| R 311 |
| 2019 -- S 0917 Enacted 05/23/2019 |
| S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N |
| COMMEMORATING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ANNUAL MEMORIAL DAY PARADE IN SOUTH KINGSTOWN |
| Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Algiere, Valverde, Lombardi, and Felag |
| Date Introduced: May 23, 2019 |
| WHEREAS, Annually for the past 150 years, the Town of South Kingstown has held a |
| Memorial Day Parade to honor the memory of those brave service men and women who made the |
| ultimate sacrifice to protect and preserve the freedom and liberty we all cherish today; and |
| WHEREAS, Originally called "Decoration Day," Memorial Day was born out of the |
| American Civil War, a period of immense pain and sacrifice for the entire nation; and |
| WHEREAS, On May 29, 1869, South Kingstown Civil War Veterans and members of |
| Rodman Post 12 took part in a solemn procession, marching to the gravesite of Civil War Hero |
| and South Kingstown native, Brigadier General Isaac P. Rodman of the Union Army; and |
| WHEREAS, Brigadier General Rodman was born on August 12, 1822, in South |
| Kingstown. He had served as the President of the Town Council in South Kingstown and as a |
| member of the Rhode Island State Senate. Upon the start of the Civil War, he immediately |
| enlisted and received the rank of Captain with the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment. He then |
| saw combat in the First Battle of Bull Run, was promoted to the rank of Colonel with the new 4th |
| Rhode Island Infantry regiment and later fought in the battles of Roanoke Island, and New Byrne, |
| where his superior performance earned him a promotion to the rank of Brigadier General. After |
| the Battle of Fort Macon, General Rodman contracted typhoid fever and returned to South |
| Kingstown to convalesce; and |
| WHEREAS, While in recovery, General Burnside wrote to General Rodman and |
| informed him of his desperate need for officers in the forthcoming Maryland Campaign. While |
| still ill, and against the advice of his doctors, General Rodman answered the call of duty to take |
| part in the Battle of South Mountain and, shortly thereafter, the momentous and crucial Battle of |
| Antietam, a vital and strategic Union victory that cost the lives of more than 12,000 Union |
| soldiers and 10,000 Confederate troops. Tragically, General Rodman perished while he was |
| racing on his horse in open field to warn his fellow commanders of an impending Confederate |
| attack; and |
| WHEREAS, On May 27, 2019, the Town of South Kingstown will be holding its 150th |
| annual Memorial Day Parade to honor its native son, Brigadier General Isaac P. Rodman, and all |
| of the brave armed forces' men and women who have perished while in service to our nation and |
| in defense of our liberty and all the precious rights that make us a free nation; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations |
| hereby commemorates the 150th Anniversary of the annual Memorial Day Parade in the Town of |
| South Kingstown on May 27, 2019; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
| transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to VFW Post 916, South Kingstown. |
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| LC002655 |
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