In 1675, the Algonquian Indians rose up in fury against the Puritan Colonists, sparking a violent conflict that engulfed all of Southern New England. From this conflict ensued the most merciless and blood stricken war in American history, tearing flesh from the Puritan doctrine, revealing deep down the bright and incisive fact that anger and violence brings man to a Godless level when faced with the threat of pain and total destruction. In the summer of 1676, as the violence dispersed and a clearing between the hatred and torment was visible, thousands were dead.(Lepore xxi) Indian and English men, women, and children, along with many of the young villages of New England were no more; casualties of a conflict that was both devastating to the lives and the landscape of New England, as well as the ideologies of both the Indians and the English Puritans that inhabited this land.(Lepore 18)

King Philip’s war was not the basic Indian war that plagues American history. It was not the first archetypal Settler vs. Savage conflict, and nor would it be the last. King Philip’s war was a terribly violent and destructive conflict, which was sparked by the desires of main

The Puritans began to push Christianity and English forms of government upon the natives.(Leach 47) The Indians leaders were completely uninterested in the societal goals of the English, but the people of the tribes, excited by the grandeur of Christianity and the English way of life were intrigues. Algonquian leaders were greatly angered by the effect such goals were having on the Indian people. As the English gained power, the sachem (a king-like title among the Algonquian people) lost power, and as the Christian Church gained power, the medicine men, or powwaws, would lose their grip on the Algonquian spirituality. (Lepore 28) This angered Metacomet, sachem of the Algonquains, (also known as King Philip), to organize a party devoted to a forceful rebellion. John Sassamon, a devoted Indian Christian and a former friend and advisor to Metacomet, heard of this, and released the information to the English authorities. Sassamon was found dead, several days later, and was presumed murdered by members of Algonquian tribe, who were later captured and executed. (Lepore 43)

The war ended as the Algonquians lost allies and lost land. They pushed up far enough into New England that their only way out was west and into the territories of their Iroquois enemies. King Philip was captured and killed, and in a very un-puritan like fashion, his head was placed on a poll in Plymouth. (Drake 82) With the closing of the war, both sides realized nothing had been accomplished except for excessive destruction and extensive death, all across New England. Both sides were confused and unaware of what path to follow, on how to pick up the pieces and move forward.

Despite English victory, the Puritans suffered greatly for this conflict from a political standpoint. The fatalities set the colonists back nearly a decade in population, and many of those who survived lost everything in the destruction of nearly half of the villages in New England.(Drake 97) They lost the trading opportunities and the allies they previously shared with the Algonquians.

This loss of confidence in the Puritan New England ventures had grand effects on future projects. Both England, and the Puritans themselves, didn’t feel as if future expansion of New England colonies was necessary at such a time. The rebuilding period itself took several years, and because of this, the populations in current New England towns grew rapidly, and powerful cities became great trading areas. (Lepore 281)

Concurrently, as the Puritans intended on maintaining their way of life within the New World, a key goal of theirs was to avoid bringing great harm to the natives they would encounter. The English had witnessed the abuse of natives during the Spanish conquests and the harsh religious demands placed among non-Catholics in the Spanish Inquisition. The torture and destruction of the native of life had been incredibly embarrassing upon the Spanish people, and in all obviousness, phenomenally painful and paralyzing to the natives themselves. These “Spanish Cruelties” were not only in great opp

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