Since Samuel Gorton's first settlers on the Conimicut shore agreed to live without formal government, the villages of Warwick have been fiercely independent. Despite their individualism, however, their histories are inextricably bound. The ravages of King Philip's War left no village unscathed, as settlers lost their houses, livestock and even their lives. England's trade laws forced these seafaring people to smuggle rum out of Mill Cove, and the famous 1772 burning of the British Gaspee near Pawtuxet ignited the flame of protest across Rhode Island. Tracing the history of five villages, Warwick's beloved historian Donald D'Amato reveals how Rhode Island's second-largest city has retained the feel of a small, close-knit community.