There is much ado about marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this July, but this year also marks 350 years since the conflict that many of us know as King Philip’s War. Alternately called Metacom’s War or Metacom’s Resistance, this three-year conflict between groups of Indigenous New Englanders and the English colonists who were encroaching on their land is lesser-known than many of the country’s other wars, but its complex dynamics had long-lasting consequences for Native-colonist relations as well as for ideas of American exceptionalism.
By the 1670s there were more than 50,000 English colonists living in New England. The encroachment of these colonists onto the lands of the area’s Indigenous peoples, as well as many unfulfilled promises of fair treatment and respect for treaties, led to increasing tension and mutual distrust. When three Wampanoag men were hanged in Plymouth Colony in 1675 for the alleged murder of another Wampanoag man, Native raiding parties set fire to colonial settlements in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine. The colonial militia retaliated, burning Wampanoag settlements and creating a cycle of violence that pitted the colonists and their Native allies, including the Pequot, Mohegan and Mohawk peoples, against the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Wabanaki, Nipmuc and other Indigenous nations.
The series of conflicts came to a head in August 1676, when the Wampanoag leader Philip (Metacom) was captured and killed by colonists in Mount Hope, Rhode Island. Fighting continued on the war’s northern frontier, in what is now Maine, until 1678, and estimates place the number of casualties at more than 1,000 colonists and 3,000 Indigenous fighters. Before the war, several settlements had been established for Native peoples who wished to convert to Christianity and an English way of life. These so-called “praying towns,” including Natick, Grafton and Marlborough, had been established as a means by which members of Indigenous communities could assimilate successfully into Euro-American society, with the promise that they would be afforded the same opportunities as white settlers.
This promise was dubious from the start, but Metacom’s Resistance cemented the reality that the colonists would never see Indigenous peoples as equals, no matter how much they had espoused Christianity and European cultural norms. During the winter of 1675-1676, as many as 1,000 “praying Indians” were forcibly removed from their communities and interred on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. Colonial leaders feared that these Christianized Native peoples would turn against them to side with their Indigenous brethren in the conflict. Many of the men of fighting age in these praying towns had already been pressed into service helping the colonial militia, so most of the prisoners sent to Deer Island were women, children and the elderly. Lack of adequate food, water and shelter led to the deaths of roughly half of these prisoners, and betrayed the colonial government’s earlier promises that conversion to Anglo-Christianity would ensure equal treatment and status for Native communities. In addition to these fatalities, several dozen public executions of Indigenous people on Boston Common and the sale of many others into slavery further secured the notion that Native peoples would never be considered true equals by the colonists.
Members of the Indigenous nations that were affected by Metacom’s Resistance have long sought official recognition of the war and its consequences, even as they have created their own ways of memorializing the conflict, including a Sacred Paddle every October across Boston Harbor and a ceremony on Deer Island. A number of organizations are marking the 350th anniversary of the war with programs, events and discussions exploring the history of the conflict and its legacy for New England and the country at large. The Partnership of Historic Bostons is embarking on a multipart series, “Metacom’s Resistance: Retelling King Philip’s War and Its Legacy,” that examines not only the war itself but its lasting impact on Indigenous and colonial populations.
History Cambridge is excited to partner with PHB on the upcoming discussion, “The Past Is Now,” taking place March 24 at the Cambridge Public Library. This program will feature four speakers from some of the local Indigenous nations involved in the conflict and explore not only the history of the war, but also the ways in which it is still deeply present for all Americans, especially in New England. The program is free in live and virtual formats, and registration can be found here. All are welcome for this and subsequent programs in the series, as we reach back more than a century before the Declaration of Independence to reckon with a war that profoundly influenced colonial relations and Indigenous resistance.
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