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The Great Swamp Massacre of 1676, painted by the Narragansett Tall Oak. (Courtesy of the Children's Museum of Boston)
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'King Philip'
Native Ruler Led Wampanoag
And Allies In A Disastrous War Against English Colonists
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist
When the English Pilgrims arrived in the New World, a Wampanoag Indian named Massassoit helped them survive that first harsh winter. Fifty-five years later, his son Metacom, or Philip -- also known as "King Philip" for his imperious demeanor -- would lead a native uprising against the colonists, proclaiming, "I am determined not to live until I have no country."
In the decades between these events, the colonists' prosperity and expansion had brought about disease and decline for the American Indians. Metacom's brother Wamsutta, also called Alexander, fell ill while in the custody of the English, and then died. Many of the Wampanoag said he had been poisoned. Metacom became the Wampanoag sachem, or tribal leader. His policy of resistance towards the English became volatile in 1675, when the body of Christianized native John Sassamon was found in a frozen pond near what is now Middleboro, Mass. Sassamon, who may have been an informant, was considered an English subject. Three Wampanoag were arrested, tried, and executed for his death.
A revenge raid against the English followed at Swansea, beginning an out-and-out war that covered most of Massachusetts. While contemporary reports placed "King Philip" at each and every battle site, the battle-savvy Metacom remained further away from the action in his village at Mount Hoe, enlisting other tribes and arranging deadly ambushes with his most effective weapon: fire. However, the early 1676 defeat of Metacom's Narragansett allies in the Great Swamp Massacre at Kingston, R.I., and the difficulty of feeding an agrarian people during wartime wore down the Wampanoag defenses.
By late summer 1676, most of the resistance had been crushed, but at a cost. One in 10 soldiers on both sides was injured or killed, and it took years for the colonies to recover from the property damage. Metacom's wife and son were killed near Mount Hope, and the proud warrior himself was killed in an ambush by Capt. Benjamin Church's native scout, John Alderman, on Aug. 12. His head was displayed on a pole at Plymouth Colony for 25 years as a symbol of the colonial subjugation of the American Indian presence. In 1620, when the Mayflower arrived, there were 12,000 Wampanoag. Only 400 survived King Philip's War.
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