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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] King Philip Biography PHILIP, KING (c.1639-76) A famous Indian chief, son of Massasoit; called King Philip by the English, though his Indian name was Metacomet. He became sachem of the Wampanoags, who were settled in the Rhode Island country in 1662, and in the same year went to Plymouth, promising to maintain friendly relations with the English colonists and not to cede any territory without their knowledge. About 1670 his attitude towards the English began to be suspected on account of frequent meetings of the tribes and many murders of white settlers; one of his own Indians, too, had accused him in 1667 of attempting to betray the English to the Dutch or the French. In view of these suspicions Philip and the principal tribesmen were summoned to meet the whites and explain their movements. This they did, and also agreed to surrender their arms; but it was only a truce, and preparations for war were still secretly carried on by the Indians. An Indian convert named Sausanmon revealed to the colonists the preparations made by Philip, and he was murdered by the Indians. In revenge for the execution of his murderers by the whites, the Indians killed eight or nine colonists, and open hostilities were begun in June, 1675. The Indians did not venture to meet the colonists in battle, but burned or attacked a number of their settlements, including Swansea, Brookfield, Deerfeld, and Hadley, and laid ambuscades for the settlers. In December, 1675, Gov. Josiah Winslow led a force of 1000 men against the Narragansets, with whom Philip had formed an alliance, took by storm a fort said to have contained 4000 Indians, near the present location of Kingston, R. I., destroyed their village of 500 wigwams, and put to death 500 of their warriors and twice as many Indian women and children. The war went oil for the first six months of 1676, and was marked by burnings and massacres at Weymouth, Groton, Medfield, and Lancaster, Mass., and at Warwick and Providence, R. I. But the increased efforts of the colonists soon struck demoralization into the ranks of the Indians. A substantial reward was offered by the government for every Indian killed in battle, and many Indian women and children were captured and sold into slavery. A force under the command of the great Indian fighter Capt. Benjamin Church (q.v.) hunted Philip from place to place, at last finding him through the aid of a friendly Indian in a swamp near Mount Hope, where he was killed by another Indian while trying to escape. His body was quartered, on a Thanksgiving Day especially appointed, and his head was sent to Plymouth, where it was long kept on a gibbet. During this war about 600 colonists were killed, 600 buildings burned, and 13 towns destroyed, but of the two once powerful Indian tribes it is said that fewer than 200 individuals were left. Consult: John Fiske, The Beginnings of New England (Boston, 1889, new ed., 1900); G. M. Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War (2d ed., ib., 1906): Ellis and Morris, King Philip's War (New York, 1906); K. D. Sweetser, Book of Indian Braces (ib., 1913); Narratives of Indian Wars, edited by C. H. Lincoln (ib., 1913). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol XVIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 484-485. |