consistently feared Indian hostilities, heard rumors that Alexander might be discussing a military alliance with the Narragansetts and were upset at his sell- ing land to the Rhode Island colonists. In 1635, Roger Williams had been expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony (settled by the Puritans) for affirming freedom of conscience in religion and denying the right of officials to interfere with people’s religious beliefs—ideological stances sharply at odds with those more heavily influenced by Puritan attitudes. Williams ultimately founded a settlement near Providence, secured a charter from England, and established a colony that granted its citizens political and religious freedom. By 1675, many Quakers, who were especially despised by the Puritans, also lived in Rhode Island. To the English of Plymouth and Massachusetts, then, doing business with Rhode Island seemed at least ungrateful and unfriendly, if not outright treacherous. The new sachem, newly named, was summoned to explain his actions. Alexander refused, and a contingent of English under Major Josiah Winslow (son of Edward Winslow, the former governor of Plymouth who had died at sea in 1655) was dispatched in July 1662 to bring him in. Alexander and some companions were taken to Duxbury, Massachusetts, and interrogated. This experience of being treated like a common criminal must have been both humiliating and infuriating for a leader. Alexander then became ill, in what would become one of the great health- related mysteries in American history. Despite his illness, he was permitted to journey north to Massachusetts Bay Colony, after which he returned and stopped at Major Winslow’s home at Marshfield. There Alexander became progressively worse but nonetheless started toward his home village, which was near present-day Bristol, Rhode Island, on Mount Hope Peninsula. Unfortunately, he died on the way. The cause of his death remains uncertain. According to M. A. Dewolfe Howe, a Plymouth Colony physician, Dr. Fuller, treated Alexander with a “working physic.”7 If the problem had been appendicitis (one of the theories advanced to explain the illness), administering a strong laxative might have worsened Alexander’s situation considerably. Philip, however, had another, simpler explanation: His brother had been poisoned. That seems unlikely given the repercussions the English surely knew would have followed, but what especially mattered was that the new sachem, Philip, thought so, and he continued to blame Winslow for his brother’s death. King Philip Philip thus became his people’s third sachem in about a year. The English referred to him as King Philip, and by that name he has been remembered over the centu- ries. The royal title may have been an echo of the settlers’ English past, although their own troubles with kings had precipitated their departure from England. If William Hubbard, a Boston clergyman, is to be believed, the title may have reflected their dislike of kingly attitudes. Writing immediately after King Philip’s Philip 5
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