1676 - King Philip's War (2)

January 4, 1676 - Two Narragansett envoys are sent to Josiah Winslow for hammering out a peace agreement.

They blamed Canonchet, saying he had deceived them by claiming that the Wampanoag did not have to surrender as long as his brother, held hostage in Hartford, would not be released.

January 5, 1676 - The Natives release a three-year-old child captured near Warwick as a guarantee of their willingness to make peace, shortly before the coming of an old Sachem Ninigret’s messenger, mandated to renew his friendship with the English.

Actually, Ninigret hardly had power anymore. It was since passed within the hands of the young generation whose most vocal representatives, Canonchet and Panoquin, were those who wanted " to fight to the last rather than become slaves to the English ".

Governor Edmund Andros (1637-1714)

January 6, 1676 - Governor of New York Edmund Andros sends a letter to John Winthrop, Jr., informing him that Philip (Metacom), presumably sick, about 400 warriors had been seen near Schagticoke within 30 miles from Albany, in Van Rensselaer County, where they intend to spend winter.

When they learned that Narragansetts had been defeated, the Massachusetts Indians were initially skeptical. But the news of the slaughter and the daily flow of refugees were proof that those who were still shortly before friends with the English would now become unexpected allies.

Edmund Andros's information was confirmed by several witnesses who had noticed on the other hand the attendance of French Indians and Mohawks. No doubt that coming in the area, Philip hoped to rally other tribes, including the French. A controversy then engaged about the supply of weapons involving in particular Dutch merchants.

January 6, 1676 - Captain Samuel Brocklebank and his company receive the first equipment requested by Joseph Dudley and have as their task to join Wickford.

It took them four days to reach the camp because of the dreadful weather conditions. Several soldiers died even of cold during travel.

January 12, 1676 - Canonchet and Narragansett chiefs offer a 1-month truce to Josiah Winslow, the time to sign a treaty.

This proposal aroused the indignation of Winslow but his stubbornness actually deprived him of a good opportunity to negotiate. Everyone knew that the Narragansetts included respected and influential leaders like Pessacus or Ninigert, sachem of the Niantics, both eager to promote peace.

Sir William Berkeley  (1605-1677)
Governor of Virginia

January, 1676 - Susquehannocks continue their murderous campaign intended to avenge the death of their chiefs, cowardly slaughtered by Major Truman. They capture 36 colonists near the junction of the Rappahanock and Potomac rivers and torture them to death.

They sent a message to William Berkeley, proposing him a peace treaty once they would have killed at least 10 English for each of their murdered chiefs. The governor refused the offer and chose to pursue the war. He asked Colonel Henry Chicheley to prepare retaliation but quickly changed his mind and ordered to release the militia.

William Berkeley's delays triggered a protest movement in the province and prompted the tribes of the border to take advantage of the the settlers' anguish. The raids on plantations became increasingly common, aimed not only at killing their inhabitants, but destroy crops, remove cattle and burn buildings. Berkeley was strongly concerned with the idea that all the Indian nations could form a continental alliance and set fire to the whole country. Himself had built a thriving fur trade and he feared that the outbreak of war would ruin his interests. 

That is why he blamed the people of New England for having invested too large a share of Indian lands and caused important population movements. Many Senecas had particularly operated migration southward and pushed Susquehannock to Maryland and Virginia and he worried that they had all weapons and ammunition in good quantity. But most disturbing was the Occaneechee, a tribe living until then in the Ohio valley, which had settled on the banks of the Roanoke River near the main trading route over which it could gain control.

Henry Chicheley (1615 - 1689) – A knight, he served as officer in the army of king Charles 1st and resolved, as many royalists, to emigrate towards Virginia in the early 1650s, when Cromwell took power in England. He acquired a plantation in the Upper Peninsula but especially put his military experiment in the service of governor William Berkeley who appointed him colonel of the militia.

January 18, 1676 - Joshua Tifft is convincted of high treason for helping Narragansett during the Great Swamp Fight. He is sentenced to death by hanging.

He had been wounded and captured on January 14 by Captain Fenner’s soldiers. Led to Providence, he was questioned by Roger Williams who sent him back to his farm and handed him over the governor of Plymouth Josiah Winslow, the Connecticut commissioner Richard Smith. As he served as translator with the Indians, he tried to justify himself by asserting that he had been captured by Narragansetts but his arguments had no effect. He was especially reproached for having married a Wampanoag woman. The condemnation was pronounced in haste and he was ordered to be brought on a cart to the gallows, hanged then quartered.

Joshua Tifft was native of Massachusetts or Rhode Island but, actually, little is known of his life. He was certainly born around 1640 and married a woman named Sara, who died in 1672, two days after giving birth to a son. He owned a farm at Wickford, near the place where occurred the Great Swamp Fight and testimony agreed to say that he had supplied powder to Narragansetts and had fought alongside them.

It was later never established that Tifft went to high treason, he had just tried to save his life and his goods in a particularly difficult context. Roger Williams, who barely approved that the United Colonies encroached on his jurisdiction in Rhode Island tried later to show mercy to his family

January 29, 1676 - Several volunteers from Plymouth prefer to desert due to the lack of food, scarce facilities and poor wintering grounds organization.

January 29, 1676 - Josiah Rockwell and John Reynolds, two residents of Norwich, Connecticut, are killed by Narragansetts while sowing flax. They are scalped, beheaded and their bodies thrown into the Shetucket river.

The case aroused such emotion that two Narragansetts, just recently taken prisoners, were executed in retaliation in New London prison.

January 31st, 1676 – Fed up with the charges led by the Connecticut authorities about the supply of arms to Natives, Governor of New York Edmund Andros answers his counterpart that he will not accept that the war extends to his province and that he has nothing to do with the actions carried out by the Dutch.

Indian attack on Lancaster

February 1st, 1676 - Taking advantage of Thomas Eames leaving to Boston, a small group of Nipmucs led by chief Netus, seizes his house near Sudbury. They burn it and take his family captive.

Mary Rowlandson captive

February 10, 1676 - Narragansetts and Wampanoags, holed up in Quabaug, burst in the town of Lancaster. They burn houses, kill four colonists who try to resist them, then they capture Mary Rowlandson, the minister’s wife with her three children.

Mary Rowlandson (c.1637 - 1711) - Native of England, the young Mary White had emigrated with her parents to Salem, in the Massachusetts Bay colony where she grew up before following them to Lancaster, a new frontier village they had just founded. She married in 1656 Joseph Rowlandson, appointed four years later puritan minister of the parish. Kidnapped by the Indians, she was forced to follow them in their adventure, where practically reduced to slavery, she had to endure the slaughter of her friends, the death of her daughter Sarah, starvation and hardships. She was particularly placed in the custody of Pocasset squaw sachem Weetamoe, allied with Philip.

February 10, 1676 - A small party of Indians attacks Concord, making two victims.

February 21st, 1676 - Indians led by the Nashaway chief One-eyed John (whose real name Monoco) enter at night the village of Medfield. They await daybreak to attack its people by surprise. They then set fire to most of the houses and kill 18 colonists. Others are made prisoners. Lieutenant Adam is one of the victims just like his wife, lethally injured by a stray bullet from Captain Jacob.

About fifty houses were burned but the locals rushed in the barracks to be heard their cannon and warn the nearby Dedham village. The Indians had time to vanish.

February 21st, 1676 - The Massachusetts council decides to raise an additional army of 100 foot soldiers and 72 horsemen  placed under the command of Major Thomas Savage. John Wipple is appointed captain of the cavalry and William Turner captain of the infantry. In addition are two companies commanded by captains Samuel Mosely and Benjamin Gillan. They are ordered to march on Quabaug.

February 27, 1676 - The sister of sachem Madokawando is abducted at Penobscot by Richard Waldron and 60 men off 2 boats.

March 1st, 1676 - Troops from Connecticut and Massachusetts are grouped in Brookfield. Both are placed under the high command of Major General Daniel Denison.

March 2nd, 1676 - Indians who just left Quabaug plunder the village of Groton. They burn several houses after seizing livestock.

March 9, 1676 - Philip and Canonchet meet for the first time unbeknownst to the English troops stationed near Northfield.

They held a war council attended by many other chiefs including Pumham, Quinnapin, Pessacus, Sancumachu representating the Nipmucs, Annawan for the Wampanoags and squaw sachem Weetamoo.

March 12, 1676 - A party of Indians led by chief Totoson enters Plymouth and attacks the "fortified house of William Clark". They burn buildings and kill eleven people. They then seize the contents of the armory and withdraw without any loss.

This daring raid left the people of Plymouth in a deep embarrassment as far as they did not understand how such action could succeed as well. The Indians took advantage of the fact that William Clark had gone to the church to kill his family, mainly women and children, leaving only one survivor, Thomas, 8-year-old, seriously wounded in the head. The city authorities appointed captain Michael Pierce from Scituate to command a 63-soldier company, twenty friendly Indians with mission to engage hostilities in enemy territory. The choice seemed sensible because Pierce was an experienced soldier of adventurous spirit without fear of danger.

Totoson, the leader of the attack, had enjoyed, some time ago, William Clark's hospitality and knew that his house was very poorly protected.

March, 1676 - Governor of Virginia William Berkeley summons the General Assembly to decide what to do against Susquehannocks. He concludes meanwhile a peace treaty with Pamunkey queen Cockacoeske.

Berkeley was in favor of compromise and, keen to preserve the friendship and loyalty of the Indians of his province, he ensured the settlers that they had nothing to fear. He needed for this to stop supplying powder and ammunition to Natives while being sure that the Assembly would give up the war.

Some claimed rightly or wrongly that the Assembly had been bought because of preferential trade links between Indians, William Berkeley and his friends. Still, it aligned with the governor’s positions and decided to only wage war on “bad” Indians, merely opting for the development of a powerful defense zone all around Virginia and to build a strong chain of command. This measure was expensive and some feared it could not be implemented without levying new taxes, necessarily unpopular given the recurring state of poverty of the colony.

Cockacoeske (? - 1686) - She was the widow of Totopotomoi, the last Powhatan chief, killed in 1656 alongside the English whose ally he was during the Battle of Bloody Run. She was on his death accorded the title of "Weroance" (supreme leader) of the Pamunkey tribe. She conformed therefore the legal framework imposed by the colonial government and agreed to governor William Berkeley’s request to provide guides and spies to support his fight against hostile tribes.

She had several children with lieutenant colonel John West (1635-1691), including a son named John, like his father. He was himself the son of John West, former governor of Virginia, and the nephew of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr. Considered close to Berkeley, he was in command of the militia of Kent County and served as representative in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

March 13, 1676 - Captain James Parker and his men are ambushed while chasing a small group of Indians. He counts one dead and several wounded before moving to safety.

James Parker (c.1617-1698) - Native of England, he had traveled to Massachusetts in the late 30s. Become free man of Woburn in 1644, he had settled in 1655 in Chelmsford with his wife Elizabeth and their 4 children. One of the founders of Groton, he reached the rank of captain during King Philip’s war at the head of a company of 46 men and had the opportunity from 1675 to fight in Brookfield alongside Major Simon Willard. On March 13 1676, he tried to parley with Indian chief Monoco aka One Eyed John while his men got ready to set fire to Groton on their way to Boston.

March 14, 1676 - Indians enter the city of Northampton but find themselves face to face with captain Turner and his 70 soldiers while Major Treat and his Connecticut troops are also halting outside the town. The Indians, however don’t become ensnared and succeed in escaping after setting fire to several houses.

They lost one warrior and deplored four wounded while four men and a woman were killed on English side.

Spring began in terror. No one dared to go into the fields without being accompanied by soldiers nor getting out of his house without a weapon, and at night, the sentries kept their eyes on barns. The families living in remoted farms were forced to flee to seek refuge in towns whereas food was getting rare.

Major Thomas Savage had let escape Indians from Quabaug and marched now on Hadley where Turner had just arrived, whereas Treat had taken up position on the west bank of the Connecticut river, between Westfield and Northampton, and Mosely occupied Hatfield.

March 16, 1676 - Indians destroy the city of Warwick, Rhode Island. All the houses are burned except a stone-built one.

March 18, 1676 - a troop of 52 men placed under the command of Hartel, previously a reputable Canadian officer, and the Kennebec chief Hopehood, attacks the village of Berwick (Maine). The people are hiding in houses and prepare their defense.

They fought with a heroism that even their enemies recognized but lamented the loss of 34 men. The assailants seized 52 people, mainly women and children and set fire to most buildings. They then left with their prisoners and their booty before a 150-strong militia chased after them. Anticipating their attack, Hartel posted his men on a favorable position. The shooting that followed was murderous on both sides but without a winner.

March 26, 1676 - Arrived a day before at Rehoboth the company commanded by Captain Michael Pierce is ambushed while chasing four fugitives. Pierce sees running out of the woods, not far from Central Falls, an unexpected army of several hundred Indian warriors led by Canonchet. Judging from being outnumbered, he sends a messenger to Providence to seek emergency backup.

The captain of the militia of Providence was slow to react and the expected reinforcements did not come. For his part, Captain Pierce perished with 56 of his men, 11 Indian auxiliaries. According to Increase Mather, the opponents suffered heavy losses on their side, evaluating, without real proof, the number of dead warriors at about 150.

This defeat was for the English the deadliest of all the war. On 60 soldiers, 56 died without counting the Indian auxiliaries. Among the victims were nine colonists who had beforehand been made prisoners but had been severely tortured by the Indians (this tragic episode is called Nine Men’s Misery. The English soldiers who discovered the bodies buried them on the spot and raised a stony pile in their memory.

March 26, 1676 - A group of Nipmucs attacks the village of Marlboro while its inhabitants are gathered for church service.

Reverend William Brimsmead saw them the first and quickly sent people to take refuge in William Ward's house that had been fortified in case of need. The Indians took advantage of it to burn all the houses, slaughter cattle and cut fruit trees. Alerted by a messenger, the people of Sudbury ran up the next day at dawn to dislodge the Indians who were camped north of the village. Forty of them were killed, among whom Netus, responsible two months before for destroying the house of Thomas Eames.

  

March, 1676 – Beginning construction of a new fort in Albany.

March 28, 1676 - Bolstered by their victory on captain Pierce, Canonchet’s warriors plunder and burn the city of Rehoboth. 45 houses, 21 barns, two mills and a sawmill are destroyed. Only two houses survive the fire, including the one hosting the garrison where the inhabitants took refuge. A settler is killed during the confrontation.

March 28, 1676 - A group of settlers from Longmeadow and the mounted company of captain John Whipple are attacked by Indians near Springfield, on their way to worship. Two villagers are killed while two women and two children are captured trying to flee.

Major William Pynchon and his soldiers began immediately chasing the Indians and managed to free the captives the following day. One of the women, however, died of her injuries but the other provided extensive information about the Indians. These were, according to her, from Springfield. They had told her that two Dutch merchants had supplied them four kegs of powder; that approximately three hundred Indians were at Deerfield, three hundred others a little further north and still three hundred near Northfield; that French people were seen with them and that there had been a dispute with Mohawks, but everything was back to normal.

John Wipple (Bocking (Essex), 1617-1685) - He certainly came to Boston aboard the Mary and John in 1631. He worked as carpenter when he was granted a land at Dorchester in 1637. There he got married and had his first eight children before selling all his goods and leaving in 1658 to move to Providence. He arrived there in possession of some fortune, what allowed him to purchase several properties. He soon stood among the prominent citizens, whereafter he was elected deputy in 1666, appointed treasurer of Providence in 1668 and councilman almost until his death. His brave attitude during year 1675 earned him being promoted captain by Roger Williams.

March 30, 1676 - Indians burn about thirty houses in Providence and Warwick. They destroy the house of Roger Williams and burn all his books and documents.

March 30, 1676 - Major Edward Palmes from New London who is responsible for the troops operating in Narragansett territory sends a company of 79 men under the command of captains George Denison, James Avery and John Stanton to patrol their area. They are added a party of Niantic, Pequot and Mohegan auxiliaries including Oneko, the son of Uncas.

Edward Palmes (Sherborn (Hampshire), 1638 - New London, 1715) - Arrived in New England in 1659, he settled first in New Haven, Connecticut where he married Lucy, the daughter of governor John Winthrop. Jr with whom he moved to New London in the stone house built by his stepfather and which he later would inherit. Palmes was admitted as " free man " of the city in 1667, then elected representative in 1671 and judge to the General Court of Connecticut in 1674. He succeeded John Mason, Jr. at the head of the Connecticut forces but preferred to delegate part of his command to his officers, aware of his weak military skills.

April 5, 1676 – Governor of Connecticut John Winthrop, Jr. dies in Boston at the age of 70.

He had arrived a few weeks earlier for a meeting with commissioners to the United Colonies and was preparing to leave to Hartford when he contracted a bad cold snap. He was buried in King Chapel's cemetery beside his father John Winthrop.

A character certainly as charismatic as his father, John Winthrop, Jr. was sixteen years governor of Connecticut, a province for which he was granted a charter by king Charles II and he could therefore rule with a certain autonomy. Physician and brilliant engineer, he encouraged the promotion of scientific studies in New England and had the honor to become the first resident of America to be elected in 1663, member of the Royal Society.

April 6, 1676 - William Leete is elected governor of Connecticut.

Aged 64, he had been governor of the New Haven colony from 1661 to 1664, then assistant and deputy governor of Connecticut, a position he held since 1669. He was best known for hiding in his house of Guilford both fugitive generals Edward Whalley and William Goffe, accused of having voted for the execution of late king Charles 1. Descendant of an old and noble family from Cambridgeshire whose origins dated back to early XIIIth century, William Leete was the father of ten children from his first wife Anna Payne, died in 1668. He had subsequently remarried Sarah Rutherford, died in 1673 then Mary Newman, who was his wife when he was appointed governor. 

April, 1676 - Mohawks chase away the Indians of New England who took refuge near the Hudson River.

Their involvement was basically a victory for the Connecticut authorities which had tried for several weeks to make them allies, through Edmund Andros, the governor of New York. The latter was hardly inclined to give in because he wanted to ensure that the war does not extend to his province while Connecticut knew how much an alliance with Mohawks could be extremely effective.

April 9, 1676 - Narragansett sachem Canonchet (Nanuntenoo) is captured by the Connecticut forces under Major Edward Palmes near the village of Pawtucket, in the camp where he found refuge.

Captains George Denison from Stonington, James Avery from New London and their company of 47 soldiers reinforced by 80 Indian auxiliaries patrolled since a few days around when they learned inadvertently that Canonchet had found refuge in a nearby village. Not suspecting a surprise attack and with no real protection, the latter was taken prisoner without resistance and brought to Stonington for trial. He was offered to have his life saved on condition that he would agree to make peace with the English. Refusing the proposal, he was sentenced to death and chose to be executed the same day. This was the task of the "friendly" Indians : he was executed by the Pequots, beheaded by the Mohegans, the Niantics burned the rest of his body. Canonchet’s head was then sent to Hartford.

Thus perished Canonchet, aged about 45, whose destiny was to be similar to that of his father Miantonomo. Bold and impulsive, he lacked instead the subtlety and foresight of Philip. Regarded nevertheless as a true war chief and a valiant fighter, his death greatly shook the Indian cause.

Captain James Avery
(1620-1700)

James Avery (Cornwall (Devon), 1620 - New Haven (CT) ,1700) – From the southwest of England, he arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his father in 1631 together with John Winthrop, Jr. whose friend he was. His family moved to Gloucester after its arrival in New England. The young James got married there in 1643 and was admitted as " free man " two years later. He left in 1651 for New London having been granted a land by governor John Winthrop, Jr. who held him in high respect. Elected a councilman in 1660, he also practiced as judge for misdemeanors and became deputy to the General Court from 1659, a position he continuously held until 1689. Ensign, then lieutenant and captain of the New London, Stonington and Norwich volunteers from 1673, he also commanded the Pequot auxiliaries recruited during the Great Swamp Fight on December 19, 1675 and was commissioned the following year for the protection of the colony’s borders.

April, 1676 - Deputy-governor of Rhode Island John Cranston is promoted Major and is given the task to kill and expel all the foes.

Governor William Berkeley refusing to Nathaniel Bacon command of the militia

April, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon, a young planter of Virginia settled on the banks of the James River appears at the head of a group of 200 armed colonists before the fortified Occaneechee village to negotiate with their chief an alliance against Susquehannocks.

Bacon didn’t appreciate governor William Berkeley refusing him the command of the militia and had decided to train his own group of volunteers to go and fight the Indians.

His manager was killed shortly before by Susquehannocks and he stood a good way for his desire to do battle with them but the fact of agreeing with Occanneechees also aimed to get a foothold in the lucrative fur trade whose exclusivity the governor kept.

Nathaniel Bacon (Friston Hall (Sufflok) 1647 – 1676 ) - A native of Suffolk, he was from a family of rich landowners, what allowed him to study at Cambridge University then at Gray Inn with the aim of becoming a lawyer. Promised to a bright future but also displaying an impetuous character, he knew then hard disputes with his wife’s family and it was further to an attempted scam that his father decided to send him to prove himself in Virginia. He landed in Jamestown, 1674 and employed £1800 available to him at purchasing a plantation along the James River. The fact that William Berkeley’s wife, France Culpeper, was also her cousin was maybe the reason why he soon became a member of the governor’s council. Young and attractive as much as proud and arrogant, he did not stand for long Berkeley’s outdated autocratic character.

It is when his manager was killed by Indians that he took the lead of the protest and began to gather angry planters around him. The rebellion already smoldered for several years among the planters of Virginia. The accumulated fees, the periodic drops in tobacco price, the destructive bad weather and the many privileges given in the colony to some courtiers close to the king aroused an exasperation waiting only a true leader for the outbreak of a rebellion. Bacon had a real gift for oratory and a genuine power of persuasion on his audience. He learned quickly to mobilize around him all disappointed and disaffected colonists of a government which, by stealing their liberties, was more a matter of French-style despotism.

Metacom aka Philip
(c. 1638 - 1676)

April 7, 1676 - Philip and his Wampanoag warriors arrive at Wachusett Hill where Narragansetts and Nipmucs have already joined forces.

The death of Canonchet had left him alone to lead the operations and his arrival at Wachusett implied that he was going to focus his forces against the cities of the Bay at the expense, perhaps, of tribes in the Connecticut valley where camped Pessacus and Pumham, his Naragansett allies.

It was obvious, however, that as with all leaders of coalitions at once badly organized and poorly equipped, the influence and authority of Philip had ups and downs, according to good or bad news.

April 9, 1676 - A small party of Wampanoags, led by Tuspaquin, enters the village of Bridgewater where they set fire to several houses and barns before being expelled.

April 15, 1676 - Fourteen houses are burned in Chelmsford just one month after both Samuel Varnham’s sons were killed.

April 17, 1676 - Indians are back to Marlboro where they burn the last still standing houses.

April 19, 1676 - Indians enter Weymouth and Hingham setting fire to houses. Young John Jacob who took part, a few months earlier, in the Great Swamp Fight is shot down.

From Casco Bay to Stonington, flames from burning buildings lit up the sky. Worrying was at its height to the point that even Cambridge and Boston’s closest cities had received from the General Court the authorization to protect themselves by stockades.

Groton, Billerica, Lancaster and Marlboro had been completely abandoned and Sudbury had practically become the border city of the Massachusetts Bay colony.

April 20, 1676 - Captain Samuel Wadsworth and his 70-men company head across Sudbury unaware that about 500 Indian warriors (whose maybe Philip himself) invaded he surrounding woodland in anticipation of an important attack. They continue to Marlboro.

April 20, 1676 - Doctor John Clarke dies in Newport, Rhode Island at the age 68.

Repeatedly deputy governor of Rhode Island, he had made a long stay in England after which he had obtained from king Charles II a charter for the new colony.

John Clarke engaged, in 1638, along Anne Hutchinson's controversy, what earned him to be banished from Massachusetts. He was later involved in the founding of the city of Newport the first minister of which he became in 1644.

April 21, 1676 –  Indians begin at dawn to set fire to several houses in Sudbury. Quickly alerted, the neighboring cities of Boston, Watertown and Concord send soldiers. But they fall into various ambushes. Captain Hugh Mason and a company of Watertown helped by John Grout and residents of Sudbury repel some Indians before being themselves ambushed. For his part, Captain Samuel Wadsworth, leaves hastily Marlboro where he has just halted, for Sudbury. Convinced that his arrival will scarce the Indians, he chases after them with his men through Green Hill woods. But at nightfall, the Indian warriors jump out from behind the bushes and engage in a bloody hand-to-hand fight resulting in the loss of 29 men including Capt. Wadsworth.

During this time, Captain Mason manages to reinforce his troops with captain Cowell’s support and recruits from neighboring towns, inflicting significant losses to the Indians. These set fire to the hill without worrying however the English well entrenched in their positions.

The survivors of the Wadsworth company were rescued by captain Hunting and Indian scouts from Charlestown whose primary mission was to build a fort on the Merrimac fishing area.

This attack will have made over 100 dead on both sides but for the first time, the Indians ran into a real armed resistance. Philip's plans were to be significantly disrupted, even destroyed. He had actually mobilized more than five hundred men in the first one of a series of operations aimed at breaking down the cities one after the other up to Boston but had overlooked the mobility of the English troops and their responsiveness in populated areas, very different from remote villages in the Connecticut valley.

April 24, 1676 - Indians cause damage in the village of Braintree.

April 25, 1676 - Captain William Turner, who controls the Connecticut valley, sets up his headquarter at Hadley with 55 men. Nine have been sent to Springfield and 46 are stationed in Northampton. He writes this day to the Massachusetts Council, complaining about the helplessness of his troops.

Unable to obtain additional weapons, he especially called for extra clothes. He felt himself tired and sick but still able to assume command.

William Turner (?- 1676) – A native of Devonshire, he emigrated to New England and settled first in Dorchester where he was admitted as " free man " in 1643. He moved a few years later to Boston, becoming there a member of the Baptist church,1664. This orientation was worth to him being twice imprisoned, victim of the religious intolerance that prevailed in Massachusetts. He trained a band of volunteers from the beginning of King Philip’s War but his assistance was first refused arguing that he had recruited too many " baptists". He had to wait until February 1676, that soldiers were urgently needed for his company to be involved.

May 2nd, 1676 - Ephraim Kingsbury, a young man from Bradford is killed by Indians. Mr Kimball is killed too and his family captive.

Despite the setback Philip suffered in Sudbury, some Indian groups kept harassing the rural people, here and there making victims, in order to maintain the climate of fear that had been so successful to them from early spring. But these were no more than single acts of little consequence.

May 2nd, 1676 - Mary Rowlandson is released after three months in captivity, against a £24 ransom.

She wrote the story of her abduction in a book entitled "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" published in 1682.

May 5, 1676 - the Massachusetts Council writes to the Indian chiefs asking them to release prisoners, and proposes them to start peace talks

Most captured settlers were actually released but peace negotiations could not succeed because of dissensions between tribes. Philip was stubborn and had sole objective continuing war. He was supported by Narragansetts, eager to avenge the death of Canonchet. On the other hand, leaders like Nipmuc One Eyed John or Nashaway Sagamore Sam did not hide their desire to conclude a peace with the English.

The bait of negotiations especially had the effect of slowing down the military operations to the dismay of farmers who would have preferred drastic actions against the Indians

John Leverett (1616-1678)
Governor of Massachusetts

May, 1676 - John Leverett is reelected governor of Massachusetts.

May 8, 1676 - Indians headed by chief Tuspaquin burn 17 houses in Bridgewater.

May 9, 1676 - Governor Edmund Andros endorses steps taken by the General Court of Delaware for the killing of wolves.

These had become too many and attacked herds every day. It was decided to award a 40-guilder bonus for every head of wolf brought to a magistrate of the colony.

May 10, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon is officially declared a betrayer by the governor of Virginia William Berkeley, offering, on the other hand, amnesty to all his supporters if they agree to disarm.(1616-1678)

May 12, 1676 - Struck by famine, Indians organize a raid in Hatfield meadows, seizing about 75 heads of cattle.

May 13, 1676 - Tuspaquin’s warriors enter Plymouth, burning 18 houses.

May 18, 1676 - Captain William Turner leaves Hatfield with 150 men in search of Indian rustlers. He passes through the ruined village of Deerfield and continues southward where, according to indicators, several hundred Indians camp near the Connecticut River.

May, 1676 - Walter Clarke is elected a president of the Rhode Island Plantation and John Cranston becomes deputy-governor for the second time.

Walter Clarke (Newport (RI), 1640-1714) - His father Jeremiah Clarke had been president of the colony in 1648.

John Cranston (1625-1680) -  It was as a physician that he got in 1653 his license by the General Assembly of Rhode Island, authorizing him to dispense remedy and perform surgery. Resident in Newport and heavily involved in the conduct of public affairs, he was also appointed captain of the local militia and for the first time deputy-governor of the colony in 1672. King Philip’s war allowed him to be upgraded Major of the Rhode Island armies.

May 19, 1676 - Having crossed the Green River, Captain William Turner and his soldiers reach, at dawn, the Indian village of Peskeompscut, on the south side of a hill near the Connecticut River. As there are sentinels, its inhabitants first believe in a surprise attack by Mohawks. The English invade the camp and set fire to wigwams. Several Indians are killed among whom the  Pocumtuc sachem Sancumachu, but most have time to regroup along the nearby river in anticipation of a counter-attack. The soldiers of captain Turner destroy Philip's smithies, an action that will quickly disrupt the Indian forces.

Turner decided to return to Hatfield by taking the same way without suspecting that the Indians were waiting for him near a swamp to cross. The latter fired on the company and aroused confusion when a rumor spread that Philip had just arrived on the scene with a thousand warriors. Captain Turner was killed early in the attack with 38 of his men. The rest of the troop came under the command of young captain Samuel Holyoke and retreated in disorder, mowed down by the repeated harassments of Indians who made 39 new victims. The disaster of Turner Falls (name given to the battle) produced a real shock within the Massachusetts Baptist community, many members of which were volunteers gone to fight alongside Turner. Some evil spirits, however, did not fail to blame this additional force for its unpreparedness and inexperience.

Curiously, while this Indian victory heralded new attacks against the cities of the region, the opposite happened. The English got ready to fight increasingly bloody battles when the Indian resistance suddenly withered.

It seemed that the Indian tribes of New England had become aware of their real weaknesses and in the end, their inevitable defeat. Fewer than the colonial armies, the Indian warriors were poorly equipped, increasingly starved and those who fell fighting were not replaced. They had deserted their fields, had no more provisions, died for many of diseases and never managed to unite in a sustainable manner for the greater good. Instead, the old arguments, old grudges, jealousies and designs remained relevant, even in adversity.

Dissensions between Philip and Nipmucs became glaring, while on their side, the English proudly displayed their alliance with the Niantics, Naticks and Mohegans.

Samuel Holyoke (Springfield (MA), 1649-1676) - He was the son of Elizur Holyoke and the grandson of William Pynchon, the founder of Springfield. He distinguished himself in the battle of Turner Falls by his bravery as much as by his violence, killing indiscriminately men, the women or children. He died a few months later of the many wounds sustained during the war.

May 20, 1676 - Indians enter the city of Scituate. They set fire to a mill and attack the bunker but turn back facing the armed resistance of the inhabitants.

May 24, 1676 - Captain Thomas Brattle patrols with a horsemen company and a group of Natics near Pawtucket river, not far from Rehoboth, when he sees a group of Wampanoags. He sends his troops in pursuit, making some dead and several prisoners.

May 26, 1676 – After using Occanneechee’s services to get revenge on Susquehannocks, Nathaniel Bacon and his men turn against them and kill many just because they refused to give provisions. Governor William Berkeley tries at all costs to delay by calling Bacon, promising that he is ready to hang him for his audacity, especially as he came after Indians considered as friends. Yet, assessing the popularity of this new popular hero, he stands ready to forgive him if he renounces violence.

For his part, Nathaniel Bacon no longer hesitated to show his willingness to kill all Indians off and congratulated with having wiped out more than 150 when he had lost only three men. He had arrived in Virginia for two years and was already putting the country to fire and sword. What a great idea his father had had by sending him far from England!

May 30, 1676 - Indians burn a dozen farms around Hatfield and run away with the cattle.

Alerted, the inhabitants of Hadley ran after the Indians but the latter, well sheltered in the woods, met them with deadly gunfires killing seven and wounding five among the settlers.

June 1st, 1676 - the Connecticut authorities send Major John Talcott and a 500-strong army to attack the Indian camps at Quabaug, Wachusett and Squakheag.

John Talcott (Braintree (Essex), 1630 - Hartford (CT), 1688) -  He was two years old when he arrived at Boston with his parents aboard the Lyon, together with Rev. Thomas Hooker. Two months hardly after their arrival, his father was admitted as "free man" of the city but he chose in 1634 to move with his family to Newton before following Rev.Thomas Hooker to the new colony of Connecticut. He then took part in the Pequot War and was elected magistrate of Hartford until his death in 1660.  His son John chose soldiering and was appointed captain in 1660 while carrying out elective responsibilities within the colony such as deputy, magistrate and treasurer. His name appeared even among the beneficiaries of the Great Charter of Connecticut granted by king Charles II in 1662. He was promoted major at the beginning of King Philip’s War.

June 2nd, 1676 - Informed about what happened in Hatfield three days earlier, Major John Talcott leaves Norwich where he established his camp to Quabaug, heading 250 English soldiers and of 200 Mohegans. He intends to meet up with captain Daniel Henchamnn and the Massachusetts forces.

Daniel Henchman (1627 – Worcester, 1685)  - Arrived at Boston in 1666, he was first apparitor in the Latin Old School before becoming " free man " of the city in 1672. Soldier but also merchant, brewer, banker, jurist and even farmer, he held several jobs before being appointed captain on June 24, 1675.

June 3rd, 1676 - Josiah Winslow is reelected governor of Plymouth.

June 3rd, 1676 - Pennacook chief Wanalancet appears before Dover with several members of his tribe. He brings with him English prisoners and three Indians involved in the murder of Thomas Kembal from Bradford and the abduction of his family.

Three Indians were imprisoned but quickly escaped to take refuge at Kennebec and Androscoggin when hostilities resumed.

Wanalancet (? - c. 1697) -  Become paramount-sakamo of the Pennacook after the death of his father Passaconaway occurred in 1669, he had converted, four years later, to Christianity, further to his meeting with Rev. John Eliot. Joining Puritanism then earned him the enmity of many members of his tribe but following the example of his father, he tried hard to keep peaceful relations with the Massachusetts colony and was especially anxious to protect the neutrality of all his people throughout King Philip’s war.

June 5, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon is elected representative of Henrico County to the House of Burgesses by a majority of planters who approve his campaign against the Natives.

Would governor William Berkeley recognize he had failed to pass Bacon for public enemy? His election looked like a real slap as far as the House of Burgesses would enjoy to distance and pass major political reforms.

Bacon was captured on his arrival to the House, and brought before William Berkeley to publicly apologize for his conduct. He immediately obtained pardon from the governor who authorized him to take seat in the assembly. Things got worse, however, when Bacon asked to be promoted General, what Berkeley refused.

June 10, 1676 - Charles II’s envoy Edward Randolph lands in Boston with a message from the king recalling the obligation for the colonies to submit to the Navigation Acts and pay the imposed tariffs.

Edward Randolph was none other than the cousin of Robert Mason, who claimed rights on New Hampshire. As royal agent, he also represented officially the Lords of Trade and Plantations who had appointed him to conduct an economic survey of Massachusetts. Despite governor John Leverett’s protests, Randolph was soon to carry out his work. He made seize about ten boats entered, in his view, illegally and sent reports to Charles II somewhat exaggerating the population and wealth of Massachusetts, estimating at £10,000 a year the shortfall in customs duty.

He also traveled to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, then to Plymouth which made, however, an impression on him. Governor Josiah Winslow, openly criticized for his attitude during King Philip’s War, tried to redeem himself by supporting the idea that New England  could become a royal colony.

The activities of the port of Boston had become particularly thriving and ships from major European countries used it to make a stopover. This development was, however, a threat for manufacturers and English merchants who feared that the non-compliance with established rules came in to cause the collapse of their business with America. Massachusetts had tried, for years, to breach the financial constraints imposed by the Royal authority but there was still no question, for London, of tolerating any quest for emancipation.

In answer to the king’s request, the General Court of Massachusetts sent William Stoughton and Peter Bulkley to London, with the mission to defend the privileges of the province. Randolph soon accused them of having spent £4 000 in bribes.

June 12, 1676 - Indians attack Hadley but face resistance from local forces. They flee on the arrival of Major John Talcott and his men, come hastily from Northampton.

June 14, 1676 - the troops of Major Talcott and captain Henchamnn make their junction. Both officers decide to go down the Connecticut valley. There they discover the bodies of captain William Turner and his men ambushed four weeks earlier. They offer them decent burial and continue on their journey by a ghastly weather in the pouring rain. Moisture is everywhere, ammunition took water, bread is moldy and it becomes even impossible to light fire while the Natives apparently left the area.

June 16, 1676 - Jesse Wharton is appointed acting governor of Maryland by the Lord Proprietor Charles Calvert during the minority of his son Cecilius.

Jesse Wharton had lived in Barbados before settling in Maryland in 1670 where he became a wealthy planter. He had married Elizabeth Sewall, the daughter of Henry Sewall, an influential man in the province, what had allowed him to enter politics and accede to the Governor Council in 1672 before holding four years later the position of deputy governor.

June 19, 1676 - The government of Massachusetts offers amnesty to all the Indians who would make their submission.

June 19, 1676 - Indians attack Swansea again, burning the still sanding five houses.

June, 1676 - Pamunkey Queen Cockacoeske appears in Jamestown before the Council of the governor of Virginia, accompanied with her 23-year-old son John West and her interpreter. Berkeley requested her assistance to slow Nathaniel Bacon's progress whose rebellion threatens to ruin his house.

Actually, this conciliatory attitude towards William Berkeley would crystallize the hatred of Bacon and his men against Pamunkeys.

June 20, 1676 – Major John Talcott is recalled by the Connecticut council. He is ordered to join within a week the Massachusetts forces to Brookfield.

June 23rd, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon is back to Jamestown at the head of 500 men. He asks again governor Berkeley a command to fight the Indians. This one yields under gunpoint and authorizes him to raise an army of a thousand men before changing his mind and call him a traitor.

June, 1676 – Looking at the decline of their authority and the ravages of war, Susquehannocks send two of their leaders seek the help of Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of New York.

They described the sufferings they had just endured during the war with the colonies of Chesapeake Bay and the governor appeared willing to give them assistance. He even offered them welcome in the province of New York where they would be protected from the settlers of Virginia and Maryland. Susquehannocks so had the freedom to move between the Mohawk lands on the east and the limits of territories belonging to Senecas on the West. Mohawks had moreover already promised them safety and protection, considering them " as their brothers and children ". Andros suggested secondly to negotiate on their behalf a peace with the colonists of Virginia and Maryland as well as with the Senecas.

The Susquehannock chiefs showed themselves surprised by the generosity of Andros but preferred to ask permission to collect beforehand the opinion of their people on the premise that it was not theirs to take a decision alone. This offer was enthusiastically received by the Susquehannocks and the Delawares who had found refuge among them. Many were already preparing to leave when the Maryland authorities opposed their going pleading that such a provision would greatly enhance the power of the Iroquois. They threatened on the other hand, to take up arms, if necessary, to maintain Susquehannocks by force in Maryland, whereas the allied tribes contributed to the security of the province.

Many Susquehannocks preferred however to join the Mohawks.

June 25, 1676 - the House of Burgesses of Virginia passes a series of anti-Indian laws called "Bacon Laws " after the name of their instigator Nathaniel Bacon, from Henrico County.

These laws intended first to set up a vast war plan against the Indians. They also forbade all trade with them and allowed the colonists to settle in the territories they had deserted.

Aside from these expected coercive measures, they granted right to vote to all the free men and limited to three years the term in office in an official position.

June 26, 1676 - Hezekiah Willet, one of the sons of captain Thomas Willett is killed by Indians at Swansea.

This murder betrayed somehow the promise made by Philip the year before according to which no harm would come to some people.

June 27, 1676 - Captain Henchmann leaves the Connecticut valley to Boston where he finds captains Mosely and Brattle.

They had been informed that Philip had left the Quabaug area with the Narragansetts who accompanied him to reach his lands, hounded by Mohawks and dropped by the Nashaways who now accused him to be the cause of their misfortunes.

July 1st, 1676 - Signing of the Quintipartite Deed which divides the territory of New Jersey in two parts: East Jersey ruled by Philip Carteret and West Jersey placed under the administration of Edward Byllinge and his associates William Penn, Gawen Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas.

English officer with Indian scouts

July 2nd, 1676 – After being reorganized at Norwich, the Connecticut forces commanded by Major John Talcott, captain George Denison and Captain Newberry reach a camp where about 240 Narragansetts have taken refuge in the Nipsachuck swamps, near Warwick.

The Pequot and Mohegan warriors who sided the English troops burst out from the nearby hill while Captain Newberry and his men, sword in hand rushed into the swamps causing a massacre. Narragansetts who tried to flee were caught up and killed by the rest of the troops. 34 warriors, 92 women and children were killed during the attack, 45 others were made prisoners. Some like Magnus, the old Narragansett queen and the sachem Pessacus were executed although they were both in possession of a safe conduct to go freely to captain Allyn’s headquarters. There were no casualties on the English side.

July 3rd, 1676 - Pennacook leader Wanalancet signs a peace treaty in Dover (Maine) with Major Richard Waldron.

He had always tried to preserve a degree of neutrality and friendly relations with the English but he was also aware of the catastrophic condition in which were his people, devastated by diseases and starved. He had to get the hell out the war to stand apart of the hostilities that moved then towards Maine.

July 6, 1676 - After several weeks of discussions with captain Benjamin Church, Queen Awashonks and the Saconet leaders agree to side with the English with about 300 men and women of their tribe. They commit to abandon Philip and sign a tender agreement with the Plymouth authorities.

Captain Church had just resumed service after several months recovering the injuries he had suffered during the Great Swamp Fight, December 19. He had carried out his new mission with talent, especially since he has long maintained friendly relations with Awashonks, and had a year ago, signed a treaty with her. His task was further facilitated at a time when the deserters and traitors tried to save themselves by accusing their leaders of all evils and informing the English of the various movements of Philip. Hardly was the peace signed, Saconets hastened to offer their services by providing a group of volunteers and scouts.

July 11, 1676 - Having made camp at Mattapoiset, Philip tries to attack Taunton by surprise. Warned by a runaway servant, Captain Church and his company repel him to Pocasset, killing 10 victims in his ranks, including his uncle Akkompoin. Philip succeeds in escaping but her sister is trapped.

July 17, 1676 - Sagamore John, one of the Nipmuc leaders, enters Boston with four of his warriors, holding a white flag. He is eager to live in peace with the English.

He explained to the judges that he regretted, like his brother Sagamore Sam, to have fought the English and promised to be now loyal to them and assured he would soon have the opportunity to show them his loyalty. The representatives of the General Court agreed to start peace talks but required prior to any debate the release of all the settlers kept prisoners by the Nipmucs.

It was likely that Sagamore John was none other than Quacunquasit, the Quabaug leader who went under the protection of Massachusetts in 1644.

Since the battle of Turner Falls, Nipmucs and Pocumtucs had gradually deserted Philip's ranks. Some had even preferred to leave New England to find refuge with other tribes as Mahicans and Sokoki (western Abenaki).

July 22nd, 1676 - The Massachusetts forces return to Boston where they are mostly disbanded. The rest of the troops is sent to New Hampshire and Maine where the Indian Amoscoggin and Pigwacket regularly attack villages of settlers.

July 22nd, 1676 - The War Council of the United Colonies orders the judges to hold in servitude the prisoners’ children until they are 25. It also authorizes volunteer soldiers who captured Indians to sell half as slaves for their own account.

In order to prevent future rebellions, no Native aged over 14 was thenceforth allowed to live in the Plymouth colony. Indian lands were confiscated and redistributed to the soldiers who had bravely fought.

July 25, 1676 - Pumham and his warriors, mostly starved, find themselves near Dedham face to face with captain Hunting and his company of English soldiers and Indian auxiliaries. The fight that ensues is particularly tremendous. Wounded, Pumham refuses to surrender and chooses to fight to the death while fifteen of his warriors are killed and the remaining 34 taken prisoners.

Pumham – the Narragansett sachem of Shawomet, he had opposed Samuel Gorton in 1643 under the pretext he had not been consulted when Miantonomo had sold the land of Warwick on which he had rights. He had brought the matter to Boston with the chief Saconnonoco, asking at that time to pass under the authority of Massachusetts. Both had been the first to bring support to Philip and had remained faithful to him, unlike most leaders of the region. 

July 27, 1676 - Thomas Notley is appointed governor of Maryland by Lord Charles Calvert to succeed Jesse Wharton, who died suddenly after only one month in action.

July 27, 1676 - Matoonas, one of Philip’s allies and his son Nehemiah are brought to the English by the Nipmuc leader Sagamore John, accompanied with 180 of his warriors.

Sagamore John so wanted to prove his loyalty to the English and suggested to take himself command of the execution. He had Matoonas tied to a tree and began to torture him with some of his companions, one of them thrust his knife into the chest and tore his heart while he was dying. He set then his head at the end of a post as was that of his son in 1671, after he had been sentenced to death for the murder of an English.

The agonizing death he had reserved for Matoonas was of little benefit to Sagamore John and his sons as they were questioned and jailed further to their involvement in the events. Three of their men were immediately executed for the burning of a house at Framingham and thirty others were sent as slaves to the West Indies. Eight Nipmucs were afterward sentenced to death and hanged in Boston Common whereas the last followers of Sagamore John were confined in Deer Island where most of the Christian Indians who were held there had already starved or died from disease.

July 29, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon is marching on Middle Plantation with 600 men on foot and 700 horsemen. Governor William Berkeley takes refuge on the other side of Chesapeake Bay, in Accomack County.

Berkeley had stepped up efforts to convince the militias of various counties to mobilize on his side, arguing a campaign against Indians. But these had all refused, believing he aimed in fact at organizing a force to fight Bacon.

July 30, 1676 - Royal agent Edward Randolph leaves Boston for London where he is scheduled to report to king Charles II and the Committee of Trade and Plantations.

Randolph was not kind to Massachusetts the representatives of which had asserted that they were in no way beholden to the king or Parliament under the charter that granted them his father Charles 1. He had also collected the testimonies of settlers who complained about the arbitrariness of the government and oppression of its judges, hoping that king frees them from this bondage.

July 30, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon publishes a document entitled " Declaration to the People " in which he castigates Virginia governor William Berkeley, accusing him of being corrupt, of favoring his friends and granting his protection to the Indians only to personal use.

This unambiguous declaration was a real indictment against the methods and policy of Berkeley. Other people were also namely incriminated as Sir Henry Chicheley, Richard Lee, Thomas Ballard, captain Thomas Hawkins, lieutenant-colonel Christopher Wormeley, councilor William Cole etc. …

Bacon gave Berkeley and all his partisans four days to surrender, otherwise they would be declared treacherous and their properties confiscated. He even hoped to obtain the consent of king Charles II, after the governor had left the defenseless settlers against their Indian enemies.

August 1st, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon gives Giles Bland and captain William Carver command of 300 men with mission to seize all vessels sailing on the James River.

August 1st, 1676 - Captain Benjamin Church surprises a group of 130 Wampanaogs. Philip is with them but succeeds in escaping while his wife Wootonekanuske and his son Metom, are taken prisoners. They are both sent to Martha's Vineyard before being sold as slaves.

They were to leave for the West Indies but were actually expelled from Massachusetts and taken in by Sokoki.

August 3rd, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon summons a meeting of owners in Middle Plantation, York County. Some are ordered to participate at the risk of seeing their goods confiscated. Seventy of them sign a declaration accusing William Berkeley of fomenting a civil war and obstruct the struggle of Bacon against the Indians.

Weetamoo trying to escape through Pocasset River

August 6, 1676 - Pocasset Queen Weetamoo drowns near Taunton (MA), trying to escape the men of Major John Talcott.

Regarded as a domineering woman, she was the widow of Alexander (Wamsutta), the older brother of Philip, whom she had married in 1656.

August, 1676 - a court of Rhode Island met in Newport including magistrates Roger Williams, Arthur Fenner, Randall Holden and William Harris, finds five Indians guilty of murder and orders their execution.

August, 1676 - Lieutenant Governor of Maryland Thomas Notley complains to note that a majority of Susquehannocks left to settle in the province of New York.

August 9, 1676 - Captain Benjamin Church captures "Sam Barrow"

August 10, 1676 - Governor William Berkeley runs away from Jamestown after Nathaniel Bacon threatened to march on the city.

Bacon strengthened thereby his power and now sought the support of rich planters of the region.

August 11, 1676 - Indian warriors from the Ammoscoggin and Pigwacket tribes attack Falmouth, Maine. They kill several settlers and abduct about thirty others after burning their houses.

The death of Philip

August 12, 1676 - The company of captain Benjamin Church seizes Philip and kills him in a swamp near Mount Hope where he was hiding.

Captain Church had been informed of Philip’s hideaway by one of his own warriors, led by a desire for revenge after his brother was killed on the pretext he had offered to negotiate with the English.

Church made encircle Philip's camp during night and sent captain Goulding and his soldiers to approach noiselessly the tents where the Indians slept. The English attacked at dawn. Philip hastily fled towards swamps but was shot by a Saconet named Alderman. He was killed instantly, hit in the heart and collapsed in the mud. His body was brought on dry land and was immediately beheaded and quartered as foreseen by the English laws in case of high treason. Five of his warriors died by his side while the others succeeded in running away through the woods.

August 17, 1676 - Philip's head is brought to Plymouth and spiked at the entrance of the fort.

It will be displayed during almost 25 years, and shown as that of a Leviathan defeated by the Elected God’s Chosen People.

Thus ended King Philip’s War. The destruction was significant, more than 600 houses burned, 12 villages completely destroyed. There were more than 600 deaths on the English side and nearly 1500 among the Indian tribes. Some were devastated as the Wampanoags and Narragansetts. Others however, like the Mohegans, Pequots and Naticks had taken advantage of their alliance with the English to strengthen. As for Nipmucs and Nashaways, their late submission could not conceal the destruction they had committed in the Connecticut valley and they had little choice but to migrate to West or Canada.

The cost of the war amounted to £11, 473 for Plymouth, £22, 173 for Connecticut and £46, 292 for Massachusetts.

Most Indians made prisoners were sold as slaves, despite the regrets of Rev. John Eliot. They left mostly for the West Indies, but others were sent to the market in Tangier, Morocco or still Europe. The family members of Indian leaders were, as for them, placed under the guardianship of the settlers of Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut.

For a while, the war put a crimp in immigration, but with a natural increase of 3% in population, the settlers quickly compensated for the loss of lives and rebuilt their villages and their farms.

Finally, conspicuously absent from this war, the English government began to worry about defenses of New England.

August 25, 1676 - Weetamoo’s husband Quinnapin, considered a lieutenant of Canonchet and one of Philip’s followers, is executed in Newport after being sentenced to death by a court martial chaired by the Governor of Rhode Island and his assistants.

Although he was one of the actors in Mrs Rowlandson’s release, he had also been responsible for the attack of Lancaster in February.

August 28, 1676 – Commissioned by the Plymouth authorities of to flush out the last partisans of Philip, Captain Church succeeds in locating Annawon, his main captain. He offers no resistance and the two men meet under a tent for a friendly interview.

Aged 85, Annawon was a respected old man and could even pass for wise sage if he had not been involved in this war. He had served in the days of Massasoit, the father of Philip, when settlers and Natives lived in peace. He acknowledged the loss of his illusions and now resignedly accepted the fall of the Pokanokets. Captain Church appreciated the sincerity of the old warrior and was given in exchange Philip's treasure the keeper of which Annawon was. Church promised him the safe life. A risky promise, actually, the Indian leader was executed upon his arrival in Plymouth.

September 8, 1676 - Captain Hathorn and his company arrive at Falmouth. The village has been for almost a month beset by repeated attacks by groups of Indians.

Highly mobile, the Indian warriors knew how to avoid the troops and the Hathorn campaign was to bring no tangible results.

September 7, 1676 - Major Richard Waldron invites the Pennacooks and their leader Wanalancet to his land of Cocheco (near Dover N.H.) where he offers an entertainment showing a mock battle against the militia. It is actually a trap. The Indians find themselves suddenly surrounded by four companies of soldiers and are mostly made prisoners.

The English had originally for mission to capture a group of Nashaways who had taken refuge nearby, hoping to benefit from an amnesty. For their part, the Pennacooks, regarded as a peaceful tribe, were not expected to be affected by this decision. Yet, the colonial officers had had the idea to invite them to spend a whole day of entertainment during which would be organized games simulating warlike actions. Confident, the Natives, numbering about 400, were unaware that the militiamen had received the order to encircle and capture them. They were actually all disarmed but Richard Waldron insisted that only refugees from Massachusetts are brought to Boston.

Although they were not actually harassed, the Pennacooks felt betrayed and held him for the instigator of this ambush. They now sought increasingly to take revenge of a man in whom they had previously put their trust and with whom they had two months earlier signed a peace treaty.

Ten captured Indians were then hanged and the others for most enslaved.

Richard Waldron (Alcester (Wawicks.) 1614/15 – Dover (N.H.), 1689) - This important fur trader arrived for the first time in New England in 1635. He remained there only two years, the time for him to purchase lands. He settled permanently in New Hampshire from 1640 at Cocheco (present-day Dover) where he built a sawmill and a water mill. He did not delay opening a trade post with the Natives. Elected in 1653 representative to the General Court of Boston, he held this position until 1676. He also reached the rank of captain in 1672, then two years later, that of sergeant-major of the military forces of the province. Waldron enjoyed a comfortable social position but his reputation was tarnished by the traffics in which he was engaged with Indians including the provision of liquors and firearms, despite the prohibitions.

September, 1676 - Deputy governor of Rhode Island John Cranston organizes an assembly in Narragansett territory with the intention to extend his jurisdiction on lands under Connecticut.

The reaction of the Connecticut authorities and the General Assembly of the province rebelled against what they considered a usurpation. Cranston had to change his mind but the pernicious climate showed how territorial disputes remained vivid in the Westerly area.

September 3rd, 1676 - A group of about sixty men from Calvert County, Maryland, gathers under the leadership of William Davyes and John Pate to challenge the taxes introduced by the government and wants to call upon the king to put an end to the oppression of the Lord Proprietor. They also request the appointment of Protestant ministers, the creation of free schools in all the counties and more rights to free men.

They were inspired by Bacon’s rebellion in Virginia, hoping to disrupt the absolute power enjoyed by Lord Baltimore in Maryland. Having heard about the revolt, Governor Charles Calvert sent his messengers to ask the rebels to lay down their arms and go back home in exchange for his forgiveness. They replied to this offer by hoisting the colors and beginning marching on the sounds of drums.

The rebellion could have been expanded but internal dissensions soon appeared and the movement failed. William Davyes and John Pate left taking refuge in New Castle on the Delaware where they were arrested by the troops of Lord Baltimore. Brought back to their county, they were both hanged there. To prevent any further risk of dispute, Lord Baltimore made expel from Maryland all refugees of Virginia.

The Burning of Jamestown

September 19, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon and his partisans set fire to Jamestown.

After expelling the forces remained loyal to William Berkeley, Nathaniel Bacon and his followers reduced the city to ashes, a disaster from which it would never recover.

This particularly violent action arrived at a moment when Bacon felt that he was gradually loosing ground control. Berkeley had managed to infiltrate his ranks and felt strong enough again to take Jamestown back. Bacon had to quickly conduct a spectacular operation knowing that his forces would not allow him to respond to an attack from the Royal Navy. This blaze of glory however marked the progressive reversal of those who had supported him but began to doubt the validity of a campaign which, after beginning with tracking down the Indians was more and more converted into a civil war between people of the same colony.

September 23rd, 1676 - Governor of New York Edmund Andros orders captain John Collier that he has just appointed commander of Delaware, to go discreetly to Maryland to ask Susquehannocks to keep joining Mohawks in the province of New York where they can benefit from his protection. On his return to New Castle, Collier is appointed sub-collector of customs and tax inspector.

September 25, 1676 - Captain Edmond Cantwell who commands the Delaware garrison is fined 200 guilders for beating captain Hans Jurriaen of the Upland militia. His involvement in other affairs cause his demotion.

September 25, 1676 - Governor Edmund Andros decides to apply in Delaware the Duke’s Laws that already rule the province of New York.

Considered the most severe in the English colonies of America, these laws had the peculiarity of using capital punishment for minor offenses. For example, a child under 16 who had such raised his hand to strike his parents could be sentenced to death on the mere testimony of the latter. The laws planned to cut ears to hog thieves. They also planned to brand the face of the highwaymen, to whip severely repeat offenders and execute them in case of second offense.

September 26, 1676 -  Nashaway chiefs Shoshanim, aka Sagamore Sam, and Monoco, better known as One Eyed John are both hanged in Boston.

October, 1676 - John Sparry opens in Boston the first "cafe" of America.

October 1676 – A ship left from Boston sails to Arica to buy slaves. She will return to Boston in May 1678 with only 45 slaves from Madagascar.

Such a costly expedition ultimately ended in failure, demonstrating that slave traffic was not compatible with the Massachusetts fundamentals.

October, 1676 - The General Court of Connecticut decides not to send abroad the prisoners who will not be convicted of murder.

October 12, 1676 - the village of Black Point, Maine is peacefully invested by a party of hundred Indians led by Chief Mogg Hegon. They get the departure of the garrison and leave with some prisoners toward Penobscot. That was about a year that the Indians of the neighborhood, supported by elements from the Kennebec region, plundered farms, rustled cattle and attacked removed settlers. Joshua Scottow, a merchant from Boston who had an estate in Black Point, managed to bring a garrison there despite opposition from residents, preferring to defend themselves.

The son of sachem Walter Hegon, Mogg was well known by the settlers. He was native of Saco and had grown up near them. He spoke moreover perfectly English and had just mediated between the colonists and Squando. Nobody then considered him an "Indian enemy" but it is likely that his presence within the tribal councils decided on his commitment. The Natives had actually many grievances to argue against the methods of the English merchants. Trickery was then customary in the negotiations and despite the governmental restrictions, the supply of liquors continued to wreak havoc in the tribes.

October 14, 1676 - Nicholas De Mayer becomes the seventh mayor of New York. He succeeds William Dervall.

Nicholas De Mayer (c. 1635-1691) – A merchant from Hamburg, he was said to be the " second richest man in New York ". His stepfather Hendrik Van Dyke became famous in 1655 by killing in his garden a young Indian woman surprised stealing peaches. He had lived in New York for several years and did not hide his ambitions to make it a successful and remarkable city. Governor Andros did not hesitate therefore to entrust him with the cleanliness and moving to the outskirts of polluting activities such as tanneries and slaughterhouses. It is as well under his term that was paved Broad Street, the widest and busiest thoroughfare of New York.

October 25, 1676 - Mogg arrives in Boston to negotiate an exchange of prisoners.

The General Court of Massachusetts took advantage of his visit to send lieutenant Bartholomew Tippen and a company of soldiers to re-occupy the Black Point site. The Natives had dispersed the inhabitants but these would soon come back.

October 26, 1676 - Nathaniel Bacon dies from dysentery in the house of colonel Thomas Pate (Gloucester County). His passing undermines the future of the rebellion he has been leading since April against the governor of Virginia William Berkeley and his methods.

He had contracted a bad fever while hunting, with his partisans, groups of Pamunkeys who took refuge in the Great Dragon Swamp, on the border of Middlesex and Gloucester Counties. Owing to her support for William Berkeley, Queen Cockacoeske had to hide herself away with members of her tribe in this particularly inhospitable area. Bacon and his men soon realized how difficult it was to flush out the Natives and had to give up due to diseases that were beginning to strike them one after the other. 23 of his men had to die like him of dysentery.

The lieutenants of Bacon, among whom William Drummond, Richard Lawrence and Giles Bland, decided to continue the rebellion. For lack of having proven an experience of the military command, they appointed as their new leader Joseph Ingram, a young man newly arrived in Virginia who, even the second under Bacon, was regarded by some as a “debauched” . Having neither the charisma nor the skills of his predecessor, the latter was never able to obtain the confidence of his men.

Ingram divided his troops into units located primarily along the James River. He had relatively capable officers like colonel Thomas Hansford (1646-1677), Thomas Whalley or still Gregory Wakelett but they needed to command men mostly slaves or indentured servants little involved in the fight against the Indians or the despotism of Berkeley whose only concern was to get their freedom.

October 31st, 1676 - the General Court of Massachusetts sends its two representatives Peter Bulkeley and William Stoughton to London to defend its interests.

The authorities of Boston feared the impact of the report prepared by Edward Randolph with therefore the likely end of the Massachusetts’ hegemony on New Hampshire and Maine.

Randolph was soon to reply to their coming by claiming that they had spent more than £ 4000 in bribes.

November 6, 1676 - Penobscot leaders Madockawando and Mogg ratify in Boston a peace treaty with Massachusetts.

The Abenaki were for more than two decades the allies of the French and known for having tried to bring a logistic support to Wampanoags and Narragansetts.  Yet, the defeat of Philip and the arrogance displayed by the English urged them to show now some fatalism.

The treaty planned the return of all the captured settlers and the restoration of all properties confiscated to the English.

Madockawando (1630-1698) – The foster son of Kennebec sachem Essemonoskwe, he was respected for his soul healing powers (his name meaning " the one who makes miracles "). It was he who, at the time of King Philip’s War was bashaba (chief over the leaders) of the Abenaki Confederacy which included Penobscots and Passamaquodys of Maine, Mi’kmaqs and Malecites of Nova Scotia as well as Pennacooks of New Hampshire. On the other hand, He was friend with a young French officer, lest he prematurely returned to his country.

November, 1676 - The Massachusetts authorities send a company of soldiers to the mountain area of New Hampshire in pursuit of the Ammoscoggin and Pigwacket warriors who attacked English settlers during summer. They have to set their winter quarters near Ossapy Lake.

They discovered the Indians’ fort but it has been given up shortly before. Disappointed, the soldiers made their way to Berwick.

November 15, 1676 – In Virginia, Captain Robert Beverley and his soldiers land discreetly near York where they capture by surprise colonel Thomas Hansford and partisans of Bacon stationed in Colonel Reade’s estate (current Yorktown). They are responsible for bringing them back to governor William Berkeley who took refuge in Accomack County. Among the prisoners are especially captains Carver, Farlow and Wilford.

Hansford was not judged but immediately sentenced to death for treason. He was hanged shortly after like five of his companions, despite his wish not to die " like a dog ". Born in Virginia, Hansford was soon to become the " first American martyr of freedom "

November 16, 1676 - A first colonial prison is established in Nantucket to lock up rowdy seamen, more and more numerous to attend its waters for illegal whaling. William Bunker is appointed as jailer.

Thomas Mayhew's property until 1659, the island had, in the time, been purchased by Tristam Coffin, a Massachusetts investor originating from Devon who had bet on its agricultural potential. He had settled there with his family and had distinguished himself by the building of a corn mill which employed many local Native Americans.

November 27, 1676 - "Great Fire of Boston" - a fire destroys the second church of the city and forty two houses before being opportunely put out by a sudden storm, preserving thousand books of Rev. Increase Mather’s library.

Early December, 1676 - two ships sponsored by the Massachusetts authorities arrive at Penobscot. They come to get back the English captives and the goods seized during summer, under the treaty signed in Boston on November 6.

Sachem Madockawando reserved them a good welcome. He personally handed two captives and sent Mogg to look for the others, held according to him in another camp. The latter not reappearing, ships went to Pemaquid where they recovered a few more prisoners including Thomas Cobbett, son of the Reverend of Ipswich, captive for several months.

Shortly after, Francis Card, another captive, succeeded in escaping and said that Mogg had joined Indians of the Kennebec River area, who were the real leaders of the hostilities. They were, according to him no more than one hundred men. He assured on the other hand that the captives received proper treatment.

December, 1676 - Senecas launch a deadly attack against the last Susquehannocks remained in Maryland.