How the 1st Rhode Island Regiment Led the Fight for Freedom

In 1778, as the Revolutionary War raged, the seeds of emancipation were planted in Rhode Island. That February, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to allow the enlistment of African-American and Indigenous men in the military. The law stated that “every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave” who enlisted and “passed muster before Colonel Christopher Greene would be immediately freed from the service of their enslaver and made absolutely free.”

Freeing the enslaved in exchange for military service was not a new concept – the British introduced the policy earlier in the war, mainly in the Southern colonies, and the Continental Army soon followed. “I think that the greatest motivation for those who were enlisting, who had been slaves, was to earn their freedom,” says historian Robert Geake, who co-authored the book From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution with Lorén Spears. “They had as much patriotism and courage as any of the white soldiers who served. Even though it took a long time, this started the road to emancipation in New England.”

The law transformed the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, which had originally been organized in May 1775 as a largely white Continental Army unit. By 1778, facing severe manpower shortages, the colony integrated the regiment, making it one of the first racially integrated military units in American history. Though commonly known as the “Black Regiment,” all of its officers – including Colonel Greene, a cousin of General Nathanael Greene – remained white.

“Rhode Island had the greatest proportion per capita of enslaved people in New England,” notes Geake. “In 1778, they took the people of color from the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment, inserted them into the 1st, and even used some people of European descent who were indentured servants. So, it’s really an amalgamation of people, but the majority were Black, so they called it the Black Regiment.”

Spears, executive director of the Tomaquag Museum, says large numbers of Indigenous Rhode Islanders also served in the regiment. Although exact numbers are hard to come by, it’s estimated that at least one quarter of the regiment’s soldiers were Native American, representing nations including Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Niantic. “Over time, the regiment gets dubbed the colored regiment or the Black Regiment, which often erases Indigenous people,” Spears says. For many Native men, military service was tied to the defense of ancestral land and community. Others sought survival and stability. “You know, a roof over your head, food in your belly, clothes on your back,” notes Spears. “That mattered.”

“Part of the reason that the book got dubbed From Slaves to Soldiers is that some, but not all, of the men were fighting for their own individual freedom through service on behalf of sometimes their enslaver, their slave owner,” adds Spears. “Sometimes their slave owner had only one son, so they sent someone else in their stead.” Others joined for pride, protection of family, adventure, or the hope that independence from Britain might bring greater sovereignty and freedom. Indigenous participation reflected long-standing warrior traditions rooted in diplomacy, advocacy, and community protection – traditions often misunderstood or misrepresented.

The regiment was involved in several campaigns, most notably the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778, where soldiers fought off repeated attacks by Hessian troops and were widely praised for their courage. They later served in the Battle of Yorktown, contributing to the decisive victory that ended the war. The battlefield performance of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment helped challenge prevailing racial prejudices and demonstrated the essential contributions of Black and Indigenous soldiers to the Revolutionary cause. Their service stands as an early and powerful chapter in US military history, illustrating how the fight for independence intersected with the struggle for freedom, recognition, and humanity.