Soldiers in King Philip's war. Containing lists of the soldiers of ...

324
becoming the master of Mrs. Rowlandson by purchasing her from
her captor.
There are many proofs of the ability of Philip as a diplomat, in
planning and preparing for the war. He succeeded his brother as
the chief Sachem of the Wampanoags about 1662. This is not the
place to discuss the causes which led to the war. The passion of
the English for territory ; their confidence that God had opened up
America for the exclusive occupancy of Puritans and Pilgrims ;
their contempt for the Indians, and utter disregard of their rights ;
made war with them inevitable, sooner or later. The earlier circum-
stances of the war have been related in the course of this series.
Judged by all that can be gleaned from history, Philip seems to us,
not the terrible monster which our first historians painted him, but
a leader of consummate skill, in bringing together the unwieldy
and mostly unwilling forces, and pushing forward other bands of
other tribes to bear the brunt and dangers which his own plotting had
brought upon them. He was doubtless hurried into open hostilities
by the ill-advised action of his young warriors, long before even his
own tribe were prepared for the consequences of such rash action.
Thousands of acres of corn were hastily abandoned by his people in
their precipitate flight. The Wampanoags, with all related and
dependent bands, were overwhelmed by the unexpected forces sent
against them, and were only saved from utter destruction, partly by
the slow motion of the English troops under Capt. Henchman, but
mainly by the adroit and secret management of Philip in " wafting "
his whole active force over the water, leaving only one hundred of
their women and children, and escaping into the Nipmuck country.
There he succeeded in eluding his pursuers, disposing his non-fighting
people in various tribes, and, while holding a sufficient bodyguard
with himself to inspire respect and insure a hearing among
the various Northern tribes, he had some of his ablest men visiting
the more distant tribes, and everywhere persuading, bribing and
threatening the chiefs into co-operation ;
and before the end of September
he had practically all the Nipmucks, with the tribes of
Massachusetts from the Merrimac to the Connecticut, pledged and
already active in his service. But the impression from all known
testimony is, that loyalty to Philip was inspired by fear rather than
love or admiration. There is no proof known to me of any act of
personal daring on his part, and I have not found any real evidence
that he was personally engaged in any of the battles of the whole
war, or that he led, in person, any attack or raid or ambuscade.
The rumors of that day, and the statements of later historians that he
was present at certain fights, are not verified by evidence ; and
while there is little doubt that he directed and planned many of the
most bloody and destructive attacks upon the settlements, he seems
always to have kept at a safe distance from personal danger.
In December, 1675, Philip retired beyond the Connecticut, and