...King Philip’s War Frank T. DeNatale Dr. Wilkins American Military History I Columbia Southern University June 20, 2013 Frank T. DeNatale Dr. Wilkins American Military History I June 20, 2013 King Philip’s War Following the Pequots’ destruction, New England experienced nearly forty years of uneasy peace before King Philip’s War erupted in 1675. The war began in a small way in a limited area but eventually engulfed New England, bringing suffering to nearly all its English and native inhabitants. In June 1675, a few Wampanoags looted and burned several abandoned buildings in a frontier community. The destruction was more an act of vandalism than a military attack, but as so often in the relations between whites and Indians, seemingly inconsequential events had momentous consequences. Plymouth colonists mobilized to retaliate, the Wampanoags prepared to defend themselves, and before long a war was in progress. Fearful colonists wondered how many other tribes would join the Wampanoags and especially worried about the Narragansetts, the most powerful tribe in the area and the Wampanoags’ traditional enemies. Rather than abide fickle friends, the colonists delivered a preemptive strike against the Narragansetts, resulting in the war’s most famous battle, the Great Swamp Fight of December 19, 1675. The governor of Plymouth Colony, Josiah Winslow, commanded the 1,100 man force, composed of soldiers from Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut and a substantial contingent...
Words: 521 - Pages: 3
...up with it and what is it referring to? Quinsigamond in the Native American Algonquian Language means “the pickerel ( or long nose ) fishing place” and was the old name of what we now know as the city of Worcester, MA. Algonquian is the common language of the Nipmuc people who inhabited much of Worcester county along with the Pequot, Narragansett and Pennacook. They were the earliest inhabitants of the area long before the English ever set foot in central Massachusetts. What were they like? What's their story? Are they still among us? The Nipmuc People and Culture: The name Nipmuc means “the fresh water people”. It refers to the Native-Americans living in central Massachusetts. They were not a cohesive tribe like other Indians but made up of independent bands...
Words: 1419 - Pages: 6
...Relations between Indians and English Colonists were anything but docile. Neither side was solely at fault. Both the Indians and the colonists held a violent nature with one another. The tensions started to boil increasingly as settlers encroached more and more onto claimed Indian lands. The actions taken by both sides shaped the relationships in a negative way. Some tribes and settlers formed alliances between small tribes and towns; however, the majority of the relationships were murderous. Prior to the French and Indian war, hundreds and hundreds of innocent American Indians were killed, among them women and children. Each region, New England, Chesapeake, Spanish Southwest, New France and New York proved to deal with different issues than a neighboring region. The settlers were not the only violent offenders. American Indians attempted to hold their ground, and a number of tribes even attacked English Colonists. Not only was there violence but many other factors contributed, including religion. Actions committed by both sides shaped the relations in different ways for different regions. New England relations with American Indians Initially, the relations between colonists in New England and the coastal Indians were friendly. The Indians offered a helping hand to the colonists. As the Englishmen were developing their colonies, the Indians helped shape the economy. Settlers were eager to move off the coast and more inland. When the settlers pushed farther and farther inland...
Words: 1784 - Pages: 8
...The Pequot War happened when the English fought the Pequot tribe to kick them out of their lands in order to receive their lands that were rich in furs. Bacon’s Rebellion was caused by a man named Nathaniel Bacon who wanted to fight the Natives to kick them off their lands. When the governor of Jamestown, William Berkeley, disagreed with attacking the colonists, Bacon attacked anyways with people who agreed with him. King Philip’s War started when the chief of the Pokunoket tribe died on english territory because of English expansion. Metacom, also known as King Philip, became the new chief and declared war on the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. However, they were different in the way that each of them ended. The Pequot War ended with a treaty that sold the surviving Pequots into slavery. Bacon’s Rebellion ended when Bacon suddenly died after almost winning. King Philip’s War ended when King Philip was beheaded and the rest of the tribe was sold into slavery. The Pequot War’s lasting impact was that it kept the Native’s from challenging the Northern colonies for another 40 years. Bacon Rebellion’s impact was that it scared the upper-class into using slaves rather than indentured servants who could gain freedom and hurt them. King Philip’s War’s impact was that it became the last major effort...
Words: 1233 - Pages: 5
...In 1675, a war broke out between the Native Americans and the English settlers. This war is known as King Philip’s War. Philip is the son of Wampanoag chief, Massasoit. He took over as chief after the passing on Massasoit in the early 1960’s. When the Pilgrims first starting arriving on the East Coast, the natives were very skeptical of them. Were they people the Natives could trust or were they dangerous people? Eventually, the Native Americans and Pilgrims became acquaintances. They helped one another grow crops, build shelters, and became allies. The Pilgrims needed the Wampanoag’s help to survive. Massasoit and Edward Winslow, governor of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, became more than allies; they became friends. Winslow stood by Massasoit’s side as he was sick. Massasoit eventually recovered from his ailment and lived for about another 40 years. The two remained friends and managed to keep the peace between the Natives and the Pilgrims....
Words: 593 - Pages: 3
...The relationship the British colonists in New England had with the Wampanoag Indians affected the culture of the Wampanoag Indians in many ways. In 1600, there were as many as 12,000 Wampanoag Indians in New England. When the pilgrims came in 1620, the population decreased to about 2,000. The Wampanoag Indians were known for their fishing and hunting skills. When the Europeans first arrived prior to the arrival of the pilgrims in 1620, the captains captured the Wampanoag and the Patuxet Indians to sell as slaves. One Patuxet named Squanto was purchased by Spanish monks who tried to make him “civilized.” Squanto eventually gained his freedom and returned to New England where he didn’t see any other Patuxet Indians. All of his tribe was killed by disease so he stayed with the Wampanoag Indians. When the English pilgrims arrived in the New England area, they decided to settle in the newly-deserted Wampanoag village of Patuxet. The pilgrims were starving to death, cold, and sick but the Wampanoag Indians chose to not to have any...
Words: 524 - Pages: 3
...was exiled and eventually went to Rhode island. Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan spiritual adviser, mother of 15 children, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy that shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Even though it was not allowed for her to hold religious events since Anne was a woman, she had meetings and discussed the finer points of religion. She was trialled and banished from the colony with many of her supporters. Anne landed in Long Island. John Wheelwright, another dissenter left the colony and started a colony that became New Hampshire later. Thomas Hooker was known as an outstanding speaker and a leader but had had different views and beliefs from the other puritans. He headed west, set the colony of Hartford in 1636, latter to become Connecticut. In consequence of Puritan’s intolerance of these dissenters triggered settlement new colonies in New England area. When the Separatists saw the demise of the Native American tribes, probably due to disease, the Puritans interpreted it as the punishment from God. Separatists and Puritan thought the Native Americans were inferior and not equal at...
Words: 771 - Pages: 4
...Sara Ghuloum 10889 American Literature 1 The Unraveling of Truth Mary Rowlandson was an American woman who had the misfortune of being abducted by the Native Americans during King Philip’s war in 1675. She was also considered the most famous captive of that unfortunate event; as her narrative showed that she went through a series or sorrowful, and hurtful events such as the death of her 6 year old child who was shot and died a slow and painful death. Her narrative was also considered as the most popular prose work of the seventeenth century. However, I can’t help but question her motives behind writing her narrative, and whether her narrative was actually accurate. One of the main reason why I doubt her motives behind writing the...
Words: 635 - Pages: 3
...region and New England both had conflicts with the Native Americans due to cultural misunderstanding and the desire for land. The colonists brutally slaughtered the Indians because they control the land that the English colonists wanted for plantations and other resources. In the Chesapeake region, clashes occurred between the Virginia settlers and Powhatan tribe and resulted in the first and second Anglo-Powhatan wars. The colonists exterminated the Indians and burned their villages, banishing the Powhatan tribe from the Chesapeake Bay region to inferior lands. Similarity, in New England, the Pequot War and King Philip's war was fought between the Puritans and the Pequot tribe to resist English settlement on Indian land. In the Mystics Massacre during the Pequot War, the English set an Indian village on fire and shot the escaping survivors; a total of three hundred women and...
Words: 498 - Pages: 2
...their friendship will no longer exist. Nathaniel Philbrick’s novel, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, goes in-depth on what occurred in those fifty years and even King Philip’s War itself. Once friends who heavily relied on each other would become enemies in arguably the deadliest war of North America. The reasoning behind the outbreak of this devastating war was due to Philip’s growing hatred of the pilgrims that would eventually make him burst. The death of Massasoit would allow Alexander, his eldest son, to assume leadership of the Pokanokets. There were disturbing rumors that the new leader was joining forces with an enemy native tribe. When Alexander did not come to Plymouth court as asked, Josiah Winslow was to bring him in. After the meeting, Alexander suddenly fell ill and died a few days later. Philip, Alexander’s younger brother placed blame on the English and was “convinced that Winslow had poisoned the sachem” (Philbrick...
Words: 709 - Pages: 3
...history, customs, and Wampanoag language began to die as did the Elders of the tribe. What had once been a thriving culture began its downfall. During this same period of hardship for the Wampanoag people, Europeans in the area imported African slave labor into the New England area. To continue to grow economically, the English needed more sufficient labor than what a diminishing native population could provide. The colonists had a problem and they need a solution. Their solution for the shortage of labor was becoming involved with the African slave trade. The influx of African slave labor introduced the creation of a contemporary culture in colonial New England. Members of this new group of people to Native were viewed as outcasts as well because of their historical and cultural make up and also their skin color, similarly to the Wampanoags. Over time, the few Wampanoag people who survived began marrying people of African descent. Although this can be assumed to be as a result of situation, it could also be argued that these relationships were established in common frustrations and distrust in colonists, common sharing of strong cultural roots, and a common ground in hope for a different future. By the 18th century, a new culture that embraced both Wampanoag and African elements was brought forth, resulting in the hybridized successive generations that are still present today. According to Mandell and his research, although culturally, the members in this community were ethnically...
Words: 932 - Pages: 4
...King Phillip's war began in 1675. This historic moment was named after the Wampanoag Indian Chief, named Metacornet, also known as Philip. A name given by the English as a symbol of friendship and esteem. Philip was the son of Massasoit, who in 1621 signed a peace treaty with the English. The treaty was maintain up until the death of Massasoit, but in the years after his death, his tribe was forced to undergo increasing the domination of the English in 1621. The Wampanoag's hospitality ended up being hostility. As quoted there is evidence that points towards Philip's attempt to form an Indian confederation, but he fought as one of several important chieftains and not as the leader of confederation (Millet & Maslowski, 1994, p.15). In June 1675, a few Wampanoag's looted and burned down many abandoned buildings in a frontier community, but was disregarded as an act of vandalism than a military attack. Inconsequential events had consequences, the Plymouth colonies gathered to attack, but the Wampanoag's were prepared to defend themselves and not too long after a war had begun. Colonists feared about how many tribes would join the Wampanoag's (Millet & Maslowski, 1994, p.16)The colonist's were more concerned about the Narragansett's, because they helped the English eliminate the Pequot's in 1637 (Millet & Maslowski, 1994, p.16). The colonist's decided to attack the Narragansett's, this attack is known as the war's most famous battle called, the Great Swamp Fight of...
Words: 440 - Pages: 2
...Jamestown on the tip of the James River in Virginia, where around 200 Indian Warriors stormed the unfinished Jamestown and were obliterated by cannon fire. 1621 - The first Thanksgiving was held in the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts where the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians had gathered for a feast after the Indians had helped...
Words: 1112 - Pages: 5
...Puritans and Native Americans Examine some of the Puritan beliefs revealed by the works we have covered that led to tensions, conflicts, and concerns among the colonists and/or the Native Americans. Colonization in America by the Puritans occurred in 1620. Unlike the pilgrims who had arrived in America earlier and settled in Jamestown, the Puritans came to reform the church. All Puritans had strong religious beliefs and wanted America to be a place for liberation. According to the article God in America, 2010 “Puritans did not break with the Church of England, but instead sought to reform it.” Also from the text, “The reign of James I (1603–1625), however, brought about the Separatist movement that sent the Pilgrims first to the Netherlands and then to Plymouth” (Puritanism, 58). The Puritans would settle and form the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Today this part of America is referred to as the New England States. Life at the beginning was hard for the Puritans and many tensions/conflicts would arise with the local Native Americans. Many of these conflicts would be documented through literary works, such as, William Bradford, Mary Rowlandson, and St. John De Crevecoeur. Literary history has allowed society to gain an understanding of the conflicts between the Puritans and Native Americans. William Bradford was well known for his impact on the Plymouth colonies. In traveling to America he was a very religious man. “William Bradford was one of the greatest of colonial Americans...
Words: 1057 - Pages: 5
...The English colonists ran into some noteworthy complications during the colonial period. The challenges they incurred were economic, social, political, and physical in nature. These challenges influenced the development and the trajectory of the colonies. Economically, the English faced numerous obstacles that shaped their lives. One of the most significant issues was their reliance on cash crops. Crops such as tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies and rice in the Carolina’s. Unfortunately, environmental factors affected their income when it came to the crops, such as harsh winters and rocky terrain in areas like New England. Additionally, an over reliance on these crops left them extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in the market. The Navigation...
Words: 372 - Pages: 2