Immediately after the attack, an army led by
Benjamin Church marches from Plymouth to the
Mount Hope Peninsula, where the Wampanoag
leader Metacom lives. Metacom (known to the
English as King Philip) manages to escape and ral-
lies other tribes to join the growing uprising. The
rebellion quickly spreads throughout the region,
especially after colonial troops begin attacking Indi-
ans formerly friendly to the English.
July
The Virginia militia attacks the Nanticoke
and Susquehannock.
Several Nanticoke steal hogs from the farm of
Thomas Mathew, a Virginia planter who, the In-
dians maintain, refused to pay a debt to them.
Neighboring whites seize the thieves and kill at least
one of them. To avenge his death, the Nanticoke
murder Mathew’s overseer. Virginia authorities re-
spond by sending the militia into the villages of not
only the Nanticoke but also the Susquehannock,
who had formerly had friendly relations with the
colonists.
September
Colonists slaughter Susquehannock
leaders.
When the government of Virginia will not make
reparations for the deaths of 14 Susquehannock
murdered by colonists several months earlier
(see entry for JULY 1675), tribe members begin
raiding the colonists’ settlements. In revenge, a
thousand-man militia surrounds a Susquehan-
nock village on the Potomac River and calls its
leaders to a meeting to discuss a peace. When five
leaders emerge, the militiamen murder them. The
brutal act sparks the short-lived Susquehannock
War, during which the tribe’s warriors will launch
a series of retaliatory attacks on nearby white set-
tlements. The violence increases tension between
colonists and Indians, which will explode the fol-
lowing year in Bacon’s Rebellion (see entry for
SPRING 1676).
December 18The English battle the Narragansett in the
Great Swamp Fight.
Led by Benjamin Church, approximately 1,000
soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
Plymouth travel east into Narragansett territory. As
the army advances, the Narragansett seek refuge in
an unfinished fort on the Great Swamp near pres-
ent-day Kingston, Rhode Island. The troops rush
into the garrison and kill more than 600 Narragan-
sett men, women, and children. The battle later
becomes known as the Great Swamp Fight. With
their tribe nearly exterminated by the horrendous
slaughter, the survivors, including Narragansett
leader Canonchet, eagerly join King Philip’s War
against the English (see entry for LATE JUNE 1675).1676February 10Mary Rowlandson is taken captive.
While fighting in King Philip’s War (see entry for
LATE JUNE 1675), Wampanoag and Narragansett
warriors capture Mary Rowlandson, the wife of
a Puritan minister, during an attack on the small
white settlement of Lancaster, Massachusetts. For
12 weeks she is held captive before the Indians re-
turn her in exchange for a ransom. Her account
of her experiences among the Indians will become
one of America’s first bestsellers (see entry for
1682).SpringIndian support for Metacom’s rebellion
dwindles.
Early in the year, Indian warriors in King Philip’s
War (see entry for LATE JUNE 1675) attack more
than 20 towns in Plymouth and Massachusetts. De-
spite these successes, the Indian uprising suffers a
series of setbacks. Its leader, Metacom, attempts to
persuade the powerful Mohawk to join his cause,