King Philip War Reading List

 If you are interested after reading my series of posts on King Philip's War of learning more about it here are a number if books which I found very helpful.  There are a lot of books out there but to get a grasp of the conflict and learn more about it as a wargames possibility I would highly recommended these. This list isn't exhaustive but will give you a good working knowledge of the period.

King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict by Eric B. Schultz

One of my very favorite books.  It gives the reader a good introduction to the war, and summaries of the major battles.  For the miniature wargamer its a good mine for possible games.  In addition if you want to take a field trip and visit these sites you learn about what is there today.  

Flintlock and Tomahawk: New England in King Philip’s War by Douglas Leach 

The classic history of the war.  Although written In 1958 the research has stood the test of time.  Its a good read and its still the standard military history. Because of its age the authors language can be a bit jarring to a modern ear as he is decidedly not politically correct.  Once you get past that its a great book.  

The Skulking Way of War: Technology and Tactics Among the New England Indians by Patrick M. Malone.

 A short book and easy read it covers the details about the technology and tactics of the forces involved. Given the treatment that King Philip’s War often gets we are indeed lucky that we have such a focused analysis for the period.  This is just the sort of thing that you need to get a good feel for your game!

Conquering the American Wilderness: The Triumph of European Warfare in the Colonial Northeast by Guy Chet.

This book contains only a single chapter on the war but it is outstanding.  if you want an honest  evaluation if both sides military forces thus is the book.  He points out the positive and negative of both sides;  their strengths and weaknesses.  There is a lot if myth busting here.  And some icons like Benjamin Church are questioned and possibly brought down a peg.  Revisionists?  Possibly, but its well thought out and honest and very worth your time to read.  Provides a good guide for a balanced force and how to rate your soldiers and  natives.

 Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

I found the Mayflower to be dived into thirds as far as story telling and contents go.  The first third of the book is a history of not only the first fifty years of the Pilgrims settlement in Massachusetts.  The first third of the book is about who they were and why they came to America.  The next third is how they settled and adjusted to life in the wilderness.  It also goes into their inter actions with the Native peoples and how both sides looked to the other to establish dominance over the area and the other people living there.  Finally the last third is a brief history of King Philips War 1675-76.  Possibly one of the most destructive wars in our history and one of the only times the Native peoples could have pushed back the invasion of Europeans.

King Philip's War 1675 - 1676:  America's Deadliest Colonial Conflict by Gabriele Esposito

This new Osprey book  is a great history of a forgotten conflict.  The war between the New England colonies and the Native Peoples was the single most destructive war in our countries short history.  Nearly half of all European settlements were destroyed.  The Narragansett, Wampanoag and many smaller tribes were destroyed.  Yet for all its harshness and destruction its a fascinating topic and part of the history of the area where I live.  

Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783 by Harold Peterson.

Much more then you will ever need about weapons in colonial America.

The Sudbury Fight as a wargame

 

I think the Sudbury Fight could make a interesting  game.  You would not need hundreds of figures, but you would need to spread out and have a couple tables.  Although it was fought in King Philips War (1676) the flint lock smooth bore muskets used were standard through the French and Indian wars and up through the War of 1812 and slightly beyond.  Adapt for your chosen period!  The game I am suggesting here is not a exact recreation of the fight.  More a flavor and highlights of the actual event.  After all we are looking for a fun game.

    Possible layout for center with garrison house and
other buildings and fields.

For set up I would suggest a very large table or two or three smaller tables that connect with roads.  In the center should be the table with the garrison house.  This sould be a large building.  They were reinforced to make them almost bullet proof and supplies of weapons and ammunition stock piled within. The various civilians taking refuge in the house assisted with loading weapons.  Thus enabled a small group of defenders to maintain a Hugh rate if fire.   They were difficult if not impossible to capture by assault.  One house held out for three days against constant attack until a mounted militia group arrived to drive off the attackers.  This is where the the residents of the town ran to.  Around it may be barns, other smaller houses and fields.  These were abandoned and the native forces could get victory points for their destruction.  To the table west (left) of the house should be two large hills which the road runs through and heavily wooded.  To the table east (right) of the house should be a river with a sturdy bridge.  Remember the native forces did not destroy the bridge.  Mixed in should be woods, wet lands bordering the river and lots if good places to hide figures and set up ambush.

Have plenty if woods and hills to set up ambush.

Militia marching to the rescue would have to cross river and exit off end if table to reinforce the garrison house.

How many figures do you need?  Estimates are 500 or so followers of King Philip.  the Sudbury garrison had about 60 to 80 militia and civilians.  During the fight various reinforcements tried to come to the rescue.  There were the 11 men from Concord;  two different troops of horse of about 18 or so came from the east and from the west;  Wadsworth's and Brocklebank's command from Marlboro of about 50 men; Captain Mason with about 80 men from Watertown (east) and finally Captain Hunting's company of militia and praying Indians from Charlestown arriving near evening.  That gives you three good sized infantry commands, two cavalry commands and the 11 men from Concord.  I would not worry over much about exact numbers.  The Native warriors should have almost double the colonists numbers.  

To start the game you could have the colonists hold up in the garrison house or retreating to it.  The players for the Native American' s place their forces about the table.  The colonists reinforcements must roll for which turns they enter and which direction they will come onto the board.  So make sure you have a good number of roads!  the idea here is to have various commands entering randomly and from different directions.  Waiting for them will be King Philips warriors.  The object for the colonists would be to rescued the garrison house and drive the invaders off.  The native warriors want to kill as many colonists and destroy the village.  Assign points for various activities.  Its possible that both sides achieve their objective and both could win.

At present I have ordered figures for this conflict but I have not yet started painting.  So it may be a while before I can actually fight this out on my table top. I am actually hoping to run this as a club game night in the fall.  But should any of you out there try this (no matter the time period) I would be delighted to hear from you. Best of luck 

The Sudbury Fight Sites today

  There is very little today of the Sudbury Fight.  The area has been built over but there are a number of markers where buildings were located.  The site of the Green Hill fight is now a very upscale and crowded neighborhood who's people will get rather upset with you if you tramp through it near or on their land. And the Sudbury police just want to test you for drinking or drugs if you explain you are looking for the 1676 battlefield.   The Sudbury river has been famed and tamed and the wet lands filled in and cultivated.    In other words it looks nothing like it did in 1676. 

  But if you know where to look it can be a fun day.  The text description here is from the book "King Philips War:  The History and Legacy of Americas forgotten conflict. ". This is a outstanding book.  Good summary of the war and individual battles. If you want to trace the battlefields and what is located there today thus book tells you.  Highly recommended!

Haynes Garrison house; 

The site of the Deacon Haynes garrison House is on Water-Row Road, about two-tenths of a mile north of Old Sudbury Road (Route 27). The house was situated about fifteen yards from the road, facing south. It survived the Sudbury Fight, only to be demolished sometime after 1876. The cellar hole of the garrison is still visible.

John J. McCann, a Sudbury resident who was born in the Haynes garrison in 1860, remembered that “the rooms on the second floor toward the hill were bricked about four feet high, between the outer and inner walls” to keep the Indians from shooting those sleeping."

Goodenow Garrison House:

A state marker at the intersection of Old County Road and the Boston Post Road (Route 20) designates the site of the Goodenow garrison. The marker reads: THE GOODENOW GARRISON HOUSE PORTION OF THE GOODENOW GARRISON HOUSE IN WHICH SETTLERS TOOK REFUGE FROM KING PHILIP’S INDIANS DURING THE BATTLE OF APRIL 18–21, 1676. The house was standing as late as about 1815, but was moved or destroyed shortly thereafter.

Noyes’ Mill:

The site of Noyes’ Mill is marked on Route 20, west of Concord Road, near the present-day Mill Village shopping center. The marker reads: HOPBROOK MILL TO THE LEFT IS THE SITE OF HOPBROOK MILL, ERECTED IN 1659 BY VIRTUE OF A TOWN GRANT TO THOMAS AND PETER NOYES, “TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN A MILL TO GRIND THE CORN OF THE SETTLERS.” IT IS NOW THE PROPERTY OF HENRY FORD. 

Sudbury Fight Marker and Green Hill Fight:

Wadsworth, Brocklebank, and twenty-seven of their men were buried in a mass grave described by Alfred Serend Hudson as about six feet square “in which bodies were placed in tiers at right angles to each other.” The spot was marked by a heap of stones, in part to deter wolves. In 1852 the remains of these men were excavated and moved fifty feet north to the site of a new monument. A state marker at Boston Post Road (Route 20) and Concord Road designates this memorial, which is four-tenths of a mile north on Concord Road at the Wadsworth Cemetery. The marker reads: SUDBURY FIGHT ONE-QUARTER MILE NORTH TOOK PLACE THE SUDBURY FIGHT WITH KING PHILIP’S INDIANS ON APRIL 21, 1676. CAPTAIN SAMUEL WADSWORTH FELL WITH TWENTY- EIGHT OF HIS MEN. THEIR MONUMENT STANDS IN THE BURYING GROUND.

The Wadsworth Monument and Grave:

The monument itself sits toward the back of the cemetery and reads: THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS AND THE TOWN OF SUDBURY IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE SERVICE AND SUFFERINGS OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE STATE AND ESPECIALLY IN HONOR OF CAPT. S. WADSWORTH OF MILTON CAPT. BROCKLEBANK OF ROWLEY LIEUT. SHARP OF BROOKLINE AND TWENTY SIX OTHERS, MEN OF THEIR COMMAND, WHO FELL NEAR THIS SPOT ON THE 18 OF APRIL 1676 WHILE DEFENDING THE FRONTIER SETTLEMENTS AGAINST THE ALLIED INDIAN FORCE OF PHILIP OF POKANOKET 1852

 Samuel Wadsworth’s stone, set up in 1730 by his son, Benjamin (then president of Harvard College), was moved with the bodies to the base of the new monument. It reads: CAPT. SAMUEL WADSWORTH OF MILTON, HIS LIEU. SHARP OF BROOKLINE, CAPT. BROCKLEBANK OF ROWLEY, WITH ABOUT TWENTY-SIX OTHER SOLDIERS FIGHTING FOR YE DEFENSE OF THEIR COUNTRY WERE SLAIN BY YE INDIAN ENEMY, APRIL 18TH 1676, & LYE BURIED IN THIS PLACE

Sudbury Fight April 21, 1676

 

 By early April 1676 colonial authorities were aware that a sizable body of  Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Narragansett warriors under King Philip had gathered near Mount Wachusett.  They had already  attacked and burned the settlements of Lancaster and Groton and forced the partial evacuation of Marlboro.   To assist the towns the colonial Council of War ordered Captain Samuel Wadsworth and about seventy men to march to the garrison at Marlboro, passing through Sudbury on the evening of April 20, 1676. At the same time as Wadsworth and his troops marched westward along the Marlboro Road, five hundred or more warriors from the Wachusett camp had begun taking position in and around Sudbury. 

Map from Eric Shultz's book King Philips War: History and Legacy of Americas forgotten conflict.

About sunrise on the morning of April 21, 1676, Philip started his attack;  focusing first on on the houses on the western bank of the Sudbury River. the settlers quickly retired within the five garrison houses.  One garrison house known as The Haynes garrison drew fighting all morning.  Because of the long morning siege most authors feel it as the object of the natives attack.  But based on later events it could also have been a faint to draw the English  reinforcements into an ambush.  To the rear of the garrison a slight rise provided cover to a group of natives who set fire one of Haynes’ wagons with combustible material and rolled it downhill to set fire to the house.   But  the flaming cart  hit a rock and rolled over short if it's destination.  In the end, the Haynes garrison would hold out.  But  destruction raged around it. 

The Hayes Garrison House

When news of the attack on Sudbury reached Concord, eleven brave ( or foolhardy) men marched to Sudbury's defence.  They proceded along the west bank of the Sudbury River. When they arrived within view of the Haynes garrison, they were ambushed with only one man escaping. 

In the early afternoon, troops under Captain Hugh Mason from Watertown arrived to help.  They drove the natives from the central settlement and crossed the Town Bridge to the western bank of the Sudbury River. Hearing  the sound of heavy fighting on Green Hill, Mason and his troops tried repeatedly to reach that fight but were driven back each time. Finally at the  risk of being surrounded and cut off, they retreated to the Captain Goodenow (or Goodnow) garrison house.    From the west a troop of eighteen mounted men finally fought their way into Sudbury after a long running fight.

Captain Wadsworth learning of the attack on Sudbury soon after his arrival at Marlboro gathered together his exhausted troops, including those under Captain Samuel Brocklebank already stationed in Marlboro, and  rapidly retraced his march back to Sudbury. As Wandsworth and Brocklebank  force crossed the bridge at Noyes’ Mill just south of Green Hill, they spotted a handful of warriors fleeing northward in the large field at the base of the hill. Thinking they had surprised Philip’s rear guard, Wadsworth and Brocklebank’s men left the road and set off in pursuit along the west side of Green Hill.  When they reached the pass between Green Hill and Goodman’s Hill, shots rang out from both hillsides as bodies of warriors (perhaps five hundred in all) sprang their ambush.  With their escape  block to the northern and southern Wadsworth’s men were thrown momentarily into a panic.  The Captain was able to rally his men and firmed back to back repulsed several native charges. As the afternoon wore on and relief was effectively blocked from reaching them Wadsworth and his troops fought their way up its side so that by late afternoon they had reached the top.  Nearby to the south sat the Goodenow garrison and the Noyes’ Mill, the latter uninhabited but able to be fortified. Darkness might bring hope of escape. It was then that the natives lit the dry brush of Green Hill on fire, forcing Wadsworth and his men to flee from the smoke and flames. As they retreated in the direction of Noyes’ Mill and the Goodenow garrison.   Wadsworth, Brocklebank and most of their men were killed. A few reached the Noyes Mill  and held out their till relieved the next day.

Fighting on Green Hill

 As night fell the natives, having completed their rout, retreated to the west, leaving the frightened settlers scattered throughout Sudbury’s garrisons to wonder what fate would bring them in the morning. The next day Captain Samuel Hunting and his company of praying Indians (they had marched from Charlestown late that day) searched the area for the English dead, gathering the bodies of five of the Concord militia. These were buried in a common grave at the east end of Town Bridge.  Wadsworth and his men were buried near where they fell.

 The Sudbury Fight should have been one of King Philips best victories. The feint at the Haynes garrison, the ambushes of both the Concord and Wadsworth’s troops, the ability to seal off Green Hill from reinforcements,  were a brilliant display of military tactics.   A victory here should have given the Wampanoag, Nipmuc, and Narragansett warriors a tremendous lift. But such was not the case. Perhaps their unacceptable losses or the fact that the English settlements still held out and  reinforcements continued to pour in was made the victory hollow. In addition the native supplies of weapons, powder and especially food stuffs were exhausted.  No matter how many fights he won his people were starving.

  In any event, when the war party returned to its camp at Mount Wachusett, captive Mary Rowlandson wrote: To my thinking, they went without any scruple but that they should prosper and gain the victory. And they went out not so rejoicing, but they came home with as great a victory, for they said they had killed two captains and almost an hundred men. One Englishman they brought alive with them; and he said it was too true for they had made sad work at Sudbury, as indeed it proved. Yet they came home without that rejoicing and triumphing over their victory which they were wont to show at other times, but rather like dogs (as they say) which have lost their ears. Yet I could not perceive that it was for their own loss of men. They said they had not lost but above five or six, and I missed none, except in one wigwam. When they went, they acted as if the Devil had told them that they should gain the victory; and now they acted as if the Devil had told them that they should have a fall. 

Shortly after the fight Philip's alliances would splinter and scatter.   Philip returned with his people to their homeland around the Bristol area while the other native warriors concentrated their efforts on feeding their people.

Please note:  I will be following up on this post with two more.  One will be a visit to the sites today and what you can find there.  This will be followed up with a possible wargames scenario for refuge ting this action.  Stay tuned for more!

Grenadier Company 10th Regiment of Foot 1775

 

The following is from the "Muster or Commissary  roll WO-12/2750" from 26 December 1774 to 24 June 1775 for the 10th Regiment of Foot. These rolls were recorded for six months and included all men within that company during that time period.   Last year in April I posted the Light Infantry company from this regiment for the same time period. Please see it at https://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2020/04/light-infantry-company-10th-regiment-of.html.  I wanted to show the state of the flank companies that marched on 19th April to Lexington and Concord as well as Bunker Hill on 17 June 1775.  

I would like to thank the late Vincent J-R Kehoe for sharing his copy of these muster rolls with me and the many conversations we had on this and other topics which he shared with me.  I learned a lot from him and miss him greatly.

  This year I am recording the 10th's Grenadier company.  That day they marched from Boston to Concord they may have arrived on Lexington Green after the fight.  In Concord Lt.Col. Smith sent them with the Light Infantry companies of the 47th and 59th to destroy supplies at the South Bridge.

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Grenadier Company 10th Regiment of Foot

26 December 1774 to 24 June 1775

Officers:

Captain Edward Fitzgerald: listed as on Commander in Chief's leave.  Does not take part either fight and on next roll listed as sick.

Captain Mundy Pole: Seconded from a battalion company of the regiment to act as commander of the Grenadier company.  Interestingly Smith has him commanding detachment sent to South Bridge while in Concord 19 April.

Lieutenant James Petrigrew: at both 19 April and 17 June fights.

Lieutenant Thomas Vernere:  deceased as of 30 June 1775.  Probably wounded at Bunker Hill as he us not listed as wounded on 19 April.

Sergeants:

Anthony Leversuch: one of the most senior NCO of the regiment.  Transferred in 24 June 1775 to Colonels company and on 28 June is commissioned the Regimental Quartermaster.

John Letham: reduced to private on 4 May 1775!  

(In the Concord Museum is a British army hanger from the period with 10th Regiment markings.  Also on Listing of broken and lost equipment for 19 April 1775 (Wo 26/3) is lost  a sergeant's sword and scabbard under 10th Regiment.  Its conjecture on my part but could the reason this man was reduced in rank was due to having lost his equipment that day?)

On second half of the muster roll these three sergeants added:

John Ellis:  died 24 June 1775

Robert Bennett: became sergeant 24 June

Robert McCutcheon: became sergeant 25 June

Corporals:

Robert McCutheon: see above

Thomas Mulhall: reduced to private 17 February.  Deserted 6 October.

Thomas Rosburgh: transferred to Captain Mackintosh's company in season one half of rolls.

Samuel Curry: made Corp. 17 February.  Died 26 June.

William Pole: made Corp. 26 March.  Died 22 July.

Drummer:

William Eddy:

Fifers:

Samuel Reed: 

Robert Anderson:

Private Men:

Samuel Curry:  made Corp. 17 February.  Died 26 June.

Thomas Kennedy: to Capt. Macintosh's company 24 June

William Wadsworth:

Joseph Taffe

Robert Browne

Francis Coughlan

Joseph Forrest: sick.   died 6 October

Edward Fitzpatrick: sick

Robert Manson

Edward Saxton

Thomas Keane: sick

Richard Gibbons: made Corp. 25 June

Samuel Percy: died 24 June

John Macmanus

Joseph Sheppard: made Corp. 17 November

William Boyd: sick

Stephen Wise: to Captain Mackintosh comp. 25 June

John Williams: made Corp. 25 July

Peter Golden: died 24 June

William Pole: made Corp. 26 March

Edward Deighan: sick

James Potter

Daniel Carroll

John Turner: to capt. Pole's company 25 June

Moses Conner: on duty

Joseph Randle

Richard Gray

Robert Purday: to capt. Dalway's company 25 June

Daniel Jones

Robert Pelham:  sick

John Horn: died 27 June

Andrew Cunningham:  made Corp. 25 June

The following men added to Grenadier company in second half of roll:

William Kelly: from capt. Mackintosh's company 25 April then on duty.

George Jackson: from 37th Regt. 12 June

Thomas Jackson: from 37th Debt. 12 June

Thomas Dogherty: from 45th Regt. 12 June

William Holden: from capt.Herbert's company 25 Sept. Then sick.

Thomas Mulhall: recuced from Corp. 17 Feb. Deserted 6 Oct

John Letham: reduced from sergt. 4 May

Michael Kelly: from Captain Pole's company 25 April - sick

Casuals:

John McCann: from Captain Mackintosh's company 25 April.  Died 24 June.

John Shaw: from Colonels company 25 April.  Died 19 July.

Mustered on the Rolls as of 19 January for 25 June 1774 to 24 December 1774:

2 Lieutenants

2 Sergeants

3 Corporals

1 drummer

2 Fifers

31 privates

Total 41 men

Allowed to pass unrespited:

1 Captain

1Private

Total 2. 

Company 43

(When adding the 4 contingent or warrent men the establishment strength is 47)

On next roll of 6 October for 25 December 1774 to 24 June 1775:

1 Sergeant

1Drummer

20 private men

Total 22. 

Allowed to pass unrespited:

1 Captain

2 Lieutenant

1 Sergeant

3 Corporals

2 Fifers

10 Privates

2 Casuals

Total 21. Company total 43

Note that the totals show the losses on both 19 April and 17 June that illustrate how decimated the company was following these actions.  It is also interesting the transfers both into and out of the company and the promotion and reductions of ranks.  Last note that wounded are not listed as they were still paid for this time period.  They were just interested in if you were alive or not!

Two eye witness accounts: Lexington Green 19 April 1775

 

It is always interesting to compare eye witness accounts of the same event.  Two people can see or experience the same event but come away from it with totally different interpretations.  Here is the case of British officer William Sutherland (38th Regiment) and Lexington Militia Man William Todd.  Both interacted on Lexington Green but came away with totally different interpretations of the same event.  

It. William Sutherland was mounted on a captured horse and when the firing broke out on Lexington Green the horse bolted for home taking Sutherland on a wild ride before he could stop it and return:

When we came up to the Main body who were drawn up in the plain opposite to the Church when several Officers called out, throw down your Arms & you shall come by no harm, or words to that effecth Which they refusing to do, instantaneously the Gentlemen (British officers) who were on horseback rode in amongst them at which time I heared Major [John] Pitcairns voice call out "Soldiers dont fire keep your ranks and form & surround them," instantly some of the Villains were got over the hedge, fired at us, & it was then & not before that the Soldiers fired which sett my horse agoing who gallopped with me 600 yards or more down a road to the right amongst the middle of them, at last I turned him and in returning a vast number who were in a wood at the right of the Grenadiers fired at me, but the distance was so great that I only heared the Whissing of the Balls, but saw a great number of people in this Wood, in  consequence of their discovering them being there our Grenadiers who were then on our flank and close to them gave them a very smart fire.

On the other hand here is a Lexington Militia man, William Tidd who thought he was being chased by a mounted British officer and ran for his life;

about five o’clock of said morning, intelligence was received that the British were within a short distance; and, on the beat to arms, I immediately repaired to where our company were fast assembling; that when about sixty or seventy of them had taken post, the British had arrived within sight, and were advancing on a quick march towards us, when I distinctly heard one of their officers say, “Lay down your arms and disperse, ye rebels!” They then fired upon us. I then retreated up the north road, and was pursued about thirty rods by an officer on horseback calling out to me, “Damn you, stop, or you are a dead man!” – I found I could not escape him, unless I left the road. Therefore I sprang over a pair of bars, made a stand and discharged my gun at him; upon which he immediately turned to the main body, which shortly after took up their march for Concord. 

William Tidd.

Culloden (1964) Peter Watkins

 

  April 16, 2021 is the 275 anniversary of the Battle of Culloden.  Back when I was eight or nine years old I saw the Peter Watkins documentary Culloden.  It was a fascinating and horrific experience. Since that time I have seen the movie multiple times and searched out and read John Prebble's book numerous times.  Although I have read other books about the battle my mind still sees it through the lens of this film.  

 Back in April 1983 I took a month off from work to travel around Great Britain via rail pass.  It was a amazing experience.  I made sure I was in Inverness in time for the anniversary of the battle.  I got up early on the morning of 16 April and in a light drizzle walked to the battlefield with a copy of John Prebble's book Culloden.  For a number if hours I walked about stopping and reading portions of the book at the locations of the battle from the book.  I cannot remember how long I was there but it was a fascinating experience. 

 I have, through my time with the NPS and on my own visited numerous battlefields (Monmouth, Guilford Courthouse, Cowpens and too many others) and historical sites (Ford's Theater) on the anniversary of the event.   But of all of them my time on Culloden moor was the most memorable and haunting.