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King Philip's War was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies from 1675–1676. Nearly one in ten persons overall among Native Americans and English were wounded or killed. This was the most bloody war in American history relative to the size of the population.

The war is named after the main leader of the Indian side, Metacom, known to the English as "King Philip".

Background

Tensions fluctutated between native peoples and the colonists of what is now southern and northern New England, but were constantly and disturbingly present. The treatment of the Wampanoag and allied native peoples by the English officials of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven colonies was considered heavy-handed.

In the aftermath of the Pequot War, incursions into the three separately confederated territories of the Narragansett, Mohegan, and Wampanoag by the English who were intent on continuing colonial expansion along the coastal plain, into the woodland interior, and even into equally hostile Haudenosaunee and Mohican territory to the west exacerbated already sorely vexed diplomatic relations.

Disease and war

The native population throughout the Northeast had been reduced by the genocidal Pequot War of 1637 and, more significantly, pandemics of smallpox, spotted fever and measles."Epidemics and Pandemics in the U.S." Shifting alliances between different Algonkian peoples and the Haudenosaunee, represented by leaders such as Massasoit, Sassacus, Uncas, and Ninigret, and the colonial polities of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and New Haven Colonies, negotiated a troubled peace for several decades.

Failure of diplomacy

Metacom, known to the English as "King Philip," became Sachem of the Pokanoket and Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag Confederacy after the suspicious death of his older brother, the Grand Sachem Wamsutta, or "King Alexander" in 1662. Well known to the English before his accession to the Wampanoag chieftancy, Metacom's open distrust of the colony came to a head when Wamsutta suddenly died in Plymouth, while negotiating with colonial officials there.

Wamsutta began negotiating against the interests of Plymouth Colony soon after the death of the colony's greatest ally, his father, Massasoit. For almost half a century, Massasoit had been able to maintain an uneasy alliance with the English soon after their arrival in order to use them as a buffer, and even as a counter-weight to his traditional enemies, the Pequot, Narragansett, and later, separatist Pequots known as the Mohegan. While certainly it was not Massasoit's intention, the price of having the English as allies was colonial incursion into Wampanoag territory as well as English political interference. Bristling at the increasing arrogance of the English, and what he and his brother perceived to be their duplicitousness, Metacom continued his brother's hostile policies, also keeping in mind the original intent of his father's diplomacy.

Population: two views

From the point of view of the English colonists, by 1670 the region between present-day New England's coastal plain to the interior of the Connecticut River Valley was sparsely populated, with fewer than fifty colonial settlements scattered throughout.

From the point of view of the native population, the region consisted of a number of disunited tribal polities, whose combined population, despite the devastation wrought by disease and warfare, was significantly larger than the colonial settlements, but more poorly armed.

In 1671, the court in Plymouth attempted to coerce Metacom's people, the Pokanoket, as well as allied Wampanoag groups to turn over many of their firearms to the colony. This only served to increase the suspicions of Metacom, and even some of his traditional enemies, the Narragansett and Mohegan to the south.

Religion

The Puritans regarded one of the aims of colonization to be the conversion of native peoples. This a political, diplomatic, philosophical, and moral position increased tensions. Through conversion to Christianity, the Puritans hoped to further their colonial ambitions with the gradual religious, social and political integration of native peoples into English colonial society. However, only a handful of colonial missionaries, such as John Eliot and Thomas Mayhew, succeeded in gaining the trust of native peoples. Even Massasoit, one of the colony's staunchest Native allies, refused admittance to villages within greater Wampanoag territory to those intent on Christian conversion.

By 1660, the Apostle to the Indians, John Eliot oversaw the establishment of seven "Praying Towns." By 1680, several more had been established in Nipmuc territory, among which were, Chachaubunkkakowok (Chaubunagungamaug), Okommakamesit (Ockoogameset), Hassanamisco, Magunkaquog (Makunkokoag, Magunkook), Maanexit (also spelled Mayanexit, located on the Quinebaug River near the old Connecticut Path to and from Massachusetts, Quinnatisset, located roughly "6 miles south of Maanexit," and Wabaquasset (Massomuck, Wabiquisset), the largest of the three northeastern Connecticut praying towns, located 6 miles west of the Quinebaug River in present-day Woodstock, Connecticut, Manchaug, Nashobah, Nashaway (Weshacum), Okommakamesit Pakachoog (Packachaug), Quabaug (Quaboag), Quantisset (Quinetusset), Wacuntug (Wacuntuc, Wacumtaug), and Wamesit. Here, Native peoples were expected to renounce their languages, ceremonies, beliefs, traditional dress, and customs.

Few historians argue that John Eliot or Thomas Mayhew's missions benefited native people. Some however, have argued that ironically, conversion did offer native peoples "a way of counteracting English domination"—a position that recognizes the genuineness of Mayhew and Eliot's religious conviction despite having to operate within a larger hegemonic enterprise, and the political realities faced by Algonkian peoples throughout southern New England. They may have wanted English goods, and military protection. Praying towns developed quickly due to the efforts of native peoples themselves.

Betrayal

The spark that ignited King Philip's War was a report from a "Praying Indian" translator and advisor to Metacom named John Sassamon. Sassamon relayed to Massachusetts Bay Colony officials the news of an impending Pan-Indian attack on widely dispersed colonial settlements. Before colonial officials could investigate the charges, John Sassamon was murdered, his body found beneath an ice-covered pond, allegedly by Wampanoag angry at his betrayal.

The colony arrested three Wampanoags, convicted them of John Sassamon's murder, and hanged them on June 8, 1675 at Plymouth. The Wampanoag believed that the three had been framed; that in fact, both the trial and the court's sentence was an insult. In response, on June 20, a band of Pokanoket, possibly without Philip's approval, assaulted several isolated homesteads in Swansea. Laying siege to the town, they then destroyed the town five days later.

Officials from Plymouth and Boston were quick to respond, and on June 28 they sent an expedition that destroyed the Wampanoag town at Mount Hope (modern Bristol, Rhode Island).

The war

Early engagements

The war quickly spread, and soon involved the Podunk and Nipmuck tribes. During the summer of 1675 the Indians attacked at Mendon (July 14), Brookfield (August 2), and Lancaster (August 9). In early September they attacked Deerfield, Hadley, and Northfield (possibly giving rise to the Angel of Hadley legend.) The New England Confederation declared war on the Indians on September 9, 1675. The next colonial expedition was soundly defeated in the Battle of Bloody Brook (near Hadley) on September 18. The attacks on frontier settlements continued at Springfield (October 5) and Hatfield (October 16).

The next expansion to the war came from the colonists. On November 2, Josiah Winslow led a force from Plymouth to attack the Narragansett tribe. The Narragansetts had not yet been involved in the war, but they occupied desirable land throughout the colonies, and the colonial view was that any Indian was an enemy. Several Indian towns were burned, and in December the Narrargansett stronghold near modern South Kingstown, Rhode Island was taken. This is known as the Great Swamp Fight, or the Great Swamp Massacre. About 300 Indians were killed and winter stores destroyed, but most of the warriors escaped into the swamp. Facing a winter without food and shelter, the Narragansett joined the uprising.

Indian victories

Throughout the winter of 1675–1676 more frontier settlements were destroyed by the Indians. Attacks came at Andover, Bridgewater, Chelmsford, Groton, Lancaster, Marlborough, Medfield, Medford, Portland, Providence, Rehoboth, Scituate, Seekonk, Sudbury, Warwick, Weymouth, and Wrentham.

The high-water mark for the combined tribes came in the spring of 1676. They reached and attacked Plymouth Plantation itself on March 12. Even though the town withstood the assault, they showed that they could attack anywhere. All but five of the outlying settlements were deserted, and the colonists were thrown back on the seacoast. In May a militia force of 200, led by William Turner, set out from Springfield to destroy a camp of the Indians who had raided Hatfield. At dawn on May 19 they attacked the sleeping camp, and killed about 200 Indians. But they hadn't considered their withdrawal. Surrounding camps closed in, and half the force, including Captain Turner, never made it home. To compound this, some braves got into Springfield and burned substantial parts of the town while the militia was away.

Colonial comeback

The tide of war began to turn. It became a war of attrition, and both sides were determined to eliminate the other. The Indians nearly succeeded in driving their enemy into the sea, but their supplies were running out. The colonists continued to be supplied by sea, and although the war ultimately cost them over £100,000, they emerged victorious.

The Indian hopes for supplies from the French were not met, except for some ammunition in Maine. The colonists allied themselves with the Mohican tribe to the west, and King Philip found his forces surrounded.

With the help of the Mohicans, the colonists won at Hadley on June 12, and scattered the survivors into the wilds of New Hampshire. Later that month, a force of 250 Indians was routed near Marlborough, Massachusetts.

The colonial militia had asked for aid from Britain. Britain went to protect its colony and investment. Philip's allies began to desert him. By early July, over 400 had surrendered to the colonists, and Philip himself had taken refuge in the Assowamset Swamp, below Providence, Rhode Island. He was ultimately defeated when he was tracked down by Rangers lead by Captain Benjamin Church at Mt. Hope where he was shot and killed by an Indian member of the group named John Alderman on August 12.

Aftermath

With Metacomet's death, the war in the south was largely ended. Over 600 colonists and 3,000 Indians had been killed. Several hundred more natives who had surrendered or been captured were sold as slaves in the Caribbean. Members of the sachem's extended family were placed for safekeeping among colonists in Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut. In Stonington, Connecticut, selectman John Starkweather married his Christianized captive. Other survivors were forced to join more western tribes, mainly as captives. The Narragansett, Wampanoag, Podunk, Nipmuck, and several smaller bands were virtually eliminated, while the Mohicans were greatly weakened. It is to this day the most devastating war per capita for this country.

Sporadic raids continued on the far northern frontier in Maine and New Hampshire. These were finally ended when Sir Edmund Andros negotiated a treaty with the northern bands on April 12, 1678. After the war, the British soldiers were retained throughout New England, due to the cost of shipping the soldiers back home. Thus, the salutary neglect of enforcement of the Navigation Acts decreased.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were now fully open to European colonization, although western settlements would face raids until the American Revolution.

At its height, the war threatened to push the recently arrived English colonists back to the coast. As it was, it took years for English colonial towns and cities such as Boston to recover from the damage to fields and homes. For many native peoples, recovery from the conflagration of King Philip's War continues more than three hundred years later.

Although King Philip's War was not the first conflict between Europeans and Native Americans (previous conflicts include Pequot War and the enslavement of natives in the Caribbean), many people would remember this event for generations, setting the stage for Anglo-Indian conflict to come.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

  • Easton, John, A Relation of the Indian War, by Mr. Easton, of Rhode Island, 1675 (See link below.)
  • Eliot, John. ”Indian Dialogues”: A Study in Cultural Interaction eds. James P. Rhonda and Henry W. Bowden (Greenwood Press, 1980).
  • Mather, Increase. A Brief History of the Warr with the Indians in New-England (Boston, 1676; London, 1676). (See link below.)
  • ______. Relation of the Troubles Which Have Happened in New England by Reason of the Indians There, from the Year 1614 to the Year 1675 (Kessinger Publishing, * 2003).
  • ______. The History of King Philip's War by the Rev. Increase Mather, D.D.; also, a history of the same war, by the Rev. Cotton Mather, D.D.; to which are added an introduction and notes, by Samuel G. Drake(Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1862).
  • ______. "Diary," March, 1675-December, 1676: Together with extracts from another diary by him, 1674-1687 /With introductions and notes, by Samuel A. Green (Cambridge, MA: J. Wilson, * 1900).
  • Rowlandson, Mary. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: with Related Documents (Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1997).

Secondary Sources

  • Cave, Alfred A. The Pequot War (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996).
  • Cogley, Richard A. John Eliot's Mission to the Indians before King Philip's War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999).
  • Hall, David. Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990).
  • Kawashima, Yasuhide. Igniting King Philip's War: The John Sassamon Murder Trial (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001).
  • Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity (New York: Vintage Books, 1999).
  • Webb, Stephen Saunders. 1676: The End of American Independence (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995).
  • Heyrman, Christine Leigh, Native American Religion in Early America

E-Sources

References

Native American wars | American colonial wars | History of New England | Indigenous peoples of North America

King Philip's War | Guerra del rey Philip | King Philip's War

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "King Philip's War".

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