The Sudbury Fight
We went to the Wadsworth Cemetery in Sudbury, Middlesex County, Massachusetts to visit the grave of my 7th Great-Grandfather, Captain Samuel Brocklebank, who was killed in action defending the town of Sudbury during King Philip’s War on 21 April 1676.
Samuel was one of many that suffered that year. I can currently trace my descent from sixty-three ancestors who lived through those tumultuous times, and thirteen men fought to save their family and homes. Unfortunately, a 9th Great Grandfather, Isaac Chittenden, was not a soldier, but he was slain none the less when the Indians attacked Scituate on 20 May 1676. Overall, that war decimated the population by killing 10% of men, and included women, and children, the burning of 1200 homes, and before it’s conclusion, twelve of the ninety towns were completely destroyed.
Captain Brocklebank’s progeny, and the generations that followed, were not spared the call to fight either. His daughter would birth Philip Nelson, who would be killed in 1756 during the French and Indian War. Philip had a one-year-old daughter when he was killed, and she would marry Jonathan Roby, who had himself served as a seventeen-year-old soldier at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Thankfully, they persevered and were able to help build our nation.
The cemetery has a monument dedicated to the place where many soldiers were reinterred, and it is not far from the hill upon which they perished.
The image I created here is a collage with the image of the battle in the background. The snow that was still on the ground makes for a nice transition.
Anyway, about the battle [long excerpt]:
"THE SUDBURY FIGHT TOOK PLACE ON 21 APRIL 1676, WHEN FIVE HUNDRED WAMPANOAG, NIPMUC, AND NARRAGANSETT INDIANS RAIDED THE FRONTIER SETTLEMENT OF SUDBURY IN MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY. DISPARATE COMPANIES OF ENGLISH MILITIAMEN FROM NEARBY SETTLEMENTS MARCHED TO THE TOWN'S DEFENSE, TWO OF WHICH WERE DRAWN INTO AMBUSHES AND SUFFERED HEAVY LOSSES. THE BATTLE WAS THE LAST MAJOR INDIAN VICTORY IN KING PHILIP'S WAR BEFORE THEIR FINAL DEFEAT IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND IN AUGUST 1676.BACKGROUND: THE WINTER OF 1676 BROUGHT A LULL IN THE FIGHTING OF KING PHILIP'S WAR IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS, BUT COME SPRING NATIVE AMERICAN FORCES RESUMED THEIR RAIDS ON THE AREA'S PURITAN TOWNS. THE NATIVE COALITION ATTACKED THE STRATEGICALLY SIGNIFICANT FORT AT MARLBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS ON BOTH MARCH 16 AND APRIL 7, DESTROYING MOST OF THE SETTLEMENT AND FORCING A PARTIAL EVACUATION OF ITS RESIDENTS. IN RESPONSE TO THESE ATTACKS, AS WELL AS THE RECENT ABANDONMENT OF LANCASTER AND GROTON, THE COLONIAL COUNCIL OF WAR DISPATCHED CAPTAIN SAMUEL WADSWORTH AND FIFTY MEN TO MARLBOROUGH TO REINFORCE THE FRONTIER. WADSWORTH'S COMPANY PASSED THROUGH SUDBURY ON THE EVENING OF APRIL 20.BATTLE: INDIAN FORCES INFILTRATED SUDBURY DURING THE NIGHT AND ATTACKED AT DAWN, BURNING HOUSES AND BARNS, AS WELL AS KILLING "SEVERAL PERSONS," ACCORDING TO PURITAN HISTORIAN WILLIAM HUBBARD. MANY ENGLISH RESIDENTS OF SUDBURY ABANDONED THEIR HOMES AND SOUGHT REFUGE IN THE TOWN'S FORTIFIED GARRISON HOUSES. THE INDIANS FACED A STOUT DEFENSE FROM THE ENGLISH CIVILIANS WITHIN. AT ONE POINT THE NATIVES ROLLED A FLAMING CART FULL OF FLAX DOWNHILL TOWARD THE GARRISON, ONLY FOR THE CONTRAPTION TO HIT A ROCK AND SPILL OVER BEFORE DOING ANY DAMAGE.CAPTAIN WADSWORTH APPROACHED FROM THE WEST WITH ABOUT SEVENTY MEN, HIS NUMBERS BOLSTERED BY CAPTAIN SAMUEL BROCKLEBANK'S GARRISON AT MARLBOROUGH. WADSWORTH'S MEN HAD RESTED ONLY BRIEFLY IN MARLBOROUGH BEFORE THEIR MARCH BACK EAST TO DEFEND SUDBURY; THEY WERE HUNGRY, EXHAUSTED, AND COMPLETELY IGNORANT OF THEIR ENEMY'S POSITION. A MILE FROM TOWN, WADSWORTH'S MEN SPOTTED ABOUT A HUNDRED ARMED NATIVES DARTING OFF INTO THE WOODS.THE NATIVES LED THE MILITIA TO THE LOW GROUND BETWEEN GOODMAN'S HILL AND GREEN HILL IN PRESENT-DAY SUDBURY, WHERE THEY SPRANG AN AMBUSH, SURROUNDING THE SMALL ENGLISH FORCE. WADSWORTH FOUGHT HIS WAY TO THE SUMMIT OF GREEN HILL, ORDERING HIS MEN TO FORM A SQUARE, AND REPULSED MULTIPLE NATIVE CHARGES. THE FIGHTING WENT ON ALL AFTERNOON. THE WATERTOWN MILITIA AND TWO COMPANIES OF ENGLISH CAVALRY REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO RESCUE WADSWORTH, BUT ULTIMATELY FAILED TO BREAK THE NATIVE ENVELOPMENT AND WERE FORCED TO RETREAT.ACCORDING TO INCREASE MATHER, THE NATIVES TOOK "FIVE OR SIX OF THE ENGLISH ALIVE" AND "STRIPPED THEM NAKED, AND CAUSED THEM TO RUN THE GAUNTLET, WHIPPING THEM AFTER A CRUEL AND BLOODY MANNER, AND THEN THREW HOT ASHES UPON THEM; CUT THE FLESH OF THEIR LEGS, AND PUT FIRE INTO THEIR WOUNDS, DELIGHTING TO SEE THE MISERABLE TORMENTS OF WRETCHED CREATURES." HUBBARD ALSO CLAIMS ENGLISH CAPTIVES WERE TORTURED.ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 22, NATIVE WARRIORS TAUNTED MILITIAMEN IN MARLBOROUGH BY SHOUTING SEVENTY-FOUR TIMES TO INDICATE THE NUMBER OF THEIR ENEMY THEY BELIEVED THEY HAD KILLED AT SUDBURY."
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Wikipedia, Sudbury Fight (https://en.wikipedia.org : accessed 27 March 2023)
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