#188 King Philip’s War 8: The Defeat of the Algonquians
The History of the Americans
Jack Henneman
4.9 • 632 Ratings
🗓️ 14 July 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Maps of New England during King Philip’s War
In May 1676 the tide of King Philip’s War had turned against the Algonquians of southern New England, but the New English settlers didn’t know it yet. They would soon. Suddenly, in a matter of a few weeks, the Algonquian resistance collapsed. This episode looks at that collapse through the eyes of Benjamin Church, whose men would finally catch and kill Metacom on August 12, 1676. Along the way, Church would persuade the Sakonnets, a Wampanoag group, to switch sides. They would teach him a new way of war, and Church would eventually be considered the “first American ranger,” at least by people who haven’t thought to give that credit to Nompash, the Sakonnet commander who taught Church.
X – @TheHistoryOfTh2 – https://x.com/TheHistoryOfTh2
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfTheAmericans
Selected references for this episode (Commission earned for Amazon purchases through the episode notes on our website)
Thomas Church, The History of Philip’s War: Commonly Called the Great Indian War, of 1675 and 1676
Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War
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
Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 188. |
| 0:10.9 | I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on July 13, 2025 in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:18.7 | We are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States |
| 0:22.6 | from the beginning without intentional presentism. It is late May 1676 in New England. King |
| 0:31.8 | Phillips' war has been raging for 11 bloody months, and for the new English settlers living through it, there is no |
| 0:40.5 | clear sign that it is nearing an end, or even that the tide had turned. But it had. On April 3rd, |
| 0:49.7 | Connecticut militia and Pequot and Mohegan allies had captured and executed Kananshit, military leader of the |
| 0:57.1 | Narragansets. On May 10th, after the awful fighting at Sudbury, Massachusetts Bay had ordered |
| 1:05.5 | the release of the Christian Indians who had been confined to Deer Island and Boston Harbor for the previous six |
| 1:12.8 | months or so. Massachusetts had finally seen the effectiveness of Indian allies deployed by Connecticut |
| 1:20.0 | colony and recruited the released Christian Indians into the war. Then on May 18th, militia led by Captain John Turner had killed hundreds of |
| 1:31.4 | Indians near present-day Montague, Massachusetts, during which it became clear that the Algonquins |
| 1:38.0 | were now also under attack in their rear area by Mohawks from New York. Hunger and disease were spreading, particularly on the Indian side, and Phillips' alliance was |
| 1:50.2 | breaking up. |
| 1:52.1 | At the same time, Indian groups allied with Connecticut also now refused to fight. |
| 1:58.1 | At least some of the Mohicans in Pequot fighters, apparently unhappy with their rewards for their service to fight. At least some of the Moheans and Pequot fighters, apparently unhappy with their |
| 2:02.8 | rewards for their service to Connecticut, went on strike, as did Ninnigrit's Eastern Neantics, |
| 2:10.3 | who were enraged at various offenses against them by the Moheagans. And of course, |
| 2:16.8 | they too needed to plant crops or they would starve. |
| 2:22.5 | After the Battle of Turner's Falls, as it came to be known, even Connecticut, up until now |
| 2:29.6 | the loudest voice for a negotiated settlement of the war, abandoned attempts for peace. Connecticut and |
| 2:37.7 | Massachusetts agreed to a joint campaign along the Connecticut River, to which the Bay contributed |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jack Henneman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jack Henneman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.