(ca. 1642-1676) leader in King Philip's War Metacom was the youngest son of Massasoit, leader of the most powerful Indian group in the area around
Wampanoag chief Metacom (Library of Congress)
Plymouth, the Wampanoag. Metacom was also known as King Philip, a name the English bestowed on him and that he readily accepted. When Massasoit died in 1662, his eldest son, Wamsutta, assumed the leadership of the tribe, but he died later that year, making Metacom the new leader. Like his father, Metacom tried to maintain close and peaceful relations with the Plymouth colonists. One of his first acts as leader in 1662 was to renew the Wampanoag’s covenant with the colony, but a growing British population and the resulting pressures on Native lands made keeping peace increasingly difficult. The 1667 settlement of Swansea on Wampanoag land increased tensions. Worsening matters, the English feared that Metacom was planning a general Indian uprising. In 1667 and 1671 Plymouth summoned him before its general court to confront him about his plans. On both occasions Metacom denied preparing for war, but the colony nevertheless charged him with humiliating fines and confiscated some of his followers’ weapons. As the colonists pressed him to submit to their authority, Metacom nevertheless renewed oaths of loyalty to the colony.
Not only the English, but other Indians, especially those who had converted to Christianity, began to challenge Metacom’s authority. In particular, John Sassamon, a Christian Indian from Massachusetts who had once served as Metacom’s secretary, attempted to establish a ministry within Plymouth. Soon thereafter, Sassamon was found dead in a pond. Plymouth tried and executed three of Philip’s followers for the murder of Sassamon. It is unknown if Philip had a role in Sassamon’s murder, or even if Sassamon was murdered rather than accidentally drowned. Whatever the case, the resulting executions prompted some Wampanoag to attack Plymouth settlements in 1675, beginning what has come to be known as King Philip’s War.
Metacom’s role in the war that bears his name is unclear. Nevertheless, he was a marked man. Philip and the Wampanoag fled Plymouth, pursued by British forces. The war expanded to include most, if not all, English and Indian groups within New England, and the conflict involved one of the first widespread alliances among many Indians groups against the colonists. The Wampanoag and their allies enjoyed dramatic success for several months. Beginning in spring 1676, however, the English and their Indian allies turned the tide in their favor and began a campaign of mopping up the remnants of a listless enemy. On August 12, 1676, an Indian fighting for the English managed to kill Metacom near his home in Plymouth. The English posthumously carried out the punishment reserved for traitors by quartering and beheading Metacom’s body and mounting his head on a stake. The English also managed to capture Metacom’s wife and son. The fate of his wife is uncertain; like many Native American captives, his son was sold into Caribbean slavery.
Further reading: James D. Drake, King Philip’s War: Civil War in New England, 1675-1676 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999); Douglas Edward Leach, Flintlock and Tomahawk: New England in King Philip’s War (New York: Macmillan, 1958).
—James D. Drake
World History
