Note 6 — FOREWORD

A somewhat similar method was used on the New England side, at least in the vicinity of Newport. It is described on page 48 of a Discourse by Arthur A. Ross, who a hundred years ago was Pastor of the First Baptist Church there. Mr. Ross says: “During the whole time the British had possession of the Island, a correspondence was maintained between certain individuals of the Island and the main at Little-Compton, so that the American officers were constantly apprized of the general movements of the enemy, while in possession of Rhode-Island. This correspondence was maintained by signals given on the Island, indicating a clear coast, and that a messenger could pass over in safety, after dark. The first signal was the leaving down of a certain pair of bars, which, with a spy-glass, could be distinctly seen from the main. Afterward, for fear of exciting the suspicion of the enemy, the signal was changed, when an open window of Mr. Peleg Peckham’s barn, answered the same purpose. A small vault in the ground, near the shore, and at no great distance from Mr. Peckham’s, covered with a flat stone, served as a depository of communication.—Here, letters and papers were regularly deposited and removed, by the respective individuals engaged in the correspondence.”