History of the Warr With the Indians

8/3/2019 History of the Warr With the Indians

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Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln Year

A Brief History of the Warr with theIndians in New-England (1676): An

Online Electronic Text Edition

Increase Mather Paul Royster (editor)


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A

B R I E F H I S T O R Y O F T H E

VVARRWith the I N D I A N S in

N E VV-E N G L A N D.(From June 24, 1675. when the first English-man was mur-

dered by the Indians, toAugust12. 1676. when Philip, aliisMetacomet, the principal Author and Beginner

of the Warr, was slain.)Wherein the Grounds, Beginning, and Progress of the Warr,

is summarily expressed.TOGETHER W ITH A SER IOUS

E X H O R T A T I O Nto the Inhabitants of that Land,

ByI NCR E ASE MATHE R ,Teacher of a Church ofChrist, in Bostonin New-England.

Lev. 26. 25. I will bring a Sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of the Covenant.Psal. 107. 43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the

Loving-kindness of the Lord. Jer. 22. 15. Did not thy Father doe Judgment and Justice, and it was well with him ?

Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures,Quam qu sunt oculis commissa fidelibus. Horat.

Lege Historiam ne fias Historia. Cic.

B O S T O N , Printed and Sold by John Foster overagainst the Sign of the Dove. 1 6 7 6 .Title page of the first edition (Boston, 1676)


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T O T H E R E A D E R .

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Lthough I was not altogether negligent, innoting down such occurrences, respecting thepresent Warr with the Heathen in New-Eng-land, as came to my knowledge, in the time

of them: yet what I did that way was meerlyfor my own private use; nor had I the least thought of publish-ing any of myObservations, until such time as I read a Narrativeof this Warr, said to be written by a Merchant in Boston, whichit seems met with an Imprimaturat Londonin December last : theabounding mistakes therein caused me to think it necessary,that a true Historyof this affair should be published. Where-

fore I resolved (~) to methodize such scattered Observa-tionsas I had by me, so were the Horasubsecivof a few days im-

proved. Whilst I was doing this, there came to my hands an-other Narrativeof this Warr, written by a Quakerin Road-Island,who pretends to know the Truth of things; but that Narrativebeing fraught with worse things then meerMistakes, I was there-by quickned to expedite what I had in hand. I moved that some

other might have done it, but none presenting, I thought of hisSaying.Ab alio quovis hoc fieri mallem qum me, sed me tamen po-tius qum nemine. And I hope that in one thing, (though it maybe in little else) I have performed the part of an Historian, viz. inendeavouring to relate things truly and impartially, and doingthe best I could that I might not lead the Readerinto a Mistake.Historyis indeed in it self a profitable Study. Learned men knowthat Polybius, and the great Philosopher call it,

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cannot be long, before that faithful, and now aged Servant ofthe Lord rest from his Labours: sad will it be for the succeedingGeneration, if they shall suffer the work of Christ amongst the

Indians, to dye with him who began it. Sed meliora speramus.I shall add no more, but leave the success of this undertakingto him who alone can give it. And I earnestly desire the Prayersof every Godly Reader,

Increase Mather.

T

HAT the Heathen People amongst whom welive, and whose Land the Lord God of our Fa-thers hath given to us for a rightfull Possession,have at sundry times been plotting mischievousdevices against that part of the English Israel

which is seated in these goings down of the Sun, no man thatis an Inhabitant of any considerable standing, can be ignorant.Especially that there have been (nec injuri) jealousies concern-ing the NarragansetsandWompanoags, is notoriously known to allmen. And whereas they have been quiet untill the last year, thatmust be ascribed to the wonderfull Providence of God, who did

(as with Jacob of old, and after that with the Children of Israel)

A B R I E F

H I S T O R Y Of the

VV A R R E VVith the INDI A NS in

N E VV - E N G L A N D

T O T H E R E A D E R .8


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88 89P O S T S C R I P T .

taking up Armes, with evill intent against them, and thatdl l I b i d l ibl f f i hf l

ward us, to come to cast us out of thy Possession, which thou hast given usi h i G d il h j d h ? h hili

P O S T S C R I P T


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groundlessly; I being now deeply sensible of my unfaithful-ness and folly, do desire at this time solemnly to renew myCovenant with my ancient Friends, and my Fathers friends

above mentioned ; and doe desire this may testifie to theworld against me, if ever I shall again failin my faithfullnesstowards them (that I have now and at all times found so kind tome) or any other of the English Colonyes; and as a reall Pledgeof my true Intentions, for the future to be faithfull andfriendly, I doe freely ingage to resign up unto the Gov-ernment ofNew-Plymouth, all my English Armes to be kept

by them for their security, so long as they shall see reason.For true performance of the Premises I have hereunto setmy hand together with the rest of my Council.

In the Presence of The Mark of P.PhilipWilliam Davis. chief Sachem of Pocanoket.William Hudson. The Mark of Tavoser.

Thomas Brattle. The Mark of Capt. WisposkeThe Mark of VVoonkaponehuntThe Mark of Nimrod.

By all these things it is evident, that we may truly say ofPhilip,and the Indians, who have sought to dispossess us of the Land, which the Lord our God hath given to us, as sometimes Je-phthah, and the Children ofIsrael, said to the King ofAmmon, Ihave not sinned against thee, but thou dost me wrong to war against me ;the Lord the Judge, be Judge thisdaybetween the Children of Israel, andthe Children of Ammon. And as Iehoshaphatsaid, when the Heathenin those dayes, combined to destroy the Lords People ;And nowbehold the Children of Ammon, and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thouwouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of the Land of Egypt,but they turned from them, and destroyed them not, behold how they re-

to inherit, O our God wilt thou not judge them ? Even so, when Philipwas in the hands of the Englishin former years, & disarmed bythem, they could easily but would not destroy him and his men.

The Governours of that Colony have been as careful to preventinjuries to him as unto any others ; yea, they kept his Land notfrom him but for him, who otherwise would have sold himselfout of all ; and the Gospel was freely offered to him, and to hisSubjects, but they despised it : And now behold how they rewardus ! will not our God Judge them ? yea he hath and will do so.

F I N I S.


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94 N O T E S

79.14-15 turmatim . . . militandum] soldiers gathered troop by troop

Si l l di ] if ill i hi h i h


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79.22-23 Sic voles . . . loquendi.] if usage so wills it, which is the pow-er and control and law and rule of speaking. Horace,Ars Poetica,ll. 71-72.

89.29-90.1 I have not sinned . . . Ammon. ] Judges 11:27

90.3-8 And now behold . . . judge them ? ] 2 Chronicles 20:10-12

Bibliography

I. Contemporary published accounts of the warII. Contemporary accounts published laterIII. Modern scholarship on King Philips WarIV. Useful online resources on King Philips War V. On Increase Mather

I. Contemporary published accounts of the war

Anonymous. A Brief and True Narration of the Late Wars Risen in New-England. London, 1675.

. A Farther Brief and True Narration of the Late Wars Risen in New-England. London, 1676.

Anonymous. News from New-England, Being a True and Last Account of thePresent Bloody Wars. London, 1676.

Anonymous. A True Account of the Most Considerable Occurrences that Have

Hapned in the Warre between the English and the Indians in New-England,from the Fifth of May, 1676, to the Fourth of August last. London 1676.

William Hubbard. A Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England, from the First Planting thereof in the year 1607, to this PresentYear 1677, but Chiefly of the Late Troubles in the Two Last Years, 1675 and1676. Boston, 1677.

R[ichard] H[utchinson]. The Warr in New-England Visibly Ended.

London, 1677.Increase Mather.An Earnest Exhortation to the Inhabitants of New-England,

to Hearken to the Voice of God in his Late and Present Dispensations as EverThey Desire to Escape Another Judgement, Seven Times Greater than AnyThing Which as Yet Hath Been. Boston, 1676.

. A Relation of the Troubles Which Have Hapned in New-England, byReason of the Indians There. From the Year 1614 to the Year 1675. Wherein

the Frequent Conspiracyes of the Indians to Cutt off the English, and the


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98 B I B L I O G R A P H Y 99B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Richard Slotkin and James K. Folsom. So Dreadfull a Judgment: PuritanResponses to King Philips War, 16761677. Middletown, Connecticut,

KING PHILIPS WAR CLUB. http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/warclub.html


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R p K g p1978. [Accounts by Increase Mather, Benjamin Tompson, Thom-as Wheeler, Samuel Nowell, Mary Rowlandson, and BenjaminChurch]

Stephen Saunders Webb. 1676: The End of American Independence. NewYork, 1984.

Russell Bourne. The Red Kings Rebellion: Racial Politics in New England1675-1678.New York, 1990.

John Canup. Out of the Wilderness: The Emergence of American Identity inColonial New England. Middletown, Connecticut, 1990.

Kathleen J. Bragdon. Native People of Southern New England, 1500-1650.Norman, Oklahoma, 1996.

Jill Lepore. The Name of War: King Philips War and the Origins ofAmerican Identity, New York, 1998.

James D. Drake. King Philips War: Civil War in New England, 16751676.Amherst, Mass., 1999.

Eric B. Schultz and Michael Tougias. King Philips War : The History and

Legacy of Americas Forgotten Conflict. Woodstock, Vermont, 1999.Yasuhide Kawashima. Igniting King Philips War: the John Sassamon Murder

Trial. Lawrence, Kansas, 2001.

IV. Useful online references on King Philips War

King Philips War. http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/enquirer/king_philip.htm

Michael Tougias, King Philips War in New England(Americas FirstMajor Indian War). The History Place, http://www.historyplace.com/specials/kingphilip.htm

King Philips War. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Philips_War

Edward Randolphs Description of King Philips War (1685). http://

www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/45-ran.html

gy

V. On Increase Mather (1639-1723)

Kenneth B. Murdock. Increase Mather: The Foremost American Puritan.Cambridge, Mass., 1925.

Thomas James Holmes. Increase Mather: a Bibliography of his Works.Cleveland, 1931.

Robert Middlekauf. The Mathers: Three Generations of PuritanIntellectuals, 1596-1728.New York, 1971.

Mason I. Lowance. Increase Mather.New York, 1974.


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102 N O T E O N T H E T E X T 103 N O T E O N T H E T E X T

13.5 town own13.16 enemy, enemy.

S ldi S ldi

76.5 aud and76.22 Catastphe Catastrophe


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13.17 Souldie s Souldiers13.17 iu in15.8 troublenow troublenow

16.13 them them.17.2930 whis is which is19.31 Expressions Expressions19.33 already.: already:20.14 Aug 24 Aug. 2422.5 Capt, Capt.24.26 Grapes,, Grapes,25.1 extream extream

25.34 Indians Indians.27.8 they they they31.1 Sactuaryes Sanctuaryes34.26 hapned. hapned,34.29 Boston.. Boston.35.12 abont about36.17 Also Also36.27 thatit that it

37.67 deliverance deliverance.39.7 of of41.30 Malbery Malbery49.17 Expedition Expedition.49.22 .54.7 beentaken been taken54.18 Slaughtee, Slaughter,56.21 Mr Welds Mr Welds56.33 but but60.9 Mohawks) Mohawks ;62.22 took took62.23 slaughttred slaughtered63.4 the the63.16 confessed;the confessed the69.13 Indians Indians71.22 Children Children72.3 immediaely immediately

75.33 Captive;(& Captive; &

77.20 - 80.20 just just84.11 belive believe

85.29 from from86.78 Wednesday Wednesday

Paul RoysterUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln

March 20, 2006

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History of the Warr With the Indians