Synopsis of New England on Fire!
“King Alexander is dead!”
“Alexander? Dead? How can this be? He was here in Marshfield just two days ago.” Josiah Winslow felt a knot of fear tighten in his chest.
Thus begins the first story in the collection of twenty-four stories about a war that killed more people per capita than either the Revolutionary or Civil Wars. The sudden death of Alexander, newly crowned sachem of the Wampanoag nation, caused Philip, his successor, to entertain suspicions that his brother had been poisoned by the colonists.
Part One contains six stories of the slow and rocky buildup to the Indian revolt in 1675 against the land grabbing, arrogant Puritans as Philip prepares to take a last stand for his land and his people. The trigger is the trial in Plymouth Court of three Wampanoag men accused of the murder of a Wampanoag. The three are convicted and hung.
Part Two begins in June, 1675. Angered over the rigged trial, the Wampanoags burn homes in the Swansea area and kill a colonist. Colonial forces are mustered and march on the Wampanoag peninsula. Because of blunders made by the English, Philip and his men are able to escape three times and end up in western Massachusetts where an attack has just been made on Brookfield. Many attacks follow in the area during the fall of 1675. On December 19 in a raging blizzard, English colonists burn a Narragansett village killing five hundred men, women and children. The Narragansetts join the Wampanoags and the Nipmucks in attacking many New England towns during the winter and spring of 1676. The English finally gain the upper hand in June and the War ends in August, 1676, with the slaying of Philip. (See Consequences of the War.)
New England on Fire! provides a great resource for those who enjoy learning about history through stories. The book encompasses the salient episodes of the War so that anyone reading it would have a good understanding of what happened and why it happened.
The stories are varied: some are told from the native point of view and others from the English viewpoint; some are told in first person, others, in third person. There are two letters, one diary entry and two narrative poems. A paragraph or two of notes forms a bridge between stories explaining how the action in the previous story affected the course of the War. The epilogue is a dialogue among a panel of fictitious contemporary scholars of the War. Every episode is grounded in facts – many obtained from primary sources. Empathy for the native is at the heart of the book.
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“Alexander? Dead? How can this be? He was here in Marshfield just two days ago.” Josiah Winslow felt a knot of fear tighten in his chest.
Thus begins the first story in the collection of twenty-four stories about a war that killed more people per capita than either the Revolutionary or Civil Wars. The sudden death of Alexander, newly crowned sachem of the Wampanoag nation, caused Philip, his successor, to entertain suspicions that his brother had been poisoned by the colonists.
Part One contains six stories of the slow and rocky buildup to the Indian revolt in 1675 against the land grabbing, arrogant Puritans as Philip prepares to take a last stand for his land and his people. The trigger is the trial in Plymouth Court of three Wampanoag men accused of the murder of a Wampanoag. The three are convicted and hung.
Part Two begins in June, 1675. Angered over the rigged trial, the Wampanoags burn homes in the Swansea area and kill a colonist. Colonial forces are mustered and march on the Wampanoag peninsula. Because of blunders made by the English, Philip and his men are able to escape three times and end up in western Massachusetts where an attack has just been made on Brookfield. Many attacks follow in the area during the fall of 1675. On December 19 in a raging blizzard, English colonists burn a Narragansett village killing five hundred men, women and children. The Narragansetts join the Wampanoags and the Nipmucks in attacking many New England towns during the winter and spring of 1676. The English finally gain the upper hand in June and the War ends in August, 1676, with the slaying of Philip. (See Consequences of the War.)
New England on Fire! provides a great resource for those who enjoy learning about history through stories. The book encompasses the salient episodes of the War so that anyone reading it would have a good understanding of what happened and why it happened.
The stories are varied: some are told from the native point of view and others from the English viewpoint; some are told in first person, others, in third person. There are two letters, one diary entry and two narrative poems. A paragraph or two of notes forms a bridge between stories explaining how the action in the previous story affected the course of the War. The epilogue is a dialogue among a panel of fictitious contemporary scholars of the War. Every episode is grounded in facts – many obtained from primary sources. Empathy for the native is at the heart of the book.
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