Editing Warwick, Rhode Island (section)

==Early history==

{{See also|National Register of Historic Places listings in Kent County, Rhode Island}}
Warwick was settled by [[Samuel Gorton]] in 1642. [[Narragansett people|Narragansett]] Sachem [[Miantonomi]] sold him the Shawhomett Purchase for 144 fathoms of [[wampum]]. This included the towns of [[Coventry, Rhode Island|Coventry]] and [[West Warwick, Rhode Island]]. However, Sachems Sacononoco and [[Pumham]] claimed that Miantonomi had sold the land without asking for their approval. They took their case to Boston, where they placed their lands under Massachusetts rule. In 1643, [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] sent a militia force to Shawomett to arrest Gorton and his followers. After a tense standoff, all but three of the Gortonists surrendered to the Massachusetts forces. Gorton then sailed back to England and sought a charter from the King. He was greatly assisted in gaining it by [[Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick]], so Gorton and his fellow settlers changed the name of their colony from Shawumet to Warwick.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.warwickhistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=278:the-seal-of-warwick&catid=40&Itemid=130 | title=The Seal of Warwick }}</ref>

The ongoing harassment from Massachusetts Bay Colony, however, caused the other three colonies on Narragansett Bay ([[Providence Plantations]], [[Portsmouth, Rhode Island|Portsmouth]], and [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]]) to unite with Warwick and get a British royal charter allowing them to form the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]].<ref name="austin">{{Cite book|last=Austin |first=John Osborne | author-link = John Osborne Austin | title=Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island|place=Albany, New York |publisher=J. Munsell's Sons|isbn=978-0-8063-0006-1 |year=1887 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LA7ntaS11ocC&q=abbott%2C+daniel+235}}</ref>{{rp|302}}

In 1772, Warwick was the scene of the first violent act against the British Crown in the [[Gaspee Affair|''Gaspee'' Affair]]. Local patriots boarded the ''Gaspee'',<ref>This version of the story is told by Ephraim Bowen and John Mawney in Staples, William R., ''The Documentary History of the Destruction of the'' Gaspee, (Providence, R.I.: Knowles, Vose, and Anthony, 1845), p. 14–16. These men had taken part in burning ''Gaspee'' and made these statements in 1826.</ref> a revenue cutter that enforced the [[Stamp Act 1765]] and [[Townshend Acts]] in [[Narragansett Bay]]. It was here that the first blood was spilled in the [[American Revolution]] when ''Gaspee's'' commanding officer Lt. Dudingston was shot and seriously wounded during the struggle for the ship. The ''Gaspee'' was stripped of all cannons and arms, then burned.<ref>[http://bucklinsociety.net/bucklin-family-history/joseph-bucklin-4th-family/joseph-bucklin-5th-bio/ "Joseph Bucklin V Biography"]. ''Joseph Bucklin Society''. Retrieved 3 December 2016.</ref>

During the Revolution, Warwick militiamen participated in the battles of Montreal, [[Battle of Quebec (1775)|Quebec]], [[Battle of Saratoga|Saratoga]], [[Battle of Monmouth|Monmouth]], and [[Battle of Trenton|Trenton]], and they were present for the British surrender at [[Battle of Yorktown (1781)|Yorktown]] in 1781.