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.