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On the same day in which Marlborough was destroyed, a very disastrous defeat befell a party of soldiers belonging to the old Plymouth colony. Nanuntenoo, son of the renowned Miantunnomah, was now the head chief of the Narragansets.
Appalled by the sight, he also fled like his predecessors. Nanuntenoo, amazed by this conduct, dispatched two more to solve the mystery. These last proved more faithful to their trust. They came running back in breathless haste, shouting, "The English are upon you." Not a moment was to be lost in deliberation. The enemy was already in sight.
The squaws confessed that Nanuntenoo was yonder, the Indian scouts picked up the fresh trail, the Denison men hastened at best speed. In the midst of his story, Canonchet saw his two sentinels dash headlong past the wigwam, "as if they wanted for time to tell what they had seen." At once he sent a third man, to report upon what was the matter.
Williams, shall never be injured, for you are a good man, and have been kind to us." Nanuntenoo had about fifteen hundred warriors under his command.
An unpleasant surprise. A conflagration. The Indians retire. Philip's letter. Indian warfare. An ambuscade. A decoy. The town burned. Monoco's threats. Monoco hung. Destruction of Warwick. Alarm from the Indians. Exultation of the Indians. Defeat of the Plymouth army. Nanuntenoo. Plan of action. A stratagem, and its success. Defeat certain. Heroic defense. An escape. Escape of the Indians.
Nanuntenoo leaped from his wigwam, and, with the agility of a deer, bounded over the ground in a hopeless attempt to escape. Nearly the whole army, English and Indians, like hounds in full cry, eagerly pressed the chase. With amazing speed, the tall, athletic sachem fled along the bank of the river, seeking a place to ford the stream.
In his rapid flight he threw off his blanket, his silver-laced coat, and his belt of wampum, so that nothing remained to obstruct his sinewy and finely-moulded limbs. A Mohegan Indian was in advance of all the rest of the company in the pursuit. Nanuntenoo plunged into the narrow stream to cross. His foot slipped upon a stone, and he fell, immersing his gun in the water.
Their mode of accomplishing it. Terrible slaughter. Storming of Providence. Roger Williams. Nanuntenoo's reply. Cowardly sentinels. Alarm of the chief. Flight of Nanuntenoo. His capture. Young America rebuked. Execution of the sachem. Statement of Cotton Mather. Character of Nanuntenoo. Peril of the settlers. Mutual disasters. Philip's affection for Taunton. A family save a town.
Therefore he crossed, near the Pawtucket Falls, in glad pursuit and "no sooner was he upon the western side, than the warriors of Nanuntenoo, like an avalanche from a mountain, rushed down upon him; nor striving for coverts from which to fight, more than their foes, fought them face to face with the most determined bravery!"
The spirit of the times may be inferred from the following comments upon this transaction in the narrative written by Hubbard: "This was the confusion of that damned wretch that had often opened his mouth to blaspheme the name of the living God and those that made profession thereof." We can not take leave of Nanuntenoo without a tribute of respect to his heroic and noble character.
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