The most important weapon of the American Indians when the settlers came was the bow and arrow. The arrow was headed with a sharpened flint or a bit of horn. Sometimes the spur of a wild turkey or the claw of an eagle was used to point the arrow. Next to the bow and arrow the American Indian warrior depended on a warclub, which had a handle at one end and a heavy knob at the other, or upon a tomahawk, made by fastening a wooden handle to a round stone, or a stone axe. But all their rudimentary weapons were given up as soon as the American Indians could get knives, hatchets, and guns from the settlers. In some cases, it is said, they were so eager for gunpowder that they sowed what they got at first, supposing it to be the seed of a plant. The Pequots commanded two settler girls, whom they had captured, to make some gunpowder, supposing that all settlers knew how to make it.

At the first arrival of settlers, they protected themselves by wearing armor, and the American Indian arrows could not do them much hurt. But as soldiers could not get about very fast in heavy armor and with clumsy guns, they could not do much hurt to the American Indians. Some of the guns used were matchlocks. In order to shoot, the soldier had to place in front of him a "rest"—a kind of forked stick or staff—and lay his heavy gun across it. In firing, the powder on the lock of his gun was set off with a lighted fuse or match; and the soldier had to carry a burning fuse in his hand. If he let his fuse go out, he could not use his gun until he got fire again, for friction-matches were unknown. But the American Indians would not stand still while the settlers got ready to shoot. This awkward matchlock-gun was sometimes used as late as 1675, the time of Philip's war. The snaphance, or flintlock, was already coming into use when the colonies were settled. The flintlock was set off by the striking of the flint against a piece of steel, when the trigger was pulled. (Guns with percussion-caps are a much later invention.) Some of the settlers at first were armed with pikes or spears; but it was found to be a very dangerous business to poke at their adversaries with a pike. During Philip's war the pike began to go out of use in America.

When the American Indians had procured firearms, the armor which the soldiers wore, being of little use against bullets, was rather a burden than an advantage. Long after the first settlements were made, settlers ceased by degrees to wear the head, and breast, and back pieces of metal, and they laid aside also the heavy buff-coats, which were made of leather and stuffed, to resist bullets. The colonists also learned to march in scattering parties, as the American Indians did, in order to avoid surprise, and to lie in ambush, and to load their guns while lying down. For a long time, the American Indians made attacks on the Northern settlements in the winter, when the snow was so deep that the soldiers could not move about; but, after stupidly suffering this for many years, the Northern colonies at length put their soldiers on snowshoes too, and then all was changed.

American Indians devised ingenious tricks, such as the wearing of snowshoes with the hind part before, so as to make an enemy believe that he had gone in an opposite direction. An American Indian scout would dress himself up with twigs, so as to look like a bush. Many of these things the colonists learned to practice also.

Although the settlers and American Indians engaged in warfare, sometimes, however, settler prisoners were adopted into American Indian families and kindly treated. Many hundreds of settler children were thus adopted, and forgot their own language. Some of them afterward engaged in war against their own people. One boy, named Thomas Rice, was carried off from Massachusetts in childhood, and became a chief of the tribe which had captured him.

The settlers learned after a while many ways of defending themselves. They built blockhouses in every exposed settlement for refuge in case of attack. When American Indians were discovered nearby during the night, a messenger would be sent from the blockhouse to warn the sleeping settlers. This messenger would creep up to a window and tap on it, whispering, "Indians!" Then the family within would get up, and, without speaking or making a light, gather the most necessary things and hurry away along dark paths through the woods to the blockhouse. In some of the more exposed regions the dogs were even trained not to bark unless commanded to. In some, if not all, of the colonies, the firing of three shots in succession was the sign of danger. Every man who heard it was required to pass the alarm to those farther away, by firing three times, (and then to go in the direction in which the shots had been heard. In all exposed places, a part or all of the men took their arms to church with them.

Both the settlers and American Indians showed bravery, fierceness, and cruelty during these long-continued wars. Captives often escaped by ingenious devices, and sometimes suffered dreadful hardships in getting back to their people.