|King Phillip image by Paul Revere.jpg|
We have recently passed the anniversary of the December 19, 1675 Great Swamp Fight. Earlier that year the Wampanoag tribe, led by King Phillip, rose up against enc
|King Phillip image by Paul Revere.jpg|
We have recently passed the anniversary of the December 19, 1675 Great Swamp Fight. Earlier that year the Wampanoag tribe, led by King Phillip, rose up against encroaching English settlers in Massachusetts. By the end of the year the battle was spreading, and it was feared that the Rhode Island’s powerful Narragansett tribe would join the Wampanoags. Most of the settlers on the west side of Narragansett Bay had already taken refuge on Rhode Island.
On December 16th a combined army from Massachusetts and Plymouth met at Wickford, Rhode Island. They planned to use Jireh Bull's garrison house at Pettequamscutt to rendezvous with a force from Connnecticut, and their Mohegan and Pequot allies. From there they would attack the Narragansetts’ principal fort in the Great Swamp. Then word came that Bull's garrison had been destroyed by the Narragansetts, and about 18 English settlers were killed there.
|King Phillip's War.jpg|
It is said that James Eldred, about 15 years old, was one of two people who survived the massacre at Bull's Garrison. After escaping from the house, Eldred was chased along the stream by an Indian who came so close as to throw his tomahawk, which missed. The Indian grappled with James and drew his knife. Eldred was unarmed, but got the knife and killed his attacker. He heard another Indian approaching in the dark and fled, pursued closely. Eldred hid among rocks by the stream until pursuit passed. The stream is still called Indian Run.
Harking back to the Great Swamp Fight, which happened on December 19th, armies from Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut met at Pettequamscutt. They marched 15 miles through deep snow into the Great Swamp, to the Narragansett nation's winter village. It was surrounded by several yards of downed trees and brush. The English army broke in, killed hundreds of the Narragansett defenders and burned the village to drive away the survivors. 20 Englishmen died in the battle, and perhaps another 60 succumbed later. Some from their wounds, others from feet and hands frozen as the troopers