USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 1 > Part 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
Jones, Rhodes Arnold, Stansbury, Hoysted Hacker, and Jonathan Pitcher. Second lieutenants-Benjamin Seabury, Joseph Olney, Elisha Warner, Thomas Weaver, and McDougall. Third lieutenants-John Fanning, Ezekiel Burroughs, and Daniel Vaughan. Here were names that were destined to shine on the honor rolls of the country, and a number of them were of Rhode Island men. Early in January, 1776, Hopkins sailed for Philadelphia on the sloop Katy, afterwards the Providenee of the Rhode Island navy, Capt. Abraham Whipple. On the voyage a small vessel and three prisoners were captured. On his arrival he found the fleet assembling in the Delaware River, eight vessels of varying tonnage having been selected from available merehantment and altered over to acommodate larger crews and piereed for heavy guns. The Blaek Prinee was chosen for flag ship; she earried twenty-four guns and was placed under command of Capt. Dudley Saltonstall, and re- named the Alfred. The remainder of the fleet consisted of the Colum- bus, formerly the Sally; the Providenee, before mentioned; the Andrea Doria, fourteen guns; the Cabot, fourteen guns, eommanded
607
THE SEA FORCE IN WAR TIME.
by the son of the commander-in-chief, John B. Hopkins; the Wasp, the Hornet, and the Fly, of eight and ten guns.
It was the intention of the Naval Committee of the Colonies that the fleet should proceed to the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., and co- operate with the land forces. The freezing of the Delaware River early in January prevented the sailing of the vessels at that time. While the eight vessels of the fleet lay among the ice floes in the river, the first flag hoisted over an American war vessel was flung to the wind on the Alfred. As Hopkins gained the deck of his flag ship, Capt. Dudley Saltonstall gave a signal, and First-Lieut. John Paul Jones hoisted a yellow silk flag bearing the motto, "Don't tread on me", with a representation of a rattlesnake. As this standard flut- tered in the cold morning air, the crowds that had assembled along the water front cheered with enthusiasm and the guns of the fleet and the artillery ashore fired a salute. On the 10th of February, 1776, the fleet was ready to sail and was in rendezvous at Cape Henlopen, and on the 17th, a favorable wind having arisen, the vessels got under weigh and before nightfall had disappeared below the horizon.
There was another naval project of importance which had been discussed by the Naval Committee and in Congress, which was without doubt a part of the plans of the commander, although the orders must have been given to him secretly. This was the capture of a large supply of gunpowder and other war munitions known to be stored on the island of Abacco, in the Bahamas. Adverse winds and storms, and the fact that the British fleet had sought safety in various Atlantic ports, caused the admiral to make his way to the Bahamas and a warmer climate. The island of Abacco is the northerly one of the Bahama group and lies about thirteen leagues northward of the island of New Providence, the objective point of the expedition. The fleet arrived at Abacco on March 1, and when discovered by the garrisons in the forts, was welcomed with the sound of guns firing an alarm; but two hundred marines were landed in boats, with fifty sailors, the latter commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Weaver, of the Cabot, who was acquainted with the island. The boats anchored at a small key about three leagues to windward of the town of Nassau, whence Hopkins dispatched the marines with the Providence and the Wasp to cover their landing. The landing of the force was made on the 3d of March, and after a slight resistance the smaller fort, between Nassau and the place of landing, was invested, the garrison withdrawing to the larger fort. Learning that only about two hundred inhabitants of the town were in Fort Nassau, and being desirous of avoid- ing bloodshed, Hopkins issued a manifesto declaring his purpose of securing the munitions and promising safety to persons and prop- erty of the people if surrender was made without resistance. This was sufficient, and the next morning a messenger came from the governor
608
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
and informed Captain Nicholas that Fort Nassau was ready for his reception. The inhabitants withdrew from the fort, leaving only Gov- ernor Montford Brown, to whom an order was sent by Hopkins de- manding the keys of the fortress; these were given up and the troops occupied the work and took possession of the stores. These were so great in quantity that Hopkins was compelled to impress a large sloop lying in the harbor, the Endeavor, to convey them home. While the stores were being shipped the Fly, which had disappeared in the storm on the second day out, joined the fleet. Her commander reported that she had got foul of the Hornet and carried away her boom and the head of her mast; in this disabled condition the Hornet made her way to the South Carolina waters. Hopkins sailed from the Bahamas on the 17th of March and turned over to the authorities munitions that were of the greatest value at that time. Moreover, on the return voyage the fleet captured the British schooner Hawk, with six guns and eight swivels, and the bomb brig Bolton, with eight guns and two howitzers, ten swivels and forty-eight men, and on the 6th of April fell in with the Glasgow, a heavily armed vessel of twenty guns and one hundred and fifty men. Then followed a sharp fight in which the Cabot and the Columbus of the fleet took the most active part. After several hours of fighting and maneuvreing Captain Howe, of the Glas- gow, escaped with his vessel and crowded on sail for Newport. For his conduct in this engagement and his success in escaping from the colonial fleet, Captain Howe was highly commended by his superiors and by English historians. On the other hand, Hopkins, Whipple, and other American officers in the fleet were censured for permitting the Glasgow to escape, thus opening a discussion which was to cause much trouble to the commander-in-chief.
Hopkins arrived in New London April 8 with his entire fleet, excepting the Hawk, one of his prizes. He prepared a full report of his voyage, which he sent to Congress, and the publication of a part of it was ordered so that the colonies might be informed of the value and prowess of the new navy. The news of the success of this voyage was received with delight throughout the colonies. In a letter of con- gratulation and instructions from John Hancock, president of the Congress, to Hopkins, dated April 17, he wrote: "Though it is to be regretted, that the Glasgow Man of War made her escape, yet as it was not thro' any Misconduct, the Praise due to you and the other officers is undoubtedly the same". Hopkins was the hero of the day. But in course of time, as knowledge of the escape of the Glasgow be- came more widely spread, and the circumstances surrounding that feature of the engagement were discussed by the people, all of the sucessful work of the commander was forgotten by the fickle public, and a feeling of bitter prejudice arose against him, which no argument could brush away. Moreover, Capt. Abraham Whipple, of the Colum-
609
THE SEA FORCE IN WAR TIME.
bus, was severely criticised by some of his brother officers for his con- duct in the fight, and demanded a court martial of Hopkins in a letter on the 30th of April. This was granted, and the court was held May 6, on board the Alfred at Providence, and the captain was promptly acquitted of the charge of miseonduct.
Captain Hazard, of the Providence, was also a subjeet of court martial for misconduet during the fight with the Glasgow, resulting in his being relieved of his eommand, and the appointment of Lieut. John Paul Jones in his stead.
Arriving at New London, Hopkins proeceded to dispose of the material captured at the Bahamas. Some of the cap- tured guns he left at New London, a number was sent to Dartmouth, Mass., and twenty-six were taken on the Cabot to Newport to be used in defense of the island. This latter action eaused much critieisni from the au- thorities in Philadelphia and was one of the contributing eauses of the later troubles of the commander of the navy. Conditions on the fleet now beeame deplorable on account of siekness among the men, and as many as two hundred and two were sent from the several vessels to temporary hospitals in New London; but Hopkins was able, through the influence of General Washington, to re- place them with one hundred and seventy men from the army, and on April 24 the fleet sailed for Rhode Island. Arriving before Providence
ONE OF THE GUNS CAPTURED BY ESEK HOPKINS AT NEW PROVIDENCE. 1 on the 28th, Hopkins proceeded
This gun is located at the corner of Main and Centre streets in the town of Fairhaven, Mass., and is one of the guns captured by the expedition to New Providence under the command of Esek Hopkins. A bronze tablet has been fixed upon it bearing this inscription:
"Taken from the British at Nassau by Colonial Ship of War Alfred-Placed
39-1
610
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
to provision his ships and put them in condition for a cruise of three or four months. While thus engaged he received a peremptory order from Washington to send the men who had just been assigned to the navy to New York. This, with the fact that more than one hundred men of the fleet were sick and unfit for duty, rendered the situation of the fleet most discouraging. On the 12th of May the commander sent the Providence, Capt. John Paul Jones, to New York with the men received from the army. In addition to this he was ordered to send to Philadelphia twenty of the guns taken by him to Rhode Island. Trouble began also among the men of the fleet over the neglect or inability of the authorities to pay the wages of the crews. Under these circumstances only two vessels, the Doria and the Cabot, could be sufficiently manned to go into service, and they sailed on the 19th of May. The fleet as a whole was practically useless ; the hands of the commander were tied. His letter to Congress at this time shows his discouragement: "I am ready to follow any Instructions that you give at all times, but am very much in doubt whether it will be in my power to keep the fleet together with any credit to myself or the officers that belong to it-Neither do I believe it can be donc without power to dismiss such officers as I find slack in their duty".
Before the fleet arrived in Narragansett Bay from New London the British fleet under Wallace had withdrawn from Newport, and for the first time in many years the Rhode Island waters were free from British war vessels. At about the same time (May 14, 1776) Hopkins was summoned before the Marine Committee to answer to a charge of breach of orders. This was the beginning of a long series of troubles and disasters from which he never recovered.
Some of the causes operating to create public feeling against Hop- kins, in addition to his share in the failure to capture the Glasgow, were his opposition to privateering, and his becoming more or less entangled with the petty jealousies among other officers of the fleet. In accordance with resolves of Congress, two ships for the fleet, the Providence and the Warren, were to be built at Providence, and work on them was carried on under direction of a committee of prominent Providence business men, while Hopkins was on the Bahama cruise. These ships were still unfinished when he returned, and he gave much attention to their completion, frequently attending the sittings of the committee. He became greatly exasperated to learn that some mem- bers of the committee were engaged in privatecring ventures and werc using their position and influence to further their private ends. Hop- kins openly accused them of malpractice and claimed that the cost of
on Fort Phoenix 1778-Recaptured by British and left on the fort Spiked, and with trunnions knocked off-After-Wards, mounted in Union Street for vil- lage Defence .- Placed here 1883."
611
THE SEA FORCE IN WAR TIME.
the two vessels was twice what it should have been, owing to "somc of the very committee that built the ships, taking the workmen and the stock to fit out their own privateers". These were grave charges and at once lost Hopkins the friendship of many of the influential men of Providence, who abandoned the management of the work on the ships and turned them over to Stephen Hopkins, then a delegate to Congress. At this time the ships were ready for sea, but without crews. There was much jealousy among the officers of the fleet, and all were clamoring for advancement and using their influence to obtain it. So strong was this influence that Hopkins strove to avoid becoming entangled in its attendant controversies by overlooking certain irregu- larities, thus weakening himself in the estimation of both his friends and opponents. It was not until the 13th of June that Hopkins and Capts. Whipple and Saltonstall were ordered to Phliadelphia to be tried for breach of orders, the command of the fleet devolving upon Capt. Nicholas Biddle, the ranking officer. He was without authority excepting on his own ship, and insubordination and confusion in the fleet was intensified in the absence of the three officers. Whipple and Saltonstall were exonerated by Congress on July 11, but it was not until the 12th of August that Hopkins appeared before Congress. The examination was made before the Marine Committee, as it was then called, whose report was read to him, after which he addressed the delegates in Congress in his own defense. The report and his answer were fully discussed, John Adams manfully taking up his defensc. On August 16 Congress passed the following resolution :
"Resolved, That the said conduct of Commodore Hopkins de- serves the censure of this house and this house does accordingly cen- sure him".
On the 19th of August Congress directed Hopkins to "repair to Rhode Island and take command of the fleet formerly put under his care". It would appear that the committee were somewhat ashamed of their judgment in the matter, mild as it was, for on the 19th of August they ordered Hopkins to dispatch four of his vessels to cruise in the neighborhood of New Foundland and operate against the fish- eries and British merchantmen. At the same time he was authorized to purchase the Hawk, one of the vessels captured by him on his way from the Bahamas, fit it up and rename it the Hopkins, and send it with the others to New Foundland, and to "hoist his broad pennant on board any of the vessels". Among the prominent officers who looked upon the action of the Marine Committee as almost a vindica- tion of the commodore was Capt. John Paul Jones, who wrote him a very flattering letter of confidence and esteem. On account of lack of available seamen, the vessels were not sent to New Foundland, Hopkins finding it difficult to get the men on account of the fitting out
612
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
of so many privateers, which offered greater indueements than the regular serviee. The failure of this expedition provoked much eriti- eism from the committee, and on the 10th of October they addressed Hopkins a letter, ordering him to take the Alfred, the Columbus, the Cabot, and the Hampden and proceed to Cape Fear, where he would find the Faleon, the Scorpion, and the Cruiser, with a number of valuable prizes under their protection, "the whole of which you will make prize of with ease". This letter arrived during the absence of Hopkins, but it was opened by his son, Capt. John B. Hopkins, who sent it to his father by special messenger. This expedition also failed to start and from the same eauses; so far as now appears, the eom- mander was powerless to aet in compliance with his orders. For this failure prejudiees and eritieism against him were greatly intensified. In the hope of carrying out the orders of the Marine Committee, Hop- kins appeared before the Rhode Island General Assembly, then in session at Kingstown, and "applied for an embargo till the Con- tinental fleet was manned". But he failed in obtaining the passage of the required aet for laek of two votes only. He was in despair, and that his difficulty was a real one is shown by the following from his letter on the subject to the Marine Committee :
"I am at a loss how we shall get the ships manned as I think near one-third of the men which have been ship'd and ree'd their monthly pay have been one way or another carried away in the pri- vateers I wish I had your orders when Ever I found any man on board the privateers giving me leave not only to take him out But all the rest of the men; that might make them more Careful of taking the men out of the service of the State".
So time dragged on, one disaster after another coming to east odium on the little navy in the sueeess of which Rhode Island had so deep and large an interest. Finally, on December 7, 1776, a British fleet of about seventy sail came into Narragansett Bay, passed around the north end of Conanieut Island and into Newport harbor. On the next day a foree of about six thousand men landed and took possession of the town. The Ameriean fleet was completely bloekaded. Exeite- ment throughout the Colony was intense. On the 10th of December Hopkins wrote from his flagship, the Warren, lying five miles below Providenee, as follows :
"Three days ago the English fleet, of about fifty-four sail of transports and sixteen sail men of war arrived in the bay and two days ago they landed, I believe, about 4000 troops, and took possession of the island of Rhode Island without opposition. The inhabitants of the town of Newport favored their operation, I believe, too much. The Militia are come in, in order to prevent the further operations. I thought it best to come up the river after the fleet was within about
613
THE SEA FORCE IN WAR TIME.
two leagues of us, with the Warren, Providence, Columbus, brigantine Hampden, and sloop Providence. The inhabitants are in daily ex- pectation of an attack on the town of Providence. I have got the ships in the best position of defence we can make them, without they were fully manned, which they are not more than half. We lay where the ships cant come up that draw much more water than we do. If we get the ships manned, shall take some favourable opportunity and attempt getting to sea with some of the ships; but at present think we are of more service here than at sea without we were manned".
The situation of Rhode Island was now alarming. The State troops were all called into service, and the fortifications which had been thrown up along the bay side were hurriedly manned; the whole State became a vast camp confronting the enemy. For nearly three years the British remained in possession of the town of Newport and the adjacent territory.
Not long afterwards an incident took place which reflected upon Hopkins and was used against him in later proccedings. On January 2, 1777, a British vessel was seen to have grounded on one of the islands opposite the Warwick shore; near here a battery of two eighteen-pound guns had been crected and a garrison established. The news was conveyed to Hopkins and he attempted to go down the river to investigate. As he was advised by a reputable pilot that the wind was so far westerly and blew so hard that he could not take his ships down, he boarded the pinnace of the Warren with twenty-two men, and went to the Providence, which lay about a mile below Field's Point, taking the pilot with him. The Providence, Captain Whipple, was fully manned and was at once got under weigh and proceeded down towards the stranded vessel. She was found to be the frigate Diamond. About a mile and a half distant, southwest by south, lay a fifty-gun ship, which could have been floated in the existing wind to the vicinity of the Diamond. Hopkins did not attempt to take his ships down to the stranded vessel, as "the Enemy's ships could have come to sail with any wind that we could and a great deal better as they lay in a wide channel and we in a very narrow and very crooked one". After going ashore at the fort, Hopkins returned to his sloop and thus describes his further movements :
"We dropped down under the ships stern a little more than a musket shot off it being then a little after sunset, we fired from the sloop a number of shot which she returned from her stern chasers; the ship careened at Dusk about as much as she would have done had she been under sail, after they had fired from the shore about twenty six shots they ceased and soon after hailed the sloop and said they wanted to speak with me. I went ashore and was informed they were out of Ammunition. I offered them powder and stuff for wads but we had no shot that would do, they sent to Providence for powder and
614
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
shot and I went aboard the sloop and sent some junk ashore for wads, soon after they hailed again from the shore and I went to see what they wanted, and gave Captain Whipple orders not to fire much more as I thought it would do but little execution it being night and eould not take good aim with the guns. When I got ashore the offieer that commanded them desired that I would let them have some bread out of the sloop which I sent the boat off for but the people not making the boat well fast while they were getting the bread she drifted away and I could not get aboard again. The ship by Lighting got off about 2 o'clock the same night".
Although this event was not considered of mueh importance in any light by Hopkins, or by the inhabitants of Providenec, it was made much of by many persons in the State and by the Marine Committee and constituted another factor in elosing the career of Esck Hopkins. During the early part of that winter the Alfred and the Cabot got to sca and succeeded in sailing around to Boston, whence they eruised independently. About this time Hopkins wrote to William Ellery, then a delegate to Congress from Rhode Island :
"We are now blocked up by the enemys fleet the officers and men are uneasy. however I shall not desert the cause but I wish with all my licart the Hon Marine Board could and would get a inan in my room that would do the Country more good than it is in my power to do, for I entered the service for its good and have no desire to keep in it to the disadvantage of the eause I am in".
The fleet never again got to sea. While individual ships per- formed serviee of great value and importance and some of their officers won lasting renown, the naval squadron which sailed proudly from Delaware Bay nearly a year before, practically ended its life in Narra- gansett Bay. No record is preserved of the fate of the Columbus, Hornet, and Fly. The Alfred was captured by the Ariadne and Ceres in 1778. The Cabot was driven ashore on the coast of Nova Scotia by the Milford in 1777 and abandoned ; she was afterwards hauled off and taken into the British navy. The Andrea Doria was burned in the Delaware in 1777 to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy. The Providence (sloop) was captured in the Penobseot in 1779. The Wasp is supposed to have been sunk in the Delaware to prevent eap- ture by the enemy. The Providence (ship) was eaptured in Charles- ton in 1780, and the Warren was burned in the Penobscot in 1779.1
Hopkins remained under suspension until January 2, 1778, when he was dismissed from the service of the United States. Notwith- standing his dismissal from the eommand of the navy, he continued to merit and receive the confidenee of his townsmen in North Providence and represented them in the General Assembly from 1777 to 1786. In 1782 he was elected one of the trustees of Rhode Island College (later 1Naval Hist., U. S., Cooper, vol. i, p. 247.
HOPKINS HOUSE, SITUATED ON ADMIRAL STREET, PROVIDENCE.
HERE LIVED ESEK HOPKINS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AMERICAN NAVY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
616
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
Brown University), which position he held at the time of his death. On the 26th of February, 1802, after severe suffering towards the end, he passed away.
There is little to add to the story of Rhode Island's eonneetion with the navy during the Revolution. In May, 1778, when it beeame necessary to send dispatches to Franee, the ship Providenee (built at Providenee, as before stated), Capt. Abraham Whipple, sailed out of Narragansett Bay on a dark and stormy night, evading the British men-of-war, and got safely to sea, passing the southern end of Pru- denee Island, where a British ship lay, and fired a broadside into her, and then kept on his eourse. The voyage to Franee was made and the Providenee returned to Boston. The other vessel built at Providence, the Warren, went out to sea before the Providenee, and in 1779 was engaged in the Penobseot expedition and was burned. Both of these vessels were offieered and manned chiefly by Rhode Island men.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.