Col. Benjamin CHURCH

Abt 1640 - 1718  (78 years)

• Name	Benjamin CHURCH  [1, 3]
  	Benjamin Church was the first "Englishman" to settle at Little Compton in 1675, but with the outbreak of King Philip's War later that year he accepted a commission as Captain in the Plymouth Colony forces. He was commissioned Major and commander-in-chief of the first expedition against the Indians in the "East" (Maine) in 1689 and likewise commanded all five expeditions. [1] King Philip's War During King Philip's War, Church was the principal military aide to Governor Josiah Winslow of Plymouth Colony. Commissioned by Winslow as a captain on July 24, 1675, he fought during King Philip's War (1675?1678) on the New England frontier against the Wampanoag, Nipmuck and Podunk tribes of Indians. He is best known during this time for commanding a company of Englishmen and Native Americans independently of the governor's direction. Church's men were the first colonial force to be successful in raiding the hostile Indians' camps in forests and swamps. During previous decades, colonists had been on the defense against the Natives, who knew their territory intimately. Relations were generally peaceful until 1675, but tensions had been growing as the colonists and their views of property encroached on Indian territory and hunting grounds. Church was allowed to recruit Native Americans after he and other leaders realized that traditional European military tactics were ineffective in frontier warfare. He also persuaded many neutral or formerly hostile Indians to surrender and join his unit, where they operated skillfully as irregular troops. Some of these men had converted to Christianity in settlements before the war. They were known as Praying Indians. After being organized by Church, these troops tracked hostile Indians into the forests and swamps, and conducted effective raids and ambushes on their camps. Great Swamp Fight After the Great Swamp Fight, Church and his forces hoped to follow the surviving Narragansett to their villages. Instead, Church and others became stranded in enemy territory and without provisions. Their expedition had to fight to survive and eventually were forced to eat their horses rather than starve. The war soon ended after an operation by Church's company on August 12, 1676. John Alderman, one of Church's Indian allies killed the chieftain King Philip (also known as Metacomet). Upon inspection of Philip's body, Church is quoted as saying "a doleful, great, naked, dirty beast." Philip was butchered in a manner standard with English punishment for treason, drawing and quartering. King William's War During King William's War (1688?97), Church led four New England raiding parties into Acadia (which included most of Maine) against the ethnic French Acadians and hostile Native Americans, including the Abenaki. On the first expedition into Acadia, on September 21, 1689, Major Church (who was promoted to major and given command of the expedition by the Council of War of Plymouth Colony on September 6) and 250 troops defended a group of English settlers in the Battle of Deering Oaks (also known as the Battle of Brackett's Woods). The British were trying to get established at Falmouth, Maine (present-day Portland, Maine). Although 21 of his men were killed, Church was successful and the hostile natives retreated. Church returned to Boston, leaving the small group of English settlers unprotected. (The following spring, May 1690, over 400 French and native troops under the leadership of Castin returned to Falmouth and massacred all the English settlers in the Battle of Fort Loyal. When Church returned to the village later that summer, he buried the dead.) In Church's second expedition a year later, on 11 September 1690 he commanded 300 men at Casco Bay. His mission was to relieve the English Fort Pejpescot (present day Brunswick, Maine), which had been taken by natives.He went up the Androscoggin River to Fort Pejepscot.From there he traveled 40 miles up river to Livermore Falls, Maine, where he attacked an Androscoggin native village. Church's men shot three or four native men as they were retreating. Church discovered five English captives in the wigwams. Church killed and butchered six or seven prisoners, and took nine prisoners. A few days later, in retaliation, the Androscoggin attacked Church at Cape Elizabeth on Purpooduc Point, killing seven of his men and wounding 24 others. On September 26, Church returned to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Church's third expedition during the war was in 1692, when he raided the Penobscot territory of (present-day Indian Island, Maine) with 450 men. Church and his men went on to raid Taconock (superseded by Winslow, Maine). Four years later, Major Church conducted a fourth expedition. He carried out the Siege of Fort Nashwaak (1696) (present-day Fredericton, New Brunswick), which was then the capital of Acadia, and the Raid on Chignecto (1696) in AcadiaHe was described as weighing approximately 250 pounds, but personally led his troops. They killed the inhabitants of Chignecto, looting their household goods, burning their houses, and slaughtering the livestock. Queen Anne's War During Queen Anne's War, Church went on his fifth and final expedition into Acadia. The Deerfield Massacre had taken place in western Massachusetts on February 29, 1704, believed conducted by Indians provoked by the French. In addition to killing many settlers, the Abenaki and allies took more than 100 captives overland to Montreal and the Mohawk village south of the river. The captives were often held for ransom by families and communities; some of the younger ones were adopted by Mohawk families. On March 18, 1704 Church was commissioned as a colonel by Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley and placed in command of a force to raid French settlements in Acadia in retaliation for Deerfield. This expedition included the following actions: the Raid on Castine, Maine, Raid on St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Raid on Grand Pre, Raid on Pisiguit (present day Falmouth and Windsor), and the Raid on Chignecto. Church meticulously planned the expedition. He specified the design of whaleboats to be used in the raids and what kind of hatchets his soldiers were to carry. Church took John Gyles, formerly held as a captive by the Maliseet, as his translator. Church took prisoners and claimed to have left only five houses standing in Acadia. In the Raid of Pisiguit (1704), he took the leader Noel Doiron as prisoner. [2]
  Prefix	Col.
  Birth	Abt 1640	Plymouth, Massachusetts   [1, 3]
  Gender	Male
  Death	17 Jan 1717/8	Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island   [1, 3]
  Person ID	I92904	Main Tree
  Last Modified	23 Nov 2018

  
  

  Father	Richard CHURCH,   b. Abt 1608, England d. 27 Dec 1668, Dedham, Massachusetts (Age 60 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Elizabeth WARREN,   b. Abt 1616, England d. 09 Mar 1669/70, Hingham, Massachusetts (Age 54 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Marriage	14 Mar 1635/6	Plymouth, Massachusetts   [4]
  Family ID	F07602	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Alice SOUTHWORTH,   b. Abt 1646, Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts d. 5 Mar 1718/19, Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island (Age 73 years)
  Marriage	26 Dec 1667	Perhaps Duxbury, Massachusetts   [1, 3]
  Children	+ 1. Charles CHURCH,   b. 9 May 1682, Bristol, Rhode Island d. 31 Dec 1746, Bristol, Rhode Island (Age 64 years)
  Family ID	F38832	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	23 Nov 2018

  
  

• Event Map

  Death - 17 Jan 1717/8 - Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Sources

  [S10144] Robert S. Wakefield, FASG, Mayflower Families in Progress: Richard Church and his Descendants for Four Generations, (General Society of Mayflower Descendants 1998). [S03581] Wikipedia Encyclopedia. [S10290] Samuel Gilbert Webber, A Genealogy of the Southworths (Southards) Descendants of Constant Southworth, with a sketch of the Family in England. [S02658] Mayflower Increasings 2nd Edition by Susan E. Roser.