of repatriation began. Tensions between the colonists and surrounding Indian tribes, which had already been poor for some time, continued to deteriorate in the years preceding the outbreak of King Philip's War. Colonial encroachment on Indian lands, combined with the decimation of the native population with European diseases, led to increasing Native resentment and hostility towards the colonists. Though some Indians became integrated into colonial society, with many being employed in white households, numerous pieces of legislation were passed which prevented Indians from marrying settlers and staying in colonial settlements after dark, while colonists were prevented from living among the Indians. In 1662, the leader of the Eastern Massachusetts Wampanoag Indian tribe, Wamsutta, died shortly after being questioned at gunpoint by Plymouth colonists. Wamsutta's brother, Chief Metacomet (known to inhabitants of Springfield as "Philip,") began a war against colonial expansion in New England which spread across the region. As the conflict grew in its initial months, colonists throughout Western Massachusetts became deeply concerned with maintaining the loyalty of "their Indians." The Agawams cooperated, even providing valuable intelligence to the colonists. In August 1675, a group of colonists in Hadley demanded the disarming of a “fort” of Nonotuck Indians. Unwilling to relinquish their weapons, they left on the night of August 25. A hundred colonists pursued them, catching up to them at the foot of Sugarloaf Hill, which was a sacred space for the Nonotucks called the Great Beaver. The colonists attacked, but the Nonotucks forced them to withdraw and were able to keep moving. The shedding of Native blood on sacred land was an attack on their entire kinship network, and caused Native peoples in Western Massachusetts to join the ongoing conflict. Following the war, the greater part of the Native American population left Western Massachusetts behind. Many refugees of the war joined the Wabanaki in the north, where their descendants remain today. Native American influence remains evident in the land and culture of Western Massachusetts, from the practice of tobacco farming to the names of cities and rivers In 1777, George Washington and Henry Knox selected Springfield for the site of the fledgling United States' National Armory. Built atop a high bluff overlooking the Connecticut River, Washington and Knox agreed that Springfield provided an ideal location—beside a great river and at the confluence of major rivers and highways. For the following 200 years, the Springfield Armory would bring concentrated