Church's Regiment (a.k.a. 3rd Rhode Island Regiment) was a unit of 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 which served from May 3, 1775 to December 31, 1775 in the American Revolutionary War.

Organization

In May 1775 the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to raise a brigade of three regiments to join the Army of Observation which was surrounding Boston to preclude the British forces there from attacking the surrounding areas. (The Army of Observation consisted of mobilized militia units from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and became the Continental Army when 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 th ...

assumed command, under a commission from 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. ...

on July 3, 1775.) Of the three Rhode Island regiments, one regiment was raised in Providence County, another in Kent and Kings Counties and the third, Church's Regiment, was raised in Newport County and

Bristol County Bristol County may refer to: Places * Bristol County, Massachusetts Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the no ...

. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Thomas Church who had previously served as lieutenant colonel of the Bristol County regiment of the Rhode Island Militia and as a justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. The regiment consisted of a total of nine companies, each with 3 officers and 57 enlisted men. The regiment had a total authorized strength of 550 officers and men.

Service

Along with the two other Rhode Island regiments raised in May 1775 ( Varnum's and Hitchcock's), Church's Regiment served 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 ...

in a brigade commanded by Brigadier General Nathanael Greene. The regiment was discharged at the end of 1775 along with the rest of the Continental Army due to the expiration of enlistments. Soldiers from the regiment who desired to stay in the Army enlisted for one year in one of the other two Rhode Island regiments which were re-designated at the beginning of 1776 as the 9th Continental Infantry and the 11th Continental Infantry.So Few the Brave. Anthony Walker. Rhode Island Society Sons of the American Revolution. Newport. 1981. pg. 103.

Senior Officers

*Colonel Thomas Church *Lieutenant Colonel William T. Miller *Major John Forrester *Major

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 ...

References

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Organization

Service

Senior Officers

References

See also