A Fight For Independence: Woonsocket In The Revolution

In preparation of the United States of America's 250th, Semiquincentennial, Friends of Oak Hill Cemetery Presents A Fight For Independence: Woonsocket In The Revolution, an educational event regarding Rhode Island's involvement during the American Revolution.

June 27th, 2026
Full Event 12pm-4pm
From 12:00pm - 3:00pm
194 Fortin Drive, Woonsocket, Rhode Island 02895
Holiday Inn Express and Suites - Conference Hall
3 Speakers, Vendors, Sponsors, Special Guests

3:00pm - 4:00pm
Capron Cemetery, across the street from Holiday Inn on Cumberland Hill Road, Woonsocket, Rhode Island 02895
Walking Tour/Gravestone Conservation Workshop and Wreath Laying

FREE EVENT

Learn about the American Revolution and Rhode Island's involvement from three of the most reputable and educated individuals to speak on the topic throughout Rhode Island and New England.

Robert A. Geake - 2pm - "Reimagine the Revolution in Rhode Island”
Robert A. Geake is a historian and the author of fifteen books on Rhode Island and New England history, including From Slaves to Soldiers: The First Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution. Other books include A History of the Narragansett Tribe: Keepers of the Bay, Native and New Americans, New England’s Citizen Soldiers: Mariners and Minutemen, Fired A Gun at the Rising of the Sun: The Journal of Noah Robinson of Attleboro in the Revolutionary War, and a work in progress to be titled The Battle Off the Field in the American Revolution.

Mr. Geake served two terms as President of The Cocumscussoc Association which maintains Smith’s Castle, an historic house museum in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and continues as Chair of the Association’s Education Committee. He also serves on the advisory board of the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion project. Mr. Geake is a contributor to the blogs smallstatebighistory.com, rifootprints.com, and most recently, The Cocumscussoc Review on smithscastle.org. His essay on Rhode Island and The American Revolution is among those contributed to EnCompass, online tutorials for the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Rhode Island Department of Education.

* "Reimagine the Revolution in Rhode Island” - Tour Stop

Don Hagist - 1pm
Don N. Hagist is managing editor of Journal of the American Revolution (allthingsliberty.com). His historical studies focus on presenting an accurate picture of individual soldiers and their families, especially those of the British army who served in America. This research is done using exclusively primary sources, mostly from archives in North America and Europe. He is a consultant for the PBS documentary The American Revolution produced by Ken Burns, and has written several recent books including Noble Volunteers: the British Soldiers who fought the American Revolution (Westholme, 2020), The Revolution’s Last Men: The Soldiers behind the Photographs (Westholme, 2015) and These Distinguished Corps: British Grenadier and Light Infantry Battalions in the American Revolution (Helion, 2022). Don is an engineer for a major medical device manufacturer, and also writes for several well-known syndicated cartoonists.

Bjorn Bruckshaw - 12:15pm
Bjorn Bruckshaw is a combat veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division, completed multiple combat deployments, and was wounded in action. He is a Revolutionary War researcher, writer, and dedicated enthusiast and advocate focused on overlooked engagements and irregular warfare in the northern theater. A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, he has a strong connection to the region’s Revolutionary history and a particular interest in Rhode Island units. He has participated in battlefield archaeology, including work at Saratoga, and brings a hands-on, field-based perspective to his research. He resides in New Hampshire with his daughter, Grace, an emerging Revolutionary War enthusiast, and their two boxers, Remi and Knox.

Learn about how Woonsocket fit into the mix from sum of Woonsocket's local historians, genealogists, researchers and cemetery conservators, who will be around to engage and speak to everyone,

Woonsocket was not established at the time. One half of Woonsocket was Smithfield, the other half Cumberland, and here in Woonsocket there are 12, possibly 13 Veterans of the American Revolution at final rest.

We will highlight three of those Veterans on June 27th, which is to take place in the Conference Hall at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites, 194 Fortin Drive, Woonsocket, RI 02895.

After the 3 talks, we will move over across the street from the Holiday Inn, to Historic Lieutenant Charles Capron Cemetery for a gravestone conservation workshop/tour, followed by a Wreath Laying at the graves of Private Joseph Capron and Lieutenant Charles Capron.