Pequot War (1636-37) and King Philip's War (1675-78) — Indigenous Resistance to Colonial Expansion (TRAUMA-INFORMED)

Morning Meeting + standing recite all Three Promises. Apply MG-15 trauma-informed opening — name the lesson's content explicitly: 'Today we learn about two colonial-Indigenous wars — the Pequot War and King Philip's War. We open with Resilience.' Read aloud Mashantucket Pequot Museum present-day photo+text: the Pequot are present TODAY (Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, federally recognized, Mashantucket CT).

• Standing recite the Three Promises with MG-10 Resilience-FIRST emphasis
• Apply MG-15 trauma-informed opening protocol explicitly
• Confirm counselor co-presence is available for any child who needs it
• Show present-day Mashantucket Pequot photograph FIRST before historical content

M-5-F-HIS-08-A Photograph

Photograph of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center exterior (Mashantucket CT, 2024) showing the modern museum building and Pequot Nation tribal seal. Caption: 'Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Mashantucket CT, 2024. One of the largest Indigenous-run museums in the United States. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation has been federally recognized since 1983. The Pequot are SOVEREIGN AND PRESENT TODAY.' RESILIENCE-FIRST anchor.

MG-10 Illustration

Resilience-First Promise — paired with MG-8 and MG-9 for trauma-informed lessons. Five-line text: 'When we learn about hard history — the Middle Passage, the Slave Codes, the Trail of Tears, the Pequot War — we open with RESILIENCE. We name what enslaved people, what Indigenous nations, what oppressed communities created and built and sustained. Resilience comes FIRST, then we tell the harm, then we close with resilience again.' Style: dignified scroll layout matching MG-8 and MG-9.

PEQUOT WAR 1636-37: causes (English colonial expansion into Connecticut River Valley; competition over fur trade with Dutch; Pequot retaliation against English traders); course (Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut colonists allied with Narragansett and Mohegan — both rival Indigenous nations to Pequot — against the Pequot Nation; culminating in the May 1637 Mystic Massacre in which 400-700 Pequot were killed in their burning fortified village, with English commander John Mason setting the fire deliberately); outcomes (surviving Pequot were either enslaved in colonial New England or sold to Caribbean — the Pequot Nation was nearly destroyed). RESILIENCE-FIRST FRAMING: the Pequot survived. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation today is sovereign and federally recognized. The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is one of the largest Indigenous-run museums in the United States. KING PHILIP'S WAR 1675-78: causes (English settler expansion into Wampanoag and Narragansett territory; pressure on Indigenous nations to sell land; English court trials of Wampanoag for English-defined crimes); course (Wampanoag-Narragansett-Nipmuc coalition led by Metacom/King Philip — son of Massasoit who had signed the 1621 Plymouth treaty; coordinated attacks on English settlements 1675-76; English response devastating); outcomes (Metacom killed August 1676; his wife and 9-year-old son sold into slavery in Caribbean; ~3,000+ Indigenous people killed; per-capita casualty rate the highest of any war in American history when measured against both populations). RESILIENCE-FIRST FRAMING: the Wampanoag survived. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) are both sovereign and federally recognized today.

• Sourcing tells us a primary source can be reliable for the AUTHOR's perspective but biased — corroboration with another perspective is the historian's move.

  model Sourcing: William Bradford was Governor of Plymouth colony; he wrote the excerpt from English Patriot/Christian perspective; he celebrates the Mystic Massacre as God's victory. Corroboration: Mashantucket Pequot Museum primary sources document the Pequot perspective — the Massacre was a war crime by modern standards, killing 400-700 Pequot in a deliberately set fire. CRITICAL: TWO sources, TWO perspectives, BOTH primary.

  prompt Apply MG-7 SOURCING + CORROBORATION to William Bradford's 'Of Plimoth Plantation' Pequot War excerpt.
• Resilience comes FIRST.

  model The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is federally recognized (since 1983), sovereign, and headquartered in Mashantucket CT. The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center (opened 1998) is one of the largest Indigenous-run museums in the United States. The Pequot survived.

  prompt Apply MG-10 Resilience-FIRST to the Pequot Nation today.

• Why did the Pequot lose the 1636-37 war?
• Apply MG-10 Resilience-FIRST: what is true of the Pequot Nation today?
• Who was Metacom/King Philip?

Children apply MG-7 full 4-question routine + NMAI 5th move to BOTH William Bradford's account AND the Mashantucket Pequot Museum perspective on the Pequot War. Discuss: corroboration through TWO primary sources. NMAI 5th move: whose voices are present (Bradford's English-Christian; Mashantucket Pequot Museum descendant)? whose are absent (most Pequot who were killed at Mystic)? What land are we standing on as we read this? (Answer with the current Indigenous-nation territory of the school's location).

• In small groups, complete MG-7 on William Bradford's 'Of Plimoth Plantation' Pequot War excerpt with corroboration via Mashantucket Pequot Museum educator pack.

  scaffold Sentence frames; partner check.
• Write a 3-sentence Resilience-FIRST account of the Pequot Nation TODAY (sovereign + Mashantucket Pequot Museum + present-tense).

  scaffold Use the Resilience-FIRST protocol — TODAY first, then historical event.

• Apply MG-10: what is true of the Pequot Nation TODAY?
• Why is King Philip's War rarely taught in elementary US history?
• Who was Metacom/King Philip?

• Compassion Circle — standing circle, each child shares one sentence using sentence frame 'Today I learned ___. I am holding ___.'
• Standing recite Three Promises
• Preview tomorrow: 1619 Project Born on the Water + Middle Passage trauma-informed deep work — MG-15 caregiver letter going home today.

• Optional family conversation prompt (with MG-15 home-discussion guide): What did YOU learn about King Philip's War in school? Most adults learned nothing.