King Philip's War It had been forty years since the last major warfare between the Puritans and Native Americans. However, great tension still existed. The natives were forced to live under Puritan rule because of the ever-growing population in the colonies. Metacom (known as King Philip to the settlers), chief of the Wampanoag, was tired of having to live by the Puritan rules. In 1675, Metacom organized his tribe and several others into an alliance and prepared for battle. When the official war began in the spring of 1675, the Puritans were surprised by the intensity. The natives used hit-and-run tactics against the Puritans by attacking and burning outlying settlements of New England. Wh