Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 186.

I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on June 15, 2025.

Happy Father's Day in New Orleans.

We are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States from the beginning without intentional presentism.

This episode is obviously part of the King Phillips War series, and it would behoove you to have listened to the first five in the

series before this one.

Before we jump back into the narrative, I have a correction and an elaboration.

In the last episode, I described a possible friendly fire incident late in the Great Swamp

Fight, in which a group of Indians emerged

outside the Ford and colonial militia fired upon them. A sergeant had yelled out that they were

friendlies, but after hesitating Benjamin Church concluded that they weren't and had his men shoot at them,

during which exchange Church himself was

wounded. I speculated that Church might have been correct, insofar as I'd not read that

there were Indian allies along with a thousand or so English involved in that campaign against

the Narragansets. Within a day of posting the episode, however, I read in James Drake's excellent book from

1999, King Phillips War, Civil War in New England, that there were, in fact, 150

moheagans and Pequots there with a Connecticut regiment.

It still isn't certain the church was wrong and the sergeant was correct, but the presence

of those friendlies with Connecticut soldiers obviously tips the balance against Church's

judgment and undermines my own reasoning.

Also from James Drake, a note on a misunderstanding between the

United Colonies and the Narragansits over the treaty signed with them on October 18, 1675,

...