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American Revolution and Revolutionary War

Rhode Island Almost Sparks Revolutionary War in 1774 by Stealing Cannon in Newport
3 days ago

Rhode Island Almost Sparks Revolutionary War in 1774 by Stealing Cannon in Newport

Hostilities between the New England colonies and Great Britain did not break out until April 19, 1775, at the Battle of Lexington and Concord. But Rhode Island’s government took a …
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My Day at the Battle of Lexington and Concord 250th Reenactment
1 week ago

My Day at the Battle of Lexington and Concord 250th Reenactment

I love history firsts. The American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, at the Battle of Lexington and Concord. This was the sharp beginning of America on its road …
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A Rhode Island Officer’s Recollections Lead to New Information on Battle of Red Bank
2 weeks ago

A Rhode Island Officer’s Recollections Lead to New Information on Battle of Red Bank

I recently came across the recollections of Simeon Thayer, who served from 1777 to 1781 as a major in Rhode Island Continental Army regiments. He was one of the outstanding …
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Victims of Newport’s Stamp Act Riots Reimbursed (Not)
7 months ago

Victims of Newport’s Stamp Act Riots Reimbursed (Not)

Bostonian merchants, sailors and dockworkers hated the Stamp Act enacted by Parliament in early 1765.  What right did Parliament have to tax Americans when they were not represented in Parliament?


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“I Had Like to Have Forgot to Mention a Famous Sham Battle”
7 months ago

“I Had Like to Have Forgot to Mention a Famous Sham Battle”

With the Naval War College on Aquidneck Island, we island residents have a familiarity with the idea of “wargaming” or rehearsing the decisions leaders would make during warfare involving joint …
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Lafayette in Rhode Island
8 months ago

Lafayette in Rhode Island

“The moment I heard of America, I lov’d her.” The Marquis de Lafayette wrote this in a letter from his camp near Warren, Rhode Island, on September 23, 1778. It …
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Why Did Rhode Island Merchants Resist Non-Importation in 1767?
10 months ago

Why Did Rhode Island Merchants Resist Non-Importation in 1767?

It’s a great puzzle of the Revolutionary era.  Before 1767, Rhode Island was one of the most gung-ho colonies in resisting British intervention.  Newporters had fired on imperial customs enforcers, …
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A Book Review: Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence by Shirley L. Green (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2023)
1 year ago

A Book Review: Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence by Shirley L. Green (Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2023)

This captivating book tells a new American story. It is the first book to detail the life, challenges, fears and hopes of a Black soldier in the Continental Army during …
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Gaspee Raid Inspires Boston Tea Party Raiders to Disguise Themselves as Narragansetts
1 year ago

Gaspee Raid Inspires Boston Tea Party Raiders to Disguise Themselves as Narragansetts

Last week, this website ran an article providing strong contemporaneous evidence that many of the men who broke open the tea chests and destroyed the tea inside them on board …
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Narragansetts (Not Mohawks) Blamed for Boston Tea Party
1 year ago

Narragansetts (Not Mohawks) Blamed for Boston Tea Party

In the evening of December 16, 1773, a band of Boston Whigs (commonly known today as Patriots) charged onto three merchant ships at a wharf in Boston Harbor and dumped …
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