The Battle of Rhode Island (also known as the Siege of Newport ) took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Major General John Sullivan had been besieging the British forces in Newport, Rhode Island, which is situated on Aquidneck Island, but they had finally abandoned their siege and were withdrawing to the northern part of the island. The British forces then sortied, supported by recently arrived Royal Navy ships, and they attacked the retreating Americans. The battle ended inconclusively, but the Continental forces withdrew to the mainland and left Aquidneck Island in British hands. Many thousands of men were gathered at Fort Barton in the summer and fall of 1777 for an October invasion of Aquidneck. However, because of the allowance of insufficient time for the amassing of materiel, the inexperience of the officer-in-charge, and the accompanying bad weather at the designated times of invasion, two half-hearted attempts to establish beachheads across Howland’s Ferry were thwarted. In the spring, General George Washington selected Major General John Sullivan to assume command of Fort Barton and to direct staging operations for a new invasion attempt of Aquidneck. On the morning of August 28, the American war council decided to withdraw the last troops from their siege camps.

They had engaged the British with occasional rounds of cannon fire for a few days, as some of their equipment was being withdrawn. Deserters had made General Pigot aware of the American plans to withdraw on August 26, so he was prepared to respond when they withdrew that night. Smith's advance stalled when it came under fire from troops commanded by Lt. Col. Henry Brockholst Livingston, who was stationed at a windmill near Quaker Hill. Pigot sent word to Major General Richard Prescott to dispatch the 54th Regiment and Montfort Browne's Prince of Wales' American Regiment to reinforce Smith. By 7:30 a.m., Lossberg had advanced against the American Light Corps under Col. John Laurens, who were positioned behind some stone walls south of the Redwood House. Lossberg pushed Laurens' men back onto Turkey Hill with the Hessian chasseurs, Huyne's Hessian regiment, and Edmund Fanning's King's American Regiment. At 2 p.m., Lossberg once again attacked Greene's positions without success. Greene counterattacked with Col. Israel Angell's 2nd Rhode Island Regiment, Brigadier General Solomon Lovell's brigade of Massachusetts militia, and Henry Brockholst Livingston's troops. Failing in a frontal attack, Greene sent his 1,500 men forward to try to turn Lossberg's right flank. Continental forces withdrew to Bristol and Tiverton on the night of August 30, leaving Rhode Island (Aquidneck Island) under British control.