Dr. David Weed was invited by the Friends of the Somerset Public Library to give a talk on Febrary 9, 2025 about King Philip’s War as the 350th anniversary of that conflict approached. Weed has been working on an effort to educate the public about historic events in nine communities, including Somerset, known as the Sowams Heritage Area Project. Click here for a one-hour YouTube video of his presentation.

The President of the Friends group, Laura LaTour, welcomed a room full of people before John Larsen of the Somerset Historical Society introduced Dr. Weed.

Weed began by describing the six-point agreement that the Massasoit Ousamequin had with Plymouth Colony Governor Carver. After English Settlements hemmed in the Pokanokets in on the Bristol peninsula, a fenceline was built to prevent English cattle from eating Native corn in their fields. This, along with many other problems, led to the outbreak of a rebellion commonly called the King Philip’s War.

Angered by the loss of land, liberty and lives, the Pokanoket warriors first attacked just east of the Kickemuit River on the farm of Job Winslow on Sunday, June 20, 1675. Over 25 English villages were attacked and burned to the ground throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts between June, 1675 and August, 1676. Weetamoe, King Philip’s sister-in-law, was the leader of the Pocasset Tribe who left her husband when he sided with the colonists at the beginning of the King Philip’s War and married Quinnapin, a Narragansett.