Round House of Grass Long Council Chamber Making a Long House
Indian Men Feeding Dogs
Models of Indian Village in Roger Williams Park Museum
Courtesy of “Providence Magazine”
Roger Williams protected the Quakers by granting them in his colony a shelter from persecutions. However, he was never friendly to their peculiar tenets and assailed them in debates and pamphlets. When George Fox, their founder, was in America in 1672, Williams challenged him to a debate. A delay in getting the challenge to Fox, who had sailed for England, did not leave the debate unaccepted. Three Rhode Island Quakers undertook the task. Roger Williams rowed the thirty miles to Newport and for three days debated with all the characteristic bitterness of debates of that period. They adjourned to complete the debate at Providence. Williams is seen in the worst light here and has been greatly criticized for the strong language he used in opposing these Quakers. We should never forget that the Puritans went far beyond strong language, in persecuting some to death and in exiling others. Both sides claimed a victory in the debate, which was perpetuated in pamphlets, issued at its completion. Williams wrote one, entitled, “George Fox Digg’d out of his Burrowes.” Fox replied with one, entitled, “A New-England Fire-Brand Quenched.” Fox’s book is a quarto of 489 pages. Williams’ book, a small quarto of 327 pages, was printed in Boston, 1676. The only original copy known to exist is the one in the Library of Harvard College.
Roger Williams wrote many letters, the originals of which were widely scattered. Many of these have been collected and printed in a volume by the Rhode Island Historical Society. In one of these letters, to Governor Bradford, of Boston, he refers to a collection of discourses which he had reduced to writing. These sermons, with treatises written prior to his banishment, are probably lost forever.
King Philip’s War
Canonicus died, June 4, 1647. Massasoit died in 1660, leaving two sons, Wamsutta and Metacon, or as they were nicknamed by the English, Alexander and Philip. The former succeeded his father. On a return from Plymouth Alexander died suddenly, and Philip suspected that he was poisoned. This, however, was not the fact. The Narragansetts had not forgotten the death or murder of Miantonomo, and the Indians generally felt that the English were gradually crowding them out of their own domains. Philip took advantage of this feeling and organized a war which had for its object the complete extermination of all the English settlements. This war, opening in Plymouth, 1675, lasted more than a year. Twelve out of the ninety New England towns were completely destroyed and forty others were the scene of fire and slaughter. A thousand strong men lost their lives in addition to a large number of helpless women and children who were tomahawked. Rhode Island, for the first time, was exposed to the hostile attacks of the Indians. Many of the inhabitants, fearing the impending disaster, had joined the army of attack against the Indians. In retaliation for this, Providence was attacked, and twenty-nine houses were burned. One of them contained the town records, part of which were saved by being thrown into a pond, from which they were afterward recovered. When the Indians appeared on the heights above Providence, Roger Williams, unarmed, went out to counsel with them. He urged them to stop the warfare, telling them that the English king would come to the assistance of the colonists and, with greater numbers, overpower the Indians. They replied:
Let them come, we are ready for them. But as for you, Brother Williams, you are a good man, you have been kind to us many years, not a hair of your head shall be touched.
He returned to a house which had been converted into a fort. It was not touched, but the town otherwise was destroyed. Most of the citizens of the mainland fled to Rhode Island and Newport. The doom of the Indians was sounded, the war was put down, and the leaders were captured or slain. Immediately after the war the work of rebuilding commenced. Houses were built larger and more substantially.
A NEW-ENGLAND-
Fire-Brand Quenched,
Being an
ANSWER
UNTO A
Slanderous Book, Entituled; GEORGE FOX
Digged out of his Burrows, &c. Printed at Boston in the Year
1676, by Roger Williams of Providence in New-England.
Which he Dedicateth to the KING, with Desires, That, if
the Most-High please, Old and New-England may Flourish, when
the Pope & Mahomet, Rome & Constantinople are in their Ashes.
Of a DISPUTE upon XIV. of his Proposals held and debated
betwixt him, the said Roger Williams, on the one part, and
John Stubs, William Edmundson and John Burnyeat on the other.
At Providence and Newport in Rode-Island, in the Year 1672.
IN which his Cavils are Refuted, & his Reflections Reproved.
In Two Parts.
As also,
An ANSWER to R. W’s APPENDIX, &c.
With a
POST-SCRIPT Confuting his Blasphemous Assertions,
viz. Of the Blood of Christ, that was Shed, its being Corruptible
and Corrupted; and that Salvation was by a Man, that was Corruptible,
&c. Where-unto is added a
CATALOGUE of his Railery, Lies, Scorn & Blasphemies: And
His TEMPORIZING SPIRIT made manifest. Also, The
LETTERS of W. Coddington of Rode-Island, and R. Scot of
Providence in New-England concerning R.W. And Lastly, Some
TESTIMONIES of Antient & Modern Authors concerning
the LIGHT, SCRIPTURES, RULE &, the SOUL of Man.
By GEORGE FOX and JOHN BURNYEAT.
Printed in the Year MDC. LXXIX.