The Occupation of Rhode Island, 1776

The British occupied Newport in December 1776, and a long siege to evict them culminated in August 1778 in the large but inconclusive Battle of Rhode Island, a contest which was the first combined effort of the Americans and their French allies. The British voluntarily evacuated Newport in October 1779, but in July 1780 the French army under Rochambeau landed there and made the port town its base of operations. It was from Newport, Providence, and other Rhode Island encampments that the French began their march to Yorktown in 1781.