Secretary Amore Joins Memorial Unveiling to Honor Rhode Island Regiment Soldiers

WILMINGTON, DE – On Wednesday, September 23, Secretary of State Gregg M. Amore traveled to Wilmington, Delaware for the unveiling of a new monument honoring Rhode Island Regiment and British Army soldiers who died following the Battle of Yorktown and were laid to rest in a mass grave. Joining Secretary Amore was Rhode Island National Guard Adjutant General Andrew Chevalier and Jason Roomes, descendent of Rhode Island soldier Caesar Rome, from Rhode Island.

Of the 66 soldiers soldiered buried at the site, 28 were Rhode Island soldiers and members of the Rhode Island Regiment.

"America's Revolutionary story was not only written through declarations and acts of defiance. It was written by the men who served in its ranks, and few units tell that story more powerfully than the First Rhode Island Regiment," said Secretary of State Gregg M. Amore. "These soldiers distinguished themselves at the Battle of Rhode Island and continued their service through the decisive campaign at Yorktown. Their story forces us to confront both the promise and the contradictions of the Revolution: men who did not all share equally in liberty were nevertheless willing to fight and, in some cases, risk everything for it."

In 1778, Rhode Island reorganized its regiments of the Continental Army and authorized the recruitment of enslaved men into the First Rhode Island Regiment. Over 130 free Black men and formerly enslaved men joined the regiment that year. The enslaved men were granted their freedom immediately upon their enlistment, the first and only time such an offer had been made by a state government during the Revolutionary War.

The First Rhode Island Regiment, comprised of Black, Indigenous, and white soldiers, would go on to fight during the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778. In 1780, Rhode Island united its two Continental Army regiments into a unit known as the Rhode Island Regiment. Two full companies of that regiment were made up of Black and Indigenous enlisted men. The Rhode Island Regiment would go on to serve in the decisive Siege of Yorktown in 1781.

More information about the First Rhode Island Regiment is available on the website of the RI250 Commission at rhodeisland250.org, as well as from the Rhode Island State Archives in this Google Arts & Culture story.

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