An excellent example of Charles Blaskowitz’ Revolutionary-era plan of Newport, Rhode Island, the definitive 18^th-century plan of the town.

 The plan depicts Newport in very considerable detail. Numerous wharves along Thames Street jut into the harbor, evidence of the town’s status as a leading port. Every street is identified, and 19 of the most significant landmarks are identified by a legend at lower right.  These include the Court House, the prison (labeled as the “Goal” [sic]), the Alms House, and, evidence of the religious freedom that characterized Rhode Island, the meeting houses of a very wide variety of Protestant denominations, from Anglican (“Trinity Church”) to Quaker (“Friends Meeting House”). Perhaps the most remarkable symbol of this ethos is the presence of the Touro Synagogue (“Jews Synagogue”), built in 1759, which today has the distinction of being the oldest synagogue in the United States. Further evidence of Newport’s tolerance is “Lopez’s W[harf],” owned by Aaron Lopez, a Jewish emigrant from Portugal who became the town’s wealthiest resident by trading in slaves and whale-oil products.

Another interesting feature is the “battery raised by the Americans,” referring to light earthen fortifications constructed in early 1776, known as “North Battery”, and today the site of Newport’s Battery Park, at the intersection of Washington and Pine. After occupying the city in late 1776 the British strengthened the fort, only to level it when they abandoned the town in 1779.  Also shown is Fort George on Goat Island, built in 1738 to guard the approaches to the inner harbor.

Newport and Narragansett Bay during the American Revolution
Before the Revolution Newport was one of the busiest harbors in Britain’s North American colonies, boasting a population in excess of 9000 and forming a vertex of the “Triangle Trade” connecting America, the West Indies and Africa.

Newport and Narragansett Bay then played a prominent role in the lead-up to the American Revolution: In 1772 the British Navy essentially blockaded the Bay, in order to enforce customs duties on incoming vessels. After months of antagonizing the city’s merchants, the much-hated customs schooner HMS Gaspee was burned by patriots and its captain badly injured in what is today remembered as “The Gaspee Incident.”

Newport also saw much activity during the war itself. In May 1776, Rhode Island became the first American Colony to declare its independence, but in December of that year Newport was seized by Admiral Parker as a base for the British fleet.  In the Summer of 1778, the British repelled a combined land and sea attack by led by American General John Sullivan and French Admiral, d’Estaing. The British abandoned the town in late 1779 in order to consolidate their forces in New York. Then, in July 1780, the Comte de Rochambeau made Newport the base for his French expeditionary force.  It was from there that he marched his army in the Fall of 1781 to join George Washington the Continental Army at the decisive Battle at Yorktown.

Charles Blaskowitz and the survey of Narragansett Bay and Newport
Born in Prussia around 1743, Blaskowitz had entered the British Army at a young age, served in the Royal American Regiment during the French and Indian War, and assisted Samuel Holland in a major survey of the St. Lawrence River after the capture of Quebec in 1760. In 1764 Blaskowitz was detailed to survey Narragansett Bay, in order to assess Newport’s suitability as a naval base.

He then returned to Quebec and re-joined Holland, who in the interim had been appointed Surveyor General of the Northern District. In this capacity Holland was responsible for an extraordinarily ambitious attempt to conduct an advanced survey of the coast from the mid-Atlantic to the Maritimes (The project lasted ten years and reached as far south as Long Island Sound but was derailed by the American Revolution.) Blaskowitz served as one of Holland’s senior deputies throughout and, given his previous experience, was the natural choice in 1774 to lead the team surveying Narragansett Bay.

It is worth noting that this plan engraved and published by William Faden is not the first but the second publication of Blaskowitz’ survey of Newport: It was preceded in 1776 by one published by J.F.W. Des Barres for The Atlantic Neptune. Though at the same scale as the Faden plan and covering a larger area, the Des Barres version is far less informative, lacking much architectural detail as well as the American fortifications shown by Faden at the northern edge of town.  It is likely that the well-connected Faden achieved this greater detail by incorporating up-to-date information obtained from the British force that had occupied Newport in late 1776.

In all, a superb Revolutionary-era plan of Newport, Rhode Island, not superseded until the middle of the 19^th century.

References
Guthorn, British Maps of the American Revolution, #145/8. Nebenzahl, A Bibliography of Printed Battle Plans of the American Revolution, #35. Tooley (ed.), “North American City Plans,” Map Collector’s Circle no. 20 (1965), p. 18.