AUTHOR'S NOTE
This is a work of fiction and is not intended to resemble anyone living or dead.
Beyond the existence of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, its 'imported' Americans and its Native Americans, and a town called Charlestown, all else is pure fantasy based on one small slice of an immense historical pie. The possibilities open to conjecture from the vantage point of the present are infinite.
For those who would like to investigate for themselves, they may read of the fate of King Phillip's family and the practice of offering slaves their freedom if they married Indians in a volume published by the Utter Company, Westerly, Rhode Island in 1976 titled REFLECTIONS OF CHARLESTOWN, RHODE ISLAND 1876-1976. It lists King Phillip's son as Metom and makes mention of a descendent, a blue-eyed Indian who charmed Washington and was named Simeon Simons. The author of the article 'Indians of Southern New England', Princess Redwing, traces her lineage to the Pokonoket line, that of Phillip.
In a volume published by the Charlestown Historical Society in 1979, titled THE HISTORICAL STORY OF CHARLESTOWN, RHODE ISLAND, may be read more of the complicated interweaving of the various Indian tribes, Narragansetts being the dominant and umbrella tribe extending over smaller local tribes and those of neighboring states. In mention of the Niantic tribe is included information about Esther, last Queen of the Niantics, as well as reference to Child Crying Rocks, a site that may be visited today.
This book describes King Phillip's war and and its aftermath where the sale of defeated Indians predated slavery. Accounts elsewhere describe the sale as having been a period of indenture, of periods of approximately thirty years. Also in this book is mention of the Indian Schoolhouse and the mystery of what appears to have been Jesuit presence at the fort at Pond Neck.
More insight into King Phillip's beliefs may be found in INDIANS, PRIVATEERS AND HIGH SOCIETY by Bertram Lippincott, published in 1961 by Bertrand Lippincott. Mr. Lippincott discusses the peculiar position occupied by Rhode Island as one of the leaders of the slave trade and the effect of ocean going trades on the flourishing of privateers and their colorful contribution to a small state's vivid history.