1. For a more detailed account of the landing of Gen. Henry Clinton’s troops on Rhode Island and their capture of Newport on 7 Dec., see Mackenzie, Diary description begins Diary of Frederick Mackenzie Giving a Daily Narrative of His Military Service as an Officer of the Regiment of Royal Welch Fusiliers during the Years 1775–1781 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1930. description ends , 1:123–24. William West (1732–c.1816) of Scituate, a brigadier general of the Rhode Island militia and a member of the general assembly, wrote Cooke on 7 Dec.: “I arived at Newpo[r]t the fifth Day of this Instant when I found Colonel [John] Cook upon a Retreat and I thought it Best not to Countermand the order Bout to asist with all Posable Des patch[.] we have got of[f] a grate quanty of Stock also Chiefe of the Bagage and war Like Stores But obliged to Leve about fifteen have Canno[n.] have take of[f] all the troops[.] I Came of[f] in the Last Boat But one[.] the Enemy Got Down to the farry Befour I Got half over and fired upon the Last Boat But killed no men” (Naval Documents description begins William Bell Clark et al., eds. Naval Documents of the American Revolution. 12 vols. to date. Washington, D.C., 1964–. description ends , 7:396). William Barron (d. 1778) of Virginia was commissioned first lieutenant of the Continental navy frigate Providence in June 1776. In the spring of 1778 Barron was first lieutenant of the frigate Boston, which took John Adams to France, and during the voyage Barron was fatally injured by the accidental explosion of one of the ship’s guns (see Butterfield, Adams Diary and Autobiography description begins L. H. Butterfield, ed. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams. 4 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1961. description ends , 2:284, 286–88, 4:23, 25–27). Howland’s ferry and the Bristol ferry both were at the north end of Rhode Island, about ten miles north of Newport.