Cromwell at
Drogheda, not long after, had soldiers no more merciless than
these exterminating Puritans, who wished to plough their fields
henceforth in peace. A generation later the storm broke again in
King Philip's War. Its tales of massacre, captivity, and
single-handed fighting linger in the American imagination still.
Typical pamphlets are Mary Rowlandson's thrilling tale of the
Lancaster massacre and her subsequent captivity, and the
loud-voiced Captain Church's unvarnished description of King
Philip's death. The King, shot down like a wearied bull-moose in
the deep swamp, "fell upon his face in the mud and water, with
his gun under him." They "drew him through the mud to the upland;
and a doleful, great, naked dirty beast he looked like." The head
brought only thirty shillings at Plymouth: "scanty reward and
poor encouragement," thought Captain Church. William Hubbard, the
minister of Ipswich, wrote a comprehensive "Narrative of the
Troubles with the Indians in New England," bringing the history
down to 1677. Under the better known title of "Indian Wars," this
fervid and dramatic tale, penned in a quiet parsonage, has
stirred the pulses of every succeeding generation.
Pages:
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64