Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISH COLONIAL LITERATURE
came last. It should seeme their desire was to come upon ye enemie sudenly, &
undiscovered. Ther was a barke of this place, newly put in ther, which was come
from Conightecutte, who did incourage them to lay hold of ye Indeans forwardnes,
and to shew as great forwardnes as they, for it would incorage them, and expedition
might prove to their great advantage. So they went on, and so ordered their march,
as the Indeans brought them to a forte of ye enimies (in which most of their cheefe
men were) before day. They approached ye same with great silence, and surrounded
it both with English & Indeans, that they might not breake out; and so assualted
them with great courage, shooting amongst them, and entered ye forte with all
speed; and those yt rst entered found sharp resistance from the enimie, who both
shott at & grapled with them; others rane into their howses, & brought out re, and
sett them on re, which soone tooke in their matts, &, standing close togeather,
with ye wind, all was quickly on a ame, and therby more were burnte to death
then was otherwise slain; it burnte their bowstrings, and made them unservisable.
Those yt scaped ye re were slaine with ye sword; some hewed to peeces, others
rune throw with their rapiers, so as they were quickly dispatchte, and very few
escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400. at this time. It was a
fearfull sight to see them thus frying in ye fyer, and ye streams of blood quenching
ye same, and horrible was ye stinck & sente ther of; but ye victory seemed a sweete
sacrice, and they gave the prays therof to God, who had wrought so wonderfuly
for them, thus to inclose their enimise in their hands, and give them so speedy a
victory over so proud & insulting an enimie. The Narigansett Indeans, all this while,
stood round aboute, but aloofe from all danger, and left ye whole execution to ye
English, exept it were ye stoping of any yt broke away, insulting over their enimies
in this their ruine & miserie, when they saw them dancing in ye ames, calling
them by a word in their owne language, signing, O brave Pequents! which they
used familierly among them selves in their own prayes, in songs of triumph after
their victories. After this servis was thus happily accomplished, they marcht to the
water side, wher they mett with some of their vesells, by which they had refreishing
with victualls & other necessaries. But in their march ye rest of ye Pequents drew
into a body, and acoasted them, thinking to have some advantage against them
by reason of a neck of land; but when they saw the English prepare for them,
they kept a loofe, so as they neither did hurt, nor could receive any. After their
refreishing & repair to geather for further counsell & directions, they resolved to
pursue their victory, and follow ye warr against ye rest, but ye Narigansett Indeans
most of them forsooke them, and such of them as they had with them for guids, or
otherwise, they found them very could and backward in ye bussines, ether out of
envie, or yt they saw ye English would make more prote of ye victorie then they
were willing they should, or els deprive them of such advantage as them selves
desired by having them become tributaries unto them, or ye like.
For ye rest of this bussines, I shall only relate ye same as it is in a leter which
came from Mr. Winthrop to ye Govr hear, as followeth.
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