Rhode Island: Indigenous people

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5:31

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The Narragansett Nation, once the largest tribal nation in southern New England, had been severely reduced by King Philip's War in the 1670s but remained an active presence centered in Charlestown. In the 1770s the colonial government pushed for the reorganization of Narragansett governance from a single sachem to a council form modeled on English government. Simultaneously, Mohegan minister Samson Occom organized the Brothertown movement, drawing some Narragansetts, as well as members of other New England tribes, to relocate to lands granted by the Oneida Nation in upstate New York. Of the more than 70 Indigenous men who enlisted in the First Rhode Island Regiment, a number were Narragansett men who had joined Brothertown and returned to enlist in the regiment was formed in 1778. Unlike the enslaved African American soldiers promised freedom, Native volunteers came as free men. Historians suggest their service reflected a deep warrior tradition and a desire to assert independence on their own terms. Since, like many military units, the First Rhode Island Regiment went through repeated reorganizations, the researcher needs to consult multiple sources to find all who served. But the search should begin with Robert A. Geake’s From Slaves to Soldiers (Yardley, PA: Westholm, 2016).

Interviewees

C. Morgan Grefe
- Executive Director, Rhode Island Historical Society
Richard Ring
- Senior Director for Library & Museum Collections, Rhode Island Historical Society

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