King Philip's War Extends to New Hampshire

King Philip's War (1675-1678), led by Wampanoag sachem Metacom (King Philip), extended into New Hampshire as Abenaki fighters continued raids on frontier settlements along the New England-Acadia borderlands after Metacom's death in August 1676. The war's northern phase continued until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay on April 12, 1678. It was considered by many the deadliest war in Colonial American history and it would not be until 1700 that colonists would reoccupy their pre-war borders.

People involved

• Metacom

When this happened

King Philip's War Extends to New Hampshire occurred in 1675–1678, during the colonial period period of American history. The event spanned from 1675 to 1678.

Where this happened

King Philip's War Extends to New Hampshire took place in New Hampshire. Explore the full history of New Hampshire and primary source records from this era.

European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.

Content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source: King Philip's War — Wikipedia.