This Pierce Park and Riverwalk "cemetery" on Find-a-grave is not a physical cemetery, rather the location of a battle fought during the King Philips War (1675-76) with historical memorials erected by both state and local governments. Known as "Pierce's Fight," it represents the place where more than forty Englishmen of the Plymouth Colony and an untold number of their Indian allies were killed and buried.

The Original 1907 Memorial
Near this spot
Capt. M. Pierce
And his Company of
Plymouth Colonists
Ambuscaded and outnumbered were
Almost annihilated
By the Indians
March 26, 1676.
Erected by the
State of Rhode Island
1907

Pierce Park and Riverwalk
Due to land disputes and broken peace treaties between the local natives and early English settlers, King Philip's War took place for fourteen months during 1675 and 1676. Captain Michael Pierce's fight with the natives occurred on this spot in March of 1676. From Dexter's Ledge (now the site of Cogswell Tower in Jenks Park) native scouts saw Pierce's troops approaching. One hundred natives and seventy settlers perished in the battle. Ten settlers escaped to what is now the Monastery Grounds in Cumberland. Only one lived to tell the tale.

Placed by the City of Central Falls
Honorable Thomas Lazieh, Mayor
1992
Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor
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On Sunday, March 26, 1676, Capt. Michael Pierce of Scituate, Mass. and Lieut. Samuel Fuller of Barnstable, Mass., along with 51 other Englishmen in their company, engaged an overwhelming force of enemy Indians along the west bank of the Blackstone River north of present-day Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Fifty of the Englishmen were killed in the battle; 41 were killed at the site of the battle while nine escaped northward to Cumberland only to be captured by the enemy Indians and tortured to death. The separate "Nine Men's Misery" cairn at Cumberland memorializes those nine men. Two of the Englishmen believed to have been killed in the battle were later found living after the war. Thomas Man of the company, from Scituate, Mass., escaped to tell the story of the battle.

In a letter dated April 17, 1676, Rev. Noah Newman of nearby Rehoboth, Mass. remarked:

"The burial of the slain took us 3 days the burden of it lying upon our town, the 3rd day we had some [men from] Dedham & Medfield that afforded their help therein, ye first day there was 17 English & 3 Indians buried, the 2nd day that I might express my respect to Capt. Pierce and Leift. Fuller who died so honorably, I went forth & that day we buried 18 English and one Indian, and the 3rd day they buried 7 or 8 English and one Indian since search hath been made[,] but no more Can be found[.] I know not but some might wander & perish in these woods being strangers."

The original list of Englishmen killed is contained in an earlier letter from Rev. Newman to Rev. John Cotton of Plymouth written the day after the battle. Characteristic of the times Newman spelled many of the men's names phonetically, and part of the surviving letter contains tears. The following list is from the 1984 article by the late eminent New England genealogist Robert S. Wakefield [The American Genealogist (TAG), 60(1984):236]. Wakefield used all available New England records to properly identify the men in Newman's 1676 list. Except for the two officers of the company, the present writer has arranged the list in alphabetical order by town and person and inserted in {braces} the name or portion of a name written by Newman in 1676.

• Barnstable: 5 men
Lieut. Samuel Fuller, Samuel Boreman {Bereman}, Samuel Childs, Eleazer Clap {Eliezir C[torn]}, and John Lewis {Lues}.

• Duxbury: 4 men
Joshua Fobes {Phobes}, Thomas Hunt, Benjamin Soule {Soa [illeg.]}, and John Sprague.

• Eastham: 4 men
John Merrick? {M[torn]}, Joseph Nessefield, John Walker, and Nathaniel Williamson {Williams}.

• Marshfield: 9 men
John Branch {Brance}, Samuel Bump, John Burroughs, John Eams {Ems}, Thomas Little {Littell}, John Low, Joseph Phillips, [Mor: Treuant?], and Joseph White.

• Rehoboth: 4 men
Benjamin Bucklin {Benj. torn}, John Fitch Jr., John Miller {Meller} Jr., and John Read.

• Sandwich: 5 men
David Bessey, Caleb Blake {Blaike}, John {Job} Gibbs, Benjamin Nye, and Stephen Wing.

• Scituate: 15 men
Capt. Michael Pierce {Peirce}, Jeremiah Barstow {Jer: Bastow}, Benjamin Chittenden {Chittington}, Joseph Cowen {Cowwen}, Gershom Dodson, John Ensign, John Lothrop {Lathrope}, John Perry, Joseph Perry, Samuel Pratt {Prat}, John Rowse, Samuel Russell {Sam [torn]}, Thomas Savory {Savery}, Joseph Wade, and William Wilcome {Welcome}.

• Yarmouth: 4 men
Brothers Henry, John and William Gage, and Henry Gold.

• Listed as having died but found later to have escaped and were living after the end of the King Philips War: Samuel Linnell {Lennet} of Barnstable and John Mathews of Yarmouth; Thomas Man of Scituate escaped to Rehoboth and was the man "with a Sore wound" who informed Rev. Noah Newman of the battle.

• Benjamin Bucklin, one of the nine men tortured at "Nine Men's Misery," was positively identified from his known tall physical stature and unusual dental features.

Note: The Google map location of this "cemetery" incorrectly calls the river north of Pawtucket Falls in Pawtucket as the Seekonk River. The Blackstone River is a freshwater river that ends south at Pawtucket Falls, with the Seekonk River a saltwater tidal river whose north terminus is the Pawtucket Falls. Many narratives regarding "Pierce's Fight" claim the battle occurred at or near the "Pawtucket River," a name that has never existed. The narratives should have said "at or near the river in Pawtucket."

Don Blauvelt, 46932939