Digging Deeper Into King Philip's War

Conflicting Roots, my new historical novel (Maine Authors Publishing, 2025) relies in part on characters, scenes and events from a war which marked the start of a troubled relationship between Native Americans who lived in New England and European colonials. King Philip’s War (1675-76), often treated with a footnote in histories of the colonial period, was the bloodiest war per capita of population in American history.

For those of you who have already read Conflicting Roots and are curious to learn more about the documented history of the war, Bristol Historical and Preservation Society of Rhode Island (bhpsri) have embarked on an ambitious series of “On This Day” posts commemorating the timeline from June 1675 to August 1676. You may be surprised to realize that my fictional narrative doesn’t stray too far from the truth.

Look for links to the BHPSRI posts here regularly. I encourage you to comment here if you have thoughts to share. If you wish to open a Substack account in order to read the entire series at once, here is the link: https://bhpsri.substack.com/p/welcome-to-kpw350

Their first post begins below. Please take note of the fourth paragraph indicating that some posts may not be suitable for all readers.

Welcome to KPW350

When asked to name the bloodiest battle in America, many people automatically think of various entanglements from the Civil War. Antietam, Gettysburg, Vicksburg... What they do not realize is that the battle to hold this dubious honor was not, in fact, a single battle at all.

In June 1675, years of unrest between Indigenous People and the colonists of Plymouth Colony came to a head. Long held tensions exploded on both sides and devolved into a fourteen-month-long period known colloquially as King Philip’s War. Crisscrossing modern Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, the conflict began in Swansea, Massachusetts and ended with the death of the Pokanoket Sachem Metacom, in the town of Bristol, Rhode Island.

June 2025 marks the 350th anniversary of the official start of this war.

Formatted as an “On this Day” account, this newsletter seeks to document the moments of the war from start to finish. As such, there will be times where you may receive several posts per week–or none at all. Thus is the nature of war: some months were “quiet,” with perhaps two or three documented events. In others, two or three (or more) events occurred within a matter of hours, days, and miles of one another. We will follow the action as it happened.

Please note: Multiple posts will mention the sensitive subjects of death, captivity, forced removal, mutilation, and the enslavement of men, women, and children. All information on the events of war come from a number of secondary sources. Nearly all sources are based on the publications of the settlers and prioritize the voice of the colonists. We will, however, be including published materials and sources created by Indigenous scholars.

In addition to our “On this Day” accounting of the war, we will also be creating threads of communication and engagement located in our “notes” section. Here, readers can find posts containing background information on the “prequel” events of war, the individuals involved, general editorial musings, historical considerations, sources, and more. Through the utilization of historic sources, academic scholarship, Indigenous traditions, and modern discussion, we hope to retell this history, offering multiple perspectives of the events and occurrences while engaging with our readers in ongoing discussion.