The Pequot War (1634-1638) erupted from tensions between colonial settlements and Native American tribes in Connecticut Valley. The Pequot and Mohegan tribes were enemies, with English settlers allying with Mohegans and Dutch with Pequots. An attack by Pequot allies led the Narragansett, convinced by Roger Williams, to join the English against the Pequots. A surprise attack by the English-Mohegan-Narragansett alliance on the Pequot fort at Mystic killed over 700, mostly women and children, virtually wiping out the Pequot tribe.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 7: War in Colonial New England

2. THE PEQUOT WAR
• Lasted from 1634 to 1638,
concurrent with the Antinomian
Controversy and its aftermath.
• Colonial settlements worsened
Native American tribal conflicts
in the Connecticut River Valley.
The Pequot tribe and the
Mohegan tribe were longtime
enemies. English settlers allied
with the Mohegans while Dutch
settlers allied with the Pequots.
• Because the Narragansett tribe
had lost territory to the Pequots
in 1622, Roger Williams was
able to convince them to join
the English-Mohegan alliance.

3. THE PEQUOT WAR
• In order to discourage the
English from continuing to trade
with the Pequot tribe, allies of
the Narragansett tribe killed a
well-respected English trader.
• The leaders of the Narragansett
tribe convinced the English
settlers that the Pequots were
in fact sheltering the killers.
• Skirmishes and raids broke out
between the English-Mohegan-
Narragansett alliance and the
Dutch-Pequot alliance, and the
belligerents entered into a cycle
of retaliatory violence.

4. THE PEQUOT WAR
• In 1637, the Pequot tribe
planned an attack on the
Hartford settlement in the
Connecticut Colony, believing
that the settlers were in Boston.
• While the Pequot warriors were
heading to Hartford, the
English-Mohegan-Narragansett
alliance launched a surprise
attack on the main Pequot fort
at the village of Mystic.
• Out of about 700 Pequots,
mostly women and children,
there were only seven survivors.

5. THE PEQUOT WAR
• The Mohegan and Narragansett
warriors were horrified by the
violence of the English and left
the site of the Mystic massacre.
• The Pequot warriors who had
gone to Hartford were found at
the village of Sasqua and most
of them were slaughtered.
• The Pequot tribe was virtually
wiped out by the English.
• The neighboring Wampanoag
tribe, under the leadership of
Chief Massasoit, remained
neutral throughout the conflict.

6. INTERREGNUM AND
RESTORATION
• In 1642, the English Civil War
broke out. Royalist supporters
of the English monarchy fought
against Parliamentarian forces
attempting to transform
England into a republic.
• In 1649, the Parliamentarians
executed King Charles I and
sent his son into exile. They
created the Commonwealth of
England as a republican state.
• The Commonwealth lasted until
1653, when Oliver Cromwell
made himself dictator of what
he called the Protectorate.

7. INTERREGNUM AND
RESTORATION
• Cromwell’s dictatorship lasted
until King Charles II, the son of
the previous king, returned to
the throne in 1660.
• The period from the creation of
the Commonwealth to the end
of Cromwell’s dictatorship is
known as the Interregnum.
• The end of the Protectorate and
the return of King Charles II is
known as the Restoration.
• Because the king is also Head
of the Church of England, the
Puritans intensely disliked him.

8. INTERREGNUM AND
RESTORATION
• The end of the English
monarchy resulted in a halt to
Puritan migration to America,
since English Puritans no longer
saw a need to escape from a
church they believed corrupt.
• The colonies of New England
supported the Commonwealth
of England because it abolished
the English monarchy.
• Following the Restoration, the
Puritans of Massachusetts Bay
refused to recognize the
authority of King Charles II.

9. KING PHILIP’S WAR
• Lasted from 1675 to 1677.
• Followed forty years of relative
peace between the settlers of
New England and the
Wampanoag tribe under the
leadership of Chief Massasoit.
• Massasoit died sometime
between 1660 and 1662. At
first he was succeeded by his
son Wamsutta, also known as
Alexander. But when Wamsutta
also died in 1662, tribal
leadership fell to Massasoit’s
second son Metacomet, also
known as Philip.

10. KING PHILIP’S WAR
• Colonial laws prohibited
commercial activity between
the settlers of New England and
the Wampanoag tribe. Josiah
Winslow, governor of the
Plymouth Colony, had arrested
Wamsutta for engaging in
commerce with Roger Williams.
• Winslow appears to have
poisoned Wamsutta.
• The suspicious circumstances
of Wamsutta’s death led
Metacomet to ally the other
local Algonquian tribes against
the settlers of New England.

11. KING PHILIP’S WAR
• The Narragansett tribe and
several others allied with the
Wampanoags under the
leadership of Metacomet.
• The Mohegan tribe and the
remnants of the Pequot tribe
allied with the English settlers.
• Skirmishes and raids on
colonial settlements turned into
full-on attacks against the
colonies. By 1676, Metacomet’s
warriors had reached the
coastal settlements including
the settlement of Plymouth.

12. THE CAPTIVITY OF
MARY ROWLANDSON
• Mary Rowlandson was a
colonial woman captured by the
Narragansetts and their allies.
• She was taken to meet
Metacomet and she bore
witness to acts of great brutality
as well as great charity on the
part of her captors.
• She recorded her experience of
captivity in The Sovereignty and
Goodness of God, which was
probably edited by a man
named Increase Mather.

13. KING PHILIP’S WAR
• Metacomet traveled to New
York to seek an alliance with
the Iroquois. When the Iroquois
refused, Metacomet’s warriors
killed some Mohawk men and
attempted to blame their
deaths on the English. But an
eyewitness revealed the true
perpetrators and, in response,
the Iroquois began attacking
Metacomet’s tribal allies.
• The Narragansett tribe was
defeated soon afterwards.
• Metacomet lost his allies and
was killed in August 1676.

14. KING PHILIP’S WAR
• King Philip’s War essentially
ended with the death of
Metacomet, although conflicts
still broke out into 1677.
• The English settlers defended
themselves without any support
from the English Government.
• The conduct of the war showed
that Native American tribes
could inflict serious damage on
settlers when they were united.
• The decisive defeat of the
Wampanoag left most of New
England open for settlement.

15. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 7: War in Colonial New England