The contagion was, however, too strong; and Eliot at last saw many of
them also take up arms against their infidel countrymen. The order and
harmony of their dwelling-places were for a time utterly blasted; on
the hills around Naticke and Pakeunit the watch-fires were blazing;
the war-whoops were often heard in the night; at intervals, a solitary
musket, and then a signal cry, came from the neighbouring woods; and yet
nearer, the poor Indians at last saw their plantations without the town,
burning; for Philip began hostilities by a sudden attack on them, so that
their taking up arms was partly in self-defence. After several actions,
he retired from Mount Hope to the woods, swamps, and fastnesses of the
interior, in the dominion of the great tribe of the Naraganset Indians,
who, for his sake, had now broken treaty with the English. It was the
depth of winter, yet the latter resolved to follow him to his retreats,
and an army of fifteen hundred men, under the command of the Hon. J.
Winslow, marched to the abode of the Indians. This was on an island of
about five or six acres, the only entrance to which was upon a long tree
over the water, so that but one man could pass at a time: but the water
was frozen; the trees and thickets were white with their burden of snow,
as was the surface of the earth, so that the smallest movement of the
Indians could be seen.
Within the isle were gathered the powers of the Pequot and Naraganset
tribes, with their wives, families, and valuable things; the want of
leaves and thick foliage allowed no ambush, and the savage must fight
openly beside his own hearth and store. It was the close of day when
the colonists came up to the place; a fort, a blockhouse, and a wall
that passed round the isle, proved the skill, as well as resolution,
of the assailed; the frozen shores and water were quickly covered with
the slain, and then the Indians fought at their doors and around their
children, till all was lost, and a thousand of them fell. Philip fled
with his surviving forces to a distant position, where it was impossible
to follow him. Concord, one of the first settlements of Eliot, and one or
two other towns, were this winter destroyed, and its poor people turned
from their dwellings into all the rigours of the winter; many perished in
the woods or amidst the snows, or by the secret and sudden ambushes of
the enemy.
[Illustration]