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Posted on 10/23/2003 12:01:40 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Joseph Bucklin fired a musket and hit a British military officer in an intentional attack on the English Navy. That shot caused the immediate surrender of the English Navy ship Gaspee. In short: Joseph fired the most important shot in the capture and burning of the ship Gaspee. Some call this shot the first shot in the American Revolution.  The Gaspee was an English revenue cutter, preventing smuggling and collecting taxes. When the Gaspee went aground, a number of men of the Providence area rowed out, and attacked the ship. Joseph Bucklin shot and wounded the English Navy captain, the attackers successfully boarded and overpowered the crew, the attackers took the English navy crew off the ship, and burned the Gaspee. The English Attorney General gave a legal opinion that it was "treason" and an "act of war". England attempted to find who was involved, and bring the attackers back to be tried in England. The colonists insisted that this violated the rights of Englishmen to be tried by a jury of their own vicarage. Although the attackers included many prominent men of Rhode Island, the people of Rhode Island successfully kept the identity of the attackers secret from the English until after the end of the Revolutionary War. The Rhode Island 1772 attack on the British Navy's armed schooner Gaspee gives us insight into the thoughts and motives of the American colonists in the years immediately preceding the 1775 battles of Concord and Lexington. The men who led the assault on the King's ship Gaspee were not struggling farmers, or persons without land, apprentices, or unemployed sailors. The leaders of this assault were leaders of the Rhode Island colony: merchants, sea captains, and lawyers - some of them members of the General Assembly. The leaders were not acting on the spur of the moment, because of some immediate action of a tax collector. The attack was planned, by men who had thought about the structure of society and the relationship there should be between Rhode Island and the English in England.  The shooting of the English navy commander was not planned, but obviously taking 100 men to the Gaspee meant that the Rhode Island attackers expected the use of force to board the Gaspee. After the attack, the English Attorney General joined with the English Solicitor General in London to give a formal opinion by the most senior law officials of the day that the attack was "treason" and an "act of war." Until then, each of the acts of violence or resistance by the colonists had not been so labeled by the English legal system. Little wonder that the Rhode Island governor feared that in retaliation to the Gaspee attack, there would be an invasion of the colony by the British troops then stationed in Boston. Early in 1772 the British Government sent ships, including the Gaspee and Beaver, armed navy schooners, to Rhode Island with orders to assist the Revenue Officers of the colony in stamping out smuggling and illicit trade. Lieutenant Dudingston, Commander of the Gaspee, was an energetic young officer who detested what he called the 'piratical scum' that piloted their ships on the seaways of Rhode Island. It is true that the Rhode Island ship captains and merchants made a regular business of smuggling and otherwise ignoring the imperial English taxes on Americans importing goods. Among the 'piratical scum' were some of America's great sea captains: Abraham Whipple, Samuel Dunn, John Hopkins, Joseph Tillinghast, and Simeon Potter.  John Brown Dudingston proceeded to make his ship an anathema to the seafarers of the colony. He stopped and searched all ships that entered Narragansett Bay, not pleasantly, but in a harsh manner intended to secure obeisance of his commands. The cargoes of two coastal ships were impounded, and, in probable violation of the law, he sent them, not to the local Rhode Island court for condemnation as smuggling ships, but to Boston for trial. Governor Wanton of Rhode Island sent a vigorous protest to Admiral Montague, Commander of the British North American Fleet and Dudingston's superior. In reply Wanton received an insolent letter threatening to hang anyone who might attempt to obstruct his officers in the performance of their duties. Governor Wanton then sent a letter of complaint to the Earl of Hillsborough, one of England's Secretaries of State.  Joseph Tillinghast Meanwhile the interference with what the Rhode Island merchants thought of as lawful trade (and the English thought of as smuggling) continued, and the bitterness of the colonials mounted. Then fate, guided by Captain Benjamin Lindsey, gave the Rhode Islanders an opportunity to repay the pestiferous Lieutenant Dudingston. About noon on June 9, Captain Lindsey, in command of the sloop Hannah, arrived at Newport from New York and after reporting her cargo at the Custom House, proceeded up the river toward Providence. The Hannah had cleared the Newport harbor when the Gaspee, like a watchdog, moved to intercept the Hannah.. Lieutenant Dudingston signaled the Hannah to hove to for boarding but Captain Lindsey did not obey. Either as a plan to ground the Gaspee, or on the spur of the moment, the response of Lindsey was to not stop, but rather flee and let the British pursue. Pursue they did. All afternoon the two ships tacked back and torch against a northwest breeze. Lindsey's kept the Hannah out of cannon range of her pursuer. As they neared Providence, the American skipper, who knew these waters like the back of his hand, instead of fleeing sensibly, tacked his ship sharply to westward, clearing a long underwater sand-bar at Namquid Point, then in apparent confusion tacked further toward shore and lost headway. Lieutenant Dudingston headed the Gaspee straight toward his quarry, confident that a quick straight course would win the prize. With all sails set, the Gaspee plowed into the underwater sand bar and was firmly grounded.  The British sailors watched the Hannah turn and sail toward Providence. Captain Lindsey immediately went ashore and reported the plight of the Gaspee to John Brown, a member of one of the richest and most influential merchant firms in colonial America. John Brown, several years before, had been grounded on this same point with the same moon and tide conditions. He knew that the English ship would be hard aground until flood tide - about three o'clock the next morning, and the night would be dark.
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We have the four-letter "s" word in our forecast. Not the profane one, but for me it might as well be.
Hey, I'm a student of the FReeper Foxhole! ;^)
Sorry I haven't been around FR much lately but I'm still trying to get the outside of the house prepped to paint. Almost done with it......THEN I get to have "fun" painting! oh joy.
I figured since I was taking a short break this would be a perfect time to stop in to say "Howdy" and to say...
THANK YOU troops and veterans for your efforts and sacrifices in protecting our Freedoms!
Whew! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who can't see those graphics. I thought this 'puter was bonking out on me or something. LOL! And "they" said all this high tech stuff was supposed to make things easier for us! Yeah, riiiiiiight! hehe.
I'll try to get back later this evening. Time to get back to work. ugh!
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