Summary
The war is named for King Philip, chief of the Wampanoag tribe.It began in Rhode Island and Plymouth colony in June 1675 (Norton 83).The war ended in the south upon King Philip’s death August 12, 1676 but continued on in the north until the spring of 1678. Tensions and trouble started during the summer of 1675 when some of the Wabanakis were making peace and others were not. The small group that didn’t make peace attacked Thomas Wakely’s farm outside of Falmouth and brutally killed him his children, his grandchildren, and his wife. As a result, six people were killed and three were missing. In response to this Lieutenant Ingersoll feared the worst and requested back-up. Unfortunately his fears proved to be real when hit and run raids continued to occur in the autumn of 1675. The fighting was delayed by the winter weather and colonists were able to request for help once again. This time Soldiers are stationed in Maine and deter the Wabanakis from attacking however, settlers complained of the taxes they had to pay to keep the soldiers. The soldiers were no longer needed when in June 1676, the Wabanakis presented their desire of peace. By July, Waldron negotiated a treaty with the Wabanakis and the Sacos. The treaty promised peace from both sides. Unfortunately Waldron betrayed the treaty by following orders to capture all the Indians in his trading post, ultimately capturing 350 indians. Of those 350, some were executed, some were sold, and others were returned home. In October 1676, the wabanakis attacked Wells, then Cape Neddick, then Black Point. In November a renewed treaty was offered, but the Wabanakis declined. Later a letter was received in Boston addressed to the Governor explaining their reasoning in declining the second treaty. The killings were all due to Waldron’s betrayal of the original treaty so in the later months the raids continued. During the months of June and July of 1677, the Wabanaki Indians took twenty ships from Salem’s fishing and trading posts and in Mid-July the crew overpowered their captors and sailed into Marblehead Harbor. As a result, this became one of the brutal episodes of the war (Norton 92). On July 17th, the current commander Anthony Brockholst, came to an agreement with the Kennebec sagamores (including Moxis) and both sides concurred in ceasing all hostile acts while releasing all of the captives. The Wabanakis returned the previously mentions fishing vessels, while subjecting themselves to English law. Both sides seeked relief (settlers to sachems, Indians to magistrates) as opposed to seeking revenge directly. In August, the Squando and then Madockwando accepted the same terms of treaty in further negotiations conducted at Pemaquid. Finally the agreement was evidently successful but violence kept on continuing for months after, because Massachusetts refused to acknowledge the validity of a treaty signed by Andros’s representative (and because Wabanaki sachems disagreed among themselves over the benefits or drawbacks of a peace accord. But alas a final treaty (with broader provisions than before) was eventually signed at Casco in April of 1678.
According to Norton, the war would not have started had it not been for the armed struggle between Indians and Anglo-Americans in southern New-England. The Wabanakis initially preferred to remain neutral in King Philip’s War. However, they felt as if they were pulled into the conflict by the opposing forces of their English neighbors and other Indian tribes. The English greatly distrusted the Wabanakis that lived near them and therefore made it impossible to create peaceful relationships with them (Norton 86). All in all, the war was unavoidable and had terrible consequences for all parties involved, especially the English refugees that fled from their terrorized homes, holding the traumatic events in their minds for years to come.
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Class Comments:
How would you explain the "proxy war" aspect of the conflict? Am I right that the true struggle was between the European powers? (Maybe I am totally wrong...)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like the way your group analyzed the origins of the war.
If everything had gone perfect, do you think the war could've been avoided for the Indians and Settlers?
ReplyDeleteI believe that if everything had gone perfectly, the mere idea of a war would not have crossed anyone's minds and many later events in history never would have happened. Lacking violence from the Native Americans, would the witch trials have ever happened?
DeleteHow did this war affect the salem witch hysteria in 1692? Did the conflict between English settlers and Indians in the 1670's have a correlation with the accusations of Indians including Tituba?
ReplyDeleteI think Norton makes the connection that maybe the trauma they underwent in the wars had an effect on their personalities and mindset during the war.
DeleteI feel like war was inevitable for the English and Native Americans. Initially, the conflict was between the English and French, who brought in the Native Americans as allies. After the fact, I don't think that the English cared who actually had the problem, they saw enemies and decided that it was time to defend themselves. But aside from the French involvement, retrospectively, we know that the English encroached on Native American land which caused direct conflict between the groups. Waldron clearly made the conflict worse by ignoring the treaty with the Wabanakis.
ReplyDeleteHad the Wabanakis and the English collaborated could they have ended the disputes much sooner? Possibly avoiding Waldron's betrayal if they had built a strong relationship?
ReplyDelete