A Tribute to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment

FREE ADMISSION · SUGGESTED DONATION

LIVING HISTORY

Valerie Tutson 
Rhode Island Black Storytellers

Tutson will perform a presentation portraying the wife of Caesar Updik, and tell their lives of upheaval and uncertainty during the war and on his return as a free man to Rhode Island.

Jason Roomes
Trustee & Direct Descendant

A historical re-enactor and direct descendant of two separate patriots of color, Roomes will discuss the formation of the Regiment and his own family’s role in the Revolution.

[Handwritten historical document, North Kingstown, dated Feb 24, 1778, addressed to Beriah Brown, signed Nathaniel Hall — text is in cursive and partially illegible]

FEATURED TALK

John Dower 
Historian & President Emeritus

Dower will offer a presentation on the lives and sacrifice of Caesar and Moses Updike, two enslaved servants of Smith’s Castle who enlisted and served in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.

Military drill demonstrations and salute by Revolutionary reenactors Varnum Continentals & 2nd Rhode Island Regiment