The Pequot War, the first major conflict between Native Americans and Europeans in northeastern North America, began in September 1636, lasted eleven months, and involved thousands of Native and English people in major battles in present-day Connecticut. In the early months, most fighting took place about a half-mile east of here during the Siege and Battle of Saybrook Fort from September 1636 to March 1637, where Lieutenant Lion Gardiner defended the fort through repeated Pequot attacks in the fall and winter of 1636-1637, even as more than half the garrison became casualties. In early March 1637, the siege ended when the English-allied Narragansett attacked Pequot country from the east and reinforcements from Massachusetts Bay under Captain John Underhill arrived. For the rest of the war, Saybrook Fort served as a gathering point for English campaigns against the Pequot at Mistick and Quinnipiac, and after the war it remained in use until fire destroyed it in 1647. During the fighting on February 22, 1637, Gardiner led nine men and three dogs toward Saybrook Neck to burn reeds and brush in nearby marshes to prevent a surprise attack, but after a small group of Pequot appeared and some of the English gave chase, a much larger Pequot force emerged from the marsh in an ambush. Four English soldiers were killed immediately, two fled toward the fort, and Gardiner ordered a retreat under fire along Saybrook Neck, where his men fought back with firearms and swords as they fell back. Within minutes, his company of ten men was reduced to four, three of them seriously wounded, including Gardiner, and one man died at the fort gate. Gardiner's men held Saybrook Fort for another month until reinforcements arrived from Hartford and Boston. Archaeological survey work in 2012 and 2013 identified the fort location and other combat sites from the war, including the February 22, 1637 Saybrook Neck Fight, the longest engagement of the siege and the day with the highest number of English casualties. At that site, distributions of musket balls and dropped or broken equipment traced the fighting for about 550 yards, and recovered objects included fifteen musket balls, a lead wrap for securing a musket flint, an iron strike-a-light, and an iron spring from a flintlock musket.