#187 King Philip’s War 7: The Turn of the Tide

The History of the Americans

Jack Henneman

History

4.9 • 632 Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Maps of New England during King Philip’s War

March 1676 had been catastrophic for the settlers of New England. Algonquians allied with Metacom (King Philip) attacked all across the frontier, forcing the evacuation of far-flung towns in both Massachusetts and Plymouth, and destroying Providence, Rhode Island. The tide, however, was about to turn. The New English captured Canonchet, the leading military commander of the Narragansetts on April 3, 1676. Less than three weeks later, the Algonquians would win a decisive tactical victory at Sudbury, Massachusetts, but shortly thereafter their alliance would begin to fracture because of a shortage of food, a vicious epidemic, the dawning realization that the English had many more fighting men, and – perhaps most importantly – attacks by the Mohawks from the west. The coastal Algonquians, who had lived mostly at peace with the English for more than 50 years, were now between the ultimate rock and hard place.

Along the way, both sides, but especially the English, would miss many opportunities for peace, and the war would continue in spite of catastrophic losses by both sides.

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Selected references for this episode (Commission earned for Amazon purchases through the episode notes on our website)

Matthew J. Tuininga, The Wars of the Lord: The Puritan Conquest of America’s First People

Eric B. Schultz and Michael J. Tougias, King Philip’s War.

William Hubbard, Sermon of May 3, 1676, before the General Court of Massacchusetts.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast episode 187.
0:11.4	I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on June 28, 2025,
0:18.3	in a holiday inn in Fargo, North Dakota. We're telling the history of the lands now
0:25.1	encompassed by the United States from the beginning without intentional presentism.
0:32.0	You may recall from the introductory episode to the podcast, now going back four and a half years, I'd been to every state
0:40.0	in the country except North Dakota. Well, as of yesterday afternoon, I can remove that qualification.
0:48.7	I've now become the second member of my family to go to all 50 states, achieving that goal 10 years behind my beloved
0:57.0	daughter, who did it by the time she was 20. Anyway, I'm here for a few days with two friends,
1:04.7	Mark and Luke. And since I am a John, we probably screwed up in not finding a Matthew to come along with us.
1:14.7	Also, thanks to everybody who showed up at the meetup in Boston.
1:19.3	It was a ton of fun for me, at least.
1:21.7	I hope others enjoyed it too.
1:23.8	I will continue to try and make mention of them in show notes to recent episodes.
1:29.2	So the next time I'm traveling around and have a spare evening,
1:33.2	I'll try to set something up a few weeks in advance and let you know in the show notes
1:38.1	and on Twitter and on Facebook.
1:40.9	It's the spring of 1676.
1:44.5	King Phillips War has been raging for nine months, and this is part seven of our series on it.
1:52.3	However much enjoyment and knowledge you will get from listening to this, there will be even more if you've listened to the series and sequence.
2:02.6	March 1676 was a disaster for the English, and militarily the most successful month of the war for the Algonquins.
2:10.8	In northeastern Massachusetts, Indian soldiers attacked Groton on March 2nd, 9th, and 13th, forcing the settlers there to abandon it.
2:21.3	On March 12th, Wampanoags hit William Clark's garrison on the Eel River, around a mile from the town
	...

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