The Cabinet

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Accessibility:
Title:
  • Revolutionary War Military Records
Call Number:
  • MSS 673, Sub Group 2
Record Level:
  • Subgroup
Physical Description:
  • 6 ft.
  • 3 RB, 2 AB, 6 LB, 2 vol.
Inclusive Dates:
  • 1775-1830?
Bulk Dates:
  • 1775-1783
Cataloged By:
  • Compiled by Rick Stattler, April 1997; Additions by Robin Flynn, November 2000,
Summary:
  • Military records, Rhode Island

  • Military papers from R.I. Continental regiments, state militia, and independent companies; and Providence General Hospital. Small amt of maritime and Ma., Ct., and N.H. material. Including various lists of soldiers such as muster and pay rolls, enlistments, returns. Also orderly bks; supply requests; general orders; correspondence; and miscellany.

Cataloging Note:
  • The records were originally a body of papers that were bound into six volumes during the 19th century. Two additional volumes, called the "Shepley volumes", were purchased by the society from collector George Shepley in 1938. Other additions were made to the collection in the latter half of the 20th century, and additions continue to accrue via donation and purchase.
  • The original six volumes were disbound probably some time in the 1970s. The two Shepley volumes remain intact. In the early 1980s, manuscripts curator Harold Kemble and volunteer Renee White created a card file index for the papers which is currently the only index for the collection. Revolutionary War papers from other RIHS collections, including but not necessarily limited to the Shepley Collection, RIHS Manuscripts, and RIHS Miscellaneous Manuscripts, were transferred into the existing collection during the indexing process. During re-processing in 2000, the Providence General Hospital records (formerly MSS 644) were added to the Revolutionary War Papers, and several smaller transfers were also made.
  • 19th-century indexes for the first five volumes still exist. The first four are item indexes and the fifth is a name index with references to document numbers. Documents from the original volumes are usually marked with at least two numbers: an item number (enclosed in the rubber stamp imprint) and a page number. Some also include a "Rhode Island Military Papers" ("R.I.M.P". or "M.P.") volume designation. It appears that documents originally in volume 5, however, were not assigned item numbers (see original index). Documents that are not labeled with a R.I.M.P. volume number can be checked against the original Revolutionary War indexes to confirm whether or not they were once part of that collection.
  • When processed during the 1980s, the collection was arranged chronologically and was divided between "indexed" and "unindexed" papers. Papers from different regiments were interfiled in both categories. "Indexed" papers were primarily lists of soldiers such as muster rolls, pay rolls and abstracts, enlistments, sick returns, etc. In 2000, the papers were re-arranged based primarily on regiment identification instead of indexing status, so that all documents from a particular regiment, including miscellany such as orderly books, correspondence, and receipts, are stored together. In cases in which there are duplicates of the same document, such as multiple copies of a muster roll, the duplicates are filed together in a single folder, and the folder is marked accordingly.
  • The Providence General Hospital records (Series 10), previously a separate collection, were bound in 1903, and disbound at an unknown later date. Each document was marked in pencil with its former page number.
Scope and Content:
  • The Revolutionary War Military Papers generally consist of documents from Rhode Island Continental and state regiments, county militia regiments, and independent companies, ranging from 1775 to 1783. Papers from the Rhode Island black regiment formed by Col. Christopher Greene and Lt. Col. Samuel Ward Jr. during the summer of 1778 are part of the collection. There is a small group of papers from Massachusetts Continental regiments and state militia; and single items for both Connecticut and New Hampshire regiments.;Rhode Island Continental and state regiments represented include those of regimental commanders Christopher Greene; Jeremiah Olney; Israel Angell; Daniel Hitchcock; Henry Sherburne; Christopher Lippitt; William Richmond; Archibald Crary; Joseph Stanton; William Barton; Benjamin Tallman and Robert Elliott. State militia regiments from all Rhode Island counties are also present, with Providence, Kent, and King’s counties the most widely represented. Papers from Rhode Island independent militia companies include those of the Kentish Guards, Pawtuxet Rangers, Smithfield and Cumberland Rangers, and North Providence Rangers.;Lists of soldiers are the most common type of document in the collection, and consist of muster rolls, pay rolls and abstracts, enlistments, delinquent lists, returns of the sick, and ration bills. Soldiers of Native-American and African-American lineage can be found in these rolls. Occasionally, details such as physical appearance (including hair and eye color, complexion, and height); age; occupation; birth place; and residence are designated. The orderly books, court martial proceedings, and supply and pay requests in the collection are also a source for soldiers’ names.;The orderly books and court martial accounts are also a good source for a general study of military, disciplinary, and supply policies and problems in the army. General orders are another potential source for such information.;A card index for individual soldiers listed among the papers, created in the early 1980s, is in the Manuscripts Reading Room. The cards list the soldier’s name, the date of the document on which his name appears, the colonel and captain of his regiment, and the general location of the document within the collection.
Subjects:
Accession Number:
  • 1875.14
  • 1876.6
  • 1883.11
  • 1891.12.3
  • 1900.19.1
  • 1975.73.3.1-3
Provenance:
  • The provenance of much of the collection is unknown. A list of documents in the collection whose provenance has been identified can be found in the collection file.
Inventory:
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