The Battle of Rhode Island

Battle of RI 2003 reenactment

This overview of the Battle of Rhode Island argues that the battle is important to us because it was fought here.

British Soldiers in Rhode Island, December 1776 – October 1779

The Relief by H. W. Bunbury, circa 1781, from the Anne S. K. brown Military Collection. A noncommissioned officer inspects three soldiers in front of an officer's tent while local citizens look on; in the foreground, a young drummer plays with a dog. This image of an encampment in England may be typical of scenes that occurred in Rhode Island during the British occupation.

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.

Patriots at Rest in Newport!

Some people die participating in the war and others are fortunate to return to their prewar lives. At some point they all die.