One death beneath the ice. One trial in Plymouth. Three Wampanoag men executed. And then New England erupted into one of the bloodiest conflicts in early American history. This documentary investigates King Philip’s War, the devastating struggle between Metacom, also known as King Philip, and the expanding English colonies of New England. Click here for a 51-minute AI-generated video depicting the War posted on May 6, 2026 by Indigenous America.

What began with the death of John Sassamon and the discovery of his body beneath the ice (above, left) in Assawompset Pond, the execution of three Pokanoket men (above, center), and the destruction of Native cornfields by English livestock (above, right) soon became a war of burning towns, broken alliances, colonial fear, Native resistance, betrayal, and survival.

Metacom, son of of the Pokanoket Massasoit Ousamequin, inherited a fragile peace with Plymouth Colony and watched it collapse under land pressure, English courts, military demands, and colonial expansion. War broke out with an attack at Swansea (above, left) and a hunt for Metacom at Mt. Hope (above, center), and soon led to attacks throughout the Western colonies like the one at Bloody Brook (above, right).

From Swansea to Brookfield, the Great Swamp Massacre (above, left), Lancaster, Providence (above, center), and Mount Hope, this documentary follows the events that turned Massachusetts and Southern New England into a killing ground. King Philip’s War was not just a frontier conflict. It was a turning point that reshaped Indigenous power, colonial expansion, and the future of New England forever, and included the enslavement and expulsion of Native people for generations.