Salve students to help with Revolutionary War battlefield study in Middletown

MIDDLETOWN – A $67,200 grant awarded to the Middletown Historical Society from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program will be used to fund a Revolutionary War battlefield study in Middletown.

According to information from Salve Regina University, the Middletown battleground featured one of the largest military operations of the Revolution.

It was the first combined French-Colonial offensive of the war and it will be researched and mapped by Salve Regina University students working in partnership with the Middletown Historical Society.

Salve Regina students, under the guidance of Cultural and Historic Preservation Assistant Professor Jon Marcoux and History Professor John Quinn, will conduct the majority of the work. The project is expected to last through August 2017.

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“We are really excited to have our students get hands-on experience doing historical and archaeological research, as well as getting training in these cutting-edge technologies,” Marcoux said in a statement. “Ultimately, the goal of the project is to locate these battlefield sites so we can preserve them and protect them. This project is another example of the unique experience-based education we offer here at Salve.”

Salve students will conduct historical research, generate computerized mapping using software to overlay digital scans of historic maps onto modern aerial photos, and use ground-penetrating radar surveys to map what lies beneath the ground.

The project will aim to define in detail the location of Colonial and British fortifications involved in the siege of Newport. The French Navy and a Colonial army, under the command of Generals Sullivan, Lafayette and Green, attacked the British defensive positions using canon fire and trench warfare, according to information from the university.

“The American Battlefield Protection Program supports projects that safeguard, preserve and tell the stories of America’s battlefields,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis. “These places are symbols of individual sacrifice and national heritage that we must protect to help this and future generations understand the struggles that shaped and define us as a nation.”

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