Annawan (chief)

Annawan
Wampanoag Sachem
Preceded byMetacom
Personal details
DiedAugust 1676
Plymouth
Cause of deathExecution

Annawan[a] (died 1676) was a military leader and advisor of the Wampanoag. As head captain under sachem Massasoit, Annawan fought wars with rival New England Indian tribes and became renowned as a warrior. Under Massasoit's son, Metacomet (King Philip), Annawan, as head chief, led the Wampanoag war effort against the Plymouth colonists.

After the death of Metacomet in 1676, Annawan succeeded him as sachem and organized the remaining Wampanoag and established a strategic position at Anawan Rock. Later that year, Captain Benjamin Church led a small colonial party to the stronghold and forced their surrender. Annawan presented his royal regalia, inherited from Metacomet—including his wampum belts—to Church, who pleaded for Annawan's life, but was unable to stop the Plymouth officials from exacting justice after he admitted to having tortured and murdered several colonists during the course of King Philip's War, and he was executed at Plymouth in August 1676 and his severed head displayed without town.[1]


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  1. ^ Gille 1999, p. 71.