Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags is a play that was written by John Augustus Stone (an American playwright and actor) in 1829 in response to a contest funded by actor Edwin Forrest.
Forrest outlined his criteria for the competition in The New York Critic, writing that he would award 500 dollars to "the best tragedy, in five acts, of which the hero, or principal character, shall be an aboriginal of this country." The Committee of Award, which was led by William Cullen Bryant, selected Metamora out of the fourteen plays submitted to the contest.
Metamora was, thus, likely chosen because it perfectly fit Forrest's aforementioned criteria; the play in five acts follows the conflict between the titular Metamora (a Wampanoag hero) and the Puritans who tried to settle New England in the 1600s. The play ends in tragedy, with Metamora stabbing his beloved wife, Nehmeokee, to death in order to prevent the "palefaces" from slaying her. Metamora is immediately thereafter killed by the arriving soldiers, and he dies cursing the white men and calling out the name of his wife.
This "romantic" ending was also probably attractive to the contest's judge, since its dramatic nature was in in line with the particular talents of Forrest, who got his start playing Othello (another non-white "outsider" character who causes the death of both himself and his wife) in New York. Without a doubt, choosing Metamora as the winner was smart: both the play and Forrest were greeted with immense success, bringing in record profits and sparking a trend of sentimental "Indian" dramas in the theatre world.
(A note on the source used to answer this question: all of this information is readily available in the introductory comments that preface the play!)
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