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Daniel Goble's Dubious Distinction

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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week Four – January 21 – January 27, 2024

Witness to History


Daniel Goble – Prince Philip’s War 1676



As a descendant of my maternal and paternal lineage, I have found at least three ancestors who played important roles in witnessing history. One was a patriot who served in the Revolutionary War, one was a Union soldier serving in the U.S. Civil War, and the other was a participant in King Philip's War. While I am exceedingly proud of this heritage and love to tell their stories, I thought it may be more interesting to write about an ancestor who, while serving in the ranks of Colonial American soldiers came to a rather dubious end.


His name was Daniel Goble, b. 18 July 1641 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, d. 26 September 1676 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was my 8th great-grandfather on my maternal line.


This story is about Daniel’s service in King Philip’s War. Before I delve into Daniel's service here is a brief history of this conflict fought in the New England Colonies in the mid-17th century.


History of King Philip’s War




The 17th century witnessed a tumultuous period in colonial America, marked by simmering tensions and conflicts between European settlers and Native American tribes.

The armed conflict between colonists and the Native American Indians of New England took place between 1675 and 1676. Also known as Metacomet’s War, or the First Indian War it took place in the colonies of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and later spread to the colonies of New Hampshire and Maine as the last major effort by the Indigenous people to drive the colonists out of New England.


The war is named for King Philip, also known by his Wampanoag name of Metacom or Metacomet who was the son of the late Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Philip led his tribe and a coalition of the Nipmuck, Pocumtuck, and Narraganset tribes in an uprising against the colonists and their allies, the Mohegans and the Mohawks, which lasted 14 months.



The war was the single greatest disaster of 17th century New England and, in proportion to population, is considered to be the deadliest war in American history eclipsing even the U.S Civil War.


Some historians see King Philip’s War as more of a Civil War among members of the same society rather than a colonial war among invading forces of various tribes of Native Americans who fought both with and against each other in the conflict.


Before the war, the natives and colonists had merged into a singular society before turning on each other, according to the book King Philip’s War: Civil War in New England, 1675-1676:

To understand the roots of this and other bloody conflicts in early New England, I will delve briefly into the events leading up to it and explore the complexities of the relationships between colonists and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.


New England was inhabited long before the first Europeans arrived and named the area after their homeland. Experts estimate between 70,000 and 100,000 Native Americans were living in “New England” at the beginning of the 17th century. New England was inhabited long before the first Europeans arrived and then named the area after their homeland.

 




Both metaphorically and literally the arrival of English settlers in the early 1600s brought about a profound transformation of the Indigenous peoples’ landscape. The Wampanoag Confederacy, led by Chief Massasoit, initially maintained peaceful relationships with the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. Indeed, the historical accounts about the first Thanksgiving, whether true or not, symbolized a brief period of cooperation between the Indigenous people and the newcomers.


The Indigenous inhabitants of the area were part of the Algonquin people and shared a similar language and culture, but there were also separate groups of American Indians. Among them were the Abenaki, Micmac, Pennacook, Pequot, Mohegan, Nauset, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Woronoco, Wampanoag, and other tribes. They lived in small villages where female members of each tribe tended fields of corn, beans, and squash. Men supplemented this diet by fishing and hunting. Children also gathered the plentiful nuts and berries of the plentiful forests. Later, upon the arrival of the Europeans, trade also evolved between the settlers and the Native Americans, exchanging beaver pelts for metals and textiles.


But, besides goods, the settlers also brought unwelcome deadly diseases for which the native people had no resistance causing sometimes catastrophic effects. An estimated 75 percent of the Native Americans on the Atlantic coast succumbed to these diseases. When tribe members and agricultural lands were depleted due to the European invasion native groups would move to settle nearby areas. Differing ideas of land ownership, as Europeans began to encroach on native lands, caused tensions over not only land ownership but also cultural differences and competition for resources. The establishment of Puritan settlements, even though the Europeans also suffered death and starvation intensified hostilities, setting the stage for the eruption of conflict.


Metacom (King Philip) and the Worsening Situation




Metacom (Metacomet), also known as King Philip, succeeded his father Massasoit as the leader of the Wampanoag Confederacy in 1662. As the English settlers continued to expand into Native territories, Metacom grew increasingly concerned about the survival of his people’s way of life. The once-friendly relationships between the Wampanoag, the Pokunonet, and the English deteriorated as grievances mounted. By 1675 the escalating tensions reached a boiling point. The spark that ignited the conflict was the trial and execution of three Wampanoag warriors accused of murdering John Sassamon, a Christianized Native who had served as a go-between for the English and the Indigenous communities. This catalyst ignited the eruption of violence and open hostilities.


Daniel Goble’s Dark Chapter





Daniel Goble, my maternal sixth great-grandfather, was the son of Thomas Goble, a first-generation settler who arrived from England in 1634 and settled with his wife, Alice Mousall, and three children in Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay colony, British Colonial America. Daniel was born in the colony in 1641 and later married Hannah Brewer of Cambridge. Daniel and Hannah were the parents of at least two sons and two daughters. The Gobles undoubtedly were engaged in the conflicts between the Europeans and the Indigenous peoples who populated the land long before they arrived.


As the chaos continued some particularly gruesome incidents of violence occurred on both sides. One notable episode at the end of the war involved the hanging of Daniel Goble, my ancestor, for the murder of a group of friendly Native Americans. His actions along with three other male settlers exemplified the brutality that characterized the conflict as individuals from both communities committed atrocities in the name of survival and revenge.


Daniel’s witness to history begins as King Philip’s (Metacomet’s) War is finally ending. The bloody uprising had lasted fourteen months. Hundreds of Indians and English settlers on both sides had been killed.


Its end may have been the reason Daniel Goble and Stephen Goble, his nephew, were hanged for murder. Because of Indian attacks, the Concord Council had passed an order “that any Indians found more than a mile from the center of their villages, except in the company of English or on service, the English are at liberty to shoot them down or arrest them.”


On August 7, 1676, three Indian women and three children had gone into the woods near Concord to pick berries. Four soldiers — Daniel Hoar, Nathaniel Wilder, Daniel Goble, and Stephen Goble — who were on duty found the Indians and shot them. Although the men claimed they were merely following orders, they were arrested and charged with murder.

At their trial, a jury found them guilty and sentenced them to death. The verdict may have been a way to prevent more Indian attacks. Wilder and Hoar were pardoned. They claimed that they had merely watched while the Gobles killed the women and children.





Stephen Goble was executed on September 14, 1676. Daniel Goble was hanged from the gallows a week later in the famous Boston Common. His hanging was delayed enabling him time to write a will. It was the only time in the war that anyone was punished for committing violence against an Indian.


Was it a case of “following orders” or was it a chance for revenge? There have been several accounts written about the trial, however, they were written during a different era and social climate in U.S. history. What was the truth? I am afraid we will never know.


So ends my blog post about Witness to History, albeit a dubious one. Daniel Goble was indeed a Witness to History and a willing participant. I do believe if we, as family historians, look hard enough there may be a witness to history in each of our ancestors’ history, just maybe not as distressing as this one. As always we should all advocate for the recording of the truth in our history.


 Note: This is Week Four, Witness to History in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.

 

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