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HISTORY
-OF-
NEWPORT COUNTY,
RHODE ISLAND.
From the Year 1638 to the year 1887, including the
Settlement of its Towns, and their
subsequent progress.
ILLUSTRATED.
Edited by RICHARD M. BAYLES.
" I saw it once, with heat and travel spent.
And scratched hy dwarf-oaks m the hollow way,
Now dragged through sand, now jolted over stone —
A rugged road through rugged Tiverton.
'* Like a soft mist upon the evening shore, ?
At once a lovely isle before me lay.
Smooth and with tender yerdure covered o'er,
As if just risen from its calm inland bay.'
*■ I saw where fountains freshened the green land,
And where the pleasant road, from door to door,
With rows of cherry-trees on either hand,
Went wandering al] that fertile region o'er.
'* Beautiful island ! then it only seemed
A lovely stranger— it has grown a friend."
William Cullen Bryant.
New York :
L. E. PRESTON & CO.,
1888.
HISTORY
-OF-
NEWPORT COUNTY,
RHODE ISLAND.
From the Year 1638 to the year 1887, including the
Settlement of its Towns, and their
subsequent progress.
ILLUSTRATED.
Edited by RICHARD M. BAYLES.
'* I saw it once, with heat and travel spent,
And scratched by dwarf-oaks in the hollow way,
Now dragged through sand, now jolted over stone —
A rugged read through rugged Tiverton.
'^ Like a soft mist upon the evening shore, ^
At once a lovely isle before me lay.
Smooth and with tender yerdure covered o'er,
As if just risen from its calm inland bay.'
'■ I saw where fountains freshened the green land,
And where the pleasant road, from door to door.
With rows of cherry-trees on either hand,
Went wandering all that fertile region o'er.
'Beautiful island ! then it only seemed
A lovely stranger — it has grown a friend."
William Cullen Bryant.
New York :
L. E. P^tESTON & CO.,
1888.
Press of J. Heney Probst,
36VeseySt.,N. Y.
AETIST, . ENGRAVER,
F. M. Gilbert. A. H. Ritchie.
PREFACE.
To compile the history of a section of the country which, for
two hundred and fifty years, has luxuriated in the richest fields
of incident and circumstance known to the annals of American
history, is not the pastime of a summer holiday. No county
in the United States ranking with this in area and population,
has been the scene or source of so many events and infiuences
which, in their effects, have extended over the state or nation,
or down through the generations of her people, as the county
whose history we have essayed to present in this volume. The
preserved history is voluminous, and some of its points have
' become subjects of extended controversy.
This spot has received the attention of scholars from all parts
of our land, and is the home, at least during a part of the year,
of the refined, cultured and wealthy of American society. It
is also the permanent home of a people who, in scholarly devel-
opment and intelligent appreciation of historic truth, will not
suffer by comparison with those ol* any ofher similar section gf
our great country. With such a host of equipped and skilful
critics ready to sit in judgment upon our work, it was but nat-
ural that we should have entered upon it with some misgivings.
The very fact that our work was to be exposed to the reviewing
of men whose standing would give weight to their criticisms,
has stimulated us to greater watchfulness and care in its com-
pilation. We have trod the ground over with caution, and have
called to our assistance every available means of securing accu-
racy and as high a degree of completeness as could be attained
within the measure of our prescribed limits. We have suc-
ceeded — even better than our anticipations would allow us to
IV PREFACE.
expect; and we now submit the work to its readers with the
pleasing belief that it will abide with honor the day of historic
judgment.
No doubt mistakes will be found. No book of history exists
without them. Honest criticism we invite, but we would caution
the public against the clamorous ran tings of those who, having
opinions born of their own real ignorance of the matters dis-
cussed, are ever ready t6 descend witli vulture-like rapacity
upon works of this kind. Against all such empirical criticisms
we protest, and from them we appeal "unto Caesar" — the
Caesar of the facts, and the tribunal of an intelligent public,
unbiased by any ephemeral considerations or influences.
We have been aided in the work of preparation by the gen-
erous courtesies of those who had in their keeping or posses-
sion most valuable material. Such were the clerks of the dif-
ferent towns, the librarians of various libraries, the officers of the
historical societies of Newport and of Rhode Island, and many
other individuals whom it would afford us pleasure to mention '
by name. All such kindnesses rendered us are gratefully re-
membered, and to all those gentlemen we wish here to renew
our warmest thanks. ^
The following illustrations, from "The Providence Planta-
tions," by permission of the publishers, Messrs. J. A. & R. A.
Reid, are inserted in this *vork, viz. : Port Adams ; Trinity
Church, Newport; Channing Memorial Church; Thames Street,
Newport ; The Old Coddington House ; Statue of Commodore
Matthew Perry ; Statue of Commodore O. H. Perry ; The
Casino ; Entrance to the Jewish Cemetery ; Bristol Ferry,
Portsmouth ; and Old Port Dumplings, Jamestown.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE.
GENERAL HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Location and Boundaries. — General Productions. — Scenery.— Nati-ve Plants. —
Geology. — Causes leading to Settlement. — Purchase and Settlement. —
Early Government. — Under the Royaf Charter.— Under the New Char-
ter — Formation of the County — Population — Important Events — Official
Men from Newport County. — Public Schools. — Statistics.. . .1 1
CHAPTER II.
The Medical Profession 64
CHAPTER III.
THE FOUNDERS OF NEWPORT.
The Settlement of Aquidneck or Rhode Island. — William Coddington. —
Nicholas Easton.— John Coggeshall. — William Brenton.— John Clarke.-
Jeremy Clarke. — Thomas Hazard. — Henry Bull.— William Dyre. —
Samuel Gorton 140
^ CHAPTER IV.
INDIAN RELATIONS.
The Narragansett Indians. — Pequot War. — New England Confederation. —
King Philip's War. — Canonicus. — Miantonomi. — Pessicus. — Canonchet. —
Pumham. — Ninegret. — Massaso^;. — Wamsutta. — End of the Narragan-
setts , r 184
CHAPTER V.
NEWPORT IN THE COLONIAL WARS.
Privateering from Rhode Island. — War with the Dutch, 1652-3. — Privateers
and Pirates, 1653-90.— War with France, King William's War, 1689-98.—
Depredations by Privateers. — Queen Anne's War, 1702-13. — The Old
French War, 1754^61.- War of the American Revolution, 1775-83.—
Rhodelsland in its Political Relations, 1763-74. — Stamp Act Congress. —
Non-Importation Agreement 268
CHAPTER VI.
NEWPORT IN THE REVOLUTION.
Events of 1774.— First Continental Congress.— Military ' Preparations in
Rhode Island.— Events of 1775.— The Army of Observation.— The Train
of Artillery.— Depredations by Captain Wallace and his Fleet.— Events
of 1776 398
VI TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII, PAGE
NEWPORT IN THE REVOLUTION — (concluded).
Britisli Occupation of Newport, 1777-9.— The Siege of Newport, 1778.— The
Fleets off Rhode Island.— The Battleof Rhode Island.— Evacuation by the
British.— The French in Rhode Island, 1780-81.— The Naval Engage-
ment.— The March of the French 353
CHAPTER VIII.
NEWPORT IN THE WARS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
War with England, 1812.— The Dorr War, 1843.— The War of the Rebellion,
1861-65 410
CHAPTER IX.
CHURCHES AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NEWPORT.
Baptist Churches. — The Society of Frfends. — Congregational Churches. — Pro-
testant Episcopal Churches. — The Moravians. — Methodist Episcopal
Churches. — J.ews' Synagogue. — Catholic Churches. — Public Schools 431
CHAPTER X.
NEWPORT TOWN AND CITY.
First Settlements. — Newport as a Summer Resort. — Private Mansions. —
Town and City Governments. — Mayors. — Fire Engines. — Gas. — Public
Parks.— Public Buildings. — Liberty Ti-ee. — Libraries. — Fine Arts. — News-
papers. — Notable Events. — Trade and Commerce. — Manufactures. —
Banks. — Cemeteries. — Charitable Organizations. — Societies 483
CHAPTER XI.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES — NEWPORT.
Benjamin Anthony. — George A. Armstrong. — Setff Bateman. — Luther Bate-
man. — Henry Bedlow. — RobertP. Berry. — JoshuaC. Brown. — John Bull.
— George W. Carr, Jr. — ^William A. Clarke. — Henry Clews. — George S.
Coe. — William King Covell. — The Cranston Family. — Lucius D. Davis. —
The De Blois Family.— George T. DoOrning.- William Findlay. — The
Fludder Family. — Thomas Galvin. — George Hall. — Nathan Hammettand
Joseph M. Hammett.— Benjamin Hazard. — Carl Jurgens. — Daniel Le
Roy. — Josiah O. Low. — John D. Johnston. — Seth W. Macy. — Felix Peck-
ham. — Thomas P. Peckham, — Jo'm Hare Powel. — Oliver Read. — James
T. Rhodes. — John Page Sanborn. — William Paine Sheffield. — John W.
Sherman. — William H. Thurston. — William J. Underwood. — John G.
Weaver. — George Peabody Wetmore. — Catharine Lorillard Wolfe 574
CHAPTER XII.
TOWN OP PORTSMOUTH.
Geographical and iDescriptive. — Settlement. — Dealing With the Indians. —
Comparative Importance. — Admitting Inhabitants. — Rates and Taxes. —
Taverns or Ordinaries. — Public Morals. — The Common Lands. — Early
Customs and Ceremonies. — Public Improvements. — Early Representa-
tives. — During the Revolution. — After the War. — Town Action. — Means
of Communication. — Mining and Manufacturing 614
TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll
CHAPTER XIII. PAGE
TOWN OF POETSMOUTH— (concluded).
The Outlying Islands.— Churches of Portsmouth.— Societies.— Henry C. An-
thony.— John F. Chase.— Robert D. Hall.— Thomas Robinson Hazard.—
Thomas Holman.— William M. Manchester. — Isaac M. Rogers.— Alfred
Sisson. — William L. Sisson.— Personal Paragraphs ". . 677
CHAPTER XIV.
TOWN OF JAMESTOWN.
Location and Description. — The Indians. — Early Land Purchases.- Early
Settlements.^-The Carr Family. — Other Early Settlers.— Incorporation
of the Town. — Dui'ing the Revolution.— Fort Brown. — Public Buildings.
— Tax List of 1832. — Conanicut Park. — Ocean Highland Company. —
Public Improvements. — Religious Organizations. — The Common Schools.
— Ferry Connections. — Light Houses. — Dutch Island. — Gould Island. —
George C. Carr. — Thomas C. Watson.— Personal Paragraphs 723
CHAPTER XV.
TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN.
Geographical and Desci-iptive. — Incorporation. — Freemen in 1743. — Early
Town Action. — The Early Settlers. — The Residence of Berkeley. — The
Revolutionary Period. — The Small-pox Scourge.- — After the War.— The
War of 1812. — Town Action. — During the Civil War. — Roads and Bridges.
— Public Schools. — Churches. — The Women's Christian Temperance
Union.— ^The Miantonomi Library. — The Aquidneok Agricultural Society.
—The Town Hall.— Civil List 752
CHAPTER XVI.
TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN — (concluded).
William Bailey. — Albert Lawton Chase,— Robert S. Chase. — Daniel Chase.—
Joshua Coggeshall.— Geor§B C. Coggeshall. — David Coggeshall.— William
F. Peckham. — Jethro Peckham. — Nathaniel Peckham. — The Sherman
Family.— John G. Smith. — John B. Ward. — Personal Paragraphs 800
CHAPTER XVII.
TOWN OI*NEW SHOEBHAM.
Description. — Geological Formation. — Discovery.— Footprints of the White
Man.— Settlement.— Civil Connection.— Some Early Freemen.— Trouble
with the Indians.— Incursions by French Privateers.- During the Revo-
lution.— The Phantom Ship.— Colonial History.— Maritime Protection.—
Block Island as a Summer Resort. — Public Buildings. — Schools.-
Churches.— Agriculture and Commerce.- Light Houses.— Wrecking Com-
panies. — Biographical Sketches 837
CHAPTER XVIII.
TOWN OF TIVERTON.
The Boundary Question.— The White Man and his Title.— Purchasers of Po-
casset.— The Commons and the House Lots.— The Proprietors of Punoa-
test.— The King Philip War.— Tiverton as a, Town. —The Period of the
Revolution.— Howland's Ferry and Stone Bridge.— Postal and Railroad
Facilities.- Tiverton Four Corners.— North Tiverton.— Prominent Locali-
ties. —Mills.'— Taverns. — High ways. — Churches. — Schools.- ^brary and
Reading Room.— The Town Government 884
940
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX. PJ
TOWN OF TIVERTON— (concluded).
Hon. Joseph Osborn.— Joseph Church.— Samuel West, A. M., M. D.— Wiss
Hannah Howland West.— Joshua C. Durfee.— Chiistopher Brownell.—
Samuel E. Almy.— Asa Davol.— Isaac Brown.— Job Wordell.— Personal
Paragraphs
CHAPTER XX.
TOWN OF LITTLE COMPTON.
First Land Titles.— The Proprietors of Seconnet.— Distribution of the Great
Lots.— The Commons.— The Aborigines,— The Body Politic— Public Char-
ity.— Land and Water Routes.— The Revolution.— The Federal Constitu-
tion.— The Local Government.— Churches.— Cemeteries.— Adamsville.—
Potter's Corners. — Secular Education. — Public Library. — Business
Interests , "'■*
CHAPTER XXI.
TOWN OP LITTLE COMPTON — (concluded).
Colonel Benjamin Church.— Colonel John Church.— Nathaniel Church.—
Joseph Church.— Thomas Church.— William Pabodie.— Major Sylvester
Brownell.— Isaac Bailey Richmond.— James F. Simmons.— George W.
Briggs, D.D.— Ray Palmer.— The Coe Family.— Colonel Henry T. Sissou.
—Levi W. Sisson.— Ephraim Bailey Sisson.— Albert Seabury.— George
Arnold Gray.— Edward Wing Howland.— Philip W. Almy.— Personal
Paragraphs 1028
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PORTRAITS.
Ahny, Philip W 1046
Almy, Samuel E 951
Anthony, Henry C # 690
Bailey, William 800
Ball, Nicholas 862
Bateman, Luther 575
Bateman, Seth 574
Bedlow, Henry 576
Berry, R. P 578
Brinley , Francis 555
Brown, Isaac 953
Brown, Joshua C 579
Brownell, Christopher 950
Buttfick, J. T 68
Carr, George C 748
Champlin, John P 868
Chase, Albert L 801
Chase, Daniel 803
Chase, John F 691
Chase, Robert S 802
Church, Colonel John 1030
Church, Joseph 944
Church, Nathaniel. .., 1032
Clarke, W. A 581
TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX
* PAGE
Clews, Henry . . '. 582
Coe, George S ..........'...'.'.'.'.: 5HQ
Coggeshall, David 805
Coggeshall, George C 8U4
Coggeshall, Joshua 804
Cranston, Henry Y 590
Cranston, R. B 591
Cranston, W. H ,■ 593
Davis, Lucius D ; .'.'..' 594
Davol, Asa .' 953
Durf ee, ' Joshua C 949
Durfee, Thomas 934
Galvin, Thomas , 596
Gray, George A ,',[ 1044
Greene, Nathaniel ; . . . 88
Hall, Robert D 693
Hammett, Joseph M 597
Hammett, Nathan 597
Hazard, R. N 514
Hazard,*Thomas R QQ4:
Holman, Thomas 695
Howland, Edward W 1045
Johnston, John D 598
King, David S 97
King, David ; , 98
LeRoy, Daniel , 599
Littlefield, Lorenzo 873
Manchester, WilliE!,m M 696
Harden, O. S '. 876
Mitchell, B. B 880
Olyphant, David 106
Osborn, Joseph 940
Peckham, Jethro 807
Peckham, Nathaniel ' 808
Peckham, Thomas P » 601
Peckham, William F 806
Powel, John Hare 603
Rankin, Francis H : . . * 110
Read, Oliver 603
Rhodes, James T '. 604
Richmond, Isaac B 1034
Rogers, I. M 697
Sanborn, John P ^ '. 606
Sands, Austin L 116
Seabury, Albert 1C43
Sheffield, William P 607
Sherman, Peleg T 809
Sisson, Alfred ■ 698
Sisson, Ephraim B 1043
Sisson, HenryT 1038
Sisson, Levi W .-.1040
Sisson, W. L 699
Smith, J. G .810
Thurston, W. H '608
Turner, Henry E 130
Underwood, William J 608
Ward, John B 811
Watson, Thomas Carr 750
Weaver, John G 609
West, Samuel 946
Wetmore, George Peabody 610
Wolfe, Catharine Lorillard 612
Wordell, Job , 954
X TABLE OF CONTENTS.
VIEWS.
PAGE
Fort Adams ^^^
Charming Memorial Church ■*■*"
Trinity, Church, Newport '"^
Thames Street, Newport ^^^
The Old Coddington House. 486
House of Charles W. Shields, Newport, R. 1 488
The Tooker Cottage, Newport, R. 1 489
" The Breakers." Residence of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Newport 490
Residence of Gordon McKay, Newport, R. 1 491
The Chalet. Residence of Hugh L. Willoughby, Newport 495
Rough Point. Residence of Frederick W. Vanderbilt, Newport 496
Statue of Com. Matthew Perry 499
Statue of Com. O. H. Perry 500
Anglesea. Residence of Walter H. Lewis, Newport 503
The Casino. Bellevue Avenue 504
The Moorings. Residence of Schuyler Hamilton, Jr., Newport 506
Residence of J. J. Van Alen, Newport 510
Elmhyrst. Residence of R. N. Hazard, Newport. 515
Vinland. Residence of Louis L. Lorillard, Newport, R. 1 534
Friedheim. Residence of Theo. A. Havemeyer, Newport, R. 1 538
Entrance to the Jewish Cemetery 544
Hodgson's Newport Botanical Garden 546
Malbone. Residence of Hon. Henry Bedlow, Newport 577
Views at " The Rocks." Summer Residence of Mr. Henry Clews, Newport,
ft,. 1 588
Galvin's Garden, Newport ^ 596
Wol-me. Residence of Josiah O. Low, Newport 600
Sunset Ridge. Residence of A. A. Low, Newport 601
Roselawn. Residence of J. Fred Pierson, Newport 605
Ocean House, Newport, R. I ; 609
Residence of Mr. G. P. Wetmore, Newport 611
The Capture of Major-General Prescott 649
Bristol Ferry, Portsmouth 673
Oakland Farm, Portsmouth. Property of (Cornelius Vanderbilt 683
Residence of Robert D. Hall, Portsmouth, R.I 693
House of William T . Richards, Jamestown, R . 1 730
House of Joseph Wharton, Jamestown, R.' 1 738
Old Fort Dumplings, Jamestown 746
The iTish Homestead . Residence of William Bailey, Middletown 800
Residence of Dayid Coggeshall, Middletown 805
Residence of W . J . Brightman, Tiverton .'. 958
The ' ' Gardner Homestead . " Residence of John M . Gardner, North Tiverton. 963
The Church Homestead 1030
Residence of Isaac Bailey Richmond, Little (^ompton 1085
Residence of H , M . Bundy, Little Compton 1050
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NEWPORT COUNTY
RHODE ISLAND.
L. E. PEESTON & CO.
PUBLISHERS.
MAP OF
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Fart of ^:
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RuaEHt A.WtLCKg PH DfO LITH .IT6 Wl LLI AW ST. N.Y.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Location and Boundaries. — General Productions.— Scenery.— Native Plants. —
Geology. — Causes leading to Settlement.— Purchase and Settlement. — Early
Government. — Under the Koyal Charter.— Under the New Charter.— Forma-
tion of the County. — Population.— Important Events.— Official Men from
Newport County. — Public Schools. — Statistics.
THE County of JS'ewpQrt is situated in the southeastern
part of the state of Rhode Island. It has an area of
about one hundred and seventeen square miles. It lies centrally
in latitude 41° 33' north, and longitude 71° 17' west from Green-
wich, or 5° 43' east from Washington. It is bounded on the
north and east by Bristol county, Mass., on the south by the
Atlantic ocean, and on the west by Narragansett bay. It com-
prises several islands, the largest of which are Rhode Island,
Block Island, Conanicut and Prudence, which together consti-
tute about one half the area of the county. It has a beautifully
undulating surface, and a generally fertile soil, that of the
islands being especially rigorous and productive. It also.con-
tains large quantities of anthracite coal. The county is inter-
sected by the Old Colony railroad, which has about lifteen
miles of track within its borders, this being the only railroad
entering the" county. It has 975 farms, the land, especially of
the islands, being highly improved and almost entirely under
cultivation. The number of acres of improved land is 46,762.
The land is divided into small farms, and such is the general
thrift of its cultivators that the value of its farms, including
lands, fences and buildings, reaches the sum of $6,'^91,965. For
1
2 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the cultivation of these farms implements and machinery are
employed to the value of $164,656. Live stock is kept on farms
to the value of $472,269, and the annual cost of building and
repairing on these farms amounts to about fifty thousand dol-
lars. The natural fertility of the soil is such that comparative-
ly little commercial fertilizer is needed, the annual expenditure
for this purpose not exceeding about thirty-five thousand dol-
lars, while the annual products of the soil amount to more than
three quarters of a million dollars in value. Among the annual
products the principal are: 131,878 bushels of potatoes, 107,048
bushels of Indian corn, 78,098 bushels, of oats, 12,249 bushels of
barley, 14,737 tons of hay, and $12,662 worth of orchard prod-
ucts. There are kept on farms: 1,875 horses, 1,066 working
oxen, 8,590 milch cows, 1,973 other cattle, 6,118 sheep, produc-
ing annually about twenty-five thousand pounds of wool, 2,943
swine, and dairy products consisting of 420,971 gallons of milk,
245,601 pounds of butter, and 9,771 pounds of cheese annually.
Of the 28,280 inhabitants of this county. 8,476 are citizens, and
of these, 5,207 are native born, and 2,669 are foreign born. The
ratable property of the county amounts to $37,779,768; of which
$28,951,641 is on real estate, and $8,828,127 is on personal prop-
erty.
The post offices in this county are Adamsville, Block Island,
Bristol Ferry, Jamestown, Little Compton, Newport, North
Tiverton, Portsmouth, South Portsmouth, Tiverton, and Tiver-
ton Pour Corners. Its townships and the total valuation of
real and personal property in each are as follows : Jamestown,
$1,028,280; Little Compton, $1,322,700; Middletown, $2,083,-
350 ; Newport (city), $28,540,300 ; New Shoreham, $598,160 ;
Portsmouth, $1,946,900 ; Tiverton, $2,260,078. The county
contained in 1880 a population of 23,051 white, ],125 colored,
and four Indians. The native population then was 19,537, and
the foreign population, 4,643. Of the native population, 15,452
were born in the state and 3,036 in other parts of New England
• :and New York state. 'Of the foreign population 388 were born
in British America, 829 in England and Wales, 2,^3 in Ireland,
137 in Scotland, 199 in the Grerman Empire, 82 in Prance, and
123 in Sweden and Norway.
In point of beauty of location and enchanting scenery the in-
sular portion of the county is one the most attractive spots to
be found on the face of the earth. Travelers who have had op-
HISTORr OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 3
portunities for wide fields of observation have come hither and
declared that nothing they had seen in the famed regions of the
old world was equal to magnificent scenes which opened to their
view in this county. Kor does the insular portion engross all
the beauty of scene to which this county may lay claim. The
mainland shores are equally rich in this respect. Possessing
an almost immeasurable extent of shore line upon the beautiful
bay, with which the land is playing hide and seek in a thousand
Jutting promontories and indenting coves, the surface of the
oounty presents miles upon miles of wayside, field and bluff,
whence the vision stretches away upon the broad ocean —
" A waste
Of waters weltering over graves, its shores
Strewn with the wreck of fleets, where mast and hull
Drop away piecemeal."
«^
With its thousand verdure clad hills billowing the landscape
near and distant, ever varying in outline, in magnitude, in shade
of green, and in adornment of farmhouse, windmill, country
seat, or checkered fields, what wonder that the fashion of
American civilization should choose here its most valued sum-
mering place. Greater wonder, indeed, is it that the hills
overlooking these elysian shores have not long since been
crowded with the country homes of thousands who fain would
come hither to rest .and enjoy the delights of surrounding
scenery.
The soil of the island of Aquidneck, or Rhode Island, differs
somewhat in its character, between the north and south ends.
Everywhere rich and amply productive, it is at the north end
of a sandy inclination, and this circumstance together with
some a;dvantages of location by which it is protected from the
blasting, chilling winds from the sea, makes the north end two
or three weeks earlier in maturing season than the south end.
Potatoes are largely grown there, and can be marketed, from
that quarter earlier by the time mentioned than from other
parts of the island. A branch of agriculture which has of late
, years grown to considerable proportions on the island, especially
within a few miles of Newport, is the growing of flowers and
other greenhouse products. Flowers can be raised here that
cannot be growft to equal advantage in the vicinity of New
York, hence large quantities of flowers are grown here and
shipped to the markets of New York and Bosto^ Frosts here
4 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY.
hold off later in the autumn than in other parts of the country,
even in lower latitudes. Hardy flowers have been known to
keep in blossom until the latter part of November. The condi-
tions that make the spring rather backward also retard the ap-
proach of winter. These conditions are supposed to be partly,
if not principally, the effect of the surrounding waters upon the
atmosphere. Large quantities of greenhouse grapes are pro-
duced here and sent to the New York markets. They are sent
as early as April 1st, and during the first of the season they
often sell for as high as six dollars a pound. From this they
continue at falling prices until the season for out-door grapes
to ripen. The atmosphere of this region during the autumn
months especially is salubrious and delightful. The tempera-
ture throughout the season is equable, being eight or ten degrees
higher in winter and lower in summer than in most other places
in 'the same latitude. Frosts appear in autumn in the latitude
of North Carolina before they do here. Owing to the vigorous
character of the soil, fruits grow to great size, and with aston
ishing luxuriance. Some fruits originated here have obtained
world-wide fame. Of such may be mentioned the Rhode Island
Greening apple and the Buffum pear.
The native plants of the county are numerous, but no syste-
matic effort has been made to make a list of them. It is prob-
able that in general the same plants may be found on the main-
land that appear on the islands. Through the efforts of the
Newport Natural History Society a partial list of those to be
found on the island has been made. This embraces, no doubt,
nearly all the common plants, and though still imperfect, has
been prepared with much labor, and is the most complete list
that can now be found. Omitting the scientific names the list
is given in j)opular language, which is as follows : Liver-leaf,
wind-flower, rueranemone; early, bulbous, and creeping butter-
cup; marsh-marigold, wild columbine, white water-lily, water-
cress. Whitlow grass, shepherd's purse, blue violet, arrow-
leaved violet, sweet white violet, lance-leaved violet, St. John's-
wort, sand spurrey, chickweed, common mallow," yellow wood
sorrel, spotted cranesbill, jewel weed, rabbit foot clover, red*
clover, zigzag clover, yellow hop clover, white clover, yellow
sweet clover, white sweet clover, vetchling, ^ard-hack, wild
five finger, strawberry, high blackberry, low blackberry, dwarf
wild rose, early saxifrage, common evening primrose, low
HISTOK^X OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 5
evening primrose, small evening primrose, button bush,
bluets, thistle, Canada - thistle, burdock, thorough-wort,
dandelion, corn flower, beggar-ticks, May weed, yarrow, ox-eye
daisy, cardinal flower, trailing arbutus or May flower, sweet
pepperbush, pale laurel, common plantain,- four-leaved loose-
strife, common mulleifl, wild toadflax, butter-and-eggs, snake
head, sea-side gerardia, fringed gentian, and bayberry.
The island of Aquidneck was formerly heavily wooded, but
it is said that during the revolutionary war, when the British
held possession of it, they entirely stripped it of its timber, and
since then but little forest growth has been permitted. There
are now but few sections of America of equal extent where so
large a proportion of the area is devoid of forest growth and so
completely under cultivation or improvement. Oak, walnut
and chestnut are the prevailing kinds of forest trees, with some
pine, and in certain localities especially near the ocean shore,
large cedar swamps are found. Among the cultivated crops we
should not fail to mention the Indian corn, for which the island
and 'its vicinity are celebrated. The corn grown here is of
superior quality, and is much used for grinding into meal, of
vvhich " Johnny-cakes " are made. Perhaps in no part of the
country does the custom of preparing these cakes for the daily
food of the inhabitants prevail to so large an extent as it does
here. These "Johnny-cakes" are made of corn meal and
water, with a little salt, but though so simple their use is so
much indulged in as to become proverbial.
While the western portions of the state of Rhode Island are
very simple and uniform in their geological character, the
southern and eastern parts, especially those covered by the
boundaries of this county, are various and complicated. As a
general thing it may be said that the geological formation which
distinguishes southeastern Massachusetts ext^ds to the north-
ern parts of this county. A very considerable portion of the
county, however, is of a later era. Parts of the county consist
of formations of coarse, conglomerates and argillaceous slates
of obscure age, on account of the metamorphic action to which
they have been subjected. Generally no fossils have been met
with in these rooks, tliough occasionally one has here or else-
where been foui^d, which would seem to refer the slates to the
lower Silurian period. These obscure: formations are connected
with coal bearing strata, referable, it is supposed, to the true
6 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
carboniferous epoch. In these strata have been found the beds
of anthracite which have been worl<;ed to some extent. This
subject has been treated in part, but in its most interesting^
features, by Mr. T. Nelson Dale, in a lecture before the Natural
History Society on the geology of the mouth of Narragansett
bay, which, of course, covers the principal part of this county.
Prom the words of Mr. Dale are quoted tlie following para-
graphs. He says :
"It is well known that coal seams exist under the -city of
Newport. They have been struck in digging wells, and they
used to crop out near Sheep point on the cliffs. Coal plants
have been found near the corner of Marlborough and Farewell
streets and in several places along the cliffs. The slates and fine
conglomerates associated with these fossiliferous and carbon-
iferous strata extend from Sheep point on the south, to Almy's
pond, Emmanuel Chapel (corner Spring and Perry streets) and
Fort Greene on the west, to Coddington point and Bishop rock
on the north, and to Bliss cave, Easton's beach and the Cliffs
on the east. In the vicinity of Taggart's Perry, Wood's Castle,
at the Glen, and on the east shore of the east passage betweeu
High hill and Brown's point, we find other patches of these
beds. On the west, the same group recurs at Beaver Head and
Dutch island, although in a more crystalline condition, the coal
having there become graphite and the clay slate a mica schist
containing garnets. The vertical thickness of this series is
about 2,-000 feet. At the end of "the Cliffs" you will have
noticed some very jagged greenish rocks which recur at the east
end of Bailey's beach, forming apparently a belt from that
place to the cliffs ; these rocks are chlorite schist, talcose schist,
epidote, and probably serpentine. The marked peculiarity of
these different minerals is that they contain a considerable per-
centage of magnesia, and one of them, the epidote, some 23 per
cent, of lime. *
" The only other place where similar rocks occur isonConan-
icutp near the southeast corner of the island, and also most of
the'Dumpling islets. There, however, the chlorite schist con-
tains passages of calcite and a littlemica, corresponding exactly
to some of the Paradise rocks, and suggesting the possibility
that they were deposited at the same time. We may therefore
perhaps venture to classify the alternating beds of hornblende
and chlorite schist, and mica schist (traversed by veins of zoisite
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 7
whicli is related to epidote), which form the three central ridges
of Paradise in the same series. The thicliness of these rocks
along the cliffs is about 400 tp 600 feet, and the Paradise series
measures about 950. Both at the Dumplings and Bailey's
beach, these greenish magnesian rocks lie upon a pinkish rock
which might easily be mistaken for a granite, but which is more
correctly a protogine, the mica of the granite being replaced by
the dark, greenish magnesian mineral, chlorite. The protogine
is characterized in places by crystals of feldspar an inch in
diameter, and in others by the presence of two shades if not
two kinds of feldspar, a pale greenish and a pinkish ^color.
Although it has beeii supposed to be eruptive, it is clearly
stratified, and therefore a sedimentary rock, highly metamor-
phosed. This protogine forms the point about the Boat House,
Gooseberry island, and the region about the Lily pond, extend-
ing from the west side of Lily pond beach to a point opposite
the Little Lime Rock. It forms also the southern part of the
northern extension of Conanicut. About Narragansett Pier,
from the steamboat landing south to within two and one-half*
miles of Point Judith, protogine passing into a gneiss with
black mica occurs, and the same rock constitutes also East and
West islands, on the other side of the bay. The thickness of
these beds of protogine is not easily computed. It is at least
1200 feet and probably much greater. West of the protogine
tract of Newport Neck and forming the central part of it is a
'flinty slate' in. places containing serpsntine and talc. This
rock lies upon the protogine, as may be seen at several points,
and as is conclusively proven by the presence of two small
patches of the flinty slate near the middle of the protogine
tract, on the west side of Lily pond.
"The western boundary of the flinty slate extends from Bren-
ton's cove to the west side of Price's neck. The same recurs
at Conanicut forming a triangular shaped tflass north of the
protogine, and also on Sachuest neck where, associated with a
slaty conglomerate mass it forms a belt on the east side. The
thickness of this series varies from 500 to 2,000 feet. The re-
mainder of Newport Neck consists of a series of alternating
green and purple slates with passages of calcite and occasion-
ally red jasper. The rock (chloritic argUlyte) forms also the
greater part of Rose island, the Gull Rocks, the southern ex-
tremity of Coaster's Harbor island, the Coaster's Harbor rocks,
8 HISTORY OF WEWPOKT COUNTY.
Goat island (as ascertained by a recent well boring), the Little
Lime Rock and some submerged rocks southwest of it. To this
series belong also the Lime Rocks, where layers of magnesian
liriieston,e are associated with purple slates. On the Little
Compton shore the green slates recur, extending from Brown's
point to Church's cove. From the outcrops of these rocks in
onr harbor, we^ may infer that they originally extended from
the Little Lime Rock to Coaster's Harbor island, to Rose island
and thence to Castle hill, occupying the entire harbor and the
passage. The great veins which traverse these rocks often
abound in chlorite, with which occurs also a pink feldspar.
The series measures from 500 to 3,000 feet.
"At the north end of Rose island and the southwest end of
Coaster's Harbor island is a peculiar dark gray or black rock
made up of large grains of quartz firmly cemented together by
metamorphic action. It is properly a coarse metamorphic sand-
stone or grit. The same rock forms the entire western part of
Sachuest Neck, overlying the flinty slate of^the eastern portion,
^nd contains here and there small seams of black slate with
coal plants — one of which is the Annularia longifolia. This
rock occurs also at Conanicut on the east side of Mackerel cove,
where it rests upon the protogine and forms a triangular area.
Its greatest thickness is about 750 feet. This is the lowest and
earliest rock in this vicinity which upon palseontological
grounds we can refer to the carboniferous period.
"Apparently overlying this metamorphic sandstone we have
in Mackerel cove a mass of light and dark gray argillaceous
schists, which cover the entire southern extension of Conanicut
and extend as far north as Taylor's point above Jamestown.
These schists generally contain minute nodules of carbonate of
iron (siderite), which, when oxidized, give the surface of the
rock a striking appearance. Instead of siderite, iron pyrites in
cubical crystals sometimes occurs. This series of beds is repre-
sented at the south end of Coaster's Harbor island, and forms
the southern part of Easton's point. The veins which traverse
these rocks often contain chlorite and sometimes also calcite
and a little iron. The total thickness is 600 to 2,000 feet. At
Easton's point these argillytes are overlaid by the conglomerate
•with which we are all familiar, which is made up of pebbles of
finely laminated quartzyte with some mica and contains Lingu-
Ice (Brachipod Mollusks). This rock recurs at Paradise on both
HISTCyiY OF TSTEWPORT COUNTY. 9
•sides of the hornblende and mica schist beds, and along the
east shore of the island from Smith's beach t© Black point, and
on the other side of the east passage at High Hill point. There
is some uncertainty as to whether the similar conglomemte,
which forms the summit of Miantonomah hill, and that which
covers the greater part of Coaster's Harbor island, and which
differs considerably in its character from that of Eastoa's point,
etc., belong to the same age. The thickness is about 750 feet.
"The lowest and oldest rocks in this part of the state are of
sedimentary origin. The first geological fact in the history of
the region indicates the presence of water, the sea probably,
which formed the calcareous, aluminous, siliceous and magnes-
ian deposits which, under metamorphism, become gneiss, pro-
togine, mica, epidote, chlorite, hornblende and serpentine schist.
It is difficult to determine how far, if at all, these older strata
had assumed a crystalline structure prior to the carboniferous
period, as the whole series, including the carboniferous, evi-
dently suffered metamorphism and flexture in late or past car-
boniferous times. It is also uncertain how far these older
rocks had been disturbed when the carboniferous rocks were
deposited, but from several indications it seems probable that
the folds indicated in the section began to be formed in pre-
carboniferous times, and that the chief outlines of our bay were
determined at that remote period.
" We may therefore conjecture that the nearest elevations on
either side of the carboniferous deposits formed the shore of the
swamps and estuaries of the carboniferous time.- Such eleva-
tions occur at Barber's Height and Tower hill, in North and
South Kingstown, and on the other side of the bay, in Tiverton
and Little Compton. These southward tending ranges of pro-
togine, gneiss, mica schist and chlorite slate bounded a bay or
arm of the sea some 15 miles wide. In about the centre of the
section maybe seen masses-of protogine and other pre- carbonif-
erous rocks. While it is possible that they may once have been
covered by carboniferous deposits which subsequent erosion
may have carried away, I rather incline to the belief that these
rocks were never covered in the carboniferous times, but formed
then an island around which such rocks were deposited. This
island embraced the greater part of Newport Neck, the entire
harbor, and a portion of Conanicut, and accordingly measured
;Some four miles in diameter, so that as we ramble over the
10 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
small, hilly and rocky wilderness which characterizes portions-
of the JSTeck and of Conanicut, we may transport ourselves in
imagination back to the time when in looking away our eyes
would have rested on nothing but a shallow sea, or else upon
great swamps, crowded with the peculiar vegetation of the car-
boniferous time. The remainder of Conanicut and of our own
island, excepting perhaps a small tract at its northern extrem-
ity and possibly another at Paradise, were not in existence ;
with these exceptions the nearest terra firma was at Tower hill
and Little Compton.
"The carboniferous series consists of four groups of strata :
(1) the metamorphic grit, (2) the clay slates with carbonate of
iron, (3) the quartzyte conglomerate, and (4) the slates, coal
beds and fine conglomerates, which together constitute the coal
measures proper. During the deposition of the two first and
lowest of the series, there was nothing of a very exceptional
character in the physical conditions of our bay. The fine
quartz grains of the first deposit probably came from the erosion
of some areas of granite or protogine. The presence of fossil
plants in the layers of slate which occur in this bed, indicates
the neighborhood of marshes ; and the abundance of iron car-
bonate in the succeeding bed shows the presence of carbon in
the water and originally in the atmosphere. During these de-
positions, it is quite probable that that process of subsidence
commenced which marked the period of the coal measures.
This subsidence would affect the whole region, but, either owing
to its taking the form of great folds, or owing to the greater
elevation of the central island, would still leave that island above
water. But during the time of the third group, the coarse con-
glomerate, we have evidence of an exceptional state of things.
The great size of some of the boulders in the conglomerate at
'Purgatory' and 'Paradise' has been noticed by many. Some
of these measure from four to nine feet in diameter.
"The following theories are held- in regard to the origin of
this conglomerate : (1) that in carboniferous times, another
glacial period covered this part of the continent with an ice
sheet, and that these great accumulations of boulders were tran-
si>orted hither from distant ledges and left by the thawing ice.
A serious objection to this theory is the fact that the boulders
do not bear the scratches which characterize glacial boulders.
Another theory is that the bay at that time was a gulf leaning
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 11
northwards into Artie regions, and that icebergs, broken off from
some Arctic glacier, floated southwards, and, thawing as they
reached a warmer latitude, deposited their burden of pebbles
and boulders here, just as they are doing to-day on the banks
of Newfoundland. Another theory is that the place of these
conglomerates was originally occupied by a finely stratified
quartzite of mica schist, formed during an earlier geological
period and of marine origin, as indicated by the presence of the
Brachiopoda, and that the action of the sea ground up the entire
deposit into pebbles, by a prodlss'similar to that we see going on
along our shores to-day. Still another theory is that a strong and
swift river current opened in those times into the bay, and rolled
the stones to their present place from some shore or hillside to
the north. Each of these theories contains an element of prob-
ability. The large size of the boulders and the absence here of
strata of their identical character are remarkable facts.
" However that may be, after the formation of the conglom-
erate came a period of comparative tranquility, during which
the ' Coal Measures,' measuring here some 2,000 feet, were de-
posited. To account for alternating beds of coal, slate, and
conglomerate, it is customary to suppose alternating periods of
submergence and emergence. Under this theory the prospect
from the Aquidneck island of the carboniferous time must
have greatly varied. There were long periods during which a
supposed observer would have looked out only upon the broad
arms of the bay, others during which his eyes would have
rested, at least northward, northwestward, and northeastward,
on a landscape bearing some resemblance to that of the Dismal
Swamp of Virginia or the Everglades of Florida, and such
periods recurred alternately.
" During the close of the carboniferous period, changes of a
more radical, though, perhaps, gradual character set in. The
submergence of the beds having reached its limit, the beds were
powerfully compressed in a lateral direction, folded, tilted,
faulted and fissured. This compressure is generally attributed
to the disturbance of the rocky envelope of the earth following,
upon the cooling and contraction of its molten interior. At the
same time, if not due to the same cause, the rocks assumed a
crystalline structure, the beds of carbonaceous vegetation, then
probably resembling lignite or hardened peat, were changed
into plumbaginous anthracite. The beds of clay In places be-
12 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTV.
came mica schist, the conglomerate was compacted, and its peb-
bles arranged in parallel order, and the underlying older rocks
became still more crystalline in cliaracter. The fissures through-
out the series became filled with veins of quartz. Numerous
observations prove that this pressure came chiefly from rwo
directions: One W. NW.— E. SE., the other at right angles
]N. JSTE.— S. SW., the former producing the great folds tending
N. NE.— S. SW. parallel to the Appalachian range which was
formed at this time, the other producing a series of minor folds »
and fissures tending W. JSTW.— E. SE.
"The folded strata were brought above water and the main
outlines of the bay and of our island were formed. The surface
thus exposed suffered erosion by the rivers, tides and rains
during a great lapse of time, until the glacial period set in,
when they were subjected to still greater changes at the hands
of the ice sheet, which by means of its enormous weight and
the stones and boulders frozen into its under surface, plowed
out hollows, shattered and broke off rock masses, furrowed,
grooved and polished all the surfaces which withstood its
southward march. During the thawing of the glacier, a de-
pression of the land took place, followed by an elevation of forty
to fifty feet. To the action of the ice sheet and of the great
stream to which it gave rise as it thawed, the final configuration
of our bay and islands is mainly due. This becomes apparent
in examining a section of the bay, for the depressions do not
always correspond to the depressions in the folds of the strata.
The folds have been cut into. How much of this is due to the
preglacial erosion is uncertain. The most notable instances of
these influences are seen between High Hill point and Black
point in Seaconnet river and at the ' Paradise ' ridges. The
recess between Easton's point and Sachuest point was thus
formed; that between the Cliffs and Easton's point, and also
the hollow occupied by Easton's pond, Bren ton's cove, and the
depression between the chloritic slates and the flinty slates on
the Neck, the passage between Conanicut and Fort Adams and
the harbor. Mackerel cove in Conanicut, and the passages on
either side of Dutch island, all are due to the same causes.
" A few things remain to be noticed. As the ice sheet thawed
it deposited its load of clay, sand and boulders, all over our
region, but very unequally. In this vicinity [Newport] the
morainal matter is not very thick, but near Providence it forms
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 13'
considerable hills and plateaus. But we received our share of
the boulders, as every builder, farmer, gardener or pedestrian
knows. Much of this morainal matter was deposited in the sea,
and this, together with what has since been carried thither by
streams or formed by the wear and tear of the waves, the sea
has, in part at least, thrown back upon the shore in the form of
sand bars and beaches. Then the wind coming to the aid of
the waves piled up the sand in drifts back of the beaches, dam-
ming up the outlets to small streams and forming ponds which
are gradually transformed into marshes. In this way the re-
cesses in the coast are filled out and the shore is becoming more
rounded in outline."
Religious ideas were the paramount factors in the various set-
tlements which were made in different parts of our country, and
which in time grew together into the concrete social mass which
at length became the foundation of a mighty republic. As in
different localities those religious ideas had their various colors,
so the conditions gathering around the settlement of Newport
county gave to it a hue peculiarly its own. It is designed
here to notice the development of those conditions, and trace
the steps by which the banner of civilization was brought hither
and planted on these delectable hills, where it has so gracefully
and grandly waved upon the invigorating breezes of two and a
half centuries.
As soon as we enter upon this investigation we shall find
Roger Williams standing as one of the most conspicuous char-
acters of the time in this section of the new world. Some notice
of him could hardly be omitted in this connection, though our
immediate field was not the scene of his action. We find him
an irrepressible character, of great native force and determina-
tion, who had been highly educated in the schools of England
and invested with orders in the Church of England. He, how-
ever, embraced the doctrines set forth by the Puritans and took
passage in the ship "Lyon," with nineteen others, for America.
The ship arrived in Nantaskett Roads on the 5th of February,
1631, and reached Boston three days later. Williams was at
this time about 25 years of age. He shortly became assistant
pastor of the church of Salem, but differences of opinion at
once arose between him and the magistrates, and as his impet-
uous disposition would brook no restraints or dictation of the
constituted authorities, he gave up the field in the following.
14 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
autumn and removed to Plymouth. Here he met with many of
the representative Indian chiefs of the surrounding wilderness
and spent much time in studying their language, among whom
were Massasoit and Miantonomi, the latter being a chief of the
territory now embraced in Newport county. Two years later
he resumed the pastoral position which he had left at Salem,
but after another period of controversy extending over nearly
another two years, he was duly banished from that colony by
the solemn and decorous pronunciamento of the general court.
This action was not an unusual one in those times, but was con-
sistent with the laws under which they lived, and in harmony
with the general tone of popular sentiment. The banishment
of a member for teaching doctrines in opposition to their ac-
cepted laws was no more an exhibition of intolerance than the
execution of any punishment for the violation of law at the
present time. The difference is in the color of the glass through
which we look.
But it is not purposed here to discuss the propriety or ex-
pediency of the banishment of Williams. We have only to
deal with the fact. The order of banishment was dated Sep-
tember 3d, 1635, and the language was as follows :
"Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the
church of Salem, hath broached and dyvulged dyvers newe and
dangerous opinions, against the aucthoritie of magistrates, as
also writ letters of defamacion, both of the magistrates and
churches here, and that before any conviction, and yet maine-
taineth the same without retraccion, it is therefore ordered,
that the said Mr. Williams shall departe out of this jurisdiccion
within six weekes nowe next ensueinge, which if he neglect to
performe, it shall be lawfull for the Governor and two of the
magistrates to send him to some place out of this jurisdiccion,
not to return any more without licence from the Court."
A strong character will always draw to itself strong adherents.
So Williams had many ardent friends and followers. The
rumor gained credence that a new colony was thus to be formed,
and the fears that under his leadership such a colony would be
planted somewhere near their own, which must of course be
weakened by withdrawals of members to form the new one,
prompted the general court again to consider the matter, and
on January 11th they resolved to send Williams to England.
But before the messengers sent to apprehend him reached Salem
HISTORY OF WEWPOET COUNTY. 15
he had taken his departure, journeying through the wilderness
southward. Some account of his movements is given in his own
language at a subsequent time, as foJlows :
" I first pitched and began to build and plant at Seekonk,
now Rehoboth, but I received a letter from my ancient friend,
Mr. Winslow, then Governor of Plymouth, professing his own
and others love and respect to me, yet lovingly advising me,
since I was fallen into the edge of their bounds, and they were
loth to displease the Bay, to remove to the other side of the
water, and then, he said, I had the country free before me, and
might be as free as themselves, and we should be loving neigh-
bors together."
After leaving Salem in January, as we have seen,' he was, as
he says,, "sorely tossed, for fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter
season," between Plymouth and Seekonk, where he fixed his
habitation in the following spring. After remaining but a
short time he heeded the warning of his friend Governor Wins-
low, and embarking in a canoe with five associates sailed across
the water and up Providence river to the point where he estab-
lished his plantation in May or early June, 1636. In his sojourn
in the wilderness he was sheltered and fed by friendly Indians,
and on his way to the site of his i)]antation he was greeted by
others in the same amicable mannei'. With the Indians Wil-
liams continued to maintain friendly relations. He purchased
land of them, the chiefs at that time being Canonicus and his
nephew, Miantonomi, both of whom made their residence gen-
erally on the island of this county which perpetuates the name
of the former. Williams, with his twelve associates, founded the
settlement of Providence on a more broad, civil platform, and
one in which entire freedom from ecclesiastical character was
aimed at.
It was well for the new settlement that the friendship of the
Narragansett Indians had been cultivated, for about this time
the great chief of the Pequods, Sassacus, was growing in bitter
determination to annihilate the whites and subdue the Indians
of all the country adjoining his own territory. In the expe-
dition which the English sent under Capt. John Mason in 1637
to break the power of this threatening monarch, Miantonomi,
with two hundred of his bravest Narragansett warriors, joined
as against a common foe. Thus augmented, and with the addi-
tion of other Indians from the Niantics and the rebellious Pe-
16 HISTORY OV NEWPORT COUNTY.
quods under Uncas, the forces of Mason numbered about five-
hundred strong.
Attacking the Pequod fort at Mystic at early dawn of a June
morning, taking it by surprise, this force with wild vengeance
applied fire and sword relentlessly, till seven hundred victims
had fallen. The fleeing remnant of the nation were pursued
along the sound shore westward, with sad slaughter by the way,
until the remnant were overtaken and captured near Fairfield,
except that Sassacus and a few others escaped to the Mohawks,
only to meet death at their hands.
Thus the great nation of the Pequods was wiped out, and the
English settlers breathed free of the terrors on their account
which had made residence in the new country peculiarly
hazardous.
Though the scenes of the Pequod war were enacted in other
fields than I^ewport county the influences exerted here must
have amounted to a powerful factor in the means which brought
such auspicious results to the white settlers of both this locality
and Massachusetts bay. The scenes which took place here, on-
Conanicut island, perhaps turned the tide of events, and in their
final development gave to the white settlers an overwhelming
victory for all time instead of a complete extermination of their
feeble numbers by the combined forces of the bloodthirsty sav-
ages. The Pequod embassadors sent to secure the co-operation
of the ISTarragansett Indians were already in conference with
Canonicus and Miantonomi on the island of Conanicut, when
Roger Williams, being apprized of their movements and pur-
poses, came down the bay to intercede with his friends, the
Narragansett sachems. Though the latter had already entered
into negotiations with the Pequods to join them in their war
upon the whites, Williams threw all his energies into the cause,
and at the imminent risk of his life, for three days and three
nights labored by entreaty, argument and expostulation, to pre-
vent the proposed alliance. His efforts were at last crowned
with success, the proposed compact was completely nullified
and the friendly relations of the Narragansetts with the colon-
ists fully' established.
History can never tell what direful results would have fol-
lowed had it not been for that interview on Conanicut and the
herculean struggle of Williams' superior intellect with that of
the untutored savages. But the aspects which seem to have
HISTORY 0¥ NEWPORT COUNTY. 17
been entirely changed by it, wtren the fate of a coming nation
hung quivering in the balance, strongly suggest that but for
that interview the feeble colonies of white settlers then in New
England might have been completely annihilated before the
sweep of tomahawk and firebrand, wielded without mercy by
reckless savage hands.
While the field was being prepared for the occupation of a
new race by the confirmation of friendly relations with the "Nar-.
ragansetts, and the removal of possible danger from the hostile
Pequods, agencies were at work in Massachusetts bay ffrepar-
ing the seed which was soon to be planted here, as the nucleus
of civilization in Newport county. We turn now to look briefly
at the working of those agencies and the development of their
results.
Prom the early days of the Christian church, when the apos-
tle James wrote his general epistle, there have been at times
persons who taught the doctrine that faith in Christ relieves
those holding it from all obligation to keep the moral law.
Those holding this doctrine were called Autinomians. The doc-
trine appeared in Grermany in the time of Luther, by whom it
was vigorously opposed, and in England during the protector-
ate of Cromwell, when some of its votaries maintained that " as
the elect cannot fall from grace nor forfeit the divine favor, any
wicked actions which they may commit are not really sinful ;
and that consequently, they have ho need to confess their sins
or to break them off by repentance." It appeared again in the
following century, when its supporters maintained that it was a
logical consequence from the doctrines taught by Calvin. From
England the doctrine was brought to the new settlements in
America by Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a lady of considerable cul-
ture and liberal education, who arrived in Boston September 18th,
1634. She became a member of the Boston church, and rapidly
acquired influence. Meetings of the women of the church -were
held under her direction, in which she taught her peculiar relig-
ious speculations. Among them was the tenet that the person
of the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer, and that the inward
revelations of the Spirit, the conscious judgments of the mind,
are of paramount authority. Among those who accepted her
doctrines were Henry Vane, John Cotton and John Wheel-
wright and nearly the whole Boston church. The neighboring
churches and clergy however, were strongly opposed to them.
2
18 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY..
The contest in 1636 became violent and all-pervading. Bancroft
says,— "The dispute infused its spirit into everything; it inter-
fered v^rith the levy of troops for the Pequot war ; it influenced
the respect shown to the magistrates, the distribution of town
lots, the assessment of rates ; and at last the continued exist-
ence of the two opposing parties was considered inconsistent
with the public peace."
The peculiar tenets of Mrs. Hutchinson were among a long
catalogue of opinions which were condemned as erroneous by
an ecclesiastical synod held at Newtown, Mass., August 30th,
1637, and in the following November she was tried by the general
court, and together with a number of her associates sentenced
to banishment from the territory of Massachusetts-.
Nineteen of these exiled colonists, under the leadership of
John Clarke and William Coddington, were welcomed by Roger
Williams to establish a plantation near him, and by his recom-
mendation purchased of the Indians the island of Aquidneck,
now known as Rhode Island. Here a body politic was formed
on democrafic principles, in which no one was to be "accounted
a delinquent for doctrine." Mrs. Hutchinson, with her hus-
band and sons, Joined the new settlement, and remained there
until 1642, when, her husband having died, she removed with
her family into the territory of the Dutch near New York,
where during the following year she died at the hands of the
Indians who were then at war with the Dutch.
We are now prepared to consider the actual circumstances of
the purchase and settlement.
The initial part of what is now the county of Newport was
the insular territory. Of that, the island lying in the bay,
against the northern part of Rhode Island, now known as
Prudence, but called by the Indians Chibachuwese, was the first
purchase from the Indians of which we have any knowledge-
■ This was first purchased by one Mr. Oldham, as will shortly be
seen, upon conditions of settlement which were not fulfilled,
hence the sale was void. Later it was sold to Roger Williams
and Governor Winthrop. The date of these transactions is not
known, but it was probably some time during the year 1636.
The purchase was made of the two chiefs, Canonicus and Mia-n-
tonomi. Previous to the transaction Roger Williams wrote to
Governor Winthrop in regard to his motives and purposes that
" Gannonnicus gave an Island in this Bay to Mr. Oldham, by
HISTOBY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 19
name Chibackuwesa, uppon condition as it should seem, that
he would dwell (here neare unto thera. The Lord (in whose
hands all our hearts are) turning theare affections towards my-
selfe, they desired me to remove thither and dwell nearer to
them. I have answered once and againe, that for the present I
mind not to remove ; but if I have it from them, I would give
them satisfaction for it, and build a little house and put in some
swine, as understandinge the place to have store of fish and good
feedinge for swine. Of late I have heard, that Mr. Gibbons,
xipon occasion, motioned your desire and his own of putting
some swine on some of these islands, which hath made me more
■desire to obtain it, because I might thereby not onley benefit
myselfe, but also pleasure yourselfe, whom I more desire to
please and honour. I spoke of it now to this sachem, and he
tells me, that because of the store of fish, Cannonnicus desires
that I would accept halfe, (it being spectacle- wise, and between
a mile or two in circuit, as I guess) and he would reserve the
other ; but I think if I goe over, I shall obtain the whole."
But the first definite and most important transfer of the ex-
tensive insular lands of this county was made in the year 1637.
The following is a copy of this conveyance :
" The 24th of ye 1st month called March in ye yeare (soe com-
monly called) 1637.
" Memorandum. That we Cannonnicus and Miantunnomu ye
two chiefe Sachims of the Nanhiggansitts, • by virtue of our
■Grenerale command of this Bay, as allso the perticular subject-
Inge of the dead Sachims of Acquednecke and Kitackamuck-
qutt, themselves and land unto us, have sold unto Mr. Cod-
dington and his friends united unto him, the great Island of
Acquednecke lyinge from hence Eastward in this Bay, as allso
the marsh or grasse upon Quinunicutt and the rest of the Islands
in the Bay (exceptinge Chibachuwesa formerly sould unto Mr.
Winthrop, the now Governour of the Massachusetts and Mr.
Williams of Providence) ; allso the grasse upon the rivers and
coves about Kitickamuckqutt and from these to Paupausquatch,
for the full payment of forty fathom of white beads, to be
equally divided between us. In witnesse whereof we have here
subscribed.
"Item. That by givinge by Miantunnomus' ten coates and
twenty howes to the present inhabitants, they shall remove
20 HISTORX OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
themselves from off the Island before next winter. Witness:
our hands.
"Themarkeof X Caunonnious
" In the presence of
" Ye marke of X Yotuesh
"Roger Williams
" The marke of X Miantunnomit
"Randall Holden
" Ye marke of X Assotemuet
" Ye marke of X Mishammoh
" Catjnonicus, his son."
Other memoranda relating to the transaction have been pre-
served, among the most interesting of which are the following :
" This witnesseth that I, Wanamafcraunemit ye at present
sachem, inhabitant of ye Island, have received five fathom of
wampum and doe consent to the contents. Witness my hand.
Ye marke of Wanamataunewit
" In ye presence of
Randall Holden."
" Memorandum. That I, Ousamequin, freely consent that
Mr. William Coddington and his friends United unto him shall
make use of any grasse or trees on ye maineland on Powakasick
side, and doe promise loveinge and just carriage of myselfe and
all my men to the said Mr. Coddington and English his friends
united to him, havinge received of Mr. Coddington five fathom
of wampum as gratuity from himself e and the rest.
" Dated the 6th of the fifth month, 1638.
" Ye marke of X Ousamequin
" Witnesse
Roger Williams,
Randall Holden."
Existing receipts from Miantunnomu, Weshaganesett, Wani-
menatoni and Canonnicus show that during the year 1639 Cod-
dington and his associates paid to the Indians at different times,
to satisfy them for this purchase, twenty fathoms wampum,
twenty-five coats, thirteen hoes and two "tarkepes." The In-
dians now removed from the island of Aquidneck and its
neighboring islands, and surrendered them to the peaceable
and undisputed possession of the white purchasers. The first
settlement was made at Pocasset, in the northern part of the
island, near the present village of Portsmouth.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 21
William Coddington, whose name appears prominent in the
first purchase of lands of this county, was previous to that, one
of the magistrates of the Massachusetts colony. He was one of
a company of nineteen persons who associated themselves to-
gether at Boston for the purpose of settling as a colony at some
place southward, and accordingly sent out a committee of their
number to select a place and secure territory upon which to
locate. They made choice of the beautiful islands and shores of
Narragansett bay, as has been seen, and two and a half cen-
turies of enlightened progress confirms the wisdom of their
choice. The deed was taken, as we have seen, in the name of
" William Coddington and his friends." It was so held by
Coddington until April 14th, 1652, when he executed an instru-
ment transferring all rights which he might claim under the
deed to the company of which himself was but a single member,
holding equal rights with the others.
Soon after the purchase of the "plantation " the settlers who
located upon it entered into a compact, of which the following
is a copy :
" The 7th day of the first month, 1638.
" We whose names are iinderwritten do here solemnly in the
presence of Jehovah incorporate ourselves into aBodie 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 most absolute lawes of his
given us in hisholy word of truth, to be guided and judged
thereby.
Exod. 24. 3, 4. William Coddington,
2 Cron. 11. 3. John Clarke,
2 Kings. 11. 17. William Hutchinson, Jr.,
John Coggeshall,
William Aspinwall,
Samuel Wilboke,
John Porter,
John Sanfokd,
Edward Hutchinson, Jr., Esq.,
Thomas Savage,
William Dyre,
William Preeborne,
Phillip Shearman,
John Walker,
23 histoey of newport county.
Richard Carder,
William Baulston,
Edward Hutchinson, Sen'r.,
Heney X BuLLE, his mai'ke,
Randall Holden."
William Coddington was chosen a judge and the little colony
promised to "yield all due honour nnto him according to the
lawes of God." At the same time William Aspinwall was ap-
pointed secretary and William Dyre was made " Clarke of this
Body."
Meetings of the colony were held at irregular intervals, some-
times of a week or two and sometimes of a month or more,
whenever occasion demanded, which in those primitive days
was frequent. At these meetings laws and orders were passed,
lands allotted to individual settlers, and provision made for the
needs of the colony in various directions as those needs ap-
peared.
The colony flourished during the year 1638, and such was its
rapid growth and the prospects of future prosperity that it was
soon deemed expedient and desirable that a new colony or em-
bryo town should be established on the southern part of the
island. On the 28th of April, 1639, William Coddington and
eight others decided to found such a plantation, and the steps
which followed resulted in the foundation of what afterward
became the town, and still later the city of Newport. Though
the official vote which constituted the first act toward establish-
ing the new settlement bears the above mentioned date, the 12tli
of May is the traditional date on which the settlement was be-
gun. This is attested by the inscription on the monument to
the memory of William Coddington, which marks his resting
place in the burial ground on Farewell street, near the Second
Baptist church in Newport. It is a stone slab, standing in the
middle of the plot, and bears the following legend of the time
of which we are writing :
" THIS MONUMENT Erected by the Town of Newport on
the 12th day of May, 1839, being the Second Centennial Anni-
versary of the settlement of this Town ; To the memory of
WILLIAM CODDINGTON, ESQ. That illustrious man, who
first purchased this Island from the Narragansett Sachems
Canonicus and Miantunomo for, and on account of himself and
Seventeen others his associates in the purchase and settlement.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 23
" He presided many years as chief Magistrate of the Island—
and Colony of Ehode Island— and died much respected and
lamented on the 1st day of November 1678, Aged 78 Years—
and was here interred."
If we may be pardoned for the digression, we would linger in
this ancient burial place a moment longer to speak of two or
three others of the first settlers of this island whose remains lie
buried here. Doubtless beneath the grass and in spots other-
wise half hidden in this enclosure
" There lie memorial stones whence time haff gnawed
The graven legends ; "
but the "legends" upon some of them are still intelligible.
Among them is a monument to Henry Bull, " Late Governor of
this Colony aged 85 years deceased January 22d 169f . He was
one of the eighteen original purchasers of this Island who set-
tled the town of Pocassett or Portsmouth in 1638 ; and one of
the eight who settled the town of Newport in 1639." Others
bear the inscriptions of William James, Sr., who died October
19, 1697 ; John Easton, governor, who died in 1705 ; and Edward
Thurston, who died in 1706.
A little confusion appears to exist in regard to the exact
number of the first settlers here. It seems probable that one of
the nineteen, Randall Holden, was not a member of the com-
pany at the time the purchase was made, but joined or re-
joined it about the time the compact was entered into. He then
a few years later separated from the company. Hence we find
the original number of settlers spoken of sometimes as eighteen
and at other times as nineteen.
We now behold the island of Aquidneck with two settlements
in active and prosperous existence upon it. The usual labors of
a new settlement engrossed their attention. What with break-
ing roads, clearing up woods, exterminating wolves and foxes,
opening a trade in lumber, building vessels and laying the
foundations of a well established and regulated local govern-
ment, these towns were soon advanced to a more prosperous
and important position than their elder sister. Providence.
During the summer of 1638 Richard Dummer began building a
mill. For this public convenience he was granted a share in
the common proprietorship equal to a £150 estate. In the lat-
ter part of the same year Mr. Esson was encouraged to build a
water mill for the use of the plantation, and for that use he was
24 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
perrxiitted to fall and carry away any timber that might be
necessary. At this period the general meeting of the people
empowered creditors to sell property of absconded debtors, also
appointed men to trade with the Indians, and fixed the rates at
which venison should be bought and sold. These prices were
three half pence a pound to be paid for it in trade with the In-
dians, and two pence a pound was the price at Avhich it was to
be sold, a farthing to each pound to be returned into the public
treasury as revenue. On training days all men able to bear
arms, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years, were required
to exercise in military drill. In 1639 fences of either hedge or
post-and-rail were required to be made around corn ground.
Keepers were appointed for the cattle which ran at large in the
common pasturage, from April 15th to November 1st. The set-
ting of fire on any lands for purposes of clearing was forbidden,
except during certain specified days in March. This indicates
the prevalence of a custom of burning grass and shrubs. Stocks
and whipping posts were among the first institutions set up for
the public weal in these primitive towns. The fields and woods
were held largely in common, and the falling of timber, which
was plentiful here, was regulated by the towns. Those who
were licensed to cut timber and saw it into lumber were forbid-
den to sell any lumber outside of the town or to any one in the
town without license from the proper authorities. The prices,
which were then regulated by law, were eight shillings per hun-
dred for inch boards and seven shillings per hundred for half
inch boards ; and twelve pence per foot for clap-boards and
palings.
On the 12th of March, 1640, a compact amounting to a gov-
ernment was entered into by a union of the two towns occupy-
ing the island. It was agreed that this should be under a gov-
ernor or deputy governor and assistants. The governor and
two assistants were to be chosen from one town and the deputy
and two other assistants from the other town. The governor
and all his assistants were invested with the authority of jus-
tices of the peace. The election of all town officers was now ef-
fected by the united towns. The first ofiicers of the primitive
state thus organized were : William Coddington, governor ;
William Brenton, deputy governor; Nicholas Easton, John
Coggeshall, William Hutchinson and John Porter, assistants ;
William,Dyre, secretary, and Henry Bull, sergeant. The terra
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 25
of their offices was one year. A more full establisliinent of the
government was effected at a general court of the two towns
held on the 6th of May following. Among the acts passed at
that time the following are some of the most interesting :
" 13. Whereas, it was desired that all the orders and Laws
formerlie recorded in this Book of State should be openlie read,
perused and examined by this present Courte assembled ; Be it
known, therefore, that it hath been so done ; and such as were
disallowed are repealed, and so noted in the Margent, and the
rest are ratified, and stand in full force, though the title of the
Magistrates be altered.
"14. In regard to the many Incursions our Island is subject
unto, and that an Alarum be necessary for the safe securing
thereof ; Be it therefore enacted, that in each plantation there
bee this forme dulie observed. That as soon as a notice is given
of any probable Incursion, that then forthwith Three Musketts
be distinctly discharged, and the Drum or Drummers inces-
santly to beat an Alarum ; and that forthwith each Man bearing
armes shall repair to the coulers, which shall be lodged at ye
Chief Magistrates House in each Plantation, as he will answer
it at his perill.
"15. It is ordered, that the Governour with the Assistants
shall write to Plymouth about their Title of the Maine Land
Grass.
"16. It is ordered, that all such who shall have a House lott
granted unto them within any of our Townes, shall build a
House thereon within a year after the Grant thereof, or else it
shall be forfeited to the Townes use. Repealed.
"17. It is ordered, that Commission be directed to the Treas-
urers to make demands of all such monies, as are due to the
Treasury for the Lands assigned forth to particular men, and to
make return of all such who shall be therein remiss, at the next
particular Courte who are to be ordered thereby according to
Law.
" 18. It is ordered, that the. particular Courts, consisting of
Magistrates and Jurors shall be holden on the first Tuesday of
each month ; and one Courte to be held at Nieuport, the other
at Portsmouth ; and that the sayd Court shall have full powre
to Judge and determine all such cases and actions as shall be
presented."
August 6th, 1640, the general court passed further enact-
96 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ments requiring that all men liable to bear arms should appear
completely armed with musket and pike and all their "furni-
ture," at the places respectively designated, " by Eight of the
clock in the morning, at the second beat of the Drum, on such
dayes as they are appointed to Traine ; " that " eight severall
times in the yeare the Bands of each Plantation shall openlie
in the field be exercised and disciplined by their Commanders
and Officers : " that there should be two general musters an-
nually, one in Newport and one in Portsmouth : that a fine of
five shillings should be paid by any delinquent : that a fine of
twelve pence should be paid for every failure to come properly
equipped : that when a general muster should be held in one
town a sufiicient guard should be set in the other town : that all
men remaining twenty days or longer upon the island should
be liable to do duty in the training bands : that herdsmen and
lightermen detained by their employments should be excused
for absence on training days on payment of half the fine : that
the two chief officers of each town — one of the commonwealth
and the other of the band— should judge the validity of all ex-
cuses of this kind : that each town should have the transaction
of its own local affairs, the magistrates of each having liberty
to call a court on the first Tuesday of each month, wherein
actions might be entered, juries impaneled and causes tried
(but they were to have no jurisdiction over cases involving
"life and limb,") and whence appeals might be taken to the
quarter sessions : and that the two general courts of the year
should be held on the first Wednesday after the 12th of March
and 12th of October respectively. The time of holding the
quarter sessions was subsequently fixed on the Tuesdays pre-
ceding the general court days, and on the first Tuesdays in Jan-
uary and July.
The Indian question is a perplexing one even to this great
nation, with all its advancement, its great wealth, its sixty
million people and its territory expanding from ocean to ooean.
Of how much more pressing importance and grave perplexity
must it have been to the handful of inhabitants of this little
island who composed the government whose history we are re-
viewing. Grovernor Coddington and his assistants, on the 7th
of July, 1640, entered into a treaty with Miantonomi and his
associates, sachems of the Narragansett Indians, as follows :
" That no Indian whatever, under his jurisdiction shall eyther
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 27
Winter or Summer, kindle or cause to be kindled any fires upon
our Lands, but such as they shall put forth immediately again
upon their departure ; Provided, that no hurt or damage be
done thereby upon or after the kindling of the said fire ; or if it
so fall out, that hurt or damage be donfe by their kindling of
fire, then ye damage to be adjudged and they to be tryed by our
Law.
" That in lieu of a Boore yt belonged to the Island, killed by
an Indian, the said Indian shall pay ten fadome of beads at
harvest next.
" That no trapp or Engine be sett by them upon the Island,
to take or stroye the deare or other cattle thereon.
" That if any Indian shall be unruly, or -will not depart our
houses when they are bidden, they are to carry them to the
Governour or other Magistrate, and they shall be punished ac-
cording to their demerit. And further, that for any common
or small crime he shall receive his punishment according to Law;
and for any matters of greater weight exceeding the value of
ten fadome of beads, then Miantonomy is to be sent for, who is
to come and see the Tryal. But if it be a Sachem that hath
offended, though in smaller matters, then he is also to be sent
for, and to see his tryall and Judgment, who hath promised to
come.
" That no Indian shall take any Cannew from the English,
neyther from their Boatside or shoreside, and the like not to be
done by them.
"That upon their trading and. bargaining, having agreed,
they shall not revoke the said bargaine or take their goods away
by force, and that they shall not be Idling about nor resort to
our houses, but for trade. Message, or in their Journeys."
As improvements were made and the need of more definite-
ness in boundaries of estates appeared, the dividing line be-
tween the two towns was established. The act of the general
court by which this was done bears date September 14th, 1640,
and its language is as follows :
"It is agreed and ordered, by the unanimous consent of this
Courte, that a line of division be drawn between the Townes of
Newport and Portsmouth, as the bounds of the Lands of
each Towne, Vidg' t.
"The s'd Line to begin half a mile beyond the Eiver com-
monlie called Sachuis River, being the Eiver that lies next be-
28 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
yond Mr. Brenton's Land on the South East side of the Island
towards Portsmouth, and so on in a straight line to run to the
nearest part of the Brook to the hunting Wigwamm, now
standing in the highway between the two Towns, and so by that
line to the sea on the North side of the Island, which line shall
be and is the Bounds between the Two Townes, and to be sett
out by marked Trees ; And that Mr. Easton and Mr. Porter,
and Mr. Jeffreys and Mr. Sanford shall lay out this Line by the
iirst of November ensuing."
The two towns now carried on a sort of government in con-
federation. The assembly of the people was called the general
court. Notwithstanding the generally peaceable relations with
the Indians, which had been established, the people were not
entirely at ease about their safety. Military regulations were
not neglected. On the 14th of September the general court
passed the following order in respect to their defenses :
" It was further ordered, that Two Barrels of Grunn Powder
be alwaye readie in the Treasury of each Towne, with Bulletts
and match : and that provision be forthwith hereof made by
the Treasurers; and that also the Treasurers shall provide Thirty
two pikes to lye by ^way in readiness in the Magazines of each
Towne."
The character of -the government, which then consisted of the
two towns, Portsmouth and Newport, was defined more speci-
fically than it had previously been, at a meeting of the people
in general court in March, 1641. The expression of that senti-
ment was made in the following form of language :
" It is ordered and unanimously agreed upon, that the Grov-
«rnment which this Bodie Politick doth attend unto in this Is-
land, and the jurisdiction thereof, in favor of our Prince, is a
Demooeacie, or Popular Government ; that is to say. It is the
Powre of the Body of Freemen orderly assembled, or the major
part of thdm, to make or constitute Just Lawes, by which they
will be regulated, and to depute from among themselves such
Ministers as shall see them faithfully executed between Man
and Man."
"It was further ordered, by the authority of this present
Courte, that none be accounted a delinquent for Doctrine :
Provided, it be not directly repugnant to ye Government or
Lawes established."
The last order was subsequently ratified by the same court at
HISTORY OF NEWPOET COUNTY. 2&
another meeting. Other regulations of importance were passed
at the date last mentioned, some of which are of interest suf-
ficient to warrant their reproduction here.
"It is ordered, that no Fiers shall be kindled by any what-
soever to runn at randome, eyther in Medows or Woods ; bu fc
what by him that so kindled it shall forthwith be put out, that
it damnifie none. And that if damage shall accrew, satisfaction
to the utmost shall be awarded."
"It is ordered, that a Manual Seale shall be provided for the
State, and that the Signett or Engraving thereof, shall be a
sheafe of Arrows bound up, and in the Lies or Bond, this motto
indented : Amor vincet omnia."
" It was then ordered, that a Line be drawen and a way be
cleared between the Townes of Nuport and Portsmouth by re-
moving of the wood and mowing it ; that drift Cattle may suf-
ficiently pass."
Greneral courts of election were held annually in March ; they
usually occupied two or three days. At this time officers for
the coming year were elected, necessary regulations made and
the trial of such individual cases as were brought before them
attended to. Other general courts were held in September. At
the latter court for 1641 setting of traps for deer was forbidden
under a penalty of five pounds, except within private enclosed
grounds. Indians were at the same time forbidden to peel the
bark off from trees or to fall them. The following curious and
interesting acts were passed at the same session.
"It is ordered, that Mr. Robert Jeoffreys shall be authorized
to exercise the function of Chirurgerie."
"It is ordered, that the Indian Corne shall goe at four shil-
lings a bushell between man and man in a^l-^ayments for debts
made from this day forward : Provided' it be Merchantable."
" The Court doth order and Proclayme a General Pardon of
all offences that have been presented to and given in this
Present Sessions."
JS'otwith standing the liberality of this government, the char-
acter and conduct of its citizens were closely investigated, and
when they were found to deviate from the popular standard
they were promptly dealt with. This will be best shown by
quoting from the records of the general court. In March, 1642,
we find the following :
" It is ordered, that Richard Carder, Randall Holden, Samp-
30 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COTTNTy.
son Shatton and Robert Potter, are disfranchised of the Priv-
iledges and Prerogatives belonging to the Body of this State,
and that their names be cancelled out of the record.
"It is farther ordered, that George Parker and John Briggs
are suspended their votes till they have given satisfaction for
their offences.
" It is further ordered, that Mr. Lenthall being gone for Eng-
land, is suspended his vote in Election."
What the offenses charged against these men were does not
fully appear in the record, but other evidences show that in the
case of those mentioned in the first paragraph at least they
were of a political character, viz.: that of denying the right of
the people here to exercise the functions of a state as they were
doing. There were men among the early settlers who held that
English subjects had no right to organize a government of their
own, as the settlers of several towns had done, and as those of
Portsmouth and Newport were doing. These men claimed that
no government could lawfully be erected here without the con-
sent and authority of the crown. They opposed the idea of
the democracy which the people of Aquidneck had declared
their government to be. Such appear to have been the views
held by the company of men who made the settlement of War-
wick, and such were the views of the five men — Holden, Weeks,
Carder, Shatton and Potter— who were disfranchised here, as
shown in the above paragraph. The degree of bitterness to
which this controversy arose is suggested by a subsequent act
of the general court to the effect that should those men "come
upon the Island armed they shall be by the Constable (calling
him sufficiently aside) disarm'd and carried before the Magis-
trate, and there find sureties for their good behaviour ; and fur-
ther belt established, that if that course shall not regulate them
or any of them, then a further dew and lawfull course by the
Magistrates shall be taken in their Sessions : Provided, that
this order hinder not the course of Law already begun with J.
Weeks." '
These men joined with others holding similar views, and in
January, 1642-3, founded the settlement of Warwick, upon
the site called by the Indians Shawomet. The Indian deed
from Miantonomi to thatcompany, in which those names among
others appear, bore date January 12th, 1642. The leading spirit
in the founding of that plantation was one Samuel Gorton, one
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 31
«
of those restless, pushing men, who thought for themselves,
and had determination sufficient to prompt them to carry out
their ideas, even in the face of violent opposition. Gorton
denied the right of all government here that had not for its
foundation the authority of the crown of England. As a con-
sequence he denied the right of the colonies of either Aquid-
neck or Providence to exercise any of the functions of govern-
ment. This brought him into collision with the magistrates
here, and he was banished from the island. He then disturbed
the peace of Providence by his teachings, and finally withdrew
with his followers and founded the plantation of Warwick.
Greene, in his history of Rhode Island continues this subject
in regard to him in the following words :
" This brought him into open hostility with Massachusetts,
which having already cast longing eyes upon the commercial
advantages of Narragansett Bay, was secretly endeavouring to
establish a claim to all the land on its shores. Hostile words
were soon followed by hostile acts. Gorton and his companions
were besieged in their house by an armed band, compelled to
surrender, carried by force to Massachusetts, tried for heresy,
and barelj^ escaping the gibbet, condemned to imprisonment
and irons. A reaction soon followed. Public sentiment came
to their relief. They were banished indeed from Massachusetts,
but they were set at liberty and allowed to return to Rhode
Island. At Aquidneck they were received with the sympathy
which generous natures ever feel for the victims of persecution,
and Gorton was raised to an honorable magistracy in the very
colony wherein he had been openly whipped as a disturber of
the public peace."
The ideas of the Warwick men seemed to gain some root in
the minds of others. Whilst the people of Aquidneck may not
have questioned the lawfulness of their government, however,
they shortly began to see the expediency of being founded on
a charter from the crown. Accordingly the general court in
September, 1642, appointed a committee, consisting of the gov-
ernor, deputy, four assistants, secretary, and three others, viz.,
Capt. Jeoflfreys, Capt. Halrding and Mr. John Clarke, to con-
sult about procuring a patent for this island and the neighbor-
ing islands and lands adjacent. The committee were directed
to address Sir Henry Vane on the subject, and to send a man
on the proposed errand with petitions for its accomplishment,
32 HISTORY OF KEWPORT COITWTY.
»
at the' expense of " the Body." How far this project was
pushed we do not know, but it was undoubtedly merged in the
more comprehensive plan of securing a patent for the other set-
tlements of Providence and Warwick in connection with those
of this island, which was accomplished during the following
year.
Before leaving the history of that interesting period when
Aquidneck was an independent state, let us notice briefly a few
more of the customs and regulations of the time. Training was
kept up with enforced regularity, and rules were annually
made concerning the practice of military exercise. Training
days were appointed on the first Monday of every month ex-
cept January, February, May and August. Wolves had. be-
come troublesome, and in order to exterminate them various
means were used. Men were employed by the day to range the
woods and hunt them down. A premium of thirty shillings
each was offered for destroying them, in addition to the pay for
time employed in hunting them. It appears to have been a
custom with the state to furnish at public expense dinners for
those who were in attendance at the general court sessions.
This was soon regarded as a needless, burden upon the public
treasury, and in the year 1642 the custom was abolished. At
this time great precautions were taken to prevent damage being:
done by the Indians by way of personal attacks as well as upon
property, by withholding as much as possible the means of
destruction from the hands of the Indians. To furnish any In-
dian who was offensive to the state with warlike weapons or
ammunition was prohibited under penalty of two pounds for
the first offense and five pounds for the second offense. The
pay of jurors was fixed in 1642 at twelve pence each for every
cause upon which they sat. September 19th Roger Williams
was commissioned to agree with Miantonomifor the destruction
of wolves on the island, but it was specified that they should
" in no way damnific the English." At the same time the gov-
ernor and his deputy were authorized to make a treaty of
commercial exchange with the Dutch.
March 13th, 1644, the name of the island was changed, by
the following act of the general court :
"It is ordered by this Court, that the ysland commonly
called Aquethneck, shall be from henceforth called the Isle of
Rhodes, or RHODE ISLAND."
HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY. 33
The patent for the Providence Plantations bears date March
14th, 1643-4. It gave to the inhabitants of the towns of Provi-
dence, Portsmouth and Newport, a "free and absolute Charter
of Incorporation, to be knojvn by the name of the Incorpora-
tion of Providence Plantations in the Narragansett-Bay, in
New England. — Together with full Power and Authority to
rule themselves, and such others as shall hereafter inhabit
within any Part of the said Tract of land, by such a Form of
Civil Government, as by voluntary consent of all, or the greater
Part of them, they shall find most suitable to their Estete and
Condition."
At a meeting of the major j)art of the freemen of the colony
at Portsmouth May 19th, 20th and 21st, 1647, unanimous agree-
ment and consent was made to the charter, and it was agreed
also that Warwick should have the same privileges under the
charter as were enjoyed by Providence. Laws were adopted
similar in general tone to those which had previously been in
force under the union of the two towns of Portsmouth and New-
port, but very much more full and extending to many other
subjects. An order was at this time passed that the seal of the
province should be an_ anchor, which design in general is still
preserved on the seal of the state. The moderator of this meet-
ing was John Coggeshall. Among other enactments then
passed was the following :
"It is agreed by this present Assembly thus incorporate and
by this present act declared, that the form of Grovernment es-
tablished in Providence Plantations is Democratical ; that is to
say Government held by ye free and voluntairie consent of all
or the greater part of the free Inhabitants."
The first officers then elected were : John Coggeshall, presi-
dent ; William Dyre, recorder ; Jeremy Clarke, treasurer ; and
Roger Williams, John Sanford, William Coddington and Ran-
dall Holden, assistants. The latter represented the four towns
of Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick. The
island was then (he principal part of the colony, as may be
seen from the assessment on the different parts of the colony to
pay the expense incurred by Roger Williams in obtaining the
patent. Of the one hundred pounds which was raised for this
purpose fifty was levied on Newport, thirty on Portsmouth,
•twenty on Providence, and nothing was exacted of Warwick,
doubtless out of regard for the weak condition of that settle-
3
34 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ment and the fact that it was not embraced specifically in the
charter.
The government of the colony was, however, far from being
settled on an established and firm basis. The jealousy of Massa-
chusetts and her desire to absorb the little colony on the one
hand, and the fear of Indian invasion on the other, furnished
continual occasions for unrest to the people, while to still
further complicate their position William Coddington in 1651
obtained from England a commission appointing him governor
for life over the colony of Rhode Island, and Connecticut as
M^ell. This virtually opened a new form of government and for
the time superseded the charter. The govornor was to be as-
sisted by a council of six.
The towns of Aquidneck island now sent John Clarke, their
agent, to England, to secure if possible the annulment of Cod-
dington' s commission. At the same time the mainland towns
sent Roger Williams to England to secure the confirmation of
the charter.
The general court of Providence Plantations November 4th,
1651, ]3assed the following resolution, which hints at the con-
dition of things at the time :
"Whereas, it is evident and apparent that Mr. ISTicholas Eas-
ton being formerly chosen President of the Province of Provi-
dence Plantations, hath of late deserted his office, and hee, to-
gether with the tv^ro Townes upon Rhode Island, viz, Ports-
mouth and Newport, have declined and fallen off from that es-
tablished order of civill government and incorporation amongst
us, by means of a commission presented upon the sayd island
by Mr. William Coddington, Wee, the rest of the Townes of
the sayd jurisdiction, are thereupon constrained to declare our-
selves, that wee doe prof esse ourselves unanimously to stand im-
bodyyed and incorporated as before, by virtue of our Charter,
granted unto us by that Honorable State of Ould England, and
thereby do according to our legall and settled order, choose
and appoint our officers, institute lawes, accordinge to the con-
stitution of the place and capassitie of our present condition,
prosecutinge, actinge and executing, in all matters and causes,
for the doinge of justice, preservation of our peace, and main-
taininge of all civill rights between man and man, accordinge
to the Honourable authoritie and true intent of our forsayed
Charter granted unto us."
HISTORY OF WEWPORT COUNTY. 35
The people at this time seemed rather desirous of courting
the favor of the English crown, for the reason perhaps more
emphatically than they might otherwise have felt, that the con-
dition of affairs in their new home was not at all satisfactory,
and the prospect of maintaining here a government of any kind
seemed enveloped in darkness, and the only source from which
they could expect help was from the crown. The following act,
passed in 1650, exhibits this desire to appear jealous of the
honor of the crown.
"Be it enacted by this present Assemblie, that whosoever
shall speake wordes of disgrace contemptuously undervaluing
of that Honored State of England, he shall suffer a severe pun-
ishment according to the judgment of his peers, theare fault
being proved by two lawfull witnesses."
The general court of 1650 ordered that a committee of six men
from each town should meet four days before the meeting of
the next general court, and be invested with the authority of
the full court. They were to be paid by the town that should
send them two shillings and six pence a day for each man. The
plan of representation seems to have worked satisfactorily, as
at the next meeting of the assembly, October 26th, 1650, the
following record was made :
" Ordered, that the representative committee for the Colonie
shall alway consist of six discreet, able men, and chosen out of
each Towne for the transacting of the affaires of the Common-
wealth ; and being mett, they shall have powre to make and
establish rules and penalties for the ordering of themselves dur-
ing their sessions."
From the year 1651 to 1654 the island towns maintained a
government of their own, while the towns of Providence and
Warwick claimed to exist under the former charter and main-
tained as well as they could their charter privileges. We quote
from " Staples' Annals" the following picture of the times :
"The towns of Providence and Warwick appointed Mr. Wil-
liams their agent to go to England and solicit a confirmation of
privileges. In the mean time Plymouth and Massachusetts re-
newed their dispute before the United Colonies about Warwick.
In September Plymouth was advised to take possession of that
plantation by force, unless the inhabitants would willingly sub-
mit themselves to their jurisdiction. This undoubtedly hastened
the appointment of an agent to England. The proceedings of
36 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Mr. Coddington were not approved by all the inhabitants of the-
islands over which he was appointed Grovernor. Forty-one of
the inhabitants of Portsmouth, and sixty-five of the inhabitants
of ]N"ew,port joined in requesting Dr. John Clark, of Newport,
to proceed to England as their agent, and solicit a repeal of his
commission. Mr. Williams and Mr. Clark sailed together from
Boston in November. The objects of their respective missions
were different. Mr. Clark was the sole agent of the island
towns, to procure a repeal of Mr. Coddington' s commission.
Mr. Williams was the sole agent of Providence and Warwick to
procure a new charter for these two towns. It seems to have
been admitted that the commission of Mr. Coddington had in
effect vacated the previous charter."
The commission of Coddington covered in its jurisdiction the
islands of Rhode Island and Conanicut. This, it was said, was
then the greater part of that which had been under the charter
of the Providence Plantations. While the Gortonists (fol-
lowers of Samuel Gorton at Warwick) and the people of
Showomut were raising money to send Williams to England for
the purposes already mentioned, Mr. William Arnold at the
time wrote concerning the movement as follows :
"It is a great pe tie and very unfitt that such a company as
these are, they all stand professed enemies against all the United
Colonies, that they should get a charter for so small a quantity
of land as lyeth in and about Providence, Showomut, Pautuxit
and Coicett, all which now Rhode Island is taken out from it,
it is but a strape of land lying in betweene the colonies of Mas-
sachusits, plymouth and Conitaquot, by which means if they
should get them a charter, off it there may come some mischiefe
and trouble upon the whole country if their project be not pre-
vented in time, for under the pretence of liberty of conscience
about these partes there comes to live all the sou me the runne
awayes of the country, which in tyme for want of better order
may bring a heavy burthen upon the land."
In the midst of this period of disorganized government war
broke out between England and Holland, and these hostilities
affected quite directly the towns on Narragansett Bay, espec-
ially Newport, which was then engaged in a profitable com-
merce with the Datch. Meanwhile the agents in England had
obtained permission for the colony to act under the charter un-
til a more thorough investigation of the questions in which it
HISTOIIY OF NEWPORT COUNTy. 37
was involved could be had and a more mature decision be ar-
rived at. The island towns, on account of their superior num-
bers and importance now claimed the privileges and rights of
the charter, and that they were the proper descendants of the
government which for about three years had been divided.
They accordingly proceeded to act in the matter of prospective
relations with the Dutch, and in the name and by the authority
of the colony of the Providence Plantations, commissioned
John Underhill, Edward Hull and William Dyre to make
treaties with the Dutch or to provide for defense against them.
Against this action Providence and Warwick strongly protested.
They declared that if they were drawn into any such complica-
tion by the unwarranted action of the island towns they would
appeal to the crown.
They then passed an edict disfranchising all those persons
in the colony who should own the commission of Underhill,
Hall and Dyre. Thus the colony was sorely disquieted by the
conflict of two factions, each claiming the heritage of the char-
ter. Though the difficulty with the Dutch did not prove as
great as might have been expected, yet the controversy on the
priority of rights between the governments centered at Kewport
on the one hand and at Providence on the other, was still main-
tained, even after the news arrived that the English court had
revoked the commission of Coddington and had reinstated th^
charter.
Many weary months passed in a vain attempt to reorganize
the government under the charter. Each faction claimed the
right to dictate terms upon which a union under the charter
should be made. Finally, in the summer of 1654 a committee
representing the four towns was agreed upon to meet and form
a plan or scheme of union. This committee was composed of
Messrs. Olney and Williams from Providence ; Burden and
Roome from Portsmouth ; Smith and Torrey (Joseph) from
Newport ; and Weeks and Potter from Warwick. This com-
mission met at Warwick on the 31st of August, 1654, and ad-
justed the differences between their constituents. It was agreed
that the acts of the two factions, as far as they concerned their
own towns, should stand, but the acts of neither were to be in
force in the towns of the other. Henceforth the colony, united
again, should be governed under the charter of 1643. Tfe«
38 HISTORY OF JSTEWPOKT COUNTY.
general assembly of the colony was to be composed of six
commissioners from eacli town.
The government thus re-established, a period of comparative
peacefulness was enjoyed, but the people of this county were
not permitted to fall into a condition of drowsy lethargy. What
with the alarms of the Indians, the continual demands of Mas-
sachusetts for territory that belonged to Rhode Island, and the
defense of the persecuted Quakers, these people were kept
awake to vital questions which daily pressed upon them. JSTot
the least of these questions was that as to what might be the
sentiments of the newly crowned King, Charles II., in regard
to the religious freedom, which was a cardinal feature of the
colonial policy of Rhode Island. At this juncture Greene de-
clares in the following language complimentary to one of the
men of Newport: "It was well for her that at this perilous
moment she was represented at the new court by so earnest,
clear headed and dextrous a diplomatist as John Clarke. By
his exertions a new charter was obtained, and on the 24th of
November, 1663, accepted 'at a very great meeting and assem-
bly of the colony of Providence Plantations, at Newport, in
Rhode Island, in New England.' "
A new era now opens in the history of Rhode Island, of
which the towns now of Newport county then constituted the
principal part. The charter of 1663 was so liberal and complete
in its provisions and so perfectly in accord with the sentiments
of the colony that it remained in force during the remainder of
the, colonial period, and was accepted as the foundation of the
state government down to the adoption of the constitution of
1842. A document which could thus hold the respect of the
people for nearly two hundred years deserves more than a
passing mention. Our curiosity is at once aroused to know
something of the details of such a document. We feel, there-
fore, abundantly justified in quoting liere some of the most in-
teresting passages and otherwise making abstracts so as to pre-
sent in condensed form the details of that charter. It begins
with the following recital :
" Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, King of England,
Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to all
to whom these presents shall come, greeting : Whereas, we
have been informed by the humble petition of our trusty and
vjrell-beloved subject, John Clarke, on the behalf of Benjamin
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 39
Arnold, William Brenton, William Codington, Nicholas Easton,
William Boulston, John Porter, John Smith, Samuel Gorton,
John Weeks, Roger Williams, Thomas Olney, Gregory Dexter,
John Coggeshall, Joseph Clarke, Randall Holden, John Greene,
John Roome, Samuel Wildbore, William Field, James Barker,
Richard Tew, Thomas Harris and William Dyre, and the rest
of the purchasers and free inhabitants of our island, called
Rhode Island, and the rest of the Colony of Providence Planta-
tions, in the Narragansett Bay, in New England, in America,
that they, pursuing, with peaceable and loyal luinds, their
sober, serious, and religious intentions, of godly edifying them-
selves, and one another, in the holy Christian faith and worship,
as they were persuaded ; together with the gaining over and
conversion of the poor ignorant Indian natives, in those parts
of America to the sincere profession and obedience of the same
faith and worship, did, not only by the consent and good en-
couragement of our royal progenitors, transport themselves out
of this kingdom of England into America, but also, since their
arrival there, after their first settlement amongst other subjects
in those parts, for the avoiding of discord, and those many
evils which were likely to ensue upon some of those our sub-
jects not being able to bear, in these remote parts, their differ-
ent apprehensions in religious concernments, and in pursuance
of the aforesaid ends, did once again leave their desirable sta-
tions and habitations, and with excessive labor and travel,
hazard and charge did transplant themselves into the midst of
the Indian natives, who, as we are informed, are the most
potent princes and people of all that country ; where, by
the good Providence of God, from whom the Plantations have
taken their name, upon their labor and industry, they have not
only been preserved to admiration, but have increased and
prospered, and are seized and possessed, by purchase and con-
sent of the said natives, to their full content, of such lands,
islands, rivers, harbors and roads, as are very convenient, both
for plantations, and also for building of ships, supply of pipe-
staves, and other merchandize ; and which lie very commodi-
ous, in many respects, for commerce, and to accommodate our
southern plantations, and may much advance the trade of this
our realm, and greatly enlarge the territories thei-eof ; they
having by near neighborhood to and friendly society with the
great body of the Narragansett Indians, given them encourage-
40 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ment of their own accord, to subject themselves, their people
and lands, unto us ; whereby, as is hoped, there may, in time,
by the blessing of God upon their endeavors be laid a sure
foundation of happiness to all America: And whereas, in
their humble address, they have freely declared, that it is much
on their hearts (if they maybe permitted) to hold forth a lively
experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand and
best be maintained, and that among our English subjects, with
a full liberty in religious concernments ; and that true piety
rightljr grounded upon gospel principles, will give the best and
greatest security to sovereignty, and will lay in the hearts
of men the strongest obligations to true loyalty : Now know
ye, that we, being willing to encourage the hopeful undertak-
ing of our said loyal and loving subjects, and to secure them
in the free exercise and enjoyment of all their civil and religious
rights, appertaining to them, as our loving subjects; and to pre-
serve unto them that liberty, in the true Christian faith and
worship of God, which they have sought with so much travail,
■ and with peaceable minds, and loyal subjection to our royal
progenitors and ourselves, to enjoy ; and because some of the
people and inhabitants of the same colony cannot, in their pri-
vate opinions, conform to the public exercise of religion, ac-
cording to the liturgy, forms and ceremonies of the Church of
England, or take or subscribe the oaths and articles made and
established in that behalf ; and for that the same, by reason of
the remote distances of those places, will (as we hope) be no
breach of the unity and uniformity established in this nation :
Have therefore thought fit, and do hereby publish, grant, ordain
and declare. That our royal will and pleasure is, that no person
within the said Colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise
molested, punished, disquieted or called in question for any
differences in opinion in matters of religion, and do not actually
disturb the civil peace of our said Colony ; but that all and
every person and persons may, from time to time, and at all
times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their
own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concern-
ments, throughout the tract of land hereafter mentioned, they
behaving themselves peaceably and quietly, and not using this
liberty to licentiousness and profaneness, nor to the civil injury
or outward disturbance of others, any law, statute, or clause
therein contained, or to be contained, usage or custom of this
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 41
realm, to the contrary hereof, in any wise, notwithstanding."
The charter then declares that the people of the new incor-
poration should enjoy the benefit of the late act of " indemnity
and free jjardon " the same as other subjects of the crown in
other dominions and territories had. The persons whose names
have already been given were then constituted, together with
all such as should be admitted to their number, a body corpor-
ate and politic by the name of " the Governor and Company of
the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Planta-
tions, in New England, in America." The administration of
the local government was placed in the hands of a governor,
deputy governor and ten assistants. The first persons author-
ized to hold these offices were named in the charter as fol-
lows : — Benedict Arnold, governor ; William Brenton, deputy
governor ; William Boulston, John Porter, Roger Williams,
Thomas Olney, John Smith, John Greene, John Coggeshall,
James Barker, William Field and Joseph Clarke, assistants.
The assistants were constituted a council to deliberate, advise
and act with the acting governor on all public questions. A
general assembly of the governor and assistants and deputies
from the different towns was authorized to be convened twice
in each year or oftener if occasion required, to "consult,^ advise
and determine, in and about the affairs and business of the said
Company and Plantations." The number of deputies to be
sent from each town to this general assembly was six from
JN'ewport acd four each from Providence, Portsmouth and War-
wick, and two each from any other town or city that might af-
terward be formed or added. To this general assembly was
given power to change and appoint the times and places for
holding their meetings ; to admit freemen into the colony and
invest them with the rights of citizenship ; to elect and consti-
tute needed offices and officers and to commission the same ; to
make and repeal all laws for the colony that should not conflict
with the laws of England ; to appoint and establish courts, and
define their powers ; to regulate and order the manner of all
elections ; to prescribe the bounds of towns and cities ; to im-
pose fines and punishments and to alter, revoke and annul the
same and grant pardons ; to make purchases and treaties with
the Indians.; and to fill vacancies in their own numbers occa-
sioned by death, removal or incapacity.
The acting governor for the time being was authorized, with
42 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the assistants, at any time when the assembly was not sitting, fo
appoint and commission military oflBcers for training the inhab-
itants in martial affairs, and also fo place in hostile array and
equipment the military forces of the colony and to lead the
same in warlike enterprise for the defense of the colony against
any and all forces or persons who should attempt the invasion
of the territory or the injury or annoyance of its inhabitants ;
and also for its protection to invade the native Indians or other
enemies of the colony ; provided, however, that no invasion of
the Indians within the territory of another English colony in
New England should be permitted without the consent of the
colony within whose jurisdiction the natives inhabited. The se-
curity of the charter was not to be so construed, however, as to
afford protection against the power of the mother country to call
to account any who should commit what might be deemed an
unjustifiable act of spoliation upon the high seas ; neither was
the colony to use its liberal investment of power to deny to other
English subjects the right of fishing in adjacent waters and land-
ing on its shores for the necessary purposes of the business of
curing, drying, salting and marketing fish, or for similar pur-
poses in the taking of whales that might be chased by others
into adjacent waters. "And further also, we are graciously
pleased, and do hereby declare, that if any of the inhabitants of
our said Colony do set upon the planting of vineyards (the soil
and climate both seeming naturally to concur to the production
of wines) or be industrious in the discovery of fishing banks, in
or about the said colony, we will, from time to time, give and
allow all due and fitting encouragement therein, as to others, in
cases of like nature."
The bounds of the jurisdiction of the charter were given in
the following words: — "all that part of our dominions in
New England, in America, containing the Nahantic, and
Nanhyganset, alias Narragansett Bay, and countries and
parts adjacent, bounded on the west, or westerly, to the
middle of a channel or river there, commonly called and known
by the name of Pawcatuck, alias Pawcawtuck river, and so along
the said river, as the greater or middle stream thereof reacheth.
or lies up into the north country, northward, unto the head
thereof, and from thence, by a straight line drawn due north,
until it meets with the south line of the Massachusetts Col-
ony ; and on the north, or northerly, by the aforesaid south or
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 43
southerly line of the Massachusetts Colony or Plantation, and
extending towards the east, or eastwardly, three English miles
to the east and northeast of the most eastern and northeastern
parts of the aforesaid Narragansett Bay, as the said bay lyeth
or extendeth itself from the ocean on the south, or southwardly
unto the mouth of the river which runneth towards the town of
Providence, and from thence along the easterly side or bank of
the said river (higher called by the name of Seacunck river) up
to the falls called Patuckett Falls, being the most westwardly
line of Plymouth Colony, and so from the said falls, in a
straight line, due north, until it meet with the aforesaid line
of the Massachusetts Colony ; and bounded on the south by the
ocean ; and, in particular, the lands belonging to the towns of
Providence, Pawtuxet, Warwick, MiscLuammacok, alias Paw-
catuck, and the rest upon the main land in the tract aforesaid,
together with Rhode Island, Block Island, and all the rest of
the islands and banks in the Narragansett Bay, and bordering
upon the coast of the tract aforesaid (Fisher's Island only ex-
cepted), together with all firm lands, soils, grounds, havens," etc.
The charter confirmed the above described premises to the
freemen of the colony, "as of the Manor of East Greenwich, in
our county of Kent, in free and common soccage," reserving to
the crown one-fifth of all the gold and silver ore that should af-
terward be discovered there. By the charter the Narragansett
river was made the dividing line between this colony and Con-
necticut. In all matters of public controversy between this
colony and the other colonies of New England the charter con-
firmed to the people the right of appeal to the crown, and also
the right " to pass and repass, with freedom, into and through
the rest of the English Colonies, upon their lawful and civil oc-
casions, and to converse, and hold commerce and trade with
such of the inhabitants of our other English Colonies as shall
be willing to admit them thereunto, they behaving themselves
peaceably among them."
In good earnest the freemen now set about the work of re-
organizing the government conformably to the new charter.
Two general courts for the trial of causes were held annually
at Newport, which was the chief town of the colony, and the
seat of government. They were composed of the governor and
not less than six of the assistants, with the deputy governor
and as many more assistants as might be present. The attend-
44 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ance of the deputy governor was not essential. These courts
were regularly held in May and October. Courts of trial were
also held in Providence in September and in Warwick in
March. Grand and petit jurors were chosen for these courts,
five of each from Newport, three of each from Portsmoalh, two
of each from Providence, and a like number from Warwick.
For the management of the interests of Rhode Island before
the Court of England, and conducting the business to such a
propitious result, in the face of such powerfully opposing in-
:fluences, the colony was placed under a lasting debt of gratitude
to their agent, Mr. John Clarke, one of the citizens of Newport,
whose name the people of this county have not yet ceased to
honor and to regard with a grateful veneration not excelled by
that accorded to any other man known to its history.
It has been already shown that the territory now occupied by
Newport county was enlarged as to the Ehode Island jurisdic-
tion by the charter of 1663. That charter, as we have seen,
gave to Rhode Island the island of Block Island. This had
already been settled, under Massachusetts patronage, having
by the issues of the Pequot war fallen into the hands of that
colony, by whom it had in 1658 been granted to Grovernor John
Endicott and three of his associates. By them it was again
transferred to a company of nine men, who in 1661 had made a
settlement there. Representatives from the island attended the
meeting of the general assembly of the colony in May, 1664,
and formally acknowledged the jurisdiction of Rhode Island
and the " submission " of the inhabitants to the will of " His
Majesty." A sort of town government was established there,
in which three selectmen were the chief executives, legislators
and Judges. The town was authorized to send two representa-
tives to the general assembly. This island was called by the
Indians, Manasses, or Manisses, and was named Block Island
by its discoverer, Adrian Block, the Dutch navigator, who in
1614 sailed around it. November 6th, 1672, it was incorporated
with more full privileges as a town, and at that time its name
was changed to New Shoreham, the reason for this name being
given by the people "as signs of our unity, and likeness to
many parts of our native country."
The claims of Massachusetts on the one hand and Connecticut
on the other hand, upon the territory of Rhode, Island were
pressed with almost constant vigor by those colonies for many
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 45
years. Into the details of the vicissitudes of that question it is
not our purpose to go, since the subject becomes tedious in its
monotony and its rehearsal would only serve to weary the
reader with matter that belongs more to the state than to county
history. Suffice it to say that amid all the contentions of co-
lonial claimants and the varying fortunes of political associa-
tions the hand of Providence, which seemed always to exercise
a guardian care over the little colony, did not permit her to be^
swallowed up by her more powerful and greedy neighbors.
Disputes over the boundary lines continued to afford frequent
causes of disturbance for two hundred years. The encroach-
ments of Massachusetts and Connecticut were a grim skeleton,
a menacing goblin, forever haunting the little colony, reaching^
out its long, bony, clutching fingers from every ambush and
wayside whither she passed, and rising before her at every turn
in the road of her progress. It dogged her steps at the in-
stallation of the Duke's government in 1664 ; it appeared in the
smoke and flames of King Philip's war ; it clutched for her
heart when in 1686 the charter was suspended for a term of
three years ; and so it continued its threatenings during every
decade of the two centuries.
Thus' far we have given a brief outline of the circumstances
under which the settlement of this section of country was effect-
ed. Such an outline must of necessity involve the history of
the state, or colony at least. The county then had no existence
as such. June 22d, 1703, the territory then occupied by the
colony was divided into two counties, respectively named Prov-
idence Plantations and Rhode Island. The latter county em-
braced the towns of Newport, Portsmouth, Jamestown and New
Shoreham. June 16th, 1729, the name of Newport was substi-
tuted for Rhode Island, and the county re-incorporated under
that name with the same towns as before mentioned. The ex-
istence of the colony had now become a settled fact and its '
foothold had assumed a more permanent appearance. A season
of more peaceful enjoyment of its political rights had opened
upon it and business and social prosperity seemed to light its
pathway. The growth of Newport soon resulted in the forma-
tion of a new town, called Middletown, from the northern part
of its territory, June 16th, 1743. The town of Jamestown,^
named in honor of King James II., had been incorporated No-
vember 4th, 1678. By a royal decree dated May 28th, 1746, the
46
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
borders of Rhode Island on the east and north were materially
increased by the addition of the territory of five towns from
Massachusetts. These were Bristol, Warren, Tiverton, Little
Compton and Cumberland. Of these Little Compton and
Tiverton were annexed to Newport county February 17th, 1747,
they having been incorporated as towns, under the Rhode Is-
land jurisdiction on the 27th of the preceding month. Although
minor changes have been made in its boundaries, the county has
remained substantially the same in territorial limits, to the pres-
ent time, with the exception of the town of Fall River, which
was incorporated from the northern part of Tiverton October
6th, 1856, and in the settlement of a boundary question was
ceded to Massachusetts, March 1st, 1862. In 1860, the only
census year during which Fall River existed as a distinct town
within the jurisdiction of this county, it had a population of
3,337.
The growth of the different towns of this county is shown by
the following table of population at different periods. The re-
duction of the population of Tiverton between 1850 and 1860 is
explained by the formation of Fall River from part of Tiverton
in 1856.
1
1
t
'J
5
1
i
S
^
3
1
OQ
1
U
>
fa
O
►^
Q
§
12;
m
C^
tr^
EH
1708
306
3,203
208-
628
3,345
1730
331
4,640
390
813
6,064
1748
420
1452'
"m
6,508
300
992
1,646'
11,090
1755
517
1,170
778
6,753
378
1,363
1,335
13,384
1774
563
1,333
881
9,309
575
1,513
1,956
15,928
1776
322
1,302
860
5,299
478
1,347
3,091
11,699
1782
345
1,341
674
5,530
478
1,350
1,959
11,677
1790
507
1,543
840
6,716
682
1,560
3,453
14,300
1800
501
1,577
913
6,739
714
1,684
3,717
14,845
1810
504
1,553
976
7,907
722
1,795
3,837
16,394
1830
448
1,580
949
7,319
955
1,645
3,875
15,771
1830
415
1,378
915
8,010
1,185
1,737
3,905
16,585
1840
365
1,327
891
8,333
1,069
1,706
8,183
16,874
1850
358
1,463
830
9,563
1,263
1,833
4,699
20,007
1860
400
1,304
1,013
10,508
1,320
2,048
1,937
21,896
1865
349
1,197
1,019
12,688
1,308
2,153
1,978
20,687
1870
378
1,166
971
12,521
1,113
3,003
1,898
20,050
1875
488
1,156
1,074
14,028
1,147
1,893
3,101
31,887
1880
459
1,203
1,139
15,693
1,303
1,979
3,505
34,180
1885
516
1,056
1,166
10,566
1,367
3,008
3,703
28,380
HISTORY OF NEWPORT GOtTNTT. 47
Some of the more important events connected with the history
of the State, in which this county has been especially inter-
ested, are grouped in the following paragraphs :
The island of Aquidneck, the first settled portion of the
county, was purchased March 24th, 1638, and the settlement of
Portsmouth immediately began. Newport was settled in May,
1.639. The union of these towns as a government was effected
ia March, 1640, and William Coddington was elected the first
The first public school was established at Newport August
20th, 1640.
The incorporation of the Providence Plantations, of which
Portsmouth and Newport were a part, was affected by commis-
sioners of Parliament March 14th, 1643.
The name of Aquidneck was changed to "the Isle of Rhodes,"
or Rhode Island, March 13th, 1644.
The first general assembly under the incorporation of 1643
met at Portsmouth May 19th, 1647. The colony was divided,
and two governments, one comprising the mainland towns and
the other the island towns, set in operation in 1651. This con-
tinued until August 31st, 1654, when the united government
was re-instated.
The colonial charter was granted by Charles II., and the gov-
ernment organized under it, in 1663.
The first postal route from Boston to Rhode Island was es-
tablished June 9th, 1693. The first census was taken in 1708,
and the first printing press established in 1709 by one Bradford,
who received fifty pounds a year for doing the public printing
of the colony. This printing office was set up at Newport,
where also the first newspaper in the colony was started under
the name of the Rhode Island Gazette, by James Franklin, in
1732.
The first alms-house in Rhode Island was erected in Newport
in 1723.
Beaver Tail light house, said to be the first light house built
on the Americain coast, was ordered built in February, 1749.
The first number of the Newport Mercury was issued June
12th, 1758.
The first overt act of the colonies of America against the au-
thorities of Great Britain preceding the revolution was the de-
struction of the Bi'itish revenue sloop, "Liberty," which took
48 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
place at Newport, July 19th, 1769. Here also was enacted the
first naval engagement of the war. This took place June 15th,
1775, between a colonial sloop commanded by Capt. Abraham
Whipple and a tender of the British frigate "Rose," in which
the latter was pursyed till she grounded on the shore of Conan-
icut and was there captured.
The general assembly of the colony formally renounced al-
legiance to Great Britain May 4th, 1776.
A hospital for vaccination and treatment of small pox was es-
tablished by Jaw in the county in 1776.
The declaration of independence having been formally ap-
proved by the general assembly July 19th, 1776, the British
army under General Clinton took possession of Newport on the
8tli of the following December. The island was now given up
to the British, and the functions of local government and par-
ticipation in the colonial government in an open manner were
suspended.
General Pres(3ott, who was in command of the British forces
on- the island, was quartered at the house of a Mr. Overing, on
the west side of the island, just north of the present town line
which divides Middletown from Portsmouth. On Hie night of
July 9th, 1777, he was surprised and captured by a party of
Americans headed by Col. William Barton. •
The French fleet arrived off Newport July 29th, 1778, and one
month later, viz.: August 29th, the battle of Rhode Island took
place. This engagement was the result of an effort made by
the Americans to dislodge the British from the island. The
American forces, ten thousand strong, under General Sullivan,
had moved over from Tiverton upon the north end of this island,
on the 9th of August, where they occupied the abandoned forts
of the British. The latter, in the meantime, fell back toward
Newport. On the 15th Sullivan advanced with his army to a
point within two miles of the British lines, which extended
across the island, from Tonomy hill to Easton's pond. Here
cannonading was kept up for several days, and so effective was
the work that Sullivan was about to storm the enemy's works
when his army became demoralized by the withdrawal of the
French fleet which had been expected to afford assistance, so
that the number of his effective troops was reduced to about
fifty-four hundred. With these he began to fall back to the-
northward on the evening of the 28th, and at two o'clock that
HISTORY OF KEWPORT COUNTY. 49
night encamped on Butt's hill, in the northern part of Ports-
mouth. The British forces marched out from Newport and
pursued. A general engagement took place on the 29th upon
the high lands of Portsmouth, in which the loss of the Ameri-
cans was two hundred and eleven, while that of the enemy was
one thousand and twenty-three. The Americans held their po-
sition and repulsed the British. On the following day Sullivan
withdrew his forces to Tiverton.
Newport was evacuated by the British, October 25th, 1779. It
was incorporated as a city June 1st, 1784, and the charter was
repealed in March, 1787. Another city charter was granted May
6th, 1853. Here the federal constitution was adopted by the
state, after a long and heated contest May 29th, 1790.
The first trip of the steamboat "Firefly," the pioneer steam
packet, was made between Newport and Providence May 28th,
1817.
The adoption of a state constitution was considered, and a
convention in 1824 at Newport adopted one, but the vote of the
people rejected it. Another convention met at Providence in
1834 and 1835, but nothing was matured. A third convention
met in 1842 and adopted what was called the "Landholders'
constitution," which was also rejected by the vote of the peo-
ple. , In frhe meantime another convention was held which
drafted the "People's constitution" which it was claimed was
subsequently adopted by the vote of the people. A government
organized under it, with Thomas W Dorr at its head, claimed
the right to exercise the functions- of government. The author-
ities acting under the charter refused to accede to their demands,
and preparations were made for hostile action. The rebellion
culminated on the 28th of June, 1842, when a party of the in-
surgents attempted to make a stand at Chepachet. The state
troops moved upon them and they dispersed and gave up the
contest. Another constitutional convention in 1842 adopted a
constitution which was approved by the people, and govern-
ment under it was organized May 2d, 1843.
It will be interesting to note some of the men whom this
county has given to prominent positions in the state. Among
the governors we find the following were from this county :
William Coddington, March 12, 1640, to May 9, 1647.
John Coggeshall, May, 1647, to May, 1648.
William Coddington," May, 1648, to May, 1649.
4
50 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY".
Mcliolas Easton, May, 1650, to August, 1651.
John Sanford, May, 1653, to May, 1654.
Nicholas Easton, May to September 12, 1654.
Benedict Arnold, May, 1657, to May, 1660.
William Brenton, May, 1660, to May, 1662.
Benedict Arnold, May, 1662, to May, 1666.
William Brenton, May, 1666, to May, 1669.
Benedict Arnold, May, 1669, to May, 1672.
Nicholas Easton, May, 1672, to May, 1674.
William Coddington, May, 1674, to May, 1676.
Walter Clarke, May, 1676, to May, 1677.
Benedict Arnold, May, 1677, to June 20, 1678*.
William Coddington, August 28, 1678, to November 1, 1678*.
John Cranston, Novembers, 1678, to March 12, 1680*.
Peleg Sanford, March 16, 1680, to May, 1683.
William Coddington, Jr., May, 1683, to May, 1685.
Henry Bull, May, 1685, to May, 1686.
Walter Clarke, May to June 29, 1686.
(The charter was suspended till 1690).
Henry Bull, February 27, to May 7, 1690.
John Easton, May, 1690, to May, 1695.
Caleb Carr, May, 1695, to December 17, 1695*-
Walter Clarke, January, 1696, to March, 1698.
Samuel Cranston, March, 1698, to April 26, 1727*.
William Wanton, May, 1732, to December, 1733*.
John Wanton, May, 1734, to July 5, 1740*.
Richard Ward, Jtily 15, 1740, to May, 1743. ■
Gideon Wanton, May, 1745, to 1746, and May, 1747, to May,
1748.
Josias Lyndon, May, 1768, to May, 1769.
Joseph Wanton, May, 1769, to November 7, 1775 ; at which
date he was deposed.
John Collins, May, 1786, to 1790.
William C. Gibbs, May, 1821, to 1824.
William C. Cozzens, March 3 to May, 1863.
Charles C. Van Zandt, 1877 to 1880.
George Peabody Wetmore, 1885 to .
The following citizens of this county have held the office of
deputy governor or lieutenant governor, the title being changed
from the former to the latter term in 1799.
*Died in office.
HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 51
William Brenton, November, 1663, to May, 1666.
Nicholas Easton, May, 1666, to May, 1669.
John Clarke, May, 1669, to May, 1670.
Nicholas Easton, May, 1670, to May, 1671.
John Clarke, May, 1671, to May, 1672.
John Cranston, May, 1672, to May, 1673.
William Coddington, May, 1673, to May, 1674.
John Easton, May, 1674, to April, 1676.
John Cranston, May, 1676, to November 8, 1678.
James Barker, November, 1678, to May, 1679.
Walter Clarke, May, 1 679, to May, 1686.
John Coggeshall, May to June, 1686 ; and after the suspen-
sion of the charter, from May 1, 1689, to May, 1690.
Walter Clarke, May, 1700, to May 22, 1714*.
Henry Tew, June 15, 1714, to May, 1715.
John Wanton, May, 1721, to May, 1722.
Jonathan Nichols, May to August 2, 1727*.
John Wanton, May, 1729, to May, 1784.
Richard Ward, May to July, 1740.
Joseph Whipple, May, 1743, to May, 1745 ; and again from
May, 1746, to May, 1747.
William Ellery, May, 1748, to May, 1750.
Joseph Whipple, May, 1751, to November 2, 1753.
Jonathan Nichols, Jr., November 2, 1753, to May, 1754; and
again, from May, 1755, to September 8, 1756*.
John Gardner, May, 1754, to May, 1755 ; and again Septem-
ber, 1756, to January, 1764*.
Joseph Wanton, Jr., February 27, 1764, to May, 1765 ; and
again. May, 1767, to May, 1768.
Paul Mumford, 1803 to 1805*.
Isaac Wilbour, 1806 to 1807 ; and again from 1810 to 1811.
Constant Taber, 1807 to 1808.
Simeon Martin, 1808 to 1810 ; and again from 1811 to 1816.
Charles Collins, 1824 to 1882.
John Engs, 1835 to 1836.
Joseph Child^ 1838 to 1839.
Edward W. Lawton, 1847 to 1849.
William Beach Lawrence, 1851 to 1852.
Anderson C. Rose, 1855 to 1856.
Samuel G. Arnold, J861 to 1862.
* Died in oflBce.
52 HISTORY OF NEWPOBT COUNTY.
Duncan C. Pel], 1865 to 1866.
Pardon W. Stevens, 1868 to 1872.
Charles C. Van Zandt, 1873 to 1875.
Henry T. Sisson, 1875 to 1877.
Henry H. Fay, 1880 to 1883.
The following list contains the names of the men from this
county who have held the office of secretary of the colony or
state:
William Dyre, March 12, 1640, to May 16, 1648.
Philip Shearman, May 16, 1648, to 1651.
William Lytheiland, May, 1653, to May, 1654, and September,
1654, to May, 1656.
Joseph Torrey, May to September, 1654, and May, 1661, to
May, 1666 ; and again 1669 to 1671.
John Sanford, May, 1656, to May, 1661 ; and again from 1666
to 1669 ; and from 1671 to 1676 ; and again from 1677 to 1686.
John Coggeshall, 1676 to 1677 ; and from May, 1691, to Au-
gust, 1692.
Weston Clarke, 1690 to 1691 ; and July, 1695, to May, 1714.
John Easton, August, 1692, to 1695, or near that date, the
record being obscure.
Richard Ward, 1714 to 1733.
James Martin, May, 1733, to February, 1746.*
Thomas Ward, 1746, to December, 1760.*
Henry Ward, December, 1760, to October, 1797.*
Those of this county who have held the office of attorney
general to the colony or state have been as follows :
William Dyre, 1650 to 1651.
John Easton, May 17, 1653, to May 16, 1654 ; May 20. 1656,
to May 19, 1657 ; May 22, 1660, to May 22, 1663 ; May 4, 1664,
to May 4, 1670 ; and 1672 to 1674.
John Cranston, May 16, 1654, to May 20, 1656.
John Sanford, May ^2, 1663, to May 4, 1664, and May, 1670,
to 1671.
Joseph Torrey, May, 1671, to 1672.
Peter Easton, 1674 to 1676.
Weston Clarke, 1676 to 1677; 1680 to 1681; 1683 to 1684;
1685 to 1686 ; and 1714 to 1721.
* Died in ofiBce.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 53
Edward Richmond, 1677 to 1680.
John Pococke, 1682 to 1683 ; 1684 to 1685 ; 1690, for a year
or more — the records are missing ; 1698 to 1700 ; and 1701 to
1702.
John Williams, 1 686 to the suspension of the charter.
Nathaniel Dyre, 1702 to 1704.
Joseph Sheffield, 1704 to 1706.
Richard Ward, 1712 to 1713.
John Hammett, 1713 to 1714.
Henry Bull, 1721 to 1722.
James Honey man, Jr., May, 1732, to December, 1740 ; and
1741 to 1743.
Augustus Johnston, 1758 to 1766.
Henry Marchant, 1741 to 1777.
William Channing, 1777 to 1787 ; and again 1791 to 1793.
Henry Goodwin, 1787 to 1789.
Dutee J. Pearce, 1819 to 1825.
The honorable office of treasurer of the colony or state has
been held by citizens of this county as follows :
Jeremy Clarke, May 19, 1647, to May 22, 1649.
John Clarke, May 22, 1649, to 1651.
John Coggeshall, May 17, 1653, to September 12, 1654 ; and
1664 to 1672.
Richard Burden, September 12, 1654, to May 22, 1655.
John Sanford, May 22, 1655, to May 21, 1661 ; and May 22,
1662, to May 4, 1664.
Caleb Carr, May 21, 1661, to May 22, 1662.
Peter Easton, 1672 to 1677.
Thomas Ward, 1677 to 1678.
Peleg Sanford, 1678 to 1681.
Weston Clarke, 1681 to 1685.
John Woodman, 1685 to the suspension of the charter by
Andros, in 1686.
John Holmes, February, 1690, to May, 1703 ; and 1708 to
1709. V
William Hiscock, 1703 to 1705.
Nathaniel Sheffield, 1705 to 1708.
Edward Thurston, 1709 to 1714.
Joseph Borden, 1714 to 1730.
Abraham Borden, 1730 to 1733.
54 HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Gideon Wanton, 1733 to 1743.
John Gardner, 1743 to 1748.
Thomas Richardson, 1748 to 1761.
Joseph Clarke, 1761 to 1792.
Henry Sherburne, October, 1792 to May, 1808.
Constant Taber, 1808 to 1811.
William Ennis, 1811 to 1817.
Thomas G. Pitman, 1817 to 1832.
John Sterne, 1832 to 1838 ; and again, 1839 to 1840.
William S. Nichols, 1838 to 1839.
Stephen Cahoone, 1840 to 1851.
Edwin Wilbnr, 1851 to 1854.
Samuel B. Vernon, 1854 to 1855.
Samuel A. Parker, 1855 to 1856 ; and March, 1868, to Feb-
ruary 4, 1872.
George W. Tew, May, 1866, to March, 1868.
The following citizens of Newport county have been honored
with the position of speaker of the house of representatives in
the legislature of the colony or state.
Jonathan Holmes, Newport, October, 1696, to October, 1698 ;
and April, 1700, to May, 1703.
Benjamin Newbury, Newport, February, 1699, to April, 1700.
William Wanton, Newport, May, 1705, to May, 1706 ; and
October, 1708, to May, 1709.
Benjamin Arnold, Newport, May, 1706, to February, 1707.
John Wanton, Newport, February to May, 1707 ; May, 1710,
to October, 1710 ; and May, 1713, to October, 1713.
Abraham Anthony, Portsmouth, October, 1709, to May,
1710.
Ebenezer Slocum, Jamestown, May, 1712, to May, 1713.
William Wanton, Newport, May to October, 1715 ; October,
1716, to October, 1717 ; May to October, 1718 ; May, 1719, to
May, 1722; and February, 1723, to May, 1724.
John Cranston, Newport, May to October, 1716.
Nathaniel Sheffield, Newport, October, 1718, to May, 1719.
William Coddington, Newport, October, 1722, to February,
1723 ; May 5, 1724, to May 6, 1724; October, 1724, to October,
1725; and May to October, 1726.
Henry Bull, Newport, April to October, 1728; and April 30,
1734, to May, 1734.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 55
Joseph Whipple, Newport, October, 1728 to February, 1729;
and June to August, 1741.
Samuel Clarke, Jamestown, May to October, 1729 ; May,
1730, to October, 1731; May to October, 1732; October, 1733, to
April, 1734; October, 1734, to October, 1735; October, 1736, to
May, 1737; and May, 1740, to May, 1741.
Peter Bours, Newport, October, 1744, to October, 1746; and
October, 1757, to May, 1759.
Samuel Wickham, Newport, May, 1747, to October, 1747.
Thomas Cranston, Newport, October, 1748, to May, 1749 ;
May, 1750, to May, 1757; and May, 1760, to May, 1762.
Benjamin Wickham, Newport, May, 1757, to October, 1757.
Daniel Ayrault, Jr., Newport, May, 1762, to October, 1762 ;
and May to October, 1764.
Metcalfe Bowler, Portsmouth, February, 1767, to May, 1767;
and October, 1767, to November, 1776.
George Champlin, Newport, June, 1793, to October, 1793; May,
1797, to June, 1797; and October, 1797, to October, 1798.
Archibald Crary, Newport, June to October, 1797.
Constant, Taber, Newport, October, 1802, to October, 1805.
Isaac Wilbour, Little Compton, October, 1805, to May, 1806.
Nathaniel Hazard, Newport, May to October, 1810; and May,
1818, to May, 1819.
William Hunter, Newport, May, 1811, to February, 1812.
Benjamin Hazard, Newport, October, 1816, to May, 1818.
Job Durfee, Tiverton, October, 1827, to May, 1829.
Henry Y. Cranston,- Newport, May to October, 1835; May,
1839, to May, 1841; May to October, 1854; and January to May,
1855.
B,ichard K. Randolph, Newport, May to October, 1842.
George G. King, Newport, 1845 to 1846.
Robert B. Cranston, Newport, 1846 to 1847.
Charles C. Van Zandt, Newport, 1858 to 1859; 1866 to 1869 ;
and 1871 to 1873.
John P. Sanborn, Newport, May, 1881, to November, 1882.
During the transition period, when the American colonies
were preparing to assume their character and title as states, the
continental congress was the legislative and executive body of
the central government. The following citizens of the county
were members of that body :
56 HISTORY OP NEWPOKT COUNTY.
John Collins, of Newport, 1778 to 1783.
William Ellery, of Newport, 1776 to 1781; and 1783 to 1785.
Henry Marcliant, of Newport, 1777 to 1780 ; and 1783 to
1784.
John Gardner, of Newport, 1788 to 1789.
George Champlin and Paul Mumford, of Newport were
elected in 1785, but the congressional records do not show that
they were seated there.
Newport county has been honored by the election of her
citizens named in the following list to represent Rhode Is-
land in the United States senate :
Christopher Ellery, of Newport, 1801 to 1805.
Benjamin Rowland, of Tiverton, 1804 to 1809.
Francis Malbone, of Newport, March, 1809; died in June.
Christopher G. Champlin, of Newport, June, 1809, to October,
1811, when he resigned.
William Hunter, of Newport, October, 1811, to March, 1821.
Asher Robbing, of Newport, December 5, 1825, to March,
1839.
Samuel G. Arnold, of Middletown, September, 5, 1862, to
1863.
William P. Sheffield, Newport, November 19, 1884, to Jan-
uary 21, 1885.
Newport county men have from time to time been elected
to the lower house of Congress. The following list contains
the names of such as have been thus honored :
Francis Malbone, of Newport, 1793 to 1797.
Christopher G. Champlin, of Newport, 1797 to 1801.
Isaac Wilbour, of Little Compton, 1807 to 1809.
John L. Boss, Jr., of Newport, 1815 to 1819.
Nathaniel Hazard, of Middletown, 1819 to December 17, 1820.
Died in office.
Job Durfee, of Tiverton, 1821 to 1825.
Dutee J. Pearce, of Newport, 1825 to 1837.
Robert B. Cranston, of Newport, 1837 to 1843.
Henry Y. Cranston, of Newport, 1843 to 1847.
Robert B. Cranston, of Newport, 1847 to 1849.
George G. King, of Newport, 1847 to 1853.
HISTORY OF NEWPOET COUNTY. 57
Nathaniel B. Durfee, of Tiverton, 1855 to 1859.
William P. Sheffield, of Newport, 1861 to 1863.
The following Newport county men have served the state as
presidential electors. It will be remembered that at the time
of the first presidential election Rhode Island had not ac-
cepted the Federal constitution, hence had no part in the elec-
tion.
1792, 1796 and 1800, George Champlin of Newport.
1804, Constant Taber, of Newport.
1808 and 1812, Christopher Fowler, of Newport.
1816, Thomas Pitman, of Newport.
1820, Dutee J. Pearce. of Newport.
1824 and 1828, Stephen B. Cornell, of Portsmouth.
1832, Nathaniel S. Ruggles, of Newport.
1836, Henry Bull, of Newport.
1840, George Engs, of Newport.
1844, Benjamin Weaver, of Middletown.
1848, George C. King, of Newport.
1852, George Turner, of Newport.
1856, Edward W. Lawton, of Newport.
1860, David Bnffum, of Middletown.
1864, Robert B. Cranston, of Newport.
1868, George H. Norman, of Newport.
1872, Benjamin Finch, of Newport.
1876, Samuel G. Arnold, of Middletown.
1880 and 1884, George Peabody Wetmore, of Newport.
In the administration of the cause of public education this
county shares in the advantages of the excellent system under
which the state dispenses elementary instruction to its develop-
ing citizens. It will, however, be of interest to notice in brief
outline the various stages of growth and progress here, by which
that system has reached its present degree of efficiency. As in
all the New England colonies so in Rhode Island, the early set-
tlers gave their attention with much earnestness to the matter
of educating their children. This subject seemed to them only
second in importance to the maintenance of religious worship.
But from the peculiarly unsettled state of the government of
this colony in the early years of its existence, the matter of
education was not treated by the colon j^ in general, but local
58 HISTORY OF NKWl'OKT COUNTY.
circles managed it, each in their owa way, and in accordance
with the particular circumstuiici-s by which each was surround-
ed. As a natural consequence of this independent action of
different towns and communities there was no necessary uniform
ity in such action, hence the data from which we may learn of
the early condition and progress of public education are meagre
and fragmentary.
To Newport is given the credit of being the leader among the
towns of this county, and perhaps of the state, in providing
liberally for the education of its children. As early as 1640 we
find that town employing a school teacher, one Mr. Lenthal,
" to keep a public school for the learning of youth." For his
compensation the town granted him four acres of land for a
house lot, and two hundred acres more for his use and benefit
while engaged in this work. Of this land one hundred acres
were permanently devoted to tlie support of schools, being sold
or leased, and the proceeds appropriated to the support of pub-
lic schools. At what time the iirst school house was erected is
not known, but it appears to have been in use at least as early
as 1685, and is spoken of in 1700 as an old school house, that
had fallen down, and was about to be replaced by a new one.
But the new one does not ajtpear to have been built until some
thirty or forty years later. , The cause during that period doubt-
less progressed but slowly.
Public education in Rhode Island, reduced to anything like a
uniform and general system, appears to have been the outgrowth
of influences which originated with John Howland, of Newport,
nearly at the close of the last century. In February, 1800, an
act to establish free schools tliroughout the state passed the
' legislature. This required that every town should establish and
maintain one or more free schoolsi at the expense of such town,
to be kept open during periods of each year, corresponding in
general to the number of cliildren there were to be educated.
These schools were provided for all white inhabitants of the
town between the ages of six and twenty years, and the list of
studies specified by the law was leading, writing and common
arithmetic. Every town council was to divide their town into
school districts. Each town ^vas entitled to receive annually
from the general treasury, for scliool purposes, twenty per cent,
of the sum it had the previous year paid into the general treas-
ury, provided not more than six thousand dollars should be
HISTORY OJb' NEWPORT COUNTY. 59
distributed in this way out of the state treasury. Under this
law Newport was required to maintain three schools eight
months each; Portsmouth, Tiverton and Little Compton were
each to maintain three schools for four months each; and Mid-
dletown, Jamestown and New Shoreham were each to maintain
one school four months. This law was so strongly opposed that
in February, 1803, it was repealed.
A decadence of interest in school matters seemed now to fol-
low, but after a quarter of a century a revival of sentiment ap-
peared, and in 1828, after many a hard fought battle of intellect,
with the varied weapons of argument, a new school law was
passed. This act provided that a sum, not exceeding ten thous-
and dollars, to be derived from certain specified sources of
revenue, should annually be paid from the state to the towns
for the support of schools, and authorized each town to supple-
ment within specified limitations such sum as it received from
this source, by a tax upon its people to an amount sufficient to
support its schools. The superintendence of schools was placed
in the hands of a school committee in each town. On this act
the present school system of the state has been builded.
At that time Newport had one free school with about two
hundred scholars, and forty-two private schools with about one
thousand one hundred scholars, supported the year round.
Portsmouth then had four school houses in which schools were
kept somewhat regularly throughout the winter, and in one or
two of them during the summer. Middletown had live school
houses in which schools were taught regularly during the win-
ter and irregularly during the summer. Jamestown had three
school houses, one of which was unoccupied, and schools kept in
the other two only during the winter. Little Compton had eight
school houses open in winter, and most of them open in sum-
mer. In New Shoreham there was but one school house, though
four schools of about thirty scholars each, on an average, were
kept four months in winter, and six months in summer. In
Tiverton there were ten school houses in which schools were
kept with much regularity, and a few other small schools. The
school law of 1828 was amended in 1839.
The. first official report of the schools of the state, and the re-
sults of the operation of the system, was made in 1832. In ii
appears the following comment:
"There is not a town in which all the children may not have
60
HTSTOBY OF KEWPOKT COUNTY.
the means of acquiring a common school education; and when
we consider the nature of uur institutions, and how much their
preservation depends on the general spread of information, and
on the correct morals of onr youth, we hare much cause to re-
joice at the present favorable prospects, and we look forward to
the period when Khode Island shall be as celebrated for the
facilities afforded to education as she now is for her industry
and manufactures."
From the statistical tables of that report is compiled the fol-
. lowing, by comparing which with other tables printed further
on a good idea of the growth of the schools of this county un-
der the fostering care of the state may be gained :
n-p
>,
olJ
03
"o
o
.£3
O
OQ
a M)
_r1 TO
a a
¥
00
1
02
1
>
"3
o n
ft
° fl
Ph
S<1
<J
Ph
^<
3
400
12
$800
33
900
13
Tiverton
13
8
7
600
360
245
4
2
1
30
3
7
400
60
175
8
Portsmouth
3
Little Compton
6
New Shoreham
3
5
3
39
100
210
100
3
4
3
5
'155
Middletown
6
Totals
2,015
$800
67
1,690
The following table shows the condition of the schools in 1844:
a
o
a, t-i
S3 .2
1.1
u
rsS
II
Aggregate number
of Scholars.
Newport
$1,766.59
374.43
399.88
66.33
198.39
804.43
323.21
$1,600.00
3
8
5
1
3
16
9
11
8
9
5
5
19
9
13
10
8
9
5
19
18
$3,095.00
1,030.00
399.83
156.00
239.39
1,095.77
864.50
690
Portsmouth
282
New Shoreham
16.32
41.00
689.37
41.29
232
94
93
Tiverton
Little Compton
698
285
Totals
$3,833.19
$2,387.98
43
66
83
$6,270.48
2,374
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
61
The school law of the state was again amended in 1845. Other
amendments and changes in the law have since been made, but
the law of that year formed the general basis on which the law
as it exists to-day has been built.
The following table, compiled from the school reports of the
year ending May 1, 1855, gives another landmark in the prog-
ress of popular education here :
^ ^ "
S, u 9
^ c
Newport
Portsmouth
Middletown
Tiverton
Little Compton. .
New Shoreham. .
Jamestown
Totals
858
834
194
1,339
350
366
54
3,395
o
II
u
$9,933.63
3,115.28
1,135.71
4,744.81
1,953.07
885.78
376.13
121,044.85
94
'S aj
a; cd
MS
== s
a
0) o3
si
$3,818.53
728.84
385.71
1,969.86
749.47
565.61
145.80
$6,500.00
300.00
200.00
1,500.00
250.00
100.00
35.00
$6,858.83 $8,875.00
«3
> o m
il
1-1 U
<h02
I*"
i
135.75
40.00
1,092.22
$1,257.97
52
a-g
17
7
5
21
10
The school reports for 1886 show the following figures :
Number of Child-
ren of School
Age.
0; 03
11
=8 .
03
If
a
p
CM
■302
a
>
^ CO
c6T3
■3 "S
03
IB
4J
99
303
210
3,689
283
389
603
86
385
163
3,310
348
841
567
3
10
5
39
5
10
13
6
15
6
45
11
13
30
$488.68
1,399.86
757.68
6,498.98
833.46
1,373.63
2,061.65
$500.00
3,040.00
1,850.00
38,000.00
868.46
3,351.00
8,800.00
$896,80
Little Compton .
Middletown
Newport
NpTjF Shorfham
3,315.97
$3,830'.94
3,469.80
39,650.87
1,843.36
4,327.30
Tiverton
33.74
5,845.26
Totals
5,334
3,850
85
116
$13,363.38
$50,409.46
$2,844.68
$58,349.36
We append the following statistics relating to different sub-
jects and periods, which are of interest chiefly in showing the
comparative growth and importance of the different towns of
the county.
62
history of newport county.
Census of 1730.
" In the year 1730 there was by the King's order an exact ac-
count taken of the number of souls in the colony."
In this census the four towns which then constituted New-
port county were reported as follows ;
Towns.
Whites,
Negroes.
Indians,
148
70
19
30
Total.
Nt^vvDort
3,843
or.',
323
aw
649
100
80
30
849
4,640
Portsmouth
818
821
New Shorehain
390
4,9!j8
]5,;i02
357
6,064
,
Total of the Colony
1,648
985
ng figures
17,935
The census of 1748-49 showed tlie follow
TOWUB.
Whites.
Negroes.
Indians.
Total.
807
360
384
r,H(i
842
1,004
1,1 or,
134
30
no
76
99
«3
68
51
30
2(1
18
99
86
368
6,508
Portsmouth
992
300
Jamestown
430
Middleto wn
880
1,040
1,153
Newport County
9,118
1,606
11,093
The number of families in the county in 1774 were : Newport,
1,590; Portsmouth, 220; New Shoreham, 7i'j ; Jamestown, 69;
Middletown, 123 ; Tiverton, 298 ; Little Compton, 218 ; the
whole county, 2,593.
The censusof 1775 showed the pojiulation, diHtrihuted among
the different classes mentioned, as follows :
White.
Towns.
Newport
Portsmouth
New Shoreham . .
Jamestown
Middletowji
Tiverton
Little Compton.
Newport County
Men Able to
Bear Arms.
534
88
17
30
55
109
110
998
Enlisted
Soldiers.
969
120
66
58
82
159
134
Men. Women.
1,588
1,696!
343|
88t
86,
153,
877'
344
1,638
238
77
100
206
217
343
3,782 2,708
Boys.
1,099
261
52
103
1.57
378
201
2,211
Oirlu.
1,091
440
.12
72
165
823
295
2,488
III8T0KY 01'' iN'KWJ'oUT COUNTY.
63
Black.
Towns.
40(1
■-'11
'J!l
44
Women.
Boys.
Girls.
Newport
Portsmouth
New Shoreham
341
60
41
41
36
67
43
348
50
22
36
19
68
39
345
80
33
Jamestown
Middletown
37
33
Tiverton
61
Little Compton
30
Newport County
619
463
448
The valuations of the seveial towns of the county in
1796 were as follows : Newport, £-^57,200; Portsmouth, £110,-
207, 9s.; New Shoreham, £83,472, 2s.; Jamestown, £45,599, 18s.;
Middletown, £55,747, 16s.; Tiverton, £111,272, 18s., 9d.; Little
Compton, £88,082, 16s.
War E.vpiovsKs, 1861-65.
Little Compton.
Jamestown
New Shoreham
Tiverton
Newport
Portsmouth. . . .
Middletown ....
03
ft x
i|
O
H
$11,511
7S0
8,093
84,454
93,086
19,000
16,358
^H
^ Oh
.1:439
8
;io()
5(1?
435
gap
a| ° •
Eh
$4,861
300
a'
a> oj g
bo® t,
a^ ffi S
t. *H TO
$11,950
788
3,398
35,031
98,888
19,030
16,684
p >- i
o'H P.
$7,150
788
3,393
13,871
61,488
10,080
11,334
CHAPTER II.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
By Henry E. Turner, M. D.*
IN presenting the following sketches of the medical men of
Newport county, -the writer desires to state that he has
been actuated by no motive but the desire to present the exact
truth, so far as information could be obtained (in a compact
form) and also to make it as exhaustive as possible. He also
desires to acknowledge his gratitude to Doctor H. R. Storer,
G. C. Mason, Esq., Hon. William P. Sheffield and many
others for valuable aid in his work.
Doctor Albro, born at Portsmouth, R. I., studied medicine
with Doctor S. W. Butler, of Newport, graduated at the Uni-
versity Medical School, New York city, in 1879, and has not
since been a resident in this county.
Doctor John Almy was born in Tiverton, R. I., in 1757. He
studied medicine in the office of Doctor Isaac Senter, of New-
port, and settled in Little Compton, R. I., in 1797. His wife
was Abigail, daughter of Isaac Bailey. He was a very popular
and successful practitioner in Little Compton for 40 years or
more. He died in Little Compton in 1844, at the very advanced
age of 87 years.
, Doctor Caleb Arnold of Portsmouth, R. I., was a son of Gov-
ernor Benedict Arnold, of Newport, and was a delegate to the
general assembly from Portsmouth in 1684 ; was, the same year,
appointed an assistant and declined. Of his professional career,
nothing is known.
Doctor Edmund S. P. Arnold came to Newport some years
since and purchased a fine residence, and lived here for several
years, but did not resume practice from which he had previously
*The following sketches in this chapter were not prepared by Doctor Tur-
ner, viz.: Doctors James Tyler Buttrick, David King, David King, Jr., David
Olyphant, F. H. Rankin, Austin L. Sands, William Turner, and Henry E.
Turner.— Ed.
HISTORT OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 85
retired. He, however, was a consulting physician to the medi-
cal staff of the Newport Hospital from 1874 to 1877.
Doctor Avery F. Angell, son of Job and Alcey (Leach) Angell,
was born in Scituate, E,. I., May 5th, 1811. His early life was
passed in farming and mechanical pursuits ; from 1833 to 1847
he was a school teacher and afterward was a dentist until 1864.
He subsequently practised medicine, having graduated in a
western medical school. For about ten years he resided in
Newport, practising medicine and dentistry. About 1886 he
went south and is believed now to be in Florida. Doctor An-
gell has two sons. He was an original member of the Newport
Medical Society.
Doctor Pierre Ayrault was a prominent member of the French
Huguenot colony, which purchased a considerable tract in East
Greenwich, R. I., being refugees from the paternal government
of Louis XIV. after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
In 1699, he appears as one of the founders of Trinity church,
Newport, and it has been thence inferred that he was a resident
of Newport, but this conclusion is not sustained by any other
• evidence. His will was proved in East Greenwich, June 4th,
1711, and this proves him a resident there at the time of his
death. Directly after, his son Daniel sold his house in Green-
wich and came to Newport, where for a century or more, he was
represented by a numerous and influential progeny, of whom
George C. Mason, Esq., and his son, George C. Mason, Jr., are
still his worthy representatives in Newport. The will of
Dr. Pierre Ayrault, above mentioned, was executed in 1711.
He died June 4th, 1711. There is reason to believe that a
grandson of Dr. Ayrault, also named Pierre, studied medicine
in Newport, but died early.
Miss Mary Baldwin, M.D., has been practising medicine in
Newport for about three years, having received the degree of
M.D. at Blackwell College, New York, in 1874.
Doctor Christopher Franklin Barker, son of Robinson P. and
Julia Ann (Peckham) Barker, was born in Middletown, R. I.,
October 31st, 1849. After preliminary education in local schools
he prepared for college at the Newport High School, graduating
there in 1871. He received the degree of A.B. at Brown Uni-
versity in 1875, after which he passed two or three years in
private tuition. In 1879 he entered the oflice of Dr. Samuel W.
Butler of Newport, as a medical student, and graduated in medi-
5
66 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
cine at the University of New York in March, 1882, and imme-
diately established himself in practice in Newport, where his
preceptor. Dr. Butler, had died in the previous year. He has
acquired a large business and an enviable position. He was mar-
ried in May, 1881, to Helen E., daughter of John and Hannah
(Barker) Peckham, of Middletown, and has two children.
Doctor Richard Bartlett came from Mendon, Mass., in 1769,
and advertised as surgeon, bonesetter and physician, and seems
not to have remained very long.
Doctor Charles F. Bartlett came to Newport in 1800, and ad-
vertised to inoculate for kine pox, then a new thing. The
frigate " General Greene^' arrived at Newport July 21st, 1800,
from the West Indies, bringing yellow fever. Dr. Bartlett was
called upon by the town council, with John Wanton, health
officer,' to investigate the subject and report, which he did; but
he was antagonized by the other physicians, and the coun-
cil failed to prosecute the plan which he recommended. Whether
or not for that reason, a quite alarming and fatal epidemic
ensued, in which 82 cases occurred at Newport, Providence and
East Greenwich, and quite a large proportion of the cases were
fatal. Doctor Bartlett soon after disappeared. While here he
had a portrait of Washington painted, which is described in
"Mason's Reminiscences of Newport " (page 291). He died at
Darien, Georgia, June 22d, 1806.
Doctor John Bartlett, from Charlestown, R. I., was in New-
port in 1770.
Doctor Gustavus Baylies was at Thomas White's, Church
street, opposite Trinity Church gate, in 1793. He staid a short
time, removed to Bristol, and married a daughter of Lieutenant
Governor William Bradford, who was the father of Doctor
Hersey Bradford, late of Astoria, Long Island.
Doctor William Hunter Birckhead, son of James and Eliza
(Hunter) Birckhead, grandson of Hon. Wm. Hunter of Newport,
and great-grandson of Doctor Wm. Hunter, of Newport, of pre-
revolutionary fame, was born at Rio de Janeiro, his grandfather
being then U. S. minister plenipotentiary at the court of Brazil.
His father was a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and was son of
a distinguished physician of that city. Doctor Birckhead grad-
uated A.B. at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., in 1861, and A.
M. in 1863. He studied medicine in the city of New York from
1861 to 1863, took his medical degree at the College of Physi-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 67
<;ians and Surgeons, New York, in 1864, and was house physi-
cian at Bellevue Hospital from 1864 to 1866. He was house sur-
geon of the Woman's Hospital, New York, in 1867-68. He com-
menced practice in Newport in January, 1868, and retired from
practice in 1885. Doctor Birckhead was one of the visiting
staff of Newport Hospital from its establishment to 1877, when
he retired. He is a member of the R. I. Medical Society, and
of the Alumni Association of the "Woman's Hospital. He also
did some hospital service at Fortress Monroe during the war.
He has a winning address, by which he soon acquired wonder-
ful popularity among his fellow townsmen, and rapidly acquired
a large practice of a lucrative character.
Doctor John Brett settled in Newport about 1749, and was for
many years a very prominent member of the profession here.
He was a graduate of Leyden, and attended the lectures of the
great Boerhaave. He was highly esteemed among his cotempo-
raries, not only as a highly accomplished and able physician,
but as a man of fine literary tastes, of large pretensions as a
man of science. He was an intimate friend and associate of
Redwood, and was an active friend of the Redwood library, to
which he gave many valuable books, all of the highest order.
Mr. SheflSeld says: "Dr. John Brett came to Newport in 1743."
Doctor Waterhouse says " in 1749."
Doctor Benjamin Brown lived opposite Daniel Ayrault's, in
Thames street, Newport, opposite the foot of Ann street, prior
to 1770.
Doctor Richmond Brownell, son of Sylvester Brownell of
Little Compton, was born in that town in 1790, and died at
Providence October 29th, 1864. Dr. Brownell never practiced
in Newport county, but settled, as a physician, in Providence,
and was a prominent figure there for many years, and highly
esteemed. He was president of the R. I. Medical Society from
1840 to 1843.
Doctor William Tillinghast Bull, son of Henry and Henrietta
S. (Melville) Bull, and great-grandson of Dr. William Tilling-
hast, was born at Newport, May 18th, 1849, and graduated
A.B. at Harvard College in 1869. He studied medicine at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, under the pri-
vate instruction of Dr. Henry B. Sands, then professor of anat-
omy in the institution. He received his medical degree in
March, 1872, with a prize of $50 for best graduation thesis, on
68 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
"Perityphlitis." He was, immediately after graduation, ad-
mitted into surgical service in Bellevue Hospital, remaining
there until October, 1873. He passed the two years succeeding
in professional study in England, France and Germany. He
commenced practice at 39 West 85th street, New York city, in
September, 1875. In March, 1876, he was appointed house
physician to the New York Dispensary, in which position he
remained two years. In December, 1877, he was appointed at-
tending surgeon to Chambers Street Hospital, which place he
still holds. From 1879 to 1883, he was attending surgeon to St.
Luke's Hospital and demonstrator of anatomy to the College of
Physicians and Surgeons. In 1883, he was appointed surgeon
to the New York Hospital, which place he still holds. He is
at present consulting physician to St. Luke's Hospital, Hospital
for Kuptured and Crippled, Ward's Island Emigrant Hospital,
and the Manhattan Hospital. He is also a trustee of the New
York Dispensary, and one of the managers of the New York
Cancer Hospital, and adjunct professor of the practice of surgery,
at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Bull has dis-
tinguished himself in operative surgery, and holds a high posi-
tion in the profession. He is unmarried.
Doctor Samuel W. Butler, of Newport, was born in Farm-
ington, Maine, February 2d, 1816. He was a son of Samuel
and Mary (Pease) Butler, of Parmington, but originally from
Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Mass. He acquired his medical
education in Boston, and received the degree of M.D. from
Harvard College. He settled in Newport in 1842, where he re-
sided the remainder of his life, with an interval of two years,
passed in partnership with Dr. Baker, in Providence. He died
April 7th, 1881, in consequence of injuries incurred hy passing
into the stall of an untried and dangerous horse, which he had
lately purchased. He was married in 1843, to Amelia, daugh-
ter of Holden Backus of Fai-mingron. Me., and had one daugh-
ter; both still survive. Doctor Baker was a member of the R. I.
Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. He
was for a time hospital surgeon at Fortress Monroe, during
the rebellion, fie was a member of the Baptist church, a dili-
gent and faithful man in his profession, and had the confidence
of a large number of citizens.
James Tyler Buttrick, M.D., the third son of Eli and Polly
Iledden Buttrick, was born in Hudson, New Hampshire, March
.V^, t ■ft>VV,t,"\VV\A
HISTORY OF "NEWPORT COUNTY, 69
6th, 1825. His grandfather, Oliver Buttrick, of Concord,
Massachusetts, joined the army before his twenty-first year,
was at the battle of Bunker Hill and served through the i-evolu-
tion. His father, Eli Battrick, was a farmer, respected by all
who appreciate the higher instincts of veracity, honesty and
the amenities of a rural life. His mother was of an old and
highly respectable Vermont family, a woman of great piety
and truly evangelical sentiments. Dr. Buttrick was a direct
descendant of Major John Buttrick, who at the battle of Con-
cord Bridge gave the order (in the ever memorable words)
^^ Fire— for OocC s sake. Fire and protect your homes,''' for that
first shot which Emerson says " was heard around che world."
In person and character the doctor had preserved the type of
those hardy, uncompromising men who laid the foundation of
our republic. He despised the effeminate luxury of modern
life and had a trul-y Spartan relish for that austere simplicity
so much admired in theory and so little appreciated when prac-
ticed. His reverence for Grod and man were shown in high in-
tegrity and large benevolence. He kept no telephone between
his right hand and his left, the secret of his constant giving
and serving being hardly known beyond those benefitted. His
sympathy and skill were always for the poor, and in many
cases he improvised a hospital, and in. addition to medical and
surgical aid performed the duties of nurse and steward. Doctor
Buttrick pursued a preparatory course of study in Boston and
graduated with honor in 1853 at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, New York. He later took a supplementary course
at Woodstock, Vermont, and then received private instruction
in general, descriptive and surgical anatomy, surgery, practice
of medicine, physiology, chemistry, materia viedica, midwifery,
etc., etc., under Prof. Whittaker of New York. He was several
times interrupted in his studies for want of means, provided by
days and nights of toil and deprivation. He would not borrow
lest death or accident should overtake him and cause another
to suffer. He not only travelled over a rough road but built
tlie road himself. He possessed much mechanical skill which
greatly aided him in the practice of surgery. As an operator
he was self-possessed and careful, using equally well both the
left and right hand. He applied himself very closely to the
best works on medicine and surgery during the whole of his
70 HISTORY 0¥ NEWPORT COUNTy.
professional career, and kept well abreast of the times in medi-
cal literature.
He iirst settled in Westford, Massachussetts, and afterward
in Wilton, New Hampshire. In 1862 he removed to Block
Island, and in 1867 settled in Newport. He was a member
of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and in 1863 connected
himself with the Rhode Island Medical Society. On the 6th
of March, 1867, he married Mary E., daughter of Hon. George
Gr. Sheffield of Lyme, Connecticut, formerly of Block Island,
who with a son and daughter survive him. His death occurred
July 26th, 1880. A leading practitioner said of him in his
remarks before the Rhode Island Medical Society, "Dr. Butt-
rick was a self reliant and laborious practitioner in the
various branches of medicine, a man of perseverance, of sin-
cerity and integrity." Another member of his profession wrote
thus: "Dr. Buttrick was retiring in manner, modest in the
extreme, but fearless and self-reliant in the performance of
duty. He shrunk from no responsibility when the welfare of
his patients required his services. Had he settled in a large
city the world would have known him better."
Doctor Benjamin WaiteCase was born in North Kingstown in
1772 and died in Newport November 7th, 1834. He married
Sarah, daughter of Hon. Henry Mai-chant, who was a member
of the continental congfess from Rhode Island. They had no
children. Doctor Case studied medicine with liis uncle, Doctor
Benjamin Case of South Kingstown, and came to Newport about
1800. He soon acquired a large practice, and retained it until
his last illness. He was cotemporary with Doctors William
Turner, David King, Edmund T. Waring and Enoch Hazard,
and died at very near the same time with the three former, Doc-
tor Hazard dying in 1842, several years later, the community
being thus deprived of the services of a whole generation of
physicians, which they had enjoyed for So years or more, to
each of whom a large clientelle was devotedly attached. Doc-
tor Case was very positive and heroic in his methods, and made
himself very conspicuous by the extremely liberal use of cold
water at a time when the opposite practice prevailed. He was
also thought to be extravagantly free in the use of the lancet.
For these and perhaps other reasons, he was not exactly en rap-
port with his compeers, but the people who habitually em-
ployed him had the most implicit confidence in him. In his early
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 71
career he was a very active Freemason, but had differences and
dissension with t'he regular fraternity, and afterward established
a lodge which was always spoken of as Doctor Case's lodge,
which finally became defunct, and in his later life he became an
active and leading spirit among Rhode Island anti-masons. He
was a remarkably fine looking man.
Doctor Paul Castel advertised the practice of medicine and
surgery in ISTewport. He was from Cape Francois, and in 1786
had rooms at Widow Lillibridge' s, North Side Parade.
Doctor Nathaniel Ray Chace is now practising in Newport.
He was born at New Shoreham, Newport county, R. I., July
8th, 1842, and was a son of Isaac and Celina (Littlefield) Chace,
of New Shoreham. He acquired his academic and classical educa-
tion at Lombard University, in Illinois, and received there, his
degree of A. B. in 1870, and his M. D. in Hahneman College,
Philadelphia, in 1872, as a Homoeopathic physician. He prac-
tised in Providence one^year, and came to Newport in June,
1873, where he has since resided. He is unmarried.
Doctor Stephen Champlin. Among the young gentlemen
who were under the instruction of Doctor William Turner of
Newport, was Doctor Stephen Champlin, from Lebanon,
Conn., who married Alice, daughter of George Armstrong, of
Newport, who, at the conclusion of his pupilage, settled in his
native town, and practised there for many years, and died,
leaving no children.
Doctor Walter Channing, son of Hon. William and Lucy
(Ellery) Channing, was born in Newport, April 15th,' 1780, in
the house southeast corner Mary and School streets, afterward
for many years the residence of Charles Gyles, Esq., now oc-
cupied as a children's home. His father was a very prominent
lawyer and attorney-general of Rhode Island from 1777 to 1787.
His maternal grandfather was Hon. William Ellery, one of the
signers of the declaration of independence. He was a brother
of Rev. William E. Channing, D. D. Doctor Channing was a
student of medicine with Doctor Barton, of Philadelphia, and
a graduate of the Philadelphia Medical School, University of
Pennsylvania. He was professor of midwifery and medical
jurisprudence at Harvard, from 1815 to 1854, nearly 40 years.
He studied also, at the Universities of Edinburgh and London.
He settled in Bbston in 1802, and became, in a short time, one
of the most prominent members of the profession in that cily^
72 IIISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
where he continued to practice until his death. Doctor Chan-
ning published many books, and was especially interested in
setherization soon after its introduction. He was physician to
the Massachusetts General Hospital for nearly twenty years.
He came to Newport, on the occasion of the reunion of the sons
and daughters of Newport, August 23d, 1859, and delivered an
address. Soon after he died.
Doctor John Clarke was the earliest physician known to have
belonged to the settlement of Rhode Island, having been a
signer of the original compact, on settlement at Pocasset, now
Portsmouth, in March, 1638. He was evidently one of the
principal factors in that movement, as he was one of the most
active, energetic, and efficient in the promotion of the radical
ideas which underlaid it, and of resistance to the influences
which never relaxed on the part of the home government, to de-
feat its prime objects, in which -resistance no aid was wanting,
which could be given by a considerable party among his fellow
colonists. He was a prominent figure in all the negotiations
between the colonists, and the parliament, and the king, and
is supposed to have been chiefly instrumental in procuring from
Charles II, the charter of 1663, the first grant of perfect reli-
gious freedom ever impressed with a royal seal, or signed by a
royal hand, and under which the people of Rhode Island prof-
ited by its beneficent provisions, and enjoyed the most unex-
ceptionably good government ever known among men for 180
years. We have not space to dilate on the political history of
John Clarke. It has been sufficiently and very frequently ven-
tilated, and no additions can be made to what is thoroughly
known.
Medical business never brings a man's name into public rec-
ord, and generally his other business transactions are limited,
and we only know of John Clarke's professional relations very
little. He was in London from 1651 to 1653, as is said, engaged
in practice, as he probably was during all his residence in Ports-
TTiouth and Newport. His signature was "John Clarke, Physi-
cian," although he was the founder and benefactor and first
pastor for many years of the first Baptist church in Newport, evi-
dently prosecuting his ministrations to the bodies as well as to
the souls of his parishioners at the same time. Doctor Clarke had
three wives but left no descendants. He was born in 1608, and
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 73
died April 20th, 1676, and was at the time of the exodus from
Massachusetts bay, 30 years of age.
Doctor Henry Tisdale Coggeshall was born in Newport June
2d, 1858. His father was Thomas, son of Timothy and Alice
(Almy) Coggeshall, and his mother was Ellen Prances, daughter
of George Knowles, all of Newport. He was educated in the
public schools of Newport, preparing for college at the Rogers
high school. He entered Yale College in 1880, and after one
year there entered Harvard Medical School, where he graduated
in medicine in 1883. He passed one year as house surgeon in
the Hospital for Women, in Boston, previously to graduation,
and one year subsequently, as resident physician of the New
York Infant Asji-lum, Mt. Vernon, N. Y. In 1884 he practised
for five months in Newport, after which he passed two years in
medical studies in Europe. While in Europe he attended the
third international congress as representative of Rhode Island,
by appointment of Governor Wetmore, at Rome, Italy. After
his return he served again, for nine months, as resident physi-
<!ian at the New York Infant Asylum. He was appointed Ger-
man secretary to the section of diseases of children at the Ninth
International Medical Congress, at Washington, in 1887. He
settled in New York city in the autumn of 1887, and is now
assistant to the chair of diseases of children at Bellevue Hospi-
tal Medical School, and physician to out-patients, section of
diseases of children, Bellevue Hospital.
A Doctor Simon Cooper was a resident of Newport in 1678,
probably the same who was admitted as freeman of the colony
in May, 1666. No other record of him is known to exist.
Doctor D wight Eleazer Cone, of Fall River, Mass., son of Ben-
jamin and S. Rosalie Cone, was born at Brookfield, Madison
county, New York, August 18th, 1854. He received his educa-
lion at New Berlin Academy, and taught school for five years.
He studied medicine in the office of his uncle, Doctor Frank D.
Beebe, at Hamilton, Madison countJ^ N. Y., and graduated in
medicine at the University Medical School, New York city, in
May, 1875. He became a member of the Chenango Medical
Society in June, 1875, and practised for three years at Coventry,
Ohenango county. He came to Rhode Island in November,
1878, and settled in the town of Portsmouth, where he practised
until December, 1882, having Joined the Rhode Island Medical
Society in March, 1879. He removed thence to Fall River,
74 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
where he has since practised, giving especial attention to gy-
naecology and obstetrics. In November, 1883, he became a
member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and is secretary
and treasurer of the Fall Eiver Medical Society, of which he
was an original member.
Doctor Charles Cotton, son of Rossiter andPriscilla (Jackson)
Cotton, of Plymouth, Mass., was born in that historic town on
the 7th of October, 1788, and died in Newport February 3d,
1870, in his 82d year. He graduated as A.B. at Harvard in 1806,
and A.M. 1812. February 18th, 1811, he received orders, signed by
Paul Hamilton, to join the frigate "Constitution" as surgeon's-
mate, and April 2d following he received his commission as
surgeon's mate in the U. S. navy, signed by President Madison.
October 21st, 1812, he received orders from Commodore Bain-
bridge to report to Capt. Lawrence on board U. S, S. " Hornet"
for duty. April 26th, 1813, he was commissioned as surgeon
U. S. navy. August 2d, 1813, he received notice of the confir-
mation of his commission by the senate. March 25th, 1823, he-
was ordered to the ship " Hornet," at Norfolk, and November
12th, 1823, to the ship "Cyane." February 10th, 1820, he re-
ceived a silver medal, by act of congress, for gallant services.
He was in the battle between the U. S. S. " Hornet" and H. B.
M. S. " Peacock," when the latter was captured, and is said to-
have been severely censured by Commodore Bainbridge for un-
necessarily exposing himself in the action. He resigned his
commission in the navy in 1823. He was on board the "Con-
stitution" when she carried Hon. John Jay to France. After-
ward he was stationed at Charlestown navy yard, and in 181T
had charge of the naval hospital at Newport, R. I., where he
married, at that time, Mary, eldest daughter of Captain
Stephen T. and Mary (Langley) Northam. By her he had
a large family, of whom the only surviving son is William R..
Cotton, Esq., of Newport. Doctor Cotton became a member of
the Medical Consociation of Brown University March 9th, 1813,
and of the Rhode Island Medical Society September 29th, 1817,
as appears by diploma, signed P. Bowen, Praeses, but was re-
commended for election by the censors March 6th, 1816. He
was a studious man, and accomplished in historical and literary
lore. He was genial and companionable, and had a keen appre-
ciation of humor and a fund of local anecdote, which made his
society agreeable and iastructive. He was highly esteemed as^
illSTORT OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 75
a surgeon and was a worthy representative of the profession.
He was a member of the R. I. Historical Society, and of the Pil-
grim Society, and delivered an address before them on the occa-
sion of the renaoval of a portion of Plymouth Rock to the
society's premises, which has since been restored to its original
position. He was a pupil of Dr. James Thatcher of Plymouth.
Doctor Isaac B. Cowen, son of Jesse and Anna Cowen, was
born in Oanandaigua, New York, March 10th, 1855. His youth
was passed, principally, at Mattapoisett and New Bedford,
Mass. After graduating from the high school he attended a
commercial school at Boston, but his ambition led him to pre-
fer a profession, and he entered the office of Dr. Charles L.
Swazey, of New Bedford, as a student of medicine, and he re-
ceived his medical degree at the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons, at New York, in March, 1873. January 1st, 1874, he
entered upon the practice of his profession in Little Compton,
where he died, March 3d, 1886, leaving a widow and two chil-
dren. He was town clerk of Little Compton from June, 1876, to
March, 1881, when the pressure of his professional duties com-
pelled his resignation. His early decease afforded him only
twelve years of professional life.
Doctor John Cranston was born in Scotland, in 1625 or 1626,
and died in Newport, March 11th, 1680. He came to Rhode Is-
land early, and was elected drummer in March, 1644. In
1656, he is catalogued as a freeman of the colony, from both
Portsmouth and Newport, but in the same year was a deputy
to the general assembly from Newport.. He was afteward at-
torney general, and his name, for many years, is conspicuous
in colonial affairs. In 1676, he was the military chief of the
colony, with the title of major, and so remained during King
Philip's war. He was deputy governor from May, 1676, to
November, 1678, and governor from November, 1678, to March
12th, 1680. In March, 1663-4, in consideration of "the blessing
of God, on the good endeavors of Captayne John Cranston of
Newport, both in Phissicke and Chirurgery he is licensed and
commissioned to administer Phissicke and practice Chirurgery
throughout this entire Colony, and is, by this court, styled and
recorded Doctor of Phissicke and Chirurgery." This is un
doubtedly the first medical degree ever conferred in Rhode Is-
land, if not OH this continent. With pain we have to acknowl-
edge that we have no other means of judging of his proficiency.
76 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
or of his degree of medical education. As he came to this locality
at the age of nineteen, his European advantages were probably-
limited. He was a near relative of Lord Cranston, and of royal
blood, one of his ancestors being John Cranston, Prior of Cold-
ingham, a natural son of James V. of Scotland. His wife was
Mary, daughter of Jeremiah and Frances (Latham) Clarke.
His eldest son, Samuel, was governor of Rhode Island from
March, 1698 to April 26th, 1727, 29 years, dying in office,
like his father.
Doctor William Crooke was the son of William and Mary
(Malbone) Crooke, of ]Srewport, and was baptized by the rector
of Trinity church, September 27th, 1803. He died in Ports-
mouth, R. L, in 1843. He studied medicine with his uncle. Doc-
tor Waring, in Newport, whose wife was his mother's sister,
they being daughters of the Hon. Francis Malbone. He settled at
Block Island, and until March, 1842, had almost the entire
practice of that community, where he was greatly esteemed.
At that time he came to Newport, where he remained about a
year, but not practising. He then purchased a small place at
Lawton's valley, in Portsmouth, and very soon after died there.
He married a Miss Champlin, of Charlestown, R. L, and left
one son, William Crooke, who is still living.
Doctor John P. Curley was born at Newport, March 8th,
1856, was educated at Newport, graduated in medicine at Har-
vard College, in 1877, and spent two years following at St.
Peter's Hospital, at Albany, New York, as resident physician
and surgeon, and commenced practice in Newport, in May,
1879. In 1880, he was elected a meniber of the Newport Hos-
pital medical staff, and served in that capacity for several years.
He has left Newport since. Although not long here, he gave
an impression of great capacity and promise. Doctor Peter P.
Curley, brother of Doctor John P., was born in Newport, Sep-
tember 18th, 1861, was educated at Newport, and graduated at
Albany Medical School, in 1883. He was two years resident
physician and surgeon at St. Peter's Hospital, Albany, N. Y.
He opened an office in Providence, R. I., in February, 1884, and
practised thei'e until August, 1887, when he removed to New-
port.
Doctor Samuel Danforth, son of Samuel, probate judge of
Middlesex county, Mass., was born at Cambridge, in ]740, mar-
ried first Watts, second Margaret Billings, third Martha
HISTORY OF NEWPOET COUNTY. 77
Gray. Seven of his ancestors and relatives were graduates of
Harvard College before him. He graduated in 1758, studied med-
icine with the elder Doctor Read, and afterward probably with
Doctor Kast. He came to Newport, and after remaining there
a short time, he went to Boston, where he became very prom-
inent, especially as a disciple of the ultra-heroic^ school, and
might be styled the Boanerges of the medical profession, in
Boston. On the evacuation of Boston by the British, he was
made prisoner, as a loyalist, but his services were so desirable
he was soon released. He was much interested in chemistry,
and had a very complete laboratory in Boston. He died No-
vember 16th, 1827, having retired from practice years before.
Thatcher says of him, "He was tall, erect, penetrating eye,
aquiline nose, very prominent chin, and sagacious expression."
Doctor James Puritan Donovan, son of James J. and C. A.
Donovan, was born in the city of New York in 1864, and gradu-
ated in,medicine, at New York College of Physicians and Sur-
geons, in 1886. He settled the same year in Newport, and has
since been a resident and practitioner in that city. Doctor
Donovan is a promising young man.
Doctor Theophilus C. Dunn was the only son of Rev. Thomas
Dunn, a Baptist minister, who came from County Devon, Eng-
land, in 1795, to America, and his wife, Mary, daughter of
Doctor Puddicome and Mary, his wife, of the same county. Doc-
tor Dunn was born in New York, July 8th, 1800, and died at
New York, February 26th, 1871. He married Elizabeth,
daughter of Captain Robinson and Frances (Gibbs) Potter.
Doctor Dunn's father lived for many years at Germantown,
Pennsylvania, and the doctor received his academic education
at Mount Airy chiefly, though he had at some time been un-
der the tuition of Rev. William Rogers, of Philadelphia, who
was one of the first class of graduates at Brown University, in
1769. Doctor Dunn attended his college course at Princeton,
and graduated there, after which he entered the office of Doc-
tor Corson, at New Hope, Pennsylvania, and received the de-
gree of Doctor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania,
at about which time his father's family removed to Newport,
and remained here during the remainder of their lives. Doctor
Dunn also came to Newport and married here, entering im-
mediately into the practice of his profession, of which he was
a worthy and active member for nearly fifty years. He was a
78 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
most genial and companionable man. He was an optimist of
the best variety ; without any tendency to levity, his kindly
manner and bright countenance brought relief into the sick
room, arid gloom was dissipated, unless the gravity of the case
demanded gravity of demeanor, when he instinctively graduated
his address to the requirements. He was perfectly frank and
straightforward ; no sham found any place with him If any-
thing questionable were suggested, instantly the reply came,
"I wouldn't condescend." In his relations with liis profes-
sional brethren no suspicion of selfishness ever attached to him,
and he accordingly had their warm affection. He was fond of
general literature, and conversed on all subjects with great in-
telligence and in a very acceptable manner. Doctor Dunn was
an active member of the R. I. Medical Society, was its first
vice-president from 1840 to 1843, and president from 1843 to
1846.
Doctor Ezra Dyer, son of Ezra C. and Caroline E. (Tiffany)
Dyer, was born in Boston, Mass., October 17th, 1836, and grad-
uated A. B. at Harvard, in 1857. Before entering college he had
given some time to the study of medicine, under Doctors Wy-
man and Ware. He entered Harvard Medical School in 1867,
and graduated in 1859, having passed the previous year as
house surgeon in the Massachusetts General Hqspital. Directly
after graduation he went to Europe and passed two years in dil-
igent study in the various medical centers, and giving especial
attention to diseases of the eye and ear, in which he afterward
became distinguished as a specialist. Returning home, in 1861,
he established himself in Philadelphia. In 1862 he was ap-
pointed to have charge of all eye and ear cases in the Phila-
delphia army hospitals, and he retained this position until 1865.
He was an original rnember of the American Ophthalmological
Society, formed January 9, 1864. In 1873 Doctor Dyer removed
to Pittsburg, Pa., where he remained until 1883, having a large
practice, but his health being impaired by two serious surgical
injuries, he removed to Newport, R. I., where he resided during
the remainder of his life, practising exclusively in diseases of
the eye and ear. He was attached to the medical staff of the
Newport Hospital, having charge in his specialty of all cases of
disease or injury of eye and ear. Doctor Dyer had published
several hospital papers, and was a man of brilliant parts and of
a genial and amiable temper, and a great favorite with his as-
HISTORY OF KEWPORT COUNTY. 79
«ociates. He died at sea, on his return from Florida, where he
had gone with the hope of improving his health, February 9th,
1887.
Doctor Jonathan Easton, son of Jonathan and Ruth (Cogges-
hail) Easton, fifth in descent from Grovernor Nicholas, an origi-
nal settler, was born in Newport, August 6th, 1747, married
Sarah Thurston, daughter of Peleg and Sarah, December 3d,
1778, and died March 13th, 1813. He had three children : Doc-
tor Jonathan, Peleg and Sarah. His residence was the house in
Broad street lately occupied by Miss Ellen Townsend, now the
property of the city, and used for an industrial school. Doc-
tor Easton was a Quaker, as were most of his relatives, and as
people o£ that persuasion abounded on the island, very natur-
ally he absorbed a large part of their patronage and did a large
business during all his natural life. According to George
Channing, who remembered him well, his appearance and dress
were such as adapted him well to secure and maintain the con-
liden6e of his fellow worshippers. Mr. Channing says, "He
blended so much benignity of manner with his medicine as to
render the bitter comparatively sweet. He introduced inocu-
lation for small pox into Newport, in 1772, his being the first
three cases in Rhode Island. He was an original Fellow of the
R. I. Medical Society. Doctor Parsons says, he commenced his
professional career ten years before the revolution, and con-
tinued it for nearly fifty years."
Doctor Jonathan Easton, Jr., son of Doctor Jonathan and
Sarah (Thurston) Easton, was born in Newport about 1780.
He studied medicine with his father, and attended lectures' in
Philadelphia, after the establisnment of the medical school in
that city by Doctor Shippen and his compeers, Doctor Rush,
etc. He remained in Newport but a short time, and removed to
Cumberland, R. I., and died early. He also was an original
member of the R. I. Medical Society
Doctor Peter Easton died at Newport, September 16th, 1817,
aged 61 years.
A Doctor John Easton is mentioned as having incurred sus-
picion, at the breaking out of the revolution, and being put
under arrest by order of the general assembly, for royalist
leanings ; but nothing more is known of him. He probably be-
-came a refugee, on the evacuation of Rhode Island by the
JBritish.
80 HISTOKT OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Doctor Henry Ecroj'd, Jr., eldest son of James and Rachel
Ecroyd, was born at Muncy, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania,
May 0th, 1858, of Quaker parentage. He attended the Friend's
school at Muncy until the age of 14, then entered an ad-
vanced Friend's school at Westtown, ten miles from Phila
delphia, where he graduated in 1879, having in the interval
spent two years at a commercial college, and at the Muncy
Normal school. He studied medicine for a year and a half in
Doctor William M. Rankin's office, in Muncy, and then entered
the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania,
spending the summers in the Friends' Insane Asylum, at
Frankfort, and the Pennsylvania Hospital for Insane in West
Philadelphia. After a three years' course, he graduated in
1883, and passed the following year in district work and lec-
tures. After a few weeks as resident physician in the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania Hospital, he was elected to a similar posi-
tion in the Pennsylvania Hospital at Eighth and Pine streets,
Philadelphia. After the expiration of his term he passed a few
weeks on the Jersey coast, and came to Newport, October 1st,
1885. Here he has made an encouraging beginning, and is one
of the attending physicians of the Newport Hospital.
Doctor Edward Ellis. Nothing is known of him, except that
in the hewspaper report of the celebration of King George Third's
coronation, in Newport, the route of the procession is said to
be "from Dr. Ellis' house to the state house," and an adver-
tisement, not very long after, of the house of " Dr. Edward El-
lis," describing the house at foot of Pope sti'eet, corner Spring
wliai'f, latterly known as the Handy house, earlier as the Over-
ing house, gives his Christian name, and makes the route of the
parade a very natural one, that being then the south end of
the town.
Doctor J. J. Ellis was born in Boston in 1826, graduated A. B.
at Harvard University in 1847, and took his medical degree at
Harvard in 1852. He was house surgeon for one year in the
Massachusetts G-eneral Hospital. He settled at Portsmouth,
R. I., and after two years, removed to Bristol, R. I. in 1854. He
remained at Bristol until, in 1862, he became an assistant sur-
geon of volunteers, attached to the 37th Massachusetts Regi-
ment. He was sick three months at Washington, and was honor-
ably discharged for disability, being in an advanced stage of
Phthisis. He returned to Newport, and lingered for a few
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 81
weeks in a hopeless condition, and died March 17th, 1863, aged
37 years. He married the only child of Eev. John O. Choules,
D. D., by whom he had one son, who is still living. Doctor El-
lis was a man of more than ordinary promise.
Doctor George Engs, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Stanhope)
Engs, was born in Newport, February 24th, 1840, and died in
Newport, July 7th, 1887. The family of Engs was of a good
old Puritan stock, its first representative in America having
been a deacon in the old South church in Boston, in very early
times. Four or five generations of the family have been among
the substantial citizens of Newport. Doctor Engs early indica-
ted scholarly tastes and acquired studious habits, and in 1860,
received the degree of A. B. at Yale College, and began the
study of medicine in the office of Doctor David King, of New-
port, graduating in medicine at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, New York, in 1863. He commenced practice in New-
port as physician and obstetrician, but always eschewing surg-
ery, as not congenial with his tastes. In 1866 he went to En-
roj)e, passing two years in the different medical capitals, but
chiefly in Vienna, making himself an accomplished German
scholar, and perfecting himself in professional lore. In 1882,
he again visited Europe, on a tour of travel for six months, and
resumed practice on his return. Doctor Engs was a man of
great intellectual power and an intense love of truth. He in-
vestigated thoroughly and reasoned ably, and his analyses
were valuable because his mind was always dominated by that
instinctive regard for truth and rejection of any evidence which
admitted of doubt. Although reticent and retiring, he was
genial among his associates, who were not numerous. He had
a strong hold on the confidence and kindly appreciations of the
community, and gave promise, until his health failed, of an un-
usually successful career. He was unmarried.
Doctor Thomas Eyres was a son of Rev. Nicholas Eyres, pas-
tor of the Second Baptist church in Newport, a native of
Great Britain, born August 22d, 1691, died in Newport
February 13th, 1759. Doctor Eyres was born August 2d, 1735,
married Amey Tillinghast, August 2d, 1759, and died February
23d, 1788, in Newport, leaving a daughter who married Wil-
liam Briggs, of Newport. His race being long extinct, little
more can be gathered concerning him. He attended Henry
Collins in his last illness. He left Newport during the revolu-
6
82 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
tion, and practised in Providence. Doctor Eyres received the
degree of Bachelor of Arts from Yale College in 1754, and was
the first secretary of Rhode Island College, afterward Brown
Uuiversity, from ]764 to 1776.
Doctor Joseph J. Fales was born at Wrentham, Mass., Jan-
nary 27th, 1797. He was graduated from Brown University in
1820, attended lectures at Philadelphia and Boston, was grad-
uated in medicine at Boston, and settled in Newport in 1822.
In 1825 he married Miss Terry, an English lady. She died in
1830, having had two children, who died young. He left New-
port in 1832, and afterward lived in Boston. In 1835 he mar-
ried Caroline L. Hammett, sister of DocDor George A. Hammett,
and daughter of Deacon Nathan B. Hammett, of Newport, His
widow survived, and with four children, Mary E., George H.,
Edwin M. and Emma G., resides in East Boston.
Doctor Havela Parnsworth, with his brother Oliver, came to
Newport in 1798, from Vermont, and with him established a
a democratic newspaper, styled the "Guardian of Liberty."
After a year or two the publication was abandoned, and the
doctor became a practitioner of medicine in Newport, and, at
one time, in Portsmouth. Oliver continued the paper under
filename of "Rhode Island Republican," and published in
1800 a book entitled, "Memory of Washington." Of Doctor
Farnsworth's subsequent history nothing is known.
Doctor Moses Pifield, son of Rev. Moses and Celia (Knight)
Pifield (the father being an itinerant minister of the Methodist
Episcopal church) was born December 23d, 1823, at Warehouse
Point, Conn. The Reverend Moses was from New Hamp-
shire, his wife from Providence, R. I. Doctor Pifield at-
tended school at Centreville, R. I., at the Weslej^an Academy,
Wilbraham, Mass., and at East Greenwich Methodist Seminary.
He commenced the study of medicine with Doctors George and
Charles W. Fabyan, at Providence, R. I., and was graduated
from the University of the City of New York in 1846. He mar-
ried Hannah A., daughter of Christopher and Sarah (Congdon)
Allen, of North Kingstown, in 1846. He practised medicine in
Fall River, Mass, and Little Compton, R. I., until 1852, when,
on the decease of Doctor Keith, he removed to Portsmouth,
R. I. He practised there for several years, when on account of
his father's ill health, he removed to Centreville, R. I., where
he became cashier of the Centreville Bank, afterward Centre-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 83
ville National Bank, and of the Warwick Institution for Savings,
combining these financial duties with the practice of medicine,
which he prosecutes with equal assiduity and interest. Although
64 years of age, he still enjoys good health. He has been a
member of the R. I. Medical Society since 1855, and is a mem-
ber of the American Medical Association.
Doctor Henry Collins Flagg was the son of Ebenezer and
Mary (Ward) Flagg, who were married in Newport February
5th, 1740. His grandfather, Richard Ward, was governor of
Rhode Island from July, 1740, to May, 1743. Doctor Collins
was born at Newport, at what date is not precisely known ; he
was a brother of Major Ebenezer Flagg, of Col. dreene's R. I.
Regiment of the continental line of the revolution, who was
killed with his colonel on Croton river, New York. Doctor
Collins was surgeon on General Greene' s staff, in South Carolina,
where he remained and married, and became prominent in his
profession.
Doctor William Fletcher came to Newport in 1785, as surgeon
in the British navy, but was transferred, while here, to the
army. At the close of the war he retired on half paj'-, and re-
mained here and practised until his death, March 9th, 1788.
He was born in Lancashire, England, in 1742. His epitaph says,
"He, lived like a gentleman and died like a philosopher."
Doctor Samuel Ward Francis, fourth son of Doctor John W.
and Eliza M. (Cutler) Francis, was born in New York city, De-
cember 26th, 1835. He acquired his preliminkry education in
Joshua Worth's school, in New York, and graduated A. B. at
Columbia College in 1857, having received five or six prizes dur-
ing his undergraduate course. He studied medicine in his
father's office, and at the school of Doctors T. P. Thomas and
William Rice Donaghe, and graduated in medicine at the New
York University Medical College in 1860. He married June
16th, 1859, Harriet H., daughter of Judge M. H. McAllister, of
the U. S. District Court of California. After graduation he
commenced practice in New York, where he was physician to
the Dispensary for diseases of head, abdomen and skin. He
was in Newport from 1862 to 1864, again passed two years in
New York, and in 1866 took up his permanent residence in
Newport, where he remained until his decease, March 25th,
1886. The cause of his death was diabetes mellitus. On grad-
uation in medicine, he took the Mott bronze medal for best
84 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
clinical report. Doctor Francis wrote voluminously for the
medical journals and other periodicals, and was author of two
novels. He was a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine,
and of the Victoria Institute of Great Britain, and of many
other medical and scientific societies, and was vice-president of
the Newport Medical Society. He was gifted with a remarkably
inventive genius, and obtained several patents. He was the
original inventor of the typewriter. He was the founder of the
Newport Society of Natural History. Doctor Francis was
faithful and diligent in the performance of his professional
duties, and was highly esteemed and deeply beloved by his em-
ployers and his professional brethren ; he was a man of most
amiable temper and charming social qualities, and his demise at
the early age of 51 years, produced an impression of shock and
sadness quite unusual ; he left five children.
Doctor Valentine Mott Francis, third son of Doctor John W.
and Eliza M. (Cutler) Francis, was born in New York city April
25th, 1834. He attended the schools of Rev. Doctor Hawkes,
and of KT. Huddard of NewYork, and some others, and studied
medicine with his father, and at the same school as his brother,
that of Thomas & Donaghe, and took his degree of M.D. at New
York University Medical College in March, 1859, and in June
following received his diploma as practical analytical chfemist.
He also had a diploma for six months' attendance on wards in
Bellevue Hospital. He published the first work on hospital
hygiene, and also a. poem on the fight for the Union, and did
much work as a newspaper correspondent. He practised in New
York for two and one-quarter years, and then retired and re-
moved to ISewport, where he still lives, passing his summers at
Conanicut. He was a member of the New York Sanitary Asso-
ciation in 1861, and is a life member of the New York Historical
Society. Doctor Francis married, first, Sarah Faulkner, eldest
daughter of Charles Carville, Esq., April 16th, 1857. They had
two sons, both dead. February 7th, 1865, he married AnnaM.,
daughter of Doctor Rene de La Roche, of Philadelphia. She
is still living. They had three sons, one of whom survives.
Doctor Francis has not resumed practice since his removal to
Newport, but has acquired a large number of attached friends
by his sterling qualities.
Doctor Sylvester Gardiner was the son of William Gardiner,
Esq., of South Kingstown, R. I., and was born there in 1707.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 85
He early developed studious inclinations, and under tlie direc-
tion of Rev. Doctor MacSparran, who had married his sister,
his bent was encouraged, and he was sent to Boston and studied
medicine with Doctor Gibbons, an English physician, whose
daughter he married. After two years he went to Europe,
studied four years in Paris, and afterward spent two years in
studying opthalmology in France. He returned and settled in
Boston, where he became famous, and had a most extensive
practice in medicine and operative surgery. He was reputed to
have the most extensive obstetrical practice in 'New England.
He acquired a large fortune, was largely engaged in purchases
of land, and was a member of the Plympton Land Company.
He was owner of an extensive tract, now Gardiner, Maine. He
is reputed to have erected churches, and to have supported
Episcopal clergymen from his own private means, but his pros-
perity came to an end at the revolution. Being an active loyal-
ist, he became a refugee, his property was confiscated, and he
was impoverished. After the war he came to Newport, and
practised his profession, and died here in 1786, aged 80 years.
Doctor William Gibson did not practice in Newport, except
when visiting here in summer, when he occasionally performed
operations. He was particularly distinguished as a surgeon.
After his retirement he came to Newport, and made his resi-
dence here in his latter years. He was born in Baltimore in 1788,
and died at Savannah, Georgia, March 2d, 1868, aged 80 years.
He was educated first at Annapolis, Md., then at Princeton, N.
J., and last at Edinburgh, where he attended the high school,
and where he received the degree of M.D. in 1809. He was
present at the battle of Corunna, and received a slight wound
at Waterloo. He settled at Baltimore in 1810. He married, in
1810, Sarah Charlotte Hollingsworth. In 1812 he tied the com-
mon Iliac artery. He was successively professor of surgery in
the University of Maryland, and the University of Pennsylvania,
where he officiated for many years, and was very much admired
for his distinct and lucid demonstrations, and for his marvelous
skill in preparations and drawings for the illnstration of his
lectures. He was at Lundy's Lane, and extracted a bullet from
General Winfield Scott. He performed the Cajsarian section
twice on the same woman, who recovered both times, and both
children were saved.
Doctor John Bernard Giljiin, son of John Bernard and Mary
g6 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
(Miller) Gilpin, was born in Newport, R. I., September 4tli,
1810. He was prepared for college at Judge Joslin's academy
in Chnrch Street, formerly noted as John Frazer's classical
school. He took the degree of A.B. at Trinity College, Hart-
ford, Conn., about 1831, studied medicine in the office of Doctor
T, C. Gunn, and graduated in medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1834. About this time his family had removed
to Annapolis, JSTova Scotia, where he settled, and practised for
eight years, when he removed to Halifax. There he became a
prominent practitioner until about ten years ago, when he re-
tired from active practice, and returned to Annapolis, where he
now resides. Doctor Gilpin is a younger brother of Hon. Wil-
liam Gilpin of Newport.
Miss Gertrude Gooding, M.D., daughter of Joseph and Mary
(Howland) Gooding, was born at Bristol, R. I., July 15th, 1855.
She acquired her education in Bristol, graduating in the high
school of that town in 1873, and afterward graduated at Mt.
Holyoke Seminary in 1876. ^The five succeeding years she was
employed in teaching the natural sciences in the Maiden, Massa-
chusetts, high school. She received the degree of M.D. from
Boston University Medical School (Homeopathic) in 1884. She
then practised in Philadelphia for two years, and was a resi-
dent physician in West Philadelphia Hospital for infants, in
Women's Homeopathic, Maternity and Surgical Hospital, West
Philadelphia Presbyterian Home for Old Women, and Rosine
Home for Girls. Miss Gooding came to Newport in 1886, and
still practises here.
Dr. Ebenezer Gray practised medicine at Newport in 1752-3,
of which the only evidence obtainable is a bill for services to the
family of John Stevens, ancestor of the famous stonecutter
family of Newport, from May, 1752, to February, 1753 —
£10 12s. Od.
Doctor Benjamin Greene, son of Hon. Isaac and Eliza (Kenyon)
Greene, of Exeter, R. I., was born in that town October 30th,
1833. In 1856 he began the study of medicine under the tute-
lage of his uncle, Doctor Job Kenyon, at Anthony, R. I., and
in 1857 matriculated at the University Medical School, in
the city of New York, where he graduated in 1859. He com-
menced practice directly after at Portsmouth, R. I., and has
continued to practice there to the present time. In 1860 he be-
came a member of the R. I. Medical Society. Besides his prac-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 87
tice he has been successfully and extensively engaged in real
estate transactions in and about Fall River, vsrhich is eight
miles from his home. Doctor Greene married November 26th,
1860, Eunice A., daughter of Philip B. and Sarah E. (Cooke)
Chase, of Portsmouth, R. I. He is an active member of the
Methodist church, and of the order of Freemasons. He enjoys
the respect and confidence of the community in which he lives,
and of his professional brethren.
Doctor Nathaniel Greene, the eldest son of Nathaniel Ray
Greene, who was the eldest son of Major General Nathaniel
Greene of the revolutionary army, was born at Dungeness, the
patrimonial estate of his family, on Cumberland Island,
Georgia, June 22d, 1809. His mother, who was born November
8th, 1784, died January 9th, 1886, at her residence in Middletown,
R. I., at the extreme age of 102 years, was a daughter of Ethan
and Anna (Ward) Clarke. She was a very remarkable woman.
She retained her mental faculties unimpaired until her decease,
and those faculties were by no means of a common order. She
delighted in literary pursuits, and her familiarity with the best
class of English authors, of an earlier period especially, was
phenominal to her last years ; she would convei"se in a wonder-
fully intelligent manner on the productions and authors of the
golden period of English literature, as Addison, Johnson, Gold-
smith, Bolingbroke, etc. She spent some of her latter years,
and until her eyesight failed, in reading Hume and other
authors of that stamp ; at the same time she kept up a vivid
interest in current events, and was familiar with neighborhood
incidents, and whatever concerned the interests of her friends.
No effort of memory was ever evident. Her conversation
flowed as easily as that of young persons. She was a very
conscientious, judicious and wise person, and thoroughly kind-
hearted. Very few persons are permitted to be as interesting
at a time of life when they are regarded as monuments of by-
gone days. Her husband, the father of the doctor, was a most
amiable, genial and generous specimen of those " 7-ara awes,"
the gentlemen of the old school ; his habits of reading were in
harmony with those of his wife, who outlived him many years.
Except the doctor their only child was Professor George Wash-
ington Greene, who held professorships in Brown and Cornell
Universities, and who holds high rank among American
Literati. He left one son and three daughters. Doctoi'
88 HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Nathaniel Greene passed his boyhood in East Greenwich, R. I.,
which became the residence of his parents soon after his birth,
and so remained until 1836, when they purchased a farm in
Middletown, R. I., about five miles from Newport, on the west
shore of Rhode Island, where his parents passed the remaining
years of their life, and where he still resides. December 17th,
1827, he married Miss Mary Jane, eldest daughter of Col. Wil-
liam and Harriet (Gibbs) Moore, of Newport. She still sur-
vives. She have had no children. His school education was
pursued chiefly at the academy at East Greenwich. In 1824 he
entered the freshman class at Amherst College, and in 1825 the
Sophomore class of Brown University, which being, at that
time, in rather a languishing condition, it was not thought ex-
pedient to complete his course there, and he accordingly left
before the completion of his junior year. He then entered as a
student of medicine the office of Doctors Peck and Clarke, one
of whom, Doctor Welcome Clarke, was a relative, at Whites-
town, Oneida county. New York, where he remained about a
year ; he afterward returned to East Greenwich, where he
completed his professional education in the office of Doctor
Charles Eldredge of that town. His family being large land-
owners, he employed several years after the conclusion of his
medical studies, in the congenial pursuit of farming, in which
he has the reputation of being proficient, and which he has
never entirely abandoned, but which became secondary and
collateral after he had taken up the practice of medicine, which
he did about 1848. He has prosecuted his profession with more
or less vigor, to the present time, in the towns on Rhode Island,
as a disciple of the School of Ha^hneman. As a physician
among the people of those tenets, he has enjoyed a large prac-
tice and great popularity, and in the whole community is
looked upon with much respect as a man of high character and
tone, and as a man of thoroughly gentlemanly instincts, and
worthy his race and antecedents. His great-grandmother was a
daughter of Rest (Perry) Mott, wife of Jacob Mott of Portsmouth,
and daughter of Edward Perry of Sandwich, who was the an-
cestor of Commodores Oliver H. and Matthew C. Perry, thus de-
riving from an identical source part of the blood of two of the
prominent families of Rhode Island. In 1842 Doctor Greene com-
manded a company of volunteers raised in Middletown and
Portsmouth for the service of the state against the revolutionary
»i, v/y dJ/^e^f"
HISTOEY OF NEWP0I4T COUNTY. 89
organization called the Dorr government, and although no
blood was shed, he.proved his willingness and his capacity for
the service which might have been required ; after this he was
captain of a company of cavalry, organized at that time, on
the state establishment, with the rank of colonel ; after a year
or two this company was disbanded.
He was for several years president of the Aquidneck Agri-
cultural Society.
He was in 1848-49-50 anid 1851 senator in the general assembly
of Rhode Island, and filled that position honorably and ac-
ceptably. At the preliminary meeting, held at Providence,
December 12th, 1877, for the rehabilitation of the Rhode Island
Society of the Cincinnati, which had been in abeyance, from
various causes, since 1835, he was unanimously chosen its
president pro tem., and at the annual meeting, on July 4th,
1878, its charter having meanwhile been recognized by the
general assembly as having full force, he was unanimously
elected its president, and has since, on every fourth of July,
been re-elected. He has also been, every year, elected as one
of the society's delegates to the meetings of the general society,
which meetings are triennial, and has attended four of those
meetings, and is very highly esteemed and regarded by the
members of that organization.
Doctor John Haliburton came to this county, Doctor Parsons
says, " in 1750," but as he died in 1807, aged 69 years, he was
born in 1738, and was then only 12 years old. He probably
came about 1760, as he married, January 4th, 1767, Susanna
Brenton, daughter of Jahleel Brenton, Esq., of Newport. He
had five children born in Newport, of whom John, the eldest,
was an officer in the British navy ; Brenton, the fifth child, was
an eminent jurist, chief justice of Nova Scotia for many years,
was knighted in 1859, and died in 1860, aged 85 years. Doctor
Haliburton took high rank in his profession, and being con-
nected with the most influential families of Newport, then in
its palmiest days, had a most brilliant and successful career,
and is said to have accumulated a handsome fortune, but dur-
ing the revolution, in 1780, becoming suspected of correspond-
ence with the enemy, he retired to Halifax, where he passed the
remainder of his days.
Doctor Castill O. Hamlin came to Portsmouth, R. I., in 1833,
directly after Doctor James V. Turner had removed to New-
90 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
port. He was from northern New England. He was a promis-
ing man, but was cut off in a few month's, dying April 8th,
1834, at the early age of 36 years.
Doctor George Alfred Hammett, son of Deacon JSTathan and
Mary (Billings) Hammett, was born in Newport, September
20th, 1809, was baptized December 17th, 1809, and died in New-
port, February 6th, 1875, aged 65 years. Doctor Hammett,
after leaving school, was clerk in a large grocery, at the south-
east corner of Thames and Mill streets, but having a studious
turn of mind, after a few years he entered Doctor T. C. Dunn's
office as a student, and Doctor Dunn often said that the avidity
with which he devoured medical books was perfectly phenome-
nal. This was carried to such a degree that he once asked the
doctor to allow him to occupy his office on Sundays ; to this he
did not accede. After the completion of his studies he offered
his services to the public, but he never had any considerable
practice, and afterward took charge of a lumber business which
had been his father's. This he prosecuted with no great energy
until his father died, leaving him a competence. He then re-
tired, and thereafter devoted his entire time to the pursuit to
which he had always been devoted, to omniverous reading,
never of trashy books, but of substantial literature, with a de-
cided preference for speculative subjects. In his later years he
was a constant "habitue" of the Eedwood library, to which
he, from time to time, gave generous aid. Doctor Hammett
married late in life, but had no children.
Doctor William Handy, son of Charles and Ann Brown
Handy, was born at Newport, and was baptized in Trinity
church, September 29th, 1766. He married in June or July,
1788, being then of Newport, Abby Saltonstall, daughter of
Rosewell Saltonstall, Esq., merchant, of New London. He was
for many years a prominent and successful practitioner at New
London, Conn.
Doctor Enoch Hazard was born in Newport, January 2d, 1773,
and died in Newport, May 7th, 1844. He was a son of Thomas
and Mary (Easton) Hazard. Doctor Hazard married a
daughter of Nicholas Easton and had an only son. General
John Alfred Hazard, who bequeathed a large estate to the
Newport Hospital. Doctor Hazard pursued his medical
cal studies with his uncle, Doctor Jonathan Easton, attended
lectures in the Philadelphia Medical School, and graduated
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 91
there. Although not a member of the Friends' Society, as his
uncle had been, he had acquired by habit a close assimilation
with their habits and modes of thought, and he always re-
tained their favor. He did a large business until his death, at
the ripe age of 73 years. He was a tall, hard favored man,
angular not only in his appearance but in his methods, and very
positive. Nevertheless, he was very popular, and inspired a
high degree of affection and implicit confidence in his habitual
employers. He was a very worthy man, but very decided in
his prejudices. He represented, through his father and mother,
two of the most important and influential of the original set-
tlers of Rhode Island.
Doctor Jonathan Easton Hazard was the son of Godfrey and
Ruth (Easton) Hazard. He was Doctor Enoch Hazard's first
cousin, their mothers being sisters, and also sisters of Doctor
Jonathan Easton, and daiaghters of Jonathan Easton, the direct
descendant of Grovernors Nicholas and John Easton. The doctor
was always known as Doctor Easton Hazard, although he never
practised, being engaged in other avocations. His wife was
Mary, daughter of George Lawton. They had one daughter,
who died in 1870, unmarried. Doctor J. E. Hazard had studied
medicine in his yoiith, under the direction of his cousin. Doc-
tor Enoch.
Doctor Rowland Robinson Hazard was a son of Thomas
Hazard, of South Kingstown, R. L, distinguished as Little
Neck Town. He was brought up, from early youth, in the
family of Doctor William Turner, and educated as a physician,
but never practised, except indoors, having established himself
as a druggist, in the shop of Charles Feke, directly after his
death, on the parade. Later he moved three doors east, and
for many years he was a very industrious and highly esteemed
citizen. He married Anna, daughter of Lieut. -Governor Charles
Collins, but had no children. He was always known by his
title as Doctor Rowland, in distinction from Doctor Enoch.
Doctor George Hazard, of South Kingstown, was a son of
Carder Hazard of that to wn, who was a brother of George Hazard,
the first mayor of Newport. Doctor Hazard began the study
of medicine in Narragansett with Doctor Joshua Perry, an
uncle of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, but soon went to
Newport, where he completed his medical studies under the
tuition of Doctor Jonathan Easton, and where he married in
92 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
October, 1790, Sarah, widow of Captain Daniel Gardner, and
daughter of his uncle, Hon. George Hazard. Doctor Hazard
attended medical lectures in Philadelphia, and settled in his
native town after a period of practice in Newport, and practised
there until he died in September, 1828. His second wife was
Jane Maria, a daughter of Edward Hull, Esq., of Jamestown
and New Shoreham. Their children were Doctor William
Henry Hazard, of Wakefield, R. I., and Hon. Edward H.
Hazard, one of the lights of the Rhode Island bar. Doctor
Hazard was a lifelong friend of Doctor William Turner, of Few-
port.
Doctor William Henry Hazard, son of Doctor George and
Jane M. (Hull) Hazard, of South Kingstown, was born February
12th, 1808, the eldest of eight children. In 1824 he entered the
office of Doctor William Turner, at iSTewport, as a medical
student, and lived in his family for three years, and afterward
attended lectures in Boston. He commenced practice in South
Kingstown in 1828, and still practises there, although in his
eightieth year. He married Louisa Lyman, eldest child of the
late Governor Lemuel H. Arnold, of Rhode Island, March 15th,
1841, but has no children.
Doctor Thomas Arnold Hazard, son of Arnold Hazard, of
Jamestown, came to Newport in 1832, studied medicine in the
office of Doctor Alexander P. Moore, and graduated in medicine
in March, 1835, at the University of Pennsylvania. He settled
at Kingston, R. I., where Doctor D. Watson, who came to
Newport, had previously practised, and remained there until
he died, December 8th, 1886, aged 78 years. He had never
married. Doctor Hazard took high rank as a physician, and
had a large and successful practice, and had very great influence
as a man of affairs, and enjoyed the entire confidence of the
community surrounding him.
Doctor Henry Hooper was a son of Doctor Richard, of Water-
town, Mass., who died at Watertown in 1765, very old. Doctor
Henry was born at Watertown in 1687, died at Newport February
17th, 1757. His wife, Deborah, died May 2d, 1750, aged 65 years.
Doctor Henry Hooper, Jr., son of Doctor Henry and Deborah
Hooper, was born in Newport in 1716, and died in Newport
October 15th, 1745, aged 29 years. Nothing further can be
traced, by record or tradition, relative to this family.
Doctor William Hunter. The latter half of the eighteenth
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 93
century may be properly accounted the golden age of medicine
in Newport. She had been uncommonly prosperous, and had a
community of merchants who had accumulated large estates, for
the period. She was then, as now, a favorite resort for people of
wealth and leisqre. She had a large aristocratic element, such
as success always engenders, and was an acknowledged center
of literary and artistic taste and of social and mental refinement.
The Redwood library, comparatively small as it appears now,
was far in advance of any library in the country, in the num-
ber, and especially in the character of its books, unless, perhaps,
some few of the collegiate institutions might be excepted. The
merchants of Newport were noted for their generous hospitality,
and for their elegant style of living and their magnificent enter-
tainments. Newport then, from 1750 to 1775, presented a field
extremely tempting to those aspiring debutantes for success in
the medical profession, who for various reasons had found it
expedient to emigrate from Europe, and who had had such ad-
vantages of education as assured them advancement in a wealthy
and exceptionally refined community as that of Newport then
was. We find, accordingly, that quite a number of young phy-
sicians, who had enjoyed the instruction of the most eminent
medical men of the period, and the eclat of degrees from the
best schools in Europe, besides the hospital experience of Lon-
don, Edinburgh and Leyden, became residents of Newport, and
earned the reputation here which their accomplishments deserv-
ed. Among those particularly prominent were Hunter, Brett,
Moffatt and Haliburton, and others of whom we are able to
rescue less material for biographical account. Doctor William
Hunter, who was of the same family as the celebrated William
and John Hunter, of Edinburgh and London, was a native of
Scotland, and acquired his medical education at Edinburgh,
where the most brilliant luminaries of the medical world were
then at the zenith of their glory, and whose school of medicine
was, almost without dissent, deemed the center of medical
science. Doctor Hunter was born in Scotland in 1731, and died
in Newport January 31st, 1777. It has been generally believed
that he was a refugee from Scotland, on account of penalties
incurred from participation in the rebellion of 1745. This idea
seems to be entirely illogical, because if he was born in 1781 he
would be, at the time of CuUoden (1746) when the revolt col-
lapsed, 15 years of age, too young, probably, to engage in such
94 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
an enterprise, and certainly too young fco have commenced the
prosecution of a medical education, which he could not have
done afterward, with penalties as a rebel against the British
government hanging over him. He must have received his
medical degree as late as 1752. This fond delusion must,
therefore, be dismissed as untenable. Doctor Parsons says
Doctor Hunter came to America in 1752, which is probably
true, and would be directly after receiving his degree of M.D.,
although some authors have placed his arrival as early as 1750.
However that may be, he seems to have ingratiated himself
rapidly into popular estimation, for the general assembly elected
him, in March, 1758, physician and surgeon-general to the Rhode
Island troops. He served in the unfortunate campaign against
the French in Canada, in General Abercrbmbie's expedition, and
probably also in the more propitious one which succeeded under
Oeneral Amherst. From this time, the war being concluded by
the capture of Quebec and Montreal, he pursued the practice of
his profession in Newport with great success. In 1756 he de-
livered the first course of lectures on a medical subject, viz..
Anatomy, ever delivered on this continent, at the state house at
Newport. He was married September 13th, 1761, to Deborah,
daughter of Godfrey Malbone, Esq., of Newport. The children
of this marriage were: Eliza, born July 20th, 1762, died at Paris
in 1859; Anne, born April 20th, 1766, married John Fancounet,
died 1859; William,- born April 20th, 1768, died November 18th,
1772 ; Katharine, born June 2d, 1770, died October 1st, 1770 ;
Katharine, born February 28th, 1773, married Count de Portalis,
died 1860; William, born November 26th, 1774, died December
3d, 1849, in Newport. This last child, and only surviving son,,
was a lawyer of very great classical and scholastic attainments,
and stood very high at the Rhode Island bar, and was celebrated
especially for brilliant forensic abilities. He was senator in
congress from October, 1811, to March, 1821, from Rhode Island.
Later he was appointed, by President Jackson, charge de affairs
to the court of Brazil, which position he adorned and dignified
for many years. He was a student of Inner Temple, London.
Doctor Hunter was active and very positive in his adherence to
the cause of the crown in all the troubles preceding the revolu-
tion, and was, consequently, very obnoxious to the other party,
but he died while the British forces were in possession of New-
port, and in the full persuasion of the final triumph of the royal
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 95
cause. He was outspoken in his denunciation of those he was
pleased to style the "dommed rubbles."
Doctor Frank Hunter, son of Henry and Rebecca (Eells)
Hunter of Newport (who were married in Stonington, Conn.,
December 9th, 1773), was a student at the University of Edin-
burgh, and graduated in the same class in medicine with Doctor
William Gibson, former professor of surgery in the University
of Pennsylvania, and who, in his old age was a resident of New-
port in 1809. It is supposed that Hunter died young and with-
out returning home, as nothing more is known of him. He was
spoken of by Doctor Gibson as a man of wonderful talent and
acquirements, but as of an eccentric and mercurial disposition.
Doctor John Francis Hurley, only son of Patrick and Mary
(Donovan) Hurley, was born at Boston January 28th, 1839, mar-
ried Anna Louisa Burke September 1st, 1863, at Boston, and
-died of Phthisis at Newport December 2d, 1885. Doctor Hur-
ley took his medical decree at Cambridge in 1863, and was ad-
mitted as fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society August
1st, 1863. He practised in Boston for a short time, then he went
to Springfield, Mass., where he practised until 1867, when he
came to Newport and practised here until his death.
Doctor Robert Jeoffireys. Although not on the roll of those
who signed the compact of settlement at Pocasset, Robert Jeof-
freys, who may have been the Mr. Jeoffreys admitted August 23d,
1638, with Mr. Dummer's party, appears on the roll of freemen
at Newport September 1st, 1689, and he was elected treasurer for
one year, and was reelected for 1640-41 and 1642. In 1642 he
was elected captain for Newport. That he was the Mr. Jef-
fereys who came with Mr. Dummer seems probable from the fact
that the name William Jeffreys does not appear until 1655,
when the whole roll of the freemen of the colony is engrossed,
and the name Robert Jeffreys does not appear. If two Jef-
freys had been here the record would have been more explicit.
In 1641 this entry in the colonial record appears : "26. It is or-
dered, that Mr. Robert Jeoffreys shall be authorized to exercise
the function of Chirurgerie." Robert Jeffrey received a part
of Rocky farm in the first division of lands in 1641. He is said
to have removed in 1646. As he does not appear later on the rec-
ord, it is probable, as he had previously been quite conspicu-
-ous
Doctor Cyrus Johnson, son of Isaiah and Ruth (Leonard)
96 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Johnson, was born at Falmouth, Mass., October 13th, 1779. His
grandfather was Daniel Johnson, many years judge of the court
of Plymoiith county, Mass. Doctor Johnson married, March
11th, 1804, Hannah (Plaisted) Warren, daughter of David War-
ren, Esq., and Sarah, his wife, of Saco, now state of Maine. She
was born April 19th, 1787 and died at Newport June 13th, 1826.
They had three sons and two daughters. The youngest
daughter was Eliza N., the third wife of James Horswell, Esq.
Doctor Johnson had a certificate from his medical instructor,
attesting his good character and diligent application as ;i
student, and highly commending his qualifications for the prac-
tice of physic, surgery and midwifery, signed by "Jeremiah
Barker, M. D., F. M. M. S.," and dated "Falmouth, May 1,
1803."
He seems to have settled first in Saco, then in what was called
the district (now state) of Maine, where he married, and where
his first child, Charles C. P. was born February 3d, 1805.
Shortly afterward he was in Portland, his second child, Maria M.,
being born there July 6th, 1806. In 1810 he came to IS'ewport and
remained there until he died, January 17th, 1861, a period of 51
years. He married for his second wife Miss Henrietta B. Lazell,
daughter of Isaac and Jane Lazell of Bridgewater. Bhe died
August 26th, 1859, aged 62 years. Doctor Johnson had an of-
fice and dispensary in his residence on the east side of Thames
street, the third house above the Parade, for thirty years and
probably more. He was a very mild and unobstrusive man.
Doctor John Melvin Keith, son of a Baptist minister from
Scotland, who, nearly sixty yea.rs ago taught a school in what
was then known as Trinity Church school house, corner School
and Mary streets, Newport, and who was reputed a man of
learning, was born in 1808. He commenced the study of medi-
cine with Doctor William Turner about 1828, and after the con-
clusion of his studies he settled in Providence county, R. I.
After the death of Doctor Hamlin in 1834, he withdrew from
his chosen locality and settled himself in Portsmouth, R. I., and
practised there until his death, which occurred July 9th, 1852,
a period of eighteen years, he being 44 years of age. His wife
was Frances, daughter of Capt. Robinson Potter of Newport,
and sister of Mrs. Doctor T. C. Dunn. Doctor Keith was a man
of fine appearance and attractive manners, and enjoyed the full-
est confidence and regard of the community in which he lived.
HISTORY OF WEWPORT COUNTY. 97
He was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's, Portsmouth.
His only child, a son, is still living.
Doctor Thomas Alphonso Kenefick, son of William and Ann
(O'Mealley) Kenefick, was born at Lawrence, Mass. He studied
medicine in the office of Doctors Garland and Chamberlain at
Lawrence, Mass., received the degree of M. D. at the College of
Physicians and Surgeons in New York in 1885, when he settled
at Newport, where he still practises, occupying the office of the
late Doctor S. W. Butler in Pelham street. He has been for
two years a member of the active medical staff of the Newport
Hospital.
Doctor David King was born in Raynham, Mass., in the year
1774. His ancestry were of Puritan origin, and were distin-
guished for their public spirit, and for their Christian and social
virtues. His early life was passed amid influences auspicious
to the growth of the best elements of character. He was pre-
pared for college at a grammer school, under the direction of
the Rev. Peres Forbes, LL. D. In September, 1792, Doctor
King entered Rhode Island College as a student under the pres-
idency of Manning, and graduated in 1796, under the presi-
dency of Maxcy.
After graduating, choosing medicine for his profession, he, to-
gether with his classmate, Shurtleff, became the pupil of Doctor
James Thatcher of Plymouth, Mass. Doctor King, by his dili-
gence and assiduity in his medical studies, soon acquired the
necessary elements of a medical education. Diverted by some
accidental circumstance from the navy, which he was inclined
to enter as surgeon, he, in the autumn of 1799, sought profes-
sional employment in Newport, Rhode Island.
In the early period of his professional career, his attention
was drawn to the consideration of the vaccine disease, then first
introduced into the United States. Regarding it as an invalu-
able discovery, he proceeded, notwithstanding the strong oppo-
sition of popular prejudice, to benefit his fellow citizens by the
application of the newly discovered principle in his science. In
October, 1800, he vaccinated Walter Cornell of Newport, who
was the first person vaccinated in the state of Rhode Island.
In thus early adopting the views of the immortal Jenner, and
carrying them out in practice, he displayed a decision and inde-
pendence of mind which strongly characterized him through
life. For several years he held the. appointment of surgeon to
7
98 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUKTY.
a detachment of United States troops stationed at Fort Wolcott.
In 1819, during the prevalence of the yellow fever in this place,
his great skill and experience were actively and successfully
called into operation in repelling that terrible malady. At
that time it was the part of humanity to refute the errors of
those who regarded that disease as invariably and certainly
propagating itself, and as exposing those who attended upon
the sick to almost certain death. Not admitting the contagious
character of the disease, he attributed it to a more general and
pervading cause ; and by his intrepidity and free personal ex-
posure attested his confidence in the truth of his theoretical
views. He was one of the earliest promoters of the Rhode Is-
land Medical Society, in which he successively held the offices
of censor, vice-president and president. He was elected presi-
dent in June, 1830, and continued in that office until July, 1834.
In the revival of Redwood library, he was an active co-oper-
ator with other public spirited men, and he was long a director
and at last president of that institution, until ill health com-
pelled him to resign that office. It was his pride to advance
those enterprises which might benefit the town in which he
lived ; and he regarded it with an attachment which, in general,
is appropriated only to the spot of our birth. The uprightness
of his character and the strength of his judgment induced
many to consult him as a friend, to whom, nothwithstanding
the pressing cares of his professional life, he rendered valuable
services. The warm sensibilities of his heart ever prompted
him to disinterested action, which made him- the object of pre-
eminent respect while living, and will forever perpetuate his
memory in the hearts of his friends. In jjrivate life his char-
acter was adorned by every quality which constitutes goodness.
A perfect faith in Grod was ever an ennobling presence in his
mind. In August, 1834, he suffered an attack of paralysis,
brought on from exertions in the discharge of his professional
duties. His constitution gradually failed until his death, which
occurred November 14th, 1836. Few men have lived more re-
spected or died more lamented.
David King, M. D., died in Newport, March 7th, 1882, at the
age of 69 years, 9 months and 25 days. He was the second sou
of Doctor David and Ann (Grordon) King, of Newport, and was
born May 12th, 1812. He pursued his preparatory studies at a
classical school in Newport, at that time taught by Hon. Joseph
fl/V
id l^J
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 99
Joslea, who still survives at a venerable old age. He graduated
at Brown University, in 1831. with the second honors of his
class. His father and two of his brothers were also educated
at the same university. He immediately began the study of
medicine under the direction of his father, who was a leading
physician of Newport. He also attended lectures at the Jef-
ferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, where he received his
degree as Doctor of Medicine, in 1834.
He commenced the practice of his profession in his native
town, and there continued it to the end of his life. He entered
upon his career just as Newport was beginning to assume the
position which it has now long occupied, as the leadingplace of
summer resort in the United States. His practice early became
extensive, not among his fellow townsmen alone, but also among
the visitors of the season, who would naturally compare rts
methods with those of the eminent physicians of other cities.
He prepared himself to meet the conditions thus prescribed,
and won the confidence and esteem of families from nearly
every part of the country, and even from foreign lands.
Thoroughly educated and devoted to his profession, he also
possessed in an unusual degrpe the kindly disposition, the
varied intelligence and the exalted character which made him
not only the trusted physician, but also the valued friend of
persons in every condition of life. In 1850 he went abroad for
professional improvement, and spent a year and a half largely
among the hospitals of London, Paris and Dublin, and in ob-
serving the most approved methods of medical practice. He
also made important additions to his well stored medical library.
In 1872 he again visited Europe for a somewhat longer period,
with his family, making this visit tributary to still wider pro-
fessional observations, not only in Great Britain and France,
but also in Italy and Grermany. Doctor King became a member
of the Rhode Island Medical Society in 1834, and soon began to
make special investigations as to medical science and practice.
He won prizes offered by the society in 1836, 1837 and
in,1839. His prize essays were all published. He also filled in
succession nearly every office in the society, has been repeatedly
chosen its president, and has three times delivered the address
at its annual meetings. He was also one of the founders of the
American Medical Association and a frequent attendant at its
meetings. On the erection of the state board of health by the
100 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
legislature of Rhode Island in 1877, he was appointed one of its
members and filled the office of president to the end of his
life. He felt a warm interest in the objects which this board
was designed to promote, and in 1880 went a third time to
Europe, and informed himself fully as to sanitary methods and
regulations.
Though occupied through life with a large professional prac-
tice, he also gave much attention to the study of American his-
tory, especially of the history of his native state, with which
no man of his time was more familiar.. He read numerous
papers before the Rhode Island Historical Society, on characters
and events in colonial history. He was also the leading founder
of the Newport Historical Society, in 1853, and was its presi-
dent to the end of his life, and while in England prosecuted
important inquiries relating to the local history of the town.
He was also a member of the New England Historical and Gen-
ealogical Society, and a contributor to its journal. He devoted
much time to the Redwood library, in Newport, of which he
was long the president, and to which he left a legacy in his will,
as he did also to the Newport Historical Society. In the crea-
tion and organization of the Island cemetery, in his native city,
he took a leading part, and by his judicious counsel and ex-
ertions he contributed very largely toward making it the beau-
tiful spot it has now become. He was chosen president of its
corporation at its organization, in 1848, and continued to hold
the office till Ms death, a period of nearly, thirty-four years.
In addition to his medical library he made a large and costly
collection of books of general literature, especially of English
and American history. He was a member of the ancient parish
of Trinity church, and did much to promote its prosperity, and
to all the higher social and moral interests of his native city he
was warmly devoted.
He was much attached to the place of his education, and at
the college commencement in 1881, less than a year before his
death, he attended the meeting of his class on the fiftieth anni-
versary of their graduation, and prepared for that occasion a
touching tribute to the memory of his deceased classmates, and
to the honored instructors of his'coUege days. Doctor King, in
1837, married Sarah Gribbs, daughter of the Rev. Salmon
Wheaton, J). D., of Newport, who died in the same year. They
had three sons and four daughters. One of his sons graduated
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 101
at Brown University in the class of 1859. Another, while en-
gaged in his preparatory studies, joined the 1st Rhode Island
Regiment that went to the defense of the national capital, and
was mortally wounded in the first battle of Manassas Junction,
in July, 1861, and taken to Richmond as a prisoner of war.
His father was permitted to pass the rebel lines and to bring
him away. He was able to travel as far as Philadelphia, where
he died of the wound he had received. A third is a well known
resident of Newport, and was formerly a merchant in China.
John BroWn Ladd was a native of Little Compton, R. I. He
studied medicine with Doctor Senter, in Newport. He after-
ward went to Charleston, where he was soon after killed in a
duel with a Mr. Isaacs. A small volume of his poetical effusions
was published by his sister after his death.
Doctor Francis Lucena, from Lisbon, was in Newport in 1764,
at his brother James' on the Point.
Doctor Henry Goodwin MacKaye now practises medicine in
Newport, and has done so for two years. He is the son of
James and Maria (Goodwin) MacKaye, and great-grandson of
Hon. Asher Robbins, of Newport, formerly United States sen-
ator from Rhode Island, and was born in March, 1856, in the
city of New York. He received the degree of A. B. at Har-
vard University, in 1878, and his medical degree at Harvard
Medical School in 1883. He was married in January, 1887, to
Ellen G., daughter of William Bailey, Esq., of Middle town, R. I.
Doctor W. Duncan McKim, resided and practised in New-
port in 1882 and 1883. He is now a prominent practitioner in
New York city.
Doctor Thomas Henry Mann, son of Levi and Lydia Laurana
(Ware) Mann, was born at North Wrentham, Mass., April 8th,
1843, eldest of six children. He was at the high school at Wal-
tham, Mass., when Sumter was fired on. On the 20th of May,
1861, he enlisted in Company I, 18th Mass. Volunters, and was
in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court House, the Seven
Days Battles before Richmond, Second Bull Run, Antietam,
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and at the battles
of the Wilderness. He became a prisoner May 5th, 1864, fif-
teen days before the expiration of his term of enlistment, and
was exchanged ten months afterward, March 1st, 1865. He had
been made corporal and sergeant. He studied medicine with
his uncle. Doctor H. M. Paine, of Albany, N. Y., and graduated
102 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
in medicine December 24th, 1870, at the Albany Medical Col-
lege. He then commenced practice at Willimantic, Conn., but
in the autumn of 1872 removed to Block Island, where he prac-
tised for four years, when he removed to Woonsocket, R. I.,
where he still practises. He was married, March 3d, 1869, to
Julia, daughter of Salmon and Caroline (Burgevin) Backus, of
Ashford, Conn., and has several children.
Dr. John P. Mann was born in Attleboro or Rehoboth,
Mass., in 1755, and died in Newport September 24th, 1837.
He was an early graduate of Brown University, and came
to Newport and settled as a physician, in early life, and
probably practised somewhat in the earlier part of his career,
but not at all in his later years. Doctor Mann married Miss
Clarke, daughter of Hon. Joseph Clarke (who had been general
treasurer of the colony and state from 1761 to 1792, 31 years)
and of Rebecca, daughter of Abraham Redwood. She had for-
merly been the wife of Doctor Walter Rodman. He married,
second, Ann, widow of William Robinson, and daughter of
George and Mary (Ayrault) Scott, who survived him. Doctor
Mann will be remembered by many still living as a dignified
and stately gentleman of the old school, very much resembling
the pictures of Greneral Washington. He lived in the house in
Broadway, now Mr. Kimber's, and superintended the cultiva-
tion of a tract of land of considerable extent, now divided and
constituting an important section of the town, and north and east
from the house. To the ordinary mind he represented the an-
cient aristocratic element, then fast disappearing.
Dr.Curtis E.Maryott,son of Rev. IchabodB. and Almira (Miner)
Maryott, was born in the city of New York, May 3d, 1841. He
is descended from Rev. Samuel Maryott, a Sabbatarian, who
was born in England in 1706, and for many years was minister
to the congregation which occupied the old building on Barney
street, now occupied by the Newport Historical Society, and
who died in Newport in 1802. Doctor Maryott passed his early
years in North Stonington, Connecticut. He took his medical
degree at the University of New York in 1866, and in December
of that year commenced practice at Block Island, where he re-
mained until 1872. He then removed to Wakefield, R. I., where
he now lives. He married, November 2d, 1867, Maria Louise,
daughter of Asa and Louisiana (Inman) Hawkins, of Gloucester,
R. I.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 103
Doctor Benjamin Mason was the son of Benjamin Mason,
merchant, of Newport, and Mary (Ayrault) Mason, his wife.
He was born in Newport in March, 1762, and married, Novem-
ber 8th, 178S, Margaret Chaniplin, daughter of Col. Christopher
and Margaret (Grant) Champlin, of Newport. He died Septem-
ber 18th, 1801, aged 40 years. He studied medicine in the oflGlce
of Doctor Isaac Senter, and completed his medical education in
London. His career was short but brilliant, being cut off in the
early prime of manhood, and leaving a family of young chil-
dren. Of these, Benjamin died in youth. George C, the father
of the present George C. Mason, Senior, a long-time clerk of the
supreme court of Rhode Island, for Newport county, and after-
ward cashier of the Rhode Island Union Bank, being of a frail
constitution, died at about the same age as his father. Elizabeth
was the wife of the distinguished hero of Lake Erie, Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry. Doctor Mason outlived his preceptor.
Doctor Senter, two years, and succeeded him as director and
purveyor-general of the Military Hospital in Rhode Island, and
naturally succeeded to a considerable part of his practice. He
was an honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
Doctor Parsons says: "He flourished many years before the
last century, and was at the head of the profession in Newport."
Doctor Thomas Moffatt was one of the galaxy of medical men
of European education who made their home in Newport dar-
ing the eighteenth century, and shed lustre on the medical his-
tory of that ancient and then flourishing town. Doctor Moffatt
was a Scotchman, and had the best advantages of education
then attainable. He was reputed to have been an adherent of
the Jacobite cause in 1745, and to have come to America about
1746, to escape the penalties of rebellion. In 1750 he was in
Rhode Island, and appears to have been in practice in Newport
until, in 1765, when having become obnoxious to the people
from his activity in promoting the execution of the stamp act,
his house was attacked by a mob, his property damaged, his
books and papers scattered, himself paraded and hung in effigy,
and obliged to take refuge in one of the king's vessels in the
harbor, and finally to go to New London, where he was made
comptroller of the king's customs. In the beginning of the rev-
olutionary troubles his pronounced adhesion to the royal cause
again made him obnoxious to popular sentiment, and he return-
ed to Newport and resumed his practice, but after the e vacua-
104 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
tion of Rhode Island by the British troops, disappeared and
never returned. In 1777 Duncan Stewart, who had been royal
collector of customs at New London, had leave to remove to
l^Jew York, and to take with him the effects of Doctor Thomas
Moffatt, which latter was revoked on learning of Doctor Mof-
fatt's adhesion to the crown. Miss Calkins says (Hist. IST. Lon-
don): "In 1778 Rev. Mather Byles conveyed to his friend, Doc-
tor Thomas Moffatt, his house in N. London, to secure 240£due
the church, from which he had retired, for certain contingent
claims." He was in London in 1779, and signed an address to
the king, and no mention is made of him af teward. He made a
claim on the colony of Rhode Island for damages sustained in
the riots in JSTewport, which the general assembly agreed to pay,
after a liberal scaling down, whenever their account with the
British government, for expenses incurred in the French war,
was settled, as it never was. A long history of this affair may
be found in Bartlett's R. I. Colonial Records. At one time, dur-
ing his residence in Newport, Doctor Moffatt was associated
with the elder Gilbert Stuart, in the manufacture of snuff, in
North Kingstown, at the place now known as Hamilton, R. I.
Doctor Alexander Pope Moore practised in Newport about
10 years, and died here, April 22d, 1836, of smallpox. He mar-
ried Mary, daughter of Nicholas Easton, of Newport, and left
one son.
Doctor Thomas Paine Moore, brother of Doctor Alexander P.,
of Newport, came here after his brother's death, from Warren,
R. I., where he had previously practised, and was appointed
surgeon to the Marine Hospital in Newport. About 1841 he re-
turned to Warren, and practised there until his death.
Doctor Frankland Morton died in Newport July 25th, 1720,
aged 33 years. Nothing further can be learned of him.
Doctor Moyes, probably an itinerant, advertised ten lectures
on natural science at the court house, Newport, in 1785.
Miss Annie News, M.D., a native of the state of New York,
was graduated in medicine at Ann Arbor, Michigan. She came
to Newport about 1873, and practised successfully here until
1885, when she went to Europe and studied for two years in
the schools there. On her return she established herself in the
city of New York, where she now, practises.
Doctor George Mountain Odell was born in Prederickton, New
Brunswick, Dominion of Canada, in 1818. He received the
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 105
degree of A.B. at King's College, at Frederickton, in 1836. In
1841 he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the University
of Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1842 he received the diploma of
the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh. From 1842 to
1876 he practised his profession in Frederickton, his place of
nativity, and in the latter year came to Newport, where he has
since prosecuted the practice of his profession. Doctor Odell
is a gentleman of fine accomplishments and high tone, and has
established an enviable position.
Doctor David Olyphant was born in Scotland, in 1720, at
"Pitheaoles," the house where his ancestors had lived for
many generations. The house, or castle, as it is called, is about
one and one-half miles from the railway station at Perth, and
is still owned by one of the descendants of the family in the
female line. In common with nearly all the branches of his
race, he warmly espoused the cause of the Stuarts. After the
battle of Culloden, in which he took an active part, his life was
in danger, but he succeeded in escaping from Scotland, and
coming to this country landed at Charleston, South Carolina,
where he lived for many years, practising his profession and
rising in it to the highest eminence. Here, too, as was natural
from his early training, he took a leading part in the political
discussions of the time. In General Moultrie's "Memoirs of
the Revolution"' we find his name among the list of members
of the provincial congress held at Charleston. He was also a
member of the legislative council of February, 1776, of which
that revered patriot, the Hon. John Routledge, was president,
and, at a later date, in a letter to General Moultrie, the Hon.
Charles Pinckney says: " The senate, I hope, will act wisely,
though it is to be lamented they are obliged to act now without
the assistance of yourself, Olyphant and others, whose aid
would give a lustre to their proceedings." On the breaking
out of the revolution he at once offered his services to the gov-
ernment, and on the 4th of July, 1776, received his commission
as director-general of the southern hospitals, the duties of
which he discharged with the highest honor, integrity and abil-
itj^, until the surrender of Charleston, when he became a
prisoner of war and, perhaps because of his Scotch birth and
early history, was subjected to treatment that called forth a
protest from General Moultrie to the English commanding
officer. In addition to other offices, he was repeatedly elected
106 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
to the senate of South Carolina as representative of St. George,
Dorchester. His health failing, in the year 1785 he removed to
Newport, K I., the climate of which, more like that of his
native land, proved a complete restorative, and decided him to
remain there permanently. In the year 1786 he married Miss
Ann Vernon, granddaughter of Governor Ward, of Rhode Is-
land, one of the belles and brightest wits of her time. She was
Doctor Olyphant's third wife. He had a son by a previous
marriage, who was accidentally killed. He lived in Newport,
continuing there the practice of medicine until his death, in
1804, at the age of 84 years. One who knew his history well
thus wrote on hearing of his death: " Still will he continue to
live in the remembrance of those who knew hira, and the annals
of our country will teach succeeding generations to stamp a high
value upon his character. In private life he was an easy, polite
and well-bred gentleman; an agreeable and instructive compa-
nion, he was always sure to command the esteem and regard
of society according to the proportion of their acquaintance
with him, and those who knew hiro best valued him most."
He left one son and one daughter. In the naming of his son he
showed the same loyalty of nature that led to his banishment
from Scotland. On the rolls of the Society of Cincinnati, of
which Doctor Olyphant was one of ths original members, it
stands printed in full, David Washington Sincinnatus Oly-
phant, the first a family name, then that of the friend whom he
considered the noblest of earth's heroes, and then that name
which enrolled under its banner those friends who were the
dearest, and nearer to him because of the trials and struggles
through which they had passed together. While anxiety may
be felt for a child weighted with such a name, we can sympa-
thize with the feelings that prompted it, and rejoice that in
this case it was carried without stain or blemish through long
years of an honored life as an eminent merchant of New York,
and the founder of American missions to China. The name, as
indicated above, was but a sign of love and loyalty, the dis-
tinctive traits of the old Scotch family, and which led its histo-
rian to write: "but even the sternest foe of the Olyphant
politics (in Scotland) will not grudge, I hope, some meed of
praise to that unflinching steadfastness which was ever ready
to give life and lands, home and health, in behalf of a race of
doomed kings." The subject of this sketch was true and
au-i
Z
O-^-T^-—
HISTOKY OF N'EWPOET COUNTY. 107
steadfast to what he believed to be the best for his native
land, and then for the land of his adoption. There may be a
doubt, perhaps, vphich was the deepest feeling of his heart,
love of freedom, or hatred of the " Georges." Perhaps the two
were unified to him, but the Jacobite tradition was with him,
wonder at it as we may, an abiding one. It seems proper, in
closing this sketch, to state that Doctor Olyphant apparently
thought himself the proper heir to the title of Lord Olyphant,
after the death of his uncle in 1770 — the last who bore the title
— and he had many papers in his possession that seemed to vin-
dicate his belief. In his will, Lord Olyphant bequeathed to
him the family plate, and then, providing that the residue of
his estate should be invested for Lady Olyphant during her
life, directs that at her death it should be transferred to his
nephew. Doctor David Olyphant, of Charleston, South Carolina.
The doctor, however, never entered his claim, perhaps thinking
that the events which led to his leaving Scotland would be used
as a bar to his success. He doubtless hoped that his son would
secure it. That son, however, had other and higher purposes
mai'ked out for his life's work. Let his descendants emulate
-his example, and never waste wealth, if possessed of it, in the
pursuit of a title, however noble; but rather, which is far nobler,
endeavor so to live as to be worthy of it.
Doctor Horatio Palmer was born in Boston, Mass., in 1815,
graduated at Dartmouth College, and received his medipal ed-
ucation in Boston. He married and established himself in
Little Compton, R. I., about 1834, and died there, in 1848, aged
34 years, having prosecuted the practice of medicine in Little
Compton fifteen years.
Doctor James D. Peckham was a native of Little Compton,
belonged to a Quaker family, and was born in 1799. He studied
medicine with Doctor William Wilbour, of Hopkinton, R. I.,
and attended lectures in New York city. He commenced prac-
tice in Little Compton, R. I., in 1821, and was a successful and
popular practitioner in that place for 28 years. He died in Lit-
tle Compton December 23d, 1849, aged 50 years.
Doctor William Thornton Parker, son of William Thornton
Parker, A. M., M. D., of Boston, Mass., grandson of Benjamin
Parker, A. M., M. D., of Bradford, Mass., and of Virginia, and
great-grandson of William Jackson, M. D., of London and of
Boston, was born in Boston December 24th, 1849. He attended
108 HISTORY OF NEWtORT OOITNTY.
Mr. Vinson's academy at Jamaica Plains, Mass., afterward
four years at St. Paul's School, Concord, 'New Hampshire, and
three years at the Highland Military Academy at Worcester,
Mass. While a private pupil of Professor Dixi Crosby of Han-
over, New Hampshire, Doctor Parker entered the medical de-
partment of Dartmouth University in 1868, and in 1870, the
medical department of the University of Vienna, Austria, where
he studied upward of two years, and graduated with honors at
the Royal University of Munich in 1873. He afterward took a
post-graduate course in the medical- schools of Paris, France,
and was for some time Interne in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin,
Ireland. In 1874 he was appointed surgeon of the steamers
" Hammonia " and " Cimbria" of the Hamburg line. He mar-
ried in 1875, Miss Elizabeth R., daughter of Hon. John B. Steb-
bins, president of the Institution for Savings, Springfield, Mass.
He again went to Europe in 1875, to study in the hospitals of
Paris and London. Returning, he practised for nearly three
years in Lenox, Mass. In 1880 he was appointed government
surgeon at White Earth Indian reservation, and surgeon in
charge of Bishop Whipple's Hospital for Indians, and in 1882,
was appointed acting assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, serving in
Texas, New Mexico, Indian Territory and Colorado. In 1885
he was appointed by Secretary Manning in charge of the na-
tional quarantine against cholera at Fisherman's island, Vir-
ginia. In 1885 Doctor Parker settled in Newport, R. I. for
practice in civil life. In 1887 he was appointed by Governor
Davis medical examiner for third district, Newport county,
R. I. During the international congress he was vice-president
of the section of anatomy and member of the council of the sec-
tion of climatology. At one time, since his residence in New-
port, he was associated with Horatio R. Storer, M. D., in prac-
tice, and at all times has shown himself an active and energetic
man. He is captain of a company in the military establishment
of the state of Rhode Island.
Doctor George B. Penrose was a surgeon in the British army
at the time of its occupation of Newport. While here he was
attracted by the charms of Miss Mary, daughter of Joseph and
Mary Dunbar Cowley and married her. Soon afterward he was
ordered home on some business arising from the vicissitudes of
the service and died on the passage. His widow remained in
Newport and lived to extreme old age, drawing a pension
&
HISTORY or NEWPORT COUNTY. 109
from the British government until she died in 1848, sixty
years. Mrs. Penrose lived and died in an old-fashioned man-
sion standing next but one to the foot of Church street on the
spot nov7 occupied by the residence of Col. John Seabury. Dur-
ing the British occupation this house was known as the "Crown
Coffee House," as is shown by numerous notices in the news-
papers of the time, inviting officers and gentlemen to partici-
pate in the delights of Mrs. Cowley's genteel and elegant danc-
ing assemblies at the "Crown Coffee House." Mrs. Cowley
herself familiarly dubbed it "Dunbarton Castle." Later, and
until its destruction, it was always known as "Penrose Hall,"
Mrs. Penrose having continued those charming reunions for a
long time after her mother, and given her attention to teaching
several generations of the lads and misses of Newport how to
"trip the light fantastic toe." Mrs. Penrose died in Newport
October 10th, 1848, aged 93 years.
Doctor Christopher Grant Perry, son of Commodore Oliver
H. and Elizabeth (Mason) Perry, was born in Newport, April
2d, 1812. After graduating at Brown University in 1830, he
made a voyage to the East Indies in 1834, and on his return en-
tered the office of Hon. William Hunter as a student of law,
and was admitted to the Bar of Rhode Island in 1836. With-
out taking up the practice of that profession he entered upon
the study of medicine in the office of Doctor T. C. Dunn in
Newport, attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania,
and took his medical degree there in 1837. He then settled in
his native town and commenced the practice of medicine, which
he continued for several years, but finding medicine not con-
genial with his tastes, or perhaps with his physical condition,
which was not very vigorous, he returned to his first love, and
went into the practice of the law, which he prosecuted with
diligence and success, until disabled by ill health, dying of con-
sumption, April 7th, 1857. He took an active part in sustain-
ing the state government in the Dorr troubles in 1842, and af-
terward succeeded Col. William B. Swan as commander of the
Newport artillery company, which position he filled for nine
years and until his decease, and in which he enjoyed the full
confidence and most enthusiastic affection of his men, which
feeling of affection was met on his part by the most devoted
loyalty to his command, and the most generous friendship for
its individual members. Doctor Perry's especial traits were
110 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
a most rigid conscientiousness and high sense of honor. Al-
though sternly governed by the sense of right, he was unob-
trusive and retiring, and was characterized by a gentleness
and suavity of manner, almost feminine. He was a most
worthy and" exemplary man in all his relations, and although,
possibly for lack of occasion, he did not develop any remark-
ably heroic traits, was a worthy scion of a noble stock. He
was married May 31st, 1838, to Miss Frances, daughter of Hon.
Thomas Sargeant of Philadelphia, and had two sons and two
daughters, one of whom is the wife of William Pepper, M. D.,
provost, and professor of the theory and practice of medicine
in the University of Pennsylvania. The other daughter married
John La Farge, Esq.
Doctor Francis Huntington Rankin was born at Fishkill-on-
the-Hudson, New York, September 25th, 1845. His grandfather,
Henry Rankin, was a Scotch merchant, who came to this
country in early manhood, and became a successful and promi-
nent merchant in New York city. He was a man of stern in-
tegrity and strong religious devotion, traits of character for
which the family were distinguished. His son, Robert Gosman
Rankin, the father of Doctor Rankin, was born in N"ew York
city in 1806, graduated at Yale College, and studied Jaw in the
office of Chancellor Kent, and after his admission began prac-
tice in New York city. He there married Laura Wolcott, a
daughter of Hon. Frederick Wolcott, a man noted for his intel-
lectual gifts and high moral character. Mr. Rankin was an
ardent student of natural science, fond of literary and scientific
pursuits, a great promoter of educational enterprises, public
spirited, generous and active in every philanthropic and reli-
gious work, a man of culture, fine sensibilities and extensive
reading. For thirty years he was a regent of the University of
New York, and was also connected with several of the promi-
nent railroads and scientific enterprises of the day. Doctor
Rankin's mother belonged to a family distinguished in the
colonial and revolutionary history of the country, and con-
nected with many families of distinction throughout N"ew Eng-
land. Her grandfather, Oliver Wolcott, was one of the signers
of the declaration of independence, and his son, Oliver, was
secretary of the treasury during Washington's administration.
Her mother was a daughter of Col. Joshua Huntington, of
Norwich, Connecticut, whose family was also represented among
^ewv^ 'fi(^(^^^M>v^
■"tnt?^, \ M^**
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. Ill
the signers in the person of Samuel Huntington. Both families
took a conspicuous part in the military and political history
of New England, and five of Mrs. Rankin's ancestors were gov-
ernors of Connecticut. Doctor Francis Huntington Rankin is
one of a large family of sons and daughters. In early manhood
he manifested a decided preference for the profession which he
has since adopted. He pursued his classical studies at the Col-
lege of the City of New York, and took his diploma as doctor
■of medicine at the medical department of the New York Uni-
versity in the spring of 1869. Shortly afterward he went
abroad, and spenta year in the hospitals of Vienna. Soon after
the breaking out of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 he went
to Berlin, and received an appointment as acting assistant sur-
geon in the Prussian army, being stationed in the large military
hospital in the suburbs of Berlin. After serving thus for a
short time he became acting full surgeon. On his return to
America he received the "steel medal of thanks" from the
Prussian government. He began the practice of medicine in
New York city in the summer of 1871, and during the first year
held the position of assistant inspector on the New York board
of health. He was subsequently connected with the New York
Hospital for diseases of the nervous system, the Manhattan Eye
and Bar Hospital, the Demilt, Children's Northeast Dispen-
saries, and several other institutions. He was also tutor and
assistant to the chair of materia medica in the medical depart-
ment of the University of New York. In the summer of 1876
Doctor Rankin removed to Newport and entered into partner-
ship with Doctor Austin L. Sands, who died the following year,
since which time he has continued alone in practice. He is a
fellow of the Rhode Island State Medical Society, and was, in
1882, instrumental in forming the Newport Medical Society, of
which he is president. He has manifested great interest in the
sanitary condition of the city of his residence, is a member of
the Newport Sanitary Association, and was, from its first in-
ception, one of the council. He is also one of the attending
physicians of the Newport Hospital. The doctor is connected
with the Business Men's Association, is a member of the New-
port Historical Society, and of the Natural History Society.
He was, in 1879, a member of the advisory board of health of
Newport. He has frequently contributed to the medical litera-
ture of the day through the pages of the leading journals and
112 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Xieriodicals. On the 11th of November, 1879, he married Grace,
daughter of Jacob Voorhis, Jr., of 'New York, a descendant of
one of the early Knickerbocker settlers. The doctor is, in his
religious associations, a Congregationalist, and a member of the
church of that denomination in Newport.
Doctor William Richardson was born in Boston, Mass., March
13th, 1788, and died in Johnston, R. I., September 30th, 1864.
He was twice married, first to Mary, daughter of Job and Sarah
(Lawton) Almy, of Newport, May 4th, 1815. His second wife
was Jane, daughter of Isaac Lawton, of Portsmouth. They
were married September 5th, 1827. His first wife had^even chil-
dren, and the second five. Doctor Richardson, for many years,
during his residence in Portsmouth, combined the two avoca-
tions of farmer and jihysician, which was then more common
than now. In the latter part of his residence in Portsmouth
he occupied what was then called the Gelston place, formerly
Samuel Thurston's farm, but after Doctor Richardson, it was
owned and occupied by David Almy. It stood a short distance
north from Glen road, and is still distinguished by an ancient
and enormous black walnut tree, larger than any other tree now
existing on the island. Doctor Richardson removed, in his ad-
vanced years, to Johnston, R. I., and died there. He was some-
what eccentric and angular in appearance and manner, but was
a very worthy, honorable and estimable man. He was fitted for
college at Groton Academy, under the instruction of William
M. Richardson and Caleb Butler. He graduated at Bowdoin
College, as A.B., in 1809, studied medicine from 1809 to 1813
in the office of Doctor James P. Chaplin, and graduated in
medicine at Harvard College in 1813. He first practised at
Slatersville for four years, then removed to Portsmouth, R. I,,
where he remained 21 years, to 1838, when he removed to John-
ston, at which place he died, having practised there for 26
years. He was an efficient and valuable member of the school
committee, both in Portsmouth and Johnston, for many years.
He was a member of the R. I. Medical Society.
Doctor Benjamin Richmond, son of Perez and Deborah (Lor-
ing) Richmond, was born in LitJ;le Comption, R. I., August 7th,
1747. He was married October 14th, 1770, to Sarah, eldest
daughter of Col. Thomas Church, grandson of Col. Benjamin
Church, of Indian fighting fame. Doctor Richmond was a
practitioner of medicine, widely known and highly appreciated
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 113
in Little Compton and Westporfc for almost half a century. He
left several children, of whom Doctor J. W. Richmond, of
Providence, was most known. He died September 15th, 1816.
Doctor John Wilkes Richmond, son of Doctor Benjamin and
Sarah (Church) Richmond, was born in Little Compton, R. I.
Having prosecuted the study of medicine under the auspices of
his father, he established himself in Portsmouth, R. I., where
he practised for a number of years. While there he built a
house of considerable pretensions, on the spot on the west
road, next south of the Redwood farm, on the site now occu
pied by the residence of Peleg Coggeshall, Esq. He married,
N'ovember 8th, 1804, Miss Mary Nichols Sheffield, daughter of
Aaron and Mary (Nichols) Sheffield. He married, second, April
10th, 1815, Henrietta Bours, widow of John, daughter of Wil-
liam Shaw, of Newport. Up to the time of his second marriage
Doctor Richardson was a resident of Portsmouth, but afterward
he removed to Providence, and for many years was a prominent
figure in that city. His second wife, Henrietta, died in Provi-
dence July 17th, 1849, aged 67 years. He was conspicuous in
urging the payment of the Rhode Island revolutionary state
debt, not yet paid. He died in Providence at a very advanced
Doctor William Cabell Rives, Jr., son of William C. and
Grrace W. Rives, was born in Paris, France, January 10th, 1850.
He received the degree of A.B. from Oxford University, England,
in 1874, and of A.M. in 1878. He studied medicine at Harvard
Medical School, and the University of the City of New York,
graduated in medicine at the latter institution in 1877, and was
abroad in 1880 and 1881, pursuing medical studies at Vienna.
Doctor Rives was a member of the international congress, at
London, in 1881. He settled at Newport, and was appointed a
visiting physician to the Newport Hospital in 1882, and was a
member and secretary to the Newport city board of health from
1885 to 1887 inclusive. Doctor Rives was also a member of the
Newport Medical Society. Within a few months he has re-
moved his field of practice to the city of New York, leaving
behind him the reputation of a faithful and accomplished phy-
sician.
Doctor James Robinson is said to have come to Newport from
Little Compton. He was born in 1703, married October 16th,
1740, Mary Challoner, of Newport, and died November 29th,
8
114 HISTORY OF NEWPOUT COUNTY.
1745, aged 42 years. He was a physician of high repate,
although his career was short. He had three children : John
Tyrrell, born September 23d, 1743, died young; Sarah Ann,
born August 1st, 1745, married Caleb Gardner, June 3d, 1770,
had one daughter, afterward the wife of Audley Clarke;
and Mary, died April 10th, 1764, aged 22 years, unmarried.
Doctor Robinson's widow married John Channing, and had
two sons, William and Walter. William Channing married
a daughter of William EUery, signer of the declaration of inde-
pendence, and was the father of ~Rev. William EUery Channing,
the famous divine, and of Doctor Walter Channing of Barvard
University. Walter, the son of John and Mary, was one of the
celebrated mercantile firm of Gibbs & Channing of Newport.
Doctor Thomas Rodman came to Newport with his younger
brother, Doctor John Rodman in 1680. They were the sons of
Doctor John Rodman of Christ Church parish, Barbadoes,
where they had been long resident. Doctor Thomas Rodman
had had a wife, Sarah, previously, but so far as known, no
children. In 1682, June 7th, he married Patience Malins, widow
of Robert, and daughter of Peter and Ann (Coggeshall) Easton,
and had a son Thomas and a daughter Ann. He married, third,
Hannah, daughter of Governor Walter Clarke and had six
children, of whom the second was the future Doctor Clarke
Rodman. Doctor Thomas Rodman died January I7th, 1727,
aged 87 years and 16 days. He was born in 1640 and was,
therefore, forty years old when he came to Newport. He soon
became an important factor in the Quaker Society, to which his
family belonged, as well as in public affairs, besides occupying
a leading place in his profession, and for the fifty years, nearly,
of his residence in Newport, he held high rank among her most
respected citizens. His residence was the house on the west
side of Thames street, second below the city hall, now the resi-
dence of Rowland Sherman, Esq., and late of his father. Job
Sherman. Doctor Rodman's progeny are very numerous, and
hold many prominent positions throughout the country.
Doctor Thomas Rodman, Jr., son of Doctor Thomas and Pa-
tience (Easton) Rodman, was born in Newport, November 11th,
1683, married September 20th, 1706, Katherine Fry, daughter
of Thomas and Mary (Griffin) Fry, and died in South Kings-
town, R. I., in 1775. He had nine children, from whom are de-
scended many persons of great prominence, and the name is
. HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 115
among the leading ones in South Kingstown at this date. Doc-
tor Rodman received his medical training from his father in
Newport, and was equally influential and successful in the
sphere of activity he had selected.
Doctor Clarke Rodman, second son of Doctor Thomas Rod-
man by his third wife, Hannah, daughter of Governor Walter
and Hannah (Scott) Clarke, was born in Newport March 10th,
1699, and died August 30th, 1752. He married, January 3d, 1717,
Ann, daughter of Daniel and Mary (Mowry) Coggeshall of
Portsmouth, R. I. They had ten children, of whom Walter and
Thomas were also physicians. Doctor Clarke Rodman followed
in the footsteps of his father, ministering to the Newport peo-
ple, promoting the interests of the community in which he
lived, and of the religious society to which his family were at-
tached, in a manner which inspired the esteem and respect of his
•cotemporaries. He built and occupied the house corner Thames
street and Touro, afterward removed to Bridge street, and still
standing, the site being occupied by Young's brick block, in
which house afterward lived successively. Doctors Hunter,
Senter, Case, and Watson, down to 1837, about 100 years. The
piece was given to him in the division of the estate of his grand-
father. Governor Walter Clarke, whose own residence was the
house next south of it, formerly Isaac Gould's. This house is
still standing, having been removed to Elm street. He was an
original member of Redwood Library Company.
Doctor Walter Rodman, eldest son of Doctor Clarke and Ann
(Coggeshall) Rodman, was born in Newport August 13th, 1719,
and died at Jamestown July 20th, 1753, aged 34 years. His wife
was Rebecca Redwood, sister of Abraham, founder of the li-
brary, and daughter of Abraham and Patience (Howland) Red-
wood. They had no children. It is not known whether he
practiced in Newport or on Conanicut, but it is probable that
lie lived on the farm on the west side of that island, still
known as the Rodman farm, and it is certain that he died on
that island. His widow married Joseph Clarke, for many years
(1761 to 1792) treasurer of the colony and the state.
Doctor Thomas Rodman, Second, third son of Doctor Clarke
and Mary (Coggeshall) Rodman, was born in Newport June 5th,
1726. He married, July 6th, 1750, Catharine, daughter of
Deputy Governor John and Frances (Sanford) Gardner. He
was admitted freeman of the colony in April, 1745, and signed
116 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the petition to the king in 1750. In 1758 he was commissioner
relative to flags of truce. In February, 1759, "Mr. Thomas
Rodman (son of Clarke Eodman, late of Newport, Physician,
deceased) was elected Surgeon to the Regiment ordered by this
government for the ensuing campaign." In February, 1760, he
was reelected. A letter addressed to his wife from Sorel, now
in existence, proves that he was engaged under Lord Amherst
in that glorious campaign which resulted in the triumph of the
British arms in North America. All this proves also that the
religious sentiments of his ancestors had losl: so much of their
hold on the young surgeon as to have failed to restrain his
patriotic ardor. In 1760, he was 34 years old, and had prob-
ably practised in Newport for a dozen or more years, but no
record is afforded of that interval, nor of his future. The time
of his death is not known. He left a son, Walter, some of
whose descendants are still living in Newport. This gives us
an unbroken succession of Doctors Rodman in Newport from
1680 to 1760.
Doctor John Rodman, brother of Doctor Thomas of Newport,
and son of Doctor John of Christ Church parish, Barbadoes,
came to Newport in 1680 with his brother and practised here
for several years, and had several children born here. He was
afterward at Block Island for some years, and went finally to
Long Island, and has a large number of descendants in New
York and New Jersey and elsewhere. He had a wife Mary,
who, perhaps, came with him from Barbadoes. He died at
Flushing, Long Island, July 10th, 1731, aged 78 years.
Doctor Austin Ledyard Sands was born in Philadelphia,
December 14th, 1825. His father was Austin Ledyard Sands,
of New York, and his mother a daughter of Mr. Andrew
Hodge, of Philadelphia. Doctor Sands received his preparatory
education in the classical department of the New York Univer-
sity and entered the regular college course at the age of twelve
years and was graduated at the age of sixteen. He at once be-
gan the study of medicine at the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, New York, of which his uncle. Doctor Alexander
H. Stevens, was president. His medical studies were pursued
under the direction of Doctor Stevens and regular examinations
also attended under Doctor John Watson, who had been a stu-
dent and partner of Doctor Stevens. Before taking his degree
of doctor of medicine he received an appointment on the surgi-
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 117
cal Staff of the New York Hospital, with which institution he
remained for two years. While in attendance as house surgeon
of the hospital Doctor Sands received an appointment as phy-
sician and surgeon to the West Point Foundry located at Cold
Spring, on the Hudson river, then under the management of
Groverneur Kemble and Mr. Parrott, the inventor of the cele-
brated gun of that name. While at Cold Spring Doctor Sands
had unusual responsibility cast upon him. His experience was
extended and varied, some of the most difficult and important
operations in surgery having been accomplished by him. The
frequent and severe accidents constantly occurring in this large
foundry afforded abundant opportunity for his surgical skill
and put to a severe test his merits as a surgeon. At this time
also the Hudson River railroad was in process of construction
and the frequent blasting accidents at this rocky point added
greatly to the number of formidable operations performed by
him. Doctor Sands, on his removal from Cold Spring in 1852,
returned to N'ew York and until 1860 was associated with Doc-
tor Alexander P. Hossack. During the war of the rebellion he
twice served on the battle field as volunteer surgeon. In 1860
the wear and tear of city practice produced a marked effect upon
his health which began perceptibly to fail. He was compelled
for a time to abandon active work and seek repose and much
needed rest.
In October, 1863, he repaired to Southern Italy and remained
abroad one year. On returning to New York he resumed his
practice but was again obliged to seek restoration to health as
of primary importance, and left the city. Relatives and friends
urged Newport as a desirable point for settlement, and in the
spring of 1865 he purchased a residence in that city where the
remainder of his life was spent. In the fall of 1875 he was the
victim of a brutal assault, the injuries he received being of so
severe a character as to seriously undermine his health. He
rallied in a measure from the effects of the blow and spent the
following winter in the south, but never again resumed the bur-
den of a large practice. In the summer of 1876 he shared his
labors with a partner, and he spent the following winter in
Europe, returning in the spring apparently much improved.
The summer's duties again proved detrimental and once more
the doctor sailed for Europe in quest of health, trusting that a
winter on the Nile might impart to him renewed vigor. He had
118 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
but Started when he was prostrated by violent illness and died
in Cairo, Egypt, on the 20th of December, 1877. In his death
Newport lost an honored citizen and the medical profession one
of its brightest lights. He was devoted to his calling, ever
faithful to those committed to his professional care, kind and
considerate to the poor, and ready with a skillful hand in cases
of need and suffering. His genial nature and unfeigned sym-
pathy won the affection of all who knew him.
Doctor Stephen Hull Sears, son of Stephen and Henrietta
(Hull) Sears, was born in South Yarmouth, Mass., July 31st,
1854. He studied medicine in the office of Doctor A. Miller, at
Needham, Mass., graduated in medicine at Bellevue Hospital
Medical School, New York, in 1879, and has practised in New-
port since December 30th, 1879. In December, 1881, he was
appointed A. A. Surgeon in the U. S. marine hospital service,
which position he still holds. Doctor Sears married, August
23d, 1881, M'arianna B., daughter of Danforth P. W. and Ange-
line (Bears) Parker, of Barnstable, Mass., and ha.s three
children.
Doctor John Sapel, from Germany, was in Newport in 1785.
Doctor Isaac Senter was born in Londonderry, New Hamp-
shire, in 1753. Little is known of his early life. He came to
Newport in his youth, and was a student in the office of Doctor
'Thomas Moffatt, a Scotch refugee, after Culloden, whose con-
nection with the stamp act made him obnoxious to the friends
of liberty in 1765, and who left Newport soon after. Doctor
Senter commenced the practice of medicine in Cranston, R. I.
After the battle of Lexington, he immediately joined the volun-
teers from Rhode Island and marched to Boston, where he soon
made himself useful and prominent in the camp of the colonists.
He was selected for a prominent position in the expedition soon
after oi'ganized to join General Richard Montgomery before Que-
bec, under the command of General Benedict Arnold. The trials
and struggles and sufferings of this New England contingent,
in their advance through the almost unexplored wilderness of
northern New England, ai-e well described in Doctor Senter's
own journal, as well as those of Doctor Irvin and others, which
have been given to the public, and present a wonderful jncture
of adventurous and enterprising heroism most creditable to all
the participants, but in its results most disastrous. Every man
of Arnold's command was killed or made prisoner. Senter,
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 119
happily, was among the latter. After a few months service in
the hospitals and among the sick and wonnded in and about
Quebec, he was released and returned home. He left the con-
tinental service in 1779 and resumed his practice in Cranston.
In 1778, 1779 and 1780 he was representative from Cranston to
the Rhode Island general assembly. In 1776 he was elected
surgeon of Rhode Island state hospitals, and in 1780 physician
and surgeon-general of Rhode Island. In 1780 he removed to
Newport and occupied the Rodman liouse, where two genera-
tions of Doctors Rodman and Doctor Hunter had preceded him,
and where Doctors Benjamin W. Case and Daniel Watson
afterward successively lived until about 1837, making an almost
if not continuous occupation of the same premises by promi-
nent and popular medical men for six generations, and for a
period of more than a century and a quarter, and that unques-
tionably the most central and conspicuous poiiit in the ancient
town. In all the accoimts obtainable Doctor' Senter is de-
scribed as a tall and large man, with a firm, statelj^ and digni-
fied carriage, but of genial and popular manners. He was un-
doubtedly a man of brilliant talents. He made some contribu-
tions to European medical journals and acquired much distinc-
tion therefrom, and within my recollection was spoken of by
elderly people in the highest terms of appreciation. Doctor
Senter had a library which, in those days, was considered large,
and was rich in medical and scientific and literary lore. Many
of his books may still be found in Newport. He was an honor-
ary member of the Medical Society of London. George Chan-
ning in " Recollections of Newport," says : " Dr. Senter exert-
ed a sort of enchantment, when summoned to a sick bed, if
the case demanded only simples, his smile proved more poten-
tial than his recipe." In distant lands, the highest commenda-
tion was awarded him for medical and surgical superiority.
Doctor Senter died at Newport in 1799, aged 44 years.
Doctor Horace Senter, eldest son of Doctor Isaac Senter, was
born in 1776, in Cranston, R. I., and was killed in an encounter
with John Rutledge of South Carolina, January 12th, 1804, at
Savannah.- He was esteemed as a young gentleman of very
great promise, was given all the advantages of the European
schools and hospitals, and stepped into the position just left
vacant by his father, into an atmosphere glowing with the aura
of his brilliant career, with surpassing charms of person and
120 HISTORY OF NEWPORT OOtTNTT.
manner, with all the accomplishments which a line mind and
very superior advantages could give, with a social position and
popular sentiment which seemed to insure a tide of success,
and during his professional life everything warranted the
brightest hopes of his friends and the public, but in less than
fiv^e years his tragical end blasted all these expectations and
left a gloom on the community, the shadow of which is hardly
yet annihilated. He was a fellow student of Doctor John C.
Warren, of Boston, at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital, London.
Edward Senter, the third son of Doctor Isaac, was also in-
tended for the profession. He was a student in the office of
Doctor William Turner, at the same time with the late Doctor
James V. Turner, about 1810, but he died soon after without
having practised.
Doctor Jotham Sexton came to Adamsville, in Little Comp-
ton, R. L, from Connecticut, about 1830, and practised for ten
years, his practice being limited, in great measure, to Tiverton,
R. I., and Westport, Mass. In 1840 he removed to Fall River,
where he practised for ten more years, dying there in 1850.
Doctor Benjamin Stanton, son of John and Mary
Stanton, was born in Newport, March 13th, 1684, and died Sep-
tember 18th, 1760. He married Martha, daughter of Henry and
Sarah (Stanton) Tibbitts, his first cousin. He had a large con-
nection among Friends, and an extensive practice, dividing with
Doctor Clarke Rodman that influence which afterward de-
scended almost unbroken to Doctor Jonathan Easton and to
Doctor Enoch Hazard consecutively. He had one son and
three daughters. He lived at the head of Broad street, opposite
Equality park.
Doctor Nathaniel Greene Stanton, son of George A. and
Catharine (Sands) Stanton, was born at New Shoreham, July
8th, 1836. He derived his name from the great Major-General
Greene, of the revolution, who was, by marriage, the great
uncle of his mother. He attended school at East Greenwich, at
Suffield, Conn., and lastly at Alfred Center, Allegany county.
New York. After leaving school he passed five years in- Provi-
dence, in the drug store of Wadsworth & Burrington, when,
the war breaking out, he enlisted as hospital steward in the First
R. I. Cavalry. After a year's service he became medical cadet
and was afterward transferred to the Third R. I. Cavalry, with
commission as assistant surgeon, ranking as lieutenant. He
HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY. 121
had charge of the military hospital at Baton Rouge from Feb-
ruary to September, 1863. He afterward rejoined the First R.
I. Cavalry, at Poolsville, Maryland, and was mustered out of
service as supernumerary. He then studied medicine, and grad-
uated in medicine at Harvard, in 1866. He then went to Europe
and passed a year in clinical studies at the hospitals of London
and Paris, at the Maternity, and at Guy's and St. Bartholo-
mew's. On his return he associated himself with Doctor Thomas
G. Potter, in old school practice in Providence, and after two
years came to Newport and established himself as a homoeo-
pathic practitioner, which he has continued to this time. In
Newport he was first a partner of Doctor IS". Greene, and after-
ward of Doctor Abiram F. Squire. Doctor Stanton is a popular
man and has a good practice.
Doctor Horatio Robinson Storer, son of D. Humphreys Storer,
M. D., of Boston, formerly professor of obstetrics and medical
jurisprudence in Harvard University, and president of the Ameri-
can Medical Association, was born in Boston, February 27th,
1830. He attended the Boston Latin School from 1841 to 1846.
On leaving school he entered Harvard University, where he took
the degree of A. B. in 1850. He was very early interested in
the natural sciences. He was president of the Harvard Natural
History Society, and in 1850 published observations made dur-
ing a trip to Nova Scotia and Labrador, on the fishes of those
coasts. He also spent a summer in Russia before his gradua-
tion. He studied medicine in the Tremont Medical School of
Boston, and received his medical degree from Harvard College,
in 1853. He also attended lectures at Harvard Law School. He
spent two years after graduation studying in London, Paris
and Edinburgh, and was assistant for one year, in private prac-
tice, to Sir James G. Simpson. In 1855 he commenced a very
successful practice in Boston, and was very active and promi-
nent in all matters pertaining to the profession, and contributed
largely to its current literature, especially in relation to his
chosen department, Gynsecology. In 1865 he became professor
of obstetrics and medical jurisprudence in the Berkshire Medi-
■cal College, which position he retained until 1869. He was '
prominent among the earlier ovarotomists, and eventually in-
•curred septicaemia, by which he was disabled and relinquished
practice, and retired to Europe in 1872, and remained in South-
ern Europe until 1877. On his return he took up his residence
122 HISTORY OF NEWPORT OOTJNTy.
at JSTewport, where he has since resided, not in active practice^
except for a short time, in connection with Doctor W. F. Parker,
when, finding his health again yielding to the strain, he finally
retired. Doctor Storer is a man of great acquirements and won-
derful facile expression, both by tongue and pen ; the latter of
which is sufficiently attested by the large number and great
variety of the treatises he has given to the public in the thirty
years of his professional life. He is one of the vice-presidents
of the section of Grynsecology of the International Medical
Congress.
Doctor Abiram Francis Squire is now practising as a homceop-
athist, at Newport. He came here in 1873, and became a part-
ner with Doctor Nathaniel G. Stanton. He was born in Buffalo,
N. Y., February 25th, 1846, and was the son of Abiram H. and
Hannah (Huff) Squire. He married, in 1875, Mary Henry
Alexander. Doctor Squire acquired his academic education at
the Buffalo Central High School, and received the degree of M.
D. at Harvard Medical College.
Doctor Peter Tallman, son of Peter and Ann Tallman, was
born March 22d, 1658, probably in Newport, as his father was a
freeman of Newport in 1655, and in December, 1658, made a
considerable purchase of land in Portsmouth, and in 1661 was
deputy from Portsmouth and solicitor general of the colony.
There is no evidence that Peter, the father, was a physician, as
is probable, two of his sons having been members of the pro-
fession. He is reputed to have been a French refugee. He died
in 1708. Doctor P^ter Tallman married, November 7th, 1683,
Ann Walstone, widow of John, who died in 1708. She was the
daughter of Benjamin and Jane Wright. He was at one time a
resident of Guilford, Conn., but returned to Portsmouth and
died there, July 6th, 1726. He had three children : Elizabeth,
Peter and Ebenezer.
Doctor James Tallman, also a son of the first Peter, of New-
port and Portsmouth, was born in Portsmouth, and was a prac-
titioner of medicine in that town, of high repute, traditions of
which have scarcely yet died out. He died there in 1724. He
married, March 18th, 1689, Mary, daughter of Joseph and Mary
(Brayton) Devol. He married for his second wife, Hannah,
daughter of John and Mary (Wyer) Swain, of Nantucket,
September 14th, 1701. He had by his first wife, Mary, two sons
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 123'
and one daughter, and by his second wife, Hannah, six sons and
three daughters.
Doctor William Thurston was at Newport in 1787.
Doctor John R. Thurston was born April 24th, 1774, at New-
port, and received his education there. He was a direct de-
scendant of Edward Thurston, one of the very early settlers on
Rhode Island. Doctor Thurston probably completed Tais medi-
cal education in Scotland, since he married, in 1799, Mary Ann
Bruce, of Aberdeen, Scotland. He was captured in a Newport
vessel and taken to St. Christopher's, W. I., where he settled^
and died there. May 7th, 1819.
Doctor William Torrey Thurston, son of the above, was born
at St. Christopher's, July 14th, 1805, graduated A. B., at Co-
lumbia College, New York, in 1819, and M. D. at the College
of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1829. He has prac-
tised at Westerly and Woonsocket, R. I., and was distin-
guished in the United States service during the war. In 1881
he was admitting surgeon and superintendent to Rhode Island
Hospital.
Doctor Alfred Henry Thurston, son of Charles M. and
Rachel (Pitman) Thurston, was born in Newport, October 2d,
1832, and passed his early years there. He graduated A. B.
at Columbia College, New York, in 1851, and M. D. at Uni-
versity Medical School, New York, in 1854. He died in New
York, August 2d, 1865. He entered the United States service
in 1861, and served with distinction until the close of the war.-
He was twice married.
Doctor William Tillinghast, son of Pardon and Avis (Nor-
ton) Tillinghast, was born at Newport, in 1753, and died at
Newport, January 26th, 1786. Doctor Tillinghast married a
daughter of John Holmes, a direct descendant of Obadiah
Holmes, who succeeded Doctor John Clarke as minister of the
Second Baptist church, Newport. Mrs. Tillinghast being the
only child of John Holmes, inherited a large landed estate in
Middletown, derived from Reverend Obadiah, which descended
to her daughters, and has only lately been alienated from the
family. They had three daughters; Catharine, married Captain
John Dennis ; Avis, married John Baker, and had a son, Wil-
liam ; Mary F. H., married Henry Bull. By this last marriage
Doctor Tillinghast was the great-grandfather of the present
Doctor William Tillinghast Bull, of New York, who is his
]24 HISTORY OF KEWPOET OOUKTT.
namesake. Mrs. Bull, at her father's death, was three years
old. Doctor Tillinghast, having received preliminary instruc-
tion from Doctor Sylvester Gardiner, in Newport, went to
Philadelphia and attended lectures, and took a degree at the
old school and returned to Newport, where he commenced prac-
tice about 1773, and pursued it with great acceptance until 1786,
when he died. His residence was in the house built by his
uncle, John Tillinghast, on Mill street, opposite the "Old Stone
Mill," now the property of Mr. Tuckerman, formerly of Gov-
ernor William 0. Gibbs. Doctor Tillinghast was a man of fine
appearance and elegant address, and never appeared except in
the full dress of the period, perfect in all its appointments of
ruffles, buckles, etc.
Doctor William Jerauld Townsend, son of Solomon and Ann
(Pearce) Townsend, of Newport, was born at Newport in April,
1824. His mother was a daughter of Samuel Pearce of Prudence
island, and sister of Hon. Dutee Jerauld Pearce of Newport,
and granddaughter of Doctor Dutee Jerauld of Warwick, R.
I., of an old French family, among the early settlers of Rhode
Island. Having completed his academic education, Doctor
Townsend entered, as a medical student, the office of Doctor T.
C. Dunn, where he proved himself a most devoted and faith-
ful student, and exhibited remarkable enthusiasm in everything
relating to his chosen vocation. After two terms' attendance
he took his medical degree at the Jefferson College, Philadel-
phia, in March, 1835, and before going home made a visit to the
family of Doctor Corson, at New Hope, Penn. There he in-
curred a malarial affection, which developed Phthisis, which
very rapidly terminated his life. He died at Newport, May
15th, 1835, aged 21 years and 1 month. He was a most amiable
and entertaining companion, and gave promise of a most bril-
liant future. Doctor Townsend was cousin to the late Christo-
pher Townsend, by whose munificence the public library in New-
port was established and endowed.
Doctor William Turner, 1st, son of William and Patience
(Haile) Tnrner, was born (probably) in Swansea, Mass. His
mother was a noted midwife. He studied medicine with Doctor
N. P. Vigneron, in Newport, where his parents lived at
that time, and where they died. He settled in Newark,
N. J., and had a large practice, and died there. He
had three wives, the last of whom, Mehitabel (Foster),
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. ]25
widow of Campfield, and mother of Doctor Jabez Camp-
field, was also the mother of Doctor Peter Turner, of East
Greenwich, R. I., whose son-in-law, Doctor William Turner, and
whose son, Doctor James V. Turner, practised for many years
in Newport.
Doctor Henry E. Turner, third son of Doctor Peter, of East
Greenwich, was a pupil in the famous classical school of John
Eraser, and afterward a student in the office of Doctor William
Turner, at Newport. He practised for some years in East
Greenwich. He married Martha Washington, daughter of Major-
General Nathaniel Greene, and widow of John Nightingale,
Esq. He first went to Tennessee, and afterward to Savannah,
Ga., where he died in 1861, aged 74 years.
Doctor Peter Turner, second son of Daniel and Sarah (Poster)
Turner, of New Jersey, and brother of Doctor William Turner,
studied medicine with his brother, in Newport, and was ap-
pointed surgeon in the United States army. He died during
the war of 1812, at Plattsburg, very young and unmarried.
Doctor Oliver Cromwell Turner, third son of Doctor William
Turner of Newport, was born in Middletown, R. I., August 26th,
1814, and studied medicine in the office of Doctors William and
James V. Turner, and took his medical degree at Jefferson Med-
ical College, in Philadelphia, in 1836. He practised in New-
port. He married Sarah, daughter of John Read of Newport.
He was a very conscientious and worthy young man, and a great
favorite with all who knew him, and very amiable and unpre-
tentious. He died November 14th, 1852, aged 38 years.
Doctor Francis Lincoln Turner, son of Doctor James V. and
Catharine R. (Greene) Turner, was born in Newport, December
27th, 1835. He studied medicine with his father and brother in
Newport, and took his degree in medicine at the Albany Medical
College. He married Mary Catharine, daughter of George C.
and Elizabeth Munro, but had no children. He commenced
practice at Schagticoke, N.Y., but after a year or two returned
to Newport and entered into practice here. Shortly after his
return to Newport, where he was becoming a favorite and his
prospects of a successful career were very promising, his health
was seriously impaired by an unfortunate accident, and he never
fully recovered it.
Doctor William Turner, United States army, was the eldest
of five sons of Daniel Turner, Esq., of Newark, N. J., all of
126 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
-whom held commissions in the military or naval service of the
United States. He was also the lineal descendant in the sixth
generation of the Captain William Turner who lost his life in
King Philip's war soon after gaining the battle of Great Falls,
Mass., May 18th, 1676. Doctor Tui-ner was born at Perth Am-
boy, ]Sr. J., September 10th, 1775, and early in life commenced
the study of medicine with Doctor Jabez Campiield, of Morris-
town, ]Sr. J., his father's half-brother. His license to the prac-
tice of medicine and surgery bears date Princeton, N. J., June
4th, 1794. Shortly afterward he removed to Bast Greenwich,
R. I., where, with his uncle. Doctor Peter Turner, he practised
for some four years. In 1798 he was commissioned assistant-
surgeon. United States navy, and August 31st, 1799, was pro-
moted to surgeon, and ordered to the U. S. Frigate "General
Greene" (28 guns), Christopher Raymond Perry, Esq., command-
ing, at Newport, R. I. This ship was built at Warren, R. I.,
in 1799, and was nnder orders for the West India Squadron,
commanded by Commodore Silas Talbot, then operating against
the French in the war of reprisals — a war, for some reason
singularly neglected by our historians, and important as the
first foreign war in which we ever engaged after the war for in-
dependence, though it was against the tri-color and not the lillies
of our former allies.
They sailed from Newport September 23d, 1799, and made
Cape Frangois, San Domingo, October 6th. At this place they
frequently met Tonssaint L' overture, Dessalines, Moize, Rigaud
and others of the fearful black uprising of 1793, so picturesquely
described by Harriet Martineau in " The Houp and The Man."
In a letter to Doctor Peter Turner, October 10th, 1799, he de-
scribes Tonssaint as "a little, old and very ugly looking negro,
but has a keen eye and is very polished in his manners." After
capturing a number of prizes among their " L' Industrie,"
"Flying Fish" and a Danish brig, they received orders to
proceed to New Orleans, then French territory, and receive the
American Commissioner, General Wilkinson, and his suite, and
to carry them to the United States.
Upon arriving at Newport, R. I., the yellow fever, which had
made its appearance among the crew of the ship soon after her
arrival upon the station, but had disappeared after passing the
latitude of the capes of the Chesapeake, again appeared ; and
some few cases were reported in the town. The town council of
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 127
Newport fully exonerated Doctor Turner from all blame in the
matter. But the incident led to a sharp correspondence with
Doctor Moses Brown of Providence, which even at this late day
excites interest in the reader of the courteous but decided
letters of the young surgeon. An interesting incident of this
cruise is that Oliver H. Perry and Benjamin Turner, the doctor's
brother, were both midshipmen of the ship on their first cruise,
and there cemented a friendship that was only broken by death.
The private journal of Doctor Turner of this cruise shows a
.refined and cultivated mind, and one that appreciated to the
fullest extent the possibilities and opportunities of his pro-
fession. His success in the treatment of the yellow fever is
shown by the few deaths, while nearly all of the crew at one
time or another during the cruise had passed through the ter-
rible malady.
Upon his detachment from the ship he made a short visit to
his parents, then at New Brunswick, N". J., and was ordered to
the U. S. Frigate "Adams" (28 guns), S. V. Morris, Esq.,
commanding, for a cruise in the Mediterranean. The threaten-
ing aspect of our relations with the Barbary powers made it
necessary to strengthen our force in those waters.
General William Eaton had been sent to Tunis with extraor-
dinary powers, of which he was not slow to avail himself, his
position calling forth the exercise of the diplomatic skill which
subsequently gained for him the approval of congress, and of
the court of Denmark. Upon his health failing he visited the
continent, and December 31st, 1801, appointed Doctor William
Turner in his place, " with full power to act in his absence."
Doctor Turner's health, which had been delicate before these
cruises, was now, after some years at sea, quite robust ; and as
his desire was for a more extended practice than he could ever
hope for in the navy, he resigned his commission October 27th,
1802, and settled in Newport, R. I.
Upon the breaking out of the second war with Great Britain
he was appointed by Oliver H. Perry surgeon of his flotilla at
Newport, June 29th, 1812, which position he held until Septem-
ber 29th, 1812, when he was commissioned surgeon's mate, U. S.
army, and ordered to Fort Walcott, Newport Harbor. On the
24th of April, 1816, he was commissioned post surgeon, and
surgeon on June 21st, 1821. He was the first surgeon attached
to Fort Adams, and supervised its sanitary arrangements dur-
128 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ing construction. He remained on duty at Forts Walcott and
Adams until his death, September 26th, 1837. His total mili-
tary service amounted to 30 years. He was a strong opponent
of the severe corporal punishments inflicted on enlisted men,
and did not a little to have them abolished. He corresponded
with the eminent medical men of his day, and was held in
high esteem by Doctors Eush and Physic, as their letters
testify. He was conspicuous in all projects for advancing the
standard of the profession in Rhode Island. His certificate of
membership of St. John's Lodge of P. & A. Masons, ISTo. 1,
bears date June 30th, Anno Lucis, 5801, and is signed by
"Moses Sexias, Prince of Masons, etc., etc., etc.:" Robert N".
Auchmuty, S. W. ; Thomas Tilley, J. W. ; and S. Cahoone,
secretary.
He married, August 15th, 1800, at East Greenwich, Hette
Foster Turner, daughter of Doctor Peter Turner, and grand-
daughter of Cromel Child, of Warren, R. I.
Doctor James Varnum Turner was the fourth son of Doctor
Peter and Eliza (Child) Turner of East Grreenwich, where he was
born on the 27th day of March, 1789. He acquired the rudi-
ments of his education under the tuition of Master Stephen
Franklin, one of the old time pedagogues, who pursued, in its
fullest extent, the ancient system of appealing quite as much
to the external susceptibilities of his neophytes, as to their
intellectual capacity. As, however, he was a quiet and steady-
going boy, he suffered less from the method that has very long
prevailed, on the authority of the wisest of men, than did some
of his more mercurial associates. He completed his academic
studies at the Greenwich Academy, then conducted by Abner
Alden, Esq. , who was noted as an instructor at that date, and
had occupied a similar position in Bristol, R. I., and was well
known as the publisher of a series of school books, quite
famous and, popular in their day. A college education at that
time was an exceptional advantage, and immediately after leav-
ing school he entered the office of his father and commenced
his medical education, which he completed in the oflice of his
brother-in-law, Doctor William Turner, of Newport. He, as
well as his elder brother, Doctor Henry E. Turner, afterward of
Tennessee and Georgia, was an original fellow of the Rhode
Island Medical Society. He first went to Warren, R. I., which
was his mother's birthplace, and where he had numerous rela-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 129
tives, with a view to settlement, and after remaining there for a
time, became dissatisfied with the prospect and returned to East
Grreenwich, which was then a place of very considerable com-
mercial activity ; falling in with the current, he fitted out a
schooner, called the "Leander," with such commodities as were
adapted to the supply of the British army, then occupying
Lisbon, entrenched behind the lines of "Torres Vedras." This
was not a very successful venture, the vessel arrived in a leaky
and damaged condition, was condemned and sold, and he came
home in one of Brown & Ives' vessels, commanded by Captain
Job Cook, to Providence.
He then spent several years, associated with his brothers,
Henry E. and George, in trading in western lands in Ohio and
Tennessee, quite successfully, but came home and went into
the West India trade with William Brown of East Greenwich.
During this time, August 27th, 1815, he married Catharine Ray
Greene, daughter of Hon. Ray and Mary (Plagg) Greene, and
afterward had seven sons and four daughters, all of whom grew
to man's estate, and of whom eight are still living. In 1821 he
took the farm where his wife and four of his children were born,
remaining there until 1828, when he removed to Portsmouth,
R. I., and resumed the practice of his profession. Here he was
popular and successful. At this time he was 39 years of age.
Taking up his burden where he had laid it down, nearly twenty
years before, he prosecuted his calling with all the energy of
youth, and apparently with all the zest of novelty. At the end
of five years, in May, 1833, he removed to Newport and became
the partner of his brother-in-law and former instructor, Doctor
William Turner. This association was a most harmonious one,
and existed until the death of Doctor William Turner, Septem-
ber 26th, 1837. Doctor J. V. Turner then associated with him-
self, Doctor O. C. Turner, son of Doctor William, and his own
son, Doctor H. E. Turner. At the end of a year, in 1838, Doc-
tor O. C. Turner retired from the firm and from that time until
October 28th, 1863, twenty-five years, when Doctor J. V. died,
he and his son remained partners.
Doctor James V. Turner was the embodiment of all the sub-
stantial qualities that inspire respect, confidence and affection,
and he enjoyed, as he well deserved, all these in their fullest
extent. Remarkably modest and unpretentious, and yet self-
reliant, truthful and conscientious, a strong man but always
9
130 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTy.
avoiding ostentation, almost too retiring, he yet was firm in as-
serting himself whenever he judged proper. He was a home
man in the fullest sense and did no visiting for many years out-
side his family. The superlative attraction of his own fireside
is well illustrated by the fact that, wanderer as he had been in
his youlh, during the last 35 years of his life he never was off
the island of Rhode Island, except an occasional professional
visit to Conanicut. Nevertheless, he was social and genial in
his intercourse with the community, and held a high place in
the public esteem and regard. His reputation as an obstetri-
cian was very high in the community he served, beyond which
he had no ambition to extend it.
Of Doctor Turner's seven sons one died in 1859. At the break-
ing out of the war six sons were living, one of these disabled by
accidental paralysis. Of the other five, four entered the volun-
teer service, two by enlistment as privates, two by appointment
as officers. When discharged rhreewere captains. The fourth
died in the service at Newbern, North Carolina, a lieutenant.
The fifth and eldest son. Doctor Henry E. Turner, then 45 years
old, with a. small family, was attached to the service but not
in the field. He was A. A. surgeon. United States Army, at-
tached to Fort Adams, then headquarters of the Fifteenth U. S.
Infantry. Doctor J. V. Turner died at Newport October 28th,
1863.
Henry E. Turner, M. D., son of James Yarnum and Cathar-
ine (Ray) Turner, was born at the Governor Greene homestead,
in Warwick, Rhode Island, June 15th, 1816. He is a direct de-
scendant of Captain William Turner, of Boston, who, in 1676,
raised a company and marched to Northampton under Major
Savage, and was present at the repulse of the Indians from that
place in March, 1676. In May of the same year. Captain Tur-
ner organized a force of one hundred men and surprised and
severely punished the Indians at the Connecticut Great Falls,
now known as Turner's Falls, but was killed on the retreat.
Doctor Turner's grandfather was Doctor Peter Turner, of East
Greenwich, R. I., at which place he practised his profession for
nearly forty years and died in 1821. During the revolution he
was surgeon in Colonel Christophei Greene's Rhode Island regi-
ment in the continental line, and was present at Red Bank and
other hard-fought battles. Doctor H. E. Turner is also a de
ficendant of Simon Ray of Block Island and William Almy of
"k^^/^t^/ Q, cJi
'l^C^^V ^^^
/^
"\«TXVc^ i, 'i,\t'^^A».Si-\ ■
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 131
Portsmouth, R. I. His grandfather on his mother's side was
the Hon. Ray Greene of Warwick, son of the second Governor
William Greene, and grandson of the first Governor William
Greene, who was a grandson of Deputy-Governor Greene of the
colony of Rhode Island from 1690 to 1700. Hon. Ray Greene
was attorney-general of Rhode Island from May, 1794, to 1797.
He represented Rhode Island in the United States senate from
1797 to 1801. In May, 1801, he was appointed United States
District Judge, which position he did not, however, fill. His
son, the Hon. William Greene, was lieutenant-governor of
Rhode Island from 1866 to 1868. Doctor Turner is also a de-
scendant of Roger Williams and of John Sayles of Providence,
John Greene, Randal Holden, Samuel Gorton, Richard Carder
and Rufus Barton of Warwick, and of Jeremy Clarke of New-
port, all original settlers of Rhode Island.
In early life Doctor Turner attended the academy of East
Greenwich, now the Methodist Seminary. When about twelve
years of age, in April, 1828, he removed with his parents to
Portsmouth, R. I. Five years later, his parents removed to
Newport, at which time (1833) he commenced the study
of medicine in the office of his uncle and father, Doctors
William and James V. Turner, who were then associated in
practice. He later went to Philadelphia, where he graduated
in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in March,
1836. After his graduation he went to Indiana, where he
spent about a year. On the , decease of his uncle, Doctor
William Turner, he entered upon the practice of his profes-
sion with his father, which partnership continued until the
death of the latter, in October, 1863, since which time he
has prosecuted his profession in the same place. For four
years Doctor Turner was vice-president and for two years pres-
ident of the Rhode Island Medical Society. He is secretary of
the Rhode Island Society of Cincinnati, which position he has
held for ten years. From November, 1862, to June, 1865, he
served in the U. S. army as acting assistant surgeon, being at-
tached to headquarters of the Fifteenth U. S. infantry at Fort
Adams. For nineteen years he was a member of the school
committee of Newport. He has been a director of the Redwood
library for nearly forty years, and for two years (1884 to 1886)
its president. He represented Newport in the state legislature
from May, 1848, to May, 1850. He has been for several years
132 HISTORY OP' NEWPORT COUNTY.
vice-president ol' the JNTewport Histoncal Society, is a member
of the board of health of Newport and chairman of the state
board of health. In 1881 Doctor Turner was appointed by Grov-
ernor Littlefield of Rhode Island on the committee to assist
the governor in entertaining the delegation from France to the
Yorktown celebration. The delegation were the guests of the
state in October, 1881. In 1853 he was elected city physician
of Newport, which office he still holds. Doctor Turner is much
interested in the history of his native state, and amid his pro-
fessional and other duties he has found time to gratify his lit-
erary tastes. He has delivered before the Rhode Island Hi- -
torical Society and the Newport Historical Society many lec-
tures, among which those on " the Greenes of Warwick,"
" Jeremy Clarke's family " and "William Coddington," have
been piablished. In matters of genealogy and history he is
considered an " authority," and much of his spare time is oc-
cupied in assisting numerous historical students both at home
and abroad who are constantly asking his aid. He was married
July 18th, 1844, to Ann Eliza, daughter of Joseph G. and Sarah
D. Stevens. They have had six children, of whom two sons
and a daughter are living.
Doctor Peter Thatcher Wales, son of Rev. Atherton and Mary
(Niles) Wales, was born at Marshfield, Mass., August 3d, 1745.
He married Lydia, daughter of Rouse Potter of Portsmouth,
R.I., and died in May, 1809, aged 64 years, in Portsmouth, where
his active life had been passed in the successful practice of
medicine. His residence was on the Glen road, a short distance
from the East Main road, near the Union meeting house, in
Portsmouth. His wife, Lydia (Potter) Wales, died in April,
1803, aged 54 years. They had several children, and some of
their descendants are still living in Rhode Island.
Doctor Edmund Thomas Waring, son of Thomas Waring, a
planter of South Carolina, was born at Charleston, S. C, De-
cember 25th, 1779. His early education was received at George-
town, S. C, under the instruction of the Rev. William Stough-
ton, a Baptist minister, then living there, but afterward of
Philadelphia. He then came to Rhode Island, and . was a
private pupil of Doctor Jonathan Maxcy, president of Rhode
Island College. He entered college but did not graduate ;
without completing his college course, he entered the office of
Doctor Isaac Senter as a student of medicine. On the comple-
HISTORY OF "NEWPORT COUNTY. 133
tion of his studies he settled in Newport, where he was one of
the most prominent physicians until within a few months of his
death, when he joined his children in South Carolina, where he
died, January 1st, 1835. He was cotemporary with Doctors
David King and William Turner, who commenced business in
Newport about 1800, and all died within three years, 1834-7.
Doctor Waring was a well equipped physician and surgeon, and
was very much beloved and respected. He was a high-toned
gentleman, and of a peculiarly amiable temper and gentle ad-
dress. Mr. Channing says, " He never lost a friend or made an
enemy." His wife was Freelove Sophia, daughter of Hon.
Francis Malbone, member of congress from Rhode Island, who
died on the steps of the capitol, at Washington. Doctor War-
ing was an original member of the Rhode Island Medical So-
ciety, and was second vice-president from 1831 to 1834, when
disability precluded his promotion.
Doctor Benjamin Waterhouse, son of Timothy and Hannah
(Proud) Waterhouse, and grandson of Timothy and Ruth
Waterhouse, of Portsmouth, N. H., was born in Newport,
March 4th, 1754, and died at his residence at Cambridge, Mass.,
October 2d, 1846. Having prosecuted his medical studies under
Doctor Haliburton, at Newport, he visited Europe, and was a
student in the office of his relative, the celebrated Doctor Foth-
ergill, of London. He went to Edinburgh and Leyden, and was
a graduate at the latter place. In 1783, having been for several
years a practitioner in Newport, he was offered the professorship
of theory and practice at Cambridge, and from that time was
identified with Cambridge and Boston. He retained this pro-
fessorship for nearly thirty years, during part of that time de-
livering lectures on natui-al history in the college. His style
and delivery were much admired. He was also professor of
botany in Brown University. In 1812, having long previously
been surgeon of the marine hospital in Charlestown, he was ap-
pointed director-general of all the hospital ports in New Eng-
land. This appointment he held for many years, to 1820. He
was a voluminous writer on medical, scientific and political sub-
jects, and published quite a number of books, besides contribut-
ing largely to magazines and newspapers. His father's house
was on south side. Liberty square, Newport.
Doctor John A. Wadsworth practised medicine in Ports-
mouth, R. I., for a few years, between 1820 and 1828, and mar-
134 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ried, October 2d, 1822, Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin and
Sarah (Chase) Mott. After leaving Portsmouth he established
a druggist's business in North Main street. Providence, where
he was well known for many years after.
Doctor Daniel Watson, son of Robert Watson of Jamestown,
was born in that town, April 13th, 1801. His education he ob-
tained chiefly at P'lainfield Academy, Connecticut, and after-
ward entered the office of Doctor Charles Eldredge of East
Greenwich, as a student of medicine. Subsequently he con-
tinued his studies in Newport, in the office of Doctor William
Turner of the United States army. He attended lectures at the
University of Pennsylvania, and graduated there in the spring
of 1834. During his residence in Philadelphia he was a private
pupil of Doctor Chapman, then professor of theory and practice
in the university. After his graduation he went to East Green-
wich, and soon after, March 1st, 1824, married Sarah G. C,
daughter of Captain Perry G. and Priscilla (Cook) Arnold of
East Greenwich, who survived him for several years. They had
eleven children, of whom five sons and two daughters are still
living. After remaining at East Greenwich for a year or two
Doctor Watson removed to Little Rest, now known as Kingston
hill, in South Kingstown. Here he remained until he removed to
Newport, about 1834, practising his profession and giving a
good deal of attention to politics, for which he always retained
a strong penchant. At his coming to Newjoort he occupied the
house so remarkable in its traditional association with the med-
ical profession, at the corner of Thames street and the parade,
and which had lately been vacated by the decease of Doctor
Benjamin W. Case. In 1836 he purchased and removed to the
house formerly theMawdsley house, at the corner of Spring and
John streets, where he died and where hisfamily still reside.
His death occurred May 17th, 1871, in the 71st year of his age.
He still retained his political tendencies after he came to New-
port, and was several times a representative in the general as-
sembly. In his professional relations he was a most exemplary
and judicious man, and very tenacious of old-fashioned ideas
of professional etiquette. He was a great favorite with his em-
ployers, and very diligent in his attentions to his patients, and
never more sought after than immediately before his fatal at-
tack which preceded his death by about three months. During
his active life in Newport he had the whole practice on the is-
HISTORY OF NEWPOET COUNTY. 135
land of Conanicut, with very rare exceptions, as had Doctor
"William Turner for thirty years previously.
Doctor William Argyle Watson, son of Doctor Daniel and
Sarah (Arnold) Watson, of Newport, was born at Kingston,
R. I. At a very early age he came, with his father's family, to
Newport, where he acquired his early education, and having
studied with his father, he graduated in medicine at the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania. For a number of years he was a resi-
dent and pi'actitioner at Newport. At the commencement of
the war, he entered the service of the United States as a naval
surgeon, and performed much and very valuable and creditable
service, chiefly in the Gulf of Mexico. His health suffered very
material impairment in the service from the consequences of
which he is still suffering. After the war, he made his resi-
dence in the city of New York, where he is well and favorably
known, and enjoys a large practice. Doctor Watson is a bach-
elor. He passes a few months in every year at his father's
homestead in Newport.
Doctor Richard M. Webber, who had been for several years
a promising young practitioner at Tiverton, R. I., died at the
Stone Bridge, in that town, in the early part of 1828, of
Phthisis.
Doctor John E. Weeden, son of Wager and Sarah (Hull)
Weeden, of South Kingstown, R. I., studied medicine with
Doctor William Turner of Newport about 1830-3, graduated at
the University of Pennsylvania, and settled in Bristol, R; I.
In 1836 he removed to Westerly, R. I., where he practised fif-
teen years, when he retired from professional work, and applied
himself to manufacturing pursuits. He is still a resident of
that town. Doctor Weeden married Eliza, only daughter of
Judge Amos Cross, of Westerly.
Doctor Samuel West, Jr. (see town of Tiverton).
Doctor William Lamont Wheeler was born at Mansville,
New York, and graduated at McGill College, Montreal, Canada.
He studied medicine in the city of New York, where he re-
ceived his medical degree. He took honors at the Opthalmic
College, and studied at Partish's School of Pharmacy. He was
connected with Bellevue Hospital for three years, and held a
post at the small pox hospital at Blackwell's island. Early in
the war Doctor Wheeler was appointed an assistant surgeon in
the navy, and was at Newport when the naval school was theji\
136 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
temporarily. He was severely wounded at Fort Sumter, and
had a prominent scar on his forehead thereafter. He settled,
after leaving the service, at Ithaca, N. Y., and practised there
for several years. About 1872, he married Miss Hester Gracie,
daughter of Hon. William Beach Lawrence and settled in New-
port, where he practised, excepting a year spent abroad, until
his death, October 15th, 1887. He had no children.
Doctor George F. S. White, son of William and Cynthia
White, was born in Westport, Mass., August 6th, 1818. He at-
tended the Middleborough, Mass., academy, and afterward
taught school for several years. He then prosecuted the study
of medicine in the office of James H. Handy, M. D., and re-
ceived the degree of M. D., at Berkshire Medical College, at
Pittsfield, having also attended lectures at the College of Phy-
sicians and Surgeons, at ]S"ew York. At the age of twenty-six,
Doctor White married Mary Corey, of Westport Point, and at
about the same time began the practice of medicine at West-
port, removing, however, soon after, to Adamsville, in Little
Compton, R. L, where he continued to practice until his de-
cease, which occurred on the 5th day of May, 1881, at Adams-
ville, having been in practice 37 years. Doctor White was, for
several years, a useful member of the school comnjittee. "He
was a man of warm and sympathetic nature, and was greatly
esteemed by a large circle of friends. He had an extensive prac-
tice and rode a large circuit for nearly forty years, yet he did
not- lay aside his medical books, nor lose his zeal in his chosen
profession."
Doctor Thomas Wilbour was born in Little Compton, R. I.,
in 1718. It is not known where he was educated. He married
Edith Woodman in Little Compton, in 1740, and practised
medicine in that town antil 1760, when he removed to Hopkin-
ton, R. I. In 1770 he married a second wife and had a son
William born in 1771, who also became a physician and contin-
ued practice in the same field as his father, Doctor William
Wilbour, who had three sons who were physicians ; Thomas
and Amos practised in Fall River, Mass., and William, in
Westerly, R. I. This second William had a son, John, who
now practises in Westerly.
Doctor Norbert Felicien Vigneron, or Wigneron, a native of
France, Province of Artois, Diocese of Arras, Parish of la
Ventre, was born and baptized June 2d, 1660. He was a son of
HISTORY OF NEWPOET COUNTY. 137
Antoine and Marie Therese (nee De Beaussart) Vigneron. He
had several brothers and sisters. The date of his arrival in
America is not known, nor of his advent at Newport. He
married, at the age of 40 years (1704), Susanna, daiighter of
John and Joanna Pierce, and had four children. He was
in Newport probably early in the eighteenth century, Doctor
William Turner, of Newark, N. J., who was born in 1710,
grandfather of Doctors William -and J. Y. Turner, having
been a student in his office as early as 1730. He had a
very high reputation as a physician and surgeon. His resi-
dence was the house northeast corner of Marlborough and
Farewell streets, Newport, lately occupied by Capt. Gilbert
Chase, now by William E. Dennis. Doctor Vigneron was
the great-grandfather of Commodore William Vigneron Tay-
lor, who was sailing master of the "Lawrence" at Lake Erie,
commissioned for gallantry in that action, and great-great-
grandfather of Admiral William Rogers Taylor, U. S. N. By
a singular coincidence, the same house. Doctor Vigneron' s,
in which his grandfather had studied medicine, was occupied
by Doctor James V. Turner in 1834-35-36, and in it his seventh
son, Doctor Francis L. Tuimer, also a physician, was born.
Doctor Charles Antoine Vigneron, eldest son of Norbert Feli-
cien, was born in Newport in 1717, and succeeded to his father's
profession and field of practice. He married, at the age of 21
years (1738), Hannah, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Irish, of
Little Compton, E,. I., then Massachusetts, and died at New
York November 10th, 1772. They had eleven children. In
October, 1772, Doctor Vigneron went to New York, and was
inoculated for smallpox, of which he died November 10th fol-
lowing, and was buried in St. Paul's churchyard. The New
York Gazette and WeeJcly Register of November 16th, 1772,
says, in an obituary notice: "In the medical and chirurgical
arts, which he professed and practised for many years, he shone
with superior lustre."
Doctor Stephen Vigneron, a younger son of Doctor Norbert
Felicien, was surgeon of a ship, probably a colonial letter of
marque, commanded by Captain Bennitland, in the old French
war, and she never was heard from after leaving port. He had
previously served at Cape Breton, and was at the fall of Louis-
burg.
Doctor Stephen Vigneron, son of Doctor C. Antoine, and
138 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COtTNTY.
grandson of Doctor N. F. Vigneron, was born at Newport Nov-
ember 25th, 1748. He succeeded his father in practising sur-
gery and medicine at Newport. He was in active service in the
revolution, on the patriot side, and his record, according to
Bartlett's R. I. Colonial Records, is as follows: "In January,
1776, inspector of saltpetre; in February, 1776, surgeon's mate, 2d
regiment Colony's brigade, vice Ebenezer Richardson; in Octo-
ber, 1776, chosen surgeon C©1. Cook's regiment; in November,
1776, chosen surgeon of all the forces, to be stationed on Rhode
Island; in December, 1776, chosen surgeon Col. Tallman's regi-
ment; in June, 1778, chosen surgeon Col. Topham's regiment^
in February, 1779, chosen surgeon Col. Topham's 2d battalion
of infantry." When the British occupied Newport he escaped
on horseback, leaving his books and instruments, which were
confiscated. He died of typhus on board the " Jersey" prison
ship, at New York, August 24th, 1781, aged 33 years.
Doctor Thomas Weston Wood, son of Horatio Gr. and Mary
(Weston) Wood, was born at Middleborough, Mass., July 26th,
1818, graduated A.B. at Brown University in 1840. He received
his diploma from New York State Medical Societj^, June 14th,
1844, having previously pursued a course of medical studies
with Doctor Needham, of Pawtuxet, R. I. Se commenced prac-
tice, which he continued only a few years, as a botanic physi-
cian, in Newport. In 1857 he was elected clerk of the county
of Newport, for the court of common pleas and supreme court,
and was incumbent of the same places for thirty years, and
l^erformed his duties to the entire satisfaction of the public un-
til May, 1887. Doctor Wood is very highly esteemed as a citi-
zen and as a man. He is a prominent member of the United
Congregational church, and for many years its secretary.
Doctor Aaron C. Wylley was born in or near Lyme, on the
Connecticut river, in 1776, and died at New Shoreham, R. I.,
March 27th, 1826. His father was also named Aaron. Doctor
Wylley married, first, Joanna, daughter of Edward Hull, Esq.,
and sister of the wife of Doctor George Hazard, of South Kings-
town, and sister, also, of Mrs. Wager Weeden, of Jamestown
and South Kingstown, and had two daughters. After her death
he married a Miss Dodge, of New Shoreham, and had one son
and several daughters. Doctor Wylley was esteemed as a man
of great acquirements and decided genius. He wrote and pub-
lished an article on the yellow fever at Block Island, which wa»
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUMTT. 139'
highly thought of, and later an account of the Palatine light,
which attracted much attention and discussion. He was the
only medical practitioner on Block Island for thirty years, and
had the unlimited coniidence of the population. He was pas-
sionately fond of the study of the natural sciences, and had a
high reputation for proficiency in that department of knowledge.
He was an intimate friend of Doctor William Turner, of New-
port, and was highly appreciated by him. On his gravestone,
the conclusion of a long and eulogistic epitaph is: " There were
but few who have been more generally useful, who were pos-
sessed of more good qualities, or who have by their acts con-
ferred greater blessings on their fellow men."
CHAPTER III.
THE FOUNDERS OF NEWPORT.
By John Austin Stevens.
The Settlement of Aquidneck or Rhode Island. — ^William Coddington. — Nicholas
Easton.— John Coggeshall. — William Brenton. — John Clarke.— Jeremy
Clarke.— Thomas Hazard.— Henry Bull.— William Dyre. — Samuel Gorton.
SIXTEEN YEARS had hardly passed since the landing of
(he Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock (December 11th, 1620),
exiles, as they styled themselves, for conscience' sake, before
Roger Williams, banished from the communion of Salem so-
ciety, found a resting place on Slate rock and began the set-
tlement to which he gave the name of Providence. On his ar-
rival in the waters of this beautiful region Jie was warmly re-
ceived by Massasoit, the jjowerful sachem who welcomed the
Pilgrims on their first arrival, and whom Williams had already
met in a friendly way at Plymouth. Results of infinite conse-
quence to the E"ew England colonies sprung from the meeting
of these two men. It was in June, 1636, that Williams, with
his four companions and a young lad, began his plantation on
lands granted to him by Canonicus and Miantonomi, sachems of
the Narragansetts, whose sway extended over all this region,
Early in the spring of the next year (1637-8) a band of exiles,
likewise seeking peace and that freedom of conscience which
the saints of Massachusetts only permitted under limitations,
visited Providence. They were led by John Clarke and Wil-
liam Coddington. Their original intention was to settle further
to the southward, on the Atlantic coast, but attracted by the
genial climate, the independence of the situation, weary, per-
haps, of wandering, they, after some exploration, in which they
were aided and accompanied by Williams in person, selected
the island of Aquidneck (Rhode Island). On their return to
Providence a body politic was entered into by agreement.
The first settlement on the island was begun at Pocasset, at
HISTOllY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 141
the cove on the northeast part of the island. The colony seems
to have increased rapidly, as a second settlement was projected
in the follov^ing spring. The record reads :
" Pocassefc on the 28 of the 2d 1639. It is agreed— By us
whose hands are underwritten to propagate a plantation in the
midst of the island or elsewhere ; and doe engage ourselves to
bear equal charges answerable to our strength and estates in
common ; and that our determinations shall be by major voice
of judge and elders ; the Judge to have a double voice. Present
William Coddington Judge ; Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall,
William Brenton, Elders : John Clarke, Jeremy Clarke, Thomas
Hazard, Henry Bull, William Dyre, Clerk."
" On the 16th of the 3d It was agreed and ordered that the
Plantation now begun at this south west end of the island shall
be called Newport ; and that all the lands lying Northward and
eastward from the said towne toward Pocasset for the space of
five miles and so cross from sea to sea with all the lands south-
ward and westward bounded by the maine sea together with
the small islands and the grass of Cunnunneqott is appointed for
the accommodation of ye said towne. It was also ordered that
the Towne be built ypon both sides of the spring and by the
sea-side southward."
The town was no doubt named after Newport, the capital of
the Isle of Wight, which the island of Aquidneck greatly re-
sembles in its situation and climate. The founders of the new
settlement, being the most important of the colony, carried with
-them to Newport the records of the Pocasset settlement, which,
on the first of the fifth month, 1639, changed the name of their
town to Portsmouth, after the English seaport of that name.
Newport and Portsmouth, England, are in the same county of
Hampshire ; and, like their American namesakes, sister towns.
The records of the 1st of the 8th month, 1639, give the names
of fifty-nine persons admitted by the general consent of the com-
pany "to be Inhabitants of the island now called Aquednecke
having submitted themselves to the Grovernment that is or shall
be established according to the word of Grod therein," and the
record following gives the names of fifty-two inhabitants ad-
mitted at the "Towne of Nieu-Port since the 20th of the 3d
1638." This seems to have been preliminary to a joint gov-
ernment of the two towns, Newport and Portsmouth, as the
next record bears the caption, "By the Body Polilicke in the
142 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUN-TT.
He of Aquethnec Inhabiting this present 25th of 9th month
1639 In the fourteenth yeare of ye Raign of our Sovereign King
Charles It is agreed that as natural subjects to our Prince and
subject to his lawes all matters that concerne the Peace shall be
by those that are officers of the Peace Transacted ; and that all
actions of the case or debt shall be in such Courts as by order
are here appointed and by such Judges as are deputed ; Heard
and legally determined— given at Newport on the Quarter Court
Day which was adjourned till ye Day
"William Dyre Secretary"
At this meeting Mr. Easton and Mr. John Clarke were "de-
sired to inform Mr. Vane of the state of things here and desire
him to treate aboute the obtaining a Patent of the Island
from his Majestie." Grovernor Vane was now in England,
where he had been made a member of parliament. Up to this
time each of the towns had its own local government of Judge
and elders. 'Now general quarter courts were held, and on the
6th of March, 1640, a general assembly, which received the
report of a committee, consisting of Nicholas Easton, John
Clarke and William Dyre, appointed to lay out the lands " pro-
portioned forth " by the Judge and elders, together with a map
and schedule. The schedule was entered on the records. The
names of the proprietors were : William Coddington, John
Coggeshall, William Brenton, Nicholas Easton, William Dyre,
John Clarke, Jeremy Clarke, William Foster, George Gardner,
Robert Stanton and Robert Field. It was ordered at this time
that all the sea banks were free for fishing to the town of New-
port. At a general court of election, held on the 12th of the
1st month, 1640, a number of persons presenting themselves and
desiring to be reunited to the body were " readily embraced by
them." These, without doubt, were those of the original com-
pany, who had remained behind at Pocasset, at the time of the
second settlement, at the southern end of the island. A num-
ber of others were received as freemen, and it was also agreed
that "if there shall be any person found meet for the service
of the same in either plantation (Newport or Portsmouth) if
there be no Just exception against him upon his orderly pre-
sentation he shall be received as a freeman thereof." It was
then ordered that the chief magistrate of the island "shall be
called Governour and the next Deputy Governor, and the rest
■ of the Magistrates Assistants."
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 143
An election was then held, when Mr. William Cocldington
was chosen governor for the year ; Mr. William Brenton, deputy
governor ; Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall, William Hutch-
inson and John Porter, assistants ; Robert Jeoflfreys and Wil-
liam Balston, treasurers ; William Dyre, secretary ; Jeremy
Clarke, constable of Newport, and Mr. Sanford, constable of
Portsmouth ; Henry Bull, sergeant attendant. At this session
the change of name of the Pocasset settlement to Portsmouth
was confirmed.
At the general court held at Newport May 6th, 1640, partic-
ular courts were ordered to be holden on the first Tuesday of
each month ; one court at Newport, the other at Portsmouth.
The government of Aquidneck was now definitely constituted.
The right which the body politic held or asserted over their
members is shown by the disfranchisement of four at the court
of sessions, March 16, 1641, when their names were "cancelled
out of ye roll." On the 19th of the same month the form of
engagement of the officers was agreed to "be in these words : "To
the Execution of this office I hereby judge myself bound be-
fore God to walk faithfully and this I profess in ve presence of
God."
The necessity of bringing under one government the several
local governments of Narragansett bay was early perceived, and
Roger Williams was for some years engaged in England in se-
curing a patent for the colony. This charter of incorporation,
as it is described in the instrument, included the inhabitants of
the towns of Providence, Portsmouth and Newport, under the
name of the " Incorporation of Providence Plantations in the
Narragansett Bay in New England." It was granted in the
name of King Charles the First in 1643, by "Robert, Earl of
Warwick, Governor in chief and Lord High Admiral of the
American Plantations ;" and his associate commissioners. At
the general court of election held at Newport March 13th,
1644, it was " ordered that the Island commonly called Aquid-
neck shall be from henceforth called the Isle of Rhodes, or
Rhode Island." There is a blank in the records from this date
until the meeting of May, 1647, when the general court "agreed
that all should set their hands to an engagement to the
charter."
It was now settled that the councils of Newport and Ports-
mouth were to agree as to their courts of Justice,
144 iriSTOIiY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Lawes " were to govern seamen on the island, and Newport was
to take into their custody the trading house or houses of Nar-
ragansett bay. A body of laws was established, and the old
declaration that the form of government was democratical,
" that is to say a Government held by the free and voluntary
consent of all or the greater part of the free inhabitants,'' was
re-affirmed.
The want of precision in the geographical limitation of the
new government in the charter instrument allowed, if it did
not encourage, endless dispute and bickerings, not only with the
neighboring governments of Massachusetts bay, Plymouth and
Connecticut, but also among the towns of the Rhode Island
plantations. These came to a crisis in 1649, when the struggle
in England between the king and his parliament was drawing
to its fatal close. At the May election, in 1648, Mr. William
Coddington was elected president, but on the meeting of the
general court bills of complaint were made against him, the
nature of which is not specified (the pages containing them
having been later cut from the records and given to Coddington),
but to which he made no answer and was in consequence sus-
pended from the office.
In January, 1649, Coddington went to England. On his ar-
rival he found Cromwell's government in full sway. In August,
1651, Coddington returned with a commission from the par-
liament to govern the islands of Rhode Island and Conanicut
with a council of six men to be named by the people and ap-
proved by himself; the commission to run for his life. This was
considered to have vacated the previous charter, and President
Easton, with the island towns of Portsmeuth and Newport,
withdrew from the general government. Providence and War-
wick dispatched Roger Williams and certain citizens of the
island also sent over John Clarke to recover their charter. This
they succeeded in doing on the restoration of Charles the
Second. This instrument, more precise in its terms and more
liberal in its principle, was signed by the king on the 8th of
July, 1663, and remained the fundamental law of the colony
until the adoption of the present constitution of the state of
Rhode Island in 1842. Only a summary is here presented; the
details of these various fragments of local history appear in the
following sketches of Coddington, Clarke and G-orton.
IIISTOKY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY. 145
William Coddington.— We are not informed as to the place
of birth of this, the first of the founders of the Aquidnecli or
Rhode Island colony and its first judge or chief magistrate.
There is his own written authority for the statement that he was
"one of those Lincolnshire gentlemen so called, that denied the
royal loan and suffered for it in the time of Charles I." In this
he no doubt refers to the forced subsidies which the king at-
tempted, in 1626, to levy from his subjects under the cover of
loans to remedy the deficiency of parliamentary supplies.
These were assessed upon the individual directly by commis-
sioners under secret instructions and in an inquisitorial man-
ner. Such a method of levy had its single precedent in a
similar arbitrary act of Henry VIII., and was in contravention
of English ideas of the liberty of the subject and an express
article of the great charter. It was for resistance to this pro-
ceeding that five gentlemen, among whom was Sir Edmond
Hambden, were brought to trial before the king's bench, and
many others throughout the kingdom refusing these loans
were by warrant of the council thrown into prison. That Cod-
ington was a man of fortune there is no doubt, as he is found
in the early days of the Massachusetts colony the owner of a
large tract of land in Braintree, which then embraced not
only Braintree but the present towns of Quincy and Randolph.
His mansion also was the first brick dwelling house built in
Boston, and held to be the finest in the town.
When in 1630 the patentees of the Massachusetts Land Com-
pany transferred the government and the charter of " London's
Plantations in Massachusetts Bay in New England " to Massa-
chusetts Bay, John Winthrop was sent out as its governor, and
with him a board of assistants, of whom Coddington was one.
These officers were appointed in England, but in 1632 the free-
men of the colony took the right of election to themselves.
Winthrop was continuously re-elected governor and Codding-
ton to the board of assistants until 1635, when Henry Vane
arrived from England and soon after was elected to Winthrop's
place. Coddington, whose views were more in accord with the
liberal views of Vane than the narrow views of Winthrop,
continued in his office of assistant. He was later appointed
treasurer of. the colony. At this time the Antinomian con-
troversy was at its height. The views of Anne Hutchinson,
eloquently declared from the pulpit by her brother-in-law,
10
146 HISTORr OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Wheelwright, were embraced by the liberal Boston party,
among whom were Governor Vane and Coddington; on the
other side the country towns led by Winthrop. As was natural
in a community the government of which was founded on a
theocratic form, the religious controversy soon turned into a
struggle for political control. The next election was held in
the Newtown (Cambridge) common, and resulted (May 17th,
1637) in the choice of Winthrop and the defeat of Vane and
his assistants, of whom Coddington was one. The next day
Boston elected Vane and Coddington and a third, of the same
opinion, delegates to the general court. The court refused to
receive them on the plea of informality. The next day they
were re-elected and took their seats. Meanwhile Wheelwright
had been brought before the general court (March, 1637,) to
answer for a sermon preached by him on January Fast Day,
and condemned guilty of sedition and contempt, sentence being
deferred until the meeting of the next court. The governor
protested against the judgment of the court without avail, and
a petition of the Boston church justifying the sermon was re-
jected by the court as a " seditious libel."
Thus it happened that on the first session of the newly
elected general court, to which Vane and Coddington were depu-
ties for Boston, the condemned minister was brought up for
sentence but again respited. ISTow the church people took up
the subject in earnest, and in session at Newtown condemned
" eighty-two erroneous opinions." Thus fortified by the judg-
ment of the ministers, the dominant party at the genferal court,
in which Boston was represented by William Aspinwall, John
Coggeshall and Coddington, again re-elected as third deputy,
took a further step and dealt in a summary way with the Bos-
ton church petition which had bee a pronounced a seditious
libel on the court. Aspinwall and Coggeshall, both deacons of
the Boston church, were dismissed the court; the one for hav-
ing signed, the other for defending the remonstrance. Cod-
dington, under direct instructions, moved the repeal of the
alien law (which, aimed at the Antinomians, forbid, under
penalty, the harboring of any emigrant for more than three
weeks without leave of the magistrates) and a reversal of the
condemnation of Wheelwright. The answer of the court to this
motion was the issue of a summons to Wheelwright to appear
for sentence the same day. He was sentenced to banishment
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 147
and to leave the jarisdiction within fourteen days under pen-
alty of imprisonment. Coggeshall and Aspinwall were then
called in turn. The one was disfranchised and ordered to keep
the peace, the other disfranchised and banished.
It will be observed that these sentences were graduated to
the offenses and given against them as deacons of the seditious
church. Coddington, as an instructed deputy, was apparently
beyond their reach. Anne Hutchinson was next brought into
court, and making her own defense claimed "inward revela-
tion" and inspiration. She was sentenced to banishment and
handed over to the marshall. These proceedings were followed
by a proscription of seventy-five of the heretical offenders in the
several towns of the colony and an order to surrender up their
arms and ammunition unless they would "acknowledge their
sin in subscribing the seditious libel." The justification by
Governor Winthrop of the judgment of the court was sufficient
notice to the liberal minded that their only safety was in volun-
tary withdrawal from the intolerant community. Coddington
was not included in the act of proscription of November.
Whether because of his high position, his personal influence or
his wealth, the general court in all its proceedings seems to have
had a consideration for him which it did not extend to his fel-
lows; but proscription was not needed to determine him to
follow the fortunes of his friends, and those of their way of
thinking who had "determined to remove for peace sake and
to enjoy the freedom of their consciences." The original pro-
posal of removal came from John Clarke, who was "requested
with some others to seek out a place." Whether Coddington
accompanied Clarke to New Hampshire, to which place he first
went in his search for a proper place for settlement, cannot now
be ascertained, but it seems more probable that he did not join
the emigrating party until they left their vessel on their return
and crossed the country to Narragansett bay in the search for a
warmer climate.
There is some negative evidence to show that Coddington was
not of the original party. In his testimony given at Boston in
1652, relative to the purchase of the island of Rhode Island, he
says : " Whereas there was an agreement of eighteen persons to
make purchase of some place to the southward for a plantation
whither they resolved to remove ; for which end some of them
were sent out to view a place for themselves and such others as
148 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTi".
they sliould take into the liber tie of freemen and purchasers
with them. And upon their view purchased Rhode Island."
And again in testimony at Newport in 1677 he says that "de-
ponent (Coddington himself) went from Boston to find a plan-
tation to settle upon and came to Aquedneck."
Nor are we informed as to whether he was one of the two per-
sons who accompanied Clarke and Roger Williams to Plymouth
to enquire as to the jurisdiction in which Sowams lay, which
they had looked upon for a settlement. If it be permitted to
hazard an opinion it seems probable that Coddington did not
join the party until after the visit of Williams and Clarke to
Plymouth. He was under no proscription and free in his
movements.
As Coddington was a merchant it is probable that the choice
of Aquidneck island in the heart of the great bay, and the later
removal of the settlement to its south end, where lay the broad
roadsted and safe land-locked harbor, were determined by his
judgment. It seems also that he was the money patron of the
enterprise. The deed of purchase of Aquidneck by Canonicus
and Miantonomi is made unto " Mr. Coddington and his friends
united unto him" and this title runs through all the codicils,
receipts and explanatory memoranda.
Nor if we give full credence to the testimony of Coddington
in 1677 already alluded to, and made in his seventy-sixth year,
do we find any need of special assistance from Roger Williams
in this treaty for the purchase of the island. The influence of
Williams was paramount with Ousamequin (Massasoit) within
whose Wampanoag domain Sowams lay, a tract brought under
the jurisdiction of the Plymouth government by Massasoit' s
treaty of submission ; but Coddington had equal claim to the
good will of the Narragansett chiefs. He says in his testimony
that when " he (Coddington) was one of the magistrates of the
Massachusetts colony he was one of the persons that made a
peace with Canonicus and Miantonomy in the colony's behalf of
all the Narragansett Indians and by order of the authority of
the Massachusetts a little before they made war with the
Pequot Indians." This was in October, 1636, when Miantono-
mi and two sons of Canonicus visited Governor Vane of Boston
and were received with military state. And Coddington further
says that he first applied to Wonnumetonomey, sachem of the
Aquidneck to buy the land but was referred, by him to Canoni-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 149
cus and Miantonomi, the chief sachems. 1'hese points are in-
sisted upon that the independent character of the Aquidneck
settlement may appear in its proper light, and that to the form of
government set up and the modes of administration adopted on
Rhode Island itself, the growth as a community, the success as
a body politic and its territorial independence, the colony and
the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is largely,
indeed chiefly due. These are general considerations. For the
services of Coddington examination must be made of the rec-
ords themselves. And first it may be here said that the title to
Rhode Island and the small neighboring islands in the bay and
to the privileges in other islands and on the main land pur-
chased or obtained of the sachems, lay in the hands of Codding-
ton from 1637 to 1652, when he engaged to deliver the deeds
and declared that he had no more in the purchase of right than
any of the eighteen purchasers.
The name of "William Coddington stands at the head of the
agreement of incorporation into a body politic entered into at
Providence on tlie seventh day of the first month, 1638. The
records appear as of Portsmouth, but Ai^nold says it was signed
at Providence, and that Roger Williams was a witness. Up to
this time Coddington had not been placed under the ban by
Massachusetts but March 12th, five days after the signature of
the compact at Providence, Coddington and ten of his compan-
ions, with their families, were banished by the general court.
Excommunication had already been pronounced by the church
authorities. It does not appear that the voluntary exile of Cod-
dington, Coggeshall and their friends had anything to do with
this decree. They were heretics and this was enough.
The record 'of this first meeting of the freemen incorporate
closes with Coddington' s solemn covenant to do justice and
judgment impartially according to the laws, he being called to
be a "Judge amongst them." To him, as to the rest, was al-
lotted a house lot of six acres, and in addition, apparently as a
gratuity, ten acres of ploughing ground. In the same year
three elders were chosen to share the government with the
judge and to account for their actions and rules once every
quarter of the year. In the agreement made at Pocasset, which
was the origin of the Newport plantation, Coddington was made
the judge anid granted a double voice in the government, which
was to be by major voice of the judge and three elders. In ad-
150 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
dition to the house allotment of four acres he was also granted
six acres for an orchard. This was the second orchard in Rhode
Island. The first was planted by William Blackstone in 1635.
In 1640 the town of Newport became the seat of government
for the island, and William Coddington was chosen governor,
and held the office until 1647, when the government of Provi-
dence Plantations was re-organized under the charter granted
in 1643 by Charles I., the office of governor was abolished, and
that of president set up in its place. John Coggeshall was
chosen president, and Coddington assistant for the town of
Newport. The next year he was chosen president of the colony.
And now there occurred a difference in the colony of which no
satisfactory explanation has yet been made. Mr. Coddington
was not present at the election, nor is there any means of know-
ing from the records themselves whether there were any meet-
ings of the assembly in the year that transpired, or if there were
such, whether Coddington sat as assistant for Newport. It
cannot, therefore, be decided whether or not he took offense at
being set aside for Coggeshall at the first election, under the
charter of the year before. Arnold states that there was jealousy
in Portsmouth of the other three towns, and that the town
clerk of Portsmouth was ordered to inform Newport of their
intention to meet separately. Roger Williams wrote to Provi-
dence that the island was distracted by two parties, but he does
not mention the cause of disagreement.
At the very meeting at which Coggeshall was elected presi-
dent Coddington was suspended, and with liim Mr. William
Boulston, one of the three assistants. He was one of the early
friends of Coddington, and proscribed with him in the decree
of the Massachusetts government. Divers bills of complaint
were exhibited against Coddington, and it was ordered that if
the president-elect be found guilty, or being cleared of the
charges, refuse the place, or if he refuse to give his engagement
to the next session of the court, then the assistant for Newport,
Mr. JeremyClarke, shall be inserted in his place. Mr. Coddington
did not attend the court to clear himself of the accusations,
and Jerejny Clarke was installed at the next meeting.
The following January, 1649, Mr. Coddington sailed with his
daughter for England. The preceding May William Dyre, the
clerk of the assembly, brought a suit against Mr. Coddington,
but whether in his official capacity or as a private individual.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 351
does not appear on the records, nor yet how it wag decided.
That there was a faction in the colony against Grovernor Cod-
dington is certain from the account of the dissensions given to
John Winthrop by Roger AVilliams at the time, and there is
the same authority for knowing that Jeremy Clarke was at its
head. That a matter of fundamental principle lay at the bot-
tom of it is not doubtful from the character of the parties. It
has been found, and not without reason, in Coddington's hos-
tility to the union of the governments of Rhode Island, before
independent, to those of Warwick and Providence. The origi-
nal purpose of the settlement was expressed by John Clarke in
his interview with the Plymouth authorities, as to whether
Aquidneck lay within their jurisdiction, " to be clear of all and
be of ourselves." They were not then, nor were they better
satisfied by later experience with the governments, either of
Massachusetts or of Providence ; as a i-ecent authority happily
puts it, " Law was found in Massachusetts, but not liberty ; in
Providence there was the warmest love of libertj', but to a great
extent an absence of law."
Though their early application for an independent charter for
the island had come to naught and was not renewed, they still
desited to maintain their autonomy. The weight of authority
is that these were Coddington's views. It has been said that
before his departure for England Coddington "betrayed an
agitated and alienated state of mind." Certain it is that he was
chosen president without his consent, and was unwilling to
take office under the charter. That his neglect or refusal dis-
concerted the faction led by Jeremy Clarke is evident from the
immediate introduction into the assembly of the concealed
bombshells of complaint, which would probably have never ex-
ploded had Coddington willingly surrendered his opinions and
accepted the office. Arnold has no hesitation in assigning the
cause of the dispute to a fundamental diflference of political
opinions. "Coddington," he says, " was a royalist, and was
about attempting to withdraw the island from the other towns,
and to unite it to Plymouth. Clarke and Easton (the moder-
ator of the assembly at the election referred to) were republi-
cans and leaders of the dominant i)artyon the island." That the
shape which the dissensions took was political is safiiciently
clear, but there must have been a deeper ground for the jjassion
shown on both sides.
152 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
It is always safe in the search for the causes of movements in
the history of New England, and indeed in the history of all
times and countries, to look at the religious side. The Antino-
mian doctrine had taken firm hold of the Khode Island colony.
Coddington had drank deep at the original source, the preach-
ing of Wheelwright and the teachings of Anne Hutchinson.
Indeed, it may be here said that the failure of Wheelwright to
take the charge of their church was a disappointment for which
even the preachings of Anne Hutchinson, who came to Newport
upon her banishment and stayed awhile, did not compensate.
There were many, and among these Coddington and Coggeshall,
who held to the belief that men must look to the revelation of
an inner light which was to be followed, rather than the Scrip-
tural word. Mr. John Clarke strenuously opposed this ad-
vanced view, and the result was a schism in 1641, in the Baptist
church. Eoger Williams, with whom Coddington was ever on
terms of friendship, inclined from the beginning to this opinion.
Callander doubts whether Williams ever joined with the Baptist
church at Providence only so far as " to hold them to be nearest
the Scripture rule and true primitive practice as to the mode
and the subject of baptism. But that he himself waited for
new Apostles.'' Those holding these views Avere termed Seekers,
and later joined the Society of Friends or Quakers, whose
great apostle, George Fox, began to expound in the year 1644.
Coddington joined this society, the members of which
thirty years later controlled the government of the colony.
Roger Williams, however, never recognized Fox as an apostle.
He was his own apostle. But this is a digression, the purpose
of which is merely to suggest a motive for acts not as yet suf-
ficiently explained.
If Coddington were a royalist, as Arnold declares, his going
to England with a political purpose would seem to have been a
supreme folly. The submission of Charles to the parliament
was already known in the colonies, and although the fatal end
was not foreseen there was no ground for any hope from royal
favor. In fact the estates of the royalists were under seques-
tration throughout the kingdom. While Coddington was toss-
ing on the seas the great tragedy was being enacted, and when
he arrived royalty was at an end, the commonwealth of England
proclaimed and the government in the stern hand of Cromwell.
For two years Coddington waited a hearing. Cromwell had
HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 153
other work on his hands in the suppression of the risings in
Scotland and Ireland, and of the desperate efforts of Prince
Charles "By what representations," says Arnold, "or
through what influence he [Coddington] succeeded in virtually
undoing the acts of the long parliament in favor of Rhode Is-
land we can never know." Certainly it was not by proclaiming
royalist sympathies.
However this may be Coddington received from the council
of state a commission to govern the islands of Rhode Island and
Conanicut for life with a council of six to be named by the peo-
ple and approved by himself. On his return to Newport in
August, Easton, the president of the province of Providence
Plantations, deserted his office. Newport and Portsmouth sub-
mitted to the new order of government but a number of the fac-
tion opposed to Coddington, and no doubt others who found it
not the " Democracie or popular government" they had de-
clared it to be when Coddington was their governor in 1641, de-
spatched John Clarke to England to obtain a revocation of the
commission, while Providence and Warwick sent over Roger
Williams to secure similar privilege for themselves, in confir-
mation of the charter of 1643. Of course Coddington did not at-
tempt to exercise any authority outside of his Jurisdiction and
matters moved along quietly enough, though the situation was
embarassing. In September, 1652, a letter from Roger Wil-
liams announced that the council authorized the colony to con-
tinue under the charter for the present, and in October an order
of council was issued directing the towns to unite again under
the charter, an order which William Dyre was bat too happy
to bring home. But the; order did not bring peace ; the main-
land and the islands each claiming superiority and each con-
vening a general assembly. That which met at Newport de-
manded the statute book and book of records from Coddington,
but the sturdy gentleman replied to the messengers that he
would " advise with his counsel and give an answer, for he dare
not lay down his commission nor hath he seen anything to show
that his commission is annulled."
Not till the return of Roger Williams in 1654 was the reunion
of the colony eflfected. At the general court held at Warwick
he was chosen president. But it was not until 1656 that' the
hatchet was finally buried. Coddington was elected commis-
sioner for Newport to the court of that year, held at Warwick.
154 HISTOHY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
Opposition was made to his taking his place and he put on rec-
ord his formal submission in these words : " I, William Cod-
dington, doe hereby submit to ye authoritie of his Highness in
this colony as it is now united and that with all my heart."
Clarke, the agent in England, was requested to withdraw the
complaints made against him, and certain records which might
seem prejudicial to him and others were ordered to be cut from
the books and delivered to Mr. Coddingfcon. The presentments
standing against him on the island book of records were not to-
be prosecuted but the fine imposed for not delivering up the
book of records was not to be returned, and complaint having
been made that the Indians had guns like those Coddington
brought over from England, he was requested to account for the
disposal of his.
In 1658 he appears with Benedict Arnold as a purchaser of
Dutch Island. In 1663 it is pleasant to find the old gentleman,
who seems through thick and thin to have held the confidence-
of the government as well as of the people, the first named of
the committee to assess upon the towns of Conanicut island the
rate they should pay toward the one hundred pounds voted for
supplies to John Clarke, the agent of the colony in London ; to
whom Coddington chiefly owed the loss of his life estate in the
office of governor of the isles.
In 1665 Coddington, having openly joined the Quakers, sent
a paper on their behalf to the royal commissioners, Carr, Cart-
wright and Maverick, who were sent over to settle all troubles
in the reorganized colonial government, to which they at once
sent answer to the governor with instructions that it be com-
municated to the Quakers in the presence of the assembly. This
was done verbally to Coddington and a copy of five proposals
commended by the commissioners to the colony was handed to
him for their consideration and observance. In 1665 and 1666
Coddington again served as assistant, in 1673 as deputy, and
from 1674 to 1676 as governor. He was succeeded by Arnold
who died in office in June, 1678, at the beginning of his term.
At an adjourned session of the assembly held in August, Cod-
dington was appointed to fill the vacancy. When this body
met in October Coddington also was on his death bed. He died
on the 1st of November, 1778, in the 78th year of his age. Mrs.
Ann Coddington, his widow, as was usual, delivered up the
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUKTY. 155'
charter and other writings belonging to the colony to the com-
mittee of tlie assembly appointed to receive them.
Thus olosed, as it had begun, the long and useful life of this^
the father of the Rhode Island colony. He came to the island
the first magistrate of a little settlement, small in numbers but
great in purpose. He was constantly employed in its service
and he left it the governor of a strong and prosperous colony.
The town of Newport was especially indebted to him. His sa-
gacity foresaw the possibilities for an extensive commerce and
establishing himself the first mercantile business, he led the way
in its development. He was interred in the Coddington burial
place, which he bequeathed to the Society of Friends, in Fare-
well street. The freemen of Newport in 1836, mindful of the
memorable services of this, their founder, repaired the monu-
ment at the head of his grave. Governor Coddington's house
was on tile north side of Marlborough street fronting Duke
street.
Nicholas Easton sailed from Southampton, England, with
his two sons, Peter and John, in March, 1634, and arrived in
New England in May following. This body of colonists' first
went to Ipswich, where they spent the summer and succeeding"
winter. In 1635 they removed to Newbury, where Easton built
the round house for the colony that year. According to Win-
throp,Ea.stonwasby trade a tanner, but he is said to have been the-
" architect of the Newbury round house." He was no doubt one
of those believers in the new doctrine of the Antinomians and
followers of Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson, as he was one of
those disarmed in November, 1636, for refusing to disavow the se-
ditious opinions, yet probably not aggressive in their expression,
as he was allowed to remain in the Massachusetts colony. On
the 12tli of March he was ordered to leave the jurisdiction, but
he was not one of those banished with Coddington by the decree
of that court. In the beginning of 1638 the little party again
removed to Hampton.
Nicholas Easton's name does not appear among those of the
subscribing incorporators at Providence on the 7th of March,
1638, nor yet do the records make mention of his appearance in
the colony, but on the distribution of lands on the 20th of Nay,.
at Portsmouth, he was granted six acres of land with the rest.
He was nor admitted a freeman of the town until the 20th of
August. lie appears first at the meeting of the 23d of the same
156 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
month. His practical character is shown by the grant to him
on the " 16th of the 9th month, 1638, of sufficient accommoda-
tion for four cows and planting ground as they shall think
meet, all of which is for the setting up of a water mill, which
the said Mr. Esson hath undertaken to build for the necessary
use and good of the plantation; and further * * * he shall
have full liberty to fall and carry away any such timber as
shall be of necessary use for the present building of the
mill."
Mr. Easton was one of the nine incorporators of Newport,
and the consideration in which he was held is shown by his
selection as the lirst of the three elders, to whom, with the
judge, the government of affairs was confided. He was also
one of the eleven original proprietors. There is a record that
the family moved to the new lands and landed at and lodged
upon Coasters' Harbor island, the last night of April, 1639, and
the next morning gave the name of Coasters" Harbor to that
island, and crossed over to JSTewport, where they erected the
th^ first English house in Farewell street, near what is now
the northwest corner of the Quaker meeting house lot.
This house, built about six months after Easton's coming, was
destroyed by fire in 1641, the flames taking from an Indian fire
in the woods near by.
In the eai'ly winter of 1639 Mr. Easton was requested with
Mr. John Clarke to write to Sir Henry Vane to solicit Ms in-
fluence with the king for a charter for the island settlement.
It is interesting as showing the strict holding to the letter
of the law of the early settlers, that at the meeting of the
quarter court in December, 1639, the first act was to fine
Mr. Easton, their chief elder, for attending without his weapon
as ordered by the laws agreed upon. In 1640, on the abolition
of the office of elder, he was chosen first of the assistants.
Dropped in 1641, he was again chosen in 1642. Arnold, the
historian, in his division of parties, classes Coddington as a
royalist and " Clarke and Easton republicans and leaders of the
dominant party on the island." In 1648 he was moderator of
the assembly at which the Coddington trouble began. In 1650
he was chosen moderator for the day and at the same session
president of the colony; but on Coddington's return with his
commission as governor he, as appears by the act of the general
sessions of the committee at Providence, " deserted his office
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 157
and with the townes of Newport and Portsmouth declined"
from the old established order, by which it seems that he sub-
mitted to Coddington's authority. It was for the sake of peace
and order no doiabt, for at the May, 1654, session of the general
assembly he was named first moderator and again chosen presi-
dent of the colony, which was still torn by dissensions. In 1660
he was again commissioner for Newport and moderator of the
general court.
Nicholas Easton was one of the assistants appointed in 1653
with Willian Dyre and John Sanford, to look to the state's
share in the prizes made in the war with the Dutch, the settle-
ment of the accounts for which was a matter of lengthy litiga
tion. From the proceedings taken by the court of commis-
sioners in 1658 it seems that the sum of money committed to
Easton' s care in 1652-3, and which appertained to the use of
his highness the lord protector of the commonwealth of Eng-
land, was considerable. The matter was finally disposed of by
a court of commissioners. In 1666 and 1666 he was again
deputy, and during the latter term was appointed with Gov-
ernor Arnold to consider the delicate subject of the manner of
engaging allegiance to the crown as public servants, anything
in the form of an oath being apparently objectionable, although
it is difficult with our modern light to detect anything more
than a solemn promise, save only that the penalty was that
of perjury. In May, 1666, he was again chosen deputy gov-
ernor, and continuously re-elected until 1672, when he was
raised to the dignity of governor of the colony, holding the
office until 1675, when he was succeeded by William Codding-
tou. In this year (1675) he died at the age of 83.
Nicholas Easton married for his second wife Ann Clayton, to
whom he gave by deed ,tlie land known as Easton' s point,
which tlien comprised 65 acres of land. In the first division
of land among the proprietors of Newport, to Nicholas Easton
and his sons were assigned all the land on the east side of Fare-
well street and between that and Broadway; and the Easton's
point farm was given to the father.
John Coggeshall, fourth on the list of signers of the Aquid-
neck compact of 1638, was in reality next in importance to the
fathers of the settlement, William Coddington and John Clarke;
William Hutchinson, Jr., the third whose name appears on the
agreement, playing a small part in public matters. Mr. Cog-
158 HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
geshall was also one of the nine founders of the town of JN'ew-
porfc.
John Coggeshall was English born, and came to Bi^sron in
1630, with John Winthrop and William Coddingtoh, wlien these
gentlemen, with others, were sent out by the London Company
to reorganize their government of the Massachusetts plantation.
He was, like them, a man of wealth, and began busiuf-ss in Boa-
ton as a merchant. He joined the congregation of the Boston
church, and was one of its deacons. He was a member oH the
first board of selectmen of Boston. In 1634, having in his
church membership the necessary qualification precedent, he
was admitted a freeman of Boston, and chosen to rei^resent the
town in the court of deputies, and again chosen in lOHo and
1636. It was in this latter year, while thus engaged, that the
Antinomian controversy was brought judicially before the
court.
The Reverend Doctor Wheelwright, the expounder of the new
doctrine of the "covenant of grace," and that "the pei.son of
the Holy Ghost and a believer were united,'' preached a sermon
on the January, 1636, Fast day, in which he expre^^ed these
heresies. Summoned to answer before the court, he was pro-
nounced guilty of sedition and contempt. At the meeting of
the court in 1637, a petition was presented from the Boston
church in behalf of Wheelwright, who had drawn a large part
of their membership, including Vane, the late governor, and
William Coddington, into active sympathy with himself and
his faith. This earnest petition was declared a '-seditious
libel" by the court. William Aspin wall, deacon of the Boston
church, and one of the signers of the petition, was disnvissed
the court, and a few days later disfranchised and banished.
John Coggeshall, also a deacon, but not a signer, defending the
petition, was also dismissed and disfranchised, and ordered to
keep the peace on pain of banishment. This was enough for a
man of Coggeshall's sturdy character, and he was ready to join
the little band who, immediately after these proceedings, began
their scheme of a settlement outside of the limits of the ty-
rannical jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Of him, a^ of Cod-
dington, it is not possible to say whether he accompanied or
followed John Clarke into New Hampshire in the winter of
1637-8. It is not improbable, however, as he was one of those
persons from whom arms ■and ammunition were taken itway un-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 159
■der the November order of the court. He was also one of the
ten and the next named in order after Coddington, who, with
their families, were formally banished by decree of the general
court in March, 1638.
He signed the original compact at Providence, was present at
the first meeting of the Aquidneck settlers at Pocasset, and sub-
scribed to the agreement to found the second settlement at New-
port. At Portsmouth he was granted the usual allotment of six
acres of land, was one of those entrusted with laying out a lot
for the meeting house in the neck, of which it may be here said
that there are doubts whether the building was for civil or re-
ligious purposes — -perhaps for both combined — and with the
general allotment for the town ; and he was also chosen one of
two treasurers for the company, William Hutchinson being the
other. When the Portsmouth town chose three elders to assist
the judge, as their chief magistrate was then called, in the
execution of Justice and judg.ment, Coggeshall was the second
named. In the agreement for government of the Newport
plantation the judge and elders of Portsmouth are named with-
out change of persons. He is the second named (Coddington
"being the first) in the record of the lands allotted to the eleven
proprietors of Newport. That apportioned to him consisted of
three hundred acres on the neck, about one and a half miles from
the present state house.
In 1640, on the organization of a general government for
Aquidneck the office of elder was done away with or rather
changed in title to that of assistant. Mr. Coggeshall was one
of those chosen, and was annually re elected till 1644. In that
year, on the organization of a military company for Newport,
he was the first named of the corporals chosen by the general
court to th^ command. When in May, 1647, the general court
met at Portsmouth to set their hands to an engagement to the
new charter, received from the Earl of Warwick, governor in
chief of the American colonies, John Coggeshall was chosen
moderator of the assembly, and by the same body first president
of the province of the Providence Plantations, a high post, and
increased in honor by the election among the four assistants for
the four towns of the colony of Roger Williams for Providence,
and William Coddington for Newport. Mr. Coggeshall did not
long enjoy his new dignity. He died in office on the 27th of
November, 1647, aged about fifty-six. Such is the inscription
160 msTor.Y ok wewpokt county.
on the tombstone in the Coggeshall burial jjlace on Coggeshall
neck.
William Bkenton was not one of the signers of the Provi-
dence compact for the Aquidnecl-c settlement, but was admitted
freeman of their society, together with Nicholas Easton, at
Portsmouth, on the 2nth of August, 1638, and his name appears
as present at the meeting of the 23d of that month. On the
establishment of the government of the settlement he was chosen
one of the elders to assist the judge.
William Brenton was one of the nine subscribers to the
agreement at Pocasset, April 28th, 1639, to "propagate a plant-
ation " at Newport, and one of the elders governing the same,
and one of those original proprietors to whom the grant of
lands was recorded, March 10th, 1640. Notwithstanding this
he seems to have remained for a time at Portsmouth, where
he was also granted land in 1644, and was in August of that
year appointed to view the deer which Massasoit had per-
mission to kill on the island and bring to Portsmouth. The
api^ointing of town meetings was also entrusted to him and
another. In 1640, the form of government being changed, Mr.
Brenton was chosen deputy governor, and again in 1641 and
1642.
What part Mr. Brenton took in the Coddington troubles is
not shown in the records, but he is known to have sided with
him in his views of the Shawomet purchase, and the dangers
threatened by Gorton's action in that town, which some have
held to have been the real cause of Coddington' s dissatisfaction.
In 1655, on the roll of the freemen of the four towns, his
name appears as in the Portsmouth list. In 1659, however, he
was of Newport, for in that year he was appointed one of the
committee of this town to draw up the letters to the commis-
sioners of the united colony and the general court of Massa-
chusetts, in reference to the purchase of lands in the Rhode
Island colony, contrary to law, by the Massachusetts people ;
and further to correspond with John Clarke, the colony's agent
in London, on the subject. In 1660 he was chosen president
of the colony, and in the same year sat as commissioner for the
town of Providence, and later in the year for Portsmouth. In
1661 he was a moderator of the assembly, and at the same
meeting re-elected president, and again this year appears as
commissioner for Newport, and again in 1662 as next or vice-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 161
president, Benedict Arnold being chosen president. He was
also engaged in the raising and receiving of moneys for the
.supply of Mr. Clarke in London, and the correspondence ap-
pears (1662) to have been managed by him. He seems to have
protested against the acquisition of Westerly by Vaughan,
Coggeshall, Cranston and others, but for what reasons there is
now no means of ascertaining.
In 1663 he was again elected deputy governor, and with
Arnold, governor, addressed Endicott, the governor of Massa-
chusetts, with a view to the "speedy extirpating the root or
stem of discontent being or growing between these two colo-
nies ;" and the next year the same officers complained to the
governor of Connecticut of outrages committed by people
of their jurisdiction on the west side of Pawcatuck, " alias
Narragansett river." The same year he was named with Roger
Williams and others to meet agents of the colony of New
Plymouth at Rehoboth, or at Newport, and attempt to settle
the boundary lines with that colony also. This meeting was
held at Rehoboth the following February. Small as the terri-
tory of Rhode Island was their neighbors were constantly en-
gaged in efforts to diminish it. In 1665 he was again deputy
governor, and in 1666 chosen governor of the colony and con-
tinued in office until 1669, when he was succeeded by Benedict
Arnold. During his term he endeavored to secure from the
king's commissioners. Colonel Nichols, Carr and Maverick, a
settlement of the long standing dispute about the intrusions in
the Warwick settlement. Mr. Brenton now withdrew perma-
nently from public life. In 1672 he was again elected governor,
but though urged to accept the position and give his engage-
ment he, both by word of mouth and letter, absolutely refused,
and Nicholas Easton was chosen in his place. Mr. Brenton was
then at Taunton on a visit.
John Clarke. — In his history of the Baptist denomination
in America Benedict says : " Where Mr. Clarke was born is not
certainly known. In some of his old papers he is styled 'John
Clark of London physician;' but tradition makes him a native
of Bedfordshire." Of later years it has been assumed that "he
was born in London, England, on the 8th day of October, 1609."
Nor is it known where he was educated or where he studied
physic. It is certain, however, that he was learned in the
ancient languages. In his will he gives to his "dear friend
11
162 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNT Z.
Richard Bailey liis Hebrew and Greek books;" also " my con-
cordance with a Lexicon to it belonging, written by myself,
being the frnit of several years study."
We find it nowhere stated at what time or by what vessel he
arrived in the Massachusetts bay, nor when nor where he was
ordained as a preacher if at all; nor yet to what communion or
order of the church he belonged. Tradition says that " he was
a preacher before he left Boston, but that he became a Baptist
after his settlement on Rhode Island by means of Roger Wil-
liams." If we rightly understand the meaning of Mr. Callen-
ders inference (Historical Discourse, 1638) Clarke -was not an
ordained clergyman. He and his followers had depended on
the coming of Doctor Wheelwright, the banished minister of
Braintree, but he disappointed them, choosing to go to Long
Island, from Piscataqua, his first refuge after his exile. " Mr.
Clarke, who was a man of letters, carried on a publick worship
(as did Mr. Brenton at Plymouth) at the first coming till they
procured Mr. Lenthal of Plymouth, who was admitted a free-
man here August 6, 1640." So far Callender.
William Brewster, at the first coming of the Pilgrims after the
-expulsion of their minister, Tyford, had, although a layman,
iled them in their religious duties as " teaching Elder." Brew-
ster also was a scholar, a graduate from the University of Cam-
bridge, England, and like John Clarke quite competent to his
task. And further Callender with his usual caution reports as
•of tradition: " It is said that in 1644 Mr. John Clarke and some
others formed a church on the scheme and principles of the
Baptists." Benedict goes farther and says that John Clark,
M. D., was the "founder of this church and also its first
minister. He took care of them at their settlement and con-
tinued their minister till his death."
Although it would be hardly just to say that John Clarke,
the pioneer Baptist statesman, as he has been enthusiastically
named in our day, was the controlling spirit of the colony, the
first steps of which he undoubtedly guided, he certainly divided
the superior influence with William Coddington, to whom as
trained in law and exercised in civil administration the first
settlers looked for counsel, choosing him for their first judge
or chief magistrate. The name of John Clarke stands next to
that of Coddington among the signatures of the incorporators
of Portsmouth and first after the elders in the agreement made
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 163
at Pocasset for the plantation of Newport. The records of the
colony are a complete testimony to the nature, the extent and
importance of his services. His good judgment and ready pen
fitted him for a variety of service invaluable in a young settle-
ment. He surveyed the lands, arranged the highways and
made disposal of the farms. In 1639 he was requested to in-
terest Governor Vane for the obtaining of a patent for the
island from the king, and the next year was one of the com-
mittee on the same subject. In 1648 he was appointed one of
the six commissioners for Newport to the general court. In
1649 he was chosen general assistant for the town and again in
1650; in 1649 also he was chosen general treasurer of the colony.
In 1650, when it seems to have been uncertain whether Roger
Williams would go to England on the business of the colony,
John Clarke was nominated as one of the two persons to go in
his stead. In the year 1651 there was committed under the au-
thority of the Massachusetts government one of the greatest of
the many outrages that stain the records of that intolerant
colony. In May John Clarke, then the pastor of the first Bap-
tist church in Newport, and Obadiah Holmes who had lately
helped to found a church of the same order at Seekonk (and
presented therefor by the grand jury at the general court of
Plymouth in the jurisdiction of which Seekonk lay, had taken
refuge at New^port), were deputed by the Newport church to
visit, in company with John Crandall, an aged member of the
Seekonk church, who lived near Lynn and had requested to be
called upon. While Clarke was preaching there on Saturday to
the inmates of the house and later at the church, the three were
arrested as "erroneous persons being strangers," silenced at
the church by a magistrate, and the next day, after excommuni-
cation, sent to Boston for trial. They were there charged by
Governor Bndicott with being Anabaptists. Clarke denied that
he was "either an anabaptist, a pedobaptist or a catabaptist,
and affirmed though he had baptized many he had never rebap-
tized any for that infant baptism was a nullity." The others
agreeing in this, they were then and there fined, in default of
which "to be well whipped."
Refusing to pay the fine they were sent to prison. Clarke in
a letter challenged the court to a discussion of the doctrine for
which he was condemned. The magistrates named a day but
before it arrived Clarke was dischargad, some person unknown
164 HISTORY OF WEWPOKT COUNTY.
to him having paid his fine of twenty pounds. He renewed the
challenge hoping to meet the Puritan Cotton, to discuss with
him the principles of Baptist faith, voluntary baptism, and in-
dividual responsibility ; the theologic points on which Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island were at variance. The debate never
took place. Holmes not paying his iine of twenty pounds, was
brutally flogged. Crandall was let free on the jailer's surety.
An old man who had come from Seekonk to visit Holmes in
prison was arrested for shaking hands with him after the whip-
ping and sentenced to be fined or whipped. It seems that dis-
cretion tempered the valor of Endicott and his crew, and that
while they hesitated to do violence to Clarke they laid the full
measure of their hate and spite on the back of Holmes, who was
within the Plymouth jurisdiction.
On his return to Newijort after this outrage Mr. Clarke re-
ceived a fresh instance of the perfect confidence of the colony
in his skill and judgment. Groveruor Coddington had just re-
turned from England where he had obtained a commission as
governor of Rhode Island and Conanicut for life ; a virtual dis-
memberment of the colony. Alarmed at this proceeding, a large
number of the important citizens of Portsmouth and Newport
selected Doctor Clarke to proceed to England as their agent and
secure a repeal of the governor'^ commission. He sailed from
Boston with Roger Williams but the objects of their missions
were different and wholly independent of each other. Onc'e in
England the colony found Clarke enough to do, and with what
satisfaction to them apjjears by the votes of the general court
of commissioners held at Newport November 24th, 1663. This
was on the occasion of the reading of John Clarke, the colony's
agent's letter to the president, assistants and freemen of the
colony, which accompanied the box containing the king's letters
of patent under the broad seal. It was thereupon voted that
Mr. Clarke be saved harmless in his estate, all his disbursement
for his voyage going and when he should return and his ex-
penses abroad, be repaid and discharged by the colony, and
further, " that in consideration of Mr. John Clarke's aforesayd
his great paynes labours and travail with much faithfulness ex-
ercised for twelve years in behalf of this colony the thanks
of the colony be sent unto him by the governor" and deputy
governor, and for a gratuity unto him the sum of one hundred
pounds sterling.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COTJNTy. 165
In this long period he had been constantly engaged. He pro-
cured and sent powder and ball to the colony. He was charged
in 1658 with letters to his highness, Oliver Cromwell. Two
years later he was commissioned " agent and attorney " by the
general court. In 1662 he himself addressed two petitions to
"High and Mighty King" Charles the Second setting forth in
dutiful and honorable light the profound loyalty of his subjects
of Rhode Island and their desire for a more " absolute, ample
and free charter," of which they were sadly in need to shelter
them from the encroachments of their greedy neighbors of the
Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies. The result of his di-
plomacy, for such it was to get the better of the agents of these
neighbors, was the charter of 1663 ; the gratitude of Rhode Is-
land to the king and to their agent has been already shown.
Clarke returned to Newport in the summer of 1664 and
handed in his accounts, which were ordered to be paid. In Oc-
tober he was again elected deputy for Newport and continuous-
ly until 1668, being constantly employed in the most delicate
matters of administration ; settlement of difficulties among the
towns, treaties with the neighboring colonies, revision of the
laws, arrangements for harbors and in a hundred ways demand-
ing tact and discernment. He was chosen deputy governor in
1671 and 1672 and again in 1673, but positively refused to serve.
In 1670 he had been again appointed agent to England to pro-
test against the intrusions of Connecticut and other colonies
into the colony of Rhode Island and their infringement of her
chartered rights, and in 1671 two hundred pounds in silver was
voted for his supplies. Similar resolutions were taken in 1672
but delay proved the best policy, and the colony seeming to be
in a hopeful way to compose the differences with Connecticut
" in a loveing and peaceful manner," the votes were rescinded.
Notwithstanding the many expressions of confidence and
promises of money to Mr. Clarke, it appears by the record
that he had still an outstanding claim against the colony
of £450 sterling, which the general assembly, "considering
that the said Mr. Clark hath received alreadj' a great sum,"
seemed to consider an over weighty charge. A letter was
ordered to be written to Mr. Clarke, and the answer to be
reported to the next assembly. Nothing further appears on the
record until October, 1676, when Mr. Clarke's executor pre-
sented a paper demanding one hundred pounds, current money
166 HISTORY OV NEWPORT COUNTY.
of England, as due to Mr. Clarke. The matter was referred to
a committee for inquiry, but the records are thereafter silent as
to the final settlement. It is said that in order to meet Ms ex-
penses to England he was obliged to mortgage his Newport
estate.
In justice to the Rhode Island authorities, however, it must
be stated that thej^ claimed that Mr. Clarke had made "show-
ing that he had occasions of his own to go to England which
was not the Colony's business," and intimate that some of these
expenses might be transgressions against the king or the laws
of the colony. As to his business in London there is a curious
intimation in the protest of the "pestilent people of Warwick"
against the payment of the sum assessed upon them in 1664 for
the agent's services. They say "Wee know that Mr. Clarke
did publiquly exercise his ministry in the Word of Grod in
London as his letters have made report, as that being a cheefe
place for his profitte and preferment which we doubt not
brought him in good means for his maintenance; as also he was
much employed about modelizing of matters concerning the
affairs of England as his letters have declared; in which noe
doubt he was incouradged by men of noe small estates who in
all licklyhood did communicate liberally unto him for such
labors and studies."
Mr. Clarke's estate was appraised at the time of his death
at £1080.125. To the Baptist church he left a lot of land
in Tanner street, known as the Clarke burial ground. The re-
mainder of his estate he left in perpetual trust, the income to
be distributed for " the relief of the poor or the bringing up
of children into learning." Mr. Clarke. had three wives, but
left no children. He died on the 20th of April, 1676, in the 67th
year of his age. The only literary work he left behind him
was his narrative entitled "111 News from New England,"
which was printed in London in 1652 and has since been re-
printed by the Massachusetts Historical Society Coll., Series 4,
Vol. 2.
Jeremy Clarke.— The name of this one of the founders of
Newport does not appear among those of the Aquidneck in-
corporators at Providence. He was present at the meeting
January 2d, 1638-9, at Portsmouth, when the form of govern-
ment was agreed upon. He was one of the nine subscribers to
the agreement at Pocasset for th eNewport plantation. No rela-
HISTORY OF WEWPORT COUNTY. 167
tionship is known to have existed between this family and that
of John Clarke, the founder. Nothing is known of the life of
Jeremy Clarke in England nor is there (on the authority of
Doctor Turner) any mention of a settlement by him in the
Massachusetts or Plymouth Bay colonies to be found in their
records, and in fact but meagre materials for any account of
him whatever. He was evidently a man of consideration as he
was named not only constable in 1639, but appointed to the
place of Mr. Jeoffrey, the treasurer of the Aquidneck Company
during his absence among the Dutch that year. In 1640 he
was again appointed constable and one of the three persons
selected to lay out the Newport lands among the proprietors,
of whom he was one. In 1642 he was elected lieutenant and in
1644 captain of the trains band; in 1647 he was chosen treasurer
of the colony; again in 1648 both assistant and treasurer; and
at the same election, Coddington having declined to qualify as
governor, Jeremy Clarke, who is charged with having led the
cabal against him, was by the court established governor in his
place until Coddington should be cleared of the charges against
him or another president be elected or installed.
Clarke is styled in the record of the assembly the " President
Regent of the colony." His name last appears as witness to
the deed of Misquamacock (Westerly) by Socho, the Indian
sachem of the Niantics, to William Vaughn and others in 1661.
He died in this year. He married Frances, daughter of Louis
Latham and widow of Thomas Dongan. After Clarke's death
she was married (for the third time) to the Reverend William
Vaughn, the first pastor of the Second Baptist church in New-
port. Walter Clarke, son of Jeremy, was later governor of
the colony.
Thomas Hazard.— Of the antecedents of this one of the nine
founders of the town of Newport we know nothing. His name
first appears as one of the subscribers" at Pocasset. He was one
of those appointed to lay out the lands within the circuit and
bounds of the town after the rate and proportion of twenty
cows' meat to a division of three hundred acres of upland. He
does not appear to have served. He was present at the general
court of election in March, 1640, which established the govern-
ment of the colony. In 1655, when the roll of the freemen of
the colony in every town was taken, he appears at Portsmouth,
after which there is no further mention of him on the records.
I(j8 HTSTORT OF jSTEWPOKT OOUNTY.
Henry Bull was either maimed or had not yet learned the
art of writing when the Providence compact for the Aquidneck
settlement was signed, foi* he is recorded as affixing his mark.
He first appears at the meeting at Portsmouth June 27th, 1638,
and on the 24th of January, 1638-9, was chosen sergeant of the
commonwealth.
He was one of the nine subscribers to the Pocasset agreement
to plant the town afterward named Newport, but neither at
Portsmouth nor there does he appear as one of the landed pro-
prietors. On the organization of the government he was again
chosen sergeant, and in 1641 and 1642 again elected. He is
styled sergeant attendant ; he had now a companion in the office.
The duties of the sergeants were in 1638 defined to be to attend
all meetings of the judge and elders and to execute the sen-
tences of the court. In 1642 they were granted the fees al-
lowed by order of law for arrests and summons. The laws es-
tablished in 1647 included the office of general sergeant, and
required that he should be "an able man of estate, for so ought
a sheriff to be whose place he supplies."
Mr. Bull was a commissioner for Newport at the court held
at Providence in 1655, and in that year also one of the men
chosen for his town to fix the rates on the towns for the build-
ing of sufficient prisons in each. In 1657 he was a commissioner
for Providence. In 1666 he was deputy for Newport, and again
in 1673 and 1674 ; in 1680 and 1681. In 1685 William Codding-
ton (second son of the old governor) was re elected governor,
and declining to give the engagement to the office, Henry Bull
was chosen in his place. James the Second had just inherited
the crown of England. In February, 1689-90, William and
Mary coming to the throne, there was great confusion in the
colony. Walter Clarke, the governor of Rhode Island, being
re-elected and declining to act, Christopher Almy was elected ;
but he also refusing to serve, Mr. Henry Bull was chosen by the
assembly and engaged. Clarke refused to let the charter go
■ftivless the committee of the assembly should forcibly open the
cbeat and take it. It was surrendered to Grovernor Bull two
moutlis later.
^tiMay, 1690, it was ordered by unanimous vote that Walter
Clarke, tlae late governor, and all the officers of the colony in
1-686, at%e coming over of Sir Edmund Andros, be confirmed
a™ established in their respective places. The old charter was
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 169
resumed. This was at a meeting of the general assembly at
Newport, on the 1st of May, 1690, yet on the 6th of the same
month Mr. Bull presided as governor at a meeting of the assem-
bly, and on the 7th of May, at a second meeting, he acted as
moderator, and was again elected governor, but probably re-
fused to serve, as did Mr. John Coggeshall, next chosen ; where-
upon Mr. John Easton was elected and engaged. What became
of the reinstated officers the record does not inform us, nor yet
Arnold in his history of Rhode Island.
Henry Bull died in 1693, and was buried in the old Quaker
cemetery on Farewell street, where there stands a square low
pillar of granite, with cornice and pediment, bearing the in-
scription : "Here lyeth the body of Henry Bull, Esqr., late
governor of this colony, who died January 23, 1693, aged 85."
William Dybe, one of the founders, and the first clerk of
the Aquidneck company and colony, came to Boston from Eng-
land about "1627 or 1629." He married his cousin, Mary, who
is described as a " person of no mean extract or parentage, of
an estate pretty plentiful, of a comely stature and countenance,
of a piercing knowledge in many things, of a wonderful sweet
and pleasant discourse :" and no less an authority than John
Winthrop describes her in his Journal of 1638 as a "very
promp and fair woman of very proud spirit;" testimony
which must be accepted, for these early Puritan fathers were
good judges of the things of the flesh as well as of the spirit.
William Dyre and Mary, his wife, united with the Boston
church, of which the Reverend John Wilson was pastor, and
the following March, 16.'56, was admitted freeman of Boston.
Like Coddington and Coggeshall, who were members of the same
congregation, Dyre was attracted by the preaching of Wheel-
wright and the no less persuasive eloquence of Anne Hutchin-
son, and warmly espoused the Antinomian cause and signed
the remonstance or petition to the general court against its con-
demnation of Wheelright, and was one of those proscribed and
disarmed by the decree of November, 1636, to use his own
words, " because his hand was to the seditious writing and de-
fended the same."
Whether he was one of the little party which John Clarke
led into the cold wilds of New Hampshire that autumn or early
winter is not known. Mary Dyre, his wife, was not less earnest
in her faith in the new doctrine, and her devotion to Anne
170 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Hutchinson. She must have remained in Boston as late as
March, 1638, when her husband had already joined the expe-
dition of Clarke and Coddington. The examination of Mrs.
Hutchinson before the church and her defense of five examples
selected from twenty-nine theses was had before the Boston
church March 15th, 1638. When she was cast out of church
Mrs. Dyre walked with her. This is Governor Winthrop'sown
testimony. He adds that she was not afraid to "show her
colors." William Dyre signed the original Aquidneck com-
pact at Providence, and was at this, its first meeting, appointed
clerk of the "Body Politicke," as they styled themselves.
William Aspinwall was appointed secretary.
Dyre appears as attending all the meetings at Pocasset, and
also as clerk to the nine associates, of whom he was one, who
made the second plantation at Newport. To this office of clerk
he was continuously chosen until 1640, when he became secre-
tary for the colony, and so continued till 1643, and no doubt
till the new charter was received. For his services he was
voted £19 in 1640 and also ten acres of land. In the records of
the original grants of lands to the Newport settlers it appears
that at that time he had given full satisfaction for seventy-five
acres. This, with ten acres allowed by the town's order for
travelling about the island, made eighty-seven acres, more or
less. This land lies on the bay, opposite Coaster's Harbor is-
land, at what was then known as Coddington' s corner, and since
as Coddington' s point. Here is still the old burial place of
the Dyres.
On the organization of the colony in 1647 under the first
patent, William Dyre was chosen general recorder by the as-
sembly, the first to fill that office. Notwithstanding this he was
chosen clerk of the next assembly which met in May, 1648, and
at which the Coddington troubles began. In those Dyre took
an active part against the governor, with whom he was in con-
stant quarrel. In 1648 he appears in the record in a suit against
him. In 1654 he was very much troubled by Mr. Coddington's
alleged infringement upon the highway which led to their farms.
In 1667 Mr. Dyre's temper led him into trouble with the author-
ities. He had killed a mare belonging to Coddington, who ob-
tained judgment against him. Dyre appealed to the general
assembly which, however, sustained the verdict. But the royal
commissioners being then engaged in the affairs of the colony,
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 171
Dyre appealed to them. The commissioners referred the sub-
ject back to the assembly and the execution oi the judgment
was stayed. Coddington thereupon demanded the service of
the execution. But the assembly did not stop here. Dyre was
summoned to appear before them and "make a recantation un-
der his hand of the wrongs he had done the colony " in his pe-
tition. Dyre's humble recantation appears at length upon the
records as well as the pardon of his offense.
Copies of the papers were sent to the commissioners. These
gentlemen, however, had recommended that Dyre's petition,
whic'h was a complaint against the jury in the case, be consid-
ered by the assembly. The assembly endeavored to persuade
the parties to a composition but without success, and at the
next session of the court they were referred to the processes of
law for their relief. Mr. Coddington, however, insisted on the
execution of the judgment and the court finally issued the or-
ders to the sergeant. The sturdy Coddington was a hard an-
tagonist.
It does not appear that Dyre ever had any legal training be-
yond that he gained in the long exercise of his duties as clerk
to the assembly, which of course brought a perfect knowledge
of the affairs of the colony. In 1650 he was deputed general at-
torney for the colony. The duties of the several officers were de-
fined at this meeting of the general court. The attorney-gen-
eral "to have full power to implead any transgression of the
laws of this state in any courts of this state * * * and be-
cause envy the cut throat of all prosperitie will not faile to gal-
lop with its full careere let the sayd attorney be faithfully en-
gaged, and authorized and encouraged."
This appointment was made after Coddington's departure.
When the stout old governor returned with his commission as
governor of the colony, Dyre's name disappears from the rec-
ords. Whether he went to England with John Clarke in No-
vember, 1661, when that gentleman was dispatched as agent of
a number of the inhabitants of Providence and Newport to so-
licit a repeal of Coddington's commission, is not known, but it
is certain that he was in England with Clarke, and that he
brought home in February, 1653, and deposited with the town
clerk of Newport an order from the council of state to the sev-
eral towns to go on under the charter, which was held to be
equivalent to a revocation of Coddington's commission. It
172 HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
seems also that on his arrival Dyre took letters to Providence
and Warwick, naming a day at which he would meet at Ports-
mouth all the freemen of the colony to communicate to them
the orders of the council. On the 1st of March, 1653, an assem-
bly of the colony at Portsmouth met to receive these orders,
and reinstated all officers who had been ousted by Coddington,
and Dyre it is presumed returned to his post of attorney
general.
In May of this year (1653) war having broken out between
England and Holland, warlike measures were taken in the
Rhode Island colony, and in obedience to the orders of the En-
glish council of state that the state's part in all prizes be se-
cured and accounted for, three persons were appointed for this
purpose, of whom Mr. Dyre was the first named. It may be
here stated that in 1659 Mr. Dyre was called on to give account
of his action and declined, but was held on his bond and the
case sent before the next court. The day after his appointment
to look to the state's sbare in prizes he, with Captain John Under-
hil], received a commission to serve, no doubt, though it is not
so stated, with the volunteers against the Dutch.
In the court of commissioners which met at Portsmouth in
1655 he sat for Providence. In 1660 he appears at Newport as
third named in the office of general recorder and second also in
that of general attorney ; in 1662 he was commissioner for New-
port and again deputy in 1666, and the same year chosen solici-
tor for the colony. In 1664 the royal commissioners, Mcolls,
Carr, Cartwright and Maverick, having captured New York
and nearly completed the conquest of the Dutch possessions in
North America, Clarke, Cranston and Dyre were delegated to
carry a letter from the Rhode Island authorities with thanks to
his majesty for the charter and congratulations to the commis-
sioners for their success. The name of William Dyre appears
on the records in a public capacity as deputy for Newport Oc-
tober 31st, 1666, and again on an order to pay him three pounds
for a claim for services rendered by him while secretary to the
general council. In May, 1669, it is recorded that Mr. William
Dyre, secretary of the council "resigned up unto the council
the books and papers which belonged to them and also the
seals."
While the name of Dyre will always be held in grateful re-
membrance by the colony for many services, it goes down in the
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 173
history of New England with sad and sombre recollections.
When William Dyre went over to England at the time of the
Coddington troubles, he took his wife, Mary Dyre, Anne
Hutchinson's early convert, with him. On his return, uncer-
tain no doubt as to his reception in the colony, he left her be-
hind him. After a stay there of five years she returned to the
colonies and landed at Boston, from which she was forever ban-
ished in 1856. While in England she had become converted to
the new Quaker doctrines, and joined the Society of Friends.
These new doctrines had scandalized the good people of Massa-
chusetts, who enacted a series of laws inflicting penalties, from
fines and whipping, to banishment and death, upon those who
held to them.
On her arrival at Boston Mary Dyre was seized and sent to
prison, but on the personal intervention of William Dyre, who
was not of the new faith, was released and permitted to go on
to Rhode Island on his entering into bonds " not to lodge her
in any town of the colony, nor to permit any to have speech
with her on her journey." Mary Dyre could not long stay at
home, and returned again to Boston to cheer her suffering com-
panions in the faith. Husbands never had much control over
wives in the free community of Rhode Island. The "inward
call" was supreme over all other voices. She was again ar-
rested in Boston, and sentence of death pronounced against her
by that most cruel, most bigotted of all Puritans that was ever
landed on these shores. Governor Endicott. Taken to the gal-
lows with her companions she saw them executed, but, after
her face was covered and the noose set about her neck, was re-
prieved, much it must be said to her dissatisfaction.
She was put on horseback and carried off toward Rhode Is-
land, from which, home having apparently little attraction for
her, she went to Long Island. The next spring, again "called,"
she went back to Boston, where the cruel Endicott, unable to
bring her into subjection by his state and grandeur and self-
sufficient conceit, again ordered her to execution. She was led
through the city to Boston Commons, drums beating. She
died "requiring her blood of the hands of those who did the
deed in wilfulness," a wish which it is at least some satisfaction
to think was not unheard at the judgment seat.
It is said that in the last days William Dyre pleaded earnestly
174 HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
with the general court for clemency. It has been claimed that
this judicial murder was the immediate cause of the stoppage
by Charles the Second, of these atrocious acts in Massachusetts,
and of the liberal terms of the Rhode Island charter. We find
no further mention of William Dyre beyond an indenture in
1670 of two of the sons to make certain payments of money to
their sisters withia three years after the death of their father.
The second son, William Dyre, Jr., went to Delaware about the
time of his mother's death. Samuel Dyre, the eldest son, mar-
ried a daughter of Edward Hutchinson and granddaughter of
Anne Hutchinson.
The records of the Dyre family above quoted state that one
William Dyre was collector of customs at New York for the
Duke of York in 1680, and a letter written by him to Samuel
Pepys from that town on the 4th of January of that year, is
printed ; and this William Dyre, who is named as Captain Dyre
in London, in 1679, is supposed to be the old secretary. As his
first child was baptized in 1635, he could not have been at that
time less than sixty-six years of age, and there is probably
some confusion of persons. It is only known that Dyre's death
occurred before that of Roger Williams, which took place in
1683.
Samuel Gorton, though not a founder, was the central figure
in the long bitter struggle between the colonies of Massa-
chusetts Bay and New Plymouth on the one hand, and that of
Providence Plantations and Rhode Island on the other, for ju-
risdiction over an important part of the Narragansett territory.
The eastern colonies were eager and persistent in their attempts
to gain a foothold in the magnificent bay, the Rhode Island set-
tlers stubborn in their resistance to the entrance of the aggres-
sive wedge, the near consequences of which were easily fore-
cast.
Of no man in New England's history have there been so many
and discordant opinions as of Samuel Gorton. The early Mas-
sachusetts writers, whose judgment is invariably found to be
biassed by a religious prejudice, concur in styling him "heter-
odox, turbulent, pestilent." The milder form of judgment
from their successors is that he was an eccentric person, a no-
torious disturber of the peace. Arnold considers him " one of
the most remarkable men that ever lived." He certainly ap-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 175
pears as one of the strongest types of individualism in a day
when marked personal character was the rnle rather than the
exception. In his printed works and the legal documents which
he signed he styled himself by turns, " Citizen of London,
Clothier," "Gentleman," "Professor of the Mysteries of
Christ."
He was born in England about 1600 and landed in Boston
in 1636. Thence he soon went to Plymouth where he fell into
trouble with the church elders and was brought before the
court, where he carried "so mutinously and seditiously that
he was for the same and for his turbulent carriage toward both,
magistrates and ministers in the presence of the court sentenced
to find sureties for his good behaviour during the time he
should stay in that jurisdiction, which was limited to fourteen
days, and also amerced to pay a considerable fine."
From Plymouth he went to the favorite place of refuge for
the afflicted and oppressed and the generally discontented, the
new plantation in Narragansett bay. He joined the Aquidneck
settlement and on the division of the island into the towns of
Portsmouth and Newport he remained in the former. His name
is found second in order and next to that of William Hutchin-
son among those who at Portsmouth, April 30th, 1639, "ac-
knowledge ourselves the legal subjects of his majesty King
Charles and in his name do hereby bind ourselves into a civil
body politic;" and his name again appears as Mr. Samuel
Grorton, one of the four to whom the honorable prefix is given,
in the "catalogue of such persons who [at Newport 1st, 8th
month, 1639] by the General Consent of the Company were ad-
mitted to be Inhabitants of the island now called Aquidneck."
According to Staples he was never, however, received as a pur-
chaser or admitted as a freeman.
He was not happier in his relations with the Aquidneck set-
tlement than he had been at Plymouth. Like many an English-
man then and since, he had contempt for all authority except
that of the king. He says himself that he was obedient "so far
as it became me," because they were duly commissioned by an
authority which he reverenced, but that Rhode Island had no
authority but the blessing of a clergyman, and that he held
himself as fit and able to govern himself and family as any that
were then upon Rhode Island. With these views noisily main-
176 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
tained and sturdily preached, he soon came into antagonism
with his fellows at Portsmouth and was publicly whipped and
put off the island.
From Aquidneck he went up to Providence where he no
doubt put the patience and charity and liberal principles of
Roger Williams and his companions to a severe test. Nor yet
here was he received as an inhabitant. On the 8th of the first
month, 1640, Williams wrote to Governor Winthrop that "Mas-
ter Grorton having abused high and low at Aquidneck is now be-
witching and bemadding poor Providence." Williams was
shocked by his "foul censures of all the ministers of this coun-
try" (Rhode Island) and "withstood his inhabitation and town
privileges," but found the tide so strong against himself that he
had serious thoughts of leaving Providence and taking refuge
on "little Patience," an island in the bay next to that of Prov-
idence, which he had procured for Winthrpp.
But as yet Providence was 7iot, like Aquidneck, a coherent
settlement. Roger Williams had good reasons for wishing to
keep clear of the eastern colonies, but there were a few among
the associators of the town who had leaning toward a stronger
civil authority and a closer alliance Avith the eastern colonies.
Here was the field for Gorton's spirit of independence and con-
troversy, and his companions are said to have "carried so in
outrage and riotously as they were in danger to have caused
bloodshed." A few persons had attached themselves to Gorton
and followed him up from Aquidneck, like himself after " fines,
whipping and banishment." They abetted or were abetted in
" riotous and insolent carriages" by certain of the townspeople
of Providence who were opposed to that stronger government
which was projected.
They had resisted the service of warrants, quarrelled on the
streets with persons chosen to execute the same, and made a
"tumultuous hubbub," and "some few drops of blood were
shed on either side." Here was occasion to draw in the Massa-
chusetts authority. Immediately a number of the citizens
wrote to the governor and assistants of the Massachusetts patent,
inviting them " of gentle courtesy and for the preservation of
humanity and manhood to consider our condition and lend us a
neighbor like helping hand and send us such assistance our
necessity urges us to be troublesome unto you to help us to
bring them to satisfaction and ease us of our burthen of them
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 177
at your discretion." This petition begins " We the inhabitants "
of Providence 17 November, 1641. There are thirteen signa-
tures. That they were a weak minority or that they had
other motives than appear in the petition, is not to be doubted.
But Providence was not the place at which interference could
be made with any show of decency, and Winthrop answered
the petitioners that "except they did submit themselves to
some jurisdiction, either Plymouth or ours (Massachusetts) we
had no calling or warrant^to interpose in their contentions; but
if they were once subject to any then we had a calling to pro-
tect them."
The hint was plain enough and soon availed of. In September,
1642, four of the townspeople of Providence, one of whom was
a companion of Williams and all early settlers, two of whom
had signed the petition of the previous year and a third the
father of one of these signers, petitioned the general court of
Massachusetts and were taken under its government and pro-
tection. Benedict Arnold's name is given as having a company,
for settlement probably, and William Arnold, his father, is ap-
pointed "to keep the peace in their land," all of which points
to an '■'■ imperium in imperio,'" a colony within the colony
under the strong arm of Massachusetts. Winthrop says, "they
were accepted under our government and protection partly to
rescue the men from violence and partly to draw in the rest in
these parts under ourselves or Plymouth who now lived under
no government, but grew very offensive and the place was
likely to be of use to us especially if we should have occasion
of sending out against any Indians of Narragansett and like-
wise an outlet into the Narragansett Bay; and seeing it came
without our seeking and would be no charge to us we thought
it not wisdom to let it slip."
Benedict Arnold was an Indian trader and their factor in the
Massachusetts bay. The settlement which his father, William
Arnold, was appointed to govern was at Pawtuxet where some
of the party had already built houses in which they resided at
their pleasure, having also lands and houses in Providence.
Before this submission of Arnold to Massachusetts the settlers
had occupied the land in common for grazing cattle, except sucji
portions as each fenced in for building houses and planting
their corn. This freedom was now restricted, to which Gorton
and his friends objecting and making opposition, Arnold com-
13
178 HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
plained to Massachusetts and in reply Governor Winthrop and
his assistants notified their " neighbors of Providence" that
whereas they had "gone about to deprive them (Arnold of
Pawtuxet and others) of their lawful interest, that they and
their lands" were under Massachusetts jurisdiction and would
be maintained in their lawful rights, and that if there were
dispute Providence might proceed against them in the Massa-
chusetts court. This warrant was issued on the 28th of Oc-
tober, 1642.
Aware of the probable result of any such appeal, Gorton and
his party resolved to make a settlement where there could be
no dispute about jurisdiction in the acknowledged territory of
the IN'arragansetts, and in the January following (1642) pur-
chased for a consideration of one hundred and forty fathom of
wampum from Miantonomi, chief sachem of the Narragansetts,
the tract of land on Showhomett bay, known as Showhomett
river, the deed being witnessed by Pumham, the local sachem
of Showhomett. [Twelve fathom of wampumpeage from each
one of the twelve purchasers, such was Miantonomi's price.]
Before leaving, however, Gorton's party, twelve in number,
sent an elaborate theologo-polemic answer from Mooskawset
(Gorton's plantation on the stream of that name near Pawtuxet),
November 20th, 1642, to the Massachusetts warrant. This
curious document is one of the queerest of the droll compound
of politics and religion which was the staple public and private
literature of the day: the Massachusetts court and church are
arraigned before men and heaven; the Gortonists are as Moses
and the Jews before Pharaoh; Brother Winthrop is another
Pontius Pilate; and numberless of the recondite names of scrip-
ture are dragged into service in this rambling complaint.
Anathema Maranatha is the measure of their censure on "those
in estate who had fallen away from the grace of God as their
fathers had done before them." This letter, purposely sent to
Boston at the time when the general court was sitting, was sub-
mitted to an assembly of the ministers wiio, after much study
and careful analysis, found in it twenty-six blasphemous par-
ticulars and denounced the authors to their congregations as
"worse than the barbarous Indians;" but the oourt did nothing
until after they heard of Miantonomi's deed in the following
January.
In this deed it will be observed Miantonomi expressly styled
HISTOET OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 179
himself sachem of the " Showomett." Absolute in power and
authority, the prince of the Narragansetts cared little whether
his action was not pleasing to Pumhara whom, as his inferior
sachem, he could remove and restore at his pleasure by Indian
law and practice. But the sachems of Shawomet had acknowl-
edged a degree of subjection to Massasoit. It is probable also
that Pumham was loath to leave his beloved Neck. Taking
advantage of this disposition of Pumham, perhaps himself
exciting it, Benedict Arnold, early in the year 1643, took
Pumham and Sacconoco, sachem of Pawtuxet, to Boston, where
Pumham complained to the general court that he had signed
the deed through fear of his superior sachem and had received
no part of the wampum. Miantonomi and Gorton were sum-
moned to appear. The nature of the tribal dependence
Miantonomi did not or would not explain to their satisfaction.
It was the interest of the court to break up these ties of alle-
giance. In June Pumham and Sacconoco again went up to
Boston and signed articles of submission.
Miantonomo no doubt made the sale in his straights for
money for the summer campaign against the Mohegans. In
September the unfortunate chief met his death, murdered by
the advice of the Massachussetts elders. In this month also,
the great offender being out of the way, the Massachusetts
court summoned Gorton and his party to answer before them
the complaints of their new subjects, Pumham and Sacconoco,
to which Gorton replied that he and his companions were far
out of their jurisdiction and could not and would not acknowl-
edge subjection unto any but only the state and government of
old England. Upon which the general court immediately sent
word that they would shortly send commissioners with a suf-
ficient guard to receive satisfaction else they would right them-
selves by force of arms.
Hearing a few days later that an officer with a company of
soldiers was on his way, the Gorton party sent a message to the
commissioners warning them on their peril not to set foot on
their lands in a hostile way. They received an answer which
left no doubt of the intention of the commissioners to look upon
those who did not submit "as men prepared for slaughter."
The troops followed close at hand, accompanied by a number of
Providence people : the Gorton party offered to submit to arbi-
tration and a truce was agreed on until the Massachusetts au-
180 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
thorities might be heard from, during which the soldiers be-
haved roughly. Governor Winthrop replied that besides the
title of land in dispute there were twelve of the Gorton com-
pany " who had subscribed their names to horrible and detest-
able blasphemies against God and all magistracy," and in-
formed them that those who came up under conduct of the
commissioners should suffer no violence but come they must.
As soon as the messengers came back the soldiers run in the
cattle, and the Gorton people entrenching themselves, the troops
opened fire upon them. The Gorton company did not return
their fire and " finally consented to go down into the Massa-
chusetts upon composition," whereupon they were led away
prisoners, their cattle and swine were taken, and their houses
left to the Massachusetts Indians to pillage. On the seventy
miles march to Boston the commissioners had public prayers in
the streets of the towns, at Dorchester Cotton and Mather tak-
ing a hand in the pseans of triumph ; and so on to the door of
the house of Governor Winthrop, who came out and blessed the
troops, after which the prisoners were led to the common jail
and held without bail until the court sat. They were then re-
quired to make answer to four questions on abstruse points of
doctrine to which, though thej^ protested against the jurisdic-
tion, Gorton was only too happy to reply. He made answer in
writing and at the governor's orders signed his reply.
No fault could be found with the doctrine, but nevertheless
votes were taken as to whether they should be punished by
death and they escaped by a majority of two ; they were, how-
ever, imprisoned, Gorton being sentenced to be set at work in
irons in Charlestown ; and so he and his companions lingered
the entire winter season, Gorton improving the opportunity to
address a stiff religious document to the elders of the Charles-
town church. Meanwhile the secrecy in which these proceed-
ings were conducted was gradually broken and the people of the
towns, who seem to have had more Christianity and more com-
mon sense than their ministers and magistrates, because dissat-
isfied with such a summary outrage. A general court was
called and the prisoners were ordered to be banished, not only
from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts bat from Providence and
the lands of Pumham and Sacconoco which they were com-
manded to leave within fourteen days on pain of death.
Gorton declined to have his bolts taken off on these terms, but
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 181
the magistrate ordered the smith to file them off and left him to
go, or stay at his peril. The Boston people showing joy in their
release, the governor ordered them out of the town before noon.
They left at once without providing for their journey and made
their way to Shawomet to their own home. There considering
the terms of their banishment and finding that their Shawomet
land was not expressly mentioned as a forbidden refuge, they
addressed a letter to the Massachusetts court asking if it were
so included, and at the same time informing them that Massa-
chusetts never had jurisdiction over the lands of Pumham and
Sacconoco and of their own determination " to wage law with
them and try to the uttermost what right or interest thej'' could
show to lay claim either to their land or their lives ; " to which
bold threat Winthrop curtly answered that Shawomet was in-
cluded in the terms of banishment and they must not come
there under peril of their lives.
They then left their homes and went to Rhode Island. Their
return greatly astonished the NarraganseLts and gave them, ac-
cording to Gorton's account, an exalted idea of their power.
The Indians imagined, as they had heard of a great war in Eng-
land, that there were two great parties there : the Wattacon-
oges, as they called the English in their language, and the Gor-
ton-oges. Whereupon the chief sachems, old Canonicus and
Pessicus, who was first in authority, sent over for them. Six or
seven, including Gorton, answered the invitation and crossed
the bay to Conanicut island where they were met by an armed
band and escorted to the house of Canonicus, where they were
courteously entertained, and then conducted to the house of
Pessicus, where they had a conference with the sachems and
counsellors of the tribe ; the result of which was the determi-
nation of the Narragansetts in a general assembly of the tribe to
become subjects to the state and government of Old England ;
Gorton and three others being appointed their commissioners
and attorneys to convey this solemn act and deed of subjection
to the king. This document is dated April 19th, 1644. On the
24th of May, Gorton of course being still their adviser, the
sachems answered an invitation of the Massachusetts court, de-
clining to go down to attend them and giving notice of their
subjection to the king.
Thus adroitly did Gorton transfer the contest for sovereignty
to England, but indissolubly associated the title of himself and
182 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTr.
of his companions to the Shawomet lands with that of the
native sachems from whom it was derived. In June the men
of Shawomet in their turn gave formal notice of these proceed-
ings to the general court and with it some valuable information
and some seasonable advice. Meanwhile they lived in Rhode
Island or Aquidneck, hiring houses and planting until the re-
ceipt of the charter of Providence Plantations, which covered
the disputed territory.
Failing in these attempts to overawe the settlers, the Massa-
chusetts Bay and Plymouth governments raised a force to
punish the ISTarragansetts for making war upon the Mohegans in
revenge for the death of their prince, and were only dissuaded
by the intercession of Williams and the probable fear of a
general Indian rising. They then determined to ruin theKarra-
gansetts in another manner and imposed on them a tribute of
five hundred pounds, in default of which they were to surrender
their territory. The Massachusetts government concluded to
issue warrants against any occupation of the Shawomet lands.
Gorton and his companions sailed from New York in April,
1644, with the submission of the JSTarragausetts and the appeal
of the Shawomet settlers to the commissioners of foreign plan-
tations in England against the intrusion and violent seizure of
their lands by Massachusetts. The board of commissioners of
foreign plantations had been established by parliament in 1643,
and the earl of Warwick appointed governor-in-chief of all
plantations in America. The decision of the board July, 1647,
though not conclusive, for the controversy continued thirty-five
years, was peremptory as to the rights of the Shawomet settlers
to live upon their lands in peace.
In 1648 Gorton, satisfied, that Winslow, the Massachusetts
agent, could not work any harm, returned to New England and
boldly landed at Boston, where the court ordered his arrest,
but a letter from the earl of Warwick proved his safeguard.
So angry were the authorities that only the casting vote
of the governor enabled him to pass safely to Rhode
Island. The settlers of Shawomet had not attempted any
town incorporation before the colony charter of March,
1644. Their first act was on the 8th of August, 1647,
when they chose a town council under the order of the general
assembly. They had taken the name of Warwick in honor of
the earl, president of the board of plantations, to whom they
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 183
owed their restoration to their rights. In May, 1647, it was
agreed in general assembly of the colony that Warwick should
have the same rights as Providence.
In 1651, during the time of the dissensions of the island and
the commission of Coddington, Gorton was chosen president of
the towns of Providence and Warwick. The whole subject of
the disputed territory came up again with renewed vigor on the
arrival of the three royal commissioners to settle the disputes
and bounds of the colonies. Cartwright, on the eve of his
return to England in 1665, wrote to Grorton a letter as caustic
in tone as it was true in tenor. " These gentlemen of Boston,"
said he, "would make us believe that they really think that
the king" has given them so much power in their charter to do
unjustly that he reserved none for himself to call them, to ac-
count for doing so. In that they refuse to let us hear com-
plaints against them so that at present we can do nothing in
your behalf. But I hope shortly to go to England when if God
bless me thither I- shall truly represent your sufferings and
your loyalty."
Gorton died at the close of 1677. On what day is not pre-
cisely known nor is it known where he was buried. The town
of Warwick and the integrity of the soil of Ehode Island are
his sufficient monument. His foresight in the submission to
the crown of the ISTarragansett sachems, which was the origin
of Kings Province and which maintained the autonomy of the
Narragansett territory until it, by the natural order of things,
fell under the authority of the Rhode Island colony, was an act
of state policy of the highest order. Were his grave but kn^wn
every Rhode Islander should drop upon it a stone as their
tribute for the freedom they enjoy.
CHAPTEE IV.
INDIAN RELATIONS.
By John Austin Stevens.
The" Narragansett'; Indians.— Pequot War.— New England Confederation.-
King Philip's War,— Canonicus. — Miantonomi. — Pessious. — Canonohet. —
Pumham.— Ninegret.- Massasoit. — Wamsutta.— End of the Narragansetts.
IT is estimated by the highest authority on this difficult sub-
ject tliat at the time of the English settlement the region
of country now known as New England was inhabited by about
thirty-six thousand Indians of whom one-third were warriors.
They were most numerous on the coast, about the shores of the
bays and the mouths of the great rivers, where the abundance
of fish assured them an unfailing supply of food. Of the
several tribes who took their names 7rom these bays or rivers
the Narragansetts were the largest and most powerful. There
is a tradition, accepted by historians, that three or four years
before the landing of the Pilgrims a "devouring sickness"
had raged from Narragansett to the Penobscot, which wasted
the Indian's to such an extent that the "living sufficed not to
bury the dead," whose bones covered the ground in many
places. This desolation, which prevailed mostly to the east-
ward, did not diminish but rather increased the numbers of
the Narragansetts, many flying from the plague in other
quarters to this less afflicted territory. They were reckoned
at this time at five thousand fighting men — the usual Indian
method of computing population.
The Narragansetts, in common with their neighbors, are sup-
posed to be a branch of the Delawares, and their language, a
variety of the speech of that great race, was spoken over a
region of country extending north and south from the Bay seat
of empire about six hundred miles. They were erect in stature,
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 185
with well knit frames, athletic limbs, high cheek bones, hazel
eyes, straight black hair and of light copper colored com-
plexion. They painted their faces in peace and war and in
times of mourning; their decoration varying with the emotions
they sought to portray. Terrible in war and versed in savage
wiles, they were just in their dealings, piinctual to their engage-
ments, faithful in their friendships. They were monogamous
although polygamy was not forbidden. They lived in wigwams
adapted to the changes of climate. They were deft in the manu-
facture of earthenware, and were moreover the principal makers
of wampumpeage of both kinds, the white of the periwinkle
and the black of the quohoa or hard shell clam, which together
were the sole currency of the Indians over a vast surface of
country, as also among the English, French and Dutch traders
in North America.
Their population was so close that in a travel of twenty miles
one could meet a dozen of their towns. They were not only
thrifty, but rich in the accumulation of comfort. While they
probably did not carry agriculture as far as it was understood
by the Mohawks, they were better versed in manufactures of their
rude kind, and had some notion of trade before the arrival of
the English. The rule of their hereditary sachems was patri-
archal rather than autocratic, and their sway was undisputed
from the Pawcatnck to the Merrimac. Unlike the Mohawks
they had no fortified places or palisaded enclosures; only their
council house, fifty feet in diameter at the base of the gathered
tent poles, differed from the wigwams in its greater size. Their
neighbors, the Wampanoags on the north and east and the
Massachusetts beyond, the Niantics and Mpmucks to the
north and west, the Indians of Aquidneck and Block Island
and the Montauks at the eastern end of Long Island, all paid
them tribute. To the westward their proper domain reached
to the river Pawcatuck where they were confronted and defied
by the fierce Pequots, their hereditary foes, whose seat of power
was at the mouth of the river which bore their name.
Precisely at what time the Narragansetts came into this
region is not known. Roger Williams, asking as to the
origin of the title Narragansett, was told that it was the
name of " a little island between Puttisqumscutt and Mus-
quomacuk on the sea and fresh water side." He went to
see it and "about the place called Sugar Loaf hill, saw it
186 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
and was within a pole of it but could not learn why it was
called JSTahiganset." Sugar Loaf hill is on the mainland near
what is now South Kingstown. Petaquamscott was the name of
a large rock near Tower hill. He was also told that " Canoni-
cus' father and ancestors living in those Southern parts trans-
ferred and brought their authority and name into those
Northern parts all along by the Sea Side as appears by the
great destruction of wood all along near the Sea Side." By
those "Southern parts" no doubt is meant the territory
lying east of the Pawcatuck river which, at the height of
their power, was the western border of the Narragansett
kingdom. That the islands in the bay were conquered not
long before Williams' arrival appears from a passage in the
original deed of Aquidneck, by which " Canonicus and Mian-
tonomi, the two chief Sachems of the Nahigannsitts (convey) by
virtue of their general command of the bay as also the par-
ticular Subjickgs of the dead Sachems of Acquednecke and
Kitackihuckquett, the great island of Acquedneck lying from
hence eastward in this bay." This strengthens, though it
hardly establishes, the tradition which points out a spot on the
island where a great battle occurred in which the earlier Indian
inhabitants were overcome; this is a field in Middletown which
abuts on the southwest on South wick's Grove. Arrow heads
have been repeatedly found here. The field is between the
east and west roads about two miles out from Newport limits.
The deed clearly shows, however, that the island of Conanicnt,
whence it issued, was the residence of the chief sachems and
the seat of their government.
Hutchinson relates a tradition as to the warlike ancestor
under whom the Narragansett tribe became a nation: "In the
early times of this nation some of the English inhabitants
learned from the old Indians that they had, previous to their
arrival,, a sachem Tashtassuck. Tashtassuck had but two
children, a son and a daughter; those he joined in marriage
because he could find none worthy of them out of his family.
The product of this marriage were four sons, of whom Canonicus
was the eldest."
At the period when the Narragansetts first appear in colonial
history their sachems were Canonicus, son of the chief who first
extended his sway over the northern and eastern regions, al-
ready advanced in years, and governing with him under his
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 187
council, as "marshall and executioner," to use the quaint and
meaning phrase of Roger Williams, Miantonomi, son of his
youngest brother. Under their joint rule, wise and firm, the
[N'arragansetts were prosperous and happy when the news
reached them of the landing of the strange race at the eastward
and the wonders brought with them : the useful implements of
peace, the terrible weapons of war and the new domestic ani-
mals. Disquieted, no doubt alarmed, at the continual arrival
of the emigrant ships, they sent to the new comers a bundle of
arrows tied with a snake skin in battle challenge. The wage
was not accepted by the sage Pilgrims, nor was it necessary,
for between the two there sprung up a third power whose
strength was in their enmity and whose immediate interest was
in peace.
In the Pokanoket country, on the mainland north and east of
Narragansett bay, lived the tribe of Wampanoags whose sway
covered the tract now known as Bristol and reached southerly
to Seconnet. They were second only in power to the Karra-
gansetts, to whom their subjection was recent. The chief
sachem of this tribe was Massasoit, whose favorite residence
was on the commanding hill of Pokanoket, to which the colon-
ists later gave the name of Mount Hope. This steep eminence
is at the lower end of the peninsula and overlooks the island of
Aquidneck and the western shore of Seconnet.
Massasoit or Ousamequin, as he is usually named in Narra-
gansett documents, received the Pilgrims on their arrival not
only without enmity but with real kindness and was of great
service to them in many straights. Often at Plymouth, he be-
came early familiar with the superior power and arts of the
white men, and seeing how useful they might be to his people
he sought their friendship. In the spring after their landing he
made with them a formal treaty which freed him from his de-
pendence on the formidable Narragansetts. This friendly
spirit to the English Massasoit maintained to the end of his life,
while Canonicus is said to have been ' ' most shy of the English
to his latest breath." As far as can be judged from the records
of the times and the writings of the sages, Canonicus was of a
higher order of character and a more princely dignity. Viewing
them as types of their tribes, the domination of the Narragan-
setts seems the natural outcome of race superiority.
Roger Williams, in a deposition made in 1652 as to his pur-
188 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
chase of lands, says that "coming into the JSTarragansefct
country he found a great contest between three sachems, two
(to wit, Canonicus and Miantonomi) were against Ousamaquin
on Plymouth side," and that he was forced to travel between
them there to pacify, to satisfy all their and their dependents'
spirits of his honest intentions to live peacably by them. His-
torians have inferred from this passage that these chiefs were
"at feud." That Canonicus looked with jealous eye at the
alliance of his old tributary with the Plymouth government is
probable, but sixteen years had healed this bitterness, and
there is no proof of other difference between the chiefs than as
to allowing the whites to settle upon land within or bordering
upon the free territory of Narragansett.
Before concluding his treaty with Canonicus, Williams had al-
ready obtained a grant of land from Massasoit qn the Seekonk
river, which was within the limits over which the new Plymouth
colony claimed jarisdiction ; a jurisdiction which the sachem,
though he did not dispute, did not admit. Indeed, here as else-
where among the Indians, and notably in the case of the Mo-
hawks, their chiefs claimed a sovereignty equal to and inde-
pendent of that of the English crown, and never willingly sur-
rendered jurisdiction over their own people. The right and jus-
tice of this claim Williams always maintained, of which there
is witness in his letter to the general court of Massachusetts in
1654, wherein he questions "whether any Indians in this coun-
try remaining barbarous and pagan may with truth or honor be
called English subjects. Their own consent and conversion to
Christianity he considered to be conditions precedent. Massa-
soit was no doubt aware that the first and chief of the offences
cited in the sentence of Williams' banishment from the Massa-
chusetts Ray colony was his teaching "that we have not our
land from the king but that the natives are the true owners of
it and that we ought to repent of receiving it by patent."
The territory of the Wampanoags lying within the limits of
the Plymouth patent, the grant of land by Massasoit was of it-
self a protest against the jurisdiction of the colony. Williams
abandoned his plantation on the Seekonk and crossed the water
to the Narragansett territory because of the warning to him of
Governor Winslow of the new Plymouth colony that his people
were "loath to displease the bay," otherwise the Massachusetts
government, by harboring one banished by their edict.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 189
What consideration in current wampum or commodities Mas-
sasoit received for his land on the Seekonk, if any, does not ap-
pear. Probably both and if neither, then the grant was made
only for reasons of gratitude for favors past and to come, and of
a personal friendship for Williams which ,was of long standing;
for in his treaty with the English he had parted with something
of his birthright. Not so the sage Canonicus. Proud as he
was politic, he would not condescend to sell his lands. Gifts
in return were received, no doubt expected, but Canonicus
would not have them mentioned in the bond. Williams, in a
manuscript, says "the Indians were very shy and Jealous of
selling the lands to any, and chose rather to make a grant of
them to such as they affected, but at the same time expected
such gratuities and rewards as made an Indian gift a very dear
bargain." According to Callender, in the case of the Narragan-
setts, the natives inhabiting any spot the English sat down
upon or improved were all to be bought offto their content and
oftentimes to be paid for over and over again. It may be here
observed that the Indians recognized no individual title to land.
To them it was free as air and water. An instance of this may
be found in the recent constitution of the Cherokee tribe. The
Indian system was communal. Bandelier, in his account of
Mexican civilization, assigns to them a similar system, and it
is supposed they brought it with them from the northern coun-
try from which they migrated southward.
The memorandum deed of 1637, of purchase made "two
years previous" of " the lands about the fresh river called
Mooshaasic and Wanasqu tucket" (Providence) signed by
marks of Canonicus and Miantonomi, makes no mention of any
purchase price, but a second paragraph, " in consideration of
his (Williams') many kindnesses and services" done them at
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth, extends the bounds
of the grant to the Pawtucket river. Roger Williams express-
ly says : "I declare to posterity that were it not for the favor
that Grod gave me with Canonicus none of these parts, no not
Rhode Island, had been purchased or obtained for I never got
anything out of Canonicus but by gift." In this document, in-
teresting and instructive in many points of view, Williams
shows the nature of the services he rendered in return for the
protection and generosity of the sachem. " I never denied him
nor Miantonomy whatever they desired of me as to goods or
190 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
gifts or use of my boats or pinnace and the travels of my own
person day and night which, though man know not nor care to
know, yet the All Seeing eye hath seen it and his all powerful
hand hath helped me."
In the course of his several treaties, in 1634 and 1635, with the
ISTarragansett sachems, Williams had, he says, " frequent prom-
ise of Miantonomi," his kind friend, that he should not want
for land about the bounds where he had settled provided he
satisfied the Indians then inhabiting, he "having made coven-
ants of peaceable neighborhood with all the sachems and natives
round about." In fact the records show no passage of purchase
money for land from Roger Williams to Canonicus. The same
legal fiction of a sale appears in the case of Chibachuwesa, now
known as Prudence island, which is referred to in the deed of
Aquidneck. This island became the property of Williams and
Governor Winthrop in the spring of 1636. Canonicus and Mi-
antonomi, visiting the Massachusetts governor, carried the offer
by Williams of a half interest to Winthrop in which he naively
adds, "I think that if I goe over I shall obtain the whole," a
hope speedily realized. And so again in the case of Hope island,
the deed of gift of which from Miantonomi, was i)roduced before
the general assembly in 1658, upon the presenting of a petition
to have the Indians removed.
It seems from the foregoing that Williams received his lands
as a princely grant for his wise counsel and his services as an
ambassador and peace maker with the encroaching governments
of Massachusetts Bay and the Plymouth colony, services for
which his knowledge of the Indian language, his character and
temper qualified him beyond any man in New England. This
acquaintance with Indian character Williams says he got by
"lodging with them in their filthy holes even while I lived at
Plymouth and Salem to gain their tongue ; my soul's desire
was to do the natives good." He was well compensated for all
his pains by his Indian friends. The records show one case in
which Canonicus took consideration in the form of white beads.
This was in the purchase of Aquidneck by Coddington and his
friends. Later, in 1642, Miantonomi took wampumpeage in pay
for Shawomet, now Warwick.
ISTo such considerations of policy or friendly scruples weighed
with Massasoit, the first and earliest of Williams' friends.
The records recite one case where the Wampanoag sachem,
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 191
seeking to withdraw from an agreement to barter certain lands
near Pawtucket for sundry commodities and fathoms of wam-
pum, was held to his bargain on the testimony of Williams.
After "going to slepe" over the trade the Indian demanded to
purchase shot and required four coats more in addition to the
four engaged to him, which Williams and his associates indig-
nantly refused; not willing, as they testify, " to wrong our
country in granting his desire of four coats and so unreasonably
to raise the price of such parcels of land in this barbarous
wilderness."
This was in 1646, when the conditions of the contracting par-
ties were greatly changed. The white man was the lord of the
soil, the sachem but a poor Indian. Neither Canonicus nor
the princely Miantonomi ever thus fell from their high estate.
Comparing these several deeds one with another, it seems, how-
ever, that these grants of land were, on the part of the sachems,
waivers of eminent domain or permissions to settle on condition
of satisfying the dwellers thereon. The Narragan setts were
largely a farming people. Williams mentions the clearance of
the coast line from woods, and it is said that for eight or ten
miles distant from the sea shore the lands were cultivated with
corn which grew in great abundance. It is natural therefore to
suppose that though there may have been no individual owner-
ship of the soil, occupancy, betterment and cultivation con-
ferred a right which the sachem did not, perhaps could not,
disturb.
That such was the usage is shown by the statement of Wil-
liams that in the case of the first grant by Canonicus of land
which had belonged to Massasoit before his submission to the
Narragansetts, he had thought it prudent to propitiate the
Wampanoag chief by gifts and still more plainly in the con-
dition of the deed of Aquidneck, " that by giving by Mianto-
nomi of ten coats and twenty hoes to the present inhabitants
they shall remove themselves from off the island before next
winter."
Hardly were the colonists established on the island before
they began to place restrictions on the Indians in matters of
trade. The first regulation was an order in general meeting at
Portsmouth on the 16th of the 9th month, 1638, naming four
of their number for the venison trade, directing that not more
than three half-pence a pound be given the Indians in the way
192 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
of trade, and the truck masters to sell the same for two pence a
pound; a farthing for each pound to go to the treasury, the rest to
themselves for their attendance. The next order on the records is
of the freemen of the same town granting leave, August 29th,
1644, to Ousamequin with ten men to kill ten deer within the
liberty of Portsmouth with the proviso that the deer be brought
to the town to be viewed and " neither Ousamequin nor any of
his men shall carry any deer or skins off from the island but at
the town of Portsmouth to depart from off the island within
five days.'" And the same day all the Indians in the town were
ordered to depart with their effects to live in the woods and not
to return under certain forfeit.
The freemen of Newport, feeling perhaps more secure in their
position, which was directly under the wing of Canonicus,
agreed on the 2d of the 7th month, 1639, that the trade with
the Indians should be free to all men and appear to have put
no restriction on their coming or going or their stoppage in the
town. In the course of the next year, however, July 7th, 1640,
certain propositions were made interchangeably between Gov-
ernor Coddington and his assistants on the one side and Mian-
tonomi with his sachems on the other side, and the same were
solemnly ratified on the 16th of August following. These pro-
vided that only temporary fires should be kindled on any of
the settlers' lands, and all damages arising from such kindling
should be adjudged and the Indian offender to be tried by the
law of the town; that any Indian killing a "Boore" (a hog),
pay ten fathom of beads at the next harvest; that no trap be
set for deer or cattle on the island; that unruly Indians be car-
ried before the magistrate for punishment in matters of com-
mon or small crime according to law, but for matters of greater
weight, exceeding the value of ten fathom of beads, then Mian-
tonomi to be sent for who is to come and see the trial. But if
the offender be a sachem Miantonomi to be sent for tO see the
trial whether the matter be large or small. ISTo Indian to take
any canoe from the English and the like not to be done by them.
They are not to revoke their bargains or remove their goods by
force after trade; nor shall they idle about the houses of the
settlers.
The colonists seem to have been uneasy this year, for at their
last session in October the governor was ordered to invite the
counsel of the governor of Massachusetts Bay concerning their
HISTORY OF WEWPORT COUNTY. 193
agitations with the Indians. The Indians seem to have been
careless in their handling of fire, for in April of the next year
(1641) the house of Mr. Nicholas Easton, the first built in the
town of Newport, was burned, the flames taking from a fire
lighted by the Indians in the woods near by. There was great
alarm, and an armed boat patrolled the shore to prevent the In-
dians from landing. In a skirmish two English were wounded and
one Indian killed. Garrison houses were appointed for refuge
in case of alarm. The misunderstanding was explained and
quiet was restored. In September, 1641, the general court
ordered that no Indian should fell or peel any trees upon the
island; a restriction which struck at the manufacture of
canoes.
The very last legislation taken by the general court at New-
port before the freemen of Aquidneck reorganized under
charter from the crown and changed the name of the island to
the Isle of Rhodes, granted a full commission to Roger Wil-
liams to consult and agree with Miantonomi for the destruction
of the wolves, with the condition that this enterprise effected,
the Indians must not require more the "like curtesie of hunt-
ing." The. deer must not be injured. Stringent orders had
but a short time before been issued against the sale or gift of
powder, shot, gun, pistol, sword or other weapon to " the In-
dians that are or may prove offensive," and forfeitures attached
of forty shillings for the first and five pounds for the second'
offense. For the history of further legislation the records of
the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations must
be searched. Meanwhile mention must be made of the sale by
Miantonomi to a company of settlers, of Sliawomet,on Sowhoraes
bay, which soon after received the name of Warwick, in honor
of the king's newly appointed governor of his islands and other
plantations in America. This deed was signed by Miantonomi,
as sachem of Shawhomett and witnessed by Pumhomm (Pum-
ham) sub-sachem of the tribe; an act apparently unimportant
in itself, yet portentious in its consequences to the noble prince
and his nation.
The Pequot War.— The Pequots, of all the tribes of the
coast, seem to have been the most jealous of English rule and
to have had the clearest insight into the danger it threatened to
Indian independence. Hereditary enemies of the Naragansetts,
they had taken advantage of the weakening of the power of
13
194 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Canonicus in the defection ol' the Wanipanoags and the Nip-
murks I'rom tlieir tribal dependence. By successive inroads
they had wrenched Itoiii tlie Naiia.nnnsett prince rhr sover-
eignty of the Long Islnnd Indians of Monlauk a,nd of Uluck
Island, and puslied their border on the mainland ten inih's east
of the Pawtuoket river into the very domain ol' their enemy.
Emboldened by this success they turned their arms npon their
English neighbors of the Connecticnt and, without the formal
declaration of war which usually precedes or opens Indian
hostilities, began a series of massacres of isolated boats' crews
on the sound and in the I'iver. Among these was I he sni'prise
and murder, in 1636, at Block Island, of John Oldham, an Eng-
lish trader, well known along the whole New England coast,
and in such favor with the Narragansetts that Canonicus, shy
though he was of the English, liad invited him to settle in the
bay on the island of Chibachnwesa (that Prndence island which
later became the proi:)erly of Roger Williams and Governor
Winthrop) and establish a fishing station there. Returning
from a trade voyage to the Connecticut and touching at Block
Island with his little vessel, with two English boys and two
Narragansett Indians for his crew, he was set upon and mur-
dered, his companions being carried olf. The news of this
outrage reacliing ]\Iiantonomi, he nt once sc^it out an expedition
which recovered the Indians and the boys, who were returned
'to their homes.
The people of Bost(m, greatly alarmed foi- IlKur coast trade,
dispatched an embassy, accompanied by the sacheiu of the
Massachusetts tribe as intei)reter, to Canonicus; they returned
satisfied with the success of their negotiation and full of praise
for the "state, great command over his men and marvellous
wisdom in his answer and the cariiage of tlie whole treaty " by
the prince. It was found that some of liie Narragansett
sachems were conc'erned in the plot, but Canonicus and Mian-
tonomi were not, and offered " assistance for revenge of it, yet
upon very safe and wary conditions." An expedition was
fitted out at Boston in three pinnaces, which landed on Block
Island, destroyed the Indian wigwams and canoes, and push-
ing on to the mouth of the Pequot river, in September burned
the villages on the two sides of the stream in the absence of
Sassacus, chief sachem of the tribe, on Long Island, after
which they returned safely to Boston without the loss of a man.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 195
They killed fourteen and wounded forty of the Indians. The
Pequots were greatly excited, but looking beyond immediate
retaliation which is a part of Indian creed, they conceived the
idea of a more thorough revenge by a league of all the savage
tribes, which should extirpate to the last man the English
settlers, whom they instinctively felt to be the common enemy
of their race. They sought the aid of the Mohegans, a fierce
tribe whose home was in the region between the Connecticut
and Hudson rivers, and whose sachem was Uncas, a revolter
from the Pequot tribe. Here they were repulsed. They also
sent ambassadors to their hereditary foes, the Narragansetts,
proposing to close the ancient feud, bury the hatchet and form
with them a league against the English. The success of the
Boston mission to Canonicus was no doubt compromised by
this summary proceeding of the Massachusetts colony. It was
not in accord with Indian methods. Even the Plymouth gov-
ernor disapproved and remonstrated with his neighbor of the
Bay for his ruthless provocation to war.
The Connecticut colony, weak, almost defenseless, were in-
dignant at a proceeding which brought the torch to their dwel-
lings without notice. Great was the alarm in Massachusetts
when rumors reached them of the proposed league. In their
distress the governor and council of the Bay appealed to Roger
Williams to interpose his influence with the sachems. The en-
voys of Sassacns were already at the island of Conanicut, where
the Narragansett sachems were gathered in council about their
sage chief, when Williams, "alone in a poor canoe, paddled
his way down the bay through a stormy wind with great seas"
to the home of Canonicus. " For three days and nights" he
says his business forced him to lodge and mix with the bloody
Pequot ambassadors whose "hands and arms methought reeked
with the blood of my countrymen murdered and massacred by
the^m on Connecticut river, and from whom I could not but
nightly look for their bloody knives at my own throat also;
Grod wondrously preserved me and helped me to break to pieces
the Pequot negotiations and design; and to make and finish by
many travels and charges the English league with the Narra-
gansetts and Mohegans against the Pequots." Tradition has it
that Canonicus "desired to have preserved peace" and only
finally yielded to the persuasion of Williams. The ambitious
Pequots were " hoist with their own petard;" the league they
196 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNT?.
had devised with theNarragansetts and Mohegans being turned
against themselves. At the request of Governor Yane, Mianto-
tonomi, with two sons of Canonicus, visited Boston, where he
was received with military honor. He there agreed upon and
concluded a treaty of amity and alliance offensive and defensive
against the Pequots, the interpretation of some clauses of
which, not understood by him, he left to the interpretation
of Williams.
In the spring the Pequots wreaked their vengeance on the
Connecticut settlers. Massacre followed massacre. The colony
ordered war; their troops were at once joined by the Mohegans.
The Pequots fell back to their two fortified villages on the
Mystic river and the sea. The Connecticut troops sailed for
ISTarragansett bay and landed at what is now Wickford, where
they were joined by a strong force of Narragansett warriors.
Marching across the country they struck the rear of the Pequot
village at night; assaulting at daybreak and plying the torch
as well a? the musket, in an hour's sharp work they destroyed
the entire village of seven hundred Pequots, only fourteen of
whom survived, seven escaping and seven taken prisoners.
The English lost two killed and twenty wounded. The second
village, defended by three hundred P'equots, was not attacked.
A month later Massachusetts dispatched a detachment to de-
stroy the remnant of the tribe. Their hiding places were
broken up, and by July not over sixty of the tribe remained.
Eight hundred had been slain and two hundred captives were
distributed among the ISTarragansetts and the Mohegans as
slaves, under the pledge that they should never be called
Pequots nor allowed to see their native country. The Con-
necticut assembly obliterated the name by act; Pequot river
was called the Thames and the site of their village New London.
Sassaous, their sachem, gave himself up to the Mohegans and
was by them murdei'ed. The story reads like a chapter of
Caesar's campaign against the Gauls.
The supremacy of the Narragansetts over the Montauk tribe
was now revived. Their western border was freed from alarm.
Between them and the Mohegans, their allies, there was no
hostile tribe. Thus closed the first great crisis in the New
England settlement. The two years of the Pequot war were
no less eventful in Indian history. But for the coming of
Eoger Williams into the Narragansett country there is little
HISTORY OV NEWPORT COUNTY. 197
doubt that in the temper of the nation in 1636 they would liave
joined and led the Indian league with their whole power. The
blotting out of the Pequot power in 1637 was the first act in the
internecine struggle which was to end in the ruin of the Narra-
gansetts. The second was an inevitable consequence of the
first: a struggle at first peaceful, afterward by war, to control
the Indian tribes who inhabited the zone between the Pawca-
tuck and the Connecticut rivers, the respective bounds of N"ar-
ragansett and Mohegan power. Some of the Connecticut river
tribes, dreading the encroachments of the fierce Uncas, had
sought and obtained the alliance of the just and generous
Miantonomi, now, in the advancing years of Canonicus, the
master spirit of his nation. Uncas, fearful doubtless of the
interference of the English, sought by intrigue to break the
confidence of the Massachusetts authorities in the good faith
of Miantonomi by secret rumors. Summoned by the general
court the loyal sachem promptly appeared, satisfied them of
his innocence and directly charged Uncas with the- calumny.
This was in August and September, 1642.
New England Confederation. In May of the next year an
act of policy was consummated by the authorities of the sev-
eral settlements, which had a determining influence in this as in
later Indian struggles. This was the confederation of Massa-
chusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven under the
style of the United Colonies of New England. The plan was
first broached at the close of the Pequot war which had shown
the advantage of concert, but various jealousies had hitherto
stood in the way. The general restlessness about this time
amongst the natives, who were now well supplied with arms
and accomplished in their use, brought harmony at last and the
league for defense was completed. It may here be mentioned
that the English settlements on Narragansett bay were not in-
vited to join this confederation, although the most exposed
from their position in the heart of the most numerous and pow-
erful of the Indian nations. In July, 1643, the Mohegans de-
clared war upon Sequasson, a sachem of the Connecticut and
an ally of the Narragansetts. Both parties sought the aid of the
English, who announced their intention of remaining neutral.
Miantonomi, before marching to the aid of his ally, faithful to
the engagement he had made at the time of the Pequot war,
notified the governor of the Massachusetts bay, and received
198 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
an answer that "if Uncas had done him or his friends wrong
and would not give satisfaction he might take his own course "
with them. Mfantonomi took the field with a thousand warri-
ors and was defeated in a bloody fight. By the treachery of two
of his own captains he was given up to Uncas. An attempt was
made by his subjects to obtain his liberty under ransom which,
as appears by the letter of the owners of Shawomet who were
interested in the effort, was "given and received" by his
capcors. He was then taken to Hartford and delivered
over to the English there to be held prisoner, as he himself
entreated, until the meeting of the commissioners of the United
Colonies at Boston. These, it is claimed, were prejudiced against
him because of his sale of Shawomet, which was coveted by
Massachusetts, to men, some of whom, like Williams, theyhad
exiled as heretics. The commissioners were all of opinion that
it would not be safe to leave him at liberty nor yet had they
grounds to put him to death. In their dilemma they called in
five of the most judicious elders who, adding another to the sum
of villainies perpetrated in hypocritical godliness, recommended
his death. He was accordingly again delivered over to Uncas
with orders to execute him and two Englishmen were delegated
to witness the deed. Uncas was promised protection and assist-
ance in case his territory were invaded in retaliation. The un-
righteous sentence was carried out.
Thus fell one of the truest friends, most generous benefactors
and earliest patrons of the Rhode Island settlement. To the
lasting disgrace of the United Colonies its records bear witness
among the earliest of its proceedings to its sanction of this hid-
eous crime, mean in its inception, cowardly in its close. The
deception of Massachusetts was only equalled by the ingrati-
tude of Connecticut. The absence of Roger Williams, then in
England on the business of a charter for the Providence settle-
ment, was a public calamity. Yet it is doubtful whether his in-
fluence could have stayed the hand of the " clerico-j iidicial
murderers," as the judges of Miantonomi have been styled.
The Narragansetts long and bitterly mourned their noble
chief. Canonicus was broken with grief. Pessicus, the brother
of Miantonomi, succeeded him as chief sachem, together with
Canonicus, who appears to have already abandoned the chief
control of the government even in name, though still taking
part in the councils and joining in all acts of sovereignty. The
HISTOKT OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 199
Narragansetts now enter on a new and the last phase of their
national or political existence. Crippled in their resources by
the heavy ransom of which they had been wronged, yet thirst-
ing for revenge ; fearful also of the interference of the Massa-
chusetts power to thwart their warlike purpose, they resolved
to throw themselves upon the protection of the English king.
In the absence of Roger Williams the Narragansett chiefs, on
the murder of Miantonomi, took advice of the settlers of Shaw-
omet, of whom the leading spirit was the heretic, Gorton, whom
the general court had banished by another of their atrocious
decrees. These settlers had, it appears, sided in the effort at
ransom.
On the 19th of April, 1644, Canonicus and Pessicus invited
Gorton, who had taken refuge from the pursuit of the Massa-
chusetts government on the island of Aquidneck, and his
friends to cross over to Conanicut. Here they found the
sachems in solemn council. The result of the deliberations and
conference was the voluntary and free submission of the chief
sachem and the rest of the princes, with the joint and unani-
mous consent of the whole people, with their lands, rights, in-
heritances and possessions, to King Charles, acknowledging
themselves his servants and subjects, to be ruled, ordered and
disposed of according to the laws of that honorable state of Old
England, "upon condition of his majesty's royal protection and
righting of the wrong done or to be done to them ; not that they
found the need thereof in respect to their relation with any of
the natives in these parts, knowing themselves sufficient defence
and able to judge in any matter or cause in that respect, but
that they had just cause of jealousy and suspicion of some of
his majesty's pretended subjects." They express their desire
to have their matters and causes tried in his majesty's pleasure
under just and equal laws but with this express understanding,
best given in their own words : "Nor can we yield over our-
selves unto any that are subjects themselves in any case; having
ourselves been the chief Sachems or Princes successively of the
country time out of mind." This deed or act of submission,
signed by Pessicus as chief sachem and successor of Miantono-
mi, Canonicus as "protector of the late deceased Miantonomi in
the time of his nonage" and Mixan, son and heir of that above-
said Canonicus, was entrusted to Gorton and his associates, who
200 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
are named commissioners in the instrument, and by them some
months later taken to England.
This act brought the Narragansetts into direct antagonism with
Massachusetts, which had been seeking covertly or overtly to ob-
tain an outlet into the JSTarragansett bay. They summoned the
sachems to appear at the next meeting of the court in the spring.
The sachems on the 24th of May peremptorily refused, pleading
their press of business preparing to avenge the death of their
chief and asking their reasons of Massachusetts for advising
them not to "go out against their inhuman and cruel adversary,"
who had taken not only their ransom but the life of their
prince also. They give formal notice of their late subjection to
King Charles, declare their intention of referring all serious
matters of dispute to the English government, and ask for and
offer free passage and conduct to their respective people desir-
ing to have commerce. The general court, startled by the tone
of this dignified document, sent messengers to dissuade the
IN^arragansetts from their warlike purpose. The envoys were
coldly received.
In June the settlers of Shawomet in their turn addressed the
general court of Massachusetts, notifying them that they had
themselves witnessed the deed of subjection and that they, the
general court, need take no further trouble concerning the In-
dians in their neighborhood since the home government could
be appealed to in case of disagreement. They also assured the
court that the ISTarragansetts would take a sharp and princely
revenge for the indignity done to their sovereign ; and further
warned them that they had lately met abroad one of the great
sachems of the Mohawks, the most fierce and warlike people in
the country with some of his men, and that they were furnished
with 3,700 guns, plenty of powder and shot and defensive furni-
ture for their bodies in time of war ; that the Mohawks deeply
sympathized with the Narragansetts in the loss of their sachem
and the unjust detention of the ransom given for his life, and
were determined to wage war to the uttermost against any that
should assault them. Both the tone and the contents of this
letter must have been as gall and wormwood to the gentlemen
addressed.
The air was full of war and the settlers of Aquidneck were in
alarm all of the summer. To add to their anxiety they were
short of powder and Massachusetts, either from inability or
HISTORY OF NBWPOET COUNTY. 201
malice, refused to give them a supply. Their religious opinions
were, as Governor Win throp phrased it, too "desperately er-
roneous" for their distress to awaken much sympathy from the
self-elected saints of the Puritan colony.
In February, 1645, the Narragansett sachems sent messengers
to Boston declaring that unless Uncas made amends by the pay-
ment of one hundred and sixty fathoms of wampum or agree to
a new hearing of the dispute within six weeks, they should
make war. No redress forthcoming, one thousand warriors,
sotae armed with guns, fell upon the Mohegans and defeated
Uncas with much slaughter. Connecticut troops marched to
his aid. The. general coxirt again ordered the Narragansetts to
stop the war. Negotiations ensued. A second time messengers
were sent to both the Mohegans and Narragansetts, on this oc-
casion by the New England commissioners. Roger Williams,
now returned, was called on by the sachems. The embassy on
their return carried a letter from Williams stating that terms of
neutrality had been agreed upon by the sachems and the Rhode
Island colony and that the Narragansetts would continue the
war. They were resolved to have the head of Dncas.
The United Colonies now declared war on the Narragansetts
and began to raise troops. A mounted troop was despatched in
advance. The Narragansetts, alarmed at this joint action of the
colonies and at la'st awake to the real value of King Charles'
protection, sued for peace. Roger Williams again interposed
and for the second time within eight years saved the general
peace. Pessicus, with other sachems and a large train, went to
Boston. A treaty was concluded, onerous in the extreme to the
Narragansetts. They were condemned to pay two thousand
fathoms of wampum within two years, a sum the magnitude of
which best appears when compared with that demanded by them
of Uncas. Captives and canoes were to be exchanged with the
Mohegans ; all claim to the Pequot country conquered partly
by their arras was abandoned by the Narragansetts. The
sachems, helpless, signed the treaty. A part of the first install-
ment of the tribute was sent to Boston the spring of the next
year. The venerable Canonicus died in June (the 4th) of this
year. "He was laid to sleep," says Williams, "in the same most
honorable manner and solemnity in their way as was Grovernor
Winthrop himself." The burial of a Narragansett sachem was
202 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
an imposing solemnity not unlike the ceremonies of the Chinese
at the funeral rites of their dynastic emperors.
Pessicus, summoned by the commissioners to answer for the
neglect to fulfill the treaty, and charged besides with an at
tempted conspiracy with the Mohawks, excused himself on plea
of illness, declared that he had only accepted the treaty under
duress, and sent Ninegret, sachem of the Niantics (or the West-
erly tribe), to answer in his place. The Niantics were not prop-
erly Narragansetts but a tributary nation. Ninegret was, how-
ever, related to the great sachems, his sister, Quiapen, having
married Mexham, the son of Canonicus. He escaped from the
commissioners under promise to pay one thousand fathoms of
vvrampum within twenty days after his return, the remainder in
the spring. The tribute was not paid. Ninegret again appeared
to answer for the failure and also a charge of an attempt to as-
sassinate Uncas, of whose territorial and personal rights the
commissioners were exceedingly tender. The next year an ofii-
cer and guard of men were sent to Narragansett, who surprised
Pessicus in his wigwam, and dragging him by the hair from his
attendants, made him prisoner. The sum was gathered, the
debt paid, and the troops withdrew.
Thus ended, in an act of personal outrage, of all the most of-
fensive to Indian pride, seven years of Indian protest and
English brutality. Yet, as Roger Williams stated later, " the
Narragansetts had long been confederates with the English,
faithful allies, true in the Pequot wars and the means of draw-
ing the Mohegans to the alliance. Never had they stained their
hands with any English blood neither in open hostilities nor in
secret murders. Through all their towns and country many and
ofttimes one Englishman travelled alone with safety and loving
kindness," — and this was their reward.
For three years, from 1644 to 1647, owing to a break in the
records, there is no information as to the legislation of the col-
ony upon Indian matters. In 1649 an order was made against
the taking of black wampumpeage of the Indians at less than
"four a penny" under penalty of total forfeiture, from which
it appears that the value of this currency had fallen, owing in
part to the greater abundance of commodities and in part to the
gradual substitution of other money, which it was of course in
the interest of the whites to foster. In 1651, whether to protect
the Indians or the original grantees of the land, it was ordered
HISTORY OF NEWPOET COUNTY. 203
that no purchases should thereafter be made of the natives for a
plantation without the consent of the state, except for the
clearing of the Indians from particular plantations already set
down upon ; from which the theory already advanced of Indian
right of occupancy, if not of domain, is confirmed. A breach of
this order carried a forfeiture of the land thus bargained for.
But this seemingly having been evaded, the law was again en-
acted in 1658 with the addition of the forfeiture of twenty
pounds to the colony in case of transgression.
There was no doubt early regulation of the sale of liquors to
the Indians, but drunkenness was- now common among them.
In 1654 the general sergeant was authorized to collect the fines
from those offending in the sale and to take one half for his fees.
The next year, for the preventing of the great mischief of the
Indian drunkenness two ordinary (tavern) keepers were ap-
pointed in each town to whom it was alone permitted to sell any
sort of strong drink either to English or to Indians by retail,
that is under a gallon, under penalty of five pounds fo.r each
offense, one half to go to the constable and the other t6 the in-
former ; and further, that neither of these ordinary keepers
should sell more than a quarter of a pint of liquors or wines a
day to an Indian ; and in case an Indian were found drunk, the
ordinary keeper by whose means he was made drunk was fined
twenty shillings for each person's transgression, the Indian to
pay ten shillings or be whipped or "laid neck and heels." The
clause of the law authorizing the sale of a quarter of a pint in a
day to an Indian was repealed in 1656, and in 1659 a stringent
statute was passed against either selling or giving either strong
drinks or wine directly or indirectly to any Indian, any person
being allowed to seize from any Indian carrying it and convert
it to their own use : only it was allowed to give a dram to an
hired Indian servant. In this year also an elaborate statute
regulated punishment for Indian thefts ; their petty robbing
and pilfering and inability to make restitution proving of great
damage. The value of white peage is here fixed at six a penny,
and in case of inability to pay the penalty and costs of trial, it
was made lawful for the judges of the court where the trial was
had to condemn the Indian offender "to be sold as a slave to
any foreign country of the English subjects."
Although, as has been seen, the crushing blow in the destruc-
tion of the Pequotsi was struck by the troops of Connecticut
204 HISTOBY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
and their allies of the Narragansett tribe, neither the one .nor the
other was considered in the distribution of the spoils. Prompted
either by wisdom or disdain, or perhaps even deeper motives
of a Machiavellian order of policy, the English did not ap-
parently contest the tribal sovereignty of the JSTarragansetts
over the sachems of the intervening tribes, but confined their
demand to the lion's share of the conquest, the soil itself, and
the commissioners of the United Colonies assigned to Massa-
chusetts the entire Pequot country. We have seen also the
imprudent sale by Miantonomi and Pumham of Shawomet, in
1642, to a company of settlers who were in quarrel with the
Massachusetts colony. The next year the authority of the
JSTarragansetts being rudely shaken by the death of Miantonomi,
Pumham repudiated the sale he had himself authenticated as a
vsritness, and apparently assuming an independent authority,
made formal submission (June, 1643) to the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts. The sachems of the Pawtuxet, also under the
tribal sovereignty of the Narragansetts, made similar submission
at the same time. By this defection the sovereignty of the
Narragansetts was narrowed almost to the original limits of
the tribe. The Wampanoags and the wandering Nipmucks
of the north&jn country had long since accepted English pro-
tection; the Nian tics who lived about thePawcatuck river alone
held firmly to their ancient allegiance. It was not long before
the general court made the sachems of Pawtuxet and Shawomet
to understand the meaning of submission. They were held to
obey the summons of the court.
It was at this meeting of the court that a final insult was put
upon the Narragansetts by a grant to Captain Atherton, the
brutal insulter of the sachem Pessicus, of five hundred acres
of land in the Narragansett territory. The Narragansetts seem
to have understood the folly of an attempt to resist this con-
stant encroachment of the English with a front so broken. But
the white men were by no means at their ease. The breaking
Out of war between the English and the Dutch (1652) was a fresh
cause of alarm; not from any fear of their neighbors of the
New Amsterdam colony on Manhattan island, but from the
uncertainty of the attitude of the Indian tribes. The Maquas
or Mohawks, by far the most powerful of the Indian nations,
had long been the faithful friends of the Dutch, to whom they
were bound by the famous treaty of Corlear. Should the Dutch
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 205
enlist tbem in their service and they in turn form a league with
the Narragansetts, the peril would be supreme,even though the
Mohegans should stand fast or even hold aloof from the con-
test. In April, 1653, the council of Massachusetts sent messen-
gers to question Pessicus, Mexham, the son of Canonicus, and
Ninegret, the three chief sachems of the Narragansetts. Their
answers to the several queries did not satisfy the commisioners.
But while unwilling to affront the English power by direct act
of hostility, the sachems took advantage of the occasion to pun-
ish the defection of the Long Island tribes, whom they assailed
in the September following. For this they were again called to
account by messengers from the commissioners,and their answer
being again unsatisfactory, war was declared by the commis-
sioners. But Massachusetts prudently pronouncing the cause
insufficient, this declaration was not carried into effect.
According to Roger Williams' account, John Endicott, the
governor of the Massachusetts colony, had expressly given
consent to Ninegret to right himself against the "insolent
challenges of the Long Island sachem." Ninegret took his
revenge, but at the request of the English restored the captives.
The next year (1654) the Long Islanders treacherously broke
the peace and slaughtered at midnight near thirty of the Narra-
gansetts at Block Island, one of whom was the nephew of Nine-
gret. The war broke out afresh and the Narragansetts from
Aquidneck went to the assistance of their chief. The United
Colonies, alarmed again, sent messengers to Ninegret summon-
ing him to Hartford; he returned a haughty reply, refused to
go to Hartford and asked to be let alone by the English. Roger
Williams, the president of the Providence colony, addressed
the general court of Massachusetts, defending the fealty of the
Narragansetts to the English and justifying their war of self-
defense against the Long Island tribes. In this interesting
document he describes the Narragansetts and "Mohawks as
the two great tribes of Indians in the country, as confederates
and long having been and both yet friendly and peaceable to
the English," and urges the need of friendship with one if ever
the English should go to war with the other. From this letter
it is also learned that these two nations had of late not been
friendly, but that their differences were now healed and some
of the Narragansetts had gone home with the Mohawks on a
visit. He expresses the fear that in case of any great defeat to
206 HISTORY OF NEWPORT OOITNTY.
the English, Mohawks and Narragansetts, Long Islanders and
Mohegans would unite against them.
However this just appeal and sound reasoning may have
affected the Massachusetts government, it did not prevent the
dispatch of a force by the commissioners. The Indians with-
drew to the refuge of a swamp and the troops returned unsiic-
cessful, to the mortitication of the commissioners at Hartford.
The influence of Massachusetts brought the struggle to a close.
The unavenged murder of Miantonomi still haunted the con-
sciences of his tribe. The perfidious retention of his ransom
by Dncas shocked the sense of justice, one of the strongest
traits of Indian character, not only of the Narragansetts but of
the Mohawks. Alike they looked upon the renegade Pequot
chief of the Mohegans as an outlaw. In the interview of the
Mohawks with the Narragansetts measures of concerted action
were agreed upon, and the Mohawks sent out a large force
against the common enemy in the summer of 1657, but all their
plans of surprise, an essential part of Indian tactics, were set at
naught by information given to the Mohegans by the English
scouts. It is strange to understand the determined effort of the
English settlers in the Pequot country to thwart all efforts of
the Narragansetts against the Mohegans, unless it be that they
held their expeditions to be an invasion of the soil which they
sought to bring within jurisdiction of the Connecticut colonies.
So constant was this interposition that, on the request of the
Narragansett sachems, the general court of commissioners held
for the colony of Providence Plantations at Warwick in July,
addressed a remonstrance to the English settlers at Pequot, in-
timating in a plain way that it was the opinion of the Narra-
gansetts that the English scouts were acting, not under the
orders of the colony but in the pay of Uncas himself. They give
notice also that the Mohawks were coming down in numbers
and would pay little regard to any scouts they might find giving
notice to the enemy.
In May, 1660, the final act in the series of villainies was
committed by the commissioners of the United Colonies
upon the Narragansetts. For alleged injuries on the Mohe-
gans, which their sachems denied, a heavy fine was levied
upon the Narragansetts and an armed force sent down to compel
them to mortgage their entire territory for the payment of a
sum of six hundred fathoms of wampumpeage within four
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 207
■months. Six months were allowed for redemption. The Indians
were unable to effect the redemption and in the spring of 1662
the sachems delivered formal possession. The mortgage deed
was signed by Sucquansh, Ninegret, Scuttup and Wiquanka-
mitt, chief sachems of the Narragansetts, and bears date 13th,
1660.
The history of the Narragansett empire ends here; and yet
the sachems retained somewhat of their dignity. In 1664, soon
after the restoration of Charles the Second, a royal commis-
sion was issued to reduce the Dutch provinces in America to
subjection, and further, to determine all questions of appeal
and jurisdiction and all boundary disputes arising in the New
England colonies. On their arrival in Rhode Island the Narra-
gansett sachems confirmed to them the formal submission they
had made by writings to the crown in 1660, and they agreed to
pay an annual tribute of two wolf skins and not to make war
or to sell land without the consent of the authorities appointed
over them by the crown. While they had parted with their
territory they still acknowledged no sovereignty except that
of the English king.
King Philip's War. — A new and startling figure now ap-
pears upon the scene : the hero of a dramatic episode similar in
character and not inferior in interest to that which Parkman
has made famous in his glowing page : that vast plot, which
the Puritans call in their quaint phrase, " the Design of
Philip," was the prototype, and perhaps, though a century
earlier, the suggestive cause of the " Conspiracy of Pontiac."
The name of the proud young chief of the Wampanoags,
Philip of Pokanoket, first appears upon the records of the
colony with a simplicity which denotes his consequence ; in an
order of disarmament of all the Indians on Aquidneck island
because of information fi'om Seconck of " such deportment of
the Indians, especially of Philip, which giveth great occasion
of suspicion of them and their treacherous designes." Not
otherwise does history name its heroes, its sages, its kings.
Massasoit, the sachem of the Wampanoags, whose dominion
spread along the coast from Narragansett bay to Cape Cod, died
in the winter of 1661 to 1662, and with him closed the era of
peace and good will between the lords of the soil and the Eng-
lish invaders. For forty years he kept sacred the treaty made
with the Pilgrim fathers. In the early days of the weak Ply-
208 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
mouth settlement, when, wasted by disease and famine, they
would have fallen an easy prey to concerted action among the
many tribes whom he swayed, he not only held to his compact,
but with generous hand gave to them of his abundance. As
years went by the annoyances and encroachments of the white
men increased.
No race has better understood the policy of divide and con-
quer than the Saxon. It has been the history of its progress
and empire. To the Pilgrim fathers it was a native instinct.
One by one the tribes which had acknowledged the rale of the
chief fell from their allegiance, and, yielding to the intrigues
of their white neighbors, asserted their independence. Mas-
sasoit's chief residence was onNarragansett bay, at what is now
the town of Bristol, at a spot called Sowams by the Wampa-
noags, Pokanoket by the Narragansetts, and Mount Hope by
the early colonists. Here, at the headland of the peninsula
which commanded the beautif nl bay, with its swarming waters
and fertile islands, "the very garden of New England," the
old chieftain, " the earliest and firmest friend of the Pilgrims,"
had his seat of patriarchial government ; and here resided with
him two sons, Wamsutta and Pometacom or Metacomet. To
these young sachems the names of Alexander and Philip were
given on occasion of a visit to Plymouth court, about the year
1656.
Wamsutta or Alexander, the elder of the brothers, increased
his power by a marriage with Wetamoo, squaw sachem of
Pocasset (now Tiverton), the chief of the Indian villages on the
eastern mainland. On the death of Massasoit, Wamsutta, who
had shared the government during the declining years of his
father, became chief sachem. The proud spirit of the young
chiefs had long chafed under the quiet submission of their aged
father and the general policy of non-resistance which he main-
tained to the close. That any general plan of conspiracy was
thus early conceived is not probable, but there is little doubt
that the germ of a concerted action by savage tribes of the con-
tinent lay deep within their politic souls. There was example
of the power of union close at their doors in the military force
of the United Colonies, and proof that such alliance was not
beyond the reach of Indian diplomacy in the wonderful struc-
ture of the confederation of the six nations of the New York
province.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 209
Massasoit was hardly in his grave before rumors were rife in
the Plymouth colony that Wamsutta was plotting against the
English, and the distinct charge was brought that he had al-
ready made overtures to the Narragansetts, the hereditary
enemies of his tribe. Summoned before the general court at
Plymouth, he did not appear, whereupon he was seized by an
armed force at one of his hunting stations and forcibly carried
off prisoner, with his train of warriors and women, some eighty
in number. Crazed with anger and fatigue, he fell ill and was
permitted to return home on promise of attendance at the next
court and the surrender of his son as a hostage. He died be-
fore he reached his wigwams. The more moderate of the Puri-
tans did not hesitate to condemn this rigor. The Indians did
not forget it. The widow nursed her feelings of revenge. The
injury rankled deep in the heart of the brother, and stirred to
life the fated germs which came to full fruition in such disaster,
devastation and death as had never before fallen upon the Eng-
lish settlements.
Metacomet, or Philip, now became chief sachem. He still
further strengthened his power by marriage with the sister of
Wetamoo, widow of Wamsutta, the squaw sachem of the Po-
cassets. From the very beginning of his sway he undertook
the vast enterprise of a union of the tribes to the alternative of
Indian independence or English extermination. Prudent and
politic, his line of conduct effectually cloaked his designs.
Answering without hesitation the summons of the general court,
he made submission, consented to treaties, even to pay tribute;
in a word agreed to whatever was required of him by the Ply-
mouth authorities. By what means he soothed the jealousies
of the neighboring tribes, assuaged their rivalries and brought
them to a common action is not, will never be known. Indian
history is in a manner a sealed book. We know their motives
and see the results, but not their methods. Strange Indians
were constantly at Mount Hope, and Philip's emissaries were
heard of wherever there was disaffection. The mere presence
of his ancient men with Ninecraft, sachem of the Narragan-
setts in 1669, was held sufficient evidence of a plot to warrant
the arrest of that chief. At this time also Governor Lovelace,
of the New York province, informed Governor Arnold of
Rhode Island of apprehensions had at the east end of Long Is-
14
2i0 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
land of a rising by the Narragansetts, but in the same letter
said that he did not thin'i tiiem in a condition strong enough to
make any such attempt. But in the spring of 1671 Lovelace
was of another mind. In a letter to Governor Prince lie says,
"I verily believe by what relations I have met with, even of
our own (New York) Indians, the defection seemed almost uni-
versal." Again Philip, not yet ready, bent to the storm. At
a conference held at Taunton in April his men gave up their
arms, and in September he made submission at Plymouth.
No data exist by which even to approximate the number of
the Indian tribes to which Philip addressed himself. We only
know that in the report of the king's commissioners, made in
December, 1660, the Rhode Island colony is credited with the
"greatest number of Indians," but as yet there had been no
harmony of feeling or action between them and the neighbor-
ing tribes.
Early in May, 1667, on information of the suspicious deport-
ment of the Indians, especially of Philip, the Rhode Island
council which sat in the intermissions of the assembly, had or-
dered the disarming of all the Indians on the island, leaving
the magistrates of Providence and Warwick to do as they saw
fit ; and on the 10th, fully satisfied of the existence of plots,
every Indian above sixteen was ordered by proclamation to
leave the island. Only a license from the governor, the deputy
governor or two assistants in the island was an adequate pass-
port. But even at this juncture the number on the island
proper must have been small. It does not appear that this or-
der had been rejjeated.
On the eastern mainland Philip naturally turned to his sister-
in-law, Wetamoo, the squaw sachem of Pocasset (now Tiverton)
who, although she had condescended, after Wamsutta's death,
to a marriage with an Indian of lesser degree, was eager to re-
venge the death of her first husband. Beyond, on the head-
land opposite to Rhode Island, was the tribe of the Sogknonates,
who occupied the territory from Fogland ferry to the sea, some
seven to eight miles long; Seconnet, later Little Compton.
Their squaw sachem, Awashonks, timid or prudent, hesitated,
controlled by the advice of Mr. Benjamin Church, who had
lately made a settlement on the point, and chanced upon a great
dance at the very moment when she was entertaining Philip's
She was herself quite willing to be dissuaded
HISTORY or NEWPORT COUNTY. 211
from joining the league, but the young braves would not be held
back. For weeks Philip entertained the youth of the tribes
from near and far, at Mount Hope, with dances, until crazed
with excitement, and even he could not longer control them. In
an unfortunate hour, furious with the indignity put upon him
in the hanging of his executioners, as though he were a vassal
of the English power and not a lord of the soil, he yielded to
the entreaty of his braves and consented to the beginning of
depredations.
For four years constant rumors had alarmed the borders.
The plans of Philip, it is generally believed, were laid for an
uprising in the spring of 1676, but as usual in time of extreme
tension, the outbreak was hastened in an unforseen manner.
One of John Eliot's "praying Indians" of the Massachusetts
tribe, who had received instruction at Harvard College and later
served Alexander and Philip as secretary, discovered and be-
trayed the plans of the sachem to the Plymouth governor. In-
dian justice quickly reached the traitor, who was found dead in
an ice pond. The executioners were in their turn betrayed,
tried by a mixed jury of whites and Indians, found guilty and
put to death. From this time Philip kept his men in arms,
moving from place to place, gathering forces and to avoid sur-
prise.
Alarmed at the near approach of hostilities, Mr. John Easton,
the deputy governor of Rhode Island, together with three other
magistrates, relying on their ancient friendship, sought an in-
terview with Philip. By Easton' s own account of the interest-
ing event the Indians had the best of the argument. Indeed,
what answer could be made to Philip's complaint that " when
the English first came their king's father (Massasoit) was as a
great man and the English as a little child ; he constrained
other Indians from wronging the English and gave them corn
and showed them how to plant, and was free to do them any
good, and had let them have one hundred times more land than
now the king had for his own people." To the magistrates'
persuasion that he should abandon the thought of war "for the
English were too strong for them," the Indians said " then the
English should do to them as they did when they were too
strong for the English."
Not less striking was Philip's reply to John Borden, of
Rhode Island, a warm friend who urged him to peace. " The
212 IITSTORT OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
English who came first to this country were but an handful of
people, forlorn, poor and distressed. My father was then
sachem. He relieved their distresses in the most kind and hos-
pitable manner. He gave them land to build and plant upon.
He did all in his power to serve them. Others of their own
countrymen came and joined them. Their numbers rapidly in-
creased. My father's counsellors became uneasy and alarmed
lest, as they were possessed of firearms which was not the case
with the Indians, they should finally undertake to give law to
the Indians and take from them their country. They therefore
advised him to destroy them before they should become too
strong and it should be too late. My father was also the father
of the English. He represented to his counsellors and warriors
that the English knew many sciences which the Indians did not;
that they improved and cultivated the earth and raised cattle
and fruits, and that there was sufficient room in the country for
both the English and the Indians. His advice prevailed. It was
concluded to give victuals to the English. They flourished and
increased. Experience taught that the advice of my father's
counsellors was right. By various means they got possession
of a great part of his territory. But he still remained their
friend till he died. My elder brother became sachem. They
pretended to suspect him of evil designs against them. He was
seized and confined and thereby thrown into sickness and died.
Soon after I became sachem they disarmed all my people. They
tried my people by their own laws and assessed damages
against them which they could not pay. Their land was taken.
At length a line of division was agreed upon between the En-
glish and my people and I myself was to be responsible. Some-
times the cattle of the English would come into the cornfields
of my people for they did not make fences like the English. I
must then be seized and confined until I sold another tract of
my country for satisfaction of all damages and costs. Thus
tract after tract is gone. But a small part of the dominion of
my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live till I have
no country.
With such a spirit there was no room for composition. Nor
was there more disposition to arrangement on the part of the
English, for hardly had the Rhode Island mediators departed
from the Ferry, the scene of their interview, " without any dis-
curtiousness," when they were notified by the Plymouth gov-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 218
ernor that he intended "inarms to conform Philip," that is to re-
duce him to subjection. All hopes of peace were now at an end.
Hostilities were preceded by individual depredations. The war
opened by an attack made at Swansea on Sunday, the 24th of
June, 1675, on the people returning from public worship.
Philip's young braves would no longer be restrained. At first
only deserted houses on the neck of Pocanoket were plundered,
but a shot being fired and an Indian wounded, the savages could
not be controlled. A number of whites were waylaid and
killed. Troops soon arrived and under the guidance of Mr.
Benjamin Church, of Little Compton, the neck was occupied
and Philip withdrew from Mount Hope to a swamp at Pocasset,
where he successfully defended himself and drove back the
soldiers, and later, hard pressed, escaped toward the Nipmucks
in Worcester county.
During the summer and autumn the Indians hung about the
Massachusetts and Connecticut settlements with brand and
tomahawk. No further doubt existing that the Narragansetts
were in alliance with Philip, the commissioners of the United
Colonies declared war against them in November and in Decem-
ber marched an army of fifteen hundred to two thousand men
to their reduction. The Indians' force at the beginning of the
war has been estimated by the highest authorities at ten thou-
sand warriors ; of these the Narragansetts alone had two thou-
sand, those of the Plymouth country at least four thousand.
But perhaps because of the precipitancy of the war the
scheme of Philip to the westward seems to have failed. The
Long Island Indians, none of whom were warlike tribes, and
always held well in hand by the governor of the New York
province, were early disarmed and their canoes secured, while
an armed sloop patrolled the sound to prevent the crossing of
the ill disposed. Watches were kept, block houses erected on
the coast and heavy guns sent to the islands of Nantucket and
Martha's Vineyard, both of which were under New York
authority. Later in October, news reaching New York of an
extraordinary confederacy of the Indians and a threatened at-
tack on Hartford of from five to six thousand and of disturb-
ance at the Navesinks, the same stringent rules were applied in
the vicinity of New York and all the canoes in the sound east
of Hell Gate were ordered into the block house. A few days
later proclamations were sent out commanding the erection
214 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COITNTT.
and fortification of a block or palisadoed house in every town
or village in the province. The sale of powder at Albany to
the Indians was prohibited byan order of council. In Mary-
land the Susquehannas rose. Fortunately for the New England
colonies the great Mohawk confederacy stood aloof and the
river Indians, of whom the chief were the Mohegans, who occu-
pied the eastern border between the Hudson and the Connec-
ticut colony, were controlled by Uncas, their sachem, a revolted
Pequot and a faithful ally of his English neighbors. The ex-
tent of the alarm is itself proof of the genius of Philip.
On the iSth of December, 1675, the English troops found the
Indians with Philip at their head, gathered with their families
to the number of three thousand on a piece of upland or high
ground three or four acres in extent, in the midst of a difficult
swamp in what is now South Kingstown, about seven miles
nearly due west from Narragansett south fei-ry. The Narragan-
setts had surrounded his camp with pallisades and a heavy
abattis of inclined trees. They were thoroughly provisioned
and well armed. And here it may be stated that the Indians
were now well used to firearms, though owing to the disarma-
ment to which Philip had been forced to submit, the supply of
muskets, powder and ball was small. Not until their territory
was invaded did the Narragansetts forget their old league of
friendship with the Rhode Island colony, and the English
array was almost at their wigwams before they fell upon the
isolated garrisons of the whites.
The first overt act of the war was the surprise of Bull's garri-
son at South Kingstown about the 15th of December. On the
18th, the weather being intensely cold, the English army
marched through heavy snow to the assault of the fortified
enclosure. Besides the enlisted quotas of Massachusetts,
Plymouth and Connecticat, one thousand men, including a
troop of horse, there marched one hundred and fifty Indians,
Mohegans of the tribe ruled by Uncas, and the remains of the
broken Pequots, eager for revenge on the destroyers of their
race. With the volunteers who joined the marching body in
the Rhode Island colony the number could not have been less
than fifteen hundred men. No records show how many men
the councils of war in the Rhode Island towns mustered for
this engagement, nor yet if there were any regularly enlisted.
Indeed, but for the recent massacres of the outlying garrisons,
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 215
it is questionable whether any of her people would have volun-
teered for the fray. They were commanded by General Josiah
Winslow, with whom rode, as an.aid and counsellor, Cap taiij Ben-
jamin Church, who was already well known for his knowledge
of Indian character and ways, and who now showed not only
great personal courage, but high military qualities, prudence,
judgment and foresight, which won for him his indisputable
place in history as the foremost Indian fighter of his day.
Arriving before the narrow entrance to the enclosure, which
was flanked by a block house, early in the afternoon, the Eng-
lish sought in vain to force the passage or climb over the sharp
breastworks. For three hours the carnage raged, at one time
the assailants being driven from the assault. At last an en-
trance was effected in the rear by the reserve guard. The Indians?
out of powder and ball, had but their bows and arrows with which
to resist this double attack. The wigwams were tired and the
enclosure blazed with the flames of five hundred dwellings.
Night closed the dreadful scene. In this, the most deadly bat-
tle in the history of New England, the Indians lost in killed,
wounded and prisoners not less than one thousand, of whom
one-third perished in the flames and as manjr more in the fight.
To the English the victory was at a heavy cost. How many
were slain, how many wounded, how many perished in the snow
on the return is not now known. The estimates vary from two
to four hundred. But among these were a large number of the
officers that led the assault. Six of the captains fell in the first
attempt to force the entrance. Church himself was badly
wounded. From motives of policy, as well as humanity, he had
opposed the firing of the wigwams. Owing to this error the
victors and the vanquished alike suffered. One half of the
losses of the English are ascribed to the want of shelter for the
wounded on the night of the battle, and in the forced march
homeward in the cold and snow of the December night. No
positive evidence has come down as to the presence of Philip at
this fight. That there were Wampanoags of his adherents
among the Narragansetts is certain from the refusal of Canon-
chet, the Narragansett chief, to the demands of the English in
November, but according to Church's recital Philip himself was
at this time on the Hoosac river, engaged in an attempt to enlist
the Mohawks in the general cause.
Andros, governor of New York, writing to the governor of
216 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUKTr.
Maryland a few days before the swamp fight, says that, "bas-
ing their action on their means in the Plymouth and Massa-
chusetts colonies, the eastern Indians were endeavoring by all
means of command and profit to engage the Maquas (Mohawks)
and sent to all other parts, as far as Canada." All accounts
agree that Philip failed in these negotiations, and some assert
that he was driven from the Hoosac by a descent of their war-
riors. However this may be, he is found in the spring with the
Narragansetts. They had then made their winter quarters in a
"rooky swamp," about twenty miles to the northward of Wick-
ford, where the English troops went into garrison. The winter,
rude in the beginning, was unusually mild in January. The
troops, re-inforced, dislodged the Indians from their new po-
sition, pursued their broken organization, and were then dis-
banded.
The war was by no means over, the hostile tribes gathering
in the spring in the Nipmuck country, in the rear of Wachuset
hills, in the neighborhood of Worcester, where it is supposed
that Philip joined them. The upper towns of Rhode Island
colony, trembling not only for safety, but for life, besought aid
of the general assembly. This body convened on the 13th of
March, 1676, at Newport, to consider the hazardous situation,
replied by letters to the appeals of Providence and Warwick
that the colony was not "of ability to maintain sufficient gar-
risons for the security of the out-plantations," and advised the
inhabitants to come into the island, which was most secure.
The Newport and Portsmouth inhabitants had taken care, they
said, that land should be provided by the towns for those to
plant who could not otherwise find land, and pasturage for a
cow would be given to each family ; and they warned those that
stayed out with their cattle, provisions and ammunition that it
was at their own hazard and to the probable advantage of the
enemy. On the same day, to further enforce the orders of the
council of war on the island, they directed that every Indian
from twelve years old and upward in the custody of the inhab-
itants should be secured, a keeper attending him by day and
securely locking him up at night, under heavy forfeiture This
order was published in the towns of Newport and Portsmouth
by beat of drum.
To temper this rigor the assembly voted that " noe Indian in
this colony be a slave, but only to pay their debts or for their
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 217
bringing up or custody they have received or to perforin cove-
nant as if they had been countrymen not in war." How many
Indians there were on the island at this time is not known, the
census taken in separate lists of English, Negroes and Indians
in April, as also the provision of corn, guns, powder, shot and
lead, having disappeared from the archives, nor is there author-
ity for even an approximate estimate.
The fears of the petitioners on the mainland were immediately
realized. Warwick was sacked and burned, only one house,
and that of stone, escaping. On the other hand, only one of
the inhabitants was slain. Providence was deserted. The town
records give the names of thirty men only "That stayed and
went not away." The venerable Roger Williams, the father of
the colony, now seventy-seven years of age, was the captain of
the train band. It is related that when the Indians approached
the town he went out alone to meet and admonish them.
"Massachusetts," said he, so runs the tradition, "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 kind to us manj- years ; not a hair of your
head shall be touched." The town was assaulted on the 29th or
30th of March. Some fifty-four houses at the north end were
burned. There is no record of any killing of persons. Certain
it is that Roger Williams was not harmed.
In April, the assembly, at an adjourned meeting, held on the
first Tuesday, organized a service of boats for defense of the
waters of the bay ; four boats, with five or six men in each,
well furnished, one-third of the men to be of Portsmouth if
thought best. The persons charged with the ordering and em-
ploy of these were : Mr. John Easton, deputy governor, Mr.
Walter Clarke, Captain John Cranston, Mr. John Coggeshall
and Mr. Caleb Carr for Newport ; Captain John Albro, Mr.
Robert Hodgson and Mr. Robert Hazard for Portsmouth.
Power was given them to increase or diminish the number of
boats, as they found cause. This is the first mention of a naval
force on the records. It appears from other sources that it con-
sisted of sloops, and that the colony had sent out several sloops
well manned in June of the previous year. It is claimed by
Mr. Arnold, the historian of the state, that it is the first instance
218 HISTORY or WEWPOKT COTTNTY.
in the history of the colonies when a naval armament was relied
on for defense. "It was," he says, "the germ for a future
Khode Island squadron a century later, and for an ultimate
American navy."
It was further voted that a barrel of powder be supplied to
Portsmouth, and the two great guns lying in the yard of the late
deceased Mr. William Brenton be pressed for the country's ser-
vice and carried to Portsmouth, and placed one in the ferry neck,
the other at or near the house of Mr. John Borden. The pow-
der and guns were entrusted to Captain John Albro, Mr. Robert
Hazard. Lieut. William Correy and John San ford, who were
empowered at the charge of the country to cause the guns to
be set on carriages and fitted for service, and to appoint for the
care and ordering of each. And further the company and
council of the most judicious was invited at their next sitting ^
of the assembly, which was adjourned to meet again the next
Tuesday, the 11th inst., at Henry Palmer's house in Newport.
The hot work of March seems to have forced the peace loving
people from their neutrality, and there were surely those among
the judicious inhabitants who longed to have a hand in the
stirring fray. For nearly ten years little or nothing had been
done by the authorities to further the organization of the militia
or the discipline of the train band on the island, but now it was
agreed to choose a major to be the " chief e Captain of all the
colony's forces," to have his commission from the general as-
sembly. Captain John Cranston was chosen major, yet true to
the old spirit of purely popular will, it was conditioned that
this action should "noe wayes extend to hinder the liberty of
the soldiery in their election of a major when soe appointed by
the assembly to elect." The acts, as usual, were published by
beat of drum at Newport and Portsmouth. Major Cranston
continued in his command during the remainder of King
Philip's war, and his commission was later renewed in 1677.
Canonchet was surprised in April near the Blackstone river.
The fall of this, the last of Narragansett's great sachems, was
a fatal blow to Philip's cause. For two months the Rhode Is-
land colony was left in comparative peace. In June the Indians
made the famous assault on Hadley on the Connecticut river.
While Philip was absent on this raid Colonel Church made a
treaty with Awashonks, queen of the Seconnet tribe. • The
squaw sachem received a safe conduct from the Rhode Island
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 219
assembly sitting at Newport. About the same time this body-
sent back. to Providence the Indian captives which had been de-
livered them for safe keeping, "judging they properly belonged
to Plymouth colony."
After the defeat at Hadley the Indians again ravaged the
Plymouth country. Pursued by the English, they were again
surprised in a cedar swamp near Warwick. Magnus, an old
queen of Narragansett, and sister of Ninegret, was taken, and
with ninety other captives, slain. In this engagement the In-
dians lost one hundred and seventy-one, the English not a sin-
gle man. The savages now began to submit, many coming in
to Conanicut. The main body fled to the Housatonlc, where
they were overtaken by Major Talcott and nearly annihilated.
Meanwhile Governor Winslow had commissioned Captain
Church to take a force of two hundred men and break up
Philip's retreat at Mount Hope. Two Rhode Island companies,
under Lieutenant Richmond and Captain Edmonds, brought in
nearly fifty captives, who were sold into service in the colony
for a term of nine years, as were all other captives taken. None
were permitted to enter the island. Philip's followers were
gradually captured, and the sachem himself took refuge in a
swamp near Mount Hope, the home of his race. But his un-
daunted spirit would not stoop to surrender. A follower who
counselled submission was slain by his own hand. The swamj)
was now surrounded. Captain Roger Goulding, of Rhode Is-
land, went in to drive out the few that remained. An Indian
named Alderman, a brother of the man Philip had thus uncere-
moniously killed, shot the chieftain through the heart. The
body was dragged to Captain Church, who ordered his head to
be cut off and his body to be quartered. The head was sent to
Plymouth, where it was exposed on a gibbet for twenty years.
The body was hung on four trees. One hand was sent to Bos-
ton as a trophy, the other was given to the Indian who killed
him and was exhibited for money.
Some of the Indians escaped from the swamp under the lead
of an old warrior, Annawan, a chief counsellor of Massaspit.
Church captured him by surprise and received from him, as his
memoirs say, "Philip's belt, curiously wrought with wampum,
being nine inches broad wrought with black and white wam-
pum in various figures and flowers and pictures of many birds
and beasts." This, when hanged upon Captain Church's shoul-
220 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ders, reached his ankles, and another belt of wampum he pre-
sented him with wrought after the former manner, which Philip
was wont to put upon his head. It had two flags on the back part
which hung down on his back, and another small belt with a star
upon the end of it which he used to hang on his breast, and
they were all edged with red hair which Annawan said they got
in the Mohoys (Mohawks) country. Then he pulled out two
horns of glazed powder and a red cloth blanket. He told Cap-
tain Church these were Philip's royalties which he was wont to
adorn himself with when he sat in state."
Young Metacomet, the only son of Philip, and numberless
Indian captives taken at this period, were sent as slaves to
Spain and the West Indies. In the entire struggle the Pagan
Indian, in his treatment of captives, showed a higher civiliza-
tion than his Christian foes.
After defeat punishment. Such is the customary sequence of
war. And now the hand of vengeance was no longer stayed by
the fear of reprisal by the crushed foe. Already the council of
Rhode Island by act of July 24th, 1676, had empowered a com-
mittee to sell the Indian men and women able for service, an
act confirmed by the general assembly on the 6th of August fol-
lowing with the limitation that those so sold should be for the
term of nine years. In June it had been voted to return the In-
dians sent by Captain Roger Williams from Providence on the
plea that they belonged to Plymouth colony, because it was said
that they were left as hostages to the English forces. The
X^eaceful colony stood in equal dread of the United Colonies
and of Philip's savage confederacy.
Philip fell on the morning of Saturday the 12th of August,
On Monday the 14th, the town authorities of Providence, upon
the recommendation of a committee of five, of which Roger
Williams was the first named, condemned all their Indian cap-
tives, innocent and guilty alike, to terms of servitude — " All In-
dians under five to serve till 30, above 5 and under 10 till 28,
above 10 to 15 till 27, above 15 to 20 till 26. Prom 20 to 30 to
serve 8 years, all above 30, 7 years;" a graduation seemingly
devised to secure the master against any contingency of loss by
the support and nourishment of the servant at a non-wage earn-
ing age. A record of the proceeds of this sale of the first com-
pany of Indians on account of the townsmen, shows the share of
HISTORY or NEWPORT COUNTY. 221
each man to have been sixteen shillings and fourpence half-
penny.
But there were other captives made by the Rhode Island
troops in the course of the campaign and held for trial and the
stern rigor of the law. Among the powers granted to the colony
in its charter was that ' ' to exercise the Law-Martiall in such cases
as occasions shall necessarily require and upon just cause to
invade and destroy the native Indians and other enemies of the
said colony." A court martial, composed of the major part of
the government and a large number of military oflBcers, was
convened at Newport on the 24th of August, 1676, for the trial
of the Indians charged with being engaged in Philip's designs,
that is with rebellion against the colony in adhering to Philip,
chief sachem of the Indians of another colony and in particular
of assisting in the burning and destroying of Pawtuxet, South
Kingstown and Warwick and other towns. Edmund Calverley,
the attorney general, brought the impeachment. Quanopen, a
cousin of Canonchet, bravely owned to the charge that he was
in arms against the English nation, "admitted his presence at
the destroyinges and burnings and declined to say anything
against the Indians so engaged." He was voted guilty of the
charge and condemned to be " shot to death in the town on the
26th." Quanopen was the second in command in the Narra-
gansett country. Two of Quanopen's brothers were condemned
to suffer the death penalty at the same time and place. There
is no record that there was either respite or commutation of this
sentence.
The court was still sitting on the 31st of August when Benja-
min Church appeared with a letter of the 28th from Josiah
Winslow, governor of the Plymouth colony, to Governor
Clarke, demanding the surrender of all Indians, '' whether men,
women or children," who had been received and entertained on
the island and further empowering the captain to conduct them
to Plymouth, "and to ssll and dispose of them there to the in-
habitants or others for term of life or shorter time as there may
be reasons." Perhaps the taste for blood of the more gentle
Newporters was already sated with the shootings of the 26th.
However this may be, the records of the court show a vote that
the three Indians, whose trial was in progress, were ordered to
be delivered out of the prison to Captain Church, seven more to
Captain Anthony Low, who engaged to transport them out of
222 HISTOEY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
the colony, and singular to add, "oiie more to be at the dispose
of Henry Lilly which he receives in full satisfaction for his at-
tendance at this court and to be transported as the other to
Captain Low." The Henry Lilly thus gratified was the
marshall and cryer of the court. That these unfortunate crea-
tures were destined to the slave block" seems beyond question,
Captain Aulhony Low commanding a vessel in the westward
trade. The records of the court close with the declaration in
the name of his majesty '' that noe Indian either great or small
be landed on any part of Rhode Island or any Island in the
ISTarragansett Bay upon the penalty as formerly imposed upon
such offenders ; and they shall be taken as being contumacy of
the authority of this colony."
Walter Clarke, the governor, was a Friend, and as such op-
posed to the war, which he believed, with many of his sect,
might have been averted by negotiation. He does not appear
to have attended the court martial, over which it fell to him as
governor to preside. On the contrary, though there is evidence
that he was in Newport, the court directed the copy of the
transactions to be rendered to the deputy governor, and em-
powered that officer to summon them at his pleasure.
From Church's narrative of his father's proceedings in this
memorable war, it appears that Captain Church brought oldAn-
nawan and a half dozen of his Indian soldiers to Rhode Island,
sending the rest of his company and his prisoners by his lieu-
tenant, Jabez Howland, to Plymouth. On his return to Ply-
mouth, where the general court was then sitting, he took with
him Annawan. Thence he visited Boston, to wait upon Gov-
ernor Leverett. On his return to Plymouth "he found to his
grief the heads of Annawan, Tispaquin, etc., cut off, which were
the last of Philip's friends." Tispaquin was one of the most
famous of Philip's captains. Church had captured his wife and
children and carried them with him to Plymouth, leaving word
to the chief that if he would come in their lives and his would
be spared. But his safe conduct seems to have availed not with
the stern authorities. For this ruthless barbarity the only ex-
cuse is the temper of the times. Governor Hutchinson, in his
history, justly observes: "Every person almost in the two col-
onies [Massachusetts and Plymouth] had lost a relation or near
friend, and the people in general were exasperated; but all does
not excuse this great severity. One eleventh of the able bodied
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 223
men of New England are said to have been slain during the
two years of the war, and such was the suffering from the inter-
ruption of farming that a famine was only averted by the char-
itie of London and Dublin."
It is some comfort to know from contemporary authority that,
like their comrades at Newport, these chiefs had a soldier's
death ; they were shot and their heads cut off, and their bodies
quartered after execution. No history of New England nor of
the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, nor
yet of the Island of Rhodes proper, were complete without some
narrative of this terrible war, on the result of which the destiny,
nay the very life of the English settlements hung. The part
taken in it by Rhode Island was not active. While defending
themselves they gave aid and comfort to their sister colonies,
but little or no armed assistance. Callender sums it up in one
graphic phrase : "As to the part this colony had in that war it
must be observed that tho' the Colony was not, as they ought to
have been, consulted,yet they not only afforded shelter to the fly-
ing English, who deserted from many of the neighboring Planta-
tions in Plymouth Colony and were received kindly by the inhab-
itants and relieved and allowed to plant the next year on their
commons for their support ; but they likewise furnished some
of the Forces with Provisions and Transports ; and some of their
principal Gentlemen, as Major Sanford and Capt.Goulding, were
in the action at Mount Hope as Volunteers in Captain Church's
Company when King Philip was slain. The Indians never
landed on the island in the war time ; armed boats kept plying
round to break their canoes and prevent their making any at-
tempts. But our settlements on the Main suffered very much
both atPetequamscut and at Warwick and at Providence where
the Indians burnt all the ungarrisoned and deserted houses.
And the inhabitants made many complaints that when the army
of the United Colonists returned home they did not leave a suffi-
cient number of forces to protect our plantations, which were
now in a very peculiar manner exposed to an exasperated and
desperate enemy."
This attitude of self defense, as is claimed by the defenders of
Rhode Island, of apathy, as was charged by its unfriendly
neighbors, was long a subject of bitter quarrel. The agents of
the Plymouth colony charged the colonists of Rhode Island
with ingratitude to them, indifference to their distresses and a
224 HISTORY Oh' NEWPORT COUNTY.
want of English spirit. This they ascribed to the authority of
Rhode Island being at the time of the war in the hands of the
Qnakers. But though, as was charged, the governor and
lieutenant governor were both of this persuasion, there
are military commissions still in being under their hands and
seals, to Benedict Arnold, junior, and others, to go in an armed
sloop to visit the garrisons at Providence and other towns, and,
as Callender justly observes, " It was but reasonable the United
Colonists should have left a sufficient guard at least at their
own headquarters and some other places while the island, the
only part of the colony able to contribute to the charge of the
wars, was at so great an expense in supporting and defending
the distressed English who lied to them from all the adjacent
parts;" and he adds that to confonnd the slanders of the day
the deputy governor gave an affidavit or evidence or solemn en-
gagement that "he never was againsc giving forth any Com-
missions to any that might have been" for the security of the
King's interest in this colony. The further charge that the
Rhode Islanders took in many of the Indians who, routed and
almost subdued, were flying l)efore the victorious and savage
English, is not questioned by historians. It was, to say the
least, a safe as well as humane policy. It does not appear that
any of those who shared in the burnings, destroyings or massa-
cres sought this shelter, but rather the peaceful and helpless,
who still clung to the old amity pledged between Massasoit and
Roger Williams. Nor yet does it appear that these were ex-
empted from the official sale and servitude.
Canonicus or Quanuanone, chief sachem or prince of the Nar-
ragansetts, was the oldest son and heir of Canonicus and the
grandson of Tashtassuck, the first of his line of whom there is
any account. According to Indian tradition he was the might-
iest chief in the country who, having a son and daughter and
finding no one equal to them in dignity, married them together.
Prom this union sprung the first Canonicus, the father of the
sachem whom the whites found in supreme authority on their
coming to the shores of New England. On the arrival of the
first Pilgrims he sent them as a warlike message a bundle of ar-
rows tied in a snake skin, and received in return, it is said, the
skin filled with powder and ball. By the declaration of Canon-
icus he and his forefathers had long ruled the country, "hav-
ing ourselves been the Chief Sachems or Princes successively
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 225
time out of mind." Under their rule the tribe had extended its
territory by wars, its influence by confederacy and its comfort
and happiness by peace.
While the Narragansetts were proud and warlike they were
not, at least under the rule of Canonicus or at any time during
their intercourse with the whites, an aggressive tribe. Their
conquests were assured, not by tyranny, but by conciliation,
and their policy was to absorb the subjected race into their own
nation as individuals, or to bind them to themselves as parts of
a common confederacy. But for the coming of the English it
is probable that, with their advanced ideas, they would have
welded the coast tribes of the continent into a great and happy
nation. They had every element of power, an extensive coast
line for their trade, an understanding of agriculture, a better
knowledge of manufacture than their neighbors and, what was
of more importance as a political factor, they provided the cur-
rency for a large section of countoy. They showed a keen
appreciation of the arts and appliances of civilization and were
quick to supply themselves with guns, kettles and tools.
It cannot be supposed that Canonicus looked with any favor
upon the coming of the English into his territory. The treaty
of alliance which Ousamequin (Massasoit), chief of the Wam-
panoags, had made with the Massachusetts had withdrawn from
him his most powerful ally and greatly weakened theinflnence of
the Narragansett nation. Roger Williams says of him that
"he was most shy of the English to his last breath." It is dif-
ficult to decide whether the old prince had ever put himself
within the power of the whites or visited thera at their Massa-
chusetts settlement. In one letter Williams says, "I spend no
costs towards them and in gifts to Ousamequin (Massasoit) and
all his, and to Canonicus and all his, tokens and presents many
years before I came in person to the Narragansett, and there-
fore when I came I was welcome to Ousamequin and the old
prince Canonicus." In another he says, " When the hearts of
my countrymen and friends and brethren failed me his (the
Most High) infinite wisdom and mercy stirred up the barbarous
heart of Canonicus to love me as his son to his last gasp, by
which means I had not only Miantonomi and all the Cowesit
Sachems my friends but Ousamequin also who, because of my
great friendship with him at Plymouth and the authority of
Canonicus, consented freely (being also well gratified by me) to
15
226 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the Grovernor Winthrop's engagement of Prudence, yea of
Providence itself, and all the other lands I procured of Canoni-
cus which were upon the point, and in fact whatever I desired
of him." Thus, as he does not state that he had met.Canonicus
at Plymouth, it is reasonable to suppose that their first personal
interview was when they met in treaty for the settlement in the
jSTarragansett territory which he named Providence.
It is not to be supposed that when Canonicus gave permis-
sion to his new friend to settle on his lands, he had the
least idea of the nature of an English deed, or supposed that it
carried with it any exclusion of himself or his people, or any
surrender of his authority over them. By William's letter to
Winthrop in 1637, on the subject of the occupancy of the con-
quered Pequot territory, it appears that the right of hunting
was tacitly reserved everywhere. "I told him (Miantonomi)
that they (the JSTarragansetts) might hunt in the woods as they
do in Massachusetts and here notwithstanding the English did
generally inhabit; and this satisfied." The Indians themselves
had no individual rights in the soil. Williams expressly says
that "according to the law and tenor of the natives (as I take it)
in all New England and America, viz: that the inferior sachems
and subjects shall plant and remove at the pleasure of the high-
est and supreme sachems;" such was the habit of the Peru-
vians under the Incas. Not that the Narragansett chiefs were
long left under this delusion. First they were requested to re-
move their Indians, then ordered to remove them and soon for-
bidden to sell their lands except to such persons as were agree-
able to the new comers. But amid all these encroachments
Canonicus held fast to his friendship to Roger Williams.
He was already a man of seventy when the settlement of Provi-
dence was made. His age and his temper induced him to peace.
Moreover his nephew, Miantonomi, then in the vigor of his age
and power, was inclined to closer relations with the whites.
The old chief yielded no doubt to the more active and superior
will.
Roger Williams was at heart and in true spirit a practical
missionary. In his zeal, and urged besides by his natural love
for the acquisition of languages, he had spent " many a day in
their filthy, dirty holes to gain their tongue." Later the chiefs
would not trust themselves with the Massachusetts authorities
unless he went with them as their interpreter as well as their
HISTOET OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 227
safeguard. So well pleased was Canonicus with him that he gave
to him the island of Chibachuwesa (Prudence) as an inducement
to him to settle near himself. A careful study of the history of
the period shows that both he and Miantonomi usually yielded
to the peaceful counsels of their friend. Roger Williams was
in England when the old chief was stricken by the perfidious
murder by the "elders of Massachusetts," of his beloved
nephew, but had it been otherwise no persuasion of his could
have overruled the determination of the Narragansetts for re-
venge. On his return he attempted to quench their wrath and
to hold them to the league they had subscribed with the Mas-
sachusetts, but as he wrote, there was "a spirit of desperation
fallen upon them to revenge the death of their prince and re-
cover their ransom for his life or to perish with him." It is a
satisfaction to know that the result of this expedition was the
severe chastisement of the Mohegans, whose sachem, Uncas,
was as treacherous a savage as there is any record of.
The United Colonies imposed and collected a forced tribute
which precipitated the ruin of the Narragansetts. They were
in this crisis of their affairs when Canonicus died, June 4tli,
1647. He had already passed his eightieth year. He had once
said to Roger Williams, " I have never suffered any wrong to
be offered to the English since they landed nor never will. If
the Englishman speaks true, if he means truly, then shall I go
to my Grave in peace and hope that the English and my pos-
terity shall live in love and peace together." To this Roger
Williams bore testimony in his appeal in favor of the JSTarra-
gai^setts to the general court of Massachusetts some years later.
He was then president of Providence- colony. "I cannot yet
learn that it ever pleased the Lord to permit the Narragansetts
to stain their hands with any English blood, neither in open
hostilities nor secret murders. * •* * For the people many
hundred English have experimented them to be inclined to
peace and love with the English nation. Their late famous,
long-lived Canonicus so lived and died, and in the same honor-
able manner and solemnity (in their way) as you laid to sleep
your prudent peace-maker, Mr. Winthrop, did they honor this,
their prudent and peaceful Prince." The burial of an Indian
chief was an impressive ceremonial. On that of the son of
Canonicus, the father burned his own home, with all its con-
tents, that the young brave might want for nothing in the spirit
228 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY.
land. Hardly more than a decade had passed since Canonicus
received the exiled, landless wanderer to his broad and beauti-
ful territory, and to the protection of his proud and powerful
nation ; yet that decade had sufficed to strip him of his lands,
his people and his authority, nearly to the last vestige.
In 1883 the Khode Island Historical Society, with suitable
ceremonies and addresses, erected a boulder memorial in a place
called the Glen, in the North burial ground at Providence, to
the great chief. The site is now known as the Sachem's Gflen.
The boulder was a short time before unearthed in the town. It
is a symetrically shaped, oblong rock of primitive granite, about
five feet in height and two feet square. It bears the name of
Canonicus, and beneath the carving of a rude bow and arrow.
MiANTONOMi, or Mecumeh, prince sachem of the Narragan-
setts, was the nephew of Canonicus, the son of his youngest
brother, Mascus — so Roger Williams testifies in a solemn depo-
sition made in 1682, in reference to his purchase of the lands
about Providence from these two sachems. Canonicus, he says,
was the heir, and Miantonomi, "his Marshall and Executioner,
and did nothing without his uncle Canonicus' consent." He
first appears in history as leading his tribe in 1636 to the rescue
of the Niantic country about Misquamicut and the mouth of
the Pawcatuck river from the dominion of the Pequots, who,
in the year 1632, had, in a fierce struggle with the Niantic
tribe, " extended their territory ten miles east of the Pawca-
tuck." Overcome by their superior force, the eastern Niantics
had called on the aid of Canonicxas and making an alliance with
the Narragansetts, had become tributary to their jiower. To
this Wawatoam, the wife of Miantonomi, gives certain testi-
mony in her confirmation of Socho or Sosoa or Sassawwaw's
title to the land of Misquamicut, "Whereas my uncle Mne-
gret sayeth that it is his land, I, Wawatoam, do utterly deny it
before all men for it was conquered by my husband, Miantono-
my, and my uncle, Canonicus, long before the English had any
war with the Pequots, therefore I, Wawatoam, do really con-
firm it and affirm it to be Socho.'s land." Socho was a renegade
Pequot who, as Roger Williams informed Grovernor Winthrop,
had deserted his native tribe and become Miantonomi' s "special
darling and a kind of General of his forces." For his service
in this successful campaign, which forced the Pequots to the
westward of their river, Socho received a grant of the territory
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 229
from his new prince, thougli it appears that Ninegret, the Nian-
tic sachem, held the Niantic fort on Fort Neck in 1637, when
Captain Mason, with his Connecticut troops and Mohegan and
Narragansett allies, halted there on their march to the destruc-
tion of the Pequot fort at the Portal rocks on the Mystic river,
and the complete overthrow and destruction of this savage and
warlike race.
The guide on this expedition was Wequash, a revolted Pe-
qnot. This man, who is said to have been "the first convert
to the Christian faith among the aborigines of New England,"
was a brother of Ninegret, but it is presumed by a Pequot wo-
man, and not of the blood royal of the Niantics. In 1637, soon
after the fall of the Pequots, Roger Williams wrote to John
Winthrop that his guide had slain Sassawwaw (Socho) treach-
erously, and that Miantonomi was bent on revenge, but a few
days later reported that Socho was still alive. This attempt of
Wequash was probablj^ before his conversion, and perhaps
prompted by his jealousy of Miantonomi's favor to Socho to
the detriment of his brother Ninegret' s interest as the sachem
of the Niantics. As of Canonicus, there does notap^^ear to be
any evidence that Miantonomi was ever within the limits of the
Massachusetts colony, or had ever personally met Roger Wil-
liams before his coming to the Narragansett country in 1636.
The first letters of Williams to the governor and deputy gov-
ernor declare that Canonicus was by no means pleased to see
him but that Miantonomi was more cordial. "At my first
coming," he says, " Canonicus was very sour and accused the
English and myself of sending the plague amongst them, and
threatening to kill him especially. * * * i discovered cause
for bestirring myself and staid the longer, and at last (through
the mercy of the Most High) sweetened his spirit. * * *
Miantonomi kept his barbarous court lately at my house and
with him I have far better dealings. He takes some pleasure to
visit me and sent me word of his coming eight days henqe."
In the autumn of 1636 Roger Williams, at the request of the
Massachusetts authorities, at risk and peril of his life, broke up
the league the Pequots were seeking with the Narragansetts,
and succeeded in forming an alliance between the English, the
Narragansetts and the Mohegans against the Pequot power.
Immediately afterward Miantonomi, at the request of Governor
Vane, went up to Boston, taking with him two sons of Canonicus
230 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
and a large train of attendants. He was received with military
honors, and after the conclusion of a formal treaty of alliance,
departed with the same honors. But it does not seem that the
Indian prince put great faith in the English.
Williams wrote in the spring of 1637, just before the depart-
ure of Miantonomi on the expedition against the Pequot fort,
that Miantonomi had visited him with a great train and that the
ISTarragansetts were "at present doubtful of reality in all our
promises." After the complete success of the expedition his
trust seems to have been strengthened, for Williams then wrote,
" If I mistake not I observe in Miantonomi some sparks of true
friendship, could it be deeply imprinted into him that the
English never intended to dispoil him of the country, I prob-
ably conjecture his friendship would appear in attending of us
with five hundred men (in case) against any foreign enemy;"
and yet the proposal made by Miantonomi at this time that
Governor Vane would send some English to take possession of
the Pequot country and there inhabit does not seem to justify
this hesitation.
Miantonomi proposed that the English should inhabit near
the Connecticut and leave the Narragansetts free to hunt in the
neighborhood of Mystic on their own immediate border; but to
Williams' answer that the English might inhabit and the In-
dians be free to hunt in the same places Miantonomi made no
objection — "this satisfied." As Miantonomi was bold in war
so he was generous in victory. It was he that proposed to his
Massachusetts allies that "if the Governor were so minded they
(the Narragansetts) incline to mercy and to give them (the
Pequots) their lives;" and in all the negotiations that followed
he showed a high souled nature. In all the preceding j'-ears,
he said, "we never killed nor consented to the death of an
Englishman."
The destruction of the Pequot stronghold left the range of
country between thePawtuxet and the Connecticut rivers with-
out any certain jurisdiction. The Mohegans on the one side
and the Narragansetts on the other roamed over it in pursuit of
the scattered Pequots and not seldom came to blows themselves
over their captives. This continued warfare was a source of
alarm to the English, who were never at ease when any of the
Indians were on the war path. Miantonomi, anxious that his
good faith should not be doubted, proposed a visit to the Massa-
HISTOEY OP TSTEWPORT COUNTY. 231
chusetts governor, "if he may safely go." Williams assured
him of good treatment. He returned satisfied of their good
intentions. In his gratitude for Governor Winthrop's " loving
carriage" to Mm, he ordered all the Indians oflP from Prudence
island, which had been given to Williams and Winthrop, and
upon which they were about to commence a little plantation for
the drying of fish and the breeding of hogs.
The Pequot war ended with the murder of Sassacus, their
chief sachem, by theMohegans, to whom he had fiedfor shelter,
and the division of the survivors of the tribe as slaves among
the conquerors. The share of the Narragansetts Miantonomi
left to the wisdom of Governor Winthrop. The correspondence
of Williams shows that the Narragansetts, though they had a
principal share in the captures, were not liberally treated in the
division; Miantonomi's request for a Pequot squaw being
haggled over if not refused. Nor does Williams' own temper
seem to have been over kindly, as he advises Winthrop " if there
be any just exception (to their demands) which they can not
well answer that the use be made of it (if it may be with safety
to the common peace) to get the bits into their mouths especi-
ally if there be good assurance from the Mohawks." Of the
possible enmity of this powerful confederacy the New England
colonies were in daily dread. There was a bitter qaarrel over the
disposal of the captives. The Mohegans on the one side and the
Man tics on the other wished for the additional strength this
recruitment would bring to them. The Niantics refused to
yield up any of those to whom they had promised life, either
to the Mohegans or to the Connecticut government who sup-
ported their Mohegan allies in all their demands. Canonicus
and Miantonomi in vain endeavored to persuade the Niantics
to give up the Pequots, but they in turn threatened that for
every life the English should take they would have revenge
even in the settlements of P'rudence, Aquidneck, Providence
and elsewhere.
In 1640 Uncas, the Mohegan chief, having captured three
Niantics, refused to give them up and Miantonomi determined
to go himself with a sufficient force to Monhegan (Norwich) and
bring them in. The Massachusetts government again summoned
Miantonomi before them but he declined, not satisfied with in-
terpreters \Vhom he feared to trust, or to go up without being
accompanied by Williams. Yet in all this period he lost no
282 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COtTNTY.
opportunity of propitiating the, governor by an exchange of
gifts. Canonicus and he sent beads to Winthrop and Mianto-
nomi's wife a "basket" to Mrs. Winthrop. "In return Ca-
nonicus asks for little sugar and Miantonomi for a littje
powder." In August of this year the general court of Massa-
chusetts summoned the sachems to answer charges of a con-
spiracy with the Mohawks against the colonies. These charges
originated in Connecticut. Miantonomi answered in person,
accused Uncas of the malicious intrigue, and entirely satisfied
the court.
In 1642 Roger Williams sent to England to obtain a charter
which might compose the dissensions of the Rhode Island set-
tlements at home and secure theni against the threatening ag-
gressions of their neighbors of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
In the summer of this year a war broke out between Uncas,
sachem of the Mohegans, and Sequasson, a sachem on the Con-
necticut river, an ally of the ISTarragansetts. The English de-
clined to interfere. Miantonomi, before going to the aid of his
allies, faithful to his old engagement, sent to the governor of
Massachusetts "to know if he would be offended, if he made
war on Uncas," and was answered "If Uncas had done him or
his friends wrong and would not give satisfaction we should
leave him to take his own course." In July, 1643, Uncas began
the war against Sequasson. Miantonomi, with a thousand
braves, took the trail across the country toward Monhegan and
came upon Uncas at a place about a mile and a half southwest
of the Yantic river. According to tradition Uncas sent a mes-
senger across the space which lay between the forces and asked
an interview. Miantonomi is said to have consented but to
have been outwitted by a stratagem of the wily Pequot, and the
Narragansetts being thrown into panic by a sudden charge, fell
prisoner, being now no longer young, to his fleeter footed ene-
mies and was carried by Uncas to his fort hard by. No violence
was at the time offered to him. He was soon after taken by
Uncas to Hartford, where he was held prisoner for judgment by
the commissioners of the United Colonies. He was taken in
July.
His defeat was ascribed by the good people of Connecticut to
the prayers of their minister, Thomas Hooker, who was reck-
oned by the colony as the "Moses who turned away the wrath
of Grod from them and obtained a blast from heaven upon the
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 233
Indians by his uplifted hands in those remarkable deliverances
which they sometimes experienced." On the occasion of this
war in which, it must not be forgotten, the English took no
part, the "Magnatia" says: "Much notice was taken of the
prevailing importunity wherewith Mr. Hooker urged for the ac-
complishment of that great promise unto the people of Grod ' I
will bless them that bless thee and I will curse him that curseth
thee,' and the effect of it was that the Narragansetts received a
wonderful overthrow from the Mohegans though the former did
three or four to one exceed the latter. Such an Israel at prayer
was our Hooker."
The united commissioners met at Boston in August, when the
case of Miantonomi was debated. They were all of opinion
that "it would not be safe to set him at liberty neither had we
sufficient ground to put him to death. In this difficulty we
called in five of the most judicious elders and propounding the
case to them, they all agreed that he ought to be put to death;
and we agreed that upon the return of the commissioners to
Hartford they should send for Uncas and tell him our determi-
nation that Miantonomi should be delivered to him again and he
should put him to death so soon as he came within his own ju-
risdiction, and that two English should go along with him to see
the execution and that if any Indians should invade him for it
we should send men to defend him." It is to be regretted that
the names of these elders are not known and that they escape
their proper place in the pillory of history. The reason for the
hatred of the elders to the Indian prince was the sale he had
made of the Shawomet country to Gorton, the proscribed her-
etic of the Massachusetts colony, and the consent of the com-
missioners to the mnrder, their jealousy of the Narragansett
power and their desire to promote animosity among the Indian
tribes. With such a cause of quarrel and the aid of the Mohe-
gan power, they might repeat upon the Narragan setts the story
of the Pequot destruction five years before. It is said that the
commissioners stipulated with Uncas that Miantonomi should
not be tortured, but proof is lacking of any such humanity. It
is of tradition that Uncas took Miantonomi back to the spot
where he had been overtaken, when his head was cloven with a
hatchet from behind and he was buried where he fell. A heap
of stones was raised about his body, which disappeared many
years after. Some citizens of Norwich have erected on the tra-
234 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ditional spot a monument about eight feet high, a solid cube of
granite five feet square on a massive pedestal; with the simple
inscription, "Miantonomi, 1643."
Thus fell the " noble souled," high spirited chief, whom Hop-
kins calls " the most potent prince the people of New England
had any concern with; and this was the reward he received for
assisting them seven years before in their wars with the
Pequots."
Pessicds was the son of Mascus, the youngest of the brothers
of Canonicus, and himself the brother of Miantonomi. After
the murder of that prince in 1643 he shared the sovereignty of
the Narragansetts with his uncle, now well advanced in years.
His name first appears in an official way as " Chief Sachem and
successor of that late deceased" Miantonomi, in the letter of
submission to King Charles. Next in order comes the mark of
" that ancient Canonicus, Protector of that late deceased Mian-
tonomy during the time of iiis nonage," after which the " marke
of Mixan, son and heire of that above said Canonicus." The
mark of Pessicus is a strung bow and arrow, the head pointed
downward, the mark of Mixan a hatchet or tomahawk, while
that of the old chief is the familiar carpenter's instrument
known as a T square. The act or deed, as it is styled in the
record, was witnessed by two of the chief counsellors to sachem
Pessicus; Awashoosse and Tomanic, Indians. It will be observed
that Pessicus signed first in order. Tlie paper is dated the 19th
of April, 1644. It is followed on the record by a letter sent to
the general court of Massachusetts on the 24th of May, 1644,
which is signed by Pessicus and Canonicus, the formality of
the signature of young Mixan probably being deemed un-
necessary.
The power of the government was wholly in the hands of
Pessicus. It fell to him when the affairs of the tribe were in a
difficult financial and political situation. Financially they were
impoverished by the large amount of wampumpeage they had
paid and paid in vain for the ransom of Miantonomi. Politically
the authority of the sachems was compromised by the contempt
of their power which this breach of faith implied, and further
by the disloyalty of Pumham in his denial of the validity of
the sale made in 1642 by Miantonomi, as sachem of Shawomet,
which he himself witnessed, and his more recent submission to
the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. This act brought theNarra-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT OOUMTT. 235
gansett chiefs face to face with the powerful and merciless
Massachusetts colony; the general court of which improved the
pretext thus given them, and which no doubt was of their own
suggestion, to gain a footing on the shores and in the affairs of
Rhode Island and "an outlet into Narragansett bay."
Gorton and his followers, who made the purchase of Mianto-
nomi, were forcibly ejected from their settlement and banished
on peril of their lives. After confinement at hard labor for a-
while the leaders were released, but, being notified by Governor
Winthrop that their own purchased territory was included in
the ban, they took refuge at Aquidneck. The occasion seemed
propitious to Canonicus and Pessicus. Messengers were sent
to invite Gorton and his friends to visit the Narragansett chiefs
assembled in council on the island of Conanicut. The question
before this conference was one of the jurisdiction of Canonicus
as against the claim of a subordinate sachem, Pumham; of Gor-
ton and his associates as to the title to the land they had pur-
chased and paid for. The result was the formal act of sub-
mission to King Charles. "Our desire is," they say, " to have
our matters and causes heard and tried according to his just and
equal laws in that way and order His Highness shall please to
appoint; nor can we yield ever ourselves unto any that are sub-
jects themselves in any case; having ourselves been the chief
sachems or princ'es successively of the country time out of
mind." This voluntary and free submission, as they styled it,
was placed in the hands of Gorton, who, with three others, his
associates, were made attornies or commissioners for the safe
custody, careful conveyance and declaration thereof unto his
Grace. Gorton is supposed to have gone to England with this
document in the ensuing winter.
After their murder of Miantonomi the general court of Massa-
chusetts summoned the Narragansett chiefs to appear before it.
To this Pessicus and Canonicus replied with a formal notice of
their submission to King Charles and of their intention to refer
any disputes to his royal decision. They decline to go up to
the court and assign as their sufficient reason "Our brother
(Miantonomi) was willing to stir much abroad to converse with
men and we see a sad event at the last thereupon. Take it
not ill therefore though we resolve to keep at home (unless some
great necessity calls us out) and so at this time do not repair
unto you according to your request." They give plain notice.
236 HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
however, that they intend to take revenge for the death of
Miantonomi, and ask to know why they are advised " not to go
out against their so inhuman and cruel adversary who took so
great a ransom to release him and his life also when that was
done." Alarmed at the new posture of affairs, the general court
sent messengers to dissuade the Narragansetts from war.
Pumham and Sacconoco, who had played the same part at
Pawtuxet as the wily savage had done at Shawomet, were so
fearful of punishment that they applied for and received a guard
of soldiers from Massachusetts. In reply to the message of the
court, the Narragansetts sent messengers to the commissioners
of the United Colonies demanding the payment by Uncas of
one hundred and sixty fathoms of wampum or a new hearing
of the case within six weeks, threatening war in case of re-
fusal.
In the spring the Narragansetts, one thousand strong, and
partly armed with guns, defeated Uncas and his Mohegans with
slaughter. The Connecticut colony sent troops to the aid of
their old ally. Both the tribes were summoned to Boston to
ex[)lain the cause of the troubles. Terms of neutrality were
agreed upon between Rhode Island and the Indians, and a con-
tinuation of the war was inevitable, although Roger Williams
again exerted himself for peace. The Narragansetts were de-
termined on the thorough subjection of Uncas. The United
Colonies now declared war, sent back the peace offerings of the
Narragansetts, who sought no quarrel with any but the Mohe-
gans, and mounted troops were impressed and sent forward un-
der Lieutenant Atherton. The Narragansetts, alarmed in their
turn, sought for peace. Roger Williams, accompanied by Pes-
sicus, two other sachems and a large Indian train, went up to
Boston. Disappointed in their hope of exterminating the Nar-
ragansetts by war, the commissioners imposed upon them a
treaty which was their ruin. An indemnity was imposed upon
them of two thousand fathoms of wampum, to be paid within
two years, in four equal installments; each, it will be observed,
three times and more the amount demanded of the Mohegans
by the Narragansetts. They were required to give up all right
to the Pequot territory, originally a part of their own domain,
and recovered in great measure by their arms.
The next year (1647) the Narragansetts were charged with an
attempt to engage the Mohawks in a war with the English.
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 237
Canonicus, dying in June of this year, left Pessicus in sole
command, aided, however, by young Mexham, the grandson of
the old chief. Pessicus was summoned to Boston, but in his
stead sent Ninegret, whom they held as a hostage until some wam-
pum was forced from him. The ensuing installments not being
forthcoming, Captain Atherton, who seems to have been about
the most brutal of the unscrupulous henchmen of the United
Colonies, was sent with an armed band to collect it by force.
Surprising Pessicus in his wigwam before he could summon as-
sistance, he dragged him out by the hair of his head, and col-
lected the debt in true highwayman fashion at the point of his
pistol. Arnold considers this a courageous act, but we fail to
see the courage in surprising an unarmed man, while holding
his assistants at bay through fear of the murder of their chief.
For his conduct, on this occasion Captain Atherton was given a
farm of five hundred acres, carved out of the lately stolen and
newly annexed possessions at Warwick (Shawomet).
Both Warwick and Pawtuxet were now attached to Ply-
mouth by the commissioners of the United Colonies.
There is an entry on the Rhode Island records. May 23d,
1650, which shows the change in the attitude of the colonists to
the Narragansetts princes which ten years had wrought. It is
an order "that Pessicus shall have libertie to get t so many
chesnut rinds, upon the common of the Island as may cover
him a wigwam ; provided he take John Greene with him that
no wrong may be done to any particular person upon the is-
land." In 1653 the council of Massachusetts sent messengers
to question the JSTarragansett princes, among whom Mexham,
son of Canonicus, now appears for the first time, and to de-
mand reasons why they had taken up arms against the Long
Islanders. A satisfactory answer not being received, war was
declared by the United Colonies, but Massachusetts held back,
refusing her quota.
In 1660 the commissioners of the United Colonies completed
their work of spoliation. Under the pretense that the Mohe-
gans had been injured by the Narragansetts they sent down an
armed force, with instructions to collect a fine of five hundred
and ninety-five fathoms of wampum within four months. To
raise this sum the sachems mortgaged their entire country to a
company consisting of Mr. John Winthrop (the governor of
Connecticut), Major Atherton and their associates, who had al-
238 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTS.
ready purchased the previous year the northern tract known as
Narragansett country and Coweset country ; but the signature
of Pessicus does not appear in this instrument. In 1661, how-
ever, we find his supreme authority again in his denial of the
right of Ninegret, the Niantic sachem, to the Misquamicut
lands lately conveyed to a party of settlers. In 1665 the three
royal commissioners appointed to settle all the colonial dis-
pates, arrived at Pettaquamscot. The Narragansett sachems
confirmed their submission to the crown, and the commissioners
set up a new authority in the king's name over the entire terri-
tory, from the bay to the Pawcatuck river, under the name of
the "King's Province," the Rhode Island charter recognizing
the validity of the Indian titles to the soil. The governor and
council of Rhode Island were appointed magistrates until the
May election. And what was of supreme importance, the
mortgaged lands held by the Atherton company were ordered
to be released on the payment of two hundred and thirty-five
fathoms of peage by Pessicus or Ninecraft, the purchase of the
tracts being declared void for lack of consideration of the deed
and because of prior cession to the crown.
In the report sent to England by the commissioners the same
year they state that two of the sachems then living did actually
in their own persons surrender themselves, people and country,
into his royal majesty's protection before his commissioners,
who had made the submission in 1644. To each of them a coat
was presented in the name of his majesty. They in turn en-
gaged thereafter, in token of subjection, to pay a tribute of two
wolf skins to his majesty on a fixed day, and by the commis-
sioners they then sent to the king two caps of peage and two
clubs inlaid with peage as a present, and a feather mantle and a
porcupine bag as a present for the queen. Pessicus also de-
sired the commissioners to pray King Charles that no strong
liquors might be brought into that country, for he had thirty-
two men that died by drinking of it. At that time Ninecraft
seems to have divided the authority with Pessicus. Pumham,
however, maintained his independent position, and in spite of
all the efforts of the English commissioners, declined to submit
to Pessicus. He was supported in his resistance for twenty
years by the counsel and force of the Massachusetts colony.
With this account of the commissioners Pessicus disappears
from the scene. -What part he played in the great war in which
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 239
his kinsman, Canonchet, led the tribe is not known. Updike,
in his account of this chieftain, says that " he was piit to death
by the Mohawks in 3 676."
Canonchet — Naunnnteno, "as he was last called," says
Drake in his notes to Church's narrative, was the last sachem
of the race of Narragansett princes. His name does not appear
at all on the records of the Rhode Island colony. He was noted
for his enmity to the English race, for which he had good and
sufficient cause. His name appears first of the six subscribing
sachems of the Narragansetts to the treaty forced upon them by
Captain Hutchinson on behalf of the Massachusetts government,
at the point of the sword at Petaquamscott in July, 1675. By
this treaty they agreed to harbor none of King Philip's people
in the course of the war which had broken out in the spring.
The tribe as a whole kept to their engagement but it is proba-
ble that some of their young braves had a hand in the hot fights
of this battle summer.
On the defeat at Hatfield (Connecticut) Philip's forces dis-
persed, and as winter was now approaching, the greater part re-
treated to Narragansett where they were warmly received by
Canonchet and his tribe. The United Colonies, dreading that
the IS'arragansetts would join Philip in the spring, summoned
them to surrender Philip's men and the women and children he
had put under their protection. To this Canonchet gave the
spirited and famous reply: " Not a Wampanoag nor the paring
of a Wampanoag' s nail shall be given up." No word of notice
was given to the Rhode Island colony, and the entire proceed-
ing of Massachusetts, this demand and the hostilities which fol-
lowed, were in direct disregard and contravention of the char-
ter of Rhode Island, in which it was explicitly declared " not
lawful for the rest of the colonies to invade or molest the native
Indians without the knowledge and consent of the Governor
and Company of the Providence Plantations."
The three colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Connecti-
cut raised eleven hundred and thirty-five men, including one
hundred and fifty Mohegans and Pequots, and marched under
the command of General Winslow, the governor of the Ply-
mouth colony, upon the winter fortress of the Narragansetts,
-about fifteen miles distant from Wickfordin the present town of
South Kingstown, R. I., hardly a stone's throw from the line of
the Stonington railroad, " but then the center of an impassable
240 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
swamp upon soma rising ground containing about four acres of
land. It was securely hid by tall junipers which, with the
cedar and pine, formed the intricacies of the place, and was
fortified with great ingenuity and strength. * * * Upon the
approach of winter the tribe had removed to this fortress all
their women and children and had rendered it as impregnable
as their knowledge of defensive warfare could possibly make it.
They had erected about live hundred wigwams of a superior
construction, in which their provisions were stored, and had
piled the tubs and baskets of grain around inside of the walls,
making their dwellings still more impervious to the bullets of
their enemies. The tubs were made of hollow trees cut or sawed
into suitable lengths, with a wooden bottom. More than three
thousand persons had taken refuge within these huts. * * *
The passage over the ditch that surrounded the fort was by a
single tree which had been felled, on which all must pass to
gain the opposite side. * '• * Besides the high palisades the
Indians were protected by a breastwork of fallen trees about a
rod in thickness, which extended entirely around the fortress,
their tops foremost."
This was the scene of the celebrated swamp fight of the 19th
of December, 167i5, the most hardly contested and bloody con-
test in the early history of the colonies. The English lost
about eighty killed and one hundred and fifty wounded; the
Indians three hundred to three hundred and fifty slain and as
many more captured. Church, in his narrative, says that he
was informed at the time that " near a third of the Indians be-
longing to all the Narragansett country were killed by the En-
glish and by the cold of that night;" and adds that "sixty or
seventy were from Pumham's town of Shawomet who never be-
fore then fired a gun against the English." Nor in fact do the
histories of the colonies contain mention of one single act of
hostility by the Narragansetts upon any of the colonies until
this invasion of their home and territory.
It is not probable that Philip was in this fight. If he were,
Church, who acted as aid to General Winslow, would certainly
have known it and his son, who wrote the history of Philip's
war, would have made mention of it. It seems hardly possible,
as he was in force enough in January to plunder Warwick and
desolate the neighborhood on his way up to the Nipmuck coun-
try, but it is certain that Canonchet commanded his tribe in the
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 241
last grand struggle, and that he was with Philip in the ensuing
winter.
The Narragansetts sued for peace but the Massachusetts col-
ony refused the overture and marched reinforcements into the
territory. Canonchet accompanied Philip in his invasion of the
Massachusetts colony. He is supposed to have commanded at
the bloody attacks upon Lancaster and Medfield, and in the
raid upon Weymouth within fifteen miles of Boston in Febru-
ary, and it is certain that he led the party which surrounded
and destroyed in March the party of Captain Pierce, whom he
surprised on his way to attack him at Pawtuxet. Such was
the terror in Providence, which the Indians nearly destroyed,
that the records preserve the names of but " thirty that stayed
and went not away." Among these was Roger Williams, of
v^hom the tradition is preserved that he went out alone to meet
the approaching savages and was kindly received. As Canon-
chet commanded at Pawtucket falls on the 26th of March and
the burning of Providence was on the 29th, there is little doubt
that it was Canonchet who thus remembered the ancient friend-
ship of Canonicus and Miantonomi for the venerable founder of
the Providence Plantations.
The whole colony was now in terror; gunboats patrolled the
island. But the alarm was now widespread and from every
quarter troops marched to the center of hostilities. In April
Colonel George Denison led a force of English and Mohegans
from 'New London along the old Indian trail, across the Pawca-
tuck ford, through Westerly and the heart of the Narragansett
territory, and came upon Canonchet near the Pawtucket river,
close to the spot where nine days before he had destroyed Cap-
tain Pierce and his party. Canonchet was surprised in his tent.
Flying in haste, he missed his footing in the ford of the river
and wet his gun. He was overtaken and captured " without
resistance, though a man of great strength," by one of the
Pequots. A young Englishman coming up to him asked him
some questions but was answered, " You too much child! No
understand matters of war! Captain conie; him I will answer."
He was offered his life on condition of the submission of his
tribe. He would not listen to the proposal, wished " to hear no
more about it."
Drake, in his notes to Church's narrative, says "he was
afterward shot at Stonington." Arnold says that "he was sent
16
242 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
in charge of Captain Denison to Stonington where a council of
war condemned him to be shot." But Mr. C. H. Denison,
from whom free quotations have already been made above,
says: "The army continued its march (homeward) until
it reached and crossed the Pawcatuck river.at the ford where
the present bridge is situated, and after advancing about two
miles came to a halt on a small plain. A council of war was
now held by the captains, assisted by the Rev. James Noyes,
whose residence was at hand, and it was decided that the
prisoner must be shot. While they were deliberating, a mat
was spread for him to sit upon, and while resting upon it one
of the soldiers sat down by him and looking him in his face
insultingly while he was speaking, he took it in such indigna-
tion that although his arms were pinioned, he gave the man
such a violent thrust or blow that the fellow went sprawling
along the ground. The plain which was destined to be the
spot where the noble chief should be executed is about two
miles from Westerly, R. I., toward Mystic, and is now known
as Anquilla. When told that he must die and that his last
hour had arrived the chief said, ' T like it well; I shall die be
fore my heart is soft or I have said anything unworthy of my-
self.' * * Two Indians were appointed to fulfill the order of
the court. The whole army stood to their arms, a quick, sharp
word of command was given and a report of two muskets echoed
among the surrounding hills. Down, like a tall pine stricken
by a thunder bolt, fell the stately form of the Narragansett
chief. With a loud, exultant whoop, the Niantics, Mohegans
and Pequots, traitors to their race, rushed upon the fallen foe
and the work of death was finished. He was quartered, be-
headed and his body burned by the Indians, who carried his
head to Hartford and presented it to the governor,"
Arnold gives some other interesting details. He says, "To
insure the fidelity of the friendly tribes by committing them
to a deed that would forever deter the Narragansetts from
seeking their alliance, it was arranged that each of them should
take part in the execution. Accordingly the Pequots shot him,
the Mohegans cut off his head and quartered him and the
Niantics who, under Ninegret, joined the English, burned his
body and sent his head as ' a token of love ' and loyalty to the
commissioners at Hartford." In the story of these barbarities
there is little difference between the English and the savages.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 243
The English, however, do not seem to have tortured their cap-
tives but to have reserved this mode of punishment for their
religious enemies or antagonists of their own race.
PuMHAM was a Narragansett Indian; the local sachem of that
tribe of the nation which inhabited the country about Warwick
neck in Kent county. His own residence was on the neck.
This land was sold by Miantonomi, sachem of the Narragansetts,
on the 12th day of January, 1642, for four hundred and ftfty-
four fathom of wampumpeage. Totanomans joins in the con-
veyance, though his name does not appear in the body of the
instrument; Pumham and Jano being witnesses to the deed.
The purchasers were Holden and eleven others, among whom
was Samuel Gorton, whose eccentric career is stated elsewhere.
The land conveyed is described as "lying upon the West side
of that part of the Sea called Sowhames Bay from Copassnatuet,
over against a little Island in the said Bay being the North
bonnds and the outmost point of that neck of land called
Shawomet; being the South bound from the Sea Shore from
each boundary upon a straight line westward twenty miles."
It maybe observed here that as in all the deeds or titles granted
to the whites, this deed is made by the chief sachem or prince
of the nation, the local sachem simply witnessing the transfer.
Arnold, in his History of Rhode Island, estimates the consid-
ei-ation as the equivalent of seventy-two pounds sterling, if
black peage is meant, or half that sum if white. It was prob-
ably the black peage, the ordinary currency.
With this sale Pumham, the sachem of Shawomet, was dis-
contented. He seems to have been attached to his lands and to
have striven to maintain his own residence and that of his tribe
upon them. The weakness of the young colonies on the Narra-
gansett territory and their inability to aid their allies, Canonious
and Miantonomi, in any effective way, were apparent. In his
discontent Pumham followed the example set by Ousamequin
(Massasoit), chief of the Wampanoags, and together with the
sachem of Pawtuxet, submitted himself and his lands to the
jurisdiction of Massachusetts. He at the time denied having
consented to the sale of Shawomet or having received any part
of the purchase money. Thirteen years later, in 1656, he
pleaded having been drawn into the covenant by the awe of his
superior sachems, to which Eoger Williams made answer that
"it was the law and tenor of the natives in all New England
244 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
and America, viz: that the inferior sachems and subjects shall
plant and remove at the pleasure of the highest and supreme
sachems." And again, in 1665, Pumham and his tribe are
described by the same authority as "a melancholy people and
judge themselves by their former sachem [Miantonomi] and
these English oppressed and wronged."
The submission to Massachusetts brought protection to Pum-
ham, but little peace or enjoyment of his lands. The charter
of 1643 distinctly placing this territory within the Providence
Plantations, the only hoi:)e of Massachusetts to secure a footing
on JSTarragansett bay was through the usurped jurisdiction over
the tribe of Shawomet. In 1645 the general court of Massa-
chusetts granted ten thousand acres of the lands of Pumham
to thirty-two persons, and Benedict Arnold was appointed to
negotiate with the sachem for the right in any improved ground.
The houses in the Holden-Grorton settlement granted by Mian-
tonomi were included in this new grant on such payment, if
any, as the general court shoiald order. Plymouth also claimed
the land as within her jurisdiction, and surely with as much
right as Massachusetts, if the original title of the supreme
prince were to be disregarded.
The return of Gorton from exile, the determination of Rhode
Island to maintain her rights under the charter, and the direct
submission of Canonicus and Pessicus and the Narragansett
kingdom to the English crown, were of perilous omen to Pum-
ham, and his fear of the anger of his inferior sachems in view
of the threatened renewal of war with theMohegans, so alarmed
him that he applied to Massachusetts for a guard, in response
to which an officer and ten men were sent to build a fort and
hold it for his protection until danger was over.
In 1649 the general court for Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations meeting at Warwick, summoned "Pumham and the
other sachem (Sacconoco) and ordered letters to be sent to Bene-
dict Arnold and the rest of Patuxet" about their subjecting to
the colony of Rhode Island. Pumham does not appear to have
paid much regard to their summons, and Warwick neck seems
to have become a thorn in the side of the colony. In 1655
Roger Williams, at that time president of Providence Planta-
tions, complained to the general court of Massachusetts of the
insolence and injuries done to themselves and their cattle by the
Warwick and Pawtuxet Indians under shelter of the authority
HI5TOKY OF NEWPORT COrXTY. 245
of Massachusetts. "These Indians," he says, "live as bar-
barously, if not more than any in the country;" and he adds,
to show the general condition of affairs at that period, "The
barbarians all the land over are filled with artillery and ammu-
nition from the Dutch openly and horridly, and from all the
English over the country by stealth."
The next year, 1656, on the complaints of the War^-ick set-
tlers of oppression by Indians, a committee, including Roger
Williams, Benedict Arnold and Gorton, was named to treat
with " Pum ham and his company." Williams went to Boston
and wrote to the court a month or two later that his negotiations
with the sachem were progressing favorably. That the accord was
not of long duration appears by the order of the general court
in 1658 for any that see cause to arrest Pumham, "who dwells on
Mishowamett Neck," or any other Indians upon Warwick lands.
His^ men had been again busy killing cattle and making forci-
ble entry on the settlers' lands. And the next year the sheriffs
had warrants to arrest Pumham himself and any other Indians
concerned in an insurrection at Warwick, and the rescue of an
Indian there as well as a robbery at Pawtuxet.
In 1664, on the receipt of their new charter from Charles the
Second, and the sufficient assurance that its terms would be en-
forced, the general court of Rhode Island, on the petition of
the Warwick inhabitants, gave notice to Pumham by letter
from the governor and deputy governor that "he was within
the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island colony, and that he must
take some speedy course to remove the difference betwixt the
men of Warwick and himself concerning lands, or else he may
expect that upon a legal trial the Courts of the Colony are re-
solved to do justice in the premises." But the determined old
sachem still refused to leave Shawomet neck, the home of his
fathers ; and it was not until the king's commissioners came
into the province to settle the outstanding disputes between the
colonists themselves and with the Indians, that he was finally
induced to remove. These commissioners, according to their
instructions, entered upon the Xarragansett territory and
named it the King's Province. In their report they state that
" the Matachusetts did maintain Pumham fa petty sachem in
the province) twenty years against this (R. Island) Colony."
The commissioners in April ordered that Pumham and liis In-
dians should that year plant their corn on the neck, but before
246 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the next planting remove to some other place out of the
King's Province provided for them by such as they have '
subjected themselves unto (a reference to Massachusetts) or to
some other place within the King's Province appointed for them
by Pessicus, their rightful prince. On his removal the courts
of Warwick to pay him twenty pounds at eight a penny, and
if he and his tribe subject themselves to Pessicus, then the town
of Warwick to give ten "pounds at eight a penny as a present.
And it seems that Cheesechamut, eldest son of Pumham, hav-
ing received thirty pounds in peage, at eight a penny, from the
gentlemen of Warwick, and the promise of ten pounds more
in like pay, engaged to depart from and quit the tract of land
known as Warwiclv neck, as also that province now called the
Kings Province, formerly the Narragansett country, imme-
diately on the receipt of the said ten pounds, and not at any
time thereafter to return to inhabit in the aforesaid place or
places. This acquittance and agreement, signed at ''Mr.
Smith's ti'ading house," at J^arragansett, was signed by Cheese-
chamut, Nauswahcoraet and Assowaet, in the presence of a
number of witnesses, of which Robert Carr, the king's commis-
sioner, was one. December 28th, 1665, the additional ten
pounds was paid by Robert Carr himself to help along the ne-
gotiation, and on his advice the final sum was paid by Gorton
and his Warwick associates.
Pumham would not or at least did not join in this agreement,
although he is said to have taken the ten pounds from the
Warwick people, and did not leave the neck, although formally
ordered in a requisition addressed by Sir Robert Carr, "To
Pumham, pretended Sachem on Warwick Xeck and his adher-
ents." Pumham had endeavored to interest his Massachusetts
friends, and John Eliot himself had written to Carr interceding
for him, saying, " Pnmham and his i)eople have suffered much
hard and ill dealings by some English ; and there hath been
both force and fraud used toward them to drive them or deceive
them out of their lands." Eliot adds that the}" are in no wise
willing to part wdth that little which they still hold, and be-
seeches Carr, as the king's commissioner, to deal honorably by
them ; to whicli Carr replied that, at their hearing of the case,
he had heard nothing of hard and ill dealings to Pumham and
his people, nor did he understand whom it was intended to ac-
cuse, and raps Eliot severely over the knuckles for his interfer-
HISTORY OF IfEWPORT COrXTY. 247
ence. And Roger Williams also, in llie March succeeding the
order to remove, notifies Sir Rjberr Carr of his • having heard
of a late confederacy amongst great numbers of rliese barbarians
to assist Pamham."'
There is nothing more curious in the whole of this curious
history of Indian dispn res as ro sovereignty and English dis-
putes as to jurisdiction, than this letter of Eciger Williams. It is
printed in the Rhode Island Colonial Records, 11. 135. In it he
calls Shawomet Pnmham's "Lordship."" and insists on a satis-
factory consideration for it: a matter of some hundreds of
pounds. He stares that in his negotiations with Pumham "'he
would not part with that necke on any terms." He intimates
that the ^Xarragansett chiefs. Xinecraft and Pessicus. were bar-
barians who would join against the English if it came to blood.
but adds that if -King Philip keep his promise they will be too
great a party against those Sachems:"' the firsr intimation had
of Philip's ijower. One clause is especially significant in Roger
Williams" notice: '• Tour honor will never effect by force a safe
and lasting conclusion until you have first reduced rhe Massachu-
setts to the obedience of his Majestie and these their appendants
("towed at their stern) will easily (and not before) wind about
also.""
A year after the hearing and supposed settlement at Warwick,
Sir Robert Carr informed Lord Arlington of his attempted ar-
rangement with Pumham and the unwillingness of that chief to
submit to Pessicus. but stated that the matter had been finally
arranged by Roger Williams, " an ancient man "" who was " very
much instrumental in forwarding Pumham'' s removal, who with
his company are removed"" to general satisfaction. Arnold, in
summing up this part of Pumham" s career, styles Pumham " a
renegade" and •' the abject slave of the Puritans " oT the Massa-
chusetts colony, but this the records scarcely show: and it is
questionable whether, as in the case of Xinegret, had the Xar-
ragansett princes not disposed of their territory, they would
have proven false to their tribal duties as subordinate sachems.
That he was not the "abject slave"' of the English is shown by
the readiness with which he joined the confederate chiefs wbo
flocked to Philip's side in the spring of 167.5.
When the Massachusetts commissioners marched into the
iSarragansett territory they found the 'villages in Pumham" s
district " deserted, from which it is to be supposed that he had
248 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTr.
been provided with lands somewhere in the King's Province.
That he had been reconciled with the Narragansett chiefs ap-
pears from the fact that he was one of tlie six sachems who
"treated with the Narragansetts sword in hand" in July,
and subscribed the treaty of peace, which they broke without
hesitation the moment the overawing force was withdrawn. He
had composed his difficulties with Warwick or else returned to
that neighborhood in the progress of the war, as Church states
in his narrative that General Winslow, on his march against
the Narragansetts in the winter campaign, marched around that
township by night instead of crossing the bay to Smith's gar-
rison house at the ferry (Wickford) in the hope of surprising
Pumham and his town, but found them gone. His village was
destroyed at this time, a few days before the swamp fight. It is
not known whether Pamham was engaged in this last great
stand of the JSTarragansets, when Canoachet, the son of Mianto-
nomi, led his nation. Pumham was killed at the head of his
warriors on the 25th of July, 1676, in a fight near Dedham,
Massachusetts. Trumbull says that his grandson, who was
f^steemed the best soldier and the most warlike of the Narra-
gansett chiefs, had before this been taken by Ca^Dtain Denison.
Thus says Arnold: "Pamham efiEaced the stain of a servile life
by a manly death." We heartily agree in the conclusion of
this sentence.
NiNEGRET, who first appears in history as at the Niantic fort
when Lieutenant Mason passed by it on the "Old Indian path,"
on his way from Narragansett (Wickford) through the woods
to surprise the Pequot stronghold, is said in the writings of the
times to have been a renegade from that tribe which, like the
Bulgarians of the Lower Empire, seem to have been ready for
any service. Eoger Williams mentions him as one of the chief
sachems, a "chiefe soldier," a "notable instrument." He is
occasionally called Yanemo or Juanemo. His early fighting
reputation was gained in his feud with the Mon tanks, whom,
with their sachem Wyandance, he defeated with great slaughter,
after which he attacked their unprepared headquarters at
Metoac, devastated their villages and returned with a store of
booty, wampum and shells.
Ninegret was the chief sachem of the Niantic Indians, who
were tributary to thelSTarragansett nation; their chief ruling un-
der the authority of the ]N"arragansett princes in a serai-feudal
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 249
manner. The Niantics, according to Indian tradition, held pos-
session of the coast from the Pawcatuck to the Connecticut
river, the territory on the east of the former and the west of
the latter and from the coast line northward thirty to forty
miles into the forests, and by the Europeans were divided geo-
graphically into the Eastern and Western Niantics : the eastern
having their stronghold near Weccapaug, now Charlestown,
R. I., and the western at Lyme, Conn. 'They were said to have
been a peaceful tribe and to have fallen an easy prey to the
tierce Pequots who swept down upon them from northeastern
New York, established their headquarters at the mouth of the
Pequot (Thames) river where they built two strongholds, and
pushed their conquests to the mouth of the Pawcatuck. Here
they were met by the Niantics and the Narragansetts called to
their aid, but defeating them in battle extended their con-
quests ten miles east of Pawcatuck in 1632. The land occupied
by the eastern Niantics, of whom Ninegret was then sachem,
embraced the southwestern part of Rhode Island and was known
by the name of Misquamicut (in the Indian language meaning
Salmon) after the neck of the land on the east side of the Paw-
catuck river. This seems to have been included in the Pequot
contest, but the intruders were in their turn driven from the
territory in 1635 by Socho (Sassawwa), a renegade Pequot, who
had become one of the most trusted of Miantonomi's Narragan-
sett captains, a service for which he was rewarded by Mianto-
nomi with a gift of the tract of Misquamicut. Roger Williams
says of Socho in 1637, in a letter to Governor John Winthrop,
that he became Miantonomi's " special darling" and a kind of
general of his forces. This tract Socho sold in 1660 and gave a
deed for it to William Vaughan and others, "all of Newport in
Rhode Island." The grant of Miantonomi was confirmed in
1661 by Pessicus, the brother and successor of Miantonomi and
after the death of Canonicus, chief sachem. Against this sale
and transfer of the old territory of the Niantics Ninegret pro-
tested, claiming the tract as the property of his people — and
here may be found perhaps the key to Ninegret's subsequent
desertion of the Narragansett cause.
Ninegret had no kinship with the Narragansett sachems. His
sister Quiapen, however, was the wife of Mexham, the son of
Canonicus. (So says Updike, but Arnold says Ninegret claimed
the tract but his "nephew Pessicus denied his right thereto."
250 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY.
Pessicus and Miantonomi were nepliews of Canoiiicus, father of
Mexham. Mnegret was therefore the brother-in-law of the
cousin of these princes and not the uncle of Pessicus.) The
tract of Misquamicut, which was incorporated as Westerly, the
fifth town of the Rhode Island colony in 1669, embraced the,
greater part of the territory of the eastern Niantics including
their best trading and fishing station and the Pawcatuck ford.
After the death of Miantonomi in 1643, Mnegret seems to
have been admitted to a share in the rule of the confederated
tribes of the Narragansetts and Niantics. In 1647, when the
New England commissioners demanded the appearance of Pes-
sicus at Boston to demand the payment of the indemnity of
wampum forcibly imposed upon them in 1645, Ninegret was
sent in his stead and was held hostage until his messenger went
home for an amount on account of the same and engaged to pay
the remainder. He protested against the payment of tribute to
the English, to whom the Narragansetts owed nothing. While
in Boston on this visit, Mnegret' s portrait was taken. An en-
graving of this picture, which is owned by the Winthrop family,
is to be found in Drake's " History of Boston" and also in
Denison's " Westerly and its Witnesses."
In 1653 the council of Massachusetts sent messengers to ques-
tion the sachems of the Narragansetts as to their intention to
ally with the Dutch (in the war between England and Holland
then raging), directing their queries to Pessicus, Mnegret and
Mexham, as chief sachems, and again on hearing of the attack
of the Narragansetts on the Long Island Indians. In 1654, war
having again broken out between the Narragansetts and the
Long Island Indians, the United Colonies summoned Mnegret
to Hartford. He answered that the enemy had slain the son of
a sachem and sixty of his tribe. " If your governor's son were
slain and several other men, would you ask counsel of another
nation how and when to right yourselves V He refused to go
to Hartford and asked "to be let alone."
Eoger Williams, in a letter to the general court of Massa-
chusetts in 1654, throws the blame of this Indian quarrel on the
Long Island tribe. " The cause and root of all the present mis-
chief is the pride of two barbarians, Ascassassotic, the Long
Island sachem, and Mnegret of the Narragansetts. The former
is proud and foolish ; the latter is proud and fierce. I have not
seen him these many years, yet from their sober men I hear he
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 251
pleads. First — ^that Ascassassacotic, a very inferior sachem
bearing himself [relying] upon the English hath slain three or
four of his people, and since that sent him challenges and dar-
ings to fight and mend [avenge] himself. 2 He, Ninegret, con-
sulted by solemn messengers with the chief of the English
Governors, Major Endicott, then Governor of the Massachu-
setts, who sent him an implicit consent to right himself, upon
which they all plead that the English have just occasion of dis-
pleasure. 3 after he had taken revenge upon the Long Is-
landers and brought away fourteen captives divers of their chief
women, yet he restored them all again upon the mediation and
desire of the English. 4 after this peace made the Long Is-
landers, pretending to visit Mnegret on Block Island, slaught-
ered of his Narragansetts near thirty persons at midnight, two
of them of great note, especially Wepiteammoe's son, to whom
Ninegret was uncle. 5 In the prosecution of this war, although
he had drawn down the Islanders to his assistance, yet upon
protestation of the English against his proceedings, he retreated
and dissolved the army." It seems that the Connecticut colony
had taken the Long Island Indians under their protection, in
reference to which Roger Williams continues, "II know it is
said the Long Islanders are subjects ; but I have heard this
greatly questioned, and indeed I question whether any Indians
in this country remaining barbarous and pagan may, with
truth and honor, be called the English Subjects. 2 But grant
them subjects, what capacity hath their late massacre of the
Narragansetts, with whom they had made peace, without the
English consent, though still under the English name, put them
into?"
Notwithstanding this appeal which, as it was written on the
5th of October, probably reached its destination too late, the
commissioners of the United Colonies despatched Major Wil-
lard against Ninegret with a force of two hundred and seventy-
four foot and forty horse. Ninegret retreated to a swamp on
the 9th of October, and the troops returned to Hartford with-
out success toward the close of the month. The commissioners
at Hartford were greatly angered, but Massachusetts no doubt
in consideration of Roger Williams' appeal, interfered, and the
war went no further. Ninegret had a fort, but it was no de-
fense against the English troops. The swamp is supposed to
be the cedar swamp in Westerly, near B urden' s pond. The Nian-
252 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
tic fort was originally built as a protection against the Pequots.
It stood or Fort neck, about eighty rods southwest of Cross' mills.
The land had steep banks on the south side, and projected
into Pawaget pond (sometimes called Ninegret's pond), an arm
of which runs northerly. The fort was close on the beach,
square and about three-quarters of an acre in extent. It had
three bastions twenty feet square at the three angles. The main
entrance was near the pond at the south corner, where there
was no bastion.
The sale of the Niantic country in 1660 to Vaughan and the
N'ewport company has been noticed. In 1659, in defiance of a
law of Rhode Island, John Winthrop, governor of Massachu-
setts, and others purchased from Coginaquam, sagamore or
sachem of Narragansett, the northern neck of Wyapumscott,
on the mainland about Narragansett (Wickford). In 1660 the
final outrage was committed by the commissioners of the United
Colonies on the unfortunate peo]Dle. An armed force was sent
into the territory, and under pretense of wrongs done the Mo-
hegans, their allies, which the Narragansett sachems denied, a
heavy fine was laid, and they were compelled to mortgage their
entire country for the payment of five hundred and ninetj'-five
fathoms within four months. In October, 1660, Sucquansh
(grandson of Canonicus), JSTinegret, Scuttup and Wegnakaumut,
alias Grideon Chief, sachems of the Narragansetts, for them-
selves and their tribe, mortgaged by deed all the lands in their
country, commonly known and called by the name of Narra-^
gansett country and Cowesett country, on condition they should
pay the fine of six hundred fathoms merchantable wampum
peage to the United Colonies. Six months was named for re-
demption. Atherton paid the fine. The Indians were unable
to redeem the land, and in the spring of 1662 the sachems made
formal delivery of the land. The narrow strait in which the
successor of Canonicus was at this time, appears from the order
of the general court of May, 1661, to the recorder to issue a
writ to arrest " Susquans, the Indian Sachem," and bring him
before the court of trials in an action for debt of thirty pounds.
Reading the history of these atrocious proceedings, it is some
comfort to remember that Rhode Island was not one of the
United Colonies, and had her hands full defending her own
rights against her grasping neighbors, without taking up the
cause of the Indians. In 1644, harrassed and disheartened by
HISTORY OF NEWPOET COUNTY. 253
the conflicting claims to jurisdiction, Pessicus and Canonicus
made submission to King Charles I., saying that they could
"not yield over themselves to any that are subjects themselves
in any case, having been the chief sachems or Princes succes-
sively of the country time out, of mind." When, in 1663, on
receiving the charter from Charles the Second, the commis-
sioners notified '' the Indian Kings viz Quissuckquansh (grand-
son of Canonicus) and Nineganet (sachem of the Nigantocott
country; this of course is Ninegret,) that the king in his patent
had taken the said Sachems and all the Narragansett Indians
into his gracious protection as subjects to himself, the sachems
thanked his majesty for his gracious relief in releasing their
lands from their forced purchasers and mortgages of their lands
by some of the other Colonies."
They sef m still to have had hopes of redress, but his gracious
majest j'^ was otherwise employed in the gay days of the restora-
tion, and too busy with the fair dames at Whitehall to listen
to the complaints of his loyal subjects of "King's Province," as
the Narragansett and Niantic countries were now styled, even
had they reached his ears. He was too heedless of his own inter-
ests to care for those of others. For some years nothing more is
heard of Ninegret. Shorn of the authority which he had shared
with Pessicus, and overruled if not excluded from the council
of the Narragansetts by the authority of Canonchet, the son of
Miantonomi, Ninegret- probably "sulked in his tent" literally.
In 1675, when the genius of Philip of Pokanoket attempted to
gather the tribes for a stand for wigwams and country, Nine-
gret and his Niantic followers stood aloof. When, after the
first outbreak, Captain Hutchinson, commissioner from Massa-
chusetts, marched arms in hand to Petaquamscott (on Narrow
river in South Kingstown) and forced a treaty upon the Narra-
gansetts, Ninegret was one of the six subscribing sachems
(Canonchet, Canonicus, Matatoag, Ninegret and Pnraham, and
Maquus, sister of Ninegret, squaw sachem of the Narragansetts).
Church's narrative does not mention Ninegret. Drake, who
annotated the narrative, mentions him as one of the six, saying
that " he did not join with the rest in the war." The "rest,"
although they had given hostages, all turned against the Eng-
lish in the course of the campaign. What hostages they gave
and whom Ninegret gave up for his good faith are not men-
tioned. Perhaps in this may be found the reason for his re-
254 HISTOKY OP NEWPOKT COUNTY.
serve. Drake adds in another note that the war lasted "until
the Narragansetts were all driven out of the country except
Ninegret." Easton makes no mention of him in his narrative.
But Arnold, in his recital, says that on the execution of Canon-
chet at Stonington, in which all the Indian allies of the English
took part, " the Niantics, who under Ninegret had joined the
English, burned his body." This may have been, however,
without Ninegret's knowledge or consent. Arnold cites no au-
thority for his statement. Tucker says, " the whites purchased
Ninegret's neutrality during the Indian war of 1675, and for
this treachery t'o his paramount sovereign and. his race the
' Tribe Land ' in Charlestown was allotted to him and his heirs
forever as the price of his treason;" but the same writer rather
illogically adds, "The Ninegret tribe never were the real Narra-
gansetts, whose name they bear. It is a libel on their glory and
their graves for him to have assumed it. Not one drop of the
blood of Canonicus, Miantonomi or Canonchet ever coursed in
the veins of a sachem who could sit neuter in his wigwam and
hear the guns and see the conflagration ascending from the
fortress that was exterminating their nation forever." Yet Drake
tells us that Maquus, the old queen of Narragansett and sister
of Ninegret, was with the Narragansett party surrounded by
Major Talcott in the cedar swamp near Warwick in July, 1676,
and taken with the rest was put to sword, and this Arnold
confirms.
On the death of Canonchet in April, 1676, the sceptre of the
allied Narragansett and Niantic tribes devolved upon Ninegret.
It may more properly be said that with Canonchet the sover-
eignty of the Narragansetts ended and their independent tribal
organization also. It is a tribute to their power that the Niantics,
who alone remained standing after the dread catastrophe,
merged their name in that of the Great Bay tribe. Ninegret
died soon after the war, leaving his tribe in p'>ssession of such
lands as were left to them after the Misquamicut cession, they
neither having been taken away from hira nor confirmed to him
by the English as far as can be learned. He was simply not
driven out.
He was buried in the burial place of the Ninegrets, the re-
mains of which are still to be seen on Port neck. Ninegret had.
two wives. By one he had a daughter; by the other a son,
Ninegret, and two daughters. Weecounkhass, the first daugh-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 255
ter by the first wife, succeeded him. She was crowned at Che-
munganocli, now Itnown as Shumancanuc (Charlestown). True
to their old policy the Connecticut authorities who, from the
time of the Pequot war, had claimed jurisdiction over and en-
deai'ored to plant their settlers in the Niantic country, had at-
tempted to set up Catopeci, a Pequot Indian, as joint sachem
with the hereditary sovereign. True also to the old policy of
the Niantics and Narragan setts, the injured princess, who in the
document styles herself " Wecounkhass, the queen of the Ni-
hantick Country in the King's Province in New England, with
the consent of her Counsell," petitioned the king to leave the
jurisdiction of the country, as it ever had been, in the hands of
Rhode Island. The question of jurisdiction over King's Prov-
ince was finally decided in favor of Rhode Island in 1687.
Weecounkhass on her death was succeeded by her half
brother, Ninegret. In 1708 a committee of the general assem-
bly was appointed to agree with Ninegret "what may be a suf-
ficient competence of land for him and his people to live upon,"
and to view the state of the land. In 1709 they reported a great
deal of land very poor and some very good, and also that Nine-
gret had executed a quit claim deed to all Indian lands what-
ever, except a tract or reservation of sixty-four square miles.
In 1717, on the petition of Ninegret (the second), the assembly
assumed the care of the Indians" lands and appointed overseers
to lease them for the benefit of the tribe and to dispossess tres-
passers. In 1718 a memorial was addressed to the assembly in
behalf of Asquasuthuks, granddaughter of Miantonomi, setting
forth her claim to the Narragansett lands. The claim was dis-
proved at the next session and the title shown to have come to
the present Niantic sachem from old Ninegret as "survivor of
and joint tenant of the sachemdom with Castickqunce" (Pes-
sicus), brother and successor of Miantonomi, after his murder
by Uncas.
Ninegret' s will was dated in 1716-17 and he died about 1722,
leaving two sons, Charles Augustus Ninegret and George Au-
gustus Ninegret. Charles Augustus succeeded as sachem. At
his request certain of his lands in Westerly were granted as a
site for a meeting house. In 1734 twenty acres of this land
were laid out and deeded for the use of the Church of England
In Westerly. Charles Augustus, dying, left an infant son,
•Charles, "who was acknowledged as Sachem by a portion of
256 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the tribe but the greater part adhered to George Augustus, his
uncle, as being of pure royal blood/' The dispute ended with
the death of the child. George received the royal belt in 1735.
On his death he left a widow and three children : Thomas,
George and Esther. In Updike's history of the Narragansett
church there is a minute : " September 6, Thursday, 1759. The
bans of marriage being duly published in the church of St.
Paul's in Narragansett, no objection being made John Anthony,
an Indian man, was married to Sarah George, an Indian woman,
the Dowager Queen of George Augustus Ninegret, deceased, by
Dr. McSparran."
Thomas Mnegret, better known as "King Tom," was born in
1736 and succeeded his father in 1746. He was then ten years
old and was sent to England where he received a common school
education. On his return from England he brought the plans
of a building which was set up and in which, known as the
sachem house, he lived and died. In 1750 the Indian church
was planted. In 1759 Thomas Ninegret xietitioned for the re-
peal of the law forbidding the purchase of Indian lands, which
was framed and passed in their interest, and permission was
given to him and all other Indians to dispose of their lands
without restriction. This act was repealed on petition of the
tribe in 1763, and Ninegret consenting to execute a deed for the
sachem lands, a committee was appointed to set them off, but
the tribe could not agree as to what lands should be set off. In
1765 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel sent over a
teacher with books to the Narragansetts, and Ninegret petitioned
the society to establish a free school, in quite a touching letter.
King Tom, though heavy and fat, idle and not over temperate,
was fond of learning and religion. In 1767 he was required by
the assembly to execute a deed for the school house lot in
Charlestown to the colony and to settle his accounts and to pay
his debts by sale of his personal estate and lands if not ade-
quate. Th6 tribe, aggrieved by this proceeding, on the advice
of Sir William Johnson sent an agent to England to lay the
matter before the king. King Tom died in 1769 or 1770. Upon
his death the sachem house was sold and a large part of the
tribe lands to pay his debts, after which, in 1773, the remainder
was secured to the ti'ibe by act of the assembly beyond contin-
gency of debt.
King Tom's wife and only son left him some time before his
HISTORY or NEWPORT COUNTY. 257
death and went to the west. The son dying before the father
and George Augustus being also dead, the sovereignty passed
to their sister, Esther, who married Thomas Sachem and was
crowned queen in 1770. Quite interesting details have come
down to us as to the ceremony. The rock on which she stood
is still pointed out. It is about three feet above ground and
twelve rods north of King Tom's mansion^ — Sachem House. An
eye witness of the coronation gave an account of it about 1840
to Mr. Updike of Westerly. — "I saw her crowned over seventy
years ago. She was elevated on a large rock so that the people
might see her; the Council surrounded her. There were present
about twenty Indian soldiers with guns. They marched her to
the rock. The Indian nearest to the royal blood in presence of
her counsellors put the crown on her head. It was made of
cloth covered with blue and white peage. When the crown
was put on the soldiers fired a royal salute and huzzaed in the
Indian tongue. The ceremony was imposing and everything
was conducted with great order. Then the soldiers waited on
her to the house and fired salutes. There were five hundred
natives present besides others."
Queen Esther left one son, George, who was crowned after her
death. He was killed when about twenty-two years old by the
falling of a tree which was being felled. He was the last of the
Ninegrets, and the last king of the tribe. His death was in
1827, according to Drake (Notes on Church's Narrative).
Massasoit, or Ousamequin, sachem of the Wampanoags,
was the earliest of the sachems of whom there is record in the
history of the New England settlements. In March, 1621,
three months after the landing of the Pilgrims in Plymouth
bay, they were visited by an Indian, Samoset, from the coast of
Maine, who had learned some English from the fishermen who
visited the coast. He informed the whites that they were in
the region of the Wampanoags, whose territory extended to
the Narragansett bay. A few days later Samoset brought in
another Indian, one Squantum (.or Tisquantum), a native of Pa-
tuxet (or Plymouth), the place in which they now were. This
savage was one of those who had been carried off to England
by one of the sea captains, and also spoke English. An
hour later he was followed by Massasoit. An interview was
held at which Squantum acted as interpreter, and a treaty of
alliance was made between the settlers and the Wampanoagp.
17
-258 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
which was maintained unbroken for fifty- four years. Massasoit
had ah'eady some knowledge of English power from Sqnantum,
his subject, and from a visit made to him by Captain Dermer,
an English captain, who, coasting from Maine to Virginia in
1615, in an open pinnace, had fallen in with Sqaantum, whom
he knew, and had been taken by him to the headquarters of his
chief at Pokanoket.
The territory of the Wampanoags extended from Cape Cod
to Narragansett bay, and by some (Miller's King Philip and the
Wampanoags) is supposed to have included the islands in the
bay. The Indian plague of 1616 had been particularly fatal to
this tribe, and they had fallen under the dominion and become
tributary to the Narragansetts, who had taken to themselves
the islands before the coming of the English. There are sup-
posed to have been four large Indian villages of the Wampa-
noags on the neck, a peninsula which projects into Narragan-
sett bay ; one at Montop, the name of which was later changed
to Mount Hope ; another at the head of the cove ; a third at
Kickamut, the back river ; and a fourth at Sowams or Sowam-
set. The Indian remains at all these places show that it was
cultivated and thickly inhabited. The sachems had their resi-
dences at Metacom in Montop bay, and at Pokanoket or
Sowams.
In the summer of 1621 Governor Bradford sent a deputation
of the Plymouth colony to return Massasoit's visit: Edward
Winslow, Stephen Hopkins, and Squantum as a guide. They
were received by Massasoit at Pokanoket, and found him
almost destitute of provisions, save a partridge and a few fish.
In 1623, word coming to Plymouth that Massasoit was "sick
and like to die," Winslow was sent to visit him. He reached
Pokanoket in time to rescue him, and so won the gratitude of
the sachem that he said, "Now I see the English are my friends
and love me ; and whilst I live I will never forget this kindness
they have shown me." And in fact at this interview he gave
the English warning of a plot of Massachusetts Indians against
the white settlements.
Intercourse soon grew between the bay settlements and Mon-
top, and as early as 1632 the Plymouth settlers had a trading
post at Sowams, which they held to be the garden of their
patent. Here there is a living spring of water known as Mas-
s'lsoit's spring. The trading post is supposed to have been at
■HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 259
Phoebe's neck, on the Barrington side of the Swanzey river.
Massasoit at this time is believed to have been about forty years
of iige. "The King,'' says the earliest account of him, -'is a
portly man in his best years, grave of countenance, spare of
speech." It is know^n that he made repeated visits to Ply-
mouth, as indeed was needful, he having j)laced himself and his
tribe under the protection of the Plymouth government. He
is said to have taken the name of Ousamequin when he started
on his war against the Narragansetts in 1630, an expedition,
the result of which was apparently his freedom from tributary
subjection, but of which there remains no account. Moreover,
the Indians in the immediate neighborhood of the Plymouth
settlements recognized his tribal jurisdiction. The distance
from Plymouth to Montop is about thirty miles, and the Indian
trail soon became the route of daily travel.
It was while on these- visits to his white friends that Massa-
soit became known to Roger Williams, who arrived in Boston
in 1630, and no doubt also to John Eliot who came to New
England the next year. Both of these men were ministers of
the gospel and admirable linguists, one having been educated
at the University of Oxford and the other at that of Cambridge.
Alike deeply concerned for the conversion of the natives, they
alike from the time of their arrival mingled with them and
sought by converse to learn their tongue. Of their thorough
knowledge of the dialects there is proof in " A Key into the
Language of America; or a Help to the Language of the Natives'
in that part of America called New England," by Roger Wil-
liams, published at London in 1643, and in John Eliot's gram-
mar and translation of the Bible into the Indian language. The
facility which Williams early acquired was of great service to
himself personally and to his friend Massasoit, for whom he
acted as interpreter at his meetings with the English authori-
ties. Young Governor Henry Vane, during his short stay in
New England, 1635-37, and Governor John Winthrop, in his
term of office, both befor,e Vane's coming and after his departure,
and Edward Winslow, governor of Plymouth, were Williams'
friends and alike interested with him in the establishment of
peaceful relations with the Indians and their conversion to
Christianity. Indeed one of the objects set forth in the charter
of the Massachusetts colony was the conversion of the natives;
and Winslow was the immediate cause of the founding of the
260 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England
(1649).
When Roger Williams was banished from Massachusets in
November, 1635, as a disturber of the peace both of the church
and the commonwealth, the first cause of offense named was
the teaching of an erroneous yet not religious opinion, viz., that
the natives were the true owners of the land and the settlers
gained no rights to it by patent from the king. This of course
was an agreeable recommendation to the natives. It was natural
therefore that when, to avoid the warrant that was to put him
on board a vessel aboiit to leave for England, Williams fled in
the middle of January to the wilderness, leaving his wife and
children behind, he should have gone directly to Massasoit;
moreover he was privately advised by his friend Winthrop " to
steer his course to the Narragansett Bay and Indians for many
high and heavenly public ends, "and particularly because of the
" freeness of the.place from any English claims or patents." Wil-
liams made his Journey through the winter snows from Salem,
an exposure from which he had not recovered thirty years later.
He was accompanied by five companions; one of these was a
Dorchester miller, like himself banished for " erroneous opin-
ions," another a poor destitute creature, a third poor young
fellow and two lads. At Montop Williams was warmly received
by Massasoit and granted a tract of land on the eastern bank
of the Seekonk river near what is called now Cove Mills. See-
konkisnowRehoboth. "Here," says Williams, "I first pitched
and began to build and plant, but I received a letter from my
ancient friend Mr. Winslow, then Governor of Plymouth, pro-
fessing his own and others' love and respect to me yet lovingly
advising me since I was fallen into the edge of their bounds and
they were loth to displease the Bay, to remove to the other side
of the water; and then he said I had the country free before me
and we might be as free as themselves and we should be loving
neighbors together." From this it is clear that the eastern
authorities considered the bounds of their patent and of the
Wampanoag jurisdiction under their protection to be the
eastern shore of the Narragansett waters. "As good as ban-
ished from Plymouth as from the Massachusetts," by this gentle
advice, Williams, about two months after beginning his planta-
tion at Seekonk, took his canoe and with his five companions
dropped down the stream to a slate rock on the west shore of
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 261
the stream, at its confluence with the head waters of the bay,
where he was hailed by some Narragansett Indians and landing,
was pleasantly greeted. Again embarking, he passed around
the headlands and canoed up the river on the west side of the
peninsula to the mouth of the Mooshassic and chose for the seat
of his new plantation the slope of the hill which rises from the
stream, and gave to it the name of Providence. This was with-
out question in the Jurisdiction of the Narragansetts, but it
would seem that this country had also belonged to the Wam-
panoags, for Williams himself says that "some time after the
Plymouth great Sachem Ousameqixin (Massasoit) upon occasion
affirmed that Providence was his iand and therefore Plymouth's
land." To this Bradford, the governor of Plymouth, and also
an old friend of Williams, answered that even if the claim
proved true Williams should not be molested again.
Williams early gained the favor of Canonicus and Mianto-
nomi,the Narragansett sachems, and at the request of Governor
Vane of Massachusetts visited them at their headquarters on
Conanicut island and negotiated the league against the Pequots.
Within two months of his settlement at Providence he was be-
come their chief adviser. In return they had freely granted to
him the lands and meadows where his plantation lay, between
the two strfeams at the confluent point of which Providence
lies. No doubt this dispute about the land was " the great
contest between the three Sachems (to wit, Canonicus and Mi-
antonomi were against Ousamequin on Plymouth side)," in
regard to which Williams, from whom this is quoted, "was
forced to travel between them three to pacify, to satisfy all
their and their dependants' spirits of my honest intentions to
live peaceably by them."
It is not at all probable that there was any armed contention
or bloody feud between the Narragansetts and the Wampan-
oags at the time Williams settled. In the same declaration
Williams says that Ousamequin "consented freely, being also
well gratified by me to the Governor Winthrops' and my en-
joyment of Prudence yea of Providence itself," etc. In fact
the land neighboring on Providence to the north, and perhaps
that on which Providence stood, had belonged to the Cowesets
who, after the defection of Massasoit, were gradually falling
away from their tribal allegiance and, with their northern
neighbors, the Nipmucks, subjecting to the Massachusetts col-
262 HISTORY OV NEWPORT COUNTY.
ony. Indeed a few years later, in 1646, when the Narragansett
power had greatly weakened, we find the Providence settlers
buying the " right which Ousamequin pretendeth to a parcel
of land" between their bounds at Pawtucket and an Indian
plantation northwest from thence called Loquasquscit (Smith-
field, at the lime quarries), although they claim that they had
the right of feeding and grazing cattle there by their grant from
the Narragansetts before they had "released him (Ousame-
quin) of his subjection," which gives evidence of a formal con-
tract to his withdrawal from tributary subordination.
The name of Ousamequin first appears in the Rhode Island
records in connection with the first of these transactions. In
1637 there appears annexed to the deed to Coddington and his
associates of the island of Aquidneck, a memorandum of a con-
sent to them by Ousamequin for a gratuity of five fathoms of
wampum of the use of any grass or trees on the mainland on
the Powakaseck (Pocasset) side. This by his Plymouth pro-
tection was strictly in Wampanoag territory. In 1646, in the
matter of the Indian plantation just mentioned, he was in troub-
le with the town of Providence. They had paid him in coats
and hoes and wampum, which he asked, but over night he
changed his mind. On the report of Roger Williams and
others he was, however, compelled to adhere to the "fair and
righteous bargain." Being outside of the Rhode Island juris-
diction, Ousamequin's name rarely appears in the history that
concerns it, only we may notice that with ten of his men
he had permission from the town of Portsmouth, in 1644, to
take ten deer on the island of Aquidneck, within the liberty of
that town ; but the deer were to be taken to Portsmouth, there
to be viewed, and neither Ousamequin nor any of his men were
to carry any deer or skins off from the island except at that
time, and they were to depart off from the island within five
days.
Massasoit and his Wampanoags had no part in the wars be-
tween the ISTarragansetts and the Mohegans which were the
indirect cause of the ruin of the Rhode Island tribe. It was
not the policy of the Massachusetts government to allow their
Indian neighbors to go on the war path. The chief, now ad-
vancing in years, lived quietly at his favorite seats. He had a
large family: his wife, two brothers, Qaadequmet and Akkan-
poin, three sons and a daughter whose name is not known. His
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COTJNTT. 263
oldest son was Wamsutta, sometimes called Mooanum, his sec-
ond Pometacum, Metacom, both of whom figure in history;
and a third Sunconewhew. Wamsutta and Metacomet were
better known by their English names of Alexander and Philip,
by which, according to some authorities, they were called as
early as 1656, but which as others hold were given to them
after the princes of Macedonia, when they went up to Plymouth
court in 1662.
Wamsutta, or Alexander, the eldest of the sons of Massasoit,
was admitted to a part in the government of the Wampanoags
before 1657. In that year he was the cause of a dispute be-
tween the Plymouth and Rhode Island colonies in his sale of a
little Island in Narragansett bay to Richard Smith, Jr., the son
and successor of the old trader of the Narragansett. The
colony of Rhode Island had always exercised jurisdiction over
this island. In 1638 the town of Portsmouth granted permis-
sion to mow its grass to one of their people, and no counter
claim seems to have been set up until this sale, which, as
Richard Smith always leaned toward Plymouth, was no doubt
one of their practical attempts to help Massachusetts to gain a
foothold on Narragansett bay. After the purchase by Smith
the authorities of Plymouth colony wrote to Rhode Island
claiming jurisdiction. The letter was answered and commis-
sioners appointed on both sides to settle the matter, but from
the fact that private instructions were given to their commis-
sioners by the Rhode Island assembly, there is little doubt that
they were resolved in no event to surrender jurisdiction in any
of the waters of their bay. In 1659 Smith attempted to take
forcible possession, but was firmly met and the matter was
finally decided as of right in favor of Rhode Island.
In this matter Wamsiitta played the part Plymouth desired.
Indeed, as the power of the Narragansetts waned, the lower
sachems reasserted their authority. Not only did Pumham,
the subordinate Narragansett sachem of Shawoniet, refuse to
leave Warwick neck, which the chief sachems sold to Gorton
and Holden, but still another claimant sprung up to the same
land in the person of Nawwushawsuch, " who lived with Ous-
amequin." In 1656 Rhode Island daily looked for hostilities in
consequence of this feud. Roger Williams sought in vain to
settle this dispute, as well as the difficulties made by some of
the Pawtuxet families who had subjected themselves to Massa -
204 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
chusetts' jurisdiction before Rhode Island had its charter. Such
was the state of affairs when old Massasoit died, toward the
close of the year 1661, at the age of about eighty years, faith;
ful at the close as he had been from the day when he made the
first Indian treaty of amity with the Pilgrim fathers. Yet,
though he had on more than one occasion saved the weak set-
tlers from disaster, if not utter ruin, he had not escaped with-
out suspicion and indignity, and had gradually seen his own
power, notwithstanding his release from Narragansett domina-
tion, weakened over his own tribe and their subordinate allies.
To him, as to all with whom the Indians came in contact, the
touch of the white man's hand was death. At the first cele-
bration of "Forefather's day" at Plymouth in 1769, one of
the regular toasts of the dinner was, "To the memory of Mas-
sasoit, our first and best friend and ally of the natives."' It
may be here remarked that this chief always appears on the
Masssachusetts records as Massasoit, on those of Rhode Island
as Ousamequin.
A¥amstjtta or Sepaaquet — Alexander, the eldest son of Mas-
sasoit, succeeded his father as chief sachem, but from what is
known of his character and his brother, it is not probable that
either of them shared their father's attachment to the English,
or at least were willing as thoroughly as he to conform their
policy to that of the Massachusetts or Plymouth governments.
His first act was in direct antagonism to Massachusetts policy.
This was a deed to the town of Providence in 1662 of a tract
of land west of the Seekonk river which Massasoit had claimed,
as in the case of the Loquasquscit lands in the old Coweset
jurisdiction. This sale of lands which the eastern colonies
itched to possess, to the heretics of Providence, was as deadly
a sin in the eyes of Plymouth and Massachusetts as the sale of
Shawomet to the pestilent Gorton, and it is a striking coinci-
dence that in each case this presumption on the part of the In-
dians to choose the purchasers of their terrritory was the chief,
if not the only reason for their death.
Wamsutta had also strengthened the power of his tribe by
his marriage with Wetamoo, squaw sachem of the Pocassets,
who ruled the country which fronted westerly on the western
waters of Narragansett bay, facing Mount Hope and Rhode Is-
land in their entire length. Accused by " some of Boston " of
contriving mischief against the English, and that he had so-
HISTORY OF TSTEWPORT COUNTT. 265
licited the Narragansetts to engage with him in his designed
rebellion, Alexander was ordered by Governor Prince of Ply-
mouth colony to appear before the next general court. Not
answering the summons, but it is said continuing to visit the
Narragansetts, Major Winslow was sent with a force to bring
him up. He was surprised at a hunting station, and only sur-
rendered at the point of the pistol. He was taken prisoner,
followed by a train of eighty warriors and women. Halting on
the way at Wiuslow's house at Marshfield, Alexander fell ill.
It is said of him that the day was very hot, but that he would
not ride Winslow's horse because there was none for his squaw
to ride. To ill to go further, he was allowed to return, on his
promise to send his son as a hostage for his appearance at the
next court. He is said to have "died before he got half way
home;" some say of "fatigue, rage and heat," but there were
suspicions of crime in his death. John Easton, in his " Rela-
tion of the Indyan Warr," written at the time, relates that
Philip and his warriors charged "that their king's brother
when he was king came miserably to dy by being forced to
Court as they judge poysoned." His death, which his wife,
Wetamoo, as well as his brother, ascribed to foul means, was
without doubt the determining cause of King Philip's rising,
and of the terrible struggle which still bears the name of
Philip's war.
EwD OF THE Narragansetts. — In the winter of 1678-9, the
Indian council of five Narragansetts and others of the tribe by
the president of the council, Gideon L. Ammons, petitioned the
general assembly of Rhode Island to name a committee " to in-
vestigate their affairs in reference to the encroachment of the
whites upon the tribal lands, and whether it was better to con-
tinue the tribe as a tribe or enfranchise them." Public hear-
ings were had and testimony taken, some of which were at the
Indian meeting house in Charlestown, a township in the Mis-
quamicut region in the southwestern part of the state, and orig-
inally a part of the town of Westerly, incorporated as the fifth
town of the colony by freemen of Newport in 1669. The report
of the "committee is authority for the following statement.
After the death of George Ninegret, no king of the Narra-
gansetts was ever crowned and the tribe was ever after gov-
erned by an annually elected governor or president and a coun-
cil of four members. When the Indian council was established
266 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
is not known. It was in existence in October, 1770. Sinct^
1707, however, the tribe and the reservation of lands have been
virtually under the jurisdiction of the colony and state, as the
Indian kings and their councils, although holding directly from
the English crown, as of the King's Province, have always har-
monized with the colony and state authority. They claim to
be allied by treaty with the state and to enjoy certain privi-
leges and protection by virtue of their subjection, accepted by
the English king and their grants of territory.
They held an election day in March and a religious meeting
in August of each year. An act for regulating the affairs of the
Narragansett tribe of Indians in this state passed by the legis-
lature of Rhode Island in February, 1792, prescribed the
method of election, All the males of the said tribe of twenty-
one years of age, born of an Indian woman belonging to the
tribe, or begotten by an Indian man belonging thereto or of any
other than a negro woman, was entitled to vote at all meetings;
the council to be elected at the school house, their accustomed
place of meeting, in March, by a majority of votes.
The Indian church was planted in 1750, in the reign of King
Tom, as their sachem, Thomas Ninegret, was called. In 1847,
according to Updike, " there was not an Indian of the whole
Mood remaining in the tribe." Their character as well as their
blood had changed by their mingling with whites and negroes.
In 1833 a committee reported that there were one hundred and
ninety-nine of the tribe residing in Charlestown and fifty were
supposed to be absent. In 1858 they enrolled one hundred and
thirty-eight members. In 1879 the tribe numbered one hun-
dred and thirty-three, of whom fifty-eight were males and sev-
enty-five females. They maintained their poor and supported
public worship,and the state paid the expenses of the school. Be-
sides the original reservation, which contained about sixty-four
square miles, in 1858 about two thousand acres of their tribal
lands were held by individual members of their tribe as their
separate estate. In 1879 they owned in all about three thousand
acres in the center of the town of Charlestown.
In 1880, the Narragansetts having consented to a dissolution
of the tribe, the Indian council made a deed to the state for the
entire reservation except the meeting house and lot and a right
of way to it as long as it should be used as a place of public
worship. The sum of five thousand dolars was agreed upon as
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTr. 267
the price, and the purchase money was divided among three
hundred and twenty-four persons admitted to be members of
the tribe, the individual share of each being fifteen dollars and
fifty-three cents. It is curious to note in the list of the tribe
not an Indian name unless that of Noka is found. The words
of Denison are now true to the letter in all their force.
Of the old pride and power of the Indian kings and war-
riors only their mouldering sepulchres remain. The royal
burying ground of the most ancient date is located in Charles-
town, about a mile north of Cross' mills, on a piece of pleasant
table land near fifteen feet above the surrounding high ground.
The spot commands a beautiful view of the adjacent country
and the sea. Royal graves were privileged above others. On
this plateau, in a mound one hundred feet long, thirty feet
wide and three feet high, and in the spaces around it, are the
remains of the kings, qaeens, members of the royal family and
chiefs of the Narragansett nation. Some of the graves are evi-
dently very ancient. In 1878 the general assembly of Rhode
Island, having received a deed of half an acre of this plateau,
set up a post and rail fence five feet high which encloses a plot
twenty feet by one hundred, including the greater part of the
graves, and also a tablet of marble thus inscribed: " This tablet
is erected and this spot of ground enclosed by the state of
Rhode Island to mark the place which Indian tradition iden-
tifies as the Royal burying ground of the Narragansetfc tribe,
and in recognition of the kindness and hospitality of this once
powerful nation to the founders of this state."
CHAPTER V.
NEWPORT IN THE COLONIAL WARS.
By John Austin Stevens.
Privateering from Rhode Island.— War with the Dutch, 1652-3. — Privateers and
Pirates, 1653-90,— War with France, King William's War, 1689-98.— Depre-
dations by Privateers.— Queen Anne's War, 1702-13.— The Old French War,
1754-61.— War of the American Revolution, 1775-83.— Rhode Island in its
Political Relations, 1763-74.— Stamp Act Congress.— Non-Importation Agree-
ment.
ALTHOUGH the treaty of Westphalia of 1648, which closed
the thirty years' war between France and Sweden, the
victorious powers and the House of Austria, assured the inde-
pendence of the Netherlands as one of its great results, and gave
a temporary peace to Europe on land, the depredations of the
maritime powers upon each other by no means ceased. Priva-
teers still roamed the seas with their commissions. Spanish
galleons, with the treasures of the Indies, still crossed the ocean
at fixed periods, and were too rich a prize. to be lightly aban-
doned. England, under the reign of James I. and Charles I., was
neutral in the continental struggle. The great revolution kept
her too busy at home to meddle in foreign war ; but her ad-
venturous sea-faring men took letters of marque from Prance
and probably from Spain also. At first the colonies had too
much to do at home in their plantations and little coasting trade
to think much of foreign plunder. The time soon came when
it was a chief source of occupation and fortune.
In the early part of 1649 a prize, captured from the Dutch,
though at what date does not appear from the letter of Roger
Williams to John Winthrop, Jr., of Connecticut, which relates
the incident, was bought by Captain Clarke, of Newport. It
had probably been brought into this port by some adventurous
Englishman. Trouble was threatened by Stnyvesant, the gov-
ernor of New Amsterdam, who claimed that the capture was
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 269
"contrary to the peace with Spain." This attitude of the Dutch
gave alarm because of the purchase by one of their number of
Dutch island, at the mouth of the bay ; a purchase which fell
through later. The peace with Spain was the treaty of West-
phalia.
In the spring, of 1650, as is also learned from a letter of Roger
Williams to John Winthrop, Jr., of Connecticut, the records of
the Rhode Island colony being silent on the subject, one Bluefield
brought a prize into Newport, and some Frenchmen who came
with him, probably his companions in the expedition, "bought
a frigate of Captain Clarke [of Newport] to go out upon their
voyage to West Indies." The vessel was the Dutch prize pur-
chased the year before. To this the English residents demurred,
fearing that they would practice their trade upon this coast.
There was at this time great uncertainty as to the state of
affairs abroad. King Charles had been beheaded. Prince
Charles, proclaimed king in Scotland, had found it necessary to
leave the Hague and his Orange kinsmen and friends to take
refuge in Paris. The last vessel from Bristol had brought word
of great divisions in England itself and " a fresh report of wars
with France," from the court of which an armed attempt at
restoration of the monarchy was feared. There is no informa-
tion as to the nation from which the Frenchmen, " flesht with
blood," as Williams describes, took the prize they brought in,
nor yet whether they were permitted to take out the ship they
purchased ; but in the absence of contrary order on the records
it is probable. But they could have taken no commission from
Newport, as England was at peace with all the contracting
powers of the treaty of Westphalia.
The "crowning mercy" of Worcester, and the flight from
England of Prince Charles, after that disastrous and decisive bat-
tle, left the parliament free to pacify the country and engage its
forces in foreign affairs. A war abroad has always been a
favorite mode of securing peace at home. The prosperous col-
onies and great wealth of the Dutch decided Cromwell to turn
a deaf ear to those of the parliament, who were urging a close
confederacy with the Holland states. Among these was Sir
Henry Vane, the old friend of Roger Williams, and after a man-
ner an early patron of the Rhode Island colony. The famous
" Act of navigation " was aimed directly at ,the Dutch, who
had almost a monopoly of the carrying trade of the world. Not
270 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
content with this war of enactment, the parliament issued letters
of reprisal to sundry English merchantmen who complained of
Dutch ill-treatment, and numbers of Dutch vessels were taken
and brought in as prizes. The states-general replied by equip-
ping a large fleet, and a collision, accidental or premeditated, in
the road of Dover with the English fleet, not satisfactorily ex-
plained, brought on war, the formal declaration of which was
made by parliament in 1652. The orders of the council of state
to the colonies to prepare for defense found Rhode Island and
the Providence Plantations in schism, the former separated
from the mainland by the commission to Coddington. The
latter claimed the authority over the colony by reason of their
holding to the old charter which the commission abrogated.
Assemblies were held at Providence and Newport the same
day— May 17th, 1653 ; the commissioners of the colony, as the
deputies from Providence and Warwick styled themselves, re-
ceiving and considering a letter from the town of Newport,
written in March, notifying them that for "present security"
they had taken measures for forts and arms and mustering of
the militia. The reason for this hesitancy must be sought, no
doubt, in the influence of Roger Williams, then in England, as
the agent of Providence and Warwick, to secure the confirma-
tion of the old charter. Williams was the guest of Sir Henry
Vane at his home, Belleau, in Lincolnshire, and it is known that
Vane was opposed to St. John's policy of war with the Dutch,
and no doubt hoped that the colonies might be kept clear of
entanglement. However this maybe, the colony commissioners,
on receiving the letter, passed an order restrictive rather than
menacing in tone. After recognizing the authority of the council
of state, they forbid further export of provisions from the
colony for supply of the Dutch, direct that each plantation (or
town) take measures for its own "safety defence," and finally
expressly require that "in the name of the commonwealth of
England that no man within the limits of this colony presume
to take vessels or goods from the Dutch, as being authorized by
this colony, without orders and directions from a General Court
of Commissioners, upon such a penalty as the nature of his
facts shall require by the judgment of his peers" — and it was
further ordered that all writs and warrants shall be issued forth
in the name of the Commonwealth of England."
While this waiting policy of self-defense and neutrality was
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 271
being adopted at Providence, the general assembly, as tliey con-
tinued to call themselves, which met at Newport on the same
day, May 17th, and had the usual election of president and
other officers, proceeded at once to active measures. "Three
men, Mr. William Dyre, Mr. John Sanford [the newly elected
president] and Mr. Nicholas Easton were chosen to see that the
order of the Right Honorable the Council of State be attended
to, namely in looking and taking care that the State's part in
all prizes be secured and account kept." This was the first
court of admiralty in Rhode Island. The next day, on the ad-
vice of a committee, upon which each town was represented by
two members (Newport by Nicholas Easton and John Easton),
it was agreed to help their countrymen on Long Islan^d either by
defending them against the Dutch or by offensive war, and to
lend them two great guns and other arms, and the aid of twenty
volunteers.
^For the trial of prizes brought in, the general court, with
three jurors from each towu, were authorized. Commissions
were granted to Captain John Underbill and Mr. William Dyre,
and one to Edward Hull to go "against the Dutch or any
enemies of the Commonwealth of England." Captain John
Underhill was from Long Island, where he settled after the
Massachusetts banishment, and had the Puritan hatred for
Dutch and English alike. He did famous service in the Pequot
war. Some of the freemen of the towns of Providence and
Warwick attended this assembly and concurred in its resolu-
tions. The commissioners for Providence and Warwick met
again at Providence in June and adopted a "brief remon-
strance," in which, after setting forth their grievances and
claim to authority under the old charter, and admitting the
validity of the council^of state's direction to " offend the Dutch
as they shall think necessary," they protest against the com-
missions issued to Underhill, Hull and Dyre, declare that they
will not be forced into engaging in the said commission, but will
use their endeavor to " free themselves from all illegal and un-
just proceedings, and finally order that no inhabitants of the
colony that do own the validity of the commissions granted to
Underhill, Hull and Dyre in the name of the Providence Planta-
tions shall thenceforth have liberty to act in government until
they have given satisfaction to the respective towns of Provi-
dence and Warwick."
272 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY.
This subject has been treated at length, as the action of. New-
port at this time is a point of departure in the history of the
colony between the policy of peace, held to by the Eoger Wil-
liams plantation of Providence, and the more warlike tendency
of the seaport town.
In the course of the summer Captain Hull captured and
brought in a French ship in a manner that Massachusetts pro-
tested against as unlawful. In the autumn Massachusetts was
still further aggrieved, and sent a special messenger to remon-
strate against the act. This was the seizure by Captain Baxter,
under a Rhode Island commission, of the " Desire," of Barn-
stable, in Harapstead Harbor, an English settlement under
Dutch jurisdiction, with stores on board. To the complaint of
the agent of Massachusetts, President Easton answered that he
had issued the letter of marque nnder the authority of the
council, to whom he had sent a rejjort of the case. Baxter next
captured a Dutch vessel near New York, and was chased to
Fairfield harbor by two Dutch men of-war. To this act the
commissioners of the united colonies answered with a pro-
hibition of Dutch vessels from entering any of the English-
American ports. The cause of this lukewarmness of the United
Colonies in this struggle with Holland must be sought in their
sympathies with parties in England. They no doubt sided with
those who disapproved of the breach of the old alliance of
England and Holland against the House of Bourbon. In May,
1654, the vessel "Deborah" was commissioned to defend her-
self. This was, probably, the last letter of marque issued, as
peace with the Dutch had been already signed by Cromwell,
April 15th, 1654. The records of the Rhode Island court of
admiralty no doubt give the details of the prizes taken during
the war. That the profits were considerable appears from the
proceedings before the court of commissioners in May, 1658,
wherein it is stated that there was " remaining in the hands of
Mr. Nicholas Easton a considerable sum of money or estate,
which was committed to him by order of court in 1652 (or '53),
which estate is duly appertaining to the use of his Highness,
the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, and the
■colony is accountable therefor when his Highness shall please
to call for an account of those passages, viz. concerning the
State's part of prizes taken in the time of the differences in the
colony with the Dutch." Suits were brought both against
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 273
Easton and William Dyre, the latter of whom declined to give
any account. The cases were still pending in 1660.
The unhappy influence of this legalized freebooting on the
morals of the inhabitants of the colony is shown by the act
which the court of commissioners found it necessary to pass in
1658, four years after the close of the war, on the information
of "several considerable members of the colony of the inordi-
nate desires and mischievous conducts and endeavours of ill-
disposed persons pretending to make prize of such Dutchmen
as come to trade with the English in this colony." All such
persons were warned not to be " so hardy as to attempt or put
in practice any such design of seizing any either Dutch goods
or vessels that shall arrive or be brought into this colony to be
sold to the English here, unless by express commission from the
State of England or an order of the law making Assembly of
the Colony under pain of felony."
Privateers and Pirates, 1653-1690. — This isolated case, un-
der the very eyes of the staid authorities of Rhode Island, is but
a feeble expression of the license of sea-faring adventurers.
The contest of the two great maritime powers of the world for
colonial dominion was the opportunity uf the freebooter — an
opportunity which the dismantling of posts, the weakening of
defenses and the aggregation of protecting vessels in large fleets
for concerted action greatly increased. Nor was it much more
than the extreme of that domineering spirit, that love of con-
quest and adventure which animated Raleigh and Drake and a
hundred other kindred spirits a century before ; only that their
successors were not always disposed to inquire into the nation-
ality of their prizes, and often captured the vessels of their own
flag with as little ceremony as those of their traditional enemies.
In 1683 the grievance had reached its height. The American
coast swarmed with privateers, and this lax commerce soon de-
generated into uncontrolled piracy. The vessels were often
owned by honest gentlemen, whose sense of morals was dulled
by heavy profits, and who rarely inquired closely into the con-
duct of captain or of crew. The West Indies, with their easy
coast, became the field, and Jamaica the center of the lawless
traffic, but the vessels occasionally entered, on one or anothei-
pretence, into the north Atlantic ports. In July, 1683, Captain
Thomas Paine arrived at Newport with a privateer ship from
Jamaica. The deputy collector of Boston came down to seize
18
274 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
her. The captain showed Jamaica papers, which satisfied Gov-
ernor Coddington, who refused to give her up. The Boston of-
ficer claimed that the papers were forged, and sent down from
Boston a pass of the Jamaica governor to prove the forgery. It
would seem that Paine was a Rhode Island man.
In March, 1684, the home government sent orders to Jamaica,
and later to all the American colonies, to take measures against
privateering and piracy and the harboring of suspicious craft.
In June following a letter from the king, together with one
from Sir Leoline Jenkins, one of his principal secretaries, en-
closing a proclamation for the suppressing of privateers and
pirates, reached the assembly, and was forthwith published in
the town of Newport by beat of drum, and read by the recorder
at three of the most public places in the town, and the same
day an act for the restraining and punishing privateers and
pirates was passed. The serving, without a special license
from the colony, was made felony, with the proviso that any
persons belonging to the colony who were then serving any
foreign prince, state or potentate, who should return before the
end of December next following and surrender himself should
be exempt from pursuit under the law, and commissioners were
appointed under the king's seal, subject to the judges of ad-
miralty in the colony, to hear and determine all matters of
treason, felony, piracy, etc., committed on the sea, or in any
haven, creek or bay.
War with France. King William's War, 1689-1697.— The
revolution which drove out James the Second, and brought
William and Mary to the throne January 22, 1689, was wel-
come to the New England colonies. The new sovereigns were
proclaimed in Newport in May. The policy of English sub-
serviency to France came to an end and William, whose views
of state craft extended far beyond the limits of his new king-
dom, was not slow to throw the weight of its arms into the
struggle of the Protestant nations to maintain the balance of
power in Europe. Louis XIV. had made a war unavoidable by
sending troops into Ireland to aid in the reinstatement of King
James, and parliament heartily pledged themselves to Wil-
liam's support.
The king's declaration of war was proclaimed in Newport by
fceat of the drum by the clerk of the assembly, in "solemn
^ranner," in March, 1690. The rumor had already come in of a
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 275
raid of the French and Indians from Canada on one of the
towns above Albany, and soon after the proclamation news ar-
rived of a French fleet off the coast. In May seven sail of French
privateers swept the coast from Cape Cod to New London. Ves-
sels were sent out in pursuit, and again on subsequent similar oc-
casions, but there is no record of letters of marque being issued.
It is known, however, that in 1696 a Rhode Island privateer
brought in the "Pelican," a vessel which the French had taken
on her voyage from Boston to London, armed and fitted as a
privateer. She was coasting on the banks of Newfoundland
when she was fallen in with and again captured.
That there were letters of marque issued from the Rhode Is-
land colony and that some of those persons to whom they were
granted were not over-scrupulous in their proceedings, is cer-
tain from the nature of an order of the assembly called by Gov-
ernor Clarke on special occasion in July, 1696, when it was
voted that "considering of the many great complaints that sev-
eral vessels have been fitted out of this colony and by all likeli-
hood and circumstances are upon some unlawful design which
is to the great dishonor of his Majesty and this his Majesty's
Government ; and Tor the prevention of such proceedings for
the future be it enacted by this Assembly that there be no per-
son or persons commissionated from fhis government but shall
first give bond of one thousand pounds with good securities
that they shall not proceed upon any unlawful act as aforesaid ;
except such vessels as shall be sent out by the authority of this
Colony for the defence of his Majesty's interests against a com-
mon enemy ; any act to the contrary notwithstanding."
There was no court of admiralty provided under the royal
charter, but the general council of the colony passed an admir-
alty act in January, 1694, as appears from a document in the
British State Paper office, which vested the authority, with tlie
approval of the assembly, in itself. The occasion of its passage
was the arrival of the Dublin frigate, of Jamaica, with a French
prize, the first which had been brought in since the declaration
of war. This seems to have given an immediate impulse to a
movement for privateering in Newport.
In December following the home government took perhaps
the most effectual measure to check these illegal and irregular
. acts by the establishment of courts of admiralty in all the col-
onies, and in June, 1697, the High Court of Admiralty of Eng-
276 HISTORY OF Newport county.
land issued commissions to Peleg Sanford as judge of the court
of admiralty in the colony of Rhode Island, and to Nathaniel
Coddington as register of the same. The governor, Walter
Clarke, refused to recognize the commissions, holding them to
be a violation and infringement of the charter rights of the col-
ony, and informed the assembly that if they allowed them he
would leave the seat of governor, in which case there would be
no more choice or election according to their charter. But the
assembly not taking that view of the matter, Clarke pocketed
the commission and dissolved the assembly. Clarke appears
soon after to have resigned his office.
He was succeeded by his nephew, Samuel Cranston, who also
refused to administer the oath of office to the judge in admiral-
ty, and withheld from him his commission. The records men-
tion no inauguration of the court, but that it was established is
certain from Bellomont's commission to its members, Brinley,
Sanford and Coddington, to collect evidence in 1699 against the
pirates and to secure the confederates of Kidd; a difficult matter
because of the sympathy everywhere felt for the freebooters.
The war closed with the treaty of Ryswick in September, 1697.
All Europe was once more at peace. A printed proclamation
was issued in England in October, and despatched to America
with orders to put a stop' to all privateering against the French.
It reached New England in December and was formally pub-
lished.
While refusing to recognize the persons appointed in admir-
alty, yet no longer venturing to act as such themselves, by their
governor, in defiance of royal authority, the assembly of Rhode
Island passed a severe law for the seizing and securing of any per-
sons that" may be suspected of having been upon the seas upon
such wicked designs as piracy and robbing, ordering that every
person that had or should thereafter bring into the colony any
foreign coin, gold, bullion, silver, merchandise and other treasure
supposed to be taken in and upon the seas shall be apprehend-
ed and made to show cause how he came by the same."
King William left the colony in no doubt as to his intentions.
He addressed a letter by the hand of Lord Shrewsbury to
Rhode Island on the general subject of the trade, and immedi-
ately after the signature of the peace a second letter by the
hand of the same lord, his principal secretary of state, com-
manding diligence in the obedience to his proclamation order-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 277
ing the seizure of all pirates and in especial manner of Henry
Avery (the captor of the Mogul's ship). These later documents
reached the colony two days after the adjournment of the as-
sembly but were all published together with a proclamation of
the assembly as of the date of its session, May 4tli, 1 698, in
every town of the colony by beat of the drum.
The extent to which privateering had been carried on under the
unrestricted roving commissions, appears in the records of the
years 1698-9 in the representations to the king about the irregu-
larities in the government of Rhode Island, the instructions of
the board of trade and plantations to Bellomont on the one hand
and the letter of Governor Cranston, Clarke's nephew and
successor, to the board of trade and their instructions to
Bellomont on the other. The earl of Bellomont, commander-
in-chief of the king's province of the Massachusetts Bay, ISTew
York and New Hampshire, etc., was instructed to make special
inquiries into the misdemeanors of Rhode Island and to put cer-
tain queries to Clarke, the late governor. From these it seems
that he was charged with having granted commissions without
taking security, to sundry persons named, some of whom were
notorious pirates; one, William Mayes, was charged with having
assisted Avery in taking the Mogul's ship " Guns way," to which
Cranston replied that " Mayes had his clearings from the Cus-
tom House at Rhode Island to go on a trading voyage to Mada-
gascar with a lawful commission from the government to fight
the French, his Majesty's enemies."
William Mayes lived at Portsmouth. The general assembly
adjourned to meet at his house there in 1682. He does not seem
to have returned from his voyage, and it is supposed that Avery
murdered him and his whole company. He was the only per-
son ever commissioned by Rhode Island, says Cranston, that
" has been to the southward of Cape Good Hope."
In a letter to the board of trade Cranston gives information of
a ship scuttled on the coast a month before — a bagboat of four
hundred tons belonging in London, bound for Borneo island.
On the island of Polonoys, near Sumatra, the crew took ad-
vantage of the captain's being on shore and ran away with the
ship. One of the men was caught at Newport and the rest in
the neighboring governments, and their money, about twelve
hundred pounds, taken from them.
Bellomont visited Rhode Island in September, 1699, with a
278 HISTORY" OF NEWPORT COUNTT.
number of the council of Massachusetts, and met the Rhode Is-
land authorities at Governor Cranston's house. Inquiry and
examination were made, when it appeared that one Gillam, a
notorious pirate who came from Madagascar to Rhode Island
with Captain Kidd, had been entertained in Newport at the
house of the deputy collector. To sum up this curious matter
John Russell Bartlett, editor of the Rhode Island Records,
adds in a note that there are various documents preserved among
the papers of Mr. John Carter Brown, copied from the state pa-
per office at London, "which corroborate in a measure the serious
chai'ges contained in the report of the earl of Bellomont against
Rhode Island, It does not ajjpear, however, that there was any
complicity between the authorities of the colony and those en-
gaged in piracy, as might be inferred from Lord Bellomont' s
report." But it is not so clear that there were not some, indeed
many who were engaged in privateering between which and
piracy the line was narrow; and Mr. Bartlett admits " that the
facility with which commissions for letters of marque were ob-
tained during the wars with France and Spain induced many
adventurers to x^esort to Rhode Island for that purpose; while the
advantages of the fine harbors of Narragansett bay led these
privateers to fit them out as well as to return here with their
booty. The notorious Captain Kidd was within our waters
where he landed portions of his goods and ill-gained treasures,
as appears from the testimony above referred to. Several of
his ^companions charged with piracy also took r«fuge here and
on the east end of Long Island, where they were sought by the
authorities at the instigation of Lord Bellemont."
The British cabinet in November, 1(399, issued an order to the
governors of all the colonies to arrest Kidd, should he appear
in their waters. He was taken in Boston and with his associ-
ates, by a ship sent out for the purpose, was carried to England
where he was executed for crimes in the results of which many
a man of station in the colonies had his profit. It is a curious
instance of the temper of the time that commissions to privateers
should have been issued by such men as Walter Clarke without,
as he himself admits, any thought of taking security for a faith-
ful discharge of this, the most dangerous of trusts.
Neither royal orders, colony proclamation nor beat of drum
are much restraint upon men who have once acquired a taste for
blood and plunder, and it is not surprising to find, in the journal
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 21d
of an English Friend who was at Block Island on a religious
errand in 1702, that most of the able bodied men on the. island
had gone off in privateers.
Depredations by Foreign Privateers.— At the time (1680)
that the inquiries of the board of trade were submitted to the
Rhode Island authorities, England was at peace and there
could be no excuse for the appearance of privateers on the
waters of the. American colonies, but the seventh question of
the board shows that there were such rovers under the pre-
tence of commission or in defiance of the law of nations abroad
on the high seas. The answer of Rhode Island was that "our
coast is little frequented and not at all at this time with
privateers or 'pirates." This happy state of affairs was not
of long duration. In 1682 the first of these freebooters
made their appearance' on the coast and hardy rufiians
they were. Their bark, the " White Wood," was captured
and the crew brought into Newport. Some of them broke jail
and plotted to murder Sanford, the governor of the colony.
One of them, a negro, betrayed the design and in reward, at his
own request, was held under guard while the privateers, John
Smith and his associates, were sent to Virginia for trial. The
articles seized from the men, moneys, plate, clothing, guns,
servants and boats, were taken possession of by the governor
and recorder, who were ordered to account to the assembly.
The war began by France to re-establish James the Second on
the throne of England was marked by unusual activity on the
part of that continental power on the seas. Proclaimed in
in the spring of 1699, ^^ Newport, the English settlements were
thrown into consternation in July by the descent of a
fleet of seven French privateers on the coast of New Eng-
land, which captured Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Block
Island. An armed sloop was sent out from Newport to watch
their movements. Some of the French vessels attempted a sur-
prise of the town but, finding it on guard, withdrew and sailed
through the sound to New London, where they were driven off;
bonfires lighted along the shore from Pawcatuck having given
warning of their approach. They landed at Fisher's island and
burned the only house on it. This party were surprised by
some Stonington men, and their guide, a renegade Englishman,
who had led them to Block Island, was killed. For eight days
they hung about the neighborhood.
280 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTy.
On the 25th of July the governor and conncil commissionec
Captain Thomas Faine (himself a privateer and later one o
Kidd's friends), Captain John Godfrej^and others to pursue th.
enemy. Two sloops and ninety men, Captain Paine command
ing, fell in with five sail of the French near Block Island. Th^
enemy numbered two hundred men and were commanded b;
Captain Fekar, who had sailed some years before under Pain^
in privateering expeditions. After a severe fight in which th
French were worsted, they put to sea. Chased by Paine, the;
sank one of their prizes laden with wines and brandies. Pain^
returned to Newport but the people were so alarmed that man;
removed their valuables to the interior.
Block Island, from its exposed position now became, a
during the Indian wars, a favorite point of surprise. In May
1691, a night attack was made upon it and cattle wer
carried off. In the summer of 1692 the British frigate " Non
such," cruising at the mouth of the sound, sighted a Frencl
privateer which had already plundered Block Island and
giving chase, captured it in Monument bay, near Elizabetl
islands, and brought it into Newport. After the "Nonsuch'
left the harbor another French privateer seized several ves
sels, one of which, John Godfrey master, belonged to Rhod
Island. Governor Easton at once sent out a brigantine un
der command of Captain Peter Lawrence, who returned afte
a fruitless search. A fourth attack on Block Island wa
repulsed by the settlers in an "open pitched battle." Th
Rhode Island authorities, in an address to the king thi
summer (1692) liken their position to that of a border post
" being frontiers at sea as your Majesty's fort at Albany is b;
land" and therefore as "very great charge by watching an(
warding," and not suitably fortified. These were the last o
the French descents. Now for a time Block Island, Conanicu
and even Rhode Island became the quiet refuge of English ani
American freebooters. Block Island has been searched for Kidd'
treasures and there is a tradition that the cave in the cliffs a
Ochre point was the favorite landing place of this famou
*' pirate king."
The peace of Ryswick was but a lull in the great Enropea
struggle. Four years later (1702) the war of the Spanish su(
cession began. Queen Anne's declaration of hostilities agains
France and Spain was proclaimed in May. The news of a stron
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 281
French fleet cruising in the West Indies again alarmed Rhode
Island and stimulated every measure of defense. The coast was
watched by scouts and a garrison established on Block Island.
In June a sloop laden with provisions was taken by a French
privateer. Within twenty-four hours an expedition of two
sloops was sent out after the intruder and the vessel and prize
brought back in triumph by Captain John Wanton. The next
day the general assembly voted the governor a gratuity of
five pounds for his extraordinary trouble in setting out the
sloops in the expedition, and empowered him to take up and
improve any vessels to send out in case of invasion, and upon
any sudden invasion within the precincts of the colony to press
any vessel or vessels for the colony's service. In 1708 French
privateers again made their appearance, this time at Martha's
Vineyard, when they took two prizes. Again within three
hours after the news came into Newport Major William Wan-
ton and Captain John Cranston went out in pursuit with two
sloops. The French destroyed their prizes but escaped after
a twenty-four hours' chase.
Queen Anne's War with France and Spain, 1702-13. — In
May, 1702, while the assembly was busy in the fortification of
the harbor and in arming the colony, news was received of the
declaration of war by Queen Anne upon France and Spain.
This war, which continued for eleven years, is known in En-
glish annals as the war for the Spanish succession ; in those of
the colonies as Queen Anne's war. In July following the brig-
antine "Greyhound," of one hundred tons, mounting twelve
guns and manned with one hundred men and boys, was fitted
out at Newport and her command given to Captain William
Wanton, with a four months' cruising commission and instruc-
tions to keep within the banks of Newfoundland on the east
and the thirtieth parallel of north latitude on the south, where
the French and Spanish privateers were to be looked for.
Wanton was of a Quaker family which came to Rhode Island
from Plymouth. He was himself a shipwright at Portsmouth
and with his brother John became famous for privateering
exploits. On his return in September from a cruise in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence he brought into port three French ships,
one a privateer of two hundred and sixty tons, carrying twenty
guns and forty-eight men, another, a vessel of three hundred
282 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
tons with sixteen guns and a third of one hundred and sixty
tons mounting eight guns. They had cargoes of dried fish.
The sale of these prizes was the occasion of an attempt on
the part of Dudley, the vice-admiral, to break up the admiral-
ty court at Newport and substitute his own authority. It is
not to be denied that there liad been great abuses and irregu
larity in affairs of admiralty in Rhode Island. The queen's or-
ders had annulled the colonial act of 1694. The authority of the
judges appointed by the crown in 1697 had been disputed by
the governor and his commission withheld. In 1699 the judge,
Peleg Sanford, wrote the Earl of Bellomont that he had not up
to that time been able to discharge his duty owing to the oppo-
sition of the government which claimed admiralty authority,
and that pirates and other suspected persons were countenanced
and entertained and readily found bondsmen in the sums of
two to three thousand pounds.
Sanford died in 1701 without, as far as can be ascertained,
having exercised his official functions. But the judges in ad-
miralty held their power to be not only to govern the adminis-
tration of prizes but to issue commissions to privateers. Dud-
ley denied the validity of Wanton's commission and the entire
subject was referred to the queen. Colonel Nathaniel Byfield
was appointed by Dudley to the vacancy made by the death of
Sanford, but the same opposition was made to his authority as
to that of his predecessor. The authority of Dudley as vice-
admiral had been established by the orders of the queen in
council in 1703, which expressly declared that there was no ad-
miralty jurisdiction in the charter of Rhode Island.
In 1705 the brigantine " Charles," a private man-of-war, sent
out from Newport under Captain John Halsey, with the gov-
ernor's commission, returned with a valuable Spanish prize
taken in the West Indies. Judge Byfield refused to condemn
the prize on the ground that the commission was not valid.
The affair caused great commotion until Dudley wrote to By-
field, advising condemnation in order to save the cargo which
would else b'e embezzled or lost. It had already been dis-
charged. The vessel was condemned and strange to say the
general assembly was convened to lay a tax of five hundred
pounds, out of which one hundred and seventy was to go to the
lord high admiral's tenths, due him from the colony for prize
moneys.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 283
The question seems to have been whether the issue of com-
missions or letters of marque was a privilege of the judge or a
chartered right of the governor. In point of fact, being tanta-
mount to a declaration of hostilities, it was a prerogative of the
crown. These proceedings must have dampened the ardor of
the privateers who would ill brook the nice questioning of an
independent authority into their proceedings, and we hear no
more of them during this war. But Captain Wanton again dis-
tinguished himself in 1706 in the capture of French privateers
which hung about the coast. Judge Sheffield, of Newport, in
his interesting paper on this subject, says that while no records
now exist to show the number that sailed out, "Fort Ann was
built from the queen's tenths of the prizes during the war." To
this purpose the colony devoted the proceeds of the "money,
gold plate and goods " forfeited by one Munday, accused of
piracy in 1699, and there were taxes laid also for the same. Peace
being declared, the venturesome seafaring men men and the en-
terprising traders turned their attention to the coast of Africa
and the slave trade, an account of which elsewhere appears.
War WITH Spain, 1739 ; Spain and France, 1744. — Informa-
tion reaching Rhode Island in the course of the summer of
probable hostilities between England and Spain, the colony
began instantly to prepare for their share of the plunder
which lay near at hand. Newport was now a port of some
consequence, her seafaring men were just the material needed
for officers and men in this kind of warfare, and her merchants
were able to put their vessels into commission as fast as they
could be manned. In August, before the English government
issued the declaration of war, the king's warrant to commission
privateers reached Rhode Island. The assembly at once ordered
that Godfrey Malbone, John Brown and George Wanton should
be loaned the colonys' small arms and ammunition of all
calibre.
War was declared in England in October and further pre-
parations made by the colony ; beacons were ordered along
the coast and a sloop not exceeding one hundred and fifteen
tons, to be constructed for the colony's use and put under
command of Colonel John Cranston for the first cruise. In
July, word being brought in that a French schooner was off
the coast on illicit trade, the "Tartar," as the sloop was
called, went out after her and brought her into port, where
284 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
she was condemned by the judge of vice-admiralty. The
"Tartar" carried twelve carriage guns, twelve swivel guns
and had a large deck room. In October she was dismantled
and taken out of commission till the assembly should meet.
In 1741 the ISTewport merchants sent out five vessels, the "St.
Andrews," "Revenge," " Wentworth," "Victory" and "Tri-
ton," manned together by four hundred men. In 1743 five ves-
sels went out, of which four were new ; in 1743 seven, of which
six were new.
In 1744 new troubles arose in England. Charles Edward, the
pretender, set up his standard and France declared war in his
favor. In March war against France was proclaimed in England
and in June the rumor came down the coast from the fishing
banks even before the proclamation was received. The colony
strengthened its defenses and doubled its number of vessels. The
"Tartar" was at once put in commission, armed and sent to
cruise between Martha's Vineyard and Long Island. The sol-
diers on Block Island were ordered on board the sloop and en-
listed at wages ranging from £25 per month to the captain to £8
per month to the men. The food allowance was to each man per
week : seven pounds of bread, four pounds of beef, two pounds
of pork, two quarts of peas or beans and one pound of butter ;
and for every day each man half a pint of rum. The cruise,
however, was to be undertaken as a coast guard only on condi-
tion of the colony of Connecticut fitting out a sloop to act in
conjunction with it.
The king's declaration of war against France arrived in Au-
gust. In the spring of the next year (1745) men were pressed
into the service, "transient sea-faring men, persons who have
no certain place of abode and such as have no visible honest
means of getting their living." The "Tartar" was placed un-
der command of Captain Daniel Fones and attached to the ex-
pedition against Cape Breton for an indefinite time, and news
coming in of the capture by Commodore Warren, of the "Vigi-
lante," a large French man-of-war, the colony offered a bounty
of £17, old tenor, to all who should enlist; strict orders were is-
sued to prevent any seamen leaving the island and to impress
forty men for the "Vigilante."
The "Tartar," while acting with the Connecticut sloop as
convoy to the troop transports to Cape Breton fell in with the
French frigate "Renommee" of thirty-six guns and received
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 285
some damage, but was fortunately not pursued, the French ship
having desjjatches on board. The "Tartar" did good service,
dispersing a French fleet which was transporting troops from
Annapolis to Louisburg. In October the " Tartar " was ordered
home. Two of the guns carried by her on this memorable ex-
pedition now show their grim muzzles at the foot of the Parade
in Newport.
At the close of this year a great disaster befell the colony in
the loss of two large privateer ships biiilt and fitted out for a
cruise on the Spanish main by Colonel Godfrey Malbone.
Manned by four hundred men they went on the day set for
them by the horoscope, as was usual, Friday the 24th of De-
cember, 1745, in a violent snow storm which rose to a hurricane
and blew for two days. The vessels were never heard from
and two hundred Newport families were left without their
heads.
In May, 1746, the " Tartar" was again fitted out to guard the
coast from Martha's Vineyard to Sandy Hook in company with
the Connecticut sloop, and in the next month was again ordered
to accompany the new expedition for the invasion of Canada.
In October Captain Fones received orders to Join to intercept
Admiral Lestrok who was on his way to Nova Scotia with infor-
mation of the presence of a powerful French fleet in the Canadian
waters. It is evident that the "Tartar " was a vessel of uncom-
mon speed. In the spring of 1748 she was again sent to cruise
along the coast under the command of Captain James Holmes.
The first day out he captured a schooner off Point Judith, laden
with sugar from Hispaniola to a northern i:)ort. The vessel
claimed to be a flag of truce. A committee of the assembly found
the captain guilt}^ of imprudence in sending her in but he was
not relieved of his command. On the news of the peace being
signed at Aix-la-Chapelle (April 19th, 1748) the "Tartar" was
taken out of commission but not dismantled, and ordered to lay
at anchor in the road. A sale at auction closed the career of
this adventurous vessel.
The Newport privateers were busy in these years. In 1745,
fifteen vessels, some of large size, were sent out. In 1746 two
more were commissioned ; in 1747, ten ; in 1748, three. Some of
them had eventful histories. In 1746 the "Defiance" and
"Duke of Marlborough " captured a vessel and sold her crew
of twenty- two Spaniards in the northern colonies. But in turn
286 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
the nineteen of the crew of the " Defiance " were taken by the
Spaniards and held at Havana for the release of the enslaved
men. The Rhode Island assembly looked up the slaves and re-
turned them by a flag of truce. In 1647 the French at Martin-
ique sent out a vessel of fourteen guns and a hundred and forty
men to capture Captain Dennis, a man famous for his ex-
ploits ; but after an action of four hours the Frenchman struck
his flag and was taken as a prize into the English island of St.
Kitts. Sheffield, in his interesting monograph on this subject,
gives the names of sixtj^-flve privateers commissioned or re-
commissioned at Newport during the Spanish-French war, 1741
-48, and of seventy-seven prizes, a part only of those brought
in daring the same iieriod.
The Old French War— Seven Years War, 1754-61.— It was
soon found that the high contracting powers to the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1448, which closed the war of the Spanish
succession, could not agree upon the boundary lines of their
respective possessions in America. In 1754 the contest be-
gan on the land, and in January, 1755, the assembly of
Rhode Island, summoned for the purpose, made arrange-
ments for raising troops, but it was some time before New-
port privateers took a hand in the war. The Newport cap-
tains were fully employed in the slave trade and perhaps
sometimes combined the two classes of adventure. In 1759,
nearly one fifth of the adult male population were engaged on
board of private armed ships. It is rather amusing to find that
Captain Joseph Wanton, who commanded the snow "King of
Prussia," which was captured on the west coast of Africa, de-
clares himself in his deposition of protest against the act of
prize, that he was one of the " people called Quakers and con-
scientiously scrupulous about taking an oath." More than
fifty Newport vessels met the same fortune between 1758 and
1762, and among others the "Fox," which Captain Dennis took
out on a cruise to the Spanish main but was never again heard
from.
For the better despatch of the business the adjudication of
prizes threw on the admiralty, the colony applied for the ap-
pointment of a judge of vice-admiralty, and John Andrews was
appointed by the admiralty commissioners in 1758. Mr. Shef-
field's list gives seventy privateers newly commissioned or sent
out a second time from Newport between 1753 and 1762, and of
PIISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 287
fifr,y-two vessels, part of the prizes brought in. Mr. Sheffield
names as the merchants engaged in this business, the Malbones,
Godfrey and Evan ; John and Peleg Brown ; John Bannister,
William Mumford, Daniel Ayrault, Jr., John and Nathaniel
Coddington, William and Joseph Wanton, Solomon Tovpnsend,'
Isaac and Napthall Hart (Jews) ; and among the famous cap-
tains, Benjamin Wickham, Charles Davidson, James Allen,
Esek Hopkins, William Jackson Barfield, Charles Dyer, John
Dennis, Simeon Potter, Benjamin Cranston, William Hopkins,
Robert Morris, Peter Marshall, Thomas Conklin and others.
Another of these captains, Abraham Whipple, is said to have
taken twenty-three prizes in one cruise in 1759 and 1760. These
privateersmen were not over particular as to the nationality of
their enemy or the flag which was carried, and were as ready
for a rich Spanish prize as though there were war with that
country. An order of council was issued on the subject in Octo-
ber, 1756, and in 1757 William Pitt, then secretary, warned the
Rhode Island government of the determination of the king to
stop the "scandalous disorders which, if not stopped, would in-
volve him in odious disputes with all the neutral powers of
Europe." ISTor does it seem that the privateersmen were over-
scrupulous at home, as a law was passed in the same year fining
every master who should take away a slave, the sum of £500.
Their great success in this time of adventure came from the
rule adopted since the capture of Spanish galleons at Porte
Bello that the sailors had a share and a very considerable share
of the prize money. The declaration of war against Spain in
1761 gave a new impulse to hostilities at sea and the West In-
dia waters again swarmed with privateers which swept French
and Spanish commerce. from the seas. Martinique, and soon
after Havana, fell into P^nglish power. The peace of Paris
closed the war in 1763.
Rhode Island Privateers in the War of the American
Revolution, 1775-83. — The beginning of hostilities in 1775
found Rhode Island ready for her favorite service and, on the le-
galizing of privateering by act of congress, measures were imme-
diately taken for an active part in this branch of offensive war. A
prize court was established at Newport and a judge appointed.
Arnold, in his history of Rhode Island says that " no less than
sixteen vessels, heavily armed and well manned, were sent out be-
fore October, 1776, by this colony alone," but Sheffield gives a list
288 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
of fifty-seven vessels newly commissioned or sent out a second
time from Newport in the course of the year 1776, of seventeen
in 1777, of seventeen in 1778, of thirty-eight in 1779, of thirteen
in 1780, of nine in 1781, of twenty-six in 1782 and of seventeen
in 1783 ; in the seven years of one hundred and seventeen. The
list does not contain all the names as the governor issued near-
ly two hundred commissions. He gives also a list of prizes sent
into Rhode Island : forty in 1776, four in 1777, eight in 1778,
nine in 1779, seven in 1780, nine in 1781, twenty-five in 1782 ; in
all one hundred and two ; but no doubt many were taken into
other American ports and condemned. And this work was not
only important but in everyway commendable. It was not a
simple depredation on the commerce of individuals but the
regular interception and cutting off of transports which brought
provisions and amunition, under convoy of men-of-war, to sup-
ply the British posts on the coast from Halifax to New York
and Charleston; a different story from that of the bloody excur-
sions on the Spanish main in the old wars.
The old captains and the old vessels again appear. Esek
Hopkins, who commanded a privateer in the French war, was
piit in charge of a fleet of continental vessels as commodore.
The " Revenge " and the "Defiance" went out again under
new commanders. Captain Abraham Whipple, who made his
fame in 1759-60, is said at one time in the revolution to have
taken prizes to the amount of over one million dollars. Such
was the popularity of this class of service that it was at the be-
ginning of the war proposed to lay an embargo at all the ports,
on outgoing vessels, until the quotas for land service should be
filled. In February, 1783, news of the preliminaries of peace
having been signed reaching Philadelphia, congress issued
orders " to recall all armed vessels from the United States."
Stamp Act. JSTon Importation Agreement, 1763-74. — The
Seven Years' War prosecuted bj^ Pitt without stint of men or
treasure left England in assured possession of the greater part
of the dominions of the House of Bourbon in America, but with
a public (English) debt doubled and amounting, at the time of
the signature of the peace of Paris in February, 1763, to one
hundred and forty millions of pounds sterling.
The British ministry now turned its attention to the regula-
tion of American affairs and an enforcement of the acts of trade
and navigation which had been somewhat relaxed during the
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 289
progress of hostilities. In April, 1763, Shelburne, president ot
the board of commissioners of trade and plantations, notified
the government of Rhode Island of the new regulations for the
manner of their correspondence and issued instructions which
were confirmed in September by his successor in ofiice, the Earl
of Hillsborough.
A new minister was now at the head of affairs. The incom-
petent Lord Bute resigned in April and George Grrenville united
in himself the offices of chancellor of the exchequer and first
lord of the treasury. A man of routine and order in admin-
istration, Grenville was neither a sagacious politician nor a
wise statesman. This was shown in his first dealings with
American affairs. On the 11th of October Hillsborough ad-
dressed to the Rhode Island government instructions for the
stringent enforcement of the revenue laws and enjoined it in
the strictest manner to make suppression of the prohibited
trade with foreign nations. The London custom house commis-
sioned John Robinson, at Newport, as collector and surveyor
for Rhode Island, and Temple, the surveyor-general at Boston,
appointed William Taylor as comptroller of customs for the
port of Newport, and in October the Earl of Colville placed his
Majesty's ship " Squirrel" on the station at Newport " for the
encouragement of fair trade by the prevention of smuggling."
Parliament met in November but as the winter session was
taken up with the Wilkes proceedings, which involved questions
of parliamentary privilege as well as of personal liberty, it was
not until March that Grenville brought forward his measures of
finance. By the re-arrangement of the debt the ingenious min-
ister contrived to avoid levying new taxes, meeting the interest
on contracts by a careful collection of the revenue at home
which, by the stoppage of smuggling, increased four hundred
thousand pounds sterling on the article of tea alone. This pol-
icy Grenville determined to extend to the colonies, but as the
result of this plan was uncertain, he sought a more direct rev-
enue by a measure to tax the bills of credit which the colonies
had issued as legal tender during the war. On the 5th of
March, in pursuance of this policy, he introduced the project
of drawing revenue from America by stamps and announced his
intention of bringing in a bill at the next session of parliament.
In the development of his plan Grenville challenged the oppo-
sition to deny the right of parliament to tax America. No
19
2d0 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
voice was raised in denial and the next day it was unanimously-
resolved that it was right and proper to impose certain stamp
duties on the colonies. Grenville said in the course of his
speech that he was not absolutely wedded to a stamp act if the
colonies would provide some more satisfactory plan.
But for the indefatigable exertions of Americans in London
and especially of William Allen, chief justice of Pennsylvania,
the measure would have been brought in and passed immedi-
ately. Parliament was prorogued on the 31st of June. Mean-
while the very first threats of strict enforcement of the acts of
trade had caused a protest from Rhode Island. For thirty
years the colony had been complaining of the unjust operations
of the sugar act of George II, which was now expiring of its
own limitation. This act, which levied a duty on sugar and
molasses imported from any of the West India colonies into any
of the North American colonies, would have been particularly
onerous to Rhode Island' if she had paid much regard to it.
Now that English power was supreme on the American conti-
nent, and there was prospect of a rigid enforcement, which
would destroy the most valuable industry of the colony, the as-
sembly prepared a remonstrance against a renewal of the act,
which they sent to Joseph Sherwood, the agent of the colony at
London, with instructions to secure the joining with him in the
remonstrance of the agents of at least three of the northern col-
onies to the lord commissioner. Moreover, the governor was re-
quested to write to the board of trade independently of the re-
monstrance.
New York was the first of the colonies to make protest against
the assumption of the king and parliament to levy taxes upon
them, and " claimed the exclusive right of taxing themselves"
in a petition addressed to the king and parliament on the 18th
of October, 1764. The same day the New York assembly
raised a committee of correspondence to confer with the sev-
eral assemblies or committees of assemblies in the colonies. One
of the members of the committee visited Boston and obtained
the adoption of a petition of the same general nature from the
Massachusetts colony on the 22d of the same month.
In July the Rhode Island assembly met at Newport, took
Into consideration the general subject of the objectionable duties
and particularly that on stamps, and raised a committee to con-
fer and consult with any committees appointed by the other
HISTORT OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 291
colonies, and directed it to report at the next session. Tills
seems to have been the first committee of correspondence ap-
pointed, and though no practical action was taken by it until
after New York adopted its own remonstrance and dispatched
its committee to secure co-operation elsewhere, Rhode Island
has the honor of priority in the scheme which has been con-
sidered as the forerunner of union. At the next session its com-
mittee was again continued, the assembly having meanwhile
received a letter from the Earl of Halifax, requesting a list of
all instruments used in public transactions. In November the
assembly adopted a petition to the king and at the same time
ordered an address prepared by Hopkins, the governor, entitled
"The Rights of the Colonies examined," which they ordered
to be sent to the agent in London for publication in print.
The New York and Massachusetts petitions were laid before
the privy council on the 11th of December, and the king was
by it advised to send them to parliament. The king, how-
ever, suppressed them. The Rhode Island protests were not
presented, and Governor Hopkins' pamphlet reached London
too late to warrant its publication. Parliament met on the 10th
of January, 1765, and on the 7th of February, Mr. Grenville
put the stamp bill on its passage, and it became an act by the
king's signature on the 22d of March. Conway and Barr6
opposed it vehemently in the commons but without making
much impression on that body, and the lords passed it without
debate or protest.
Rhode Island was already in conflict with the revenue
officers and his majesty's navy. Rear Admiral Colville, in the
summer of 1764, sent out four armed vessels from Halifax to
cruise along the coast to raise men. The officer of one of them,
the schooner "St. John," while with his vessel at Newport,
learned of a brig unloading in a creek near Howland's ferry.
When he reached the spot he found a cargo of sugars unloaded
but the vessel gone. Manning a boat he sent it in pursuit
and brought back the vessel, which he reloaded. He was arrested
and compelled to find bail in Newport, and on his going to
Boston to consult the surveyor-general on the subject, a mob
at Newport endeavored to destroy the schooner, stoning
the crew. The schooner attempting to get under protec-
tion of the guns of the man-of-war "Squirrel," the mob
went to the battery and fired upon the schooner, which
292 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
was only rescued by the "Squirrel" springing her cable and
bringing the battery under her broadside. The captain of the
"Squirrel" complained to the government but no redress was
given or attempted. The captain of the " Squirrel" made a
report in which he styled the government a "very ignorant
council," and the lieutenant of the schooner prayed for "a
change of government in this licentious republic."
In March, 1765, the secretary of his majesty's council sent out
papers to the government of Rhode Island particularly requir-
ing a report as to "what was done by the government of the
colony when the populace possessed themselves of the battery
upon Goat Island." According to Arnold two of the magistrates
gave the order to the governor at Fort George to lire on the
boats. No explanation of this high-handed proceeding appears
on the records, but it would seem that the offense of the officer
of the schooner was his supposed intention to take the brig
with the seized cargo to Halifax for condemnation.
Rhode Island had always been tenacious about her relations
with the customs and claimed the right of establishing the
salaries for crown officers. The action of the British navy officers
at Halifax in sending their cruisers down the coast in search of
seamen was repeated in 1765. In May the "Maidstone," a
British armed vessel, lay for several weeks in the harbor im-
pressing seamen from vessels that came into port, from the
coasters and even the small wood boats and river craft. The
townsmen of Newport were let alone, but the commerce of the
port suffered from the avoidance of it by trading vessels.
Supplies to the town even became scarce. These outrages
culminated in the boarding by English naval officers of a brig
arrived from Africa on a June afternoon, and the impressment
of the entire crew. Exasperated beyond measure, about live
hundred Newport sailors and boys seized the "Maidstone's"
boat at one of the wharves and dragging it through Queen street
to the common, there burned it.
During the summer all the colonies were in opposition to the
Stamp Act. The house of burgesses of Virginia declared the
measure unconstitutional; the people of Philadelphia spiked
guns at the fort and barracks. In June and July news came
that the act would be enforced in November. In June the
Massachusetts house of representatives agreed to a meeting of
committees from the several colonies at the city of New York
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 293
on the first Tuesday in October. One after another the colonies
appointed their delegates. The general assembly of Rhode
Island named Metcalfe Bowler and Henry Ward commissioners
to the New York congress.
News came of a change in the British ministry. Gren-
ville went out and Conway became secretary for the colo-
nies. Bnt before this information arrived the colonies were
in open revolt. Commissions had been received for the
stamp officers, some of whom accepted the post. The office
of Oliver in Boston was sacked, TngersoU in New Haven was
forced to promise the reshipment of the stamps, Cone of New
Jersey threw up his commission, McEvers in New York made
formal resignation. Augustus Johnston, the attorney-general
who had been appointed stamp distributor for Rhode Island,
also resigned and notice was published in an extra of the
"Providence Grazette," which bore the legend, '^Vox PopuU,
Vox Dei'''' above its title. In many of the chief towns the stamp
distributors were hung in effigy. The rage of the people ex-
pressed itself in this way at Newport. On the 26th of August
effigies of three leading citizens, Augustus Johnston, Martin
Howard, Jr., a lawyer, and Dr. Thomas Moffatt, a Scotch physi-
cian, were carted through the streets, hung on a gallows in front
of the court house and at night cut down and burned. The next
day their houses were plundered and they were driven to refuge
on board the ' ' Cygnet ' ' sloop of war in the harbor. The revenue
officers closed the custom house and sought the same protection.
The lieutenant governor, Gideon Wanton, Jr., in the absence
of the chief magistrate, invited them to return, but they demand-
ed a guard and also the arrest of Samuel Crandall, the leader
of the rioters, who had insisted as a condition of quiet that the
custom house be managed in accordance with the acts of assem-
bly, and that a prize sloop from the West Indies, with its cargo,
held by the "Cygnet" for orders from the prize court of Hali-
fax, be given up to the captors. There was even a plan by the
citizens to take Fort George, cut out the prize sloop and to fire on
the ' ' Cygnet ' ' in case of interference.
The assembly, in September, condemned these violent pro-
ceedings, and directed the governor to issue a proclamation for
apprehending the rioters, and at the same time passed and
made public certain declaratory resolutions concerning the act
levying stamp duties and other internal duties, according in the
294 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
main with those passed in Virginia and others of the colonies.
These rested on the charter rights of Rhode Island, its custom
of government by the assembly in matters of taxes and internal
police, and declared the acts of parliament unconstitutional,
and their intention to disregard all laws and ordinances except
of their own making. This assembly, which Arnold styles one
of the most important sessions ever held in Rhode Island, ap-
pointed the commissioners to the congress.
The Stamp Act congress, as it is known in history, met in
New York on the 7th day of October,1765. Nine colonies, among
which Rhode Island were represented; the delegates appointed
in different forms and differently empowered but actuated by a
similar spirit. They agreed upon a masterly declaration of
rights and grievances and adopted memorials to the lords and
commons. The congress adjourned on Friday, the 25th of Oc-
tober, and the delegates were placed under an engagement of
secrecy as to their proceeding until the petitions were presented.
Immediately on their breaking up, a meeting of New York
citizens was called at "Jones House in the Fields in New York"
(the present City Hall park) for Monday the 28th, but the notice
being too short for full attendance, it was postponed to the 31st of
October at the City Arms (late the City Hotel), when over two
hundred of the principal merchants solemnly bound themselves
to a non-importation agreement. Philadelphia followed this
example on the 7th of November. [Here it may be mentioned
that there is a tablet in Philadelphia stating that this famous
agreement originated in that city.]
Meanwhile the 1st of November, the day fixed for the stamp
act to take effect, had arrived. Grovernor Samuel Ward of Rhode
Island had refused to take the oath to enforce the act. But the
people took care that the instruments themselves should be want-
ing. In New York the mayor himself, as the custodian of the
people, received the stamps from the lieutenant-governor. In
Newport the stamp officers placed them on board the "Cygnet,"
sloop of war, for safe-keeping; a town meeting was called at
which the governor presided, which appointed a military guard
and a night patrol to maintain peace and order in the excited
town. No one has better stated the nature of the crisis than Mr.
Arnold: " The wheels of every government in America were
stopped at once. Commerce was crushed, law was annulled,
justice was delayed, even the usages of domestic life were sus-
HISTORY or NEWPORT COUNTY. 295
pended by this anomalous and terrible act. Not a ship could sail,
nor even a marriage take place that was not in itself illegal, so far
as the British parliament could make it so; for every one of
these acts required the evidence of stamped papers to establish
its validity."
No one in England, not even Franklin himself, who best
of all the agents understood the temper ol the colonies, was
prepared for such a universal spirit of resistance. At the
opening of parliament in January, 1766, American affairs were
the one engrossing subject of consideration. At the close of Feb-
ruary the act was repealed, but at the same time an act passed
declaratory of the right of parliament " to bind the colonies in
all cases whatsoever." The king signed both documents on the
18th of March. The first impulse given to home manufactures
in America sprung from the determination of the people to free
themselves from dependence on Great Britain. Societies were
established to promote these industries and markets set up in
the chief cities. Rhode Island was not behind in this enterprise.
A premium was offered for the largest amount of flax raised dur-
ing the year in the county of Providence. A paper mill was es
tablished. The use of homespun garments became general. Lib-
erty trees were planted in all the chief cities — in New York on
the Fields; in Boston on the common; in Newport on a plot of
land given by Captain William Read, one of the deputies for the
town. A sort of reaction of loyalty followed the repeal of the
stamp act. Statues were voted to the king and to Pitt. The
king's birthday was celebrated with joy. There were rejoicings
and balls in Providence and at Newport, where the assembly
met in June and adopted an address to the king and resolutions
of thanks to the merchants of London who had been zealous
friends of the colonies.
The whigs now came into power in England and parliament
passed an indemnity to those who had incurred penalties under
the stamp act, and an act regulating trade with the Wiest India
islands with larger privileges. The Rhode Island colony was
especially pleased by this legislation and the governor de-
clared its satisfaction. The true state of public feeling was,
however, not understood in England, or if understood disre-
garded. A measure was brought into parliament to raise rev-
enue in America by customs duties collected by oflBcers of the
crown, Revenue commissioners were appointed with station nt
296 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Boston and John Robinson, collector at Newport, was appointe
one of the new board. The collectors had nothing to do, as a
orders for goods on which imports due were to be paid ha
been countermanded, and committees of the citizens took caj
to see that the non-importation agreement was enforced.
The impossibility of collecting revenue in America for tt
service of government was gradually brought home to tli
British government, and in July, 1769, Joseph Sherwood, th
agent of Rhode Island, was able to inform the governor thi
the Earl of Hillsborough, one of the secretaries for America
had informed the agents of several of the colonies that the legis
latureand ministry had resolved to repeal the act levying dutic
on paper, glass and colors. But before this news reached th
colony Newport had again been the scene of a violent resistanc
to the revenue laws. The "Liberty," a revenue sloop, had bee
sent by the commissioners of the customs in Boston to cruis
in the waters of Long Island. Her officers had taken an
brought into Newport a Connecticut brig and sloop. In th
night the townspeople cut the "Liberty's" cable, when sh
drifted to shore near Long Wharf, where she was boarded an
burned. The sloop escaped in the disturbance and the bri
was duly cleared by thp authorities. Grovernor Wanton issue
a proclamation from which it appears that the real purpose c
these riotous proceedings was to enable the vessels to get awa
with their prohibited goods. The commissioners offered a n
ward of one hundred pounds sterling for the conviction of an
of the offenders.
The king, while yielding to the desire of his ministry in th
'attempts to collect revenue, insisted on the right ; and " th
three pence duty upon tea" was therefore excepted in the a(
of repeal.
In Newport, as has been seen, there was never much attentio
paid to restrictive laws of any character, whether touching priv;
teering, importations or collection of the revenue. In Marcl
1772, the arbitrary conduct of the officers of his majesty'
achooner " Gaspee," stationed with the " Beaver" in theNarn
gansett waters to enforce the revenue acts, and the seizui
on trivial pretexts of craft engaged in the daily trade of tli
colony, brought on a correspondence between Governor Wanto
and Lieutenant Duddington, in which the oificer expresse
himself with the customary British insolence, and Governc
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 291
Wanton answered with the independent spirit which was al-
ready the tone of American communications. The interference
of Lieutenant Duddington continuing, it was determined to put
a stop to it. Word coming to Newport that the"Gaspee,"
while in chase of a trading vessel which had arrived in the har-
bor of Newport and gone up the river to Providence, had run
aground below Pawtuxet, volunteers were summoned in Provi-
dence by beat of drum. Led by Captain Abraham Whipple
and joined by a boat's crew from Bristol, they boarded the
"Q-aspee" at night and after a short struggle, in which the
saucy British lieutenant was wounded, the crew of his majesty's
ship was driven below. At daylight the lieutenant was landed
and the "Gaspee" was burned.
Large rewards were offered in England for the arrest of the
offenders and it was ordered that they be sent to England foi
trial, but this was still another of those demands to which the
colonies would not submit. The rewards were unavailing and
alter many attempts on the part of the British government, the
prosecutions were dropped. The friends of absolute govern-
ment were inclined to peremptory measures and Hutchinson, the
governor of Massachussetts, proposed the annulling of the char-
ter of Rhode Island. The struggle was now rapidly approaching
which was to determine whether England was to govern America
or America to govern herself.
CHAPTER VI.
NEWPORT IN THE REVOLUTION.
By John Austin Stevens.
Events of 1774. — First Continental Congress. — Military Preparations in Rhode
Island. — Events of 1775.^The Army of Observation. — The Train of Artil-
lery. — Depredations by Captain Wallace and his Fleet. — Events of 1776.
NEWPORT was not included among the principal Ameri-
can ports to which the East India Company sent the
first tea ships. Her fidelity to the non-importation agreements
was not, therefore, subjected to the same practical test as in the
ports to which the consignments were made, but she left no
doubt as to her attitude on the question. At a " very full
town meeting" held on the 12th of January, 1774, Newport
was the first of the Rhode Island towns to adopt stringent res-
olutions forbidding the landing or bringing to land of any
"dutied tea" belonging to the East India Company or any
other person ; approving the proceedings of the people of Bos-
ton, Philadelphia and ISTew York, and pledging themselves to
join with the other towns of the colonies, and with the other
colonies, in a resolute stand against every unconstitutional
measure calculated to enslave America, and the tea act in par- '
ticular.
A committee of correspondence, consisting of Colonel Joseph
Wanton, Jr., Henry Ward, John Mawdsley, John Collins and
William EUery, Esquires, was appointed to address the towns
of the colony and to visit the importers of English goods, with
notice of the resolutions and a request to countermand ship-
ments of any dutiable merchandise ordered.
The other towns followed in rapid succession : Providence
on the 19th of January, Bristol and Richmond on the 28th of
February, New Shoreham (Block Island) on the 2d of March,
Cumberland on the 18th of March, Barrington on the 21st of
March ; copies of the Newport resolutions having been sent to
mSTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 299
each. The published records of the colony name these towns
and give all the resolutions in full, except those of Newport,
which are represented to be in substance similar to those of
Providence as here given. Arnold says that Warren followed
Providence. Westerly met on February 2d, Little Compton
February 3d, Middletown on the 9th ; then South Kingstown,
Jamestown and Hopkinton— the others as above given. Gov-
ernor Samuel Ward, of Westerly, the Samuel Adams of
Ehode Island, one of the staunchest of the steadfast band who
led the revolution, and second to no man in sturdy common
sense, drew the Westerly resolutions, which were in the main
the model of those which followed.
The idea of a Congress was by no means new. The New
■ York committee of inspection, discontented with the breach of
the non-importation agreement by the Boston merchants, to
their own detriment and the general injury, had, as early as
August, 1770, urged a Congress on the colonies, to "unite them
in one system for the whole Continent," which, as appears by
the letter of the chairman of the New York committee pub-
lished in Holt's "New York Journal," August 30th, 1770, was
rejected. But now that the liberties of Massachusetts were
directly menaced, the "rejected" measure became the corner-
stone of the temple. John Hancock proposed it in a public
meeting at Boston on the 5th of March, and with this endorse-
ment it was at once received by New England and spread by
the committees of correspondence through every town.
The news from England of Lord North's measure of coercion ;
the closing of the port of Boston against all commerce until it
should give indemnity for the past and security for futuie
obedience, the legalizing of quartering troops within the town
of Boston, the appointment of General Gage, the military com-
mander-in-chief for all North America, to the post of civil gov-
ernor of Massachusetts, and the ordering to that colony of four
regiments of British troops, left no doubt of the determination
of Great Britain — king, ministers and parliament — to maintain
their authority, of whatever nature and at whatever cost.
Gage was ordered also to send to Great Britain the leaders of
resistance — Samuel Adams, Hancock and Warren. The arrival
of the Boston port bill on the 10th of May, followed by the
landing of Gage at Castle William, hastened the measures of
defense.
300 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
The general assembly of Rhode Island, at its May session
(4t,h), ordered a census of the colony and appointed field offi-
cers for the four counties : For JSTewport county, Mr. Daniel
Dunham, colonel ; Mr. Isaac Dayton, lieutenant-colonel ; Mr.
John Forrester, major. The census showed the population of
the colony to be 69,678, including 54,435 whites, 3,761 blacks
and 1,482 Indians. Newport county had 15,929, Providence
19,206, Kings 13,866, Kent 7,888 and Bristol 2,789. The town
of Newport had 9,209 inhabitants and Providence 4,321.
The committees of the towns about Boston held a conference
on the 12th of May, at which the speaker of the Rhode Island
assembly, Mr. Metcalfe Bowler, of Newport, appeared with
the news that the majority of the several colonies had made
favorable answer to the circular-letter of the Rhode Island-
house of deputies, the object of which was " a firm and close
union of the Colonies," and that all were pledged to union.
A great meeting was held at Faneuil Hall on the 13th, which
was spirited in its resolves for resistance but had no word for a
congress. On the 17th the people of Providence resolved
heartily to Join with the province of the Massachusetts Bay
and the other colonies in measures to secure tlieir natural
rights and privileges, and directed their deputies " to use their
influence at the approaching session of the general assembly
of this colony (Rhode Island) for promoting a Congress." The
people of Newport, Mr. Henry Ward, secretary of the colony,
acting as moderator of the meeting, agreed to "unite with the
other colonies in all reasonable and proper demands to procure
the establishment of the rights of the colonies," and heartily
to join in the measure to put a stop to trade with Great Britain
and the West Indies. The meeting was very full and the
spirit of it firm and determined. A number of gentlemen
were immediately to form a company for carrying on the wool-
en manufacture extensively in Rhode Island, there being wool
enough raised on it to clothe all the inhabitants.^
The resolutions of the Providence meeting breathed the true
spirit, but the claim of Mr. Arnold that it was the "first ex-
plicit movement for a general Congress " cannot be sustained ;
since New York had before then urged that as the only measure
which would bring relief. The merchants and others of New
York met on the 16th and appointed a large committee of corres-
p6ndence. This committee organized on the 23d, when Paul
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 301
Revere, the express from Boston to Philadelphia, brought in
the official report of the Boston town meeting of the 13th,
recommending strong non-importation resolutions. The New
York committee instantly replied : "No remedy can be of any
avail unless it proceeds from the Joint act and approbation of
all. From a virtuous and spirited union much may be ex-
pected, while the feeble efforts of a few will only be attended
with mischief and disappointment to ourselves and triumph
to the adversaries of our liberty. Upon these reasons we con-
clude that a congress of deputies from the colonies in general
is of the utmost moment ; that it ought to be assembled with-
out delay and some unanimous resolutions formed in this
fatal emergency, not only respecting your deplorable circum-
stances but for the security of our common right ;" and close
requesting "speedy opinion of the proposed Congress — that if
it should meet with your approbation we may exert our ut-
most endeavours to carry it into execution."
To this the Boston committee replied, on the 30th of May,
that the only measure was a "suspension of trade." New
York answered on the 7th of June : " That (the suspension of
trade) and every other resolution we have thought most pru-
dent to leave for the discussion of the General Congress. Ad-
hering therefore to that measure as most conducive to promote
the grand system of politics we all have in view, we have the
pleasure to acquaint you that we shall be ready on our part
to meet at any time and place that you shall think fit to ap-
point ; either of Deputies from the General Assembly or such
other deputies as shall be chosen not only to speak the senti-
ments but also to pledge themselves for the conduct of the
people of the respective colonies they represent. We can un-
dertake to assure you in behalf of the people in this colony
that they will readily agree to any measure that shall be
adopted by the General Congress. It will be necessary that
you give a sufficient time for the Deputies of the Colonies as
far Southward as the Carolinas to assemble and acquaint them
as soon as possible with the proposed measure of a Congress."
Massachusetts hesitated to bind herself to any common ac-
tion. She wanted her own way and no other way. Rhode Is-
land was more liberal. It is enough honor to her to say that in
the movement for a congress she went hand in hand with New
York. Indeed, since the happy result of the stamp act
302 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTr.
congress, it must have been plain that a congress with power to
enforce its resolutions was the only manner to unite the forces
of the colonies in a common action for redress of grievances or
whatever ultimate result might be desired.
The non-importation agreement originated in New York. It
had been hailed with satisfaction by the other colonies but had
not been adhered to by them. The southern colonies had in-
creased their importations and, to quote the words of Bancroft,
whogivesauthority for his statement, "New England and Penn-
sylvania had imported nearly one half as much as usual; New
York alone had been perfectly true to its engagement, and its
imports had fallen off more than five parts in six. It was im-
I)atient of a system of voluntary renunciation which was so un-
equally kept; and the belief was common that if the others had
adhered to it as strictly, all the grievances would have been re-
dressed." Insult upon insult had been heaped upon New York
because of her refusal to continue in the agreement, until she
was resolved that she would make no agreements unless there
was some power to compel compliance among the parties to it.
That power was to be found and only to be found in a congress.
Connecticut entreated Massachusetts to fix the time and place
of meeting generously yielded to her by New York.
On the 26th of May the legislature of Virginia was dissolved
by Governor Dunmore, and on the 28th the committee of cor-
respondence of that colony addressed the Rhode Island com-
mittee approving the "appointing deputies from the several
colonies of British America to meet annually in general con-
gress." Here the idea of a permanent body is formulated.
Rhode Island made a practical response and while the general
court of Massachusetts, spurred on by Sam Adams, was cau-
tiously arranging the day and place of meeting which, on the
16th of June it finally named, the general assembly of Rhode
Island had already, on the 13th, in a session held at Newport,
appointed the Hon. Stephen Hopkins and the Hon. Samuel
Ward to represent the people of the colony in a general con-
gress of representatives, with instructions to join in a loyal and
dutiful petition to his majesty for relief of grievances; to con-
sult as to what measures to pursue in a united manner to pro-
cure a redress of their grievances and to endeavor to procure a
regular annual convention of representatives from all the col-
onies.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 303
Thus, stone by Stone, was laid and cemented the firm structure
■of American government. On this day also, prompted by their
solemn undertaking for their own rights and liberties, with an
admirable fitness, this assn^mbly enacted "that for the future
no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into the colony and
in case any slave shall be brought in he or she shall be and are
hereby rendered immediately free so far as respects personal
freedom and the enjoyment of private property in the same
miinner as the native Indians." Exceptions were made, how-
ever, in favor of travellers through the colony as to their ser-
vants and to inhabitants of any of the British colonies who
brought personal slaves in these colonies with intention to re-
side with them for a term of years in Rhode Island. Other
provisos protected the traffic in voyages not yet completed.
Thursday, June 13th, began also the military arrangements.
A lottery to raise six hundred dollars was granted to Benjamin
Greene, one of the owners of Greene's iron works in Coventry,
to rebuild the same. An independent company was chartered
by the name of "The Light Infantry for the County of Provi-
<ience." It was to consist of one hundred men and its station
to be "in front of the left wing of the Regiment." Arnold
gives this detail and says, " that the Providence County Artil-
lery charter granted thirty years before was amended by a
change of name to the ' Cadet Company ' and the right of the line
assigned to it in express terms." Little more was done except
the overhauling of the stores in Fort George pending the meet-
ing of the continental congress set for the first day of Septem-
ber at Philadelphia.
That day Gage' s seizure of powder and cannon aroused all New
England, and men marched toward Boston from all directions.
While Gage fortified Boston neck the continental congress, the
most remarkable body of men that ever met in this and per-
haps in any country, fifty-five in number, passed a non-impoi'-
tation agreement, forbade the importation of slaves, addressed
the people of Canada to meet them by deputies at the next
oongress and adopted a loyal conciliatory petition with a dec-
laration of grievances to the king. Boston being in great dis-
tress from the closing of the port, Rhode Island took her part
in raising contributions in money and stock. Newport appears
among the contributors as giving three hundred pounds or one
thousand dollars.
304 HISTORY OF WEWPORT COUNTY.
The continental congress dissolved October 26th, and the
same day the general asserably met at Providence, and at once
entered upon a consideration of various petitions for establish-
ing independent companies. Acts were passed chartering in the
county of Newport the Newport Light Infantry, in the town of
Providence the Providence Grenadier company, the Kentish
Guards, the Pawtuxet Rangers and the company of Light
Infantry of the town of Glocester. The regiment in the
county of Providence was divided into three regiments, each
regiment to be a battalion, and the whole to be formed into one
brigade. On the 3d of November the " Rose " frigate, Captain
Wallace, came into port on the winter station. Newport, in
November, appointed a committee of inspection in accordance
with the recommendation of congress to insure non-importa-
tion. In December (5th) the delegates to congress made report
to a special session of the assembly held at Pro-vidence, were
thanked and reappointed.
A letter from Lord Dartmouth of the 19th of October offici-
ally informed the governor and company of the order of that
day of the king in council, prohibiting the exportation of gun-
powder or any sort of arms or amunition from Great Britain,
and his command to secure whatever might be attempted to be
imported unless the master of the vessel had a license from his
majesty or the privy council. The information was timely and
acted upon in a manner little expected by the honorable secre-
tary. All the cannon at Fort George (except two eighteen
pounders and one six pounder) and powder and ball sufficient
were ordered to Providence under supervision of Colonel Joseph
Nightingale and to his care. The train of artillery for the
county of Providence was supplied by purchase with four brass
cannon. The North Providence Rangers was incorporated,
and the act regulating the militia amended, musters ordered
for April and October, and a general review every two years.
It was also ordered that a major-general of the colony's forces
be annually appointed by the governor and company, and
Simeon Potter, Esq., was appointed and commissioned. Finally
Jeremiah Hopkins, of Coventry, where the iron works were,
was granted a lottery for the raising of two hundred dollars
for an equipment of tools and instruments for his establishment
as a gunsmith. The assembly adjourned on the 15th of De-
cember. Firearms were now manufactured on an extensive
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 3C5
scale, and sixty heavy cannon, besides field pieces, cast at the
iron works. Orders poured in for arms from all quarters.
The removal of the cannon from Fort George had been dis-
creetly managed during the absence of Captain Wallace with
the man-of-war " Rose" on a cruise to New London. He made
a grievous report to Vice- Admiral Graves of his visit of inquiry
to Governor Wanton. That gentleman informed him that "it
had been done to prevent their falling into the hands of the
king or any of his servants, and that they meant to make use
of them to defend themselves against any power that shall
offer to molest them." When he inquired as to whether the
governor would lend assistance in case it was asked to carry on
the king's service he was answered by him that as to himself
he had no power; and in respect to any other part of the gov-
ernment he (the captain) should meet with nothing but oppo-
sition and difficulty." So much," he adds, " from Governor
Wanton," and in fact at this time the governor was in anxious
uncertainty as to his own course.
The arrivals from England were now awaited with great in-
terest and anxiety. A letter was received from Lord Dart-
mouth, dated at Whitehall on the 15th of December, enclosing
a copy of the king's speech opening the new parliament sum-
moned in view of the increasing complications in American
affairs, and also informed the assembly of the great majority
by which both houses of parliament had voted the address en-
gaging their support of the measures of repression. Later
letters were received from London, December 24th, 1774, from
the agents of the colonies. Franklin had placed in the hands
of Lord Dartmouth, secretary of state for the American depart-
ment, the petition of congress to the king, and they had
been that morning informed by the earl that the king had
graciously received and promised to lay it before parliament
after the Christmas recess.
During January and February of 1775 enlistments were con-
stant. On the first of March, the day fixed by congress for the
stoppingof theuseof tea, the Providence committee of inspection
addressed a notice to the towns to remind them of the order.
Tea was at once proscribed, and a large amount, estimated at
three hundred pounds, was burned in the public square at
Providence. On the 3d of April, in conformity with the act of
assembly, a general muster was held of the militia. Two thon-
20
306 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COITNTY.
sand men were under arms in Providence county and a troop
of horse. In Kent county nearly fifteen hundred, without
taking into account the several chartered companies. The next
day the independent companies were reviewed. Details are
unfortunately wanting of the action of Newport, but there is
no doubt the island was fully represented.
Massachusetts in provincial congress voted to raise an army
on the 8th, and called on the other New England colonies for
assistance. The march of the British ordered by Gage to seize
the stores at Concord, and the news of the fight at Lexington
on the 19th of April were known at Providence the same night.
Expresses notified every town, and a thousand men marched
the next day, but were countermanded by expresses from the
eastwai'd. The men of Concord and Lexington had driven the
invaders to the cover of their guns at Charlestown. The gen-
eral assembly of Rhode Island met at Providence on the 22d
day of April. A committee was raised to apportion among the
towns twenty-five hundred pounds of the colony powder and
one-quarter of the lead, bullets and flints. Mr. Thomas Free-
body was named to receive NewiDort's share. By the report of
the committee of apportionment it appears to have been by far
the largest share, three hundred and eighty-nine pounds of
powder, six hundred and twenty-three of lead and twenty-four
hundred and ninety-two flints. South Kingstown came next
with fourteen hundred and eighty-eight flints. Providence had
nine hundred and forty-eight. The number of flints presumably
represent the number of muskets in each town. Tlie company
of the train of artillery and the company of fusiliers, both of
Providence, were consolidated at their request under the name
of "The United Company of the Train of Artillery."
The 11th of May was set apart as a day of fasting, prayer
and humiliation, and Governor Wanton was requested to pro-
claim the same. The Hon. Samuel Ward and William Brad-
ford were appointed to wait on the general assembly of the
•colony of Connecticut to consult with them for the defense of
the four New England colonies. In view of the " very danger-
ous crisis of American affairs at a time when we are sur-
rounded with fleets and armies which threaten our immediate
destruction ; at a time when the fears and anxieties of the peo-
ple throw them into the utmost distress, and totally prevent
them from attending to the common occupations of life ; to
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 307
prevent the mischievous consequences that must necessarily at-
tend such a disordered state, and to restore peace to the minds
of the good people of this colony, it appears absolutely neces-
sary to this assembly," such w^ere the words of the resolution,
" that a number of men be raised and embodied, properly
armed and disciplined, to continue in this colony as an army of
observation to repel any insult or violence that may be offered
to the inhabitants —and also if it be necessary for the
safety and preservation of any of the colonies to march out of
this colony and join and co-operate with the forces of the
neighboring colonies." The number of men was to be fifteen
hundred.
The introduction of this resolution brought matters to a head
in the assembly itself. A protest appears on the record, signed
in the upper house. Providence, April 25th, 1775, by Joseph
Wanton, Darius Sessions, Thomas Wickes and William Potter.
Wanton was the governor, Sessions the deputy governor,
Wickes and Potter of the board of assistants of ten. They dis-
sented from the vote for "enlisting an army of observation,"
because it would be attended with the most fatal consequences to
the charter privileges, involve the country in all the horrors of
civil war, and be an open violation of the oath of allegiance taken
on their admission to office. At the close of the session, it
being made known that Nathaniel Greene was going to the con-
tinental congress, he was appointed in the place of Samuel
Ward to consult with Connecticut. Finally, there appearing
urgent occasion that the general assembly should meet at some
other place than Newport, at the approaching annual election
for 1775, the colony house at Providence was selected, and no-
tices of the change ordered in the Newport "Mercury" and
Providence "Gazette." The record of proceedings closes as
usual, with "God save the King."
The general assembly met as ordered at Providence on the
first Wednesday (the second day) of May. Newport, instead
of six deputies to which she was entitled, only returned one; or
at least only one, Mr. John Wanton, appears on the record in
the list of deputies from the towns. Some of the deputies
chosen at the election for this assembly, which was held on the
19th of April, the day of the Lexington fight, did not appear.
A letter was laid before the assembly from Governor Wanton,
stating that he was detained at Newport by indisposition, that
308 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTST.
he had since the last session received a letter from the Earl of
Dartmouth, dated Whitehall, 3d March, 1775, "enclosing the
resolutions of the House of Commons respecting the provisions
they expect each colony or province in America to make for
the common defense, and also for the support of the civil gov-
ernment and the administration of justice in such, colony,"
and also a letter from the committee of the provincial congress,
all of which he had directed to be laid before them. The gov-
ernor then proceeds in a moderate, while earnest manner to en-
treat the assembly as he held himself, "bound by every tie of
duty and affection " to consider the resolutions of the house of
commons and his lordship's letter with the temper, calmness
and deliberation their importance demanded, and with that in-
clination to a reconciliation with the parent state which would
recommend their proceedings to the king and parliament. He
reminded them that the prosperity and happiness of the colony
was founded on its connection with Great Britain, and warned
them of the danger of the forfeiture of their charter privileges.
He stated his willingness to join them in every measure that
would secure those invaluable charter privileges to the latest pos-
terity, and prevent the colony from ruin, which must invariably
come upon them unless the late orders to raise an army of ob-
servation were speedily repealed, the expense of which would
be insupportable, and unavoidably bring on universal bank-
ruptcy. He closes with the engagement that if he should have
the honor of being re-elected he would unite in every pro-
ceeding consistent with the duty he owed the king and the
British constitution.
Either before this letter reached the assembly or after, in the
hope that he might yet be won to the cause at heart, he was
re-elected governor, and Darius Sessions, lieutenant-governor,
but that gentleman declining to serve, Nicholas Cooke was
elected in his place, "and duly engaged." There was a rad-
ical change in the board of assistants, only four of the ten
chosen in 1774 being re-elected. On the 3d the speaker of the
assenibly despatched an express to Governor Wanton, inform-
ing him of his election, and asking an immediate answer as to
whether he would accept, and if so that he would at once at-
tend. The governor replied on the 4th that he would accept,
but could not possibly attend this session because of his indis-
position. On receiving this answer the speaker sent the ex-
IIISTOR-X OP NEWPOKT OOUNTY. 309
press again to the governor enclosing a " blanli commission,"
proposed for the army of observation, and asking an immediate
ansv^er whether he would, as commander-in-chief of the col-
ony, sign them when presented to him. To this the governor
replied that he eould not comply Avith the request.
The issue thus squarely made, the assembly, in consideration
of the governor having neglected to issue the proclamation for
a fast day, as voted by the assembly, of his neglect to appear
and take the oath of office under his late election, as required
by law, and of his positive refusal to sign the commissions for
the officers appointed to be raised, enacted a prohibition to the
deputy governor to adminster the oath of office to him except in
the presence of and with the consent of the assembly in open
meeting. Henry Ward, the secretary of the colony, was empow-
ered to sign the commissions, and the deputy governor to sum-
mon the assembly in emergency. The naval officer, James
Clarke, whose appointment was a privilege of the governor,
was continued in office and ordered to account to the assembly.
The committee of safety was ordered to equip the army of ob-
servation and send an account of the expenses attending
to the delegates of the colony in the continental congress,
as a proper charge for the common defense. An embargo
was laid on all provisions going out of the colony. It was also
ordered that the sheriff of the county of Newport deliver to
William Richmond, member of the committee of safety for
JS'ewport county, " all the colony arms, pistols, cutlasses, &c.,
which are in the town of Newport." At this assembly Mr.
Jabez Champlin was chosen sheriff for Newport county. The
field officers for the several counties were also named ; Wil-
liam Bradford, major-general of the forces of the colony. For
Newport county : Mr. John Malbone, colonel ; Mr. George
Champlin, lieutenant-colonel ; Mr. John Cooke, major.
The act for embodying the army of observation provided that
it consist of three regiments of eight companies, and be formed
into one brigade ; the term of service till the last day of De-
cember, 1775. The officers appointed were : Nathaniel Greene,
Jr., brigadier-general. For the regiment of the counties of New-
port and Bristol ; Thomas Church, colonel ; William Turner
Miller, lieutenant-colonel ; John Forrester, major; William
Ladd, captain lieutenant; Nathaniel Church, lieutenant; and
Cornelius Briggs, ensign. For the train of artillery : John
310 IIISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Crane, captain ; Joseph Balch, captain lieutenant. The com-
mittee of safety nhn-.on for the colony were, for the county of
Newport, Willium Riclidiond ; of Providence, John Smith and
Daniel Tillinghiiyt; of King8, John Northrup ; of Bristol, Wil-
liam Bradford ; of Kent, Jacob Greene.
The address of parliament to the king, February 7th, 1775,
communicated to this assembly, denounced the conduct of the
Massachusetts bay as " a rebellion," and besought his majesty
" to take the most effectual measures to enforce due obedience
to the laws and authority of the supreme legislature." The
king's answer assured them that "the most speedy and ef-
fectual measures " would be taken. The further resolution of
the house of commons of the 27th of February, 1775, was to
the effect that should the government of any colony make
provision " to contribute their projiortion to the common de-
fense, that colony should for such time be relieved from levy
of any duty, tax or assessment, except for the regulation of
commerce, and the nett produce of these duties be carried to
the account of each province." This conciliatory measure was
Lord North's own, introduced with the written consent of the
king, and because conciliatory would have driven him from the
ministry but for the king's interposition. But even if he,
forced from his new position, had not published a " paper de-
claring his intention to make no concessions," the colonies
would not have swallowed the sugar coated pill, under cover of
which remained the body of the contention, the right of parlia-
ment to tax without representation.
The letter of Dartmouth of the 3d of March, covering these
documents, dwelt earnestly and at length on the temper shown
by the commons in this resolution, in the effect of which the
king, he said, had the greater confidence because the colonies,
"amidst all the intemperance into which a people jealous of
of its liberties have been unfortunately misled, they have
nevertheless avowed the justice and the propriety of sub-
jects of the same state contributing according to their abilities
and situation to the common burthen," and the earl claimed
that the resolution held no proposition beyond that. He ex-
jjlained the mode of contribution proposed "as one in which the
colonies will have full security that they can never be required
to tax themselves without parliament taxing the subjects of
this kingdom in a far greater proportion." The earl especially
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COITNTT. 311
applied himself to obtain the compliance with the resolution of
parliament by the general assembly of Rhode Island which
would be "most graciously considered by the majority not
only as a testimony of their reverence for parliament ; but also
as a mark of their duty and attachment to their sovereign,"
and indeed if there were any colony to whom the sovereign
could appeal with any hope of favorable hearing it was to that
of Rhode Island which the royal authority had alone preserved
from absorption by its neighbors.
But the die was already cast. Blood had been shed and
Rhode Island was pledged to the common cause. The conti-
nental congress, which was to meet again on the 10th of May,
was the only body who had competency now over such ques-
tions. The assembly does not appear to have made any ac-
knowledgment of and certainly no response to Dartmouth's com-
munication. Copies of the proceedings of this assembly were
sent to Connecticut and New York. Yet the commissions
issued, curiously enough, were all in the king's name. One of
them has descended to the writer of these lines. There seems
to be nothing in it that Governor Wanton might not have
signed without peril. It reads: "By the Honorable the General
Assembly of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Provi-
dence Plantations in New England, America. To Ebenezer
Stevens, gentleman, Greeting: Whereas, for the preservation
of the Rights and Liberties of his Majesty's loyal and faithful
subjects in this colony and America the aforesaid General As-
sembly have ordered fifteen hiindred men to be enlisted and em-
bodied into an army of observation, and the Committee of Safety
have appointed you, the said Ebenezer Stevens, First Lieutenant
of the Company of the Train of Artillery belonging to the said
Troops. You are hereby in his Majesty's name George the Third
by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, &c., authorized,
empowered and commissioned to have, take and exercise the
office of First Lieutenant of the company aforesaid, and to
command, guide and conduct the same or any jjart thereof.
And in case of an invasion or assault of a common enemy to
infest pr disturb this or any other of his Majesty's Colonies in
America, Yon are to alarm and gather together the Company
under your command or any part thereof as you shall deem
sufficient and therewith to the- utmost of your skill and ability
you are to resist, expel, kill and destroy them in order to pre
312 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY.
serve the interest of his Majesty and his good subjects in these
parts. You are also to follow such instructions & directions
and orders as shall from time to time be given forth either by
the General Assembly or your superior officers. And for your
iso doing this commission shall be your sufficient warrant. By
virtue of an act of said General Assembly I, Henry Ward, Esq.,
Secretary of the said Colony, have hereunto set my hand and
the Public Seal of the said Colony this Eighth day of May,
A. D. 1775, and the fifteenth year of his said Majesty's reign.
"Henry Ward."
An account of the movements of this train of artillery may be
properly inserted here. Stevens seems to have taken the place
to which Joseph Balch was appointed. John Crane was its cap-
tain. Crane and Stevens were both of Boston, where Stevens had
belonged to Major Paddock's company of Massachusetts artil-
lery, and probably Crane also. They had both been active in the
destruction of the tea, and were of what is called the "Boston
Tea Party," and, pursued by Governor Hutchinson, had taken
refuge in Providence, Stevens, with Colonel Nightingale.* On
the news from Lexington they at once set about raising this
company. General Greene marched the Rhode Island army of
observation as fast as it was raised to the camp forming before
Boston on Jamaica Plains. Before the first of June one thou-
sand of these troops joined the army, and with them the train
of artillery with four field pieces and a siege battery of twelve
eighteen and twenty-four pounders.
The arrival of this artillery is noticed in a newspaper of the
day " as a fine company with four excellent field pieces."
These no doubt were guns taken up from Newport and placed
in Colonel Nightingale's charge at Providence. The train was
first posted on Jamaica Plains, the country seat of Governor
Barnard, and afterward stationed at Roxbury, though Greene's
brigade was posted at Cambridge. A return of its members on
the 21st of July gives a total force of ninety-six. At the time of
(lie battle of Bunker Hill Stevens' com'pany was jDOSted at the
neck. During the siege of Boston it garrisoned the fort at Rox-
bury. At the close of the year 1775 the Rhode Island com-
pany vsras disbanded with the rest of the army of observation.
* " Trials of the Tea Party,'' a memoir of Hewes, one of the last of the survivors,
mentions a, Nathaniel Green as another of this band, but the writer has not
ascertained whether he was the famous officer of the revolution.
HISTORY OF NEWPOET. COUNTY. 813
Crane and Stevens were commissioned in the regiment raised
by Massachusetts in the beginning of 1776, and later transferred
to the continental artillery commanded by Knox.
Stevens was detached to the army of the north, and as major
commanding in the Northern Department, was in command at
Saratoga, and continuing uninterruptedly in service, was one
of the three alternate officers who commanded this arm at the
siege of York town, as lieutenant- colonel of the Second Conti-
nental (New York) artillery, of which he was long the virtual
commander, Colonel Lamb, an invalid, being assigned to cog-
nate duties of a less active nature.
The Rhode Island assembly met at East Greenwich by ad-
journment on the 12th of June. Newport was no place for a
deliberative assembly. Captain Wallace, of the king's ship
•'Rose," was stopping vessels and his sailors were in collision
with the townspeople. An affair on the 3d of June had nearly led
to a serious result. Governor Wanton appeared at the first
meeting of this assembly and demanded that the oath of office
be administered to him. He handed in a written demand in
which he quoted the charter, which directed that every gov-
ernor shall give his engagement before two or more of the as-
sistants, notwithstanding which they had required his appear-
ance in open assembly and forbidden the deputy governor and
assistants to administer the oath of office, and repeated that
indisposition had at the last session prevented his appearance.
He now appeared to take the oath prescribed by law. In his
letter he explained and defended his conduct. The proclama-
tion for a fast had been begun by him and would have been
published but for their divesting him of the authority to issue
it. Of his refusal to sign commissions he maintained the pro-
priety. His demand was considered, and the assembly re-
solved "that he hath not given satisfaction." The act de-
claring all acts done by him in the pretended capacity of
governor null and void was continued until the rising of the
assembly at the next session, and publication was ordered in
the Newport and Providence newspapers.
Nicholas Cooke, the deputy governor, was directed to address
Captain Wallace, and demand of him the reason of his conduct
toward the inhabitants of the colony in stopping vessels, and
also to require of him the packets he detained ; and the dep-
uty governor the next day wrote a sharp note, which he closed
314 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
by saying that as long as the captain "demeaned himself as
became his office" he might depend upon the protection of
the laws, but that the whole power of the colony would be used
to " protect the inhabitants against any lawless invader." An
immediate answer being demanded, Captain "Wallace made a
curt reply, in which he said he was unacquainted with Mr.
Cooke or what station he was in, but supposing he wrote in be-
half of some body of people, he desired to know whether or
7iot he, or the people in whose behalf he wrote, were not in open
rebellion to their lawful sovereign and the acts of the British
legislature.
One of the packets detained had been armed as a tender to
the "Rose." The very day of Wallace's saucy letter she was
chased by a colony's sloop on to Conanicut and captured.
Captain Abraham Whipple commanded the war sloop, and to
him, says Arnold, "is thus due the honor of discharging the
first gun upon the ocean at any part of his majesty's navy in
the American revolution." Captain "Wallace, hearing that
"Whipple burned the "Gaspee," wrote him that " he would
hang him at the yard-arm." "Whipple answered, "Always
catch a man before you hang him."
At this session William Potter, the late assistant who joined
in Governor Wanton's protest, excused his action as prompted
by a fear that the passing of the act at that time would dis-
tress the trade, particularly of Newport, which a little longer
time might prevent, and lamented the unguarded expressions
of the document, which he had only seen in a rough draft be-
fore he signed it. He declared his readiness to embark with
the friends of liberty in every difficulty and against every op-
pression until the glorious cause was established on the most
firm and permanent basis. This memorial being read, he was
by vote reinstated in favor of the assembly.
In the assignment of officers to command the trained bands
or companies of militia, Portsmouth is included but Newport
and Middletown are omitted; the reasons for which do not ap-
pear.
The American postal system having been disturbed, if not
broken up, by the removal of Benjamin Franklin as the super-
intendent, by the British parliament, William Goddard, the old
founder of the "Providence Gazette," undertook to re-organ-
ize it through all the colonies on an American basis, independ-
HISTOKY OF NF-WPOET COUNTY. 315
ent of the aid of parliament. The Rhode Island assembly-
voted at this session to join with the other colonies in es-
tablishing post offices and post riders and for the present to
defray the expense of riders on the nsual post road in the col-
ony. Post offices were established at Newport, Providence,
Bristol, Warren, Tower Hill in South Kingstown, and Wester-
ly, and postmasters appointed: for Newport Mr. Nathaniel Otis.
For post riders, Mr. Peter Mumford from Newport to Provi-
dence and Mr. Benjamin Mumford from Newport to New London.
Newport was the connecting point or chief station. The assem-
bly was careful to provide that air letters for Boston should
be postpaid and submitted for examination by the command-
er-in-chief of the American forces at Cambridge or by the com-
mittee of the provincial congress of the Massachusetts Bay, and
all letters arriving from Boston were also to be examined.
The proceedings of this assembly were sent to the Rhode Is-
land delegates in congress. On June the 15th Washington was
by congress appointed commander-in-chief, and on the 22d four
major generals, of whom General Nathaniel Greene was the
fourth in order of nomination. The battle of Bunker Hill was
fought on the 17th. No Rhode Island troops were in this
action.
The assembly met in extra session on the 28th. The act re-
stricting Wanton from assuming the authority of governor was
continued and again published. For the better commandment
of the army of observation it was ordered that during the cam-
paign it be under the direction of the commander-in-chief of
the combined American army stationed in Massachusetts. Or-
ders were issued to the committees of inspection to collect all
the saltpetre and brimstone in the town and forward it to the
provincial congress at New York, powder mills being in opera-
tion there. A baker was appointed for the army of observa-
tion; the governor and all the soldiers at Fort George were dis-
charged; the fort boat was to be hauled up and the cannon,
some of which it seems had been stolen, were ordered over to
Newport. Six companies of troops were raised to recruit the
regiments before Boston and officers appointed : Ebenezer
Flagg, captain; Joseph Perry, lieutenant, and Noel Allen, en-
sign of the Eighth company ; Thomas Grey, captain, Lemuel
Bailey, lieutenant, William Southworth, ensign of the Ninth
company ; both companies to be raised in the counties of New-
316 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
port and Bristol. One fourth of the militia of the colony was
ordered to be enlisted as minute men to drill half a day once
each fortnight. The Newport enlisting officers were the cap-
tains of the companies of militia.
By the August assembly it was ordered to bring off and land
on the continent all the neat cattle and sheep upon New Shore-
ham (Block Island) except enough for the supply of the inhab-
itants, and two hundred and fifty men were sent to secure the
stock until it could be taken off. James Rhodes, Gideon Hox-
sie and George Sheffield were entrusted with the delicate mis-
sion of collecting, removing and appraising the stock. Two
companies of Colonel Varnum's regiment were assigned to the
duty and placed under the orders of Rhodes and Hoxsie, who
were commissioned officers for the occasion. In pursuance of
this order nineteen hundred and eight sheep were brought off
from Block Island valued at £534, 9 shillings; from Conanicut
eighfy-two cattle, four hundred and forty-four sheep at £850,
9 shillings; and from Prudence fifty-six cattle and three hun-
dred and eighty-four sheep at £530 ; the sums appraised
being paid to the owners. An act was passed to punish all per-
sons piloting armed vessels except American in or out of any
of the waters of the colony, and one to purchase all the gun-
powder imported from ports beyond sea at three shillings the
pound.
A committee of Providence deputies and others named was
raised to act upon sudden emergency in the recess of the as-
sembly, and particularly empowered to employ the two armed
colony vessels in such voyage and in such manner as they
should elect. The ensigns in the forces encamped on Prospect
hill were raised to be second lieutenants and their pay in-
creased to bring them upon an equality with their Massachu-
setts brethren. The old beacon on Prospect hill was tested,
and the flames seen from Cambridge on the east and New Lon-
don on the west, and as far as Pomfret. A choice of officers
was made for the colony. For the regiment of militia in the
county of Newport : Joseph Belcher, colonel ; John Cooke,
lieutenant colonel; William Channing, major. Two roWgal-
lies were ordered to be built, to carry sixty men, fifteen oars
on a side, and to mount an eighteen pounder in the bow and a
number of swivel guns. These were named the " Washington "
and the "Spitfire." The ships-of-war having stopped the
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 317
post rider who crossed the bay from Newport to the mainland
and stripped him of his mail, John Lasell was employed as post
rider on the old post road from Providence to New London,
and ordered to set out from Providence for New London every
Tuesday on the arrival of the post from Cambridge, and return
at once ; he to receive one hundred and eighty-five pounds a
year, find his own horses and pay his own expenses ; and Mr.
Benjamin Mum ford was employed as a post rider from N ew-
port to Cambridge ; that he set out from Newport on Monday
afternoon at three o'clock to carry the Newport mail for the
westward to Providence and proceed immediately to Cam-
bridge with the mails for that post office, and set off from
thence on Thursday in the afternoon for Providence, and there
take the mail from the westward and proceed immediately to
Newport.
At this session, considering that, notwithstanding the hum-
ble petition of congress to the king, the ministry, "lost to
every sentiment of justice, liberty and humanity, continue to
send troops and ships-of-war to America which destroy the
trade, plunder and burn the towns and murder the good people
of the colonies," it was voted that the colony "most ardently
wish to see the former friendship, harmony aud intercourse be-
tween Britain and these colonies restored and a happy and last-
ing connection established between both countries upon terms
of just and equal liberty, and will concur with the other col-
onies in all proper measures for obtaining these desirable bless-
ings, and for self preservation."
Among other measures to bring the war to a haj)py issue,
the assembly considered that the equipping of an American
fleet as soon as possible was desirable, and therefore "in-
structed their delegates to use their whole influence at the
ensuing congress for building at the continental expense a
fleet of sufficient force for the protection of these colonies and
for employing them in such manner and places as will most
effectually annoy our enemies and contribute to the common
defence of thes(? colonies." This is justly held to be the first
practical suggestion of a very obvious need of the colonies of a
national navy. Eight field pieces were ordered to be prepared
at the iron works in the colony. A bounty of three shillings a
pound was voted on every pound of saltpetre made in the col-
ony by the 26th of August, 1776. Stringent orders were passed
318 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
to enforce the taking of the paper money issued by tlie con-
tinental congress.
The entrance to Providence harbor was fortified between
Field and Sassafras points, and a battery of six eighteen
pounders erected at Fox point. On the 22d of August the
British fleet was in motion and an attack on F'rovidence was
expected, but the vessels came up no farther than Conanicut
point. The batteries and redoubts were manned and the mil-
itary in arms; when the ships withdrew, after pillaging the island
and the shores on the main near by of a quantity of live stock
and the capture of a brig from the AVest Indies off Warwick
neck.
The vessels of the British fleet were constantly occupied in
Attempts to procure supplies. Cut off from the interior and
holding in reality only the towns they occupied and the land
on which they were encamped, their only resource for live
stock was the number of fertile islands along the coast. The
Cork fleets, which brought their main supplies to JSTew York,
were not burthened with fresh meats. The Long Island supply
was large, but precarious. The islands in Narragansett bay
were a tempting field. The British navy officers were not more
scrupulous about foraging for their sailors than they were in
the press of the sailors themselves. There is an old phrase,
"all's fish they get that cometh to net." The town author-
ities nf Newport had made a sort of treaty with Captain Wal-
lace of the " Rose," but this did not hinder the officers of many
of the ships, which now began to swell the number of the fleet
in the harbor, from stopping the market boats which plied
their traffic between Newport and the neighboring shores.
But this did not content them.
On Monday, the 2d of October, a general movement of the
ships, four more of which had lately come in, aroused suspi-
cions that something unusual was intended. Fearing an at-
tempt to carry off the stock from the southern part of the is-
land called Brenton's neck, a number of the people of Newport
went down in the evening and brought up about one thousand
sheep and from forty to hl'ty head of horned cattle from sev-
eral farms. There still remained, however, a number of sheep
and hogs on the farms of the Brentons, which it was supposed
had been collected by them for sale to the men-of-war, part of
which the sliips took away the next day. The counties being
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 319
informed of these matters, about three hundred minute men
came into Newport from Providence, Tiverton and Little Comp-
ton under the command of Esek Hopkins and William Rich-
mond, who, after refreshing themselves in the town, marclied
to the neck and brought off all the stock that was left, some
sixty-six head of cattle, under the fire of the guns of the ships.
The ofiicers were ordered to arrest one George Roome for aiding
the enemy and any British officers or man they might find on
shore and send them to Providence, to be dealt with according
to their deserts. ,So runs the commission issued by Governor
Cooke October 4th, whicli names William West as second in
command to Hopkins. They seized eighty -four barrels of fiour
from Roome' s store on the point and carried it for safe storage
to the brick market in spite of the opposition of a guard of
marines.
Upon this the men-of-war assumed such a threatening atti-
tude that a great many of the inhabitants mOved part or all of
their effects out of the town and many of the families also left.
"The carts, chaises, riding chairs and trucks were so numerous
that the streets were almost blocked up with them. Thursday
and Friday being rainy and muddy, the poor women and chil-
dren were much exposed in looking out for some place of
safety; the people continued moving out very fast all Saturday
and yesterday with their effects." The ships also seized that
week a number of vessels laden with wood from Long Island
which went out, it was said, with Captain Wallace's permis-
sion. It is not probable that they risked the loss of their ves-
sels by neglecting this precaution. Governor Cooke and Sec-
retary Ward at this time visited the camp at Cambridge to con-
fer with the committee of congress on the army establishment.
October 7th, Captain Wallace, with the " Rose," " Glasgow"
and " Swan" and several "transports, in all about fifteen sail,
sailed up the' bay from Newport and formed a line in the har-
bor before the town of Bristol. A barge was sent on shore to
demand the presence of four of the magistrates or principal
men on board of the "Rose." The inhabitants declined this
invitation, but engaged to confer peaceably with any person
that might approach the shore, and asked delay until the next
morning. An hour after the ships and tenders began a heavy
cannonade on the town. The night was dark and rainy and the
people were in terror and confusion. For an hour one hundred
320 HISTORY 01' NEWPOKT COUNTY.
and twenty cannon and cascades (fire guns) were discharged
upon the town, and a tender near the bridge kept up a constant
iire on the people who went out. One of the inhabitants hail-
ing a man-of-war, was taken on board and inquired the reason
of this attack. Captain Wallace demanded one hundred head
of cattle, but engaged to stop tiring if forty sheep were deliv-
ered, otherwise he would lay the town in ashes. The committee
of inspection, in view of the condition of the town, where sick-
ness was raging, consented and the sheep were delivered, where-
upon the ships withdrew, Wallace sending a barge to plunder
the neighboring farms of some smaller supplies. Sunday after-
noon the fleet left Bristol and lay between Poposquash and
Hog island, upon which they cut the corn. On Monday, pass-
ing by Bristol Ferry on their return, a tender ran aground on
the west muscle bed, and shots were exchanged between the
ships and the minute men. On Wednesday the fleet returned
to Newport.
The assembly met at Providence on the 31st of October and
ordered the raising of five hundred soldiers for the defense of
the colony for one year. Esek Hopkins was appointed com-
mander-in-chief of this regiment and of the regiments of militia
in the county of Newport, with the rank and title of brigadiei'-
general. Later it appears that William Richmond was made
colonel of this organization, Gideon Hoxsie lieutenant-colonel,
and Benjamin Tallman major. The troops in Jamestown were
reinforced by men to be raised by John Northrup. The estates
of George Roorae and the Brentons were left in charge of the
men whom General Hopkins had assigned to this duty. A me-
morial was presented from the town council of Newport setting
forth their many distresses caused by their withholding fi'om
the ministerial fleet in the harbor their usual supplies of beef,
beer, etc., in consequence of which the ferry boats, market
boats, fish boats and wood vessels with provisions and fuel were
prevented coming to the town, the result of which was a stagna-
tion of trade and a want of "the common necessaries of life.
Upon which the assembly authorized them to negotiate with
Captain Wallace for ship's supplies under the regulation of
the commander-in-chief upon the island, to whom authority
was also given to remove the troops from place to place as he
should think best for the relief of the town, always with an eye
and just preference to the general safety. Two hundred pounds
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 321
was voted to the relief of the poor of the town of Newport, to be
applied to those who were willing but not able to leave the
town. William Vernon and John Read were added to the
overseers to aid in this removal.
An act was passed for the punishment of persons found guilty
of holding traitorous correspondence with the ministry or their
officers or agents, or of supplying the ministerial army or navy
with munitions of war or army or navy stores, or of acting as
pilots of any of their ships; the negotiation between the town
council of Newport and Captain Wallace only excepted.
The long-pending uncertainty with regard to Wanton, the
governor elect of the colony, was brought to an end by a de-
claration that the governor was "inimical to the rights and
liberties of America, and thereby rendered totally unfit to sus-
tain the said office," and a resolution declaring that he had
justly forfeited the office of governor and that thereby the
office had become vacant. While the governor was thus ousted,
Darius Sessions, having in a memorial expressed his sorrow for
his protest against raising the army of observation, craved
forgiveness and declared his determination to unite witli his
countrymen in defending their rights, was by vote received
with favor and friendship. But Mr. Sessions was no more
honored as before with the high office he so long held. An ex-
amination of one Cleveland for working on the king's works at
Boston, and of one Wi^ghtman charged with supplying the
enemy, and of one Dennis of Prudence island for giving infor-
mation by imprudence or otherwise, was a notice to the inhabi-
tants that trifling was a crime in war time. A number of estates
were sequestered by this assembly, among which were those of
the late Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts, and of- Samuel
Sewall, Gilbert Deblois, John and Jonathan Simpson, all of
Boston, but having property in Rhode Island; and of Dr.
Moffatt, Ralph Inman, George Roome and the Brentons, late
residents of Newport.
The assembly adjourned on the 10th of November. The day
before there was a skirmish in the bay between two privateer
sloops from Providence, and a British schooner, three tenders
and a bomb ketch that came out from Newport to attack them,
but were driven off. On the 26th the " Swan," sloop-of-war.
Captain Ascough, which had been to the eastward, returned to
Newport from Boston together with a large armed schooner, a
31
622 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUKTY.
small armed sloop and a large transport scow. Besides these
vessels there were that day in the harbor the "Rose," " Glas-
gow," a bomb brig of ten or twelve guns, an armed schooner
and two armed sloops; making in all Jen sail. On the arrival
of the vessels from Boston some of the officers came on shore
at the Long Wharf and, bringing with them their instruments,
took a survey of the harbor.
Captain Wallace, unable to obtain supplies, now threatened
the destruction of Newport, but offered to spare it if furnished
with provisions. His proposal was referred to General Hop-
kins, who consented, under authority of the late act of the as-
sembly, on condition that the supplies were to be of stated
quantities, and to be made by one person. To this Wallace
assented, and agreed that his men should not land "unless the
rebels enter." Hopkins, under the late recruiting act, had a
large force gathered at Middletown. Charles Dudley, the
British collector of customs for the port of Rhode Island, took
refuge on the "Rose," sloop of war.
Congress, which had already recommended privateering,
now appointed a marine committee, and resolved to fit out four
vessels and to put them under the command of Esek Hopkins
as commodore. The committee which governed during the re-
cess of the assembly gave Hopkins permission to accept the
command of the continental fleet, and sent the " Katy," with
Captain Whipple and one hundred men, to Philadelphia for
that service. Officers were assigned to the row galley "Wash-
ington," and an artillery company attached to the new regi-
ment. In December Congress appointed a committee of one
from each colony (Hopkins from Rhode Island) to organize a
navy. They confirmed him as commander and Abraham Whip-
ple as captain of the frigate "Columbus." Congress had or-
dered the " Katy" to cruise on the southern coast.
On the morning of Sunday, the 10th of December, at about
one o'clock the British bomb brig, a schooner and two or three
armed sloops left Newport harbor and landed two hundred ma-
rines, sailors and negroes at the ferry on the east side of Co-
nanicut, whence they marched directly to the west ferry, where
they burned all the houses near the ferry place, and returning,
fired the houses on the road, driving out the women and chil-
dren, plundering them of furniture and even the clothes on
their backs. Captain Wallace himself was in command. They
HISTOEY OF WEWPOBT COUNTY. 333
gathered and drove off about fifty head of oattle and some sheep
and hogs. They were safe back in Newport at noon. Wash-
ington, in a letter to the president of congress on the 14th,
written from Cambridge, speaks of " the barbarity of Captain
Wallace on Conanicut Island."
Barracks were built for the American troops on Wonume-
tonomy (sometimes called Tonomy, and by corruption Tam-
many) hill. The poor of Newport were, at the invitation of
Providence, sent up to their charge. On the i9th of December
all the minute men of the colony were ordered to the defense of
the island of Rhode Island and formed into one regiment under
Colonel William West and Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Lip-
pitt. West succeeded Hopkins in command of the island. Intel-
ligence coming in from Boston of the sailing of eigh t large and two
small ships out of that harbor, on the 16th of December Gov-
ernor Cooke wrote to Washington, then in camp at Cambridge,
expressing the fears of the people of Rhode Island that these
ships, which had sailed with some troops on board, were des-
tined for Newport. Washington despatched General Charles
Lee to point out to them such defense as he might think the
place capable of. Washington wrote to the president of con-
gress (25th December) : " I sincerely wish he may be able to do it
with effect, as that place in its present state is an asylum for
such as are disaffected to American liberty."
On the 20th of December General Lee set off for Newport,
attended by a guard and a party of riflemen. Arrived at Prov-
idence, he was made commander-in-chief of all the forces on
the island. On Sunday, the 22d, he set out from Providence
for Rhode Island. The Cadet company, with a party of rifle-
men and the general's guard, went on the island the same day.
On Monday a number of minute men and others, eight hundred
armed men altogether, were collected on the island when the
general, preceded by the cadets, his guard and his riflemen,
entered the town of Newport.
He called before him a number of obnoxious citizens, to
whom he tendered an oath of fldelity, which, was taken by all
of them except Colonel Joseph Wanton, Jr., and Messrs. Nich-
olas Lechmere and Nicholas Beale, two of the officers of the
king's customs, who, refusing it, were put under guard and
sent prisoners to Providence, where they were confined with
the Lories captured by Hopkins and others. General Lee, after
324 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COIJWTy.
visiting the island and giving some general directions as to the
fortifications, set out for Providence on Wednesday, where he
arrived on Thursday, the 30th, and on Saturday returned to
camp, fi"om which he had been absent about ten days. At
Providence the committee voted that "one of the best beds
with the furniture taken from Charles Dudley be presented to
Greneral Lee."
Washington wrote to the president of congress on the 31at :
" General Lee is just returned from his excursion to Rhode Is-
land. He has pointed out the best method the island would ad-
mit of for its defence. He has endeavoured all in his power
to make friends of those that were our enemies. You have en-
closed a specimen of his abilities in that way for your perusal.
I am of opinion that if the same plan was pursued through
every province, it would have a very good effect."
The "specimen of his abilities " was the oath, which, in our
day, would be styled "iron clad." It reads as follows : "I,
John Bours, here, in the presence of Almighty God, as I hope
for ease, honour and comfort in this world, and ha^ipiness in
the world to come, most earnestly, devoutly and religiously
swear neither directly nor indirectly to assist the wicked instru-
ments of ministerial tyranny and villainy commonly called the
King's troops and navy by furnishing them with provisions or
refreshments of any kind unless authorized by the Continental
Congress or the Legislature as at present established in this
particular colony of Rhode Island. I do also swear by the same
tremendous and Almighty God that I will neither directly nor
indirectly convey any intelligence nor give any advice to the
aforesaid enemies so described, and that I xjledge myself if I
should by any accident get the knowledge of such treason to
inform immediately the Committee of Safety. And as it is
justly allowed that when the sacred rights and liberties of a
nation are invaded neutrality is not less base and criminal than
open and avowed hostility, I do further swear and pledge my-
self, as I hope for eternal salvation, that I will, whenever called
upon by the voice of the Continental Congress or that of the
legislature of this particular colony, under their authority take
arms and subject myself to military discipline in defense of the
common rights and liberties of America, so help me God.
" John Bours.
" Sworn at Newport, December 25, 1776."
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 325
General Lee himself wrote to his friend, Robert Morris, from
camp on the 3d of January that he had just returned from his
tour through Rhode Island, made at the request of the governor
and committee "in order to direct them in putting that Prov-
ince in a state of defense, as Newport swarms with Tories
and suspected persons. I from my own authority obliged three
worthies to take a most solemn oath of allegiance to the Con-
tinental Congress, as the measure was necessary for the common
safety. I hope it will be approved of by our sovereign, for such
now must the Congress be esteemed. The King's speech abso-
lutely destroys all hope of reunion."
A queer character was Lee, and there is a subdued touch of
humor in Washington's words which reveals a side of his na-
ture little known. Lee's conduct on this occasion was in har-
mony with the sentiments he expresses. He behaved with
great moderation and regard for the pride of the town. Leav-
ing his troops behind him, he rode into the city with the escort
only of his own guard, thirty riflemen and the cadet company
of Providence, and he received the town council with "great
politeness" and affability.
That there were Tories elsewhere in Rhode Island than at
Newport, or at least an impatience of authority, appears from
the riotous proceedings at West Greenwich, on the main land»
on the 23d of December, at the very time when Lee was march-
ing through the island. TJie occasion was the attempt of the
colonel to draft the one quarter of the militia ordered by the
recess committee of the assembly to the defense of the island.
The colonel was insulted, the adjutant's sword broken, and the
enlistment of the quota of the first company broken up. The
attempt was renewed on the 26th, and again prevented by a
second riot.
While General Lee was at Newport, or immediately on his
departure, the inhabitants of the town addressed a memorial to
congress which, dated the 26th of December, was signed on
their behalf by William Coddington, the town clerk. It repre-
sented their exposure, from their local and defenseless situation,
to insults and destruction from the ships of war then and for a
long time stationed in their harbor ; the necessary removal of
the cannon from the fort by the assembly in their certain ina-
bility to maintain the fort, the only place of defense against
the attacks of the ships of war ; that the ships of war, availing
326 nisTOEY OP Newport county.
of their impotency had, with unparallelled wantonness and
cruelty, interrupted their ferry, provision and wood boats,
scuttling and dismantling them, thus breaking up their local
trade ; that they had seized their West India vessels in the
harbor and sent them to Boston to supply the ministerial troops
there ; that they had laid a plan to rob Ehode Island and all
the other islands of their stock, and collected transports to
carry it away ; that, exasperated in the failure of this plot,
Captain Wallace, with his fleet, had bombarded Bristol and ex-
torted what he could from the inhabitants ; that he had can-
nonaded the ferry at Jamestown, thus cutting off communica-
tion between the town of Newport and the western part of the
colony, whence they received the greater part of their supplies ;
that expecting next to be bombarded themselves, they had sent
proposals to Wallace engaging to supply his ships with fresh
beef and beer if their boats were left unmolested, and on this
occasion addressed a memorial to the committee of safety and
sent a committee to the deputy governor of the colony, then at
Cambridge, who took the advice of the committee of congress,
and were by them counselled to make the truce with Wallace,
which was done on the fourteenth day of November ; that on
the ninth of December Wallace engaged to give fresh permits,
yet nevertheless the next day devastated Jamestown ; that a
few days after they received a message from Wallace " that if
the town did not renew the Truce it would be attended with
fatal consequences," and that on the fourteenth of December,
with the knowledge of the deputy governor and the command-
ing officer, the truce was renewed, but upon the committee in-
forming the commanding officer of their proceedings, to their
surprise they were told '' that he had positive orders from the
committee of safety prohibiting all supplies to the ships of war
in this harbour."'
The memorial goes on to say that in view of the prospect of a
large town in flames and five thousand men, women and chil-
dren forced out of their habitations into the open fields to per-
ish, numbers of them through the inclemency of the season, a
town meeting was immediately called and at a full assembly a
numerous committee was appointed to wait on the governor, to
request the committee of safety to reconsider their resolution.
This was done, the committee consenting to a renewal of the
truce until the second Monday in January, the next session of
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 327
the general assembly. The memoi-ial then recites the request
to Washington to send a regiment with a general officer to the
Island and details the interview of the town council with Gen-
eral Lee. It appears that Lee informed them that he "intend-
ed immediately to barricade the town," but on their represen-
tations that such action would probably bring on a bombard-
ment to their great distress in the inclement season, he had laid
aside this idea. In the course of the conversation General Lee
had said, as the memorial states, that '■'■letters had gone for-
ward to the Honorable the Continental Congress on the subject
of supplying the ships of war and that the town was placed, in
an unfavorable light.'''' This conversation gave rise to the
memorial. The memorial then states that in consequence of
the truce the ships had lain in quiet in the harbor and thirty
vessels had an opportunity to pass on the east and west side of
the bay and to import military stores and provisions of every
kind for the use of the continental army in the colony, and this
state of things it might fairly be inferred would continue; and
a stoppage of it might cause destruction wherever the depth of
water in the river and bay would admit the ships. For all
which reasons the inhabitants most earnestly request that they
be still permitted to supply the ships at least for a season.
This extremely interesting document contains two pieces of
information of value to the historian. One is the number of in-
habitants '■'■Jive thousand'''' above mentioned. The second is
quoted in full: "Newport, the capital of this colony, consists of
eleven hundred wooden dwelling houses and upioard, exclusive
of stores, warehouses, etc., and is situated so near the shore that
the ships of war may and often do approach within pistol shot
of some of those buildings, and if this indulgence had not been
granted the ruin and destruction of this town must have en-
sued, and many of its inhabitants perished with it, and a severe
wound been given to the cause in which America is engaged;
for your memorialists beg leave to state that the town of New-
port itself pays nearly one sixth part of the whole taxes of the
colony and will probably (if not destroyed) pay that propor-
tion of the charges and expenses which have already arisen or
that shall arise in the present contest with Great Britain and
America."
The prayer of the memorial was in fact a prayer for life. The
poor people were not, however, deserted in their distress. The
328 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
town council published a notice on the 21st in the Newport
"Mercury," that they had the assurance that Providence
county would receive and provide for four hundred of the poor
who should remove into that county and the council offered to
make provision for the removal.
The situation of the inhabitants of Newport at the opening
of the memorable year of 1776 was certainly precarious. The
status quo on which daily life depended might at any moment
be disturbed, and its continuance depended not on any act of
the town but vrholly on the determination of the American
commanders or the caprice of the British naval officers. For
the winter, however, they were reasonably secure.
While the king's speech at the opening of parliament on the
26th of October, which reached the colonies in the first days of
the new year, left no doubt of his "rancor and resentment," to
use Washington's words, against the colonies, the friends of con-
ciliation, and there were many in the large ports which had
close relations with Bristol, the most liberal of the English
cities, who were in communication with their whig friends
there, still had faith in an amicable settlement of the difficul-
ties. Of such, among the merchants, the most powerful class
in the colonies, all of which were a trading people, were John
Cruger in New York, and enough in Boston to found a small
colony in London on their expatriation later. Colonel Joseph
Wanton was the best representative of this element in Newport.
And there were quite as many, perhaps more, of this way of
thinking among those of the professic^ns: John Dickinson in
Philadelphia, Doctor Cooper in New York, Thomas Cushing,
Harrison Gray and many others of like reputation in Boston.
But Washington, after the king's speech, hadgiven up all
hopes of a peaceful issue. The distinction the Americans had
endeavored to maintain' between the acts of the ministry and
the acts of the king under which subtlety they had issued
commissions in the king's name to fight the ministerial fleet
and army, was now idle. To Governor Cooke, who had referred
him on the first of January to General Lee for " the particu-
lars of his expedition to Rhode Island," Washington wrote on
the 6th concerning the truce with the fleet, in terms which did
not command its discontinuance, but left no doubt as to his opin-
ion of its inexpediency. " When this treaty was first obtained
perhaps it was right. There then might have been some hopes
HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 329
of an accommodation taking? place; but now, when every pros-
pect seems to be cat off by his majesty's late speech, when the
throne from which we had supplicated redress breathes forth
vengeance and indignation and a firm determination to remain
unalterable in its purposes and to prosecute the system and
plan of ruin formed by the ministry against us, should not an
end be put to it and every possible method be fallen upon to
prevent their getting necessaries of any kind. We need not
expect to conquer our enemies by good offices, and I know not
what pernicious consequences may result from a precedent of
this sort. Other places circumstanced as Newport is may fol-
low the example and by that means their whole fleet and army
will be furnished with what it highly concerns us to keep from
them. This, however, with all deference I leave to your con-
sideration."
The regard in which both parties held the truce and their
obligations under it, was shown within twenty-four hours of the
leceipt of Washington's letter. On the 7th of January a mid-
shipman and two seamen were decoyed from their ship by a
party of minute men from headquarters on the island. They
had procured a negro man to hail one of the British tenders
and draw the officer and sailors ashore at Brenton's point
under pretense of men being in waiting to enter the king's
service. The British reply to this proceeding was summary.
On Friday, the 12th, Captain Wallace, with his entire fleet of
twelye vessels, sailed up the river from Newport harbor and at
four o'clock in the afternoon landed two hundred and fifty men
on Prudence island, where the Americans had from forty to
fifty men under Captain Pearce. After exchanging fire Pearce
retreated from the island. Some of his men were wounded and
one^ taken prisoner by the enemy. At sunset the British
burned seven houses on the island, on hearing which Deputy-
Governor Cooke, General West, Colonel Richmond, Colonel
Martin, Colonel Cook, Captain Allen and Captain- Wells set
out to send forces upon Prudence Island from Warren and
Bristol. Fifty men were ordered by General West from War-
ren with orders to join those gathered at Warwick neck and
proceed to the island. Governor Cook, with the general, then
went to Bristol and sent off Major Tallman with eighty men in
whale boats who landed at dawn. Captain Barton had landed
330 HISTORY OF TSTEWPOKT COUNTY.
from headquarters, but the men from Warwick could not join
them for want of boats.
At nine o'clock the next morning the British landed two
hundred and fifty men and attacked a guard of forty men
stationed to observe their motions. Fifty of the Americans
joining this body, a smart engagement ensued which lasted
three hours. The British finally retreated, leaving two dead
and one wounded. The night before they had taken off one
hundred sheep but no cattle. Three of the Americans were
slightly wounded. Sunday evening the British burned two
more buildings on Prudence island and on Monday cut a
quantity of wood on Hope island, after which thej'^ returned
to Newport.
The assembly which convened at Providence on Monday, the
8th of January, began its business by ordering an address to
the continental congress, representing "the inability of the col-
ony, from its situation, smallness and poverty, to defend
itself," and praying for assistance. A committee was ap-
pointed on the state of the colony — Deputy Governor Nicholas
Cooke, Secretary William Ellevy, Joseph Brown, Henry
Marchant, Sylvester Child and Gideon Mumford — who were
charged with the preparation of the address, and a considera-
tion of the places in which the troops in the service of the col-
ony had best be stationed. The address was sent by Governor
Cooke to the Rhode Island delegates, Hopkins and Ward, on
the 21st of January.
It represented the services of the colony in the " late glori-
ous war" against the French and its zealous part in resistance
to the stamp duties in 176.^, and the immediate share it had in
the common defense by marching troops after the attacks at
Lexington and Concord. It then gave a description of the
physical situation of the colony, which is admirable in succinct-
ness : " Unfortunately for the inhabitants this colony is scarcely
anything but a line of sea coast. From Providence to Point
Judith, and from thence to Pawcatuck river, is nearly eighty
miles ; on the east side of the bay from Providence to Seacon-
net point, and including the east side of Seaconnet, until it
meets the Massachusetts line, is about fifty miles ; besides
which are the navigable rivers of Pawcatuck and Warren. On
the west side the colony doth not extend twenty miles, and on
the east side not more than eight miles, from the sea coast
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 331
above described. In the colony are also included the following
islands : Rhode Island, about sixteen miles in length ; Conani-
cut, nine ; Block Island, nine ; Prudence, seven ; and the
smaller islands. Patience, Hope, Gould Island and several
others ; all which are cultivated and fertile and contributed
largely to the public expenses ; the greater part of the above
mentioned shores are accessible to ships of war."
The inhabitants, it said, derived their subsistence almost
wholly from commerce. Ship building was a great branch of
business. It gives as a reason for the great number of the
king's ships stationed in the bay the convenient situation of
the colony for receiving supplies for the continental army near
Boston. The fleet stationed in the "bay for seven months
past," is described as consisting of two ships of twenty guns,
one of sixteen, a bomb-ketch and about eight tenders, whose
depredations had put an end to commerce and reduced Newport
to so deplorable a state that instead of contributing to the ex-
penses of the war, the colony had been obliged to grant money
out of the treasury for the support of the poor ; many of the
wealthy inhabitants having left not only the town but the col-
ony. The address then states the efforts already made and
their utter inability to maintain the present force. Governor
Cooke, in the letter to the delegates enclosing this interesting
document, urged the importance of giving up "every idea of
partial and colonial defence," saying that unless "the congress
enter upon the defence of the colony it must be abandoned."
The delegates were also requested to ascertain and inform the
assembly as to letters written from the colony concerning the
treaty with Wallace for the supply of the ships, in which it
seems the patriotism of the people was questioned. They were
also informed that the assembly had agreed to supply the
king's ships. Governor Cooke sent a copy of this address to
Washington, which he undertook himself to lay before con-
gress. He was particularly impressed by the request that a body
of forces should be procured on the continental establishment
for the defense of the colony. He had satisfied himself of the
truth of the representations of the address and the importance
of Rhode Island in its extensive sea coast, and he particularly
recognized the " zeal and attachment " of its people.
Congress referred the petition of Newport to the assembly,
every delegate who spoke in the debate having expressed the
332 HISTORY OP NEWPOIIT COUNTY.
opinion that tlie"sliiiJS should be supplied with necessaries
for their support," care being taken that the enemy elsewhere
should not thus obtain provisions. The assembly under this
recommendation authorized the town council of Newport to
supply Captain Wallace, so long as he was peaceable and com-
mitted no depredations on the island, with two thousand
pounds of beef and with beer as usual, the delivery to be under
the direction of the commanding officer of the forces and by
the person appointed by him, but that "no member of either
House of the Assembly be appointed to deliver the same or to
go on board of either of the ships of war under said Wallace's
command on any occasion whatever;" a precaution which
shows how uncertain the state of public opinion was and how
suddenly that of individuals veered at this period. Washing-
ton's letter to the governor was laid before the assembly and
had so great weight with them that, as the governor wrote the
general, " no supplies would have been permitted to the ships"
but for the opinion of the members of the continental congress
that they should be continued. A discretionary power under
order of secrecy was given to the committee on the close of
the session to permit supplies in case of imminent danger of a
cannonade or burning during the recess.
The inhabitants of Newport were recommended to remove to
some place of safety all their aged people, women, children and
those unable to assist in the defense of the place, together with
tlieir valuable eifects, and two hundred pounds were voted to
move the poor who could not move themselves. The councils
of the towns were ordered to call a town meeting within three
weeks from the rising of the assembly, at which they were to
present a list of all the inhabitants able to bear arms who had
not supplied themselves, from inability, and to provide for the
purchase of arms sufficient for such persons to be kept by the
captains of the districts. One artillery company of ■ fourteen
men was ordered for each of the towns, and that each town be
supplied with two, three or four pound field pieces on carriages,
except those already supplied, among which was Newport.
They were to drill half a day every week to exercise the can-
non. The connnittee of safety for each county was directed to
see that the order for cannon was complied with. Colonel John
Cooke was appointed on the committee for Newport in addition
to Metcalfe Bowler.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 333
The regiment ordered at the last session was increased to
seven hundred and fifty men exclusive of the artillery company,
and to consist of twelve companies. Officers were named for
the four new companies and the artillery company. A new
regiment of twelve companies, seven hundred and fifty men,
was raised. These two regiments were brigaded together and
Christopher Olney appointed major of brigade. Henry Bab-
cock of Westerly, a gallant officer of the French war, who had
served on Amherst's staff, was appointed colonel, Christopher
Lippitt, lieutenant colonel, and Adam Comstock, major. Offi-
cers were named for the row gallies, each of which was
manned by fifty men; Benjamin Page to the command of the
first of the gallies.
The commander-in-chief on the island was requested to put
three hundred soldiers or minute men in Jamestown. A field
piece was ordered to Warwick. Orders were issued for the pur-
chase of all the shot and powder in the colony. An order was
given for the Importation of thirty thousand bushels of salt, of
which seven thousand was for the county of Newport; Metcalfe
Bowler, George Irish and Thomas Corey were the committee on
the purchases for Newport. A bounty was offered to encourage
the manufacture of saltpetre and gunpowder. The committee
of safety were directed to erect two barracks at headquarters on
Rhode Island and one at Howland's ferry. The stock, corn,
provisions and hay on Prudence island were ordered to be re-
moved with all possible despatch under direction of Colonel
Lippitt and by his regiment, and one of the colony's companies
on the island was ordered to Bristol for the defense of that
town. A company of fifty men and the Warwick artillery
company were stationed a,t Warwick neck; minute men were
attached to them. The neck was to be fortified by the troops
who were to remain until the British fleet should go down the
river.
The commanding officer in Rhode Island was authorized to
discharge Captain Earle's company of minute men within two
days after the rising of the assembly, and it is pleasing to
notice that on petition of Benjamin Brenton and George Farrish
and their statement of good will to the colonies, they were re-
leased from confinement and the sequestered estate of Brenton
was restored. Farrish had been arrested on suspicion of serving
beer to the king's ships at Newport.
334 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
At the close of this month the colony was distressed by the
tidings of the failure of Arnold's expedition against Quebec
and the fall of Montgomery; New Years eve. Rhode Island
was fully represented in this expedition. The first battalion
of the men Arnold led out from Cambridge camp in September
for the terrible march through the valleys of the Kennebec and
Chaudiere, was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher
Greene of Rhode Island and three of his captains, Ward, Top-
ham and Thayer, and presumably the men in their companies
were from this colony. They were all made prisoners. John
Topham was later colonel, and Thayer major, in Rhode Island
regiments. Samuel Ward, Jr., the son of the old governor,
now delegate to the continental congress, then not nineteen
years of age, had just graduated from Providence College.
In February the town council of ISTewj^ort were authorized
to continue the usual supply of two thousand weight of beef to
Captain Wallace, under direction of the commanding officer. No
member of either house of assembly was allowed to go on board
the fleet, that privilege being confined to Messrs. Simon Pease,
John Malbone and George Sears, or he failing to serve, John
Mawdsley, a committee named for the purpose. The British
fleet continued their depredations. Wood was cut from Hope
island. On the 4th they made a descent on Point Judith
and, as it was charged, by connivance of some of the inhabi-
tants there, carried off a number of cattle and sheep. On the
fifteenth they paid another visit to Prudence island, but finding
that all the stock and grain had been taken off by the Ameri-
cans, contented themselves with the burning of a few more
houses and a windmill. This month the British vessels began
to capture American vessels on the high seas, and at this time
also Commodore Esek Hopkins sailed from Delaware bay with
the first squadron of the American navy of one hundred and
two guns. His second in command was John Paul Jones. The
flag ship the "Clifford" of twenty-four guns, the " Colambus"
of twenty. Captain Abraham Whipple, the brig "Cabot" of
fourteen. Captain John B. Hopkins, son of the commodore,
and the sloop "Providence'' of twelve were all fitted out in
Rhode Island.
Up to this time Governor Wanton, though he does not ap-
pear to have attempted to exercise the authority of his office,
, had maintained his right under the charter and held that pre-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 335
cious document, together with the chest and colonial records and
papers deposited therein, in his safe keeping. Now, however,
the assembly ordered the sheriff of the county of Newport to
proceed to him and take possession of the chest and its con-
tents, the charter and all other things appertaining to the
colony, and bring them to the committee appointed to receive
them, as was usual in all changes in this high office. In case
of any resistance Mr. Wanton was himself to be brought be-
fore the assembly by the sheriff" at East Greenwich, where it
began its session the last Monday in February.
Mr. Jabez Champlin was the sheriff of the county. In his
official report of this affair he said that he went to Wanton's
house and " in his absence took and carried away out of the
said house the charter, a large number of bundles of papers,
seventeen dies for counterfeiting dollars and half Johannes, an
instrument for edge milling, and other implements for counter-
feiting," all of which were delivered to the committee of the
assembly. Complaint being lodged against Wanton, he was
summoned before the assembly. He appeared and satisfied
them as to his conduct, and there appearing no cause for de-
taining him he was by resolution dismissed. Nevertheless,
according to Arnold, he with many other persons was arrested
by General West, whose headquarters were at Middletown,
and detained by him for examination. The complaint against
them was communication with the British fleet contrary to the
act of assembly.
The people of Newport, indignant at tliis invasion of their
privileges, assembled in town meeting on the 23d of February
and memorialized the assembly, jaraying it to forbid the en-
trance of troops into the town and to leave the custody of the
supplies to the British to the town council. West opposed
this as a tory movement. The parties complained of, who had
been sent up to Providence for safe keeping, were brought be-
fore the assembly, examined and dismissed; the assembly at
the same time passing a resolution declaring their belief that
General West had acted as "an officer having the love of his
country at heart," and that they should ever approve of their
military commanders exerting themselves for the securing and
bringing to trial all persons conducting in a suspicious man-
ner as aforesaid, at the same time carefully observing not to
encroach upon, infringe or supersede the civil authority by
336 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
exertion of the military. General West sent to this meeting
the evidence of Joseph Allen, of Newport, respecting Colonel
Wanton, and on the dismissal of the prisoners whom he had
arrested and their return to Rhode Island, he considered his
influence as the commander impaired and sent in his resig-
nation, which was accepted.
Of Colonel Wanton it has been justly said that "during the
occupation of Newport he led a quiet and unobtrusive life;
and on their departure remained unmolested upon its re-occu-
pation by the Americans. He was a man of amiable disposi-
tion, elegant manners, handsome person and splendid appeai-
ance. He enjoyed the esteem of all who knew him." He died
at Newport July 19th, 1780, aged seventy -Ave, and was interred
in the family vault in the Clifton burial place.
In the letter m which General West sent to the assembly Allen's
testimony, he informed them of a dispute as to rank between
Colonels Richmond and Babcock. Colonel Richmond claimed
precedence because appointed to the first regiment; Colonel Bab-
cock because of his commission from the colony in the old war.
The general refused to interfere. Congress applying for specie
for the Canadian campaign, a large committee was appointed
by the assembly to collect gold and silver coin in Rhode Island.
The leading citizens of Newport were on this committee. Not
twelve hundred dollars could be found or collected in the
colony.
The continental fleet under Commodore Hopkins made a suc-
cessful descent on New Providence, Nassau, which they found
undefended. They captured a large amount of military stores
and more than one hundred cannon, and with the governor,
lieutenant-governor and one of the council as prisoners, sailed
for home.
The records of the month of February contain one notice of
more general interest to-day than when it was first inscribed.
This is the petition of " Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart, wife of Gilbert
Stewart, late of Newport, in the colony of Rhode Island, snuff
maker, setting forth that her husband is possessed of a tract
of land in the township of Newi^ort in Nova Scotia under im-
provement and upon which he hath some stock. That he, find-
ing it impossible to maintain his family in the said town of
Newport in this colony, did some time last summer remove to
his said farm where he now is and purposes to remain. And
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 337
that exclusive of the impracticability of her supporting herself
and family in this colony, which strongly impels her to follow
her said husband, she is very desirous of joining hira, which
she is also bound in duty to do if possible." And therefore
besought this assembly to permit the sloop "Nova Scotia,"
packet, David Ross master, to proceed to the said township of
Newport in Nova Scotia with herself and family, she being
willing to give the amplest security that nothing but the
"wearing apparel and household furniture of the family and
the necessary provisions for the family shall be carried in the
said sloop." The assembly granted the petition and the sloop
was permitted to sail under the inspection of Messrs. John
Collins and George Sears of Newport.
In the early days of March news was received of the closing
of the American lines around Boston and of an intended as-
sault in two divisions, one of which was to be led by Brigadier
General Greene. On the 10th rumors came in of an evacua-
tion of the town by the British. As there was no possibility
of stopping them if such was their determination, there was an
intense anxiety to know what destination they would take.
The British plan of operations had included the seizure of
Quebec and New York as bases of operations, and the holding
of the rivers St. Lawrence and Hudson, and of the intervening
waters of Lakes Champlain and George, as avenues of supply
and separation of the eastern and northern from the middle
and western provinces.
The occupation of Boston was a political rather than military
movement, and undertaken when the self-sufficient ministry of
Lord North supposed that with four regiments of British troops
General Gage could not only reduce Boston to subjection but
march from one end of the continent to the other. The failure
of Montgomery's expedition left them in secure possession of
Quebec. The capture of New York was the second essential
feature of this extensive movement. With the confirmation of
the rurmor of evacuation by the certain information that Gen-
eral Howe was embarking Ms troops, came the news of the de-
sign of the British government to send over a large number of
commissioners to offer j)ardon to the colonies separately, a plan
calculated to disturb the peace of those in which there was a
division of feeling or opinion.
Recognizing New York as the key of the continent for ag-
33
338 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
gressive war, Washington would hardly credit that Halifax
was General Howe's destination, and determined at once to se-
cure New York. On the 17th of March Washington wrote to
Governor Cooke, informing him that the British troops had that
morning evacuated Boston without destroying it and that he
was in full possession ; that most probably the next attempt
would be against New York or some southern colony ; and
though he did not believe they had " any design against Rhode
Island, that it will be advisable to keep a strict look out." He
suggested the "calling in of the militia and to keep a strict
look out." In a postscript written on the 19th he added:
"The ileet is still in King or Nantasket roads." [This note,
not in Spark's writings of Washington, appears on the Rhode
Island records.]
On the 18th of March the general assembly convened at East
Greenwich and, the same day apparently, addressed a me-
morial to Washington thanking him for "his timely notice of
the late movement of the ministerial troops," stated that the
necessary orders had been issued to the militia, and requested
him in case any part of the American forces were ordered to
any of the southern colonies that he would direct their march
through the colony of Rhode Island by the sea shore, that
they might be present in the case it were invaded, and also to
station a considerable force there until the intentions of the
enemy were known. Henry Marchant, William EUery and
Thomas Greene were appointed to wait on Washington with
this memorial and urge with pressing instances the necessity of
a permanent force.
To provide for their own defense they ordered the raising in
Newport of a watch company of twenty-five men, and named
Philip Moss captain, Augustus Newman lieutenant, and Jo-
seph Crandal ensign ; all the troops quartered at Mr. George
Irish's house and in all private houses to be at once removed,
except those stationed at Dudley House and Straw Castle.
A committee— Mr. John G. Wanton, William Ellery and
Christopher Lippitt— was appointed to estimate the damages
done to the house of Mr. John Bannister in Newport, and
settle the same. The purchase of two thousand stand of
fire arms was ordered and the town councils directed to deter-
mine what persons should have the use of said arms, and they
were duly supplied : For Newport, Colonel Jabez Champlin ;
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 339
Portsmoutli, Metcalfe Bowler ; Middletown, Mr. Nicholas Eas-
ton ; Jamestown, Benjamin Underwood. An act was passed
anthorizing armed vessels "to defend the sea coast of America"
under the joint provisions of King Charles the Second's charter
and the resolution of the. continental congress, and a prize court
was established to try and condemn all vessels infesting the
coast.
The Massachusetts government having given information that
they were willing to join with Rhode Island in the fortification
of Bristol ferry, the Hon. William Bradford and Simeon Potter
were empowered to confer on that subject, and also respecting
fortifications at Howland's ferry. The committee on military
■defenses reported the assignment of troops. Application
was made to the general armj'^ headquarters -at Cambridge for
forty pieces of cannon, from nine to twenr.y-four pounders. Col-
onel Henry Babcock was continued in his command as com-
mander of the colony's brigade, with discreet instructions for
his government while upon the island of Rhode Island, drawn
up by a committee consisting of Jonathan Arnold, Joseph
Anthony and Henry Ward.
On the 27th of March Washington notified Governor Cooke
that the men-of-war and transports sailed that afternoon from
JSTantasket harbor, and that he had in consequence ordered a
brigade to march for New York, and that he would follow with
the rest of the army the moment he had certain information of
the fleet "being clear oflE the coast," leaving a small force to
fortify Boston. On the 31st the governor advised Washington
from Providence that an express had come in from Newport,
that a ship-of-war had arrived in Newport harbor, and that
twenty-seven ships were within Seconnet point, and that he
had not more than seven or eight hundred men in the whole
colony besides the militia, who were not more than half armed.
On the 1st of April the governor sent word that this was a false
alarm. The sheriff of Newport who sent up the express had
been misinformed. A messenger sent down had satisfied him-
self that the people had been deceived by the foggy weather,
and had descried no fleet. Mr. Cooke' s son rode express to
Washington with this contradiction of the report.
Instantly on the receipt of the first despatch Washington
hastened the march of Generals Greene and Sullivan to Provi-
dence. They reached Providence on the 5th, and Washington,
340 IIISTOKY OP NEWPOKT COITWTY.
with General Gates, the adjutant-general of the army, and
other general officers, arrived on the 6th of April. General
Spencer, with five regiments, the Connecticut brigade, arrived
on the 7th, and after a grand entertainment given to the com-
mander-in-chief at Providence in the evening, the troops hav-
ing already marched, Washington followed them. He passed
through Norwich and New London to hasten the embarkation
of the troops who had so far marched, to New York, and there
he left General Greene with the Rhode Island regiments of the
continental line ready to embark.
At New London he saw Commodore Hopkins, and applied to
him for thirty of the heavy cannon he had captured and
brought from New Providence (Nassau) and was promised what
could be spared; as many were wanting for the defense of
Providence river and New London harbor ; a curious instance
of the manner in which even Washington was hampered at
that period. Washington was in New Haven on the 11th, and
reached New York on the 14th of April, where General Put-
nam, who had preceded him, was in command.
On his arrival in New York Washington wrote to Commodore
Hojjkins that he had just received information that the " Nau-
tilus," sloop of war, had arrived at New York, " said to be senb
express from thence for the 'Asia,' 'Phoenix,' and 'Savage,'
and that they are intended for New London to block up your
squadron." The "Phoenix," "Savage" and "Nautilus"
sailed that morning. The "Asia" remained in the harbor.
It may here be 'mentioned that Commodore Hopkins, on ap-
proaching the New England coast from his cruise, captured,
Thursday, the fourth of Apiil, the schooner "Hawke," of six
guns. Captain Wallace, son of Commodore Wallace ; on Friday
the bomb brig "Bolton," of eight guns; on Saturday he en-
gaged the frigate "Glasgow," of twenty-foar guns, and her
tender. The "Glasgow," after a three hours' action, by the
seamanship of her commander got off and reached Newport in
safety. The tender was taken, and Commodore Hopkins, with
his vessels and prizes, went into New London. It was here that
Washington met him, and to him here Washington sent his
warning message.
On the arrival of the "Glasgow," the British squadron went
out to look for Hopkins. A battery planted on Brenton's
point by Colonel Richmond ran the "Glasgow" up the bay,
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 341
and forced her the next day to put to sea. On the morning of
the 11th the brig "Cabot," of the continental fleet, brought
down ten heavy pieces of cannon from the fort at Providence
harbor for the defense of Newport.
In the afternoon of the eleventh part of the Georgia fleet on
its way to Halifax put in to Newport and came to anchor be-
tween Rose island and the Dumplings; the "Scarborough,"
of twenty guns, having on board Governor Wright of Georgia
and the refugees, apart of the fleet of eleven vessels which left
Savannah on the 30th of March, the " Scymitar," a transport of
eighteen guns with troops, and two American vessels which
they had taken on the Georgia coast. The same night Commo-
dore Grimes, who was then at Newport, attacked them with the
Rhode Island gallies "Washington" and "Spitfire," each
with an eighteen pounder in the bow, aided by a battery of two
eighteen pounders planted by Col. Babcock at the north point.
They were forced to slip their cables and make the shelter of Co-
nanicut island, from which they were driven by a new battery
and driven to sea, taking and returning the fire from a battery
on Castle hill as she went out. In this action Daniel Jackson
Tillinghast, of Newport, was wounded on one of the gallies.
The anchors and cables were taken up by the Americans. The
prizes were the American vessels captured on the Georgia coast
by the " Scarborough." Seventeen English were made pris-
oners.
The bay for the first time in many months was clear of
British men of- war. The cannon taken by Hopkins at Nassau
were distributed by order of congress. Thirteen were mounted
on a new fort built at the point in Newport. Old Fort George
was remodelled and a work constructed at Brenton's point.
These made a reasonable defense for the harbor of Newport.
On the 12th of April Hancock, the president of congress,
ofiicially informed the Rhode Island assembly of the act of
parliament authorizing the seizure of American vessels on the
high seas, and of their resolution in retaliation, and enclosed
bonds, commissions and instructions for the use of the assembly
in "letters of marque and reprisal."
Colonel Knox (to whom was assigned the command of the
regiment of continental artillery in December, 1775) passed
through Newport on his way from Cambridge camp to New
York, and at the urgent request of Governor Cooke, took a
342 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY.
view of the town and gave directions for the requisite fortifica-
tion of the place, which he was (as Cooke wrote to Washington
on the 25th of April) cleai'ly of opinion might be secured. The
day of Cooke's letter a battery to command the north entrance
to the harbor was about completed, and the next the fortifica-
tions on Fort island were to begin. The completion of the works
would, the governor believed, put an end to toryism in the
colony. He entreated Washington to send him a competent
engineer if only for a few days.
Toward the close of April Commodore Hopkins, with the aid
of two hundred men whom Washington detailed to him from
the army, brought his vessels from New London to Rhode Island.
He landed one hundred men sick, nearly all with the small pox,
at Providence. This terrible scourge,' which decimated the
American army in Canada, raged over the continent and added
another to the terrible trials of the entire population, patriots
and loyalists alike. Captain Whipple of the "Columbus,"
blamed for allowing the escape of the "Glasgow," demanded a
court martial, by which he was acquitted. Captain Hazard of
the "Providence" was censured for disobedience of orders.
Later Hopkins was severely censured by congress for his return
from New Providence instead of cruising along the southern
coast as he was ordered.
The last colonial assembly of Rhode Island met at Providence
on the first Wednesday, the first day of May. After the re-
election of Governor Cooke and the confirmation of the election
of William Bradford (elected in November when, on the
deposition of Wanton, Cooke was chosen governor) the as-
sembly made some re-arrangement of the military. The regi-
ment of the county of Newport w^s divided into two regiments:
the first to contain all the companies of militia in the towns of
Newport, Portsmouth, New Shoreham, Jamestown and Mid-
dletown; the second, those of Tiverton and Little Compton.
The companies of Providence were likewise divided and they,
as well as those of Little Compton, by geographical lines by
streets. The commanding officer of the colony's brigade was
ordered to build a fort at Beaver Tail upon Conanicut to con-
tain six or eight heavy cannon. Under the direction of Esek
Hopkins, commander-in-chief of the continental tiavy, officers
were chosen for the colony's brigade: major general of the
militia, Joshua Babcock; for the county of Newport, First reg-
HISTORY OF "NEWPORT COUNTY. 343
iment, Colonel George Irish, Lieutenant Colonel George Sears,
Major J. V. Almy; Second regiment: Colonel John Cooke,
Lieutenant Colonel David Hilyard, Major Pardon Gray. The
captains of the trained bands or militia are named for the sev-
eral tovpns but those for the town of Newport do not appear on
the record, though Portsmouth and Middletown do. The com-
mittee of safety for the county of Newport were Metcalfe Bow-
ler and Colonel John Cooke.
Stephen Hopkins was again elected first delegate to the conti-
nental congress. The commanding officer on the island was or-
dered to remove the troops from the ferry house on the point
belonging to Mr. Benjamin Ellery, that the ferrj^ might be kept
open. The watchers ordered along the coast in January were sus-
pended during the absence of the fleet. Watchers were to be
continued only at Point Judith, Seconnet point, at Westerly,
Charlestown, at the south ferry in South Kingstown and at
North Kingstown.
These preliminaries disposed of, the assembly proceeded to
one of the most solemn and important acts in the history of the
colony, and considering its geographical and physical condi-
tion, one of the bravest in the history of the country. On the
4th of May it repealed the act of allegiance to Great Britain,
virtually declared its independence, because the king, "forget-
ting his dignity, regardless of the compact entered into by his
illustrious ancestors and till of late fully recognized by him;
and entirely departing from the duties and character of a good
king instead of protecting, is endeavoring to destroy the good
people of this colony and of all the United Colonies by sending
fleets and armies to America to confiscate our property and
spread fire, sword and desolation throughout our country in
order to compel us to submit to the most debasing and detesta-
ble tyranny, etc., be it therefore enacted that an act for secur-
ing allegiance is repealed, and that thereafter in all commis- '
sions, civil and military^ in lieu of the king's name the words,
the Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode
Island and Providence Plantations be substituted, other-
wise their tenor to be the same." The courts of law were no
longer to be entitled or considered the king's courts, and no in-
strument, public or private, was thereafter in the date thereof,
to mention the year of the king's reign. The six deputies for
Newport in this assembly were: John Wanton, Samuel Fowler,
344 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
George Sears, Gideon Wanton, Thomas Freebody and Colonel
Joseph Belcher.
These instructions were at once issued in the new style to their
delegates in congress. They were soon gratified to hear from
their first delegate, Hopkins, at Philadelphia, that congress
would soon throw ofl: all connection in name as in substance
with Great Britain and that on the warm recommendation of Gen-
eral Washington, congress had passed a resolution for taking
into continental pay the two Rhode Island batallions. The
commanding officer in each company of the Rhode Island bri-
gade was ordered to prevent damage by travelling over ploughed
lands and also to clear all the best houses in JN'ewport of the
troops and station them in convenient empty houses, and to
pursue the same course at Jamestown.
The act to encourage privateering by "letters of marque"
was enlarged. A gunner was ordered for Fort Liberty (old Fort
George), upon Goat island. The maximum price of Bohea tea
was fixed at three-fourths of a dollar the pound, all persons
charging more to be considered as "enemies to the American
cause and treated accordingly," congress desiring to exclude
all tea except that taken in prizes. The inhabitants on Block
island were exhorted to remove. A bounty of three shillings
a bushel was voted on salt manufactured in the colony. En-
gagement was entered into with Massachusetts Bay to assist in
their defense if invaded. Cannon were purchased and twelve
eighteen pounders mounted on carriages sent to Newport. To
prevent supplies to the enemy, fishermen at Block island were
restricted to the Newport market, and any inhabitant of the
island found in any other part of the island saving Newport to
be confined to jail.
This assembly was also called upon to elect a second delegate
to congress, in the place of Governor Samuel Ward, who died
at his post in Philadelphia, on the 27th of March, of the small
pox, in the fifty-first year of his age, in the very prime of his
usefulness. He is Justly entitled to be held in grateful memory
as one of the founders of the American Union. No one of this
time did more perfect service than he ; uniting vigor with pru-
dence, ardor with conduct, the highest statesmanship with un-
swerving patriotism. The student of American history who
turns the pages which recite the services of the illustrious dele-
gates to the famous continental congress of 1774, and that more
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 345
illustrious, because constituent, congress of 1775-6, cannot but
regret that death deprived Samuel Ward of that which he
would have, living, held to be the sum of honor, the inscription
of his name as a delegate from Rhode Island to the declaration
of independence of the United Colonies. His love for his
country cannot be better expressed than in his own words,
written to his brother, in 1775: "No man living perhaps is
more fond of his children than I am, and T am not so old as to
be tired of life ; and yet as far as lean now judge the tenderest
considerations and the most important private concerns are very
minute objects. Heaven save my country, I was going to say,
is my first, my last, and almost my only prayer."
The assembly, "in testimony of the respect due to his mem-
ory, and in grateful remembrance of his public services, re-
solved to pay his funeral expenses, and the delegates for the
colony wer& instructed to erect a decent tombstone or monu-
ment of marble, with such inscription as they shall think suit-
able over the place where his body hath been deposited, at the
expense of the colony." Samuel Ward was of an old New-
port family. Thomas Ward, the first of the name in that
town, came to it from Grlocester, England, married and died in
Newport in 1698. The most ancient residence of the family
was on the south side of Market square, about half way between
the main street and the market house.
William EUery, of Newport, was appointed to succeed
him for one year, and to him fell the honor of signa-
ture to the immortal scroll, the charter of liberty. The
same day that he was elected the assembly also named
the officers of the Second regiment in the colony's
brigade: Colonel, Christopher- Lippitt ; Lieutenant-colonel,
Adam Comstock ; Major, Christopher Olney ; Brigade-major,
William Barton ; and it is noticeable that at the close of these
proceedings, for the first time on the records, the formal prayer,
" God save the King" is omitted. Where it was of custom in-
scribed there is a blank. There was no sovereign authority as
yet for whom the invocations could be made.
- The assembly on the 10th of June, the second Monday, re-
sumed its sessions in Newport, the town being free from the
enemy. It proceeded to the confiscation of the entire estate
of George Roome for the use of the colony. It must have
been considerable, the records mentioning a tan yard in New-
346 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
port with vats, leather and stock of hides and a lot of land with
two dwellings on the south side of the Parade. In view of the
" dreadful ravages made by the small-pox in the army before
Quebec, which was a principal cause of raising the blockade
of that city, and the danger of that dreadful distemper render-
ing the city incapable of defense," the assembly passed an act
permitting inoculation and establishing a hospital under sani-
tary rules and isolated by heavy penalties. There was protest
made by quite a number of leading men against this act for
three reasons: because the consent of the people had not been
asked, because it had not been permitted for any length of
time and was now discontinued in the other New England
colonies, and thirdly because no provision was made for the
poor, the most numerous part of the community. Notwith-
standing this the assembly were so satisfied of the importance
of the measure as a protection, especially to the army, that
they desired their delegates to move in congress that all com-
mon soldiers and seamen thereafter enlisting be permitted to
be inoculated at the expense of the united colonies in hospitals
to be provided under proper restrictive rules.
A census of the inhabitants was ordered and a committee
appointed for each town. For Newport, George Sears, Wil-
liam Coddington and Gideon Wanton. The assembly addressed
a memorial to the continental congress justifying themselves
in a refusal to re-deliver to Commodore Hopkins the twenty
pieces of cannon, the loan of which had enabled them to put
Newport in such a state of defense that it was now " capable
of being defended against all frigates in the British navy."
The order for the removal of the cannon they supposed to have
been given under the idea that they were just landed, whereas
by great exertion they were already mounted and in position.
Moreover they said that on receiving the twenty-six cannon from
the commodore they had consented that the owners of Furnace
Hope, with whom they had contracted for sixty pieces, should
first supply the continental ships. And as thirty-six heavy
cannon had been landed for the defense of New London, which
could be defended with one-quarter of the number of pieces
needed for Newport bay, town and harbor, they suggest that
if the twenty pieces must be removed they be taken from that
port. A third of the inhabitants they say were already re-
moved from Newport and if a majority of the remainder had
HISTOKT 01^ NEWPORT COUNTY. 347
been induced to temporize and " even to assiime an appearance
rather unfriendly to tlie united colonies," it was to be attrib-
uted to their peculiar situation and not to the want of spirit or
love of their country. They hoped, now that they were fortified,
Newport would " at all times afford a safe asylum to the conti-
nental ships and to privateers and their prizes as well as to
other vessels " in spite of all the British fleet. "Take them
(the cannon) from us and we cannot answer for the event. The
town of Newport and the island of Rhode Island are lost. * *
It will be impossible for the inhabitants to defend themselves;
they will not even attempt it. * * Leave us the cannon we
can save Newport, which hath been induced in consequence of
their arrival to take such steps as must bring upon them the
British arms and who will be most cruelly treated in being de-
prived of them."
The thanks of the assembly were voted to Washington for
his friendly offices in behalf of the colony. Offices were estab-
lished at Newport and Providence for entering and clearing
vessels and an act passed regulating trade, two intendants of
trade to be annually appointed by the assembly, one for each
port. The colony salt was distributed among the towns, New-
port receiving two hundred bushels. A test oath was adopted,
to be administered to all suspected males above sixteen. Sundry
principal inhabitants of Newport town were ordered to be re-
moved to Glocester, there to have the limits of the town on
parole of honor. Two hundred spears were ordered for the
Newport batteries. Officers were appointed to command the
trained bands or companies of militia of the town of Newport,
viz.: First company: captain, William Tripp; lieutenant,
Caleb Carr, Jr.; ensign, Jonathan Simmons ; Second company :
captain, Henry Wiles ; lieutenant, Robert Dunbar ; ensign,
William Pendleton ; Third company : captain. Wing Spooner ;
lieutenant, Stukely Wyatt ; ensign, Lee Langley ; Fourth com-
pany : captain, William Downing ; lieutenant, John Nichols ;
ensign, Benjamin Hammett.
On the 20th of June Lord Howe, " one of the King's Commis-
sioners for restoring peace to the Colonies," addressed a letter
from on board the man-of-war "Eagle," off the coast of the
province of the Massachusetts Bay, to the " Honorable Gover-
nor Wanton, &c., &c., Rhode Island, or other Magistrate of the
Colony," with a copy of his declaration that day issued. He
348 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
notified his first object to be an early meeting with General
Howe, who was joined with him in the commission, and re-
quested a promulgation of his proclamation or declaration.
There was no attempt to conceal this discreet document, which
offered "free and general pardons to all those who, in the tumult
and disorder of the times, may have deviated from their just
allegiance, and promise of due consideration to the meritorious
services of all persons who shall aid in restoring the public
tranquility." But the door of conciliation was already and
forever closed ; Rhode Island was an independent colony. The
records -of the proceedings of this assembly close with the
prayer, "God save the United Colonies." The entire subor-
dination of Rhode Island to the common interest, and the under-
standing of the leaders of opinion were clearly shown in the
request of the governor to Washington to name such general
ofiicers as he thought best to command the colony brigade on
the continental establishment.
The assembly, which seems to have felt full confidence in the
ability of Newport to make successful defense of town and
harbor, adjourned till August. In fact, on the sailing of the
ministerial fieet for Halifax, hopes of a quiet summer were gen-
eral. It was not supposed that the commissioners, who were
expected with offers of conciliation, would be accompanied by
menace of war.
These and many other like delusions as to the spirit which
possessed the king and the great body of the parliament, were
dispelled by the news of the arrival at Sandy Hook, on Sun-
day, the 30th of June, of the British fleet from Halifax, counted
at one hundred and thirteen sail. The remainder arrived on
the 2d of July, when the bay of New York swarmed with one
hundred and thirty men-of-war, transports and tenders. They
brought an army of ten thousand men, who were landed on
Staten Island. This information of itself was enough to de-
mand deliberative action, but further reason came a few days
later, on the arrival of the news of the declaration of independ-
ence. It reached New York on the afternoon of the 9th, and
Newport probably on the 12th.
Newport, on the 11th, was the scene of a decisive action on
the part of the officers of the colony brigade stationed on the
island, to determine the position of some of the inhabitants of the
town thought to "be inimical to their country." They lodged
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 349
a complaint against about twenty persons with Judge Metcalfe
Bowler, one of the committee of safety of Newport county, re-
questing him, as a member of the general assembly, to tender to
these suspected persons the Test act passed at the June session.
This they refused all but one, and were summoned to give their
reasons the next day, which they did to the judge. Col. Chris-
topher Lippitt then summoned about sixty more, but only two
would subscribe, many no doubt induced by their friends the
day before. As this action on the part of the military was
based on no particular act but only general accusation, and, as
was .admitted, for "information only," the colonel could do
no more than disarm the suspected. This state of affairs Col-
onel Lippitt, on the 13th, communicated to the governor and
urged their removal.
The general assembly met in special session at Newport on
Thursday the 18th of July and " taking into the most serious
consideration" the resolution of congress declaring independ-
ence, approved the same and engaged their support to the
general congress. The act of approval was published the next
day at noon by the secretary, in the presence of both houses of
the assembly. It was ordered that thirteen cannon be dis-
charged from Fort Liberty (Goat island) upon reading the said
proclamation, and that the brigade be drawn up on the parade
in thirteen divisions, and immediately upon the discharge of
the cannon make a discharge of musketry, each division firing
one volley in succession. The day set for this proclamation
was Friday the 19th but according to the newspapers (and
Arnold concurs), the declaration was celebrated at Newport
on the " twentieth before a great concourse of people assembled
in and about the State House. It was read by Major John
Handy from the Balcony in front of the State House."
The style and title of the government was altered to " The
State of Ilhode Island and Providence Plantations." The col-
ony's new gallies, the " Washington" and " Spitfire," were or-
dered to New York and their captains directed to take the
orders of General Washington. They did good service during
that eventful summer. The committee appointed to determine
where cannon should be placed reported an assignment of can-
non. There were one hundred and thirty-nine in the state, of
which fifty-five were in Newport: five twenty-four-pounders,
fourteen eighteen-pounders, twelve twelve-pounders, one nine-
350 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
pounder, nine six-pounders, ten four-pounders and four three-
pounders. The continental paper money was declared a legal
tender, and an act passed to prevent its depreciation and that
of all other current paper money of the stales. An act was
passed to punish ijersons who acknowledge the king of Great
Britain to be their sovereign and a fine imposed of one hun-
dred pounds. Another was passed requiring a test oath as a
condition precedent to voting at any town meeting.
Eleven of the leading citizens of Newport who had refused
to subscribe the required test, were ordered to be removed by
the sheriff- at their own expense, each to a different town in the
colony; Grovernor Wanton to Jamestown, with the liberty of
that town under the inspection of that commanding officer, with
privilege under permission to visit under guard his farm on
Prudence island and that only. Three of these persons de-
clined to pay the expense of removal and were lodged in the
Providence jail. One was fortunate enough to escape on a ves-
sel to the West Indies. The remainder went quietly to their
destinations.
Not forgetting their old-time courtesy, Henrj' Ward, the
secretary, and Colonel Jonathan Arnold were directed to pre-
pare an answer to the express from Lord Howe. This, signed
by the governor, was a respectful acknowledgment and informa-
tion to his Lordship, without comment, that copies of his letter
and declaration would be transmitted to the " Most Honoura-
ble the General Congress of the United States of America, to
whom every application respecting the disputes between the
said states and Great Britain ought to be addressed and must
be referred." The records of the proceedings of this assembly
close with the prayer " God save the United States."
At the August session William Richmond was appointed
colonel of the state brigade, and Christopher Lippitt recom-
mended to congress for colonel of the Second regiment. Solomon
Southwick was named intendant of trade under the recent act
for the district of Newport. Dr. William Hunter, one of the
eleven sent out of town at the last session, was authorized to re-
turn from Smithfield to Newport and reside there during the
pending illness of one of his children, but to return as soon as
the situation of his family permitted. And here it may be prop-
erly said that the student of this period makes a distinction be-
tween those persons who, born in the old country, whether with
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 351
relatives and connections there or without, held their loyalty to
the king and preserved a strict neutrality in the contest, and
those who were active enemies to the country which had har-
bored them.
The struggle now was for the possession of ISTew York. In
July Lord Admiral Howe joined his brother, the general, with
the fleet and army from England, and on the 12th of August a
fleet of si:^ty more vessels, having on board nine thousand Hes-
sinn mercenaries, brought up the British force on Staten Island
and in New York harbor to twenty-two thousand men and
twenty-five ships-of-war. On the 22d Howe began landing his
troops on Long Island, and on the night of the 29th Washing-
ton, unable to hold his position against the superior force, with-
drew his army to New York.
The Rhode Island assembly met on. the 2d of September
and, receiving a request from General Washington, through
Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, that a body of men should
be thrown upon the east end of Long Island for the protection
of the inhabitants and stock, ordered over the whole brigade of
state troops, two regiments with a detachment of artillery and
two gallies, under the command and direction of Colonel Lip-
pitt. But on hearing of the evacuation of Long Island the
movement was stopped. Great apprehensions were now felt
for the safety of Newport, and the assembly sent a committee,
consisting of Joshua Babcock, John Collins and Joseph Stan-
ton, Jr., to confer with General Washington. All the cannon
at Newport not mounted were ordered to the main for defense;
the troops on Conanicut, and the cannon there, were brought
over to Newport. There was correspondence between Rhode
Island and Connecticut as to the feasibility of a joint movement
to Long Island to bring ofi' the stock with the aid of the con-
tinental whale boats collected in Boston harbor. Trumbull had
this expedition greatly at heart.
On the 3d of September congress wrote a pressing letter, ask-
ing that aid be sent to New York. One of the continental bat-
talions marched on the 14th, and Colonel Richmond had the
other in readiness to proceed the moment the Massachusetts
regiment of militia arrived to take their place. Orders were
issued to raise seven hundred men to replace Colonel Rich-
mond's battalion. Washington was gratified by the readiness
of the assembly to meet his wishes. The Rhode Island com-
352 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUiSTTT.
mittee, which visifed him in camp and was witness of the re-
treat from the city of Kew York to the Heiglits -ot Harlem and
the clieering fight of tlae 16th of September in which the Rhode
Island regiments were engaged, had expressed their fear that
Newport and Rhode Island must be evacuated; but Washing-
ton was not of that opinion— not at least under any imaginary
necessity.
The headquarters of the state forces was at Newport, and two
regiments were constantly stationed on the island. But they
were poorly supplied. Some of chose ordered to Long Island
were " bare of clothes, having neither shoes nor stockings to
wear," and there was naturally "much grumbling." Congress
now, however, undertook to fit them properly with blankets
and clothing for winter service. In the first days of October
Rhode Island had two battalions in continental pay, troops
originally raised by the state : Colonel Varnum's, Colonel
Hitchcock's and Colonel Lippitt's with Washington, and Colo-
nel Richmond's, who was under orders for New London. In
November, the time of enlistment of Colonel Richmond's reg-
iment expiring, and the commissions of the field ofiicers also,
the organization was disbanded. A new regiment was ordered,
and oflacers were appointed : Colonel, John Sayles, Jr. ; lieu-
tenant colonel, Benjamin Talman; major, Thomas Potter, Jr.
The surgeon, Stephen Wigneron, was a distinguished practi-
tioner, of a Newport Huguenot family.
CHAPTER VII.
NEWPORT IN THE REVOLUTION [Concluded).
By John Austin Stevens.
British Occupation of Newport, 1777-9.— The Siege of Newport, 1778.— The Fleets
oflf Rhode Island.— The Battleof Rhode Island.— Evacuation by the British.—
The French in Rhode Island, 1780-81.— The Naval Engagement.— The March
of the French.
THE military occupation of Boston was dictated by x^oliti-
cal, not by strategic considerations. The earliest English
port in the northern colonies, it was necessary to maintain it if
possible, and moreover, as the place where the first overt resist-
ance to the measures of the government was made, it was politic
that it should receive the first punishment. That it was un-
tenable was soon practically demonstrated, and its evacuation
was a military advantage to the British.
New York, at the mouth of the great dividing river, was the
natural key to the northern section of the inhabited country,
and Newport the natural key to the New England portion of
that section. New York and Newport, with their great harbors,
in either of which vast fleets could find safe anchorage and easy
defense, and Long Island sound, with its sheltered communica-
tion between the ports, offered a base for military operations
unequalled in its advantages for an offensive naval power. The
English commanders quickly recognized this, and immediately
after the reduction of New York turned their attention to
Newport. The fall of Fort Washington, on the 16th of No-
vember, 1776, securing the British position and leaving a large
force disposable for offensive operations, the establishment of a
post at Newport was resolved upon as a basis for the operations
which Lord Howe contemplated against Boston in the spring
campaign.
On the 14th General Charles Lee, from the camp at North
Castle, Westchester county, where he was in command, Wash-
23
354 HISTORY OF KTEWPOKT COUNTY.
ington being with the main body of the army in the Jersies,
informed Governor Cooke of Rhode Island that a considerable
force was "being embarked or abont to embark on Staten
Island," and that though South Carolina was given out as the
place of their destination, it was "not impossible or improbable
that they may have some designs against Rhode Island either
on a pillaging scheme or perhaps with a view of establishing
winter quarters for a part of the troops, as they find them-
selves straightened at New York." This letter Governor Cooke
enclosed to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut on the 18th, with
a request for assistance.
The general assembly met at East Greenwich on the 21sk
(November), and among their various orders for the government
of the military, directed that in order to keep open the passage
at Bristol and Howland ferries two strong fortifications be
erected at each and sufficient cannon taken off from Rhode
Island to arm the batteries. It was directed that one eighteen
pounder and two twelve jjounders be left in the fort at Bren-
ton's point; that one twenty-four pounder, two eighteen pound-
ers and two twelve pounders be left in Port Liberty; and that
one twenty-four pounder, two eighteen pounders and two
twelve pounders be left on the North Battery; that all the
cannon mounted on field carriages be also left on Rhode Island;
and that all the rest of the cannon be removed to the main land;
namely three of the heaviest cannon to Biistol ferry and three
to Rowland's ferry. The remainder were ordered to the battery
on Fox point, near Providence; a committee was appointed to
distribute the shot and cartridges.
The British preparations completed, the expedition was made
up at the watering place off Staten Island, where the heavy
ships lay, and on the 25th and 26th of November, sixty-five
hundred troops, British and Hessian in about equal proportions,
were embarked on sixty transports, mostly East India Com-
pany's ships. The command of the expedition, Lord Howe
assigned to Sir Henry Clinton. Admiral Sir Peter Parker was
in command of the fleet. On the 27th the expedition left New
York, and sailed down the sound in three divisions, each es-
corted by three men-of-war, one in advance and one on either
flank. Commodore Hotham covered the rear. Sir Peter Par-
ker, with seven men-of-war and four frigates, took the outside
passage, and appeared off Block Island on the 2d of December.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 355
Turning westward he sailed up the sound to meet the incoming
vessels.
Alarmed by the movement of the ships, Governor Cooke, on
the 3d, sent a despatch to Governor Artemas Ward, of Massa-
chusetts, asking immediate help, and was at once answered that
marching orders had been given to the militia of three counties.
The committee of safety, consisting of the governor, three of
his council, and eleven members of the assembly, which had
full power in the recess of the assembly, on the 4th advised
Commodore Hopkins, who commanded the continental fleet,
to get all the vessels which belonged to it out of the harbors of
the state to sea as quickly as possible with safety; but he re-
plied that it was impossible, as he could not enlist sufficient
men. An embargo was laid on all the privateers and merchant-
men in jiort to help the manning of the navy. On the 5th or-
ders were issued to draft another regiment, of which Joseph
Stanton was appointed colonel. A regiment of Providence
county militia volunteered for service on the island pending the
drafts, and was placed under command of Col. Chad Brown.
General West was made brigadier of the troops on the island.
The women and children were advised to move with their fur-
niture from Newport and the other towns on the bay to the
interior for safety. The prisoners of war were sent on board
of Commodore Hopkins' vessels, or into the country, for safe
keeping. The stock on Rhode Island and Conanicut was
driven off.
Colonel Waterman's regiment was ordered to Warwick neck,
Colonel Aborn to Pawtuxet, and Colonel Noyes' to Tower hill.
These arrangements were hardly completed when, on the 7th,
the British fleet entered the bay, sailed up the West or Narra-
gansett passage, and rounding the iiorth end of Conanicut
island, anchored off Stoddard's shore in Middletown. In their
passage through the sound they had made several feints of
landing. As they passed through the waters of Narragansett ^
they saw red flags waving from every fort and battery. Resist-
ance at Newport, however, was impossible, the total force on
the island not exceeding seven hundred men.
On the morning of the 8th the troops were disembarked from
the transports which lay at anchor in Weaver's bay, at^ the
southern end of Prudence island. One regiment landed at Long
Wharf; the main body at Greensdale in Middletown (the resi-
356 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
dence of the family of General Greene). The British regiments
were the Twenty-second (Colonel Campbell), the Forty-third
(ColonelMarsh),the Fifty-fourth (Colonel Bruce), the Sixty-third
(Colonel Sell), all infantry, and Colonel Ennis' regiment of
artillery. The Hessians were the Brigade of Huyne, the Guards
and a part of Losberg's regiment. The brigade of Huyne seems
to have been composed of the regiment of Banau, the Anspach-
Bayrexith regiment, and the Guards of Landgraf (Prince)
Charles Ditfurth. After landing, the light infanty and grena-
diers went up the island to Bristol ferry at nearly its northern
end, and bivouacked in the open air until their tents and bag-
gage were unladen.
The American forces had already retreated, and carrying with
them thirty guns left the island and withdrawn to Bristol and
Providence an hour before the disembarkation. According to
the account sent by Governer Cooke to Washington, at ten
o'clock on the night of the 8th, the fleet consisted of seventy-
eight ships of war and transports. The British, on landing,
marched in three divisions, one toward Newport, the second
toward Howland's ferry, the third to Bristol ferry, where
they arrived in time "to fire upon the boats that brought over
our last men, but without doing much damage." The governor
says that the retreating troops had to leave behind "about fif-
teen or twenty heavy cannon."
The main body bivouacked about the country or in the farm
houses, which they pillaged, but with little more result than the
capture of a few head of cattle. The next morning, 9th Decem-
ber, Clinton marched on Newport, which he entered without
resistance. He waS accompanied by Earl Percy and M^ijor-
General Prescott, and by Prince Charles Ditfurth, with the
Hessian Guards and a company of light horse. The Hessians
who went in with Clinton were quartered on the town. On the
13th the force was distributed in permanent cantonments, and
the next day were joined by the Ditfurth regiment. TheNew-
I)ort garrison then consisted of one battalion of light infantry,
one grenadier battalion, four British regiments, a detachment,
of English artillery, a company of light dragoons, the Seven-
teenth regiment, and the Hessian regiments. General Richard
Prescott was put in command of the post, Lieutenant-Colonel
Campbell was the next in rank within the town, and General
Smith commanded the troops outside. Two yager or light
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 357
infantry companies were made up from the Hessian regiments.
Mr. Rosengarten, in his monograph on "The G-erman Soldiers
in Newport," made up in the main from Max Von Biking's
"Account of the German soldiers in the war of the Revolution,"
thus describes the appearance of the town at the time of the
occupation : "Newport town contained eleven hundred houses,
mostly small wooden ones; the large and handsome residences
of the well to do were built so as to show on the street front
great iron gates, but in the rear there were large gardens sur-
rounded by stables, houses for the negroes, etc. Within there
were the handsomest carpets, hangings and furniture. The
rich people had a great love of pleasure and luxury. The sol-
diers quietly set to work to make themselves comfortable, in
spite of the unfriendly welcome from the ' Patriots,'' to whose
numbers most of the people belonged. The officers were quar-
tered in the houses of the few royalists who remained, the sol-
diers in those of a large n^^mber that had fled. The empty ap-
pearance of the streets as the troops marched in was due to the
great numbers of the inhabitants who had left. The greatest
need was firewood. Detachments were sent in all directions to
gather it, and in one instance as fai; as Staten Island. The offi-
cers who went there reported that most of the people there, too,
had fled from fear of the Hessians; it was indeed currently be-
lieved that even the little children would fall victims to the
barbarity of these foreign troops. The people generally were
very ignorant, credulous and timid; no assurance that no harm
should come to them could persuade them that they were safe.
The colored people were much less anxious about their fate,
and a few Indians were met, mostly day laborers employed in
the fisheries."
The general assembly of Rhode Island met at Providence on
the 10th, and in view of the invasion ordered the raising of two
regiments of infantry, seven hundred and fifty men each, to be
brigaded under the command of a general, and a regiment of
artillery of three hundred men, "for the defense of the United
States in general and of this State in particular." James
Mitchell Varnum was appointed brigadier general and Monsieur
Frangois Lellorquois de Malmedy, chief engineer and director
of the works of defense, with the rank of brigadier general.
The colonels of infantry were John Cooke and Joseph Stanton,
Jr.; the colonel of artillery, Robert Elliot. Joseph Nightin-
358 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
gale was appointed major general of the militia in the place of
Joshua Babcook, who was appointed one of the council of war.
Jonathan Clarke was assigned as " linguist" to M. de Malmedy,
with the rank of major.
M. de Malmedy was a Fi-ench gentleman who, in September,
1776, had been "appointed in the continental service." Gen-
eral Charles Lee wrote from Chatham, New York, to Washing-
ton, on the 8th of December, that on hearing that the British
troops had embarked and directed their course to the eastern prov-
inces, sailing one half through the sound and the other turning
the southwestern end of Long Island and steering eastward, he
had " detached Colonel Varnum and Monsieur Malmedie to take
the direction of the Rhode Island troops who are without even
the figure of a general." Malmedy reached Providence on the
6th, and at the request of Governor Cooke "viewed the lines of
circumvallation which were opened on the right bank of the
[Providence] river." He thought them too far out, and changed
them, bringing the posts in. In his letter reporting the condi-
tion of affairs he said that he had then been given the rank of
colonel, and entreated Lee to have him commissioned by con-
gress before the 1st of January, that he might rank others.
On the 25th Malmedy wrote that he had examined the ground
about Warwick neck, which the committee of safety proposed
to defend, but found it untenable in case of a descent, and
urged the evacuation of the post already begun. He was sur-
prised at the inactivity of the British and the lethargy of the
people of Providence. Malmedy was modest as to his ovfn abil-
ities. He busied himself diligently finishing the open lines, be-
cause "there was only one man here who knows that kind of
work;" but, he wrote, he was himself "no engineer by profes-
sion," and was anxious for a different line of service, though
glad to do what he could in any line of duty. Heavy snow was
falling on the 2Qth and there was no trav^elling. In this letter
of the 25th he announced the arri\ral of Major General Lincoln,
who had been appointed to the chief command. There were
rumoi's of an intention of the British to march on Boston by way
of Providence. On the 23d of December the agreeable news
came in of the arrival of "an immense prize ship" at New
Bedford, and General Varnum went down at once to save itfrom
the hands of Clinton.
A convention of the New England states met in Providence
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COTJNTT. 359
on the 25th, when it was advised to concentrate the several
quotas to the number of six thousand men in the state of
Rhode Island, which was called upon to supply eighteen hun-
dred. A thousand continentals were to be added.
The records of the assembly for the 23d report the request
of one James Joseph Halleen, a French gentleman, who had
purchased a schooner in Rhode Island, to be permitted to go
out in the vessel with a French crew only and a cargo of
hoops, shingles and "shaken casks," to the French West In-
dia islands. Permission was granted. This assembly also de-
termined against the issue of any more paper money, and
adopted resolutions for borrowing at five per cent, and for taxa-
tion. Regulations were made " to prevent monopolies and op-
pression by excessive and unreasonable prices for many of the
necessaries and conveniences of life, and for preventing en-
grossers and for the better supply of the troops in the army."
A committee reported the act which regulated the prices of
labor, goods, wares, merchandize, &c. : labor not to exceed
three shillings and four pence a day, wheat seven and six pence
per bushel, pork four pence per pound, grass fed beef three
pence, salt ten shillings per bushel. West India rum seven shil-
lings and eight pence by the gallon, New England rum three
shillings and ten pence, sugar eight pence per pound, cheese
six pence, potatoes one shilling and four pence per bushel,
coffee one shilling and four pence the pound. These were all
retail prices. At the same session two lire ships were ordered
to be prepared and put under command of Captain Silas Tal-
bot, and the row galley at Providence to proceed to Pawtuxet
to receive the orders of Commodore Esek Hopkins.
The last Wednesday of the month of January was recom-
mended to be observed as a fast day by the general convention
and an act requesting observance was approved by the assem-
bly which adjourned on the 2d of January, 1777. On the 10th
the British frigate "Cerberus," which lay at Fogland ferry, on
the East or Seconnet passage, was driven from her moorings by
the troops of Little Compton with two pieces of artillery and
lost in killed and wounded several of her crew. On the 12th
General Arnold, sent by Washington to assist in the defense,
arrived at Providence and with him came the inspiring news
of the landing of Lafayette to offer his sword to the new nation.
On the 14th the English, in revenge for the attack on the
360 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
"Cerberus," sent a party to Prudence island which burned
the few buildings spared in the raid of the preceding winter.
The day before, Sir Henry Clinton sailed for England on the
" Asia," "" saluted on going aboard by a discharge of cannon,"
the command devolving upon the Honorable Hugh Earl Percy.
Clinton left to Percy six Hessian and four British regiments in
the country, and two British regiments and Losberg's Hessian
regiment in the town. The notice of his departure appeared in
the first number of the Newport Gazette published by John Howe
" at the Printing House in Thames street near the Parade." This
number, issued Thursday, January 16th, 1777, contains Lord
Howe's proclamation from New York of November 30th, 1776,
granting pardons to all who "shall promise to remain in a
peaceable obedience to His Majesty," and also the address to
Sir Henry Clinton by the loyalists of Newport, described by
the Gazette ^■s, "four hundred and forty-four of principal in-
habitants of the town." The address expressed the " truly
grateful sense of his majesty's paternal affection and tender-
ness for his unhappily deluded American subjects exhibited in
the proclamation of November last," with which the subscribers
were penetrated, deplored " the baleful influence of factious
and designing men through his majesty's American colonies,"
congratulated Sir Henry upon his arrival among them, thanked
him for his many instances of humanity and benignity dis-
played since his arrival and solicited his influence with the king's
commissioners. The subscribers sum up their dutiful address
witli the statement of their conviction "that to be a subject of
the British empire with all its consequences, is to be the freest
member of any civil society in the known world." Another
address seems to have been addressed to Lord Howe and* the
commissioners on the 12th of January, 1777, and signed by the
inhabitants of Newport— Joseph Wanton, Jr., John Maudsley,
Stephen Ayrault, Augustus Johnston, James Keith, Walter
Chaloner, William Wanton and Francis Malbone. Prom this
Gazette it appears that the English fleet had brought in
quite a number of prizes. Seven vessels are named, some with
valuable cargoes. On the 13th of January the inhabitants of
Jamestown addressed Earl Percy in terms similar to those of
the loyal addressers of Newport.
On the 22d an American galley under cover of a fire upon
the British force at Dutch Island ferry, landed four hundred
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 361
men but were driven back to their boats by Huyne's brigade and
the fire of two English six-pounders and two Hessian three-
pounders with some loss. In the last week of January the
"Merlin" sloop of war convoyed in two transports with Hes-
sian troops on board, and the " Cerberus " went out again from
Newport for the Seconnet passage. On the 28th of January the
row galleys made a demonstration upon the "Sphynx" off
Warwick point but did not attack.
On the 5th of February the marine committee sent orders to
Commodore Hopkins to despatch four vessels under Captain
John Paul Jones, of the "Alfred," on an expedition, but it
was found impossible to man or get them to sea. On the 14th
the sloop "Providence" went down to capture a Britsh
schooner of eight guns which had grounded between Pru-
dence and Patience islands, but the crew set her on fire and blew
her up. On the 21st the row galley "Spitfire," rigged as a
schooner, covering a party landed to bring off hay from Rhode
Island, exchanged fire for several hours with a battery on
shore.
While the enterprise of the patriots kept the army of occu-
pation constantly on the alert, the officers amused themselves
with organizing subscription balls. Captain d'Avant and Cap-
tain Mahlsburg, the latter one of the most distinguished of the
Hessian officers, were "Masters of the ceremonies." The balls
were given on Monday evenings. The regulations as to the
comings and goings of the inhabitants were strict. N"one were
allowed to leave the island for the main without permission,
and no inhabitant was permitted to admit any person into his
house without reporting him to Prescott, the commandant, " on
pain 'of military execution." Percy had his own views on the
subject of the small-pox, and on the 13th of February ordered
that no person within the island "presume to inoculate for the
small pox." At this time the colony authorities were legalizing
this sanitary precaution.
On the 13th of February the Newport Gazette reported the
arrival of a " brig with upwards of thirty masters of ships who
have been taken at different times by American pirates. These
freebooters are fitted out by men who have made their for-
tunes from the credit of British merchants and who have
chosen this method most gratefully to repay them." There
was an exchange of prisoners at this timie going on between
362 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Earl Percy and Governor Cooke, under the general cartel and
by Waghington's recommendation.
On the 1st of March the assembly met at Providence, ordered
the declaration of independence of the United States of America
of the 4th of July, 1776, to be "entered on the public records"
of the State. This was done on the request of congress of the
18th January, 1777. The Oneida Indians sent a deputation to
this assembly to pledge their neutrality if not active aid, and
one of the chiefs received the present of a gun. This and other
presents to the amount of about seventy-eight pounds were
paid for by the state. The Quakers or " persons of tender con-
sciences were relieved from their fines." At the same session
also Major-G-eneral Spencer was "strongly recommended (if in
any way consistent with prudence)" to make an attack on the
enemy at Rhode Island; the assembly considering it a great
disgrace to New England in general and Rhode Island in par-
ticular that no attempt had as yet been made. Rewards
were promised by the assembly for the capture of British
officers, ranging from one thousand dollars for a British or
foreign general oflicer to twenty dollars for each private soldier
brought off within fifteen days. Regulations were prescribed
for the formation of companies of volunteers who were to choose
their own officers; the governor was requested to summon the
militia, and a rendezvous was fixed for Wednesday the 12th of
March at Providence, East Greenwich and Bristol; those of
Newport county to meet at Howland's ferry. The selectmen of
the neighboring Massachusetts and New Ham]Dshire towns were
asked to send in volunteers. The plan, however, fell through.
On the 15th of March another attack was made by the Amer-
icans with a fire ship and two galleys on an English man-of-
war, which, according to the German account, ended in the loss
of one of the galleys, burned to save it from the Hessians, and
the escape of the other, with the force of the burning vessel.
At the adjourned session on the 24th of March General Var-
num, having been appointed by congress brigadier-general in the
continental army, and General Washington having directed two
generals of the continental army to take command of the troops
on Rhode Island, Generals Varnum, West and Malmedy, ap-
pointed by the assembly, were dismissed from service with
thanks, and the latter voted a gratuity of fifty pounds for his
"abilities, activity and zeal."
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 363
At this session tlie assembly, considering that the freemen of
the towns of Newport, Portsmouth, Middletown and James-
town were deprived of meeting at their usual places for the
choice of representatives in general assembly, authorized per-
sons known to be freemen in either of those towns to the num-
ber of seven to meet for such choice on the third Wednesday
in April ; those of Newport in Providence at the state house ;
those of Portsmouth and Middletown in Tiverton ; those of
Jamestown in North Kingstown.
On the 2d of April the row galley " Washington" blew up
near Bristol and eight men perished. On the 5th of April Lord
Percy leit his command and returned to England. The Hessian
accounts describe him as " very popular with both troops and
people, a good soldier, a kindly man, full of tenderness for the
sick and suffering, the poor and needy." He was succeeded in
his command of the post by General Prescott.
On the 17th of April the assembly ordered the raising of five
hundred effective men to fill up the continental battalions. The
men were to be raised by draft; the towns of Newport, Ports-
mouth, New Shoreham and Middletown being excepted. Large
bounties were offered without much success, and.the draft created
such disaffection in Exeter that General Spencer was recom-
mended by the assembly to march troops into the town to cor-
rect the unruly and pi'otect the quiet citizens. Washington
was urging Governor Cooke to press the enlistment, and ordered
him to forward every man who had recovered from the small
pox at once, and those who had not as soon as they were re-
covered (of course inoculation is here meant).
Washington was of opinion that the number of troops on
Rhode Island was greatly exaggerated if, as he was informed,
they only consisted of six Hessian and two British regiments.
"The Hessian regiments when they came out complete (he
writes) did not exceed six hundred men each, and the British
two hundred and fifty each." With the casualties they should
not exceed " three thousand ; a number too small to make any
attempt upon the main." He adds that he was "convinced that
they intend to leave Rhode Island, where they have wintered
comfortably and kept up a considerable diversion, and join
their main body " in the Jersies.
To congress he wrote on the 10th of April that "an attack on
the King's troops at Rhode Island was certainly a desirable
364 HISTOEY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
event could it have been conducted with, success, or upon equal
terms. It being an object of great moment and involving in its
issue many important consequences, I am led to believe the
practicability of it has had much consideration, and the meas-
ure was found to beunadvisable under the circumstances of the
troops collected for the purpose. If the enemy have not evac-
uated the Island I suppose the matter willbe further weighed."
This letter was in answer to the resolutions adopted by congress
on the 16th of April recommending the general assembly of
Rhode Island to collect their whole force, and with the militia
of Massachusetts bay and Connecticut "attack and destroy
the enemy on Ehode Island." The resolutions further directed
Washington to appoint the general officers, and he and the
three states concerned were notified by express. Washington's
judgment as to the British inability to make any further ad-
vance on the main was soon justified.
After Percy's departure there was so much movement in
Newport that oflrensive operations were expected, but this idea
was abandoned when it was learned that the Hessian Guards
had been returned to New York. The garrison, however, was
not further diminished. At the May meeting of the general
assembly Captain John Hopkins or any officer of the ship
" Warren" was empowered to impress men for a contemplated
cruise, "being seamen — transient foreign persons and not inhab-
itants of this or any of the United States and not enlisted in the
service of this state on the continent." The same authority was
given to Captain Abraham Whipple of the ship "Providence,"
the number of men being limited to sixty.
At the assembly meeting in June the new gallej^ "Wash-
ington," having been repaii-ed and rigged as a schooner, was
assigned to the command of Joseph (Charles) Mauran, an
Italian from Villafranca, who had commanded a privateer be-
fore Sir Peter Parker blockaded the harbor. The " Washing-
ton " carried ten four pounders, fourteen swivel guns and
eighty men. It does not appear, however, that any of these
enterprising officers were able to run the blockade through the
long passages, well guarded by batteries and hostile ships of all
kinds.
A journal kept by one Fleet Green, who lived in Newport
during the occupation, gives many details of the daily life from
June, 1777, to October, 1779. In June the Hessians were in-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 365
suiting and the streets were dangerous after dark. The fisher-
men were obliged to haul up their boats. On the 31st of June
he records that a flag sailed " for Providence with one hundred
and thirty women and children belonging to the town; their
trunks were all searched and some things taken from them,
such as tea, pins, linen and men's clothes by the Provost
Marshal and Hessian Town Sergeant."
In July occurred the capture of General Prescott by Colonel
William Barton of the Rhode Island militia, who was then
stationed at Tiverton. An account of this daring exploit is
given in the history of the town of Portsmouth in this work.
The British post being thus deprived of its commander,
General Sir Richard Pigot was ordered from New York to take
his place. He arrived on Monday, the 21st of July, on the
"Swan" sloop of war, and landed at noon upon the Long
Wharf, where he was received by the principal officers of the
army and navy. A detachment of Hessian troops, accompanied
by a band of music, escorted his excellency to the house pre-
pared for his reception. On the 26th the town school house
was taken for the use of the bake houses.
On the 28th Governor Cooke wrote a letter to General Pigot
complaining that the mutual courtesy established at the re-
quest of Earl Percy, of allowing ladies to pass from the main
to the island and the island to the main had been stopped.
The governor reminded the general that " women and children
are not the proper objects of war," and added "that the com-
manding officer upon Rhode Island appeared to him to have de-
parted from the common dictates of humanity." General Pigot
answered on the 30th, expressing his regret that the application
had been neglected, and while, as in duty bound, he defended
his predecessor against the charge of inhumanity, he informed
the governor that he had ordered a flag to be ready to carry as
many of the women and children as chose to go. From this
it is reasonable to infer that the date in Green's journal has
been misprinted. Such a complaint could hardly have been
made at the close of July if a flag had gone out in June. Pres-
cott was taken in July.
In August the assembly, to encourage such brilliant actions
as the capture of Prescott, although the time fixed in its offers
of reward had expired, voted the sum of eleven hundred and
twenty dollars for the officers and men concerned in that expe-
366 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
dition. This assembly repealed the monopoly act on the ad-
vice of the New England convention, but ordered that the con-
tinental soldiers in camp from the state be supplied at the
prices fixed thereby.
The convention which met at Springfield in July had resolved
that an army of four thousand men should be mainfained by
tlie New England states for the defense of Rhode Island. Con-
gress approved this action. There were occasional affairs of
slight importance in themselves, but sufficient to keep both
sides wide awake. On the 2d of August Colonel Elliott, by his
artillery fire, drove the " Renown," a fifty gun ship, from her
moorings off Dutch island, and in the night a raid was made
on the island, when some stock was captured, and the same
party, crossing to Conanicut, brought off two prisoners. On
the 5th the militia in Narragansett drove off with some loss a
foraging party of two hundred British soldiers; and the same
day Captain Dyer, with sixty men, crossed from Tiverton to the
island, attacked a party of twenty who had fired on some fish-
ing boats, and compelled them to beat a retreat to the cover of
their works.
Arnold informs us that " the battle of Bennington checked
the contemplated advance of Burgoyne into New England,
where he proposed a junction at Springfield with Pigot's forces
from Rhode Island." Baum's march into Vermont with his
Hessians was absurd enough, but there does not appear to be
any evidence that Pigot had any thought that he could break
through the cordon by which he was held with any such force
as he had under his command, though no doubt his Hessians
would have been glad enough to try the venture to meet their
countrymen. The defeat of Baum on the 16th of August set
all such mad schemes at rest if ever there were such entertained.
On the 2d of September a new privateer of twenty guns, from
Providence, attempting to run the blockade, was chased ashore
by the British vessels and burned. Surprise parties were the
order of the day. Colonel Cornell landed on Prudence island,
at night, lay in cover, and the next morning carried off an
officer and fifteen men who had landed from a frigate for fresh
water. The same night an officer and two men were taken from
Rhode Island by a party from Seconnet.
The assembly met at South Kingstown on the 22d of Septem-
ber. On the petition of Samuel Carr, Benjamin Underwood
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 367
and Christopher Ellery, Esqs., who represented for themselves
and many of the late inhabitants of Newport and the other
towns of the county, that they had been driven from their island
homes to the mainland, had ijerformed all their duties in de-
fending the shores, as well as supplied their quotas to the fif-
teen months' men and continental battalions, but tliat their
charges were so great that they were unable to paj^ the taxes
now levied, the assembly exempted them from all rating except
for their stock.
The news of Gates' victory at Stillwater stimulated the
eastern states to an attempt to recover the island. Massachu-
setts resolved to send three thousand men in addition to the
two regiments she already had in Rhode Island, and in addi-
tion some artillery. The Rhode Island assembly on the 22d
ordered that one-half of the militia alarm, independent and
artillery companies be drafted from the militia within the state
on the 27th day of September, and rendezvous at the order of
Major General Spencer on the 1st of October; the militia thus
drafted to be formed into one brigade of six regiments, Ezekiel
Cornell to be brigadier. It was left to the option of General
Spencer to form two brigades, however, and appoint a second
brigadier general. A bounty of forty shillings was voted for
a month's service. Connecticut promised fifteen hundred men
to further the plan.
The British force on the island was estimated by General
Spencer to be nearly four thousand men, four Hessian and
three British regiments; two of each on Windmill hill, a corps
of grenadiers and light infantry at Fogland ferry, one regiment
on Butt's hill and two near Newport. On the 2d of October
• General Pigot ordered all the furniture and wearing apparel in
Newport to be siezed, and on the 17th, word coming in of the
threatening movements. of the Americans on the mainland to
the eastward, all the inhabitants were ordered to the forts to
work the next day. There was cause for alarm. On the 16th
nine thousand troops were gathered, and a large number of
boats was in readiness at Tiverton under charge of Major
Nathan Munro; but on the night fixed for the attack the prep-
arations were not complete. A heavy stoi'm set in and delayed
the movement, and when it was at last made the wind was con-
trary and some of the boats were fired upon. The attack was
postponed and the objective point changed to a landing place
368 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
above Fogland ferry. Again the weather was against them.
The troops became uneasy and numbers marched off.
On the night of the 26th of October, finally assigned, hardly
five thousand men remained. A council of officers was held,
and it was resolved to abandon the expedition. And here again
was justified the complaint often made by Washington of the
utter unreliability of militia for offensive movements. Admir-
able often in defense, always in the finish of a successful bat-
tle, they were not to be depended upon for a concerted action,
which demanded coolness and intrepidity combined. There
was a general disgust at the failure, and Spencer was blamed
for incapacity. But the discouragement which would have en-
sued was greatly modified in the general delight at the sur-
render of Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga on the 17th of
October, which reached them in the midst of their disappoint
ment.
The assembly met at Providence the day after the failure at
Fogland ferry and api>ointed a committee to meet with any
committees that Massachusetts and Connecticut should raise,
to inquire into the grounds of the miscarriage. At the same
meeting a council of war was again appointed to act in the re-
cess, and the remaining half of the militia called out at the last
session was ordered to be drafted into two divisions on the 6th
day of November, and to march at the order of General Spen-
cer or his successor in command on the 6th day of December,
for thirty day's service.
The committee appointed to inquire into the late failure,
after considering a statement made by General Cornell, decided
on the request of General Spencer to refer the matter to a joint
committee from the New England states interested. A court,
of inquiry was held in pursuance of this resolve, at Providence,
and a report was made exonerating General Spencer and ascrib-
ing the miscarriage to the failure on the part of Palmer's bri-
gade to have the boats in readiness the first night set for the
attack and to the bad weather afterward. An inquiry insti-
tuted by congress later resulted in a similar verdict. Spencer,
however, resigned his command on the 21st of December.
On the 5th of November the British ship " Syren," of twenty-
eight guns, was stranded at Point Judith and captured by the
artillery men of the battery at that station. Her crew, one
hundred and sixty-six ofiicers and men, were carried x^risoners
HISTORY OP NEWPOBT COUNTY. '369
to Providence. Arrangements for winter quarters were now
made by General Pigot. The Presbyterian meeting houses
were stripped of their pews and turned into barracks, and the
keys of the Baptist meeting houses were taken by the barrack
master for the same purpose. At some time during the alarm
caused by the American movement from Tiverton two legiments
of loyalist Americans were raised on the island. On the 17th
of November these organizations were disbanded, the colonels
and officers dismissed, the non-commissioned officers and men
tnrned into the British regiments, and on the evening of thig
day the lines that separated the town of Newport from the
country were manned with guards for the first time and the
gate locked; forty men stationed at each redoubt and two sen-
tries on each flank. On the 1st of December the Landgraf
regiment and a company of Hessian chasseurs were brought
into the town and quartered.
Among the resolutions adopted by the continental congress
was one appointing Thursday the 18th day of November for a
general thanksgiving for the signal blessings and victories of
the year. The general assembly which met at Providence on
the 1st of December ordered the issue of a proclamation by
the governor confirming the same and directing that "all
servile labor and recreation be forbidden on that day."
Meeting again on Friday, December 19th, the day after this
solemn act, they appointed a committtee to draft a bill in con-
formity with the recommendation of congress for the confisca-
tion and sale of the estates real and personal of the tories of the
state. This was a terrible blow to many rich merchants and
large landholders in Newport who had adhered to the crown.
The signature of the loyal addresses supplied sufficient proof
for forfeiture. The gentlemen charged with this delicate
business were Henry Ward, Henry Marchant, Rouse T. Helme
and William Channing, Esquires. Ward was deputy for New-
port in the general assembly and secretary of that body;
Marchant delegate to the continental congress; Helme deputy
for South Kingstown and clerk to the council of war; Chan-
ning attorney-general to the state. The articles of confedera-
tion proposed for the United States and the general tax re-
commended by congress to be assessed on all inhabitants of
the United States in 1778 was referred to the next session.
Before this assembly met Rhode Island had fresh cause for
34
370 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
alarm. The extent of the barracks fitted up at Newjiort, the
taking of tlie meeting houses and the building of chimneys in
them left no doubt that large reinforcements were expected.
On the 14th of December Governor Cooke had represented
these fears strongly to the council of the state of Massachu-
setts and was at once answered that great encouragements had
been extended to the regiments of Colonels Robinson and
Keyes to extend their terms of service till January, 1779.
On the 5th of December the British man of- war " Eaisonable"
arrived off the mouth of Newport harbor with twenty-six trans-
ports under convoy from the Delaware, general Burgoyne, in
accordance with the terms of convention or surrender at Sara-
toga, had marched his army to Boston where he expected to
embark them for England. On the 25th of November he
wrote to Washington from Cambridge, near Boston, expressing
his doubts as to whether the transports destined to carry the
troops would be able to make the port of Boston at that ad-
vanced season of the year, and asking consent from him, or
from congress through him, to march the troops to Providence
or pass them by small craft to Newport or some port on the
sound when the transports should arrive at the point desig-
nated; asking at the same time permission to go at once to
Newport with his suite, there to take passage on a separate
frigate. On the arrival of the transports, eight of them having
come into port. General Pigot sent an open letter to General
Burgoyne under cover to General Spencer, the American com-
mander of Rhode Island, notifying him that the vessels were at
hand and recommending him to apply to the council at Provi-
dence for permission to obtain supplies of sheep, fowls and other
live stock from the Seconnet or Narragansett shore, as the island
did not abound in live stock.
This letter was sent to Governor Cooke, who, on the 7th, noti-
fied the council of Massachusetts that by the convention it was
evidently the intention of General Gates that " Mr. Burgoyne' s
troops should not intermix with the other British troops serv-
ing in America, as the port of Boston was assigned for their
embarkation;" that it was the intention of the Rhode Island
government to fulfill that convention, and that " they could
not prevail with themselves to admit Mr. Burgoyne's late army
within the state in order to proceed to Newport." The Massa-
chusetts council wholly agreed with this view, and answered
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 371
the governor that the matter laid wholly with congress. But
the Rhode Island assembly had not been discourteous in their
relations with the British officers, and gave permission to
General Pigot (Dec. 1st, '77) to send wine, sugar and tea by a
cartel vessel to Mr. Ward for transmission to Burgoyne at
Boston. Congress had its reasons for declining to permit the
departure of Burgoyne' s troops.
Although this correspondence explained in part the presence
of the large squadron from the Delaware, the assembly was
alarmed at the powerful armament and their exposure to
"still more hostile attacks," and ordered, on the 19th of Dec-
ember, the raising of two battalions, each of six hundred men,
and a regiment of artillery of three hundred men, for the " de-
fense of the United States in general and of Rhode Island in
particular;" the three formations to be brigaded together.
Ezekiel Cornell was appointed brigadier-general; Robert Elliott,
colonel of artillery; Archibald Crary and William Barton (the
hero of Prescott's capture), colonels of infantry; and the council
of war was given power to call out such part of the militia,
independent and alarm companies as would supply the delin-
quencies in the quotas of the Massachusetts Bay, the ISTew
Hampshire and Connecticut contingents in case of emergency.
In January, 1778, Greneral Pigot issued an order dividing the
town of Newport into five districts, and appointing a " nightly
watch." The tories on the island who, since the confiscation
act, had no longer any reason for hesitancy, were now organized
into a corps known as the Newport Loyal Association. It con-
sisted certainly of two, possibly of three companies. The
officers were appointed by General Pigot. As the appointments
of January 1st, 1778, included the name of one captain, Joseph
Durfee vice Simon Pease, deceased, it is probable that this was
a revival or continuation of the regiment disbanded in Novem-
ber.
In the American camp the process of organization was making
headway. The recruiting was slow, but the commands were
made more homogeneous. On the recommendation of General
Varnum the Rhode Island battalions in camp at Valley Forge
were united by Washington , and' the officers of one, Colonel
Greene, Lieutenant Colonel Olney and Major Ward, were sent
home to enlist a negro battalion for the continental service.
The assembly which met in February at East Greenwich re-
372 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
sponded to this suggestion. The preamble to their resolution,
which authorized the enlistment of "every able bodied negro,
mulatto or Indian man slave in the state into either of the
two battalions," bases it on high grounds: " Whereas history
affords us frequent precedents of the wisest, the freest and
bravest nations having liberated their slaves and enlisted them
as soldiers to fight in defense of their country." A further
resolution allowed them the usual bounty; a third, absolute
freedom on passing muster before the enlisting officer; a fourth,
an engagement to maintain them in case of sickness; a fifth
gave a compensation to their masters at a rate not higher than
one hundred and twenty pounds for the most valuable. Six of
the upper house dissented from this vote for various economic
reasons, but the resolution was sustained and Colonel Christo-
pher Greene was empowered to draw one hundred pounds for
bounties to slaves enlisting before him.
This assembly also instructed their delegates in the continen-
tal congress, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery and Henry
Marchant, respecting the proposed articles of confederation and
perpetual union, and suggested some alterations, the chief of
which was the first formalizing of a claim or demand which,
persisted in uncompromisingly, survived the war and kept
back Rhode Island from the union completed in 1788. This
was the claim that the lands and revenues of the crown
were forfeited to the United Colonies as a whole and not, to the
states within whose limits such lands lay; that the forfeiture
ought therefore to be vested in all the United States, and the
lands be disposed of and appropriated by congress for the ben-
efit of the whole confederacy. It was not meant by this, they
represented, "that congress should claim jui^isdiction of the for-
feited lands; but that the same shall remain to the state in
which it lies." This claim, it will be observed, did not alone re-
gard the great unoccupied territory which the great states
claimed to be theirs under charter to the Pacific ocean, but also
the quit-claim crown rents within the established jurisdictions.
Yet the assembly instructed their delegates to accede to the
articles of confederation notwithstanding this claim, which they
were, however, directed to enter upon the records of congress
before signing the articles and to give notice that " the State
intends to renew the motion for them."
The destitution of the patriot refugees from Newport was so
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 373
great in this month of January, more than two hundred and
fifty persons being then in Providence without means of liveli-
hood, that an appeal was made throughout the states in their
behalf and, as with Boston at the time of the F'ort Bill, abund-
antly responded to. On the 18th of January congress urged
the New England states to keep up the force in Rhode Island
agreed upon by them, and the assembly in consequence ap-
pointed Solomon Southwick, deputy commissary general of
issues within the state. The great scarcity of wood, even at
this time, in Rhode Island constantly appears. Even the.troops
about South and North Kingstown found it so difficult to ob-
tain a supply that the quartermaster general was given authority
to enter on the wood lands and cut what they needed.
In February another gallant action relieved the monotony of
the tedious winter. Captain John Rathbone, with the United
States sloop "Providence," of twelve guns, landed a party of
thirty men at New Providence, the most important of the Ba-
hama islands, under Lieutenant John Trevitt, of Newport, with
fifteen of whom he scaled the walls and captured the fort at
night. The remainder of the party landed on an island oppo-
site the town of Nassau, which they held for three days, made
prizes of six vessels in the harbor, drove off a British war
vessel which attempted to enter, and after spiking the
guns of the batteries brought off the military stores without
the loss of a man. On the 16th of February the frigate " War-
ren," Captain John B. Hopkins, taking advantage of a snow
storm, ran the blockade of the British squadron, giving and
taking fire as she passed, and got safely out to sea. The frig-
ate "Columbus" made a similar attempt on the 27th of March,
but was unable to get through and, driven on shore at Point
Judith, was burned by the British the next day. On March
14th Green notes (hat "the Hessian troops appear in their
uniforms for the first time," and not to be behind them in ele-
gance, the Assembly ordered the purchase of silk for two stand-
ards for the hew regiments. On the 15th of April General Bur-
goyne, by leave of congress, came down from Boston and
sailed from Newport for England on parole. The convention
troops surrendered by him at Saratoga, and since quartered at
Cambridge, were marched into Vermont. -
On the 17th General Sullivan, appointed by Washington to
succeed General Spencer, whose resignation had been accepted
374 HISTORY OF ISTEWPORT COUNTY.
by congress on the 13th of January but who was still in command,
arrived at Providence and was placed in command of Rhode
Island by the council of war. The treaty of Paris, secured by
the instrumentality of Lafayette and signed on the 6th of Feb-
ruary, reached Boston on the 19th of April and Providence on
the 21st, when salutes were fired from the battery at Fox point
and from the frigate " Providence," and repeated at sunset with
military honors. The 22djw;as a day of fast by appointment of
congress, but became a day of thanksgiving throughout the
land as far as the news had reached. On the 25th General Pigot
enclosed to General Sullivan copies of the bills of conciliation
adopted by parliament under the alarm caused by the French-
American alliance. They were burned by the public hangman
on the demand of the people. On the night of the 30th Cap-
tain Abraham Whipple took out the frigate "Providence," in
the dark and a heavy storm, and ran the blockade of the Brit-
ish squadron, firing his broadsides as he passed and sinking
one of the tenders. He carried despatches to France and re-
turned safely to Boston.
At the May election Governor Cooke retired and was suc-
ceeded by William Greene, son of the late Governor Greene,
who held the important post throughout the war and for some
years after its close. Rhode Island was certainly happy in her
chief magistrates in this troublous period of her history.
On the night of Sunday, the 25th of May, General Pigot sent
a fleet of small vessels up the bay from the Newport anchorage
to break up the preparations which were making for a descent
on the island. Six hundred men were embarked under com-
mand of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, and landed at day-
break between the towns of Bristol and Warren. They marched
at once through Warren to Kickemut river, where they burned a
number of flat bottomed boats and a galley, which were being
repaired. On their return through Warren they entered the
houses, plundered the inmates of clothing, bedding and furni-
ture, and then set fire to the meeting house, parsonage and
other houses and destroyed a magazine of military stores.
They also set fire to a new privateer sloop in the harbor, which
was not, however, seriously injured. They then retreated by
the road through Bristol, where they pillaged and burned in
the same fashion all that their haste admitted, not excepting
the Episcopal church in the center of the town which, with
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 875
eighteen others of the most elegant dwelling houses, were
burned to ashes. In some of the houses they tore the women's
aprons and handkerchiefs from their persons, their buckles
from their shoes, their rings from their fingers.
Word of this raid reaching Providence in the morning, vol-
unteers marched at once toward Bristol. Colonel Barton went
forward nnder orders from General Sullivan to rally the people
and delay the retreat of the party till the troops could reach
them. With twenty men he pursued them and fell on their
rear near Bristol ferry. Badly wounded, he was compelled to
leave the fight. The enemy's boats arrived in time for the
party to get off before Sullivan's arrival, but Barton's attack
saved the carrying away of the live stock, which were already
collected on the shore. A number of inhabitants were carried
away prisoners. A captain and nine men were also taken on
Popasquash neck, and a galley with some of the crew cut out
from Taunton river. Fleet Green's journal records that the
next day, May 26th, "wearing apparel of all sorte, necklaces,
rings and paper money, taken as plunder in a recent raid at
Bristol and Warren, were offered for sale by the soldiers at
Newport." That night, he says, there was an alarm of fire in
Newport, and the inhabitants who went to the assistance of the
owners were "greatly abused, knocked down and beat."
The state was in a miserable condition of defense at this time.
Sullivan wrote that he had not five hundred men under his
command, and that there were less than two hundred from the
other New England states. A special meeting of the assembly
was held on the 28th of May, and orders given for the raising
of eight hundred and thirty-nine effective men by all the towns,
except Newport and the other island towns, to fill up the bat-
talions of infantry and the artillery regiments before the 10th
of June ; and the conduct of the governor, who had already
summoned into actual duty one-sixth of all the militia com-
panies, was approved. Little Compton and Barrington were ex-
empted from the militia call, but one-half of their force of this
nature was continued in service. General Sullivan was fur-
ther empowered to call out the entire force of the state in his
discretion.
On Sunday morning, the Slst of May, the British made a
dash at Fall river. One hundred and fifty men, under Major
Ayres, were landed at daybreak at the mouth of the river and
376 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
burned a mill and house on the shore, but were prevented from
going inland, where they proposed to burn Freetown and the
mills, by Colonel Durfee, who, with twenty-live men covered
the bridge from behind a wall until the militia came up. Two
British vessels, a galley and sloop, covering the retreat, were
driven on the Rhode Island shore and abandoned. The boats
and vessels were warmly received as they passed down the river
by a hot fire from the fort on Bristol neck.
Generals Sullivan and Pigot had a sharp correspondence
concerning the prisoners taken at Bristol. Pigot declined to
release them except on the usual terms of exchange. On the
first of July the Landgrave regiment was marched to Ports-
mouth and encamped at Windmill hill, relieving the Bunau
regiment, who were marched into town and encamped on the
fields west of the town near the mills. The Huyne regiment
was camped on the east side of the road leading into the neck,
and threw up woi'ks for a battery of two guns fronting the road.
General Pigot, in July, rebuilt the forts on Brenton's point
and Goat island, and also on Rose island and Conanicut. The
king's stores were removed from the wharves to the rope walk
at the back of the town. These operations were caused by the
news of the arrival of a French squadron ofi: New York.
On the morning of the 29th of July the signal from the ware-
house reported "a Fleet in Sight," and at a little after one in
the afternoon it was known to be the French squadron of
d'Estaing. At five o'clock the Newport Associators, the loyal
townsijeople, were in arms on the parade. The town crier
summoned all the inhabitants to join them. The British frigates
hauled in under the North battery. The troops on Conanicnt
were ferried over, leaving only a few in a battery on Watch
hill. The French fleet lay at anchor ofl' the reef. July 31st
Fleet Green records: "Early this morning the fleet weighed
and took to sea, which revived the spirits of the people. The
town still remains in confusion." Some evolution must have
been made by the French, of which there is no mention in the
general histories. That no British vessels got out is certain.
On the 2d of August all the live stock which had been driven
in from Portsmouth and. Middletown, and all carriages, carts,
wheelbarrows, shovels, pickaxes, axes, and saws were this day
and the next taken from the inhabitants. Trees were cut down
and thrown across the road to delay the march of the enemy.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT OOUKTY. 377
Six ships were sunk from the north end of Goat island to the
town to obstruct the entrance to the harbor on that side. Three
others were held ready to sink at the south entrance. The gar-
rison, Green writes, was "said to consist of seventy-two hun-
dred soldiers and fifteen hundred sailors." On the 5th of
August four transports were sunk in the morning on the west
side of Goat island, and on the appearance of the French fleet
four frigates were blown up near Coddington point and two
transports burned. On the 6th the army overrun the island,
cutting down orchards and tearing down houses, while the work
of sinking vessels went on in the harbor. On Saturday, the
8th of August, the houses on the heights of Middletown were
set on fire by the general's orders, and the inhabitants were
plundered by the soldiers and sailors in the streets. The houses
at Easton's beach were burned the night before all this destruc-
tion and pillage, and before the French had attempted to force
the passage.
Fleet Green thas describes the movement: ^^ Saturday,
August 8, 1778. Two o'clock this morning the fleet appears
under sail. Three o'clock they stood in for the harbor. Half
past three the battery on Brenton's Point begins to fire. The
ships return the fire and pass the battery under a heavy can-
nonading. Four o'clock all three of the batteries continue the
firing. The headmost ship is up with the North battery. The
harbour is one continual blaze ; the shots fly very thick over
the town. August 8. At ten this morning a fleet appears in
sight, standing from the eastward, with the wind S. W., to the
great joy of the army and the Tories, excess of joy and grief seen
in the faces of difl'erent parties. A number of people flock on
the heights on the Neck to welcome Lord Howe and his fleet to
their deliverance. August 10. The French fleet passed the
forts under heavy fire for over an hour, standing out to sea in
pursuit of the English fleet."
The Siege oe Newport, 1778.— On the 3d of May General
Sullivan sent to congress a return of the troops at his post.
Unfortunately Amory, in his monograph on the siege of New-
port, while he quotes the letter in full, does not give the
return. Sullivan, however, informs congress that three regi-
ments were to leave him that day and his force would consist
only of the residue mentioned in the return; " not a man from
Connecticut and but part of two companies from Massachusetts
378 insTOUY OF Newport couNTr.
Bay; some few have arrived from New Hampshire and about
half their quota are on the march." With this small force he
had " to guard a shore upwards of sixty miles in extent from
Point Judith on the west, and from Prudence to Seconniet
Point on the east," against an enemy who could bring all their
strength to a point and act against any point they chose. He
asked the assignment to him of the two state galleys to guard
the entrance to the rivers of Taunton andWarren and that Gen-
eral Stark be ordered to him, as he should need two brigadiers.
On the 26th he wrote that he had not five hundred men at his
command and that there were less than two hundred men
from the other New England states. On the 19th of June, at
the instance of Sullivan and Grovernor Greene, congress directed
Washington to send home the Rhode Island troops if prac-
ticable and the Navy board to provide three galleys for the
defense of Providence, Warren and Taunton rivers.
French assistance followed quickly the recognition of Amer-
ican independence and the treaty of alliance. Marie Antoi-
nette, the queen, herself persuaded the king, Louis XVI, to or-
der a naval expedition to the American coast. The squadron,
consisting of twelve ships of the line, four frigates and four
thousand troops of the line, was placed under the command of
the Count d'Estaing, an ambitious and promising officer. He
hoisted his Hag on the " Languedoc " and was accompanied by
Gerard de Rayneval, a diplomatic agent with power to concert
a scheme of offensive war, and by Silas Deane, one of the com-
missioners of the United States to the court of France.
The fleet left Toulon the 13th of April, 1778, and passed the
Straits of Gibraltar on the night of the 17th to 18th of May. On
the 20th the captains of the vessels opened their sealed instruc-
tions and learned their destination. Hostilities were to be opened
at forty leagues distance to the westward of Cape St. Vincent. It
was hoped that the great secrecy with which the expedition had
been organized would result in the surprise and defeat of Lord
Howe's squadron which held the mouth of the Delaware to
cover Sir Henry Clinton's position at Philadelphia. But the
French fleet was badly composed for concerted action, the
vessels being of unequal speed, and land was not seen until
July. On the 8th of this month, eighty-seven days after their
departure from Toulon, and forty-nine from their opening of
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 379
orders (when two days out from Gibraltar), the French fleet
anchored off the mouth of the Delaware.
Clinton, under orders from England, had evacuated Phila-
delphia on the 22d of June, and both army and fleet were safe
in the harbor of New York. Pilots were sent on board the
French vessels by order of congress, and d'Estaing set sail and
dropped anchor off Shrewsbury. The American pilots were un-
willing to venture with the larger vessels which drejv from
twenty-three to twenty-five feet of water across the New York
bar, and in spite of a very large offer of money by d'Estaing
absolutely declined the undertaking. The alternative offen-
sive operation was an attempt to capture the British garrison
on Rhode Island. A plan was concerted between Washington
and d'Estaing, and Sullivan was notified to be prepared. He
was directed to form the American troops into two divisions, to
the command of which Generals Greene and Lafayette were
assigned.
On the 22d of July the French fleet raised anchor and set
sail to the southward, but soon changed their course. The
plan agreed upon was that General Sullivan should land on
the north of Rhode Island under cover of the guns of the
French fleet, while d'Estaing should also force the passage of
the main channel and take the fortifications of the town of
Newport in reverse. On the 29th of July the French fleet ar-
rived off Brenton's ledge, three miles below Newport, and
dropped anchor at the mouth of the great middle channel.
The twelve sloops of the line were the "Languedoc," " Mar-
seillais," "Provence," "Tonnant," " Sagittaire," "Guerriere,"
"Pantasque," "Cesar," " Protecteur," "Vaillant," "Zele,"
"Hector;" the four frigates, the "Chimere," " L'Engageante,"
"Aimable," " Alcmene ;" and with these latter a corvette
the " Stanley." The next day General Sullivan, who had
already exchanged letters with the French admiral, went on
board the "Languedoc," and a plan of operation was agreed
upon. The "Fantasque" and "Sagittaire" were ordered to
watch the Narragansett or western passage while the frigates
"Aimable," "Alcmene" and the corvette "Stanley" should
anchor in the eastern passage where the water was too shallow
for the heavier ships. The retreat of the English vessels ly-
ing in the bay was thus cut off.
The frigates, pushing up the eastern or Seconnet passage,
880 ' HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
anchored in front of the battery at Fogland ferry, but before
fire opened from the guns, the British man-of-war, the "King-
fisher," of sixteen guns, and two galleys were set on fire by
their crews ; their shotted guns went off in all directions, and
their magazines exploded to the confusion and consternation of
friend and foe. A company of Ditfurth's Hessian regiment at
Black point were witnesses of this strange scene.
At daylight on the 5th of August the " Sagittaire " and
"Fantasque" sailed up the western passage, doubled the
point off Conanicut island and dropped anchor in the middle
channel. Four British frigates, the "Lark," "Orpheus," and
"Juno," thirty-two guns, the "Cerberus," twenty-eight, and
the corvette "Falcon," sixteen, were run ashore on Rhode Is-
land and burned on their approach near Tammany Hill. The
two Hessian regiments, Bayreuth and Prince of Wales, had al-
ready been brought over from Conanicut where they were
camped. Besides the men-of-war, other vessels were desti'oyed
to keep them out of the hands of the French. The German ac-
counts say eight were sunk and thirteen burned. Commander
Suffren abstained from firing upon the boats which landed their
crews. The "Protecteur" and the "Provence" then took the
positions of the "Sagittaire" and "Fantasque" at the mouth
of the Narragansett passage.
On the 8th of August, General Sullivan announcing himself as
ready to cross from the mainland to Rhode Island, Count d'
Estaing forced the middle passage with eight ships under a
heavyfire from the Bi'itish batteries. The English then destroyed
their two remaining ships, the "Grand Duke," a transport of
forty guns, burned, and the frigate "Flora," thirty-two, sunk.
Altogether the English lost two hundred and twelve guns. A
heavy fog settled on the island that aftern'oon; when it cleared
the next morning the French were comfortablysheltered between
Gould island and Conanicut, and d' Estaing began landing the
troops intended for co-operation with the Americans on Conan-
icut island with material of war ; for preliminary drill and or-
ganization. Pigot, the English commander, had withdrawn
his troops from Fogland ferry. Windmill and Quaker hills, and
posted them on Bannister's hill and across the island and under
the shelter of Tonomy hill. That afternoon a British fieet,
thirty strong, was descried in the offing. The wind fell and
they did not attempt to enter the harbor. In the night
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 381
d'Estaing re embarked his troops and material, and the next
morning, the 10th, the French ileet cut their cables and stood
out for sea ; raked for an hour by the British batteries at Fort
Greorge, Goat island and Brenton's point at easy range.
Meanwhile Sullivan was in motion. He had been joined by
Major-General Greene from the army, on the 31st of July, and
shortly after by Brigadier- General Glover, who volunteered for
the expedition, and on the 2d of August by the Marquis de La-
fayette. On the 3d two continental brigades, Varnum's and Glov-
er's, and two companies of artillery, from the army at White
Plains, arrived. On the the 7th, volunteers flocking into camp, and
the Massachusetts contingent coming in also, General Sullivan
proceeded to the American camp at Tiverton and took command.
On the 8th the cannonade announced that d'Estaing had forced
I the passage. On the 9th, while the French troops were landing
at Conanicut, Sullivan, with about ten thousand troops, began
to cross from Tiverton to the north end of Rhode Island by
Fogland ferry, the British fort at Butt's hill being evacuated,
and Lafayette was despatched to inform d'Estaing of the move-
ment. He arrived as the disembarkation was still going on,
when a frigate from below signalled the arrival of the British
fleet.
Sullivan, while waiting events, took possession of the de-
serted forts at the north end of the island. On the 11th
a detachment of light troops, with supports, under Colonel
Livingston, was pushed to within a mile and a half of the
enemy, who had thrown up a new line of earthworks. On the
11th orders were given for a general advance ; the right under
General Greene, the left under General Lafayette, the second
line of Massachusetts militia under Major-General John Han-
cock, and the reserve under Colonel West. On the night of
the 12th a terrible storm arose which lasted for two days and
caused anxiety as to the safety of the French fleet, of which
nothing as yet had been heard. It is remembered in Rhode
Island as the "great French storm." On that night the ele-
ments played their parts in the war.
On the morning of the 15th the English pickets could easily
descry the American camp stretching its front for nearly five
miles across Honeyman hill and Peckham hill. The British
lines extended from Tonomy hill to Easton's point, near the
beach. The distance between the armies was about two miles.
382 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
The American detachment which held Honey man's hill to the
right of the British was within half a mile of their front works
on Bliss's hill, which it commands.
On the 17th the Americans opened fire, and Pigot threw up
a second line of defense and shortened his front. The Ameri-
can artillery was better served than the British, and shot and
shell dropped thick and fast among the British tents and in
•their overcrowdeci line. Pigot withdrew his men into the de-
fenses behind Tonoray hill on his left, but on the 20th they
were driven from this shelter by two new batteries planted by
the Americans. Slowly forced from position to position the
English kept eager watch seaward from Brenton's neck for some
sign of the fleets. On the evening of the 20th the French
squadron appeared again off Point Judith, though in a shat-
tered state. The British were in despair, the Americans in
glee ; neither with reason. The movement of the fleets now
demands attention.
The Fleets off Rhode Island, August, 1788.— Large bod-
ies move slowly, and it must not be forgotten, also, that the
Frenchmen were in strange waters and in the first flush of an
alliance with a race whom they had looked upon for centuries
as their hereditary foes. They had certainly done good work
between the 29th of July, when they appeared in the Newport
offing, and the 9th of August, when, every vestige of the na-.
val force of the British in the harbor destroyed, they were land-
ing their men for further service, to be interrupted by the news
that the enemy were at hand. Lord Admiral Howe had not
wasted his time and he was certainly favored by fortune. In
the July days that followed the departure of d'Estaing's fleet
from Shrewsbury harbor four British men- of- war reached 'New
York from different quarters. Thus reinforced, Howe was again
able to put to sea, and on the 6th of August sailed from Sandy
Hook with thirteen shi]js— one of seventy-four, seven of sixty-
four, five of fifty guns, seven frigates and a number of trans-
jjorts, with troops, arms and provisions.
But he was hardly prepared for the sudden swoop which
d'Estaing made upon him the morning after his arrival. He
hastily signalled such of his vessels as were at anchor, and
crowding sail, stood out to sea. He no doubt relied upon the
unequal sailing qualities of the enemy and upon the superior
speed and rapidity of manoeiiver of his own vessels. The
HISTORY OF "NEWPORT COUNTY. 383
French could not force him to action. The next day the wind
blew to a gale, which not only separated the Frenchmen but
so badly damaged the "Languedoc," d'Estaing's flagship, that
on the morning of the 13th he found her bowsprit broken,
her rigging down and the helm of her rudder gone. At sun-
set she was attacked by the "Preston," one of the enemy's ves-
sels, and badly raked from the rear. She defended herself
with her stern batteries till night brought relief. In the morn-
ing all the vessels except the "Cesar" rallied to the admiral's
flag, the squadron was anchored and the damages repaired.
The "Marseillais," also attacked, lost her mizzen mast and
bowsprit.
The "Tonnant," attacked by the "Renown," had driven her
off, but was herself dismasted. After the storm of the 11th
the "Vaillant" took the bomb ketch "Thunder." On the
15th the "Hector" defeated the "Senegal." The "Cesar"
engaged the "Iris" of sixty-four guns, but she was rescued by
two of her British companions. In the action the French ship
lost seventy killed and one hundred wounded, her captain los-
ing his arm.
On the 17th sail was again hoisted, and on the 20th the fleet
came to anchor off Rhode Island. Here d'Estaing was informed
by Lafayette of a new peril. On learning of the sailing from
Toulon of d'Estaing's squadron, the British admiralty ordered
Admiral Byron to the American coast to reinforce Admiral
Howe. Byron left Plymouth on the 12th of June with thirteen
vessels. Heavy weather dispersed the squadron. The admiral
put into Halifax, others made their way to New York. The
British were now in superior force in American waters, while
two of the best of the French vessels were badly crippled. At
a council of war called by d'Estaing on board the ''Langue-
doc" on hearing this news, it was unanimously agreed that
there should not be an hour's delay in making the port of
Boston, where damages could be securely repaired. Lafayette
was present at the council and, it is said, urged the French ad-
miral to land his troops at Conanicut, but he declined to sep-
arate his expeditionary force in this manner. The next day,
the 21st, the entire French fleet set sail for Boston, the admiral
taking his ship through a channel between Nantucket and the
banks. The squadron reached Boston on the 28th, whilst Lord
384 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Howe, after pursuing d'Estaing for a time, returned to New
York.
General Sullivan, informed of this sudden change of plans,
was greatly aggrieved, and at his instance tlie American officers
drew uj) a protest which Lafaj'ette declined to sign. This
paper was dispatched on the 22d by a fast vessel with orders
to overtake the admiral, who had already sailed. In fact the
last of the French vessels had weighed anchor and was out of
sight before the close of the day. Sullivan added to the im-
prudence of the protest by a general order expressing the
hope " that America with her own arms could achieve the suc-
cess which her allies declined to help in obtaining," but on the
representations of Lafayette and de Fleury that such com-
ments would give offense to France, the general modified his
expressions by a general order on the 24th in which our obliga-
tions to our ally were acknowledged. But the consequences of
his ill-advised censure were not thus easily averted, and it may
here be added that the strong feeling aroused against the
French culminated in a riot in Boston, in which two of the
officers of the fleet. Messieurs de Saint; Sauveur and Pleville de
Pelej^, were dangerously wounded, the former mortally.
Left to his own resources, General Sullivan asked the opinion
of his officers in writing as to the future course of operations.
Greene advised pressing the siege and attempting a surprise by
boats from Sachuest beach upon the cliffs. Three New Hamp-
shire officers, sent out as scouts to look into the feasibility of
the plan, were captured, and it appears from the Hessian ac-
counts, gave the enemy an exaggerated idea of the American
forces. In truth, however, Sullivan's forces were already re-
duced and somewhat demoralized. The thousands of volun-
teers whp had flocked to the camp, as was the habit through-
out the war on the eve of a great action, as at Boston, at Sara-
toga, and later at Yorktown, had already disappeared and left
the brunt of the war to the regular continental troops. Pro-
visions were scarce, bread at Providence hardly to be had at
all, and corn selling at eight dollars the bushel. Three thou-
sand men left within twenty-four hours and others were fol-
lowing. What with the withdrawal of the volunteers and de-
sertions of the militia, Sullivan's army was reduced on the 27th
of August to fifty-four hundred men. The enemy's works were
too strong to be stormed with this force, and at a council of
HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY. 385
war held the next day it was resolved to fall back on the hills at
the north of the island, Butts, Turkey, Anthony's and Quaker's,
which had been carefully fortified early in the movement by
de Gouvion, a capable French engineer, with the aid of Crane
and Gridley of the American artillery. Here it was determined
to hold the army.
Battle of Rhode Island. — Lafayette was sent to Boston to
urge d'Estaing to hurry down the French troops to the north
end of the island. The army began to withdraw on the night
of the 28th at ten o'clock and by two o'clock in the morning
the main body was in position at Butt's hill, the right wing on
the west road, the left on the east road, both with their flanks
covered. Colonel Henry B. Livingston, with the light corps,
held the east road, Colonels Laurens, Fleury and Major Talbot
ohe west road, each stationed three miles in advance of the camp.
Colonel Wade supported them with the picquet of the army.
At daylight the next morning the British discovered that the
American front was withdrawn and a rumor prevailed that they
were leaving the island. Pigot dispatched Prescott and Brown
to occupy the abandoned works. Smith with two regiments,
the Forty-second and Forty-third, and flank companies of the
Twenty-second and Fifty-fourth, was sent up the east road.
Losberg, with the Hessian Anspach chasseurs and Huyne's Ger-
man regiment, moved up the west road. At seven o'clock the
converging roads brought them upon the American advance and
skirmishing began. The first hot action it is said was at Wind-
mill hill which Amory considers to mean Slate hill; this was on
the west road. Smith, with the king's troops, struck Livingston
at Windmill hill on the east road. Livingston fell back fight-
ing to Quaker hill, closely followed by Smith who, at its base,
found himself confronted by two regiments. Colonels Wiggles-
worth and Sprout of Glover's brigade, and one, Colonel William
Livingston from Varnum's brigade. Smith attacked twice and
was twice repulsed; after which the Americans fell back under
orders on the main body. Smith, again pushing on, came
upon Glover's command and under range of his guns, where-
upon he in turn fell back and went into position behind the
lines on Quaker and Turkey hills, both of which werr
strongly protected by bastions. Losberg moved up the west
road. Contemporary accounts say that they attacked "on the
road" but were beaten off with great loss by the light corps
35
386 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
under Major Talbot and Laurens, who no doubt fell back after
the skirmish on the main body.
Comparing the various reports of the day's fighting it would
seem that Colonel Campbell, with his Twenty-second flank
companies, moved up the east road and at the cross road con-
necting the east and west roads near the Gibbs place, about
live and a half miles from Newport, divided his men. The party
which turned into the cross road fell into an ambush. Captain
Wade had here concealed his picket guard which, rising sud-
denly up behind the stone fence of the field, poured two volleys
into the forces of the surprised men at close quarters, destroy-
ing one-fourth of the entire force. They were quickly sup-
ported by the H-essians who were moving on the west road, and
Wade also withdrew his pickec to the main body, which was
now drawn up in three lines; the first in front of the works on
Butt's hill, the second in its rear and the reserve near a creek
about half a mile to the rear of the first line.
The distance between Butt's hill and Quaker hill is about a
mile, the ground between wooded and marshy. Smith's line
covered Quaker hill, the Hessian line covered Anthony's hill.
The skirmishing had been rapid. At nine o'clock a cannonade
began which was interrupted by the arrival of two British ships
of war and some light craft which began a fire on the American
right and sujDported an attempt to turn the flank and storm
a redoubt in advance of that wing which Gfeneral Greene com-
manded. Twice the English and Hessian columns swept down
the slope of Anthony's hill, which is merely a continuation of
Quaker hill, and were repulsed with heavy loss by Varnum's,
Glover's, Cornell's and Greene's brigades, which also suffered
severely. A third assault was nearly successful, when Sullivan
put in two batallions of continentals who quickly restored the
day. On this occasion the newly raised black regiment, led by
Colonel Greene, behaved with great coui^age, repulsing three
separate charges of the Hessians with great slaughter. The
ships of war were driven off by the American batteries.
At four o'clock, when Colonel Trumbull took in a brigade of
Massachusetts militia to meet an expected attack on the right,
the enemy had disappeared. The action was over. Repulsed
fi'om all their assaults, the British and Hessians were driven
back to their fortified lines, losing one of their batteries on the
retreat. The American loss was two hundred and eleven, that
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 387
of the British one thousand and twenty-three, including pris-
oners. The British had a force superior in numbers and thor-
oughly trained, while not more than fifteen hundred of the
Americans had ever been under fire.
The " battle of Rhode Island " maybe fairly held, as it is
said Lafayette styled it, " the best fought action of the war.-'
There seems to have been no error either in the plan or execu-
tion of the masterly movement of retreat ; and the secure re-
sult was the holding of the strongest position on the island,
equally available for a renewal of attack or to cover a safe
withdrawal to the main land.
The 30th of August, Sunday, both armies spent the early
part of the day in burying the dead and caring for the wounded.
Colonel Campbell, of the Twenty-second, came out for leave to
look for the body of his nephew, who fell at his side. At
noon despatches were received from Washington that Lord
Howe was on his way with five thousand troops from New
York for the relief of the Newport post. A council of officers
was held, and it was resolved to evacuate the island. Under a
feint of pitching tents and fortifying the camp and a heavy
cannonade, the stores, 'munitions and heavy baggage were
moved. At nightfall the tents were struck and the troops were
crossed over the ferry to Tiverton, the Providence regiment
acting as rowers.
At eleven o'clock Lafayette came in from Boston. He had
ridden seventy miles in seven hours on Friday to Boston, and
now returned sixty miles in six and a half. He brought with
him the promise of d'Estaing to march his men immediately
overland from Boston to join in an attack on the island. La-
fayette now aided in superintending the transports, and under
his personal supervision the pickets and last covering parties
were brought over without the loss of the smallest alrticle of
baggage. Sullivan's barge was the last to leave the island.
Four of his life guards were wounded by the enemy, who ap-
peared on the hills as they were crossing. The next morning
the British fleet, with Sir Henry Clinton's forces on board, was
seen off Newport from Tiverton heights.
The army of Sullivan was now reduced~to twelve hundred con-
tinentals and two thousand state troops with some militia whose
time was about expiring, while the British force, with the re-
enforcements brought by Clinton, reached eleven thousand men.
388 HISTOEY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
Congress voted thanks to Sullivan and his army for their signal
service, and Washington issued a general order in commenda-
tion. Congress, moreover, passed a resolution showing "its
appreciation of the zeal and attachment the Count d'Estaing
had shown to the cause of the United States on several occa-
sions and especially in the noble and generous offer to march
from Boston at the head of his troops to co-oi)erate in the re-
duction of Kliode Island." D'Estaing was of too noble a spirit
to bear any malice and in the course of the next year showed
his zeal and his mettle, but gained little fame as a naval com-
mander.
The condition of the inhabitants of Newport during this pe-
riod of hostilities was not to be envied. The French shot flying
over the wooden town was alarming but the sufferings war
brings in its train were not confined to terror. " Sixteen
buildings," says Mrs. Almy in her journal, "were destroyed
to clear the field of action," while the blazing vessels and
burning buildings threatened the whole closely built wooden
town with total ruin. On the retreat of the Americans Ports-
mouth and Middletown were plundered. By the report of an-
other journal, that of Fleet Green, "some families were desti-
tute of a bed to lie on."
After Sullivan's retreat the island was held with rigorous
military care, the great extent of water line subjecting the out-
lying posts to constant danger of surprise. On the 17th of
September Admiral Byron, who had been sent out in June by
the British admiralty to re-enforce Lord Howe, came into New-
port harbor with two ships of the line and on the 25th Howe
followed in his flagship the "Eagle," andtui-ning over the com-
mand of the American station to Byron, sailed for England.
On the, 28th he was followed by Greneral Pigot whom General
Prescott succeeded. On the 12th of October four hundred men
arrived for the Anspach Bayreuth regiment and one hundred
light cavalry under Major Von Dieskau. They had been twenty-
six weeks at sea and were in poor condition. The entire regi-
ment was brought into the town and half went into winter
quarters in the abandoned buildings, the assignment between
camp and houseing being settled by lot, and in November the
Landgrave and Ditfurth regiments were also marched in to the
southern part of the town. Huyne's and Bunau's regiments
were marched from the camp at the lines to barracks at Wind-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 389
mill and Quaker hills; Huyne's on the east road, Bunau's on
the west, and detachments of men sent from each to guard
Rowland's ferry.
In October the town was startled by a daring exploit — the
cutting out on the night of the 25th, from the east passage, of
the "Pigot" galley, a vessel of two hundred tons, strongly
armed and manned, by Major Talbot in a little sloop with two
three pounders. The "Pigot" was carried into Stonington,
and later served as guard ship in Providence river. In Novem-
ber Admiral Byron, who had left port in September, came into
the harbor with twelve ships of the line. He had been cruising
for the French fleet off Boston, but without success. Byron's
ships lay for a month to refit and then went to the West Indies.
In December the town was visited by a storm of intense sever-
ity — a heavy fall of snow, and cold so intense that many of the
Hessians perished, frozen to death. More than fifty people are
said to have lost their lives on this fearful night, chiefly sol-
diers. This was long known as the Hessian storm. Fuel was
everywhere scarcce. A few days later a brig bound to New
York was taken by Lieutenant Chapin with six men and a
whale boat. The troops and the inhabitants had to depend now
wholly upon the army supplies, as they were prevented from
any communication with the mainland. Many of the towns-
people were obliged to remove. After January, 1779, rations
were cut down to one-half bread and one-half rice. The bread
was oatmeal and rice mixed. Fuel now became so scarce that
turf was burned, the old houses destroyed, and the wharves
stripped of their timbers. A week or two later the meat ra-
tions were cut down one half, and salt or dried fish took its
place.
At last the famine was relieved by the arrival, on the 25th of
January, of seven British ships with supplies obtained from a
great fleet with provisions from Ireland to New York. A raid
was made by the loyalists on the mainland and three hundred
head of cattle were brought in. But this was dangerous busi-
ness, no quarter being given those taken on such forays. In
May provisions grew scarce again, and there was a great deal
of scurvy among the troops. Fifteen sail came in with wood
from Long Island, and fish fell so low in price that men could
hardly be persuaded to go out.
In the arrangement for the summer two of the German regi-
390 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
ments remained in the town and the others were posted on
Tonomy hill and at Turkey hill. In June two of the Hessian
regiments were sent to joinTryon's force in its operations along
the sound. On the 21st of June Major Arnbach, of the Land-
grave regiment, was buried with the honors of war. Quiet was
only disturbed during the summer by the forays of the tories
and the sharp reprisals of the patriots. In July a murderous
raid was made on the house of Major Taggart at Little Comp-
ton, but under the system of whale boats organized by General
Grates, who at this time commanded the "Providence," ven-
geance was quick and sure. In August Talbot took the tory
privateer "King George," belonging to Newport, which he
boarded without losing a man, and in the course of a month
four other valuable prizes.
In October the repulse of the Americans and French at
Savannah, when Pulaski fell and d'Estaing was wounded, in-
duced Sir Henry Clinton to attempt the subjection of the South-
ern colonies. To effect this he needed to concentrate his forces.
On the 11th of October the town was thrown into consternation
by the arrival of the order to get ready for the evacuation of
the island. The next day fifty-two transports arrived to take
off the garrison, seven thousand men with the military stores.
The refugees were also permitted to embark and the merchants
hastened to move their stores. Forty-six of the royalists, says
Arnold, with their families, and a large number of slaves whom
the occupation had liberated, embarked at the wharves. The
vessels were hauled out to Brenton's point and moved as fast
as loaded. The barracks at the point and the lighthouse at
Beaver Tail were burned. The north battery was razed but the
Goat Island fort spared.
On the 25th the inhabitants were warned to keep within
doors on pain of death while the embarkation of the troops was
being made. All day long the troops were marching to Bren-
ton's point, whence they were taken by boats to the ships.
"Newport," says an eye witness, "looked as if everybody was
dead, for doors and windows were shut, not a soul was to be
seen, and this was done to guard against desertion." Strange
to say, this seems to have been the motive of Prescott's order,
which was especially that no woman should be allowed to be
seen at the windows or on the street. At ten o'clock at night
the fleet, one hundred and ten sail, convoyed by three men-of-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 391
war, sailed out of the harbor. On the 31st they arrived in New
York. Governor Greene had issued a proclamation on the 16th
forbidding any person landing on Rhode Island or Conanicut to
molest the inhabitants after the withdrawal of the enemy.
It is not probable that the English garrison or the Hessian
contingent were especially rough to the townspeople during
this occupation. Indeed, in some things those that remained
fared better than those that went away. Tliough at times
pinched for food and fuel, they were generally well and reason-
ably supplied from the British stores. The property owners
suffered most. All the empty private houses were used as bar-
racks, and the troops were quartered upon the inmates of those
which were inhabited, with little regard for their own accom-
modation and comfort. The artillery officers carried off all the
bells from the houses of worship except Trinity. The meeting
houses except Trinity and the Sabbatarian were turned into rid-
ing schools. The Redwood was thrown open to all. The state
house was used as a hospital. The forage yard was on the
Quaker field; the wood yard on the north side of Church street.
General Prescott had his headquarters in the Bannister house,
and it is said that his spacious sidewalk in front, from Mill
street to Prospect Hill street, was made out of stepstones taken
from private houses, and the whole of the south fl.ight of steps
from the state house. The general aspect was of decay and
dilapidation.
The interior of the island presented an appearance not less
melancholy. The groves of forest trees and many of the or-
chards even had been cut down for fuel and military purposes,
the farms were broken up, the gardens destroyed and the fertile
meadows torn up. And as with the homes so with the avoca-
tions of the people. More than half the population had left
the island, the wharves were deserted, commerce and trade
abandoned. The Jewish merchants were gone.
Among the acts of vandalism committed by the retiring troops
was the taking off of the records of the town from its settlement;
a favorite habit of British commanders. The vessel which
carried them was sunk at Hurlgate. Three years later the frag-
ments were fished up and returned to the town and copies made
of what remained legible.
On the 26th of October, the morning after the departure of
the British, General Stark crossed from Tiverton with the troops
392 HisTOEr OF newpoet county.
quartered there, and marched into Newport; Colonel Barton
being sent on in advance with orders to prevent any boat landing
withoutaspecial permit. The losses sustained by the town during
the occupation were estimated at over one hundred and twenty-
four thousand pounds by a committee of the legislature in 1782,
and more than five hundred houses were destroyed; but this was
trifling compared with the interruption of commerce, which,
notwithstanding her magnificent harbor, never returned to her
wharves and merchants. N"o sooner were the Americans in
possession of the city than they took measures to raise the
sunken British men-of-war and to take possession of the estates
of the tories.
The winter of 1779 80 set in with intense severity. The bay
was frozen over for six weeks, and ice formed into the ocean as
far as the eye could reach. Wood sold for twenty dollars a
cord ; corn at four silver dollars a bushel ; potatoes at two. All
the troops who could be spared were sent home, and the New-
port garrison, at first five hundred strong, was reduced to one
hundred and eighty men. In February, 1780, the Newport
'•'Mercury,'''' which had been for three years removed to E.e-
hoboth, was revived at its birthplace by Henry Barber. In
May the spirits of the depressed inhabitants were revived by
the news that a French fleet would soon arrive with a contingent
force.
The Frewch in Rhode Island, 1780-1. —Lafayette, disap-
pointed in the result of the expedition under d'Estaing and still
hopeful of the active co-operation of a land force of the French
army in the next campaign, after the failure at Rhode Island,
applied to congress for an indefinite leave of absence from the
army, in which he was a full major-general. This he received
on the 20th of October, 1778, and on the 11th of January, 1779,
sailed from Boston for France in the frigate "Alliance," which
the king had placed at his disposal. During the year he confined
himself to earnest efliorts for assistance from the French govern-
ment in money and material of war. It had been understood
before he left America that he should not apply to the ministry
for assistance in troops, and this coincided with his own judg-
ment, but as the year wore on he changed his mind on this
point, and, assuming the responsibility early in 1780, made an
application of this nature, and in a letter of the 20th of Febru-
ary, submitted a plan of operations for an expeditionary
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 393
corps of thirty-six hundred men to be under his personal com-
mand. He had already received from the king the appoint-
ment to a regiment of dragoons.
Later, on mature consideration, he decided to resume his
command in the American army and, charged with private
dispatches to congress, he sailed from Rochefort on the 6th of
March on the frigate "Hermione,"and reached Boston on the 27th
of April. Thence he went to Washington's headquarters at Mor-
ristown, which he reached on the 10th of May. The news he
brought was of the intention of the French ministry to send
over a fleet and of the present oiganization of an expeditionary
corps. Notwithstanding the secrecy attempted on all sides,
the British government was aware in March of the equipment
of the squadron at Brest for America, but uncertain of its des-
tination. On the 17th of May Rivington's Royal Gazette, pub-
lished in New York, gave a detailed account of the composition
of the French force.
It was arranged with Lafayette in his interview with the
French minister at Paris that officers should be posted at Cape
Henry and on the coast of Rhode Island to watch the arrival
of the fleet and convey to the admiral of the French squadron
and the general commanding the troo^DS all necessary informa-
tion as to the position of the enemy and the wishes of General
Washington. These dispatches were prepared in duplicate by
Lafayette on the 19th of May, 1780. The originals were handed
to M.de Galvan with instructions to proceed to the mouth of the
Chesapeake where the fleet was expected first to appear, and
copies were sent by trusty messengers to Point Judith and
Seconnet. It being later learned that the fleet would "in the
first instance touch at Rhode Island for the purpose of landing
their sick and suxjernuraerary stores and to meet the intelli-
gence necessary to direct their operations," General Heath
was ordered to Providence to present himself to the French
commanders on their arrival. Heath, who was at the time at
his home in Roxbury on a leave of absence, went at once to
Providence. Congress hastened to fill up the army and Mon-
sieur de Corny, a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry in the United
States army, whp had received at Versailles the appointment
of commissary-general of the French forces, visited Rhode
Island, escorted by a troop of horse, to arrange for hospitals.
The French squadron on the night of the 20th of May lifted an-
394 HISTORY OF Newport countt.
chor and set sail from the roadstead of Brest. The fleet consisted
of seven ships of the line, three frigates, a corvette orflute fitted
as a hospital ship, and a cutter; in all twelve ships carrying six
hundred and eighteen guns. The transports, thirty-two in
number, carried the expeditionary corps of five thousand men.
The fleet was commanded by Monsieur de Ternay, chef d'esca-
dre, the troops by Count de Rocliambeau. The fleet was de-
tained some days in the Bay of Biscay by contrary winds, but
gained an offing from the continent without meeting a hostile
cruiser, although it was known that Admiral Graves was fitting
out at Portsmouth to intercept and force them to action.
On the 20th of June the French fieet fell in with five British
vessels to the southward of the Bermudas, a part of the squadron
of Commodore Cornwallis, returning to the Antilles. Line of
battle w^as formed by the French, but Cornwallis changed his
course and bore away. The squadron held a similar course
during the day but at night the English commodore turned to
the southward and de Ternay held on to the American coast.
On the 4th of July, towai'd nightfall, he made the mouth of
the Chesapeake, where his frigates signaled ten or twelve sail at
anchor in the bay. Fearing that these vessels might be part of
the squadron of Arbuthnot, who was on the American station,
or of Graves who was expected, de Ternay changed his course
several times during the night and the next day steered straight
for Rhode Island. They came upon the coast in a dense fog.
At four o'clock on the afternoon of the 9th of July, land was
descried from the masts of the " Conquerant." It proved to be
Martha's Vineyard. The crews, who had suffered greatly from
the warm weather and confinement, were in great glee. On the
morning of the 10th anchor was again weighed; at noon pilots
came on board from the island. The fleet again anchored at
ten o'clock. On the morning of the 11th sail was made but the
weather being still foggy and a danger signal being hoisted by
one of the convoy, the fleet again came to anchor. At eight
o'clock the fog lifted and the shore line opened into view;
Point Judith, a league distant, beyond the Newport point, and
most welcome, the French flag on each of the points of the
land. This was the signal agreed upon by Lafayette that Rhode
Island was safe in American hands and the French would be
well received.
General de Rochambeau and his staff went at once on board
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 395
the frigate "Hermione" and sailed for Newport, where he
landed at noon. De Ternay had cause for congratulation.
Admiral Graves left Portsmouth in pursuit of the French
early in May with seven vessels. Meeting in the channel the
same westerly gale which detained de Ternay in the gulf, he
was forced to put back to Plymouth, where he was held by con-
trary winds fifteen days. Putting to sea again he crowded sail
and on the 13th of July, only forty-eight hours after the arri-
val of de Ternay at Rhode Island, reached Few York where he
found Arbuthnot with four ships. A few days later the French
would have found their course to Rhode Island blocked by
eleven men-of-war without the impediment of a helpless fleet of
transports.
The French squadron which now anchored in the Newport
harbor, consisted of the "Due de Bourgogne," eighty guns, the
"Neptune" and "Conquerant" of seventy-four; the "Prov-
ence," "Eveille," "Jason" and "Ardent," of sixty-four; three
frigates, the " Surveillante," "Amazone" and "Gentille," of
thirty guns. Besides, there was the corvette "Fantasque"
which had made the expedition with d'Estaing and was now
fitted as a hospital ship and carried the heavy artillery and the
cutter "La Gruepe." As soon as the ships were anchored the
troops of Rochambeau were landed. One third of them, sick,
were removed to the interior. The fortifications were placed in
charge of the French who proceeded at once to remodel and put
them in a posture of defense.
The troops disembarked, five thousand and eighty-eight men,
consisting of the regiments of Bourbonnais, Soissonnais, Sain-
tonge, Royal deux Ponts, an Alsatian corps and six hundred
men of Lauzun's Legion, three hundred of whom were intend-
ed to be mounted for a troop of horse. All the officers of these
corps belonged to the best of the old French nobility and
many of them had served with distinction in the wars of
the continent. The Count de Rochambeau, a gentleman of an
old Vendome family, was a veteran of nearly forty years ser-
vice, who had spent his life in camps and had won high merit in
the campaign of the low countries for the prudent qualities
which became a commander, while equally remarked for his
bravery and tenacity. Just such qualities were needed for the
delicate position of controlling a hot headed band of young of-
ficers in a country jealous of its customs and among a popula-
396 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTy.
tion proud in individual freedom. Among liis aids were the
Count de Fersen, a young Swedish gentleman high in favor with
the French court and esteemed one of the handsomest and most
elegant of this age of courtesy, Chevalier Charles de Lameth
and the Counts de Damas and de Dumas. The household of
Rochambeau was fully mounted in French state and his major-
domo, in his solemn dignity and magnificent array, was a per-
petual wonder to the plain provincials.
The other high general officers were the Baron de Viom^nil,
the Chevalier de Chastellax, a distinguished member of the
French Academy, and the Chevalier de Viomenil, who disputed
the palm of manly beauty with the fair Swede. As aids to the
Baron de Viomenil, the Chevalier d'Olonne, a scion of an old
historic family, and the Marquis de Vauban ; and serving in the
same capacity as the Chevalier de Chastellux, Monsieur de Mon-
tesquieu. On the general staff, among those whose later lives
were eventful in history, were the Chevaliers Alexandre de La-
meth and de Berthier. The Regiment Bourbonnais was com-
manded by the Marquis de Laval Montmorency, as colonel, and
the Vicomte de Rochambeau, son of the general commanding,
as colonel-en- second; the Soissonnais by the Count de Saint-
Maime, a most sensible and practical officer, with the Vicomte
de ISToailles, brothei-in-law of Lafayette, who married his sister;
the Royal Deux-Ponts by the Marquis des deux Fonts, Count
de Forbach, as colonel, and his brother. Count des Deux-Ponts,
as second officer (they belonged to the family of the Counts
Palatine); the Saintonge by the Comte de Custine, with the
Comte de Charlus, son of Marechal de Castries, the minister
of war, as second. The Legion was the proi)rietary regiment
of the Duke de Lauzun, of the famous family of Biron, which
had given several marshals to France. As an auxiliary to the
Legion, attached to it bal; under independent command, was
the Regiment Dillon, with Count Arthur de Dillon colonel, and
Bartheleray Dillon lieutenant colonel. The Dillons were of a
high born Irisli family who, following the fortunes of James
the Second, crossed with him into France where their ancestor
entered the military service in which his sons succeeded him.
The park of artillery was large and there was an abundance
of munitions of war for all arras. M. de Menonville commanded
the artillery, a corps of five hundred thoroughly trained men,
and de Berthier was at the head of the topographical engineers.
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 397
A more perfectly appointed corps, in the quality of its officers,
in the composition and discipline of its men, and in its general
equipment, could not have been devised; and it would iDe diffi-
cult to find record of any similar army which, in a foreign land
of different customs and religion, so won the attachment of the
population on whom it was quartered.
On the appearance of the fleet in the offing Q-eneral Heath was
at once notified. The next morning a despatch was sent to
Washington, who was then in the Jersies, and Heath came
down the bay. The day being calm, the packet did not reach
the wharf till midnight. Rochambeau was that night on shore.
In the morning General Heath waited upon him, and after
breakfast visited the Admiral de Ternay onboard his flag ship,
the "Due de Bourgogne." At ten o'clock the admiral saluted
the town with thirteen guns, which were returned with a like
number. On the evening of the 12th the town was illuminated
and thirteen grand rockets were fired from the parade ground
in front of the state house. A contemporary letter says of this
occasion that "the brilliant appearance of the numerous gen-
tlemen, officers of the fleet and army of our illustrious ally,
who were on shore, with that of the ladies and gentlemen of
the town, and the joy which every friend to liberty expressed
on the happy occasion, afforded a pleasing prospect of the
future felicity and grandeur of this country in alliance with the
most polite, powerful and generous nation in the world."
The equipment, uniform and accoutrements of the French
were worthy of the most martial race of Europe. The infantry
wore long waistcoats and coats of white cloth ; the uniform of
the officers differed from that of the men in the color of the
cloth. The regiments were distinguished by the colors of the
trimming. Thus part of the Bourbonnais wore crimson lappels
with pink collars and white buttons, the Fores, which had been
consolidated with it, but kept their own distinctive uniform,
crimson lappels with green collar and white buttons ; the Sois-
sonnais red laj^pels, sky blue collars and yellow buttons ; Sain-
tonge sky blue collars and yellow buttons ; Royal Deux Fonts
blue uniform and collars and lemon color for the lappels. The
buttons were marked with the numbers of the regiment. The
non-commissioned officers and soldiers wore a panache of white
plumes ; the grenadiers red plumes ; the chasseurs white and
green. The artillery wore iron gray coats with lappels of red
398 HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY.
velvet. The perfection of arms of precision had not in the last
century destroyed the picturesqueness of armies. War was still
a glorious pageant.
For several days there was an exchange of entertainments
by the commanders. Meanwhile the French army was
busy. The troops on their disembarkation were encamped
across the island to the northward and covering the town, their
left resting on the sea, their right on the ships at anchor, which
lay under protection of the batteries which de Rochambeau
erected in the commanding positions, flanked with earthworks.
These were manned with great and small artillery, brass cannon
of from four to forty-eight pounds calibre, beautiful pieces of
ordnance garlanded, and bearing babtismal names, which were
the delight of the American artillerists and the wonder of all
who saw them.
In twelve days the port was in a state of reasonable defense, and
it was well that there was no delay. Before the works were quite
finished the arrival of Admiral Graves at Sandy Hook on the 13th
was known. On the 21st the united squadrons of Graves and
Arbuthnot appeared off the harbor. Eleven vessels, one of
ninety, six of seventy-four ; a total weight of metal of seven
hundred and seventy-six guns, a force in nttmber equal, and in
armament fully a quarter superior to the French. And the
next day the squadron was increased to nineteen vessels, of
which eight or nine were line of battle ships. The French held
their station, stretching from Rose island to Goat island har-
bors. The English squadron hung cruising on the coast, afraid
to run the fire of the French, and awaiting the arrival of the
land force which Clinton was preparing at New York.
While awaiting the signal for active service, the French offi-
cers were rapidly winning the affection of the Americans. Their
courtly polish was in striking contrast with the overbearing ar-
rogance which was the rule of British officers, and the coarse
brutality of the Hessians, with all of which Newport was fa-
miliar. " The French officers of every rank," says a letter of
that period, "have rendered themselves agreeable by that po-
liteness which characterizes the French nation" ; and adds, "the
officers and soldiers wear cockades of three colors, emblematic
of a triple alliance between France, Spain and America." This
seems to have been the first use of a tri-color. It was Lafayette,
it will be remembered who, in 1784, adding Ihe king's color to
HISTORY OF JSTEWPOET COUNTY. 399
the colors of Paris, made the tri-color the national banner of
France, and predicted that it wonld make the tour of the
world.
Newport was by no means an unattractive residence at this
time, as the memoirs and letters of the French officers abund-
antly show. Trading with all parts of the world which the
British navigation laws left open to its commerce, and to some
in seci'et disregard of their restrictions, and the natural port of
refuge and supply on the New England coast, it had become,
before the middle of the last century, quite a cosmopolitan
town. Their British trade was with Bristol, the most liberal of
English cities, the Jews had brought in something of Spanish
and Portugese splendor, the Huguenots had leavened the mass
with the amenity of their race, and the Newporters themselves,
by their many voyages, had acquired something of that knowl-
edge of the world, the absence of which is termed provincial.
In no town in America could more intelligence, refinement and
elegance be found than here. Spanish, the medium of commer-
cial correspondence during the entire ceiitury, was understood,
and French also in the upper class of- society, being then held
indispensable to a polite education.
The French visitors were reminded of their Normandy coast
by the irregularity of the country and the quality of its fruit?,
the fame of which was Eui'opean. They were surprised by the
wide stone fences and the long line of the villages miles in ex-
tent, with scattered houses. Count de Bonrg, an aid of Rocham-
beau, a careful observer, writes that "Rhode Island must be-
fore the war have been one of the most agreeable spots in the
world, as in spite of the disasters it has been subjected to, its
houses destroyed and all its woods cut down, it is still a most
charming residence." The land seemed to him very much
cut up. Before the French revolution there was but little
subdivision of the French soil and the difference attracted his
notice. The policy of the English settlers was from the begin-
ning a limitation of land to individuals. The original distribu-
tion in the Plymouth colony was "an acre to each in propriety
besides their homesteads or garden plots." This kept them
together for defense. Later, in 1627, "every one in each
family was allotted twenty acres to be laid out five acres in
breadth by the water side and four acres in length," a mean
being kept in distribution; and in Rhode Island, though the
400 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COTJNTy.
soil was bought by a few i^roprietors, there was never an at-
tempt to hold large tracts, but on the contrary to promote
settlement by sale or hire on moderate terms.
Newpoi-t. the French officers described as the "only town on
theisland.with but two principal streets but still a pretty town.
Three-fourths of the houses are scattered at a distance and are
in them.selves small farms." In the construction of the houses the
French found little to admire, the summit of architecure being
a building of brick, but they were delighted with the interior
comfort. There is still in existence. In the possession of Mr.
Henry T. Drowne of Rhode Island the Hat or chart of the
quartermaster-general of the French army with a complete list
of the houses occupied by the French during the winter of
1780-1. The Count de Rochambeau was quartered in the
Vernon house, the residence of William Vernon in New Lane,
which still stands, a charming specimen of colonial architec-
ture, on the corner of Mary and Clarke streets; the Baron de
Viomenil, his marechal de camp, at the house of Joseph Wan-
ton in Thames street; Desandrouins, colonel of engineers, at that
of Colonel John Malbone in the same street; the Count de
Fersen with Mr. Robert Stevens in JSTew Lane; de Choisy, briga-
dier, with Jacob Rodriguez Riviera in Water street; the
Chevalier de Lameth and the Count de Dumas together at
Joseph Anthony's in Spring street; the brothers de deux Fonts
at George. Scott's and jSTathaniel Mumford's in Broad street;
theVicomte de Noailles with Thomas Robinson in Water
street; the Chevalier de Chastillux with Captain Maudsley in
Spring street, and the gay Lauzun at the house of Deborah,
the widow of Dr. William Hunter, who lived with her young
daughters on the corner of Thames and Mary streets in a house
still standing, though higher by a story, well known to the
last and present generations as the pharmacy of the Taylors,
father and son. The high officers of the fleet had also their
residences assigned on shore: Admiral de Ternay at the
(Colonel) Wanton house at the Point, convenient to the ship-
ping, with a boat house and wharf at the foot of the garden;
to-day the most interesting of all the buildings remaining from
the last century, and the Chevalier des Touches at William
Redmond's in the same street. The provost marshal opened
his office at the town prison and the paymaster at the counting
house and elegant dwelling of the Jewish merchants Seixas and
IIISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 401
Levy in Rapperfc street, which still preserves some remains of
its once rich and elaborate interior decoration.
Here in the attractive climate Rochambeau anxiously awaited
the coming of the force left behind for want of transportation,
amounting to twenty-six hundred and forty-five men. Wash-
ington was eager for an immediate movement on New York,
and Lafayette came on to Newport on the 21st of July to sub-
mit the plan, but Rochambeau hesitated. He was expecting
daily the second detachment and the admiral also the arrival
of five vessels promised by de Guichen from the West India
station. To Lafayette's urgent expostulation the self-contained
veteran replied that he had an experience of command of forty
years and that of fifteen thousand men who had been killed
or wounded under his orders he could not reproach himself
with the loss of a single person killed on his account. De Ter-
nay positively refused to sail for Sandy Hook; considering the
draught of water on the bar insufficient for the safe passage of
his heavy ships.
On the 25th and 26th of July news came of a projected attack
on Rhode Island by Clinton with ten thousand men. All was
bustle and activity. General Heath ordered Colonel Greene
with his regiment of continentals to take ijost at Bristol Ferry
and on Butts hill to command the northern approaches.
Rhode Island and Massachusetts were called on for militia
men, the first for fifteen hundred the second eight hundred men.
The Rhode Island regiments were those of Colonels Tyler and
Perry. Signals were put out as far as Watch hill. The bat-
teries were strengthened, a new one erected on Rose island and
redoubts thrown up on Coasters island and all the posts con-
nected with the French encampment by avenues across the
fields carefully marked out. "Never," says Heath, "did the
militia discover more ardor in pressing to the field or more
regularity when there." Washington threatened Kingsbridge
from the Hudson Highlands. Clinton embarked six thousand
men at Throg's neck in transports, then changing his mind
crossed the sound to Huntington bay and disembarked at
Whitestone on the 31st of July. The attack on Newport was.
definitely abandoned.
In August the general assembly met at Newport, and on the
21st addressed de Rochambeau and de Ternay. The reply of
llochambeau was a model of wisdom. He authoritatively set
36 /
402 HISTORY OP NEWPORT COUNTY.
at rest the suspicions aroused by the tory press that the French
would attempt to maintain an independent command, and ex-
pressly subordinated himself to the wishes of Washington.
Clinton remaining quiet in New York, and deGuichen making
his appearance on the southern coast, Roohambeau at Washing-
ton's invitation, visited him and held, a conference at Hartford
on the 20th of September. Rochambeau took with him his
aids, the Counts de Fersen, de Dumas and de Damas. The
French general and his young staff were delighted with their
journey and their interview with the "hero of liberty." At
the end of September Admiral Rodney arrived off Newport.
The fortifications had been greatly strengthened, new works
thrown up at Brenton's point and on Conanicut and Rose
islands and armed with thirty- six and twenty-four pounders,
the lire of which, crossing with that of the French ships, se-
cured the main passages. Rodney reconnoitered the position,
and abandoning the idea of attack, returned to New York. In
November he sailed for the Antilles, leaving Admiral Arbuth-
not with twelve vessels to watch the French iieet.
There had been some entertainment for the Frenchmen dur-
ing the " summer season." On the 2d of August nineteen In-
dian warriors of the Iroquois paid them a visit with an inter-
preter. They were Oneidas, Tuscoraras and some Cagnawagas,
from Sault St. Louis, near Montreal. The deputation had been
arranged by General Schuyler, the great "White Sachem" of
the J^ohawks, to detach the Iroquois from the English. They
had maintained friendly relations with the French during the
colonial wars. The Canada Indians heard rnass on their ar-
rival. Rochambeau entertained them at dinner with ceremoni-
ous courtesy. Blanchard, the French commissary general, de-
scribing the strange scene, says "they behaved themselves well
and ate cleanly enough." After dinner they gave an exhibi-
tion of their war dances. Heath gave them also what he de-
scribes as a " sumptuous treat." On the 24th of August they
were invited to witness a grand review of the French army,
preceded by alternate discharges from the batteries in and
around the town and a feu de joie from the troops. The
splendid appearance of the French army made a happy im-
pression on all the spectators, including the savages.
On Friday, the 25th, the birthday of his most Christian Majesty,
Louis XVI., was celebrated with great pomp. The ships were
HISTOET OF "NEWPORT COUNTY. 403
decked with the colors of the different maritime nations and
fired a salute, and the transports were also decorated. Never
before had the birthday of a Catholic king or a French mon-
arch been celebrated in a town of Protestant Englishmen.
Verily, the world was moving. And not only in Newport, but
in every city not held by the English enemy, the white flag of
France was flung to the breeze and the health of his majesty,
the great ally of the United States, was drunk in bumpers oft
renewed. The admiral also entertained the Indians at dinner
on board the "Due de Burgogne." After a harangue by
Rochambeau, and gratified by a variety of presents, among
which a number of red French blankets, they departed greatly
pleased. The Indians marvelled much at the French drill and
discipline, and to find even the apples in the orchards where
they camped untouched — a different conduct from that of the
outgoing British and Hessians in the preceding autumn, who
" stripped all the gardens and orchards of their fruit " to take
on shipboard.
On the 2d of October the French ambassador, the Chev-
alier de la Luzerne, paid a visit to the camp and on the 6th a
mock battle was fought on the island between a detachment of
the French army and Colonel Gf-reene's continentals. On the
28th of October La Perouse, later famous as a navigator, took out
the frigate "Amazone" through the blockading squadron, part-
ly dispersed by a gale of wind,. and carried the Vicomte de
Rochambeau with dispatches to the court asking for the troops
withheld and money to pay the army. La Perouse was hotly
pursued but got safely through with the loss of his main mast.
Winter was now approaching and it was found impossible to
hut the troops, so complete had been the destruction of the
trees on the island. It was arranged with the state authorities
that the damaged houses should be repaired at French expense.
There were several hundred of them and the cost to the French
was twenty thousand livres. In November the corps went into
quarters; the Bourbonnais first, the others in their order. The
cavalry of Lauzun's legion and the artillery horses were sent
to winter at Lebanon, Connecticut, where forage was plenty.
The Duke de Lauzun gave a ball in Providence on his passage
through on the 9th; de Chastellux followed him on' a visit to
"Washington at the camp on the 12th; the Marquis de Laval, the
Baron de Custine and the Count de deux Pouts made a tour to
404 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTS'.
the interior; the Vicomte de Noailles and the Count de Damas
also visited Washington. Rochambeaii occupied himself in
looking for quarters for the second division when it should ap-
pear and passed through New London, Norwich and Windham
In Connecticut, looking in upon Lauzun on his journey.
When Rochambeau returned he found Admiral de Ternay
ill of a fever, but as his state was not alarming, pursued his
own journey to Boston. In his absence de Ternay died. He
was taken on shore from his ship on the 14tli and died in the
Wanton house, at the point, on the 15th of December. On the
16th, the day being remarkably fine, the admiral was buried in
great pomp. Newport had never witnessed such a cortege. The
troops were all under arms ; the sailors bore the coffin on their
shoulders to the cemetery in Trinity church yard. At the grave
nine priests chanted the funeral services. In 1785 an elegant
monument was erected over the remains by order of the king.
It was a large and beautiful slab of Egyptian marble, with an
inscription in gold. Below the inscription and between the
brackets is an escutcheon charged with the insignia of the
Knights Hospitallns of Saint John of Jerusalem. The slab was
designed for the interior of the church, but as no suitable place
could be found for it inside the building, it was set up over
the grave, where it crumbled under the exposure. It was at first
erected on the west side of the gate, but its position was changed
at the expense of the officers of the " Meduse " when on their
visit in 1794. In 1873 it was restored at the expense of the
United States, an appropriation of eight hundred dollars being
unanimously voted by congress. The restoration was exe-
cuted under the direction of the Marquis de Noailles, then min-
ister of France to the United States, and the slab transferred to
the vestibule of the church, where it now is. A granite stone
was placed over the tomb with a short inscription in Latin.
That on the slab, also in Latin, is an elaborate record of the
admiral's long service. Even the tory gazette of Rivington
honored his memory, announcing his death as of "an offi-
cer of distinguished reputation ; a gentleman of most ex-
cellent heart and amiable disposition. * * A real ornament
of the elegant nation from whom he was derived." The com-
mand of the fleet now fell on the Chevalier des Touches, who
held as closely to his instructions as his predecessor. About
Christmas a vessel from Nantes brought word that M. de Cas-
HISTORY OF NEWPOKT COUNTY. 405
tries had succeeded de Sartines as minister of the marine. The
Marquis de Castries had shown military ability in the Low-
Countries. Neckar had also undertaken a thorough reform of
the finances, and activity by sea and land was expected.
In January, 1781, the Count des deux Fonts gave an elegant
ball to the ladies of Newport. The great hall, which was con-
structed by orders of Kochambeau, for the use of the ofiicers,
was not completed till later in the month. It then became the
place of nightly resort. Late in January the French frigate
" AsLree" brought to Boston official news of the change in the
ministry, and word from the Marquis de Castries that the
second division would not be despatched. Lauzun was indig-
nant and wrote to demand the men of his legion, of which he
was colonel proprietor. On the 21st of January Generals Knox
and Lincoln and Colonel Laurens visited the French camp.
This young officer, an aid de camp to Washington, was on his
way to France with a special mission. His father, the envoy
to France, captured in crossing the Atlantic, was still a
prisoner in the tower of London. Knox was the chief of
American artillery, and greatly interested by the French arm-
ament.
In February the weather was very cold and the officers took
great delight in sleighing, a new pastime to many. On Tuesday
the 6th of February, the anniversary of the ever memorable day
when the treaty of alliance was signed, at Paris, the brothers
Viom6nil, young men who are described as of resplendent
beauty, gave an elegant ball to the ladies. Many are the tradi-
tions of the fascinations of these dashing noblemen and the win-
dow pane is still cherished on which they cut their names. The
wife of General Greene, whose operations in the Carolinas were
at the moment of absorbing interest, graced this entertainment.
A letter of the time says: "The decent gaiety and hilarity
which characterized the assembly afforded a coni^incing proof
of the general satisfaction the alliance caused to both nations."
The Naval Eistgagement. — While the French fleet lay se-
cure within the sheltering haven of the Narragansett cliffs the
English squadron in the offing had a severe experience. Caught
at sea in a heavy January gale, Arbuthnot lost one of his best
vessels, another was disabled and a third driven far to sea.
This giving the French a temporary superiority, Des Touches in
February determined on an expedition. Dumas was sent by
406 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Rochambeau to New London to watch the British fleet which
lay quietly off Montauk Point. The ships were gotten ready
and the land forces selected.
In March Washington came on in person and the greatest in-
terest in his visit was shown by the entire French force. His
fame as the hero of the old French war was as familiar to the
humblest of the allied force as to his own countrymen. He ar-
rived on the 6th and reached Conanicut about two o'clock in
the afternoon, where he found the admiral's barge in waiting to
convey him directly to the " Due deBourgogne." Here he was
met by Rochambeau and the general officers of the army and
fleet. On his leaving the ship a salute was fired. Landing at
Barney's ferry, the corner of Long Wharf and Washington
street, he was again met by the French officers and escorted to
the headquarters of Rochambeau in Clarke street, receiving the
same honor that would have been paid to a marshal of France
or a prince of the blood royal. The route was lined with the
French troops three deep on either side and in close order the
entire distancce. In the evening the fleet in the harbor and all
the houses in the town were illuminated, the town council hav-
ing voted candles to all who were unable to provide them. A
procession was made through the streets. In front walked
thirty boys, each bearing a candle fixed in a staff, then Generals
Washington and Rochambeau with their aids and officers, fol-
lowed by a large concourse of citizens. The night was clear and
calm. Passing through the principal streets the commanders
returned to headquarters.
The object of Washington in visiting Newport was to con-
fer with the admiral, and to witness the departure of the French
fleet and detachment, which was about to leave Newport to
co-operate with Lafayette, who was on the march by land, in
an attempt to intercept and capture Arnold who, after his trea-
son of the past summer, was now in command of an English
force engaged in ravaging his countrymen of Virginia.
Twelve hundred and fifty French troops were detached, placed
under the command of M. de Viomenil and embarked. The
chevalier himself, with the officers of the grenadier company
of the Bourbonnais, were on board the flag ship. The men
were embarked on the day of Washington's arrival. On the
8th Captain Des Touches led the squadron down the bay. Wash-
ington and Major General Howe, who accompanied him, re-
HISTOKY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 407
turned to headquarters, and were taken leave of with the same
form and ceremony wi-th which they were received. The French
army was paraded on Broad street, and lined the road for some
distance beyond the town, the general officers in the center.
As the American commander passed down the lines he received
every known military honor, and as he reached Tonomy hill
was finally saluted with thirteen guns from the French artillery.
The squadron with which Des Touches sailed consisted of one
line-of-battle ship of eighty guns, two of seventy-four, four of
sixty-four, one of thirty- two, and the "Romulus," a late capture
from the English — in all live hundred and sixty guns. Arbuthnot,
from his post of observation at Gardner's bay, was aware of
the French movement and their point of destination on the
8th. On the 9tli he dropped down with his squadron to the
entrance to the bay. On the 10th he weighed anchor, and
hoisting his pennant on the "London" followed in pursuit,
with one line-of-battle ship of ninety eight guns, three of sev-
enty-four, three of sixty-four, one of fifty — in all eight ships,
carrying five hundred and sixty-two guns. Frigates accom-
panied each fleet as signal vessels. The English fleet over-
hauled the French on the morning of the 16th, about sixty
miles from the capes of the Chesapeake. The sea ran high.
After some manoeuvering Des Touches gave signal for action,
and in a sharp contest the van of the British squadron was
severely handled. A fog now settled on the fleets, both of
which held their course to the land. In the night Arbuthnot
entered the Chesapeake and anchored his squadron in Lynn
Haven bay.
The next day the French officers decided to return to New-
port to repair the damages maintained by "Le Conquerant "
and "1' Ardent." The French had the honors of this action,
but the English attained the object for which they sailed. The
superior sailing qualities of the British vessels were again ap-
parent. The French and English admiralties were alike dis-
satisfied. Des Touches was pensioned but not promoted. Ar-
buthnot was censured and ordered home. Congress was more
generous, and though sadly disappointed at the failure of the
expedition,warmly commended the French commanders for their
zeal and Des Touches for his gallantry. The French vessels
were safe in Newport harbor on the afternoon of the 26th of
March.
408 HISTORY OF NEWPORT OOUNTY.
The March of the French, 1781. — The month of April
was without Incident. The officers in their diaries notice the
delightful weather. News from France and of the prospect of
reinforcements were eagerly looked for. The French officers
interested themselves in the establishment of a Masonic lodge
over which M. de Jansecourt presided and initiations were
frequent. On the 8th of May the " Concorde" arrived in Bos-
ton with the Count de Barras, chef d'escadre, appointed to
succeed de Ternay as admiral. The same frigate brought back
the Vicomte de Rochambeau from his mission and Baron
Cromot du Bourg, who joined Rochambeau's staff, to whose
full and intelligent diary historians are indebted for many
details of the subsequent movements.
The Vicomte brought word also of the sailing from Brest on
the22d of March of the Count de Grasse with a strong squadron
convoying fifteen transports laden with supplies and having on
board two companies of artillery and five hundred men to fill
up the regiments, moreover all restrictions were removed and
full power was given to Rochambeau to act as he chose.
He gave orders for instant preparation. The light artillery and
heavy equipments were already in Providence. Five hundred
of the land force were put on board the ships of war which
were ordered to sea to meet the incoming convoy. ' The officers
and men were in joy at the prospect of a campaign. Even the
most- sensible, unaware of the secrets of the commander, were
judging his inaction with no lenient thought. The French dis-
patches rendering an interview with Washington necessary, a
meeting was, at the request of Rochambeau, had at Wethers-
field near Hartford on the 21st of May. Rochambeau was ac-
companied by the Chevalier de Chastelhix. Admiral de Barras,
at the point of departure was detained by the appearance of
the British fleet off Block Island in force.
A plan of summer campaign being agreed upon Rocham-
beau returned to Newport on the 26th of May, and the
order of march was arranged. At a council of war held
on board the admiral's ship on the 6th of June it was
decided that on the departure of the troops only a small
guard should be left to hold the town, and that the fleet which
it had been proposed to take to Boston should remain at the
Newport anchorage. On the 7th of June Admiral de Barras gave
a grand farewell dinner on board the "Due de Burgogne.
There were sixty people present, among whom were many
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUMTT. 409
Newport ladies. The quarter deck was canopied with sails
and a handsome hall arranged. The Due de Lauzun, gayest of
the gay, was present, just returned from an interview with
Washington on points of military detail. On the 9th marching
orders were issued and the next morning the first division,
Bourbonnais and Royal deux Fonts, moved from Newport under
command of Baron de Viomenil. They reached Providence in
the evening too late to mark out a camp and were lodged by
the town authorities in some empty houses.
The next day the regiment of Deux Fonts 'went into camp on
the heights, and the brigades of Soissonnais and Saintonge,
which arrived the same day, took posts on their left. All the
heavy artillery was left on the batteries at Newport. The
troops left behind were four hundred recruits jnst arrived from
France, a few pieces of artillery and a thousand local militia.
The whole, under command of M. de Choisy, brigadier of the
forces, an officer of experience and of approved courage. The
commissary general, M. Blanchard, who succeeded M. de Corny
on his retiirn to France in February, was sent forward of the
army to arrange its supx)lies. On the 11th of June M. de
Rochambeau and his eutire staff passed through Frovidence to
the camp. Thearmy lay in camp for eight days while transfwrta-
tion was being provided. The arrival in Boston of the " Sagit-
taire," and in convoy, fifteen ships, with six hundred and
ninety recruits, and money for the land and naval forces, en-
abled Rochambeau to close his preparations to his entire satis-
faction. On the 16th of June the Baron de Viomenil held a
general review, and the army moved in the following order ;
On the 18th the Bourbonnais, under Rochambeau and de Chas-
tellux ; the 19th the Royal Deux Fonts, under the Baron de
Viomenil ; the 20th the Soissonnais, under the Count de Vio-
menil ; the 21st the Saintonge, under the Count de Custine,
successively left the camp and moved by easy marches to the
appointed rendezvous in the county of Westchester, New
York, preserving between the corps the distance of a day's
march. Lauzun' s dragoons moved, byroads between the line of
march and the sea, to cover the flank. The Count de Dumas
preceded the. columns to point out the camps and jjositions to
be successively occupied. Here they must be left on that bril-
liant movement through the American states to the junction
with de Grasse in the Chesapeake bay, and the capture of
Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown.
CHAPTER VIII.
NEWPORT IN THE WARS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
By John Austin Stevens.
"War with England, 1813.— The Dorr War, 1842.— The War of the Rebellion,
1861-5.
THE acquisition of Louisiana by the United States, the
transfer during the Napoleonic war of a large share of
the carrying trade of the world to the American flag and the
general prosperity of the new nation in the early years of the
century aroused the jealousy of Great Britain who, in her lust
for maritime dominion, had not yet learned that her true inter-
est was in peace with the growing republic of her blood and
origin. Relying upon her vast naval armament, the mistress
of the seas confined her hostility to deliberate aggressions on
commerce, the searching of American ships, the impressing
American seamen and an occasional questionable capture of
some peaceful American trader. To these acts the United
States government replied with a resolution suspending all im-
portations from Great Britain until " equitable and satisfactory
arrangements were made;" in fact, by a declaration of non-
intercourse. The first open act on the part of England was the
capture of the American frigate "Chesapeake" by a British
man-of-war, the "Leopard" in June, 1807, the American com-
mander having refused to surrender sundry enumerated men
claimed by the British commander as deserters. The British
government disavowed the act but English vessels still hovered
about the American coast.
The British administration continued a war in disguise and
by an Order in Council in November, 1807, shut all the ports
of Europe to American trade, thus destroying the advantage
the United States enjoyed as a neutral power in the hostilities
then raging abroad. This policy, ostensibly in response to Na-
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 411
poleon's Berlin decree of a similar nature against British com-
merce, was in reality aimed at the United States and was an-
swered as soon as announced by the passage of an act of embargo
by the American congress in December, 1807. The embargo act
was a renewal of the old policy which had so signally failed in
1774. More strictly enforced by the federal government, it
acted with great inequality, bore with severity upon the East-
em states and caused more suffering at home than in Great
Britain. The strain was great and invasions were soon the rule
rather than the exception. Meanwhile France took as little
note of the interests of the United States as Great Britain, and
congress resolved in November, 1808, to shut out the ships and
merchandize of both countries alike from the ports of the United
States and to prepare for defense. But the powers of enforce-
ment conferred on the executive were at variance with the spirit
of American institutions and aroused intense opposition in New
England. In this opposition Rhode Island shared. The em-
bargo act bore heavily upon the West India trade, always a
principal part of her commerce.
The political tension was too strong to be endured, and con-
gress in March, 1809, repealed the act as to all nations except
Prance and Great Britain, and to either or both of these nations
should they revoke or modify their edicts. Hopes were enter-
tained of a modification by England, but these were dashed by a
disavowal of the expressions of their minister by the British gov-
ernment and a proclamation by President Madison, renewing
the act of non-intercourse in August. " Pree Trade and Sailors'
rights" became the general cry, and the drift was daily toward
a declaration of war. This feeling was aggravated by the im-
pressment of a man from an American brig by an English man-
of-war off Sandy Hook in May, 1811. Commodore Rodgers,
hearing of this outrage, set sail on the "President," fiorty-four
guns, and overhauling a British man-of-war, the " Little Belt,"
eighteen guns, and being fired upon, returned the fire and
badly crippled her. This affair was smoothed over by diplo-
macy, but no excuse could blot out the fact that nine hundred
American vessels had been captured by British cruisers since
1803. A want of good faith of the British officers in their deal
ings with the hostile Indian tribes on the frontier aggravated the
hostile feeling.
"War was formally declared against Great Britain by act of
412 HISTOKT OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
congress on the 17th of Jnne, 1812. The proclamation of Pres-
ident Madison followed on the 19th, and on the 26th of the same
month congress authorized the issue of letters of marque. And
now, in addition to her loss of commerce, Rhode Island, and
especially Newport, was in alarm at her inadequate defense.
At first the eastern ports profitted somewhat by the declaration
of hostilities. The British government, from motives of policy,
confined the blockade to the southern coast and later to the
port of New York. This course naturally diverted the neutral
trade to Newport and the ports to the eastward. But this was
but a temporary exemption, and the town was in constant
alarm of a hostile visit. The records were taken to South
Kingstown, on the mainland, where they remained till the peace.
The banks removed their specie, and a memorial was addressed
to the general government setting forth the exposed situation of
the town and asking for protection.
In December Captain Decatur, in the "United States,"
brought in the British frigate "Macedonia," to Newport har-
bor as a prize. In 1813 Captain Oliver H. Perry, a native of
Rhode Island, and a resident of Newport from early childhood,
left the town with a detachment of seamen from the federal gun
boats in the harbor to take command of the American squadron
on Lake Erie. He found the squadron in embryo state, and
with the aid of his carpenters and artificers, hurriedly completed
it, and in Sej^tember achieved the victory which made his name
famous. Among the citizens of Newport engaged in this action
under Perry's command as officers were: A. Perry, Daniel
Turner, William V. Taylor, Thomas Brownell, Thomas Almy,
Thomas Breeze, Peleg Dunham, Stephen Champlin ; among the
petty officers and men were : Cornells, Southwicks, Codding-
tons, Lawtons, Peckhams and other familiar names. Pour of
the nine commanders hailed from Newport : Perry on the
"Lawrence," Turner on the "Caledonia," Champlin on the
" Scorpion," Almy on the " Somers." The commodore's fight-
ing burgee is preserved in the hall of the Naval academy. It
bears on a blue ground the famous legend (Lawrence's dying
words) which became the password to victory, "Don't give up
the ship." In October, 1813, the revenue cutter, "Vigilant,"
under the command of Captain John Cahoone, with a volunteer
crew from Newport and seamen from the gunboats, went out
HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY. 413
in pursuit of a British privateer, the "Dart," which was hov-
ering about the coast, and brought her in as a prize.
Newport still maintained her old reputation as a privateer
port; the "Providence," of eight guns, manned chieHy by her
citizens, was exceptionally successful, capturing many valuable
prizes and repeating the old feat of surprising New Providence,
where her captain and officers held the fort for three days,
feasted at the expense of the British commander, and after
spiking its guns sailed out of the port in safety. John Trevett
was lieutenant commanding, Peleg Hall the sailing master, on
this occasion. The crew consisted of twenty-eight men. The
British blockaders were active on the coast, and the Newport
militia were occasionally called out to save from capture the
vessels which, attempting to run the blockade, were driven on
shore. In June, 1814, the general assembly authorized the
town councils of the seaports to remove the shipping lying at
their wharves, and Newport took advantage of this permission.
The coast defenses were everywhere inadequate to protection,
and Mr. Jefferson's famous gunboats could not be relied upon
to resist a serious attack of the British men-of-war. But the
American marine was not idle in this maritime guerrilla contest.
The underwriters of Glasgow disclosed in 1814 that "in the
short space of twenty-four months above eight hundred vessels
had been captured by a power whose maritime strength had
been hitherto held in contempt."
In July the Newport artillery company, one hundred and
fifty strong, under command of Colonel Benjamin Fry, was
posted at Fort Green, at the north end of Washington street on
the point, by order of the United States. The grounds were
put in admirable order by the command. In August the Brit-
ish captured Washington and burned the public buildings. On
Christmas day the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent; a fort-
night later the battle of New Orleans avenged the vandalism of
the burning of the Capitol. Americans may feel a grim satis-
faction that no cable dispatches averted hostilities before this
humiliating disaster to the British arms.
The Dorr War, 1842.— The charter of King Charles the Sec-
ond (1663) was still at the time of the American revolution the
only written fundamental law of the state of Rhode Island. It
prescribed no other qualification for a freeman or voter than
his admission by those who were already freemen. This right
414 HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
of admission carried with it the right to those already freemen
to prescribe some uniform qualification to new members of the
"body politic." The greater part of the colonies, either dur-
ing the revolution or at its close, not only threw ofif their alle-
giance to the crown from which they held their charters, but
adopted new constitutions. This Rhode Island did not do, but
continued under her old colonial charter as to form, changing
only her title, and under this form of government she was ad-
mitted without protest or question to the federal union in 1790.
That this form of government was republican in the largest
sense of the word, and in the meaning ascribed ro it before the
more exact definition which it took from the French revolution,
cannot be denied; but the denial or restriction of the right
of franchise was soon felt to be a grievance, and that
portion of the people of the state who were deprived of what
they held to be their "natural rights " grew restless. In 1811
a bill to extend the suffrage was introduced into the state senate
by the republican party, who entertained the new theory of
natural right which Jefferson brought with him on his return
from France. The bill passed the senate, but the federal party
regaining political ascendancy, it was defeated in the house at
the next session.
In 1824 a convention was held under the authority of the
genera] assembly, which framed a written constitu 
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