King
Philip's War has been largely forgotten, but that war
marked a change in relations between the two groups that
has persisted to this day. It was not the first war between
the Europeans and the Native Americans, nor was it the
last.
The War lasted a little over a year. The numbers involved
were miniscule by today's standard; but the numbers
represented nearly all the people, English and Native
American, living in Southern New England at the time. After
the War, the Native Americans were no longer a power in
Southern New England.
My interest in King Philip's War started when I realized
the associations between Fall River, my home town and the
War. The King Philip War began and ended at a spot across
Mount Hope Bay from Fall River. The spot is in Bristol near
the northern end of the Mount Hope Bridge. The first real
battle occurred in the Pocasset Swamp just south of present
day Fall River. Benjamin Church, one of the heroes of the
War, was the first millman on the Falls River (later called
the Quequechan River). The names of many Fall River cotton
mills were taken from Native Americans involved in the War.
Indiantown Road on the East side of the North Watauppa Pond
commemorates the Native American reservation established
through the agency of Colonel Benjamin Church for the
Native Americans who had fought with him against King
Philip and his warriors.
This web site presents some of the things I learned about
the War. Each generation views the past with spectacles
that use contemporary verities. In many cases, history
tells more about the time it was written in than it does
about events it proports to report on in the past. So
today, King Philip is portrayed as a leader trying to
survive the onslaught of the English. This contrasts with
the bloodthirsty monster limned by the English at the time
of the War.