Preserving Warwick's Heritage - Celebrating Its History - Gaspee - Warwick, Rhode Island - Rhode Island Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

British commander Lt. William Dudingston "...had been appointed by Admiral Montagu to monitor Rhode Island trade and stop the import of smuggled goods. However, Dudingston himself regularly overstepped the law, stopping ships without cause, delaying their passage, looting goods, and inflicting bodily harm upon the colonial sailors." (1) Fed up with his on-going harassment, locals burned his ship after it stranded on a Narragansett Bay sandbar at Namquid Point in 1772. Named for the ill-fated ship, H.M.S. Gaspee, the Gaspee Affair was one of the earliest acts of rebellion in the colonies and is celebrated annually in Warwick, RI.

The Warwick Department of Tourism, Culture and Development posted makers throughout the city. This one, in Salter Grove Park, is about three-quarter statute miles north-northwest of the site of the event, now known as Gaspee Point. This sign reads:

Preserving Warwick's Heritage
Celebrating Its History
Gaspee

The Gaspee area of Warwick was first inhabited by Narragansett Indians. In the mid-1600s, a group of white settlers, seeking religious freedom, settled in the area south of the Pawtuxet River. The area is most noted as the site of what has become known as "America's first blow for freedom." In June of 1772, the revenue schooner H.M.S. Gaspee ran aground at Namquid Point. A group of colonists, hearing of its plight, rowed out under cover of darkness, and burned the ship to the waterline. "Gaspee Days" is celebrated each June to commemorate the event. A colonial parade highlights the festivities.

(1) Brown University, "The Story of the 1772 Gaspee Affair"