by the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society
The Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society of Rhode Island was founded circa 1875. Its mission was to preserve and disseminate the history of the Civil War. While the Rhode Island Historical Society had already been active for over fifty years, it had a more antiquarian focus at the time, and a separate society for the Civil War was deemed necessary. Full members were required to be Civil War veterans. At the monthly meetings of the Society, papers were read by members, describing battles and campaigns. The Society also developed a small library for use of its members. In 1878, it began publishing the papers read at its meetings, under the title Personal Narratives of the Battles of the Rebellion. These were published in seven series of about 12 small pamphlets each, and continued through 1915. These publications now constitute a major resource for those interested in the role Rhode Island played in the Civil War.
– Historical Note from the Rhode Island Historical Society
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Series 1, Numbers 1-10 (1878-1879)The First Campaign of the Second Rhode Island Infantry The Rhode Island Artillery at the First Battle of Bull Run Reminiscences of Service in the First Rhode Island Cavalry My First Cruise at Sea and the Loss of the Iron-Clad Monitor Kit Carson’s Fight with the Comancheand Kiowa Indians A Trip to Richmond as a Prisoner of War Incidents of Cavalry Service in Louisiana The Bay Fight. A Sketch of the Battle of Mobile Bay Personal Incidents in the Early Campaigns of the the Third Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers The Battle of the Mine |
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Series 2, Numbers 1-10 (1880-1881)The First Cruise of the Montauk A Country Boy’s First Three Months in the Army Battery F, First R. I. Light Artillery The Marine Artillery With the Burnside Expedition, and the Battle of Camden, N. C. The Battles of Roanoke Island and Elizabeth City The Burnside Expedition Reminiscences of Two Years with the Colored Troops A Recruit Before Petersburg Person Experience with the Chancellorsville Campaign The Battle of Cedar Mountain |
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Series 2, Numbers 11-20The High School Boys of the Tenth R. I. Regiment Services of the Cavalry in the Army of the Potomac Prison Life of Lieut. James M. Fales The Last Tour of Duty at the Siege of Charleston Ambrose Everett Burnside (A Memorial Address) Incidents of Service with the Eleventh Regiment R. I. Volunteers Battle of Cedar Creek Incidents of Cavalry Experience During Gen. Pope’s Campaign |
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Series 3, Numbers 1-10Life in the Texan Blockade My Four Month Experience as a Prisoner of War Gun-Boat Service on the James River A Private’s Recollections of Fredericksburg Camp and Hospital Cavalry Service with General Sheridan, and Life in Libby Prison Service with Battery F, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, in North Carolina Reminiscences of Gun-Boat Service on the Nansemond The Battle of Groveton, August 28, 1862 Recollections of Monacacy |
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Series 3, Numbers 11-20Recollections of Service in the Twelfth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers The March to the Sea Reminiscences of Service with Colored Troops in the Army of the Cumberland Frontier Service During the Rebellion: or, A History of Company K, First Infantry California Volunteers Reminiscences of Service with the Twelfth Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and a Memorial of Col. H. Browne Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, at the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862 Relief of Washington, North Carolina, by the Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers A Private’s Reminiscences of the First Year of the War Battle of Kelley’s Ford, March 17, 1863 The Investment of Fort Pulaski |
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Series 4, Numbers 1-10From Monocacy to Danville The Seige and Capture of Harper’s Ferry by the Confederates, September, 1862 Service with Battery F, First Rhode Island light Artillery Ther First Rhode Island Cavalry at Middleburg, V. A., June 17 and 18, 1863 Personal Recollections of General Sheridan The Monitor and the Merrimac From Bridgeport to Ringold, by Way of Lookout Mountain Duffie and the Monument to His Memory The Burnside Expedition and the Engagement at Roanoke Island Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, at the Second Battle of Bull Run |
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Series 4, Numbers 11-20Recollections of Service in Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery My Boyhood at West Point From Memphis to Allatoona, and the Battle of Allatoona, October 5, 1864 Recollections of the United States Naval Academy With the Ninth Army Corps in East Tennessee In Rebel Prison: or Experiences in Danville, VA. Richmond, Annapolis, and Home John Albery Monroe. A Memorial. Recollections of Him as a Commander of Battery D The Gettysburg Gun A Chaplain’s Experince in the Union Army |
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Series 5, Numbers 1-10Services with Colored Troops in Burnside’s Corps Kearsarge and Alabama From Andersonville to Freedom From Fredericksburg to Gettysburg Operations of the Cavalry Corps, Middle Military Division, Armies of the United States, From February 27 to March 8, 1865, Participated in by the First Rhode Island Cavalry The Organization and First Campaign of Battery E, First Rhode Island Light Artillery Assault on Fort Gilmer and Experiences of Prison Life Battle of the Crater and Experiences of Prison Life Reminiscences of Signal Service in the Civil War From Spottsylvania to Wilmington, N. C., by way of Andersonville and Florence |
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Series 6, Numbers 1-10A Folorn Hope How I Lost My Sabre in War and Found It in Peace Reminiscences of the Signal Service in the Civil War Extracts From My Diary and From My Experiences While Boarding With Jefferson Davis, in Three of His Notorious Hotels, in Richmond Va., Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Salisbury, N. C., From July, 1861, to June, 1862 The Maryland Campaign with the Forth Rhode Island The Sword of Honor. From Captivity to Freedom Through Chancellorville, Into and Out of Libby Prison The Storming of the Lines of Petersburg by the Sixth Corps, April 2, 1865 Our Last Campaign and Subsequent Service in Texas The Florida Campaign with light Battery C, Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery |
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Series 7, Numbers 1-10Reminiscences of the Burnside Expedition From the Rapidan the the James Under Grant The Incident in the Battle of Middleburg, VA. War Reminiscences The Sailor on Horseback Campaign of Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, in Kentucky and East Tennessee The Negro as a Soldier The Military Services of Major-General Ambrose Everett Burnside in the Civil War Part I The Military Services of Major-General Ambrose Everett Burnside in the Civil War Part II The Second Rhode Island Volunteers at the Siege of Petersburg, VA. |