King Philip's War cataclysmically ended a generation of peaceful interdependence among New England's various groups of English colonists and American Indians. After the Pequot War, the New England colonies and American Indian tribes had coexisted in a delicate balance of power with their communities linked economically and politically. The English population grew rapidly, however, to the point that colonists outnumbered Indians three to one. The resulting pressures on American Indian land, combined with divisions among the Indians over the spread of Christianity, created fissures in the biracial society.

What began with a minor skirmish in June 1675 escalated into a war that involved all of New England and was far more harsh than any American Indian-English conflict preceding it. Indians fought on both sides of the conflict, and though the English colonies did not fight against one...