Did you know the death of a Harvard student sparked King Philip’s War (1675-1678)?

The student’s name was Wassausmon and he was a member of the Massachusetts Tribe. Wassausmon, known as John Sassamon by the English, studied at the Harvard Indian School in the early 1670s. He was the first Native American to study at Harvard.

King Philip’s War raged in southern New England from 1675 to 1676, and spread as far north as Maine before ending there in 1678. On one side were English colonists and their Native American allies (the Mohegans and Mohawks). On the other side was Wampanoag leader, Metacom (known as King Philip by the English), and an alliance of Native American people infuriated with the growing colonial population and encroachment onto their traditional lands. The aim of both sides of this civil war was to eliminate the other. 

Why do we study science and math? We do so to gain understanding and then apply that understanding to engineering and technology! By doing so, we improve the world. So, why not study history in the same way?

Several Harvard Veterans played key roles in King William’s War (1689-1698). It was a long and often inhumane conflict that accomplished little other than loss of life among the populations of New England, New France, and the Native Americans who fought on both sides. Historians often characterize it as the first of four French and Indian wars, and when it was over, not a single boundary had changed in North America or in Europe.