The Great Swamp Massacre

December 19, 1675

December 19, 1675, was one of the bloodiest days in New England history.

In the extreme cold of a true New England winter, more than 1,000 Colonial soldiers marched several miles from their muster site at Pettaquamscutt, through the coastal woodlands of what is today known as South Kingstown, RI, and into the inhospitable and marshy woodlands of the Great Swamp. They were led by a man known as “Indian Peter”, who had been tortured and was under threat of execution. Their arrival at the Great Swamp marked the beginning of several hours of violence that left hundreds dead.

After invading the swamp, the English surrounded the fortified winter village of the Narragansett, which housed what some scholars estimate as more than 1,000 inhabitants living in about 500 wetus. (1) Right away, there was an hour-long engagement between the soldiers outside the settlement and the Indigenous within.

Following this first engagement, the soldiers scaled the fortification and entered the village, firing into wigwams and at Narragansetts who were attempting to flee. They then set fire to lodgings, supplies, and food stores, burning the encampment to the ground. Chaplain Joseph Dudley provided a first hand account of the massacre in a letter written to Governor Leverett, dated December 21, 1675: “we fired the wigwams, with many living and dead persons in them, great piles of meat and heaps of corn, the ground not admitting burial of their store, were consumed.” (2) Among the dead were women, children, and the elderly.

While there is no exact statistic, the number of Indigenous casualties has been estimated at between several hundred to 1,000, all primarily Narragansetts and refugees of the war. In contrast, the number of colonist casualties are estimated to have been fewer than 200.

In addition to being one of the bloodiest days in early American history, the Great Swamp Massacre exemplified English colonists' military strategy and deceit, as December 19 was a Sunday, a day on which it was sinful to bear arms. According to both contemporary and modern sources, this attack is considered one of the greatest battles ever fought in New England.

1. The number of Indigenous present within the fortification at the time of the English arrival has been reported as being anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand. The most frequently reported numbers range from 1,000 to about 3,500 Indigenous people, young and old, who were both Narragansett and refugees from the war.

2. Eric B. Schultz and Michael J. Tougias, King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict. Image 286, quoting Dudley to Leverett in George Madison Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip’s War (1906; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991), 145.