II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 567
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the First Rhode Island
Regiment, in recognition of their dedicated service during the Revolu-
tionary War.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. W
HITEHOUSE(for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. REED, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr.
B
LUMENTHAL, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. KING, Ms.
K
LOBUCHAR, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. BENNET, Ms. SMITH, Mr.
F
ETTERMAN, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the
First Rhode Island Regiment, in recognition of their
dedicated service during the Revolutionary War.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘First Rhode Island 4
Regiment Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) During the winter at Valley Forge, from 1
1777–1778, the Continental Army had difficulty re-2
cruiting the necessary quotas of men set by the Con-3
gress. 4
(2) At the same time, the State of Rhode Island 5
was ordered to supply two battalions while faced 6
with the occupation of the City of Newport by the 7
British. 8
(3) In January 1778, at the urging of Brigadier 9
General James Varnum, General George Washington 10
wrote to Governor Nicholas Cooke of the State of 11
Rhode Island requesting assistance recruiting men 12
for the Continental Line. 13
(4) On February 14, 1778, the Rhode Island 14
General Assembly voted to allow the enlistment of 15
‘‘every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man 16
slave’’. 17
(5) In addition, the Rhode Island General As-18
sembly provided that any enlisted slave ‘‘upon his 19
passing muster before Colonel Christopher Greene, 20
be immediately discharged from the service of his 21
master or mistress, and be absolutely free as though 22
he had never been incumbered and be incumbered 23
with any kind of servitude or slavery’’. 24
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(6) As a result, between February 1778 and 1
June 1778, Colonel Christopher Greene, Lt. Colonel 2
Jeremiah Olney and Major Samuel Ward recruited 3
almost 200 men of African heritage and Indigenous 4
descent who formed the core of the First Rhode Is-5
land Regiment. 6
(7) The First Rhode Island Regiment became 7
among the first units in American History in which 8
men of every race and ethnicity were recruited to 9
serve. 10
(8) On August 28, 1778, at the Battle of 11
Rhode Island, following an attempted siege of Brit-12
ish-occupied Newport along with the newly allied 13
French fleet, the First Rhode Island Regiment acted 14
heroically in holding back Hessian forces and caus-15
ing them to retreat. 16
(9) During the Battle of Rhode Island, the 17
First Rhode Island Regiment’s losses included three 18
killed, nine wounded and eleven missing soldiers. 19
(10) Soldiers of color from the First Rhode Is-20
land Regiment continued to fight bravely to win 21
American independence for 5 more years in an inte-22
grated Rhode Island Regiment that included men of 23
African, European, and Indigenous descent. 24
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(11) On December 25, 1783, the last Rhode Is-1
land soldiers were discharged at Saratoga, New 2
York. 3
(12) Their commander, Colonel Jeremiah 4
Olney, praised the Regiment for ‘‘faithfully pre-5
serving in the best of causes, in every stage of serv-6
ice, with unexampled fortitude and patience through 7
all the danger and toils of a long and severe war’’. 8
(13) Afterwards, some veterans of the First 9
Rhode Island Regiment had to consistently resist ef-10
forts at re-enslavement and fought for back wages 11
from the Rhode Island General Assembly. 12
(14) According to the Rhode Island State Ar-13
chives, the First Rhode Island Regiment included at 14
least the following soldiers: Babcock, Priamus (Pri-15
mus); Bent, Prince; Bours, Cato; Brown, Priamus 16
(Primus); Burk, Africa; Burroughs, John; Car-17
penter, Cudgo; Champlin, Dick; Champlin, Jack; 18
Champlin, July; Champlin, Newport; Champlin, 19
Sharper; Champlin, York; Clark, James; 20
Coddington, Jack; Fones, Jack; Gardner, Cuff; 21
Gardner, Hercules; Gardner, Minkl; Gardner, 22
Preamus (Primus); Gardner, Rutter; Gray, Ebe-23
nezer; Green, Cuff; Greene, Cato; Greene, Jack; 24
Greene, Pero; Greene, William; Hammond, Prince; 25
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Harriss, Cesar; Hazard, Backus; Hazard, Jabin; 1
Hazard, Jacob; Hazard, Peter; Hazard, Peter; 2
Lefavour, Thom; Mason, Warsen; Mawney, Cyrus; 3
Minturn, Jack; Mowrey, Pero; Nichols, Thomas; 4
Perry, Ganset; Phillips, Philow; Pierce, Titus; Pot-5
ter, David; Randall, Prince; Rhodes, Bristol; Rhodes, 6
Priamus; Rhodes, Richard; Rhodes, Samuel; Rich-7
mond, Ebenezer; Robinson, Mingo; Rodman, Isaac; 8
Rodman, Mingo; Rodman, Prince; Rose, Cesar; 9
Saltonstall, Brittain; Saunders, Sampson; Sheldon, 10
Cesar; Slave; Slave; Smith, Juba; Sweeling, Query; 11
Talbot, Sigby; Tanner, Quam; Tillinghast, Cuff; 12
Updike, Cesar; Updike, Moses; Vaughan, Prince; 13
Vernon, Cato; Watson, Fortune; Wells, Cesar; 14
Wickes, Nat; and Willbour, Boston. 15
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 16
(a) A
WARDAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 17
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 18
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 19
award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 20
of appropriate design to the First Rhode Island Regiment, 21
collectively in recognition of their dedicated service during 22
the Revolutionary War. 23
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 24
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 25
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Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-1
retary’’) shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, 2
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-3
retary. 4
(c) R
HODEISLANDSTATELIBRARY.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 6
gold medal in honor of the First Rhode Island Regi-7
ment of the Revolutionary War under subsection (a), 8
the gold medal shall be given to the Rhode Island 9
State Library, where it will be displayed as appro-10
priate and made available for research. 11
(2) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 12
Congress that the Rhode Island State Library 13
should make the gold medal received under para-14
graph (1) available for display elsewhere, particu-15
larly at other appropriate locations associated with 16
the First Rhode Island Regiment of the Revolu-17
tionary War. 18
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 19
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 20
bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 21
sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, mate-22
rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 23
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SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 1
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to 2
this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 3
of title 31, United States Code. 4
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 5
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 6
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 7
items. 8
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 9
SALE. 10
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 11
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 12
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-13
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 14
this Act. 15
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 16
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 17
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 18
Enterprise Fund. 19
Æ
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