Suggested revision: 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, led the Wampanoag tribe in the first of a series of attacks on the colonial settlements. The war, known as King Philip’s War, raged on for more than a year and left three thousand Indians and six hundred colonists dead. Metacomet’s attempt to retain his power failed. He too was killed, and the victorious colonists sold 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 was a minister’s wife who was 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 does not paint a completely balanced picture of the Indians, Rowlandson’s story, which is considered a classic early American text, shows its author to be a keen observer of life in an Indian camp."