Nine Men’s Misery

Written By V Ravenia

Monday night was marked by cool air and clear skies; it was the perfect weather for a nighttime nature walk. Monday night’s walk was at The Monastery in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

Historic aerial view of The Monastery , date unknown. Courtesy of the Cumberland Public Library.

The Monastery was formerly home to an order of Trappist monks. From 1900 to 1950. In 1950, a fire broke out in the monastery. The complex sustained significant damage, yet there was no loss of life.

Following the fire, the Trappists relocated to Spencer, Massachusetts, where the order remains today.

Eventually, the Cumberland monastery and surrounding land was obtained by the town. The remains of the monastery buildings were repurposed into the town’s library and community space. The land surrounding the monastery became a public park. The park has a playground and open grass by the monastery building. However the parklands span many acres out from the main complex, out into the surrounding woods, meadows, and wetlands. These areas are criss-crossed by a series of walking paths.

Nighttime view of a wooded walking path and outbuildings.

Nighttime view of the woods and outbuildings by the Monastery. Cumberland, Rhode Island. June 2024. Photo by Ophelia W. Ravenia.

The Monastery deserves its own post, and I’ll eventually get to that. Today’s post is about something in the woods of the Monastery– Nine Men’s Misery.


To understand Nine Men’s Misery, we need to head back to March of 1676. During this time, New England was caught up in what ranks among  the bloodiest conflicts per capita in American history– King Philip's War.

For the previous 55 years, tensions ran high between Native people and English colonists. English colonists increasingly encroached on tribal hunting and fishing grounds and forced of coerced native peoples into signing away land or agreeing to treaties that disadvantaged them. Violence between Native Americans and colonists was common, as indicated by both the Pequot War of 1636-1637 as well as smaller fights throughout colonial New England.

These ongoing tensions came to a head in 1675 with the trial and execution of three native men in the Plymouth Colony for the alleged murder of John Sassamon, a tribal informer who worked with English colonists. The executed men were warriors who worked under Metacom– also known as King Philip.

Illustration of Metacom wearing traditional Wampanoag clothing. He is holding a musket. A hatchet and powder horn are at his feet.

Hand colored engraving of Metacom by Paul Revere. c. 1772. Public domain image courtesy of the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection, Yale University Art Gallery.

Metacom was a Wampanoag chief and the son of Massasoit. For much of his life, Metacom followed in the footsteps of his father– seeking peaceful relations between the Wampanoag and English colonists. He went so far as to adopt an English name– Philip– and adopt English dress as an attempt to integrate the two cultures. Metacom became an inter-tribal leader who worked to unite the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Abenaki, Mohawk, and Nipmuc.

Over time, Metacom’s faith in peaceful coexistence faded. Tensions continued to run high between native peoples and colonists, violence was common, and Metacom witnessed the erosion of tribal sovereignty. The execution of his warriors by English colonists was the spark that set off the powder keg– igniting a bloody 14-month war.

Initially, Rhode Island’s Narragansett people pledged neutrality in the war. Metacom sent a group of women, children, elderly, and infirm tribal members to the Narragansett settlement of Great Swamp to get them away from the violence of the war. However, this did not spare these civilians.

Despite their attempts to remain neutral, the Narragansett were forced into King Philip’s War. Plymouth Governor John Winslow accused the Narragansett of harboring Wampanoag combatants at Great Swamp. On December 19, 1675, militias from Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut descended upon Great Swamp and massacred hundreds of native people.

This attack drew the Narragansett into the war, fighting alongside Metacom’s coalition. 

On March 26, 1676, the Narragansett carried out an attack on colonial forces in what is now Cumberland, Rhode Island. A few men feigned injury until they were spotted by a colonial militia. Once spotted, the men retreated into the woods, with colonial forces trailing them. Colonial forces were led to a bend in the Blackstone River, where they were ambushed by Narragansett combatants. The roughly 65 colonial militiamen were overpowered by an estimated 1000 Narragansett.

This is where the facts and the myth blend. The legend goes that nine colonial militiamen managed to survive the initial ambush, but were quickly captured by the Narragansett. These men were then tortured and killed by their captors, and their bodies left atop a small hill in what was then swampland.

Nine Men’s Misery, June 2024. Photograph by Ophelia W. Ravenia.

Soon after, a rescue mission was sent out by the colonists. The rescue mission found the bodies of the nine murdered militiamen. Upon finding the bodies, the colonists buried them and placed stones atop the grave as a memorial. This spot became known as Nine Men’s Misery. The stones are one of the earliest war memorials in the present day United States.

Nine Men’s Misery, June 2024.
Plaque on monument reads “Nine Men’s Misery. On this spot where they were slain by the Indians were buried the soilders captured in Pierce’s Fight. March 26, 1676. Erected by the State of Rhode Island, 1928.”
Photograph by Ophelia W. Ravenia.

Returning to verifiable fact, the current iteration of the memorial was built in 1928 by the Trappists who resided at the monastery. The stones that had been placed atop the grave were cemented together to discourage disinterment of the bodies (historically, disinterment had been a problem) and a stone marker and plaque were placed at the site.

Nine Men’s Misery, June 2024. Photograph by Ophelia W. Ravenia.

On the night that I walked out to Nine Men’s Misery, it was honestly quite an enjoyable nighttime nature walk. My wife knows the Monastery very well and was able to easily guide our friends and I through the dark woods.

A small brown frog is camoflagued among fallen leaves on the forest floor.

A frog hides in leaf litter. Cumberland, Rhode Island. June 2024. Photograph by Ophelia W. Ravenia.

I couldn’t capture all of the wonderful things that we came across, but I will mention them here. As we walked through the wetlands, we were nearly deafened by the peeping and croaking of countless frogs. We heard owls hooting from the woods. When we came across a sizable meadow, we were treated to what has become a rare sight– fireflies!

Nighttime sky from a meadow behind the Monastery. Cumberland, Rhode Island. June 2024. Photograph by Ophelia W. Ravenia.

I will say that navigating to Nine Men’s Misery in the dark may be challenging for folks unfamiliar with the area. A walk to the site in daylight would undoubtedly be easier.

A PDF map of the Monastery is linked at the bottom of this post. Nine Men’s Misery is simply marked as “Monument” on the map. Physical maps are available at the main desk of the Cumberland Library.

The walk is mostly along a smooth, relatively flat gravel path, but the monument is atop a small hill and may not be easy to access for folks with mobility challenges.

Ticks, mosquitoes, and poison ivy are common in the Monastery woods, so be mindful of these hazards.


To access Nine Men’s Misery, park at the Cumberland Monastery, 1464 Diamond Hill Rd, Cumberland, RI 02864.

Use a trail map (available online or in-person at the library) to navigate to Nine Men’s Misery.

 
V Ravenia
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