[1] In May 1775 the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to raise a brigade of three regiments to join the Army of Observation which was surrounding Boston to preclude the British forces there from attacking the surrounding areas.
(The Army of Observation consisted of mobilized militia units from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and became the Continental Army when General George Washington assumed command, under a commission from the Continental Congress on July 3, 1775.)
The regiment was commanded by Colonel Thomas Church who had previously served as lieutenant colonel of the Bristol County regiment of the Rhode Island Militia and as a justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas.
The regiment consisted of a total of nine companies, each with 3 officers and 57 enlisted men.
The regiment was discharged at the end of 1775 along with the rest of the Continental Army due to the expiration of enlistments.