IT WAS PHILIP HIMSELF, MUSING PERHAPS 
 UPON THE FATE WHICH AWAITED HIM. 
 
Everybody s Books Series 
 
 Indian Biography 
 
 Manners, Customs, Wars 
 
 U 
 
 A MINUTE AND GRAPHIC 
 STORY OF EARLY INDIAN 
 LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES 
 -A VALUABLE COMPEND- 
 IUM TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 
 
 
 B. B. THATCHER, 18 
 
 /X I 
 
 D. M. MAC LELLAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK AND AKRON, O. 
 
I lio 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY 
 THE WERNER COMPANY 
 
 THE WERNER COMPANY, AKRON, OHIO 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE following work does not require an elaborate 
 explanation or an apology of any kind. It is, historic- 
 ally, a mere act of justice to the fame and the memo- 
 ries of many wise, brilliant, brave and glorious men 
 patriots, orators, warriors and statesmen, who ruled 
 over barbarian communities and were indeed them- 
 selves barbarians, but whose influence, eloquence and 
 success of every description were therefore but the 
 nobler objects of admiration and the worthier subjects 
 for record. 
 
 Nor can a reader with a philosophical turn of mind 
 look upon them without predilection. Comparatively 
 child-like and unaffected as they were owing little to 
 circumstances and struggling much amidst and against 
 them their situation was the best possible for devel- 
 oping both genius and principle and their education 
 at the same time the best for disclosing them. Their 
 lives, then, should illustrate the true constitution of 
 man. They should have, above all other history, the 
 praise and the interest of " philosophy searching by 
 example." 
 
 Furthermore it ought always to be borne in mind 
 that we owe, and our fathers and forefathers owed so 
 much to the Indians, so much from man to man, so 
 much from race to race to deny them the poor resti- 
 
 (i) 
 
ii PREFACE 
 
 tution of historical justice at least, however the issue 
 may have been or may be with themselves. Nor need 
 it be suggested that the information contained in these 
 volumes is bound to throw collateral lights on the his- 
 tory and biography of our nation. 
 
 The extreme difficulty of doing justice to any indi- 
 vidual of the race, and at the same time to all has been 
 most happily overcome. Due notice was also be- 
 stowed on important characters like Buckongahelas, 
 White-Eyes, Pipe, and Occonostota whom other 
 authors have treated only in the most perfunctory 
 manner. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Indian tribes of Virginia at the date of the Jamestown settlement: 
 their names, numbers and power The Powhatan confederacy The 
 Indian Village of that name Powhatan The circumstances of the first 
 interview between him and the English Opechancanough, his brother 
 Opitchipan Reception of Captain Smith by Powhatan Interposi- 
 tion of Pocahontas in his favor Second Visit of the colonists Third 
 visit, and coronation Entertainment of Smith by Pocahontas Con- 
 test of ingenuity between PowhatP.n and Smith : and between the latter 
 and Opechancanough Smith saved again by Pocahontas Political 
 manoeuvres of Powhatan and Opechancanough Smith's return to 
 Jamestown 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Conduct of of Powhatan after Smith's departure for England, and causes 
 of it Hostilities resumed Peace finally effected by the capture of 
 Pocahontas Manner of gaining this point Marriage of Pocahontas 
 with John Rplfe Death and character of Powhatan His person, 
 manner of living, talents, influence His method and means of war- 
 fare The discipline of his warriors The manner in which he availed 
 himself of the English arms and science Causes of his hostility to- 
 wards the colonists His dignity Shrewdness Independence Cour- 
 tesy Liberality Simplicity Affection for his relatives A review 
 of various opinions entertained of him by various historians 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The family of Powhatan His successor Sequel of the history of Poca- 
 hontas Her acts of kindness to the colonists at various times, and 
 especially to Smith His gratitude Her civilization, and instruction 
 in Christianity Her visit to England in 1616 Reception at Court 
 Interview with Smith His memorial respecting her to Queen Anne 
 Her death and character Her descendants 65 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Sequel of the history of Opechancanough Renewal, by him and Opitchi- 
 pan, of the treaty of peace Finesse by which he extended his 
 dominion over the Chickahominies Preparations for War Causes 
 of it Profound dissimulation under which his hostility was con- 
 cealed Indian custom of making Conjurers Manoeuvres against the 
 English interest The great massacre of 1622; circumstances and 
 consequences of it Particular occasion which led to it Character 
 and death of Nemattanow Details of the war subsequent to the 
 massacre Truce broken by the English New exertions of Opech- 
 
 (iii) 
 
iv CONTENTS 
 
 ancanough Battle of Pamunkey Peace of 1632 Massacre of 1641 
 Capture of Opechancanough by the English His Death and char- 
 acter 78 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Biography of other Virginian chieftains Opitchipan Some particulars 
 respecting Tomocomo His visit to England, interview with Captain 
 Smith, and return to America Japazaws, chief sachem of the Pato- 
 womekes His friendship for the English 111 treatment which he 
 received from them Totopotomoi, successor of Opechancanough His 
 services His death in 1656 Notices of several native chiefs of 
 North Carolina Granganimo, who dies in 1585 Menatenon, king of 
 the Chowanocks Ensenore, father of Granganimo; and Wingina, 
 his brother Plot of the latter against the Hatteras colony His 
 death Comment on the Carolinian Biography 97 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Synopsis of the New England Indians at the date of the Plymouth 
 Settlement The Pokanoket confederacy The Wampanoag tribe 
 Their first head-Sachem known to the English, Massasoit The first 
 interview between him and the whites His visit to Plymouth, in 
 1621 Treaty of peace and friendship Embassy sent to him at 
 Sowams, by the English Anecdotes respecting it He is suspected 
 of treachery or hostility, in 1622 His sickness in 1623 A second 
 deputation visits him Ceremonies and results of the visit His in- 
 tercourse with other tribes Conveyances of land to the English 
 His death and character Anecdotes 120 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Massasoit succeeded by his son Alexander The occasion of that name 
 being given by the English History of Alexander previous to his 
 father's death Covenant made with Plymouth in 1639 Measures 
 taken in pursuance of it, in 1661 Anecdote illustrating the character 
 of Alexander Notice of the charges made against him Examina- 
 tion of the transaction which led to his death Accession of Philip 
 Renewal of the treaty by him Interruption of harmony Supposed 
 causes of it Measures taken in consequence Philip's submission 
 Letter to the Plymouth Governor Second submission in 1671 Re- 
 marks on the causes of Philip's War : . 148 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Preparations of war between Philip and the Colonies Great excitement 
 of the times Deposition of Hugh Cole Immediate occasion of hos- 
 tilities Commencement of them, June 24th, 1675 Summary sketch 
 of the war Consequences to the parties engaged Exertions, ad- 
 ventures and escapes of King Philip His death Anecdotes respect- 
 ing him Observations on his character His courage, dignity, kind- 
 ness, independence, shrewdness, and self-command -Fate of his fam- 
 ily Defence of his conduct 169 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Narraghansett tribe ; territory and power Chief Sachems at the 
 date of the English settlements in New England Canonicus asso- 
 ciates with himself Miantonomo, his nephew Their treatment of 
 
CONTENTS v 
 
 Roger Williams in 1634 Hostility to the Plymouth Colony Invited 
 by the Pequots to fight the English Treaty negotiated at Boston, 
 in 1636, by Miantonomo War with the Pequots and result of it 
 Subsequent hostility between Miantonomo and Uncas Sequassen 
 Battle of the Sachem's-Plain Capture of Miantonomo Sentence of 
 the English commissioners upon him Execution of it 188 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Consideration of the justice of the Commissioners' sentence upon Mian- 
 tonomo Their reasons, as alleged The charge against him of ambi- 
 tious designs^ Of employing the Mohawks Of breaking the league 
 of 1638 ' Concerning the Pequot squaws ' Of hostility to the Eng- 
 lish Of peculation Proofs of his fidelity and friendship Causes of 
 complaint by him and Canonicus against the English Character of 
 both Sachems Their treatment of Roger Williams Letters of that 
 gentleman Anecdotes Death of Canonicus 203 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Canonicus succeeded by Pessacus Mexham Ninigret, Sachem of the Nian- 
 ticks Proposals made by them to the English, and by the English 
 in return They commence hostilities against Uncas The English 
 resolve to make war upon them They make concessions Their visits 
 to Boston Subsequent movements against Uncas. An armed party 
 sent against Ninigret and Pessacus They are accused of a league 
 with the Dutch against the English 224 
 
 Sequel of the liv 
 sations, depu 
 English Con 
 cation for jus 
 sequences of 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 s of Ninigret and Pessacus, ^ from 1653 Various accu- 
 ations, and hostile movements between them and the 
 roversy between Ninigret and Harmon Garrett Appli- 
 ice in 1675 Conduct of Ninigret in Philip's War Con- 
 t His death Death of Pessacus Some of the charges 
 
 against the former considered His hostility to Uncas, and the Long 
 Islanders, and * League with the Dutch ' Remarks on his char- 
 acter 246 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Pequot tribe Their first chief-sachem known to the English, Peko- 
 ath Succeeded by S'assacus An embassy sent to Boston in 1631 
 Residence and stronghold of Sassacus His earliest intercourse with 
 the English Murder of Captain Stone Justification of it by Sassa- 
 cus He proposes a treaty of peace in 1634 Sends deputies to Boston 
 twice Treaty concluded Anecdotes His wars with the Narraghan- 
 setts Fresh controversy with the English They send an armed party 
 to demand damages Conduct of the party, and consequences of it 
 War with the Pequots in 1636 Political movements of Sassacus 
 English expedition against him in 1637 He is defeated Driven from 
 his country Killed by the Mohawks The English policy in his 
 case briefly considered 267 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Pequot territory claimed by Uncas His tribe, family, and early his- 
 tory Services in the Pequot expedition rewarded by the English 
 Effect of their favor His contest with Miantonomo, and result 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 Subsequent wars and quarrels with various tribes and chiefs Assist- 
 ance rendered him by the English Complaints brought against him 
 to them His Christianity considered His morality Evidence of his 
 fraud, falsehood, violence, tyranny, ambition His services, and those 
 of his tribe to the English Manner in which he met the accusations 
 made against him Cunning and servility His treatment of neigh- 
 boring sachems Various negotiations with the English His death 
 Fate of his tribe 284 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Indians who submitted to Massachusetts The Gortonists Pomham, Sa- 
 chem of Shaomet, and Saconoco complain of them Submit to the 
 Government Their examination and entertainment Policy of Massa- 
 chusetts in the case of Pomham- He and Saconoco much harrassed 
 by their neighbors Subsequent history Pomham takes part in Philip's 
 war, and is killed Canonchet, son of Miantonomo His agreement of 
 October, 1675 Weetamore, Squaw-Sachem of Pocasset Canonchet's 
 career during Philip's war Particulars of his surprisal and death 
 His character Anecdotes His reputation with the English Defence 
 of his conduct 317 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Account of the Pawtucket confederacy in New Hampshire Passacona- 
 way, their chief Sachem He is disarmed by order of the Massachu- 
 setts Government. His residence, age and authority He maintains 
 a good understanding with the English Visits Boston The Apostle 
 Elliot's acquaintance with, and notice of him His views of Chris- 
 tianity Festival, and Farewell speech to his tribe in 1660 Death and 
 character His son and successor, Wonolanset Anecdotes of the fam- 
 ily Legend of Passaconaway's feats as a Powah 340 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Indian Tribes of Virginia at the date of the Jamestown settlement: 
 their names, numbers and power. The Powhatan confederacy. The 
 Indian Village of that name. Powhatan. The circumstances of the 
 first interview between him and the English. Opechancanough, his 
 brother. Opitchipan. Reception of Captain Smith by Powhatan. 
 Interposition of Pocahontas in his favour. Second visit of the colo- 
 nists. Third visit, and coronation. Entertainment of Smith by Po- 
 cahontas. Contest of ingenuity between Powhatan and Smith: and 
 between the latter and Opechancanough. Smith saved again by Poca- 
 hontas. Political manoeuvres of Powhatan and Opechancanough. 
 Smith's return to Jamestown. 
 
 AT the date of the first permanent settlement ef- 
 fected within the limits of Virginia, and for an 
 unknown period previous to that date, the 
 country from the sea-coast to the Alleghany, and from 
 the most southern waters of James river to Patuxent 
 river (now in the state of Maryland) was occupied by 
 three principal native nations. Each of these nations 
 was a confederacy of larger or smaller tribes ; and each 
 tribe was subdivided into towns, families or clans, who 
 lived together. The three general names by which 
 these communities have been ordinarily known, are the 
 Mannahoacks, the Monacans and the Powhatans. 
 
 Of these, the two former might be called highland 
 or mountain Indians. They all lived upon the banks oi 
 the various small streams which water the hilly coun- 
 
 M, ofH. XXX 1 1 
 
2 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 try between the falls of the Atlantic rivers and the Alle- 
 ghany ridge. The Mannahoacks consisted of eight 
 tribes, five of which were located between the Potomac 
 and Rappahannoc, and three between the last named 
 river and the York. Of the five tribes of the Monacans, 
 two were between the York and James, and three ex- 
 tended southward from the James to the boundaries 
 of Carolina. The most powerful respectively of the 
 eight and of the five the Mannahoacks and the Mona- 
 cans, properly so called seem to have given their own 
 names to the entire nation or confederacy of which 
 they were members. The former tribe occupied chiefly 
 what are now Stafford and Spotsylvania counties. The 
 latter resided upon James river above the falls. 
 
 The Powhatan nation inhabited the lowland tract, 
 extending laterally from the ocean to the falls of the 
 rivers, and from Carolina on the south to the Patuxent 
 on the north. This comprised a much larger number 
 of tribes than either of the others. As many as ten of 
 them (including the Tauxenents, whose chief residence 
 was about Mt. Vernon) were settled between the Poto- 
 mac and Rappahannoc. Five others extended between 
 the Rappahannoc and York ; eight between the York 
 and James and five between the James and the borders 
 of Carolina. Beside these, the Accohanocks and Ac- 
 comacks, on what is called the Eastern Shore (of 
 Chesapeake Bay) have also been considered a part of 
 this nation. 
 
 The territory occupied by the whole of this great 
 confederacy, south of the Potomac, comprehended 
 about 8,000 square miles. Smith tells us in his history, 
 that within sixty miles of Jamestown were 5,000 na- 
 tives, of whom 1,500 were warriors. Mr. Jefferson has 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 3 
 
 computed the whole number of Powhatan warriors at 
 2,400, which, according to the proportions between 
 Smith's estimates (being three to ten) would give an 
 entire population of 8,000, or one to each square mile. 
 
 This calculation is probably quite moderate enough. 
 It would leave an average of less than one hundred 
 warriors to each of the thirty tribes. But we find it 
 recorded by an early writer, that three hundred ap- 
 peared under an Indian chieftain in one body at one 
 time, and seven hundred at another ; all of whom were 
 apparently of his own tribe. The Chickahominies 
 alone had between three hundred and four hundred 
 fighting men. The Nansamonds and Chesapeakes 
 showed on one occasion a force of four hundred. And 
 when Smith ascended the Potomac, in June 1608, 
 though he saw no inhabitants for the first thirty miles, 
 he had scarcely entered " a little bayed creeke towards 
 Onawmanient (now Nominy) when he found all the 
 woods roundabout layd with ambuscadoes to the num- 
 ber of three or four thousand Savages, so strangely 
 paynted, grimmed and disguised, shouting, yelling and 
 crying as so many spirits from hell could not have 
 shewed more terrible." 
 
 It is well known that the valiant Captain was wont 
 to express his opinions in strong terms, but he has 
 rarely been detected in any great inaccuracy. And 
 the circumstances of this case are in his favor; for it 
 has been truly remarked, that the Powhatan confeder- 
 acy inhabited a country upon which nature had be- 
 stowed singular advantages. Unlike the natives of 
 more northern regions, they suffered little from cold, 
 and less from famine. Their settlements were mostly 
 on the banks of James, Elizabeth, Nansamond, York 
 
4 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 and Chickahominy rivers, all of which abounded with 
 the most delicious fish and fowl. In this Potomac ex- 
 pedition, Smith met with " that aboundance of fish, ly- 
 ing so thicke with their heads above the water, as for 
 want of nets, (our barge driving amongst them) we 
 attempted to catch them with a frying-pan." And 
 though the captain naturally enough concluded, after 
 some trials, that this was a poor instrument for his 
 purpose, he persists in adding that " neither better fish, 
 more plentie, nor more varietie for small fish, had any 
 of vs euer seene in any place so swimming in the water 
 but they are not to be caught with frying-pans." He 
 found the stingrays in such abundance among the reeds 
 at the mouth of the Rappahannoc, that he amused him- 
 self by nailing them to the ground with his sword: 
 " and thus," he observes, " we tooke more in owne 
 houre than we could eate in a day." 
 
 Vast quantities of corn, too, yearly rewarded even 
 the simple agriculture of the Indians, bestowed as it 
 was upon the best portions of a generous soil. " Great 
 heapes " of it were seen at Kekoughtan, " and then 
 they brought him venison, turkies, wild fowle, bread 
 and what else they had." In none of his captivities or 
 his visits among the natives, did the captain ever suffer 
 from want of food ; and he often brought off his boat 
 and his men laden with plenty. The Nansamonds gave 
 him 400 baskets-full at one time. The Chickahominies, 
 though they complained extremely of their own wants, 
 yet " fraughted " him with a hundred bushels. The 
 woods furnished another inexhaustible supply both of 
 fruits and game : so that, on the whole, it is very easy 
 to believe, that a considerably greater population than 
 Mr. Jefferson's estimate supposes, might have subsisted 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY B 
 
 without much difficulty on the soil they are known to 
 have occupied. " And now the winter [of 1607-8] ap- 
 proaching/ 7 we are informed in another passage, " the 
 rivers became so covered with swans, geese, duckes 
 and cranes, that we daily feasted with good bread, Vir- 
 ginia pease, pumpions and putchamins, fish, fowle, 
 and diverse sorts of wild beasts, so fat as we could 
 eate them ; so that none of our Tuftaflaty humourists 
 desired to go for England." On one occasion, when 
 Smith undertook an exploring tour into the interior, 
 late in the season, a violent storm obliged him and his 
 men to keep Christmas among the savages. " And we 
 were never more merry," he relates, " nor fed on more 
 plenty of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowle and good 
 bread, nor ever had better fires in England." In a 
 peaceful interval of a few months, which occurred dur- 
 ing the next season, the Indians are said to have 
 brought into Jamestown more than a hundred deer 
 and other beasts daily for several weeks. 
 
 It is evident, at least, that the Powhatan confeder- 
 acy must have been among the most numerous on the 
 continent. It w^as warlike too ; and though the situa- 
 tion of the Monacans and Mannahoacks among the 
 hills of the back country protected them in some meas- 
 ure, yet nothing but a union of these two nations could 
 assure them of security against their more powerful 
 neighbors on the coast. 
 
 The Powhatans proper, who gave their own appel- 
 lation to the confederacy of which they were leading 
 members, were located in what is now Henrico county, 
 on the banks of the James river, and at the distance of 
 about two days' journey from the English settlement 
 at its mouth. The principal chief or emperor, as the 
 
6 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 old historians style him of the thirty tribes of the na- 
 tion, was found by the first colonists residing with 
 these Indians, and is believed to have been one of their 
 number by birth. His proper name was Wahunsona- 
 cook. He had that of Powhatan, by which he has been 
 generally designated, from the tow^n so called, which 
 was the chief seat and metropolis of his hereditary do- 
 minions. This town is described as pleasantly situ- 
 ated on a hill. It consist * of twelve houses, in front of 
 which were three islets in the river, not far from what 
 in modern times has been called Mayo's plantation, and 
 a little below the spot where Richmond now stands. 
 It was considered by the English both the strongest 
 and pleasantest place in the whole country; and was 
 consequently named Nonsuch, it seems, about two 
 years after the settlement of Jamestown, when it was 
 purchased of the emperor by Smith. " The place is 
 very pleasant," says the captain in his history, " and 
 strong by nature, and about it are many cornfields." 
 
 The occasion of the first acquaintance which the^ 
 colonists had with Powhatan was as follows. The 
 adventurous and ambitious spirit of Smith had 
 prompted him to make several journeys and voyages 
 along the Virginia coast, and into the interior of the 
 country. Within a few months after the settlement of 
 Jamestown, among other tribes he discovered the 
 Chickahominies, and procured a large quantity of pro- 
 vision from them at a time when the colonists were 
 in great need of it. 
 
 But with the idle and unruly in the colony, this 
 good fortune served only to produce murmuring. 
 They complained of his having done so little instead 
 of applauding him for having done so much ; and some 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 7 
 
 even of the council undertook to say, that he ought 
 to have followed up the Chickahominy river to its 
 source. 
 
 Smith was not a man to submit tamely to reproach. 
 He set off again, therefore, in the winter of 1607-8, tak- 
 ing with him a crew sufficient to manage a barge 
 and a smaller boat proper for the navigation of the 
 upper streams. He ascended the Chickahominy with 
 the barge, as far as it could be forced up, by dint of 
 great labor in cutting away trees and clearing a pas- 
 sage. Then leaving it in a broad bay or cove, out of 
 reach of savages on the banks, the captain, with two 
 other whites, and two friendly Indians, proceeded 
 higher up in the smaller boat. Those who were left 
 meanwhile in possession of the barge, were ordered on 
 no account to go on shore until his return. The order 
 was disobeyed; for he was scarcely out of sight and 
 hearing, when the whole of the crew went ashore. 
 They were very near forfeiting their lives for their 
 rashness. The Indians, to the number of two or three 
 hundred, lay wait for them among the woods on the 
 bank of the river, under the direction of Opechancan- 
 ough, Sachem of the Pamunkies and reputed brother 
 of Powhatan. One George Cassen was taken prisoner; 
 and the savages soon compelled him to tell them which 
 way Smith had gone. They then put him to death in 
 a cruel manner, and continued the pursuit. 
 
 The captain, meanwhile, little dreaming of any ac- 
 cident, had gone twenty miles up the river, and was 
 now among the marshes at its source. Here his pur- 
 suers came suddenly upon the two Englishmen, who 
 had hauled up their boat, and lain down to sleep by a 
 fire on the dry land, (while Smith himself went out 
 
8 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 some distance to kill game with his musket for a sup- 
 per.) The unfortunate wretches were shot full of ar- 
 rows and despatched. The savages then pressed on 
 after Smith, and at last overtook him. Finding him- 
 self beset bv the multitude, he coolly bound to his arm, 
 with his garters, the young Indian who had attended 
 him as a guide, for a buckler (what had become of the 
 other, does not appear) and received the enemy's on- 
 set so briskly with his fire-arms, that he soon laid three 
 of them dead on the spot, and wounded and galled 
 many others so effectually that none appeared anxious 
 to approach him. He was himself wounded slightly in 
 the thigh, and had many arrows sticking in his clothes ; 
 but he still kept the enemy at bay. His next move- 
 ment was to endeavor to sheer off to his boat ; but tak- 
 ing more notice of his foe than of his path, as he went, 
 he suddenly slipped up to his middle in an oozy creek. 
 Hampered as he was in this awkward position, not an 
 Indian dared venture near him, until, finding himself 
 almost dead with cold, he threw away his arms and 
 surrendered. Then drawing him out, they carried him 
 to the fire where his men had been slain, carefully 
 chafed his benumbed limbs, and finally restored him to 
 the use of them. 
 
 The incidents of the ensuing scene are a striking 
 illustration both of the sagacity of the prisoner and the 
 simplicity of his captors. He called for their chief 
 through the intervention of his Indian guide, we sup- 
 pose and Opechancanough came forward. Smith pre- 
 sented him with a round ivory double compass-dial, 
 which he had carried at his side. The savages were 
 confounded by the playing of the fly and needle, espe- 
 cially as the glass prevented them from touching what 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 9 
 
 they could see so plainly. He then gave them a sort 
 of astronomical lecture, demonstrating " by that Globe- 
 like lew-ell," as he calls it, the roundness of the earth, 
 the skies, the sphere of the sun, moon, and stars ; " and 
 how the sunne did chase the night round about the 
 world continually ; the greatnesse of the land and sea, 
 the diversitie of nations, varietie of complexions, and 
 how we were to them antipodes, and many other such 
 like matters," his tawny auditors standing all the while 
 motionless and dumb with amazement. 
 
 But within about an hour they returned to their 
 original purpose of killing him, as they had killed three 
 of his comrades. He was tied to a tree, and the sav- 
 ages drew up in a circle to shoot him. The arrow was 
 already laid upon a hundred bows. But at this moment 
 Opechancanough held up the compass. This was a 
 signal of delay, if not of mercy, and they threw by 
 their arms at once. With great exultation and parade 
 they then conducted the captive to Orapakes, a hunt- 
 ing-residence of Powhatan, lying on the north side of 
 Chickahominy swamp, and much frequented by that 
 Sachem and his family, on account of the abundance 
 of game it afforded. The order of procession was 
 a proper Indian file. Opechancanough, marching in the 
 centre, had the English swords and muskets carried 
 before him as a trophy. Next followed Smith, led by 
 three stout savages who held him fast by the arm ; 
 while on either side six more marched in file, with their 
 arrows notched, as flank-guards. 
 
 On arriving at Orapakes, a village consisting of 
 some thirty to forty mat houses, the women and chil- 
 dren flocked out to gaze at a being so different from 
 any they had ever before seen. The warriors, on the 
 
10 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 other hand, immediately began a grand war-dance, the 
 best description of which is in Smith's own language. 
 " A good time they continued this exercise, and then 
 cast themselues in a ring dauncing in such severall pos- 
 tures, and singing and yelling out such hellish notes 
 and screeches ; being strangely paynted, every one his 
 quiver of arrowes, and at his backe a club ; on his arme 
 a fox or an otter's skinne, or some such matter for a 
 vambrace ; their heads and shoulders paynted red, with 
 oyle and pocones mingled together, which scarlet-like 
 color made an exceeding handsome shew ; his bow in 
 his hand, and the skinne of a bird with her wings 
 abroad dryed, tyed on his head; a peece of copper, a 
 white shell, a long feather, with a small rattle growing 
 at the tayls of their snaks tyed, or some such like toy." 
 Thrice the performers stopped to take breath, and 
 thrice they renewed the dance Smith and the Sachem 
 meanwhile standing in the centre. The company then 
 broke up ; and the prisoner was conducted to a long 
 matted wigwam, where thirty or forty tall stout sav- 
 ages remained about him as a guard. Ere long, more 
 bread and venison was brought him than would have 
 served twenty men. " I thinke," says the captain him- 
 self, " his stomacke at that time was not very good." 
 He ate something, however, and the remainder was 
 put into baskets, and swung from the roof of the wig- 
 wam over his head. 
 
 About midnight these liberal provisioners set their 
 fare before him again, never tasting a morsel them- 
 selves all the while. But, in the morning, when they 
 brought in a fresh reinforcement, they ate the frag- 
 ments of former meals, and swung up the residue 
 of the last one as before. So little reason had the cap- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 11 
 
 tain to complain of famine, that he began seriously to 
 believe they were fatting him for the slaughter. He 
 suffered occasionally from the cold, and would have 
 suffered more but for an unexpected relief. An Indian, 
 named Mocasseter, brought him his goune, as Smith 
 calls it perhaps a fur mantle, or a blanket and gave 
 it to him, professedly in requital of certain beads and 
 toys which Smith had given him at Jamestown, imme- 
 diately after his arrival in Virginia. 
 
 Two days afterwards, he was violently assaulted, 
 and but for his guard would have been killed, by an 
 old Indian whose son had been wounded in the skir- 
 mish which took place at his capture. They conducted 
 him to the death-bed of the poor wretch, where he was 
 found breathing his last. Smith told them he had a 
 kind of water at Jamestown which might effect a cure, 
 but they would not permit him to go for it, and the 
 subject was soon forgotten. Within a few days, they 
 began to make great preparations for assaulting the 
 English Colony by surprise. They craved Smith's ad- 
 vice and assistance in that proceeding, offering him 
 not only life and liberty for his services, but as much 
 land for a settlement and as many women for wives as 
 he wanted such an opinion had they formed of his 
 knowledge and prowess. He did everything in his 
 power to discourage their design, by telling them of 
 the mines, the cannon, and various other strategems 
 and engines of war, used by the English. He could 
 only succeed in prevailing upon several of them to 
 carry a note for him to Jamestown, (under pretence of 
 getting some toys,) in which he informed his country- 
 men of his own situation and the intention of the sav- 
 ages, and requested them to send him without fail by 
 
12 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the bearers certain articles which he named. These 
 were to be deposited at a particular spot in the woods 
 near Jamestown. The messengers started off, we are 
 told, in as severe weather as could be of frost and snow, 
 and arrived at Jamestown. There, seeing men sally out 
 from the town to meet them, as Smith had told them 
 would be the case, they were frightened and ran off. 
 But the note was left behind; and so coming again in 
 the evening, they found the articles at the appointed 
 place, and then returned homeward in such haste as 
 to reach Orapakes in three days after they had left it. 
 
 All thoughts of an attack upon the colony being 
 now extinguished in the astonishment and terror ex- 
 cited by the feats of Smith, they proceeded to lead him 
 about the country in show and triumph. First they 
 carried him to the tribe living on the Youghtanund, 
 since called the Pamunkey river ; then to the Matta- 
 ponies, the Piankatunks, the Nantaughtacunds on the 
 Rappahannoc, and the Nominies on Potomac river. 
 Having completed this route, they conducted him, 
 through several other nations, to Opechacanough's 
 own habitation at Pamunkey; where, with frightful 
 howlings and many strange ceremonies, they ' con- 
 jured ' him three days in order to ascertain, as they 
 told him, whether he intended them well or ill. An idea 
 may be formed of these proceedings, which took place 
 under Opechacanough's inspection, from the exercises 
 for one day as described by the captive himself. 
 
 Early in the morning, a great fire was made in a log 
 house, and mats spread upon each side of it, on one 
 of which the prisoner was seated. His body-guard 
 then left the house, " and presently came skipping in 
 a great grim fellow, all paynted over with coale, min- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 13 
 
 gled with oyle; and many snakes and wesels skinnes 
 stuffed with mosse, and all their tayles tyed together, 
 so as they met on the croune of his head in a tassell ; 
 and round about the tassell was a coronet of feathers, 
 the skinnes hanging round about his head, backe and 
 shoulders, and in a manner covered his face; with a 
 hellish voyce and a rattle in his hand.' 7 This personage 
 commenced his invocation with a great variety of ges- 
 tures, postures, grimaces and exclamations ; and con- 
 cluded with drawing a circle of meal round the fire. 
 Then rushed in three more performers of the same de- 
 scription, their bodies painted half red and half black, 
 their eyes white and their faces streaked with red 
 patches, apparently in imitation of English whiskers. 
 These three having danced about for a considerable 
 time, made way for three more, with red eyes, and 
 white streaks upon black faces. At length all seated 
 themselves opposite to the prisoner, three on the right 
 hand of the first named functionary (who appeared to 
 be the chief priest, and ringleader) and three on the 
 left. Then a song was commenced, accompanied with 
 a violent use of the rattles ; upon which the chief priest 
 laid down five wheat-corns, and began an oration, strain- 
 ing his arms and hands so that he perspired freely, and 
 his veins swelled. At the conclusion, all gave a groan 
 of assent, laid down three grains more, and rene\ved 
 the song. This went on until the fire was twice encir- 
 cled. Other ceremonies of the same character ensued, 
 and last of all was brought on, towards evening, a 
 plentiful feast of the best provisions they could furnish. 
 The circle of meal was said to signify their country, 
 the circles of corn the bounds of the sea, and so on. 
 The world, according to their theory, was round and 
 
14 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 flat, like a trencher, and themselves located precisely 
 in the midst. 
 
 After this, they showed Smith a bag of gun-powder 
 which had probably been taken from the boat, and 
 which they were carefully preserving till next spring, 
 to plant with their corn " because they would be ac- 
 quainted with the nature of that seede." Opitchipan, 
 another brother of Powhatan of whom we have here 
 the first mention invited him to his house, and treated 
 him sumptuously; but no Indian, on this or any other 
 occasion, would eat with him. The fragments were 
 put up in baskets ; and upon his return to Opechanca- 
 nough's wigwam, the Sachem's wives and their chil- 
 dren flocked about him for their portions, " as a due by 
 custom, to be merry with such fragments." 
 
 At last they carried him to Werowocomoco, where 
 was Powhatan himself. This residence of his, lay on 
 the north side of York river, in Gloster county, nearly 
 opposite the mouth of Green's creek and about twenty- 
 five miles below the mouth of the river. It was at this 
 time his favorite village, though afterwards, not covet- 
 ing the near neighborhood of the English, he retired 
 to Orapakes. Powhatan, which gave him his name, 
 was sold to the English in 1609. 
 
 On his arrival in the village, Smith was detained 
 until the emperor (as we shall call him, for conven- 
 ience,) and his train could prepare themselves to re- 
 ceive their illustrious captive in proper state: and 
 meanwhile more than two hundred of these grim cour- 
 tiers gathered about him to satisfy their curiosity with 
 gazing. He was then introduced to the royal presence, 
 the multitude hailing him with a tremendous shout, 
 as he walked in. Powhatan a majestic and finely 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 15 
 
 formed savage, with a marked countenance, and an air 
 of haughtiness sobered down into gravity by a life of 
 sixty years was seated before a fire upon a seat 
 something like a bedstead, and clothed in an ample robe 
 of Rarowcun skins, with all the tails hanging over him. 
 On each side sat a young wench of sixteen or eighteen 
 years old ; and along each wall of the house, two rows 
 of women in the rear and two rows of men in front. 
 All had their heads and shoulders painted red. Many 
 had their hair decked with the white down of birds. 
 Some wore a great chain of white beads about their 
 necks. But no one was without ornament of some 
 kind. 
 
 Soon after Smith's entrance, a female of rank, said 
 to be the queen of Appamattuck, was directed to bring 
 him water to wash his hands; and another brought a 
 bunch of feathers, to answer the purpose of a towel. 
 Having then feasted him (as he acknowledges) in the 
 best barbarous manner they could, a long and solemn 
 consultation was held to determine his fate. The deci- 
 sion was against him. The conclave resumed their si- 
 lent gravity ; two great stones were brought in before 
 Powhatan ; and Smith was dragged before them, and 
 his head laid upon them, as a preparation for beating 
 out his brains with clubs. The fatal weapons were 
 already raised, and the savage multitude stood silently 
 awaiting the prisoner's last moment. But Smith was 
 not destined thus to perish. Pocahontas, the beloved 
 daughter of Powhatan, rushed forward, and earnestly 
 entreated with tears that the victim might yet be 
 spared. The royal savage rejected her request, and the 
 executioners stood ready for the signal of death. She 
 knelt down, put her arms about Smith, and laid her 
 
16 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 head over his, declaring she would perish with him or 
 save him. The heart of the stern Sachem was at length 
 melted. The decree was reversed; and the prisoner 
 was spared for the purpose as the emperor explained 
 it of making hatchets for himself, and bells and beads 
 for his daughter. 
 
 This was apparently a mere pretext for concealing 
 the emotions which he thought unworthy of his name 
 as a warrior, and for preventing any jealousy on the 
 part of his counsellors. And subsequent events would 
 lead to the same conclusion. He detained his prisoner 
 but two days. At the end of that time, he caused him 
 to be conducted to a large house in the woods, and 
 there left alone upon a mat by the fire. In a short time, 
 a horrible noise was heard from behind a wide mat 
 which divided the house : and then Powhatan, dressed 
 in the most fantastic manner, with some two hundred 
 followers as much begrimed and disguised as himself, 
 came in and told Smith that now they were friends; 
 ' and presently he should go to Jamestown to send him 
 two great guns and a grindstone, for which he would 
 give him the country of Capahowsick, and forever es- 
 teem him as his own son.' He was accordingly sent 
 off, with twelve guides, to Jamestown. The party 
 quartered in the woods one night, and reached the fort 
 the next morning betimes. The savages were hand- 
 somely entertained while they staid. Two demi-cul- 
 verins and mill-stone were shown them, with other 
 curiosities. They proposed to carry the former to Pow- 
 hatan ; but finding them somewhat too heavy, con- 
 tented themselves with a variety of lighter presents. 
 They were excessively frightened by a discharge of 
 the culverins. Smith, who had political as well as 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 17 
 
 personal motives in view, had loaded them with stones, 
 and these he fired among the boughs of a tree covered 
 with huge icicles. The effect may easily be imagined. 
 During the same winter, Smith visited Powhatan, 
 in company with Captain Newport, a gentleman newly 
 arrived from England, who had already sent many 
 presents to the emperor. Attended by a guard of thirty 
 or forty men, they sailed as far as Werowocomoco the 
 first day. Here Newport's courage failed him. He was 
 especially alarmed by the appearance of various bridges 
 they were obliged to pass over in crossing the streams ; 
 for these were so loosely made of poles and bark, that 
 he took them for traps set by the savages. But Smith, 
 with twenty men, leaving the boat, undertook to go 
 forward and accomplish the journey. He accordingly 
 went on, and was soon met by two or three hundred 
 Indians who conducted them into the town. There 
 Powhatan exerted himself to the utmost to give him 
 a royal entertainment. The people shouted for joy to 
 see Smith ; orations were addressed to him ; and a plen- 
 tiful feast provided to refresh him after the weariness 
 of his voyage. The emperor received him, reclining 
 upon his bed of mats, his pillow of dressed skin lying 
 beside him with its brilliant embroidery of shells and 
 beads, and his dress consisting chiefly of a handsome 
 fur robe "as large as an Irish mantell." At his head 
 and feet were two comely young women as before ; 
 and along the sides of the house sat twenty other fe- 
 males, each with her head and shoulders painted red 
 and a great chain of white beads about her neck. 
 " Before these sat his chiefest men in like order in his 
 arbor-like house, and more than fortie platters of fine 
 bread stood as a guard in two pyles on each side the 
 
 M. ot H. XXX 2 
 
18 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 door. Foure or fiue hundred people made a guard be- 
 hinde them for our passage ; and Proclamation was 
 made, none vpon paine of death to presume to doe vs 
 any wrong or discourtesie. With many pretty dis- 
 courses to renew their old acquaintance, this great 
 King and oure captaine spent the time, till the ebbe 
 left our barge aground. Then renewing their feest 
 with feates, dauncing and singing, and such like mirth, 
 we quartered that night with Powhatan." 
 
 The next day, Newport, who had thought better of 
 his fears, came ashore, and was welcomed in the same 
 hospitable style. An English boy, named Savage, was 
 given to Powhatan at his request ; and he returned the 
 favor by presenting Newport with an Indian named 
 Nomontack, a trusty and shrewd servant of his own. 
 One motive for this arrangement was probably the de- 
 sire of gaining information respecting the English col- 
 ony. During the three or four days more which were 
 passed in feasting, dancing and trading, the old Sachem 
 manifested so much dignity and so much discretion, as 
 to create a high admiration of his talents in the minds 
 of his guests. In one instance, he came near offending 
 them by the exercise of his shrewdness, although that 
 may be fairly considered their fault rather than his. 
 
 Newport, it seems, had brought with him a variety 
 of articles for a barter commerce such as he supposed 
 would command a high price in corn. And accordingly 
 the Powhatans, generally of the lower class, traded 
 eagerly with him and his men. These, however, were 
 not profitable customers; they dealt upon a small 
 scale ; they had not much corn to spare. It was an 
 object therefore to drive a trade with the emperor him- 
 self. P>ut this he affected to decline and despise. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 19 
 
 " Captain Newport," said he, " it is not agreeable to 
 my greatness to truck in this peddling manner for tri- 
 fles. I am a great Werowance, and I esteem you the 
 same. Therefore lay me down all your commodities 
 together; what I like I will take, and in return you 
 shall have what I conceive to be a fair value." This 
 proposal was interpreted to Newport by Smith, who 
 informed him at the same time of the hazard he was 
 incurring in accepting it. But Newport was a vain 
 man, and confidently expected either to dazzle the 
 emperor with his ostentation, or overcome him with his 
 bounty, so as to gain any request he might make. 
 The event unluckily proved otherwise. Powhatan, 
 after coolly selecting such of Newport's goods as he 
 liked best, valued his own corn at such a rate, that 
 Smith says might as well have been purchased in 
 old Spain; they received scarcely four bushels where 
 they had counted upon twelve hogsheads. 
 
 It was now Smith's turn to try his skill; and he 
 made his experiment, more wisely than his comrade, 
 not upon the sagacity of the emperor but upon his 
 simplicity. He took out various toys and gewgaws, 
 as it were accidently, and contrived, by glancing them 
 dexterously in the light, to show them to great ad- 
 vantage. It was not long before Powhatan fixed his 
 observing eye upon a string of brilliant blue beads. 
 Presently he became importunate to obtain them. But 
 Smith was very unwilling to part with these pre- 
 cious gems; they being, as he observed, composed of 
 a most rare substance, of the color of the skies, and 
 fit to be worn only by the greatest kings in the world. 
 The savage grew more and more eager to own such 
 jewels, so that finally a bargain was struck, to the 
 
20 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 perfect satisfaction of all parties, whereby Smith ob- 
 tained between two and three hundred bushels of corn 
 for a pound or two of blue beads. A similar negotia- 
 tion was immediately after affected with Opechan- 
 canough at Pamunkey. He was furnished with a 
 quantity of this 'invaluable jewelry at very nearly the 
 same price; and thus the beads grew into such esti- 
 mation among the Indians far and near, that none 
 but the great Werowances, and their wives and chil- 
 dren dared to be seen wearing them. They were im- 
 perial symbols of enormous value. 
 
 But it was not upon beads only that Powhatan 
 set a high estimate. He perceived the vast advantage 
 which the English possessed over his own men in 
 their weapons ; and he became exceedingly anxious 
 to place himself upon equal terms on one side with 
 the colonists, while he should domineer over the less 
 fortunate foreign Indian tribes, as he liked, on the 
 other. When Newport left the country for England, 
 he sent him twenty fine turkeys, and requested in re- 
 turn the favor of as many swords, which that gentle- 
 man was inconsiderate enough to furnish him. He 
 subsequently passed the same compliment to Smith; 
 and when the latter gave him no swords in payment, 
 he was highly offended, and is said to have ordered 
 his people to take them wherever they could get them, 
 by stratagem or by force. But Smith soon checked 
 this project in his usual summary manner; and Pow- 
 hatan, finding that game a desperate one, sent in 
 Pocahontas with presents, to excuse himself for the 
 injury done " by some of his disorderly warriors," 
 and to desire that those who were captive might be 
 liberated for this time on their good behavior. Smith 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 21 
 
 punished them sufficiently, and granted the request 
 of the emperor ' for the sake of Pocahontas.' The 
 council were offended at what they considered his 
 cruelty ; but Powhatan affected at least to be satisfied. 
 We hear of the emperor again in September, (1608,) 
 when Captain Newport arrived with a second supply 
 for the colony, and a new commission for himself. By 
 this he was authorized to make an exploring expedi- 
 tion, for gold, among the Monacans of the mountain 
 country; and a barge was brought out from England 
 in five pieces, to be carried over the falls, and thence 
 convey the company to the South Sea. Smith opposed 
 this sage proposal on the ground of the necessities of 
 the colony; they were especially in want of provision 
 to be laid in for the coming winter. But a large major- 
 ity were against him. He was even accused of jeal- 
 ousy towards Newport; and the latter defeated all 
 his opposition, as he thought, by undertaking to pro- 
 cure a bark-load of corn from Powhatan, on his pro- 
 posed route to the South Sea, at Werowocomoco. He 
 required, however, that one hundred and twenty men 
 should go with him ; he put no confidence in the friend- 
 ship of the emperor or his subjects. 
 
 Smith now came forward, and volunteered to carry 
 the necessary messages to Powhatan himself, and to 
 invite him to visit Jamestown, for the purpose of re- 
 ceiving the presents brought over for him by Newport 
 Among these, it appears, were a splendid basin and 
 ewer, a bed, bedstead, clothes, and various other costly 
 novelties ; the only effect of which would be, as Smith 
 alleged, to cause the emperor to overrate the impor- 
 tance of his own favor, and to sell for gold and silver 
 alone what he had heretofore sold readily for copper 
 
22 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 and blue beads. Another of the presents was a royal 
 crown, sent out by his Britannic Majesty King James I. 
 probably under the expectation of wheedling Powhatan 
 into submission to his own authority, and at all events 
 with orders to consecrate the " divine right " of his 
 royal ally in Virginia by the ceremonies of a solemn 
 coronation. 
 
 Smith took with him four companions only, and 
 went across the woods, by land, about twelve miles, 
 to Werowocomoco. Powhatan was then absent, at 
 the distance of twenty or thirty miles. Pocahontas 
 immediately sent for him, and meanwhile she and her 
 women entertained their visiter in a style too remark- 
 able to be passed by without notice. A fire was made 
 in a plain open field, and Smith was seated before it on 
 a mat, with his men about him. Suddenly such a hid- 
 eous noise was heard in the woods near by, that the 
 strangers betook themselves hastily to their arms, and 
 even seized upon two or three old Indians who were 
 standing near, under the apprehension that Powhatan 
 with all his forces was come upon them by surprise. 
 But Pocahontas soon made her appearance ; and a 
 little explanation convinced the captain that, however 
 she might succeed or fail, her only intention was to 
 gratify and honor him. He mingled fearlessly there- 
 fore with the Indian men, women and children, already 
 assembled as spectators, and the ceremonies went on. 
 
 " Then presently they were presented with this 
 anticke. Thirtie young women came naked out of 
 the woods, only couered behind and before with a 
 few greene leaves ; their bodies all paynted, some of 
 one colour, and some of another but all differing. 
 Their leader had a fayre payre of Buck's homes on 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 23 
 
 her head, and an Otter's skinne at her girdle, another 
 at her arme, a quiuer of arrowes at her backe, a bow 
 and arrowes in her hand. The next had in her hand 
 a sword, another a club, another a pot-sticke, all horned 
 alike ; the rest euery one with their severall devises. 
 These fiends, with most hellish shouts and cryes, rush- 
 ing from among the trees, caste themselves in a ring 
 about the fire, singing and dauncing with the most 
 excellent ill varietie, oft falling into their infernall 
 passions, and solemnly again to sing and daunce. 
 Having spent neer an hour in this mascarado, as they 
 entred, in a like manner they departed." 
 
 " Having reaccommodated themselves, they solemnly 
 invited him to their lodgings, where he was no sooner 
 within the house but all these nymphs more tormented 
 him than euer, with crowding, pressing and hang- 
 ing about him, most tediously crying, Loue you not 
 me? Loue you not me? This salutation ended, the 
 feast was set, consisting of all the salvage dainties 
 they could deuise ; some attending, others singing and 
 dauncing about them. This mirth being ended, with 
 fire-brands instead of torches they conducted him to 
 his lodging. 
 
 Thus did they show their feates of armes, and others art in 
 
 dauncing ; 
 Some others vs'd there oaten pipe, and others' voyces chaunting." 
 
 Powhatan arrived on the following day, and Smith 
 delivered his message, desiring him to visit " his 
 father " Newport, at Jamestown, for the purpose of 
 receiving the newly arrived presents, and also con- 
 certing a campaign in common against the Monacans. 
 The subtle savage replied to this artful proposal with 
 his accustomed intelligence and independence. "If 
 
24 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 your king has sent me presents," said he with great 
 composure, " I also am a king, and this is my land 
 Here I will stay eight days to receive them. Your 
 Father is to come to me, not I to him, nor yet to 
 your fort. I will not bite at such a bait. As for the 
 Monacans, I can avenge my own injuries. As for 
 Atquanachuck, where you say your brother was slain, 
 it is a contrary way from those parts you suppose 
 it. And as for any salt water beyond the mountains, 
 the relations you have had from my people are false." 
 Upon this he began to delineate the geography of 
 these various regions with a stick upon the ground. 
 After some farther discourse upon general and com- 
 plimentary subjects, Smith returned with his answer. 
 His servant, Namontack, who had been to England 
 with Newport, was given back to him upon this 
 occasion. 
 
 The presents were sent round to Werowocomoco, 
 by water; and the two captains went by land, with 
 a guard of fifty men. The parties here agreed upon 
 the next day for the coronation ; and at that time the 
 presents were brought in, the bed and furniture set 
 up, and the scarlet cloak and other apparel put on 
 the emperor, though with much ado, and only in 
 consequence of Nomantack's earnest assurance that 
 they would not injure him. As for kneeling to re- 
 ceive the crown, which was requested of him, he en- 
 tirely exhausted the patience of his visiters by his 
 resistance. They gained their point in the end by 
 stratagem. One leaned hard upon his shoulders, so 
 as to cause him to stoop a little, and three more stood 
 ready to fix the royal gewgaw on his head ; where- 
 upon, at the discharge of a pistol, the guard were 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 25 
 
 prepared with such a volley of musketry as a salute, 
 that the emperor (now a crowned-head at least) started 
 up, as Smith says, in a horrible fear till he saw all 
 was well. Soon recovering his composure, he gen- 
 erously gave his old shoes and mantle to Newport in 
 acknowledgment of his courtesy. But perceiving 
 that the main object of that gentleman was to discover 
 the Monacans, he labored to divert his resolution, 
 and absolutely refused to lend any of his own men 
 excepting Namontack. Every thing was said and 
 done civilly, however; and, before leaving, Newport 
 was presented with a heap of corn ears to the amount 
 of seven or eight bushels, in farther return for his 
 politeness and his presents. 
 
 For some time after this, little was heard of Pow- 
 hatan except occasionally through the medium of 
 some of his tribes, who are said to have refused trad- 
 ing with the English in consequence of his orders to 
 that effect. He had become jealous of them, it would 
 seem ; and Smith, on the other hand, reciprocated 
 so much of his ill humor, that he at one time thought 
 of falling upon him by surprise, and taking away all 
 his stores. But appearances were still kept up on 
 both sides; and in December, (1608) the emperor in- 
 vited the captain to visit him he wanted his assist- 
 ance in building a house, and if he would bring with 
 him a grindstone, fifty swords, a few muskets, a 
 cock and a hen, with a quantity of beads and copper, 
 he might depend upon getting a ship-load of corn. 
 Smith, always ready for an adventure, accepted the 
 invitation, and set off with a pinnace and two barges, 
 manned by forty-six volunteers. The expedition was 
 considered so hazardous that many excused them- 
 
26 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 selves from going, after having engaged to do so; 
 though all knew that if any thing was to be had, 
 Smith was not the man to return disappointed. 
 
 Commencing his voyage on the 29th of the month, 
 with victualling for three or four days, he lodged the 
 first night at Warrasqueake. The chief Sachem at 
 this place, being friendly, did all in his power to dis- 
 suade the captain from pursuing his journey. " Pow- 
 hatan will use you kindly/' said he, " but he has sent 
 for you only to cut your throat. Trust him not, and 
 give him no opportunity to seize upon your arms." 
 The next night and several more were passed at 
 Kekoughtan, where the English were detained by a 
 severe storm, but found merry cheer, and good fires. 
 The colonists who were in the habit of travelling 
 with Smith had learned hardihood. " They were not 
 curious in any weather, (he informs us,) to lye three 
 or foure nights together vnder the trees." They liked 
 hunting too as they marched, and here was a fine 
 opportunity ; " an hundred and fortie eight foules, the 
 President, Anthony Bagnall, and Serieant Pising did 
 kill at three shoots." It was the 12th of January 
 when they reached Werowocomoco. 
 
 They went ashore, quartered without much cere- 
 mony at the first house they found, and sent to 
 Powhatan for a supply of provisions. They were 
 promptly furnished with plenty of bread, venison and 
 turkeys. Their liberal host feasted them again the 
 next day; but not without inquiring, at the close of 
 the entertainment, when they proposed to go home, 
 insinuating that the pleasure of their company was 
 wholly unexpected, and that he and his people had 
 very little corn though for forty swords he thought 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 27 
 
 forty baskets might be collected. In reply, Smith 
 asked if he had forgotten his own invitation thus 
 suddenly; and then produced the messengers who 
 had carried it, and who happened to be near at hand. 
 The emperor affected to regard the affair as a mere 
 joke, and laughed heartily. Smith then proposed 
 trade; but Powhatan would take nothing but guns 
 and swords, and valued a basket of corn higher than a 
 basket of copper. The captain was nettled, and spoke 
 his mind boldly and without reserve, giving the em- 
 peror to understand withal, that necessity might force 
 him to use disagreeable expedients for relieving his 
 own wants and the need of the colony. 
 
 Powhatan listened to this declaration with cool 
 gravity, and replied with a corresponding frankness 
 " I will spare you what I can," said he, " and that 
 within two days. But, Captain Smith, I have some 
 doubts as to your object in this visit. I am informed 
 that you wish to conquer more than to trade, and at 
 all events you know my people must be afraid to 
 come near you with their corn, so long as you go 
 armed and with such a retinue. Lay aside your 
 weapons, then. Here they are needless. We are all 
 friends, all Powhatans." The information alluded to 
 here was probably gathered from two or three 
 Germans, who had deserted the colony and gone 
 among the Indians. 
 
 A great contest of ingenuity now ensued between 
 the Englishman and the savage the latter appar- 
 ently endeavoring to temporise only for the purpose 
 of putting the former and his men off their guard. 
 He especially insisted on the propriety of laying aside 
 their arms. " Captain Smith," he continued, " I am 
 
28 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 old, and I know well the difference between peace 
 and war. I wish to live quietly with you, and I wish 
 the same for my successors. Now the rumors which 
 reach me on all hands make me uneasy. What do 
 you expect to gain by destroying us who provide 
 you with food? And what can you get by war, if 
 we escape you and hide our provisions in the woods? 
 We are unarmed too, you see. Do you believe me 
 such a fool as not to prefer eating good meat, sleeping 
 quietly with my wives and children, laughing and 
 making merry with you, having copper and hatchets 
 and any thing else as your friend to flying from 
 you as your enemy, lying cold in the woods, eating 
 acorns and roots, and being so hunted by you mean- 
 while, that if but a twig break, my men will cry out 
 there comes Captain Smith. Let us be friends, then. 
 Do not invade us thus with such an armed force. 
 Lay aside these arms." 
 
 The captain answered this speech, and several 
 others to the same effect, until, either seeing or sup- 
 posing that the emperor's object was hostile, he gave 
 secret orders for hauling his boat ashore through the 
 ice, and landing those of his company who still re- 
 mained aboard. He also attempted to detain Pow- 
 hatan with the delivery of divers rigmarole harangues ; 
 but the latter was not to be so easily outwitted. He 
 introduced two or .three women to sustain a sharp 
 conversation with the enemy, and suddenly availed 
 himself of that opportunity to leave the house, with 
 all his attendants and luggage. In a few minutes 
 Smith found himself surrounded with Indians ; arid 
 thereupon, we are told, " with his pistoll, sword and 
 target, hee made such a passage among these naked 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 29 
 
 Diuils, that at his first shoot those next to him tumbled 
 one over another." The rest fled in all directions. 
 
 Powhatan was not yet discouraged. His men 
 again flocked about Smith with civil explanations of 
 every thing which had happened ; and he himself 
 sent him a large and handsome bracelet by the hand 
 of one of his chief orators, with a speech full of 
 compliments and excuses. Baskets were furnished 
 for carrying the corn which had been sold aboard 
 the boat; and the Indians even offered their services 
 to guard the arms of the English, while they were taking 
 care of the provisions. This favor was declined ; but 
 as the English were still under the necessity of wait- 
 ing for the tide of the next morning, no pains were 
 spared to entertain them with feasts and sports mean- 
 while. Smith supposes that the Sachem was all this 
 time preparing his forces for surprising them at 
 supper. He probably conjectured right; and but for 
 Pocahontas there is reason to believe that this game 
 would actually have succeeded. The kind-hearted 
 princess came to Smith's quarters in the woods, alone 
 and in the evening, and earnestly advised him by all 
 means to leave her father's territories as soon as pos- 
 sible. The latter was collecting all his power, she 
 said, to make an assault upon him, unless those who 
 were sent with his supper should themselves succeed 
 in despatching him. 
 
 In less than an hour afterwards came eight or ten 
 lusty fellows, with great platters of venison and other 
 victuals, who were importunate that the English should 
 extinguish their matches, the smoke of which they af- 
 fected to think very disagreeable. The captain, 
 without noticing this circumstance, made them taste 
 
30 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 every dish, and then sent some of them back to tell 
 Powhatan that the English were ready to see him ; 
 as for themselves, he understood their villany, but 
 they should go free. Other messengers came in soon 
 after, at intervals, to learn how matters went on. The 
 night was spent without sleep on either side. Each 
 party watched the movements of the other with vigi- 
 lant eyes, while both were subtle and civil enough 
 still to affect friendship. At high water, Smith went 
 off with his company, leaving with the emperor, at 
 his own request, an Englishman to kill game for him, 
 and two or three of the Germans to assist him in build- 
 ing a house. 
 
 But the game was not yet over. He had no sooner 
 set sail for Pamunkey, than the emperor despatched 
 a deputation across the woods to Jamestown, to take 
 advantage of his absence for buying up a quantity of 
 ammunition and arms. On arriving, these messengers 
 told Captain Winne, the temporary commander of the 
 colony, " that their coming was for some extraordi- 
 nary tooles and shift of apparell ; by which colourable 
 excuse they obtained sixe or seuen more [of the colo- 
 nists] to their confederacie, such expert theeues, that 
 presently furnished them with a great many swords, 
 pike-heads, peeces, shot, powder and sucsh like." In- 
 dians enough were at hand to carry away the articles 
 as soon as obtained ; and the next day, the deputa- 
 tion returned home unsuspected, after making an 
 agreement for the services of such traitorous vaga- 
 bonds as were willing to desert from the colony. One 
 or two of those who had deserted already, had pro- 
 vided Powhatan with as many as three hundred hatch- 
 ets, fifty swords, eight ' pieces ' and eight pikes. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 31 
 
 Meanwhile, Smith had arrived at Pamunkey, and 
 here Opechancanough was entertaining him with all 
 manner of feasting and mirth. On the day agreed 
 upon between the parties for commencing trade, the 
 captain, with fifteen of his men, went up a quarter 
 of a mile from the river to the Sachem's house, the 
 appointed rendezvous. He found no person there, 
 excepting a lame man and a boy. The other houses 
 in the village were entirely abandoned. Presently, 
 however, came the Sachem, followed by many of his 
 subjects, well armed with bows and arrows. At- 
 tempts were made to buy corn, but so unsuccessfully 
 that Smith was provoked, and remonstrated as he had 
 done with Powhatan. Upon this, the Sachem sold 
 what provision was at hand, and promised to give 
 better satisfaction the next day. 
 
 Then, accordingly, Smith made his appearance 
 again. He found four or five men at the house with 
 great baskets, but whether with any thing in them 
 does not appear. Opechancanough himself came in 
 soon after, and commenced a cheerful conversation, 
 enlarging particularly upon the pains he had taken to 
 keep his promise. Just at this moment one of Smith's 
 company brought him word that the house was beset. 
 The woods and fields all around him were thronged 
 with more than seven hundred savages, armed and 
 painted for battle. 
 
 The English, of whom there were only fifteen on 
 shore, were generally much alarmed at this news, and 
 could easily perceive that Opechancanough enjoyed 
 their surprise. But Smith was now in his element. 
 " My worthy countrymen," said he to his trembling 
 comrades, " Had I no more to fear from my friends, 
 
32 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 than from these enemies, I should be willing to meet 
 twice as many would you but second me. But what 
 course shall be taken? If we begin with them, and 
 seize the king, we shall have more than our hands full 
 to keep him and defend ourselves. If we kill them all, 
 we must starve for want of their provisions. As for 
 their fury, that is the least subject of apprehension. 
 You know I have heretofore managed two or three 
 hundreds of them alone. Now here are sixteen of us, 
 to their seven hundred. If you dare stand but to fire 
 your pieces, the very smoke will be enough for them. 
 But at all events let us fight like men, and not die like 
 sheep. First, however, let me propose some condi- 
 tions to them, and so we shall have something to fight 
 for." The occasion admitting of no argument, the 
 company pledged themselves promptly to second him 
 in whatever he attempted, or die. 
 
 The captain then advanced towards the Sachem, 
 and addressed him. " Opechancanough," said he, " I 
 perceive you are plotting to murder me, but I fear you 
 not. As yet neither your men nor mine have done 
 much harm. Now therefore take your arms as you 
 see here are mine my body shall be as naked as yours 
 the island in the river is a fit place for a combat, and 
 the conqueror of us two, shall be master of all. If 
 you have not men enough about you, take time to mus- 
 ter more as many as you will only let every one 
 bring his basket of corn, and against that I will stake 
 the value in copper." 
 
 The Sachem replied very soothingly to this pro- 
 posal. He was sorry to see any suspicion of unkind- 
 ness ; and begged that the captain would do him the 
 honor to accept a handsome present, (by way of peace- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 33 
 
 offering,) which was ready for him at the door of the 
 house. The object of this suggestion was sufficiently 
 obvious ; for besides the forty or fifty Indians consti- 
 tuting the Sachem's body-guard within, " the bait," as 
 Smith calls it, at the door, (meaning the present) was 
 guarded by about two hundred men, and thirty more 
 were stationed behind a large tree which lay length- 
 wise athwart the passage-way with their arrows ready 
 notched. It was now Smith's turn to make a move- 
 ment. He seized the Sachem in the midst of his reti- 
 nue, by his long locks, presenting a pistol ready- 
 cocked at his bosom ; and in this position led him out 
 trembling with terror, among the multitude who sur- 
 rounded the house. He immediately gave up his vam- 
 brace, bow and arrows, and his frightened subjects 
 hastened to follow his example. 
 
 " I perceive, ye Pamunkies " shouted the captain 
 at this moment, still holding on by the Sachem's hair 
 " I perceive how eager ye are to kill me. My own 
 long suffering is the cause of your insolence. Now 
 shoot but one arrow to shed one drop of blood for 
 one of these men, or steal but the least of these beads, 
 and ye shall not hear the last of me so long as a Pa- 
 munkey remains alive who will not deny the name. 
 I am not now in the mire of a swamp, ye perceive. 
 Shoot then, if ye dare. But at all hazards ye shall load 
 my boat with your corn, or I will load her with your 
 carcasses. Still, unless you give me the first occasion, 
 we may be friends, and your king may go free. I have 
 no wish to harm him or you." 
 
 This speech had its effect. The savages laid aside 
 their arms, and brought in their commodities for trade 
 in such abundance, that the English at length became 
 
 M. of H. XXX 3 
 
 
36 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the understanding that unless the former should be 
 successful in his search within twelve hours, he was 
 to be hanged. But for his comfort during that inter- 
 val, Smith furnished him with victuals, and charcoal 
 for a fire. In the evening, the man who had been dis- 
 charged, returned with the pistol ; but the poor fellow 
 in the dungeon was meanwhile very nearly smothered 
 with the smoke of his coal. Those who came to re- 
 lease him took him up for dead. " The other most 
 lamentably bewayled his death, and broke forth into 
 such bitter agonies that the President [Smith] to 
 quiet him, told him that if he would steale no more, 
 he would make him [his brother] alive again; but he 
 little thought he could be recovered. Yet we doing 
 our best with aqua Vita and Vinegar, it pleased God 
 to restore him againe to life, but so drunke and af- 
 frighted that he seemed lunaticke, the which as much 
 tormented and grieued the other, as before to see him 
 dead. Of this maladie, vpon promise of their good 
 behavour, the President promised to recover him; 
 and so caused him to be layd by a fire to sleepe, who 
 in the morning having well slept had recovered his 
 perfect senses, and then being dressed of his burning, 
 and each a peece of copper given them, they went 
 away so well contented that this was spread among all 
 the savages for a miracle, that Captain Smith could 
 make a man alive that was dead." 
 
 Another of the incidents just alluded to is as 
 follows. One of Powhatan's subjects, in his zeal to 
 acquire knowledge and some other things, obtained 
 possession of a large bag of gun-powder and the backe, 
 as Smith calls it, of an armour. This ingenious arti- 
 san, on his return to Werowocomoco, determined to 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 37 
 
 display these precious prizes to his wondering coun- 
 trymen, and at the same time to exhibit his own ex- 
 traordinary skill in the management of them. He 
 therefore began drying the powder upon the armour, 
 as he had seen the soldiers do at Jamestown. Un- 
 luckily, he dried it too much. An explosion took place, 
 which blew up the proprietor, together with one or 
 two of the spectators who were peeping over his shoul- 
 ders. Several others were badly scorched, and all 
 horribly frightened ; and for some time after powder 
 fell into a general disuse with the savages much to 
 the benefit of the English. 
 
 These and other similar accidents, we are told, so 
 affrighted Powhatan and his people, that they came 
 in from every quarter with proffers of peace. Sev- 
 eral stolen articles were returned, the loss of which 
 had never before been discovered; and whenever an 
 Indian was convicted of theft, wherever he might be 
 found, he was promptly sent in to Jamestown for his 
 punishment. Not long afterwards we find that " so 
 affraide was al those kings and the better sort of the 
 people to displease vs [the colonists] that some of 
 the baser sort that we haue extreamely hurt and pun- 
 ished for their villanies, would hire vs we should not 
 tell it to their kings or countrymen, who would also 
 punish them, and yet returne them to lames-Toune 
 to content the President for a testimony of their 
 loues." 
 
 Still, the prowess and the name of Smith himself 
 were the best preservatives of peace ; and he had 
 scarcely left the country for England when matters 
 relapsed into their worst state. About thirty of the 
 English were cut off by Powhatan's men at one time ; 
 
36 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the understanding that unless the former should be 
 successful in his search within twelve hours, he was 
 to be hanged. But for his comfort during that inter- 
 val, Smith furnished him with victuals, and charcoal 
 for a fire. In the evening, the man who had been dis- 
 charged, returned with the pistol ; but the poor fellow 
 in the dungeon was meanwhile very nearly smothered 
 with the smoke of his coal. Those who came to re- 
 lease him took him up for dead. " The other most 
 lamentably bewayled his death, and broke forth into 
 such bitter agonies that the President [Smith] to 
 quiet him, told him that if he would steale no more, 
 he would make him [his brother] alive again ; but he 
 little thought he could be recovered. Yet we doing 
 our best with aqua Vita and Vinegar, it pleased God 
 to restore him againe to life, but so drunke and af- 
 frighted that he seemed lunaticke, the which as much 
 tormented and grieued the other, as before to see him 
 dead. Of this maladie, vpon promise of their good 
 behavour, the President promised to recover him ; 
 and so caused him to be layd by a fire to sleepe, who 
 in the morning having well slept had recovered his 
 perfect senses, and then being dressed of his burning, 
 and each a peece of copper given them, they went 
 away so well contented that this was spread among all 
 the savages for a miracle, that Captain Smith could 
 make a man alive that was dead." 
 
 Another of the incidents just alluded to is as 
 follows. One of Powhatan's subjects, in his zeal to 
 acquire knowledge and some other things, obtained 
 possession of a large bag of gun-powder and the backe, 
 as Smith calls it, of an armour. This ingenious arti- 
 san, on his return to Werowocomoco, determined to 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 37 
 
 display these precious prizes to his wondering coun- 
 trymen, and at the same time to exhibit his own ex- 
 traordinary skill in the management of them. He 
 therefore began drying the powder upon the armour, 
 as he had seen the soldiers do at Jamestown. Un- 
 luckily, he dried it too much. An explosion took place, 
 which blew up the proprietor, together with one or 
 two of the spectators who were peeping over his shoul- 
 ders. Several others were badly scorched, and all 
 horribly frightened; and for some time after powder 
 fell into a general disuse with the savages much to 
 the benefit of the English. 
 
 These and other similar accidents, we are told, so 
 affrighted Powhatan and his people, that they came 
 in from every quarter with proffers of peace. Sev- 
 eral stolen articles were returned, the loss of which 
 had never before been discovered ; and whenever an 
 Indian was convicted of theft, wherever he might be 
 found, he was promptly sent in to Jamestown for his 
 punishment. Not long afterwards we find that " so 
 affraide was al those kings and the better sort of the 
 people to displease vs [the colonists] that some of 
 the baser sort that we haue extreamely hurt and pun- 
 ished for their villanies, would hire vs we should not 
 tell it to their kings or countrymen, who would also 
 punish them, and yet returne them to lames-Toune 
 to content the President for a testimony of their 
 loues." 
 
 Still, the prowess and the name of Smith himself 
 were the best preservatives of peace ; and he had 
 scarcely left the country for England when matters 
 relapsed into their worst state. About thirty of the 
 English were cut off by Powhatan's men at one time ; 
 
38 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 and of a population of six hundred left in the colony 
 at Smith's departure, there remained at the end of six 
 months only sixty men, women and children. These 
 were subsisted chiefly upon roots, herbs, acorns, wal- 
 nuts, berries and now and then a little fish. The 
 skins of horses, and even considerable quantities of 
 starch,, were used for food. Others went so far as to 
 disinter and devour the body of an Indian who had 
 been slain and buried. One man killed his wife, 
 " powdered her," and had eaten a part of her before 
 it was known. The poor wretch was hanged for his 
 horrible deed of despair. 
 
 Peace was finally effected with Powhatan through 
 the intervention, or rather by the mere medium of 
 Pocahontas, in the following manner. Early in 1613, 
 two ships arrived at Jamestown with supplies for the 
 colony. These being insufficient, Captain Argall, 
 who commanded one of them, was sent up the Poto- 
 mac river to trade with the natives for corn. Here 
 Argall formed a particular acquaintance with Japazaws, 
 the chief sachem of the Potomacs or Patawomekes, 
 and always a stanch friend of the English. He in- 
 formed the captain, among other things, that Poca- 
 hontas was at this time in his territories, and not far 
 distant, keeping herself in seclusion, and known only 
 to a few trusty friends. What were the reasons which 
 induced her thus to forsake her father's dominions for 
 a foreigner's, does not appear. Stith supposes it was 
 to withdraw herself from being a witness of the fre- 
 quent butcheries of the English, whose folly and 
 rashness, after Smith's departure, put it out of her 
 power to save them. And very probably, as a later 
 historian suggests, she had already incurred the dis- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 39 
 
 pleasure of the emperor by these repeated and futile 
 though highly honorable attempts. 
 
 But whatever her motives might be, Argall had 
 no sooner received intelligence of her situation, than 
 he resolved on obtaining possession of her person, 
 as a means which he had no doubt the colony 
 would thank him for of effecting a peace with 
 Powhatan. Japazaws seems to have been a well- 
 meaning and honest fellow in general ; but the temp- 
 tation of a large new copper kettle, which Argall held 
 out before him as the promised recompense for his 
 aid and abettance in the case the consideration of 
 the praiseworthy object proposed to be accomplished 
 by the measure and last though not least of all 
 the captain's pledge that Pocahontas should not be 
 harmed while in his custody, were sufficient to over- 
 come his scruples. The next thing in order was to 
 induce the princess as this amiable and talented In- 
 dian female has generally been styled to go on board 
 Argall's boat. To that end, Japazaws, who had him- 
 self seen many of the English vessels before this, 
 induced his wife to affect an extreme curiosity upon 
 the subject, so intolerably importunate that he finally 
 threatened to beat her. The good woman on the other 
 hand actually accomplished a few tears. This hap- 
 pened in the presence of Pocahontas, and the scene 
 was frequently repeated, until at last Japazaws, af- 
 fecting to be subdued by the manifest affliction of 
 his wife, reluctantly gave her permission to visit the 
 vessel, provided that Pocahontas would have the 
 politeness to go with her. 
 
 The princess, always complaisant, and unable to 
 witness any longer the apparent distress of her kind 
 
40 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 friend and hostess, consented to go on board the 
 ship. There they were civilly welcomed, and first 
 entertained in the cabin. The captain then found 
 an opportunity to decoy Pocahontas into the gun- 
 room, on pretence of conferring there with Japazaws, 
 but really because the kind-hearted Sachem, who had 
 received ere this the brilliant wages of his sin, and 
 began perhaps to relent, was unwilling to be known 
 by the princess to have been concerned in the plot 
 against her liberty. When Argall told her, in his 
 presence, that she must go with him to the colony, 
 and compound a peace between her father and the 
 English, she wept indeed in the bitterness of her soul ; 
 as for Japazaws and his wife, they absolutely howled 
 with inconsolable and inconceivable affliction. But 
 the princess recovered her composure on finding her- 
 self treated with kindness ; and while she turned her 
 face towards the English colony, (which she had not 
 seen since Smith's departure) with something even 
 like cheerfulness at the prospect of doing good, her 
 distressed guardian and his pliant spouse, with their 
 copper kettle filled with toys, trudged merrily back 
 to their own wigwam. 
 
 On Argall's arrival at Jamestown, a message was 
 immediately despatched to Powhatan, "that his daugh- 
 ter Pocahontas he loued so dearly, he must ransom 
 with our men, swords, peeces, tooles, &c., hee trech- 
 erously had stolen." This was not so complimentary 
 or soothing as might have been imagined, it must be 
 allowed ( the courtesy of Smith was no longer in 
 the colony ) and this perhaps was the reason why, 
 much as the unwelcome news of his daughter's cap- 
 tivity is said to have troubled him, he sent no answer 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 41 
 
 to the message for the space of three months. Then, 
 at the further persuasion of the council of Jamestown, 
 he liberated and sent in seven of his English prisoners, 
 with three rusty unserviceable muskets, an axe, a 
 saw and one canoe laden with corn. They were in- 
 structed to say that if Pocahontas should be given up, 
 he would make satisfaction for all the injuries he had 
 done, conclude a perpetual peace, and send in a bonus 
 of five hundred bushels of corn. To this the council 
 replied that his daughter, though they would use her 
 well could not be restored to him until all the English 
 arms and captives in his possession should be de- 
 livered back to the owners. They did not believe, 
 what he or some of his men had asserted, that these 
 arms had been lost, or that the whites who remained 
 with him were free volunteers in his service. 
 
 This ungracious message was no more conciliating 
 than the former; nor was any thing more seen or 
 heard of the emperor until the spring of 1614, when 
 a party of one hundred and fifty colonists, well armed, 
 went up his own river to Werowocomoco, taking 
 Pocahontas with them. The Powhatans received 
 them with scornful bravadoes, proudly demanding 
 the purpose of this new invasion. The English an- 
 swered, that they had brought the emperor's daugh- 
 ter, and that they expected the proper ransom for her, 
 either peaceably or by force. The Powhatans rejoined, 
 that if they came to fight, they were welcome, and 
 should be treated as Captain Ratcliffe had been. 
 Upon this the English said they would have a more 
 civil answer at least, and forthwith commenced mak- 
 ing rapidly for the shore in their small boats, the In- 
 dians having about the same time begun to let fly 
 
42 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 their arrows among them. They effected a landing, 
 and burned and destroyed every thing they could 
 find. The next day they sailed farther up the river; 
 and meeting with a fresh party of Powhatans, after 
 some altercation and explanation, a truce was con- 
 cluded, and messengers were promised to be sent off 
 for the emperor. This was probably a mere feint. 
 It was also stated, that the English captives or deser- 
 ters had run off, for fear of being hanged by their 
 countrymen. As for the swords and pieces, they were 
 to be brought the next day. But nothing was seen 
 of them, and the English proceeded till they came to 
 a residence of Powhatan (called Matchot) where were 
 collected about four hundred of his warriors, well 
 armed. These men challenged the English to land ; 
 and when they did so, walked boldly up and down 
 among them ; demanded a conference with their cap- 
 tain ; and said, that unless time should be allowed them 
 to send and receive directions from Powhatan, they 
 would fight for their own as well as they were able. 
 Other bravadoes passed between the parties, but a 
 truce was finally agreed upon until noon of the next 
 day. Meanwhile, two of the brothers of Pocahontas 
 of whom this is the first mention came to see her. 
 They were delighted to find her in good health, and 
 promised to do everything they could to effect her 
 redemption. Two of the English also set off to visit 
 Powhatan. They were not admitted to the emperor's 
 presence for what reason, it is not stated but 
 Opechancanough treated them in the most hospitable 
 manner. On their return, the whole party descended 
 the river to Jamestown. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 43 
 
 One of the two messengers last named was John 
 Rolfe, styled by an old historian, " an honest gentle- 
 man and of good behaviour;" but more especially 
 known by the event which we have now to notice 
 his marriage with Pocahontas between whom and 
 himself there had been an ardent attachment for 
 some time. The idea of this connexion pleased 
 Powhatan so much, that within ten days after Rolfe's 
 visit, he sent in one of his near relatives named 
 Opachiko, together with two "of his sons, to see (as 
 says the authority just cited) the manner of the mar- 
 riage ; and to do in that behalf what they were re- 
 quested for the confirmation thereof, as his deputies. 
 The ceremony took place about the first of April ; 
 and from that time until the death of the emperor, 
 which happened in 1618, the most friendly relations 
 were uniformly preserved with himself and with his 
 subjects. 
 
 There are too many memorable passages in the 
 history of this celebrated chieftain, and too many re- 
 markable traits in his character, to be passed over 
 with a mere general notice. But, previous to any 
 other comment, it may be proper to mention certain 
 facts respecting him, which belong rather to the 
 curious than to the characteristic class. In the case 
 of all great men, as well as of many noted men who 
 are not great, there is a good deal of information 
 generally to be gathered, which may be interesting 
 without being strictly important. Powhatan was 
 both a great and a noted man, though a savage ; and 
 the rude circumstances under which he proved him- 
 self the one, and made himself the other, should only 
 
44 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 render him the more signally an object of popular 
 admiration and of philosophical regard. 
 
 In person, he is described, by one who saw him 
 frequently, as a tall well-proportioned man with a 
 severe aspect; his head slightly gray; his beard thin 
 (as that of the Indians always is ;) and " of a very 
 able and hardy body to endure any labor." As he 
 appeared to be about sixty years of age, when the 
 English first saw him, in 1607, he was probably about 
 seventy at his death. He troubled himself but little 
 with public affairs during his last years, leaving the 
 charge of them chiefly to Opechancanough, as his 
 viceroy, and taking his own pleasure in visiting the 
 various parts of his dominions. 
 
 We have already had occasion to observe, that he 
 had as many as three or four places of residence. 
 Werowocomoco was abandoned for Orapakes, with 
 the view of keeping at an agreeable distance from 
 the colonists. The latter became a favorite resort. 
 There, at the distance of a mile from the village, he 
 had a house in which were deposited his royalties and 
 his revenue skins, copper, beads, red paint, bows 
 and arrows, targets and clubs. Some of these things 
 were reserved for the time of his burial; others were 
 the resources of war. The house itself was more 
 than one hundred feet in length one historian says 
 fifty or sixty yards and as it seems to have been 
 frequented only by the Indian priests, probably a 
 sacred character attached to it in the minds of the 
 multitude, which was one of the means of its security. 
 Four rudely-graven images of wood were stationed 
 at the four corners; one representing a dragon, the 
 second a bear, the third a panther, and the fourth a 
 
 ! 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 45 
 
 gigantic man all made evil-favoredly, as we are told, 
 but according to the best workmanship of the natives. 
 
 The state which Powhatan adopted as emperor, 
 appears in some degree from the preceding details of 
 his history. He is said to have kept about his person 
 from forty to fifty of the tallest men in his dominions ; 
 which might be the case in war, and upon occasions 
 of parade and ceremony, more regularly than in 
 peaceable and ordinary times. Every night, four 
 sentinels were stationed at the four corners of his 
 dwelling; and at each half-hour one of the body-guard 
 made a signal to the four sentinels. Want of vigilance 
 on their part was punished with the most exemplary 
 strictness. 
 
 According to the universal custom of the North 
 American natives, he kept as many wives as he 
 thought proper; and is represented to have taken 
 no little pleasure in their society. When the English 
 saw him at home, reclining on his couch or platform, 
 there was always one sitting at his head, and another 
 at his feet; and when he sat, two of them seated 
 themselves on either side of him. At his meals, one 
 of them brought him water in a wooden platter to 
 wash his hands, before and after eating; and another 
 attended with a bunch of feathers for a towel. Some 
 were the daughters, and had been the wives of dis- 
 tinguished rivals and enemies, conquered in battle. 
 When he became weary of them, he transferred them 
 as presents to his favorite warriors. 
 
 A general proof of the talents of Powhatan may 
 be found in the station which he held, as well as 
 the reputation he enjoyed far and wide among his 
 countrymen. The Indian tribes are democracies. 
 
46 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 He who rules over them must acquire and sustain 
 his influence by his absolute intellect and energy. 
 Friends and family may assist, occasionally, in pro- 
 curing rank; but they will not secure the permanent 
 possession of it. Generally, therefore, the head- 
 Sachem may be looked upon as comparatively a model 
 of those qualities which his countrymen esteem suit- 
 able to that dignity. He must not only be a warrior, 
 brave, hardy, patient, and indefatigable; but he must 
 show talents for controlling the fortunes and com- 
 manding the respect of the community w'hich 'he 
 governs. 
 
 But in this case there is better evidence ; and es- 
 pecially in the ultimate extent of Powhatan's govern- 
 ment as compared with his hereditary dominions. 
 These included but six tribes of the thirty which were 
 finally subject to him, and all which must have be- 
 come attached to his rule in consequence of the charac- 
 ter maintained and the measures adopted by himself. 
 Among others were the Chickahominies, a very war- 
 like and proud people, numbering from two hundred 
 to five hundred warriors, while the Powhatans proper 
 (the original nucleus, so to speak, of the emperor's 
 dominion,) numbered less than a hundred. The fear 
 which these savages entertained of him appears on 
 many occasions, and particularly when they embraced 
 an opportunity, in 1611, of exchanging his yoke for that 
 of the English. They were so desirous of this change 
 or in other words of procuring what they considered 
 the protection of the new master against the power 
 of the old that they offered to adopt a national name 
 indicating their subjection. A peace was accordingly 
 concluded on condition 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 47 
 
 I. That they should be forever called Tassau- 
 tessus [Englishmen,] and be true subjects to King 
 James and his deputies. 
 
 II. They were neither to kill nor detain any of 
 the colonists, or their cattle, but to return them on 
 all occasions. 
 
 III. They should stand ready to furnish three 
 hundred warriors for the colony's service, against the 
 Spaniards or any other enemy. 
 
 IV. They were not to enter the English "settle- 
 ments, but send word they were new Englishmen, 
 (an obscure provision, meant to prevent confounding 
 them with hostile tribes.) 
 
 V. Every fighting man, at the beginning of har- 
 vest, was to pay two bushels of corn as a tribute, 
 receiving the same number of hatchets in return. 
 
 VI. The eight chief men were to see all this per- 
 formed, on forfeit of being punished themselves. 
 Their salary was to be a red coat, a copper chain, 
 the picture of King James, and the honor of being 
 accounted his noblemen. 
 
 This treaty was concluded with a general assent, 
 manifested by acclamation; and then one of the old 
 men began a speech, addressing himself first to those 
 of his own age, then to the young, and lastly to the 
 women and children, a multitude of whom were 
 present. He gave them to understand how strictly 
 these conditions must be observed, and how safe 
 they should then be, on the other hand, "from the fiirie 
 of Poivhatan or any enemie whatsoeuer," besides 
 being furnished with arms to resist them. The name 
 of the emperor, it will be observed, is not inserted in 
 the articles of peace ; there was supposed to be a 
 
48 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 hazard, probably, of its coming to his ears; and he 
 had then himself just concluded an amicable treaty. 
 " But all this," adds our historian, " was rather for 
 feare Powhatan and we being so linked together, would 
 bring them again to his subjection: the which to pre- 
 uent, they did rather chuse to be protected by vs, than 
 tormented by him, whom they held a Tyrant/' 
 
 We have seen, that of the whole Indian population 
 between the sea-coast and the Alleghany from east 
 to west, and between the borders of Carolina and 
 the river Patuxent in Maryland from south to north, 
 all who were not subject to Powhatan's dominions 
 were leagued against him. The former class com- 
 prised the lowland tribes; and the latter, the moun- 
 taineers. In the language of Stith, the Monacans and 
 the Mannahoacks formed a confederacy against the 
 power and tyranny of Powhatan. Another writer 
 says, that he also fought against the famous Massa- 
 womekes ; a powerful and populous nation, thought 
 to be situated upon a great salt-water, " which by 
 all probability is either some part of Cannada, some 
 great lake, or some inlet of some sea that falleth into 
 the South Sea." This is not a very definite descrip- 
 tion, even for Smith to give; but the Massawomekes 
 are generally understood to have been no other, we 
 believe, than the celebrated Five Nations of New York. 
 At all events, they were exceedingly troublesome to 
 the northmost tribes of Powhatan which might be 
 a principal reason why they submitted the more will- 
 ingly to him. And thus, while the greater part of 
 his own empire was a conquered one, he was envi- 
 roned by foreign enemies in every direction, includ- 
 ing the civilized colony on the sea-coast. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 49 
 
 As to his particular system of war and conquest, 
 we are not minutely informed. Like Indian warfare 
 in other sections and times, it is said to have consisted, 
 in a great degree, of stratagem and surprisal rather 
 than force. In 1608, a rebellion which arose among 
 the Payuntatanks, was suppressed in the following 
 manner. They being near neighbors, a number of 
 his own tribe was sent into their villages, who under 
 some disguise or false pretence obtained lodgings over 
 night. The several houses were meanwhile beset with 
 ambuscades : and at an appointed signal, the two 
 parties, within and without, commenced an attack 
 at the same moment. Twenty-four Payuntatanks were 
 slain and their scalps carried to Powhatan, who kept 
 them some time suspended on a line between two trees, 
 as a trophy. The women and children, as also the 
 Werowance or Sachem, were made prisoners, and 
 afterwards slaves or servants. 
 
 Powhatan's warriors were regularly and thoroughly 
 disciplined. At one of the first interviews with the 
 English, a martial parade formed part of the enter- 
 tainment. Two or three hundred Indians having 
 painted and disguised themselves in the fiercest man- 
 ner possible, were divided into two companies, one of 
 which was temporarily styled Powhatans and the other 
 Monacans. Each company had its captain. They 
 stationed themselves at about a musket-shot from each 
 other, Fifteen men abreast formed the front line of 
 both, and the remainder ranked themselves in the 
 rear with a distance of four or five yards from rank 
 to rank ; and not in file, but in the opening between 
 the files, so that the rear could shoot as conveniently 
 as the front. A parley now took place, and a formal 
 
 M. of H. XXX 4 
 
50 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 agreement was made that, whoever should conquer, 
 such warriors as survived their defeat should have 
 two days allowed them for their own submission, 
 while their wives and children should at once become 
 prize to the victor. 
 
 The parties advanced against each other a sort of 
 sergeant commanding each flank, and a lieutenant the 
 rear: and the entire company came on leaping and 
 singing to warlike music, but every man in his place. 
 On the first flight of arrows, they raised upon both 
 sides a terrific clamor of shouts and screeches. "When 
 they had spent their arrows, (writes the describer of 
 this scene,) they joined together prettily, charging 
 and retiring, every rank seconding the other. As they 
 got advantage, they caught their enemies by the hair 
 of the head, and down he came that was taken. His 
 enemy with his wooden sword seemed to beat out his 
 brains, and still they crept to the rear to maintain 
 the skirmish." The Monacan party at length decreas- 
 ing, the Powhatans charged them in the form of a 
 half moon. The former retreat, to avoid being en- 
 closed, and draw their pursuers upon an ambuscade of 
 fresh men. The Powhatans retire in their turn, and 
 the Monacans take this opportunity of resuming their 
 first ground. " All their actions, voices and gestures, 
 both in charging and retiring, were so strained to the 
 height of their qualitie and nature, that the strange- 
 ness thereof made it seem very delightful." The war- 
 like music spoken of above was a large deep platter of 
 wood, covered with skin drawn so tight as to answer 
 the purpose of a drum. They also used rattles made 
 of small gourds or pompion shells ; and all these it 
 may well be supposed mingled with their voices, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 51 
 
 sometimes twenty or thirty together, " made such a 
 terrible noise, as would rather affright than delight 
 any man/' 
 
 It was probably by no little drilling of this descrip- 
 tion that Powhatan made soldiers of his subjects, and 
 it naturally enough mortified him, after taking so much 
 trouble with so much success, to see them defeated so 
 readily as they were by the English. The chief cause, 
 too, of this superiority, was a matter of wonder. No 
 Indian had ever before seen any thing which resembled, 
 in form or effect, the fire-arms of their strange enemy. 
 For some time, therefore, their fear was attended with 
 a superstition against which no courage could prevail. 
 But Powhatan was not long in determining at all 
 events to put himself on equal terms with the colo- 
 nists, whatever might be the hazard ; and from that 
 moment he spared no efforts to effect his purpose. On 
 Newport's departure for England, he bargained away 
 from him twenty swords for twenty turkeys. He at- 
 tempted the same trade with Smith ; and when the lat- 
 ter shrewdly declined it, his eagerness became such, 
 we are told, " that at last by ambuscadoes at our very 
 gates they [the Powhatans] would take them per 
 force, surprise vs at worke, or any way/' Some of 
 these troublesome fellows being seized and threatened, 
 they confessed that the emperor had ordered them to 
 get possession of the English arms, or at least some of 
 them, cost what it might. 
 
 He availed himself, with great ingenuity, of a dis- 
 position among some of the colonists to trade privately 
 in these contraband articles ; and in that way obtained 
 large quantities of shot, powder and pike-heads. So, 
 upon Smith's departure for the settlement, after his 
 
52 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 famous visit, in December, 1608, he artfully requested 
 the captain " to leaue him Edward Brynton to kille him 
 foule, and the Dutchmen to -finish his house." This 
 house, we have seen, was abandoned ; and as for fowl, 
 the idea of employing an Englishman to hunt for his 
 Powhatans was absurd. He had no objection, how- 
 ever, to Brynton's gun or his martial services. The 
 Germans he was probably sure of already. They 
 proved traitors to the colony, and soon after we find 
 them diligently engaged in arming and instructing the 
 savages. One of them subsequently stated, that the 
 emperor kept them at work for him in duresse. He 
 himself sent answer to Smith's demand for them, that 
 they were at liberty to go if they chose but as for 
 carrying them fifty miles on his back, he was not able. 
 The adroitness with which he obtained arms at James- 
 town, during Smith's absence, has already been the 
 subject of comment. 
 
 The implicit obedience which he exacted of his own 
 subjects, notwithstanding the apparently precarious 
 tenure by which he held his command, is a striking 
 indication of the extent of his mere personal influence. 
 " When he listeth," says an old writer, " his will is a 
 law, and must be obeyed : not onely as a King, but as 
 halfe a God, they esteeme him. What he commandeth 
 they dare not disobey in the least thing. At his feete 
 they present whatsoever he commandeth, and at the 
 least froune of his browe, their greatest spirits will 
 tremble with feare." This subordination was sustained 
 by measures which, for severity and courage, would 
 do no discredit to the most absolute despot of the east- 
 ern world. On one occasion, certain offenders were 
 burned to death in the midst of an immense heap of 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 53 
 
 glowing coals, collected from many fires made for the 
 purpose. A more merciful punishment was by brain- 
 ing the criminal with a club, as Smith was to have been 
 sacrificed. The most horrible was fastening the poor 
 wretch to a tree, breaking his joints one by one, and 
 then whittling down the body with reeds and shells. 
 Thrashing with cudgels was no trifle. Smith says he 
 saw a man subjected to this discipline under the hands 
 of two of his practised countrymen, till he fell pros- 
 trate and senseless ; but he uttered no cry or complaint. 
 
 The extraordinary native shrewdness of Powhatan 
 was abundantly manifested in the amusing advantages 
 he obtained over Newport; his long and artful conver- 
 sations with Smith, some of them sustained under the 
 most embarrassing circumstances, merely to procure 
 time ; the promptness with which he rejected and de- 
 feated the proposal to make common cause against the 
 Monacans a bait, as he expressed it, too foolish to be 
 taken ; and, in fine, upon every occasion when the Eng- 
 lish undertook to negotiate or to argue with him. He 
 availed himself most essentially of the aid of the Ger- 
 man deserters heretofore mentioned, but he had too 
 much sagacity to trust them after they deserted him- 
 self; and so, when two of them fled to him a second 
 time, with proposals for delivering his great rival, Cap- 
 tain Smith, into his hands, he only observed, that men 
 who betrayed the captain would betray the emperor, 
 and forthwith ordered the scoundrels to be brained 
 upon the spot. 
 
 Powhatan, like many others of his race, has been 
 regarded with prejudice for the very reasons which 
 entitle him to respect. He was a troublesome enemy 
 to the colonists. His hostile influence extended for 
 
54 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 hundreds of miles around them ; cutting off commerce 
 with the natives in the first place, and making inveter- 
 ate enemies of them in the next. Powhatan, we are 
 told, " still as he found means cut off their boats, and 
 denied them trade ;" and again, " as for corne, contri- 
 bution and provision from the salvages, we had noth- 
 ing but mortall wounds, with clubs and arrowes." 
 Here, too, we find the emperor availing himself of the 
 disasters and despairs of the colony, to procure swords, 
 muskets and ammunition so reckless had the colo- 
 nists become through famine. 
 
 Still, it does not appear, that Powhatan adopted 
 any policy but such as he believed indispensable to 
 the welfare, not to say the existence, of his sovereign 
 dominions. His warfare was an Indian warfare, in- 
 deed. But setting aside those circumstances of edu- 
 cation and of situation which rendered this a matter 
 both of pride and necessity, it may be safely said, that 
 he but followed the example of those who should have 
 known better. Not only did he act generally in self- 
 defence against what he deemed the usurpation of a 
 foreign and unknown people, who had settled without 
 permission upon his shores ; but he was galled and pro- 
 voked by peculiar provocations in numerous instances. 
 The mere liberty of taking possession of a part of his 
 territory might have been overlooked. Probably it 
 was so. In the earliest days of the settlement, when 
 nothing could be easier for Powhatan than to extin- 
 guish it at a single assault, it is acknowledged that his 
 people often visited the English and treated them with 
 kindness. Not long afterwards, indeed, they commit- 
 ted some trespasses, but meanwhile a party of the Eng- 
 lish had invaded the interior of the country. Consid- 
 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 55 
 
 ering the dissolute and unprincipled character of a 
 large part of them, it is not improbable that still 
 greater freedom was exercised with the Indians ; such 
 of course as the historians would be likely neither to 
 record nor to know. And yet Smith himself has told 
 enough of himself to make this point clear. In his 
 very first expedition after corn, seeing, he says, " that 
 by trade and courtesie nothing was to be had, he made 
 bold to try such conclusions as necessitie inforced" He let 
 fly a volley of musketry, ran his boats ashore, skir- 
 mished with the natives, and forcibly obtained a supply 
 of provisions. And thus adds the scrupulous cap- 
 tain 
 
 " Thus God vnboundlesse by his power 
 Made them so kinde would vs devour. " 
 
 It was nothing to the emperor, or to his subjects, 
 that Smith went beyond his authority in these matters. 
 " The patient councill " he writes in another con- 
 nexion " that nothing would moue to warre with the 
 saluages, would gladly have wrangled with Captaine 
 Smithe for his crueltie." He adds, that his proceedings 
 his conclusions, is his own language had inspired the 
 natives with such fear, that his very name was a ter- 
 ror. No wonder that he sometimes had peace and war 
 twice in a day. No wonder that scarcely a week passed 
 without some villany or other. Again, when the 
 Chickahominies refused to trade, the President, "per- 
 ceiving [supposing] it was Powhatan's policy to starve 
 him," landed his company forthwith, and made such a 
 show of anger and ammunition that the poor savages 
 presently brought in all their provisions. 
 
 So we are summarily informed in Mr. Hamer's re- 
 lation, that about Christmas (1611) " in regard of the 
 
56 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 iniurie done vs by them of Apamatuk, Sir Thomas 
 Dale, without the losse of any except some few Sal- 
 vages" took possession of the territory and provision 
 of the tribe, made a settlement upon the former with- 
 out ceremony, and called it New Bermudas! One 
 more illustration must suffice. It is a passage of 
 Smith's history relating to a detachment of vagabonds, 
 under the command of one West, who left Jamestown, 
 and located themselves not far from Powhatan's resi- 
 dence at the falls of the river. " But the worst was, 
 that the poore Salvages that daily brought in their 
 contributions to the President, that disorderly com- 
 pany so tormented these poore soules, by stealing 
 their corne, robbing their gardens, beating them, 
 breaking their houses, and keeping some prisoners, 
 that they daily complained to Captaine Smith he had 
 brought them for Protectors worse enemies than the 
 Monacans themselves, which though till then for his 
 love they had endured, they desired pardon if hereafter 
 they defended themselves since he would not correct 
 them as they had long expected he would/' A most 
 reasonable determination, civilly and candidly ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 But, whatever may be said of the motives or 
 method of the warfare of Powhatan, it must be ac- 
 knowledged that his character appears to no disadvan- 
 tage in peace. We cannot but admire the Roman dig- 
 nity with which he rejected all offers of compromise, 
 so long as the English seemed disposed to take advan- 
 tage of their own wrong in the violent seizure of Po- 
 cahontas. They knew that this was his favorite child, 
 and they presumed on the strength of his attachment. 
 But, much as her situation troubled him, he would not 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 57 
 
 sacrifice his honor so far as to negotiate for her restor- 
 ation on derogatory terms. He was afflicted, but he 
 was still more incensed. When, however, he ascer- 
 tained, by sending his sons to visit her, that she was 
 well treated, and in good health, (though, we are some- 
 times told, " they had heard to the contrairie,") he be- 
 gan to think better of the offers of peace. Then came 
 Rolfe " to acquaint him with the businesse," and 
 kindly he was entertained, though not admitted to the 
 presence of Powhatan. The young gentleman ex- 
 plained himself, however, to the emperor's brother; 
 and the latter promised to intercede for him, as did 
 also the two sons. Their explanations proved suc- 
 cessful. The emperor was not only convinced that his 
 daughter was entertained civilly by the English, but 
 he was pleased with the honorable intentions and 
 touched by the passionate and tender affection of 
 Rolfe. No sooner, therefore, did the time appointed 
 for the marriage come to his knowledge and no doubt 
 Rolfe had already had the politic courtesy to apply for 
 his consent than he dispatched three members of his 
 own family to confirm the ceremony. " And ever 
 since," adds the historian, " we have had friendly trade 
 and commerce, as well with Powhatan himselfe, as all 
 his subjects." So jealous were he and they of injus- 
 tice ; and so susceptible were they, at the same time, of 
 mild and magnanimous impressions. 
 
 We find characteristic anecdotes, to the same effect, 
 in the curious account Mr. Hamer has left on record 
 of a visit which he paid the emperor in 1614, soon after 
 the conclusion of peace. After some conversation upon 
 business matters, the visiter was invited to Powhatan's 
 own residence, where was a guard of two hundred 
 
58 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 warriors, which, (as Mr. Hamer supposes,) always at- 
 tended his person. Having offered that gentleman a 
 pipe of tobacco, he immediately inquired after the 
 health of Sir Thomas Dale, at that time President, and 
 then of his own daughter and her husband ; wishing 
 to know especially how these two liked each other. 
 Hamer answered, that Sir Thomas was perfectly well ; 
 and as for Pocahontas, she was so contented, that she 
 never would return to her father's court again if she 
 could. Powhatan laughed heartily at this reply, and 
 soon after asked the particular cause of Mr. Hamer's 
 present visit. On being told it was private, he ordered 
 his attendants to leave the house excepting only the 
 two females said to have been Indian queens who 
 always sat by him, and then bade Mr. Hamer proceed 
 with his message. 
 
 The latter began with saying, that he was the 
 bearer of sundry presents from Sir Thomas Dale, 
 which were delivered accordingly, much to the em- 
 peror's satisfaction. He then added, that Sir Thomas, 
 hearing of the fame of the emperor's youngest daugh- 
 ter, was desirous of obtaining her hand in marriage. 
 He conceived, there could not be a finer bond of union 
 between the two people, than such a connexion ; and 
 besides, her sister Pocahontas was exceedingly anx- 
 ious to see her at Jamestown. He hoped that Pow- 
 hatan would at least oblige himself so much, as to suf- 
 fer her to visit the colony when he should return. 
 
 Powhatan more than once came very near inter- 
 rupting the delivery of this message. But he controlled 
 himself, and replied with great gravity to the effect, 
 that he gladly accepted the President's salutation of 
 love and peace, which he certainly should cherish so 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 59 
 
 long as he lived; that he received with many thanks 
 the presents sent him as pledges thereof; but that, as 
 for his daughter, he had sold her, only a few days be- 
 fore, to a great Werowance, living at the distance of 
 three days' journey, for three bushels of Rawrenoke 
 [Roanoke]. Hamer took the liberty to rejoin, that a 
 prince of his greatness might no doubt recall his 
 daughter, if he would especially as she was only 
 twelve years of age and that in such a case he should 
 receive for her from the President, three times the 
 worth of the Roanoke, in beads, copper and hatchets. 
 To this Powhatan readily rejoined, that he loved 
 his daughter as his life; and though he had many 
 children, he delighted in her most of all. He could not 
 live without seeing her, and that would be impossible 
 if she went among the colonists, for he had resolved upon 
 no account to put himself in their power, or to visit them. 
 He therefore desired Mr. Hamer to say no more upon 
 the subject; but to tell the President in his name. 1. 
 That he desired no other assurance of the President's 
 friendship than his word which was already pledged. 
 He had himself, on the other hand, already given such 
 assurance in the person of Pocahontas. One was suf- 
 ficient, he thought, at one time ; when she died, he would 
 substitute another in her stead. But, meanwhile, he should 
 consider it no brotherly part to bereave him of two 
 children at once. 2. Though he gave no pledge, the 
 President ought not to distrust him or his people. 
 There had been already lives enough lost on both 
 sides ; and by his fault there should never be any more. 
 He had grown old, and desired to die peaceably. He 
 should hardly fight even for just cause ; the country 
 was wide enough and he would rather retreat. " Thus 
 
60 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 much/' he concluded, " I hope will satisfy my brother. 
 And so here, as you are weary and sleepy, we will end." 
 He then ordered a supper and good lodgings for his 
 guest, and the latter took his leave for the night. 
 
 Early the next morning, Powhatan himself visited 
 Mr. Hamer at his lodging place, and invited him to 
 return to his own wigwam. There he entertained 
 him in his handsomest manner. The time passed 
 pleasantly, and Mr. Hamer began to feel at home. 
 By and by came in an Englishman, one who had been 
 surprised in a skirmish three years before at Fort 
 Henry, and detained ever since. He was so complete- 
 ly savage in his complexion and dress, that Hamer 
 only recognized him by his voice. He now asked 
 that gentleman to obtain leave for him to return with 
 him to the colony; and the request was accordingly 
 made, and even pressed. The emperor was vexed at 
 length. " Mr. Hamer," said he, " you have one of my 
 daughters, and I am content. But you cannot see one 
 of your men with me, but you must have him away or 
 break friendship. But take him, if you will. In that 
 case, however, you must go home without guides 
 [which are generally offered the English on these occa- 
 sions] : and if any evil befalls you, thank yourselves." 
 
 Hamer replied that he would do so ; but he would 
 not answer for the consequences, if any accident 
 should happen. The emperor was incensed at this, 
 and left him ; but he appeared again at suppertime, 
 feasted his guest with his best fare, and conversed 
 cheerfully. About midnight he roused Hamer from 
 a nap, to tell him he had concluded to let Parker (the 
 captive,) go with him in the morning. But he must 
 remind Sir Thomas to send him, in consideration there- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 61 
 
 of, ten large pieces of copper, a shaving-knife, a grind- 
 stone, a net, and sundry fish-hooks and other small 
 matters. For fear Hamer should forget these par- 
 ticulars, he made him write a list of them in what the 
 historians call a table-book, which he produced. " How- 
 ever he got it," says the narrator, " it was a faire one, 
 and I desired hee would give it me." Powhatan 
 evaded this modest request by saying that he kept 
 it to show to strangers ; but when his guest left him 
 in the morning, he furnished him and his attendants 
 with ample provision for his journey, gave each of 
 them a buck's-skin, " as well dressed as could be," 
 and sent two more to his son-in-law and his daughter. 
 
 There is much matter for reflection in this simple 
 narrative. The sagacity of Powhatan in discerning 
 the true object of the visit, is worthy of the fearless 
 dignity with which he exposed it. He gave little heed, 
 it would seem, to the pretext of marriage; and con- 
 sidering only the age of his daughter especially as 
 compared with the President's there was reason 
 enough why he should. His conjectures were un- 
 doubtedly correct, and he had some right to be offended 
 at the jealousy which was still harbored by the colo- 
 nists. Stith expressly states, that the policy of Sir 
 Thomas was merely to obtain an additional pledge for 
 the preservation of peace. 
 
 The affection which Powhatan here manifests for 
 his children, his hospitality even to one who took 
 liberties upon his strength of it, his liberality, the 
 resolution with which he maintained peace while he 
 still evidently distrusted the English honor, his ready 
 evasions and intelligent reasoning, his sensibility to 
 insult which he nevertheless thought it beneath him 
 
62 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 to resent, are all easily to be perceived in this in- 
 stance, and are well worthy to be regarded among 
 other evidences of his temper and genius. 
 
 His self command and his chivalrous courtesy, on 
 every former occasion, would have done no dishonor, 
 in another country and time, to the lion-hearted 
 monarch of England himself. In this respect he was 
 well matched with Smith; and it is not the least in- 
 teresting point in the common history of the two, to 
 observe the singular union of suavity and energy 
 with which both effected their purposes. Immediately 
 after delivering the celebrated reply which he sent 
 to Newport's proposal by Smith, the historian adds 
 that, " many other discourses they had, (yet both 
 content to give each other content in compliment all 
 courtesies} and so Captain Smith returned with his 
 answer." In the same style, when Newport came him- 
 self perceiving his purpose was to discover and 
 invade the Monacans we are told that he "refused 
 to lend them either men or guides more than Noman- 
 tack, and so after some complimentall kindnesse on 
 both sides," he presented the disappointed captain 
 with seven or eight bushels of corn, and wished him a 
 pleasant journey to Jamestown. He would not suffer 
 so brave a man as Smith to be even beheaded, with- 
 out having first ordered two of his queens to serve 
 him with water and a bunch of feathers, and then 
 feasted him in what the victim himself considered his 
 best barbarous manner. It is very evident there was 
 neither fear nor hypocrisy in any of these cases. 
 
 None of the noble traits we have mentioned lose 
 any of their charm from being connected, as they are, 
 with the utmost simplicity of barbarism. The reader 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 63 
 
 of these times, therefore, may be allowed to smile 
 at the pertinacity with which this mighty warrior and 
 renowned monarch insisted upon Parkers being ran- 
 somed in fish-hooks ; and in the solemn gravity with 
 which he divested himself of his mantle and old shoes 
 for the gratification and reward of Newport. The 
 presents sent to him by Sir Thomas Dale were two 
 pieces of copper, five strings of white and blue beads, 
 five wooden combs, ten fish-hooks, and a pair of knives 
 not to mention the promise of a grindstone, whenever 
 he should send for it clearly a much better bargain 
 for his daughter, had he wished to dispose of her, 
 than the two bushels of Roanoke. The Werowances 
 and queens of conquered nations waited upon him at 
 his meals , as humbly as certain kings of the middle 
 ages are said to have waited upon the Pope ; but unlike 
 his Holiness, Powhatan could make his own robes, 
 shoes, bows, arrows, and pots, besides planting his 
 corn for exercise, and hunting deer for amusement. 
 The Indians generally subsisted on fish in the spring, 
 and lived light for some months after ; but " Powhatan, 
 their great king, and some others that are provident, 
 rost their fish and flesh vpon hurdles, and keepe it 
 till scarce times." 
 
 In fine it would seem, that no candid person can 
 read the history of this famous Indian, with an at- 
 tentive consideration of the circumstances under which 
 he was placed, without forming a high estimate of 
 his character as a warrior, a statesman and a patriot. 
 His deficiencies were those of education and not of 
 genius. His faults were those of the people whom he 
 governed and of the period in which he lived. His 
 great talents, on the other hand, were his own ; and 
 
64 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 these are acknowledged even by those historians who 
 still regard him with prejudice. Stith calls him a 
 prince of excellent sense and parts, and a great master 
 of all the savage arts of government and policy. He 
 adds, that he was penetrating, crafty, insidious and 
 cruel. " But as to the great and moral arts of policy," 
 he concludes, " such as truth, faith, uprightness and 
 magnanimity, they seemed to have been but little 
 heeded or regarded by him." Burk's opinion appears 
 to us more correct. In the cant of civilisation, (says 
 that excellent historian,) he will doubtless be branded 
 with the epithets of tyrant and barbarian : But his 
 title to greatness, though his opportunities were fewer, 
 is to the full as fair as that of Tamerlane or Kowli- 
 Khan, and several others whom history has immor- 
 talized ; while the proofs of his tyranny are by no 
 means so clear. Still, it might have been as reasonable 
 to say, that there are no such proofs in being. The 
 kind of martial law which the emperor sometimes 
 exercised over his own subjects, was not only a matter 
 of custom, founded on the necessity which must al- 
 ways exist among ignorant men ; but it was a matter 
 of license, which had grown into constitutional law, 
 by common consent. It has been justly observed, that 
 there is no possibility of true despotism under an 
 Indian government. It is reason that governs, nom- 
 inally at least and the authority is only the more 
 effectual as the obedience is more voluntary. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The family of Powhatan. His successor. Sequel of the history of Poca- 
 hontas. Her acts of kindness to the colonists at various times, and 
 especially to Smith. His gratitude. Her civilisation, and instruction 
 in Christianity. Her visit to England in 1616. Reception at Court. 
 Interview with Smith. His memorial respecting her to Queen Anne. 
 Her death and character. Her descendants. 
 
 THE family of Powhatan was numerous and in- 
 fluential. Two sons and two daughters have 
 already been mentioned. There were also 
 three brothers younger than himself; and upon them 
 successively, according to their several ages, custom 
 seems to have acquired that the government should 
 devolve after his own death. The eldest, Opitchipan, 
 accordingly succeeded him, in form at least. But this 
 prince was an inactive and unambitious man owing 
 in some degree perhaps to his being decrepid ; and he 
 was soon thrown into the shade by the superior 
 energy and talent of Opechancanough, who before 
 many years engrossed in fact the whole power of the 
 government. Of the younger brother, Kekataugh, 
 scarcely anything is known. He probably died before 
 any opportunity occurred of signalizing himself in 
 a public station. The sequel of the history of Opec- 
 hancanough is well worthy of being dwelt upon at some 
 
 M. of H. XXX 5 (65) 
 
66 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 length : but previously, the order of time requires us 
 to devote a share of attention to the fortunes of his 
 celebrated niece, Pocahontas. 
 
 This beautiful and amiable woman, whom John 
 Smith, in the excess of his admiration, styles " the 
 Numpariel of Virginia," has been distinguished in 
 modern times, chiefly, by that single extraordinary 
 act of courage and humanity to which the gallant 
 historian was indebted for the preservation of his life. 
 But this was by no means the only evidence of these 
 noble qaulities which history has preserved. Her 
 name indeed is scarcely once mentioned by the most 
 ancient chronicles of the colony, except in terms of 
 high eulogy, and generally in connexion also with some 
 substantial facts going strongly to justify the uni- 
 versal partiality with which her memory is regarded 
 to these times. 
 
 In the earliest and most gloomy days of the settle- 
 ment, immediately after Smith's return from his cap- 
 tivity, the liberal and thoughtful kindness of Poca- 
 hontas went very far to cheer the desponding hearts 
 of the colonists, as well as to relieve their actual 
 necessities. She came to Jamestown with her attend- 
 ants once in every four or five days, for a long time; 
 and brought with her supplies of provisions, by which 
 many lives are stated to have been saved. This will 
 appear more fully from an ancient document which 
 we shall hereafter transcribe at length. 
 
 When Smith was absent upon one of his Indian 
 expeditions, emergencies occurred at Jamestown which 
 rendered his presence extremely desirable. But not 
 a man could be found who dared venture to carry a 
 message to him from the council. He was known to 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 67 
 
 be environed by enemies, and the hostility and power 
 of Powhatan were at that period subjects of the most 
 exaggerated apprehension. One Richard Wyffin at 
 last undertook the hazardous enterprise. Encounter- 
 ing many dangers and difficulties, he reached the resi- 
 dence of Powhatan, a day or two after Smith had left 
 it for Pamunkey. He found that great preparations 
 for war were going on among the Powhatans ; and 
 he soon became himself the object of suspicion. His 
 life undoubtedly would have paid the forfeit of his 
 rashness, had not Pocahontas, who knew his peril- 
 ous situation even better than himself, concealed him, 
 and thwarted and embarassed the search of the savages 
 who pursued him, so that " by her means and extra- 
 ordinary bribes and much trouble in three days travell," 
 as history says, " at length he found vs in the mid- 
 dest of these turmoyles," (at Jamestown). 
 
 Her conduct was the same after Smith's departure 
 for England. Of the thirty men who accompanied 
 RatclifTe when he was massacred by the Indians, only 
 one escaped to the colony, and one was rescued by 
 Pocahontas. This was a boy named Henry Spilman, 
 who subsequently was restored to his friends, and 
 from the knowledge of Indian languages which he 
 obtained during his residence with the Patowomekes 
 proved highly serviceable as an interpreter. Smith 
 himself was more than once under obligations to the 
 princess for his personal safety. We have alluded 
 to that occasion when he quartered, over night, near 
 the residence of her father. " Pocahontas, his dearest 
 Jewell and daughter in that darke night came through 
 the irksome woods, and told our Captaine great cheare 
 should be sent by vs by and by ; but Powhatan and all 
 
68 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the power he could make, would after come kill vs 
 all, if they that brought it could not kill vs with our 
 owne weapons, when we were at supper. Therefore 
 if we would Hue, she wished vs presently to be gone. 
 Such things as she delighted in, he would haue giuen 
 her; but with teares running downe her cheekes, 
 she said she durst not be seen to haue any, for if Pow- 
 hatan should know it, she were but dead, and so she 
 ran away by herself as she came/' What an affect- 
 ing instance of the most delicate tenderness mingled 
 with the loftiest courage. 
 
 It would have been strange indeed, if Smith, with 
 all his passionate chivalry, had been insensible to 
 these repeated kindnesses. Even Powhatan had too 
 good an opinion of him to suppose so, for he had 
 the sagacity to rely upon his gratitude for political 
 purposes. When some of the emperor's subjects were 
 taken prisoners by Smith, (although peace was nomi- 
 nally existing,) and forced to confess that Powhatan 
 had employed them to work mischief against the 
 colony, the latter " sent messengers, and his dearest 
 daughter Pocahontas" with presents, to make apologies 
 for the past, and promises for the future. Smith, on 
 the other hand, (who understood as well as any one, 
 the part of a gentleman,) after giving the prisoners 
 such corrections as he deemed necessary, treated them 
 well for a day or two, and then delivered them to Poca- 
 hontas, " for whose sake onely he fayned to haue saued 
 their Hues, and gaue them libertie." The emperor was 
 paid for the ingenuity in his own coin, when the 
 colonists, in 1613, took the princess herself captive, 
 relying on the well-known strength of his attachment 
 to her, as the surest means of procuring peace. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 69 
 
 Her subsequent history may soon be told. Rolfe 
 had become ardently enamoured of her beauty, and 
 he used the fortunate occasion of her stay in the colony 
 perhaps was active in bringing it on to procure 
 the intercession of the President in his behalf. Poca- 
 hontas cherished similar feelings towards himself, and 
 when the brothers came to visit her she made one of 
 them her confidant. Rolfe gained information of her 
 sentiments, and thus was emboldened to prosecute 
 his suit with a spirit worthy of the success which it 
 met with. The parties married. In the course of a 
 year or two, the young bride became quite an adept 
 in the English language and manners, and was well 
 instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. She was 
 entitled by her new acquaintances the Lady Rebecca. 
 
 in 1616, she and her husband accompanied Sir 
 Thomas Dale to England. King James, (that anointed 
 pedant, as Stith calls him,) is said to have been of- 
 fended with Rolfe for his presumption in marrying the 
 daughter of a king a crowned head, too, it will be 
 recollected. He might have thought, perhaps, follow- 
 ing up his own principles, that the offspring of the 
 marriage would be fairly entitled to succeed Powhatan 
 in his dominion. But the affair passed off, with some 
 little murmuring ; and Pocahontas herself was received 
 at Court, by both the King and Queen, with the most 
 flattering marks of attention. Lord de la War, and his 
 lady, and many other courtiers of rank, followed the 
 royal example. The princess was gratified by the kind- 
 ness shown to her; and those who entertained her, on 
 ths other hand, were unanimously of opinion, as Smith 
 expresses himself, that they had seen many English 
 ladies worse-favored, proportioned and behaviored. 
 
70 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 The captain was at this time in England ; and al- 
 though upon the eve of leaving that country on a voy- 
 age to New England, he delayed his departure for the 
 purpose of using every possible means in his power of 
 introducing the princess to advantage. A memorial 
 which he draughted with his own hand, and sent in to 
 the Queen, is supposed to have had no little influence 
 at Court. It is well worth transcribing, both as a curi- 
 osity of style, and as a document of authentic history. 
 It reads thus : 
 
 " To the most high and vertuous Princess Queene 
 Anne of Great Britain. 
 
 Most admired Queene, 
 
 The loue I beare my God, my King and Countrie 
 hath so oft emboldened mee in the worst of extreme 
 danger, that now honestie doth constraine mee pre- 
 sume thus farre beyond myselfe, to present your Ma- 
 iestie this short discourse. If ingratitude be a deadly 
 poyson to all honest vertues, I must be guiltie of that 
 crime if I should omit any meanes to be thankful. So 
 it is, 
 
 That some ten yeeres agoe, being in Virginia, and 
 taken prisoner by the power of Powhatan their chiefe 
 King, I received from this great Salvage exceeding 
 great courtesie, especially from his sonne Nantaguans, 
 the most manliest, comliest, boldest spirit I euer saw 
 in a salvage; and his sister Pocahontas, the King's 
 most deare and well-beloued daughter, being but a 
 childe of twelue or thirteene yeeres of age, whose com- 
 passionate pitifull heart, of desperate estate, gaue mee 
 much cause to respect her; I being the first Christian 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 71 
 
 this proud King and his grim attendants euer saw ; and 
 thus inthralled in their barbarous power, I cannot say 
 I felt the least occasion of want that was in the power 
 of those my mortall foes to preuent, notwithstanding 
 all their threats. 
 
 After some sixe weeks fatting among these Sal- 
 vage Courtiers, at the minute of my execution, she haz- 
 arded the beating out of her owne brains to saue 
 mine, but not onely that, but so preuailed with her 
 father, that I was safely conducted to lames-towne, 
 where I found about eight and thirtie miserable poore 
 and sicke creatures, to keepe possession of al those 
 large territories of Virginia ; such was the weaknesse 
 of this poore commonwealth, as had the salvages not 
 fed us, we directly had starued. 
 
 And this reliefe, most Gracious Queene, was com- 
 monly brought vs by this Lady Pocahontas. Notwith- 
 standing al these passages, when inconstant fortune, 
 turned our peace to warre, this tender virgin would 
 still not spare to dare to visit vs, and by her our iarres 
 haue been oft appeased, and our wants still supplyed. 
 Were it the policie of her father thus to imploy her, 
 or the ordinance of God thus to make her his instru- 
 ment, or her extraordinarie affection to our nation I 
 know not. But of this I am sure; when her father, 
 with the utmost of his policie and power, sought to 
 surprise mee, hauing but eighteene with mee, the darke 
 night could not affright her from coming through the 
 irkesome woods, and with watered eies gaue me intel- 
 ligence, with her best aduice, to escape his furie ; which 
 had hee knowne, he had surely slaine her. 
 
 lames-toune, with her wild traine, she as freely 
 frequented as her father's habitation; and during the 
 
72 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 time of two or three yeeres, she next under God was 
 still the instrument to preserve this colonie from death, 
 famine and utter confusion, which if in those times had 
 once been disouled, Virginia might haue line as it was 
 at our first arrivall to this day. 
 
 Since then, this businesse hauing beene turned and 
 varied by many accidents from that I left it at, it is 
 most certaine, after a long and troublesome warre after 
 my departure, betwixt her father and our colonie, at 
 which time shee was not heard off, about two yeeres 
 after she her selfe was taken prisoner. Being so de- 
 tained neere two yeeres longer, the colonie by that 
 means was relieued, peace concluded and at last re- 
 iecting her barbarous condition, shee was married to 
 an English gentleman, with whom at this present shee 
 is in England ; the first Christian euer of that nation, 
 the first Virginian euer spoke English, or had a child 
 in marriage by an Englishman. A matter surely, if 
 my meaning bee truly considered and well vnderstood, 
 worthy a Prince's vnderstanding. 
 
 Thus, most Gracious Lady, I have related to your 
 Maiestie, what at your best leasure our approued His- 
 tories will account you at large, and done in the time of 
 your Maiestie's life; and haweuer this might bee pre- 
 sented you from a more worthy pen, it cannot from a 
 more honest heart. As yet I neuer begged any thing of 
 the state, or any, and it is my want of abilitie and her 
 exceeding desert, your birth meanes and authentic, 
 her birth, vertue, want and simplicitie, doth make mee 
 thus bold, humbly to beseech your Maiestie to take 
 this knowledge of her, though it bee from one so vn- 
 worthy to be the reporter as my selfe, her husband's 
 estate not being able to make her fit to attend your 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 73 
 
 Maiestie. The most and least I can doe is to tell you 
 this, because none so oft hath tried it as my selfe ; and 
 the rather being of so great a spirit, howeuer her 
 stature. 
 
 If shee should not be well recieued, seeing this 
 kingdom may rightly haue a kingdom by her meanes, 
 her present loue to vs and christianitie might turne 
 to such scorne and furie, as to diuert al this good to 
 the worst of euill ; where [whereas] rinding so great 
 a Queene should doe her some honor more than she 
 can imagine, for being so kinde to your seruants and 
 subjects, would so rauish her with content, as endeare 
 her dearest blood to effect that your Maiestie and al 
 the King's honest subjects most earnestly desire. And 
 so I humbly kisse your gracious hands." 
 
 The final interview between the gallant and gen- 
 erous writer of this memorial and the princess who 
 was the subject of it, is an occasion too interesting to 
 be passed over without notice. She had been told that 
 Smith, whom she had not seen for many years, was 
 dead ; but why this information was given her, does 
 not appear. Perhaps it was to make his appearance 
 the more gratifying. Possibly, Master Rolfe, in the 
 heat of his passion, during the critical period of court- 
 ship had deemed it advisable and justifiable to answer 
 to this effect, the anxious inquiries she would natur- 
 ally make after Smith, especially during her confine- 
 ment at Jamestown. But whatever the reason was, 
 the shock of the first meeting had nearly overwhelmed 
 her. She was staying at Brentford, after her visit to 
 London, having retired thither to avoid the noise and 
 smoke of the metropolis, which she was far from en- 
 joying. Smith was announced, and soon after made 
 
74 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 his appearance. She saluted him modest 1 /, he says 
 himself; and coolly, according to some other writers 
 and then turning away from him, she covered her 
 face, and seemed to be too much discomposed for con- 
 versation. 
 
 Undoubtedly she was deeply affected with a mul- 
 titude of conflicting emotions, not the least of which 
 was a just indignation on account of the imposition 
 which the English had practised upon her. For two 
 or three hours she was left to her own meditations. 
 At the end of that time, after much entreaty, she was 
 prevailed upon to converse ; and this point once gained, 
 the politeness and kindness of her visitant and her 
 own sweetness of disposition, soon renewed her usual 
 vivacity. 
 
 In the course of her remarks she called Smith her 
 Father. That appellation, as bestowed by a King's 
 daughter, was too much for the captain's modesty, and 
 he informed her to that effect. But she could not un- 
 derstand his reasoning upon the subject. "Ah!" she 
 said after recounting some of the ancient courtesies 
 which had passed between them " you did promise 
 Powhatan that what was yours should be his, and hee 
 the like to you." You called him Father, being in his 
 land a stranger; and by the same reasons so must I 
 doe you." Smith still expressed himself unworthy 
 of that distinction, and she went on. " Were you not 
 afraid to come into my father's countrie, and caused 
 feare in him and all his people but mee and fear you 
 I should here call you father? I tell you then I will] 
 and you must call mee childe, and then I will bee for- 
 euer and euer your country-woman." She assured 
 Smith, that she had been made to believe that he was 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 75 
 
 dead, and that Powhatan himself shared in that delu- 
 sion. To ascertain the fact, however, to a certainty, 
 that crafty barbarian had directed an Indian, who at- 
 tended her to England, to make special inquiries. This 
 was Tomocomo, one of the emperor's chief counsel- 
 lors, and the husband of his daughter Matachanna 
 perhaps the same who had been demanded in marriage 
 by Sir Thomas Dale, in 1614. 
 
 It is the last and saddest office of history to record 
 the death of this incomparable woman, in about the 
 two-and-twentieth year of her age. This event took 
 place at Gravesend, where she was preparing to em- 
 bark for Virginia, with her husband, and the child 
 mentioned in Smith's memorial. They were to have 
 gone out with Captain Argall, who sailed early in 
 1617 ; and the treasurer and council of the colony had 
 made suitable accommodations for them on board the 
 admiral-ship. But, in the language of Smith, it pleased 
 God to take this young lady to his mercy. He adds, 
 that she made no more sorrow for her unexpected 
 death, than joy to the beholders to hear and see her 
 make so religious and godly an end. Stith also re- 
 cords that she died, as she had long lived, a most sin- 
 cere and pious Christian. The expression of a later 
 historian is, that her death was a happy mixture of 
 -Indian fortitude and Christian submission, affecting 
 all those who saw her by the lively and edifying pic- 
 ture of piety and virtue, which marked her later mo- 
 ments. 
 
 The same philosophic writer, in his general obser- 
 vations upon the character of Pocahontas, has justly 
 remarked, that, considering .all concurrent circum- 
 stances, it is not surpassed by any in the whole range 
 
76 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 of history ; and that for those qualities more especially 
 which do honor to our nature a humane and feeling 
 heart, an ardor and unshaken constancy in her attach- 
 ments she stands almost without a rival. She gave 
 evidence, indeed, of possessing in a high degree every 
 attribute of mind and heart, which should be and has 
 been the ornament and pride of civilized woman in all 
 countries and times. Her unwearied kindness to the 
 English was entirely disinterested ; she knew that it 
 must be so when she encountered danger and weari- 
 ness, and every kind of opposition and difficulty, to 
 bestow it, seasonably, on the objects of her noble be- 
 nevolence. It was delicate, too, in the mode of bestow- 
 ment. No favor was expected in return for it, and yet 
 no sense of obligation was permitted to mar the pleas- 
 ure which it gave. She asked nothing of Smith in 
 recompense for whatever she had done, but the boon of 
 being looked upon as his child. Of her character as 
 a princess, evidence enough has already been fur- 
 nished. Her dignity, her energy, her independence, 
 and the dauntless courage which never deserted her 
 for a moment, were worthy of Powhatan's daughter. 
 
 Indeed, it has been truly said that, well authenti- 
 cated as is the history of Pocahontas, there is ground 
 for apprehension that posterity will be disposed to re- 
 gard her story as a romance. " It is not even improb- 
 able," says Burk, " that considering every thing relat- 
 ing to herself and Smith as a mere fiction, they may 
 vent their spleen against the historian for impairing 
 the interest of his plot by marrying the princess of 
 Powhatan to a Mr. Rolfe, of whom nothing had been 
 previously said, in defiance of all the expectations 
 raised by the foregoing parts of the fable." 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 77 
 
 Young Rolfe, her only offspring was left at Ply- 
 mouth, England, under the care of Sir Lewis Steukley, 
 who undertook to direct his education his tender 
 years making it expedient to remove him to Virginia. 
 As that gentleman was soon after completely beg- 
 gared and disgraced by the part which he took in the 
 proceedings against Sir Walter Raleigh, the tuition of 
 Rolfe passed into the hands of his uncle, Henry Rolfe 
 of London. He became in after years a man of emi- 
 nence and fortune in Virginia, and inherited a consider- 
 able tract of land which had belonged to Powhatan. 
 At his death he left an only daughter, who was mar- 
 ried to Col. Robert Boiling. By him she had an only 
 son, who was father to Col. John Boiling, (well known 
 to many then living;) and several daughters married 
 to Col. Richard Randolph, Col. John Fleming, Dr. 
 William Gay, Mr. Thomas Eldridge and Mr. James 
 Murray. This genealogy is taken from Stith ; and he 
 shows with sufficient minuteness, that this remnant 
 of the imperial family of Virgina, which long survived 
 in a single person, had branched out into a very num- 
 erous progeny, even as early as 1747. The Hon. John 
 Randolph of Roanoke is, if we mistake not, a lineal 
 descendant of the princess in the sixth degree. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Sequel of the history of Opecliancanough. Renewal, by him and Opitchipan 
 of the treaty of peace. Finesse by which he extended his dominion 
 over the Chickahominies. Preparations for war. Causes of it. Pro- 
 found dissimulation under which his hostility was concealed. Indian 
 custom of making Conjurers. Manoeuvres against the English inter- 
 est. The great massacre of 1622 ; circumstances and consequences of 
 it. Particular occasion which led to it. Character and death of Ne- 
 mattanow. Details of the war subsequent to the massacre. Truce 
 broken by the English. New exertions of Opechancanough. Battle of 
 Pamunkey. Peace of 1632. Massacre of 1641. Capture of Opechan- 
 canough by the English. His death and character. 
 
 CAPTAIN ARGALL brought out from England, 
 among other things a variety of presents for 
 Opechancanough, who seems now to have 
 been, notwithstanding that Powhatan was still living, 
 the chief object of the Colony's apprehension and re- 
 gard. He lamented, as the Indians did universally, 
 the untimely fate of their favorite princess; but he 
 also expressed himself satisfied with the care which 
 had been taken of her son. Argall sent messengers 
 to him immediately on his arrival at Jamestown ; and 
 the chieftain paid him a visit, and received his pres- 
 ents. Tomocomo, who returned with Argall, had 
 conceived a dislike for Sir Thomas Dale, and he railed 
 violently against him in particular, as he did against 
 the English in general; but Opechancanough either 
 (78) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 79 
 
 was or affected to be convinced, that his anger and 
 his accusations were equally groundless. On the death 
 of Powhatan, in 1618, both himself and his royal 
 brother Opitchipan renewed the ancient league of the 
 emperor with the English ; under the protection of 
 which, we are told, every man peaceably followed his 
 building and planting, without any remarkable acci- 
 dents or interruption. 
 
 A transaction which occurred in 1616, furnishes the 
 best comment we can give upon the character of 
 Opechancanough. It appears, that President Yeardly 
 at that time undertook to relieve the necessities of 
 the colony by collecting tribute of the Chickahomi- 
 nies. But, for some reason or other, that warlike 
 people refused to pay it; and even sent him an an- 
 swer to his demand, which he construed into an 
 affront. He therefore called upon them, soon after, 
 with a company of one hundred soldiers, well armed. 
 Some threatening and bravado ensued on both sides, 
 and a regular battle was the speedy consequence. 
 The Indians were defeated, and as Yeardly was re- 
 turning to Jamestown with his spoil, Opechanca- 
 nough met him, and artfully effected an agreement 
 with him, that he (Yeardly) would make no peace 
 with the Chickahominies without his consent. He 
 then went to that tribe, and pretended that he had 
 with great pains and solicitation, procured a peace 
 for them. To requite this immense service, as it was 
 now considered, they cheerfully proclaimed him King 
 of their nation, and flocked from all quarters with 
 presents of beads and copper. From this time he was 
 content to be entitled the King of Chickahominy ; and 
 thus was subject to him, with their own free consent, 
 
80 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 a brave and resolute people, who had successfully 
 resisted, for many years the power of every savage 
 and civilized foe. 
 
 The English historians generally agree in repre- 
 senting Opechancanough as an inveterate enemy of 
 the English from first to last. Such may have been 
 the case ; and he might have had what appeared to 
 him reason and occasion enough for his hostility. 
 The character of many of the colonists was but too 
 well calculated to thwart the best intentions on the 
 part of the government, however peaceable and just 
 might be their theory of Indian intercourse. The 
 discontent of Tomocomo might have its effect, too, 
 and especially among the mass of his countrymen. 
 The pledge of harmony which had existed in the 
 person of Pocahontas was forgotten. But above all, 
 Opechancanough was too shrewd a man not to per- 
 ceive, in the alarming disproportion which was daily 
 showing itself between the power of the English and 
 the Indians of Virginia independently of particular 
 provocations a sure indication of the necessity of 
 a new system of defence. 
 
 Subsequent events confirm this conjecture. No 
 better preparations for a war could have been made 
 on the chieftain's part, than he affected in the sub- 
 mission of the Chickahominies. It is not unlikely 
 that he himself instigated, through his satellites, the 
 very insolence whereby they drew upon themselves 
 that severe chastisement from the colony, which in- 
 creased his own influence over them as much as it 
 aggravated their hostility to the English. We find 
 that, in 1618, they committed several outrages of a 
 most flagrant character; and although Opechanca- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 81 
 
 rough, who was applied to for satisfaction promised 
 to send in the heads of the offenders, this was never 
 done, and it may be questioned, whether he was not 
 privy to, or perhaps the chief author and contriver 
 of the whole affair. At all events, historians repre- 
 sent, that his regal authority over the tribe was there- 
 by " firmly riveted and established." 
 
 Still, not only had the artful chieftain given no 
 open cause of offence or evidence of hostility; but he 
 absolutely succeeded, as we have seen, in completely 
 quieting the suspicions of the colonists. In 1620, 
 indeed, we find it recorded in the journal of Mr. Rolfe, 
 that " now Opechancanough will not come at vs that causes 
 vs suspect his former promises." But this little uneasi- 
 ness was wholly done away, on the arrival of Sir Fran- 
 cis Wyatt, the successor of Yeardly, in 1621. That 
 gentleman immediately sent messengers to Opechan- 
 canough and Opitchipan, who both expressed great 
 satisfaction at the accession of the new President, and 
 cheerfully renewed their former leagues with the col- 
 ony. The former also declared himself pleased with 
 the idea of the English inhabiting the country. He 
 proposed, by way of amalgamating the two nations, 
 that some of the white families should settle among 
 his people, while some of his should settle at James- 
 town. A former promise was confirmed, of sending 
 a guide with the English to certain mines represented 
 to be situated above the falls. Nay, so far was the 
 deception carried, that " Mr. Thorpe [the chief mes- 
 senger] thought he perceived more motions of religion 
 in Opechancanough than could easily be imagined, in 
 so great ignorance and blindness. He acknowledged 
 his own religion not to be the right way; and desired 
 
 M. of H. XXX 6 
 
82 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 to be instructed in the Christian faith. He confessed 
 that God loved the English better than them ; and he 
 thought the cause of God's anger was their custom 
 of conjuring their children, and making them black 
 boys." 
 
 It must have been about this time that Opechan- 
 canough took the trouble to send some of his men 
 to a sachem on the eastern shore, for a quantity of 
 poison, peculiar to that region, and which he wished 
 to use in his operations against the English. This 
 may have been the true object of the embassy; and it 
 may also have been but a cover for sounding the dis- 
 position of the eastern tribes towards the colony. 
 Accordingly, it is recorded in the " Observations of 
 Master lohn Pory, secretarie of Virginia, in his trav- 
 els/' that Namenacus, the Sachem of Pawtuxent, made 
 an application to the colony, in 1621, for the privi- 
 lege of trading with them. The request was so far 
 attended to, that the English promised to visit him 
 within six weeks. Now it seems that their commerce 
 with the Indians at this period was mostly carried on 
 by the aid of one Thomas Salvage, an interpreter, and 
 the same man whom Smith had left with Powhatan 
 fourteen years before. The visit took place according 
 to promise, and it was then ascertained that Opechan- 
 canough had employed one of his Indians to kill Sav- 
 age. The pretence was, " because he brought the 
 trade from him to the easterne shore." The truth prob- 
 ably was, that the chieftain was jealous of the English 
 influence among the tribes of that region. 
 
 But the storm which had been gathering ever since 
 the death of the emperor, was at length ready to burst 
 upon the devoted colony. Opechancanough had com- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 83 
 
 Dieted every preparation which the nature of things 
 permitted on his part; and nothing remained, but to 
 strike the great blow which he intended should utterly 
 extinguish the English settlements forever. The 
 twenty-second day of March, 1622 an era but too 
 memorable in Virginian history was selected for the 
 time; and a certain hour agreed upon, to ensure a 
 simultaneous assault in every direction. The various 
 tribes engaged in the conspiracy were drawn together 
 and stationed in the vicinity of the several places of 
 massacre, with a celerity and precision unparalleled 
 in the annals of the continent. Although some of the 
 detachments had to march from great distances, and 
 through a continued forest, guided only by the stars 
 and moon, no single instance of disorder or mistake 
 is known to have happened. One by one, they followed 
 each other in profound silence, treading as nearly 
 as possible in each other's steps, and adjusting the 
 long grass and branches which they displaced. They 
 halted at short distances from the settlements, and 
 waited in death-like stillness for the signal of attack. 
 
 That was to be given by their fellow-savages, 
 who had chosen the same morning for visiting the 
 different plantations, in considerable numbers, for the 
 purpose of ascertaining their strength and precise 
 situation, and at the same time preventing any sus- 
 picion of the general design. This, it should be ob- 
 served, had recently become too habitual a practice 
 with the Indians, to excite suspicion of itself. The 
 peace was supposed to be inviolable. The savages 
 were well known to be in no condition for a war; 
 and had shown no disposition for one. The English, 
 therefore, while they supplied them generally with 
 
84 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 whatever they asked for, upon fair terms, neglected 
 to prepare themselves for defence. They were so 
 secure, that a sword or a firelock was rarely to be 
 met with in a private dwelling. Most of their planta- 
 tions were seated in a scattered and straggling manner, 
 as a water-privilege or a choice vein of rich land in- 
 vited them ; and indeed it was generally thought, the 
 further from neighbors, the better. The Indians were 
 daily received into their houses, fed at their tables, 
 and lodged in their bedchambers ; and boats were even 
 lent them previous to the twenty-second, as they 
 passed backwards and forwards for the very purpose 
 of completing the plan of extirpation. 
 
 The hour being come, the savages, knowing ex- 
 actly in what spot every Englishman was to be found, 
 rose upon them at once. The work of death was com- 
 menced, and they spared neither sex nor age, man* 
 woman nor child. Some entered the houses under colof 
 of trade. Others drew the owners abroad upon various 
 pretences ; while the rest fell suddenly on such as 
 were occupied in their several labors. So quick was 
 the execution, that few perceived the weapon or blow 
 which despatched them. And thus, in one hour and 
 almost at the same instant, fell three hundred and 
 forty-seven men, women and children ; most of them 
 by their own arms, and all, (as Stith observes,) by 
 the hands of a naked and timid people, who durst not 
 stand the presenting of a staff in the manner of a fire- 
 lock, in the hands of a woman. 
 
 Those who had sufficient warning to make re- 
 sistance saved their lives. Nathaniel Causie, an old 
 soldier of Captain Smith's, though cruelly wounded, 
 cleaved down one of his assailants with an axe; upon 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 85 
 
 which the whole party who had surrounded him fled, 
 and he escaped. At another place, two men held 
 possession of a house against sixty Indians. - At War' 
 rasqueke, a Mr. Baldwin, whose wife was so badly 
 wounded that she lay for dead, by repeatedly dis- 
 charging his musket drove off the enemy, and saved 
 both her and himself. Ralph Hamer, the historian, 
 defended himself in his house, successfully, with 
 spades, axes and brickbats. One small family, living 
 near Martin's Hundred, where as many as seventy- 
 three of the English were slain, not only escaped the 
 massacre but never heard anything of it until two or 
 three days afterwards. Jamestown and some of the 
 neighboring places were saved by the disclosure of a 
 Christian Indian named Chanco, who was confiden- 
 tially informed of the design by his brother, on the 
 morning of the 22d. 
 
 Such was the evidence which Opechancanough 
 gave of his deep-rooted hatred of the English. And 
 yet, such was his profound dissimulation, that so late 
 as the middle of March, he treated a messenger sent 
 to him from the President with the utmost civilit}^ 
 assuring him he held the peace so firm, that the sky 
 would fall sooner than it should be violated on his 
 part. Mr. Thorpe, an excellent man, who had taken 
 a peculiar interest in christianizing the Indians, sup- 
 posed that he had gained the especial favor of Opechan- 
 canough by building him a very neat house after 
 the English fashion; in which he took such pleasure, 
 as to lock and unlock the door a hundred times a 
 day. He seemed also to be pleased with the dis- 
 course and company of Mr. Thorpe, and expressed 
 a desire to requite some of his kindness. Neverthe- 
 
86 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 less, the body of this unfortunate man was found 
 among the slain. Only two days before the massacre, 
 the Indians guided a party of the English through 
 the woods, and sent home one who had lived among 
 them to learn their language. On the very morning 
 of the fatal day, as also the evening before, they came, 
 as at other times, unarmed into the houses of the 
 English, with deer, turkeys, fish, fruits and othef 
 things to sell ; and in some places sat down to break- 
 fast with the same persons whom they rose up to 
 tomahawk. 
 
 The particular occasion as the historians consider 
 it of the conspiracy, is too characteristic to be 
 omitted. There was a noted Indian, named Nemat- 
 tanow, who was wont, out of vanity or some un- 
 accountable humor, to dress himself up with feathers, in 
 a most barbarously fantastic manner. This habit ob- 
 tained for him among the English the name of Jack- 
 of -the- feather. He was renowned among his country- 
 men both for courage and cunning, and was esteemed 
 the greatest war-captain of those times. But, what 
 was most remarkable, although he had been in many 
 skirmishes and engagements with the English, he 
 always escaped without a wound. From this accident, 
 seconded by his own ambition and craft, he obtained 
 at length the reputation of being invulnerable and 
 immortal. 
 
 Early in 1622, Nemattanow came to the house of 
 one Morgan, who kept and sold a variety of well- 
 selected commodities for the use of the Indians, 
 Smitten with a strong desire to obtain some of them, 
 Nemattanow persuaded Morgan to accompany him 
 to Pamunkey, on the assurance of an advantageous 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 8? 
 
 traffic at that place. On the way, he is supposed to 
 have murdered the trader. Within two or three days, 
 he returned again to the house of his victim, where 
 were only two stout young men, servants of Morgan, at 
 home. They, observing that he wore their master's 
 cap on his head, inquired after him ; and Jack told them 
 frankly he was dead. 
 
 Confirmed in their previous suspicions by this 
 declaration, they seized him, and endeavored to carry 
 him before Mr. Thorpe, who lived at a neighboring 
 settlement. But their prisoner troubled them so much 
 by his resistance, and withal provoked them so in- 
 tolerably by his bravadoes, that they finally shot him 
 down, and put him into a boat, in order to convey him 
 the remaining seven or eight miles of the way. But 
 the Indian soon grew faint ; and finding himself sur- 
 prised by the pangs of death, he requested his captors 
 to stop. In his last moments he most earnestly be- 
 sought of them two great favors ; first, never to make 
 it known that he was killed by a bullet ; and secondly, 
 to bury him among the English, that the certain knowl- 
 edge and monument of his mortality might still be 
 concealed from the sight of his countrymen. So strong 
 was his ruling passion in death. 
 
 Opechancanough was so far from being a par- 
 dcular friend of Nemattenow that he had given the 
 President to understand, by a messenger, sometime 
 before the transactions just related, that he should 
 consider it a favor in him, if he would take measures 
 to have Jack despatched. The popularity of the war- 
 captain was the only reason why he forebore to take 
 such measures himself. Nevertheless, with a consum- 
 mate wiliness he availed himself of this same popular- 
 
88 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ity, on the death of his rival as Jack seems to have 
 been the better to inflame and exasperate the Indians 
 against the whites. He affected to be excessively 
 grieved at his death, and for some time was unusually 
 loud in his declarations of resentment and his threats 
 of revenge. A messenger came from the President, to 
 ascertain what was intended by these demonstrations 
 of hostility, and again all was quiet as before ; nothing 
 could induce the Sachem to violate the vast regard 
 which he had always entertained for the English. 
 About the same time he gave them liberty, by negotia- 
 tion, to seat themselves any where on the shores of the 
 rivers, within his dominions, where the natives had no 
 villages. The treaty he had already made for the dis- 
 covery of mines, as well as for mutual friendship and 
 defence, was at his request engraven on a brass plate, 
 and fastened to one of the largest oaks growing upon 
 his territories, that it might be had always in remem- 
 brance. 
 
 For several years after the massacre, a war was 
 waged between the colonists and the savages, so in- 
 veterate and ferocious as to transmit a mutual abhor- 
 rence and prejudice to the posterity of both. The for- 
 mer obtained at this period the name of the Long- 
 Knives, by which they were distinguished to a very 
 late day in the hieroglyphic language of the natives. 
 Every precaution and preparation was taken and made 
 upon both sides, in view of a desperate conflict. OP 
 ders were issued by the government, from time to time, 
 directing a general vigilance and caution against the 
 enemy who now engrossed all thought; and especially 
 prohibiting the waste of arms and ammunition. The 
 remnants of the settlements were drawn together 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 89 
 
 into a narrower compass. Of eighty plantations all 
 were abandoned but six, which lay contiguous at the 
 lower part of James river; and three or four others, of 
 which the owners or overseers, refusing to obey public 
 orders, intrenched themselves, and mounted cannon 
 for their own separate defence. 
 
 A considerable space of territory between the Vir- 
 ginians and the savage tribes, was wasted with fire, for 
 the sole purpose of laying bare the stealthy approaches 
 of the enemy, who, under cover of the long grass and 
 underwood, and the gigantic shield of the oak and cy- 
 press, had heretofore been able to advance unperceived, 
 and rise up in attack almost from under the very feet 
 of the English. But even a boundary of fire could not 
 always restrain the fury, nor elude the skill, of the In- 
 dians. Wisely content with short and sudden incur- 
 sions, for plunder and revenge rather than conquest, 
 they frequently succeeded in carrying off the corn and 
 cattle of the colonists, and sometimes their persons 
 into captivity. They were themselves, on the other 
 hand, hunted like beasts of prey. No prisoners were 
 made ; no quarter was given. 
 
 From the time of the massacre, Opechancanough 
 seems no longer to have taken the least trouble to con- 
 ceal his hostility. He returned a haughty answer to 
 the first demand made upon him for the redemption of 
 the English captives ; and trampled under foot the pic- 
 ture of the English monarch, which was sent to him as 
 a compliment. Late in 1622, when Captain Croshaw 
 was trading on the Potomac, with the only tribe which 
 was now willing to carry on commerce, he had 
 scarcely landed from his vessel, when a messenger ar- 
 rived from Opechancanough to Japazaws, (king of the 
 
90 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Patawomekes,) bearing two baskets of beads as a royal 
 present, and soliciting the king to murder his new visit- 
 ants on the spot. He was assured, that whether he 
 did his part or not, before the end of two moons, there 
 should not be an Englishman left in the whole coun- 
 try. Japazaws first disclosed the message to his guest ; 
 and then, after thinking and talking of it two days, 
 made answer that the English were his friends, and 
 Opitchipan (the Powhatan emperor) his brother; and 
 therefore there should be no more blood shed between 
 them by his means. The beads were returned by the 
 messenger. 
 
 After this, the colonists had their season of success ; 
 and more Indians are said to have been slain during 
 the autumn and winter of 1622-3, than had ever be- 
 fore fallen by the hands of the English, since the set- 
 tlement of Jamestown. But the course adopted by the 
 civilized party sufficiently indicates the desperate state 
 of their affairs. They availed themselves of a strata- 
 gem worse than barbarous in its principle, however 
 circumstances might be supposed in this case to justify 
 it. A peace was offered to the enemy and accepted; 
 but just as the corn which the latter were thus induced 
 to plant, was beginning to grow ripe, the English fell 
 upon them in all directions at a given hour of an ap- 
 pointed day, killed many, and destroyed a vast quan- 
 tity of provisions. Several of the greatest war-cap- 
 tains were among the slain ; and for some time Ope- 
 chancanough himself was reported to be one. This 
 rumor alone, so long as believed, was equal to a vic- 
 tory ; " for against him" says the historian, " was this 
 stratagem chiefly laid." 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 91 
 
 Such language furnishes evidence enough of the 
 apprehension which his movements and reputation 
 had excited. But he gave more substantial reasons for 
 the respect which he still wrested from his enemy, by 
 his prowess. A battle took place at his own village 
 of Pamunkey, in 1625, in which the main body of the 
 savages numbered eight hundred bow-men, independ- 
 ently of detachments from remote tribes ; and though 
 the English, led on by Governor Wyatt in person, suc- 
 ceeded in driving the enemy from the field, they were 
 unable to pursue them even as far as Matapony. That 
 town was their principal depot and rallying point, and 
 the acknowledged inability to reach it, though but four 
 miles distant, proves that the battle was by no means 
 decisive. It appears from this affair, too, that all the 
 efforts of the English, during an inveterate war of 
 three years, had not driven the tribes even from the 
 neighborhood of their own settlements. What was 
 more discouraging, Opechancanough was not to be de- 
 ceived a second time by the arts of diplomacy. In 
 1628, the governor's proclamation, which announced 
 the appointment of commissioners to negotiate with 
 the enemy, declared expressly an intention to repeat 
 the stratagem of 1622; but the plan failed of success, 
 and the Pamunkies and Chickahominies most imme- 
 diately under the influence of Opechancanough were 
 more troublesome at this period than ever before. 
 
 Four years afterwards, the same tribes made an 
 irruption so furious and alarming, that every twen- 
 tieth man was despatched, under the command of the 
 governor, to parley with them a term in the records 
 which shows forcibly, as Burk observes, the respect 
 this brave people had inspired. But Opechancanough 
 
92 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 was still implacable; and when, in the course of 1632, 
 a peace w r as at last formally concluded, so little de- 
 pendance was placed on that circumstance, that even 
 while the commissioners on both sides were adjusting 
 the preliminaries, a proclamation was issued, forbid- 
 ding the colonists either to parley or trade with the 
 Indians. 
 
 This truce or treaty was understood to be on both 
 sides a temporary expedient ; but the chieftain was the 
 first to take advantage of it. During nine years he 
 remained quietly making his preparations for the con- 
 flict which his sagacity told him must some day or 
 other be renewed. The hour at length arrived. The 
 colony was involved in dissensions. Insurrections had 
 taken place. The governor was unpopular, and the 
 people were unprepared and heedless. Opechanca- 
 nough lost not a moment in concerting measures for 
 effecting at a single blow the bloody, but in his bosom 
 noble design, which had already engrossed the solici- 
 tude and labor of so large a part of his life. 
 
 He was now advanced in years, but his orders were 
 conveyed with electric rapidity to the remotest tribes 
 of the great confederacy associated under his influ- 
 ence. With the five nearest his own location, and 
 most completely under his control, he resolved to make 
 the principal onset in person. The more distant sta- 
 tions were assigned to the leading chiefs of the several 
 nations ; and thus the system of a war that raged from 
 the mouth of the Chesapeake to the heads of all the 
 great rivers, which flow into it, was so simple as to 
 render confusion impossible. The whole force was let 
 loose upon the entire line of the five English settle- 
 ments at nearly the same instant of time. Five hun- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 93 
 
 dred persons perished in the massacre. Many others 
 were carried into captivity. The habitations, corn, 
 household utensils, instruments of farming, everything 
 essential to comfort, and almost every thing necessary 
 to life, was consumed by fire. But for circumstances 
 in the situation of the settlements, over which Ope- 
 chancanough had no control, and which he could not 
 guard against, the fate of Virginia had been decided by 
 this single blow. 
 
 As it w r as, every other labor and thought were sus- 
 pended in the terrors of an Indian war. The loom was 
 abandoned. The plough was left in its furrow. All 
 who were able to bear arms were embodied as a mili- 
 tia for the defence of the colony; and a chosen body, 
 comprising every twentieth man, marched into the 
 enemy's country under Governor Berkeley's personal 
 command. The operations of the war, which raged 
 thenceforth without any intermission until the death 
 of Opechancanough and that alone was expected to 
 end it are detailed by no historian. The early Vir- 
 ginian records which remain in manuscript are alto- 
 gether silent respecting this period; and the meagre 
 relation of Beverly is the only chronicle which has sur- 
 vived the ravages of time. This circumstance of itself 
 sufficiently indicates the confusion and dismay of the 
 era. 
 
 Opechancanough, whose last scene now rapidly ap- 
 proaches, had become so decrepid by age, as to be 
 unable to walk, though his spirit, rising above the 
 ruins of his body, directed, from the litter upon which 
 his Indians carried him, the onset and the retreat of 
 his warriors. The wreck of his constitution was at 
 length completed by the extreme fatigues encountered 
 
94 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 in this difficult and laborious service. His flesh be- 
 came macerated ; his sinews lost their elasticity ; and 
 his eyelids were so heavy that he could not see, unless 
 they were lifted up by his faithful attendants. In this 
 forlorn condition he was closely pursued by Berkeley 
 with a squadron of horse, and at length surprised and 
 taken. He entered Jamestown, for the first time in 
 his life, as the most conspicuous figure in the conquer- 
 or's triumph. 
 
 To the honor of the English, they treated their 
 distinguished captive with the tenderness which his 
 infirmities demanded, and the respect which his ap- 
 pearance and talents inspired. They saw the object of 
 their terror bending under the load of years, and shat- 
 tered by the hardships of war; and they generously 
 resolved to bury the remembrance of their injuries in 
 his present melancholy reverse of fortune. His own 
 deportment was suitable to his former glory, and to 
 the principles of an Indian hero. He disdained to ut- 
 ter complaint or to manifest uneasiness. He believed 
 that tortures were preparing for him ; but instead of 
 any consequent reduction in his haughtiness, his lan^ 
 guage and demeanor bespoke the most absolute defi v 
 ance and contempt. 
 
 But generally he shrouded himself in reserve ; and 
 as if desirous of showing his enemies that there was 
 nothing in their presence even to arouse his curiosity, 
 and much less to excite his apprehensions, he but 
 rarely permitted his eyelids to be lifted up. He con- 
 tinued in this same state several days, attended by his 
 affectionate Indian servants, who had begged permis- 
 sion to wait upon him. But his long life of near an 
 hundred years was drawing to its close. He was 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 95 
 
 basely shot through the back by one of the soldiers 
 appointed to guard him, from no other provocation 
 than the recollection of his ancient hostility. 
 
 To the last moment his courage remained unbro- 
 ken. The nearer death approached, the more care he 
 seemed to use in concealing his dejection, and pre- 
 serving the dignity and serenity of his aspect. Only a 
 few minutes before he expired, he heard an unusual 
 bustle in the room where he was confined. Having 
 ordered his attendants to raise his eyelids, he discov- 
 ered a number of persons crowding round him, for the 
 purpose of gratifying an unseasonable curiosity. The 
 dying chief felt the indignity, but disdaining to notice 
 the intruders he raised himself as well as he could, and 
 with a voice and air of authority, demanded that the 
 governor should be immediately brought in. When the 
 latter made his appearance, the chieftain scornfully 
 told him, that " had it been his fortune to have taken 
 Sir William Berkeley prisoner, he should not have exposed 
 him as a show to his people." 
 
 Such was the death of Opechancanough. His char- 
 acter is too well explained by his life to require any 
 additional comment. His own countrymen were more 
 extensively and more completely under his influence 
 than they had been under that of Powhatan himself. 
 This is the more remarkable from the fact that Opit- 
 chipan, whose age and family at least entitled him to 
 some deference, retained the nominal authority of em- 
 peror so long as he lived. Beverley says, that Ope- 
 chancanough was not esteemed by the Indians to be 
 in any way related to Powhatan ; and that they repre- 
 sented him as a prince of a foreign nation residing at 
 a great distance somewhere in the Southwest. He 
 
96 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 might be an emigrant or an exile from the empire of 
 Mexico, or from some of the tribes between that re- 
 gion and Virginia. The same historian describes him 
 as a man of large stature, noble presence and extraor- 
 dinary parts. Stith calls him a politic and haughty 
 prince. Burk entitles him the Hannibal of Virginia. 
 
 He was perhaps the most inveterate and trouble- 
 some enemy which any of the American colonies have 
 ever met with among his race. The general causes 
 which made him so, independently of his inherent tal- 
 ents and principles, are to be looked for in the situa- 
 tion of the tribes under his command, and especially 
 in the relations existing between them and the colo- 
 nists. He saw, that either the white man or the red 
 man must sooner or later establish an exclusive supe- 
 riority; and he very reasonably decided upon doing 
 all in his power to determine the issue in favor of his 
 country and himself. But more particular provoca- 
 tions were not wanting. Even after the peace of 1636, 
 great as the anxiety was for its preservation, " the 
 subtle Indian," says Beverley, " resented the encroach- 
 ments on them by Hervey's grants. A late historian ex- 
 presses himself in warmer terms. It was not enough, 
 he writes, that they had abandoned to their invaders 
 the delightful regions on the seashore, where their 
 fathers had been placed by the bounty of heaven 
 where their days had rolled on in an enchanting round 
 of innocence and gayety where they had possessed 
 abundance without labor, and independence without 
 government. The little that remained to them was 
 attempted to be wrested from them by the insatiable 
 avarice and rapacity of their enemies. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Biography of other Virginian chieftains. Opitchipan. Some particulars 
 respecting Tomocomo. His visit to England, interview with Captain 
 Smith, and return to America. Japazaws, chief sachem of the Pato- 
 womekes. His friendship for the English. 111 treatment which he 
 received from them. Totopotomoi, successor of Opechancanough. 
 His services. His death in 1656. Notices of several native chiefs of 
 North Carolina. Granganimo, who dies in 1585. Menatenon, king of 
 the Chowanocks. Ensenore, father of Granganimo ; and Wingina, his 
 brother. Plot of the latter against the Hatteras colony. His death. 
 Comment on the Carolinian Biography. 
 
 THE characters we have heretofore noticed are 
 far the most prominent in the Indian history 
 of Virginia. Indeed, they are almost the only 
 ones which have been preserved with distinctness 
 enough to excite much interest in them as individuals. 
 Still, there are several which ought not to be wholly 
 passed by; and the want of a vivid light and coloring 
 in some of them, may perhaps be compensated, at 
 least, by the appearance of milder qualities than are 
 predominant in the portraitures we have hitherto 
 sketched. 
 
 The extant information respecting certain members 
 of the Powhatan family, whose history has not been 
 concluded, may soon be detailed. Opitchipan is not 
 mentioned subsequently to the great battle of Pamun- 
 key, in 1625, when for the first tinre he appears to have 
 
 M. of H. xxx 7 (97) 
 
98 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 \ 
 
 placed himself at the head of his countrymen, in oppo- 
 sition to the English. As the name of Opechanca- 
 nough is not even alluded to in the records of that 
 period, it may be presumed he was accidentally absent. 
 Generally, he seems to have been out of favor with his 
 reigning brother, and to have contended against his 
 influence, such as it was, in all his designs hostile to 
 the colony. Opitchipan disapproved of the great mas- 
 sacre of 1622 ; and early in the ensuing season we find 
 him sending in Chanco, the Christian convert who dis- 
 closed the conspiracy in that case, with a message to 
 Governor Wyatt, that if he would send ten or twelve 
 men, he would give up all the English prisoners in his 
 possession (which, as we have seen, Opechanca- 
 nough had refused to do.) He even promised to de- 
 liver up his implacable brother if brother he was 
 bound hand and foot. " Captain Tucker," says Stith, 
 " was accordingly sent upon this service, but without 
 the desired success. However, Opitchipan sent back 
 Mrs. Boyce, naked and unapparelled, in manner and 
 fashion like one of their Indians." So insignificant, 
 even with these savages, was the power of mere fam- 
 ily rank, as opposed to the authority of reputation and 
 talent. 
 
 One of the chief counsellors and priests of Pow- 
 hatan, and the husband of his daughter Matachanna, 
 was Tocomoco, who went to England with Pocahon- 
 tas, and returned with Captain Argall. Smith, who 
 calls him Vttamatomakkin, says he was held by his 
 countrymen to be " a very understanding fellow/' 
 The same inference might be made from the commis- 
 sion which Powhatan gave him, on the occasion just 
 alluded to, to take the number of the people in Eng- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 99 
 
 land, and to bring him an exact and minute account of 
 their strength and resources. Tomocomo set about 
 that business with equal simplicity and zeal. Immedi- 
 ately on his arrival at Plymouth, he procured a long 
 stick, whereupon he cut a notch with his knife for 
 every man he should see. But he soon became weary 
 of his task, and threw his stick away. When the em- 
 peror inquired, on his return, how many people there 
 were, he could only compare them to the stars in the 
 sky, the leaves on the trees, and the sands on the sea- 
 shore. 
 
 Mr. Purchas, (compiler of the famous collection of 
 voyages,) was informed by President Dale, with whom 
 Tomocomo went out from Virginia, that Opechanca- 
 nough, and not Powhatan, had given him his instruc- 
 tions; and that the object of them was not so much" 
 to ascertain the population, as to form an estimate of 
 the amount of corn raised, and of forest trees growing 
 in England. Nomantack and the other savages who 
 had previously visited that country, being ignorant, 
 and having seen little of the British empire except 
 London, had reported a very large calculation of the 
 men and houses, while they said almost nothing about 
 the trees and corn. It was therefore a general opinion 
 among the Indians, that the English had settled in 
 Virginia only for the purpose of getting supplies of 
 these two articles ; and in confirmation, they observed 
 their continual eagerness after corn, and the great 
 quantities of cedar, clapboards, and wainscoting, 
 which they annually exported to England. Tomo- 
 como readily undeceived his countrymen upon this 
 point. Landing in the west of England in summer, 
 and travelling thence to London, he of course saw 
 
100 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 evidences of great agricultural and rural plenty and 
 wealth ; and was soon obliged to abandon the account 
 he had undertaken to keep his arithmetic failing him 
 on the first day. 
 
 In the British metropolis, he met accidently with 
 Captain Smith ; and the two immediately renewed 
 their ancient acquaintance. Tomocomo told the cap- 
 tain, that Powhatan had given orders to request of 
 him if indeed he was not dead, as reported the favor 
 of showing Tomocomo the English God, and also their 
 King, Queen and prince, of whom they had formerly 
 conversed so often together. " As to God," as Stith 
 expresses it, " Captain Smith excused and explained 
 the matter the best he could." As to the king, he told 
 Tomocomo he had already seen him, which was true. 
 But the Indian denied it; and it was not without some 
 trouble that Smith, by mentioning certain circum- 
 stances, convinced him of the fact. The Indian then 
 assumed a most melancholy look, " Ah ! " said he, 
 " you presented Powhatan a white dog which he fed 
 as himself. Now, I am certainly better than a white 
 dog; but your king has given me nothing." Such an 
 arch sense, adds the historian, had this savage of the 
 ' stingy ' treatment he had received at court. Nothing 
 is known of Tomocomo after his return to America. 
 
 The most constant friend and ally of the Virginian 
 English, for twenty years from the settlement of 
 Jamestown, was Japazaws, the Sachem or, as the old 
 writers call him, the king of' the Potomacs or Pato- 
 womekes. He was a person of great influence and 
 authority on the whole length of the river which bears 
 to this day the name of his tribe ; being in fact a kind 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 101 
 
 of petty emperor there, and always affecting to treat 
 Powhatan and the other emperors rather as brethren 
 than superiors. He had two hundred bowmen in his 
 own village, at the date of the great massacre. The 
 entire population which was more or less subject to 
 him, appears, though somewhat indistinctly, from 
 Smith's account of his first interview with the Sachem 
 and his people, in 1608. 
 
 " The 16th of lune," he writes, " we fell with the 
 riuer Patowomek. Feare being gone and our men re- 
 couered, we were al content to take some paines to 
 know the name of that seuen-mile broad riuer. For 
 thirtie miles sayle we could see no inhabitants. Then 
 we were conducted by two Salvages vp a little bayed 
 creeke towards Onawmanaient, where al the woodes 
 were layd with ambuscadoes to the number of three 
 or foiire thousand Salvages, so strangly paynted, grimed 
 and disguised, shouting, yelling and crying as so many 
 spirits from hell could not haue showed more terrible. 
 Many brauadoes they made, but to appease their furie, 
 our captaine prepared with as seeming a willingness 
 as they to encounter them. But the grazing of our 
 bullets vpon the water (many being shot on purpose 
 they might see them) with the ecco of the woodes, so 
 amazed them, as downe went their bowes and ar- 
 rowes; and (exchanging hostages) lames Watkins 
 was sent six myles vp the woodes to their King's habi- 
 tation. We were kindly vsed of those Salvages of 
 whom we vnderstood they were commanded to betray 
 us by the direction of Powhatan." After this, he was 
 supplied with plenty of excellent provisions by the 
 subjects of Japazaws and furnished by that sachem 
 himself with guides to conduct his party up some of 
 
102 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the streams. Finally he " kindly requited this kinde 
 king and al his kinde people." 
 
 Thus auspiciously commenced a valuable acquaint* 
 ance; and it is eminently worthy of observation, with 
 what fidelity of friendship the English were repaid 
 for the courtesy shown to this intelligent barbarian, 
 and for the justice done to his subjects. Ever after- 
 wards, they sustained the English cause, and supplied 
 the English necessities, when all the rest of their coun- 
 trymen were willing neither to treat nor trade upon 
 any terms. AVhen Argall arrived, in 1614, for example, 
 " he was sent to the riuer Patawomeake," (as Master 
 Hamer calls it,) " to trade for corne, the Salvages 
 about vs hauing small quarter, but friends and foes as 
 they found aduantage and opportunitie." Then, Ar- 
 gall " hauing entred into a great acquaintance with 
 Japazaws, an old friend of Captaine Smith's, and so 
 to all our nation, ever since hee discouevered the coun- 
 trie," the negotiation ensued which resulted, as we 
 have heretofore shown in getting possession of the 
 person of Pocahontas, and thereby ultimately effect- 
 ing a general peace. 
 
 The warmth of the Sachem's gratitude perhaps 
 caused him to lay too little stress on the hospitality 
 due to a princess and a guest if guest she was but 
 the struggle which attended the bargain, and the sor- 
 row which followed it, both show that Japazaws was 
 not without principle or feeling. The argument which 
 probably turned the balance in his mind, respected the 
 prospect of a treaty to be brought about by means of 
 Pocahontas, in which she and Powhatan had much 
 more interest than himself. The bright copper kettle 
 was a subordinate consideration, though not a slight 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 103 
 
 one. We have seen, that the Powhatan Sachems were 
 willing to barter almost their birthright for a pound 
 or two of blue beads. At all events, Japazaws must 
 have credit for the delicate arrangement by which the 
 princess was first notified of her forlorn condition. 
 " lapazaws treading oft on the Captaine' s foot, to remem- 
 ber he had done his part, the captaine, when he saw 
 his time, persuaded Pocahontas to the gun-roome, 
 faining to have some conference with lapazaws, which 
 was only that shee should not percieue hee was any way gull- 
 tie of her captivitie" 
 
 In 1619, lapazous so called by master John Rolfe 
 came to Jamestown, for the first time, to desire that 
 two ships might be sent to trade in his river, corn be- 
 ing more abundant than for a long time before. Par- 
 ties were sent, accordingly; but, for some reasons, 
 not explained, they met with indifferent success in the 
 commerce, and so concluded to take eight hundred 
 bushels of corn by force. That Japazaws was not 
 much in fault, would appear from the circumstance 
 that he had no part in the great conspiracy of 1622; 
 immediately after which we find, that Captain Cro- 
 shaw went up the Potomac, " where he intended to 
 stay and trade for himself by reason of the long ac- 
 quaintance he had with this King, that, so earnestly 
 entreated him now to be his friend, his countenancer 
 his captaine and director against the Pazaticans, the 
 Nacotchtanks and Moyaons, his mortall enemies." 
 
 Croshaw gladly availed himself of this invitation, 
 first for the sake of conducting his commerce to ad- 
 vantage, and secondly, for the purpose of " keeping 
 the king as an opposite to Opechancanough." It was 
 soon afterwards, that the chieftain last named sent his 
 
104 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 messengers to Japazaws, with presents of beads, and 
 proposals of alliance against the English both which 
 were rejected. Then we are told, that " Captaine 
 Hamer arriuing with a ship and a pinnace a Patawo- 
 meke, was kindly entertained both by him [Croshaw] 
 and the king." The two were living snugly together 
 at this time; using common efforts for supplying the 
 colony or at least the captain on the one hand, and 
 for suppressing the king's enemies, as named above, 
 by the machinations of an exile Sachem, who had taken 
 refuge at Potomac from the discontent of his own sub- 
 jects. Angry with Japazaws for not assisting him in 
 the recovery of his dominion, he forged an artful story 
 about Japazaws and his tribe having recently leagued 
 with Opechancanough. 
 
 That story he told to one Isaac Madison, who had 
 just been sent to Potomac by Governor Wyatt, with 
 a reenforcement of thirty men, and a commission ex- 
 pressly charging him to assist the Patowomekes 
 against their enemies, and to protect them and their 
 corn to his utmost power. To give his falsehood the 
 air of probability, this savage lago cunningly com- 
 mented upon certain circumstances which had re- 
 cently occurred. Madison was at length so much 
 alarmed, that sending for Japazaws to his own strong- 
 house (which Japazaws himself had assisted him in 
 fortifying,) he locked in the Sachem, his son, and their 
 four attendants, set over them a guard of soldiers, and 
 then made a violent and bloody assault upon the neigh- 
 boring village of the Indians. The king remonstrated, 
 but in vain. He denied all the charges brought against 
 him, to no purpose. Madison then led him and the 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 105 
 
 other five prisoners to his ship, promising to set them 
 at liberty as soon as his men were safely on board. 
 The king meanwhile prevented his subjects from an- 
 noying the English on the way. But, contrary to all 
 good faith, the captives were carried to Jamestown, 
 and detained there till the following October, when 
 they were taken home by Captain Hamer and ran- 
 somed with a quantity of corn. Madison was prose- 
 cuted afterwards for his infamous conduct, but never 
 punished. The Patowomekes must of course have 
 been estranged by it from the English interest, though 
 there is no evidence of their ever opposing them in 
 arms. Japazaws kept himself aloof, and is no more 
 mentioned in history. 
 
 The death of Opechancanough was a signal for the 
 dissolution of the famous confederacy which it had 
 required the whole genius of that chieftain and his pre- 
 decessor to form and maintain. The tribes relapsed 
 into their former state of separate government ; and 
 no formidable leader ever again roused them to union. 
 The nominal successor of Opechancanough was Toto- 
 potomoi, whom we do not find even mentioned until 
 after a lapse of ten years from his accession. The 
 ancient records of Virginia show, that in 1651, an Act 
 of Assembly was passed, assigning and securing to 
 Totopotomoi such lands on York river as he should 
 choose ; and commissioners were appointed to conduct 
 him and his attendants in safety to Jamestown, and 
 from that place home again, after the adjustment of 
 the treaty. The termination of his reign and life was 
 as follows. Five years subsequent to the date last men- 
 tioned, and after an interval of profound peace with 
 the Indians which had continued for fifteen years, in- 
 
106 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 formation was suddenly received at Jamestown, that 
 a body of inland or mountain savages, called Recha- 
 hecrians, to the number of six or seven hundred, had 
 seated themselves near the falls of James river, with 
 the apparent intention of forming a regular settlement. 
 The motives of this singular movement have never 
 been explained. It is only known, that it gave no lit- 
 tle alarm to the colonists ; and that active preparations 
 were made for driving the new enemy back to their 
 own territories. A campaign ensued, and a battle was 
 fought; and in this battle fell the king of the Powha- 
 tans, gallantly fighting in aid of the English, at the 
 head of one hundred warriors. Victory declared for 
 the Rechahecrians, but a peace was soon after nego- 
 tiated with them on terms satisfactory to both parties. 
 Totopotomoi has at least his name immortalized 
 by the author of Hudibras, who introduced him (to 
 make out a rhyme,) in his noted allusion to a certain 
 scandal upon the New England colonists. 
 
 A precious brother having slain, 
 
 In time of peace, an Indian, 
 
 # * " * * * 
 
 The mighty Tottipotimoy 
 Sent to our elders an envoy, 
 Complaining sorely of the breach 
 
 Of league, held forth by brother Patch. 
 * * * 
 
 For which he craved the saints to render 
 Into his hands, or hang, the offender. 
 But they, maturely having weighed, 
 They had no more but him of the trade 
 A man that served them in a double 
 Capacity, to preach and cobble 
 Resolved to spare him; yet to do 
 The Indian Hogan Mogan too 
 Impartial justice, in his stead did 
 Hang an old weaver that was bed-rid. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 107 
 
 We may certainly be amused with the wit of the 
 satirist in this case, without insisting upon a strict 
 proof of his statements. 
 
 Such is the meagre biography of the last of the 
 [Virginian chieftains. We shall close this chapter with 
 some particulars respecting two or three of the prin- 
 cipal Indians known, at an earlier date, to the first 
 colonists of Carolina. One of these was Wingina, the 
 king of a considerable tract of territory called Wingan- 
 dacoa, bordering upon Albemarle Sound. Another was 
 Granganimo, the brother of Wingina. Not much in- 
 formation is extant concerning either of these persons ; 
 but the little which is known derives an additional 
 interest both from the style oi the ancient writers of 
 that period, and from the circumstance that the for- 
 eign settlements which led to this partial acquaintance 
 were among the very first upon the continent. 
 
 On the 27th of April, 1584, Philip Amidas and 
 Arthur Barlow sailed from the west of England, as 
 commanders of two barks, fitted out by Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, for the purpose of exploring a vast tract of 
 country granted to him by a patent from Queen Eliza- 
 beth, of the March previous. Taking the usual route 
 by way of the Canaries and West Indies, they ap- 
 proached the coast of the Southern States, (now so 
 called,) on the second of July, (enjoying for a day or 
 two " a most delicate sweete smell " from the shore.) 
 After sailing one hundred and twenty miles north, 
 they entered the first ( harbor they met with, returned 
 thanks to God for their safe arrival, went to view the 
 neighboring land, and then took possession of it, for- 
 mally, " for the Queene's most excellent majestic." 
 " Which done," writes our ancient chronicler, " they 
 
108 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 found their first landing-place sandy and low, but so 
 full of grapes that the very surge of the sea some- 
 times overflowed them ; of which they found such 
 plenty in all places, on the sand, the greene soyle and 
 hils, as in the plaines, as well on euery little shrub as 
 also climbing towards the tops of high cedars, that 
 they did thinke in the world were not the like abund- 
 ance." 
 
 This beautiful spot was the island of Wococon, 
 supposed to be the same now called Ocracock. The 
 newly arrived adventurers wandered over every part 
 of it with mingled feelings of amazement and delight. 
 Goodly woods covered the green bosom of its quiet 
 valleys. There, we are told, were the highest and red- 
 dest cedars of the world, " bettering them of Azores 
 or Libanus. There, were Pynes, Cypres, Saxefras, the 
 Lentisk that beareth mastick, and many other of excel- 
 lent smelle and qualitie. Then there were deere and 
 conies, and fowl in such incredible abundance, that 
 the discharge of a musket would raise a flock of them 
 from under the very feet of the travellers, with a 
 noise, ' as if an army of men had shouted altogether.' >: 
 
 On the third day, three of the natives appeared in 
 a canoe, one of whom went fearlessly aboard an Eng- 
 lish bark. The crew could hold no conversation with 
 him ; but they gave him a shirt, a hat, wine and meat 
 These he liked exceedingly; and so having satisfied 
 his curiosity with gazing, he paddled off to the dis- 
 tance of a half a mile. He there loaded his boat with 
 fish in a short time, then landed on a point near by, 
 divided his booty into two heaps" pointing one heap 
 to the ship, and the other to the pinnace " and then 
 departed. This pacific interview was followed with 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 109 
 
 happy consequences. The next day Granganimo ap- 
 peared, with forty or fifty of his people. He came to 
 the point with his train, and seated himself upon a 
 mat. A party of the English went ashore, well armed ; 
 but instead of showing any indications of suspicion 
 or fear, he made signs to them to be seated at his 
 side stroking their heads and breasts, as also his 
 own, no doubt in testimony of his good will. He then 
 made a long speech to his new visitants probably of 
 welcome and they presented diverse gewgaws to him 
 in return, which he politely accepted. He was so much 
 regarded by his attendants, that none of them would 
 sit or even speak in his presence, with the exception 
 of four. To them the English gave other presents; 
 but they were immediately put into Granganimo's 
 hands, who signified, with an air of dignity, that every- 
 thing of this nature must be at his own disposal. 
 
 At the next interview, the English entertained him 
 with the display of many commodities calculated to 
 dazzle and surprise him. But none of them struck his 
 fancy like a large bright pewter dish or plate, and a 
 copper kettle, for the former of which he gave twenty- 
 deer-skins, and for the latter fifty. He made a hole in 
 the plate, and hung it about his neck for a breastplate. 
 Much other " truck " passed between the parties, in 
 such good humor and good faith, that in the course of 
 a day or two a meeting took place on board one of 
 the vessels, and the Sachem ate, drank and made 
 merry with the English, like one of their own num- 
 ber. Not long afterwards, he brought his wife and 
 children, who are described as slender, but well-fav- 
 ored and very modest. The wife wore, as her husband 
 did, a band of white coral on her forehead, and in her 
 
110 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ears bracelets of pearl, " hanging down to her middle, 
 of the size of large peas." Her female followers had 
 pendants of copper; and the noblemen as those who 
 seemed to be leading characters among the males are 
 entitled had five or six in each ear. All were dressed 
 alike in skins. The women wore their hair long on 
 both sides of the head ; the men, only on one. 
 
 The next step in the acquaintance, and a very nat- 
 ural one, was that great numbers of people began to 
 come in from various parts of the neighboring coast, 
 bringing skins, coral and different kinds of dyes for 
 sale ; none of which, however, any of them but the 
 noblemen (" them that wore red copper on their heads, 
 as he did,") would undertake to barter in presence of 
 Granganimo himself. The character of the Sachem 
 showed itself more and more to advantage at every 
 interview. With a very considerate and civil regard 
 for the comfort of the English, he never paid them a 
 visit without previously signifying the number of 
 boats he should bring with him, by fires kindled upon 
 the shore ; so that his strength might be exactly esti- 
 mated. He invariably kept, with perfect punctuality, 
 every promise which he made in the course of traffic, 
 as he also regularly sent to the vessels, daily, a gratu- 
 itous fresh supply of provisions generally a brace of 
 bucks, conies, rabbits, and fish ; and sometimes melons, 
 walnuts, cucumbers, pears and other roots and fruits. 
 Finally, he invited the English to visit him at his own 
 residence, on the north end of an island called Roan- 
 oke, distant about twenty miles from the harbor first 
 made by the colonists. 
 
 The invitation was promptly accepted by a party 
 of eight of the English. The found Granganimo's 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 111 
 
 village to consist of nine houses, built of cedar, and 
 fortified with sharp palisades, " and the entrance like 
 a turnpik." The Sachem himself was absent when 
 they arrived; but his wife came out eagerly to meet 
 them. Some of her people she commanded to draw 
 their boat ashore, that it might not suffer from the 
 sea's dashing; others to carry the English on their 
 backs through the surf, and put away their oars under 
 cover. Meanwhile she conducted her guests into a 
 house containing five apartments. As they were wet 
 with rain, she had a large fire kindled in an inner apart- 
 ment, washed their feet and their clothes, and then 
 served up a bountiful dinner in another room. " She 
 set on the bord standing along the house somewhat 
 like frumentie, sodden venison and rosted fish ; and in 
 like manner mellons raw, boyled rootes, and fruites 
 of diuers kindes." 
 
 She manifested the utmost anxiety for the comfort 
 of her guests. While they were eating, two or three 
 Indians happened to enter, with bows and arrows, 
 upon which the English started up and laid hold of 
 their arms. She perceived their distrust, but instead 
 of being offended, caused the weapons of the intrud- 
 ers to be snapped asunder, and themselves to be 
 beaten. Still the company did not feel perfectly at 
 home, and towards evening they retired to their boat. 
 This grieved her not a little ; but she sent them a sup- 
 per. When she saw them jealously pushing off some 
 rods from the shore for a safe anchorage, she sent 
 them mats to shelter them from the rain, and directed 
 a guard of her people to watch during the night upon 
 the shore. On the whole, it has been justly observed, 
 that there is scarcely in all history a picture of unaf- 
 
 
112 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 fected and generous hospitality more striking than 
 this. 
 
 Wingina, meanwhile, lay at his chief town, ill of 
 wounds he had recently received in battle ; and the 
 English saw nothing of him. Nor was any thing more 
 seen of Granganimo, until April of the next year, 
 when Sir Richard Grenville brought out a colony of 
 one hundred and eight persons, whom he left on the 
 Carolinian shore at Hatteras. Granganimo then came 
 on board his ship in his usually friendly and fearless 
 manner. But it was his last visit. He died during the 
 year 1585. 
 
 This event produced a great alteration of affairs 
 in the colony. They were settled on Roanoke, an 
 island at the mouth of Albemarle Sound, and that situ- 
 ation made it quite convenient for them to visit the 
 coast and the country in various directions, which 
 they were instructed to do. They explored, there- 
 fore, in the course of their expeditions, as far south 
 as beyond Pamlico river; and as far north as the terri- 
 tory of the Chesapeaks, on the bay of their own name. 
 They also went up Albemarle Sound and Chowan 
 river, one hundred and thirty miles, to a nation of In- 
 dians called Chowanocks, living above the junction of 
 the Nottaway and the Meherrin. 
 
 We mention these particulars for the sake of intro- 
 ducing Menatenon, the king of the tribe last named. 
 His province is described as the largest on the whole 
 length of the river; and the town of Chowanock, it is 
 said, could bring seven hundred bowmen into the 
 field. Menatenon was lame owing probably to a 
 wound in battle but writes an old chronicler " he 
 had more understanding than all the rest." He 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 113 
 
 amused the colonists, and especially their governor, 
 Mr. Lane, with a story about a copper mine and a 
 pearl fishery, somewhere along the coast. He also 
 gave a strange account of the head of the river Mora- 
 tuc, (now called the Roanoke,) where lived a king (he 
 affirmed,) whose country bordered on the sea, and 
 who took such an abundance of pearls from it, that not 
 only his skins and his noblemen's, but his beds and 
 his houses were garnished with that ornament. Mr. 
 Lane expressed a wish to see a specimen of them ; but 
 Manatenon readily replied, that the king of that rich 
 country reserved them expressly for trading with white 
 men. 
 
 The source of the Moratuc was described as spring- 
 ing out of a vast rock, standing so near the sea, that 
 in storms the surges beat over it. As for the copper, 
 that he said was generally collected in great bowls, 
 covered with skin, at the place particularly described, 
 and yielded two parts of metal for three of ore. There 
 might be a shadow of foundation for some of these re- 
 lations; but the chief object of Menatenon who was 
 a captive among the colonists at the time of his mak- 
 ing them must have been to render himself an impor- 
 tant man in their eyes, and perhaps to lead them into 
 some hazardous enterprise. Hearing them talk much 
 about mines and pearls, and the South Sea which 
 were all hobbies with the credulous adventures of that 
 period he adapted his discourse accordingly, and 
 his eager hearers were simple enough to believe every 
 thing he asserted. 
 
 They even undertook the proposed expedition in 
 search of the copper mine and the South Sea; and 
 had actually advanced nearly two hundred miles up 
 
 M. of H.-XXX-S 
 
114 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the country before famine and fatigue, and the hostil- 
 ity of innumerable savages compelled them to turn 
 about. It seems that Wingina had heard of this expe- 
 dition perhaps from Menatenon and like that 
 cunning though crippled Sachem, he did all in his 
 power to make it both specious in prospect and fatal 
 in result. After having said every thing to excite 
 the curiosity and avarice of the colonists, till he saw 
 them determined to go, he sent word to the different 
 powerful tribes living on their proposed route, that 
 the English were coming against them; and that the 
 sooner they suppressed this new enemy, the better. 
 Hence it was, that the party several times came very 
 near being cut off by the savages; and hence, instead 
 of being plentifully supplied with choice provisions, 
 as expected, they were glad to live several days upon 
 two dogs ' boiled down with saxefras leaves/ 
 
 Fortunately for the colony, several circumstances 
 concurred in the period of distress which succeeded 
 this enterprise, to prevent Wingina from makirg open 
 war upon them. One was the influence of his father, 
 Ensenore, the best friend, next to Granganimo, whom 
 the English had ever found among the natives. But 
 the safe return of the expedition made a stronger im- 
 pression upon the mind of Wingina. Rumors had 
 been circulated that the party were all starved or slain ; 
 and then he had " begun to blaspheme our God that 
 would suffer it, and not defend vs ; so that old Ense- 
 nore had no more credit for us for he began by al 
 the deuises he could to inuade vs." But the return of 
 the expedition after having defeated all enemies as- 
 swaged a little his deuises, and brought Ensenore in 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 115 
 
 respect againe that our God was good, and wee their 
 friends, and our foes should perish, &c." 
 
 The last observation suggests another circumstance 
 which went to restrain the enmity of the chieftain. 
 This was a mortal epidemic, of unknown character, 
 which prevailed exclusively among the Indians, and 
 carried off great numbers. The colonists had the 
 art to make these simple beings regard it as punish- 
 ment for the hostility hitherto manifested towards the 
 English. Wingina himself, who lived in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of the colony, was exceedingly over- 
 come by his superstition. Twice he was very sick, 
 and came near dying. He then dismissed the priests 
 who usually attended him, and sent for some of the 
 English to pray for him, and to be as Master Heriot 
 expresses it, in his " Observations " upon this voy- 
 age "a meenes to our God that hee might Hue with 
 him after death." He supposed that he had offended 
 the Deity of the English by his blasphemy. They 
 were themselves in great repute, of course. " This 
 marueilous accident in all the country wrought so 
 strange opinion of vs that they could not tell, whether 
 to thinke vs Gods or men." Of the two, they consid- 
 ered the former most probable, for the whites having 
 no women among them, the inference in their minds 
 was, that instead of being born of women, they were 
 men of an old generation many years past, and risen 
 again from immortality. All which, we are told, so 
 changed the heart of Pemissapan ( a name assumed 
 by Wingina since the death of Granganimo ) that, 
 at Ensenore's suggestion, when the English were re- 
 duced to extremities for want of food, he sent in his 
 
116 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 subjects to make fish-weirs for them, and to plant 
 the fields they had hitherto thought of abandoning. 
 
 But in April, 1586, Ensenore died ; and as Wingina 
 had now completely recovered his health, and most 
 of the enemies which the colony had among the tribes 
 took this opportunity of renewing their machinations, 
 he relasped into his former hostility. Arrangements 
 were made for collecting seven or eight hundred In- 
 dians, under pretence of solemnizing the funeral of 
 Ensenore. Half of them were to lie in ambush for 
 those of the colonists who daily straggled along the 
 coast in pursuit of crabs, fish, and other provisions. 
 The other detachment was to assault the settlement 
 of Roanoke, at a signal by fire in the night. Even the 
 particular houses were allotted to be burned by par- 
 ticular persons or parties. Twenty were charged to 
 beset the dwelling of Governor Lane, and fire the 
 reeds which covered it; this would bring him out, 
 naked and unarmed, and then they could despatch him 
 without danger. The same order was made for Mr. 
 Heriot's, and various other habitations, which were 
 to be fired at the same instant. In the meantime, as 
 it was of great consequence to reduce the strength of 
 the colony by dispersing it, Wingina provided for 
 breaking up the weirs, and strictly prohibited all trade 
 in provisions. He kept himself aloof also with a 
 similar view. 
 
 The plan was well concerted, and not without suc- 
 cess. The Governor was soon obliged to send off 
 twenty of the colonists to a part of the coast called 
 Croatan, merely that they might collect the means of 
 their own sustenance. Ten more were sent to Hatte- 
 :ras for the same purpose; and other small companies 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 117 
 
 scattered themselves about on the seacoast, to gather 
 oysters and roots. But the ingenuity of the civilized 
 party, driven to desperation, finally prevailed against 
 the chieftain's naked shrewdness. The Governor sent 
 him word he was going to Croatan, to meet an English 
 squadron which had touched there with supplies, 
 covering the object of this fabrication by also request- 
 ing the service of a few Indians to fish and hunt for 
 the colony. Desirous of gaining time, Wingina 
 promptly replied, that he would himself visit Mr. Lane 
 in eight days. No doubt he expected to complete 
 his conspiracy in this interval. 
 
 But the Governor was not so to be deceived. He 
 resolved, on the contrary, to pay the Sachem a visit 
 the next day after receiving his answer. Previous to 
 that, however, he proposed to surprise the Indians at 
 Wingina's old settlement on the island (Roanoke) and 
 to take their canoes from them. But they, too, were 
 on the alert, so entirely had Wingina prepared them 
 for emergencies. " For when I sent to take the 
 canows," says Mr. Lane in his Journal, " they met 
 one going from the shore, overthrew her, and cut 
 off two Salvages' heads; wherevpon the cry arose, 
 being by their spies perceived; for they kept as good 
 watch oner vs as we oner them." A skirmish ensued, 
 and the Indians fled into the woods. The next morn- 
 ing, the Governor crossed over to a place on the main 
 called Dassamonpeak, and sent Wingina word he was 
 going to Croatan, and having certain complaints to 
 make to him respecting his subjects, would be happy 
 to call upon him by the way. On the faith of this 
 proposal, the chieftain, with several of his principal 
 men, met the Governor's party on their route. Bat 
 
118 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 no conversation took place. The Governor gave an 
 appointed watchword to his men on approaching, and 
 they fired upon the Indians. Wingina was shot 
 through with a pistol-bullet, and fell. Recovering his 
 feet immediately, he fled, and was near escaping his 
 pursuers, when an Irish boy shot him a second time. 
 He was soon overtaken, and then beheaded on the 
 spot. 
 
 We do not feel disposed to dismiss these biogra- 
 phies of the Carolinian Sachems, short and slight as 
 they are, without offering such comment as they 
 most obviously suggest. It appears singular, at first 
 sight, that so striking a difference of feeling towards 
 the English should be manifested by the two brothers. 
 Perhaps there was fault on both sides. Master Heriot 
 admits, that some of the colony, " towards the latter 
 end showed themselves too furious, in slaying some 
 of the people in some Townes, vpon cause that on 
 our part might haue been borne with more mildnesse." 
 We have seen with how little ceremony the Governor 
 proceeded to take summary measures. He was driven 
 to extremities, indeed, but that in itself was no fault 
 of the Indians they were not under obligation to 
 supply him, though it appears that they sometimes 
 did, gratuitously. 
 
 Perhaps a remark should be made respecting a 
 provocation which occurred when the colony was first 
 left by Grenville. The English went about ranging 
 the coast from tribe to tribe, and from town to town 
 which very circumstance, besides being probably 
 accompanied by other trespasses, and at all events 
 wholly unlicensed by the natives, could hardly be 
 looked upon as either friendly or just. Then, " at 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 113 
 
 Aquascosack the Indians stole a silver cup, wherefore 
 we burnt the towne, and spoyled their corne, and so re- 
 turned our fleet at Tocokon." This was certainly 
 no way to make friends, and those who are familiar 
 with the Carolinian history subsequent to Wingina's 
 death, will remember that the injury was by no means 
 forgotten. Finally, setting aside the attempt to jus- 
 tify either party, it will be noticed, by such as may take 
 the pains to look into the annals of this period, that 
 the greater part of the information which the Governor 
 received of the Sachem's motives and movements 
 came through the medium of that shrewd cripple 
 Menatenon, and his son Shiko. Whatever the facts 
 might be, then, the evidence was clearly inadequate 
 if not wholly inadmissible. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Synopsis of the New England Indians at the date of the Plymouth Settle- 
 ment. The Pokanoket confederacy. The Wampanoag tribe. Their 
 first head-Sachem known to the English, Massasoit. The first inter- 
 view between him and the whites. His visit to Plymouth, in 1621. 
 Treaty of peace and friendship. Embassy sent to him at Sowams, by 
 the English. Anecdotes respecting it. He is suspected of treachery 
 or hostility, in 1622. His sickness in 1623. A second deputation visits 
 him. Ceremonies and results of the visit. His intercourse with other 
 tribes. Conveyances of land to the English. His death and charac- 
 ter. Anecdotes. 
 
 THE clearest, if not the completest classification 
 of the New England Indians, at the date of 
 the settlement of Plymouth, includes five prin- 
 cipal confederacies, each occupying their own territory, 
 and governed by their own chiefs. The Pequots inhab- 
 ited the eastern part of Connecticut. East of them 
 were the Narraghansetts, within whose limits Rhode 
 Island, and various smaller islands in the vicinity, 
 were comprised. The Pawtucket tribes were situated 
 chiefly in the southern section of New Hampshire, 
 the Massachusetts tribes around the bay of their own 
 name ; and between these upon the north and the 
 Narraghansetts upon the south, the Pokanokets claimed 
 a tract of what is now Bristol county, (Rhode Island) 
 bounded laterally by Taunton and Pawtucket rivers 
 (120) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 for some distance, together with large parts of Ply- 
 mouth and Barnstable. 
 
 This confederacy exercised some dominion over 
 the Indians of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and 
 over several of the nearest Massachusetts and Nipmuck 
 tribes; the latter name designating an interior terri- 
 tory, now mostly within the boundaries of Worcester 
 county. Of the Pokanokets, there were nine separate 
 cantons or tribes, each goverened by its own petty 
 sagamore or squaw, but all subject to one grand- 
 sachem, who was also the particular chief of the Wam- 
 panoag canton, living about Montaup. 
 
 The first knowledge we have of the Wampanoags, 
 and of the individuals who ruled over them and the 
 other Pokanokets, is furnished in the collections of 
 Purchas, on the authority of a Captain Demrer, the 
 Master Thomas Dirmire spoken of by John Smith in 
 his New England Trialls, as " an vnderstanding and in- 
 dustrious gentleman, who was also with him amongst 
 the Frenchmen/' Dermer was sent out from England 
 in 1619, by Sir F. Gorges, on account of thePresident 
 and Council of New England, in a ship of two hundred 
 tons. He had a Pokanoket Indian with him, named 
 Squanto, one of about twenty who had been kidnapped 
 on the coast by Captain Hunt, in 1614, and sold as 
 slaves at Malaga for twenty pounds a man. Squanto 
 and a few others of the captives were either rescued 
 or redeemed, by the benevolent interposition of some 
 of the monks upon that island. " When I arrived," 
 says Dermer in his letter to Purchas, " at my savage's 
 native country, finding all dead, I travelled along a 
 day's journey to a place called Nummastaquyt, where, 
 finding inhabitants, I despatched a messenger a day's 
 
122 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 journey further west, to Pacanokit, which bordereth 
 on the sea ; whence came to see me tzvo kings attended 
 with a guard of fifty armed men, who being well satis- 
 fied with that my savage and I discoursed unto them % 
 (being desirous of novelty) gave me content in what- 
 soever I demanded. Here I redeemed a Frenchman, 
 and afterwards another at Masstachusitt, who threes 
 years since escaped shipwreck at the northeast of 
 Cape Cod." One of these two kings, as the sachems 
 were frequently entitled by the early writers, must 
 have been Massasoit, so well known afterwards to 
 the Plymouth settlers ; and probably the second was 
 his brother Quadepinah. The " native country " of 
 Squanto was the vicinity of Plymouth, where the In- 
 dians are understood to have been kidnapped. Thou- 
 sands of them, there, as well as elsewhere along the 
 whole coast of New England, had been swept off by 
 a terrible pestilence. 
 
 The first appearance of Massasoit, after the set- 
 tlement of Plymouth, was upon the 22d of March, 
 1621, a week previous to which some information 
 concerning him had been gathered from an Indian 
 named Samoset, who entered the village with great 
 boldness, and greeted the inhabitants with a " wel- 
 come." On the second occasion, he came in with four 
 others, having engaged to introduce some of the 
 Wampanoags, to traffic in furs, among whom was 
 Squanto, at that time probably the sole remaining 
 native of Plymouth. This party brought a few fish 
 and skins to sell, and informed the English that the 
 great sachem, with his brother and his whole force, 
 were near at hand. Massasoit soon appeared upon 
 the neighbouring hill, with sixty men. As they seemed 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 123 
 
 unwilling to approach nearer, Squanto was despatched 
 to ascertain their designs ; and they gave him to under- 
 stand, that they wished some one should be sent to 
 hold a parley. 
 
 Edward Winslow was appointed to this office, 
 and he immediately carried presents to the sachem, 
 which were willingly accepted. He addressed him 
 also in a speech of some length, which the Indians 
 listened to with the decorous gravity characteristic 
 of the race, ill-explained as it was by the interpreter. 
 The purport of the speech was, that King James 
 saluted the sachem, his brother, with the words of 
 peace and love; that he accepted him as his friend 
 and ally; and that the Governor desired to see him, 
 and to trade and treat with him upon friendly terms. 
 Massasoit appears to have made no special reply to 
 this harangue, for the sufficient reason, probably, that 
 he did not precisely comprehend the drift of it. He 
 paid more attention to the sword and armor of Wins- 
 low while he spoke ; and when he had ceased speaking, 
 signified his disposition to commence trade forthwith 
 by buying them. They were not, however, for sale ; and 
 so, leaving Winslow in the custody of his brother, 
 he crossed a brook between him and the English, 
 taking with him twenty of the Wampanoags, who were 
 directed to leave their bows and arrows behind them. 
 Beyond the brook he was met by Captain Standish 
 *ind another gentleman, with an escort of six armed 
 men, who exchanged salutations with him, and 
 attended him to one of the best houses in the village. 
 Here, a green rug was spread upon the floor, and three 
 or four cushions piled on it for his accommodation. 
 The Governor then entered the house, followed by 
 
124 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 several soldiers, and preceded by a flourish of a drunf 
 and trumpet, a measure probably recommended by 
 Standish, and which answered the purpose of delight- 
 ing and astounding the Wampanoags, even beyond 
 expectation. It was a deference paid to their sover 
 eign, which pleased as well as surprised ^hem. The 
 sachem and the Governor now kissed each other, and 
 after the interchange of certain other civilities, sat 
 down together, and regaled themselves with what 
 Neal calls an entertainment. It consisted, it seems^ 
 chiefly of " strong waters, a thing the savages love 
 very well ; and the sachem took such a large draught 
 of it at once, as made him sweat all the while he staid." 
 A treaty was concluded upon this occasion, the term?- 
 of which were as follows. 
 
 1. That neither he, nor any of his (Massasoit's) 
 should injure or hurt any of their people. 
 
 2. That if any of his did any hurt to any of theirs, 
 he should send the offender, that they might punish 
 him. 
 
 3. That if any thing were taken away from any 
 of theirs, he should cause it to be restored, and they 
 should do the like to his. 
 
 4. That if any did unjustly war against him, they 
 would aid him; and if any did war against them, he 
 should aid them. 
 
 5. That he should send to his neighbor confed- 
 erates, to inform them of this, that they might not 
 wrong them, but might be likewise comprised in these 
 conditions of peace. 
 
 6. That when his came to them upon any occa- 
 sion, they should leave their arms behind them. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 125 
 
 7. That so doing, their Sovereign Lord, King 
 james, would esteem him as his friend and ally. 
 
 " All which," says Morton, and some other annal- 
 ists agree with him, " he liked very well, and withal, 
 at the same time, acknowledged himself content to 
 become the subject of our Sovereign Lord the King 
 aforesaid, his heirs and successors ; and gave unto 
 him all the lands adjacent, to him and his heirs for- 
 ever." This acknowledgment of the sovereignty of 
 the King, if it really made a part of the agreement, 
 certainly deserved a place as a distinct article ; being 
 by far more important than all the others. The grant 
 of land, and this grant constituted the entire title 
 of the Plymouth settlers, as against the natives, is 
 confirmed by subsequent transactions, and especially 
 by the acts of Massasoit. But his submission to the 
 authority of King James, as a subject to a sovereign, 
 is more doubtful ; nor does it by any means accord 
 with the seventh express article. That the treaty 
 itself also was not preserved precisely as it was prob- 
 ably understood, may be inferred from the variations 
 of it given by Mourt in his Relation. According to 
 his sixth article, for example, a just reciprocity is 
 maintained, by providing that the English should leave 
 their pieces behind them in their interviews with the 
 Indians. This distinction between alliance and sub- 
 jection, at least in the mind of one of the parties, 
 seems to have been too much overlooked. 
 
 Such, however, was the first treaty made with the 
 Indians of New England, a passage in its history 
 of great interest. It was made upon peaceable and 
 honorable terms. The Indians came in voluntarily to 
 make it; and though they received as a consideration 
 
126 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 for the immense territory granted at the time, only a 
 pair of knives, and a copper chain with a jewel in it 
 for the grand sachem; and a knife, a jewel to hang in 
 his ear, a pot of strong water, a good quantity of bis- 
 cuit, and some butter for Quadepinah, yet were all 
 parties satisfied with the substance as they were grati- 
 fied by the ceremonies of the agreement. It is pleasing 
 to learn from history, that this simple negotiation 
 was remembered and adhered to on both sides for the 
 unparalleled term of half a century; nor was Massa- 
 soit, or any of the Wampanoags during his lifetime, 
 convicted by the harshest revilers of his race, of having 
 violated, or attempted to violate, any of its plain, just, 
 and deliberate provisions. 
 
 The two parties seem to have regarded each other 
 on this occasion with the curiosity of equal interest 
 and minuteness ; for while the sachem was inspect- 
 ing the armor of Winslow, and his Wampanoags 
 exerting themselves to blow the trumpet in imitation 
 of their hosts, the English by-standers, on the other 
 hand, were making their own observations. The writer 
 of the Journal of a Plantation settled at Plymouth, describes 
 Massasoit as " a very lusty man, in his best years, an 
 able body, grave of countenance, and spare of speech." 
 In his attire, he is said to have differed little from the 
 rest of his followers, excepting that he wore a large 
 chain of white bone-beads about his neck, which was, 
 probably, one of the royal insignia; and that he had 
 suspended from it behind, a little bag of tobacco, which 
 lie drank, says the writer, " and gave us to drink." His 
 appearance otherwise does not seem to have been 
 particularly elegant ; his face being painted of a sad 
 red, like murrey, and both head and face so oiled that 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 127 
 
 he " looked greasily/' His only weapon was a long 
 knife, swinging at his bosom by a string. His atten- 
 dants were probably arrayed for this great occasion 
 with peculiar attention to etiquette ; some of them 
 being painted black, others red, yellow, or white ; some 
 Wearing crosses and " other antick works ;" and sev- 
 eral of them dressed in furs of skins of various descrip^ 
 tions. Being tall, strong men also, and the first natives 
 whom most of the Colonists had ever seen near at 
 hand, they must have made them a somewhat impos- 
 ing, as well as interesting spectacle. , 
 
 Leaving a few of their number among the whites, 
 as hostages, the Wampanoags retired to the woods 
 about half a mile distant and spent the night; and 
 Winslow acted as their hostage. The English were 
 not yet prepared, it would seem, to put faith in the 
 professions of savages ; for they kept strict watch all 
 night, besides retaining the security just named. 
 Their guests, on the contrary, enjoyed themselves 
 quietly in the woods ; and there were some of their 
 wives and children with them, who must have come 
 upon this courteous visit from a distance of forty 
 miles. The sachem sent several of his people the 
 next morning, to signify his wish that some of his new 
 friends would honor him with their presence. Stan- 
 dish and one Alderton " went venturously " among 
 them, and were cordially, if not royally welcomed 
 with an entertainment of tobacco and ground-nuts. 
 " We cannot yet conceive," continues our still unsat- 
 isfied informant, " but that he is willing to have peace 
 with us ; for they have seen our people sometimes alone 
 two or three in the woods at work and fowling, when 
 they offered them no harm, as they might easily have 
 
128 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 done." They remained at their encampment till late 
 in the forenoon; the Governor requiting the sachem's 
 liberality, meanwhile, by sending an express messenger 
 for his large kettle, and filling it with dry peas. " This 
 pleased them well ; and so they went their way ;" the 
 one party as much relieved, no doubt, as the other was 
 gratified. 
 
 We meet with Massasoit again in July 1621; an 
 embassy being then sent to him at his own residence, 
 Montaup or Sowams. This embassy consisted of Ed- 
 ward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins ; and the objects 
 of it were, says Mourt, " that forasmuch as his subjects 
 came often and without fear upon all occasions amongst us" 
 so the English went now to visit him, carrying 
 with them a coat from the Governor to his friend the 
 sachem, as a token of good will, and a desire to live 
 peaceably. It was farther intimated, though with great 
 delicacy, that whereas his people came frequently and 
 in great numbers to Plymouth, wives, children, and 
 all, and w r ere always welcome, yet being but strangers 
 in the land, and not confident how their corn might 
 prosper, they could no longer give them such enter- 
 tainment as they had done, and still wished to do. If 
 Massasoit himself, however, would visit them, or any 
 special friend of his, he should be welcome. A request 
 was then made, that the Pokanokets, who had furs, 
 should be permitted to dispose of them to the Colo- 
 nists. The Governor wished him also to exchange 
 some corn for seed with the Plymouth people. 
 
 The remaining article in this message is more illus- 
 trative of the relations understood to exist and to be 
 desirable between the parties. On the first arrival of 
 the Colonists at Cape Cod, it seems they had found 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 129 
 
 corn buried there in the ground. Seeing no inhabitants 
 in the neighborhood, " but some graves of the dead 
 newly buried/' they took the corn, with the intention 
 of making full satisfaction for it whenever it became 
 practicable. The owners of it were supposed to have 
 fled through fear. It was now proposed, that these 
 men should be informed by Massasoit, if they could 
 be found, that the English were ready to pay them 
 with an equal quantity of corn, English meal, or " any 
 other commodities they had to pleasure them withal ;" 
 and full satisfaction was offered for any trouble which 
 the sachem might do them the favor to take. This 
 proposal was equally politic and just. 
 
 The visiters met with a generous, though humble 
 hospitality, which reminds one of the first reception 
 of Columbus by the West-Indian islanders. They 
 reached Namaschet about three o'clock in the after- 
 noon : and there, we are told, the inhabitants enter- 
 tained them with joy, in the best mannef they were 
 able; giving them sweet bread and fish, with a less 
 acceptable accompaniment of boiled musty acorns. 
 Various civilities were exchanged after this primitive 
 and savory repast, as ancient, by the way, as the early 
 Greeks, and some time was passed very pleasantly 
 in shooting a crow at a considerable distance, to the 
 vast astonishment and amusement of the Indians. 
 They were then directed to a place about eight miles 
 distant, (Middleborough) where, says the Journalist, 
 they should find " more store and better victuals." 
 They were welcomed, on their arrival, by a party who 
 were catching great numbers of fine bass in Taunton 
 river, and who gave them a supper and a breakfast in 
 
 M. of H. XXX 9 
 
130 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the morning, besides the privilege of lodging in the 
 woods near by over night. 
 
 Attended by six of their hosts next day, they were 
 assisted in passing the river ; and here they met with 
 the first indications of ill-will, in the persons of two 
 old Indians upon the opposite bank. These two, espy- 
 ing them as they entered the river, ran swiftly and 
 stealthily among the high grass to meet them ; and 
 then, with loud voices and drawn bows, demanded of 
 the strangers who they were ; " but seeing we were 
 friends," it is added, " they welcomed us with such 
 food as they had, and we bestowed a small bracelet 
 of beads on them." The remarks which follow this, ; 
 upon the conduct of the six attendants, we cannot for- 
 bear citing at large, irrelevant to our main purpose as 
 they are. " When we came to a small brook," says 
 our accurate writer, " where no bridge was, two of 
 them desired to carry us through of their own accords ; 
 also fearing we were, or would be weary, offered to 
 carry our pieces; also if we would lay off any of our 
 clothes, [it being excessively hot,] we should have 
 them carried ; and as the one of them had found more 
 special kindness from one of the messengers, and the 
 other savage from the other, so thev showed their 
 thankfulness accordingly, in affording us help and 
 furtherance in the journey." 
 
 After one more entertainment on the way, our trav- 
 ellers reached Sowans. Massasoit was not at home, 
 but arrived soon after, and was saluted by his visiters 
 with a discharge of musketry. He welcomed them 
 kindly after the Indian manner,^ took them into his 
 lodge, and seated them by himself. They then deliv- 
 ered their message and presents, the latter comprising 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 131 
 
 a horseman's coat of red cotton, embroidered with fine 
 lace. The sachem mounted this superb article without 
 delay, and hung the chain, which they also gave him, 
 about his neck, evidently enjoying the unspeakable 
 admiration of the Wampanoags, who gazed upon him 
 at a distance. He now answered the message, clause 
 after clause ; and particularly signified his desire to 
 continue in peace and friendship with his neighbors. 
 He gathered his men around him in fine, and ha- 
 rangued them ; they occasionally confirming what he 
 said by their customary ejaculations. Was not he, 
 Massasoit, commander of the country about them? 
 Was not such a town within his dominions and were 
 not the people of it his subjects and should not they 
 bring their skins to him, if he wished it? 
 
 Thus he proceeded to name about thirty of his small 
 settlements, his attentive auditors responding to each 
 question. The matter being regularly settled, he 
 lighted tobacco for his guests, and conversed with them 
 about their own country and king, marvelling, above 
 all, that his Majesty should live without a squaw. As 
 it grew late, and he offered no more substantial enter- 
 tainment than this, no doubt for the sound reason, 
 that he had nothing to offer, his guests intimated a 
 wish to retire for the night. He forthwith accomo- 
 dated them, with himself and his wife, they at one end 
 and his visiters at the other, of a bed consisting of a 
 plank platform, raised a foot or two from the ground 
 and covered with a thin mat. Two of his chief men, 
 probably by way of compliment, were also stationed 
 upon the same premises ; and this body-guard per- 
 formed their pressing duty of escort so effectually, 
 that no other circumstances were necessary to make 
 
132 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the honored guests " worse weary of their lodging than 
 they had been of their journey." 
 
 On the following day, many of the petty chiefs, 
 with their subjects, came in from the adjacent country, 
 and various sports and games were got up for the en- 
 tertainment of the English. At noon, they partook, 
 with the sachem and about forty others, of a meal of 
 boiled fish shot by himself, (probably with arrows.) 
 They continued with him until the next morning, when 
 they departed, leaving Massasoit " both grieved and 
 ashamed " that he could not better entertain him. 
 Very importunate he was, adds the journalist, to have 
 them stay with him longer; but as they had eaten but 
 one meal for two days and a night, with the exception 
 of a partridge, which one of them killed ; and what 
 with their location at night, the " savages' barbarious 
 singing of themselves to sleep," mosquitoes without 
 doors, and other trifling inconveniences within, could 
 not sleep at all ; they begged to be excused, on the 
 score of conscience, Sunday being near at hand, not 
 to mention that they were growing light-headed, and 
 could hardly expect, if they stayed much longer, to be 
 able to reach home. 
 
 Massasoit's friendship was again tested in March, 
 1622, when an Indian, known to be under Squanto's 
 influence, came running in among a party of colonists, 
 with his face gashed, and the blood fresh upon it, call- 
 ing out to them to flee for their lives, and then looking 
 behind him as if pursued. On coming up, he told them 
 that the Indians, under Massasoit, were congregating 
 at a certain place for an attack upon the Colony; that 
 he had received his wounds in consequence of oppos- 
 ing their designs; and had barely escaped from them 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 133 
 
 with his life. The report occasioned no little alarm; 
 although the correctness of it was flatly denied by 
 Hobamock, a Pokanoket Indian resident at Plymouth, 
 who recommended that a messenger should be sent 
 secretly to Sowams, for the purpose of ascertaining 
 the truth. This was done, and the messenger, find- 
 ing everything in its usually quiet state, informed Mas- 
 sasoit of the reports circulated against him. He was 
 excessively incensed against Squanto, but sent his 
 thanks to the Governor for the opinion of his fidelity 
 which he understood him to retain; and directed the 
 messenger to assure him, that he should instantly ap- 
 prize him of any conspiracy which might at any future 
 time take place. 
 
 That the declarations of Massasoit, upon this occa- 
 sion, were far from being mere words of compulsion 
 or of courtesy, is abundantly proved by his conduct 
 during the next season, 1623. Early in the spring of 
 that year, news came to Plymouth, that he was very 
 sick at Sowams ; and it was determined to send Mr. 
 Winslow to visit him once more, in token of the friend- 
 ship of the colonists. That gentleman immediately 
 commenced his journey, being provided with a few 
 cordials, and attended by " one Master John Hampden, 
 a London gentleman, who then wintered with him, and 
 desired much to see the country/' no doubt the same 
 character so eminently distinguished afterwards in the 
 politics of England. 
 
 They heard, at various places on their route, that 
 the sachem was already dead; and their guide, Hoba- 
 mock, indulged himself all the way in the most un- 
 bounded grief. They found him still living, however, 
 on their arrival; and the multitude of dependents and 
 
134 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 friends who thronged his lodge, made way as fast as 
 possible for their admittance and accommodation. He 
 appeared to be reduced to the last extremities. Six or 
 eight women were employed in charing his cold limbs, 
 and the residue of the numerous company were exert- 
 ing themselves to the utmost, meanwhile, in making 
 what Winslow rather uncharitably calls " such a hell- 
 ish noise as distempered those that were well." He 
 had the good sense to wait for the conclusion of the 
 ceremony; and the exhausted performers being then 
 satisfied they had done all that in them lay for the bene- 
 fit of the patient, one of them appraised him of the 
 arrival of the English. 
 
 " Who have come?" muttered the sachem, still con- 
 scious, though his sight was wholly gone. They told 
 him Winsnow had come, (as they generally substituted 
 n for the English /.) " Let me speak with him then," 
 he replied, " Let me speak one word to him." Wins- 
 low went forward to the matted platform where he 
 lay, and grasped the feeble hand which the sachem, 
 informed of his approach, held out to him. " Art thou 
 Winsnow?" he whispered the question again, (in his 
 own language,) "Art thou Winsnow?" Being readily 
 answered in the affirmative, he appeared satisfied of 
 the fact. But "O Winsnow," he added mournfully, 
 " I shall never see thee again !" 
 
 Hobamock was now called, and desired to assure 
 the sachem of the Governor's kind remembrance of 
 him in his present situation, and to inform him of the 
 articles they had brought with them for his use. He 
 immediately signified his wish to taste of these ; and 
 they were given him accordingly, to the great delight 
 of the people around him. Winslow then proceeded' 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 135 
 
 to use measures for his relief, and they wrought a 
 great change in him within half an hour. He recov- 
 ered his sight gradually, and began to converse, re- 
 questing his friend Winslow, among other things, to 
 kill him a fowl, and make him some English pottage, 
 such as he had seen at Plymouth. This was done for 
 him, and such other care taken as restored his strength 
 and appetite wonderfully within the day or two of 
 Winslow's stay. 
 
 His expressions of gratitude, as well as those of 
 his delighted attendants, were constant, as they were 
 evidently warm from the heart. Finally, as his guests 
 were about to leave him, he called Hobamock to his 
 side, and revealed to him a plot against the colonists, 
 recently formed, as he understood, among certain of 
 the Massachusetts tribes, and in which he had himself 
 been invited to join. He also recommended certain 
 summary measures for the suppression of the plot, 
 and concluded with charging Hobamock to communi- 
 cate the intelligence to Winslow on the way to Ply- 
 mouth. It may be added here, that these measures 
 were subsequently executed by Standish, and were suc- 
 cessful. The conspiracy itself was occasioned by the 
 notorious and outrageous profligacy of the banditti of 
 " Master Weston," at Weymouth. 
 
 The leading particulars in the residue of Massasoit's 
 life, may soon be detailed. In 1632, he was assaulted 
 at Sowams, by a party of Narraghansetts, and obliged 
 to take refuge in an English house. His situation was 
 soon ascertained at Plymouth, and an armed force be- 
 ing promptly dispatched to his succor, under his old 
 friend Standish, the Narraghansetts retired. About 
 the year 1639, he probably associated his eldest son, 
 
136 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Moanam or Wamsutta, with him in the government; 
 for they came together into open court at Plymouth, 
 it is said, on the 28th of September of that year, and 
 desired that the ancient treaty of 1621 might remain 
 inviolable. They also entered into some new engage- 
 ments, chiefly going to secure to the Colony a pre- 
 emptive claim to the Pokanoket lands. " And the 
 whole court," add the records, " in the name of the 
 whole government for each town respectively, did then 
 likewise ratify and confirm the aforesaid ancient league 
 and confederacy." 
 
 From this time, the names of the father and son 
 are sometimes found united, and sometimes not so, in 
 instruments by which land was conveyed to the Eng- 
 lish. In 1649, the former sold the territory of Bridge- 
 water in his own name. " Witness these presents " 
 are the words of the deed " that I Ousamequin 
 Sachim of the countrie of Pocanauket, haue given, 
 granted, enfeofed and sould unto Myles Standish of 
 Duxborough Samuel Nash and Constant Southworth 
 of Duxborough aforesaid in the behalfe of all y e towns- 
 men of Duxborough aforesaid a tract of land usually 
 called Saughtucket extending in length and the breadth 
 thereof, as followeth, that is to say [here follow the 
 boundaries of what is now Bridgewater] the w ch tract 
 the said Ousamequin hath given granted enfeofed and 
 sould unto y e said Myles [Standish] Samuel Nash and 
 Constant Southworth in the behalfe of all y e townsmen 
 of Duxborough as aforesaid w th all the emunities prive- 
 leges and profits whatsoever belonging to the said tract 
 of land w th all and singular all woods underwoods 
 lands meadowes Riuers brooks Rivulets &c. to have 
 and to hould to the said Myles Standish Samuel Nash 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 137 
 
 and Constant Southworth in behalfe of all the towns- 
 men of the towne of Duxborough to them and their 
 heyers forever. In witnes whereof I the said Ousame- 
 quin have here unto sett my hand this 23 of March 
 1649. 
 
 The m k of .^^Ousamequm. 
 
 In consideration of the aforesaid bargain and sale 
 wee the said Myles Standish Samuel Nash and Con- 
 stant Southworth, doe bind ourselves to pay unto y e 
 said Ousamequin for and in consideration of y e said 
 tract of land as followeth 
 
 7 Coats a y d and a half 
 
 in a coat 
 9 Hatchets 
 
 8 Howes 
 20 Knives 
 
 4 Moose skins 
 10 Y ds and half of cotton 
 
 Myles Standish 
 
 Samuel Nash 
 
 Constant Southworth." 
 
 The original document of which we have here given 
 a literal and exact copy has been preserved to this day. 
 It is in the handwriting of Captain Standish. 
 
 The precise date of Massasoit's death is unknown. 
 In 1653. his name appears in a deed by which he con- 
 veyed part of the territory of Swansey to English 
 grantees. Hubbard supposes that he died about three 
 years subsequent to this; but as late as 1661, he is 
 noticed in the Records of the United Colonies, as will 
 appear more particularly in the life of his eldest son. 
 Two or three years afterwards, conveyances were 
 made of the Pokanoket lands in which he appears to 
 have had a voice ; and it may be fairly inferred that he 
 
138 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 died in that interval. He must have been near eighty 
 years of age. 
 
 Such are the passages which history has preserved 
 concerning the earliest and best friend of the Pilgrims. 
 Few and simple as they are, they give glimpses of a 
 character that, under other circumstances, might have 
 placed Massasoit among the illustrious of his age. 
 He was a mere savage ; ignorant of even reading and 
 writing, after an intercourse of near fifty years with 
 the colonists ; and distinguished from the mass of sav- 
 ages around him, as we have seen, by no other out- 
 ward emblem than a barbarous ornament of bones. 
 It must be observed, too, as to them, that the author- 
 ity which they conferred upon him, or rather upon his 
 ancestors, was their free gift, and was liable at any 
 moment to be retracted, wholly or in part, either by 
 the general voice or by the defection or violence of 
 individuals. The intrinsic dignity and energy of his 
 character alone, therefore, must have sustained the 
 dominion of the sachem, with no essential distinction 
 of wealth, retinue, cultivation, or situation in any re- 
 spect, between him and the meanest of the Wampa- 
 noags. The naked qualities of his intellect and his 
 heart must have gained their loyalty, controlled their 
 extravagant passions to his own purposes, and won 
 upon their personal confidence and affection. 
 
 That he did this appears from the fact, so singular 
 in Indian history, that among all the Pokanoket tribes, 
 there was scarcely an instance of even an individual 
 broil or quarrel with the English during his long life. 
 Some of these tribes, living nearer the Colony than 
 any other Indians, and going into it daily in such num- 
 bers, that Massasoit was finally requested to restrain 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 139 
 
 them from " pestering " their friends by their mere 
 multitude, these shrewd beings must have perceived, 
 as well as Massasoit himself did, that the colonists 
 were as miserably fearful as they were feeble and few. 
 Some of them, too, the sachem Corbitant, for ex- 
 ample, were notoriously hostile, and perhaps had 
 certain supposed reasons for being so. Yet that cun- 
 ning and ambitious savage extricated himself from the 
 only overt act of rebellion he has ever known to have 
 attempted, by " soliciting the good offices of Massa- 
 soit," we are told, " to reconcile him to the English/' 
 And such was the influence of the chief sachem, not 
 only over him, but over the Massachusetts sachems, 
 that nine of the principal of them soon after came into 
 Plymouth from great distances, for the purpose of 
 signifying their humble respect for the authority of the 
 English. 
 
 That Massasiot was beloved as well as respected 
 by his subjects and neighbors, far and wide, appears 
 from the great multitude of anxious friends who 
 thronged about him during his sickness. Some of 
 them, as Winslow ascertained, had come more than 
 one hundred miles for the purpose of seeing him ; and 
 they all watched his operations in that case, with an 
 intense anxiety as if the prostrate patient had been the 
 father or brother of each. And meagre as is the jus- 
 tice which history does the sachem, it still furnishes 
 some evidence, not to be mistaken, that he had won 
 this regard from them by his kindness. There is a 
 passage of affecting simplicity in Winslow's Relation, 
 going to show that he did not forget their minutest 
 interests, even in his own almost unconscious help- 
 lessness. " That morning," it is said, " he caused me 
 
140 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 to spend in going from one to another among those 
 that were sick in the town [Sowams] ; requesting me 
 to treat them as I had him, and to give to each of 
 them some of the same I gave him, saying tlwy were 
 good folk." 
 
 But these noble traits of the character of Massasoit 
 are still more abundantly illustrated by the whole 
 tenor of his intercourse with the whites. Of his mere 
 sense of his positive obligations to them, including 
 his fidelity to the famous treaty of 1621, nothing more 
 need be said, excepting that the annals of the continent 
 furnish scarcely one parallel even to that case. But he 
 went much farther than this. He not only visited the 
 Colony in the first instance of his own free will and 
 accord, but he entered into the negotiations cheerfully 
 and deliberately ; and in the face of their manifest fear 
 and suspicion. Henceforth the results of it were re- 
 garded, not with the mere honesty of an ally, but with 
 the warm interest of a friend. It was probably at his 
 secret and delicate suggestion, and it could scarcely 
 have been without his permission, at all events, that 
 his own subjects took up their residence among the 
 colonists, with the view of guiding, piloting, interpret- 
 ing for them, and teaching them their own useful 
 knowledge. Winslow speaks of his appointing another 
 to fill the place of Squanto at Plymouth, while the 
 latter should be sent out among the Pokanokets, under 
 his orders, " to procure truck [in furs] for the English. 
 
 The vast grant of territory which he made in the 
 first instance has been spoken of. It was made with 
 the simple observation, that his claim to it was the 
 sole claim in existence. It was also without consider- 
 ation ; the generous sachem, as Roger Williams says 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 141 
 
 of the Narraghansetts in a similar case, " being shy 
 and jealous of selling the lands to any, and choosing 
 rather to make a gift of them to such as they affected." 
 Such is the only jealousy which Massasoit can be said 
 ever to have entertained of the English. Nor do we 
 find any evidence that he repented of his liberality, 
 or considered it the incautious extravagance of a mo- 
 ment of flattered complaisance. We do find, however, 
 that he invariably watched over the interests of the 
 grantees, with more strictness than he would proba- 
 bly have watched over his own. He laid claim, in one 
 instance, to a tract for which Mr. Williams had nego- 
 tiated with the Narraghansetts that gentleman being 
 ignorant perhaps, of an existing controversy between 
 the two tribes. " It is mine," said the sachem, " It is 
 mine and therefore theirs," plainly implying that the 
 ground in question was comprised within the original 
 transfer. Whether this claim was just, or whether it 
 was insisted upon, does not appear; but there is indi- 
 cation enough, both of the opinion and feeling of 
 Massasoit. 
 
 An anecdote of him, recorded by Governor Win- 
 throp, under the title of a " pleasant passage," is still 
 more striking. His old friend Winsnow, it seems, 
 made a trading voyage to Connecticut^ during the sum- 
 mer of 1634. On his return, he left his vessel upon 
 the Narraghansett coast, for some reason or other, 
 and commenced his journey for Plymouth across the 
 woods. Finding himself at a loss, probably, as to 
 his route, he made his way to Sowams, and called upon 
 his ancient acquaintance, the sachem. The latter 
 gave him his usual kind welcome, and, upon his leav- 
 ing him, offered to conduct him home, a pedestrian 
 
142 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 journey of two days. He had just despatched one of 
 his Wampanoags to Plymouth, with instructions to 
 inform the friends of Winslow, that he was dead, and 
 to persuade them of this melancholy fact, by specify- 
 ing such particulars as their own ingenuity might sug- 
 gest. All this was done accordingly; and the tidings 
 occasioned, as might be expected, a very unpleasant 
 excitement throughout the Colony. In the midst of 
 it, however, on the next day, the sachem entered the 
 village, attended by Winslow, and with more than his 
 usual complacency in his honest and cheerful counte- 
 nance. He was asked why such a report had been cir- 
 culated the day previous. :t That Winslow might be 
 the more welcome," answered he, " and that you 
 might be the more happy, it is my custom." He had 
 come thus far to enjoy this surprise personally ; and 
 he returned homeward, more gratified by it, without 
 doubt, than he would have been by the most fortunate 
 foray among the Narraghansetts. 
 
 It is intimated by some writers, rather more fre- 
 quently than is either just or generous, that the sa- 
 chem's fear of the tribe just named lay at the founda- 
 tion of his friendship. It might have been nearer the 
 apparent truth, considering all that is known of Massa- 
 soit, to say, that his interest happened to coincide 
 with his inclination. At all events, it was in the power 
 of any other of the sachems or kings throughout the 
 country, to place and sustain themselves upon the 
 same footing with the colonists, had they been 
 prompted either by as much good feeling or good 
 sense. On the contrary, the Massachusetts were plot- 
 ting and threatening on one hand, as we have seen, 
 not without provocation, it must be allowed, while 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 143 
 
 the Narraghansett sachem, upon the other, had sent 
 in his compliments as early as 1622, in the shape of 
 a bundle of arrows, tied up with a rattlesnake's skin. 
 
 Nor should we forget the wretched feebleness of 
 the Colony at the period of their first acquaintance with 
 Massasoit. Indeed, the instant measures which he 
 took for the relief and protection, look more like the 
 promptings of compassion, than of either hope or fear. 
 A month previous to his appearance among them, they 
 were reduced to such a pitiable condition by sickness, 
 that only six or seven of their men of their whole num- 
 ber were able to do business in the open air; and 
 probably their entire fighting force, could they have 
 been mustered together, would scarcely have equalled 
 that little detachment which Massasoit brought with 
 him into the village, delicately leaving twice as many, 
 with the arms of all, behind him ; as he afterwards 
 exchanged six hostages for one. No wonder that the 
 colonists " could not yet conceive but that he was 
 willing to have peace with them." 
 
 But the motives of the sachem are still further 
 manifested by the sense of his own dignity, which, 
 peaceably as he generally was, he showed promptly 
 upon all suitable occasions. Both the informal grant 
 and the formal deeds we have mentioned, indicate 
 that he understood himself to be the master of his 
 ancestral territory as much in right as in fact. There 
 is nothing in his whole history, which does more honor 
 to his intelligence or his sensibility, than his conduct 
 occasioned by the falsehoods circulated among the 
 colonists against him by Squanto. His first impulse, 
 as we have seen, was to be offended with the guilty 
 intriguant; the second, to thank the Governor for 
 
144 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 appealing to himself in this case, and to assure him 
 that he would at any time " send word and give warn- 
 ing when any such business was towards." On fur- 
 ther inquiry, he ascertained that Squanto was taking 
 even more liberties with his reputation than he had 
 been aware of. He went forthwith to Plymouth, and 
 made his appeal personally to the Governor. The 
 latter pacified him as well as he could, and he re- 
 turned home. But a very short time elasped before 
 a message came from him, entreating the Governor to 
 consent to the death of the renegade who still abused 
 him. The Governor confessed in reply, that Squanto 
 deserved death, but desired that he might be spared 
 on account of his indispensable services. Massasoit 
 was not yet satisfied. The former messenger was 
 again sent, " with divers others/' says Winslow in his 
 Relation, " demanding him, [Squanto] as being one of 
 Massasoit's subjects, whom by our first article of peace 
 we could not retain ; yet because he would not will- 
 ingly do it [insist upon his rights] without the Gover- 
 nor's approbation, he offered him many beaver-skins 
 for his consent thereto." The deputation had brought 
 these skins, accordingly, as also the sachem's own 
 knife, for the execution of the criminal. Squanto 
 now surrendered himself to the Governor, as an In- 
 dian always resigns himself to his fate upon similar 
 occasions ; but the Governor still contrived a pretext 
 for sparing him. The deputies were " mad with rage 
 and impatient of delay," as may be supposed, and de- 
 parted in great heat. 
 
 The conduct of the sachem in this case was mani- 
 festly more correct than that of his ally. He under- 
 stood as well as the Governor did, the spirit of the 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 145 
 
 articles in the treaty, which provided, that an offender 
 upon either side should be given up to punishment 
 upon demand; and he was careful to make that de- 
 mand personally, explicitly and respectfully. The 
 Governor, on the other hand, as well as the culprit 
 himself, acknowledged the justice of it, but manoeu- 
 vred to avoid compliance. The true reason is no 
 doubt given by Winslow. It is also given in the lan- 
 guage of John Smith. " With much adoe," says the 
 honest Captain, " we appeased the angry king and the 
 rest of the saluages, and freely forgaue Tusquantum, 
 because he speaking our language we could not be well 
 without him." The king was angry, then, as he well 
 might be ; and the Governor took the trouble, he was 
 both bound and interested to take, to appease him. 
 It is not to be wondered at, perhaps, that the partic- 
 ulars of this transaction are so little dwelt upon by 
 the writers of that period. Winslow barely states, 
 speaking, in another connexion, of the Indians being 
 evidently aware of the weakness of the Colony, that, 
 what was worse, " now also Massasoit seemed to frown 
 upon us, and neither came nor sent to us as formerly." 
 This passage is no less significant than brief; but not 
 more so than a subsequent dry observation respecting 
 Squanto, " whose peace, before this time, (the fall of 
 the same year) was zvrought with Massasoit." 
 
 Such were the life and character of Massasoit. It 
 is to be regretted, that so few particulars are pre- 
 served of the former, and that so little justice, con- 
 sequently, can be done to the latter. But so far as 
 his history goes, it certainly makes him one of the 
 most remarkable men of his race. There is no nobler 
 instance in all history, of national fidelity, (for which 
 
 M. of H. XXX 10 
 
146 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 he mainly must have the credit,) or of individual 
 friendship. This instinct of a generous nature in the 
 first instance, being confirmed by a course of conduct 
 generally alike creditable to the feelings and shrewd- 
 ness of the Colonists, finally settled itself in the mind 
 of Massasoit as ineradicably as his affection for his 
 own subjects. " I know now," said he to Winslow, 
 on his first recovery from the severe sickness we have 
 mentioned, " I know that the English love me, I love 
 them, I shall never forget them." 
 
 But putting even the most unnatural construction 
 upon the professions and the conduct of the sachem, 
 the relation he commenced and for forty-seven years 
 sustained with the English, must be allowed to show 
 at least a consummate sagacity. He certainly suc- 
 ceeded during all this time, not only in shielding his 
 tribes from their just or unjust hostility, but in gain- 
 ing their respect to such a singular degree, that the 
 writings of no single author within our recollection 
 furnish one word to his disparagement. Even Hub- 
 bard speaks of him with something like regard ; not- 
 withstanding the obnoxious trait in his character in- 
 dicated in the following passage. " It is very remark- 
 able," he says, " that this Woosamequin, how much 
 soever he affected the English, was never in the least 
 degree well affected to their religion." It is added 
 furthermore, that in his last treaty with the whites 
 at Swanzey, referring to a sale of land which we 
 have mentioned, he exerted himself to bind them 
 solemnly " never to draw away any of his people from 
 their old pagan superstition and devilish idolatry to 
 the Christian religion." This he insisted on, until 
 they threatened to break off the negotiation on ac- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 147 
 
 count of his pertinacity, he then gave up the point. 
 
 Massasoit did not distinguish himself as a warrior 
 nor is he known to have been once engaged in any 
 open hostilities, even with the inimical and powerful 
 tribes who environed his territory. This is another 
 unique trait in his character; and considering the 
 general attachment of all Indians to a belligerent life, 
 their almost exclusive deference for warlike qualities, 
 the number and scattered location of the Pokanoket 
 tribes, and especially the character of their ancient 
 neighbors, this very fact is alone sufficient to distin- 
 guish the genius of Massasoit. All the native nations 
 of New England, but his, were involved in dissensions 
 and wars with each other and with the whites; and 
 they all shared sooner or later the fate which he 
 avoided. The restless ringleaders who plotted mis- 
 chief among the Massachusetts, were summarily 
 knocked upon the head by Miles Standish, while hun- 
 dreds of the residue fled, and miserably perished in 
 their own swamps. The Pequots, a nation who 
 could muster three thousand bowmen but a short time 
 previous, were nearly exterminated in 1637 ; and the 
 savages of Maine, meanwhile, the Mohawks of New 
 York, the Narraghansetts and the Mohegans were 
 fighting and reducing each other's strength, as if their 
 only object had been, by ultimately extirpating them- 
 selves, to prepare a way in the wilderness for the new 
 comers. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Massasoit succeeded by his son Alexander. The occasion of that name 
 being given by the English. History of Alexander previous to his 
 father's death, Covenant made with Plymouth in 1639. Measures 
 taken in pursuance of it, in 1661. Anecdote illustrating the character 
 of Alexander. Notice of the charges made against him. Examina- 
 tion of the transaction which led to his death. Accession of Philip. 
 Renewal of the treaty by him. Interruption of harmony. Supposed 
 causes of it. Measures taken in consequence. Philip's submission. 
 Letter to the Plymouth Governor. ^Second submission in 1671. Re- 
 marks on the causes of Philip's War. 
 
 M 
 
 ASSASOIT was succeeded in the Pokanoket 
 government by his eldest son Moanam or 
 Wamsutta, known to the English chiefly by 
 the name of Alexander; which appellation he received 
 at the same time when that of Philip was conferred 
 on his younger brother. The two young men came to- 
 gether, on that occasion, into open court at Plymouth, 
 and professing great regard for the English, requested 
 that names should be given them. Their father not 
 being mentioned as having attended them at the ob- 
 servance of the ceremony, has probably occasioned 
 the suggestion of his death. It would be a sufficient 
 explanation of his absence, however, that he was now 
 an old man, and that the distance of Sowams from 
 Plymouth was more than forty miles. It is easy to 
 (148) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 149 
 
 imagine, that the solicitude he had always manifested 
 to sustain a good understanding with his Plymouth 
 friends, might lead him to recommend this pacific and 
 conciliatory measure, as a suitable preparation for his 
 own decease, and perhaps as the absolute termination 
 of his reign. 
 
 There is some reason to believe, indeed, that 
 Alexander had a share in the Pokanoket sovereignty 
 many years previous to the date of the ceremony 
 just mentioned. The Plymouth records show, that 
 on the 25th of September, 1639, the father came into 
 court, bringing Moanam with him. He desired that 
 the old treaty of 1621 might remain inviolable, " and 
 the said Woosamequin or Massasoit, and Moanam 
 or Wamsutta," did also promise that he nor they shall 
 or will needlessly and unjustly raise any quarrels, 
 or do any wrongs to other natives, to provoke them, 
 to war against him ; and that he or they shall not 
 give, sell or convey, any of his or their lands, terri- 
 tories or possessions whatsoever, to any person or 
 persons, without the privity and consent of the Gov- 
 ernment of Plymouth aforesaid ; " and the whole court 
 in the name of the whole government, for each town 
 respectively, did then likewise ratify and confirm the 
 aforesaid ancient league and confederacy; and did 
 also further promise to the said Woosamequin and 
 Moanam his son, and his successors, that they shall 
 and will from time to time defend them, when occa- 
 sion shall require, against all such as shall rise up 
 against them to wrong or oppress them unjustly." 
 
 Agreeably to the terms of this covenant, the Rec- 
 ord of the Colonies for 1661 set forth, that a message 
 was that year sent by the United Commissioners to 
 
150 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Uncas, the chief sachem of the Mohegans. The com- 
 plainants in that case were the General Court of Massa- 
 chusetts ; and the charge alleged against Uncas was 
 a violent " Invading of Wesamquin and the Indians 
 of Quabakutt zvhoe are and longe haue bine Subjects to 
 the English." The dominion here assumed, is prob- 
 ably intended to apply only to the Quabakutt Indians, 
 and not Massasoit. Uncas, in his answer, professed 
 that he was ignorant they were subjects of Massachu- 
 setts, " and further says they were none of Wesame- 
 quin's men but belonging to Onopequin his deadly 
 enemie." &c. 
 
 He then alleges " that Wesamequin his son and 
 diuers of his men had fought against him diners times." 
 The last paragraph of the answer which was given 
 in by Major Mason in behalf of Uncas is as follows : 
 
 " Alexander allis [alias] Wamsutta Sachem of 
 Sowamsett being now att Plymouth hee challenged 
 Quabauke Indians to belong to him and further said 
 that hee did war Warr against Vncas this summer on 
 that account." 
 
 It is very clear at least that Alexander maintained, 
 fearlessly and frankly, what he believed to be his 
 rights ; nor does it appear, that the exercise of his 
 sovereignty in this manner was objected to by the 
 party which had the best, if not only right to object. 
 He manifested the same independence in regard to 
 the efforts of the English missionaries; so that Hub- 
 bard concludes he had " neither affection for the 
 Englishmen's persons, nor yet for their religion." 
 
 This is licentious reasoning, at the best ; for not a 
 tittle of evidence exists in the case, so far as we are 
 aware, which goes to rebut the just inference to be 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 151 
 
 drawn from the circumstance that no difficulty or 
 controversy occurred between Alexander and his allies 
 from his accession to his death with a single ex- 
 ception. The excepted case, which comes in order 
 now to be considered, is one of the more importance, 
 that its immediate effect was to terminate at once 
 the reign and life of the chieftain. 
 
 In connexion with the remark last cited from 
 Hubbard, that historian barely observes, that the 
 Governor and Council were informed of the fact. 
 Mather states, with no more particularity, that the 
 sachem solicited the Narraghansetts to rebel with 
 him ; upon the good proof whereof, the Plymouth 
 Government adopted certain summary measures. From 
 other sources we find, that this proof was commu- 
 nicated by letters from Boston, where it was probably 
 founded upon rumors gathered from straggling In- 
 dians. At all events, no conclusive testimony appears 
 in the case; and it may be plausibly surmised there- 
 fore, that none was ever received, the writers just cited 
 not being remarkably prone to omit matters of this 
 kind. The rumor might originate from circumstances 
 really suspicious ; but were this true, and far more, if 
 it were both false and malicious, like the charges 
 against Massasoit, we may well question both the 
 justice and the policy of the steps taken by the Ply- 
 mouth Government. 
 
 ' They presently sent for him, to bring him to the 
 court," says Hubbard, a very remarkable proceed- 
 ing, related with a corresponding brevity. The busi- 
 ness was intrusted, it also appears, to a gentleman who 
 was neither afraid of danger, nor yet willing to delay 
 in a matter of this moment. We are then told that 
 
152 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 this gentleman, Mr. Winslow, forthwith taking eight 
 or ten stout men with him, well armed, set out for 
 Sowams, that he fortunately met with Alexander, at 
 a few miles' distance, in a wigwam with eighty of his 
 followers ; that they seized upon the arms of the party, 
 which had been left without the wigwam, and then 
 went in and summoned the sachem to accompany them 
 to Plymouth. He obeyed, reluctantly, being threat- 
 ened that " if he stirred or refused to go, he was a 
 dead man." Such was his spirit, however, adds 
 Hubbard, that the very surprisal of him threw him 
 into a fever. Upon this, he requested the liberty to 
 return home, and the favor was granted to him on 
 certain conditions ; but he died upon the way. 
 
 This account agrees with Mather's. " The Gov- 
 ernment sent that valiant and excellent commander," 
 says the Reverend Doctor, " to fetch him down be- 
 fore them. The major-general used such expedition 
 and resolution in this affair, that, assisted with no 
 more than ten men, he seized upon Alexander at a 
 hunting-house, notwithstanding his numerous attend- 
 ants about him ; and when the raging sachem saw a 
 pistol at his breast, with a threatening of death to 
 him if he did not quietly yield himself up to go down 
 to Plymouth, he yielded, though not very quietly, 
 thereunto." Mather attributes his death, furthermore, 
 to the " inward fury of his own guilty and haughty 
 mind." Now, even if the sachem were not compelled 
 to travel faster or further than was decent in his un- 
 fortunate situation, as one of our authorities is careful 
 to argue ; and granting to the other, that he was treated 
 (on the march) with no other than that humanity and 
 civility, zvhich was essential to the Major-General, it is 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 153 
 
 abundantly clear, we conceive, that a more hot-blooded 
 or high-handed measure could hardly have been exe- 
 cuted by the adventurous John Smith himself. The 
 son of Massasoit, and the ruler of a nation who had 
 been forty years in alliance and warm friendship with 
 the Colonists, throughout all their feebleness, and 
 in spite of all the jealousies and provocations, was 
 assaulted in his own territory and among his own sub- 
 jects, insulted, threatened, and finally forced to obey 
 a summons of his ancient ally to appear before his 
 court for his trial. It does not appear that he was 
 even apprised of the occasion which required his 
 attendance. And what is worse than all the rest, the 
 whole proceeding was founded, so far as we can ascer- 
 tain, upon no better testimony than accusations 
 gathered from stragglers at Boston, and then commu- 
 nicated " by letters " to Plymouth. It must be ad- 
 mitted, that a different coloring is put upon the affair 
 by the Rev. Mr. Cotton, whose relation may be found 
 among the excellent notes appended to Mr. Davis's 
 recent edition of Morton. He states, that the sachem 
 readily consented to attend Winslow ; and that he was 
 barely examined before certain justices at Eastham, 
 and dismissed. This account, however, does not much 
 mitigate the essential circumstances of the case; and 
 it admits the fact, that the sachem died within two or 
 three days after being carried home on the shoulders 
 of his men, although the English party seem to have 
 found him in perfect health. 
 
 Such was the ignominious death of Alexander, 
 and under such circumstances did the government 
 devolve upon his brother Metacom, or Philip, as 
 he is generally called. That Prince seems to have 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 assumed the Pokanoket government, favored by a 
 more than usual popularity; for the event was cele- 
 brated by the rejoicing and revelry of multitudes of 
 his subjects, sachems and others, gathered together 
 from the remotest limits of his territory. One of his 
 earliest measures, was to appear with his uncle be- 
 fore the Plymouth Court, following the example of 
 his father and brother. He expressed an earnest 
 wish for the continuance of peace and amity; and 
 pledged himself, as the Court did also upon the 
 other hand, to use all suitable measures for effecting 
 that desirable purpose. For several years after this, 
 the intercourse between the two parties went on, 
 ostensibly, as it had done in former times, though 
 probably not without some distrust upon both sides. 
 
 The first public interruption of this harmony oc- 
 curred in 1671, during which season Philip was heard 
 to complain, openly, of certain encroachments by the 
 English upon his hunting-grounds. About the same 
 time, rumors were circulated that his subjects fre- 
 quently assembled at various places in unwonted 
 numbers ; and were repairing their guns, and sharpen- 
 ing their hatchets. The Plymouth Government were 
 alarmed. They sent messengers to communicate with 
 the Massachusetts Government, and at the same time 
 other messengers to Philip, not " to fetch him before 
 the Court," as in the case of his brother, but to ascer- 
 tain his intentions. 
 
 He seems to have paid a dignified regard to this 
 measure. On the 10th of April, a message was re- 
 ceived from him, inviting the officers of the Plymouth 
 Government to a conference. It was received by 
 the latter at Taunton, where also were several gentle- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 155 
 
 men, despatched by the Massachusetts Government, 
 with instructions to mediate between the contending 
 parties. Governor Prince, of Plymouth, sent word 
 back to Philip, who was tarrying meanwhile at 
 what is now called Three-mile-river, about four miles 
 from Taunton green, that he was heartily disposed 
 to treat with him, and expected that the sachem would 
 come forward for that purpose ; and his personal safety 
 was guaranteed in case he should do so. Philip so 
 far complied with the request, as to advance a con- 
 siderable distance nearer the village. He then sta- 
 tioned himself at a place called Grossman's mill, placed 
 sentinels on a hill in his rear, and again despatched 
 messengers to the Governor, desiring an interview. 
 This, the town's-people, who could scarcely be re- 
 strained from falling forthwith upon the Indian party, 
 would not permit. At last, the Massachusetts Com- 
 missioners, volunteering to take the supposed hazard 
 upon themselves, went to Philip, and persuaded him 
 to consent to a conference. This was on condition 
 that his men should accompany him ; and that business 
 should be done at the meeting-house, one side of which 
 was to be reserved for the Wampanoags, and the other 
 for the English. 
 
 The council took place agreeably to these arrang- 
 ments, in the old meeting-house of Taunton. The 
 English stood upon one side, solemn and stern in 
 countenance, as they were formal in garb; and op- 
 posite to them, a line of Indian warriors, armed and 
 arrayed for battle, their long black hair hanging about 
 their necks, and their eyes gleaming covertly with a 
 flame of suspicion and defiance, scarcely to be sup- 
 pressed. Philip alone was their orator. He denied 
 
156 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 that he entertained any hostile design; and promptly 
 explained his preparations for war, as intended for 
 defence against the Narraghansetts. The Commis- 
 sioners rejoined, however, with such arguments and 
 evidence as satisfied themselves and completely sur- 
 prised him. At least, he affected to admit all that was 
 alleged against him ; and though he refused to give 
 compensation for past aggressions, he and some of his 
 counsellors subscribed an acknowledgment drawn up 
 by the English in the words following : 
 
 Taunton, April 10th, 1671. 
 
 Whereas my father, and my brother and myself 
 have formerly submitted ourselves unto the king's 
 majesty of England, and to this colony of New Ply- 
 mouth, by solemn covenant under our hand ; but I 
 having of late, through my indiscretion and the naughti- 
 ness of my heart, violated and broken this my covenant 
 with my friends, by taking up arms with an evil in- 
 tent against them, and that groundlessly ; I being now 
 deeply sensible of my unfaithfulness and folly, do 
 desire at this time solemnly to renew my covenant with 
 my ancient friends, and my father's friends above 
 world against me if ever I shall fail again in my faith- 
 mentioned, and do desire that this may testify to the 
 fulness towards them (whom I have now and at all 
 times found kind toward me) or any other of the Eng- 
 lish colonies. And as a pledge of my true intentions for 
 the future to be faithful and friendly, I do freely engage 
 to resign up to the Government of New Plymouth all 
 my English arms, to be kept by them for their security 
 so long as they shall see reason. For the true per- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 157 
 
 formance of the promises, I have hereunto set my 
 hand, together with the rest of my counsel. 
 
 In presence of 
 
 WILLIAM DAVIS, 
 
 WILLIAM HUDSON, 
 
 THOMAS BRATTLE. 
 
 The mark P of PHILIP, 
 
 The mark V of TAVOSER, 
 
 The mark M of Capt. W r iSPOKE, 
 
 The mark T of W^OONCHAPONCHUNK, 
 
 The mark 8 of NIMROD." 
 
 From the tenor of this submission, it has been 
 generally supposed that the Sachem was frightened 
 into it. Hence Hubbard relates, that " one of his 
 captains, of far better courage and resolution than 
 himself, when he saw his cowardly temper and dis- 
 position, flung down his arms, called him white-livered 
 cur, or to that purpose, and from that time turned to 
 the English," &c. This might be true, though it is well 
 known, that Mr. Hubbard's authority in regard to 
 every thing touching the character of Philip is to be 
 regarded with many allowances for his intemperate 
 prejudice. He hesitates not, almost as often as he 
 finds occasion to mention his name, to pay him the 
 passing compliment of ' caitiff,' ' hell-hound/ ' fiend. 
 ' arch-rebel,' and various similar designations of respect 
 and affection. 
 
 But there is no doubt that the acknowledgement 
 was at least a mere artifice to gain time. Apparently 
 it had no effect in reference to the impending hostili- 
 ties, other than to hasten them by aggravating the ill- 
 will of the Indians. It does not appear that their arms 
 were given up, even so far as stipulated in the submis- 
 sion. The following reply of Philip to some commu- 
 nication respecting them may be deemed exposition 
 
158 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 of his side of the question. The precise date is unde- 
 termined. 
 
 " SACHEM PHILIP, his answer to the letter brought 
 to him from the GOVERNOR of NEW PLYMOUTH. 
 
 First. Declaring his thankfulness to the Governor 
 for his great respects and kindness manifested in the 
 letter. 
 
 Secondly. Manifesting his readiness to lay down 
 their arms, and send his people about their usual busi- 
 ness and employments, as also his great desire of con- 
 cluding of peace with neighboring English. 
 
 Thirdly. Inasmuch as great fears and jealousies 
 hath been raised in their minds by several persons, zvhich 
 now they better understand the falsity of such reports, as 
 hath formerly been conveyed unto them, Philip doth hum- 
 bly request the Governor will please favorably to ex- 
 cuse and acquit them from any payment of damage, 
 or surrendering their arms, they not apprehending them- 
 selves blameworthy in those late rumors. 
 
 Fourthly. They are not at present free to promise 
 to appear at court, hoping there will be no necessity 
 of it, in case their freedom for peace and readiness to 
 lay down arms may be accepted ; as also suggestions 
 of great danger that will befall them, in case they ap- 
 pear, with harsh threats to the Sachem, that may be 
 considered. 
 
 Per me, SAMUEL GORTEN Junior." 
 
 Whether Philip was at this time preparing for war 
 cannot be decided : but he was evidently as yet unpre- 
 pared. He went to Boston, therefore, during the 
 month of August (1671). He knew the Massachusetts 
 government to be more friendly to him than the Ply- 
 mouth ; and although letters had arrived that very day 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 159 
 
 from the latter place, announcing an intention of de- 
 claring war upon him forthwith, the Sachem succeeded 
 in persuading the Massachusetts authorities of his 
 entire innocence. They sent a proposal to Plymouth 
 for a new council, to settle all difficulties. This being 
 declined, they gave their opinion decidedly against 
 war. Staggered by this declaration, the government 
 of the old colony consented to try the effect of another 
 mediation. A conference of all parties soon after took 
 place at Plymouth : and the following articles of ac- 
 commodation were agreed upon. 
 
 " 1. We, Philip and my council and my subjects, 
 do acknowledge ourselves subject to his Majesty the 
 King of England, and the government of New Ply- 
 mouth, and to their laws. 
 
 2. I am willing and do promise to pay unto the 
 government of Plymouth one hundred pounds in such 
 things as I have ; but I would intreat the favor that I 
 might have three years to pay it in, forasmuch as I 
 cannot do it at present. 
 
 3. I do promise to send unto the governor, or 
 whom he shall appoint, five wolves' heads, if I can 
 get them ; or as many as I can procure, until they come 
 to five wolves yearly. 
 
 4. If any difference fall between the English and 
 myself and people, then I do promise to repair to the 
 governor of Plymouth, to rectify the difference 
 amongst us. 
 
 5. I do promise not to make war with any, but 
 with the Governor's approbation of Plymouth. 
 
 6. I promise not to dispose of any of the lands 
 that I have at present, but by the approbation of the 
 governor of Plymouth. 
 
160 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 For the true performance of the premises, I the 
 said Sachem ; Philip of Paukamakett, do hereby bind 
 myself, and such of my council as are present, our- 
 selves, our heirs, our successors, faithfully, and do 
 promise ; in witness thereof, we have hereunto sub- 
 scribed our hands, the day and year above written. 
 
 [In the presence of the Court, The mark P of PHILIP. 
 divers magistrates, &c.] The mark t of WOCOKON. 
 
 The mark [ of UNCOMPAEN. 
 The mark 7 of SAMKAMA." 
 
 This negotiation was a new stratagem : and the suc- 
 cess of it answered the purpose of Philip completely ; 
 for although he does not appear to have killed one 
 wolf, or paid one cent, even " in such things as he 
 had," nothing occurred for three years, to rouse the 
 suspicions of the Colonies. There can scarcely be a 
 doubt, that during all this time, if not for a longer 
 time previous, the sachem was maturing one of the 
 grandest plans ever conceived by any savage ; that 
 of utterly exterminating the English of the northern 
 provinces. This, he was well aware, could only be 
 done by means commensurate with the danger and 
 difficulty of the enterprise. The Colonies were no 
 longer the feeble and timid allies, known fifty years 
 before to his father. They had grown in numbers and 
 in strength ; and still more in experience and spirit. 
 Nothing less, than a general union of the New Eng- 
 land tribes, who lived among and around them all, 
 would furnish a safe guarantee for the complete suc- 
 cess of such a war as was now meditated. 
 
 To that great preparation, then, the whole energies 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 161 
 
 of Philip must be devoted. It was as difficult, he well 
 knew, as it was desirable. The ruler of one small 
 confederacy, already suspected, and constantly under 
 the close scrutiny of his powerful neighbors, he must 
 unite and interest in one common object, a multitude 
 of scattered nations who had met and known each 
 other, until this time, only in jealousy, envy, revenge, 
 and in many cases hereditary and inveterate war ; and 
 among whose councils no similar plan, for any pur- 
 pose whatever, had ever been conceived of. How far 
 Philip surmounted these obstacles, will be seen. The 
 great train of events we are approaching, are so inter- 
 esting both as a passage of general history, and still 
 more, as they implicate and illustrate the character of 
 Philip, that it may be proper to take some notice of 
 the causes which gave rise to them. It is well known, 
 that his English contemporaries looked upon him, very 
 generally, with feelings far from benevolent. It was 
 natural under the circumstances that they should do 
 so ; but it is no more necessary, than it is philosophical 
 or just, on the other hand, to confide implicitly either 
 in their opinions or their statements. Philip and his 
 Wampanoags are unlucky enough, like the lion in 
 the fable, to have no painter. 
 
 It should be observed here, that Philip like his elder 
 brother, unquestionably considered himself an ally 
 and not a subject of the English; at least, until his 
 nominal submission in 1671. Even the same authori- 
 ties who record this submission, speak of his renewing 
 his ancient covenant, (as indeed the instrument itself 
 shows.) A distinct article recognises Massasoit as an 
 independent sovereign. Philip, then, held the same re- 
 lation to the English, that his father and brother had 
 
 M. of H. XXX 11 
 
163 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 done for the fifty years, during which the two parties 
 had treated and associated upon equal and intimate 
 terms. He was bound by the same engagements, and 
 possessed of the same rights; and it only remains to 
 be seen, if due regard was paid to these circumstances 
 upon either side. 
 
 Now, we look upon the assault of Alexander, in 
 1662, in the first place, as not only a sufficient cause of 
 suspicion and resentment, but of war; and that, upon 
 the best construction which can be put upon the most 
 favorable of the ex-parte relations that appear upon 
 record. By the old treaty itself, which Alexander also 
 took the gratuitous trouble to renew, and without any 
 reference to courtesy or humanity or to national fidel- 
 ity, or to personal friendship, existing up to this date, 
 the English were bound generally to treat him as 
 an allied sovereign, and especially to make a prelim- 
 inary demand of satisfaction, in all cases of complaint. 
 We have seen that the charge brought against him in 
 1662, vague and unsupported as it was, was not so 
 much as explained to the sachem, previously to his 
 being taken from his own territory by an armed force, 
 and carried before an English Justice of the Peace. 
 In no other instance does the Plymouth Colony seem 
 to have exercised an authority of this nature, even 
 over the meanest subjects of the sachem. " Inasmuch 
 as complaint is made, that many Indians pass into di- 
 vers places of this jurisdiction," say the records of the 
 Colony for 1660, " it is enacted that no strange or for- 
 eign Indians be permitted to become residents, and 
 ' that notice be given to the several sagamores to pre- 
 vent the same. 9 " A remark might be made upon the 
 policy of laws like these, so far as the Pokanokets were 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 163 
 
 concerned ; as also of the acts of 1652, and 1653, which 
 prohibited the sale of casks, barques, boats and horses, 
 to the Indians, besides providing a punishment for 
 such of them, resident in the Colony, as should violate 
 the Christian sabbath, or discharge their guns in the 
 riight-time. But these regulations the Government 
 had an undoubted right to make, as Massasoit and 
 Philip had possessed a right, which, however, they 
 were complaisant enough to relinquish, of selling 
 their own lands to purchasers of their own choosing. 
 
 Such was the state of things previous to the sub- 
 mission of 1671. With regard to this, it is quite clear 
 that, even if Philip was made to understand the instru- 
 ment which it is well known he could not read, he 
 could look upon it only as an insult, imposed upon him 
 under circumstances amounting to duress. Independ- 
 ently of any force, too, he must have thought himself 
 justified, by the manifest disposition and the summary 
 measures of the English, in availing himself of any 
 stratagem to lull suspicion and to gain time. He 
 might, or might not, at this period or before, have 
 meditated acting offensively against them, in revenge 
 of the indignity suffered by his brother and his nation ; 
 but it was certainly both prudent and patriotic in him, 
 to put himself on the defensive. He had a right, it 
 appears to us, both to drill his own people in martial 
 exercises, and to make alliances with his Indian neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 It might have been a safe policy in the Plymouth 
 Government, to have considered these things, in re- 
 gard at least to what they might call the jealous and 
 barbarous prejudices of the Indians, before proceeding 
 to extremities with either Alexander or Philip. On the 
 
164 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 contrary, while they enacted laws, and encouraged 
 accusations, and took the execution of the penalty of 
 them into their own hands, they used no other means 
 to conciliate Philip, but sending for him to appear be- 
 fore " the Plymouth Court." Whether they were cauti- 
 ous in all other respects after this time to avoid offence, 
 it is not to be expected that history should enable us 
 to determine. We find, however, that certain of the 
 Colonists, in 1673, took upon them to negotiate trea- 
 ties for land with private subjects of Philip; and there 
 is no reason to doubt, that they entered and kept pos- 
 session accordingly. As the sachems are known to 
 have been as tenacious of their territory in claim, as 
 they were liberal of it in disposal, it may well be con- 
 ceived that this first instance of a similar nature upon 
 record, should occasion Philip no little dissatisfaction. 
 In imitation of the English courtesy he might have dis- 
 patched Nimrod, Tobias, Woonkaponcpunt, or some 
 other of his " valiant and excellent " majors-generals 
 to " fetch down " the offending grantees to Sowams. 
 He seems to have taken no express notice of the affair. 
 But that he understood his territorial rights, is appar- 
 ent from the singular communication which follows. 
 It is preserved in the Collections of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, (volume second of the first series,) 
 as precisely copied from the original, which is still 
 preserved at Plymouth. 
 
 " King Philip desire to let you understand that he 
 could not come to the Court, for Tom, his interpreter, 
 has a pain in his back, that he could not travel so far, 
 and Philip sister is very sik. 
 
 " Philip would intreat that favor of you, and aney 
 of the magistrats if aney English or Engians speak about 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 165 
 
 aney land, he pray you to give them no answer at all. This 
 last summer he made that promis with you, that he 
 would not sell no land in seven years time, for that he 
 would have no English trouble him before that time, he has 
 not forgot that you promis him. 
 
 " He will come as soon as possible as he can to 
 speak with you, and so I rest, you very loving friend, 
 Philip, dwelling at mount hope nek." 
 
 This unique letter is addressed " To the much hon- 
 ered Governor, Mr. Thomas Prince, dwelling at Ply- 
 mouth." As Philip himself could neither read nor 
 write, the honor of the orthography and construction 
 must be attributed to the infirm interpreter. But the 
 sentiments are worthy of the sachem himself, and they 
 certainly manifest a mingled civility and independence 
 w r hich do him great credit. No date is affixed to the 
 letter. If it do not refer to the transaction just men- 
 tioned, it was probably prompted by some other of the 
 same description. The interest which the sachem felt 
 in cases of this kind, is apparent from one of his own 
 conveyances, made in 1668. It was of a tract included 
 within the present limits of Rochester, upon the sea- 
 shore. He drafted an accurate plan of it with his own 
 hand, (still preserved upon the records of tlie Old Col- 
 ony) and forwarded it to the Court, with the following 
 explanation. 
 
 " This may inform the honorable Court," we read, 
 " that I, Philip, am willing to sell the land within this 
 draught, but the Indians that are upon it may live upon 
 it still ; but the land that is mine that is sold, and 
 Watashpoo is of the same mind. I have put down all 
 the principal names of the land we are now willing 
 
166 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 should be sold." Watashpoo was probably one of the 
 occupants, chiefly interested in the case. The letter 
 ends thus ; " Known all Men by these Presents, That 
 Philip has given power unto Watashpoo, and Samp- 
 son, and their brethren, to hold and make sale of said 
 land to whom they will," &c. This letter must have 
 been sent in compliance with some request from his 
 Plymouth friends. It is dated at Pocanauket ; sub- 
 scribed by the capital P, which was the sachem's mark ; 
 and attested, and no doubt written, by his secretary, 
 John Sassamon. 
 
 Sassamon is distinguished in history as having been 
 the immediate occasion of the first open hostilities. 
 He was born in some family of preying Indians, and 
 after receiving a tolerable education at Cambridge 
 and other places, was employed as a school-master at 
 Natick. The composition above cited rather sup- 
 ports Hubbard's remark, that he was a " cunning and 
 plausible Indian, well skilled in the English language. " 
 This writer says, that he left the English on account 
 of some misdemeanor. Mather states, that " aposta- 
 tizing from the profession of Christianity, he lived like 
 a heathen, in the quality of secretary to King Philip." 
 He adds, that he afterwards deserted the sachem, and 
 gave such notable evidences of repentance, as to be 
 employed in preaching among the Indians at Natick, 
 under the eye of his old instructer, the venerable Eliot. 
 
 This was another of the provocations which must 
 have annoyed Philip. Hubbard states expressly, that 
 Sassamon was importunately urged to forsake him ; 
 and it appears from other sources, that there had pre- 
 viously been such an entire confidence between the 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 167 
 
 two, that the Secretary was entrusted with all the se- 
 crets of his master. The provocation went still far- 
 ther. Sassamon, either having or pretending to have 
 some occasion to go among the Pokanokets frequently, 
 availed himself of this opportunity to scrutinize their 
 movements, and to report them as he thought proper 
 to the English. In consequence of this, Philip and 
 some of his subjects were ' examined/ we are told, 
 but nothing definite was learned from them. Soon 
 after, Sassamon disappeared ; and as he had expressed 
 some well-founded fears of meeting with a violent 
 death in the course of these manoeuvres, his friends 
 were alarmed. They commenced a search, and finally 
 found his dead body in Assawomset pond, (in Middle- 
 borough) where a hole in the ice, through which he 
 had been thrust, was still open, and his hat and gun 
 left near by, as if he had drowned himself. " Further- 
 more," says Mather, " upon the jealousies of the spirits 
 of men that he might have met with some foul play, a 
 jury was empanelled, unto whom it appeared that his 
 neck was broken, which is one Indian way of murdering." 
 The next step of the Plymouth Government was to 
 seize upon three Pokanoket Indians, on the testimony 
 of a fourth, " found" says Hubbard " by a strange prov- 
 idence" This man swore that he had seen the murder 
 committed from a hill near the pond. It must be in 
 ferred that he swore to the identity of the prisoners, 
 for it appears that they were convicted from " his un- 
 deniable testimony and other circumstances," and 
 forthwith hanged. Whatever may be said of the legal, 
 the moral probability certainly is, that they were guilty. 
 They were probably appointed to execute the judg- 
 
168 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ment of Philip upon Sassamon, one of them being To- 
 bias, a man of some distinction. At all events, Philip 
 must have thought himself justified in taking this sum- 
 mary measure with a vagabond who was mean enough 
 to avail himself, as Sassamon did, of being tolerated 
 in his territory after having betrayed his confidence, 
 and apparently for the very purpose of following up 
 his own treason. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Preparations for war between Philip and the Colonies. Great excitement 
 of the times. Deposition of Hugh Cole. Immediate occasion of hos- 
 tilities. Commencement of them, June 24th, 1675. Summary sketch 
 of the war. Consequences to the parties engaged. Exertions, adven- 
 tures and escapes of King Philip. His death. Anecdotes respecting 
 him. Observations on his character. His courage, dignity, kindness, 
 independence, shrewdness, and self-command. Fate of his family. 
 Defence of his conduct. 
 
 WHATEVER had previously been the dis- 
 position or determination of Philip, it is 
 universally agreed, that subsequent to the 
 transaction mentioned at the close of the last chapter, 
 he took but little pains either to conceal his own hos- 
 tility or to check that of his subjects. It would be in- 
 credible that he should. He well remembered what 
 had happened to his brother in much more peaceable 
 times ; and, as several historians intimate, he must 
 actually have apprehended ' the danger his own head 
 was in next/ A passage in one of his letters hereto- 
 fore cited, is to the same purpose " as also sugges- 
 tions of great danger in case they [his subjects] there 
 [at Plymouth] appear; with harsh threats to the sa- 
 chem, that may be considered." 
 
 Every preparation was now made for the impend- 
 ing crisis on either side. The following ancient docu- 
 
 (169) 
 
170 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ment, taken from the records of Plymouth, shows that 
 the agitation of all the parties concerned had already 
 arrived to a high pitch. It is the deposition of one 
 Hugh Cole, taken in court previous to Sassamon's 
 death, and attested by Nathaniel Morton as secretary: 
 " Hugh Cole, aged forty-three, or thereabouts, be- 
 ing deposed, saith ; That in February last past be- 
 fore the date hereof, he went to Shewamett, and two 
 Englishmen more with him : and that their business 
 was to persuade the Indians to go to Plymouth, to answer 
 a complaint made by Hezekiah Luther. The Indians 
 (saith he) seeing us, came out of the house towards 
 us, being many of them, at the least twenty or thirty, 
 with staves in their hand ; and when the Indians saw 
 there were but three of us, they laid down their staves 
 again. Then we asked the Indians what they did with 
 those staves in their hands? They answered, that 
 they looked for Englishmen to come from Plymouth, 
 to seek Indians, to carry them to Plymouth. But they 
 said they were not willing to go. And some time after, 
 in the same morning, Philip, the chief sachem, sent for 
 me to come to him ; and I went to Mount Hope to him ; 
 and when I came to Mount Hope, I saw most of the 
 Indians that I knew of Shawemett Indians, there at 
 Mount Hope, and they were generally employed in 
 making bows and arrows, and half pikes, and fixing 
 up of guns. And I saw many Indians of several places 
 repair towards Mount Hope. And some days after I 
 came from Mount Hope, I, with several others, saw 
 one of Captain Willett's rangers, coming on post on 
 horseback, who told us, that king Philip was marched 
 up the neck with about three score men; and Zacary 
 Eddy, on his report, went to see if he could find them ; 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 171 
 
 and he found them towards the upper part of the neck, 
 in several companies. One Caleb Eddy further saith, 
 that he saw many there in arms ; and I was informed 
 by John Padduck, that he saw two several guns 
 loaded with bullets or slugs. And I further testify, 
 that those Indians that I saw come towards Mount 
 Hope, as aforesaid, came better armed than I usually 
 have seen them. Further saith not/' 
 
 The Pokanokets mustered at Mount Hope, early in 
 the spring of 1675, from all quarters, and the whole 
 country was in agitation. The ungovernable fury of 
 some of these fierce warriors was the immediate occa- 
 sion of the war which ensued. They had not the power 
 which Philip himself had, of enduring provocation 
 with the reservation of revenge ; and they were by no 
 means so well aware, on the other hand, of the advan- 
 tages to be gained by such a course. At length, a 
 party of them expressed their feelings so intolerably 
 soon after the execution of their three countrymen 
 that an Englishman at Swanzey discharged his musket 
 at one of them, and wounded him. This affair took 
 place June 24, 1675, a day memorable in American his- 
 tory as the commencement of Philip's War. " Now," 
 says a reverend historian of those times, " a war was 
 begun by a fierce nation of Indians upon an honest, 
 harmless Christian generation of English, who might 
 very truly have said unto the aggressors, as it was 
 said of old unto the Ammonites, ' I have not sinned 
 against thec, but thou doest me zvrong to war against me.' '' 
 Such no doubt was the persuasion of a large majority 
 of the cotemporary countrymen of the learned divine. 
 
 Hostilities were now promptly undertaken. A let- 
 ter was sent to Philip, in the month of June, which, of 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 course, did no good ; applications were also made to 
 the Massachusetts Government for immediate assist- 
 ance ; forces were raised and stationed throughout the 
 Colony ; and matters very soon after proceeded to a 
 length which made compromise or conciliation impos- 
 sible. We do not intend to give for the present the 
 well-known particulars of this celebrated war. It is 
 sufficient to observe, that it was carried on for more 
 than a year with a violence, and amid an excitement 
 unparalleled, perhaps, in the history of the country; 
 and that it terminated with the death of Philip, late in 
 the season of 1676. 
 
 The result of it was decisive, as the sachem was 
 well aw r are that it would be, of the fate of the New 
 England Indians. The Pakanokets were nearly ex- 
 terminated. The Narraghansetts lost about one thou- 
 sand of their number in the celebrated swamp-fight at 
 Sunke-Squaw. All the Indians on the Connecticut 
 river, and most of the Nipmucks who survived, fled 
 to Canada, (where they were subsequently of great 
 service to the French) and a few hundreds took refuge 
 in New York. The English detachment of Captain 
 Church alone, are estimated to have killed about seven 
 hundred between June and October of 1676. Large 
 numbers of those who were captured were sent out of 
 the country, and sold as slaves. 
 
 But the triumph of the conqueror was dearly 
 bought. The whole fighting force of the four Colo- 
 nies seems to have been almost constantly in requisi- 
 tion. Between one and two thousand men were en- 
 gaged at the swamp-fight alone, an immense force 
 for a population of scarcely forty thousand English 
 throughout New England. Thirteen towns were en- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 173 
 
 tirely destroyed by the enemy; six hundred dwelling- 
 houses burned ; and about the same number of English- 
 men killed, so that almost every family lost a relative. 
 The mere expense of the war must have been very 
 great; for the Commissioners of the United Colonies 
 afterwards estimated the disbursements of the Old 
 Colony alone, at more than one hundred thousand 
 pounds. 
 
 Such was the war of King Philip sustained and 
 managed, upon his side, by his own single-handed en- 
 ergy and talent alone. Not that the sixty Wampa- 
 noags of the sachem's own house-hold, as it were, or 
 even the various tribes of the Pokanoket country, were 
 his sole supporters ; but that all the other tribes, which 
 supported him, did it in consequence of his influence, 
 and were induced to unite and operate together, as 
 they never had done before, under his control. Some 
 writers have asserted, that he engaged the various 
 Atlantic tribes as far south as Virginia to assist him ; 
 but of this there is no proof, and it is rendered im- 
 probable by the great want of inter-communication 
 among the tribes. 
 
 Nor is it true, as other writers have stated, that all 
 the natives of New England itself were involved with 
 Philip. On the other hand, it was the most trying cir- 
 cumstance of the great struggle of the sachem, that 
 he had not only to rely upon bringing and keeping 
 together scores of petty cantons, as jealous of each 
 other from time immemorial as so many Highland 
 clans ; but he had to watch and resist, openly and 
 secretly, all who would not join him, besides the mul- 
 titudes who deserted, betrayed and opposed him. The 
 New Hampshire tribes mostly withdrew from the con- 
 
174 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 test. The preying Indians, of whom there were then 
 thousands, either remained neutral, or like Sassamon 
 turned against their own race. One of Philip's own 
 tribes forsook him in his misfortunes ; and the Pequots 
 and Mohegans of Connecticut kept the field against 
 him from the very first day of the war to the last. It 
 may be supposed, that some of these tribes were sur- 
 prised, as Philip himself was, by the sudden breaking 
 out of the war, a year before the time which had been 
 fixed for it. This was occasioned by the proceedings 
 in which Sassamon was concerned, and by the ungov- 
 ernable fury of a few of the young warriors. 
 
 Philip is said to have wept at these tidings of the 
 first outrage of the war. He relented, perhaps, sav- 
 age as he was, at the idea of disturbing the long amity 
 which his father had preserved; but he may well have 
 regretted, certainly, that being once forced upon the 
 measure he should enter the battle-field unprepared 
 for what he well knew must be the last, as it was the 
 first, great contest between the red men and the whites. 
 But the die was cast, and though Philip never smiled 
 after that memorable hour just alluded to, his whole 
 soul was bent upon the business before him. Day nor 
 night, scarcely was there rest for his limbs or sleep for 
 his eyes. His resources must have been feeble enough, 
 had his plans, now embarrassed, succeeded to his ut- 
 most wish ; but he girded himself, as it was, with a 
 proud heart for the mortal struggle. The strength 
 of his own dominions was about six hundred warriors, 
 ready, and more than ready, long since, for the war- 
 cry. The whole force of his old enemies, the Narra- 
 ghansetts, was already engaged to him. He had nego- 
 tiated, also, with the Nipmucks and the tribes on the 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 175 
 
 Connecticut and farther west, and one after another, 
 these were soon induced to join him. Nor was it six 
 weeks from the first hostilities, before all the Indians 
 along the coast of Maine, for a distance of two hundred 
 miles, were eagerly engaged, in what Philip told them 
 was the common cause of the race. 
 
 That no arts might be left untried, even while the 
 court were condemning his three subjects, he was hold- 
 ing a grand war-dance at Sowams, and mustering his 
 tawny warriors around him from all quarters. Several 
 tribes afterwards confessed to the English, that Philip 
 had thus inveigled them into the war. And again, no 
 sooner were his forces driven back upon the Connecti- 
 cut river tribes, about the first of September, 1675, 
 than he enlisted new allies among them. The Hadley 
 Indians, who had joined the English, very likely at 
 his instigation, were suspected, and fled to him. 
 Their Springfield neighbors, soon after, joined three 
 hundred of Philip's men, in an attack upon that town ; 
 and thus the whole Nipmuck country was involved. 
 In the course of the ensuing winter, the sachem is 
 said to have visited the Mohawks in New York. Not 
 succeeding in gaining their alliance by fair argument, 
 he was desperate enough to kill some of their strag- 
 gling young men in the woods, in such a manner that 
 the blame would obviously be charged upon the Eng- 
 lish. But this strategem was defeated, by the escape 
 of one who had only been stunned by the sachem. 
 The latter was obliged to take abrupt leave of his 
 hosts ; and from that time, they were among his worst 
 enemies. 
 
 His situation during the last few months of the 
 war, was so deplorable, and yet his exertions so well 
 
176 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 sustained, that we can only look upon him with pity 
 and admiration. His successes for some time past 
 had been tremendous ; but the tide began to ebb. The 
 whole power of the Colonies was in the field, aided 
 by guides and scouting-parties of his own race. The 
 Saconets, the subjects of a near relation of his own, 
 enlisted under Church. Other tribes complained and 
 threatened. Their territory, as well as his, had been 
 over-run, their settlements destroyed, and their plant- 
 ing and fishing grounds all occupied by the English. 
 Those of them who were not yet hunted down, were 
 day and night followed into swamps and forests, and 
 reduced to live, if they did not actually starve or 
 * freeze, upon the least and worst food to be conceived 
 of. Hundreds died of diseases incurred in this man- 
 ner. " I have eaten horse," said one of these miser- 
 able wretches, " but now horse is eating me." Another 
 informed Church, on one occasion, that about three 
 hundred Indians had gone a long way to Swanzey, in 
 the heat of the war, for the purpose of eating clams, 
 and that Philip was soon to follow them. At another 
 time the valiant captain himself captured a large party. 
 Finding it convenient to attack a second directly after, 
 he bade the first wait for him, and join him at a cer- 
 tain rendezvous. The day after the skirmish, " they 
 came to him as they were ordered," and he drove them 
 all together, that very night, into Bridgewater pound, 
 and set his Saconet soldiers to guard them. " Being 
 well treated with victuals and drink," he adds, with 
 great simplicity, "they had a merry night, and the 
 prisoners laughed as loud as the soldiers ; not being so 
 treated for a long time before" 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 177 
 
 The mere physical sufferings of Philip, meanwhile, 
 are almost incredible. It is by his hair-breadth es- 
 capes, indeed, that he is chiefly visible during the war. 
 Occasionally, the English come close upon him ; he 
 starts up, like the roused lion, plunges into the river or 
 leaps the precipice; and nothing more is seen of him 
 for months. Only a few weeks after the war com- 
 menced, he was surrounded in the great Pocasset 
 swamp, and obliged to escape from his vigilant ene- 
 mies by rafting himself, with his best men, over the 
 great Taunton river, while their women and children 
 were left to be captured. On his return to the same 
 neighborhood, the next season, a captive guided the 
 English to his encampment. Philip fled in such haste 
 as to leave his kettle upon the fire ; twenty of his 
 comrades were overtaken and killed ; and he himself 
 escaped to the swamp, precisely as he had formerly 
 escaped from it. Here his uncle was shot soon after- 
 wards at his side. Upon the next day, Church, discov- 
 ering an Indian seated on a fallen tree, made to answer 
 the purpose of a bridge over the river, raised his mus- 
 ket and deliberately aimed at him. " It is one of our 
 own party," whispered a savage, who crept behind him. 
 Church lowered his gun, and the stranger turned his 
 head. It was Philip himself, musing, perhaps, upon 
 the fate which awaited him. Church fired, but his 
 royal enemy had already fled down the bank. He 
 escaped from a close and bloody skirmish a few hours 
 afterwards. 
 
 He was now a desolate and desperate man, the last 
 prince of an ancient race, without subjects, without 
 territory, accused by his allies, betrayed by his com- 
 rades, hunted like a spent deer by blood-hounds, in 
 
 M. of H. XXX 12 
 
178 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 daily hazard of famishing, and with no shelter day or 
 night for his head. All his chief counsellors and best 
 friends had been killed. His brother was slain in the 
 Pocasset swamp ; his uncle was shot down at his own 
 side ; and his wife and only son were captured when 
 he himself so narrowly escaped from the fire of Church. 
 And could he have fled for the last time from the soil 
 of his own country, he would still have found no rest 
 or refuge. He had betaken himself once to a place 
 between York and Albany; but even here, as Church 
 says, the Moohags made a descent upon him and killed 
 many of his men. His next kennelling-place was at 
 the fall of Connecticut river, above Deerfield, where, 
 some time after, " Captain Turner found him, came 
 upon him by night, killed a great many men, and 
 frightened many more into the river, that were hunted 
 down the falls and drowned." He lost three hundred 
 men at this time. They were in their encampments, 
 asleep and unguarded. The English rushed upon them, 
 and they fled in every direction, half-awakened, and 
 crying out, " Mohawks ! Mohawks ! " 
 
 We cannot better illustrate Philip's character, than 
 by observing, that within a few days of this affair, he 
 was collecting the remnants of the Narraghansetts 
 and Nipmucks among the Wachuset hills, on the east 
 side of the river; that they then made a descent upon 
 Sudbury ; " met with and swallowed up the valiant Cap- 
 tain Wadsworth and his company; and many other dole- 
 ful desolations in those parts." We also find, that 
 Philip was setting parties to waylay Church, under 
 his own worst circumstances ; and that he came very 
 near succeeding. He is thought to have been at the 
 great swamp fight in December, 1675 ; and to have led 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 179 
 
 one thousand Indians against Lancaster on the en- 
 suing 8th of February. In August of the former 
 season, he made his appearance among the Nipmucks, 
 in a swamp ten or twelve miles from Brookfield. 
 "They told him at his first coming/' said one of them 
 who was taken captive, " what they had done to the 
 English at Brookfield [burning the town.] " Then he 
 presented and gave to three sagamores, namely, John alias 
 Apequinast, Quanansit, and Mawtamps, to each of 
 them about a peck of unstrung wampum" Even so 
 late as the month before the sachem's death, a negro, 
 who had fought under him, informed the English of 
 his design of attacking certain towns, being still able 
 to muster something like a thousand men. In his last 
 and worst days, he would not think of peace ; and he 
 killed with his own hand, upon the spot, the only 
 Indian who ever dared to propose it. It was the 
 brother of this man by whom he was himself soon 
 after slain. 
 
 These are clear proofs, then, that Philip possessed 
 a courage as noble as his intellect. Nor is there any 
 doubt that history would have furnished a long list 
 of his personal exploits, but that his situation com- 
 pelled him to disguise as well as conceal himself. 
 If any thing but his face had been known, there was 
 nothing to prevent Church from shooting him, as we 
 have seen. And universally influential as he was, 
 the master-spirit every where guiding, encouraging, 
 soothing and rewarding, it is a fact worthy of men- 
 tion, that from the time of his first flight from Pocasset 
 until a few weeks before his death, no Englishman 
 could say, that he had either seen his countenance or 
 heard his voice. Hence Church describes him as being 
 
180 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 always foremost in the flight. The price put upon his 
 head, the fearful power which pursued him, the circum- 
 stance that some of his own acquaintance were against 
 him, and especially the vital importance of his life to 
 his cause, all made it indispensable for him to adopt 
 every stratagem of the wary and cunning warfare of 
 his race. 
 
 We have said something of Philip's ideas of his 
 own sovereign dignity. Hence the fate of Sassamon, 
 and of the savage who proposed peace. There is a 
 well settled tradition, that in 1665 he went over to the 
 island of Nantucket, with the view of killing an In- 
 dian called John Gibbs. He landed on the west e<nd, 
 intending to travel along the shore, undiscovered, 
 under the bank, to that part of the island where 
 Gibbs resided. By some lucky accident, the latter re- 
 ceived a hint of his approach, made his escape to the 
 English settlement, and induced one Mr. Macy to 
 conceal him. His crime consisted in speaking the 
 name of some deceased relative of Philip (his brother, 
 perhaps,) contrary to Indian etiquette in such cases 
 provided. The English held a parley with the sachem, 
 and all the money they were able to collect was barely 
 sufficient to satisfy him for the life of the culprit. It 
 was not a mere personal insult, but a violation of the 
 reverence due from a subject to his king. 
 
 It appears that when he visited Boston, before the 
 war, he succeeded in persuading the government, 
 as no doubt, was the truth of the case, that not- 
 withstanding the old league of his father, renewed 
 by himself, or rather by force of it, he was still inde- 
 pendent of Plymouth. ' These successive engage- 
 ments were agreements of amity, and not of subjec- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 181 
 
 tion any further, as he apprehended." He then desired 
 to see a copy of the treaty, and rquested that one 
 might be procured for him. He knew, he added, that 
 the preying Indians had submitted to the English; 
 but the Pokanokets had done no such a thing, and they 
 were not subject. The letter of the Massachusetts to 
 the Plymouth Government, written just after this 
 interview with the sachem, is well worthy of notice. 
 " We do not understand," say the former, " how far 
 he hath subjected himself to you; but the treatment 
 you have given him, does not render him such a sub- 
 ject, as that, if there be not present answering to 
 summons, there should presently be a proceeding to 
 hostilities." 
 
 Philip had himself the same notion of a Plymouth 
 summons; and yet either policy or good feeling in- 
 duced him to visit the Plymouth Governor, in March, 
 1675, for the purpose of quieting the suspicions of 
 the Colony ; nothing was discovered against him, and 
 he returned home. He maintained privately the same 
 frank but proud independence. He was opposed to 
 Christianity as much as his father was, and would 
 make no concessions upon that point. Possibly the 
 remembrance of Sassamon might have rankled in his 
 bosom, when, upon the venerable Eliot once under- 
 taking to convert him, he took one of his buttons 
 between his fingers, and told him he cared no more for 
 the Gospel than for that button. That he was gener- 
 ally more civil, however, may be inferred from God- 
 kin's statement ; " I have heard him speak very good 
 words, arguing that his conscience is convicted, &c." 
 The sachem evidently made himself agreeable in this 
 case. 
 
182 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 In regard to his personal appearance, always a 
 matter of curiosity in the case of great men, sketches 
 purporting to be portraits of him are extant, but none 
 of them are believed to have more verisimilitude than 
 the grotesque caricature prefixed to the old narrative 
 of Captain Church (the model of the series) ; and we 
 must therefore content ourselves to remain ignorant 
 in this matter. As to his costume, Josselyn, who saw 
 him at Boston, says that he had a coat on, and buskins 
 set thick with beads, " in pleasant wild works, and a 
 broad belt of the same;" his accoutrements being 
 valued at 20. A family in Swanzey, (Mass.) is 
 understood to be still in possession of some of the 
 royalties which were given up by Anawon, at the 
 time of his capture by Church. There were two horns 
 of glazed powder, a red-cloth blanket, and three richly 
 and beautifully wrought wampum belts. One was 
 nine inches wide, and so long as to extend from the 
 shoulder to the ancles. To the second, which was 
 worn on the head, were attached two ornamented 
 small flags. The third and smallest had a star figured 
 in beads upon one end, which came over the bosom. 
 
 Philip was far from being a mere barbarian in his 
 manners and feelings. There is not an instance to 
 be met with, of his having maltreated a captive in 
 any way, even while the English were selling his own 
 people as slaves abroad, or torturing and hanging 
 them at home. The famous Mrs. Rowlandson speaks 
 of meeting with him during her doleful captivity. He 
 invited her to call at his lodge ; and when she did so, 
 bade her sit down, and asked her if she would smoke. 
 On meeting her again, he requested her to make some 
 garment for his child, and for this he paid her a shilling. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 183 
 
 He afterwards took the trouble of visiting her for the 
 purpose of assuring her, that " in a fortnight she should 
 be her own mistress." Her last interview, it must be 
 allowed, shows his shrewdness to rather more ad- 
 vantage than his fair dealing. It was Indian stratagem 
 in war-time, however; and the half-clad sachem was 
 at this very time living upon ground-nuts, acorns and 
 lily-roots. " Philip smelling their business, [her 
 ransom,] called me to him, and asked me what I would 
 give him to tell me some good news, and to speak a 
 good word for me, that I might go home tomorrow. 
 I told him I could not tell, but any thing I had, 
 and asked him what he would have. He said two 
 coats, and twenty shillings in money, half a bushel of 
 seed-corn, and some tobacco. / thanked him for his love, 
 but I kneiv that good news as well as that crafty fox" 
 It is probable he was amusing himself with this good 
 woman, much as he did with the worthy Mr. Gookin ; 
 but at all events, there are no traces of malevolent 
 feeling in these striking anecdotes. 
 
 What is more striking, we find that when one 
 James Brown, of Swanzey, brought him a letter from 
 Plymouth, just before hostilities commenced, and the 
 young warriors were upon the point of killing him, 
 Philip interferred and prevented it, saying, that " his 
 father had charged him to show kindness to Mr. 
 Brown." Accordingly, it is recorded in Hubbard, 
 that a little before his death, the old sachem had 
 visited Mr. Brown, who lived not far from Montaup, 
 and earnestly desired that the love and amity he had 
 received, might be continued to the children. It was 
 probably this circumstance, which induced Brown 
 
184 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 himself, to engage in such a hazardous enterprise, after 
 an interval, probably, of some twenty years. 
 
 Nor should we pass over the kindness of Philip 
 to the Leonard family, who resided near Fowling 
 Pond, in what is now Raynham. Philip, who wintered 
 at Montaup, for the convenience of lishing perhaps, 
 was accustomed to spend the summer at a hunting- 
 house, by this pond. There he became intimate with 
 the Leonards, traded with them, and had his arms re- 
 paired by them frequently. On the breaking out of the 
 war, he gave strict orders that these men should never 
 be hurt, as they never were, and indeed, the whole 
 town of Taunton, as it then was, remained almost 
 entirely unmolested throughout the war, and amid 
 all the ravages and massacres which daily took place 
 upon its very borders. How much of provocation 
 and humiliation he was himself enduring meanwhile, 
 we have already seen. All his relations were killed 
 or captured, and a price set upon his own life. 
 
 It is a matter of melancholy interest to know, that 
 the sachem, wretched and hopeless as he had become 
 in his last days, was still surrounded by a band of 
 his faithful and affectionate followers. At the very 
 moment of his fatal surprise by the English, he is 
 said to have been telling them of his gloomy dreams, 
 and advising them to desert him and provide for their 
 own safety. A few minutes after this, he was shot 
 in attempting to escape from the swamp. An Eng- 
 lishman, one Cook, aimed at him, but his gun 
 missed fire ; the Indian who was stationed to watch 
 at the same place, discharged his musket, and shot 
 him through the heart. The news of this success 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 185 
 
 was of course received with great satisfaction ; Church 
 says, that " the whole army gave three loud huzzas." 
 It is to be regretted that the honest captain suffered 
 his prejudices to carry him so far, that he denied the 
 rites of burial to his great enemy. He had him quar- 
 tered, on the contrary, and his head carried to Ply- 
 mouth, where, as Mather is careful to tell us, it arrived 
 on the very day when the church there were keeping 
 a solemn thanksgiving. The conqueror's temper was 
 soured by the illiberality of the Government toward 
 himself. For this march he received but four and 
 sixpence a man, together with thirty shillings a head 
 for the killed. He observes that Philip's head went 
 at the same price, and he thought it a " scanty reward 
 and poor encouragement." The sachem's head was 
 carried about the colony in triumph, and the Indian 
 who killed him was rewarded with one of his hands. 
 To' finish the wretched detail, several of his principal 
 royalties were soon after given up by one of his chief 
 captains ; and the lock of the gun which was fatal to 
 him, with a samp-dish found in his wigwam, are still 
 to be seen among the antiquities of the Historical 
 Society of Massachusetts. Montaup, which became 
 the subject of a dispute between the Massachusetts and 
 Plymouth Colonies, was finally awarded to the latter 
 by a special decision of King Charles. 
 
 Last and worst of all, his only son, a boy of nine 
 years of age, whom we have already noticed as among 
 the English captives, was sold as a slave and shipped 
 to Bermuda. It should be stated, however, that this 
 unfortunate measure was not taken without some 
 scruples. The Plymouth Court were so much per- 
 
186 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 plexed upon this occasion, as to conclude upon apply- 
 ing to the Clergymen of the Colony for advice. Mr. 
 Cotton was of opinion that " the children of notorious 
 traitors, rebels, and murderers, especially such as have 
 been principal leaders and actors in such horrid vil- 
 lanies, might be involved in the guilt of their parents, 
 and might salva republica, be adjudged to death" Dr. 
 Increase Mather compared the child to Hadad, whose 
 father was killed by Joab ; and he intimates, that if 
 Hadad himself had not escaped, David would have 
 taken measures to prevent his molesting the next gener- 
 ation. It is gratifying to know, that the course he 
 recommended was postponed, even to the ignominious 
 and mortifying one we have mentioned. 
 
 Such was the impression which had been univer- 
 sally forced upon the Colonists by the terrible spirit 
 of Philip. And never was a civilized or an uncivil- 
 ized enemy more generally or more justly feared. 
 How much greater his success might have been, had 
 circumstances favored, instead of opposing him, it is 
 fortunately impossible for us to estimate. It is con- 
 fessed, however, that had even the Narraghansetts 
 joined him during the first summer of the war, as 
 nothing but the abrupt commencement of it prevented 
 them from doing, the whole country from the Pis- 
 cataqua to the Sound, must have been over-swept and 
 desolated. But as it was, Philip did and endured 
 enough to immortalize him as a warrior, a statesman, 
 and we may add, as a high-minded and noble patriot. 
 Whatever might be the prejudice against him in the 
 days of terror produced by his prowess, there are both 
 the magnanimity and the calmness in these times, to 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 187 
 
 do him the justice he deserves. He fought and fell, 
 miserably, indeed, but gloriously, the avenger of his 
 own household, the worshipper of his own gods, the 
 guardian of his own honor, a martyr for the soil which 
 was his birth-place, and for the proud liberty which 
 was his birth-right. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Narraghansett tribe; territory and power. Chief Sachems at the date 
 of the English settlements in New England. Canonicus associates 
 with himself Miantonomo, his nephew. Their treatment of Roger 
 Williams in 1634. Hostility to the Plymouth Colony. Invited by the 
 Pequots to fight the English. Treaty negotiated in Boston, in 1636, 
 by Miantonomo. War with the Pequots and result of it. Subsequent 
 hostility between Miantonomo and Uncas. Sequassen. Battle of the 
 Sachem's- Plain. Capture of Miantonomo. Sentence of the English 
 commissioners upon him. Execution of it. 
 
 NEXT to the Pokanoket confederacy, none has a 
 stronger claim on the early notice of the his- 
 torian, than the Narraghansetts ; a nation, 
 composed of various small tribes, inhabiting a large 
 part of the territory which afterwards formed the col- 
 ony of Rhode-Island. Their dominion extended also 
 over the islands in the bay of their own name ; and the 
 Sagamores of a part of Long-Island, Block-Island, 
 Cawesit, and Niantick were either their tributaries or 
 subject to them in some other way. They had once 
 been able to raise more than four thousand warriors ; 
 and so late as Philip's time, we have seen they could 
 muster two thousand, one half of whom were provided 
 with English arms, and were skillful in the use of 
 them. From time immemorial, they had waged war 
 with both the Pokanokets on the North and the Pe- 
 quots on the West. 
 (188) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 189 
 
 It might be expected, that the rulers of such a 
 confederacy, thus situated, should be men of talent 
 and energy ; and this expectation will not be disap- 
 pointed. Throughout the history of the New Eng- 
 land Indians, as we find no people more resolute in 
 declaring what they believed to be their rights, or 
 more formidable in defending them, so we find no 
 sachems more ready and able than theirs, on all occa- 
 sions, to sustain the high spirit of their subjects. 
 
 There is an unnecessary confusion in the informa- 
 tion conveyed by some of our best annalists, respect- 
 ing the particular personage who governed the Nar- 
 raghansetts at the date of the first intercourse between 
 them and the English. Governor Hutchinson, for 
 example, speaks in one case of Canonicus, as being 
 their chief sachem. In another, alluding to the death 
 of Miantonomo, while the former was yet living, he 
 observes, that although they had lost their chief sachem, 
 yet they had divers other stout ones, as Canonicus, 
 Pessacus and others. 
 
 The ambiguity has arisen from the circumstance, 
 that although Canonicus exercised the chief authority 
 of the country when the English first arrived, he 
 soon after became associated in the Government with 
 Miantonomo, his nephew. What were the particular 
 conditions of the royal co-partnership, or what was 
 the occasion of it, cannot now be determined. Some 
 writers suppose, that the sole authority belonged to 
 the younger of the two, and that the elder acted in 
 the capacity of regent; but considering that the asso- 
 ciation continued during the whole term of the joint 
 lives of the two, it appears more probable that Canoni- 
 cus, finding himself far advanced in years, as well 
 
190 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 as encumbered with the charge of an extensive 
 dominion, at the period of the first English settle- 
 ments, thought proper to make such an alteration in 
 his regal state as seemed to be required by the exi- 
 gencies of the times. He therefore selected as an 
 associate, the most popular and active prince of his 
 own family. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson himself appears finally to adopt 
 the conclusion we have just stated. In a part of his 
 history subsequent to the passage above cited, he 
 refers to information derived from authentic manu- 
 scripts, which furnished the opinion of the Narra- 
 ghansetts themselves upon the subject. The oldest 
 of that people reported, when the English first ar- 
 rived, that they had in former times a sachem called 
 Tashtassack, incomparably superior to any other in 
 the whole country in dominion and state. This chief- 
 tain, said they, had only two children, a son and a 
 daughter ; and not being able to match them according 
 to their dignity, he joined them together in wedlock. 
 They had four sons ; and of these, Canonicus, " who 
 was sachem when the English came" was the eldest. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson observes, that this is the only 
 piece of Indian history, or tradition of any sort, from 
 the ancestors of our first Indians, he had ever met 
 with. The brothers of Canonicus here referred to, 
 are occasionally spoken of by the old writers, but not 
 as having signalized themselves by any thing worthy 
 of notice. 
 
 The fact that Canonicus and his nephew adminis- 
 tered the government in harmony, as well as in union, 
 is shown most clearly by the letters of Roger Wil- 
 liams. It is well known that, in 1634, when that 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 191 
 
 reverend gentleman was compelled to leave the Massa- 
 chusetts colony, (on account of his religious opinions,) 
 he fled to Seekonk. But that place lying within the 
 limits of the Plymouth jurisdiction, and the people of 
 that colony being unwilling to embroil themselves 
 with Massachusetts, Governor Winslow informed him 
 of the difficulty which was apprehended, and advised 
 him to occupy a spot on the other side of the river, 
 without the boundaries of either jurisdiction. Upon 
 this, Mr. Williams, utterly forlorn, crossed the river, 
 and threw himself on the mercy of Canonicus. 
 
 The savage chieftain to his eternal praise, be it 
 recorded received him with a hospitality worthy of 
 an emperor. At first, indeed, he was suspicious of his 
 visiter's motives ; and he was none the more pre- 
 possessed in his favor, from his subjects having re- 
 cently suffered excessively from a formidable epidemic, 
 which he supposed to have been introduced by the 
 English. " At my first coming among them," Mr. 
 Williams writes, " Caunounicus (morosus aeque ac 
 barbarus senex) was very sour, and accused the Eng- 
 lish and myself of sending the plague among them, 
 and threatening to kill him especially." Soon after- 
 wards, however, he not only permitted the refugee, 
 and the poor wanderers who had followed him from 
 Salem, to have a resting place in his domain, but he 
 gave them all " the neck of land lying between the 
 mouths of Pawtucket and Moshasuck rivers, that they 
 might sit down in peace upon it, and enjoy it forever." 
 Mr. Williams divided this land equally among his 
 followers, and founded the town of Providence. The 
 settlement of Rhode Island commenced at Patuxet 
 a short time afterwards, Canonicus conveying to Wil- 
 
192 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Hams nearly the whole of what is now Providence 
 county, at one time. 
 
 The kindness of the Narraghansett rulers is the 
 more creditable to their feelings, inasmuch as the 
 former relations between them and the English col- 
 onies had been far enough from friendly. Early in 
 1622, their threats of hostility were so open, that the 
 English were receiving constant intelligence of their 
 designs from the Indians in their own alliance ; and 
 not long afterwards, Canonicus sent a herald to Ply- 
 mouth, who left a bundle of arrows enclosed in a 
 rattle-snake's skin the customary challenge to war. 
 The Governor despatched a messenger in return, 
 bearing the same skin stuffed with gunpowder and 
 bullets ; assuring the chieftain also, that if he had 
 shipping, instead of troubling him to come so far as 
 Plymouth to gratify his wish for fighting, he would 
 have sought him in his own country ; and further- 
 more, that whenever he did come, he should find 
 the English ready for him. This resolute message 
 had the desired effect, and the sachem's superstition 
 confirmed it. Fearful of some mysterious injury, he 
 refused to touch the skin, and would not suffer it 
 even to remain in his house. It passed through sev- 
 eral hands, and at length was returned to the colony, 
 unopened. 
 
 In 1632, the sachem made an attack on Massasoit, 
 who fled for refuge to an English house at Sowams ; 
 and sent despatches for the assistance of his English 
 allies. As Captain Standish took a special interest in 
 this case, there must soon have been a warm contest 
 between the parties, had not the Narraghansetts hastily 
 retreated, on account of a rumor that the Pequots 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 193 
 
 were invading their own territory. Four years after- 
 wards, when the last named nation formed the design 
 of completely extirpating the English from New Eng- 
 land, they applied to their old enemies, Cononicus and 
 Miantonomo, to conclude a peace, and to engage them 
 with as many other tribes as possible in a common 
 cause against the colonists. 
 
 The sachems are said to have wavered on that 
 occasion, between the gratification of present revenge 
 upon the Pequots, and the prospect of an ultimate 
 triumph over the English power by uniting with them. 
 Their friendship for Roger Williams, and the influence 
 he was consequently enabled to exercise, probably 
 turned the scale. Miantonomo informed him of the 
 Pequot application ; Mr. Williams forwarded the news 
 immediately to Governor Winthrop at Boston ; and 
 Canonicus, by the same messenger, sent word of recent 
 depredations which he had just understood to have 
 been committed by the Pequots at Saybrook. The 
 Governor, probably following the .suggestion of Mr. 
 Williams, sent for Miantonomo to do him the honor of 
 a visit. 
 
 He came to Boston accordingly in September, 1636, 
 attended by two of the sons of Canonicus, another sa- 
 chem, and about twenty sanops (or male adults.) As 
 he had given notice of his approach the day previous, 
 the governor sent a corps of musketeers to meet him at 
 Roxbury; and they escorted him into town about noon. 
 By this time, Mr. Winthrop had called together most 
 of the magistrates and ministers of Boston, but it be- 
 ing now dinner time, ceremony and business were both 
 postponed. The sachems dined by themselves in the 
 same room with the governor, while the sanops were 
 
 M. of H. XXX 13 
 
194 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 amply provided for at an inn. In the afternoon, Mian- 
 tonomo made his proposals of peace ; and said that, in 
 case of their acceptance, he should in two months send 
 a present to confirm them. The governor, according 
 to their own custom, asked time to consider this pro- 
 posal. At the second conference, which took place the 
 next morning, the following terms were agreed upon, 
 and subscribed by the governor on the one hand, and 
 the marks of the sachems on the other. 
 
 1. A firm peace between the Massachusetts col- 
 ony, and the other English plantations, (with their 
 consent,) and their confederates (with their consent.) 
 
 2. Neither party to make peace with the Pequots. 
 without consultation with the other. 
 
 3. Not to harbor the Pequots. 
 
 4. To put to death or deliver over murderers, and 
 to return fugitive servants. 
 
 5. The English to notify them, when they marched 
 against the Pequots, and they to send guides. 
 
 6. Free trade between the two nations. 
 
 7. None of them to visit the English settlements 
 during the war with the Pequots, without some Eng- 
 lishman or known Indian in company. 
 
 The treaty was to continue to the posterity of both 
 nations. On its conclusion, the parties dined together 
 as before. They then took formal leave of each other, 
 and the sachems were escorted out of town, and dis- 
 missed with a volley of musketry. The present prom- 
 ised by Miantonomo appears to have been sent in 
 early in 1637, when a deputation of twenty-six Narra- 
 ghansetts came to Boston, with forty fathom of wam- 
 pum and a Pequot's hand. The governor gave each 
 of the four sachems in the company, " a coat of four- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 195 
 
 teen shillings price, and deferred to return his present 
 till after, according to their manner." It is well known, 
 how fully the Narraghansetts discharged their engage- 
 ments in the expedition which took place about this 
 time against the Pequots. They also furnished, 
 through Mr. Williams, not a little useful information 
 respecting the common enemy, by which the expedi- 
 tion was guided at the outset ; and offered the use of 
 the harbors of the Narraghansett coast, for the English 
 vessels. 
 
 The joint invasion of the allies took place in May. 
 The English forces, taking the Narraghansett country 
 on their way, acquainted Canonicus and Miantonomo 
 with their arrival and plan of campaign. The latter 
 met them, the next day, with about two hundred of his 
 chief counsellors and warriors. Mason made a formal 
 request for permission to pass through his territories, 
 on his way to the Pequot forts. Miantonomo, after a 
 solemn consultation, replied, that he highly approved 
 of the expedition, and would send men, especially as 
 the English force appeared to him quite too insignifi- 
 cant to meet the Pequots, who were great warriors. 
 About five hundred warriors accordingly marched 
 against the enemy, under the command of Mason ; and 
 some of them did active service. The chief sachems 
 took no part, personally, in the campaign. 
 
 In September 1638, the Pequots being completely 
 conquered, Uncas, the chief sachem of the Mohegans, 
 (who had assisted in the war,) and Miantonomo, were 
 invited to meet the Connecticut magistrates at Hart- 
 ford, to agree upon a division of captives. These were 
 two hundred in number, besides women and children. 
 Eighty of them were allotted to the Narraghansett 
 
196 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 sachems ; twenty to a neighboring chief, Ninigret ; and 
 the other one hundred to Uncas. The Pequots were to 
 pay an annual tribute of wampum at Hartford. It 
 was also covenanted, that there should be a perpetual 
 peace between Miantonomo and Uncas; that all past 
 injuries should be buried; that if any should be com- 
 mitted in future, complaints should be submitted ami- 
 cably to the arbitration of the English, both parties 
 being bound to abide by their decision on pain of in- 
 curring their hostility. No open enemies of the Eng- 
 lish were to be harbored, and all individual criminals 
 were to be given over to justice. 
 
 The terms of this treaty did not long remain invio- 
 late. Whatever were the motives of Miantonomo, 
 and whatever his justification, he soon became bitterly 
 hostile to the Mohegans at least. It might have been 
 reason enough with him for opposing both them and 
 the English, that either was his enemy; because he 
 knew them to be bound together by alliance of offence 
 and defence. But it seems probable, that he intended 
 only to fight the Mohegans. His old grudge against 
 the Pequots revived against them, as a branch of the 
 Pequot stock. Uncas, too, was his greatest personal 
 rival : and Miantonomo was ambitious to stand at the 
 head of all the New England Indians. If, however, as 
 has been asserted by some, his main design was to re- 
 sist the growing power of the English, from merely 
 patriotic motives, it was clear, that an essential step 
 towards the attainment of this object, and especially 
 towards a hostile union of all the tribes, must be the 
 death of Uncas, and the suppression of his tribe. Other 
 causes of hostility will be considered hereafter. 
 
 But be the reasoning of the sachem what it might, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 197 
 
 his measures were of a character not to be mistaken. 
 Great efforts were made for a general co-operation 
 of the tribes, especially in Connecticut. They were 
 observed to be collecting arms and ammunition, and 
 to be making a general preparation for war. The colo- 
 nists thought themselves obliged to keep guard and 
 watch every night, from sunset to sunrise, and to pro- 
 tect their inhabitants from town to town, and even 
 from one place to another in the same neighborhood. 
 
 Meanwhile Miantonomo is said to have hired a 
 Pequot, subject to Uncas, to kill him. The assassin 
 made an attempt, in the spring of 1643. He shot Uncas 
 through the arm, and then fled to the Narraghansetts, 
 reporting through the Indian towns that he had killed 
 him. When it was understood, however, that the 
 wound was not fatal, the Pequot circulated a rumor 
 that Uncas had purposely cut his own arm with a flint, 
 and then charged the Pequot with shooting him. But, 
 Miantonomo soon after going to Boston in company 
 with the refugee, the governor and magistrates, on ex- 
 amination, found clear evidence that the latter was 
 guilty of the crime with which he was charged. They 
 proposed sending him to Uncas to be punished; but 
 Miantonomo pleaded that he might be suffered to re- 
 turn with himself; and gave them to understand, it is 
 said, that he would send him to Uncas. He took occa- 
 sion to exculpate himself of all blame in the affair, and 
 convinced them so completely, that his requests were 
 granted. Two days afterwards, he killed the Pequot 
 with his own hand. 
 
 About the same time, an event took place in an- 
 other direction, under circumstances which strongly 
 indicated the same authorship. Sequassen, a sachem 
 
198 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 on the Connecticut river, killed a principal Indian of 
 the Mohegan tribe ; and waylaid Uncas himself, as he 
 was going down the river, and shot several arrows at 
 him. Uncas complained to the governor and court of 
 the colony, who took great pains to settle the affair, 
 but without success. He was finally induced to accept 
 of one of Sequassen's Indians, to be given up as an 
 equivalent for the murdered man ; but Sequassen would 
 not consent to submission or concession of any kind. 
 He insisted upon fighting. Uncas accepted his chal- 
 lenge, and invaded his territory; and Sequassen was 
 defeated, with the loss of many of his wigwams burned, 
 and his men killed. 
 
 As the conquered sachem was nearly allied to Mian- 
 tonomo, and upon intimate terms with him, it was 
 generally believed that he acted from his instigation, 
 and with the promise of his assistance in case of neces- 
 sity. He even expressed, openly, his reliance on the 
 aid of Miantonomo. 
 
 The Narraghansett chief was not a man to desert 
 his ally or to retreat from his foe. Having hastily 
 matured a plan of campaign, it was the next object to 
 strike the intended blow with the most possible effect, 
 and that implied the least possible notice. He raised 
 an army of between five hundred and one thousand 
 men, and marched towards the Mohegan territory. The 
 spies of Uncas discovered their approach, and gave 
 him intelligence. The enemy was already near, and 
 Uncas was unprepared ; but he hastily rallied four or 
 five hundred of his men, and telling them that the 
 enemy must by no means be suffered to surprise them 
 in their villages, marched out to meet him forthwith. 
 At the distance of three or four miles, the two armies 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 199 
 
 encountered each other upon a large plain. Mean- 
 while, Uncas, who found himself obliged to rely more 
 upon strategem than strength, had acquainted his war- 
 riors on the march with a plan which he now proceeded 
 to put in execution. 
 
 He desired a parley, and the two armies halted in 
 the face of each other. Then advancing in the front 
 of his men, he addressed Miantonomo : " You have 
 a number of stout men with you, and so have I with 
 me. It is a great pity that such brave warriors should 
 be killed in a private quarrel between us only. Come 
 on, then, like a man, as you profess to be, and let us 
 fight it out. If you kill me, my men shall be yours. 
 If I kill you, your men shall be mine." Miantonomo 
 saw his advantage too clearly to accept such a pro- 
 posal. "My warriors," said he, "have come a long way 
 to fight, and they shall fight." The reply was antici- 
 pated, and it was scarcely uttered, when Uncas fell to 
 the ground. His men discharged over him a shower of 
 arrows upon the Narraghansetts ; and then following 
 up the surprise without a moment's interval, rushed 
 upon them furiously with a hideous yell, and soon put 
 them to flight. 
 
 The pursuit was sustained with a ferocious eager- 
 ness. The enemy were chased down rocks and preci- 
 pices, like the doe flying from the huntsman. About 
 thirty were slain, and a much greater number wounded. 
 Miantonomo was exceedingly pressed. Some of the 
 bravest men of Uncas at length came up with him ; but 
 not daring actually to skirmish with him, or preferring 
 to leave that honor to their leader, they contrived to 
 impede his flight by twitching him back, and then 
 passed him. Uncas now came up, and rushing for- 
 
200 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ward like a lion greedy of his prey, he seized him by 
 the shoulder. The Narraghansett saw that his fate was 
 decided Uncas was a man of immense strength, and 
 his warriors were thick around him. He stopped, sat 
 dow r n sullenly, and spake not a word. Uncas gave the 
 Indian whoop, and called up a party of his men, who 
 gathered about the royal captive and gazed at him. 
 He still continued moody and speechless. Some of 
 his sachems were slain before his eyes, but he moved 
 not a muscle. " Why do you not speak," inquired 
 Uncas, at length ; " had you taken me I should have 
 besought you for my life." But the Narraghansett 
 was too proud to ask such a boon of his enemy, and 
 especially of his rival. Uncas however spared his life 
 for the present, and returned in great triumph to Mo- 
 hegan, leading along with him the splendid living evi- 
 dence of his victory. 
 
 The notorious Samuel Gorton having purchased 
 lands of Miantonomo, under the jurisdiction of Ply- 
 mouth and Massachusetts, and expecting to be vindi- 
 cated by him in his claims against those colonies, and 
 against other Indian tribes, he immediately sent word 
 to Uncas to give up his prisoner, and threatened him 
 with the vengeance of the colonies if he refused a com- 
 pliance. But Uncas shrewdly bethought himself of a 
 safer course. He carried his prisoner to Hartford, and 
 asked advice of the governor and magistrates. There 
 being no open war between the Narraghansetts and 
 English, these authorities were unwilling to interfere 
 in the case, and they recommended a reference of the 
 whole affair to the commissioners of the United Colo- 
 nies, at their next meeting in September. Meanwhile ; 
 Miantonomo had recovered his speech. He probably 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 201 
 
 expected better treatment with the English than with 
 Uncas, and he now earnestly pleaded to be committed 
 to their custody. Uncas consented to leave him at 
 Hartford, but insisted on having him kept as his pris- 
 oner. 
 
 At the meeting of the commissioners the whole 
 affair was laid before them. In their opinion it was 
 fully proved that Miantonomo had made attempts 
 against the life of Uncas, by all the means and meas- 
 ures heretofore alluded to, and by poison and sorcery 
 besides ; that he had murdered the Pequot assassin 
 with his own hand, instead of giving him up to jus- 
 tice ; that he was the author of a general plot among 
 the Indian tribes against the colonies ; and that he had 
 moreover gone so far as to engage the aid of the Mo- 
 hawks, who were now within a day's journey of the 
 English settlements, waiting only for Miantonomo's 
 release to serve him according to his pleasure. 
 
 " These things being duly weighed and considered/' 
 say the commissioners in their report, " we apparently 
 see that Vncas cannot be safe while Myantenomo 
 lives, but that either by secret treachery or open force 
 his life will still be in danger. Wherefore we thinke 
 he may justly putt such a false and blood-thirsty ene- 
 mie to death, but in his owne Jurisdiccon, not in the 
 English plantacons ; and advising that in the manner 
 of his death all mercy and moderacon be shewed, con- 
 trary to the practice of the Indians who exercise tor- 
 tures and cruelty, and Vncas haveing hitherto shewed 
 himself a friend to the English, and in this craveing 
 their advice, if the Nanohiggansetts Indians or others 
 shall unjustly assault Vncas for this execucon, vpon 
 notice and request the English promise to assist and 
 
202 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 protect him, as farr as they may, against such vyo- 
 lence." 
 
 The commissioners further directed, that Uncas 
 should immediately be sent for to Hartford, with some 
 of his trustiest men ; and informed of the sentence 
 passed upon his captive. He was then to take him 
 into the nearest part of his own territory, and there 
 put him to death in the presence of certain discreet 
 English persons, who were to accompany them, " and 
 see the execucon for our more full satisfaccon, and 
 that the English meddle not with the head or body at 
 all." The Hartford Government was subsequently to 
 furnish Uncas w T ith forces enough to defend him 
 against all his enemies. 
 
 These directions were promptly obeyed. Uncas 
 made his appearance at Hartford, received his prisoner, 
 and marched off with him to the very spot where the 
 capture had happened. At the instant they arrived 
 on the ground, a Mohegan who marched behind Mian- 
 tonomo split his head with a hatchet, killing him in a 
 single stroke ; so that he was probably unacquainted 
 with the mode of his execution. Tradition says that 
 Uncas cut out a piece of his shoulder, and ate it in sav- 
 age triumph. " He said it was the sweetest meat he 
 ever eat it made his heart strong." The royal victim 
 was buried, by the conqueror's order, at the place of 
 his death ; and a great heap or pillar was erected over 
 his grave. The field of battle, situated in the eastern 
 part of the town of Norwich, is called the Sachem's 
 Plain to this day. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Consideration of the justice of the Commissioners' sentence upon Mianto- 
 nomo. Their reasons, as alleged. The charge against him of ambi- 
 tious designs. Of employing the Mohawks. Of breaking the league 
 of 1638. * Concerning the Pequot squaws '. Of hostility to the Eng- 
 lish. Of Peculation. Proofs of his fidelity and friendship. Causes of 
 complaint by him and Canonicus against the English. Character of 
 both Sachems. Their treatment of Roger Williams. Letters of that 
 gentleman. Anecdotes. Death of Canonicus. 
 
 IT is not easy to determine, at this period, the jus- 
 tice of the sentence by which Miantonomo was 
 led to slaughter. As between himself and his 
 enemy, considering Indian custom and character, it 
 might be considered just; and the sufferer would cer- 
 tainly have been the last to complain of it. But though 
 Uncas may not be blamed for using the privilege of 
 the victor, a different opinion has been entertained of 
 the interference of the English. Their justification, 
 as laid before the Narraghansett nation, after Mianto- 
 nomo's death, was as follows : 
 
 " They may well vnderstand that this is without 
 violacon of any couenant betweene them and vs ; for 
 Vncas being in confederracon with vs, and one that 
 hath diligently observed his couenants before men- 
 tioned for aught we know, and requiring advice from 
 vs, vpon serious consideracon of the premises, viz. his 
 
 (203) 
 
204 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 [Miantonomo] treacherous and murtherous disposi- 
 tion against Vncas &c. and how great a disturber he 
 hath beene of the common peace of the whole coun- 
 trey, we could not in respect of the justice of the case, 
 safety of the countrey and faythfulness of our frend, 
 do otherwise than approve of the lawfulness of his 
 death. This agreeing so well with the Indians owne 
 manners, and concurring with the practice of other 
 nations with whom we are acquainted, we persuade 
 ourselves howeuer his death may be grieuous at pres- 
 ent, yet the peaceable fruits of it will yield not only 
 matter of safety to the Indians, but profite to all that 
 inhabite this continent." 
 
 Supposing every thing to be true which is here and 
 elsewhere alleged, it may still be doubted whether the 
 colonies could be justified in the part taken by their 
 commissioners ; but such is not the case. 
 
 His killing the Pequot was one point against him ; 
 but what could be more natural than for them to mis- 
 understand his promise in that case, or for him to sup- 
 pose that administering justice with his own hand 
 would be the most satisfactory course he could take. 
 Stress is laid upon Miantonomo's " ambitious designes 
 to make himself vniversal Sagamore or Governor of 
 all these parts;" but this, whether laudable or repre- 
 hensible in itself, was clearly no usurpation as against 
 them. As to this hostility towards the English, suf- 
 fice it to say here, that the evidence of it seems to have 
 been furnished chiefly by his enemies, whose direct 
 interest it was to oppress him by engaging the English 
 interest in their own favor. As to the employment 
 of the Mohawks, in particular, the most that was made 
 to appear, even through this medium, was, that they 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 205 
 
 were awaiting Miantonomo's release, " and then they 
 will carry on their designes, whether against the Eng- 
 lish or Vncas or both, is doubtful." 
 
 Let us observe the testimony of Mr. Williams in 
 regard to this affair, borrowing from a letter written 
 immediately after it took place. " A fortnight since, 
 I heard of the Mauquawogs coming to Paucomtuckqut, 
 their rendezvous ; that they were provoked by Onkas 
 wronging and robbing some Paucomtuck Indians the 
 last year, and that he [Uncas] had dared the Mauqua- 
 wogs, theatening if they came to set his ground with 
 gobbets of their flesh &c." 
 
 He admits, that a few of the Narraghansetts had 
 joined the Mohawks: but these, whether they were 
 well or ill disposed towards the English, were at all 
 events considered traitors to Miantonomo. Elsewhere 
 he states, " yt ye Narigansetts and Maquawogs are the 
 great bodies of Indians in ye country, and they are 
 confederates, and long have bene as they both yet are 
 friendly and peaceable to ye English" 
 
 Miantonomo is said to have violated the league of 
 1638, by invading the country of Uncas, without 
 having previously submitted his grievances to the 
 decision of the English. But he did not think him- 
 self absolved from the obligation created by that 
 league, in consequence of violation of it on the part 
 of the English. He probably regarded them at this 
 very time, precisely as they regarded him. Roger 
 Williams writes on one occasion, when letters of 
 complaint had been sent to him from Massachusetts, 
 that "they [Miantonomo and Canonicus] thought they 
 should prove themselves honest and faithful, when Mr. 
 Governor understood their answers; and that (al- 
 
206 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 though they could not contend with their friends) yet 
 they could relate many particulars, wherein the Eng- 
 lish had broken (since these wars) their promises." 
 
 Respecting the alleged violation of the Hartford 
 league in particular, we might perhaps properly waive 
 all attemps at justification, inasmuch as the charge 
 hardly purports to be true. Governor Winthrop gives 
 an account of the affair as received officially from 
 Connecticut, by which it appears that Miantonomo, 
 before taking part with Sequassen, applied to the 
 authorities of that province for redress of grievances 
 committed upon him by Uncas. He was answered, 
 that the English had nothing to do with the business. He 
 then applied also to Governor Winthrop himself, and 
 was very desirous to know if he would not be offended, 
 by his making war upon Uncas. " Our Governor an- 
 swered, if Onkus had done him or his friends wrong, and 
 would not give satisfaction, ive should leave him to take 
 his own course." 
 
 The account which follows next of the explanation 
 given upon one point by the accused parties, is suf- 
 ficiently characteristic of their intelligence, at least, 
 to be quoted at length. " First then, concerning the 
 Pequot squaws. Canaunicus answered that he never 
 saw any, but heard of some that came into these 
 parts, and he bade carry them back to Mr. Governour; 
 but since he never heard of them till I came, and now 
 he would have the country searched for them. Mian- 
 tunnomu answered, that he never heard of but six; 
 and four he saw w r hich were brought to him, at 
 which he was angry, and asked why they did not carry 
 them to me, that I might convey them home again. 
 Then he bid the natives that brought them to carry 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 207 
 
 them to me, who departing brought him word that 
 the squaws were lame, and they could not travel, 
 whereupon he sent me word, that I should send for 
 them. This I must acknowledge, that this message 
 I received from him, and sent him word, that we were 
 but few here, and could not fetch them nor convey 
 them, and therefore desired him to send men with 
 them, and to seek out the rest. Then, saith he, we 
 were busy ten or twelve days together, as indeed 
 they were in a strange kind of solemnity, wherein the 
 sachems eat nothing but at night, and all the natives 
 around about the country were feasted. In which time, 
 saith he, I wished some to look to them, which not- 
 withstanding, in this time, the scaped, and now he 
 would employ men instantly to search all places for 
 them, and within two or three days to convey them 
 home. Besides he profest he desired them not, and 
 was sorry the governour should think he did. I ob- 
 jected that he sent to beg one. He answered, that 
 Sassamun, being sent by the governour with letters 
 to Pequot, fell lame, and lying at his house, told him of 
 a squaw, which was a sachem's daughter, who while 
 he lived was his, Miantunnomue's, great friend. He 
 [Miantonomo] therefore desired in kindness to his dead 
 friend, to beg her or redeem her [of Mr. Williams.] 
 
 In reply to a charge touching his fidelity to the 
 English alliance, Canonicus declared that the Nar- 
 raghansetts " had stuck to the English in life or death, 
 without which they were persuaded that Okace 
 [Uncas] and the Mohiganeuks had proved false, as he 
 fears they will yet." He then went on to specify his 
 reasons for this persuasion and this fear. He also 
 stated, that although the Mohegans had yet brought 
 
208 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 in no captives, his own brother, Yootash, had on one 
 occasion " seized upon Puttaquppuunk, Quame and 
 twenty Pequts and three-score squaws ; they killed 
 three and bound the rest, watching them all night, and 
 sending for the English delivered them into their hands in 
 the morning." It seems that soon afterwards Mianto- 
 nomo passed the house where the Pequots were kept 
 confined by the English, and having a curiosity to see 
 one of the captive sachems a man of considerable 
 note he made application for that purpose but 
 was thrust at with a pike several times by the English 
 sentinels, and finally driven off. Mr. Williams sug- 
 gested, that probably he was not recognized; but he 
 thought that he was, and several of the Narraghansetts 
 were of the same opinion, and asked if they should 
 have dealt so with " Mr. Governor." Mr. Williams still 
 denied, that he could have been known ; to which Mian- 
 tonomo answered that, at least, his whole company 
 were disheartened, " and they all and Cutshamquene 
 desired to be gone : and yet, saith he, two of my men 
 (Waqouckwhut and Maunamoh) were the guides to 
 Sesquanket from the river's mouth." 
 
 To a third accusation, that he had received prison- 
 ers and wampum of the enemy, which belonged to 
 the common stock, and were nevertheless monopo- 
 lized by himself, Canonicus replied, that although 
 he and Miantonomo had paid their own warriors many 
 hundred fathom of wampum, he never had received 
 one Pequot or one yard of beads. Miantonomo added, 
 that he had received nothing but one small present 
 from four women of Long-Island, who were no Pe- 
 quots, but of that island, and who, for safety's sake, 
 had thereby put themselves under his protection. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 209 
 
 Other facts, if not opinions, appear in some of the 
 early annals, which would lead to similar conclusions 
 respecting the fidelity of the Narraghansett chiefs. 
 Governor Winthrop says, in his journal of February 
 1637 "Miantunnomoh &c. sent twenty six, with forty 
 fathom of wampum, and a Pequot's hand." In March, 
 he records intelligence received from the same source, 
 concerning the Pequot movements, with proposals 
 of fresh assistance. On the 22d of the month, "Mian- 
 tunnomoh sent us word that Mason had surprised and 
 slain eight Pequods " &c. Again, during the same 
 summer, " Miantunnomoh sent here some Pequod squaws, 
 which had run from us;" and five days afterwards, 
 " the Narraghansetts sent us the hands of three Peqouds " 
 &c. The two last statements agree with the declara- 
 tion of the sachems to Mr. Williams, apparently upon 
 the same points. 
 
 We have seen that Canonicus accused the English 
 of having broken their promises. Omitting the proof 
 of that statement, it is impossible to doubt at least, 
 that it was made in the most earnest sincerity. The 
 writer just cited informs us incidentally in his KEY 
 TO THE INDIAN LANGUAGES, that Canonicus, in a solemn 
 address to himself, before a large assembly, had once 
 used the following expression "I have never suf- 
 fered any wrong, to be offered to the English since 
 they landed, nor never will. If the Englishmen speak 
 true," he added, " then I shall go to my grave in peace, 
 and hope that the English and my posterity will live 
 in peace and love together." Mr. Williams observed, 
 that he hoped he had no occasion to question the 
 friendliness of the English. Upon this the sachem 
 took a stick, broke it in ten pieces, and related ten 
 
 M. of H. XXX 14 
 
210 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 instances, laying down a stick to every instance, which 
 gave him cause for apprehension or suspicion. With 
 regard to some of them, he was afterwaids convinced 
 of his being mistaken, and readily acknowledged him- 
 self to be so ; but not as to all. 
 
 The truth probably is, that provocations of some 
 sort had been received upon both sides ; but that the 
 English had any peculiar reason to complain, and es- 
 pecially to assume' the violent administration of punish- 
 ment or prevention, certainly cannot be admitted. 
 There is no evidence extant to support such a position. 
 Mr. Williams indeed acknowledges, with his usual 
 frankness, that individual Narraghansetts had perhaps 
 now and then committed offences in " matters of 
 money or pettie revenging of themselves in some In- 
 dians upon extream provocation :" but he also states, in 
 the same paragraph, that he " could not yet learn y* 
 ever it pleased y e Lord to permit y e Narighansetts to 
 staine their hands with any English blood, neither in 
 open hostilities nor secret murthers, as both Pequts 
 and Long Islanders did, and Monhiggans also in y e 
 Pequt wars." 
 
 This statement we suppose to be uncontradicted, 
 and the authority is certainly deserving of credit. 
 Now, for a moment, let us examine the other side of 
 the question, bearing in mind how little likely we are, 
 under the circumstances, to be furnished by history 
 with the truth, and least of all with the whole truth. 
 
 Some instances in point have already been given. 
 The excessive jealousy and the frequent complaints 
 of the English were in themselves calculated to pro- 
 duce, if not to justify, what they referred to. " The 
 governor of the Massachusetts " says Mr. Winthrop 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 211 
 
 in his journal of 1638 " wrote also to Mr. Williams 
 to treat with Miantunnomoh about satisfaction or other- 
 wise to bid them look for war." This was a harsh message, 
 at the best, to send to a sovereign ally, who had 
 faithfully served the English cause. The only reason 
 for it which appears in the context is, that Janemoh, 
 a Xiantick chief, was understood to have committed 
 certain depredations on the settlement of Long Island 
 Indians who were tributary to the English. Now 
 some of that tribe, we have seen, put themselves under 
 Miantonomo's protection : and there are no means of 
 determining whether that chieftain did not in this 
 case, like the English, feel himself aggrieved by Jane- 
 moh. We do find it recorded, however, that, in 
 the summer of 1637, Miantonomo came to Boston. 
 The governor, deputy, and treasurer, treated with him, 
 and they parted upon fair terms. He acknowledged 
 on this occasion, that all the Peqoitt and Block Island 
 country belonged to the English, and promised that 
 he would not meddle with them but by their leave. 
 ' 4 In fine, we gave him leave to right himself for the 
 wrongs which Janemoh and Wequash Cook had done him : 
 and for the wrong they had done us, we would right 
 ourselves in due time." 
 
 Not far from the time when the above mentioned 
 complaint seems to have been made through Mr. 
 Williams, the latter writes to Governor Winthrop as 
 follows. " Sir, there hath been a great hubbub in 
 all these parts, as a general persuasion that the time 
 was come for a general slaughter of natives, by rea- 
 son of a murther committed upon a native [Narra- 
 ghansett] within twelve miles of us, four days since, 
 by four desperate English : An old native comes 
 
212 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 to me, and tells me, that the natives round about us 
 were fled relating that those four had slain an Indian 
 who had carried three beaver-skins and beads for 
 Canaunicus's son, and came home with five fathom 
 and three coats; that three natives which came after 
 him found him groaning in the path; that he told 
 them, &c." The particulars of this flagrant outrage 
 even to the Christian and surnames of the four 
 murderers are given with a minuteness which pre- 
 cludes the possibility of mistake. And yet we find 
 no mention of this transaction in the English his- 
 tories. Miantonomo perhaps made his complaint to 
 the proper authority, without success. But more prob- 
 ably he endured the injury in silence, as a new evi- 
 dence that his allies were become his enemies. 
 
 Still it should not be omitted, that Miantonomo 
 never declined to make all the explanation for which 
 a fair opportunity was given him. As late as 1642, 
 two messengers were sent to him by the Massachu- 
 setts government, with articles of complaint; requir- 
 ing him to come himself or send two of his chief 
 counsellors to the governor, in order to give satisfac- 
 tion for certain grievances alleged. He attended this 
 summons promptly and personally. On his arrival 
 at Boston, he came forward in court, and demanded 
 that his accusers should be brought before him face 
 to face ; and that if they failed in their proof, they 
 should suffer the same punishment which their ac- 
 cusations were calculated to bring upon himself. 
 The whole deportment on this occasion was grave 
 and dignified. His answers were given with great 
 deliberation, and never except in the presence of the 
 counsellors who attended him, that they might be 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 213 
 
 witnesses of every thing which passed. Two days were 
 spent in treaty. He denied all he was charged with, 
 and affirmed what we have already suggested 
 that the reports to his disadvantage were raised and 
 circulated, either by Uncas, or some of his people. 
 Such an effect, (it should be here observed) had these 
 reports already produced, that the Connecticut people 
 were importunate for open war with the Narraghan- 
 setts at this very time; and it required the whole in- 
 fluence of the Massachusetts authorities, (who doubted, 
 " whether, they had sufficient proofs of the designs 
 of the Indians to justify a war,") to prevent imme- 
 diate hostilities. Such alarm existed, that places of 
 refuge for the women and children were provided in 
 most of the towns and plantations. Beacons were 
 set up, in readiness to be fired ; and smiths were 
 ordered to postpone other business until the arms in 
 the colony were put in complete repair. A great excite- 
 ment was produced in the towns about Boston, by a 
 poor man, in a swamp at Watertown, crying out for 
 help against a kennel of wolves which he heard howl- 
 ing around him in the night. And although Massachu- 
 setts was opposed to war, " Yet the governor, with the 
 magistrates, before the court met, thought it necessary 
 to disarm the Indians within the colony, which they 
 readily submitted to." 
 
 Miantonomo, as was very natural, not only noticed 
 these symptoms of jealousy on his visit to Boston, 
 but felt keenly the ill-will they implied, and inquired 
 the cause of them. Governor Winthrop gave him an 
 evasive answer, with which, however, he politely pro- 
 fessed to be satisfied. He then entered into quite an 
 
214 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 argument, to show that the suspicions which had been 
 entertained of him were unjust, and were owing to 
 machinations of his enemies. He offered to meet 
 Uncas either at Hartford or at Boston, and to prove 
 his treachery to the English, in their presence. He 
 should stand ready to come at any time, he added; 
 and this notwithstanding he had been advised not to 
 visit the English again, lest they should seize upon his 
 person. He relied upon his innocence, and he would 
 visit them, whenever it was deemed necessary that 
 he should. 
 
 It is acknowledged in fine that he gave perfect 
 satisfaction at this time. Considering the entertain- 
 ment which was given him, and his great pride of 
 character, that was quite as much as could be expected 
 " When we should go to dinner" it is recorded in 
 the Governor's Journal " there was a table provided 
 for the Indians, to dine by themselves, and Miantunno- 
 moh zvas left to sit with them. This he was discontented 
 at, and would eat nothing till the governor sent him 
 meat from his table. So at night, and all the time he 
 staid, he sat at the lower end of the magistrate's table" 
 But he overlooked the indignity, and parted upon good 
 terms. " We gave him and his counsellors coats and 
 tobacco ; and when he came to take his leave of 
 the governor, and such of the magistrates as were 
 present, he returned and gave his hand to the governor 
 again, saying, that was for the rest of the magistrates 
 who were absent." It may be observed, that the exam- 
 ination in this case, which resulted thus satisfactorily 
 to Massachusetts, was a deliberate and thorough one. 
 The court was already assembled, when he arrived at 
 Boston ; and even before his admission, all the points 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 215 
 
 and order of inquiry were agreed upon : " For we 
 knew him," says the governor, " to be a very subtle 
 man." The same authority admits, that he showed, in 
 his answers, " a good understanding of the principles 
 of equity and justice, and in ingenuity withal." 
 
 The attack of Miantonomo upon Uncas, independ- 
 ently of the interest which the English had in it, has 
 been regarded as a moral if not legal outrage -an un- 
 provoked, unprincipled aggression the off-spring of 
 hatred, envy, or at best of mere ambition. But even 
 here we do not happen to be without proof, as well as 
 probability, in favor of the accused. In more than one 
 case, if not generally, the fault was on the side of 
 Uncas ; and that being true, it must naturally occur to 
 every reader, to inquire, in the language applied to a 
 similar case by Mr. Williams, " Graunt these sub- 
 jects, What capacitie hath their late massacre of y e Nar- 
 ragansetts (with whom they had made peace) without y e 
 English consent, tho' still under y e English name, put 
 them into?" A very forcible query, it must be admitted; 
 and to show its relevancy to the present subject, let us 
 look again for a few facts. 
 
 Soon after the Pequot war, when the chieftains who 
 had assisted the English in carrying it on, convened 
 at Hartford for a division of the spoil, Mr. Williams 
 accompanied Miantonomo on his journey. " By the 
 way," says he (" lodging from his house three nights 
 in the woods,) we met divers Nanhiggontick [Narra- 
 ghansett] men complaining of robbery and violence, 
 which they had sustained from the Pequots and Mona- 
 higgins in their travel from Cunnihticut [Connecticut] ; 
 as also some of the Wunnashowatuckoogs [subject to 
 Canaunicus] came to us and advertised, that two days 
 
216 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 before about six hundred and sixty Pequots, Monahig- 
 gins and their confederates had robbed them and 
 spoiled about twenty-three fields of corn; and rifled 
 four Nanhiggontick men amongst them; as also that 
 they lay in way and wait to stop Miantunnomue's 
 passage to Cunnihticut, and divers of them threatened 
 to boil him in the kettle." 
 
 These tidings being confirmed by various authori- 
 ties, Mr. Williams and the other English in the com- 
 pany, were strongly in favor of turning back, and go- 
 ing to Hartford by water. But Miantonomo declared 
 that not a man should retreat ; he would keep strict 
 watch by night, and in dangerous passes the sachems 
 should all march with a body-guard, but they should 
 die, as he himself would, rather than turn back. They 
 moved on, therefore, the English with Miantonomo and 
 his wife in front, and a flank-guard of forty or fifty men 
 on either side to prevent surprisal. They arrived safely 
 at Hartford, and the conference took place. Uncas was 
 accused of conniving at the trespasses of his men upon 
 the Narraghansetts, and he retorted with charges of the 
 same kind upon Miantonomo. The result of this angry 
 discussion was, as follows. " At last we drew them to 
 shake hands, Miantunnomu and Okace ; and Miantun- 
 nomu invited (twice, earnestly) Okace to sup and dine 
 with him, he and all his company (his men having 
 killed some venison :) but he would not yield, altho' 
 the magistrates persuaded him also to it." 
 
 The magnanimity manifested by the chieftain on 
 this occasion, was uniformly a prominent part of his 
 character. When he visited Boston in 1640 as he al- 
 ways did, at the request of the Massachusetts govern- 
 ment he was entertained first by the government at 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 217 
 
 Roxbury; but when the parley was to commence, he 
 refused to treat through the medium of a Pequot inter- 
 preter. The governor being unwilling to yield this 
 point to him as good policy, if not manners appar- 
 ently required that he should he departed abruptly 
 for Boston, without so much as taking leave of his host. 
 The latter informed the court of this conduct, " and 
 would show him no countenance, nor admit him to dine 
 at our table as formerly, until he had acknowledged 
 his failing, which he readily did as soon as he could be made 
 to understand it" He observed, however, with some 
 dignity, that when the English should visit him, he 
 should cheerfully permit them to use their own fash- 
 ions, as they always had done. 
 
 Previous to the expedition against the Pequots, both 
 Miantonomo and Canonicus had expressed a wish that 
 whatever was done with the warriors of the enemy, 
 their women and children should be spared. There 
 was a chivalry in this request and it does not seem to 
 have been soon forgotten which accords with all that 
 is known of both these chieftains. Canonicus might 
 have suppressed the Plymouth colony in 1682, at a 
 single blow ; but he thought it more honorable to give 
 them formal notice of his hostile intentions, by a mes- 
 senger; and when he became convinced that they had 
 been misrepresented to him, he at least ceased to be 
 their enemy if he did not become their friend. In the 
 same spirit, Miantonomo, while in the custody of the 
 governor of Connecticut, cautioned him to increase his 
 guard. He openly declared what was the fact that 
 attempts were and would be made by his Narraghan- 
 sett subjects for his rescue. 
 
218 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 There is a most effecting evidence of the same noble 
 disposition, in the report of the commissioners for 1644. 
 The Narraghansetts, now constantly complaining of 
 the conduct of Uncas and his tribe, brought a charge, 
 among other things, that the latter had embezzled a 
 quantity of wampum which had been put into their 
 hands for the ransom of Miantonomo, while the chief 
 was yet living. How much truth there might be in 
 the allegation, cannot well be ascertained. The com- 
 missioners however report, that they gave a fair hear- 
 ing to the ' Narrahiggansett ' deputies on the one hand, 
 and to Uncas on the other. The result is thus stated : 
 
 "That though severall discourses had passed from 
 Vncus and his men that for such quantities of wam- 
 pom and such parcells of other goods to a great value 
 there might have been some probabilitie of spareing 
 his life, yet no such parcells were brought. But Vncus 
 clenyeth; and the Narrohiggansett Deputies did not 
 allready, much less proue that any ransome was agreed, 
 nor so much as any treaty begunn to redeeme their 
 imprisoned Sachem. And for that wampoms and goods 
 sent as they were but small parcels and scarce consid- 
 erable for such a purpose, a part of them disposed by 
 Myantinomo himself to Vncus his counsellors and cap- 
 taines for some favour either past or hoped for and part 
 were given and sent to Vncus and to his Squa for present- 
 ing his life so long and vssing him curteously during his 
 Imprisonment" What could be nobler than this? 
 
 The warm and constant friendship of the two sa- 
 chems for Williams himself, is a sufficient indication 
 of noble natures. Canonicus was suspicious of him at 
 first ; " but with Miantunnomu," writes Mr. Williams 
 soon after his removal, " I have far better dealing. He 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 kept his barbarous court lately at my house. He takes 
 some pleasure to visit me, and sent me word of his 
 coming over again some eight days hence." When the 
 treaty of 1636 was negotiated at Boston, Miantonomo 
 not being able to understand perfectly all the articles, 
 or perhaps not placing entire confidence in the Massa- 
 chusetts government, desired that a copy should be 
 sent to his friend Williams if he was satisfied, it was 
 intimated, no objection or difficulty would arise upon 
 his own part. The conveyances of land heretofore 
 spoken of, were made to him in the same feeling. " It 
 was not price or money," says the grantee, " that could 
 have purchased Rhode Island: but 't was obtained by 
 love, that love and favor which that honored gentle- 
 man, Sir Henry Vane, and myself, had with the great 
 sachem, Miantunnomu, about the league which I pro- 
 cured in the Pequod war. The Indians were very shy 
 of selling lands to any, and chose rather to make a 
 grant [gift] of them, to such as they affected." 
 
 It might be supposed, that Mr. Williams had pecu- 
 liar facilities for instructing the sachems in the doc- 
 trines of Christianity: but he did not attempt a great 
 deal in this way, and his reasons for it are given in 
 his Key to the Languages. He observes, that he once 
 heard Miantonomo conversing with several of his chief 
 warriors about keeping the English Sabbath. At an- 
 other time, a Connecticut Indian undertook, in Mian- 
 tonomo's presence, to dispute Mr. William's doctrine, 
 that the souls of the good should go to heaven, and 
 those of the wicked to hell. Our Fathers have told us, 
 said he, that all go to the South-West, and this I be- 
 lieve. " And why so," asked the sachem, " did you 
 ever see a soul go to the South-West?" To this the 
 
220 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 other rejoined, that the evidence was the same in this 
 respect for the Indian doctrine as for that of Mr. Wil- 
 liams. " Ah ! " answered Miantonomo, " but he has 
 books and writings, and one which God himself has 
 made ; he may well know more than we or our fath- 
 ers." The anecdote certainly shows a great confidence 
 of the sachem in his English acquaintance. 
 
 We shall close our remarks upon this part of our 
 subject with citing at large one of the letters to which 
 we already have been so much indebted for facts. It is 
 sufficiently characteristic of both the writer and the 
 chieftains his friends, to repay us for the labor of peru- 
 sal. It is supposed to have been written in October 
 1637. 
 
 " The last of the week. I think the 28th of the Sth. 
 
 Sir. 
 
 This bearer, Miantunnomu, resolving to go on his 
 visit, [to Boston] I am bold to request a word of ad- 
 vice from you concerning a proposition made by Ca- 
 naunicus and himself to me some half year since. Ca- 
 naunicus gave an island in the bay to Mr. Oldam, by 
 name Chibachuwese, on condition, as it should seem, 
 that he would dwell there near unto them. The Lord (in 
 whose hands all hearts are) turning their affections 
 towards myself, they desired me to move hither and dwell 
 nearer to them. I have answered once and again, that 
 for the present I mind not to remove. But if I have 
 it from them I would give them satisfaction for it, and 
 build a little house, and put in some swine, as under- 
 standing the place to have store of fish and good feed- 
 ing for swine. Of late I have heard that Mr. Gibbons, 
 upon occasion, motioned your desire and his own of 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 221 
 
 putting some swine on some of these islands, which 
 hath made me since more desire to obtain it. I spake 
 of it to this sachem, and he tells me that because of 
 the store of fish, Canaunicus desires that I would accept 
 half (it being spectacle-wise, and between a mile or 
 two in circuit, as I guess) and he would reserve the 
 other; but I think, if I go over, I shall obtain the whole. 
 Your loving counsel, how far it may be inoffensive, 
 because it was once (upon a condition not kept) Mr. 
 Oldams. So with respective salutes to your kind self 
 and Mrs. Winthrop, I rest 
 
 your worship's unfeigned, in all I may. 
 
 Ro. WILLIAMS." 
 
 For his much honored "| 
 
 Mr. Govcrnour, these.' 9 J 
 
 A singular paragraph in a previous communication 
 addressed to the same gentleman, indicates that the 
 writer took some pains to requite the various favors 
 conferred upon him. " Sir, if any thing be sent to 
 the princes, [alluding to proposed presents,] I find 
 that Canonicus would gladly accept of a box of eight 
 or ten pounds of sugar, and indeed he told me he would 
 thank Mr. Governor for a box full/' 
 
 In fine we cannot dismiss the biography of Mian- 
 tonomo without confessing a sensation of sorrow, and 
 even shame, arising from the contemplation of the 
 lofty and noble traits which certainly adorned his char- 
 acter, contrasted with the ignominious death which 
 he met with at the hands of his allies. The learned 
 editor of a recent edition of Winthrop's Journal, calls 
 it a case of " perfidy or cruelty, or both. He also ex- 
 presses an opinion, that the argument which really 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 though secretly decided the minds of the commission- 
 ers against the sachem, was his encouragement of the 
 sale of Shaomet and Patuxet to Gorton and his asso- 
 ciates. Without going as far as this, we may be per- 
 mitted to say, that the case requires all the apology 
 which can be derived from the great excitement of the 
 times, occasioned especially by the power and move- 
 ments of the Indians. 
 
 Such seems to have been the opinion of Governor 
 Hopkins, who, it will be observed, also intimates a new 
 explanation of the conduct of the colonies, towards the 
 Narraghansett chief. His eloquent and generous trib- 
 ute to the memory of the latter, we do not think our- 
 selves at liberty to omit or abridge. 
 
 " This," says that eminent scholar, and patriot, 
 " was the end of Myantinomo, the most potent Indian 
 prince the people of New-England had ever any con- 
 cern with; and this was the reward he received for 
 assisting them seven years before, in their war with 
 the Pequots. Surely a Rhode-Island man may be per- 
 mitted to mourn his unhappy fate, and drop a tear on 
 the ashes of Myantinomo ; who, with his uncle Conani- 
 cus, were the best friends and greatest benefactors the 
 colony [of R. I.] ever had. They kindly received, fed, 
 and protected the first settlers of it, when they were 
 in distress, and were strangers and exiles, and all man- 
 kind else were their enemies; and by this kindness to 
 them, drew upon themselves the resentment of the 
 neighboring colonies, and hastened the untimely end 
 of the young king." 
 
 Nothing of great interest can be added to the his- 
 tory of Canonicus, subsequent to the death of his col- 
 league. Messengers were sent to him, the same year, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 223 
 
 to explain the circumstances of that event, and to take 
 measures for preserving peace. In 1644, he is said to 
 have subjected himself and his territory to the Gov- 
 ernment of Charles I. of England, by a deed dated 
 April 19th. He must have been near ninety years of 
 age at this time, and if actually in the exercise of gov- 
 ernment, no doubt was more disposed than ever to 
 live peaceably with his English neighbors. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop states, that he died June 4th, 1647. 
 Mr. Hubbard says 1648, and he has been copied by late 
 writers (including Holmes :) but the former date is 
 believed to be the better authenticated of the two. 
 One or two historians indeed seem to confound the old 
 sachem with a younger man, who was killed in Philip's 
 war, by the Mohawks, in June 1676. This person bore 
 the same name, and may have been one of his descend- 
 ants. Between twenty and thirty years before this, 
 Mr. Williams, (the best authority on all that relates 
 to the Narraghansetts,) writes, that " their late fam- 
 ous long-live Caunnonicus so liv'd and died, and in 
 ye same most honorable manner and solemnitie (in 
 their way) as you laid to Sleepe your Prudent Peace- 
 Maker, Mr. Winthrop, did they honour this, their Pru- 
 dent and Peaceable Prince." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Canonicus succeeded by Pessacus. Mexham. Ninigret, Sachem of the 
 Nianticks. Proposals made by them to the English, and by the Eng- 
 lish in return. They commence hostilities against Uncas. The English 
 resolve to make war upon them. They make concessions. Their visits 
 to Boston. Subsequent movements against Uncas. An armed party 
 sent against Ninigret and Pessacus. They are accused of a league 
 with the Dutch against the English. 
 
 STRICTLY speaking, there was no successor to 
 Canonicus in the government of the Narra- 
 ghansetts, the lineage, talents and age of that 
 sachem having given him a peculiar influence over his 
 countrymen, which none other among them could com- 
 mand. At his death, therefore, the authority which 
 he had monopolized at one time, and afterwards shared 
 with Miantonomo and others, reverted into that form 
 of dominion (half way between oligarchy and demo- 
 cracy, and occasionally vibrating to each extreme,) 
 which is common among the Indian tribes. 
 
 One of the Narraghansett chiefs, after that period, 
 was his son, Mexham, otherwise called Mexamo, Mix- 
 amo, Meihammoh, and by Roger Williams also Mrik- 
 sah and Mejhsah. Considering the multitude of his 
 names, he is rather less distinguished than might be 
 supposed. Mr. Williams, however, gives him the credit 
 of inheriting ' his father's spirit ' of friendliness for the 
 (224) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 226 
 
 English. In another passage, speaking of the Nip- 
 mucks, he says, ' they were unquestionably subject to 
 ye Narrhighansett sachims, and in a special manner to 
 Mejhsah, ye son of Caunonnicus, and late husband to 
 this old Squa-Sachim now only surviving/ This let- 
 ter bearing date of May 7th, 1668, Mexham must have 
 died previous to that time. The name of his widow 
 and successor, (sometimes called Quaiapen, and more 
 frequently Magnus,) who was a woman of great en- 
 ergy, figures not a little in the history of King-Philip's 
 war. We may ' hereafter have occasion to mention 
 both husband and wife. 
 
 A more distinguished character was Pessacus, gen- 
 erally believed to have been the brother of Mianto- 
 nomo, and therefore n^phezv of Canonicus a better 
 authenticated theory than that of Johnson's, who (in 
 his Wonder-Working Providence), calls him a son. 
 He was born about the time of the English settling at 
 Plymouth, and was therefore not far from twenty 
 years old when his brother was killed. His name be- 
 ing associated with that of Canonicus in the deed of 
 1644, alluded to in the preceding chapter, it may be 
 presumed, that the mantle of Miantonomo, after his 
 death, fell upon the shoulders of Pessacus. It will 
 soon appear, how much he interested himself, both as 
 sachem and brother, in the revenge of that outrage. 
 
 It is impossible to pursue the career of either of 
 these chieftains, eminent in history as some of them 
 are, without connecting them not only with each other, 
 but with a foreign party who still remains to be named. 
 We refer to Ninigret, chief sachem of the Nianticks, 
 generally considered a Narraghansett tribe, and cer- 
 tainly the most considerable of all those which prof- 
 it . of H. XXX 15 
 
226 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ited by the alliance of that people. Miantonomo 
 spoke of them to Governor Winthrop, in 1642, " as his 
 own flesh, being allied by continual intermarriages ;" 
 and the governor consequently had " some difficulty 
 to bring him to desert them." In fact, they were rather 
 confederates than tributaries to Canonicus during 
 his life, and the relationship of blood, with no other 
 bonds of sympathy, would have abundantly sufficed 
 to keep up an intimate connexion after his death. 
 Prince states that Ninigret was the uncle of Mianto- 
 nomo; but other writers represent him as the brother 
 or brother-in-law; and considering the age of the par- 
 ties especially, the latter supposition is much the more 
 plausible. Either will explain the regard which he will 
 be found to have cherished for the memory of the dead 
 chieftain, and for the person of Pessacus, the living 
 brother. 
 
 We first hear of Ninigret in 1632, from which time 
 to 1635 a violent war was carried on between the Narr- 
 aghansetts and Pequots. In this he is said to have 
 taken no part; and the fair inference is, that he was 
 not from his relation to the former under any neces- 
 sity, and probably not under obligation, to assist them. 
 
 A similar conclusion might be drawn from the di- 
 vision of captives made at the close of the war of 1637, 
 when Ninigret's services were acknowledged by the 
 compliment of twenty Pequots in the same man- 
 ner, though not in the same measure, with those of 
 Uncas and Miantonomo. Like the latter, however, 
 Ninigret took no personal or active part in that war: 
 and like him, he permitted his subjects to go volun- 
 teers under Mason. Mr. Wolcott thus mentions him 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 227 
 
 on the occasion of Underbill's arrival in his territory, 
 on his way to the Pequots : 
 
 And marching through that country soon they met 
 
 The Narraghansett Prince, proud Ninnigrett, 
 
 To whom the English say, we lead these bands, 
 
 Armed in this manner, thus into your lands, 
 
 Without design to do you injury, 
 
 But only to invade the enemy; 
 
 You, who to the expense of so much blood 
 
 Have long time born their evil neighborhood, 
 
 Will bid us welcome, and will well excuse 
 
 That we this way have took our rendezvouz, &c." 
 
 If what is here intimated was true, that the Pequots 
 had been bad neighbors to the Nianticks, as they cer- 
 tainly had been to the Narraghansetts, it is no mat- 
 ter of wonder that numbers of those tribes engaged 
 in the English expedition ; and it indicates the pride, 
 if not magnanimity, of their two young chiefs, on the 
 other hand, that neither would consent to fight against 
 the common enemy of both. 
 
 From Major Mason's account of the affair, it would 
 appear that the English took this independence of 
 Ninigret rather in dudgeon. " On the Wednesday 
 morning," says that writer, " we marched from thence 
 to a Place called Nayanticke, it being about eighteen 
 or twenty miles distant, where another of those Narr- 
 aghansetts lived in a Fort ; it being a Frontier to the 
 Pequots. They carryed very proudly towards us ; not 
 permitting any of us to come into their Fort." Upon 
 which Mason set a guard about them, forbidding the 
 Indians to go in or out, and quartered in the neigh- 
 borhood over night. Whether this ' Sachem ' was 
 Ninigret or one of his subjects, the conduct of Mason 
 could hardly have left a very gratifying impression on 
 the mind of that chieftain. Possibly, if borne in mind 
 
228 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 by the reader, it may throw some light upon subse- 
 quent events. 
 
 From the time of Miantonomo's death, all the sa- 
 chems we have mentioned as succeeding to his power, 
 came prominently into intercourse with the English. 
 Ninigret and Pessacus, particularly, were distin- 
 guished by a continual series of controversies alter- 
 nately with that people, and the Mohegans, and very 
 often with both. They inherited the strong prejudice 
 of the slaughtered Narraghansetts against Uncas and 
 his tribe ; and most bitterly was that prejudice exasper- 
 ated by the slaughter itself. 
 
 Anticipating such an excitement, the commissioners, 
 immediately after the execution of the sentence, des- 
 patched messengers to Pessacus, who were directed 
 to inform him that they had heard of the quarrel be- 
 tween himself and Uncas ; and to propose that he 
 should send delegates to Hartford : these should meet 
 delegates from Uncas, and thus all differences be ad- 
 justed. A conference accordingly was agreed upon, 
 and it took place as proposed. The result was stated, 
 in the commissioners Report : " They did require 
 that neither themselves [the Narraghansetts] nor the 
 Nayanticks should make any warr or injurious assault 
 vpon Vncus or any of his company vntil they make 
 proofe of the ransome charged &c " alluding to the 
 allegation that Uncas had embezzled money, deposited 
 in his hands for Miantonomo's redemption. 
 
 The following agreement was subscribed by the 
 four " Narrohigganset Deputies," as they are called in 
 the Report. It should be observed, that although " the 
 Nayantick sachems " are ostensibly here represented, 
 the only evidence going to justify such a phraseology, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 229 
 
 so far as we know, is in a previous statement (in the 
 Report,) that when the English messengers had been 
 sent to propose this conference, the Narraghansett 
 sagamores " consulting among themselves and with 
 Kienemo one of the Nayantick sachims had sent a saga- 
 more &c." We copy literatim and punctuatim : 
 
 " Weetowisse one of the Narrohiggansett sachims 
 Pummumsh (alias) Pumumshe and Pawpianet two 
 of the Narrohigganset Captaines being sent with two 
 of the Narrohiggannsett Indians as Deputies from the 
 Narrohigganset and Nayantick sachims to make proofs 
 of the ransome they pretended was given for their 
 late sachim's life as also to make knoune some other 
 greevances they had against Vncus sachim of the Mo- 
 higgins did in conclusion promise and engage them- 
 selves (according to the power committed to them) that 
 there should be no war begun by any of the Narrohig- 
 gansets or Nayantick Indians with the Mohegan sa- 
 chim or his men till after the next planting tyme, and 
 that after that, before they begin warr, or vse any 
 hostility towards them, they will give thirty dayes 
 warneing thereof to the Government of the Massa- 
 chusetts or Conectacutt. 
 
 Hartford the XVIIjth of September, 1644 
 
 (Signed with the marks of) WEETOWISSE 
 
 PAWPIANET 
 CHIMOUGH 
 PUMMUMSHE." 
 
 This, considering it an agreement authorised by 
 Pessacus, was certainly as much as could be reason- 
 ably expected of him ; for such was his eagerness to 
 revenge the death of his brother, that he had himself 
 sent messengers to confer upon the subject with the 
 
230 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Massachusetts Government. Only a month or two 
 after that event, they carried a present from him, of 
 an otter coat, with wampum to the value of fifteen 
 pounds. Proposals of peace and friendship were 
 tendered ; but a request was added, that the Governor 
 should not assist Uncas, whom he (Pessacus) intended 
 shortly to make war upon. The Governor replied, 
 that he desired peace, but wished that all the Indian 
 tribes, including the Mohegans, might be partakers of 
 it; and that unless Pessacus would consent to these 
 terms, his present could not be received. The mes- 
 sengers said, they had no instructions upon this point ; 
 they would however return, and consult with Pes- 
 sacus ; and meanwhile the Governor was requested 
 to retain the present, which he did. 
 
 After this, (in April, 1644) and previous to the 
 Hartford conference, the Governor sent messengers 
 on his own part to the Narraghansetts, probably to 
 sound the disposition of Pessacus. They went first 
 to the wigwam of the old sachem Canonicus, whom 
 they found in such ill humor that he did not admit 
 them, (as they stated) for two hours, during which 
 time they were not altogether at ease, being obliged 
 to endure the pelting of a rain-storm. On entering, 
 they found him lying upon his couch. He noticed 
 them, not very cordially, for the purpose of referring 
 them to Pessacus ; and for him they waited four hours 
 more. When he came, he took them into a shabby 
 wigwam, and kept them talking with him most of the 
 night. On the whole, he appeared determined to wage 
 war on Uncas forthwith ; not in the manner of Mian- 
 tonomo, but by sending out small war-parties, to cut 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 231 
 
 off the straggling Mohegans, and to interfere with 
 their hunting and fishing. 
 
 There is reason to believe, that he either had taken, 
 or was about taking some measures in pursuance 
 of this scheme; and that the message of the commis- 
 sioners was therefore rather as much in consequence 
 as in anticipation of his acts. On the 23d of April, 
 messengers came to Boston from Pomham, (a chief, 
 hereafter noticed at length, who had put himself under 
 the Massachusetts protection,) with intelligence that 
 the Narraghansetts had captured and killed six Mohe- 
 gan men and five women ; and had sent him two hands 
 and a foot, to engage him in the war. If this state- 
 ment was true and we know no particular reason 
 for doubting it the commissioners might certainly 
 consider themselves fortunate in checking hostilities, 
 so far as they did in September. 
 
 They convened again, at Boston, early in 1645 ; 
 and messengers were again sent to the Narraghan- 
 setts, with directions afterwards to visit the Mohe- 
 gans, inviting all the sachems to meet them for a new 
 adjustment of difficulties. The instructions given to 
 these men imply, that the commissioners supposed 
 Pessacus to be in a state of warfare with Uncas at 
 that time whether it was now past " planting-tyme," 
 or not but the same records show that the messen- 
 gers brought back " a letter from Mr Roger Williams 
 wherein hee assures vs the warr would presently break 
 forth and that the Narrohiggansett sachims had lately 
 concluded a neutrallyty with Providence and the 
 Townes upon Aquidnett [Rhode] Island." 
 
 It would seem, then, that the treaty was not yet 
 broken when the messengers were sent. Pessacus 
 
232 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 at first told them, that he would attend the commis- 
 sioners' summons, and that meanwhile there should 
 be no operations against Uncas ; but he soon after- 
 wards said, that his mind was changed. They then 
 went to Ninigret. He expressed great discontent on 
 account of certain military assistance which the Eng- 
 lish had sent to defend Uncas; and threatened haugh- 
 tily, (said the messengers) that unless that force were 
 withdrawn, he should consider it a violation of the 
 treaty. " He would procure as many Mowhauques as 
 the English should afront [meet] them with, that 
 would lay the English cattell on heapes as heigh as 
 their houses, and no Englishman should stir out of 
 his doore but he should be killed/' 
 
 After meeting such a reception here, the messen- 
 gers were afraid to set out for the Mohegan country, 
 and they therefore went back to Pessacus, and re- 
 quested him to furnish them with a guide. He offered 
 them an old Pequot squaw in derision (as they sup- 
 posed) and even while they were speaking, several 
 of his Indians who stood close behind him, appeared 
 to them to be frowning rather grimly, besides brand- 
 ishing their hatchets in a most ominous manner. 
 
 " Wherevpon," [on the return of the messengers] 
 says the Report, " the commissioners considering the 
 great provocations offered and the necessyty we 
 should be put unto making warr vpon the Narro- 
 higgansets &c." it was agreed, " First, that our engage- 
 ment bound us to ayde and defende the Mohegan 
 Sachem. 2dly, That this ayde could not be intended 
 onely to defend him and his in his fort or habitacon, 
 but (according to the common acceptacon of such 
 covenants or engagements considered with the fraude 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 233 
 
 or occasion thereof) so to ayde him as hee might 
 be preserved in his liberty and estate. 3dly, That this 
 ayde must be speedy least he might bee swallowed vp 
 in the mean tyme and so come too late." 
 
 The engagement here alluded to was made at 
 Hartford in these words : " That if they assault Vncus 
 the English are engaged to assist him." Whether 
 they had assaulted him or not whether, if they had, 
 it was under circumstances which started such a 
 casus f&deris as to justify the English interference 
 and whether, under any circumstances, the latter 
 could justify sending an expedition designed " not 
 onely to ayde the Mohegans but to offend the Nar- 
 rohiggansets Nyanticks and other their confederates " 
 need not now be discussed. Nor shall we inquire 
 whether any blame was chargeable, on the other hand, 
 to Uncas, as having himself secretly provoked hostili- 
 ties which, it may be observed, is a matter that in 
 its nature cannot easily be determined. 
 
 Preparations were made for a war ; but, at the sug- 
 gestion of some of the Massachusetts Government, 
 it was concluded to make still another offer of com- 
 promise to the Narraghansetts, returning at the same 
 time, by way of manifesto, the present of wampum 
 ' long since sent and left by messengers from Piscus 
 [Pessacus]/ A conference took place between some 
 of the messengers and some of the Sachems, at which 
 Mr. Williams officiated as interpreter, and the result was 
 almost necessarily pacific. Several of the allegations 
 of the English (' which Benedict upon oath had form- 
 erly certified ') were denied, says the commissioners' 
 Report, and others excused, and as the English desired 
 further conference, it was agreed " that Pissicus chiefe- 
 
234 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 sachem of the Narraghansetts and Mixano Canow- 
 nacus his eldest sonn and others should forthwith 
 come to Bostone to treat with the commissioners for 
 the restoreing and settleing of peace." 
 
 This promise was faithfully kept. The sachems 
 just named, with a Niantick deputy, made their appear- 
 ance at Boston within a few days, followed by a long 
 train of attendants. Some altercation took place be- 
 tween them and the commissioners, in the course of 
 which the latter charged them (as the report shows,) 
 that, notwithstanding the Hartford treaty, " they had 
 this summer (1645) at several tymes invaded Vncus &c.' f 
 At length, with great reluctance, and " after long de- 
 bate, and some private conferrence they had with 
 Sergeant Cullicutt they acknowledged they had brooken 
 promise or covenant in the aforemenconed warrs." 
 They then offered to make another truce, but that not 
 satisfying the commissioners, they wished to know 
 what would. Upon which the commissioners, " to 
 show their moderacon required of them but twoo thou- 
 sand fathome of white wampum for their oune satis- 
 faccon," beside their restoring the boats and prisoners 
 taken from Uncas, and making reparation for all 
 damages. A treaty, containing these and other stip- 
 ulations, and providing that the payment of one in- 
 stalment should be made in twenty days, was drawn 
 up and finally subscribed by all the deputies. Four 
 hostages were given for security, including a son of 
 Pessacus ; the English army was disbanded ; the 
 sachems returned home ; and the 4th of September, 
 which had been appointed for a fast, was now ordered 
 to be observed as a day of thanksgiving. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 236 
 
 We have thought it the less necessary to specify 
 all the provisions of this ' treaty/ inasmuch as the 
 circumstances under which it was made, amount, as 
 appears to us, to such a duress as not only must have 
 greatly exasperated the Sachems, but clearly inva- 
 lidated the treaty itself. This point, however, we shall 
 leave to be decided by every reader who will trouble 
 himself to become familiar with those minutiae which 
 cannot here be stated. It is sufficient to add, that the 
 Report itself, as above cited, shows the consideration 
 (so as to speak) upon which the whole transaction 
 was founded, to have failed, or rather never to have 
 existed. The ' acknowledgements/ indeed, like the 
 agreements, under the circumstances we count noth- 
 ing; but even these, as the commissioners state them, 
 only intimate that the Narraghansetts had invaded 
 Uncas ' this summer ' that is, (for aught we are told) 
 subsequent to ' planting-tyme/ when the former treaty 
 expired and not then without previous and repeated 
 declarations to the English, as we have seen, of their 
 intended movements. No remarks need be made upon 
 the invasion of the English, or upon the requisitions 
 on the deputies of Boston. 
 
 One provision of the treaty was, that the Narra- 
 ghansetts should meet Uncas at New Haven in 1646, 
 which they failed to do, though Uncas himself at- 
 tended the meeting of the commissioners at that place. 
 Nor did they make their payments of wampum accord- 
 ing to promise. Three instalments, to the amount of 
 one thousand three hundred fathoms, being now due, 
 they sent into Boston one hundred fathoms mostly, 
 it is said in ' old kettles ' excusing themselves on 
 the score of poverty and the failure of the Nianticks 
 
236 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 to contribute their proportion. So small a sum the 
 commissioners would not accept; and the messengers 
 who brought it therefore sold their kettles to a 
 Boston brazier, and deposited the money in his hands, 
 to be paid over when they should bring the residue 
 of the debt. Messengers were sent for Pessacus, but 
 he failed to make his appearance. 
 
 The summons being repeated in 1647, on the 31st 
 of July, " The Thomas Stanton returned with Pes- 
 sacks answere as followinge. Pessack being charged 
 for not meeting the commissioners at New Haven the 
 last yeare, his answere was, he had no warninge. It 
 is true, said he, I have broken my covenant these two 
 years, and it is and hath been the constant griefe of 
 my spirit. 2dly, The reason why he doth not come 
 at this time is, because he hath bene sick and is now 
 sicke ; had I bene but pretty well, said he, I would 
 have come to them." He also stated, that he when 
 the last treaty was made, he acted in fear of the English 
 army, and he proposed to send Ninigret to Boston 
 forthwith, with full authority to treat in his own name. 
 
 Ninigret accordingly came on the 3d of August. 
 When the Commissioners demanded an explanation 
 of his past defaults, he at first affected ignorance of 
 what agreements had been made by the Narraghan- 
 setts. He then argued the matter, and inquired upon 
 what pretence the alleged debt was originally founded. 
 He was reminded of all the old subjects of complaint, 
 including his own declarations of hostility towards 
 the English. In respect to the latter, he said that 
 the messengers had given him provocation. As to 
 the money, he considered it impossible ever to pay 
 it, but nevertheless wished to know how the reckon- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 237 
 
 ing now stood. It appeared, on examination, that 
 Pessacus had paid seventy fathoms of wampum the 
 first year. As for the kettles sold to the braziers, that 
 property had since been attached by one Woody, a 
 Boston man, for goods stolen from him by a Narra- 
 ghansett Indian. Ninigret excepted to this procedure. 
 It was neither the property of Pessacus, he said, nor 
 the thief ; it was deposited as part payment of the debt, 
 and so ought to be received. Having gained this 
 point, he next proposed that credit should be given 
 him for one hundred and five fathoms, sent by the 
 hand of an Indian named Cutchamaquin. It was re- 
 joined, that the sum referred to had been intended 
 as a present to the Governor. Ninigret, " being pressed 
 to chare the questionc himself e he answered, his tounge 
 should not belye his heart, let the debt be satisfied as it 
 may he intended it for the Governoure" He had sent 
 ten fathoms to Cutchamaquin for his own trouble ; 
 but that covetous Indian, unsatisfied with so liberal 
 a commission, had appropriated all but forty-five 
 fathoms to his own use and ' lied ' about the residue. 
 The facts came out upon a cross-examination, insti- 
 tuted by Ninigret in presence of the commissioners. 
 
 He then asked time to give in his final answer, and 
 the commissioners allowed him a day. Having con- 
 sulted meanwhile with his companions, he appeared 
 the next morning again. He was sorry to find, he 
 said, that the burden of the business had been shifted 
 from the shoulders of Pessacus upon his own, but 
 he had determined to do what he could; and he 
 would therefore send some of his men home to collect 
 the arrears due to the English. In the course of three 
 days he should know the result, and in ten he thought 
 
238 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 the wampum might be forwarded. He would him- 
 self remain at Boston till that time, and send word 
 to the Narraghansetts of the arrangement. " But if 
 the collection," he added, " should fall short of the sum 
 due, he desired some forbearance, being sure that the 
 residue would be shortly paid, and that the English 
 would at all events perceive his great desire to give 
 them entire satisfaction." The commissioners ac- 
 cepted these proposals, and Ninigret despatched his 
 messenger. 
 
 They returned on the 16th of the month, but 
 brought only two hundred fathom of wampum. The 
 commissioners complained of this new default, and 
 Ninigret was a little embarrassed. He said, it must 
 be owing to his own absence ; but as it was, he wished 
 that the wampum intended, but not yet received, as 
 a present to the Governor, should go in part payment 
 of the debt. For the remainder, he desired a respite 
 till the next spring, when, if it were not fully paid, 
 the English should have his country and his head. 
 The commissioners accordingly gave him leave to 
 return home, and allowed him twenty days for sending 
 in one thousand fathoms; if he failed, he must suffer 
 the consequences. If he did what he could, and 
 Pessacus failed, as he heretofore had done, they should 
 punish him, and expect Ninigret's assistance. 
 
 At their meeting in 1648, the commissioners re- 
 ceived information of new movements of Pessacus 
 and Ninigret, in disturbance of the common peace. 
 Both sachems were said to be withdrawing their old 
 men, women and children into swamps, hiding their 
 corn, and preparing for the reception of the Mohawk, 
 whom they had engaged to assist them. The invad- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 239 
 
 ing army was to consist of eight hundred men. The 
 Mohawks had four hundred guns, and three pounds 
 of powder to a gun. Ninigret had made inquiry 
 whether the English would probably defend Uncas, 
 and seemed to calculate, in that case, upon the neces- 
 sity of fighting them. The Pocomtock tribe were also 
 engaged to assist him. But both these and the Mo- 
 hawks were finally discouraged from undertaking the 
 expedition, by the prospect of having to contend with 
 the English. 
 
 But depredations were soon after committed by 
 some of the Narraghansetts upon the English ; and as 
 for Uncas, the hostility against him was carried so far, 
 that he came very near losing his life by an Indian 
 hired to assassinate him, having been run through the 
 breast with a sword, as he was going on board a 
 vessel in the river Thames. At the commissioners' 
 meeting in 1649, he appeared, laid his complaints before 
 them, and demanded the protection of his ally. Nini- 
 gret also presented himself. As to hiring the Indian 
 to assassinate Uncas, he observed, the confession of 
 the criminal himself was the only evidence in the case, 
 and that was forced from him by the Mohegans. As 
 to the arrears of the wampum, of which much was 
 said, he thought there had been a mistake in the 
 measure, and that only two hundred fathoms were due, 
 while that the English at this time acknowledged the 
 receipt of only one thousand five hundred and twenty 
 nine and a half in the whole. But the commissioners 
 were dissatisfied with his answer; and they there- 
 fore once more set themselves to making 1 vigorous 
 preparations for war. 
 
240 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 The measures adopted in 1650, may be learned 
 from the following passage of the commissioner's 
 record for that year. " Taking into consideration 
 the seueral offensiue practices of the Narraghansetts 
 whereby they have broken their couenents and en- 
 deauoured to disturbe the peace betweene the English 
 and themselves; and how they yet delay to pay the 
 wampum which hath been so long due [having sent 
 but one hundred fathom since the last meeting at 
 Boston:] it was therefore thought meet to keepe the 
 colonies from falling into contempt among the Indians, 
 and to preuent their improuing said wampum to hire 
 other Indians to joyne with themselves against vs or 
 Vncas, that twenty men well armed bee sent out of 
 the Jurisdiccion of Massachusetts to Pessicus to de- 
 mand the said Wampum which is three hundred and 
 eight fathom, and vpon Refusall or Delay to take the 
 same or to the Vallew thereof in the best goods they 
 can find ; Together with so much as will satisfy for 
 their charges &c." 
 
 The messengers were farther instructed to go to 
 Ninigret, and make the following complaints. 1. 
 That the commissioners were told he had married 
 his daughter to the brother of the old Pequot chief, 
 Sassacus, and had made some pretensions to the 
 Pequot territory. 2. That Weekzvash Cooke had com- 
 plained to them of certain grievances received at his 
 hands. 3. " That about twelve years sence a Mare 
 belonging to Elty Pomary of Winsor in Connecticatt 
 was killed wilfully by Pequiam a Nyantick Indian 
 brother to Ninegrett which Mare cost twenty-nine 
 pounds, for which satisfaccon hath often been re- 
 quired." &c. They were then to demand payment 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 241 
 
 of all charges due the English, and as also categorical 
 answers to a certain list of questions. 
 
 The party sent out by Massachusetts in pursuance 
 of these orders was commanded by Major Atherton. 
 On meeting with Pessacus, and stating the purposes 
 of his visit, some altercation ensued. As the Narra- 
 ghansett warriors meanwhile appeared to be collect- 
 ing around him, Atherton marched directly to the 
 door of his wigwam, posted a guard there, entered 
 himself with his pistol in hand, seized Pessacus by 
 his hair, and drawing him out from among his attend- 
 ants, declared he would despatch him instantly on 
 perceiving the least attempt for his rescue. This 
 bold stroke made such an impression, that all arrear- 
 ages were paid on the spot. Atherton then visited 
 Ninigret, and having stated the accusations, suspicions 
 and threats of the commissioners though without 
 obtaining any farther satisfaction returned home. 
 
 In 1653, the commissioners sent messengers to 
 demand of Ninigret, Pessacus and Mexham, answers 
 to the following questions. They are given in full, 
 as a curious illustration both of the policy of the for- 
 mer and the character of the latter. The object and 
 occasion are sufficiently manifest on the face of them. 
 
 1. Whether the Duch Governor hath engaged him 
 [Ninigret] and others to healp them to fight against 
 the English, and how many? 
 
 2. Whether the Duch Governor did not attempt 
 such a Conspiracy? 
 
 3. Whether hee [Ninigret] hath not received of the 
 Duch Governor guns powder bullets and swords or 
 any ammunition to that end ; and how much or many 
 of the said provisions for warr? 
 
 M. erf H. XXX 16 
 
24:2 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 4. What other sachems or Indians to his knowlidg 
 that are so engaged? 
 
 5. Whether himselfe or the Rest are Resolved ac- 
 cording to theire engagement to fight against the 
 English ? 
 
 6. If hee bee Resolved of his way what he thinks 
 the English will do? 
 
 7. Whether it bee not safest for him and his men 
 to be true to the English? 
 
 8. Whether the Duch hath engaged to healp him 
 and the Rest of the Indians against the English ? 
 
 9. If hee hatie engaged against us to aske vpon 
 what grounds and what wrong wee haue donn him? 
 
 10. Whether hee thinks it meet to com or send 
 his messengers to give satisfaction concerning these 
 queries? 
 
 11. Wether hee hath hiered the Mohakes to healp 
 him against us ? 
 
 The answer of Mexham, as reported by the mes- 
 sengers, to the first question, was thus. " I speak 
 vnfeigedly from my hart without Dessimulation that 
 I know of noe such plott that is intended or ploted 
 by the Duch Governor against the English my frinds. 
 Though I bee poor it is not goods guns powder nor 
 shott that shall draw mee to such a plott." Pessacus 
 said, " I am very thankfull to these two men that came 
 from the Massachusetts and to you Thomas and to 
 you Poll and to you Mr. Smith that are come soe fare 
 as from the Bay to bring vs this message, and to en- 
 forme vs of these things wee knew not of before." 
 
 To the second, Mexham answered ' No/ Pessacus 
 said, " that for the Governor of the Duch, wee are 
 loth to Inuent any falsehood of him, though we bee 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 243 
 
 far off from him, to please the English or any other 
 that bring these Reports. The Duch Governor did 
 never propound such a thing." He also represented 
 the evident folly of his leagueing with a remote people 
 against his nearest neighbors. He gave a negative to 
 the fifth question. The sixth he supposed to be al- 
 ready answered. To the seventh, he said, "wee desire 
 to keepe it [peace] feirmly to our dicing day as neare 
 as we can." The eighth and ninth, both Mexham and 
 Pessacus thought they had answered already. As to 
 the tenth, they replied, that Pessacus was too old to 
 " trauell two daies together, but they would send some 
 men into the Massachusetts to speak with [tell] the 
 Sachems that they had sent to Mr. Smith and Voll his 
 man to speake to Mr. Browne that they loved the Eng- 
 lish sachems and all English in the Bay." The charge 
 implied in the last query they absolutely denied. 
 
 The answers of Ninigret, which were given sepa- 
 rately, are the more worthy of notice that he was 
 known to have visited New York during the previous 
 winter, and had been accused by various Indians, in- 
 cluding some of the Mohegans, of having formed an 
 alliance with the Dutch against the English. He ut- 
 terly disclaimed such conduct. " But," he added, 
 " whiles I was there att the Indian Wigwames there 
 cam som Indians that told mee there was a shipp com 
 in from Holland, which did report the English and 
 Duch were fighting together in theire owne countrey, 
 and theire were severall other shippes cominge with 
 amunition to fight against the English heer, and that 
 there would bee a great blow given to them, but this 
 (said he,) I had from the Indians, and I cannot tell how 
 true it is." Next, four queries were answered in the 
 
244 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 negative. As to the sixth, " What shall I answare 
 these things over and over again? What doe the Eng- 
 lish thinke that I thinke they bee asleep and suffer mee 
 to do them wronge? Doe we not know they are not 
 a sleepy people? The English make queries for gun- 
 powder, and shot and swords. Do they thinke wee 
 are mad to sell our lieus and the Hues of all our wiues 
 and children and all our kindred, and to haue our coun- 
 trey destroyed for a few guns powder shott and swords? 
 What will they doe vs good when wee are dead ? " 
 The eight, ninth, and eleventh, were denied. To the 
 seventh he replied, that he knew no reason for breaking 
 his league with his old friends the English ; and why 
 should he ally himself to a few Dutchmen, so far off, 
 when he lived next door to tliemf The answer to the 
 tenth would puzzle the most mystifying politician of 
 modern times. " It being indifferently spoken whether 
 hee may goe or send yet hee knowing nothing by him- 
 selfe wherein hee hath wronged the English but that 
 hee may goe yet being Indifferently spoken hee would 
 send to speak with the English." 
 
 Letters having been also sent to the sachems from 
 the commissioners, Pessacus and Mexham sent word 
 in return, that they wished for a good understanding, 
 and hoped it might be preserved. They requested, 
 furthermore, that the English would make known the 
 names of their accusers, and the other sources of their 
 information respecting their alleged league with the 
 Dutch. Ninigret replied as follows : 
 
 " You are kindly welcom to vs and I. kindly thanke 
 the Sachems [magistrates] of the Massachusetts that 
 they would Nominate my Name amongst the other to 
 require my answare to the propositions: had any of 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 245 
 
 the other Sachems been att the Duch I should have 
 feared theire folly might have donn some hurt one way 
 or other, but they have not been there. / am the Man 
 that haue bene there myselfe, therefore I must answare 
 for what I haue doun. I doe utterley deney and pro- 
 test against any such acteings doun by mee or to my 
 knowlidge att or with the Duch. What is the story of 
 these great rumers, that I hear att Pocatocke, that I 
 should bee cut off and that the English had a quarrel 
 against mee. I know of noe such cause att all for my 
 parte. Is it because I went thither to take Phisicke for my 
 healthe? Or what is the cause I found noe such enter- 
 tainment from the Duch Governour, when I was there 
 to giue mee any Incorragement to sturr mee upp to 
 such a league against the English my friends. It was 
 winter-time, and I stood a great parte of a day knock- 
 ing at the Governor's dore, and he would 'neither open 
 it nor suffer others open it to lett mee in. I was 
 not wont to find such carriage from the English my 
 frinds." The messenger promised to be sent by Pes- 
 sacus was sent accordingly. The English examined 
 him very closely but ascertained nothing new. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Sequel of the lives of Ninigret and Pessacus, from 1653. Various accusa- 
 tions, deputations, and hostile movements between them and the Eng- 
 lish. Controversy between Ninigret and Harmon Garrett. Application 
 for justice in 1675. Condu'* ol Ninigret in Philip's War. Conse- 
 quences of it. His death Death of Pessacus. Some of the charges 
 against the former considered. His hostility to Uncas, and the Long 
 Islanders, and * League with the Dutch '. Remarks on his character. 
 
 IN September, 1653, new complaints were made 
 against the Narraghansett and Niantick Sachems. 
 It was reported to the commissioners, that they 
 had attacked the Long Island Indians, and slain two 
 Sachems and thirty others. This was deemed a case 
 requiring their interference ; and messengers were 
 forthwith despatched as usual, to demand explanation 
 and satisfaction, on penalty that the commissioners 
 would otherwise u proceed as they should find cause." 
 These men executed their errand, and returned on the 
 19th of the month. According to their own account, 
 they were not very graciously received, as indeed it 
 was hardly to be expected they should be. 
 
 They declared upon oath that, on entering the 
 
 Niantick country, they saw about forty or fifty Indians, 
 
 all in arms, who came up to them as they rode by; 
 
 and the leader having a gun in his hand, " did, in the 
 
 (246) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 247 
 
 presence of Thomas Staunton Serjeant Waite and Val- 
 lentyne Whitman, put his hand back as if hee would 
 have cocked it; Richard Waite said this man will 
 shoote ; whervpon the English men faced about, Rode 
 vp to the said Indians, asked what they intended to doe 
 and bedd them goe before, which some of them did but 
 others would not; and particularly the said Captaine 
 Refused. The English rode on in the way towards 
 Ninigrett, but coming vp into the Woods, the former 
 company of Indians first fell on shouting in a triumph- 
 ing way. After the English Messengers came to a 
 greater company of Indians all armed, whoe comaund. 
 them to stand to alight and to tye there horses to a 
 tree showed them, which the Messengers refused to 
 doe. The Indians then strove to becompase the Eng- 
 lish, which they would not suffer, but being Informed 
 that Ninigrett would come thither they stayed awhile, 
 but Ninigrett not coming the English tould the Indians 
 that if they might neither passe nor Ninnigrett come 
 then they would return home. The Indians answared 
 hee would com presently, but hee not coming the 
 English rode forward and mett Ninnigrett ; the Indians 
 running on both sides hollowing, the English Messen- 
 gers made a stand, when they mett Ninnigrett have- 
 ing many armed men with him and him selfe a pistoll 
 in his hand. Ninnigrett sat doune and desired them to 
 alight which they did. The Indians then surrounded 
 them and som of them charged their guns with pow- 
 der and bullets and som primed their guns. The Eng- 
 lish in the meen time delivering their message to Ninn- 
 igrett his men were so Tumultus in speaking especially 
 one whoe they said was a Mohauke that they were 
 much desturbed." 
 
248 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 The messengers were afterwards informed by one 
 of Ninigret's chief men, " that the aforementioned Mo- 
 hauke came to see what news, for they heard that the 
 English zvere coming to warr against the Narraghansetts, 
 which if true the Mohaukes take what is doun against 
 the Narraghansetts as doun against themselues." Af- 
 ter leaving Ninigret, two Indians, with bows and ar- 
 rows in their hands, came running out of the woods, 
 and roughly demanded of Staunton whither he was 
 going, when he was coming back, and which way he 
 should come. Upon this report, the commissioners 
 decided to make war at once, with the exception of 
 Mr. Bradstreet alone, (the member from Massachu- 
 setts,) who protested against such a proceeding, and 
 thereby prevented it. 
 
 In 1654, the commissioners were informed, that 
 Ninigret was not only prosecuting hostilities against 
 the Long-Island Indians as before, but had hired the 
 Mohawks, Pocomtocks and Wampanoags to assist 
 him. They immediately sent messengers demanding 
 his appearance at Hartford, and the payment of the 
 tribute so long due, as they alleged, for the Pequots 
 under his dominion. One article in the messenger's 
 instructions was expressed thus. " That vnless hee 
 either com himselfe forthwithe to Hartford or give som 
 satisfying securitie to the commissioners for the true 
 and constant paiment of the said Tribute the commis- 
 sioners shall thinke of some course forthwithe to de- 
 spose of the said Pequots some other way." On the 
 18th of September, the following report was made of 
 the result of the interview. 
 
 1. When Ninigret was told, that the commission- 
 ers had perused the letter he had sent to the governor of 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 349 
 
 Massachusetts concerning the suspicions he had of Un- 
 cas, he answered, that he knew nothing of such letter, 
 and expressed great wonder at its being charged upon 
 him. 
 
 Again, as to the breach of covenant alleged against 
 him, he desired to know who could say that he had 
 any Peqouts under him. 2. Mr. Eaton and Mr. Hop- 
 kins, being both at New Haven, had told him that he 
 was to pay for the Pequots only ten yeares. And 3. 
 Those ten years had elapsed three years before. 
 
 3. In respect to the Long-Islanders he answered 
 in the following remarkable manner : " Wherfore 
 should he acquaint the commissioners therewith when 
 the long-islanders had slayne a sachem's son and sixty 
 other of his men ; and therefore he will not make peace 
 with the long-islanders, but doth desire the English 
 would lett him alone, and doth desire that the com- 
 missioners would not Request him to goe to hartford : 
 for hee had doun noe hurt, what should he doe there ; 
 hee had bene many times in the Bay, and when was 
 Uncas there; Jonathan [the messenger] asked him 
 whether he would send two or three of his men that 
 might act in his Rome and steed if hee would not goe 
 him selfe hee answared what should hee or his men 
 doe att hartford ; Adding if youer Governor's sonne 
 were slayne and seuerall other men would [you] aske 
 counsell of another Nation how and when to Right 
 yourselves ; and againe said hee would not goe nor 
 send to Hartford." 
 
 4. " Concerning the vpland Indians his answare 
 was they are my frinds and came to healp mee 
 against the long-islanders which had killed seuerall 
 of my men ; wherfore should I acquaint the commis- 
 
250 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 sioners with it ; I doe but Right my owne quarell which 
 the long-islanders began with mee." 
 
 This spirited reply, alone sufficient to immortalize 
 Ninigret, brought on open war. A body of troops was 
 raised in the three united colonies, and sent into the 
 Niantick country, under Major Willard of Massachu- 
 setts, with orders to demand of Ninigret the Pequots 
 subject to his control, the tribute already due from 
 them, and also a cessation of hostilities against the 
 Indians of Long Island. On refusal to comply with 
 these terms, they were to reduce him to submission 
 and tribute by force, and take hostages for security. 
 The place of general rendezvous was appointed at 
 Staunton's house in the Narraghansett country. On 
 arriving there, Major Willard found that Ninigret had 
 fled into a swamp ten or fifteen miles distant from the 
 army, leaving his country, corn,. and wigwams, at the 
 invader's mercy. Messengers were sent to him, invit- 
 ing him to a conference, and pledging the safety of his 
 person. He returned answer that aggressions had 
 already been made upon his territory and property, and 
 he did not think it safe for him to visit the Major. He 
 wished to know, too, what had occasioned the present 
 invasion. What had he done to the English, that they 
 beset him in this manner? Whatever the difficulty 
 was, he was ready to settle it by messengers, but not 
 in person. 
 
 A day or two afterwards, as he was still in close 
 quarters, six new messengers were sent to him, two 
 of whom, only, after much debate with his guards and 
 scouts, were admitted to his own presence. They be- 
 gan with demanding the Pequots ; to which he replied, 
 that most of that people had left him already (nearly 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 261 
 
 one hundred had deserted to the English army ) ; 
 and the few that remained were hunting and strag- 
 gling up and down the country. He however set his 
 mark to the following agreement, dated Oct. 18, 1654. 
 
 " Wheras the commissioners of the vnited collonies 
 demaund by theire Messengers that I deliuer vp to the 
 English all the captiue Pequotes in my countrey I 
 heerby ingage myselfe to surrender the said Pequotes 
 within seuen daies to Mr. Winthrope or Captain Mason 
 Witnesse my hand. 
 
 Witnesse Thomas Stanton and Vallentine Whit- 
 man Interpreters Witnesse alsoe Thomas Bligh." 
 
 The messengers next demanded the tribute due for 
 the Pequots. He replied, that he never engaged to 
 pay it. " Why then/' said they, " did you pay it, or 
 part of it, at New Haven?" "Because," he readily 
 answered, " I feared they would be taken from me if I 
 did not, and therefore made a gratuity out of my own 
 wampum to please you." Being now forbidden in the 
 commissioners' name, to pursue hostilities against the 
 Indians of Long-Island, he stood silent for some time, 
 and then asked if it was right that his men such men 
 should lose their lives and their blood, and not be 
 revenged. The English observed, that he should have 
 offered his complaints to the commissioners ; but to 
 this he made no reply ; nor yet to the unceremonious 
 if not uncivil declaration of the messengers, that in 
 case he gave any farther trouble to any of the friends 
 of the English, they should forthwith take the liberty 
 to set his head upon a pole. The conference ended 
 with their requesting him to pay the expenses of the 
 expedition, which he refused to do,: " Hee was not 
 the cause of it, but longe-Island Indians killed him a 
 
262 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 man att Connecticott." Thus the affair ended. The 
 commander was censured by the commissioners, for 
 neglecting a good opportunity of humbling a trouble- 
 some enemy, but no farther strictures ensued. They 
 contented themselves with stationing an armed vessel 
 in the road between Neanticut and Long-Island, with 
 orders to prevent hostile movements on the part of 
 Ninigret, and with encouraging his Indian adversaries 
 by promises of English assistance. The next year, 
 Ninigret continuing his attacks, they thought them- 
 selves under obligation to furnish it. 
 
 From this time forward, there is little of interest in 
 the life either of Pessacus or Ninigret. We hear of 
 them occasionally, but not much farther than is suffi- 
 cient to indicate their existence. Whether they gave 
 less reason to be complained of than before, or whether 
 the English at length grew weary of sending messages 
 to them, cannot be ascertained ; but there is probably 
 some truth in both suppositions. 
 
 One of the last deputations to Ninigret, in 1656, was 
 occasioned by complaints which he made to the Eng- 
 lish of grievances received from the Long-Islanders. 
 He failed to prove them as alleged, and the commis- 
 sioners took that occasion to remind him of his own 
 duties and defaults, in their wonted manner. The les- 
 son was repeated in 1657, some affrays and assaults 
 having meanwhile occurred, which threatened to bring 
 on more serious troubles between the Indian tribes. 
 The most remarkable circumstance connected with the 
 deputation of this season, is the dissent of the com- 
 missioners of Massachusetts, who frequently had occa- 
 sion to differ with their associates in regard to inter- 
 course with the Indians. The terms of this opinion, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 253 
 
 expressed in the records, are worthy of notice, as 
 throwing a casual light on the charges brought against 
 Ninigret. 
 
 " There hatting bine," say they, " many messengers 
 to this purpose formerly sent from the commissioners 
 to the Indian Sachems, but seldom obserued by them, 
 which now to Renew againe when many complaints have 
 bine made against Vncas by seuerall Sachems and other 
 Indians of his proud Insolent and prouocking speeches 
 and Trecherous actions, and with much probabilitie of truth, 
 besides his hostile attempts at Potunck &c. seems 
 vnseasonable ; and can in Reason have no other attend- 
 ance in conclusion than to Render vs lo and contemptable 
 in the eyes of the Indians, or engage vs to vindecate our 
 honer in a dangerouse and vnessesarie warr vpon 
 Indian quarrells, the grounds whereof wee can hardly 
 euer satisfactory^ vndcrstaod, &c." There is manifestly 
 great truth, as well as some severity, in this declara* 
 tion. We may hereafter allude again to what is said 
 respecting Vncas. 
 
 We now refer to the instructions of messengers 
 sent two years after the embassy last named, merely 
 to illustrate the style of diplomacy which still con- 
 tinued to be used. They were directed " to Repaire to 
 Ninnigrett, Pessicus, Woqnocanoote, and the Rest of 
 the Narraghansett Sachems, and distinctly and clearly 
 delieur to them the following message." One article 
 of complaint runs thus : 
 
 ' The commissioners doe require ninety-five fath- 
 om of wampum ordered by them to bee payed the last 
 yeare for the Insolencyes committed att mistress 
 Brewster's feet to her great affrightment and stealing 
 corne c. and other affronts." 
 
254 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Again : :< The commissioners doe charge Ninni- 
 grett with breach of couenant and high neglect of theire 
 order sent them by Major Willard six yeares since not to 
 Inuade the longe Hand Indians ; and do account this sur- 
 prising the longe-Iland Indians att Gull Hand and 
 murthering of them to be an insolent carriage to the 
 English and a barbarous and inhumaine acte ; there- 
 fore the commissioners haue provided for his entertain- 
 ment at longe-Iland if hee shall dare further to attempt 
 vpon them before hee hath satisfied the commissioners 
 of the justnes of his quarrell, ordering the English 
 there to assist the Indians and driue him from thence." 
 It will be recollected, that Ninigret had always dis- 
 claimed the right of the English to interfere in this 
 contest with his neighbors, though he explained to 
 them, so far as to justify himself on the ground of hav- 
 ing been first aggrieved and attacked by his enemy. 
 More recently he had chosen probably for the sake 
 of keeping peace with the English to make com- 
 plaint to them ; but because he had failed to prove 
 them ( and no doubt they were mostly incapable of 
 being proved, in their very nature ) the commission- 
 ers had taken no other notice of his suit than to send 
 Thomas Stanton and others to reprimand him at once 
 for his present insolence and his old sins. 
 
 Still, he was not utterly discouraged, for he did not 
 invariably fail of having justice done him. In 1662, 
 the commissioners being informed of his intention to 
 sell a certain tract of land in his actual possession, 
 which was nevertheless claimed by one Harmon Gar- 
 rett, they sent to him not a message of threats by 
 Thomas Stanton but " a writing vnder theire hands 
 sertifying the said Harmon Garrett's claime, which be- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 255 
 
 ing made knowne to Ninnigrett, the said Ninnigrett 
 by his Messengers to the commissioners att theire 
 last meeting att Plymouth made clairne to the said 
 land, and Refered the Determination therof to the next 
 meeting of the court att Boston, desireing that notice 
 might bee given to the said harmon Garrett att the said 
 Meeting of the commissioners to appear. 
 
 This honorable proposition was adopted. Garrett 
 made his appearance, and Ninigret sent his attorney 
 to meet him at Boston. Garrett stated, that his father 
 was a great sachem, and was possessed of the lands in 
 controversy, and that Ninigret was the said Sachem's 
 younger brother. On the other side, Cornman in- be- 
 half of Ninigret, showed that his master was possessed 
 of said lands according to the Indian custom, being 
 allowed to be the chief sachem, and having married 
 the sister of Harmon Garrett ; and that said Harmon 
 was not of the whole [Niantick] blood, because his 
 mother was a stranger. This evidence was furnished 
 orally by divers Narraghansetts and Pequot Indians, 
 as also by Uncas and others in writing. The com- 
 missioners decided, that it was " not meet to prejudice 
 the title of Ninnigrett, being in posession by any acte 
 of theires, and that the writing giuen vnder theire 
 hand att New-hauen conserning harmon Garrett bee 
 not vnderstood nor made vse of to prejudice Ninni- 
 grett's title and posession, but aduise all the English 
 to forbeare to disturbe Ninnigret." 
 
 The good effect of this decision is to be seen in 
 the almost total silence of history in regard to Nini- 
 gret for the next twelve or thirteen years, when we 
 find him coming forward, confidently and amicably, in 
 a similar case. The particulars may be best gathered 
 
256 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 from a letter written by Mr. John Easton, (probably 
 a magistrate living near the sachem,) to the Governor 
 of Plymouth Colony. It runs thus: 
 
 " Ninigret, one of the two chief sachems of the 
 Narraghansetts in our colony, importuned me thus 
 to write to you, that, as he saith, it is the Indian 
 custom or law, that when any sachem's men are driven 
 and cast ashore, or their goods, upon any other 
 sachem's jurisdiction, or taken up by any other 
 sachem's men, that the goods are to be restored to 
 the sachem whose men they were ; and this spring, 
 twelve Indians, at a time, were drowned in the sea, 
 coming from an Island, and some of their goods drove 
 up in your jurisdiction at Dartmouth ; and he desireth 
 you to inform those Indians [at Dartmouth] that they 
 should restore to him all the goods of those drowned 
 that they have got." 
 
 This letter was written in March, 1675, just on the 
 eve of the great war of King Philip. The friendly 
 disposition of Ninigret was now put to the test. The 
 Nipmucks, Nashaways, Pocontocks, the Hadley and 
 Springfield Indians, the Pokanokets of Philip, the 
 tribes of Maine, and still nearer home the Narraghan- 
 setts, were involved in the common controversy of the 
 times. But Ninigret remained faithful to the English ; 
 and though he took no personal part in the war, some 
 of his warriors distinguished themselves more than 
 once by their zealous cooperation with their allies. 
 Ninigret was one of the signers of the treaty of July, 
 wherein the Narraghansetts bound themselves to re- 
 main neutral ; and in October, his counsellor, Corn- 
 man, signed a confirmation of the same instrument, 
 in his name, (at Boston,) with an additional agreement 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 257 
 
 to surrender up such Pokanoket refugees as might be 
 found in his territories. Several of the Narraghansett 
 sachems did the same, but Ninigret, alone, seems 
 to have maintarned his fidelity. At all events, he alone 
 had the credit of it, and the consequent benefit. The 
 Naraghansetts were completely subdued, and their 
 country overrun and subjected. The tribe and terri- 
 tory of Ninigret were spared ; and several of their de- 
 scendants were living on the premises so late as 1738, 
 when few, if any, of the Naraghansett blood could be 
 found winthin the limits of Rhode Island. 
 
 The precise time of the death of Ninigret is not 
 recorded. It is not probable that he lived long after 
 Philip's war, for two good reasons. He is rarely if 
 at all mentioned, subsequently ; and he must have 
 been already quite advanced in age. It was now over 
 forty years since that Pequot war, at the date of which 
 he is mentioned by Prince. Pessacus must have died 
 previous to Philip's war. We do not find his name 
 in the Colonial Records after 1658, though it would 
 certainly have been among the signatures to the treaty 
 last mentioned, had he been living at the date of its 
 execution. The English regarded him as the leading 
 man of his tribe. 
 
 The three principal complaints made against Nini- 
 gret, and the occasion of the ill-treatment he received 
 from the English, were his hostility to Uncas, his 
 intercourse with the Dutch, and the wars which he 
 waged with the Long Islanders. Respecting the latter, 
 enough has already been said. Enough appears in 
 the protest of the Massachusetts commissioners, alone, 
 to show that the English had but a poor reason for 
 interfering as they did. They barely alleged that 
 
 M. of H. XXX 17 
 
258 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 these Indians were their friends; but nothing more 
 obvious than that such reasoning, however satisfac- 
 tory to themselves, could only render them, in the 
 words of the protest, " low and contemptible in the 
 eyes of the Indians." 
 
 " There being noe agreement produced or proved," 
 said Mr. Bradstreet, of Massachusetts, in 1653 
 " whereby the collenies are obliged to protect the 
 Long Island Indians against Ninigrett or others, and 
 so noe Reason to engage them in theire quarrells the 
 grounds whereof they cannot well vnderstand : I there- 
 fore see not sufficient light to this vote." 
 
 It is obvious that even an ' obligation/ by agree- 
 ment, to protect those Indians, might not imply a 
 right to do so as regarded other parties but grant- 
 ing such a right as consequent upon sufficient provo- 
 cation, it still remains to prove upon which party lay 
 the blame of the first attack. Ninigret always asserted 
 that he acted in self-defence, and no doubt such 
 was his real opinion. The English only reprimanded 
 him upon old scores, when he laid his grievances 
 before them ; and then sent an armed vessel and a 
 body of troops to fight for his enemies. The Long 
 Islanders told a different story; but this was at best 
 but one Indian testimony against another; and how 
 much theirs in particular could be relied upon, appears 
 from the fact, that within a year or two after this 
 same affair, they themselves committed the most flag- 
 rant depredations upon the English. Trumbull says, 
 that in 1657, " after all the trouble and expense which 
 the English had been at for their defence, they became 
 tumultuous, and did great damage to the inhabitants 
 of Southampton." 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 259 
 
 To conclude this discussion, we introduce some 
 passages of a manuscript letter from Roger Williams 
 to the government of one of the colonies, which has 
 already been cited. It bears date of Oct. 5, 1654, and 
 was written to prevent war. 
 
 " The Cause and Roote of all y e present mischief 
 is y e Pride of 2 Barbarians, Ascassassotick, y e Long 
 Island Sachim, and Nenekunat, of the Narigansett. 
 The former is proud and foolish. The latter is proud 
 and fierce. I have not seene him these many years, 
 yet from their sober men I hear 'he pleads, 
 
 First, y t Ascassassotick, a very Inferior Sachim 
 (bearing himself upon y e English) hath slain 3 or 4 
 of his people and since y* sent him challenges and 
 darings to fight and mend himself. 
 
 2dly. He, Nenekunat, consulted by Solemn mes- 
 sengers with the chiefe of the English Governors, 
 Major Endicott then Gov r of y e Massachusetts, who 
 sent him an Implicite consent to right himselfe. 
 
 3. After he had taken revenge upon, y e Long 
 Islanders and brought away about 14 Captives, yet 
 he restored them all again upon y e mediation and 
 desire of y e English. 
 
 4. After this peace made, the Long Islanders pre- 
 tending to visit Nenekunat at Block Island, slaugh- 
 tered of his Narigansetts neere 30 persons at mid- 
 night, 2 of them of great note, especially Wepiteam- 
 mock's sonn, to whom Nenekunat was uncle." 
 
 Mr. Williams afterwards says ; 
 
 " 1. I know it is said y e Long Islanders are sub- 
 jects: But I have heard this greatly questioned, and 
 indeed I question whether any Indians in this Coun- 
 
260 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 try remayning Barbarous and Pagan, may with truth 
 or honor be cald y e English subjects. 
 
 2. But graunt them subjects, what capacitie hath 
 their late massacre of y e Narigansetts (with whom 
 they had made peace) without y e English consent, 
 though still under y e English name, put them into?" 
 
 As to a league between Ninigret and ' the Duch 
 Governor/ his own reply to the charge has been 
 given. It will furnish some amusement, at least, to 
 review parts of the evidence upon which it was 
 founded. Ninigret and Pessacus sent an Indian named 
 Awashaw to the commissioners, in pursuance of their 
 agreement to give what satisfaction they could in 
 regard to this subject; " whoe being demanded why Nini- 
 gret went to the Monhatoes the last winter, answared that 
 Ninigret told him that hee went thether to bee cured 
 of his disease, hearing there was a Frenchman there 
 that could cure him ; that Mr. lohn Winthorpe knew 
 of his going; that he carried thirty fathom of wam- 
 pam, ten whereof he gave the Doctor and fifteen to 
 the governor; and the governor gave him in Lieue 
 thereof sleived coates but not one gun, but the Indians 
 there gave Ninigret two guns." This was in 1653. 
 
 Not long before, it seems that Uncas the last 
 man whose evidence should have been noticed at all 
 had called on Governor Haynes at Hartford, and 
 informed him of Ninigret's visit to the Dutch, as also 
 that he had made a league with them, bought up a 
 large quantity of ammunition, and negotiated with the 
 New York Indians for a war against Uncas and the 
 English. Furthermore, it was said that Ninigret had 
 sent to a neighboring Sachem, to procure a man skil- 
 ful in poisoning, and had promised him one hundred 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 261 
 
 fathoms of wampum in return. The wampum was sent 
 by a canoe, which Uncas intercepted, with seven In- 
 dians aboard, one of whom his men had killed, (accord- 
 ing to his own story,) and two others had confessed 
 Ninigret's whole plot We are inclined to hold, that 
 this testimony should be received only so far as it 
 goes against Uncas himself, showing that he took the 
 liberty, on the strength of his suspicion alone, to assault 
 a canoe belonging to Ninigret, and to murder one of 
 his subjects. When these accusations were stated by 
 the commissioners to Awashaw, the messenger just 
 mentioned, and he was particularly questioned who 
 and what was in the canoe, he replied, " that in the 
 canoe that was sent back which was taken by Vncas 
 his men, hee sent in it sixty fathom of wampum to 
 pay for the two guns which he had of the Indians 
 whiles hee was att the Monhatoes, and the Remainder 
 of the Phissicke he had there." Being asked what 
 corn Ninigret sent to the Dutch in the Vessel taken by 
 the English [another agression it would seem,] he said, 
 " that hee Intended not to send any corne to the Duch 
 Governor, but what corne was aboard the Duch vessel 
 was for the hier of the vessel that brought him home." 
 It appears, he had returned by water, while some of 
 his men had walked: and he paid for his passage 
 in corn. 
 
 Awashaw on this occasion had an Indian in com- 
 pany with him, named Newcom Matuxes. The means 
 resorted to for obtaining proof of the accusation, 
 are farther illustrated by the information gravely given 
 us in Records, that this fellow " spake with one lohn 
 lightfoot of Boston, an Englishman, whoe as Light- 
 foot saith, told him in Duch that the Duchmen would 
 
262 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 cutt off the English on Long-island. Newcom also 
 confesseth that Ninnigrett said that hee heard that 
 some shipps were to come from holland to the Mon- 
 hatoes to cutt off the English ; and that when the said 
 Newcom lived att Southhold an Indian tould him that 
 the Duch would come against the English and cutt 
 them of, but they would saue the weemen and chil- 
 dren and guns for themselves. But Captaine Simkins 
 and the said Light foot doe both affeirme that the said New- 
 come tould them that the Duch men tould him as before, tho' 
 he now puts it of and saith that an Indian told him. 
 Further hee the said Newcome tould captaine Sim- 
 kins (as hee confidently afeirmeth) that if he would 
 goe to serue the Duch the Duch would giue him an 
 hundred pounds a yeare." It matters but little, we 
 conceive, whether Captain Simkins recollected cor- 
 rectly or not, his reminiscences amounting to nothing 
 in any case. Ninigret had himself expounded the 
 transaction, much more completely than all these wit- 
 nesses together. 
 
 But the examination was still pursued, " Thomas 
 Stanton [Interpreter] being there also to charge it 
 vpon him. The said Newcome not being able to 
 cleare himselfe from the guilt of the charge, the com- 
 missioners then tould Awashaw that had the said New- 
 com not bine a Messenger sent by Ninnigrett hee 
 should not have escaped without some punishment, and 
 therefore they willed Awashaw to tell Ninnigrett hee 
 would doe well to send the said Newcom againe to 
 vs, the better to cleare himselfe from all suspition" This 
 manoeuvre has a little too much the air of a pretext 
 for getting a farther opportunity to cross-examine and 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 263 
 
 confuse poor Newcom ; he had thus far been able to 
 make out a respectably clear statement. 
 
 Before leaving town, Awashaw sent a request to 
 the commissioners for another interview ; which being 
 granted, he inquired who had informed them of these 
 matters against Ninigret. They mentioned in reply 
 " severall Indians, and more particularly the Monheage 
 Indian and the Narraghansctt taken by Vncas his men" 
 Awashaw then requested restitution of the wampum 
 taken by these men. The commissioners only said, 
 that they had not yet ascertained the truth of that 
 affair; but when they had thought of it more, he should 
 know their decision. 
 
 The following amusing document is a fair speci- 
 men of the testimony furnished against Ninigret by 
 other Indians. It is the desposition taken in May, 
 1653 of one Adam, of whom nothing farther is 
 known. After mentioning what the Dutch Governor 
 had done among the Indians, which is not to our 
 purpose, 
 
 " Further hee saith that Ninnegret the Fiscall 
 [Treasurer] and the Duch Governor were vp two 
 daies in a close Roome with other Sagamores; and 
 there was noe speaking with any of them except when 
 they came for a cole of fier or the like and much 
 sewam [wampum] was seen at that time in Ninne- 
 gret's hand and he carried none away with him ; further 
 hee saith that Ronessocke a Sagamore on longe Island 
 tould the said Addam that the Duch Governor bid 
 him fly for his life; for that the plott was now dis- 
 covered : and besides hee sends word dayly that they 
 had as good appear now for when hee is cutt of the 
 English will cutt them all of. 
 
264 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 This was testifyed aboard Tuson near the white 
 stone before JOHN LEVERETT 
 
 WILLIAM DAVIS." 
 
 Other evidence, considerably relied upon, was an 
 Indian squaw's relation to a person in Wethersfield, 
 (Conn.) being an assertion, in general terms, that 
 the Dutch and the Indians were leagued against the 
 English. In fine, the commissioners say, " wee heare 
 that some of the Duch att or about the Monhatoes 
 tell the English they shall shortly have an East India 
 breakfast, in which it is conceived they Refer to that 
 horrid Treachervs and crewill plott and execution att 
 Amboina. * * * And not to multiply Indian Testi- 
 monies which from all parts of the eountrey presse 
 vpon the colonies [we quote the only definite state- 
 ment we can find] nine Indian Sagamores whoe Hue 
 about the Monhatoes did voullentarily without any 
 Motion or Reward from the English send theire Mes- 
 sengers to Stanford declaring and afeirming that the 
 Duch had solissited them by promising them guns 
 pouder swords weapons war-coates and coates to cutt 
 of the English " &c. It is of no consequence, so far 
 as regards Ninigret, whether these Sagamores con- 
 spired to tell a falsehood or to tell the truth. Nor do 
 we intend to enter at length into this ancient contro- 
 versy between the colonies and the Dutch. It is suf- 
 ficient to observe, that the charges of the former were 
 officially and distinctly denied by the latter. Governor 
 Stuyvesant, in a letter to the commissioners dated 
 May 26, 1658, and written by the order of the Counsel 
 of New-Netherlands, says 
 
 " As touching what happened in the Ambyna busi- 
 ness in the East Indies is unknown vnto vs, neither 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 265 
 
 hath there been any of vs there, therefore wee sease 
 to answare to the same or trouble yourselues or vs 
 therein. 
 
 It is in parte as youer Worships conclude that 
 about January there came a strange Indian from the 
 North called Ninnigrett, Commaunder of the Narra- 
 ghansetts. But hee came hither with a passe from 
 Mr. John Winthrope vpon which passe as wee remember 
 the occasion of his coming was expressed viz : to be 
 cured and healed/' &c. On the whole, the reader of 
 our times, on perusing these records, can hardly go 
 farther with the commissioners than to extenuate their 
 harshness towards Ninigret, like their treatment of 
 Miantonomo, on the score of their exaggerated fears. 
 
 Upon the quarrel with Uncas, we shall waste no 
 words. Ninigret and Pessacus no doubt considered 
 the circumstances of Miantonomo's case a sufficient 
 cause for war upon the English. But this they waived ; 
 and even engaged, at their instance, to forbear hostili- 
 ties against Uncas for some months, expressing at the 
 same time a strong desire to be upon friendly terms 
 with the English, if they could be left to pursue their 
 own business in their own way. It is neither neces- 
 sary nor possible to determine upon which side the 
 provocation began between these sachems and Uncas. 
 It has been seen, that the latter took many liberties for 
 which the English never called him to account, as well 
 as some for which they did ; but of still more they must 
 necessarily have remained in ignorance. The truth 
 seems to be most plainly set forth by Hutchinson, 
 who says, it would appear to have been good policy 
 not to interpose in this Indian quarrel] but the English 
 were afraid of the success of the Narraghansetts, and as 
 
266 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 they had generally espoused the cause of the Mohe- 
 gans, it was feared, that as soon as they were subdued 
 if not in the course of the war, the Narraghansette 
 and their allies would fall upon the plantations of the 
 English, against whom they were then in a peculiar 
 manner enraged for the death of Miantonomo. The 
 same historian acknowledges, that it was with great 
 reluctance the Narraghansetts submitted to the hard 
 terms of the treaty of 1645, and only in consequence 
 of the armed force which had already invaded their 
 country. They must have considered the tribute a 
 most insulting forcible imposition. 
 
 Waiving a statement of the charges which Nini- 
 gret made, or might have made, on the other hand, 
 against the English, we shall only observe in con- 
 clusion, there are points in his personal character not 
 unworthy of esteem and even admiration. It was 
 noble in him, according to the principles of a warrior 
 and king, to revenge, as far as he was able, the cool- 
 blooded massacre of his relative and predecessor. 
 That purpose he pursued with undaunted courage 
 and indefatigable energy. He would gladly have 
 avoided a contest with the English ; but he would 
 not sacrifice his honor either to his friendship or his 
 interest. The spirit with which he repulsed their 
 attempts to interfere in his contest with the Long- 
 Islanders, indicated a soul of the same stamp. His 
 reasoning upon that occasion assuming the truth 
 of his premises, which we have no means either of 
 proving or falsifying appears to us wholly unan- 
 swerable. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Pequot tribe. Their first chief-sachem known of the English, Pekoath. 
 Succeeded by Sassacus. An embassy sent to Boston in 1631. Resi- 
 dence and strong-hold of Sassacus. His earliest intercourse with the 
 English. Murder of Captain Stone. Justification of it by Sassacus. 
 He proposes a treaty of peace in 1634. Sends deputies to Boston 
 twice. Treaty concluded. Anecdotes. His wars with the Narraghan- 
 setts. Fresh controversy with the English. They send an armed party 
 to demand damages. Conduct of the party, and consequences of it. 
 War with the Pequots in 1636. Political movements of Sassacus. 
 English expedition against him in 1637. He is defeated. Driven from 
 his country. Killed by the Mohawks. The English policy in his 
 case briefly considered. 
 
 THE Pequots, or Pequods, inhabited that part of 
 the southern coast of New England, which 
 is now comprehended within the limits of 
 Connecticut. They are said to have been originally 
 an inland tribe, and to have gained possession by mere 
 force of arms of the fine territory which they occupied 
 at the date of their first acquaintance with the English. 
 They w r ere in the meridian of their glory and power 
 about forty years previous to that period, and were 
 then the most considerable tribe in New England, 
 mustering as many as four thousand bowmen. Their 
 principal settlements were now about New London 
 ^and Groton ; the former of which was their chief har- 
 bor, and called by their own name. The Nipmuck 
 
 (267) 
 
268 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Indians, on their north, were still tributary to them. 
 So also were a part of the Long Islanders, and most 
 of the Indians on the Connecticut river. The Narra- 
 ghansetts alone of the neighboring tribes had been able 
 to oppose them with success, and against that nation 
 they waged an implacable and almost perpetual war. 
 
 The first great sachem of the Pequots known to 
 the English was Pekoath, from whom they probably 
 derived the national name. He appears to have been 
 a great warrior. He was going on conquering and to 
 conquer, when the earliest settlements of the English 
 were made upon the Massachusetts coast. Tribe after 
 tribe retreated before him as he advanced, till his terri- 
 ble myrmidons were at length in a situation to locate 
 themselves at their ease on the best soil, and beneath 
 the most genial skies, of New England. 
 
 As early as 1631, Waghinacut, a sachem of one of 
 the expelled or subjected tribes just mentioned, trav- 
 elled across the wilderness to Boston ; and attended 
 by a Massachusetts Sagamore, and one Jack Straw 
 (an Indian who had formerly lived with Sir Walter 
 Raleigh in England.) made application for the alli- 
 ance or assistance of the Massachusetts government 
 against Pekoath. He gave a glowing description of 
 his native land ; and promised, if some of the English 
 would go there and settle, that he would supply them 
 with corn, and pay them eighty beaver-skins yearly. 
 This proposition being rejected, he desired that at 
 least two men might be permitted to accompany him, 
 with the view of examining the country. He showed 
 great anxiety to effect that object, but to no purpose; 
 the governor suspected some stratagem, and politely 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 269 
 
 dismissed his visiter with the compliment of a good 
 dinner at his own table. 
 
 The successor of Pekoath, and the last as well as 
 first great sachem of his tribe known personally to 
 the whites, was Sassacus, a warrior of high renown, 
 who, when the English commenced their settlements 
 in Connecticut, soon after the transaction last men- 
 tioned, had no fewer than twenty-six sachems or war- 
 captains under his dominion, and could at that time 
 muster, at the smallest calculation, seven hundred bow- 
 men. The site of his principal fortress and residence, 
 was on a most beautiful eminence in the town of Gro- 
 ton, commanding one of the best prospects of the 
 Sound and the adjacent country which can be found 
 upon the coast. Another strong-hold was a little far- 
 ther eastward, near Mystic river; and this also was 
 finely situated upon a verdant swell of land, gradually 
 descending towards the south and southeast. 
 
 Sassacus, and his warlike Pequots. are almost the 
 only American chieftain and tribe who, in the light of 
 history, seem to have been from the outset disposed 
 to inveterate hostility against all foreigners. They 
 were, as Trumbull observes, men of great and inde- 
 pendent spirits ; and had conquered and governed the 
 nations Ground them without control. They viewed 
 the English especially, as not only strangers but mere 
 intruders, without right or pretence of right to the 
 country, who had nevertheless taken the liberty to 
 make settlements and build forts in their very neigh- 
 borhood, without asking their consent and even to 
 restore the Indian kings whom they had subjected, to 
 their former lands and authority. Under these circum- 
 stances, it is no matter of wonder, that the whites had 
 
270 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 scarcely located themselves within the bounds of Con- 
 necticut, when " that great, spirited and warlike na- 
 tion, the Pequots, began to murder and plunder them, 
 and to wound and kill their cattle." 
 
 And yet setting aside the general offence com- 
 mitted, or at least by Sassacus understood to be com- 
 mitted, in the act of making settlements without leave 
 it does not clearly appear whether the first particu- 
 lar provocation was given on the one side or the other. 
 It is only known, that in the summer of 1633, one Cap- 
 tain Stone, on a voyage from Maine to Virginia, put 
 into the mouth of the Connecticut river, and was there 
 murdered by the natives, with all his crew. Three of 
 them, who went ashore to kill fowl, were first sur- 
 prised and despatched. A sachem, with some of his 
 men, then came aboard, and staid with Captain Stone 
 in his cabin until the latter fell asleep. The sachem 
 then knocked him on the head ; and his crew being at 
 this time in the cook's room, the Indians took such 
 guns as tiiey found charged, and fell upon them. At 
 this moment, all the powder on board the vessel, in 
 the hurry of sudden alarm, was accidently exploded. 
 The deck was blown up; but most of the Indians 
 escaping, returned, completed the massacre, and burned 
 the wreck. 
 
 Such was the English account of the proceeding. 
 The Pequots had a different story to tell. In October 
 1634, Sassacus sent a messenger to the Governor of 
 Massachusetts, to desire friendship and alliance. This 
 man brought two bundles of sticks with him, by which 
 he signified how many beaver and otter skins his 
 master would give, besides a large quantity of wam- 
 pum. He brought also a small present. The Governor 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 271 
 
 received it, and returned a moose coat of the same 
 value ; but sent word to Sassacus withal, that a treaty 
 could not be negotiated, unless he would send men 
 proper to negotiate, and enough of them. 
 
 Accordingly, but a fortnight afterwards, (though 
 the distance to the Pequot country was a five-days' 
 journey,) two more messengers arrived at Boston, 
 bringing another present of wampum. They were 
 told, in answer to their renewed application, that the 
 English would willingly come to amicable terms with 
 Sassacus, but that his men having murdered Captain 
 Stone, he must first surrender up the offenders to 
 justice. The messengers readily replied, that the 
 sachem concerned in that transaction had since been 
 killed by the Dutch; and that all the other offenders 
 had died of the small pox, excepting two. These, 
 they presumed Sassacus would surrender, if the guilt 
 were proved upon them. They asserted, that Captain 
 Stone, after entering their river, had taken two of 
 their men, and detained them by force, and made them 
 pilot the vessel up the river. The captain and two of 
 his crew then landed, taking the guides on shore, with 
 their hands still bound behind them. The natives 
 there fell upon and killed them. The vessel, with the 
 remainder of the crew on board, was blown up they 
 knew not how or wherefore. 
 
 This in the words of the journalist who gives the 
 particulars was related with so much confidence and 
 gravity, that the English were inclined to believe it, 
 especially as they had no means of proving its falsity. 
 A treaty was concluded on the following terms. 
 
 1. The English to have as much land in Connecti- 
 cut as they needed, provided they would make a settle- 
 
272 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 ment there: and the Pequots to render them all the 
 assistance they could. 
 
 2. The Pequots to give the English four hundred 
 fathoms of wampum, and forty beaver and thirty otter 
 skins ; and to surrender the two murderers whenever 
 they should be sent for. 
 
 3. The English were to send a vessel immediately, 
 " to trade with them as friends, tho' not to defend 
 them," and the Pequots would give them all their 
 ' custom/ 
 
 The agreement was put in writing, and subscribed 
 by the tw r o messengers with their marks. The chief 
 object proposed by Sassacus in effecting it, appears 
 to have been, not the assistance of the English in his 
 wars, but their commerce in peace. He thought him- 
 self competent to fight his own battles ; and perhaps 
 would have made no attempt to conciliate even the 
 English, but for having quarrelled with the Dutch of 
 New York, who had hitherto supplied him, and there- 
 by lost their trade as well as incurred their hostility. 
 
 Meanwhile, he was at deadly war, as usual, with 
 the Narraghansetts. The very next morning after 
 the treaty was concluded, and while the messengers 
 still tarried in Boston, news came, that a party of two 
 or three hundred of the tribe last named had come as 
 far as Neponsett, (the boundary between Milton and 
 Dorchester) for the purpose of laying wait and killing 
 the Pequots on their way home. The English im- 
 mediately despatched a small armed force, to request 
 a visit from the Narraghansetts ; and two sachems, 
 with about twenty of their men, obeyed the sum- 
 mons. They said they had been hunting round-about 
 the country, and came to visit the Indians at Nepon- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 273 
 
 sett, according to old custom. However this might 
 be, they showed themselves quite ready to gratify 
 the English in their request; and the Pequpts were 
 permitted to return home unmolested. 
 
 A passage in the journal of Winthrop, relating to 
 this occasion, illustrates the spirit of Sassacus and 
 his subjects. The Narraghansetts were privately told 
 by the Governor, that if they should happen to make 
 peace with the Pequots, they should receive a goodly 
 proportion of the wampum just sent. " For the 
 Pequots held it dishonorable to offer them any thing 
 as of themselves, yet were willing we would give it 
 them, and indeed did offer us so much to that end/' 
 
 Thus matters remained until 1636. During that 
 season one Oldham, an Englishman who had been 
 trading in Connecticut, was murdered by a party of 
 Block-Island Indians ; several of whom are said to 
 have taken refuge among the Pequots, and to have 
 been protected by them. On the strength of this 
 fact and this supposition, the Governor of Massachu- 
 setts Mr. Oldham being a Dorchester resident 
 despatched a force of ninety men, under Captain 
 Endecott, commissioned (as Mr. Winthrop tells us,) 
 to put to death the men of Block-Island, but to spare 
 the women and children, and bring them away, and 
 take possession of the Island. Thence they were to 
 go to the Pequots, " to demand the murderers of 
 Captain Stone and other English, and one thousand 
 fathom of wampum for damages &c. and some of their 
 children as hostages, which if they should refuse, they 
 were to obtain it by force. 
 
 The proceedings which ensued upon the attempt 
 to execute these orders ought not to be overlooked. 
 
 M. of H. XXX 18 
 
274 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 From Block-Island, the English sailed to Pequot 
 harbor. Here an Indian came out to them in a canoe, 
 and demanded who they were, and what they would 
 have in the country of the Pequots. Endecott replied, 
 that he came from the Governor of Massachusetts, 
 to speak with the Pequot sachems. The Indian 
 answering that Sassacus was gone to Long-Island, 
 he was directed to communicate Endecott's message 
 to another sachem. He returned to the shore, and 
 the English meanwhile made a landing. The mes- 
 senger came back, and the Indians began to gather 
 about the English. Several hours passed in desultory 
 conference, until Endecott, growing impatient, an- 
 nounced his commission to the crowd which sur- 
 rounded him, and at the same time sent word to the 
 sachem, that unless he would come to him or satisfy 
 his demands, he should try forcible measures. The 
 messenger, who had been several times running to 
 and fro between the parties, said that the sachem 
 would come forward if the English would lay down 
 their arms, the Indians also leaving their bows and 
 arrows at a distance. 
 
 Endecott w r as incensed by the proposal, consider- 
 ing it a pretext for gaining time. He therefore bade 
 the Pequots be gone, and take care of themselves ; 
 they had dared the English to come and fight with 
 them, he said, and now he was ready for the battle. 
 The Pequots withdrew peaceably to a distance. When 
 they were beyond musket shot, " he marched after 
 them, supposing they would have stood it awhile, as 
 they did to the Dutch," but they all fled, letting 
 fly a few arrows among the English, which did no 
 damage. Two of their own number were killed and 
 several more wounded ; and the English then marched 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 275 
 
 up to their village, and burned all their wigwams and 
 mats. At night, concludes the historian, they returned 
 to their vessels ; and the next day they went ashore 
 on the west side of the river, and burnt all their wig- 
 wams and spoiled their canoes in that quarter ; and 
 so set sail and came to the Narraghansett country. 
 There they landed their men, " and on the 14th of ?ber 
 they came all safe to Boston, which was a marvellous 
 providence of God, that not a hair fell from the head 
 of any of them, nor any sick nor feeble person among 
 them." 
 
 The sequel of the tragedy must be gathered from 
 other authorities. A detachment of Endecott's party 
 was appointed to reinforce the English garrison at 
 Saybrook. Lying wind-bound off Pequot harbor, 
 after his departure, a part of these men went on shore 
 to plunder the Pequots, and bring off their corn. 
 Their ravages were interrupted by an attack from these 
 Indians. The skirmish lasted till near evening, and 
 then both parties retired, the English with one man 
 wounded, and the Pequots with a loss unknown. We 
 have given the particulars of this transaction (accord- 
 ing to the English version of course) because it throws 
 light upon the subsequent relations between Sassacus 
 and the English. 
 
 Whatever was the disposition of the Pequots pre- 
 vious to this date, there is no question about them 
 ever afterwards. They determined to extirpate the 
 whites from the limits of Connecticut ; and to that 
 great object Sassacus now devoted the whole force 
 of his dominions and the entire energies of his soul. 
 The forts and settlements were assaulted in every 
 direction. In October, five of the Saybrook garrison 
 
276 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 were surprised, as they were carrying home their hay. 
 A week afterwards, the master of a small English 
 vessel was taken and tortured; and several others 
 within the same month. The garrison just mentioned 
 were so pressed before winter, (1636 7) that they 
 were obliged to keep almost wholly within reach of 
 their guns. Their out-houses were razed, and their 
 stacks of hay burned ; and so many of the cattle as 
 were not killed, often came in at night with the arrows 
 of the enemy sticking in them. In March, they killed 
 four of the garrison, and at the same time surround- 
 ing the fort on all sides, challenged the English to 
 come out and fight, mocked them with the groans 
 and prayers of their dying friends whom they had 
 captured, and boasted they could kill Englishmen " all 
 one flies." Nothing but a cannon loaded with grape- 
 shot, could keep them from beating the very gates 
 down with their clubs. 
 
 Three persons were next killed on Connecticut 
 river, and nine at Wethersfield. No boat could now 
 pass up or down the river with safety. The roads 
 and fields were everywhere beset. The settlers could 
 neither hunt, fish, nor cultivate the land, nor travel 
 at home or abroad, but at the peril of life. A constant 
 watch was kept night and day. People went armed 
 to their daily labors, and to public worship ; and the 
 church was guarded during divine service. Probably 
 no portion of the first colonists of New England ever 
 suffered so horribly from an Indian warfare, as the 
 Connecticut settlers at this gloomy and fearful period. 
 
 Nor was the employment of his own subjects the 
 only measure adopted by Sassacus against his civil- 
 ized enemy. He knew them too well to despise, how- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 277 
 
 ever much he detested them. He saw there was need 
 of all the ingenuity of the politician, as well as the 
 prowess of the warrior, to be exercised upon his 
 part; and he therefore entered upon a trial of the arts 
 of diplomacy with the same cunning and courage 
 which were the confidence of his followers in the field 
 of battle. The proposal of alliance offensive and de- 
 fensive which he made to his ancient rival and foe, the 
 chief sachem of the Narraghansetts, was a conception 
 worthy of a great and noble soul. And such was the 
 profound skill with which he supported the reason- 
 ableness of that policy, that, (as we have heretofore 
 seen,) Miantonomo himself wavered in his high- 
 minded fidelity to the English cause. But for the pres- 
 ence and influence of Roger Williams, the consum- 
 mate address of the Pequot would have carried his 
 point. 
 
 The measures taken by the other colonies, in conse- 
 quence of the state of things we have been describing, 
 and the minutiae of the famous expedition of Mason, 
 are too well known to be repeated at length. The 
 contest was not long continued, but it required the 
 most serious efforts on the part of the English; and 
 not only did Massachusetts and Plymouth feel them- 
 selves under the necessity of aiding Connecticut in the 
 suppression of this common and terrible foe, but many 
 of the Narraghansetts also were called on to aid, with 
 the Nianticks, the Mohegans and other tribes upon 
 the river. 
 
 Sassacus must have felt, that the day of restitution 
 and reparation was indeed come upon him for all his 
 ancient victories and spoils. Every people in his 
 neighborhood who had suffered, or expected to suf- 
 
378 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 fer, from his pride or his power, now gladly witnessed 
 the onset of a new enemy against him; and large 
 numbers availed themselves of the opportunity to do 
 personal service. Not less than five hundred Indians 
 of various tribes accompanied Mason in his march 
 against the great Pequot fortress. Not a few of them, 
 without doubt, remembered old times as well as Mian- 
 tonomo himself, though they acted very differently 
 in consequence. 
 
 These gallant allies were so eager to go against 
 the Pequots, that nothing but the van of the army 
 could satisfy them for their own station. " We hope/' 
 said they, ( or something, no doubt, to that pur- 
 pose ) 
 
 These formidable veterans had gone but a few 
 miles, when every man of them fell into the rear, and 
 that unluckily to such a distance that not one could 
 be found. They were in the enemy's country, and 
 the truth was, they 
 
 " We hope it will offend not you nor yours 
 The chiefest post of honor should be ours. " 
 
 Upon which 
 
 ' Mason harangues them with high compliments 
 And to confirm them he to them consents. 
 Hold on, bold men, says he, as you've began ; 
 I'm free and easy; you shall take the van." 
 
 But, ("as we always by experience find, 
 
 Frost-bitten leaves will not abide the wind") 
 
 " Had so often, to their harm, 
 Felt the great power of Sassacus's arm. 
 That now again just to endure the same, 
 The dreadful sound of great Sassacus's name, 
 Seemed every moment to attack their ears, 
 And fill'd them with such heart-amazing fears, 
 That suddenly they run and seek to hide. 
 Swifter than leaves in the autumnal tide." 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 279 
 
 This was in the evening. As the English ap- 
 proached the fortress about day-light, they halted at 
 the foot of a large hill, and Mason sent word for his 
 allies " to come up." After a long time, Uncas and 
 Wequash alone made their appearance. " Where is 
 the fort?" inquired Mason. "On the top of that 
 hill," answered they. " And where are the rest of 
 the Indians?" Uncas said, "they are behind, ex- 
 ceedingly afraid;" and the most that Mason could in- 
 duce them to do, was to form a semi-circle at a particu- 
 larly respectful distance, for the purpose of witness- 
 ing the attack of the English upon the enemy's fort, 
 and waylaying such of the Pequots as might escape 
 their hands. 
 
 The resistance was manly and desperate, but the 
 whole work of destruction was completed in little 
 more than an hour. The extent and violence of the 
 conflagration kindled by the assailants, the reflection 
 of this pyramid of flames upon the forest around, the 
 flashing and roar of arms, the shrieks and yellings of 
 men, women and children within, and the shouts of 
 the allies without, exhibited one of the most awful 
 scenes which the pens of the early historians have 
 described. Seventy wigwams were burnt, and five or 
 six hundred Pequots killed. Parent and child alike, 
 the sanop and squaw, the grayhaired man and the 
 babe were buried in one promiscuous ruin. 
 
 It had been Mason's intention to fall upon both 
 the principal forts of the enemy at once; and finding 
 it impossible, he says, " we were much grieved, chiefly 
 because the greatest and bloodiest sachem there re- 
 sided, whose name was Sassacus." The execution of 
 this design would have saved him much subsequent 
 
280 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 loss and labor. That great warrior was so little dis- 
 couraged by the horrible havoc already made among 
 his subjects, that immediately on receiving the intelli- 
 gence he despatched, perhaps led on in person, a re- 
 inforcement of three hundred warriors, who pursued 
 the English very closely for a distance of six miles, on 
 their march towards Pequot harbor. 
 
 But the reception which this body met with from 
 the English drove them to desperation. The whole 
 remaining force of the nation repaired to the strong- 
 hold of Sassacus, and vented all their complaints and 
 grievances upon his head. In their fury they even 
 threatened to destroy him and his family : and perhaps 
 nothing but the entreaties of his chief counsellors, 
 who still adhered to him in his misfortunes, prevented 
 his being massacred by his own subjects in his own 
 fort. A large number deserted him, as it was, and took 
 refuge among the Indians of New York. The fort 
 was then destroyed, and Sassacus himself, with seventy 
 or eighty of his best men, retreated towards the river 
 Hudson. 
 
 To kill or capture him, was now the main object 
 of the war ; and the Pequots were pursued westward, 
 two captured sachems having had their lives spared 
 on condition of guiding the English in the surprisal 
 of their royal master. The enemy were at last over- 
 taken, and a great battle took place in a swamp in 
 Fairfield, where nearly two hundred Pequots were 
 taken prisoners, besides killed and wounded. Seven 
 hundred, it was computed, had now been destroyed 
 in the course of the war. As Mason expresses himself, 
 they were become " a prey to all Indians ; and happy 
 were they that could bring in their heads to the English 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 281 
 
 of which there came almost daily to Windsor or 
 Hartford." So Winthrop writes late in the summer 
 of 1637 " The Indians about still send in many 
 Pequots' heads and hands from Long Island and other 
 places/' &c. 
 
 But Sassacus was not destined to fall by the hands 
 of the English, although thirteen of his war-captains 
 had already been slain, and he was himself driven 
 from swamp to swamp, by night and day, until life 
 was hardly worthy of an effort to preserve it. Even 
 his own men were seeking his life, to such extremi- 
 ties were they compelled by fear of the English. One 
 Pequot, whose liberty was granted him on condition 
 of finding and betraying Sassacus, finally succeeded in 
 the search. He came up with him in one of his soli- 
 tary retreats; but finding his design suspected, and 
 wanting the courage necessary for attacking a warrior 
 whom even his Narraghansett enemies had described 
 as "all one God," he left him in, the night, and re- 
 turned to the English. 
 
 The sachem was at last obliged to abandon his 
 country. Taking with him five hundred pounds of 
 wampum, and attended by several of his best war- 
 captains and bravest men, he sought a refuge among 
 the Mohawks. These savages wanted the magna- 
 nimity to shelter, or even spare, a formidable rival, 
 now brought within their power by his misfortunes. 
 He was surprised and slain by a party of them, and 
 most of the faithful companions who still followed 
 his solitary wanderings, were partakers with him of 
 the same miserable fate. The scalp of Sassacus was 
 sent to Connecticut in the fall ; and a lock of it soon 
 after carried to Boston, * as a rare sight/ (says Trum- 
 
282 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 bull,) and a sure demonstration of the death of a 
 mortal enemy. 
 
 Thus perished the last great sachem of the Pequots ; 
 and thus was that proud and warlike nation itself, 
 with the exception of a small remnant, swept from the 
 face of the earth. The case requires but brief com- 
 ment. However this tribe and their chieftain might 
 have been predisposed to treat the English, and how- 
 ever they did treat their Indian neighbors, they com- 
 menced their intercourse with the whites, ostensibly 
 at least, in a manner as friendly and honorable as it 
 was independent. Previous to the treaty, indeed, com- 
 plaints had grown out of the murder of Stone; but 
 the English had no evidence at all in that case, while 
 the evidence of the Pequots was, according to their 
 own acknowledgment, cogent if not conclusive, in sup- 
 port of their innocence. 
 
 We may add, that it was confirmed by what is 
 known incidentally of the character of Stone. Gov- 
 ernor Winthrop, speaking of his arrival at Boston in 
 June 1633, on board a small vessel loaded with " corn 
 and salt," adds, that " the governor of Plymouth sent 
 Captain Standish to prosecute against him for piracy." 
 The particulars of the accusation need not be stated, 
 for only a few months after this, we find the same 
 person mentioned as charged with another infamous 
 crime ; " and though it appeared he was in drink, and 
 no act to be proved, yet it was thought fit he should 
 abide his trial," &c. He was fined a hundred pounds, 
 and expelled from the Massachusetts jurisdiction. 
 
 As to the next proceeding recorded the expedi- 
 tion of the English in 1635 we have only to remark, 
 1. That the demand of one thousand fathoms of warn- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 283 
 
 pum, with no justifiable nor even alleged reason for it, 
 was an imposition and an insult. 2. The English 
 should at least have taken time to see Sassacus him- 
 self, his subjects having no more authority than dis- 
 position to treat without him. 3. The English, with 
 no apparent provocation, not only insulted but as- 
 saulted the Pequots, merely to see if they would 'show 
 fight ;' and then burnt their towns and boats ; not a 
 hair on their own heads being meanwhile injured, 
 and Sassacus himself being still absent. 
 
 With such inducement, the chieftain began a war 
 of extermination ; and then indeed it became neces- 
 sary that one of the two nations at issue should be 
 completely disabled. No civilized reader entertains a 
 doubt as to the result which, under such an alterna- 
 tive, was most to be desired. But he may neverthe- 
 less have his opinion, respecting the moral propriety 
 as well as the state policy of the measures which 
 brought on that horrible necessity. Let the whole 
 truth, then, be exposed. If it shall be found, (as we 
 believe it must be,) that under the influence of strong 
 and sincere though fatal excitement, a rashness of 
 the civilized party was the ultimate cause of the ruin 
 of the savage, let that injustice be acknowledged, 
 though it should be with shame and with tears. Let 
 it be atoned for, as far as it may be in the only way 
 now possible by the candid judgment of posterity 
 and history, upon the merits and the misfortunes of 
 both. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Pequot territory claimed by Uncas. His tribe, family, and early 
 history. Services in the Pequot expedition rewarded by the English. 
 Effect of their favour. His contest with Miantonomo, and result. 
 Subsequent wars and quarrels with various tribes and chiefs. Assist- 
 ance rendered him by the English. Complaints brought against him 
 to them. His Christianity considered. His morality. Evidence of 
 his fraud, falsehood, violence, tyranny, ambition. His services, and 
 those of his tribe to the English. Manner in which he met the accu- 
 sations made against him. Cunning and servility. His treatment of 
 neighboring sachems. Various negotiations with the English. His 
 death. Fate of his tribe. 
 
 ON the conquest of the Pequots, the whole of 
 their territory, about thirty miles square, 
 was claimed by the Mohegans. The best 
 opinion is, that this tribe was originally a part of the 
 Pequot nation ; and that their subsequent name was 
 derived from the place of their subsequent residence. 
 The first great sachem of the Mohegans personally 
 known to the English, was Uncas, who was a Pequot 
 by birth, and of the royal line, both by his father and 
 mother. His wife was a daughter of Tatobam, one 
 of the Pequot sachems. Probably he had been him- 
 self a war-captain under Sassacus. But when the 
 English began their settlements in Connecticut, he 
 was in a state of rebellion against him, in consequence 
 of some misunderstanding between them, for which 
 either he had expatriated himself, or Sassacus had 
 (284) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 285 
 
 expelled him from his dominions. At this time, his 
 influence was inconsiderable ; but his great address 
 and ambition soon made him the leading Sagamore 
 of the Mohegans, as they afterwards made that tribe 
 the leading one in Connecticut. 
 
 The English were more indebted to Uncas for his 
 zealous services in the Pequot war, than to all the 
 other Indians together, though they at first enter- 
 tained doubts of his fidelity. Governor Wolcott says : 
 
 ' "Twas here [at Hartford] that Uncass did the army meet, 
 
 With many stout Moheagans at his feet. 
 
 He to the general [Mason] goes, and doth declare, 
 
 He came for our assistance in the war. 
 
 He was that Sagamore, whom great Sassacus' rage 
 Had hitherto kept under vassalage. 
 But weary of his great severity, 
 He now revolts and to the English fly. 
 With cheerful air our captain him embraces, 
 And him and his chief men with titles graces; 
 But over them preserved a jealous eye, 
 Lest all this might be done in treachery.' 
 
 But he was soon convinced, that his suspicions 
 were unjust. The Mohegans embarked with Mason's 
 ninety men, on board a pink or pinnace and a shallop, 
 both which, the water being low in the river, fell 
 aground several times. The Indians disliked this new 
 species of navigation, and especially so much of it 
 as pertained to the flats and sands; and Uncas was 
 still more impatient to recommend himself by an 
 active commencement of the war. He therefore re- 
 quested, that he and his men might be set on shore, 
 promising to join Mason again at Saybrook. His re- 
 quest was granted; and he not only redeemed his 
 pledge, but, meeting a considerable party of Pequots 
 on the route, he attacked them with great spirit, and 
 
286 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 killed seven of their number " which," says Captain 
 Mason, " we looked at as a special Providence ; for 
 before we were somewhat doubtful of his fidelity." 
 
 This good opinion was daily confirmed by the 
 Sachem's conversation and conduct. " Indeed," our 
 writer elsewhere adds, " he was a great friend and 
 did great service I shall never forget him." At the 
 commencement of the campaign, the various Indians 
 who engaged in it, were in high glee. They gathered 
 into a ring, and one by one made solemn protesta- 
 tions how gallantly they would demean themselves, 
 and how many men they would kill. But Uncas said 
 very little, until Mason inquired of him what he 
 thought these Indians would do. " Nothing," an- 
 swered he gravely ; " The Narraghansetts will leave 
 you to a man. I can only say for myself, that I never 
 will." And he never did. The Narraghansetts, who 
 had vaunted themselves on the example they should 
 be obliged to set the English, to encourage them in 
 their attack upon the enemy, soon fell into the back- 
 ground, and many of them returned home. 
 
 The English marched on through the woods by 
 moon light, until, finding themselves altogether aban- 
 doned by these spirited allies, they halted, and sent 
 messengers to know what had become of them. At 
 last, 
 
 ' After long waiting for the same, 
 
 Up trusty Uncass and stout Wequash came, 
 
 Of whom the general in strict terms demands, 
 
 Where stands the fort, and how their judgement stands 
 
 About the Enterprise? and what's the cause 
 
 They left their post [the van] against all martial laws/ 
 
 From the answer given to these questions, it would 
 appear that, however it might be with the Sachems, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 287 
 
 the Indians generally were in horrible fear of the 
 Pequots. The apology however was cogent ; " when 
 once they were engaged," said they, 
 
 " 'tis hard to get 
 
 A dispensation from them to retreat." 
 
 But no such reasoning influenced the resolution 
 or the fidelity of Uncas. Even after the great suc- 
 cess which attended the assault, most of the Indians 
 deserted, or at least disappeared, in consequence of 
 an apprehension of falling in with the wandering 
 Pequots. But Uncas remained steadfast. He also did 
 active service afterwards, against a band of the enemy 
 who had settled themselves at Pawcatuck, contrary 
 to the terms of their submission to the English ; join- 
 ing his friend Mason, on that occasion, with one 
 hundred of his men and twenty canoes. 
 
 A small harbor in the southern part of the town 
 of Guilford, (in Connecticut) has to this day a name 
 derived from one of his achievements. He and his 
 Mohegans, with a few of the English, having under- 
 taken, when the enemy fled westward, to scour the 
 shores near the sea for the purpose of cutting off 
 stragglers, came up with a Pequot sachem and a few 
 men, not far from this harbor, and pursued them. 
 As the south side of the harbor is formed by a long 
 narrow neck of land, the Pequots went out upon that 
 point, hoping that their pursuers would pass by them. 
 But Uncas, perceiving the stratagem, ordered some 
 of his men to give chase, which the enemy observing, 
 swam over the mouth of the harbor. There they 
 were waylaid, and taken as they landed. A council 
 being held, and the sachem sentenced to death, Uncas 
 himself is said to have shot him with an arrow, cut 
 
288 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 off his head, and set it up in the crotch of a large 
 oak-tree near the water. The skull remained there 
 many years, and the name of the Sachem's-Head has 
 been ever since attached to the harbor. 
 
 The enumeration to Uncas for the part which he 
 took in this war, was a portion of the Pequot terri- 
 tory, (which he afterwards sold to the English,) and 
 one hundred captives of that tribe ; and this, with the 
 honor of having subdued his great Pequot rival, and 
 the reputation of being upon the most flattering and 
 favorable terms of intercourse with the English, made 
 him at once a character of high dignity and of no 
 little influence. Indians began to collect around him 
 from neighboring tribes, and he could now muster 
 four or five hundred warriors. The state of Con- 
 necticut treated with him, and made him presents, 
 and permitted him to exercise dominion and to give 
 deeds of territory, in all respects like an independent 
 and sovereign authority, while he enjoyed at the same 
 time the benefit of their personal patronage and the 
 protection of his tribe from their enemies. 
 
 In July, 1638, Uncas visited in person the authori- 
 ties of Massachusetts at Boston the only visit of 
 mere ceremony which is recorded of him in history. 
 Ostensible ceremony, we should perhaps say; for con- 
 sidering the time, the company, and especially the 
 deportment on that occasion, there can be little doubt 
 that the Sachem had an object in view which lightened 
 the weariness of his long journey. 
 
 He came attended by thirty-seven men, and ac- 
 companied by Governor Haynes, whom he had called 
 upon by the way. He offered the Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts a present of twenty fathoms of wampum, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 289 
 
 which being in open court, the Council thought fit 
 to refuse it, " till he had given satisfaction about the 
 Pequods he kept," &c. Upon this he appeared much 
 dejected, and even affected to apprehend that his life 
 was in danger. But he was not long at a loss. Evi- 
 dence was produced which counteracted the main sus- 
 picions that rested upon him ; and he promised to 
 submit his controversy with the Narraghansetts to 
 English arbitration, and to follow any arrangements 
 they should make as to his Pequots. 
 
 The present was now accepted, and about half an 
 hour afterwards, he went to the Governor, and ad- 
 dressed him in the following terms : " This heart" 
 he said, laying his hand on his breast " is not mine, 
 but yours. I have no men. They are all yours. Command 
 me any hard thing / will do it. I will not believe any 
 Indian's words against the English. If any man shall 
 kill an Englishman, I will put him to death were he never 
 so dear to me." The Governor gave him a handsome 
 red coat, defrayed the expenses of his visit, and fur- 
 nished him with provisions for his return-journey, and 
 a general letter of protection and so " he departed 
 very joyful." 
 
 This transaction throws some light upon what is 
 far the most singular point in the history of the 
 cunning Sachem, viz: that he invariably maintained 
 at once the best terms with his civilized ally and the 
 worst with his Indian neighbors. The latter circum- 
 stance indeed naturally ensued from the former; on 
 account of which, as well as from other causes par- 
 tially explained heretofore, the inveterate hatred which 
 had so long existed between the Mohegans and the 
 Narraghansetts, previous to their union with the Eng- 
 
 * 14 YVY 10 
 
290 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 lish for the suppression of the common enemy of all, 
 broke out again soon after the treaty of 1638, and 
 continued from that time forward until the proud 
 Narraghansetts in their turn fell beneath the power 
 of the English. Ostensibly, (as we have seen in the 
 life of Miantonomo,) the war was brought on by the 
 quarrel of Uncas with Sequassen, of whose outrage 
 he complained to the Governor and Court of the 
 Colony. The high estimate he set upon his own dig- 
 nity appears from his demanding six of Sequassen's 
 men for the murder of his subject. With great diffi- 
 culty he was finally persuaded to accept of the offender 
 alone. But Sequassen objected even to these terms; 
 for he would do nothing but fight. A contest ensued, 
 and Uncas was the victor. 
 
 His subsequent war with Miantonomo, and the 
 proceedings which ensued upon his triumph over that 
 formidable chieftain, have been detailed. From this 
 period, so long as the Narraghansetts remained able 
 to send an army into the field, there was no rest for 
 Uncas or his people, day nor night. Truces and 
 promises were negotiated and passed between the 
 parties by the English ; but the power which imposed, 
 or the influence which induced these obligations was 
 scarcely withdrawn, when the unextinguishable flame 
 blazed forth, the more furiously for its brief suspen- 
 sion. The Narraghansetts repeatedly invaded the 
 Mohegan country in the course of the year 1645, 
 assaulted Uncas in his own fort, killed and captured 
 numbers of his men, and finally so pressed him, that 
 both Connecticut and New Haven were obliged to 
 send troops to his assistance, as Hartford had done 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 291 
 
 before, to prevent the enemy from completely sub- 
 duing him and his country. 
 
 In 1648, the Mohawks, Pocomtocks, and other 
 tribes were induced to take part against him. Nine 
 years afterwards, he was again beset in his fortress, 
 and again rescued by the Connecticut forces; and so 
 late as 1660, the same emergency led to the same 
 measures. On that occasion, he was besieged until 
 his provisions were nearly exhausted, and he saw 
 that, without speedy relief, he and his men must soon 
 perish by famine or sword. In this crisis, he found 
 means of communicating his danger to the scouts of 
 the English, who had been sent out from Saybrook 
 fort. The case being urgent, one Leffingwell, an 
 ensign of the garrison, and a bold enterprising man, 
 loaded a canoe with beef, corn and pease, and paddled 
 it under cover of the night from Saybrook into the 
 Thames river, where he had the address to get the 
 whole into the besieged fort, which stood near the 
 water's edge. The enemy soon ascertained that Uncas 
 was relieved, and raised the siege. The Sachem is 
 said to have rewarded Leffingwell for his services by 
 a deed of the town of Norwich. 
 
 And not open and honorable arms, (as civilized 
 foes would consider them,) alone, were employed 
 against Uncas. One of the Pequots, in 1643, shot 
 him through the arm, at the instigation, as* was gener- 
 ally supposed, of Miantonomo ; and the war with that 
 chieftain was brought on by similar attempts on the 
 part of Sequassen. The Narraghansett sachems hired 
 an Indian to assassinate him in 1-649, and he suc- 
 ceeded so far as to give him a wound in the breast 
 
292 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 with a sword, which for some time was thought 
 mortal. Sorcery and poison were also tried. 
 
 Attempts were meanwhile made to injure him in 
 the estimation of the English ; his enemies believing, 
 and with good reason, that the withdrawal of their 
 protection would be fatal to him. Sequassen, whose 
 hatred was inveterate, went so far, in 1646, as to form 
 a plan for murdering Governor Haynes and other of 
 the principal inhabitants of Hartford, with the view 
 of having the crime charged upon Uncas. Watohi- 
 brough, a Waranoke Indian, was engaged to do the 
 business ; and he and Sequassen, after leaving matters 
 in a proper train, were to take refuge among the 
 Mohawks. The price of blood was already paid in 
 girdles of wampum; but Watohibrough wanted cour- 
 age to perform what avarice only had led him to 
 undertake. Having altered his mind thus far, he soon 
 bethought himself that the English had given rewards 
 to those who discovered a similar conspiracy on a 
 former occasion ; and concluding they would do so 
 again, he went to Hartford, and disclosed every thing 
 he knew. Messengers were immediately sent to de- 
 mand the attendance of Sequassen, for the purpose 
 of clearing himself from the charge; but he thought 
 it more polite to avoid the messengers, and so escaped 
 unpunished. 
 
 The English authorities invariably took cognizance 
 of all these and similar proceedings ; and no doubt, 
 but for their interference, and the expectation of it, 
 many more of the same nature would have taken 
 place, and might finally have succeeded. Thus it was 
 the extraordinary good fortune of Uncas to be a 
 favorite with his early allies, from first to last. He 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 293 
 
 complained of no grievance in vain : and as a natural 
 consequence, he uniformly complained upon good 
 occasion, as well as frequently upon bad or none. 
 The Mohansick Sachem, of Long-Island, committed 
 trespasses on his men ; and forthwith " he desires the 
 commissioners that hee may be righted therein ;" and 
 four persons are immediately appointed to examine 
 the Mohansick Sachem, " and if proof bee cleare to 
 labor to convince him thereof, require satisfaccon, and 
 in case of reasonable complyance encleauor a Com- 
 posure thereof: but if no satisfaccon will bee giuen 
 for Iniuries, proceed then to lett him know they give 
 the English just cause of offence, and ivill bring trouble 
 vpon themselucs" 
 
 The possibility of his giving false testimony against 
 his enemies and rivals, seems scarcely to have entered 
 the Commissioners' minds. Upon rumors of fresh as- 
 saults by the Narraghansetts upon the Long-Islanders, 
 in 1653, they sent messengers to the former, requiring 
 their attendance at Boston, for the purpose of com- 
 promising the quarrel. These messengers were farther 
 instructed to notify, not only to the Long-Islanders, 
 but to Uncas, that if they or any of them had any thing 
 "to enforme charge or propound either in the fore- 
 mencioned or any other," they were to send witnesses 
 accordingly " and by Thomas Staunton or other- 
 wise you are to giue notice to Captaine Mason, Vncus 
 &c. that there may bee noe fayling for want of Witnesse 
 or Euidence." It is not wonderful, that Ninigret asked 
 the messengers, on this occasion, after being told of 
 their errand " Why doe the English slight mee, and 
 respect the Longe-Islanders and the Mohegins, seeing 
 all around mee do love mee and are my frinds?" 
 
94 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 In 1654, great complaints were made against Uncas 
 himself. On that occasion, the same messenger sent 
 to the Mohegan sachem was sent also to Ninigret; 
 but although the former was the accused party, it 
 will be observed, that a peculiar provision was made 
 to accommodate him, while the only one made in re- 
 lation to Ninigret's visit was, that " hee may not bring 
 with him aboue twenty or thirty men ; nor may New- 
 come, or as the Indians called him, Mattackist, come 
 with him whoe last yeare gaue offence att Boston/' 
 It is clear, that the plaintiff in this suit was no favorite ; 
 and it is further remarkable, that the messenger was 
 directed to take the present occasion of reminding 
 him of his old debts and defaults, and (as if to pre- 
 vent his appearance) requiring satisfaction to be given 
 at the time of his visit. The following are the mes- 
 sengers instructions : 
 
 " You are to informe both Vncus and his brother 
 Woweque that the Commissioners haue receiued in- 
 formation of some purpose of theires to invade the 
 Narraghansetts or Ninnigrett; they haue alsoe heard 
 of some differences lately groune betwixt Vncus and 
 his brother and betwixt them and theire men. They 
 are not willing to receive reports without due enquiry ; 
 they haue therefore sent for Ninnigrett, the better to 
 secure the longe-Island Indians, and to heare what 
 hee hath to allege against the Mohegens, and com- 
 pose all other differences. The Commissioners ther- 
 fore desire and expect that both Vncus and his brother 
 doe forthwith Come to hartford, &c. You are alsoe 
 to informe both Vncus and his brother ana theire men, 
 that the English doe oune Vncus so longe as hee carrieth 
 himselfe well, and shall bee loth hee suffer wrong," &c. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 295 
 
 Next follow the " Instruccons for John Gilbert and 
 John Baily whoe were sent to continue att Vncus his fortt 
 during his absence. 
 
 " You shall Repaire to Mohegen, and acquaint 
 Vncus and all other Indians that you are to reside 
 att his fortt by the Commissioners of all the Collonies, 
 to the Intent that Vncus and all others may know 
 the realitie of the English to continnew his frinds 
 whiles hee continueth faithfull to the English ; and 
 because the Commissioners have now sent for Vncus 
 to speak with him concerning some affairs of con- 
 cernment relating to himselfe Ninnigrett and Wowe- 
 que, and being Informed some sturrs may arise in 
 his absence to his prejudice you shall vse youer In- 
 cleauors to keep all things quiett and informe the 
 Indians that such attempts wil bee ofTenciue to the 
 English." &c. 
 
 No fears seem to have been entertained, that 
 ' sturrs ' would arise in the Niantick country during 
 Ninigret's absence, although the message itself was 
 founded upon the rumor of an attack to be made 
 upon him by the other party. So, when Captain Mason 
 had been commissioned to march against Ninigret 
 with an armed force, on a former occasion, he was 
 ordered " to advise particularly that Vncus Fort be 
 secured when any strength is sent forth against the 
 enemie, lest hee and wee recieue more damage by 
 som Indian stratageme than the enemie." A multi- 
 tude of other decisions and directions might be cited 
 to the same purpose. 
 
 Uncas was in less favor with the English towards 
 the latter part of his life than formerly, for reasons 
 
296 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 which will soon be mentioned. He did not however 
 come to an open rupture with them at any time; and 
 his subjects, though frequently insolent, were never 
 hostile. On the contrary, they assisted their ally on 
 many occasions, the Commissioners never hesitating 
 to notify them when their services would be accept- 
 able, and they never hesitating to attend a summons. 
 For this zeal, directed as it invariably was against 
 their Indian neighbors, and generally their old enemies, 
 it would be easy to suggest more reasons than one. 
 They thought themselves fortunate in these secure 
 and sanctioned opportunities of revenge and plunder, 
 even had they not also been richly paid by the pro- 
 tection of the English, reciprocated to them in all 
 emergencies of their own. Their last services during 
 the life of Uncas were during Philip's war, when a 
 party of them was commanded by Onecho, a son of 
 Uncas, and by other sachems. The father was then 
 too old a man to endure much more labor and weari- 
 ness. 
 
 It has been stated, that Uncas was at least con- 
 vinced of the truth of Christianity, and that he died 
 in the faith; but we fear this information can hardly 
 be relied upon. The only proof of it we have seen 
 is derived from the following anecdote. 
 
 In the summer of 1676, a great drought prevailed 
 throughout New England, which was extremely 
 severe in the Mohegan country. The corn was dried 
 up in August, and the fruit and leaves fell from the 
 trees, as in Autumn. The Indians were alarmed, but 
 knew not what to do. According to custom, they 
 applied to their Powahs to intercede with the Great 
 Spirit for rain, after their manner; but these men 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 297 
 
 labored to no purpose. They then went to the Eng- 
 lish settlement at Norwich, and Uncas went with 
 them. He told Mr. Fitch, the clergyman at that place, 
 that it was a hard case with them the Pow r ahs 
 could do them no service they must apply to the 
 English God. Mr. Fitch appointed a fast-day at these 
 and other suggestions. The weather on that occasion 
 proved to be clear; but about sunset, at the close of 
 the religious services, some clouds arose. The next 
 day also was cloudy. Uncas now went to the house 
 of Mr. Fitch, with many Indians, and again lamented 
 the great want of rain. " If God shall send it," said 
 Mr. Fitch, "will you not attribute it to your Powahs? 
 " No," answered the sachem ; " we have done our ut- 
 most, but all in vain." The clergyman then told him, 
 that if he would make this declaration before the 
 Indians, they should see what God would do for them. 
 Uncas then made a speech to the Indians, confessing 
 with particular emphasis, that if God should grant 
 this favor, it could not be in consequence of their 
 powawing, but must be ascribed to the clergyman's 
 prayers. Of the sequel we only know, that upon the 
 day following there was so copious a rain that the 
 river rose more than two feet. 
 
 This testimony proves but little. On the other 
 hand, Mr. Fitch himself in a letter cited by Gookin 
 gives a very clear opinion as follows : 
 
 " Since God hath called me to labor in this work 
 among the Indians nearer to me, the first of my time 
 was spent among them at Moheek, where Unkas, 
 and his son, and Wanuho are sachems. These at 
 first carried it teachably and tractably ; until at length 
 the sachems did discern that religion would not con- 
 
298 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 sist with a mere receiving, and that practical reli- 
 gion will throw down their heathenish idols, and the 
 sachem's tyrannical authority. Discerning this, they 
 did not only go away, but drew off their people and 
 would not suffer them to give so much as an out- 
 ward attendance to the ministry of the word of God.* * 
 At this time Unkas and his sons seem as if they would 
 came on again. But it is no other but in envy against 
 these [the converts] and to promote some present self- 
 design" 
 
 When Mr. Gookin, with the Apostle Elliot, visited 
 the towns of the Massachusetts Praying Indians, in 
 1674, he says, that on one occasion, a large part of 
 the night was spent at Sagamore's wigwam, in com- 
 pany with the principal Indians then at the settle- 
 ment, in prayer, singing psalms and exhortation. 
 There was one person present, who sat mute during 
 all these exercises. At length he arose and said, that 
 he was an agent for Uncas, the Mohegan sachem, and 
 that in his name he challenged a right to, and domin- 
 ion over this people of Wabquissit. " Uncas is not 
 well pleased," added he, " that the English should 
 pass over Mohegan river, to call Ms Indians to pray 
 to God." Mr. Gookin replied, that Wabquissit was 
 within the Massachusetts jurisdiction, and that no 
 harm need to be feared at all events ; the English only 
 wished to bring the Indians to the knowledge of 
 Christ, and to suppress among them the sins of drunk- 
 enness, idolatry, powowing, witchcraft, murder, and 
 the like. 
 
 This was plainly a lecture meant for the benefit 
 of Uncas himself, and his agent was especially re- 
 quested to inform him of the answer made to his pro- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 299 
 
 test. In another conexion, we find Mr. Gookin's opin- 
 ion expressed to the same effect, without the same cir- 
 cumlocution. " I am apt to fear," is his language, 
 "that a great obstruction unto his [Mr. Fitch's] labors, 
 is in the sachem of those Indians, whose name is 
 Unkas; an old wicked and wilful man; a drunkard, 
 and otherwise very vicious ; who hath always been 
 an opposer and underminer of praying to God 
 some hints whereof I have given in the narrative of 
 my journey to Wabquissit, before mentioned." The 
 Sachem once took the trouble to visit Hartford for 
 the express purpose of complaining to the Colonial 
 authorities of the attempts made to convert his sub- 
 jects to Christianity. 
 
 His piety, then, will hardly bear rigid examina- 
 tion. Whether his morality was quite so objectiona- 
 ble as Mr. Gookin supposed, or whether that good 
 man was unduly prejudiced against him for his oppo- 
 sition to the ministry, may not be easily decided. 
 There is but too much reason for believing, however, 
 that there was great truth in most of the charges, 
 and a most pertinent application for the lecture re- 
 ferred to above. The United Commissioners them- 
 selves seem to pay but a sorry compliment to his 
 previous habits when, so late as 1672, they directed a 
 letter to be written to him, " to incurrage him to 
 attende on the Minnestrey." 
 
 What is more to the purpose, we find a complaint 
 entered against him before them, in 1647, by one of 
 his Pequot subjects, named Obechiquod. The griev- 
 ance was, that Uncas had taken possession of and 
 detained the man's wife ; and though Foxon, the 
 deputy of the Mohegan sachem, ingeniously argued, 
 
300 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 that this accident had happened only in consequence 
 of Obechiqoud's having unlawfully withdrawn from 
 the jurisdiction of Uncas, and left his wife behind 
 him, to be of course appropriated, according to Indian 
 law, by any other person who desired such a connex- 
 ion ; yet even the Commissioners felt themselves ob- 
 liged, upon a hearing of the whole case, to express 
 their abhorrence " of that lustfull adulterous carriage 
 of Vncus." He was adjudged to restore the complain- 
 ant's wife, and allow the husband to live where he 
 chose, on condition of his assisting Uncas in his wars 
 whenever the English desired. He was discharged 
 from another accusation of the same nature made 
 by Sanops, a Connecticut Indian, at the same time 
 the evidence being sufficient to convict him. 
 
 The proofs of fraud and falsehood are still more 
 abundant. Miantonomo hesitated not to accuse him 
 of foul play, even in the Pequot war; and the account 
 given by Roger Williams of the reports which he 
 rendered to the English authorities, of the Pequot 
 captives who fell into his hands, goes very far to 
 establish the charge. Six, whom he had taken at one 
 time, he represented to be Mohegans, although an In- 
 dian who gave information of the fact to Mr. Williams, 
 knew them as Pequots personally, and perfectly well, 
 and mentioned the names of all. 
 
 His conduct at the Hartford conference in 1637, 
 has already been the subject of comment. Sometime 
 after Miantonomo's arrival, who had been delayed 
 by his machinations, he sent in messengers to the 
 court that he was lame, and could not visit them. 
 Governor Haynes observed, that this was a lame 
 excuse, at best, and immediately despatched a cogent 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 301 
 
 request for him to attend without fail or delay. He 
 came at length, and the Governor then accused him 
 of the flagrant outrages which he and his subjects 
 had committed on the Narraghansetts. Some alter- 
 cation ensued between the rival chieftains, but, by 
 the persuasion of the English, they were finally in- 
 duced to shake hands. Miantonomo then cordially 
 invited Uncas to sup with him, his men having just 
 killed some venison : but he would not consent. The 
 sachems were now called upon to make returns for 
 their Pequot prisoners. Miantonomo made his prompt- 
 ly, and no fault was found. " Okace [Uncas] was 
 desired to give in the names of his. He answered, 
 that he knew not their names. He said there were 
 forty on Long-Island ; and that Juanemo [alias Jane- 
 moh] and three Nayantaquit Sachims had Pequts, and 
 that he himself had but twenty. Thomas Stanton 
 [Interpreter] told him and the magistrates, that he 
 dealt very falsely : and it was affirmed by others, that 
 he fetched thirty or forty from Long-Island at one 
 time. Then he acknowledged that he had thirty, but the 
 names he could not give. It pleased the magistrates 
 to request me to send to Nayantaquit, that the names 
 of the Pequts might be sent to Cunnihticut; as also 
 to give Okace ten days to bring^ in the number and 
 names of his Pequts and their runaways, Mr. Haynes 
 threatening also (in case of failing) to fetch them." 
 This transaction speaks clearly for itself. 
 
 The Sachem's treatment of the Pequots surrender- 
 ed to him on this occasion, does him little more 
 credit. In 1647, ten years after the conquest, these 
 unfortunate people sent in a complaint to the com- 
 missioners, in which they stated that Uncas had drawn 
 
302 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 wampum from them unjustly, on all manner of pre- 
 texts, and without any pretext. When his child had 
 died, for example, he made, or pretended to make, 
 a present to his wife, and ordered the Pequots to do 
 the same. Frightened by his threats, they collected 
 one hundred fathoms of wampum, and gave it as 
 directed. Uncas appeared to be pleased, and promised 
 to treat them from that time forward as his own 
 ancient subjects. But only a few days afterwards, 
 his brother (Woweque) came and told them, that 
 Uncas and his Council had determined to kill some 
 of them. They now thought it necessary to appeal 
 to the English protection, and they set about collect- 
 ing a quantity of wampum to be sent in to Connecti- 
 cut with that view. Uncas received a hint of their 
 movements ; and the next morning he came to the 
 fort where they were, with a body of warriors armed, 
 and apparently bent upon killing some of their number. 
 They however escaped safe to Connecticut. It was 
 farther alleged, that they had given Uncas wampum 
 forty times. Twenty-five times they had sent it by 
 him to the English, in payment of tribute; but they 
 knew not that any part of it was delivered. Also, 
 that Uncas favored the Mohegans to their prejudice. 
 If they won any thing of one of them in play, it could 
 never be collected. Also, that he had cut all their fish- 
 ing nets for not aiding him as they were not bound 
 to do in certain of his forays against the Indians 
 of Long Island. 
 
 The reply of Foxon to these charges no doubt 
 by instruction from his master is full of his usual 
 ingenuity. 1. As to the wampum " he belieuth 
 the Pequats haue for tribute and vpon other occa- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 303 
 
 sions at sundry times paid wampum to Vncus, but 
 denyeth that they in particular had giuen him any 
 for the English ; but the Moyhegens and they had 
 sometimes joyned togeither to giue in wampum, which 
 had been sent as a presente twice into the Mattachu- 
 sets, and sometimes to Mr. Haynes at Hartford, but 
 he thinckes the nomber of twenty-flue times to be 
 altogeither false. " 
 
 2. " He concieues that the Pequats being vnder 
 people might haue some wrong from the Mohegens 
 in play and durst not presse for their right, but 
 denyeth that Vncus had any hand therein." 
 
 3. " He acknowledgeth that the Pequats did bring 
 in 100 fathome of wampam at the death of Vncus 
 child, and were promised favoure as is expressed, 
 but the latter was only a treacherous plott of Vncus 
 brother perswading the Pequats to withdraw from 
 Vncus into theire oune Country, and there he would 
 come vnto them, and to prouoke them thereunto he 
 tould them (though falsely) that Vncus had deter- 
 mined to kill some of them." 
 
 4. " Though Vncus at first apprehended noe in- 
 convenience in such a present to the English, yet 
 being after informed it was a plott on a fruite of 
 crooked counsell giuen them by Tassaquanott, Sas- 
 sacus his brother, who had suggested vnto them that 
 most of the chiefe Sachems were cutt off, Vncus to 
 them but a stranger, why should they serue or giue 
 wampam to him, herewith Vncus was justly offended." 
 
 5. " He had heard some of the Mohegans tooke 
 fish from them, but knoweth not that hee cutt theire 
 netts, though he cannot deny it." 
 
 The Commissioners decreed, that the Pequots 
 
304 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 should return to the dominion of Uncas, who should 
 receive them without charge or revenge for the man- 
 ner in which they deserted him; and on the other 
 hand, that he should himself be reproved for his 
 tyranny, and seriously informed, that the English 
 would not support him " in any unlawfull, much less 
 treacherous and outrageous courses." 
 
 Unquestionably, this ' brother ' of Uncas was quite 
 as troublesome to himself as he was to the white 
 people. Mr. Winthrop complained, at this very meet- 
 ing, that he had fallen upon the Nopnet Indians 
 entirely without provocation, with one hundred and 
 thirty Mohegans, and carried off wampum, copper 
 kettles, great hempen baskets, bear-skins, deer-skins 
 and many other things of great value. These facts 
 were admitted by Foxon, who also asserted that 
 Uncas had no part either in the assault or the spoil, 
 he being at New Haven when the affair happened. 
 Other complaints being brought forward and proved, 
 the Commissioners directed that Uncas should either 
 disown his brother entirely, or else regulate him in 
 a more suitable manner for the future. This was 
 correct. It is clear that he either instigated these 
 flagrant outrages, or at least connived at them by 
 sufferance. He was able to prevent them, as far as 
 he thought proper. 
 
 It would be tedious, though not wholly without 
 matter of amusement, to detail at large all the accu- 
 sations brought against the Mohegan Sachem by 
 various complainants at various times. Massachu- 
 setts and Connecticut arraigned him. The English 
 settlements nearest to him accused him of insolence 
 and violent assaults. The Mohawks quarelled with 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 305 
 
 his tribe. The Narraghansetts and Nianticks charged 
 him repeatedly with inroads and insults upon them. 
 Necwash Cooke, a Pequot under English protection, 
 complained of being plundered with open force. San- 
 ops, an Indian mentioned heretofore, was robbed of his 
 corn and beans, (perhaps hardly less valuable to him 
 than his wife.} Mr. Winthrop stated, in behalf of a 
 Long Island Sachem, that he had sent sixty fathoms 
 of wampum to the Governor of Massachusetts by 
 Uncas ; and though he made the bearer himself a 
 present of twenty at the same time, he had embezzled 
 the whole. 
 
 Again, one Apumps " complained against Vncus, 
 that about sixe w r eekes since hee tooke sixe of his 
 people at Quinnapauge, killed one, and wounded 
 another." 
 
 "Pomham [a Massachusetts Sachem] appearing be- 
 fore the Commissioners [at the same meeting] said 
 that about a month agone Vncus or some of his men 
 killed a man and two wemen at Cawesett, the one of 
 them belonging to himselfe, the other vnto Tupaya- 
 men, both without provocation/' 
 
 " Wee desire the English Sachims " wrote the 
 Pocomptocks in answer to an English message of 
 inquiry "not to perswade vs to a peace with Vncus ; 
 for though hee promiseth much yett will hee per- 
 forme nothinge. We have experience of his falce- 
 nes" &c. 
 
 In 1656, he, or his brother, invaded the Norwoo- 
 tucks ; and he even joined arms with Ninnigret against 
 a Sachem of Long Island. About two years before 
 this, he had taken occasion to push his conquests 
 beyond the river Connecticut by quarrelling and then 
 
 M. of H. XXX 20 
 
306 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 fighting with Arrhamamet, Sachem of Mussauco 
 (now Simsbury, near Hartford.) He sent one of his 
 warriors to take and burn a wigwam in the outskirts 
 of the village, killing a few of the inhabitants, and 
 then leaving marks of the Mohawks. His orders were 
 executed, and the stratagem took effect. Arrhamamet 
 ascribed the mischief to the Mohawks, and, burning 
 with resentment, fitted out a war party, and went in 
 pursuit of them to the Northwest. Uncas thus gained 
 time to equip his men, and fall upon the enemy's 
 town in his absence. Arrhamamet was subjugated 
 and his tribe, the Podunks, were ever afterwards trib- 
 utary to Uncas. 
 
 The season before this, Meeksaw [probably Mex- 
 ham] a Narraghansett Sachem, complained that Uncas 
 had killed one of his men, and also that he had 
 " affronted him by abusiuely naming and jeering his 
 dead ancestors, and sending him a challenge this 
 summer to fight." The Commissioners inquired of 
 Foxon the truth of the charge, " and hee not giuing a 
 satisfactory answare, they tooke the matter into con- 
 sideration." &c. Soon afterwards the same person 
 complained " of a gun taken from a Narraghansett 
 Indian by Vncus his son, which some of Vncus his 
 men acknowlidged to bee true." The Commissioners' 
 judgement in this case was, substantially, that al- 
 though Mexham had not sufficient proof, yet, know- 
 ing that Uncas out of his pride and folly was apt to 
 insult people, they would send him a suitable repri- 
 mand. In some other cases, they went so far as to 
 adjudge, and perhaps enforce restitution. 
 
 Not to examine the records farther, it is only neces- 
 sary to observe, that though all these accusations 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 307 
 
 were not strictly correct, many of them, and many 
 others, were proved ; and perhaps a tithe of the truth 
 never appeared after all. Some of the sufferers were 
 too proud to complain. Others had no evidence to 
 offer but their own. Many supposed it impracticable 
 to obtain a fair hearing or decision of the Commis- 
 sioners, against a chieftain regarded as their ward ; 
 and many more were too much irritated not to right 
 themselves in a more customary and summary manner 
 upon the spot. 
 
 The secret source of this extraordinary series of 
 wars, forays, challenges, robberies and adulteries, like 
 that of the Sachem's inveterate opposition to Chris- 
 tianity, was in his lawless appetites and passions ; 
 but especially an inordinate and uncontrolled ambi- 
 tion. It might be with justice that Miantonomo was 
 accused of a design to make himself Universal Saga- 
 more as the phrase was of New England. But 
 the Narraghansetts took no measures for the attain- 
 ment of his object which were in his own view either 
 mean or malicious. He neither kept back part of 
 the captives, nor embezzled the tribute which they 
 deposited in his hands, nor plundered his neighbors in 
 time of peace, nor unduly availed himself of foreign 
 assistance for the annihilation of his rivals. He sent 
 a few of his men, it is true, to aid in the Pequot expe- 
 dition or rather did not, perhaps could not prevent 
 them from going but these were only two hundred, 
 out of two thousand ; and he neither headed them him- 
 self, like Uncas, nor even engaged personally at all 
 in the contest. Indeed, he at most only continued, 
 on this occasion, the hostilities which had existed 
 between the two nations for a long series of years; 
 
308 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 and all historians admit, that he was very near join- 
 ing Sassacus at one time against the English them- 
 selves. Uncas, on the other hand, made the most of 
 the opportunity, to revenge himself upon Sassacus, 
 and to exalt his reputation and power upon the wreck 
 of the Pequots. 
 
 Miantonomo became in his turn a victim to the 
 same over-reaching spirit. He began the war, in- 
 deed or rather the campaign and Uncas, on the 
 other hand, was encouraged in his course by his allies ; 
 but a magnanimous soul would never have per- 
 mitted either circumstance to affect the treatment of 
 a sovereign like himself, who had fallen into his hands 
 by the chances of battle. 
 
 Ninigret next became the grand object of his scru- 
 tiny. He went forward as often as practicable to 
 prejudice the character of that chieftain in the eyes 
 of the English, as well as to reduce his resources 
 by direct attacks. No man was so zealous as he in 
 furnishing evidence such as it was to convict him 
 of a conspiracy with the Dutch against the colonies ; 
 and though he is understood to have been ostensibly 
 at peace with him at that period, he carried his inter- 
 ference to such a length as to lay wait and intercept 
 a Niantick canoe which, as he pretended to suspect, 
 was laden with certain palpable evidences of the hos- 
 tile coalition. So we find him falling upon Mexham, 
 Necwash, Cooke, Woosamequin, and last of all, King 
 Philip. No doubt, he had sagacity enough to perceive, 
 that such a course must prove unfavorable, if not fatal 
 to his race ; but patriotism, honor, friendship, gener- 
 osity, truth, every nobler feeling of his nature was 
 merged in a barbarous, ferocious ambition. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 309 
 
 There is a curious illustration of this weakness up- 
 on record: " Vncas complained that Sequasson sonr 
 yeares sence as is well knoune began hostile actes 
 vpon him to the desturbance of the publicke peace. 
 Wherevpon hee was ocationed to fight and in the Issue 
 ouercame him and conquared his Country, which 
 though hee gaue to the English and did not oppose the 
 fauor they were pleased to shew him in sparing his 
 life, yet hee cannot but look vpon himself e as wronged, in 
 that Sequasson, as hee is informed, is set up and endeau- 
 oured to bee made a great Sachem, notwithstanding hee 
 hath refused to pay an acknoulidgment of Wampum 
 to him according to engagements." 
 
 Of this acknowledgement, no proof appears but 
 the Sachem's own assertion ; and whether true or 
 not, no real cause of complaint can be gathered from 
 the whole context. The Commissioners, with their 
 usual complaisance, " disclaimed any Endeauors of 
 theirs to make Sequasson great, and are ignorant of 
 what hee afeirmes concerning the other [acknowl- 
 edgement] yet recommended it to the Gouernment 
 of Conecticot to examine the case, and to provide vpon 
 due proof e Vncas may be owned in what may be just 
 and eqnall, and Mr. Ludlow was entreated to pro- 
 mote the same." This passage will be found in the 
 Records for 1651. No subsequent mention is made 
 of the suit. 
 
 It might be a subject of some speculation, what 
 were the causes of the extraordinary partiality of 
 the English for Uncas ; and especially what were the 
 means whereby he counteracted the strong current 
 of reproach which set against him from all other quar- 
 ters. Different opinions have been entertained upon 
 
310 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 this point. We suppose, however, the Commissioners 
 considered it good policy, to select some one among 
 the principal uncivilized and unsubjected Indian chiefs, 
 to be made a channel of intercourse and influence with 
 and over all. This one would naturally be the most 
 ambitious, and at the same time least scrupulous of 
 the number. Such was Uncas ; and hence it was, that 
 with his shrewdness, he found no difficulty in main- 
 taining a tolerably good understanding with them 
 under all circumstances. The ' Proud Ninigret ' dis- 
 dained the English interference. Massasoit protected 
 rather than courted them. Sassacus fought them at 
 the first provocation. Philip hated them and kept 
 aloof; and Miantonomo, though he met them and 
 treated them as friends, yet forgot not a soul of his 
 own, more sovereign than his royal blood. But Uncas 
 was neither more nor less than their humble servant. 
 He fought for them, and gave evidence for them, 
 with about the same alacrity, and the same indiffer- 
 ence as to subject or occasion, antagonist or defendant. 
 
 Whenever complaints were made against himself, 
 he of course had resources for defence. There was 
 something in the testimony he could generally bring 
 forward in his favor; and still more in the ingenuity 
 of his explanations, or the humility of his acknow- 
 ledgements and apologies. Other Sachems' irritated 
 by suspicion and accusation, frequently committed 
 themselves in reality by rash speeches and rude acts. 
 But Uncas never lost sight of his interest in his pride. 
 
 The pliability of Indian evidence, and the manoeu- 
 vres of Indian politicians, appear singularly in the 
 case of Neckwash Cooke. Uncas was at New Haven, 
 attending a meeting of the Commissioners, in 1646, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 311 
 
 when one William Morton came forward, and charged 
 him with having hired Wampushet, a Pequot Powah 
 then present, " by himselfe or some other with a 
 hatchet to wounde another Indian and lay it vpon Neck- 
 wash Cooke" The consideration for the bargain was 
 said to be fifteen fathoms of wampum, and the Indian 
 was assaulted according to the terms. After some in- 
 quiry into the evidence, Wampushet himself was 
 brought upon the stand, and questioned by the English 
 interpreter. Much to the astonishment of Mr. Morton, 
 and of the Pequots who came into court with him, 
 he cleared Uncas and cast the plot upon Cooke him- 
 self, and Robin, Mr. Winthrop's Indian; and though 
 the other two Pequots, whereof one was Robin's 
 brother, were much offended, " and after [afterwards] 
 said Uncas had hired him to withdrawe and alter his 
 chardge, yet hee persisted and said Necwash Cooke and 
 Robin had giuen him a payre of breeches and prom- 
 ised him twenty-five fadome of wampum to cast the 
 plott vpon Uncas." 
 
 As to the main allegation in Cooke's case, which 
 was proved, the Sachem acknowledged some mis- 
 carriages or misdemeanors in vindicating what he 
 called his right, so near the English plantations, but 
 alleged provocation. Then follows the sentence. 
 
 1. That it was an error to quarrel with Cooke to 
 the public disturbance, without consent of the English. 
 
 2. That to do it near an English plantation was 
 worse still ; and the Commissioners required him to 
 acknowledge his fault to that plantation, (as he did to 
 themselves) and by promise to secure them from any 
 such disturbance for the future. 
 
 For Uncas it was an easy matter to make such satis- 
 
312 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 faction. But as if it was thought too harsh by those 
 who decreed it, they took occasion at the same time 
 to sweeten the dispensation with promises of protec- 
 tion and professions of respect. After all, so strong 
 was the additional testimony advanced against him 
 on the same matters, at the next session, that they 
 were induced to modify their decision as follows : 
 " All which being duly considered the insolency and 
 outrage of Vncus and his men appeared much more 
 heinous than the Complaints at Newhaven the last 
 yeere imported. The Commissioners (having the last 
 yeere ordered that Vncus should acknowledge his 
 fault to the English plantation, which they heare he 
 performed in Captain Mason's presence) thought fitt 
 now to add that vpon the return of the Pequots to 
 his subjection Vncus foorthwith pay into the hands 
 of Mr. Jo. Winthrop, to be by him divided to the 
 English and ould Pequots and other innocent Indians, 
 towards the repaire of theire losses in proportion as 
 he shall finde cause, one hundred fathome of wampam." 
 We conclude these expositions with a literal copy 
 from Hazard, of one of the last formal messages of 
 complaint sent by the Commissioners to Uncas, to- 
 gether with his answer. The date is 1661 : 
 
 " Vncus 
 
 We have Receiued Information and Complaint 
 from the Generall Court of Massachusetts of youer 
 hostile Invading of Wosamequin and the Indians of 
 Ouabakutt whoe are and longe haue bine Subjects 
 to the English killing some and Carrying away others 
 captiues spoyling theire goods to the vallue of 33 Ib. 
 as they alledge, and all this contrary to youer couenant 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 313 
 
 and promise to the Comissioners seuerall times Re- 
 newed, not to make warr against any of our Tribu- 
 taries without the allowance of the Comissioners wee 
 alsoe vnderstand that the Generall Court of Massa- 
 chusetts whose subjects the said Indians are, haue 
 formerly signified theire offence vnto you Requiring 
 the Returne of youer Captiues and Satisfaction for the 
 wronge you haue done to which you haue not returned 
 any answare which secmes to bee an Insolent and proud 
 carriage of youers wee cannot but wonder att it and 
 must beare witnes against it and doe heerby will and 
 require you forthwith to returne the said Captiues 
 with due Satisfaction for other wrongs done them or 
 to make out sufficient grounds and Reesons for youer 
 Invading the said Indians the which you are speedily 
 to send to the Governor of the Massachusetts and if 
 it appeer they haue done you any wronge vpon due 
 proofe wee shall take care that they may make you 
 satisfaction if you shall neglect to obserue our order 
 and Injunction herein contained; wee must leaue the 
 Massachusetts to Right themselues as formerly signi- 
 fyed vnto you : in which case wee must oune and if 
 need bee assist our Confederates; 
 
 The Commissioners of the Vnited Collonies;' 
 Plymouth the I3th. 
 of September 1661. 
 
 SAMUEL WILLIS THOMAS PRENCE Presedent 
 (Signed) WILLIAME LEETE SIMON BRADSTREET 
 BENJAMIN FEN DANIEL DENISON 
 
 THOMAS SOUTHWORTH." 
 
 Then follows the answer given in on behalf of 
 Uncas by Major Mason. As nothing more is heard 
 of the affair, it may be presumed that the reasons 
 alleged were considered sufficient. 
 
314 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 " Whereas there was a warrant sent from the 
 Court of Boston dated in May last to Vncus wherein 
 it was declared upon the Complaint of Wesamequen 
 that the said Vncus had offered a great violence to 
 theire Subjects at quabauk killing some and taking 
 others captiue ; which warrant came not to Vncus 
 aboue 20 daies before these presents whoe being sum- 
 moned by Major John Mason in the full scope of the 
 said warrant wherein he was charged if hee did not 
 Returne the Captiues and thirty-three pounds dam- 
 age then the Massachusetts would Recouer it by force 
 of armes which to him was very grieuous ; professing 
 hee was altogether ignorant they were subjects belonging 
 to the Massachusetts and further said they were none of 
 Wesamequen's men but belonging to Onopequin his 
 deadly enemie whoe was there borne ; one of the men 
 then taken was his oune Cousin, who had formerly 
 fought against him in his oune person ; and yett sett 
 him at libertie and further saith that all the Captiues 
 were sent home alsoe that Wesamequm's son and 
 diuers of his men had fought against him diuers times 
 this hee desired might bee returned as his answare to 
 the Commissioners." 
 
 Concessions of this nature it was which no other 
 Indian Sachem of equal power ever submitted to 
 that went farther than anything else to keep Uncas 
 secure in the English favor. His actual services, 
 which were considerable, have been alluded to. His 
 tribe were an out-guard for the settlements in Con- 
 necticut. After selling the town of Norwich, that 
 place being first colonized in a period of general ex- 
 citement and hostility among the tribes, the Mohegans 
 kept out spies and runners to give the inhabitants 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 315 
 
 intelligence of their enemies' movements, and were 
 a continual defence against them. In times of greater 
 danger, they often moved, and pitched their wigwams 
 near the town. On one occasion, a hostile party of 
 savages approached the outskirts, on the Sabbath, 
 with a design to make a descent upon the village ; 
 but viewing it from an eminence, and seeing the Mo- 
 hegan huts, they were intimidated, and retreated with- 
 out doing the least damage. 
 
 The sale just mentioned was but one of a large 
 number with which Uncas was always ready to oblige 
 his civilized friends, and which constituted another 
 claim to their good will. In 1648, on receiving presents 
 to his satisfaction, he conveyed to the Governor and 
 Magistrates of the English on Connecticut river all 
 his lands, called by whatever name, reserving only the 
 ground then planted by him for himself and his tribe. 
 In 1641, he granted to Henry Whitefield and others, 
 certain lands near Guilford, in consideration of four 
 coats, two kettles, four fathoms of wampum, four 
 hatchets, and three hoes. In 1659, he granted all his 
 lands, with all his corn, to his old comrade and friend, 
 Major John Mason, who the next year surrendered it 
 to the Colony of Connecticut. Trumbull says, that the 
 individual towns in this great tract were very gener- 
 ally purchased, either of him or his successors, a sec- 
 ond or third time. 
 
 It is remarkable, that a very late mention made of 
 Uncas in history, casts an imputation upon his friend- 
 ship for the English. " It is suggested by them who 
 know him best " says Hubbard in his Narrative 
 " that in his heart he is no better affected to the Eng- 
 lish, or their religion, than the rest of his countrymen, 
 
316 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 and that it hath been his own advantage hath led 
 him to be this time." &c. This was written in 1677. 
 Only two years previous, at the commencement of 
 Philip's war, it was reported to governor Winslow 
 of Plymouth, that the Mohegan Sachem had sent 
 twenty men to join his Pokanoket brother, with a 
 message that if Philip would send him six English 
 heads, all the Indians in his territories would go for 
 him. Uncas is last heard of in 1680, when he must 
 have been a very old man, though still likely, we are 
 told, to survive all his enemies. 
 
 The best comment on the Sachem's husbandry of 
 his own interest is perhaps, after all, in the fact that a 
 remnant of his tribe exists to this day, (on a reserva- 
 tion of about three thousand acres of land,) in the 
 neighborhood of Norwich; they are the only natives 
 yet lingering within the limits of the state. The last 
 sachem of the tribe was Isaiah Uncas, once a pupil 
 in the famous school of Dr. Wheelock, at Lebanon. 
 The following epitaph, copied by President Stiles from 
 a grave-stone in the old Indian burial-ground at Mohe- 
 gan, indicates the end of the genealogy : 
 
 Here lies the body of Sunseeto, 
 
 Own son to Uncas, grandson to Oneko, 
 
 Who were the famous sachems of Moheagan; 
 
 But now they are all dead, I think it is Werheegen. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Indians who submitted to Massachusetts. The Gortonists. Pomham, Sa- 
 chem of Shaomet, and Saconoco complain of them. Submit to the 
 Government. Their examination and entertainment. Policy of Mas- 
 sachusetts in the case of Pomham. He and Saconoco much har- 
 rassed by their neighbors. Subsequent history. Pomham takes part 
 in Philip's war, and is killed. Canonchet, son of Miantonomo. His 
 agreement of October, 1675. Weetamore, Squaw-Sachem of Pocasset. 
 Canonchet's career during Philip's war. Particulars of his surprisal 
 and death. His character. Anecdotes. His reputation with the 
 English. Defence of his conduct. 
 
 AMONG a considerable number of chieftains who 
 submitted to the Massachusetts Government, 
 were several whose territory was without 
 their jurisdiction, and in some cases within that of 
 other Governments. The most notorious case of this 
 kind is connected with that much-discussed transac- 
 tion in which the notorious Gorton and his associates 
 were engaged ; and by which they brought themselves 
 into a disagreeable collision with civil and martial 
 authorities in all directions. 
 
 To explain that affair very briefly, Gorton, having 
 become obnoxious as the founder of a new religious 
 sect, left the Massachusetts jurisdiction for Plymouth. 
 Here he met with much the same treatment. He was 
 whipped for disturbing the Church, and required to 
 find sureties for his good behavior; which not being 
 
 (317) 
 
318 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 able to do, he either removed or was driven to Rhode 
 Island. There he treated the Court with contempt, 
 and by order of Governor Coddington was imprisoned 
 and again whipped. He then took refuge in Provi- 
 dence, where Roger Williams, though he disliked his 
 principles, yet gave him shelter. But he had hardly 
 located himself, and begun to gather a company of 
 disciples around him, when the neighboring English 
 settlers complained of him to Massachusetts, under the 
 apprehension that he was about to supplant their own 
 possessions by purchasing the Patuxet territory from 
 the Narraghansett original owners. Massachusetts 
 issued a warrant to the Providence people to submit to 
 their jurisdiction. Gorton denied their authority to 
 interfere with him or his company, where they now 
 were and signified this opinion in a contemptuous 
 letter. 
 
 But, perhaps for the sake of being still farther 
 out of the reach of Massachusetts, or from discord 
 among themselves, the Gortonists soon removed to 
 a tract of land called by the Indians Shaomet or Sho- 
 wamet, (since Warwick in Rhode Island,) having 
 previously purchased it of Miantonomo, for the con- 
 sideration of one hundred and forty-four fathoms of 
 wampum, " with the free and joint consent, [as the 
 deed itself is expressed] of the present inhabitants, 
 being natives." The instrument was dated January 12, 
 1642-3, and was subscribed with a bow and arrow as 
 the mark of the grantor, and of a hatchet, a gun, &c., 
 as the marks of " the Sachem of Shaomet, Pomham," 
 and other Indians. Possession was given upon the 
 premises, at the same time. 
 
 From this moment, Pomham, who, though he 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 319 
 
 signed the deed of conveyance, and was offered a 
 share of the consideration, (which he would not 
 accept,) affected to consider himself aggrieved, 
 neither gave rest to his neighbors, nor found any for 
 himself. Whether, according to the relation which 
 existed between himself and Miantonomo, and the 
 customary degree of subjection attached to it, he had 
 reason to complain of that chieftain in the present 
 case, cannot be well decided. But it may be safely 
 said, that the part soon afterwards taken by Massa- 
 chusetts, was at least an unusual stretch of authority, 
 however it might correspond with the general policy 
 of that government wherever the formidable Narra- 
 ghansett Sachem was concerned. 
 
 Whether at his own suggestion or that of others, 
 Pomham, and Saconoco, a Sachem equally interested 
 in the land, but otherwise of no note in history, went 
 to Boston a few months after the sale, and by an inter- 
 preter made complaints of the manoeuvres of the Gor- 
 tonists whereby, as they alleged, Miantonomo had been 
 induced to compel them to an arbitrary disposal of 
 their territory. They further desired to be received 
 under the protection of Massachusetts, and withal 
 brought a small present of wampum. The matter 
 being referred to the next Court, and Gorton and Mian- 
 tonomo notified to attend, the latter made his appear- 
 ance. He was required to prove the interest he had 
 claimed in the Shaomet Sachems and territory, but it 
 is said he could prove none ; and upon the testimony 
 of Cutchamequin and other Indians who were present, 
 it appeared that the Shaomet chiefs were not tributary 
 to the Narraghansett, though they sometimes made 
 him presents, a mark of deference and not of sub- 
 
320 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 jection. Upon this an order was passed, authorizing 
 the Governor and certain magistrates to treat with the 
 applicants at their discretion. 
 
 These Commissioners soon after conferred with 
 the Sachems ; and, giving them to understand upon 
 what terms they should be received, " they found them 
 very pliable to all." So, indeed, it might be inferred 
 from the answers made by the Sachems to the requi- 
 sitions touching the ten commandments. The servility 
 which some of them indicate as represented in the 
 Commissioners' report, at least, is hardly redeemed 
 by the shrewd simplicity of others. 
 
 Being asked if they would worship the true God, 
 and not blaspheme him, they waived the first clause, 
 and replied thus to the latter. " We desire to speak 
 reverently of the Englishman's God, and not to speak 
 evil, because we see the Englishman's God doth better 
 for them than other Gods do for others." 
 
 As to ' swearing falsely,' they replied, that they 
 never knew what swearing was, or what an oath was. 
 As to working unnecessarily on the Christian Sabbath, 
 " It is a small thing," answered they, " for us to rest 
 on that day, for we have not much to do any day, and 
 therefore we will forbear on that day." 
 
 In regard to honoring parents and seniors, they 
 said, " It is our custom to do so, for when we com- 
 plain to the Governor of the Massachusetts that we 
 have wrong, if they tell us we lie, we shall patiently 
 bear it." The following articles are also part of the 
 report : 
 
 5. Not to kill any man but upon just cause and 
 good authority, &c. Answer. It is good, and we 
 desire to do so. 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 321 
 
 6. Not to commit fornication, stealing &c. Answer. 
 Though they be committed among us, we allow it 
 not, but judge it evil. 
 
 8. For lying, they say it is an evil, and shall not 
 allow it. And finally, as to being christianized, they 
 said, " as opportunity serveth by the English coming 
 among us, we desire to learn their manners." 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the right of Massa- 
 chusetts to interfere in this case, and especially of 
 the policy of interfering as regarded the Narraghan- 
 setts and other colonies, it must be admitted that 
 the submission itself, so far as concerned the appli- 
 cants, was conducted with the honesty, as well as 
 civility, generally characteristic of the intercourse of 
 that Government with the natives. 
 
 The Governor having sent for the Sachems to 
 appear at Boston on the 22d of April, (1643) they 
 attended, with their interpreter. The submission was 
 then explained to their entire satisfaction. They were 
 also expressly informed, that they were not to be 
 considered confederates, but subjects, to which they 
 manifested their assent. So, adds the historian, they 
 dined in the same room with the Governor, at a table 
 by themselves, and having much countenance shown 
 them by all present, and being told that they and their 
 men should always be welcome to the English, pro- 
 vided they brought a note from Benedict Arnold (their 
 interpreter,) and having some small things bestowed 
 upon them by the Governor, they departed joyful and 
 well satisfied. The submission was as follows : 
 
 ' This writing is to testify, that we, Pomham, 
 Sachem of Showamet, and Sachonocho, Sachem of 
 Patuxet, have and by these presents do voluntarily 
 
 M. of H. XXX 21 
 
322 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 and without any constraint or persuasion, but of our 
 own free motion, put ourselves, our subjects, lands 
 and estates under the government and jurisdiction of 
 Massachusetts, to be governed and protected by them 
 according to their just laws and orders, so far as we 
 shall be made capable of understanding them ; and we 
 do promise, for ourselves, our subjects, and all our 
 posterity, to be true and faithful to the Government 
 and aiding to the maintenance thereof to our best abil- 
 ity; and from time to give speedy notice of any con- 
 spiracy, attempt, or -evil intentions of any we shall 
 know or hear of against the same, and do promise to 
 be willing from time to time to be instructed in the 
 we have hereunto put our hands the 22d of the 4th 
 month, 1643. 
 
 mark The ^) mark 
 
 of Saconoco. of Pomham." 
 
 Thus was consummated the title of Massachusetts 
 to the jurisdiction of the Shaomet land. It was at this 
 very time, as well as afterwards, claimed also by Ply- 
 mouth, and by Rhode Island. Gorton always alleged, 
 that it belonged to Miantonomo, and that Pomham 
 was secretly influenced by Massachusetts to with- 
 draw from him and seek protection under their author- 
 ity, No doubt that Government was sufficiently aware 
 of the interest they had, not only in humbling the 
 Gortonists, but in extending their jurisdiction as far 
 as possible towards or into the territory of the Narra- 
 ghansett chieftain, then, as Hutchinson calls him, the 
 greatest and most powerful sachem of New England. 
 Speaking of the petition of certain settlers, in 1645, 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 323 
 
 for permission to begin a plantation, where Gorton 
 and his company had erected three or four small houses 
 " on the land of Pomham, who had submitted himself," 
 &c. Mr. Winthrop himself states, that the Court 
 readily granted their petition, promising all encourage- 
 ment, &c. "for it was of great concernment to all the 
 English in these parts, that a strong plantation should 
 be there as a bulwark &r! against the Narraghansetts." It 
 may be, that this consideration assumed, in the view 
 of the Massachusetts Government, the imperious in- 
 terest of what is commonly called State-necessity. 
 
 Hence the measures occasionally adopted subse- 
 quent to the submission, for affording Pomham the 
 promised relief; a policy which certainly accorded 
 better with their stipulations to him, than with their 
 relations to some other parties. The Gortonists har- 
 assed him beyond measure, but they were at length 
 subdued. The Narraghansetts, (after Miantonomo's 
 death,) threatened and frightened him still more. In 
 April 1645, " that it might really appear that the Massa- 
 chusetts did own and would protect him," which would 
 seem to have been heretofore doubted, an order was 
 taken for sending men and an officer to Shaomet to 
 stay there a few days, and act on the defensive against 
 the Narraghansetts. These men being volunteers, how- 
 ever, refused to go, unless they were each paid ten 
 shillings a week, furnished with arms and ammunition, 
 and allowed such booty as they might be able to collect 
 in case of fighting. Whereupon the Court, not choos- 
 ing to establish such a precedent, sent word to Pom- 
 ham, that the required force w r ould be at his disposal, 
 whenever he should forward sufficient funds to enable 
 
324 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 them to perform. On the earnest importunity of the 
 Sachem, early in May, his request was finally granted ; 
 and, with the aid of the English, he erected a fort upon 
 his lands. 
 
 This was in 1646. But Pomham and Sacanoco 
 w r ere not destined quietly to enjoy their possessions, 
 as the following detail from Mr. Winthrop's records 
 for 1647, will abundantly illustrate. The Gortonists 
 had at that ^period returned to Shaomet, which they 
 now named Warwick ; and, as the Sachems alleged 
 before the Commissioners of the United Colonies, 
 manifested a decided disposition " for eating up all 
 their corn, with their cattle." &c. These function- 
 aries hereupon wrote to certain persons in the vicinity 
 of the premises, to view the damages, and require 
 satisfaction ; which process however, had scarcely been 
 commenced, when Justice Coggleshall and others from 
 Rhode Island came to Shaomet, claimed jurisdiction 
 for that colony over the land in question, and for- 
 bade the appraisers to proceed. Upon this, the latter 
 returned home. Another warrant was issued, with 
 the same result. Pomham was reduced to extrem- 
 ities ; but still undiscouraged, he renewed his com- 
 plaints once more. Massachusetts now sent three 
 special messengers, to demand satisfaction of the tres- 
 passers, and to warn them to leave the territory. The 
 application did no good ; and therefore, " as we could 
 do no more at the present," writes Mr. Winthrop, 
 " we procured the Indians some corn in the mean time." 
 The measures subsequently taken for redress, it would 
 be alike tedious and needless to enumerate. 
 
 As to Pomham, with whom we have chiefly to do, 
 it must be confessed, that his character assumes but 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 325 
 
 little dignity throughout this proceeding. In after 
 times, his career was occasionally more independent, 
 while at the same time it gave evidence that his early 
 attachment to the English was by no means one of 
 indissoluble affection, or of principle sacred in his 
 own eyes. It is not a little remarkable, that after 
 all the trouble and expense taken and incurred by 
 and between the colonies, and especially by Massa- 
 chusetts, for his protection; and notwithstanding the 
 authorities of the latter government fondly and we 
 trust sincerely represented his submission as the fruit 
 of their prayers, and the first fruit of their hopes, in 
 the great process of civilizing and christianizing the 
 natives ; this incorrigible savage not only loosened 
 his connexion with the English, but engaged against 
 them, with his whole force and influence, in the great 
 war of King Philip. 
 
 That course, fatal as it was to himself and his in- 
 terest, was upon the whole the most creditable pass- 
 age of his life. And once adopted, he pursued it with 
 an energy that altogether sets aside any doubts which 
 his former course might suggest, in regard to his real 
 temperament and genius. Even Philip was scarcely 
 more feared than Pomham. Historians universally, 
 while they now call him a Narraghansett, as evidently 
 he had determined to consider himself, place him in 
 the highest rank among the Sachems of that warlike 
 and powerful tribe. He did not even pretend to neu- 
 trality in the early part of the war, as they did. He 
 did not sign either the treaty of July, (1675) negoti- 
 ated at the point of the English bayonet in his own 
 territory, or the submission executed in October fol- 
 lowing at Boston, although upon the latter occasion 
 
326 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 one of his fellow-chieftains affected to sign for him. 
 This, at best, like every other part and circumstance 
 of the compromise, was a mere artifice, meant to divert 
 the Government by a show of satisfaction and amity. 
 
 During Philip's war the territory of Pomham was 
 ravaged far and wide, and one hundred and fifty 
 wigwams destroyed by fire at one time, in December, 
 1675. Whether this chief was in the decisive and 
 bloody battle of the 19th, or in what other engagements 
 he was during the war, history does not determine. 
 He was finally slain in July, 1676, a few weeks previ- 
 ous to the death of Philip, and the consequent close 
 of that contest, the most critical and the most furious 
 ever waged between the red man and the white. 
 Great was the exultation of the conquerors over this 
 first success, so encouraging to themselves, and so 
 disastrous to their savage and terrible foes. The event 
 took place in the neighborhood of Dedham, (in Massa- 
 chusetts) where Pomham, with a small band of faith- 
 ful warriors, half-starved and desperate, were still 
 roaming the woods in the close vicinity of the English 
 settlements. About fifty Indians were captured ; and 
 the Sachem seems to have been the only man of 
 the company who would not be taken alive. '' That 
 which increased the victory," says Mr. Hubbard, " was 
 the slaughter of Pomham, which was one of the Stout- 
 est Sachems that belonged to the Narraghansetts." 
 
 His spirit and strength was such, that after being 
 mortally wounded in the fight, so that he could not 
 stand, he caught hold of an English soldier who came 
 near him, and had nearly destroyed him by his vio- 
 lence, when the poor fellow was rescued by his com- 
 rades, and the dying chieftain relieved at once from 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 327 
 
 his agony and his foes. He had little to live for, had 
 there been a disposition to spare him. His territory 
 was long since subjected to a foreign power by his 
 own act, and afterwards desolated. His subjects were 
 dispersed and destroyed. His grandson had been 
 slain in the field within a few months; and among 
 the captives at the time of his own fall, historians 
 particularly notice one of his sons ; " a very likely 
 youth, and one whose countenance would have be- 
 spoke favor for him, had he not belonged to so bloody 
 and barbarous an Indian as his father was." This 
 unfortunate lad was probably executed, by order of 
 the Plymouth government, together with the other 
 principal captives of the last months of the war. At 
 best, he was spared, like the son of Philip, only to be 
 enslaved in a foreign land. 
 
 Among other distinguished chieftains of the Nar- 
 raghansett tribe, who perished much in the same 
 manner, and about the same time with the last named, 
 was Nanuntenoo or Quananshett, commonly called 
 by the English Canonchet. He was the son of Mian- 
 tonomo, and probably, after the death of Mexham 
 and Pessacus, succeeded to his father's high rank, 
 being generally entitled by historians the Chief-Sachem 
 of his tribe. His reputation, both with his country- 
 men and his foes, was worthy of the noble blood in 
 his veins. Mr. Trumbull observes, that he inherited 
 all his father's pride, and all his insolence and hatred 
 towards the English. What is still more conclusive 
 in his favor, Mr. Hubbard calls him a ' damned wretch/ 
 enlarges upon his cruelty and blasphemy, and exults 
 over his final destruction. This not the facts al- 
 leged, (which are wholly without proof,) but the 
 
328 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 assertion furnishes, as a modern writer has aptly 
 remarked, irresistible evidence of his heroic character. 
 
 There is abundant other evidence, however, to the 
 same effect. The only ostensible deference of any des- 
 cription which he ever paid to an English authority 
 detesting, as unquestionably he did, their very 
 name was the act of subscribing the celebrated 
 treaty of October 1675, negotiated at Boston. The 
 object of it was to quiet the jealousy of the English, 
 who suspected him of having contracted engagements 
 with Philip. One provision went to ratify a treaty 
 executed at Hartford during the month of July pre- 
 vious, (by four of the Narraghansett Sachems, nomin- 
 ally in behalf of all.) Another and the principal one, 
 was expressed thus : 
 
 " And whereas a considerable Number of people 
 both men weomen and Children appertaining to those 
 Indians who haue bin in actuall hostilitie against the 
 English are now fled to the Narraghansetts Countrey ; 
 and are vnder the Custody of the said Sachem there; 
 after a full and long Conference had concerning that 
 matter, wee doe in the Name and by the Power to 
 vs given and betrusted in the behalf of the Sachems of 
 the aboue said Countrey fully and absolutely coue- 
 nant and promise to and with the aboue named Com- 
 missioners att or before the 28th Day of this Instant 
 month of October to deliuer or cause to be deliuered 
 all and euery one of the Said Indians, whether belong- 
 ing vnto Philip : the Pocasset Sqva or the Saconett 
 Indians Quabaug hadley or any other Sachems ; or 
 people that haue bin or are in hostilitie with the Eng- 
 lish or any of tlieier Allies or abettors; and these wee 
 promise and Couenant to deliuer att Boston to tb* 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 329 
 
 Governor and Councell there by them to be disposed 
 in the behalfe of and for the best securitie and peace 
 of the Vnited Collonies. 
 
 Sealed and deliuered in 
 the presence of vs. 
 
 EUANANCHETTS marke. 
 
 achem in the behalfe of himselfe and 
 
 IAMES BROWN Conanacus and the old Gueen and Pom- 
 
 SAMUEL GORTON IUNR. ham and Quanapeen. (Seal) 
 
 Interpreters MANATANNOO Councellor 
 JOHN NOWHENETTS mark his marke. 
 
 Indian Interpreters: and Canannacus in his behalfe 
 
 (Seal) 
 
 AHANMANPOWETTS marke 
 
 Councellor and his (Seal) 
 
 CORNMAN cheiffe Councellor to 
 NINNIGRETT in his behalfe and a (Seal.)" 
 
 It is well known, how speedily the execution of 
 this instrument was followed up by sending a strong 
 English force to invade the Narraghansett territory, 
 and subdue that spirited people at the point of the 
 bayonet. Canonchet is supposed to have been enga- 
 ged in the great swamp-fight, the most fatal to the In- 
 dians, and they most desperately fought upon their 
 part, of the whole war. It continued to rage with 
 the utmost violence for three hours from the moment 
 of assault, until the enemy's wigwams, to the number 
 of five or six hundred, were fired, and the field of 
 contest became almost instantaneously an immense 
 mass of terrific conflagration. The Savages, inspirited 
 by their leaders, defended every wall and post with 
 the fury of maniacs; and when they at length slowly 
 retreated, they left the ground behind them encum- 
 bered with heaps of the slain. Quarter was neither 
 asked nor given. Three hundred of the Narraghan- 
 
330 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 setts, at the least estimate, are supposed to have been 
 killed, besides more than double that number wounded, 
 and an unknown multitude of women, children and 
 old men burnt in the wigwams. 
 
 But the victory was dearly bought. Of the one 
 thousand English soldiers of which the civilized por- 
 tion of the invading army consisted, according to their 
 own statement, eighty were killed and one hundred 
 and fifty wounded. Abandoning the captured fort, 
 they retreated sixteen miles the same night and that 
 in the depth of winter leaving the enemy to return 
 the next day to their former position. 
 
 It is not our intention to discuss at length the pro- 
 priety of the summary course adopted by the colo* 
 nies in this case. The principal offence of the Nar- 
 raghansetts, as set forth in the Manifesto, was their 
 evasion and delay in surrendering the hostile Indians 
 who took refuge in their country. This refusal was 
 certainly inconsistent with the stipulations of July 
 and October preceding; but these stipulations were 
 enforced in the first instance by the presence of an 
 English army, which had already invaded the Narra- 
 ghansett territory. 
 
 Those of the tribe who made proposals of peace, 
 immediately after the swamp-fight, imputed the blame 
 of hostilities wholly to Canonchet. He had made them 
 believe, that by the former treaty they were not ob- 
 liged to surrender Philip's followers until his brother 
 (who, with three other Indians of rank, was de- 
 tained as a hostage at Hartford,) had been released. 
 Probably, Canonchet did not himself misunderstand 
 the plain provisions of that instrument, although, as 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 331 
 
 he does not appear to have been present at the exe- 
 cution of it, it might be misrepresented to him. It 
 is more likely, that he considered it an absolute null- 
 ity, as having been obtained by force, unjustly and 
 insultingly imposed. The construction referred to by 
 his subjects, he countenanced with the view of over- 
 coming scruples on their part in the protection of 
 Philip's Indians. Whether that protection inde- 
 pendently of the forced promise to surrender the re- 
 fugees was or was not a sufficient cause for the war 
 which ensued, it must be allowed at least to do no 
 dishonor to the humanity and honor of Canonchet, 
 and the other Sachems, who persisted in that policy 
 at every hazard and almost in the very face of their 
 enemy. With him and them it was unquestionably 
 a measure of sacred principle. No noble-minded chief- 
 tain upon the Continent, educated as an Indian chief- 
 tain always is, would have given up men who ap- 
 pealed to their hospitality their own brethren, in 
 distress and nakedness, driven before the bayonet of 
 a mortal enemy of a distinct race and of vastly super- 
 ior power and least of all, when, if surrendered, 
 they were surrendered to a certain alternative of 
 slavery or death. Some of this tribe would have com- 
 promitted their dignity through fear, but not the son 
 of Miantonomo. " Deliver the Indians of Philip !" 
 said the haughty sachem at one time " Never ! Not 
 a Wampanoag will I ever give up. No! not the 
 paring of a Wampanoag's nail !" 
 
 Those who are familiar with the history of the 
 war will recollect, that the most critical period of it 
 was immediately subsequent to the swamp-fight. 
 This was owing to the desperate exertions of the 
 
332 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Narraghansetts, and especially Canonchet and their 
 other Sachems. They were indeed driven about the 
 country far and wide, and reduced to such extremi- 
 ties for food, that corn sold for two shillings a pint; 
 but their sufferings only A nade them the more fero- 
 cious and the more bold. " That young insolent 
 Sachem, Canonchet, (writes Mr. Hubbard, in his usual 
 complimentary style,) said they would fight it out to 
 the last man, rather than they would become servants 
 to the English." 
 
 The destruction of Lancaster took place early in 
 February. Medfield was desolated ten days after- 
 wards ; and in March happened that memorable en- 
 gagement, not far from Providence and upon ancient 
 Narraghansett ground, in which Captain Pierce with 
 his detachment, to the number of fifty English soldiers, 
 were cut off to a man. Canonchet commanded in this 
 affair. The spirit of his warriors, as well as the super- 
 iority of the English skill in the use of their arms, ap- 
 pears from the fact that the Indians lost between one 
 and two hundred killed. Warwick, Seekonk, and 
 Providence were next successively ravaged by the 
 victorious foe. Plymouth was assaulted, and eleven 
 of the inhabitants slaughtered ; and another party had 
 the courage to commit horrible ravages within eleven 
 miles of Boston itself. The prospects of Philip were 
 never so flattering to himself and so disastrous to the 
 English, as at this memorable juncture, when the exas- 
 perated and fearless son of Miantonomo was support^ 
 ing him with the whole force of his dominions. 
 
 The manner in which the Narraghansett Sachems 
 treated Roger Williams, at this period, amid all the 
 excitement of suffering on the one side and success 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 333 
 
 on the other, is worthy of everlasting remembrance. 
 That gentleman was one of the few English who 
 remained at Providence, exposed to the full torrent 
 of war, and with no other security than such as he 
 attributed to long acquaintance, friendship, and good 
 faith, with those who were now become the inveter- 
 ate enemies, and were openly calculating upon the 
 utter extermination of his race. He had even the 
 hardihood to reproach some of the Sachems who fre- 
 quently came to converse with him, for their cruelties ; 
 and to threaten them with the sure, though it might 
 be lingered vengeance of the English. " Massachu- 
 setts," said he, " can raise thousands of men at this 
 moment ; and if you kill them, the King of England 
 will supply their place as fast as they fall." " Well !" 
 answered one of the chieftains, " let them come. We 
 are ready for them. But as for you, Brother Wil- 
 liams, you are a good man, you have been kind to 
 us many years. Not a hair of your head shall be 
 touched." This noble pledge, bearing upon the face 
 of it the mark of the chivalrous spirit of Canonchet, 
 was regarded throughout the war with the most sacred 
 fidelity. It was not in vain that the young Sachem 
 remembered the warm affection which his father had 
 entertained for his English neighbor and confidant. 
 
 But to resume the narrative ; " It was now full 
 sea with Philip's affairs," says Mr. Hubbard, " for 
 soon after the tide of his successes began to turn 
 about the coast, which made way for the falling of the 
 water up higher in the country." The disasters of the 
 Pokanoket Sachem commenced with no less a mis- 
 fortune than the death of Canonchet. And a matter 
 of rejoicing indeed it was to the Colonies of the Eng- 
 
334 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 lish if we may credit the historian last cited " that 
 the ring-leader of almost all the mischief, and the 
 great incendiary bewixt the Narraghansetts and us, 
 died himself by that sword of war which he had drawn 
 against others." The last assertion might perhaps 
 have been spared to some advantage, but the epithets 
 furnish the best evidence in favor of the subject of 
 them which the case could be supposed to present. 
 
 Early in April, it seems, Canonchet, weary of de- 
 solating the towns of the English, had betaken him- 
 self to the Indian haunts on the Connecticut river. 
 Here he continued to take a most active part in the 
 war; the whole body of the savages to the Westward 
 trusting, (as our eulogist expresses himself,) under 
 the shadow of that aspiring bramble. Nor was it in 
 battle only that they placed reliance on his courage and 
 genius. It was necessary, as it was difficult, to pro- 
 vide the means of sustenance, from day to day, for 
 something like one thousand five hundred warriors, 
 with their women and children. Canonchet suggested 
 the plan of planting the lands on the West bank of 
 the river, recently taken from the English. But how 
 should even the means of planting be obtained? A 
 council was summoned to solve this question ; but not 
 a man could be found who would hazard his life, at this 
 season, in that section of the country where corn must 
 be procured. The Sachem himself went forward, and 
 proposed, with the assistance of thirty volunteers, who 
 soon found courage to second him, to undertake a 
 journey to Seekonk, in the immediate vicinity of Mon- 
 taup, the old residence of Philip. 
 
 The adventure proved fatal to him. On the 27th 
 of March, Captain Dennison, of Connecticut, had 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 335 
 
 commenced a volunteer expedition against the enemy, 
 with about fifty English soldiers, and eighty Nian- 
 tick, Pequot and Mohegan Indians, severally com- 
 manded by Catapazet, Casasinamon and Oneco. By 
 the time Canonchet reached Seekonk, where he en- 
 camped on Blackstone river near the Pawtucket falls. 
 Dennison's party, following the sea-coast, had arrived 
 in the same neighborhood. The former was so little 
 apprehensive of danger, that he dismissed all his thirty 
 attendants but seven. The English, on the other hand, 
 received the first intimation of his being near them, 
 from two old straggling squaws, who confessed, on 
 being captured, that Canonchet was not far off. The 
 intelligence put new life into the weary soldiers, and 
 they pressed forward till they came upon fresh tracks, 
 and these brought them in view of a cluster of wig- 
 wams on the bank of the river. 
 
 In one of those wigwams Canonchet was at this 
 moment reposing from the fatigues of his journey. 
 His seven remaining followers sat around him ; and 
 he entertained them with the recital of the bloody 
 victory of Pierce's detachment, which had taken place 
 but a week or two before. Suddenly the speaker 
 suspended his narrative. His silent audience started 
 to their feet, and stood aghast. The trained ear of 
 the savage had already detected the approach of an 
 enemy. Two of the company were immediately des- 
 patched to the summit of the hill, at the foot of which 
 the wigwam was situated. These men, frightened by 
 the near approach of the English, who were now (says 
 Hubbard,) mounting with great speed over a fair 
 champagna on the other side of the hill, ran by, as if 
 they wanted time to tell what they saw. A third 
 
336 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 was sent, who executed his errand no better. But 
 of two others who were sent up, one had the courage 
 to return and inform the Sachem, in great haste and 
 trepidation, that the whole English army was upon 
 him. 
 
 Canonchet had no means of defence, and no time 
 for deliberation. He could only attempt an escape 
 by running round the hill opposite his pursuers ; and 
 he had not gone far in that direction, when Catapazet, 
 with twenty of his followers, and a few of the Eng- 
 lish who were lightest of foot, nearly intercepted him 
 as they descended the hill, and immediately com- 
 menced vigorous and close pursuit. Canonchet was 
 a fleet runner, but the swiftest of Catapazet's men 
 began to gain upon him. He threw off his blanket, 
 and then a silver-laced coat which had been given 
 him on the renewal of his league at Boston. His 
 wampum belt was finally abandoned; and this betray- 
 ing his rank to his pursuers, they redoubled their 
 efforts, until they forced him to betake himself to 
 the river, in which he plunged forward with great 
 haste. Unluckily, his foot slipped upon a stone, and 
 this not only delayed him, but brought him down so 
 far as to wet the gun which he still carried in one 
 hand ; " upon which accident, he confessed soon after 
 (we are told,) that his heart and bowels turned within 
 him, so as he became like a rotten stick, void of 
 strength." 
 
 Thenceforth he submitted to his destiny without a 
 struggle. He was a large, muscular man; and as 
 Hubbard himself allows, of " great courage of mind/' 
 as well as strength of body; but the foremost of the 
 hostile party, one Monopoide, a Pequot, laid hold 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 337 
 
 of him without his making the slightest resistance. 
 The first Englishman who came up was Robert Stan- 
 ton, a young man of some twenty years old ; yet adven- 
 turing to ask him a question or two, (continues the 
 hfstorian, with a touch of feeling which does him 
 credit,) the manly Sachem looked somewhat disdain- 
 fully upon his youthful face, and replied in broken 
 English, " you much child no understand war, 
 let your chief come him I will talk with." The 
 English offered him his life if he would submit to 
 their government, but he would make no submission 
 of any kind. They suggested his sending one of his 
 men to propose terms to his Narraghansett warriors 
 in the west; but he refused with scorn. He was then 
 told of the enmity he had manifested towards the 
 English. "And many others," he replied haughtily, 
 "will be found of the same mind with myself. Let 
 me hear no more of that." When informed of what 
 his fate must inevitably be, he only answered, " It is 
 well. I shall die before my heart is soft. I shall 
 speak nothing which Canonchet should be ashamed 
 to speak. It is well." Even those who have censured 
 the Sachem most, touched with the fine dignity of his 
 last hours, would fain search in the theory of a Pytha- 
 gorean Metempsychosis for the secret of his great- 
 ness. Some old Roman ghost, say they, must have 
 possessed the body of this Western Pagan. 
 
 He was soon afterwards taken to Stonington, in 
 Connecticut, where Dennison's expedition had been 
 fitted out; and there was executed upon him the 
 sentence of death. That all concerned in the cap- 
 ture of so proud a victim might be gratified with a 
 share in the honors of his slaughter, the English con- 
 
 M of H. XXX 22 
 
338 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 tented themselves with being spectators of the scene, 
 while the Pequots were permitted to shoot him, the 
 Mohegans to behead and quarter him, and Ninigret's 
 men to kindle the pile upon which he was burned. 
 As a token of love and fidelity to their civilized allies, 
 his head only was reserved, to be presented to the 
 English council at Hartford. It is remarkable, that 
 Oneco, on this occasion, took the same part in the 
 execution of Canonchet, and under similar circum- 
 stances, which, nearly forty years before, his father 
 Uncas had taken in that of Miantonomo, the father 
 of Canonchet. 
 
 Thus fell, in the prime of his manhood, the last 
 Chief-Sachem of the Narraghansetts, the grand-nephew 
 of Canonicus, and the son of Miantonomo. The Eng- 
 lish historians of his own period may be excused for 
 the prejudice with which they regarded him (as they 
 did all who fought for the same cause with the same 
 courage,) and which nevertheless affords to the reader 
 of these days the most satisfactory proof of his high 
 reputation and formidable talents. u This/' says one 
 writer, " was the confusion of a damned wretch, that 
 had often opened his mouth to blaspheme." Again ; 
 " as a just reward of his wickedness he was adjudged 
 by those who took him to die." 
 
 It were useless to dispute these positions, for every 
 reader of history possesses the means of forming a 
 just opinion whether or not they are sound. But at 
 all events, (as an author of a more liberal period has 
 observed,) we may surely at this day be permitted 
 to lament the unhappy fate of this noble Indian, with- 
 out incurring any imputation for want of patriotism. 
 In the entire compass of Indian, and we might perhaps 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 339 
 
 add, civilized history, there is no finer instance of that 
 generous and chivalrous character, which whatever 
 it might be termed under other circumstances in 
 the situation of Canonchet, and with his sincere and 
 strict principles, can only be approved and admired, 
 as humanity to the suffering who sought his protec- 
 tion ; as fidelity to his own and his father's friends ; 
 as a proud and lofty sacrifice of royalty, liberty and 
 life itself to honor; as patriotism to his country, and 
 as religion to his gods. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Account of the Pawtucket confederacy in New Hampshire. Passaconaway, 
 their Chief Sachem. He is disarmed by order of the Massachusetts 
 Government. His residence, age and authority. He maintains a good 
 understanding with the English. Visits Boston. The Apostle Elliot's 
 acquaintance with, and notice of him. His views of Christianity. 
 Festival, and Farewell speech to his tribe in 1660. Death and char- 
 acter. His son and successor, Wonolanset. Anecdotes of the family. 
 Legend of Passaconaway's feats as a Powah. 
 
 TURNING our attention to a part of the country 
 and to a people which have not yet been the 
 subject of special notice, we shall now intro- 
 duce, with the following passage from Winthrop's 
 Journal, an individual of far too much distinction to 
 be wholly overlooked. The date is of July, 1642 : 
 
 " There came letters from the court at Connecticut, 
 and from two of the magistrates there, and from Mr. 
 Ludlow near the dutch, certifying us that the Indians 
 all over the country had combined themselves to cut 
 off all the English that the time was appointed 
 after harvest the manner also they should go, by 
 small companies to the chief men's houses by way 
 of trading &c. and should kill them in the house and 
 seize their weapons, and then others should be at 
 hand to prosecute the massacre. * * Upon these letters 
 the Governor called so many of the magistrates as 
 were near, and being met they sent out summons for 
 a general court to be kept six days after, and in ,the 
 meantime it was thought fit, for our safety, and to 
 
 (340) 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 341 
 
 strike some terror into the Indians, to disarm such 
 as were within our jurisdiction. Accordingly we sent 
 men to Cutshamkin at Brantree to fetch him and his 
 guns, bows, &c. which was done, and he came will- 
 ingly, and being late in the night when they came to 
 Boston, he was put in the prison, but the next morn- 
 ing, rinding upon examination of him and divers of 
 his men, no ground of suspicion of his partaking in 
 any such conspiracy, he was dismissed. Upon the 
 warrant which went to Ipswich, Rowlye and New- 
 berry to disarm Passaconamy, who lived by Merri- 
 mack, they sent forth forty men armed the next day, 
 being the Lord's-day, but it rained all the day, as it 
 had done divers days before and also after, so as they 
 could not go to his wigwam, but they came to his 
 son's and took him, which they had warrant for, and 
 a squa and her child which they had warrant for, and 
 therefore order was given so soon as he heard of it, 
 to send them home again. They fearing his son's 
 escape, led him in a line, but he taking an opportunity, 
 slipped his line and escaped from them, but one very 
 indiscreetly made a shot at him, and missed him 
 narrowly." 
 
 The Sachem here mentioned, and commonly called 
 Passaconaway, was generally known among the In- 
 dians as the Great Sagamore of Pannuhog, or Pena- 
 cook that being the name of the tribe who inhabited 
 Concord, (New Hampshire) and the country for many 
 miles above and below, on Merrimac river. The Pena- 
 cooks were among the most warlike of the northern 
 Indians ; and they, almost alone, seem to have resisted 
 the occasional ancient inroads of the Mohawks, and 
 sometimes even to have carried the war into their 
 
342 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 territories. One of their forts, built purposely for 
 defence against these invasions, was upon Sugar-Ball 
 Hill, in Concord; and tradition indistinctly preserves 
 to this time the recollection of an obstinate engage- 
 ment between the two tribes, which occurred on the 
 banks of the Merrimac in that vicinity. 
 
 The Penacooks were one member of a large con- 
 federacy, more or less under Pessaconaway's control, 
 which, beside comprising several small tribes in 
 Massachusetts, extended nearly or quite as far in the 
 opposite direction as the northern extremity of Lake 
 Winepissiogee. Among those who acknowledged sub- 
 jection to him were the Agawams (at Ipswich), the 
 Naamkeeks (at Salem,) the Pascataquas, the Accom- 
 intas, and the Sachems of Squamscot, Newichwannock 
 and Pawtucket, the latter being also the National 
 name of all the confederates. Passaconaway is sup- 
 posed to have resided, occasionally, at what is now 
 Haverhill (Mass.) but he afterwards lived among the 
 Penacooks. 
 
 He must have been quite advanced in life at the 
 date of the earliest English settlements on the coast, 
 for he is said to have died, about 1665, at the great 
 age of one hundred and twenty years, though that 
 statement indeed has an air of exaggeration. The 
 first mention of him is in the celebrated Wheelwright 
 deed of 1629 the authenticity of which it is not neces- 
 sary to discuss in this connexion. In 1642, Passaquo 
 and Saggahew, the Sachems of Haverhill (Mass.), con- 
 veyed that township to the original settlers, by deed 
 sealed and signed, the consideration being three 
 pounds ten shillings, and the negotiation expressly 
 " zv th y e consent of Passaconazuay." 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 343 
 
 It was about the time of this conveyance that the 
 measures already mentioned were taken for ' disarm- 
 ing ' the old chieftain. That was clearly a most un- 
 exampled sketch of prerogative, especially as Passa- 
 conaway had hitherto maintained his independence 
 equally with his apparent good will for the English. 
 There is some apology for the outrage in the excite- 
 ment of the period, which was so powerful, it appears, 
 even with the well-informed and well-meaning citi- 
 zens of Boston, that they hesitated not to entertain 
 the Braintree Sachem, their most obedient servant 
 on all occasions, in the town jail. Even the report 
 of a gun, in the night-time, in the neighborhood of 
 the town, was now sufficient to rouse the good citi- 
 zens far and wide ; and the shouts of a poor fellow 
 at Watertown, who, having lost himself in the woods, 
 cried out somewhat lustily for help I help I against 
 an apprehended assault of the wild-cats round about 
 him, produced an alarm hardly less serious than would 
 probably have followed an actual foray of the Mo- 
 
 hawks ; Bmcmft Ufo 
 
 This excitement, we say, furnishes an apology for 
 
 the harsh treatment of the Grand Sachem. The gov- 
 ernment, upon cool reflection, appears to have been 
 sensible of having gone too far, and what is creditable 
 to them, they were not ashamed to make such expla- 
 nation of the matter promptly and politely, to the 
 injured party, as were fitting their own true dignity 
 as well as his. Governor Winthrop, speaking of the 
 treatment of the Squaw and the Son as ' an unwar- 
 ranted proceeding,' and conceiving " that Passacona- 
 my would look at it as a manifest injury/' called the 
 court together, and proposed measures of reparation. 
 
344 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Cutchamequin was accordingly sent to the old Sachem, 
 to disclaim any order for kidnapping the woman and 
 child, and discharging a musket at the boy, and to ex- 
 plain to him the real purpose and principle of the war- 
 rant. Passaconaway listened with composure, and 
 returned answer that whenever the two absent mem- 
 bers of his family should be returned, he would of 
 his own accord render in the required artillery (and 
 this, it would seem, the warparty which went out 
 from Boston on the Sabbath, had not after al j been 
 able to effect.) One of them was still in custody, and 
 the other had taken refuge in the woods. "Accord- 
 ingly" adds our authority, " about a fortnight after, he 
 sent his eldest son, who delivered up his guns," &c. 
 The fair inference is that the conditions made by the 
 Sachem were performed to his satisfaction. 
 
 At all events, he considered it a good policy to 
 maintain peaceable relations with his much excited 
 neighbors ; he w r as too old, as most of his near relatives 
 children or grand-children seem to have been too 
 young. On the other hand, the English movements 
 in this case, taken together, certainly indicate a res- 
 pectful estimate of his character ; and in fact the policy 
 by which he was gained over, was so much valued, 
 that either Mr. Winthrop alludes to his one act of 
 submission repeatedly, or else the Government trou- 
 bled itself to have the scene actually rehearsed as 
 many times : 
 
 " At this court/' says the Journal, for the spring 
 of 1644, " Passaconamy, the Merrimack Sachem came 
 in and submitted to our Government, as Pumham &c. 
 had done before." 
 
 And again, in 1645 " At this Court, in the third 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 345 
 
 month, Passaconamy, the Chief Sachem of Merrimack, 
 and his sons, came and submitted themselves and their 
 people and lands under our jurisdiction, as Pumham 
 and others had done before." 
 
 One of the most distinct notices of the old Saga- 
 more occurs in that ancient tract, " The Light Ap- 
 pearing &c." most of which was written by the apostle 
 Elliot, in 1649. He preached about that time at Pau- 
 tucket, that being " a fishing place where from all 
 parts they met together." 
 
 " The Chief Sachem at this place," says Mr. Elliot, 
 " and of all Mermak, is Papassaconaway, whom I 
 mentioned unto you the last yeere. who gave up him- 
 self and his sonnes to pray unto God] this man did this 
 yeere show very great affection to me, and to the 
 Word of God." The writer adds, that the Sagamore 
 even urged his solicitations importunately using withal 
 many " elegant arguments, with much gravity, wis- 
 dome and affection." He observed, among other 
 things, that the preacher's coming there once a year 
 did them but little good, " because they soone had 
 forgotten what he taught, it being so seldome, and so 
 long betwixt the times." Another sound suggestion 
 was, that the Sagamore had many subjects who 
 " would not beleeve him that praying to God was 
 so good," whereas as no doubt they might be con- 
 vinced by the preaching itself. Nor did Mr. Elliot, 
 he thought, allow himself leisure enough to explain 
 and prove what he asserted. It was " as if one should 
 come and throw a fine thing among them, and they 
 earnestly catch at it, and like it well, because it looks 
 finely, but could not look into it, to see what is within, 
 whether something or nothing, stock, stone or 
 
346 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 precious jewel." So it was with praying; it might be 
 excellent, as it seemed, but on the other hand it 
 might be hollow and empty, he wished to see it 
 opened. 
 
 Whether this sensible advice was followed as far as 
 it could be, is uncertain ; but there can be little doubt 
 that the Sagamore himself became, if not almost a 
 Christian, yet strongly prepossessed in favor of tfie 
 English. In 1660, an English gentleman, who had 
 been much conversant among the Indians, was in- 
 vited to a great dance and feast, at which among 
 other ceremonies, Passaconaway, now very old, made 
 a farewell speech to his people. He cautioned them 
 especially, as a dying man, to take heed how they 
 quarrelled with the English. He said, that though 
 they might do the whites some damage, it would 
 prove the sure means of their own destruction; and 
 that, as for himself, he had formerly tried his utmost 
 by the arts of sorcery to hinder their settlement and 
 increase, but all to no purpose. 
 
 It is remarkable, that when Philip's war broke out, 
 fifteen years after this transaction, Wonolanset, the 
 Sagamore's son and successor, withdrew both himself 
 and his people into some remote place, where he 
 wholly escaped the disasters and excitement of the 
 times. Probably there was no other instance of the 
 kind among all the tribes. 
 
 The allusion made by Passaconaway to the arts of 
 sorcery should be explained, by observing that he 
 had formerly been, for a long term of years, one of 
 the most noted Powahs, or Conjurors, ever heard of 
 among the Indians of New England. Perhaps his 
 dominion itself, and certainly the greater part of his 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 347 
 
 influence, was acquired by his talents exercised in 
 that capacity. He indeed excelled his contempora- 
 ries, as all historians allow, in general sagacity and 
 duplicity, as well as in moderation and self-command ; 
 but these were the very qualities proper for playing 
 off that game on the extreme superstition of the In- 
 dians, which has so frequently been tried among them, 
 and yet so rarely with a very prevalent or very per- 
 manent success. 
 
 But Passaconaway's attempt was no failure. He 
 induced the savages to believe in his power to make 
 water burn, and trees dance ; to metarmorphose him- 
 self into a flame ; and to raise, in winter, a green 
 leaf from the ashes of a dry one, and a living serpent 
 from the skin of one which was dead. Few modern 
 practitioners, we presume, have surpassed the old 
 Sagamore in the arts of legerdemain. These, how- 
 ever, were not his substantive profession, or at least 
 not long. The politician soon emerged from the slough 
 of the juggler. The Priest became a Sachem; the 
 Sachem, the Grand Sagamore of Penacook ; and the 
 Sagamore preserved not only his own power, but his 
 son's after him, by a series of diplomatic demonstra- 
 tions, and a few words of ' elegant ' civility, which, 
 without disparaging his importance with his country- 
 men, made him the most agreeable neighbor to the 
 English. 
 
 That Passaconaway was living as late as 1662, 
 appears from the following annecdote of that date. 
 Manataqua, Sachem of Saugus, made known to the 
 chief of Panacook, that he desired to marry his daugh- 
 ter, which being agreeable to all parties, the wed- 
 ding was soon consummated, at the residence of Passa- 
 
318 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 conaway, and the hilarity was closed with a great 
 feast. According to the usages of chiefs, Passacona- 
 way ordered a select number of his men to accompany 
 the new married couple to the dwelling of the husband. 
 When they had arrived there, several days of feasting 
 followed, for the entertainment of his friends, who 
 could not be present at the ceremony in the first in- 
 stance, as well as for the escort; who, when this was 
 ended, returned to Pennakook. 
 
 Some time after, the wife of Manataqua expressing 
 a desire to visit her father's house and friends, was 
 permitted to go, and a choice company conducted her. 
 When she wished to return to her husband, her father, 
 instead of conveying her as before, sent to the young 
 Sachem to come and take her away. He took this in 
 high dudgeon, and sent his father-in-law this answer : 
 " When she departed from me, I caused my men to 
 escort her to your dwelling, as became a chief. She 
 now having an intention to return to me, I did expect 
 the same." The elder Sachem was in his turn angry, 
 and returned an answer which only increased the 
 difference ; and it is believed that thus terminated the 
 connexion of the new husband and wife. 
 
 In the Third Volume of Farmer and Moore's His- 
 torical Collections, may be seen an account of the 
 death of an Indian called Saint Aspinquid, May 1st, 
 1682, at Mount Agamenticus on the coast of Maine, 
 where his tombstone is said to be still visible. It is 
 also stated, that he was born in 1588, and of course 
 died aged about ninety-four; that he was over forty 
 years old when he was converted to Christianity, that 
 from that time he employed himself in preaching the 
 gospel among the Indians; and that his funeral obse- 
 
INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 349 
 
 quies were attended by many Sachems of various 
 tribes, and celebrated by a grand hunt of the warriors. 
 
 We are inclined to hazard the hypothesis, that this 
 Saint was no other than our Sagamore ; that Agamen- 
 ticus was the retreat of Wonolanset, or at least of 
 his father, during and subsequent to Philip's war; and 
 that the latter obtained his new name from his new 
 friends, and the title attached to it from an English 
 source. It certainly would be remarkable, that so 
 many and such particulars should appear of the death 
 of a man never before heard of. And on the other 
 hand, the reputation and the age attributed to Aspin- 
 quid, agree strikingly with those of Passaconaway. By 
 his ' preaching ' must be meant his sacred character and 
 the great exertions he made to keep peace with the 
 English ; and the date of the alleged ' conversion/ we 
 suppose to have been the same with that of his first 
 acquaintance with the whites in 1629. 
 
 Our sketch may be fitly concluded with one of 
 those popular traditions concerning the old Chief, 
 which happens still to be in such preservation as to 
 form now and then, in some sections of the country, 
 the burden of a fireside tale. It is probably a fair illus- 
 tration of the opinion entertained of his abilities by 
 the credulous of his own era. 
 
 He said, that Sachem once to Dover came, 
 From Pennacook, when eve was setting in. 
 With plumes his locks were dressed, his eyes shot flame; 
 He struck his massy club with dreadful din, 
 That oft had made the ranks of battle thin; 
 Around his copper neck terrific hung 
 A tied-together, bear and catamount skin ; 
 The curious fishbones o'er his bosom swung, 
 And thrice the Sachem danced, and thrice the Sachem sung. 
 
350 INDIAN BIOGRAPHY 
 
 Strange man was he ! 'T was said, he oft pursued 
 The sable bear, and slew him in his den ; 
 That oft he howled through many a pathless wood, 
 And many a tangled wild, and poisonous fen, 
 That ne'er was trod by other mortal men. 
 The craggy ledge for rattlesnakes he sought, 
 And choked them one by one, and then 
 Overtook the tall gray moose, as quick as thought, 
 And then the mountain cat he chased, and chasing caught 
 
 A wondrous wight! For o'er 'Siogee's ice, 
 With brindled wolves, all harnessed three and three, 
 High seated on a sledge, made in a trice, 
 On mount Agiocochook, of hickory, 
 He lashed and reeled, and sung right jollily; 
 And once upon a car of flaming fire, 
 The dreadful Indian shook with fear, to see 
 The king of Penacook, his chief, his sire, 
 Ride flaming up towards heaven, than any mountain higher. 
 
 THE END OF VOL. I.