The Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778 was the largest military engagement in New England during the Revolutionary War, and the American army fighting it was trying to escape. This episode examines the first major joint operation of the Franco-American alliance and how it nearly collapsed under a sandbar, a hurricane, and bruised egos.

We explain why Vice Admiral d’Estaing’s deep-draft ships could not enter New York Harbor, how Major General John Sullivan’s early move onto Butts Hill offended the French, and how a two-day storm scattered both fleets and drove the French to Boston. Then we follow the deceptive American withdrawal, the fighting on the East and West Roads, and the stand of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment against three Hessian assaults before Nathaniel Greene’s counterattack and a silent nighttime evacuation.

• How the French alliance changed the war and why a shallow sandbar redirected the attack to Newport
• The pincer plan, Washington’s choice of Nathaniel Greene and Lafayette, and Sullivan’s diplomatic blunder
• The August 1778 hurricane, d’Estaing’s departure, and the mass exit of short-term militia
• The 1st Rhode Island Regiment’s defense against Hessian troops near Turkey Hill
• Diplomatic damage control and the lessons that shaped the later joint victory at Yorktown