Analysis: The History of King Philip’s War.

Benjamin Church was one of the principal military leaders in King Philip’s War (1675–76.) Most notably, he commanded the expedition that led to the killing of the Wampanoag leader Philip (also known as Metacom) and the surrender of his remaining warriors, effectively ending the war in southern New England. Forty years after the events, Benjamin’s son Thomas used his father’s diary and remembrances to compose an account of the war featuring his father in the central heroic role; the work is presented as Church’s memoirs as told to his son. Published in 1716 as Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip’s War, Which Began in the Month of June, 1675; As Also of Expeditions More Lately Made Against the Common Enemy, and Indian Rebels, in the Eastern Parts of New-England: With Some Account of the Divine Providence Towards Col. Benjamin Church, the book presented Church as an unconventional English colonist and military leader who disparaged the strategies of other commanders and the policies followed by colonial political leaders. He disagreed strongly with their treatment of Indians, both those friendly to the English and those who fought against them. Church’s respectful view of Indians distinguished his story from other accounts of the war. While he blamed Philip for the conflict, he did not regard all Indians as dangerous savages unable to coexist with English civilization.