King Philip’s War is one of the least known, but most important, of Colonial American wars. It pitted the English settlers of 17th Century New England against the Native peoples who lived in the area for over a millennium. The War ended with the English established as the dominant people in New England, as they took possession of most of the Indian’s land and cleared the Native Peoples from it. On May 8, 2026, Jim Glinski, author of War of Native Resistance: A Brief History of King Philip’s War, gave an 85-minute presentation at the Scituate Grand Army Hall on posted by Scituate Community Television on May 8, 2026 to summarize the history of the War and the Town of Scituate’s place in it.

Glinski (above, left) offered insight into King Phillip’s War from 1675 until 1676 which was the bloodiest war in North America with 1,536 colonial deaths per 100,000 and 25,000 Native deaths per 100,000.

Glinski listed the causes of the War which included fraudulent methods of land sales, including those in the Town of Scituate.

Uncontrolled English livestock was another cause of the War as they frequently destroyed Native cornfields. After the War broke out, English troops invaded a Narragansett settlement in December 1675 Southern Rhode Island in what has been called the Great Swamp Massacre. On May 20, 1676, Native warriors raided the Town of Scituate, months before the English finally prevailed in the War in August.