| Cemetery Number | CU012 |
| Town | CUMBERLAND |
| Cemetery Name | NINE MEN'S MISERY CEMETERY |
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| Graves List | Display Graves List |
| Location | DIAMOND HILL ROAD |
| State | RI |
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| Page Number | 22 |
| Plat Number | 0008 |
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| Comment | On the grounds of the monastery. This cairn was erected in 1928 by the State of RI to honor soldiers captured and killed in King Philip's War. A granite marker placed by the RI Historical Society is inscribed "Pierce's Fight - 9 soldiers." Capt. Pierce led the soldiers in a surprise attack against the Indians on March 26, 1676 that resulted in a rout that ended with the capture and torture of nine of his men.
On the morning of Sunday, March 26, 1676 during King Philip's War, Captain Michael Pierce led 63 English colonists and about 20 Wampanoag loyal to the settlers toward Cumberland in pursuit of Narragansett Indians who had been raiding the area. Pierce's troops caught up with but were ambushed and nearly all killed in battle, the battle was one of the biggest defeats of colonial troops during King Philip's War. The Narragansett lost only a handful of warriors.
Nine of the colonists who were taken prisoner and likely tortured to death by the Narragansett. The nine dead colonists were buried in a mass grave by English soldiers who found the corpses and buried them the next day. The soldiers created a pile of stones to memorialize the colonists. This pile is believed to be the oldest veterans' memorial in the United States, and a cairn of stones has continuously marked the site since 1676.
The cairn of stones was cemented into a solid memorial by the Trappist monks that at one time occupied the property. In 1928 the State of Rhode Island added a plaque: "On this spot, where they were slain by the Indians, were buried the nine soldiers captured in Pierce's Fight, March 26, 1676." |
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