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'Metacomet' (c. 1639-August 12, 1676), also known as 'King Philip' or 'Metacom', was a war chief or sachem of the Wampanoag Indians and their leader in King Philip's War.

Contents

Biography

King Philip's War

Namesakes

External links

Biography

Metacomet was the second son of Massasoit, the chief who had befriended the Pilgrims in 1621. He became chief in 1662 when his brother Wamsutta (or King Alexander) died.
Wamsutta's widow Weetamoo (d. 1676), sachem of the Pocassets, was his ally and friend for the rest of her life. Metacom married Weetamoo's younger sister Wootonekanuske.
At first he sought to live in harmony with the colonists. As a sachem, he took the lead in much of his tribes' trade with the colonies. He adopted the European name of Philip, and bought his clothes in Boston, Massachusetts.
But the colonies continued to expand. To the west, the Iroquois Confederation continued expanding, pushing hostile tribes east, thereby encroaching on his territory.
Finally, in 1671 the colonial leaders of the Plymouth Colony forced major concessions from him. He surrendered much of his tribe's armament and ammunition, and agreed that they were subject to English law. The encroachment continued until actual hostilities broke out in 1675.

King Philip's War

Main articles: King Philip's War

Metacomet hurried to catch up with his warriors, to lead them in the uprising that would later bear his name. Mary Rowlandson, who was taken captive during a raid on Lancaster, Massachusetts, wrote about a meeting with Metacomet during her captivity.
When the war eventually turned against him, he took refuge in the great Assowamset Swamp in southern Rhode Island. Here he held out for a time, with his family and remaining followers.
Hunted by a group of rangers lead by Captain Benjamin Church, he was fatally shot by Praying Indian John Alderman, on August 12, 1676, on Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island.
After his death, his wife and eight-year-old son were captured and sold as slaves in Bermuda, while his head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to Fort Plymouth where it remained for over two decades.

Namesakes

★ The USS ''Metacomet'', an 1863 United States Navy ship.

★ King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts.

★ The Metacomet Trail & Metacomet-Monadnock Trail.

★ Metacom Avenue, a road running through Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island, and Metacomet Street in Walpole, Massachusetts.

★ Phillips Pond and Phillipswood Road in Sandown, New Hampshire.

★ Metacomet Park in Medfield, Massachusetts.

★ King Philip. From Metacomet. The clipper ship built in 1856 that is periodically seen on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, California. Upon semi-retirement, it was sold as a lumber carrier. It's anchor gave way and drifted into a sand bar on Ocean Beach. As the tide went away, the King Philip settled into the sand where it was salvaged but considered the most intact wooden shipwreck on the West Coast of North America.

External links

★ Cape Cod Times article: Native American Reconnection Festival in Bermuda.

★ Cape Cod Times article: Finding a link that was never really lost.

★ The Royal Gazette article: The struggle to honour Bermuda’s Native American heritage.

★ Rootsweb: New England Indians. Bermuda Reconnection Festival 2002 Photo Album.

★ Rootsweb: Edward Randolph on the Causes of the King Philip's War (1685).

★ Rootsweb: St. David's (Bermuda) Indian Committee.

★ Pokanoket/Wampanoag Constitution. With History.

★ US History.com: King Philip's War, 1675-76.

★ Ireland's Own: Native Blood: The Myth of Thanksgiving.