Podcast Summary: "History As It Happens"

Episode: King Philip’s War
Date: December 2, 2025
Host: Martin Di Caro
Guest: David Silverman (historian, George Washington University)

Episode Overview

This episode examines King Philip’s War (1675–1676), a brutal and often-overlooked conflict between English colonists and Native American nations in New England. Challenging the mythic narrative of the “First Thanksgiving,” Martin Di Caro and historian David Silverman explore the war’s origins, dynamics, and legacies. The discussion highlights how this war shaped American identity, notions of race, and the violent dispossession of Native peoples—a history neglected in mainstream accounts of the nation’s founding.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin Myths vs. Historical Realities

• Thanksgiving as Origin Story:
  The episode begins by contrasting the familiar “Pilgrims and Indians” Thanksgiving story with the violent reality of early colonial history.

  • Ronald Reagan’s “mythic” Thanksgiving message played (01:51).
  • Host (Martin Di Caro, 02:50):
    “What if we chose a different reference point to understand our origins—not of the Pilgrims and Indians at Plymouth Rock, but at war, a vicious, genocidal war characterized by massacres, torture and enslavement that occurred on what was then the frontier…”

• Historical Amnesia:
  The U.S. rarely teaches or acknowledges King Philip’s War because it challenges national self-image.

  • Silverman (08:21):
    “Americans in general aren’t taught a great deal about violence…between colonists and later white Americans and native people. And I think there’s a clear reason for that. It’s embarrassing… when you take seriously the history of white-Indian conflict, it becomes very difficult to avoid the conclusion that this warfare was genocidal.”

2. Race, Identity, and Structural Genocide

• Silverman’s Upcoming Book:
  His book argues that race-making in the U.S. is directly connected to structural genocide of Indigenous peoples.

  • Silverman (05:32):
    “Indigenous people have been fundamental to the making of race in the history of the United States and its colonial predecessors, and that this race making has taken place in the context of a long structural genocide.”

• The “Indian” as a Construct:
  King Philip’s War crystalized racial divisions, erasing the diversity of both Natives and colonists into monolithic categories.

  • Silverman (06:28):
    “The English colonists in New England [refused] to make distinctions between native enemies, Native people who are neutral and even native friends. Thus driving many native people who did not want to take up arms...into the war.”

3. Colonial-Native Relations Pre-War

• King Philip’s Identity:
  “King Philip” was actually Metacom (or Metacomet), a paramount Wampanoag sachem and second son of Massasoit (Usamequin).

  • Silverman (11:23):
    “…not only a village chief, [he] is a regional chief…leader of a constellation of dozens of native communities…from Narragansett Bay to Cape Cod…”

• Precedents: The Pequot War (1636–37):
  Earlier conflicts set patterns of violence and alliances; illustrated jurisdictional rifts—Indians refused to submit to colonial justice, especially in capital cases.

  • Silverman (14:56):
    “No Native leader could maintain his authority…if he dared attempt to hand over his people to a foreign power for arrest, trial and execution.”

4. Demography and Tension on the Eve of War

• Colonial Population Boom:
  From 1640, New England’s English population surged due to high birth rates and survival, as native populations plummeted from disease.

  • Silverman (21:13):
    “They [the English] reproduce like rabbits…on average, they’re having eight kids…And the kids are surviving…a recipe for a population explosion.”
  • Native populations devastated by smallpox and other epidemics (22:35).

• Land, Livestock, and Missions:
  Tensions built over expanding colonial settlement, livestock “overrunning the landscape” and destroying native environments, and Christian missions undercutting native authority (24:13).

5. The Spark: Murder of John Sassamon

• Immediate Pretext for War:
  In January 1675, John Sassamon (a Christian Indian) warned authorities of Philip’s plans, but was subsequently murdered. The English executed three Wampanoags for his murder, infringing native jurisdiction.
  • Silverman (25:20):
    “The English then demand Philip to turn over these men to English justice. Philip will not do that…if the English can exercise this kind of power over Wampanoag life and limb, what is there left…? …He says, enough. We’re going to go to war over this.”

6. Outbreak and Spread of War (1675–1676)

• Initial Attacks & Expansion:
  War opens with raids by Wampanoags (Swansea raid, June 1675). Other native groups are drawn in as violence escalates.

  • Silverman (33:44):
    “When the war starts, Philip’s coalition is not in place…as [the English] ride in guns blazing into these communities…those communities [are] driven into the war…”

• Sides and Alliances:
  The confederation rapidly develops:

  • Philip’s supporters: parts of the Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Narragansett, and others.
  • English allies: Mohegan, Pequots, “Christian” Indians—many natives sided with the English or remained neutral.

• War Conduct—Total War:
  Both sides targeted civilians; settlements destroyed, large slaughters occurred.

  • Silverman (38:14):
    “This is a basic pattern in colonial Indian wars. Native people make no distinction between men, women, children and the elderly. And colonists make no distinction…It is total war.”
  • Di Caro (38:53): “What’s so striking about this war is it’s genocidal.”
  • Silverman: “No question. The two groups want to wipe each other out…”

• Enslavement of Native Peoples:
  Captured Indians were enslaved in large numbers, some sent to the Caribbean.

  • Silverman (41:21):
    “For the entirety of the 17th century, Native American slavery was as common in the colonies as African slavery…hemispherically, roughly five and a half million native people enslaved during the long colonial era…”

7. Turning Points and the Endgame

• Native Setbacks:
  Philip’s attempts at forging wider Indian alliances falter. The pivotal moment comes when the Mohawks (Haudenosaunee) side with the English, cutting off access to arms and refuge (44:00–45:33).

  • Silverman:
    “The Mohawks say we’re in…[and] attack Philip’s winter camp outside of Albany…that...is the turning point in the war.”

• Collapse of Native Resistance:

  • English and native allies (Mohegan, Pequots, “Christian Indians”) hunt down resisters; Philip’s coalition unravels through starvation, disease, and loss of supplies (46:02–46:53).
  • Many Indians take up English offers of clemency in exchange for switching sides.

• Death of King Philip:

  • Philip (Metacom) killed by Indian-allied John Alderman on August 20, 1676; his head displayed at Plymouth for two decades (48:00).

• Aftermath:

  • Di Caro (49:23): “What’s the landscape like when the fighting is over?”
  • Silverman:
    “Everything’s scorched, empty frames of homes, unburied bodies, slaughtered livestock. Everything was a wreck…Native people will never be able to put up a resistance in southern New England again.”

8. Legacies and Consequences

• Shattering of Southern New England Native Societies:
  Power of native peoples dramatically and permanently reduced; survivors relegated to small reserves or servitude.

  • Silverman (51:48):
    “By the early 18th century, not only most native adults in southern New England, most native children are servants of the English. And these are the allies…Christian Indians. They’ve adopted the religion of the colonists and still the colonists treat them this way.”

• Race and Justification for Dispossession:
  Racial attitudes harden, becoming justification for land/labor exploitation.

  • Silverman (52:05):
    “The racial ideology serves as…ideological justification for that crass exploitation.”

• Precondition for the Revolutionary Era:
  The ability of colonists to wage the American Revolution depended on their success in colonial wars against native peoples.

  • Silverman (52:40):
    “The entire continent was Indian country…To take possession required horrific violence…King Philip’s war is representative of colonial American history. It happens over and over and over again in one place after another.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Colonialism is a bloody business. It’s horrific. It brought out the very worst in human beings.”
  — David Silverman (39:19)

• “It is total war.”
  — David Silverman (38:14)

• “The English reduce [native allies] to near landlessness…slap them with fines over trivial matters with the express purpose of selling them as servants…by the early 18th century, not only most native adults…but most native children are servants of the English. And these are the allies.”
  — David Silverman (51:48)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Thanksgiving Myth and Reagan Clip: 00:54–02:50
• Why King Philip’s War is Forgotten: 08:21–09:37
• King Philip’s Background: 11:23–14:19
• Pequot War Precedent: 14:56–18:06
• Population and Land Conflict: 21:13–24:13
• Murder of John Sassamon and Spark of War: 25:20–27:34, 29:12–29:52
• Alliances and Sides in the War: 33:43–35:56
• Total War and Genocide: 38:09–39:19
• Native Slavery: 41:21–42:10
• Turning Point—Mohawk Intervention: 44:00–45:33
• Death of King Philip: 48:00
• Aftermath and Enduring Legacies: 49:23–52:40

Tone & Language

Throughout, the discussion is candid, accessible, and unflinching about the violence and complexity of the colonial past. The guest adopts a measured but direct style, often using vivid, memorable language to punctuate points and challenge listeners’ assumptions.

Summary Statement

King Philip’s War, more than a mere episode of colonial conflict, stands at the stark intersection where the myth of benign beginnings collides with the realities of conquest, race formation, and national identity. Understanding this “genocidal” war is essential for any honest reckoning with American origins, challenging the sanitized narratives often celebrated in civic mythologies.