For more information…
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 is turning the old world upside down. This list of primary, secondary, digital 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.
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.
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.
Pulsipher, Jenny Hale. Subjects unto the Same King: Indians, English, and the Contest for Authority in Colonial New England. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
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. “Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Rowlandson,” 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. (For an original, see: 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. Internet Archive.)
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
Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
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.