PORTSMOUTH — A few members of the Newport Branch of the NAACP kicked off the Fourth of July by paying tribute to a brave contingent of soldiers that helped protect Americans’ freedoms 245 years ago: the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.

Also known as the “Black Regiment,” the unit was a contingent of slaves, freedmen and Native Americans who valiantly stopped the advances of the Hessian forces in Portsmouth on Aug. 29, 1778, during the Battle of Rhode Island.

The brief ceremony was held at the memorial to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment at Patriots Park, located at the intersections of routes 114 and 24. The park is designated as a historical, national landmark.

The regiment was created after Rhode Island, which was having trouble recruiting enough white men to meet troop quotas, enlisted slaves to serve in the unit. Many of these slaves, in fact, were sent by their owners, who were looking to avoid military service.

Participants, including Newport NAACP President Jimmy Winters, treasurer Fern Lima, and J. Clement “Bud” Cicilline, first vice president of the local NAACP and a former state senator, took turns reading passages from a NAACP pamphlet, “Black Heroes of the American Revolution.” They also sang “God Bless America,” and the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Smothers of Newport gave the invocation and benediction.

The NAACP will be hosting a much larger event — its 56th annual ceremony to honor the regiment — at the park in late August to coincide with the 245th anniversary of The Battle of Rhode Island.