Little Metacomet

During the early settlement days of this country, before the great Indian war of 1675, when the pioneers and the savages shared the land on Mt. Hope Bay and the Narragansett Bay...

Little Metacomet, the prince, was an usually bright Indian boy. His quickness of feeling and of ear and eye pleased the royal Indians, for it was expected that he would succeed...

"Do not fear," said the hermit. "It is I who ride the white ox, and I will accompany you part of the way, and Father Eliot shall ride the ox."

Little Metacomet liked to look into nature; his small mind probably did not know that the hidden force and wisdom of the universe was there. Blackstone, the hermit, studied natu...

William Blackstone, as we have said, was a keen lover of nature. It made him happy to have a wild animal begin to follow him; to have the birds come to him for protection and sh...

The New England woods were full of wonders to the pioneer. Little Metacomet delighted more and more to bring to Susan Barley things that would most surprise her. Susan's way of...

One morning Little Metacomet heard a quail piping in the open wood, where were rocks and partridge berries. That music of the woods always caused him to turn his quick ear.

It was June. The wild roses were in bloom. Little Metacomet with Sassamon led Roger, or "Bob-White," to a great pond surrounded by black alders. It was nearly noon and the sun s...

He could laugh, mock, and pilfer, but he did the latter in such a comical way as to cause even a red-face to smile. Very wild by nature he could be made very tame, as tame as a...

In the summer, when the cloud of war was gathering, the last beautiful season of the Indian race of the bays, the visits of Little Metacomet to the Barley cabin in the green gro...

In the green groves of Swansea was an Indian national mill which may still be seen on the main road from Warren to Barneyville, about half-way between the two towns. A stone wal...

It was a lovely summer day. The long mornings in New England in June are almost days of themselves. Wild roses reddened the woods; there were water-lilies on the ponds, that fil...

Among many wonderful playthings of wood, metal and shell that Little Metacomet had in his lodge were a bundle of notch-sticks, by which he numbered the changes of the moon, and...

"The races of the Indian boys at Mt. Hope. The boys race, jump over a rock into the water, and swim, swim, swim, and he who runs and swims the fastest and farthest, is given moc...

Little Metacomet thought the cabin in the groves the most delightful of the hiding-places of nature, for the lands of the rivers and bays were to him the open world. He, too, li...

Sometimes John Sassamon the interpreter accompanied the little prince to the groves. He had become one of John Eliot's preachers, and he spoke English well. He was a story-telle...

Near Sowams, on the Kickemuit river, was the Indian town of Kickemuit, and between the water courses or bays ran a long peninsula towards the island of Aquidneck and the ocean,...

"The land air is fire; protect yourselves. I would help you, but I cannot restrain my young braves now. The young warriors burn; I must mount my black horse, and I give you warn...

But Susan was soon to hear the war-whoop which she so much dreaded. A week went by after the visit of the barkeater, and she watched daily for sign of the Indians, or for a visi...

Some time in 1675, perhaps in the beautiful autumn, Little Metacomet followed his mother into the Narragansett Country, to a woods, near what is now North Kingston. The Narragan...

The colonists determined to destroy the great Narragansett fort. For this purpose they set forth from Plymouth with a strong force. One of their leaders was Col. Benjamin Church...

"The women and children are following him. They will all be taken prisoners--there is no more hope for Philip. It all had to be so. He brought it upon himself. The white man or...

"They have taken Little Metacomet and put him in a pen," she said. "I am going to Boston to appeal to the Governor. I will get my slat bonnet and go. Saddle the horse for me. I...

The ship that was to deport the Indians to the Palm Lands, or the Islands, sailed away, probably from Plymouth. Among the prisoners was Runneymarsh. He had known the princess an...