Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/136

112 burned, those who escaped from fire and sword wandered miserably through the forests to perish with cold and hunger. This was the most desperate battle recorded in the early annals of the country. But the victory was decisive. One thousand Indian warriors were killed; three hundred more, and as many women and children, were made prisoners. Yet the price of victory was dear, indeed. Six captains and eighty men were killed, and one hundred and fifty men were wounded.

The Indians, rendered desperate, vented their fury upon all who came within their reach. But their power was broken, and ere long they began to fade away out of sight. The leaders alone, Philip, and Canonchet, sachem of the Narragansetts, refused to yield. The latter died rather than attempt to make a peace with the whites. The unhappy Philip, the author of the war, wandered from tribe to tribe, assailed by recriminations and reproaches for the misery he had brought upon his brethren, and with a heart full of the bitterest anguish. Compelled at length to return to his old haunts, where he was yet sustained by Witamo, a female chief and relative, he was presently attacked by the English, who carried off his wife and child as captives; shortly after, he was treacherously shot by one of his own adherents who deserted to the English. Thus perished Philip of Pokanoket. who, in many respects, was worthy of a better fate. His child was sent to Bermuda, and sold into slavery.

Peace was welcome indeed, for nearly a thousand houses had been burned, and goods and cattle of great value had been plundered or destroyed. The colonies had also contracted a heavy debt, which, with characteristic pride of independence, they forbore to apply to the mother country to lighten.

In 1680, New Hampshire, at the solicitation of John Mason, to whose ancestor a part of the territory had been granted, was constituted a separate colony. Massachusetts, apprehending the loss of Maine also, purchased of the heirs of Gorges their claim to the soil and jurisdiction, for about $6,000.

The colonists continuing to evade the acts of trade, on the ground that they were violations of their rights, Edward Randolph was sent over in July, 1680, as collector of the royal customs, and inspector for enforcing the acts of trade. The magistrates ignored his commission, and refused to allow him to act, so that he was compelled to go back to England. He speedily returned, however, in February, 1682, with a royal letter, peremptorily demanding that agents be sent at once fully empowered to act for the colonies.

Resistance became useless, although there was no flinching on the part of the leaders. Every effort was made, even to bribery, to propitiate the king without yielding the point of their rights; but to no purpose. A scire facias was issued in England, and, in 1684, the charter was declared to be forfeited; thus the rights and liberties of Massachusetts, so long and so dearly cherished, lay at the mercy of Charles II, who was known to meditate the