DECEMBER 19:

December 19, 1675:  Narragansetts under Chief Canonchet battle with Plymouth Governor Josiah Winslow with 970 men from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth. Statistics of the fight are: colonists lose 70-80 men, 150 wounded, Indians lose 600 dead, half of them warriors.
 
 
 

BACKGROUND:
 

From one of Lee Sultzman's many magnificently detailed tribal histories, this one, on the Narrangansett, at http://www.dickshovel.com/Narra.html
 

Threatened with war by the English in 1654, the Narragansett conquest of the Metoac was incomplete. Canonicus died in 1647 and was succeeded by his grandson Canonchet (Nanuntemo). Despite their bad experiences with the Puritan colonists, the Narragansett still loved and trusted Roger Williams. Canonicus had sold him additional land during 1643, and this friendship continued under Canonchet.

In the years after the death of the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit in 1661, relations between the New England colonists and tribes took a dangerous turn. Philip (Metacom) eventually succeeded as the grand sachem of the Wampanoag in 1662, but unlike his father, he saw clearly that the English were taking over everything. Not only the land, but their missionaries were converting his people to Christianity and undermining the traditional authority of the Wampanoag sachems. Other tribes shared these misgivings, and Philip found many ears willing to listen as he began to secretly organize an alliance in preparation for a general uprising. Unfortunately, his secret plans were not that much of a secret. A network of informers kept the English aware that something was about to happen. They just were not certain where or when. Philip was summoned several times to explain his actions and sign treaties of peace and friendship.

He explained, signed, and then left to resume the plotting. By 1674 Philip, over the strong objections of the aging Roger Williams, had convinced the Narragansett to join him. Canonchet, however, personally assured Williams that the Narragansett would not harm one hair on his head when war came ...a promise which was faithfully kept. By 1674 the colonists in New England outnumbered the natives two to one, and if there was to be any chance of success, Philip needed the Narragansett. However, he was forced to wait until they could accumulate enough guns and ammunition. It appears the uprising was planned originally for the summer of 1676, but the murder of John Sassamon, a Praying Indian spy, in January of 1675 forced his hand. Three Wampanoag were arrested, convicted, and hung, after which rumors flew that the English intended to arrest Philip. With Philip no longer able to restrain them, Wampanoag warriors attacked Swansea, Massachusetts in June and started the King Philip's War (1675-76).

The English immediately forced the Narragansett to sign another treaty agreeing to remain neutral. With war all around them, the Narragansett gathered together into a single, large fortified village in a swamp near Kingston, Rhode Island. Throughout the summer, Philip eluded the English soldiers and attacked settlements throughout New England. However, to protect his women and children, he had left them at the Narragansett fort. In the late fall of 1675, Philip returned and took most of his people with him to western Massachusetts. The English, however, considered this a violation of their treaty with the Narragansett, and in December, a 1,000-man colonial army with 150 Mohegan scouts arrived and laid siege to the Narragansett fort. After Canonchet refused demands to surrender the Wampanoag in his village and join the English against Philip, they attacked. Remembered as the Great Swamp Fight, the Narragansett were literally destroyed in this battle losing more than 600 warriors and 20 sachems. Canonchet, however, escaped and led a large group of Narragansett west to join Philip in western Massachusetts where they gave a good account of themselves for the remainder of the war.
 

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>From http://mimi.essortment.com/narragansettind_rios.htm
 

The Narragansett Indian tribe

The Narragansett Indians are a native people who lived on the Narragansett Bay and in western Rhode Island. At around the beginning of the 17th Century there were about 10,000 Narragansett people. Over the next hundred years, however, that number was to be cut to just 500. War with the British and disease were the killers. In just one battle in 1675, the Narragansett lost 20 % of their population.

The name Narragansett is actually derived from the word Nanhigganeuck which means 'people of the small point.' The language of the Narragansett is of Algonquin origin. They were an eastern woodland people. They lived in large wooden log houses, which were heavily fortified. Their subsistence came from the farming of corn, beans and squash. They also grew tobacco for smoking as well as medicinal use.They were also hunters and fishermen, as well as being expert users of the water. The Narragansetts were proficient swimmers as well as expert canoesmen.

During the winter period the Narragansett would travel inland to hunt. Winter quarters would consist of dwelllings made of animal skins and supported by rigid poles.

By the time of their first contact with Europeans around 1620, the Narragansett had established themselves as the dominant tribe in southern New England. They began trading with the Dutch from New York. They were wary of the British from the very start. In 1621 they prepared an attack on the colonists at Plymouth but - luckily for the British newcomers - were diverted by the presence of more immediate enemies. They were attacked by the Pequot people. A year later they were fighting the Mohawk. Once their enemies had been dealt with, the British had become a far more formidable enemy. Over the next few years the Narragansett and the British stayed at arm's length.

Two smallpox epidemics in the 1630's decimated the Narragansett. Then, in 1636, a European by the name of Roger Williams allied himself with the tribe. Williams believed that the Crown had no right to take away the land of the native peoples of America. Because of the influence of this man, however, the Narragansett were to ally themselves with the British against the Pequot and Niantic. After helping to decimate the Pequot the Narragansett were rewarded by being given 80 of them as slaves. The Mohegan's now poised themselves as the major enemy of the Narragansett. Mohegan Chief Uncas crushed the smaller Nipmuc and Mattabesic tribes and assumed a dangerous amount of power. The Narragansetts began to form alliances against the Mohegans. The other tribes, however, were diverted by an attack by the Dutch against a Wecquasgeek village. The Narragansett were left to face the Mohegans by themselves. Narragansett war chief Miontonimo led 900 warriors against the Mohegan capital at Shetucket. The Narragansett were getting the better of the fight until Miontonimo was captured. Without their leader the Narragansetts broke off the battle. Soon Miontonimo had been tomahawked to death by the brother of Mohegan Chief Uncas. With the death of their leader the resistance of the Narragansetts was broken. They signed a treaty to remain neutral during King Phillip's War. But when Phillip left his Wampanoag women and children in the Narragansett for protection for a time, the British considered this a treaty violation. 1000 Colonial troops laid siege to their village. The Narragansett refused to give up the Wampanoag women and children. The Narragansett survived the attack and subsequently left their fort to join forces with Philip. During a raid on the Colonists their new Chief Canonchet was captured and subsequently executed before a firing squad. The remaining Narragansett were now hunted down by the Colonists and their bloodthirsty Mohegan allies. Many women and children were captured and shipped to the West Indies to become slaves. Captured warriors were executed. The Narragansett, in fact lost 90 %

of their population through the course of this war.

Today the Narragansett have a reservation allotment of some 2,500 acres in Washington County Rhode Island. About 2,500 people live there. They are ruled under the traditional leadership of a Chief Sachem with a nine member tribal council. The people's livelihood today is derived from forestry, tourism, a gaming and entertainment center and a cable television station.
 

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>From http://www.bartelby.com/65/ki/KingPhil.html
 

King Philip's War

1675-76, the most devastating war between the colonists and the Native Americans in New England. The war is named for King Philip, the son of Massasoit and chief of the Wampanoag.  His Wampanoag name was Metacom, Metacomet, or Pometacom. Upon the death (1662) of his brother, Alexander (Wamsutta), whom the Native Americans suspected the English of murdering, Philip became sachem and maintained peace with the colonists for a number of years. Hostility eventually developed over the steady succession of land sales forced on the Native Americans by their growing dependence on English goods. Suspicious of Philip, the English colonists in 1671 questioned and fined him and demanded that the Wampanoag surrender their arms, which they did. In 1675 a Christian Native American who had been acting as an informer to the English was murdered, probably at Philip's instigation. Three Wampanoags were tried for the murder and executed. Incensed by this act, the Native Americans in June, 1675, made a sudden raid on the border settlement of Swansea. Other raids followed; towns were burned and many whites-men, women, and children-were slain. Unable to draw the Native Americans into a major battle, the colonists resorted to similar methods of warfare in retaliation and antagonized other tribes. The Wampanoag were joined by the Nipmuck and by the Narragansett (after the latter were attacked by the colonists), and soon all the New England colonies were involved in the war. Philip's cause began to decline after he made a long journey west in an unsuccessful attempt to secure aid from the Mohawk. In 1676 the Narragansett were completely defeated and their chief, Canonchet, was killed in April of that year; the Wampanoag and Nipmuck were gradually subdued. Philip's wife and son were captured, and he was killed (Aug., 1676) by a Native American in the service of Capt. Benjamin Church after his hiding place at Mt. Hope (Bristol, R.I.) was betrayed. His body was drawn and quartered and his head exposed on a pole in Plymouth. The war, which was extremely costly to the colonists in people and money, resulted in the virtual extermination of tribal Native American life in S New England and the disappearance of the fur trade. The New England Confederation then had the way completely clear for white settlement. 1
 

See G. M. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War (1891, 3d ed. 1906, repr. 1967); G. W. Ellis and J. E. Morris, King Philip's War (1906); J. T. Adams, The Founding of New England (1921, repr. 1963); D. E. Leach, Flintlock and Tomahawk (1958, repr. 1966); R. Bourne, The Red King's Rebellion (1990); J. Lepore, The Name of War (1998).