Imagine it's March 1676.

You are a farmer in the Plymouth Colony.

For decades, you've carved a life out of a wilderness that seems to want you dead.

But now, the trees themselves feel like they're watching.

Twelve of your neighboring towns have already been burned to ash.

One out of every ten men your age is already in a grave.

You aren't fighting a European army in bright coats on an open field.

You are fighting a ghost in the brush, a sophisticated guerrilla force

that strikes without mourning and vanishes before the smoke clears.

This is King Philip's War, the deadliest conflict per capita in American history.

And today, we're going to the darkest corner of that war,

a place in the Rhode Island Woods known for nearly 350 years as nine men's misery. Welcome back, everyone, the 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories, and Mysteries Podcast.

This is your host and storyteller, John Haggardorn.

Today, we're taking a trip to a monument, a monument that stands at one of the battle sites of one of the least

talked about American wars, yet one of the most deadly ones, the King Phillips War,

that raged through New England in 1675 and 1676. To begin this story, I'm taking you to

Monastery Park, which houses the Cumberland Public Library,

1464, Diamond Hill Road, Cumberland, Rhode Island.

And by the way, we'll begin at the parking lot behind the Cumberland Public Library.

And look for the nine men's misery trail.

It's often marked with red dashes on trail marks.

It heads north from the back of the grounds.

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