Second Battle of Nipsachuck Battlefield
Mattity Swamp as seen from Mattity Road in North Smithfield near the battlefield
LocationNorth Smithfield, Rhode Island
Area58.2 acres (23.6 ha)
NRHP reference No.16000563 [1]
Added to NRHPAugust 22, 2016

The Second Battle of Nipsachuck Battlefield is a historic military site in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. A largely swampy terrain, it is the site of one of the last battles of King Philip's War to be fought in southern New England, on July 2, 1676. The battle is of interest to military historians because it included a rare use in the war of a cavalry charge by the English colonists. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.[1]

Setting

The battle took place in a swampy area of what is now known as Mattity Swamp in North Smithfield, with a hill to its west and a few small rises of solid land within the swamp. The swamp was, at the time of the battle, described by chroniclers as "a great spruce swamp".[2]

History

Second Battle of Nipsachuck Battlefield
Part of King Phillip's War
DateSummer 1676
Location
Mattity Swamp, presently North Smithfield, Rhode Island
Result Connecticut and Native allied victory
Belligerents
Narragansett Connecticut
Pequot
Mohegan
Commanders and leaders
Quaiapen  †
Stonewall John  †		 John Talcott
Strength
100 warriors 300 Connecticut Militia
100 Native Warriors

By the summer of 1676, English colonists had gained the upper hand in King Philip's War, and the opposing American Indian tribes were generally in retreat. Many Narragansetts, based in southern Rhode Island, had fled to the Connecticut River valley after the Great Swamp Fight, a devastating assault on their central village by a combined English and Indian force in December 1675. In the summer of 1676, a band of approximately 100 Narragansetts led by female sachem Quaiapen returned to northern Rhode Island, apparently seeking to recover cached seed corn for planting.

The Narragansetts were attacked by a force of 400 led by John Talcott, composed of 300 Connecticut colonial militia and about 100 Mohegan and Pequot warriors. The attacking forces had scouted the Narragansett position at the western edge of the swamp, and organized an attack over and around the hill to the west. A portion of the Connecticut militia were mounted dragoons, and the battle is believed to be one of the few in the war in which such forces actually saw mounted combat. The Narragansetts were driven into the swamp where many were killed, including Queen Magnus (Quaiapen) and Pessicus' messenger, Watawaikeson (Tiawakesson)[3] and Stonewall John, the builder of Queen's Fort.[4] Quaiapen's death spelled the end of organized Narragansett opposition in the conflict.[2] According to Major Talcott, at "Nipsachooke" his forces "within 3 hours slew and tooke prisoners 171, of which 45 being women and children that ye Indians saved alive, and the others slayne; in which engagement were slayne 34 men, took 15 armes."[3] Many of the survivors were captured and tried, and then publicly executed or sold.[5]

Archaeology

Due to the poor swampy quality of the terrain, the battlefield area has escaped significant development, with only modest agricultural uses around its edges, and some residential development in the same areas. Archaeological investigation by the National Park Service of the site has yielded Narragansett domestic objects as well as lead shot, musket balls, a horseshoe, a bridle rosette, and other military artifacts.[2]

See also

Lecture of Professor Kevin McBride of the University of Connecticut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW31AoP6twA

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "NRHP nomination for Second Battle of Nipsachuck Battlefield (redacted)" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Letter from Major Talcott: July 4, 1676, at Mr. Stanton's Farm house at Monacontauge," The public records of the colony of Connecticut from 1636-1776, Volume II (1850), pg. 459 accessible at https://archive.org/details/publicrecords02conn/page/458/mode/2up
  4. ↑ Samuel G. Drake, The Old Indian Chronicle (1836) p. 98 (republished account accessible on Google Books, from "A new and father Narrative of the state of New-England, being a further account of the BLOODY INDIAN WAR from March till August, 1676" (London, 1676)) (written by N.S., possibly Nathaniel Saltonsall, or a Quaker in Rhode Island according to Mather's history)
  5. ↑ Jill Lepore, The Name of War, King Philip's War and Origins of American Identity, p. 256 footnote 36 citing Saltonstall, New and Further Narrative, 96; Samuel Gardner Drake, Book of the Indians [Boston, 1841], 3:77-78
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