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

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situation of affairs in the colonies at the beginning of February,
1675—6, was somewhat as follows : The summer and autumn campaigns
in the west had not made any material gain for the English except
in experience ; the Narragansett campaign had resulted in driving
that tribe and the Mount Hope Indians to the north and west ; their
women, children and old people, that survived the Fort fight, were
scattered about amongst the various tribes nearest them ; Philip and
his fighting men were thus left free to range up and down, overawing
the smaller tribes, inciting the stronger to hostility against the
colonies ; his agents and friends were active in all the tribes
himself with a body of his men had retired as far as the woods
above Albany, where they were supplied with abundance of arms
and ammunition by the Dutch ; as a wanderer and outlaw he had
nothing further to lose and everything to gain by the war ; the young
men of the tribes looked upon him as a great leader, and were eager
large bodies of Indians were drawn together in vari-
to follow him ;
ous places ; most of the Nipmucks, with some Narragansetts, were
encamped at Wenimesset (now New Braintree) ; many others from
different tribes had gathered about Mount Wachuset ; another large
encampment was at Squakeag (Northfield) and beyond, whither
many of the tribes about Springfield and Hadley had withdrawn.
And all these made common cause with Philip, and were in an attitude
of warfare. Thus Philip, at bay, and with nearly the whole
force of the New England tribes in active sympathy with him, was
far more dangerous than at Mount Hope. The English, on the
other hand, were weary of the war which they had carried on for
seven months, at immense expense of means and men, without apparent
gain. The people in the frontier towns were mostly withdrawn
into garrisons, their homes broken up, farms laid waste, and they
living in constant dread of the lurking enemy. Military skill and
bravery could avail but little against the tactics of a skulking foe,
who came when and where least expected, nearly always striking
those least prepared, applying the torch, shooting from the safe co-
vert of the woods, and, before effective resistance could be offered,
vanishing again to the forests. The Indians were intimately
acquainted with the habits and plans of the colonists and knew just
when to strike and where, while the English knew nothing of their
movements except from the friendly Indians, 65 whom they mostly
distrusted.
Such was the posture of affairs in February, 1675-6, when Philip
was preparing to strike an effectual blow against the colonies. On
65 The English had many of these friendly Indians acting as spies and scouts, who circulated
quite freely among Philip's allies, and lirouglit intelligence of their plans; but their
reports were often received with distrust, and the Council was slow to act upon them, and
in many cases their neglect was followed by disaster. One of these spies, James Quannapohit,
alias Rumneymarsh, after visiting the Nipmucks at Wenimesset, near Brookhcld,
brought word to Boston on January 24th, of the intended attack upon Lancaster and other
towns, but too little heed was paid to his warning, and so these places were one by one attacked,
and several destroyed.
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