Susanna Explores the Revolutionary War in Rhode Island

 

 Rhode Island Independence Day

May, 1776

It's May ye 4th Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Six. Today the Colony of Rhode Island has renounced allegiance King George III. 

Act of Renunciation

Act of Renunciation Transcript

What does that mean for the ladies? 

Women in Revolutionary Rhode Island

We have tea to discuss the news. (No, I am not Felicity. No I am not Samantha. How do YOU know them?) 

We have tea and discuss things like fresh food in season now it is spring. We have strawberries (in New England? This early? Never. Maybe in Baltimore or Virginia where some of these ladies are from.)

 Then we discuss clothing, especially undergarments. I am wearing my stays under my gown over my shift. Yes I DO complain my stays are too tight. 

Most cloth comes from Britain at this time. 

A block print scarf of India muslin and the printers' block

An embroidered pocket. Not as pretty as mine. 

While there is fighting happening not far away, women are not allowed to fight. We females (the grown ladies who manage the households) have found ways to make an impact. We have decided to boycott British goods. Women have burned the tea, held spinning bees to create homespun fabric. We are knitting stockings for soldiers and 

are prepared to sacrifice sheets and shirts to the war effort. 

We talk about how we must learn to make our own clothing now we are boycotting British goods. We will form a Daughters of Liberty group to boycott British goods and make our own homespun clothing.

Here the ladies have made a linen frock for a young child. It closes in the back. My frocks are made from cotton. Cotton is imported from England (via India). Linen is made from flax. We grow flax on our farms. 

Not everyone supports renouncing the King. 

Some women choose not to become Daughters of Liberty. Jemimah Bull lives in Newport. She is a slave. If the British promise freedom, she would take it. 

Sarah Slocum is a widow with young children. In 1777 she will be ordered to take her family away from their coastal farm and move inland because the General Assembly suspects she is a spy! She is accused of communicating intelligence and providing food to the British in occupied Newport.

This is Mrs. Metcalf (Ann Fairchild) Bowler of Newport. Her husband is a legislator and judge. I am unsure of his loyalties. It may be some day in the future it will be known that he was using his prominent position to spy for the British! Does his wife know about this? If so, what can she do? Her daughter will marry the Marquis Langfroi de Lisle an aide-de-camp to the Marquis de Lafayette. 

Anne Fairchild Bowker

Her fine dress looks very familiar. The silk and lace likely come from France imported from Britain. 

I must go now but will return another day to share more of the activities in the STATE of Rhode Island!