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.
September 2025 Edition
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The Varnum House, FreshMaps, RI250 Commission, and the BoRIA are collaborating with historian Robert Geake to present a new seminar series titled “The Underwritten of the American Revolution.” This multi-year initiative aims to shed light on lesser-known stories from Rhode Island’s involvement in the Revolutionary War. The inaugural seminar is scheduled for this Saturday, October 4th, 2025, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. The event promises to be a rich educational experience, featuring a panel of invited speakers who will share their expertise on overlooked aspects of Rhode Island’s Revolutionary War history. Speakers include Dr. Shirley Green, Dr. Norman Desmarais, Keith Stokes and Robert A. Geake. In addition to the presentations, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in guided tours and visit local museums, offering a comprehensive immersion into one of the state’s historical narratives.
BORIA Lecture Series: Spark of Independence Book Talk with Michael Cecere
Join the John Brown House Museum, a museum of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Battle of Rhode Island Association on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, at 5:30 pm for a talk from author Michael Cecere on his book Spark of Independence: The American Revolution in the Northern Colonies, 1775–1776. During this lecture, Cecere will discuss the reaction of the American colonies to the outbreak of war in Massachusetts in 1775, and he will highlight key events that occurred 250 years ago – with an emphasis on Rhode Island.
Spark of Independence is the third and final book in his Independence Trilogy. This series answers the question: what happened in the thirteen colonies after bloodshed erupted in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord until independence was declared in July 1776? Ceceres relies on primary source documents to explore both the well-known and lesser-known clashes during those 15 months, and how these events contributed to the growing support across the colonies for independence from Great Britain.
A retired history teacher from Williamsburg, Virginia, Michael Cecere has authored 25 books and numerous articles on the American Revolution. He works at Colonial Williamsburg – sometimes as a tobacco farmer, other times as a soldier or a colonial dancer.
Tickets are $5 for RIHS Members and $10 for General Admission. There are also admission & book combination tickets. Guests can register here.
This lecture will be filmed for our YouTube page and website.
Author Christian McBurney To Speak at America's Tapestry Event October 18th
On Saturday, October 18th, from 12:30 to 3:30 PM, the South County Museum, 115 Strathmore Street in Narragansett, will host America’s Tapestry, a collaborative community embroidery project celebrating our nation’s upcoming anniversary in 2026.
America’s Tapestry features 13 hand-embroidered panels, one for each original colony, depicting individuals or events that contributed to the Revolution. Each of the 13 states is currently hosting their panel during its construction from 2025-2026.
Volunteer embroiderers are stitching the panels, allowing for the general public to observe and participate in the process.
Upon completion, the 13 panels will debut at the Muscarelle Art Museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, in July 2026 before traveling to venues across the Eastern Seaboard for audiences to enjoy during the Semiquincentennial.
The Rhode Island Panel will be the focus for this event.
12:30 – 1:00 PM: Meet and greet with the stitchers, show and tell of the RI tapestry panel
1:00 PM: Overview of America’s Tapestry (Stefan Romero)
1:40 PM: America’s Tapestry in Rhode Island (Karen Katin)
2:20 – 2:50 PM: Battle of Rhode Island (Christian McBurney – sponsored by the BoRIA)
3:00 – 3:30 PM: History of narrative embroidery/tapestry (Rebecca Kelly).
Organizing the event is 27 year-old artist and researcher Stefan Romero. Stefan is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s prestigious College of Fine Arts, where he specialized in the dress and textiles of Colonial America. As a Fulbright Scholar, Stefan deepened his understanding of the discipline through his Master’s Degree at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Karen Katin is the state director of the Rhode Island panel. A fiber artist with over 40 years of experience, Karen Katin is a certified Rhode Island educator with a graduate degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Owner of The Stitchery since 2017, Karen teaches sewing courses for children aged 7+ and adults. You can find her designing class sewing projects, mentoring the high school costume club, hosting the annual craft supply swap, teaching sewing classes through libraries around the state, hosting a military spouse fiber art group, and finding ways to bring the community together through needle and thread.
To learn more about the Stitchery and the courses offered, please click here.
Christian McBurney is an independent historian and prolific author focused on Rhode Island and the American Revolutionary War, having published ten books on regional and military history. Raised in Kingston, Rhode Island, he attended South Kingstown High School and Brown University, later earning a law degree from New York University School of Law. McBurney recently retired from practicing law in Washington, D.C., and lives in Maryland and Rhode Island.
He is known for works such as “The Rhode Island Campaign”, “Kidnapping the Enemy”, and “Spies in Revolutionary Rhode Island”, as well as editing and publishing the online review of Rhode Island history, Small State Big History. His writing is distinguished by original research and uncovering neglected aspects of Rhode Island’s and the Revolution’s past.
For more information, please visit their website: www.
For more information on the South County Museum, please click here.
Celebrating Educational Impact: BoRIA Materials Now Featured in RI State Database
We’re excited to share some wonderful news about expanding the reach of Revolutionary War education in Rhode Island! The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) has included six of our lesson plans and instructional materials in their database of educational resources for Rhode Island history topics.
This recognition represents a significant achievement in our mission to preserve and share the rich history of the Battle of Rhode Island and Revolutionary War era. These carefully crafted educational materials, developed by our own Historical Advisor Gloria Schmidt, are now available to teachers across Rhode Island through RIDE’s platform.
The following materials are now helping educators bring Revolutionary Rhode Island history to life in classrooms throughout the state:
For Elementary Students:
• “Thinking like a Historian: Using Primary and Secondary Sources to Learn About the Black Regiment” – An engaging PowerPoint-based lesson plan that introduces young learners to historical thinking skills.
For Middle School Students:
• “A Lesson Plan based on Linda Crotta Brennan’s book: The Black Regiment of the American Revolution” – A primary source-based curriculum perfect for middle school readers.
• “The Hill’s Story” – A captivating non-fiction booklet exploring Butts Hill’s pivotal role in Rhode Island’s history.
For High School Students and Adults:
• “Working with Eyewitness Accounts” – Firsthand accounts of the Battle of Rhode Island and Butts Hill Fort.
• “Tracing the Battle” – An interactive map-based activity that brings the Battle of Rhode Island to life for secondary students and adults.
• “Lafayette in Rhode Island” – A dynamic map-based exploration of Lafayette’s crucial role in the Rhode Island Campaign and its aftermath.
As RIDE explains in their database description: “Many of Rhode Island’s Social Studies Standards call for the inclusion of Rhode Island history, government, geography, and current events. However, these local stories are often missing from curricular materials designed for a national audience.”
Portsmouth Historical Society Honors Southermost School's 300th Anniversary
Southermost School, the little schoolhouse that survived the American Revolution, was honored by the Portsmouth Historical Society on September 14, 2025. The 300th anniversary of the school house was celebrated with actors from the Portsmouth Community Theater portraying the builder and first schoolmaster. Event goers became students in a class with lessons based on the traditional Reading, Writing, and ‘Rithmatic. Also featured were documents from the historical society collection concerning the schoolhouse.
October 25th & 26th: Trick or Treat Through Time, Nathanael Greene Homestead, Coventry, RI
By Dr. Robert Selig
The French arrived in Newport in July of 1780. Most of the forces wintered in Newport except the Lauzun Legion which camped in Connecticut. Rochambeau was very skillful in handling his troops, and the Americans began to appreciate their presence. Where the British had demolished defenses, the French engineers worked on rebuilding them.
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Did You Know?
Battle Commanders, Battle of Rhode Island
1. Captain Friedrich von der Malsburg kept a diary of his service during the British occupation of Rhode Island. In the diary was a paper with a poem written as a satire on Yankee Doodle. One line: “Since d’Estaing departed, Yankee also left according to Yankee Doodle custom.“
2. Samuel Ward of the 1st R.I. Regiment was the grandfather of Julia Ward Howe of Battle Hymn of the Republic fame
3. When General Nathanael Greene accepted the position of quartermaster of the Army, he reserved the right to a battle command. He was in charge of the Right flank of the American Army at the Rhode Island Campaign.
4. Nathanael Greene’s limp hindered his advancement in the local militia.
5. General Washington hired General Glover’s boat the “Hannah” to raid British shipping. It became one of the first ships in the Continental Navy.
6. Silas Talbot was an “artificer” – “a soldier-mechanic attached to the artillery and engineer service, whose duty it is to construct and repair military materials.” He was known for his daring do to get the job done.
7. John Laurens was one of Washington’s aid-de-camps along with Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton.
8. John Trumbull was an aide-de-camp to General Sullivan but he is most known as a painter of the American Revolution. His paintings of the Declaration of Independence and scenes on the Capital Rotunda are famous.
9. Nathaniel Wade was called up to be part of the secret Spencer’s Expedition to invade Aquidneck Island Island in 1777. The invasion was called off, but Wade continued to stay in Rhode Island until the Rhode Island Campaign.
10. General Smith of the British Army was the commander at Lexington and Concord. He was wounded in the thigh during the retreat.
Gloria Schmidt
