A musket salute and a wreath-laying ceremony will be held at Butts Hill Fort to commemorate the 246th anniversary of the Battle of Rhode Island on Thursday, Aug. 29.
The ceremony, hosted by the Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee of the Battle of Rhode Island Association, will take place at 7 p.m. at the fort in Portsmouth. The public is invited and parking will be available at the Wealth Management lot on the top of Dyer Street off Sprague Street and the Portsmouth High School tennis courts.
The battle was a stalemate between the American and British governments, with both sides suffering significant casualties, according to the Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee. The committee says most historians call the battle a “stalemate.”
American troops under the command of General John Sullivan suffered 30 casualties, 137 were wounded, and 44 are still missing, according to the committee. British, Hessian, and Loyalists troops suffered 38 casualties, 210 were wounded, and 12 are still missing.
The Battle of Rhode Island, also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill and the Siege of Newport, was fought on August 29, 1778, between American and British forces. American troops under the command of General John Sullivan withdrew to the northern part of Aquidneck Island following their failed siege of Newport, Rhode Island. The British, supported by Royal Navy ships, pursued and attacked the retreating Americans, resulting in an inconclusive battle. The Continental forces subsequently withdrew to the mainland, leaving Aquidneck Island in British control. Notably, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, an African American segregated unit, participated in the battle, making it the only major military action in the war to include a racially segregated unit on the American side.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
