I was in Rhode Island in 2004 and we saw a historical marker at place not to far from Newport called Smith's Castle that claimed to be the mass grave of 40 colonial militiamen killed in the Battle of Great Swamp in 1676. While I tend to be a little skeptical of that claim, at least that they had the marker in anything approaching the right place, it did give you a feeling of wow, old, that you don't get much in the Midwest.
The 'castle' is apparently a pretty interesting museum, including of Rhode Island slavery and Roger Williams, but it was closed the day we went there. We had a lying guidebook on that trip.
Yeah, the Indians came shockingly close to wiping the Puritans off the map. Who knows if there is really a grave there but that 40 people were killed is not surprising at all.
Yes they did. I looked back at "Warpaths" by Ian Steele, which is a really good book about colonial military history. He's got a segment on the Wampanoags and the war.
The Indians won every major battle and then just kind of fell apart. Mainly, they ran out of gunpowder, according to Steele, and many weren't ready or willing to fight a year round war to the death.
I don't doubt the 40 either, Steele has more than that being killed on the colonial side at the Battle of Great Swamp. The marker seemed a bit close to the building for a mass grave. Maybe they were afraid to go out from under the guns due to Narraganesetts pursuing the army. The battle was the Iraq invasion of the 1670s, where some colonial leaders decided to attack the neutral Narragansetts in order to take their land on pretext of some of Phillip's allies being sheltered by them. The attack didn't go so well, as the Narragansetts had a strong, prepared positions on islands in the swamp and enough firepower to defend them.
I was in Rhode Island in 2004 and we saw a historical marker at place not to far from Newport called Smith's Castle that claimed to be the mass grave of 40 colonial militiamen killed in the Battle of Great Swamp in 1676. While I tend to be a little skeptical of that claim, at least that they had the marker in anything approaching the right place, it did give you a feeling of wow, old, that you don't get much in the Midwest.
ReplyDeleteThe 'castle' is apparently a pretty interesting museum, including of Rhode Island slavery and Roger Williams, but it was closed the day we went there. We had a lying guidebook on that trip.
Yeah, the Indians came shockingly close to wiping the Puritans off the map. Who knows if there is really a grave there but that 40 people were killed is not surprising at all.
ReplyDeleteYes they did. I looked back at "Warpaths" by Ian Steele, which is a really good book about colonial military history. He's got a segment on the Wampanoags and the war.
ReplyDeleteThe Indians won every major battle and then just kind of fell apart. Mainly, they ran out of gunpowder, according to Steele, and many weren't ready or willing to fight a year round war to the death.
I don't doubt the 40 either, Steele has more than that being killed on the colonial side at the Battle of Great Swamp. The marker seemed a bit close to the building for a mass grave. Maybe they were afraid to go out from under the guns due to Narraganesetts pursuing the army. The battle was the Iraq invasion of the 1670s, where some colonial leaders decided to attack the neutral Narragansetts in order to take their land on pretext of some of Phillip's allies being sheltered by them. The attack didn't go so well, as the Narragansetts had a strong, prepared positions on islands in the swamp and enough firepower to defend them.