In the Miery Swamp: Metacomet and Memory

for “In the Miery Swamp: Metacomet and Memory”, written by Allison Rose and sponsored by Dr. Marianne Holdzkom Memorials have become omnipresent ties to our communal past. Plaques and dedications materialize in our town squares. Statues loom over our city parks. Monuments tower over our cemeteries. A large issue facing public historians today is the disconnect between the original intent of public memorials and the collective representation of diverse histories. “In the Miery Swamp: Metacomet and Memory” addresses how interactions with the public alter and transform four public memorials. Through a chronological and historical analysis of four monuments to Metacomet’s War, the bloodiest war in Colonial American history, “In the Miery Swamp: Metacomet and Memory” highlights integral questions about the war’s origins, its purpose, and its lasting effect on our cultural memory. The bronze statue of “Massasoit” on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth enables a detailed look at the Wampanoag people’s relationship to the colonists when Metacomet’s father was sachem, and later on when Metacomet took over. Metacomet’s Plaque in Plymouth Town Square testifies to the indigenous people’s motivations for the war. The Great Swamp Fight Monument in Rhode Island was erected in 1906 to enforce an official ideology of national identity, yet over time it has also been the most transformed by the public. The battle which the monument harkens back to epitomizes the escalation of violence and brutality during Metacomet’s War. The Cold Springs Monument is a small stone placed on the site where Metacomet was at long last hunted down and dismembered by Benjamin Church’s raiding party. His death effectively ended the vicious, retaliatory conflict. Each monument acts as a doorway into the past as intended at the time of its dedication. They hold tight to the main concern of Metacomet’s War, the quest for cultural preservation. Yet as our understanding of history expands to become more inclusive of disenfranchised people, so too do the ways in which the public interacts and interprets these monuments. By delving into their histories and exploring the ways the public interacts with these four spaces, we can realize that there is a potential to capitalize on the shifting historiographies of these monuments and broaden the sense of our collective cultural identity.