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So this is sort of cool. One of the guys at my rowing club is a HS history teacher (and pretty good rower). He and a small group of us are going to row from Providence to Warwick, which is about a 14 mile round trip to commemorate the Gaspee Days celebration this weekend. Why is it cool? We have this report from William Staples
That June, while pursuing a colonial sloop sailing up the bay, the Gaspee was led into shallow water off Warwick, and there it ran aground. When news of the Gaspee's plight reached Providence, many of the town's leading citizens, seeing their opportunity, came together to plot vengeance against the hated vessel. That night a party of armed men rowed out to the Gaspee, and after wounding Dudingston and taking off the British crew, they burned the ship to the water.
This sounds like it'll be a lot of fun. The guy who's idea this is says we usually burn something on the beach upon arrival (It'll also be "fun" trying to navigate around all these boats that are going to be in that small harbor). Hope I get a picture from the water of the Gaspee effigy that they burn. If I can steady the boat enough maybe I'll hold up a book of matches with the effigy in the background. 🙂So on Sunday, a small group of us are going to be the Sons of Liberty.
My commentary on the Gaspee Incident:First of all, I'm surprised at the number of primary and secondary sources for this. Gaspee.org has a very well-documented website. If you are a RIer of course this is viewed as the most important event in American history. That's very wrong. Perhaps because we in RI want to take some of the attention away from everything happening in Boston. This was not the real first shot of the Revolutionary War as some claim nor was it where the first British blood was spilled. But on the other hand, this is something that shouldn't be ignored as much as it is outside of the RI Historical Society. Even though it only involved one American merchant ship, a relatively small British schooner, and 30-something Colonialists, it caused quite a stir. So much so that John Adams had to get involved. The reason for his involvement was because the British charged the raiders with treason and wanted to take them to London for trial. Adams's said absolutely not. So even though this was a minor event on a scale of military history, it caused quite a diplomatic stir. It may not have been "the shot heard round the world," but I think this event probably woke up more colonists, not only in RI but in all of New England, to oppose Great Britain's harmful trading laws and regulations and the thought of courts appointed by the king with no jury.
