The Story of Rhode Island

Nathanael Greene never won a single battle in the South. At Guilford Courthouse, Hobkirk's Hill, Ninety Six, and Eutaw Springs, the British held the field every time. And yet, by the end of 1781, the British had lost the entire southern theater of the Revolutionary War.

This is the story of one of the most unconventional military campaigns in American history.  A tale about a portly, asthmatic, limping Quaker from Rhode Island who took command of a starving, disgraced army and broke the British war effort in the South by running from the enemy and without winning a single engagement.

From the desperate sprint known as the Race to the Dan, to the bloody standoff at Guilford Courthouse that left a British MP warning that "another such victory would ruin the British army", Greene's southern campaign remains one of the greatest military performances the Revolution produced.

At least one historian has argued it was Greene's actions in the Carolinas that pushed Cornwallis north into Virginia, and directly into the trap at Yorktown.

📩 Subscribe to our newsletter for Rhode Island history delivered to your inbox: https://www.storyofrhodeisland.com/en-us/newsletter
📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storyofrhodeisland/

swabforjack.com

My five-year-old cousin, Jack, is currently fighting for his life.

A few months ago, what should have been his birthday turned into a nightmare when Jack suffered a life-threatening brain bleed caused by a rare bone marrow failure disorder. Since then, he's been living in the hospital, and receiving blood and platelet transfusions while fighting to recover.

The only cure is a bone marrow transplant.

Right now, doctors are searching for a matching donor. If you're between 18 and 35 years old, you can see if you're a match with a free cheek swab that takes about two minutes to complete.

Please visit SwabForJack.com to request your free kit. 

It costs nothing, takes a couple of minutes to complete, and could end up saving Jack’s life.

Before Lexington and Concord... before the Boston Tea Party... Rhode Islanders launched one of the boldest attacks of the Revolutionary era.

In 1772, a group of Rhode Islanders boarded and burned a British naval schooner called the Gaspee in Narragansett Bay. But the real impact of the Gaspee Affair wasn't the destruction of the ship, it was Britain's response, which helped reignite the American Revolution at a moment when the patriot movement appeared to be fading.

In this video, we explore:
- how Rhode Island's economy became deeply tied to smuggling and Atlantic trade
- why the British schooner Gaspee became one of the most hated vessels in New England
- how a daring nighttime raid unfolded off the coast of Warwick
- why the aftermath helped unite the American colonies years before independence was declared.

The Gaspee Affair remains one of the most important, and most overlooked, events leading to the American Revolution.

📩 Subscribe to our newsletter for Rhode Island history delivered to your inbox: https://www.storyofrhodeisland.com/en-us/newsletter
📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storyofrhodeisland/

In 1790, the United States threatened to invade one of its own states. Congress debated cutting it off as a foreign nation. Some advocates of the new Constitution even suggested carving it up and dividing its land between neighboring states. And still, it didn't budge.

This is the story of how a group of South County farmers became the most defiant force against the United States Constitution, holding out against ratification longer than any other state and why their story has been largely forgotten.

In this episode we cover:
- how the farmers of South County rose to political power
- the paper money policy that saved Rhode Island's economy and set it on a collision course with the founders
- why Rhode Island was the only state to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention, the two and a half year standoff between Rhode Island and the new United States
- the escalating threats that brought America to the brink of turning on one of its own
- how a 34-32 vote finally ended one of the most remarkable acts of political defiance in American history.

The Founding Fathers preached government by the people. Rhode Island practiced it. And it terrified them.

In the 1780s, a period known as the Critical Period, James Madison and America's founders watched in horror as democratic ideals spread further than they ever intended. At the center of their fears was one radical little state: Rhode Island.

By the time of the American Revolution, Rhode Island was the most democratic society on earth. Upwards of 75% of adult white males could vote — a higher rate of suffrage than anywhere else in the world. Every government official, from the governor to local town officers, was directly elected by the people. And when those people needed capital, their legislature printed money — a policy Madison called wicked, John Adams said would "ruin us," and George Washington condemned outright.

But here's what the founders missed. Rhode Island's so-called dangerous democracy actually worked. It paid off its entire Revolutionary War debt by 1789. It prevented the kind of debt-fueled uprisings that tore through other states. And its access to capital helped lay the foundation for one of the most industrialized economies in 19th century America.

This is the story of why America's founders feared Rhode Island — and why history proved them wrong.

To learn more about the history of Rhode Island visit www.storyofrhodeisland.com

*For an ideal viewing experience, I recommend watching this episode on The Story of Rhode Island YouTube channel.

On May 4th, 1776, two months before the Declaration of Independence, Rhode Island renounced its allegiance to King George III. No other colony had done it. So why isn't Rhode Island celebrated as the first to declare independence from Great Britain?

The answer reveals something surprising: what the General Assembly actually did that day was bolder and more complicated than a simple declaration. And buried in that act is a warning to the Continental Congress itself, a warning that tells us everything about who Rhode Islanders were, and still are.

This is the story of May 4th, 1776.

To learn more about the history of Rhode Island visit www.storyofrhodeisland.com

*For an ideal viewing experience, I recommend watching this episode on The Story of Rhode Island YouTube channel.

The Wood River Branch Railroad should not have survived.

Built in the aftermath of a deadly train wreck and during the Panic of 1873, the line spent decades fighting for its life.

Fires destroyed its largest customers. Floods washed out its tracks. Economic collapse nearly ended it more than once.

And yet, each time, the communities along the Wood River found a way to keep it running.

In this episode of Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island, we explore:
- The 1909 fire that devastated the railroad’s biggest industry
- The Great Flood of 1927 and its destruction along the line
- The surprising individuals who saved the railroad from abandonment
- And the final event that brought the Wood River Branch to an end

This is Part 2 of a two-part series.

To learn more about the history of Rhode Island visit www.storyofrhodeisland.com

*For an ideal viewing experience, I recommend watching this episode on The Story of Rhode Island YouTube channel.

On April 19, 1873, a train traveling through rural Rhode Island plunged into a washed-out bridge in the darkness before dawn.

What followed was one of the deadliest railroad disasters in the state’s history.

But this tragedy is only the beginning of the story.

In the months that followed, local mill communities made a surprising decision: they built a railroad at the very site of the disaster. It was a project plagued by economic collapse, public fear, and repeated setbacks from the very start.

In this episode of Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island, we explore:
- The Richmond Switch train wreck of 1873
- Why mill villages along the Wood River desperately needed a railroad
- How the Panic of 1873 nearly killed the project before it began
- And how the Wood River Branch Railroad was built against long odds

This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

Part 2: COMING APRIL 16th

To learn more about the history of Rhode Island visit www.storyofrhodeisland.com

*For an ideal viewing experience, I recommend watching this episode on The Story of Rhode Island YouTube channel.

Before it became the South County Bike Path, this quiet trail was the Narragansett Pier Railroad, a vital 19th-century line that fueled Rhode Island’s mills, carried seaside tourists, and left a hidden legacy still visible today.

To learn more about the history of Rhode Island visit www.storyofrhodeisland.com

*For an ideal viewing experience, I recommend watching this episode on The Story of Rhode Island YouTube channel.

Follow the forgotten Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad from Providence to western Coventry, and discover how this 19th-century line shaped Rhode Island’s mill villages, industry, and communities before fading into the Washington Secondary Bike Path.

To learn more about the history of Rhode Island visit www.storyofrhodeisland.com

*For an ideal viewing experience, I recommend watching this episode on The Story of Rhode Island YouTube channel.