in earlier than usual; much snow had fallen, and the weather was
extremely cold. The seven companies of Massachusetts, under the
command of Major Samuel Appleton of Ipswich, started on their march,
Dec. 10. On the evening of the 12th, having effected a junction with
the Plymouth companies, they reached the rendezvous, on the north side
of Wickford Hill, in North Kingston, R.I. On the 13th, Winslow
commenced his move upon the enemy. On the 18th, the Connecticut
troops joined him. His army was complete; the enemy was known to be
near, and all haste made to reach him. The snow was deep. The
Narragansetts were intrenched on a somewhat elevated piece of ground
of five or six acres in area, surrounded by a swamp, within the limits
of the present town of South Kingston. The Indian camp was strongly
fortified by a double row of palisades, about a rod apart, and also by
a thick hedge. There was but a single entrance known to our troops,
which could only be reached, one at a time, over a slanting log or
felled tree, slippery from frost and falling snow, about six feet
above a ditch. There were other passages, known only to the Indians,
by which they could steal out, a few at a time, and get a shot at our
people in the flank and rear. Many of our men were cut off in this
way. The allied forces had expected to pass the night, previous to
reaching the hostile camp, at a garrison about fifteen miles distant
from that point; but the Indians had destroyed the buildings, and
slaughtered the occupants, seventeen in number, two days before. Here
the troops passed the night, unsheltered from the bitter weather. The
next day, Dec. 19, was Sunday; but their provisions were exhausted,
and the supply they had expected to find had been destroyed with the
garrison-house. There could be no delay. They recommenced their march,
at half-past five o'clock in the morning, through the deep snow, which
continued falling all day, and reached the borders of what was
described, by a writer well acquainted with it, as "a hideous swamp."