Chapter History
Our Founder – Lucy Nettleton Bradley
The Reprisal Chapter, NSDAR, was established in 1896 under the leadership of Lucy Elisabeth Nettleton Bradley. Born in Wilmot, New Hampshire, in 1851, Lucy grew up in a family involved in local industry and community life. She attended the New London Literary and Scientific Institute, now Colby-Sawyer College, and married attorney and patent innovator Arthur Crossman Bradley in 1881.
After living in New York for several years, Lucy and her husband returned to Newport and built a well-known residence designed by architect Stanford White. Her home became a familiar gathering place for civic and organization meetings. Chapter members later recalled it as “a beautiful home whose doors so often swung wide to welcome us,” noting that “the cordial greeting and untiring courtesy that met us when we entered its portals” reflected Lucy’s character and leadership.
When forming the DAR chapter, Lucy selected the name Reprisal in recognition of the USS Reprisal, the first American ship to carry the United States flag into foreign waters after the Declaration of Independence. Under her direction, the chapter focused on preserving local American Revolutionary War history, supporting education, and participating in patriotic work. Members recorded burial information for local American Revolutionary War soldiers, donated a portrait of George Washington to the high school, and assisted Company M during the Spanish-American War.
Lucy continued to follow chapter activities even after relocating to California later in life. In a letter sent shortly before her death, she wrote, “I have the Newport papers and am stirred by the way you do things. There is pleasure in working where one knows the neighbors.”
Lucy died in 1918, and her remains were returned to Newport. She is remembered as the organizing regent of the Reprisal Chapter, NSDAR, and as someone who set a clear foundation for the work that followed. One contemporary described her as “loyal to the highest ideals” and noted that “no one in trouble could appeal to her in vain.”
Her legacy remains part of the chapter’s identity and history.
Our National Officer – Laura McCrillis Kessler
The Reprisal Chapter, NSDAR, is proud to be the home of Historian General (2019 – 2022), Vice President General (2014 – 2017), and Honorary State Regent (2010 – 2013) Laura McCrillis Kessler. Mrs. Kessler is a direct descendant of Reprisal Charter Member Mary Emma Wilmarth McCrillis. Her Patriot ancestor is John McCrillis.
Laura McCrillis Kessler is a graduate of The Stony Brook School in New York. She earned her B.F.A. from Ithaca College in New York and an M.Ed. from Notre Dame College in Manchester. She is a retired middle school social studies and language arts teacher. She is the 2013 winner of the National Council for Geographic Education Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award. She is a teacher consultant for the New Hampshire Geographic Alliance and the National Geographic Society. Laura is the New Hampshire Geographic Bee and New Hampshire Mock Election coordinator and was an executive board member for the New Hampshire Council for Social Studies. She was selected as the New Hampshire Social Studies Teacher of the Year in 2001.
Admitted to the Bill of Rights Chapter, NSDAR, in Woodbridge, Virginia, Laura transferred to the Reprisal Chapter, NSDAR, shortly thereafter. She has served as chapter regent, vice regent, chaplain, and historian. Laura also served as chairman of several committees. She is a chapter director and a Little Red School House Committee member. While serving as chapter regent, Laura was selected as the New Hampshire Outstanding Junior.
Her NHSODAR state service includes honorary state regent, state regent, state vice regent, state chaplain, and state chair of many committees.
Laura’s state regent’s project, Real Daughters Remembered, located and marked the graves of New Hampshire’s 28 Real Daughters.
Laura’s National service includes Past Historian General and Past Vice President General. She has served as national chair of several committees. She is a National Vice Chairmen’s Association member and has served as president, first vice president, and second vice president. In 1996, she was the Northeast Division Outstanding Junior. Laura is a DAR Chorus member and a volunteer genealogist. She served as New Hampshire State campaign manager for the Wagoner Associates, Calvin Associates, and Wright Associates and is the narrator for the “The DAR Library” video, NSDAR.
Our Namesake – the USS Reprisal
The USS Reprisal holds a proud place in the story of the American Revolution. Purchased by the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress on March 28, 1776, she was fitted out as a brig armed with 18 six-pound guns and placed under the command of Captain Lambert Wickes.
Her moment of heroism came early. In 1776, the Continental armed brig Nancy, returning from St. Croix with 386 barrels of gunpowder, was pursued by six British men-of-war. To save the desperately needed cargo, her captain ran the vessel aground. Captain Lambert Wickes of the Reprisal, along with Captain John Barry of the Lexington, successfully salvaged approximately 200 barrels of gunpowder. Before abandoning the Nancy, they laid a powder train that exploded when British forces boarded the ship, destroying the remaining supply and preventing it from falling into enemy hands in a dramatic blast.
On October 24, 1776, Congress ordered Captain Wickes to sail to Nantes, France, carrying none other than the new American Commissioner to France, Benjamin Franklin. Along the way, the Reprisal captured two brigs, arriving in Nantes on November 29. Flying the Flag of the United States, she became the first vessel of the Continental Navy to reach European waters—a bold symbol of the young nation on the world stage.
Tragically, the Reprisal’s service came to an end on September 14, 1777, when she departed France for the United States. On or about October 1, she was lost in a storm off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, with all hands perishing at sea except for her cook, who survived to tell the tale. Though her career was brief, the Reprisal’s daring exploits remain a lasting testament to the courage of the Continental Navy and its fight for American independence.