King Philip’s War

6 Pages 1564 Words

King Philip’s War was a disturbing war fought in America in 1675, almost certainly as a result of the early contact between the English Colonists and the Native Americans. The Natives were, and had always been fighting for their freedom and land, as well as their culture unharmed. Though the Natives had their own religious beliefs, the Colonists felt that they were the greater man, and that God would play a part by remaining on their side. The Natives did not trust the English with their multiple cheated promises and such, and it was only expected that the Natives would not believe in the English. There is no one established reason for this war, like many wars, but it is only probable that it be a result of the many differences between the Native way of life, and the English way.
The Wampanoag Indians were a tribe that settled in the area of current day Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It is estimated that the number of tribe members was somewhere over ten thousand before the English arrived and brought along sickness and disease that the Natives were not accustomed to. By around 1675 it is imagined that the Wampanoag population plummeted to around only one thousand members. At first, the Wampanoag were accepting of the English because there appeared to be no immediate threat of endangerment of the Natives. The Natives actually became appreciative and dependent on the English in a sense, because they had been introduced to the various types of food, clothing, and most importantly, weapons. Massasoit, the Chief of the Wampanoag Indians at the time, signed a treaty of peace with the English that promised not to give up their land to anybody without the knowledge and consent of the Plymouth government first.
It wasn’t until 1630 when the situation reversed with the increasing amount of settlers moving to The Massachusetts Bay Colony known as “The Great Migration”, that the Natives became angered. The new settlers, the Puritans,...