Metacom, - 1676

Metacom, alias Pometacom, Philip, Philip Keitasscot, Wewasowannet, was a son of the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit, whose home village was at Mount Hope at Pokanoket.  He married Wootonekanuske, daughter of the Pocasset sachem Corbitant and sister of Weetamoe, Philip’s sister-in-law. Metacom succeeded his brother Wamsutta as tribal leader in 1662 and that same year willingly signed a treaty declaring allegiance to Charles II. From him was bought what would become the Town of Wrentham (1662), Mattapoisett (1664), Acushnet (1665), and other tracks of land.  However, seeing aggressive English Indian policies to threaten Wampanoag sovereignty, Metacom began an active campaign against Plymouth Colony settlers in the summer of 1675.  He and the Wampanoags were joined by Narragansetts, Nipmucks, Pocumtucks, Indians from the Christian Praying Towns, and Abenakis in trying to expel the English from New England.  In late summer of 1676, Captain Benjamin Church captured Metacom’s wife Woononekanuske and their nine year old son, who were later sold into slavery.  Weeks later, Metacom himself was shot by an Indian named Alderman on August 12, 1676.  Recent scholarship suggests that Metacom was not Massasoit’s son but his grandson.  However, this theory has been shown to be mistaken.  Ebenezer W. Pierce, Indian History, Biography and Genealogy: Pertaining to the Good Sachem Massasoit (North Abington, MA: Zerviah Gould Mitchell, 1878), 51-2.  ODNB. Betty Groff Schroeder, "The True Lineage of King Philip (Sachem Metacom)," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 144 (1990): 211-14.  George R. Horner, “Massasoit and His Two Sons: Wamsutta and Metacom,” Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society 56(1), 1995, 20-22.