THE GASPEE RAID OF 1772

     by US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse                                            (see video)
          Delivered on the floor of the US Senate, June 9, 2026
           with apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow             

Listen, my colleagues, and you shall see
How Rhode Islanders blew up the dread Gaspee.
Great Britain was fearsome, she ruled the sea,
But Rhode Islanders burned with the fire to be free.    
So when George sent his frigate to tax our coast,
And its arrogant captain was heard to boast
That he’d soon have Rhode Island under his sway,
[Well] a course was set for a fateful day.

Narragansett Bay sparkled bright and blue
June 9 of 1772,
The trading ship Hannah was making her way
With cargo for Providence that fine day.
King George’s Gaspee pursued in chase,
But the Hannah decided to give her a race.
Away fled the Hannah with wind in her sails,
As the Gaspee’s cannon fired from its rails.
Evading the Gaspee’s cannon balls,
The Hannah sailed for the Namquid shoals.

Fast and light, Hannah crossed the shallow,
But when the Gaspee attempted to follow,
She ran aground on the Warwick shore,
In a falling tide, and could move no more.
That night dark longboats with muffled oars,
Came slipping quietly down the shore,
To rid our Bay of the dread Gaspee,
And show old King George that Rhode Island [would be] free.

The battle was fierce off Warwick Neck.
When the gunsmoke cleared from the Gaspee’s deck,
The Rhode Islanders had her as their prize,
And her crew bound up in chains and ties.
When the crew was ashore, Pawtuxet’s Rangers
Assured they’d present us no further danger.

Back to the Bay, in the dark of the night,
Went the Gaspee Raiders to set her alight.
The fire spread through the Raiders’ prize,
‘Til a blast filled the Narragansett Bay skies.
The fire had reached the Gaspee’s magazines,
And her gunpowder blew her to smithereens.
Away sped the Raiders into the dark,
Leaving in the embers freedom’s spark.

I want their names!” King George demanded,
And ordered the Raiders be apprehended.
But his call for hangings came to naught:
His nooses hung empty; no charge was brought;
Because never a traitorous tale was told.
Rhode Island stood steady and silent and bold.

The spark that was struck in the Gaspee Raid
Lit a flame that still burns in our hearts today.
And the lesson from then is a lesson now,
That every American still will avow.
However majestic your powers be,
You should heed our warning: don’t tread on me.

I yield the floor.