Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/212

 166 THE HISTORY OF BAKRINGTON. during the bloody epoch of 1671 and 1676. We read the account with wonder that men and women and children could withstand so terrible a foe, fighting for life and home, and the names of those who fought those battles of our early civilization should be held in grateful remembrance as heroes of freedom, with all those other brave men and women who have stood for home and country in all the other dark days of struggle from 1675 to 1865. Oui" garlands should deck the graves of the Pilgrim martyrs of 1675 of Swansea when we remember the splendid achievements of the heroes of 1776, and "The Boys in Blue " of 1861-65, sleeping side by side in the same cemeteries ; "On Fame's Eternal bead-roll worthy to be filed." It is worthy of special note that the trials of the New England settlers stirred the hearts and sympathies of far- away Ireland and relief was sent to the colonies, as appears by the following record : "The order and distribution of this collonies pte of the contribution made by divers Christians in Ireland for the relieffe of such as are impoverished, distressed, and in neces- sitie by the late Indian warr, was, as it respects this coUonie, proportioned as followeth : J[, s. p. j Mr. Browne, Swansey, 21. — 00 — GO I John Butterworth." Of Philip it may truthfully be said that he Was the greatest Indian of whom we have any record. His control of his own tribe, the Wampanoags, was supreme and unquestioned. His sagacity, shrewdness and cunning in his dealings with the whites were unequaled in Indian strategy. His skill in uniting the New England tribes, some of which had been his lifelong enemies, shows a power for organization and control equal to if not superior to that of the great statesmen and warriors of other races. His strong friendships shielded many of his benefactors in the hour of greatest peril, while his revenge was a fearful cyclone of terror that swept all