_____________
This "raiders" division of
the Gaspee. Info website is
devoted to information about the Raiders as individuals.
In this section of
Gaspee Raiders
_____________
Go to
Gaspee History
for history, overall
facts, background, results,
and analysis of the 1772 attack itself.
_____________
Books: American Colonial and
Revolutionary War history or the people involved. We have suggestions
for you.
_____________
Copyrighted.
© 2005
to
03/17/2010
Leonard H. Bucklin.
-----
The
content of this site may not be reproduced except for brief excerpts for
reviews or scholarly references..
See
Copyright Notices,
Privacy Policy, and Warnings & Disclaimers.
_____________
This is a history education and
research web site of the
Joseph Bucklin Society.
References
in brackets [ ] or in curly brackets { } on any page in
this website are to books, or other materials, listed in the Joseph
Bucklin Society Gaspee Bibliography, or to materials held by the Joseph
Bucklin Society.
|
|
John Kilton
Natalie Robinson lists John Kilton as a Providence resident who was a raider, but
says her evidence is a "dubious source" [Robinson.] Unfortunately Robinson did
not give citations for her assertion.
There in fact was a
John Kilton, born about 1749, died 28 Feb 1824, in Rhode Island, buried in the
Coventry Cemetery with his wife Sarah Brayton. ca 1751 - 1 Dec. 1832 . [RI Hist
Cemeteries Index.] This appears to be the John Jenckes Kilton (ca. 1749- 28 Feb 1824)
who is the Gaspee Raider.
Transactions of The Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic
Industry in the Year 1861 (Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co. 1862.
p147-148) lists a Caleb Kilton and says of Caleb's father --- John Jenckes
Kilton --- that he " was one of those who opened the great drama of the American
Revolution, by the destruction of the Gaspee, in 1772. During the war that
followed, in common with his fellow-citizens, he was frequently in active
service in the field. He was in Sullivan's expedition to the island of Rhode
Island, in 1778,--and in the battle which followed the retreat of the Americans,
the barrel of his gun was heated, by repeated discharges, to such a degree as to
compel him to desist from reloading it. He used to relate, that a soldier near
him on that occasion, was struck by a spent musket ball on his front teeth with
such force as to displace four of them. Nothing dismayed, added the ball and the
four teeth to the next charge in his gun, with the wish, expressed in terms more
forcible than pious, that the redcoats might derive some advantage from them.
[John Jenckes Kilton]... resided in Providence in 1772, but removed to Scituate
before the birth of Caleb [in October 6, 1781]."
|