Religious and Military Conflict in Early New England
MetacomÆs War, also known as King PhilipÆs War (1675-1676), resulted from a transformation of Anglo-Indian relations in southern New England. With the exception of the earlier Pequot War, Native Americans and English settlers had avoided war since colonization began. However, overhunting put an end to the regionÆs fur trade and English demographic growth placed pressures on Indians to seek additional lands. NativesÆ abilities to resist these pressures were limited by ongoing population decline, and by the coloniesÆ growing assertions of authority over them. Matters came to a head in March 1675 when a Christian Indian told authorities of the Plymouth colony that the Wampanoag Sachem, Metacom, or King Philip, was plotting an all out war (Boyer, 421).
The thesis to be advanced herein is that MetacomÆs War was at least partially a religious war arising out of conflicting religious world views and specifically linked to the fact that many colonists distrusted Christian or ôPraying Indians.ö One source indicating that this distrust was common among Anglo settlers is that provided by Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (2) who makes reference to her own trauma after being captured by Indians during this war.
Rowlandson (3) viewed the Indians as ôa company of hell-houndsö and stated further that she had always lived in fear that the Indians might come to kill and capture the settlers. Indeed, Rowlandson (4) makes reference to the fact that a number of settlers were ôslain and mangled in a barbarous manner by one-eyed John and MarlboroughÆs Praying Indians.ö
From the perspective of Mary Rowlandson (10-12), the trials she experienced while a captive of the Indians may well have been sent to her by God in partial punishment for her own lack of faith or Christian behavior. However, her narrative also suggests that she saw the vast majority of Indians as living a li...