Ray, when I ask you where the American Revolution began, you would say...

Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

The first shots fired. The shot heard round the world.

And not too many people would argue with you. And that was April 19, 1775.

And here we are, the United States of America now.

Right. But as you can imagine, the first shot fired didn't really come out of nowhere. I mean, there were many, many events that led up to it. Oh, sure. Like the Boston Tea Party for one. Right. Boston Massacre is another. Yep. Plus many other little things like too many taxes, no sane government. It took years to build up that much attention. All very

true. But the Boston Massacre was an example of the British shooting at the colonists. The story goes

that the first shots in Lexington and Concord was the first time the colonists actually fought

back against their oppressors. At least that's what we learned. Which makes me wonder why we're

standing on the shores of Narragansett Bay in Warwick, Rhode Island.

I mean, we're pretty far from Lexington and Concord.

We are.

But we're pretty close to where an act of violence against the British may be a more accurate first shot fired in the revolution.

We've come to Narragansett Bay to witness the burning of the HMS

Gaspi. Hello, I'm Jeff Belanger, and welcome to episode 338 of the New England Legends

podcast. And I'm Ray Osier. Thanks for joining us on our mission to chronicle all the weird

history and strangeness that makes New England like no other place. Please be sure to subscribe to our

podcast wherever you get your podcast because it's free and you don't want to miss a thing. Also,

please tell a friend or two about our show and post a review for us. That's how we grow and get

new episode ideas because most of our story leads come from you.

So we'll go searching for the HMS Gaspi right after this word from our sponsor.

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