Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoag Indians, had been a great friend of the Plymouth colonists. But they treated his two sons, Alexander (Wamsutta) and Philip (Metacomet), unfairly. After Philip became chief in 1662, he began plotting against the colonists, because he felt that his people could survive only by driving the whites out. In June 1675, he led an attack on Swansea, Massachusetts. During the next year, both sides raided villages and massacred hundreds of victims. The colonists captured Philip's wife and son and sold them into slavery. New England troops finally trapped Philip with a large force of Narragansett Indians in a swamp near South Kingston, Rhode Island. They defeated the Indians, ending the war in southern New England. Philip escaped but was hunted down and killed in 1676. Fighting in northern New England continued until 1678. The Indians killed more than 1,000 colonists, and completely destroyed 12 towns.