FAQs about King Philip's War
Q: Who was King Philip?
A: King Philip (Metacomet) was the sachem (chief) of the Wampanoags from 1662 to 1676.
Q: What is the difference between a tribe and a nation?
A: An Indian nation is made up of many tribes. Philip was the sachem of the Wampanoag nation. He was a member of the Pokanoket tribe. Other Wampanoag tribes included the Pocassets, Saconnets, Assawompsetts, Mattapoisetts. In 1675 there were about 30 tribes in the Wampanoag nation.
Q: Where was the Wampanoag nation?
A: The tribes lived on Cape Cod, in southern Massachusetts and in the eastern part of Rhode Island.
Q: Why did the Wampanoags fight against the English colonists?
A: The English colonists in New England outnumbered the Native Americans 2 to 1 by 1675 and were exerting more and more control over the land and the natives. The native people felt hemmed in with English colonists all around them and resented the ever-increasing English domination. The trial and execution of three Wampanoags for the murder of John Sassamon was the trigger that started the War.
Q: What other native nations fought against the English?
A. The Narragansetts in western Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut, the Nipmucs in central Massachusetts as well as the River Tribes along the Connecticut River joined the Wampanoags after the War began in June 1675.
Q: I've heard that there were natives who fought on the side of the English. Is that true?
A: Yes. Many of the native people had converted to Christianity and became Praying Indians under the protection of the English. Some of them joined the hostile natives, but many of them remained loyal to the English. Also fighting with the colonists was a small tribe called the Mohegan-Pequots.
Q: Did many people die in the King Philip's War?
A: More people died in this war per capita than in either the Revolutionary or Civil Wars. 600 to 800 English colonists died. No one knows for sure how many natives died, but out of a population of about 16,000 at the beginning of the War, 4000 remained at its end. They didn't all die - some fled to New York and Canada and others were sent to the West Indies as slaves. (See Consequences of the War)
Learn more about New England on Fire!
Return Home.
