From "Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History" by Richard Shenkman:

That America used to be a more secure place is widely believed but is only partly true. From the end of the War of 1812 until World War II Americans didn't have to worry about foreign attacks. But earlier they frequently did live in daily fear of outside aggression.

In colonial times, as David Hackett Fischer observes, American life was punctuated by the recurrent cry of war. "From the beginnings of settlement to 1815," he reports, "there was a war in every American generation, and some of these wars were cruel and bloody. It is unlikely that a civilized society, anywhere in the world, has ever survived losses in proportion to those Virginia experienced in its first half century."

New England's history was hardly better. In the little-known King Philip's War (1675-76), thousands were killed, more than half a dozen thriving communities were destroyed or abandoned, and several towns suffered extensive arson. Relative to population, the war caused more casualties than either Germany or Russia suffered during World War II. "The Anglo-American population, of course, was very much smaller than these great nations," Fischer acknowledges, "but the social impact must have been comparable." In hard numbers, one in every twenty-two Russians was a casualty in World War II; one in every twenty New Englanders was injured or killed in King Philip's War.