The city of Warwick annually celebrates Gaspee Days, commemorating the colonists’ clash with the British crown before the American Revolution. But the historic event is rarely mentioned when school children learn about the Boston Tea Party and the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.”
One man believes it was Rhode Islanders who were the original upstarts launching the tiff with the British and he is preparing to go to court to prove it. Bob Burke is a Providence restaurateur, raconteur and self-described revolutionary.
“Total revolutionary! Absolutely,” Burke said. “We’re going to create a revolution here in Rhode Island and we’re going to take back our rightful claim to history.”
Burke insists it was a small band of colonists responsible for sparking the American Revolution. He said it occurred during a naval assault on the British revenue schooner, the HMS Gaspee, which had been lured aground off Rhode Island’s shores. The captain was shot and the ship was set on fire. This first act of armed rebellion and bloodshed occurred in June 1772, 18 months before the Boston Tea Party and three years before the battles of Lexington and Concord.
“Boston was NOT the first SHOT,” Burke said.
He has made that the motto of his campaign for a more accurate accounting in history books.
“What we have done is actually sent out cease-and-desist orders to Lexington/Concord, and Boston, Massachusetts,” Burke said.
He has even had his attorney send the legal documents to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Burke believes it is a clear case of identity theft and Massachusetts is reaping a huge economic benefit from its claim to fame.
“The Gaspee (incident) really is disturbing because you go to Boston and my gosh, they are earning truly billions of dollars from tourists from around the world who crave to hear the story of freedom,” Burke said. “here’s a law against defrauding people by telling them that you’ve got something that it’s authentic and genuine and you sell it to them and they pay good money for that.”
Burke insisted this is no tempest in a teapot. He is outraged Rhode Island is not getting the credit for being the first to spark the American Revolution and to protest taxation without representation.
For now, he is content to stir the pot but after a few more letters to cease-and-desist, Burke said he is prepared to take his case to federal court.
“I think that the judge is going to do exactly what any serious federal judge does, we hope, hear the evidence, listen to both sides of the case, argue it out,” he said.
Burke added that it was especially important in a world confronting fake news and AI.
“There’s a very, very serious side to this that addresses this issue of what information can freely be disseminated and what the obligations are for the people who are disseminating that information to make sure that that information is as accurate as possible,” Burke said.
Burke said the timing is right. He believes there may be a groundswell of interest because 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution — called a “Semi-Quincentennial.”
