Portsmouth, RI

This monument is in front of the Portsmouth,RI historical society. It a beautiful building as you can see from the next posts. Can't say I know anything else about this building. What I do know about is that this "Skirmish" as they call the Battle of Rhode Island, was the only Continental army battle in New England other than the battle of Dorchester Heights after Washington assumed command. There were about 20K troops between the Kings army, the American militia under John Hancock and others, the French under D'estange and the Continental army under Sullivan and Green. That's a sizable battle by any standard. However, the battle that raged from the Newport reservoir to Butt's Hill in Portsmouth ended in defeat for the Americans as an intense thunder storm disheartened the Americans, destroyed some of D'estang's ships and ended in a retreat.
I think of these men often as I drive to work over the same roads that John Hancock lead his Boston militia army over. By the way, anyone with a German name who lives in Portsmouth? You could be descended from the Hessians who defended that part of the Island from the Americans and who could have settled there after the war.