THE GREAT SWAMP FIGHT - RHODE ISLAND

The Great Swamp Fight – Rhode Island

“May the stars carry your sadness away, may the flowers fill your heart with beauty, may hope forever wipe away your tears, and above all, may silence make you strong”

Chief Dan George

Site of the Great Swamp Fight - Rhode Island - JDJ Photo

Numerous occurrences have played out over the centuries across what is now the United States that have resulted in the political geography we see today. Some like the battle of Gettysburg, or the California Gold Rush are well known, others, that were possibly just as consequential in their time and location are all but forgotten. Rhode Island is a fascinating, tiny State that has as much coastline as the rest of the eastern seaboard combined. While living in Massachusetts, I had to good fortune to visit this State several times and learn a little bit about its history. While doing some research before one such visit, I came across a pair of crossed sabers on an old map that was labeled “The Great Swamp Fight.” Apparently, this was a major battle in what is referred to as “King Philip’s War” where a Native American named Metacomet, referred to as King Philip by the English, sought to expel all of the English from New England. It is interesting to note that Metacomet was the son of Massasoit, the Indian Chief who was in great part responsible for the survival of the Plymouth Colony decades earlier when he and his band helped the pilgrims survive the first winter. King Philip was the Chief Sachem of the Wampanoag tribe. Over the years he had become bitter by the changes that were occurring in his lands due to European settlement. He was also upset by the praying Indians who in his view had forsaken their own ways and customs and accepted European ways. Over 50 years had passed in Shakey peace between the English settlers and the Native American tribes until an Indian man named Sassamon, a convert to Christianity who had been educated at Harvard, was murdered and the blame was laid on 3

Creepy access road to the Great Swamp Fight - JDJ Photo

Indians who were subsequently hung. This act enraged Metacomet and thousands of other Indians and kicked of what would be known as King Philips war. This was a brutal and savage war for supremacy in the new world that would result in 17 towns being burned, over 2500 English civilians and 600 English soldiers being killed – at the time, these numbers represented about 30% of the English population which made this war the deadliest conflict per capita in American History. The Native American losses are estimated to be double that of the English, many of them dying in direct combat or through displacement and starvation. The result of this conflict was the destruction of the Indian society and culture in the north east. During the war, King Philip sought to unite all the separate tribes against the invaders. The largest tribe in the area was the Narragansett tribe that inhabited much of present-day Rhode Island. The Narragansett were the Indians who befriended Roger Williams and helped him survive the winter after he was cast out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony due to religious intolerance. The Narragansett also deeded Williams the land for the settlement of Providence, Rhode Island. This tribe tried to stay neutral but Josiah Winslow, the Harvard educated son of Mayflower pilgrim Edward

Water still covers much of the terrain around the site of the Great Swamp Fight - JDJ Photo

Winslow, believed that the Narragansett were harboring and supporting the Wampanoag who were responsible for numerous atrocities. His father, Edward Winslow always treated the Indians honorably and believed the pilgrims needed their support. Josiah, however, saw the Indians as an impediment to progress. To make matters worse, Josiah and King Philip were bitter enemies because King Philip believed that Josiah Wilson had murdered his brother Alexander. As the conflict exploded across the New England countryside, the Narragansett sided with King Philip and the other tribes revolting against the English. They believed this would be a struggle for their survival, culture, lands, and everything they knew. Unfortunately for the Wampanoag, Narragansett and other tribes, Josiah Winslow was made General in Chief of all the United Colonies military forces and he quickly planned to deliver a decisive blow to the Native American’s center of power, the large Narragansett fort in the swamps of Rhode Island.  On 19 December 1675, 100 years before the Colonies war for Independence, Josiah Winslow led a force of 1,000 militia from Plymouth, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, and 150 Pequot and Mohegan Indians against the Narragansett Fort. The Narragansett fort covered 5 acres on a raised piece of ground in the center of a swamp, southeast of present-day West Kingston, Rhode Island. This fort contained dwellings and winter stores for several thousand Indians. Under normal conditions, it would be nearly impossible for an army to approach this fort because of the sometimes waist deep swamps surrounding it for several miles. However, because of an unseasonably cold fall, the swamp had frozen over hard which made it possible to cross over to the fort. A traitor, known as Indian Peter, led Winslow and his men through the icy swamp to the location of the Indian Fort. Winslow gave the order to attack and a savage battle exploded in the swamp. The Indians, though surprised, fought fiercely but the fort was soon breached and over powered. In the assault Winslow’s force lost 70 men, many of them officers, with 150 more being injured. Some estimates put the Indian losses as high as 700 combatants killed in the fight. Once the fort was breached Winslow gave the order to fire the dwellings and store houses. To get an idea of how vicious this whole conflict was, one witness to the battle, James Warren stated that nearly 400 non-combatants were killed, mostly by fire.  The Indians who were able to escape the fort were driven out onto the ice of the swamp with no food and most of them perished from exposure. The Great Swamp Fight was just one of dozens of separate battles that raged throughout New England from 1675-1676. The result of King Philips war was the utter and complete destruction of the Algonquin tribe’s communities, culture, and way of life in the north east. After learning about all of this, I had to go and visit this place. I drove 29 miles south out of

Another view of the Great Swamp Fight memorial - JDJ Photo

Providence on Rte. 4 and then Rte. 2 down to the West Kingston area. It was a dreary January day – gloomy and overcast with the threat of snow. I had to go down a few wrong roads until I finally found the right one which was a wet, two track dirt road through some spooky looking woods that had trees leaning in from both sides. I drove down the road for a few miles winding this way and that and then up ahead I saw the ghostly monument appear from a break in the trees. I parked my car, got out and was immediately hit by the brutal cold. If you have ever been on the east coast, near the water in the winter time, you will understand the biting cold that cuts through jackets and gloves. Very different from the dry cold of the western deserts. I can’t imagine the suffering that the Narragansett went through just to live in this area. Being driven out on the ice without provisions is a horrible thing to think about. A few flakes of snow were blowing about and the sky was grey. Out in the woods and off to the side of the road near the monument, the ground was lower and the deep pools that the trees of the swamp rise out

Clear ice covers the swamp in the same way it likely did during the fight. Survivors fleeing the fort would have been driven out onto this ice where most perished - JDJ Photo

of, were frozen solid. The base of many of these trees was covered with bright green moss. There was clear ice in places, almost like glass, where you could see the leaves on the bottom of the swamp, and in other places light snow covered the ice like wind blown dust. There was a melancholy feel to the old road and the area around the monument. It was totally quiet at the monument as the snow fell, my fingers froze while I took a few pictures. The monument is a plain rough granite shaft that is broke off at an angle on top - about 20 feet high. Around the column are 4 square granite blocks with each one

Name of each Colony that participated in the fight is inscribed on a large stone arrayed around the central monument column - JDJ Photo

having a name of a colony whose militia participated in the fight. An old marker nearby reads “Attacked within their fort upon this island the Narragansett Indians made their last stand in King Philips war and were crushed by the United forces of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Plymouth Colonies in the Great Swamp Fight – Sunday, 19 December 1675”. Another faded marker read “In memory of MAJ Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, Massachusetts who commanded the Massachusetts forces and led the victorious storming column at the Great Swamp Fight.” It struck me as odd and saddening that some of the heroes of the militia are remembered in old journals and crumbling stone monuments but nothing other than the cold wind through the sea pines, is seemingly remembered about the Algonquin tribes who once lived in these areas. If you asked a resident of Rhode Island today, I would guess that not one in ten knows about this place, The Great Swamp Fight, or what the Narragansett name means on the can of beer that they enjoy on the weekend out in the bay. In fairness, I did not know either until I did some digging. There are so many layers to the history of our Country. Next time you travel to a new place, pick a spot on the map, and go check it out. You never know what you may discover.

Dense, impenetrable woods surround the site of the old fort in the middle of the Swamp 
JDJ Photo