English & Literature
Who is Metacom from The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity and what is their importance?
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Metacom lived from 1639 to 1676, when he was shot by an Indian named Alderman, an ally of the English colonists. He was the second son of Massasoit, the Indian chief or sachem who welcomed the English colonists to the United States and became leader of the Algonquians after his older brother Wamsutta died. Initially, Philip followed the lead of his father and brother and lived at peace with the colonists starting when he became sachem in 1662. He made trade agreements with the colonists, for instance. However, the English continually expanded west and the Iroquois Confederation expanded from the East. He was forced to make major concessions in 1671 to the Plymouth colonists and lost much of his tribe's weaponry. They had to subject themselves to English law. When English encroachment proceeded too far and Metacom's Indian enemies were breathing down his neck, Philip declared war on all of them,