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PART 3
pp. 5-6
The trial was in
March, 1675 and the principal actor,
Tobias and his accomplice,
Mattashunannamoo were execut-
ed as murderers, June 8, 1675; while
Tobias's son, who
was present but took no part in the crime, was
reprieved
for one month and then shot. After the execution of
the
two in June, Philip threw off all disguise as to his plan,
and
pushed his preparations as diligently as possible.
The plan had been
to complete preparations as and in-
clude all the tribes in New
England, so that a simultan-
eous assault could be made upon all the
settlements at
once. This plan was spoiled, and probably the
settle-
ments saved from destruction, by the impatience of the
leader's vengeance. While Philip's preparations went
forward, the authorities thought best not to make any
immediate
military demonstration further than the placing
of a guard by the
various settlements to prevent a sur-
prise. They thought Philip
would soon tire of holding
his men in arms and training, so that they
could get him
in their power. But his company increased and the
younger warriors began to demand some open act of hostil-
ity.
At last they began not only to insult the English settlers
in
the nearest settlements, by their words of insolence
and threats, but
to shoot their cattle and plunder their
houses. The Indians
increased greatly in numbers from
the neighboring tribes, many
"strange Indians" appearing
among them, and most of their women and
children being
sent away to the Narraganset country. At Swansy
they
appeared in considerable numbers and used all their ways
of
provocation to induce some act of resistance from the
settlers; and at
last, upon June 24th one man was so
enraged at the shooting of his
cattle and the attempt
to rifle his house that he shot at an Indian,
wounding
him. Upon this the Indians began open and indiscrimin-
ate hostility and on that day eight or nine of the Eng-
lish at
Swansy were killed and others wounded. Two men
were sent for a
surgeon, but were waylaid and slain, and
their bodies left upon the
road. Messengers sent from
the English authorities to treat with
Philip and prevent
an outbreak came upon the bodies of the men slain
in the
highway and speedily turned back. The colonies awoke
to the fact that an Indian war was upon them, but
supposed that a
few companies sent down to Swansy would
at least overawe the savages
and reduce them to sub-
mission. A speedy muster was made both
at Plymouth and
Boston and on the afternoon of June 26th five
companies
were mustering or on the march from the two colonies.
The details of the account of the war will be found in
the
body of the preceding chapters. Here only a brief
outline of the
current events can be given. The first
company of infantry from
Boston was made up from the
regular military companies of the
town. A company of
cavalry, or "troopers" was gathered from the
regular
organizations in three counties. A third company of
"volunteers" was raised about the town and vicinity,
from all
sorts of adventurers, sea-faring men and
stangers, with a number of
prisoners who had been con-
victed of piracy and condemned to death,
but were now
released to engage in fighting the Indians. Capt.
Daniel Henchman commanded the first company; Capt. Thomas
Prentice
the troopers, and Capt. Samuel Mosely the
"volunteers".
These three companies marched out of
Boston on the 26th and 27th and
arrived at Swansy on the
28th, having formed a junction with the
Plymouth forces
under Major James Cudworth and Capt. Fuller. The
forces
quartered about the house of Rev. John Miles, the minist-
er at Swansy, whose place was nearest the bridge leading
over the
river into Philip's dominions. Some of the
troopers that evening
rode across the bridge and had a
slight skirmish with the enemy.
On the 29th Major Thomas
Savage arrived with another company of foot
with Capt.
Nicholas Paige's troop. Major Savage took command of
the Massachusetts forces; while, according to the custom
in the
United Colonies, the senior officer of the colony
in which the forces
were engaged at the time became
commander-in-chief. The present
seat of war being in
Plymouth colony, Major Cudworth was thus the
commander
of the whole army. On June 30th the troopers,
supported
by Mosely's company, charged across the bridge for a
mile into the woods, driving the enemy before them into
swamps,
with a loss of five or six. Ensign Perez Savage
being severely
wounded on the English side. This charge
so frightened the
Indians that they fled in the night,
out of their peninsula of Mount
Hope, across the channel
to Pocasset, now Tiverton, R.I. so that on
the next day
when the whole force marched over into Mount Hope, and
marched back and forth sweeping the country with their
lines, they
found no enemy. The forces wer engaged
several days in scouting
the neighboring country in
search of the Indians, not yet knowing that
the main
body were in Pocasset.
Then orders came from Boston
for Major Savage's forces
to march into Narraganset to enforce a
treaty with that
powerful tribe, and prevent their junction with
Philip.
They found the country apparently deserted, few except
the
very aged being left in any of the villages. Neither
Canonchet
nor any of his leading Sachems could be found.
The officers, however,
spent several days completing
a very ceremonious treaty with some of
the old men whom
they were able to bring together. Canonchet
afterwards
treated the whole matter with scorn as being a farce.
In the meantime, the Plymouth forces passed over to
Pocasset
and found a body of Indians and had a skirmish
with them. Capt. Fuller
was in command and Benjamin
Church conducted a part of the force,
which became en-
gaged with a much larger force, and after hard
fighting
were drawn off with difficulty by the tact and courage
of
Mr. Church, after inflicting serious injury upon the
enemy, and
suffering little loss themselves. After this
the Indians retired
into the swamps about Pocasset and
were held at bay until the return
of the Massachusetts
forces; when all marched together for concerted
action
against their enemies.
PART 4
pp. 7 to 8
p.7
On July 18th the combined
forces arrived at the Pocasset
swamp and made a resolute attack upon
the enemy conceal-
ed in the thick underbrush from whence at the first
volley they killed five and wounded seven of our men.
After this
volley the enemy retreated deeper into the
swamp, where it was
impossible, night coming on, to
follow them. The commanders in
council concluded that
they had the enemy now enclosed securely within
the
swamp, whence it was impossible to escape, if a suitable
guard
were left to watch. Major Savage and the Massa-
chusetts men
returned to Boston, except Capt. Henchman's
company of one hundred
men, who with the Plymouth forces
remained at Pocasset. Capt.
Henchman began to build a
fort there, which might serve as a
stronghold for the
English and might guard the entrance to the great
swamp.
The English were deceived by the apparent easy conquest
of both the Wampanoags and Narragansets, and believed
they had
over-awed them and set their hostility at rest,
and now might take
their own time in crushing Philip and
thus finishing the war.
Plymouth Colony had been engaged from the first in seek-
ing
to conciliate the tribes, in their bounds, which
were related to
Philip. Through the efforts of Mr.
Benjamin Church, a resident
of Seconet, who was acquaint-
ed on pleasant terms with nearly all the
tribes in the
colony, negotiations were held with Awashonks the squaw
sachem of the Seconet Indians and Weetamoo the squaw
sachem or
"queen" of the Pocasset tribe. Awashonks and
most of her people
passed over into the Narraganset
country at the opening of active
hostilities and thus
avoided joining Philip, but Weetamoo and her
people were
swept along with him in his retreat towards the Nipmuck
country. Plymouth companies were abroad too, scouting
the
country in the effort to protect their settlements,
exposed like
Dartmouth, Middleboro, etc. They also esta-
blished a garrison
at Mount Hope after Philip retreated
to Pocasset, to prevent his
return. The entrance of
Philip into the Pocasset swamps
compelled the cooperation
of the hesitating Weetamoo and afforded him
a safe hiding
place to recruit and prepare for his flight northward.
In the meantime the Massachusetts authorities had begun
negotiations with the various Nipmuck Indians. Seven of
the
principal towns had been visited and treaties made
with each. On
July 16th Ephraim Curtis returned to
Boston and reported the Quahaugs
gathered at a great
island in a swamp beyond Brookfield and showing a
de-
fiant and hostile spirit. The Council immediately sent
Capt. Edward Hutchinson, escorted by Capt. Thomas
Wheeler and his
mounted company, with Curtis as guide,
to find the Indians and bring
them to terms. The comp-
any, accompanied by some friendly
Naticks, arrived at
Brookfield on August 1st, and immediately sent
Curtis
with the guides to arrange for a meeting next day. The
Quahaugs, whose leader was the famous Muttaump, agreed
to come
next day to a plain some three miles from Brook-
field to meet the
English.
p.8
The next morning, the company,
with three of the chief
men of Brookfield rode out to the appointed
place but
found no Indians. Urged by the Brookfield men, but
against the earnest remonstrance of the Naticks, they
rode forward
towards the place where Curtis met them the
day before. But
coming to a narrow defile between a high
rocky hill and an
impenetrable swamp, and riding single
file they found themselves
caught in a great ambuscade
of the Indians, who let them pass along
until they were
able to surround them, and then rose together and
fired
into their column at close range. They killed eight men
outright and wounded five, including Capts. Hutchinson
and
Wheeler, the former mortally. The English were
forced to
retreat, fighting, up the hill; and under the
skillful conduct of
their Indian guides were able to
make a safe retreat to Brookfield
where they gathered
the people and fortified a house just before the
Indians
came sweeping furiously down upon the village.
Here
they defended themselves against great numbers for
several days, till
Major Willard and Capt. Parker came
with a company and reinforced the
garrison, when the
enemy retired.
At Pocasset Capt. Henchman
continued building his fort,
and Philip was making ready for his
fight. The English
seem not to have contemplated the possibility
of a
general war, nor to have at all appreciated the gravity
of
the present situation in the colonies. Philip with
all his
fighting-men and the greater part of his own
and Weetamoo's people,
escaped across the river and
passed through the open plain in
Rehoboth, where they
were discovered by some of the settlers. A
scouting
party from Taunton made the discovery that it was
Philip's Indians who were thus escaping. The situation
of
affairs may be briefly stated. Capt. Henchman was
guarding the
swamp wherein Philip and his people were
supposed to be securely
trapped. Major Cudworth and
Capt. Fuller were at Dartmouth with
a company of one
hundred and twelve men. Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas of
Marshfield was at the Mount Hope garrison with twenty
men.
At Rehoboth a company of Mohegan Indians under
Oneko, under convoy of
Corporal Thomas Swift, arrived
from Boston on the 30th on their way to
Capt. Henchman
at Pocasset. Upon the alarm, Rev. Mr. Newman of
Reho-
both began to organize a company of volunteers for the
pursuit of the Indians. Lieut. Thomas with a small
detachment, happened to come to Rehoboth on the 30th
and hearing
of the escape, hastened back to carry the
news to Capt. Henchman, and
urge his cooperation. Lieut
Thomas then, on the 31st, took eleven men
of his Mount
Hope garrison and being joined by Lieut James Brown of
Swansy, with twelve men, marched in the pursuit. The
Rehoboth men, with some volunteers from Providence and
Taunton,
led by the Mohegans, had started earlier upon the
trail of the enemy.
PART 5
p. 9 to 10
p.
9
Lieut Thomas and his party overtook the others at
sunset
and after a brief council-of-war, sent out their scouts,
Indian and English, to discover the movements of the
fugitives. Having found that they had encamped for the
night, and apparently not suspecting pursuit, the English
left
their horses with a guard, and, with the Mohegans
in the van, marched
silently forward to a field, at a
place called "Nipsachick" (said to
be within the present
town of Burriville, R.I). The night being
very dark,
they were forced to wait for light. At dawn they made
their attack upon what proved to be Weetamoo's camp.
The Indians
were taken by surprise and fled, leaving every-
thing behind
them. But the Mohegans and English rush-
ing forward found
themselves confronted with Philip's
fighting men entrenched behind
trees and rocks ready for
battle. Adopting the tactics of the
enemy, the English
and their allies engaged them fiercely until 9
o'clock,
when still fighting desperately, but with powder nearly
spent, the hostiles sullenly retired leaving many of
their dead
upon the field. Some twenty-three of the
enemy were killed, it
is said, including a prominent
chief, Woonashum, called by the
English, Nimrod. Of the
English, two were killed and one
wounded.
Near the close of the fight, Rev. Mr. Newman and a party
came up, bringing supplies. Capt. Henchman arrived after
the
fight, having sailed to Providence and marched up
thence, with
sixty-eight soldiers and sixteen friendly
Indians. He
immediately took command, but concluded
not to push the pursuit until
next day. The Rehoboth
and Providence men returned home, to
bring up supplies
for the further pursuit. They hastened back
next day
with all speed, but found to their great disappointment
that Capt. Henchman had not moved until that same day,
giving the
enemy a full day's start; Lieut. Thomas and
his party overtook him on
the evening of August 3rd
at a place called by them in the report,
"Wapososhequash".
The enemy were beyond pursuit, a part (Weetamoo's
people
except the fighting-men) having turned off into the
Narraganset country, while Philip and the rest passed
into the
great forests beyond Quabaug. The Mohegans
went to their own
country on August 4th, accompanied by
Lieut. Brown and a small party,
to Norwich, to secure
provisions and news of the enemy. After awaiting
the re-
turn of this party three days, Capt. Henchman on August
7th marched back to Mendon, meeting Capt. Mosely with a
company of
dragoons coming up from Providence with
supplies. Next day,
Capt. Henchman went up to Boston and
the Rehoboth men returned
home. Capt. Mosely was left
in command at Mendon. Capt.
Henchman was relieved of
command in the field and was sent to bring
off his men
remaining at Pocasset. Mendon had been attacked July
14th, by a party of Nipmucks, led by Matoonas, and six
or more of
the settlers were killed while at work in
their fields.
When
the Indians returned from their seige of Brookfield,
they met Philip
and his people in the woods and told him
of their exploit. He
was greatly pleased, and gave some
of the chiefs presents of wampum,
and promised them fresh
supplies of ammunition and arms.
p.10
The Brookfield affair
had the effect of bringing in the
faltering tribes and Philip's coming
confirmed the plan
to clear the Connecticut Valley of English
settlers.
Massachusetts Colony raised several companies to protect
the frontiers. Capt. Mosely with his own and Capt. Hench-
man's men marched from Mendon, and Captains Thomas
Lathrop of
Essex County with a fine company, and Richard
Beers of Watertown with
another, marched to Brookfield
where their forces were joined by Capt.
Watts of Connecti-
cut with two companies of English and
Indians. Major
Willard took command of this force, and broke it
into
several parties in order to better protect the several
settlements. These companies were engaged in scouting
the
frontiers and guarding supplies sent up to the
various
garrisons. The Springfield Indians, hitherto
pretending
friendship, fled and joined the hostiles on
the night of August 24th;
and the English, pursuing, had
a sharp fight with them at a swamp near
Mt. Wequomps
losing nine of their own men. The English troops
were
concentrated at Hadley under the general command of Major
Pynchon. On Sept 1st the Indians attacked Deerfield
burning
most of the houses and killing one of the garri-
son soldiers and then
withdrew. On the 2nd they fell
upon Northfield, where many of
the people were abroad
at work in the fields, and the women and
children at the
houses in the town. The assault was from all
quarters
at once and many were killed in the fields as they
escaped from their houses to the garrison. The Indians
burned most of their houses and drove away their cattle.
On
the 3rd Capt. Beers, with thirty mounted men and an
ox-team, was sent
to bring off the garrison of Northfield
not knowing of this
attack. This force on the next day
was ambushed at Saw-Mill
Brook, near Northfield, and
Capt. Beers and some twenty of his men
were killed. Next
day Major Treat with a hundred men marched up
to North-
field, finding and burying the dead of Capt. Beer's
company and then bringing off the garrison. It was now
decided to strengthen the garrisons and act upon the
defensive. Upon Sept. 18th Capt. Lathrop with his comp-
any
was sent to convoy teams bring loads of grain from
Deerfield to
Hadley. A strong ambuscade was made at a
place known since as
"Bloody Brook," and there the
Indians encompassed and massacred nearly
the whole comp-
any, some eighty, including the teamsters. Only
eight
or ten escaped. The number killed was between sixty and
seventy. Capt. Mosely came hastily from Deerfield upon
hearing the shots and engaged the great company of sever-
al
hundreds of Indians, charging in amongst them with in-
trepid fury
which drove them headlong before him into the
woods and swamps; but
finding them gathering in immense
numbers and seeking to surround him,
he threw out his
lines to prevent being flanked and began a cautious
re-
treat; when Major Treat coming upon the field, the Indians
seeing the reinforcements, fled.
PART 6
pp
11-12
p.11
The English
troops, hithto despising the Indians in war,
now seemed helpless
before them. On Sept. 26th the
Indians assaulted Springfield,
west of the river, burn-
ing the houses and barns. On October
5th, having made
some demonstrations against Hadley, soldiers were
drawn
from Springfield to strengthen the garrison; the Indians
fell upon the latter village and destroyed it, before the
companies could return to save it. After this blow,
Major
Pynchon begged the Court to appoint a commander
of the forces on the
river in his place, and Major Samuel
Appleton was appointed and by the
advice of the Council
garrisoned the various towns not abandoned and
then with-
drew the other troops to Boston. The Connecticut
troops
helped to garrison Northampton and Westfield, and the
Indians withdrew to their winter camps. Philip had long
since gone into winter quarters above Albany.
But now the
colonies determined to strike the Narragansetts
in their own country
before they should be able to join
the hostiles. A great muster
was made in three colonies
and an army of one thousand men was raised
and equipped,
half of which was sent from Massachusetts. The
Narra-
gansets were entrenched in a very strong position in a
great swamp in what is now South Kingstown, R.I.
It was claimed
that great numbers of Wampanoags and
other hostiles were among them
finding refuge, and they
were defiant and threatening. The
English forces under
command of General Winslow of Plymouth gathered
at Wick-
ford and on Dec. 19th 1675, marched some twenty miles
through intense cold and a heavy snow storm, to the
swamp; the
waters being frozen by the severe cold, and
this fact made it possible
for the English to reach the
rude fortifications. Without
waiting for any organized
attack, the Massachusetts troops, being at
the front in
the march, rushed forward across the ice in an impetuous
charge, and into the entrance, where the Indians had
constructed
rude flankers, and place a strong block-house
in front, so that the
first to enter were met with a
terrible enfilading fire from front and
flanks, and were
forced back for a time; but others coming on pressed
into
the breach, and though suffering severe losses, at last
stormed all the fortifications, drove the enemy from
every line of
entrenchments within the fort, and out into
the woods and swamps
beyond. They set fire to the wig-
wams and store-houses of the
savages, in which were
burned many of the aged, and women and
children. Then
taking their wounded, the English took up their
march
back through the deep snow to Wickford, where they
arrived
the next morning.
The details of this fight as well as the
subsequent
movements of this campaign, are given at length in the
articles of which this pamphlet is the compendium, and
are briefly
passed here. The Narragansetts kept well
out of the way of the
English army, and made many pre-
tences of negotiating peace, but at
last, about January
26th having made several raids into the
settlements, and
capturing numbers of cattle and horses, Canonchet
with
his strong rear-guard took up his line of retreat for the
north, and two days afterwards the army, some twelve
hundred
strong, marched in pursuit.
p.12
The Mohegans and
Pequots, among the Connecticut forces,
led the pursuit and had several
sharp skirmishes with the
enemy, always retreating northward.
This running fight
was kept up for several days, until provisions
having
failed and no base of supplies possible, the General
abandoned the pursuit and marched his troops to Marlbor-
ough and
thence to Boston. The men suffered severely
in this march, from
hunger, and it was known for several
generations as the "hungry
march."
The Connecticut forces separated from the others on Feb.
3rd, and the main body of the army arrived in Boston on
the
8th. Wadsworth was left at Marlborough to guard the
frontiers
and neighboring towns. Canonchet and his great
and warlike
Narraganset tribe, maddened by what they
believed their wrongs, and
thirsting for vengeance, were
now joined with Philip and the other
hostile tribes and
all within an easy day's call, except Philip and
his
band who still remained in their retreat beyond Albany.
The time was critical for the settlements; prompt action
was
necessary on the part of the Indian leaders to keep
their young men in
courage and training. Upon Feb. 10th
the Indians in great force
fell upon Lancaster and nearly
destroyed the town. They killed
or took captive fifty
of the people. Among the captives was Mrs.
Rowlandson
wife of the minister. One garrison-house was saved by
the arrival of Capt. Wadsworth, and his company from
Marlborough. On Feb. 21st a strong body of the enemy
surprised Medfield, although a large force of soldiers
was then in
the town. There were no guards set, nor
other precautions
taken. The soldiers were scattered
about in the houses and the
Indians placed ambuscades
in front of each house, and shot them down
as they rush-
ed out upon the alarm. The enemy were frightened
away
by the firing of a cannon and crossed the river, burning
the
bridge behind them.
Another army was now raised and sent out to
the Connecti-
cut River towns to protect them and try to bring the
enemy to battle. There were said to be two great forti-
fied
camps; one near the "Wachusett Hill," and the other
at Menameset,
beyond Brookfield. The army was under
command of Major Thomas
Savage and consisted of three
foot companies and a troop of horse from
Massachusetts.
Connecticut sent several companies of English and
friendly
Indians. A number of Christian Indians from the Naticks
went with Major Savage. The army marched to Menameset
on
March 2nd to March 4th to find the enemy gone. They
pursued them
to Miller's River, across which they escap-
ed. It was thought
that this great body of the enemy
would now fall upon the western
towns, so that the army
marched thither, abandoning the design upon
"Wachusett
Hill.
PART 7
pp. 13
to 14 p.13
Major Savage
disposed his forces to guard the towns. On
March 14th an attack was
made upon Northhampton, but was
repulsed with severe loss to the
enemy. On the 24th
they appeared at Hatfield, but finding it
well garrisoned
made no attack, though driving off some horses and
cattle.
The Indians began to prepare for planting fields along
the
river; and Canonchet with a body of his men went back
to their country
to bring up seed-corn, of which large
quantities were there
stored. It is probable that a
large company went towards
Plymouth colony, a small
party of whom destroyed the house and family
of Mr.
Clarke at Plymouth village. March 17th they burned War-
wick. Plymouth Colony sent out a company of fifty under
Capt. Michael Peirse of Marshfield, to protect its front-
iers. A party of twenty friendly Indians under "Capt.
Amos"
was joined with Capt. Peirse. This company marched
to Seekonk
and there had a sharp skirmish with the Indians
on the evening of
March 25th. Next day, supposing they
had beaten the Indians,
they pursued them and were drawn
into an ambush and surrounded near
Patuxit River with
great numbers so that they were obliged to fight to
the
death. The whole company including the officers were
killed, together with eight out of the twenty Indians.
The enemy
too lost very heavily. March 28th and 29th
the Indians burned
seventy houses and thirty barns at
Providence.
In the meantime
in Massachusetts the enemy were not idle.
Lurking parties hovered
about Groton plundering the
vacated houses and driving away any stray
cattle within
safe reach. On March 13th they fell upon the town in
force. The people were gathered in five garrison houses
One
of the garrison houses was captured but the people
mostly escaped to
another. The other garrison houses
were stoutly defended.
The Indians burned the unforti-
fied houses and withdrew. On
March 26th the fatal day
of Capt. Peirse's destruction, they burned
sixteen houses
and thirteen barns at Marlborough. Capt.
Brocklebank
then in command at Marlborough, sent out a party in pur-
suit who overtook and surprised the enemy at night,
sleeping about
their fires, fired into their midst and
put them to flight. On
the same day at Longmeadow a
party going to Springfield to church was
ambushed by a
small company of Indians and several were captured and
killed.
Finding the campaign to have failed in its main
object,
the Council ordered Major Savage to withdraw his troops
leaving Capt William Turner with a hundred and fifty
men to
garrison the towns. April 7th the army marched
homeward.
But not the Connecticut authorities, fearing a return
of the
Narragansets to their vicinity, in numbers such
as overwhelmed Capt.
Peirse, mustered a mixed company
of English and Indians and sent them
into the Narraganset
country under command of Captains Dennison and
Avery.
p.14
These, guided by a
captive whom they had taken, surprised
and captured Canonchet not far
from the Patuxit River,
where he was encamped with a few of his men,
while the
great body were scattered, scouting and foraging. He
was soon after executed by Oneko, by the judgement of the
English
authorities. The death of Canonchet was really
the death blow of
the war, for he was the real leader of
all active operations at this
time.
Philip was still the chief instigator, however, and now
more than before, became, for the time, the controlling
mind of a
larger number than ever before. There were
dissensions, however,
and many of the chiefs began to
murmer and some to threaten against
him as the cause of
all their troubles. Some of the river tribes
began to
show signs of weakening, and proposed negotiations with
the English. Philip withdrew to the strong-hold near
Wachuset with such as adhered to him, and with Quinnapin,
and such
of the Narragansets as followed him. The Indians
were still
active, and watched every chance to strike
a blow. They came to
Marlborough on April 18th and
burned the abandoned houses of the
settlers. Capt.
Brocklebank commanded the garrison there and
refused to
be drawn into the ambuscades, which before the burning,
the Indians had set. On April 20th they crept down, and
encompassed the town of Sudbury. On that day Capt.
Wadsworth
marched up from Boston with a company of fifty
men, passed through
Sudbury and doubtless the lines of
the enemy without any knowledge of
their vicinity. He
was forcing his march to relieve the garrison
at Marl-
borough, where they arrived about midnight on the 20th,
and without delay leaving their recruits, took those re-
lieved to
come home, including Capt. Brocklebank, and
came back towards
Sudbury. The great numbers of Indians
had encompassed the town
and in the morning of the 21st
began to burn outlying houses to draw
out the inhabitants
from the garrison.
They soon made a
furious and persistant attack on Haine's
garrison from morning to
mid-day, but were beaten off
until rumors of reinforcements from
various quarters
caused them to withdraw to meet these. Edward
Cowen and
eighteen coming to the relief of Sudbury, were attacked
but escaped with only four killed, they turned back,
suspecting
the ambush laid out for them. Capt. Wadsworth
soon after arrived by
another road and meeting with an
outpost of the enemy rushed forward
to engage them and
as usual they soon found themselves surrounded by
great
numbers, and were forced to a position on a hill, where
most
of the company fell fighting, including Capt. Wads-
worth, Capt.
Brocklebank and Lieut. Sharpe. Some sixteen
of the company
managed to escape to a mill, and there
defended themselves until
relieved.
A company from Watertown arrived soon after Capt. Wads-
worth and crossing the river, made a brave attempt to
get to the
hill to join him in his desperate fight, but
were nearly surrounded
themselves and forced to retire.
Capt. Hunting with a company of
Christian Indians and a
squad of troopers arrived from Charlestown
late in the
afternoon, in time to rescue the men at the mill.
PART 8
pp.15 to p.
16 p.15
After the fight,
in which they struck such a terrible
blow, and so close to Boston,
too, they seem to have re-
tired to their several camps, and soon to
have gathered
to their great fishing-places in order to take the run
of fish. Capt. Turner was still in command of the garri-
sons at the west. From captives who had escaped, and
scouts
here and there, came rumors of a great company
of Indians fishing at
the "Upper Falls" of the Connecti-
cut. Capt. Turner and his
officers were anxious to
strike a blow against the enemy and
Connecticut authorit-
ies were applied to and promised speedy
reinforncements.
On May 12th the Indians made a raid into Deerfield
mead-
ows and stamped some seventy head of cattle belongig to
the
English. Roused by this fresh outrage, the people
urged
retaliation and Capt. Turner and his officers de-
termined to attack
the Indians at their great fishing
place at once. On May 18th
the whole company of soldiers
and volunteers, about one hundred and
fifty, mustered at
Hatfield, and marched out at evening towards the
"Falls".
They included the outposts of the enemy, and at daylight
arrived undiscovered at the camp of the Indians at the
fishing-place. The savages were asleep in their wigwams
and
the English rushed down upon them and shot them by
the scores,
pointing their muskets in through the wigwam
doors. No
resistance was possible and those who escaped
the first fire fled in
terror to the river, pursued by
the soldiers and were cut down or
driven into the water
without mercy; many were drowned attempting to
cross the
river.
But it soon found that there were several
other great
bodies of the Indians, above and below the Falls on
either side of the river, and these began to swarm to-
wards the
fight. Capt. Turner now prudently began a
retreat, having struck
his blow. As the soldiers retired
the enemy gathered in great
numbers upon rear and flanks
seeking to force the English into narrow
defiles. Capt.
Holyoke commanded the rear-guard, and checked the
enemy
by stout fighting, but for which, it is likely, the
whole
command would have been lost. Capt. Turner led
the advance, and
while crossing Green River was shot
down by the Indians lying in
wait. Capt. Holyoke then
led the company back to Hatfield,
fighting nearly the
whole way. There the killed and
missing numbered forty
five. A few came in afterwards, reducing
the number of
the lost to about forty. It is estimated that some
two
hundred Indians must have been destroyed.
The blow struck
by Capt. Turner greatly intimidated the
enemy, though the retreat was
so distastrous to the Eng-
lish. The tribes became divided
and demoralized. They
seem to have broken up into small
wandering parties.
Philip with large numbers of his adherents went
down to-
wards Plymouth. Massachusetts sent troops to the west-
ern frontiers again, and also to aid Plymouth. The
operations in the field were mostly the pursuit of non-
combatants, the aged, and women and children.
p.16
Large numbers of the
Wampanoags and Narragansets had now
returned with Philip to their own
country. Small parties
from time to time plundered and killed as
opportunity
offered. The colonists were roused to new activity
at the evident weakening of the Indians. Aid was sent
to
Plymouth, under Capt. Brattle and Capt. Mosely; and
Capt. Henchman did
good service in the parts about Brook-
field. Major Talcott,
with a mixed force of English and
Indians, about five hundred in all,
came up the river
and marched into Hadley about the 11th of June, and
was
quartered there on the 12th, when the Western Indians,
some
seven hundred strong, made their last great assault
in force in these
parts.
The town was quite strongly garrisoned besides this re-
inforcement, of which probably the enemy knew nothing.
The attack
was altogether unexpected and was furious and
determined, but the
repulse was decided and sanguinary.
Major Talcott then led his force
down into the Narragan-
set country, where, about the 2nd of July, he
encounter-
ed a great body of Indians, and driving them into the
woods and swamps slew great numbers, and took many
captives.
The plight of the savages was pitiful; with-
out ammunition, without
leadership, without country or
hope of any sort, they found no mercy
now at the hands
of their olden foes, the Mohegans and Pequots, nor
yet
the English.
The remaining operations of the war in these
parts were
simply the hunting down of almost defenceless enemies.
The colonial authorities issued a proclamation, calling
all those
Indians who had been engaged in the war to
come in and surrender,
submitting themselves to the
judgement of the English courts.
Many parties sought
to take advantage of this, but were captured upon
their
their approach by scouting parties, and treated as capt-
ives. Some of those who had been prominent in the war
and
could not hope for mercy, escaped to the eastward
and put themselves
under the protection of Wannalancet
and his Pennacooks, who had
remained neutral. Some fled
further to the east and there
incited war.
The constant success which the Connecticut troops had
always had after their use of the Mohegans and Pequots
was a plain
rebuke to the Massachusetts colonists for the
numerous disasters from
which the Christian Indians might
have saved them, if they had trusted
and employed them.
As soon as Capt. Hunting and his Indian company
were put
in the field, this appeared. The Indians in small
parties
skulking in woods and swamps might have eluded English
soldiers for years, but as soon as other Indians were
employed,
escape was impossible.
At the close of July, many of Philip's
followers had
been taken, and his wife and several of his chief men
were captives or had been killed. With a small band of
his
followers he was hiding in the swamps at Mount Hope
and
Pocasset. English scouting parties were active in
all parts of
the colonies hunting down the trembling and
unresisting fugitives; and
especially Philip.
PART 9 (final)
pp. 17 to 18
p.17
Benjamin Church was the most active in hunting and bring-
in the Indians, and when one of Philip's men came to be-
tray his
chief, he found Mr. Church at Major Sanford's
in Rhode Island with his
scouting party of English and
Indians a short distance away.
Upon the news of Philip's
hiding place and the offer of the Indian to
lead thither,
Mr. Church gathered as many as he could enlist in addi-
tion to his party, and, under the lead of the Indian
deserter (who
acted, it is said, from motives of revenge
for his brother's death, by
Philip's hand, because he
advised him to make peace with the English),
the party
marched with great secrecy to Mount Hope. Mr. Church
arranged his attack with skill, and came upon Philip's
party
unguarded and asleep, and Philip springing up and
attempting to escape
to the swamp nearby, was confronted
with two of Mr. Church's guards,
an Englishman and an
Indian. The Englishman's gun missed fire,
but the Indian,
named "Alderman," immediately fired and shot the great
chief through the breast, so that he fell forward into
the water
of the swamp, upon his face, dead.
Philip was killed August 12th,
1676. Weetamoo's party,
the sad remnant of her tribe, had been
captured on the
7th and she, trying to escape across a river, was
drown-
ed and her body being found, her head was cut off and
paraded in the public streets. In the body of the
papers, by
a strange continuance of an old mistake, this
fact is accredited to
Awashonks, squaw sachem of the
Sogkonates.
After Philip's
death, his chief counsellor, Annawon, led
the rest of the party out of
the swamp and escaped. With
his party he soon after surrendered to Mr.
Church. The
death of Philip was practically the close of the
war,
though hostilities continued for some time after, and at
the
eastward for a year or more longer. At Dover Major
Richard
Walderne had held command of the military inter-
ests and operations
in those parts. He was a trusted
friend of Wannalancet and the
neighboring Indians. Under
the proclamation the old chief and
his people came in
without fear, as they had taken no part whatever in
the
war. There were many Indians with them, however, it was
suspected, who had been among the hostiles and now wish-
ed to
come in with the Pennacooks and secure the advan-
tages of their
influence in giving themselves up. They
began to come in at
Dover about the first of September,
and when, on the 6th, the
companies, sent to the east-
ward under Capt. Hathorn, arrived at
Dover, there were
some four hundred there, including the
Pennacooks. In
some way the immediate surrender of all these was
re-
ceived, probably by Major Walderne's great influence with
them. They were then disarmed and as the Massachusetts
officers insisted on treating them all as prisoners of
war, Major
Walderne was obliged to send all, save
Wannalancet and his "relations"
down to Boston to be
tried there by the Court. The number sent
was about
two hundred.
p.18
Some of the Southern
Indians, having lost all except
their own lives, passed to the Eastern
tribes and were
active in exciting to hostility. The local
Indians had
been hostile the previous year, committing depredations
from the Kennebec to Portsmouth. In the summer of 1676,
it
is thought that many who had been among the Indians
in the war, came
to these tribes and caused much of the
trouble which ensued. The
day before Philip's death
the Indians fell upon the settlers at
Falmouth and killed
or carried away some thirty-four persons and
burned
their houses. Further eastward also the settlements
were attacked. It was upon these occasions that Capt.
Hathorn's force was sent to these parts. They marched
on
from Dover on Sept. 8th as far as Falmouth, Capt.
Hunting's Indians
scouting the woods. This expedition
was not of much avail, as
the Indians easily eluded the
troops, being only war parties without
the encumbrance
of women and children.
But the scope of this
review of events did not contem-
plate the detailed account of affairs
which have already
been related in the body of the work, of which this
pam-
phlet is a brief summary, but to give a consecutive
account
for the convenience of readers.
Transcribed & submitted by Janice
Farnsworth
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