State of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations. In Council of War, April 8, 1777 : This Council having received intelligence, that the enemy design, very soon, to make an attack upon the main-land, and taking into the most serious consideration the defenceless condition of the state, and the necessity of placing a sufficient body of men upon the shores, to prevent the enemy from gaining intelligence, to guard the country, and in case of their making a descent to repel them ...