Philip

Philip, sachem of the Wampanoag tribe of Indians, was the second son of Massasoit, who for nearly forty years had been the first and staunchest ally of the Pilgrim settlers of Plymouth, and had obtained English names for his two sons. In 1661 Philip succeeded his brother, and formally renewed the treaties of his father, which he kept for some years. By 1671, however, goaded by the encroachments of the whites, he had formed a confederation of tribes aggregating nearly 10,000 warriors; and in 1675 what is known as King Philip's War broke out. On the Indian side it was a war of surprises and massacres—thirteen towns were destroyed, and 600 colonists slain. In December 1675 Governor Winslow and a force of 1000 men burned the great fort of the Narragansetts, slew 600 warriors, and massacred 1000 women and children. In the spring the Indians retaliated for a time, but their numbers steadily diminished; several tribes fell away from the confederation; others, hitherto neutral, declared against them. In the early summer Philip's squaw and little son were captured, and sold as slaves for the West Indies; and on 12th August 1676, at midnight, he and his remaining followers were surprised by Captain Benjamin Church. Philip was slain, and his head cut off. Afterwards his body was drawn and quartered, and the head was exposed on a gibbet at Plymouth for twenty years. Church wrote an Entertaining History of King Philip's War (1716; new ed. with additions by S. G. Drake, Boston, 1825); see also Washington Irving's Sketch-book.