But the triumph of the conqueror was dearly bought. The whole fighting force of the four Colonies seems to have been almost constantly in requisition. Between one and two thousand men were engaged at the swamp-fight alone,--an immense force for a population of scarcely forty thousand English throughout New England. Thirteen towns were entirely destroyed by the enemy; six hundred dwelling-houses burned; and about the same number of Englishmen killed, so that almost every family lost a relative. The mere expense of the war must have been very great; for the Commissioners of the United Colonies afterwards estimated the disbursements of the Old Colony alone, at more than one hundred thousand pounds. Such was the war of King Philip--sustained and managed, upon his side, by his own single-handed energy and talent alone. Not that the sixty Wampanoags of the sachem's own house-hold, as it were, or even the various tribes of the Pokanoket country, were his sole supporters; but that all the other tribes, which supported him, did it in consequence of his influence, and were induced to unite and operate together, as they never had done before, under his control. Some writers have asserted, that he engaged the various Atlantic tribes as far south as Virginia to assist him; but of this there is no proof, and it is rendered improbable by the great want of inter-communication among these tribes. Nor is it true, as other writers have stated, that all the natives of New England itself were involved with Philip. On the other hand, it was the most trying circumstance of the great struggle of the sachem, that he had not only to rely upon bringing and keeping together scores of petty cantons, as jealous of each other from time immemorial as so many Highland clans; but he had to watch and resist, openly and secretly, all who would not join him, besides the multitudes who deserted, betrayed and opposed him. The New Hampshire tribes mostly withdrew from the contest. The praying Indians, of whom there were then thousands, either remained neutral, or like Sassamon turned against their own race. One of Philip's own tribes forsook him in his misfortunes; and the Pequots and Mohegans of Connecticut kept the field against him from the very first day of the war to the last. It may be supposed, that some of these tribes were surprised, as Philip himself was, by the sudden breaking out of the war, a year before the time which had been fixed for it. This was occasioned by the proceedings in which Sassamon was concerned, and by the ungovernable fury of a few of the young warriors.