Newport

Newport, Rhode Island: Crossroads of Revolution

Long before the first shots of the American Revolution echoed at Lexington and Concord, Newport, Rhode Island, stood as one of the most prosperous and cosmopolitan seaports in British North America. The fifth-largest city in the colonies, with a population of about 9,500 and the third-busiest port , Newport owed its rise to its deep harbor— big, wide, deep, and situated such that a sailing vessel could enter or depart regardless of wind direction, and not prone to freezing in winter . British Admiral George Rodney called it "the best and noblest harbor in America capable of holding the whole Navy of Britain," from which squadrons could within forty-eight hours blockade Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Newport's seventeen manufacturers of oil and candles gave the town a practical monopoly of the spermaceti trade until the Revolution , and over 150 separate wharves and hundreds of shops crowded along the harbor . Its merchant wealth, its diverse religious communities— including Congregation Yeshuat Israel, which met in a brick synagogue dedicated in 1763 and designed by architect Peter Harrison, welcoming Jews descended from those who had fled persecution in Spain and Portugal —and its strategic position at the mouth of Narragansett Bay made it a prize that both sides in the coming conflict understood they could not afford to ignore.

Newport's revolutionary temper had been on display long before open war. Rhode Island was among the most zealous colonies in resisting British authority: the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to repeal the colony's allegiance to King George III on May 4, 1776—the first and only one of the thirteen colonies to do so , even before the Continental Congress acted. Protests against the Stamp Act of 1765 took a variety of forms, including massive riots in a number of cities, Newport among them.

On August 26, 1765, effigies of three Stamp Act defenders were hung from a gallows erected in Queen Anne Square, guarded by William Ellery—who would later sign the Declaration of Independence—Samuel Vernon, and Robert Crook. The homes of the Loyalist pamphleteers Martin Howard, Dr. Thomas Moffat, and stamp distributor Augustus Johnston were ransacked by the mob. In 1769, defiance escalated further when Newport citizens confronted the captain of His Majesty's armed sloop Liberty, then boarded, dismantled, and burned the ship on the north end of Goat Island in Newport Harbor—one of the first acts of open defiance against the British crown leading up to the Revolutionary War . Because the city was such a well-known hotbed of revolutionary fervor, and because of its long history of disdain for royal and parliamentary efforts to control its trade, the British targeted Newport for occupation.

Newport's ordeal began in earnest on December 8, 1776, when a powerful British naval and land force under Sir Peter Parker and Sir Henry Clinton swept into Narragansett Bay and seized the town without significant resistance. The fleet numbered 71 ships carrying 7,100 British and Hessian soldiers — the force consisted of seven ships of the line, four frigates, and seventy transports, with about 7,000 soldiers and about 1,500 civilians onboard —and both Admiral Richard Howe and his brother General William Howe agreed on the need for a base of operations in New England; strategically, with Narragansett Bay as a base, British forces could launch operations to other parts of New England and defend New York City merchant ships from revolutionary privateers . Lord Richard Howe wanted an ice-free port in which his large navy could spend the winter . When the British force arrived offshore on December 7, Newport's population had already plummeted from its prewar high to about 5,000 or lower, as fear of bombardment from Royal Navy warships drove residents to flee.

Alerted by lookouts at Point Judith, Rhode Island residents began evacuating livestock, cannon, and anything else of use to the British to the mainland; most anyone who had the wherewithal—wealthy merchants, shipowners, captains—to leave did so.

The occupation that followed was devastating. The British garrison, eventually placed under the command of Major General Richard Prescott, transformed Newport into a fortified naval base and garrison town. Prescott was infamous for his treatment of civilians who did not show him proper deference—accosting and even striking men in the streets for not doffing their hats, sending civilians to filthy jails, and allowing the destruction of unoccupied houses in Newport.

Under British martial rule, residents needed passes to leave town, the border between Newport and the rest of the island was gated and locked, there was no free press or local government, and Newport lost its property records when the British shipped them to New York, where they were ruined by water.

In the summer of 1777, the Americans struck a dramatic blow against the occupation. Lieutenant Colonel William Barton planned and led a daring raid on British headquarters, crossing Narragansett Bay on the night of July 10–11 with 38 men and six officers in five whaleboats, slipping past three British frigates, and surprising the guards at the farmhouse where Prescott slept.

They kicked through the door of Prescott's room, captured the general, and carried him away half-dressed to Warwick Point and then to Providence; for this exploit, the Continental Congress gave Barton a sword and passed a resolution honoring his service.

With France's entry into the war in 1778, the Americans saw their chance to recapture Newport. The August 29, 1778, Battle of Newport, Rhode Island—also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill or the Siege of Newport—is significant for being the first attempt at a combined Franco-American military operation during the Revolutionary War

and for the participation of the 1st Rhode Island Infantry Regiment, a segregated unit composed of white, Black, and Native Americans.

French Admiral Comte d'Estaing, finding New York Harbor too well-defended and narrow, agreed to join his American allies in their attempt to recapture Newport.

George Washington ordered Major General John Sullivan along with the Marquis de Lafayette to reinitiate operations; a few days later, Major General Nathanael Greene, a Rhode Island native, joined them.

But before the joint plan could be executed, the French ships were lured away in pursuit of a British fleet, and a sudden storm then damaged the French fleet, which was forced to sail to Boston for repairs.

Abandoned by his French allies, Sullivan was about to lift the siege when he was attacked by the town's garrison under Sir Robert Pigot; the Americans held their ground, and the 1st Rhode Island Regiment repulsed three separate Hessian assaults.

The regiment included a large number of Black soldiers, including enslaved men who received their freedom in exchange for their service.

Sullivan completed his withdrawal off Aquidneck Island on August 31, 1778—only one day ahead of a British fleet carrying more than 4,000 reinforcements.

Newport remained in British hands until October 25, 1779, when British Commander-in-Chief Sir Henry Clinton redeployed the garrison in preparation for the Southern Campaign.

Half the people of Newport had fled during the occupation, and the British army burned nearly 500 buildings for firewood.

A British officer recalled that during one winter the commander gave "orders for the Cutting Down of almost every tree on the Island for fuel," as well as orders for tearing down vacant houses and fences.