On this day 250 years ago on Prudence Island, Rhode Island, the militia defeated a raiding party of 250 Royal Navy sailors and marines from the HMS Glasgow and the sloop HMS Swan. The fighting began the previous day, January 12, when British raiders drove off the island approximately 50 Rhode Island militia who initially opposed the raid. Captain Samuel Pearce’s Second Company of the Portsmouth militia — 32 men, including 11 African-Americans, all from Prudence Island — who had been reinforced by about 12 men of the Warwick militia under the command of Capt. Joseph Wright plus a few more men of Richmond’s State Regiment under the command of Ensign James Miller from Bristol, fired three volleys at the British when they landed on the south end of the island and then fought a running battle from “fence to fence” as the British pushed them to their boats on the north end of the six-mile long island. After Pearce’s, Wright’s and Miller’s men rowed to safety, the British began confiscating supplies, carrying away the remaining live stock, and burning most of the homes and barns on the island. In the first day of the battle on Prudence Island, one member of Pearce’s company was killed and another was captured and Private Williams of Richmond’s Regiment was “shot through the breast, the ball passing directly under the breast bone, went in one side and came out the other” and also taken prisoner by the British. The British commander reported that three of his men were “slightly wounded” in the fighting on the first day of the battle.

The next morning, 50 Rhode Island militia rowed back to Prudence Island to resume the fight. This time they were joined by Capt. William Barton in command of a contingent of 60 to 80 men from Richmond’s State Regiment and 80 men from the Kentish Guards under the command of Col. Richard Fry from East Greenwich. Other Rhode Island militia crossed the bay to join in the fighting as the battle continued for more than three hours. On this day it was the British who retreated to their ships under fire from the militia. The reports of British casualties are not definitive but they apparently lost 14 dead, one captured, and many wounded. The American casualties were considerably less. Capt. Billings Throop and an unnamed private of Richmond’s Regiment were mortally wounded, and Private Job Greenman and two other Rhode Island militiamen were wounded.

On this day 250 years ago Rev. Ezra Stiles recorded in his diary this summary of the day’s fighting:

Yesterday morn- [British Captain James] Wallace sent into Town a List of near 40 Ships which were to be here next Spring, Last Sat>” he recd the last Supply of Beef, till the Congress & Assembly order further. The Assembly are now sitting at Providence ; & Wallace is entertaining them with the Conflagration of Prudence, to awe them into Supplies.

We hear that at VIII o’Clock this Morn- our p’ple 100 Men on Prudence attacked 300 of Wallace’s Marines £ Sailors & Negroes, & were repulsed or obliged to fight on Retreat. There was fireing all the forenoon. After a Reinforcemt from the North ward our pple attacked them again, & they retired on board Ships after taking off some Cattle & Hay. We had three men wounded, one came to T” this Eveng.

The women and children of Prudence Island were evacuated with most of their livestock before the fighting began and the British reportedly captured only 100 sheep, a few cattle, hay and several bushes of potatoes. However the British destroyed most of the homes and structures on the island in the fighting and came back a couple of days later to destroy the rest. Before the battle, 228 people from 33 families lived on Prudence Island many of them part of the extended Allin family (half of the men who served in Captain Pearce’s company had the last name Allin), but none of them would return to the island during the remainder of the War. In fact, Prudence Island would remain largely uninhabited for the next hundred years.

We should all honor Captain Billlings Throop and the two unnamed militiamen who gave their lives, and also Privates Job Greenman and Williams and two unnamed men who were wounded in the Battle of Prudence Island. We should also remember the members of the Allin family and other inhabitants of Prudence Island who fought in the militia and lost their homes for their sacrifices for American freedom. To that end, tomorrow afternoon, January 14, 2026 at 6:00 pm the Portsmouth Free Public Library in conjunction with the Daughters of the American Revolution are hosting a talk, in person and on Zoom on the Battle of Prudence Island.

Sources: Stiles at p. 654; https://battleofrhodeisland.org/from-fence-to-fence/; https://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/1776-skirmish/; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKDni9ZiqAM; https://www.portsmouthlibrary.org/adult/events/10186/new-insights-battle-prudence-island-laurie-greaney