Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines war as "a state of widespread conflict between states, organizations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterized by the use of violent, physical force between combatants or upon civilians", and civil war as "war between factions of the same country." More specifically, a civil war is an internalized war between people who inhabit the same territory. During the 1600's, where newly forming America consisted of both the English colonies and the indigenous Indian groups, extreme warfare broke out among the people who lived in what is now the New England area. The war lasted 14 months, from the year 1975 to 1976. It was named for King Philip, the son of Massasoit and chief of the Wampanoag tribe.

Throughout much of history the war has been described as an Indian uprising against the English colonies who wanted territorial...