Introduction to the
Gaspee Virtual Archives
- The Gaspee Virtual Archives is an
ongoing presentation (since 1997)
of the Gaspee Days
Committee , a civic-minded nonprofit
organization that operates many community
events in and around Pawtuxet Village,
including the famous Gaspee Days Parade each
June. These events are all designed to
commemorate the 1772 burning of the hated
British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee,
by Rhode Island patriots as America's
'First Blow for Freedom' TM
- If you've been researching a
paper on the Burning of the HMS Gaspee, or you're just fascinated by the
story, here's the website that is the Mother
of all things Gaspee.
- Reference us:
<http://www.gaspee.org > & date
visited.
- Caution students: Analysis
articles may contain 'poison pills' to
discourage plagiarism! If you don't
believe us, visit http://www.plagiarism.org/
- Note:
Articles native to the Gaspee Virtual Archives
are subject to frequent changes based on new
information as it is developed.
If you have items of interest for
our Gaspee Virtual Archives, please e-mail the Gaspee Virtual
Archives webmaster.
No homework questions, please!
- The Gaspee Virtual Archives
contains many articles at off site links....
i.e., it's not our fault if they don't load.
- All www.rootsweb.com
references need to be reindexed at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com
- The Gaspee Virtual Archives
primarily serves as a repository of
information regarding the Gaspee Affair, using
both collected information found elsewhere,
and as a think tank of new information.
Every effort has been made to present only
material that is either beyond copyright, or
to have obtained permission from the creators,
where known. THIS DOES NOT IMPLY THAT
ALL ITEMS ARE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
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You can Google search this entire Gaspee Virtual
Archives website at www.Gaspee.ORG.
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News & Events:
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Analysis of the Gaspee Event
- LONG: Buy
the Book
(Amazon.com link) -- The
Documentary
History of the Destruction of the Gaspee
-- by William R. Staples
- Hypertext version
of Staples' Gaspee , the 1990 republication as above. Not
as warm around a fireplace as the real book,
but it DOES allow text string
searches! Total of ~200 pages. (Link
courtesy of RI Publications Society, with
permission)
- Forward
--by Dr.
Patrick Conley. Includes Cover, Titles, and
Contents. (Pages i -x)
- Introduction
-- by Professor Richard M. Deasy of
Providence College. An analysis essay of
Staples, and the Gaspee Affair.
(Pages xi-liv)
- Destruction
of the Gaspee -- by
William R. Staples. (298 Kb, Pages
1-110).
- Appendix
A -- Collected documents
from Bartlett on the Gaspee. (Pages
111-128)
- Appendix
B -- Collected documents
from the RI Historical Society on the Gaspee
Affair. (Pages 129-138)
LONG: A History of
the Destruction of His Britannic Majesty's
Schooner Gaspee.... .-- by John
R. Bartlett. We dare you to quote the
whole title!
LONGEST:
The Impact
of the Gaspee Affair on the Coming of the
Revolution, 1772-1773
-- Lawrence J. DeVaro. PhD dissertation,
1973 (754
Kb, 358 pages .doc)
MEDIUM: Revolutionary
Fire: The Gaspee Incident
[50 Kb ~20 pages]. (Link courtesy of the
RI Council for the Humanities.)
MEDIUM: Sparking the Revolution
-- by
Gerald M. Carbone (Link courtesy
ProJo.com)
MEDIUM: The
Gaspee
Affair: A Study of Its Constttutional
Significance -- (81 Kb) by William
Lesl1e
MEDIUM
SHORT: The
Story of the Gaspee -- by Lewis Taft
MEDIUM
SHORT: Gaspee:
Prelude to the Revolution -- by Alex Gabbard
MEDIUM SHORT:
Conflicts That
Led Up to the Burning of the Gaspee -- by
Susan Danforth
MEDIUM SHORT:
Excerpt of the
Gaspee Affair -- by Catherine
Williams, 1839
SHORT: The
Gaspee Affair -- by John Williams Haley
SHORT:
Clergy and Press
Reaction to Gaspee's Burning
-- by Frances Segerson
SHORT:
The Destruction
of the Gaspee
and the Reasons Therefore -- by
Mrs. B. O. Wilbour
SHORTER:
The
Gaspee Affair -- by Hubert H.
Bancroft
ESSENTIAL: What's the
Importance of the Gaspee Affair?
-- by Dr. John Concannon
SHORTEST:
The
Burning
of the Gaspee -- As short as we can get it!
- Media Facts Sheet
-- The essentials for the Press.
- PowerPoint
Presentations on the Gaspee Affair
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Gaspee Testimony (More testimony to be found in Staples)
Ephraim
Bowen's
Account
Lieutenant
Dudingston's
Story
(see
original)
Statement
of
Dr. John Mawney
Deposition
of Aaron Briggs
Deposition of Daniel Vaughan
An Unsigned
Letter from a Spy to Admiral Montagu
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Reactions to the Burning of the
Gaspee:
Governor
Wanton's Reward Offer
King
George
III's Reward Offer
(see
original)
Instructions
of
King George III to the Gaspee
Commissioners
(see
original)
The
Gaspee Commissioners Report to King George
III
(see
original)
Letters
from
Massachusetts
Governor
Thomas Hutchinson
Chief
Justice Horsmanden's Report to the Earl of
Dartmouth
(see
original)
Letters
from
Samuel Adams on the Gaspee Incident
Letter from John Adams on the
Gaspee Incident
Reverend
John
Allen's Oratory on the Gaspee
Incident
London
newspaper,
July
1772
Gentleman's
Magazine, London, July 1773
Rescue
Mission
to Save John Brown
Letter
from Charles Dudley to Admiral Montagu
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Cast of Characters:
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Gaspee Backgrounds:
- Histiography
of
the Gaspee Affair -- by Steven H. Park,
PhD (may be altered from original Wikipedia
posting)
- The
Impending
Revolution-- from Charles Carroll's Rhode
Island: Three Centuries of Democracy.
(184 Kb, pages 233-272)
- History of the
State of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations (1859) -- Samuel
Green Arnold (Link courtesy
UMichigan)
- TimeLine,
America
During the Age of Revolution,
1764-1775 (Link courtesy
Library of Congress)
- Rhode
Island-centric Timeline of the Revolution.
1763-1789
- American
Affairs
1760-1783 -- A British view of the
Revolutionary era (Link courtesy of A Web
of English History)
- The
Sons of Liberty (Link
courtesy of earlyamerica.com)
- The
Result
of the Gaspee Affair: The
Committee of Correspondence
(Link courtesy of earlyamerica.com)
- Revolution
in Three Acts -- Colorful writings about Rhode
Island's role in the Revolution, including the
Gaspee affair, --by Lucia Hammond
Wheeler (1936)
- A
Naval History of the American Revolution
--by Gardner W.
Allen (Link courtesy of
americanrevolution.com)
- British
Naval Terms and Slang
(Link courtesy of hmsrichmond.org)
- Royal
Navy Articles of War -1749 (Link courtesy of hmsrichmond.org)
- Life
on
British Navy Schooner, 1768 -1772
(Link courtesy of the Sultana Projects)
- The
Maritime History Virtual Archives
(Link courtesy
of Lars Bruzelius)
- How
to
Read 18th Century British-American
Writing
(Link courtesy of DoHistory.org)
- Letter
Writing Style of 1775
(Link courtesy of hmsrichmond.org)
- Doing
Research
on the Gaspee Affair: Primary and Secondary
Bibliographic Sources (Link courtesy
of Steve H. Park, PhD at UConn)
- 18th
Century
Primary
Sources -- Links to original
documents related to Colonial and
Revolutionary America, except Gaspee,
of course! (Link courtesy Fordham
University)
- More
18th Century Primary Sources --
Mostly stale links to original documents
related to Colonial and Revolutionary America
(Link courtesy Oregon State University)
- Maritime
History
on the Internet (Link
courtesy of Peter McCracken)
- Colonial
America -- News, research, and
links to other valuable sites
(ColonialAmerica.com)
- The
Providence Plantations for 250 Years
-- William Arnold Greene (1886)
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| Gaspee
Controversies
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Miscellanea Gaspee:
- Notes
on
the
Possible Construction and Rigging of the Gaspee
-- by Jack
Silvia
- The
Gaspee Prior to 1772 --
"Better here than in Philadelphia....."
- Expeditions
to
Find
the
Gaspee--What's left....and what's left to
the imagination.
- Geological
survey of Gaspee Point, 1902 --
Gee, we didn't know what a cuspate foreland
was!
- Detailed Map of
Narragansett Bay in 1772 -- by Charles
Blaskowitz
- Brief Resume of
the Dramatic Sketch for "Revolutionary
Fire: The Gaspee Incident "
(Link courtesy of the RI Council for the
Humanities)
- Saturday
Evening
Post, August
1829 -- an amusing account of
the Gaspee Affair
- A
Night at Sabin's Inn -- by Hazel Kennedy
- A Night at
Sabin's Tavern -- by Edward Field
- Cellar
Imprisonment
of the Gaspee Crewmen-- by Hazel Kennedy
- Excerpt
from
Pictoral Field Guide to the Revolution
-- by Benson Lossing
- List
of
RI
State Archives Holdings re: the Gaspee
Affair
- False
Pathways
in
Researching
the
Gaspee Affair -- What our Gaspee
isn't!
- Info
on
the RI Historical Society Library
-- Links to their website
- Tips on
Research at Providence's Old North Burial
Ground -- by Leonard Bucklin
- Gaspee
Days
Committee History Files -- Not about the Gaspee Affair
itself, but about the Committee that
celebrates it, historical markers, and
memorabilia related to the Gaspee.
- The Gaspee
Incident in Fiction -- Fictional works that relate to the
Gaspee
- The
Joseph Bucklin Society -- a
great, complimentary web site resource on the
Gaspee Affair
- Rehoboth,
Massachusetts -- curious
connections to people that burnt the Gaspee
- George Washington
Celebrates the Gaspee -- compleat
with fireworks!
- Virginia Gazette -- links to
selected articles of famous colonial newspaper
- Newport
skirmish -- Rhode Islanders
ambush the British outside Newport, Jan, 1773
- Dudingston's
Petition to the King for Relief -- Great
drama.
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Collected Poetry about the Gaspee:
Burn
the Gaspee -- by Samuel S.
Kretman
Failures
Make
History Too -- by Jim Boren
Gaspee
Song --Attributed
to
Capt. Thomas Swan
The
Gaspee
Affair -- by Rosetta Desrosiers
Ballad
of
the Gaspee Affair -- by Robert
Archetto
The Last Cruise
of the Gaspee
-- by George L. Raymond
A Recipe for
Revolution -- author unknown
First Blow for
Freedom -- by Marjorie Clegg
Gaspee Days
-- by Ed Holden
Of Past Parts
and Unity -- by Mark Bernier
"Burn the
Gaspee!" -- by Michael J.
Moakler
"The Burning of
the Gaspee" --
Anonymous, 1800
The Burning of
the Gaspee
-- by Karen Girouard, 2008
Yankee
Privateer--Sea Chantey about
Abraham Whipple, the leader of the attack on
the Gaspee
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Teachers' Room:
- Curriculum
Aids from the Sultana Project. The Sultana is a
re-creation of a British revenue schooner
c1768 that now serves as a sailing
classroom in Chesapeake Bay. It is very similar to
the Gaspee. (All links
courtesy of Sultana Projects, Inc., all are
.pdf files)
- Sultana’s
Colonial History classroom unit,
entitled “Sea
of Change – Sultana, the Tea
Taxes and the Dawn of the American
Revolution,” is targeted towards
4-6th grade students. The unit examines
the world of pre-Revolutionary America
through the lens of the 1768 British
Royal Navy tax collecting schooner Sultana.
The unit can function as a stand alone
curriculum as well as a pre-trip primer
for students sailing on Sultana.
- Guide
to Sultana:
Written for an
adult audience, this pocket guide
contains all the information you would
ever want to know about Sultana's
history, construction, and educational
mission. The pocket guide contains
copies of the original 1768 drawings of
Sultana
and a listing of all of the 101 crew
members who served aboard her from
1768-1772.
- High
School/College Level:
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Gaspee for KIDS!
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Gaspee Graphics:
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The Gaspee Virtual Archives
is an ongoing presentation
of
the
Gaspee Days
Committee,
a civic-minded nonprofit
organization that operates many
community events in and around Pawtuxet
Village,
including the famous Gaspee Days Parade each
June.
These events are all designed to commemorate the 1772
burning of the hated
British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee,
by Rhode Island patriots as America's
'First Blow for Freedom' TM
|
 The Gaspee seal, a two-masted schooner
within a circle of 13 stars with 1772 at the
bottom,
and the motto, America's "First
Blow
for Freedom" are both registered
trademarks of the
Gaspee Days
Committee, all rights reserved.
 If you find this
website helpful, please consider:
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Sorry, but it is
impossible for us to promptly answer all
inquiries sent by e-mail. Non time-critical
e-mail may be sent to:
PLEASE NOTE: You will not receive a reply
from Gaspee.org itself (which only
receives but does not send e-mail). Any reply
will be directly from one of our members using
their own e-mail accounts from domains such as
aol.com, cox.net, or lifespan.org
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Introduction to
the Gaspee Virtual Archives
