The first bloodshed of the Revolution took place in the Rhode Island colony when a group of citizens attacked and rebelled against a grounded British ship – an act of retaliation against the unpopular British trade regulations. Rhode Island was the first colonial state to give up its loyalty and allegiance to the British Crown in May, 1776. A third of Rhode Island’s total area is covered by water, and its landscape consists of lowlands in the south and uplands in the north, many lakes, reservoirs and salt ponds, as well as stretches of coastline and sparse woodlands.
