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John Easton’s Account of Wampanoag Grievances

John Easton’s Account of Wampanoag Grievances. Loss of land Interference in Indian governance Christian Indians Alcohol Land use conflicts (fencing and livestock). The Breakdown of Indian-English Relations. King Philip’s War, 1675-1678. Background. Indian crisis:

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John Easton’s Account of Wampanoag Grievances

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  1. John Easton’s Account of Wampanoag Grievances • Loss of land • Interference in Indian governance • Christian Indians • Alcohol • Land use conflicts (fencing and livestock)

  2. The Breakdown of Indian-English Relations King Philip’s War, 1675-1678

  3. Background • Indian crisis: • Decline in trade power: English abandoned wampum use; Indians lost middleman position • Continued attacks by Mohawks • Lack of income > selling land • Increasing English intrusions on Indian land and authority • English political crisis: • 1664-1666 Royal Commissioners’ visit, challenging MA’s authority • 1674-1683: renewal of royal investigations

  4. Outbreak • Prelude: Murder of John Sassamon, winter 1675 • June 1675: Execution of Sassamon’s murderers in Plymouth • June 24, 1675: First killings at Swansea

  5. The Murder of John Sassamon

  6. Key Events • Nipmucks join fight, August 1675 • Great Swamp fight, December 1675 • Narragansetts forced out of neutrality • Indian attacks on frontier settlements, winter-spring 1676 • 50% of English towns attacked, abandoned, or destroyed

  7. Why were Indians so successful? • Indian fighting style better adapted to frontier • English reluctance to enter war • English failure to use Indian allies

  8. Contrasting fighting styles • Matchlocks vs flintlocks • English remained in settlements, garrison houses; Indians mobile • Ambushes vs massed battle

  9. English failure to use Indian allies • Connecticut did use Mohegan and Pequot allies • Distrust of neutral Narragansetts • Narragansetts gave refuge to Wampanoag and other deserters • Distrust of Christian Indians • Growing distrust of all Indians

  10. Results of distrust • Christian Indians dropped from English service in Massachusetts and Plymouth • Restrictions placed on their movement; confined to Deer Island and Long Island in Massachusetts Bay • Champions of Christian Indians (Daniel Gookin, John Eliot) distrusted and abused

  11. The War ends • Canonchet, chief Narragansett leader, killed in spring 1676; loss of Indian leadership from death, disease, starvation • English again use Christian Indians as soldiers and guides, May 1676 • Philip killed in August, 1676 • War continues in Maine through 1678

  12. Death of Philip, Aug. 12, 1676

  13. Aftermath • Drastic diminishment of Indian presence in New England • About 3000 Indians dead; 60-80% died or left New England for Canada or New York • Many Indians sold into slavery • Shift of Indians from 35% of population to 10% • Praying towns reduced from 14 to 4

  14. Disastrous impact on English as well • Loss of 10% of male population • 1200 houses burned, 8000 cattle killed, thousands of barrels of grain burned • 50% of English towns attacked, destroyed, or abandoned • Heavy war debt: Massachusetts: 150,000 pounds, Plymouth: 100,000 pounds • Increased vulnerability to royal intervention

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