from captivity. there was always a gentleman agreement between warring combatants, that you could exchange certain prisoners. the general saw the british occupation of newport as everything that is evil and wrong with the british occupation. so the goal was to capture him and use him as an exchange so general lee could be brought back into the continental army. the man washington want is major william barton. jack sisson s new commander. major barton was a part of the rhode island command structure and a rhode island native. barton was a leader in his community. he was a well known, established family. men were at ease and comfortable with following him into combat and following his orders. barton s plan, cross the
narrangansett bay and in the farm house he s occupied five miles north of town, far enough from the thousands of enemy troops in newport that the raid has a chance of success. t daring mission to capture british general richard prescott is made even more dangerous because it requires a nighttime crossing of the heavily patrolled narrangansett bay with jack sisson at the helm. sisson is likely chosen because he s a highly skilled boatman. they muffled the oars so they could slide right by the british men of war who were there in the bay. they came up on the shore and maneuvered around patrols. come on, men, fall in and close up. the raids were more of a commando mission, at night under the cover of darkness. there could have been signs posted identifying other