Metacom

Met·a·com (mĕtʹə-kŏm'), Also called Phil·ip (fĭlʹĭp) Died 1676.

Wampanoag leader who waged King Philip's War (1675-1676) with New England colonists who had encroached on Native American territory.

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or Metacomet or King Philip

born 1638, Massachusetts

died Aug. 12, 1676, Rhode Island

Wampanoag Indian sachem (head of a confederation of Algonquian tribes).

His father, Massasoit, had negotiated peace with the Pilgrims in 1621. Embittered by the subsequent humiliations to which he and his people were continually subjected by whites, Metacom in June 1675 led a confederation of Wampanoag, Narragansett, Abenaki, Nipmuck, and Mohawk warriors into battle. Known as King Philip's War, the ensuing conflict was the most brutal Indian war in New England history. After considerable loss of life and property on both sides, the confederation began to disintegrate, and food became scarce. Metacom returned to his ancestral home, where he was betrayed and killed in 1676 by an Indian informant allied with the colonists. He was beheaded and quartered, and his head was displayed on a pole for 25 years at Plymouth.

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▪ Wampanoag chief

also called  Metacomet,  King Philip , or  Philip of Pokanoket 

born c. 1638, Massachusetts

died August 12, 1676, Rhode Island

 sachem (intertribal leader) of a confederation of indigenous peoples that included the Wampanoag and Narraganset. Metacom led one of the most costly wars of resistance in New England history, known as King Philip's War (1675–76).

      Metacom was the second son of Massasoit, a Wampanoag sachem who had managed to keep peace with the English colonizers of Massachusetts and Rhode Island for many decades. Upon Massasoit's death (1661) and that of his eldest son, Wamsutta (English name Alexander), the following year, Metacom became sachem. He succeeded to the position during a period characterized by increasing exchanges of Indian land for English guns, ammunition, liquor, and blankets. He recognized that these sales threatened indigenous sovereignty and was further disconcerted by the humiliations to which he and his people were continually subjected by the colonizers. He was, for example, summoned to Taunton in 1671 and required to sign a new peace agreement that included the surrender of Indian guns.

      Metacom's dignity and steadfastness both impressed and frightened the settlers, who eventually demonized him as a menace that could not be controlled. For 13 years he kept the region's towns and villages on edge with the fear of an Indian uprising. Finally, in June 1675, violence erupted when three Wampanoag warriors were executed by Plymouth authorities for the murder of John Sassamon, a tribal informer. Metacom's coalition, comprising the Wampanoag, Narraganset, Abenaki, Nipmuck, and Mohawk, was at first victorious. However, after a year of savage fighting during which some 3,000 Indians and 600 colonists were killed, food became scarce, and the indigenous alliance began to disintegrate. Seeing that defeat was imminent, Metacom returned to his ancestral home at Mount Hope, where he was betrayed by an informer and killed in a final battle. He was beheaded and quartered and his head displayed on a pole for 25 years at Plymouth.

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