In the brutal winter siege of 1675, 1,000 colonial troops assaulted the Narragansett fortress in Rhode Island’s Great Swamp. Frozen ground turned sanctuary into trap, leading to one of colonial America’s deadliest battles. Click here for the 24-minute video, part of Native Legends & History Stories posted on February 12, 2025.

Here in the swamps of Southern Rhode Island, the strategic genius of Native engineering clashed with colonial military might in a fight that changed New England forever.

On the bitter afternoon of December 19th, the waters of the swamps had turned to ice, allowing the 250 colonial soldiers to approach the pallisaded fortress in the middle of the Great Swamp.

Unleashing their fire upon the hundreds of Native men, women and children and setting the village ablaze, they fired upon the fleeing survivors amid the blood soaked snow.