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  Exclusive! New Research: List of Names of
Rhode Island Men Who Attacked the Gaspee!
We are constantly researching to add additional names and biographies of Gaspee
Raiders. Read our list of the Gaspee Raiders, who attacked the English Navy ship Gaspee
in 1772. Learn fascinating facts about these Rhode Island patriots. The
first act of war in the Revolutionary War!
In the
ten longboats of Rhode Island men that attacked the
Gaspee, there were at least 64 men, and
probably
more than 110.
Before our research most historians stated there were only eight longboats and
listed the names of only about ten of the raiders (the listed names varied).
The research in the last few years by the
Gaspee Scholars, including Leonard Bucklin of the
Joseph Bucklin Society and John Concannon of
The Gaspee Virtual Archives has identified two other longboats and other Rhode Island men
who probably were in the attacking party. Our list has over 30 probable participants in the Gaspee raiding
party --- three times as many as most historical accounts list.
Our list, with links to take you to a biography
Here is a half-dozen sampling of the persons, on our list of raiders, on whom
we have biography information.
- Ephraim Bowen. He was later referred to as Col. Bowen.
He used his merchant abilities to gain military appointment to supply the
troops of the army. His written account is the
principle account from which most historians work in describing the Gaspee
attack.)
- Aaron Briggs. This
slave confessed to the British the names of some of the Gaspee raiders. He probably was impressed into the attack as
he said, but his claims were skillfully denied by the Rhode Islanders, for
their own self protection.
- John Brown, the most wealthy man in Providence,
and the leader in planning the attack..
-
Joseph Bucklin the 5th, the 19 year old son of
Joseph Bucklin the 4th a well known Providence merchant. (Joseph
5th was the
man
who shot the English captain.)
- Rufus Greene, Jr. The
seizure of a ship and rum of the powerful merchant firm of the Greene brothers
may have been the circumstance leading to a Rhode Island warrant of arrest and
an attempted legal arrest of the Gaspee's captain and attachment of the
Gaspee. See why we think it was Rufus, of all the
possible Greenes, who was on the assaulting group..
- Abraham Whipple. Whipple,
a sea captain who as a privateer for Joseph Brown had captured dozens of
ships, was the chief captain of the longboats, to execute the attack planned by John Brown.
Whipple went on to become one of the best sea captains of the navy of the
new united states in the Revolutionary War. (See his extensive biography
materials also at
The Commodore's Page .)
| Joseph Bucklin, a
Gaspee Raider, is the person for whom the Joseph Bucklin Society
is named. He fired the shot that struck and wounded the English
captain, and changed the character of the raid to treason and armed
revolt from English law. His was the real first shot of the American
Revolution. |
Our list is
larger than the usual list of raiders that was used by historians before our research
became available. There are at least three reasons for our longer
list.
- The Joseph Bucklin Society has the advantage of long-term, constant, research,
analysis, and education concerning the Gaspee events. Because a division of the Joseph
Bucklin Society is devoted to .researching the Gaspee events, we have had the
advantage of long time research, continuing more than a few years.
Because we are publicly available, though the internet, persons have
contacted us from time to time with important new information to add to the
research project.
- The Gaspee Virtual Archives has been a twin driver of research. Like Gaspee
Info, the Gaspee Virtual Archives has had the advantages of being constant in its research, and
being publicly available. The two
greatest collections of publicly and freely available information about the Gaspee Affair are (1) the
Joseph Bucklin Society and this website, and (2) the Gaspee Virtual
Archives. Our Gaspee Info research has been
greatly aided by John Concannon, the tireless Rhode Island researcher and
intelligent webmaster at the Gaspee Virtual
Archives. Much of our research and critical analysis started with items gathered by Concannon.
We and future historians owe
him much.
- We have made the decision to list all possible Gaspee Raiders. We have chosen to
list all those who have been identified by any researcher, author, or
historian, amateur or not, as long as the claim is plausible.
When reasonable persons could differ, we have not
let our own judgment eliminate some from the list. Each of the following
persons on our list have been identified by at least one researcher. We have
doubts regarding some of them. We have decided that by listing all who
at least one person has identified as a
probable raider, with apparently valid facts and acceptable
logic, we assist future
research.
To see the full list, with links to separate pages discussing each of those
men,
List of
probable raiders in the attacking boats
Persons
not in the boats but involved in the events before or after the attack
Abstract of this article: Joseph Bucklin Society has identified about one-third of the about 100
persons who attacked the Gaspee.
Keywords: Gaspee, Raiders, Names, Rhode Island.
Additional notes regarding the list of participants.
We have biographical information on most of the
participants named in our list of those in the raiding party.. In addition we have information on other persons
who were involved in one way or another, on the American or English side, in the
events before the attack or in the aftermath. Information about persons
other than the raiders is found at our page "Cast of Characters", That page has the
information about some other persons, both in Rhode Island and elsewhere,
who did not actually participate in the raid but are noteworthy in telling the
full Gaspee story and how it relates to the American Revolution.
John Howland was a 12 year old boy during the Gaspee Affair.
After the end of the Revolutionary War he claimed to have been there at
the wharf when the boats put off from Providence for the attack in June 1772.
Long after the Revolutionary War ended, Howland stated the names of
some individuals in the raid. Because he grew up among the persons
he named, and because Howland was in 1839 the first director of the RI
Historical Society, we take his undocumented list seriously.
There are other persons we still are investigating for possible inclusion in
the list of persons who physically attacked the English ship. For example,
various other people have been mentioned by persons who were not in a time or
place to have had first hand knowledge of who was in the raiding party. As
another example of continuing investigation, any of the Providence
merchants who signed the complaint against Dudingston, claiming Dudingston was
acting without authority, is a likely candidate. However, just about any
merchant, large or small, as well as any master of a boat, might have been
eager. In addition to John Brown, the persons signing the complaint
against Dudingston were:
Three lawyers were accused of being participants in the affair, but they
successfully denied arrest by each furnishing alibis for the others. They
may well have been involved either as raiders in the boats or as participating
in legal planning -- before the attack -- for the
justification of the attack. They were:
 | Brown. George Brown |
| Cole. John Cole |
| Hitchcock. Hitchcock. |
List of
probable raiders in the attacking boats
Persons
not in the boats but involved in the events before or after the attack
| | | |
References in
brackets [ ] or in curly brackets { } on any page in this
website are to books, or other materials, listed in the Joseph Bucklin
Society Library Catalog or to materials held by the Joseph Bucklin
Society.