Rhode Island and King Philips War
Rhode Island and King Philips War
During the 17th century a war erupted in colonial America that was fought throughout Rhode Island. King Philips War, named after the Native American called Metacom who was referred to by colonists as Philip, saw fierce fighting between Native Americans and the settlers in Rhode Island. King Philips war was not isolated to Rhode Island, and battles were fought in other settled areas of America. But this war was the final struggle fought by the Native Indians of Rhode Island. When the war had ended the various tribes that lived in Rhode Island had to relinquish any power they once held in the area over to the British.
The build-up to war
The outbreak of war has been attributed to both long term and short term causes. In the long term, relations between colonist and native Indians became increasingly strained over time because of the constant increase of settlers arriving in the Rhode Island area. This meant that resources became less abundant and disputes over land began to flare up. Another long term reason for the conflict was the foreign diseases like smallpox, typhoid, and measles that spread among the Native American tribes as quickly became pandemics.
But it was the short term causes that really sparked the beginning of the war. It is thought there are three main sparks to why the war broke out at this time, one being the suspicious death of Metacom’s brother, Wamsutta. In 1662 Wamsutta was visiting governor Josiah Winslow for peaceful negotiations, but shortly after he left the town he collapsed and perished. The circumstances were strange and Metacom was suspicious about why his brother died.
Good relations between British colonists and Native Americans dwindled after this incident, and resulted in underhand tactics by British settlers trying to obtain land. Colonists would ply the local chiefs with alcohol so that they could get them to sign land sale papers, which was illegal and caused much friction between the two groups. Behaving like unscrupulous lorry insurance salesmen, the colonists refused to stop doing this when asked by the local natives, and soon the stage was set for battle to commence.
Retaliation from both sides
The final straw was when a Native American called John Sassamon, who had converted to Christianity and acted as a translator for Metacom, secretly told officials from the Plymouth Colony that plans to attack colonial settlements were being made by King Philip. Sassamon was murdered for his betrayal shortly after news broke out, supposedly by a few men from the Wampanoag tribe loyal to King Philip.
This lead to three Wampanoag being arrested by Plymouth Colony officials, who were put in trial for murder and subsequently hanged on the 8th of June 1675. Less than two weeks later, a raiding party from the Pokanoket tribe lay siege to the small settlement of Swansea, and destroyed it within five days.
The reprisal to this attack was swift, and on the 28th of June a military force was sent to a Wampanoag town located at Mount Hope, which lay on the site of modern-day Bristol in Rhode Island. The town was completely destroyed and the stage was set for all-out war between Native Indian tribes and Colonists.
King Philips War begins
Skirmishes spread between Native American tribes and Colonists throughout the summer of 1675, and on the 9th of September the New England Confederation officially declared war on the Native Americans. Battles took place in both Massachusetts and Connecticut over the next couple of months, and on the 2nd of November Josiah Winslow led a force into Rhode Island to attack the Native Americans living there. They burned several Native American towns as they advanced through the state, but local natives had already retreated to a fort located at modern-day South Kingstown. The battle that commenced here is remembered as the Great Swamp Fight. The fort was burnt down and most of the Narragansett tribe’s winter stores were destroyed.
Colonists on the run in Rhode Island
The war continued and the Native Americans gained the upper hand in spring 1676, successfully raiding settlements deep into the colonist’s territory. It was reported that nine colonists were tortured and killed after being captured in Cumberland, Rhode Island. A metal plaque has been placed in the area the men are thought to have been buried, and is still in place today.
Colonists in Rhode Island left the area and moved to larger, more secure settlements. On the 29th of March 1676 the capital of Rhode Island, Providence, was burned to the ground by Native Americans, although all settlers had already fled. For some time after this the only settlements inhabited by settlers were Newport and Portsmouth.
The Defeat of King Philip
The war waged on throughout the spring and summer of 1676 and slowly the Colonists gained the upper hand, as both sides became determined to completely eradicate the other. The Native Americans were dwindling in numbers against a larger colonial force, which resulted in many native Indians surrendering to the colonial militias roaming through Rhode Island.
King Philip returned to a place called Assowamset Swamp, close to Mount Hope. It was here that the war started and this was the place it would end. Raiding parties of colonists and Native Americans swept through the area and eventually hunted King Philip down. On the 12th of August 1676 King Philip was shot and killed, the later beheaded, drawn and quartered. This head was put on display in Plymouth for the next twenty years, and this event marked the end of the war in Rhode Island.
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