The Roads Leading North: September 1675–January 1676

This chapter brings together multiple strands, and numerous archives, to explore the interconnections among regions and communities impacted by King Philip’s War, as it spread in the fall and winter of 1675. It shows the growing chaos of the conflict and increasing forcefulness of the colonial policy of containment in the Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Nipmuc countries, as well as the expansion of that conflict and policy into the Wabanaki coast and interior, including the fledgling settlements in northern New England. The chapter moves toward a wider view of the geography of King Philip’s War. It begins by following Weetamoo to Narragansett, where she cultivated crucial alliances; then shifts to the Northern Front of Wabanaki country, including Penacook and Abenaki communities; then returns to the Nipmuc country, conveying the story of James Printer’s “capture” by his Nipmuc relations in November 1675 and his travel to Menimesit, where James and his family were joined by Weetamoo and her kin, following the infamous Great Swamp massacre at Narragansett in December 1675. This chapter juxtaposes and interweaves multiple historical threads to show how all of these spaces and stories are intertwined, forming a wide and dynamic tapestry of Indigenous geography.