The town militia consisted of every able-bodied man in town between the ages of 16 and 60. It defended the town of Bristol and was occasionally deployed elsewhere within the state. In 1775 and 1776, the militia kept watch against the royal navy patrolling Narragansett Bay. Then, from 1776 to 1779, they protected the town from the British garrison in Newport. The militia were split in half, with each half serving for one month at a time. They participated in General Joseph Spencer’s failed expedition to Newport in 1777, and the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778. The town of Bristol had one company of militia, which, along with those of Barrington and Warren, made up the Bristol County Regiment. There was also an “alarm” company, which would consist of the older men. Many of the men in the Alarm Company had previously served as officers in the main militia company. Beginning in 1776, the main militia company also included a train of artillery.
Known Members of the Rhode Island Militia from Bristol During the Revolutionary War Include:
Major Generals: William Bradford, Simeon Potter
Colonels: Nathaniel Pearse
Lieutenant Colonels: Nathaniel Church, Peter Church, Thomas Gray
Majors: Benjamin Bosworth, Sion Martindale
Captains: Daniel Bradford, Jeremiah Ingraham, Stephen Smith, William Throope
Lieutenants: Jonthan Diman, Joseph Reynolds
Ensigns: Hezekiah Munro, Thomas Pearse
Quartermasters: Benjamin Bourne, Shearjashub Bourne
Serjeants: Joseph Diman John Fales, John Norris, Nathaniel Phillips, Richard Smith, Benjamin Wardwell
Corporals: John Coomer, John Gray, Simeon Ingraham, Newton Waldron
Privates: Ebenezer Blake, Benjamin Bosworth, Samuel Bosworth, William Bosworth, Aaron Bourne, Coomer Bullock, Lenox Bullock, Simeon Bullock, Simon Burr, William Christopher, Nathaniel Church, Thomas Church, James Coggeshall, William Coggeshall, Thomas Kinnecut Coomer, William Coxx, Charles DeWolf, John DeWolf, James Diman Nathaniel Diman, Timothy Diman, William Diman, Richard Drowne, Solomon Drowne, Charles Easterbrooks, Nathaniel Elliot, Jonathan Fales, Thomas Fales, Timothy Fales, William Fales, Loring Finney, Daniel Gladding, John Gladding, John Gladding, Joshua Gladding, Samuel Gladding, Jonathan Glover, Isaac Gorham, Thomas Gray, Bernard Haile, Robert Hall, Richard Harding, William Harding, George Hogens, Ebenezer Holmes, John Howland, Samuel Howland, George Ingraham, William Ingraham, Resolved Johnson, William Lawless, Daniel LeFavour, Benjamin Linsey, John Linsey, Joseph Linsey, Samuel Linsey, William Linsey, John Liscomb, Nathaniel Manchester, Seabury Manchester, Samuel Martin, Elisha May, John May, Archibald Munro, Benjamin Munro, Daniel Munro, Edward Munro, Joseph Munro, Matthias Munro, Nathan Munro, Nathaniel Munro, Samuel Munro, Sanford Munro, William Munro, William Munro, James Nooning, Joseph Oldridge, Charles O’Neal, George Oxx, Samuel Royal Paine, Nathaniel Pearse, Preserved Pearse, Jonathan Peck, Nicholas Peck, Samuel Peck, Thomas Peck, Joseph Pool, Benjamin Read, William Read, George Reynolds, Jonathan Reynolds, Samuel Reynolds, Amaziah Richmond, Benjamin Salisbury, Caleb Salisbury, George Sanford, Royal Sanford, Stephen Sanford, Joseph Shearman, James Smith, Josiah Smith, Nathaniel Smith, Samuel Smith, William Tabor, Edward Talby, Stephen Talby, Thomas Usher, Joshua Van Doorn, Moses Van Doorn, Ambrose Waldron, Billings Waldron, George Waldron, Isaac Waldron, John Waldron, Leonard Waldron, Nathaniel Waldron, Thomas Waldron, James Wardwell, Jonathan Wardwell, Joseph Wardwell, Stephen Wardwell, Asa West, Nathaniel West, Nathaniel Hicks West, Oliver West, Thomas West, William West, John Wilson, Nathaniel Wilson, Samuel Wilson, Thomas Wilson, William Wilson, Joseph Wood
Alarm List (those not listed elsewhere on this page): Jeremiah Finney, Amos Haile, John Howland, Stephen Paine, Loring Peck, Gilbert Richmond, Jonathan Russell, Thomas Swan, Anthony Van Doorn, Samuel Wardwell, William Wardwell
Rev War Bristol 