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King Philip's War (New England, 1675–1678)

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  • King Philip's War (New England, 1675–1678)

    (introduction inserted by [painshill])

    King Philip’s War (1675–78)
    (also known as the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War and Metacom's Rebellion)


    King Philip's War was a widespread uprising of the Wampanoag Indians led by the war chief Metacomet against the English colonists and their Native American allies in what is now New England. Metacomet asked to be given an English name in 1660 and was given the name Philip, later being known to the English colonists as “King Philip”.
    The war was largely provoked by the failure of treaties and promises from the English to protect Wampanoag lands from Puritan expansion or incursion by the tribe’s traditional enemies. Major Benjamin Church’s forces hunted down and killed King Philip on 12th August 1676 near Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island but the war continued in northern New England until a treaty was signed in April 1678.

    King Philip's head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to Fort Plymouth, where it remained for more than two decades; his body was quartered and hung in trees; and the firer of the fatal shot was given Philip’s severed right hand as a reward.

    Wikipedia entry here:


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

    King's Philip's War(1675-78), in terms of per capita, was the bloodiest war in American history. Fifty-Two New England towns were attacked and burned. This is an 1865 reprint of Benjamin Church's history. He was the most famous "Indian hunter" of his day, using the natives own battle techniques of guerrilla style warfare rather then the English battle line strategy. In addition to King Philip's War, Church went on to lead native style war parties during the first two French and Indian Wars.

    Rhode Island

  • #2
    The Second Battle of Nipsachuck
    Identifying and Documenting a 17th Century Battlefield


    The Second Battle of Nipsachuck was one of the final engagements of King Philip's War in southern New England. It took place in northern Rhode Island in July, 1676, and resulted in the death or capture of at least 170 Narragansett. This is the remarkable story of how this battle field was located and documented in recent years.

    It's significance can be briefly summarized in this brief paragraph from the report:

    "One of the important contributions of the Nipsachuck battlefield survey was the methods developed by battlefield staff to reconstruct a seventeenth century battlefield, a rare accomplishment. Douglas Scott’s pioneering approach to battlefield archeology developed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn was adapted to the seventeenth century battlefield at Nipsachuck, eventually resulting in a dynamic reconstruction."



    From the above report:


    Documentation Plan

    "The Nipsachuck battlefield survey focused on identifying and documenting the location(s) and boundaries(s) of the movements, sites and actions associated with Second Battle of Nipsachuck. The battle began one hour after sunrise when a force of 300 Connecticut dragoons and 100 Pequot and Mohegan conducted a successful surprise attack on a Narragansett camp of at least 170 people. One hundred and twenty-five Narragansett (mostly women and children) were killed in the battle and 45 were reported captured. The battle was a well-planned and coordinated attack that can be broken into eight distinct phases or sequences: 1) the approach of the English dragoons and Pequot/Mohegan to Nipsachuck; 2) Allied Encampment; 3) Reconnoiter of the Cat Hill/Mattity Swamp area; 4) Allied Advance and Initial attack; 5) Envelopment of Narragansett camp/domestic areas; 6) Pursuit of the Narragansett into Mattity Swamp; 7) Encirclement of Mattity Swamp; and 8) Final Phase of the battle in Mattity Swamp.

    One of the important contributions of the Nipsachuck battlefield survey was the methods developed by battlefield staff to reconstruct a seventeenth century battlefield, a rare accomplishment. Douglas Scott’s pioneering approach to battlefield archeology developed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn was adapted to the seventeenth century battlefield at Nipsachuck, eventually resulting in a dynamic reconstruction.3

    There were four crucial factors in the ultimate success of the project. First, was the support and active participation of the Native American representatives from the Narragansett, Mohegan, Nipmuc, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pawcatuck Pequot, and Aquinah and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribes. Tribal representatives, and particularly representatives from the Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Office, would visit the battle and ceremonial areas regularly offering valuable insight and advice on the process of battlefield survey and reconstruction and in the identification of potentially significant ceremonial features and landscapes at Nipsachuck and Cat Hills. Second, the support of the landowners at Cat Hill and Nipsachuck made virtually the entire battlefield and ceremonial area accessible to battlefield archaeologists. Landowners also provided important information on the nature of land usage on their properties. Third, the participation and experience of members of the Yankee Territory Coinshooters (YTC) metal detecting club was crucial in discriminating and recovering potential battle-related artifacts from some of the most challenging landscapes ever encountered in battlefield archeology. The Nipsachuck battlefield contained thousands of eighteenth through twentieth century artifacts, often “hiding” battle-related objects from less experienced archeological crew members. The YTC members were tireless in their efforts to revise their methods, techniques, and technologies to the complexities of battlefield archeology on a modern landscape, and to train and mentor crew members.

    The Nipsachuck battlefield was particularly challenging because of the mineralized soils and rock that occurred throughout the area reducing the ability of some metal detectors (and less experienced crew) to discriminate between real artifacts and hot rocks. No less a challenge was conducting a metal detector survey within Mattity Swamp due to the presence of oxidized soils and bog iron. In some areas of the swamp, 1-2 feet of water overlay swamp muck that was 2-3 feet deep. The project got a significant “technological” boost in this respect when the Minelab Company loaned the MPMRC a Minelab GPX 4000. This state of the art technology (YTC employed some as well) was highly effective in the difficult conditions at the Nipsachuck Battlefield and outperformed all other technologies, serving as a check and balance to assess the effectiveness the other types of detectors and of the overall sampling strategy.

    Finally, the facilities of the Conservation Department of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, and particularly the expertise of Head Conservator Douglas Currie, were instrumental in identifying many of the battle-related artifacts recovered from Nipsachuck. Currie culled through dozens of images of potential battle-related ferrous objects brought in from the field, using radiography (X-Ray technology) to see through the accumulated oxides masking the object’s nature, form, and details. The final step in this process was the entire battlefield staff’s growing expertise during the ongoing process of the identification and analysis of late seventeenth century military and domestic material culture."
    Last edited by CMD; 10-01-2021, 09:02 PM.
    Rhode Island

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    • #3
      The Second Battle of Nipsachuck
      Identifying and Documenting a 17th Century Battlefield... continued


      Here, lead archaeologist for the Nipsachuck Battlefield Survey, Kevin McBrde, discusses the project. A big thank you to our member Olden for locating this lecture....

      Dr. Kevin McBride, Director of Research at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Co...
      Last edited by CMD; 01-18-2016, 08:21 AM.
      Rhode Island

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