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From the outset, histories of King Philip’s War offered an entirely partial slant. The hastily penned Present State of New-England, with respect to the Indian War, probably written by Nathaniel Saltonstall and published in London in 1676, offered the colonial interpretation of the war that “it is the manner of the Heathens that are now in Hostility with us, contrary to the Practice of all Civil Nations, to execute their bloody Insolencies by Stealth, and Sculking….”  Now that deeply prejudiced and offensive - as well as inaccurate - assessment is changing.

Welcome to a new world of understanding the past. Inspiring new scholarship written by Native and non-Native scholars is turning the old world upside down. This list of primary, secondary, digital, children’s and other online materials offers a start to a new historiography of colonial-Indigenous relations and of the shaping of New England and, more broadly, American history.

Metacom’s Resistance resources

Secondary sources

Anderson, Virginia DeJohn. “King Philip's Herds: Indians, Colonists, and the Problem of Livestock in Early New England.” The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Oct., 1994), pp. 601-624.

Brooks, Lisa. Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.

Brule, David. "What Really Happened at the 1676 Great Falls Fight?" Historic Deerfield, October 28, 2024.

Calloway, C. G. (Ed.). After King Philip's War: Presence and Persistence in Indian New England. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1997

Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Historic Preservation Office and Associates for the Battle of Great Falls/ Wissatinnewag-Peskeompskut Pre-Inventory Research and Documentation Project, "Remembering and Reconnecting: Nipmucks and the Massacre at Great Falls," October 2015.

DeLucia, Christine M. Memory Lands: King Philip’s War and the Place of Violence in the Northeast. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.

Fisher, Linford D. Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in US History. New York: Liveright Publishing Co., 2026.

Gould, D. Rae, et al. Historical Archaeology and Indigenous Collaboration: Discovering Histories That Have Futures. 1st ed., Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2020.

Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. The Patriot Chiefs: A Chronicle of American Indian Resistance. New York: Viking Press, 1961. (Reprinted 1993 by Penguin Random House)

Leach, Douglas Edward. Flintlock and Tomahawk: New England in King Philip’s War. New York: Macmillan, 1958.

Lee, Joseph. Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity. New York: One Signal Publishers/Atria, 2025.

Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity. New York: Vintage, 1999.

Mandell, Daniel R. King Philip’s War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End of Indian Sovereignty. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

March, Kevin A. “‘The Violences of Place and Pen’: Identities and Language in the Twentieth-Century Historiography of King Philip’s War.” Madison Historical Review, Volume 17, Article 3, 2020.

McBride, Kevin and David Naumec, William Keegan, and David George, "The Battle of Great Falls/Wissantinnewag-Peskeompskut-Phase II, May 19, 1676, Site Identification and Documentation Project," American Battlefield Protection Program, National Park Service, September 8, 2025

McBride, Kevin et al. “The 1676 Battle of Nipsachuck: Identification and Evaluation,” technical report, National Park Service, American Battlefield Protection Program. April 12, 2013.

O’Brien, Jean M. Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians Out of Existence in New England. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Peters, Robert, et al. Reconnections: Essays & Artwork by Wampanoag & Narragansett Knowledge Keepers. Rhode Island: Little Compton Historical Society, 2025.

Pulsipher, Jenny Hale. Subjects unto the Same King: Indians, English, and the Contest for Authority in Colonial New England. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2005.

Senier, Siobhan, ed. Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014.

Schultz, Eric B. and Michael J. Tougias. King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict. New York: Countryman Press, 2000.

Zelner, Kyle F., A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip’s War. New York: New York University Press, 2009. 

Primary sources

Apess, William and Royster, Paul (ed.), "Eulogy on King Philip" (1836). Electronic Texts in American Studies. 83. (For an original, see: Apes, William. Eulogy on King Philip: as pronounced at the Odeon, in Federal Street, Boston. Boston: The author, 1836. Library of Congress.)

Easton, John and Franklin B. Hough. A narrative of the causes which led to Philip's Indian war, of 1675 and 1676. Albany: J. Munsell, 1858. Internet Archive. (Also see: Easton, John and Royster, Paul (editor), "A Relation of the Indian War, by Mr. Easton, of Rhode Island, 1675" (1675). Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries. 33. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/33)

Lincoln, Charles H., ed. Narratives of the Indian Wars, 1675-1699. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1913. Including:

  • Easton, John. “A Relacion of the Indyan Warre,” 1675.

  • N.S. (Nathaniel Saltonstall). “The Present State of New England with Respect to the Indian War,” 1675.

  • N.S. (Nathaniel Saltonstall). “A Continuation of the State of New England,” 1676.

  • N.S. (Nathaniel Saltonstall). “A New and Further Narrative of the State of New England, 1676.

Rowlandson, Mary. The soveraignty & goodness of God: together, with the faithfulness of his promises displayed: being a narrative of the captivity and restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Boston, 1682.

Mather, Cotton. “Decennium Luctuosum,” 1699.

Mandell, Daniel R., ed., Early American Indian Documents: Treaties and laws, 1607-1789. Baltimore: University Publications of America, 2003. (New England Treaties, Southeast, vol. 19 and New England Treaties, North and West, vol. 20.)

Salisbury, Neal, ed., Sovereignty and goodness of God…by Mary Rowlandson (1682). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

Digital media

Brooks, Lisa. Our Beloved Kin: Remapping A New History of King Philip's War

Congregational Library & Archives, King Philip’s War/Metacom’s Rebellion Research Guide.

Holley, Cheryll Toney (Hassanamisco Nipmuc), For All My Relations: Plant Medicine, Black and Indigenous History & Genealogy, Craft, Community, and Methodology.

Holley, Cheryll Toney Holley (Hassanamisco Nipmuc), Unsettled Histories: From Survival to Resilience: 350 years since King Philip’s War, August 25, 2025.

KPW350: King Philip's War: 1675-1676: Everything about the war in one place.

Stolen Relations: Recovering Stories of Indigenous Enslavement in the Americas

Toney, Kimberly (Hassanamisco Nipmuc), Land Dispossession after King Philip’s War, for the Tomaquag Museum, October 30, 2025.

Toney, Kimberly (Hassanamisco Nipmuc), Their Marks, found on Instagram and on Tumblr.

Tribal websites of Metacom’s Resistance presenters

Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nipmuck Indians

Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag

Narragansett Indian Tribe

Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)

children’s books

Coombs, Linda. Colonization and the Wampanoag Story. New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2023.

Lamb-Cason, Wunneanatsu. Grandmother Moon. Minneapolis: Beaming Books, 2025.

Vanderhoop, Carrie Ann. Wôpanâak Seasons: Seeqan, Neepun, Keepun, Pupoon. Vancover: Tradewind Books, 2025

Partnership of Historic Bostons past events

Fisher, Linford and Cheryll Toney Holley (Hassanamisco Nipmuc), Alexis Moreis (Wampanoag), and Lorén Spears (Narragansett), Stolen Relations: Centuries of Native Enslavement in the Americas, November 15, 2023.

Matthews, Sandra with David Brule. Occupying Massachusetts: Layers of History on Indigenous Land, February 21, 2023.

Rogers-Stokes, Lori and Lance Young (Nemasket), Cruel or courageous? A new reading of Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative, July 12, 2022.

Scott, Mack (Naragansett), I Pledge Allegiance: Sovereignty and Sanctuary in the Dawnland,), November 18, 2024.

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