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The 1st Rhode Island Regiment (also known as Varnum's Regiment, the 9th Continental Regiment, the Black Regiment, the Rhode Island Regiment, and Olney's Battalion) was a regiment in the
Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
raised in
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
during the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
(1775–83). It was one of the few units in the Continental Army to serve through the entire war, from the siege of Boston to the disbanding of the Continental Army on November 3, 1783. The unit went through several reorganizations and name changes, like most regiments of the Continental Army. It became known as the "Black Regiment" because it was composed mostly of black enlistees. However, there were also some Native Americans. It is regarded by some as the first black military unit, because all the enlistees were non-white.


Regimental history


Varnum's Regiment (1775)

The 1st Rhode Island was initially formed by the Colonial government before being taken into the Continental army. The revolutionary Rhode Island Assembly authorized the regiment on 6 May 1775 as part of the Rhode Island Army of Observation. The regiment was organized on 8 May 1775 under Colonel
James Mitchell Varnum James Mitchell Varnum (December 17, 1748 – January 9, 1789) was an American legislator, lawyer, generalHeitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 559. in the Continental Army, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country.Wilkins, ''Memoirs of the Rh ...
, and was therefore often known as "Varnum's Regiment." It originally consisted of eight companies of volunteers from
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
and
Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...
Counties. Varnum marched the regiment to
Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city states that Roxbury se ...
in June 1775, where it took part in the
siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...
as part of the Army of Observation. It was adopted into the
Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
by act of Congress on 14 June 1775. It was expanded to ten companies on 28 June, and was assigned to General Nathanael Greene's Brigade in General
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
's Main Army on 28 July. Greene's Brigade was encamped at Prospect Hill in Somerville. General Washington officially took command of the Continental Army upon his arrival in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
on 3 July 1775. The soldiers of Varnum's Regiment had enlisted until the end of 1775, like all others in the Continental Army, and the Regiment was discharged on December 31, along with the remainder of the Army.


9th Continental Regiment (1776)

The Continental Army was completely reorganized at the beginning of 1776, with many regiments receiving new names and others being disbanded. Enlistments were for one year. Varnum's Regiment was reorganized with eight companies on 1 January 1776 and re-designated as the 9th Continental Regiment. Under Colonel Varnum, the regiment remained near Boston until the British evacuated the city in March. It was then ordered to Long Island and took part in the disastrous
New York and New Jersey campaign The New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776 and the winter months of 1777 was a series of American Revolutionary War battles for control of the Port of New York and the state of New Jersey, fought between British forces under General Sir Willi ...
, including the
Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yor ...
and the Battle of Harlem Heights, retreating from New York with the Main Army. The Continental Army was reorganized at the end of the year, as was the case in 1775, but soldiers were now given the option of enlisting for "three years or the war", unlike the previous practice of enlisting only until the end of the year.


1st Rhode Island Regiment (1777–80)

The Continental Army was reorganized once again in 1777, and the 9th Continental Regiment was re-designated as the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Colonel Varnum was promoted to brigadier general on February 27, 1777, and was succeeded by Colonel Christopher Greene, a distant cousin of General Nathanael Greene. Under Colonel Greene, the regiment, along with the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment, successfully defended Fort Mercer at the
Battle of Red Bank The Battle of Red Bank was a battle fought on October 22, 1777 during the American Revolutionary War in which a British and Hessian force was sent to take Fort Mercer on the left bank (or New Jersey side) of the Delaware River just south of Phi ...
on 22 October 1777 against an assault by 2,000 Hessians. The regiment spent the winter of 1777 to 1778 at
Valley Forge Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight winter encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. In September 1777, Congress fled Philadelphia to escape the ...
near Philadelphia. It endured the hardships of hunger, disease and exposure to cold along with other units of the Continental Army. In early 1778 the regiment, along with the 2nd Rhode Island, returned to Rhode Island to prepare for an upcoming expedition to dislodge British and Hessian forces occupying the city of Newport.


The "Black Regiment" (1778–81)

Black soldiers had been a part of the Continental Army since the first shots at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The black soldiers in those integrated militias served throughout the war. However, new recruits of black soldiers were technically barred from military service in the
Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...
from November 12, 1775, until February 23, 1778. Even so, many enslavers shirked their duty to serve and sent their enslaved men to serve in their place. As Frederick Mackenzie reported on June 30, 1777, the rebels "find it so difficult to raise men for the Continental Army, that they enlist Negroes, for whom their owners receive a bounty of 180 dollars, and half their pay; and the Negro gets the other half, and a promise of freedom after three years." Rhode Island continued to have difficulties recruiting enough white men to meet the troop quotas set by the
Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
in 1778, so the Rhode Island Assembly decided to pursue a suggestion made by General Varnum to enlist enslaved men into the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Varnum had raised the idea in a letter to George Washington, who forwarded it to the governor of Rhode Island without explicitly approving or disapproving of the plan. On 14 February 1778, the
Rhode Island General Assembly The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Se ...
voted to allow the enlistment of "every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave" who chose to do so, and voted that "every slave so enlisting shall, upon his passing muster before Colonel Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely free." The owners of enslaved men who enlisted were to be compensated by the Assembly in an amount equal to their market value. A total of 88 enslaved men enlisted in the regiment over the next four months, as well as some free black and native men. The regiment eventually totaled about 225 men; as many as 140 of these were black. The 1st Rhode Island became the only regiment of the Continental Army to have segregated companies of black soldiers; other regiments that allowed black men to enlist were integrated. The enlistment of slaves had been controversial, and no more non-white men were enlisted after June 1778. The unit continued to be known as the "Black Regiment" even though only white men were recruited to replace losses, a process which eventually made it an integrated unit.


Battle of Rhode Island

The regiment fought in the
Battle of Rhode Island The Battle of Rhode Island (also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill) took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Major General John Sullivan had been besieging the British forces in Newport, Rhode Isl ...
in August 1778 under the command of Major Samuel Ward Jr., as Colonel Greene had been assigned as a brigade commander for the campaign. It played an important role by defending a redoubt on West Main Road where it successfully repelled three charges by the Hessians. Repeated attacks from British regulars and Hessian forces failed to break the line of the Patriot forces and allowed the successful withdrawal of Sullivan's army the following night. Historian Sidney Rider notes that the Hessians charged three times and were repulsed each time. According to Rider, the Hessian Colonel "applied to exchange his command and go to New York, because he dared not lead his regiment" into battle again, "lest his men should shoot him for having caused them so much loss." The First Rhode Island suffered three killed, nine wounded, and eleven missing. After a day of battle, General Sullivan decided that his forces were insufficient and ordered an orderly withdrawal during the night. His soldiers left their camp fires burning to make the British and Hessians think that they were still in place. The operation lasted a total of four hours for six Continental brigades. Sullivan praised the Rhode Island Regiment for its actions, saying that they bore "a proper share of the day's honors." General Lafayette proclaimed the battle as “the best fought action of the war.” The regiment saw little action over the next three years, since the focus of the war shifted to the south. It remained in Rhode Island to defend against a possible attack by the British forces in Newport, and was later sent to Westchester County in New York where the Continental Army was located.


Rhode Island Regiment (1781–1783)

On 1 January 1781, the regiment was consolidated with the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment at West Point, New York and was re-designated as the Rhode Island Regiment. The regiment spent the early months of 1781 in an area of the Hudson River Valley called by some historians the "Neutral Zone".


Campaign in the Neutral Zone

The "Neutral Zone" was an area in the
Hudson River Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yo ...
east of the river described as “a desolate, sparsely populated buffer zone between the forces of the English to the South and the Americans to the North.” People who continued to live in the area had to deal with “theft, murder, and destruction” by renegade groups, such as the “cowboys” or the “skinners.” These renegade groups “cloaked their plundering under an alleged allegiance to one of the combatants.” To whichever side the renegade groups leaned, they would forage for goods to sustain “both men and beasts of burden.” The constant foraging and raiding in the neutral zone, especially by the British supporting “cowboys,” (loyalist militia) caused Major-General Heath to command Colonel Greene and the Rhode Island Regiment to defend Pine's Bridge on the Croton River from “marauding Cowboys” who frequently made incursions from their base in Morrisiania (South Bronx), under the command of loyalist leader Brigadier General James Delancy.


Battle of Pines Bridge

On the 14 May 1781, Colonel Delancey and his unit of loyalist militia, De Lancey's Refugee Corps, assaulted Pine's Bridge (near present-day
Yorktown, New York Yorktown is a town on the northern border of Westchester County, New York, United States. A suburb of the New York City metropolitan area, it is approximately north of midtown Manhattan. The population was 36,569 at the 2020 U.S. Census. Histo ...
) and caught Colonel Greene and a small detachment of the Rhode Island Regiment by surprise. Delancey's troops killed Colonel Greene, Major Ebenezer Flagg and eight African-American soldiers of the Rhode Island Regiment. The black troops were reported to have “defended their beloved Col. Greene so well that it was only over their dead bodies that the enemy reached and murdered him.” Greene's body was purportedly mutilated by the Loyalists, as punishment for having led black soldiers against them. Colonel Greene and Major Flagg were buried at the First Presbyterian Church in Yorktown.


Last years

Following the death of Colonel Greene, Lieutenant Colonel
Jeremiah Olney Jeremiah Olney (1749 – 10 November 1812) was born into an old family from Rhode Island. He formed a company of infantry from that state at the start of the American Revolutionary War. After serving as captain in 1776, he was promoted to lieu ...
took command of the regiment. Under Olney's command, the regiment took part in the
Siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virg ...
in October 1781 which proved to be the last major battle of the Revolution. After Yorktown, the regiment moved with the Main Army to
Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...
where its primary purpose was to be ready to react if British forces in the city went on the offensive. On January 22, 1783, the regiment was placed under command of Colonel
Marinus Willett Colonel Marinus Willett (July 31, 1740 – August 22, 1830) was an American military officer, politician and merchant who served as the mayor of New York City from 1807 to 1808. Willett is best known for his actions during the American Revolu ...
of the New York Militia, along with other units, to capture Fort Ontario in the town of
Oswego, New York Oswego () is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 35 miles (55km) northwest of Syracuse. It promotes itself as "The Port ...
on the shore of
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
. On February 8, the force of about 500 soldiers, with 120 horse-drawn sleighs, left
Fort Herkimer Fort Herkimer was a colonial fort located on the south side of the Mohawk River, opposite the mouth of its tributary West Canada Creek, in German Flatts, New York, United States. It should not be confused with Fort Dayton, which was located on th ...
near Utica. Although the expedition was able to get within a mile of Fort Ontario, the attack was called off at the last minute as the moon was not due to set with enough time before daybreak to make a surprise attack. After the expedition, the Rhode Island Regiment returned to Newburgh, where it remained for the remainder of its service.


Rhode Island Battalion (1783)

On March 1, 1783, the regiment was reorganized into six companies and designated as the Rhode Island Battalion (a.k.a. "Olney's Rhode Island Battalion"). On June 15, the Rhode Island Regiment veterans with at least 3 years of service were discharged at Saratoga, New York, and the remaining soldiers of the battalion who were enlisted for three years, were organized into a small battalion of two companies. The British evacuated New York on November 25, and the Rhode Island Battalion disbanded on December 25 at Saratoga, New York. It was one of the few units in the Continental Army to have served through the Continental Army's entire existence.


Disbandment

The Rhode Island Regiment served its final days in Saratoga, New York under the command of Brevet Major William Allen. The regiment was left waiting in Saratoga for months, with low supplies and a terrible snowstorm, until Major William Allen and Adjutant Jeremiah Greenman printed the discharge certificates on December 25, 1783. The discharged troops were "dumped back into civilian society," according to one historian, with only the white soldiers being guaranteed 100 acres of bounty land from the federal government, as well as a pension. The Rhode Island General Assembly had already guaranteed the black soldiers their freedom after the war, and the Rhode Island General Assembly passed an act on February 23, 1784, which forbade "any person born in Rhode Island after March 1, 1784 from being made a slave." The act also stipulated that children born to slaves were to be supported financially by the Rhode Island town in which they were born. During the same meeting, Colonel Olney presented the colors of Rhode Island's Continental Regiment to the General Assembly, and they have been housed in the
Rhode Island State House The Rhode Island State House, the capitol of the state of Rhode Island, is located at 900 Smith Street just below the crest of Smith Hill, on the border of downtown in Providence. It is a neoclassical building designed by McKim, Mead & White wh ...
ever since. Olney had promised his men his "interest in their favour," and he continued to advocate for his former troops' right to remain free and to have the government pay them the wages or pensions that they deserved. In June 1784, 13 black veterans of the Rhode Island Regiment hired Samuel Emory to present their claims for back pay to the War Department Accounts Office, in order to help alleviate the financial difficulties that most black veterans faced after the war. In response, the Rhode Island Assembly passed a special act for these soldiers on February 28, 1785, which called for "the support of paupers, who heretofore were slaves, and enlisted into the Continental battalions." Therefore, any "Indian, negro or mulatto" who was sick or unable to support himself must be taken care of by the town council where he lived. Some veterans of the Rhode Island Continental Line remained in Rhode Island, although some moved onto the 100 acres of Bounty Land that they were promised in states like New York or Ohio. Most veterans who survived into their 50s or 60s were in desperate poverty because of the economic depression that occurred after the Revolution.


Significant campaigns and battles

*
Siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...
(May 1775 to March 17, 1776) *
Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...
(June 17, 1775) *
Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yor ...
(August 22, 1776) * Battle of Harlem Heights (September 16, 1776) * Battle of White Plains (October 28, 1776) *
Battle of Trenton The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal American Revolutionary War battle on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton the previous night, ...
(January 2, 1777) *
Battle of Princeton The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777, and ending in a small victory for the Colonials. General Lord Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the comman ...
(January 3, 1777) *
Battle of Red Bank The Battle of Red Bank was a battle fought on October 22, 1777 during the American Revolutionary War in which a British and Hessian force was sent to take Fort Mercer on the left bank (or New Jersey side) of the Delaware River just south of Phi ...
(October 22, 1777) * Siege of Fort Mifflin (October 23 to November 16, 1777) *
Valley Forge Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight winter encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. In September 1777, Congress fled Philadelphia to escape the ...
(December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778) *
Battle of Rhode Island The Battle of Rhode Island (also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill) took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Major General John Sullivan had been besieging the British forces in Newport, Rhode Isl ...
(August 29, 1778) *Stationed at
Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. The population of B ...
(September 1778) *Winter Quarters in
Warren, Rhode Island Warren is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 11,147 at the 2020 census. History Warren was the site of the Pokanoket Indian settlement of Sowams located on a peninsula within the Pokanoket region. The re ...
(December 1778 to Spring 1779) *
Aquidneck Island Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. ...
, Rhode Island (October 1779 to January 1781) *Quartered in upstate New York (January 1781 to December 25, 1783) * Battle of Pine's Bridge (May 14, 1781) * Siege and Battle of Yorktown (September 28 to October 19, 1781) *Quartered at
Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...
(1782) *Oswego Expedition (January to February 1783)


Senior officers

Colonels and commanding officers *Colonel
James M. Varnum James Mitchell Varnum (December 17, 1748 – January 9, 1789) was an American legislator, lawyer, generalHeitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 559. in the Continental Army, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country.Wilkins, ''Memoirs of the Rh ...
; 3 May 1775 - 27 February 1777 (promoted to brigadier general) (Colonel Varnum was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Rhode Island state militia on 12 December 1776 and commanded a brigade of Rhode Island state troops serving in Rhode Island until his promotion to brigadier general in the Continental Army on 27 February 1777.) *Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Crary; 12 December 1776 - 27 February 1777 (In temporary command of the regiment pending the exchange of Colonel Greene.) *Colonel Christopher Greene; 27 February 1777 - 14 May 1781 (killed in action) *Lieutenant Colonel Commandant
Jeremiah Olney Jeremiah Olney (1749 – 10 November 1812) was born into an old family from Rhode Island. He formed a company of infantry from that state at the start of the American Revolutionary War. After serving as captain in 1776, he was promoted to lieu ...
; 14 May 1781 - 25 December 1783 (discharged) Lieutenant Colonels *James Babcock; 3 May 1775 - 31 December 1775 (discharged) *Archibald Crary; 1 January 1776 - 31 December 1776 (discharged) (Colonel Crary was appointed lieutenant colonel of Stanton's State Regiment on 12 August 1776.) *Adam Comstock; 1 January 1777 - April 1778 (resigned) * Samuel Ward Jr.; 5 May 1779 (date of rank 26 May 1778) - 31 December 1780 (retired) *Jeremiah Olney; 1 January 1781 - 14 May 1781 (became regimental commander) Majors * Christopher Greene; 3 May 1775 - 31 December 1775 (taken prisoner and not exchanged until August 1776) *Christopher Smith; 1 January 1776 - 27 October 1776 (transferred to 2nd Rhode Island Regiment) *
Henry Sherburne Henry Sherburne (March 28, 1611 – 1680) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, landed there June 12, 1632 from London, a pioneer who rose to considerable wealth in pre-independence colonial New Hampshire. His descendant Samuel Sherburne built the 1766 (a ...
; 28 October 1776 - 11 January 1777 (promoted to colonel) *Samuel Ward Jr.; 12 January 1777 - 26 May 1778 (promoted to lieutenant colonel) *
Silas Talbot Captain Silas Talbot (January 11, 1751June 30, 1813) was an American military officer and slave trader. He served in the Continental Army and Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War, and is most famous for commanding from 1799 t ...
; 10 October 1777 (date of rank 1 September 1777) - 12 November 1778 (promoted to lieutenant colonel) *Ebenezer Flagg; 5 May 1779 (date of rank 26 May 1778) - 14 May 1781 (killed in action) *Coggeshall Olney; 25 August 1781 (date of rank 14 May 1781) - 17 March 1783 (resigned) *John S. Dexter; 25 August 1781 (date of rank 14 May 1781) - 3 November 1783 (discharged)


Men of color


Privates

* Prince Greene, 7 May 1777 - 28 June 1783


Legacy

There is a monument to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment at Patriots Park in Portsmouth, Rhode Island on the site of the Battle of Rhode Island. This monument lists names, maps and details of all who fought in the Battle of Rhode Island. The 1st RI regimental flag is preserved at the Rhode Island State House in Providence. Colonel Greene and Major Flagg are buried at the First Presbyterian Church in Yorktown, New York where there is a large monument in their honor, about two miles north of the site of their deaths. There is also a Monument to First Rhode Island Regiment made of stone next to Greene's marker to honor the black soldiers who died defending him; this memorial was added to the
African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County The African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County in New York was created in 2004 to help preserve and interpret the historic landmark places that help tell the narratives of women and men of African descent who have made significant contri ...
in 2004.


See also

*
James M. Varnum James Mitchell Varnum (December 17, 1748 – January 9, 1789) was an American legislator, lawyer, generalHeitman, ''Officers of the Continental Army'', 559. in the Continental Army, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country.Wilkins, ''Memoirs of the Rh ...
* Christopher Greene *
Jeremiah Olney Jeremiah Olney (1749 – 10 November 1812) was born into an old family from Rhode Island. He formed a company of infantry from that state at the start of the American Revolutionary War. After serving as captain in 1776, he was promoted to lieu ...
* Prince Greene * 2nd Rhode Island Regiment * Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment * Richmond's Regiment * Babcock's/Lippitt's Regiment


Notes


References


380813416
* * Dearden, Paul F. The Rhode Island Campaign of 1778: Inauspicious Dawn of Alliance. Providence: The Rhode Island Publications Society, 1980. *Lanning, Michael Lee. ''African Americans in the Revolutionary War''. New York: Citadel Press, 2005. *Lengel, Edward G. ''General George Washington: A Military Life.'' New York: Random House, 2005. . * *
Rhode Island Units in the Revolutionary War
" Rhodeislandsar.org. N.p., n.d. Web. * * Wright, Robert K. ''The Continental Army''. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1983. Available, in part
online
from the U.S. Army website. *


Further reading

* * Greene, Lorenzo J. "Some Observations on the Black Regiment of Rhode Island in the American Revolution." ''The Journal of Negro History,'' Vol. 37, No. 2, April 1952 * Popek, Daniel M. ''They '...fought bravely, but were unfortunate:' The True Story of Rhode Island's 'Black Regiment' and the Failure of Segregation in Rhode Island's Continental Line, 1777-1783'', AuthorHouse, November 2015. * Geake, Robert. 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Westholme Publishing, 2016. * Rees, John U. "''They were good soldiers.": African Americans in the Continental Army, and General Glover's Soldier-Servants." Military Collector & Historian 62, no. 2 (Summer2010 2010): 139–142. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost. {{Authority control Military units and formations established in 1775 Military units and formations disestablished in 1783 African-American history of Rhode Island African-American history of the United States military Rhode Island regiments of the Continental Army Military emancipation in the American Revolutionary War