Geographically the 16 square miles of East Greenwich is located in the center of the state. It is the eighth oldest town in the state and was home to many early American Patriots. The town was established in the 1600's. The land upon which East Greenwich sits was originally owned by the Pequot Indians and was acquired by King Charles II in 1644. The General Assembly incorporated the Town in 1677.

The Town is bounded on the East by Narragansett Bay and four hills roll up from the coast to the West Greenwich town line. The downtown area of East Greenwich was initially settled to support the surrounding farming area. As the town grew, so did the commercial center. The protected cove brought trade ships from the far corners of the world and gave safe harbor to local fishermen.

As East Greenwich grew as a trade center so did the need for goods and services, both for the townsfolk and those passing through. Industry flourished with the manufacture of textiles, brushes, machinery and shipbuilding. This has left behind a legacy of fine historic buildings for people of the 20th century to enjoy. The town of East Greenwich is proud of its' heritage and its' National Historic District.

(reprinted with permission from the East Greenwich Chamber of Commerce)

Incorporated in 1677 East Greenwich, or Green Town, was named after Greenwich County of Kent, England. Located on the western shore of Narragansett Bay, East Greenwich is bounded on the southwest by Exeter, the west by West Greenwich, the south by North Kingstown, the southeast by Potowomut and on the north by Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry.

The town's coat of arms bears an hourglass, for the observatory at Greenwich, England, and two anchors, which "show that East Greenwich has a harbor and is in the state of Rhode Island, at whose earliest seal in 1664 bears an anchor.

History of Town Hall
(Compiled by Bruce C. MacGunnigle)

The East Greenwich Town Hall was originally the Kent County Courthouse, which was built by Oliver Wickes in 1804 on the site of an earlier 1750 Courthouse, and served until 1854 as one of the five original state houses in Rhode Island.  It was the practice of the General Assembly to hold its sessions in each of the 5 counties, visiting each one in turn.  Therefore, every fifth session of the General Assembly was held in East Greenwich, with the Governor, Assistants (similar to today’s state senators) and Deputies (similar to today’s state representatives), all coming to East Greenwich to do the business of the colony, and later, the state.  The town was a busy place when the legislature was here!  In 1764, while meeting here, the legislature established the college that became Brown University. The first United States Navy was commissioned from this site in 1775.  In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read to the residents of the town from here, and in 1783, young lawyer Jacob Campbell read to them the treaty of peace with England.  In the fall of 1842 the convention called to frame a new Rhode Island Constitution met here, but the heating system failed, and the convention was adjourned to the Methodist Church several blocks away, where the historic final vote on the new constitution was taken.  This courthouse building is recognized as one of the few surviving Federal-Georgian buildings of its size in Rhode Island, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

When this building was built in 1804, it was one of the largest in the State, and was by far the largest building in Kent County, the population that, at the time, was only 9,384. 

After 1854, the general assembly began meeting alternately at Providence and Newport, a practice they followed until 1900, when the new marble state house was built in Providence.  In East Greenwich, after 1854, the building continued to be used as a Courthouse, with the Superior Court meeting in what is now the Council Chamber, and District Court meeting in what is now the Council Conference Room.  Famous Rhode Island attorneys argued cases here, from James Mitchell Varnum in the 18^th century to Bruce Sundlun in the 20^th century.

By the early 1990's the State had moved all court and related activity to other locations, and the building stood vacant and deteriorating.  It faced indefinite closure due to the state’s financial inability to maintain the structure.

The state offered the building to the town for $1.00, and the town council appointed a citizens’ committee to do a feasibility study, which recommended restoration of the courthouse with an addition at the rear to house town offices.  In 1993 a $2.3 million bond referendum was passed which would allow for restoration and adaptive reuse of the structure. The state then transferred ownership to the Town of East Greenwich.  The work was done, and the courthouse reopened as the new home to the East Greenwich Town Offices in November 1995.

Restoring the courthouse provided a public reinvestment in Main Street and has significantly contributed to the revitalization of Main Street. At the same time, the reuse offered a solution to the long-standing lack of town office space.

The building now stands as a restored architectural gem and a historic landmark, which provides East Greenwich with a Town Square and a public meeting area. The unique architectural and historic significance of the courthouse encourages a thriving Main Street and offers the town a unique educational resource.

Architectural Significance - Exterior

In architectural terms, the building is Colonial style at its finest.  It is all wood construction, with a brownstone foundation and front stairs. The ground level still contains the original jail cells, now used only for storage, and the second most popular stop on the Town Hall Tour, exceeded only by the tour into the clock tower. The building has a decked hip roof, with dormers.  The front elevation is 7 bays wide.  A gable, or pediment, projects from the main roof over the three central bays, and the middle bay contains the main entrance at the first story level.  There are corner quoins (decorative outside corner detail), and the three central bays are marked off as a pavilion by additional quoins.  A flat board string, or belt, encircles the building between first and second floors.  Rising from the roof’s balustraded deck is a one story oblong clock tower, topped by a cupola, with a concave pyramidal roof that supports a tall weathervane.  Both portions of this tower have quoins, and the clock opening has a rusticated surround (bold exaggerated detailing).

The exterior size and architectural forms of the 1804 building are original, and are similar to other early court houses such as the Newport Colony House, built in 1743 by architect Richard Munday, and the Old State House in Providence of 1762.  Some features are more representative of the pre-Revolutionary period than the Federal period in which the court house was actually built, such as the projecting 12-over-12 sash windows with their key-stoned lintels; the gable, or pediment, occurring directly above the central pavilion but architecturally and ornamentally unconnected to it; and the somewhat stocky clock tower.  The over-all scale belongs to the Federal Period, including the classically detailed, but over-wide, Tuscan entrance porch; the modillioned and fretted cornices at the top of the walls; the delicate geometric design of the roof deck railing and the vaguely pagoda look of the cupola and vane above the clock tower.

Architectural Significance - Interior

There have been changes over the years to the ornamental detail within the building.  About the time of the Civil War the beautiful courtrooms were torn out, and the whole plan for the interior was changed.  The original set up of the large courtroom had a fireplace on the north wall, where the council seats are now located, and the judges bench was at the east end, with his back to Main Street.  In 1909, architects William R. Walker & Son restored the interior to its original beauty, as much as it was practical.  Thus, a series of periods of décor is represented in both original and later moldings, paneling, etc. of the rooms, hallways, and stairways.  Original details remain, such as the “bamboo” shaped columns inside the main door, the stairway’s paneled wainscot and scrolled stair-ends, and the main chamber’s unusual steep plaster vaulted ceiling with its deeply scalloped effect, and the surprisingly short distance from the doorway to the north wall.  Details added later include Greek Revival window trim and Colonial Revival kick plates on the doors, and the scrolled broken pediment with an urn in the main courtroom.

The use of an unusual detail such as bamboo shaped columns is a reminder that East Greenwich is a seaport, and that its Sea Captains sailed to ports around the world and brought home many exotic objects and design ideas.

 

Refs:    The History of East Greenwich, RI 1677-1960 (1960), Martha McPartland, pp. 166-168

             The State Houses of RI (1988), Patrick T. Conley, et al, pp. 50-53

             Buildings of Rhode Island (2004), William H. Jordy, p. 345

             Other unidentified histories of Kent County Courthouse

 

 

THE TRUE BIRTHPLACE OF THE NAVY

(By Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle)

 

Preface

 

        “Historians have lingered over the American Revolution, examining in exhaustive detail its military and political aspects, its diplomatic and social overtones.  Yet the naval side of the conflict has been almost completely neglected…  From the very beginning, the American War of Independence was a maritime conflict.  The high-handed manner adopted by the Royal Navy in enforcing the laws against smuggling helped bring on the war…  Britain had undisputed control of American waters and should have had no difficulty in snuffing out the rebellion by choking off the tools of war destined for the rebels from abroad.  That this was not done was the result of muddled planning and the courage and skill of Yankee seamen.”[1]

 

Intent

 

The intent of this study to identify and examine all the claims made by various towns and regions to be the “Birthplace of the Navy” or the “First American Navy.”

 

Definitions[2]

 

Navy:              “A group of ships…”                      

Group:            “Two or more…”

 

Therefore, the definition of a “Navy” for the purposes of this study is: Two or more ships.

 

Three Types of claims:

1.      Legislative action. 

2.      By order of a military commander. 

3.      A spontaneous action, generally taken by enraged citizens against a naval tormentor.

            For the purpose of this study, claims based on legislative action and the orders of a military commander will be considered legitimate, while spontaneous actions are considered just that, with no lasting standing.

            Each claim will be stated, and then analyzed as to the validity of it being a “Navy” and whether it is based on a legislative, military or spontaneous action.  If it is determined to be a valid legislative or military navy, the claim will be preceded with an asterisk “*”.

 

 

The Claims, in Reverse Chronological Order (* = a valid claim)

 

Delaware

        Delaware had no Colonial Navy, and thus has no claim.[3]

Analysis: No Claim

 

New Jersey

        New Jersey had no Colonial Navy, and thus no claim.[4]  However, “in July, 1776, a committee of Newark, NJ, requested of the NJ Provincial Congress to build four ‘gondolas,’ or row galleys, to be mounted with cannon, and to ply between the mouths of the Passaic and Hackensack rivers and the town of Perth Amboy.  The Provincial Congress referred the proposition to a committee of four.  It finally ended the business by referring the report of this committee to the Continental Congress.”[5]

Analysis: No Claim

 

New Hampshire (#1)

        “New Hampshire’s only state vessel was the privateer Hampden, 22 [guns], taken into state service for the Penobscot expedition [25 July to 14 August 1779] and lost there shortly afterwards [to the British].” [6]

Analysis: not technically a Navy as there was only one ship

 

New Orleans, Louisiana

While this adventure is late by the standards of this study, it is a fascinating and little known story.  Oliver Pollock, originally from Pennsylvania, was the commercial agent of the Continental Congress.  He worked closely with “Galvez” the Spanish governor of Louisiana.  Pollock was authorized by the Continental Congress to grant commissions for Continental Line officers, as well as Privateers.  In April 1778, one of the privateers he commissioned returned the Rebecca as a prize.  Pollock purchased this ship, renamed it Morris, after his Pennsylvanian friend, and refitted it with 16 six-pounders at his own expense.  The ship was ready to begin cruising in July 1779, when the ship was destroyed by a hurricane.  The Spanish Governor then loaned Pollock an armed schooner, with which he was soon capturing British ships and small British settlements.[7]

Analysis: not technically a Navy as there was only one ship

 

New Hampshire (#2)

        “As the first aggressive act in the American Revolution, the assault upon and capture of Fort William and Mary at Newcastle [NH], then known as ‘Great Island,’ near Portsmouth was performed on New Hampshire soil by a party of patriots, led by John Sullivan and John Langdon, so it may be truthfully said, the American Navy had it birth in the same region, when on the 10^th day of May, 1777, the sloop of war “Ranger,” built… at Langdon’s, now Badger Island, in the Piscataqua River, opposite Portsmouth, was formally launched.”[8]

Analysis: This is the launching of a single ship, and therefore doesn’t qualify as a Navy.

 

*Maryland

        “The state vessels of Maryland were almost all galleys or barges.  The earliest was the Ship Defense, acquired March 1776.”[9]   It carried 22 six-pounders.  In March 1777, the schooner Resolution was purchased as a tender for the Defense.[10]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

 

*Lake Champlain, New York (#1)

        Of course Benedict Arnold built his famous fleet here, during the summer of 1776.  His creation of a 17-vessel fleet was remarkable.

Analysis: Arnold’s fleet certainly qualifies as a Navy, and it was created by order of a military commander.

 

Marblehead, Massachusetts

        The town of Marblehead, MA, lays its claim as follows: “It was at the Town House that the Declaration of Independence was read.  It was signed by the town’s representative Elbridge Gerry.  Then Gerry accepted the challenge of General Washington to commandeer ships to attack British supply ships.  Marblehead patriots quickly renamed and armed their ships and sent them to seas as ‘...ye navy of the United Colonies,’ thus laying claim to the birthplace of the U.S. Navy.”[11]  This narrative is very short on dates, but it would appear to be after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which was of course 4 July 1776. 

Analysis: As there were numerous ships, this qualifies as a Navy, however, and there is no legislative action or any order of a military commander, as there was no immediate threat.  The action would appear to be a spontaneous one.

 

New Hampshire (#3)

        “Whereas, on March 21, 1776, more than three months before the Declaration of Independence… the keel of the continental Frigate “Raleigh” was laid on Rindge’s Wharf Portsmouth… and… launched May 21, 1776, six weeks before the Declaration – the first, and pioneer American Man-of-War built on the Piscataqua.”[12] 

Analysis: This is the launching of a single ship, which was the first of the ships authorized to be built by the Continental Congress on 13 December 1775.

 

*New York

        “New York was occupied by the British from 1776 until the end of the war.  The sloops General Schuyler and Montgomery and a schooner General Putnam, were briefly employed, and several armed boats and fire ships attempted to halt the British advance up the Hudson when New York City was captured in 1776.” [13]  The Provincial Congress on 20 December 1775 appointed a committee to buy, arm and fit out the General Schuyler ready for service by March 1776.  In March 1776, the Provincial Congress ordered the Sloop Bishop Landaff to be fitted out.[14]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

 

*Virginia

        “The Navy of Virginia was impressive in size, if not accomplishment.  Despite considerable effort and expense it was usually poorly armed and manned, and in general failed in its main purpose, which was to defend the state’s rivers and bays and drive off British vessels preying on its commerce.”  Seven galleys, 1 sloop, 5 brigs and 2 armed boats are listed as being in service in 1776.[15]   “The Virginia Provincial Convention in December [1775] authorized the Committee of Safety of the state ‘to provide from time to time such and so many armed vessels as they may judge necessary for the protection of the several rivers in this colony…’ ”[16]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

 

*North Carolina

        “The state of North Carolina was chiefly concerned with protecting shipping attempting to enter the important Ocracoke Inlet.  Three brigantines – Washington, Pennsylvania Farmer and King Tammany – were acquired for this purpose.”[17]  The Council of Safety resolved to fit out these three brigantines on 21 December 1775, and this was accomplished by October 1776.[18]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

 

*Lake Champlain, New York (#2)

        "During operations against Fort Ticonderoga, 10 May 1775, Samuel Herrick led a raid that captured the schooner Liberty at Skenesboro.  [Benedict] Arnold used this vessel to raid St. Johns, 17 May 1775, where he captured the large sloop Enterprise.  [Richard] Montgomery used these two vessels (and a flotilla of small boats) to attack St. Johns, where the schooner Royal Savage was captured 2 Nov. 1775.[19]

Analysis: the 17 May 1775 raid was one ship only, thereby not qualifying as a Navy.  The 2 Nov. 1775 raid did qualify as a Navy, and was created by order of a military commander.

 

*National Navy Authorized by the Continental Congress

        The Continental Congress created a national navy on 13 October 1775, by passing a 26 August 1775 resolution presented by Rhode Island’s delegate Stephen Hopkins, who had been instructed to present such a resolution by the R.I. General Assembly.  The first ship to become part of the new national Navy was the sloop Katy, from the Rhode Island Navy, which was promptly renamed the Providence.[20]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the Continental Congress.

 

*Massachusetts

“On June 7, 1775, [the] third provincial congress appointed a committee of nine ‘to consider the expediency of establishing a number of small armed vessels to cruise on our sea coasts for the protection of our trade, and the annoyance of our enemies.’”  The committee reported to the provincial congress on 12 June 1775, and the report was discussed until 20 June 1775, but no action was taken, no doubt due to the Battle of Bunker Hill, which took place 17 June 1775.

        However, in August 1775, in response to a petition from the town of Machias, in the District of Maine, the Massachusetts General Court took the sloops Machias Liberty and Diligent into state service, and granted state commissions to their officers.  Similar requests by the towns of Salem and Newburyport of 1 December 1775 were not approved. [21]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

 

*South Carolina

        In July 1775, South Carolina Council of Safety sent 40 men on two well armed barges to assist Georgia in taking an English supply ship carrying 16,000 pounds of gunpowder…”[22] Later that month the Council of Safety sent the Commerce, borrowed from some New Yorkers, to cruise off St. Augustine, where she captured the brigantine Betsy from London, along with her cargo of 12,000 pounds of gunpowder.[23]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

 

*Pennsylvania

        “On July 6, 1775, a committee was appointed which approved a plan for the building of a number of small galleys about 50 feet in length and 13 feet in beam, to be armed with a cannon of fair size… Action was swift.  The first vessel was ordered on July 8 [1775] and launched July 19.”[24]   There were 13 vessels built by October 1775.[25]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

 

*Georgia

        Georgia’s naval armament was small and contributed little to the naval war.  However a single 10-gun schooner was commissioned in June 1775.  It was briefly employed to capture an English supply ship carrying 16,000 pounds of gunpowder in July 1775, along with two barges from South Carolina.  Four galleys were built in 1777.[26]   On July 5, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved to build four galleys under the direction of the Georgia Provincial Congress.  In the spring of 1777, Georgia had 3 galleys in service.[27]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the Continental Congress.

 

*Washington’s Navy, during the Siege of Boston

            After Washington assumed command on 2 July 1775 at the Boston Siege, he organized a flotilla of six schooners and a brigantine to prey on enemy supply ships.   On 2 September 1775 he commissioned the Hannah, which has been called America’s first war vessel... What has been called Washington’s Navy took 35 prizes with cargoes valued at over $600,000 before it was disbanded in 1777.[28]

        This may give the Boston area a claim, and may well be the basis of Marblehead’s claim.  No legislative action appears to have been taken.

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was ordered by a Military Commander.

 

*Connecticut

        The first vessel of the Connecticut Navy was the Brig Minerva, which was ready October 1775, but its crew refused duty and it was returned to its owner December 1775.  The Schooner Spy made the first capture by the Connecticut Navy in October 1775. [29]

        “...Connecticut had had two vessels fitting out since the first of July [1775]...” [30]

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, and was authorized by the legislative council.

       

Machias, Maine [at that time part of Massachusetts]

        This action has been called the “first Naval engagement of the war,” although several historians feel this is stretching the point somewhat.  It has also been called the “Lexington of the Sea.” And finally it has been said that this “could probably be called the first war vessel in the service of an American State.” [31]

        The general consensus is that the date of the action was 12 June 1775, although some historians argue for the date of 12 May 1775. [32] 

        The action in question refers to the capture of the British schooner Margaretta by local patriots inspired by the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  The Margaretta was re-christened as the Machias Liberty. 

        The Machias Liberty and the Diligent were taken into Massachusetts state service on 21 August 1775, where they remained until October 1776.[33]

Analysis: Whichever date is used, this was a spontaneous event.  No navy was created.  No legislative action was taken.  Those familiar with the Gaspee Affair of 9 June 1772 will recognize the similarities.

 

New Bedford and Dartmouth, Massachusetts

        “Scarcely a fortnight after the Battles of Lexington and Concord [3 May 1775], men from New Bedford and Dartmouth fitted out a vessel and attacked and cut out from a harbour in Martha’s Vineyard a prize of the British sloop of war Falcon, 16 guns.  This act was called forth by the captures which the Falcon had made from the people of Buzzards Bay.”[34]

Analysis: Does not qualify as a Navy as it was a single ship, and appears to be a spontaneous act.

 

*East Greenwich Rhode Island

        On 12 June 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly, meeting at East Greenwich, passed a resolution, which created the first formal, governmentally authorized navy in the Western Hemisphere:

        “It is voted and resolved, that the committee of safety be, and they are hereby, directed to charter two suitable vessels, for the use of the colony, and fit out the same in the best manner, to protect the trade of this colony...

        “That the largest of the said vessels be manned with eighty men, exclusive of officers; and be equipped with ten guns, four-pounders; fourteen swivel guns, a sufficient number of small arms, and all necessary warlike stores.

        “That the small vessel be manned with a number not exceeding thirty men.

        “That the whole be included in the number of fifteen hundred men, ordered to be raised in this colony...

        “That they receive the same bounty and pay as the land forces...”[35]

 

        Wasting no time, on 12 June 1775, the same day as the above resolution, Governor Nicholas Cooke signed orders addressed to “Captain Abraham Whipple, commander of the Sloop Katy, and commodore of the armed vessels employed by the government…”[36]

 

        Many Rhode Islanders remember John Fitzhugh Miller, who built the modern day replica of the 20-gun British Frigate Rose, which had been terrorizing Narragansett Bay since its arrival in November 1774.  In his book on the building of the American warships Washington and Warren, he sums things up nicely: "On June 12, 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly created the Rhode Island Navy to recapture some of the provision ships (previously captured by [British Captain Sir James] Wallace of the HMS Rose).  This was the first salt water navy of any colony in the Revolution, and it consisted of two sloops... but the Rhode Island Navy was clearly not designed to stand up to the Rose herself.  …Realizing this in August the General Assembly voted to instruct its delegates in Congress to introduce legislation creating a national navy.”[37]

       

For many interesting additional details about the Katie, the “larger of the said vessels” which was renamed the Providence when it was the first vessel to be taken into national service, see Hope S. Rider’s Valour Fore & Aft, Newport, 1978.

 

Analysis: Meets the definition of a Navy, was authorized by the legislative council, and is the earliest of the all the valid claims made to be the “Birthplace of the American Navy.”

 

Bibliography

 

 

Bartlett, John Russell, Records of the Colony of Rhode Island... Providence, RI, 1862

 

Boatner, Mark M., III, The Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, New York, 1966

 

Coggins, Jack, Ships and Seamen of the American Revolution, Harrisburg, PA, 1969

 

Fowler, William M., Jr., Rebels Under Sail, The American Navy During the Revolution, New York, 1976

 

Miller, John Fitzhugh (Editor), Building Early American Warships: The Journal of the Rhode Island Committee for Constructing the Continental Frigates Providence & Warren, 1775-1777, Providence, RI, 1988

 

Miller, Nathan, Sea of Glory, Charleston, SC, 1974

 

Paullin, Charles O., The Navy of the American Revolution, New York, 1906, reprinted 1971

 

Potter, E.B., The Naval Academy Illustrated History of the United States Navy, New York, 1971

 

Ryder, Hope S., Valor Fore & Aft, Newport, RI, 1978