The Forgotten First Blood: Why the Gaspee Affair Outshines the Boston Tea Party
While history books often highlight the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the true “first bold blow” for American independence actually took place a year earlier in Warwick, Rhode Island. The Gaspee Affair of 1772 was a violent, high-stakes confrontation that drew the “first blood” of the American Revolution—years before the famous shots at Lexington and Concord.
The Villain of Narragansett Bay
The tension began with the aftermath of the Seven Years War, which left England in massive debt. To recover funds, the British government enforced the Navigation Acts, requiring all colonial goods to be sent through England. This crippled the local economy and the thriving “black market” for rum, sugar, and other smuggled goods.
Leading the crackdown was Lieutenant William Dudingston, commander of the HMS Gaspee. Described by colonists as a “pirate,” Dudingston was known for seizing property and bypassing colonial courts, sending cases directly to England, where colonists had no hope of a fair trial. He basically stole colonists’ goods through force on the high seas and gave them to his government. Many would call this at least an English privateer.
A Night of Fire and “First Blood”
The situation reached a breaking point on the night of June 9, 1772, at what is now known as Gaspee Point. Led by John Brown (founder of Brown University) and Captain Abraham Whipple. Together with the Rhode Island Sons of Liberty, they rowed out to the grounded Gaspee.
Unlike the relatively mild protest in Boston a year later, this was an act of open rebellion:
- The Shooting: The colonists shot Lieutenant Dudingston—specifically in the groin—marking the first blood drawn from a British officer in the Revolution.
- The Destruction: After removing the crew, the colonists burned the Gaspee boat to the waterline.
The Spark of Unity
The British response was swift and severe. They established a Royal Commission of Inquiry and charged the participants with treason, threatening to transport any suspects to England for trial. This denial of a “jury by peers” and the violation of rights guaranteed since the Magna Carta and the 1689 Bill of Rights enraged the colonists. The colonists still believed they were English with English men’s rights.
This legal overreach from England did what taxes alone could not: it united the colonies. In response to the threat of being tried in England, the colonists formed the Committees of Correspondence, a shadow government network that allowed the colonies to communicate and organize their resistance against British rule.
The Leadership Lesson
The Gaspee Affair serves as a powerful example of standing up for principles even when facing heavy consequences. The participants knew that their actions could lead to war, the burning of their homes, or being tried for treason in a foreign land. However, as the event demonstrates, the consequences of not standing up for one’s principles may look different, but can be just as significant.
Though Boston has largely “controlled the narrative” of the Revolution’s start, the shots fired at Gaspee Point occurred three years before Lexington and Concord, making Rhode Island the true site of the Revolution’s first blood and shot heard around the world.
Uncovering History. Inspiring Leadership. The Travel in Time Show is where travel, history, and leadership intermingle with history teacher, author, and speaker Dan Blanchard
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