Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/134

110 of the sales of land which were at all times readily made to the whites. But this consequence the Indians did not foresee; and when they felt it in all its force, the strongest passions of the savage nature were aroused to seek revenge. A leader only was wanting to concentrate and direct their exertions, and Philip, of Pokanoket, sachem of the Wampanoags, a tribe living within the boundaries of Plymouth and Rhode Island, assumed that honorable but dangerous station. His father, Massasoit, was the friend, but he had ever been the enemy, of the whites; and this enmity, arising from causes of national concern, had been embittered to vindictive hatred by their conduct towards his elder brother. This brother, being suspected of plotting against them, was seized by a detachment of soldiers and confined; and the indignity so wrought upon his proud spirit as to produce a fever that put an end to his life. Philip inherited the authority and proud spirit of his brother. He exerted all the arts of intrigue and powers of persuasion of which he was master, to induce the Indians, in all parts of New England, to unite their efforts for the destruction of the whites. He succeeded in forming a confederacy able to send into action between three and four thousand warriors.

The bloody struggle commenced sooner than was intended by Philip. A hasty act of revenge placed him in open defiance of the colonists, and he had no alternative but to yield in absolute submission, or to persist and endeavor bravely to carry out his plans. Philip plundered the houses nearest Mount Hope, his residence. Soon after, he attacked Swanzey, and killed a number of the inhabitants. This was in the latter part of June, 1675.

The troops of the colony marched immediately to Swanzey, and were soon joined by a detachment from Massachusetts. The Indians fled, and marked the course of their flight by burning the buildings, and fixing on poles, by the way side, the hands, scalps, and heads of the whites whom they had killed. The troops pursued, but unable to overtake them, returned to Swanzey. The whole country was alarmed, and the number of troops augmented. By this array of force, Philip was induced to quit his residence at Mount Hope, and take post near a swamp at Pocasset. At that place the English attacked him, but were repulsed. Sixteen were killed, and the Indians by this success were made bolder.

Panic prevailed throughout the colony. Dismal portents of still heavier calamities were fancied in the air and sky; shadowy troops of careering horses, Indian scalps, and bows imprinted upon the sun and moon, even the sigh of the wind through the forest, and the dismal howling of wolves, terrified the excited imagination of the colonists. The out-settlers fled for security to the towns, where they spread abroad fearful accounts of the cruel atrocities of the Indians Meanwhile, the war spread along the whole exposed frontier of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and even of New Hampshire. The villages were