Honoring the Rhode Island Regiment at Wilmington & Brandywine Cemetery
In a solemn ceremony held last week, a memorial was dedicated at the Wilmington & Brandywine Cemetery. The monument serves as a memorial for 28 soldiers from the Rhode Island Regiment—14 of whom were white and 14 of whom were African American—alongside five British officers. All 33 men were interred in the same mass grave.
The event drew a crowd of dignitaries and descendants. Among those present was Jason Roomes, a member of the 6th Regiment United States Colored Troops and a descendant of Caesar Rose, one of the Rhode Island soldiers buried at the site.
Distinguished Guests and Official Commemorations
Wilmington Mayor John Carney delivered the keynote address.
The procession to the memorial site was led by the City of Wilmington Police Color Guard and the Delaware State Police Bagpipes, setting a tone of profound respect.
A Final Salute at the Graveside
The dedication concluded with a sequence of rituals that spanned both American and British military customs.
The project, which has garnered significant press coverage from outlets including the Smithsonian and Yahoo, highlights a growing interest in the localized, human-scale histories of the Revolutionary War. For those interested in the visual record of the event, a PowerPoint presentation of the ceremony is available for download, detailing the progression of the unveiling and the various participants who made the memorial possible.
