| The Great Swamp Fight | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Pequot War | |||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Pequot people | English colonists | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sassacus | Capt. Israel Stoughton Capt. John Mason |
||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 100 warriors | 120 under Stoughton | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Nearly all Pequot warriors present | Several wounded, none killed | ||||||
The Fairfield Swamp Fight of 1637 (also known as the Great Swamp Fight) was the last engagement of the Pequot War and marked defeat of the Pequot tribe in the war and the loss of their recognition as a political entity in the 17th century. The participants in the conflict were the Pequot and the English with their allied tribes (the Mohegan and Narragansett). The Fairfield Swamp Fight occurred July 13–14, 1637 in what is present-day Fairfield, Connecticut. The town of Fairfield was founded after the battle in 1639. This was one of the final battles of the war.
Also known as the “Pequot Swamp Fight” or the “Battle of Munnacommock Swamp” this engagement occurred during the Quinnipiac Campaign (July 7 – 15, 1637) and proved to be the last major action of the Pequot War.
- Not to be confused with the Great Swamp Fight of King Philip's War (1676).
Overview[]
The destruction of people and the village at Mistick Fort and losing even more warriors during the withdrawal pursuit broke the Pequot spirit and they decided to abandon their villages and flee westward to seek refuge with the Mohawk tribe. Sassacus led roughly 400 warriors along the coast, when they crossed the Connecticut River the Pequot killed three men whom they encountered near Fort Saybrook.
In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts led by Uncas. They caught up with the refugees at Sasqua, a Mattabesic village near present-day Fairfield, Connecticut. The colonists memorialized this event as the Fairfield Swamp Fight (not to be confused with the Great Swamp Fight during King Philip's War). The English surrounded the swamp and allowed several hundred, mostly women and children to surrender but not before Sassacus slipped out before dawn with perhaps eighty warriors and continued west.
English Allied forces (80 Massachusetts Bay, 20 Connecticut, 200-300 Long Island, Mohegan, Narragansett allies) leave Saybrook Fort for Long Island in pursuit of Sassacus and from their sail for Quinnipiac (New Haven). After making landfall at Quinnipiac and marching west English Allied forces encounter limited fighting after crossing the Housatonic River. At this time, Sassacus and a bodyguard of twenty left the main body of Pequot and began a northwestern journey towards the Hudson River. Later in the day of July 13 English forces locate the main group Pequot at a Sasqua village near a large swamp. As Native peoples fled to the swamp for protection English Allied forces attempted to surround the swamp. Fighting occurred throughout the afternoon and into the evening with only a brief cease-fire which allowed non-combatants to surrender.
Sassacus and his followers had hoped to gain refuge among the Mohawk in present-day New York. However, the Mohawk instead murdered Sassacus and his bodyguard, afterwards sending his head and hands to Hartford as a symbolic offering of Mohawk friendship with the Connecticut Colony therefore avoiding a similar fate from the powerful English. This essentially ended the Pequot War but colonial officials continued to call for hunting down what remained of the Pequots after war's end.
Participants[]
Connecticut Militia[]
Fairfield Swamp Fight Monument - July 13, 1637.
In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts led by Uncas.
- Capt John Mason - militia commander
- Capt Robert Seeley (1602-1668) - 2nd in command of militia.
- Capt. Israel Stoughton
- William Pratt (1609-1678) was one of the band that went from Hartford to fight the Pequots. He received a land grant in Soldiers Field in recognition of his services.
In July, The Hartford General Court dispatched Captain Israel Stoughton and his troops numbering some 120 soldiers to southern Connecticut, with the goal of ending the Pequot War and the capture of Sassacus, the Pequot chief sachem