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| King Philip's War (1675) |
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| Finding the body of John Sassamon in Assawompset Pond |
It was obviously a murder.
An Indian named Patuckson told that he saw killing him three men working in the
service of Metacom (Philip), before throwing his body into the pond. His
testimony should have been considered with caution insofar he owed money to
those he was accusing but nothing could be done and the alleged perpetrators were
arrested and locked to Plymouth.
There was
little doubt that John Sassamon, the former secretary of Philip necessarily aware of some
confidential matters, was victim of a political crime. He could become
annoying to some people, especially as he had, reportedly, informed a few days
before, Josiah Winslow, the governor of Plymouth, that the Wampanoag were
preparing a general uprising.
Belonging to the former Massachuseuk tribe, John Sassamon had mainly received a
puritan education, being more importantly the first Native to graduate from
Harvard College. He was somehow part of the regional elite and had either
served as a teacher or secretary wherever he had lived. The fact remained that
the settlers, as well as the Indians, distrusted him because of the relationship
he had mutually with both communities for which he served regularly as
interpreter for all information that he could collect. He spoke, for some, the language
of the invaders and was for the others from a nation which had suffered bloody
disputes with Wampanoag whose Grand Sachem Masssaoit had murdered the three
leaders Peksuit, Wittawamit and Yanough to establish his power.
February 9, 1675 - Signature of the Tripartite Deed by which William Penn,
Gawen Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas are associated with Edward Byllynge's interests
in the western part of New Jersey, with the exception of a tenth transferred to
Johh Fenwick.
March, 1675 - Tobias, one of the three Indians identified by Patuckson is
summoned before the Court of Plymouth to be questioned about John Sassamon's
death.
He tried to exculpate
himself by explaining that Sassamon accidentally fell into the frozen water
while fishing and that the marks on his body were due to ice.
March 6, 1675 – Held in St James, the Grand Assembly of Virginia decides to
set up a fort at Currawaugh (alias New Dursley) located in the mouth of the
Nansemond River under guard by 40 men commanded by captain Edward Wiggins.
This
expensive measure supposed to put an end to the constant territorial feuds
between planters was, however, considered by some as a way to protect the
interests of the wealthiest colonists.
Other provisions
were approved in anticipation of a war against the Natives whose incursions and
damages in plantations were regarded as an ongoing problem. Every county was accordingly
obliged to create garrison forts under the command of officers. Northumberland
County would provide 30 men, Middlesex County 25 men, Glocester County 110 men
under Lawrence Smith's command, York County 61 men under Major George Lyddall,
James River 55 men under captain Byrds, Warwick, Elizabeth and Charles River 57
men under General Abraham Wood and 40 men for Surrey County commanded by Major
Peter Jones.
Spring, 1675 - The Assembly of Connecticut passes a law requiring Pequot
Indians who live in the reserves to observe the Sabbath restrictions, requiring every settler who would see a drunken Native to do work in his service for
twelve days under punishment.
The Natives of New England were Algonquians and had little opportunity to move to West
where lived Mohawks, one of the most powerful tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy and above all their most dreaded foe.
April, 1675 - Two English settlers are killed by Indians near Millstone
River in New Jersey while an Indian dies after drinking too much liquor near
the Raritan River and a second dies from his injuries after being expelled by a
Finn in Upland.
Declaring
that there were victims on both sides, the Indians refused to deliver the
murderers as demanded them the settlers.
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| Sir Edmund Andros Governor of New York |
He had taken
office when tensions with the Indians were rising everywhere. Skirmishes and
ambushes remained the rule between Iroquois and the northern tribes allied to
the French, while the peace between Mohawk and Mahican seemed very superficial.
But stubborn and pragmatic, Andros was convinced that good-neighborly relations
were conceivable between the colonists and the Indian nations.
April 30, 1675 – Travelling in Delaware Bay, Governor Edmund Andros signs a
peace treaty with Renowickam, the main chief of the Lenape.
May, 1675 - John Leverett is reelected governor of Massachusetts.
It was then
estimated that the fortune of the 30 most important merchants of Boston was
between £10,000 and 20,000 for a 430-boat fleet.
May 4, 1675 - Sir Edmund Andros lands in the Delaware colony with George
Carteret, the governor of New Jersey. He comes to restore the Duke of York’s supremacy.
Captain Cantwell
who commanded New Castle met them at Falls (Trenton) and reported that the people
of the colony were generally well prepared to work with the new authorities.
Andros noticed that the defenses of the city had been restored and distributed
land as he had just done in New York. He announced measures to support the
economy as the opening of new roads and the building of dikes. He also ordered to
repair the mills while prohibiting the distillation of grain, considering that
the development of the colony went through its ability to export its
production.
This visit
also allowed to stop the land claims of Maryland which recognized that Delaware
clearly was under the authority of the Duke of York.
May 13, 1675 - A meeting with the governor of Delaware, the magistrates of
the colony and four Indian chiefs is held at Passayunk, in Peter Rambo's mansion.
Governor
Edmund Andros told them of his desire to maintain mutual friendship and assured
them of his protection. Isaac Helme was commissioned to translate the statement
of the governor and was in return the interpreter of the Indians who showed
themselves sensitive to his friendly brands. Various gifts were exchanged and as
a token of his good will, Sir Edmund Andros stood before them trial of James
Sandyland's contentious case, accused of the murder of a Native. It ended up
declaring a dismissal for lack of evidence, but Sandyland was however sentenced
in another case.
Nevertheless,
Sir Edmund Andros did not succeed in finding a solution to religious divisions
which shook Delaware up. He wanted to meet the Finns granting them the
fouding of new parishes but came up with the Dutch Reformed Church which refused
the appointment of Rev. Jacob Fabritius, already known in Allbany and New
York for his escapades and violent behavior. Only time would be able to calm
the spirits.
June 4, 1675 - In Delaware, the assembly of New Castle turns to
confrontation about the building of dikes wished by Governor Andros.
The planned
works favored some and penalized others. John Ogle did not want to make efforts
for owners of grasslands who would reap all the benefits. He strongly
opposed the project and came after Captain Cantwell who put him under arrest as
well as his most vocal defenders, Mathys Smith and Rev. Jacob Fabritius.
Cantwell wanted to drive them to New York to be tried but found more reasonable
to release them because of the uproar raised by this matter.
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| Metacom a.k.a. Philip King of the Wampanoag |
The jury
included for the first time colonists and Natives. For the court, it was
obvious that Metacom (Philip) was directly concerned while another party
continued to pretend otherwise. The three men were hanged in Plymouth but a
rope broke and Wampapaquan, the miraculous survivor, gave the name of the
murderers and confirmed that Metacom (Philip) was well in collusion. This confession
did not prevent him from being hanged a second time.
For Philip,
the trial had been only a travesty of justice and the proof that it was
impossible to maintain a friendly and respectful relationship with the English.
For the latter, the guilt of three Indians not having been clearly established,
their execution sounded like a warning sent to Philip in case he would
persevere in his provocations.
June, 1675 - Josiah Winslow is reappointed governor of Plymouth. He is also
reelected commissioner to the United Colonies with Thomas Hinckley.
June, 1675 - Major John Fenwick arrives from England with his family and
brings with him 150 people, mostly friends and servants. He comes to settle in
New Jersey on the lands he acquired to former Proprietor John Berkeley with plans
to found there the first Quaker colony of America.
Considering himself
a rightful owner, John Fenwick was eager to challenge the authority of Sir
Edmund Andros and seized all the lands that the latter had distributed before
him to assign them to others.
John Fenwick
(1618 - 1683) – He had served as captain of cavalry in Cromwell’s armies. Become
a Quaker with his wife in 1665, he had joined the Society of Friends, a choice
which earned him being imprisoned for some time on order of King Charles II. He
participated in 1673 to redeem John Berkeley's domain in western New Jersey,
his lands being equivalent to current Salem and Cumberland counties,
approximately one tenth of the territory of the province.
June 14, 1675 - James Browne, a resident of Swansea known for his good relationship
with Philip, goes to him hoping to convince him to develop a peaceful attitude
and hands him a “friendly” letter " from the Plymouth Council. He asks
him to send his warriors back and to order his people to return to work.
The meeting
went rather badly and a young warrior even tried to kill James Browne before being stopped by Philip himself.
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| Saconet Squaw Sachem Awashonks |
June 17, 1675 - John Easton, lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, and
Samuel Gorton meet Philip (Metacom) in Bristol for a mediation attempt. They
collect his complaints and both agree that " war would be the worst way
" to solve the grievances of the Natives.
For Philip, the English had only shown ingratitude towards his people while these had
helped them to sow and reap. He blamed them for having mistreated his father,
the sachem Massasoit, for having tried and poisoned his brother Alexander whereas
they had both welcomed them as friends. He complained more generally that the Wampanoags
were dispossessed of their lands when, more and more, the English herds of
cattle destroyed their crops and justice was made to them in a totally unfair
way.
John
Easton's attempt finally achieved nothing. No agreement was found.
Philip
noticed especially with bitterness that most Natives adopted the European habits just because these offered them less rough living
conditions. He insisted, however, to preserve the traditions of his nation by dwelling
a remote village inside his wigwam. Moreover, hadn’t the English given him the
name of Philip because of his haughty manners? But he felt for a long time that
his power was threatened and war seemed increasingly the only
way to go out of the pain chain which, according to him, led his people to its own
ruin. The Plymouth authorities had, for years, dithered about him between trust
and distrust but he had every time vowed that it was all rumor and falsehood. Now, the
time had come for him to end with a 50-year old friendship become so heavy between
Plymouth and the Wampanoags, to get free from his commitments, untie his oaths,
break his alliances, spill blood, and ultimately involve his own fate.
Among all the
colonies of New England, Rhode Island was the least populated, the most divided
regarding opinions and the worst organized in term of public policy, while it
housed on its territory the most powerful and independent Indian nations. In
contrast, Massachusetts and Plymouth had only to deal with tribes weakened by diseases
and terrorized at the thought of crossing paths with the awful Mohawks while
Connecticut which worked hand in hand with Mohegans served unconsciously the designs
of their hard-boiled chief Uncas. On the other hand, being excluded from the United Colonies, The Providence and Rhode Island Plantations were politically well insulated
facing the Narragansetts and their Wampanoag allies. Hostilities, initiated
each time by their neighbors, had however previously been solved thanks to the
conciliatory attitude of Roger Williams and the friendship that united him to
the Narragansettt chiefs. But would it now be the same?
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| The Death of Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette |
His remains
would be exhumed one year later by the Indians and moved to St Ignace where his
mission was based.
June 18, 1675 - A colonist of Swansea comes upon several Wampanoags as
these try to get into houses left by their inhabitants during the church
service. A young man named John Salisbury, kills one of them with a gunshot.
The Natives
came to demand an explanation but the offending young man, supported by his
father, dared to tell them that " it was unimportant ". They left upset
with the idea of revenge.
June 19, 1675 - A group of Pokanoket sets fire to several isolated houses
of the Plymouth colony at Mattapoiset, near Swansea, taking advantage of the
fact that their inhabitants left to worship.
It was
likely that they were acting without the approval of their leader Metacom
(Philip) but this attack came in response to the previous day's event, reflecting the hostility growing between the Natives and the settlers.
Philip was
aware of the resentment of his people and the desire of his warriors to do
battle but he had not certainly planned the speed with which the events would
occur. He had in his advantage a local knowledge, a good experience of firearms
and a consummate art of wars.
June 21st, 1675 – Governor of Massachusetts John Leverett receives from his
counterpart in Plymouth, Josiah Winslow, a letter describing him the situation.
Given the
urgency, it was decided to send captain Edward Hutchinson with a delegation to
Narragansetts to know their intentions and rely on their goodwill towards the
English. They had planned to stop off in Providence to meet Roger Williams who
had to accompany them.
June 23rd, 1675 - the Council met in New York considers the reasons for the
troubles caused in Delaware since the beginning of the month and decides to
send a delegation to investigate about the problem with dikes building.
June 24, 1675 - Pokanoket warriors return to Swansea to burn the village.
They prey on livestock and fire into the settlers when they come out of the church,
killing nine victims among whom the young John Salisbury and his father, responsible
for the death of one of their companions. King Philip’s War has just been
declared.
Governor of
Plymouth Josiah Winslow had mobilized seventy men and wrote to John Leverett, his
counterpart in Massachusetts, informing him that Narragansett and Nipmuc were
also involved. Roger Williams tried from his part to obtain guarantees on
behalf of Narragansett sachem Canonchet but he was not convinced of his
sincerity.
Philip saw
that the war was started but insisted James Brown, Thomas Willett and James
Leonard to be unharmed. He also sent a message to Hugh Cole whose house had
been burned, to apologize and renew him his friendship.
June 26, 1675 - the Plymouth authorities allied with those of Boston respond
to the Pokanoket aggression and decide to send troops to destroy the Wampanoag
capital at Mount Hope (Montaup - near Bristol, Rhode Island).
An infantry company, equipped with muskets and bayonets, commanded by
captain Daniel Henchmann and horseback company troops captained by Thomas
Prentice leave Boston southbound. They are supported by captain Samuel Mosely
and a group of volunteers including sailors, privateers and even pirates. These
are 250 men all in all who go to Swansea.
June 27, 1675 – A lunar eclipse impresses the people of Boston. Several ministers
of the clergy take advantage of it to deliver sermons announcing terrible
events.
June 28, 1675 - The troops left two days earlier from Boston make their
junction with those of Plymouth patrolling for a few days around Swansea under
the orders of captain Cudworth.
The same
day, two men on sentry duty were killed by Indians while a dozen soldiers in
the company of Captain Prentice was attacked during a recon mission. An English
guide from Rehoboth, named William Hammond was also killed during the clash.
June 29, 1675 - Wampanoag burn eight farms at Rehoboth and kill about
fifteen people in Taunton.
About ten Indians are chased by the volunteers of captain Mosely and a
group of horsemen. They kill some Wampanoag warriors but alerted, Philip leaves
Mount Hope at night and crosses discreetly the river near Taunton.
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| Major Thomas Savage (1608-1682) |
Thomas
Savage (Taunton (Somerset) 1608 - 1682) - Arrived in Boston in 1635, he was upgraded captain of an artillery company in 1651 and served until his death
in the 2nd Company of the Boston Militia.
To him was given
in June, 1675 the task to solve the Wampanoag problem, a mission which ended in
series of failures. He appeared too often awkward in his decisions and clumsy
in his strategies, to the point that the Boston authorities relieved him of his
command and put him under Major general Daniel Denison.
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| Captain Benjamin Church (1639-1709) |
Eight
farmers had been beheaded and dismembered in a place called Mattapoiset and the
heads of eight others were set on pikes at Keekkamuit. These gruesome findings
could discourage the ultimate mediation attempts.
June 30, 1675 – Captain Edward Hutchinson blocks off Mount Hope under a pouring rain, discovering the village completely deserted. Philip succeeded
in taking refuge at Pocasset (present-day Tiverton) where he placed his wives
and his children under the protection of Narragansetts.
They found
terrified, the bodies of eight beheaded and dismembered English farmers whose remains
were hammered at the end of spears. In defiance, a Bible the pages of which had
been torn apart, was placed in plain view. They buried the bodies and continued
to Rhode Island.
Edward
Hutchinson (Alford (Lincolns.) 1613 – Marlboro (MA) Aug. 19, 1675) – an ironmonger
by trade, he arrived in the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1633 and was admitted
next year in the first church of Boston. He returned, however, soon after to England
where he married Katherine Hamby. Back in Boston in 1637, he followed his parents
William and dissident minister Anne Hutchinson when they moved to Rhode Island where
he appeared among the signatories of the Porstmouth Compact on March 7th, 1638.
He stayed only a short time in this plantation, preferring to return to Boston
after the death of his father. He soon became a brilliant businessman and was
considered from 1660s as a prominent citizen. A member since 1638 of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts since 1638, he
was promoted captain in 1657.
July 1st, 1675 - While Connecticut mobilizes troops, captain Edward
Hutchinson leaves Mount Hope towards the Narragansett territory. He fears that
Weetamo, the widow of Philip’s brother Alexander, makes an alliance with him.
The Narragansetts represented alone approximately 2000 warriors and 900 guns.
July 6, 1672 - a company of 52 Christian Indian soldiers, commanded by captain
Isaac Johnson moves to Mount Hope.
The English
thought to rely on the loyalty of the Christianized Indians but they were both
disappointed and surprised noticing that many of them had left joining Philip.
July 7, 1675 - Captain Edward Hutchinson, assisted by Roger Williams and
Joseph Dudley, arrives in Narragansett country, supported by volunteers under captain Mosely. They find it deserted.
Wigwams had
been abandoned in haste and crops were still standing. For fear of reprisals,
women and children had taken refuge in swamps. Hutchinson sent for the chiefs
in vain and Roger Williams wrote to Wait Winthrop of New London, that it was no
longer possible to meet, everything being soon shattering in a blood bath
Joseph
Dudley (Roxbury (MA) ,1647 – Roxbury, 1720) - The son of Thomas Dudley, second
governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony, he did not inherit the intolerant nature
of his father and even received little education because this one died while
Joseph was only four. Her mother quickly remarried with Reverend John
Allen, minister of Dedham who was actually responsible for his training. He graduated
from Harvard in 1665 with the intention to become a minister like his
father-in-law but more attracted by political life, he was elected in 1672
representative of Roxbury to the General Court of the Massachusetts. He was
chosen as commissioner to accompany Major Thomas Savage during his mission to
the Narragansetts.
July 8, 1675 - Governor Edmund Andros vainly tries to seize Old Saybrook, at
the mouth of the Connecticut River.
Since he
took office in New York, he kept claiming this area which was, according to
him, within the charter granted to the duke of York by King Charles II. He even
requested the handover of all the previous colonial charters, what Connecticut
had refused. He conveniently took advantage of unrest affecting then the region
to sail to Old Saybrook. The authorities of the city, one of the oldest in Connecticut,
had no desire to go under his jurisdiction but he thought that hoisting the
colors of the king of England would be enough to secure its surrender. Andros
reckoned, however, without the good sense of captain James Bull who received
him well but had, him too, the royal flag raised above fort of Old Saybrook. The
governor of New York had to withdraw without firing a single bullet.
July 8, 1675 -
Pease Field Fight - Captain Benjamin Church patrolling near Tiverton with a 30-men company is attacked at Foglant Point by a party of about 300 Indians. Church
recommends then his men to remove their coats
so that their white shirts can be seen by far. Actually after two hours of
fight seeming lost, captain Roger Goulding sailing by chance on a sloop down
Sakonet River seems them and comes to their relief. Although he is targeted
first and by the Indians, Church manages to take place the last one on the boat
without any injury, having even taken time to retrieve his hat and cutlass.
July 9, 1675 - Wampanoags attack the villages of Dartmouth and Middleborough, burning houses and killing several settlers.
The troops
of Massachusetts and Plymouth were unable to adapt to the guerilla tactics set
up by the Indians. These remained evasive and it was feared that their
successes would lead alongside other tribes staying so far neutral such as
Nipmuc or Narragansett. The English leaders yielded to indecision, not
knowing where and who to hit. Only Captain Benjamin Church defended the
offensive way, assuming that to strike hard would provide a psychological
advantage while Cudworth had rather wait for reinforcements.
As for the residents,
they did not dare to go any more into their fields and began to flee towards
Plymouth.
July 12, 1675 - Heading a Connecticut company and a party of Mohegans, Captain
Wait Still Winthrop of New London joins the group of Roger Williams and captain
Edward Hutchinson.
He met, along
his walk, the old Niantic chief Ninigret who had no sympathy for Philip and ensured
his neutrality.
Wait Still
Winthrop (Boston (MA), 1642 - Boston (MA), 1717) - the second son of governor
John Winthrop, Jr. and grandson of late John Winthrop, governor of
Massachusetts. His complete first name, Wait still for the grace of God reminded
a Puritan phrase. Like his father Wait became a physician.
July 13, 1675 - Ephraim Curtis, from Worcester, is sent to Nipmucs by the
governor and council of Massachusetts. He knows the area well and the
people of this tribe that he frequented for years by trading. He goes first
near Brookfield and crosses several Indian villages where everyone shows kindness
to him. He thinks to go back to Boston bringing good news.
He learnt
that Nipmuc chiefs Matoonas and Sagamore Sam had got on with Philip and meanwhile
come to rob his house in Worcester. He wished, however, to continue his
mission, convinced that he could parley when, suddenly, relations began to
change. The welcome became reluctant and guns were several times pointed at
him. Curtis was not impressed and reached to talk with Muttaump, the leader of Quabaug and Sagamore Sam of the Nashaway tribe. It helped to clear the air
and they explained him that the English had killed one of their fellows near the Merrimac
a few days earlier and that they wanted revenge.
The Nipmucs
agreed to send an embassy to Boston within five days and Curtis assured them
that they would be well received and would get all the guarantees they demanded.
But they never came, convinced by Black James, a Quabaug leader that they would
all be killed by the English.
July 14, 1675 - Nipmucs destroy the village of Mendon.
This remote
village, founded 8 years earlier on a land given up by the Nipmucs, included
about twenty isolated families and proved an easy prey. It was totally
plundered by the Indians who killed six settlers.
Among the
Indians who attacked Mendon was Matoonas, whose son had been hanged a few years
earlier in Boston after being accused of the death of a settler.
July 15, 1675 - the English succeed
in signing a neutrality agreement with the old Narragansett chiefs.
This treaty
obtained under duress was actually unrealistic because leader Canonchet and
most Narragansett warriors had already joined, further north, Wampanoags from
Abnaki, alongside Norwottucks, Pocumtucks and Agawams.
Canonchet
(Nanuntenoo - 1630-1676) – The grand-nephew of Canonicus, he was only thirteen
when his father Miantinomo had been executed by Mohegan at the request of the
English. He considered therefore this act as a felony on behalf of those whom
his people had nevertheless come to help against Pequot Indians. He maintained,
however, good relationship with Roger Williams who had thought at first to gain
his neutrality. But Canonchet finally sided with Philip by taking in the women
and children of his tribe before being militarily involved.
It was initially
a dispute between Mathew and the Indians about unpaid goods but the matter had
degenerated. Warned of the attack, Colonel George Mason and Major George Brent,
from the Stafford militia, threw themselves in pursuit of the Indians whom they
managed to take by surprise on the other side of the Potomac, Maryland. They
killed a dozen during the scuffle but went, by mistake, after Susquehannocks who
lived nevertheless in good neighborhood with the settlers.
This
incident had the expected impact. The authorities of Maryland were quick to
accuse governor William Berkeley for
violating their territory. As for Susquehannock, they did not hesitate
to sack all the isolated settlements on the border between Virginia and
Maryland.
July 19, 1675 - Captain Benjamin Church leads a group of militiamen of Rhode
Island, in the Pocasset swamps where Philip took refuge.
He wished to
have the element of surprise but aware of their approach, the Indians quickly
scattered. The English decided then to build a fort to contain Philip in the swamps.
July, 1675 - The Chowanoc Indians rise up against the settler of Albemarle,
North Carolina, breaking with the terms of the of submission treaty to the
English crown they signed in 1663.
Algonquian-speaking,
the Chowanoc tribe (named after the Chowan River) occupied at the beginning of
the century a prominent place in the north-east region of North Carolina. It
could then line up not less than 700 warriors. Gradually dislodged from their
territory by the pressure of the English colonization, they took advantage of
disorders arisen in nearby Virginia to rebel. Their action however failed and
the English used the fact that they had "violated" a
peace treaty to group them in a small reserve near Bennett Creek.
The last
representatives of the tribe were to be gradually absorbed by Tuscarora.
July, 1675 - While patrolling on the road between Swansea and Rehoboth, Lieutenant
Edward Oakes and his men chase a group of Indians caught setting fire to a
house. The scalps of the killed enemies are sent to Boston as trophies.
Native of
England, Edward Oakes (before 1632 - Concord (MA) 1689) had been received as free
man in Cambridge, 1642. He had then been a member of the City Council for twenty-six
years (from 1643 till 1678) before being elected a deputy of Cambridge and
Concord to the General Court of Massachusetts. He had been appointed in June,
1675, lieutenant under the command of captain Prentice for the first Mount Hope
campaign.
July 24, 1675 - the Council of New York focuses again on the problem of dikes in
Delaware. It decides to summon John Ogle and Rev. Jacob Fabritius against
whom the magistrates of the colony have complained, to hear from them the
reasons why they oppose.
July 26, 1675 - Old Mohegan Sachem Uncas enters Boston with fifty of his
warriors and his three sons, whose eldest Oweneco is tipped to succeed him.
They come to ensure the authorities of their loyalty and offer their service to
the English .
Aged over 85,
Uncas was since the 1637 Pequot War, a faithful ally of the English. His offer was
timely and his men were immediately sent to join captain
Henchamnn's troops. They proposed to go in pursuit of Philip who had just left Pocasset
swamp where he was hiding but still doubting their perfect loyalty, the commissioners
to the United Colonies required that the two other sons of Uncas, Joshua and Ben,
remain hostages in Cambridge during the period of operations.
July 28, 1675 - The Council of Massachusetts sends captain Edward
Hutchinson and about twenty soldiers to the Nipmucs in order to understand the
reason why they did not keep their promise to send an embassy in Boston and to
let them know that unless they deliver Matoonas, they will be considered
accomplices.
August 1st, 1675 - After a quick stop in Rehoboth, Mohegan warriors come, at
dawn, upon Philip and his guard at Nipsachuck (current Smithsfield, R.I.). They
attack his camp making 23 killed among the Wampanoags and about forty prisoners.
Captain Henchamnn who runs the operation arrives on the scene a few hours later
with 85 soldiers but orders without a cause cessation of hostilities,
especially against the advice of his soldiers, allowing Philip to flee with 40
of his men.
August 1st, 1675 - Captain Benjamin Church manages to conclude a peace
treaty with Awashonks, squaw sachem of the Saconets.
Benjamin
Church (1639 - 1718) - Native of the Plymouth Plantation, he traveled throughoutl the colony
from his childhood, accompanying his father carpenter. He then became a soldier
and married Alice Southworth in 1671 before moving three years later as a farmer
to Sogkonate (Little Compton), Rhode Island. Church quickly made friends with
the Natives of the region who, in turn, held him in high respect. He had thanks
to his military experience to be called back as officer in the Plymouth company when the war broke out against Philip.
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| Nipmuc attack on Brookfield |
The
survivors fled towards Brookfield where they managed to withstand for four days
the assaults of the Indians. These burnt all the houses, one after the other
and laid siege to the one where the population and the soldiers took shelter, namely
fifty women and thirty two men. Ephraïm Curtis, who was part of the group came
alone to escape to Marlboro to seek reinforcements. Troops were mobilized throughout
the country and by chance, Major Simon Willard, patrolling near Marlborowith a company of 46
men, immediately made his way to Brookfield. Seeing
arriving this additional support, the Indians dispersed quickly. Fortunately, there
were only three casualties among the settlers, a young man and a woman killed by
gunshots and one of the sons of sergeant Pritchard, gone out recklessly and beheaded
by the Indians before they raised his head on the top of a pike. The Indians
left from their part about eighty warriors.
Reinforcements
then arrived one after the other: captains Richard Beers and Lathrop at first,
coming from east, then captains Watts and Cooper arriving from Springfield and
Hartford with a group of horsemen and Mohegan warriors commanded by Joshua, the
son of Uncas.
August 4, 1675 - the Plymouth war council has to give a ruling on 112 Indians, men, women and children captured since the beginning of the war.
It was
admitted that there were among them people who had directly taken part to the
uprising but that many of them could only be accused of complicity. None was
sentenced to death, most of them were sold as slaves and, for political
reasons, some were even released.
August 5, 1675 - Philip meets the Nipmucs on their way back from
Brookfield. He offers them wampum and promises them the victory.
He told
their chiefs how he had escaped death during the Nipsachuck skirmish. He had
then 250 men including the Wetamoo's forces. But most were killed and only
forty warriors stayed alive with few women and children. Then he set out to
join them by crossing forests, hiding in caves and climbing hills from which he
could see villages burning.
August 7, 1675 - Major John Pynchon sends a letter to governor John
Winthrop, Jr., informing him that Philip and forty of his men would have found
refuge at Ashquoash (the old Quabaug fort) 22 miles east of Springfield. According
to him, he would intend to settle there due to plentiful reserves. The fort is well
prorected and also serves to store corn.
August 9, 1675 - Captain Samuel Mosely and a part of the Henchmann company
arrive at Brookfield from Mendon. Major Willard has now 350 men at his disposal
besides the Mohegans.
August 20, 1675 - The town of Northampton is attacked by Indians, killing a
man among its inhabitants.
 |
| Lancaster under attack |
The
information seemed wrong but although these Indians who had received the order
to be confined in the praying towns have already been disarmed by captain John
Ruddock, Mosely did capture fifteen belonging to the Hassanemesit tribe who were
tied together by the neck and sent to Boston for trail. He kept walking in the area
and burned the settlement of Chief Wannalacet, near Concord, although he was renowned
for his friendly relations with the English.
Embarrassed,
the General Court of Massachusetts found no charge against the Natives and they
were all released.
From the
beginning of the war, Mosely had mainly been conspicuous for his often unjustified
brutalities and he was officially sanctioned by the General Court of
Massachusetts following the Lancaster incident.
But, in
turn, he enjoyed the support of the public opinion which saw a foe in every
Indian, whether or not a Christian.
August 24, 1675 - A war council held at Hatfield orders captains Thomas
Lathrop and Richard Beers to reach ou with a 100-men company to the Indians got
together in Nonatucks village, north of Northampton, and to disarm them.
They were
not involved in any violent action but Mohegan scouts who observed them had
reported that they had welcomed destructions perpetrated in Quabaug (Brookfield) and were
about to do the same.
The colonial
troop arrived by surprise in the camp while the day was barely raised. Alerted,
the Indians scattered in the woods with their women and children and the
pursuit ensued in the nearby Hopewell Swamp where they sought refuge. Nine
soldiers found death and it is said that twenty six Natives were killed during
the fight.
Thomas
Lathrop (1612 - 1675) - Native of Eastwell, Kent, he had arrived at Salem in 1634
where he had quickly been admitted as free man. He had been granted a plot of land and had settled as farmer before being appointed lieutenant then
captain of the Artillery Company in 1645. Married in 1650 to Bethia Rea a
20-year-old young woman from Plymouth, he had then accompanied the major Sedgwick
during the storming of Acadia (1654). Lathrop continued to be actively involved in civil and religious matters of Salem that he represented in particular,
repeatedly, to the General Court of Massachusetts.
Richard
Beers (Gravesend (Kent) 1607 - September 4, 1675) - he emigrated to New
England in 1635 with his two nephews and was accepted, two years later, as a
free man in Watertown, at the very moment he was brought to get involved in the
war against the Pequots. Considered a prominent resident of Watertown, he was councilman
for more than thirty years and representative of the city to the General Court of
the Massachusetts from 1663 to 1675.
August 31, 1675 - Sir William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia, meets his
council to decide on the follow-up to the incidents occurred the previous
month in Stafford's County.
He had tried
to let colonel Mason solve the dispute in his way but rumors suggested that the troubles did not, instead, stop expanding. He proposed then to
build a line of defensive forts along the border but the council considered
this project as expensive, unsuitable and being able to serve as a pretext for raising
additional taxes.
It was then
decided to send John Washington and Isaac Allerton to get the measure of the
crimes and destructions committed by Indians and to punish or chase them if
necessary as far as Maryland, albeit with the consent of local authorities.
September 1st, 1675 - As Rev. John Russell delivers a sermon before his
parishioners, a group of Indians attacks the village of Hadley. The settlers
are on the verge of retreating when an old man appears conveniently to fight
off the aggressors before disappearing. The legend of " the Angel of
Hadley " has just taken shape.
 |
| The Angel of Hadley |
 |
| King Philip |
September 2nd, 1675 - Heading a company from Massachusetts, Captain Samuel
Mosely attacks Pennacook villages suspected of sheltering rebel Indian
warriors.
Pennacook leader
Wonalancet tried not to take his people into the conflict but two of his
villages had actually chosen to join Philip.
September 2, 1675 - The war council of Plymouth orders to sell as slaves 57
Natives who came to surrender.
September 4, 1675 - Captain Richard Beers approaches Northfield, at the
head of a 36-soldier company, to clear out the
residents, when he is ambushed by a group of Nipmucs and Pocumtucs. He is
killed during the fight with 20 of his men. Sergeant John Shattuck who appears
among the survivors gallops towards Boston to warn the governor of the
disaster. Three soldiers made prisoners by the Indians are burned alive. The soldiers
died during the battle have their head cut off and planted along the path at
the top of spikes.
John
Shattuck would have the misfortune to die drowned on September 14 further to
the wreck of the ferry between Charlestown and Boston.
September 8, 1675 - A storm strikes Boston Harbor, damaging a large
number of boats.
September, 1675 - Thomas Eastchurch and his supporters win the elections in
Albermarle County, Carolina.
Eastchurch became
president of the Assembly with the intention to make governor John Jenkins arrest,
accusing him for having unlawfully imprisoned Thomas Miller, one of his close
friends, notorious supporter of the Lords Proprietors.
There was
for several years a deep rift between the former owners who had founded the
colony and the newcomers about the tariffs imposed by the Navigation Acts. The
planters, represented by George Durant, widely felt penalized since they could no
longer ship their tobacco through New England without being heavily taxed,
whereas Thomas Eastchurch's party supported the politics of the Lords Proprietors
to establish a feudal conception of the society.
September 9, 1675 - Thomas Wakely, a 75-year-old man and his
family are attacked by Indians in their Falmouth home near Casco Bay,
Maine. His is cruelly killed as well as his wife and their elder son John, his wife and three
of their children. The last daughter, Elizabeth and two other members of the
family are taken in captivity.
Alerted by the smoke, Lt George
Ingersoll who patrolled in the neighborhood decided to move the next day with
his soldiers towards the place where the fire seemed to come but could only
notice the atrocious death of the Wakely family members.
Born around 1600, Thomas Wakely had first settled in Hingham then in Gloucester, before moving in 1661 to Falmouth where he had bought a tract of land at Back Cove, in Casco Bay.
Born around 1600, Thomas Wakely had first settled in Hingham then in Gloucester, before moving in 1661 to Falmouth where he had bought a tract of land at Back Cove, in Casco Bay.
September 15, 1675 – After hearing the arguments of Rev. Jacob Fabritius,
the council met in New York decides to sentence him for disturbing public order
and contempt of court.
It retained
especially against him his scandalous past and his former abuses. He was consequently
suspended from his ministry and forbidden to preach in public as in private.
The Court of
New Castle received, meanwhile, the order to confirm the building of dikes.
 |
| Battle of Bloody Brook |
The road was not safe and went through the forest but the number of soldiers accompanying the convoy seemed sufficiently deterrent.
But, lo and
behold, Indians sprang suddenly from the woods at the crossing of a brook. They
were approximately 700 equipped with bows and guns. The balance of power being
unequal, Lathrop and his men had no chance especially as they had left their
weapons on wagons. It was a real massacre. The captain was killed from the
beginning of the attack and only 7 soldiers reached to escape death. All the inhabitants
of Deerfield who drove wagons were also killed.
Captain
Mosely and a small detachment of 60 soldiers patrolled in the area when the they
heard the sound of the battle. They rushed to the scene and engaged fight although
outnumbered.
After six
hours heavy fighting, the outcome remained uncertain. It was the arrival of a hundred
soldiers from Connecticut commanded by Major Treat, and assisted by 50 Mohegan auxiliaries that allowed to end the slaughter. Facing the arrival of these new reinforcements,
the Indian warriors preferred to disperse into the forest.
Mosely,
wounded, and the rest of his men turned to spend the night at Deerfield where
they could hear, from afar, the shouts of a group of Indians come to rob
corpses. The next day, they went back to the battlefield bury the dead and left
Deerfield, emptied of all its inhabitants.
This ambush
was the fact of groups of Wampanaogs and Nipmucs who had crossed Connecticut to
settle near Hadley. At their head were chiefs Sagamore Sam, Montaup, One-Eye
John (John Monoco), Matoonas as well as Panquahow who had for the most taken
part in all the summer fightings.
September 25, 1675 - Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of New York, orders captain
Edmund Cantwell to seize all the property appropriated by John Fenwick and resell
it, considering that he is illegally granted a power of jurisdiction and has no
right on New Jersey. He summons him to New York where he intends that he gives
some explanation to the Council.
Fenwick, who
had just founded the city of New Salem, ignored, of course, this order and granted
freedom of worship and consciousness to all the settlers who would move in his
portion of New Jersey. He also allowed to give freedom of access to all the
merchant ships sailing on the Delaware River, a measure to which Andros was
absolutely opposite. He became obvious that, aware of his rights, Fenwick had
decided to behave as real troublemaker but his former links with Cromwell, the
regicide, would not miss, in return, to attract against him powerful enemies
among the local elite.
September, 1675 - Sokoki chief Squando and his warriors attack the city of
Saco. They injure the Major Philips commanding the local garrison and burn
several houses.
Squando had
lived for decades in good terms with the colonists and his sudden change in
attitude could be interpreted as an unexpected rallying to Philip. A rumor,
however, claimed that Squando had in reality come to avenge the death of his
newborn son, thrown alive into the river by drunk English sailors under the
pretext of checking if the Indian children floated well at birth. The child could
not be saved and the Indian chief had felt a fierce hatred known as Squando’s curse.
September 24, 1675 - Taking advantage of the fact that captain Wincoln and
his men went to strengthen the defenses of Saco, a group of Indians led by chiefs
Andrew and Hopehood, known as brave warriors enters the village of Berwick (Maine).
They leave for dead an 18-year-old girl and abduct two children before setting fire
to several buildings.
September 26, 1675 - John Washington and Major Thomas Trueman from
Maryland, arrive at the gates of the main Susquehannock village with a white
flag and ask to negotiate. Governor William Berkeley merely sought an
investigation but his orders were interpreted and it is a whole army including 750
Virginians and 250 horsemen from
Maryland which faces Indians until then considered as friends.
The five
leaders came out and agreed to parley but denied being involved in attacks. Washington
and Trueman refused their explanations and the discussion was cut short.
Trueman told them they could go home but they had not yet crossed their palisade
that he made them loosely shot down. He was to be punished with a small fine by
the Assembly of Maryland and dismissed from the Provincial Council for this “clumsy
gesture.”
The combined
forces of Virginia and Maryland besieged for seven weeks Fort Susquehannock,
until taking advantage of the night, its defenders discreetly disappeared into
the forest.
John
Washington (1631-1677) - from Purleigh, Essex, he belonged to a family of wealthy
merchants, known for its royalist sympathies. The victory of Cromwell
constituted inevitably a painful moment for the Washingtons whose properties
were seized and future compromised. John preferred, in this context to move to
Virginia where he created a trade company with Edward Prescott. It quickly
dwindled and there followed severe conflict between the two partners of which
Washington finally got through thanks to the financial support of Nathaniel
Pope, a rich planter who had befriended him. He married his daughter Anne in
1658 and received as her dowry a 700-acre land at Mattox Creek, Westmorland County.
He then
became a prosperous planter and sat in the House of Burgesses. He increased dramatically
his domain up to 5000 acres and eventually acquired, in 1668, Hunting Creek on
the other side of Potomac, where Mount Vernon Manor was to be later built.
It is as
colonel of Westmorland militia and owner of plantations along the Potomac
that governor William Berkeley appointed him to go to investigate
devastations done by Indians during summer, 1675.
September 28, 1675
– A party of Indians attacks again the small town of Northampton, killing three
colonists.
October 4-5, 1675 - Wequogan and his Agawam warriors meet at nightfall a group of Nipmucs on a hill overlooking Springfield. They decide to attack the city to obtain the release of their scouts, imprisoned in Hartford.
October 4-5, 1675 - Wequogan and his Agawam warriors meet at nightfall a group of Nipmucs on a hill overlooking Springfield. They decide to attack the city to obtain the release of their scouts, imprisoned in Hartford.
Made aware of this project by an Indian remained
faithful, the inhabitants hurried to find shelter in the most protected houses including
that of John Pynchon. By a strange coincidence, the latter was at the same
moment outside, left accompanying the Hadley's militia for another operation
and Springfield was defenseless. The Indians surrounded the city and began to methodically
burn buildings. They also went to destroy the sawmill and the mill.
At dawn, Lieutenant Thomas Cooper and Constable Thomas
Miller who knew well Wequogan, tried to go parley, but they were both killed.
Later in the day, two other colonists met the same fate. Major Treat and the
Westfield garrison arrived the first onsite, followed by John Pynchon and Hadley
reinforcements, but it was to discover, heplessly, the destroyed city.
Wequogan, the local chief of the Agawam tribe, had
always lived in peace with the English and despite the summer events, nobody
imagined that he would side with Philip. Pynchon knew that the latter had been seen
at Quabaug and some had well heard that several hundred warriors had gathered
secretly in the region but the idea of an imminent attack appeared unfounded.
And now after Brookfield, Squakeag and Deerfield, it
was time for Springfiled to know devastation, despite a population over 500
inhabitants. This attack was to be felt as a real trauma by colonists until
then convinced of the unfailing loyalty of the Indians, heralding a deep change
of attitude towards them.
October 16, 1675 - a party of about 150 Sokoki warriors attacks the village
of Berwick (Maine). One of the residents is killed and another taken captive.
Lieutenant Roger Plaisted who commands the garrison sends his men in pursuit
but they are ambushed and lose three of theirs.
October 17, 1675 - William Dervall becomes the eight mayor of New York,
replacing John Lawrence.
Several
important decisions were to be made during his mandate:
- The ban to
sell liquor to Indians, a measure increasingly common in all the English
colonies.
- The
introduction of the English system of weights and measures
- The
introduction of taxes to support the clergy
- The
creation of a law intended to beautify the city, condemning all the owners who
would too much delay building to sell their land to purchasers determined to
build as soon as possible.
- The
obligation to clean up the city every Saturday and the establishment of a
system of fines for all carters who would refuse to evacuate waste.
- The
building of a public slaughterhouse outside the city.
- The
appointment of the first auctioneer (Adolphe Peterson).
- The
institution of the market day on Thursdays and the annual cattle fair in the
first week of November.
William
Dervall (?, - 1712) - this Dutch born merchant from Boston had come settle down
in New York in 1667, in order to grow the dry foodstuffs business he managed
with his brother. He married Rebecca, one of Thomas Delavall's daughters,
a wealthy landowner of the city who had been a mayor in 1666 and 1672.
October 18, 1675 - Narragansett Sachem Canonchet comes to sign in Boston an
additional treaty stipulating that his people have ten days to deliver to the
English all the "hostile" Indians who found refuge on their lands. It
includes as well members of Philip's tribe, as those of Pocasset squaw sachem
Weetamoo, those of other squaw sachem Awashonks from Sogkonate, Quabaug and Hatfield
Indians.
This
document had been signed under the pressure and it made no doubt that if
Narragansetts had not previously found a reason to make war, the provocative
conduct of the English was enough to push them to it. This treaty was an insult
to these people with noble character and provided in a way the foundation of a
possible alliance with Wampanoags. The disrespectful behavior of the English had
just sealed between both Indian nations what Philip and his partisans had not
been able to achieve in months.
October 18, 1675 - Supported by the arrival of reinforcements led by Major
Samuel Appleton, the garrison commanded by captains Poole and Samuel Mosely is
able to fend off an Indian attack at Hatfield. It is the first time since
summer that the English succeed in taking
over. This victory is felt by the Puritan society of New England as a result of
the divine providence.
Samuel
Mosely (New Braintree, 1641-1680) - His father Henry Maudsley, a native of
Lancashire, had emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635. In his youth, Samuel looked
like an adventurist and he is even likely to have served as privateer in the West
Indies. He later married Ann Addington, the niece of governor John Leverett and
was appointed captain of company at the beginning of Philip's war. He
surrounded himself with volunteers from various backgrounds including in
particular former privateers like him but refused, on the other hand, to
appoint Indian auxiliaries. He vowed a real aversion to the Native people and stood
out by his brutal behavior towards them.
The Connecticut
Valley campaign had been disastrous for lack of coordination and command rivalries
between the Council and commissioners without outlined strategy. The people
concerned had gathered with poor stocks to face winter, while they piled up in
the few houses remained standing they had strengthened against attacks.
On their
side, the Natives who had lost their crops and had not much powder were about
to face winter in poverty and had taken refuge in swamps or remote areas in
search of food.
October 27, 1675 - the General Assembly of Rhode Island decides to leave to
each city the care of providing for its own defense. Warwick is abandoned and its
residents take refuge in islands.
The Quakers
had obtained exemption of military service and would only intervene to protect
themselves.
November 1st, 1675 - Nipmucs take captive Praying Indians living in the Magunkaquog,
Chabnakongkomun and Hassanamesit communities, created by Rev. John Eliot. Among
them is James Printer, member of an influential Nipmuc family.
Born in
1640, James Printer (Wowaus) was placed at the age of five in a family of
Cambridge thanks to which he was able to attend college. He later became assistant
of Samuel Green, head of the Harvard’s Indian College Printing, with whom he
published many works. It would seem that he offered his services to Philip late
1675 before distinguishing himself by a declaration promising amnesty to all
the Indians who would return to place themselves under English protection.
November 8, 1675 - Governor Edmund Andros orders captain John Collier and the
magistrates of New Castle to bring John Fenwick to New York, by force if
necessary.
Collier
asked Fenwick to go voluntarily to New York what he refused. He strongly rejected
the authority of Andros and left it to the king and duke of York. Collier
returned with a dozen militiamen and beached the door of his house in the
middle of the night. Fenwick was taken prisoner and brought to New York.
November 12, 1675 – The commissioners to the United Colonies of New England
declare Narragansetts fully involved in all the bloody atrocities.
Such a
statement was in many respects the result of a mischievous political
calculation. Narragansetts lived firstly in Rhode Island, a traditionally dissented
colony whose leaders were in disfavor with Plymouth. Secondly, they were not
invincible since their warriors not exceeded the thousand when they had been
more than five thousand during the Pequot War. And height of cynicism on behalf
of the English, they had not actually joined Philip and were militarily unprepared
for confrontation. Their leader Pessicus had, on the contrary, constantly
reminded them his friendship by turning over Wampanoag prisoners. Up to the
governor of Connecticut John Winthrop, Jr. who had defended them before the
Massachusetts authorities, recalling that they were friends with the English. But
these had responded by sending mercenaries who had been engaged in exactions.
Struck by such a brutality, a settler of Rhode Island had told John Winthrop,
Jr. that he compared these methods to those used during the Irish wars foreshadowing
the blood-and-thunder annihilation of an entire people.
For their
part, the Narragansetts had not deprived of asserting their friendship with the
English as far as it served old interests and revived rivalries to Wampanoags,
Pequots or Nipmucs from which they hoped to emerge victorious. The case of
Mohegans seemed instead more complex in so far as they had the advantage to
fight militarily alongside the English and constituted as such a real danger for
Narragansetts.
On the other
hand, Narragansetts hid, behind a front neutrality, that they could shelter
fighters and provide them food and supplies. They were not actually at war but
could, thanks to the abundance of their crops ensure provisioning to Wampanaogs and Nipmucs.
In the end,
these elements decided the commissioners to declare them enemy.
November 19, 1675 - Maurice Brett is convicted of adultery by the General
Court of Massachusetts. He is sentenced to banishment after been given thirty-nine
lashes. Complaining about the severity of the punishment, he is then condemned
to have his ears cut off.
 |
| Josiah Winslow |
The dramatic
situation in which was New England late 1675 came along with a terrible soul-searching.
Just like the elected people of the Old Testament, the public opinion
considered these events as the punishment imposed on the whole population, further
to its weaknesses and sins. That is why the General Court of Massachusetts
decreed December 2nd as a day of humiliation and public prayer. It listed the offenses
that could have generated the wrath of God; the relaxation of discipline in the
churches, the vanity of the appearance urging the women to wear long hair, the
strange fashion for the poor as for the rich to appear shirtless and bare-arms
with unnecessary ribbons, the scandalous way of indulging in drunkenness in taverns
for both men and women, and finally the sins of the flesh and more specially
sodomy. The Court ordered to tidy churches up, to ban the Quakers meetings and
restricted authorizations granted to liquor stores, while requiring magistrates
to show more diligence in exercising their powers.
The security
was reinforced throughout the colony, the Indians remained neutral were
confined on the Boston Harbor islands of and all food exports were prohibited,
excepted fish.
December 6, 1675 - The War Council of Plymouth decides that, according to
the Indian threats, these will not be any more authorized to move north
of Sandwich, on pain of death or imprisonment.
This measure
concerned all the Natives without distinction, including Christians. Only a
few dared to challenge it, given the extreme tension that prevailed.
December 8, 1675 - The forces mobilized to fight the Narragansetts gather
in Dedham, Taunton, Plymouth and New London. Major Samuel Appleton takes the
command.
Connecticut
had sent 350 men headed by Major Robert Treat with under him captains Samuel
Marshall, Mason and Watts.
The
Massachusetts forces included 465 foot soldiers and 275 horsemen commanded by
Benjamin Church and Joseph Dudley. There were captain Samuel Mosely and his
veterans, captain Isaac Johnson with conscripts from Roxbury, Dorchester, Weymouth
and Hull, captain Davemport with men from Cambridge and Watertown, captain Oliver
with Bostonians, Gardiner and the troops of Essex County and Thomas Prentice at
the head of the cavalry, without counting volunteers and Mohegan or Pequot auxiliaries.
Samuel Appleton
(Wallingford (Suffolk) 1624 - 1696) - From an old family from Suffolk, he
emigrated to New England with his parents while he was only eleven. Admitted as
free man of Ipswich in 1636, his father quickly became one of the most
influential resident of the city and was from the next year appointed deputy to
the General Court of Massachusetts. Samuel had only to follow the way prepared
by his father. Successively lieutenant, captain and major, he was from 1668
representative to the General Court. He received in September, 1675 the command
of a company of 100 men with first task to defend Hadley. He was there appointed
at the head of the Connecticut Valley forces replacing John Pynchon, resigned
following the destruction of Springfield.
December 10, 1675 - The armies of the United Colonies converge to
Providence. All the men received their military dress, their package and
ammunitions.
December 14, 1675 - The colonial troops head to Wickford and cross the
territory of Pumham, the Indian chief once ally of the English, since become a staunch
supporter of Philip. They plod through the snow and go almost astray but
succeed however in reaching without damage the camp set out by captains Mosely and
Church. They also bring 35 Narragansett prisoners among whom women and
children.
They were
guided in particular by a Narragansett named Peter Freeman who, further to the
ill-treatment he had suffered from his fellow men, decided to take revenge by
delivering a lot of information on their defensive positions.
It would,
however, take about ten years before the General Court of Massachusetts grants
his family the promised reward and orders to free it from slavery.
December 14, 1675 - While waiting for the arrival of the Connecticut contingent,
Josiah Winslow sends sergeant Bennett and his men to attack the village of
squaw sachem Matantuck. A hundred and fifty wigwams are burnt, seven Natives killed
and nine others taken prisoners.
December 15, 1675 - A group of Indians breaks at night into the house of
Jirah Bull located at Tower Hill, near the Winthrop camp where gather the Connecticut troops. They kill fifteen of the seventeen people inside.
Captain
Thomas Prentice discovered the slaughter the next morning and despondency started
unsettling the minds when the Connecticut forces consisted of 315 soldiers
sided by 150 Pequot and Mohegan warriors arrived at Pettasquamscutt camp.
Thomas
Prentice (1620- Newton (MA), 1709) - He emigrated to New England in 1648 but
a tradition tells that he served beforehand under the orders of Cromwell and
was even one of his bodyguards. It was certainly because of his military past that
he was appointed cavalry lieutenant in 1656 and captain in 1662.
December 18, 1675 – Wait Winthrop joins Major
Treat at Pettasquamscutt camp and takes command of the army.
The harsh weather
conditions and the lack of foods decided him to plan the next day to attack
Narragansetts. Their fortified village was about 16 miles west of the camp, in
the middle of a swamp where grew many cedars. Approximately 1200 people were
gathered inside, including warriors but also many women and children. The place
had been reinforced by an outside stockade and an internal wall made of
stone and wood punctuated with shelters for the shooters. Some witnesses
claimed that a man named Joshua Tefft who lived in the area had served as
advisor for the building of these fortifications.
December 19, 1675 - The colonial army starts up at five o’clock. Guided by Peter Freeman,
the Massachusetts’ troops move first, preceded by the companies of captains
Nathaniel Davenport and Samuel Mosely. The soldiers of Plymouth walk in the
middle and those of Connecticut occupy the rear, whereas the Indian auxiliaries
cover the sides.
 |
| The Great Swamp Fight |
Captain John Gallup, Samuel Marshall and Nathaniel Seeley are killed during
the attack, captain John Mason is fatally injured. The soldiers of Plymouth reach
finally to enter the fortress. Now outnumbered, Narragansetts yet continue to
fight with doggedness but their lines fall one after the other. Ironically, a sudden
fire breaks out, fanned by a violent wind which sets wigwams on fire, urging
their occupants, panicked, to escape in confusion. An indescribable slaughter
follows then amid cries of the women and children. Some manage to flee and Indian
warriors, holed up in the woods, continue to resist the English forces.
Captain Benjamin Church tries to run after them but must soon give up because of an
injury. The English victory makes no more doubt but the toll paid is
dramatically heavy.
As the day ends, Commander-in-chief Josiah Winslow gathers his officers in
the light of the wigwams burning up among the dead.
The meeting
was heated. Captain Church insisted to camp on the battlefield to keep the
wounded safe and offer the rest of the troops a little rest and food. Walk
more than 18 miles backward in the frosty wind and the snow seemed to him pure
madness. For others, the burned-out village offered little protection while foods, as ammunitions risked to be quickly lacking. It was moreover necessary
to take care of about one hundred and fifty wounded in extremely precarious
conditions. As for Narragansetts, they had certainly been defeated but the
survivors could reorganize to ambush. The wounded were thus placed on makeshift
litters and the army began marching. Numbered 26, the dead were left behind.
The first survivors reached Wickford at about two o'clock in the morning.
Others got lost in the night including Josiah Winslow and forty of his men who
joined the camp only at seven o'clock. Twenty-two wounded died along the way and a week later, at least eighty of
them had died because of the lack of care and the absence of hospital.
Concerning the Natives, figures were contradictory but the most reliable
testimonies evoked the number of a hundred killed among the warriors and about
300 among the elderly, women and children in particular because of the fire that
destroyed wigwams. Indian losses were certainly not so significant as the
English would have wished, but if the young warriors who had taken refuge in
the woods felt the courage to harass them, the lack of provisions announced
especially, for them, famine and death.
The English
army seemed, in those circumstances, no better off but it was however lucky to
be resupplied by the timely arrival at Smith's Landing of Captain Richard
Goodale, from Boston. A controversy then erupted over the role of Mohegans and
Pequots. They were blamed for their lack of involvement while they had hitherto
displayed bravery, what they replied to have been erroneously taken for targets
by English shooters and made suspicious.
John Gallup II (1615 - December 19, 1675) - From Bridport, Dorsetshire, he had
arrived in Boston in 1633 with his mother, his brothers and his sister Joan
(his father John having emigrated three years before). He had then lived in
Taunton with his family, then in New London before being rewarded in 1654 with a
land at Whitehall on the shores of the Mystic River in recognition of the help
he had provided with his father during the Pequot war. It is thanks to his
knowledge of Indian language and his relationship
with Mohegans that he was called, despite he turned sixty to join captain John
Mason who had just taken command of a 70-men company from New London, going to
fight the Narragansetts. Killed from the beginning of the " Great Swamp
Fight ", he was buried on the spot where a memorial has further been
raised.
Nathaniel Seeley (1627 - December 19, 1675) - A native of London, he was barely
three years old when his parents sailed to New England aboard the Arabella, flagship
of the fleet carrying among others John Winthrop, just appointed governor of
the Massachusetts Bay colony. The Seeley family landed to Salem on June 12, 1630
and quickly left settling to Watertown. His father Robert, became, the year after, a free man of
the new parish. He decided however to leave in 1635 to
Connecticut where he was appointed lieutenant under captain John Mason. Seriously
injured during the Pequot War, he pursued, however, a military career being
upgraded captain in 1653. Robert served then under the command of Major
Sedgwick and captain John Leverett, being actively involved in the operations against the Dutch. He spent
thereafter some time in England before the General Court of New Haven offers
him, from 1662, the command of Fort Saybrook. He was lastly involved in 1665 in
the foundation of Elizabethtown in the New Jersey colony and died in New
York in 1668. Dwelling Fairfield, Nathaniel devoted first to the administration
of paternal properties before choosing to enter the military career as well.
Considered a brave soldier by captain John Mason Jr, he was promoted sergeant
in November, 1674, then lieutenant and finally captain on August 26, 1675.
Samuel Marshall - (Dorchester, Dorset, 1615 - December 19, 1675) - a tanner
of his craft, he was involved in 1633 in the founding of Windsor, Connecticut. Married with Mary Wilton in 1653, he was sixty years old
when he started to serve in the army again and was placed as ensign then as
captain under the orders of Major Robert
Treat.
John Mason, Jr. (1657 - December 19, 1675) – the son of Major John Mason, a veteran of the 1637 Pequot
War and former deputy governor of Connecticut, and his second wife Ann Peck.
December 27, 1675 - Captain Prentice invests the village of Narragansett chief Pumham, near Warwick. He
destroys a hundred wigwams but finds no Indian.
December 28, 1675 - A Native woman taken prisoner by the English is sent
back to Narragansetts to inform them that the door is left open to negotiations
if all Wampanoags who found refuge with them agree to surrender. A messenger tells
them that "This is not the Indians who declared the war to the English but
the English who declared without reason the war on the Indians".
December 28, 1675 - the Connecticut contingent is demobilized, forced to
withdraw for future operations despite the efforts of Major Robert Treat. For
his part, Joseph Dudley who asked governor John Leverett to be provided with
about 300 men, ammunitions and armors, must wait unable to conduct any
offensive.
The Narragansetts
had meanwhile returned to their fortress to retrieve what remained of corn provisions
and dried fish.
December 29, 1675 – Colonel Lewis Morris buys to James Grover half-interest
of the Tinton Falls Iron Works located near Shrewsbury (East New Jersey).
These works had been built a
few years earlier after James Grover, a farmer come from Long Island discovered
bog iron on his property. Col. Lewis Morris had initially been sent to Barbados by Oliver
Cromwell to command the British forces following which he had made a fortune through sugar
plantation and interests in shipping. Back in New York in 1673 to care
for his young nephew Lewis Morris (1671-1746), he obtained from governor Philip
Carteret a whole series of privileges and exemptions in order to develop iron
works. He will in particular be the first industrialist in New Jersey to buy African
slaves.
Thank you for this detailed overview. I descend from several Massachusetts settlers killed or taken captive in the 17th century.
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