By August of 1676, The Confederated Tribes that Metacom of the Pokanokets led to near victory against the English colonies is in tatters, with each tribe attempting to negotiate their own peace and the last warbands on the run in their own territories. That August will be the end of a story, but the beginning of others. Explore the Death of Metacom and the Last Battle in this episode commemorating the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War. Click here for an 18-minute video posted on August 30, 2026 by Stan Svec of Fishing Historic Places.

(Above, left) Steve Svec describes how Captain Benjamin Church was called into action during King Philip’s War to hunt down Philip (Metacom) as word circulated that Metacom was in the Bristol area (above, center) near his home base at Mt. Hope. (Above, right) Metacom’s wife, Wootonekanuske, and their nine-year-old son, Meton, had been captured near Taunton, and the town officials debated whether to execute them or send then into slavery in Bermuda.

Metacom was tracked down near his home at Mt. Hope and found in the Miery Swamp. There a Native man named Alderman shot and killed him, in part for revenge as Metacom had killed Alderman’s brother earlier in the War.

After the death of Metacom, his body was drawn and quartered, his head mounted on a pole and displayed for twenty years outside the gates to Plymouth. The Last Battle of the War was fought with a band of Indians who were trying to flee across the Housatonic River in the Berkshires. (Above, right) Svec stands in front of a monument at the bridge that marks the site of the last battle of the War.