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Rhode Island Women in the Revolutionary Era: Notes

July 6, 2026

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I am collecting stories about Rhode Island women in Revolutionary times – Protests, Occupation, Battle, French Era to war’s end. The new RIDE Social Studies standards for grade four requires students to: “Explain the roles Rhode Island women fulfilled during the American Revolution.” So I am collecting stories of Rhode Island women during that time period and reflecting on the roles of women. I will try to write their stories for a fourth grade audience as a resource for teachers.

I am starting with a host of stories I have already researched:

Loyalist and spy Mary Gould Almy

Women who pitched in to run their farms and businesses while their husband fought.

Christian Bannister enduring the Occupation and trying to remain neutral.

Daughters of Liberty who spun their protests before the war

Elizabeth Heffernan whose householdings were destroyed by the British Occupation

Catherine Littlefield Greene who followed husband Nathanael Greene to the camps.

I am encountering a few who are new to me like the Holmes women of Middletown who fought to protect their property and runaway servant to served as a spy. I would appreciate hearing any stories of Rhode Island women that would help us understand all the roles they played in wartime.

Some general thoughts from Gladys Bolhouse’s article on “Women and the Battle for Rhode Island.”

With the Occupation, women on Aquidneck Island were cut off from the rest of the state and even each other on the island.
For safety sake many families had to move away from everything they had here. Those who had no resources to relocate had to to remain under the control of the enemy.

Bolhouse goes on to relate passages from Mary Gould Almy’s diary of the Siege – and I will work through that with the next blog.

Howland Ferry Timeline

May 29, 2026

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Portsmouth to Tiverton: Howland’s Ferry.

Also called Pocasset Ferry, Sanford’s Ferry and Wanton’s Ferry
First ferry established in Rhode Island

1640 Thomas Gorton chosen ferryman

June of 1647. John Sanford took over ferry. Thomas Gorton sold to John Sanford “all that my neck of Land.” This ferry site is at end of Almy’s Point.
Site changed to more of where Stone Bridge remains today.

1653 When Sanford died he left the house and ferry to his son John. He was still operating the ferry in June of 1666 when it is called Sanford’s ferry.

Town records show that the general assembly placed a cannon at Ferry Neck during King Philip’s war.

1687 – end of Sanford management. The property was deeded to William Wanton.

1703-4 : Wanton may have had others man the ferry, but the property was sold to Daniel Howland of Tiverton in January of 1703-4. At this point the ferry operated out of Tiverton. Daniel Howland, Jr. did seem to live in Portsmouth. in 1714.

1717 this ferry was called Pocasset Ferry.

1748 ferry land was sold to Peleg Slocum of Dartmouth along with Hen and Spectacle Islands. 1758 it was sold to Holder Slocum.
1771 Holder’s wife Rebecca left the property to her daughter Mary Tucker. They were living in Dartmouth so they must have leased the ferry out.

Mary Tucker sold the property to the Rhode Island Bridge Company.

October of 1795 a wooden bridge built on piles opened but was carried away by the tide, January of 1796.

It was rebuilt in November of 1796 but the piles were eaten by worms and it washed away in autumn of 1797.

Next bridge built of stone but was breached in the September Gale of 1815.

Bridge re-opemed in autumn of 1817. A September gale breached this bridge in 1869.

Ferry “West Side” took care of crossing until the new bridge was opened in August of 1907.

Source: Augusta, Anna and Chapin, Charles V., “A History of Rhode Island Ferries, 1640-1923” (1925).

Gideon Manchester: a Notable Character

May 25, 2026

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Newspaper accounts provide the curious story of Gideon Manchester’s life. “Gid,” as he was known, was the tender for the drawbridge for the Stone Bridge which united Tiverton and Portsmouth.

“Mysterious Affair”. Rutland County Herald, August 1,1844

“A man named Gideon Manchester, belonging to Tiverton, was committed to the jail, in this town, last week under very suspicious circumstances. It appears this man about eighteen months since married a young widow with two children, that after living with her two months he had taken her to her mother’s house where he left her under the plea that he was unable to support her, some time in the month of August last, and directed her to come through the woods and meet him early the next morning at a certain place in the road, where he promised to meet her with a horse and wagon and take her to New Bedford.”

She accordingly left her home for that purpose, and since no trace of her can be discovedred. Manchester the same day arrived in New Bedford without any baggage and shipped immediately for a voyage to sea. Previous to his sailing he presented to a female relative an old fashioned gold ring,which has been identified as having been worn by his wife at the time of her leaving home. “

Manchester returned from sea and was charged and had a trail, but nothing came of it. Many years later another newspaper account raises new questions about Manchester.

“Buried in the Sands” – the mysterious case of the coffin Dug up on Shore near Island Park.

Newspaper accounts in March of 1902 tell of a skeleton found in a pine box below the tidal waters of Island Park. The box was dug out by two boys laying a fishing net in an area where the currents had changed. The box was handmade as were the nails that held it together. Inside the box was the skeleton of a woman who had been in the water for many years. Speculation arose that it was the remains of Mrs. Manchester who had disappeared 50 years before. At the time of her disappearance, her husband, Gideon Manchester, claimed his wife had go out to meet him in New Bedford and gone missing. All that was found was her shoes and stockings that were found in a local swamp. Her rings were in the possession of a young girl who claimed a man had given them to her. The keeper of the toll gate at Stone Bridge testified that at midnight of the day Mrs. Manchester had gone missing, a “lone man with a big and mysterious box crossed the bridge in the direction of Island Park.”

Fall River Daily Herald – March 28, 1902.

Manchester’s obituary in the Fall River Herald (May 22, 1906). presents another side of Gideon Manchester. Gideon had been in charge of the bridge for twenty-five years. The author of the article noted that during Gideon’s tenure, the bridge had undergone transformations. One bridge was replaced by a more modern bridge put down by the railway company. It was suppose to run by electricity, but Manchester was still needed. At some stage the bridge was so damaged by weather than yet another version of the bridge was required.

Manchester had remarried and at the time of his death (in 1906 at age 90+) resided with daughter Hattie in his Portsmouth home. He had a son as well – Otis. Other articles at the time talk about his saving a woman from committing suicede and jumping into the river to rescue swimmers. The newspaper accounts call him a “notable character” and he was that.

The Town Farm and the “Portsmouth Cripple”

May 23, 2026

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“The town of Portsmouth, a few years since, purchased a farm obtaining about 60 acres of land, as an Asylum for the Poor. It is most delightfully located, an every necessary comfort is furnished the inmates, which their condition requires.” This brief description was included by Edward Peterson’s 1853 book The History of Rhode Island and Newport. The farm’s location is on the north side of Lawton’s Valley and is Raytheon property today. While the “Town Farm” is “Lost to Time,” the Asylum Cemetery is left as a reminder of those who lived and worked there.

Whether the Asylum furnished all the needs of the inmates is debatable. The Asylum operated from 1833 to 1929. It’s aim was to be a home for the homeless, the disabled and the mentally ill. It was an “almshouse” that required residents to work if they were able.

Thomas Hazard of Portsmouth worked hard to improve the lot of the “poor and insane” in Rhode Island. He reported on all the asylums in the state and he visited the Town Farm often. One of those he visited and helped was William Fales who called himself the “Portsmouth Cripple” in his published memoir. Fales had been diagnosed with “inflammatory rheumatism” at the age of six. It was thought to be the result of a dip into cold water. Doctors tried the remedies of the day such as bleeding, but the pain never left him. By sixteen he could no longer stand. At age twenty-five he came to the Portsmouth Town Farm. When Hazard met him he could barely move and was in constant pain, but he didn’t feel sorry for himself. He thought of his suffering as bringing him closer to God. In 1848 his devotion to faith attracted pious visitors from Philadelphia and elsewhere. We know William’s story because they published his memoirs and letters to them.

In one of the published letters from December 5, 1849, he describes Hazard visiting and mentions his suffering.

“I had a visit from my kind friend T. R. H., who brought me a number of tracts to read, and then I am to distribute them among my comrades, and to those who may visit the house. Much of the time we have religious meetings once in two weeks, at which time I generally present a few tracts to those of the neighbors who attend. For some days past I have not felt so well as common ; my appetite is poor, and I have disagreeable, dull feelings through my head, especially across my forehead. A piece of my jaw-bone has protruded through the gum, yet it firmly adheres to the main portion; perhaps after a while it will work loose, and come out.“

Hazard ultimately frees Fales from the conditions at the Asylum.

“Surely the 28th of last month was an eventful day to me, for on that day I was removed from the Asylum, and though I felt loth to accept the kind offer, on account of my entire un-worthiness, yet I plainly saw the hand of Providence in it, and thought it would he wrong to refuse so desirable a change. My friend T. R. H. told me that you had desired him to procure a place for me in a private family, where I might have things that were convenient, and receive proper attention. Accordingly, I was removed on the 28th, and bore the ride much better than I had expected. Surely, my friend, this is “the Lord’s doing, and marvellous in my eyes.” Hazard had located him with a family whose property was very close to his own farm. Fales enjoyed the change, but died unexpectedly just before his thirtieth birthday.

Competition at the Newport County Fair

May 12, 2026

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The Newport County Fair in September was a highlight of the year for Portsmouth farmers and residents. The fairgrounds were across from where St. Barnabas Church is today. Since a 1907 article from the Newport Mercury names that year’s fair as the 10th annual, it probably started in 1897. I have found newspaper articles mentioning the fair in the 1930s, but I don’t have a definite ending date. The fair was sponsored by the Newport County Agricultural Society.

What was the fair like? Newspaper account give us some clues.

The 1904 article in the Newport Mercury raves about the dinner and supper served in the large dining hall. There was a “cosey corner” available for fair goers to take a rest and sit down. This was called “Home Rest” and was organized by Mrs. Eldredge of the Social Studio at Bristol Ferry. The Rhode Island Rug Works featured an exhibit of rugs made from old carpets. Outside on the grounds there were activities for girls and boys that would test their strength. There was even a tent with a rattlesnake!

A 1907 account tells us that the vegetable exhibits were “a great surprise to the farmers themselves since this had been a very hard year for crops. Oakland Farm’s exhibits of fruits and vegetables outdid the displays by the other farms. Glen Farm had a special exhibit instead of entering the usual classes of competitions.

The 1914 Fair featured a long distance telephone on the grounds. There was a “baby health” contest judged by a doctor. Prizes included five dollar gold pieces, silver spoons and bronze medals. There was a baby beauty contest open to Rhode Island babies over six months and under three years old. That contest would be judged by “women living outside the state and unknown to the contestants.”

The fair had more than farm produce. There were displays of gramophones and musical instruments. The embroidery department featured eyelets, pretty hats, and shirtwaist dresses. The artists had their work on display. Bessie Cram showed her hand painted china and Sarah Eddy and Sophia Mitchell displayed their paintings. Kitchen cabinets, dining room furniture and kitchen ranges were featured.

The children’s department (which probably featured works by children from the Social Studio, included burnt wood cork, hammered brass and pencil drawings.

Winning medals at the fair assured bragging rights for the lucky contestants. The competition between the Gentlemen’s Farms was especially fierce.

Ghosts in the Gardens of Vaucluse

May 9, 2026

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Samuel Elam, one of the owners of Vaucluse, dressed as a Quaker yet lived in opulent style. He was a banker who traveled between his Portsmouth farm and his Newport home. He had been rejected by Miss Redwood, and he turned to Petrarch’s poetry to soothe him. The name “Vaucluse “comes from the “Fontaine de Vaucluse” in Provence, France where Petrarch retreated after the death of the woman he loved. Elam also adopted the melancholy mood of Petrarch. In 1793 Elam had a miniature Roman temple built on the precipice of the ravine that led to the river. His garden was a boxwood maze. By1803 Elam was building a grand mansion with classical temple columns.

After Elam’s death Vaucluse was purchased by Charles de Wolfe, but when he went bankrupt Vaucluse was purchase in 1838 by Thomas Robinson Hazard and Frances Minturn his wife. The Hazards were from the West Bay of Rhode Island, but at age 40 he moved to Portsmouth to devote himself to sheep farming. He was known as “Shepherd Tom” Hazard. Hazard revived the mansion and grounds. He busied himself with tending to his farm and advocating for abolition and compassionate care of the insane. He visited “poor farms” across the state and worked with Dorothea Dix to advocate for the needs of the poor and mentally ill.

For a while Hazard and his wife had a blissful existence at Vaucluse. In 1854, however, Frances died suddenly. At that time the Hazards had five children under twelve. Shepherd Tom was wracked with grief. He invited guests like Julia Ward Howe and her children to come and enjoy the grounds. After his tea-parties the adults would gather on the porch to talk about Spiritualism which was popular at the time.

Tragedy again haunted them when daughter Anna died of consumption at age twenty-two. Daughter Fanny also died of consumption at age thirty five. Her twin sister Gertrude drowned herself in a pool on the grounds. At this point Shepherd Tom immersed himself in Spiritualism. He believed that the spirits of his wife and daughters visited him for hours at Vaucluse. He brought in mediums for seances. Although his wife had been dead for over twenty-five years, he could feel her spirit in the gardens.

Shepherd Tom died in 1886 and the property was left to Barclay, his only son. Barclay abandoned Vaucluse to the ruins of time. It was left vacant and untended.

Portsmouth Lighthouses

February 26, 2026

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Muscle Shoal Bed (Lost to Time)

Some of our Portsmouth stories come from research into items in the Portsmouth Historical Society collection. In researching our Civil War Sword, we rediscovered another item in the collection. We have the blueprints of the last Mussel Shoal Lighthouse. Musselbed Shoals is a dangerous spot for navigation through the channel from Narragansett Bay to Mount Hope Bay. It is even noted on colonial era maps. In 1871 a beacon was placed there followed by a new light in 1873. This structure was damaged by ice floes. A new structure with built with more protection, but ice floes in 1919 -1920 damaged this one as well. The light was abandoned in 1938 and the lighthouse was severely damaged by the Hurricane of 1938. Later the building was torn down and an automatic light was installed that remains today.

Musselbed Shoal Lighthouse operated until 1938 when it was replaced by an automatic light

Hog Island Light

Treacherous shoals are marked by this 1901 lighthouse near Hog Island. There was a small light boat on the spot that the Old Colony Steamship Company used to aid their vessels. A larger boat, the Eel Grass Shoal Lightship, LV 12, was used beginning in 1886. The lighthouse is part of the category of “sparkplug” lighthouses, whose superstructure rests on concrete. This was the last light station established in the state. It was automated in 1964. In 1988 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places In 2006 the lighthouse was auctioned off and bought by a private buyer.

Sandy Point Light – Prudence Island

The Prudence Island Lighthouse is also known as the Sandy Point Lighthouse. It is the oldest lighthouse in the state and was originally built in 1823 by Goat Island. The Newport Harbor Light is on the spot now. In 1851 it was moved to Prudence Island. It is one of the few lighthouses with a “bird cage” structure for the lantern. The keeper’s house was swept away in the 1938 Hurricane and five people were washed out to sea and drowned.

General Sullivan’s Orders – August 11, 1778

February 13, 2026

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Orderly books help us to put together the pieces of what happened during the Battle of Rhode Island. Orderly books were kept by each Revolutionary War regiment. They documented troop movements, military orders, troop pay, conflicts, and the day to day happenings of that regiment. They tell us about who was in charge and what the plans were and sometimes offer details of concerns and punishments. Recently I came across an orderly book online at the Henry Ford Museum from a Connecticut Militia that fought in the Rhode Island Campaign. This orderly book belongs to Colonel Samuel Chapman’s Connecticut Militia Regiment. Transcribing these books is an art in itself, but Historian John Robertson was kind enough to give me his transcription.

After Orders [MG Sullivan]

The G (General) takes this opportunity to Return his most Cordial Thanks to the Brave Officers & Volunteers & soldiers who have with so much Alacrity repaird to this place to give their Assistance in Extirpating the British Tyrants from the Country. the Zeal and sprit which they have des???d are to him the most pleasing presages of Victory and he is happy to find himself now at the head of an army far superior in numbers to them of the Enemy.

Actuated by a Sacred regard to Liberties of their Country and fired with Just Resentment Against Barbarians who have deluged their Country with Inocent Blood and Spread Desolation on great part of the Country where they have been suffered to march the prospect before us is exceeding promising the Several Corps have Every thing to Animate them and press them on to Victory: The Bravery of the Continental Officers and Soldiers and the idea they must have of the Dependance placed upon their Valour both by the Army and Country must stimulate them to support the Character they have so Justly acquired

The Independant Corps and Volunteers have so Chearfully come to assist in this Enterprize have every Inducement to Exert themselves to support the Reputation they have acquired by flying so freely to the Relief of their Distressed Country The State Troops which the G. has Long since had the Honor to Command he has the strongest reason to believe they will not suffer themselves to be Outshines in acts of Bravery by any Troops in the Army the Militia composed of the Respectable Freemen & Citizens of America who Fought the year must now feel every Inducement to spur them on to Conquest and Glory.

The character of the Several Corps which compose the Army the Expectation of the Country the safety of our Land and in short every thing which animates men to fight and conquer calls aloud upon us to act a part worthy of Freemen and becoming the Character of Americans. The Gnll. on his part assures the Brave army that he will with the utmost chearfulness share with them Every Danger and fatigue and is ready to Venture his Life in every Instance where the good of his Country callsfor it to them and to his Country he stands reday ph??? or to sacrifice his Life if Necessary and from the Brave Officers and men which he has the honor to Command he Expects to find the same sentiments in so just a Cause we must Conquer we must Win the laurels which await us and return in Triumph to the Arms of our grateful Country.

The commanding Officers of Corps will forbid their men in the most positive manner plundering the Inhabitants disobedience of this order will be punished with the utmost severity.

M:G for the day to morrow Green B:G: Cornel F:O: Colo. Bigelow LtColo. Peabody Mr. Philips BM Johnson

Transcribed by John K. Robertson, May 2021

The Glen Neighborhood: Fogland Ferry During the Occupation

February 11, 2026

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The Glen area was a strategic area for both the British and American forces during Campaign on Rhode Island 1778. State Senator and historian Erich A. O’D. Taylor wrote about Fogland ferry fortifications in his article on the Rhode Island Campaign.
Octobert 22, 1777, there were rumors of an impending American landing near the Fogland ferry. American General Spencer did not try that, but English General Pigott strengthened the works at Butts Hill, Fogland Ferry and Lawton’s Valley.

Taylor wrote:
“The commander at Fogland Ferry had no small task before him to safeguard the nearby farms. It is interesting to learn therefore that this important position was usually assigned to Hessian regiments and was so well defended and its duties so well executed that the inhabitants complimented the commanders when they were relieve and returned to town. Among those who returned thanks to Captain Baron de Malsburg of the regiment Ansbach-Bayreuth on his leaving this post are to be found – Mr. Bowler, Restcome Sanford, Elisha Coggeshall, George Martin, Jonathan Davenport, John Lawton, Giles Slocum, George Taber, Giles Lawton and John Sanford…The farmers thoroughly understood the Hessian soldiers who came of a range of agriculturalists like themselves. During the quiet summers of 77 and 79 when no “assault was intended on the city,” many of these Hessians hired themselves out to farmers, working for the small wage of (about 51 cents ) a day.’

Fogland Battery – From Univ. of Michagan Collection

Mary Lawton Frees a Slave

February 10, 2026

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To the Town Council of the Town of Portsmouth

Respected Councilmen

The purport of my writing to you at this time, is, to inform you, that I have in my possession, a Mulatto girl named Mariah, who by the Laws of this State is deemed my slave, which I wish you legally to manumit, that she may be her own free woman, and my estate not en-cumbered with her. Labouring under various infirmities and unable personally to attend upon you, do request the favor, that this communication may be tantamount to a verbal petition. And in order that you may be authentically informed of this my request, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th of November 1797 in presence of Joseph Taylor

Mary Lawton

Why was Mary Lawton releasing the mulatto slave at this time? Mary was a Quaker and during the Revolutionary aftermath Quakers began to petition the Rhode Island government to abolish slavery. The General Assembly of Rhode Island passed the Gradual Emancipation Act of 1784 that stipulated that children born to slaves would not remain slaves. Masters could free “manumit” healthy slaves between the ages of 21 and 40 without having the responsibility of supporting them.

Total slaves in Portsmouth from 1774 Inhabitants. “Indians” – 16. “Blacks” – 118.