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RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 MUSEUM 
 
 ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY 
 OF THE STATE 
 
 68 Waterman Street 
 
 Providence 
 
 1916 
 
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RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 MUSEUM 
 
 ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY 
 OF THE STATE 
 
 68 Waterman Street 
 
 Providence 
 
 1916 
 

 CTANDAKC 
 
 PKINTINC 
 
 COMPANY 
 
|HE PURPOSE of an Historical Museum is to 
 visualize to the people of today, by exhibiting 
 objects of historical interest, the life, the habits 
 and the important occurrences of former times. 
 
 Such exhibitions create in the mind of the observer a 
 stronger appreciation of the reality of the principal facts, of 
 the chronology, and of the significance of history. They give 
 a sense of intimate touch with the past, and aid in under- 
 standing the present and future, through an understanding 
 of that which has transpired. 
 
 It is necessary to discriminate in selecting material for such 
 a museum. Objects should not be shown simply because 
 they are old, but because they either illustrate some mode of 
 life now changed or forgotten; or else, by actual association 
 with some significant event in history, aid in fixing in the 
 mind of the observer the reality, importance and circum- 
 stance of that event. Thus, in its museum, the Society aims 
 to display visually the history of the State, as, at Washington , 
 the National Museum visualizes the Country's history. 
 
 The objects in the museum have been arranged chrono- 
 logically as far as their size and shape would permit, so that 
 a walk around the balcony, keeping always to the right, will 
 give a general idea of the chronological occurrence of events 
 and use of objects. 
 
 While the Society has attempted to verify as far as practi- 
 cable the descriptions that have accompanied the objects 
 placed in its museum, it can not guarantee that these state- 
 ments are entirely correct in every instance. 
 
 The name of the donor of an object is given only when 
 such information bears on the authenticity of the object. 
 
T the right of the entrance of the Museum hangs 
 a photograph of the Viking ship which was recently 
 excavated at Cokstad near Sandiford in Southern 
 Norway. In such a ship as this, Leif, son of Eric the Red, 
 in 1001 discovered Vinland, which has been identified as 
 New England. Many students of the subject believe that 
 Leif landed on the shores of Narragansett Bay. There are 
 no remains of this Norse visit, although at one time the 
 Old Stone Mill at Newport and the rock inscriptions at 
 Dighton, Massachusetts, and at Bristol, Rhode Island, were 
 supposed to have been made by the Northmen. 
 
 Upon entering the Museum, one passes between two flags, 
 the national flag on the right, and the Rhode Island state 
 flag on the left. These flags were carried for many years in 
 the processions of the military cadets of the English and 
 Classical School of Providence. The United States flag has 
 forty-four stars, which number was used between the ad- 
 mission of the forty-fourth state, Wyoming, July 11, 1890, 
 and the forty-fifth state, Utah, January 4, 1896. The Rhode 
 Island state flag was blue from 1882 to 1897, when it was 
 changed to white, the color that had been used from 1 780 
 to 1882. 
 
 Beside the staff of the United States flag stands an instru- 
 ment called a cross-stafif, used by mariners in finding the 
 ship's position. It was superseded by the quadrant, which 
 was invented by Thomas Godfrey of Philadelphia in 1730. 
 This instrument was used by Caleb Harris when he surveyed 
 the state in 1795. 
 
 Turning to the right, one comes upon Cases 1 and 2, 
 containing stone implements used by 
 
 THE INDIANS. 
 
 When the first English settlers arrived, the Indians who 
 lived about Narragansett Bay had not progressed beyond the 
 stone age. All their tools were of stone, and were made, 
 either as the axes, by constant rubbing; or as the arrow- 
 
4 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 heads, by flint-chipping. Besides making stone implements, 
 the Indians wove mats, baskets and cordage. They also 
 hollowed out logs by alternately burning and gouging them, 
 thus making canoes. The Narragansetts were foremost in 
 the production of wampumpeage, or Indian money. This 
 was made by rubbing small pieces of sea-shells into the 
 shape of beads and drilling holes in them, after which 
 they were strung on threads. This currency of the Indians 
 was adopted and used by the early white settlers. The 
 black beads were worth twice the value of the white ones. 
 The heads for axes, hatchets, tomahawks, adzes, hammers 
 and clubs were made by gradually rubbing stones into the 
 required shape, and attaching them by thongs or cords to 
 the ends of sticks. Often the sticks were partly split so as 
 to allow the stone head to be more firmly wedged between 
 the two parts of the stick, which were then bound together 
 at the end above the stone. Sometimes holes were drilled 
 through the heads of the tomahawks and the handles inserted, 
 as is done in a modern hatchet. Two very fine examples of 
 drilled stone tomahawk-heads are shown in Case 2. Gouges, 
 chisels, pestles, and rollers were made in the same manner 
 as the axe-heads. 
 
 Spear-heads and arrow-heads were usually made of flint or 
 quartz, although sometimes slate was used. The large black 
 arrow-head near the center of the card is of slate. Many 
 Indian arrow-heads can still be found along sandy wastes in 
 the less inhabited parts of Rhode Island. Pipes were perhaps 
 the most difficult to make of all the articles manufactured 
 by the Indians, as they had to be both shaped and drilled. 
 They made mortars and bowls quite easily out of soapstone. 
 The bowl exhibited in the case is ornamented with two small 
 handles. 
 
 A few stone heads similar to the photograph have been 
 found in Rhode Island. These may have been attempts at 
 portraiture, or they may have been idols. The two skulls 
 in Case 1 were dug up at the Indian burying-ground in 
 Charlestown, Rhode Island. 
 
MODEL OF FRIGATE WASHINGTON 
 
IMAGE 
 Which formerly ornamented the door of Kent County Jail 
 
MUSEUM 5 
 
 The Indians who were living here when the Europeans 
 came could neither read nor write, but tribes living here at 
 an earlier period were much more civilized and left many 
 rock-inscriptions in New England, several being in Rhode 
 Island. The only one now extant in this state is situated 
 in Bristol on the shore of Mount Hope Bay. The stone 
 heads were doubtless made by these earlier tribes. 
 
 We have no mementos of the voyage of Giovanni da 
 Verrazano, who visited Narragansett Bay in April, 1524, 
 nor of that of Adrien Block, who explored it in 1614, and 
 after whom Block Island was named. 
 
 With these early explorers, as well as later with the Dutch 
 and English settlers, the Indians traded furs for the various 
 articles of European manufacture that appealed to their 
 fancy or suited their needs. In this manner, the Dutch 
 bottles and other objects of glass and copper exhibited in 
 Case 3 came into the possession of the Indians, and were 
 buried with their owners; for it was the custom of the natives 
 to bury with the deceased the more valuable part of his 
 property. When the Indian graves in Charlestown, Westerly, 
 and Tiverton were opened, these objects, together with the 
 Indian skulls in Case 1, were exhumed. The small copper 
 bell is without doubt the first bell in Rhode Island. The 
 wampum and hair on the upper shelf were also found in 
 Indian graves. 
 
 On the wall hangs a map showing the Indian names for 
 places in Rhode Island. 
 
 The third shelf holds an idealized picture of Metacom of 
 Pokanoket, who was called King Philip by the English. It 
 was engraved for the history of King Philip's war which was 
 written by Col. Benjamin Church of Little Compton, one of 
 the leaders of the English soldiers, and in command of those 
 who finally captured and slew King Philip at Mount Hope 
 on August 12, 1676. 
 
 The bead belt displayed on this shelf is said to have be- 
 longed to King Philip, and was presented to the Society by 
 Miss Caroline M. Read with the following statement: 
 
6 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 "This bead-belt was once the property, according to a 
 clearly defined family tradition, of Philip, of Pokanoket. It 
 was given to Miss Read by her grandmother, the late Mrs, 
 Molly Bowers, who was born in Seekonk, August 15, 1740. 
 Mrs. Bowers removed to Pawtucket when that village con- 
 tained only five houses, and died in George Street, in Provi- 
 dence, in October, 1840, in her 101st year. Her husband, 
 Asa Bowers, of Connecticut, was a revolutionary soldier, and 
 died during the war." 
 
 That Philip, during his lifetime, was the possessor of several 
 of these ornamental belts is unquestionably true. After 
 the capture of the "great Captain" Anawon, that warrior 
 presented to Captain Church three belts, which he said had 
 belonged to Philip. One was "curiously wrought with wom- 
 pom, being nine inches broad, wrought with black and white 
 wompom, in various figures, and flowers and pictures of 
 many birds and beasts. This, when hanged upon Captain 
 Church's shoulders, reached his ancles." The other was 
 "wrought after the former manner, which Philip was wont 
 to put upon his head. It had two flags on the back part, 
 which hung down on his back, and another small belt with 
 a star upon the end of it, which he used to hang on his breast, 
 and they were all edged with red hair, which Anawon said 
 they got in the Mohog's [ Mohawk's ] Country." The editor 
 of "The History of Philip's War," says that the first-men- 
 tioned belt, "and some other of Philip's ornaments are now 
 [ 1829 ] owned in a family at Swansey, as I was informed by 
 an inhabitant of the place." 
 
 The tomahawk was used by William Denison in the French 
 and Indian War, and the baskets were woven by Narragan- 
 sett Indians. One of them was presented to Dinah Fenner, 
 daughter of Thomas Borden, and wife of Major Thomas 
 Fenner, a soldier in King Philip's War. 
 
 COLONIAL PERIOD. 
 
 Case 4 contains relics of the first English settlers of Rhode 
 Island. On Shelf 2 are some nails from the grave of William 
 
MUSEUM 7 
 
 Blackstone, the first Englishman to settle in Rhode Island. 
 He sold his lands in Boston, November 10, 1634, and moved 
 to what is now Cumberland, building a house on Study Hill, 
 near the Blackstone River, which is named for him. He died 
 May 26, 1675, and was buried on Study Hill. 
 
 There are many relics of Roger Williams, who founded and 
 named Providence in 1636. The combination compass and 
 sun-dial that was owned and used by him is exhibited in 
 a special case in one corner of the Portrait Gallery. In 
 regard to this compass, Mr. Desmond Fitz Gerald on Novem- 
 ber 25, 1904, wrote as follows: 
 
 "The Roger Williams compass has always been in our 
 family since Roger was expelled from Massachusetts. My 
 grandmother, Mrs. Patrick Brown, who lived in the brick 
 house at 46 Williams Street, inherited it, and I remember it 
 very well when I lived with her. My grandmother lent the 
 compass to Mr. Randall, a descendant of Roger Williams, 
 living in Providence, who was an ardent admirer of his an- 
 cestor, but possessed no relics. Mr. Randall carried the 
 compass carefully in his pocket for many years, and I have 
 seen him take it from his pocket to show to people. After 
 my grandmother's death the compass passed into the hands 
 of my aunt, Mrs. Nathaniel Church, who gave Mr. Randall 
 permission to retain the compass. Mr. Randall was supposed 
 to resemble Roger Williams, and he lived to be an old man. 
 Then, in turn, my aunt died, and after Mr. Randall's death, 
 his heirs took it to my aunt's house, Mrs. John Carter Brown, 
 and left it there. I am glad the Society has it, where it will 
 be safely guarded." 
 
 In another corner of the Portrait Gallery, stands a large 
 oaken chest which, tradition says, Roger Williams brought 
 over from England in the ship Lyon in 1630. He wrote 
 several books, one of which, "A Key into the Language of 
 America," that is, the language of the Indians, is on exhibi- 
 tion in the case in the Portrait Gallery, together with one 
 of his autograph letters and a lock of Mrs. Williams' hair. 
 Their graves, near the corner of Bowen and Pratt Streets, 
 
8 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 were opened March 22, 1860, and the famous apple-tree root, 
 which is supposed to have followed the contour of Roger 
 Williams' bones, and other remains were exhumed. This 
 apple-tree root, about which so much has been written, is in 
 the large case at the south end of the Museum. Some of the 
 nails and hair taken from the graves are in a box on Shelf 3, 
 while the greater part of the remains are in the Stephen 
 Randall tomb in the North Burial-Ground. 
 
 When Roger Williams crossed the Seekonk River in 1636 
 to establish a settlement here, he landed on Slate Rock, the 
 location of which is marked by a monument near the corner 
 of Williams and Gano Streets. A piece of Slate Rock is 
 exhibited in this case and a larger piece lies near the apple- 
 tree root at the other end of the room. A goblet made from 
 the wood of the house in which Roger Williams lived at 
 Salem before coming to Providence, a stone from the cellar 
 of his house in Seekonk, a piece of wood from the church in 
 Salem of which he was pastor in 1634, and a piece of wood 
 from an original timber of Weybosset Bridge, which was 
 built by Roger Williams and his associates in 1660, are also 
 preserved here. 
 
 The small trunk on the lower shelf belonged to Joshua 
 Winsor, a friend of Roger Williams and one of the early 
 settlers of Providence. 
 
 On the wall hangs a window, with its broken panes of 
 leaded glass, and two banisters from the house of William 
 Coddington, at Newport, which was built in 1641. William 
 Coddington was thrice governor of Rhode Island, dying in 
 office November 1, 1678. 
 
 Below this are the diamond-shaped panes from a window 
 of the house of Capt. Arthur Fenner. This house was 
 built about 1660 near the present village of Simmonsville, in 
 Cranston. All the windows of this period had small panes 
 of glass. A fine pair of wrought-iron hinges, ending in the 
 shape of a fleur-de-lis, and a piece of wood from this house 
 are also shown. 
 
 A blue delft tile from the house of Edward Winslow, who 
 
MUSEUM 9 
 
 was governor of Massachusetts in 1633, gives a touch of the 
 interior of the better houses of that day. Beside it is an 
 impression from Governor Winslow's seal. The white tile 
 from the Christopher Sheldon House, later called The Cole- 
 man House, on South Main Street, Providence, is of a much 
 later date. 
 
 The seal of Benedict Arnold, who was the first governor of 
 Rhode Island under the Royal Charter of 1663, is of much 
 interest. The design is the state's seal, with his initials 
 added. 
 
 On the same shelf are one of the handles and a piece of 
 wood from the cofifin of Henry Bull, who was governor of 
 Rhode Island in 1685 and 1686, and who died January 22, 
 1693-4. 
 
 The lower shelf contains a square hearth-brick, from the 
 Roger Mowry House, and Shelf 2 a gavel made of a piece of 
 wood from the same house. This house was built on the 
 present Abbott Street, as early as 1653, perhaps earlier, by 
 Roger Mowry, who in 1655 was appointed to keep a house 
 of entertainment. This was the first tavern in Providence 
 and was also used as a place of meeting by the town-council, 
 and for religious services. This house, variously called "The 
 Abbott House" and "The Whipple House" from later occu- 
 pants, was torn down in 1900. An account of it is given by 
 Isham in his "Early Rhode Island Houses." 
 
 The bricks on Shelf 2, said to have been made in Holland, 
 were used by Captain Thomas Willett in the construction of 
 the chimney of his house at Wannamoisett in East Provi- 
 dence. After residing there for a few years, Willett moved 
 to New York, where in 1665 he became the first English 
 mayor of that city. This house was demolished in 1901. 
 
 The brass door-knob probably dates from about 1750, and 
 is from the Glebe House of St. John's Church on Olney 
 Street. 
 
 The large flax-comber, or hetchel, was used by Lydia, the 
 daughter of Thomas Olney, and wife of Joseph Williams, 
 Roger Williams' youngest son. Two other styles of flax- 
 
10 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 combers are shown in the next case. They were used to comb 
 the tow and coarse parts out of the flax, preparatory to 
 making cloth. 
 
 The shears and vise were used by the Wilkinsons in the 
 first nail-shop in New England, and the two branding-irons 
 on the same shelf were used to place marks of identification 
 on the ears of cattle and swine, at a time when there were 
 no fences and all the animals roamed about the village. 
 
 Case 5 contains a number of relics of the Bernon family. 
 Among these, the most notable are a delft jar, and a gold 
 rattle, brought over from France by Gabriel Bernon, a Hu- 
 guenot refugee. He came to Newport in 1697 and later 
 lived in Providence. A photograph of his sword and a 
 painting of these objects hang upon the wall at the side of 
 a sampler, worked by some member of his family. A bag, 
 a napkin, a piece of embroidered silk, and a fragment of a 
 coarser cloth, used in the Bernon family, are also displayed. 
 Shelf 3 holds a pewter platter inscribed as follows: "M T 
 This platter a part of the wedding outfit of Marie Bernon, 
 daughter of Gabriel Bernon, and wife of Abraham Tourti- 
 lotte. Huguenot exiles, was given by her to her daughter 
 Lydia Knowlton, nee Tourtilotte and by her to her grand- 
 daughter Lydia Knowlton Waterman, nee Westcott." 
 
 Shelf 2 contains the model of the house of Samuel Dunn, 
 who married on September 18, 1746, Esther Tourtellot, 
 granddaughter of Abraham and Marie (Bernon) Tourtellot. 
 This house was situated on Benefit Street in Providence. 
 The model was made for Gabriel Bernon Dyer, great-great- 
 grandson of Samuel Dunn. 
 
 The lower shelf of this and the next three cases contain an 
 assortment of kitchen utensils used in Colonial times. A 
 curious old toaster, with its long handle, used in the Field 
 family; a flat-iron forged from a single piece of bar-iron and 
 used by Freelove Fenner, who married Samuel Joy, and 
 lived in the Arthur Fenner house already mentioned; an old- 
 fashioned waffle-iron used in the Knight family; a griddle, 
 and an iron kettle, both fitted with rings for hanging in an 
 
MUSEUM 11 
 
 open fire; a smaller three-legged pot; two copper kettles; and 
 a brass kettle bought by William Gould at the auction sale 
 of the effects of the Rev. James MacSparran, who was rector 
 of St. Paul's, Narragansett, from 1720 to 1757. His portrait 
 hangs in the gallery below. On this shelf also are two small 
 iron skillets; an earthenware jug from the Jonathan Arnold 
 House in Lincoln, which was demolished in 1890; and a 
 couple of wooden mortars and a pestle, dating from Colonial 
 times. 
 
 On the wall of Case 6 is a boot-and-shoe sign, which bears 
 the date 1718. It is said to have hung above Waterman's 
 shoe-shop on North Main Street. It also contains a T-square 
 made of wood from the Old Town-House, which formerly 
 stood on the southwest corner of Benefit and College Streets, 
 where the Providence County Court-House now stands. 
 A picture of the Old Town-House hangs in the Portrait- 
 Gallery. A curious Dutch spectacle-case dating from 1727, 
 and some specimens of hand-made pins complete the display 
 on the upper shelf. 
 
 Shelf 2 contains a large pitch-pipe made of wood; a mold 
 for making pewter spoons ; a mold for making pewter buttons, 
 which was used for generations in the Slade family of Cov- 
 entry; a toddy-glass marked \- and a hand-forged spike 
 from the Joseph Brown House (alias Deacon Harding House) 
 on South Main Street, which was torn down in October, 1904. 
 
 On the third shelf are some nails from a slave-ship wrecked 
 near Fort Adams, Newport. Many Rhode-Islanders for- 
 merly engaged in this lucrative trade. Some nails from the 
 Dexter House, which was built in 1723, are also shown. It 
 was situated on Governor Street, which was so called from 
 the fact that Gov. James Fenner, the first president of 
 this Society, lived there. The small wooden chest was pre- 
 sented to the town of Hopkinton for the preservation of its 
 early records by Governor Stephen Hopkins, for whom the 
 town was named, March 19, 1757. Near by lies a long black 
 piece of w^ood once part of a French frigate that was sunk in 
 the defense of Louisburg in 1758, during the French and 
 Indian Wars. 
 
12 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 In Case 7 is shown a suit of clothes worn by Sion Arnold 
 of Warwick in 1740; a hat worn by J. Kassen of Voluntown, 
 Connecticut, in Colonial times; a lady's shoe-buckle; and 
 a gum-shoe of the same period. In this case also are a pair 
 of straw-splitters used in the manufacture of bonnets, a 
 notary seal; an English bread-tray used in the Baxter family; 
 a Colonial monkey-wrench with the thread inside the handle; 
 and a wooden bedkey used in tightening the cords which 
 took the place of springs in old-fashioned beds. 
 
 Case 8 contains three warming-pans, the oldest one being 
 of iron with an iron handle, while the later ones are of brass. 
 These were used in olden times to warm beds on cold winter 
 nights, before the time of furnace-fires. Here is shown a 
 bronze repHca of the first seal of Rhode Island College, now 
 Brown University, and a piece of wood from University 
 Hall, called originally The College Edifice, which was built 
 in 1770. The American troops were quartered in this build- 
 ing during the Revolution. 
 
 On Shelf 2 of Cases 7 and 8 is a collection of pewter ware. 
 This soft metal has been replaced by silver in modern house- 
 holds. The platter is marked "M C," and was used in the 
 family of Edward Dexter; and the five plates which belonged 
 to Marie (Bernon) Tourtellot were made in London by 
 Thomas Griffen. These are marked "M T." The plate 
 marked i^- belonged to Jonathan and Abigail (Smith) 
 Arnold of Smithfield, R. I., who were married before 1739. 
 The tankard, cups, and two of the plates were made by 
 Samuel Hamlin of Providence and presented to the Fruit 
 Hill Baptist Church by Bernard Eddy in 1774. The inscrip- 
 tion on the tankard reads "A. Gt. to ye Ch. Bd. Ey. 1774." 
 The porringers belonged in the family of Richard Clark 
 Waterman and were made in Providence by Samuel E. Ham- 
 lin, son of Samuel Hamlin, the pewterer. One of the plates 
 is marked "I S C," and another is inscribed "1701 M. Bliflf 
 to D. Jones 1795 to D. E. JONES 1845 S. E. DOYLE 1869." 
 A pewter tea-canister is in Case 17. 
 
 The third shelf displays various accessories to the lighting 
 
SUNDIAL AND COMPASS 
 Owned and used by Roger Williams 
 
T.UJif^oll 1/ 
 
 OLD SHOP SIGN 
 
 Formerly suspended over Waterman's Shoe -Shop on Cheapside 
 (now North Main Street) 
 
MUSEUM 13 
 
 system of Colonial days. A tinder-box with its flint and steel, 
 once the property of the Carder family of Warwick; two 
 lanterns, one from the Arthur Fenner House; three molds for 
 making candles; and two tallow dips, a cheaper grade of 
 candles, made without a mold, by dipping the wick in molten 
 tallow; and a candle-snuffer and tray used by the Mowry 
 family of Smithfield. 
 
 In one corner of the window-seat is a large wooden screw 
 used in the crushing of apples in an old-time cider press in 
 Cumberland, R. I.; and above it a hatchment bearing the 
 Usher arms, once the property of the Hon. John Usher, 
 Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire from 1692 to 1697. 
 It was made by his father, Hezekiah Usher. In ancient 
 times hatchments were hung over the doorway of a deceased 
 person's house, a custom now superseded by the display of 
 crape. The bunch of grapes in early time hung over the 
 shop of Benjamin and Edward Thurber as early as 1766. 
 This firm is now the Gladding Dry Goods Company, which 
 continues to use a bunch of grapes as a trade-mark. 
 
 On the other side of the window is a small statue repre- 
 senting a Colonial Rhode Islander. It formerly hung above 
 the entrance to the Kent County Jail, at East Greenwich. 
 
 The cradle in the center of the window-seat was used in 
 the Richmond family, and the bread-tray beneath it was 
 used in the Knight family. 
 
 The crane, trammel, and pot-hook once did ser^•ice in a 
 Colonial fire-place. 
 
 In the large case at the south end of the museum is the 
 Roger Williams apple-tree root, already mentioned; a piece 
 of Slate Rock; and an electrical machine that once belonged 
 to Moses Brown. The case also contains a croze, used by 
 coopers for making grooves for the heads of barrels, a leather- 
 bottomed grain-sieve used before 1800 on the Coggeshall 
 Farm at Little Narrows in Bristol, and an iron stove lined 
 with soap-stone, a substance which in olden times took the 
 place of modern fire-brick. Three gravestones are in this 
 case. 
 
14 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 On top of the case are two spinning-wheels and a reel. The 
 larger wheel is for wool and belonged to Betsey Williams, who 
 bequeathed Roger Williams Park to the city by her will 
 dated August 21, 1868. She died November 27, 1871. The 
 small spinning-wheel is for flax, and was owned in the family 
 of Zachariah Allen. A cheese-press and a Dutch oven, called 
 locally a Tin Kitchen, the relics of a mode of life long since 
 past, are also upon the case. 
 
 The small model of the church of St. Paul's, Narragansett, 
 which was built in 1707, is within this case. The model was 
 constructed by Thomas March Clark, who was bishop of 
 Rhode Island from 1854 to 1903. The larger model is of the 
 First Congregational Meeting-House, which formerly stood 
 on the southeast corner of Benefit and Benevolent Streets. 
 It was destroyed by fire, June 14, 1814. In this case, too, is 
 a facsimile reproduction in wood of the original Turk's 
 Head, which gave its name to the locality at the junction 
 of Weybosset and Westminster Streets. 
 
 A wand of office used by the Town-Sergeant of Providence, 
 a very interesting relic of Colonial times, stands in the win- 
 dow-seat at the side of the cradle. Its brass head bears the 
 arms of Rhode Island, an anchor, between the letters "G R," 
 around which is the legend, "In Te Domine Speramus," 
 a motto in early times used interchangeably with "Hope." 
 An espontoon or military pike, with ornamented head, car- 
 ried by the commissioned officers of the Rhode Island militia, 
 as required by the Public Laws of Rhode Island of 1798, is in 
 the second window-seat. 
 
 Case 9 holds part of a richly embroidered court-dress pre- 
 sented by King George I to William Hopkins of Providence, 
 eldest brother of Gov. Stephen Hopkins, in recognition 
 of his services in dispersing a riot in London about 1725. 
 Hopkins was then about 19 years of age and a common 
 sailor. The King bestowed upon him the commission of 
 Colonel, which he subsequently sold. 
 
 We now come to the 
 
MUSEUM 15 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. 
 
 Two military caps stand on the shelf in front of Hopkins' 
 court-dress. One, bearing the arms of the State, with the 
 motto "Hope" above, and below, the words, "God and Our 
 Rights," a free translation of England's motto, "Dieu et 
 Mon Droit," was worn by one of the Providence Grenadiers 
 of 1776. The other, embroidered in gilt with the crown of 
 England and the royal initials "G R," was worn by a British 
 soldier during the Revolution. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting relics of the period are those 
 which have some personal connection with Washington. The 
 head of a brass eagle, once the handle of Washington's sword, 
 was treasured for generations in the Carroll family of Vir- 
 ginia; and in 1861 was presented by members of that family 
 in Washington to the First Regiment of Rhode Island 
 Troops, then quartered there. Charles H, Merriman, Ad- 
 jutant of that regiment, gave it to the Society. 
 
 The two tall black candlesticks and the candle preserved 
 in the bottle were used at a ball given in honor of General 
 Washington at Hacker's Hall in Providence, on August 18, 
 1790, during the brief visit of Washington to this city. 
 
 A lock of Washington's hair is exhibited in the case in the 
 Portrait Gallery, together with an autograph letter of his 
 wife, Martha Washington, which accompanied the lock of 
 hair in response to a request from some Providence ladies. 
 
 On the night of June 10, 1772, a band of patriots, under 
 Abraham Whipple, burnt the British schooner Gaspee, which, 
 while chasing the packet Hannah, had run ashore on Nam- 
 quit Point, now known as Gaspee Point. 
 
 A piece of wood from the Gaspee, and also a piece of wood 
 from the "Gaspee House" situated on the northeast corner 
 of Planet and South Main Streets, on which a picture of the 
 house has been burnt with a red-hot poker, decorate the 
 upper shelf of Case 10. The "Gaspee House" was the house 
 in which the attack upon the Gaspee was planned. A frag- 
 ment of a gun used in this expedition and later found in the 
 
16 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 water at Gaspee Point is on Shelf 3. The silver cup was a 
 piece of plunder taken from theGaspee by Commodore Whip- 
 ple, and is inscribed: "Captured by Com. Whipple of R. I. 
 from the British Sloop Gaspee June 17, 1772." James Fenni- 
 more Cooper in his History of the Navy of the United States, 
 erroneously gave the date of June 17th for the burning of 
 the Gaspee, and this error has been copied in many places. 
 Some specimens of the paper money used in Rhode Island 
 in Colonial and Revolutionary times are shown in this case. 
 
 On Shelf 2 are exhibited a lantern, which hung in the 
 cabin of the Frigate Providence, commanded by Commodore 
 Abraham Whipple in 1777; a shoebuckle, worn by Sarah, 
 wife of Commodore Whipple and niece of Commodore Esek 
 and Governor Stephen Hopkins, at a ball given in honor of 
 M. Le Comte de Rochambeau, with whom she danced the 
 first figure. 
 
 Case 9 contains a photograph of the diamond insignia of 
 the Order of the Cincinnati, which was presented by the 
 Marine officers of France, members of the Society, to His 
 Excellency General Washington; and two badges of the order, 
 one worn by Gen. William Barton, and the other by Maj. 
 William Peck. 
 
 A camp broiler, and a tourniquet, a surgical instrument to 
 prevent excessive bleeding, used by the Rhode Island troops, 
 are on this shelf; and also the baton carried by the Chief 
 Marshal at the celebration of the reading of the Declaration 
 of Independence held at Providence July 25, 1776. 
 
 Near by is a lacquered box presented by Gen. Le Mar- 
 quis de Lafayette to Miss Roby Knight of Cranston, and 
 also an autograph letter of Lafayette to Colonel Greene 
 written July 26, 1780. On the lower shelf is a pair of over- 
 shoes, worn by Lafayette, who gave them to George Wash- 
 ington Greene, who presented them to the Society. 
 
 A canteen used during the Revolution and a Revolutionary 
 gun-swab found in the washout of July 4, 1915, at Fort 
 Independence, Field's Point, R. I., make up the complement 
 of this shelf. 
 
MUSEUM 17 
 
 Shelf 3 contains buttons from the uniforms of several 
 British regiments. The Eighth, "The King's Regiment," 
 served on the Canadian frontier; the Twenty-second fought at 
 Bunker Hill, Brooklyn, the Island of Rhode Island, and was 
 engaged in the raids of May 24, 1778, at Warren and Bristol; 
 the Thirty-fourth fought at Stillwater and surrendered at 
 Saratoga with Burgoyne; the Thirty-eighth fought at Bunker 
 Hill and New York; and the Sixty-fourth saw service at 
 Dorchester Heights, Brooklyn, Brandywine, Eutaw Springs 
 and Charlestown. Here also is a piece of the pine-tree at 
 Saratoga, N. Y., where Jane McCrea was killed, July 23, 
 1777; a slag from the old forge of General Greene, at Cov- 
 entry, R. I.; grape-shot from Fort Mercer on the Delaware, 
 where the Rhode Island troops under Col. Christopher 
 Greene defeated the Hessians on the afternoon of October 
 22, 1777; a kit of tools used by Lieut. Asa Bowers during 
 this war; and a wallet carried by Lieut. David Sayles. 
 
 In Case 10 can be seen a powder-horn made by Eseck 
 Burlingame of Gloucester, who served in the Revolution in 
 1781 ; a bottle and a piece of salt pork taken from the British 
 Frigate Hussar, which sank at Hell Gate, N. Y., in 1775; 
 and a punch-bowl used by the Town Council at Newport, to 
 celebrate the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 
 
 The brass ink-stand bearing the initials sap" ^"d the 
 axe-blade were found on the site of the French encampment 
 at Providence, which was near the corner of Rochambeau 
 Avenue and Camp Street, hence their names. 
 
 This case also contains a piece of the elm-tree at Saratoga 
 under which the British surrendered on October 17, 1777; 
 a queue worn by Joseph James during the Revolution ; a knife 
 and spectacles used during the war; and two epaulets of this 
 period found in the Jonathan Arnold House, in Lincoln, R. I. 
 In Case 11 are the splints used by Dr. Solomon Drown of 
 Mt. Hygeia in Foster, R. I., who was surgeon of the Rhode 
 Island troops; and a plank from the Galley Congress, which 
 was blown up in Arnold's Bay, near Panton, Vt.,on October 
 13, 1776. It was commanded by Gen. Benedict Arnold, 
 who later turned traitor, in 1780. 
 
18 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 The collection of Revolutionary swords includes a sword 
 bayonet, used by the Hessians (German mercenaries) on 
 Rhode Island, the blade of which is inscribed: 
 
 " Friedrich II Landgraff Zu Hessen," 
 
 a sword of the so-called Washington pattern, its handle ter- 
 minating with an eagle's head; a sword carried by Lieut. 
 Clarke Brown, quartermaster of Col. Christopher Greene's 
 Ninth Continental Infantry; a sword with its handle ending 
 in a dog's head, which was carried by Col. Ephraim Bowen, 
 Jr., a member of the Gaspee expedition, and two other 
 swords carried in the war. 
 
 The Society possesses four flint-lock guns of the Revolu- 
 tionary period. One of these is inlaid with a brass plate 
 bearing the following inscription: "This is the barrell of the 
 Gun with which Gen. Greene first learned the manuel exer- 
 cise. He purchased it in Boston of a British deserter in 
 1774. The present Stock and Lock have been substituted 
 in place of the originals which have been lost." The lock 
 bears the crown and "G R" of the English army and the 
 name, "Tower." The longest gun bears a silver plate marked 
 "I. W." The other long gun was originally a flintlock, but 
 this has been replaced by a more modern percussion lock. 
 
 Case 11 also contains a brace of flintlock pistols made by 
 W. Ketland & Co. and carried by Col. Ephraim Bowen, Jr., 
 in the Revolution; and also another smaller flintlock pistol. 
 
 A drum used at the battle of Bunker Hill is in the long 
 case at the south end of the room, while the flag carried by 
 the United Train of Artillery of Providence in 1776 and a 
 flag carried in the expedition of Gen. John Sullivan on Rhode 
 Island in 1778 hang upon the wall in a frame above the 
 museum cases. The facsimile reproductions of the two 
 flags carried by the Rhode Island regiments in the Revolu- 
 tion are of particular interest as the Rhode Island Revolu- 
 tionary flag is said to be the first American flag to have a 
 union of thirteen stars. The watch that was made in London 
 
MUSEUM 19 
 
 and belonged to Gov. Stephen Hopkins is in the case in 
 the Portrait Gallery. 
 
 Turning now to the epoch subsequent to the Revolution, 
 one comes to Cases 12 to 17, which illustrate the household 
 and daily life of Rhode Islanders from the Revolution to 
 the Civil War. 
 
 In this case hangs a portrait of Deborah Sampson, drawn 
 and painted by Joseph Stone of Framingham, Mass. , in 1797; 
 and a picture painted by Samuel Yates, a sign painter of 
 Providence, in 1780, entitled: 
 
 "Blacksmith Turned Toothpuller." 
 
 It shows the rough, heavy pincers used by the eighteenth 
 century dentist. A pair of such pincers lies upon the shelf in 
 front of the picture. Beside it is a turnkey, or toothpuller, of 
 a slightly later date, which is said to have been used by Dr. 
 Whitney of Providence in the early part of the nineteenth 
 century. The two white pebbles, flat on one side and convex 
 on the other, are eye-stones, and, like the turnkey, are from 
 the medicine-chest of Dr. Whitney. They were used to remove 
 cinders and other foreign substances from the eye. Being 
 placed in the inner corner of the eye, an eyestone works 
 itself along between the eye-ball and eyelid, coming out at 
 the outer end and bringing with it whatever particles hap- 
 pen to be there. On the same shelf are two pairs of 
 spectacles; one v/ith almost square rims, and a tin case; the 
 other, which was used about 1790 by Gideon Perkins of 
 Coventry, has jointed bows and a paper case shaped like 
 a cofifir. 
 
 Before clocks and watches came into common use, the 
 time of day was told approximately by sundials; and short 
 durations of time, as minutes, half-hours and hours, were 
 told by sand-glasses. A minute sand-glass and pocket sun- 
 dial are shown upon Shelf 2. A pocket sundial always had 
 a compass attached to it, so that the gnomon, which throws 
 the shadow on the dial, would point directly north and south 
 
20 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 parallel with the earth's axis. Another pocket sundial, once 
 the property of Roger Williams, has already been mentioned, 
 as being on exhibition in the Portrait Gallery. The Society 
 exhibits three watches; the oldest, made in England, was 
 carried by Gov. Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declar- 
 ation of Independence; the second, of French manufacture, 
 was owned in the family of Philip Crapo, who was admitted 
 to the Rhode Island bar in 1796; and the third belonged to 
 Joseph Herlitz, captain of the ship Ganges, which was 
 wrecked against the building occupied by the Washington 
 Insurance Company, Providence, during the great "Septem- 
 ber Gale," on September 23, 1815. 
 
 Two hall-clocks stand facing each other at the entrance of 
 the Portrait Gallery. The one at the right was made by 
 William Claggett of Newport, and was part of the wedding 
 outfit of Gen. Nathanael Greene, who was married July 
 20, 1774, to Katherine Littlefield. The clock at the left was 
 made by Daniel Sheldon of Providence. 
 
 Shelf 3 of Case 12 contains the delicate scales used in the 
 Warren Family. Such scales were used by physicians and 
 families in the early part of the nineteenth century for weigh- 
 ing medicines, at a time when there were few apothecaries and 
 the doctor or housewife compounded all the drugs. Beside 
 these are some heavy lead weights from the windows of the 
 Daniel Manton House that was built in Johnston in 1785. 
 Some hand-made nails of this period are also shown, and 
 a bed-wrench used on the old four-poster beds. On the 
 lower shelf are a wrought-iron shovel and tongs from an 
 early fire-place. 
 
 The third shelf holds a purse knit by Mrs. Rachel Newell 
 of Lincoln, R. I., out of flax grown, broken, hetcheled and 
 spun by her after passing her 90th birthday. The long 
 leather pocketbook or wallet used by Philip Crapo is typical 
 of those used at that time. 
 
 A box of wafers or legal seals which were formerly in com- 
 mon use, together with the seals of Caleb G. Gibbs and his 
 wife, executed in mother-of-pearl with the monograms 
 
REVOLUTIONARY HEADGEAR 
 
 Providexce Grenadier's Cap British Soldier"s Cap 
 
 RE\'OLUTIONARY ACCOUTREMENTS 
 
 Cartridge-Box 
 
 Canteen 
 
FLAG 
 
 Carried in the Sullivan Expedition of 1778 
 
 HESSIAN SWORD-BAYONET 
 
 Captured by the Americans on Rhode Island 
 
MUSEUM 21 
 
 "C G G" and "M N G," and a brass seal bearing the initials 
 "N C" are on the same shelf. 
 
 The lower shelf holds a collection of doorknobs from the 
 Pratt House on Friendship Street in Providence; a doorknob 
 from Job Sweeting's House on Broad (now Weybosset) 
 Street, later the residence of Dr. Stephen Harris; a wrought- 
 iron spur; and a pair of ice-creepers used in 1780. The rate 
 board of Toll used in the village of Harmony, R. I., from 1818 
 to 1880 hangs in Case 15. 
 
 Cases 13 and 14 hold an assortment of clothes worn during 
 the early nineteenth century. The black cocked hat and 
 colored waistcoat were worn by Gov. James Fenner at his in- 
 auguration on May 6, 1807. The black waistcoat is also 
 from his wardrobe. The silk calash, or large bonnet, was 
 worn by his wife, Sarah (Jenckes) Fenner; the satin gown 
 was worn about 1820 by Eliza (Paine) Bridgham, wife of 
 Samuel Willard Bridgham, and the quilted silk petticoat 
 was worn about 1830 by Almira F. Dexter, wife of Samuel 
 Dexter. 
 
 The upper shelf holds a green parasol used about 1840 by 
 Abby, daughter of Capt. Richard Wickes Greene; and the 
 frame of an umbrella used in the family of Gov. Seth 
 Padelford in the early nineteenth century. This shelf also 
 contains a strap or cufT worn at the bottom of the panta- 
 loons of 1839 and 1840, and a number of buttons of various 
 designs used during this period. 
 
 Cases 16 and 17 contain the hat, coat and belt of the 
 military uniform of Adoniram Brown, a member of the 
 Rhode Island Militia. 
 
 In Case 13 are exhibited six varieties of slippers worn 
 about 1800; a hand-made shoe-buckle worn in 1825 by Eliza 
 (Bridgham) Patten; and two knee-buckles worn about 1790. 
 
 The second shelf holds a pocket-bag owned by Betsey 
 Whitin of Whitinsville; a small bag made from an embroi- 
 dered waistcoat by Miss Ives; and a red bandana handker- 
 chief of the period. 
 
 The second shelf of Case 14 contains sample pieces of cloth 
 
22 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 in use in the early nineteenth century. Among these should 
 be noticed a piece of the first "cotton check" manufactured 
 in Rhode Island, which was made in 1791 by Samuel Slater; 
 a piece of "factory gingham" made in Rhode Island; a piece 
 of tow cloth; and some gold lace, made by Mary Updike of 
 Narragansett in 1742. 
 
 Upon the third shelf is a gauging rod for ascertaining the 
 contents of casks, used by Nathan W. Jackson, town clerk 
 of Providence from 1799 to 1829; the bell formerly used by 
 the town crier of Johnston; and a couple of cocoanut dippers, 
 one plain and one carved. Such cocoanut dippers were in 
 common use at the wells of our New England ancestors. On 
 the lower shelf is a set of steelyards for weighing; and a 
 wooden contribution-box, which in most churches has now 
 been replaced by the plate. 
 
 Case 15 contains various implements connected with the 
 early manufacture of cotton cloth in Rhode Island. The 
 shuttle for a hand-loom used in the Bailey family of West 
 Greenwich before the Revolution. A hand-loom, and a 
 weaver's reed hang upon the wall, while the upper shelf con- 
 tains the spindles taken from the spinning-frames first used 
 for cotton in Rhode Island (1823), three blocks used in 1789 
 in printing the first calico in East Greenwich, and a throttle 
 roller and bobbin used in Pawtucket in 1828. 
 
 The second shelf holds a pair of hand-cards for carding 
 wool, made in Leicester, Mass., before 1828, and a machine 
 used in the eighteenth century for making card-teeth. 
 
 The upper shelf of Cases 16 and 17 contain an assortment 
 of lighting accessories of the late eighteenth and early nine- 
 teenth centuries. When compared with those in Case 8 and 
 those now in use, they form an interesting transition-link. 
 Sulphur matches had taken the place of the tinder-box, and 
 samples of two varieties of these are shown. A large number 
 of candles were made of bayberry wax, one of which is shown 
 in the tin candlestick. Whale-oil was used before the intro- 
 duction of kerosene, and three glass and seven brass lamps 
 for whale-oil are on exhibition. On the wall is a piece of 
 
MUSEUM 23 
 
 the wall-paper which was put on the walls of the Clark House 
 on Thomas Street about 1810. The trade-signs of W. Carder 
 and of W. Hancock, 1834, formerly S. Carpenter, 1825, hang 
 above Case 11. The Turk's head, the bunch of grapes, and 
 the shoe sign of 1718 have already been mentioned. The 
 assortment of lottery tickets in the frame on the wall illus- 
 trate a custom once popular in Rhode Island. Churches and 
 other charitable and semi-public organizations would obtain 
 from the General Assembly the right to hold a lottery and 
 then by the sale of these tickets would raise money to carry 
 on their works. 
 
 The copper-plate head-line of the Rhode Island American 
 of Providence, which was used on that newspaper from Jan- 
 uary 2, 1824, to October 7, 1825; and a silver spoon with the 
 initials "M S," which belonged to Margaret Stites, wife of 
 James Manning, first president of Brown University, are 
 also on this shelf. 
 
 The next shelf contains a wooden coaster that belonged to 
 Betsey Williams, a silver coaster with its equipment of 
 bottles, a pewter tea-canister, and a china tea-canister made 
 in China for Capt. Stephen Aplin and ornamented with the 
 initials "S A." In the early eighteenth century, many sea- 
 captains had crockery with individual designs made for 
 them in China. A couple of clothes-pins of old-fashioned 
 design, three wooden salt-shakers, and a pepper-pot, also of 
 wood, adorn the same shelf. Near by is a watchman's rattle 
 formerly used to summon the police, and a pack of conversa- 
 tion-cards which were sold in Providence by J. Johnson, as 
 the label states, "For Social Amusement." 
 
 A pair of sugar-crushers, a Jonny-cake board, and a rest 
 for curling-irons used by the Gavitt family in Westerly about 
 1804, are on the next shelf. These curling-irons were used 
 for curling the silk of dresses and bonnets of those days. 
 
 The lower shelf contains a boot-jack owned by Jeremiah 
 F. Jenkins, and a squash-press made in 1825. Two styles of 
 coffee-grinders, and a foot-stove that belonged to Hope 
 Harris Smith, granddaughter of Toleration Harris, are also 
 shown. 
 
24 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 The lower shelf of Case 17 contains a collection of locks 
 in use in the early nineteenth century. 
 
 To this period belongs the drop-curtain at the north end 
 of the Museum. It was painted in 1809 by John Worrall, 
 a scene-painter of Boston, and represents a view of the city 
 of Providence as seen looking east from the old fort at the 
 junction of Atwell's Avenue and Broadway. It was used as 
 a drop-curtain at the old Providence Theatre. 
 
 The model of a hand fire-engine is shown in the large case, 
 and a large painting of a similar engine hangs on the wall 
 of the Museum. Fire-buckets used during this period hang 
 in the entrance of the building and elsewhere. 
 
 The locomotive in the large case is a model of the Osceola, 
 one of the first to run in Rhode Island. In the early times, 
 engines were named, as sleeping-cars are now, and not 
 numbered. 
 
 In this case also is a piece of white marble, being the tablet 
 from the statue of Washington that formerly stood on 
 Washington Bridge. The inscription reads 
 
 "WASHINGTON BRIDGE 
 
 Built by John Brown, Esq. 179[3] 
 
 This MONUMENT is erected 
 
 [b]y the Founder & Proprietor of India Point 
 
 As a Testimony of High Respect 
 
 For the GREAT & ILLUSTRIOUS 
 
 WASHINGTON" 
 
 The three square-rigged vessels are carefully made models. 
 The larger one is the Frigate Washington, while the one 
 beside her is the Frigate Hudson, which was commanded 
 by Commodore Creighton of Providence. This model was 
 rigged by Capt. Obed Baker of Pawtuxet, R. I., who in 
 1826 was mizzentopman on the Hudson. The smaller ship 
 is the U. S. S. Mar. 
 
Copy of the "TURK'S HEAD 
 
OLIVER HAZARD PERRY'S JACKET 
 
 PERRVS SWORD 
 
MUSEUM 25 
 
 The quadrant belonged to the brig Only Son, which was 
 owned by EHsha Dyer, who built the Dyerville Mill in 1835. 
 The peculiarity of the vessel's name arose from the circum- 
 stances then existing in Mr. Dyer's own family. In naviga- 
 tion, the quadrant superseded the cross-staff, already 
 mentioned; and was itself replaced by the sextant. Two 
 sextants are shown on this shelf. One was "Made by Ben- 
 jamin King in Newport, Rho. Island 1762," and the other 
 is inscribed "Paul Pease 1750." 
 
 A large glass lamp-chimney used upon such vessels as these 
 is exhibited in the same case. The lustre-ware pitcher, and 
 the Brittania-ware tea-pot illustrate two now almost for- 
 gotten materials formerly used in the manufacture of house- 
 hold utensils. 
 
 Along the top of these cases are models of the hulls of 
 several vessels, viz.: Steamer Balloon; Steamer Black stone and 
 Steamer Massasoit, both built by John S. Child between 
 1847 and 1849; Steamer John W. Richmond, built in 1837, 
 and two smaller models of ships. 
 
 Two samplers hang upon the east wall of the Museum ; one 
 made by Ann Barton of Providence in October, 1800, and 
 the other by Catherine S. Comstock in 1804. 
 
 WAR OF 1812. 
 
 Case 18 is devoted to the War of 1812. Here can be seen 
 a part of the stern post of the boat that conveyed Com. 
 Oliver Hazard Perry from the Lawrence to the Niagara 
 during the battle of Lake Erie, on the 10th of September, 
 1813; a piece of wood from the Lawrence; and a portrait of 
 Commodore Perry enamelled on a mirror-knob. The Jacket 
 that Perry wore during the battle, together with the sword 
 that was given to him by the city of Albany, are exhibited 
 in the case in the Portrait Gallery. They are the gift of his 
 grandson, Oliver Hazard Perry. The following inscription 
 is engraved on the sword : 
 
26 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 "PRESENTED To Oliver H. Perry, Esqr. By the Com- 
 mon Council of the city of ALBANY Novr 8th 1813." 
 
 A pitcher, commemorative of Perry's victory, presented to 
 him by the people of Newport, and a buckle worn by a 
 British soldier at the Battle of New Orleans are also shown. 
 A facsimile of the flag flown by Commodore Perry during 
 the Battle of Lake Erie, bearing Lawrence's motto, "Don't 
 give up the Ship," hangs on the wall. 
 
 On the upper shelf is one of the candles used at the time 
 of the illumination of Providence on account of the Peace of 
 1815 and also again in 1860 used at J. Cladding's House on 
 Chestnut Street at the illumination for the election of 
 Lincoln as President. An oil painting of the Niagara and 
 a cane used by Usher Parsons, surgeon of Perry's fleet, hang 
 in this case. 
 
 The wooden canteen on the upper shelf was used by Sam- 
 uel Jackson, Major of the Union Guards, a company formed 
 for the defense of Providence in the War of 1812. The flag 
 of the Union Guards made by the ladies of Providence and 
 presented by them to the guards, hangs on the wall of the 
 Museum. The flag of the Kentish Guards of Kent County, 
 made between 1796 and 1803; and that of the Second Regi- 
 ment of Providence County, dating from between 1803 and 
 1817; a flag carried in the processions of the Marine Society; 
 and a flag commemorative of the destruction of the Gaspee, 
 which was carried in the Jubilee procession in 1826, are 
 framed and hang on the walls of the Museum. 
 
 The Tammany Society was founded in Providence, 1809, 
 and continued until 1819. During its life it exerted an 
 enormous political influence in Rhode Island. Two medals 
 issued by this Society, and a combination "Tomahawk and 
 Pipe of Peace" used in the celebrations of the organization 
 are exhibited in Case 18. A fragment of the flag formerly 
 carried in the Tammany processions hangs upon the wall 
 under glass. 
 
MUSEUM 27 
 
 DORR WAR. 
 
 Eight political banners carried in the Dorr War demon- 
 strations of 1842 hang on the walls of Cases 19 to 24. A 
 birch pike carried in that war; some samples of the ammuni- 
 tion found at Dorr's Fort, on Acote's Hill, Chepachet, after 
 Dorr's second flight; a fan made by Thomas Wilson Dorr 
 while in prison; and a regimental hat worn by Maj. Clarke 
 S. Greene of the Eighth Regiment of the Rhode Island 
 Militia in 1842 complete the exhibits dealing with that 
 constitutional crisis. 
 
 On November 6, 1837, a number of men met at the office 
 of Benjamin P. Robinson, 37 Canal Street, and formed 
 "The American Brass Band of Providence." The kettle 
 drums used by this band are in the window-seat on the east 
 side of the Museum and the other instruments used by them 
 are in the large case at the south end of the room. 
 
 During the night of January 13, 1840, the Steamer Lea;- 
 ington was destroyed by fire on Long Island Sound, with the 
 loss of 105 persons, only four being saved. David Crowley, 
 the second mate, was saved on a bale of cotton, upon which 
 he drifted for two days and two nights. A piece of the cotton 
 from this bale is shown in Case 19 and also a picture of the 
 "Burning of the Lexington.'' Here also is a piece of hand- 
 made rope made by James P. Butts in Providence in 1838, 
 and the seal of the Fruit Hill Detecting Society, an organiza- 
 tion incorporated in 1830 for the prevention of horse-stealing. 
 
 The third shelf holds a straw bonnet, made by Mrs. 
 Betsey (Metcalf) Baker, wife of Obed Baker, in 1861, at the 
 age of 76. She was the pioneer in the manufacture of women's 
 straw bonnets in this vicinity. Here also is a piece of wood 
 carved in the shape of a hand, cut from the first horse- 
 chestnut tree in Rhode Island, the one which was planted 
 on Market Square by Jabez Bowen, who was deputy gov- 
 ernor of Rhode Island in 1778. 
 
 The Mexican W^ar of 1845-48 is represented by two swords 
 and sashes of Brig. -Gen. Joseph Story Pitman of Providence. 
 
28 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 The straight sword is marked "N. P. Ames, Cutter, Spring- 
 field ;" and its scabbard, "Made by N. P. Ames, Cabotville, 
 Mass." It is also inscribed: "Presented to Capt. JOSEPH 
 S. PITMAN of the U. S. ARMY, By his PROVIDENCE 
 Friends. AUDENDUM DEXTRA." On the upper shelf 
 stands an elaborate silver service consisting of a tray, two 
 goblets, and a large pitcher bearing the inscription: "Brig. 
 General JOSEPH STORY PITMAN SECOND BRIGADE. 
 From his friends in the active Militia of the State of Rhode 
 Island, as a Testimonial of their APPRECIATION of his 
 efforts in promoting Discipline and Efficiency in their or- 
 ganization June 1859." The tray and goblets are inscribed 
 with General Pitman's name and the date, June, 1859. The 
 service was made by the Gorham Manufacturing Company 
 of Providence. The belt and powder-pouch carried by 
 George W. Guild, a soldier in the Mexican and Civil Wars, 
 is also exhibited, and a flag captured April 17, 1847, on the 
 battle-field of Cerro Gordo, and brought home in 1848 by 
 Guild. The flag bears a mutilated coat of arms, beneath 
 which is the following inscription: 
 
 "BATAn E YNFANTA PROVINCl E OAXACA." 
 
 On July 8, 1853, an American squadron under Com. 
 Matthew Calbraith Perry, a native-born Rhode Islander, 
 brother of Com. Oliver Hazard Perry, dropped anchor 
 in Yedo Bay, and negotiations were begun which resulted in 
 the opening of Japan to foreigners. This was the first step 
 taken in the movement that has made Japan a world-power. 
 A Japanese cartoon of Perry's expedition hangs above the 
 window on the east side of the Museum. 
 
 A piece of the first transatlantic cable, which was laid in 
 1853 by the Great Eastern, is in Case 19. 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 The Civil War is illustrated by Cases 20 to 23. Here can 
 be seen a plaster bust of Gen. Ambrose Everett Burnside 
 
STONE IMPLEMENTS AND WAMPUM 
 Made and used by the Narragansett Indians 
 
MUSEUM 29 
 
 of Bristol, who, after several brilliant military successes, was 
 made commander-in-chief of the Federal Army of the Poto- 
 mac on November 9, 1862. He was Governor of Rhode 
 Island from 1866 to 1868, and United States Senator from 
 Rhode Island from 1874 until his death, September 13, 1881. 
 The sash worn by him during the war, and the sleeve of his 
 uniform as a first lieutenant of Artillery, that was worn by 
 him at the time of his marriage April 27, 1852, are also ex- 
 hibited. The sword and epaulets of Gen. Thomas F. Car- 
 penter of Rhode Island, the sword of Capt. Joseph H. 
 Kendrick of Company I, of the Eleventh Rhode Island In- 
 fantry, the presentation and service swords of Lieut. George 
 Whitman Darling of the First Rhode Island Cavalry, and 
 three other swords used in the war are shown. 
 
 Case 23 contains the telescopic rifle of the famous War 
 Governor, William Sprague, governor of Rhode Island from 
 1860 to 1863, and United States senator from 1863 to 1875. 
 This gun was made by N. Gilbert Whitmore. 
 
 A Springfield rifle marked "1836," a short Spencer repeat- 
 ing rifle, both used in the war; a double-barreled shotgun 
 made by Christopher Brown; and a short flintlock trans- 
 formed into a percussion gun, used in the Williams family, 
 complete the array of guns. A Colt revolver; a small pistol; 
 and three other styles of revolvers, one known as a pepper 
 pistol, are in Case 22. 
 
 A drum carried in the Civil War is in the window-seat 
 between Cases 21 and 22; a drafting machine used in the 
 ofifice of Alfred B. Chadsey, provost marshal of the Eastern 
 District of Rhode Island, is in the large case; and on the wall 
 of the Museum is a flag made from an American flag and 
 used in the Confederate army. It consists of three hori- 
 zontal stripes, two red and one white, and a blue canton 
 with eleven white stars, two of which are now lost. The 
 canvas on the hoist of the flag bears the inscription "N. Y. B. 
 1855." A carpet bag, and various styles of knapsacks, car- 
 tridge-cases, canteens and powder-flasks are exhibited, to- 
 gether with buttons from various uniforms, and miscellaneous 
 wearing apparel and camping utensils. 
 
30 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 Here also is a slave-chain taken from the body of a slave 
 who was found chained with it to a tree on the plantation 
 of Mr. Belson, near Simmsport, Louisiana, in May, 1862, by 
 Capt. Peter Brucker of the Second Rhode Island Cavalry; 
 a portion of the "Dead Line" of the Andersonville Prison, 
 beyond which it was suicide for a Northern prisoner to go; 
 two heavy iron hinges from the main gate of the Anderson- 
 ville Prison; and a banister from the railing of the staircase 
 in the Marshall House, Alexandria, Virginia. It was on this 
 flight of stairs that Col. Ephraim Elmer Ellsworth of the 
 Eleventh New York Regiment was shot dead by James W. 
 Jackson, the proprietor of the Marshall House, on Friday 
 morning, May 24, 1861, after Colonel Ellsworth had suc- 
 ceeded in pulling down the Confederate flag that was flying 
 from the roof of that hotel. 
 
 Some cannon-balls from Fort Sumter; ball cartridges from 
 Bull Run; powder from Fort Moultrie and Fort Sullivan; 
 a bullet from Gettysburg; the brass cap from a shell fired 
 July 9, 1864, at Monocacy, Md.; and a mortar cast from 
 bullets used at Fort Sedgwick make up the exhibition of 
 ammunition. 
 
 Other souvenirs of the war are shown, among which the 
 more interesting are : two buttons made from oak taken from 
 the U. S. S. Hartford which was commanded by Com. 
 David Glasgow Farragut at New Orleans; the mouthpiece of 
 a fife that was picked up on the battle-field at Newburg, Va.; 
 a piece of army-bread, or hardtack, served in the Federal 
 army at Newport News in 1861; and a package of papers 
 which stopped a bullet and so saved the life of George E. 
 Davis on the morning of October 19, 1864, at Cedar Creek, 
 when Sheridan's army was surprised by the enemy. 
 
 An autograph letter of Abraham Lincoln is exhibited in 
 the case in the Portrait Gallery. 
 
 The period subsequent to the Civil War is represented in 
 Case 24. The lower shelf contains a brick and piece of wood 
 from the University Grammar School, which stood at the 
 corner of Prospect and College Streets and was demolished 
 
MUSEUM 81 
 
 in 1901 to make room for the Administration Building of 
 Brown University. At the side of this is a brick from the 
 Providence Railroad Depot which was built on the north 
 side of Exchange Place in 1848 after the design of Thomas 
 A. Tefft, a Providence architect. A picture of the building 
 is painted on this brick. It was demolished in 1898. 
 
 On this shelf are three pieces of Westerly granite, a build- 
 ing-stone for which our state is renowned ; a piece from the 
 shaft of the Centennial Engine built in 1875 by the Corliss 
 Steam Engine Company of Providence, a concern noted for 
 inventions and improvements in connection with steam en- 
 gines. 
 
 The photographs of eight medals which were presented to 
 Ida Lewis, the heroine of Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport 
 Harbor, who, while lighthouse-keeper there, rescued many 
 persons from drowning; some pieces of aluminum and Tobin 
 bronze from the cup-defender Defender built in 1895 by the 
 Herreshoffs at Bristol; and a piece of wood from the steamer 
 Rhode Island, which was wrecked off The Bonnet on Novem- 
 ber 6, 1880, are shown here. 
 
 On the second shelf is a pitcher made in 1886 to com- 
 memorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Provi- 
 dence; and a cup and saucer made in 1876 to commemorate 
 the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 
 The larger pitcher, ornamented with masonic symbols, 
 belonged to Thomas Arthur Doyle, who was eighteen times 
 mayor of Providence and died in office June 9, 1886. 
 
 Mementos of the Spanish-American War of 1898 are on 
 the upper shelf. The gilt arrow bearing the word "Detroit" 
 is part of the wreckage of the Captain's gig of the United 
 States Gunboat Detroit. The Detroit's gig was destroyed in 
 the Battle of Santiago July 4, 1898. The piece of copper is 
 from the United States Battleship Maine, which was blown 
 up in Havana Harbor February 15, 1898. This incident was 
 the immediate cause of the war. The steel filing is from one 
 of the guns cast in Providence for the United States Cruiser 
 Baltimore. One of the pieces of hardtack is from the mess of 
 
32 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 the United States Cruiser Montgomery, while the other is from 
 the mess of the First Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers. 
 
 Samples of the three principal kinds of cartridges used in 
 the war are mounted upon a card. The Mauser was used 
 by the Spaniards, while the Krag-Jorgensen and Springfield 
 were used by the Americans. 
 
 The blue Rhode Island flag with white anchor and stars 
 was flown from the Rhode Island Building at the World's 
 Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. The ofificial Color 
 of the anchor and stars on the Rhode Island state flag is 
 gold, although sometimes, as in this case, white has been 
 used in place of gold. 
 
 The coat of arms at the north end of the Museum decorated 
 the Rhode Island exhibit at the Tercentennial at Jamestown, 
 Virginia, in 1907. 
 
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