The DAR Monument on the grounds of the Portsmouth Historical Society gives us an opportunity to tell the story of the Battle of Rhode Island. Last Thursday night I was serving as a docent at an open house and guests asked me about the monument. A few years ago I would have taken a few moments to mention it marked the site of the first skirmish in the battle, but now I know a little too much about the Battle. The current thinking is that the skirmish on West Main and Union started earlier. Action was going down East and West Roads simultaneously.
Nevertheless, it gave me an opportunity to share the story with people who had frequently passed the monument but had not known about the Battle. Sharing that story is exactly what the Daughters of the American Revolution had in mind when they erected it in 1910 on the 132nd Anniversary of the Battle.
A newspaper article from that time recorded that ” the exercises took place at 4 o’clock – the 3:20 (trolley) car from Newport taking out a large number. Some came in automobiles, others in carriages and when all had assembled there were fully 100 or more people on the ground.” Reverend Loucks of the Christian Union Church had granted permission for the monument to be placed at the southwest corner of the church yard. The Colonel Barton and the William Ellery Chapters of the DAR intended to place it “in a very conspicuous place it will attract the attention of passersby.” No local fieldstone was suitable, so the monument was constructed from a “magnificent specimen of Westerly granite instead.”
The Hon. William Paine Sheffield (U.S. Congressman from RI 1st district) gave the address. He recounted that at the corner of Union and East Road, the British forces were split (some going down Middle Road and others down East Road). “The patriots under Col. Livingstone. ‘sprung from behind the walls of this field and poured a storm of bullets upon the bewildered enemy, reloaded and repeated the desolating fire before the British could recover from the shock.’ A terrible slaughter ensued.”
Sheffield went into the background of the French Alliance, the Siege of Newport and the necessity of the orderly retreat. Understanding that background is the only way one could understand what had taken place. This was a complex situation. Sheffield quoted Lafayette on his experience of the Rhode Island Campaign:
“Lafayette, on his visit to Rhode Island in 1824 told the late Mr. Zachariah Allen as he rode with him in a carriage across the border from Connecticut ‘In this state I have experienced more sudden and extreme alternations of hopes and disappointments than during all the vicissitudes of the American war.”
What were the “extreme alternations of hopes and disappointments” Lafayette experienced?
- Hope: After two years of British Occupation, the French fleet arrived to aid the Americans on August 8th.
- Hope: The American army continued to advance toward Newport. Lafayette and General Greene brought the American army from Tiverton to Aquidneck Island. The British retreated from Portsmouth. The hope was that between the American army and the French Navy that Aquidneck Island would be free from British occupation.
- Disappointment: August 11-13, 1778 a major storm damaged the French fleet and by August 22 the fleet left for Boston to undergo repairs.
- Disappointment: The alliance between the French and Americans deteriorated as Lafayette attempted to be a bridge between the two allies. Lafayette rides to Boston to meet with French Admiral D’Estaing.
- Disappointment: American General Sullivan and his officers make the decision to retreat.
- Hope: Americans valiantly hold back the British forces as they make a retreat to Tiverton. There are losses, but the Americans save men and equipment to fight another day.
- Hope: Lafayette returns in time to bring the last American forces off Aquidneck Island.
- Disappointment: Lafayette regrets he missed the fight.
These hopes and disappointments are from my research. These events are mentioned in Sheffield’s address, but the labels of Hopes and Disappointments are mine.
Sheffield ends his address congratulating the chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution for “marking this scene of patriotic valor..” The monument is unveiled and the inscription is revealed.
“In memory of those patriots who fought here in the first skirmish of the Battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778. Erected by the William Ellery and Colonel William Barton Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.”
After the unveiling, the Star Spangled Banner was sung and participants gradually made their way home. The newspaper report comments. “There was nothing then to remind one of the strife which had taken place on that spot so long ago, everything seemed so peaceful.”
Resources: Click below to read a transcription of the 1910 newspaper article on the dedication. Transcription by Portsmouth Historical Society.
portsmouthhistorynotes 