Spanish authorities in Santa Fe order the arrest of 47 Pueblo leaders. The men are charged with sorcery, but the Spanish are actually intent on punishing their failure to recruit an adequate number of Christian converts from their followers. Following their trial, four Pueblos are sentenced to death by hanging, and the rest are whipped. Among those whipped are Pope, who five years later will lead the Pueblo in a successful rebellion against their Spanish tormentors (see entry for AUGUST 10, 1680).
The English execute three Wampanoag for murder.
In December 1674, John Sassamon, a Christian Indian who was educated at Harvard, informs English officials at Plymouth that the Wampanoag leader Metacom (see entry for 1671) is planning to attack their settlements. A month later Sassamon’s body, with its neck snapped, is discovered in a fTozen pond.
Acting on the information from a supposed Indian witness, the English arrest and try three Wampanoag for the crime. Aside from the testimony of the witness, who may owe a gambling debt to one of the accused, there is no real evidence of their guilt. Nevertheless, the English court sentences them to death by hanging.
Their execution infuriates the Wampanoag. In the past, crimes committed by Indians against Indians were dealt with by tribes. The interference of the English in what the Wampanoag see as a tribal matter brings the tension between the colonists and Indians to the boiling point.
King Philip’s War breaks out in New England.
Terrified that an Indian uprising is imminent, Massachusetts settlers in the town of Swansea flee to safety in Plymouth. Wampanoag warriors, enraged by the execution of three Indian men by the English (see entry for JUNE 8, 1675), surround the town and begin looting the abandoned homes. After one of the frightened colonists kills a Wampanoag, the warriors attack the town. The assault marks the beginning of King Philip’s War, the bloodiest conflict between Indians and settlers in the 17th century.
“The English who came first to this country were but a handful of people, forlorn, poor and distressed. . . . [They] flourished and increased. By various means they got possession of a great part of [my father's] territory. But he still remained their
Friend till he died____Soon after
I became sachem they disarmed my people. . . [and] their land was taken. But a small part of the domination of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live until I have no country.”
—Metacom in a speech to English authorities at the beginning of King Philip's War
Immediately after the attack, an army led by Benjamin Church marches from Plymouth to the Mount Hope Peninsula, where the Wampanoag leader Metacom lives. Metacom (known to the English as King Philip) manages to escape and rallies other tribes to join the growing uprising. The rebellion quickly spreads throughout the region, especially after colonial troops begin attacking Indians formerly friendly to the English.
The Virginia militia attacks the Nanticoke and Susquehannock.
Several Nanticoke steal hogs from the farm of Thomas Mathew, a Virginia planter who, the Indians maintain, refused to pay a debt to them. Neighboring whites seize the thieves and kill at least one of them. To avenge his death, the Nanticoke murder Mathew’s overseer. Virginia authorities respond by sending the militia into the villages of not only the Nanticoke but also the Susquehannock, who had formerly had friendly relations with the colonists.
Colonists slaughter Susquehannock leaders.
When the government of Virginia will not make reparations for the deaths of 14 Susquehannock murdered by colonists several months earlier (see entry for JULY 1675), tribe members begin raiding the colonists’ settlements. In revenge, a thousand-man militia surrounds a Susquehan-nock village on the Potomac River and calls its leaders to a meeting to discuss a peace. When five leaders emerge, the militiamen murder them. The brutal act sparks the short-lived Susquehannock War, during which the tribe’s warriors will launch a series of retaliatory attacks on nearby white settlements. The violence increases tension between colonists and Indians, which will explode the following year in Bacon’s Rebellion (see entry for SPRING 1676).
The English battle the Narragansett in the Great Swamp Fight.
Led by Benjamin Church, approximately 1,000 soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth travel east into Narragansett territory. As the army advances, the Narragansett seek refuge in an unfinished fort on the Great Swamp near present-day Kingston, Rhode Island. The troops rush into the garrison and kill more than 600 Narragan-sett men, women, and children. The battle later becomes known as the Great Swamp Fight. With their tribe nearly exterminated by the horrendous slaughter, the survivors, including Narragansett leader Canonchet, eagerly join King Philip’s War against the English (see entry for LATE JUNE 1675).
World History
