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March 26, 1676. The Battle of Seekonk Plain. AKA Pierce's Fight
King Philip's War had united the native tribes of New England into an army set upon eliminating the English Colonial Threat. Colonial settlers in the Rhode Island Colony had tried to broker peace with the natives tribes, but those efforts failed. Small conflicts had already occurred in the area, and as a result, members of the Plymouth Colony Militia decided to gather at Dexter’s Ledge, a huge rock that stood upon a hill looking down upon the Blackstone River. Roughly 70 or more colonists and over a dozen native allies, being led by Captain Michael Pierce, stood atop the ledge with muskets in their arms, waiting for the natives to appear.
A small band of natives was seen moving through the settlement, looting the farms while the band of colonists watched from above. Angry over the thievery, they descended from the ledge to pursue the natives. Those who were wealthy enough to afford horses brought them, and led the pursuit while others followed on foot. They gave chase, but the natives were too fleet-footed to catch, even for those riding horseback. The colonists stayed close upon their trail, though, and were able to follow them through a thicket of trees and out into an open field along the Blackstone River. It was there that the white men grew whiter.
The small band of natives stopped running as soon as they cleared the thicket. This seemed strange to the colonists at first, however, they soon realized that they had charged into the midst of an entire horde of natives. The colonists immediately turned to retreat into the thicket from which they had come, but found the path had already been blocked by a warband. The colonists were encircled and greatly outnumbered.
The sound of an arrow piercing through flesh sparked the fighting. A shrieking colonist fell to the ground, his blood-soaked hands wrapped around an arrow that penetrated into his belly. His companions fired their muskets in retaliation, killing many of the natives. This frenzied attack left the colonists defenseless. While the colonists reloaded their arms the natives charged forward. An onslaught of arrows and tomahawk thrusts smote all but eight of the colonists, who managed to flee massacre.
The eight retreated further down the river where the natives captured them shortly after. The survivors were then brutally tortured and finally decapitated. Their headless, mangled bodies were hung upside-down from trees along the river. Their heads were placed beneath them on spikes. For weeks their withering bodies served as warning to all those that intruded upon the natives’ land. In the aftermath of the battle, nearby towns were burnt to the ground by the coalition of natives.
The events were so shocking that they elicited an enormous amount of force from not only the allied colonies, but also from England who sent naval support. Ultimately, King's Philip's War proved unsuccessful for the native inhabitants of the region, and the overwhelming show of force that eventually won the war may have been a direct result of this horrible defeat and massacre at the Battle of Seekonk Plain, AKA, Pierce's Fight.