King Phillip' War

Facts and Results of King Phillip’s War
King Philip’s war, which took place between1675–76, in New England, is known as the most devastating war between Native Americans and English colonists. King Philip was the Indian chief of the Wampanoag tribe, who waged war against the English in a fight for territory. The war is named after King Philip (original name was Metacom), who was nicknamed by the English, the son of Massasoit and chief of the Wampanoag. “The Wampanoag was a powerful tribe that had about 30 villages, and they lived in a large region extending from Narragansett Bay to the Atlantic Ocean” (Wampanoag, 1). The end of the war came about after King Philip was killed by the English in Aug. 1676. According to a combined estimate of deaths “800 out of 52,000 English colonists (1 out of every 65) and 3,000 out of 20,000 natives (3 out of every 20) lost their lives due to the war” (Schultz and Tougias).
At first, there was peace between the Native American tribes and the English, and trade was common between them. This peace included the sale and trade of land from the Native Americans for English goods. However, according to Williams and Morris, “The sale of lands was regulated by law, but unfortunately the Indians idea of what they sold, and the white man’s idea of what was bought, were entirely at variance” (21). The Indians did not think their continuing usage of the land, after they had sold it to the English, would cause any troubles to the white men (the Indians believed that the land belonged to no one and that everyone was free to use it at will). On the other hand, the English saw this as an intrusion since the land now belonged to them. The Indians were not happy with the way the English mistreated them in their land, and thought they were taken advantage of because of the good they received in exchange of their land. “The Indians left no written records, but it seems certain that Phillip had come to see the English lust for land as insatiable... [continues]

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