The Sudbury Fight (April 21, 1676) was a battle of

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...

, fought in what is today

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

and

Wayland, Massachusetts Wayland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1638, and incorporated in 1780 and was originally part of neighboring Sudbury (incorporated 1639). At the 2020 United States census, the population wa ...

, when approximately five hundred

Wampanoag The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...

Nipmuc The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian languages, Eastern Algonquian language, probably the Loup language. Their historic territory Nippenet, meaning 'the f ...

, and Narragansett Native Americans raided the frontier settlement of Sudbury in

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

. Disparate companies of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

men from nearby settlements marched to the town's defense, two of which were drawn into Native ambushes and suffered heavy losses. The battle was the last major Native American victory in King Philip's War before their final defeat in southern

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

in August 1676.

Background

The winter of 1676 brought a lull in the fighting of King Philip's War in eastern

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, but come spring Native American forces resumed their raids on the area's

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

towns. The Native coalition attacked the strategically significant fort at

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high ...

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 Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

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. Meanwhile, a large group of Native warriors departed the Nipmuc stronghold of

Mount Wachusett Mount Wachusett is a mountain in Massachusetts. It straddles towns of Princeton and Westminster, in Worcester County. It is the highest point in Massachusetts east of the Connecticut River. The mountain is named after a Native American term m ...

and gathered on Pompositticut Hill (also known as Summer Hill in what is now

Maynard, Massachusetts Maynard is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located 22 miles west of Boston, in the MetroWest and Greater Boston region of Massachusetts and borders Acton, Concord, Stow and Sudbury. The town's populatio ...

). After a

pow wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Inaugurated in 1923, powwows today are an opportunity for Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their ...

, the group decided to attack Sudbury instead of

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other words Arts and media * ''Concord'' (video game), a defunct 2024 first-person sh ...

.Gutteridge, William H. (1921). ''A Brief History of the Town of Maynard, Massachusetts''. Maynard, MA: Town of Maynard, p. 13-1

/ref> Tradition holds that

Metacomet Metacomet (c. 1638 in Massachusetts – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip, though no primary sources corroborate it. Local historians have suggested that Nipmuc

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...

Muttawmp held overall command.

Battle

Native 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 (most of whom lived on the east bank of the

Sudbury River The Sudbury River is a tributary of the Concord River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 Origin ...

, in present-day Wayland) abandoned their homes and sought refuge in the town's fortified garrison houses. The Natives besieged the Haynes garrison house on Water Row Road all morning but faced a stout defense from the English civilians within. At one point the Natives rolled a flaming cart full of

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...

downhill toward the garrison, only for the contraption to hit a rock and spill over before doing any damage. The Haynes garrison held throughout the battle, though authors George Ellis and John Morris have speculated that the siege was a

feint Feint, a French term that entered English via the discipline of swordsmanship and fencing, is a maneuver designed to distract or mislead. A feint is achieved by giving the impression that a certain maneuver will take place, while in fact another, ...

meant to draw English reinforcements to the area. "Hearing the alarm," about a dozen men of Concord marched to Sudbury's defense. They were ambushed and massacred within full view of the defenders of the Haynes garrison. Only one of the Concord men escaped with his life, and the dead were buried in a mass grave just east of

Old Town Bridge Old Town Bridge (Norwegian: Gamle Bybro or Bybroa) is located in Trondheim, Trøndelag County, Norway. History Gamle Bybro crosses the Nidelva River from the south end of the main street Kjøpmannsgata connecting to the Trondheim neighbo ...

in Wayland. Flushed with victory, Native forces crossed the river and set about pillaging the central settlement of Sudbury. Shortly before noon, English militiamen from Watertown under the command of Captain Hugh Mason arrived and successfully repelled the raiding party. King Philip p311 - The destruction of Sudbury

King Philip p311 - The destruction of Sudbury

As Mason took back control of the town, 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. Believing that "these they might easily deal with," the militia set off in pursuit. 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. Native warriors then set fire to the dry brush of the hill, choking Wadsworth's beleaguered company with smoke. In a panic, the English broke and ran. Half the militiamen were killed in the

rout A rout is a Panic, panicked, disorderly and Military discipline, undisciplined withdrawal (military), retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's discipline, command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale ...

, including Wadsworth and Brocklebank. The survivors fled south toward the Goodenow garrison house on

Boston Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...

, where Mason's company and the cavalry were regrouping. Thirteen or fourteen militiamen also took refuge in the fortified Noyes

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

until they were eventually rescued. According to

Increase Mather Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a History of New England, New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the sixth President of Harvard University, President of Harvard College (la ...

, 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, but

Mary Rowlandson Mary Rowlandson, née White, later Mary Talcott (c. 1637January 5, 1711), was a colonial American woman who was captured by Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans in 1676 during King Philip's War and held for 11 weeks before being ...

, a captive of the sachem

Weetamoo Weetamoo (pronounced Wee-TAH-moo) (c. 1635–1676), also referred to as Weethao, Weetamoe, Wattimore, Namumpum, and Tatapanunum, was a Pocasset Wampanoag Native American Chief. She was the ''sunksqua'', or female sachem, of the Pocasset trib ...

who was present in the Native camp during the battle, makes no mention of it in her memoirs.

Aftermath

As night fell, Native forces withdrew from Sudbury. Early the next day, English soldiers, together with a group of allied

Praying Indian Praying Indian is a 17th-century term referring to Native Americans of New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Ver ...

s, set out to the battlefield to bury the dead. Rowlandson claims that despite their victory, morale among the Native coalition was low after the Sudbury Fight:

"They came home without that rejoicing and triumphing over their victory which they were wont to show at other times; but rather like dogs (as they say) which have lost their ears. Yet I could not perceive that it was for their own loss of men. They said they had not lost above five or six; and I missed none, except in one wigwam. When they went, they acted as if the Devil had told them that they should gain the victory; and now they acted as if the Devil had told them they should have a fall. Whither it were so or no, I cannot tell, but so it proved, for quickly they began to fall, and so held on that summer, till they came to utter ruin."

Hubbard and Mather disagree with Rowlandson, putting the Native dead at a "hundred and twenty," and in the autumn of 1676, prominent citizens of Sudbury recounted that they had made a "considerable slaughter" of Native attackers. 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.

Legacy

In 1730, Samuel Wadsworth's son

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

(then president of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

) dedicated a memorial stone over the mass grave where his father had been buried alongside his men. In 1852, the remains of Wadsworth's militia were excavated and reinterred fifty feet north to the site of a new monument near the base of Green Hill. Both memorials incorrectly date the battle to April 18, likely an error of Hubbard's that was subsequently reprinted. The date is April 21 in Mather's contemporary chronicle, and a letter dated April 21, 1676 from the colonial government of Massachusetts Bay to

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

governor

Josiah Winslow Josiah Winslow ( in Plymouth Colony – 1680 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony) was the 13th Governor of Plymouth Colony. In records of the time, historians also name him Josias Winslow, and modern writers have carried that name forward. He was b ...

states, "This day we have intelligence in the general that Sudbury was this morning assaulted and many houses burnt down." A handful of other monuments and markers in Sudbury and Wayland commemorate the Sudbury Fight, most of which were erected in the 1930s to celebrate Massachusetts's

tricentennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption o ...

. The battlefield around Goodman's Hill and Green Hill is now the site of an affluent residential neighborhood. The battle is a major plot point in the 2023 horror film '' The Sudbury Devil''.

References

{{reflist 1676 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1676 in the Thirteen Colonies Battles in Massachusetts

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Sudbury, Massachusetts Wayland, Massachusetts