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The Newest Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame Inductees: Alberic A. Archambault and Felix A. Toupin
5 years ago

The Newest Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame Inductees: Alberic A. Archambault and Felix A. Toupin

Woonsocket’s famed politician, Lieutenant Governor and Mayor Felix A. Toupin, and West Warwick’s prominent Judge Alberic Archambault, were primarily responsible for the transition of the Franco-American vote in Rhode Island …
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Major General Charles Lee Imposes Oaths of Allegiance on Newport Tories in 1775
5 years ago

Major General Charles Lee Imposes Oaths of Allegiance on Newport Tories in 1775

My book, Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee & Richard Prescott (Westholme, 2017), focused on the stunning captures of two major generals who fought on …
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Writing Rhode Island Civil War History and a Critique of the Sesquicentennial
5 years ago

Writing Rhode Island Civil War History and a Critique of the Sesquicentennial

With the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Rhode Islanders eagerly answered the call to arms. From Westerly to Woonsocket, and from Wallum Lake to Little Compton, the …
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Mariners Beware – Shipwrecks in Rhode Island – Point Judith
5 years ago

Mariners Beware – Shipwrecks in Rhode Island – Point Judith

By  •  Maritime

Point Judith is a small point of land located about midway between the eastern and western borders of the state. To the east and north of the point the waters …
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Creative Survival: Africans as Mariners in Colonial Rhode Island
5 years ago

Creative Survival: Africans as Mariners in Colonial Rhode Island

The 17th century brought enormous changes to the Western Hemisphere, commonly called the Americas. European explorers and settlers claimed land in North and South America for economic, sovereignty, political or …
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Discovery Confirms Importance of Advance Base Proving Ground at Davisville in the Lead Up to D-Day in World War II
5 years ago

Discovery Confirms Importance of Advance Base Proving Ground at Davisville in the Lead Up to D-Day in World War II

I am crazy about pontoons. Perhaps you could tell that from the chapter on pontoons in my recent book (with co-authors Norm Desmarais and Varoujan Karentz), Untold Stories from World …
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Three Ministers Help Shape Colonial Rhode Island:  Ezra Stiles, Samuel Hopkins, and James Manning
5 years ago

Three Ministers Help Shape Colonial Rhode Island: Ezra Stiles, Samuel Hopkins, and James Manning

These three ministers helped shape colonial and revolutionary Rhode Island. The first was the minister of the Second Congregational Church in Newport, Reverence Dr. Ezra Stiles. The second was …
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The Mysterious Case of the Painting of the Black Privateer Sailor
5 years ago

The Mysterious Case of the Painting of the Black Privateer Sailor

In the 1970s, I lived in Newport, Rhode Island, and I had just built full-sized, operational copies of two Revolutionary War ships for the Bicentennial, the 24-gun frigate Rose (that …
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J. Howard McGrath and the Wiretapping Case of 1939-1940
5 years ago

J. Howard McGrath and the Wiretapping Case of 1939-1940

The political scene in Rhode Island was eventful during the interwar years. Fractious competition between Democrats and Republicans throughout the 1920s and 1930s resulted in the passage of important legislation …
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Rhode Island’s Two Unheralded Suffragists
5 years ago

Rhode Island’s Two Unheralded Suffragists

By  •  Women

The centenary of the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the so-called Susan B. Anthony amendment) is fast approaching and as such there is renewed interest …
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