Washington's General by Terry Golway

Dudingston if he planned to “make amends” for the rum he had seized from the
Fortune.
A medical student in the boarding party dressed the lieutenant’s wound, and Dudingston and his crew were herded into small boats and taken to shore. Humiliated, they could only watch as the Providence raiders put their warship to the torch. By morning, the
Gaspee
was a smoking hulk.
    Once again, Rhode Islanders had committed an outrage against the Crown, and British officials and even the king himself were furious. The secretary of state in charge of American affairs, Lord Hillsborough, resigned, and Lord Dartmouth replaced him. His Majesty ordered a royal commission to investigate the crime and bring those responsible to justice. Some British officials, including Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson, believed that a few hangings would remind Rhode Island of the price of insubordination.
    Samuel Adams, the Boston rabble-rouser who was closely monitoring events in Rhode Island, regarded the
Gaspee
insurrection as a glimpse of what was to come. “I have long feared this unhappy contest between Great Britain and America would end in rivers of blood,” he wrote to Rhode Island’s deputy governor, Darius Sessions. “Should that be the case, America, I think, may wash her hands in innocence.” In the meantime, Governor Wanton had little choice but to issue a proclamation on June 12 offering a reward of one hundred pounds “to any Person or Persons who shall discover the Perpetrators of the . . . Villainy.” KingGeorge personally raised the amount of the reward to five hundred pounds two months later.
    As was the custom in Rhode Island, the Perpetrators remained at large. The reward went unclaimed. But Rhode Island authorities did catch up with at least one criminal suspect. Three days after the attack on the
Gaspee,
the Kent County sheriff arrested Lieutenant Dudingston as he lay in a hospital bed. The arrest allowed the case of
Greene v. Dudingston
to proceed in court.
    The
Gaspee
affair was a milestone in Nathanael Greene’s life. His letters, which had been apolitical until now–the correspondence contains no reference to the Boston Massacre in 1770 or its aftermath–soon were filled with condemnations of Britain’s rule in America. He continued to press his case against Dudingston, eventually winning a judgment of about three hundred pounds sterling. It’s not certain whether Greene actually received the money from Dudingston, but there’s no question that the family business could have used it. In August 1772, the Greenes’ forge in Coventry burned to the ground. It was a financial and personal disaster. One bright morning just after the fire, Nathanael sat amid the ruins and read a letter from his friend Sammy Ward. He replied quickly, describing the scene around him: “I was surrounded with Gloomy Faces, piles of Timber still in Flames, Heaps of Bricks dasht to pieces, Baskets of Coal reduced to ashes. Everything seemed to appear in Ruins and Confusion.” The calamity, coming even as
Greene v. Dudingston
was being argued in Kent County courts, had a terrible effect on Nathanael. He suffered through an asthma attack that kept him nearly sleepless for four nights, leading to an inflammation in one of his eyes. He even despaired of his surroundings. “If Coventry ever was tolerable, it has now become insupportable,” he wrote. And once again, his thoughts turned to Sammy’s sister, who remained beyond his reach. He told her he would stop writing if that was what she wished, but he desperately wanted to continue their correspondence. Their letters offered Nathanael hope, however dim, of a future with Nancy.
    His morbid self-absorption gave way to engagement and fury when Greene heard rumors that he had been identified as one of the leaders ofthe
Gaspee
raiding party. The royal commission hearing evidence in the case interviewed one of the
Gaspee
crew