King Philip’s War was a bloody and costly series of raids and skirmishes in 1675 and 1676 between the Native American people and the colonials. King Philip was the Native American leader Metacom.
John Richards was born about 1652 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts. His parents were Edward Richards and Ann Knight.
He was a soldier in King Philip's War. On December 10, 1675, he marched against the Narragansett Fort with the forces of the United Colonies and their allies.
In 1685 John signed a petition to receive payment for his war service.
He took the freeman's oath in Lynn in 1691. In his will he wrote
my son Crispus hath, who hath borne the burden of my work and taken care of me in all my long and tedious weakness and lameness for many years past.
He died at age 61 on April 6, 1713 in Lynn. He was buried in the Lynn Cemetery.
Any man entering an American colony was not free and his movements were carefully observed to see if they followed the Puritanical ideal. After this probationary period, he became a "freeman."
The Great Swamp Fight was on November 2, 1675. Josiah Winslow led a force of over 1000 colonial militia and about 150 Pequot and Mohegan warriors against the Narragansett. Several abandoned Narragansett villages were burned and the tribe retreated to a five acre fort in the center of a swamp near Kingston, Rhode Island. The fort, which was occupied by over a thousand indigenous warriors, was taken after a fierce fight. It was burned and the inhabitants, including women and children, were killed or evicted. The winter stores were destroyed. The colonists lost about 70 men and nearly 150 were wounded.
Soldiers in King Philip's War: Being a Critical Account of that War by George Madison Bodge, 1896
It will be remembered that when, on December 10th, 1675, the forces of Massachusetts Colony were mustered on Dedham Plain, to march against the Narraganset fort, a proclamation was made to the soldiers, in the name of the Governor, that, if they played the man, took the fort, and drove the enemy out of the Narraganset country, which is their great seat, they should have a gratuity of land, besides their wages. We find that after they had so valiantly performed the service, and the war was long past, the soldiers were not forgetful of their claim, nor the colony unmindful of its obligations.
The petition of those who were soldiers in Lynn, in the Nipmugg Country, and at the Narragansett Fort included John Richards.
