Rhode Island in the American Civil War

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The state of Rhode Island during the American Civil War remained loyal to the Union, as did the other states of New England. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men to the Union Army, of which 1,685 died.[1] The state used its industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials needed to win the war. Rhode Island's continued growth and modernization led to the creation of an urban mass transit system and improved health and sanitation programs.

Rhode Island during the war

Fort Adams

Fort Adams near Newport was used temporarily as the United States Naval Academy. In May 1861, the Academy was moved to Newport from Annapolis, Maryland due to concerns about the political sympathies of the Marylanders, many of whom were suspected of supporting the Confederate States of America. In September, the Academy moved to the Atlantic House hotel in Newport and remained there for the rest of the war.[2]

In 1862, Fort Adams became the headquarters and recruit depot for the

South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.[3]

Notable leaders from Rhode Island

Politics

Senator Henry B. Anthony was born in Coventry, Rhode Island. He was a powerful newspaper owner and staunch advocate of the policies of President Lincoln during the Civil War. Rhode Island Senator Samuel G. Arnold of Providence was also a Republican; he served in the Union Army until 1862, when he was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James F. Simmons.

Rhode Island Governor

Reconstruction. William C. Cozzens became Governor in 1863; he was succeeded by James Y. Smith who led Rhode Island during the last two years of the war.[4]

Military

Ambrose Burnside was an arms manufacturer, politician, and general in the Rhode Island state militia and was an influential army officer. He rose to command of the Army of the Potomac before his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. He later commanded the Department of the Ohio as well as the IX Corps. His field duty ended during the siege of Petersburg with the Battle of the Crater, another fiasco for which he took the blame.[5]

Major General

Peninsula Campaign that suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Seven Pines facing George Pickett's brigade. He wrote the three-volume System of Infantry Tactics published in August 1862, and Infantry Tactics for Colored Troops published in March 1863. These manuals were used by both sides during the Civil War.[6][7]

Lemuel Arnold and the Chief of Artillery for the Army of the Gulf. His guns helped force the surrender of Mobile, Alabama and Port Hudson, Louisiana.[9]

XIV Corps, and participated in the capture of Raleigh, North Carolina and the pursuit of General Joseph E. Johnston's army until its surrender.[11]

Brigadier General

New Orleans, Louisiana before taking command of a division in Major General Nathaniel P. Banks's army, which he led into action at the siege of Port Hudson. He lost a leg during this combat and was consigned to desk duty for the rest of the war.[12] Frank Wheaton of Providence led a brigade and then a division in the Army of the Potomac, seeing action in the Overland Campaign and the siege of Petersburg. His men were hurried by train to Washington, D.C. in time to help repel Jubal Early's raid on the capital in the summer of 1864.[13]

Fort Fisher, North Carolina.[14]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Dyer's Compendium
  2. ^ a b Fort Adams official website
  3. ^ This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
  4. ISBN 0-313-28093-2
    .
  5. ^ Eicher, pp. 155-56.
  6. ^ public domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ Casey Biography from US Regulars Archive Archived 2008-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Warner, p.
  9. ^ Rhode Island Civil War Round Table bio of Arnold
  10. ISBN 978-0-87611-226-7
    .
  11. ^ Motts, pp. 63-75.
  12. ^ Eicher
  13. ^ Eicher, Warner
  14. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Further reading

  • Denison, Frederic. Sabres and Spurs: The First Regiment Rhode Island Cavalry in the Civil War (1876) online
  • Dyer, Frederick H., A Compendium of the War of Rebellion: Compiled and Arranged From Official Records of the Federal and Confederate Armies, Reports of the Adjutant Generals of the Several States, The Army Registers and Other Reliable Documents and Sources, Des Moines, Iowa: Dyer Publishing, 1908 (reprinted by Morningside Books, 1978),
    ISBN 978-0-89029-046-0
    .
  • Grandchamp, Robert. Rhode Island and the Civil War: Voices from the Ocean State (2012) excerpt
  • Gryzb, Frank L. Hidden History of Rhode Island and the Civil War (2013) excerpt
  • Gryzb, Frank L. Rhode Island's Civil War Hospital: Life and Death at Portsmouth Grove, 1862-1865 (2012) excerpt
  • Hopkins, William Palmer, and George B. Peck. The Seventh Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers in the Civil War, 1862-1865 (1903) online
  • Marvel, William. Burnside (U of North Carolina Press, 1991) Scholarly biography of the state's most famous soldier, General Ambrose Burnside.
  • Miller, Richard F. ed. States at War, Volume 1: A Reference Guide for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont in the Civil War (2013) excerpt
  • Rable, George C. Index to The Fourteenth Regiment Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored,) in the War to Preserve the Union, 1861-1865. (2021).
  • Rhodes, Robert Hunt. All for the Union: The Civil War Diary of Elijah Hunt Rhodes. (Orion Books, 1985), a famous diary of a Rhode Island soldier
  • Spicer, William Arnold. History of the Ninth and Tenth Regiments Rhode Island Volunteers, and the Tenth Rhode Island Battery, in the Union Army in 1862 (Providence: Snow and Farnham, 1892).
  • Williams, Frank J. and Patrick T. Conley. The Rhode Island Home Front in the Civil War Era (2013) excerpt

External links

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