Historical note:

            The Kentish Light Artillery was chartered as a militia unit by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1797. The name was changed to the Kentish Artillery in 1804. The unit was called up for active duty in the War of 1812, but disbanded afterward. Its charter was revived in 1853, and an armory was built in 1854 in the village of Apponaug. Three companies of troops were formed from its members during the Civil War. After the old armory burned in 1910, a new armory was built in 1912. It was leased to the city of Warwick in 1942, and is currently occupied by the Warwick Museum of Art.

Return to top

Scope and content:

            This collection includes minutes, membership, treasurer's records and building records. Almost all of the records date from the unit's reorganization in 1853, to the leasing of the armory in 1942. Copies and abstracts of General Assembly dating back to 1797 are available, as are some historical notes and a few membership records through 1982.

Return to top

Provenance:

            The Warwick Museum of Art acquired these records when it occupied the old Kentish Artillery Building. The museum's Board of Directors voted to donate the records to the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1997. A single enlistment list dated 1860 was donated to the library in 1970 by Nancy Hudson of the Woonsocket Call. The provenance of the 1856 summons and muster roll is unknown.

Return to top

Processing note:

Return to top

Inventory:

Box 1:

Folder 1. Minutes, 1853-1857 (with treasurer's accounts, 1853-1857)

Folder 2. Minutes, 1857-1884

Folder 3. Minutes, 1886-1924 (also includes roster book, 1882-1917; constitution and by-laws)

Folder 4. Copies of R.I. General Assembly resolutions, 1797-1940

Folder 5. Membership lists, 1856, 1857, 1860, 1881

Folder 6. Enlistment book, 1907-1917 (unbound)

Folder 7. Enlistment applications, 1935-1972

Folder 8. Undated lists of names

Folder 9. Miscellaneous membership records, 1914-1957

Oversized volume: Enlistment book, 1912-1914

            on page 8 of 1878 roster book, Co. D, 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, Rhode Island Militia

Box 2:

Folder 10. Treasurer's accounts, 1857-1859 (unbound)

Folder 11. Treasurer's accounts, 1883-1884

Folder 12. Cash book, 1933-1946

Folder 13. Quartermaster inventories, 1883, 1919, 1934, 1942, undated

                        and treasurer's reports, 1918, 1923, 1924

Folder 14. New building - bids, contracts, bills, 1912-1913

Folder 15. Building records, 1933-1953

Folder 16. Dorothy Mayor historical correspondence re cannon, 1981-1982

Folder 17. Miscellaneous:

            Notes on cannon, 1954

            Correspondence, 1939-1954

            Committee report on uniforms, undated, circa 1880s?

            State militia directory, undated

            Copy of Warwick Town Meeting minute re armory, 1854

            Summons, 1856

Return to top

Subjects:

Kentish Light Artillery

Mayor, Dorothy

Rhode Island - Militia

Warwick, R.I. - Militia

End of finding aid - return to top

RIHS1822