Rhode Island at War

Cup taken from the Gaspe by Commander Whipple

Tea kettle used to serve tea to the men who planned the raid on the Gaspe

The Unclaimed Reward

Lexington & Concord, April 18-19, 1775

Nathanael Greene tried to lead the Kentish Guard to

Boston, but they were disbanded at the R.I. border by a messenger from R.I. Governor Joseph Wanton.

Siege of Boston, 1775

Rhode Island troops joined the Army of Observation in

Boston, and were present at the Battle of Bunker [Breeds] Hill, June 17, 1775

Expedition to Quebec, September 18, 1775-January 1776

Members of the 2nd R.I. Regiment accompanied

Benedict Arnold on his attempt to capture Quebec. Many were imprisoned in Quebec until August 1776

Siege of Boston, 1775 Arnolds Quebec Expedition, 1775-1776

New York & New Jersey Campaign,

Autumn, 1776
Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 Defense of the Delaware, October-

November , 1777
Battle of Monmouth (NJ), June 28, 1778 Battle of RI, August 29, 1778 Battle of Springfield, June 23, 1778 Siege of Yorktown, September 28-

October 19, 1781

British Grenadiers Cap, probably worn by a drummer.

November 1, 1775: the head of a Squirll with a pasol of Candill wicks boyled up to gether wich made a very fine Supe without Salt hear on this we made a nobel feast Jeremiah Greenman, 2nd RI Regiment

Kettle, similar to those used by Continental Army. Excavated at Crown Point NY. Loaned by Carl Becker, 2nd RI Regiment

Used at an elegant entertainment for "his Excellency General Washington provided by the Gentlemen of the Town, where after Dinner a number of patriotic Toasts were drank." Providence Gazette (4/13/1776)

Hackers Hall was on the east side of South Main Street, between Planet and Power Streets.

On the night of July 9th - 10th, 1777, General Richard Prescott was captured by a group of soldiers led by then-Captain William Barton. The group included Jack Sisson, a slave who broke open the door to the bedroom in which the general slept. In 1778, Sisson enlisted in the First Rhode Island Regiment under Colonel Christopher Greene. William Barton was promoted to colonel, and then general, of the Rhode Island militia.
Congress awarded General Barton a sword in recognition of his action in capturing General Prescott.

On July 11, 1780, the French army under Rochambeau made Newport its headquarters.

In June, 1781, French troops began the march south from Newport and Providence to join the Continental troops under General Washington.

In May, 1776, Wilson Jacobs was a member of the Independent Company of Light Artillery in Providence County. In 1782, he applied to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts for a commission as commander of the privateer Reprisal, which we received in March, 1782.

He is buried in Swan Point Cemetery.

 Captain George Augustus Hallowell,

master of the American ship Betsy (Betsey/Bettsy), built in 1787 and owned by Cyprian Sterry of Providence. John Barnet Chace items: footwarmer, spyglass, ships log. Chace served as supercargo on the Isis, owned by Brown & Ives. Despite the success of merchants, veterans struggled, especially disabled veterans. They were given pensions from the government based on the extent of their disabilities.

The original of this painting was commissioned in 1805 by Commodore Edward Preble of the USS Constitution. Preble led the American naval bombardment of Barbary pirate forts in Tripoli on August 3, 1804.

Impressment! Embargo! Home Defenses!

The War of 1812 and the preceding Embargoes were unpopular in Rhode Island. Trade was vital to the economy, and Rhode Islanders expected to bear an undue burden fighting the war. The Union Guards were formed to defend Providence and her port; this canteen belonged to Samuel Jackson of the Union Guard.

The Hero of the Lake

Oliver Hazard Perry was born in South Kingstown, RI in 1785.; his father was a captain in the fledging navy. He was educated in Newport, and joined the Navy as a midshipman in 1799, at the age of 13. He served in the Navy during the revolt in Haiti, and enforcing the Embargo Act of 1806. His younger brother, Commodore Matthew Perry, opened Japan.

At its simplest, the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 was a war about territory and

expansion. The war was precipitated by the annexation of Texas in 1845. Mexico considered Texas part of its territory despite the Texas Revolution of 1836.
American forces occupied New Mexico and California, and invaded northern Mexico, eventually capturing Mexico City. Actual combat lasted from 1846 into 1847, and the war concluded with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848.

John Rogers Vinton (1801-1847) was killed by an unexploded shell during the Siege of Vera Cruz in March, 1847. A Providence native and graduate of West Point, Vinton was also a skilled artist.

This portrait if General David Hammond Vinton (1803-1873) was painted by his older brother, John Rogers Vinton. Like his brother, David Hammond Vinton also graduated from West Point. He, too, served in the West (California and Texas) in the 1830s and 1840s. He also served during the Civil War. In 1866 he was appointed Colonel of Staff and Assistant Quartermaster General, but only remained in service until 29 Jul 1866 when he was retired because he was over the age of 62.

Rhode Islands population was roughly 175,000 in 1861; the state contributed 23,699 men to the army.

Elisha Hunt Rhodes of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers is on of the most well-known Rhode Islanders who served in the war.

Lieutenant Colonel Job Arnold (18271868) enlisted on April 17, 1861 with the 1st Rhode Island Regiment; in 1862, he was commissioned in the 5th Regiment of Heavy Artillery. In the summer of 1863, he participated in the Mississippi Campaign with the 7th Regiment of RI Volunteers. The rigors of that campaign broke his health, and he was discharged from service in May, 1864. Job Arnold died in 1868 of complications of what was probably malaria.

These mittens were knit by Arnolds wife, Anna M. Angell. They married in June, 1864, and had a daughter, Mary, born in 1867.

George M. Pop Turner was a sergeant in Company A of the 3rd Rhode Island Regiment of Heavy Artillery (3d RIHA). enlisted as a private with the 3rd Rhode Island Regiment on August 20, 1861 for a term of three years. He mustered out as a sergeant, honorably discharged on August 31, 1864.

Turner left us a collection of souvenirs, from cotton and rice to this sock, picked up in a Confederate camp in Florida. Some of the objects are useful , like the button brush, and others are curiosities, like the palmetto.

The beef barrels and bread boxes were marked B.C. and I would not deny in respect to the same what that name might imply. The hard-bread it required hammers, axes, and stones to break. Elisha Benjamin Andrews