
 
 THIS HOUSE BUILT 
 
 ABOUT THE YEAR 1 698 BY 
 
 JOSEPH REYNOLDS 
 
 WAS OCCUPIED BY 
 
 LAFAYETTE 
 
 AS HIS HEADQUARTERS SEPTEMBER 1 778 
 
 DURING THE WAR OF 
 
 AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 
 
 On June 15, 1907, on the Babbitt Farm at Wickford, a 
 tablet was placed with this inscription : 
 
 HERE 
 
 WERE BURIED 
 
 IN ONE GRAVE 
 
 FORTY MEN 
 
 WHO DIED IN THE SWAMP FIGHT 
 
 OR ON THE RETURN MARCH 
 
 TO 
 
 RICHARD smith's BLOCKHOUSE 
 
 DECEMBER, 1 67 5 
 
 The camp of the French troops, near Rochambeau 
 Avenue, in Providence, was, on July 29, 1907, marked by a 
 tablet with the following inscription : 
 
ON THIS GROUND 
 
 BETWEEN HOPE STREET AND 
 
 NORTH MAIN STREET AND 
 
 NORTH OF ROCHAMBEAU AVENUE 
 
 THE FRENCH TROOPS 
 
 COMMANDED BY 
 
 COUNT ROCHAMBEAU 
 
 WERE ENCAMPED 
 
 IN 
 
 1782 
 
 ON THEIR MARCH FROM YORKTOWN 
 
 TO BOSTON WHERE THEY 
 
 EMBARKED FOR FRANCE 
 
 September 21, 1907, a tablet was placed upon a boulder 
 in Central Falls to mark the scene of "Pierce's Fight." 
 This tablet was stolen. It was replaced by one which 
 bears the following inscription : 
 
 pierce' S FIGHT 
 
 NEAR THIS SPOT 
 
 CAPTAIN MICHAEL PIERCE 
 
 AND HIS COMPANY OF 
 
 PLYMOUTH COLONISTS 
 
 AMBUSHED AND OUTNUMBERED WERE 
 
 ALMOST ANNIHILATED 
 
 BY THE INDIANS 
 
 MARCH 26 1676 
 
8 
 
 On October 19, 1907, the Massasoit Spring at Warren 
 was marked by a tablet with this inscription: 
 
 this tablet 
 
 placed beside the gushing water 
 
 known for many generations as 
 
 massasoit's spring 
 
 commemorates the great 
 
 indlan sachem massasoit 
 
 "friend of the w^hite man" 
 
 ruler of this region when the 
 
 pilgrims of the mayflower 
 
 landed at plymouth 
 in the year of our lord 162o 
 
 May 30, 1908, a tablet bearing the following inscription 
 was placed upon Drum Rock, in the village of Apponaug, 
 in the town of Warwick : 
 
 DRUM ROCK 
 
 A 
 
 TRYSTING-SIGNAL AND 
 
 MEETING PLACE OF THE 
 
 COWESET INDIANS 
 
 AND THEIR 
 
 KLNDRED NARRAGANSETTS 
 
 July 6, 1908, dedicatory exercises were held at Spring 
 Green, Warwick, in connection with the erection of a 
 tablet to mark "Camp Ames." The tablet bears this 
 inscription : 
 
Camp Ames, Spring Green Farm, Warwick 
 
THIS FIELD KNOWN AS 
 CAMP AMES ON SPRING 
 GREEN FARM WAS THE 
 CAMP GROUND OF THE 
 THIRD RHODE ISLAND 
 
 VOLUNTEERS 
 
 SUBSEQUENTLY THE 
 
 THIRD RHODE ISLAND 
 
 HEAVY ARTILLERY 
 
 PREVIOUS TO THEIR 
 
 DEPARTURE FOR THE SEAT 
 
 OF WAR SEPTEMBER 7 
 
 1816 
 
 September lo, 1908, a tablet was placed upon the house 
 in Portsmouth in which General Prescott was captured 
 by Lieutenant Colonel Barton during the Revolutionary- 
 War. The inscription is as follows : 
 
 IN THIS HOUSE, 
 
 HIS HEADQUARTERS, 
 
 THE BRITISH GENERAL PRESCOTT 
 
 WAS TAKEN PRISONER 
 
 ON THE NIGHT OF JULY 9, 1 77 7 
 
 BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BARTON 
 
 OF THE RHODE ISLAND LINE 
 
 October 17, 1908, a tablet was placed in Johnston to 
 mark the location of the Indian soapstone quarry. The 
 tablet bears this inscription: 
 
lO 
 
 AN INDIAN QUARRY 
 
 ONE OF THE FEW IN NEW ENGLAND 
 
 FROM THIS SOAPSTONE LEDGE 
 
 NOW ONLY PARTLY UNCOVERED 
 
 THE INDIANS 
 
 FASHIONED UTENSILS 
 
 FOR FAMILY USE AND FOR TRADE 
 
 On May 5, 1909, the Stephen Hopkins House in Provi- 
 dence, was marked by a tablet with this inscription : 
 
 STEPHEN HOPKINS 
 
 I707-I785 
 
 MERCHANT AND SHIPBUILDER, 
 
 TEN TIMES GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND, 
 
 CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT, 
 
 CHANCELLOR OF BROWN UNIVERSITY, 
 
 MEMBER OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 
 
 SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 LIVED IN THIS HOUSE 1742-1785. 
 
 WASHINGTON WAS HERE A GUEST APRIL 6, 1 7 76. 
 
 THIS BUILDING ERECTED 
 
 AT THE CORNER OF SOUTH MAIN STREET ABOUT 1 742 
 
 WAS REMOVED TO ITS 
 
 PRESENT SITE IN 1804. 
 
 June 24, 1909, a tablet was erected upon the General 
 Nathanael Greene House, in Coventry, with this inscrip- 
 tion: 
 
II 
 
 NATHANAEL GREENE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GENERALS OF THE AMERICAN 
 
 REVOLUTION 
 
 SECOND ONLY TO WASHINGTON 
 
 BUILT THIS HOUSE IN 177O 
 
 AND LWED IN IT UNTIL AS A PRIVATE 
 
 HE JOINED THE ARMY 
 
 AT CAMBRIDGE IN 1 7 75 
 
 October 27, 1909, the Esek Hopkins House, Providence, 
 was marked by a tablet. The inscription is as follows : 
 
 ESEK HOPKINS 
 
 I7I8-I802 
 
 FIRST COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN NAVY 
 
 LIVED IN THIS HOUSE 
 
 Photographs of the memorials were taken and reproduc- 
 tions are filed herewith. As far as possible the poems and 
 speeches delivered at the dedications of the memorials 
 are also filed with this report. 
 
 The cost of the memorials, an itemized statement of 
 
 which has already been pubHshed in the reports of the 
 
 State Auditor, is $1,500.87, — eighty seven cents more 
 
 than the sum appropriated. 
 
 For Tablets $1,269 00 
 
 Mason Work 116 22 
 
 Printing 52 00 
 
 Photographs 63 65 
 
 $1,500 87 
 
12 
 
 The expenses incurred by members of the Committee 
 in connection with the placing and dedication of the tablets 
 have in no case been charged against the appropriation. 
 
 At the last session of the Legislature an additional appro- 
 priation of five hundred dollars ($500) was made for the 
 continuation of the Committee's work. Orders were 
 placed as quickly as possible after this second appropria- 
 tion became available, for the casting of seven tablets 
 to be placed in Little Compton, Newport, Pawtucket 
 and Providence. 
 
 These tablets were completed so late in the autumn that, 
 in view of the uncertain weather, it seemed best to defer 
 their placing until the spring. Their cost thus far has 
 been $438. The additional expenses that must be 
 incurred in connection with their erection will probably 
 exhaust the appropriation. A report will hereafter be 
 made respecting their placing and dedication. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 For the Executive Committee, 
 
 WILFRED H. MUNRO, Chairman. 
 
 February 18, 19 13. 
 
The First Baptist Church, Nockum Hill, Earrixgton 
 
THEN AND NOW 
 
 Of 
 
 JOHN MYLES 
 
 One of the Immortals 
 
 At the dedication of the Nockom Hill tablet the following poem was read 
 by the Reverend Martin S. Williston 
 
 "Twas long surmised, the age of gold, 
 Lay in the fabled days of old, 
 Those hoary days, that yet wer new, 
 When men wer babes and sages few, 
 When mind and body both wer bare, 
 And man's sole raiment was his hair. 
 We're told indeed, that Father Adam 
 And that new lady, his first Madam, 
 Wer wondrous peopl in their way, 
 Unmatcht by any later day — 
 For gray tradition long has claimed 
 That these two Ancients I hav named, 
 Wer first in valu as in time — 
 And man's first moment was his prime, 
 Since, brooding o'er her cosmic plan, 
 Great Nature hatcht the perfect man; 
 But if she did, we wel might beg 
 
14 
 
 She'd lay another human eg 
 
 Of Hke incomparabl strain 
 
 And hatch us such a man agin. 
 
 Since none Hke him from then til now 
 
 On life's broad stage has made his bow. 
 
 But man was least in that dim past 
 
 His worst was first, his best is last. 
 
 Great nature in her primal plan 
 
 Commenct with rudimentary man, 
 
 And bilt him slowly age by age 
 
 Unitl he reacht his modern state. 
 
 A creature wiser, abler too, 
 
 Than walkt the erth when time was new. 
 
 The world is better now than then, 
 
 Advanct the race of Hving men. 
 
 While our "New Woman" is a queen, 
 
 Whose like the Ages had not seen ; 
 
 Nor is it pride that moves us thus 
 
 To cite the honor du to us. 
 
 But timely zeal to be exact 
 
 And state the simpl homely fact. 
 
 For who of us would care to be. 
 
 The tenants of a century 
 
 When guileless saints from gibbets swung 
 
 And mumbling crones wer promptly hung 
 
 For gazing slantways thru their eyes 
 
 And playing they wer darkly wise — 
 
 When such as chose to preach and pray 
 
IS 
 
 In their own set and special way. 
 
 Wer curst and scourged and bruised with blows 
 
 As Heven's most contumacious foes, 
 
 While other for the heinous sin 
 
 Of withering age and wrinkled skin 
 
 Wer shrewdly charged with taking part, 
 
 In black and diabolic art, 
 
 That art a myth, a bogey quite, 
 
 A specter born of childish fright 
 
 At mouthings of neurotic trance, 
 
 Or antics of "Saint Vitus' Dance;" 
 
 But peaceful "Friend" or trembling witch 
 
 (It littl mattered which was which). 
 
 Fell both alike beneath the ban, 
 
 As ruthless foes of God and man. 
 
 Because believd to be "too thick" 
 
 With him the scornful called "Old Nick" 
 
 And godly Baptists went to jail, 
 
 Adjudged to be without the pale 
 
 Of public justis, since they saw 
 
 The reading of a higher law 
 
 Than Sheriff's writ or Priest's command 
 
 Or aught engrossed by human hand. 
 
 And took their orders from the sky. 
 
 In mandates of the Lord Most High. 
 
 Followed the curse and clanking chain, 
 
 Ferocious hate and penal pain, 
 
 Ordained by Church, decreed by State 
 
i6 
 
 These stalwarts to exterminate, 
 For no offens that we can see 
 But fervent love of liberty. 
 
 The "good old days! — Perhaps they wer, 
 
 But frankly who would not prefer 
 
 The "Brand new" date, the latest sun, 
 
 The radiant century just begun! 
 
 Spans our new sky the larger hope, 
 
 Expands our thought with wider scope 
 
 Than wer vouchsaft to days of yore. 
 
 Since time leads on from less to more 
 
 And we who now possess the stage 
 
 Ar£ blest as was no former age, 
 
 Tho surely ' twas no fault to be 
 
 A nativ of antiquity; 
 
 Our forebears merit neither praise not blame 
 
 Because they hither erly came 
 
 And spent their brief allotted time 
 
 Ere yet our race had reacht its prime; 
 
 We giv them thanks that they, not we, 
 
 Arrived before we came to be. 
 
 Where wer we now, had they not been, 
 
 Those massiv, stern, Homeric men, 
 
 Sincere and somber, harsh and tru, 
 
 Gallant and grim and strong to do, 
 
 Who joind to serv the pubhc weal 
 
 Rough hands, stout harts and wil of steel. 
 
 Perchance had we been less than they 
 
17 
 
 If sent to tame their strenuous day. 
 Then turn we back with friendly eyes 
 To those departed centuries, 
 When \drtu's self was crude and rude, 
 And boistrous ruffians oft wer good. 
 Their errors we may well condone, 
 As we attemt to mend our own. 
 
 Thus paying tribute to the past. 
 Yet counting Time's best day its last, 
 We come to laurel with our praise 
 A name sent down from ancient days — 
 A memory, a wraith, a shade — 
 Nathless a star no night can fade : 
 Our hero was a soldier tru, 
 Who fought his fight as brave men do. 
 Then bowed submissive to the call 
 Of mortal fate, that summons all. 
 "Ded!" So the mossy marbles say. 
 While centuries dim hav past away 
 Since first he slept, returned to dust, 
 The voiceless slumbers of the just. 
 "Ded," say you! He — the friend of God- 
 He — lost beneath the soulless sod ! 
 He livs — wil ever liv, for vain 
 The might of deth, its prison chain. 
 When valorous souls its challenge meet 
 Empowered its malis to defeat — 
 For mind is master, tho the fo 
 
i8 
 
 May lay the helpless body low, 
 If but the wil its empire hold, 
 With spirit tru and Conscience bold, 
 'Twas thus prevaild the dauntless man, 
 Undreding fate and deth's dark ban. 
 
 Whens came and why, our preacher knight, 
 With courage and with soul alight, 
 Tempting the lonely wilderness, 
 Rimmd round with savage Heathennesse? 
 
 He came, our valiant Myles, because 
 
 A dastard king and shameless laws 
 
 Struck at God's face — smote manhood down, 
 
 Claimd right "divine" for lord and crown — 
 
 And drove without the altar-rail 
 
 Whoever's soul was not for sale — 
 
 Vowd scurge and sword and prison cell 
 
 And awesome woes of lurid hell 
 
 To all who with unbending knee 
 
 Withstood the church's harsh decree. 
 
 No craven, Myles, to su for grace 
 
 Or barter truth for power or place; 
 
 Manlike he stood and made reply; 
 
 "I serv the king enthroned on High, — 
 
 No mortal may my spirit bind, 
 
 No law constrain the dethless mind. 
 
 King and Lord Bishop count for naught 
 
 In the imperial realms of thought. 
 
19 
 
 I fear not man — I wil not yield, 
 
 With truth my buckler, — God my shield. " 
 
 Thereon, the righteous man made haste 
 To cross old Ocean's weltering waste, 
 To gain, relieved of forct control, 
 The larger freedom of the soul. 
 With joy our exile toucht the strand 
 Of our new Western Promist Land; 
 The altars on whose virgin sod 
 Read," Welcome all the friends of God. 
 With generous thoughts and harts entwined 
 Behold a shrine for humankind." 
 Thus dreamd the profet, nobly bent 
 On making real his high intent. 
 Alas, for dream and vision fair. 
 For hopes that vanisht into air! 
 Not yet, not yet, the Golden Age 
 Nor love writ large on history's page! 
 Too promt the saint to lift the sword. 
 Who caught this message from his Lord; 
 ''Smite swiftly, smite them hip and thigh, 
 These Belial Sons of Blasfemy!" 
 
 Now, blasfemy, in days of yore 
 Ment honest thinking, nothing more; 
 If man with man could not agree 
 About unknown reality, 
 Out from its scabbard leapt the blade 
 
20 
 
 To make the doubtful soul afraid, 
 Since not to grant what I held tru, 
 Was proof that God detested you, 
 And if one kept his stubborn way 
 He'd meet his doom at Judgment Day. 
 For only everlasting fire 
 Could satisfy the holy ire 
 That flamed against the errant mind. 
 My way to follow disincHned. 
 
 But Pastor Myles held fast to this, 
 That loyal Christians should not miss 
 Immersion — drenching and complete. 
 Baptized thruout from hed to feet; 
 "Nay, nay," proclaimed the ruhng sect,. 
 'Tis not enjoined upon the "Elect" 
 To sink in water deep as that 
 Before the shrine we worship at; 
 A drop or two is wet enough 
 Perdition's balefires to rebuff — 
 Now, by the Lord we love and serv 
 From this high doctrine, we'll not swerv. 
 Recant, deny! " 'Tis dedly sin. 
 Baptizing so much water in. " 
 "But right am I," said Myles in turn, 
 "Recant! Deny!! I'd sooner burn. 
 Think what you wil — lo, I'm content — 
 To think as you I'll ne'er consent. 
 My thought, my wil, my hart are free — 
 
21 
 
 No man shal wrest my soul from me; 
 It fears me not to face your wrath, 
 If I but walk the 'Narrow Path.' " 
 
 And thus he went his dauntless way, 
 Without concernment or dismay, 
 Patient and gentl, staunch and tru. 
 Brave herald of a Gospel new. 
 
 Meantime a cycle has unrolled 
 And time is ripe with memories old— 
 And stil with thankfulness do we 
 Extol this Son of Liberty. 
 
 MARTIN S. WILLISTON. 
 
THE GOVERNOR BULL HOUSE 
 
 Address of William Paine Sheffield, Jr., June 18, 1906 
 
 This tablet is placed on this house, now the oldest 
 in Rhode Island, in honor of a colonial governor. It 
 recalls the trials our forefathers endured for civil and 
 religious liberty for themselves and their children. 
 
 Henry Bull was born in England in 1610. On July 17, 
 1635, when twenty-five years old, he sailed from London 
 to America in the ship James. In 1636, he and his wife 
 Elizabeth, were members of the church in Roxbury, but 
 on November 20, 1637, he with others was warned to 
 deliver up all guns, pistols, swords, powder, shot, etc., 
 because "the opinions and revelations of Mr. Wheel- 
 wright and Mrs. Hutchinson have seduced and led into 
 dangerous error many of the people here in New Eng- 
 land. " On March 7, 1637, he was one of the eighteen 
 original settlers of Pocasset who signed the following 
 compact strongly religious in its nature : 
 
 "We whose names are underwritten do here solemnly 
 in the presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into a 
 Bodie Politick, and as he shall help will submit our persons, 
 lives and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of 
 Kings and Lord of Lords and to all those perfect and abso- 
 
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23 
 
 lute laws of his given us in his holy word of truth, to be 
 guided and judged thereby. " 
 
 He was also one of nine to place his name to the agree- 
 ment of April, 1639, of the settlers of Newport. 
 
 The labors of man have greatly changed the place the 
 early settlers found here, until a titled Englishman has 
 called it the most beautiful watering place in the world. 
 In ancient times it was a place of wolves and wild Indians. 
 A river ran through what is now River lane, from Tanner 
 street (now West Broadway). There was a spring on 
 Spring street, near the foot of Barney street, and the town 
 was built on both sides of it. Coddington, Easton, Clark 
 and Bull had home lots laid out to them to the north of the 
 spring. 
 
 The first house in Newport was built by Governor 
 Easton on his lot on Farewell street, to the north of where 
 the Quaker meeting house now stands; it was burned by 
 the Indians. Governor Coddington's house stood on 
 Marlborough street. 
 
 The Bull house is too substantial to have been built all 
 at once in those early days. The date usually assigned 
 to it is from 1638 to 1640, but it is almost certain that very 
 little of the house as it stands goes back to the dates 
 assumed. Tradition asserts that the southern end of the 
 building is the older. 
 
 During the years 1640, 1641 and 1642, Henry Bull, 
 young and sturdy, served as town sergeant. He was also 
 to suppress the sale of hquors. For many years he served 
 
24 
 
 as deputy and in the years 1685, 1686 and 1690 as governor 
 of this colony. It was during his term as chief magistrate, 
 that Rhode Island's rights were attacked by Governor 
 Andros, but Rhode Island fared better than the other 
 colonies and managed to obtain its ancient charter. 
 
 Governor Bull married three times and every generation 
 of his descendants has been prominent in public affairs. 
 It is well to pause before the home of an early settler who 
 was of a character like that of Henry Bull, and whose 
 descendants are such as his. It is such an example which 
 will impress the children of all races among us that they 
 must educate themselves to perform the duties of citizen- 
 ship. 
 
 WILLIAM PAINE SHEFFIELD, Jr. 
 
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GILBERT STUART 
 
 The Address of 'Willfam B. "Weeden, August 8, 1906 
 
 Gilbert Stuart's father, having fought with the pretender 
 at Culloden, according to tradition, fled to America and 
 established a snuff-mill in the upper gorge of the Peta- 
 quamscott. The mill has been replaced by a saw-mill, 
 but the cottage, fairly preserved, stands as it. was. In it 
 the artist was born in 1755. 
 
 The inevitable tendency of temperament was revealed 
 early in the boy. 
 
 At thirteen, he painted the Bannisters — portraits now 
 in the Redwood Library. Crude pictures, they were like 
 the sitters. At sixteen, he painted a portrait of his own 
 father. In the previous year, he had studied under Cosmo 
 Alexander, a fairly capable instructor. 
 
 Alexander took Stuart to England, promising him every 
 opportunity for instruction in his art. Unfortunately 
 the patron died and the protegee who was studying at the 
 University of Glasgow could not sustain himself. He could 
 earn by his brush a simple support, but was not able to 
 dress and spend like his fellow students. He came home 
 by the way of Nova Scotia, in a collier, experiencing a 
 very hard and trying voyage. 
 
26 
 
 Though he spent rather less than two years in England 
 on his first visit, he sharpened his facilities at the most 
 impressible season of youth. Coming home, he could 
 draw portraits well enough to obtain sitters among the 
 wealthy Jews of Rhode Island. His fame extended to 
 Philadelphia, where his uncle, Mr. Anthony, was proud of 
 his ingenious nephew, and employed him to paint a portrait 
 of himself, and of his wife and children. In this early work 
 he learned to paint by painting, but did not rest contented 
 with his meagre information. 
 
 In Newport, he painted and studied from life under the 
 difficulties of the time. Clubbing with his friend Water- 
 house, they hired a "strong-muscled blacksmith" for a 
 model at a half a dollar an evening. The country and the 
 times were unfavorable for art. In the spring of 1775, the 
 last ship leaving Boston Port carried our artist bound for 
 London. 
 
 At twenty-two years of age Stuart was domiciled with 
 Sir Benjamin West, receiving instruction in West's studio, 
 and allowed at times to contribute incidental work to the 
 master's pictures. His capacity and facihty in color 
 fast made its way. But it did not depend on methods or 
 any tricks of art. As West indicated very clearly to 
 some of his pupils, "It is of no use to steal Stuart's colors; 
 if you want to paint as he does you must steal his eyes. " 
 The spirit of the artist expressed itself in music as well as 
 in color. He fortuitously stumbled on a position as 
 organist at £30 per year; which helped to support him in 
 his novitiate. 
 
> 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 (3 
 
27 
 
 The first picture that brought our artist into notice was 
 a full length portrait of Mr. Grant, a Scotch gentleman. 
 Coming for the first sitting in very cold weather, Grant 
 remarked, that it was a better time for skating and pro- 
 posed an expedition out of doors. Stuart had learned to 
 strike out on the Pettaquamscott River; his celerity now 
 brought crowds to witness on the Serpentine, the sporting 
 place of London. The occasion prompted him to post 
 Grant when the sitting came to pass, as a skater with a 
 winter-scene in the back ground. Baretti an Itahan 
 coming accidentally into Stuart's room when the portrait 
 was nearly finished, exclaimed, "What a charming picture ! 
 Who, but the great artist West could have painted such 
 an one?" Stuart confessed that the picture was all his 
 own. It was exhibited at Somerset House, attracting 
 so much notice that the artist was afraid to go to the 
 academy to meet the looks and inquiries of the multitude. 
 Not long after he established himself in London, painting 
 portraits at prices only less than those obtained by 
 Reynolds and Gainsborough. His rendering in character 
 in the sitter was original and masterly, as was his use of 
 color. Picturesque in his own conversation, he could draw 
 forth a statesman, general, or farmer, in the essential 
 nature of each, and place his sitter hterally in the best 
 light. Dr. Waterhouse, a competent authority, knowing 
 him thoroughly, said that in conversation and "Confabu- 
 lation" as the critic expressed it, no man was his superior. 
 He kept the sitter talking, drawing out his inmost char- 
 
28 
 
 acteristics, for he could enter into any man. With 
 soldiers, he would go into battle, with statesmen he would 
 discourse on Gibbon or Hume; with lawyers, merchants 
 or men of leisure, each in his own way; and with ladies in 
 all ways. 
 
 If he would set forth a farmer on canvass, he would 
 surprise the subject not only by bringing out the nice 
 points of horses and cattle, but by profound knowledge 
 of manures, and of the food of plants. It was said that, 
 his wit was ample and sometimes redundant. 
 
 The humble boy of Pettaquamscott had become a lead- 
 ing artist, favored by the Court of England, petted by 
 aristocratic society, a central figure in the most brilliant 
 circles of London. The ardent nature of his Scottish 
 loyalist father, joined to the serene English temper of his 
 mother had formed a typical artist. Yet there was some- 
 thing ampler and larger in this man — something hardly 
 formulated and quite unappreciated in the purely EngHsh 
 mind. England was just beginning to learn what 
 colonial expansion meant, how the face of the civilized 
 world was to be changed by the expansive principle. 
 Children of the Httle island transplanted to a far away 
 continent were being enlarged thereby and were giving 
 expression to new continental ideas. 
 
 Stuart had painted the King; he now burned to portray 
 the greatest man of the time — Washington, the Father 
 of his Country. Going back to his own land, he settled 
 in Philadelphia in 1792, to embody on canvass, that 
 
29 
 
 ''noble personification of wisdom and goodness, known 
 to subsequent generations as Stuart's Washington." As 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, "He would seem to have 
 absorbed into that face all the serenity of these United 
 States. " 
 
 We might fill the hour with entertaining matter drawn 
 from his talk and play of character. He had wit, satire 
 and anecdote mthout limit, for any occasion. When he 
 did not fascinate, he often frightened his companions. 
 Of his original and creative force there are ample testi- 
 monials. 
 
 Never jealous of his competitors, the artist had many 
 troubles with sitters. When a picture went wrong, he 
 would discard it as lumber, and no remonstrance or petition 
 could induce him to resume it. Friends would not be 
 satisfied with a portrait. Once after several trials, all 
 lost temper; the mercurial artist dropped his palate and 
 
 took snuff, exclaiming, 'Svhat a business is this of a 
 
 portrait painter; you bring him a potato and expect he 
 will paint you a peach. " 
 
 After a brief sojourn in Washington, he removed to 
 Boston in 1803. He painted many fine portraits there, 
 but his powers failed, until gout ended his life in 1828. 
 His convi\dal habits beguiled, while improvidence and 
 poverty embarrassed him. 
 
 It is easy to cry out genius when the narrator and critic 
 fails to comprehend and render forth the essential nature 
 of the subject in hand. Yet we can hardly treat this great 
 
30 
 
 artist without bringing in the unformulated characteristics 
 of genius. We have alluded to his extraordinary gifts 
 for drawing out the inmost character of a sitter. This 
 process resulted from powers far more potent than tact 
 and dexterity. To put it briefly, his own well was deep 
 and broad enough to contain the casual visitor dropped 
 into it. Washington Allston knew his ground, as he said 
 of him, "his mind was of a strong and original cast, his 
 perceptions as clear as they were just, and in the power of 
 illustration he has rarely been equalled. " 
 
 He could not have rendered the frontier surveyor and 
 militia general into a Roman senator — into the yet larger 
 statesman of the coming America — had not his mind 
 embraced in itself something universal; genius in short. 
 Narrowing our view to a detail; the wise have differed in 
 discussing his color, his especial field of art ; some contend- 
 ing that his tints are too strong. But if we regard the 
 whole man it would seem that he used color according to 
 Titian — to convey the deepest ideas of the artist. 
 
 WILLIAM B. WEEDEN 
 
/ 
 
c 
 
 /i [-[-W HOPS i- ^^^'^ 01- 
 
 01; 
 1 S ( » 
 
THE HOUSE AND HOME-LOT OF 
 ROGER WILLIAMS 
 
 By Mr. Norman M. Isham 
 October 2, 1906 
 
 Tradition puts the site of the Roger WilHams house 
 near the northeast corner of North Main and Rowland 
 streets. Upon the house which now occupies that corner, 
 the State of Rhode Island, acting through this Society, 
 has [just] placed a tablet of bronze affirming as a fact that 
 a few rods east of this spot did actually stand the house of 
 the founder of the State. It is proper, then, to explain 
 what is known of the home lot and the house of the 
 founder. 
 
 Briefly, then, it is certain that Roger Williams lived on 
 the home lot whereon the tablet says his house stood. 
 That, of course, would ordinarily be enough. But the 
 tablet points to a particular part of the home lot and must 
 therefore be justified still further. 
 
 It is certain, then, that the spot which the tablet indi- 
 cates is the traditional site for the house. 
 
 It is nearly certain that this traditional site of the house 
 has never, in all the changes of the estate, been covered by 
 any structure. 
 
32 
 
 It is certain that there are still fragments of a wall and 
 some other remains of stonework on that site, and we are 
 of the opinion that what is there should be looked upon as 
 the hearth of Roger Williams. 
 
 I. 
 
 Roger Williams lived on the home lot of which this 
 property was a part. 
 
 The home lot seems to have descended to Daniel 
 Williams, and from him to his son, Roger. 
 
 In 1 7 13, April 30th, Charles Dyer, in selling the lot north 
 of this to Nathaniel Brown (D. B. II, P. 300) bounds south 
 on the heirs of Daniel Williams. No interest of the other 
 heirs of Roger Williams appears except in a deed from Ben- 
 jamin Wright to Joseph Wilhams, son of Daniel, of the 
 Throckmorton lot, next south, in which he bounds on the 
 north with the heirs of Roger Williams, deceased. This 
 was on June 2d, 1718. (D. B. IV, 20). On May i8th, 
 1723, Joseph Williams sells to Jabez Bowen, the physician, 
 a corner, 40 by 80, from this Throckmorton lot (D. B. V, 
 331), and he bounds on the north on his brother Roger 
 Williams. How Roger acquired the whole title we do 
 not know. 
 
 Roger Williams by his deed of September 25th, 1742 
 (D. B. XI, 10), sells to Jabez Bowen a strip ten feet wide 
 and eighty feet deep on the north side of the latter's 
 homestead, and he says it is a part of his grandfather's 
 home lot. 
 
33 
 
 Finally by deed of July 25th, 1748 (D. B. XII, 261), 
 Roger Williams sells to Nehemiah Sprague, a lot 40 by 60, 
 west on Town street, and this land he says, "is the 
 northwest corner of that lot that was my Hon. Grand- 
 father Roger Williams whereon he dwelt. " The north 
 line of the deeded land was the north line of the home 
 lot. 
 
 This is direct and positive evidence. It only remains to 
 show that this lot, sold in 1748, is a part of the property 
 before us. 
 
 For this 40 by 60 lot did not include all of the present 
 estate. On July 13th, 1754, Roger Williams sold to his 
 son-in-law, Jonathan Tourtellot, a strip four feet wide on 
 the south of this lot and a piece 44 by 80 on the east or 
 up-hill side of it. (D. B. XIII, 379.) 
 
 In the meantime Nehemiah Sprague had, on December 
 28th, 1748 (D. B. XII, 262), sold to Simeon Hunt the old 
 40 by 60 lot on the Town street, and Simeon Hunt, 
 October 25th, 1749 (D. B. XII, 308), transferred the land 
 to Joseph Owen. 
 
 Owen probably built his house soon after on this front 
 lot. On July 19th, 1754 (D. B. XIII, 389), he bought of 
 Jonathan Tourtellot, the lot eastward of his own with the 
 four foot gangway strip. This was just six days after 
 Tourtellot's deed from Williams. 
 
 It is on this rear lot that it is claimed the old house had 
 stood. We now have the lot complete, and, except for 
 some diminutions, as it is now. 
 
34 
 
 Roger Williams, March 6th, 1755, deeded to David 
 Thayer, his son-in-law, all the rest of the home lot. 
 (D. B. XV, 74.) 
 
 On August 13th of the same year, 1755, Joseph Owen 
 received from Thayer the deed of a lot south of his original 
 front lot, bounding 40 feet west on the Town street, and 
 extending back 140 feet, the total depth of his other two 
 lots. It is bounded north on Joseph Owen ''where he now 
 dwells." (D.B.XV,53.) 
 
 Now, on November 17th, 1755 (D. B. XV, 65), Owen 
 sold to Benjamin Bowen, son of his southern neighbor. 
 Col. Jabez, a strip 13 feet wide and 140 feet long on the 
 south side of his north lot, that is, right through his 
 holding. This, though not in its present place exactly 
 is the future Rowland street. 
 
 Now let us go back to the lots north of Rowland street, 
 for they are our chief concern. 
 
 Joseph Owen sold, February 20th, 1761, the lot of land 
 and dwelling house "where I now live" (D. B. XVI, 
 103), to Levi Whipple. More than half the gangway, 
 now Rowland treets appears in this deed, but its location 
 has shifted northward. 
 
 Levi Whipple sold to Joseph Hart, July 9th, 1762 (D. B. 
 XVI, 201). 
 
 Joseph Rart mortgaged the property to John Dennie, of 
 Boston, October 23d, 1762 (D. B. XVI, 204), and the 
 mortgagee assigned to Devonshire and Reave of Bristol, 
 England, from whom it came to Moses Brown (D. B. XIX, 
 
35 
 
 419), who sold, November 25th, 1783, to Simeon Hunt 
 Olney. (D. B. XIX, 419.) 
 
 From Joshua Newell and his wife, Olney had already, 
 October 6th, 1783 (D. B. XIX, 424), bought their interest 
 in the estate which they probably had in some way of 
 inheritance from Joseph Hart. 
 
 From Olney the land went to his daughter, Anstis, wife 
 of Samuel Brown. Brown sold April 9th, 1840, to James 
 Hazard, a colored man who built the present house, 
 (D.B.LXXV, 215). 
 
 Hazard sold August 4th, 1842, to Dr. Samuel B. Tobey, 
 (D. B.LXXXIII, 231). 
 
 Tobey sold 1843, to Arba B. Dike, who 
 
 sold in February, 1853, to Benjamin R. Almy, (D. B. 
 LXXXIV, 232). 
 
 B. R. Almy sold to his brother, Humphrey Almy, whose 
 heirs now hold the property. 
 
 11. 
 
 This is the traditional site of Roger Wilhams' house. 
 
 In a letter dated July 17th, 18 19, printed in the Rhode 
 Island American of July 20th, 1819, Wheeler Martin, 
 discussing the location of the grave and of the house of 
 Wilhams quotes Capt. Nathaniel Packard as follows: 
 
 "Capt. Nathaniel Packard told me that when he was a 
 boy he used to play in a cellar which had a large peach 
 tree in it, which cellar was situated on a lot back of the 
 house built by Thomas (he meant Joseph) Owen, father of 
 
36 
 
 the late Honorable Daniel Owen, afterwards owned by 
 Levi Whipple, and now owned by the heirs of the late 
 Simeon H. Olney, directly north of the house owned by 
 Ezra Hubbard, and near where an outbuilding now stands," 
 
 This fixes the spot very nearly, for Packard owned, after 
 1 767, the lot east of the one we are discussing. It also goes 
 to prove that the deeds seem to show, that the house on the 
 lot in the eighteenth century was built by Joseph Owen. 
 
 "The people at that time" continues Packard's testi- 
 mony, "called it Roger Williams' cellar. " Packard, who 
 lived fron 1730 to 1801, was born and died, says Martin, 
 in a small house on the west side of Main street just south 
 of Philip Allen's. In this the Tax List of 1798 agrees. 
 Packard's widow testified to much the same effect. 
 
 Again, Theodore Foster, in a letter to Williams Thayer, 
 dated May 21st, 1819, and printed in the Rhode Island 
 American of July i6th, the same year, says that Mrs. Mary 
 Tripe told him on May 12th, 1813, that the foundations of 
 Roger Williams' house still remained, and she pointed it 
 out to him from her house. In 18 19 he says he could not 
 find these ruins on his last visit to Providence. 
 
 About i860 came Stephen Randall armed with these 
 traditions, and perhaps similar ones from other sources, 
 and he went to a certain spot and proceeded to dig. He 
 found a fragment of wall, more or less, enough to satisfy 
 him that he had uncovered the foundation of his ancestor's 
 house. 
 
37 
 
 In 1867 the present stable on the estate was built. In 
 digging for a drain at this time a piece of wall was cut 
 through about in a Hne with the excavations of Mr. 
 Randall. 
 
 It may seem strange that the house was pushed so far 
 toward the north Hne of the old home lot. Why was it not 
 in the middle? 
 
 The answer to this question is given by the location of 
 the spring which still flows on the other side of the street. 
 It was to be nearer this that the house was placed so far 
 north. For the well belonging to the homestead still 
 exists under the front door of the present house on North 
 Main street, and this well was placed there either because 
 it tapped the vein which feeds the famous spring, or because 
 it was a spring in itself. 
 
 III. 
 
 This land was always open. No house of any kind, 
 large or small, ever stood upon it since the old house was 
 destroyed. 
 
 This raises the question: when was the old house de- 
 stroyed? We do not know. It seems probable, however, 
 that it was burnt in one of the Indian attacks and that 
 Roger Williams, who was then about 73 years old, did not 
 rebuild, but went to live with his son Daniel, in the lower 
 part of the Town street. 
 
 We infer the burning of Roger Williams' house from the 
 accounts of contemporary historians who say that nearly 
 
38 
 
 all the town was destroyed. Hubbard says that not 
 above three houses were left standing. {New and Further 
 Narrative,!*. IT,.) WilHam Harris says : " The enemy hath 
 burnt — all moste all in Providence." {R. I. Hist. Coll. 
 
 X, 174.) 
 
 Daniel Williams, at what time and in what way is not 
 known, obtained a home lot at the south end of the town 
 between Nicholas Power on the north and William Hopkins 
 on the south, that is to say, the second home share south 
 of the present Power street, once the propery of the widow, 
 Jane Sears. On this lot he seems to have lived, and here 
 we feel very certain that his father lived with him after 
 the burning of his own home in 1676, and the death of his 
 wife which Austin puts in the same year. 
 
 For, on the 24th of August, 17 10, Daniel addressed a 
 letter to the Town Purchasers in which he told them 
 sundry things, and in which he said: "he gave away all 
 so that he had nothing to help himself, so that he being not 
 in a way to get for his supply and being ancient, it must 
 needs pinch somewhere. I do not desire to say what I have 
 done for both father and mother. I judge they wanted 
 nothing that was convenient for ancient people &c. " 
 (Knowles Memoir of Roger Willia?ns, p. no. Original in 
 Providence Town Papers.) 
 
 Let us now consider what evidence there may be on 
 either side of the question whether another house was ever 
 built on the site. 
 
 A. That the spot was empty. 
 
39 
 
 a. No deed till 1755 speaks of a house on any part of 
 the lot. As Joseph Owen bought the land in 1748 (that 
 is the front 60 feet) it is to be assumed that he built a house 
 soon after. Capt. Packard says he built a house there. 
 Owen bought the back lot from Jonathan Tourtellot, 
 July 13th, 1754 (13 : 379), and no house is mentioned. 
 It was therefore clear at that date. The house referred to 
 in the deed of 1755 was certainly on the front part of the 
 lot. 
 
 b. Capt. Packard told Wheeler Martin that the spot 
 was open and spoke as though it had always been. He 
 expressly says it was behind the Owen house. 
 
 c. Mrs. Mary Tripe showed the ruins to Foster in 1813. 
 
 d. The tax list of 1798 says there were on the lot a 
 wooden house of two stories, very old, a shop 14 by 20, and 
 a wood house 13 by 10^. Not a collection likely to cover 
 the whole of a lot 33 >^ by 140. 
 
 e. The tax list of 18 14 mentions only a house. 
 
 B. That the spot was not empty. 
 
 a. In 1770 the house and land were held by Rev. 
 Da\id S. Rowland as a tenant of absentee landlords. He, 
 as we know from a letter of Moses Brown, assignee of 
 the mortgage held by these landlords, made valuable 
 improvements. In 1779, when Levi Whipple, a former 
 owner was there a tenant, there was a stable on the place 
 which was very likely one of the improvements of the 
 minister. 
 
40 
 
 b. In Moses Brown's deed to Simeon H. Olney, this 
 stable appears. 
 
 The location of this stable which does not appear in 
 1798, would, if we could absolutely fix it, prove or disprove 
 our point. Now, the most probable location for the 
 stable on this as on other estates, was the extreme back 
 of the lot where the present stable is. If the stable had 
 stood on what would naturally be the yard or garden and 
 had thus covered the site of the ancient house, it would 
 have cut the lot in two most awkwardly. Capt. Packard 
 would have remembered the stable and so would Mrs. 
 Tripe, if it had stood over the house and if they knew 
 where the house was. 
 
 And they did know. Mr. Packard had played in the 
 cellar. It is hard to imagine that, if that cellar had been 
 covered in his time with a stable he would not have known 
 it. Finally, it is possible that the old shop and the stable 
 were the same. On the whole, it seems almost certain 
 that the site was always open. 
 
 IV. 
 
 There are now on the site, below the surface, some 
 fragments of wall and other stonework. Photographs 
 of them are in the possession of the R. I. Historical Society 
 for any one to examine. Mr. Almy testifies that the 
 excavations are on the spot dug into by Mr. Stephen 
 Randall. 
 
41 
 
 Mr. Weston and I met Mr. A.L. Almy, the architect, 
 one of the present owners, on September i8th, on the lot. 
 Mr. Almy showed us the present arrangement and pointed 
 out the place where when he was a boy he saw Mr. Randall 
 dig, as well as the place where, in digging the drain, the 
 workmen encountered the wall again. Mr. Weston and I, 
 as a sub-committee charged with the placing of the tab- 
 let, thought we ought to check Mr. Randall's discov- 
 eries if we could. Mr. Almy agreed to allow any amount 
 of digging and accordingly, a man who was obtained from 
 Mr. Admas, the mason, was put to work on September 
 19th. We began about nine feet back from the bank and 
 trenched westward. We soon struck wall, and continuing, 
 unearthed a large flat stone. Turning north and south we 
 laid bare a section of wall over three feet long and sixteen 
 inches thick, standing eight or ten inches above the flat 
 stone alluded to. More flat stones appeared, and traces 
 of wall on the north were visible. 
 
 The work had to be done very carefully, much of it (on 
 hands and knees) with a trowel and brush. We dug at the 
 north in the line of the wall, but found nothing, though 
 we went down in the sand which underlies the site to a 
 point from which the sounding rod would reach hard pan. 
 The wall had never extended in this direction. A search 
 on the south was equally fruitless, as the drain excavation 
 had evidently destroyed the wall at this point. Nothing 
 was to be looked for on the west for the bank wall with 
 the excavation for the yard had cut off everythng. 
 
42 
 
 Clay appeared in some of the joints of the wall on the 
 inside. The outside seemed to be laid dry. Clay also 
 appeared in the joints between the flat stones west of the 
 wall, and a heap of clay was found lying upon these stones. 
 It looked very much as if it had been put there, and 
 appeared also under one of the stones as if used for 
 mortar between it and the one below. 
 
 When the ruins were cleared, September 20th, we had 
 them photographed from several different points of view. 
 Measurements were taken of them, and they were located 
 from the bank wall and from the lines of Rowland street, 
 and from North Main street. The grade of Howland 
 street was also taken with a level and the height of the 
 flat stone of the ruin was taken above a point on the curb 
 at North Main Street. 
 
 V. 
 
 These fragments, just described, are, in our opinion, the 
 remains of the fireplace and the chimney of Roger WiUiams' 
 house. The flat stones arranged as they are, the fragment 
 of wall where the back of the chimney should be, with all 
 the characteristics of such a chimney back, heat cracks 
 and all, the trace of a jamb, faint though it be, on the north, 
 all point to this conclusion. 
 
 When the house was burnt or otherwise destroyed, we 
 believe the former, the chimney stood for some years as 
 one near the state farm wall is still standing, as the King 
 chimney is still, and as a chimney or more in various parts 
 of the state are standing. 
 
43 
 
 Bye and bye it fell, and as the upper parts went first 
 the debris gradually covered the lower parts and protected 
 them. After many years, with the ground unoccupied, 
 as we have tried to show this was, there would be only a 
 green mound, covered with weed or grass, troublesome to 
 spade or plough, and hence left alone. Sentiment too 
 may have had some effect even among our forefathers. 
 Who knows? At any rate, there can be shown to any one 
 who desires proof of this statement, the remnants of certain 
 old stacks which have gone that way to destruction and 
 are in the condition described. 
 
 In conclusion, can we tell anything from our find as to 
 the form and size of Roger Williams' house? The find 
 simply strengthens the claim made in Early R. I. Houses, 
 that the ancient houses of the town were like the Roger 
 Mowry house, one room, story-and-a-half affairs, with a 
 stone chimney at the end turned toward the hill. The 
 fire room, lower room or hall, was 15 or 16 feet by 17, 
 and about 6}4 feet high. The roof was very steep. The 
 foundation, as in this case was very shallow, and if there 
 was a cellar under the house it was simply a hole with 
 sloping sides, a place to keep potatoes from freezing, or 
 what they had in place of potatoes, and reached either on 
 the outside from the lower ground of the sloping hillside, 
 or from within by a trap door. Most Hkely the latter, on 
 account of prowling animals. 
 
 In concluding this report we have merely to say that 
 we have attempted to set forth the results of an inquiry 
 
44 
 
 into the claims of the traditional site of the house, and to 
 give to the society the sources known to us, with the exca- 
 vations we have made. What we think does not bind any 
 one. The facts do. If any one therefore, objects to the 
 reading of the sources and the excavation which we have 
 set forth, we are glad to set before him the data we have 
 had, so that he can, like a good Rhode Islander, form his 
 
 own opinion. 
 
 NORMAN MORRISON ISHAM. 
 

 Q 
 W 
 
 w 
 
 z 
 
 a 
 
 Q 
 Z 
 
 w 
 
 H 
 Q 
 A 
 
FORT INDEPENDENCE 
 
 Paper read by C. S. Brigham 
 May 16, 1907 
 
 The battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775, gave 
 warning to the country that a long and exhausting conflict 
 was at hand. Rhode Island in common with the other 
 colonies immediately took steps to place herself upon a 
 war footing and adopted such precautions as seemed 
 expedient to guard against the incursions of the enemy. 
 The town of Providence, easily approached by water, 
 was open to attack from the British ships of war stationed 
 at Newport. A beacon was ordered to be erected at 
 the Pro\ddence town meeting of July 3, 1775, and was 
 completed during the following month. At a meeting held 
 on July 31st, it was ordered that fortifications should be 
 built at Fox Point, and intrenchments "hove up between 
 Fields and Sassafras Points of sufficient capacity to cover 
 a body of men ordered there on any emergency. " 
 
 The construction of the works at Fields Point was 
 immediately begun. Solomon Drowne in a letter to 
 his brother, William, dated August 12, 1775, says: "One 
 day last week Mr. Compton, with one of the Light Infantry 
 drummers and two of the Cadet fifers, went round to 
 
46 
 
 notify the sons of freedom who had the pubHc good and 
 safety at heart to repair to Hacker's wharf, with such 
 implements as are useful in intrenching, where a boat was 
 ready to take them on board and transport them to the 
 shore between Sassafras and Fields Point. About sixty 
 of us went in a packet, many had gone before, some in 
 J. Brown's boat, &c., so when all had got there the number 
 was not much short of 200. I don't know that ever I 
 worked harder a day in my life before. With what had 
 been done by a number that went the day before, we threw 
 up a breastwork that extended near one quarter of a mile. 
 A large quantity of bread was carried dowm, and several 
 were off catching quahaugs, which were cooked for dinner 
 a la mode de Indian. The channel runs at not a great 
 distance from this shore so that when cousin Wallace 
 comes up to fire our town, his men who work the ship can 
 easily be picked down by small arms, from our intrench- 
 ment, which is designed principally for musqueteers." 
 (Field Revoluntionary Defences in R. I. p. 57.) 
 
 Corroborating the information contained in this letter, 
 there is a bill rendered by Wilham Compton, the town 
 sergeant, containing this item: "August 2, to warning 
 the town to work on fortifications, — 4—0." A notice 
 regarding the beacon printed in the Gazette of August 
 12, 1775, mentions the fact that "a strong battery, and 
 intrenchment on the river" have been erected. The 
 Providence Gazette of August 26 reports on August 22, 
 when some British ships-of-war came up the Bay, the 
 
: EARTHWO 
 
 WERE THROWN UP 
 
 IN 1775 
 AND STRENGTHENED 
 
 . IN 1814 
 
 "\. iB 
 
 
 -a 
 
47 
 
 inhabitants manned the battery at Fox Point and "an 
 intrenchment on the River. " These intrenchments were 
 evidently erected on the brow of the bluff overlooking 
 the river and extended from Sassafras Point toward 
 Fields Point. There is little now remaining except the 
 breastworks at the northernmost extremity of the line 
 and it is this redoubt, strengthened during the War of 
 1812, that is marked to-day. 
 
 The intrenchments near Sassafras Point were intended 
 largely for riflemen. A fort of somewhat more pretentious 
 size was required to guard the approach to Providence. 
 At a town meeting held October 26, 1775, a committee 
 was appointed "to direct where, and in what manner, 
 fortifications shall be made upon the hill to the southward 
 of the house of WiUiam Field." This old house, the 
 ancestral home of the Fields, was demolished in 1896. 
 
 At this same town meeting of October 26, it was voted 
 "that the part of the town below the Gaol Lane (Meeting 
 street), on the east side of the river, be required by warrant 
 from the town clerk, as usual, by beat of drum, to repair 
 to-morrow morning at 8 o'clock, to Fields Point, to make 
 proper fortifications there ; to provide themselves with tools 
 and provisions for the day, that the inhabitants capable 
 of bearing arms, who dwell on the west side of the river, 
 be required in the same manner to repair thither, for the 
 same purpose, on Saturday next; and that the inhabitants 
 of that part of the town to the northward of the Gaol 
 Lane, be required, in the same manner, to repair thither 
 for the same purpose on Monday next. " 
 
48 
 
 The towns surrounding Providence contributed their 
 assistance. In the Gazette of Xovember 4, 1775, a notice 
 was published ri-(|uesting llic inluibitants of Cranston, 
 Johnston anrl North I'ro\i(lcnce to aid in completing the 
 fortifications. 
 
 The erecting of this fort was sui)erintendc(l b\- Barnard 
 Edd\',an(l his bill to the town, still i)reserved in the records, 
 shows the date of the fort's construction. 
 ToAMi of Providence to Barnard Eddy 
 
 1775 
 
 November 20 to i^days work William Field 
 
 72 hands & his team at 12s per day o 18 o 
 
 To Boards & Other Stuff to nuiid W'heale 
 
 Barersand mack hand liarcrs o 8 o 
 
 To 7 Days Work by William Meld attend- 
 ance on the men at the fortification at 
 56 per day 61 13 6 
 
 2 19 6 
 
 To I day of Jo-seph Eddy in going to Johns- 
 ton for the Spars o 4 6 
 
 To 24 da_\s for myself from of Xowniber at 
 
 5s i)er day o o 
 
 9 4 o 
 
 Erors Excepted 
 
 Barnard Ijidy 
 
 To 7 S])ars of Obediah Brown for the Boam. . 12-1 
 To 7 (jo ot Samikl Winsor at 15s pi-r ton 41 
 
 f^'^'t- —15 4M 
 
 10 II ^^2 
 
 Barnard Eddy 
 
49 
 
 The charges for boom and spars evidently relate to the 
 boom and chain which was ordered to be stretched across 
 the river at Fields Point as an obstruction to vessels 
 entering the harbor. 
 
 The hill upon which this fort was erected was called, 
 possibly at that time, but surely within a few years later, 
 Robin Hill. A plat of the William Field property, now 
 in the City Record Ofhce, dated 1816, shows the outHne 
 of the fort and calls it "Robin Hill Fort." The name, 
 Fort Independence, by which recent generations have 
 known the work, was evidently fastened upon it by later 
 map-makers, somewhere about the middle of the 19th 
 century. A writer in the Providence Press of August 7, 
 1869, in referring to the fort as a rehc of the War of 181 2, 
 says : It is located "on Robin Hill, and is now called Fort 
 Independence. An old gentleman now living in the city, 
 who helped to construct some of the works, says it was 
 originally called Fort Robin Hill. When or why the name 
 was changed, it is impossible to say. " 
 
 In the War of 181 2, the various fortifications at Fields 
 Point were much strengthened and improved. The first 
 action in this regard was taken on September 19, 18 14, 
 when a large meeting of the citizens of Providence was 
 held in the State House Parade for the purpose of taking 
 concerted measures of defence against invasion. A 
 committee of defence was appointed to supervise the 
 construction of such fortifications as were deemed neces- 
 sary. The mihtary companies, the "gentlemen of the 
 4 
 
so 
 
 bar," the masonic fraternity, the students at Brown 
 University, the clergymen, the "people of color" and 
 various other classes of citizens contributed their scr- 
 N-iccs. Within a fort ni<^'h I earthworks wercbcin'^ thrown 
 uj) in \ arious cjuarters of the city. The newsj)apers of the 
 day teem with notices for the prosecution of the work, 
 and the original \(tlume of records of the committee of 
 defence, still preserved in the Historical Society, shows how 
 strenuously the < ili/.ens worked to guard the town against 
 invasion. The State, however, was ne\er threatened, and 
 the treaty of Ghent was signed before the fortitlcations 
 were completed. 
 
 It is related by a writer in the Providence Press of 
 August 7th, 1S69, that the fort at Robin Hill was con- 
 stnicted by the United Train of Artillery, with the aid of 
 citizens, and that a jniblic procession headed by two 
 clerg\'men of the city, Rew Henr\- Edes, and Rev. J. 
 Willson, marc lu'd out of the city to the site chosen for the 
 work. The fort uL the southeastern extremity of Fields 
 Point, now called Fort William Henry, was erected at this 
 time, and was the most i)retentious of any then constructed. 
 
 It is very fitting that these two Revolutionary forts 
 should be thus marked, before the lapse of further years 
 destroys our memory of them or alters the correctness of 
 their traditions. So little do we of the jtresent generation 
 realize that the events of our own (la\- are to be with the 
 pas.sing of years the events of the forgotten j)ast and that 
 facts faniiliar to us are to become llie theme of research 
 
51 
 
 for the future antiquarian and historian. Likewise the 
 participants in the stirring days of the Revolution and the 
 War of 1812 seldom seemed aware of the fact that they 
 were makers of history. Had they realized this point, 
 they would have provided us with more definite informa- 
 tion as to the origin of the names of these very forts which 
 we are marking. They would not have obhged us to 
 resort to out of the way sources to gleam our array of 
 facts and even then come away but partly satisfied. They 
 would not have caused some of us err in placing Robin Hill 
 at Sassafras Point instead of in its proper location as a hill 
 identical with Fort Independence. Our ancestors have 
 much to answer for. Let us attempt by the preservation 
 in bronze of these historic sites to provide a partial 
 remedy that we may not be accused by posterity of the 
 
 same charge. 
 
 CLARENCE S. BRIGHAM. 
 
REYNOLDS HOUSE. BRISTOL 
 
 Piistorical Addre-^s Delivered by Judjje O. L. Bo-worth at Ceremonies 
 
 Attending the Placing of Tablet on Hou-e Occupied by 
 
 Gen. Lafayette in 1778 
 
 Mr. President, and members of the Rhode Island Historical 
 Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
 
 To-day the scenes and events of one Imndred and twenty 
 eight years ago, come \-ivi(lly before us -scenes stirring 
 with romance, yet of the deej)est significance and import- 
 ance in our national histor>'. 
 
 This ancient domicile, its architecture pecuHar to early 
 New England, its quaint rooms, and more especiall}- the 
 room once occu])ied by him whose name to-day we honor, 
 a name familiar throughout the len^'lh and breadth of our 
 land, has an interest and charm known only to him who 
 loves New England and her institutions. 
 
 In September, 1778, a long-limbed, lean, lanky Noung 
 man with a hook-nose, red hair and retreating forehead, 
 so shy as to be almost ungainlw and so quiet as to be almost 
 awkward, might be seen making his way to this house. 
 His eye was bright and shai]), liis look when interested 
 was firm and high, and beneath his unattracti\'e e.xterior 
 lay an intelligence that denoted lliought and mental 
 capacity, ancl a heart stirred with high ideals of right and 
 
04 
 
 o 
 
 ■X: 
 
 < 
 
 
S3 
 
 justice for the benefit of his fellowmen. This young man 
 was Monseigneur Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert, 
 Damotier de Lafayette, son of a noble gentleman who six 
 weeks before the birth of our hero, was killed while charg- 
 ing an English battery at Mindeu. At the time of the 
 birth of Lafayette the estates of his parents has become so 
 depleted as to be insufficient to keep up the dignity of his 
 family, or even to give him the education necessary to his 
 rank and station. 
 
 The date of his birth was September 6th, 1757, and the 
 place was upon one of the green slopes of the Avergne 
 Mountains in Southern France, in the fortified manor- 
 house known as the Chateau of Chivaniac. Here in this 
 old country mansion, half castle and half farm-house, 
 which had withstood the ravages of time and tempest for 
 nearly six hundred years, was born the boy destined to 
 know but little else than the tempest of Revolution. 
 As a youth the want of means appeared for a time to be a 
 serious obstacle to the advancement of his ambition, or 
 even to the securing of an education suited to his rank and 
 station. At this point rich and influential relatives came 
 to the aid of his mother and he was sent to school at Paris 
 to begin his education as a gentleman of rank. Thus it 
 would seem Lafayette, born in the midst of revolution and 
 poverty, commenced his career a soldier by birth, a scholar 
 by charity. 
 
 In the year 1770 he suffered by death the loss of his 
 mother, which was to him a great misfortune. 
 
54 
 
 In the same year, however, the death of a grand-uncle 
 gave him possession of a large estate, thus relieving his 
 financial (lillicultics and j)lacing in his hands the means of 
 being more useful to his fclluwmen, as tiic use of that 
 income in later years proved. He was now a very rich and 
 powerful nobleman with a future a])j)arently as i)rumising 
 and happy as could be desired. His relatives and guard- 
 ians now began when he was thirteen to arrange for him a 
 suitable nialrimonial alliance and hnall\- the daughter of 
 the Duke flWyen, a noble and wealth}- ]K>er of the realm 
 was selected, and at the age of fourteen Lafayette was 
 married to Mademoiselle Marie .\drienne Fran^oise 
 de'Noailles, a girl of twelve. This proved a happy 
 union, and this bride of twehe years became a comfort 
 and support to him, e\'en when the shadows of life and of 
 the prison of Olmutz had gathered darkly around him. 
 
 At tills period we find Lafayette young and wealthy, 
 with a ro\al lineage, connected by a hapi)y marriage 
 with a powerful and wealthy family, and apparently 
 with all that youth and wealth can gi\e i)lanning for the 
 welfare and lil)erty of mankind. He is uneasy and 
 anxious and he feels the impulse of destiny. He has 
 listened to the story of the 1 )uke of (llouccster at a diiiiuT 
 willi the Freni li Commandment at .Metz, has heard in 
 that story that tlie peasants in America had had a light 
 with British soldiers at a place called Lexington and 
 Concord, and that these peasants were oi the lower order 
 who neetled the strong hand U) put them down; and then 
 
55 
 
 and there he anxiously questioned the Duke as to who 
 these rebel peasants were, and why they were in rebellion, 
 and the Duke explained as best he could what was the 
 cause of the trouble, and added that though "the peasants 
 of America are a plucky lot, still as all the gentlemen of 
 the colonies seemed to be loyal to the King, the peasants 
 had no chance of success unless by some chance leaders 
 and officers of experience turned in and helped them." 
 The heart and soul of Lafayette had now become enlisted 
 in the cause of freedon, and it soon became known that he 
 intended to go to America to fight for those whom Duke of 
 Gloucester had been pleased to call "American peasants." 
 To use his own words "I could think of nothing but this 
 enterprise and I resolved to go to Paris at once to make 
 further inquiries." 
 
 This information came to the ears of his father-in-law, 
 who used every means in his power to prevent his son-in- 
 law from going to America, but without success. Lafayette 
 was now thoroughly aroused to what he felt his duty to 
 the people of America and he resolved at the risk of his 
 life and fortune to aid them in their struggle for Hberty 
 against the strongest nation of the world. To this end he 
 sought and obtained an interview with Silas Deane and 
 Benjamin Franklin, who were then our American agents at 
 Paris. At this interview he told them of his willingness to 
 aid their cause and said, "I am going to buy a ship to 
 take your officers and supplies to America in it. It is 
 precisely in time of danger that I wish to share whatever 
 
fortune may have in store for you. " 1 his he set about at 
 once and purchased a small sloop named "\"ictory." 
 In this he sailed from Bordeaux, but without necessary 
 l)ai)ers, and after many adventures, in s])ite of remon- 
 strances of his falher-in-law and friends, and in spite of 
 the King of France, steered for America. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh of July, Lafayette and his 
 comj)anions, one of them being Baron de Kali), arrived in 
 Philadcli)iiia and assuming that their troubles were over, 
 started to wail upon the Prisidcnt of Congress with their 
 letters of introduction from Silas Deane and Benjamin 
 I'ranklin. 
 
 As the Congress was unwilling to gi\-e the two officers the 
 maj(jr generals ct)nmiission they had asked for Lafayette 
 with that determination of i)uqwse and with that con- 
 sistency to our cause which ever characterized him as a 
 soldier and as a friend of Washington said, "If Congress 
 will not accept me as a Major General, behold I I will 
 Tight for American liberty as a volunteer." 
 
 He then wrote a letter to Congress setting out his desire 
 Lu be of ser\ice to America, requesting that he be allowed 
 to serve as a volunteer without jkw. That was a most 
 unusual rerjuest and i)roposilion, and Hancock and Con- 
 gress were suqirised and most favorably imi)ressed with 
 iIr- N'oung nobleman and his lofty sentiments, and on the 
 i\v>[ da}' ol July, 1777, Lafa)ellc at the age ol' nineteen 
 was ai)])ointed by Congress as jNhijor (lenrral in the army 
 of the L'nitcd State. He now rec^uested to be allowed to 
 
57 
 
 serve near Washington, but Washington did not look 
 with favor upon a young French nobleman, who was only 
 a boy and who had run away from home. When he learned, 
 however, of Lafayette 's offer and determination to serve 
 the cause without pay, he was interested in him and 
 desired to see and know him better. Washington seemed 
 to have seen at once the sterling traits of his character, 
 and the making of a leader of great value to the American 
 cause, for he at once invited Lafayette to join his staff as a 
 volunteer aid, and to make his headquarters his home. 
 Lafayette was now anxious to see service and the oppor- 
 tunity soon came in the attempt by Washington to check 
 the advance of General Howe, Cornwallis and Kn>phausen 
 at Brandywine. Here in this, the first battle in which 
 Lafayette was engaged, he received his baptism of fire 
 and blood. Here he was wounded and here too he showed 
 he was worthy of all that Deane and Frankhn had said of 
 him or all that Washington had hoped. Plunging into the 
 thickest of the fight he threw himself from his horse and 
 with sword in hand bravely attempted to check the 
 Hessian advance and stem the tide of battle, but numbers 
 often outweigh valor, and finally Lafayette was obhged 
 when night came on to fall back. In this action he 
 was wounded, but such was his interest and intense 
 anxiety that he did not know it until after the battle. 
 The gallant manner in which the young Marquis behaved 
 in this engagement won for him commendation and 
 praise, and when Washington wrote to Congress his 
 
58 
 
 account of the battle, he mentioned the braven' and 
 abihty of Mar(juis de Lafayette. 
 
 ( )n the reiommenthilion of \\'ashinf,'t()n he was by 
 Congress appointed to the command of the \'ir<,Mnia 
 division on December 4lh, 1777,- a Major deneral in 
 active command at twenty-two. 
 
 Early in May, 1778, an e\ent happened which had 
 been long looked for and most earnestly sought for by 
 everv true .American, armed inlerference in ihe affairs 
 of America and a treaty of commerce and alliance with 
 I'^ance. I'or this Lafayette had in I'rance and in this 
 country worked long and earnestly. This alliance it 
 would seem, when we consider the condition of our army, 
 our finances and the reverses which had just previously 
 befallen the colonics, was the one thing necessarv' to sus- 
 tain our waning struggle for independence. Who shall 
 say what would have been our fate had not the French 
 come to our relief? W'lio can estimate the services of 
 Lafayette to bring about this result? Is it unfair or 
 unreasonable to at least say that Lafayette nvdv ha\e 
 been the indirect inlluence that gave us the victory over 
 our enemies in our struggle for lil)ert\-? 
 
 This intelligence sent sun.shine throughout the gloom of 
 X'alley Forge. The British now in an attempt to fall back 
 upon New York gave opjwrtunity for Lafayette to again 
 displav his (|uiikness and decision in military maneuvers. 
 ( H'nerals iiowi' and Clinlfm planntMl for the capture of the 
 Mar(|uis and felt sure of success. They considered that 
 
59 
 
 his capture would have great weight in Europe, and the 
 plan came near fulfillment . He was practically surrounded 
 by the three divisions of the English army. Lafayette by 
 maneuvering his troops so as to give the appearance of 
 forming his whole army in battle, deceived the British 
 into preparing for a general engagement, and while they 
 were forming for the battle he slipped away across the 
 Schuylkill with his whole army without the loss of a man. 
 Washington was delighted with Lafayette's timely and 
 handsome retreat, which he considered victory for the 
 Marquis. 
 
 The next morning it was found that the British had 
 stolen away in the night. The honors of this important 
 engagement were with Washington and Lafayette. Lafay- 
 ette now was sent with two thousand men to march over- 
 land from the Hudson to Providence to support the French 
 naval attack which it was thought would be made at New- 
 port, but the French fleet sailed away without engaging 
 the British. 
 
 At this time while the British were in possession of 
 Rhode Island, Lafayette, with Generals Sullivan and 
 Greene, was ordered to expel the British from the state, 
 and it was while engaged in this work that Lafayette 
 made his headquarters in this house. No better ac- 
 count of his sojourn here can be found than that given 
 by Professor Munro in his Story of the Mount Hope 
 Lands. He writes: "In September, 1778, Lafayette 
 took the command of the ports about the Island of Rhode 
 
6o 
 
 Island. Hi.N i)rincii)al corj)s was stationed at Bristol. 
 He was intrusted with the care of Warren, Bristol and the 
 eastern shore, as he himself writes to (icncral Washington 
 in a iclUT dated "Cainj) near Hri.^tol, September 7, 1778,' 
 .XnotluT letter is dated 'Bristol near Rhode Island." 
 ( )n tile 27th of Sej)tember he writes, '1 have remo\ed my 
 station from Bristol and am in a safer place behind 
 Warren.' During his sta\- in this town, the Marquis 
 lived in the house of Jose{)h Reynolds, upon Bristol Xeck. 
 Mrs. Reynolds the great-grandm(jther oi the pre.sent 
 owner of the house, had been informed of the a])i)roach of 
 her noble guest, and had made suitable i)rei)arations for 
 his reception. More than an hour before the time which 
 had been ajipointed for his coming, a young Frenchman 
 rode uj) to the house, and dismounting, tied his horse to a 
 tree which stood near it. Plainly, one of the general's 
 attendants, thought Mrs. Reynolds, and her negro servant, 
 Cato, was at once sent to conduct him to the room designed 
 for the subordinate ofiicers. The young man expressed a 
 desire for something to eat, and he was accordingly seated 
 at the table which had been j)re|)ared for his commander, 
 though his hostess wondered greatly that he could not 
 control his ai)i)etite until a more apj^rojiriate hour. The 
 ofiicer ate \ery heartily of the dinner that was placed before 
 him, but .sat .so l(jng al llic table thai .Mr>. Reynokls was 
 forced to afldress him, and to remind him that his general 
 was mcmientarily expected, when, to her intense amaze- 
 ment, the young man announced that he was the visitor 
 
6i 
 
 whose arrival the household were so eagerly awaiting," 
 Lafayette then went to Boston to induce Count d'Estaing 
 to assist the army at Newport — this the Count promised 
 to do, but the British being heavily reinforced, Lafayette 
 was obliged to go hastily back to lead the army out of 
 danger, which he did with his accustomed vigorous and 
 strategical manner. Now feeling that his services for a 
 time were needed in France, he asked for a leave of absence, 
 and he was by Congress granted a furlough with its official 
 thanks and the gift of an elegant sword, and Lafayette 
 was ordered carried by the best warship of our navy to 
 France. 
 
 He did not, although entertained, admired and flattered 
 at home lose sight of the American cause and commenced 
 to plan an attack by France and Spain on English ports 
 and cities in aid of America. In this he was joined by 
 Benjamin Franklin and John Paul Jones; but the failure of 
 Spain to do her part crippled the expedition and it was 
 finally given up, but defeat of the plan where the liberty 
 of America was in the balance, did but discourage or 
 dampen the ardor of this young Marquis whose life and 
 soul seemed to be enlisted in our cause. His influence was 
 now exerted to obtain help for us and his persistency finally 
 carried the day. This effort was one the the masterly 
 moves of Lafayette, and France, through his influence 
 dispatched a fleet and army to our assistance. 
 
 This did much towards our final triumph, and in this 
 Lafayette deserves full credit, for he had obtained for us 
 aid against even the royal will, without which we may 
 
62 
 
 never have been a nation. In July, 1780, Count de 
 Rochamheau arrived at Newport, and announced to Wash- 
 ington that he was under his command. 
 
 Lafavcttc and Knnx now met Count de Rochamheau 
 and a plan of oi)erations was formed. Lafayette was 
 then sent to drive out the British from \'irginia, and the 
 French tlcet was to support him but failed, being driven 
 back b> the Ikitish. 
 
 Lafayette was now obliged to carry out his land oj)era- 
 tions unaided, and was so successful that Benedict Arnold, 
 the traitor, and General Phillips were driven back. 
 Cornwallis was much annoyed by Lafayette's maneuvers 
 and he determined to capture, as he called him, " that boy 
 Lafayette." 
 
 Lafayette had maneuvered so well that Cornwallis 
 found himself entrai:)ped and hemmed in by the arrival of 
 the combined forces of Washington and Rochamheau. 
 
 The American and French army aided by the navy of 
 France now sat down to besiege the British defences at 
 York town. Lafayette had accomplished his desires. He 
 had protected Virginia, forced Cornwallis into a corner 
 and held him there until the allied armies arrived. The 
 closing scenes of the American Revolution were now near 
 at hand and here at the close of the long struggle he dis- 
 plaved that magnanimity and nobility of character which 
 had always been the crowning glory of his life, for when 
 Cornwallis was so j)enned in that his downfall and capture 
 was certain, the l-Vench Admiral |)roj)osed that he and 
 Lafa\etle go in and finish uj) Cornwallis, but Lata\eLte 
 
63 
 
 ever faithful to Washington, waited until he arrived, thus 
 giving to Washington the honor and glory of the closing 
 event and final victory, when he might have taken it, at 
 least in a great measure, to himself. CornwalHs sur- 
 rendered, and there ended one of the greatest dramas of the 
 world's history, in which Lafayette was a star actor and 
 one of the central figures. It was the last battle of the 
 American Revolution and it was w^on by Lafayette's 
 fighters and under his personal direction. 
 
 Congress now felt that Lafayette's presence in France 
 was more necessary to the same cause than even his ser- 
 vices here, for it was not kno^vn that King George would at 
 this point ask for peace, and the young IMarquis went 
 back to the land of his nativity to continue his labor of 
 love for liberty and America. 
 
 He continued his work in France and even was made 
 Chief of Staff in another formidable expedition against the 
 British power in America, but he never again was called 
 upon to fight the English, for peace came to us on the third 
 of September, 1783. Even after this, Lafayette continued 
 his labors for our country and did what he could to bring 
 the affairs of America to a successful conclusion in France. 
 But the interests of his people claimed his attention, for 
 the slumbering fires of revolution soon became manifest in 
 France. Here we leave our hero, our friend, our Lafayette, 
 to continue in France his fight for freedom and mankind, 
 for it was with deep-seated love for liberty that lead him 
 to take up the cause of the oppression in our struggle for 
 freedom, and in the great and tragic events soon to trans- 
 pire in the French Revolution. 
 
64 
 
 The question is often asked: Was Lafayette great? 
 Whatever claim he had to greatness came from long steady, 
 persistent and unselfish devotion to liberty. Instead of 
 the imaginary rei)ublic of Plato or the Kutopia of Sir 
 Thomas More, he took for his model that government 
 and those principles that gives to mankind the greatest 
 happiness and the highest life. 
 
 He seemed to have in mind as the all absorbing ambition 
 of his life the libert\' of America and France — the two 
 nations which became the most prominent and important 
 republics of the world. Events and elTorts which seem 
 trilling, ofttimes sha])e and control the destiny of nations, 
 as well as men, and if the "French Alliance" was neces- 
 sary to the success of (uir arms in our struggle for inde- 
 pendence (a conclusion to which it would seem the student 
 of history must come) and if Lafayette who worked 
 unremittingly for that alliance, brought it to a successful 
 issue, then if great results from human ellOrts confer 
 greatness, Lafayette was indeed great, for he would then 
 be the instrument by and through which we attained our 
 independence. But however that may be, few men have 
 as indelibly stamped their names on the pages of history. 
 He j)ossessed in the highest degree the true principles of 
 altruism. Few, if any names of history are recorded 
 showing sucli untiring devotion and generosity as he mani- 
 fested in the struggle for our independence, and for the 
 freedom of mankind, to which he pledged liis life, his 
 fortune and his sacred honor. 
 
 ORRIX L. JiOSWOR'lH. 
 

 ■Si 
 
THE MEMORIAL OF THE MEN WHO DIED 
 IN THE SWAMP FIGHT 
 
 Address by Norman M. Isham 
 June 15, 1907 
 
 A rock on the spot which saw the very beginnings of 
 English Narragansett now bears a bronze tablet marking 
 the site of the grave of the Swamp Fight Soldiers. The 
 purpose of this paper is to show how we know that these 
 colonial warriors do actually rest where the state, with the 
 enduring metal has placed their memorial. 
 
 The South County has kept an unbroken line of verbal 
 testimony handed down from father to son about the 
 Great Grave on the Updike farm. 
 
 We ha\'e also contemporar}' written e\ddence of the 
 burial, a direct statement in a letter of Captain James 
 Oliver sent from Narragansett a little over a month after 
 the battle. 
 
 In regard to the return march, which was so fatal to the 
 wounded, we have, again, this letter of Captain Oliver, 
 and others written by the Rev. Joseph Dudley, one of the 
 chaplains in the Massachusetts force. There is also a 
 statement made some years later by Colonel Church, and 
 a petition for relief made in 1 703 by John Bool, a Massachu- 
 
66 
 
 setts soldier, who, like Church, was one of the wounded 
 carried that nij^ht to the garrison. 
 
 These are the foundations of all our knowledge of the 
 events we are to discuss. Tliey are the statements of 
 eyewitnesses. To them ma\' be added Major Bradford's 
 letter from the Newport hospital and the material in the 
 archives of the colonies. 
 
 .Vnolher class of evidence is that given by the historians 
 of the lime. Tt is very valuable, but thouLrh much of it 
 was no douljl dcriNrd at first hand fn^m eyewitnesses, 
 it has not the .same weight as the testimony of the actors, 
 for we can not always tell how much of it is so derived and 
 huw much is not. 
 
 Let us now see whetlier from all this c\'idencc we can 
 not make a picture of that dreadful night march and of the 
 burial of the dead, showing by absolute proof that forty 
 men were buried at Xarragansett, and by a close appro.xi- 
 mation to certainty that the grave was near ihe rock which 
 we have marked. 
 
 The Colonial arm>' left the fu-ld of the Swamp Fight 
 about sundown, that is to say, about after half-past four, 
 on Sunday, December 19, 1675, ^^e December 30 of our 
 modern calendar. 
 
 In what condition was the army when the lrumj)elers 
 sounded the recall and the depleted coiTi]xinies were 
 formed on the u{)land near the northern edge of the 
 swamp? 
 
 About one thousand men had gone into the action 
 between one and two o'clock. Ul these about 500, in 
 
67 
 
 six companies and one troop, were from Massachusetts; 
 about three hundred, in five companies, with 1 50 Mohegans 
 and Pequots, from Connecticut; and about 150, in two 
 companies, from Plymouth. Some Rhode Island men 
 were attached to them as volunteers. The force was not 
 organized as a regiment, but as what we should call a 
 brigade. Each colonial quota might be called a regiment, 
 but there were few regimental officers and the highest in 
 command of any colony's troops was a major, who except 
 in the case of Connecticut, was also captain of the leading 
 company. This idea may be found in the organization of 
 our Revolutionary army. 
 
 The command-in-chief was held by Josiah Winslow, of 
 Plymouth, with the rank of General. Major Robert 
 Treat, leader of the Connecticut force, said to have been 
 the last man to leave the fort, as John Raymond, of 
 IVIiddleboro, claimed to have been the first man in, was 
 the second in command. 
 
 The troopers, and perhaps all the officers, wore corslets. 
 Whether buff coats were worn by all, it is not easy to 
 say. Captain Davenport certainly had one. Rev. Mr. 
 Dudley, in his letter asks for "blunderbusses, and hand 
 grenadoes and armor, if it may, and at least two armourers 
 to mend arms." 
 
 Each man, except the troopers who were armed with 
 short guns, possibly blunderbusses, carried a long musket 
 with a flint lock, and all wore swords, though ten men 
 from each Connecticut county wore hatchets instead for 
 
68 
 
 side arms. A Ixindcjlcer, like a modern cartridge belt over 
 the shoulder, carried the powder for the guns in sej^arate 
 charges. Tlu- j)riniing jnjwder was carried in a horn. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. I )udley, in his letter reporting the battle, 
 says: "after our wounds were dressed we drew up for 
 a march." Hubbard, the historian of the war, says that 
 they returned to fjuartcrs before their wcjunds could be 
 dressed, lie also says, however, that the dead and wounded 
 were carried out of the fort as they fell. The care of 
 the wounded, then, must have been continuous and Dudley 
 must have referred to the last work done upon the newly 
 injured and upon the others in getting them ready to 
 move. 
 
 There were four surgeons with the arm_\-. I)r. I)anicl 
 Weld of Salem, surgeon-in-chief, and the regimental 
 surgeons, Richard Knott of Marblchead for Massachusetts, 
 Matthew Fuller of Barnstable for Plymouth, and Rev. 
 Gershom Bulkele}' of Wetherstield for Connecticut. 
 This gave one surgeon for every fifty-two of the injured, 
 or, if we omit those killed outright, one to every forty- 
 eight. This provision certainly was intended to be am])le, 
 but it may be doubted if it sulliced in the fierce cold and 
 storm when the numbness of the surgeons' hands must have 
 been a terrible hindrance, even if there were fires to keep 
 them warm. 
 
 Nor are we to suppose that the surgeons' knowledge was, 
 for those days at all inadequate. Tor the heavy mortality 
 we must blame the professional ecjuipment and also the 
 
69 
 
 professional prejudices then common to the world. The 
 heaviest charge against the doctors is that made by Church 
 that one of them, at least, was so anxious to get away from 
 the Swamp that he would let Church bleed to death like 
 a dog if he continued to advise General Winslow to occupy 
 the fort. The mortahty on the retreat is a terrible 
 refutation of the reasons this surgeon gave for making it. 
 The army left several dead in the fort — Captain Oliver 
 says eight. Ninigret, according to Major Bradford's 
 letter to Mr. Cotton, sent in word that his men had 
 buried about twenty-four English, and that he wanted a 
 charge of powder for each, which makes his count a little 
 suspicious, in \dew of the care Oliver seems to have taken, 
 especially as Joshua Tift, "Hatchet Tift" I think your 
 tradition calls him, said that five or six English dead were 
 found, on one of whom, curiously enough, was a pound and 
 a half of powder. This does not look as if the bodies were 
 abandoned because of fire. Hubbard gives some ground 
 for the suggestion which has been made that these dead 
 were left in the fort to deceive the Indians as to the 
 English loss. None of the eye\vitnesses speak of any such 
 motive, and the lea\dng of the powder on one of the dead 
 rather tells against an artifice which suggests a low esti- 
 mate of Indian cunning. The strongest argument in 
 favor of it is the wrath which it perhaps stirred in Connecti- 
 cut some of whose men may have been left to the wild 
 beasts or the mercies of Ninigret. For, in the commission 
 to Major Talcott, May 26, 1676, the seventh article 
 
reads: ".\llsoe that vou cndeavourc to burv vour slaine, 
 
 ■r mm* 
 
 if any be, and see your wounded well dressed 1)\- the 
 chirurgions. " There were to ije nu mure of Mutely 's 
 cold and snowy retreats. 
 
 Twelve dead they took with them, says Oliver — no doubt 
 the ('aj)tains Davenport, Johnson, Gardiner, (jalluj) and 
 Marshall, with seven others, to us unknown, who must 
 have been important men. Who were those left in the 
 fort we do not know. As the returns of the dead in llie 
 Massachusetts Records mention some servants, probably 
 sent out in j)lace of their impressed masters, we might 
 assume that they made up the eight. They would in any 
 case be men whose unim])ortance in the minds of the 
 Turilan aristocrats justified the leaxing of ihem. If we 
 could only assume the more charitable \iew that these 
 men were inaccessible because of the lire among the 
 wigwams we could account for Xinigret's twenty-four 
 as well as for Oliver's eight, for a mistake could easily have 
 been made in the confusion. All thai destroys our illusi(^n 
 is the peculiarly positive statement of Oliver and the 
 powder story of Joshua Tift. 
 
 However it may have been, with twelve important dead 
 and nearly two hundred wounded, some of them mortally, 
 the army fell in and began the retreat. Captain Oliver 
 says the dead and wounded numbered two hundred and 
 ten. Consider this proportion for a moment. ( )nc 
 thousand men, we will say, went into the light. Xow here 
 are eight hundred ready to march away with one-fourth 
 
71 
 
 their number of dead and disabled^one dead or wounded 
 man, that is, to every four able-bodied soldiers, if we are 
 to call them able who had been marching and fighting 
 since five o'clock in the morning with no food but what 
 they could eat on the march, and upon whom a stormy 
 night of almost zero weather was closing in. No wonder 
 Dudley said two days later: "Our dead and wounded 
 are two hundred, disabled as many. " 
 
 Then, if these two hundred men were actually carried 
 on stretchers by their half-frozen comrades it took four 
 men to each helpless burden. Yet out of the eight 
 hundred we must take the guard assigned to the General 
 and his staff, as also the necessary "Forelorns, front guard 
 and rereward ' ' as they were called. Those one hundred and 
 fifty Mohegans who possibly did much of this scouting 
 and rear work, did they carry any wounded but their own? 
 If we believe Captain OHver they had been treacherous 
 in the fight and had fired high, but had got great store of 
 plunder, guns and kettles. They must have been well 
 loaded with these on that cold night. These exceptions 
 would reduce the available carrying force nearly to three 
 men for every one carried. This is evidently impossible. 
 Then, too, if they had several hundred prisoners, as 
 Ohver, but as other contemporary, reports, who kept 
 guard over those? 
 
 Again the testimony is that it had been snowing and that 
 the storm was still raging. The anonymous letter to 
 London says it snowed the night before, all that Sunday, 
 
72 
 
 and all the night of the retreat. The author says the snow- 
 was two or three feet deep, ll may have been in northern 
 Massachusetts, but hardly so in Narragansell. All agree 
 that it was very cold. W'c can well believe this, for the 
 swamj) was frozen so that men could cross it. 
 
 Now 1 (It) not l)tlie\e that there ever li\-ed three men, 
 or even four who could carr\- a dead or wounded man 
 seventeen miles on such a night through deej) snow, 
 constantly increasing, and do it on fool with a twelve 
 pound gun, a kna]-)sack, a sword or hatchet anrl what 
 was Ict'l (»f the powder and bullets with which lhe\' had 
 been provided. 
 
 How then did they go? 
 
 They returned from the Swamp as they had gone thither, 
 on horseback. That is to say, it seems to me almost cer- 
 tain that, aside from the troopers of the one company of 
 regular horse, who from an old English idea of the superior 
 gentility of such sers'ice chose to take the held as cavalry, 
 the soldiers of the Swamp Fight campaign, those we have 
 always looked upon as foot, were, to use the old expression, 
 ''mounted as dragoons," were men who fought, indeed, 
 on foot, but who moved about on liorseback. Tliey were 
 drilled not in cavalry tactics, Inil in those of the infantry; 
 they u.sed their horses not for fighting, but for locomotion; 
 they were etjuii^iK-d not as ca\alry with the long sword as 
 the ])rinci])al weayv)n, but as infantry with the Icmg- 
 barreled musket as their ( hief arm. 
 
 All the Connecticut troops in the ])re\ious campaigns 
 had, as the records show, been dragoons. It seems 
 
73 
 
 unlikely that any change would be made in this expedition 
 which had to cover such long distances. Nor is it to be 
 supposed that men who about their own affairs always 
 rode, and who had ridden in the Valley campaigns could 
 be induced to walk from Hartford to Narragansett in 
 winter, leaving their horses at home. 
 
 In a later campaign also. Major Talcott was ordered to 
 "see to the preservation" of his "army, both man and 
 horse. " 
 
 The Plymouth soldiers who came up to Rehoboth in 
 pursuit of Philip after the Mount Hope campaign had 
 horses. 
 
 In Massachusetts, too, dragoons had been employed. 
 Captain Henchman, early in the war was ordered to lead 
 out a company mounted as dragoons. The soldiers went 
 to the fight at Turner's Falls on horseback, and, it must 
 be said, were glad to get away in the same manner. 
 Captain Thomas Savage was sent to Mount Hope "with 
 sixty horse, and as many Foot" .... "having 
 prest horses for the footmen, and six carts to carry 
 provisions. " 
 
 Carts can hardly be imagined at the Swamp Fight, 
 though they came to Smith's Garrison — by the way, 
 the Connecticut troops impressed carts at New London, 
 did they leave them at Pettaquamscut or send them on 
 to Smith's? — but baggage horses there were in plenty. 
 We know this from the directions of the Connecticut 
 Council of War, which ordered, in regard to the one 
 
hundred and ten men to he raised in Hartford County 
 that "... the commanders are to hauc each of them a 
 horss. and euery three soldiers a horss between them." 
 'I'hey also commanded Major Treat, November 27, 1675, 
 " to make ye best of his \va\' h\- water or land " (from Xew 
 Ha\en and I-'airfield Counties) " to . Xew London . . 
 and if l)y land, then euery commission ofllcer to haue a 
 horss to himselfe, anrl euery three soldiers to haue a horss 
 between them." Miss Caulkins says the army came U) 
 Xcw London by land. From the records it is evident 
 the Hartford men did so, and Major Treat, we may 
 belie\e, was willinLj to j;o by the same wa\' in order to 
 secure the horses which would be so useful to him later on. 
 In .\kissachui)etts the e\idence for the possession of 
 baggage horses is not so clear, though that the officers 
 wanted them for themselves and their men is perfectly 
 jilain. The Captains petitioned the Council asking how 
 many horses would br allowed the oflicers at the public 
 charge. The answer was, three to each company. They 
 asked how many for the men "for Cariage of Lugage and 
 transporting scjuldiers over Rivers on occasion,'' and there 
 is no reply at hand. As it seems to ha\e been a question 
 of public or y)rivate expense we may think that the worth}- 
 Counril iiK-aiU that nim who did not want their feet wet 
 should take their own horses, a wa\' out of the ditlkulty 
 which was j)ossibly oj)en to them. Hnwe\'er, as the Massa- 
 chusetts records show that horses were ordered, one hundred 
 and even one hundred and hfl\' at a time to carry baggage 
 
75 
 
 and provisions to the rendezvous in later campaigns it 
 follows either that they had learned from Connecticut or 
 that they regularly, and hence on this campaign also, 
 allowed their men the animals at the public or at private 
 expense. 
 
 On these horses, which had been picketed on the upland 
 during the fight, the men put their baggage and such of 
 the wounded as could ride. Those who were more severely 
 injured may have been slung each in a blanket between 
 two of the animals. 
 
 Now let us turn our backs upon the battle field and with 
 the wearied soldiery address ourselves to the march. 
 Daylight was almost gone. It was snowing — "not able 
 to abide the field in the storm" writes Dudley — but the 
 blaze of the burning wigwams must still have lit up the 
 savage scene. The writer in the Old Indian Chronicle 
 says they marched three miles by the light of the conflagra- 
 tion ! Upon which Mr. Drake, the editor, suggests that the 
 reader may need to reinforce his credulity. It does seem 
 a large story, as the latest historians of the war remark, 
 but I think a hght other than the hteral one referred 
 to is cast by it upon the retreat. If it is true, it follows 
 that, once out of the swamp, which may well have been 
 on fire also, the country was fairly open — that the South 
 County was not heavily timbered throughout as we are 
 apt to imagine all New England was in the earHest days. 
 There were numerous Indian clearings and much of the 
 land was empty. In fact, as good Governor Winthrop 
 
76 
 
 described it, the Xarragansett country was "all champain 
 for nian\' miles. " 
 
 A popular belief has been that the settlers did not know 
 where they were, and tliat they wandered "across lots" 
 in the wo(k1s which in the ordinary view, covered the whole 
 distance traversed, stumbling over the snow-covered tree 
 trunks, crashing through underbrush, falling with their 
 wounded l)urdens and losing their way. Some of this is 
 true, and is founded on their own statements. Part of 
 it, however, is erroneous. The country was partly oi)en 
 and was crossed in many directions by trails as well 
 defined as anv footpath of to-day. The expedition was 
 not a hit or miss affair. It was too costly- for that, though 
 the fact might not have prevented the blunders our 
 ancestors were prone to make in their Indian campaigns. 
 The leaders, however, even if the general, who was not 
 much regarded, I am afraid, did get lost, knew where they 
 were. The\' had lor sonic linu' known of ihe stronghold 
 in the swamp. They had the Indian, Peter, who led them 
 thither and who j)robably led them back again. It is 
 true their historians acknowledge that he saved their 
 arm\', and little beside this acknowledgment did he 
 receive for the service, but it is idle to speak as if the army 
 could get absolute!)- lost in the Xarragansett with one 
 hundred and fift\- Mohegans among them! The main 
 dilTiculties, it seems from the events, were to keep the trail 
 in the snow and to hold I he white nun together. The 
 first I he huhans of an\- tribe were perfectly competent 
 t(j do. The second i)ro\ed the harder problem. 
 
77 
 
 What was the Hne of the retreat? There is a tradition 
 that it lay over McSparran Hill, and this I believe to be 
 the fact. I think it was then the easiest line to follow. 
 That is, they left the Swamp by the way they had entered 
 it and kept along what is now the road running by Mr. 
 Clarke's across the present railroad track below the station, 
 thence over Kingston Hill, through Mooresfield and so to 
 the Pequot Path, which must have been even then a cart 
 road. 
 
 This Hne of march followed an Indian trail swinging 
 from the Post Road or Pequot Path around the Swamp 
 and running south through Shannock to the Path again 
 near the present Cross's Mills or turning off toward 
 Westerly on the line of a fragment of a road shown on 
 Caleb Harris's map of 1795. 
 
 All over Rhode Island the roads follow the old trails. 
 The Pequot Path or Post Road itself is the best known 
 instance of this, and it was especially true of Narragansett 
 where, as Roger Williams says, "may be a dozen" Indian 
 towns could be found "in twenty miles travel. " 
 
 Again, Hall and Knight's purchase, in which the Swamp 
 Fort lay was on the line of this ancient trail, which was 
 the means of access to it then as the later road was to the 
 homesteads, pastures or wood lots it afterwards contained. 
 In fact, I believe the trail made possible the purchase. 
 Several ancient houses also, a sure sign of an old road, 
 stand or stood along the line of this path. 
 
 If this was a trail in 1675 it early became a cart road. 
 Joseph Davel, a surveyor, testified in 1711 that in 1693 
 
78 
 
 he laid (tut highways for Hall and Knii^dit through their 
 purchase, and in ibqfj the Assembly, in fixing the western 
 line <»f Kingstown, followed ihi- L'sfjuepaug riser to the 
 cart bridge at Mr. Collreirs. A glance at the maj) 
 with the bearings and distances in mind will show that the 
 bridge was on this road. 
 
 All the army, however, did not return by the same way. 
 "I Ik- (leneral. Ministers, and some other {)ersons of the 
 guartl, gt)ing to hold a small swamp, lost our wa\' and 
 returned again to tin- e\'cning's fjuarters," says Dudley, 
 himself ])resumably one of the ministers. This can only 
 mean that they reached Pettaquamscut where they had 
 camped the night before. Oliver has a similar story, 
 and Increase Mather says "a i)art of the army mis.-^ed their 
 way, among whom was the Cicneral with his life guard." 
 This party after "wandering up and down" and travelling 
 near thirty miles reached Smith's at seven o'clock the next 
 morning. The main body had arrived five hours earlier. 
 It looks as if the (general did n(jL ha\'e in hia parl\- Peter, 
 the Indian guide who was '*ca]Ui\ated" originallx by 
 ^Mosely the Massachusetts olTicer, not on the march to the 
 fort as is often said, but several days earlier, and who was 
 promised his own freedom and that of his wife in con- 
 sideration t)f his >er\ ices. Vet, ten years after the battle 
 his wife was still in bondage to Mosely, while his daughter 
 though lo be a slaw for four >-ears onl\- was still wrongfully 
 held. 
 
 When the column reached Cocumscussuc its first duty 
 must ha\e been to care for its wounded. All that could 
 
79 
 
 be placed in the block house were there collected, and the 
 writer in the Indian Chronicle says that General Winslow, 
 in order that the house might be thus occupied, lay in a 
 barn belonging to the estate. Other houses were used, 
 which must have been those on the Pequot Path to the 
 north and at Quidnesset. But even this accommodation 
 was bad enough. John Bool, who speaks from experience, 
 says in a petition to the Governor and Court of Massachu- 
 setts: "aftor I was wounded I was carried some twenty 
 miles in a very cold night and laid in A cold chamber, a 
 wooden pillo my covering was ye snow the wind droue on 
 me a sad time to war in to be wounded tho in a lettle 
 time I was moued to Rodisland. " Some of the uninjured 
 Connecticut soldiers were quartered in what Deputy 
 Governor Leete called "a house without walls. " 
 
 Only twenty men had been killed outright in the action. 
 Twenty- two died on that march. These, with the twelve 
 dead brought from the Swamp, were buried on December 
 twentieth in what we call the Great Grave. "Many died 
 by the way, " says Ohver," and as soon as they were brought 
 in, so that December 20th, we buried in a grave 34, next 
 day 4, next day 2, and none since here. " He was writing 
 on the twenty-sixth of January, our February sixth, 1675. 
 
 Those were days of snow and continued cold. The 
 storm of the retreat seems to have continued next day 
 and to have been a heavy one. There was no thaw for 
 some weeks. Winter had set in early that year and we 
 may beUeve the ground was frozen. Hence the labor 
 
8o 
 
 of (lig^ng the grave, which must have covered a consider- 
 able area, would be heavy and the grave on lluil account 
 may have Ixin shallow. A confirmation of these con- 
 jectures is at liand in the fact that Mr. I'.dwin Halsey 
 Reynolds, in digging on the ancient site some thirty years 
 ago, could find no remains. A shallow gra\e allows the 
 chemistry of nature to di.spose of its contents in a short 
 time. No nirlal articles appeared for the bodies were 
 ])n»i)al)ly interred in ihin cU)thing. Mr. C. li. Reynolds, 
 who, as a young man. was present at the exrawation, 
 speaks of hnding a stratum of black material in the trench. 
 The only mark of the grave, up to the present time, 
 except the bowlder at the South of it, upon which we have 
 phu ed our tablet, was the so-called "(jrave Apple Tree" 
 blown down in the gale of 1S15. Some letters are said 
 to have been cut on a near-by rock in iSyg, but a search 
 to-day does not reveal them. The chief memory of this 
 honorable resting y)lace has been handed down in the Updike 
 famil}-, descendants of Richard Smith whose land this was, 
 who have held the estate in unbroken tenure till the early 
 years of the nineteenth centurw The tradition among 
 them is authentic, as it seems to the committee, beyond 
 all doubt. The spoken word that identifies this spot 
 can be traced from peo])le now living to the years before the 
 Revolution, when old inhabitants, whose fathers had seen 
 the actors in the tragic drama, were still ali\e. W'ilkins 
 l'|)dike, and his brothers and sisters, heard the story from 
 their father, Lodowick Ujxiike, born in 1725, who remem- 
 
8i 
 
 bered his grandfather also, Lodowick, nephew of Richard 
 Smith the younger, and this Lodowick, dying in 1737, 
 must himself have helped to bury his brother Richard in 
 this grave. 
 
 It seems strange, however, that no mark was made on 
 the spot and that the whole matter was left to tradition, 
 that our ancestors were so indifferent to the actual resting 
 place of these honored dead. Nothing has ever been said 
 over them. The volleys of the squad drawn up at the 
 grave-side for the final salute were probably the only 
 ceremony. The prayer we have made this afternoon is 
 no doubt the first that the grave has ever known. Even 
 Samuel Sewall so hated the idea of a burial service at a 
 grave that he once went away from the house of a friend 
 without following the body to the churchyard. 
 
 Who were the forty slain? We shall never know with 
 certainty. None can tell us who were left in the fort, 
 and the dead of Plymouth and Connecticut are very 
 imperfectly recorded. Eight or nine for Plymouth and 
 about forty for Connecticut are the numbers handed down, 
 but the names we know in a few cases only. 
 
 The five captains, there can be Httle doubt, rest there, 
 Davenport, Johnson, Gardiner, Gallup and Marshall, 
 and probably Seely also, who is said to have been shot by 
 Joshua Tift, and who died of his wound in a few days. 
 Corporal John Edwards of Wethersfield and Ebenezer 
 Dibble of Windsor are there and some others have been 
 named, but we do not know whether they died at Narra- 
 
82 
 
 gansc'U or on Rhode Inland. l)r. Bodge gives the names 
 of the tliirty-one Massachusetts dead, init it seems 
 imjK)Ssil)le they should all he here, or else the share of 
 Plymouth antl Connecticut in the grave is very small. 
 And yet on Connecticut, says Trumbull, fell half the loss 
 in the battle. 
 
 Of our own men, the volunteers from this colony, wc 
 know only two, Ric hard Ui)dike, of Xarragansctt, brother 
 of Lodowick and grandson of the elder Smith, who served 
 in Captain Mosely's company, and Nicholas Power, of 
 Providence, son of the original settler, who, hke Captain 
 Gardiner, was killed in the smoke and confusion by his 
 own comrades who were behind him. 
 
 If the historians have said too httle of the dead, these did 
 not for all that lack their eulogist. The General Court of 
 Connecticut at some time after the battle gave an account 
 of what they call "that signal service the fort Tight in 
 Narragansett. " Let me use their words. "There died 
 man\' bra\'e ofi'iccrs and sentinels, whose memory is blessed 
 and whose death redeemed our lives. The bitter cold, 
 the tarled swamp, the tedious march, the strong fort, the 
 numerous and stubborn enemy they contended with, for 
 their God, king and country, be their trophies (U'er death. 
 . . . Our mourners over all the colony witness for 
 our men that they were not unfaithful in that day." 
 
 That was their view of the fight— for God and the 
 country. W'e may ha\e our misgivings, but it is not ours 
 to judge. We right loo slowly the wrongs of our own day. 
 
83 
 
 It is ours to be as firm for God and country with our better 
 light as they with their imperfect view; to be as steadfast, 
 as self-controlled, as brave in our bloodless battle with the 
 powers of evil in our day as the men who fell on the crimson 
 snow of that far-ofif December. 
 
 NORMAN MORRISON ISHAM. 
 
THE MICHAEL PIERCE FIGHT 
 
 By Edwin C. Pierce 
 September 21, J907 
 
 This is historic ground, ll is the scene of one of the 
 most tragic and most licroic events in early Xew England 
 history. Here, in 1676, just a hundred years before the 
 Declaration of American Indei)endence, with a valor as 
 distinguished as that of the Greek heroes at old Ther- 
 mojn la', although unvictorious, our ancestors, undaunted, 
 fronted ine\itable defeat and certain death in hand-to- 
 hand ((^nflirt with an outnum})ering savage foe. Here 
 the>- (lied upon the Bed of Honor. 
 
 Here we, their descendants, come, two hundred and 
 thirty-one years after the day of blood and battle on which 
 they ])ainfull\- laid down their li\es for their countrymen 
 and for posterity, to celebrate their ])rave sacrifice, to erect 
 here a memorial of their heroic devotion, and to consider 
 and, if we may, profital)!}' inteq)ret the lessons to be drawn 
 from the history of that tragic event and that serious and 
 strenuou.-> lime. 
 
 Let us first re\-iew the facts thai happened here, the 
 actualities of [\\v tragedy, the fortitude and desperate 
 valor, unsurjiassed in the annals of warfare, here displayed; 
 
Pierce's Fight, Central Falls 
 
85 
 
 and then consider somewhat the war in which Pierce's 
 fight was a bloody day, the merits of the war, the cause for 
 which they died. 
 
 The day of Pierce 's fight was Sunday, March 26th, 1676. 
 It was in the midst of Phihp 's war. That war, the bloody 
 and decisive struggle between the English colonists and 
 the Indians, has been raging for nearly a year. The 
 Narragansetts, that proud and powerful tribe with whom 
 Roger WiUiams and the Rhode Island and Providence 
 colonists had long maintained unbroken peace and friend- 
 ship, had at last been drawn into hostilities towards the 
 colonists. In December, 1675, the Narragansetts had 
 been attacked in their strong fort in South Kingstown, 
 defeated, slaughtered by hundreds, and their power 
 forever broken. With the courage of despair, the still 
 formidable remnant of the Narragansett warriors took the 
 warpath early in the spring of 1676, under their brave 
 chief, who knew not fear, Nanunteenoo, better known as 
 Canonchet, son of the famous Miantonomi. 
 
 The Narragansetts, while renewing, and with sincerity 
 so far as may be judged, to Roger Williams pledges of 
 immunity for him did not withhold their vengance from 
 settlers in Rhode Island. Parties of warriors penetrated 
 into Plymouth Colony, ravaging and kilhng. DweUing 
 in continual alarm, the Plymouth Colony was aroused 
 to action for the defense of the homes and the lives of 
 its people. This defense could only be effectually made, 
 the bloody invasion of the Plymouth country could only 
 
86 
 
 be repelled, by waging offensive war against the Xarra- 
 gansetts, by pursuing the marauding Ijands and allacking 
 them wherever they might be found in their forest 
 fastnesses. 
 
 The duty of leading in the pursuit and the attack of the 
 Xarragansetts was assigned to Captain Michael Pierce, of 
 Sciluatc. At the outbreak of Philip's war, Michael Pierce 
 was about sixty years of age, having been born in I-^ngland 
 about the year 1615. He came to the Plymouth Colony 
 about the year 1645, and settled almost immediately in 
 Scituate, where he ever after resided. He appears to have 
 been a brother of that John Pierce, of London, who secured 
 a patent, or royal grant, for Xew England, before the 
 Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, which patent he assigned to 
 the Plymouth Company after their settlement had been 
 eflected. He was also, according to the early historians 
 of Xew England, a brother of that Captain William Pierce 
 who was the most famous master of ships that came to the 
 Xew I^ngland coast; the warm friend of Winslow and 
 Bradford, who commanded the Mayflower in Xew England 
 waters, although not on her flrst famous voyage, the 
 "Charity" when she brought Winslow and the first 
 cattle, the " Lion" when she arrived with j)rovisions in the 
 crisis of the famine, Roger Williams being his passenger 
 upon tlial memorable occasion, and who while fighting the 
 Sj)aniards in the West Indies was mortally wounded and 
 found his grave in the ocean, on which he had made his 
 long and honorable career. Michael Pierce was with the 
 
87 
 
 Plymouth forces in the bloody Narragansett fight in South 
 Kingstown in December, 1675. Earher in that year he 
 made his will which is of record in the Plymouth Colony 
 records, the preamble of which is: 
 
 ''I, Michael Pierce of Scituate, in the government of 
 New Plymouth in America, being now by the appoint- 
 ment of God, going out to war against the Indians doe 
 make this my last will and testament." 
 
 Acting under orders from the Plymouth Colony, Cap- 
 tain Pierce with a company comprising about fifty English- 
 men and twenty friendly Cape Indians, started in pursuit 
 of the marauding Narragansetts. The Plymouth band 
 proceeded without encounter with the foe as far as the 
 Rehoboth settlement which was on the extreme western 
 boundary of the Plymouth Colony, separated from the 
 Providence Colony by the Seekonk. 
 
 The men of Rehoboth were living in constant expectation 
 of attack from the hostile Indians, and the arrival of Cap- 
 tain Pierce's company must have been most welcome. 
 
 Making his temporary headquarters at Rehoboth, 
 Captain Pierce on Saturday, the 25th of March, sallied 
 forth with a small party of his men in search of the hostiles. 
 Discovering the Narragansetts in considerable force the 
 colonists attacked and, without loss to themselves, inflicted 
 considerable losses upon the enemy. 
 
 The colonial captain had received intelligence that a 
 party of the enemy lay near Blackstone's house at 
 Study Hill, in Cumberland, and appears not to have been 
 
88 
 
 daunted by the a[)[)rchcnsion reasonable to have been 
 entertained that Canonchet with all the warriors of the 
 Narragansett natiun miglit be close at hand, prei)aring an 
 ambuscade. The Plymouth captain, however, did not 
 omit to summon all tlic force u\)(m which he could call. 
 Before leaving Rehobotli to march to the attack, he 
 des[)atched a messenger to Ca])tain Andrew Kdmunds, of 
 Trovidence, with a letter asking i-^dmunds tcj meet him 
 at a spot above Pawtuckct, on the river, and assist him in 
 the enter] )rise. The messenger reached Providence on 
 Sunday morning, but either there was delay in the delivery 
 of the letter (.)r the Pro\i(lence men were not willing to 
 leave Pro\ idence undefended. At any rate no reenforce- 
 ment from Pro\'idcncc reached the Plymouth colonials. 
 
 As the anil)uscade was near Quinsniket, there can be no 
 doubt that Canonchet with perhaps seven hundred war- 
 riors of the brave and now utterly desperate Narragansett 
 nation had made this rocky fastness his base of operations. 
 There, under the overhanging rock of the hill-top the 
 savage chieftain held his council fire and the plan for the 
 ambuscade was laid. The sortie of the colonials from 
 Rehoboth on Saturday must have been reported to 
 Canonchet, and he must ha\e judged that encouraged by 
 tlicir success, the English would conliiuie their advance, 
 and accordingly he prepared to ambush, overwhelm and 
 annihilate them. 
 
 Karl\- oil Sunday morning the colonials marclied from 
 Rehoboth. Their number, recruited at Rehoboth, 
 
89 
 
 amounted to a few over sixty English and about twenty 
 friendly Wampanoags from the Cape. They doubtless 
 proceeded across the Seekonk plains and skirted the east 
 bank of the Blackstone until they reached a point on the 
 river above Pawtucket Falls where the river was fordable, 
 the territory at that point being then called the Attle- 
 borough Gore. The territory on the west bank of the 
 river is now in Central Falls. There can be no doubt as 
 to the spot because at no other place on the river could a 
 large body of men approach a ford. At this point the ford 
 was approached through a ravine having a wide level 
 ground on either side of which rose a wood crowned hill. 
 The hills have long since been leveled. The plan of Canon- 
 chet was to draw the colonials into this defile and then 
 attack them from the hills and to cut off the retreat by 
 quickly throwing a strong force in their rear. As a decoy 
 a few Indians showed themselves rambling in a wood. 
 They fled at the approach of the colonials, limping as they 
 ran. The colonials supposed them to have been wounded 
 in the fight of Saturday and gave chase. 
 
 Captain Pierce led his company into the ravine and 
 approached the river, probably following the advance 
 party of his men which had crossed in safety. Suddenly 
 the silence was rent with savage cries, and springing from 
 their concealment on the commanding hills, the Narra- 
 gansetts directed their deadly and painfully wounding 
 arrows upon the colonials who were thus entrapped. 
 Canonchet with all his warriors was upon them. The 
 
QO 
 
 highest estimate of the number of the Xurmgansetts that 
 attacked (\aptain Pierce's little force is about a thousand. 
 (Jlher nurratixes estimate six or seven hundred. If there 
 were si.x hundred, tin- colonials must have reali/cd that 
 their doom was sealed, except indeed for the hope that 
 Captain Edmunds would shortly arrive with his Provi- 
 dence comixmy. Instantly the colonial captain realized 
 that his onl\' chance la\' in getting out of the defile by 
 crossing the river. On the west bank there was an open, 
 or at least not hcaxily wooded, plain, in which his men 
 would l)c out of arrow shot from the hills and where they 
 could at least make a better defen.se than was possible in 
 the ravine. Then, to, they would be on the side on which 
 Captain Edmunds might be marching to their aid. It 
 seems probable that in order to make the decoy successful, 
 the warriors on the west side lay in ambush a good distance 
 from the river, so that the colonials were able to cnxss the 
 river, j^robably not without loss and gain the open space 
 where they proposed to make their stand. 
 
 While the enemy was swarming down the ravine and 
 across the ri\-er in hot juirsuit, a band of at least three 
 hundred Narragansetts rushed upon the colonials from 
 their concealment on the west side, so that the colonials 
 were now comi)letely surrounde(l. Captain Pierce now 
 threw his men into a circle placing his men in ranks, back 
 to back, and facing tiie foe tin y thus fought to the death. 
 
 No banners waived, no martial music stimulated their 
 ardor, no sounds excejjt the re\'erberations of musketry 
 
 I 
 
91 
 
 and the terrifying yells of the infuriated warriors who 
 encompassed them about. The colonials were indeed 
 better supplied with firearms than the enemy, but they 
 were of the ancient, slow firing sort, while the arrows of the 
 foe were directed against them from behind trees and rocks 
 with unerring aim, and tomahawks hurled through the 
 air by the powerful savage were felling them to the ground. 
 Resolved to sell their lives at as dear a rate as possible, 
 the colonials stood their ground with ever thinning ranks, 
 for about two hours, keeping themselves in order and the 
 enemy at a little distance. 
 
 The formation of the order of battle is related by a 
 chronicle of the time in these words: 
 
 " Captain Pierce cast his sixty-three English and twenty 
 Indians into a ring, and six fought back to back, and were 
 double, double distance all in one ring, whilst the Indians 
 were as thick as they could stand thirty deep." 
 
 The effectiveness of the defense appears by the great 
 loss suffered by the Narragansetts. Some of them taken 
 prisoners a few days later confessed that one hundred and 
 forty were killed before their victory was won. Drake's 
 Indian Chronicle estimates the loss of the Narragansetts 
 at above three hundred, but this is probably an ex- 
 aggeration. 
 
 At last when, as the tradition is, scarcely twenty of the 
 colonials maintain their footing, they give over futile resist- 
 ance and break and run, each man for himself. Nine of 
 them are seized and made captive. One of the friendly 
 
92 
 
 Indians, Amos, fou^^ht until the colonials had ceased to 
 fight and then 1j} Ijlackin;^ hii face with powder, as he saw 
 the Xarrai^'an setts had done, mingled with them and 
 escajx'd. A lew others of Captain Pierce's Indians and 
 fewer still <tf the Ilnglishmen, perhaj)S three or four, by 
 arlifue and good fortune, managed to escai>e. 
 
 The Xarrgansetts proceeded with their [)risoners to the 
 spot in Cumberland now called "Nine Men's Misery." 
 There, according to trai lit ii )n, the captives were seated upon 
 a rock, a fire lighted, and the war dance preparatory to the 
 torture was begun. The chronicles say that, dilTering 
 among themselves as to the mode of torture, the Indians 
 dis]-)atched their prisoners with the tomahawk. But, of 
 what hai)i)ended at Xine Men's Misery there is no real 
 evidence. The bodies of the prisoners were found and 
 buried by the English a little later, and a monumental 
 pile of stones was erected in iKjnor of the brave and 
 unfortunate men. 
 
 We nKi\- imagine the wild and vengeful joy with which 
 the warriors of Cononchet celebrated their victory in their 
 fastness at (^uinsniket. Knccjuraged by their success, the 
 \ery next day after the fight the Narragansetts descended 
 upon Reliobolh and burned forty houses, and before the 
 end of Mar(ti, Proxidenrc was attacked and fifty-four 
 buildings burned. 
 
 Arnold's history narrates as follows: 
 "Two places in the town had been fortified mainly 
 through the elTorts of Roger Williams, who, although 
 
93 
 
 seventy-seven years of age, accepted the commission of 
 Captain. A tradition is preserved, that when the enemy 
 approached the town the venerable captain went out 
 alone to meet and remonstrate with them. 'Massachu- 
 setts,' said he, "can raise thousands of men at this moment, 
 and if you kill them, the King of England will supply their 
 places as fast as they fall.' 'Well, let them come,' was the 
 reply, "we are ready for them. But as for you, brother 
 Williams, you are a good man; you have been king to us 
 many years; not a hair of your head shall be touched.' 
 The savages were true to their ancient friend. He was not 
 harmed, but the town was nearly destroyed." 
 
 The capture of Canonchet soon followed, on the 4th of 
 April. He was executed. 
 
 Philip's war was the first conflict with the Indians in 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 
 
 From his coming to Providence, Roger WilHams for 
 nearly forty years had lived in friendship with the Narra- 
 gansetts. Canonicus and Miantonomi were his friends 
 and the friends of the Providence colonists, and Canonchet 
 took up the tradition of peace and amity. The wicked 
 murder of Miantonomi by the procurement of Massachu- 
 setts rankled in the breasts of the Narragansetts, and 
 young men of the nation sympathized with Philip when he 
 attempted the confederacy of the tribes. But Canonchet 
 remained faithful to his friendship with Roger WiUiams 
 and the Narragansetts did not go upon the war path as a 
 tribe, although a few of the young men probably joined 
 Philip's marauding bands. 
 
94 
 
 Rhode Island was not a member of the confederacy of 
 New England colonies, her peoj)le condemned the murder 
 of Miantonomi. the Quakers were in control in her govern- 
 ment, she disai)proved of many acts by which the other 
 colonies had provoked the war, she remained oflkially 
 neutral. Some of her iK'oj)le, however, aided the other 
 colonies witii i)r()vi5iuns and xolunteers. Events conspired 
 to bring the war home to Rhode Island. Philip's Indians, 
 defeated at Springfield, sought refuge in the Xarragansett 
 country, and were hospitably received. The Massachu- 
 setts English demanded of Canonchet the surrender of 
 Philip's Indians, who had [ilaced their women and 
 children under the protection of the Xarragansett Indians. 
 "Not a Wampanoag, nor the paring of a \Vami)anoag's 
 nail, shall be delivered up," was the proud answer of the 
 son of Miantonomi. The united colonies now sent an 
 arm\- of over eleven hundred men to attack the Xarra- 
 gansetts. 
 
 The invasion of the Narragansett countr>' was made 
 without consulting the government of Rhode Island, which 
 was a violation of the royal charter. But the peoj)le of 
 Rhode Island, as well as the Xarragansetts themselves, 
 were di\ide(l in llieir counsels and volunteers joined the 
 army of invasion as it marched through Providence and 
 Warwick. 
 
 On a Sunday morning in December, 1675, the Xarra- 
 gansett fort was attacked. The greatest battle in New 
 England c(jlonial historv ensued. It was a terrible and a 
 
95 
 
 bloody conflict, and for hours the issue was uncertain. 
 Against the entreaty of the valiant and humane Captain 
 Church, the greatest of the Indian fighters of New 
 England, the wigwams within the fort were set on fire. 
 Five hundred wigwams were burned, sick, wounded, infant 
 and aged perishing in the flames. Six hundred Indians lost 
 their lives, half of them in the fight and half in the flames. 
 The English loss was heavy, although less than that of the 
 Narragansetts. A majority of the superior officers fell in 
 the fight. Michael Pierce was in the fight, but escaped 
 with his hfe only to fall in the March following. 
 
 Nothing now remained for the Narragansetts except to 
 go upon the war path. In the spring they inflicted veng- 
 ance far and wide. The remnant of the once proud nation 
 must have known that it was now for them a death 
 struggle, that the expulsion of the Enghsh was a vain 
 endeavor. 
 
 Mutual misunderstanding and distrust was perhaps 
 inevitable between the Indians and the early colonists of 
 New England. Still the long period of peace, and mutual 
 services, is to be remembered; the well cemented friend- 
 ship of the most powerful of all the Indian tribes, the 
 Narragansetts, to the Rhode Island settlers, is to be 
 considered. 
 
 I am inclined to the opinion that Philip's war might 
 have been avoided by the practice of the precepts of 
 Christ by his professed followers, and that if the treat- 
 ment of the Indians had more generally been as just 
 
96 
 
 and considerate as that practiced by Roger Williams and 
 his associates, the white man and the red man mi^h have 
 dwelt together in peace. There really was room enough 
 for hotli. The Indians were not nomads, they were 
 willing to li\e by agriculture and to i)rogress in civilization. 
 
 However the responsibility for Philip's war may be 
 awarded, or divided, the fact remains that Michael Pierce 
 and his brave companions from the Plymouth towns fought 
 the light and died the death as heroes. They were sent 
 here as soldiers to drive back a vengeful and dreaded foe. 
 They died in honorable combat with their faces to the 
 enemy, and histor)" has no record of a bravery in war 
 more splendid than was here displayed by these Xew 
 Mngland ancestors of ours. They were not personally 
 responsible for the war, nor for any of its cruelty and 
 massacre. 
 
 Some of them, at least, like the men of Scituate, came 
 from towns whose inhabitants were distinguished in that 
 stern Puritan age by gentle manners and liberal views. 
 The chivalric captain of Plymouth, the sword and buckler 
 of the colony, was by his character and his career worthy of 
 the monument that stands on C'a])tain's Hill looking 
 towards Provincetown, but surely if Standish, dying in his 
 bed, is thus (leser\ing, his successor sent out l)\- Plymouth 
 in her defense and his brave comrades, who faced certain 
 death and sulTered it after the manner of the old classic 
 heroes, should also be thus honored. 
 
 There is a just pritle and an insi)iring incentive in ances- 
 try of heroic deeds and noble li\es, but the lesson for us 
 
97 
 
 the descendants of the brave men who here performed the 
 stern duty imposed upon them is not that valor and fideHty 
 on the field of battle give higher title to honorable dis- 
 tinction than service to society in the ways of peace. The 
 victories of peace should have even greater renown than 
 those of war. The fearless and virile qualities may be 
 developed amidst the trials, temptations, sacrifices and 
 conflicts which in our luxurious age await those who obey 
 the call of duty. Our conflicts are not with the untutored 
 red men of the forest, they are with the more puissant 
 forces of corruption and greed. They are also forced upon 
 us, the battle field is not of our choosing, the courage 
 demanded is both moral and physical, there is no retreat, 
 and surrender is moral death. Duty done on such battle- 
 fields is of the same quahty and worth as that done amidst 
 scenes of blood and carnage. Most of those who do it 
 best may find scant regard while living and no recognition 
 from posterity; but 
 
 "The longer on this earth we live 
 
 And weight the various qualities of men . . . 
 
 The more we feel the high stern-featured beauty 
 
 Of plain devotedness to duty. 
 
 Steadfast and still, nor paid with mortal praise. 
 
 But finding amplest recompense, 
 
 For life's ungarlanded expense 
 
 In work done squarely and unwasted days." 
 
 EDWIN C. PIERCE 
 
THE EXERCISES AT MASSASOIT'S SPRING, 
 WARREN, OCTOBER 19. 1907 
 
 The dedicatory exercises of the Massasoit Memorial, 
 according to the program, commenced at the appointed 
 lime with an address by Professor Wilfred H. Munro, 
 as follows: 
 
 Acting for the State of Rhode Island, I have the honor, 
 as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Rhode 
 Island Historical Society, of transferring to the custody 
 of the Massasoit Monument Association this tablet. 
 Placed beside the gushing water known for many gener- 
 ations as Massasoit's Spring, it commemorates the great 
 Indian Sachem whose name it bears. Ma_\' its presence 
 steadily incite to a more intelligent patriotism! May the 
 people of Warren, ever mindful of the |)rominent part 
 their ancestors played iii llie early histor}- of this nation, 
 strive always to prove themselves worth)- sons of 
 those conscientious and valiant sires! ... I have 
 the i)leasure of calling upon two of the descendants 
 of Massasoit to un\eil the tablet . and I now 
 
 I)lace it in i harge of Colonel Abbot, the President of the 
 Association. 
 
7, 
 
 < 
 
 2 
 
 Cl, 
 ■SI 
 
 < 
 
 m 
 
 !/2 
 
99 
 
 this tablet 
 
 placed beside the gushing water 
 
 known for many generations as 
 
 massasoit's spring 
 
 commemorates the great 
 
 indian sachem massasoit 
 
 "friend of THE WHITE MAN " 
 
 RULER OF THIS REGION WHEN THE 
 
 PILGRIMS OF THE MAYFLOWER 
 
 LANDED AT PLYMOUTH 
 
 IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1620 
 
 The tablet having been unveiled the President of the 
 Association thus responded; "Mr. Chairman, and members 
 of the Committee for Marking Historical Sites : In behalf 
 of the ]\Iassasoit Monument Association, and I beheve 
 I am justified in saying, all the citizens of Warren, I 
 thank you most sincerely for this tablet of enduring 
 bronze in honor of him, who was ruler of this region in 
 1620 when the white man came to it, and what is of 
 vastly more importance, who became the friend of that 
 white man. In accepting this tablet I am moved more 
 deeply than I can express, because standing beside it, as 
 our honored guests, are two in whose veins flows the blood 
 of him for whom this memorial has been erected. Two 
 hundred and eighty-six years ago men of our race came to 
 this spot, and Massasoit welcomed them. We feel it to 
 be a great honor that you, Charlotte and Alonzo Mitchell, 
 
lOO 
 
 arc here to-day, and to no other hands than yours would 
 we have entrusted tlie sacred duty of unveihng this 
 tablet. 
 
 EXERCISES I\ THE TOWN HALL. 
 
 The toniniiltec and ^aiests then adjourned to tlie town 
 hall where at three o'clock the exercises were continued 
 according to the Program, .\fter the rendering of Eich- 
 berg's most in.spiring hymn, "To thee, Country, the 
 President spoke as follows: 
 
 In If) JO this i)lace was the capital of a nation, anrl he in 
 whose honor we have gathered was the ruler. He was 
 a native .American, and it would have been more to our 
 credit if we had not allowed nearly two hundred and fifty 
 years to clap.sc, since his death, before erecting a memorial 
 to him. To whom the credit for the idea should be given 
 no one can tell. That Xoniian d. Hurr, a former towns- 
 man, was the first to contribute for the i)urpose is a matter 
 of record. Zachariah Allen, then president of the Rhode 
 Island Historical Society, was the second donor, and the 
 two sums lying by for many years in our savings institu- 
 tion formed a substantial nucleus for further funds. The 
 Thalia Club, a local dramatic society, laigel\- through the 
 inllueiue of our i)resent secretary, I'Aigene A. X'aughan, 
 ga\'e an uni(|ue and pleasing entertainment on February 
 8, 1893, for the l)rneiit of thi' nioiumu-nt fund. Governor 
 D. Russell Hrown exinced great interest, and delivered 
 an address. Our distinguished and lamented townsman, 
 
lOI 
 
 Hezekiah Butterworth, to whose heart the idea of a memo- 
 rial was very dear, spoke of Massasoit of Sowams in 
 Pokanoket. The poem of George Henry Coomer to 
 be read this afternoon, was on the program, as also one 
 from the pen of Frederick Denison. Pleasing musical 
 numbers by local talent were interspersed, and the occa- 
 sion was a great success in every way, adding a consider- 
 able sum to the fund. Other contributions followed, and 
 the plan gained a substantial financial footing, but it 
 seemed difficult to secure an unanimity of opinion on a 
 site, and the interest gradually waned, not to be revived 
 until last fall, when at the request of a few of the surviving 
 members of the Association, the chairman and secretary 
 of the State Committee for Marking Historical Sites, 
 representing the entire body, visited the site of the Spring, 
 and as a result a bronze tablet to be placed on a suitable 
 memorial at that place was promised. Meetings of the 
 Association were held, the membership increased from 
 about twenty to over a hundred, a constitution adopted, 
 new officers elected, and an executive committee chosen to 
 conduct affairs. In the meantime Abby A. Cole, a lineal 
 descendant of Sergeant Hugh Cole, who was the friend of 
 Metacomet, Massasoit's younger son and ultimate suc- 
 cessor, offered a boulder from the land formerly her 
 ancestor's and the appropriateness of this gift was a direct 
 appeal for action. The practical skill of Cornelius Harring- 
 ton was necessary for the successful moving of the eight- 
 ton conglomerate from its ancient to its modern bed. 
 
I02 
 
 The artistic taste of John DcWolf from our neighbor town 
 on the Mount H()j)e hinds was invoked, and the greater 
 |)arl of August spent in erecting tlie memorial. liie town 
 did its share hy authorizing the imi)rovcment of the street, 
 and the energy of our highway commissioner, James A- 
 Seymour, has borne fruit therein. The Association has 
 now been incorporated in order that it may legally hold 
 property, and has admitted to membership fifteen of the 
 wives and other female relatives (jf the male members, 
 realizing full well the interest which women have in all 
 such matters, and that their enthusiasm is a most potent 
 factor for success. The interest of the owner of the property 
 about the memorial, Frank W. Smith, has been of great 
 assistance and has culminated in a most generous gift to 
 the Associatit)n of the spring site, to have and to hold 
 forever. It is my {privilege and pleasure in behalf of 
 the Association to tender its sincere thanks to all who have 
 assisted in any way, by contribution of money, or work 
 of head or hand to the successful accomphshment of the 
 memorial, and the dedication thereof, to the first citizen 
 of this town of whom there is any record, the great Indian 
 Sachem, Massasoit. And especially do we greet and render 
 thanks to you, Alonzo and Charlotte Mitchell, for return- 
 ing to tlie home of your fathers to honor us with )our 
 presence. 
 
 lUit the Association does not stop its work here. Its 
 by-laws provide that it shall promote any enterprise, the 
 design of which is the improvement of physical and 
 
I03 
 
 esthetic conditions in the community. It has made a 
 beginning of such work by the decoration of the surround- 
 ings of the railroad station, accompHshed through the 
 generosity of one of its members. It does not mean to 
 interfere with the duty of the town council, or encroach 
 upon the prerogatives of the Business Men's Association, 
 or any other body. It has neither political nor sectarian 
 affiliations. It is made up of representative citizens of this 
 town who in accepting membership have signified their 
 interest in something which stands for an uplifting above 
 the ordinary conditions of life. A public park where leisure 
 hours may be happily spent ; the planting of trees to replace 
 those which formerly arched our streets from end to end; 
 a monument to the patriots who have borne arms in all 
 the wars of our beloved country are some of the things 
 which the Association hopes to accomplish in the future. 
 
 What more potent inspiration for all good works could 
 we have than the words of our revered poet-historian, 
 whose cup of happiness would, we beheve, be full to over- 
 flowing could he have been spared to be with us to-day : 
 
 "Warren! where first beside the cradled Nation 
 
 The old chief stood, we love thy storied past. 
 Sowams is pleasant for a habitation — 
 'Twas thy first history — may it be thy last." 
 
 The "Indian March" was spiritedly played, after which 
 the President introduced Professor Munro in the follow- 
 ing terms: As far back as 1880 the historian of our 
 
104 
 
 neighbor town to the stnuh was sufllciently impressed 
 by llic value of tradition to give public expression to his 
 belief that the spot which we honor to-day was Massasoit's 
 Si)ring. 1 feel that it docs not detract from the honor 
 due to all the members of the Committee f(jr Marking 
 Historical Sites to say that to the chairman more than any 
 other, are we indebted for the tablet beside the gushing 
 water. It is therefore with j)r()f<)und feelings of gratitude 
 that I introduce Professor Wilt" red Harold Munro, 
 
 Professor Munro spoke, informalI\-, in part as follows: 
 I'nder j)riniili\-e conditions of life the three ])rincii)al 
 necessities for existence are water, food and shelter. This 
 is true whether we live in solitude or in communities. The 
 first necessity for a settled abode would seem to be a never 
 failing supph' of water. Food can be obtained in many 
 places: water that is not contaminated must always 
 be sought at its source. In the earliest da\s of Monasti- 
 cism in Kgy])t a spring, a palm tree and a cave were 
 regarded as the necessary ''plant" for tho.se who wished 
 to lead a life of solitude and of contemplation. Water 
 was the first recjuisite, then came the date-])alm with its 
 food, the cave in that j)erfect climate was sought for only 
 as a shelter from the wild beasts. \ly the end of the 
 fourth century the region known as the Thebaid was lilletl 
 with men Ii\inii; in this j)rimitive way. These monks 
 had reverted Lo the simple lifeof the.sa\'age. ThenaliN'es 
 our ancestors encountered when thev landed uj)on the 
 continent had never i)assed beyond that simi)le life. 
 
105 
 
 They sought for Hving springs as prerequisites for their 
 temporary habitations. But there were no trees or shrubs 
 to afford them food throughout the year and the wild 
 animals were too insignificant and too few in number to 
 furnish a food supply. In this region therefore they 
 pitched their rude wigwams near the shore where they 
 could without much difficulty secure fish, wild fowl, 
 clams and oysters. The waters of Narragansett Bay were 
 then more plentifully stocked with fish than now. Ducks, 
 geese and other wild fowl must also have been much more 
 abundant. The Indian shot both fish and fowl. 
 
 Near the spring we have marked to-day was unques- 
 tionably an Indian vdllage in the year of our Lord, 1620. 
 As a historical student I wish we might always have as 
 reasonable grounds for connecting names with physical 
 features as we have in this case. If ever a fact was 
 firmly estabhshed by tradition the fact of Massasoit's 
 connection with this spring is. Jedediah Morse, "Father 
 of American Geography," caught the story from the lips 
 of the children of those who had lived in the da}^s of 
 Massasoit and transferred it to his American Gazetteer 
 in 1805. For more than a hundred years the tradition 
 has been perpetuated upon the printed page. It is 
 seldom that a story can be so easily substantiated. Not 
 far away, at Mount Hope, in Bristol, is a shallow well 
 which has been known ever since the founding of the town 
 in 1680 as " Kjng Philip's Spring. " You would be amazed 
 to learn how infrequent in manuscripts and books is the 
 
io6 
 
 mcnlion of this famous spring. I can find hardly a refer- 
 ence that is more than seventy-five years old, none as 
 (lid as Morse's reference to Massasoit's Spring. The storv 
 has simply been passed down by word of mouth from 
 generation to generation and no man has ever been rash 
 enough to ijuestion it> Irulli. This is all the m<jre 
 remarkable because on the other side of Mount Hope is 
 another spring which gushes forth not far from the spi)t 
 where King Philip was killed. 
 
 May I in the short time at my disposal endeavor to 
 set forth the life the Indians and our ancestors liwd in 
 our earliest Colonial days! Of what kind of structures 
 did the \illages of the Indian consist? They were very 
 rough and unromfortabc places of abode, not entirely 
 unlike those you may see to-day in the ''Indian Country" 
 of our western states and territories, and yet much ruder 
 than are the wigwams, of to-day. The Indian we know has 
 pruliled soiiiewluit from his nearness to ci\ilization. 
 
 When the Plymouth representatives paid their first 
 \isit to Massasoit they found the (^hief occupying a 
 wigwam a little larger than those of his subjects. Bui 
 when night came Massasoit and his wife occupied as a bed 
 a platform of boards raised a little from the ground and 
 covered with a thin mat. On this bed the Indian Sachem 
 also placed his visitors with himself and his wife, "they 
 at oiu- end and the I*"nglishmen at tlie other, and two 
 more of Massasoit's imn pressed by and upon them, so 
 that they were worse weary of the lodging than of the 
 
journey." The accommodation could hardly be called 
 luxurious. 
 
 The Indians were "lusty" men. The word "lusty" 
 was then used as we use the word "husky " to-day in speak- 
 ing of our football players. All our players are "husky" 
 men though many of their fellow students are not. They 
 are so because they are physically the best men that can 
 be picked out from hundreds of undergraduates. The 
 Indians were all "lusty" men from a different reason. 
 As with the Zulus of South Africa it was with them, a 
 case of the survival of the fittest. It was because all the 
 weakly children died that our ancestors had such a race 
 of athletes for their antagonists. 
 
 The weapons they used were not of much account as 
 compared with those the colonists carried, but they were 
 so skilled in the use of them that they proved to be most 
 formidable foes. The white men were rarely as "lusty" 
 men as their opponents though their weakest died quickly 
 in the terrible early years of the Plymouth Colony. But 
 in weapons and equipment they far surpassed the savages. 
 Our ancestors whom Massasoit saw were armed with 
 muskets and swords. They wore helmets and corselets 
 of metal. When metal was lacking they wore quilted 
 corselets stiff enough to protect from Indian arrows. The 
 Indian sachem and his men soon learned the superiority 
 of the English equipment and governed their conduct 
 accordingly. 
 
 The earliest habitations of the Colonists were hardly 
 more comfortable than were the wigwams of the Aborigines. 
 
io8 
 
 Study the accounts pivcn of the first houses in Pl\- 
 
 niuulh and sou will be conxincfd ui the fact. Those log 
 
 huts were built in a very rude way. Shelter onlv was 
 
 sought for, lu.\ur\- was not dreamed ai. The chimneys 
 
 were on the oul>ide. \o bricks were used in their 
 
 construction because no bricks were made in the country. 
 
 The \er\- wide hreplaces were lined with stone, but the 
 
 flues above were ordinarily built with what we might call 
 
 light cordwo(xi set in clay and plastered with the same 
 
 material. Under such conditions it is hardly necessary 
 
 to say that constant vigilance was necessary to prevent 
 
 these i)rinntive structures from taking I'lre. Dwellings 
 
 like those our ancestors used may be seen to-day as you 
 
 pass through the State of South Carolina on the railway 
 
 trains. As far as comfort goes the negroes who inhabit 
 
 them are much better oil than the Plymouth colonists 
 
 were. 
 
 ♦ *♦♦♦**♦♦* 
 
 THE IIISTORTrAI. ADDRKSS DKLTVF.RKD BV 
 COLONEL HIGGIXSON. 
 
 Colonel Higginson read as follows: 
 
 MASSASOIT. 
 
 The news])ai)er correspondents tell us that when an 
 iiKluirN- was one da\- made among \isitors. returning from 
 the reient Jamestown Iv\i)osilion, as to the things seen by 
 each of them which he or she would remember longest, one 
 
man replied, "That life size group in the Smithsonian 
 building which shows John Smith in his old cock-boat 
 trading with the Indians. He is giving them beads or 
 something and getting baskets of corn in exchange" 
 (Outlook, October, 1907). This seemed to the man who 
 said it and quite reasonably, the very first contact with 
 civilization on the part of the American Indians. Precisely 
 parallel to which is the memorial which we meet to dedi- 
 cate and which records the first interview in 1620 between 
 the little group of Plymouth Pilgrims and Massasoit, 
 known as the "greatest commander of the country" and 
 sachem of the whole region north of Narragansett Bay 
 (Bancroft's United States, i, 247). 
 
 "Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate" 
 says the poet Pope and nothing is more remarkable in 
 human history than the way in which great events some- 
 times reach their climax at once, instead of gradually 
 working up to it. Never was this better illustrated than 
 when the Plymouth Pilgrims first met the one man of this 
 region who could guarantee them peace for fifty years and 
 did so. The circumstances seem the simplest of the 
 simple. 
 
 The first hasty glance between the Plymouth Puritans 
 and the Indians did not take place, as you will recall, until 
 the new comers had been four days on shore, when, in the 
 words of the old chronicler "they espied five or six people 
 with a Dogge coming toward them, who were savages; 
 who when they saw them ran into the Wood and whistled 
 
I lO 
 
 the Dogge after them. " (This quadruped, whellier large 
 or small, had always a ca[)ital KlUr in his name, while 
 pcijple and savages liad none, in these early narratives.) 
 When the Knglish pursued the Indians "they ran awav 
 might and main. " (E. W. 1 Viree's Indian History.) The 
 next interxiew was a stormier one; four days later, when 
 those same Pilgrims were asleep on board the"shall()i)"on 
 the morning ol December S, 1620 (now December 19), when 
 they heard "a great and strange cry" and arrow shots 
 came llxing amongst tliem whiih tlux- returned and one 
 Indian "gave an extraordinary cry" and away they went. 
 After all was quiet, the Pilgrims picked eighteen arrows, 
 some headed with brass, some with hart's horn (deer's 
 horn), and others with eagles' claws" (Young's Chronicles 
 of the Pilgrims, 158), the brass heads at least showing 
 that those Indians had met Englishmen before. 
 
 Three days after this encounter at Xamskeket — namely 
 on December 22d, 1O20 (a date nuw cunij)Uted as December 
 23) — the Enghsh landed at Patuxet, now Plymouth. 
 Three months passed before the sight of any more Indians, 
 when Samoset came, all alone with his delightful salu- 
 tation "Welcome Englishmen," and a few days later 
 (March 22, 162 1), the great chief of all that region, 
 Massasoit, aj^peared on the scene. 
 
 When he tlrst made himself \i>il)le with sixt>' men, on 
 that day, u|»on what is still known as Strawberry Hill, he 
 asked that somebod}' be sent to hold a parle}' with him. 
 lulmund Winslow was appointed to this olhce, antl went 
 
Ill 
 
 forward protected only by his sword and armor and carry- 
 ing presents to the sachem. Winslow also made a speech 
 of some length bringing messages (quite imaginary, per- 
 haps, and probaby not at all comprehended) from King 
 James, whose representative, the Governor, wished 
 particularly to see Massasoit. It appears from the record 
 written apparently by Winslow, himself, that Massasoit 
 made no particular reply to this harangue, but paid very 
 particular attention to Winslow's sword and armor and 
 proposed at once to begin business by buying them. This, 
 however, was refused, but Winslow induced Massasoit 
 to cross a brook between the English and himself, taking 
 with him twenty of his Indians who were bidden to leave 
 their bows and arrows behind them. Beyond the brook, 
 he was met by Captain Standish, with an escort of six 
 armed men, who exchanged salutations and attended him 
 to one of the best but unfinished houses in the village. 
 Here a green rug was spread on the floor and three or four 
 cushions. The governor, Bradford, then entered the house, 
 followed by three or four soldiers and preceded by a flourish 
 from a drum and trumpet which quite delighted and 
 astonished the Indians. It was a deference paid to their 
 sachem. He and the governor then kissed each other, as 
 it is recorded (we have no information as to whether the 
 governor enjoyed it) sat down together and regaled them- 
 selves with an entertainment. The feast is recorded by 
 the early narrator as consisting chiefly of strong waters, 
 a "thing the savages love very well" it is said "and the 
 
112 
 
 sachem took such a lar^e draught of it at once as made him 
 sweat all the lime he slaied. " (Thatcher's Lives of 
 Indians, i., 1 19.) 
 
 A substantial treaty of peace was made on this occasion, 
 one immortalized by the fact that it was the first made with 
 I lie Indians of New England. It is the uncjuestioned 
 testimony of history that the negotiation was remembered 
 and followed by Ijoth sides for half a century; nor was 
 Massasoit nor any of the Wamj)anoags during his life- 
 time convicted of having violated or attempted to xiolate 
 an\- of its provisions. This was a great achievement! 
 Do you ask what price bought all this? The i)rice 
 practically paid for all the \ast domain and power granted 
 to the white man consisted of the fc^llowing items: a pair 
 of knives and a copper chain with a jewel in it. for the 
 grand sachem; and for his brother, Ouadequina, a knife, 
 a jewel to hang in his ear, a pot of strong waters, a good 
 quantity of biscuit and a piece of butter." (Thatcher's 
 Lives of Indians, i., 120.) 
 
 Fair words, the proverb says, butter no parsnips, but 
 the fair words of the white men had i)rovided the oppor- 
 tunity for performing that process. The description 
 preserved of the Indian chief by an eye witness was as 
 follows: "in his person he is a very lust>- man, in his 
 best years, an able body, grave of countenance, and sjxire 
 speech; in hi> alliie littli- or nothing dilTering from the 
 rest of his followers, onl>- in a great chain of white bone 
 beads about his neck; and at il, behind his neck, hangs a 
 
113 
 
 little bag of tobacco, which he drank, and gave us to 
 drink — (this being the phrase for that indulgence in those 
 days, as is found in Ben Johnson and other authors). His 
 face was painted with a sad red like murrey (so called 
 from being the color of the Moors) and oiled both head 
 and face that he looked greasily. All his followers like- 
 wise were in their faces, in part or in whole, painted, some 
 black, some red, some yellow, and some white, some with 
 crosses, and other antic works; some had skins on them, 
 and some naked; all strong all men in appearance." 
 (Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, 194.) All this Dr. 
 Young tells us would have been a good description of an 
 Indian party under Black Hawk which was presented to 
 the President at Washington as late as 1837 and also, I can 
 say the same of one seen by myself coming from a prairie 
 in Kansas, yet unexplored in 1856. 
 
 Lane tells us that in oriental countries smoking is called 
 drinking and the aim of all is bring the smoke into the 
 lungs. (Young's Chronicles of Plymouth, 188.) 
 
 The interchange of eatables was evidently at that period 
 
 a pledge of good feeling, as it is to-day. On a later occasion 
 
 Captain Standish, with Isaac Alderton, went to visit the 
 
 Indians, who gave them three or four ground nuts and 
 
 some tobacco. The writer afterwards says, " Our governor 
 
 bid them send the king's kettle and filled it full of pease 
 
 which pleased them well, and so they went their way." 
 
 It strikes the modern reader as if this were pease and 
 
 peace practically equivalent, and as if the parties needed 
 9 
 
114 
 
 only a pun to make friends. Il is doubtful whether the 
 arrival of a conriuerin*,' race was ever in the history of the 
 world marked by a treaty so simple and therefore noble. 
 
 "This treaty with Massasoit" says Iklknap, "was the 
 work of one day," and being honestly intended on both 
 sides, was kept with fidelity as long as Massasoit lived. 
 (Belknap's American Biography, ii, 214.) In September, 
 1639, Massasoit and his oldest son, Mooanam, afterwards 
 called Wamsutta, came into the court at Plymouth and 
 desired that this ancient league should remain inviolable, 
 which was accordingly ratified and confirmed by the 
 government, (Young's Chronicles of the I'ilgrims, 194 
 note), and lasted until it was broken by Philip, the succes- 
 sor of Wamsutta, in 1675. It is not my aiTair to discuss 
 the later career of Philip, whose insurrection is now viewed 
 more leniently than in its own day, but the spirit of it 
 was surely quite mercilessly characterized by a Puritan 
 minister. Increase Mather, who when describing a battle 
 in which old Indian men and women, the wounded and the 
 helpless were burned alive said proudly, "This day we 
 brought five hundred Indian souls to hell." (Pierce's 
 Indian Biography, 22.) 
 
 But the end of all was approaching. In 1623, Massasoit 
 sent a messenger to Plymoutli to say that he was ill, and 
 C'lovcrnor Bradford sent Mr. W'inslow to him with medi- 
 cines and cordials. When the}- reached a certain ferry, 
 upon Winslow's discharging his gun, Indians came to 
 him from a house not far off, who told him that Massasoit 
 
115 
 
 was dead and that day buried. As they came nearer, at 
 about half an hour before the setting of the sun, another 
 messenger came and told them that he was not dead, 
 though there was no hope that they would find him living. 
 Hastening on, they arrived late at night. "When we 
 came thither" Winslow writes, "we found the house so 
 full of men as we could scarce get in, though they used their 
 best diligence to make way for us. There were they in the 
 midst of their charms for him, making such a helHsh noise 
 as it distempered us that were well, and therefore unlike 
 to ease him that was sick. About him were six or eight 
 women who chafed his arms, legs and thighs to keep heat in 
 him. When they had made an end of their charming, one 
 told him that his friends the Enghsh were come to see him. 
 Having understanding left, but his sight was wholly gone, 
 he asked who had come. They told him Winsnow, for 
 they cannot pronounce the letter 1, but ordinarily n in 
 place thereof. He desired to speak with me. When I 
 came to him and they told him of it, he put forth his hand 
 to me which I took. When he said twice though very 
 inwardly, Keen Winsnow? which is to say. Art thou 
 Winslow? I answered Ahhe, that is Yes. Then he 
 doubled these words, INIatta neen wonckanet nanem, 
 Winsnow : that is to say, O Winslow, I shall never see thee 
 again ! Then I called Hobbamock and desired him to tell 
 Massasoit that the governor hearing of his sickness, was 
 sorry for the same; and though by many businesses he 
 could not come himself, yet he sent me with such things 
 for him as he thought most likely to do good in this extrem- 
 
ii6 
 
 ity ; and whereof if he be pleased to take, I would presently 
 give him; which he- desired, and havinj^: a confection of 
 many comforlaljle c(jnser\cs on the ])()inl (»l my knife, I 
 gave him some which I could scarce get through his teeth. 
 When it was dissolved in his mouth, he swallowed the juice 
 of it; whereat tho.se that were about him much rejoiced, 
 saying that he had not swallowed anything in two days 
 before." (E. W. IViice'^ Indian lli.-itory, 25, 26.) 
 
 Then Winslow tells how he nursed the sick chief, 
 sending messengers back to the governor for a bottle of 
 drink and some chickens from which to make a broth for 
 his j)atient. Meanwhile he dissolved some of the confec- 
 tion water and gave it to Massasoit to drink; within 
 half an hour the Indian im])roved. Before the messengers 
 could return with the chickens, Winslow made a broth of 
 meal and strawberry leaves and sassafras root which he 
 strained through his handkerchief and ga\-e the chief who 
 drank al least a pint of it. After this his sight mended 
 more and more, and all rejoicecl that the Englishman had 
 been the means of j)reser\ing the life of Massasoit. At 
 length the messengers returned with the chicken but 
 Massasoit "Imding his stomach come t(^ him he would not 
 have the chickens killed, but kept them for breed." 
 
 Eroni far and near his followers came to see their 
 restored ( hief uho feelingly said " Xow T see the English 
 are m\- friends and lo\e me: and whilst I live I will 
 never forget this kindness they have showed me. " 
 
 It would be interesting were I to take the time to hwk 
 inl(j the relations of Massasoit with others, especially 
 
117 
 
 with Roger Williams, but this has been done by others, 
 particularly in the somewhat imaginative chapter of my 
 old friend, Mr. Butterworth, and I have already said 
 enough. Nor can I paint the background of that strange 
 early society of Rhode Island, its reaction from the stern 
 Massachusetts rigor and its quaint and varied materials. 
 In that new state as Bancroft keenly said, there were 
 settlements "filled with the strangest and most incon- 
 gruous elements ... so that if a man had lost his 
 rehgious opinions, he might have been sure to find them 
 again in some village in Rhode Island. " 
 
 Meanwhile "the old benevolent sachem, JNIassasoit, " 
 says Drake's Book of the Indians, "ha\dng died in the 
 winter of 1661-2," so died a few months after his oldest 
 son Alexander. Then came by regular succession, Philip, 
 the next brother, of whom the historian Hubbard says 
 that for his "ambitious and haughty spirit he was nick- 
 named 'King Philip.'" From this time followed war- 
 like dismay in the colonies ending in Philip's piteous death. 
 To-day as a long deferred memorial to Philip's father, 
 Massasoit, with his simple and modest virtues, this 
 memorial tablet has been dedicated. It may be said of 
 Massasoit's career in the noble words of Young's "Night 
 Thoughts," — 
 
 "Each man makes his own stature; builds himself. 
 
 Virtue alone outbuilds the Pyramids: 
 
 Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall." 
 
DRUM ROCK 
 
 Addrc-.i by William B. Wccdcn. May 30, 1908 
 
 The ground where we stand was conveyed to Samuel 
 Gorton and ten others, for 144 fathom of wampum- 
 pcage, January 12, 1642. The deed describes "a parcell 
 of hinds, lyingc uj)on the west side of that part of the sea 
 called Schomes Bay from Copassnetuxet, over against 
 the outmost of that next of land called Shawhomett upon 
 a straite line westward twenty miles." It is signed by 
 Myantonomey the suzerain, with the significant statement 
 "possession given with the free and joynt consent of the 
 prisinL inhabitants, being natives, as it appears by their 
 hands." In another column arc the signatures of Totono- 
 mans, Pumham Sachem of Showhomet and Jano. When 
 Pumham acted thereafter, Soccononocco generally 
 appeared with him. 1 think he must have been either 
 Totonomans or Jano, though I have not been able to 
 trace the connection. The document is given by Judge 
 Stai)les in his edition of Gorton 's " Simplicity 's Defense. "* 
 
 Roger Williams, in another connection said, "1 had not 
 only Meantanomey and all the Coweset sachems my 
 friends but Ousamaquin (a Wami)onoag) also." Induced 
 
 •]{ I ilistorioal CoUs., 2 p. 253. 
 
z 
 
 o 
 
 Oh 
 
 o 
 
 
119 
 
 by the Arnolds, Pumham and Soccononocco went to Boston 
 in 1643, ^^^ submitted to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts^ 
 Cuchamakin, a Massachusetts sachem, testified to the 
 General Court, that Pumham was as independent as 
 himself. 
 
 Samuel Gorton was one of the strongest individual 
 minds Rhode Island ever had among her citizens. Judge 
 Brayton in his defense of Gorton said, there "was no 
 independent sachem between the Wampanoags and the 
 Narragansetts. Pumham and Soccononocco were Coweset 
 sachems."* Mr. George T. Paine, a careful student of 
 Indian lore, defined Cowekesit, Cowekesuck or Cowesit 
 to be the shore between Apponaug and Greenwich 
 villages, thence westward to Crompton, and to mean 
 "the place of the young pines." 
 
 Drum Rock, that we commemorate, is a very large 
 boulder partially sunk in the earth. Probably by glacial 
 action or by frost, a large flat fragment estimated at two 
 and one-half tons was broken off, lifted and nicely balanced 
 on one edge of the cavity. Standing on the upper stone 
 and throwing one 's weight on either foot, it easily rocks to 
 and fro and drums on the boulder. The sound reverber- 
 ates at a distance, and in the stillness of prehistoric time 
 it must have penetrated much farther, with more solemn 
 effect. 
 
 According to tradition the upper stone was disturbed 
 and moved by vandals about 1837. The villagers of 
 
 *R. I. Historical Tracts, No. 17, p. 101. 
 
I20 
 
 Apponaug with considerable etTort restored it, but were 
 unable to bring back the old delicacy of balance; since 
 then the sound has not extended so far. 
 
 This statement would not have touched or impressed 
 the native when (iorton and his companions settled at 
 Shawomel. Whatever the facts his inductive convictions 
 reached him dilTercnlly. He knew nothing of glaciers or 
 glacial action. He lived in close contact with nature, but 
 not as we view her. His religion prom[)ted him to worshij) 
 sun, moon or stars; and he readily defied a great visible 
 force, and in a sort of idealization of the bear or panther. 
 Any pronc;unced manifestation of nature — especially if 
 unusual — was to him su])ernatural, as we call it. An\- 
 marvel like Drum Rock lired his imagination at once, and 
 gathered traditions about it, as time went on. Hence, 
 this reverberating sound — fascinating to-day — was even 
 more bewitching three centuries ago. Our tablet was 
 literally true. 
 
 "Drum Rock, a trysting signal and meeting 
 
 place of the Coweset Indians and their kindred 
 
 Xarragansetts." 
 
 The Shawomet tribes w^ere a branch of the Xarragansett 
 nation, as the Xiantics were on the west toward the 
 Pequots. "All do agree they were a great people," said 
 Roger Williams, and let us glance at his reports of their 
 aboriginal life. There were man>' \illages, possibly a 
 dozen in twenty miles travel, and nowhere were they more 
 teeming than by Coweset and along the Pecjuot path 
 
121 
 
 by Sugar Loaf Hill and the little island of Nahnygansett 
 in Point Judith Pond. The wigwams were covered with- 
 out and lined within with mats of bark or skins ; a hole for 
 smoke at the top. "Those filthy smoakie holes" in the 
 words of the narrator. But any house of the seventeenth 
 century was not very agreeable in a northeast storm. 
 Their implements were appropriate to the stone age, 
 arrow heads, hatchets, mortars for beating corn, and 
 chisels. 
 
 The making of canoes excited WilHams ' highest admira- 
 tion ; they were for three or four, sometimes for forty men. 
 A native went into the woods with a stone hatchet and a 
 basket of corn, built a hut and felled a chestnut tree. 
 He continued "hewing and burning, lying there at his 
 work alone," until in ten or twelve days he had finished 
 and launched his boat. He then ventured to fish in the 
 ocean. With their fleets of canoes the Narragansetts held 
 Block Island in subjection. This fact alone would 
 show the relative superiority of the Narragansett nation. 
 The manufacture and sale of wampum had brought 
 wealth from the interior, as far as the Mohawk country. 
 They were beginning to be commercial and had risen 
 above mere hunting tribes, as Columbus with his caravels 
 ranked above a Castilian baron bent on hunt or foray. 
 Hubbard says they were more civil and courteous than 
 other natives. And Gookin, the enlightened superintend- 
 ent of the Massachusetts Indians, said the Narragansetts 
 were an "active, laborious and ingenious people." 
 
122 
 
 In due season there was ''wonderful plenteous hunting," 
 and the women jilanled and tended corn with the chim- 
 shell hoe. They gathered the crop and !)eat it in a mortar. 
 They "barncd" the reserved; in Phihp's war, when our 
 Indians were driven into interior Massachusetts, they 
 occasionally foraged back for the corn cached in hollow 
 trees and caves. "It is almost incredible what burthens 
 tile i)oore women carry of come, of fish, of beans, of mats 
 and a ( hilde besides." We must not regard these divisions 
 of labor by sex from our point of \icw. 'J1ic Indian had 
 faults enough, but lie was not idle or dissolute until 
 alcohol ruined him. 'Inhere are two systems of labor; ours 
 is regulated and continuous; tiic barbarian's is spasmodic 
 anrl exhaustive. The Indian brave carried a little 
 parched corn on the war])ath or hunting tramp, tightening 
 his belt as hunger increased. He exhausted all his 
 strength in these masculine eUorts; his squaw did the rest 
 and did it cheerfully. 
 
 Williams was more and more impressed by "their 
 active and industrious habits" though the braves would 
 do no agriculture except to raise tobacco. The\- used this 
 moderately, and it serwd a .symbolic function in their 
 great smoking councils. One ui thc.^e meetings lor 
 (irliberation gathered nearly one thousand persons.* 
 Johnson, the grt'at Puritan, in i(\-;7 was nuu li impressed 
 to "see how soliill\' and wi>t.ly these savage peoi)le did 
 consider of the weighty undertaking of a war, especially 
 
 ♦Itogor Williuuu, Key, p. 02. 
 
123 
 
 old Canonicus, who was very discreet in his answers." 
 Canonicus was one of the greatest aborigines history has 
 recorded. 
 
 Among themselves they were great gamblers, and there 
 was a seamy side seldom lacking in their intercourse with 
 whites. Their notions of property were very crude, and 
 friendly as they were to WiUiams, they stole his goats 
 from Prudence Island. After Pumham and Socononocco 
 had intrigue with the authorities of Massachusetts, 
 Gorton said they were no better than cattle thieves. 
 In conveying land, doubtless they meant to give up what 
 they did not want for themselves. The "common sort" 
 of Indians planted at Providence and Warwick without 
 permission; they "mingled fields" with the English, and 
 this made trouble. By the second generation, either race 
 would be rid of the other. Canonicus gone, the brave 
 but rash Canonchet joined in Philip 's injudicious war, and 
 the Narragansetts were nearly exterminated. 
 
 Yet in their own living, their system worked not badly. 
 Williams said *" the sachems have an absolute Monarchie " 
 over the people "though they consulted and persuaded 
 their constituents." Under such rule, vice and crime 
 were not as scandalous as in Europe. "Commonly they 
 never shut their doors day or night, and 'tis rare that any 
 hurt is done." 
 
 Tribal custom stood in place of ordinary law and active 
 pubhc opinion. Ultimately this must yield to organized 
 
 ♦Key, p. 62. 
 
124 
 
 government. Meanwhile, from the aboriginal point of 
 view, there was little to l)e desired in the English 
 system of government. We must remember the natives 
 saw on one sirle the treacherous murder of Miantinomi, 
 inspired by the petty state craft of the Boston Puritans; 
 on the other they were oppressed b\- the jail and the 
 whipi)ing-post. In the religious life, the evolution was no 
 better. Resiject as we would the kindly labors of Williams 
 and the apostolic sacrifices of Eliot, the actual results were 
 meagre and almost nugator\-. (ioodkin said "the time of 
 the great harvest of their (the natives*) in gathering is 
 not \et come, but will follow after calling of the Jews." 
 But Williams, charitable toward all Christian beUef shows 
 his naive and unseeing comprehension of the great 
 sources of religion in this wise: ''I durst never be an 
 eyewitnesse, spectatour or looker on (at Indian ceremonies) 
 lest I should ha\e partake of Sathan's inventions and 
 worships," as forbidden in I'^jjhcsians. 
 
 The great romancer Fenimore Cooper exaggerated the 
 nobility of the Indian, as Walter Scott overdrew the 
 heroic qualities of his gillies and their Highland chieftans. 
 We need not depreciate in our turn. Ha\ing immensely 
 wider knowledge of racial conditions, we ought to be wiser 
 than the}' were in the early nineleenlh or the seventeenth 
 century. Let us be just to a race li\ing well in its own 
 time. 
 
 Inevitabl)-, the Indian left few permanent monuments. 
 Even in these small districts he was migator}-, llitting from 
 
125 
 
 winter quarters to "summer fields." He laid no corner 
 stones, reared no columns or pyramids. Let us preserve 
 and cherish this interesting memorial of his actual living. 
 The moving rock sounds across the centuries and brings 
 back the friendly owners of the soil, 
 
 WILLIAM B. WEEDEN. 
 
PRESCOTT'S HEADQUARTERS 
 
 The Addre>is of William Paine Sheffield, September 10, 1908 
 
 Plerc occurred one of the most picturesque, daring and 
 successful achievements of the American Revolution. 
 When the details c)f many a carefully planned campaign 
 have j)assed from p()i)ular nolle e, the American people will 
 remember, and recount with pride the sim])le story of the 
 capture of ("rcneral Prcscott l)y Colonel Barton. 
 
 The possibility of the carrying olT of its commander 
 while surrounded by its army and ])rotected by a friendly 
 fleet, through the bold act of a mere handful of country- 
 men, never entered the minds of the British forces on 
 Rhode Island. It could never have been ])lanned except 
 by a bold and courageous man, and never have been 
 executed, exce])t !)>• a well informed and sagacious leader, 
 seconded by j)rudent and daring C()m])anions. 
 
 While il was not one of llic great events which were 
 turning points in the struggle for independence, it came at 
 a time when the American arms had few successes and it 
 did much to encourage the peoi)le to persevere in the con- 
 flict. It showed what a daring man with a few re.M)lute 
 ccMnpanions may accomplish, and il is almost impossible 
 to estimate its elTect in arousing the people to exertion and 
 
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 jn. ^■^immmnA^mr 
 
 ►J^- «7-i H''-/* -*5Br>v'<" •• . • 
 
 ' '''-i' 
 
 H 
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 H 
 O 
 
 W 
 H 
 
 Q 
 
 < 
 X 
 
 H 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 in 
 W 
 M 
 
 I-) 
 
 « 
 w 
 
 z 
 
 w 
 O 
 
 
127 
 
 in bringing about the final result. As showing what 
 individual effort, intelligently directed, may accomplish, 
 it should be kept fresh in the memory of our country by 
 spoken word and enduring bronze. The story has so 
 much of the courage and the personality of the gallant 
 Barton that when once the story is heard it is not easily 
 forgotten. 
 
 The colony of Rhode Island in its attitude and conduct 
 in the great conflict for liberty and independence had a 
 part which time can only make clearer and more resplend- 
 ent. Before Concord and Lexington, here, on the waters 
 of Narragansett bay, occurred the preliminary struggles 
 which led up to the great conflict. Here, whatever of 
 truth or fallacy lay in the cry ''that taxation without 
 representation was unjust and intolerable," a commercial 
 and enterprising race of merchants, privateersmen and 
 sailors, accustomed to the freedom of the seas, felt especially 
 the heavy iron hand of the British navigation acts press 
 upon their commerce and their liberties and they were 
 early ready to resist. 
 
 Here was the most magnificient bay upon the Atlantic 
 coast, with its miles of seashore, its numerous outlets to the 
 sea, open on every wind to sailing vessels for speedy 
 entrance and exit. Harbors and centres of commerce 
 developed in spite of the navigation laws, at Newport, 
 near the Stone Bridge, at Bristol, Warren, Providence, 
 East Greenwich bay, Wickford and elsewhere. There 
 were no more hardy and experienced mariners than came 
 
128 
 
 from the Rhode Island colony. Its bold privateersmen 
 had not hesitated in the past to nuet the enemies of Eng- 
 land in shi])s and on the Spanish .Main, anrl elsewhere. 
 With the other colonies, Rhode Island resisted the enforce- 
 ment of the stamj) act and the sale of stamps, but alone of 
 all the colonies, Rhode Island met the armed vessels of 
 the kinp and opix)sed the enforcement of regulations unjust 
 U) iier commerce and in xioiation of her liberties. When 
 she found tlie rights she believed she was entitled to 
 violated, she resisted, and, educated through all her 
 colonial histor>' to act inde[)endently, she did not wait 
 for any other colony to act with her. The stor\' of the 
 "Squirrel/" the "Liberty" and the "Gaspee" were pri(jr 
 in time and displayed a courage, a purpose and an independ- 
 ence in resistance to Great Britain that no other colony 
 equalkfl. Later, first of the colonies, Rhode Island 
 declared her Independence. 
 
 The Gaspee commission, by which it was sought to 
 carry colonial offenders to England, to be tried there, 
 instead of by their peers, in the vicinage, involved so great 
 a violation of the principles of Anglo-Saxon liberty and the 
 rights claimed by all the colonists that it awoke a respon- 
 sive chord in the \'irginia House of lUirgesses. \'irginia, 
 the richest of the colonies, with little direct grievance 
 against the crown, threw its great inlluence in union with 
 other colonies, and George Washington, following the 
 action of his colonv, made a successful revolution possible. 
 
 Recognizing the strategic imj)()rlance of Xarragansett 
 bay, near to the centres of po])ulation, the British early 
 
129 
 
 attacked its inhabitants and Wallace ravaged its shores. 
 In December, 1776, Sir Peter Parker, with eleven ships of 
 war and seventy transports, sailed through Long Island 
 sound around the north end of Conanicut, and two 
 English and two Hessian brigades under the command of 
 Sir Henry Clinton with Earl Percy and Brigadier General 
 Richard Prescott under him, landed on the island of Rhode 
 Island, and in the succeeding years the people of this 
 vicinity endured the hardships of war. This force, as 
 compared with the American forces in the state, was 
 overwhelming and the Americans could only withdraw and 
 watch the enemy from the neighboring mainland. 
 
 War at its best is hard, and in the latter part of the 
 eighteenth century, with hired mercenaries, the treatment 
 of the non-combatants was most severe. Officers, who 
 might have been more courteous to a foreign foe, against 
 colonists and rebels seemed to go at times to the extremes 
 of cruelty toward the weak and helpless. On Jamestown, 
 while Wallace was directing the driving off of the cattle 
 of the inhabitants, Martin was shot down in cold blood 
 at his own door. During the British occupation of Rhode 
 Island, especially after Clinton and Percy in succession had 
 left, and the command fell to Prescott, every day brought 
 tales of tyranny and oppression of innocent and defense- 
 less people (their relatives, friends and countrymen) to the 
 American forces stationed at Tiverton. 
 
 To the small boy in New^^ort, even to this day, the 
 word " tyrant " conjures up the picture of General Prescott, 
 
an irascible man, somewhat advanced in years, walking 
 on the east side of Spring street, along the only stone 
 sidcualk in ihc neighborliuud of his head(|uarlers at the 
 Bannister house, on the corner of Pelham street, and 
 striking olT with his cane the hats of the careless youth who 
 too slowly saluted tlie resplendent general, heedless if 
 with his cane he missed the hat and struck the head of the 
 young rebel. Next to George 111 himself, in Julw 1777. 
 Prescott represented to the people of Rliodc l.-^land that 
 ideal tyrant so eloquently jiortrayed in the Declaration ol 
 Inde]K'ndence. One can well imagine how the sympathetic 
 heart of llie Rhode Island commander at Tiverton, facing 
 a superior force, yearned to do some act that would show 
 that tyrant, ant! all likely to iniiuue him that he could not 
 opjircss with imj)unit\' women and children. 
 
 William liarton was horn at Warren, May 26, 1748, 
 says his biographer, Mrs. WilHams, in her interesting 
 account gathered from his own li]:)S and from those of this 
 contenii)oraries; he was brought up in the manner of the 
 times, for boys along the sea shore. He had a common 
 school education, was bound out lo a trade, married at 
 twenty-two and carried on in his own sho]) a I Pro\'idence 
 the trade of a hatter. A lo\er of liis countr)-, listening 
 with dee]) resentment to the wrongs of his fellow-cili/ens, 
 he heard in l^-o\-idence the (hstant guns of i^unker Hill. 
 Tile next (hiy he left his shop and joined the Americans at 
 Cambridge, and continued through the siege of Boston. 
 Then returning to Warren, i-ntlamed by the cruel acts of 
 Wallace, he remained to defend hi> nali\e state. 
 
131 
 
 While in charge on Rhode Island, Barton made his head- 
 quarters at the Bailey place, near the One Mile Corner. 
 On the 13th of August, 1776, that staunch old patriot 
 pastor, Ezra Stiles, records in his diary "at Newport, 
 viewed the brigade of 1,500 men; part of them drawn up 
 on the Parade and exercised by Major Barton." 
 
 It was during this period that he thoroughly familiar- 
 ized himself with the different parts of the island, which 
 was so useful to him later. With the advent of Sir Henry 
 Clinton and the fleet, Barton withdrew his men to the 
 mainland and remained in command, under Colonel 
 Stanton, of the American force at Tiverton, guarding 
 Howland 's ferry and the east passage. 
 
 This force, recruited from New Hampshire, Connecticut, 
 Rhode Island and Massachusetts, consisted of Colonel 
 John Topham 's and Colonel Archibald Crary 's regiments 
 and Colonel Robert Elliott's artillery. Here Barton did 
 what he could to alleviate the sufferings of those who 
 escaped from Prescott's tyranny, and listened to the 
 stories of the oppression of old men and women by the 
 British and Hessian regiments quartered among them. 
 
 About this time, the American forces were greatly 
 annoyed by the capture of General Lee, who was held by 
 the British and exchange refused because the American 
 had no captive officer of equal rank to offer. They keenly 
 felt it as a disgrace that an American officer of high rank 
 should remain a prisoner unexchanged. 
 
 Colonel Barton, doomed to inactivity in the face of a 
 superior foe, pondered over the situation of General Lee 
 
and grieved at the oppression of his countrymen in 
 Rhode Ishmd. In June, a Mr. ColTin esca]X'd from the 
 island and brought to Barton an accurate and detailed 
 description of the location of (leneral Prescott here in the 
 Overing house. A man, a negro servant from Mr. Over- 
 ing's kitchen had later confirmed Mr. ("ofrin and it is 
 probable that Colonel Bart(Mi himself had secretly, with 
 his own eyes, viewed the disposition of the forces ancl the 
 general situation about the Prescott headfjuarters. 
 
 IIa\ing obtained permission of Ccjlonel Joseph Stanton, 
 Ji .. his superior, he determined to carry out the apparently 
 desperate scheme he had conceived wholly by himself 
 of by one bold act avenging the wrongs of his countrymen 
 u]K)n their o})i)ressor and furnishing to the American a 
 captive general of equal rank to General Lee and suitable 
 for his exchange. 
 
 Besides himself, he selected five officers and about forty 
 men from the regiments at Tiverton. They were all 
 \()luntcers for an unknown peril, picked for their courage, 
 skill and prudence; many of them residents of this island 
 and \icinity, familiar with the location they were to visit. 
 The names of many of these men are still borne on this 
 island and in the neighboring towns Samuel Potter, 
 John WiKox. John lliint,\athan Smith, Isaac Brown, 
 01i\er Simmons, Jack Sherman, Joel liriggs, Samuel 
 Cory, James Weaver, Joseph Dennis, Pardon Cory, 
 Thomas Wilco.x, Jeremiah Thomas, Thomas Austin and 
 others. 
 
133 
 
 On the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, Barton, under cover of darkness, with his volunteers 
 in five whale-boats, set forth and, scattered by a severe 
 storm, were delayed at Warren. At Hog island they 
 viewed the British fleet, gathered off the Rliode Island shore 
 at the end of Prudence and not far from Hope island, and 
 the men learned for the first time the desperate undertaking 
 in which they were engaged. But no man faltered. Thence 
 they pushed on to Warwick neck, where there was an 
 American battery, and here they were again detained by 
 the weather. On the evening of July 9, 1777, Barton, his 
 officers and men embarked in their five boats on their 
 perilous expedition, with those last wise instructions — 
 to preserve the strictest order, to have no thought of 
 plunder, to observe profound silence, and to take with them 
 no spirituous liquors. 
 
 Barton, with a handkerchief on a ten-foot pole in the 
 first boat, so that the others might follow, led the way. 
 They rowed between Patience and Prudence and hugged 
 the shore of Prudence as they passed around the south end 
 of the island, close to the hostile fleet, hearing distinctly 
 the sentinels calKng, "all's well." Then they pushed 
 directly for the Rhode Island shore, landing at the mouth 
 of the creek under the shelter of a sand bluff. They left 
 one man with each boat and pushed forward towards the 
 Overing house, passing to the south of the Peleg Coggeshall 
 place and up the ravine to the road. 
 
 All about lay the British forces. A Httle way off to the 
 north, at the Redwood place, was General Smith, second in 
 
134 
 
 command, and part of his force was stationed near; 
 and just to the south of his house, in a building, were 
 quartered a borly of h'pht horse. Twcnly-five yards from 
 the gate stood a sentry, alert \mi secure in the protection 
 of a (Hscij)hned army and a formichible licet against a 
 discouraged and undisciphned foe. 
 
 (icneral Prescott had returned late from a feast given by 
 the Tory Bannister, supplied in ]mrt by the cargo of a rich 
 prize brought into Xew])ort that day, and was sleei)ing 
 soundly on the first floor of the house. Major Harrington, 
 Prescott 's aide, Mr. Overing and his son comprised the 
 remaining male occupants of the house. 
 
 Barton pushed boldly across the road from the ravine, 
 directly towards the sentr}'. To his demand for the 
 countersign, they asked if he had seen any deserters that 
 night, all the time advancing, until Jc^hn Hunt, the stal- 
 wart artilleryman from Portsmouth, seized and silenced 
 the sentr\- and they entered the house. Of the li\c boat 
 ])arties, one stayed on guard at the road, one each guarded 
 the three doors of the house, on east, south and west 
 sides. Barton and the other party entered the house, first 
 arousing Overing and his son in the second story. 
 Major Barrington was taken as he jumped from the 
 window in the second story. The negro forced the locked 
 door to the room in which Prescott was in bed, and Hunt 
 seized the astonished general. Scantily dressed, without 
 his shoes, Prescott and his aide were tlragged, su])ported 
 upon the shoulders of his captors, through the fields. 
 
135 
 
 They started in a straight Hne for the shore, across a rye 
 field. They pushed off from the shore, wdth their pris- 
 oners, soon followed by rockets and the alarm in the army 
 and the fleet. No wonder Prescott exclaimed to Colonel 
 Barton: "You have made a damned bold push tonight." 
 As the boat passed in the darkness through the midst of 
 the British fleet he must have felt that he did not deserve 
 well at the hands of the Americans, as he said "he hoped 
 they would not hurt him." Thomas Austin, who had been 
 whipped by Prescott 's orders with 300 lashes, because he 
 refused to yoke his oxen wdth which to draw British cannon, 
 until the physician protested he conld not survive, 
 was probably only one of others among Barton 's men who 
 either in person or their relatives had suffered ill treatment 
 at Prescott 's hands. Still Colonel Barton put his coat 
 about him and Prescott was well cared for, and on the 
 following Saturday, the flag of truce brought him his 
 wardrobe, his purse, his hair powder and a plentiful supply 
 of perfumery. 
 
 Thus was successfully accomplished one of the most 
 daring feats of courage in the war. Professor Diman in 
 his interesting discourse on the centennial anniversary of 
 the event says: "Let us estimate at its true value the 
 enterprise which we have come to commemorate to-day. 
 An enterprise leading to no important military or political 
 results, yet deserving to be kept forever in remembrance 
 as showing what manner of men they were who dared 
 hurl defiance in the face of a powerful empire and who 
 
136 
 
 waged a successful war with rcsi^lulc uiul highl\- disciplined 
 foes. What they did. a hundred years of a united and 
 independent nation remains to show; what they were, can 
 best be learned from such exhibitions of individual daring 
 and resolution as have made this a menKjrabie spot not 
 only in Rhode Island, hut in American history. 
 
 Astonished at the audacit)- (;1 the act, even the British 
 had little s\m])athy with Prescott. The London Chronicle 
 of that period even held him uj) to ridicule. 
 
 "What \arious lures there are to ruin man, 
 Women, the first and foremost, all bewitches. 
 A nymph thus spoiled a general's mighty i)lan, 
 And gave him to the foe without his breeches." 
 
 His cajUure brought joy to the American people, as 
 well as in Rhode Island, as relief from a coarse and oppres- 
 si\e t>Tanl, wlio had cursed lAhaii Allen when his prisoner 
 and had him bound hanrl and foot, and whose harsh and 
 arl)ilrary rule at Wwport had been most obno.xious to the 
 patriots. 
 
 To the army of the north, the exploit occasioned great 
 joy and exultation. It lifted for an instant the anxious 
 cloud from Washington 's face as he announced to Congress 
 the "bold enteq)rise." Even across the sea, Louis, King 
 of I'rance, was pleased and sent to Colonel Barton for a 
 personal detailed account of the alTair, for his pleasure and 
 information. 
 
 Barton was made a ])re\et colonel in the continental 
 line and subsecjuently received a sword Noted 1)\- Congress. 
 
137 
 
 The Rhode Island legislature expressed by resolution its 
 appreciation of the brave act of its gallant citizen, and it is 
 fitting that to-day the committee of the Historical Society, 
 with means furnished by the General Assembly of the 
 state, should mark in permanent form by lasting bronze 
 this spot. 
 
 We like to think that this act of Barton's was one 
 especially characteristic of those born and reared within 
 the territory of this little state, among a people inured to a 
 hardy life on the borders of the ocean, and independent in 
 colors and education. Other states and neighboring 
 Massachusetts, with their citizens trained to united action 
 in the rigid school of religious uniformity, have accom- 
 plished much in the history of the nation, but it has espec- 
 ially belonged to those from Rhode Island in every stage 
 of its history to act with courage and independence. 
 Roger Williams, alone among the Indians with his idea of 
 religious freedom; Barton, not weighing odds of numbers 
 or discipline when he thought his country demanded the 
 capture of a tyrannical enemy; Perry on Lake Erie, sa\ing 
 the northwest to the Union, are but examples. 
 
 We can take new courage to-day, as we rehearse the 
 incidents which here occurred. It must have seemed 
 to Barton, as with his meagre, undisciphned force he 
 faced the numerous forces, fully trained and equipped, 
 of the British army in Rhode Island, protected by the 
 fleet, that individual effort and courage could accom- 
 pHsh nothing; yet with great care, through knowledge 
 
138 
 
 of the situation and a courageous execution of the plan 
 hi- had conceived, he was able t(j seize the commander 
 ol tlial army, bringing consternation inv a lime to the 
 enemy; kcej)ing tiiat enemy busy in Rhode Island while 
 the Amtrican army in the north, insi)irited by his act, 
 persevered in that campaign which led to the surrender of 
 Burgoyne at Saratoga. 
 
 To-day, in the larger licld of our expanded natiiMi, 
 with the rush of pressing events and the vastly more 
 comj)lex forces at wcjrk, it seems that individual elTort can 
 accomj)lish nothing in the great j^roblems of civil life 
 and constitutional government, .^lill, we believe, as of 
 old, the iiUelligenl work and daring courage of the indi- 
 vidual alone, make possible ultimate success. 
 
 WILLIAM PAIXE SIILLFIELD, |R. 
 
I 
 
 /' 
 H 
 
 a: 
 
 V. 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 C/2 
 
 Z 
 
THE ADDRESS OF MR. DAVID W. HOYT 
 
 At the Indian Quarry, October 17, 1908 
 
 In expending the money appropriated by the State of 
 Rhode Island, the Committee on marking historical sites 
 have made selections relating to different periods, extend- 
 ing from prehistoric times down to the civil war. Some 
 relate to the white settlers who founded the State; some 
 to the colonial wars, the war of the revolution, or the 
 civil war; others to individuals who have been eminent 
 in the pursuits of peace, as well as of war. Of the thirteen 
 tablets already placed, three pertain to the red race who 
 occupied the land long before the white man came here. 
 One, on the east side of the bay, marks the spring called 
 by the name of Massasoit; another, on the west side of 
 the bay, marks the "Drum Rock, a Trysting signal and 
 meeting place of the Coweset Indians and their kindred 
 Narragansetts." To-day we mark another notable Indian 
 locality, north of the bay, one suggestive of the arts of 
 peace, with which we do not so frequently associate our 
 aboriginal predecessors. 
 
 Here is found a ledge of steatite, or soapstone, much of 
 it containing imbedded crystals of siderite, or carbonate 
 of iron. On weathering, the siderite absorbs oxygen and 
 
I40 
 
 moisture from the air, and disintegrates, yielding limonite, 
 or iron rust, whieh gives its ciiaracteristic color to portions 
 of the ledge long exposed to the air, and eventually dis- 
 appears, leaving small i)its, (jr holes, in the stone. In 
 this respect it differs from many other specimens of soap- 
 stone; and articles made from it nKi>- often l)e thus iden- 
 tified. The stone of a pot now in the museum of Brown 
 L'ni\'ersit\-, found at Potowomut, beneath ten feet of soil, 
 is filled with su( h j)its, showing unmistakably its origin. 
 This ledge is reported to be about 25 feet in thickness, 
 having a dij) to the east, and lying between walls of harder 
 rock, h has, at times, been uncovered for about 90 feet. 
 The (juarry was first opened, in recent times, in 1878, by 
 Mr. Horatio X. Angell, on whose land it was located. 
 In icSyS and 1879 it attracted much attenti(jn. .\ com- 
 mittee of the R. I. Historical Society, consisting of Rev. 
 Frederic Denison, Zachariah Allen and W'm. (1. R. 
 ^lowr\', examined the locality and made a report to the 
 society, which has been preserved. U was also \isited by 
 I'. W. Putnam, who published an account of it in the 
 eleventh annual report of the Peabody Mu.seum, in 1S7S. 
 Professor Jenks, of Brown University, took four ])hoto- 
 graj)hs, wliich ha\e been preserved. It .should be renu-m- 
 l)ered that since the photographs were taken, and the 
 earliest accounts were written, much stone has been taken 
 from the ledge and put to various practical uses, si)me of it 
 having been ground to powder. Moreover, the best 
 specimens oi the handiwork of the Indians ha\e been 
 
141 
 
 carried away, and are now to be found in the museums of 
 Brown University, Roger Williams Park, Peabody, and 
 the Smithsonian Institution; and in private collections. 
 
 Ledges of soapstone are quite common in New England, 
 and the rock of these ledges is so soft and has such 
 valuable properties that it has been worked in our 
 own time for a variety of purposes; but the distin- 
 guishing peculiarity of this location is, that when the ledge 
 was first uncovered the fullest e\'idence was found that 
 it was the workshop of the Indians, who carved from this 
 ledge of soft stone "pots, pans, dishes and pipes." It is 
 stated, in the report to which we have referred, that "from 
 the excavations and their surroundings have been removed 
 about three hundred horse cart loads of the stone chips 
 left by the Indian workmen." The largest excavation 
 was found partly filled with dirt, debris and Indian art, 
 some whole stone pots, some partly finished pots, some 
 only blocked out, numerous stone hammers," etc. It 
 was stated that "the sides and bottom of this excavation 
 contain about sixty distinct pits and knobs of places where 
 pots and dishes were cut from the rock, while all parts bore 
 marks and scars made by the stone implements of the 
 swarthy quarry men." 
 
 Professor Putnam estimated that three or four hundred 
 pots were made from one part of the ledge alone, and that 
 "several thousand must have been taken from the whole 
 ledge." He also estimated that at least two thousand 
 rude stone chisels or picks "had been found on the ledge, 
 
142 
 
 or in ihc iriinicdiute vicinity." These were made of 
 ser[)enlinc <>r from the hard stone of the adjoining ledge, 
 averaging about se\en inches in length. " rudel\- (■hip[)ed 
 to a blunt j)oint at one end, and roughly rounded to fit 
 the hand at the other." With these chisels were found 
 seventy-five to one hundred rounded stones "weighing 
 from twenty-five to one hundred |)ounds each, which might 
 ha\ e been used as hammers for the i)urj)ose of breaking ofT 
 large masses of the soapstone." 
 
 Those who carefully studiid the ledge when first 
 uncovered decided that the Indians first worked the out- 
 side of the pot, the top still being in contact with the ledge. 
 The stone of the ledge was chipped off around, and to 
 some extent under the mass, or "pot-bowlder," which 
 was then broken from the ledge, turned over, and the 
 hollow worked out. 
 
 This ledge is far from being uniform in character in its 
 dilTerent i)arls. The soapstone is ])enetrated with harder 
 rock in \-arious places, so that onl\- portions were found to 
 be workable. There were, therefore, excavations of 
 varving size, separated by harder rock. The soapstone 
 itself was softer in some parts of the ledge than in others. 
 The (juarrxnien seem to ha\e worked the \ein li\e or six 
 feet in width, to a (kpth of ten or twehe feet, till harder 
 rock was struck on the sides and on tlie bottom. 
 
 It seems probable that the ui)])er portions, first worked, 
 might have been composed of purer steatite, without the 
 iron compound which made it less durable and less 
 
143 
 
 desirable. A small soapstone pot, finely finished, now in 
 the museum of Brown University, is almost wholly com- 
 posed of pure steatite ; but a portion of the top contains 
 small pit holes which may indicate that in working it out 
 the Indians may have struck a little of the lower stratum 
 of this ledge, containing crystals of the iron compound. 
 
 It is worthy of note that in the same report of the 
 Peabody Museum which contains the account of this 
 Johnston quarry is found an account of a soapstone 
 ledge in California, there called "potstone," near a spring, 
 like this one, from which the Indians quarried pots and 
 other utensils, with scrapers or chisels of quartz or slate. 
 The method of working out the pots was identical with 
 that employed here; but the utensils were of better finish 
 and of later date. 
 
 Soon after this Johnston quarry was uncovered, one at 
 Fed Hill, Bristol, Conn., was explored, and many dishes 
 were found there, in various stages of manufacture. 
 The methods of work were in general like those employed 
 here. The outside of the pot was fashioned first, while 
 the top was attached to a block detached from the ledge, 
 instead of being attached to the ledge itself. It is sug- 
 gested that this variation was because the "soapstone- 
 like" material was poorer for the purpose, being a variety 
 of fibrous hornblende, with talc. 
 
 Somewhat similar ledges and quarries, or "crockery- 
 shops," have been reported in New Hartford and Litch- 
 field, Conn., in Massachusetts; and, outside of New 
 
144 
 
 Kn^'land, in Xcw Jersey, Pennsylvania. \'irginia and 
 other states. The one which we now mark, however, 
 seems t(; be superior in xaluc l<j any other New England 
 ])ot-quarry. in |>rocesses of manufacture whic h it has pre- 
 served, riu- liistorian Ilutcliison states that "the 
 Xarraj^Mnsetts were distinguished for mechanical arts and 
 trade, and furnished earthen vessels and pots for cooking 
 to the adjacent tribes." 
 
 The Tnrh'ans made the most suitable choice of location 
 and material for their j)urposes. Located at the head of 
 Xarragansett bay, there was easy communication with 
 both east and west sides of the bay, and with the north. 
 In this resi)ect, this ledge is t_\])ical of the manufactures 
 of our own day which have grown up in the same vicinity. 
 Soa])stone is soft and was easily worked with the tools 
 which they possessed. It would stand any amount of 
 heat which they required for cooking, and retain the heat 
 for a long lime, without cracking to pieces like a quartz 
 rock, or turning to powder like limestone. 
 
 The rei)ort of the committee of the Rh(xle Island 
 Historical Society, to which we have referred, contained a 
 recommendation that the "large e.xcavation" be j)re- 
 served In- taking "a section of the ledge, to measure about 
 twelve feel in length and nine feet in width, and seven 
 feet in (K plli, or of such si/e as may seem to be most suit- 
 able," and removing it to some spot in Roger Williams 
 I'ark," on a slope within sight, at least, of the statue of 
 the founder of the State." In December, 1879, "the 
 
145 
 
 citizens of Providence and of the State" were asked to 
 contribute the sum of six hundred dollars for the purpose 
 of carrying this plan into effect. Probably the plan was 
 not carried out on account of the lack of funds, for at least 
 a portion of the "large excavation" is still here. Let us 
 hope that whatever now remains, that is plainly the work 
 of the Indian race, may be allowed to remain here, unde- 
 faced, just where the work was done. 
 
 DAVID W. HOYT 
 
 10 
 
STEPHEN HOPKINS 
 
 Address by William E. Fo-ter, May 5, 1909 
 
 W'c arc met to-day to commemorate a name richly 
 deserving of grateful remembrance, and \et strangely 
 destitute, through all these \ears, of an\- adecjuate com- 
 memoration. I'nlil now, no statue nor bust, nor ])ortrait 
 nor tablet, ha\e been set in place, to the memory of Stephen 
 Hopkins, within the limits of Rhode Island. 
 
 It is true that the memor\' of a great man may endure 
 notwithstanding the absence of these memorials; and to 
 this fact the wide fame of Stei)hen Ho{)kins to-day is 
 itself a notable testimon}'. And yet a communit\- honors 
 itself in honoring those whose efforts ha\c laid the founda- 
 tion of its own greatness; and Stei)hen IIoi)kins is emphati- 
 cally entitled to the higli distinction of founder, whether 
 we regard his career in its relation to the ("ily of Provi- 
 flence, the State of Rhode Island, or the United States 
 of America. 
 
 I'or us, morever, the tablet is the most fitting \ariel_\" of 
 commemoration, ratluT than an\- form of pirtorial repre- 
 sentation, h)r unfortunately Steplien Hopkins Lit behind 
 him no portrait; and the re]ir{>s(>ntation of him familiar 
 to us through Trunibuirs great grt)uj) picture of the 
 "Signers" was sketched from his son's face. 
 
The Stephen Hopkins House, Hopkins Street, Providence 
 
147 
 
 It is fitting also that the memorial tablet should be 
 placed on the walls of this plain and unassuming building 
 which Hopkins occupied for so many years; for by its 
 very simplicity it cannot fail to remind us of the homely 
 virtues of one of the greatest of our public men. 
 
 As citizens of Providence, we are interested not only in 
 this building, in which the last forty-three years of Stephen 
 Hopkins's long and useful life were passed, and in which, 
 moreover, he died, in 1785, but we are interested also in 
 his birth, which occurred in 1707, but on the other side of 
 the river. Contrary to a curiously persistent tradition, 
 to the effect that Stephen Hopkins was born on the hills 
 of Scituate, he was born within the limits of what is now 
 (in 1909) the City of Providence, not far from the corner 
 of Broad and Sackett streets, as was clearly established 
 through some extended researches* from twenty-five to 
 thirty years ago. This locality is included in a strip of 
 land which was from 1754 to 1868 a portion of the town of 
 Cranston,! and was re-united to Providence in 1868. 
 
 In or about 1742, after a boyhood and early manhood 
 passed on the Scituate hills, where his younger brothers 
 were actually born (Scituate having become a separate 
 town in 1731), Stephen Hopkins removed to the parent 
 community of Providence, to occupy this house. At that 
 time Providence was still a small and uninfluential com- 
 munity. The first century of its settlement had closed 
 only six years before, in 1736, and its influence was still 
 
 *See W. E. Foster's "Stephen HopWns," V. 1, p. 9-10; V. 2. p. 209, 215-17. 
 tibid.. V. 1, p. 9. 
 
of minor importance, as compared with that of Newport, 
 in the affairs of the Colony. To quote from what has 
 been written elsewhere, — "It had no custom-house (and 
 no great development of commerce, as yet) ; no post-oflice ; 
 no town-house; no school-houses; no college; no library; 
 no i)ublic market-house; no state-house; no bank nor 
 insurance ofhce; no printing press and no newspaper."* 
 The first bank, the first insurance ofTice, and the first 
 custom-house came into existence after Hopkins's deathj 
 (though his own labors were largely responsible for 
 bringing them into existence), but with most of the other 
 activities just enumerated the historian of Providence 
 finds that Stephen Hopkins was closely connected, as 
 an active founder. After this length of time, in the year 
 1909, concerned as we are with the multiform activities 
 of this city of more than 200,000 people, while we recognize 
 in Roger Williams the planter of the infant community, 
 we may also recognize in Ste])hen Hoi)kins the man who 
 laid the foundation of its greatness. 
 
 One of his contemjioraries, Asher Robbins, who had 
 carefully studied his influence, wrote of him, after his 
 death, that he was one of those "men who might say, as 
 Themistocles said: 'True, 1 do not understand the art 
 of music, and cannot play upon the flute; but I understand 
 the art of raising a small \illage into a great city.' "| 
 
 •Foatcr'i) "Susphcn Hopkins," V. 1, p. 86,87. 
 
 tn.iil , V. 1, p. 87. 
 
 tibid.. V. 2, p. 114. (lo Providence Journal. Auguat 8, 1836.) 
 
149 
 
 Most fittingly, therefore, do we to-day, as citizens of 
 Providence, set up this tablet in grateful commemoration 
 of the services of Stephen Hopkins. 
 
 But we are also citizens of the State of Rhode Island, 
 as well as of the City of Providence; and this suggests 
 another aspect of Hopkins's career. To each branch of the 
 government of the colony, — legislative, judicial and 
 executive, — he gave many years of service, and in each one 
 of these he rose to the head. As early as 1741, while 
 in the General Assembly, he was elected Speaker. As 
 early as 1751, he became Chief Justice of the Superior 
 Court. As early as 1755, he was elected Governor and 
 he was, as stated on the tablet which is now set up, "ten 
 times Governor of Rhode Island." In nine of these 
 instances he was elected in the usual way, the other 
 instance being due to the need of filling a vacancy. On the 
 13th of March, 1758, the General Assembly chose Stephen 
 Hopkins as Governor, to fill the unexpired term (about 
 two months) of the late Governor Wilham Greene, who 
 had died in February, 1758. In the internecine warfare 
 of the Ward and Hopkins contests, there is much on which 
 we of the present day cannot dwell with pleasure, but in the 
 approaching contest with Great Britain, his words have 
 an inspiring ring. It was in 1773, during the proceedings 
 in connection with the burning of the Gaspee, that he 
 made the determined announcement, as Chief Justice: 
 I will "neither apprehend by my own order, nor suffer 
 any executive officer to do it, "* — thus eft'ectually blocking 
 
 ♦Foater'a "Stephen Hopkins," v. 2, p. 95. (From letter of Ezra Stilea, February 16, 1773. ) 
 
ISO 
 
 the transportation to Kn<;lan(l of any citizens of Rhode 
 Island. Moreover, while he was thus conscrvin*^ the right 
 of the indi\i(lual lili/cn of the coltjny of Rhode Island, lie 
 was also ensuring the continued existence of this colony, 
 in its sei)arate form, at tlie lime when (jne of the Royal 
 Commissioners was recommending that it should be 
 "consolidated with Connecticut. " 
 
 As citizens of Rhode Island, then, do we set up this 
 tabid in grateful commmioralion of the serxices of 
 Steplien Hopkins. 
 
 And \el after all, IToj)kins's chief distinction rests upon 
 the wider service whic h he rendered, in the fcjrmation of 
 the re])ublic of the United States. 
 
 It is one of the "commonplaces of history," so far as we 
 in Rhode Island are concerned, that "Stephen Hopkins 
 signed the Declaration of Independence." But so did 
 fifty-four other Americans, of varying degrees of eminence. 
 But wliile H()})kins was performing a great ])ublic service 
 in llie sc\-entics (i. e., in the I'^ighLetnlh Century), so he 
 was also in the fifties and in the sixties. Parenthetically, 
 it may be said that Stephen Hopkins, born in tlie earliest 
 decade of the Eighteenth Century (in 1707), was, in 
 1776, in his seventieth year, with the acti\e portion of his 
 life alread}- behind liim, ratlier than in front of him as was 
 the case with Thomas Jefferson, and \ariousotlier members 
 of tlie Continental Congress. In so brief and cond^Miscd 
 an inscription as this (and an inscri[)tion ought always 
 to be brief and condensed) there is not, of course, room to 
 
151 
 
 record his participation in the Albany Congress of 1754.* 
 This was the conference in which seven of the American 
 colonies participated; and among the delegates were 
 Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Hopkins, — two patriotic 
 and public spirited Americans, who were not only closely 
 contemporary with each other, so far as the dates of their 
 birth and death are concerned, but between whom there 
 is an astonishing degree of resemblance, so far as their 
 habit of mind, point of view, and participation in public 
 movements are concerned. The " plan of union " proposed 
 by this congress, was brought forward by Franklin, and 
 was approved by Hopkins, both by tongue and pen. 
 This plan, says Judge Prince, was "in advance of the 
 Articles" (of Confederation) "in its national spirit, and 
 served as the prototype of the Constitution itself, "f 
 The very noteworthy pamphlet published by Stephen 
 Hopkins, here in Providence, in 1755, after his return from 
 congress ("a true representation of the plan formed at 
 Albany "),t is the only instance of a printed exposition of 
 this kind on the part of any member of the congress. The 
 "national" principle in it, as distinguished from the 
 individualistic principle, was one which plainly appealed 
 to Hopkins's type of mind. 
 
 Ten years later, when the stamp act was under discus- 
 sion, throughout the length and breadth of the American 
 colonies, Stephen Hopkins put into print his carefully 
 
 ♦Foster's "Stephen Hopkins, " v. 1, chapter 6. 
 
 tL. B. Prince's "The article of Confederation va. the Constitution," p. 19. 
 
 ^Foster's "Stephen Hopkins," v. 2. p. 199-200. 
 
15^ 
 
 reasoned argument on "The rights of colonies examined. "* 
 As is well known, these few years, from 1764 to 1767, were 
 prolific in i)ami)lilets of this kind dealing with colonial 
 conditions. But when so intelligent (and at the same 
 time, unfriendly), an observer as Governor Thomas 
 Hutchison, of the Massachusetts Bay Province, the emi- 
 nent loNuli.st, remarked of Hoj)kins's pamj)hlet, that this 
 was "conceived in a higher strain tlian any (memorials) 
 that were sent out by the other colonies, "f he expressed 
 an accurate judgment. "It rose higher," to quote from 
 language i)ublished elsewhere, | "and at the same time 
 struck deeper, because it was a carefully considered expres- 
 sion of the extreme ground occupied by one of the two 
 charter colonies." The phraseology of this pamphlet's 
 title is worthy of careful attention. It is not (as it is 
 sometimes quoted), "Rights of the colonies examined," 
 but "The rights of colonies examined." Hoj)kins does 
 not conlme his consideration of the subject to the existing 
 condiliims, but going back to the beginning, he examines 
 the conditions of colonies in general, and is thus enabled 
 to make a telling and impressive argument. It should not 
 be overlooked, moreover, that this was an argument 
 proceeding from a colon)' whicli had still retained its 
 charter. The charter colonies of C\)nnecticut and Rhode 
 Island, says the late Alexander Johnston, "held for more 
 than a centurv the extreme advanced ground, to which all 
 
 ♦Ibid.. V. 2. p. 200. 
 
 tlIutclun»on'B " Mas^achuuclU Btty," v 2, p 115. 
 tl'oatcr'* "Susphon Ilopkiiui. " v. 2, p. 08. 
 
153 
 
 the other commonwealths came up in 1775." The posi- 
 tion of such a colony, he adds, "kept alive the general sense 
 of the inherent colonial rights which only waited for asser- 
 tion, upon the inevitable growth of colonial power."* 
 At least two editions were published here in Providence, 
 but so great was the demand for it, that it was soon after 
 reprinted elsewhere. William Goddard, the Providence 
 printer of that day, stated, in the Providence Gazette, that 
 it was "reprinted from the Providence edition in almost 
 every colony in North America."! And wherever it 
 was printed, says Mr. Frothingham, the historian of this 
 period, it "met with large commendation. "{ In 1776, 
 after it had about two years of careful reading from the 
 colonial leaders, it was reprinted in England, by John 
 Almon, the London printer. The London reprint ap- 
 peared with an altered title, namely, "The grievances of 
 the American colonies candidly examined ;"§ and the 
 late Moses Coit Tyler, in his "Literary history of the 
 American Revolution," remarks that "This English 
 alteration in the title was in itself a tribute to the 
 author."** 
 
 There is one sentence in the letter of a New York 
 merchant of the time, written in commendation of 
 Hopkins's pamphlet, which is worth noticing, for the 
 
 ♦Johnston's "The genesis of a New England State," p. 29. 
 
 tProvidence Gazette, May 1 1, 1765. 
 
 JFrothingham'a "The rise of the republic," p. 172. 
 
 IFoster'a "Stephen Hopkins," v. 2, p. 201. 
 
 ♦♦Tyler's "Literary history of the American Revolution," v. 1, p. 65. 
 
154 
 
 si<i^niriaint use which it makes uf the term, "this country. "* 
 " Il\en thus early the j)e()j)le in whose minds Frankhn and 
 ll()j)kins were dro|)j)ing the seeds of union and nationality 
 were learning to talk of a common country. " 
 
 Rhode Island herself had learned the lesson well, — at 
 least, so far as the tendencies towards union and indei)en(l- 
 ence were concerned. To c|uote once more from the 
 pubUshed '"Life" of Hopkins, "She was the first colony 
 to instruct her delegates against the stamji act, the only 
 one whose governor refused to take the oath to enforce 
 it; the only colony from which came any printed defense 
 of the Albany plan of union in 1754; the colony from which 
 came the first oflicial call lor a congress in 17O5; the first 
 colony to call for a Continental Congress in 1774, and the 
 earliest to elect her delegates to the first Continental 
 Congress; the colony in which the first overt act of resist- 
 ance to (ireat Britain had occurred; the state which had 
 anticipated by two months the jjassage of the Declaration 
 of Independence }j\- the Congress (the event whose anni- 
 versary was celebrated in this city yesterday); the state, 
 moreover, which had anticipated the general government, 
 in adoj)ting a general postal system, and in raising and 
 equipping a naval armament for national defense; and 
 final! \-, llie state through whose direct motion these latter 
 functions, uncjuestionabl)' national as they were, had been 
 assumed b\- the general government."! 
 
 •PrinU'tl in Boston Evening Post. .March 25. 1705. 
 tFostcr's "Stephen Hopltint. " v. 2. p. IIS-J'J. 
 
^S5 
 
 On two accounts the historical student finds occasion 
 for keen regret that Stephen Hopkins's active days (and 
 in particular his original physical vigor) had passed, before 
 the critical period extending from the Declaration of 
 Independence to the adoption of the Constitution in 1787. 
 (Indeed, when the latter event came on, Stephen Hopkins 
 had already been in his grave for two years.) 
 
 The first of these occasions for regret is in connection 
 with his career in congress, where his efforts were largely 
 paralyzed by almost continuous ill health. And yet, even 
 as it is, the record of his services in congress is a long and 
 crowded one,* and it is especially noteworthy in connection 
 with the movement made to assume national functions, in 
 the matter of a navyf and of a postal service. 
 
 The second of these occasions for regret is in connection 
 with the attitude of Rhode Island towards the adoption 
 of the Federal Constitution. " Speculation, " in historical 
 matters, is usually fruitless; and the present instance is no 
 exception to the general rule. And yet, when we recall 
 how Hopkins's successful leadership of public opinion 
 was at all times a distinguishing feature of his public 
 career, and when we also remember how closely he had been 
 identified, from the beginning, with the national, as dis- 
 tinguished from the particularistic view of government, 
 we need not hesitate to conclude that Rhode Island's 
 attitude, in the years 1785 to 1790, would have been 
 
 ♦It occupied four pages, even in the condensed form in which it appears, in Foster's 
 "Stephen Hopkins," v. 2, p. 237-41. 
 
 tFoster's "Stephen Hopkins," v. 2, p. 234-36. 
 
156 
 
 materially modified if he had been ali\'e and in \ igor of 
 his early career. 
 
 liul, willujul gi^ii^o furllicr considealion to regrets, — 
 unavailing and fruitless as they are,— there is enough in 
 this i)hase of Stephen Ilojikins's career, the national 
 phase, to confer on him no common distinction. 
 
 Not onl\ , therefore, as citizens of Providence, and of 
 Rhode Island, but as citizens of the I'nited States, do we 
 set up this tablet in grateful commemoration of the 
 services of Stephen Hopkins. 
 
 The house itself, to which the tablet is afl'ixed, although 
 not of the greatest antiquity, is of considerable interest. 
 As indicated on the tablet, the site on which it now stands 
 is not its original location; and yet we have good ground 
 for thankfulness that its romo\-al in icSo4 transferred it to 
 a position onl\' a few feet away from its former site at the 
 foot of the hill, where it occupied what, at the end of the 
 Eighteenth Century, was the corner of the Town street 
 and Hank Lane.* Here, not far from the wharves and the 
 shipi)ing, with which so large a part of Stciilien Ho])kins's 
 activities were concerned, and in the develo])ment of 
 which he and his family ])layed so important a part,! 
 stood this i)lain, dignified and comfortable house of the 
 olden time. 
 
 If its aged walls could speak, tlu\\' would [c\\ us of many a 
 distinguished guest entertained here, iiuluding George 
 
 ♦Foatcr's "Stfphcn Ilopkioa," v. 1, p. 81. 
 tlbid . V. 1. p. 09-100. 
 
157 
 
 Washington, the greatest of them all, in April, 1776.* 
 They would speak of the conferences, formal and informal, 
 held here, which led to the founding of a college, which 
 led to the founding of the Providence Library in or about 
 1754, or which led to the improvement of the town's 
 business facilities. 
 
 Within its walls Stephen Hopkins himself carried on his 
 own studies and pursued his own wide range of reading. 
 Few men have ever digested so perfectly the results of 
 their reading, and except for the sage and meditative 
 mood in which this reading was pursued, with ample 
 time for reflection on what he read, he would not have 
 extorted from John Adams, late in Hfe, his admiring 
 comments on the results of this Rhode Islander's reading 
 and studies, t 
 
 We place then this tablet on the walls of no ordinary 
 house, with the hope and expectations that it may trans- 
 mit to generations yet to come the memory of one of the 
 greatest of Rhode Islanders. 
 
 WILLIAM E. FOSTER. 
 
 *Ibid., V. 2, p. 113-14. 
 
 t" Works" of John Adams, v. 3, p. 11-12. 
 
GENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE HOUSE, 
 CUMBERLAND 
 
 The Address of William MacDonald 
 June 24, 1909 
 
 Professor William MacDonald, speaking informally of 
 the life and work of (General Greene, quoted the remark oi 
 Jared Sparks, the American historian, that Greene was 
 "the most extraordinary man in the army of the Revolu- 
 tion," and sketched brielly the stor>' of Greene's life from 
 the time when, as a private soldier, he joined the army at 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Greene came of distinguished parentage, ha\'ing the 
 inestimable advantage of being well born. His love of a 
 military life forced him out of the Quaker sect in which he 
 was bred, and led him to read wideh' and to good purpose 
 in such militar\- hterature as he c(nild get hold of; and 
 he was noted as the best read olTicer in the army on military 
 history and military science, as well as in the law of 
 nations. He was an organizer of the Kentish Guards at 
 East Greenwich, a man of sound judgment in business 
 niallcrs, a member of the colonial assembly, and a member 
 of the commission to revise the mililarv laws of the colonv. 
 
H 
 
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 P 
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 X 
 
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 a 
 
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159 
 
 It was Greene's misfortune never to win an important 
 battle, but he bore the disappointment without com- 
 plaining, and his reputation as a commander rose rather 
 than fell with every engagement that he fought. He 
 early formed a profound admiration for Washington, which 
 was returned in full measure; and none of the generals 
 of the revolution stood on such intimate terms with 
 Washington. Washington's opinion of his worth was 
 well illustrated in his selection of Greene to take command 
 in the south when, as he said, he was unable to give 
 detailed instructions because of lack of information regard- 
 ing conditions, but must leave Greene to follow his own 
 judgment. The large number of officers of high rank who 
 desired to accompany him to the south was another 
 proof of the worth in which he was held by his military 
 associates. Historians of the revolution have agreed 
 in praising the brilliancy of Greene's campaigns in the 
 south, and to him must be ascribed the principal credit 
 for driving the British from that region and thus pre- 
 paring the way for Yorktown; but he must be accorded 
 almost equal credit for the skill with which he managed 
 the leaders of the partisan bands, Marion, Sumter, 
 Pickens, and others. 
 
 Greene had a hasty temper, and a habit of criticising 
 his associates and superiors which more than once got him 
 into trouble, and often caused his motives to be mis- 
 understood. What distinguished him above his fellows, 
 however, was his studiousness, his willingness to serve the 
 
i6o 
 
 American cause in any capacity, however humble, his 
 careful attention to the details of command, his unbroken 
 loyaltN' In Washington, and his confidence in the fmal 
 success of the ])atriot cause. The deliberate judgment of 
 historians has unhesitatingly |)laced him next to Wash- 
 ington among the rL\-ohitionar\- leaders; while among 
 the i)ul)lii men ui Rhode Island, he is easily the most 
 distinguished. 
 
 WILLIAM .\L\cDOXALD. 
 
O 
 Y. 
 
 ■T. 
 
 
 7. 
 
ESEK HOPKINS 
 
 The Address of Nathan W. Littlefield, Esq., October 27, 1909 
 
 We have assembled to-day to dedicate a memorial tablet 
 in honor of Esek Hopkins, first commander-in-chief of 
 the American navy. 
 
 The tablet states that Esek Hopkins, 17 18-1802, first 
 commander-in-chief of the American navy Hved in this 
 house. 
 
 It commemorates a historic fact well deserving pubhc 
 attention. For, however men may differ in their estima- 
 tion of the ability and energy of the man thus honored, 
 there can be no question that the American navy had its 
 inception in idea and fact in Rhode Island, and that Esek 
 Hopkins was one of its leading advocates and promoters 
 and its first commander-in-chief. 
 
 It is the fortune of some men to be extravagantly praised 
 and extravagantly blamed and criticised during their 
 lifetime and after. Esek Hopkins has thus suffered by 
 the partiality of well meaning friends and the hostility 
 of enemies and unfriendly critics. 
 
 Somewhere between these extremes of praise and 
 criticism lies the proper and just estimate of his character 
 and achievements. 
 
 n 
 
t62 
 
 If he was not a prcat militar\' or na\al hero Hke Perry, 
 Farragut and Dewey, neither was he the j^usillanimous 
 sclfseeker which some have labored to j)ro\e him. 
 
 Amid a mass of conflicting evidence, it is my task and 
 will be my endeavor to fmd and portray the real Esek 
 lio])kins. 
 
 First of all he was well born. The Hopkins family of 
 Rhode Island is as ancient as the colony itself. Thomas 
 Hoi)kins was the associate of Roger Williams at its plant- 
 ing. The family was distinguished for learning, ability 
 and public si)irit. 
 
 Ste])hcn Hopkins, governor of the colony, chief justice 
 of the Su])reme Court, member of the Continental Con- 
 gress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was 
 one of America's greatest statesmen, a man who shone at 
 the bar and ui)on the bench, in the counsels of the colony, 
 anrl of the nation and in the company of witsanrl learned 
 men. 
 
 John :\dams, who was one of those who were delighted 
 with Stei)hen Hopkins's wit, wisdom and erudition, has 
 drawn a charming picture of him among his friends. In 
 the maternal line Esek Hopkins was a member of the 
 Wilkinson and W'ickenden families, both consj)icuous in 
 the annals of the colony and state for learning and ability. 
 Faniilx traditions and exami)le, therefore, — most powerful 
 inlluences in the formation of character, — faxored and 
 stimulated his intellectual and moral dex'elopmenl. lie 
 became well cdu* atcd, judged by the standards of his time, 
 especiall}- in mathematics. 
 
1 63 
 
 In person he appears to have been large and com- 
 manding, having a strong, expressive and agreeable 
 countenance. 
 
 He was fond of society and his genial disposition and 
 ready wit made him a leader in the social Hfe of his time. 
 
 He was fortunate in having been born and reared upon a 
 farm on the healthgiving highlands, now a part of Scituate, 
 yet near enough to the sea to hear its persuasive call to 
 strong, ambitious, enterprising men. 
 
 At the age of twenty, he shipped as a raw hand on a 
 vessel bound from Providence to Surinam. Very soon he 
 was in command of a vessel and rapidly acquired reputa- 
 tion as a skillful captain and merchant. Three of his 
 brothers, William, John and Samuel, were famous sea 
 captains, but Esek surpassed them all in enterprise and 
 business sagacity. 
 
 Before he was forty years of age he was in command of a 
 fleet of seventeen merchantmen controlled and mostly 
 owned by the Hopkins family. 
 
 On November 28, 1741, being then twenty- three years 
 of age he married Desire Burroughs, daughter of Ezekiel 
 Burroughs, a leading merchant and one of the most 
 influential citizens of Newport. He made Newport his 
 home thereafter until 1752 or 1755. Newport at that time 
 was a place of some seven thousand inhabitants and the 
 most important seaport in the country. Its commerce 
 extended to Africa, China and India. 
 
 To the profits of regular commerce her merchants added 
 great fortunes from privateering, especially during the 
 
i6 4 
 
 French and Spanish wars. It is certain that some of the 
 captains of j)rivateers were not given to making nice 
 distinctions regarding the nationahty of their captures. 
 
 Ksek Hopkins engaged in ])rivateering with courage, 
 skill and success, but with a strict regard for the rights of 
 neutrals. There is no stain of freebooting ui)on his record. 
 
 Several times he accjuired fortunes and had them swept 
 awav bv tlu- \icissitudcs of business and war, yet he fmally 
 accumulated a large estate to comfort his declining years 
 and enrich his children. He sufTered, also in his later life 
 greater misfortunes than .losses of wealth, — the ruin of a 
 Ime reputation. Vet even this he endured with singular 
 equanimity and cheerful fortitude. 
 
 If adversity be a test of character, it must be admitted 
 that Ezek Hopkins when tried as by fire showed no base 
 metal in his composition. 
 
 Soon after his return to Providence he acquired by several 
 ])urchases a farm of about 200 acres in the northern j)art of 
 the town where he resided during the remainder of his 
 life. The sea and the farm appear to have equally shared 
 his affection. He had also the capacity for friend.ship, and 
 his home was the seat of a generous hospitality where his 
 many friends delighted to gather. 
 
 This love of the sea and the farm and the society of his 
 friends reveals a broad and noble nature. It is dilTicult to 
 believe that a man of such alTection could have been jwtty, 
 mean, or ignoble. 
 
 Ha\ing acquired the confidence and esteem of his fellow 
 citizens in- h\> business ability and integrity and liis large 
 
i65 
 
 experience in important affairs closely related to the public 
 welfare he almost necessarily became prominent in public 
 Hfe. 
 
 Ambitious he probably was. But ambition has never 
 been deemed a grievous fault in this country. Was his 
 ambition honorable or base, was it selfish or patriotic, — ■ 
 that is the question, the answer to which must be sought in 
 his attitude on pubKc questions, his written and spoken 
 words and his aim and purpose, — not his success in office. 
 
 It is significant that the first office which he held was as 
 a member of a committee chosen to have the care of the 
 ''townes schole and of appointing a schole master" and 
 the last was that of trustee of Rhode Island College, which 
 he held during the last twenty years of his life. 
 
 The abiding interest in the case of education thus dis- 
 played indicates a mind and purpose of high order. 
 
 As a member of the general assembly of the colony 
 from May, 1762, to October, 1764, when he resigned the 
 office to again follow the sea, he received the support of 
 the leading citizens of the colony and maintained an 
 honorable standing in that body. 
 
 From 1764 to 1768 he was mostly engaged in long voy- 
 ages to the far east. On his return he was elected a mem- 
 ber of the general assembly for North Providence, which 
 had been set off from Providence during his absence. 
 
 Again in 1771, he represented the town in the general 
 assembly, and for three years thereafter was returned as 
 the first deputy from that town. He was then fifty-three 
 
i66 
 
 years of age, about ihirly-five of which he had passed 
 upon the sea. He had f^'ained an ample fortune and 
 j)r()bably intended to retire from active business pursuits 
 and pass his remaining years upon his farm with his family 
 and among his friends. 
 
 Thus far his life had been unusually fortunate and 
 hapi^y. 
 
 His renown as an experienced and successful merchant 
 and commander of ships extended throughout the com- 
 mercial world. He was respected, trusted, honored. 
 Therefore, when hostilities broke out between the colonies 
 and England, it was natural lluil Rhode island lirst and 
 then all the colonies should turn to him as a leader and 
 commander. He was first elected commander-in-chief 
 of the forces of the colony and rendered valuable and 
 efficient service in fortifying the approaches to Providence, 
 and in preventing the destruction of Newport by wise 
 negotiations with the commander of the British fleet. 
 
 On August 26, 1775, the General Assembly of Rhode 
 Island instructed their delegates "to use their whole 
 influence, at the ensuing Congress, for building at the 
 continental expense, a fleet of sufticient force for the pro- 
 tection of these colonies." To Rhode Tsland is due the 
 credit and distinction of originating a plan for constructing 
 a navy for the defense of the colonies. The " Rhode Island 
 plan " as it was called met, however, with great opposition 
 in the debates which followed the presentation of the 
 resolutions of the General Assembly to Congress. 
 
167 
 
 The delegates from Massachusetts and Connecticut 
 warmly supported the measure, those from Virginia, 
 Maryland and South Carolina opposed it. 
 
 It is significant that the alignment was practically the 
 same when afterwards the commander-in-chief of the navy 
 was censured by Congress. 
 
 In October, 1775, Congress appointed a marine com- 
 mittee of seven members to consider the building of a navy. 
 Stephen Hopkins was chairman of the committee and John 
 Adams, Richard Henry Lee, Christopher Gadsen and Silas 
 Deane were among its members. 
 
 John Adams in his memoirs says, "The pleasantest 
 part of the labors for the four years I spent in Congress 
 was in the committee on naval affairs." It was a strong 
 committee. Its members were deeply interested in the 
 success of the new navy. 
 
 When, therefore, on November 5, 1775, they unani- 
 mously chose Esek Hopkins commander-in-chief of the 
 fleet which by direction of Congress they were fitting out, 
 it is certain that they made the best selection possible in 
 their judgment. 
 
 Though Stephen Hopkins was the chairman of that 
 committee and undoubtedly interested in the welfare of 
 his brother, it is incredible that his judgment should have 
 been warped by favoritism or that the other strong men 
 of the committee would have unanimously concurred in 
 making an appointment which they did not beheve to be 
 for the best interest of the country. 
 
i68 
 
 Is it probable that a man who in a letter to his brother 
 regarding his appointment used this language, " 1 suppose 
 you may be more scrvircablc to your country in this very 
 dangerous crisis of its affairs by taking uj^on you thisci^m- 
 mand than in an\' other way" was cai)able of imperilling 
 the safety of his country in his desire for his brother's 
 promotion? 
 
 The charge of favoritism assumed that there were other 
 men of greater experience and reputation in naval alTairs. 
 Who were they? 
 
 It is a matter of history that Rhode Island led all the 
 colonies in commerce and in ])rivateering. She had several 
 able captains engaged in these occuj)ations, but Esek 
 Hopkins in his service of about thirtx -five years upon the 
 sea had acquired a reputation for skill, sagacity and 
 courage superior to all others. 
 
 The a])])ointmcnt was well received by those best 
 qualilied to judge of its fitness, the captains and other 
 olTicers of the licet. 
 
 Great things were expected of Esek Hopkins and the 
 little fleet of eight vessels when at Philadelphia, on a clear 
 frosty morning of January, 1776, he stepped on board his 
 flag shi]), the Alfred, and first lieutenant John Paul Jones 
 at a signal from Captain Salstonstall hoisted the first flag 
 of the American navy, a yellow silk tlag displaying a 
 lively rei)resentation of a rattlesnake about to strike and 
 the motto "Don't tread on me." 
 
 That these exi)ectations were onl\' partly fulfilled must 
 be admitted. That the fleet under the command of 
 
169 
 
 Admiral Hopkins accomplished much is also true. The 
 failure to meet the anticipations of Congress and the people 
 may have been due to their overestimate of the strength 
 of the fleet, or a lack of knowledge of the difficulties and 
 obstacles which it had to meet, or the incompetence of its 
 commander, or a combination of some or all of these 
 conditions. 
 
 The friends of Hopkins attributed his lack of complete 
 success to the existence of difficulties and obstacles which 
 no skill or daring could overcome. His enemies declared 
 that it was due to incompetence and disobedience of the 
 orders of the marine committee. What are the facts? 
 
 When the fleet sailed out on the 17th of February, 1776, 
 Hopkins had orders from the marine committee to seek 
 out and attack the enemies' ships in Chesapeake bay 
 and on the coast of North and South Carolina and then 
 to proceed to Rhode Island and destroy the British fleet 
 there. But his orders dated January 5, 1776, also con- 
 tained this sentence. "Notwithstanding these particular 
 orders which it is hoped you will be able to execute if 
 bad winds or stormy weather or any other unforeseen 
 accident or disaster disable you so to do then you are to 
 follow such courses as your best judgment shall suggest to 
 you as most useful to the American cause and to distress 
 the enemy by all means in your power." 
 
 Soon after the sailing severe sickness broke out among 
 the officers and men of the fleet. Fierce northeasterly 
 storms were encountered. The enemies ' ships had sought 
 
lyo 
 
 refuse in the harbors. To approach the coast and sail 
 into harbors occupied In- hostile fleets in such storms, was 
 to otTer the enemy an advantage which the commander 
 did not deem it prudent to give. His orders left much to 
 his discretion and covered just such an emergency. 
 There was the greatest need of powder for the use of the 
 army. It was known to the marine ccjmmittee and to 
 Hnpkin.^ before he sailed that there were large stores of 
 powder and other munitions of war at Xew Providence in 
 the Bahamas. It is probable, to say the least, that it was 
 expected by the marine committee that an attempt would 
 be made to caj)ture these stores, if the main object of the 
 expedition could not be accomplished. Hopkins used the 
 discretion permitted him by his orders, sailed to Xew 
 Providence and seized such an amount of cannon, small 
 arms, ammunition and other articles that it required two 
 weeks to transfer them to his ships and to a hired transport, 
 all which were deeply loaded with the spoils. Un his 
 return north he captured near the east end of Long Island 
 two small armed vessels one of which contained a large 
 amount of ammunition, arms and stores. About one 
 o'clock the next morning while the deeply laden fleet was 
 slowly working its way eastward in a light wind they 
 encountered the British frigate Cllasgow. The C\ibot, 
 commanded by Captain John H. Hoi)kins, began the 
 engagement as soon as it got within range of the enemy. 
 A fierce battle followed in which one after another of the 
 American ships were engaged. The flagship Alfred after 
 
lyi 
 
 three hours of fighting was disabled by a shot which 
 crippled her steering gear and put her out of the conflict. 
 About half past six in the morning the Glasgow crowded 
 on sail, eluded her pursuers and bore away for Ne^vport. 
 The captain of the Glasgow undoubtedly handled his 
 ship bravely and skillfully, but he was greatly favored by 
 the light winds which prevailed during the conflict by 
 which the deeply laden ships of his opponents were badly 
 handicapped in their movements. 
 
 Would it have been prudent for Hopkins to have con- 
 tinued the pursuit with his heavily laden ships, with crews 
 diminished by sickness and the manning of his prizes, 
 with the certainty of meeting the British fleet coming out 
 from Newport able to outsail and outmaneuvre him by 
 reason of their lighter loading? 
 
 The answer to this question will determine whether 
 Hopkins was blameworthy in this action. 
 
 John Paul Jones, in his entry for the day in the log 
 book of the Alfred, says that the Glasgow at third glass 
 "by crowding on all sail bore away and at length got a 
 considerable way ahead, made signals for the rest of 
 the English fleet, at Rhode Island, to come to her assist- 
 ance and steered directly for the harbor. The commander 
 then thought it imprudent to risk the prizes by pursuing 
 further; therefore, to prevent our being decoyed into their 
 hands, at half past six made signal to leave off the chase." 
 He also says that "an unlucky shot carried away the 
 wheel block and ropes," and that "the ship became 
 
172 
 
 unmanageable, and leaking, tlie main mast shot through 
 and the upper works and rigging badly damaged." 
 
 Neither at that time nor at any later time did John 
 Paul Jones cjuestion the ability or the courage of Com- 
 mander Hopkins. In a letter to Josepli Hcwes of the 
 Committee of Xaval Affairs the same bra\e and out- 
 sj^okcn officer says, "I have the i)leasure of assuring you 
 that the commander-in-chief is respected through the fleet, 
 and I \erily believe that the officers and men would go any 
 length to execute his orders." It is evident that John 
 Paul Jones attached no blame to the commander and his 
 opinion ought t<j satisfy any reasonable man on this point. 
 'Jhe exploit of Commander Hopkins at New Providence 
 was hailed with rejoicing throughout the country. John 
 Hancock, its president, in the name of Congress, con- 
 gratulated him on the success of his expedition and added 
 "Though it is to be regretted that the Glasgow made her 
 escape, yet as it was not due to any misconduct, the praise 
 due you and the other oflicers is undoubtedly the same." 
 Unfortunately, however, dissensions arose among the 
 captains and officers of the fleet by reason of the Glasgow 
 escape. Captain Abraham Whipple of the Columbus 
 demanded an investigation by court martial of charges of 
 cowardice which were made against him by some of his 
 fellow oflkers and was acquitted. Captain Hazard of the 
 Providence was found guilty by court martial of mis- 
 conduct in the engagement and was relieved of his command 
 in which he was succeeded by John Paul Jones. These 
 
173 
 
 proceedings gave prominence to an incident which other- 
 wise would probably have received little attention from the 
 country. When the fleet put into New London after the 
 engagement upwards of two hundred sick men from the 
 various ships were sent ashore. Hopkins landed some of 
 the captured guns there and sent some to Dartmouth, 
 Mass., and to Newq^ort. Subsequent events showed that 
 it would have been \^^se^ for Hopkins to have returned to 
 Philadelphia instead of proceeding to New London 
 with his fleet. Less independence on his part and greater 
 subservience to the authorities at Philadelphia would have 
 won favor which afterwards he sorely needed. 
 
 Having secured one hundred and seventy recruits from 
 the army he sailed for Providence on April 24, 1776, where 
 he was making preparations for another cruise when the 
 recruits were withdrawn. Sickness still prevailed in the 
 fleet and one hundred more men unfit for duty were landed. 
 Troubles accumulated. The wages of the sailors and 
 marines were unpaid. They became dissatisfied and dis- 
 heartened. The commander could not obtain money 
 from the authorities to pay them. Discipline in the fleet 
 also was lax from lack of sufficient authority in the com- 
 mander. At this time he wrote to Congress, "I am ready 
 to follow any instructions that you may give at all times, 
 but am very much in doubt whether it will be in my power 
 to keep the fleet together with any credit to myself or to 
 the officers that belong to it without power to dismiss 
 such officers as I find slack in their duty." But he was 
 not given this power. 
 
174 
 
 Another cause which o[)erated powerfully against 
 Hopkins's success in manning his fleet was i)rivateering. 
 Man\- of the merchants of Rh(Kle Island were engaged in 
 this prolUable business. The rewards of this service were 
 much greater than those of the navy. It was found impos- 
 sible to enlist men for the navy against the superior induce- 
 iiicnl of ])ri\ate service. 
 
 Hopkins a])pealed to the General Assembly to lay an 
 embargo on privateering. He labored at one time 
 among the members to secure the passage of an act of that 
 kind, but some of them were interested in the business and 
 selfish interests prevailed and the measure was defeated 
 bv two \otes. He had also still further antagonized cer- 
 tain powerful men by exj)osing and fiercely denouncing 
 their improper conduct in building two frigates for the 
 government. Under such circumstances Hoi)kins was 
 summoned before Congress to answer charges of dis- 
 obedience of orders on his southern cruise. His answer 
 to the charges is marked by good temper and sound 
 reas(jn. In passing judgment on this matter it should not 
 be forgotten that envy and jealousy and sectional feeling 
 were prevalent; that Washington himself was bitterly 
 assailed and accused of inaction and incom|K>tence and 
 nearly ruined !»>• the same causes which were operating 
 against IIo])kins. 
 
 John Adams earnestly defended IIoi)kins when the 
 charges were considered by Congress. Admitting that 
 the commander-in-chief might have committed some 
 
175 
 
 error through inexperience in handling a fleet, he stoutly 
 denied that there was anything in Hopkins 's conduct which 
 indicated corruption or want of integrity. Adams says 
 in a letter written shortly after, ''On this occasion I had a 
 very laborious task against all the prejudices of the gentle- 
 men from the southern and middle states and of many from 
 New England. I thought, however, that Hopkins had 
 done great service and made an important beginning of 
 naval operations. 
 
 It appeared to me that the Commodore was pursued 
 and persecuted by that anti-New England spirit which 
 haunted Congress in many of their other proceedings as 
 well as in this case and that of General Wooster. 
 
 Experience and skill might have been deficient in several 
 particulars, but where could we find greater experience or 
 skill. I knew of none to be found. The other captains 
 had not so much and it was afterward found that they had 
 not so much." 
 
 This is the most important evidence given by a member 
 of the Marine Committee who was greatly interested in 
 the success of the navy. Congress passed a vote of censure 
 upon Hopkins, not because he had displayed lack of skill 
 or experience or courage, but specifically because he "did 
 not pay due regard to the terms of his instructions" upon 
 his southern cruise, in which instructions they had 
 expressly allowed him much latitude of discretion. It has 
 been argued that in defending Hopkins, John Adams was 
 defending himself, because Adams was a member of the 
 
176 
 
 commit tfc which made Hopkins commandcr-in-thicf of 
 the iKi\\'. This assumes that Arlams had greater regard 
 for H<»i)k.ins's re|)utatiun than for the welfare of the navy 
 and the country. Is it not more Hkely that Adams would 
 he temi)ted to make a scaj^egoat of Ho[)kins in order to 
 shield himself and the Marine Committee and Congress 
 from crilicisms which had iK-en made ui)r)n them on 
 account of the failure of the lleet to accomplish what 
 had been expected of it? 
 
 Adams afterward wrote: — ''this resolution of censure 
 was not in my oi)inion demanded by justice and con- 
 scfjuently was inconsistent willi good jxilicy, as it tended 
 to discourage an officer, and diminish his authority by 
 tarnishing his reputation." In another letter Adams says 
 that he "could never discover any reason for the bitter- 
 ness against Ho])kins, but that he had done too much." 
 
 John Paul Jones in a letter daled Se])tember 41)1, 177O, 
 written at sea to Admiral Hopkins, when he was misin- 
 formed, as it seems, regarding the censure of Hopkins, 
 says: "I know you will not suspect me of flattery when 
 I afiirm that I have not experienced a more sincere pleas- 
 sure for a long time i)ast than the account of }-our ha\ing 
 gained sour cause at Philadeljihia in sj^ite of jiarty. Your 
 late trouble will tend to your future advantage by point- 
 ing out your friends and enemies, ^'ou will thereby be 
 enabled to retain the one jnirt while you guard against the 
 other. \'ou will be thrice welcome to }()ur native land and 
 to \our nearest concerns. After your late shock they will 
 
177 
 
 see you as gold from the fire, of more worth and value, and 
 slander will learn to keep silence when Admiral Hopkins is 
 mentioned." 
 
 Brave and able men do not write such letters to men 
 whose courage and abihty are in doubt. 
 
 Why did not Admiral Hopkins upon the passing of the 
 resolution at once resign his commission? 
 
 In the light of subsequent events that would appear to 
 have been the best course for him to have pursued. He 
 may have been urged by friends to retain his command. 
 He may have hoped to retrieve his reputation by greater 
 success and improved fortune. Moreover, he had good 
 reason to beHeve that Congress did not attach much con- 
 sequence to its censure. For within one week after the 
 passage of the resolution the jNIarine Committee ordered 
 him to dispatch four A-essels on a cruise to Newfoundland 
 and authorized him to purchase and fit out the Hawk 
 which he had captured on his former cruise and to rename 
 it the Hopkins. Judge Staples justly remarks: — "Such 
 a compliment is seldom paid to an inefficient or unfaithful 
 officer." The expedition to Newfoundland failed as 
 did the one to North Carolina which the Marine Com- 
 mittee ordered. Hopkins exerted himself to the utmost 
 to mann his ships and again failed from the same causes 
 and influences which had before defeated his plans. 
 
 In a letter to the Marine Committee he says, "I thought 
 I had some influence in the state I have lived in so long, but 
 find now that private interest bears more sway than I wish it 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 did. I am at a loss how wc shall get the ships manned as I 
 think near one-third of the men which have been shipped 
 and received their monthly [)ay have })een carried away in 
 the privateers. I wish I had >'our orders whenever I 
 found any man on board the pri\'ateers giving me leave to 
 not only take him out but all the rest of the men; that 
 might make them more careful ui taking men out of the 
 service of the state." 
 
 Hut this authority was not given him. Yet by with- 
 drawing all the well men from some of tlie vessels he was 
 able to man and send out from time to time the Andrea 
 Doria, the Cabot, the Columbus and the Providence on 
 various crui.ses, and the\- did etTective work in destroying 
 the enemies' commerce, capturing about fifty prizes in a 
 few months. Matters went from bad to worse. The 
 Marine Committee became exasperated with Hopkins's 
 dela\s by reason of which it was severely criticised and 
 Hopkins was mucli discouraged. While alYairs were in 
 this state, in December, 1776. a j^owcrful British tleet 
 sailed into Newport harbor and effectually bottled up the 
 .American fleet, which never again emerged as a fleet from 
 Narragansett bay, though it rendered valuable service in 
 pn^tecting Pro\idence from the enemy. 
 
 Nothing demoralizes an arm\' or navy like inaction. 
 Pent uj) at tlie head of the bay, discontent and insubor- 
 dination bred among the ollkers and men. A few of the 
 inferior officers of the fleet became acti\ely hostile to the 
 commander. They would i)robabl\' ha\e been powerless 
 
179 
 
 to injure him except for the countenance and support of 
 influential men upon shore whom he had deeply offended 
 by his uncompromising attitude toward privateering 
 when it conflicted with the interests of the navy. 
 
 A small cabal of these men secretly prepared and sent a 
 petition to Congress against their commander. Some of 
 the charges are so frivolous and absurd as at once to excite 
 suspicion of the motives which inspired them. Three of 
 the signers of the petition, including the chaplain of the 
 fleet, admitted that they were induced to sign it by some 
 gentlemen of the town and afterward over their own signa- 
 tures confessed that the charges which they had made were 
 not true. 
 
 Admiral Hopkins in his reply to these charges exposed 
 the conspiracy against him and the motives of his assail- 
 ants. 
 
 Lieutenant Richard Mar\in, the prime mover in this 
 affair, was brought before a court martial, consisting of 
 six captains and seven lieutenants, who appear to have 
 been all the officers of the fleet. The findings of the court 
 martial were that Marvin had "treated the Commander- 
 in-Chief of the xAmerican Navy with the greatest indignity 
 and defamed his character in the highest manner by sign- 
 ing and sending to the Honorable Continental Congress 
 several unjust and false complaints against the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief in a private and secret manner," "that 
 he was unworthy of holding a commission in the American 
 Navy" and that "he deliver up his commission to the 
 
i8o 
 
 Commander-in-Chief." This finding is of the greatest 
 value in determining the merits of the controversy not 
 only because it exonerates Admiral H()j)kins, hut because 
 it is the testimony of men who had known the Commander 
 for years and who had the best o])i)ortunity for obtaining 
 knowledge of his true character. Xo amount of criticism 
 can break the force of these fmdings. They are the find- 
 ings of the projxjr court for trying such questions, — the 
 court by which the charges against Admiral Hopkins 
 should have been examined. 
 
 A careful examination of the proceedings before the 
 Marine Committee upon the complaints of his subordi- 
 nates shows that whether by his own fault, or otherwise, 
 Admiral Hopkins did not have a full, fair and impartial 
 trial. 
 
 It could not be impartial; because his judges were the 
 \-cr\- persons whose orders he had been accused of disobey- 
 ing and of whom it was charged that he had spoken dis- 
 respectfully, — and this was one of the most serious charges 
 made against him. 
 
 It was not a full trial; for an officer of his rank should 
 not have been condemned without an examination of all 
 the officers of the fleet. 
 
 It was not a fair and impartial trial; because his judges 
 were his accusers and were greatl\- prejudiced against 
 him, and interested in making him a scapegoat for llicir 
 own failure to proi)erly support him as the commander- 
 in-chief (jf the licet. 
 
i8i 
 
 As there was in his day, so there probably will always 
 continue to be a wide difference of opinion regarding 
 Admiral Hopkins 's success as a naval commander, and the 
 justice of the action of Congress in dismissing him. 
 
 That he was a sincere patriot who served his country 
 with ardent devotion to the best of his abihty and that he 
 was untainted by corruption of any kind few will doubt. 
 
 In the day of his adversity the people of Rhode Island 
 stood by him. They did not accept the action of Congress 
 as just or weU founded. The opinions also of men hke 
 John Adams, William Ellery, delegates to Congress, 
 James Manning, President of Rhode Island College, and 
 John Paul Jones are entitled to great weight. They all 
 expressed high esteem and respect for Mr. Hopkins after 
 he had been censured by Congress and remained his life 
 long friends. 
 
 In a letter to William Ellery he expressed a noble inten- 
 tion regarding his future course in these words:— ''I am 
 determined to continue a friend of my country, neither do 
 I intend to remain inactive." 
 
 At the next election after his dismissal from the naval 
 ser\dce he was sent as a deputy to the general assembly 
 from North Providence and represented that town from 
 1777 to 1786. He was also during that time a member of 
 the council of war appointed by that body and served on 
 several committees which had charge of military affairs 
 and aided in raising and drilhng troops. In 1782 he was 
 elected a trustee of Rhode Island College and served in that 
 
l82 
 
 capacity until his decease. In these and in other ways he 
 served the state in the spirit of his letter to William Eller>' 
 for man\- \ears. 
 
 Amid the increasin;>; infirmities of age and disease which 
 for several years disabled him for active pursuits he 
 maintained a cheerful disposition and deep interest in 
 public alTairs and in his friends, until on February 26, 
 1802, he fell asleep and was gathered to his fathers. 
 
 A careful consideration of the evidence touching upon 
 the career of Esek Hopkins, without partiality and with- 
 out bias, leads, I think, to these conclusions; that he was 
 the ablest, most cntcr])rising and successful sea captain 
 of his time; that he was a true patriot and served his 
 countr>' with unselfish devotion; that as commander-in- 
 chief of the first naval fleet of the country, in a new and 
 untried position; without sufficient rules for his guidance 
 iind for the discipline of the fleet and without sufficient 
 authority to enforce such discipline; without adequate 
 support by Congress and by the colony in manning his 
 ships, and against the antagonism of many selfish interests, 
 he encountered great dilTiculties and obstacles with energy, 
 courage and wisdom; that amid the greatest discourage- 
 ments he displayed fortitude, patience and unfaltering 
 faith in the ultimate triumph of the cause for whieh he 
 labored; that his censure by Congress was unjust and 
 undeserved; that his dismissal from the navy was upon 
 insufficient evidence and upon grounds which were not 
 proven; thai the real ground of his dismissal was his lack 
 
i83 
 
 of success which Congress and the colony had rendered 
 unattainable by him by neglecting to supply him with 
 men and by refusing to enact such measures as would have 
 enabled him to secure a sufficient number of men; that 
 with the means at his command he rendered efficient 
 ser\ice in protecting northern Rhode Island and in 
 destroying the enemies' commerce by single ships which 
 he sent forth for that purpose; that he deserved greater 
 success than he attained; that while he was not a great 
 naval genius, he was a commander of marked ability who 
 with better fortunes and better support would have 
 accomphshed great things for his country; that he was an 
 incorruptible man, and a good citizen who labored long 
 and well for the people of Rhode Island and who well 
 deserved the monument which was this day dedicated to 
 his memory. 
 
 NATHAN W. LITTLEFIELD. 
 
LBJe'15