Alexandersmap

    Tag: Metacomet

    • Thoughts On Metacomet

      I let it slip by yesterday, mostly because my mind was on other things. 350 years ago yesterday, Metacomet, also known as King Philip, was killed in Mount Hope (Bristol, RI), effectively ending the war named for him. I’ve spent some meaningful time in that area, read my share of history of the events leading up to and during the war, and have my own feelings about how the whole thing went down. America’s history is full of violence and injustice. To think otherwise is naive. The question is always, what are we doing today to influence a more positive outcome for all of us tomorrow?

      When I started writing this blog, local history was more prominent in the posts. I had more time to wander about in the region that makes up Alexander’s Map back then than I do now. I’m still a student of history, and still seek out places where things of consequence happened. Like most of us, focus shifts as we move through stages of life. This blog shifts accordingly.

      Still, Metacomet has always been on my mind since reading his history. His wife and son were sold into slavery and most likely sent to Bermuda. While in Bermuda last year I wandered around in the old graveyard behind St. Peter’s Church and wondered if they were buried there. Such things are likely lost to history, but we may remember, and we may learn.

      King Philip’s War was fought to stop the relentless encroachment of English settlement in the northeast corner of North America. Like the French and Indian War (known globally as the Seven Years War) and the Revolutionary War, it was one of three major events that determined the future of the region. The New England colonies and adjacent colonies, the maritimes in Canada, and the lives and histories of countless peoples and cultures were determined by these three events. The tragedy of King Philip’s War is that it was a clash of cultures that would play out again and again in North America. The winners always write the history, the losers fade from memory.

      Being educated on historical events offers an enlightened alternative to being blissfully unaware of who we are and how we got here. Maybe this blog won’t ever be a social studies class for the masses, but touching on interesting landmarks, milestones and artifacts of our history highlights our shared identity. We either learn from history or eventually repeat it. As Metacomet would remind us, nothing is forever. That’s something to remember.

    • Following the Rhode Island to Bermuda Thread

      We stayed on St. David’s Island this week while we were in Bermuda. It wasn’t a conscious choice to stay there, but I’m pleased we did, for otherwise I don’t believe we would have gotten there on this particular trip. When I speak of conscious choices, I want to acknowledge that unconsciously I knew the connection between New England and Bermuda. In particular, between Rhode Island and St. David’s Island. Not simply the famous sailing race, but the historic slave trade. Bermuda was the destination for many of those “problematic” Native Americans who were being crowded out by waves of settlers changing the landscape of North America.

      One generation after the Pilgrims were saved in their first brutal winter in Plymouth, their saviors’ offspring were fighting for survival in what became known as King Philip’s War (1675-1676). King Philip was the English name for Metacomet, Chief of the Pokanoket, who’s seat was in Mount Hope, Rhode Island. The direct descendants of the Pokanoket are the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe. When Metacomet was eventually tracked down and killed, ending the war, his wife Wootonekanuske and their son were sold into slavery in Bermuda, meeting the fate of many other Native Americans. Mother and son were separated on the island and lived out their lives as slaves. The son was said to have been on St. David’s Island.

      What seems completely separate is often connected in ways we don’t always understand. Our histories all blend together at some point, sometimes generations later. The story of humanity is tumultuous, tragic and beautiful all intertwined as a tapestry. One thread leads to the next, and we are one. We are forever learning, forgetting and relearning those connections. In a place called St. David’s Island, or in Bristol, Rhode Island, we find those threads and are reminded that our stories will forever be one and the same, even as our outcomes diverge.

      Smith Island, as seen from St. David’s Island, looks a lot like Bermuda in its earliest days might have looked. An active archeological dig is uncovering English settlement in this part of the island.
      The rugged point of St. David’s Island near Fort Hill Bay, with Nonsuch Island seen to the left