USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. IV > Part 13
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they had in those days for ticker-tape showers, banquets, receptions and hand- ing over of the keys to the city, and Louis XVI presented him with a gold-hilted sword, together with the decoration, Military Order of Merit. Then came more disappointments and disillusionments. He came back to America only to find polit- ical opposition to his further employment as a naval commander. Later he went to Paris as agent for all prizes taken in Europe under his own command, and it was not until 1786 that Congress received a favorable report as to his naval serv- ices, followed by a vote of a gold medal from that body. Two years later he entered the service of Empress Catherine of Russia, and became as enthusiastic a Russian as he had been an American. He was appointed to a command in the Black Sea with the rank of rear-admiral, to fight the Turks, but, as in America, the jealousy and rivalry of the Russian com- manders brought about his recall in less than eight months. Summoned to what was then St. Petersburg, on pretext of receiving a post in the North Sea, he was left in restless idleness, until, at last, two years formal leave of absence was granted him. This virtually amounted to a dis- missal, so this born fighter, this spec- tacular, action-hungry master of maritime combat returned to Paris, soured, dis- couraged and disappointed, and after two years of fruitless petitioning of the Russian court he died on July 18, 1792.
Any history of his exploits written at the time would have been a shameful underestimation of the man's place of eminence among naval heroes of all time. Now, thanks to patient research and long-range evaluation, the truth is known, the facts about him have fallen into their final and correct pattern of relativity. Paul Henri Herron made a wise prophecy of what would someday be thought of John Paul Jones, when he said at the latter's funeral in Paris, on July 20, 1792, "the fame of the brave outlives him; his portion is immortality." What about Jones and Rhode Island?
The greatest amount of pressure in favor of a sea force, when none existed at the outbreak of the Revolution, came from the Colony of Rhode Island.
Stephen Hopkins of Providence led the Navy Plan advocates in Continental Congress, and when that body finally voted an appropriation to fit out a tiny fleet of converted fighting ships, Esek Hopkins, brother of Stephen, was ap- pointed its first Commander-in-Chief. When the first fleet of the American Navy embarked from Philadelphia on its first cruise early in January, 1776, the chief of first lieutenants on board the flagship "Alfred" was John Paul Jones. The story of that first cruise, or expedition, to New Providence in the Bahamas has oft been told, and it adds little to American naval renown, although the ships did reach their objective and much needed stores and ammunition were captured, brought back and put to good use. This first cruise might have gone down in history as singularly important and suc- cessful had not the fleet, practically home, encountered a little difficulty with a powerful British ship "The Glasgow" that came out from Newport to investi- gate strange sails somewhere in the vicinity of Block Island. The engage- ment that followed brought little fame for Hopkins and for some of his captains. In fact, what happened brought trouble upon the heads of several officers who promptly found themselves on trial, seeking alibis and explanations for strange conduct during their first test of battle on the high seas. Lieutenant Jones came through with a clean record, and with highest praise for his strategy and daring, when the "Alfred" matched fire with the much larger "Glasgow." Captain Hazard of the sloop "Providence" lost his com- mand when the trials were completed, and, not many days passed before Com- modore Hopkins informally noted on the back of Lieutenant Jones' commission that the latter had been advanced to the rank of Captain, in command of the armed sloop "Providence," the first real fighting ship of the American Navy.
Captain John Paul Jones' first impor- tant duty was to carry, from Providence to New York, about one hundred soldiers whom General Washington had loaned to Commodore Hopkins for a special purpose. He made the hazardous journey without incident, as we say. Other serv-
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ices which he then performed with the sloop "Providence" as a convoy were likewise without loss, although British ships were at every point off Rhode Island and New York. Among these quick dashes and dodges on one mission or another, Jones outwitted and outsailed the British frigate "Cerberus" of 32 guns somewhere off Rhode Island shores, be- sides helping to effect the escape of a San Domingo merchantman loaded with naval stores consigned to the Colonies. Then, he convoyed a coal fleet from Boston to Philadelphia, where his arrival on August 1, 1776, at the Delaware Capes was with- out loss after eluding ships of war under Lord Howe bound from England and Canada for New York.
But, Jones was not destined for a career of blockade running and convoying - he wanted action, the sooner the better. Fast and trim, the "Providence" with twelve four-pounders and seventy men, including many native Rhode Islanders, Jones cleared the Delaware Capes on August 21 bound upon the first inde- pendent cruise of her captain. In the vicinity of Bermuda, he overhauled and took three prizes, proving both the mettle of his ship and skill. Then followed a brush with a twenty-six gun English frigate, the "Soleby," and the record of that encounter reminds one of the tale of David and Goliath, except that, in this case, the giant got away. After cruising for several weeks in southern latitudes, Jones squared away to the north for some port of Nova Scotia with the pros- pect of replenishing the ship's supplies and destroying the English shipping in that region.
After weathering a severe storm, the "Providence " sailed between Sable Island and Nova Scotia, meeting there the ship "Milford." "I hove to," related Jones with ridicule, "to give my people an opportunity of taking fish, when the frigate came in sight directly to wind-
ward, and was so good-natured as to save me the trouble of chasing him, by bearing down, the instant he discovered us. When he came within cannon shot, I made sail to try his speed. Quartering and finding I had the advantage, I shortened sail to give him a wild goose chase, and tempt him to throw away powder and shot. Accordingly, a curious mock engagement was maintained be- tween us, for eight hours, until night with her sable curtains, put an end to this famous exploit of English knight- errantry. He excited my contempt so much by his continued firing, at more than twice the proper distance, that when he rounded to, to give his broadside, I ordered my marine officer to return the salute with only a single musket." With the crew in high spirits over this kind of deep sea humor - a cap pistol fired back at a frigate broadside - Jones turned his attention to business at hand, and business soon amounted to one schooner burned, another sunk, and the third, a prize.
From Canso, the "Providence" pro- ceeded to Madame where, it was learned, nine vessels were anchored in its two harbors. With the aid of well-manned long boats and the sheltering fire of the sloop, Jones took all of these ships he wanted, leaving those not selected for the stranded crews to sail home to England, in exchange for rigging and other supplies. At last, with regret that his diminished and ill-clad crew, the stormy and cold weather, and the battle-battered sloop did not permit further raids in that vicinity, Jones shaped his course home- ward and arrived on October 7, 1776, safely. Where? Narragansett Bay, the start and finish of the first chapter in the life story of John Paul Jones as the com- manding officer of a fighting ship, and quite appropriately, the ship which he so expertly sailed, and, with which he made undying American naval history, was named the "Providence."
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SOLOMON DROWNE
S OLOMON DROWNE lived a long, fruitful, interesting, adventurous and happy life. To tell his life story would require considerably more space than is provided for what is now to be related, but, Solomon Drowne experienced and ob- served so many varieties of human experience during his eighty-one years upon this earth, that it is quite possible to start at any point in his career and find something about him worth the telling. However, before relating a cer- tain incident in the life of this Rhode Island immortal, it might be well to out- line, briefly, the high-points of his life.
The first Drowne in America, Leonard Drowne, left England after the accession of Charles II and settled at Kittery, Maine, where he was engaged in ship- building until he was driven away by the Indian wars. His son, Solomon, was born in 1681 and settled in Bristol, Rhode Island, where he, like his father, was engaged as a ship-builder. His son, Solo- mon Drowne was born in 1706, and became prominent in Providence as a merchant and statesman. The latter's second wife, Mercy Tillinghast Arnold, a grand-daughter of Pardon Tillinghast, became the mother of still another Solomon Drowne who was born in Provi- dence, March 11, 1753, and this is the Solomon of whom much has been written, and of whom much more should be written.
He graduated from Rhode Island College (Brown) in the Class of 1773, and after completing his medical studies in the University of Pennsylvania and at Dartmouth College he entered the Con- tinental Army as a Surgeon. He served under Dr. John Morgan, Director Gen- eral of Hospitals in New York at the time when the British occupied Man- hattan, and for several years thereafter experienced war service in military hospi- tals in Rhode Island. He was on duty at the time of the Battle of Rhode Island, and, no doubt his scalpels, knives, needles, apothecary scales and pill bottles saved many a life and eased many a pain, during
and after that hotly-fought engagement. During the stay of Count de Rocham- beau's Army at Newport and Providence, Surgeon, or, Dr. Drowne labored heroi- cally among the deathly-ill French sol- diers quartered in University Hall and on Popasquash Point, across Bristol Harbor, and many of the friendships made among the officers and surgeons of the French Army on these shores were retained throughout his life, through correspond- ence. A field surgeon's kit, owned and used by Dr. Drowne during the Revolu- tionary War is now on exhibition in the museum at Fort Ticonderoga, New York, and it includes, not only a wide range of bottled herbs and drugs, surgical knives and saws, thread for sutures, scales, splints, and pills, but also, a small section of a human skull, his souvenir of a tre- panning operation upon some patriot who may have had his head in the way of a brandishing British musket butt. Wooden splints for fractures, relics of Dr. Drowne's practise during the War, are also preserved in the museum of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
After the struggle for Independence in America, Dr. Drowne practised medicine in Providence, and, in 1783, he was elected to the Board of Fellows of Brown. Soon thereafter he journeyed to Europe and visited the Hospitals and Medical Schools of London, Paris and Holland, attending lectures by and making the acquaintance of the great leaders of his profession. While in France, he was often the guest of Benjamin Franklin, and, too, of Thomas Jefferson, then visiting Paris. When he returned to America, in 1788, he visited the West and took part in the settlement of Marietta, participating with General St. Clair and others in the treaties with the Indian chieftains.
Then followed a resumption of his medical practise in Providence, but because of poor health he moved to Virginia, where he had the honor of meeting President Washington at Mount Vernon. From Virginia he moved to Pennsylvania, residing there for seven
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years. In 1801, he retraced his steps to Rhode Island, and a little later settled in Foster, adjoining the estate of his former college chum, and his life-long friend, the Honorable Theodore Foster, first Senator from this State to Congress. In Foster, he resided until his death in 1834, devot- ing himself to professional duties, to his extensive botanical garden and to his scientific, classical, and literary studies. In 1811, he was appointed Professor of Materia Medica and Botany at Brown, and in 1819, the year of the founding of the Providence Institution for savings, Dr. Drowne was elected by the Rhode Island Medical Society as a delegate to the Convention which, formed the Na- tional Pharmacopoeia. He took an active part in the organization and proceedings of the Rhode Island Society of Domestic Industry; he wrote poetry, published a comprehensive and valuable work on husbandry and gardening; taught, lec- tured, experimented, contributed to sci- entific and literary publications, eulo- gized his friend Washington and aided in the cause of the Greeks. He lived as we said in the introduction to this brief biographical account, "a long fruitful, interesting, adventurous and happy life." His fine old home is still standing at what he and his neighbor-friend Senator Fos- ter called Mount Hygeia, after the Greek goddess of health. One may see this house, on the left of Mt. Hygeia Road, running south from Route 101, just a mile or two from the Connecticut Border.
Gone are the gardens, the trees, the tilled soil, the stock, the farm buildings, the rare specimens of plants and flowers, the quaint mounds and sylvan bowers, once loved, by a remarkable man, gone too, is his neighbor's home, and the little building that once housed the latter's law office, up the road, but, Dr. Drowne left behind too many reminders of his human understanding, too many tangible evidences of his knowledge of nature and of men, for oblivion that threatens the lives of all. The story of Dr. Solomon Drowne, surgeon in the Revolution, is simply awaiting the in- spired pen of his biographer.
In October of the year 1780, a few months after the arrival of the French
allies in Newport, for some reason not yet explained, Dr. Solomon Drowne shipped out of Providence on board the private sloop of war, "Hope," as a ship's surgeon. The purpose of the cruise was to aid in the protection of American shores. The sloop of war "Hope " carried seven guns and was commanded by a Captain Munro. She left the waters of the upper Bay in drizzly, dirty weather (so the cruise journal reads) and after the usual glasses of good wishes with the owner and others on board for the fare- wells, the "Hope" sailed down the Bay and anchored for the night between Dutch and Conanicut Islands. No sooner had the sloop proceeded into the open sea the next morning, then Ship's Surgeon Drowne began to experience sea-sickness, and he was not alone in this depressing state. Three days of terrific gales caused considerable damage, no little conster- nation among the crew, and prompted the doctor to observe that "They who- go down to the sea in ships, do indeed see the wonders of the Lord in the deep." The weather cleared on October 8th, and the following day several whales of the spermaceti type were seen sporting about "in the expanded ocean for the wide scene of their happiness," so the Doctor noted.
A sail was "cried" (nautically speak- ing) about noon on the 11th, and soon thereafter, another, but, neither offered chance for prize, nor threatened danger, for one ship was a sloop, the "Randolph," Captain Fosdick, from New London, and the other an English brig, with a cargo valued at £20,000, taken that morning by the "Randolph."
The "Hope" pursued two English ves- sels on the 12th but failed to catch them, and had the same ill luck with a fast sailing sloop the next day. On October 14th, a Herring Hog was caught providing a fine breakfast and dinner for the entire crew, and Herring Hog is just an obsolete name for a porpoise. Good fortune crossed the bows of the "Hope" on the 15th, a snow (a two-masted square-rigger with round tops and no try-sail), 40 days out of Jamaica, bound for New York and commanded by Captain William Small. She was taken without a fight, and it
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may be interesting to describe the con- tents of her hold : 149 puncheons, 23 hogs- heads, 3 quarter casks and 9 barrels of rum, and 20 hogsheads of muscovado sugar. Two prize masters and ten men were sent aboard the captured English vessel, whose crew was transferred to the "Hope," and the latter, with the prize in tow headed for Egg Harbour.
Stormy weather changed this plan, and also made it necessary to cast off the prize and let the crew sail her. Lookout was kept on the 19th for some sign of Nan- tucket or Martha's Vineyard, but after hours of sailing, it was a question whether the "Hope " with her prize following not far behind, were east of Nantucket, between Martha's Vineyard and Block Island, or in the vicinity of Montauk Point. Clearing weather and good fortune finally revealed the whereabouts of the "Hope" - she was not far from the lonely island called No Man's Land, to the south of Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard. By 10 : 00 P.M. on Saturday, October 21st, Sakonnet Point had been left astern and
the "Hope " was making good time up the river. Bristol Ferry was passed about noon the next day, with the aid of oars, there being much fog and no wind, and toward dusk, Surgeon Drowne, Captain Munro and a few of the crew attempted to go the rest of the way up to Providence in a longboat. This attempt had to be abandoned for the night, because of weather conditions, but the next morning, the same group set off in the small boat, and finally made Providence, after mis- taking Nayatt Point for Conimicut Point in the fog.
The "Hope" and the captured snow arrived in Providence at sunset, each firing 13 cannon shots, signifying the conclusion of a successful cruise by an American ship-of-war. This was not the most important or exciting naval expedi- tion in local history, but it did add con- siderably to the wealth of experience enjoyed by Dr. Solomon Drowne, who probably knew more about the world and living things thereon, than any other Rhode Islander of all times.
THE FIRST BAPTIST MEETING HOUSE
T THE closing lines of Keats's immortal, matchless "Ode on a Grecian Urn" read :
When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty" - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
How many times, how many ways have we made the same observation, perhaps far less poetically, when struck by the immortality of something inanimate? Often do we ask what "leaf-fringed leg- ends haunt a lovely old homestead, an ivy covered ruin, some proud pile fash- ioned by men whose tools have long since worn and rusted away." Time and time again do we seek to reanimate the dead in places that have survived the march of
generations; most of us see spirits above hallowed ground, few of us fail to feel the spiritual presence of human predecessors when standing where once great deeds were wrought, inspired words uttered, hard battles won, sacrifices made. Can one who knows the story and who remembers the old Mansion House before its destruc- tion not picture President Washington coming through the door surrounded by bright-eyed, chattering students who had induced the distinguished visitor to climb the nearby hill and see their college build- ing? And who can wander through the lower chambers of old University Hall at Brown and not see visions of sea-weary, ill Frenchmen singing songs of home, talk- ing of home, amusing themselves here in this strange land they had come from afar to defend? In the imaginations of many, Edgar Allan Poe continues to seek relief from the summer's heat beneath the giant elms of old Benefit Street - the shrieks
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and groans of dying men and the cries of terrified children still echo through the tall trees of the frozen swamp in Kingston where once a race of people made its final, unsuccessful defence of lands, liberty and life.
For those whose imaginations can re- construct in mental pictures that which has gone before, young Gilbert Stuart still plays childhood games around his father's ancient snuff mill on the banks of the winding Pettaquamscutt River; the dull red glow of the burning "Gaspee" oft- times brightens the sky down the Bay near Namquit Point; John Brown sits at his richly carved desk in his magnificent Power Street mansion and goes right on signing papers, sending his tall-masted merchantmen to the faraway East Indies; the smoke still curls from the brick chim- neys, long since gone, of Bristol and New- port distilleries, and heavily laden brigs beat around Point Judith completing one leg of the vicious triangle bringing mo- lasses to Rhode Island, rum to Africa, and slaves to the West Indies. Phantom farmers and shopkeepers learn to march and carry arms on dusty fields behind noisy taverns; silks and satins, buckles and buttons flash in the candle light of Newport Assembly rooms where toes are light, the music enchanting, manners formal and conversation gay.
There is hardly a place, scarcely a spot in this land of history and precious tradi- tions where you cannot, if you will, call back from the shadows, people, like our- selves, whose destinies, ambitions, emo- tions, joys and tragedies were common to our own life's experiences. They made history; our generation is today making history. The spans of understanding that bridge across all generations are not alone the printed interpretations of successive historians, but the surviving inanimate objects like the Grecian Urn mused upon by the poet, things of beauty, things of antiquity, speechless examples of handi- work that survive man's allotted time, stirring our imaginations, constantly re- minding us of men and events the passing of time does not seem to erase from memory.
Rhode Island has many "Grecian Urns," some are beautiful, some rare,
some just priceless because of age or his- torical association. Among the many Rhode Island landmarks that remain among us as symbols of human expe- rience, symbols of a people's courage, faith, ingenuity, appreciation for beauty, sor- rows, joys, hopes and greatness is the most familiar landmark in the City of Provi- dence - The First Baptist Meeting House, generally regarded as the most perfect specimen of colonial church archi- tecture standing today. This is all the more interesting when one realizes that the First Baptist Church, is the oldest church of any denomination in the State and the oldest Baptist Church in America. The famous church building was erected in 1775 but the history of the religious group that built it goes right back to the very beginnings of the colony that is today the State of Rhode Island.
The early history of Baptists is very obscure, but there were many in Europe who professed their beliefs at the begin- ning of the sixteenth century. A century later the severe laws against the Puritans in England led many dissenters to emi- grate to Holland. Some of these were Baptists, and an English Baptist Church was formed in Amsterdam about the year 1609. Thereafter English settlers in all parts of the world carried with them the principles and practices of the Baptists, but no attempt was made to establish the faith in America until Roger Williams had been driven from Massachusetts for deny- ing the power of civil magistrates in mat- ters of religion. As we all well know, Roger Williams established his settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay in 1636, offering, for the first time in world history, all men "distressed of conscience," the priceless privileges of full and complete soul liberty without a single reservation in respect to race, color or creed.
There was no church organization among the first settlers of Providence although religion was the central interest of Roger Williams and his earliest associates. Most of the founders had been members of the Church in Salem and evidently continued to regard their leader as their minister because they frequently met in the home of Roger Williams for worship. Organized church fellowship came in 1638, three cen-
Courtesy, F. G. Spencer, Jr.
THE FIRST BAPTIST MEETING HOUSE.
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turies ago, soon after the wilderness had been cleared, homes built, farms laid out, and after the pioneer Providence settlers had found their religious convictions suffi- ciently matured to demand expression in accepted views, beliefs, rites and practices. In the absence of any person baptized according to Baptist convictions, Ezekiel Holliman, one of the first settlers, was elected to baptize Roger Williams, and then he, in turn, baptized Mr. Holliman and several others. Then twelve or more persons constituted the Church and Roger Williams was the first pastor. With- in a few months, it is believed, he left the pioneer church organization because he desired to be a free thinker, a seeker. Ac- cording to authorities, Roger Williams believed that there was no regularly con- stituted church on earth, nor any person authorized to administer any church ordinance, nor would there be, until new apostles should be sent by the Great Head of the church, for whose coming he was seeking. Regardless of the loss of the cen- tral figure in the Providence experiment as a denominational leader, the First Baptist Church in America remained in existence, growing very slowly during the remainder of the seventeenth century.
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