The BoRIA Post
The official newsletter of the Battle of Rhode Island Association featuring news, events and Rhode Island history. Learn more at www.battleofrhodeisland.org.
Jim Stearns, Editor
June 1st, 2026
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BoRIA Receives $5,000 Donation from the Philmoney Trust
BoRIA is pleased to acknowledge a generous unrestricted donation of $5,000 from the Philmoney Trust of Providence, Rhode Island. Flexible support of this nature is especially valuable, allowing BoRIA to direct funds where they are most needed in support of our ongoing research, educational outreach, preservation initiatives, and public programming related to Rhode Island’s Revolutionary War history and Butts Hill Fort.
The Philmoney Trust, whose trustees include longtime Rhode Island civic and preservation supporters Frank and Elizabeth Mauran, has also supported a number of educational, conservation, and charitable organizations throughout the state. BoRIA sincerely thanks the Philmoney Trust for its confidence in and support of our mission.
German Consul General Visits Revolutionary War Sites in Portsmouth
German Consul General Dr. Sonja Kreibich of Boston visited Portsmouth on May 31st for a special tour highlighting the role of German auxiliaries on Aquidneck Island during the American Revolution. The visit was arranged at the request of BoRIA Director Ambassador George Krol. The tour focused on Revolutionary War sites associated with German troops stationed on Aquidneck Island during the British occupation of Newport (1776–1779). Led by local historian Fred Zilian, the program included a drive north on West Main Road—the German axis of advance during the Battle of Rhode Island—and stops at Turkey Hill, Patriot’s Park, and Butts Hill Fort.
German auxiliaries — often referred to collectively as “Hessians,” though drawn from not only Hesse, but five other German states— played a major role in the Revolutionary War, with nearly 30,000 serving alongside British forces during the war. Making up about half of the approximate 7,000 troops that initially occupied Aquidneck Island—called Rhode Island at the time—from December 1776 to October 1779, these soldiers served side by side with the British and Loyalist forces and performed similar military duties. In the American offensive military campaign during the summer of 1778, they helped the British occupation force withstand the siege of Newport. On August 29, in the Battle of Rhode Island, they comprised one of the two main axes of advance, attacking the retreating American forces and launching three direct assaults on American defensive positions centered on Butts Hill Fort. British and German forces suffered approximately 260 total casualties, (killed, wounded, and missing combined) of whom about 128 were German auxiliaries .
Dr. Kreibich has served as Germany’s Consul General in Boston since 2022 and oversees diplomatic and cultural relations throughout New England. A career diplomat and attorney, she has held senior positions in the German Foreign Office involving international policy, public diplomacy, and cultural engagement.
The BHFRC announced a major fundraising campaign for 2026 titled “Re-Take the Hill”, with the aim of raising funds to complete the transformation and preservation of the Northern earthworks of Butts Hill Fort in Portsmouth. The Northern part of the fort contains the oldest, largest and highest sections of Butts Hill Fort’s 250-year old ramparts. The earthworks were erected by British troops starting in 1777. It contained a barracks, magazine and a six-gun artillery battery aimed to fire toward Bristol and Narragansett Bay.
The fundraising campaign would enable BHFRC to accomplish “Phase II” of two major efforts to rescue, stabilize and maintain the site going forward. Our “Phase I” executed in 2024-25 from a grant from the vBCF has completely transformed the Southern half of the fort. Visitors to the site can travel inside and out of the Southern earthworks at leisure in a campus type setting. You can now clearly see the 1778 battlefield from the exact same vantage point General John Sullivan, Major General Nathanael Greene, and General John Glover had from their headquarters’ position during the Aug 29th Battle of Rhode Island. In 2026 we want to re-take the rest of the Hill and complete the job.
BoRIA Outreach to Schools and the Community
By Gloria Schmidt – Historical Advisor
During May we have reached out to teachers via YouTube, to fourth graders in Jamestown with a school visit and to the Aquidneck Island community with a tour of Butts Hill Fort.
My husband Richard and I led a “Jane’s Walk” around Butts Hill Fort. Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations. May 2nd was a cold and rainy day, but that didn’t stop a hardy group from Aquidneck Island as we toured Butts Hill Fort. The group was amazed at the fort and many had no idea that it was here. May 20th, Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee chair Paul Murphy led another tour of the fort for Rhode Island Historical Society Outreach.
In early May our YouTube videos of the making of the book, The Black Regiment of the American Revolution, were posted. The 35-minute long video features author Linda Crotta Brennan and illustrator Cheryl Kirk Noll sharing their research and working process. A shorter version of the talk is a ten-minute retelling of the Black Regiment’s story by Linda Crotta Brennan. Their book on the Black Regiment is one of the best books for children on the topic. The book is now in re-publication and available through Amazon. Making these wonderful videos was made possible through a RI250 Commission grant. You can find them on YouTube:
For the 10 minute video click here.
For the 35 minute video click here.
On May 19th, we were invited as guest speakers to the Melrose Avenue School in Jamestown. The fourth grade was just starting a unit on the Black Regiment and Rhode Island in the Revolutionary War.
At the end of May, we met with Sarah Carr, Director of Advancement and Public Engagement at Rhode Island Historical Society. Sarah gave us some advice on reaching teachers with BoRIA-created materials. The focus is on the 250th celebrations right now, but we look forward to making plans for 2028 when we celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Rhode Island.
Check out our teacher website – teachingrevolutionaryrhody.
BoRIA Receives $5,000 Grant to Support “Battle of Rhode Island” Video Project
BoRIA is pleased to announce receipt of a $5,000 grant from the Papitto Opportunity Connection to further develop the upcoming video Battle of Rhode Island.
The video project is being produced in partnership with Fresh Maps and is partially funded through a RI250 Commission grant program supporting initiatives connected to the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The video is expected to be completed later this summer.
The project will help bring greater public awareness to Rhode Island’s important but often overlooked role in the American Revolution, including the 1778 Battle of Rhode Island and the broader Rhode Island Campaign. The video will combine historical interpretation, maps, imagery, animations, and on-site footage to help engage residents, students, and visitors alike. The video was scripted with historian Christian McBurney, author of “The Rhode Island Campaign: The First French and American Operation in the Revolutionary War.”
BoRIA greatly appreciates the support of the Papitto Opportunity Connection, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit organization founded by the late Barbara Papitto. The organization works to create pathways to education, job training, and economic opportunity for underserved Rhode Islanders while also supporting community-based initiatives across the state.
We also thank our project partner Fresh Maps for their continuing collaboration in helping make Rhode Island history more accessible and engaging through innovative digital storytelling.
RI250 Quest Draws Teams into RI’s Revolutionary History Adventure
Teams across Rhode Island are actively participating in the RI250 Quest, discovering the state’s revolutionary heritage through an innovative blend of self-guided exploration and public programming. Undeterred by weather, participants have connected their quest activities with encampments, historic house tours, educational lectures, and liberty tree planting ceremonies.
“It has really been a great way to tie together so many Revolution-era celebrations across the state,” said Michelle Girasole of MyFreshAdventures.
The quest has drawn teams to signature RI250 events including the “Forgotten Founders” program at Nathanael Greene Homestead, Smith’s Castle’s Opening Day in North Kingstown, the RI250 Commission’s liberty tree planting at Varnum House in East Greenwich, and a living history encampment on the Bristol Town Common.
Looking ahead, the Portsmouth quest launches in June, paired with the Portsmouth Historical Society’s June 10th lecture “Women of ’76” and Gaspee Days events in Warwick.
Portsmouth Historical Society to Present "Women of 76"
From the PHS Website.
Step into the untold side of the American Revolution.
On June 10th at 6:30 PM, the Portsmouth Historical Society will welcome Rita Parisi of Waterfall Productions for a solo theatrical performance of Women of ’76—a journey into the lives of real women who witnessed, chronicled, and in some cases changed the course of the Revolution.
Audiences will encounter voices rarely heard in the history books:
- Baroness Frederika von Riedesel, whose vivid journals capture the chaos of war.
- Prudence Wright, who led a militia of women to capture Tory spies.
- Nancy Hart, who faced down British soldiers—and won.
- Mary Katharine Goddard, who published the first Declaration bearing the signers’ names.
- Mary Gould Almy, whose firsthand accounts document the siege of Newport.
Their stories—patriot and loyalist, American and foreign—reveal a deeper, more complex portrait of the American Revolution.
Rita Parisi, an accomplished actress and playwright, has been touring original solo works for more than 20 years. Since founding Waterfall Productions in 2005, she has brought history to life for audiences across New England and beyond. A member of SAG-AFTRA, her work has appeared on both stage and screen, including the Boston International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.
Don’t miss this riveting, richly costumed performance that gives voice to the women of the Revolution.
This event is free and open to the public although donations are welcome.
A reminder that the Portsmouth Historical Society main building is now fully accessible!
For more information on the Portsmouth Historical Society click here.
June 4th, 6:30 PM – Christian McBurney Lecture, North Kingstown Town Hall
June 9th, 6:00 PM – Conversations at the Castle: Peter Fay, Smith’s Castle, North Kingstown
June 10th, 6:00 PM – Christian McBurney Lecture, Rogers Free Library, Bristol
June 10th, 6:30 PM – Women of “76” Event, Portsmouth Historical Society, Portsmouth
June 18th, 5:30 PM – Christian McBurney Lecture, John Brown House, Providence
June 18th, 6:00 PM – Fred Zilian Lecture, Richmond-Carolina Fire Station, Richmond
June 20th, 11:00 AM – Juneteenth, Fort Adams, Newport
June 25th, 6:30 PM – Fred Zilian Lecture, Portsmouth Historical Society, Portsmouth
By Christian McBurney
John Trumbull of Connecticut is rightfully famous as a painter of Revolutionary War scenes. Some of his best paintings were enlarged by him and painted in the rotunda in the United States Capitol, where they can be viewed to this day. Less familiar is that Trumbull twice came under fire at the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778. He came under fire on two different occasions; one time bullets landed all around him. He could have been wounded that he would never have been able to paint again; or he could have been killed. Instead, he escaped unscathed.
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Did You Know?
East Greenwich, RI: A Small Town with an Outsized Revolutionary Role
- East Greenwich was a close-knit bayside community of likely under 3,000 people—large for Kent County, but still very much a small town.
- Residents included English-descended farmers and tradesmen, along with a smaller number of enslaved Africans and free Black people, and maritime workers tied to Narragansett Bay commerce.
- Most families combined small-scale farming (corn, livestock, orchards) with coastal trade, fishing, and ship work, leveraging the town’s location on Greenwich Bay.
- The town functioned as an active local port, moving farm goods to Newport and Providence while importing manufactured supplies.
- Local blacksmiths, coopers, ship carpenters, and merchants supported both commerce and the war effort by equipping militia units and maintaining vessels.
- Home of General James Mitchell Varnum: East Greenwich lawyer and militia officer Varnum rose to Continental Army general and helped advocate for the enlistment of Black soldiers, paving the way for the 1st Rhode Island Regiment (“Black Regiment”) in 1778.
- The Kentish Guards, formed in 1774, became an elite militia company symbolizing local readiness to resist British authority—a tradition that continues ceremonially today.
- As a county seat and meeting place for colonial and later state government, East Greenwich played an outsized political role, hosting courts and legislative activity during the war.
- British occupation of Newport (1776–1779) and Royal Navy activity in Narragansett Bay disrupted trade, threatened coastal raids, and created economic uncertainty for the town.
- Residents supported American operations leading up to the Battle of Rhode Island (1778) in nearby Portsmouth.
- Some local mariners turned to privateering—legal attacks on British shipping—blending patriotism with profit and considerable risk.
- From militia service with the Kentish Guards to Continental duty under leaderslike Varnum, East Greenwich contributed manpower, skills, and resources to the Revolutionary cause.
- Today, the Varnum House Museum (1773) and Varnum Memorial Armory Museum preserve and interpret this legacy through exhibits, artifacts, and public programs.
- Though modest in size, East Greenwich’s mix of agriculture, maritime commerce, and political leadership gave it a meaningful supporting role in Rhode Island’s Revolutionary War story.
– Joe Studlick
