The capture of Major-General Prescott, of the British army, on the 9th of July, 1777, was an occasion of great joy throughout the country. Prince, the valiant Negro who seized that officer, ought always to be remembered with honor for his important service. The exploit was much commended at the time, as its results were highly important; and Colonel Barton very properly received from Congress the compliment of a sword for his ingenuity and bravery. It seems, however, that it took more than one head to plan and to execute the undertaking. The following account of the capture is historical: "They landed about five miles from Newport, and three-quarters of a mile from the house, which they approached cautiously, avoiding the mainguard, which was at some distance. The Colonel went foremost, with a stout, active Negro close behind him, and another at a small distance; the rest followed so as to be near, but not seen. "A single sentinel at the door saw and hailed the Colonel. He answered by exclaiming against and inquiring for rebel prisoners, but kept slowly advancing. The sentinel again challenged him, and required the countersign. He said he had not the countersign, but amused the sentry by talking about rebel prisoners, and still advancing till he came within reach of the bayonet, which, he presenting, the colonel suddenly struck aside and seized him. He was immediately secured, and ordered to be silent on pain of instant death. "Meanwhile the rest of the men surrounding the house, the Negro, with his head, at the second stroke, forced a passage into it, and then into the landlord’s apartment. The landlord at first refused to give the necessary intelligence, but on the prospect of present death, he pointed to the general’s chamber, which, being instantly opened by the Negro’s head, the Colonel calling the general by name, told him he was a prisoner."—Pennsylvania Evening Post, August 7th, 1777 (in Frank Moore’s "Diary of the American Revolution," Vol. I, p. 468). There is abundant evidence of the fidelity and bravery of the colored patriots of Rhode Island during the whole war. Before they had been formed into a separate regiment, they had fought valiantly with the white soldiers at Red Bank and elsewhere. Their conduct at the battle of Rhode Island, on the 29th of August, 1778, entitles them to perpetual honor. That battle has been pronounced by military authorities to have been one of the best-fought battles of the Revolutionary War. Its success was owing, in a great degree, to the good fighting of the Negro soldiers. Mr. Arnold, in his "History of Rhode Island," thus closes his account of it: