Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

---

Alexander,

An American Indian king. Massasoit (q. v.) died in 1660. Three or four years before his death he took his two sons, Wamsutta and Metacomet, to Plymouth, Mass., and asked that both should receive English names. The oldest was named Alexander. and the second Philip. Alexander succeeded his father as chief sachem of the Wampanoags. In 1661 he was compelled to go to Plymouth a prisoner, on suspicion of being league with the Narragansets in hostile designs against the English. The suspicion was not sustained by evidence. On his way to Plymouth the chief was taken suddenly ill, and in a few hours died, it was said of a fever brought on by rage and mortification. His young wife, who became the squaw sachem Witamo, believed he had been poisoned by the English. This event soured the minds of Philip and his followers towards the English, and was one of the indirect causes which led to King Philip's War. See King Philip.