By: HISTORY.com Editors

British vessel burned off Rhode Island

Published: February 09, 2010Last Updated: May 27, 2025

In an incident that some regard as the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, colonists board the HMS Gaspee, a British vessel that ran aground off the coast of Rhode Island, and set it aflame.

The Gaspee was pursuing the Hanna, an American smuggling ship, when it ran aground off Namquit Point in Providence’s Narragansett Bay on June 9. That evening, John Brown, an American merchant angered by high British taxes on his goods, rowed out to the Gaspee with a number of other colonists and seized control of the ship. After leading away its crew, the Americans set the Gaspee afire.

When British officials attempted to prosecute the colonists involved in the so-called “Gaspee Affair,” they found no Americans willing to testify against their countrymen. This renewed the tension in British-American relations and inspired the Boston Patriots to found the “Committee of Correspondence,” a propaganda group that rallied Americans to their cause by publicizing all anti-British activity that occurred throughout the 13 colonies.

The Appalling Way the British Tried to Recruit Americans Away from Revolt

Patriots forced onto horrific British prison ships were presented with two options: turn traitor or die.

By: Greg Daugherty

Timeline

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Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on June 10th

1692

First Salem witch hanging

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1752

Benjamin Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm

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1775

John Adams proposes a Continental Army

On June 10, 1775, John Adams proposes to Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, that the men laying siege to Boston should be considered a Continental Army led by a general. The men who had armed themselves and rushed to surround British forces in Boston following the Battle of Lexington and Concord were overwhelmingly from New England. […]

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1881

Tolstoy disguises himself as a peasant and leaves on a pilgrimage

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1928

“Where the Wild Things Are” author Maurice Sendak is born

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1935

Alcoholics Anonymous founded

In Akron, Ohio, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, two recovering alcoholics, found Alcoholics Anonymous, also known as “A.A.,” a 12-step rehabilitation program that eventually helps countless people cope with alcoholism. Based on psychological techniques that have long been used in suppressing certain personality traits, members of the strictly anonymous organization control their disease through […]

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1939

Famous scene from “Gone with the Wind” filmed

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1940

Norway surrenders to Germany

After two months of desperate resistance, the last surviving Norwegian and British defenders of Norway are overwhelmed by the Germans, and the country is forced to capitulate to the Nazis. Two months earlier, on April 9, Nazi Germany launched its invasion of Norway, capturing several strategic points along the Norwegian coast. During the preliminary phase […]

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1940

Italy declares war on France and Great Britain

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1942

In brutal reprisal, Nazis annihilate Czech village of Lidice

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1944

Joe Nuxhall makes MLB debut at 15

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1953

Eisenhower rejects calls for U.S. isolationism

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1967

Six-Day War ends

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1968

General Westmoreland gives farewell press conference in Saigon

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1980

Nelson Mandela’s first major political statement from prison is published

In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) publishes a statement by Nelson Mandela, the long imprisoned leader of the anti-apartheid movement. The message, which Mandela had written in response to the 1976 Soweto uprising, had been smuggled out of Robben Island prison years later under great risk. It ends with the rallying cry: “UNITE! […]

2002

Doughnut truck thief arrested

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2007

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