Nine
Men's Misery
By
the early spring of 1676, King Philip's war had been raging
for nearly a year and Native Americans recently had attacked
Warwick and Providence as well as villages close to Boston.
The colonial authorities dispatched troops to find and destroy
the these raiders. Under the command of Captain Michael Pierce,
a group composed of approximately 63 English troops and 20 friendly
Wampanoags from Cape Cod (said to be Christians) set out from
Rehoboth Village (now Rumford) to destroy a raiding party reported
to have been active near Attleboro. On Sunday morning, March
23rd, Pierce's force encountered a small group of Indians at
a point on the Blackstone River near the present site of Central
Falls. The plan of Canonchet, the Narragansett's chief sachem,
was to draw the colonials into the ravine, attack them from
the hills, then cut off their retreat by quickly moving a strong
force to their rear. As a decoy, a few Indians showed themselves
rambling in the woods as if wounded. Pierce ordered his men
to pursue them, but upon reaching the middle of the fording
place above the falls he found that he had been baited into
an ambush. Greatly outnumbered, Pierce ordered his small company
into a ring and prepared to make a stand. He also dispatched
a messenger to Rehoboth Village requesting help. The colonials
stood their ground, with ever-thinning ranks, for about two
hours when, with perhaps twenty colonials still standing, it
became clear that further resistance was futile. They broke
ranks and ran, every man for himself. Three or four Englishmen
managed to escape, but nine were taken captive and led to the
spot in Cumberland now called "Nine Men's Misery." There, according
to tradition, "the captives were seated upon a rock, a fire
lighted, and the war dance preparatory to the torture was begun.
The chronicles say that, differing among themselves as to the
mode of torture, the Indians dispatched their prisoners with
the tomahawk. But, of what happened at Nine Men's Misery there
is no real evidence." Arriving too late, a relief force found
and buried the bodies of the nine. A few days later, Canonchet
was captured and executed.
Text © Dr. Michael
Bell |