Who do YOU think you are?

Watching afternoon TV yesterday, Richard ...whatsisname... you know, the Richard and Judy feller...anyway, he was tracing his ancestors, or rather, a load of experts were tracing them for him, and he was just there as old ladies' eye candy I presume.

Now I didn't see all of the programme, but I saw the bit about his great, great, great, great grandfather who had fought with the New England militia in a war against the leader of the Pokanoket Indians - a man who was called King Philip by the colonists. This was in December of 1675.

The researchers had dug deep and found out a heap of facts about his ancestors, and I couldn't help but feel envious that so much information had been uncovered. There seemed to so much information about his g,g,g,g grandparents.

There was even a document that outlined the events of one particularly horrific battle in which it's highly likely that Richard's ancestor would have taken part, and I thought how wonderful to read about something that your ancestor actually did.

But then I listened to what the researcher was actually saying.

Seems that about a thousand members of the Narragansett tribe (men, women and children) were in a huge fort in the middle of a swamp. They must have felt pretty safe given that you'd have to know the paths extremely well in order to successfully reach the fort. However, the swamp froze, and a guide helped troops to get close. The colonial militia were able to take the people holed up inside by surprise and there followed a fierce and bloody battle.

Ah...just remembered the guy's name - it was Richard Madeley.

The document that was read out to Richard Madeley was supposedly a first hand account written by someone who was actually there. Distressingly, it described how wigwams were burned with people inside, whether dead or alive. (Wikipedia also says that there were large numbers of casualties, including many hundred women and children.)

I know that anyone taking part would have been following orders, but I can't help wondering how a common soldier would have felt during a battle like that.

Would they have been horrified at what they had been told to do? Or would they have felt justified in carrying out such a horrific attack?

My own research has revealed my own grandfather's military history, and now I'm wondering what terrible things he saw and did.

I think that maybe, sometimes, it's best not to know.