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By DR. JOHN CONCANNON, Historian, Gaspee Days Committee

It has long been debated whether those brave people that attacked and burned the HMS Gaspee in June of 1772 were disguised as Narragansett Indians.

Those there, at the Providence docks who witnessed the men embarking on their stealthy mission down Narragansett Bay in Warwick, are in agreement that these patriots were not disguised in the least. They merely called themselves Narragansett Indians. They took care, however, not to call each other by name. In fact, there was very little talking done. They did not go down in the boats until after dark, and having accomplished their business, returned quietly to Providence.

But these were not the only men to attack the British schooner; there was at least one boat, possibly two, that came up the Bay from the docks of Warren and Bristol to join up in the attack. And unlike the finely dressed men from Providence, the Bristol men were mostly dockworkers likely dressed in work clothes. John Brown and the people from Providence who directed the raid, most probably had sent word to Bristol crew that they were likewise to pretend that they were Narragansetts. Perhaps these men took it upon themselves to don some form of Indian head gear as well.

To bolster this argument, Simeon Potter, who was already in the boat from Bristol overloaded with 11 or 12 men, went out of his way to chase down and impress into service the hapless Aaron Briggs who was rowing around Prudence Island. Briggs was a slave of mixed African-American and Narragansett race.

Did Potter feel that he needed more manpower? Doubtful. Although he probably did not know the precise number of men in boats from Providence who were to join up with him for the raid, Potter must have known there would be more than enough. The more likely explanation lies in the fact that, unlike the boats from Providence, the men of the boat from Bristol decided to dress themselves in the disguise of Narragansett Indians. Potter was accommodating the ruse by taking along someone actually of

Narragansett Indian blood.

After the attack, Briggs was prominently placed next to the wounded Lt. Dudingston when they rowed into Pawtuxet Village; they wanted to give the impression to Dudingston and his crew that the attackers were Indians. The disguise used by the men from Bristol must have impressed someone, particularly someone in the Sons of Liberty. Eighteen months later the same disguise was used during the more famous Boston Tea Party. Blame the Indians.

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