The English colonists who settled in Massachusetts received assistance at first from the local Indian tribes, but by 1675 there had been friction between the two groups for many years. In that year, Metacomet, whom the colonists called Philip, leads the Wampanoag tribe in the first of a series of attacks on the colonial settlements. The war, known as King Philip’s War, rages on for more than a year and leaves three thousand Indians and six hundred colonists dead. Metacomet’s attempt to retain his power failed. He too is killed, and the colonists sell his wife and children into slavery.

The Indians did not leave records of their encounters with the English, but the settlers recorded some of their experiences. One of the few accounts to survive was written by a captured colonist, Mary Rowlandson. She is a minister’s wife who is kidnapped by Indians and held captive in 1676. Her history, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, tells the story of her experiences with the Wampanoags. Although it did not paint a completely balanced picture of the Indians, Rowlandson’s story, which is considered a classic early American text, showed its author to be a keen observer of life in an Indian camp.