page_title: Army National Guard and Active Regular Army Units with Colonial Roots
section_title: Company A/1st Battalion/19th Special Forces Group, RI ARNG
hierarchical_section_title: Army National Guard and Active Regular Army Units with Colonial Roots / Company A/1st Battalion/19th Special Forces Group, RI ARNG
caption_attribution_description: English: Distinctive Unit Insignia of 1st Special Forces Regiment
context_page_description: Thirty federally recognized units in the U.S. Army have lineages that go back to the colonial era. Twenty-nine are National Guard units; one is a Regular Army Field Artillery battalion. Of the twenty-nine National Guard units, twenty-eight trace their origins to units initially organized in the English colonies; one is derived from militias formed on Puerto Rico when that island was still under Spanish rule.
  The units from the English colonies were formed during three distinct periods. The first eight, formed between 1636 and 1672, were formed for frontier defense shortly after settlements were established in New England and Virginia. The next eight, formed between 1735 and 1756, were raised for a variety of functions, including frontier defense, expansion into new areas further inland from the original settlements, and for actions against native tribes allied with the French, who were challenging the British for the control of North America. The last group of twelve, formed between 1774 and 1778, were raised for their immediate use in the Revolutionary War.
  The units are listed chronologically from oldest to newest.
context_section_description: Revolutionary War Campaigns: Rhode Island 1777, Rhode Island 1778
  Company A, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces, traces its lineage back to the North Providence Rangers, organized and chartered on December 5, 1775, in North Providence and Smithfield.  During the Revolutionary War, the North Providence Rangers remained in state service as a militia unit, but additionally formed the 2nd Company (Captain Gideon Westcott commanding), Rhode Island State Artillery Regiment.
  The 2nd Company, Rhode Island State Artillery Regiment was mustered into state service on December 23, 1776, at Providence and disbanded on June 1, 1780.
  The North Providence Rangers were also mustered into state service during the War of 1812 as Captain John Wood’s Company, Wood’s State Corps, at Fort Adams, Rhode Island.  In 1824 the North Providence Rangers were rechartered as the Fayette Rifle Corps, and in 1857 as the Pawtucket Light Guard.
  After service as Infantry during most of the nineteenth century, and as Coast Artillery or Antiaircraft Artillery during the first half of the twentieth century, the North Providence Rangers became a Special Forces company in 1962.  It became Company A, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, in 1979.  Company A's armory is currently located in Middletown, Rhode Island.
  All Special Forces soldiers wear the Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 1st Special Forces Regiment.  The insignia combines the crest and shield of the 1st Special Service Force of World War II, which was activated in 1942 at Fort Harrison, Montana, and disbanded in France in 1945, then reconstituted again in 1960 as the 1st Special Forces Regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System.
caption: Distinctive Unit Insignia: 1st Special Forces Regiment
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