Fairfield Swamp Fight

The Fairfield Swamp Fight of 1637 (also known as the Great Swamp Fight) was the last engagement of the Pequot War and marked defeat of the Pequot tribe in the war and the loss of their recognition as a political entity in the 17th century. The participants in the conflict were the Pequot and the English with their allied tribes (the Mohegan and Narragansett). The Fairfield Swamp Fight occurred July 13–14, 1637 in what is present-day Fairfield, Connecticut. The town of Fairfield was founded after the battle in 1639. This was one of the final battles of the war.


 * Not to be confused with the Great Swamp Fight of King Philip's War (1676).

Overview
The destruction of people and the village at Mistick Fort and losing even more warriors during the withdrawal pursuit broke the Pequot spirit and they decided to abandon their villages and flee westward to seek refuge with the Mohawk tribe. Sassacus led roughly 400 warriors along the coast, when they crossed the Connecticut River the Pequot killed three men whom they encountered near Fort Saybrook.

In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts led by Uncas. They caught up with the refugees at Sasqua, a Mattabesic village near present-day Fairfield, Connecticut. The colonists memorialized this event as the Fairfield Swamp Fight (not to be confused with the Great Swamp Fight during King Philip's War). The English surrounded the swamp and allowed several hundred, mostly women and children to surrender but not before Sassacus slipped out before dawn with perhaps eighty warriors and continued west.

Sassacus and his followers had hoped to gain refuge among the Mohawk in present-day New York. However, the Mohawk instead murdered Sassacus and his bodyguard, afterwards sending his head and hands to Hartford as a symbolic offering of Mohawk friendship with the Connecticut Colony therefore avoiding a similar fate from the powerful English. This essentially ended the Pequot War but colonial officials continued to call for hunting down what remained of the Pequots after war's end.

Connecticut Militia
In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts led by Uncas.


 * Capt John Mason - militia commander
 *  Capt Robert Seeley (1602-1668) - 2nd in command of militia.