Organized in Schuylerville, New York, June 24, 1783
First meeting in Rhode Island held in Providence,
December 17, 1783
Incorporated in the State of Rhode Island, February 28, 1814
Last meeting of the original society held in Providence,
July 4, 1835
Reorganized in Providence, December 12, 1877
Readmitted as a constituent society by the General Society, April 13, 1881

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The Rhode Island Society was the fourth constituent branch of the Society to form. On June 24, 1783, officers of the First Rhode Island Regiment who remained in the army camp on the Hudson River held a preliminary organizing meeting at Saratoga Barracks in Schuylerville, New York. The following December 17, officers of the Rhode Island Continental Line gathered at the State House in Providence and elected their officers: Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, president; Brig. Gen. James Mitchell Varnum, vice president; Col. Henry Sherburne, secretary; Lt. Col. Jeremiah Olney, treasurer; and Maj. John Singer Dexter, assistant treasurer. The Rhode Island Society remained active until its meeting on July 4, 1835, at which Capt. Samuel Snow and Capt. Daniel Singer Dexter were the only original members present.

In the late nineteenth century, the Rhode Island Society was the first of the dissolved constituent societies to reorganize. After forty-two years of inactivity, the Rhode Island Society was reconstituted in Providence on December 12, 1877, and it became the first constituent society readmitted to the General Society in 1881.