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* Dr. J. C. V. Smith, of Boston, has written an account of a remarkable stone cemetery, discovered about fifty years ago on Rainsford Island, in Boston Bay, which contained a skeleton and sword-hilt of iron. Dr. Webb has also published an interesting account of a skeleton discovered at Fall River, in Massachusetts, on or near which were found a bronze breast-plate, bronze tubes belonging to a belt, &c., none of which appear to be of Indian, or of comparatively modern European manufacture. Drs. Smith and Webb both concluded that these skeletons were those of Scandinavian voyagers.
** Kendall, in his Travels, published in 1809, describes this rock and the inscription, and gives the following Indian tradition: "Some ages past, a number of white men arrived in the river in a bird [sailing vessel], when the white men took Indians into the bird as hostages. They took fresh water for their consumption at a neighboring spring, and while procuring it, the Indians fell upon and murdered some of them. During the affray, thunder and lightning issued from the bird, and frightened the Indians away. Their hostages, however, escaped." The thunder and lightning spoken of evidently refers to fire-arms, and, if the tradition is true, the occurrence must have taken place as late as the latter part of the fourteenth century, for gunpowder, for warlike purposes, was not used in Europe previous to 1350. In a representation of the battle of Cressy (which was fought in 1343) upon a manuscript Froissart, there are no pictures of fire-arms, and probably they were not in common use at that time; yet there is a piece of ordnance at Amberg, in Germany, on which is inscribed the year 1303. Roger Bacon, who died in 1292, was acquainted with gunpowder, and the Chinese and other Eastern nations were familiar with it long before that time.
First Wind-mill at Newport.—Inquiries respecting the Tower.—"Antiquitates Americana."—Inscription on Dighton Rock.
The rain ceased at ten o'clock, and a westerly wind dispersed the clouds, but made the day unpleasant by its blustering breath.
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I sketched the house on the corner of Spring and Peck-
Prescott's Head-quarters in Newport.—Old Cemetery.—Perry's Monument.—Runic Inscriptions elsewhere.
ham Streets, now owned by Mr. Joshua Sayre, which was occupied as his city head-quarters by the petty tyrant, General Prescott, while he was in command of the British troops on Rhode Island.
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His acts will be noted presently. About noon I strolled up to the cemetery in the northern part of the city, where lie the remains of a great multitude of the early inhabitants of Newport. Workmen were employed in regulating it, by placing the old grave-stones upright and grave-stones upright, and painting them so as to bring out their half-effaced inscriptions, and in beautifying the grounds in various ways.
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There, beneath a broad slab of slate, repose the bodies of John and William Cranston, father and son, who were governors of Rhode Island—the former in 1679, the latter from 1698 to 1726. Near by is the tomb of William Jefferay, who, tradition says, was one of the judges of Charles I. It is covered by a large slab of gray-wacke, ornamented, or, rather, disfigured, at the head, by a representation of a skull and cross-bones, below which is a poetic epitaph. He died January 2d, 1675. On the top of the slope on which a portion of the cemetery lies, is a granite obelisk, erected to the memory of Commodore Perry, by the State of Rhode Island, at a cost of three thousand dollars. It is formed of a single stone, twenty-three feet in height, standing upon a square pedestal ten feet high,
Tonomy Hill.—Hubbard's House and Mill.—Inscription on Perry's Monument
having white marble tablets. It is inclosed by an iron railing, and has an imposing appearance.*
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About a mile and a half northward of Newport rises a bold, rocky eminence, called "'Tonomy Hill (the first word being an abbreviation of Miantonômoh), celebrated as the seat of the Narraganset sachem of that name, and the commanding site of a small fort or redoubt during the war of the Revolution.
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Thitherward I made my way from the old cemetery, passing several wind-mills that were working' merrily in the stiff breeze which swept over the island from the west. The absence of streams of sufficient strength to turn water-wheels is the cause of the retention of these ancient mills, which give Rhode Island an Old England appearance. One of them, standing near the junction of the main road and the lane leading up to "'Tonomy Hill," is a patriarch among the others, for its sails revolved when the Gaspee lorded over the waters of the Narraganset. It is invested with associations of considerable interest. The mill and the old house near by were owned by a man named Hubbard. When the British took possession
* The inscriptions upon the monument are as follows: East side.—"Oliver Hazard Perry. At the age of 27 years he achieved the victory of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813." North side.—"Born in South Kingston, R. I., August 23d, 1785. Died at Port Spain, Trinidad, August 23d, 1819, aged 34 years." West side.—"His remains were conveyed to his native land in a ship of war, according to a resolution of Congress, and were here interred, December 4, 1826." South side—"Erected by the State of Rhode Island."
** This view is from the north side of the hill, looking south. The wall appearance is a steep precipice of huge masses of pudding-stone, composed of pebbles and larger smooth stones, ranging in size from a pea to a man's head. It is a very singular geological formation. In some places the face is smooth, the stones and pebbles appearing as if they had been cut with a knife while in a pasty or semi-fluid state. On the top of this mound are traces of the breast-works that were thrown up, not high, for the rocks formed a natural rampart, on all sides but one, against an enemy. Here Miantonômoh had his fort, and here his councils were held when he planned his expeditions against the Mohegans. The observatory is a strong frame, covered with lattice-work. On the right is seen the city of Newport in the distance.
*** The house and the mill are covered with shingles instead of clap-boards. This view is from the lane, looking east. The ocean is seen in the distance, on the left.
Oppression of the Whigs by Prescott.—View from 'Tonomy Hill.—Mrs. Hutchinson and Sir Henry Vane.
of Rhode Island, Prescott turned many of the families of the Whigs (and there were but few others) out of their houses, to take shelter in barns and other coverts, while his soldiers occupied their comfortable dwellings. Mr. Hubbard and his family were thus driven from their house, and compelled to live for nearly two years in their mill, while insolent soldiery, ignorant and vile, occupied their rooms. The family of Mr. Hubbard took possession of the house on the evening after the evacuation, but all was desolation, the enemy having broken or carried away every article the family had left there.
'Tonomy Hill is said to bo the highest land upon the island, except Quaker Hill, toward the northern end. On its southern slope is the mansion of Mr. Hazzard, where families from a distance have a pleasant home during the warm season, while the younger fashionables are sporting at the Ocean House on the shore. On the top of the hill Mr. Hazzard has erected an observatory, seventy feet high, over a cellar which was dug by the Indians, and in which is a living spring of water. The hill is two hundred and seventy feet above the bay, and the top of the observatory commands one of the most beautiful panoramic views in the world. Stretching away northward was seen Narraganset Bay, broken by islands and pierced by headlands, and at its remote extremity the spires of Providence were glittering in the sun. On its western shore were glimpses of Warwick, Greenwich, and Wick-ford, and on the east were seen Warren and Bristol, and the top of Mount Hope, the throne of King Philip. On the south and west were the city and harbor of Newport, the island of Canonicut with its ruined fort, and the smaller islands in the harbor, with the remains of fortifications. Beyond the city, looking oceanward with a spy-glass over the ramparts of Fort Adams, was seen the dim outline of Block Island, like a mist lying upon the waters There rolled the dark and boundless Atlantic, with no limit but the blue horizon, no object but a few sails. Turning the glass a little more eastward, there was a faint apparition of Gayhead, on Martha's Vineyard, and of some of the islands in Buzzard's Bay. The cultivated fields of more than one half of Rhode Island, upon which I stood, were spread out like a map around me, rich in Nature's bounties and historical associations. From our lofty observatory, let us take a field survey with the open chronicle before us.
We have seen Roger Williams expelled from Massachusetts because of alleged heresy. The rulers of that colony had scarcely recovered their equanimity, before similar difficulties arose from an unexpected quarter. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a Lincolnshire lady of good birth, education, and great energy of character, had been leavened by the tolerant principles of Williams before he left, and assumed the right to discuss religious dogmas and to detect the errors of the clergy. A privilege had been granted to hearers, at the end of sermons, to ask questions "wisely and sparingly." Mrs. Hutchinson put so many searching questions upon abstruse points in theology, in a manner which convinced the ministers that she well understood the subject, that they were greatly annoyed. She held conferences at her own house every Sabbath evening, which were fully attended, and her brother-in-law, a minister named Wheelwright, who was of the same mind with her, drew crowds to his chapel every Sunday. Henry Vane, a young man of splendid talents, heir to a princely fortune, and son to Charles the First's chief secretary, had just arrived in the colony, and took up his residence with the Reverend Mr. Cotton, who treated Mrs. Hutchinson's views with gentleness, if not with favor. Vane (afterward Sir Henry Vane) was elected governor the following year, and being imbued with the spirit of toleration, was on terms of intimacy with Mrs. Hutchinson. The ministers were alarmed; their churches were thinned, while the chapel of Mr. Wheelwright could not contain the hundreds that flocked to hear him. A clamor was raised by the old party of ministers and their friends, and the next year Mr. Winthrop was elected governor, and Vane soon afterward returned to England.
A general synod of ministers now assembled at Salem, consisting of the preachers,August 30, 1637deputies from the congregations, and magistrates, and after a session of three weeks, marked by stormy debates, unanimously passed sentence of censure against Mr. Wheelwright, Mrs. Hutchinson, and their adherents. Continuing to hold her conferences, Mrs. Hutchinson was ordered to leave the colony within six months; and a similar command was
Persecution of Mrs. Hutchinson and her Friends.—Settlement of Rhode Island.—Its first Constitution.—Royal Charter.
given to Mr. Wheelwright, Mr. Aspinwall, and others. They, like the Tories in the Revolution, were required to deliver up their arms. With their departure ended the Antinomian strife in Massachusetts. Wheelwright and his friends went to the banks of the Piscataqua, and founded the town of Exeter at its head waters; but the larger number of Mrs. Hutchinson's friends, led by John Clarke and William Coddington, proceeded southward, designing to make a settlement on Long Island, or with the Swedes on the Delaware. On their way through the wilderness Roger Williams gave them a hearty welcome, and by his influence and the name of Henry Vane as their friend, obtained for them from Miantonômoh, chief of the Narragansets, a gift of the beautiful island of Aquitneck. * A deed signed by Canonicus and Miantonômoh was given them in March, 1638. Naming the beautiful land theIsle of Rhodes, because they fancied that it resembled the island of that name in the eastern Mediterranean, they bound themselves as a community of freemen, by these solemn words, to found a new state, appealing to the great Searcher of Hearts for aid in the faithful performance of their promises:
"We, whose names are underwritten, do swear solemnly, in the presence of the Great Jehovah, to incorporate ourselves into a body politic; and as he shall help us, will submit our persons, lives, and estates unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and to all those most perfect laws of his, given us in his most holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby."
This was a simple declaration, but a broad and sure foundation upon which to build a state. Mr. Clarke and eighteen others began their new settlement at Pocasset (Portsmouth), on the north part of the island; borrowed the forms of the administration of laws from the Jews; elected Coddington "judge in the new Israel," and prospered greatly. Soon after the arrival of these pioneers, Mrs. Hutchinson, with her children, made her way through the wilderness to the settlement of Roger Williams, and paddling down the Narraganset in a canoe, joined her friends on Rhode Island. She had been left a widow, but blessed with affectionate children. Her powerful mind continued active; young men from the neighboring colony were converted to her doctrines, and so great became her influence that "to the leaders of Massachusetts it gave cause of suspicion of witchcraft," and they sought to ensnare her. Rhode Island seemed no longer a place of safe refuge for her, and the whole family removed into the territory of the Dutch, in the neighborhood of Albany. The Indians and Keift, the Dutch governor, were then at enmity. The former regarded all white people as enemies, and Mrs. Hutchinson and her whole family, except one child, were murdered by the savages, and their dwelling burned. **
So rapid was the increase of the Rhode Island settlement at Pocasset, that another town was projected. Newport was founded in 1639. Settled by persecuted men holding the same liberal views, the republic of Roger Williams at Providence, and that upon Aquitneck, governed by no other than the Divine laws of the Bible, felt themselves as one political community, and were so regarded by the other colonies. Under the pretense that the Providence and Rhode Island Plantations had no charter, and were claimed by Plymouth and Massachusetts, they were excluded from the confederacy that was formed in 1643. Perceiving the disadvantages of an entire independency of the imperial government, Roger Williams proceeded to England, and in March, 1644, through the influence of his personal character, and of Henry Vane, obtained a free charter of incorporation from Parliament, then waging a fierce war with King Charles the First. The two plantations were united by it under the same government, and the signet for the state was ordered to be a "sheafe of arrows," with the motto "Amor vincet omnia"—Love is all powerful.
In 1647, the General Assembly of the several towns met at Portsmouth, and organized the government by the choice of a president and other officers. They adopted a code of
* This Indian name of Rhode Island is variously spelled: Aquiday, Aquitnet, and Aquitneck. It is a Narraganset word, signifying peaceable isle.
** Bancroft, i., 388, 393. Winthrop, i., 296. Callender, Gorton, in Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, i., 73.
Toleration in Rhode Island.—Separation and Reunion of the Plantations.—Newport.—Destruction of the Sloop Liberty.
laws by which entire freedom of thought in religious matters, as well as a democracy in civil affairs, was guarantied. Churchmen, Roman Catholics, Quakers, were all tolerated; and none were excluded from the ballot-box on account of their religious opinions. Consequently, many Quakers settled in Rhode Island, and they have ever formed a large and influential class of the population.
The two plantations were separated for a brief time, when, in 1651, Mr. Coddington was appointed by the supreme authority of England, Governor of Rhode Island alone. The people, alarmed at the apparent danger of having their freedom abridged by depriving them of the choice of their own rulers, sent Roger Williams to England, who obtained a revocation of the appointment. Mr. Coddington retired to private life, the Plantations were reunited, and from that time until the Revolution they were prosperous and happy, disturbed only by the alarms produced by King Philip's War, to be noticed presently, and the distant conflicts with the French and Indians during the first half of the eighteenth century. A charter of incorporation was obtained in 1663 from Charles II., by which the province was constituted a body politic, by the name of "The Governor and Company of the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, in America." Under this charter the state has been governed until the present time. Rhode Island quietly submitted to the brief usurpation of Andross, and its charter was undisturbed. On his imprisonment, the people assembled at Newport, resumed their former charter privileges, and re-elected the officers whom that petty tyrant had displaced.
The fine harbor of Newport and its healthy location made that place one of the most important sea-port towns on the American coast; * and soon after the Revolution it was said that if New York continued to increase as rapidly as it was then growing it would soon rival Newport in commerce! The navies of all Europe might safely ride at anchor in its deep and capacious harbor, and for a long time Newport was regarded as the future commercial metropolis of the New World. During the wars with the French, English and colonial privateers made Newport their chief rendezvous. In the course of one year, more than twenty prizes, some of them of great value, were sent into that harbor.
During all the occurrences preliminary and relative to the Revolution, the people of Rhode Island, thoroughly imbued with the principles of freedom, took a firm stand against British oppression, and were ever bold in the annunciation and maintenance of their political views. Indeed, Newport was the scene of the first overt aet of popular resistance to royal authority other than the almost harmless measures of opposition to the Stamp Act in 1765. This was the destruction of the British armed sloop Liberty, which the commissioners of customs had sent to Narraganset Bay on an errand similar to that of the Gaspee subsequently. This vessel was boarded, her cable cut, and having drifted to Goat Island, she was there scuttled and set on fire, after her stores and armaments had been thrownJuly, 1769overboard. **
* Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, in an article published in the Boston Intelligencer, in 1824, says, "The island of Rhode Island, from its salubrity and surpassing beauty, before the Revolutionary war so sadly defaced it, was the chosen resort of the rich and philosophie from nearly all parts of the civilized world. In no spot of the thirteen, or, rather, twelve colonies, was there concentrated more individual opulence, learning, and liberal leisure." "In 1769," says Mr. Ross, "Newport rivaled New York in foreign and domestic navigation. The inhabitants of New Haven, New London, &c., depended entirely upon Newport for a market to supply themselves with foreign goods, and here they found a ready market for the produce of their own state."—See Historical Discourse by Reverend Arthur A. Ross of Newport: 1838, page 29.
** A sloop and a brig belonging to Connecticut had been seized and brought into Newport. The wearing apparel and sword of the captain of the brig were put on board the Liberty, and going for them he was violently assaulted. As his boat left the sloop a musket and brace of pistols were discharged at him. This act greatly exasperated the people of Newport. They demanded of Captain Reid, of the Liberty, that the man who fired on Captain Packwood, of the brig, should be sent ashore. The request was denied, or rather, a wrong man was sent each time, until the populace determined not to bo trifled with longer. A number of them went on board, cut her cables, and set her adrift, with the result mentioned in the text. Her boats were dragged up the Long Wharf, thence to the Parade, through Broad Street, at the head of which, on the Common, they were burned. The "Newport Mercury," of July 31, 1769, contained this announcement: "Last Saturday the sloop Liberty was floated by a high tide, and drifted over to Goat Island, and is grounded near the north end, near the place where the pirates were buried. What this prognosticates we leave to the determination of astrologers." The same paper observed, August 7, "Last Monday evening, just alter the storm of rain, hail, and lightning, the sloop Liberty, which we mentioned in our last as having drifted on Goat Island near where the pirates were buried, was discovered to be on fire, and continued burning for several days, until almost entirely consumed."—See Ross's Discourse.
Admiral Wallace in Narraganset Bay.—Disarming of the Tories.—Skirmish in the Harbor.—Engagement at Sea.
October 7.The first warlike menace made against Rhode Island was in the autumn of 1775. We have already noticed the alacrity with which the people armed and hastened toward Boston when they received intelligence of the affair at Lexington. Admiral Wallace commanded a small British fleet in the harbor of Newport during that summer, and the people became convinced that it was his intention to carry off the live stock from the lower end of the island, with which to supply the British army at Boston. Accordingly, on a dark night in September, some of the inhabitants went down and brought off about one thousand sheep and fifty head of cattle. Three hundred minute men drove up to Newport a large number more, and Wallace was foiled in his attempts at plunder. Enraged, he threatened the town with destruction. He laid the people under contributions to supply his fleet with provisions, and, to enforce the demand, he cut off' their supplies of fuel and provisions from the main. The inhabitants were greatly alarmed, and about one half of them left the town, among whom were the principal merchants, with their families. By consent of the state government and the Continental Congress, a treaty was entered into. The people agreed to supplyOctober l, 1775the fleet with beer and fresh provisions, and Wallace removed all restrictions upon their movements. He then sailed up the bay to Bristol, and demanded from the inhabitants there three hundred sheep. They refused compliance, and the town was bombarded, the assault commencing at about eight o'clock in the evening. The rain was pouring in torrents. The house of Governor Bradford, with some others, was burned, and in the midst of the darkness women and children fled to the open fields, beyond the reach of the invaders' missiles, where they suffered dreadfully. This Wallace was the same officer who was afterward sent up the Hudson River to plunder and destroy, laying Kingston in ashes, and desolating the farms of innocent men because they loved freedom better than tyranny and misrule. * He was a commissioned pirate in the Narraganset Bay, and for a month reveled in the wanton destruction of property. Every American vessel that came into Newport harbor was captured and sent into Boston. He burned and plundered the dwellings upon the beautiful island of Providence, in the bay; and at the close of November passed over to Canonicut, and destroyed all the buildings near the ferry.
These outrages aroused the vengeance of the people, and the few Tories upon the island who favored the marauders were severely dealt with. Washington, then at Boston, sent General Charles Lee, with some riflemen, to their assistance. Lee arrested all the Tories he could find, deprived them of their arms, and imposed upon them the severest restrictions.
Wallace maintained possession of the harbor until the spring of 1776. On the 6th of April, American troops, with two row-galleys, bearing two eighteen pounders each, arrived from Providence. The British fleet was then anchored about a mile above Newport. Two eighteen pounders, brought by the provincial troops, were planted on shore in view of the enemy, and without any works to protect them. These, commanded by Captain Elliot, with the row-galleys, under Captain Grimes, promised Wallace such great and immediate danger, that he weighed anchor and left the harbor with his whole squadron without firing a shot. Soon afterward, the Glasgow, of twenty-nine guns, came into the harbor and anchored near Fort Island, having been severely handled in an engagement with Admiral Hopkins off Block Island. ** Colonel Richmond, the same evening, ordered several pieces of heavy artil-
* See page 388.
** This engagement occurred on the same day when Wallace left Newport. Hopkins, with his little fleet, was on a cruise eastward, having left the Capes of the Delaware in February, visiting the Bermudas, and was now making his way toward Massachusetts Bay. On the 4th of April (1776) he fell in with a British schooner on the east end of Long Island, and took her. About one in the morning of the 6th he fell in with the Glasgow, of twenty-nine guns and one hundred and fifty men. The American brigantine Cabot, Captain Hopkins, Junior, and the Columbus, Captain Whipple, raked her as she passed. The American brig Annadona and sloop Providence were also in the engagement, yet the Glasgow escaped and fled into Newport Harbor, whither Hopkins thought it not prudent to follow. Of the American navy of the Revolution and its operations in general I have given an account in the Supplement, page 637.
Continued Hostilities in Newport Harbor.—Privateers.—Arrival of a large British Force.—Conduct of the Enemy
April 15.lery to be brought to bear upon the Glasgow from Brenton's Point, where a slight breastwork was thrown up. On the following morning such a vigorous fire was opened from this battery upon the Glasgow and another vessel, that they cut their cables and went to sea.
A few days after these events, the British ship of war Scarborough, of twenty guns and two hundred and twenty-five men, and the Scymetar, of eighteen guns and one hundred and forty men, came into the harbor with two prize ships, and anchored a little south of Rose Island. The Americans resolved to attempt the rescue of the prizes. The Washington galley, Captain Hyers, attacked the Scarborough, and at the same time Captain Grimes and his men, of the Spitfire galley, boarded one of the prizes and took it. The guns upon the North Battery and upon Brenton's Point were well manned, to give aid if necessary. The Scarborough attempted to recapture her prize, and the other schooner in her custody tried to get under the protecting wing of that vessel; but the hot cannonade from the Washington and the North Battery arrested the progress of both, and the schooner was captured and sent to Providence. The Scarborough and Scymetar now came to anchor between Canonicut, and Rose Island; but a battery upon the former, unknown to the enemy, poured such a shower of well-directed balls upon them, that, finding no safe place in the harbor, they determined to take refuge in the broad expanse of the ocean. As they passed out of the harbor, they were terribly galled by a cannonade from Brenton's Point and Castle Hill. * For eight days War held a festival upon the waters of Newport Harbor, yet in all that time the Americans did not lose a man, and had only one slightly wounded!
The summer of 1776 was a season of comparative quiet for the people of Rhode Island. They were active, however, in fitting out privateers, and in preparations for future invasions. ** Early in the fall intelligence reached them that the British fleet and army, which had been so roughly received and effectually repulsed at Charleston, in South Carolina, were on the way to take possession of Rhode Island. These forces arrived on the 26th of December, the day on which Washington crossed the Delaware and accomplished his brilliant achievement at Trenton. The squadron was commanded by Sir Peter Parker, and the land forces, consisting of about an equal number of British and Hessians, in all between eight and ten thousand men, were commanded by General Clinton and Earl Percy. The squadron sailed up on the west side of Canonicut, crossed the bay at the north point of the island, and landed the troops in Middletown, about four and a half miles above Newport. They were encamped upon the southern slope of two hills (Gould's and Winter's), except a few who landed at Coddington's Cove and marched into Newport. When the enemy entered the harbor, there were two Rhode Island frigates (the Warren and Providence) and several privateers at anchor. These, with the weak land force, were insufficient to make a successful resistance, and the island was left at the mercy of the invaders. *** The American frigates and privateers fled up the bay to Providence, whence, taking advantage of a northeast gale, and eluding the vigilance of the blockading squadron, they escaped, and went to sea. A system of general plunder of the inhabitants was immediately commenced by the troops, and, after one week's encampment, the British soldiers were unceremoniously quartered in the houses of the inhabitants, from ten to forty in each, according to the size and convenience of the edifice. The beautiful Aquitneck, orIsle of Peace, soon became the theater of discord, misery, and desolation.
* These localities will be better understood by reference to the map of Narraganset Bay on page 648.
** These privateers captured about seventy-five prizes (some of them very valuable) during the season and sent them to Providence, New London, and one or two other ports.
*** On hearing of the approach of the enemy, the people of the island drove large quantities of sheep and cattle from it, crossing to the main at Howland's Ferry.
Condition of Rhode Island in 1777.—Re-encampment of the British.—General Prescott.—His Character.
"The winds of March o'er Narraganset's Bay
Move in their strength; the waves with foam are white;
O'er Seckonk's tide the waving branches play;
The winds roar o'er resounding plain and height.
'Twixt sailing clouds, the sun's inconstant ray
But glances on the scene, then fades from sight.
The frequent showers dash from the passing clouds,
The hills are peeping through their wintery shrouds."
Durfee's "What Cheer?"
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EAR after year the free dwellers upon Rhode Island had beheld a scene like that described by the poet, and more cruel wintery storms, piling their huge snow-drifts, had howled around their dwellings, but never in their history had the March winds and April floods appeared to them so cheerless and mournful as in the spring of 1777. They had cheerfully brooked all the sufferings attendant upon a new settlement, and gladly breasted the tempest on land or sea in pursuit of wealth or social enjoyment, while freedom was their daily companion and solace: but now the oppressor was in their midst; his iron heel was upon their necks; their wives and daughters were exposed to the low ribaldry, profanity, and insults of an ignorant and brutal soldiery; their peaceful dwellings were made noisy barracks; their beautiful shade-trees, pleasant groves, and broad forests were destroyed, and the huge right arm of general plunder was plying its strength incessantly. Enslaved and impoverished, the bright sun and warm south winds, harbingers of on-coming summer and the joyous season of flowers, brought no solace to them, but were rather a mockery. At home all was desolation; abroad all was doubt and gloom.
Early in May the British troops left the houses of the inhabitants and returned to their camp. This was some relief, yet plunder and insolence were rife. General Clinton, with nearly half of the invading army, soon afterward left the island for New York, and the command of those who remained to hold possession devolved upon Major-general Prescott, infamous in the annals of that war as one of the meanest of petty tyrants when in power, and of dastards when in danger. He had been nurtured in the lap of aristocracy, and taught all its exclusive precepts. Possessing a narrow mind, utterly untutored by benevolence or charity; a judgment perverse in the extreme; a heart callous to the most touching appeals of sympathy, but tender when avarice half opened its lips to plead, he was a most unfit commander of a military guard over people like those of Rhode Island, who could appreciate courtesy, and who might be more easily conquered by kindness than by the bayonet. He was a tyrant at heart, and, having the opportunity, he exercised a tyrant's doubtful prerogatives. *
* Mr. Ross, in his Historical Discourse, mentions several circumstances illustrative of Prescott's tyranny. His habit while walking the streets, if he saw any of the inhabitants conversing together, was to shake his cane at them, and say, "Disperse, ye rebels!" He was also in the habit, when he met citizens in the streets, of commanding them to take off their hats, and unless the order was instantly complied with, it was enforced hy a rap of his cane. One evening, as he was passing out of town to his country quarters, he overtook a Quaker, who did not doff his hat. The general, who was on horseback, dashed up to him, pressed him against a stone wall, knocked off his hat, and then put him under guard. Prescott caused many citizens of Newport to be imprisoned, some of them for months, without any assigned reason. Among others thus deprived of liberty, was William Tripp, a very respectable citizen. He had a large and interesting family, but the tyrant would not allow him to hold any communication with them, either written or verbal The first intelligence he received from them was by a letter, baked in a loaf of bread, which was sent to him by his wife. In this way a correspondence was kept up during his confinement of many months. During his incarceration, his wife sought an audience with the general to intercede for the liberty of her husband, or to obtain a personal interview with him. She applied to a Captain Savage, through whom alone an interview with the general could be obtained. She was directed to call the following day, when the savage by name and nature, echoing his master's words, roughly denied her petition for an interview with the general, and with fiendish exultation informed her, as he shut the door violently in her face, that he expected her husband would be hung as a rebel in less than a week! I was informed that when Prescott took possession of his town quarters, he had a fine sidewalk made for his accommodation some distance along Pelham and up Spring Street, for which purpose he took the door-steps belonging to other dwellings. The morning after the evacuation, the owners of the steps hastened to Prescott's quarters, each to claim his door-stone. It was an exciting scene, for sometimes two or three persons, not positive in their identification, claimed the same stone. Prescott's fine promenade soon disappeared, and like Miss Davidson's
"Forty old bachelors, some younger, some older,Each carrying a maiden home on his shoulder,"
* the worthy citizens of Newport bore off their long-abased door-steps.
Bad Conduct of General Prescott.—Colonel Barton's Plan for capturing him.—Biographical Sketch of Barton
Incensed by the conduct of Prescott, the inhabitants devised several schemes to rid themselves of the oppressor. None promised success, and it was reserved for Lieutenant-colonel Barton, of Providence, * to conceive and execute one of the boldest and most hazardous enterprises undertaken during the war.
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It was accomplished on the night of the 10th of July, 1777. At that time General Prescott was quartered at the house of a Quaker named Overing, about five miles above Newport, on the west road leading to the ferry, at the north part of the island. Barton's plan was to cross Narraganset Bay from the main, seize Prescott, and carry him to the American camp. It was a very hazardous undertaking, for at that time there were three British frigates, with their guard-boats, lying east of Prudence Island, and almost in front of Prescott's quarters. With a few chosen men, Colonel Barton embarked in four whale-boats, with muffled oars, at Warwick Point, at nine o'clock in the evening, and passed unobserved over to Rhode Island, between the islands of Prudence and Pa-
* William Barton was a native of Providence, Rhode Island. He was appointed to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the militia of his state, and held that position when he planned and executed the expedition for the abduction of General Prescott. For that service Congress honored him by the presentation of a sword, and also by a grant of land in Vermont. By the transfer of some of this land he became entangled in the toils of the law, and was imprisoned for debt in Vermont for many years, until the visit of La Fayette to this country in 1825. That illustrious man, hearing of the incarceration of Colonel Barton and its cause, liquidated the claim against him, and restored his fellow-soldier to liberty. It was a noble act, and significantly rebuked the Shylock who held the patriot in bondage, and clamored for "the pound of flesh." This circumstance drew from Whittier his glorious poem, 'The Prisoner for Debt, in which he exclaims,
"What has the gray-hair'd prisoner done?Has murder staind his hands with gore?Not so; his crime's a fouler one:God made the old man poor.For this he shares a felon's cell.The fittest earthly type of hell!For this, the boon for which he pour'dHis young blood on the invader's sword,And counted light the fearful cost—His blood-gain'd liberty is lost.Down with the law that hinds him thus!Unworthy freemen, let it findNo refuge from the withering curseOf God and human kind!Open the prisoner's living tomb,And usher from its brooding gloomThe victims of your savage codeTo the free sun and air of God!No longer dare, as crime, to brandThe chastening of the Almighty's hand!"
* Colonel Barton was wounded in the action at Bristol Ferry in 1778, and was disabled from further service during the war. He died at Providence in 1831, aged eighty-four years. The portrait here given is from a painting of him executed soon after the close of the Revolution, and now in possession of his son, John B. Barton, Esq., of Providence, who kindly allowed me to make a copy.
Expedition to capture Prescott.—Prescott's Quarters.—A Sentinel deceived.—Names of Barton's Men.
tience. * They heard the cry, "All's well!" from the guard-boats of the enemy, as they passed silently and unobserved, and landed in Coddington's Cove, at the mouth of a small stream which passed by the quarters of Prescott. Barton divided his men into several squads, assigning to each its duty and station, and then, with the strictest order and profound silence, they advanced toward the house.
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The main portion of the expedition passed about midway between a British guard-house and the encampment of a company of light horse, while the remainder was to make a circuitous route to approach Prescott's quarters from the rear, and secure the doors. As Barton and his men approached the gate, a sentinel hailed them twice, and then demanded the countersign. "We have no countersign to give," Barton said, and quickly added, "Have you seen any deserters here to-night?" The sentinel was misled by this question, supposing
* Mr. Barton, by request, furnished me with the following list of the names of those who accompanied his father on the perilous expedition: