Violence, Disease, and Public Medicine during the Pequot & King Philip's Wars

Warfare and disease profoundly affected southern New England’s Native population and forever changed the cultural landscape of the region. Epidemics, the destruction of food and shelter, and battlefield slaughter left people starving and fearful, desperate for remedies, and grieving as their loved ones lay in shallow resting places throughout New England.

This interactive talk by leading experts, based on recent archaeological findings from the battlefields of the Pequot War (1636-1637) and Philip’s War (1675-1677), will reveal how New England’s landscapes were even more heavily contested and violent than previously thought. From musket balls to blades, arrows, and gun parts, they will use tangible objects of war to explore the experiences of Native and colonial peoples during some of New England’s bloodiest wars. They will also discuss the beginning of public health in the colonies, and colonial and Native treatments to help ward off disease and destruction.

About the Speakers:

Kevin McBride, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut and the Director of Research at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. Former member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Museum of Natural History and of the Governor's Task Force on Indian Affairs, he has written numerous articles on Native American and Colonial archaeology.

Ashley Bissonnette, PhD, is the Senior Researcher at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center and Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Eastern Connecticut State University. Her dissertation was “Pestilences of New England’s First Wars, Disease, Medicine and Colonial Trauma during the Pequot and King Philip’s Wars.” She specializes in Colonial and Native American history, Colonial trauma, and ethnomedicine.

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