Great Swamp Fight

Great Swamp Massacre

A painting of the Great Swamp Fight.

Date	December 19, 1675
Location	South Kingstown, Rhode Island
Result	New England victory

Belligerents

New England Confederation
Pequot
Mohegan

Narragansett

Commanders and leaders

Governor Josiah Winslow (Commander-in-chief)
Major Samuel Appleton (Massachusetts commander)
Governor Robert Treat (Connecticut commander)
Major William Bradford (Plymouth commander)
Uncas (Mohegan Sachem)

Canonchet (Narragansett Sachem)

Strength

1,000 militia
150 warriors

1,000 warriors
1 fort

Casualties and losses

~70 killed
~150 wounded

~ 97 warriors killed, plus 300-1000 women, children and elderly
~300 captured
1 fort destroyed

The Great Swamp Fight or the Great Swamp Massacre was a crucial battle fought during King Philip's War between colonial militia of New England and the Narragansett tribe in December 1675. It was fought near the villages of Kingston and West Kingston in present-day South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The combined force of the New England militia, including 150 Pequots, inflicted a huge number of Narragansett casualties, including many hundred women and children. The battle has been described as "one of the most brutal and lopsided military encounters in all of New England's history." Since the 1930s, Narragansett and Wampanoag people commemorate the battle annually, in a ceremony initiated by Narragansett-Wampanoag scholar Princess Red Wing.

Metacomet, known to the colonists as King Philip, assumed leadership of the Pokanoket Indians, who had helped the original pilgrim settlers survive, after the death of his brother. Eventually, faced with diminishing resources as English settlements expanded, Philip began laying plans to attack the English settlers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. He slowly built a confederation of neighboring Indian tribes. He also gathered muskets and gunpowder for the eventual attack, but only in small numbers in order that the English would not be alarmed.

In King Philip's War, the Native Americans wanted to regain lands from English control. They waged successful attacks on settlements in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but Rhode Island was spared at the beginning as the Narragansett remained officially neutral. The war actually began after several Wampanoag men killed some English-owned cattle near their tribal headquarters in what is now Bristol, Rhode Island. English livestock was always a source of friction as cattle repeatedly trampled Indian corn. The natives first laid an ambush for soldiers led by Captains Hutchinson and Wheeler. Eight soldiers were killed in the trap. The rest of the company barely made it back to the garrison at Brookfield. In October, hostile Indians struck again with raids on the towns of Hatfield, Northampton and Springfield where 30 houses were burned. As winter set in, the attacks diminished.

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Wikipedia