King Philip's War (Colonial New England)

King Philip's father, Massasoit, who had befriended the first Pilgrims in 1620, was sachem of the Pokanoket tribe of the Wampanoag nation, an easy-going ruler who stayed on friendly terms with the English. He had even requested English names for his two sons, Wamsutta and Metacomet, and the English named his sons Alexander and Philip, respectively. When Massasoit died, his eldest son, Alexander, became ruler of the Pokanoket tribe. Wamsutta (Alexander) was more distant and aloof than his father had been, thus alarming the English, who demanded his presence at a hearing before them. When Wamsutta refused to come, authorities went and took him by force to appear before them for interrogation. He became ill, and died during the return trip. Then, in 1661, his brother Metacomet (Philip) took over as sachem of the Pokanoket tribe of the Wampanoag people. Philip maintained peaceful relations for several years, but became embittered towards the Yankees, whom he blamed for his brother's death.

In early 1675, when Philip discussed war plans with his council, his secretary, John Sassamon, went to Governor Winslow to report their plans. Sassamon, who had been converted to Christianity through John Eliot's ministry, was soon discovered dead, supposedly by accidentally falling through the ice at a fishing hole. It was soon learned, though, that the Indians had murdered him; a witness identified the three murderers, who were quickly tried by an English court and hanged.

The war actually began at the small settlement of Swansea, located near the entrance to Philip's land. On June 20, 1675, a band of Indians attacked some houses on the outskirts of Swansea, looting, plundering and setting two of the houses on fire. A few settlers managed to escape and alerted the main village. From there, a rider hurried off to Governor Winslow in Plymouth. Winslow requested help from the Massachusetts governor to prevent further uprising, but felt that he and his men could handle the problem. He then requested seventy men from the towns of Bridgewater and Taunton to go to Swansea and put down the rebellion.

Three days later, on Wednesday, June 23, an old man and a boy saw a band of Pokanoket Indians slitting the throats of cows out in a pasture. The boy opened fire with his musket, the first shot fired in the war. The Indians believed that if the English fired the first shot and drew first blood, that they, the Indians, would have victory. With all restraints removed, the Indians went on the warpath.

The government of Plymouth declared a day of fasting and humiliation for June 24, as a day to beseech God for help in this time of need. Meanwhile, the citizens of Swansea, plus the 70 soldiers that Governor Winslow had sent, huddled in three garrison houses. The Wampanoags hid themselves along the roads and paths of Swansea, waiting for opportunities to ambush small groups. By the end of the first day of war, nine English had died in such small skirmishes.

In Boston, the authorities requested volunteers from the veterans of past wars such as the Pequot war, and gathered 110 volunteers, including some drunkards, ex-convicts, and many who were by now more accustomed to comfortable city life. This Massachusetts army, led by Captain Samuel Mosely, a buccaneer from the West Indies, with the help of a pack of hunting dogs and three Christian Indians to act as guides, headed south towards Swansea. Plymouth also called on volunteers, a group of ill-trained and terrified Pilgrims that proved even worse than the Boston rabble. Major Matthew Bradford and 70-year-old Major James Cudworth commanded Benjamin Church to lead the Pilgrim contingent to Swansea, as advance guards for the Boston soldiers.

On June 28, the Massachusetts troops arrived at the Miles garrison house, wondering where the Indians were. Anxious to find some savages, about a dozen of Captain Prentice's men gained permission to make a foray into enemy territory, and Benjamin Church accompanied them along with a guide from Rehoboth. As the small party on horseback approached the bridge that led into Philip's territory, the Indians ambushed them, killing at least two and sending the rest fleeing.

Two days later, Benjamin Church took a larger force across the bridge, then searched for Philip's men only to discover their camp abandoned. The Pokanokets, with aid from Philip's sister-in-law Weetamoo, had transported their people by canoes and hidden in the Pocasset swamps. The following day, Church led a company of three dozen men under Captain Fuller. They journeyed to the Pocasset shore, purposing to find out if Awashonks and her Sakonnets tribe were friends of the English. As they went tracking through a swamp trail they came to an open field a few miles south, with woods nearby. Suddenly, Indians with muskets, hiding in the woods, opened fire on them. Church and his men scurried to hide behind an outcropping of stones, closer to the bay behind them. They saw a Rhode Island ship approaching, and managed to alert the ship to their presence. The ship sent a sloop's canoe to the shore, and while the soldiers held their position, fending off the Indian attackers (estimated to be about 300) and running low on ammunition, two men at a time loaded into the canoes and rowed safely to the ship. Thus they all finally escaped, to the last man, Church himself.

Throughout the rest of the summer the Indians continued attacks on many settlements, often ambushing small groups and raiding small towns. Rehoboth, Taunton, Dartmouth and Middleborough joined the list of towns ravaged, some to the point of total destruction. In Dartmouth some Indians were captured, having surrendered under a promise that they would be restored to their lands. But then the military sent them to Plymouth to be sold as slaves and transported out of the country. Benjamin Church was so angered by this that he renounced friendship with many of his English friends. Other tribes were joining the Wampanoag now, from mounting outrage and righteous indignation over how their own people, even peaceful Indians not involved in the war, had been treated. (The English, in their panic, did not distinguish between different types of Indians and would shoot and harm any Indians, even the "praying Indians" who had converted to Christianity and lived peacefully among the colonists.) When Indian-hater Samuel Mosely burned two peaceful New Hampshire villages without provocation, even more tribes joined the war against the colonists.

Philip, meanwhile, had divided his people, sending Weetamoo and her Pocassets, plus the aged and weak of his tribe, to seek safety among the Narragansetts. He and the rest of his tribe fled northward to Nipmuck territory. In mid-July the Nipmuck attacked the town of Mendon, and in August the Indians attacked Northfield, Deerfield and Hadley in a rapid succession, forcing the total evacuation of the first two towns. Indians ambushed fleeing settlers wherever they turned. On September 18 Indians trapped a provision train and killed 68 colonists.

Some friendly tribes, such as the Mohegans, and Christian Indians assisted the colonial militia throughout the war, often helping to locate the hostile Indians. But in the fall the government, still distrustful of peaceful Indians, began to deport Indians to various islands. Many such Indians, crowded onto barren islands, died from hunger or disease that winter.

After having gained the advantage throughout the summer and fall, the Indians faced a harsh winter. While busy moving from place to place and fighting, they had neglected to tend their corn crops, a staple of the Indian diet. Since they had not stored food for the winter ahead, they were running low on food before the winter's end and had nothing but what they could find in the wilderness by spring. They also experienced a great setback that winter: a surprise attack on a Narragansett camp now known as the Great Swamp Massacre.

In December, an English army assembled, and with the assistance of a captured Narragansett Indian, called Indian Peter, they slogged through the swamps and found the concealed entrance of the Indians' mighty fortress. They sprung on the surprised Indians, and in the resulting massacre over 600 Indians -- mostly women, children and the elderly -- were burned alive, and 300 warriors taken captive. During the long march back to Wickford, 40 of the wounded, both English and Indian, died.

On February 10, 1676, several hundred Indians attacked Lancaster, setting many homes on fire and then storming the Rowlandson's home, which was being used as a garrison for settlers seeking safety. Mary Rowlandson, one of the many captives taken, kept a journal of the events of her captivity. Of the attack itself she wrote: "At length they came and beset our own house and quickly it was the dolefullest day that ever mine eyes saw. The house stood upon the edge of a hill. Some of the Indians got behind the hill, others into the barn, and others behind anything that would shelter them, from all which places they shot against the house, so that the bullets seemed to fly like hail."

More than 50 English were killed, and twenty four taken captive with the Indians, who roamed about with their prisoners for the next few months. As the Indians were having a hard time finding enough food for themselves, both Indians and English set to work finding food wherever they could. Moving from place to place, the Indians mercilessly killed any weaklings among the captives, even sickly children who would not be strong enough to walk on their own. Mary Rowlandson's own child, age 6, did not survive long in captivity. Mary and many other captives were ransomed nearly three months later. By this time the Indians had become even more desperate; they were without food, short on ammunition, and greatly outnumbered.

In April, Captain Denison and his men, a group of 40 English and 80 friendly Mohegan Indians, surprised a band of Indians, and they gave chase, capturing Canonchet, leader of the Narragansetts, and 43 others. The Mohegans demanded Canonchet's death, though Captain Denison offered to spare his life if the Narragansetts would surrender. But since the natives made it clear that the Narragansetts would continue fighting, with or without their leader, Denison ordered their immediate execution. So the Mohegans beheaded Canonchet and sent his head to the Council at Hartford as proof of their victory and their loyalty to the English. In an interesting twist of fate, Oneco, a Mohegan whose father had killed Canonchet's father, was the one who killed Canonchet.

The following month, an English boy escaped Indian captivity and, meeting up with the English army, told them of the major encampment of Wampanoags and Nipmucks along the Connecticut River (at the great falls, where the natives could spear the salmon). Led by Captain Turner (for whom the Turner Falls is named) and Captain Holyoke, the soldiers immediately marched and launched a surprise attack at dawn. Many Indians were killed as they fled their wigwams, while others drowned in the Connecticut river while trying to escape.

Warriors from nearby areas waylaid Turner and his men as they returned to the town of Hadley, and Turner was killed. But it was too little, too late for the Indians. The main war camp had been destroyed, and soon the Indian alliance fell apart. The few Indians that remained either fled north or kept fighting a lost cause.

Philip and his small group of surviving warriors headed back to Mount Hope, Philip's headquarters near Swansea, where the war had started nearly a year before. Troops led by Benjamin Church, using friendly Indians as scouts, tracked Philip throughout the summer. Philip and his band continued to raid isolated farms in the area, but a musketball fired by one of Church's scouts went through Philip's heart, killing him. Philip's death effectively ended the natives' resistance in New England.

The war had taken a great toll on the colonists, with 2600 slain and a generation of settlements wiped out. It would take years to rebuild and recover from property damage. On both sides, 10 percent of the soldiers were either wounded or killed. Of the Indians, 6000 were dead, wounded or enslaved. Hundreds of Indians that had fought with Philip were sold into slavery in the West Indies, while others, mainly women and children, were sold as household servants in New England.

Of the many Indians who had converted to Christianity, 40% survived with their faith intact. But in the years to come, no other missionaries would find the same spiritual fervor of John Eliot's work. By the end of the 17th century only seven Christian Indian churches remained, with twenty preaching stations and schools. By the end of the following century, the mission town of Natick had declined to about 20, and by 1855, only one Christian Indian remained in the village. The Puritan religious system also neared collapse by the end of the 17th century, not to be revived again until the Great Awakening of the 1730s, two generations after King Philip's War.