Plymouth put Metacom's head on a pole for about 20 years and sold his wife and nine-year-old son into slavery

Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoag, signed a treaty with Plymouth Colony in 1621 and died in 1661. His eldest son Wamsutta succeeded him and died in 1662, shortly after Plymouth officials questioned him about land sales that the colony called illegal. His brother Metacom, called Philip by the English, said they had poisoned him. Metacom became sachem. He asked for a seven-year halt on land sales, then agreed to a sale in 1664 under pressure. Fourteen Indian deeds were registered in Plymouth court from 1650 to 1659, and 76 from 1665 to 1675. In 1671 Plymouth forced him to surrender weapons and accept English law. War broke out in 1675. On 12 August 1676 John Alderman, a Christian Wampanoag guiding Benjamin Church's rangers, shot Metacom near Mount Hope. His body was quartered and hung in trees. Alderman was given the head and a hand, charged people to see the head, and sold it to Plymouth for 30 shillings. It stayed on a pole outside the fort for about 20 years. Metacom's wife and nine-year-old son were sold as slaves; the University of Michigan library and other sources say to Bermuda^†.