Providence

Burning of the HMS Gaspee

On the night of June 9-10, 1772, a group of Providence men led by Abraham Whipple rowed out to the grounded British revenue schooner HMS Gaspee in Narragansett Bay. They shot and wounded the ship's commander, Lieutenant William Dudingston, removed the crew, and burned the vessel to the waterline. The Gaspee had been aggressively enforcing trade regulations and had become deeply unpopular with Rhode Island merchants. A royal commission of inquiry was established to identify the perpetrators, but no one in Rhode Island would testify. The colony's collective silence was a remarkable act of organized resistance — more than a year before the Boston Tea Party. The Gaspee affair demonstrated that colonial defiance of British authority had deep roots in Rhode Island.

Royal Commission Fails to Identify Gaspee Attackers

The royal commission established to investigate the burning of the Gaspee concluded its work in 1773 without identifying or prosecuting any of the attackers. Despite offering rewards and threatening to transport suspects to England for trial, the commission could not find a single Rhode Islander willing to testify. The colony's unified silence was a powerful statement. The threat of being tried in England — rather than by a local jury — was itself a grievance that helped galvanize colonial resistance. The Gaspee commission's failure demonstrated the limits of British authority when an entire community chose to resist, and it became a precedent that other colonies cited as tensions escalated toward open revolt.

Nathanael Greene Appointed Continental Army Brigadier General

On June 22, 1775, the Continental Congress appointed Nathanael Greene — a Rhode Island iron forge owner with no prior military experience — as a brigadier general. Greene had prepared himself through intensive self-study and had organized and commanded the Kentish Guards militia. Within months he had become one of Washington's most trusted subordinates. His later command of the Southern Department (1780–1783) is widely considered the most operationally sophisticated American campaign of the entire war — and he was born in Potowomut, Rhode Island, within the Providence orbit.

Nicholas Brown Coordinates Maritime Supply for the Continental Army

Nicholas Brown, Providence's most prominent merchant, organized the importation of cannon, gunpowder, and military stores for Rhode Island and the Continental Army through his commercial network beginning in 1776. Brown used his family's existing trade connections in the Caribbean and Europe to acquire materials that the Continental Army could not manufacture domestically. His merchant house became an informal procurement agent for the war effort, demonstrating how colonial commercial networks were repurposed for military supply.

Continental Navy's First Fleet Sails Under Esek Hopkins

Esek Hopkins of Providence, the Continental Navy's first commander-in-chief, sailed from Philadelphia in February 1776 with a small squadron of eight vessels. Rather than following Congress's orders to patrol the Chesapeake, Hopkins sailed to Nassau in the Bahamas and conducted the Navy's first amphibious operation, capturing military stores from the British. The raid was tactically successful but politically damaging. Congress censured Hopkins for disobeying orders, and he was eventually dismissed in 1778. Despite his controversial record, Hopkins's command marked the beginning of American naval operations, and Providence's maritime culture — its sailors, shipbuilders, and merchant-captains — was central to the effort.

Providence Privateering Operations

Providence merchants financed and outfitted numerous privateering vessels during the Revolution. These privately owned ships, authorized by letters of marque from Congress and the state, preyed on British commercial shipping throughout the Atlantic. The profits were shared between the ship owners, crews, and the government. The Brown family and other Providence merchants invested heavily in privateering, which blurred the line between patriotic service and commercial opportunity. Successful prizes could yield enormous returns. The privateering fleet collectively did more damage to British commerce than the tiny Continental Navy, and Providence was one of the most active ports in the enterprise.

Rhode Island Renounces Allegiance to the Crown

On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony to formally renounce its allegiance to the British Crown — two months before the Declaration of Independence. The act, passed by the General Assembly meeting in Providence, struck the king's name from all official documents and required a new oath of allegiance to the colony rather than to George III. The early renunciation reflected Rhode Island's long tradition of political independence and its merchants' frustration with British trade restrictions. Providence's commercial leaders had been among the most vocal opponents of imperial taxation, and the Gaspee affair had demonstrated the colony's willingness to back defiance with action.

Brown University's University Hall Becomes a Barracks

When the British occupied Newport in December 1776, American and French forces used University Hall at the College of Rhode Island (later Brown University) as a barracks and hospital. The building housed soldiers at various points during the war, and the college suspended regular instruction during the most intense periods of military activity. The conversion of a college building into military quarters reflected the war's intrusion into every aspect of civilian life. President James Manning worked to keep the institution alive through the disruption, and the college resumed full operations after the war. University Hall still stands on the Brown campus, one of the oldest college buildings in the country.

Nathanael Greene Takes Command of the Southern Army

In October 1780, Washington appointed Nathanael Greene to command the Continental Army's Southern Department, replacing Horatio Gates after the disastrous defeat at Camden. Greene, deeply connected to Providence's political networks, took command of a demoralized and poorly supplied force and turned it into an effective fighting army. Greene's Southern Campaign is considered one of the most skillful operations of the war. He divided his forces, used partisan allies, and fought a series of battles — Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk's Hill, Eutaw Springs — that gradually wore down the British position in the Carolinas and Georgia. He famously said, "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Rhode Island's contribution to the war effort found its highest expression in Greene's generalship.

Rhode Island Last to Ratify the Constitution

Rhode Island was the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the Constitution, finally doing so on May 29, 1790 — by the narrowest margin of any state, 34 to 32. Providence's merchants generally supported ratification because they wanted stable trade and sound currency, but rural Rhode Islanders were deeply suspicious of centralized power. The long holdout reflected the same fierce independence that had driven the Gaspee affair and the early renunciation of British allegiance. Rhode Island had always guarded its autonomy jealously. The state only ratified after Congress threatened to treat it as a foreign nation and impose tariffs on its goods. Even the act of joining the union was, for Rhode Island, a negotiation conducted under pressure.