Land Acknowledgement Statement
We acknowledge that the land in Rhode Island, incorporated by North Smithfield, was once the traditional territory of the Narragansett Nation peoples. We thank them and their ancestors for stewarding these lands many millennia before antiquity.
We also acknowledge the Wampanoag and Nipmuc indigenous nations who, in addition to the Narragansetts, once resided on the lands of North Smithfield.
Please consider the land where you reside and the presence of the original inhabitants of that land who were most impacted by colonization and may have been forcibly removed. Thank you for joining us in this important reflection.
Commissioned by North Smithfield Heritage Assn, Historical artist, Tal Dibner, a painting that depicts the start of the First Battle of Nipsachuck on August 4, 1675, at the start of King Philip's War.
Nipsachuck is located in the southwest part of town in Primrose. Some local historians believe the battle took place along Greenville Road from Black Plain Road to Douglas Pike in the area bordered by the Woonasquatucket River. According to native oral history, the battle started early in the morning when MA Colony militia opened fire on five native women who were picking beans in the planting grounds. Two of them were killed.
Metacomet "King Philip" and his warriors ran to the sound of gunfire to confront the militiamen. At the end of the day, the native band escaped into a nearby swamp and moved north to link up with the Nipmuc Tribe.
The framed painting is on display, along with other indigenous artifacts, at the Memorial Town Building.
