The Rev. John Cotton, longtime pastor of the Plymouth church, played an important but much-overlooked role in the events that began, and ended, the conflict known as King Philip’s War (1675-1676). Join historian Len Travers for an online talk on Friday, February 21 at noon as he discusses how the Rev. Cotton’s duties to his congregation, and his responsibilities as missionary to the colony’s Christian Indians, put him front and center in the murder trial that initiated the war, the spiritual revival that sustained the war-weary English colonists, and the final, tragic decisions made concerning enemy prisoners. The Rev. John Cotton served as minister of the Plymouth church from 1669 to 1697 and is thought to have written an elegy on the death of John Alden in 1687. Len Travers is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts. He is co-editor of The Correspondence of Rev. John Cotton, Jr. 1640-1699, (2009) published by The Colonial Society of Massachusetts. 

This talk will be broadcast through Zoom.  Advance registration is required.  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_C4Ebvf9WRdWxcdmvKEoRqg