What Historic Cemeteries Reveal About Rhode Island

Every gravestone is a sentence. Every cemetery is a story. And Rhode Island — one of the oldest corners of the country — has more of those stories per square mile than almost anywhere in America.

This week, preservationist Deb Suggs joins us to make the case that historic cemeteries aren't just resting places for the dead — they're primary sources, open to anyone willing to look. From colonial-era epitaphs to the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers, enslaved people, and forgotten civic leaders, Rhode Island's burial grounds hold a version of our history that no textbook does.

Deb shares what draws her to this work, what's at stake when these sites fall into disrepair, and the remarkable Rhode Islanders — some famous, most not — she's encountered while walking among the stones. It's a conversation about preservation, community, and why the past is never as buried as we think.

In this episode

Why historic cemeteries are some of the most reliable historical records we have • What gets lost when a burial ground is abandoned or destroyed • Stories of Rhode Islanders whose graves reveal lives history overlooked • How anyone can get involved in cemetery preservation • The surprising things gravestones can tell you — from demographics to disease to art history

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Transcript

Bill Bartholomew 0:00

I think one of the coolest parts about living in or even visiting Rhode Island is our access to history, right? It's something that comes up when we talk about the America 250 celebrations and Rhode Island's unique role in the revolution. And it's something that you can see every day when you just look around any community in our state. One great portal into our history that I don't think enough people pay attention to is historic cemeteries. I welcome back to the podcast Deb Stugs, who's an historic cemetery preservationist in Rhode Island. Full disclosure, in true Rhode Island fashion, Deb and I are cousins. But Deb's going to share with us some stories that came directly from her work to cultivate history here in Rhode Island in our own backyard. And it's really good timing because April and May are historic cemetery months here in Rhode Island. Why are cemeteries such an important venue and such an important lens into history, particularly Rhode Island history?

Deb Suggs 0:53

Um I think, Bill, uh again, thank you for having me. Cemeteries, I I see cemeteries that are outdoor museums. It really, if you wander around the cemetery and look at Rhode Island cemeteries dating back to the 1600s, your stones will tell you a history of our state politically, socially, um, economically. It's all can be found in the cemetery. And you know, it's it sounds weird when I say this, but it's actually fun to go troll around, look at the different names, look at trends that happened back then. You'll see, you know, 15 people with the same name that you never hear of today. And that it's itself excites me. I I get thinking about it.

Bill Bartholomew 1:36

Yeah, and also the names that you do hear today, which shows exactly how Rhode Island was in many ways um established and grew. And sometimes that's for good, sometimes that's not for good when you trace those historic stories. Let's talk about Rhode Island and the Revolutionary War. Because the Revolutionary War is such an important part of Rhode Island. Talk about Rhode Island's contribution to the war and why, relative to other colony colonies of its size, it's it had such an outsized role in the American Revolution.

Deb Suggs 2:11

So, Rhode Island back in the um colonial period and revolutionary period um was an economic hub. It was one of the economic hubs um maybe after New York, Boston, we had Providence, we had Newport. I mean, the role of Newport in the colonial period cannot be discussed enough, cannot be emphasized enough when it comes to um the American economy. Um compared to compared to the size of the state, our contribution was was double what other states were. When you think about it, we started the war because we have the Gaspi, the burning of the Gassy. So um Rhode Island is a proud to say that was the first shot. Forget that Lexington-Concord thing. It was all about the Gassby. Um we were the we had so many firsts. We were the first to establish a a standing navy that happened as a result of Rhode Island. We were the first to um put together an integrated troop that other other states had integrated militia. We were the first to make it legal, official, and um sanctioned by this by the state. So Rhode Island's contribution was was huge. Boats, ships, soldiers, the whole the whole ranks. I mean, Nathaniel Green, second in command, get get get much bigger than that.

Bill Bartholomew 3:29

Right. It's such an important piece of information that is too often overlooked in broader discussions of the American Revolution, in spite of even the GASPY alone, signals Rhode Island's very specific role. It's also really important to understand that when you're looking at those outdoor museums that you describe, historic cemeteries, let's do what we've done in the past, which is identify some specific grave sites and the stories behind the people who are buried there and around those people who are buried there. And this will give listeners, we we've done this in the past, it's been enormously popular. We've heard from from you guys who have gone out on journeys trying to find some of these graveyards. And in some cases, it has created a little bit of a hobby for a lot of people out there. Deb, I guess just give everyone a sense of your role in historic cemetery preservation on the whole, um, just as we as we enter into this conversation, some of the work that you've done and the on the ground, real historic work that's happening when you go out there.

Deb Suggs 4:33

Sure. So um as I think I mentioned in the past, I am on the Rhode Island Historic Cemetery Commission, and there's commissioners, there's at least two, um in some cases more commissioners for almost every um, I was gonna say colony. I'm stuck on the colony for every county here in Rhode Island. Um the commissioners' role um is legislated to um preserve and help index historic cemeteries. Rhode Island has thousands of historic cemeteries from the bigger cemeteries that we know of, Swan Point, North Cemetery, Common Berry Ground, and Newport, to cemeteries people run over in their backyard. And most of ours are backyards, so thousands of cemeteries. What I've been doing, as well as my fellow commissioners, is really making sure that we're taking care of those cemeteries. We're indexing them, we're looking when people say, Hey, I think I found a cemetery. Somebody goes out there and takes a look. If there's concern from the community about the condition of a cemetery, we go out and take a look. We also, as you mentioned, sponsor um it's cemetery months now, April and May, where we put a calendar together. So there is um preservation activity, cemetery cleanups. Um, there's presentations on cemeteries. So I do a series of um presentations called the um Real Patriots. I've done it for South Kingston. Um, just a ton of work around cemeteries and just really keeping the interest, the historical interest, and the community interest right out there in the public is my main role.

Bill Bartholomew 6:06

Yeah, and also fair to note that you've been invited to and have done several lectures on this topic around the state for uh organizations and so on and so forth. This is your bread and butter when it comes to a lot of your uh your historic work, which includes archiving, research, so on and so forth. Um, but this is right at the center. And again, I encourage everybody who's listening to this right now, when you're done, just type in Bartholomew Town Cemetery into Google or an AI chat bot, and you'll get another dozen or so of these stories that you're gonna hear right now in contemporary version. But let's start with Trinity Churchyard. This is Rhode Island Historic Cemetery number 10.

Deb Suggs 6:46

That's that's the cemetery in Newport. Um, so Newport is Newport has the largest and most historic is the largest and most historically um relevant revolutionary area in Rhode Island. Newport in the country, I would say. But Newport was the hub. It has the most um grave sites for um Revolutionary War grave sites, it makes sense because that's where some of the major um battles and and planning went. Um Trinity Churchyard. So this is an amazing. If you haven't had a chance to go to Trinity Um churchyard, right in the center of the hub of Newport, um, stroll around the churchyard. Trinity Church is an Anglican church, which is Church of English. Um, it was the hub of Newport society and economic, political, and everything during the um colonial and pre-revolutionary war period. It's where the people with status went to church. And I want to add that initially they were all British citizens, as we all were, and these were all um at this church Tories. So they were all, even as the war began, supported um the British. You had um governors who went there, you had um prominent local families, you had William Ellery, who was uh signed the Declaration of Independence, James Franklin, who was Benjamin Franklin's older brother. They're all buried in the Trinity Church um um cemetery. The thing that interests me about Trinity Church when I looked around is there's a little area, a little plot in Trinity Church that's not Anglican. It's the it's the first Catholic burial, first Catholic burial ground in Newport. So how does it end up at an Anglican church? Well, as many of you know, um, thanks to the French, we won the Revolutionary War and they started here in Newport. So when the French came to um Newport, uh, we had we the French came in, they came in with Rochambeau, they came in with Turney, um Admiral de Turney, who was the second command after um Rochambeau. He was at that time the commander of the French fleet, the Navy that landed in Newport in 1780. Shortly after hitting Newport, he got sick. Disease was rampant. We can't either we talk about COVID, the flu, you can't imagine the rampantness of diseases of everything. Uh people got sick, and little illnesses would kill a person. A good cold would take somebody out. Um, there was yellow fever, there was smallpox, there was tons of disease. So Turney got sick in Newport and died. Here's the problem: he was Catholic. And prior to the French um landing in Newport, um, there were no Catholics. If they were Catholic, they were hidden because it was again Church of England Catholics at that time were not, we're not, um, was not Rhode Island, certainly not Newport. There were no Catholic Church, no Catholic burial ground. The deal with Catholics is if you die and you're buried, you have to be buried at a consecrated burial ground. So something that's approved. So here you got this gentleman, uh somebody who's not low-ranked, he's a he's in command who's died. Where to bury him? So they buried him in church in um the Trinity Churchyard, and it's just a little, little plot in the Trinity Churchyard, but to do that, they had to get permission from the Pope. So they had to get something over the Pope to get that that that little portion of um Trinity Churchyard consecrated so that um and blessed so that Trinity could be buried there as a good Catholic will would be. Um to note that his grave was not actually marked until 1872. So it's a hundred years or so after he died, before um his grave was marked. And then in 2021, they finally mocked the other two French um captains who were buried there. So there are three Catholics buried in the Trinity Church um burial ground with churchyard, which actually makes it the first Catholic churchyard in Newport and possibly in Rhode Island.

Bill Bartholomew 10:43

Incredible. And obviously, for a state that's the most Catholic state in the country, a site in and of itself right there, or for anybody. That's extremely fascinating. And I mean, it just ties into Rochimbeau and everything you just said right there. It is it is such a fascinating lens to look at the reality of the American Revolution and Newport's role in all of that. Um, we moved to North Kingstown now, Elm Grove Cemetery. This is Rhode Island Historic Cemetery number 26 at the John Eldred Lot. Uh, I'm sorry, and the John Eldred Lot separate here. This is Rhode Island Historic Cemetery 112. What's happening of interest in North Kingstown, besides the fact that uh you can go walk around in Wickford Village during the holidays?

Deb Suggs 11:26

Well, let me tell you a little story about Elm Grove Cemetery. It is a huge cemetery in itself, it was not founded until about 1851. The funny thing, there's about 9,000 graves in um Elm Grove Cemetery. It is obviously the largest in North Kingston. It's also referred to as a cemetery where when people were digging in their backyards and they found remains, they moved them to Elm Grove. So a lot of the older burials that are in Elm Grove, that wasn't their original burial site. They were moved there for, let's call it what it is. When people started building houses and neighborhoods, you gotta put the bodies in the stones somewhere. Um what's also interesting about Elm Groves is if you go into the back of the cemetery, you'll see another little lot, small lot. That's the um cemetery North Kingston um number um 112. So it's that's the John Eldred lot. You're gonna see a fairly decent sized headstone there for a gentleman who's buried there who's got amazing life. And I think his life, it is um talks about the um who who our soldiers were. So a lot of people trying to picture our soldiers were merchants, they were farmers, they were people that had everyday jobs that when called to go to war, packed up and went to war. And I always tell Bill people when they're thinking about going off to war, we're not talking about jumping in your cars and going to a recruitment, not talking about the bus picking you up. We're talking about if you could afford a horse, jumping on your horse. If you couldn't afford a horse, you were walking off to war. So that's something. So we go to the John Eldred lot and we're gonna look at um Thomas Cole. Thomas Cole is buried in that lot. Thomas Cole was a carpenter. Um, he was a farmer, he was a carpenter in North Kingston, just really an ordinary guy who ended up doing an extraordinary thing. So he um enrolled as all people, it was it was mandatory that people uh made sure that they were ready for to be in the militia, ready to be called to duty. He went in um in 1775 with the Varnum Continentals for what he could termed a short enlistment. So he was just supposed to enlist for a little bit. He ended up serving the whole eight years of the war and participating in all the major battles. So this guy, again, we're not talking about driving to riding a tank, taking a plane. We're talking about feet. Um, he served, like I said, all the major battles, the siege of Boston, the Battle of Long Island. He was at Trenton, he was at Princeton, he was at Valley Forge. So he did all these battles, finally said he was injured, he came home and said, I had enough. Immediately upon retiring, he got called back in. And he was promoted. Um, he rejoined the army, he was promoted as a captain under Christopher Green and helped Christopher Green raise, train, and command the first Rhode Island Regiment, which technically is um or not technically, um, is unofficially called the Black Regiment, was was the first officially integrated regiment. He then served in the battlefields again, the Battle of Rhode Island and the siege at Yorktown. So this gentleman um served, Thomas served the whole eight years of the Revolutionary War. If you go to his grave site, you can literally, so you see his name on the front, you go to the back of his grave, it talks about the dates and all the battles, and it fills the whole back of his grave.

Bill Bartholomew 14:53

So interesting.

Deb Suggs 14:54

And here's a here's a funny thing about him. If you're talking about strolling through Wickford, I had the amazing opportunity to visit his um original home in Wickford. And the folks that live in there now have maintained much of the same copentry that he did, that he that he did. So they did very little. Um the house is beautiful, did very little changes, and you can still see his original copentry, which is amazing to me.

Bill Bartholomew 15:19

Incredible. Yeah, I've actually was pulling up photos of Wickford during as you were describing that, trying to kind of put a geography together with this. Whereabouts for people who are familiar with Wickford, what's a good, hey, we're going here, where should we park? Because there's a couple of different options for people to to walk to in this sort of North Kingstown cluster. What's a good sort of framework for where people should be heading?

Deb Suggs 18:03

So if you're gonna go to Wickford and then visit Elm Grove, you're gonna drive because Elmgrove is a little ways away from Wickford. When you go to Elm Grove, when you go to any cemetery, I tell people go in, drive your car, just make sure you don't park on the grass or on stones, so you have to be really careful and stroll around. When you're strolling around Elm Grove, you're gonna see some amazing things. You're gonna see the John Eldred Um lot, you're gonna see um visit Thomas Cole, you're gonna see um if you ever saw the movie um 12 Years a Slave, the North Up Family. Their original burial ground is in Elm Grove, it's in the back of Elm Grove. It was the Northup family plot. Um, if you're visiting Wickford itself, I just get lucky and park on the side of the road. Sometimes I park in the big lot, but I'll find the side of the road. And just stroll around Wickford and look at those houses and more importantly, look at the dates on those houses and the names of those houses. In Wickford, you have um one of the first homes that were owned by an African American, is in Wickford. You have the Narragansett Church, is one of the oldest churches in Rhode Island in Wickford. If you get a chance to ever visit that church, it still has the area which they had the enslaved people who attended churches. And and it's just an it Wickford's an amazing place to look beyond the stores. Look at the homes, just stroll up and down the streets.

Bill Bartholomew 19:19

It's a living museum in and of itself. We had certainly we had Up Route 1 slash 95 to Providence, and a place that a lot of people are familiar with from the standpoint of it's a good place to go walk, but there's a lot of history there, and that's Swan Point Cemetery in Providence. Pv003 is your search on um from an index standpoint. But there's approximately 150 to 250 Revolutionary War veterans buried at that cemetery, and your research has led you to look into two particular soldiers. Uh, first of all, tell us who they are and tell us why your research has led you down that particular path.

Deb Suggs 19:59

Okay, um, so Swan Point, it's a gorgeous cemetery. Take a day, pack a picnic, because that's what it was created for. Swan Point was um established in 1846, and it was essentially what they called at that time the creation, part of the creation of garden cemeteries. The role of those cemeteries were for people to go and enjoy the outdoors on the weekend, have a picnic, um, and just have a really it was it was entertainment for the Victorian, post-revolutionary Victorian folks. So Swan Point's gorgeous, it was one of the country's first garden cemeteries. Um, 40,000 plus people buried there. They estimate 40,000. So it's certainly a good size cemetery. Um, approximately, like you said, 150 to 250 Revolutionary War veterans. Why approximately? Because the war, most of those veterans had passed away before the establishment of the cemetery. So again, it was farmland. That's just some plots were already on, people were moved there. But I strolled around there, strolled around a lot on Swan Point because I was looking for two gentlemen in particular. So I'm gonna tell you their story, then I'll tell you why I was looking for them. How about that, Bill? Let's start with Barnard Eddie Sr. We all know Eddie Street. Eddie was a prominent, prominent name in colonial and revolutionary um war, Rhode Island, an America, actually. Barnard Sr., there are letters in the archives um from George Washington to Barnard, um, to from George Washington to people who knew Barnard, just talking about what an amazing guy he was. He was how trustworthy he was, his economic prowess because he ran the ports of Providence at the time. Um basically during the Revolutionary War, George Washington and the folks in Rhode Island turned to Bonnet, and he was called upon to help create the defense of Providence. Remember, the British had hit Newport, and the fear was they were going to come into Providence. So we had to start developing a defense of Providence. So Bondard was called first to get together with all those and see what Providence had, how many fighting men we had, how many, what kind of ammunition we had. Did we have food stocks? He did all of that. And then he was a carpenter by trade. So he was asked then to do the construction of some fortifications, which were to be built at Fields Point and what they call Sassafras Point. These places became known at the time of Fort Independence and Robbins Hill Fort. So he did he built the um defense forts around Providence. He was also then asked after the defense ports, and I might add the British never came into Providence. So the defense, they were very pleased. They said to Barnet, we have a real problem with the British in the Upper Hudson and Lake Champlain. Remember, the British were in Canada, so there was a real problem up there with British. So he was asked to um go up there and start um managing the construction of ships. He was a carpenter, he was also a boatsmith back then. He did ships. He was asked to go up there. He took a company up to um Lake Champagne in the Hudson Valley, was building ships, and he and his whole company came down with smallpox. Smallpox, just as an FYI, like I mentioned, um, disease was rampant during that part. That time, smallpox probably killed about 10,000 soldiers during the revolution. So if you get a picture, about they record they estimate between 25 to 30,000 people died, soldiers died during the revolutionary. 10,000 of them died of smallpox alone. That's one disease. So he um died of smallpox. Smallpox was so rampant, Bill, at that time, that in 1777, Washington, George Washington made it mandatory that all of the uh militia ended up taking a vaccination, getting vaccinated against smallpox. The vaccination was first established in England, brought over here, and I don't know if people know one of the first people to do take the smallpox vaccination. Smallpox is unheard of now, but one of the first people to take the smallpox vaccination and vaccinate her whole family was Abigail Adams. So unique about the time is Abigail did herself and her whole family without asking her husband. She sent him a letter, which is on file, you know. Basically, I'm gonna paraphrase because I'm Deb and I do it. She was like, Hey John, what's going on? Just so you know. Know, I had vaccinated myself and the whole family. How things with you? Kind of thing. So she was one of the first um people to be vaccinated against smallpox and the first person to have her whole family, and that was 1776. 1777, Washington made it mandatory for the militia to be vaccinated because he was losing so many soldiers to the disease.

Bill Bartholomew 24:42

Wow.

Deb Suggs 24:43

So that's our Barnard Sr. So Barnard had a son. At the time he died, he was about 45 years old, a Barnard Sr. He had four sons, and he had a son who had just turned 15, Barnard Jr. And when he turned 15, he enlisted in his father's company and then went on to become a lieutenant and won distinction under Captain Battenberg, and then was commissioned to captain his own company. So he was pretty established. Remember, he was 15 when he joined. So this all happened before, if you think he joined in about 1777, the wall at that point lasted seven years. So this all happened, you know, before the age of 25, almost in his late teens, 20s. So what makes Bonner Jr. He was after leaving service, he was a prominent architect, carpenter and architect. And people, you read thing um journals and letters and all this about what an amazing architect he was, about the houses and the buildings and the economy he built. All along Eddie Street, he built things, he was just amazing. And then the Great Gale happened. The Great Gale is believed to have been the strongest hurricane in American history came and wiped it all out. So that Eddie Street we know now is not the Eddy Street that Barnard would have known. Um, so I had been on a mission in life to find something that um Barnard Eddie Um Jr. created. And the funniest story is I was going to see Handel's Messiah around Christmas, and um I was in downtown Providence and looked at benefit benefit benefidence, I can't ever say that word, um, Congregational Church, um, which is considered one of the earliest classical buildings in America, not just in Rhode Island, in America, and one of the oldest religious buildings on the west side of Providence. Um, I was looking at the church because it's gorgeous. If you haven't been there, do it. You can look around, it's beautiful. I looked at the plaque on the church, and lo and behold, it said um the architect and builder was Barnard Eddie Jr.

Bill Bartholomew 26:44

Amazing.

Deb Suggs 26:45

So I finally, after all this, found something he created. Why does all this matter? Why was I so kind of obsessed with the Barnard Eddie, Barnard One and Barnard Two, as I call them? Because Bill, Barnard Eddie Um Sr. and Barnard Eddie Jr. are mine and um your great-grandfather, six and fifth and fifth times removed.

Bill Bartholomew 27:04

Incredible. Well, you know what? They say Rhode Island's in the blood, and there's your proof.

Deb Suggs 27:10

Um yes, and that's one of the things, um, Bill, it's the the Barnard Eddies that brought me to the DAR. That's why I'm registered under the DAR under. And um, they were amongst the first um soldiers to be registered with a DAR.

Bill Bartholomew 27:26

Very, very interesting stuff here. This is the kind of living history that uh you have access to anywhere, but especially here in Rhode Island. Um, let's kind of do uh quickly here. We we've got one more on today's list. I want to make sure we get to it because it's believed to be the final resting place of Ichabab Northup. Who's Ichabab Northup and where are we talking about? Why is East Greenwich involved in today's conversation, I suppose, is the fairer way to put it.

Deb Suggs 27:52

Yes, so this law, it's E.G. Um 528. Let me tell you, I I don't do any presentation, Bill, about anybody without talking about the role of the enslaved African and Native American citizens that lived in Rhode Island. And one of the things the Rhode Islanders are hearing more about, but need to be especially proud about, is that Rhode Island was the state that first had the official, the legal, however you want to refer to it, integrated militia with the Rhode Island First Regiment. Um, people hear the story about the Rhode Island First Regiment, but do you know the true story behind one of the things people don't know is that Rhode Island First Regiment was made of whites, blacks, Native Americans, uh a bunch of different people, all treated within the militia equally. Some soldiers were in the militia equally. People often talk about the Native Americans and the um African Americans who were slaves, how they um enlisted. They didn't enlist, they were per sold by their owners. Ichabab might have been somebody who was sold by his owner to fight in place of his owner. He fought with distinction through the whole war, as all the Rhode Island First Regiment members did. Um what fascinated me or or broke my heart in a way about Ichabab was reading um the letters and his journal. And let's be honest, most of the um African American soldiers and um Native American in particular were more than likely illiterate. You didn't, it was actually against the law to to educate your enslaved if they did not work in a um a merchant environment, and ichbob was worked in a farm environment. But um, so it was more than likely his letters and documents were um recited to someone who wrote them for him. But he fought, he fought in some major battles. He fought the Battle of Pine Bridge uh Bridge in 1781, which is a major battle where Christopher Green was killed and the Rhode Island First Regiment took the most number of losses it had. At that time, he was captured and tortured. And there's records of him being tortured while they were trying to get information. The British were trying to get information about American forces encampments um throughout the area. Never happened. It didn't happen. He he did not give out the information. Um, one of the things I want to be honest with you, just when talking about the Rhode Island First Regiment, I probably should have said this sooner. Rhode Island First Regiment um was created because the white soldiers were basically disappearing. So what happened after the winter of 1781, the major winter, um, Washington fought through 26 blizzards. So you think this winter was bad? Imagine fighting 26. This is the description that um General Rocheau's aide de camp said about the Rhode Island First Regiment, the black soldiers. This is literally his words in a letter. He said, it was really painful to see these brave men almost naked with only some trousers and little linen jacks, most of them without stockings. But would you believe it? They were cheerful with blood pouring out of their feet as they marched to war. So you've just got, I'm just setting the stage. So Ichabab comes home after the war. He has been in major battles, he has been tortured, he has been held captured. He comes home, he comes home to East Greenwich, which at the time was primarily farmland. His letters talk about um coming home that he came home to nothing. He came home um and in a testified in his pension hearing, because they had to pension testify in pension hearings. This is what he said. I rely on charity because I was unable to work. My toes have frozen in the war. I'm impoverished and could not support myself, and my house was much out of repair. That's the letter he put to the pension. Just so you know, most of the first regiment did not receive pensions. They came home to an economy that was no longer an enslaved economy, to farmers that weren't farming anymore, to nothing. And this is the condition. I want to talk to you quickly, Bill, if you don't mind, about another letter about another farmer who this is how bad it got for some of these Rhode Island First Regiment soldiers. This one came from a gentleman talking to his um writing a letter, reciting a letter that was sent to his um previous owners. He put, Honored master and mistress, I have a desire to return to you. Not having any money nor clothes fit to wear, and all strangers to me make it something difficult for me. I have a doctor and a surgeon who advised me to go to the corp of invalids in Boston, where I may receive half pay during the life remaining in my poor state of body. This man Billy was begging to go back to slavery. Crazy. He came back here after the war, had nothing, was begging to be a slave. His um cemetery records disappeared. After this letter, no one ever heard from him again. But again, I want to reiterate somebody telling him to go to Boston, that meant walking to Boston after being frostbit, losing your toes and everything. So I always think it's important to for people to research the Rhode Island First Regiment. Try to go to any of these cemeteries like the EG 528. You're not gonna see a semi, you're not gonna see a burial site because they most of them did not have headstones. Think about them, research them, learn about them.

Bill Bartholomew 33:04

Learn about all your Revolutionary War soldiers, particularly when you have that opportunity here in Rhode Island and southern New England. Deb Sugg, it's historic cemetery months, and we are so glad to be able to provide our listeners with some of these really truly insider tips on how you can better understand the history that you live with and are continuing to create every single day. Deb, thanks so much for your time today.

Deb Suggs 33:29

Thank you very much, Bill. Great to be here.