Christopher Greene - The Battle of Rhode Island

The Battle of Rhode Island

Colonel Christopher Greene returned to the cooler climate of his home state. He struggled to piece together a unit of former slaves – the 1st Rhode Island. When the idea of offering slaves their freedom in return for active service was first suggested, all concerned believed the plan would help solve the problem of finding Continental recruits. The Rhode Island General Assembly voted that every able-bodied Negro, mulatto, and Indian slave could enlist for the duration of the war with bounties and wages the same as for free men. Once enlisted and approved by the regimental officers the slave would become absolutely free.

Unfortunately the small population of 3,331 blacks and Indians could not support the effort adequately. Fewer than two hundred soldiers were recruited. Finding the scheme expensive and impractical, the legislators reversed themselves. "No negroe, mulatto, nor Indian slave will be permitted to enlist in the Continental battalions after 10 June 1778." Greene and his officers proceeded to train the black infantrymen who had already signed on. All heard the news that a French fleet was on the way, and many were looking forward to some serious fighting in the near future.

Colonel Greene and his regiment were detached for special service in Rhode Island, and he was placed under the command of General John Sullivan. General Sullivan, whose headquarters were in Providence, was charged with the task of containing the depredations of the 4,000 British and Hessian troops occupying Newport on Aquidneck Island. For this purpose he had only a brigade of Rhode Island state troops, and several thousand as yet unmobilized militia. In early July 1778 orders from General Washington changed Sullivan's mission from defense to attack and thrust the quiet Rhode Island sector into the forefront of the war.

The Battle of Rhode Island commenced on August 29, 1778. Colonel Greene temporarily commanded a brigade in the center of the American order of battle. Greene's "Black Regiment", now under General Nathanael Greene's longtime friend, Maj. Samuel Ward, Jr, held the far right of the American line. This regiment served with distinction, praised by the allied French officers for repulsing attacks by Hessian soldiers. Even though the battle was tactically inconclusive, the Americans retreated off the island afterward.