Gaspee Virtual Archives |
| Captain
John
B. Hopkins, 1742-1796 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 1772 burning of the hated British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee, by Rhode Island patriots as America's 'First Blow for Freedom' TM. 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 of being associated with the the burning of the Gaspee. Please e-mail your comments or further questions to webmaster@gaspee.org. |
| Evidence implicating
John B.
Hopkins
John B. Hopkins was a Rhode Island based sea captain, and was assigned command of one of the longboats that, together with seven other such boats, attacked the Gaspee in 1772. From: http://gaspee.org/StaplesGaspee.htm p14 per Ephraim Bowen: ....and a sea captain acted as steersman of each boat, of whom I recollect Capt. Abraham Whipple, Capt. John B. Hopkins (with whom I embarked), and Capt. Samuel Dunn. A line from right to left was soon formed, with Capt. Whipple on the right and Capt. Hopkins on the right of the left wing.Since Hopkins was in command of the boat in which Ephraim Bowen was riding, he was also in command of the actions of fellow rider Joseph Bucklin. Bucklin would have to have had at least the tacit approval of his boat commander for him to fire his rifle at Lieutenant Dudingston. |
Biographical notes:
 Left.
Portrait of John B. Hopkins c1776. Artist unknown, but
subject name
written on back of painting sold on eBay 2004. The
provenance may be in question as writer Andrew M, in
2018 notes that the clothing worn in the portrait is
more typical of that worn in 1830-1840, perhaps by
another man named John B. Hopkins. The earliest record we have found about the life of John Burroughs Hopkins comes in a Op-Ed piece in the June 5, 2004 edition of the Providence Journal. In this article, Dr. Kathy Abbass, of the Rhode Island Marine Archeology Project, describes Captains Cook's journey in the Endevour with the scientific mission to observe the Transit of Venus in 1769. While we are unsure of her exact source, she cites that it was John Burroughs Hopkins who took the precise measurements in Providence, RI during the Transit, in an effort to measure the size of the Planet Venus, and calculate the size of our Solar System. Benjamin West's article on the Providence observation of the Transit names Joseph Brown, Stephen Hopkins, along with a John Burroughs (not Hopkins) as members of the team (see West, Benjamin. An Account of the Observation of Venus, Providence, 1769 available at Brown University libraries) We also note with interest in Tillinghast, Wayne G. "The Three Captains Joseph Tillinghast of Providence". Rhode Island Roots 30:57-86, June 2004, p67 that John B. Hopkins joined in sponsoring a privateering ship along with known Gaspee raider Joseph Tillinghast and others of like ilk. Apparently, our Captain John B. Hopkins went on to become an impressive asset for the Continental Navy, the forerunner of the US Navy. He served initially under his father Esek, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the fledgling nation's sea power. Note that John B. Hopkins outranked the illustrious John Paul Jones. From: Congress and the Continental Navy, 1775-1783: Chronology and Documents at: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/revwar/chron.htm 22 December 1775 The Marine Committee appointed the following officers, with the approval of Congress:From: An Historical Sketch of The Town of Scituate, R.I.; Part 2Commander-in-Chief: Esek Hopkins http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ri/providen/scituate2.txt (stale link 2009) 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.From: A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, CHAPTER IV http://www.americanrevolution.org/nav4.html (stale link 2009) The Andrew Doria and the Cabot were armed with six-pounders, the former having sixteen, the latter fourteen, and each carried twelve swivels;From: A NAVAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, CHAPTER IX http://www.americanrevolution.org/nav9.html (stale link 2009) Early in March the Frigate Warren, Captain John B. Hopkins, blockaded in the Providence River, escaped through the British fleet in Narragansett Bay. John Deshon, of the Eastern Navy Board, wrote to the other members of the board, March 9: "Respecting the Ship Warren I am happy She so well Succeeded in getting out of this river. Every Circumstance Combined in her Favour that She might Clear of the Enemy; the night was Exceeding Dark, and there was but little wind untill the Crittecal time of Passing the Greatest Danger, when the wind Shifted very Suddenly into the N.W. and blowd Exceeding hard, so that the Enemy Could not without the Greatest Difficulty Get under Sail and Persue. I was at Warrick Neck and up the Most part of the Night when the Warren Passed and am Very Sure it was Imposable for Captn Hopkins to gain the Port of N. London, there being So much wind and the weather so Severe Cold. There [were] on board the Warren abt 170 men, manny of which had not a Second Shift of Cloaths, therefore it will be Very Difficult as well as Teadius for Captn Hopkins to beat this Courst at this Severe Season; the Orders Given him by me you have with you, which Gives him not the least Encouragement to Cruise. Nevertheless Should the Ship Keep out this three weeks, I Shall not be in the least uneasy abt her; well Knowin the men in no Condission to Beat a Winters Courst, we have Succeeded beyound Expectation in Geting her out and I have not the least Doubt but She will in due time Return with honor to the Commander and his Compy." After a short cruise the Warren put into Boston, March 23. Two days later William Vernon wrote from Providence: "This moment several of the Ship Warrens Men came to Town from Boston, who inform me they Arrived There last Monday; and in passing the Enemys Ships in this River . . . they sustained some damage, their Mizen Yard shot away, Main yard wounded, several shot passed through their Hull, one Man only sleightly wounded. The Wind blowing and continueing fresh at N.W., the Crew badly Clothed and Weather extreem Cold, were under the Necessity of standing to the Southward in warmer Weather under easie sail far as the Latt. 24°, where they fell in with the Ship Neptune, Capt. Smallwood, from Whitehaven bound to Phila., Loaded with Salt and dry Goods." This ship and another prize were taken and the Warren then sailed for Boston. The Columbus also tried to escape from Narragansett Bay, but was chased ashore on Point Judith and burned (Publ. R. I. Hist. Soc., viii, 214 (March 9, 1778), 215, 229 (March 25, 1778), 230, 231, 233; Brit. Adm. Rec., A. D. 488, Nos. 55, 57, March 16, April 23, 1778; Continental Journal, March 26, 1778; Independent Chronicle, April 9, 16, 1778.)From: Abraham Whipple On the
22nd day
of the
month, by a
resolution
of Congress, Dudley Saltonstall was appointed captain
of the Alfred
frigate,
Abraham Whipple of the Columbus, Nicholas Biddle of
the Andrea Doria,
and John
B. Hopkins of the Cabot. Haysted Hacker,
lieutenant of the
Providence,
was promoted to her command. The celebrated John Paul
Jones was first
lieutenant
of the Alfred, and Jonathan Pitcher, of the Columbus:
Esek Hopkins, an
old man, commander-in-chief, as they chose to style
the leader of their
squadron. During the winter, the young flotilla, while
fitting for a
cruise,
was frozen up in the Delaware river. Com. Hopkins,
however, got to sea
on the 17th of February, 1776, with seven armed
vessels under his
command,
the largest of which was the Alfred of twenty-four
guns instead of
thirty-six,
and bore away southerly, in quest of a small squadron
under Lord
Dunmore;
but not falling in with him, concluded to make a
descent on the island
of New Providence, for the purpose of capturing
military stores. This
service
was performed under the conduct of Capt. Nichols, the
senior officer of
the marines, at the head of three hundred men, whose
landing from the
boats
of the squadron was covered in gallant style, by Capt.
Hacker, of the
Providence,
and the sloop Wasp. The attack was entirely
successful, and possession
was taken of the fortifications and the town. The main
object of the
attempt,
a magazine of gunpowder, was in part secreted by the
governor; but they
brought away four hundred and fifty tons of cannon and
other military
stores,
with the governor and some others as prisoners. Having
accomplished
this
victory, they sailed on the 17th of March, for the
United States. At
one
o'clock in the morning of the 6th of April, the
squadron fell in with
the
Glasgow, British man-of-war of twenty guns, off the
easterly end of
Long
Island. The little Cabot of fourteen guns, Capt.
Hopkins, being
the nearest to the enemy, ranged manfully along side,
discharging her
broadsides
with great spirit, but was soon obliged to haul off
from the superior
fire
of the Glasgow. The Alfred now came up to the rescue,
but after a short
running fight, had her wheel ropes cut away, and
became unmanageable.
The
Providence, by this time, had passed under her stern,
and fired a
number
of broadsides with great effect. Capt. Whipple in the
Columbus, could
not
get into action for want of wind, which was light and
baffling,
sufficiently
near to afford much aid, or the Glasgow would have
been captured. The
darkness
of night still continued, when seeing the approach of
another
antagonist,
she spread all sail in flight, with the Columbus is
pursuit, bat was
soon
signaled by the commodore to give up the chase; as
they were
approaching
so near the harbor of Newport, where lay a large
fleet, that the report
of the cannonade would call them out to the rescue,
and thus perhaps
the
whole American force might fall into their hands; as
they were so
deeply
laden with the captured military stores, as to make
all dull sailors.
On
his way back, Capt. Whipple fell in with, and made
prize of the bomb
ship
of the British fleet, which had long been a terror to
the people of
Newport.
The fleet arrived safely into the harbor of New
London; but were soon
after
removed to Providence by the commodore, the British
having left the bay
of Narragansett.
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, John B. Hopkins was significantly wounded in this battle with the HMS Glascow: I have been on
board 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
Per the 1770 List of Providence Taxpayers, John B. Hopkins did not own property in Providence at the time. This makes sense, as we know he lived in Newport, not Providence. We do find his father, Esek Hopkins with two properties, and his uncle 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. |
| Genealogical
Information:
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:In pinging Gendex we get many John Hopkins, but this one stands out:M John B. HOPKINS, Capt. b1742 John Burroughs HopkinsJohn B. Hopkins' wife, Sarah (nee Harris) was his first cousin, since she was the daughter of his aunt, Hope (Hopkins) Harris. This was a common practice at the time. According to the RI Historical Cemeteries Database Sarah Harris is buried in the Old North Burial Ground in Providence, whereas the only Captain John B. Hopkins buried in RI records is at the PV023 ADMIRAL ESEK HOPKINS BURIAL GN, PROVIDENCE which was [REMOVED TO NORTH BURIAL GROUND] later. The RI Historical Cemeteries Database lists this individual as having the same death date as our John B. Hopkins, but a birth year of 1762, not 1742. No children have been listed from the union of John B. Hopkins and his wife Sarah Harris Hopkins. Fellow Gaspee raider Benjamin Page continued his association with a Captain Hopkins later in the Revolutionary War. Beside Captain Whipple, Page also sailed under Capt. Samuel Nicholson, Capt. John B. Hopkins, Jr., Capt. Dudley Saltonstall, Capt. Joseph Olney, Capt. John Manley and Capt. Hoystead Hacker.But this could be either our John B. Hopkins or (doubtfully) his son. History can warp the term of Captain John B. Hopkins, Jr. Since our John B. was the son of the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy, Esek Hopkins, he would likely be called "Junior" Hopkins by his comrades. Note here too, that the people that Benjamin Page sailed with are being referred to in the context of the high rank of Naval Captains, not simply the generic captains of ships. If there ever was a John B. Hopkins, Jr. born in 1762, he would've been only 21 years old by the time of the end of the Revolutionary War. By then, the importance of his grandfather, Esek, would have been tainted by his previous dismissal from command. It is therefore unlikely that nepotism would have advanced such a young John B. Hopkins, Jr. to the rank of Captain. Note too, that of all the eight Captains listed as having sailed with Benjamin Page, only Captains Nicholson and Manley weren't in the initial naval officer appointment list for the Continental Navy and sailing together with our John B. Hopkins in Narragansett Bay in 1776. In the 26May1777 edition of the Boston Gazette we find an ad offering a reward of $20 plus expenses for the capture and return of each of sixteen crewmen that had deserted at Providence from the Continental frigate Warren, John B. Hopkins, Commander. We note an ad in the Providence Gazette of 23Aug1783 of John B. Hopkins having for sale a few hogsheads of rum. The Connecticut Gazette of 14Apr1786 tells us that John Hopkins left in a ship from Rhode Island on 28Dec1785, lost all of his stock, but arrived safely in Surinam. 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. Since his
mother's maiden name
was
Desire Burroughs, it is likely that his middle initial
would be "B".
Esek
of 1718 did have an older brother, John Hopkins, born in
1713, but his
mother was a Wilkinson, and Governor Stephen Hopkins
also had a son,
John
Hopkins of 1728 but who died on the Iberian Peninsula in
1753, long
before
the Gaspee affair. Robinson
refers to
the
Gaspee raider John Hopkins as the nephew of Stephen
Hopkins, which only
the John Hopkins of 1742 would be. Our Captain John
Hopkins would have
probably used the name of Captain John B. Hopkins to
distinguish
himself
from both his uncle and cousin within a very prominent
Rhode Island
family. We conclude that there is a typo on the RI Historical Cemeteries Database that falsely gives his birth date as 1762. |
| Our conclusion is that
our
Gaspee raider is Captain
John Burroughs Hopkins (1742-1796), and that he is
buried with his wife
in the Old North Burial Ground as were many other fellow
Gaspee
raiders.
The Gaspee Days Committee therefore recognizes him as a
true American
patriot. |
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