Metacomet

Philip, King of Mount Hope , 1772, by Paul Revere from an original drawing by eyewitness Benjamin Church .

Metacomet (* around 1639; † August 12, 1676 ), also King Philip or Metacom , was the chief sachem of the Wampanoag Indians and between 1662 and 1676 also chief of the Pokanoket , a group of the Wampanoag. Metacomet is considered to be the leader in the King Philips War of 1675/76.

biography

Massasoit , the father of Metacomet, was also a sachem and became known for his pacification policy between Indians and pilgrim fathers . As the second son of his father, Metacomet only became chief after the death of his older brother Wamsutta in 1662. The sudden death of his brother while negotiating with white settlers aroused the new chief's distrust of the whites.

Metacomet married his brother's daughter, Wootonekanuske.

King Philip's War

Main article : King Philip's War

As a tribal chief, he wanted to live in harmony with the settlers first. This went so far that he took the name Philip and bought his clothes in Boston . The situation changed dramatically as the number of settlers continued to grow and their demands grew. In addition, the Iroquois shifted their territory and drove hostile tribes east into the Wampanoag area.

The situation worsened in 1671 when a court ruling required the Indians to surrender their weapons and adopt British legislation. Although this request was only partially fulfilled, it increased Metacomet's mistrust.

When white settlements were built on areas clearly declared as Indian territory because of the increasing numbers of settlers, hostilities arose. In addition, due to the reduced Indian area, the indigenous people could no longer steal their traditional merchandise, the skins of captured animals, in sufficient numbers. Instead, they even sold their land to white people in exchange for equipment and weapons.

When John Sassamon , an Indian translator, told the whites about a planned attack and was murdered by the Wampanoags a little later, the situation escalated. Tribesmen were arrested on the basis of an Indian witness and hanged after a trial. The Indians viewed this as an encroachment on their sovereignty. With Metacomet's consent, they raided a village of white settlers and murdered some residents. In response, a Wampanoag settlement was destroyed on June 28th.

King Philip's war

The fighting spread rapidly and after a short time the Pocumtuc , Narraganset and Nipmuck tribes were also involved. The Indians did manage to push the whites back into the larger cities, but their supplies were insufficient for a longer war. In 1675 Metacomet tried to find allies in the Mohawk . Their area had previously been raided several times, so that they were unable to provide food aid to the Wampanoag. More and more Indian tribes were defeated or surrendered to white superiority. Metacomet was isolated and forced to flee to the Assovamse swamps. The whites used the friendship of Indian tribes and allowed them to raid the Wampanoag, whereby they were allowed to keep some of the booty. In one of these attacks, Metacomet was killed by the Indian preacher John Alderman on August 12, 1676. As a deterrent, Metacomet was beheaded and his skull was shown impaled outside Fort Plymouth for more than two decades . His eight year old son and wife were sold to Bermuda as slaves .

literature

• Ernie Hearting : famous Indians, white scouts. 15: Metacomet. Mission and fate of a great Indian chief. Written down using historical sources. Waldstatt Verlag, Einsiedeln 1963.

Web links

• Cape Cod Times article: Finding a link that was never really lost.
• Rootsweb: Edward Randolph on the Causes of the King Philip's War (1685).
• Pokanoket / Wampanoag Constitution. With history.
• US History.com: King Philip's War, 1675–76.