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KING PHILIP (c. 1639-1676)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 390 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KING See also:PHILIP (c. 1639-1676)  , See also:chief sachem of the Warnpanoag See also:Indians in See also:America, and the son of Massasoit (d . 1662)—as the See also:English, mistaking this See also:title (See also:great chief) for a proper name, called Woosamequin (Yellow See also:Feather)—who for See also:forty years was the friend and ally of the English colonists at See also:Plymouth . To Massasoit's two sons, Wamsutta and Metacomet, the English gave the names respectively of See also:Alexander and See also:Philip . Alexander succeeded his See also:father as sachem, and in the same See also:year, while in See also:Marshfield, whither he had gone to explain certain alleged unfriendly acts toward the English, was taken See also:ill; he died on his way See also:home . Philip, who succeeded Alexander, suspected the English of poisoning his See also:brother . The English had grown stronger and more numerous, and had begun to meddle in the See also:internal affairs of the Indians . In 1667 one of Philip's Indians accused him to the English of attempting to betray them to the See also:French or Dutch, but this See also:charge was not proved . In 1671 the Plymouth authorities demanded that the Wampanoags should surrender their arms; Philip consented, but his followers failed to comply, and See also:measures were taken to enforce the promise . Philip thereupon went before the See also:general See also:court, agreed to pay an See also:annual See also:tribute, and not to sell lands or engage in See also:war with other Indians without the consent of the Plymouth See also:government . In 1674, when three Wampanoags were executed at Plymouth for the alleged See also:murder of Sassamon, an See also:Indian convert who had played the See also:part of informer to the English, Philip could no longer hold his followers in check . There were outbreaks in the See also:middle of See also:June 1675, and on the 24th of June the See also:massacre of whites began . There was no concerted See also:movement of the various tribes and the war had not been previously planned .

The Nipmuck Indians See also:

rose in See also:July; the tribes along the See also:Connecticut See also:river in See also:August; those in the See also:present states of See also:Maine and New See also:Hampshire in See also:September and See also:October, and the Narragansets in See also:December, when (on the 19th) they were attacked and seriously crippled, in what is now the township of See also:South See also:Kingstown, Rhode See also:Island, by the English (under See also:Governor See also:Josiah See also:Winslow of Plymouth), who suspected their See also:loyalty . The See also:colony of Connecticut took See also:quick measures of See also:defence, guarded its frontier, maintained its affiance with the Mohegans, and suffered little injury . See also:Massachusetts and Plymouth were slower in acting and suffered great loss . Rhode Island raised no troops, and suffered severely . See also:Early in the autumn Philip .went nearly as far See also:west as See also:Albany in an unsuccessful See also:attempt to get aid from the French and the Mohawks and supplies from the Dutch traders . At See also:Deerfield on the 18th of September about 6o English were killed and the See also:settlement was abandoned . In the See also:spring of 1676 it became evident that the Indian See also:power was waning . The warriors had been unable to plant their crops; they were weaker numerically and more poorly armed than the English, and the latter had also made an See also:alliance with the friendly Naticks and the Niantics . On the 1st of August 1676 Philip's wife and nine-year old son were captured, and on the 11th of August an Indian traitor guided the English to the sachem's hiding See also:place in a swamp at the See also:foot of See also:Mount See also:Hope (in what is now the township of See also:Bristol, Rhode Island), where early the next See also:morning he was' surprised, and while trying to See also:escape was killed by an Indian . The See also:head of Philip was sent to Plymouth and set on a See also:pole in a public place, where it remained for a See also:quarter of a See also:century; his right See also:hand was given to his slayer, who preserved it in See also:rum and won many pennies by exhibiting it in the New See also:England towns . The struggle was now over in See also:southern New England, but it continued along the See also:north-eastern frontier till the spring of 1678, and nearly every settlement beyond the Piscataqua was destroyed . In the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut six See also:hundred men (or about 9% of the fighting See also:population),' besides many See also:women and See also:children, had been killed; thirteen settlements had been completely destroyed, and about forty others were partly burned .

Plymouth had incurred a See also:

debt greater than the value of the See also:personal See also:property of her See also:people . The Indians suffered even worse: in addition to the large number of men, women and children slain, great See also:numbers, among them the wife and son of Philip, were sold into See also:slavery in the See also:Spanish Indies and the See also:Bermudas . Many others migrated from New England to New See also:York; and the few remaining Indians, feeble and dispirited, were no longer a power to be reckoned with . Philip was an Indian patriot and statesman, not a See also:warrior; he See also:united the tribes in their resistance to the colonists, but was not a great See also:leader in See also:battle . See See also:George M . Bodges, Soldiers in See also:King Philip's War (See also:Leominster, See also:Mass., 1896); See also:John Gorham See also:Palfrey, See also:History of New England, vol. iii . (See also:Boston, 1864) ; and especially George W . See also:Ellis and John E . See also:Morris, King Philip's War (New York, 1906) . See also Entertaining Passages See also:Relating to King Philip's War (Boston, 1716; new edition, edited with notes by H . M . See also:Dexter, Boston, 1865), the See also:account by See also:Colonel See also:Benjamin See also:Church (1639-1718), one of the See also:principal leaders of the English, of the warfare in south-eastern New England, in which he took part; it is one of the most famous and realistic accounts of early Indian warfare.the domination of the rapacious Alice See also:Perrers .

Philippa was the See also:

patron and friend of See also:Froissart, who was her secretary from 1361 to 1366 . See also:Queen's See also:College, See also:Oxford, was not, as is stated in See also:Skelton's version of her See also:epitaph, founded by her, but by her See also:chaplain, See also:Robert of Eglesfield . Her chief benefactions were made to the See also:hospital of St Katharine's by the See also:Tower, See also:London . See See also:Agnes See also:Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, vol. i . In addition to the account given in his Chroniques, Froissart wrote a formal eulogy of her, which has been lost .

End of Article: KING PHILIP (c. 1639-1676)
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