King Philips War

King Philip’s War (1675-76) is an event that has been largely ignored by the American Public and popular historians. “However, the almost two-year conflict between the colonists and the Native Americans in New England stands as perhaps the most devastating war in this country’s history” (Giersbach, 1). Native American warriors and the opposing English troops fought viciously destroying everything and everyone in their sight. Women and children on both sides were purposely targeted, and many settlements were destroyed. After a year of bloody fighting, Captain Benjamin Church brought a small party of English troops to a swamp at Mount Hope where Metacom was hiding. A Native American ally fighting alongside Benjamin Church named John Alderman killed Metacom for money, thus ending the bitter war. This was the last chance for Indians to control the losses of their native lands in New England vs. the colonists. On a per capita basis, King Philip’s War is one of the bloodiest conflicts in American history. Vicious arguments ignite and fighting began for the next 200 years between the Indians and Colonists.
European fishermen carried infectious diseases such as smallpox, typhoid, measles, and spotted fever which causes many deaths to Native Americans around 1618. Massasoit was the sachem, or leader, of the Wampanoag Tribe. Months after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth in 1620, Massasoit went to the new colony and offered friendship. He would sign a peace treaty with the English saying that if either side were attacked, that they would show nonaggression and mutual defense. Massasoit helped the colonists in their first winter by giving them food and shelter. This uneasy alliance that the Wampanoag had with the English became harder and harder as the colonists pressured the Indians to sell land. The somewhat friendly peace between the Colonists and Indians would soon end after Massasoit dies in 1962 and Metacom takes over.
Metacom was Massasoit’s son and was