August 12 is the 336th anniversary of the death of Metacomet, also known as King Philip. His death in 1676 essentially ended King Philip’s War, a violent and bloody conflict between his Wampanoags and the English colonists. While most of the fighting took place in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, people from Connecticut took part in the many of the battles and had an important influence on the outcome of the war.
The underlying cause of the war was the colonists unrelenting desire for more and more land, but the immediate cause for its outbreak was the trial and execution of three of King Philip’s men by the colonists. King Philip and his men begin attacking and destroying English settlements and kidnapping and killing English settlers. For a while, it looked like the colonists might have to abandon the frontier and withdraw into a handful of fortified seaside towns.
Connecticut troops, together with members of the Pequot and Mohegan tribes who served as an auxiliary force with the Connecticut militia, played a prominent role in the Great Swamp Fight, near South Kingston, Rhode Island, in December 1675. Fearing that the Narragansett tribe was going to join with King Philip, the colonists, including five companies from Connecticut, marched through freezing conditions to attack the Narragansett camp, a fortified village of five acres housing about 1,000 men, women, and children. After hours of battle, the colonists gained control of the fort and burned all wigwams. Nearly all of the inhabitants died including women, children, and elders.
Skirmishes and massacres continued into the spring of 1676. King Philip’s men attacked Simsbury on March 26. According to legend, King Philip sat in a cave on Avon Mountain and watched the burning of the town. Other attacks that spring took place at Plymouth and Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Providence, Rhode Island was burned on March 29. But by summer, King Philip’s support was beginning to melt away. In June, Connecticut troops repelled an attack on Hadley, Massachusetts, and Major John Talcott of Simsbury began capturing large numbers of Philip’s followers, transporting them from New England, and selling them as slaves. Captain Benjamin Church pursued Philip to a hiding place in Mount Hope, Rhode Island, where he was killed on August 12.
King Philip’s War has been called America’s most devastating conflict. One in ten soldiers on both sides was killed, 1,200 homes were burned, and vast stores of foodstuffs destroyed. The effects of the carnage and property damage were felt for years by colonists. But for the native population of southern New England, the war marked the virtual end of traditional tribal life.