King Philip's War was the bloodiest conflict fought in 17th-century New England. It pitted English colonists against their Native American neighbors. Control over the region was at stake.

Causes

Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620 in what is now Massachusetts. It was the first permanent English settlement in New England. The settlers were welcomed by Massasoit, the grand sachem (chief) of the nearby Wampanoag people. For most of the next 50 years, the Wampanoag and the English lived in peace, though tensions grew between the two groups. The Wampanoag especially resented the English for taking control of more and more of their land.

Massasoit's son Metacom was called Philip by the English. In 1662 he became King Philip, chief of the Wampanoag. He and the English did not trust each other. In 1671 the English demanded that the Wampanoag surrender their guns. Metacom then became convinced his people could no longer live side by side with the English. He began meeting with other Native American leaders. He persuaded the Nipmuc and other groups to join him in resisting the colonists.

Fighting

In June 1675, the English executed three Wampanoag men for the murder of an Indian who worked for the settlers. The act sparked a full-fledged war between Metacom's forces and the colonists. The Indians raided and burned English settlements. By the end of the year, many frontier towns were destroyed. The colonists responded with similar attacks on Native American villages. In December 1675 the Narraganset, an Indian group that had tried to remain neutral, was drawn into the war and nearly wiped out in an attack by the colonists. The battle became known as the Great Swamp Fight. The surviving Narraganset entered the war on Metacom's side.

The Indians continued fighting until the spring of 1676. By then they faced starvation because the winter had been harsh and because the fighting had kept them from attending to their crops. When Metacom was killed in August 1676, his weak and hungry warriors gave up the fight. The war in southern New England was over, though raids on English settlements in New Hampshire and Maine continued for another year and a half.

Consequences

King Philip's War was one of the costliest confrontations in colonial history. About 3,000 Native Americans and 600 settlers lost their lives. More than half of the 90 English settlements in the region were attacked and a dozen were destroyed. The residents of entire Indian villages were slaughtered, and several groups were forced to flee from the area. After the war, the weakened Native Americans of southern New England were no longer able to stop the English from taking over their lands.