Sachem of the
Wampanoag Indians; Indian name Pometacom, or
Metacomet; was the youngest son of
Massasoit (q. v.), the friend of the
English; became sachem in 1662.
His wife was Woo-to-nek-a-nus-ke, daughter of Witamo, of the Pokanokets, on the eastern shore of Narraganset Bay.
Both Philip and his tribe had been corrupted by contact with the
English—with imaginary wants—and they were so anxious to have things like the white people that they had sold off a large portion of their lands to procure such luxuries.
Of Philip's life before he became sachem very little is known.
He had witnessed frequent broils between the
English and the Narragansets, and felt that his people were often wronged.
Yet he respected the treaty made by his father and renewed by his dead brother.
In 1665 he went to
Nantucket to kill an Indian who had profaned the name of his father, according to an Indian law that whoever should speak evil of the dead should be put to death by the next of kin.
In 1671 the
English were alarmed by warlike preparations made by Philip.
A conference was held with him and some of his warriors in the meeting-house at
Plymouth, when he averred that his warlike preparations were not against the
English, but the Narragansets.
This, however, it is said, he confessed was false, and that he had formed a plot against the
English “out of the naughtiness of his own heart.”
He and four of his chief men signed a submission, and agreed to give up their arms to the
Plymouth authorities.
Subsequently he was compelled to pay a sum of money to defray the expenses of the colony caused by his conduct.
These things, especially the disarming of the Wampanoags, caused great indignation in the tribe.
His warriors urged him to strike a blow for the extermination of the
English, but he hesitated long.
Finally he made open war in July, 1675, and
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perished at its close, Aug. 12, 1676.
The death of Philip occurred in this wise: An Indian deserter went to Captain Church, in
Rhode Island, and told him that Philip
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Portrait and sign-manual of King Philip. |
was at
Mount Hope, at the same time offering to guide him to the place and help to kill him, for the sachem had killed his (the informant's) brother, and it was his duty to kill the murderer.
This was the “faithless Indian” who shot Philip.
The barbarous law of
England that a traitor should be quartered was carried out in the case of Philip.
Church's Indian executioner performed that service with his hatchet upon the dead body of the sachem.
King Philip's War.
Massasoit kept his treaty of friendship with the
Plymouth Colony faithfully until his death.
Philip assumed the covenants with the
English on the death of his father and kept them inviolate a dozen years.
As he saw spreading settlements reducing his domains, acre by acre, his hunting-grounds broken up, his fisheries diminished, and his nation menaced with servitude or annihilation, his patriotism was so violently aroused that he listened to his hot young warriors, who counselled war for the extermination of the white people.
His capital was at
Mount Hope, a conical hill, 300 feet high, not far from the eastern shore of Narraganset Bay.
There he reigned supreme over the Pokanokets and Wampanoags, and there he planned a confederacy of several
New England tribes, comprising about 5,000 souls.
It was done secretly and with great skill.
John Sassamon, who had been educated at Harvard, and was a sort of secretary for Philip, betrayed him, and the Wampanoags slew their secret enemy.
For this act three of them were arrested on a charge of murder and were hanged.
The anger of the nation was thereby fiercely kindled against the
English, and they could not be restrained by the cautious
Philip.
He sent his women and children to the Narragansets for protection, and proclaimed war. He struck the first blow at
Swanzey, July 4, 1675 (
N. S.), 35 miles southwest of
Plymouth, when the people were just returning from public worship, on a fast-day.
Many were slain or captured.
The surrounding settlements were aroused.
The men of
Boston, horse and foot, under
Major Savage, joined the
Plymouth forces, and all pressed towards
Mount Hope.
Philip and his warriors had fled to a swamp at
Pocasset (
Tiverton). There he was besieged many days, but finally escaped and took refuge with the Nipmucks, an interior tribe in
Massachusetts, who espoused his cause; and, with 1,500 warriors, Philip hastened towards the white settlements in the distant valley of the Connecticut.
Meanwhile, the little colonial army had reached the
Narraganset country and extorted a treaty of friendship from Canonchet, the chief sachem of that powerful tribe.
The news of this discouraged Philip, and he saw that only in energetic action was there hope for him. He aroused other tribes, and attempted a war of extermination by the secret and efficient methods of treachery, ambush, and surprise.
Men in fields, families in their beds at midnight, and congregations in houses of worship were attacked and
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massacred.
They swept along the borders of the
English settlements like a scythe of death for several months, and it seemed at one time as if the whole
European population would be annihilated.
From
Springfield north to the
Vermont line the
valley of the Connecticut was desolated.
Twenty Englishmen sent to treat with the Nipmucks were nearly all treacherously slain (Aug. 12, 1675) near
Brookfield.
They fired that village, but it was partially saved by a shower of rain.
Early in September (12th)
Deerfield was laid in ashes.
On the same Sabbath-day
Hadley, farther down the river, was attacked while the people were worshipping.
A
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Defending a garrison House against attack. |
venerable-looking man, with white hair and beard, suddenly appeared, with a glittering sword, and led the people to a charge that dispersed the Indians, and then suddenly disappeared (see
Goffe, William). Over other settlements the scourge swept mercilessly.
Many valiant young men, under
Captain Beers, were slain in
Northfield (Sept. 23), and others— “the flower of
Essex” —under
Captain Lathrop, were butchered by 1,000 Indians near
Deerfield.
Encouraged by these successes, Philip now determined to attack
Hatfield, the chief white settlement above
Springfield.
The
Springfield Indians joined him, and with 1,000 warriors he fell upon the settlement (Oct. 29); but the
English being prepared, he was repulsed with great loss.
Alarmed, he moved towards
Rhode Island, where the Narragansets, in violation of their treaty, received him and joined him on the war-path.
Fifteen hundred men from
Massachusetts,
Plymouth, and
Connecticut marched to chastise Canonchet for his perfidy.
They found the treacherous
Indians with Philip, 3,000 in number, in a fort within a swamp (South Kingston, R. I.), where their win-
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Mount hope. |
ter provisions had been gathered.
Before that feeble palisade the
English stood on a stormy day (Dec. 19). They began a siege, and in a few hours 500 wigwanis, with the provisions, were in flames.
Hundreds of men, women, and children perished in the fire.
Fully 1,000 warriors were slain or wounded, and several hundred were made prisoners.
The
English lost 86 killed and 150 wounded. Canonchet was slain, but Philip escaped and took refuge again with the Nipmucks.
During the winter (1675-76) he vainly asked the Mohawks to join him, but tribes eastward of
Massachusetts became his allies.
In the spring of 1676 the work of destruction began.
In the course of a few weeks the war extended over a space of almost 300 miles.
Weymouth,
Groton,
Medfield,
Lancaster, and
Marlborough, in Massachusetts, were laid in ashes.
Warwick and
Providence, in Rhode Island, were burned, and isolated dwellings of settlers were everywhere laid waste.
About 600 inhabitants of
New England were killed in battle or murdered; twelve or thirteen towns were destroyed entirely, and about 600 buildings, chiefly dwelling-houses, were burned.
The colonists had contracted an enormous debt for that period.
Quarrels at length weakened the Indians.
The
Nipmucks and Narragansets charged their misfortunes to the ambition of Philip, and they deserted him. Some of the tribes surrendered to avoid starvation; others went to
Canada, while Captain Church, one of the most famous of the
English leaders, went out to hunt and destroy the fugitives.
Philip was chased from one hidingplace to another.
He retired to
Mount Hope discouraged, and was there killed.
