In the year 1674, the number of Eliot’s towns and settlements, in
which industry, comfort, good order, and the best instruction, were
established, amounted to more than twelve, when an unforeseen event
happened, that threw a cloud over all his prospects. This was the war
in which the colonists of New England were involved with Philip, son of
Massasoit, the celebrated chief, and, for the last years of his life,
the firm friend of the English. “O, thou sword of the wilderness, when
wilt thou be quiet?” says Mather, forgetful that it was bared by the
aggressions of the settlers, as well as by the fierce and restless
spirit of the Indian prince. Ever since the foundation of the colonies,
the former had conducted themselves, says more than one divine of the
period, with great kindness to their heathen brethren. The truth of this
assertion is very doubtful. The missionary took no part in the disputes,
save to urge his countrymen to forbearance and peace. “We, the poor
church of Naticke,” he writes to them, “hearing that the honoured rulers
of Plymouth are pressing and arming of soldiers to go to war with the
Indians, do mourn greatly on account of it, and desire that they may not
be destroyed, because we have not heard that they have done any thing
worthy of death. It is your duty to offer, accept, and desire peace, and
we pray you, for God’s sake, and for your souls’ sake, obey this word;
we long to hear of a happy peace, that may open a clear passage for the
gospel among that people.” Simple as these words are, they unfold an
affection on the part of the missionary and his converts, for those who
had few claims on their regard; for Philip, and most of his chiefs, had
sternly rejected all persuasions to Christianity. But Eliot was not of
the sentiment of another divine, who rejoiced in the rejection of the
proposals by the Indians, that “this thing was of the Lord.” He saw only
on one side an exquisite jealousy, roused by many wrongs, a heart burning
with vindictive feelings; on the other, a sordid ambition, an unhallowed
love of glory. It was a source of sorrow, that the torch of discord was
first kindled by one of his own people. In the end of the year 1674, John
Seusoman, a converted Indian, after having apostatized from the faith,
devoted himself to the service of Philip, as secretary. He informed the
English that his countrymen had resolved to adopt measures for their
destruction. “He could write,” says the historian, “though the king, his
master, could not read.”
This renegade, fearing the consequences of what he had done, returned
to the protection of the settlers, and was soon after slain by two of
the Indian captains. The English arrested the perpetrators of the deed,
and, on a trial by jury, finding them guilty, they were executed. Philip
was alarmed at the condemnation of his counsellors, and, conscious
that he had given cause for suspicion, resolved to be the first in the
field. He had probably long waited for an opportunity. Rash, headstrong,
and vindictive, with the courage but not the talents of his father,
Massasoit, the slow and artful aggressions of the settlers stung him to
the quick. He began to gather his warriors around his dwelling-place, at
the strong forts near the Naraganset river; he received the accession of
several other tribes. In the mean time, it was said, strange sights and
sounds foreboded, in many parts of the colonies, the woes that were near;
the singing of bullets, and the awful passing away of drums in the air;
invisible troops of horses were heard riding to and fro; and in a clear,
still, sunshiny morning, the phantoms of men, fearfully flitting by!
Philip, heedless of omens and dreams, sent away the women and children,
and took his stand on Mount Hope, a low and beautiful eminence, on which
was his strongest fort. Ere matters came to a fatal extremity, and all
the evils of war were let loose on his settlements, Eliot did his utmost
to turn them aside; he saw that many of his people would inevitably be
involved with one party or the other. His town of Pakeunit was very near
Mount Hope; he had visited the latter during the life of Massasoit, and
though he felt not the same regard or esteem for his son, a friendly
intercourse had subsisted between them. His applications to the colonists
for peace being fruitless, he resolved to try them also on the former.
[Illustration]