1st Rhode Island Infantry The 1st Rhode Island Infantry were two regiments of the United States Army , the first of which was raised in 1861 at the beginning of the American Civil War on a 90 - day enlistment , the second during the Spanish – American War in 1898 . 1st Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry Regiment . Organized in Rhode Island in April 1861 , the regiment moved to Washington , D . C . , on April 20 and 24 , 1861 . After duty at Camp Sprague in the defences of Washington , on July 16 it was attached to Burnside ' s Brigade ( Ambrose Burnside ) of Hunter ' s Division ( David Hunter ) in McDowell ' s Army of Northeastern Virginia ( Irvin McDowell ) . The regiment advanced on Manassas , Virginia , on July 16 – 21 , seeing action at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21 . It left Washington , D . C . for home on July 25 , and mustered out on August 2 , 1861 . During its service the regiment lost 1 officer and 16 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded , and 8 enlisted men by disease , for a total of 25 . 1st Regiment , Rhode Island Volunteers . Under proclamation signed April 23 , 1898 , President William McKinley ordered the call up of 125 , 000 troops . Rhode Island was directed by Secretary of War Russell A . Alger to raise a regiment of infantry from existing militia units in lieu of conscripting 720 individuals to augment the Regular Army as U . S . Volunteers by letter dated April 25 , 1898 . On May 2 the state established a camp site at Quonset Point in Rhode Island , and formally named the site " Camp Dyer " in honor of Governor Elisha Dyer , Jr . on May 7 , 1898 . The regiment began to muster until fully assembled between May 10 and 17 , with Colonel Charles W . Abbot Jr . , commanding . Initially the unit consisted of forty - six officers and 958 enlisted men . This regiment , the only infantry regiment raised on Rhode Island during the war , was constituted of several militia infantry units in Rhode Island as well as individual volunteers . The unit was assigned to the 3rd Division , Second Corps and reported for duty at Camp Alger , Virginia , from late May . However the regiment and the rest of Second Corps left Camp Alger in early August 1898 , due to a typhoid fever epidemic . The regiment relocated to another part of Virginia at Thoroughfare Gap in an attempted run from the virus . However , conditions in Thoroughfare Gap resulted in dysentery and malaria , and the unit eventually relocated to Camp Meade , Pennsylvania with the rest of Second Corps in August 1898 . The overcrowded conditions forced the relocation of the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division of Second Corps to Camp Fornance , South Carolina . The regiment was mustered out of federal service on March 30 , 1899 at Columbia , South Carolina . The unit returned to Providence and handed over colors to Governor Elisha Dyer after a parade past city hall on April 1 , 1899 . At the time of muster - out , the regiment included forty - five officers and 1 , 039 enlisted men . During its term of service , the unit lost eleven enlisted men who died from disease and one enlisted man who died as the result of an accident . Thirty - five more enlisted men were discharged for disability . Interestingly the unit also had thirteen enlisted men court - martialed and eighty - nine men deserted the regiment . The regiment nicknamed itself the " Rough Walkers " which was inspired by Roosevelt ' s Rough Riders . Veterans of the regiment received an unofficial medal called the Rough Walker Medal . Other units . In addition to the first regiment , the state of Rhode Island raised the following units for the war with Spain :