Historic Deerfield hosted a one-day hybrid conference titled “Revisiting King Philip’s War/The War for New England after 350 years” on Saturday, September 26, 2026, to commemorate the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War (Metacom’s Rebellion) and the 1675 Battle of Bloody Brook in South Deerfield, MA when a coalition of Indigenous forces from the Pocumtuc Confederacy ambushed an English militia and wagon train transporting harvest supplies from Deerfield to Hadley. It resulted in heavy colonial casualties and the temporary abandonment of Deerfield. The day-long conference brought together researchers, community members, and historians to re-examine the causes, course, and long-term consequences of the war through diverse Indigenous and Anglo-American perspectives. Click here for a 33-minute segment from the opening session.
The opening panel, titled “Grounding,” was moderated by Linda Coombs of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head/Aquinnah and featured speakers from the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, ensuring the commemoration heavily factored in Tribal perspectives. (Above, left and center) David Weeden (Mashpee Wampanoag) and Hartman Deetz (Mashpee Wampanoag) spoke in an early session, followed by (above, right) Sara F. Powell from the Houghton Library at Harvard University and Julie A. Fisher, Independent Scholar who spoke about “Political Paleography: Reexamining a Letter from ‘King Philip”.
(Above) Karim M. Tiro, Dept. of History, Xavier University speaks on “King Philip’s War Viewed from the West:
the Haudenosaunee, New York, and the Creation of Schaghticoke”. (Above, center) Peter Silva (Shinnecock/Nipmuc) speaks with a conference participant. (Above, right) Wulfstan Scouller, Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of History, Yale University, speaks on “Enterprizing” War: How merchants shaped Metacom’s Rebellion”
(Above, left) Daniel Mandell, Dept. of History, Truman State University introduces (above, right) David J. Naumec, Historic Stonington, speaking on “The Battlefield Archaeology of King Philip’s War: New Perspectives on Indigenous Warfare, Military Organization, and Alliance Building” along with Kevin McBride, Dept. of Anthropology, the University of Connecticut, speaking on “Monhantic Fort: The Pequots in King Philips War”. (Above, center) Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason (Schaghticoke/HoChunk), Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, Brown University, speaks on “The Stories We Carry Forward: From Research to Responsibility in Teaching the War for the Dawnland” along with Peter Silva and Mack Scott (Narragansett), Critical Native American and Indigenous Studies, Brown University.