KING PHILLIAnd as to Persons, it is generally thought that of the English there hath been lost, in all...above Eight Hundred."
The outcome of King Philip's War was equally devastating to the traditional way of life for Native people in New England. Hundreds of Natives who fought with Philip were sold into slavery abroad. Others who might be rehabilitated, especially women and children, were forced to become servants locally. As the traditional base of existence changed due to the Colonists' victory, the Wampanoag and other local Native communities had to adapt certain aspects of their culture in order to survive.
It is curious that such a conflict is little remembered today, not because of its bloody devastation but for the extent that such a great proportion of the population—English and Native American alike—was affected. Jacques Arsenault, writing for the University of Georgetown (http://www.georgetown.edu/users/arsenauj/kpw.html), indicates this is because many of the realities of King Philip's War do not fit the classical myth of America as the Land of the Free. He states, "The final reason for the poor understanding of King Philip's War is that the events of the war really don't fit into American Mythology. The evidence of King Philip's resistance to an encroaching colonial population would not sit well with peaceful images of the first Thanksgiving, or with the vision of the founders of our nation gathering together to create a nation of freedom, equality and liberty."
The outcome of King Philip's War was equally devastating to the traditional way of life for Native people in New England. Hundreds of Natives who fought with Philip were sold into slavery abroad. Others who might be rehabilitated, especially women and children, were forced to become servants locally. As the traditional base of existence changed due to the Colonists' victory, the Wampanoag and other local Native communities had to adapt certain aspects of their culture in order to survive.
It is curious that such a conflict is little remembered today, not because of its bloody devastation but for the extent that such a great proportion of the population—English and Native American alike—was affected. Jacques Arsenault, writing for the University of Georgetown (http://www.georgetown.edu/users/arsenauj/kpw.html), indicates this is because many of the realities of King Philip's War do not fit the classical myth of America as the Land of the Free. He states, "The final reason for the poor understanding of King Philip's War is that the events of the war really don't fit into American Mythology. The evidence of King Philip's resistance to an encroaching colonial population would not sit well with peaceful images of the first Thanksgiving, or with the vision of the founders of our nation gathering together to create a nation of freedom, equality and liberty."