The Wampanoag Indians lived in what is now known as Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the early part of the 17th century. The name means “easterners” and at one point, their population was 12,000. They were a loose confederacy made up of several tribes.
Famous Wampanoag People:
Squanto (Tisquantum)- Squanto lived with the colonists and acted as a middleman between the Pilgrims and Massasoit, the Wampanoag sachem. Captured by Captain Thomas Hunt in 1614 and taken to Spain, where he was sold as a slave to Spanish Monks. The Monks eventually freed him, and he made it back to his village in 1619.
Samoset –
Metacomet (King Phillip or Metacom) – Massasoit’s second son, who initiated the war against the English known as King Philip’s War (1675–1676) in retaliation for the death of his brother at the hands of the English.
Massasoit – The Wampanoag sachem who first met the English.
Corbitant – 17th century sachem or sagamore of the Pocassets.
Weetamoo -Daughter and successor of Corbitant, the lady sachem or sagamore of the Pocasset. She was the wife of Wamsutta, a brother to King Phillip or Metacom and son of Massasoit, and who died in the King Philip’s War by drowning while crossing the Taunton River t flee the English .
Woonekanuske – Daughter of Corbitant and wife of Metacom. The whites cut off Weetamoo’s head and displayed it on a pike in Taunton, MA. Her sister Woonekanuske and son were sold into slavery and transported to Bermuda.
Leroy C. Perry – Chief of the Wampanoag
Crispus Attucks – first man killed in Revolutionary War.
Wamsutta -Massasoit’s oldest son (known by the English as King Alexander), who died under mysterious circumstances after visiting with English colonial administrators in Plymouth
Sachem Awashonks of the Sakonnet – A woman who at first fought the English but changed sides.
Annawan – A war leader.
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first student at the Indian College at Harvard College
Amos Haskins, 19th-century whaling captain
Sonny Dove, professional basketball player, New York City Basketball Hall of Fame
Cedric Cromwell, Elected Tribal Council Chairman, 2009
Epenow, a Nauset taken captive by English explorers in the 17th century, he was taken to England, where he learned the language. He convinced the English to return to North America, where he escaped and rejoined his people.
Russell “Fast Turtle” Peters
Blind Joe Amos
Vernon “Silent Drum” Lopez
John “Slow Turtle” Peters – Supreme medicine man
Jessie Little Doe Baird – Linguist, co-founder and director of the Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) Language Reclamation Project, which has been the first to revive a Native American language after all the speakers had died. In 2010 she was selected as a MacArthur Fellow.
Joan Tavares Avant – Author and historian.
Morgan James “Mwalim” Peters – Author, playwright, musician, composer, filmmaker, historian and educator
Linda Coombs – Author and historian.
Adrian Haynes – Chief of the Wampanoag People.
Paula Peters – Journalist and educator
Wampanoag Tribes:
Federally Recognized:
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (F)
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (F)
Massachusetts State Recognized:
Assonet Wampanoag Tribe (S)Chappaquiddick Wampanoag Tribe (S)Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe (S)Pocasset Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation (S)Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe (S)
Metacomet was better known to whites as King Philip. He was also known as Metacom or Philip of Pokanoket. He was the second son of the sachem Massasoit, and became a chief of his people in 1662 when his brother Wamsutta (or King Alexander) died shortly after their father Massasoit.