We are taught as schoolchildren that the great achievement of American independence was defeating the most powerful empire and the most powerful navy in the world. Indeed, John Brown, Esek Hopkins, Abraham Whipple, and the other patriots who served in or contributed to the early Continental Navy deserve recognition, and the U.S. Navy is remembering them as part of its 250th anniversary festivities in 2025. Yet telling the story of American independence from the American perspective is insufficient. On Thursday January 30, 2025, join the Rhode Island Historical Society at the John Brown House Museum for the talk The Founding of the U.S. Navy, from London’s Perspective with scholar Evan Wilson.
This lecture will ask, what did the Continental Navy look like from the perspective of the supposedly all-powerful empire? It was small and scrappy, but how much of a threat did it pose? Did ministers in London think that interdicting American maritime operations would help them win the war? Or did they have other theories of victory? Only by examining how the British thought about the war, and how their thinking about the war changed over time, can we fully understand Rhode Island's role in American naval history and American independence.
Evan Wilson is an associate professor in the Hattendorf Historical Center at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. A recipient of the Sir Julian Corbett Prize in Modern Naval History, he researches the naval history of Britain and other countries from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. He is the author or editor of six books, most recently The Horrible Peace: British Veterans and the End of the Napoleonic Wars (UMass, 2023). His next book, which he edited with Paul Kennedy, is Planning for War at Sea: 400 Years of Great Power Competition (Naval Institute, 2025). Before coming to Newport, he was the Caird Senior Research Fellow at the National Maritime Museum (UK) and the Associate Director of International Security Studies at Yale University. He holds degrees from Yale, Cambridge and Oxford.
Admission to The Founding of the U.S. Navy costs $10 per person, and $5 for RIHS members. Doors open at 4:30pm for a complimentary reception. Advance tickets are recommended as space is limited to 30 attendees. The John Brown House Museum is located at 52 Power Street in Providence, parking is available off Charlesfield Street.
The Rhode Island Historical Society, the state's oldest and only statewide historical organization, is dedicated to honoring, interpreting and sharing Rhode Island's past to enrich the present and inspire the future. Founded in 1822, the RIHS is an advocate for history as a means to develop empathy and 21st -century skills, using its historical materials and knowledge to explore topics of timeless relevance and public interest. As a Smithsonian Affiliate, it is dedicated to providing high-quality, accessible public programming and educational opportunities for all Rhode Islanders through its four sites: the John Brown House Museum, the Museum of Work & Culture, the Mary Elizabeth Robinson Research Center and the Aldrich House.
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