Mayflower Questions 9 and 10

Question 9. I think the character that emerged as a hero to me in King Phillip's War was Benjamin Church. Church came across as a very put together man, who carefully thought through his actions. He also stuck with his gut, which saved his wife and children's lives at one point. Another thing that Church had was his strategic planning. Church looked at the Indians and their tactics in a completely different light than his colleagues. When he offered his ideas on how to help, that were often shot down on more than one occasion, the outcome showed that had the elders listened to Church they would have been better off. Especially with what Church accomplished towards the end of the war, I think he was invaluable to the Pilgrims.

Question 10. Grouping the Indians together as one complicated the war because there were many Indians that had wanted to stay neutral. By the Pilgrims grouping all the Indians together as one unit, they shot themselves in the foot. Not only did they turn many Indian groups against them, they failed to keep their minds open to negotiations. I'm sure that if the Pilgrims had approached some of the Indian tribes they attacked they could have prevented many dead. By being unwilling to talk to Indians they also confused many of the surrounding Indian tribes. Tribes that thought they were on the Pilgrims side suddenly found them attacking their homes and lives, and that confused them. If you look at the Praying Indians who had always been with the Pilgrims, they were suddenly considered suspicious and banned for a while. So, had the Pilgrims been more careful and maybe even a little thoughtful of what they were doing, they would have had less heartache.