Following the defeat of the Native Americans in the King Philip's War of 1675-1676 in Massachusetts and parts of Connecticut, the Native Americans came under pres- sure from a very large armed force from Connecticut heading north. The Native Americans had to decide to remain and fight and risk further death, capture and enslavement or they had to leave. They fled to the Hudson River Valley in New York where other Algonquians held land.
Not all Native Americans had joined in the War. Uncas and his Mohegans from Norwich, Connecticut, took sides with the British. At the beginning of the war many Nipmucks living near the Quinebaug River Valley moved close to Norwich under the protection of Uncas. At the conclusion of the War, the Nipmucks returned to their historic lands and spread out even further to good land vacated by the defeated Natives. Shortly thereafter, thay had to deal with incoming English and Scots-Irish settlers.