Elected chief of the Wampanoag Indians
Metacomet
(1638 ? August 12, 1676), also known as
Pometacom
,
[1]
: 205
Metacom
, and by his adopted English name
King Philip
,
[2]
was
sachem
(elected
chief
) to the
Wampanoag
people and the second son of the sachem
Massasoit
. His older brother
Wamsutta
(or King Alexander) briefly became sachem after their father's death in 1661. However, Wamsutta also died shortly thereafter and Metacom became sachem in 1662.
His brother's widow
Weetamoo
, female sachem of the
Pocasset
, became Metacom's ally and friend for the rest of his life. Metacom married Weetamoo's younger sister Wootonekanuske.
[
citation needed
]
It is unclear how many children they had or what happened to them. Wootonekanuske and one of their sons were sold to slavery in the
West Indies
following the defeat of the Native Americans in what became known as
King Philip's War
.
[3]
Initially, Metacom sought to live in harmony with the colonists. As a sachem, he took the lead in much of his tribes' trade with the colonies. He adopted the European name of Philip,
[4]
and bought his clothes in
Boston
, Massachusetts.
[
citation needed
]
The colonies continued to expand. To the west, the
Iroquois Confederation
also was fighting against neighboring tribes in the
Beaver Wars
, pushing them from the west and encroaching on Metacom's territory. Finally, in 1671, the colonial leaders of the
Plymouth Colony
forced major concessions from him. Metacom surrendered much of his tribe's armament and ammunition, and agreed that they were subject to English law. The encroachment continued until hostilities broke out in 1675. Metacom led the opponents of the English, with the goal of stopping Puritan expansion.
[
citation needed
]
Name change
[
edit
]
In the spring of 1660, Metacom's brother
Wamsutta
appeared before the court of
Plymouth
to request that he and his brother be given English names in accordance with Wampanoag custom, in which new names marked significant moments in time (such as, in this case, Wamsutta's father's death). The court agreed and Wamsutta had his name changed to Alexander, and Metacom's was changed to Philip. Author
Nathaniel Philbrick
has suggested that the Wampanoag may have taken action at the urging of Wamsutta's interpreter, the Christian neophyte
John Sassamon
.
[5]
Metacom was later called "King Philip" by the English.
King Philip's War
[
edit
]
The death of King Philip as depicted by
Harper's Magazine
in 1857.
King Philip used tribal alliances to coordinate efforts to push European colonists out of New England. Many of the native tribes in the region wanted to push out the colonists following conflicts over land use, diminished game as a consequence of expanding European settlement, and other tensions.
As the colonists brought their growing numbers to bear, King Philip and some of his followers took refuge in the great
Assowampset Swamp
in southern
Massachusetts
. He held out for a time, with his family and remaining followers.
Hunted by a group of rangers led by
Captain Benjamin Church
, King Philip was fatally shot by a
praying Indian
named
John Alderman
, on August 12, 1676, in the Miery Swamp near
Mount Hope
in
Bristol, Rhode Island
. He was shot by Alderman for killing his brother. After his death, his wife and nine-year-old son were captured and sold as slaves in
Bermuda
. Philip's head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to
Plymouth, Massachusetts
, where it remained for more than two decades. His body was cut into quarters and hung in trees.
[6]
Alderman was given Philip's right hand as a trophy.
Representations
[
edit
]
- Mary Rowlandson
, who was taken captive during a raid on
Lancaster, Massachusetts
, later wrote a
memoir
about her
captivity
, and described meeting with Metacom while she was held by his followers.
- Washington Irving
relates a romanticized but sympathetic version of Metacom's life in the 1820 sketch "Philip of Pokanoket," published in his collected stories,
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
(1820).
- John Augustus Stone
wrote the play,
Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags
(1829) for the notable actor
Edwin Forrest
as lead.
- In his short story "
The Devil and Daniel Webster
" (1937),
Stephen Vincent Benet
portrays Metacom as a villain to the colonists, and as being killed by a blow to the head (he was shot in the heart). Webster is portrayed as respecting Metacom as one of those who "formed American history." Metacomet, together with other famous historical villains, is a juror in the "trial of the damned". When convinced that his damnation resulted in his loss of admiration for the natural world, he ultimately takes Webster's side against the Devil. In the
film
he is replaced by Asa, the Black Monk.
- Metacom is featured in the 1995 film
The Scarlet Letter
as the Wampanoags' new chief after his father's death.
- David Kerr Chivers'
Metacomet's War
(2008) is an historical novel about King Philip's War.
- Narragansett
journalist
John Christian Hopkins
's novel,
Carlomagno,
is a historical novel that imagines Metacom's son becoming a pirate after having been sold into slavery in the West Indies.
- The novel
My Father's Kingdom
(2017, by James W. George) focuses on the events leading to King Philip's War.
- There is a short section about Metacomet in the
prologue
of
Tommy Orange
’s novel
There There
.
Legacy
[
edit
]
The site of King Philip's death in Miery Swamp on Mount Hope
"King Philip's Seat", a meeting place on
Mount Hope, Rhode Island
Numerous places are named after Metacomet:
- Metacomet Mill
in
Fall River, Massachusetts
, built in 1847 and named for the chief, is the oldest remaining textile mill in the city.
- King Philip Stockade, a large park named after the chief, where the Pocumtuc Indians planned and began the Sack of
Springfield
, is now a part of
Forest Park
in Springfield
- King Philip Mills
in
Fall River, Massachusetts
, built 1871
- The
USS
Metacomet
, an 1863
United States Navy
ship
- The
Metacomet Ridge
, a 100-mile long mountain range in southern New England
- The 51-mile
Metacomet Trail
in central Connecticut
- The 110-mile
Metacomet-Monadnock Trail
in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and southern
New Hampshire
- Metacomet Country Club
, a golf course in
East Providence, Rhode Island
- Metacomet Park in
Medfield, Massachusetts
- The Metacomet parcel of conservation land within the Black Brook Management Area in
Easton, Massachusetts
- Metacom Avenue, a major road running through
Bristol
and
Warren, Rhode Island
- Metacomet Avenues in
Ocean Grove
and
South Deerfield, Massachusetts
- Metacomet Lane in
Franklin, Massachusetts
- Metacomet Road in
Longmeadow, Massachusetts
- Metacomet Streets in
Wrentham
,
Walpole
, and
Belchertown, Massachusetts
- Multiple Metacomet street names surrounding the Metacomet Trail in Connecticut
- Mettacomet Path, a street in
Harvard, Massachusetts
- Metacomet Road in
Severn, Maryland
- Metacomet Drive (improperly designated by the USPS as Metacomet Street) in
San Antonio, Texas
[7]
- Metacomet Lake, a point of interest in
Belchertown, Massachusetts
- King Philip Street in
Fall River, Massachusetts
- King Philip Regional High School
, serving
Plainville
,
Wrentham
, and
Norfolk, Massachusetts
- King Philip Regional Middle School
in
Norfolk, Massachusetts
, which serves as the middle school for the above three towns
- King Philip Middle School
in
West Hartford, Connecticut
- King Phillip's Cave
in
Norton, Massachusetts
, a cave said to have been used by the chief as a hiding place towards the end of his reign
[8]
- King Philip Mountain, a peak on
Talcott Mountain
, near
Hartford, Connecticut
- King Philip's Hill
, on the western bank of the Connecticut River in
Northfield, Massachusetts
- King Phillip's Nose, a rock island in the Connecticut River, south of Northfield, Massachusetts
- King Philip's Rock, a historic site situated on a trail in
Sharon, Massachusetts
- King Philip's Restaurant in
Phillipston, Massachusetts
- King Philip Avenue/Road/Street or Drive in
East Providence
and
Bristol, Rhode Island
;
Fall River
,
Longmeadow
,
Raynham
,
Somerset
,
Worcester
, and
South Deerfield, Massachusetts
; and in
West Hartford, Connecticut
- King Philip Woods Conservation Land in
Sudbury, Massachusetts
[9]
- King Philip
, the
clipper ship
built in 1856, is periodically seen at
Ocean Beach
in San Francisco, California
- Phillips Pond and Phillipswood Road in
Sandown, New Hampshire
- King Philip Trl Route 202 in
Baldwinville, Massachusetts
- King Phillip Road,
Taunton, Massachusetts
One insect species is named after Metacomet:
- Tipula metacomet
, a species of large crane fly with a type locality in Amherst, Massachusetts
See also
[
edit
]
- ^
Silverman, David (2019).
This Land Is Their Land
. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- ^
Lepore, Jill.
The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity
, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. Note: King Philip "was also known as Metacom, or Metacomet. King Philip may well have been a name that he adopted, as it was common for Natives to take other names. King Philip had on several occasions signed as such and has been referred to by other natives by that name."
- ^
Lepore, J. (2019). "Chapter 2: Rulers and the Ruled".
In These truths: A History of the United States
. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
- ^
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Philip, King"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 389.
- ^
Philbrick, p. 196
- ^
"Blood and Betrayal: King Philip's War"
, History Net
- ^
Plat filed in the real property records of Bexar County, Texas at Vol. 5870, P. 88
- ^
History: MGA Links at Mamantapett
,
MGA Links
(archived 2006)
- ^
"King Philip Woods Conservation Land"
. Town of Sudbury, Massachusetts. June 5, 2014
. Retrieved
October 15,
2020
.
References
[
edit
]
- Bourne, Russel (1990).
The Red King's Rebellion
.
ISBN
0-689-12000-1
.
- Philbrick, Nathaniel,
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
. New York: Viking Penguin.
ISBN
0670037605
.
- Tilton, Rev. George Henry. (1918) "A History of Rehoboth, Massachusetts: Its History for 275 Years, 1648?1918." Boston, MA: Published by the author.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Metacomet
.