USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. IV > Part 11
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JAMES MANNING FIRST PRESIDENT OF BROWN
Through the efforts of the Rev. James Manning, who came to Rhode Island to establish a Baptist college, a charter for the proposed seat of learning was granted by the General Assembly, and this extremely liberal instrument was signed and sealed on October 24, 1765. First called Rhode Island College and located in Warren where classes were conducted in the parsonage of the Baptist Meeting House, the Reverend Manning, also the church's pastor, launched his institution with William Rogers, the first and only student for a period of nine months. In 1766, five new students were enrolled; in 1767, four; in 1768, eight; and, in 1769, eleven. Of the twenty-nine enrolled in the first years, only eleven were Rhode Island residents, two of them coming from Newport and four from Providence. The remaining eighteen came from Con-
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UNIVERSITY HALL AND PRESIDENT'S HOUSE - FROM AN EARLY PRINT.
necticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
On the first Commencement Day, September 7, 1769, the Corporation dis- cussed the important problem of settling upon a permanent home for the college. A committee had been appointed earlier to investigate the matter. The com- mittee's report recommended Bristol County, therefore no time was lost in appointing another committee to select and buy a site, put up a building and solicit subscriptions. This vigorous action, helped no doubt by the outstanding suc- cess of the first Commencement, awakened the entire Colony of Rhode Island setting off a spirited contest. Kent County, across the Bay, asked reconsideration of the Corporation's decision to locate the institution somewhere in Bristol County. East Greenwich wanted the college and put forth such attractive lures as: "There's a post office in the town, a Quaker and Baptist meeting house, a good road free from ferries etc." Newport extended a cordial invitation, pointing out the old seaport's natural advantages, its "health and pleasantness," easy com- munication with the western and southern Colonies, scholarly Redwood Library etc. Providence, entering the wooing contest, stressed the fact that a sum of $9000 had already been subscribed, and also listed an impressive array of advantages should the
Corporation decide to give up the idea of locating its college in Bristol. The Cor- poration, hard-pressed for financial back- ing during the first few years, found itself in a buyer's market. The vote to locate in the Bristol area was rescinded, and, although the Corporation more or less decided that the establishment would be in Providence, the way was left open for more bidding and higher stakes. The contest finally narrowed down to Provi- dence and Newport, the latter taking the lead at one time. In the end, Providence won out, much to the satisfaction of President Manning, who, in 1770, with his lone faculty member, Professor How- ell, and with the student body of Rhode Island College, removed to Providence.
President Manning lived in the house of Benjamin Bowen, at the foot of Bowen Street. Mr. Howell was a bachelor and boarded. The students found accommo- dations in private families, at one dollar and a quarter a week. They studied in their rooms and, at certain hours, met in the chambers of the old brick schoolhouse near the lower end of Meeting Street. College exercises were held in the upper story. In the meantime, Providence was losing no time in making good with its promise to provide the temporarily- established student body with suitable quarters. On February 17, 1770, only a few days after the historic meeting of the
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Corporation in Warren, the local building committee headed by Stephen Hopkins, John Jenckes, and John Brown, published a notice in the Providence Gazette urging subscribers to the College Fund to arrange at once to furnish timber and other mate- rials as "said building will begin as soon as may be in the Spring." On March 26, the committee for selecting the site met at the brick schoolhouse where it was deter- mined the college edifice should be " set on the hill, opposite the home of John Jenckes, up the Presbyterian Lane, now College Street." The very next day, at the site selected, embracing approxi- mately eight acres, workmen began to dig the cellar excavation, and it can be imagined what an undertaking that must have been long before the days of bull- dozers and steam-shovels.
The first foundation stone was put in place on May 14, 1770, and soon began to rise the structure known since 1823 as University Hall, and previous to that time as merely "the college edifice." Modeled from the design of Nassau Hall at Princeton, although it is somewhat smaller and plainer, the structure is four stories high, one hundred and fifty feet long and forty-six feet wide. The middle projection is thirty-three feet wide and ten feet deep on either side. The firm of Nicholas Brown & Company, consisting
of the four Brown brothers, volunteered to assume entire charge of the construc- tion of the building, and also of the President's house nearby. Work pro- gressed rapidly, as old records of the project reveal. Various incentives to speed, such as periodic rations of rum, helped to make the chips fly, the saws hum and the bricks mount higher and higher. June 28, the first floor was laid; August 2, the second floor, and so on until October 13, when the roof was raised with the indispensable assistance of three gallons of West Indies rum. Sometime later the tiling was placed on the roof, but President Manning and his students had already established themselves in the "neat, brick building, in the neighbor- hood of Providence."
University Hall has had a long and colorful history, but the complete record will never be written. What little is known of all that has taken place behind its walls would be but a small portion of the whole narrative. Rather, the complete history of the University and the indi- vidual college career of every under- graduate on the hill, for one and three quarters of a century, belong in the biography of a structure that lives on and on, at least in the minds of all who have walked in its friendly and gracious shadow.
THE "GASPEE ROOM "
N June 9, 1772, late in the evening, there occurred what has been fre- quently characterized as "the first bold, overt, organized stroke of the Revolu- tion." It was not odd that it should have taken place in Rhode Island, that it should have been perpetrated by Rhode Islanders, or that it should have hap- pened before that other famous act of rebellion, the Boston tea party. The Colony of Rhode Island and Provi- dence Plantations had fostered true inde- pendence from the date of its founding through all the years of its growth. Civil and religious liberty had been the two bulwarks, the two main principles upon
which Roger Williams founded his doc- trine and teachings. And the colonists who absorbed these principles were a sturdy and courageous lot. Quick were they to resent all encroachments on their fundamental rights, and when the English Crown adopted its fatal policy of bullying and harassing the colonies under its pro- tection, these men of Rhode Island be- came swiftly defiant.
The story of the years before the begin- ning of the Revolution needs no repetition here. From the Stamp Act of 1763 to the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775, the tale of British oppression, steadily growing and expanding, is familiar to
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every student of American history. No cut in close when rounding Namquit (now colony escaped the heavy hand of England as it slowly squeezed out more taxes, more revenue, but Rhode Island with all its shipping felt it particularly. Up through the whole 18th century, this colony had drawn the bulk of its nourishment from its ships and trade; and when English rev- enue ships began to appear in Narra- gansett Bay, making their headquarters
THE SABIN TAVERN, FORMERLY ON SOUTH MAIN STREET, WHERE PLANS TO DESTROY THE "GASPEE" WERE CONCEIVED.
at Newport, they were received with feelings of great hostility. Shipmasters paid duties on their cargoes with ill- concealed hatred for the English collectors, and seized every possible chance to elude the revenue ships. Feeling grew tense on both sides, and actual hostilities were escaped time and again by a mere hair- breadth.
Then, on June 9, 1772, Rhode Islanders received the first opportunity for action and made the most of it. The armed Brit- ish revenue schooner, "Gaspee," com- manded by Lieutenant Dudingston, had been the object of increasing hatred ever since it had been stationed in Narra- gansett Bay in March. Proceeding to enforce the hated Sugar Act, it had been stopping and searching all vessels it could overtake, and on June 9th, had chased the sloop "Hannah" all the way up the Bay from Newport to Providence.
All are familiar with the rest of the · story, of how the captain of the "Hannah"
Gaspee) Point, luring the larger English vessel to follow his course. The "Gaspee," because of her greater draft, ran aground at the point and lay stranded all afternoon waiting for high tide to float off. Mean- while the crew of the "Hannah", had reached Providence, spread the news, and stirred the citizens to action. Under the leadership of John Brown, Abraham Whipple, and John B. Hopkins, plans were quickly made to destroy the hated vessel. "About the time of the closing of the shops," to quote from the story of Ephraim Bowen, one of the partakers in the enter- prise, "soon after sunset, a man passed along the Main street, beating a drum and informing the inhabitants that the 'Gas- pee' was ashore on Namquit Point, and would not float off until three o'clock the next morning, and inviting all who wished to go and destroy that troublesome vessel to repair in the evening to Mr. James Sabin's house."
This house had been built by Captain Woodbury Morris, but at the time was rented to James Sabin for use as a tavern. It was located on what is now South Main Street at the foot of Planet, just opposite from Fenner's Wharf. The old building is now gone, but a tablet on the side of the one now there marks the significance of the site.
When the men assembled at the Sabin house on that historic evening, some re- paired to the kitchen where they busied themselves with moulding bullets, but the greater majority assembled in the large southwest room where they gathered to- gether their weapons and listened care- fully while their leaders outlined every detail of the planned surprise attack on the "Gaspee." The preparations pro- ceeded swiftly and efficiently, and at ten o'clock the men left the tavern and went to the river's edge where eight longboats were moored in readiness. Everything went off with complete success. The rowers muffled their oars, and the little flotilla, joined by other boats from Bris- tol, crept cautiously upon the enemy ship. The patriots were finally descried through the murk and mists of the even- ing, but too late. Lieutenant Dudingston who called out to them was shot, the crew
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was overpowered and then removed from the vessel, and the hated schooner was set afire. She burned fiercely, like a great torch heralding the defiance of Rhode Is- land for all English oppression.
And then in the morning and the days afterward everyone proceeded to forget about the whole affair as far as answering any questions was concerned, and all the great rewards offered by the Crown and the Governor for the apprehension of the leaders and participants in this act of war were useless. No one talked.
Thus was the first blow against the Brit- ish Crown struck by Rhode Islanders, just as it was again Rhode Islanders who com- posed and signed their own declaration of independence two months before the other famous document was drawn up in Philadelphia.
But what of the house which played so great a part in the "Gaspee" affair? There is a great deal more to say about it. As it was originally constructed, it was a double wooden frame house, of two stories in height. There was a wide hall inside which extended completely through the house from front to rear. This was very beautiful because of its rich paneling, about four feet high. From this hallway a fine old staircase with an old-fashioned balustrade and a paneled side led to the second floor.
The owner of the house soon died, and it was sold in 1773 to Welcome Arnold, well- respected as a citizen and a patriot. For twenty-five years he lived with his family in the house, and then, after his death in 1798, his youngest son, Richard J. Arnold, took over the house as his own. In 1820, when this son married, he added an ell of brick to the house with an entrance through an archway into the "Gaspee Room." Many years afterwards he built a third story to the house and put an octagonal end on the famous south- west room. Following his death in 1873, the house became the property of two of his sons; but before long a mortgage on the house had to be foreclosed and the old historic dwelling was taken over by the Providence Institution for Savings.
This bank held the house until a suit- able purchaser could be found, but, in 1899, it was finally sold at auction to
W. R. Talbot. At this point it is inter- esting to note that Mr. Talbot had married Mary Cornelia, the third daughter of Richard J. Arnold, and because of this the house came back into the possession of one of the Arnold family.
However, only the house was bought by Mr. Talbot and it had to be removed from its site at South Main and Planet Streets. But no lot could be found to hold the house, and all plans and negotiations failed. Consequently it was decided to pull it down. Still, if the house was not saved, the famous "Gaspee Room" was.
It was detached very carefully from the rest of the structure, along with the ad- joining portion of the hallway and even the staircase itself. Placed on rollers as one unit, it was moved up and over the crest of the hill to Mr. Talbot's own home at 209 Williams Street. There it was just as carefully attached to the Talbot house, becoming an integral part of the latter. All the wainscotting and paneling from the original hallway had been studiously . saved and was used over again. A new chimney had to be built, but it was put together out of the old brick of the old chimney, and the same square tiles and hearth were used. The mantel above the fireplace was re-constructed out of timbers from the kitchen of the old house, in which the patriots had moulded bullets. Upon this mantel were cut inscriptions which told the history and significance of the room.
Thus, when all was finished, the room was indeed handsome, preserved in all its former setting. And so it remains today just as it was when the patriots gathered within it on June 9, 1772, when Samuel G. Arnold wrote his "History of Rhode Island " within its walls, and when many a traveler, coming by stage from Boston, warmed himself before its bright fire.
And now there is a last section to this story: On January 11, 1892, Mrs. Wil- liam R. Talbot organized Gaspee Chapter, D. A. R., in the historic "Gaspee Room." For quite a few years the new chapter con- tinued to convene within the "Gaspee Room," but after five years of planning by a special committee of the chapter, money was raised under a memorial
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plan of endowment, and Gaspee Chap- ter attained its ambition of buying the house with the famous shrine, the "Gaspee Room." The purchase was made on De- cember 16, 1929, but the dedication date was January 12, 1931. On this day the chapter dedicated its new home in honor of its founder, Mrs. Talbot, and a bronze
tablet with her head in relief was placed in the famous "Gaspee Room."
The house itself will be kept as perma- nent home for Gaspee D. A. R. Chapter, but the "Gaspee Room" itself will be kept in the nature of a shrine, open to the public at intervals, and, in time, will be made into a museum.
THE DECLARATION
0 NLY a few years ago did Rhode Island awaken to an appreciation of the significance of the Fourth of May in Amer- ican history. And, not so long ago, many would shamefacedly inquire why flags were displayed on that date; and when told that Rhode Island Independence Day was being celebrated, they might appear to understand, but few really did know what it was all about. It was not until 1884 that James S. Slater of Slatersville, Rhode Is- land, town clerk of Smithfield and an anti- quarian of wide repute, hung the Stars and Stripes on his porch on the morning of May 4 and proclaimed to the world that the day was a holiday to him at least, that any attention was given to the occasion. Much patient delving into dust-laden rec- ords had convinced Mr. Slater that Rhode Island had been the first American Colony to renounce allegiance to the English crown, and bred in him a determination to rescue the observance from oblivion.
Neighbors were inclined to laugh at Mr. Slater, who went right on decorating his house with bunting once a year and spread- ing propaganda through the press and by word of mouth until 1909 when a special act was passed by the General Assembly · giving State-wide recognition to the day. With the increase of interest in the observ- ance came a deluge of criticisms from out- siders who claimed that the memorable document was merely a technical thing at the most, reflecting the indignation of the Colony, but not committing Rhode Island irrevocably to the policy of open rebellion against the King. Others came forth with contentions that acts of renunciation had preceded the local action, but Mr. Slater's persistence, painstaking historical research
and logical arguments gained many sup- porters here as time passed, and when offi- cial steps were finally taken, Mr. Slater was properly and appropriately named "The Father of Rhode Island Independ- ence Day." He died in 1915.
Shortly before the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Rhode Island Army of Observation had marched to Boston and joined the American forces then encamped on Ja- maica Plains. On June 12, 1775, the same day that General Gage proclaimed a state of martial war, Governor Cooke of Rhode Island, at the request of the General As- sembly, issued a proclamation, "com- manding every man in the Colony able to bear arms to equip himself with arms and ammunition, according to law." Com- mittees were selected to take account of stock within the boundaries of the Colony ; a general check-up of arms and ammuni- tion supplies was made for the purpose of transmitting a detailed report to Congress; all supplies of saltpetre and brimstone were taken possession of and forwarded to the arsenals in New York; a lookout was established at South Kingstown overlook- ing the Bay to watch for the approach of the enemy by water; minute men were enlisted and put under military discipline; the entrance to the harbor of Providence was fortified and the famous signal beacon was erected on Prospect Hill; more troops were ordered to join the growing army in Boston; Rhode Island prepared to be in the front lines of a fight to the finish.
By autumn of the same year Newport was having more than'its share of troubles with the enemy. Captain Wallace with his fleet in and near Newport harbor contin- ually harassed the population of the sea-
VIEW OF OLD STATE HOUSE FROM NORTH MAIN STREET. HERE THE RHODE ISLAND DECLARA- TION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS SIGNED, MAY 4, 1776.
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port town with his depredations. Com- merce was upset, provisions were seized, destruction of the town was constantly threatened, many buildings were de- stroyed, and hundreds of the inhabitants had moved away. Wallace failed to carry out his threats to destroy Newport because he probably anticipated that. the town would be of vast importance in the future when the stubborn revolutionists were finally subdued and peace and submission reigned again in these pleasant dominions of the King's Colonies. Wallace proved to be a poor prognosticator but an excellent judge of a good thing when he saw it. On October 7, the enemy fleet was withdrawn from Newport, after four additional ships of war had joined the terrifying array of fighting craft. Instead of departing to distant waters, Wallace moved his com- mand to Bristol harbor where a demand was made of the stalwart inhabitants of that patriotic community. The demand was promptly refused and Wallace an- swered with a heavy bombardment that sent many of the women and children scurrying back into the country. Imme- diately thereafter a general evacuation of Newport took place; sympathizers with the enemy, called Tories, assumed the government of the town, and the place was left to mercies of the British. Many of the Newporters hastily went to the northern end of the Island of Rhode Island, taking with. them just a few personal be- longings, and many families came as far north as Providence.
At the turn of the year the General As- sembly of Rhode Island proceeded to take steps to defend Newport. From a strategic standpoint, that seaport town would have to be ridden of the enemy if the rest of the Colony were to be protected. A military force in the town and free entry into the waters of the Bay presented a serious men- ace not only to the safety of the Rhode Island Colony but also to the Continental Army then mobilizing under Washington in the vicinity of Boston. The local militia was increased in strength, fortifications were everywhere thrown up in anticipation of an expected attack. These home defense preparations, combined with the steady drain upon resources in aiding the regular army, soon found the Colony in an ex-
hausted and discouraged condition. Ap- peals for assistance were made to Con- gress, to General Washington, and to others in authority. On January 21, Governor Cooke frantically called for help with these words, "I shall only add that unless the continent defends the colony, it must be abandoned." Of course, it was more essential to concen- trate troops in the sections of the country where operations were already in progress, therefore Rhode Island went begging for reinforcements at the time, and had to be content with protection by home forces. In March, the Assembly passed an act for the purchase of "two thousand stand of good firearms, with bayonets, iron ram- rods and cartouch boxes," for use among the militia-men, and another act was passed at the same time for "encouraging the fixing out, and authorizing armed vessels, to defend the seacoast of America, and for erecting a court to try and con- demn all vessels that shall be found infest- ing the same."
Rhode Island was in the forefront of preparations for war, but the Colony's greatest distinction in the cause of liberty and justice came when a solemn and deter- mined group met in the Old State House in Providence (still standing between Benefit and North Main Streets) and re- nounced, in certain and straightforward language, any and all allegiance to Great Britain. Rhode Island's Declaration of Independence was signed on May 4, 1776, after a formal statute had been drawn and approved with but six dissenting votes. Independence had been talked of in the Colonies for many months, popular senti- ment for it had been growing here, there and everywhere, but it remained for Rhode Island to be the first to act, the first to go on record with signatures affixed, despite the fact that this Colony was in immediate danger from an enemy near at hand.
By this legislative act it was voted to instruct the two Rhode Island Congres- sional delegates, Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery, to place the Colony on the side of independence. They were told, by virtue of the action taken, to take their stand along with the other Colonies, for a separation from Great Britain whenever
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Congress believed that the separation should be declared to the world. These instructions communicated by Governor Cooke left no doubt in anyone's mind as to the sentiment of those who represented the people in this Colony. They read thus: "Youareauthorized and empowered to consult and advise with the delegates of the said colonies, in Congress, upon the most proper measures for promoting and confirming the strictest union between the said United Colonies, for exerting their whole strength and force to annoy the common enemy, and to secure to the said colonies their rights and liberties, both civil and religious; whether by entering into treaties with any prince, state or potentate; or by such other prudent and effectual ways and means as shall be devised and agreed upon."
Another significant phase of the action taken by the Assembly on that momen- tous day was the general elimination of all references to "His Royal Majesty" on court papers, documents and official orders. Everything heretofore issued in the name of the King was thereafter issued in the name of "The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Rhode Island still called herself a Colony, but she was then doing business in her own name. Some historians claimed that the word "independence " did not appear anywhere in the sentiments of the legislature, there- fore it should not rightly be called in any sense a "Declaration of Independence." The word may not have been used but the intention was there. The action taken repealed an existing act entitled "An act, for the more effectually securing to his Majesty the allegiance of his subjects in
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