Metacom's Legacy: 350 Years After King Philip's War, Tribes Still Fight for Recognition

The Pokanoket tribe recently secured 255 acres of ancestral land in Rhode Island, a move that marks the largest land-back grant to a non-federally recognized community in the region. This recent victory stands in sharp contrast to the silence surrounding the 350th anniversary of King Philip's War, a conflict that reshaped New England in the late 17th century.

As Massachusetts celebrates the 250th anniversary of American independence, historians point out that the state has largely ignored the older conflict. The war, which began in 1775, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800 colonists and between three and five thousand Indigenous people. It remains the deadliest conflict in colonial American history when measured by population size.

Christine De Lucia, an assistant professor of history at Williams College, notes that the simultaneous anniversaries force a look at why certain history gets attention. She observes that the Revolutionary war receives more public focus than the war that preceded it. The 350th anniversary falls during National Native American History Month and Thanksgiving, a time of complex reflection for Indigenous communities.

Mack Scott III, an assistant professor at Brown University and a member of the Narragansett tribe, describes how the war is often remembered through a lens of inevitability. He says many people view the expansion of the colony as a natural process, which makes the violence of the conflict feel preordained. This perspective, he argues, pushes Native peoples to the back of the mind for most Americans.

Brad Lopes, the education and public programs manager for the Aquinnah Cultural Center, compares the buildup to the war to a pot boiling for a long time. He explains that his ancestors faced an existential crisis as European diseases decimated their population and English colonists encroached on their land. The peace that existed in the 1620s had faded by the 1670s.

The war began in June 1675 with an Indigenous attack on Swansea in southeastern Massachusetts. Metacom, the sachem of the Pokanoket, led an alliance of tribes including the Nipmuc and Narragansett. Michael Tougias, a co-author on the war's history, notes that Indigenous forces were successful at first, using hit-and-run tactics that left English colonists reeling. The balance of power shifted when many tribes wavered or sided with the English.

Metacom sought an alliance with the Mohawk tribe but was attacked during the meeting. The Narragansett joined his side but suffered heavy losses in a battle known to colonists as the Great Swamp Fight. Donald Brown Jr, the official historian of the Pokanoket and a descendant of Metacom, describes the conflict as a war of attrition. He states that Indigenous people could not sustain their warriors or plant fields, leading to surrender due to starvation and exposure.

The war ended for Metacom on August 12, 1676, when John Alderman, an Indigenous man, guided a colonial expedition to his stronghold at Mount Hope. Metacom was killed there. His head was displayed on a stake outside Plymouth, and his wife and son were sold into slavery. The conflict continued in Maine until 1678, where Wabanaki fighters managed to remain on their land.

Governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island did not respond to inquiries about commemorative events for the 350th anniversary. Despite this, the Pokanoket have gained recognition from other entities. The Rhode Island General Assembly passed a resolution in 2025 acknowledging the tribe as the stewards of their ancestral land. Brown says this recognition ensures that the past does not erase their story.