Life on Aquidneck Island during the British Occupation, 1776-1779
Aquidneck Island today is a truly beautiful island with remarkable natural beauty: the ocean, the beaches, sea breezes, meadows and marshlands, the ubiquitous fieldstone walls, and the many open spaces and farmlands in Portsmouth and Middletown.
Black History
Black History Black History Month presents an opportunity to acknowledge and pay respects to African Americans who have helped lay the foundation for our nation throughout history. Many Black men […]
British Soldiers in Rhode Island, December 1776 – October 1779
One day in September 1778 John Hopwood was hard at work. The thirty-five-year-old native of Hutton, a village in the eastern part of Yorkshire a few miles from the coast, was a butcher, but at the age of twenty-eight had chosen a different career – he enlisted in the British army, in the 54th Regiment of Foot.
Creative Survival: Africans as Mariners in Colonial Rhode Island
The introduction of African bondage was a transformative experience that lasted over a span of four centuries and shaped the settlement, economic, religious and cultural growth of the Western Hemisphere.
Rhode Island’s Four Stages of the American Revolutionary War
Rhode Island’s role in the American Revolutionary War that raged from 1775 to 1783 is wide-ranging and complicated. It is yet another example of how Rhode Island’s history is way more impressive than its small size.
Rhode Island’s Road to Rebellion Against Great Britain, 1764-1775
In the afternoon of June 9, 1772, the sloop Hannah, a Providence packet commanded by Capt. Benjamin Lindsey, sailed forth from Newport up Narragansett Bay toward its home port. Very quickly Lindsey discovered that he was being chased by the Gaspee, a British revenue schooner stationed in the bay “for the protection of the Trade, and to prevent smuggling.”
Should They Stay or Should They Go? Rhode Island Black Loyalists after the American Revolution
In late 1779 Newport’s black residents, free or enslaved, faced a predicament: should they stay or should they go? Should they choose freedom but risk an uncertain future under British protection, or should they stay enslaved in wartime Rhode Island?
Rochambeau Statue – Newport Harbor
King’s Park on Newport Harbor is the present location of a statute to General Rochambeau. The statue remains a symbol of the assistance that France rendered to the American colonies during the War for Independence.
Occupied America: British Military Rule and The Experience of Revolution
Several cities in Revolutionary America were taken by British forces and the residents found themselves in an unexpected predicament. Many welcomed the return of law and order and a stable economy under British rule; the British were embraced as liberators.
French Encampment in Newport: July 11th – November 1st, 1780
French forces under General Jean-Baptiste de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, had sailed into Narragansett Bay on 11 July 1780 and over the next few days debarked in Newport. A review in the Vioménil Papers lists a total of 5,218 NCOs and enlisted men arriving.
