 The battle was the last major Native American victory in King Philip's War before their final defeat in southern New England in August 1676.The winter of 1676 brought a lull in the fighting of King Philip's War in eastern Massachusetts, but come spring Native American forces resumed their raids on the area's Puritan towns.The Native coalition attacked the strategically significant fort at Marlborough, Massachusetts on both March 16 and April 7, destroying most of the settlement and forcing a partial evacuation of its residents.