Thursday, June 22, 2006
The British Are Coming
The porch is continuing to move along as another milestone is met, the completion of exterior trim, and the fish pond has taken shape. My wife and I were actually able to work together for 2 hours, an accomplishment in itself, and will be tweaking the design for years to come.
More proof that good things can happen to good people. Here is a local woman who won 1 Million, yes a million, dollars by accepting a free magazine. BethP is a local softball legend and a founding member of the Warren Athletic Hall Of Fame and I play pickup basketball with her equally as talented brother JoeP.
Another update on the Nathaniel Greene story with connections with my hometown and streets that now are home to the country’s oldest 4th of July Parade in Bristol. From the day the British first invaded Newport -- Dec. 7, 1776 -- Rhode Islanders had badgered Greene to use his influence with Washington to bring the Continental Army home for a battle. And Rhode Islanders had ample cause to grumble. While their crack troops were off killing and dying in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, their own state capital was occupied by a large force.
The occupying force did not confine itself to Newport. In May 1778, a force of 500 British and Hessians rowed under cover of night to Bristol Neck, arriving at 3:30 a.m. Their goal was to destroy military stores in Warren, including 70 open boats moored in the Kickemuit River; they had been used to transport American militia in an aborted attack on Newport the previous fall.
At the river they burned all but 12 of the boats, the Kickemuit bridge, a corn mill. In town they torched a house used for gunpowder storage. The explosion from the powder magazine engulfed the meeting house and spread to six other houses.
Then they marched for Bristol.
More proof that good things can happen to good people. Here is a local woman who won 1 Million, yes a million, dollars by accepting a free magazine. BethP is a local softball legend and a founding member of the Warren Athletic Hall Of Fame and I play pickup basketball with her equally as talented brother JoeP.
Another update on the Nathaniel Greene story with connections with my hometown and streets that now are home to the country’s oldest 4th of July Parade in Bristol. From the day the British first invaded Newport -- Dec. 7, 1776 -- Rhode Islanders had badgered Greene to use his influence with Washington to bring the Continental Army home for a battle. And Rhode Islanders had ample cause to grumble. While their crack troops were off killing and dying in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, their own state capital was occupied by a large force.
The occupying force did not confine itself to Newport. In May 1778, a force of 500 British and Hessians rowed under cover of night to Bristol Neck, arriving at 3:30 a.m. Their goal was to destroy military stores in Warren, including 70 open boats moored in the Kickemuit River; they had been used to transport American militia in an aborted attack on Newport the previous fall.
At the river they burned all but 12 of the boats, the Kickemuit bridge, a corn mill. In town they torched a house used for gunpowder storage. The explosion from the powder magazine engulfed the meeting house and spread to six other houses.
Then they marched for Bristol.
// posted by mac1 @ 10:47 AM 
