IT WAS THE YEAR 1798, TWENTY TWO YEARS AFTER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. AMERICA WAS TRADING ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY WITH ENGLAND AND THE TOWN OF WARREN WAS PLAYING AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE GROWTH OF OUR COUNTRY AT THIS TIME.

OUR FRENCH ALLIES WHO EXPERIENCED THEIR OWN REVOLUTION IN 1783 WERE HAVING TROUBLED TIMES. FRANCE WAS STILL STRUGGLING FOR BALANCE IN THE WORLD MARKETPLACE AND UNABLE TO INTEREST THE UNITED STATES IN TRADING WITH THEM.

THE FRENCH BEGAN TO SEND OUT SHIPS KNOWN AS CORSAIRS TO SEIZE OUR AMERICAN TRADE SHIPS, TERRORIZE OUR CREWS AND STEAL FOOD TO FEED THEIR STARVING PEOPLE BACK HOME. SIX HUNDRED AMERICAN SHIPS WERE SUNK AND 25,000 MEN WERE KILLED.

THESE WERE TROUBLED TIMES.

AMERICA UNDER OUR SECOND PRESIDENT, JOHN ADAMS AND VICE PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON, BEGAN BUILDING A NAVY USING OAK AND OTHER HARDWOODS THAT WERE ABUNDANT IN THIS AREA. IT WAS AT THIS TIME (1796 ) THE UNITED STATES NAVY WAS OFFICIALLY BORN.

IN 1799 IN A LITTLE TOWN CALLED WARREN, A NEW 124 FOOT SQUARE RIGGER NAVY FRIGATE WAS BEING CONSTRUCTED TO BE NAMED THE USS NATHANIEL GREENE. SAMUEL SLATER'S MILL BUILT IN 1793 BEGAN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND COULD PRODUCE THE SAILCLOTH THAT WAS NEEDED AND AT ONE THIRD THE COST. THIS MATERIAL WAS TRANSPORTED BY BARGE DOWN THE PROVIDENCE RIVER AND UP THE WARREN RIVER TO SAIL MAKERS ON WATER STREET.

CAPTAIN OLIVER HAZARD PERRY, A RESIDENT OF WARREN WAS ASSIGNED TO PUT TOGETHER A 250 MAN CREW AND TRAIN THEM FOR WHEN THE SHIP WAS READY. IT WAS A DIFFICULT JOB BUT HE WAS PLEASED WITH HIS PROGRESS. BUT THERE WAS ONE THING MISSING, MARINES.

MARINES WERE THE NAVY'S POLICEMEN AND THEIR JOB WAS TO KEEP MEN UNDER CONTROL AND FROM DESERTING THE SHIP. THEIR PRIME DUTIES WERE TO BOARD ENEMY SHIPS AND IF NEED BE ENGAGE IN HAND TO HAND COMBAT. THEY ALSO SERVED AS SHARPSHOOTERS FROM SMALL PLATFORMS NEAR THE SHIPS MAST TOPS. THIS NEW TYPE OF SOLDIER WAS DIFFICULT TO FIND AND THERE WAS JUST ONE MILITIA OF THIS TYPE AVAILABLE IN THE AREA. THE NEWLY FORMED COMPANY CALLED: " THE FEDERAL BLUES ". CHARTERED IN 1798.

WHEN OUR COUNTRY IS THREATENED WITH FOREIGN INVASIONS IT BECOMES THE INDISPENSABLE DUTY OF EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN TO PLACE HIMSELF IN A SITUATION WHERE HE CAN BE USEFUL IN REPELLING THE ATTACKS OF ITS ENEMIES. RESIDENTS OF THE TOWN OF WARREN CONCERNED FOR THE TOWN'S WELL BEING FORMED THEMSELVES INTO A MILITARY BODY AND WERE GRANTED A CHARTER OF INCORPORATION NOT TO EXCEED SIXTY FOUR MEN RANK AND FILE, CONSTITUTED AS AN INDEPENDENT COMPANY OF INFANTRY, WITH ONE CAPTAIN, ONE LIEUTENANT AND ONE ENSIGN.

THE FEDERAL BLUES COMMANDER, CAPT. EDGAR HEBERT, MAINTAINS TO THIS DAY SIXTY FOUR MEMBERS , OF MILITIA, FIFERS AND DRUMMERS.