The party collected on that
occasion was probably the largest military body which the English, at
that early day, had ever assembled in their Colonies. It consisted of a
thousand men, of whom no inconsiderable number was cavalry--a species of
troops that, as all subsequent experience has shown, is admirably adapted
to operations against so active and so subtle a foe.
The attack was made in the depth of winter, and it proved fearfully
destructive to the assailed. The defence of Conanchet, the young Sachem of
the Narragansetts, was every way worthy of his high character for courage
and mental resources, nor was the victory gained without serious loss to
the Colonists. The native chief had collected his warriors, and taken post
on a small area of firm land, that was situated in the centre of a densely
wooded swamp; and the preparations for resistance betrayed a singular
familiarity with the military expedients of a white man. There had been a
palisadoed breast-work, a species of redoubt, and a regular block-house,
to overcome, ere the Colonists could penetrate into the fortified village
itself.
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