Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/356

 282 THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON. incorporation of the new town, the ship building interest sprang up on the east bank of the Harrington River, owing to deeper water and better facilities for trade with Swansea, which was now extending its settlement eastward from Myles's Bridge and about Kickemuit. The General Assembly and people selected Warren as the name of the municipality, for patriotic reasons. The siege of Louisburg had just been terminated in favor of the English, and the names of Sir William Pepperell, commander of the land forces, and of Sir Peter Warren, of the naval forces, were in universal honor and applause. When the news of the downfall of the French reached the colonies, the enthusiasm was intense, and every town was ablaze with fireworks and illuminations. The seaport towns, which had contributed of men and money freely to the expedition, were especially jubilant over the results, and every occasion was made use of to honor the heroes of the long contest. The positions accorded to Washington and Warren in the Revo- lution were held by Pepperell and Warren in the earlier war for independence, which led up to the final struggle in 1775. Warren's fleet still continued to protect our ships from French cruisers, and when, in 1 747, our new town was to adopt a new name, no more grateful act could be performed as expressive of the patriotism of the people and their debt of gratitude to the protector of their shipping interests than to name the town Warren, in honor of Sir Peter. It is an interesting fact that Colonel Gridley, who planned the batteries at the siege of Louisburg, laid out the Ameri- can intrenchments at Bunker Hill, and the same old drums that beat at Louisburg, June 17, 1745, on the triumphal entrance of Pepperell and Warren, beat at Bunker Hill June 17, 1775, and when General Gage was erecting breastworks on Boston Neck, " the provincial troops sneeringly remarked that his mud walls were nothing compared with the stone walls of old Louisburg." By this conquest of Louisburg, Warren won fame, — a seat in Parliament and a bride with vast estates in New York.