King Philip

King Philip’s War was a disturbing war fought in America in 1675, almost certainly as a result of the early contact between the English Colonists and the Native Americans. The Natives were, and had always been fighting for their freedom and land, as well as their culture unharmed. Though the Natives had their own religious beliefs, the Colonists felt that they were the greater man, and that God would play a part by remaining on their side. The Natives did not trust the English with their multiple cheated promises and such, and it was only expected that the Natives would not believe in the English. There is no one established reason for this war, like many wars, but it is only probable that it be a result of the many differences between the Native way of life, and the English way.

The Wampanoag Indians were a tribe that settled in the area of current day Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It is estimated that the number of tribe members was somewhere over ten thousand before the English arrived and brought along sickness and disease that the Natives were not accustomed to. By around 1675 it is imagined that the Wampanoag population plummeted to around only one thousand members. At first, the Wampanoag were accepting of the English because there appeared to be no immediate threat of endangerment of the Natives. The Natives actually became appreciative and dependent on the English in a sense, because they had been introduced to the various types of food, clothing, and most importantly, weapons. Massasoit, the Chief of the Wampanoag Indians at the time, signed a treaty of peace with the English that promised not to give up their land to anybody without the knowledge and consent of the Plymouth government first.

It wasn’t until 1630 when the situation reversed with the increasing amount of settlers moving to The Massachusetts Bay Colony known as “The Great Migration”, that the Natives became angered. The new settlers, the Puritans, were in desperate need of land and would do anything to get it. They wiped the Pequoit Indians out in the Pequoit War of 1637, and other than those who chose to convert to the Puritan religion and way of life, the Pequoit had vanished. Many of the Indian tribes were in trouble with the threat of loss of land, as well as loss of lives. It was time to strike back and defend what was theirs.

After Massasoit had passed on, Alexander would...

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...sold into slavery in the West Indies, while others faced disease, cultural disruption, and the loss of their lands.

Works Cited

Bodge, George. Soldiers in King Philips War. NEHG Register many vol's 1886-1887.

Bourne, Russell. The Red King’s Rebellion. Oxford University Press, New York, 1990.

Church, Benjamin. Diary of King Philip's War, 1675-76. Chester, Conn. : Published for

The Little Compton Historical Society [by] Pequot Press, 1975.

Leach, Douglas. Flintlock and Tomahawk. Parnassus Imprints Inc., Hyannis,

Massachusetts, 1995.

Lepore, Jill. The Name of War : King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity.

New York : Knopf, 1998.

Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Rowlandson. New England

Chronology NEHG Register vol 7 October 1853.

Schultz, Eric B. King Philip's War : The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten

Conflict. Woodstock, Vt. : Countryman Press ; New York : Distributed by W.W.

Norton, c1999.

Shroeder, Betty. The True Lineage of King Philip (Sachem Metacomb). NEHG Register vol 144 July 1990.

Webb, Stephen Saunders. 1676, The End of American Independence. New York : Knopf, 1984.