The Glen: Revolutionary Days

The Glen was the setting for some military activity during the Revolutionary War, but that is only part of the story. The Glen farmers and Portsmouth citizens in general suffered greatly during the war. By the end of the war almost all of Portsmouth men from sixteen to sixty had served in the military. The men of the Glen were no exception.  One Glen farmer/soldier who appears in the records is Ensign Cook Wilcox.  His farm was around the area of the Leonard Brown House. He was Leonard Brown's father in law. Wilcox was part of the 14 member militia company that would be called into action when needed. There were some Aquidneck residents that were loyal to England, but most Portsmouth residents sympathized with the American Patriots.

In December 1776, the British invaded and occupied Aquidneck Island.  Life changed dramatically for the people of Portsmouth.  Once the British landed, they marched to secure Bristol Ferry and Howland's Ferry where they caught up with and fired upon the militia men who were leaving the island.  From Bristol and Tiverton, these Patriots later watched the British movements and occasionally fired on them across the ferry narrows.

The British stopped the ferries and that created a hardship for Portsmouth businesses and families. To make matters worse, the English naval ships blockaded the harbors which stopped shipping and trade.  Wood was the major source of fuel at the time, and it became difficult to provide enough wood from the mainland to supply both the local residents and the occupying troops.  The British and Hessians chopped down most of the trees on Aquidneck Island and burned many houses.  The steep sides of the Glen valley may have made it difficult to cut down those trees and that may be why the Glen could remain such a beautiful spot with mature trees.  The fuel shortage was so severe that the British regularly sent men in transports to Long Island to cut wood for Aquidneck Island.

British soldier Mackenzie records that the citizens were given an opportunity to help feed themselves.  They could keep one gun to hunt birds and they could keep a boat for fishing.  During most of the occupation the British were particularly careful not to damage the mills on the island that ground corn.  That probably protected the grist mill in the Glen.  It is marked on 1777 maps.

Meanwhile the British continued to dig in and prepare defenses.  The British ordered all Portsmouth men to work three days a week on the defensive works for the village.  Any Patriot invasion of Aquidneck Island would have to deal with the British fortifications on the Portsmouth side of the island. The British reinforced the abandoned Patriot earthworks in Portsmouth and built a number of their own, including small earthen fortifications called batteries and redoubts between the main forts, along the main roads, and at various locations along the shore. These redoubts guarded the spots that were the most likely avenues for an invasion of the island:  Common Fence Point, Bristol Ferry, Howland’s Ferry and Fogland Ferry.  Hessian troops held the high area above Fogland Ferry (the area around the Elmhurst school area) and watched for rebel crossings.

In a letter written by a Hessian solder  dated January 3, 1778, we get a glimpse of the life of these German soldiers on Glen land.  The Hessians were fearful that the Fogland location would be a Patriot invasion spot.

"The sight of 300 flat-boats just opposite the place where I was positioned with my Corps of Jagers and the probability of it being their landing place caused me to offer as much resistance to their plan as possible, in consequence of which I and my men have frequently spent the whole night lying on our stomachs near the riverbank on watch for the enemy. The construction of four hostile batteries opposite me and the ship, and the differing preparations they were making for the attack, all of which went on before my eyes, required all of my attention. Consequently the anxiety I suffered during that portion of five weeks was unavoidably proportionate to the importance of my post, and it was impossible for me to sleep at night. I once had a man of the Landgrave Regiment killed and another wounded, owing to my camp being constantly bombarded, so I was obliged to leave it and seat myself somewhere behind a hill."

(From the Hessian Occupation of Newport and Rhode Island 1776-1779  by Walter K. Schroder)

By August 4, 1778, the British general had withdrawn all his guns from Portsmouth except a twelve-pounder at the Bristol Ferry Redoubt and a nine pounder at Howland's Point.  Feeling under threat, the general ordered his men to take Portsmouth carriages, carts, wagons, wheelbarrows and other tools that could be used to build trenches and send them to defend Newport.  He let farm families keep one cow, but he rounded up the rest.  Portsmouth residents had their arms collected by the British as well.  Trees were also downed across Portsmouth and Middletown streets to block American forces from progressing down to Newport.  In the heat of the summer, the British filled in to rest of the wells in Portsmouth, which created a shortage of good water and led to disease.

In contrast to the beauty of the island in the beginning of the occupation, the end of the war brought with it devastation.  Paul Revere, who took part in the Battle of Rhode Island, wrote to his wife:  “ you have heard this Island is the Garden of America, indeed it used to appear so; but those British Savages have so abused & destroyed the Trees (the greatest part of which was Fruit Trees), that it does not look like the same Island; some of the inhabitants who left it hardly know where to find their homes."

It took generations to recover the Portsmouth economy.  Most Portsmouth residents were preoccupied with trying to repair their farms and homes. but there was no wood for heating or construction.  Portsmouth residents had to go to Tiverton to buy wood.  Many Portsmouth residents had no livestock, barns or even tools to start farming once again.  Portsmouth military leaders - Cook Wilcox, among them, voted against adoption of the United States Constitution.  As an agricultural community, Portsmouth people were concerned about war debt repayment and “paper money” issues as well as waiting for the adoption of the Bill Of Rights.  Portsmouth townspeople began to favor the new constitution when it seemed that the national government would start putting heavy fines on Rhode Island trade with other states.