Timeline

HMS Gaspee Burned at Gaspee Point

The Gaspee Affair was the first violent act of colonial rebellion against British authority — three years before Lexington. It led directly to the establishment of the Committees of Correspondence and demonstrated that colonial resistance could be organized, effective, and go unpunished.

Royal Commission Fails to Prosecute Gaspee Raiders

The commission's failure — and the threat that accused colonists would be taken to England for trial — prompted colonial assemblies to establish Committees of Correspondence, the organizational infrastructure for coordinated resistance.

Abraham Whipple Commands Continental Navy Vessels

Whipple's career illustrated how the Gaspee organizers transitioned from colonial resistance to organized Continental military service — the same men, the same networks, now operating under a revolutionary government.