First Light Infantry

FIRST RHODE ISLAND
VOLUNTEER INFANTRY, R.I.D.M.

FIRST LIGHT INFANTRY, R.I.M.
CIVIL WAR ASSOCIATION
OF THE R.I. GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC GAR CIVIL WAR MUSEUM, LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTER, INC. Honoring The First Rhode Island Soldiers To Respond To Abraham Lincoln's Call
To Defend The Nation

FOR DETAILS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE R.I. GAR CIVIL WAR MUSEUM, BATTERY A, THE 1ST INFANTRY, R.I. SUVCW ELISHA DYER CAMP No.7, OR RI MOLLUS MEMBERSHIP CONTACT:

Lt. Gregg A. Mierka, Webmaster, Unit Adjutant, 1st R.I. Volunteer Infantry & Battery A, 1st R.I. Light Artillery, Unit Associations, Commandery Commander (RI MOLLUS), PDC, Secretary/Treasurer, R.I. SUVCW Elisha Dyer Camp No.7.
c/o the General Nathanael Greene Homestead, 50 Taft Street Coventry, R.I. 02816
(401) 821-8630

CLICK HERE FOR LINKS!

Some Links Still Under Construction

Welcome to the First Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry Unit Association Home Page. Click Here for more information about the R.I. Grand Army of the Republic GAR Civil War Museum, a 501c3 non profit organization/facility planned for the Old Carriage House at the Governor William Sprague Mansion-Museum, in Cranston R.I. For more information about R.I. Civil War Veterans go to the R.I. Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Elisha Dyer Camp No. 7 Directory Home Page Here. You can also find information concerning the History of Major General's Ambrose E. Burnside, and George Sears Greene as well as Rhode Island Civil War Governor William Sprague, and Solman P. Chase. You should also check the Home Pages of the Rhode Island State Commandery of the MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES (RI MOLLUS), The National Congress of Patriotic Organizations, NCPO, the National Ulysses S. Grant Association, the First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, Battery A, the Andersonville National Park Services, the Rhode Island Civil War Round Table (RICWRT), the National GAR Museum in Philidelphia, the GAR Home Page and the R.I. Reenactors Association, 2nd R.I. Volunteer Infantry, Co. D.

On The Left: A current Unit Association photo, of Lt. Gregory H. Payne, Field Commander, of the 1st & 2nd R.I. Volunteer Infantry. The GAR post card in the center shows the distinctive Rhode Island "Red" bedroll on the napsack. All R.I. Civil War units (all branches) were equipped with red bedrolls by the R.I. Sprague Mills. The Confederates could always tell from a distance they were going up against a R.I. unit due to their distinctive bedrolls. On The Right: A current Unit Association photo, of Lt. Gregg A. Mierka, Adjutant, of the 1st R.I. Volunteer Infantry & Battery A, 1st Regiment, R.I. Light Artillery.

This site is managed, researched and written by: Gregg A. Mierka, Webmaster, c/o Gen. Nathanael Greene Homestead Museum, at Spell Hall, 50 Taft Street, Coventry, R.I. 02816.

For more information about the 1st Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, R.I. Detached Militia, 1861, email Gregg A. Mierka Webmaster
All R.I. GAR Civil War Museum Home Pages were researched, written & Web-designed by Gregg A. Mierka
Sources: Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers, 1868; RI GAR Encampment Proceedings 1868-1876; The 1893 R.I. Adjutant General's Report, by Elisha Dyer; All For The Union, by Robert Hunt Rhodes, 1985; and Union Blue, by Robert G. Carroon, 2001
For information about the recent books cited, "All For The Union", contact R.H. Rhodes HERE and "Union Blue", contact R.G. Carroon HERE
To get information about the Ken Burns PBS series, "The Civil War", featuring Rhode Islanders in the Civil War, click HERE at Florentine Films.
Thank You Brothers Bob & Jerry

ŠAll Rights Reserved 1993, 2001, 2003.

IMAGES OF THE 1ST R.I.

TRY OUR UNIT HISTORY PAGE
HONORING RHODE ISLAND'S FIRST
"OLD FELLOWS IN BLUE"
TO FIGHT FOR "UNCLE ABE"

Please visit the First Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, Cartes de Visite Album And Biographies HERE
At our Cartes De Visite Page you can read about the lives of Major Sulliavan Ballou, Col. John Slocum, Capt. Levi Tower, and Lt. Henry Prescott, who were killed at the 1st Battle of Bull Run.

Company D, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, R.I. Reenactors Association.
We are close comrades with the "2nd Rhody", because the 1st & 2nd R.I. Volunteers as well as Battery A trained at Dexter Field in Providence at the out break of the Civil War and were brigaded together prior to the 1st Battle of Bull Run in the "Rhode Island Brigade" under R.I. Governor-Brigadier General William Sprague and Colonel Ambrose E. Burnside.

You can also link to the Capt. Henry Sisson Family Home Page, who served in the 1st R.I.V.I., HERE. You can also read the Sullivan Ballou, 2nd Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, 1861, letter home to his wife Sarah, (a premonition of his death, prior to 1st Bull Run), featured in the Ken Burns PBS series "The Civil War" HERE and on our First Rhode Island Cart de Visite Page (above) as well.

WANT TO REENACT AT CIVIL WAR EVENTS !
WE CAN HELP ! OUR BELOVED PRESIDENT LINCOLN & COLONEL BURNSIDE NEED YOU !

E-mail Lt. Gregory H. Payne Field Commander, for more information about reenacting with the 1st and 2nd R.I. Volunteers, Co. D. Or e-mail Lt. Gregg A. Mierka Adjutant, for more information about membership with the R.I. GAR Civil War Museum, the 1st Rhode Island, Volonteer Infantry and Battery A, 1st Regiment R.I. Light Artillery.

THE 1st RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS, NATIONAL COLORS, OUR COLOR & GUIDON BEARER, AND R.I. STATE COLORS

DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE ?
WANT TO JOIN
THE RI GAR
CIVIL WAR MUSEUM
& the 1st Infantry ?
CLICK

CLICK THESE OTHER GREAT LINKS!
Company F, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry

Battery F, 1st Regiment, Rhode Island Light Artillery, R.I.M., Newport Artillery Armory Museum, Governor's Historic Commands

The 5th New York Zouaves Our friends who join us honoring General Warren, buried in Newport

The Governor Sprague Mansion Museum Cranston, Rhode Island

Some more of our Favorite Web Sites

United States Veterans and Veterans Services Organizations

United States Civil War Center

National Archives Genealogy and Records Services

Ordering National Archives Military Pention Records

Civil War Soldiers & Saliors System, National Parks Service

CARRYING ON THE MEMORY OF THE OLD FELLOWS IN BLUE

LEST WE FORGET

RETURN TO THESE SITES

RHODE ISLAND'S OWN

REGISTER YOUR VOTE

Click the links in this table For:
THE RHODE ISLAND HALL OF FAME, PLUS THE GENERAL BURNSIDE AND GENERAL GREENE BIOGRAPHIES
R.I.H.S.
Please support us by contacting the R.I. Historical Society and nominating both General Burnside and General Greene to the Rhode Island Hall of Fame.
Each year important Rhode Islanders, past & present, are selected.
To date, "no" Rhode Island Civil War Veteran has ever been chosen.
You can click the R.I.H.S. link above to find out more.
Please contact them.

RHODE ISLAND'S OWN, GEORGE SEARS GREENE BIOGRAPHY

RHODE ISLAND'S OWN, AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE BIOGRAPHY

Retern to the R.I. GAR, Civil War Museum, Library and Research Center Main Home Page

Retern to the Battery A, 1st Regiment R.I. Light Artillery Unit Association of the GAR, Civil War Museum, Library and Research Center Home Page

Retern to the Company D, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, R.I. Reenactors Association Home Page

Retern to the R.I. SUVCW, Elisha Dyer Camp No.7, Home Page Directory

Retern to the R.I. ASUVCW, Elisha Dyer, Auxiliary No.2, Home Page

Retern to the R.I. State Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, R.I. MOLLUS, Home Page

Retern to the Rhode Island Army National Guard Home Page

Retern to the Governor William Sprague Mansion-Museum Home Page

Retern to the Nathanael Greene Homestead-Spell Hall Museum Home Page

We wish to thank Brother/Companion Keith G. Harrison, Past National SUVCW Commander-in-Chief and, current National SUVCW and MOLLUS Webmaster, as well as all the artists/musicians for the use of their music on all the pages in our site. A special thanks also to Keith Laurent for arranging and playing Jay Ungar's Ashokan Farewell Š1983 by Swinging Door Music-BMI Used by permission. All rights reserved. Thanks also to Robert Hunt Rhodes for allowing us to use some of his material about his ancestor, Elisha Hunt Rhodes and to Ken Burns for featuring E.H. Rhodes and our State's Civil War History in his PBS series on The Civil War. And a special thanks to Edwin Bearrs, Brian Pohanka, Jeff Shaara and Ron Maxwell for their support for Rhode Island Civil War History and raising the American conscience about the triumphs and tragidies of the Great War of the Rebellion 1861 to 1865.

Thank you for visiting our page at Tripod. Please come back and visit again!

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Click the links in this table For: THE RHODE ISLAND HALL OF FAME, PLUS THE GENERAL BURNSIDE AND GENERAL GREENE BIOGRAPHIES R.I.H.S. Please support us by contacting the R.I. Historical Society and nominating both General Burnside and General Greene to the Rhode Island Hall of Fame. Each year important Rhode Islanders, past & present, are selected. To date, "no" Rhode Island Civil War Veteran has ever been chosen. You can click the R.I.H.S. link above to find out more. Please contact them.
RHODE ISLAND'S OWN, GEORGE SEARS GREENE BIOGRAPHY
RHODE ISLAND'S OWN, AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE BIOGRAPHY