American History Online King Philip's War

King Philip's War saw Indians in southern New England desperately and violently try to preserve their autonomy in the face of English encroachment. Before 1675 different Indian groups had pursued different strategies to cope with English expansion. For example, many of the surviving members of the Massachusetts tribe accommodated the English by converting, outwardly at least, to Christianity; other Indians had submitted to colonies, as when the Wampanoag swore their loyalty to Plymouth in return for the promise of protection; finally, some, such as the Mohegan and Narragansett, formed strong alliances with colonies, going so far as to support the English in the Pequot War. The effectiveness of all these strategies was limited, but they had led to a delicate balance of power in the region. Nevertheless, the Indian population declined steadily in the face of dramatic English growth. Making matters worse, the economic position of Indians had been weakened by the decline of the fur trade and decreased demand for wampum.

In 1675 the Wampanoag, led by Metacom, or, as the English knew him, King Philip, opted to sever their ties of loyalty to Plymouth when that colony executed three Wampanoag for the death of John Sassamon, a Christian Indian. Wampanoag attacked the settlement of Swansea, killing a handful of settlers. Whether they intended to start a large war is unclear, but the English colonies quickly united in an effort to suppress what they perceived to be a rebellion. Even so, English efforts failed, and their poor treatment of nonhostile Indians forced many, including the Narragansett, Nipmuc, and those of the Connecticut River Valley north of Springfield, into alliance with the Wampanoag. More disturbing, in an action that was analogous to the internment of Japanese citizens by the United States in World War II, the English herded up loyal Christian Indians and confined them to a windswept island in Boston harbor.

The Wampanoag and their allies initially prosecuted the war effectively, forcing the English to abandon many settlements in western Massachusetts. They relied on quick surprise attacks wherein fire was their most effective weapon. They were also aided by the internal squabbles of the English, as old disputes over colonial borders and new arguments over the morality of the war surfaced among the colonists. However, their success proved short lived. The English learned to rely more heavily on their Indian allies, including the Mohegan and those Christian Indians earlier confined in Boston harbor. Equally important, during the winter of 1675–76, Metacom's forces sought safety in New York, only to be attacked by the Mohawk. By spring and summer of 1676 large numbers of Indians were surrendering to the English, and those who continued to fight saw themselves pursued by English troops invigorated by Indian allies. In August 1676 an Indian loyal to the English killed Philip, and the conflict bearing his name ended.

The war destroyed the possibility of a biracial society and intensified hatreds associated with a latent frontier mentality. Indians had suffered the most in the war, and the depletion of their population significantly reduced their influence in the region. The percentage of Native Americans in the region declined from one-fourth to one-tenth. Indians died not only from combat wounds and disease, but the English sold many of their Indian captives into slavery. The removal of so many Indians from New England destabilized the region as colonists disputed the morality of the war and their entitlement to Indian land. These disputes eventually contributed to the establishment of the Dominion of New England in 1686 and the temporary loss of colonial autonomy. Those Indians who survived the war and remained in New England followed a wide variety of paths, but all found their actions more tightly restricted. Many found themselves working as servants for the English and unable to recreate their past community ties. Outside of New England the results of King Philip's War favored the Mohawk. They forged an alliance with New York that proved to be the seeds of the Covenant Chain, a series of English-Indian alliances that shaped relations in the Northeast well into the next century. The memory of King Philip's War and the way that contemporaries wrote about it helped determine relations between Indians and Anglo-Americans into the 19th century.

Further Information

James D. Drake, King Philip's War: Civil War in New England, 1675–1676 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999);