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Rhode Island Commanders in the Battle of Rhode Island

November 8, 2025

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Major General Nathanael Greene: He was born into a Quaker family in the Coventry area of Rhode Island. Greene worked as the resident manager of the Coventry Iron Works, working at the forge making large ship anchors and chains until you enlisted in the army. Although of Quaker background, he was active early in the colonial fight against British revenue policies in the early 1770s. He was self educated and valued books and learning – especially about military topics. He helped establish the Kentish Guards, a state militia unit, but a limp prevented you from joining it. Rhode Island established an army after the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. Greene was tapped to command it. Later that year he became a general in the new Continental Army. He served under George Washington in the Boston campaign, the New York and New Jersey campaign, and the Philadelphia campaign. He was appointed quartermaster general of the Continental Army in 1778, but reserved the right to command troops in the field. Before the Battle of Rhode Island, he was placed in charge of the right flank of the army. He had the reputation of being one of Washington’s most talented Generals. In 1780 Washington put him in charge of the Army’s Southern Campaign and he fought through the end of the War.

Varnum
Nathanael Greene
Christopher Greene
Silas Talbot
Samuel Ward

Col. Christopher Greene: He had long Rhode Island roots. He was a descendent of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams. Christopher Greene was a distant cousin of Nathanael Greene. Before the Revolutionary War, Christopher Greene served in the Rhode Island legislature from 1771 to 1772. With Nathanael he helped organize a militia unit, the Kentish Guards. After the Battles of Lexington and Concord he joined the army around Boston. He voluntarily joined Col. Benedict Arnold and was promotion to lieutenant colonel. He was with Arnold at the siege of Quebec and was was captured. He was released in August 1777 and joined the Continental Army for the Philadelphia Campaign. He was given command of the First Rhode Island Regiment. He defended Fort Mercer on the Delaware River. Washington agreed to enlist blacks and indigenous men to fill the ranks of a Rhode Island Regiment. The enlistments granted the soldiers their freedom if they served throughout the war. It benefited their owners with compensation. Christopher Greene was in charge recruiting, training and leading the 1st Rhode Island (the Black) Regiment. Colonel Greene died on May 14, 1781 at the hands of Loyalists by his headquarters on the Croton River in New York.

Col. Israel Angell: Angell came from one of the founding families of Providence. He served throughout the Revolutionary War. He was a major in Hitchcock’s Regiment at the beginning of the war and served with that regiment at the Siege of Boston. As the Continental Army was organized in 1776, Angell was part of the 11th Continental infantry. When Hitchcock was appointed brigade commander, he commanded the regiment. His regiment was re-named the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment on January 1, 1777. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and shortly after to Colonel. He commanded the regiment following the death of Hitchcock. Angell was an experienced soldier who served at Valley Forge, the Siege of Boston, Brandywine, Red Bank, Monmouth and then the Battle of Rhode Island. At the Battle of Rhode Island he commanded 260 men. American General Nathanael Greene ordered Colonel Israel Angell’s 2nd Rhode Island Regiment to support Ward’s 1st Rhode Island Regiment. They were able to reach the key artillery redoubt before the British forces. He served in New York, but he retired from the army on January 1, 1781, after the two Rhode Island regiments were consolidated into a single regiment known as the Rhode Island Regiment.

Major Silas Talbot: He was born in Dighton, Massachusetts. He trained as a mariner and as a builder and made his home in Providence. In the aftermath of the burning of the Gaspee and the Boston Tea Party, Rhode Island merchants were alarmed.  Independent militias were forming and he joined and was commissioned as a Lieutenant.  He joined others in his company in learning military skills in a Providence warehouse, but he didn’t have any real military experience. On June 28, 1775 he answered the Rhode Island Assembly’s call to send units to Boston.  He marched with his men to join the Second Rhode Island Regiment and by July 1, he was commissioned a captain.  Talbot and the other 1200 men in the Rhode Island brigade took part in the Siege of Boston watching over the Red Coats but not in direct battle.  His skills as a bricklayer came in handy as they built barracks on Prospect Hill.  By April of 1776 the Siege was over and Rhode Islander Esek Hopkins, Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy, needed a crew to sail the ships home to Providence.  Washington offered to loan Hopkins men from the Rhode Island Regiment and he switched from soldier to sailor. He was involved in the Rhode Island Campaign. As someone with experience as a mariner and builder, he helped to construct the flatboats that would take American forces to Portsmouth on August 9th of 1778. During the Battle of Rhode Island, Talbot led men in the early skirmishes on West Main Road. Talbot had success fighting on both land and sea. In 1779 he was made a Captain in the American Navy after he captured a British ship.

Major Samuel Ward: Ward was the son of a Rhode Island governor. His military career began when you were commissioned a captain in the Army of Observation in May, 1775, at the age of eighteen. He participated in Benedict Arnold’s attack on Quebec in December, 1775, under Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Greene. He was taken prisoner by the British and released in August, 1776. He was promoted to the rank of major in the First Rhode Island Infantry and, between 1776 and 1778, served with his regiment at Morristown, New Jersey (1777); Peekskill, New York (1777); Red Bank (Fort Mercer) under Christopher Greene (1777); Valley Forge (1778); and the Battle of Rhode Island (1778). Ward retired from the Continental Army on January 1, 1781, when the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island Regiments were consolidated into the Rhode Island Regiment. Ward was the grandfather of Julia Ward Howe

General James Mitchell Varnum: Varnum was born in Massachusetts but he came to Rhode Island to attend Brown. He married and set up a law practice in East Greenwich, and he independently studied military affairs. In October of 1774 he became a founder and commander of the Kentish Guards a imilitia company in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. With the fighting at Lexington and Concord, Varnum started to march his militia to Boston but they were not needed and headed home. In May 1775 Varnum was commissioned as a Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Rhode Island. By 1776 the regiment was folded into the Continental Army under the command of Brigadier General Nathanael Greene, Varnum’s friend. From Varnum and his Rhode Islander troops took part in participated major engagements including the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Rhode Island. Varnum and his men were at Valley Forge. Varnum was another proponent of raising a regiment of black and indigenous soldiers. In March 1779, he retired from the Continental forces and accepted a commission as Major General of the Rhode Island militia. Upon returning home to East Greenwich he was elected to the Continental Congress in 1780.

Rhode Island Campaign Timeline

November 7, 2025

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The Occupation of Aquidneck Island dragged on for almost two years when a plan was devised to work with French allies in pushing the British out of the island. On May 4, 1778 Congress ratified a treaty of alliance with France. The Rhode Island Campaign was devised as a wedge action. The Americans, under the leadership of John Sullivan, would cross from Tiverton to Portsmouth and drive south to set up a siege of Newport. Meanwhile the French, led by d’Estaing, would arrive by sea and attack the British from the sea.

General Greene
Siege of Newport

Timeline for the Campaign


July 22, 1778, Washington informs Sullivan that the French fleet is headed to Newport, and he directs Sullivan to increase the size of his militia forces from 5000 to 7500.


July 27, 1778, Washington dispatches two Continental Army divisions under General Nathanael Greene and General Lafayette to Rhode Island.


July 29, 1778, French ships arrive at Narragansett Bay.

August 1, 1778, General Sullivan and Admiral d’Estaing meet, agree on simultaneous attacks on the Island on August 8.

August 6, 1778, Due to late arriving militia, Sullivan informs d’Estaing of postponement of the attack until August 10. A British Fleet under Admiral Sir Richard Howe leaves New York for Newport.

August 7-8, 1778, d’Estaing enters Narragansett Bay, causing British to withdraw from north end of the Island into prepared positions along the Newport-Middletown border.

August 9, 1778, Realizing the British had withdrawn south, Sullivan moves his forces onto the Island.
D’Estaing is alerted to the imminent arrival of Howe’s fleet.

August 10, 1778, French head out to sea. Both French and British fleets maneuver for advantage, but before they can engage, both fleets are scattered and damaged by a hurricane. Both leave for port and repairs.

August 11, 1778, General Sullivan prepares to invest British positions, but the hurricane causes him to delay.

August 15, 1778, Americans open the Siege of Newport.

August 20, 1778, d’Estaing’s battered ships return to Narragansett Bay. D’Estaing informs Sullivan he must immediately leave for Boston for repairs.

August 21, 1778, French fleet sails for Boston.

August 28, 1778, American council of war decides to withdraw Patriot forces from Rhode (Aquidneck) Island

August 29, 1778, Battle of Rhode Island is fought as Americans retreat northward.

August 30-31, 1778, overnight Sullivan’s army withdraws across the Sakonnet Straight to Tiverton with all its equipment.

British Raids of Bristol and Warren: May 25, 1778 – Plus Other Raids

November 6, 2025

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As the American forces were preparing for an attack on Aquidneck Island in Spring of 1778, the British forces were active in trying to crush the Rebel capability to transport troops across the river from Tiverton. The Rebels would need to reach Rhode Island (Aquidneck) by boat and the British planned to attack shipyards, lumber mills and military stores. On May 25, 1778,British soldier Frederick Mackenzie records that the 22nd Regiment, Companies of the 54th, Notenius’s Company of Hessian Chasseurs, ..etc. (500 men in total) moved to Arnold’s Point in Portsmouth. They embarked in flatboats and landed at the mouth of the Warren River. Campbell’s men were divided into two columns. In the town of Warren itself they burned down the Baptist meeting house and other buildings, ransacked homes and property. The other group of Campbell’s men headed to the Kickemuit River. By the Kikemuit Bridge they found and burned 125 boats, large batteaux capable of carrying 40 soldiers. They found a sloop loaded with military stores, a store house, and a corn mill and they burned them. They also burned houses, a bridge and gun carriages. They spiked cannons and set fire to new Privateer Sloop as well as magazines of gun powder.

Fage maps showing Campbell’s routes in Warren and Bristol

Campbells troops returned by way of Bristol. About 300 Rebels were assembled behind walls, trees and houses. They burned houses, a church, ammunition magazines and twenty of the principal houses. The British boats came round from Papasquash Point to the Bristol Ferry. The British ships Flora and Pigot covered the British troops as they crossed over from Bristol Ferry.

Having raided Warren and Bristol and destroying American flatboats, Campbell’s forces made their way back to Newport on their own flatboats.

The raids certainly delayed the American troops as they prepared for the Rhode Island Campaign.

Other Raids

August 24, 1775 British Captain Wallace landed around 100 men on Prudence Island. They sacked the farm of John Allin seizing sheep, turkeys, corn and hay. In November of 1775 they raided again and took clothing, geese, kettles and even a desk.

August 30, 1775 – Frigate Rose conducts raids on Block Island and Stonington, Conn.

Dec. 10, 1775 – Frigate Rose raids Jamestown

August 5, 1777 – British raid Narragansett

May 31, 1778 – British forces raid Tiverton and Fall River

May 21, 1779 – British raid North Kingston

June 6, 1779 – British raid Point Judith

October 16, 1779 – British burn Beavertail Lighthouse before leaving Rhode Island

Capture of General Prescott – July 1777 – Barton’s Raid cheers the Patriots

November 6, 2025

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In July 1777, while Aquidneck Island was under the control of thousands of British soldiers, American Major William Barton (who was in Tiverton) received word through a runaway slave that the British Commander in Chief, General Prescott was staying at Mr. Overing’s house on West Main Road close to the Portsmouth/Middletown border. When Prescott was at his headquarters in Newport he was well protected. Visiting friends in the countryside, Prescott was less well defended. Barton planned to get Prescott so he could be exchanged for American Major General Charles Lee who had been captured in New Jersey.

Barton asked for volunteers for a dangerous and secret plan. Out of the many who stepped forward he picked out the best rowers and four who had lived on Aquidneck Island and could serve as guides. Barton had five whaleboats and each boat had eight soldiers and one officer. The river crossing between Tiverton and Portsmouth was closely watched, so Barton and his men rowed to Bristol and then all the way over to Warwick to begin their secret mission. The mission was so secret that even the volunteers did not know where they were going until after their journey had begun.

The night of July 10th was perfect – it was very dark and the weather was good. Barton and his volunteers left Warwick Neck, rowed across the Bay with oars that were covered in wool to keep them quiet. They had to row around British ships that were stationed on the west side of the island. The Americans landed on the west shore of Portsmouth and followed a gully up to the Overing Farm on the Portmouth/Middletown border. Barton divided his troops and they approached the house quietly. There was only one sentry on guard at the guardhouse. Hearing noise, the guard asked: “Who comes there.” Barton responded: “Friends.” The guard asked for a countersign and Barton said he did not have one but asked the guard “Have you seen any deserters tonight.” With that the guard allowed Barton to pass and the American grabbed his musket.

They found Prescott in his nightclothes. Barton asked if he was Prescott and he responded. “I am”. Barton said: “You are my prisoner.” and Prescott said “I acknowledge it, sir. The men worked quickly and within seven minutes took Prescott, the sentry and Prescott’s aide-de camp with them. No shot was fired.

They again had to row through British ships on their way back. This capture gave the colonial troops some needed encouragement. There was a prisoner swap in which General Prescott was exchanged for American General Charles Lee, but Prescott made it back to Aquidneck Island.

British Invasion of Newport – December 8, 1776

November 6, 2025

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On December 8th, 1776 British General Prescott landed his troops on Aquidneck Island. They landed on the Western shore near the border of Middletown and Portsmouth at Weaver’s Cove. This was the beginning of the Occupation of Rhode Island (Aquidneck Island). The American militiamen were unable to mount a defense and they escaped by using the ferries to Bristol and Tiverton.

Fage Map

The British had ample reason to invade and occupy Aquidneck Island (called Rhode Island at that time). Newport had a fine harbor from which the British fleet could raid up and down the coast. It would enable them to blockade ships carrying supplies from abroad that were needed by the Americans.

This Occupation made the war experience different for those on Aquidneck Island harsher than those on the mainland. The Occupation lasted almost three years, ending in the fall of 1779.

Nathanael Greene: From Private to Brigadier-General in 1775

November 6, 2025

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Greene was born into a Quaker family in the Coventry area of Rhode Island. He worked as the resident manager of the Coventry Iron Works, working at the forge making large ship anchors and chains until he enlisted in the army. Although of Quaker background, Greene was active early in the colonial fight against British revenue policies in the early 1770s. He was self educated and valued books and learning – especially about military topics. He helped establish the Kentish Guards, a state militia unit, but a limp prevented him from joining it. Rhode Island established an army after the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. Greene was tapped to command it. Later that year Greene became a general in the new Continental Army. Greene served under George Washington in the Boston campaign, the New York and New Jersey campaign, and the Philadelphia campaign. He was appointed quartermaster general of the Continental Army in 1778, but he reserved the right to command troops in the field. Before the Battle of Rhode Island, Greene was placed in charge of the right flank of the army. He had the reputation of being one of Washington’s most talented Generals.

Visit the Greene Homestead: http://www.nathanaelgreenehomestead.org

Rhode Island Declares Independence: May 4, 1776

November 5, 2025

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Rhode Island’s General Assembly rejected King George and broke its legal ties to him two months before the independence was declared by the Second Continental Congress. What it did was repeal an earlier document which pledged Rhode Island to the King and Great Britain and it repealed language that bound the colony to Royal Authority. Before the declaration each elected officer in the colony had sworn allegiance to the king before assuming his duties. The General Assembly would continue to govern itself, and all court proceedings would be performed in the name of the state not the King.

The preamble

“Whereas in all States existing by Compact Protection and allegiance are reciprocal the latter being only due in Consequence of the former: And Where as George the Third King of Britain forgetting his dignity, regardless of the Compact most solemnly entered into ratified & confirmed to the Inhabitants of this Colony by his illustrious Ancestors- and till of late fully recognized by him and entirely departing from the duties and Character of a good king- instead of Protecting is endeavoring to destroy the good people of this Colony, and of all the united Colonies by sending Fleets and Armies to America to confiscate our Property and to spread Fire, Sword and Desolation throughout our Country in order to compel us to submit to the debasing and detestable Tyranny whereby we are obliged by necessity and it becomes our highest Duty to use every means with which God and Nature have furnished us, in support of our invaluable rights, & privileges to oppose that Power which is exerted only for our destruction.”

The preamble to the act states that the king, in violation of the compact, had introduced fleets and armies into the colony to force upon the people a detestable tyranny.

It became the right and duty of the people to make use whatever means to support their rights.

Old Colony House in Providence where the May 4, 1776 document was voted upon.

Abraham Whipple and the First Naval Battle of the Revolution

November 5, 2025

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When and where was the first naval battle of the American Revolution? You might not be surprised to know that battle took place off of Newport. The date was the 15th of June in 1775, not long after the Colonial General Assembly enacted a resolution to charter and arm two vessels for the protection of trade on June 12, 1775.

In 1774, the British frigate, the Rose, under the command of Sir James Wallace, was sent to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. The Rose was successful in ending the smuggling that had made Newport wealthy. John Brown and other leading merchants advocated for the protection of Rhode Island trade. The Rhode Island Assembly directed the committee of safety to charter two vessels for protection. This action created the Rhode Island Navy, the first American Navy of the Revolution.

Merchant Brown chartered one of his sloops, the Katy, to this new Navy. Abraham Whipple, one of Brown’s best captains, assumed command of the Katy and a smaller vessel – the Washington. As the new commodore, Whipple lost no time in trying to clear the smaller ship tenders of the Rose from their positions in Narragansett Bay. Whipple had more fire power than the tenders and he was able to fire on the sloop Diana and take her as a prize on June 15, 1775. This was the first naval engagement of the Revolutionary War.

Whipple towed the Diana back to Providence and when the Rose sailed up the Bay to investigate what happened to the Diana, Newport citizens were able to recapture five out of the six Newport merchant ships that Wallace had confiscated.

Abraham Whipple portrait by Edward Savage

The new Rhode Island Navy was not powerful enough to take on the British frigate Rose, so the Rhode Island Assembly instructed their delegate to Congress, Stephen Hopkins, to introduce a bill to create the national navy. Congress passed the bill on Octber 13, 1775. The Katy (owned by John Brown) became the first ship of the Continental Navy and was renamed the Providence.

The Gaspee Affair – Protesting the Navigation Acts

November 3, 2025

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The burning of the British vessel, the HMS Gaspee on June 9, 1772 was a protest to the British Navigation Acts. In the colonies the Navigation Acts were meant to force Americans to only trade with the British Empire. The Rhode Island economy was based in trade with the wider Atlantic. Just selling to the Empire was not enough for their molasses trade. That created a tension with the colonies (and Rhode Island in particular) and led to an increase in piracy and smuggling.

The acts permitted the customs inspectors to board any colonial ship. In February of 1772, William Duddingston, the commander of the HMS Gaspee, arrived in Rhode Island. He used this permission to search any vessel as he saw fit. Merchants objected to his searches and seizures of their goods. The local Sons of Liberty, looked for an opportunity to retaliate.

Their chance came in June 1772. The HMS Gaspee was alone and without a local pilot, but it chased a local boat called the Hannah . The Hannah could manage the shallower water, but the Gaspee ran aground. The Gaspee would be released by the tide early the next morning,. While the ship was in a vulnerable position, the Sons of Liberty rowed out and attacked the crew. Captain Duddingston was wounded. After all crew members were taken off the ship, the Sons of Liberty set fire to the Gaspee.

The event was too blatant to ignore and Parliament wanted prosecution of the attackers. Some famous names associated with the attackers are John Brown, Abraham Whipple and Ephraim Bowen. Although there was reward money offered, Rhode Islanders refused to cooperate with the British and no one was ever prosecuted. Duddingston, however, was courtmartialed.

This event led to the Committees of Correspondence, a network that united the colonies in their resistance to British rule.

Every year for 50 year the village of Pawtuxet (near Cranston and Warwick) celebrates this event with Gaspee Days and a Parade.

Resources.

Park, Stephen. The Burning of His Majesty’s Schooner Gaspee. Westholme, Yardley PA, 2013.

Secretary of State’s website: https://www.sos.ri.gov/divisions/civics-and-education/for-educators/themed-collections/gaspee-timeline

The Conspiracy to Destroy the Gaspee

Newport’s Stamp Act Riots

November 1, 2025

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Newport had its mob scenes, especially in response to British taxes. The Stamp Act of 1765 was a tax on printed paper. All printed material in the colonies had to be produced on paper carrying a revenue stamp. Its aim was to pay for the costs of the Seven Year’s War AND to help cover the costs of Britain’s troops in the colonies. Americans saw the tax was “taxation without representation.” Stephen Hopkins had written a pamphlet – The Right of Colonies Examined – to oppose the Stamp Tax. Martin Howard of Newport wrote a pamphlet defending Parliament’s right to tax the colonists. Along with Howard, Stamp Act defenders were Dr. Thomas Moffat and Augustus Johnson, the Stamp officer.

August 26. 1765 a gallows was erected in Queen Anne Square. Effigies of the three Stamp Act defenders had been created and hung in the gallows. The effigies were guarded by William Ellery (who would sign the Declaration of Independence), Samuel Vernon and Robert Crook. These may have been leaders in the Sons of Liberty. A mob collected and after sundown the effigies were burned.

Wanton, Lyman, Hazard House was the Howard House at the time of the Stamp Act. Now property of the Newport Historical Society.

At 8 in the evening the ring leaders and a band of ruffians carrying axes and other tools, invaded Howard’s house. They demolished china, furniture, clothing and linens. They carried away his wines and liquors. They went back at 11 PM and destroyed most of the house before they headed to Dr. Moffat’s house which they also ruined. The three Stamp Act defenders had sought safety onboard the Man of War in the harbor. The crowd then surrounded the house of Stamp-Master Johnson, but since he had promised to resign his office, they didn’t carry out any destruction.

Howard and Dr. Moffat took a ship to England by the first of September.

In some circles Minister Ezra Stiles was accused of encouraging the mob. He wrote to Benjamin Frankin that while he had spoken against the Stamp Act, he always spoke against violence.

Resources:

Stamp Act Crisis Timeline
Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House

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