Metacom/King Philips

The invasion of the North American continent and its peoples was led mostly by the British in the 1600s. After conquerors established control over land, various wars were fought by Indians to get rid of English settlements on their native lands. One of these is the King Philip’s war (1675–1676), which is recognized for being one of the first Indian rebellions over the British settlement. Metacom, or better known as King Philips led this war, he was the chief leader of the Wampanoags and the Narragansett located at Rhode Island and Massachusetts during the 1670s. Metacom became Sachem or chief after the unfortunate death of his father Massasoit and older brother Alexander “Wamsutta”. King Phillips was recognized by neighboring tribes like the Abenaki, Narragansett, and Nipmuc by exchanging Indian land for English guns, liquor, ammunition, and blankets. Later on he stopped doing this due to indigenous sovereignty, as a result, the English Colonizers humiliated them more consistently. The unfortunate betrayal of christian Indian John Sassamon, who warned Plymouth colony that Phillip planned to attack English settlement, started the war. The English ignored the warning, and soon found Sassamon’s dead body. As Phillip was a principal suspect of the murder, a jury made up for colonists and ordered 3 indian executions on June 8, 1675. Metacom was raged by the death of his people and was forced to act against the English colonists. The awful relationship between the English colonists and native Americans triggered King Phillips war. Initially, these fights were successful for the Indians. However, after a year of strife, more than 3,000 Indians died; while the colonists only had a few hundred deaths. The war includes 5 main battles, the Swansea Raid, the Battle of Bloody Brook, the Great Swamp fight, Winter campaign, and the Battle of Turner Falls. Indian tribes were clearly losing the war, many tribe chiefs were killed and it was only a matter of time until King Phillips was murdered too. On August 20, 1676 an English-Indian soldier shot and killed King Phillips, which effectively ended the war. King Phllip’s war is considered one of the bloodiest, as it left dozens of English settlements destroyed, and thousands of dead, captured, and enslaved Indians. This war wiped out the Narragansett, Wampanoag, and other small tribes in the area. Metacom’s ideals and accomplishments were only the start of native american revolutions, which eventually made an impact on other Indian, and modern leaders.