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with twenty-six mounted guns," to be in excellent fighting order.

The peace of Paris, in 1763, thanks to the genius of Chatham and the valor of Wolfe, had transferred all of French North America to Great Britain; but this colossal contribution to the power of the latter was attended with consequences which were destined to wrench an empire from exulting Albion. In the nine years' contest, which had just terminated, the colonies had realized their military prowess, became acquainted with the customs of martial life, were taught to endure the hardships of the camp, had learned the stern lessons of self-sacrifice, became habituated to discipline and to confidence in themselves, and, though sometimes defeated and thrown to the ground, Antæanlike they rose renewed in their strength for new contests.

Only two years had elapsed after the peace of Paris before ungrateful Britain began that series of oppressions which culminated in American independence. Of that attractive history we must limit ourselves to narrating the heroic part taken by little Rhode Island on the shores of Narraganset Bay. The first act of its open resistance was a mèlée, July 9, 1764, between a boat's crew of the British schooner St. John attempting to carry off an alleged deserter from Newport, which was forcibly resisted, and led to the seizure by the town's people of Fort George, whose guns were trained upon the Admiral's ship-the Squirrel-against which eight shots were fired. The next year mob of sailors took possession of and destroyed one of the boats of the English. ship of war-Maidstone-engaged in impressing seamen in Newport harbor; then, in 1769, came the scuttling of the British armed sloop-Liberty-and the dragging of her boats in triumph through the streets of Newport; and, three years later, the Gaspée was captured and burned by armed Rhode Islanders in the upper part of Narraganset Bay. All of these daring acts took place long before the battle of Lexington opened, in 1775, the grand drama of the Americam Revolution.

Forseeing that the die must soon be cast, the assembly of Rhode Island, December 5, 1774, ordered the dismantling of Fort George to prevent its use by the enemy, and for safety removed to Providence its forty cannon and a large supply of ammunition. Batteries were erected also on Fox, Sassafras, Field, Kettle, and Bullock's Points, to defend Providence river; upon the west side and southern end of Popasquash Neck to guard the passage between it and Prudence Island; and upon the southern extremity of Warwick Neck to command the entrance to Greenwich Bay.

In quick succession, other places were so protected as to guard. against the aggressions of British ships, whose crews were burning houses and barns, plundering the islands and shores, keeping the watch-worn inhabitants in constant alarm, and even threatening to destroy Newport. Such were these depredations that the Continental Congress was memorialized to protect Rhode Island with its one hundred and thirty miles of coast line and two navigable rivers exposed to the enemy.

Early in 1776, the Marine Committee of Congress, by active exertions and at great expense, had fitted out a squadron of eight vessels, mounting over one hundred guns, which sailed upon a cruise under Commodore Hopkins of Rhode Island. been very successful in making captures; and, being desirous of obtaining a supply of powder, then very scarce, he made a descent upon Nassau, New Providence, the capital of the Bahama Islands, captured its two forts with over an hundred cannon and a large amount of military stores, besides taking many prisoners of war, including the governor and lieutenant-governor. his return, he encountered a British frigate of twenty guns, off Block Island, which escaped from him and ran into Newport harbor. This was the signal for the British fleet to go out in pursuit of the audacious Commodore. The night after, April 6, 1776, a slight battery was thrown up on Brenton's Point and armed with several pieces of heavy artillery, which compelled the frigate Hopkins had encountered to retreat further up the bay, but the next day she escaped to sea. Shortly after, the Scarborough of twenty, and Cimetar of eighteen guns, with two prizes, anchored in Newport harbor a little to the south of Rose Island. Two row-galleys from Providence recaptured these prizes, and, with the assistance of a battery, thrown up on North Point* (present site of Fort Greene), compelled the enemy's vessels to seek refuge under Conanicut Island. From this position they were driven by a battery erected at the Dumplings, and were obliged to put to sea, April 14, 1776, under a vigorous cannonade from Brenton's Point and Castle Hill, where a small earthwork had been hastily thrown up, the remains of which are still to be seen. Narraganset Bay was now free from all British cruisers, and on May 4, 1776, Rhode Island, by a solemn act of the General Assembly, declared her Independence of the mother country, two months preceding that by the Thirteen United Colonies.

From this Point a royal salute was fired, March 18, 1766, upon the repeal of the British Stamp Act.

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Howland and Bristol ferries already had been fortified, and, to prevent further incursions through the main entrance to the Bay, old Fort George, now called Fort Liberty, was immediately reconstructed; a stronger earthwork was erected upon Brenton's Point; and the battery on North Point was enlarged and armed with thirteen of the guns captured at Nassau by Commodore Hopkins (see Plate I, Fig. 1). These defended Newport harbor and the middle entrance to the Bay; but the west passage was without fortifications.

The British Army, March 17, 1776, had been driven by Washington from Boston; or, as the Earl of Suffolk absurdly spoke of this inglorious retreat in the House of Lords: "General Howe thought proper to shift his position in order, in the first place to protect Halifax, and after that object was secured, to penetrate by that way into the interior country.”

It now became necessary for the fleet of England to possess some more secure and capacious roadstead. No place offered such great advantages as Narraganset Bay, where her ships could ride at anchor within its land-locked waters; and no safer base was to be found for the lodgement of her army than the sea-girt isle of Rhode Island. Once in possession of this natural fortress, Britain, with her army and navy, could menace every Atlantic port, and almost bid defiance to the United Colonies.

Accordingly, December 7, 1776, while Washington was in the Jerseys with most of the American army, Sir Peter Parker, with a British fleet of eleven vessels of war (seven line-of-battle ships and four frigates), convoying seventy transports having on board six thousand troops, passed unobstructed through the west passage into Narraganset Bay and rounded the north end of Conanicut. On the following day the British and Hessian troops, under command of Sir Henry Clinton, disembarked on Rhode Island and marched into Newport. Consternation spread on every side; the islanders fled, with their effects, to the main land; every defensible point on Narraganset Bay was occupied by American troops; and the entire State of Rhode Island became a vast camp confronting the enemy.

Brigadier General Mulmedy, a French officer, reported at Providence, December 13, 1776, as Chief Engineer and Director of the American Forces, and was vested by the assembly with. plenary powers "to erect such works and at such places as he shall think proper."

Journal 3.

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