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]