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Book Launch: Machine Guns in Narraganset Bay: The Coast Guard’s War on Rumrunners
1 year ago

Book Launch: Machine Guns in Narraganset Bay: The Coast Guard’s War on Rumrunners

I have a new book out! It is Machine Guns in Narragansett Bay: The Coast Guard’s War Against Rumrunners (History Press, 2023).

Here are three upcoming appearances I will …
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Block Island Rumrunners, Rum Row and a Pirate Ship
1 year ago

Block Island Rumrunners, Rum Row and a Pirate Ship

[Editor’s Note: In early 1923, newspaper readers became enthralled with Gray Ghost, a “pirate prowler” that preyed on the rum supply ships stationed on Rum Row south of Block Island. …
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Did Rhode Island Matter in the American Revolution?
1 year ago

Did Rhode Island Matter in the American Revolution?

We Rhode Islanders pat ourselves on the back a lot, including when it comes to the Revolution. But did the colony (and later state) really matter much in bringing about …
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Book Review:  Revolutionary War Defenses in Rhode Island by John K. Robertson
1 year ago

Book Review: Revolutionary War Defenses in Rhode Island by John K. Robertson

Mention Rhode Island during the American Revolution, and two things come to mind: the 1772 burning of the Gaspee, and the famous 1st Rhode Island Regiment initially composed largely of …
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Ann Bates: British Spy Extraordinaire
2 years ago

Ann Bates: British Spy Extraordinaire

The popularity of spies in the Revolutionary War, led by AMC’s TURN cable television series and the bestselling book George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American …
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Rhode Island’s Surviving Town Animal Pounds—Relics of the Past
2 years ago

Rhode Island’s Surviving Town Animal Pounds—Relics of the Past

When traveling through rural Rhode Island one cannot help but notice the numerous stone walls, many of them inexplicably running through wooded areas with no signs of habitation. The stones …
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When the Roma Came to Rhode Island
2 years ago

When the Roma Came to Rhode Island

Genealogy is fascinating because of all the stories you uncover that you could not possibly have made up. I have been working on a multi-generation family genealogy, and by the …
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Rhode Island’s Millionaires in 1892 and How They Made Their Money
2 years ago

Rhode Island’s Millionaires in 1892 and How They Made Their Money

[Note from the Editor: The following list is excerpted from “American Millionaires, The Tribune’s list of all Americans reputed to be worth a million or more,” published by The Tribune …
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Teaching the Story of “Universal Liberty” in Revolutionary Rhode Island: A Review of Edward J. Larson’s American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of the Nation, 1765-1795
2 years ago

Teaching the Story of “Universal Liberty” in Revolutionary Rhode Island: A Review of Edward J. Larson’s American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of the Nation, 1765-1795

We live in a day wherein Liberty & freedom is the subject of many millions’ Concern; and the important Struggle hath already caused great Effusion of Blood; men seem …
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Colonel Daniel Hitchcock in the American Revolutionary War Remembered
2 years ago

Colonel Daniel Hitchcock in the American Revolutionary War Remembered

As a collateral descendant of Daniel Hitchcock (first cousin, nine times removed), I have always been fascinated by the short but important life of this colonel from Providence, Rhode Island, …
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