We can assume that the British military did not expect the type and ferocity of the defense they encountered , the arrogance of the finest military in the world was given a bloody nose by a small group of rag tag citizen-farmer soldiers defending their homes. This was much like Lexington & Concord, all over again a battle of David and Goliath with David winning. But I think was exactly because these young men were defending their hearth and homes was the reason they were able to repel the strongest military on earth. But this was not the end in the late summer of  1778 Major Durfee  then promoted to Colonel and his men  would once again be called upon to aid the cause this time in The Battle of Rhode Island.

The Battle of Rhode Island, also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill and the Siege of Newport, took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and militia forces under the command of General John Sullivan were withdrawing to the northern part of Aquidneck Island after abandoning their siege of Newport, Rhode Island, when the British forces in Newport sortied, supported by recently arrived Royal Navy ships, and attacked the retreating Americans. The battle ended inconclusively, but the Continental forces afterward withdrew to the mainland, leaving Aquidneck Island in British hands.

The battle took place in the aftermath of the first attempt at cooperation between French and American forces following France's entry into the war as an American ally. The operations against Newport were to have been made in conjunction with a French fleet and troops; these were frustrated in part by difficult relations between the commanders, and a storm that damaged both French and British fleets shortly before joint operations were to begin.

The battle was also notable for the participation of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. The 1st Rhode Island Regiment under Colonel Christopher Greene was composed of African Americans and Native Americans as well as European-American settlers