"
And so it proved.
Philip witnessed this unjust arrest of his brother, chief of a proud
and free race; he remembered his father's services and fidelity; he saw
his people dispossessed of their hunting grounds, and an unknown
religion zealously pressed upon them. To him there was in the present
only humiliation and disgrace, in the future only ignominy and death.
With this history and these gloomy anticipations of the future, Philip
became the sachem of the Pokanokets. He had never been a favorite
with the English, yet early in life they had named him Philip, and
his brother Wamsutta, Alexander; a singular yet just appreciation of
their high spirit and warlike character. The colonists justly regarded
these young men as dangerous to the public peace, and there was never
a moment of true friendship after the death of Massasoit.
The particular occasion of the war was the murder by Philip's agents of
one Sassamon, an educated Indian, who had been his private secretary.
Having in this confidential station obtained a knowledge of Philip's
plans, he went to the English, by whom he had been educated, and
probably disclosed his master's secrets. Philip secured his death, and
of all who fell in fight or fray, or on the gallows swung, none
deserved death before Sassamon. The comprehensive mind of Philip saw
at once the terrible nature and probable consequences of the war thus
brought upon him.
Pages:
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262