Battle of Mount Hope was a major event in King Philip's War - 12 August 1676., a major conflict in Colonial New England from 1675-1678. A combined force of New England colonists and their indian allies trapped and executed, Metacomet (AKA: King Philip) and his followers.
Background[]
King Philip's War[]
King Philip's War (1675-1678) was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day New England and English colonists and their Native American allies. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay in April 1678.
Assowamset Swamp[]
Metacomet's allies began to desert him. By early July, over 400 had surrendered to the colonists, and Metacomet took refuge in the Assowamset Swamp, below Providence, Rhode Island, close to where the war had started. The colonists formed raiding parties of Native Americans and militia. They were allowed to keep the possessions of warring Indians and received a bounty on all captives.
Battle of Mount Hope[]
Metacomet was killed by one of these teams when he was tracked down by colony-allied Native Americans led by Captain Benjamin Church and Captain Josiah Standish of the Plymouth Colony militia at Mt. Hope, Rhode Island. Metacomet was shot and killed by an Indian named John Alderman on August 12, 1676.[6]:647 Metacomet's corpse was beheaded, then drawn and quartered, a traditional treatment of criminals in this era. His head was displayed in Plymouth for a generation.
Delano's Company[]
A militia company from Plymouth Colony led by Capt. Jonathan Delano took part in an expedition that captured and slayed the Wampanoag tribe's chief "King Philip".
An account of the company during an attack includes references to Jonathan. They started out from John Cook's "ruined" house at "Cushnet" (Acushnet, now the northern part of the town of Dartmouth). At some point William Fobes, brother of another Smith ancestor, alerted Church to the presence of Indian women gathering hurtleberries. Their "sachem" lived in the swamps after being driven from their land in Rhode Island. Church asked "Mr. Dillano, who was acquainted with the ground and the Indian language," and Mr. Barnes to approach the group with him. One of the women, who planted an orchard and lived in a house on Sanford's land knew Church as a former neighbor. She ran to him, calling his name. Church asked Delano to tell them not to run, but to surrender. Most did, but some were killed while running away. Jonathan gathered the prisoners, who, with the dead, numbered 66. They belonged to the sachem of "King" Philip. Apparently Philip and Qunnappin, with other men of the sachem, had gone to Sconticut neck. Church sent Jonathan to meet their Indian allies and capture the men. There were hundreds of Indians on the neck. 63 were captured and 3 killed. All the prisoners were taken to Plymouth.
Defeat of Pocasset[]
On August 28, 1676, Captain Benjamin Church and his group of colonial soldiers captured Anawan, the war chief of the Pocasset people at the site of Anawan Rock in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He was an old man at the time, and a chief captain of Metacomet. The capture of Anawan marked the final event in King Philip's War as Anawan was also beheaded.
Major Participants[]
- Benjamin Church - called the father of American Rangers
- Jonathan Delano (1647-1720) - militia captain for Plymouth Colony from Duxbury.
References[]
- King Philip's War (participants)
- Battle of Mount Hope - Wikipedia