Illustration: ROGER WILLIAMS IN BANISHMENT.]

The Quakers greatly annoyed the New England colonists. They persisted in
rising in the Puritan meetings and disputing with ministers. Many were
fined, whipped, imprisoned, and banished, but in the face of warnings
they returned. As a consequence, four were put to death. Then a reaction
set in and the persecution ceased.

The most formidable war in which the early colonies of New England were
involved was with King Philip, who was the son of Massasoit, a firm
friend of the settlers until his death. Philip was one of the great
Indians of history. Like many of his people he saw with anger the growth
of the white men, who in time would drive him and his warriors from
their hunting grounds. Realizing the magnitude of the work of
exterminating all the settlers, he visited the different tribes and used
every effort to unite them in a war against the invaders. He was partly
successful, and, with the allies secured, King Philip began the war by
attacking a party of settlers at Swansea, on Sunday, June 24, 1675,
while they were on their way to church. Several whites were killed, when
the Indians hurried off to the Connecticut Valley to continue their
dreadful work.

All understood their peril, and flew to arms. Every man carried his
musket to church, and they were stacked outside the door, while a
sentinel paced up and down. More than once the long sermon was
interrupted by the crack of the red men's guns and their wild whoops, as
they swarmed out of the woods. Springing down from the pulpit, the
minister was among the foremost in beating the heathen back, and, when
quiet was restored, probably he resumed and finished his sermon.

The war was prosecuted furiously on both sides. In the depth of winter,
when the snow lay several feet on the ground, John Winslow led 1,500 men
against the Narragansett stronghold, which was in the heart of a great
swamp, and was one of the most powerful fortifications ever erected by
the red men on this continent. In the terrible fight, 200 white men and
nearly 1,000 Indians were killed. Finally, Philip was run down in a
swamp near his old home on Mount Hope, not far from the present city of
Bristol, Rhode Island. While stealing out of his hiding-place, he was
confronted by a white soldier and a friendly Indian. The gun of the
former missed fire, whereupon the Indian leveled his musket and shot the
Wampanoag leader dead. The war ended a few months later