Part 1: In 1578, John Dee (1527-1608) wrote series of four manuscripts entitled Limits of the British Empire, explaining why Queen Elizabeth had a legal right to North America (except for Florida, which the Spanish already occupied). Dee's text was lost for centuries, but in 1976, it was discovered and acquired by the British Library. In it, Dee explains that earlier Englishmen like King Arthur, Saint Brendan, Prince Madoc, and John and Sebastian Cabot had already claimed the New World for England. The farsighted Dee even coined the term "British Empire." Convinced by Dee's numerous arguments, the Queen granted letters patent for all of North America north of Florida to one of the generals in the English army, Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Dee chose the site for the Gilbert's first colony (Narragansett Bay in modern Rhode Island). He even named it after himself, the "Dee River and port." In 1582, Dee and his team sent a "preliminary expedition" of two ships and about 80 men. I claim this mission built the Tower, following Dee's blueprints, to be the colony's city center. The settlement failed to take root, but the Tower got built, and it still stands in Touro Park, Newport. Part 2: Governor Benedict Arnold (1615-1678), the first Governor of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations No, this is not Benedict Arnold the traitor. It's the traitor's great-great-great grandfather. The Revolutionary War traitor, Benedict Arnold (V), lived a century after RI Governor Benedict Arnold (I). But, because of his name, Governor Benedict Arnold has been left out of most books on Rhode Island history. And it's a shame, he is he is one of the most imprtant figures in the birth of Rhode Island, which was the birthplace of religious freedom. In 1663, Benedict was appointed by King Charles II to be first Governor of the state. The general populace re-elected him seven times, and when he died, about a thousand people attended his funeral. I also assert Benedict Arnold was responsible for naming Aquidneck island "Rhode Island." And for adopting the "Anchor of Hope" as the state symbol. And for naming the natural harbor at the mouth of the bay "Newport." Furthermore, he named it "Newport," after Newport/Caerleon, Wales, to commemorate King Arthur's Camelot. Camelot? Most modern scholars think King Arthur is fictional. But what we moderns think doesn't really matter. What matters is that back in the 1500s and 1600s the English felt King Arthur actually existed. Not only was he their inspirational hero, they felt the chivalrous Arthur would some day return to save his people. In the mid-1630s, Benedict Arnold was one of the first colonial settlers on Narragansett Bay. I suggest he claimed the Tower and used Newport as an outpost on his three-day shipping route. He transported furs and bushels of Narragansett Indian corn to Boston, and returned with cooking implements, tools, guns, ammunition, and liquor. He soon became one of the wealthiest colonists. Many clues suggest Benedict knew all about the Elizabethan colonization effort of 1583 and how the Tower functioned as a horologium, a building that keeps track of time. Benedict Arnold was buried about 500 feet west of the Tower. And about 500 feet west of his grave was where his Governor's mansion stood, on Thames Street across from his wharf (now called Bowen's Wharf). The Roots of Freedom in America During John Dee's life, England's prevailing religion flipped from Catholic to Protestant to Catholic to Protestant. Dee's dream was to establish a New World utopia, where all religions would be tolerated. And in the 1600s, it was Rhode Island Governor Benedict Arnold who made Dee's vision a reality. And the freedom of conscience enjoyed by Rhode Islanders later influenced the writers of the United States Constitution.
About the Author: James Alan Egan has been a professional photographer and videographer in Providence and Newport for fifty years. He has also been studying the Tower for over thirty years and has written and illustrated sixteen books on the subject, including Elizabethan America, The John Dee Tower of 1583, A Renaissance Horologium in Newport, Rhode Island. In 2014, he appeared on the History 2 Channel's America Unearthed episode about the Tower entitled "America's Oldest Secret," but didn't get to fully explain his thesis. For five years he has been the curator of the Newport Tower Museum at 152 Mill Street, just 50 steps northeast of the this historic structure. He claims the Tower will someday help make Newport, and all of Rhode Island, a World Heritage Site.