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THE KING PHILLIP WAR
Taken from the Hamblin Family History; "This sanguinary Indian battle, the hardships and casualties of which have few parallels, was fought December 10, 1675, Old Style; the place was in South Kington, R. I., on an island of about five acres in a swamp called Pattyswamscott, where the Indians had a fortified town. The white forces actually mustered 1,127 men, composed of six companies from Massachusetts Bay, two from Plymouth and five from Connecticut Colonies. The previous day had been extremely cold; the snow fell fast and deep; the soldiers had marched the preceding night through tangled, pathless woods, wading through snow until nearly noon; four hundred of the men were so badly frozen as to be completely unfit for duty. The Indians had formed a wooden fortress, the entrance to which was narrow and reached by crossing on a fallen tree. The fight lasted six hours; six of the captains of the companies were killed; of the company of Capt. Gorham, thirty were killed and forty-one wounded; but the victory was complete, and the power of the Narragansetts forever broken. It is estimated that 700 Indian warriors were slain, besides 300 that afterwards died of wounds; not more than 300 escaped; the town was burned and the aged men and women and children were killed, perished in the flames, or starved from cold and hunger. After the battle the army waded through the snow eighteen miles before their wounds could be dressed, or refreshments obtained."
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Five men from Sandwich joined Captain Michael Pearse's Plymouth County Company to engage in the defense of the colonies during the King Philip War. They were Benjamin Nye, John Gibb, Stephen Wing, Daniel Bessey, and Caleb Blake. March 26, 1676, Captain Pearse's company was ambushed by the Narragansett Indians under Canonchet at Seekonk, and the day after the battle, the Rev. Noah Newman of Rehoboth wrote giving the names of forty-six of the unfortunate men who fell in the ambush. Among the names were those of Stephen Wing and Benjamin Nye. The facts are told in Bodge's Soldier's of the Colonial wars, pages 331-2. The story of young Stephen, the first to perish in defense of his home and country, is well worth preserving. The five recruits from Sandwich joined Captain Pearse's company, consisting of 50 whites and 20 friendly Indians all from Cape Cod. Captain Pearse was ordered to pursue the enemy who were under the personal leadership of the famous Narragansett Chief Cnoenchet. He came up with them at Seekonk and immediately made an attack. The fighting on the first day resulted in no loss to the whites, who rested that night in the village. The next day, Captain Pearse prepared for the second engagement. At a short distance from the town four or five Indians were discovered limping along as if wounded. Suspecting no treachery, the whites eagerly followed them and soon found themselves in the presence of an overwhelming force. To escape was impossible; to retreat was desperate. A furious attack ensued, and a fresh body of Indians appearing the gallant band like the Spartans at Thermoplae, were completely surrounded, and after a brave resistance of two hours, in which Captain Pearse and his men fought in a double ring, the company was annihilated, and of 50 white, 46 were slain. Thus perished young Stephen Wing in his twentieth year of age.
Stephen Wing, born Sept. 2, 1656 was the first Wing to give his life for his country. Stephen was the oldest son of Stephen Wing & Sarah Briggs and one can only imagine the grief they must have felt.
Ananias Wing was sent from Yarmouth to fight along the side of his cousin, Stephen Wing. Ananias, four years older than Stephen survived. It is comforting to think that perhaps Ananias stayed by Stephen while he died, perhaps he was even able to gather the body of Stephen and return it to Sandwich, to his father and mother, Stephen Wing and Sarah Briggs.
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King Phillip's War was so named for the Wampanoag Chief Metacom, who was known to his European contemporaries as "King Phillip". The Wampanoag had been under constant pressure from the Plymouth Colony to surrender land and conform to English dictates. The Puritans had even imposed a tax on the tribe. No doubt blood ran hot on both sides.
When Chief Metacom (King Phillip) decided to attack, the attack was fierce and without mercy. The spring of 1675 brought to a sudden and violent end a half-century of generally cordial relations between the English settlers and the Algonquian tribes of southern New England.
Mary White Rowlandson was among the captives that a contingent of Narragansetts took after they struck Lancaster, Massachusetts, a frontier community of perhaps fifty familes. The attack occured in February of 1676. Her experiences which were so emotionally and physically painful are expressed wonderfully in the book "PURITANS AMONG THE INDIANS". I picked the book up at my local library and found it very interesting.
And while the Indian warriors could find horrible ways to punish and kill their enemy, I have to tell you that the English could be equally cruel. In August of 1676, Metacom himself was captured and executed, and his family was forced to observe his head displayed on a pole in Plymouth. Later, after much debate it was decided that the widow and son should not be executed but they were sold as slaves to the West Indies, along with hundreds of other rebels systematically hunted down and captured after Metacom's death.
If anyone would care to contribute their line of descent from Stephen Wing, just contact me at TONI
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