Gaspee Virtual Archives |
| Admiral Esek Hopkins (1718-1802) The Gaspee Days Committee at www.gaspee.COM is 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 burning of the hated British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee, by Rhode Island patriots in 1772 as America's 'First Blow for Freedom'®. Our historical research center, the Gaspee Virtual Archives at www.gaspee.ORG , has presented these research notes as an attempt to gather further information on one who has been suspected in, or being associated with, the burning of the Gaspee. Please e-mail your comments or further questions to webmaster@gaspee.org. |
| Evidence
to indict Esek Hopkins: From the Washington Post, Sunday April 14, 1907, page 3: "Earliest of Sea Fighters: The First Captain Ever Appointed in the US Navy (a short biography of Esek Hopkins): Certain townsmen
of Providence made
a daring attack on the British war vessel
Gaspee, which
vessel had been in the
habit of
boarding and examining all examining all incoming and
outgoing vessels. They
caught the Gaspee
when she was
aground, boarded
and fired her. She
was burned to the
water's edge. Amont
the boarders were
the personal friends
of Hopkins, which,
fact leaked out afterwards, and it was understood that
Hopkins was among
them.
Now, granted, the Washington Post is a newspaper with a fairly good reputation through the years, but we feel that the comment that "...it was understood that [Esek] Hopkins was among them" is not a terribly strong argument that he did, in fact, participate in the burning of the Gaspee. After all, his son, John B. Hopkins, was known definitively to have been on the raid, and was prominently cited as having been a commander of one of the attacking boats by eyewitnesses. Had Ezek Hopkins been directly involved, it seems a man of such community standing would have surely been mentioned by one of the several eyewitness accounts. On the other hand, as an editorial policy, the Gaspee Virtual Archives will respect the identification of any attacker made by a reputable source of history. We have discovered no evidence that refutes the claim, as weak as it may be. |
|
From:
An Historical Sketch of The Town of Scituate, R.I.;
Part
2 Esek, soon after the death of his
father in
the
summer of 1738, a stout, tall and handsome young man, then in the
twentieth
year of his age, bid adieu to the old homestead and journeyed to
Providence
and became a sailor, soon rising to the position of Captain. He
married
when he was twenty-five years of age, Miss Desire Burroughs, daughter
of
Mr. Ezekiel Burroughs, of Newport, and took up his residence
there.
His conspicuous services in the war of the revolution, as the first
commodore
of the navy are well known. His fleet, consisting of the ships Alfred,
Capt. Dudley Saltonstall, and the Columbus, Capt. Whipple, the
brig
Andrew Doria, Capt. Nicholas Biddle, and the Cabot, Capt.
John
B. Hopkins, son of Esek, and the sloops Providence, Fly, Hornet and
Wasp, put out to sea Feb. 17, 1776, with a smart north-east wind, and
cruising
among the Bahaman Islands, captured the forts at New Providence,
Nassau.
This was a very fortunate affair, for the heavy ordinance and stores
taken
proved quite acceptable to the country. He captured two British armed
vessels
on his return. During King George's War of 1743 to 1748 and the French and Indian War of 1754 to 1763, Esek Hopkins was heavily involved in privateering against the both the Spanish and French merchant fleets. and he steadily gained experience, wealth, and reknown for his captures on the high seas. Esek Hopkins is one of the subjects of an early American painting (1755) by John Greenwood entitled "Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam", one of the originals of "Dogs Playing Poker" genre. Surinam (Suriname) was a Dutch colony on the North coast of South America known for its slave plantations. It was a predominant trading destination for Rhode Island merchants during the 18th century who exchanged lumber, horses, rum, and African slaves for sugar, coffee, and cocoa in what is known as the Triangular Trade. Esek Hopkins was a mariner who often sailed for the Brown family, and commanded the disasterous slave trading voyage of the Sally in 1764, during which most of his cargo of 140 African slaves died. Details of the voyage of the Sally, as well as original source documents, and more information about Rhode Island's involvement in slavery are found at Brown University's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice.  Right: Detail
inset from Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam (c1752-1758) by John
Greenwood
(1727-1792) courtesy St. Louis Art Museum. Left
to right at table: Nicholas Cooke,
Esek Hopkins, Stephen Hopkins
(asleep), and
Joseph Wanton. Click to view entire image. There is some
controversy as to whether this man in red was actually Stephen Hopkins,
as per the said tradition of the original owners of the painting, the
Jenckes family. Brown University professor Robert Kenney believed that
this man must have been Esek and Stephen's other brother, William,
since Stephen was at the time running for
re-election as Governor, and tied up in court in
Worcester MA while suing his arch rival Samuel Ward for slander.After the colonial wars Ezek, along with his equally famous brother Stephen Hopkins, bought a store in Providence that led to a successful and profitable career in a mercatile and ship-building partnership. Per the 1770 List of Providence Taxpayers, Esek Hopkins owned two properties, and his brother Stephen Hopkins, as well as a Christopher Hopkins and a Rufus Hopkins. This Rufus was probably the Rufus Hopkins (c1726-1809) that was the son of Stephen Hopkins, but we have no idea who Christopher Hopkins was. We do not hear much about the whereabouts of Ezek Hopkins along the time of the burning of the Gaspee in 1772. His home was actually 25 miles south in Newport where he and his wife Desiree Burroughs Hopkins had nine children. But as a close associate of John Brown and his brothers, he had plenty of reason to have been in Providence on the night of June 9th. As the dark clouds of impending war further settled on the region, as early as May, 1773, the Rhode Island Assembly ordered gun platforms to be installed in the fort protecting Newport under the directions of John Jepson and Captain Esek Hopkins. Later, the Legislature thought better of reinforcing the defences of exposed Newport and withdrew all the cannon to defend Providence in 1774. On October 4, 1775 the RI Assembly appointed Esek Hopkins as overall commander of Rhode Island militia forces, and conferred on him the rank of brigader-general. While at Congress, Esek's younger brother Stephen Hopkins served on the committees that prepared the Articles of Confederation. Stephen's' knowledge of the shipping business made him particularly useful as a member of the Naval Committee. He persuaded the Congress in 1775 to outfit 13 armed vessels and to commission them as the Navy of the united colonies. He also saw to it that Rhode Island received a contract to out fit two of these, and appointed his brother Esek Hopkins as its commander-in-chief on November 5, 1775. From: Lucia Hammond Wheeler writing in Revolution In Three Acts One morning in February, 1776, it sailed past the Capes of the Delaware with Hopkins' flagship, the Alfred, (formerly the Black Prince) flying the yellow-and-black rattlesnake flag "Don't tread on me!" Hopkins was under secret orders to proceed to the island of Abacco in the Bahamas and capture a large supply of gunpowder and other war munitions stored there. The fleet arrived off Abacco on March 1 - and then and there Hopkins gave the time-honored phrase, "The Marines have landed," a start in life, for he sent 200 of them ashore and shortly alter captured Fort Nassau and the supplies. On the way home the little fleet took two prizes and let a third, the Glasgow, a heavily-armed vessel, get away. Hopkins arrived in New London April 8 with the sorely-needed munitions, having carried out a daring exploit which earned him the thanks of Congress. All this might be expected to presage a brilliant career but it didn't. Hopkins had an almost unexampled run of bad luck. He was court-marshaled for misconduct in allowing the Glasgow to escape and though he was acquitted the incident didn't help him any. Congress didn't approve of his act in donating Newport 26 captured guns to be used in defending the city against the then-expected British. Sickness whittled down his crews; Washington sent him 200 men and then took them away from him. The sailors didn't get: their pay and expressed themselves on the point with nautical force and fluency. On May 14 Hopkins was up before the Marine Committee to answer to a charge of breach of orders. He was tried Aug. 12 and censured by Congress, which then sent him to Newfoundland to operate against the fisheries and British merchantmen. Privateering was rampant then and he couldn't get crews. The fleet didn't sail. They ordered him to Cape Fear. Again he was unable to get men to man his ships. The sailors of New England were all at sea reaping a rich harvest of prize money. There is no more tragic figure than Esek Hopkins, commanding a fleet which couldn't sail because the seafaring population of New England had turned to legalized piracy. Privateering was the most profitable form of patriotism then extant and everybody was going in for it enthusiastically, with a yo-heave-ho and a letter-of-marque. The British fleet bottled Hopkins and his fleet up in Providence harbor in December, 1776. Even a blockade didn't end Hopkins troubles. He got in trouble because he didn't go after the Diamond when that British ship went aground on an island off the Warwick shore. Wrote Hopkins to William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence and 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 heart the Hon. Marine Board could and would get a man 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 cause I am in." A manly letter - and a
heartbroken one. Hopkins was dismissed
from
the
service of the United States on January 2, 1778, an action for which
Congress
ought to have been kicked.
Field, Edward. Esek Hopkins, Commander and Chief of The Continental Navy... Providence: The Preston & Rounds Co. 1898. Page 172 (on-line in Google Books) . Cooper, James Fenimore. History of the Navy of the United States of America. New York: Stringer & Townsend, 1856. Page 32. (on-line in Google Books). In January 2012 we received an e-mail from Nanci Kendall who is doing research at the Gilder Lehrman Collection. According to a letter written to his wife by the illustrious hero Henry Knox in April 1776, Esek Hopkins was prone to a profane streak: I have been on board
(with) Admiral Hopkins - and I’ve been in Company with
his Gallant son who was wounded in the engagement with the Glasgow - the admiral is an
Antiquated figure, he brought to my mind Van Tromp the famous Dutch
admiral - Tho’ antiquated in figure he is Shrew’d & sensible [2] I
who you think am not a little enthusiastic [struck: as you think]
should have taken him for an Angell only he swore now & then which
to be sure is not angelic, his Son Capt John Hopkins
is a sensible genteel man about 30 Years old and who will one day (if
he don’t get kill’d) make a most formidable figure in American History
from: http://www.famousamericans.net/esekhopkins/HOPKINS, Esek, naval officer, born in Scituate, Rhode Island, in 1718; died in North Providence, Rhode Island, 26 February, 1802. When the Revolutionary war began he was commissioned by General Francis Cook as brigadier-general, and in December, 1775, he was commissioned by the Continental congress commander-in-chief of the navy, and was officially addressed by Washington as "Admiral Hopkins." In February, 1776, he put to sea with the first squadron that was sent out by the colonies, consisting of four ships and three sloop. The fleet sailed for the Bahamas, and captured the forts at New Providence, with eighty cannon and a large quantity of ordnance stores and ammunition. On his return off Block island, he took the British schooner "Hawke" and the bomb-brig "Bolton," and was complimented officially by the president of congress for this success. Two days afterward he attacked the "Glasgow," of 29 guns, which escaped, and Hopkins was censured. In June, 1776, he was ordered by congress to appear before the naval committee to reply to charges preferred against him for not annoying the enemy's ships on the southern coast. He was defended by John Adams and acquitted, but unavoidable delays in getting his ships ready for sea at a later period gave his enemies another opportunity for complaint. He neglected a citation to appear in Philadelphia, and on 2 January, 1777, was dismissed from the service. He then settled near Providence, exerted throughout a long life an immense political influence in Rhode Island, and was for many years a member of the general assembly.--His son, John Burroughs, naval officer, was one of the first captains of the Revolutionary navy, being commissioned 22 December, 1775. He commanded the "Cabot" in the expedition to the Bahamas in 1776, and in April, 1779, sailed from Boston in command of a squadron, and captured, with small loss to his own fleet, seven vessels laden with stores, 200 men, and twenty-four British officers. |
| For
his participation in the 1772 burning of the Gaspee, we recognize
Admiral Esek Hopkins for his role in formenting the American
Revolution. His dealings in the detestable slave trade, however,
prohibit our considering him as any kind of hero. |
| Genealogical
addendum: From: Descendants of William HOPKINS, Fifth Generation
Esek HOPKINS was born 26 Apr 1718 in Providence, RI. He died 26 Feb 1802. He was buried in North Providence, RI. In 1741 Esek married Desire BURROUGHS daughter of Ezekiel BURROUGHS. Desire was born ABT. 1720 in prob. Newport, RI. They had the following children:According to the Whipple Genealogical Database at http://whipple.org, Esek Hopkins of 1718 had 9 children, of which his eldest was John Hopkins born 25 AUG 1742 in Newport, RI.M John B. HOPKINS, Capt. b1742 In 1776 our Ephraim Bowen (1753) married Sarah (possibly referred to as Sally) Angell (1757-1788 ), daughter of Nathan and Abigail Angell, and granddaughter (or niece--there are conflicting claims in Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Angell, Avery Angell, 1972) of Commodore Esek Hopkins. |
Sources
consulted:
Bibliography from the Congressional Biography of Stephen Hopkins:
|
| Genealogical
Addendum: Stephen HOPKINS Birth: 7 MAR 1707 in Cranston, RI Death: 13 JUL 1785 in Providence, RI Father: William HOPKINS (1682) son of William Hopkins (1647) and Abigail WHIPPLE Mother: Ruth WILKINSON b: 31 JAN 1686, dau of Samuel WILKINSON & Plain WICKENDEN Marriage1 1726: Sarah SCOTT (c1707 - 1753) dau of Silverman SCOTT c1665 & Jeanna JENCKS Children: (all born in Scituate, Providence, RI) Marriage2 1755: Ann SMITH b:5OCT1717 in Providence, dau of Benjamin SMITH & Mercy ANGELL. Died 26 JAN 1782 Stephen Hopkins' brother John married a Catherine Turpin., and his sister Hope married a Henry Harris. According to Whipple.org, Gaspee raid leader Abraham Whipple was the brother-in-law to Stephen Hopkins. Actually, Abraham Whipple's wife was Sarah Hopkins, the daughter of John Hopkins, (the brother of Stephen), so Abe's wife was Steve's cousin. |
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