Patriot Burial Markers: Ormsbee Cemetery and the First Rhode Island Regiment

Our new season kicks off with an episode that highlights the war experiences of the legendary  Rhode Island Regiment, a multiracial combat regiment that served through the entirety of the American Revolution, from the Siege of Boston to the disbanding of the Continental Army in 1783. The regiment saw action at the battles of Red Bank and Rhode Island before being transferred to New York’s Hudson Valley where they took part in the battle of Pines Bridge and an unsuccessful attempt to seize Fort Ontario in 1783. They mustered out of Saratoga later that year.

The episode also tells the story of Isaac Ormsbee, a white private in the Rhode Island Regiment who took part in the Oswego Expedition and mustered out at Saratoga. He would later return to Saratoga on foot, walking from Rhode Island to the Town of Greenfield, to purchase land there. Descendants of Isaac Ormsbee still live on that land today.

Markers of Focus: Patriot Burials: Ormsbee Cemetery, Saratoga County.

Interviewees: Dr. Shirley L. Green, author of Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence and Eric Schnitzer, Park Ranger and Military Historian at the Saratoga National Historical Park.

A New York Minute in History is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by David Hopper. Our executive producer is Tina Renick.  Our theme is “Begrudge” by Darby.

Photo courtesy of Saratoga County Historian.

Further Reading:

The New York State 250th Commemorative Field Guide—Office of State History and the Association of Public Historians of NYS.

Shirley L. Green, Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence (2023)

Gary B. Nash, The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution (2006)

Robert Geake, From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution (2010)

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