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Butts Hill Fort: A History
The Americans called this area “Butts Hill” after the John Butts family that held the land when the war began.
Eyewitness Accounts
We are fortunate to have eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Rhode Island. One of those accounts is by Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Ward, Junior.
![Plan de Rhodes-Island, et position de l'armée françoise a Newport. [1780] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress](https://boria.staging.boone.design/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Plan-de-Rhodes-Island.jpeg)
French Arrival and Departure: Arrival
On July 11, 1780 a squadron of French warships approached Newport. Their journey was started on February 2, 1780…
French Arrival and Departure: Introduction
On July 29, 1778 a French squadron sailed into Narragansett Bay. It created a military alliance between the United States and France against Great Britain. On the American side it was negotiated by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee.
Introduction to Occupation
The British had ample reason to invade and occupy Aquidneck Island (called Rhode Island at that time). Newport had a fine harbor from which the British fleet could raid up and down the coast…
Lehigh Hill
The skirmishes around Lehigh Hill have taken on importance because of the presence of the Black Regiment.
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The Gaspee Affair: A Rhode Island Perspective on Its 250th Anniversary
“In a certain sense, the War for Independence began at sea when patriots clashed with the British on Narragansett Bay some two years before the momentous engagements at Lexington and Concord…”
The Conspiracy to Destroy the Gaspee
With but few exceptions, it has usually been surmised by historians that the 1772 attack on the Royal Navy schooner Gaspee was a spontaneous response to the accidental grounding of the King’s vessel…
Occupation of Middletown: Patriot Raid Captures British General Prescott
Two hundred forty-five years ago, a band of American soldiers, led by Lt. Col. William Barton, conducted a daring raid on Aquidneck Island during the British occupation.