Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/211

PHILIP S WAR. 165 at Myles's Garrison from Boston and Plymouth, and head- quarters were made at Swansea. A skirmish took place the evening of the 28th near Myles's Bridge, on the east side of Palmer's River, in which Captain Benjamin Church began his military career as a great soldier of the whites. One man was killed and one wounded in this fight. The troops spent the night at Myles's Garrison, and the next morning started out, expecting to find Philip at Mount Hope, but he had fled to Pocassett, east of the Taunton River. A party of Indians, who had gone to Rehoboth, was discovered burn- ing a house, and, being fired upon, four or five of them were slain, one being Peebee, a sachem of a part of the tribe that occupied the main neck of Barrington, Peebee's Neck. The war had now become general and the destruction of lifeand property by the Indians extended from town to town, until the whole of Southern New England was involved in the terrible conflict. Small parties of the savages still hung around the Swansea and Rehoboth settlements, attacking and pillaging without warning, and keeping the settlers in constant fear and watchfulness. At Wannamoisett, in July, 1676, an attack was made on the whites and Mr. Willett's son, Hezekiah, was slain, a young man about twenty-five years of age and recently married to Andia Brown. Unsus- picious of danger, Mr. VVillett was shot dead with three balls, near his own door, his head was cut off and his body left on the ground. A volume could easily be written of the massacres and burnings committed by Philip and his confederates, extending to the principal settlements of New England. Swansea, our own town, was practically blotted out for the time, only four houses remaining at the close of the war, and her people had fled to places of safety at Plymouth or Boston. Rev. John Myles, the pastor, who had made a brave fight with and for his people, went to Boston with others of his flock, returning with them at the close of the war in 1676. There is no darker period in New England history than that of Philip's War, and no sadder experiences befell the early settlers than