King Philip's War: America's Forgotten War

Author(s): William G. Merritt

Year: 2020

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The historiography of King Philip’s War, (1675-1676), was, like most history, written largely from the viewpoint of the victors; in this case, the New England Confederation of English colonists. Primary sources generally point to Metacom (referred to by the colonists as King Philip) as the aggressor in the conflict, and almost universally put Metacom’s forces, and even “praying Indians” and the Mohegans and Pequots who allied with the English forces, in a negative light. However, recent archaeological investigations of some of the battlefields of King Philip’s War have brought to light several discrepancies within the primary sources. Through archaeological and ethnographic inquiry, this paper attempts to re-analyze the historical context of the war, particularly as it relates to the perspectives of the Native American tribes involved in the war, and their descendants.

Cite this Record

King Philip's War: America's Forgotten War. William G. Merritt. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457384)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

General
Colonial Indians war

Geographic Keywords
United States of America

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 507