The Death of Totoson

The sachem Totoson was a strong supporter of Metacom and a premier leader of warriors throughout King Philip’s War. Having led several raids and attacks against the English, including at “Old Dartmouth,” Totoson was considered a fierce enemy of the English, particularly in that his raids often resulted in the death of several English at a time. In early August 1676, on or around the 7th, Captain Benjamin Church and his men came across the encampment of Totoson and launched an attack in the early morning. According to Church himself, he “struck the Muzzle of his Gun an inch and half into the back part of [Totoson’s] head,” thinking he had killed the sachem with a single blow. He had not, but instead merely wounded Totoson, who came “flying at him like a dragon.” (1) Though Totoson survived for a short while after the attack, he died sometime in early August, possibly of a “broken heart” as claimed by Benjamin Church, but more likely from complications of his wounds. In his recountings of the war, Church described how he and his men had killed or taken captive 173 of Totoson’s people. (2)

1. Eric B. Schultz and Michael J. Tougias, King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict, 115.

2. Benjamin Church, “The entertaining history of King Philip’s War, which began in the month of June, 1675. As also of expeditions more lately made against the common enemy, and Indian rebels, in the eastern parts of New-England: with some account of the Divine Providence towards Col. Benjamin Church: / By Thomas Church, Esq. his son.” In the digital collection Evans Early American Imprint Collection. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/N09706.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections, 67.