KING PHILIP’S WAR
It is not easy to tell the true cause of King Philip’s War. There were
probably many causes, some of them dating years back. Such a struggle
was bound to come, sooner or later, to determine who should remain
masters of New England--the first comers or the white men from over the
sea. More than once Roger Williams had postponed the evil day, but even
his influence was not great enough to prevent the smouldering fires of
jealousy, distrust and revenge from finally bursting into a destructive
conflagration.
Back in 1620, when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, they had formed a
treaty of peace with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags. This faithful
Indian sachem kept his word during the remaining years of his life.
The colonists were not so fortunate in their dealings with his son and
successor, Wamsutta or Alexander. Word was sent to the governor that he
plotted mischief against the English and had asked the Narragansetts to
aid him in his rebellion. Determining to put an end to such disloyalty
at once, the governor, after Alexander’s refusal to attend court,
had him arrested and taken to Plymouth. It was a most unfortunate
business, thus to humiliate a proud chief on his own territory.
Suddenly Alexander became violently ill and died almost immediately.
The exact cause of his death is not known, but probably extreme heat
and anger hastened the end. Bad feeling between the Indians and their
white neighbors was the immediate result of this misfortune. Some of
Alexander’s followers, including his wife, even spread the report that
the sachem had been poisoned. This was untrue, but it furnished one of
the causes of the hostilities that followed.
Metacomet or Philip, Alexander’s brother and the next chief of the
Wampanoags, was not one to submit to wrongs tamely. Plymouth and
Massachusetts soon had occasion to suspect him of secretly planning
war. In their uneasiness, they appealed to Roger Williams and he
succeeded, for the time being, in breaking up Philip’s designs. Largely
through his influence, the war was put off for four years. Outwardly
obedient, the Wampanoag chief gave up about seventy guns to the English
as proof of his fidelity. There is no reason to think, however, that he
abandoned the idea of a war when the time should be ripe. For several
years he merely “marked time” until everything should be in readiness.
The struggle was finally begun in the summer of 1675, sooner than
Philip had meant. One of his nearest advisers, a converted Indian,
betrayed his chief’s plot to the English. It was therefore necessary to
strike at once. To be just to King Philip, he doubtless thought he had
good and sufficient reason for his action. He summed up the causes of
the conflict thus:
“By various means they [the English] got possession of a great part of
his [Massasoit’s] territory. But he still remained their friend till he
died. My elder brother became sachem. They pretended to suspect him of
evil designs against them. He was seized and confined, thereby thrown
into sickness and died. Soon after I became sachem, they disarmed all
my people. They tried my people by their own laws; assessed damages
against them, which they could not pay. Their land was taken. At
length a line of division was agreed upon between the English and my
people, and I myself was to be answerable. Sometimes the cattle of the
English would come into the cornfields of my people, as they did not
make fences like the English. I must then be seized and confined, till
I sold another tract of my country for satisfaction of all damages
and costs. Thus, tract after tract is gone. But a small part of the
dominions of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live till I
have no country.”
There was grave danger of a Narragansett alliance. Philip had been
working for it for a long time. The chief sachems of the Rhode
Island Indians at this time were Pessicus, Miantonomo’s brother, and
Canonchet, Miantonomo’s son, and therefore nephew of Pessicus. They
were joint rulers, much like Canonicus and Miantonomo in the earlier
days. But, whereas Canonicus and Miantonomo had been in favor of
peace at almost any price, their descendants were not so submissive.
A far different spirit fired them. Pessicus, it is true, gave Roger
Williams to understand that he was peaceable enough, but had difficulty
restraining the younger men of his tribe. Canonchet, on the other hand
(the “hopeful spark” of Miantonomo, as Roger Williams called him), was
openly declared the war sachem of the Narragansetts. The cruel death
of his father still rankled and he would have been less than human had
he not longed to make the most of the opportunity for revenge that now
came to him without his seeking.
The colony of Rhode Island strongly opposed the war. The inhabitants
had no just quarrel with the Indians. Besides, they were under Quaker
influence and people of this faith did not believe in taking up arms.
Five Rhode Island citizens, probably Friends, bent on a peaceful
settlement of the dispute, arranged for a meeting with Philip. The
story of their conference is quaintly told by Mr. John Easton, the
deputy governor of the colony and the head of the party:
“We sat very friendly together. We told him [Philip] our business was
to endeavor that they might not ... do wrong. They said that was well;
they had done no wrong, the English wronged them. We said we knew the
English said the Indians wronged them, and the Indians said the English
wronged them, but our desire was the quarrel might rightly be decided,
in the best way, and not as dogs decided their quarrels. The Indians
owned that fighting was the worst way: then they propounded how right
might take place.”
It was unfortunate for the warring colonists, and the Indians as well,
that nothing came of this attempt at arbitration. There was one hope
left--Roger Williams. The Boston authorities sent three men to Rhode
Island with the earnest request that he try to bring the Narragansetts
to terms. He answered the call with his usual prompt willingness.
Within half an hour, he had left Providence and was on his way, with
the three messengers, to the Narragansett country. He had no trouble
in securing an audience with Canonchet, Pessicus and other leading
Narragansetts. They greeted him with fair, smooth words--altogether too
fair and smooth to be sincere. They agreed to hand over any of Philip’s
men who fell into their hands, to remain hostile to the Wampanoag
sachem, to deliver up all stolen goods to the English, to refrain from
further theft, and to serve as a guard about the Narragansett country
for the protection of the English.
Poor Roger Williams! Devotedly, unceasingly he worked until, as he
said, his old bones and eyes were weary with travel and writing. So
constantly was his pen in use that his stock of letter paper completely
gave out. Writing to the governor of Massachusetts, he said, “Since
I am oft occasioned to write upon the public business, I shall be
thankful for a little paper upon the public account, being now near
destitute.”
And all the time he could not help but “suspect that all the fine words
from the Indian sachems to us were but words of policy, falsehood
and treachery.” His fears were well grounded. No sooner had the
Massachusetts men started on their homeward journey than one hundred
armed Narragansetts appeared in Warwick and terrified the town. Warning
was received, too, from Pessicus that the English in the Narragansett
country would do well to be on their guard and to keep strict watch. If
they could strongly fortify one or two houses, so much the better; if
not, then flight was their only course.
It was plain that the Narragansetts could be held in leash no longer.
The call of their Indian allies--blood of their blood--completely
drowned out the gentle voice of Roger Williams. The prayer of
Canonicus--yes, and of Massasoit, too--that their children after them
might live in love and peace with the English forever was not to be
realized. Sadly the best friend the Narragansetts ever had was forced
to confess that the tribe must be subdued as wolves who have attacked
sheep.
Meanwhile, the settlement of Swansea, near the boundary line between
Rhode Island and Plymouth, had been ravaged by Philip’s men and several
persons killed and wounded. The war then spread with lightning rapidity
through the different towns of Massachusetts. Connecticut, too, was
invaded, for the Indians of the Connecticut River had thrown themselves
into the struggle. Rhode Island as a colony kept out of the war, but
she was not allowed to remain untouched. The Narragansett country
became, in turn, a battle-ground in the winter of 1675.
The Narragansetts were accused by the English of having sheltered
Philip’s people, and, as some of the young braves now and then returned
to their homes wounded, it was considered proof that they had, too,
been on the war-path. Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut decided
to break the power of the Narragansetts before they could join Philip
in the spring. They therefore raised a strong force of over a thousand
men and, strengthened by Rhode Island volunteers, marched to a point in
the neighborhood of what is now South Kingston.
The Indians had stoutly intrenched themselves in a fort in the midst
of a treacherous swamp. Here, on a bleak, freezing December day, a
desperate battle, commonly known as the “Great Swamp Fight,” was fought
to a bitter end. It was the dreadful massacre of Fort Mystic all over
again. As in the Pequot War of forty years before, the attacking
party forced an entrance into the fort and completed their work of
destruction by fire. Exposure and cold, added to the flames, reduced
the Indians quickly. They sacrificed several hundred--either slain
outright or taken prisoners--but the English also suffered severe
losses.
Though the spirit of the Narragansetts was broken, the people of the
mainland towns were greatly alarmed. The General Assembly, meeting at
Newport in the spring of 1676, urged them to give up their homes and
take refuge on the Island of Rhode Island. Newport and Portsmouth
generously offered land for planting and even proclaimed that the
new-comers, “so wanting a liberty, shall have a cow kept upon the
commons.” Many families accepted the invitation with haste and
thankfulness. The protected stretch of land in Narragansett Bay became
a perfect isle of refuge. The entire town of Warwick moved thither and
remained until the war was over. It was the safest thing that could be
done, for shortly afterwards, the settlement was practically burned to
the ground. Only one dwelling remained standing.
Many Providence people emigrated also, including Mrs. Williams. Of the
five hundred inhabitants, less than thirty remained behind. Prominent
in the list of those “who stayed and went not away,” is the name of
Roger Williams. He did not know the meaning of fear and preferred to
defend his city rather than join the fugitives on the island. He had
not been able to turn aside the savage tide of fury and hate, but at
least he could stem it as far as possible. Though over seventy years
old, he accepted a commission as captain and faithfully drilled the
few defenders under his command. In addition, he started a subscription
list to pay for fortifying a house and building a second defence and
himself pledged the largest sum of all--ten pounds. And he was far from
being a rich man, too.
On March 29, 1676, the city was attacked by the Indians and twenty-nine
dwellings burned. The following tradition shows that even at this late
hour Roger Williams attempted to change the will of the savages.
Leaning on his staff, he went to the heights at the north of the town
to meet them and reason with them as he had done so many times in the
past.
“Massachusetts,” said he, “can raise thousands of men at this moment,
and if you kill them, the King of England will supply their places as
fast as they fall.”
“Well,” answered one of the chieftains, “let them come. We are ready
for them. But as for you, Brother Williams, you are a good man. You
have been kind to us many years. Not a hair of your head shall be
touched.”
Quaker Rhode Island at last woke up and paid some attention to the
question of defence. It was all very well to hold theories about the
wickedness of war, but these ideas did not insure safety for one’s
family or keep the natives at bay. The colony records show that closely
following the attack upon Providence, a boat patrol was organized, a
garrison provided, and ammunition ordered. Care was taken that the
duties of the commander in charge should not interfere with “Captain
Williams’ power in the exercise of the train band.”
Canonchet was captured in April. He was surprised by some Connecticut
men and friendly Indian allies, and, in attempting to escape by wading
a river, slipped and fell an easy prey to a waiting Pequot on the
opposite bank. He was taken captive to Connecticut. As his father
Miantonomo had lost his life at the hands of Uncas, so now the son owed
his death to Uncas’ son. In many ways the earlier tragedy was enacted
over again. Canonchet showed the same disdainful pride that Miantonomo
had displayed. In answer to an Englishman who questioned him, he
replied scornfully, “You much child! No understand matters of war! Let
your brother or chief come. Him I will answer!” Being told that he must
die, he said calmly, “I like it well; I shall die before my heart is
soft, or I have said anything unworthy of myself.”
The tide had turned. It needed now but a final struggle to convince the
natives they were fighting against hopeless odds. Philip’s wife and son
were taken captive in the summer. Soon afterwards, a decisive battle
took place near Mount Hope on August 12th. Philip, betrayed by one of
his men, was killed. This ended the war.
The citizens of Providence came back to their partly burned town and
took up their daily duties once more, but with a greater sense of
security. Providence, son of Roger Williams, took his mother home from
Newport in a sloop that belonged to him.
The Wampanoags were nearly exterminated, while scarcely a hundred
Narragansetts survived. Captives were sold into slavery, either at home
or abroad. With this fate in store, Philip’s young son of nine years
was shipped to Bermuda.
The buying and selling of Indians was allowed even within the borders
of liberal Rhode Island. The people of that day were not so enlightened
as their descendants of a later age and saw no wrong in such a
proceeding. Then, too, they doubtless looked upon the subjection of the
red men as a means of safety. Yet this colony was far more humane than
her neighbors. The inhabitants passed a law prohibiting Indian slavery
for life and those unfortunate warriors who were held as bondmen served
a limited term of years only.