Samuel assumed the leadership of Israel, and gathered the people at Mizpah (1 Sam 7:5).  It was a fast day, a day of repentance.  The Philistines saw it as an opportunity to attack the Israelites, but God intervened and routed them.  This was the origin of one of the "Covenant Names of God": Ebenezer.
    
         "Thus far has the Lord helped us" (1 Sam 7:12).

        

Yet the actual judgeship of Samuel is passed over by Scripture.  Israel recaptured towns from the Philistines, and had peace with the Amorites (1 Sam 7:14).  This was a time of relative stability and prosperity for Israel.  But we don't even know how long this period lasted.

        

Samuel also suffered from Eli's problem: the matter of succession.  Just as Eli's sons had doomed his house, so Samuel's sons also "turned aside after dishonest gain" (1 Sam 8:3).