ad determined, however, to make a sweep of possible as well as
actual enemies, and they marched upon the Narragansetts. Then occurred
the Great Swamp fight, one of the most sanguinary of encounters in the
history of Indian warfare. The Narragansetts had their winter camp, or
fort, in the heart of a swamp, in what is now Charlestown, Rhode Island.
Successive rows of palisades protected a position of considerable extent,
accessible during the greater part of the year by a single narrow path.
This one access was guarded by a blockhouse, but the cold weather gave a
footing to the invaders on the usually impassable morasses. An attempt
was made to take the Narragansetts by surprise. The warriors, however,
detected the stealthy approach, and seizing their weapons, fired from the
security of their palisades upon the advancing enemy. A number of the
best men on the colonial side were shot down while urging on the attack.
The battle on both sides was fierce and stubborn. Assault followed
assault, only to be repulsed, and when the English had fought their way
into the fortress, they were at first driven out by an irresistible onset
of the Indians. At length the colonists made good their entrance, and the
battle continued at closer quarters, the Indians nerved to desperation by
the presence of their wives and children, whose fate would be their own,
and the colonists inspired to prodigies of valor by the thought that
their defeat would certainly involve their own destruction, and perhaps
that of New England. The invaders at length set fire to the wigwams. As
the flames spread the women and children ran out, hampering their
defenders with cries of terror and appeals for protection, and at length
the Indians were overpowered. Then followed a pitiless massacre of the
defeated Indians and their families, hundreds of whom perished in the
flames, while many were taken prisoners to be carried off into slavery.
Canonchet was slain, and the power of the Narragansetts was broken
forever.[1]

[1] In the summer of 1883 I represented the Providence _Journal_ at
the dedication of Fort Ninigret, a spot set apart from the former
Narragansett reservation in memory of the tribe which had given
welcome to Roger Williams when he fled from Puritan persecution. I
visited at the time the scene of the Great Swamp fight, and also
the burying-ground of the latter Narragansett chiefs.

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