History of Portsmouth for Students › 2012 › 09 › history … · a group moved to what is now...

A Short History of Portsmouth

Settlement Aquidneck Island was a hunting ground for the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes. In 1638 Roger Williams went to Narragansett sachems (chiefs) Canonicus and Miantonomi and arranged the sale of the island in exchange for white beads, 10 coats and 20 hoes. A basic farming tool – a hoe - was part of the purchase price. Williams made the sale for a small group of families that left Boston with Anne Hutchinson. The religious leaders in the Massachusetts Bay Colony forced Anne to leave because she challenged the ministry. Many of the people who came with Anne, like John Clarke and William Coddington were important businessmen and leaders in Boston. They signed a compact to base their government on God’s laws. The Indian name of the area was Pocaset but it was renamed Portsmouth a year later in 1639. “Founder’s Brook” (off Boyd’s Lane) is the traditional site of the first settlement.

From the beginning, most of the people of Portsmouth were farmers. Early town records show they were concerned about how land would be given out and that records of land ownership should be kept. They lived in the area between East and West Main roads from Sprague Street to the Mount Hope Bay. At first they were given two acre house lots near a spring and larger areas of grazing land further south from the settlement. The first settlers brought cattle with them. There was a common pasture for cattle in the area that became known as Common Fence Point. Later on the house lots were given up as families began to live on their farms instead of together in a community.The original settlement on Aquidneck Island was in Portsmouth, but within a year a group moved to what is now Newport. In 1640 the two settlements agreed to a line dividing the island. Newport became the urban area and seaport, and that strengthened the farming economy in Portsmouth. Newport was a good market for Portsmouth farm produce, but Portsmouth farmers sold their products all along the East Coast. Animals were very important to the early farmers. The cattle herds did well and soon Portsmouth cattle were being sold to Boston and the Barbados in the Caribbean. Large flocks of sheep and herds of horses were common. Aquidneck Island was covered in woods and the settlers looked for grassland.

- G. Schmidt June 2011

current images by G. Schmidt - Vintage images from collection of G. Schmidt

The grass on Hog Island was given to Portsmouth settlers and pigs roamed freely on Hog, Patience and Prudence Islands. Massasoit had granted grazing rights in the Fogland area of what is now Tiverton in exchange for wampum. The Cooks, whose farm is where the Glen is now, would ferry their cattle and horses across daily for grazing.

Colonial Portsmouth In 1657 most of the open land in Portsmouth was given out to freemen. Though Newport welcomed new settlers, Portsmouth residents were more guarded in accepting new residents. Settlers were not admitted without a vote of the town citizens. Once someone was accepted as a freeman, the town took responsibility to help them in time of need. Some colonists were given as much as 300 acres of pastureland. There was a rule that farmers had to fence planting areas and orchards. They used stonewalls, rail fences and hedges as fences. We can still see stonewalls that mark the gardens and orchards of the old farms. By 1713 the final acres of town land were given out. This time freemen received twelve acres. In 1755 there were 1363 Portsmouth residents. Most of them were farmers. Mills developed to help farmers. Saw mills started as early as 1642 to saw lumber for fences and houses. Grinding corn meal was very important to farmers and early water powered gristmills began in Lawton Valley and the Glen. By 1668 the first of many Portsmouth windmills was built on the Briggs Farm. This is the Butt’s Hill area and was commonly called “Windmill Hill.” Marine industries grew in importance. There was some boat building and there were many Portsmouth sea captains. Fisheries developed and Portsmouth fishermen brought in menhaden, lobsters, cod and scallops. Early ferries were were an essential link in Portsmouth transportation. The Bristol Ferry and the Anthony Ferry to Tiverton were among the oldest. Additional ferries were the

Fogland Ferry (to Tiverton from the end of Glen Road) and Howland’s Ferry to Tiverton. Religion continued to be an important force in Portsmouth. In 1700 the Quaker Meeting House was built on Quaker Hill on the corner of East Main Road and Hedly Street. That meeting house still exists today. Education was a priority as well and Portsmouth began building school houses in 1725. One of

these first schoolhouses, the Southernmost School” was built on Union Street. It still exists and was later moved to the grounds of the Portsmouth Historical Society at the corner of Union Street and East Main Road.



Portsmouth during the Revolutionary War In 1774 Rhode Islanders were among those protesting British taxes and there was a tradition of evading the navigation acts. During the summer of 1774 the British blockaded Narragansett Bay. Two hundred and fifty British troops attacked Prudence Island and drove off the local militia. The Rhode Island General Assembly set amounts for what each community should supply to defend against the British. Portsmouth was to have available one hundred and fifteen pounds of powder, one hundred and eighty four pounds of lead and seven hundred and thirty eight flints. In the beginning stages of the Revolutionary War, the assembly organized branches of “minutemen” for the towns. In August of 1775 the leaders of the Portsmouth defenders were John Earl (captain), James Peckham (lieutenant) and Cook Wilcox (ensign). Because the town treasurer, William Anthony, was a Quaker, it was Metcalf Bowler who agreed to receive the arms for Portsmouth. Although he was a prominent citizen of Newport and Portsmouth, historians suspect that Bowler actually spied for the British side. The artillery company would be provided by the colony with “two, three or four Pound Field Pieces on Carriages.” Documents from the collection of the Portsmouth Historical Society show that In 1776 the General Assembly ordered Portsmouth and other towns to raise a fourteen member “artillery company” which will “March out to Action” when needed. What was Portsmouth like during the Revolutionary Era? The map drawn by Charles Blaskowitz in 1777 gives us a sense of what the town was like. In the northeast part of the town an important location was Howland’s Ferry to Tiverton. Wharfs and a battery were there as well. This is about the site of the ruins of the Stone Bridge now. This ferry was important link to the mainland and even what we call



East Main Road today was called the “Path to Howland Ferry” in many documents of the time. Further to the north was another road leading to Common Fence Point and the Town Pond. To the northwest was the other major ferry - the Bristol Ferry. Quite a few houses are gathered along the road to the ferry and there is a battery in that location as well. A little farther south was the Isaac Lawton Farm with a windmill around the location of Sprague Street today. The oval shape of a battery is centered around what we call Butt’s Hill. The Newtown area on the northeast side of Portsmouth shows a number of houses and a tavern. To the south is the Quaker Meeting House and beyond that is the next area of population concentration around East Main Road and the Glen area. The wharfs of Fogland Ferry to Tiverton are located at the end of what we call Glen Road. The Glen grist mill is noted. To the south is another scattering of farms off of Wapping Road. Metcalf Bowler’s home and the Elam and Lopez properties are marked more to the south. Moving west across what we call “Mill Lane” is a windmill. Our Middle Road connects to Union Street which ends at the summer home of Abraham Redwood. A cluster of homes appears in this area. There is a fulling mill located around the Lawton’s Valley area. Down the West Main Road is the Oevering Farm.

Occupation May 4, 1776 the General Assembly cut ties with King George. Newport had been the fifth largest port in the colonials, but during the War for Independence the British invaded Aquidneck Island and occupied it from 1776 to 1779. When the six thousand British and Hessian forces began arriving on December 7, 1776, life changed for the people of Portsmouth. All ferries were stopped, but people did go on and off the island secretly. The Portsmouth Town records stop November 11, 1776 and no other entries are made until February 25th 1780. British camps were pitched at Bristol Ferry, Town Pond, Howland’s Ferry, on Butt’s Hill and by Sandy Point. Even during this time we have records of Portsmouth’s Revolutionary War Company. David Gifford (a local inn and tavern owner) and Burrington Anthony both served as captains in the company. When the Portsmouth troops were called up by the General Assembly, they became part of the 1st Regiment of Rhode Island. During the occupation, many of Portsmouth's farms were damaged. The occupation was harsh and civilians were killed and injured. In 1776 a fourteen year old boy, Darius Chase, was killed when the British destroyed his family farm. He made the mistake of trying to save his shotgun. British soldiers were quartered in farm houses throughout the island. Families were allowed to leave the island with some of their possessions, but many who had property to defend stayed and endured the hardships. Portsmouth lost only about ten percent of its population during this time. The cattle and sheep had been ordered off the island so they couldn’t be taken by the enemy for food. The British troops filled in all of the wells, chopped down the trees and burned houses and farm fields.



After the war Portsmouth families petitioned to be compensated for the damages caused by the British. These household manifests give us an idea of what the Portsmouth residents owned. Robert Binney (Benney) and Elizabeth Heffernan were brother and sister in laws who shared a home and 26 acre farm just north of the Quaker Meeting House. This was probably a country home since they were listed in the Newport census, so they probably had more goods than most Portsmouth families. Among the items destroyed were five acres of orchards and four acres of corn. Twelve goats, cows, hogs and a jackass are listed among the lost livestock. Household goods like five feather beds and twelve chairs along with two mirrors (looking glasses) and three dozen pewter plates give us an idea of their wealth. Portsmouth was a popular location for a country home for Newport merchants. Capture of General Prescott Portsmouth was a site of action during the Revolutionary War. In July 1777, while Aquidneck Island was occupied by the British and Hessian troops, American Major William Barton, who was camped in Tiverton, received word that the Brittish Commander in Chief, General Prescott was staying at Mr. Oevering’s house on West Main Road close to the Middletown border. Barton plotted to get Prescott so he could be exchanged for American Major General Charles Lee who had been captured in New Jersey. July 9, 1777 Barton and 40 volunteers left Warwick Neck in five whaleboats and rowed across the Bay with muffled oars. The Americans landed on the west shore of Portsmouth and followed a gully up to the Oevering Farm. Barton talked his way past a guard and took control of a sentry so he could not sound the alarm. The men worked quickly and within a few minutes took Prescott, the sentry and Prescott’s aide-de camp with them. No shot was fired. This capture gave the colonial troops some encouragement.

British and Hessian Redoubts British and Hessian troops had redoubts or earthen fortifications near the Glen area, Bristol Ferry, Town Pond and Butt’s Hill off of Sprague Street by Portsmouth High School. Butt’s Hill was the site of an American fortification and it was taken over by the British and Hessians when they occupied the island. Letters from Captain von der Malsburg (January 3, 1778) provide us with an



idea of life for the Hessian soldiers in the Fogland area. For five weeks the Hessians spent whole nights lying on their stomachs overlooking the Sakonnet River to watch for the enemy crossings. There were four hostile batteries across in Tiverton and the Hessians suffered casualties from American attacks. Remnants of “Fort Butts” can still be seen today.

Battle of Rhode Island During the summer of 1778, General Washington wanted American troops to keep the British busy at New York while the French General dEstaing took his French forces to Newport. The basic plan was to have the French troops bombard Newport, the French troops were suppose to land near Lawton’s Valley and American General John Sullivan would cross over from Tiverton at Howland’s Ferry. General Washington sent sent troops under the Marquis de Lafayette to join General Sullivan. Lafayette was said to have stayed at the Dennis House on East Main Road. In August of 1778 American troops under General Sullivan did cross over to Portsmouth and occupied Fort Butts and other deserted British fortifications. The British burned several of their ships in the bay off of the west coast of Portsmouth so they would not be taken by the French. French General dEstaing left with the French fleet to take on the British fleet. The Americans expected help from the French Navy, but a storm damaged their boats. British ships bombarded the American positions. August 15th, the colonial army under Generals Varnum, Glover, Nathanael Green and Colonel Christopher Greene set off down the East and West Roads. General John Hancock (signer of the Declaration of Independence) was in command of one of the lines. August 21st the French returned, but they told Sullivan they were going to Boston for repairs. August 22nd the French depart for Boston and many of Sullivan’s militia started to go home because their enlistments were up. Sullivan’s force went from 10,000 to 5,000. August 29th the British troops under Colonel Campbell ambushed American troops under Colonel Livingston on Union Street near the East Road. Americans withdrew north, British troops under Prescott (he had returned) pursued. The British and Hessian had a line from Quaker Hill, Turkey Hill and Almy’s Hill. The American line was one mile north by Butt’s Hill. Cannons started at 9 AM. The British fleet moved to Lehigh Hill and bombarded the American Right flank. Hand to hand fighting from Lehigh Hill to Almy’s Hill. The British made three



charges. Troops of the First Rhode Island Regiment with 138 ex-slaves reinforced American troops and performed bravely. Bloody Run Brook got its name from battlefield bloodshed. By 4 PM the battle was over. The lines remained the same. Mass graves were dug. The August 30, 1778 diary entry of Liet. Col. Samuel Ward of the First Rhode Island Regiment provides an eyewitness account. “The army retreated the evening of the 28th. Early yesterday morning, the enemy moved out after us, expecting that we were leaving the island , and took possession of the Heights in our front. They sent out parties in their front, and we made detachments to drive them back again. After a skirmish of three or four house, with various success, in which each party gave way three or four time, and were reinforced, we drove them quite back to the ground they first took in the morning, and have continued there ever since. Two ships and a couple of small vessels beat up opposite our lines, and fired several shots, but being pretty briskly fired upon from our heavy pieces, they fell down, and now lay opposite the enemy’s lines. Our loss was not very great, it has not been ascertained yet; and I can hardly make a tolerable conjecture. Several officers fell, and several are badly wounded. I am so happy to have only one captain slightly wounded in the hand. I believe that a couple of the blacks were killed and four our five wounded, but none badly. Previous to this, I should have told you our picquets and light corps engaged their advance , and fount them with bravery.” Ward believed thaat “our loss was not very great,” but later estimates were for 500 American deaths and a thousand for the British and Hessians. Ward believed that the British ships had been deterred by the American cannon fire, but the Captain’s log of the HMS Vigilant suggests that the wind direction and shallow depths of the area prevented the ships from reaching Bristol Ferry. Sullivan made plans to withdraw. Five thousand British troops were on the way. Sullivan withdrew across Howland’s Ferry. The Battle was over. A thousand British and Hessians were killed. American losses were around five hundred. This was the only battle fought in Rhode Island and it was the last major action in New England. The British continued to hold the island until October of 1779. The French under Rochambeau were greeted with enthusiasm when they arrived on the island in July 1780. French troops were quartered in homes.

Post War Portsmouth. After the war it took Portsmouth farmers a while to get going again. Most Portsmouth residents were trying to repair their farms and homes. There was no wood for heating or construction because the British had stripped the town of trees during their three years of occupation. When the town meetings began again, Portsmouth citizens preferred the more decentralized Articles of Confederation to the new Constitution that was proposed. Portsmouth Freemen voted twelve to sixty to not adopt the



Constitution in a vote held May 24th, 1788. Portsmouth military leaders Cook Wilcox, David Gifford and Burrington Anthony were among those voted against adoption of the Constitution. As an agricultural community, Portsmouth people were concerned about war debt repayment and “paper money” issues as well as waiting for the adoption of the Bill Of Rights. Rhode Island finally became the thirteenth state in 1790.

Nineteenth Century Portsmouth The 1790 census showed 1560 residents - 243 families and 19 slaves. By the early 1800s dairy and grain farms were more important. Sheep raising became less important than it had in early years. By the late 1800s there were about 20 windmills in Rhode Island, mostly grinding grain. The largest number was in Portsmouth. A town history written in 1888 lists five mills - on the farms of Daniel Almy, William Manchester, Henry Anthony, Job Soule and Leander Boyd. We still have two windmills existing today. Boyd's Mill is now reconstructed in Middletown. The windmill at Prescott Farm was built in Warren in 1812. It was known as Wyatt’s Mill and operated in two locations in Portsmouth. Boyd's Mill ground cornmeal for Rhode Island Jonnycakes from Flint or Indian Corn. A plaque by an old millstone reads: "Grain from almost every farm in Rhode Island passed over its surface. In 1884 it broke, its work finished. Here let it rest as a monument to the old New England Life of simplicity, resourcefulness and courage." Boyd's Mill operated on Mill Lane from 1810 to 1939. The local grist mills were an important community gathering places. Corn and other grains were taken to the mill by area farmers to be ground to a fine flour between two large stone wheels. The miller got a share of the flour as his pay. While manufacturing mills were important all over Rhode Island during the Industrial Revolution, Portsmouth mills were still basic because there was little waterpower. Carding and fulling mills to make woolen cloth operated at the Glen until about 1858. Portsmouth had some manufacturing and coal mining but it stayed mainly agricultural. The census of 1840 listed 1706 residents. Of the 882 white males, 491 are in agriculture, 61 in manufacture, 28 are miners, 6 in navigation of oceans, sailing on canals, lakes and rivers are 33, 7 are in commerce, 7 were retired military, and 264 were scholars (students?). Only two persons could not read or write. Coal was found in the Arnold’s Point area in the early 1800s and there were many attempts to mine the coal. The Taunton Copper Works had machinery near the mines to produce copper, but that was not profitable either. Shipbuilding was another Portsmouth industry that began to build “horse boats” that used a team of horses to power the boat.



During the Civil War Portsmouth served as the location for Lowell General Hospital near the Melville area of Portsmouth (known as Portsmouth Grove). The hospital, built in 1862, cared for wounded Union and Confederate troops. The Rhode Island Hospital Guard which was made up of soldiers too disabled for battle, kept the peace and watched over prisoners. After the war the hospital was dismantled and there are no signs of it left.

By 1852 Portsmouth agriculture becomes big business. Henry Anthony is listed as the largest commercial seed grower of New England. In 1860 the town establishes a Town Farm (where Raytheon is now) to support the poor. The 1888 list of prominent Portsmouth residents includes mainly farmers - Henry Anthony, John Chase, Robert Hall, Thomas Hazard (of Vaucluse Farm), Thomas Holman (whose farm was in the Seameadow area) and William Sisson. Wealthy people with summer homes in Newport, such as H.A.C. Taylor (who built Glen Farm), Reginald Vanderbilt (who built Sandy Point Farm) and Alfred Vanderbilt (who rebuilt Oakland Farm), began to buy farms in Portsmouth. Taylor was a serious animal breeder who was proud of his Guernsey cows, Percheron horses and Horned Dorset sheep. Oakland Farm (1901) was equipped with all the latest in technology – power house for electricity, fire hydrants and a fire truck. It was a working farm with dairy herds and vegetable crops as well as a fancy show place for horses. Writer Julia War Howe (author of the lyrics of the Battle Hymn of the Repubic) made her summer home on Union Street. Henry James, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and other great American literary figures were frequent guests at her home.

20th Century Portsmouth. In the fall of 1921 a freight line was established to get crops to market.

Produce was taken to the farm of Penn Macomber at the foot of Quaker Hill from which a truck would take them so many times a week to Boston. Portsmouth grain was shipped out of the Bristol Ferry freight train yard. The Hathaway Orchards (established in 1906) produced much of the fruit for the state until the hurricane of 1938 downed many of the trees. Peaches and apples were shipped to Providence and Boston by train. Farmers still trucked their vegetables into markets in Newport, but they provided food for people in the nearby states as well. Gradually, the old Yankee farms were bought by farmers from immigrant families. Throughout the later part of the 1900s farmlands have gradually become housing developments. Farming is important, but the traditional crops of corn, seed and potatoes have given way to a variety of farms - dairy, alpaca, Christmas trees and vineyards. World War II brought the Navy to the Melville area where training was held for PT boats. Defense and boatbuilding industries have become more important to the Portsmouth economy.



sources used: Historical and Architectural Resources of Portsmouth, RI. State of Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1979. Abass, D.K. “The Forgotten Ships of the Battle of Rhode Island: Some Unpublished Documents.” Bayles, Richard. History of Newport County, 1888. Devin, Nancy and Richard Simpson. Images of America: Portsmouth Rhode Island. Dover NH, Arcadia Publishing, 1997. Garman, James. A History of Portsmouth Rhode Island 1638-1978. Newport, RI, Franklin Printing, 1978

Pierce, John. Historical Tracts of the Town of Portsmouth Rhode Island. Portsmouth RI, Hamilton Printing, 1991.

Schroder, Walter. The Hessian Occupation of Newport and Rhode Island 1776-1779. Heritage Books, Westchester, Maryland, 2005.

West, Edward. “The Lands of Portsmouth” in the Rhode Island Historical Society Bulletin.(1938?)

Blaskowitz, Charles: A Topographical Chart of the Bay of Narragansett in the Province of New England. 1777.

Ward, John. A Memoir of Lietu-Col. Samuel Ward, First Rhode Island Regiment. New York: privately printed 1875.

Documents in the collection of the Portsmouth Historical Society

Recruitment for Troops: General Assembly Order sent to Portsmouth 1778Records of payments for soldier’s enlistments. June 29th and June 30, 1780Household Manifest c.1780. Losses of Robert Binney (Benney) and Elizabeth Heffernan.License for Public House - David Gifford Inn Holder, July 10, 1775Town Meeting Vote on adoption of the United States Constitution, May 24th, 1788.



History of Portsmouth for Students › 2012 › 09 › history … · a group moved to what is now...

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