• The Gaspee Virtual Archives is an ongoing presentation  (since 1997) of the Gaspee Days Committee , 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 burning of the hated British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee,
  by Rhode Island patriots in 1772 as America's  'First Blow for Freedom'®
• If you've been researching a paper on the Burning of the HMS Gaspee, or you're just fascinated by the story, here's the website that is the Mother of all things Gaspee.
• Reference us:  <http://www.gaspee.org > & date visited.
• Caution students: Analysis articles may contain 'poison pills' to discourage plagiarism!  If you don't believe us, visit  http://www.plagiarism.org/
• Note: Articles native to the Gaspee Virtual Archives are subject to frequent changes based on new information as it is developed.
  
• If you have items of interest for our Gaspee Virtual Archives, please e-mail the Gaspee Virtual Archives webmaster.  No homework questions, please!
• The Gaspee Virtual Archives contains many articles at off site links.... i.e., it's not our fault if they don't load.
• The Gaspee Virtual Archives primarily serves as a repository of information regarding the Gaspee Affair, using both collected information found elsewhere, and as a think tank of new information.  Every effort has been made to present only material that is either beyond copyright, or to have obtained permission from the creators, where known.  THIS DOES NOT IMPLY THAT ALL ITEMS ARE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Search Entire WEB Search Gaspee.ORG  Search Gaspee.COM

• LONG: Buy the Book (Amazon.com link) -- The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee -- by William R. Staples
•  Hypertext version of Staples' Gaspee , the 1990 republication as above. Not as warm around a fireplace as the real book, but it DOES allow text string searches! Total of ~200 pages. (Link courtesy of RI Publications Society, with permission)

• Forward --by Dr. Patrick Conley. Includes Cover, Titles, and Contents. (Pages i -x)
• Introduction -- by Professor Richard M. Deasy of Providence College. An analysis essay of Staples, and the Gaspee Affair. (Pages xi-liv)
• Destruction of the Gaspee -- by William R. Staples. (298 Kb,  Pages 1-110).
• Appendix A  -- Collected documents from Bartlett on the Gaspee. (Pages 111-128)
• Appendix B --  Collected documents from the RI Historical Society on the Gaspee Affair. (Pages 129-138)
  

LONG: A History of the Destruction of His Britannic Majesty's Schooner Gaspee.... .-- by John R. Bartlett.  We dare you to quote the whole title!

LONG:  The Impact of the Gaspee Affair on the Coming of the Revolution, 1772-1773  --  Lawrence J. DeVaro. PhD dissertation, 1973 (754 Kb, 358 pages .doc)

MEDIUM: Revolutionary Fire: The Gaspee Incident  [50 Kb ~20 pages]. (Link courtesy of the RI Council for the Humanities.)

MEDIUM: Sparking the Revolution -- by Gerald M. Carbone (Link courtesy ProJo.com)

MEDIUM: The Gaspee Affair: A Study of Its Constttutional Significance -- (81 Kb) by William Lesl1e

MEDIUM SHORT: The Story of the Gaspee -- by Lewis Taft

MEDIUM SHORT: Gaspee: Prelude to the Revolution -- by Alex Gabbard

MEDIUM SHORT:  Conflicts That Led Up to the Burning of the Gaspee -- by Susan Danforth

MEDIUM SHORT:  Excerpt of the Gaspee Affair -- by Catherine Williams, 1839

SHORT: The Gaspee Affair -- by John Williams Haley

SHORT:  Clergy and Press Reaction to Gaspee's Burning -- by Frances Segerson

SHORTER: The Gaspee Affair -- by Hubert H. Bancroft

ESSENTIAL: What's the Importance of the Gaspee Affair? -- by Dr. John Concannon

SHORTEST: The Burning of the Gaspee -- As short as we can get it!

• Media Facts Sheet -- The essentials for the Press.
  
  
• PowerPoint Presentations on the Gaspee Affair
  
• Elementary v1
• Middle/Junior v2
• High School/College v3

Ephraim Bowen's Account

Lieutenant Dudingston's Story

Statement of Dr.  John Mawney

Deposition of Aaron Briggs

Deposition of Daniel Vaughan

An Unsigned Letter from a Spy to Admiral Montagu

Governor Wanton's Reward Offer (text) --    See original  (graphic file)

King George III's Reward Offer (text)  --    See original  (graphic file)

Instructions of King George III to the Gaspee Commissioners

The Gaspee Commissioners Report to King George III

 Letters from Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson

Chief Justice Horsmanden's Report to the Earl of Dartmouth

Letters from Samuel Adams on the Gaspee Incident

Reverend John Allen's Oratory on the Gaspee Incident

London newspaper, July 1772

Gentleman's Magazine, London, July 1773

Rescue Mission to Save John Brown

Letter from Charles Dudley to Admiral Montagu

• The 'Official' List of Gaspee Raiders -- with links to each set of biographical notes
• List of Individuals Involved in the Gaspee Incident  (Link courtesy of the RI Committee for the Humanities)
• The Crew of the Gaspee -- We know them all
  
• Providence 1770 Taxpayer List -- Many suspects
• Lt. William Dudingston -- our villian was a Scotsman
  
• Admiral John Montagu --  the salty sailor that hated Rhode Islanders
• Governor Joseph Wanton -- Loyalist...or was he not?
• The Gaspee Commissioners -- boringly Tory
  
• King George III biography  -- (Link courtesy of Virtualology.com)
• Daniel Vaughan -- Key counter-witness, but was he a plant?
• Capt John Linzee -- Ironic, ain't it?

• The Impending Revolution-- from Charles Carroll's Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy. (184 Kb, pages 233-272) 
• History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (1859) -- Samuel Green Arnold (Link courtesy UMichigan)
  
• TimeLine, America During the Age of  Revolution, 1764-1775  (Link courtesy Library of Congress)
• Rhode Island-centric Timeline of the Revolution. 1763-1789
  
• American Affairs 1760-1783 -- A British view of the Revolutionary era (Link courtesy of A Web of English History)
• The Sons of Liberty (Link courtesy of earlyamerica.com)
  
• The Result of the Gaspee Affair:  The Committee of Correspondence  (Link courtesy of earlyamerica.com)
• More on the Committees of Correspondence  (Link courtesy of New River Notes)
• Yet more on the Committees of Correspondence -- Adobe acrobat (.pdf) file  (Link Courtesy Gainesville Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution) Scroll to Page 3.
• Revolution in Three Acts  -- Colorful writings about Rhode Island's role in the Revolution, including the Gaspee affair, --by Lucia Hammond Wheeler (1936)
• A Naval History of the American Revolution --by Gardner W. Allen  (Link courtesy of americanrevolution.com)
• British Naval Terms and Slang  (Link courtesy of hmsrichmond.org)
• Royal Navy Articles of War -1749   (Link courtesy of hmsrichmond.org)
• Life on British Navy Schooner, 1768 -1772  (Link courtesy of the Sultana Projects)
• The Maritime History Virtual Archives  (Link courtesy of Lars Bruzelius)
• How to Read 18th Century British-American Writing  (Link courtesy of  DoHistory.org)
• Letter Writing Style of 1775  (Link courtesy of hmsrichmond.org)
• Doing Research on the Gaspee Affair: Primary and Secondary Bibliographic Sources (Link courtesy of Steve H. Park, PhD at UConn)
• 18th Century Primary Sources -- Links to original documents related to Colonial and Revolutionary America, except Gaspee, of course! (Link courtesy Fordham University)
• More 18th Century Primary Sources -- Mostly stale links to original documents related to Colonial and Revolutionary America (Link courtesy Oregon State University)
  
• Maritime History on the Internet  (Link courtesy of Peter McCracken)

• Did or did not the Gaspee Raiders disguise themselves as Indians?
• Was the weapon that Joseph Bucklin fired a long musket or a pistol?
• Can the Gaspee Affair be compared to the present day war on drugs?
• Who was the Joseph Bucklin who fired the Gaspee shot?
• How many longboats does it take to attack the Gaspee?
• How big were the longboats that attacked the Gaspee?
• What was John Brown's Defense?
• What is the proper pronunciation of the word "Gaspee"?
• Were there any lives lost during the Gaspee Affair?
• The Deliberate Attack on the Gaspee
• The use of law enforcement as an reason for the attack on the Gaspee -- (courtesy Gaspee.info)
•  Did a Cannon Fire on the Gaspee?
• NY Times Bemoans Lack of Attention to the Gaspee Affair, 1922 -- (courtesy New York Times)

Notes on the Possible Construction and Rigging of the Gaspee -- by Jack Silvia

The Gaspee Prior to 1772 -- "Better here than in Philadelphia....."

Expeditions to Find the Gaspee--What's left....and what's left to the imagination.

Brief Resume of the Dramatic Sketch for "Revolutionary Fire: The Gaspee Incident " (Link courtesy of the RI Council for the Humanities)

Saturday Evening Post, August 1829 -- an amusing account of the Gaspee Affair

A Night at Sabin's Inn -- by Hazel Kennedy

A Night at Sabin's Tavern -- by Edward Field

Cellar Imprisonment of the Gaspee Crewmen-- by Hazel Kennedy

Excerpt from Pictoral Field Guide to the Revolution -- by Benson Lossing

List of RI State Archives Holdings re:  the Gaspee Affair

False Pathways in Researching the Gaspee Affair -- What our Gaspee isn't!

Info on the RI Historical Society Library -- Links to their website

Tips on Research at Providence's Old North Burial Ground -- by Leonard Bucklin

Gaspee Days Committee History Files -- Not about the Gaspee Affair itself, but about the Committee that celebrates it, historical markers, and memorabilia related to the Gaspee.

The Gaspee Incident in Fiction -- Fictional works that relate to the Gaspee

2008 Gaspee Days Essay Contest Winner  -- Madeline Neff Grade 7,  Msgr. Clarke School

The Joseph Bucklin Society  -- a great, complimentary web site resource on the Gaspee Affair

 Rehoboth, Massachusetts -- curious connections to people that burnt the Gaspee

George Washington Celebrates the Gaspee -- compleat with fireworks!

Virginia Gazette -- links to selected articles of famous colonial newspaper

Newport skirmish -- Rhode Islanders ambush the British outside Newport, Jan, 1773

Dudingston's Petition to the King for Relief -- Great drama.

Burn the Gaspee -- by Samuel S. Kretman

Failures Make History Too -- by Jim Boren

Gaspee Song --Attributed to Capt. Thomas Swan

The Gaspee Affair -- by Rosetta Desrosiers

Ballad of the Gaspee Affair -- by Robert Archetto

The Last Cruise of the Gaspee -- by George L. Raymond

A Recipe for Revolution -- author unknown

First Blow for Freedom -- by Marjorie Clegg

Gaspee Days -- by Ed Holden

Of Past Parts and Unity -- by Mark Bernier

"Burn the Gaspee!" -- by Michael J. Moakler

"The Burning of the Gaspee" -- Anonymous, 1800

The Burning of the Gaspee -- by Karen Girouard, 2008

• Curriculum Aids from the Sultana Project. The Sultana is a re-creation of a British revenue schooner c1768 that now serves as a sailing classroom in Chesapeake Bay.  It is very similar to the Gaspee.  (All links courtesy of Sultana Projects, Inc., all are .pdf  files)

  • Sultana’s Colonial History classroom unit, entitled “Sea of Change – Sultana, the Tea Taxes and the Dawn of the American Revolution,” is targeted towards 4-6th grade students. The unit examines the world of pre-Revolutionary America through the lens of the 1768 British Royal Navy tax collecting schooner Sultana. The unit can function as a stand alone curriculum as well as a pre-trip primer for students sailing on Sultana.
    
  • Guide to Sultana:  Written for an adult audience, this pocket guide contains all the information you would ever want to know about Sultana's history, construction, and educational mission.  The pocket guide contains copies of the original 1768 drawings of Sultana and a listing of all of the 101 crew members who served aboard her from 1768-1772.

• Elementary School Level:  
• The Story of the Gaspee -- by Don D'Amato, (Link courtesy of Warwick Public Schools).
• Notes on Presenting the Gaspee Affair to a 4th Grade Class -- by a proud father
• PowerPoint Presentation: "The Burning of the Gaspee" (391Kb) v1-2004
  
• If you don't have PowerPoint, Download PowerPoint Viewer Here (2.7 Mb)
• If audio is not playing, download .mp3 audio file here (54.5 Mb)
• Teachers/Speakers Notes to accompany PowerPoint presentation v1 (.doc)

• Middle/Junior High Level 
• Appropriate Text:  The Destruction of the 'Gaspee' -- (28Kb) by Horatio Knox - 1908
• PowerPoint Presentation: "The Burning of the Gaspee" (914 Kb) v2-2004
  
• If you don't have PowerPoint, Download PowerPoint Viewer Here (2.7 Mb)
• If audio is not playing, download .mp3 audio file here (54.5 Mb)
• Teachers/Speakers Notes to accompany PowerPoint presentation v2 (.doc)

• High School/College Level:
  
• PowerPoint Presentation: "The Burning of the Gaspee" (817 Kb) v3-2004
  
• If you don't have PowerPoint, Download PowerPoint Viewer Here (2.7 Mb)
• If audio is not playing, download .mp3 audio file here (54.5 Mb)
• Teachers/Speakers Notes to accompany PowerPoint presentation v3 (.doc)
  
• Gaspee & the Committees of Correspondence history lesson plan -- Douglas E. Miller
  
• Curriculum Aid:  Notes to Accompany Revolutionary Fire: The Gaspee Incident (all links courtesy of the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities)

Introduction

Notes for Teachers on Using the Study Guide

Notes for Teachers on the Gaspee Study Guide Narrative

Suggested Activities That Can Be Used in Either Preparation for the Drama/Discussion Presentation or as Post Presentation Experiences

Notes on Current Issues Suggested by the Gaspee Incident

Bibliography -- (for Revolutionary Fire only...not exhaustive)

• The Story of the Gaspee -- by Don D'Amato, (Link courtesy of Warwick Public Schools).
• PowerPoint Slide Show: "The Burning of the Gaspee" (391Kb) v1-2004
• Burning of the Schooner Gaspee -- by Troop 1 Gaspee Plateau, Boy Scouts of America
• Enter the Gaspee Days Childrens Colonial Costume Contest
  
• All about the Gaspee Days Parade

• Now view all our images in convenient thumbnail format!