USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 61
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The last troops raised in Rhode Island did not, of course, reach Louisburg until after its fall; nevertheless they were required to re- main there during the following winter. During the siege of Louis- burg the Rhode Island sloop Tartar,1 Captain Fones, was absent to intercept a large party of French and Indians who were on their way to the relief of the fortress. The vessels of the enemy were en- countered by Captain Foncs, and after an engagement were put to flight. A letter describing the engagement was written to Governor Wanton by Captain Fones, dated June 26, 1745.
For the brilliant exploit of the taking of Louisburg, an affair wholly projected in New England and effected by her troops, General Pepperell was created a baronet, the first instance in which this honor was conferred upon an American colonist. Warren, who commanded the fleet, was promoted admiral, and Governor Shirley, who originated and planned the expedition, was made a colonel.
Rhode Island was awarded less credit for her part in the expedi- tion than she deserved. In the first place, the volunteers raised by Colonel Malbone being paid by Massachusetts, were reckoned as her troops ; while the second levy of three companies, being incorporated in a Connecticut regiment under General Wolcott, was equally lost sight of in the official reports.
A garrison of 4,000 men, with a fleet of ten large and many smaller vessels of war, were required to garrison and defend Louis- burg against probable attempts for its recapture. In accordance with this determination Commodore Warren addressed the following letter to Governor Wanton.
"SUPERBE, IN LOUISBURG HARBOR, 24th June, 1745.
"SIR :- I now have the pleasure to acquaint you that we are in quiet possession of the town and garrison of Louisburg, and the terri- tories thereunto belonging; and that it is my duty to apply to you and the different Governors on the Continent, for such provisions and men as I may want ; and I never had more occasion for your assistance than at present, in order to keep possession of a garrison that is a key to all the French settlements upon the Continent, and of which pos- session every Colony will feel the good effects. I therefore hope you
1Among the Warner Papers so called No. x1703 is a document bearing the title, "Signals to be observed by the Colony's Sloop Tartar and the transports under her charge on the voyage to Annapolis Royal and back again". It is without date.
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will send, with all speed, your quota of men, armed and victualled for at least seven or eight months, to remain here, for the support of this garrison, till His Majesty's pleasure is known ; till which time I shall continue here.
"I make this application to all your neighboring Governors, and have begged them to recommend the consideration of my request to their different Legislatures, who can't, in any manner, give greater proofs of their loyalty to His Majesty, their love of their country, and their care of posterity, than by assisting me with the means of keeping possession, till His Majesty can make provisions for it, of a Garrison and a Colony, that, in its consequence, will be the means of extirpating so dangerous an enemy as the French are, out of the Continent. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, P. WARREN. "To the Governor of Rhode Island."
Under the same date Governor Shirley wrote to Governor Wanton, stating that the siege of Louisburg had quite exhausted the magazines of powder, and, as it was uncertain what further demands there might be for it, he desired that an embargo might be laid upon all the powder lying in the stores and magazines so as to secure it at the market price in case it should be wanted. On the 3d of July he again wrote Gov- ernor Wanton at great length on the surrender of Louisburg, urging him in the strongest terms to send men, ammunition, and provisions "for the garrisoning and provisioning the place, till His Majesty shall order troops from Great Britain. He apprehends this to be the most critical juncture for securing it from the attempts of the enemy to re- capture it, as it cannot be doubted that the French King will send a strong force to reduce it". Governor Shirley therefore hopes that the General Assembly of Rhode Island will, in duty to his majesty and in regard to the common interests, make provision at once to supply the soldiers, ammunition, and provisions required.
On the 25th of July Commander Warren wrote Governor Wanton from Louisburg, informing him that two of his squadron had taken a rich India ship, and proposed to sell her cargo there if the merchants will come from Rhode Island to purchase it. At the same time he sent an advertisement to be printed and distributed announcing the sale.
To the several urgent calls for men, provisions, ammunition, and shipping which had been made upon the Colony by order of the king, as well as by Admiral Warren, Sir William Pepperell and Gov- ernor Shirley, Governor Wanton replied as follows :
"NEWPORT, August 23, 1745.
"SIR :- Since my last to you, I have had the opportunity of lay- ing before the General Assembly of this Colony your letters, with a copy of His Majesty's orders, signified by His Grace, the Duke of Newcastle, the respective Governors of the Colonies in North America,
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to assist you with men, provisions, and shipping, for the relief of any of His Majesty's settlements, or from making any attempts on those of the enemy.
"And I am directed by them to assure you that none of His Majesty's subjeets more sincerely rejoiee at the glorious success of His Majesty's arms, in the reduction of a place of sueh vast importance to his obedienee than this Colony; and that none of His Majesty's provinces and Colonies will be more ready than this to give you their utmost assistance in making any attempts against His Majesty's enemies, or in the seeuring and defending this most important acquisi- tion; but, as this Colony is very small, and by its situation very much exposed to the attaeks of the enemy by sca, and great numbers of our men employed on board of our Privatcers to distress the enemy in their trade and navigation, and as they have already been at very great expense in keeping their only vessel of war at Cape Breton, ever sinee the beginning of this expedition, and in sending and vietualling three companies of soldiers to assist in defending Louisburg; and also in allowing a large bounty to a number of scamen to enlist and serve in the squadron under your command; they hope these will be looked upon as their full quota, and as sufficient demonstrations of their duty and loyalty to His Majesty.
"I am, Sir, further directed to assure you, that if His Majesty's service should require our three Companies to remain at Louisburg, all winter, in the pay of this Colony, that all due eare will be taken by this Government, to send them in season, provisions, and all neces- saries for their subsistenee.
"The General Assembly thank you for the favor and respect you have shown to Captain Fones, the Commander of our Colony's sloop, Tartar; and they hope you'll be so good as to discharge her as soon as the nature of His Majesty's serviee will admit of it, she being the only vessel of war that we have for the protection of the trade and naviga- tion of this Colony.
"Your known generosity leaves us no room to doubt that you will do justiee to this Colony in letting His Majesty know what assistance we have given in this expedition ; and we the rather request this favor of you, Sir, because we have reason to believe that some of our neigh- bors have no great inelination to represent our conduet in the best light.
"We heartily congratulate you, Sir, on the success of His Majesty's ships under your command, in taking so many rieh and valuable prizes. May zeal and fidelity in His Majesty's service be always thus rewarded; and may suceess attend you in all your at- tempts, until your name becomes a terror to a haughty and insolent enemy.
"I heartily wish you health, and am, with best regards, in behalf of the General Assembly, Sir, yours, GIDEON WANTON. "To the Honorable Commodore Warren.
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"P. S .- As the General Assembly have ordered the Brigantine which transported our soldiers to Louisbourg, to return home immedi- ately, unless any directions should be come from His Majesty to dis- miss our soldiers in a short time, they have directed me to desire you'd be pleased to give her a pass to depart".
Massachusetts had strained herself to the very utmost in the Louisburg expedition, which was originated, planned, and successfully carried out by her, of which fact Governor Phipps wrote Governor Wanton. Admiral Warren also wrote the governor of the various advantages accruing from the successful expedition. Governor Phipps speaks of a second East Indiaman with a rich cargo which had been captured from the French, saying that it is judged that the value of the captures made on the coast by His Majesty's ships amounts to one million pounds, none of which would have fallen into their hands if the Louisburg expedition had not been successful.
Under date of September 13 Sir William Pepperell wrote Gov- ernor Wanton that he would retain the three companies of Rhode Island troops, and desired him "to make the speediest provision for them during the approaching winter, of provisions, good bedding and warm clothing, fit for soldiers, in the most inclement climate". He also apprised the governor that there was a squadron of French men- of-war on the coast.
It appears that representations had been made to the ministry by persons in Massachusetts that Rhode Island had not performed her part in the Louisburg expedition, a charge which gave great uneasi- ness to the governor and the people, and caused Governor Wanton to write Richard Partridge, the Colony's agent in London, in order that he might vindicate the Colony, "which had always distinguished itself by joining with readiness and zeal in all expeditions ordered by the Crown". He says that when Massachusetts first applied for assist- ance the Colony had expended all its funds to defray the unfortunate expedition against Carthagena; that the tax for putting the Colony in a state of defense was unpaid; the people burdened with the expense of defending our charter privileges and for carrying on the suit about the boundary ; that the Colony was then drained of men to an uncom- mon degree, and that of two hundred and fifty sent away in the West India expedition, not twenty had returned. Furthermore, that they had then eight or ten well-manned privateers cruising, which greatly embarrassed them in raising seamen. But, notwithstanding all these, Rhode Island had fully manned and sent out the sloop Tartar and permitted Massachusetts to raise men in the Colony, besides voting a bounty of forty shillings to every man who enlisted.
The Colony's sloop, Tartar, which often has been mentioned, mounted fourteen carriage and twelve swivel guns. She conveyed the Connecticut troops and proved of great service in the expedition.
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Besides this, it is stated that the inhabitants of Newport subscribed £7,000 towards the pay of a privateer manned and partly owned there. "This," says Governor Wanton, "is the assistance we have given, which was really the utmost we were able to give, the Colony never having exerted itself with more zeal and vigor on any account; and it ought to be observed that no other of the remaining Colonies, except Connecticut and New Hampshire, could be induced, at the first, to give any assistance at all; nor, afterwards, all of them together, to give so much and such effectual assistance as this little Colony cheerfully afforded, at the hazard of leaving our sca-coast unguarded, and our navigation exposed to the enemy's privateers." He further sends. letters from General Pepperell and Admiral Warren, acknowledging the aid they had received from Rhode Island in the expedition.
Mr. Partridge, although a Quaker, stood manfully forward in defending Rhode Island against the aspersions of Massachusetts, by laying before the secretary for the colonics the facts contained in Gov- ernor Wanton's letter. In his reply he says he made known the loy- alty and obedience of the people of Rhode Island to the crown and called the secretary's attention to the promptness which they had ex- hibited in embarking in every expedition ordered by Great Britain and in furnishing their quotas of troops; furthermore, that "in the wars by sea, the Privateers of Rhode Island did more execution against the enemy's Privateers that infested their coasts, than all the ships of the Massachusetts, or, indeed, of all the Colonies in those parts put together." He adds, "I wish thou couldst get a few lines from Com- modore Warren and send me in justification of the Colony, to take off the edge of those assertions [of Massachusetts], which I believe have been spread by Agent Shelby here." The governor profited by the suggestion of Agent Partridge, and the General Assembly, at its Octo- ber session, 1745, passed a resolution appointing Peter Bours a com- mittee to wait upon the Hon. Roger Wolcott, deputy-governor of Connecticut, and major-general of the forces that reduced Cape Breton, and request of him a certificate of what he knew respecting the conduct of this Colony in the expedition against Cape Breton and Louisburg. Commodore Warren was probably not accessible; and, if he was, General Wolcott had more direct intercourse with the Rhode Island troops than lic. General Wolcott promptly complied with the request of the General Assembly by supplying the certificate required, in which he recapitulated the important services rendered by Rhode Island. This, together with the letters of Admiral Warren, Sir William Pepperell, and others; the various acts of the Assembly for raising troops, furnishing vessels, provisions, ammunition, etc., together with a general account of all the expenses which had been incurred by the Colony, were ordered to be procured and forwarded to the home gov- ernment without delay.
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At the close of the year 1745 a great calamity befel the town of Newport, which had ever been active in fitting out privateers against the enemy. Two large and costly vessels of this kind had just been completed at Newport, where they were owned and manned, although Colonel Malbone was the chief owner. Each of these privateers was manned with over one hundred men and mounted twenty-two guns; most of the men were residents of Newport and had families there. The ships set sail the day before Christmas at the beginning of a vio- lent snow storm, bound for the Spanish main. The gale increased to a hurricane and continued two days. The ships were never heard of after and it is believed they foundered at sea with all on board. "By this fearful disaster," says Arnold, "more than four hundred lives were lost, and nearly two hundred wives in Newport were made widows."
In the spring of the following year the Duke of Newcastle addressed a letter to Governor Wanton, informing him that two regi- ments would at once be sent to Louisburg to support its garrison; that Admiral Warren was about to retire, to be succeeded by Admiral Knowles, and that if the latter should have occasion to apply to him "for assistance, either by raising any number of men to reinforce the garrison, or in any other manner, that shall be thought proper", he shall use his utmost endeavors to furnish him with it.
It is almost impossible to look back to that far time, when the population of the Colony was so limited in number; when her re- sources consisted of the meagre products of the soil, with no manu- factures and a limited commerce, and find her so frequently called upon to aid her mother country in the many wars of the period. Whether in a war with Spaniards, it was necessary to send men to the West Indies; to reduce the Indians on the frontiers of New England, New York and Pennsylvania; to stop the progress of the French at the distant posts of Niagara and Oswego; to wrest from them the colony of Cape Breton ; or, finally, to embark in the grander enterprise of reducing Canada, our little Colony seems to have been called on alike for troops, seamen, provisions, ammunition, and ships. With four times the population and a hundred times more wealth, we should deem such demands large, even in our day; but it must be remem- bered that at the period in question Rhode Island was the most power- ful at sea of either of the English colonies in America, and held a comparatively high rank among the few colonies from which the thirty-four States of the Union have sprung.
In the spring of 1746 the war sloop Tartar had returned from Louisburg, when she was refitted, manned, and sent off on a cruise as far east as Martha's Vineyard and as far west as Sandy Hook. At the same time, in consequence of applications from the governors of the Provinces of New York and Massachusetts, the General Assembly
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passed an aet to appoint commissioners to confer with those of the northern Colonies to provide for mutual defense against the common enemy. The men appointed on this committee were Abraham Red- wood, Peter Bours, and Stephen Hopkins.
A month later than the letter before mentioned, on the 9th of April, 1746, another letter was received from the Duke of Neweastle, conveying the important information that the government, flushed with its suecess at Louisburg, had determined upon a great expedition for the reduction of Canada. Five battalions of troops, under com- mand of General St. Clair, were to be transported, with a convoy of men-of-war, to Louisburg, where they were to be joined by two regi- ments from Gibraltar and such others as shall be levied in North America.
The Rhode Island troops suffered greatly during the winter they remained at Louisburg. One of the companies lost its captain and half its men, which rendered it neeessary to consolidate the remainder into two companies. The General Assembly therefore directed Gov- ernor Wanton to write General Pepperell and Admiral Warren re- questing them to diseharge all the Rhode Island troops, agreeable to their promise, exeept such as had enlisted in the king's serviee, and to send them baek with their arms, together with all other property with them that belonged to the Colony. At the same time, and before Warren and Pepperell had received Governor Greene's letter, they wrote him that they "should keep their faith with the old troops" by sending them home; but nevertheless they still enjoined him to en- courage new enlistments among them, as well as to raise and forward as soon as possible the new levies ealled for.
The Tartar, manned with ninety men, exelusive of officers, was again sent to sea to guard the coasts; at the same time a letter was written to the governor of Connecticut, requesting that their Colony sloop might join the Tartar in her cruise.
The war fever had by this time extended itself to the other Colonies and the governors of New York and Massachusetts requested Rhode Island to appoint commissioners to meet those of the other Colonies, to consider measures for their "mutual security, defense, and eonduet during the present war".
Aeeordingly William Greene, who had just been elected governor of Rhode Island, convened the General Assembly at Newport in June, 1746, and an act was passed in conformity with the wishes of his majesty, made known through the Duke of Newcastle, providing for raising forees for the proposed reduction of Canada. Three com- panies of one hundred men each were ordered to be raised forthwith, and a committee consisting of John Cranston, Abraham Redwood, Jonathan Niehols, and George Wanton was appointed to procure the necessary stores and transports to convey the troops to Louisburg or
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Quebec. As an encouragement for enlistments a bounty of fifty pounds in bills of public credit and a suit of clothes were offered to each soldier. A bounty of two hundred pounds in addition to their wages was offered to pilots who were acquainted with the navigation of the St. Lawrence. The Tartar was recalled from her cruise and ordered to accompany the expedition; an appropriation of £11,250 was made in a new issue of Bills of Credit to defray the expenses to be thus incurred.
While these events were in progress the Colony became involved in a controversy with the governor of Havana regarding the selling into slavery of twenty-two Spaniards who had been captured by the Rhode Island privateers, Defiance and the Duke of Marlboro, com- manded by Capts. John Dennis and Robert Morris. After proper investigation the General Assembly made adequate reparation for the offense by seeking out the captured Spaniards and ordering them sent to Cuba under a flag of truce.
The government authorities of this Colony were active in their efforts to aid the proposed expedition to Canada; enlistments were hastened, transports were ordered to be got in readiness, and the sheriff of Newport was empowered to impress seamen for manning the vessels. The whole force ready on July first was to be concentrated at Newport. While these preparations were in progress urgent letters were received from Admiral Warren and Governor Shirley for both seamen and soldiers, from the fact it would appear that the au- thorities assumed that this Colony was a nursery for military men which could never be exhausted. Admiral Warren wrote, "I am of opinion that all seamen should be engaged that you can possibly meet with, to go in the armed vessels of each Colony; and that no time be lost, as the season will soon render it impracticable to make the at- tempt this year". Governor Shirley, after urging upon Governor Greene the necessity of completing the levies, said, "this will, in all probability, be the only favorable opportunity of attempting to drive off the French from the northern part of this continent", etc. Besides the quota of troops required from this Colony, Shirley and Warren requested that it should provide two brigs or scows, with eighty men and ten guns each, and that the whole force should be provisioned for ten months. To the various letters from Admiral Warren, Governor Greene wrote the following reply by order of the Assembly :
"PROVIDENCE, July --- , 1746.
"SIR :- I acknowledge the favor of yours, upon your arrival in Boston, and would beg leave to observe to you, that, however small the quota of men proposed by Rhode Island may seem, when the votes of the several Governments for raising men are compared, yet, if the smallness of this Government be considered, and its present circum-
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stances, the quota of men voted must be looked as many as, in reason, could be expected from this small Colony.
"Upon a fair and exact computation, the number of men in the Colony of Rhode Island, proper for bearing arms, cannot be computed to be more than three thousand; which number must be greatly les- sened within these few months past by the number of vessels fitted out and cruising against His Majesty's enemies.
"There being out of this Colony, and fitting out on that account, three ships of about twenty guns each ; one snow and four brigantines, of about sixteen guns each; and four sloops, of about twelve guns each; which are all manned from this place, and are actually out on their cruise, saving one brigantine and two sloops, now fitting out, and which, in this small Government, must necessarily greatly exhaust the number of men fit for His Majesty's service on the present occasion.
"However, this Government considered the expedition intended for the reduction of Canada, as an undertaking of the utmost conse- quence to all His Majesty's Colonies in America; and that they might be aiding and assisting as far as the strength and circumstances of this small Government would admit, cheerfully ordered three hundred able-bodied soldiers to be raised and sent to join His Majesty's land forces; and one hundred seamen in the sloop Tartar, lately in His Majesty's service, at Louisbourg, to attend on the sea force.
"As it has appeared by long and melancholy experience that the peace and welfare of His Majesty's subjects in North America can never be established as long as Canada subsists, it was with the greatest joy that His Majesty's subjects in this Colony received the news of his intentions to reduce it, and the appointment of Admiral Warren to have the chief command of the sea force, made the joy more universal; and, as in this Government, it has been a means of raising the soldiers and sailors with the greater ease; it is not doubted, but under the influence of Providence, will be of as happy consequence in the designed effect.
"Whatever directions shall be communicated respecting the forces from this Government will be received with pleasure, and put in execu- tion with all possible expedition, by, Sir,
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