But, whatever may have been the number of able-bodied men in
the colonies, the available force for active service must have been
small. A large number of towns were to be garrisoned, and many men
were necessarily employed in the customary duties of life.
Still less is known of the strength of Philip's confederated tribes.
Pestilence and war had depopulated New England previous to the arrival
of the Pilgrims. In 1675 the Pokanokets and Narragansets were the most
powerful, and together mustered three or four thousand warriors.
Philip was sachem of the Pokanokets and Canonchet of the Narragansets.
These tribes constituted Philip's reliable strength, but he had
confederated with him and pledged to the common cause the smaller
chiefs of the Piscataqua and Merrimack, of central Massachusetts and
the valley of the Connecticut. The Narragansets occupied what is now
Rhode Island and the islands adjacent thereto, while Philip as the
chief of the Pokanokets or Wampanoags had his seat at Montaup or Mount
Hope. It was not, however, expedient or possible for him to consecrate
a large force upon any one point. With his forces divided into war
parties as necessity or circumstances dictated, he was able in the
space of thirteen months to attack and partially or entirely destroy a
great number of towns, among which were Brookfield, Lancaster,
Marlboro', Sudbury, Groton, Deerfield, Springfield, Hatfield,
Northfield, Northampton, Chelmsford, Andover, Medfield, Rehoboth,
Plymouth, Scituate, Weymouth, and Middleborough in Massachusetts, and
New Plymouth, Providence and Warwick in Rhode Island.
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