INDIAN WARS OF 
 NEW ENGLAND 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT MILTON SYLVESTER 
 
 THREE VOLUMES 
 VOL, I. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 W. B. CLARKE COMPANY 
 MCMX 
 
Copyright, 1910, by Herbert M. Sylvester 
 
 Done at The Everett Press, Boston 
 
TO MY WIFE 
 THE INSPIRER AND LOVING CRITIC 
 
 OF ALL MY LABORS 
 
 I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE 
 
 THIS WORK 
 
PREFACE 
 
 fTlHE Compiler of an History can challenge little 
 JL to himself but methodizing his Work, the Ma 
 terials being found ready to his Hand; Diligence 
 in gathering them together, and Faithfulness in 
 improving them, is all that is upon the point re 
 quired of him; in both which I have endeavoured 
 to make good what the Profession I have now 
 taken up obliges me unto." 
 
 An Advertisement to the Reader, 
 Hubbard s "Indian Wars. 9 
 
 [5] 
 
AN ADVERTISEMENT TO 
 THE READER 
 
 IN this relation of the conflict between the Eng 
 lish settler and the New England aborigine, the 
 author leaves the field of ethnologic investigation 
 to the more curious and speculative student. After 
 the Relations of the Jesuits, and of Ventromile, 
 Lincoln, Kidder, Leland, Higginson, and O Brion, 
 there seems very little to be added of a people 
 who ceased to exist a century and a half ago, and 
 whose origin and history are involved in obscure 
 tradition prior to the advent of Waymouth and 
 Champlain. 
 
 The origin, especially, of the New England 
 Indian is a matter wholly of conjecture. His 
 annihilation, however, is an historic fact. It is 
 with the finals of his savage activities, in which 
 the Levitical concept was observed to the letter, 
 that the author is compelled, by the historic areas 
 to be surveyed, to be content. 
 
 [6] 
 
LIST OF AUTHORITIES 
 
 THE author of "The Indian Wars of New 
 England" acknowledges his indebtedness to 
 the following authorities in the preparation of his 
 work, for which he desires to give the proper 
 credit: - 
 
 Acadiensis 
 
 Adams, Portsmouth 
 
 Banvard, Pilgrims 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts 
 
 Baylie, Old Colony 
 
 Belknap, New Hampshire 
 
 Bodge, Narragansett 
 
 Bourne, History of Wells and Kennebunk 
 
 Bouton, LoveweWs Fight 
 
 Bradford, Plymouth 
 
 Caverly 
 
 Charlevoix, Canada (Shea) 
 
 Cheever, Puritans 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut 
 
 Dexter, Church s King Philip s War 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, Old Indian Chronicles 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism 
 
 Frost, Book of the Colonies 
 
 Higginson 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, History of New England 
 
 Hutchinson, Letters 
 
 Jackson, Early Settlers 
 
 Johnson, Deerfield 
 
 Lechford, Plain Dealing 
 
 [7] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Leland, Algonquin Legends 
 
 Lincoln, Abenake Language 
 
 Lithgow-Douglass, Dictionary of Indian Names 
 
 Maine Historical Collections 
 
 Morton 
 
 Neale, Puritans 
 
 O Brion, Abenake Language 
 
 Palfrey, History of New England 
 
 Parkman 
 
 Penhallow, Indian Wars 
 
 Pierce, Indian History and Genealogy 
 
 Purchas 
 
 Rogers, Rangers 
 
 Sew all, Papers 
 
 Thacher, Plymouth 
 
 Trumbull, Indian Wars 
 
 Ventromile, Abenake Language 
 
 Willis, History of Portland 
 
 Winsor, Memorial History of Boston 
 
 Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America 
 
 Winthrop, Letters 
 
 Wood, New England Prospect 
 
 Young, Chronicles 
 
 Consulting both original and contemporary 
 sources, the author does not claim to have dis 
 covered anything new after the lapse of centuries, 
 but he has endeavored to give some shape to the 
 disheveled data of numerous chroniclers, whose 
 relations seemed to him to be mostly matters of 
 place, with neither beginning nor end, and in some 
 instances, apparently, of very little accomplishment 
 or value. In "The Indian Wars of New England," 
 
 [8] 
 
LIST OF AUTHORITIES 
 
 as herein chronicled, a complete, continuous, and 
 chronological relation of a century of Indian war 
 fare is for the first time offered to the historical 
 student. The only apology the author has to make 
 is his surprise at the amount of rubbish that has 
 been garbed as history and mounted upon the 
 pedestal of alleged erudition. 
 
 [9] 
 
SUB-TITLES 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 THE PEQUOD WAR 
 WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 TO the student of Indian history of the early 
 New England period the catalogue of the li 
 brarian would allow one to infer that the ground 
 had been already preempted by Mr. William Hub- 
 bard and some other well-known writers upon the 
 savage tragedies of the early New England days, 
 whose labors are more famous for being a quaint 
 reflection of the times than for comprehensive 
 treatment of the subject at hand. Without Mr. 
 Drake s labors, allied to those of Church and Bel- 
 knap, the earlier story would be a meager one. It 
 is to these authors one goes with assurance and in 
 finite satisfaction, and one feels safe in accepting 
 them as authorities upon the matters of which they 
 write. Mr. Hubbard, who is most tedious in his 
 narrative, leaves one at the threshold of Mr. Pen- 
 hallow s " Relation, " which brings one to the verge 
 of 1726; while Mr. Palfrey s consideration of the 
 events which limit the scope of the present work is 
 general rather than subjective. Unquestionably, 
 Mr. Palfrey offers very little of the conflicts of the 
 English settler with the Indians. His objective was 
 a "History of New England," to which the depre 
 dations of the savages were necessarily incidental. 
 With Gardener s "Pequod Wars" and Church s 
 "Philip s War" is ushered in a decade of peaceful 
 
 [13] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 years, the termination of which leaves one upon 
 the threshold of a most sanguinary conflict which 
 broke out anew in 1688, and in which the stage of 
 activities was shifted from the purlieus of Mount 
 Hope 1 to the northern boundaries of New Hamp 
 shire and eastward about the marshes of old Scar 
 borough and the islands of Merry-meeting Bay. 
 
 Isolate attacks were made upon the Connect 
 icut River settlements at the outset; but with the 
 destruction of Hadley and Deerfield, and one or 
 two towns in the Hudson River Valley, the set 
 tlers along the coast of Maine and about the 
 Piscataqua bore the brunt of the terror and dev 
 astation which everywhere followed in the wake 
 of the savage allies of the French whose out 
 posts at Norridgewock and Pentagoet afforded the 
 Jesuit, Rale, and the son-in-law of Madockawando, 
 St. Castin, ample seclusion in which to foment 
 and perfect their plots under the guiding hand of 
 Frontenac, whose great labor was the progress of 
 New France and the extension of its domain as 
 far to the west as Albany and the country about 
 the Hudson and Iroquois, and as far south as 
 New York. From 1677 to 1685 the Indians had 
 been peaceable. There were mutterings of a 
 storm along the uplands of the Scarborough 
 lands, where lived Henry Jocelyn and the Algers. 
 
 1 Mount Hope is supposed to be a corruption of Montaup. 
 Banvard, Plymouth and the Pilgrims, p. 215. 
 
 [14] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 It broke and passed with a half-dozen savage 
 butcheries, in which the Algers paid the penalty 
 of their greed of land and their ungenerous atti 
 tude toward their savage grantors. Jocelyn had 
 been made a captive by Mugg, the Saco sachem, 
 and released. An exchange of captives was made, 
 and the Scarborough settlers turned to the tilling 
 of their acres anew, while Scottow began the build 
 ing of his fort. Frontenac had been recalled. 
 Denonville had superseded him, and, in the whirl 
 of events, Frontenac, who was hanging about the 
 court of Louis xiv., then at the zenith of its bril 
 liancy, needy and out of kingly favor, pushed by 
 influential friends and a wife whose subtle intrigu 
 ing was to prove of service to her ambitious hus 
 band, was about to see his fortunes mended. 
 
 Frontenac had his faults. He was fiery and 
 headstrong; but he was as keenly active and ener 
 getic, and of an unconquerable vitality. Denon 
 ville proved to be a bitter disappointment to his 
 master, and the king was not wholly unmindful 
 of Frontenac, to whom he had presented a "grati 
 fication" of 3,500 francs. Letters from Denon 
 ville betrayed the desperate state of affairs at 
 Quebec. In his need the king determined to re 
 store Frontenac to the dignity of which he had 
 stripped him seven years before. He summoned 
 Frontenac into his presence and, remarking that 
 it was his belief that the charges which had led to 
 his recall were unfounded, he added, "I send you 
 
 [15] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 back to Canada, where I am sure that you will 
 serve me as well as you did before; and I ask 
 nothing more of you." 1 
 
 Frontenac was in his seventieth year. It was 
 Denonville s plan to carry the war into the English 
 colonies. His plan was accepted by the king in a 
 modified form, but one which made the wished- 
 for results more doubtful. New York was the ob 
 jective-point, the immediate conquest of which was 
 decided upon. The raids upon Cascoe and the 
 towns to the south along the coast, the devastation 
 of the New Hampshire border, and the destruction 
 of Schenectady were almost simultaneously ac 
 complished by the three war parties sent out 
 respectively from Montreal, Three Rivers, and 
 Quebec. This was in 1690. In this year Pemaquid 
 was destroyed; Salmon Falls as well. The trail of 
 the savage wound through the woods of old York; 
 and everywhere in its wake were the smokes of 
 burning cabins and the stark figures of the set 
 tlers, dead and mutilated, almost across their own 
 thresholds. 
 
 This was twelve years after the ending of King 
 Philip s War, the beginning of an era of savagery 
 that has been paralleled nowhere in the history of 
 civilization. 
 
 Hubbard s story is perhaps sufficient, so far as it 
 goes; yet here at the second coming of Frontenac 
 
 , Oraison Funtbre du Compte de Frontenac. 
 [16] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 began a new era of savage barbarities that were to 
 extend through a half-dozen Indian outbreaks, at 
 the instigation of the French, and which were to 
 cover a span of two generations with all the de 
 moralization of flame and bloodshed. And while 
 the author has it in mind to go back to the begin 
 ning of things colonial, he hopes he may be able 
 to add something of interest to the narrations that 
 have gone before, and which have found many in 
 terpreters whose stories have been perpetuated in 
 reprints, which of itself is but an added proof that 
 the author need to make no apology for the work 
 he has undertaken. The material is abundant. In 
 the main it is veracious. The difficulty seems to be 
 in the matter of selection so as not to over-burden 
 the work with that which takes on some color of 
 value more from local tradition than from its actual 
 importance as a record of the so-called lean days, 
 and at the same time to enable the impartial reader 
 to realize unconsciously the historical truthfulness 
 of the events portrayed. The story is told chrono 
 logically, as one would unwind a strand of yarn 
 from its reel. If the author s notes at times seem 
 to be somewhat in extenso, it is because he has pre 
 ferred to offer them to the reader under the color 
 of a personal comment, rather than as a part of the 
 text, thus avoiding that disposition to digression 
 which, while it illuminates, is apt to impair the 
 directness of the relation. 
 
 The interest of the author in Indian lore, or, 
 [17] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 more particularly, Indian history as related to 
 the early settlements of New England, has been 
 crystallized somewhat in his story of the Pioneer 
 Settlements of the Maine Coast a relation which 
 terminated with the closing years of the peace fol 
 lowing the death of King Philip. With the comple 
 tion of this work the author hopes to have paid his 
 debt of admiration to the sturdy characteristics of 
 his forefathers, and as well to have afforded to 
 others some inspiration to continue the investiga 
 tion here begun. It is the story of a great and 
 significant drama, the stage-settings of which are 
 the green woods of the wilderness, their somber 
 shadows and ominous silences by day, and their 
 horde of voiceless terrors 
 
 "When Night s black mantle covers all the world," 
 
 a mingling of tragedy and romance, in which Fate 
 severed the thread of the French power upon the 
 continent of North America at the inevitable mo 
 ment, but at what cost to the New World dwellers 
 upon the English frontiers of 1688 and 1759 can 
 never be estimated. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 [18] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 FROM the nature of the two races it was in 
 evitable that, on the part of the English, there 
 should be a contemptuous indifference to the red 
 man; while on the part of the latter it was as in 
 evitable that in time the spirit of hatred and ven 
 geance should replace the courteous generosity of 
 the great Massasoit and his contemporaries, Samo- 
 set and Canonicus. The English settler, as typified 
 in the Puritan, who, by the way, is not to be con 
 founded with the Separatists of the Plymouth 
 Colony, was the antithesis of the aborigine of the 
 New World. 1 To the Puritan the Indian was a 
 
 1 The term "Puritan," as a generic appellation of the Eng 
 lish who comprised the settlements from Cape Cod to Cape 
 Ann, is misleading. The terms "Pilgrim" and "Puritan" 
 by many writers have been used interchangeably, as if their 
 religions and politics were identical. The terms are not 
 synonymous. The Puritans were of the Established Episcopal 
 Church; yet while they retained this connection, they were 
 self-appointed reformers of its doctrines and practices. They 
 yielded to the supremacy of the king as the head of the 
 Church, whose articles of faith they accepted, while protesting 
 against certain alleged abuses with which they claimed it was 
 infected. Laboring for the eradication of the same as a process 
 of internal purification, they were known as Puritans. Gov 
 ernor Winthrop was the head of this particular cult. 
 
 The Plymouth people were separated from the Established 
 
 [21] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 heathen, without rights or privileges, and he was 
 treated accordingly. 
 
 The Indian was among the rudest of the abo 
 riginal races. His language was untameably rugged ; 
 
 Church. They were non-conformists, disputing the domina 
 tion of the civil and ecclesiastical powers in matters of con 
 science, especially that interference which would make it 
 compulsory upon them to observe a form of worship which, 
 according to their belief, was offensive to God. They claimed 
 entire freedom of conscience. Their ultimate act was seces 
 sion from the parent body, to become known as Separatists. 
 
 There was a wide difference in their religious beliefs and 
 practices from those of the Puritans. When they left English 
 Plymouth for the New World they left it as pilgrims, and 
 they became Pilgrims, indeed. As the settlers of Plymouth, 
 they are properly designated as the Pilgrim Fathers. They 
 were of a proscribed sect. They were without a charter, pro 
 tection, or encouragement. Even their New World destina 
 tion was controverted by a trick of which they were ignorant. 
 They were the sport of circumstance. 
 
 Discounting the Weston settlement at Wessagusset 
 (1623-24) ; passing over the coming of Captain Wollaston to 
 Merry Mount, now Quincy, the resort of that "Lord of Mis 
 rule," Tom Morton (1625) ; the Puritan regime begins with 
 the coming of John Endicott to Salem (1629). Governor 
 John Winthrop came over the next year, at which time 
 William Blackstone lived a hermit life on the west slope 
 of Beacon Hill, while Thomas Walford was at Mishawam 
 (Charlestown) . Samuel Mavericke was at East Boston. All 
 these settlers, from Wessagusset to Salem, were known as "the 
 planters." This was the soil in which Governor Winthrop 
 was to sow the seed of Puritanism, the embryo of an ultra- 
 religious and political commonwealth. 
 
 [22] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 so was his environment. It was, as well, singularly 
 deficient, finding expression in unintelligible gut 
 turals and grunts. While his ear was touched with 
 solace of tuneful notes, harmonious sounds such 
 as make up a strain of music, his own song was 
 no more than a monody, a succession of notes 
 strung upon a single line, to make up a series of 
 wild chromatics as colorless as the air that bore 
 them upon the hearing of others. To him the 
 essence of music was vociferation, punctuated by 
 unearthly yells and wild whoops. Of melody and 
 rhythm, unless indicated by the genuflexions of 
 their bodies as they swayed to and fro in their burial 
 ceremonies, interpolated with chants pitched in low, 
 weird key or shrilling with wild despair, they knew 
 nothing except, perhaps, in its most rudimentary 
 character. 
 
 They had no literature, no arbitrary signs 
 which in combination might be interpreted into 
 cogent meaning, only such rude hieroglyphics as 
 they were wont to inscribe on the bark of the 
 birch, or the skins of animals taken in the chase, 
 figures of beasts and birds and of their own kind 
 traced with a bit of charcoal, a symbolical writing 
 which they understood, a rude scrawl in panto 
 mime. 1 They were picture- writers and, to a limited 
 
 1 It is recorded, after the first foray by the English upon 
 the Norridgewocks where the Jesuit Rale had his little chapel, 
 an Indian paddling down the Kennebec in his canoe came 
 
 [23] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 degree, they understood the use of the ocherous 
 earths and the juices of certain plants and tree- 
 rinds which yielded them brilliant pigments and 
 dyes. They were exceedingly fond of bright 
 colors. The Indian s eyes, his ears, and even his 
 finger-tips were unerring interpreters. By day or 
 night he traversed the forest with sure footsteps. 
 The stars were his compass; and when the stars 
 were obscured he read the bark of the trees with a 
 glancing touch. The leaves at his feet betrayed the 
 stranger who had trespassed upon his domain, and 
 with a nose as keen as that of a fox he scented 
 danger at a far distance. His nerves of hearing 
 were as delicately adjusted as the finest con 
 structed seismograph. As if nature had taken him 
 under her special protection, she had endowed him 
 with the keenest of outward sensibilities, as she 
 had the deer, and the animals who preyed upon it. 
 The Indian was limited even in his traditions, 
 all of which were supernaturally improbable. His 
 traditions of the origin of his race suggest the 
 
 upon a bit of birch bark upon which was pictured the death 
 of the priest. Rale was supposed to have been killed in the 
 attack on the Norridgewock village, but, singularly enough, 
 got away. The picture-writing was a news-bulletin; but in 
 this case it proved a canard. It remained for Lieutenant 
 Jacques, in the Moulton raid, to send the bullet home to the 
 heart of Rale, considered by the English to be the arch- 
 conspirator and instigator of the fiendish butcheries perpe 
 trated by his savage followers. 
 
 [24] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Darwinian theory, that it was evolved from the 
 animal kingdom. Some singular traditions pre 
 vailed among the Abenake, which were handed 
 down from father to son, after the fashion of the 
 Sagas of the Norsemen. 1 
 
 1 The Rev. Mr. Heckwelder, whom Baylie, in his History 
 of New Plymouth, alludes to as a "modern missionary," re 
 lates an interesting tradition concerning the origin of the 
 Indians of the north Atlantic coast, including the tribes 
 along the St. Lawrence. The tradition had its origin among 
 the Delawares (Leni Lenape), and is certainly plausible; and 
 while the author does not follow Heckwelder literally, the 
 relation here given, while considerably abbreviated, is close 
 enough. 
 
 The story is, the Leni Lenape nation came from the west 
 beyond the Na-me-esi-Sipu [Mississippi]. Crossing the 
 Great River, they came to the country of the Alligwe, from 
 which nation we have the word "Alleghany." On their way, 
 however, to the Great River they fell in with the Mengwe 
 [Iroquois], who, like themselves, were migrating to the east 
 ward to find a land that suited them. Crossing the Missis 
 sippi, they were confronted by the Alligwe, a gigantic race who 
 understood the arts of war and who had regularly constructed 
 fortifications. The Leni Lenape wished to settle in their 
 domain; but when the Alligwe saw the great numbers of the 
 Leni Lenape they attacked the latter with an intent to destroy 
 them, so fearful were they of being absorbed by this strange 
 people. 
 
 The Mengwe, who had been passive spectators of this 
 hostile interference, offered to join forces with the Leni 
 Lenape and compel a passage of the Alligwe country if, after 
 conquering the country, they should be allowed to share it 
 with the Leni Lenape equally, to which the latter at once 
 
 [25] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 As to the arts, they were primarily workers in 
 stone, as their implements readily indicate. At 
 Sabino, at the mouth of the Sagadahoc River, are 
 indications that there was once at that place a 
 primitive factory where were fashioned stone axes, 
 
 agreed. They immediately attacked the Alligwe with their 
 combined forces, and, after many years of warfare, overcame 
 them and compelled them to flee across the Great River into 
 the further west. The conquerors divided the country, the 
 Mengwe choosing the region about the Great Lakes and 
 their tributary waters, while the Leni Lenape occupied the 
 lands further south. Being at peace with each other, these 
 two nations increased with great rapidity. Another migra 
 tion then took place, the more adventurous Lenape crossing 
 the Alleghanies to follow the Susquehannah to the great bay 
 of the Chesapeake, keeping on to the Delaware River, still 
 exploring eastward through the Schegichbi [New Jersey] 
 country, until they came to the Hudson River. They found 
 these countries uninhabited. Returning home with the news, 
 the Leni Lenape migration began in greater force, and settle 
 ments were made on all four of the great rivers, the Dela 
 ware, Potomac, Hudson, and Susquehannah. The Delaware 
 country was the center of their possessions; but more than 
 half the Leni Lenape pushed still further east to settle on the 
 Atlantic. They became the three great tribes of The Wolf, 
 The Turkey, and The Turtle. The latter called themselves 
 the Unamis. The Turkey took the tribal name of Unalatchgo. 
 As their tribes multiplied, they extended out beyond the River 
 of the Mohicans [the Hudson], the Wolf totem belonging to 
 the Minci [Monseys]. Their council-fire was at Minisink. 
 
 From these and the body of the Delawares sprung other 
 tribes, grandchildren of the parent nation. These, choosing 
 to live by themselves, spread over that part of the country 
 
 [26] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 and gouges with which they hollowed out portions 
 of trees, which were shaped into the rude vessels 
 that answered to their necessities. Quantities of 
 stone relics have been found at that place, and 
 not far away are the shell-heaps of Damariscotta, 
 
 known as the Eastern States. As the years went on, new 
 families were generated, until the whole Atlantic country was 
 peopled by the descendants of the original Leni Lenape. 
 
 During this time the Mengwe had increased until they 
 had filled up the country about the Great Lakes and had 
 extended their habitations along the St. Lawrence until they 
 again came in contact with their old allies, the Leni Lenape, 
 through their descendants, which became a cause of hostility. 
 The trouble terminated, the Mengwe nation established its 
 superiority over the Leni Lenape and became known as 
 "The Five Nations." 
 
 This tradition is contracted from Baylie s direct quotation 
 of Heckwelder, who is regarded by him as somewhat credu 
 lous and liable to be imposed upon by Indian narrators. 
 Nothing is imputed to Heckwelder, if he gave the tradition 
 as he received it. In matters of tradition it is difficult to trace 
 the origin; but Heckwelder offers this particular narration 
 as a certain indication of the common origin of the Atlantic 
 tribes of New England extending southward to Virginia. 
 Heckwelder s contention or assumption has some sup 
 port from the notable similarity of their dialects with that of 
 the Delawares; also the radical difference which was apparent 
 between the languages of the Delawares and the Iroquois. 
 
 Baylie s History of the Pilgrims, p. 33. 
 
 It strikes the author of this work that the question of the 
 initial race from whence sprung the Indians of North America 
 is yet open to debate. 
 
 [27] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 which have given rise to much discussion as to their 
 origin, so extensive are these deposits. 
 
 They were superstitious, believing in dreams 
 like the ancients of the days of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 and as well in incantations. Every tribe had its 
 medicine-man, who was consulted upon important 
 occasions. Their worship w r as crude and unintel 
 ligible, except that they acknowledged the power 
 of a good spirit, whom they addressed as their 
 "Manitou," as well as that of another, an evil 
 spirit, who inhabited the air about them an in 
 visible atom of malevolence whom they were al 
 ways endeavoring to appease through their medi 
 cine-man. This spirit was the instigator of every 
 thing that was bad, and to it were ascribed all their 
 misfortunes in war and of the chase. They seemed 
 to have no comprehension of the human agency by 
 which communities guide their affairs. The be 
 nignity of the Manitou was their constant solicitude. 
 When things went wrong with them Manitou was 
 asleep, or on the chase somewhere in the Happy 
 Hunting-grounds of the Indian s Hereafter. 
 
 They had no permanent living-place; no home. 
 Their perpetuation of the memory of their dead 
 was by heaping up an occasional tumulus of dirt. 
 They erected no monuments, unless one instance 
 may be mentioned as existing on the eastern bank 
 of Taunton River. 1 There has recently been dis- 
 
 1 This stone is known as Dighton Rock. Upon it is traced a 
 
 [28] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 covered in the bed of a stream in the town of Solon, 
 Me., a shelving ledge, for the great part of the 
 time under water, upon which are some curious 
 rock-tracings. Like those on Dighton Rock, they 
 are uninterpre table. Other stones of a similar 
 character are to be seen elsewhere about New Eng 
 land notably, a boulder at Damariscotta, and 
 as well, at Manana, a bit of rock in the sea adjacent 
 to Monhegan. In their writing, arrow-heads, 
 
 multitude of strange hieroglyphics to which, as yet, no key 
 has been discovered. The tracings are evidently a work of 
 regular design. It has become famous by reason of its pro 
 jection into the controversy of the Norse Occupation and the 
 discovery of the coast of New England by Leif, the son of 
 Erik the Red. Bjarne, son of Herjulf, had been driven by 
 adverse winds south of Greenland, by reason of which he 
 came upon a strange country at three separate times before 
 he was able to head his ship back to Iceland. This was about 
 the year 990. Following Bjarne, Leif headed his ship toward 
 Greenland and then sailed south until he came to a pleasant 
 country to which he gave the name of Leifsbudir, afterward 
 called Vinland, by reason of the grapes which grew there in 
 abundance. In 1002 Thorvald, a brother of Leif, came 
 hither. About 1008 Thorfinn Karlsefne came over with 
 three vessels. He had with him one hundred and sixty per 
 sons. His object was to establish a colony at Vinland. Three 
 years later the settlement was abandoned. Other and later 
 voyages took place, but they are all the subject of oral tradi 
 tion. Professor Rafn essayed to interpret the mystery of 
 Dighton Rock. He accepts the inscription as undoubtedly of 
 Norse origin. Other scholars have agreed with him. Mr. 
 George Bancroft styles the Sagas, which were first printed 
 
 [29] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 flints, and charred coals were used by these un 
 tutored sons of the wilderness. The thin rind of 
 the birch was the Indian s letter-paper. Upon it 
 were transcribed the symbols within which the 
 meaning of their messages was concealed, a veri 
 table cipher to the uninitiate. Between the various 
 tribes the means of conveyance of these messages 
 was by a runner, a young Indian whose wind and 
 sinew were equal to the arduous strain of a journey 
 of days and nights through the pathless forest, pos 
 sibly; though from east to west and to the south 
 ward along the coast were well-worn trails which 
 might be termed primitive highways. It was by 
 these bits of bark and the pictures on them that 
 they convened their council-fires, where, with much 
 silence, amid the wreathings of fragrant tobacco- 
 
 in 1837, "mythological in form and obscure in meaning." 
 The Danish antiquaries accept them as legitimate. The rock 
 is located some seven miles from Taunton, in Asson-neck, 
 now the town of Berkely. It is, at low-water line, some nine 
 or ten feet across at its base; it is about four feet high, of 
 smooth face which slopes to the water. 
 
 It was discovered by the English in the days of Cotton 
 Mather, whose description of it was published in the transac 
 tions of the Royal Society. It has been a Chinese puzzle to the 
 antiquarian. It is evidently of an origin utterly without the 
 scope of the Indian of North America. It has given rise to 
 the most singular vagaries, and by some has been ascribed to 
 the Phoenician navigators. Whatever it may stand for as a 
 vestige of a once existing race, its antiquity is more remote,, 
 possibly, than as yet has been accorded it. 
 
 [30] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 smoke, they reached the ultimatum of their de 
 bate. 
 
 While it has been asserted that the savage had 
 no literature, it is true that in the wigwams of the 
 Abenake were not infrequently found collections 
 of hieroglyphic writings, if they might be so classed, 
 which consisted of bits of bark, stones, and other 
 object-records. Their medicine-men had scrolls of 
 bark upon which were singularly uncouth tracings 
 of incantations which they were wont to read to the 
 sick. The Micmacs were adepts in the art of pic 
 ture-painting; and while the Abenake may not 
 have practised it to so great an extent, it was some 
 thing they were wont to use not infrequently to con 
 vey information to others. It was a picture- vocab 
 ulary, some specimens of which are preserved 
 among the writings left by Father Rale. It was as 
 if the understanding was to be appealed to through 
 the vision. 
 
 The moon was the Indian calendar. It was a 
 weather prognosticator. A watery moon foretold 
 snow or wet; a reddish one indicated high winds. 
 It was prophetic of cold, when the rivers would be 
 covered with ice and the snow would be deep in 
 the woods. It foretold as well the bursting of the 
 spring buds. The simples that grew in the woods 
 were the source from which their pharmacy was 
 supplied. There was healing in the trees, as the 
 scurvy-stricken followers of Jacques Cartier, much 
 to their relief, found at Stadacone, a little palisado 
 
 [31] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 on the banks of the St. Charles, where he wintered 
 in 1535, the prey to inaction and the rigorous 
 climate of a Canadian winter, amid a savage and 
 inhospitable people. 1 
 
 The Indian, half animal himself, knew the 
 language of the wild creatures of the wilderness 
 woods, many of which they adopted as the totems 
 of their tribes, and as well revered for the benefits 
 derived from them in food and clothing. They 
 talked with the moose through the hollows of their 
 hands, with the owl and the crow. The beaver 
 taught them the lesson of industry at their very 
 wigwam doors. They spun their thread from the 
 roots of the spruce; the rushes of the swamps gave 
 them their mats; the hide of the deer, their bow 
 strings. They thatched the roofs of their huts and 
 fashioned their canoes from the bark of the birch, 
 the elm, or the oak. Nature was their literature, 
 unabridged and unexpurgated. The summer days 
 
 1 Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, p. 217. 
 
 Cartier had made his second voyage to the St. Lawrence 
 (1535) . He wintered at Stadacone. With the opening of the 
 next year, 1536, a malignant scurvy afflicted his little com 
 pany of adventurers. Twenty-five died, leaving less than a 
 half-dozen to care for the sick. The prospect was annihila 
 tion for the entire party. Cartier met a savage who had not 
 long before been prostrated with the scurvy, but who appeared 
 to be in perfect health. Questioning him as to what had 
 brought about this miraculous healing, the latter told him of 
 a certain evergreen, the "ameda," a brew of the leaves of 
 which was most efficacious. Cartier, obtaining the simple, 
 
 [32] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 were their paradise, while the winter, with its snow- 
 smothered silences, was a period of hibernation, 
 when to eat and sleep was their single solace. 
 Inured to exposure, often on the verge of famine, 
 the Indian was a stoic of the extreme type. His 
 philosophy was that of endurance at the expense 
 of all fancy or imagination, in the creative sense. 
 Child-like, yet subtle; hospitable, yet treacherous; 
 forbearing, yet revengeful; loyal, yet impression 
 able, he was as fickle as the winds. To his friends, 
 his heart was in his hand. To his enemy, he was 
 the quintessence of all that was crafty, cruel, and 
 vindictive. 
 
 If the Indian was anything, in matter of degree 
 he might be classed among the mystics. Whatever 
 was beyond his immediate comprehension became 
 at once a source of either fear or admiration. More 
 an impressionist than either analyst or logician, to 
 him the mystery of the Jesuit ritual was like mist 
 upon the waters. It was a visual perception rather 
 than a revelation. It remained for Eliot to locate 
 the spiritual pulse of the savage. 
 
 A creature of perfect vitality and of equally fine 
 nervous organism, he was apparently insensible to 
 exposure to the elements 1 or to the pain inflicted 
 
 made a brew of which his men drank freely, so that in six 
 days all were on the road to health. 
 
 Parkman says, "The wonderful tree seems to have been a 
 spruce, or, more probably, an arbor- vitse." 
 
 1 It was on March 16, 1621, that Samoset made his appear- 
 
 [33] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 by his enemies. His accuracy of ear, of scent, of 
 touch, was a part of nature s phenomena. Wild, 
 uncouth, he was one of nature s mosaics, as were 
 the wild things that dropped to his unerring arrow. 
 As a type, to the European he was an exceptional, 
 original, unexpurgated. As a human problem, he 
 was wholly unreducible. His acquaintance with 
 civilization was the first step toward his utter ex 
 tinction as a race. Once inoculated with the poison 
 in the white man s cup, his moral and physical 
 deterioration was like that of a forest tree stricken 
 with an irreparable decay. 
 
 Apparently the Indians of southern New Eng 
 land were of a higher intellectual order, possibly by 
 reason of their living in larger communities and 
 because their trade in wampum brought them in 
 contact with the tribes still further south. The two 
 great tribes of that part of New England which 
 bordered on Long Island Sound were the Pequots 
 and the Narragansetts. While the latter sustained 
 traditions of singular interest, the savages along 
 the coast bordering on the Gulf of Maine were 
 more rude in their habits and customs than either 
 
 ance at Plymouth. Mourt says he was naked, with "only a 
 leather girdle about his waist, with a fringe about a span 
 long." Drake makes mention that it was very cold weather; 
 and Mourt adds, "We cast a horseman s coat about him." 
 Samoset remained at Plymouth five days. When he went 
 away, Mourt says, "We gave him a hat, a pair of stockings 
 and shoes, a shirt, and a piece of cloth to tie about his waist." 
 
 [34] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 the Dela wares or the Iroquois. These two great 
 Indian powers were located south of the Hudson. 
 The Pequots and Narragansetts were both notable 
 tribes. They were the mint-masters the makers 
 of wampum for their savage neighbors. 1 As manu 
 facturers of wampum (and they were adepts in the 
 art), these two tribes became wealthy and influen 
 tial. At the time of the coming of the Plymouth 
 settlers they were at the zenith of their power. 
 Traders in a commodity over which they exer 
 cised a monopoly, they acquired an ascendency in 
 the councils of the Indians to the eastward which 
 ceased only with their practical extinction. 
 
 Other tribes, whose ingenuity and industry 
 availed them little or nothing, other than a meager 
 subsistence gained from the chase, or the cultiva 
 tion of the open places in the wilderness which 
 they made their habitat, were undergoing uncon 
 sciously the inevitable decay common to lack of 
 
 1 Wampum, or wampumpeag, was made from the shell of 
 the "quahag," one of the largest of the clam species. These 
 shells were susceptible of a high polish, and were colored. 
 They were attached, in varicolored patterns of unique and 
 curious design, to strips of cloth originally woven of fine roots, 
 or a vegetable fiber which resembled cotton, and later to 
 strips of cloth obtained from the English. Those of a bluish 
 tint were most esteemed. Among the savages, wampum was 
 used in the place of precious metals, of which they seemed to 
 have little or no knowledge, but which were not uncommon 
 among the tribes further to the south or west. 
 
 [35] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 stimulus to the attainment of larger creature com 
 forts and the seeking out of new gratifications. 
 The savage of the northern New England coast 
 was, while of a magnificent physique, in all his 
 tendencies animalistic; his natural desire was 
 solely the satisfying of his stomach and the sus 
 taining of his energies by the slothfulness of sleep. 
 On the opposite, his acquired tastes were but a few 
 steps from actual debauchery. He was akin to the 
 dweller in the hollows of trees, the damp recesses 
 of rock-shadowed caves: a half-naked solitary, as 
 it were, nomad in all his instincts, obtaining by 
 violence what could not otherwise be had peace 
 ably; an individual apart from the other world 
 races. Singular as it may seem, crediting the Indian 
 with these untoward characteristics, he was still 
 most kindly and generous in his hospitality, 1 
 
 1 After the first winter at Plymouth, with the coming of 
 the warm weather the neighboring Indians began to frequent 
 the seashore for lobsters and fish. While they were in the 
 way of becoming an annoyance to the settlers (for the savages 
 were apt to go wherever they could get anything to eat), the 
 settlers treating them with kindness, they hung around the 
 settlement until it was decided to send an embassy to Massa- 
 soit with a request that he prohibit the continuance of this 
 drain upon their slender resources. Stephen Hopkins and 
 Edward Winslow were appointed ambassadors. Squanto, 
 who had long before been kidnapped by Hunt and sold as a 
 slave in Spain, to be afterward released and sent to Eng 
 land, whence he was returned home, went along as inter 
 preter. Their gifts to Massasoit were a red coat and a copper 
 
 [36] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 sharing his last morsel with an accepted guest, or 
 even a stranger; giving up his couch of skins and 
 even his wigwam to those whom chance or purpose 
 had thrown in his way. 
 
 Contemptuous of labor, that was for the squaw, 
 for whom they had an even deeper contempt. To 
 call an enemy a woman was a species of contumely 
 unequalled by any other epithet in their limited 
 vocabulary. In conflict they were ferocious, subtle, 
 and treacherous, seeking the cover of fences and 
 trees, and rarely ever showing themselves in the 
 
 chain. When Massasoit was arrayed in his red coat Hopkins 
 and Winslow delivered their message, which was that they 
 wished to pay for the kettle and the corn they had taken in 
 the winter; and they went on to say that, as their crops were 
 uncertain, and not having much other food, they would be 
 unable to extend to his people the same hospitality in the 
 future as they had in the past, though they would still be 
 pleased to do it if it were in their power. Their request to 
 Massasoit was that he suffer none of his people to come to the 
 settlement, except those who had skins to trade. If, however, 
 he wished to come himself, or have some particular friend, 
 they would be glad to entertain them as heretofore. That 
 they might not be imposed upon, they suggested that he send 
 the copper chain with his friend or messenger as the credential 
 of representation. After the business of the meeting was over 
 pipes and tobacco were brought. So poor was Massasoit that 
 he had nothing to offer them for supper. His guests expressed 
 a desire to remain over night. In one part of the wigwam 
 was a rude bed of plank, but a few inches from the ground, 
 which was covered with a coarse mat. One end of this plank 
 platform was given to the visitors, while the sagamore and 
 
 [37] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 open, unless in overpowering numbers. Their 
 modes of torture were of the most satanie ingenuity; 
 yet, with all their indifference to the weaker sex 
 of their tribes, their respect for the chastity of their 
 women was inviolable. Friend or foe, they never 
 forgot a benefit or forgave an injury. 1 j 
 
 The Indian has been described as of tall, angular, 
 and generally stalwart physique; but in that re 
 spect he was subject to the same variations in 
 stature as other races. An acquaintance with the 
 western Indians of to-day bears out the assumption. 
 
 his wife slept at the other end. Two other Indians were to 
 be accommodated, who, during the night, so crowded the 
 Englishmen that they got but little sleep, and so were more 
 weary in the morning than when they lay down. For break 
 fast they had two large fish which Massasoit had secured 
 with his arrows in the early morning. This was the first food 
 the ambassadors had eaten for a day and two nights. Kindli 
 ness was in Massasoit s heart, but his larder was not stocked 
 with abundance. Massasoit told them he was sorry he 
 could not give them better entertainment. 
 
 Banvard, Plymouth and the Pilgrims, p. 54. 
 
 1 The Nausets never forgave the English for the dastardly 
 act of Hunt in kidnapping a considerable number of that 
 tribe, whom he had decoyed aboard his vessel and carried 
 to Spain, where they were sold as slaves. John Billington, a 
 " vicious lad and a great plague to the colony," strayed away. 
 A party was sent out after him. The searching-party spent 
 the night at Cummaquid [Barnstable Harbor], at which 
 place they met a squaw who was then reputed to be a hun 
 dred years of age. When she saw the Englishmen she be 
 came greatly excited, weeping "excessively." Asking her 
 
 [38] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 In peace and plenty his physiognomy was calmly 
 mild, if not pleasantly suggestive. In anger or un 
 rest his features were as shifty as the sea in a 
 whipping gale. As an expression of savagery, they 
 were demoniac. They were at once brave, timid, 
 detesting falsehood in others, and again courting 
 it; haughty and insolent with those of inferior rank 
 or power, they were most humbly docile in the 
 presence of their superiors in strength and influ 
 ence. The mood of the savage was kaleidoscopic. 
 It varied, like that of a child, with every circum 
 stance. What he might have become had the New 
 World remained a sealed book to the Old is prob 
 lematical. The inference is that in the long years 
 
 what so affected her, she replied that when Captain Hunt 
 was at that place she had three sons who went aboard his 
 vessel to trade, and he had carried them away captive to 
 Spain. The Nausets, who were settled at what is now East- 
 ham, were never fully gained over to the English interest, 
 such was their deep and abiding hatred of the white race. 
 They never forgot or forgave Hunt, or his people. This un 
 fortunate event occurred in 1614, or six years before the com 
 ing of the Mayflower. 
 
 Banvard, Plymouth and the Pilgrims, p. 57. 
 
 It was at this place the English were attacked upon their 
 second venturing from the Mayflower, when they went to 
 spy out the land (Dec. 6, 1620). It is worthy of note that 
 their first reception at the hands of the natives was one of 
 hostility (Drake s Indian Wars, p. 11). At their first landing 
 the natives ran away. Their traditions of the white men 
 were not reassuring. 
 
 [39] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to be unfolded they might have evolved into traders 
 and explorers, and have taken the initial step, as 
 have some of the races of the Orient, toward a more 
 complete civilization. They might, on the other 
 hand, have fallen a prey to the natural decadence 
 incident to a people without cohesion or high moral 
 purpose, of which they had neither. 
 
 Their mode of living was of the rudest sort. 
 Through the secret recesses of the wilderness were 
 the scattered villages of the different tribes. In 
 New England they were to be found bordering on 
 the shores of the ocean where fish were to be readily 
 taken, and in the middle country, about the Great 
 Lakes or along the rivers which led from them out 
 ward to the sea. The squaws were the tillers of the 
 soil, accomplishing what they could with their 
 rude implements of stone or wood; while the men, 
 with their bows, their arrows flint-headed or tipped 
 with the claws of the eagle, and their axes of stone 
 curiously sharpened, were off on the chase or en 
 gaged in an occasional foray against some aboriginal 
 enemy. After the war against King Philip closed 
 they were more gregarious in their habits, living in 
 sequestered villages, as those at Pentagoet, Nor- 
 ridgewock, and Pigwacket, from which places they 
 issued under the direction of the French in organ 
 ized bands to leave a trail of devastation wherever 
 they passed. 
 
 They knew little or nothing of metals, although 
 the tribes about the Great Lakes, in what has now 
 
 [40] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 become the great copper-producing country, were 
 reputed to have utensils of that metal. Copper 
 knives have been found, of Indian origin, of a 
 singularly fine temper, as well as copper vessels, 
 artistically fashioned, which were indicative of 
 such at one time being in quite common use. It is 
 possible that the Indians of the Middle West had 
 their knowledge from the tribes still further south, 
 who were not ignorant of the ceramic arts, and 
 whose acquaintance with the more precious metals 
 is well assured. 
 
 The New England tribes had no domestic ani 
 mals; but they were well acquainted with the cul 
 ture of maize, of beans, and of squashes and 
 "pumpions." Tobacco was cultivated among all 
 the tribes, even into western Maine; 1 but, lazy and 
 improvident, they were more often than not on the 
 verge of famine, when the snare and the arrow 
 were made to supply their slender larder. The 
 
 1 The seed of the Nicotania Rustica, probably. The plant 
 has greenish yellow blossoms. It grows wild in old fields in 
 some parts of the North, a relic of cultivation by the Indians. 
 Roger Williams says: "They take their Wuttamaoug (that 
 is a weake Tobacco) which the men plant themselves, very 
 frequently; yet I never see any take so excessively as I have 
 seene Men in Europe. . . . They say they take Tobacco for 
 two reasons ; against the rheume which causeth the toothake, 
 which they are impatient of; secondly, to revive and refresh 
 them, they drinking nothing but water." 
 
 R. I. Hist. Coll, vol. i., pp. 35, 55. 
 
 [41] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 woods abounded with deer, and the streams with 
 fish. Wild fowl in large numbers were to be found 
 wherever there were feeding-grounds about the 
 inland ponds, except in the severer months of the 
 winter season, when everything was under an em 
 bargo of snow and ice. Amid all this natural 
 plenty the Indian was wont to feel the sharp pangs 
 of hunger as the price of his indolence, when his 
 only resource was sleep and absolute inaction. 
 
 Whatever there was of cohesion among the vari 
 ous tribes was the result of intimidation. They 
 had no body politic; no code of laws; no axis about 
 which their common interest might revolve. Each 
 tribe had its sachem, who ruled independent of 
 outside interference, between whom and the medi 
 cine-man the honors were about equally divided. 
 Their tribal divisions were almost innumerable. 
 In what are now known as the Provinces the Mic- 
 macs, who were a part of the great Armouchiquois, 
 had their roaming-grounds. At the mouth of the 
 St. Croix River was the Passamaquoddy tribe. 
 West and south along the coast, up and down the 
 Penobscot, were the Tarratines. Westward, half 
 way to the headwaters of the Kennebec, at Nor- 
 ridgewock, was a branch of the Sokoki. Lower 
 down that river were the Kennebequi. Over on the 
 Androscoggin was another contingent known as 
 the Androscoggins. On the Presumpscot were the 
 Ammacongins, while along the headwaters of the 
 Saco were the Pigwackets. These formed the great 
 
 [42] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Abenake family, the Pigwackets being akin to the 
 Norridgewocks and known as the two Sokoki settle 
 ments in Maine. 
 
 Passing over the territory of New Hampshire 
 into the Plymouth country, and following the shore 
 to Long Island Sound, one is in the land of the 
 Pequots, once a powerful and aggressive people, of 
 which Sassacus was the chief sachem. He had his 
 settlement upon a commanding eminence in what 
 is now Groton. His settlement was enclosed in a 
 stout stockade; for he was most thoroughly hated 
 and detested by his neighbors. He was the most 
 powerful sachem of the surrounding tribes, and 
 the Pequots, unlike the other tribes, lived com 
 pactly. They were feared, as they were disliked; 
 for they were for the greater part of the time at war 
 with the Narragansetts. They dominated the 
 Mohegans, of whom they exacted a tribute. About 
 the time of the coming of the English, Uncas, who 
 was of the royal family, rebelled against Sassacus. 
 Uncas was not without some influence, having mar 
 ried a daughter of Tatobam. 
 
 The English came early in contact with Sassacus 
 and his Pequots, who, feeling secure in their power, 
 treated the former with great disdain and not in 
 frequently with undisguised contempt. Actuated 
 by his hatred for Sassacus, once hostilities had 
 broken out between the English and the Pequots, 
 Uncas immediately espoused the cause of the Eng 
 lish, and a war ensued that culminated in the ex- 
 
 [43] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 tinction of the Pequot race, the remnant finding its 
 way to the country of the Mohawks, who, with 
 savage philosophy, failed not to take advantage 
 of the opportunity to pay off old scores, which they 
 improved by severing Sassacus s head from his 
 body. 
 
 This act of the Mohawks is suggestive, especially 
 in matters of comity with their savage neighbors. 
 In war the Indian was the epitome of ferocity, un 
 relenting in his cruelty. Skulkers ordinarily, when 
 fighting at bay they were desperately brave. Vic 
 torious, they were drunken with delight, which 
 Parkman describes as a " ferocious ecstasy." In 
 their torturing of captives they were fiendish in 
 their ingenuity. They burned their victims at the 
 stake, scalping them alive, sticking their bodies 
 full of splints of flaming pitch-pine, or using them 
 as living targets for the hurtling knife or toma 
 hawk. They beheaded them to carry the heads 
 home as trophies to their squaws, who, with these 
 gory evidences of battle slung about their necks, 
 joined in the dances of the victors about the help 
 less captive. 1 
 
 Champlain mentions an instance in his second 
 encounter with the Iroquois, in the year 1610, 
 which took place on the banks of the St. Lawrence, 
 near the mouth of the Richelieu River, when the 
 
 1 Parkman, Pioneers of New France, p. 359. 
 [44] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 body of one Iroquois captive was drawn, quar 
 tered, and eaten by his Montagnais allies. 1 
 
 The squaws, and even the children boys and 
 girls took part in these inhuman orgies. The 
 Abenake were not unlike the more northern 
 tribes, yet it is assumed that with them burning at 
 the stake was more infrequent. A solitary instance 
 is recorded by St. Castin, which took place at 
 Pentagoet. Indian or pale-face, however, the 
 scalp was taken. Stretched and hung up to dry 
 against the interior walls of the wigwam, they were 
 so many insignia of individual prowess. The more 
 scalps a savage could show, the more weighty his 
 influence in the deliberations of the council-fire. 
 
 The victim at the stake was challenged to sing 
 his death-song, which, while being a relation of his 
 
 1 Cannibalism was not uncommon among the North Amer 
 ican tribes. Parkman is of the opinion such was very rarely 
 a conspicuous event. He attributes it to a spirit of revenge 
 or ferocity; sometimes to a religious practice, as with the 
 Miamis, among whom existed a secret society a religious 
 fraternity of man-eating savages. 
 
 To eat the heart of an enemy, especially if he were brave, 
 was held to impart the same quality to the eater, which was 
 in a way a traditional proverb among the savages. Hunger 
 among the rovers of the winter woods was appeased by their 
 eating of their own kind As one contemplates the ways and 
 the manners of this untutored people, it must be remembered 
 that they were responsible to no higher authority than their 
 individual appetites and passions ; that all their instincts were 
 colored by the atmosphere of their surroundings. 
 
 [45] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 former victories over his captors, was as well a 
 diatribe against their cowardice in war and their 
 unimportance as a people. It was a monologue of 
 taunts and cutting epithets, calculated to arouse 
 the fury of his captors to the highest pitch, when 
 his death-cry was drowned in a bedlam of frenzy 
 on the part of his tormentors. 
 
 Before the fires were lighted the captive was 
 usually scalped, 1 to the accompaniment of yells 
 and whoops of unrestrained delight. It was a gala 
 occasion, in which all the pent brutalism of the 
 tribe found vent, an excess of sheer bloodthirstiness 
 which was kept up to the point of physical ex 
 haustion. 
 
 In the wars with the English the scalping-knife, 
 which was usually of French manufacture, and the 
 tomahawk generally sufficed; possibly because, 
 after slaking his vengeance, the savage aggressor s 
 
 1 Note to Parkman s Pioneers of New France is here 
 quoted : " It has been erroneously asserted that the practice 
 of scalping did not prevail among the Indians before the 
 advent of the Europeans. In 1535 Cartier saw five scalps at 
 Quebec, dried and stretched on hoops. In 1564 Laudonniere 
 saw them among the Indians of Florida. The Algonquins of 
 New England and Nova Scotia were accustomed to cut off 
 and carry away the head, which they afterwards scalped. 
 Those of Canada, it seems, sometimes scalped dead bodies 
 on the field. The Algonquin practice of carrying off heads as 
 trophies is mentioned by Lalemant, Roger Williams, Lescar- 
 bot, and Champlain." 
 
 [46] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 paramount idea was to get away from the scene of 
 his butchery without detection. The smoke of the 
 burning cabin rising above the woodland pointed 
 the savage trail in the pathless air. 
 
 Implacable toward his foe, his only approach to 
 mercy was to offer his captive the gauntlet. Women 
 and children taken captive were usually adopted 
 into the tribe, especially if they were young, comely, 
 and in good health. They had, however, no use 
 for the old, the sick, or the frail. A babe in arms 
 was apparently their special aversion. 
 
 Running the gauntlet was an even greater torture 
 than outright death. It was a race for life between 
 a double file of all the able-bodied members of the 
 tribe, as well as the squaws and children, in which 
 blows from war-clubs, tomahawks, and knives were 
 rained down upon the shoulders and head of the 
 captive, his body bent to ward off the assault and 
 to elude, if possible, the death-blow which awaited 
 him at every step. Even if the captive escaped into 
 the wilderness, his wounds were worse, possibly, 
 than the stake; for, weaponless and exhausted, he 
 was perhaps not only broken physically, but face to 
 face with starvation and the wilder denizens of the 
 woods, with only the sun or the stars to guide him 
 to safety. Such were these "peasants and paupers 
 of the forest." 
 
 The Narragansetts were of Rhode Island. Ca- 
 nonicus was their sachem, and, like Massasoit and 
 Samoset, he was possessed of a most noble nature. 
 
 [47] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 He liked the English, and was especially kind to 
 Roger Williams, to whom he was princely in his 
 generosity, giving him the whole of what is now 
 Providence County, and to the Hutchinson set 
 tlers the island of Rhode Island. His nephew, 
 Miantonomoh, was of like character and manly 
 spirit. Some writers have endeavored to cast the 
 odium of the savagery that marked the later gen 
 erations of the Indian upon that race; but the Eng 
 lish were the original trespassers, beyond cavil. 
 In those early days there were nowhere three 
 greater souls than those of Samoset, Massasoit, and 
 Canonicus. It would be difficult to match them 
 among the English whom they received so gener 
 ously, and to whom, out of their poverty, they gave 
 so much. 
 
 On the eastern edge of the Narragansetts lived 
 the Wampanoags, whose habitat was in that section 
 now known as Bristol. Massasoit was of this tribe. 
 
 East and north of the Narragansetts, as well, 
 were the Pokonokets. In fact, that was the generic 
 title by which all the cognate Indian tribes about 
 the Plymouth settlement were known. 
 
 Massasoit was beloved of all these people, whose 
 home was at Pokonoket. 1 
 
 The son of Massasoit was Metacomet, after 
 
 Pokonoket, or Pawkunnawkut, is now included in the 
 town of Bristol, R. I. The English early gave it the name of 
 Mount Hope, corrupted from the Indian, "Mon-taup," the 
 
 [48] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Massasoit s death better known as King Philip. 
 Owing to the plague which visited this nation 
 shortly before the coming of the Plymouth people, 
 its fighting force was reduced to less than sixty 
 men. Prior to the plague the Pokonokets had been 
 a powerful nation, boasting some three thousand 
 warriors, who were generally allied to the Massa 
 chusetts, forming a combination over which the 
 Narragansetts were unable to prevail. 
 
 This plague was a most disastrous event. All 
 the way from Canada to Long Island Sound the 
 tribes were grievously stricken and decimated. 
 Had the plague not occurred as it did, the English 
 would have been driven into the sea. The forces 
 which the French were able to call to their aid 
 would have been increased by thousands, and the 
 schemes of Denonville and Louis xiv. might pos 
 sibly have become a reality. 
 
 In the locality of Plymouth and Bristol the coun 
 try was practically depopulated. 
 
 Among the shore tribes were the Pocassetts, 
 whose habitat was in the Swanzy, Somerset, Reho- 
 both, and Tiverton district. Corbitant was the 
 
 origin of which is obscure. It is a sightly eminence which 
 affords a beautiful view of Providence, Warren, Bristol, and 
 the surrounding country. 
 
 For a description of this picturesque locality, see Drake s 
 Book of the Indians, p. 16; Alden s Coll. Epitaphs, vol. iv., p. 
 685; Stiles, Notes to Church s History of King Philip s War, 
 p. 7. 
 
 [49] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sachem of this tribe, and he was not over-friendly 
 to the English. The unfortunate Weetamoo suc 
 ceeded him, to whom has been credited much of 
 the incentive that led Philip to conspire against the 
 English, which the death of Alexander may be 
 said to have accelerated. The romantic story of 
 Weetamoo will preface the relation of the causes 
 that led up to the outbreak of King Philip. 1 
 
 The Saconets were the aboriginal occupants of 
 the neighborhood of Little Compton. In King 
 Philip s War they were governed by the queen- 
 sachem Awashonks. The Namaskets were located 
 in the vicinity of what is now Middleborough ; and 
 
 1 Weetamoo was the widow of Alexander, and squaw-sachem 
 of the Pocassetts. Alexander was Philip s brother. She was 
 drowned in August, 1667, while making the effort to escape 
 from her pursuers across the Tetticut River on a raft of 
 boughs. Her body was found in Mettapoisett. Some of the 
 settlers cut off her head and placed it upon a pole in Taunton, 
 where it was at once recognized by the Indians who had been 
 taken prisoners by the English, and who "made a most 
 horrid and diabolical lamentation, crying out that it was their 
 queen s head." By reason of the death of Alexander, who, 
 she believed, had been poisoned by the English, she opposed 
 the latter bitterly. Mather said, "She was next to Philip, in 
 respect of the mischief that hath been done." 
 
 As indicative of the spirit of the English about this time, 
 Dr. Increase Mather is quoted as speaking of the death of 
 some of Philip s followers at Narragansett : "We have heard 
 of two and twenty Indian captains slain, all of them brought 
 down to hell in one day." 
 
 [50] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 the Nausets at Eastham, on Cape Cod; the Mat- 
 tachees at Barnstable; the Monomoys at Chatham; 
 the Saukatucketts at Mashpee; and the Nobsquas- 
 setts at Yarmouth. 
 
 The Massachusetts were located about Boston 
 Bay, and were once a great tribe; but in 1630 they 
 counted hardly a hundred. 1 The Massachusetts 
 sachem was chief of the Wessagussets, Pankapogs, 
 Nonantums, Nashuas, Neponsets, and a portion of 
 the Nipmucks. Their territory lapped against that 
 of the Pokonoket sachem Massasoit on the south, 
 the Nipmucks on the west, and the Pawtuckets on 
 the north and east. The territory of the Paw- 
 tuckets extended from Salem on the south to the 
 north of the Merrimac River as far as Portsmouth, 
 and to the Nipmucks on the west, taking in Essex, 
 part of Middlesex, and a part of New Hampshire, 
 including the Pennacooks, Agawams, Naumkeags, 
 Piscataways and Accomintas, the Newicha wan- 
 nocks, and a few other minor families. 2 
 
 The Nipmucks were a widely scattered people 
 whose habitat was to the westward of the coast 
 tribes. They were usually collected in families, 
 
 1 Roger Williams says that "the Machusetts were called so 
 from the blue hills." In the vocabulary of Indian words, by 
 Rev. John Cotton, the definition of Massachusetts is, "an 
 hill in the form of an arrow s head." Drake says, "If any 
 man knew, we may be allowed to suppose that Roger Williams 
 did." 
 
 2 See Godkin. 
 
 [51] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 being always exposed to the danger common to a 
 lack of unity. Baylie is of opinion that had the 
 English not appeared to colonize the country the 
 Nipmuck would have been absorbed into the life 
 of the surrounding tribes, and thus would have 
 lost identity. 
 
 West of the Hudson were the Mohawks. The 
 tribes west of the Pequots and east of the Hudson 
 River were tributary to the Mohawks. The Nip- 
 mucks in the Connecticut country had been an 
 nexed to the Pequots. At Hadley and Springfield 
 were two small tribes, in a way unimportant, the 
 sachem of the Hadley tribe being the son of the 
 Springfield sachem. In the Berkshires the Indians 
 may be said to have had no villages. 
 
 At Mattabesick [Middletown] was the sachem 
 Sowheag. The Podunks were at East Hartford. 
 Other tribes kept to the shore of the Sound, like 
 the Wongungs at Chatham; the Nehanticks, Lyme; 
 the Memunkatucks at Guilford; the Wopowags at 
 Milford; Paugessetts at Derby; and Quinipiacks at 
 New Haven. Dr. Trumbull estimates these Con 
 necticut tribes at five thousand, of which number 
 about one fifth were warriors; 1 that there were 
 altogether in Connecticut, at the advent of the Eng 
 lish, from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand 
 
 1 DeForest says: "Trumbull, from whom wiser things 
 might have been expected, seems to have been actuated by 
 an unreflecting disposition to magnify as much as possible 
 
 [52] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Indians. It was the most densely populated of any 
 territory of similar extent in North America north 
 of Mexico. 
 
 Along the Sound was an abundance of fish; the 
 soil was fertile and responsive; the climate was 
 equable; and the occupants of this territory were 
 prosperous, powerful, and, in point of comparison 
 with other tribes to the eastward, wealthy. Out 
 side of the Pequots, the Indians on the Connecticut 
 River gave the English slight trouble. They lived 
 in constant fear of the Mohawks and were anxious 
 for the friendship of the English, in whom they 
 saw their only hope of security. 
 
 The Mohawk was the buccaneer of the Hudson 
 Valley. His normal condition was to be mixed up 
 in a quarrel. His greatest delight was to despoil 
 his savage neighbor. Every year the Mohawks 
 made up several parties of marauders, who were 
 dispersed in different directions in search of their 
 prey. Their favorite method of attack was by 
 
 their importance and numbers. In his account of the different 
 tribes he usually, if not invariably, selects the largest known 
 estimates, and introduces them into his narrative without the 
 slightest attempt at reasonable criticism." 
 
 DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, p. 44. 
 
 "We shall probably make a liberal estimate when we 
 allow twelve hundred warriors for the whole State, and six 
 or seven thousand individuals for its entire aboriginal 
 population." 
 
 DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, p. 48. 
 
 [53] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ambush. In their forays they made an exception of 
 the English, whom they never disturbed or mo 
 lested, meet them as they would, armed or un 
 armed; also of the "praying" or converted Indians. 
 They made war only upon their own kind. To 
 them, at that time, the English bore a charmed 
 life. 
 
 Such was the disposition of the aborigines along 
 the coast of the Gulf of Maine and up the Sound 
 toward the mouth of the Hudson River, at least 
 during the first generation of the settlements. It 
 was with the tribes south of the Merrimac the 
 English settler had to deal until the breaking out of 
 St. Castings War in 1690, when, with the exception 
 of a few isolated attacks south of the Piscataqua 
 and in the direction of Albany, the theater of ac 
 tivities was transferred to Maine. With the death 
 of Philip, and the subjugation of his allies, the 
 settlers of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode 
 Island lived in a condition of comparative safety. 
 
 The following quaint and curious description of 
 the Indian, as the early colonists about Massachu 
 setts Bay found him, was written by Thomas Lech- 
 ford, of " Clements Inne, in the County of Middle 
 sex, Gent." Lechford was the first law-practitioner 
 of early Boston. He says: "They [the Indians] are 
 of body tall, proper, and straight; they goe naked, 
 saving about their middle, somewhat to cover their 
 shame. Seldome they are abroad in the extremity 
 of Winter, but keep in their wigwams, till necessity 
 
 [54] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 drives them forth; and then they wrap themselves 
 in skins, or some of our English coorse cloath : and 
 for Winter they have boots, or a kind of laced 
 tawed-leather stockins. They are naturally proud, 
 and idle, and given much to singing, dancing, and 
 playes; They are governed by Sachems y Kings; and 
 Saggamores, petie Lords; by an absolute tyrranie. 
 Their women are of comely feature, industrious, 
 and doe most of the labor in planting, and carrying 
 of burdens; their husbands hold them in great sla 
 very, yet never knowing other, it is lesse grievous to 
 them. They say English men much foole, for spoil 
 ing good working creatures, meaning women. And 
 when they see any of our English women sewing 
 with their needles or working coifes, or such things, 
 they will cry out, Lazie squaes! but they are much 
 kinder to their wives by the example of the English. 
 Their children they will not part with upon any 
 terms to be taught. They are of swarthy com 
 plexion and tawny: their children are born white 
 but they bedawb them with oyle, and colours pres 
 ently. They have all black haire, that I saw. 
 
 "In times of mourning, they paint their faces 
 with black lead, black, all about the eye-brows, and 
 part of their cheeks. In time of rejoicing they paint 
 red, with a kind of vermilion. They cut their haire 
 of divers formes, according to their Nation or peo 
 ple, so that you may know a people by their cut; 
 and ever they have a long lock on one side of their 
 heads and weare feathers of Peacocks, and such 
 
 [55] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 like, and red cloath, or ribbands at their locks; beads 
 of wampom-peag about their necks, and a girdle of 
 the same, wrought with blew and white wampom 
 after the manner of checker-work, two fingers 
 broad about their loynes : Some of their chief e men 
 goe so, and pendants of wampom, and such toyes in 
 their ears. And the women, some of the chiefe, 
 have faire bracelets, and chaines of wampom. Men 
 and women of them come confidently among the 
 English. . . . They have Powahes, or Priests, 
 which are witches, and a kind of Chirurgions, but 
 some of them are faine to be beholding to the Eng 
 lish Chirurgions. They will have their times of 
 powaheing, which they will of late have called 
 Prayers, according to the English word. The 
 Powahe labors himselfe in his incantations, to ex 
 treme sweating and wearinesse, even to extacie. 
 The Powahes cannot work their witchcrafts, if any 
 English be by; neither can any of their incantations 
 lay hold on, or doe any harme to the English, as I 
 have been credibly informed. The Powahe is next 
 to the King or Sachem, and commonly, when he 
 dyes, the Powahe marries the Squa Sachem, that is, 
 the queene. They have manie wives; they say they 
 commit much filthinesse among themselves. But 
 for every marriage the Saggamore hath a fadome of 
 wampom, which is about seven or eight shillings 
 value. Some of them will attend diligently to any 
 thing they can understand by any of our Religion, 
 and are very willing to teach their language to any 
 
 [56] 
 
TOPOGRAPHY OF INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 English. They live much better and peaceably for 
 the English: and themselves know it, or at least, 
 their Sachems, and Saggamores know so much, for 
 before they did nothing but spoile and destroy one 
 another. They live in wigwams, or houses made 
 of mats like little hutts, the fire in the midst of the 
 house. They cut downe a tree with axes and 
 hatchets, bought of the English, Dutch, or French, 
 & bring in the butt-end into the wigwam, upon the 
 hearth; and so burne it by degrees. They live upon 
 parched corne, (of late they grind at our English 
 mills,) Venison, Bevers, Otters, Oysters, Clammes, 
 Lobsters and other fish, Ground-nuts, Akornes, 
 they boyle all together in a kettle. Their riches are 
 their wampom, bolles and trayes, kettles, spoones, 
 bever, furres and canoes. He is a Sachem [whose 
 wife] hath her clean spoons in a chest, for some 
 chiefe English men, when they come on guest-wise 
 to the wigwam. They lye upon a mat, with a stone, 
 or a piece of wood under their heads ; they will give 
 the best entertainment they can make to any Eng 
 lish comming amongst them. They will not taste 
 sweet things, nor alter their habit willingly; onely 
 they are taken with tobacco, wine, and strong 
 waters; and I have scene some of them in English 
 or French cloathes. Their ordinary weapons are 
 bowes and arrowes, and long staves or halfe pikes, 
 with pieces of swords, daggers, or knives in the 
 ends of them: They have Captaines, and are very 
 good at a short mark, and nimble of foot to run 
 
 [57] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 away. Their manner of fighting is most commonly 
 all one style. They are many in number, and wor 
 ship Kitan, their good god, or Hobbamocco, their 
 evill god; but more feare Hobbamocco, because he 
 doth them most harme. . . . Among some of these 
 Nations, their policie is to have two Kings at a time; 
 but, I thinke, of one family; the one aged for coun- 
 sell, the other younger, for action. Their Kings 
 succeed by inheritance." 1 
 
 1 Lechford, Plaine dealing, or Newes from New-England 
 (London, 1642), pp. 49-52. 
 
 Third Series, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., pp. 102-105. 
 
 John Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England (London, 
 1675), pp. 123-140. 
 
 Vide Reprint in Third Series, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., 
 pp. 293-305. 
 
 [58] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE 
 INDIAN 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE 
 INDIAN 
 
 OF the English occupancy of New England, 
 the years between 1675 and 1760 may well 
 be regarded as the most important in the formative 
 period of colonial history. While the decade fol 
 lowing the coming of the Mayflower was pervaded 
 with resultant potencies, it was hardly more than 
 the suggestive initial which marked the opening 
 of the first chapter of a story destined to lead in 
 the history of nations. 
 
 As an indent at the beginning of this historical 
 paragraph the picture is one of tragic interest. * Its 
 foreground is a mere handful of self-exiled human 
 ity; isolate; shelterless almost; with an impover 
 ished larder and, as against the voiceless threat of 
 impending and unknown perils, apparently im 
 potent. Over their heads was the roof of a ship s 
 deck a ship anchored in a strange sea under the 
 lee of a strange and unexplored country. Its back 
 ground is a like strange wilderness of foreboding 
 silences, whitened with a rime of snow and sleet. 
 Its low horizon, grimly, inhospitably gray, is sug 
 gestive of a sinister prophecy. As colorless as this 
 particular moment appears, it is tinged with the 
 invisible rose of an unheralded daybreak before 
 which the aboriginal mystery, as old as the Skrel- 
 lings of the Norse Sagas, is eventually to disappear. 
 
 [61] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 If the landing of William Bradford and his little 
 company of Separatists the unconscious nu 
 cleus of an entirely new political principle, the 
 germ of a new statehood the fundamental tenet of 
 which was absolute freedom of conscience was 
 the beginning of a New World epoch, the un 
 heralded advent of Samoset among the Plymouth 
 settlers and the rude embassy of Massasoit to 
 gether were the landmark from which was to be 
 reckoned the displacement of the aborigine from 
 his birthright and the consequent deterioration of 
 his proffered friendship to the English into secret 
 and finally open hostility. The Plymouth 
 people were kindly and temperate in their treat 
 ment of the savage when it did not cost them over 
 much, though, after their English fashion, they 
 discouraged his familiarities. Stranded upon the 
 rugged shores of Massachusetts, threatened with 
 starvation, put upon short rations at times, the un 
 written law of Plymouth was self-preservation. 
 Unfamiliar with the comity of their savage neigh 
 bors, they often trespassed upon the rights of these 
 unsophisticated children of the forest, but not 
 always intentionally. Had the later comers been 
 as kindly-intentioned and forbearing toward the 
 Indians as were the settlers at Plymouth, as ex 
 pressed through Winslow in his dealings with them, 
 the story of Philip s treachery might have found 
 no occasion for a narrator. The Puritan, however,, 
 was of a different pattern and of coarser weave. 
 
 [62] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 With the coming of the Puritan began the en 
 croachments of the settler upon the prescriptive 
 rights of the Indians, the absorption of their , 
 hunting-grounds, their maize-fields, and the streams 
 that supplied them with their fish. The Puritan 
 was a trader, with a trader s conscience. The 
 Englishman made his superior civilization the v 
 apology for his slender honesty with the aborigine. 1 
 If the Indian had any prescriptive rights, they were 
 
 1 The first letter of instruction to Governor Endicott from 
 the New England Company contained the following: "And 
 above all, we pray you be careful that there be none in our 
 precincts permitted to do any injury, in the least kind, to the 
 heathen people; and if any offend in that way, let them re 
 ceive a correction. . . . And for the avoiding of the hurt that 
 may follow through our much familiarity with the Indians, 
 we conceive it fit that they be not permitted to come to your 
 plantation but at certain times and places, to be appointed 
 them. If any one of the salvages pretend right of inheritance 
 to all or any of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you 
 endeavor to purchase their title, that we may avoid the least 
 scruple of intrusion [italics the author s]." 
 
 Young s Chronicles, p. 159. 
 
 Young says, in a note, "The first President Adams, being 
 asked his opinion concerning the treatment of the Indians in 
 New England, replied that he believed that it had been just. 
 In all my practice at the Bar, said he, * I never knew a con 
 tested title but what was traced up to the Indian title. " 
 
 Naturally that would be the result, and while the distin 
 guished gentleman quoted may be safe in his statement, it 
 proves nothing. It is a well-known fact that the king was 
 the source of almost all New England titles. 
 
 [63] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ignored. If the Indian gave a deed of his lands to 
 the English, it was by an instrument of which he 
 had no comprehension, the consideration for which 
 was a pittance a something to tempt the appe 
 tite of the savage, which ranged from strong waters 
 to pumpkins. The Puritan took shelter behind 
 these conveyances, and divers historians have been 
 at great pains to establish the fact that the Indians 
 were compensated for their lands, when the fact 
 remains that the poor savage was a modern Esau 
 who parted with his birthright for a mess of pottage 
 and poor pottage at that. 1 
 
 When the Pilgrims were drawing up their com 
 pact of government in the cabin of the Mayflower, 
 in Cape Cod Harbor, they were unaware that the 
 Great Patent of New England had been created 
 under the hand of the king, by which the shore be- 
 
 1 Robin Hood, a sachem of the upper waters of the Saga- 
 dahoc River, deeded a large tract of land on the Sasanoa, a 
 stream rich in historic associations, for a hogshead of corn 
 and a few pumpkins. 
 
 In March, 1640, the Norwalk Indians sold a large part of 
 their territory to one Roger Ludlow, of Fairfield, Conn. The 
 conveyance comprised all the land between the Norwalk and 
 Saugatuck Rivers. Its depth into the country was as far as a 
 man could walk from the sea in a day s span. The consider 
 ation for the deed was "eight fathoms of Wampum, Six 
 Coats, ten hoes, ten hatchets, ten scissors, ten jewsharps, ten 
 fathoms of tobacco, three kettles of six hands about, and ten 
 looking-glasses [italics the author s]." The deed was signed 
 by Mahackemo and four of his tribe. 
 
 [64] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 fore them had been erected into the County of 
 Devon, with Plymouth as its shire town, and by 
 which certain English land promoters were to 
 "plant, rule, and govern New England." The 
 Mayflower compact created no body politic. It 
 gave no legislative or judicial powers to those asso 
 ciated under it. Its strongest obligation was the 
 common consent; yet it was of the highest moral 
 character, else it could not have endured, as it did, 
 for a decade. Probably its saving salt was the de 
 voutly religious practice and feeling which directed 
 the habits of the community, where each member 
 was upon a footing of the most perfect equality. 
 
 In 1630, when Allerton 1 had obtained from the 
 council larger powers than those of the Pierce 
 patent, which had passed into the hands of the Mer 
 chant Adventurers (a trading company, without 
 political power), was established the source of all 
 the titles to land in New England. The original 
 
 1 Isaac Allerton was at one time the richest man in the 
 colony; was assistant, 1621, and sole officer for three years 
 under the government. His wife dying soon after landing, 
 he married Fear Brewster, daughter of Elder William; she 
 dying, 1633, he married again. He passed his later years at 
 New Haven, and died there, 1659, insolvent. He was an 
 energetic man and had pushed his enterprises as far as the 
 Penobscot River, where he established a trading-station with 
 the Indians. 
 
 Savage, Gen. Diet., vol. i., p. 38. 
 
 Leyden, MSS. Record. 
 
 [65] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 right to the soil was founded solely upon occupa 
 tion. The English found it without inhabitants, 
 what they termed a wilderness, and to them oc 
 cupation was the strongest title they could acquire. 1 
 They had as well full and free consent from 
 Massasoit, as the sachem governing the territory 
 within the limits of which they proposed to erect 
 their homes. 2 They interfered with no native 
 right. Fishing and hunting were as free after as 
 before their coming, and the English believed 
 there was an abundance of both for their mainte 
 nance. However specious the premise of the writer 
 who finds himself impelled to apologize for the 
 self-aggrandizement of the first-comers to New 
 England, the fact remains that these processes of 
 historical justification are mere afterthoughts. The 
 
 1 Higginson mentions the plague which visited the Indians 
 some "twelve years since," he must have been writing 
 about 1630, so there were "very few left to inhabit the 
 country. The Indians are not able to make use of the one 
 fourth part of the land; neither have they any settled places 
 as towns to dwell in; nor any ground as they challenge for 
 their own possession, but change their habitation from place 
 to place." 
 
 Young s Chronicles, p. 556. 
 
 2 Dexter, in his note, Mourt, 91, says that Massasoit "sold 
 much land to the English at various times, and always scru 
 pulously, and most honorably, kept his treaty agreements 
 with them." 
 
 Also, Church s Entertaining Passages, p. 38; Drake s 
 Book of the Indians, pp. 81-92. 
 
 [66] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 title was in the savage by right of prior occupancy, 
 an occupancy covering untold years, and was 
 to pass into the hands of another and alien race by 
 that process of absorption which the strong ever 
 exercise over the weak. If it was not by acts of 
 overt subjugation, it was by methods sufficiently 
 allied to that principle. With the coming of the 
 "planters" who began their settlements about 
 Boston Harbor no pretext was allowed to pass un- / 
 improved for a quarrel with the natives, who in 
 every controversy with the English found them 
 selves worsted. Like the redoubtable Captain 
 Miles Standish, the English went about with the 
 traditional chip on their shoulders, nor were the 
 savages long in interpreting this attitude as inimical 
 to their interests, vested or otherwise. 1 
 
 The story that runs down through the seven 
 teenth century and well into the eighteenth covers 
 a series of tragic vicissitudes. The relation is one 
 of treachery on the part of the English, with adroit 
 
 1 Francis Higginson, a reverend divine of New England in 
 1630, in a little book of twenty-five pages, "Printed at Lon 
 don at the Signe of the Blew Bible in Green Arbor, 1630," 
 says of the Indians: "For therein dealing with us, we neither v 
 fear them, nor trust them; for forty of our musketeers will 
 drive five hundred of them out of the field." He adds, "We 
 use them kindly, they will come into our houses sometimes 
 by half a dozen, or half a score, at a time when we are at 
 victuals, but will ask or take nothing but what we give them." 
 
 Young s Chronicles, p. 259. 
 
 [67] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 instigation and Jesuit interference on the part of 
 the French; and on the part of the Indian, the 
 climax of savage duplicity and cruelty, fiendish 
 butchery and annihilation. 
 
 Outside of the settlement at Plymouth, the quest 
 of the English adventurer primarily was fish and 
 furs. He marked his first footholds with a trading- 
 station. He came loaded with knives, axes, and 
 trinkets of trifling value, glass beads and cheap 
 cloths of brilliant colorings, which he exchanged 
 for peltry. Captain John Smith was at Monhegan 
 in 1614, and relates that, for trifles, they got "near 
 11,000 beaver skins, 100 martin, and as many 
 otters, the most of them within a distance of 20 
 leagues." Hunt, who accompanied him, remained 
 behind; but instead of a ship-load of peltry, he had 
 "betrayed four and twenty of those poor savages 
 aboard his ship, and most dishonestly and in 
 humanly, for their kind usage of me and all our 
 men, carried them to Malaga; and there, for a 
 little private gain, sold these silly salvages for rials 
 of eight." Smith goes on to say that "this vile act 
 kept him ever after from any more employment to 
 those parts." Smith practically robbed the Indian 
 of his merchandise, while Hunt robbed him of his 
 freedom. 
 
 The memory of the savage, where his wrongs 
 were concerned, is proverbial, and it is pertinent 
 right here to allude in passing to the several kid 
 napping episodes which began with the adventurous 
 
 [68] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Verrazano. Incidentally, they throw a side-light 
 upon the savage disposition to hostility against the 
 actual settler when he made his advent among 
 them, which is not only their justification, but a 
 matter of self-defence. 
 
 Verrazano was here in 1524. He made an ex- 
 tended voyage along the coast. One finds this in 
 Foster s narration of that adventure. Bay lie 
 locates Verrazano s point of contact with the neigh 
 boring country as somewhere along the Connecti 
 cut shore. Foster says: "Twenty of his [Verra 
 zano s] men landed and went about two leagues 
 up into the country. The inhabitants fled before 
 them, but they caught an old woman who had hid 
 herself in the high grass, with a young woman 
 about 18 years of age. The old woman carried a 
 child upon her back, and had, besides, two little 
 boys with her. The young woman, too, carried 
 three children of her own sex. Seeing themselves 
 discovered, they began to shriek, and the old one 
 gave them to understand, by signs, that the men 
 were fled to the woods. They offered her some 
 thing to eat, which she accepted, but the maiden 
 refused it. This girl, who was tall and well-shaped, 
 they were desirous of taking along with them, but 
 as she made a violent outcry, they contented them 
 selves with taking a boy away with them." 
 
 Eleven years later Jacques Carrier was at the St. 
 Lawrence River. Donnacona was sachem of the 
 tribes in that locality. He received Cartier hos- 
 
 [69] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 pitably, a kindliness which Cartier repaid by kid 
 napping him and carrying him away to France, 
 where the savage soon after died. 
 
 In 1605 Wey mouth sailed into the mouth of the 
 Sagadahoc River. We will let Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges tell the story. He says that Wey mouth, 
 "falling short of his course [in seeking the North 
 west passage], happened into a river on the coast 
 of America called Pemmaquid, from whence he 
 brought five of the natives." Returning to Eng 
 land, W T ey mouth sailed into the harbor of Plymouth, 
 then under Gorges s jurisdiction. Three of these 
 savages were Nahanada, Skittwarroes, and Tis- 
 quantum. Gorges says, "These I seized upon. 
 They were all of one nation, but of several parts, 
 and several families. This accident [italics the au 
 thor s] must be acknowledged the means, under 
 God, of putting on foot and giving life to all our 
 plantations." History does not record that at that 
 time the English had any plantations in North 
 America. 
 
 Shortly after 1606 a vessel was fitted out and 
 despatched under Henry Chalons. Its destination 
 was the New England coast. He had two of Wey- 
 mouth s savages along. He was captured by the 
 Spaniards. Assacumet, one of the savages, was 
 recovered, and possibly the other. 
 
 Before the news of Chalons s capture was had in 
 London another vessel was fitted out at Bristol, as 
 a reenforcement to the Chalons expedition, with 
 
 [70] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Martin Prin as master. Dehainda and Skittwar- 
 roes, two of the kidnapped savages, accompanied 
 him. 1 They returned to England with Prin. The 
 following year, 1607, these two savages acted as 
 pilots for the first New England colony. They 
 went into the mouth of the Sagadahoc with the 
 English, to return at the first opportunity to their 
 tribes. The Sagadahoc settlement was abandoned 
 the following spring and the locality deserted by 
 the English until the Smith expedition of 1614, 
 after which it is probable there was a fishing-settle 
 ment at New Harbor on Pemaquid Point, these 
 waters being almost constantly frequented for the 
 great stores of codfish which they contained, as 
 many as fifty fishing-vessels being here at one time. 
 In 1611 Captain Edward Harlow was at Mon- 
 hegan, where he kidnapped three Indians, one of 
 whom escaped. Sailing tp the southward, they 
 came to an island then^ known to the savages as 
 Nonono. Here Harlow captured another savage. 
 Sailing down to Capawick (Martha s Vineyard), 
 
 1 The savage Dehamda is undoubtedly the Nahanada of 
 the Sagadahoc country. The spelling of the Indian names 
 by the early historians is somewhat uncertain. It has been 
 questioned whether the Tisquantum mentioned in connection 
 with Weymouth s voyage was the Squanto who acted as the 
 interpreter of the sachem Massasoit in his interviews with the 
 English. The dates given put the matter in some doubt. 
 Drake is inclined to believe in their identity. 
 
 See Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 4. 
 
 [71] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 he captured two others, Epanow and Coneconum, 
 and then, with these five unfortunates, he hoisted 
 sail for home. Epanow or Epenewe, as Gorges 
 calls him returned with Captain Hobson in 
 1614. Hunt, who had kept Captain Smith com 
 pany over, was the last to leave the region of 
 Monhegan. 
 
 Sir F. Gorges records: "While I was laboring by 
 what means I might best continue life in my 
 languishing hopes, there comes one Henry Harley 
 [Harlow] unto me, bringing with him a native of 
 the Island of Capawick, a place seated to the south 
 ward of Cape Cod, whose name was Epenewe, a 
 person of goodly stature, strong and well-propor 
 tioned. This man was taken upon the main [by 
 force], with some 29 others by a ship of London that 
 endeavored to sell them for slaves in Spaine, but 
 being understood that they were Americans, and 
 being found unapt for their uses, this one of them 
 they refused, wherein they exprest more worth 
 than those that brought them to the market, who 
 could not but known that our nation was at that 
 time in travel for setling of Christian colonies upon 
 that continent, it being an act much tending to our 
 prejudice, when we came into that part of the 
 countries, as it shall further appear. How Captain 
 Harley came to be possessed of this savage, I 
 know not, but I understood by others how he had 
 been shown in London for a wonder. It is true (as 
 I have said) he was a goodly man, of a brave as- 
 
 [72] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 pect, stout and sober in his demeanor, and had 
 learned so much English as to bid those that won 
 dered at him, Welcome, Welcome; this being the 
 last and best use they could make of him, that was 
 now grown out of the people s wonder. The cap 
 tain falling further into his familiarity, found him 
 to be of acquaintance and friendship with those 
 subject to the Bashaba, whom the captain well 
 knew, being himself one of the plantation, sent over 
 by the lord chief- justice [Popham], and by that 
 means understood much of his language, found out 
 the place of his birth." 
 
 Epanow found Assacumet here in London. 
 Planning to escape, in their longing for the wilder 
 ness, they showed a great astuteness, and a keener 
 intellect than that with which they had been 
 credited. Their first effort was to discover the 
 motive of the English in going over to the new 
 country in their great ships. That in their posses 
 sion, they exercised their cunning in playing upon 
 the avaricious disposition of the English by telling 
 their jailers they knew where there was gold in 
 abundance, at the same time expressing their will 
 ingness to lead them where it was to be found. It 
 was to be had among the sands of Capoge, an island 
 off the coast of Cape Cod, as well as along the 
 dunes of the Cape itself. 
 
 When Captain Hobson sailed away from Eng 
 land, in 1614, Epanow, Assacumet, and Wanape 
 kept him company. Once they were anchored in 
 
 [73] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 familiar waters and his kin were gathered about 
 the ship in their canoes, Epanow effected his es 
 cape. Gorges mourned the event: "And thus were 
 my hopes of that particular [voyage] made void and 
 frustrate." Captain Thomas Dermer was over 
 here in 1619. He went ashore at Martha s Vine 
 yard to trade with the savages. Epanow was there. 
 There was a fight in which several of the savages 
 were killed. All of Dermer s men who were ashore, 
 according to Morton, were likewise killed, except 
 the one who "kept the boat." Epanow made a 
 special effort to capture Dermer; "But the [cap 
 tain] himself got on board very sore wounded, and 
 they had cut off his head upon the cuddy of the 
 boat, had not his man rescued him with a sword, 
 and so they got him away." Tisquantum, or 
 Squanto, was with Dermer at this time. These kid 
 nappings, brought down to the time of the beginning 
 of the Plymouth settlement, to the savages of the 
 different tribes up and down the coast were more 
 than a tradition. The victims of these nefarious 
 practices were again on their own ground awaiting 
 the opportunity to retaliate. 
 
 The Pilgrims were to come near the end of the 
 following year. 
 
 One can imagine the savage Nahanada, Epanow, 
 and Squanto as they gathered about their wigwam 
 fires, Ingram-like, relating the stories of their wan 
 derings, and of the strange peoples and stranger 
 things they had seen in their captivities tales as 
 
 [74] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 strange to them as the tales of the Thousand and 
 One Nights have seemed to the present-day reader. 
 Squanto was a good story-teller, and no doubt his 
 auditors were lost in amaze, and felt their hearts 
 chill with strange fear as they saw the hull of the 
 adventurous Englishman, growing larger and ever 
 larger, upon the horizon of the Great Waters. 
 
 Anticipating somewhat the outbreak that came 
 in 1675 between King Philip and the colony of 
 Massachusetts Bay, the intercourse of the settler 
 with the Indian, always of shifting color and as 
 pect, lends to the events that marked the first days 
 at Plymouth, and that accumulated through the 
 growing years, including the Pequot troubles of 
 1637, a cumulative interest. 
 
 The relation of the happenings that led up to the 
 treachery of Philip and his annihilation, and that 
 ten years later betrayed the ambitious schemes of 
 Louis xiv., is a mingling of savage vindictiveness 
 and French diplomacy. If the savage proved an 
 apt pupil, his English neighbor was no less an adept 
 in the unwisdom of dishonesty, and in catering to 
 the animal propensities that found their first victim 
 amid the silence and isolation of Richmond s 
 Island, off the mouth of the Spurwink River, a tide 
 stream that breaks apart the Scarborough marshes. 
 George Richmon came here first. He may be re 
 garded as a contemporary of the Plymouth settle 
 ment. He had a trading-station on the island, 
 where he built a small vessel. The occupancy 
 
 [75] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 passed quite early from Richmon into the possession 
 of Walter Bagnall. Bagnall was an acquaintance 
 of Thomas Morton s, and it was here Morton spent 
 some portion of his time after his difficulty with the 
 purists of Plymouth. Bagnall was murdered by the 
 savages, and his trading-house burned. It was the 
 first instance of its kind in the history of the settle 
 ments. 1 
 
 1 Bagnall was a dark-visaged man, of scant principle, who 
 robbed the Indians, in his trade with them, unmercifully. 
 He had incurred their suspicion and hatred. He sold them 
 rum, got them drunk, and then paid them what he pleased. 
 Squidrayset is supposed to have been the ringleader in the 
 crime, no doubt instigated by his knowledge of the kidnap 
 pings by the English on either side of his domain. The event 
 happened some eight years after the settlement of Plymouth 
 [Drake gives the date October, 1631. It must have been one 
 or two years earlier]; but so far was Richmond s Island to 
 the eastward, and so notorious was Bagnall s character, that 
 no particular importance was attached to the event. An 
 English sloop touched at the island a month later; but the 
 English found only a heap of ashes and a few charred bones. 
 Two years later this island passed into the possession of 
 Edward Trelawney, an English merchant who sent over 
 one John Winter (1630-31) as his agent. Winter was no less 
 unprincipled than Bagnall, except that he cloaked his greed 
 somewhat. That he did not share the fate of Bagnall is 
 possibly owing to the fact that he had at his back a company 
 of sturdy servitors, who were amply supplied with muskets, 
 ammunition, and even more formidable gunnery. Winter 
 did not live to see the onslaught of Mugg upon the Scar 
 borough settlers, which was contemporary with the conflict 
 of 1675. 
 
 [76] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 The easternmost point of English contact at the 
 beginning of the Plymouth settlement was at Pema- 
 quid, and it is more than probable that there was a 
 small resident English population at New Harbor. 
 If there was, it is evident that its contingent had no 
 annalist who regarded its occupation as of sufficient 
 importance to inspire a record of its meager inci 
 dents of living. That such do not exist affords no 
 presumption against such an inference; for nega 
 tive proof is sometimes most convincing. That was 
 Samoset s domain, whose friendliness to the Eng 
 lish was evidenced in his generosity to Brown, to 
 whom he gave a conveyance, around 1628, of most 
 ample proportions. In nobility of character, Samo- 
 set was the equal of Massasoit; and in natural in 
 telligence, greatly his superior. 1 
 
 ^anioset is the John Somerset who affixed his sign- 
 manual, a rudely-drawn bow and arrow, to a conveyance to 
 John Brown of a large tract of land in Bristol, Me. He was 
 the sachem of the Pemaquid country and the original pro 
 prietor of all the lands in that extensive domain. He was a 
 friend of Levett, who built a house in Casco Bay, the first 
 house-builder within the Maine province. He entertained 
 Levett at Capemanwagen, now known as Southport, Me., 
 in 1625. His deed to Brown bore also the signature of 
 Ungongoit. It is noted as being the earliest deed made by a 
 savage to the white man. Samoset was living as late as 1653; 
 for in that year he sold land to William Parnall, Thomas Way, 
 and William England. That he was very aged at that time 
 is certified by the tremulous hand with which he affixed for 
 the last time, probably, the sign of the hunter s bow and 
 
 [77] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Whenever the English conscience had to do with 
 the Indian, it was singularly dormant. 1 If the 
 
 arrow. He was not alive at the breaking out of King Philip s 
 War. He was a whole-souled gentleman, kindly, generous, 
 pacific, and a staunch friend of the white man. He loved 
 John Brown as a brother, and John Brown always treated 
 Samoset with the utmost consideration. When the other 
 houses of the settlers were destroyed about Pemaquid by the 
 savages, Brown s was untouched. 
 
 Maine Hist. Soc. Coll, vol. v., pp. 186-193. 
 
 Sewall s Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 102. 
 
 1 An excerpt is here given from Plymouth Colony Records, 
 vol. vii., p. 195: 
 
 " 1674-5. Att the Court of his Ma tie holden att Plymouth 
 2 March. 2<x>* d March, 1674, 
 
 Before Josias Winslow John Freeman 
 
 John Alden Constant Southworth 
 
 William Bradford James Browne, and 
 Thomas Hinckley James Cudworth. 
 Assistants, etc. 
 
 "Robin, of Massachusetts, Ralph and Sampson, of 
 
 Nobscussett, Indians, in the right of theire wives, the daugh 
 ters of Napoitan, Indian Sachem, deceased, complaineth of 
 much wronge don unto them by reason of sundry English 
 men unjust possession and detaining of sundry lands belong 
 ing to the said complainants, which were the lands of Napoi 
 tan aforesaid, and not by him sold unto them, the said lands 
 lying between Bound Brooke and Stony Brooke, in the con- 
 stablewick of Yarmouth and in pticular complaines against 
 John Winge, in an action on the case, to the damage of fifty 
 pounds for his possessing and detaining wrongfully from 
 them a psell of the said lands, whereupon hee hath built, 
 fenced and otherwise improved." 
 
 This action was non-suited. 
 
 [78] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Indian was to be Christianized, it was at the ex 
 pense of his patrimony. On the one hand was the 
 proselytism of Eliot; on the other, the bulldozing 
 characteristic of Miles Standish, and land-piracy 
 a harsh recapitulation of the English attitude 
 toward the Indian, but, nevertheless, comprehen 
 sive. The Indian s vast domain of virgin forests 
 and leaping waters was appropriated by an alien 
 power which issued at will its royal land-grants, 
 without care or consideration of those whose pri 
 mary rights were legitimate, and incontestably 
 well-founded. 
 
 The English took up the best places along the 
 seashore, as they took the best of everything the 
 savage had to offer. The greed of commerce was 
 everywhere pushing at his elbow. His fishing and 
 hunting grounds were impoverished to fill the Eng 
 lishman s purse, else they were sequestered by a 
 jealous occupation. While the Indian was silent 
 under intense provocation, the Englishman was as 
 instant to resent interference with his trinkets of 
 perhaps trifling value, and as well his assumed 
 rights of realty, as he was indifferent to the pre 
 scriptive rights of the aborigine. 1 
 
 "Sometime after the Plymouth people had been to Nauset 
 to purchase some corn and not being able to remove the whole 
 of it, returned again for the balance." This was in 1622. 
 The amount purchased was eight hogsheads of corn and 
 beans. "Standish went to bring the corn left at Nauset [and, 
 as usual, gets himself into difficulty with the Indians]. One 
 
 [79] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 While the traditions of the Anglo-Saxon have 
 been accepted as standing for a well-ordered lib 
 erty, and an observance of the rights of the indi 
 vidual, on the virgin soil of New England they 
 found their liveliest expressions in the absorption 
 of land areas : a process of deglutition in which the 
 rights of the original owner were utterly ignored. 
 Nor were the times without their secret machina- 
 
 of Aspinet s men happening to come to one of Standish s 
 boats, which being left entirely without guard, he took out a 
 few trinkets, such as beads, scissors, and other trifles, which 
 when the English captain found out, he took certain of his 
 company with him, and went to the sachem, telling him what 
 had happened, and requiring the same again, or the party that 
 stole them, or else he would revenge it on them before his 
 departure; and so he departed for the night, refusing what 
 soever kindness they offered [italics the author s]. However, 
 next morning, Aspinet, attended by many of his men, went 
 to the English, in a stately manner/ and all the trifles; for 
 the exposing of which the English had ten times as much 
 reprehension as the man for taking them." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 13. 
 
 Standish was inclined always to be rather truculent. 
 Drake says he exercised more power in the Plymouth Colony 
 than the governor himself. He was a military man whose 
 experience in the Low Countries especially fitted him to deal 
 with savages. He was, despite all the laudatory writings of 
 the so-called hero- worshippers, something of a savage. No 
 one who has ever written of him has credited him with either 
 a predominating intellect or a superabundance of moral 
 principle. He was, undoubtedly, the man for the time and 
 the place the bully, by proxy, for the community. 
 
 [80] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 tions and diplomacies, in which Winthrop was a 
 past-master. The Indian was a heathen, to be de 
 spoiled without mercy. While to the English he 
 could show no recorded title to his holdings in 
 realty, a vast and unexplored domain which offered 
 inexhaustible riches in furs and possibly in precious 
 metals, the latter fell back on Biblical precedent as 
 an apology for his indiscriminate trespassing upon 
 a weaker people. His understanding grew only as 
 his wrongs accumulated, and he bided his time with 
 a marvellously unobtrusive patience. 
 
 If Massasoit was unsuspicious, at the advent of 
 the white stranger, that his unbidden guest was to 
 plunge his people into involuntary pauperism, if he 
 was too generous of himself and his belongings, his 
 simplicity was not shared by any member of his 
 family. Alexander, Weetamoo, and Philip were 
 wiser in their generation than Massasoit. Impelled 
 by the finality of events, Philip appealed to the 
 court of last resort to the savage. He was gifted 
 with a prophetic eye. The Pequots were annihi 
 lated. The English were occupying everywhere. 
 The privileges of his own people were being cur 
 tailed with every rising sun. That he lost his suit 
 was inevitable, because he was subject to the fatal 
 ism that always crowds the weaker to the wall. The 
 least the English could have done was to make the 
 people whose lands they took their wards. As drastic 
 as these lines may seem by way of criticism, as dis 
 tasteful as they may appear, they are nevertheless 
 
 [81] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 deserved, if history is to be written to the plummet 
 of the truth; for the Indian was never at any time 
 the debtor of the Puritan settler. He was a target 
 not only for the Puritan bullets, but as well for the 
 prayers of the Puritan clergy, who were wont to 
 give thanks when the English bullet did its work 
 especially well. Increase Mather was notably 
 fervent in thanksgiving upon these occasions. 1 
 
 The Indian was the unfortunate victim of every 
 avaricious whim of the white man, who scrupled 
 
 1 The Puritan was an iconoclast in all things which, from 
 the Puritan point of view, were un-Puritan, which as well 
 comprehended his attitude toward the aborigine. His religion 
 was one of repression. Like the traditional face of this 
 austere individual, it was thin, angular, and joyless. At 
 home, on English soil, toward the Established Church he was 
 diplomatic, though inclined to open criticism of its integrity. 
 
 It was different with the Pilgrim, who, ignoring the estab 
 lished faith, a declaimer against its practices, to become a 
 downright secessionist along spiritual lines, courting persecu 
 tion in the garb of an exile, eventually became the perse 
 cutor of others whose religious practices differed from his 
 own. While the shores of Massachusetts Bay offered new 
 and untried experiences, he accepted them with a phenom 
 enal fortitude, and even exaltation. 
 
 The first labor of the Pilgrim and Puritan was the erection 
 of a little State an oligarchy of laymen. Citizenship was 
 probationary, if not altogether selective. The Anglo-Saxon 
 folk-mote had become a judicial commune, before which 
 tribunal the aspirant for civic rights and privileges was placed 
 on trial. Conscience was yoked to dogma. A code of per 
 sonal conduct was inaugurated never contemplated under 
 
 [82] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 not to plunder him of his peltry or his corn, as the 
 occasion offered. One of the first things done by 
 the Plymouth people when they happened upon a 
 cache in which the savages had stored their crop of 
 corn was to help themselves to its contents, carry 
 ing away even the kettle which had been used for 
 its partial protection; and all without a thought of 
 the toil that had produced it, or of the need of its 
 owner. When they ate it they asked God s grace 
 upon it, with never a query as to their savage 
 
 the broadest interpretation of the Charter of Runnymead. 
 Individual belief was put under bonds for good behavior, 
 to become the like bond-servant of a restrictive tenet. The 
 Church of the Puritan was made the bailee of temporal and 
 spiritual development along lines as austere, as rugged, as 
 the wind-blown coast along which the Puritan planted his 
 roof-tree. His nature, as wrought out by his environment in 
 conjunction with his religious teaching, was harsh and un- 
 elastic. His desire for acquisition was the response to an 
 imperative demand self-preservation. 
 
 So, the foothold of the first settlers was at the expense of 
 a consideration of the equitable rights of others, notably the 
 aborigine. With the close of the first decade after the landing 
 at Plymouth and the occupation of ancient Shawmut, the 
 Puritan character had found its groove, and a half-decade 
 later had established its policy, and was moving along lines 
 of definite direction and effective purpose. Under the velvet 
 hand of John Winthrop, the Massachusetts Bay Colony be 
 came the foundation of the New England confederacy, which 
 finally developed into a political power with which the Mother 
 Country was unable to cope. The liberalism of the present 
 century is a regenerated Puritanism. 
 
 [83] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 neighbor. From the beginning, almost, the Indian 
 was a creature to be made drunk, and despoiled 
 after he had been debauched. 
 
 It needed two generations of the white man to 
 educate the Indian; more than sixty years of Eng 
 lish intercourse, such as it was, to precipitate a 
 conflict, which, to have been successful on the part 
 of the savages, should not have been so long de 
 layed. 1 It was a conflict for extermination, which 
 was to continue, after a desultory fashion, beyond 
 the middle of the following century. It was under 
 the shadow of Mount Hope (Mon-taup) that the 
 jealous and intriguing Philip, whose hatred of the 
 English was fanned by the unfortunate W T eetamoo, 
 invoked the ultimate extinction of his race, which 
 was practically accomplished less than a century 
 
 1 There was a conspiracy as early as 1623, between Peksuot, 
 Wittuwamet, and perhaps lyanough, to rid themselves of the 
 English. Massasoit had been approached by the conspirators 
 and, declining to engage in these machinations against the 
 settlers, charged Hobomok to warn them of their danger. 
 Massasoit designated the Indians of Nauset, Paomet, Sac- 
 conet, Mattachiest, Manomet, Agowaywam, and the island 
 of Capawack. Winslow says Massasoit advised them "to 
 kill the men of Massachuset, who were the authors of this 
 mischief." Miles Standish, who had a good nose for such 
 matters and who was not averse to the smell of powder, "was 
 to make his party good against the Indians." It was 23d 
 March, 1623, "a yearly court day" at the Plymouth settle 
 ment. After due deliberation, war was declared against the 
 Massachusetts Indians, and hostilities were to be carried 
 
 [84] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 later within the depths of a Maine wilderness. The 
 knell of the Indian was sounded on the shore of 
 LovewelPs Pond with the death of the Pequaket 
 sachem, Paugus. 
 
 It is of interest in this story to follow the Plym 
 outh people through the early years of their in 
 tercourse with their savage neighbors. The story 
 should be taken in its entirety, which is given with 
 great fulness in Mourt s Relation, 2 in which all 
 
 into the enemy s country. Standish at once started for Wessa- 
 gusset, where, by a device, he lured Peksuot and Wittu- 
 wamet and two other savages into a cabin along with as 
 many of his own men, whereupon the fight commenced 
 which resulted in the killing of all four of the Indians, with 
 out special injury to the Standish party. Describing the 
 event, Winslow says: "But it is incredible how many wounds 
 these two panises [Peksuot and Wittuwamet] received before 
 they died, not making any fearful noise, but catching their 
 weapons, and striving to the last." 
 
 J This fight was known as the Battle of Lovewell s Pond. 
 It took place at the mouth of Battle Brook, in what is now 
 Fryeburg, Me. It is a beautiful sheet of water, and a place of 
 much historic interest. This was the end of the Pigwacket 
 tribe, the only remnant of which was the old squaw Moll 
 Locket, who lived here until her death. The tradition is that 
 after a time Moll s husband came back from Canada bring 
 ing another squaw with him, which Moll resented. Moll and 
 the strange squaw at once engaged in a fight as to which of 
 them should have the man. Poor Moll was vanquished, and 
 the victor carried her savage paramour off in triumph. 
 
 2 Dexter says, in his note to Mourt, p. 98, that "Edward 
 Winslow was almost necessarily the author of that part of 
 
 [85] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 writers upon this period have placed implicit de 
 pendence. Much is to be gleaned from Bradford 
 and Winslow. From what they have left as to 
 their intercourse with the Indians, one can readily 
 follow the attitude of the savages toward these peo 
 ple, and as readily trace out the causes which led 
 up to a complete alienation of interests, and finally 
 to open hostility. After the Puritans came, the situ 
 ation was in a way of being more complicated, by 
 reason of the cold-blooded commercialism which 
 entered into all of their transactions with these un 
 fortunate people. Thomas Morton paved the way 
 for the degradation of the Indian as he pursued his 
 revelries at Merry Mount, which were hardly more 
 than a series of debaucheries in which the Indians, 
 men and women, took a lively part. Merry Mount 
 was a sore spot to the Plymouth people, who finally 
 succeeded in arresting Morton and sending him to 
 England for trial. Nothing was done with the 
 matter there, for a year later Morton was again at 
 Boston. 
 
 the Relation [The Journey to Pokonoket], as it was written 
 by a participant in the Journey. There are several verbal 
 correspondencies with the avowed works which endorse the 
 supposition." 
 
 Young, in his Pilgrims, regards the Relation as the 
 work of Mr. George Morton, Mourt being a corruption 
 of the surname. Drake ascribes the authorship of the 
 work to several of the company at Plymouth. He takes 
 Mourt to be the publisher s name; but upon what ground he 
 
 [86] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 The eleventh of November, 1620, the Mayflower 
 came to anchor in the Plymouth offing. Morton s 
 Relation records: "Munday, the 13. of Novomber 
 [O. S.], we vnf hipped our Shallop and drew her on 
 land, to mend and repaire her, having bin forced 
 to cut her downe in beftowing her betwixt the decks, 
 and fhe was much opened with the peoples lying in 
 her, which kept vs long there, for it was 16. or 17. 
 dayes before the Carpenter had finifhed her ; our 
 people went on fhore to refrefh themselues, and our 
 women to wafh, as they had great need; but whilft 
 we lay thus ftill, hoping our Shallop 1 would be 
 ready in fiue or sixe dayes at the furtheft, but our 
 Carpenter made flow work of it, fo that fome of 
 our people, impatient of dleay, defired for our bet 
 ter furtherance to travaile by Land into the Coun- 
 
 does not explain. He accepts the suggestion of Judge Davis 
 that Richard Gardiner was the author; how that conclusion 
 is arrived at originally, we know not. Drake admits, however, 
 that, as a relation of the early settlement of "any country, 
 there never was a more important document." It was printed 
 in 1622, in London. 
 
 The author is of the opinion, from the continuity of style 
 and construction, that Mourt s Relation is the work of a single 
 author, and is inclined to Morton as the Plymouth annalist. 
 
 "They having brought a large shalop with them out of 
 England, stowed it in quarters in ye ship, they now gott her 
 out & sett their carpenters to worke to trime her up ; but be 
 ing much bruised & shattered in ye shipe w th foule weather, 
 they saw she would be longe in mending." 
 
 Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 80. 
 
 [87] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 trey, which was not without appearance of danger, 
 not having the Shallop with them, 1 nor meanes to 
 carry provifion but on their backes to fee whether 
 it might be fit for vs to feate in or no, and the 
 rather becaufe as we fayled into the Harbour, there 
 feemed to be a river opening it felf into the maine 
 land; the willingnes of the perfons was liked, but 
 
 1 It was an inclement season, and there was more comfort 
 on ship than on shore, there being no shelters up for their 
 convenience; neither was there any timber cut from which 
 such shelters could have been constructed. There were one 
 hundred to be set ashore who were to begin the Plymouth 
 Colony. They must have been the opposite of "impatient" 
 of delay, except as they might desire to know somewhat of 
 the bleak coast before them. The truth of the matter was, 
 Captain Jones had made port, from his point of view, and 
 was anxious to discharge his cargo. Baylie says, "The mas 
 ter of the ship and the crew, continuing their importunities, 
 the pilgrims resolved to commence their settlement without 
 delay." 
 
 History of New Plymouth, p. 52. 
 
 "But what heard they daly from y 6 m r & company? but 
 y* with speede they should looke out a place with their 
 shallop, wher they would be at some near distance; for y 6 
 season was shuch as he would not stirr from thence till a safe 
 harbor was discovered by them wher they would be, and he 
 might goe without danger; and that victelle consumed apace, 
 but he must & would keepe sufficient for them selves and 
 their returne [to England]. Yea, it was muttered by some 
 that if they gott not a place in time, they would turne them 
 & their goods ashore & leave them." 
 
 Bradford s History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 96. 
 
 [88] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 the thing it felf , in regard to the danger was rather 
 permitted then approved, and fo with cautions, 
 directions, and inftructions, fixteene men were set 
 out with every man his Mufket, Sword, and Corflet 
 under the conduct of Captaine Miles Standish, 1 
 vnto whom was adioyned for counfell and advife, 
 William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, and Edward 
 Tilley." 
 
 In tracing the genealogy of events that make 
 up the story of the troubles which, though not 
 always apparent between the English and the 
 
 1 " Myles Standish is supposed to have been born at Dux- 
 bury Hall, near Chorley, in Lancashire, some twenty-three 
 miles N. E. from Liverpool, in 1584; served as a soldier in 
 the Low Countries; became interested in the Pilgrims, and 
 joined them, though not one of their church; brought over 
 only his wife, Rose, who died a month after the landing; he 
 
 next married Barbara , who is supposed to have come 
 
 in the Ann, in 1623. He was constantly engaged in the pub 
 lic service; was Assistant nineteen years; went to London for 
 the colony in 1625, returning the following Spring. About 
 1631 he settled on Captain s Hill, in Duxbury, on condition 
 at first of moving into Plymouth in the winter time that they 
 may the better repair to the worship of God ; there he died 
 T 3 s Oct., 1656, aged 72. He named, in his will, four sons, 
 Alexander, Miles, Josiah, and Charles, and a deceased 
 daughter, Lora." 
 
 Mourt s Relation (Dexter s note), p. 14. 
 
 Savage, Gen. Diet., vol. iv., p. 162. 
 
 Plymouth Colony Records, vol. xii., p. 6. 
 
 -ZV. E. Hist, and Gen. Reg., vol. v., pp. 335-338. 
 
 Winsor s History of Duxbury, p. 320. 
 
 [89] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Indian, were always in a way existent, one must 
 needs begin at the inception of their relations. No 
 act on the part of either is unimportant. For that 
 reason this story of Mourt of the first venture from 
 the deck of the Mayflower into the woods of Cape 
 Cod becomes the natural point of contact, histori 
 cally, of approach to a clear understanding of those 
 occurrences insignificant, possibly, at the time, but 
 of cumulative influence through a half century of 
 comparative inaction on the part of the Indians 
 against their white neighbors. It was a silent in 
 fluence, yet none the less effective. 
 
 It was the fifteenth of November, O. S., 1 1620. 
 They were put ashore in accordance with their 
 arrangements made on the ship. Started on their 
 explorations, their first discovery of any impor 
 tance was made when they had gone about a mile 
 
 1 The calendar was corrected by Pope Gregory, 1582. His 
 correction was not adopted by the British Parliament until 
 
 1751, when it was directed that eleven days in September, 
 
 1752, should be retrenched, and the third day of the month 
 reckoned as the fourteenth. This was denominated New 
 Style, or the Gregorian account. The year was made to 
 commence on the first day of January instead of, as formerly 
 by the Old Style, on the twenty-fifth of March. Old Style, or 
 the Julian year, is so called from Julius Csesar, who regulated 
 the calendar about forty years before Christ. Before the 
 Gregorian change there was more or less confusion of dates, 
 oftentimes as to whether January, February, and a portion of 
 March closed the year or began the new one. 
 
 Gregory dropped ten days from the Julian Calendar, as 
 
 [90] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 inland. "They espyed five or sixe people, with a 
 Dogge, comming towards them, who were Savages, 
 who when they saw them ran into the Wood and 
 whisled the Dogge after them." 
 
 Bearing weapons, the English set after them to 
 overtake them, but it was a vain pursuit. If one is 
 
 has already been suggested. The reason for so doing was 
 the supposition in the Julian Calendar that the length of the 
 year was 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45J seconds. 
 Therefore the civil year was 11 minutes and 14J seconds 
 longer than the solar. In one hundred and thirty years this 
 difference would amount to a whole day. At the coming of 
 1582, this anticipation of the equinox amounted to ten days, 
 which brought the happening of the vernal equinox on the 
 eleventh of March instead of the twenty-first, as it would 
 have done had the Julian Calendar conformed to the course 
 of the sun. These ten days were dropped to even up the civil 
 year with the solar year. To preserve the integrity of the 
 calendar after that, it was ordered that three days should be 
 dropped every 400 years, which was nearly equivalent to one 
 day for each cycle of 130 years. Instead of suppressing one 
 day for every 130 years, it was thought better to make the 
 correction in leap year only, by which computation there 
 were left 365 days to each common year. Before that every 
 100th year was a leap year; but it was ordered by Pope 
 Gregory that every 400th year, only, should be considered 
 as leap year, and the other centurial years as common years, 
 the year 1600 being retained as leap year. Making 1700, 
 1800, and 1900 to be common years, as they would have 
 been by O. S., the error incident to the odd time is corrected. 
 By this, Dec. 11, 1620, O. S., is Dec. 21, N. S., a differ 
 ence which is perennial. For that reason Dec. 21, 1620, 
 is the true day of the landing of the Pilgrims. 
 
 [91] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 inclined to comment on this proceeding, the con 
 clusion is that it was a most indecorous overture. 
 The pursuit lasted for a space of "about ten miles." l 
 They followed the savages by the "trace of their 
 footings." From Mourt one would glean that this 
 first Indian hunt was terminated only by nightfall. 
 Setting their watch, they waited until the following 
 morning, when, like so many hounds, they again 
 took up the trail of the savages, but fruitlessly, 
 which was undoubtedly a great disappointment to 
 Captain Miles Standish, who liked the smell of 
 powder and the noise of conquest. The principal 
 event of that day was the discovery of some ancient 
 corn-fields of the savages and some old mats which 
 covered what was undoubtedly an Indian grave, 
 which they inspected with more curiosity than re 
 spect. They kept their course, as they thought, 
 toward their ship, which led them into some "new 
 stubble," off which the Indians "had gotten Corne 
 this yeare." A little further on, they came into the 
 stubble of another corn-field where had been a 
 house; also they found "a great Ketle, which had 
 been some Ships ketle and brought out of Europe." 2 
 
 1 Dexter s Mourt, p. 16. 
 
 2 About 1617 "a French ship was cast away at Cap-Codd, 
 but y e men gott ashore, & saved their lives, and much of 
 their victails & other goods." 
 V Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 98. 
 
 Bradford adds that the Indians killed all but three or four, 
 
 [92] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Under a heap of sand, which they dug open with 
 their hands, they found "a little old Basket full of 
 Faire Indian Corne." They dug still deeper and 
 found "a fine new Basket full of very faire corne 
 of this yeare, with some 36. goodly eares of corne, 
 some yellow, and some red, and others mixed with 
 blew, which was a very goodly sight: the Basket 
 was round, and narrow at the top, it held about 
 three or foure Bushels, which was as much as two 
 of us could lift up from the ground, and was very 
 handsomely and cunningly made; But while wee 
 were busie about these things, we set our men 
 Sentinell in a round ring, all but two or three which 
 digged up the corne. 1 We were in suspence what 
 
 using the survivors worse than slaves, two of them being re 
 deemed by Captain Dermer. 
 
 J The placing of the "Sentinells in a round ring" was a 
 significant performance. It was probably a case of con 
 science, not unlike that which prompted them to apologize 
 one to another by saying they would make their plundering 
 good to the savage owners of the corn if they could "come to 
 a parley with them." The English began their career at 
 Plymouth by plundering the natives of the fruits of their toil, 
 violating their sepulchers, and robbing them of their utensils. 
 Afraid of interruption at their surreptitious occupation, their 
 desire for acquisition, whetted to a keen edge by the sight of 
 that "little old Basket full of Faire Indian Corne" undoubt 
 edly suggested a barrier of sentinels. The only excuse pos 
 sible for this outrageous trespass is the possible danger they 
 might be in from starvation, once the Mayflower had turned 
 her prow toward England; but, unsatisfied with this accom- 
 
 [93] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to doe with it, and the Ketle and at length, after 
 much consultation, we concluded to take the Ketle, 
 and as much Corne as we could carry away with 
 us; and when our Shallop came, if we could find 
 
 plishment, they had it in mind to prosecute their search at 
 another time for more of the savages provender. 
 
 The early settlers followed the custom of the Indian in 
 keeping such of his crops as were to be wintered in excava 
 tions in the ground. The author has within his own recollec 
 tion two or three cellars which were dug into the dry hillside 
 and walled up with rough stone, pointed with clay from some 
 neighboring meadow. They were common before it became 
 the general custom to dig cellars for their houses. 
 
 As for the Indians, one finds this in Force s Tracts, vol. ii., 
 v., p. 30, New English Canaan: "Their Barnes are holes 
 made in the earth, that will hold a hogshead of corne a peece 
 in them. In these (when their corne is out of the huske and 
 well dried) they lay their store in greate baskets (which they 
 make of Sparke) with matts under about the sides and on 
 top: and putting it into the place made for it, they cover it 
 with earth ; and in this manner it is preserved from destruction 
 or putrif action ; to be used in case of necessity, and not else." 
 
 Freeman says, "The ears had been doubtless reserved by 
 the Indians for seed." 
 
 Civilization and Barbarism, p. 28, foot-note. 
 
 The same custom has always prevailed among the New 
 England farmers to select their seed ears as they husked, on 
 which they left a few husks by which they were braided into 
 trusses and hung in the cool, dry places about the farmhouse 
 beyond the reach of mice and squirrels. The early settler 
 attended the agricultural school of the savage, whose meth 
 ods hold good to this day. 
 
 [94] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 any of the people, and come to parley with them, we 
 would give them the Ketle againe, and satisfie 
 them for their Corne, so we tooke all the eares and 
 put a good deale of the loose Corne in the Ketle for 
 two men to bring away on a staffe; besides they that 
 could put any into their Pockets -filled the same; the 
 rest we buried for we were so laden with Armour 
 that we could carry no more" l 
 
 Not finding their way to the ship, as they had 
 anticipated, they were again overtaken by the dark 
 ness, whereupon they built a barricade and set 
 their guard as the night before. 2 The following day 
 they got back to the Mayflower. Bradford takes 
 occasion to remark, "And so like y e men from 
 Escholl carried with them of y e fruits of y e land, & 
 
 1 The italics are the author s. The question, "Did the 
 Pilgrims Wrong the Indians?" in the Congregational Quar 
 terly., vol. i., pp. 129-135, being a justification of the Pilgrims, 
 has this: "This was indicative of the spirit of fairness with 
 which the Pilgrims of Plymouth always acted towards the 
 aboriginal owners of the soil." 
 
 Any right " spirit of fairness" would have impelled the 
 Pilgrims to leave the corn as they found it. In honesty, there 
 was no other way. But their leader was a graduate of the 
 Wars of the Low Country, where plunder was a soldier s pay. 
 No amount of specious deduction, no veneer of heroics 
 framed in a series of lean days, can change the fact. The 
 white man was the cupidious oppressor of the Indian from 
 
 2 Bradford describes this shelter: "So they made them a 
 barricade (as usually they did every night) with loggs, staks, 
 
 [95] " 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 showed their breethren; of which, & their returne, 
 they were marvelusly glad, and their harts in- 
 couraged. 
 
 "After this, y e shalop being gott ready, they set 
 out againe for y e better discovery of this place, & y e 
 m r . of y e ship desired to goe him selfe, so ther went 
 some 30. men, but found it to be no harbor for 
 ships but only for boats; ther was allso found 2. of 
 their houses covered with matts, & sundrie of their 
 implements in them, but y e people were rune away 
 & could not be seen; also ther was found more of 
 their corne, & of their beans of various collours. 
 The corne & beans they brought away, purposing 
 to give them full satisfaction when they should 
 meete with any of them (as about some 6. months 
 afterward they did, to their good contente)." 1 
 
 & thike pine bowes, y e height of a man, leaving it open 
 to leeward, partly to shelter them from y e could wind (making 
 their fire in y e middle round aboute it) , and partly to defend 
 them from any sudden assaults of y e savages, if they should 
 surround them." 
 
 Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 84. 
 
 1 The only recompense the English made for the corn and 
 beans of which they possessed themselves during the forages 
 of the preceding November seems to have been the return of 
 the kettle to Massasoit filled with peas, which was very 
 pleasing to the sachem. This incident was consummated 
 upon Massasoit s first visit to the Plymouth settlers, about 
 the 22d of March, 1621, which was a few days after the first 
 appearance of Samoset. 
 
 [96] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Bradford continues: "But the Lord is never 
 wanting unto his in their greatest needs; let his 
 holy name have all y e praise." This proceeding 
 on the part of the Pilgrims was a spoiling of the 
 Egyptians, and to them justified by Biblical prec 
 edent. 
 
 On this second foray they found another place 
 "like a grave, only it was bigger and longer than 
 we had seen. It was also covered with boords, so 
 we mused what it should be and resolved to digge 
 it up." What blunted sensibilities these adven 
 turers for such they had become among these 
 wilderness woods must have possessed in this dis 
 turbing and despoiling of these strange resting- 
 places of the dead, which should have been sacred 
 to any but a barbarian! These English had no 
 compunctions, and so they kept on with their dig 
 ging, without respect to the traditions or the feel 
 ings of the people who had here performed the 
 last rites in accordance with their customs. There 
 was certainly nothing of a propitiatory character 
 toward the native in this desecration. 
 
 Mourt goes on: "We found first a Matt, and 
 under that a fayre bow, and ther another Matt, 
 and under that, a boord about three quarters [of a 
 yard] long, finely carved and painted, with three 
 tines or broches [a broche is a spit on which meats 
 are roasted; the description being suggestive of a 
 trident, as if the deceased had been a sailor] on 
 the top like a Crowne; also betweene the Matts we 
 
 [97] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 found Boules, Trayes, Dishes and such like Trink 
 ets; at length we came to a faire new Matt, and 
 under that two Bundles, the one bigger, and the 
 other lesse, we opened the greater and found in it a 
 great quantitie of fine and perfect red Powder, and 
 in it the bones and skull of a man. The skull had 
 fine yellow haire 1 still on it, and some of the flesh 
 
 1 Thomas Morton, who was such a thorn in the side of the 
 Plymouth Colony, mentions some Frenchmen who were 
 captured by the savages anterior to the settlement at Plymouth. 
 He says: "It fortuned some yeares before the English came 
 to inhabit at new Plimoth in New England, that, upon distast 
 given in the Massachusets Bay by Frenchmen, then trading 
 there with the natives for beaver, they set upon the men, at 
 such advantage, that they killed manie of them, burned their 
 shipp, then riding at anchor by an island there, now called 
 Peddock s Island, in memory of Leonard Peddock that landed 
 there, (where manie wilde anckies [some sort of animal] 
 haunted that time, which hee thought had been tame,) dis 
 tributing them unto five sachems which were lords of the 
 severall territories adjoyning, they did keep them so long as 
 they lived, only to sport themselves at them, and made these 
 five Frenchmen fetch them wood and water, which is the 
 generall worke they require of a servant. One of these five 
 men outliving the rest, had learned so much of their language, 
 as to rebuke them for their bloudy deed: saying that God 
 would be angry with them for it; and that he would in his 
 displeasure destroy them ; but the salvages (it seems, boasting 
 of their strength) replyed, and said, that they were so many 
 that God could not kill them." 
 
 Morton s New Canaan, pp. 22, 23. 
 
 Captain John Smith has the same story. 
 
 [98] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 unconsumed; there was bound up with it a knife, 
 a packneedle, and two or three old iron things. It 
 was bound up in a Saylers canvas Casacke [coarse 
 frock, or blouse] and a payre of cloth breeches; 
 the red Powder was a kind of Embaulment, and 
 yeelded a strong, but no offensive smell; It was fine 
 as any flower. We opened the lesse bundle like 
 wise, and found some of the same Powder in it, 
 and the bones and head of a little childe, about the 
 leggs, and other parts of it was bound with strings, 
 and bracelets of fine white Beads; there was also 
 by it a little Bow, about three quarters long and 
 some other odd knacks; we brought sundry of the 
 pretiest things away with us, and covered the Corps 
 up againe." 1 
 
 1 What a meanly base and thoroughly contemptible pro 
 ceeding, which in these days would be punished as an inex- * 
 cusable vandalism! Standish, the captain of the band, may 
 be considered as somewhat calloused; but for Carver, Brad 
 ford, Winslow, and others of the conscience of the new settle 
 ment to allow themselves to become parties to so execrable 
 an enterprise is difficult to understand. What the natives 
 may have thought of the matter is only conjecturable. It was 
 iconoclastic to a degree, and smacks of a heathenism on a par 
 with the marooning of a hundred poor sailors at Pamlico by 
 the English buccaneer, Hawkins, in 1567. 
 
 The Indian had a great veneration for the burial-places of 
 his people. The mat upon which the deceased died, his dish 
 out of which he was wont to eat and drink, were placed upon 
 his grave. No Indian would meddle with them; for they were 
 consecrated to the use of the dead, and if they should be taken 
 
 [99] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Comment is needless, and it is no wonder they 
 felt moved to surround themselves at night with a 
 barricado, and as well to post sentinels. It is to be 
 apprehended that the bold Captain Standish might 
 have been the moving spirit in this ghoulish cu 
 riosity. 
 
 While they were speculating, some one and some 
 another, as to the former pretensions of the occu 
 pant of this grave, "two of the Saylers, which were 
 newly come on the shore, by chance espied two 
 houses [wigwams], which had been lately dwelt in, 
 
 away the departed spirit might be compelled to go naked and 
 hungry in the other world. 
 
 Key, Mass. Hist. Coll, vol. iii., p. 237. 
 
 Washington Irving says: " Indians are remarkable for the 
 reverence which they entertain for the sepulchers of their 
 kindred. Tribes exiled for generations from the former 
 abode of their ancestors, have been known to turn aside from 
 the highway, and guided by wonderfully accurate tradition, 
 have crossed the country perhaps for miles, to some locality, 
 perhaps hill, buried in woods, where the ashes of their 
 tribe were originally deposited, and have there passed hours 
 in silent meditation. 
 
 " In early records may be seen that planters at Passongesit 
 having defaced monuments of the dead, and plundered the 
 grave of a Sachem s mother of some skins with which the 
 grave had been decorated, the Sachem, influenced by sublime 
 and holy feeling, gathered his men and addressed them in 
 simple and pathetic language of filial piety and Indian elo 
 quence. We may not quote his whole speech, but the gist of 
 it is, that he dreamed his mother came and reproached him 
 for allowing the desecration." 
 
 [100] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 but the people were gone. They having their 
 peeces, and hearing nobody entered the houses, 
 and tooke out some things, and durst not stay, but 
 came again and told us; so some seven or eight of 
 us went with them, and found how we had gone 
 within a slight shot of them before." 
 
 Mourt goes on to describe what they found in 
 the houses, adding, "Some of the best things we 
 tooke away with us, and left the houses standing 
 as they were, for it was growing towards night and 
 the tyde almost spent, we hasted with our things 
 downe to the Shallop, and got aboard that night, 
 intending to have brought some Beades and other 
 things to have left in the houses, in sign of Peace, 
 and that we meant to truck with them, but it was 
 not done by meanes of our hastie comming away 
 from Cape Cod, but so soone as we can meete con 
 veniently with them, we will give them full satis 
 faction." 
 
 Always throwing a sop to their consciences, the 
 Pilgrim marauders never found opportunity, by 
 any record of the transaction we have seen, to 
 make their promises good, even to themselves. The 
 expedition which they contemplated in order to 
 square their consciences for it is evident they were 
 possessed of some sensing of the law of meum et 
 tuum never was accomplished. The return of the 
 kettle taken in the first expedition, a modicum of 
 peas for the bushels of corn appropriated, a scarlet 
 "horseman s coat," and a copper chain, all of 
 
 [101] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 which went to Massasoit, proved the limit of the 
 restitution on the part of the English. This ap 
 parently was their contribution to the "good con- 
 tente" of the savages. 1 
 
 On the sixth day of December, O. S., following, 
 the English set out upon an exploring expedition 
 which led them into Wellfleet Bay. Of this com 
 pany were Carver, Bradford, Standish, Winslow, 
 and six others. Their errand was to find, if pos- 
 
 1 Baylie says, on the occasion of the visit of the English to 
 the Nausets on account of the Billington boy straying away, 
 they finding him there: "The English performed an act of 
 justice by making ample satisfaction for the corne which they 
 had taken away during the preceding year." 
 
 Baylie, History of New Plymouth, p. 78. 
 
 The only mention Mourt makes of the matter is: "And one 
 of those whose Corne we had formerly found, we promised 
 him in restitution & desired him either to come to Patuxet 
 (Plymouth) for satisfaction, or else we would bring them so 
 much Corne againe, hee promised to come, wee used him very 
 kindly for the present." 
 
 Dexter s Mourt s Relation, p. 115. 
 
 Bradford says: "Those people also came and made their 
 peace; and they gave full satisfaction to those who corne they 
 had found and taken when they were at Cap-Codd." 
 
 Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 124. 
 
 Nothing appears after this to show that any of the Nausets 
 went to Plymouth "for satisfaction." Bradford s narrative 
 is by implication. He was writing of what occurred at Nauset. 
 Mourt is direct, and while Mourt is almost photographic in 
 detail, Bradford is often disappointingly meager. 
 
 [102] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 sible, a more satisfactory place whereon to lay the 
 foundations of their settlement. Landing, they 
 built a barricade, for it was almost night when 
 they reached land, setting their sentinels as usual. 
 Some four or five miles away they discovered the 
 smoke of a camp-fire "which the savages made 
 that night." In a cul-de-sac of the bay they found 
 parts of a dead grampus which had been cast up 
 on the shore. The Indians had begun to cut it up; 
 but upon discovering the English approaching, 
 they had taken a hurried departure. The English 
 followed their trail where the savages had "strucke 
 into the woods by the side of a pond." Instead of 
 savages, or even a wigwam, 1 they found a field that 
 had at some time been set to corn; also a "great 
 burying-place one part of which was incompassed 
 with a large Palizado, like a church-yard." After 
 ward, they came to some wigwams that seemed to 
 
 "Their houses are verie little and homely, being made 
 with small Poles pricked into the ground, and so bended and 
 fastened at the tops and on the sides they are matted with 
 Boughes, and covered on the Roofe with Sedge and old Mats." 
 
 New England Plantation, Force, vol. i., xii., p. 13. 
 
 "Their doore is a hanging Mat which being lift up, falls 
 downe of it selfe." 
 
 Roger Williams, R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 51. 
 
 Another description of an Indian interior is of a "lodge- 
 house:" "Their lodging is made in three places of the house 
 aboute the fire they lye upon plancks commonly aboute a 
 foote or 18. inches above the ground raised upon railes that 
 
 [103] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 have been sometime abandoned, and some mounds 
 that were suggestive of hidden treasures of corn. 
 Mourt says they found "two baskets of parched 
 acorns hidden in the ground, which we supposed 
 had been Corne when we beganne to digge the 
 same." 1 
 
 Finding their way back to the shore, they built a 
 barricade of logs. Seeing their boat safely drawn 
 up in the creek, they settled themselves for the 
 night. About midnight they were aroused from 
 their slumbers by a strange noise, a "great and 
 hideous cry," whereat the sentinels gave the alarm. 
 They turned out the guard, which meant every 
 body in the party. Mourt says, "So we bestirred 
 
 are borne up on forks they lay mats under them, and Coates 
 of Deares skinnes otters beavers Racownes and of Beares 
 hides, all which they have dressed and converted into good 
 lether with the haire on for their coverings and in this manner 
 they lye as warme as they desire." 
 
 New English Canaan, Force, vol. ii., v., p. 20. 
 
 Vide Gookin and Roger Williams, 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. 
 i., p. 150. 
 
 R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 50. 
 
 As to Indian wigwams see, further, R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. i., 
 pp. 47-51; Force, vol. ii., v., pp. 19, 20; Mass. Hist. Coll., 
 vol. i., p. 149; Schoolcraft s Indian Tribes, etc., vol. ii., p. 63, 
 etc. 
 
 "Akornes also they dry, and in case of want of Corne, by 
 much boyling they make a good dish of them : yea sometimes 
 in plentie of Corne doe they eate these acornes for a noveltie." 
 
 Roger Williams, R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 90. 
 
 [104] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 ourselves and shot off a couple of Muskets, and 
 noyse ceased." 
 
 At daylight they were up and at their devotions. 
 Some had taken their muskets to the boat, or had 
 dropped them on the sand under some of their 
 extra clothing (there being but four of the party 
 who had their weapons by them), to be in greater 
 readiness to get away. Those who were carrying 
 the armor to the boat, when they had returned to 
 get their breakfast, were suddenly surprised by 
 "a great and straynge cry," which they recognized 
 as the same by which they had been alarmed at 
 midnight. One of the party who was somewhat 
 away from the barricado came running, his feet 
 shod with fear and his lips tremulous with the cry 
 of "Indians! Indians!" A flight of arrows cut the 
 air, 1 while the English made a scramble to regain 
 their muskets on the sands. The redoubtable 
 Standish, "having a snaphance [a flint-lock] ready," 
 made a shot at the Indians who were making a 
 sharp encounter with those who had run to the 
 boat, as if to prevent them from regaining their 
 
 1 Johnson, in his Wonder-working Providence (2 Mass. 
 Hist. Coll.) has this: "Now the Indians, whose dwellings are 
 most neere the water-side, appeared with their Bowes bent 
 and Arrowes on the string, let fly their long shafts among this 
 little company, whom they might soon have enclosed, but the 
 Lord otherwise disposed of it, for one Captaine Miles Standish 
 having his fowling-peece in a redinesse, presented full at 
 them, his shot being directed by the provident Hand of the 
 
 [105] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 muskets. Successful in gaining their weapons, 
 they opened fire from the boat. The tide of the 
 battle was turned, at least so soon as one whom the 
 English took to be the leader of the attacking party 
 was wounded. The Indians faded away as silently 
 as they had come, and Mourt says: "Wee followed 
 them about a quarter of a mile, but wee left sixe 
 
 most high God, strook the stoutest sachem among them in 
 the right arme, it being bent over his shoulder to reach an 
 arrow forth his Quiver, as their manner is to draw them forth 
 in fight, at this stroke they all fled with great swiftnesse 
 through the Woods and Thickets, then the English, who more 
 thirsted after their conversion than destruction, returned 
 to their Bote without receiving any damage." 
 
 Mr. Dexter, in a note to Mourt s Relation, says that John 
 son gives "no clue to his authority for this statement." 
 Dexter questions it. 
 
 Bradford, who was an eye-witness, does not mention 
 Standish particularly, but says, "In y 6 mean time, of those 
 that were ther ready, tow muskets were discharged at them, & 
 2. more stood ready in y 6 entrance of ther randevoue, but 
 were commanded not to shoote till they could take full aime 
 at them." 
 
 History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 103. 
 
 "Samoset afterwards informed the Pilgrims that these 
 were Nauset Indians, and that their hostility was occasioned 
 by the fact that one Hunt had previously deceived them, 
 and stolen some of their tribe, and sold them for slaves." 
 
 Dexter s note, Mourt s Relation, p. 54. 
 
 The sachem Chikkataubut was the instigator of this at 
 tack. Of the graves found by the Plymouth settlers, which 
 they opened and rifled with their usual disregard of right and 
 
 [106] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 to keepe our Shallop, for we were carefull of our 
 business; then wee shouted all together severall 
 times, and shot off a couple of muskets and so re- 
 decency, one contained the body of the mother of this sachem. 
 Over the body was set a stake. Two large bear-skins, sewed 
 together and hung to the stake, were spread over the ground. 
 These were appropriated by the English and taken away. 
 When the sachem learned of the despoiling of his mother s 
 grave he complained to his people and demanded immediate 
 vengeance. He was undoubtedly present at the attack at 
 Nauset, and may have been the one who was wounded. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 44. 
 
 There is no mention of the bear-skins in Mourt s Relation. 
 
 We find Chikkataubut s alleged harangue to his people, 
 whom he was inciting to attack the English, in Morton s 
 New English Canaan, pp. 106, 107. Here it is: 
 
 "When last the glorious light of all the sky was underneath 
 this globe, and the birds grew silent, I began to settle, as my 
 custom is, to take repose. Before mine eyes were fast closed, 
 me tho t I saw a vision, at which my spirit was much troubled, 
 and trembling at that doleful sight, a spirit cried aloud, 
 * Behold! my son, whom I have cherished; see the paps that 
 gave thee suck, the hands that clasped thee warm, and fed thee 
 oft; canst thou forget to take revenge on those wild people, 
 that hath my monument defaced in a despiteful manner; 
 disdaining our ancient antiquities, and honorable customs. 
 See now the sachem s grave lies like unto the common people, 
 of ignoble race defaced. Thy mother doth complain, im 
 plores thy aid against this theivish people new come hither; 
 if this be suffered, I shall not rest in quiet within my ever 
 lasting habitation." 3 
 
 See account of the desecration of this particular grave, 
 taken from Mourt, on p. 97 of this work, ante. 
 
 [107] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 turned: this wee did that they might see wee were 
 not af rayed of them nor discouraged." He notes 
 that they picked up eighteen arrows; that they 
 were headed with "brass, others with Hartshorne, 
 & others with Eagles clawes." 1 Their coats, 
 which hung in the barricado, were "shot through 
 and through." They named the locality the place 
 of The First Encounter. In the light of subsequent 
 events, this incident may be taken as prophetic. 
 
 The settlement of new Plymouth was established. 
 Every man built his own house, and as soon as it 
 was ready for occupancy he left the ship and set 
 up his household goods on shore. They had fin 
 ished their storehouse, and much of their property 
 muskets and munitions of offence and defence 
 were there stored. The common house, for that 
 was their designation of it, in some unknown 
 
 1 No mention is here made of what seems to have been the 
 commoner arrow-heads of the Indian usage. Perhaps the 
 Cape Indians were not able to get flints for their arrow-heads 
 so readily as the more easterly tribes. They do not mention 
 finding the flint arrow-heads. It was a matter of skill to 
 mount a flint-headed arrow. 
 
 See Schoolcraft, History of Indian Tribes, vol. iii., p. 467. 
 
 Hutchinson notes that after the English came the savages 
 pointed their arrows with brass, fastening them to a small 
 stick six or eight inches long, so fashioned that it could be 
 inserted into the end of the pithy elder which they "bound 
 round to strengthen it." 
 
 History of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 411. 
 
 Mourt, p. 55. 
 
 [108] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 manner caught fire, but was saved. They charged 
 it to the Indians. Two days after, on February 16, 
 an alarm was raised by reason of one of their 
 number seeing a party of Indians while he was out 
 after game. A meeting of the settlement was called, 
 and military orders were established. Miles Stan- 
 dish was chosen captain, and to him was given full 
 authority in military matters. 
 
 From this, on to the same day of the following 
 month, the savages had kept away from the Plym 
 outh people. On that day, however, they were 
 surprised by the unheralded advent among them 
 of a solitary Indian, whose first word to them 
 was, "Welcome!" Mourt says, "He very boldly 
 came all alone and along the houses straight to 
 the Randevous, where we intercepted him, not 
 suffering him to goe in, as undoubtedly he would, 
 out of his boldness, hee saluted us in English, and 
 bad us well-come, for he had learned some broken 
 English amongst the Englishmen that came to 
 fish at Monchiggon, and knew by name most of 
 the Captaines, Commanders, & Masters, that usu 
 ally come." As no improvement can be made 
 on the relation of Mourt, his account is given ver 
 batim. He continues his description of the great 
 Samoset: 1 "He was a man free in speech, so farre 
 as he could expresse his minde, and of seemly 
 
 1 Samoset was the sachem of a tribe of Indians who had 
 their habitat about the Sagadahoc River, and perhaps to the 
 
 [109] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 carriage, we questioned him of many things, as he 
 was the first Savage we could meete withall; He 
 sayed he was not of these parts, but of Morat- 
 higgon [Monhegan], and one of the Sagamores or 
 Lords thereof, and had beene 8. moneths in these 
 parts, it lying hence a dayes sayle with a great 
 wind, and five dayes by land; he discoursed of the 
 whole Country, and of every Province, and of their 
 Sagamores , and their number of men, and strength ; 
 the wind beginning to rise a little, we cast a horse- 
 eastward. He was a great man among his people, and a 
 great friend of Brown, who may be regarded as the English 
 pioneer of the Pemaquid country. He gave Brown a deed of 
 a very extensive tract of country, which included a large part 
 of the Pemaquid peninsula, of which in these days Bristol 
 may be regarded the most important town. The deed was 
 acknowledged before Abraham Shurts, who has been called 
 the father of American conveyancing. The jurat which ap 
 pears in the modern conveyance is practically, word for 
 word, as it appears in Samoset s deed to Brown. When the 
 Indian troubles broke out in Maine, and the cabins of the 
 settlers were involved in one common devastation, Brown s 
 dwelling was undisturbed. It was not long after this generous 
 gift to Brown that Samoset disappears from local history. 
 What became of him, or how or where he died, is involved in 
 obscurity. He was the Chesterfield of his people, a whole 
 hearted, great-souled savage. But perhaps one ought not to 
 call him a savage, for he was more civilized than some of the 
 English with whom he came in contact. He stands out among 
 the men of his time with a marvellous distinctness. For a 
 review of his character see Sylvester s Pemaquid, Maine 
 Pioneer Settlements, vol. iv., pp. 186-196. 
 
 [110] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 man s coat about him, for he was starke naked, 
 onely a leather about his wast, with a fringe about 
 a span long, or little more; he had a bow & 2 
 arrowes, the one headed, and the other unheaded; 
 he was a tall straight man, the haire of his head 
 blacke, long behind, onely short before, none on 
 his face at all; he asked some beere, but we gave 
 him strong water, and bisket, and butter, and 
 cheese, & pudding, and a peece of a mallard, all 
 which he liked well, and had been acquainted with 
 such amongst the English; he told us the place 
 where we now live, is called, Patuxet, 1 and that 
 
 1 "Patuxet" elsewhere as Savage (Appendix to Winthrop, 
 vol. ii., p. 478) gives it, "Patackost" (" Patackoset ? ") is 
 probably of a different derivation from "Pawtucket;"i.e., "at 
 the little falls." "Petuhqui," or "Puttukque," signifying 
 "round," is a common element in Indian nomenclature, as a 
 preface of "rock," "hill," etc. John Smith (1616) gives the 
 name "Accomack" as the Indian name for Plymouth shore 
 (3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vi., p. 119). It undoubtedly had its 
 name from some of the neighboring Massachusetts tribes : per 
 haps tribes further north or east, to whom the country around 
 Cape Cod might have been designated as the "land beyond," 
 or "on the other side of the bay." Cotton gives it the name 
 of "Ompaum." What Indian he ever knew he is credited 
 with picking up among the natives of that particular locality 
 (3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. ii., p. 232). Dexter suggests that the 
 name is of later origin that it may have been applied to the 
 place as the capital, or great gathering-place, of the colony, sig 
 nifying " place of tribute," or of " acknowledging sovereignty." 
 These are rather fanciful derivations, which go to show how 
 strenuously one will sometimes strive for the unattainable. 
 
 Mourt, Dexter s edition, p. 88. 
 
 [in] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 about foure yeares agoe, all the Inhabitants dyed 
 of an extraordinary plague, and there is neither 
 man, woman, nor childe remaining, as indeed we 
 have found none, so as there is none to hinder our 
 possession, or to lay claime unto it; all the after- 
 noone we spent in communication with him, we 
 would gladly have beene rid of him at night, 1 but 
 he was not willing to goe this night, then we 
 thought to carry him on ship-boord, wherewith he 
 was well content, and went into the Shallop, but 
 the winde was high and water scant, that it could 
 not returne backe: we lodged him that night at 
 Steven Hopkins house, and watched him; the next 
 day he went backe to the Massasoits, from whence 
 he sayed he came, who are our next bordering 
 neighbors: they are sixty strong, as he sayth." 
 
 Saturday morning following, the English gave 
 Samoset a knife, a bracelet, and a ring, and he 
 left them, promising to bring some of the Massa- 
 soits [Wampanoags] with some furs, as Mourt says, 
 "to trucke with us." 
 
 1 This does not lead one to infer that the spirit of hospitality 
 was equal to the pretensions of the Plymouth settlers. They 
 were evidently over-suspicious, else they were poor judges of 
 character. Samoset s quiet and gentlemanly approach should 
 have disarmed them at once. Even when he was housed 
 under Hopkins s roof they set a watch upon him, which in 
 any other Indian would have aroused a deep resentment. 
 Samoset was too noble to entertain any feeling of that sort, 
 and repaid their treatment, at best of the perfunctory sort 
 
 [112] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Samoset came back to them the following day, 
 and with him "five other tall proper men, they had 
 every man a Deeres skin on him, and the principall 
 of them had a wild Cats skin, or such like, on one 
 arme; they had most of them long hosen up to 
 their groynes, close made; and aboue their groynes 
 to their wast another leather, they were altogether 
 like Irish-irouses ; they are of complexion like our 
 English Gipseys, no haire or very little on their 
 faces, on their heads long haire to their shoulders, 
 onely cut before, some trussed up before with a 
 feather, broad wise, like a fanne, another a fox 
 tayle hanging out: These left, (according to our 
 charge given before) their Bowes and Arrowes a 
 quarter of a myle from our Towne, we gave them 
 entertaynment as we thought was fitting them, they 
 did eate liberally of our English victuals, they made 
 semblance unto us of friendship and amitie; they 
 song & danced after their maner like Anticks; 
 they brought with them in a thing like a Bow- 
 case (which the principall of them had about his 
 wast) a little of their Corne pownded to Powder, 
 
 (the underlying motive was to use him as a go-between to the 
 Wampanoags, that they might engage in some sort of dicker 
 with that tribe), by making them acquainted with the great 
 Massasoit, to whose friendship they were most deeply in 
 debted for the opportunity to perfect their little common 
 wealth. This relation, in which Bradford coincides, does not 
 show a very broad sense of humanitarianism. 
 
 [113] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 which put to a little water they eate; 1 he had a little 
 Tobacco in a bag, but none of them drunke 
 (smoked) but when he listed, some of them had 
 their faces paynted black, from the forehead to the 
 chin, foure or five fingers broad; others after other 
 fashions, as they liked; they brought three or foure 
 skins, but we would not trucke with them at all that 
 day (Sunday) , but wished them to bring more, and 
 we would trucke for all, which they promised within 
 a night or two, and would leave these behind them, 
 though we were not willing they should, and they 
 brought us all our tooles againe which were taken 
 in the Woods, 2 in our mens absence, so because of 
 
 "Nokechick, a parch d meal, which is a readie very whole 
 some food, they eate with a little water, hot or cold; I have 
 travelled with neere 200 of them at once, neere 100 miles 
 through the woods, every man carrying a little Basket of this 
 at his back, and sometimes in a hollow Leather Girdle about 
 his middle, sufficient for a man for three or four daies. With 
 this ready provision, and their Bow and Arrowes, they are 
 readie for War and travell at an houres warning. With a 
 spoonfull of this meale, and a spoonfull of water from the 
 Brooke, have I made many a good dinner and supper." 
 
 Roger Williams, R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 13. 
 
 2 Some tools which the settlers left in the woods where they 
 had been at work were taken by the Indians. Samoset said 
 the Nausets, who were at the southeast of the Plymouth 
 settlement, were ill-affected against the English. It was 
 among these people that Thomas Hunt, master of a ship in 
 Captain Smith s company, made his infamous kidnapping 
 raid. These were sold as slaves in Spain. The Brief Relation 
 
 [114] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 the day we dismissed them so soone as we could. 
 But Samoset, our first acquaintance, eyther was 
 sicke, or fayned himselfe so, and would not goe 
 with them, and stayed with us till Wednesday 
 morning: Then we sent him to them, to know the 
 reason why they came not according to their w r ords, 
 and we gave him a hat, a pay re of stockings and 
 shooes, a shirt, and a peece of cloth to tie about 
 his wast." 
 
 Another interruption by the Indians occurred 
 that same day, the savages making signs of de 
 fiance; but they disappeared when Captain Stan- 
 dish and another, with their muskets, appeared, 
 along with two other of the settlers who were un 
 armed, who kept them company, in answer to their 
 challenge. The following Thursday, a "very 
 fayre warme day," about noon, Samoset, and 
 Squanto, the only native of Patuxet, 1 made their 
 appearance at the settlement. Squanto could 
 
 of the President and Council for New England states that 
 "the friars, when it was found whence these slaves were 
 come, took some of them and instructed them in the Christian 
 faitho Some got over to England and proved of great service 
 to Gorges and others." 
 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xix., p. 6; vol. xxvi., pp. 58, 61, 132. 
 
 1 Squanto (Squantum, Tisquantum, Tasquantum) was, as 
 Dexter says, undoubtedly one of the five Indians who were 
 kidnapped and taken to England by Capt. George Weymouth 
 in the mid-summer of 1605, when he left the mouth of the 
 Sagadahoc, as he set out on his return voyage to that country. 
 
 [115] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 speak English, and told the English that Massa- 
 soit "was hard by, with Quadequina his brother, 
 and all their men. They could not well express in 
 English what they would, but after an houre the 
 
 He (Squanto) may have come back to America and have 
 been kidnapped a second time by Hunt. There is some con 
 fusion as to the times of these occurrences, and the narrative 
 of his adventures is somewhat confusing. 
 
 This was his first appearance to the English. He at once 
 assured them of his friendship and established himself as 
 their interpreter. He was ambitious, inclined to meddle, not 
 always veracious, and, in his relations to Hobomocko, some 
 thing of an lago. He was a born mischief-maker, a self- 
 constituted ward-heeler in the crude politics of his race. 
 
 Mourt says he was the only remnant of the Patuxet tribe 
 to survive the plague, which is possibly due to his being out 
 of the country. For a time he dwelt in Cornhill, London, with 
 Master John Slaine, merchant. This plague was somewhat 
 extensive in its ravages. Its eastern limit was in the Kennebec 
 wilderness. Its southern limit was Narragansett Bay. It be 
 gan in 1617, and prevailed some three years. It was nearly 
 abated in 1619. The savages, in their account of it, say the 
 Indians died so fast "the living were not able to bury the 
 dead." It is related that when the English came the bones 
 were strewn upon the ground. This Squanto was a plotter, 
 and forfeited his life in 1622 by conspiring to destroy that of 
 Massasoit. Massasoit demanded Squanto, that he might 
 punish him; but the English regarded him as invaluable to 
 their interests, and protected him, thereby repudiating the 
 second article of their treaty with Massasoit. Out of respect 
 to the English, Massasoit would not seize the conspirator 
 without their consent. Massasoit offered the English his 
 beaver-skins for Squanto, and sent his own knife for the 
 cutting off of Squanto s head and hands, which were to be 
 
 [116] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 King came to the top of an hill over against us, and 
 had in his trayne sixtie men, that wee could well 
 behold them, and they us: we were not willing to 
 send our governour to them, and they [were] un 
 willing to come to us, so Squanto went againe unto 
 him, who brought word that wee should send one 
 to parley with [them], which we did, which was 
 Edward Winslow, to know his mind, and to sig- 
 nifie the mind and will of our governour, which 
 was to have trading and peece with him. We sent 
 to the King a payre of Knives and a Copper chain, 
 with a lewell in it. To Quadequina, we sent like 
 wise a Knife and a lewell to hang in his eare, 
 withall a pot of strong water, 1 a good quantitie of 
 
 brought to him. For some time after, Massasoit, wearied by 
 the pretences of the English in the matter, seemed to frown 
 on the latter, as they complained. 
 
 Squanto was the pilot in the voyage to Boston Bay in the 
 autumn of 1621. It was he who advised robbing the Nane- 
 pashemets of the furs they offered for sale. Drake credits 
 him with being a spy on the English in the interest of Corbi- 
 tant, the Nauset sachem. If it were so, they were doubly 
 duped when they permitted Squanto to escape his just deserts 
 at the hands of Massasoit. The English kept their treaties 
 when it was for their interest; when it was an indifferent 
 matter they were great sticklers for justice. It made a differ 
 ence with them whose bull was gored. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 10, 13, 18, 21, 39. 
 
 1 With all the fine conscience of the Pilgrims, barring the 
 manners and customs of the times, the present of a "pot of 
 strong water" to an unsophisticated savage, while it may 
 
 [117] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Bisket, and some butter, which were all willingly 
 accepted : our Messenger made a speech unto him, 
 that King James saluted him with words of love 
 and Peace, and did accept of him as his Friend and 
 Alie, and that our Governour desired to see him 
 and to trucke with him, and to confirme a Peace 
 with him, as his next neighbor : He liked well of the 
 speech and heard it attentively, though the In 
 terpreters did not well express it; after he had eaten 
 and drunke himselfe, and given the rest of his com 
 pany, he looked upon our messengers sword and 
 armour which he had on, with intimation of his 
 desire to buy it, but on the other side, our mes 
 senger showed his unwillingness to part with it: In 
 the end he left him custodie of Quadequina his 
 brother, and came over the brooke, and some 
 twentie men following him, leaving all their Bowes 
 and Arrowes behind them. We kept six or seven as 
 hostages for our messenger; Captaine Standish and 
 master Williamson 1 met the King at the brooke 
 with a halfe a dozen Musketiers, they saluted him 
 and he them, so one going over, the one on the one 
 
 have been a most hospitable act, was from the appetite for 
 drink which not long after began to possess the Indian, and 
 which changed his character in many respects, as well as his 
 fortunes, not only a reprehensible but an unfortunate cour 
 tesy. 
 
 1 The name Williamson does not appear in the list of the 
 Pilgrims. It is probably an error. John Williams had died 
 previous to this. Dexter regards it as a misprint. 
 
 [118] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 side, and the other on the other, conducted him to 
 an house then in building, where we placed a greene 
 Rugge and three or foure Cushions, then instantly 
 came our Governour with Drumme and Trumpet 
 after him, and some few Musketiers. After saluta 
 tions, our Governour kissing his hand, the King 
 kissed him, and so they sat downe. The Governour 
 called for some strong water, and drunke to him, 
 and he drunke a great draught that made him 
 sweate all the while after, he called for a little fresh 
 meate, which the King did eate willingly, and did 
 give his followers. Then they treated of Peace, 
 which was; 
 
 "1. That neyther he nor any of his should in 
 jure or doe any hurt to any of our people. 
 
 "2. And if any of his did hurt to any of ours, 
 he should send the offender, that we might punish 
 him. 
 
 "3. That if any of our tooles were taken away 
 when our people were at worke, he should cause 
 them to be restored, and if ours did any harme to 
 any of his, wee would do the like to them. 
 
 "4. If any did unjustly warre against him, we 
 would ayde him; If any did warre against us, he 
 should ayde us. 
 
 "5. He should send to his neighbor Confederates 
 to certifie them of this, that they might not wrong 
 us, but might be likewise comprised in the condi 
 tions of Peace. 
 
 "6. That when their men came to us, they 
 [119] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 should leave their Bowes and Arrowes behind 
 them, as wee should doe with our Peeces when we 
 came to them. 1 
 
 "Lastly, that doing thus, King lames would 
 esteem of him as his friend and Alie: all which the 
 King seemed to like well, and it was applauded of 
 his followers, all the while he sat by the Governour 
 he trembled for feare: In his person he is a very 
 lustie man, in his best yeares an able body, grave 
 
 n the application of Massasoit and his son, this 
 "Auncient league and confederacy" was renewed by the 
 Plymouth Court, Sept. 25 (O. S.), 1639. 
 
 Morton, New England Memorial, p. 112. 
 
 Plymouth Colony Records, vol. i., p. 133. 
 
 With Massasoit this was a sacred compact, and one most 
 conscientiously adhered to and observed during his lifetime. 
 In the year 1632 he was attacked by the Narragansett 
 Canonicus. Captain Standish, with his English soldiers, 
 made a summary ending of this conflict, though Massasoit 
 expected a serious war. On this occasion he changed his 
 name to Owsamequin. 
 
 Miantonomoh had, in some way, obtained possession of a 
 portion of Massasoit s domains, so that the Commissioners 
 of the United Colonies in the autumn of 1643 ordered that 
 "Plymouth labor by all due means to restore Woosamequin 
 [Massasoit] to his full liberties, in respect to any encroach 
 ments by the Nanohiggansetts, or any other natives; so that 
 the properties of the natives may be preserved to themselves, 
 and that no one Sagamore encroach upon the rest as of late: 
 that Woosamequin be reduced to those former terms and agree 
 ments between Plymouth and him" 
 
 Massasoit had already sold much of his lands, and prac- 
 
 [120] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 of countenance, and spare of speech: In his Attyre 
 little or nothing differing from the rest of his fol 
 lowers, only in a great Chaine of white bone 
 Beades about his necke, and at it behinde his 
 necke, hangs a little bagg of Tobacco, which he 
 dranke (smoked) and gave us to drinke; his face was 
 paynted with a sad red like murry, 1 and oyled both 
 head and face, that hee looked greasily: All his 
 followers likewise, were in their faces, in part or in 
 whole paynted, some blacke, some red, some yellow, 
 and some white, some with crosses, and other 
 Antick workes, some had skins on them, 2 and some 
 naked, all tall strong men in appearance: so after 
 all this was done, the Governour conducted him 
 
 tically all, before he died. He was living in 1662 and after 
 the death of his son Alexander. He may have died that year. 
 The actual time of the event is uncertain. Hutchinson fol 
 lows Hubbard, giving 1656 as the year of Massasoit s decease. 
 He is clearly in error. He was alive in 1661, when Uneko 
 attacked one of his villages, killing some of the Wampanoags 
 and carrying others away captive. 
 
 Records, United Colonies. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 2527. 
 
 *A dark red; vide, Latin, morum, mulberry. "A princely 
 color." 
 
 2 "They make shooes of Deeres skinnes, very handsomely 
 and commodious, and of such deeres skinnes as they dress 
 bare, they make stockings that comes within their shooes, like 
 stirrop stockings, and is fastened above at their belt which 
 is about their middell. . . . Those garments they always 
 put on when they goe a hunting to keepe their skinnes from 
 
 [121] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 [Massasoit] to the Brooke, and there they em 
 braced each other and he departed." 1 
 
 We have been thus minute in following Mourt 
 
 the brush of the Shrubbs, and when they have their Appar- 
 rell one, they look like Irish in their trouses, the Stockings 
 join so to their breeches." 
 
 Morton s New English Canaan, Force, vol. ii., v., p. 22. 
 
 1 It is on this part of Cape Cod that Sir Francis Drake 
 landed in 1586. Probably Massasoit was not then born. 
 Capt. John Smith credits Drake with giving New England its 
 name, in his description of the country after his voyage of 
 1614. Massasoit makes no mention of seeing other English 
 here before the coming of the Plymouth settler. Neither 
 Gosnold (1602) nor Dermer s coming in 1619 seems to have 
 any place in his recollection. Dermer says he found a place 
 which had been inhabited, but nothing more. Massasoit s 
 silence is inexplicable if he had met Dermer, as one would 
 infer from the latter s letter of Dec. 27 (O. S.), 1619, to 
 Samuel Purchas. Dermer writes: "When I arrived at my 
 savage s (Squanto s) native country, (finding all dead) I 
 travelled alongst a day s journey, to a place called Nummasta- 
 quyt, where finding inhabitants, I despatched a messenger a 
 day s journey farther west, to Pocanokit, which bordereth on 
 the sea; whence came to see me two kings, attended with a 
 guard of 50 armed men, who being well satisfied with that 
 my savage and I discoursed unto them, (being desirous of 
 novelty) gave me content in whatsoever I demanded ; where I 
 found that former relations were true. Here I redeemed a 
 Frenchman, and afterwards another at Masstachusit, who 
 three years since escaped shipwreck at the north-east of Cape- 
 Cod." 
 
 Drake makes this extract from Davis s notes to Morton. 
 
 See Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 18. 
 
 [122] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 for the reason that in detail he is almost photo 
 graphic, and as well that in his Relation is found 
 the key to much that for the lack of his story would 
 seem somewhat obscure. The hostile meetings, 
 though unimportant, comparatively, between the 
 English and the neighboring savages, punctuate 
 Morton s, or Mourt s, story with a like savage sug 
 gestion. As initial movements,* the records by 
 both Mourt and Bradford are of tragic importance. 
 In no way can one obtain so vivid a picture of 
 the days immediately following the debarkation 
 from the Mayflower as by taking their story in 
 the original. 
 
 Massasoit had made his visit of state. He had 
 taken away with him a good impression of the new 
 comers; his friendship was to become a valuable 
 asset in their adventurous enterprise; nor did the 
 English value it at its present worth, else they had 
 been more hospitably forbearing. From the human 
 point of view, the Indian, as a man, was always to 
 be taken at a usurious discount by his English 
 neighbors. It was a policy-game with the latter, in 
 which the savage invariably scored a blank; a 
 sort of rude diplomacy in which the versatile treach 
 ery of the savage was no match for steel-hardened 
 astuteness and alert perspicuity, both of which 
 were the logical sequences of an Anglo-Saxon 
 heredity. From the very nature of the case, the 
 aborigine was doomed. 
 
 The Plymouth people, sometime in the latter 
 [123] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 part of June of this year, or, it may have been, in 
 the early days of July, went to Pokonoket 1 to visit 
 Massasoit, who received them with every mani 
 festation of delight. Two days of Massasoit s 
 meager fare was the limit of their endurance of 
 savage hospitality, and they returned to Plymouth. 
 It was about this time that a boy known as John 
 Billington, whose father afterward was the subject 
 of the first public execution at Plymouth, was lost 
 in the woods. He was out after berries and lost 
 his way, to finally become located at Nauset. 
 Thither the English went after him. They set out 
 from Plymouth in their shallop, and when they 
 had come into Cummaquid [Barnstable] harbor 
 
 "Pokonoket" ("Pakonokick," " Pawkunnawkutt," etc.), 
 unless greatly corrupted, can be derived only from pohkenai 
 or pogkeni, "dark," and ohke y "land" or "place." This is 
 directly opposed, in its literal or primary signification, to 
 "wampan-ohke." Eliot has, for "brightness, but ... in 
 darkness" (Isa. lix., 9), "wompag, gut . . . pohkenahtu." 
 The origin of the name is open to conjecture. "Wampan," 
 signifying, primarily, "white" or "bright," was used figura 
 tively for the dawn, and the region of light, "the east." 
 Pohkenai, "dark," may have been, and very probably was, 
 similarly used for the place of sunset, "the west;" though it 
 is not found in that sense in Eliot or in Roger Williams. If so, 
 "Pokonoket" would be the "west country" to the Plymouth 
 tribes, as the "east country" of the Narragansetts. Or the 
 name may be of local origin from the color of the soil, the 
 obscurity of the forest, or other suggestion of darkness. 
 
 Dexter s Mourt, p. 102, note. 
 
 [124] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 they dropped anchor. 1 Here they were met by 
 some of the Nausets. Taking four of the savages 
 into their shallop to be retained as hostages, they 
 went ashore to have an interview with lyanough, 
 the sachem of Cummaquid, by whom they were at 
 once joined on their further voyaging to Nauset, 
 where the Billington boy was detained. They sent 
 Squanto overland to Aspinet, the Nauset sachem, 
 to demand young Billington s peremptory return. 
 This accomplished, they returned to Cummaquid, 
 having "established a firm peace with the Indians 
 of that region." 
 
 It was during this voyage they learned, probably 
 through Squanto, who in some manner was kept 
 well-informed of the attitude of the neighboring 
 tribes toward the English, that the Narragansetts 
 had attacked Massasoit, killed some of the Wam- 
 panoags, and taken Massasoit away as a captive. 
 It was about this time that Hobbomok, a chief 
 captain of Massasoit s, and a savage of great in 
 tegrity and personal bravery, attached himself to 
 the English. 2 
 
 1 The expedition to Nauset was undertaken between the 
 end of July and the middle of August. 
 
 Prince, New England Chronicles, vol. ii., p. 107. 
 
 2 Hobbomok was a celebrated Paniese, or war-captain, 
 also a trusted favorite of Massasoit. He is credited by the 
 English as holding Massasoit to their interests more closely 
 than the latter would have consented had Hobbomok been 
 
 [125] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Reaching Plymouth, they also learned that 
 Corbitant, an inferior sachem under Massasoit, 
 was at Namasket for the purpose of arousing the 
 Wampanoags of that section against the English. 1 
 Anxious for the fate of Massasoit, Squanto and 
 Hobbomok set out at once for Namasket. They 
 gained the village quietly, but were discovered by 
 Corbitant, who attacked the wigwam where they 
 
 otherwise disposed. It was through Hobbomok the English 
 learned that the Massachusetts were inclined to enter into an 
 offensive alliance with the Narragansetts against them. He 
 as well fathomed the duplicity of Squanto, which was later 
 more than once made apparent. He informed the people at 
 Plymouth of Squanto s double-dealing, and Winslow writes: 
 "Thus by degrees we began to discover Tisquantum [Squanto], 
 whose ends were only to make himself great in the eyes of his 
 countrymen by means of his nearnesse and favor with us, not 
 caring who fell, so he stood." 
 
 It was Squanto who put the Plymouth settlement into great 
 alarm with the report that the Narragansetts were coming 
 with Massasoit to destroy the settlement. It was Hobbomok s 
 wife who had been sent to Pokonoket privately and who there 
 made the discovery of Squanto s plot, for which Massasoit 
 demanded of Winslow that he deliver Squanto to him for 
 punishment. Winslow says, "For these and like abuses, the 
 governour sharply reproved him [Squanto], yet he was so 
 necessary to and profitable an instrument, as at that time we 
 could not miss him." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 38, 39. 
 
 Winslow s Journal. 
 
 Corbitant lived at Mettapoisett. He was much like Philip 
 
 [126] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 were lodged. Corbitant was especially incensed 
 against Squanto by reason of his intimacy with the 
 Plymouth people, and threatened him with his 
 knife. While Squanto was struggling for his life 
 Hobbomok escaped and made his way directly to 
 Plymouth with the news that their interpreter had 
 undoubtedly been killed by Corbitant. Standish 
 
 in his character and disposition, cruel and treacherous; 
 and he also held the English in contempt and hated them as 
 intruders, and was ready for any enterprise which would 
 result in their destruction or injury. He held no intimacies 
 with them, nor wished for their friendship. He was openly 
 discourteous when in their company, and made no pretense 
 of concealing his enmity. 
 
 In 1621, mid-year, he was mixed up in a conspiracy with 
 the Narragansetts to accomplish the overthrow of Massasoit. 
 He liked not the latter s friendly intimacies with the English. 
 He determined to get Squanto and Hobbomok out of the way, 
 when the road would be clear to operate against Massasoit, 
 who, though mild and equable in his disposition, was in his 
 prime and not easily to be overborne. After the sortie upon 
 his village by Standish and the rescue of Squanto (who was 
 supposed later to have had some relations with Corbitant 
 inimical to the interests of the Plymouth settlers) , which was 
 a foretaste of the energetic action likely to follow any inter 
 ference with the English interests, the Nauset sachem 
 swallowed his choler and curbed his ambition for war in so 
 far that he made his appearance at the Plymouth settlement 
 on September 13, the same year, just thirty days after his 
 capture of Squanto, confessed his error, and made his peace. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 28. 
 
 [127] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 at once made up a war party of fourteen, 1 and, 
 setting out in the rain through the woods towards 
 Namasket, under the guidance of Hobbomok, 
 they broke into the Indian village in the deep of 
 the night and made an immediate attack, searching 
 the wigwams for Squanto, to discover him at last, 
 uninjured. In the melee three of Corbitant s people 
 were wounded. Corbitant himself succeeded in 
 escaping. Standish, assuming that the story of the 
 capture of Massasoit was true, notified those of the 
 Nausets who remained in the village that if Massa 
 soit was not returned at once, and unharmed, or if 
 Corbitant should incite the Wampanoags to fur 
 ther insurrection, the English would destroy him. 
 They very considerately took the wounded Indians 
 with them to the Plymouth settlement, where they 
 were soon healed and sent back to Mettapoisett. 
 
 This summary action on the part of the English 
 had the proper effect. It was made to appear that 
 the story of Massasoit s capture and the foray of 
 
 1 Mourt gives the number of men sent on this expedition as 
 ten: "On the morrow we set out ten men Armed." 
 
 Relation, Dexter s edition, p. 120. 
 
 Winslow says, "Whereupon it was resolved to send y e 
 Captaine & 14 men well armed, and to goe & fall upon them 
 in y 6 night." 
 
 Journal, p. 125. 
 
 After the summary disposition of Wittuwamett and Pek- 
 suot at Wessagusset, by Standish, Corbitant is lost in ob 
 scurity. 
 
 [128] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 the Narragansetts was only a rumor. Whether 
 the sore went deeper than the surface, the touch of 
 Standish at Nauset sufficed to sear it. 1 
 
 The report of this incident reached the ears of 
 the Narragansett sachem, Canonicus, who at once 
 despatched a messenger to the English in the inter 
 ests of peace. The savages were not so much in 
 timidated by the muskets of the English as they 
 were by the occult powers which they believed 
 them to possess. The people at Plymouth were 
 credited with being in collusion with evil spirits, 
 and having the power, through their God, to bring 
 upon the Indian any misfortune, even to their de 
 struction, at will. 2 
 
 1 This agreement was the result of the raid on Nauset: 
 "September 13, Anno. Dom., 1621. 
 
 "Know all men by these presents that we, whose names 
 are underwritten, acknowledge ourselves the loyal subjects 
 of King James, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, 
 defender of the faith &c. In witness whereof we have sub 
 scribed our names and marks as followeth. 
 
 Ocquamehud, Nattawahunt, Quadequina, 
 Caunacone, Corbitant, Huttamoida, 
 
 Obbatinua, Chikkatabak, Appanow." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians; also Morton. 
 Bradford s Journal. 
 
 2 To avert possible calamity which the English might send 
 against them, the Massachusetts tribe and the savages of 
 some others "got all the Powows [medicine-men and con 
 jurors] in the country, who, for three days together, in a 
 horrid and devilish manner did curse and execrate them [the 
 
 [129] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 They remembered the plague with a singular 
 terror; and, as well, the fact that it followed closely 
 upon the heels of the prophecy and death of the 
 French sailor who a few years before had unfortu 
 nately fallen into their hands, and through them 
 was reduced to a state worse than slavery. The 
 Plymouth people had heard much of this tribe that 
 was situated along the shores of Boston Bay, and 
 whose roaming-grounds extended even to the 
 Piscataquis River; for the Massachusetts were a 
 tribe with traditions. They were not friendly to 
 the English, but indulged in many hostile threats 
 which had come to the ears of the Plymouth Col 
 ony. The latter determined to explore the country; 
 and so it happened, after the submission of Corbi- 
 tant and his fellow conspirators, that in the same 
 month of September Captain Standish, with a 
 force of twelve white men and three Indians, 
 Squanto being one of the latter, left Plymouth just 
 
 English] with their dismal conjurations, which assembly and 
 service they held in a dark and dismal swamp. Behold how 
 Satan labored to hinder the Gospel from coming into New 
 England!" 
 
 Mourt s Relation. 
 
 In those days the settler was about as cracked over some 
 things as was the poor savage over others. They were not 
 unlike the savage in that to what they failed to understand 
 they attached mysterious and supernatural qualities and 
 powers. It was the imagination, abnormally developed, of a 
 conscience-ridden people. 
 
 [130] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 before midnight on an ebb tide, hoping to reach 
 Massachusetts Bay by break of the following day. 1 
 The light wind and their miscalculation of the dis 
 tance so retarded their voyage that they did not 
 reach Thompson s Island until late in the afternoon. 
 At this place they dropped anchor. The following 
 morning, early, they pulled up their anchor into 
 the shallop and bore away toward what is now 
 the northern part of Quincy, which came to take 
 on the name of Massachusetts Fields, which it bore 
 for many years. They had not only come to spy 
 out the land, but to make friends with its people, 
 who were then but the remnant of a once powerful 
 tribe. The plague was here, as elsewhere. 
 
 On the edge of this plain, where that tribe had 
 its common meeting-place, they beached their 
 craft opposite the Squantum headland, amid a 
 mingling of marsh and sandy shore. Here they 
 found a little heap of lobsters which the Indians 
 had collected, and, true to the rough traditions of 
 the times, the voyagers from Plymouth at once 
 forestalled the savages by making their morning 
 meal off the succulent crustaceans. Starting on 
 their tour inland, they met an Indian woman on 
 her way after the lobsters. Standish had the grace, 
 however, to tell her what had become of the lob 
 sters, and gave her some slight token by which her 
 
 1 The distance from Plymouth to Boston Harbor was, by- 
 water, about forty-four miles. 
 
 [131] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 disappointment was appeased, so that she after 
 ward showed them the way to the sachem of her 
 people, Obbatinewat, who at once essayed to guide 
 them up the Mystic at the other side of the bay, 
 where they hoped to find the widow of Nanepashe- 
 met, the squaw-sachem of the Massachusetts tribe. 
 Finding no one at the mouth of the Mystic, they 
 spent that night on their shallop. The following 
 morning they in part pushed forward into the 
 country now known as Medford and Winchester. 
 From the chronicles of the Pilgrims one finds the 
 date to have been October first, (N. S.), and one 
 can imagine the glory of the autumn woods and 
 the mellow atmosphere that kept them company. 
 After a journey of some three or four miles they 
 came upon an Indian village, deserted, according 
 to the narration. A little farther on into the deepen 
 ing wilderness they came upon the deserted wig 
 wam of Nanepashemet, and in a near-by swamp 
 his rude stockade. "In the midst of this Pallizade 
 stood the frame of an house, wherein being dead 
 he lay buryed." * Not long before the landing of the 
 Pilgrims the Tarratines had swooped down from 
 the Penobscot country and Nanepashemet and his 
 tribe had paid the penalty of their isolation. Rock 
 Hill, Medford, 2 is supposed to have been the scene 
 
 1 Dexter s Mourt s Relation, p. 127. 
 
 2 An Indian skeleton was exhumed in West Medford, 
 Mass., Oct. 21, 1862, a short distance S. E. from Mystic 
 
 [132] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 of this foray upon the sachem of the Massachusetts 
 Indians. 1 
 
 The queen-sachem had not waited for Standish 
 and his men; for they found only the poles of 
 recently dismantled lodges, among which they 
 came across a heap of corn under a mat. Coming 
 
 Pond, which, partly because there was with it a pipe with a 
 copper mouthpiece, it was thought might be Nanepashemet s. 
 
 Proceedings Mass. Hist. Soc., December, 1862. 
 
 Nanepashemet is said to have been at one time the most 
 powerful sachem of New England. He resided at Lynn until 
 "the great war of the Taretines," in 1615. He then retreated 
 to Medford, where he built him an house on Rock Hill. He 
 was killed by the Tarratines in 1619. 
 
 Roger Williams, Key, etc., 72. I. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 
 110, says: " Nanepashemet was the Wampanoag for Moone 
 God. " 
 
 Brooks s History of Medford, p. 72. 
 
 Newhall s History of Lynn, p. 35. 
 
 Shattuck s History of Concord. 
 
 His [Nanepashemet s] house was not like others, but "a 
 scaffold was largely built, with pooles and plancks some six 
 foote from the ground, and the house upon that, being sit 
 uated on the top of a hill." 
 
 Dexter s Mourt, p. 127. 
 
 The date of this expedition is fixed by both Bradford and 
 Prince as Tuesday, Sept. 18-28, 1621. 
 
 1 The sachem of the locality was Obbatinewat. He was 
 tributary to Massasoit, though of the Massachusetts. He 
 complained of the Tarratines, who lived to the east along the 
 Penobscot River and were accustomed to come hither almost 
 every year about the time of harvest and take away their 
 
 [133] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to another stockade, they sent out two of the Indians 
 who had come along with them to show them the 
 way, who found not far away a knot of Indian 
 squaws about a pile of corn which they had evi 
 dently brought hither in their flight from the 
 Standish party. Although terror-stricken at the 
 approach of the whites, the friendliness of Standish 
 prevailed, and the women were not long after en 
 tertaining the strangers with an appetizing repast 
 of boiled cod and such other native delicacies as 
 their limited larder allowed. By dint of persuasion 
 one Indian, "shaking and trembling for feare," was 
 induced to meet the palefaces; and, though he 
 promised them his furs, he was silent as to the 
 whereabouts of the queen-sachem. Squanto sug 
 gested the plundering of these confiding savages, 
 urging, "They are a bad people, and have often 
 threatened you!" But Standish turned a deaf ear 
 to Squanto; and so friendly had the squaws become 
 that they kept Standish company back to his boat, 
 where they "sold their coats from their backs, and 
 tied boughs about them, but with great shame- 
 facedness, for/ as the relation continues, "indeed 
 they are more modest than some of our English 
 
 corn. It was on one of the incursions of the Tarratines that 
 Nanepashemet was killed. So fearful were the Massachu 
 setts of this section that they were continually wandering 
 from place to place, to avoid their dreaded enemy. 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 35. 
 
 [134] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 women." Before noon of the following day Stan- 
 dish had returned with a small stock of furs and a 
 regret that the Plymouth Colony "had been ther 
 seated." 1 
 
 Allusion is here made to this first noted explora 
 tion of Boston Harbor, as the English made another 
 visit hither some eight months later under the aus 
 pices of a London merchant, Mr. Thomas Weston, 
 w r hose intercourse with the savages was not of so 
 pacific a character as had been that of Standish. 
 
 Weston s party came down the North Shore in an 
 open boat, possibly from Pemaquid way, in the 
 mid-days of May, 1622. There were ten of them, 
 and their object was the establishment of a trading- 
 post somewhere along the coast adjacent to the 
 Plymouth settlement, with which enterprise, com 
 mercially, Weston had been connected. His inter 
 est was wholly speculative, aroused by the glowing 
 reports which Capt. John Smith had brought back 
 from his numerous voyages to the New World. 
 Smith had been in Boston Harbor, possibly. In 
 his map of New England he had suggested its most 
 important river, which the savages declared pene 
 trated "many days journeys the entrails of that 
 country." This visit of Smith s was in 1614, and 
 according to his account of the locality the French 
 had been here even earlier than himself, and had 
 stripped the natives of their barter, so that he found 
 
 1 Bradford s Plimoth Plantation, p. 105. 
 [135] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 their stores of furs utterly depleted. After the 
 coming of Smith other French came here to trade 
 for furs, only to lose their ship, their scalps, and 
 their freedom; for the savages surprised them at 
 anchor off Pettuck s Island, burning their vessel 
 and either killing the crew or carrying them into 
 savage captivity. Years after, pieces of French 
 money were found in Dorchester ground. Other 
 French came, but left no relation of their visits. 
 Some were shipwrecked; but the stories are mostly 
 those of tradition. 1 
 
 Weston accepted the Leyden exiles as a means to 
 an end, but he profited little from his connection 
 with the Plymouth settlement. So far as the Eng 
 lish partners of the Plymouth interest were con 
 cerned, the venture was a financial failure, which 
 Weston decided was due more to " weeknes of judge 
 ment, than weeknes of hands." He rather roughly 
 informed the Plymouth folks that they had been 
 more inclined to discourse and argumentation 
 among themselves than to improving their oppor 
 tunities for trading. He as well terminates his con 
 nection with these people, who, to him, seem to 
 deal more in words than in any other commodity. 
 Weston sold his interest in the Plymouth venture 
 
 1 Pratt, Relation, 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv., p. 489. 
 Morton, New English Canaan, chap. 3. 
 Savage, Winthrop, vol. i., p. 59, note. 
 Bradford, Plimoth Plantation, p. 102. 
 
 [136] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 to the Merchants Adventurers Company, to evolve 
 another scheme in which the "family" was to be 
 eliminated, and getting together the toughest and 
 roughest of human material for his new adventure, 
 which was to become the initial movement for the 
 settlement of the lands about Boston Harbor, and 
 in the near future was to arouse the further ani 
 mosity of the Indians and possibly imperil the 
 security of the little colony at Cape Cod. 
 
 It was on the occasion of Winslow s tempori 
 zing with the messengers of Massasoit who had 
 come to the settlement to demand the surrender 
 of Squanto, or, in lieu of the corpus, his head and 
 hands to carry back to their sachem, that a fishing- 
 boat was discovered in the offing of the harbor. 
 Squanto had conspired against Massasoit. His 
 messengers were becoming importunate. Winslow 
 was in a dilemma. If he refused to give Squanto 
 into the custody of the messengers he was repudia 
 ting his treaty of the year before with Massasoit. 
 If he acceded to their demands he was possibly 
 losing an invaluable servant. The sail out on the 
 waters of the bay was a plausible excuse for delay 
 ing his decision. It might be a party of French, 
 and he told them he had heard rumors of designs 
 by that nation against the English, and that the 
 Indians were to help them. He desired them to 
 wait; but, unable to conceal their rage and disap 
 pointment, they turned from him and disappeared 
 into the woods to make their way back to Poko- 
 
 [137] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 noket, their first mission to the English under their 
 treaty a failure. 1 The English were punctilious in 
 their exactions of the Indians promises; as to their 
 own, they did as suited their convenience. The 
 Plymouth settlers remind one of the famous parable 
 of the unjust steward. 
 
 The boat coming into the harbor was from 
 Monhegan. It had come from one of Weston s 
 fishing-vessels there engaged in taking fish about 
 Penobscot Bay. It was in May of 1622 (O. S.) and 
 the colony was out of provisions. They had no 
 bread; no fish-hooks. The season for sea-fowl had 
 passed. They were digging their sustenance from 
 the mud of the clam-flats. Physical debilitation 
 and increasing discouragement were the results. 
 In this impoverished condition they were found by 
 the crew of Weston s shallop, which had brought 
 along seven passengers from the fleet of thirty 
 
 1 Thacher, in his History of Plymouth, gives a very full 
 relation of this incident, but makes no comment. See p. 46. 
 
 Drake says that the delay in acceding to the demands of 
 Massasoit s messengers for Squanto, whom, for their respect 
 for the English, they would not seize, "was occasioned by the 
 appearance of a boat in the harbor which the governour pre 
 tended might be that of an enemy, as there had been a rumor 
 that the French had meditated breaking up the settlement of 
 the English in this region. This, however, was doubtless only 
 a pretence, employed to wear out the patience of his unwel 
 come visitors." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 22. 
 
 [138] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 vessels about Monhegan, of which Weston s was 
 one. The shallop from Monhegan was also short 
 of provisions. Instead of a boat-load of stores 
 from Weston, they got a letter from him by which 
 they were informed that he had sold his "adventure 
 and debts" and was "quit" of them. 
 
 Bradford writes in his Journal: "Amids these 
 streighths, and y e desertion of those from whom 
 they had hoped for supply, and when famine be- 
 gane now to pinch them sore, they knowing not 
 what to doe, the Lord, (who never fails his,) pre 
 sents them with an occasion, beyond all expecta 
 tion. This boat which came from y e eastward 
 brought them a letter from a stranger, of whose 
 name they had never heard before, being a cap- 
 taine of a ship come ther a fishing." 1 
 
 1 This letter is here given for its quaint kindliness and 
 suggestion : 
 
 "To all his good freinds at Plimoth, these, &c. 
 
 "Freinds, cuntrimen, & neighbors: I salute you, and wish 
 you all health & hapines in y e Lord. I make bould with these 
 few lines to trouble you, because unless I were unhumane, 
 I can doe no less. Bad news doth spread it selfe too fair; 
 yet I will so farr informe you that my selfe, with many good 
 freinds in y 6 south-collonie of Virginia, have received such a 
 blow, that 400. persons large will not make good our losses. 
 [The writer evidently refers to the massacre of the Virginia 
 settlers.] Therefor I doe intreat you (allthough not knowing 
 you) that y 6 old rule which I learned when I went to schoole, 
 may be sufficente. That is, Hapie is he whom other mens 
 harmes doth make to beware. And now againe and againe, 
 
 [139] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Bradford continues: "By this boat y e Gov r re 
 turned a thankfull answer, as was meete, and sent 
 a boate of their owne with them, which was piloted 
 by them, in which M r - Winslow was sente to pro 
 cure what provissions he could of y e ships, ... by 
 which means he gott some good quantitie and re 
 turned in saftie." 1 
 
 wishing all those y l willingly would serve y 6 Lord, all health 
 and happines in this world, and everlasting peace in y e world 
 to come. And so I rest, Yours, 
 
 JOHN HUDLSTON." 
 
 1 This incident has given rise to more or less controversy, 
 by which some, having suggested that there might have been 
 a settlement at Pemaquid anterior to the coming of the Plym 
 outh settlers which may have furnished some store of sup 
 plies to Winslow on this occasion, have got into a "battle of 
 the chips." It is on a par with the strenuous efforts of those 
 who have indulged in a contest of opinion over the Weymouth 
 expedition to the Sagadahoc. Usually the controversialist 
 who has no certain proof of his assertions is troubled with a 
 cocksureness that invokes ridicule. No one knows what 
 occurred on Weymouth s voyage, except that he was on the 
 New England coast, some portion of which he actually ex 
 plored. Whether there was or was not a settlement at New 
 Harbor before 1620 no one can state. So what is the use to 
 argue, when there is no evidence either way ? Your historical 
 dilettante, whose zeal swallows up his fairness, fairly snorts 
 his disdain at the suggestion of even a fisher-hut being on the 
 New England coast before Plymouth. New Harbor offers 
 much more than a probability. 
 
 Bradford is far from being obscure. He went to Pemaquid. 
 He met Hudleston, who gave him what he could and helped 
 
 [140] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 In addition to the short commons which at that 
 time was the common lot of the entire colony, there 
 were indications of trouble on the part of the 
 Indians. Massasoit had cooled somewhat in his 
 ardor for the English after the disinclination of the 
 latter to part with Squanto, as he was justly entitled 
 under the treaty. News had come from Virginia 
 of the massacre of March 27 of the current year, in 
 which three hundred and forty-seven of the Vir 
 ginia settlers had been butchered by the savages of 
 
 him to others who also contributed. There is no statement 
 of Bradford s that shuts out the one or confirms the other. 
 Here was a fishing-station. Thirty vessels were here, had 
 been here the whole season, and were to remain until they 
 had made up their "fares." It is not to be supposed that the 
 decks of their vessels were large enough to accommodate 
 their flakes. They would naturally prefer the shore, with so 
 superior a harbor as New Harbor afforded. After 1614 the 
 English sent considerable fleets into these waters, as many as 
 fifty fishermen being here at once. There must have been a 
 fishing-station here, by the very force of circumstances; and 
 that the community had no chronicler like Mourt to paint its 
 daily living is more its misfortune than it is its repudiation. 
 That was Samoset s country. He had some knowledge of the 
 English language. He liked the English "beere," and he 
 gave Bradford the names of many English captains who 
 came to Monhegan. He spoke of them as of his friends and 
 familiars an acquaintance that could come only with a 
 continuous friendly intercourse, and perhaps intimacy. 
 History is the opposite of unelastic. It is like a human biog 
 raphy: something is told; much remains to be told; and a 
 great deal is inferred. 
 
 [141] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 that region; and, alarmed for their own safety, they 
 began immediately the erection of a fort of ample 
 dimensions. 1 The Fortune had come and gone; and 
 while their numbers had been added to, they were 
 not particularly strengthened, from a defensive 
 point of view. They were, too, almost on the verge 
 of starvation. 
 
 To increase their anxiety, the month previous 
 (it was in February, 1622, O. S.), Canonicus, the 
 Narragansett sachem, had sent into the Plymouth 
 settlement by one of his men a bundle of arrows 
 tied about with a rattlesnake skin. The meaning 
 of this episode was a mystery to the Plymouth 
 governor until Squanto informed Winslow that it 
 was a declaration of war on the part of the Narra 
 gansett sachem. Governor Bradford at once re 
 turned the rattlesnake skin to Canonicus filled with 
 powder and shot, sending word to the belligerent 
 sachem that he defied him and invited him to begin 
 
 1 Immediately following the hostile message of Canonicus, 
 Baylie says: "They also enclosed a part of the hill and made 
 four bulwarks, or jetties, without the pale. In three of these 
 bulwarks there were gates which were kept locked at night, 
 and watch and ward was kept through the day. The ground 
 which they enclosed was enough to supply a garden for each 
 family." 
 
 Baylie s History of New Plymouth, p. 87. 
 
 He continues, p. 93: "They completed the fort, building it 
 strongly of timber, with a flat roof and battlements; on this 
 roof they mounted the ordnance, and kept constant watch." 
 
 [142] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 the conflict as soon as he pleased. The confident 
 daring and insolence of the Plymouth messenger 
 had the intended effect, and Canonicus was so fear 
 ful of the occult powers ascribed to the English that 
 he refused to receive the emblem of defiance he had 
 sent to Bradford, which, with its contents, passed 
 from hand to hand until it had been returned to the 
 Plymouth people. From this, on to 1635, Canon 
 icus maintained a peaceful attitude toward the 
 English. 1 
 
 The Charity and the Swan, two small vessels, 
 dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor late in June 
 of 1623. They came over in the interest of Thomas 
 Weston, bringing some sixty "rude fellows" who 
 were to colonize Wessagusset, a solitary region that 
 bordered upon the southerly shore of Boston 
 
 "In a grave assembly, upon a certain occasion, Canonicus 
 thus addressed Roger Williams: *I have never suffered any 
 wrong to be offered to the English since they landed, nor 
 never will. If the Englishman speak true, if he mean truly, 
 then shall I go to my grave in peace, and hope that the English 
 and my posterity shall live in love and peace together. 
 
 "When Mr. Williams said he had no cause to question the 
 Englishmen s wunnaumwauonck, that is, faithfulness, having 
 long been acquainted with it, Canonicus took a stick and, 
 breaking it into ten pieces, related ten instances wherein they 
 had proved false; laying down a piece at each instance. Mr. 
 Williams satisfied him that he was mistaken in some of them, 
 and as to others he agreed to intercede with the governor, 
 who, he doubted not, would make satisfaction for them." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 50. 
 
 [143] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Harbor. These remained at Plymouth until into 
 August, when the preliminaries for the occupation 
 of the site of the new colony had been completed. 
 Leaving Plymouth (much to the relief of the settle 
 ment, for they were a boisterous set), the Weston 
 party made their way thither under the charge of 
 one Saunders, who had assumed the direction of 
 Weston s enterprise upon the death of Richard 
 Green, a brother-in-law of Weston. Weston re 
 mained in England, where he was consummating 
 his plans for the further development of Wessa- 
 gusset, which he intended should rival the Plymouth 
 adventure. Unfortunately for all concerned, the 
 Weston party was made up of "profligate mis 
 creants," altogether unfit for any employment, un 
 less it might be piracy upon the high seas. 
 
 This same month the Plymouth settlement had 
 another visitor, the Discovery, which was sailed by 
 an old acquaintance, Captain Jones, who brought 
 the Mayflower over in 1620. He brought along a 
 lading of trinkets for the Indian trade. A few days 
 later the Sparrow dropped anchor at Plymouth. 
 She had been laying in a fare of fish about Mon- 
 hegan, and was one of Weston s vessels. Later, 
 the Sparrow sailed for Wessagusset. 
 
 Weston s company, from the start, was a flat 
 failure. It was without organization, leadership, 
 or definite purpose, apparently. A short time 
 sufficed to accomplish its complete disintegration, 
 but not until it had involved the Plymouth settle- 
 
 [144] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 ment in a war with the Massachusetts. Some were 
 taken sick; not a few died; and the remainder were 
 soon so debilitated by their improvidences that they 
 were reduced to becoming servants for the savages, 
 who repaid their dependence upon them by plotting 
 to rid the country about Wessagusset of their 
 obnoxious presence. They were a lot of unscru 
 pulous thieves who stole from the Indians whenever 
 opportunity offered a most degenerate lot, gath 
 ered from the scum of London docks and other 
 trading-ports. 
 
 It was at this place the incident occurred that 
 gave a "merry gentleman," Mr. Butler, the in 
 spiration for some portion of his "Hudibras," a 
 fine poetical satire on the times. 1 The lines referred 
 to were suggested by the hanging, for the theft of 
 another, a poor "decrepit old man that was un 
 serviceable to the company [an old bed-ridden 
 weaver] and burdensome to keep alive." 2 
 
 Thomas Morton, afterward of famous Merry 
 Mount, who was of Weston s company but who 
 was absent at this time, charges the troubles at 
 Wessagusset to the instigation of the Plymouth 
 people. Morton made some observations on affairs 
 in New England which he entitled, New English 
 Canaan, in which there is something of quaint and 
 curious information, much acerbity, some malice, 
 
 1 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 32. 
 2 Coll N. H. Hist. Soc., vol. iii., p. 148. 
 [145] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and not a little stretching of the truth at times. It 
 is a rare production, and is seldom seen except in 
 later reprints. Drake introduces a whole chapter 
 from Morton s work into his story of the troubles 
 at Wessagusset, which is here given. Morton s pen 
 is dipped in caustic at times, especially when he 
 refers to those who interfered with his "scandalous" 
 revelries at Merry Mount a few years later. 
 
 Morton says: "Master Weston s plantation being 
 settled at Wessaguscus, his servants, many of them 
 lazy persons, that would use no endeavor to take 
 the benefit of the country, some of them fell sick 
 and died. 
 
 "One amongst the rest, an able-bodied man, that 
 ranged the woods, to see what it would afford, 
 lighted by accident on an Indian barne, and from 
 thence did take a cap full of corne. The salvage 
 owner of it, finding by the foot [track] some English 
 had been there, came to the plantation and made 
 complaint after this manner. The chief commander 
 on this occasion, called a Parliament of all his peo 
 ple, but those that were sick and ill at ease. And 
 wisely now they must consult, upon this huge com 
 plaint, that a privy [paltry] knife or string of beads 
 would well enough have qualified: And Edward 
 Johnson was a special judge of this business. The 
 fact was there in repetition, construction made, 
 that it was fellony, and by the laws of England 
 punished with death, and this in execution must 
 be put for an example, and likewise to appease the 
 
 [146] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 salvage; when straightway s one arose, moved as 
 it were with some compassion, and said he could 
 not well gainsay the former sentence; yet he had 
 conceived, within the compass of his brain, an 
 embrio, that was of special consequence to be de 
 livered, and cherished, he said; that it would most 
 amply serve to pacify the salvage s complaint, and 
 save the life of one that might (if need be) stand 
 them in some good stead; being young and strong, 
 fit for resistance against an enemy, which might 
 come unexpectedly, for any thing they knew. 
 
 "The oration made was liked of every one, and he 
 intreated to show the means how they may be per 
 formed. Says he, you all agree that one must die, 
 and one shall die? This young man s clothes we 
 will take off, and put upon one that is old and im 
 potent, a sickly person that cannot escape death; 
 such is the disease on him confirmed, that die he 
 must? Put the young man s clothes on this man, 
 and let the sick person be hanged in the other s 
 stead. Amen, says one, and so says many more. 
 And this had like to have proved their final sen 
 tence; and being there confirmed by act of Parlia 
 ment to after ages for a precedent. But the one, 
 with a ravenous voice, begun to croak and bellow 
 for revenge, and put by that conclusive motion; 
 alleging such deceits might be a means hereafter to 
 exasperate the minds of the complaining salvages, 
 and that, by his death, the salvages should see their 
 zeal to justice, and therefore, he should die. This 
 
 [147] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 was concluded; yet, nevertheless, a scruple was 
 made; now to countermand this act did represent 
 itself unto their minds, which was how they should 
 do to get the man s good will: this was indeed a 
 special obstacle: for without that (they all agreed) 
 it would be dangerous, for any man to attempt the 
 execution of it, lest mischief should befall them 
 every man. He was a person that, in his wrath, 
 did seem to be a second Sampson, able to beat out 
 their brains with the jaw-bone of an ass: therefore 
 they called the man, and by persuasion got him 
 fast bound in jest, and then hanged him up hard 
 by in good earnest, who, with a weapon and at 
 liberty, would have put all these wise judges of 
 this Parliament to a pitiful Non Plus, (as it hath 
 been credibly reported,) and made the chief judge 
 of them all buckle to him." 1 
 
 This is an entire chapter of the New Canaan, 
 which, on account of its great rarity, we have given 
 in full. In his next chapter Mr. Morton proceeds 
 to narrate the circumstances of the "massacre" of 
 Wittuwamet, Peksuot, and other Massachusetts 
 Indians, and the consequences of it. But we shall 
 
 1 New English Canaan, 4to, Amsterdam, 1637. 
 
 Hubbard contradicts this story of Morton s. Mr. Hubbard 
 had the account from the Plymouth people conversant with 
 the incident, who avouched the fact that the person hanged 
 was as guilty of stealing as any of the others, and suffered 
 justly, for that matter. Thacher leans toward the Morton tale. 
 
 Thacher, History of Plymouth, p. 49. 
 
 [148] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 draw from the Plymouth historian, and afterwards 
 use Morton s chapter as we find occasion. 
 
 Mr. Winslow says that Mr. Weston s men "knew 
 not of this conspiracy of the Indians before his [John 
 Saunders, their overseer ] going; neither was it 
 known to any of us until our return from Sowaams 
 or Puckanokick: at which time also another sachim, 
 called Wassapinewat, brother to Obtakiest, the 
 sachim of the Massachusets, who had formerly 
 smarted for partaking with Conbatant, and fearing 
 the like again, to purge himself, revealed the same 
 thing [as Massasoit had done]." 
 
 It was now the twenty-third of March, 1623, "a 
 yearly court day" at Plymouth, on which war was 
 proclaimed, "in public court," against the Massa 
 chusetts Indians. "We came to this conclusion," 
 says Winslow, "that Captain Standish should take 
 so many men, as he thought sufficient to make his 
 party good against all the Indians in the Massa 
 chusetts Bay ; f and as because, as all men know that 
 have to do with them in that kind, it is impossible 
 to deal with them upon open defiance, but to take 
 them in such traps as they lay for others; therefore 
 he should pretend trade as at other tinies: but first 
 go to the English, at Wessagusicus and acquaint 
 them with the plot, and the end of their own com 
 ing, that, comparing it with their own carriages 
 towards them, he might better judge of the cer 
 tainty of it, and more fitly take opportunity to 
 revenge the same: but should forbare, if it were 
 
 [149] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 possible, till such time as he could make sure 
 Wittawamet, 1 that bloody and bold villian before 
 spoken of; whose head he had order to bring with 
 him, that he might be a warning and terror to all 
 that disposition." 2 
 
 Morton, in his story of this transaction, says: 
 "After the ending of Parliament, (which ended in 
 
 1 Wittawamet was a sachem of the Massachusetts, also 
 Pecksuot. As to both, the locality of their residence is un 
 certain, if not obscure. Wittawamet was a desperately bold 
 savage and, as well, bloodthirsty. He delighted in pouring 
 out the blood of his enemies. No doubt, like others of his 
 race, his deep-seated hatred of the English was born of his 
 knowledge of the abuses put upon the savage by the white 
 man. He was one of those who attacked the crew of the 
 French vessel which tradition reports as having been cast 
 away on Cape Cod. That these two sachems were in a plot 
 to destroy the English in 1623 is not to be doubted from what 
 occurred subsequently. There was also a plot to kill Standish, 
 but it fell through by reason of the extreme coldness of the 
 February night, which kept Standish awake. Massasoit had 
 been solicited to engage in this conspiracy; but, instead of 
 yielding to their persuasions, he directed Hobomok to reveal 
 the plot to the English. Massasoit designated Nauset, 
 Paomet, Succonet, Mattachiest, Manomet, Agowaywam, and 
 the Island of Capawick as involved in this conspiracy. Massa 
 soit advised the English through Hobomok, "without delay, 
 to take away the principals, and the plot would cease." 
 Wessagusset was to be attacked and destroyed first; then the 
 Plymouth Colony. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 31. 
 
 2 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 34. 
 [150] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 the hanging of one,) some of the plantation there, 
 about three persons, went to live with Checatawbeck 
 and his company, and had very good quarter, for all 
 the former quarrel with the Plimouth planters. 
 They are not like Will Sommers, to take one for 
 another." Sommers was the man who proposed 
 the hanging of a sick man instead of the real 
 offender. These three who had attached themselves 
 to the Indians proposed to remain with them until 
 the coming of Weston; but Morton charges the 
 Plymouth people as "intending no good" to 
 Weston s interest. 1 
 
 1 While Baylie says that much obloquy has been thrown 
 upon the Pilgrims by reason of the manner in which this 
 attack on the Massachusetts was carried out, and while it 
 has been charged up to Plymouth as one of their own fictions 
 (this conspiracy of the savages to exterminate the English, 
 created because they did not wish Weston s colony to prosper, 
 the condition of things being ideal among the Massachusetts 
 and the colony itself for the ridding themselves of unwelcome 
 neighbors, both red and white), he asserts that "any one who 
 examines the proofs with impartiality, will be convinced of 
 its [the conspiracy s] existence, and that the colonists were 
 actuated neither by interest nor revenge; but only endeavored 
 to secure their own safety by attacking those who, when their 
 projects were matured, would have destroyed them." 
 
 Baylie, History of New Plymouth, p. 106. 
 
 Baylie does not go back sufficiently far. The Indians had 
 cause to conspire, unless they were to be regarded as a 
 wholly spiritless people, without sense or courage. The in 
 timidating disposition of Miles Standish was not calculated 
 
 [151] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 When Standish had completed his preparations 
 for the punishment of Wittawamet, and before he 
 had set out from Plymouth, one of Weston s men 
 arrived from Wessaguscus, half-starved, and re 
 lated to the Plymouth folks the precarious condi- 
 
 to conciliate the savage. Standish himself did not intend that 
 to be the effect; for from the first the measures of the English 
 were openly coercive. The results of hatred, suspicion, and 
 covert reprisal were the logical conclusion. They were the 
 only qualities to be opposed to the English aggression and 
 dominancy. These were not the factors which would make 
 for comity between two strange peoples anywhere, or in any 
 time. The savage had much to avenge, and that he rebelled 
 finally affords one something in the Indian character to ad 
 mire. Standish preferred the Indian as an enemy, rather than 
 as a friend. War was his trade, his normal condition, and 
 the Englishman throve upon it to the ultimate extinction of 
 the aborigine. 
 
 The English were kindly disposed toward Massasoit. 
 Winslow played Esculapius most successfully to the sick 
 sachem. Massasoit never forgot Winslow. But the great 
 sachem was very needful to the English at that time. It was 
 upon this occasion that Winslow was accompanied by the 
 afterwards famous John Hampden, who led the Round 
 heads into the first struggle for the overthrow of the British 
 monarchy, and who paid the price all patriots pay. He had 
 come over to Plymouth and, curious to see the country about 
 Pokonoket, he went on this visit to the Wampanoag sachem. 
 It was this kindly ministration of Winslow, however, that led 
 Massasoit to reveal to him, through Hobomok, the plot to 
 destroy the Weston colony, accompanied with the wise sug 
 gestion that the people of Plymouth had better strike the first 
 blow, or, in other words, "scotch the snake." 
 
 [152] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 tion of those he had left at the Weston settlement. 
 He complained that the least of their troubles was 
 being insulted by the Indians, " whose boldness in 
 creased abundantly; insomuch as the victuals they 
 got, they [the Indians] would take it out of their 
 pots, and eat before their faces," and upon objec 
 tion from the white men they would threaten them 
 so far as to brandish their knives in their faces. 
 
 To satisfy the savages, they were compelled to 
 hang one of the company. He related, further, that 
 the Weston men "had sold their clothes for corn, 
 and were ready to starve both with cold and hunger 
 also, because they could not endure to get their 
 victuals by reason of their nakedness." This is 
 rather a rugged picture of the first colony at Boston 
 Harbor. Winslow says, upon learning this, it "gave 
 us good encouragement to proceed in our intend- 
 ments." Standish, being prepared for this move 
 ment, as has already been noted, set out the next 
 day for Wessaguscus with Hobomok and eight 
 Englishmen. Drake says that his taking few men 
 shows how "a few English guns were yet feared 
 by the Indians;" but historians, however, who 
 write of this particular matter, accord the reason 
 that Standish thought possibly the Indians would 
 mistrust that he came to fight them, which might 
 frustrate his purpose. Some other historians have 
 credited it to Standish s alleged valor. When 
 Standish reached Wessaguscus, he found Weston s 
 men considerably scattered and, apparently appre- 
 
 [153] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 bending no danger, conducting their affairs as 
 ordinarily. When he revealed to them the danger 
 they were in from the Indians their reply was, 
 They feared not the Indians, but lived, and 
 suffered them to lodge with them, not having sword 
 or gun, or needing the same." 
 
 Standish then informed them of the plot. This 
 was the first intimation they had of it. Standish 
 directed them to call in all their men, and enjoined 
 secrecy upon them as to the punishment he in 
 tended to mete out to the savages. It would seem, 
 however, from Winslow s Relation, that the Indians, 
 in some manner, were informed of this intention of 
 Standish. They may have mistrusted his design. 
 It is not improbable that some of Weston s men, 
 by reason of their having been somewhat dependent 
 upon the Indians for their sustenance, warned the 
 latter; or that Weston s men, doubting the existence 
 of the plot, betrayed Standish s confidence. 
 
 After Standish arrived at Wessaguscus the In 
 dians sent one of their men into the settlement, 
 apparently to trade with the men from Plymouth, 
 but undoubtedly to discover, if possible, the pur 
 pose of Standish. Alert to the situation, equally 
 sagacious as he related the incident afterwards, he 
 said that he "saw treachery in his [visitor s] eye, 
 and suspected his end in coming there was dis 
 covered." The situation was strained; each party 
 was watching the other. The Indians, not long 
 before, had committed an overt act of hostility by 
 
 [154] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 butchering three Englishmen of Weston s party. 
 These had taken up their residence with the natives 
 and had been killed as they slept, in their wigwams, 
 at the instigation, no doubt, of Chikkataubut, by 
 whose people this triple crime was consummated. 
 Shortly after the coming of the first Indian to 
 Standish, Peksuot, "who was a paniese, being a 
 man of notable spirit," came to Hobomok, saying 
 he understood Standish was to kill him and all the 
 Indians in the neighborhood of Wessaguscus. 
 Peksuot gave this message to Hobomok to be re 
 ported to Standish: "Tell him, we know it, but fear 
 him not, neither will we shun him; but let him be 
 gin when he dares, he will not take us unawares." 
 As a natural result of this condition of affairs, the 
 savages made immediate preparation to meet any 
 hostile measures Standish might take against them ; 
 and, while it would seem natural, as well, that the 
 savages would have avoided the English at that 
 time, they came, many of them, and frequently, 
 into the Wessagusset settlement, and while there 
 "would whet and sharpen the point of their 
 knives," which sinister acts were accompanied by 
 insulting gestures and words. Wittuwamat, espe 
 cially, boasted of the excellent qualities of his 
 knife. Drake says that on the end of the handle 
 was pictured a woman s face. When Wittuwamat s 
 attention was called to the picture, he said, "I 
 have another at home, wherewith I have killed 
 both French and English, and that one hath a 
 
 [155] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 man s face on it; and by and by these two must 
 marry." 
 
 He further expressed himself in his own language, 
 which sounded to the English like, "Hinniam 
 namen, Hinnaim machen, Malta Cuts." Wittuwa- 
 mat meant to say by this, "By and by it should see, 
 and by and by it should eat, but not speak." His 
 torians have it that Standish was a man of diminu 
 tive stature. Peksuot was a stalwart savage. As 
 if deriding Standish for being a little man, although 
 a great captain, he said of himself, "Though he 
 was no sachem, yet he was a man of great strength 
 and courage." It is creditable to Standish s self- 
 control that he and his men were able to bear with 
 patience these open insults of the savages. Stan- 
 dish s design was not to fight the Indians in a body, 
 but to accomplish his end by getting the ring 
 leaders of the plot into his power, after which he 
 would most summarily execute his purpose. After 
 more or less manoeuvering he succeeded in getting 
 Peksuot and Wittuwamat, with another man, also 
 a youth, who was a brother to Wittuwamat, into 
 one of the Wessagusset cabins. Opposed to these 
 four savages were Standish and three of his soldiers. 
 Hobomok was in the party. The door being "fast 
 shut," Standish gave the signal. He at once 
 attacked Peksuot, "snatching his own knife from 
 his neck, though with much struggling, and killed 
 him therewith, with the point thereof made as 
 sharp as a needle, and ground on the back also to 
 
 [156] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 an edge." Wittuwamat and his fellow-savage were 
 killed by the other white men. The youth, taken 
 alive, was then and there hanged by the order of 
 Standish before they left Wessaguscus. 
 
 Winslow was evidently present. He writes: "But 
 it is incredible how many wounds these two panieses 
 received before they died, not making any fearful 
 noise, but catching at their weapons, and striving 
 to the last." * We have noted that Hobomok was in 
 the room at the time, although he did not appear 
 to take any part in this melee, but was the rather 
 watchful for the outcome of the fight. After it was 
 over, he told Standish that Peksuot, the day be 
 fore, had boasted to him of his own strength and 
 stature, and had said that although Standish was a 
 great captain, he was only a little man. Hobomok, 
 unable to conceal his admiration of Standish, 
 added, "I see you are big enough to lay him on the 
 ground." Standish ordered a portion of Wes ton s 
 men to kill all the Indians among them. They suc 
 ceeded in killing three. Another savage was killed 
 by the Standish party. They intended to kill every 
 
 1 Vide New English Canaan,, vol. iii. 
 
 "The Panieses are men of great courage and wisdom, and 
 to these the Devill appeareth more familiarly than to others, 
 and, as wee concieve, maketh covenant with them to preserve 
 them from death by wounds with arrows, knives, hatchets, 
 &c." 
 
 Winslow s Relation. 
 
 The Pilgrims evidently believed the Indian to be super- 
 [157] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Indian upon whom they could lay hands; but by 
 the escape of one savage, through the negligence of 
 one of the Weston party, their scheme was balked. 
 The Indian who got away disclosed the hostile in 
 tention of the English to his people. Standish, with 
 Weston s men, kept up the pursuit of the fleeing 
 savages, who were making for a near-by rise of 
 ground. Standish directed his party to make the 
 hill, which they did; and the Indians, after shooting 
 a few arrows, ran away. Hobomok threw his coat 
 on the ground, and gave chase to the savages, in 
 the pursuit far outstripping the English. All the 
 advantage the English got in this foray was a shot 
 which broke the arm of one of the savages. The 
 Indians gained the shelter of a swamp, which ended 
 the enterprise on the part of the English. Standish 
 assisted the Wessaguscus settlers to get away from 
 the place. This accomplished, on the following day 
 the entire party returned to Plymouth. The Eng 
 lish took along with them the head of Wittuwamat, 
 which they set up in their fort. A part of the Weston 
 colony remained at Plymouth permanently, and a 
 part went with Saunders, who sailed for the fishing- 
 stations on the Maine coast. 
 
 naturally endowed and assisted in his malign subtleties by 
 the Devil. 
 
 Charlevoix describes an Indian nation he calls "Panis." 
 Some told him that the calumet was given by the sun to the 
 Panis, a Missouri nation, who when engaged in important 
 deliberation blew the smoke of their pipes toward the sun. 
 
 [ 158 ] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Going back to the story of the man who found 
 his way to Plymouth and advised the Plymouth 
 people of the condition of affairs at Wessaguscus, 
 the Indians, suspecting the object of his departure, 
 having in some way become cognizant of the fact, 
 had him pursued by one of their tribe, who had his 
 instructions to waylay him and kill him. Pratt, 
 for that was the name of the white man, by good 
 fortune strayed from the direct path, by reason of 
 which the Indian missed him. Pratt afterwards 
 settled at Charlestown, and later petitioned the 
 General Court of Massachusetts for assistance, 
 setting out in his narrative, "the straights and 
 hardships that the first planters of this Colony 
 underwent in their endeavors to plant themselves 
 in Plymouth, and since, whereof he was one, the 
 Court judgeth it meet to grant him 300 acres of 
 land where it was to be had without hindering the 
 plantation." 1 His Christian name was Phineas. 
 The savage who followed Pratt from Wessaguscus, 
 as he returned from Manomet, stopped on his way 
 at Plymouth ; but for all his friendly manner, which 
 evidently was assumed for the occasion as a pre 
 caution, he was arrested and put in irons. 2 After 
 
 *At a court, 3 May, 1665, land was ordered to be laid out 
 for Prat "in the wilderness on the east of Merrimack River, 
 near the upper end of Nacook Brook, on the southeast of it. 9 
 
 Court Files, State House, Boston. 
 
 2 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 37. 
 [159] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Standish returned from Wessaguscus the savage 
 was asked if he could recognize the head of Wittu- 
 wamat. When it was shown him he confessed the 
 plot and said that his sachem, Obtakiest, had been 
 drawn into the conspiracy by the clamor of the 
 people. He, however, denied for himself having 
 any hand in the plot, and begged that his life might 
 be spared, alleging that he was a stranger to the 
 Massachusetts tribe, and that he knew nothing of 
 their plots, or practices. It is recorded that Hobo- 
 mok interceded for him, and that he was bribed 
 to do so. The savage was spared, mainly because 
 the Plymouth Colony wished him to carry to 
 Obtakiest its message, in which the Plymouth peo 
 ple assured him the colony had not intended to 
 engage in any warfare with the Massachusetts; nor 
 did they do so until they were compelled by 
 treachery. He was further admonished that they 
 might have themselves to thank for their own over 
 throw. Standish directed him further to say that 
 if the savages proceeded in this course, having refer 
 ence to Obtakiest and the savages under him, "his 
 country should not hold him." He also particularly 
 charged his messenger to demand that the three 
 Englishmen that were held captive should not be 
 killed, but sent at once to Plymouth. 
 
 It was a long time before an answer was ob 
 tained to this message. Finally Obtakiest sent a 
 squaw to the English to say that he was sorry the 
 three Englishmen were killed; but he urged in ex- 
 
 [160] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 tenuation that this event had taken place before 
 he received the warning of the Plymouth people; 
 that none of his men had dared to come to Plym 
 outh to treat of the matter, for that reason. 1 
 This sachem was in great fear of the English. He 
 abandoned his place of abode, and with his people 
 moved daily from place to place, not doubting but 
 the English would follow him up with a vindictive 
 reprisal for the killing of the white men. The fear 
 of the sachem was as well imparted to the members 
 of his tribe. Not being able to stay in one place for 
 any length of time, or to raise any crops by which 
 life might be sustained, a large number of them 
 died through want. One gleans this story from 
 Winslow s narrative. Winslow says, having in 
 mind this incident, "It is strange to hear how many 
 of late have, and still daily die among them, neither 
 is there any likelihood it will easily cease, because 
 through fear they planted little or no corn, which is 
 the staff of life, and without which they cannot 
 long preserve health and strength." Some of the 
 savages, driven by their sufferings to desperation, 
 resolved to appeal to the English governor for 
 
 1 Morton, in his New Canaan, vol. iii., says these men who 
 were killed went to live with Chikkataubut s people. He sug 
 gests that if the Plymouth people were really sincere in their 
 professed good intentions toward Weston s colony at Wessa- 
 gusacus they would have made certain that all the Wessagus- 
 acus settlers were out of danger before punishing the con 
 spirators. 
 
 [161] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 pardon, endeavoring to appease his anger towards 
 them by presents. Four of these set out by water 
 in a boat for Plymouth. Their boat was over 
 turned on the journey and three were drowned. 
 The other went back to his people. 
 
 When Mr. Robinson, the father of the Plymouth 
 church, was informed how the Plymouth people 
 had carried this particular affair with the Massa 
 chusetts, he wrote them in relation to Captain 
 Standish. From his letter one infers that he re 
 garded the action of Captain Standish as premature 
 and ill-judged, if not inhuman; but he hoped the 
 Lord had sent him (Standish) among them for a 
 good purpose, if they used him as they ought. "He 
 doubted," he said, "whether there was not wanting 
 that feeling of tenderness of the life of man, made 
 after God s image," which is commendable in all 
 men, and as well that "it would have been happy if 
 they had converted some before they killed any." 
 
 In making up a summary of the relations of the 
 English toward the Indians two things are made 
 clear. The one is that while the English in their 
 earlier conflicts with the Indians came in contact 
 with them outside the limits of their own settle 
 ments, their purpose, apparently, was not only to 
 kill as many of the savages as they could, but as 
 well to intimidate them to that degree that they 
 would hesitate, as they did, to become openly 
 aggressive a state of affairs which lasted until 
 Philip had obtained an assured sway over the 
 
 [162] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Wampanoags. The other is that the white settlers, 
 constantly increasing in numbers, found them 
 selves somewhat circumscribed in their occupation 
 of the country adjacent to the original settlements, 
 and found it necessary to occupy and improve 
 larger areas, to the exclusion and ignoring of every 
 right of the savage to the lands of his forefathers. 
 There was never any inclination of the English to 
 share with the Indians any part of the civilization 
 for which the former stood. On the other hand, the 
 English not only coolly and premeditatedly de 
 spoiled the savage of his patrimony, but deliberately 
 set to work to compass his destruction. The Eng 
 lish justified their action on the ground that their 
 right was a God-given one to exterminate the 
 heathen, which was early crystallized into a "pious 
 belief" that they were the messengers of a Divine 
 Providence, through whom was to be wrought out 
 the redemption of the land to which they had come 
 in the interests of that religion which was the 
 fundamental of their every code of action. _ 
 
 It is noticeable in the history of the occupation 
 of the New World, both by the Spaniards and the 
 Puritans, who were diametrically opposed in their 
 religious tenets, that their right of dominancy over 
 the savage native was supreme and incontrovertible. 
 Their plea was that conversion was the primary 
 object of this dominancy. The Spaniard gave the 
 savage the ultimatum : the church, or annihilation. 
 The Puritan avowed his purpose to be a most 
 
 [163] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 charitable one, by which the glory of God was to 
 be vindicated by the imposing of its propaganda 
 upon the New World savage; and in all the letters 
 of the promoters of the earlier projects for the 
 establishment of settlements on the New England 
 coast the plea is for the conversion of the Indian. 
 One notes it in various relations of Gorges; it is 
 the burden of the great patent of the English king. 
 The Puritan failed of his avowed object, because, 
 once acquainted with the Indian, he saw the 
 futility of the performance; else he was too slothful 
 in carrying out his design. He began by antag 
 onizing the savage; and with the whistle of the 
 first savage arrow he had marked the men who 
 wielded this rude weapon for the slaughter. In 
 stead of being a Gospel-bearer, seeking the fruits 
 of peace and good-will, he clothed himself in the 
 garb of subtlety, and, without a spark of mercy, set 
 himself to the acquisition of the domains of the 
 aboriginal dwellers, and their extermination. \ The 
 Puritan was worse in this respect than the Pilgrim. 
 While the latter was no less active in committing 
 those overt acts which could have but one result, 
 and that to arouse suspicion and even hatred in the 
 hearts of these children of the woods, it remained 
 for Puritan John Mason to exemplify the Puritan 
 creed of extinction for the heathen, when, during 
 the Pequod War, he wiped out an entire Indian 
 settlement in a holocaust of flame. Between six 
 and seven hundred savages were destroyed by fire 
 
 [164] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 and sword; and like some old prophet he glorifies 
 the destruction of these New World Amalekites in 
 these words: "Thus was God seen in the Mount, 
 crushing his proud enemies." 
 
 The Indian was doomed from the first. His 
 was an alien race whose mode of living, whose 
 habits, and whose instincts were incompatible with 
 every demand of civilization. The savage, to the 
 English settler, was a wild, primeval thing, as un- 
 tameable as the beasts that roamed the wilderness. 
 In many things, the savage to the settler was a 
 mere beast of prey, a creature to be avoided. The 
 Indian was a lover of the sun-flecked woods; a 
 roamer of its mysteries. He lived at haphazard; he 
 had no use for highways, fences, and clearings 
 that grew wider with every year. His living was 
 rude and primitive; his conceptions were not less 
 so. He was the white man s opposite, both by 
 tradition and living. There could, in the Puritan 
 mind, be no amalgamation of the red race and the 
 white. The civilizing and Christianizing of the 
 savage were forgotten by the white man once he 
 had experienced the savagery of the Indian s 
 method of warfare. One recalls the message of 
 Governor Cradock to Endicott as early as 1629: 
 "Be not unmindful of the main end of our Planta 
 tion, by endeavoring to bring the Indians to a 
 knowledge of the Gospel." He also reminded 
 Endicott to keep in mind to be just and courteous 
 to the Indians; to win their affection and their good 
 
 [165] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 opinion; and as well to train their offspring in 
 "learning and religion." In this, Cradock but 
 follows the spirit of the charter under which the 
 Massachusetts Colony were able to establish their 
 settlements. The Puritans, as Mr. Ellis observes, 
 were "expected to be missionaries of the Christian 
 Religion, and the heralds of civilization to the 
 heathen." 
 
 The early efforts of Eliot were crowned with 
 partial success, but he was not whole-heartedly 
 sustained, in that while he taught the gospel of 
 peace, the colonists belied his teaching by their acts 
 of aggression. 
 
 \With the earliest voyagers the kindness and 
 hospitality of^ the New World savage have been 
 proverbial. It was only after the numerous kid 
 nappings along the coast that savages concealed 
 themselves in the recesses of the wilderness, as the 
 dun sail of the white man broke through the haze 
 of the ocean s horizon, or sent down a shower of 
 arrows upon their supposed enemies from some 
 overhanging cliff. The savage was right in his 
 later suspicion of the integrity of these strangers 
 from over the sea; and yet, the white man resented 
 the treatment, and made it the excuse for his subse 
 quent reprisal. 
 
 We have alluded to the paramount right of the 
 Indians to the soil of New England, which was dis 
 posed of by the king by patents that not only cov 
 ered the New England coast, but reached out across 
 
 [166] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 the continent into the interminable wilderness 
 westward. The English idea of the territorial 
 rights of the aborigines, having reference to their 
 normal life, was extremely hazy. They were able 
 to discover none of those boundaries or lines of 
 demarcation by which in the country from which 
 they came the right of the individual to the realty 
 was established. An isolated opening in the woods, 
 which the savage used as a corn-field, but irregu 
 larly perhaps; their scattered burial-places; or a 
 straggling village of clustered wigwams were at 
 most the evidences of their title. The English re 
 garded them as transients, and so treated them. 
 With the English, the two tests of title were occu 
 pancy by prescriptive right, or use and adverse 
 possession, and established and visible monuments 
 by which metes and bounds were able to be ascer 
 tained. These were the prerequisites to title, the 
 muniments of ownership of which others were 
 bound to take cognizance, the substitutes for a 
 more specific conveyance under seal. 
 
 Of all these the Indian was ignorant. For such, 
 he had no use. He maintained his right by the 
 prowess of his tribe, and as for landmark, perma 
 nent structure, or improvement, they were at the 
 mercy of mute Nature; therefore he had neither. 
 He went where for the time being his living was 
 easiest to be obtained. Nature had taught the 
 savage only too well the lesson of improvidence. 
 A few deeds from the aborigine have been pre- 
 
 [167] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 served. Vast areas were conveyed for some imple 
 ment of metal, a coat, an old kettle, a few trinkets 
 that glittered in the sun, or a strip of gaudily 
 colored cloth a mere trifle for incalculable 
 values. These titles were more for conscience 
 sake than for any special value the settler attached 
 to them. The sachem assumed to sell the land of 
 his tribes as he chose; but, if the Indians had any 
 title that could be conveyed, all the members of the 
 tribe must be taken as co-partners. There was 
 little of honesty or fairness in any of these transac 
 tions, and no one knew it better than the grantee, 
 to whom the savage intended to convey no more 
 than the right to occupy the land in common with 
 himself. When the fences began to go up, and the 
 white man ordered him off the premises thus 
 fenced in, he knew he had shut himself out from 
 his old hunting and fishing grounds, and he hated 
 alike the meager paper to which he had placed his 
 sign-manual, and the white man to whom he had 
 given it. Massasoit had been generous of his lands; 
 so had Philip. The Plymouth people had profited 
 much by their generosity; but when the palings 
 began to go up the Indian accepted them as so 
 many affronts, which he found small difficulty in 
 resolving into deliberate injuries. It was these, 
 along with many other unfriendly manifestations, 
 that spurred the savage to vengeance. When the 
 Indian began to shun the white man may be reck 
 oned as the beginning of those plots and conspi- 
 
 [168] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 racies that egged on the feuds between neighbor 
 ing tribes, which gave occasion for conflict be 
 tween the savages themselves; that set the first 
 torch to the desolate cabin of the white settler, 
 which was all the excuse the English wished for. 
 The policy of the white man was to keep the neigh 
 boring tribes at war. They made their alliances 
 with them as best suited their purpose. They were 
 first allied against the Narragansetts, and later, 
 with the Narragansetts, against the Pequods; then, 
 with the Mohegans, against the Narragansetts. 
 
 The English policy with the savages was tortuous. 
 That could have but one result; and so far as the 
 Puritans were concerned, once engaged in a war 
 with the savages they were hardly less savage them 
 selves, and their hatred of the Indian was no less 
 implacable. The war spirit prevailed in the pulpits 
 of the times. It controlled legislative action, and it 
 furnished inspiration for those who left the events 
 of those early days in numerous Relations wherein 
 their own treacheries and inhumanities are justified 
 and even lauded the acts that had avowedly the 
 complete extermination of the Indians stamped 
 across their faces. To the white the savage was a 
 creature of romance and curious habit, until, upon 
 a nearer acquaintance, the glamour was dispelled, 
 and the white discovered the Indian to be not so 
 different from himself more guileless, perhaps, 
 but less civilized. The Indian balked when the 
 Englishman endeavored to make him amenable 
 
 [169] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to the law 1 of the colony. Then came the ominous 
 signs of unrest, and finally open hostility. But they 
 had waited too long. Then came the night attack, 
 the ambush, the torch, and the scalping-knife, 
 the ultimate solution of which was to be the ridding 
 New T England of the red man. 
 ^When the General Court offered a bounty for 
 Indian scalps, irrespective of sex or age, the climax 
 of the Puritan malignity was reached. ! A letter of 
 the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, written to Governor 
 Dudley shortly after the Deerfield massacre, desires 
 that the English at Northampton "may be put into 
 y e way to hunt Indians with dogs, as they doe 
 bears." He continues: "If y e Indians were as other 
 people are, and did manage their war fairly after 
 y e manner of other nations, it might be looked upon 
 as inhumane to pursue them in such a manner. 
 But they are to be looked upon as thieves and mur 
 derers; they doe acts of hostility without proclaim 
 ing w y ar; they don t appear openly in y e feeld to bid 
 us battle; they use those cruelly that fall into their 
 hands; they act like wolves and are to be dealt 
 withall as wolves." 2 
 
 *In July, 1631, the Court ordered: "The Sagamore of 
 Agawam is banished from coming into any Englishman s 
 house for a year, under penalty of 10 beaver skins." 
 
 Prince, p. 357. 
 
 Manasconomo was sagamore of Agawam at this time. 
 
 2 Mass. Hist. Coll, vol. iii., pp. 235-237. 
 [170] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 It will be remembered that the savages of Vir 
 ginia had practically exterminated the settlers of 
 that country, and that the news came to the Pil 
 grims when they were in great distress, and possibly 
 in greater danger. The name "savage" was a 
 quick terror to women and children after that, and 
 in the hearts of the men was a stern purpose to 
 retaliate should the occasion offer. It was slow in 
 coming, but it was nevertheless efficacious. 
 
 If the Rev. Mr. Stoddard may be taken as stand 
 ing for the sentiment of the clergy of those days, 
 what must have been the zeal of the layman! 
 
 The drastic termination of the Weston settle 
 ment at Wessaguscus, and the summary execution 
 of the ringleaders in the conspiracy, of which 
 Wittuwamat and Peksuot were the star actors, 
 rounded out the final episode in the relation of the 
 Indian troubles with the settlers of Massachusetts 
 Bay. 
 
 From this time to the open disaffection among the 
 Pequods, who had their habitat to the southward, 
 peace prevailed, with the exception of a few isolate 
 instances of punishments inflicted by the English 
 upon their own people, as well as upon the savages, 
 for serious infractions of the laws of the colonies. 
 With this survey, the situation during the first 
 decade of the English occupancy of New England 
 is closed. 
 
 After 1626 the number of the English was con 
 stantly increasing about Massachusetts Bay. The 
 
 [171] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 settlements were reaching out towards Cape Ann, 
 while along the Connecticut and Rhode Island 
 shores were the beginnings of other white settle 
 ments. 
 
 In 1630 the population of Plymouth was about 
 three hundred; Salem had about the same number. 
 Morton had his May-pole up, at Merry Mount; 
 Endicott was at Salem; between that place and 
 Plymouth wreathings of isolate cabin-smokes at 
 greater or lesser intervals broke the solitude of the 
 seashore. 
 
 The settlers were taking up the land under 
 King James i. s patent, often fortifying their titles 
 by releases from the local sachems. The savages 
 about Massachusetts Bay were apparently in a 
 fair way of complete subjugation; and if any trouble 
 was to be apprehended it was most likely to come 
 from those tribes to the eastward, of which the 
 Tarratines, a belligerent tribe along the Penobscot 
 River, both numerous and powerful, were the most 
 to be dreaded. The Penobscots made their excur 
 sions at the most unexpected times and seasons. 
 Before the death of Nanepashemet they were wont 
 to come in the fall, when the corn was ripe, to reap 
 the harvests of the Massachusetts for them. After 
 that the Indians about the Piscataquay River be 
 came the object of their predatory forays. 1 They 
 
 *In the year 1632, or "about that time," the Tarratines 
 swooped down upon the Agawams with a great force of 
 
 [172] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 ravaged their corn-fields, burned their villages, and 
 harried their women and children to seek the in 
 most recesses of the wilderness for safety. These 
 borderlands were in a state of aboriginal feud; nor 
 
 warriors. They made an attack upon Manasconomo, the 
 sagamore of that tribe, having for an excuse for their foray 
 that he had treacherously killed "some of those Tarratine 
 families." 
 
 Hubbard s New England, p. 145. 
 
 From another account it appears that they came against 
 the English, who would possibly have been utterly cut off, 
 but for one Robin, a friendly savage of Ipswich. The English 
 at Ipswich numbered about thirty, and this day upon which 
 the attack was to be made most of the men were away from 
 home. By some means Robin discovered their hostile inten 
 tion and went to John Perkins, to whom he revealed the 
 danger impending over the little settlement, telling him that 
 four Tarratines would come into the settlement on the pre 
 tense of trade. Their real purpose would be to "draw them 
 down the hill to the water-side," when forty canoes filled with 
 armed Tarratines would make an attack on them. It turned 
 out as Robin had said; but the Indians were frightened off 
 by an exaggerated show of numbers on the part of the Eng 
 lish, the beating of a drum, and the noise of a few muskets. 
 
 Cobbett s MS. Narrative. 
 
 John Perkins was quartermaster of the settlement, "living 
 in a little hut upon his father s island on this side of Jeofry s 
 Neck." 
 
 MS. Narrative. 
 
 As for Manasconomo, nothing more is heard of this saga 
 more until 1643, when he, with Cutshamekin and squaw- 
 sachem, Nashacowam and Wassamaquin [Massasoit], two 
 
 [173] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 were the Tarratines averse to preying upon the un 
 wary English settlers as late as 1631. 
 
 The year 1632 marked the wider dissemination 
 of the settlers. Cammock was building his manor 
 at Black Point. "Cleve driven from his Spurwink 
 lands was sulking where the waters of Casco shim 
 mered in the autumn sunshine; Brown and Shurts 
 were at Pemaquid; Purchas, at Merry Meeting 
 Bay; Vines and Bonighton were laying the founda 
 tion of Biddeford and Saco along the Saco tide 
 waters." Hilton was planting corn on the upper 
 waters of the Piscataquay; Mason and Gorges were 
 planning to open up the country around Acco- 
 mintas and Newichawannock; Godfrey was spying 
 out York River for his domicile. Ancient Shaw- 
 mut had become prosaic Boston, while Winthrop 
 was directing the affairs of the Massachusetts Bay 
 
 sachems near the great hill to Wachusett, desired to profit 
 by protection of the English, upon the same terms as had 
 other neighboring sachems. "So we, causing them to un 
 derstand the articles, and all the ten Commandments of God, 
 and they freely assenting to all, they were solemnly received 
 and presented the Court with twenty-six fathoms of wampum, 
 and the Court gave each of them a coat of two yards of cloth, 
 and their dinner, and to them and each of their men, a cup 
 of sac at their departure; so they took leave and went away 
 joyful." 
 
 Gookin, MS. History of Praying Indians. 
 
 Winthrop has a different account of this episode. 
 
 Vide Winslow s Journal. 
 
 [174] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 Company at Salem. Farther to the eastward, at 
 Pentagoet, Allerton had established a trading- 
 house in the interest of the Plymouth people; so 
 that a little more than a decade had sufficed to 
 give the English the apparent dominancy of the 
 New England coast. 
 
 The initial labors of the Plymouth settlers ac 
 complished, it must be admitted that, in much they 
 did, the end justified the means. Thrown upon 
 their own resources, without friends at court, the 
 sport of circumstances of their own creation, they 
 were swayed by an asceticism as virile as it was 
 senemie. Their first thought was ever of themselves. 
 Nor were they over-selfish, but, rather, a hard- 
 headed, matter-of-fact people, whose strenuous 
 practices were but faintly colored by those human 
 ities which are the token of a great purpose. Nor 
 were they unlike others ; for they were kind to their 
 own and considerate of the stranger within the gate, 
 if he were not a red man, as far as their means 
 would allow. 
 
 If there was any defect in their common polity 
 it was this disposition to withhold from the abo 
 rigine any of the benefits which might accrue to 
 him from closer contact with the civilization for 
 which they themselves stood. It was an attitude 
 at once ungenerous, reprehensible, and unchris 
 tian, for which they were to make an involuntary 
 recompense. They had borrowed the seed from 
 the corn-fields of the red man as the soldier of the 
 
 [175] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Low Country would have helped himself to the 
 plunder of a vanquished enemy. They had placed 
 their loans with the New England savage at usuri 
 ous rates. The corn and the lands were to be paid 
 for; and while the Indian kept no books of ac 
 count, his memory was unimpaired and his col 
 lections would be made in defiance of the statute 
 of limitations, which in his court was no plea in 
 bar. 
 
 The character and habits of the Indian suggest 
 his environment. A product of the rugged wilder 
 ness, the woods and streams the only schooling- 
 he ever knew were inadequate associations for a 
 successful contention with the duplicities of the 
 white man. Whatever of kindly virtues he pos 
 sessed were the simple gifts of Nature. Whatever 
 of haughty stoicism and ineptitude of speech, by 
 which he was able to most successfully conceal his 
 emotions, were the natural expression of a nature 
 which had been moulded in difficulties and amid 
 privations, a nature whose traits were those of a 
 stern, yet simple and enduring purpose. 
 
 The aborigine has been thought incapable of a 
 kindly sympathy and affection. No one, however, 
 will deny the savage something of kindly virtue, 
 once one recalls the sachem of the Sagadahoc coun 
 try, and that other of Pokonoket. The Indian has 
 been the sport of the civilized annalist. He was a 
 creature to be wantonly provoked into a futile re 
 bellion; to become the prey of mercenary strangers; 
 
 [176] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 to be hunted like a beast of the wilderness by greedy 
 colonists; to invite indiscriminate calumny at the 
 hands of religious bigotry, once he had been exter 
 minated by those whose apologists would justify 
 the outrages of a frontier civilization. The Indian s 
 ignorance was his weakness; his inexperience, his 
 undoing; for, to the Puritan, he was not only a 
 heathen, but an animate challenge to a rapacious 
 hostility. To the Englishman, the Indian had no 
 rights. When he was not being duped by the former 
 he was become an object of persecution, a crea 
 ture toward whom no shred of mercy was to be ex 
 tended. To the white man he was a degenerate, 
 viciously corrupt, once he had sounded the depths 
 of the white man s hospitality. Once an undis 
 puted lord of the lands of his ancestors, he became 
 an exile, or an object of sordid traffic. He saw the 
 graves of his people robbed and defaced, and, later 
 on, himself debauched and unscrupulously plun 
 dered. He has been called cowardly, treacherous, 
 and cruel. Obloquy has been heaped upon his 
 memory by the early New England historians, 
 which has overshadowed the true character of the 
 red man. The red man and the prejudiced annalist 
 have long since disappeared, but the story of the 
 red man s wrongs and wretchedness, which were 
 the unsavory heritage of his acquaintance with the 
 Anglo-Saxon, is writ in ruddy stains across the 
 sun-lit glades of old Fort Mystic, as it is across 
 the night-mists of Fairfield Swamp, the atrocities 
 
 [177] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of which the savage, in his later raids of butchery 
 and reprisal, was never able to surpass. 
 
 It is Irving who says: "How different is virtue, 
 clothed in purple and enthroned in state, from 
 virtue, naked and destitute, and perishing ob 
 scurely in a wilderness!" 
 
 But the haunts of the savage have disappeared. 
 The areas of the mighty woods that afforded him 
 both subsistence and seclusion have given way to 
 the spell of a new race. The streams that swept sea 
 ward, whose palpitant bosoms knew only the rough 
 caress of the storm or the lightsome keel of the 
 birchen canoe, have been waylaid by an alien spirit 
 and harnessed to the ignoble tasks of men. Like 
 the Indian whose highways they were, they have 
 been ruthlessly shorn of their rugged virginity. 
 Only their romance and tradition remain to the 
 forgetfulness of a sordid utilitarianism. 1 
 
 1 The contemporary authorities on the Indians of New Eng 
 land are Smith, New England and Generall Historic; Brad 
 ford, Plimouth Plantation (Deane) ; Mourt, Relation (H. M. 
 Dexter) ; Winslow, Good Newes; G orges, Brief e Narration; 
 Winthrop, New England; Higginson, New England Planta 
 tion; Dudley s Letter; Young s Chronicles; Johnson, Wonder 
 working Providence (2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. ii.); Wood, 
 New England Prospect; Morton, New English Canaan; Lech- 
 ford, Plaine Dealing (3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iii.); Drake, 
 Book of the Indians; Barry, History of Massachusetts; Eliot, 
 Brief Narrative; Trumbull, History of Connecticut. 
 
 [178] 
 
THE EARLY SETTLER AND THE INDIAN 
 
 The account of the Indian was to be crossed 
 out with the knife, the torch, and the tomahawk. 
 
 In June, 1634, came the first liquidation, the 
 country about Hartford, Conn., was the scene of 
 the first butchery by the Pequods. The storm was 
 soon over, and when it cleared away the Pequods 
 as a race had paid the penalty which all their red 
 brethren of the wilderness were eventually to pay 
 as the price of having been an aborigine. 
 
 So the Pilgrim and the Puritan wrought, side by 
 side, in their state-building; and so they died, 
 having reached the end of their earthly labors, in 
 blissful ignorance of the bloody legacy they had 
 imposed upon their posterity, to whom the scroll 
 of the future was to be unrolled. 
 
 [179] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 IN our consideration of the Pequod War it is 
 necessary to recur to the earlier settlements of 
 Connecticut and the first coming of the English 
 into this part of the country. Six years before the 
 settlement at Plymouth (1614), Block, Corstiaen- 
 sen, and Mey, Dutch navigators, came into these 
 parts upon an exploring expedition. They found 
 themselves at the mouth of the Hudson River, 
 where a Dutch settlement, consisting of four 
 houses, had already been commenced on Man 
 hattan Island. At Manhattan these navigators 
 separated, each to sail in a different direction. 
 Mey cruised about the southern shore of Long 
 Island, extending his investigation as far south 
 ward as Delaware Bay, while Corstiaensen sailed 
 in the direction of the eastern New England coast. 
 Block, shortly after coming to the Hudson, lost his 
 vessel by fire; but, undiscouraged, he laid the keel 
 of a sloop, and when he had completed it, got on 
 board ship, to pass out through East River, 1 and 
 
 1 This little vessel was the first built on the New England 
 coast after the pinnace Virginia at Pemaquid. It was forty- 
 four feet, six inches long, and had a width of beam of eleven 
 feet, six inches. Block named his craft the Restless. It is 
 presumed that he returned to Holland in it. To the passage 
 
 [183] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 thence into Long Island Sound. One can imagine 
 the low reaches of shore on either side, brilliantly 
 green, above stretches of yellow sand, while beyond 
 the outer edge was a vast and unexplored wilder 
 ness of woods. Keeping his course along the 
 Sound, he came to the Connecticut coast, which 
 hitherto had not been explored. He located the 
 Norwalk River as that of the Archipelagoes; fur 
 ther on, as he came to the Hoostanic, he called it 
 "The River of the Red Mountain." Still further 
 eastward he found another stream, which he named 
 Fresh River. This was the great Connecticut. 
 Block explored this river almost to the present site 
 of Hartford. Here he found an Indian fort sur 
 rounded by an Indian village of the tribe of the 
 Nawaas. Retracing his voyage down the stream, 
 he reentered the Sound to discover and explore 
 Narragansett Bay, which he named Nassau Bay. 
 Here he met the Nehantics. 1 Block had discovered 
 
 in East River known in these days as Hell-gate, Block gave 
 the appellation of Hellegat. 
 
 Hudson was here (1609), and the four houses at Manhattan 
 were the beginnings of the Dutch at what was to be the capital 
 of the New Netherlands. 
 
 O Callaghan, vol. i., pp. 72, 73. 
 
 1 The natives which Block has designated as the Nawaas 
 in his relation of his exploration of the region about the Con 
 necticut River cannot be located. He calls the Nehantics the 
 "Nahicans." He describes them as of a retiring shyness; of 
 a shy disposition. 
 
 [184] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 Connecticut and Rhode Island. 1 After this the 
 Dutch traders came here yearly. A large trade, 
 which amounted often to 10,000 beaver-skins in a 
 single season, besides other commodities of the 
 country, was soon established with the natives. 2 
 
 On the Hudson, the Dutch settlements had been 
 superseded by the West India Company in 1621. 
 Eleven years later (1632), Hans Eencluys, of Man 
 hattan, purchased land from the savages at the 
 mouth of the Connecticut and proceeded to erect the 
 Arms of the States Governor of the Netherlands. 
 It was known as Kievet s Hook. 3 His purpose, 
 
 1 Rhode Island was called by the Indians "Aequidneck." 
 According to Dr. Arnold, that is the spelling in the Indian 
 deed of a portion of its territory. Block discovered this island 
 in 1614. It was in the autumn days he sailed over these 
 waters, and "the Leaves of the Trees and Shrubs had, as in 
 These Days, assumed a reddish hue." He called it "der Rood 
 Eylandt the Red Island." 
 
 Moulton, History of New York, in Arnold s Rhode Island, 
 vol. i., p. 70. 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, vol. i., p. 37, note. 
 
 Rider says the origin of the name is uncertain. It was 
 known as Acquidy. 
 
 Lands of Rhode Island, pp. 117-121. 
 
 2 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 113. 
 
 3 Kievet s Hook was so named from the cry of the peweets, 
 or pewees, which were numerous in that country at that time. 
 The Dutch call the pewee "kieveet." 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 71. 
 
 [ 185 ] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 evidently, was to secure the trade of the Connecticut 
 River, which was more fully carried out by Van 
 Twiller, Governor of New Netherlands, the next 
 year. He sent Jacob Van Curler and a party of 
 men into the valley of the Connecticut with direc 
 tions to purchase land which had been plotted pre 
 viously by Van Twiller, upon which a trading-post 
 was to be erected and fortified. The place chosen 
 was on the Connecticut west bank at that point 
 now covered by the city of Hartford. The Dutch 
 recognized the title in the Indian tribes, which, 
 however, was complicated from the fact that the 
 Pequods claimed the country by right of conquest, 
 its former sachem having been driven into exile. 1 
 Van Curler made his purchase of Wopigwooit, the 
 Grand Sachem of the Pequods. Land by savage 
 
 lr rhis part of the country, before its conquest by the 
 Pequods, was ruled by a sachem who was known as Sequeen, 
 or Sequassen. This sachem was driven into exile by the fero 
 cious Pequods, whose sachem was Wopigwooit. Sequeen, 
 about 1633, sold a vast tract of country about Hartford to 
 the English, probably through William Holmes, who set up 
 a trade near the mouth of the Farmington River, in October 
 of that year, in the interests of the Plymouth people. For a 
 bit of barter with the savages no adventure was too perilous. 
 
 Wopigwooit is described in the treaty with the Dutch as 
 the chief of the Sickenames (Mystic) River, and owner of 
 Connecticut. The Dutch were wholly for trade, hence their 
 effort to establish their trading-post as neutral ground. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 71. 
 
 [186] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 conquest ever had an uncertain tenure; but on 
 June 18, 1633, an agreement was entered into be 
 tween the parties, and a tract of land, a Dutch mile 
 in length along the river, that extended back into 
 the country less than half a mile was transferred to 
 the Dutch by the Pequods. The price was "27 ells 
 of a kind of coarse cloth called duffals, six axes, 
 six kettles, 18 knives, one sword-blade, one pair of 
 shears and a few toys or trinkets." The Dutch 
 afterwards made a way for the exiled sachem to 
 return into the country, and he took up his resi 
 dence near the Dutch trading-house. This sachem 
 was Sequassen. 1 Sequassen afterwards disposed 
 of a large tract of land about Hartford to the Eng 
 lish. He afterwards became a close ally to the 
 Narragansetts. The conveyance of this land about 
 Hartford carried with it the right of protection to 
 trade with all the Indians of the surrounding coun 
 try. This particular territory was to be peaceful; 
 in it the hatchet was to be forever buried; it was 
 agreed that within its borders no savage was to 
 molest his enemy. A small trading-fort which Van 
 Curler erected here was armed with two pieces 
 of cannon, and was called by him "The House of 
 the Good Hope." 
 
 The Pequod Indians, afterwards known as the 
 most ferocious of the local tribes, very soon estab 
 lished their character for treachery by breaking this 
 
 ^eForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 71. 
 [187] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 compact, which so angered the Dutch that, by way 
 of punishment, the Pequod sachem from whom 
 they had their conveyance, along with several of 
 his men, were punished by death. This sachem 
 was succeeded by Sassacus, who was fated to be 
 the last great man of his tribe. 1 He was known as a 
 noble and high-spirited Indian. The death of 
 Wopigwooit was succeeded by a desultory conflict 
 
 1 Hubbard says of the Pequods (gray foxes) that they were 
 "a more cruel and warlike people than the rest of the Indi 
 ans," and "a terror to all their neighbors." Though fewer 
 in number than the Narragansetts, who bordered next upon 
 them, they held the latter tribe in awe of their unconquerable 
 prowess. 
 
 They held sway over all the Connecticut River savages. 
 They had their seat of government in the immediate vicinity 
 of New London. Drake says the first great chief of this nation 
 was Sassacus. At the apex of his power he had many sachems 
 under him, of whom Uncas was formerly one, and his domain 
 extended from the Hudson River to Narragansett Bay. Long 
 Island was also in his bailiwick. It was the manifest desire 
 of the English in some way to circumscribe the power of 
 this tribe, if not to annihilate it. The Pequods were a con 
 stant menace to the extending of the English colonization to 
 the Connecticut Valley. 
 
 Roger Williams wrote Winthrop minutely how the English 
 should proceed to accomplish this, and he accompanied his 
 communication with a chart of the Pequod country, with its 
 rivers, its strongholds, and villages. He recommended two 
 Pequods (he had urged in his letter that the English "employ 
 faithful guides") who had for three or four years lived with 
 the " Nanhiggonticks " (Narragansetts), who knew every 
 
 [188] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 between the Dutch and the Pequods, which lasted 
 for perhaps a year or more, and by which the tra 
 ding of these newcomers was somewhat interrupted. 
 These events have been referred to as having no 
 inconsiderable bearing upon the future relations of 
 the Pequods to the white settler. The massacre of 
 Stone and his crew came later, and resulted in the 
 loss of the Dutch trade and in the Pequods in 
 ducing the English of Massachusetts Bay to settle 
 in Connecticut " Quonehtacut." 
 
 At this time the English had been located along 
 the Massachusetts coast some thirteen years, and 
 their numbers, estimated at two thousand, com 
 manded the respect of the Indians of that section, 
 and impelled many of the smaller tribes to seek 
 their assistance as a means of protection from the 
 attacks of those more powerful. In 1631 Wahgin- 
 
 pass and forest trail through, or across, the Pequod country. 
 The massacre of Captain Stone and his crew, and the subse 
 quent butchery of John Oldham, gave a sufficient provoca 
 tion. Nothing, however, was done at that time. 
 
 Hubbard s Narrative, vol. i., p. 16. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 104. 
 
 Gookin, Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., vol. i., p. 147. 
 
 Hubbard, History of New England, p. 33. 
 
 Dr. Increase Mather says Wequash was a Pequod sachem, 
 but in some way dissatisfied with his people. He went to live 
 with the Narragansetts, where he became a leading warrior 
 under Miantonomoh. 
 
 Relation, p. 74. 
 
 [189] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 acut, 1 a Podunk sachem, requested the English to 
 send a colony into his part of the country. He ap 
 pealed to Winthrop, then Governor of Massachu 
 setts Bay, offering to provide with corn, along with 
 eighty skins of beaver, such settlers as he might 
 send. He suggested to Winthrop that he send two 
 men to verify his statement as to fertility and 
 natural resources of the country. It does not ap 
 pear that Winthrop was particularly interested. 
 Concerning this, Winthrop records in his journal 
 that he afterwards learned that this sachem was a 
 
 1 Drake says very little is known of the sachem Wahginacut, 
 except that he lived somewhere on the Connecticut River. 
 He came to Boston to see Winthrop; but for some reason his 
 offer of eighty beaver-skins, yearly, and corn to meet the 
 necessities of the English settlers he hoped to induce to colon 
 ize the Connecticut Valley did not interest the Governor of 
 Massachusetts. From a later correspondence with the Dutch 
 on the Connecticut, it is evident that Winthrop had taken a 
 more than ordinary interest in the Connecticut prospect. 
 Jack Straw came along with Wahginacut as his interpreter. 
 "Straw," says Drake, "had lived sometime in England with 
 Sir Walter Raleigh." How Sir Walter came by him does not 
 satisfactorily appear. It is as obscure as many other things 
 the Indian story-tellers state as actual happenings. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, pp. 54, 55. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 73. 
 
 Winthrop, p. 62. 
 
 Wahginacut was probably a Podunk, one of the river 
 tribes. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, pp. 46-73. 
 
 [190] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 treacherous savage, and at that time was at war 
 with the more powerful sachem Pekoath. 1 
 
 Wahginacut, unsuccessful with Winthrop, be 
 took himself to the Plymouth people, with no better 
 result, although their inclination was towards un 
 dertaking the settlement. To inspire them with the 
 proper degree of interest in this offer, it remained 
 for the English to learn of the immense trade in 
 furs which the Dutch were carrying on amongst 
 the Indians of the Connecticut Valley. Winthrop 
 wrote to Van Twiller, making a formal protest 
 against the Dutch settling upon the Connecticut 
 River, for the reason that it conflicted with the 
 New England charter. The result of this was that 
 the Massachusetts Bay people began to send ves 
 sels to the Connecticut River, for the purpose of 
 trading, as early as 1633. The overland trip of 
 
 1 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 54, note. 
 
 "He [Governor Winthrop] discovered after (Wahginnicut 
 was gone,) that the said sagamore is a very treacherous man, 
 and at war with the Pekoath, (a far greater sagamore.) " 
 
 Drake comments on Winthrop s ignorance, and cites 
 another instance. Drake confesses himself unable to locate 
 the name. 
 
 DeForest notes that at the time Connecticut had not been 
 settled, and supposes Winthrop mistook the name of the 
 tribe for that of a sachem. It is a suspiciously near cry to 
 Pequot, a tribe mentioned in early colonial annals as the 
 Pequin, or Pequetan. 
 
 Indians of Connecticut, p. 67, note. 
 
 [191] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 John Oldham to the Connecticut River is a matter 
 of history, 1 where he was entertained most hospit 
 ably and was presented with some fine beaver- 
 skins. Oldham carried back to Boston specimens 
 of hemp which grew wild in that section of the 
 
 1 Vide Barry, History of Massachusetts, p. 220. 
 
 John Oldham was killed in the neighborhood of Block 
 Island. The crime fell at the doors of six Narragansett 
 sachems. Neither Canonicus nor Miantonomoh was con 
 nected with the affair. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 48. 
 
 Canonicus gave Oldham an island in Narragansett Bay 
 on condition that he (Oldham) should dwell there. His 
 death prevented his acceptance of the gift. This island was 
 afterward offered to Roger Williams on the same condition, 
 but the Pequot War prevented further consideration of the 
 matter. The Bay colonies, not being able to get satisfaction 
 in the matter of Oldham, made it a pretense for sending a 
 force of ninety men into the Pequot country to punish them 
 for Oldham s murder. This was in 1636. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, pp. 48, 50, 58. 
 
 Oldham had been expelled from Plymouth in 1624. He 
 then settled at Nantasket (Hull), where he was joined by 
 Roger Conant and some others. Oldham s offence was 
 "plotting and writing against the Colony and attempting 
 to excite a sedition." Although banished from Plymouth, 
 where his wife and children were allowed to remain, he came 
 back, and the company ordered him to be punished with 
 blows from a musket. Described as a "turbulent man, and a 
 spy," he remained at Nantasket until 1630, when he went to 
 Watertown, and Conant to Cape Ann. 
 
 Baylie, History of New Plymouth, pp. 130, 197. 
 
 [192] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 country, and also the information that there were 
 many desirable places of settlement upon which 
 many people might be supported. Oldham re 
 ported his discoveries to the Plymouth people, and 
 in July, 1633, Winslow and Bradford proposed 
 to the Winthrop interests the establishment of a 
 trading-place somewhere on the Connecticut, for 
 the obtaining of hemp and furs. The proposition 
 was not favorably received by Winthrop. Un 
 favorable reports, to which he gave a greater 
 credence, had reached him respecting the country. 
 Winthrop declared the Connecticut River to be 
 controlled by tribes of warlike savages, to the num 
 ber of three or four thousand; and he also objected 
 that at the mouth of the river was a bar of such 
 shallowness that it was navigable only at high 
 water, and even then navigation was possible only 
 to smaller vessels; and that, by reason of the in 
 clemency of the winter season the ice and the un 
 usually strong current of the stream seaward were 
 reasons which to him were sufficient to deter any 
 enterprise on their part in that direction. 
 
 This representation of Winthrop, instead of dis 
 maying the Plymouth people, rather reenforced 
 their purpose to effect a settlement in their own be 
 half; 1 and, the following October, a vessel was sent 
 into the Connecticut River, with William Holmes, 
 
 1 The Plymouth people were much exercised over the Dutch 
 occupation of the Connecticut River. It had been commended 
 
 [193] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 master, and a small company of men; and on the 
 deck of the vessel was the frame of a house. Holmes 
 entered the Connecticut without difficulty, pushed 
 his vessel up the river past the Dutch fort at Hart 
 ford, indifferent to remonstrances or threats on the 
 part of the Dutch garrison, 1 and proceeded to erect 
 his trading-house in what is now Windsor, a little 
 below the junction of the Farmington stream with 
 
 to the former as a "fine place for habitation and trade." 
 Overtures had been made to them "by a company of Indians 
 who had been driven out by the Pequots;" and, "being in 
 some better situation as to their affairs, they began to send 
 that way." These savages had been to Winthrop, but for 
 them it had proved a bootless errand. Two years later, June, 
 1633, Bradford and Winslow went to Boston to interest 
 Winthrop in preventing the Dutch from building a fort 
 "twenty leagues" up the Connecticut. Winthrop, over-pol 
 itic, declined interfering. Winthrop s policy was always to 
 wait. He drove a better bargain with a man who had 
 wearied under his load. Notwithstanding Winthrop s decli 
 nation, the Plymouth people, in October of that same year, 
 despatched William Holmes in a small vessel to take posses 
 sion of the Connecticut country. 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts, First Period, p. 216. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 125. 
 
 Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 148. 
 
 Hubbard, p. 170. 
 
 Trumbull, vol. i., p. 29. 
 
 Broadhead, New York, pp. 237, 240. 
 
 1 Bradford says: "But y e Dutch begane now to repente, and 
 hearing of their purpose & preparation, indevoured to pre- 
 vente them, and gott in a little before them, and made a 
 
 [194] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 the Connecticut. When Holmes returned to Plym 
 outh he brought with him one of the sachems of 
 
 slight forte, and planted 2. peeces of ordnance, thretening to 
 stopp their passage. But they having made a smale frame of 
 a house ready, and haveing a great new barke, they stowed 
 their frame in her bed [hold] & bords to cover & finish it, 
 haveing nayles & all other provisions fitting for their use. . . . 
 When they came up y e River to trade y e Dutch demanded 
 what they intended & whither they would goe; . . . they 
 bid them strike & stay, or els they would shoote them ; & stood 
 by their ordnance ready fitted. ... So they passed along & 
 though the Dutch sent word home to y e Monhalas what was 
 done :& in process of time, they sent a band of aboute 70. 
 men in warlike maner, with collors displayed, to assaulte 
 them; but seeing them strengthened, & that it would cost 
 blood, they came to parley & returned in peace." 
 
 Bradford, Journal, p. 373. 
 
 When the party under Holmes had sailed up the river as far 
 as the Dutch fort, a slight entrenchment, the Dutch ordered 
 them to sail down the river the way they came; but Holmes 
 kept on up-stream, landing at the mouth of Little River, 
 where he set up the house brought from Plymouth and forti 
 fied it with a "strong palisade." The Dutch gathered a force 
 with the determination to dislodge Holmes; but the English 
 showed a disposition to fight, so the Dutch, after sailing up 
 the river and displaying the usual amount of Dutch courage, 
 simply betook themselves down-stream, and the first English 
 colony on the Connecticut was established. 
 
 Baylie, History of Plymouth, pp. 218, 219. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 113, 134. 
 
 Bradford, Prince s edition. 
 
 Hubbard, p. 172. 
 
 Trumbull, pp. 33, 36, 111. 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 262. 
 
 [195] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the country, who had been exiled by the Pequods. 1 
 By so doing a distinct affront was offered the Pe 
 quods, who held this portion of the Connecticut 
 Valley by conquest, and who had subjugated the 
 
 1 On his return voyage to Plymouth Holmes took along with 
 him one of the sachems who had been dispossessed by the 
 Pequots. It was of this same sachem that Holmes purchased 
 the country about the Farmington River, thus ignoring the 
 title of the Pequots which had before been recognized by the 
 Dutch. Possibly he was able to drive a better trade. It was, 
 however, a mistake on the part of Holmes. This country be 
 longed to the Pequots by right of conquest. The validity of 
 their title had been acknowledged by the Dutch, as it was as 
 well confirmed by ancient custom. The savages were very 
 punctilious in all matters of ownership, especially of boundary- 
 lines. Between the Narragansetts and the Pequots these were 
 most faithfully observed. 
 
 DeForest, p. 76. 
 
 It was about this time a conflict broke out between the 
 Narragansetts and the Pequots over the right to lands between 
 the Paucatuck River and Wecapaug Brook. This was a tract 
 of country some ten miles wide and twice as long. Canonicus 
 attracted to himself a number of Massachusetts sachems and, 
 altogether, they kept up the savage broil until 1635, when the 
 Pequots were compelled to give in their pretensions. Canon 
 icus afterward gave this land to Sochoso, a Pequot who had 
 espoused the cause of the former, who as well made this 
 Pequot a chief among the Narragansetts. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 51. 
 
 Roger Williams says the Indians are "very exact and 
 punctual in the bounds of their lands," . . . "even to a river 
 or a brook." 
 
 [196] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 savages who held the country before them. 1 The 
 Pequods were incensed against the English be 
 cause they had taken their title to this part of the 
 country from those whom the former had van 
 quished in war, which, though a praiseworthy per 
 formance, could hardly be regarded as a stroke of 
 diplomacy; but the English had preferred to recog 
 nize the original owners of the soil, and for some rea 
 son had seen fit to ignore the claims of the Pequods. 
 Possibly the English may have regarded the Pe 
 quods as trespassers, and it may have been, by re 
 fusing to accept the rights of the Pequods to convey, 
 they thought they might be better able to dispute 
 the claims of the Dutch, who held their title under 
 the Pequods. It, however, planted a germ of hos 
 tility which was later to develop into the overt act. 
 About this time the Connecticut coast was prov 
 ing very attractive to traders, and it was in the 
 summer of 1633 that a small vessel sailed up from 
 Virginia to trade along the New England coast. 
 The master of this vessel was one Captain Stone, 
 and, like many adventurers of the times, he was of 
 dissolute habit. He was in Massachusetts Bay for 
 a short time, where his disorderly behavior made 
 some trouble for the magistrates. 2 From Massa- 
 
 1 Prince, Chronicles, pt. ii., sec. 2 
 New England Memorial, 1633. 
 DeForest, p. 76. 
 
 2 When Stone was at Boston he was served with a process 
 
 [197] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 chusetts Bay he set sail for the Connecticut River 
 with a Captain Norton and a crew of seven. Once 
 at the Connecticut River, Stone began his trade 
 with the natives, who, apparently friendly, came 
 and went, or loitered about the vessel, as their 
 fancy happened to be. One day three of the crew 
 were on shore after wild fowl. Stone was on his 
 vessel, asleep in his cabin. There were some 
 Indians on the deck, among whom was their 
 sachem. The crew, unsuspicious of danger, were 
 engaged in the galley. The three men on shore 
 were attacked and killed. On the vessel the sachem 
 brained the sleeping captain, and, at the same time, 
 the savages who kept him company had seized the 
 muskets of the English. One of the crew aimed a 
 musket in his own defence. So fearful were the 
 savages of these weapons in the hands of a white 
 man that they dropped over the rail into the water 
 and swam for shore. In some way a store of powder 
 was ignited, and, exploding, destroyed the vessel 
 
 which he avoided by sailing for Plymouth to effect a com 
 promise. In his dispute with the governor he lost his temper 
 and made an effort to stab Winthrop; but was prevented by 
 the latter s attendants. After this he went to Connecticut, 
 accompanied by Captain Norton. Before the attack by the 
 savages Norton had set out some powder on a table, and in 
 the melee with the Pequots it became ignited. The explosion 
 blinded Norton, so that he was easily taken advantage of and 
 killed. 
 
 Baylie, History of Plymouth, p. 215. 
 
 [198] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 and most of the crew. A few moments later the 
 Indians had returned, gained the deck, and had 
 killed those who had remained alive, after which 
 they plundered the ship. 1 The perpetration of this 
 attack upon Stone was charged to the Pequods, 
 and, while it merited a swift punishment, the Eng 
 lish passed it over with an appearance of indiffer 
 ence. The time was not far distant when they 
 would have the opportunity of demanding ample 
 satisfaction. 
 
 It is to be noted that the Pequods at this time 
 had possibly reached the climax of their power and 
 influence. Whether or not they were guilty in the 
 inception, or in the actual carrying out, of this at 
 tack upon Captain Stone and his crew does not 
 particularly matter. Their career of success on the 
 war-path, and in the subjugation of the surrounding 
 tribes, from this time on, seems to have been re 
 versed. They were unable to control the Narra- 
 gansetts as formerly, or even to keep them within 
 their bounds. The sovereignty of Block Island had 
 passed from them to the Nehantics. 2 The tribes 
 along the upper waters of the Connecticut, encour 
 aged by the advent of the Dutch and English 
 
 1 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 123. 
 Stone was a West Indian of St. Christopher. 
 
 2 Ninigret was the sachem of the Niantics, a tribe of the 
 Narragansetts. Their habitat was Wekapaug (Westerly, 
 R. I.) . He was a cousin to Miantonomoh. He was also known 
 
 [199] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 traders into the region, and perhaps instigated in 
 some degree by the Dutch, had thrown off their 
 allegiance to the Pequods. Wopigwooit 1 was dead 
 a fact which the Mohegan sachem, Uncas, un 
 doubtedly discounted to his own advantage by en 
 gaging in rebellion. The result of the difficulties 
 which arose between the Pequods and the Dutch 
 resulted in a loss of a number of warriors to the 
 former; and it as well, in a degree, broke up their 
 intercourse with the Dutch, which was not only a 
 loss to them in the way of trade, but also a loss of 
 some considerable influence. This conflict be 
 tween the Dutch and the Pequods continued for 
 some time, w r hen Sassacus made overtures to the 
 English for their friendship and their trade. 
 
 as Janemo. The Niantics were supposed to have been im 
 plicated with the Pequots in the massacre of Stone and his 
 crew. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, pp. 60, 67. 
 
 Roger Williams, Letters. 
 
 1 Wopigwooit was the father of the famous Sassacus. The 
 Pequots did not observe the conditions of their treaty with 
 the Dutch, that the fort of the latter, and the lands appurte 
 nant to it under their jurisdiction, were to be absolutely neu 
 tral; for they killed some of their savage enemies within the 
 Dutch territory, which so incensed the latter that they killed 
 Wopigwooit and several of his warriors. This act on the part 
 of the Dutch was possibly the cause of the attack on Stone. 
 It was the loss of the Dutch trade that led the Pequots to 
 offer inducements to settle in the Connecticut Valley. 
 
 DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pp. 67, 73. 
 
 [200] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 In October, 1634, a Pequod came into the Bay 
 settlement. He brought the usual gifts, which he 
 presented to Ludlow, at that time deputy-governor. 
 He supplemented these by indicating, with two 
 bundles of sticks, the number of beaver and other 
 furs which the Pequods would give the English, 
 and also proffered a considerable amount of 
 wampum, to be delivered later. Following this, 
 he demanded an alliance with his people on the 
 part of the English. Ludlow accepted the message 
 and the gifts. In return, he presented the Pequod 
 with a coat made of moose-skin. Ludlow was not 
 disposed to treat with this messenger, and by him 
 sent word back to Sassacus that his respect for the 
 English would be better shown if he sent deputies 
 of higher rank than the one he had chosen; and he 
 must also send a number, if he was really serious 
 in his desire to make a treaty with the English. 
 That would be necessary before he could treat of 
 the matter with the authorities of the colonies. 
 
 This was in accordance with the usages of the 
 Indians; for in sending their embassies to other 
 tribes or nations of any importance, these honors 
 were given to individuals \vho were entitled to that 
 distinction by reason of their rank and considera 
 tion in their own tribe. 
 
 Two weeks later Ludlow was visited by two 
 Pequod sachems, bearing another present. They 
 were received by the deputy, and by him taken to 
 Boston. Negotiations were opened, although in the 
 
 [201] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 absence of Dudley. Ludlow told the Pequods that 
 the English desired peace with their tribe; but that 
 it was useless to talk about a treaty or alliance with 
 their people until the Pequods had given up the 
 murderers of Stone and had recompensed the 
 colony for the destruction of Stone s vessel and the 
 plunder which they had taken from it. Neither of 
 the sachems denied the responsibility of their 
 nation for the crime, but based their defence upon 
 the statement that Stone had brought the trouble 
 upon himself and his crew by his own meddlesome 
 conduct. They charged Stone with having taken 
 two Indians captive, whom he conveyed to his 
 vessel for the purpose of compelling them to show 
 him the way up the river. They admitted killing 
 the men ashore, w r ho were after wild fowl, but they 
 denied having anything to do with the destruction 
 of the vessel or the killing of Stone. They inti 
 mated also that Sassacus might be induced to de 
 liver up to the English two of the alleged perpe 
 trators of this crime, provided they could be 
 proven guilty. 
 
 This story was told by these two ambassadors 
 with so much semblance of truth that the Eng 
 lish, who had no evidence otherwise, were of a 
 disposition to accept it. In the end, a treaty was 
 agreed upon, and, being put into proper shape, was 
 signed by both parties. 1 As usual, the English were 
 
 lf riiis treaty hardly had been entered upon before Boston 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 to profit by the connection, materially; for they 
 were to have whatever land in the valley of the 
 Connecticut they needed, provided they would 
 make a settlement upon the same. The Pequods 
 were to render them all possible aid in effecting 
 this settlement, also to surrender the perpetrators 
 of Stone s murder whenever the English should see 
 fit to demand them; and in addition, to pay the 
 English forty beaver-skins, thirty otter, and four 
 
 was thrown into a complication of sensations by the report 
 that a considerable force of Narragansetts, some two or three 
 hundred in number, were at Neponset for the purpose of way 
 laying the Pequot messengers who had left Boston upon their 
 return journey into their own country. The Boston citizens 
 were armed and marched promptly to Neponset with a mes 
 sage from Governor Winthrop that he wished them to come 
 to Boston for a "talk." 
 
 When the English reached Neponset they found there two 
 sachems, accompanied by some twenty warriors, who ex 
 plained their presence by saying they had been hunting, and 
 had come to Neponset on a friendly visit to some of their ac 
 quaintances among the Neponset tribe. It matters not 
 whether the story was true or false; they allowed the Pequots 
 to go their way unmolested. 
 
 DeForest, p. 81 
 
 The Boston Colony undertook to establish a peace between 
 these two tribes. They even offered to divide with the Narra 
 gansetts the wampum which the Pequots were to pay under 
 the treaty. This was as had been agreed with the Pequots. 
 Some authorities have offered this incident to show the emi 
 nent fairness which actuated the English. 
 
 [203] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 hundred fathoms of wampum. 1 They agreed, fur 
 ther, to bring to the English all their furs, in con 
 sideration for which the English were to send a 
 vessel into the Connecticut for the sole purpose of 
 trade. They were not to be called into any conflict 
 in which the Pequods might see fit to engage. Such 
 was the purport of the agreement between the 
 Pequods and the Massachusetts Bay Colony con 
 summated in November, 1634. 
 
 1 Winthrop, vol. L, pp. 147, 149. 
 
 The Plymouth settlers obtained their knowledge of wam 
 pum from the Dutch, in 1627. De Razier, a Dutch factor 
 from New Amsterdam, came over to make the Plymouth 
 people a visit. He was received and treated with great cere 
 mony. Before he sailed away for Manhattan he sold them fifty 
 pounds , sterling, worth of wampum, commercial value. For 
 two years it remained on their hands; but afterward, from be 
 ing an unsaleable commodity, it became an important me 
 dium of trade, especially with the Indians inland, who did not 
 understand its manufacture. " Wompompague" says Gookin, 
 "is made artificially of a part of the wilk s shell: the black is 
 double the value of the white. It is made principally by the 
 Narragansett and Long Island Indians. Upon the sandy flats 
 and shores of those coasts, the wilk shells are found." 
 
 Roger Williams classes wampum as the Indian s money. 
 He describes it in one of his tracts, "One fathom of this, 
 their stringed money, is worth five shillings. Their white 
 money they call wampum ; their black suckawhock, suki signi 
 fying black." 
 
 The wilk is undoubtedly the quahaug. It is a deep-sea 
 bivalve, and not infrequently is washed in shore by the heavy 
 storms. This description is taken from a contemporary ob- 
 
 [204] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 The people of New Plymouth may be considered 
 the first English settlers of this part of the country, 
 although the name of Sir Richard Saltonstall and 
 as well that of John Hampden are connected with 
 the earliest relations of Connecticut. 1 Both Dutch 
 and Pilgrims claimed to be the legal owners of the 
 soil a state of affairs that led to a commission 
 being issued to the eldest son of Governor Winthrop, 
 as one of the grantees under the Earl of Warwick, 
 to enter and occupy the territory. It seemed in 
 evitable that there should be controversy, and, as 
 a result, the Massachusetts Colony was led later to 
 
 server of 1760: "In my way I had an opportunity of seeing 
 the method of making wampum. It is made of a clam-shell; 
 a shell consisting within of two colors, purple and white, and 
 in form not unlike a thick oyster-shell. The process of manu 
 facturing it is very simple. It is first clipped to a proper size 
 which is that of a small oblong parallelepiped, then drilled, 
 and afterwards ground to a round smooth surface and pol 
 ished. The purple wampum is much more valuable than the 
 white; a very small part of the shell being that color." 
 
 Thacher, History of Plymouth, p. 69. 
 
 1 Not long after the massacre of Captain Stone a vessel be 
 longing to Sir Richard Saltonstall came into Boston Harbor. 
 It was on the way to Connecticut, where it was intended to 
 plant a colony. This was furthered by Lord Say and Seal 
 and Lord Brook under the direction of Mr. Lion Gardener, 
 who built the fort at Saybrook. 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 218. 
 
 Winthrop writes, 1631 : "Mar. 29th, Sir Richard Saltonstall 
 and two daughters, and one of his younger sons, (his two eldest 
 
 [205] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 take definite measures in consequence of the re 
 moval of certain of its inhabitants, notably around 
 Newtowne and Dorchester, into Connecticut. 
 These people made their way to Mitteneag (Wind 
 sor), where Holmes had built a trading-house. 
 The people from Massachusetts, from time to 
 time, had complained to Winthrop of lack of room. 
 They had petitioned for the colony s permission 
 to go into Connecticut, but Winthrop refused. A 
 little later a ship of Sir Richard Saltonstall s came 
 into Boston, which afterwards was sent up the 
 
 sons remained in the country,) came down to Boston, and 
 stayed that night at the Governour s, and the next morning, 
 by seven of the clock, accompanied by Mr. Pierce and others 
 in two shallops, they departed to go in the ship riding to 
 Salem." 
 
 Life and Letters of John Winthrop, p. 62. 
 
 In the latter part of May following, Saltonstall sailed for 
 England. Palfrey says (History of New England, vol. i., p. 
 366) that he was expected to return in 1633, as he was elected 
 an assistant at the May election. 
 
 Though Saltonstall never returned to New England, he 
 had always the welfare of the colony at heart. He was actively 
 engaged with Lords Brook and Say and Seal and "other 
 Puritans" in promoting the first settlement in Connecticut. 
 A portrait of Sir Richard Saltonstall by Rembrandt is still 
 cherished by his descendants; but even more famous than that 
 is the letter by him against intolerance, about the year 1650, 
 which had in some degree the effect it was intended to have 
 by its author. 
 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th Series, vol. iii., pp. 171, 172. 
 
 Vide note to Winthrop s Life and Letters, p. 61. 
 
 [206] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 Connecticut River "to plant at Connecticut." 
 The Dorchester people went overland, and they 
 had found their way to Windsor and were settled 
 when Saltonstall s ship arrived. This was early in 
 the year 1635. 1 In the fall they were followed by 
 another contingent from Newtowne, of about sixty. 
 These people in Connecticut suffered even greater 
 privations than the Plymouth people. In the spring 
 another reenforcement was sent out from New 
 towne, and in the autumn of that year the Dor 
 chester church was removed to Windsor. That 
 same summer a commission was sent to John Win- 
 throp, Jr., to treat with the Pequods who had mur 
 dered Captain Stone and his companion Captain 
 Norton. Reference has been made to the presents 
 which were brought to Winthrop, and the Pequods 
 were to be informed that if they refused to make 
 reparation for this crime their presents would be 
 returned, accompanied with a declaration of war. 
 The Pequod warriors at that time were estimated 
 at about seven hundred, and when this message 
 from the English was received, if they ever had any 
 friendly feelings towards the latter, it is not to be 
 doubted that they were at once changed to those of 
 
 says that in August, 1635, the Indians "in 
 humanly murdered a Mr. Weeks and his whole family, con 
 sisting of a wife and six children, and soon after murdered the 
 wife and children of a Mr. Williams residing near Hartford." 
 Indian Wars, p. 47. 
 
 [207] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 hatred and revenge. Perhaps the most tragic inci 
 dent of the time was the murder of John Oldham 
 (1636) by some of the Block Island savages. His 
 vessel was robbed, and his two boys were taken 
 captives. 1 Roger Williams made some inquiry into 
 this affair, and Canonicus sent three messengers to 
 Governor Vane with a letter in which Mr. Williams 
 set out the particulars of this tragedy. One of these 
 
 Oldham was of Dorchester. This massacre was a 
 source of much trouble between the English and the savages. 
 The crime was discovered and punished by a trader along 
 shore, one John Gallop. He was on his way from Connecticut 
 to Long Island. Sailing near Mannisses, he saw Oldham s 
 pinnace manned by sixteen savages. Alongside was a canoe 
 with other Indians in it. It was loaded with plunder from the 
 pinnace, and was just pushing off for the shore. Gallop 
 knew it for Oldham s craft at once, and, changing his course, 
 he came up with her and hailed the savages, who made no 
 reply. His suspicions were further aroused when he discov 
 ered them armed with guns. The savages hoisted a sail on the 
 pinnace; but, the wind and tide being off-shore, the vessel 
 took a northward course toward the Narragansett shore. 
 Gallop delayed no longer. He cut across the bow of the pin 
 nace and began a discharge of duck-shot, which drove the 
 savages under the hatches. Standing off somewhat, he put 
 his rudder hard up and headed direct for the pinnace to ram 
 her quarter, so she was almost overturned. Six of the savages, 
 terrified at this strange mode of attack, went over the rail into 
 the sea. Gallop rammed the pinnace again; but, not being 
 able to dislodge the remaining savages, he began to pour the 
 shot into her shell-like woodwork, so the other savages in 
 hiding plunged into the sea, where they were drowned. Im- 
 
 [208] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 savages, who was subjected to a rigid examination, 
 confessed that "all the sachems of the Narra- 
 gansetts except Canonicus and Miantonomo" were 
 in conspiracy to accomplish Oldham s death, be 
 cause he traded with the Pequods. As these two 
 sachems were making every effort to ferret out and 
 capture the assassins, Miantonomoh having gone to 
 Block Island with two hundred of his warriors, 
 further action on the part of the English was de 
 ferred, except to write to Mr. Williams for the re 
 turn of the two lads who sailed with Oldham; and 
 to Canonicus, asking him for his assistance in the 
 arrest of the murderers. The English sent a depu 
 tation to Canonicus shortly after, to whom he de 
 nied all connection with the crime and offered his 
 
 mediately, Gallop and his crew of three men and two boys 
 boarded the pinnace. The savages were captured and bound 
 as they came on deck. Gallop, afraid that they might release 
 themselves, threw one overboard. There were two other 
 savages in the hold, but, being armed, and Gallop unable to 
 reach them, he made search for Oldham, whom he found 
 under an old sail with his head split with an axe and his legs 
 mutilated, as if the savages had tried to cut them off. Rigor 
 mortis had not set in, so recently had the murder been com 
 mitted. The body was solemnly committed to the sea. 
 Gallop carried to his own vessel the sails and such of Old- 
 ham s cargo as was left. This done, he took the pinnace in 
 tow; but a shifty wind and a nasty sea compelled him to set 
 her adrift with the savages still aboard. Left to her fate, the 
 pinnace drifted upon the Narragansett shore. 
 Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 189, 190. 
 
 [209] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 services upon "safe and wary conditions" to ac 
 complish their arrest. The boys were reclaimed 
 and sent to Boston. 
 
 This murder of John Oldham, in its results, was 
 decisive. The incident had startled the English into 
 activity; they had discovered that the Pequods were 
 uncertain, treacherous, and not to be relied upon, 
 and that it was unsafe for the English to settle in or 
 adjacent to their territory. The correspondence be 
 tween Governor Bradford and Winthrop is quoted 
 from the Pilgrim governor s Journal, commonly 
 known as Bradford s History of Plimoth Planta 
 tion: 
 
 "In y e year 1634, the Pequents (a stoute and 
 warlike people), who had made warrs with sundry 
 of their neigbours, and puft up with many victories, 
 grue now at varience with y e Narigansets, a great 
 people bordering upon them. These Narigansets 
 held correspondance and termes of freindship with 
 y e English of y e Massachusetts. Now y e Pequents, 
 being conscious of y e guilte of Captain-Stones 
 death, whom they knew to be an-English man, as 
 also those y l were with him, and being fallen out 
 with y e Dutch, least they should have over many 
 enemies at once, sought to make freindship with y e 
 English of y e Massachusetts; and for y 4 end sent 
 both messengers & gifts unto them, as appears by 
 some letters sent from y e Gov r hither. 
 
 " Dear & worthy S r : &c. To let you know som- 
 what of our affairs, you may understand that y e 
 
 [210] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 Pequents have sent some of theirs to us, to desire 
 our freindship, and offered much wampam & 
 beaver, &c. The first messengers were dismissed 
 without answer; with y e next we had diverce dayes 
 conferance, and taking y e advice of some of our 
 ministers, and seeking the Lord in it, we concluded 
 a peace & freindship with them, upon these con 
 ditions: that they should deliver up to us those 
 men who were guilty of Stones death, &c. And if 
 we desired to plant in Conightecute, they should 
 give up their right to us, and so we would send to 
 trade with them as our freinds (which was y e cheefe 
 thing we aimed at, being now in warr with y e 
 Dutch and y e rest of their neigbours). To this 
 they readily agreed; and that we should meadiate 
 a peace betweene them and the Narigansets; for 
 which end they were contente we should give the 
 Narigansets parte of y* presente, they would be 
 stow on us (for they stood so much on their honour, 
 as they would not be seen to give any thing of them 
 selves). As for Captein Stone, they tould us ther 
 were but 2. left of those who had any hand in his 
 death; and that they killed him in a just quarell, 
 for (say they) he surprised 2. of our men, and 
 bound them, to make them by force to shew him y e 
 way up y e river; and he with 2. other coming on 
 shore, 9. Indeans watched him, and when they 
 were a sleepe in y e night, they killed them, to deliver 
 their owne men; and some of them going after 
 wards to y e pinass, it was suddainly blowne up. 
 
 [211] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 We are now preparing to send a pinass unto them, 
 &c. 
 
 "In another of his, dated y e 12. of y e first month, 
 he hath this. 
 
 " Our pinass is latly returned from y e Pequents; 
 they put of but litle comoditie, and found them a 
 very false people, so as they mean to have no more 
 to doe with them. I have diverce other things to 
 write unto you, &c. 
 
 Yours ever assured, 
 
 Jo: Winthrop. 
 Boston, 12. of y e 1. month, 1634. 
 
 "After these things, and, as I take, this year, 
 John Oldom, (of whom much is spoken before,) 
 being now an inhabitant of y e Massachusetts, went 
 w th a small vessell, & slenderly mand, a trading into 
 these south parts, and upon a quarell betweene him 
 & y e Indeans was cutt of by them (as hath been 
 before noted) at an iland called by y e Indeans 
 Munisses, but since by y e English Block Iland. 
 This, with y e former about the death of Stone, and 
 the baffoyling of y e Pequents with y e English of y e 
 Massachusetts, moved them to set out some to take 
 revenge, and require satisfaction for these wrongs; 
 but it was done so superfitially, and without their 
 acquainting of those of Conightecute & other neig- 
 bours with y e same, as they did litle good. But 
 their neigbours had more hurt done, for some of y e 
 murderers of Oldome fled to y e Pequents, and 
 though the English went to y e Pequents, and had 
 
 [212] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 some parley with them, yet they did but delude 
 them, & y e English returned without doing any thing 
 to purpose, being frustrate of their oppertuni tie by y e 
 others deceite. After y e English were returned, the 
 Pequents tooke their time and oppertunitie to cut 
 of some of y e English as they passed in boats, and 
 went on fouling, and assaulted them the next spring 
 at their habytations, as will appear in its place. I 
 doe but touch these things, because I make no 
 question they will be more fully & distinctly 
 handled by them selves, who had more exacte 
 knowledg of them, and whom they did more 
 properly concerne. 
 
 "This year M r . Smith layed downe his place of 
 ministrie, partly by his owne willingnes, as think 
 ing it too heavie a burthen, and partly at the desire, 
 and by y e perswasion, of others; and the church 
 sought out for some other, having often been dis 
 appointed in their hops and desires heretofore. 
 And it pleased the Lord to send them an able and 
 a godly man, and of a meeke and humble spirite, 
 sound in y e truth, and every way unreproveable in 
 his life & conversation; whom, after some time of 
 triall, they chose for their teacher, the fruits of 
 whose labours they in joyed many years with much 
 comforte, in peace, & good agreemente. 
 "Anno Dom: 1637. 
 
 "In y e fore parte of this year, the Pequents fell 
 openly upon y e English at Conightecute, in y e 
 lower parts of y e river, and slew sundry of them> 
 
 [213] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 (as they were at work in y e feilds,) both men & 
 women, to y e great terrour of y e rest; and wente 
 away in great prid & triumph, with many high 
 threats. They allso assalted a fort at y e rivers 
 mouth, though strong and well defended; and 
 though they did not there prevaile, yet it struk 
 them with much fear & astonishmente to see their 
 bould attempts in the face of danger; which made 
 them in all places to stand upon their gard, and to 
 prepare for resistance, and ernestly to solissite their 
 freinds and confederats in y e Bay of Massachusetts 
 to send them speedy aide, for they looked for more 
 forcible assaults. M r . Vane, being then Gov r , 
 write them from their Generall Courte to them 
 hear, to joyne with them in this warr; to which they 
 were cordially willing, but tooke opportunitie to 
 write to them aboute some former things, as well as 
 presente, considerable hereaboute. The which will 
 best appear in y e Gov r answer which he returned to 
 y e same, which I shall here inserte. 
 
 " S r : The Lord having so disposed, as that your 
 letters to our late Gov r is fallen to my lott to make 
 answer unto, I could have wished I might have 
 been at freedome of time & thoughts also, that I 
 might have done it more to your & my owne satis 
 faction. But what shall be wanting now you may 
 be supplyed hereafter. For y e matters which from 
 your selfe & counsell were propounded & objected 
 to us, we thought not fitte to make them so publicke 
 as y e cognizance of our Generall Courte. But as 
 
 [214] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 they have been considered by those of our counsell, 
 this answer we think fitt to returne unto you. (1) 
 Wereas you signifie your willingnes to joyne with 
 us in this warr against y e Pequents, though you can 
 not ingage your selves without y e consente of your 
 Generall Courte, we acknowledg your good affec 
 tion toward us, (which we never had cause to 
 doubt of,) and are willing to attend your full reso 
 lution, when it may most seasonably be ripened. 
 (2 1 ?.) Wheras you make this warr to be our 
 peopls, and not to conceirne your selves, otherwise 
 then by consequence, we do in parte consente to 
 you therin; yet we suppose, that, in case of perill, 
 you will not stand upon such terms, as we hope we 
 should not doe towards you; and withall we con 
 ceive that you looke at y e Pequents, and all other 
 Indeans, as a comone enimie, who, though he may 
 take occasion of y e begining of his rage, for some 
 one parte of y e English, yet if he prevaile, will 
 surly pursue his advantage, to y e rooting out of y e 
 whole nation. Therfore when we desired your 
 help, we did it not without respecte to your owne 
 saftie, as ours. 
 
 c (3 1 ?.) Wheras you desire we should be ingaged 
 to aide you, upon all like occasions; we are per- 
 swaded you doe not doubte of it; yet as we now 
 deale with you as a free people, and at libertie, so 
 as we cannot draw you into this war with us, other 
 wise then as reason may guid & provock you; so 
 we desire we may be at y e like freedome, when any 
 
 [215] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 occasion may call for help from us. And wheras it 
 is objected to us, that we refused to aide you against 
 y e French; we conceive y e case was not alicke; yet 
 we cannot wholy excuse our failing in that matter. 
 ^(4^.) Weras you objecte that we began y e 
 warr without your privitie, & managed it contrary 
 to your advise; the truth is, that our first intentions 
 being only against Block Hand, and y e interprice 
 seeming of small difficultie, we did not so much as 
 consider of taking advice, or looking out for aide 
 abroad. And when we had resolved upon y e 
 Pequents, we sent presently, or not long after, to 
 you aboute it; but y e answer received, it was not 
 seasonable for us to chaing our counsells, excepte 
 we had seen and waighed your grounds, which 
 might have out wayed our owne. 
 
 " (5 l y.) For our peoples trading at Kenebeck, 
 we assure you (to our knowledg) it hath not been 
 by any allowance from us; and what we have pro 
 vided in this and like cases, at our laste Courte, 
 M r . E. W. can certifie you. 
 
 " And (6 1 ?.) wheras you objecte to us y l we 
 should hold trade & correspondancie with y e 
 French, your enemise; we answer, you are misin 
 formed, for, besids some letters which hath passed 
 betweene our late Gov r and them, to which we 
 were privie, we have neither sente nor incouraged 
 our to trade with them; only one vessell or tow, for 
 y e better conveace of our letters, had licens from 
 our Gov r to sayle thither. 
 
 [216] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 "Diverce other things have been privatly ob 
 jected to us, by our worthy freind, wherunto he 
 received some answer; but most of them concerning 
 y e apprehention of peticuler discurtesis, or injueries 
 from some perticuler persons amongst us. It con 
 cerns us not to give any other answer to them then 
 this; that, if y e offenders shall be brought forth in 
 a right way, we shall be ready to doe justice as y e 
 case shall require. In the meane time, we desire 
 you to rest assured, that such things are without 
 our privity, and not a litle greeveous to us. 
 
 "Now for y e joyning with us in this warr, which 
 indeed concerns us no other wise then it may your 
 selves, viz.: the releeving of our freinds & Christian 
 breethren, who are now first in y e danger; though 
 you may thinke us able to make it good without 
 you, (as, if y e Lord please to be with us, we may,) 
 yet 3. things we offer to your consideration, which 
 (we conceive) may have some waight with you. 
 (First) y* if we should sinck under this burden, 
 your opportunitie of seasonable help would be lost 
 in 3 respects. 1. You cannot recover us, or secure 
 your selves ther, with 3 times y e charge & hazard 
 which now y e may. 2 1 ?. The sorrowes which we 
 should lye under (if through your neglect) would 
 much abate of y e acceptablenes of your help after 
 wards. 3 1 ?. Those of yours, who are now full of 
 courage and forwardnes, would be much damped, 
 and so less able to undergoe so great a burden. 
 The (2.) thing is this, that it concerns us much to 
 
 [217] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 hasten this warr to an end before y e end of this 
 somer, otherwise y e newes of it will discourage both 
 your & our freinds from coming to us next year; 
 with what further hazard & losse it may expose us 
 unto, your selves may judge. 
 
 " The (3.) thing is this, that if ye Lord shall 
 please to blesse our endeavours, so as we end y e 
 warr, or put it in a hopefull way without you, it 
 may breed such ill thoughts in our people towards 
 yours, as will be hard to entertaine such opinione 
 of your good will towards us, as were fitt to be 
 nurished among such neigbours & brethren as we 
 are. And what ill consequences may follow, on 
 both sids, wise men may fear, & would rather pre- 
 vente then hope to redress. So with my harty 
 salutations to your selfe, and all your counsell, and 
 other our good freinds with you, I rest 
 
 Yours most assured in y e Lord, 
 
 Jo: Winthrop. 
 Boston, y e 20. of y e 3. month, 1637. 
 
 "In y e mean time, the Pequents, espetially in 
 y e winter before, sought to make peace with y e 
 Narigansets, and used very pernicious arguments to 
 move them therunto: as that y e English were strane- 
 gers and begane to everspred their countrie, and 
 would deprive them therof in time, if they were 
 suffered to grow & increse; and if y e Narigansets 
 did assist y e English to subdue them, they did but 
 make way for their owne overthrow, for if they 
 were rooted out, the English would soone take 
 
 [218] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 occasion to subjugate them; and if they would 
 harken to them, they should not neede to fear y e 
 strength of y e English; for they would not come to 
 open battle with them, but fire their houses, kill 
 their katle, and lye in ambush for them as they 
 went abroad upon their occasions ; and all this they 
 might easily doe without any or litle danger to 
 them selves. The which course being held, they 
 well saw the English could not long subsiste, but 
 they would either be starved with hunger, or be 
 forced to forsake the countrie; with many y e like 
 things; insomuch that y e Narigansets were once 
 wavering, and were halfe minded to have made 
 peace with them, and joyned against y e English. 
 But againe when they considered, how much wrong 
 they had received from the Pequents, and what an 
 oppertunitie they now had by y e help of y e English 
 to right them selves, revenge was so sweete unto 
 them, as it prevailed above all y e rest; so they re 
 solved to joyne with y e English against them, & did. 
 The Courte here agreed forwith to send 50. men at 
 their owne charg; and with as much speed as pos- 
 ible they could, gott them armed, and had made 
 them ready under sufficiente leaders, and provided 
 a barke to carrie them provisions & tend upon 
 them for all occasions; but when they were ready 
 to march (with a supply from y e Bay) they had 
 word to stay, for y e enimy was as good as van 
 quished, and their would be no neede. 
 
 "I shall not take upon me exactly to describe 
 [219] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 their proceedings in these things, because I expecte 
 it all to be fully done by them selves, who best know 
 the carrage & circumstances of things; I shall 
 therfore but touch them in generall. From Con- 
 ninghtecute (who were most sencible of y e hurt 
 sustained, & y e present danger), they sett out a 
 partie of men, and an other partie mett them from 
 y e Bay, at y e Narigansets, who were to joyne with 
 them. Y e Narigansets were ernest to be gone be 
 fore y e English were well rested and refreshte, 
 espetially some of them which came last. It should 
 seeme their desire was to come upon y e enemie 
 sudenly, & undiscovered. Ther was a barke of this 
 place, newly put in ther, which was come from 
 Conightecutte, who did incourage them to lay hold 
 of y e Indeans forwardnes, and to shew as great for- 
 wardnes as they, for it would incorage them, and 
 the expedition might prove to their great advan 
 tage. And so they went on, and so ordered their 
 march, as the Indeans brought them to a forte of y e 
 enimies (in which most of their cheefe men were) be 
 fore day. They approched y e same with great silence, 
 and surrounded in both with English & Indeans, that 
 they might not breake out; and so assaulted them 
 with great courage, shooting amongst them, and en 
 tered y e forte with all speed; and those y l first en 
 tered found sharp resistance from the enimie, who 
 both shott at & grapled with them; others rane into 
 their howses, & brought out fire, and sett them on 
 fire, which soone took in their matts, &, standing 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 close togeather, with y e wind, all was quickly on a 
 flame, and therby more were burnte to death then 
 was otherwise slaine; it burnte their bow-strings, and 
 made then unservisable. Those y fc escaped y e fire 
 were slaine with y e sword; some hewed to peeces, 
 others rune throw with their rapiers, so as they 
 were quickly dispatchte, and very few escaped. It 
 was conceived they thus destroyed about 400. at 
 this time. It was a fearfull sight to see them thus 
 frying in y e fyer, and y e streams of blood quenching 
 y e same, and horrible was y e stinck & sente ther of; 
 but y e victory seemed a sweete sacrifice, and they 
 gave the prays therof to God, who had wrought so 
 wonderfuly for them, thus to inclose their enimies 
 in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory 
 over so proud & insulting an enimie. The Nari- 
 gansett Indeans, all this while, stood around aboute, 
 but aloofe from all danger, and left y e whole execu 
 tion to y e English, exept it were y e stopping of any 
 y l broke away, insulting over their enimies in this 
 their ruine & miserie, when they saw them dancing 
 in y e flames, calling them by a word in their owne 
 language, signifing, O, brave Pequents! which they 
 used familierly among them selves in their owne 
 prayes, in songs of triumph after their victories. 
 After this servis was thus happily accomplished, 
 they marcht to the water side, wher they mett with 
 some of their vessells, by which they had refreishing 
 with victualls & other necessaries. But in their 
 march y e rest of y e Pequents drew into a body, and 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 acoasted them thinking to have some advantage 
 against them by reason of a neck of land; but when 
 they saw the English prepare for them, they kept a 
 loofe, so as they neither did hurt, nor could receive 
 any. After their refreishing & repair to geather for 
 further counsell & directions, they resolved to pur 
 sue their victory, and follow y e warr against y e 
 rest, but y e Narigansett Indeans most of them for- 
 sooke them, and such of them as they had with 
 them for guids, or otherwise, they found them very 
 could and backward in y e bussines, ether out of 
 envie, or y* they saw y e English would make more 
 profite of y e victorie then they were willing they 
 should, or els deprive them of such advantage as 
 them selves desired by having them become tribu 
 taries unto them, or y e like. For y e rest of this 
 bussines, I shall only relate y e same as it is in a 
 letter which came from M r . Winthrop to y e Gov r 
 hear, as followeth. 
 
 " Worthy S r : I received your loving letter, and 
 am much provocked to express my affections 
 towards you, but straitnes of time forbids me; for 
 my desire is to acquainte you with the Lords great 
 mercies towards us, in our prevailing against his & 
 our enimies; that you may re Joyce and praise his 
 name with us. About 80. of our men, haveing 
 costed along towards y e Dutch plantation, (some 
 times by water, but most by land) mett hear & ther 
 with some Pequents, whom they slew or tooke 
 prisoners. 2. sachems they tooke, & beheaded; and 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 not hearing of Sassacous, (the cheefe sachem,) 
 they gave a prisoner his life, to go and find him out. 
 He wente and brought them word where he was, 
 but Sassacous, suspecting him to be a spie, after he 
 was gone, fled away with some 20. more to y e 
 Mo wakes, so our men missed of him. Yet, deviding 
 them selves, and ranging up & downe, as y e provi 
 dence of God guided them (for y e Indeans were all 
 gone, save 3. or 4. and they knew not whither to 
 guid them, or els would not), upon y e 13. of this 
 month, they light upon a great company of them, 
 viz. 80. strong men, & 200. women & children, in a 
 small Indean towne, fast by a hideous swamp, 
 which they all slipped into before our men could 
 gett to them. Our captains were not then come 
 togeither, but ther was M r . Ludlow and Captaine 
 Masson, with some 10. of their men, & Captaine 
 Patrick with some 20. or more of his, who, shooting 
 at y e Indeans, Captaine Trask with 50. more came 
 soone in at y e noyse. Then they gave order to 
 surround y e swamp, it being aboute a mile aboute; 
 but Levetenante Davenporte & some 12. more, not 
 hearing that comand, fell into y e swamp among y e 
 Indeans. The swamp was so thicke with shrub- 
 woode, & so boggie with all, that some of them 
 stuck fast, and received many shott. Levetenant 
 Davenporte was dangerously wounded aboute his 
 armehole, and another shott in y e head, so as, 
 fainting, they were in great danger to have been 
 taken by y e Indeans. But Sargante Rigges, & Jef- 
 
 [223] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fery, and 2. or 3. more, rescued them, and slew 
 diverse Indeans with their swords. After they were 
 drawne out, the Indeans desired parley, & were 
 offered (by Thomas Stanton, our interpretour) that, 
 if they would come out, and yeeld them selves, they 
 should have their lives, all that had not their hands 
 in y e English blood. Wherupon y e sachem of y e 
 place came forth, and an old man or 2. & their 
 wives and children, and after that some other 
 women & children, and so they spake 2. howers, till 
 it was night. Then Thomas Stanton was sente into 
 them againe, to call them forth ; but they said they 
 would selle their lives their, and so shott at him so 
 thicke as, if he had not cried out, and been presently 
 rescued, they had slaine him. Then our men cutt 
 of a place of y e swamp with their swords, and cooped 
 the Indeans into so narrow a compass, as they 
 could easier kill them throw y e thickets. So they 
 continued all y e night, standing about 12. foote 
 one from an other, and y e Indeans, coming close up 
 to our men, shot their arrows so thicke, as they 
 pierced their hatte brims, & their sleeves, & stock- 
 ins, & other parts of their cloaths, yet so miracu 
 lously did the Lord preserve them as not one of 
 them was wounded, save those 3. who rashly wente 
 into y e swampe. When it was nere day, it grue very 
 darke, so as those of them which were left dropt 
 away betweene our men though they stood but 12. 
 or 14. foote assunder; but were presently discovered, 
 & some killed in y e pursute. Upon searching of y e 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 swampe, y e next morning, they found 9. slaine, & 
 some they pulled up, whom y e Indeans had buried 
 in y e mire, so as they doe think that, of all this 
 company, not 20. did escape, for they after found 
 some who dyed in their flight of their wounds re 
 ceived. The prisoners were devided, some of those 
 of y e river, and the rest to us. Of these we send y e 
 male children to Bermuda, by M r . William Pierce, 
 & y e women and maid children are disposed aboute 
 in y e townes. Ther have been now slaine & taken, 
 in all, aboute 700. The rest are dispersed, and the 
 Indeans in all quarters so terrified as all their 
 freinds are afraid to receive them. 2. of y e sachems 
 of Long Hand came to M r . Stoughton and tendered 
 them selves to be tributaries under our protection. 
 And 2. of y e Nepenett sachems have been with me 
 to seeke our freindship. Among y e prisoners we 
 have y e wife and Children of Mononotto, a woman 
 of a very modest countenance and behaviour. It 
 was by her mediation that the 2. English maids 
 were spared from death, and were kindly used by 
 her; so that I have taken charge of her. One of her 
 first requests was, that the English would not 
 abuse her body, and that her children might not be 
 taken from her. Those which were wounded were 
 fetched of soone by John Gallop, who came with 
 his shallop in a happie houre, to bring them 
 victuals, and to carrie their wounded men to y e 
 pinass, wher our cheefe surgeon was, with M r . 
 Willson, being aboute 8. leagues off. Our people are 
 
 [225] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 all in health, (y e Lord be praised,) and allthough 
 they had marched in their armes all y e day, and had 
 been in fight all y e night, yet the professed they 
 found them selves so fresh as they could willingly 
 have gone to such another bussiness. 
 
 " This is y e substance of that which I received, 
 though I am forced to omite many considerable 
 circomstances. So, being in much straitnes of time, 
 (the ships being to departe within this 4. days, and 
 in them the Lord Lee and M r . Vane,) I hear 
 breake of, and with harty saluts to, &c., I rest 
 Yours assured, 
 
 Jo: Winthrop. 
 
 The 28. of ye 5. month, 1637. 
 
 The capatins reporte we have slaine 13. sachems; 
 but Sassacous & Monotto are yet living. 
 
 "That I may make an end of this matter; this 
 Sassacouse (y e Pequents cheefe sachem) being fled 
 to y e Mowhakes, they cutt of his head, with some 
 other of y e cheefe of them, whether to satisfie y e 
 English, or rather y e Narigansets, (who, as I have 
 since heard, hired them to doe it,) or for their owne 
 advantage, I well know not; but thus this warr 
 tooke end. The rest of y e Pequents were wholy 
 driven from their place, and some of them sub 
 mitted them selves to y e Narigansets, & lived under 
 them; others of them betooke them selves to y e 
 Monhiggs, under Uncass, their sachem, with the 
 approbation of y e English of Conightecutt, under 
 whose protection Uncass lived, and he and his men 
 
THE FEQUOD WAR 
 
 had been faithful to them in this warr, & done them 
 very good service. But this did so vexe the Nari- 
 gansets, that they had not y e whole sweay over 
 them, as they have never ceased plotting and con 
 triving how to bring them under, and because of y e 
 English who have protected them, they have sought 
 to raise a generall conspiracie against y e English, as 
 will appear in an other place." 1 
 
 This correspondence is somewhat anticipatory. 
 The Plymouth people and those of the Bay Colony 
 were able to agree upon immediate action. It was 
 as necessary that the savages in the neighborhood 
 of the Massachusetts colonies should be checked in 
 any aggressive design they might be willing to en 
 tertain in support of a general uprising of the 
 savages against the English as that the Pequods 
 about the Connecticut should be suppressed and 
 punished. An expedition to Block Island was 
 planned, and the volunteers to undertake the same 
 coming in in sufficient number, they were formed 
 into a company and fitted out for the campaign. 
 Less than one hundred of the most resolute were 
 placed under the direction of John Endicott, Esq., 
 as general, by whom they were divided up into four 
 companies under Captains Underbill and Turner. 
 This little troop embarked in three small vessels, 
 taking two Indians along with them as guides and 
 
 Bradford s History of Plimoth Plantation, pp. 415-431. 
 Winthrop, Life and Letters, p. 194. 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 interpreters. They were instructed to "put to 
 death the men of Block Island, but to spare the 
 women and children; and from thence to go to the 
 Pequods to demand the murderers of Captain 
 Stone and other English, and one thousand fathoms 
 of wampum, for damages, and some of their chil 
 dren for hostages, which if they should refuse, they 
 were to obtain it by force." 1 These were extraordi 
 nary powers, but the little fleet set sail, and reached 
 Block Island about dusk a few days after, when a 
 slight skirmish was had with the natives, and a few 
 arrows cut the air; but under a discharge of their 
 muskets the English landed upon the island, where 
 they spent the next two days destroying wigwams, 
 canoes, corn, and other property. The casualties 
 in this unimportant conflict were all on one side. 
 Some fourteen savages were killed, and a number 
 of others wounded. 2 From Block Island they went 
 to Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 192, 193. 
 
 2 It was almost night when Endicott made Block Island. A 
 single savage was in sight. The shore was apparently de 
 serted. John Underbill, " a brave soldier, though a bad man," 
 with a dozen soldiers, pushed in sbore in a shallop, to dis 
 cover some sixty savages arrayed against him. They were 
 sheltered behind a low dune, and as Underbill came within 
 bow-shot they let fly a shower of arrows; but no one was 
 harmed. The surf was so heavy they could not get a steady 
 aim with their muskets, so they sprang into the water, which 
 was hardly hip-deep. With a volley of bullets, they scrambled 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 They were not made particularly welcome here. 
 Neither the English in Connecticut nor the Plym 
 outh people regarded this movement of Winthrop s 
 as wise. Johnson 1 declares it to have been a 
 bootless voyage. Deaf to remonstrances of the 
 Connecticut settlers, General Endicott was deter 
 mined to carry out the instructions of his superiors 
 at Boston. Gardener, 2 commander of the fort at 
 
 up the sands of the shore. Endicott had made a landing at the 
 same moment. The savages, intimidated by the fire-arms and 
 the appearance of so many soldiers, ran away and hid them 
 selves in the woods. 
 
 It was now night. Posting their sentinels, they slept un 
 disturbed. With the break of day they were exploring the 
 island, which was of some considerable area (ten miles in 
 length by half that in width). The woods were broken and 
 seamed with paths or trails running in all directions, but so 
 narrow the English were obliged to follow them in single file. 
 After a little, they discovered two villages, altogether con 
 taining some sixty wigwams, some of which were quite large 
 and commodious; but which were deserted. 
 
 They burned the wigwams, destroyed all the canoes, and 
 two hundred acres of corn. They were two days on the 
 island. The savages were so closely hidden they found but 
 few of them. Underbill says this foray resulted in the killing 
 of some fourteen of the savages; but Hubbard had it from the 
 Narragansetts that but one was killed. 
 
 Underbill, Mass. Hist. Co//., vol. xxxvi., p. 192. 
 
 Underbill, Pequot War. 
 
 Winthrop s Journal, vol. i., pp. 192, 194. 
 
 1 Wonder-working Providence. 
 
 2 Gardener, who was in command at Saybrook, criticized 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Saybrook, fitted him out with boats and men, 1 and 
 with five vessels they entered the Pequod River 
 (now the Thames), where they held a conference 
 with the savages. 2 The explanations of the savages 
 not being satisfactory, the troops landed and began 
 their work of devastation, which was similar to that 
 committed at Block Island. 3 Gardener makes note 
 that after this was accomplished the Boston party 
 left his [Gardener s] men "to shift for themselves," 
 
 this Block Island incursion severely. He told Endicott, "You 
 have come to raise a nest of wasps about our ears, and then 
 you will flee away." He says in his Pequod Warres, "As they 
 [Endicott and his men] came without our knowledge, so went 
 they away against our will." 
 
 Mass. Hist. Co//., vol. xxxiii., p. 140. 
 
 Gardener s Pequod Warres, p. 12. 
 
 It was Gardener who said, "War is like a three-legged 
 stool, want one foot, and down comes all." 
 
 Gardener s Pequod Warres, p. 10. 
 
 *Ibid, p. 16. 
 
 2 This conference ended in a fight. Gardener says: "The 
 Bay-men killed not a man, save that one, Kichomiquim 
 [Cutshamequin], an Indian Sachem of the Bay, killed a 
 Pequit; and thus began the war between the Indians and us 
 in these parts." 
 
 Ibid, p. 18. 
 
 Cutshamequin came along with Endicott from Massa 
 chusetts. 
 
 Gardener, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxiii., p. 144. 
 
 3 For particular accounts of this expedition, vide, Gardener 
 and Underbill in the Mass. Hist. Coll.; also Winthrop, vol. i., 
 pp. 194, 197. 
 
 [230] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 and he remarks that it was "a marvellous provi 
 dence of God, that not a hair fell from the head of 
 any of them, nor any sick or feeble person among 
 them." 1 
 
 The Pequods and the Narragansetts had always 
 been at feud, but reports began to reach the 
 Boston Colony that the Pequods had made a truce 
 with the Narragansetts, and were trying to induce 
 them, through the argument of self-preservation, 
 to join in a movement to exterminate the English. 
 The Massachusetts colonists were aroused to a 
 keen sense of their danger, and realized that their 
 only hope in the way of preserving peace was 
 through the intercession of Roger Williams, whose 
 influence with the Narragansetts was possibly 
 greater than that of any other Englishman. They 
 were in a dilemma here. Roger Williams, on ac 
 count of his religious belief, had been expelled 
 from the Massachusetts Colony. His sentence was 
 practically one of banishment, and the question 
 arose whether or not, under this ignominious pro 
 cedure on the part of those who should have been 
 his friends, they would be entitled to any consider 
 ation at his hands. 2 Williams was greater than his 
 
 1 Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 232, 235. 
 Gardener, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., p. 141. 
 Underbill, 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. vi., p. 11. 
 Massachusetts Records, vol. i., p. 88. 
 
 2 "Mr. Wiliams did lay his axe at the very root of the 
 Magistratical power in matters of the first table, which he 
 
 [231] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 persecutors; for he at once, upon understanding the 
 situation, at an extreme hazard, hardly informing 
 his wife of his intention, embarked in a frail canoe 
 and alone made his way through "stormy wind, 
 with great seas," to the house of Canonicus; but 
 the Pequods had anticipated his coming, possibly, 
 and were there before him. For a succession of 
 
 drove on at such a rate, so as many agitations were occasioned 
 thereby that pulled down ruin upon himself, friends, and his 
 poor family." 
 
 Hubbard, History of New England, p. 166. 
 
 John Cotton remarks of Roger Williams that he "Looked 
 upon himself as had he received a clearer illumination and 
 apprehension of the State of Christ s Kingdom, and of the 
 purity of Church Communion, than all Christendom besides." 
 
 Ibid, p. 203. 
 
 Cotton goes on to relate that one of the causes of Williams s 
 banishment was the latter s protesting against the king s be 
 ing credited, in the patent under which the Puritans occu 
 pied Massachusetts Bay, as being the first Christian prince 
 who had discovered these parts, and his injustice in giving 
 this country to his English subjects, which belonged to the 
 native Indians. He urged the Puritans to humble themselves 
 "to return the patent back again to the King." 
 
 Ibid, p. 210. 
 
 Evidently Roger Williams was a misfit for the Puritan 
 conscience. 
 
 It was in October, 1635, that Roger Williams was sentenced 
 by the General Court of Massachusetts to depart out of their 
 jurisdiction within six weeks. Such was the spirit of intoler 
 ance in the Bay Colony at that time that in the January fol 
 lowing Winthrop was convicted by the Puritan leaders for 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 three days and three nights Williams was compelled 
 to remain in their company, in momentary danger 
 of sharing the fate of Oldham. He was able, how 
 ever, through his kindliness of attitude, and more 
 directly through the friendship of Canonicus, to 
 frustrate the designs of the Pequods. 1 As a result 
 of his commission, Miantonomoh and two sons of 
 Canonicus went to Boston, where they joined the 
 
 having shown "too much leniety in this matter," and Captain 
 Underbill was despatched to apprehend Williams for con 
 tinuing to preach the doctrine for which he had been banished. 
 Vane was governor at this time. 
 
 John Winthrop, Life and Letters, p. 137. 
 
 Roger Williams has been called the founder of Rhode 
 Island. He escaped Underbill to find an asylum among the 
 Narragansetts. He was noted for his uprightness and kindli 
 ness of manner; and by the exercise of these qualities he ob 
 tained a very considerable influence over the Narragansett 
 sachem. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 236, 238. 
 
 Vide William s Letters, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 237. 
 
 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 159. 
 
 Trumbull, vol. i., pp. 74, 76. 
 
 1 Upon his expulsion from the Bay Colony by Winthrop s 
 court Williams found himself shelterless. He went first to 
 Massasoit, and then to Canonicus. The latter received him at 
 first with distrust, so fearful was he of the "sorcery of the 
 whites;" but, taken by Williams s kindly behavior, he after 
 ward received him into full companionship. Williams at 
 tempted a settlement at Seekonk. Upon finding it to be in the 
 Plymouth jurisdiction he crossed the water to Rhode Island. 
 He was the first white man here, where no prior title could 
 
 [233] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 magistrates and ministers in a treaty of peaceful 
 alliance. 1 
 
 The expedition to Block Island could have but 
 one result. That was to exasperate the savages, 
 whet their thirst for revenge, and to stir them to 
 greater insolence and warlike spirit, so that no 
 
 interfere with his rights. He was given this land by the 
 Indian sachem. 
 
 Frost, Book of the Colonies, p. 176. 
 
 Not long before, the Narragansetts had made some pre 
 tense of enmity against the English. Baylie says: "In the 
 spring of 1630 John Sagamore, a friendly Indian, betrayed a 
 plot of the Narragansetts to the English, a conspiracy of many 
 of the tribes of whom the Narragansetts were the leaders, to 
 destroy the English. They requested the governor of Plym 
 outh that they might have some sport there; but the governor 
 would not permit it. The savages retorted if they might not 
 come with leave, they * would without. The English, ap 
 prehending their purpose, made preparations for defence, and 
 the Indians decided to put off their purpose, friendly or other 
 wise, until better opportunity should offer." 
 
 Baylie s History of Plymouth, p. 154. 
 
 1 There was at that time a move on foot for the confedera 
 tion of the Connecticut tribes; the Pequots had become the 
 active movers in this matter, and, as their first step toward the 
 consummation of their purpose against the English, they 
 buried the hatchet so long reddened in the Narragansett feud. 
 These overtures to the latter were in the way of being accepted 
 when Roger Williams made his advent into the village of 
 Canonicus. The Narragansetts would be a powerful ally, 
 and they would also be in no danger from them; otherwise, 
 Sassacus, having fully considered the benefits to be had with 
 
 [234] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 Englishmen were safe in their company. 1 They 
 gathered at the garrison at Saybrook, and chal- 
 
 the accession of the Narragansetts to his machinations against 
 the English, sent two sachems to Canonicus to gain him over 
 to their purpose. Canonicus called a general council of his 
 warriors, and before the assembled Narragansetts the Pequots 
 urged the confederation for the extermination of the English. 
 They did not overlook the superior training and armament of 
 the English, but explained that it would not be necessary to 
 face the latter s muskets or expose themselves in the open; 
 but they could waylay them by ambuscade as they tilled their 
 crops; fire their cabins by night when they slept; kill their 
 cattle; harass them by day and night in the most unexpected 
 places, until, in their fear, and beset by the perils of starva 
 tion, they would quit the country voluntarily. The Pequots 
 argued, and with a show of reason, once the Pequots are de 
 stroyed the Narragansetts will fall a still easier prey to the 
 English rapacity; and they dilated upon the unprovoked at 
 tacks of the English in reprisal for the murder of Oldham, of 
 which they were not guilty, in attempting to extort from them 
 large quantities of wampum and demanding their children as 
 hostages, whom the English would undoubtedly condemn to 
 slavery. The Narragansetts were moved by this plausible 
 speech, and were on the point of forming an alliance with the 
 Pequots; but they remembered their former enmity, and they 
 feared the Pequots no less than the English. The appearance 
 of Williams at the moment when the decision of the Narra 
 gansetts hung in the balance was most opportune, for his in 
 fluence prevailed, and the Pequot sachems had failed in their 
 embassy. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 101. 
 
 Roger Williams s Letters, R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., p. 160. 
 
 Gardener was in command of the fort at Saybrook. It 
 [235] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 lenged it to come out and fight. The chief episode 
 of this foray by the Pequods, it appears, was the 
 capture of Samuel Butterfield, who was out with 
 some others getting hay. Butterfield was tied to a 
 stake and roasted alive by the Pequods. 1 Another 
 attack followed two weeks later. Five or six of the 
 Englishmen were wounded. After the winter came 
 on, Gardener went out, one March day, with nine 
 or ten men, to burn weeds. He was drawn into an 
 
 was harvesting-time. The Saybrook garrison went to gather 
 their corn. They had cut and stored a portion of it. Leaving 
 five men to guard it until a shallop could be manned and sent 
 to bring it to the fort, he ordered the men to be on their guard. 
 Having muskets, they were over-confident, and three of them 
 started to hunt sea-fowl, which were abundant. They fol 
 lowed their sport until they were a mile from the fort. The 
 wooded marshes echoed with the noise of their muskets. 
 Having obtained all the fowl they wished, they started on 
 their return to the corn-field. The Pequots, watching them, 
 planned an ambuscade. Once the English were fallen into 
 it, the savages surrounded them and let fly a volley of arrows. 
 Two of the English were so terrified they allowed the savages 
 to take their guns from them without resistance. The other, 
 drawing his sword, escaped. The two captured were after 
 ward put to the torture. 
 
 The following day the men came in the shallop, but were 
 afraid to finish the harvesting. Loading their boat, they 
 sailed back to the fort, the smoke of their burning storehouse 
 trailing after them over the water. 
 
 Gardener, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxiii., p. 142. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 107. 
 
 1 Gardener, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxiii., p. 142. 
 [236] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 ambuscade, and lost two of his men. 1 The Pequods 
 supposed Gardener was killed, and at once invested 
 
 1 It was right after this that "old Mr. Michell, against the 
 protest of Gardener, went to cut some hay on Six-Mile Island, 
 with four men to assist him, only to find the Pequots lurking 
 around the tall grass." Michell, with three others, made a 
 run for the boat, and got away safely. The other, "a godly 
 young man named Butterfield," the savages captured and 
 roasted alive. 
 
 Gardener, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxiii., pp. 142, 143. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 198. 
 
 Drake s Boston, p. 203. 
 
 Hubbard, p. 252. 
 
 "In the 22d of February, I went out with ten men, and 
 three dogs, half a mile from the house, to burn the weeds, 
 leaves and reeds, upon the neck of land, because we had felled 
 twenty timber-trees, which we were to roll to the water-side 
 to bring home, every man carrying a length of match with 
 brimstone-matches with him to kindle the fire withal. But 
 when we came to the small of the Neck, the woods burning, 
 I having before this set two sentinels on the small of the Neck, 
 I called to the men that were burning the reeds to come away, 
 but they w T ould not until they had burnt up the rest of their 
 matches. Presently there starts up four Indians out of the 
 fiery reeds, but ran away, I calling to the rest of our men to 
 come away out of the marsh. Then Robert Chapman and 
 Thomas Hurlbut, being sentinels called to me, saying there 
 came a number of other Indians out of the other side of the 
 marsh. Then I went to stop them, that they should not get 
 the wood-land; but Thomas Hurlbut cried out to me that 
 some of the men did not follow me, for Thomas Rumble and 
 Arthur Branch, threw down their two guns and ran away; 
 then the Indians shot two of them that were in the reeds, and 
 
 [237] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the fort, crying out, " Come fetch your Englishmen s 
 clothes ! Come out and fight, if you dare ! You dare 
 not fight ! You are all like women ! " 
 
 sought to get between us and home, but durst not come be 
 fore us, but kept us in a half -moon, we retreating and ex 
 changing many a shot, so that Thomas Hurlbut was shot 
 almost through the thigh, John Spencer in the back, into his 
 kidneys, myself into the thigh, two more were shot dead. 
 But in our retreat I kept Hurlbut and Spencer still before us, 
 we defending ourselves with our naked swords, or else they 
 had taken us all alive, so that the two sore wounded men, 
 by our slow retreat, got home with their guns, when our two 
 sound men ran away and left their guns behind them. But 
 when I saw the cowards that left us, I resolved to let them 
 draw lots which of them should be hanged, for the articles 
 did hang up in the hall for them to read, and they knew they 
 had been published long before. But at the intercession of 
 old Mr. Michell, Mr. Higgisson [Higginson], and Mr. Pell, 
 I did forbear. Within a few days after, when I had cured 
 myself of my wound, I went out with eight men to get some 
 fowl for our relief, and found the guns that were thrown 
 away, and the body of one man shot through, the arrow going 
 in at the right side, the head sticking fast, half through a rib 
 on the left side, which I took out and cleansed it, and pre 
 sumed to send to the Bay, because they had said that the 
 arrows of the Indians were of no force. 
 
 "Anthony Dike, master of a bark, having his bark at 
 Rhode Island in the winter, was sent by Mr. Vane, then 
 Governor. Anthony came to Rhode Island by land, and 
 from thence he came with his bark to me with a letter, where 
 in was desired that I should consider and prescribe the best 
 way I could to quell these Pequits, which I also did, and 
 with my letter sent the man s rib as a token. A few days 
 
 [238] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 The news reaching the Bay Colony resulted in 
 the sending of Captain Mason to their relief, and 
 
 after, came Thomas Stanton down the River, and staying for 
 a wind, while he was there came a troop of Indians within 
 musket shot, laying themselves and their arms down behind 
 a little rising hill and two great trees; which I perceiving, 
 called the carpenter whom I had shewed how to charge and 
 level a gun, and that he should put two cartridges of musket 
 bullets into two sakers guns that lay about; and we levelled 
 them against the place, and I told him that he must look 
 towards me, and when he saw me wave my hat above my 
 head he should give fire to both the guns; then presently 
 came three Indians, creeping out and calling to us to speak 
 with us : and I was glad that Thomas Stanton was there, and 
 I sent six men down to the Garden Pales to look that none 
 should come under the hill behind us; and having placed the 
 rest in places convenient closely, Thomas and I with my 
 sword, pistol and carbine, went ten or twelve poles without 
 the gate to parley with them. And when the six men came to 
 the Garden Pales, at the corner, they found a great number 
 of Indians creeping behind the fort, or betwixt us and home, 
 but they ran away. Now I had said to Thomas Stanton, 
 Whatsoever they say to you, tell me first, for we will not an 
 swer them directly to anything, for I knew not the mind of 
 the rest of the English. So they came forth, calling us nearer 
 to them, and we them nearer to us. But I would not let 
 Thomas go any further than the great stump of a tree, and I 
 stood by him ; then they asked who we were, and he answered 
 Thomas and Lieutenant. But they said he lied, for I was 
 shot with many arrows; and so I was, but my buff coat pre 
 served me, only one hurt me. But when I spake to them 
 they knew my voice, for one of them had dwelt three months 
 with us, but ran away when the Bay-men came first. Then 
 
 [239] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the Pequods were expelled. Reenforced by the 
 arrival of Captain Underbill and some of his men, 
 
 they asked us if we would fight with Niantecut Indians, for 
 they were our friends and came to trade with us. We said 
 we knew not the Indians one from another, and therefore 
 would trade with none. Then they said, Have you fought 
 enough ? We said we knew not yet. Then they asked if we 
 did use to kill women and children ? We said that they should 
 see that hereafter. So they were silent a small space, and 
 then they said, We are Pequits, and have killed Englishmen, 
 and can kill them as mosquetoss, and we will go to Conecte- 
 cott and kill men, women, and children, and we will take 
 away the horses, cows and hogs. When Thomas Stanton had 
 told me this, he prayed me to shoot that rogue, for, said he, 
 he hath an Englishman s coat on, and saith that he hath 
 killed three, and these other four have their cloathes on their 
 backs. I said, No, it is not the manner of a parley, but have 
 patience and I shall fit them ere they go. Nay, now or never, 
 said he; so when he could get no other answer but this last, I 
 bid him tell them that they should not go to Conectecott, for 
 if they did kill all the men, and take all the rest as they said, 
 it would do them no good, but hurt, for English women are 
 lazy, and can t do their work ; horses and cows will spoil your 
 corn-fields, and the hogs their clam-banks, and so undo them : 
 then I pointed to our great house, and bid him tell them there 
 lay twenty pieces of trucking-cloth, of Mr. Pincheon s, with 
 hoes, hatchets, and all manner of trade, they were better [to] 
 fight still with us, and so get all that, and then go up the river 
 after they had killed all us. Having heard this, they were 
 mad as dogs, and ran away; then when they came to the place 
 from whence they came, I waved my hat about my head, and 
 the two great guns went off, so that there was a great hubbub 
 amongst them. Then two days after, came down Capt. 
 
 [240] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 the Indians disappeared in the direction of Wethers- 
 field, where two hundred of them swooped down 
 upon the town. 1 Nine of the settlers were killed, 
 
 Mason, and Sergeant Seely, with five men more, to see how 
 it was with us; and whilst they were there, came down a 
 Dutch boat, telling us the Indians had killed fourteen Eng 
 lish, for by that boat I had sent up letters to Conectecott, 
 what I heard, and what I thought, and how to prevent that 
 threatened danger, and received back again rather a scoff, 
 than any thanks, for my care and pains. But as I wrote, so 
 it fell out to my great grief and theirs, for the next, or second 
 day after, (as Major Mason well knows,) came down a great 
 many canoes, going down the creek beyond the marsh, be 
 fore the fort, many of them having white shirts; then I com 
 manded the carpenter whom I had shewed to level great guns, 
 to put in two round shot into the two sackers, and we levelled 
 them at a certain place, and I stood to bid him give fire, when 
 I thought the canoe wherein the two maids were, that were 
 taken by the Indians, whom I redeemed and clothed, for the 
 Dutchmen, whom I sent to fetch them, brought them away 
 almost naked from Pequit, they putting on their own linen 
 jackets to cover their nakedness ; and though the redemption 
 cost me ten pounds, I am yet to have thanks for my care and 
 charge about them; these things are known to Major Mason." 
 
 Gardener s Pequot Warres, p. 15. 
 
 lr The Wethersfield Colony had its land from Sequin, or 
 Sowheag, and was situated on the Connecticut River. One 
 of the conditions of this sale was that the grantor might reside 
 in the near vicinity, and under the protection of the English. 
 The settlers built their cabins, and not far away Sowheag 
 set up the poles for his wigwam. For some reason or other, 
 not long after, the English picked a quarrel with this sachem 
 and drove him out of the settlement. Unable to redress his 
 
 [241] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 men, women, and children, and two young women 
 were taken captives. These were afterwards re 
 deemed by the Dutch. It was shortly before Gard 
 ener went out to burn the grass that John Tilly 
 was captured, tied to a stake, flayed alive; burning 
 coals were thrust into his flesh, and his hands and 
 
 own wrongs, he turned to the Pequots, who acceded to his 
 desire for revenge. 
 
 It was in April, 1637. A man riding his horse near this 
 settlement discovered a considerable body of savages stealing 
 upon the town. Retracing his journey, he put spurs to his 
 horse and galloped into the settlement to give the alarm. 
 
 He met some women who doubted his tale of the Pequots, 
 so he spurred his horse anew to find more credulous listeners. 
 He was too late. The elder woman, a few minutes later, was 
 brained on the spot. The two girls who accompanied her 
 were captured. Wethersfield was surprised. The men were 
 taken at their work in the fields. Two other women and six 
 men were butchered, and twenty head of cattle were killed. 
 It does not seem that the Pequots thought of burning Wethers- 
 field. The two girls were later redeemed by the Dutch. 
 
 Johnson s Wonder-working Providence. 
 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxiv., p. 30. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 218 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 113. 
 
 Trumbull mentions two girls, "daughters of Mr. Gib 
 bons," who "were in the most brutal manner put to death. 
 After gashing their flesh with their knives, the Indians filled 
 their wounds with hot embers, in the meantime mimicking 
 their dying groans." 
 
 Indian Wars, p. 48. 
 
 The writer does not find this incident mentioned elsewhere. 
 [242] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 feet cut off, in which condition he lived three days. 1 
 This was a succession of tragic incidents which 
 carried alarm to all the colonists, and thoroughly 
 aroused the English to a realization that an effectual 
 blow against the Pequods must be struck without 
 further delay. 
 
 Reference has been made to the General Court 
 which sat at Hartford. On this occasion it con- 
 
 1 "There came from the Bay, Mr. Tille, with a permit to go 
 up to Harford [Hartford], and coming ashore he saw a paper 
 nailed up over the fort gate, whereon was written, that no 
 boat or bark should pass the fort, but they come to an anchor 
 first, that I might see whether they were armed and manned 
 sufficiently, and they were not to land anywhere after they 
 passed the fort till they came to Wethersfield : and I did this 
 because Mr. Michell had lost a shallop before coming down 
 from Wethersfield with three men, well armed." 
 
 Gardener s Pequot Warres, p. 19. 
 
 Tilly was incensed at what seemed to him an interference 
 with his prerogative, and Gardener records that the gentle 
 man from Boston used "ill language" toward him. When 
 Tilly had vented his anger, Gardener told him to go to his 
 warehouse, which the former had put up when here before. 
 Tilly discovered that his house and storehouse had been de 
 stroyed; but Gardener, anticipating the savages, had stored 
 Tilly s property in a safer place. 
 
 Gardener gave Tilly his goods, after which Tilly went up 
 the river. Returning, he landed at what is now Tilly s Point, 
 to which Gardener gave the name of "Tilly s Folly." "Hav 
 ing a fair wind, he came to anchor, and with one man went 
 ashore, discharged his gun. The Indians fell upon him, 
 killed the others, and carried him alive over the river in our 
 
 [243] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sisted of two magistrates and three committeemen 
 from each of the three towns of Windsor, Hartford, 
 and Wethersfield. This trio of towns comprised the 
 Connecticut Colony. It was held on the eleventh 
 day of May, and was one of the most important 
 meetings, having reference to its results, in the 
 history of Connecticut. While the court were of the 
 opinion that the prospect was doubtful of main 
 taining their footing against the Indians, on account 
 of the great numbers of the latter, and were some 
 what disturbed over the apparent defection of the 
 Narragansetts, whom they looked upon as their 
 allies, they were no less determined to take the 
 chances. While the Indians were scantily armed, 
 their knowledge of the country, their subtlety and 
 audacity, in a large degree balanced the chances of 
 war. A defensive war would be of little use; and so 
 far as an offensive position on their part was pos 
 sible, it would seem to be of small efficacy, as the 
 
 sight before my shallop could come to them; for, immediately 
 I sent seven men to fetch the Paik (small vessel) down, or else 
 it had been taken, and three more." 
 
 Gardener s Pequot Warres, p. 20. 
 
 Tilly was put to the torture. His hands and feet were cut 
 off. Hot coals were thrust into his flesh. He died like the 
 savage stoic, without a moan. The Pequots could not con 
 ceal their admiration of his courage and endurance. 
 
 Gardener s Mass. Hist. Co//., vol. xxxiii., p. 147. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 200. 
 
 Underbill, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxvi., p. 15. 
 
 [244] 
 
THE PEQTJOD WAR 
 
 three towns contained hardly more than two hun 
 dred and fifty men. No help had been offered by 
 the Bay Colony, yet it was as evident that some de 
 cision must be made; and the court finally decided 
 that war should be carried into the enemy s coun 
 try. For the first company, a levy of ninety men 
 was made on the three towns. Hartford was to fur 
 nish forty- two; Windsor, thirty; and Wethersfield, 
 eighteen. The needed supplies and munitions 
 were voted. John Mason was made commander- 
 in-chief. 1 
 
 These settlers were poor; they lacked most of the 
 comforts of civilization; and, as has been noticed, 
 the first winter they suffered from lack of food. The 
 Bay Colony had been singularly indifferent. No 
 help had been received from it, except the expedi 
 tion of Endicott, which, as Gardener prophesied, 
 could bring only misfortune. In various letters the 
 Connecticut Court had described to the government 
 
 1 John Mason had served under Sir Thomas Fairfax in the 
 Netherlands, where his abilities and courage attracted his 
 general s attention. He was a very tall man, of large physique; 
 energetic, of a stern, but not headlong disposition; moral, yet 
 not religious; for the work in hand, he was of the same re 
 lentless fiber as Miles Standish. It was a crisis in the affairs 
 of the Connecticut Colony, and Mason was "the man for the 
 hour." 
 
 Allen, Biographical Dictionary of New England. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 119. 
 
 TrumbulFs History of the Indians, p. 52. 
 
 [245] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of Massachusetts their situation. They disapproved 
 of Endicott s expedition, and had enumerated the 
 troubles which had befallen the colonists of Con 
 necticut in consequence of it. They charged the 
 provocation of the war upon the people of Massa 
 chusetts; and they urged upon the latter that, so 
 long as they had begun it, it was most desirable 
 that the procedure of the same should go on under 
 their direction. They finally notified Governor 
 Vane that they had decided to push the war against 
 the Pequods into their own country. Uncas was a 
 Pequod 1 who had rebelled against Sassacus; and, 
 joined by a number of Indians, he made his ap 
 pearance in Hartford and offered himself as an ally 
 to the Connecticut Colony. His warriors numbered 
 about seventy. Massachusetts and Plymouth, be- 
 
 J The Pequot country extended from Niantic on the west 
 to the Rhode Island line on the east, taking in Waterford, 
 New London, and Montville west of the Thames River and 
 Groton, Stonington, and North Stonington on the east, in 
 cluding the country to north of this, with the county of Wind- 
 ham, and a portion of Tolland. 
 
 A difference has been made between the Mohegans and 
 the Pequots. Uncas, the great Mohegan sachem, was of 
 royal Pequot blood. His ancestors were Pequots. His wife 
 was the daughter of the sachem Tatobam. Uncas had been a 
 sachem under Sassacus, the royal head of the Pequot nation. 
 When the English came to Connecticut Uncas was carrying 
 on a rebellion, and to save himself from the vengeance of 
 Sassacus he lent his allegiance to the English. 
 
 Uncas is described as a savage of huge stature, and of great 
 
 [246] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 ing fully convinced that the Connecticut Colony had 
 determined to proceed forthwith against the Pe- 
 quods, came to a realizing sense of the situation. 
 
 bravery and strength. He was a past-master in stratagem, 
 and cared more for plunder than for glory. He was careful 
 of his own men, and, therefore, popular. An apt politician, 
 he was selfish, jealous, and inclined to play the tyrant. 
 Possessed of many bad traits, he had no great ones. He 
 served the English as the means to an end, which was the 
 consummation of his own personal animosities. In these 
 days he would have been a political ward-boss. 
 
 Uncas was buried in the royal burying-ground of his race, 
 just by the falls in the Yantic River, " a beautiful and romantic 
 spot." 
 
 Gardener s Pequot Warres, p. 7. 
 
 Drake s History of the Indians, p. 89. 
 
 James Fitch, who was sent among the Mohegans as a mis 
 sionary, calls Uncas "an old and wicked, wilful man, a 
 drunkard, and very vicious." 
 
 There was a feud between Uncas and Miantonomoh. The 
 former came near being killed by an arrow from a Pequot 
 bow-string, at the instigation of the latter. For this, Mian 
 tonomoh was sent for by Winthrop. Miantonomoh took the 
 would-be assassin along with him. The Pequot was proven 
 guilty, "out of his own mouth." Winthrop would have sent 
 him to Uncas. Miantonomoh protested that he would send 
 the Pequot to Uncas himself, to be examined and punished. 
 Contrary to his promise, he killed his accomplice ("cut off 
 the Peacott s head that he might tell no tales"). Subsequent 
 attempts were made on the life of Uncas, once by poison. 
 
 After this one of Sequassen s company, a sachem whose 
 intimacies with Miantonomoh had engaged them as con 
 federates in many obscure matters, shot an arrow at Uncas 
 
 [247] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Both voted to furnish men in behalf of the Connec 
 ticut people. The Massachusetts Colony were to 
 raise two hundred men; the Plymouth Colony, 
 
 as he was going down the Connecticut River. Uncas com 
 plained to the English of these assaults upon his safety, where 
 upon the English endeavored to unite Sequassen and Uncas 
 in overtures of peace. Sequassen referred the Narragansetts 
 to Miantonomoh as his superior sachem. This was followed 
 by Miantonomoh s marching against Uncas with one thou 
 sand warriors. They found Uncas unprepared, having but 
 four hundred men to oppose to this considerable force. After 
 a stout battle, the Narragansetts were routed and Miantono 
 moh was taken prisoner. He was given up by two of his own 
 men, who expected to save their lives by their treachery. 
 When Miantonomoh was captured he was discovered to be 
 encased in a coat of mail. 
 
 When his captive, who showed his indifference by his 
 silence, was brought to him, Uncas said, "If you had taken 
 me, I should have besought you for my life." Uncas then 
 took Miantonomoh to Hartford, where he delivered him into 
 the hands of the English until it should be decided what 
 should be done with his inveterate enemy. The government 
 at Boston was of the opinion it would not be safe to give him 
 his liberty, and there seemed no sufficient ground to put him 
 to death. With the aid of the council, "five of the most 
 judicious elders," they came to a decision. Enjoining 
 secrecy upon all, they made known their ruling to Uncas 
 privately, instructing him to attend to the execution of Mian 
 tonomoh within his own jurisdiction, and without witnesses. 
 Pilate-like, the Puritans washed their hands of responsibility, 
 willing that the Mohegans should have the odium of the 
 matter. 
 
 Uncas was promised the protection of the English; and 
 
 [248] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 forty. 1 Captain Daniel Patrick was despatched 
 with forty men overland, by the Bay Colony, to 
 connect with the Narragansetts. The Pequods had 
 sent their women and children to Block Island, 
 which was also Patrick s destination. 2 When they 
 
 the former being willing to conform to the desire of the Eng 
 lish, once within his own domain, "Uncas brother, following 
 after Miantonomoh, clave his head with a hatchet." Mather 
 has it, "They very fairly cut off his head." 
 
 J Winthrop, vol. L, p. 222. 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxiii., p. 133. 
 
 2 "The march of those from Massachusetts was retarded by 
 a most singular Cause that ever influenced the Operation of a 
 Military Force. When they were mustered previous to their 
 Departure, it was found that some of the Officers, as well as 
 the private Soldiers, were still under the Covenant of Works; 
 and that the Blessing of God could not be implored or ex 
 pected to crown the Arms of such unhallowed Men with 
 Success. The Alarm was general, and many Arrangements 
 necessary in order to call out the Unclean, and to render this 
 little Band sufficiently pure to fight the Battles of a People 
 who entertained high Ideas of their own Sanctity." 
 
 Robertson s America, bk. x. 
 
 Neal s History of New England, vol. i., p. 184. 
 
 Winthrop does not give the date of Patrick s march from 
 Boston. Hubbard says Winthrop was so busy "engineering 
 at Elections" that he did not date this and other happenings 
 of that time, so it is not known how much Patrick was delayed 
 by the "Covenant of Good Works," 
 
 Indian Wars, p. 20, note. 
 
 In this election Governor Harry Vane was defeated by 
 Winthrop. Vane was thought to be tainted with the so-called 
 
 [249] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 had subdued Block Island, the plan was for them 
 to return to the mainland, where they were to join 
 the Connecticut soldiers for immediate proceedings 
 against the Pequods. 
 
 May 20, 1637, Captain Mason, with ninety Eng 
 lishmen and seventy Indians, dropped down the 
 river in three small vessels. After repeated delays 
 by grounding, on account of the shallowness of 
 the water, the Indian allies were set ashore, with 
 instructions to make Saybrook by land. On their 
 way through the woods they met a party of Pequods, 
 numbering thirty or forty. They killed seven of 
 them, with one man wounded on their own side. 
 Mason proceeded by water in the three small craft 
 
 heresy of antinomianism. Wheelwright, a leader of the cult, 
 preached to crowded audiences. Vane, who is described as a 
 young man of great talents and heir to a princely fortune, the 
 son of the chief secretary of Charles I., took to the Puritan 
 tenets with a singular zeal. He came over to Boston and took 
 up his residence with Mr. Cotton. He was most warmly 
 welcomed, and at the gubernatorial election following his 
 arrival he was made governor, at the age of twenty-four. At 
 the succeeding election he was defeated by the country out 
 side Boston, which followed the influence of its old ministers. 
 This election was held at Cambridge, lest the electors should 
 be influenced by the Boston interests, which supported Vane 
 by a considerable majority. After his defeat he returned to 
 England, where, after the restoration of Charles n., he was 
 tried for alleged political offences, and judicially murdered. 
 
 Pierce, Book of the Colonies, p. 182. 
 
 Pictorial History of the United States. 
 
 [250] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 which De Forest describes as a pink, a pinnace, 
 and a shallop. After lightening these small vessels 
 the English got on very well down stream, join 
 ing Uncas and his party at Saybrook. On hearing 
 the relation by Uncas of his exploit in the woods, 
 they felt assured of his fidelity. Lieutenant Lion 
 Gardener, whose knowledge of the savages made 
 him less credulous, asked Mason how he could 
 trust the Mohegans, who had been so short a time 
 away from their own people, who had become open 
 enemies of the English. Mason replied to him 
 that he was "forced to trust them, for we want 
 them to guide us." Gardener, still doubtful, sug 
 gested to Uncas, ;< You say that you will help 
 Captain Mason, but I will first see it; therefore 
 send twenty men to Bass River, for there went six 
 Indians there in a canoe, fetch them dead or alive 
 and you shall go with Mason, or else you shall 
 not." 1 Uncas started off on his errand, discovered 
 the enemy, killed four of them, and made prisoner 
 of another. This captive was called Kiswas. He 
 had lived much of the time in the neighborhood, 
 
 1 Lion Gardener was sent over by Lords Say and Seal and 
 Brook to construct a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut 
 River, to command it, etc. He was said to be a skilful engi 
 neer, and on that account was selected. He had seen some 
 service in the Low Countries under General Fairfax. He 
 came to this country about the year 1633, or 1634, and erected 
 a fort at Saybrook in Connecticut, which was so named in 
 honor of Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brook. . . . He was 
 
 [251] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 a portion of which he spent at the fort, and could 
 speak English. Since the Pequod outbreak he 
 had been around the fort much of the time, where 
 he had acted as a spy upon the garrison; and he 
 had as well been present at those massacres which 
 had taken place in the immediate neighborhood. 
 Uncas claimed him as a captive, and demanded 
 that he be turned over to his people for disposition. 1 
 It may be noted here that a Dutch vessel arrived 
 
 in command of this fort when Capt. John Mason conquered 
 the Pequots. 
 
 Gardener was in command of the fort for some time, and 
 once came near being captured by the Pequots. He later re 
 moved to Gardener Island, in Gardener Bay, where he died. 
 The area of this island is about twenty-five hundred acres, 
 and it is a most beautiful spot. It was an entailed estate, 
 whose proprietors were known as Lords. There is a tradition 
 that the island was conveyed to Lion Gardener by the sachem 
 Waiandance out of the latter s gratitude for Gardener s 
 efforts to ransom this sachem s daughter, who had been cap 
 tured and carried off by Ninigret during the war between the 
 Nehantics and the Indians of Long Island. 
 
 Gardener s Island has a history under the Lords of the 
 Gardener Manor, by itself. 
 
 Gardener, Pequot Warres. 
 
 Vincent, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxvi., p. 36. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 121. 
 
 1 Among the prisoners was one who was recognized as "a 
 perfidious villain." In this designation of the savage, Trum- 
 bull refers to Kiswas. This savage had lived much at the 
 fort and understood English fairly. Upon the commencement 
 of hostilities on the part of the Pequots he was apparently at- 
 
 [252] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 in the river to drop anchor under the guns of Say- 
 brook a little before the arrival of Mason. Garde 
 ner, ascertaining that the Dutch were on their way 
 to trade with the Pequods, forbade them doing so, 
 fearful that out of the supplies which the Dutch 
 might carry to the Indians some might be converted 
 into arrow-heads or other weapons of offence. A 
 dispute arose, which the Dutch finally ended by 
 proposing that, if they were allowed to go to the 
 
 tached to the English. Once the first overt act was committed, 
 he left the fort to become a guide to the Pequots. Through 
 his instigation, many of the English were captured and killed. 
 Kiswas was captured by some of Uncas s party, and Uncas in 
 sisted that he be put to the torture in accordance with the 
 ancient customs of the Narragansetts. The English yielded to 
 this request out of policy; so the savages kindled a fire near 
 which was a stake, to which Kiswas was securely bound. 
 They kept him there until his skin was flayed with the heat. 
 The Mohegans then violently tore him limb from limb, and 
 barbarously cutting his flesh in pieces, handed it around from 
 one to another, eating it, while they sung and danced around 
 the fire in a manner peculiar to savages; the bones and such 
 parts of the unfortunate captive as were not consumed in this 
 dreadful repast were committed to the flames and consumed 
 to ashes. 
 
 Trumbull, Indian Wars, p. 54. 
 
 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 121. 
 
 Gardener s Warres, p. 21. 
 
 Drake doubts Trumbull s relation of the cannibalism of 
 the Mohegans at the torturing of Kiswas. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, pp. 86, 103. 
 
 Trumbull, History of the Indians, p. 59. 
 
 [253] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Pequods, they would ransom the two English girls 
 who had been captured a short time before by the 
 Indians, in their raid on Wethersfield. This offer 
 was accepted by Gardener, and the Dutch kept on 
 up the river until they came to Pequod Harbor, 
 where they anchored. They sent their men on 
 shore, as was their wont, offering to trade. They 
 would sell the Indians whatever they had in their 
 store; but in return for the same, instead of the 
 usual articles of furs and wampum, they would take 
 the two English girls. The sachem Sassacus, who 
 happened there, refused to give up his captives, 
 while the Dutch, with something of a spirit of re 
 prisal and without exerting their conscience in the 
 matter, succeeded in getting seven of the Pequods 
 on board their vessel. Some of these were sachems, 
 whom they immediately made prisoners. After 
 that was accomplished the Dutch called to the 
 Pequods on the river-bank, "We have seven of 
 your people on board our vessel; if ye desire them 
 again ye must give us the two English girls; tell us 
 quickly whether ye will do so; for if not, we will 
 hoist sail and drop all your men overboard in the 
 main ocean." The Pequods shouted back in de 
 rision, regarding this as an empty threat, still re 
 fusing to deliver the captives, upon which the 
 Dutch got up their anchor. By the time they 
 reached the mouth of the stream the Pequods be 
 came convinced that the Dutch meant what they 
 said, and followed them in several canoes, taking 
 
 [254] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 along with them the two English girls. When they 
 had overtaken the Dutch another parley was had. 
 The ruse was successful. The Indians were re 
 leased and the two girls were in the way of being 
 restored to their friends. The Dutch, true to their 
 word, kept on to Say brook, where they met another 
 Dutch vessel which the New Netherlands governor 
 had despatched for the express purpose of obtaining 
 these girls upon any conditions, and to engage in a 
 war with the Pequods, if it were necessary, to get 
 them. 1 
 
 As before mentioned, Mason had reached Say- 
 brook. It was here the Dutch found him. Mason 
 had thus an opportunity of acquiring through these 
 girls the latest intelligence concerning the Pequods, 
 which was that the latter had sixteen guns, with a 
 small quantity of powder and shot. They reported 
 also that the Indians were very curious as to whether 
 they could make powder, and were much disap 
 pointed when they found they could not. As a 
 result of their ignorance, the savages set less value 
 on the fire-arms. They said they had been kindly 
 treated, which was due to one of the squaws of 
 Mononotto, who ranked next to Sassacus as a 
 
 1 DeForest, Indians of Connecticut, p. 123. 
 
 These two girls were carried from Saybrook to New Am 
 sterdam at the Dutch governor s special request, so curious 
 was he to see them "with his own eyes." 
 
 Ibid, supra. 
 
 [255] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 sachem. They thought it was through that squaw 
 they had been saved from torture. The Pequods 
 had taken them from place to place, and had ex 
 hibited to them their wigwams and such things as 
 they held in high value, and had endeavored in 
 many ways to please them, and to make their cap 
 tivity less irksome. From Say brook the girls were 
 taken to New Amsterdam, as the governor wished 
 to see them; after which they were returned in 
 safety to Wethersfield, forty-six miles up the river. 1 
 Mason s instructions were that he should attack 
 the enemy by making an immediate landing at 
 Pequod Harbor. He was so instructed in a letter 
 which the magistrates caused to be conveyed to 
 him while he was at Say brook. His knowledge of 
 military affairs led him to disprove of this plan, and 
 he expressed his desire to sail first to the country of 
 the Narragansetts. He said of the Pequods: 
 "They keep a continual guard upon their river, 
 night and day, they were armed as the maids said 
 they were, with sixteen pieces, also powder and 
 shot. Their numbers being greatly superior to ours 
 would make it difficult for us to land in their faces, 
 also, if we affect the landing they will fly away and 
 hide in their swamps and thickets, whereas if we go 
 first to Narragansett, we shall come upon them at 
 
 Underbill, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxvi., pp. 17, 18, 19, 
 says, "Gardener says he paid the Dutch ten pounds for 
 ransoming the girls." 
 
 [256] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 their backs and so may take them by a surprise, 
 where they least expect it." 1 His officers and men 
 were not agreeable to this proposition; they were 
 not in favor of a long march through the wilderness. 
 They did not conceal their anxiety to get back to 
 their families, and were in favor of taking the 
 shorter way to Pequod Harbor, and there make a 
 decisive battle with the savages. When the court 
 issued the commission to Mason giving him the 
 direction of the Connecticut forces they appointed 
 a chaplain by the name of Stone. It was at this 
 point of the argument they all agreed in desiring 
 the chaplain to make invocation that they might be 
 given the wisdom and guidance of God, that what 
 ever they did might be done in accordance with the 
 Divine Providence. It is reported that the chaplain 
 devoted the larger part of the night to prayer. In 
 the morning he told Captain Mason and the rest of 
 the party that he was convinced they should go to 
 Narragansett. Without further hesitation Mason s 
 plan was accepted. Mason despatched twenty men 
 up the river, that they might assist in the defence 
 of the settlers if necessary. This diminution of Ma 
 son s forces was supplemented by an addition to 
 it by Capt. John Underbill 2 and nineteen others 
 from the fort. 
 
 1 Mason, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., p. 134. 
 
 2 Captain John Underbill was an original member of the 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. An 
 
 [257] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 They set sail from Say brook May 29, Friday. 
 On Saturday, by dusk, they had dropped anchor off 
 the shores of Narragansett. Time was precious, yet 
 they realized the futility of making land that night. 
 
 eccentric man, he went to excess in whatever he undertook. 
 In religion he was an enthusiast; in practice, a debauche. 
 He was a member of the Puritan Church of that time, before 
 which he was once arraigned for offences. One of the curious 
 charges brought against him was that he dated his conversion 
 from an occasion when he was smoking tobacco. When "the 
 spirit set home upon me an absolute promise of free grace, 
 with such assurance and joy that he had never since doubted 
 his good estate, neither should he, whatever since he might 
 fall into." In a trial before the court, he was found guilty of 
 abusing them with a "pretended retraction," for which on 
 the following day he was banished. Allowed the opportunity, 
 however, of attending public worship, his zeal found expres 
 sion in this, "that as the Lord was pleased to convert Saul 
 while he was persecuting, so he might manifest himself to 
 him while making a moderate use of the good creature to 
 bacco; professing withal that he knew not wherin he had de 
 served the censure of the court." Reproved by the elders for 
 making this inconsiderate speech, the Rev. Mr. Cotton told 
 him "that though God often laid a man under a spirit of 
 bondage while walking in sin, as was the case with Paul, yet 
 he never sent a spirit of comfort, but in an ordinance, as he 
 did to Paul by the ministry of Ananias; and therefore ex 
 horted him to examine carefully the revelation and joy to 
 which he pretended." That same week he was privately 
 dealt with on suspicion of adultery, which he disregarded; 
 and being questioned before the church the following Sab 
 bath, he was only admonished, as the evidence was not con 
 sidered sufficient to warrant a conviction. Underbill, after 
 
 [258] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 The next day, Sunday, was conscientiously ob 
 served by their remaining on their vessel. On Mon 
 day, by reason of a stiff northwest gale which con 
 tinued through the entire day, they were unable to 
 
 this, betook himself from under Winthrop s jurisdiction, going 
 to Dover, where he assumed the governorship of New Hamp 
 shire in place of the disreputable George Burdett, who, on 
 Sept. 8, 1640, was indicted by the General Court of Agamen- 
 ticus for some acts of incontinency with one Mary Pudding- 
 ton, and as well for "Deflowering Ruth, wife of John Gouch 
 of Agamenticus," for which he was fined twenty pounds 
 (Sylvester, Old York, pp. 98, 99). After a varied career in 
 New Hampshire, Underbill obtained permission to return to 
 Boston, where, during a session of the court, he made a full 
 confession of his shortcomings, declaring "that his pretended 
 assurance had failed him and that the terror of his mind had at 
 some times been so great, that he had drawn his sword to put 
 an end to his life." He was sentenced to sit on the stool of 
 repentance in the church, a white cap on his head, and in his 
 predicament make a public confession of his sins. After this 
 he was placed upon a probation of six months, and finally 
 restored to full communion. He was released and his punish 
 ment for confessed adultery was remitted by the court, for 
 the reason that the law which made such a capital crime, 
 having been enacted after the crime was committed, did not 
 apply to him. After this he entered the employ of the Dutch 
 governor of Manhattan, who gave him command of a com 
 pany of one hundred twenty men. He made himself very use 
 ful in the wars between the Dutch and the Indians, continuing 
 in their service during the remainder of his life. Wood says 
 that Underbill settled at Stamford, Conn., and was a delegate 
 from that town to the New Haven Court in 1643; when he 
 was appointed Assistant Justice for that colony. From 1643 
 
 [259] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 embark. On Tuesday it was the same until just 
 before sundown, when they succeeded in making a 
 landing and took up their march towards the head 
 quarters of Canonicus. Here they held an inter 
 view with the sachem, in which they informed him 
 of their purpose, which was to attack the Pequods 
 in their fastnesses. Mason requested a passage 
 through the Narragansett country. He was an 
 swered by Miantonomoh, who expressed himself as 
 
 to 1646 he had command of the Dutch forces against the 
 Indians. After the battle of Strickland s Plain, in which he 
 obtained rather a difficult victory, he settled at Flushing, 
 Long Island. He was also, in 1665, a delegate from Oyster- 
 Bay to the Assembly convened at Hempstead by Governor 
 Nicolls, by whom he was appointed under-sheriff to the North 
 Riding, of Yorkshire or Queen s County. He is supposed to 
 have died at Oyster-Bay in 1672. He was a singular man and 
 a natural product of the times in which he lived, and not 
 altogether unlike many of his contemporaries of the early 
 settlements. 
 
 History of Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. 
 
 Pierce, Indian History, p. 32, note. 
 
 Belknap s History of New Hampshire, pp. 23-27. 
 
 Hubbard, in his History of New England, p. 365, says that 
 "in Sept., 1641, Captain Underbill not able longer to subsist 
 at Pascataqua upon the occasions fore-mentioned, and being 
 recalled to the court of Massachusetts, and Church of Boston, 
 returned thither with his family to seek some way of subsist 
 ence, where, having no employment that would maintain 
 him, and having good offers by the Dutch governor, he speak 
 ing the Dutch tongue freely, (and his wife a Dutch woman,) 
 he removed thither." 
 
 [260] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 being very much pleased at the coming of the Eng 
 lish. He acknowledged that their purpose was a 
 good one, and had his approval; but it must be 
 realized that the Pequods were very skilful in war, 
 that they had many great sachems; and as he looked 
 over Mason s little army he was doubtful of their 
 success, because the Pequods were so many and the 
 white soldiers were so few. He allowed the English 
 to pass through the country of the Narragansetts, 
 but seemed somewhat coldly inclined, as neither 
 he nor his people made any proffer of assistance. 
 While encamped here, a letter from Captain Pat 
 rick was brought him by an Indian runner. Patrick 
 had come as far as Providence, which was the settle 
 ment of Roger Williams. 1 In the letter he desired 
 Mason to halt where he was until he should come 
 up with him; and while Mason was anxious to 
 
 1 Roger Williams resided at Plymouth some three years, 
 where he preached the Gospel, going there in 1631. From 
 Plymouth he went to Rhode Island, where he began a settle 
 ment of that colony. He had been liberally educated, and 
 was for a time a pupil of Sir Edward Coke. He was a man of 
 brilliant talent and great acquirements. In matters of religion 
 he was at first considered eccentric. Later, he was charged 
 with promulgating unsound doctrine, by reason of which he 
 became especially odious to the Puritans, when he was dis 
 missed from his office of religious teacher. He was a man of 
 broad gauge for his time, and of larger intellectual gifts than 
 either of the Mathers, though not gifted with their credulous 
 verbosities. He possessed the courage of his convictions; 
 and likewise that rare diplomacy of kindness and gentleness 
 
 [261] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 have under his command as large a force as could 
 be obtained, appreciating the advantage of the 
 addition of Patrick s forces to his own, he called a 
 council of war, which decided that it was not profit 
 able to them to delay longer. The soldiers were 
 anxious to go on, as they had been away from home 
 two weeks, and the planting season was coming on; 
 for which reason they were anxious to make quick 
 
 toward others that appealed even to the hearts of the savage 
 Narragansetts. 
 
 He openly avowed and strenuously maintained "that an 
 universal liberty of conscience ought to be allowed in all relig 
 ious matters." The integrity of this proposition was recog 
 nized by being made a part of the Constitution of the thirteen 
 colonies when they became a confederacy. He was the prophet 
 of his time, possessing a spiritual outlook which was as in 
 comprehensible to the Puritans as the wonders of witchcraft, 
 which left an indelible stain upon their little commonwealth 
 sixty years later, and offers not a single extenuating cir 
 cumstance. 
 
 Thacher, History of Plymouth, p. 266. 
 
 Williams was forbidden the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, 
 and what was apparently a grievous misfortune proved other 
 wise. Rhode Island became a home, a place of refuge, "for 
 all sorts of consciences." Winthrop always fell back on his 
 charter as a vindication of all his civil and religious restric 
 tions. The son of a lawyer, and bred as a lawyer himself, as 
 the master-spirit of the Bay Company his interpretations of 
 his authority were doubtless sound. 
 
 Barry says: "Dignified, yet unassuming; learned, yet no 
 pedant; sagacious, yet not crafty; benevolent in his impulses; 
 ardent in his affections; attractive in his manners; mildly 
 
 [262] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 work of this business. They also urged that further 
 delay might make their designs known to the enemy, 
 inasmuch as they realized that the Pequods had 
 many friends among the Narragansetts, by whom 
 the information might be transmitted. His allies, 
 as well, were getting uneasy. Those savages who 
 had deserted, as well as some of the others who were 
 desirous to desert, sneered at Mason and his little 
 company, saying that while the English did a great 
 deal of talking and less fighting, it was apparent 
 their courage was not sufficient to take them into 
 the country of Sassacus. Appreciating the serious 
 ness of the situation, Mason made answer by im 
 mediate preparations for an advance into the Pe- 
 quod country. 
 
 The following morning a sloop sailed away for 
 the mouth of the Pequod River, carrying thirteen 
 whites and a small party of Indians. The party to 
 go overland was made up of seventy-seven English, 
 and about sixty savages, under Uncas. They 
 started westward through the wilderness. They 
 
 conservative, and moderately ambitious he was the man 
 for the colony, every way elaborated and perfected for its 
 purposes." 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts, p. 184. 
 
 Vide Belknap, American Biography; Moore s Governors of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Winthrop s History (Journal); Eliot s and Allen s Bio 
 graphical Dictionary. 
 
 Ellis, Memorial History of Boston, vol. i., pp. 174, 176. 
 
 [263] 
 

 INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 came into a road 1 which seemed to be one of the 
 highways of the Pequods. It was rough and ar 
 duous; but, making their way over the stones and 
 fallen trees, they finally came to Nehantic. They 
 had traversed some eighteen or twenty miles. Here 
 at Nehantic was a fort and palisadoes, which had 
 been erected as a barrier against the Pequods. This 
 was occupied by one of the Narragansett sachems, 
 who was called a noted character among the sav 
 ages, and who was best known to the English as 
 Ninigret. 2 As they continued their march, the 
 Narragansett savages joined them, from time to 
 time, until upon their arrival at Nehantic there 
 
 lf The savages had their cross-country thoroughfares, or 
 trails, which were well marked and distinct, and which ex 
 tended from Florida to New Brunswick. It was by following 
 these that Ingram made his way north to the St. John River, 
 where he found a French vessel by which he was able to 
 reach England. This was in the latter part of the sixteenth 
 century. Ingram had been marooned by the buccaneer 
 Hawkins at Pamlico, on the Florida coast, along with a hun 
 dred other unfortunates. Ingram found considerable villages 
 along these trails. It was over the Algonquin trails the earliest 
 Jesuits found their way into the villages of the Abenake. Some 
 of the old Indian trails are marked by the more ancient high 
 ways among the shore counties in Maine, and notably in that 
 part of the country watered by the tributaries of the Saga- 
 dahoc. See Ingram s curious Relation of his travels to the 
 city of the Bashaba on the Penobscot. 
 
 Sylvester, Maine Pioneer Settlements, vol. v., pp. 73, 78. 
 
 2 Ninigret was the chief of the Nehantics, whose habitat was 
 [264] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 were fully two hundred Narragansetts in the party. 
 Mason noted that the Nehantics were suspicious, 
 and refused to allow the English to enter the fort, 
 which aroused Mason s anger. Doubting their in 
 tegrity, and regarding their attitude as hostile, he 
 was suspicious of them, and to prevent them from 
 sending any notice to the Pequods of his approach 
 he sent a message to the sachem, "Since none of us 
 may come in, none of you shall go out," upon 
 which he posted sentinels by which they were kept 
 securely within the fort until the following morning. 1 
 While they were there at Nehantic their number 
 was being continuously increased by the arrival of 
 other Narragansetts, by reason of which many of 
 the Nehantics were induced to join them. On this 
 
 at Wekapaug, now Westerly, R. I. He was of the Narragan 
 setts. Janemo was the first name by which he was known to 
 the English. He was a cousin to Miantonomoh. The story 
 of Ninigret begins with the death of Miantonomoh. In his 
 dealings with the English he was always on the delinquent 
 list. He never kept his agreements with them, unless he was 
 actually forced to do so. He was proud, self-seeking, and 
 always went about with a chip on his shoulder. 
 
 Prince, Chronology, vol. ii., pp. 7, 10. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 67. 
 
 On the division of the captive Pequots, 1637, Ninigret was 
 to have twenty, "when he should satisfy for a mare of Eltweed 
 [Eltwood] Pomroye s killed by his [Ninigret s] men." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 83. 
 
 *Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 23. 
 Mason s Account. 
 
 [265] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 occasion they engaged in a war-dance, making a 
 great noise, shouting their courage, and protesting 
 how they alone, without the assistance of the Eng 
 lish, would destroy the Pequods. 1 
 
 The following morning the English again took up 
 their march, estimating the number of their savage 
 allies at five hundred. It was one of those spring 
 days to which the sun brings an excessive warmth, 
 and as they toiled over the country and through the 
 woods, want of food, the heat of the day, and the 
 fatigue of the march so affected several of the Eng 
 lish that they found it difficult to keep up with the 
 main body. A march of some twelve miles brought 
 the English to the Paucatuck River. Here they 
 came upon a fording-place where, as the Narra- 
 gansetts said, was a favorite fishing-place of the 
 Pequods. The savages discovered signs of the 
 Pequods having been here a little before, and from 
 the remains of fish which had been recently dressed 
 they informed Mason that undoubtedly the Pe 
 quods were holding a great festival at their fortress. 2 
 
 Mason halted his little army by the stream, 
 where the men refreshed themselves with what food 
 they had and a short interregnum of restfulness. 
 It was here the savage allies betrayed their fear of 
 the Pequods. This little stream was the Rubicon, 
 
 l Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., p. 136. 
 2 Johnson, Wonder-working Providence. 
 Mass. Hist. Co/L, vol. xxiv., p. 47. 
 
 [266] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 upon the other side of which were the savages who 
 had always held them in the bondage of fear. Here 
 their boasts of courage of the night before were 
 forgotten; and it was here the disintegration process 
 began among the allies. Mason, disturbed by the 
 attitude of these children of the woods, had a con 
 ference with Uncas, of whom he asked what he 
 thought the Indians were likely to do. It may be 
 recalled here that Uncas was a Pequod, and was re 
 garded by the Pequods as a renegade; he had been 
 practically outlawed by them. Uncas replied to 
 Mason, "The Narragansetts will all leave you, but 
 as for myself, I will never leave you;" and in 
 Mason s account of this war one finds this: "For 
 which expression and some other speeches of his 
 [Uncas], I shall never forget him, indeed he was a 
 great friend and did us great service." 1 Fording the 
 Paucatuck, Mason pushed on with his little force 
 for some three miles, until he came to an open 
 ground which the Pequods had lately planted with 
 Indian corn. He was so near the enemy that he or 
 dered a halt and called a council, into which some 
 of the Indians were brought, who stated that the 
 Pequods had two large forts in the neighborhood. 
 One was in the immediate neighborhood; but the 
 other might be several hours distant. It was at the 
 latter that Sassacus had his residence. 
 
 1 Mason s Account. 
 Mass. Hist. Coll, vol. xviii., pp. 136, 137. 
 
 [267] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 The original design was to make a simultaneous 
 attack on both these places; but the idea had to 
 be abandoned. Taking up their march again, they 
 made toward the nearest fort. Up to this time the 
 savage allies had been in the lead; but now it be 
 came incumbent upon the English to take the van 
 of the movement. The Indians dropped back to 
 the rear, where they took occasion to desert by 
 scores, and to put the Paucatuck between them and 
 the Pequods. It was about an hour after night-fall. 
 The English found themselves upon the edge of a 
 swamp between two hills, and it was here they 
 camped for the night, with the knowledge that the 
 fort was close by. The place of this encampment is 
 still pointed out, and is marked by two curiously- 
 shaped boulders which are known as "Porter s 
 Rocks." Their location is about two miles north 
 east of the site of the old Pequod fort. It is also a 
 half-mile north of what is locally known as "the 
 Head of the Mystic." 1 The night was star-lit and 
 cool, and the landscape was made luminous by the 
 moon. While the English and their savage allies 
 slept on the ground without covering, their sentinels 
 paced to and fro, their feet keeping time to the 
 shouts and songs of the Pequods in their revelry, 
 which were carried far over the rough woods 
 through the silence of the night. The Pequods were 
 holding a festival of gladness. They had seen the 
 
 1 DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, p. 128. 
 [268] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 English vessels pass, apparently without purpose of 
 making a landing in the Pequod country, which 
 convinced the latter that the white men were afraid 
 of them. This fort near-by had been reenforced by 
 Sassacus; so the Pequods, elated by their escape 
 from what to them might prove a serious conflict, 
 were recounting their successes in war, filling the 
 time with feasting and rejoicing, for on the next day 
 they were to go out against the English. This 
 revelry was kept up until late into the night, but at 
 last, sunk in sleep, the fort of the Pequods was as 
 silent as was the camp of the English. 
 
 At daybreak 1 it was Friday, the fifth of June, 
 1637 the English were up and making their prep 
 arations to proceed against the Pequods. Through 
 the chaplain they commended themselves to the 
 care of their Creator, and invoked his blessing upon 
 their enterprise. They followed an Indian path for 
 some two miles without discovering the fort or any 
 thing which might suggest it. Mason halted his 
 troop at the foot of a hill, and whispered word was 
 sent back to the savages for some of them to come 
 forward. This request was answered by two savages, 
 
 1 Mason s account has it : " About two Hours before Day we 
 marched toward the Fort . . . about Break of Day we came 
 Fair in view of the Fort standing on the Top of an Hill." 
 
 Indian Wars, p. 25. 
 
 Barry makes the date May 26, 1637, which is probably cor 
 rect reckoning, O. S. 
 
 History of Massachusetts, p. 225. 
 
 [269] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Dncas and Wequash. 1 Mason made a sign with his 
 hand, a mute inquiry, "Where is the fort?" The 
 two savages replied, "On the top of the hill." Ma 
 son s next inquiry was, "Where are the rest of the 
 Narragansetts ? " to which Uncas replied, "In the 
 rear, very much afraid." Mason sent Uncas back 
 to them to assure them, telling them not to flee, but 
 to stand behind at what distance they pleased, and 
 "see now whether Englishmen will fight." At this 
 time the English were on the western side of the 
 hill. Mason sent Underbill with a few men around 
 to the southern slope. Underbill was to take the 
 fort on that side. Mason, when Underbill was well 
 away, with the remainder of his force, started 
 directly toward the main entrance. 
 
 Wearied with their dance of the previous eve 
 ning, the Pequods were steeped in a profound 
 slumber. Sunrise was reddening the east. It was 
 that time in the day when one sleeps soundest; and, 
 if one recalls the tragedies which occurred at Sche- 
 nectady, Hadley, Deerfield, and Dover, it will be 
 remembered that this, with the Indian, was the 
 favorite moment of attack upon his unsuspecting 
 
 1 Wequash, who acted as a guide for Mason on the expedi 
 tion against Fort Mystic, was a "renegade Pequod." In that 
 quaint work, New England s First Fruits, p. 5-7, he was 
 made a "saint of." Hubbard says Roger Williams does not 
 give him a favorable character. 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 20. 
 
 [270] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 enemy. Mason and his party made the advance 
 with great care and in absolute silence. They were 
 undiscovered until they were able almost to put 
 their hands upon the palisades. The silence was 
 broken by the sharp bark of a dog. The aroused 
 Pequods cried, "Owanux! Owanux!" ["English! 
 English ! "]. At that, Mason pushed his men forward, 
 and, after pouring a volley through the palisades, 
 they made a rush for the entrance. It was ob 
 structed with bushes and boughs of trees. While 
 some went over them, others pulled them out of the 
 way in their haste to follow. 1 This musket- volley 
 was answered by the Pequods with loud cries of 
 fear and astonishment; and, taken by surprise, 
 most of them remained in their wigwams, uncer 
 tain as to the cause of this attack. It was the mo 
 ment of hesitation which was fatal to the Pequods. 
 Mason and his party within the palisade made 
 their way into the main passage through the village, 
 where they were unable to discover a single Indian. 
 Forcing his way into one of the wigwams, he was 
 attacked by several warriors, who attempted to 
 capture him; but Mason defended himself so well 
 that he killed some of his assailants with a sword. 
 A soldier by the name of William Heydon fol 
 lowed his captain, which so inspired the Indians 
 with fear that they sought every possible place of 
 
 1 Mason s Account. 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 26. 
 
 [271] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 concealment. 1 A few minutes later the English 
 were scattered over the fort and a desultory battle 
 on a small scale was begun, in which a large num 
 ber of the Pequods were slain and some few of the 
 English were wounded. Mason says it was not a 
 part of the original plan to destroy the fort, his de 
 sire being to consummate the destruction of the 
 Pequods and yet save their property. Mason was 
 convinced that this was an impossibility. The 
 Pequods thronged the wigwams, from which they 
 were continuously discharging arrows, and some of 
 them, English muskets. Some of his men were 
 stricken with wounds; others, acting without orders, 
 became confused in the melee, and were uncertain 
 what to do. Finding himself wearied with his own 
 exertions, he gave the order to fire the fort. In 
 one wigwam he discovered a fire, and, catching up a 
 brand, he held it to the mats with which the wig 
 wam was covered. 2 In a moment, as it were, the 
 northeast wind was sweeping the flames from wig- 
 
 l4< Then we suddenly fell upon the Wigwams, The Indians 
 cryed out in a most hideous Manner, some issuing from their 
 Wigwams, shooting at us desperately, and so creeping under 
 beds they had." 
 
 Mason s Account. 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 26. 
 
 2 "We had resolved a while not to have burned it [the fort]: 
 but being we could not come at them, I then resolved to set 
 it on fire. After Divers of them were slain, and some of our 
 Men sore wounded : So entering one of their wigwams, I took 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 warn to wigwam and the entire area of the interior, 
 which covered some one or two acres, thickly 
 studded with lodges, was obscured in a holocaust 
 of fire and smoke. 
 
 Underbill, on the southern side, had just made 
 his entrance. The Pequods had rallied there for a 
 stout resistance. One of the English had been 
 killed, and Uncas had an arrow in his hip. Real 
 izing that the village was to be destroyed by fire, he 
 kindled it still further by using powder, falling back 
 from the heat. Mason had followed the same tac 
 tics, and the English, under the common leadership 
 of Mason, formed a circle about the blazing lodges 
 with their allies behind them. Within the circle, 
 the Pequods, men, women, and children, were be 
 ing mowed down by the musketry of the English, 
 and at the same time were being roasted in the fire 
 of their own wigwams. 1 The war-whoop of the 
 Pequods and the cries of the women and children 
 were mingled with the exultations of the Mohegans 
 
 a Fire-brand at which Time an Indian drawing an arrow had 
 killed him [Mason] but one Davis his sargeant cut the Bow 
 string with his Courtlace [cutlass], and suddenly kindled a 
 Fire in the Mats wherewith they were covered, and fell to a 
 Retreat, and surrounded the Fort." 
 
 Mason s Account. 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 27. 
 
 "Of those who escaped the fire, some were slain by the 
 sword and hewn to pieces, or run through by rapiers. It was 
 a fearful sight to see them frying in the fire, streams of blood 
 
 [273] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and Narragansetts. The Pequods fought until their 
 bow-strings were rendered useless by the heat of 
 the fire. Some made no attempt to escape, while 
 others rushed headlong into the flames in their ter 
 ror. A small body of Pequods without the fortress, 
 on the northward, shot their arrows at the English, 
 until they, too, were vanquished by the muskets. 
 A little party of forty of the boldest Pequods made a 
 sally and forced their way through the English, 
 hoping to make the neighboring woods. A few were 
 successful; the others mostly were killed by the 
 English or by their allies. The larger part of the 
 Pequods lost their lives in the fort; and so rapidly 
 had the fire swept over this little area that hardly an 
 hour had elapsed before the destruction of this 
 settlement had been completed. 1 
 
 In this brief fight one realizes the terrible ven- 
 
 quenching the same ; and horrible was the stench thereof. But 
 the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and the people gave 
 the praise to God." 
 
 Vide note, Morton. 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 61. 
 
 Also, ibid, a quotation from the "learned and pious Rev. 
 Cotton Mather:" "Many of them were broiled unto death in 
 the avenging flames; many climbing to the tops of the pali 
 sades, were a fair mark for mortiferous bullets; and many who 
 had the resolution to issue forth were slain by the English 
 who stood ready to bid them welcome." 
 
 1 DeForest, History of Connecticut, p. 133. 
 According to Mason, there were killed of the Pequods 
 [274] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 geance the English had taken upon the Pequods, 
 when only seven were made captive, while perhaps 
 as many more made their escape to the woods. 
 Mason lost two of his party, killed outright; twenty 
 were wounded. Mason was saved by his helmet; 
 Lieutenant Bull, by a hard piece of cheese which 
 he carried in his pocket, by which the fatal arrow 
 was stopped; while two other men were saved by 
 the hard knot in their neckcloths. 
 
 While Mason had been victorious in his assault, 
 he was yet in a dangerous situation. His soldiers 
 were worn out by fatigue, loss of sleep, and the 
 exertion of fighting; while four or five, by reason 
 of their wounds, had to be carried by their com 
 panions. 1 Not over forty men were fit for active 
 service. Some of the Indians were wounded. The 
 Narragansetts, upon discovering that the English 
 were going to the west, turned their faces towards 
 their own country. Mason scanned the waters of 
 the Sound for his vessels, which were nowhere 
 
 " about four hundred/ Seven were made prisoners. " Seven, 
 at the utmost, escaped." 
 
 Vide the narratives of Mason, Underbill, Vincent, and 
 Gardiner in the Mass. Hist. Coll., and compare accounts of 
 Winthrop, Hutchinson, and Trumbull. 
 
 The campaign had consumed less than three weeks, once 
 the English left Saybrook, and the English loss was less 
 than twenty-five killed and wounded. 
 
 Trumbull, Indian Wars, p. 56. 
 
 "Four or five of our men were so wounded that they must 
 [275] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to be seen, and for that reason he was uncertain 
 whither to direct his march. Within an hour or so 
 they discovered their little fleet sweeping into the 
 Pequod River under a spanking breeze; but this 
 satisfaction was not to last, for almost at the 
 moment of his discovery of the wished-for assist 
 ance a considerable body of Pequods were ap 
 proaching them from the west. Mason estimated 
 their number to be about three hundred. These 
 were the Pequods from the fort where Sassacus had 
 his residence, being attracted hither by the noise 
 of the guns. Furious at this invasion of their ter 
 ritory, there was no limit to their rage or desire 
 for vengeance, and, filling the air with war-whoops, 
 they swept down upon the English only to be ab 
 ruptly checked by two files of soldiers, numbering 
 not more than fourteen men. These latter were 
 able to cover the retreat of Mason and his party, 
 who took up their march towards the mouth of the 
 Thames. They were followed by the savages until 
 
 be carried, with the Anns of twenty more. We also being 
 faint, were constrained to put four to one Man, with the Arms 
 of the rest that were wounded to others: So that we had not 
 above forty Men free. At length we hired several Indians, 
 who eased us of that Burthen in carrying our wounded 
 Men." 
 
 Mason, Account. 
 
 Vide Captain Stoughton s Letter in the Appendix to 
 Mather s Relation, p. 286. 
 
 [276] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 they came to the site of the fort which Mason had 
 just destroyed, where they discovered, in the place 
 of seventy wigwams surrounded by a stout palisade, 
 only the smoking ruins and the dead bodies of their 
 relatives and friends. The Indian had been called 
 the stoic of the wilderness; but the Pequods, 
 stunned by the blow for a little time, indulged in all 
 the agony of grief and rage; 1 and then, with a sharp 
 cry of vengeance, they came down the hill as if 
 they would overwhelm the English, only to be 
 stopped again by the muskets. At the foot of this 
 hill was a brook, where Mason halted his party for 
 a short rest, the Pequods keeping at a safe distance, 
 their purpose evidently more to watch their enemy 
 than to attack them. It was at this point that the 
 Mohegans and the Narragansetts got their courage 
 up to the pitch so that they began to engage with 
 the Pequods. Underbill describes their manner of 
 
 1 Mather says of the Indians who came up from Sassacus s 
 fort: "They were like bears bereft of their whelps, and con 
 tinued a bloody fight. When they came to see the ashes of 
 their friends at the fort, and the bodies of their men horribly 
 barbecued, where the English had been doing a good morning s 
 work [the annotator has taken the liberty to italicize the 
 original text], they howled, they roared, they stamped, they 
 tore their hair, and (though they did not swear, for they knew 
 not how yet,) they cursed and were pictures of so many devils 
 in desperation." 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 62, note. 
 
 [277] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fighting, in which he comes to the conclusion that 
 in seven years they would not kill seven men. 1 
 
 Mason, in describing this fight between the 
 Pequods and the Narragansetts, said they stood at 
 a distance from each other and aimed their arrows 
 at an elevation. After letting the arrow fly, they 
 watched its course deliberately; and it was their 
 habit never to shoot a second until they saw the 
 effect of the first. 2 Mason was still on the retreat, 
 all the time getting nearer that point of the shore 
 which was likely to be most adjacent to the vessels 
 which were coming to his assistance. He had ac 
 complished his errand, and for the present was 
 satisfied with the result. The fighting on the part 
 of the savages was of the most desultory descrip 
 tion. At this time some fifty of the Narragansetts, 
 taking advantage of what they thought was a most 
 excellent opportunity to return to their own coun 
 try, detached themselves from their allies. They 
 were discovered by the Pequods, by whom they 
 were pursued and surrounded. It was apparently 
 the turn of the Pequod to satisfy his vengeance, be 
 ing about to take a bloody revenge for the destruc 
 tion of the Mystic fort. When those Narragansetts 
 who remained with Mason discovered the dilemma 
 in which their comrades were, they begged Mason 
 and his officers to go to their assistance. Mason 
 
 1 Underbill, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxvi., pp. 25, 26. 
 2 Mason, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., pp. 141, 142. 
 [278] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 upbraided them for what he called a desertion ; yet, 
 being unwilling to have the Pequods triumph over 
 any portion of his forces, he sent Underbill with 
 thirty men to their rescue. The chroniclers of 
 these events set Underbill down as a braggart of 
 considerable dimensions. 
 
 Underbill s story is that the conflict with these 
 Pequods lasted an hour, with the final result that 
 the Pequods were driven off with a loss of one hun 
 dred or more killed or wounded. 1 Vincent records 
 this episode, and DeForest intimates the former 
 seemed to have a spite against Underbill. Vincent 
 describes Underbill as a poltroon, and goes on to 
 say that "after the discharge of five muskets, the 
 Pequods took to their heels." Underbill says 
 and his statement seems perfectly reasonable that 
 the Indians were very much astonished at the Eng 
 lish manner of fighting. They called it "matchit," 
 or evil. As a method of fighting, for the Pequods, 
 it was altogether too fast and furious, and, as well, 
 too destructible. The fashion of fighting among the 
 savages was to obtain the advantage of an enemy 
 by strategy, skulking, or surprise. The savage 
 never fought in the open, unless he was possessed 
 
 *Hubbard notes, in his Indian Wars, p. 15, that Capt. John 
 Underbill "published a most interesting History of the Ex 
 pedition of General Endicot, which like Gardener s has been 
 reprinted. It carries evidence of Truthfulness with it, as well 
 as the Quaintness of an Old Soldier of that Day." 
 
 [279] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of overpowering numbers. His preference was the 
 ambush. In the early years of the settlements 
 this method of attack on the part of the savages 
 was not taken with the degree of seriousness that 
 it deserved; and after the English discovered the 
 practice of his assailant he began to adopt the 
 same tactics, and the savage then saw the white 
 man was no less wily and wary than himself. Once 
 the English settler had learned the lesson, he was 
 the superior of the Indian in the Indian s method 
 of fighting. 
 
 Mason kept to his retreat, but slowly, sending out 
 skirmishers in advance, prodding every thicket and 
 swamp, and firing bullets into their mystery for the 
 purpose of dislodging their secret enemy should any 
 happen to be lurking in ambush. The Pequods 
 clung to the rear of this retreating body, and from 
 behind rocks and trees, and such other shelter as 
 lay in their path, they shot showers of ineffectual 
 arrows. This pursuit was kept up by the Pequods 
 until the English had come within perhaps two 
 miles of the ships, when the former congregated in 
 a body, and, after an apparent consultation, were lost 
 to sight in the woods. The English kept to their 
 march shoreward, where they found their ships 
 awaiting them, with Captain Patrick and forty 
 men on board. Patrick did not reach Narragansett 
 until after Mason s departure overland. He found 
 the ships and decided to take passage on them 
 around to Pequod Harbor. Mason says his men 
 
 [280] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 would have joined Patrick on the vessels at once, 
 had it not been for the objection of the Narragan- 
 setts to being left alone in the country of the 
 Pequods. For that reason, only the wounded and 
 thirty-five or forty others took ship, while Mason, 
 with twenty men, and Patrick, with his forty, 
 along with their Indian allies, set out through the 
 woods for Saybrook. On the line of their march 
 was a little village belonging to the western Ne- 
 hantics, the dwellers of which, suspicious of the 
 purpose of the English, abandoned their village to 
 hide in an adjacent swamp. The English followed 
 them, pushed through the swamp, and drove them 
 out on the opposite side, to lose them among the 
 rolling ground or hillocks which lay beyond. The 
 savages were so scattered that the pursuit was 
 difficult; so the English, coming together again, 
 took up their march, and in the edge of dusk they 
 made the mouth of the Connecticut. Their coming- 
 being made known, they were welcomed with a 
 cannon salute from the fortress on the opposite 
 shore. 1 
 
 Thus ended a long and arduous day for Mason 
 and his men. A famous expedition, as well, in 
 which the Connecticut settlers had been pitted 
 against their natural enemy, was brought to a 
 victorious close. It was an expedition, from many 
 points of view, conducted with great courage, with 
 
 1 Mason, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., pp. 143, 144. 
 [281] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 perhaps more good luck than skill, but crowned 
 with a most satisfactory success to the Connecticut 
 settlers. It was hardly more than a massacre and 
 indiscriminate killing of everything animate that 
 had resemblance to a Pequod, from which escape 
 seemed almost impossible, and in which an entire 
 aboriginal community was condemned to a most 
 horrible method of destruction. 1 It was nothing 
 more than retaliation, one wild beast flying at the 
 throat of another; and however atrocious the cir 
 cumstances may seem at this present time, there is 
 no question but what there were extenuating cir 
 cumstances. 
 
 Mason has been severely criticized for the bar 
 barous manner by which the Pequods were wiped 
 
 1 To Endicott and Mason, the punishment meted out to the 
 Pequods was that merited by an incorrigible malefactor who 
 defied all human law and restraint; whose bloodthirsty cruelty, 
 subtlety, and treachery had as well placed him in the category 
 of beasts of prey. Of all the New England savages of which 
 history has made record, the Pequod was the acme of devilish 
 ingenuity and Satanic perfection. That the intolerant Puritan 
 found in the extinction of this race a vent for his vindictive- 
 ness, natural or accumulate, is evidenced by the thoroughness 
 with which he followed up these homeless fugitives, putting 
 them to the slaughter with as slight compunction as he would 
 have shot the wildcat that preyed upon his sheepfold; or sell 
 ing their helpless women and children into a slavery worse 
 than death. Assuredly the Puritan should be handled ten 
 derly, unless one is content to stir up more ghosts than ever 
 walked Bosworth Field. 
 
 [282] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 out of existence in this particular place; but Mason 
 was a soldier, with a soldier s conscience, and, once 
 he had put his hand to the plow, with him there was 
 no turning back. It was, without question, an act 
 of great cruelty, especially in the putting of the 
 women and children to the slaughter; yet the prov 
 ocation was great, and, to Mason, the necessity 
 was imperative. The Pequods had no right to ask 
 for quarter. They had no argument to make as to 
 the violation of any particular rule of humanity. 
 They had set the pace with Oldham and at Weth- 
 ersfield, and openly boasted that whenever the 
 opportunity came they would repeat their feroci 
 ties. They had roasted Butterfield at the stake, as 
 well as Tilly. They had slain men and women at 
 Wethersfield; they had carried their children away 
 into captivity; and much of this had been a matter 
 of visual experience on the part of the colonists. It 
 is no wonder that the cup of vengeance, once at the 
 white man s lips, should be drained to the very 
 dregs. Mason s firing the wigwams was undoubt 
 edly the only means of his salvation; he and his 
 men were targets for unseen foes lurking among 
 the shadows of the wigwams; all of them might 
 have been shot down without discovering the source 
 of the attack. He had run his quarry into this hole, 
 and he purposed to smoke it out. The English 
 were no doubt actuated by the spirit of desperation ; 
 for they were in a strange country, short of food, 
 and exhausted by weariness. Some had been killed, 
 
 [283] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 others wounded ; and theirs was to conquer, or sub 
 mit to certain annihilation. With them, any means 
 justified the end. It will be noticed in this con 
 sideration that the savage allies had not, up to the 
 point of firing the fort, taken any active part in the 
 assault. They were as likely to fly as they were to 
 defend; and, as DeForest says: "Had Mason con 
 tinued to fight on as he began, so many of his 
 soldiers would have been killed and disabled that 
 the rest might have been overwhelmed by their 
 wounds, and, at best, obliged to abandon their 
 wounded, making a clamorous retreat." When, 
 the moment before, Mason seized the brand that 
 set the matted roofs of the wigwams aflame his 
 position was critical. He came near being killed 
 himself. His men were scattered about a hostile en 
 closure, a disintegrate force acting without orders, 
 each fighting apparently on his own account, and 
 altogether beyond direction amid a bedlam of 
 tumult which would have smothered any order he 
 might have given. Had he sounded a retreat, the 
 first backward step would have started the Narra- 
 gansetts homeward. The savages they came to 
 attack would have become the attacking party, and 
 his expedition would have been a failure. 
 
 Mason was rough, but of good mettle; a man of 
 stern policies and unyielding in his determination. 
 This firing of the Pequod fort was bound to become 
 efficacious, from the fact that the threatening and 
 bloodthirsty Pequod was taught the lesson that 
 
 [284] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 while the English settler, upon the surface, was ap 
 parently a pacific individual, yet upon emergency 
 he could be as cruel and revengeful as himself. 
 
 It was a terrible lesson, roughly administered, 
 and, to such tribes as had been uninfluenced by the 
 Pequods, a suggestion of the punishment which 
 would be meted out to them in case they committed 
 any overt act against the English. This evidently 
 was the phase which struck the Pequods most 
 forcibly; for, on the following day, a council of the 
 nation was called and held, which resolved itself 
 into a discussion as to the course which they had 
 better pursue for the future. Heretofore victorious 
 in their forays upon their savage neighbors, they 
 had received a sudden and unexpected defeat, which 
 was an intimation to them of other defeats should 
 they continue to array themselves against the Eng 
 lish in a hostile manner. DeForest says that three 
 plans of action were considered. The first was to 
 flee the country; the second, to follow up the Eng 
 lish with an attack; the third was to declare war 
 against the Narragansetts and to visit upon them 
 the devastation wrought by the English. 1 Their 
 chief sachem, Sassacus, was in favor of carrying the 
 war into the country of the Narragansetts, and even 
 to the strongholds of the English. Perhaps, with 
 the vision of a seer, he foresaw the ultimate ex- 
 
 1 DeForest, History of the Indians, p. 141. 
 Underbill, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxvi., p. 28. 
 
 [285] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 tinction of his people and preferred to die in battle 
 rather than to become a wanderer among strange 
 tribes. The traditions of the Pequod were not such 
 as would entitle him to any generosity at the hands 
 of the neighboring nations. His people were to be 
 come strangers in their own land; they were with 
 out friends, or allies. The majority of his people 
 were not inclined to accept his proposition. Un 
 accustomed to defeat, they were discouraged at the 
 extent of their calamity and were in favor of quit 
 ting the domains of their forefathers and of going, 
 at that moment, they knew not where. One thing 
 they were determined upon, and that was to aban 
 don their country. The ties of home were to be 
 severed; and their wigwams, their corn-fields, their 
 hunting and fishing grounds, and even the graves 
 of their progenitors to be abandoned. Mason s 
 attack had fallen upon them like lightning out of a 
 clear sky. Heretofore, they had always seen the 
 blow before it reached them, and had been able to 
 ward it off. In this instance the hand of destruction 
 smote them before they had seen it. This was their 
 final decision in solemn conclave, and one can 
 imagine the sorrow and heaviness of heart with 
 which they seized the torch which they unhesi 
 tatingly thrust against the wigwams that had 
 crowned the hill-top where Sassacus and his fathers 
 had held royal sway. 1 Such of their belongings as 
 
 1 Underbill, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxvi., p. 28. 
 Before the Pequots destroyed their fortress they revenged 
 [286] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 could not be carried with them they destroyed, 
 with possibly one last, lingering look upon the wide 
 country spread out at their feet, painted with the 
 early blush of summer. Separated into little knots 
 of savage humanity which were possibly made up 
 of such as were nearest of kin, they hastily made 
 their way to their canoes, and then they swept out 
 over the mirroring waters of the stream to Quine- 
 pauge. 
 
 This seat of Sassacus has been located at New 
 London. In the height of his power he is said to 
 have been the lord of twenty-six sachems. Thus, 
 the once conquerors of this Pequod country, them 
 selves conquered, had abandoned it to the English 
 settler. It is recorded that thirty or forty of the 
 Pequod warriors with their families took their way 
 
 themselves upon Uncas, formerly of the ruling house of that 
 nation, and his followers, as well, by killing all of Uncas s 
 relatives then living among them. 
 
 DeForest, p. 140. 
 
 The site of Sassacus s royal residence was on a commanding 
 eminence a little easterly of what has been known as Fort 
 Griswold. 
 
 The fort destroyed by Mason was on Pequot Hill, near the 
 Mystic River. Freeman says this latter was the royal seat, 
 "the seat of the Pequot power." 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 62. 
 
 But, contra, Hubbard says: "Wesquash . . . proved a 
 good Guide, by whose Direction they were led to a Fort near 
 Mystic River, some miles nearer than Sassacus his Fort, which 
 they first intended to assault." 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 20. 
 
 [287] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 into the country to the westward. Longing for the 
 sight of a familiar horizon, possibly disheartened 
 by the strange situation in which they found them 
 selves, they returned into their native country, 
 secreting themselves in the recesses of a swamp. 1 
 The main body of several hundred, comprising 
 other warriors, squaws, and children of the na 
 tion at whose head were Sassacus, Mononotto, and 
 some other sagamores, carried out their purpose 
 with a greater resignation. They kept on; whither, 
 they knew not. To escape the hated English was 
 their sole desire. On reaching the Connecticut 
 River they had opportunity to wreak some slight 
 vengeance upon the English. Three colonists were 
 going down the river in a shallop. They were 
 immediately attacked by the Pequods. The Eng 
 lish fought for their lives, wounding many of the 
 enemy with their muskets; but, overwhelmed by 
 the Pequods, one was killed, and the other two were 
 taken captive. Upon these the savages wrought a 
 most ferocious vengeance. They split the bodies 
 of their captives open from breast to back, and 
 hung the mutilated remains on the trees by the side 
 of the river, that whoever of the hated English 
 sailed up or down might see what was in store for 
 them should they have the misfortune to fall into 
 the hands of these people. 2 
 
 ^inthrop, vol. i., p. 232. 
 
 2 Underbill, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxxvi., p. 28. 
 Trumbull says: "They ripped them from the bottom of 
 [288] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 After this they crossed the Connecticut, where 
 they shifted their course toward the coast. It was 
 in the late spring-time, in the planting-season. 
 Their provisions left over from the preceding year 
 depleted or destroyed, their condition was preca 
 rious. The seashore would afford clams and oysters, 
 with which life might be sustained until such 
 time as their fortunes might change for the better. 
 Scouring the forest for succulent roots; without 
 shelter, exposed to the elements; sleeping on the 
 ground in the open air, wet and drenched in the 
 rain, their cup of misery must have been full. This 
 retreat was slow, by reason of the accompanying 
 children and squaws. Their journeys were short, 
 and their halts frequent. Passing through a coun 
 try which was without provisions, or means of 
 supply; crossing the domains of the Quinnipiacs 
 and the Wepawaugs, they finally found shelter in a 
 considerable swamp in what is now Fairfield. For 
 many of them it was to be a burial-place; for here 
 was to take place the final conflict between the 
 English and the Pequods. 
 
 The Bay colonists had been slow in assisting 
 their neighbors, a trait which became proverbial in 
 later years, when the savages began their incursions 
 upon the settlements bordering along the Maine 
 
 their bellies to their throats, and in a like manner split them 
 down their backs, and thus mangled, hung them upon the 
 trees by the river-side." 
 Indian Wars, p. 51. 
 
 [289] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 coast. It was only when the savages had broken 
 over the New Hampshire border and the towns 
 along the North Shore were likely to be attacked 
 that Massachusetts Bay awoke to the necessity of 
 undertaking a general defence against the Indians; 
 and it so happened that the force which was raised 
 in the Bay Colonies to be despatched to Connecticut 
 did not get away until the latter end of June, when 
 the main stroke against the Pequods had already 
 been delivered; and even then Stoughton s force 
 had been reduced to one hundred twenty men, 
 for the reason that the Bay people had concluded 
 that the power of the Pequods had been so much 
 broken that it would require fewer men to com 
 plete their extermination. 1 
 
 The overthrow of the Pequods by Mason at Fort 
 
 *"A rumor having reached Boston that all the English and 
 the Indians had been cut off in the retreat from Fort Mystic, 
 which rumor was confirmed by a post from Plymouth, the 
 movement of the troops was delayed until word arrived from 
 Roger Williams that the army was safe and that all the 
 Pequots were fled, and had forsaken their forts. " 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 228. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 169. 
 
 Mason, 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. viii., p. 143. 
 
 Trumbull, vol. i., pp. 81, 82. 
 
 Barry says this delay on the part of Massachusetts in send 
 ing troops to the aid of the Connecticut settlers was on ac 
 count of differences which existed between the Plymouth 
 Colony and its more ambitious rival up the bay. 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 227. 
 
 [290] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 Mystic, and the utter destruction of that place, was 
 a matter of great rejoicing among the colonists, 
 who began to breathe more freely as their anxieties 
 were relieved. The news was received in Massa 
 chusetts with great satisfaction, and the authorities, 
 now that the savages were on the run, determined 
 to give them no time to recover from the blow so 
 thoroughly administered by Mason. It has been 
 noted that Stoughton sailed with his contingent 
 in June, almost at the last of the month, and, having 
 good success, he landed at the mouth of the Pequod 
 River, hoping there to make some connection with 
 the Connecticut soldiery. Not finding any of the 
 Connecticut people there, he took up his march to 
 the westward, with some anticipation of meeting 
 the Pequods ; but, unsuccessful in his search for the 
 enemy, which was not at all surprising, from their 
 well-known habit of skulking, he retraced his 
 steps, coming back to the mouth of the stream, where 
 he was joined by a few of the Narragansett tribe, 
 who brought him the welcome information that some 
 of their people had discovered the hiding-place of 
 the Pequods and were watching to see that they 
 did not escape before the English could come up 
 with them. This was the little band of savages 
 first mentioned, which had started out upon a 
 journey to the westward, but who had turned back 
 into their own country. 
 
 The Narragansetts offered to guide Stoughton 
 to the hiding-place of the Pequods. He at once 
 
 [291] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 placed himself under their direction, and, making 
 a quick march of about twelve miles, he came upon 
 this unfortunate remnant. They were too few to 
 make any successful defence, and they were unable 
 to escape, as the Narragansetts had hemmed them 
 about completely, with the result that they were 
 every one captured. This little body of Pequods 
 made no resistance. Two of their sachems were 
 given their lives on the condition that they would 
 lead Stoughton and his men to the place of hiding of 
 the larger body, under the command of Sassacus. 
 The other warriors captured at this time they 
 slaughtered in cold blood. 1 In this raid they took 
 
 1 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 232. 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 42. 
 
 Hubbard says of the fight with Sassacus and his savages: 
 "The Men among them to the Number of thirty were turned 
 presently into Charon s Ferry-boat, under the Command of 
 Skipper Gallop, who dispatched them a little without the 
 Harbor. The Females and Children were disposed of accord 
 ing to the Will of the Conquerors; some being given to the 
 Narhagansets and other Indians that assisted in the Service." 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 30. 
 
 It was this sort of " service " that inspired Mather to prayers 
 of thankfulness and praise. 
 
 This was the same John Gallop who recaptured Oldham s 
 pinnace from the savages off the Manisees in 1636. Gallop 
 was prominent among the settlers of Connecticut. He had a 
 son John, a captain in King Philip s War, who was killed at 
 the Narragansett Fort battle, December 19, 1675. 
 
 Miss Caulkin s History of New London. 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 captive some eighty squaws, with their children. 
 Thirty of these were turned over to the Narragan- 
 setts, three to the Massachusetts Indians, and the 
 remainder were sent to the Massachusetts colonists 
 as slaves. 1 
 
 No comment which the annalists of later times 
 might attempt could possibly compass the vindic- 
 tiveness of the English upon this occasion. The 
 
 ^inthrop, who had this year, 1636-37, been reflected 
 Governor of Massachusetts, defeating Vane after a tumul 
 tuous campaign in which the General Court nearly came to 
 blows, had this letter from Captain Stoughton. The latter 
 wrote: "By this pinnace, you shall receive 48 or 50 women 
 and children, unless there stay any here to be helpful, con 
 cerning which there is one, I formerly mentioned, that is the 
 fairest and largest amongst them to whom I have given a coate 
 to cloathe her. It is my desire to have her for a servant, if it 
 may stand to your good liking, else not. There is a little squaw 
 that steward Culacut desireth, to whom he hath given a coate. 
 Lieut. Davenport also desireth one, to wit, a small one, that 
 hath three strokes upon her stomach thus; | | +. He 
 desireth her, if it will stand with your good liking. Sosomon, 
 the Indian, desireth a young little squaw, which I know not." 
 
 MS. Letter of Captain Stoughton, State Papers. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 106. 
 
 One hardly fails to note the truckling of these man-hunters 
 to Winthrop. It is suggestive of the more modern Tammany, 
 and as a side-light upon the political domination of the pe 
 riod it is fairly luminous. 
 
 Captain Israel Stoughton, who commanded the Massa 
 chusetts forces, was commissioned a colonel by Parliament 
 and fought under Cromwell. Stoughton was not in the attack 
 
 [293] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 only palliation available to the historian recording 
 these transactions is to imagine himself surrounded 
 with the perils which menaced the meager popula 
 tion of the English at that time. If one could 
 imagine himself in a wilderness of woods beset by a 
 pack of hungry wolves he might better appreciate 
 the situation. The colonists in the aggregate as 
 compared with these aboriginal people were but a 
 handful; and had the savages been equipped with 
 weapons and ammunition as were the English, and 
 had they understood their manipulation as they 
 did a century later, the story of the English occu 
 pation of New England would have afforded a 
 
 on Fort Mystic which Mason describes as, "the breaking of 
 the Nest, and unkennelling those savage wolves." 
 
 Drake suggests that Stoughton, in writing this letter, had 
 an eye to the profit he might derive from the sale of his cap 
 tive; that he was less interested in fighting the savages. He 
 refers to Mason as not giving Stoughton much credit. Stough 
 ton stood for the avowed Puritan thrift in this transaction, 
 to say nothing of the Puritan conscience. There was little 
 difference between the Puritan slave-catcher and the govern 
 ment that profited by the transaction. Winthrop in the 
 saddle, the course of affairs in the main responded to his 
 touch upon the bridle-rein. Stoughton relied upon Winthrop 
 to lend a willing acquiescence to his scheme of personal ag 
 grandizement, and there is no evidence of any disagreement 
 between them. The suggestion is a rather malodorous one; 
 but in the early relations of the English with the Indian it is 
 not to be passed over in silence by the historian. 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 106. 
 
 [294] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 much different narrative. The advantage which 
 the English had over the savage was that the latter 
 did not appreciate the numerical weakness of the 
 former; and, as has been before noted, had it not 
 been for the antagonisms which existed among 
 these Indians prior to the coming of the English, a 
 confederacy might have been established among 
 them against which the English would have been 
 unable to contest. With Endicott, Mason, and 
 Stoughton, the punishment meted out to the Pe- 
 quods was the same as would have been deserved 
 by any incorrigible malefactor who had broken 
 all the laws of humanity, and whose bloodthirsti- 
 ness, subtlety, and treachery had placed him with 
 out the pale of humanity and human protection. 
 
 To the English, these aborigines were so many 
 wild beasts; and they were to be shot with as slender 
 consideration as one would annihilate a pack of 
 wolves at his heels. To the English colonists the 
 cruelties practised by the Pequods with every 
 opportunity offered could not but strike ter 
 ror to the heart of the bravest man or woman. 
 These experiences of the English at the hands of 
 the savages, which were acutely illustrated in the 
 cases of Oldham, Butterfield, and Tilly, and lat 
 terly of the two Englishmen- who had been split 
 open and hung upon the trees above the banks of 
 the Connecticut, afforded an illustration from which 
 the English imbibed their spirit of retaliation. 
 
 Of all the New England savages of which history 
 [295] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 has made any record, the Pequod was of a race for 
 which one has but slender sympathy and com 
 passion. He was the acme of devilish ingenuity 
 and satanic savagery. His chief delight was in 
 watching the slow agony of his captive under the 
 torture, as the strands of human endurance broke 
 one by one, and finally ended in the death of the 
 victim. No wonder the retaliatory disposition of 
 the English was aroused deeply, or that for a time 
 they forgot themselves, to become, like the savages 
 they had doomed to destruction, another parcel of 
 wild beasts./ It is barely possible that in the con 
 summation of these killings of the Pequods the 
 intolerancy of the Puritan found a natural vent, 
 and that he carried on this work with a grim satis 
 faction .) En masse, the Puritans were a rude sort, 
 and it is, perhaps, not too much to say that these 
 savage carnivals, carried on without much risk or 
 danger to themselves, were tinged with fanaticism, 
 as was the Jesuit whose hand consummated the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
 
 As against the English bullet, the arrow of the 
 Indian was an unavailing weapon; and one can 
 imagine the exultant mood which contracted the 
 muscles of the finger that pulled the trigger of the 
 English musket. These men were of an adven 
 turous spirit, as were most of their fellows at home, 
 and not too much is to be expected of them. In 
 every man is the latent disposition of retaliation, 
 and it is only as the process of civilization is per- 
 
 [296] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 f ected that men overcome this disposition to revenge 
 themselves upon others for injuries received at their 
 hands; so it is not strange that these people, orig 
 inally of the commoner stock of England, which, 
 at that time, was more or less acquainted with the 
 atrocities of warfare, should have entered into the 
 hunting of their own kind, though of a different 
 color, with the murderous zeal which apparently 
 actuated them in their conflict with the Indians. 
 
 These colonists, by their long English training, 
 were accustomed to the lording of others over them. 
 Their traditions extended back to the days of feu 
 dalism, and they had imbibed from their ances 
 tors the same rude characteristics which were the 
 original foundation of the people from whom they 
 had emanated. Many of them had left the Old 
 Country for the New with the anticipation that, 
 once among the wilds of New England, their per 
 sonal liberties would be more ample, and that, once 
 there, they might follow out their own personal in 
 clinations. It is not to be disputed that the rulers 
 of the Bay Colony understood the material out of 
 which they were to mould the new State. This 
 material, under the guiding hand of Winthrop and 
 his assistants, who were largely made up of a 
 court of his own choosing, was directed and con 
 trolled by an inflexible purpose; and yet, with the 
 breath of the New World in their nostrils, they had 
 assumed the role of master but clumsily, and 
 without the refinements common to a greater in- 
 
 [297] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 telligence; and this perhaps may be their apology. 
 We do the same thing in these later days, only in a 
 different way; the result is the same. The weaker 
 goes to the wall unnoticed and unnoted; and if the 
 barbarities of the earlier years of the colonial settle 
 ments in their manner of expression have become 
 obsolete, it is nevertheless true, in these days, that 
 the strong succeed only at the expense of the weak. 
 Leaving the Puritans to their fortunes and to 
 such commendation as they can win from their 
 posterity, we return to Stoughton. After this mas 
 sacre of the Pequods, which evidently was S tough- 
 ton s first experience, he was joined by Mason, 
 whose forces consisted of forty Connecticut men. 
 Together, they made up a considerable force, and a 
 campaign of offence was planned. The fact that 
 the Pequods had practically become a race of wan 
 derers might have suggested the withdrawing of 
 these forces, and their return to a more peaceful 
 occupation; but it is evident that the forlorn con 
 dition of the Pequods had no appealing force with 
 them. The Pequods had lost their courage, were 
 starving, and in flight. Nevertheless, a pursuit of 
 sixty miles through the wilderness into a country 
 unfamiliar to the English settler, and perhaps where 
 no English explorer had as yet been, was inaugu 
 rated. The action of the English is self-evident. 
 Their determination was the annihilation of the 
 Pequods. That these unfortunate people were to be 
 reduced to a condition which should render them so 
 
 [298] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 insignificant as a race, should make them so helpless 
 in their contention against others, that they would 
 have neither the desire nor the ability to resume the 
 rude life which had made their original country 
 habitable to their ancestors was the avowed pur 
 pose of the white settler, once the savage was in his 
 power. 
 
 The English were apparently actuated by fanatic 
 sternness, which in many other instances afterward 
 marked the people in and about Massachusetts 
 Bay with a singular inhumanity to their own kind. 
 In their homes, possibly, they possessed the usual 
 attributes of gentleness and consideration for those 
 who were dependent upon them; but to such as 
 dared to raise the voice of dissent against what 
 they chose to regard as their peculiar and estab 
 lished principle along religious lines they were as 
 inflexible and unyielding, as inconsiderate and un 
 generous, as the stones upon which the sills of their 
 habitations were laid. 1 
 
 1 Dr. Mather says in one of his remarkable perturbations of ~^ 
 spirit: "By the year 1636, it was Time for the Devil to take the 
 Alarm, and make some Attempt in Opposition to the Posses- 
 sion which the Lord Jesus Christ was going to have of these 
 utmost parts of the Earth. These Parts were then covered 
 with Nations of barbarous Indians and Infidels, in which the 
 Prince of the Power of the Air did Work as a Spirit: nor could 
 it be expected that Nations of Wretches, whose whole Relig 
 ion was the most explicit Sort of Devil-Worship, should not 
 be acted by the Devil to engage in some early and bloody 
 
 [299] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 From this consideration of the motives which ac 
 tuated the leaders, as well as the men who made up 
 the colonial forces in this campaign, one notes they 
 embarked at Saybrook to follow the Pequods in 
 their vessels. Uncas, with the Narragansetts, took 
 up the trail of the Pequods overland. They could 
 follow them easily, and, taking note of their halting- 
 places, and the frequency of them, and how they 
 
 Action for the extinction of a Plantation so Contrary to his 
 Interests, as that of New England was." 
 
 Magnolia Christi Americana, bk. vii., p. 41. 
 
 Purchas, His Pilgrimage, p. 717. 
 
 Increase Mather, in his Election Sermon, 1677, p. 76 
 (1685 edition) says: "Our Fathers did not in their coming 
 hither propound any great Matter to themselves respecting 
 this world.; " but they believed, according to Drake, that "here 
 was the Place where Christ was to take up his Abode while on 
 Earth, at his second Appearing." 
 
 With this accepted and regularly ordained minister s 
 preaching such dogma, what expectation could one entertain 
 of fair treatment of the aborigine at the hands of the Puritan ? J 
 
 Here is another excerpt from Mather: "The Natives of the 
 Countrey now possessed by the New Englanders, had been 
 forlorn and wretched Heathen ever since their first herding 
 here; and tho we know not when or how those Indians first be 
 came Inhabitants of this mighty Continent, yet we may guess 
 that probably, the Divil decoyed those miserable Salvages 
 hither, in Hopes that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus would never 
 come here to destroy or disturb his Absolute Empire over 
 them." 
 
 Mather, Life of the Renowned John Eliot p. 64 (Boston 
 edition, 1691). 
 
 [300] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 had been compelled to dig up the scurf of the woods 
 for edible roots, and alongshore where they had 
 turned up the mud for shell-fish, they were able to 
 estimate very accurately the time required for over 
 taking the fugitives. From time to time they cap 
 tured a savage straggler from the main body under 
 Sassacus, and from such they obtained the re 
 quired information as to the number and condition 
 of the Pequods. It will be remembered, two sa 
 chems were reprieved by Stoughton on the con 
 dition that they would guide the English into the 
 near neighborhood of the main body of the Pequods. 
 These two sachems became conscience-stricken, or, 
 possibly, to save their lives had consented to an act 
 of duplicity. It may have been an act of subtlety 
 on their part, in which their purpose was reserved ; 
 for their loyalty to Sassacus now became manifest 
 in that they declined to show the English where 
 Sassacus had gone into hiding. As a reward for 
 their loyalty to their own race, as soon as they 
 reached Menunketuc (Guilford) they paid the 
 penalty of what the English were pleased to call 
 treachery, 1 for it was here they were killed out of 
 hand. Winthrop has it that it was this episode by 
 which the point of land stretching out into the 
 stream came to be called Sachem s Head. Ruggles, 
 in his history of Guilford, puts it differently. He 
 records that during the march of Uncas and his 
 
 1 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 233. 
 
 [301] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 men overland they came upon a Pequod sachem 
 and a few others, whom they at once pursued. 
 These latter fled along the shore of the eastern point 
 of Guilford Harbor, evidently with the idea, or the 
 hope, that the Narragansetts would keep to the 
 trail on the main land, and pass by them unwit 
 tingly. They turned the corner of this little cape 
 to conceal themselves near its extremity. Uncas 
 had been too long a hunter of his own kind to be 
 put off by any such artifice, and he directed his 
 men to scour the point for the fugitives, while he 
 with some others would keep on their way, that 
 they might gain the opposite shore. The Pequods, 
 discovering themselves pursued and seeing no other 
 way of escape, took to the water, swimming across 
 the mouth of the harbor to the opposite shore, 
 where, as they landed, they were easily captured by 
 this stratagem of Uncas. Uncas shot an arrow at 
 the sachem, and then, cutting off his head, he fixed 
 it securely in the crotch of an oak-tree, where the 
 grinning skull withered and bleached in the sun for 
 many years. 1 
 
 While Uncas had been making his way along the 
 trail of the Pequods the vessels which carried the 
 English hugged the coast to the westward, and 
 three days later entered the harbor of New Haven. 
 Their first discovery after their arrival was a con 
 siderable column of smoke, which rose above the 
 
 l Mass. Hist. Coll, vol. x., p. 100. 
 [302] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 tops of the woods. In a spirit of elation, believing 
 that they had come upon the Pequods, there was a 
 hasty landing of the troops, and a forced march 
 through the forest. They followed the smoke to 
 the fire which made it, and one can appreciate their 
 disappointment when they found about it, instead 
 of the Pequods, a little band of timid and friendly 
 Indians who lived in the vicinity. 
 
 An instance which illustrates the depression un 
 der which the Pequods were laboring by reason of 
 their many misfortunes, misfortunes which had so 
 suddenly fallen to their lot, is afforded by the ad 
 venture of a Mohegan. At Quinnipiac, a Mohegan 
 by the name of Jack Etow met three Pequods. 
 Two of them he captured and carried to the Eng 
 lish vessels. 1 Under ordinary circumstances the 
 Mohegan would have been the captive; but these 
 Pequods without doubt gave themselves up with 
 the hope that the English might provide that food 
 for them to which they had been a stranger for 
 weeks, and possibly some shelter in the place of 
 their life of exposure. One of these was granted 
 his life upon condition. The English were in 
 search of Sassacus; their object was to take his life 
 or discover his place of retreat. To accomplish 
 either of these two things the English would for 
 bear their glut for vengeance. So the Pequod was 
 let loose on the promise that he would either bring 
 
 1 Mason, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., p. 146. 
 [303] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 back the news of Sassacus s death, or such informa 
 tion as would enable them to find him. The 
 Pequod had no difficulty in finding Sassacus, whose 
 company he joined and with whom he remained 
 for some days, during which he had no opportu 
 nity to carry out the wishes of the English. The 
 Pequods at last became suspicious of this savage, 
 and to avoid their watchful jealousy he was com 
 pelled to make his escape, which he did under the 
 darkness of night. He kept his word with the Eng 
 lish, returning to their camp, where he gave them 
 the information which they required as to the num 
 ber of the Pequods, and the place where they were 
 to be found. 
 
 The English again took up their march, June 3, 
 1637, starting off to the westward toward a place 
 called Sasco. Here was an extensive swamp, which 
 lay not far from the seashore. 
 
 Johnson, an early New England writer whose 
 quaintness is most interesting, relates an incident 
 which in his telling of it takes on a laughable aspect. 
 The English were pushing on through the forest. 
 They had broken through a jungle of brush, where, 
 unknown to them, two Pequod savages were 
 hiding. These Pequods were not only watching the 
 progress of the English, but, after their fashion, 
 were lying in wait for an opportunity to perform 
 some exploit by which the English might be in 
 jured. They watched patiently while the English 
 filed by, and when, as they supposed, the last man 
 
 [304] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 was passing, they broke cover, and, in this moment 
 of surprise, they had thrown him across their 
 shoulders and started with their captive for the 
 depths of the swamp. The Englishman made an 
 outcry, and it was a matter of good fortune for him 
 that the lieutenant of his company closed up the 
 rear, who, coming to his assistance, began a swift 
 attack upon the Pequods with his sword. The 
 Pequods turned their captive into a shield, who 
 was tumbled and tossed about in a most marvelous 
 way, and with such infinite swiftness that for a 
 considerable time Davenport was unable to touch 
 them with his sword. He finally succeeded in 
 reaching the Pequods with his weapon, and as soon 
 as the blood began to run out of their copper- 
 colored skins they dropped their prize, to escape 
 into the mysteries of the thicket. 1 This was the 
 only incident in their march of some twenty or 
 twenty-five miles which is worth notice. 
 
 The men in the van of the English force finally 
 came into a corn-field, and upon a rise of ground 
 just beyond they discovered a number of Indians. 
 They were discovered by the Indians at the same 
 time, who dropped behind the hill in their flight. 
 These were pursued by the white men, and when 
 they reached the hill-top they found themselves 
 upon the verge of a swamp. On its farther side 
 
 l Mass. Hist. Co//., vol. xiv., p. 50. 
 DeForest, History of the Indians, p. 147. 
 
 [305] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 they counted about twenty wigwams. This swamp 
 was divided by a ridge of firm ground. A dozen or 
 more men were deployed to surround the narrower 
 end of the swamp, while Lieutenant Davenport, 
 with another small force, followed the ridge of dry 
 land which broke the swamp apart. Before Daven 
 port had pushed his way through to the wigwams 
 the Pequods had been warned of the approach of 
 the English and had at once fled to the swamp. 
 Their sachem went with them, The English were 
 made aware that hidden among the thickets of this 
 low ground was the quarry of which they were in 
 search. Here were some three hundred savages of 
 both sexes, of which perhaps a third were warriors. 
 Davenport and his men had not gone far before 
 they were met with a storm of arrows, by which the 
 English were wounded, some of them, who when 
 they fell found themselves bogged in the mire. At 
 that moment the Pequods closed in upon them to 
 engage in a hand-to-hand fight. The result of this 
 savage sortie was that the English under Daven 
 port were repulsed. It was with difficulty that the 
 wounded were pulled out of the mud and carried 
 back to a place of safety on the solid ground. 1 From 
 
 1 Mason, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., pp. 146, 147. 
 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 231. 
 
 The order was given to surround the swamp, but Lieu 
 tenant Davenport failed to get it in season. "With a dozen 
 more of his Company in an over-eager Pursuit of the Enemy, 
 
 [306] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 this moment on, the movements of the English were 
 of a rapid character. They threw a cordon of men 
 around the outside of the swamp and a leisurely 
 musket-fire upon the savages was begun. No at 
 tempt was made to force the swamp. 
 
 The English, realizing after a time that this 
 method of attack was resulting only in the killing of 
 women and children, decided upon a parley, which 
 was undertaken by Thomas Stanton, who offered 
 himself as interpreter. He approached the swamp, 
 and, penetrating its thickets for a short distance, 
 hailed the Indians, telling them that an amnesty 
 would be given to all those who were innocent of 
 killing the English. Much to the surprise of the 
 latter, the savage sachem at once accepted the 
 offer, and at the head of his people led them to the 
 outer edge of the swamp. Within the next two 
 hours, in little groups, the savages emerged from 
 the thickets, until about two hundred of the 
 Indians had given themselves up to the English. 
 
 [he] rushed immediately into the Swamp where they were very 
 rudely entertained by those Evening Wolves that were being 
 newly kennelled therein; for Lieut. Davenport was sorely 
 wounded in the Body, John Wedgewood of Ipswich in the 
 Belly, and was laid hold on by some of the Indians." 
 
 Hubbard, Indian Wars, p. 34 (S. G. Drake Edition). 
 
 Vide Hubbard s note. This was Richard Davenport, of 
 the Castle in Boston Harbor, where he was struck by lightning 
 and killed, July 15, 1665. Captain Nathaniel Davenport, 
 killed at the Fort Fight at Narragansett, was his son. 
 
 [307] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 But not all had left the swamp. Sassacus and his 
 warriors had turned over to the English those of 
 their company who during the last few weeks had 
 been a burden upon their movements. These were 
 the old men of the tribe, whose years of usefulness 
 had been left behind, and as well the women and 
 the children. It was evident, with these helpless 
 people removed from the swamp, that the Pequods 
 had decided upon a fight to the finish; and when a 
 messenger of peace had conveyed to them the last 
 message, they shrilled at him, "We will fight it out 
 to the last"! and they followed their defiance with a 
 flight of arrows; and, not satisfied with that, they 
 assailed him with such vigor that he would have 
 been killed had the English not gone to his rescue. 
 For the remainder of the afternoon the English 
 were passive, but after nightfall they so disposed 
 of their men that the savages were completely sur 
 rounded; the line of the English about the swamp 
 was circumscribed, so that the distance between the 
 soldiers was not more than twelve feet. After the 
 guards were set, the Pequods occupied their time 
 by creeping stealthily upon them, and, as occasion 
 offered, discharging their arrows; so that while 
 quite a number of the soldiers had their clothes 
 pierced, none were wounded. The English kept up 
 a broken fire of musketry through the night, by 
 which means, Hubbard says, "many of them were 
 killed and buried in the mire as they found the 
 next day." This is not to be wondered at, for the 
 
 [308] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 reason that the English, in placing their sentinels, 
 had cut a lane through the narrows of the swamp, 
 using their swords as hatchets, whereby the savages 
 were practically impounded at close quarters. 1 
 
 As the night waned a heavy fog drifted in from 
 the river, which suggested to the Pequods some 
 opportunity to escape from the English. They 
 made a ruse by throwing themselves suddenly with 
 loud cries against the line of sentinels guarding the 
 swamp. The attack was made upon that portion 
 of the guard made up of Patrick s men, who re 
 pelled them without much difficulty; but as fast as 
 the Pequods were driven back they renewed their 
 assault upon the line. After a little, what began as 
 a savage sortie became a battle ; and as others of the 
 English came to the relief of Patrick the savages 
 were broken and driven back into the swamp. The 
 ruse was fairly successful; for while Mason was 
 making the round of the swamp he found a con 
 siderable body of the savages pushing their way 
 outside the line of the guards. The mist concealed 
 the movements of the savages to a great degree, 
 but Mason, trusting to his instinct, ordered his 
 
 1 Hubbard says: "By this Time, Night drawing on, our 
 Commanders perceiving on which Side of the Swamp the 
 Enemies were lodged, gave orders to cut through the Swamp, 
 with their Swords, that they might better hem them round in 
 one Corner, which was presently done, and so they were begirt 
 in the Night." 
 
 Indian Wars (S. G. Drake Edition), vol. ii., p. 35. 
 
 [309] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 men to discharge their muskets toward the swamp, 
 with the result that the Indians were repulsed ; but, 
 desperate in their determination to escape the fate 
 that awaited them at daybreak, they renewed their 
 attack on Patrick s line, which was broken, and 
 through it some sixty or seventy Pequods made 
 their escape. After the battle of the swamp, which 
 resulted in the slaughter of the remaining Pequods, 
 a pursuit was made after those who had escaped 
 through the morning fog, some of whom were found 
 dead by the pursuing party. A considerable quan 
 tity of wampum and other property prized by the 
 Indians was captured, along with one hundred 
 eighty prisoners, mostly women and children. 1 
 
 The Pequod sachem, Sassacus, had no part in 
 this battle. Uncertain as to the loyalty of some of 
 the Pequods, two or three of whom had been en 
 gaged in an effort to betray him, and realizing that 
 he was to be relentlessly pursued by the English, 
 he determined to leave the larger portion of his 
 people to their fate. Revealing his purpose to 
 Mononotto, 2 the secret of his proposed flight was 
 imparted to some twenty, or, as some authors say, 
 forty, of his most redoubtable warriors, and he 
 quietly gathered together some five hundred pounds 
 
 1 Mason, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., p. 148. 
 Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 32, 279. 
 
 2 Mononotto among the Pequots was placed next to Sassacus 
 by Drake. Hubbard also calls him "a noted Indian." In the 
 
 [310] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 worth of wampum, and fled like a thief in the night, 
 into the country of the Mohawks. Sassacus has 
 come down through the historians as a warrior 
 famous for his leadership and his bravery. For all 
 that, he was apparently not above deserting those 
 dependent upon him for counsel and protection. 
 Whatever view may be taken of this action, it is 
 evident that he was controlled by the instinct which 
 has always marked his race as a subtle and treach- 
 
 troubles with the Pequots it was among his tribe that the 
 English began their murders. The writer agrees with Drake: 
 "There is no more to excuse the murder of a Pequot than an 
 Englishman." 
 
 After the foray of the English at Block Island they sailed 
 up the Connecticut River to continue their errand of de 
 struction. As they sailed, they were hailed by many of the 
 Pequots on either side of the river to know their errand. 
 Their reply was that they wished to speak with Sassacus. He 
 had gone to Long Island. Then they demanded Mononotto. 
 He was away as well. Then the English went ashore to de 
 mand the perpetrators of the Stone massacre. They were 
 told if they would wait they would have them sent for, and 
 that Mononotto would shortly come to them. In the mean 
 time, while the savages were holding the English in this in 
 terview, "others transported their goods, women and children 
 to another place." Finally the English were informed that 
 Mononotto would not come. Upon that a skirmish ensued. 
 One Indian was killed, and an Englishman wounded. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 108, 109. 
 
 Gardener s account varies: "They went and demanded 
 the Pequit Sachem to come to a parley, but it was returned 
 for answer that he was from home, but within three hours he 
 
 [311] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 erous people. One writer has excused his apparent 
 cowardice by alleging that he was accused by his 
 people of being the author of their misfortunes; 
 that they would undoubtedly have killed him in 
 their distemper, had not some of his own sachems 
 interposed. It is suggested that these animosities 
 followed him closely after the destruction of Fort 
 
 would come; and so from three to six, and thence to nine, 
 there came none. But the Indians came without arms to our 
 men, in great numbers, and they talked with my men, whom 
 they knew; but in the end, at a word given, they all on a sud 
 den ran away from our men, as they stood in rank and file, 
 and not an Indian more was to be seen ; and all this while be 
 fore, they carried all their stuff away, and thus was that great 
 parley ended. Then they [the English] displayed their 
 colours, and beat their drums, burnt some wigwams and 
 some heaps of corn, and my men carried as much aboard as 
 they could, but the army went aboard, leaving my men 
 ashore, which ought to have marched aboard first. But they 
 all set sail, and my men were pursued by the Indians, and 
 they hurt some of the Indians, two of them come home 
 wounded. The Bay-men killed not a man, save that one 
 Kichomiquim [Cutshamequin], an Indian Sachem of the Bay, 
 killed a Pequit; and thus began the war between the Indians 
 and us in these parts." 
 
 Gardener s Pequot Warres, p. 13. 
 
 This sachem seems to be the only one who escaped the 
 Mohawks. Drake is of the opinion that he was killed by the 
 English. 
 
 One finds this in a manuscript letter of Captain Stoughton: 
 "Captain Mason and 30 men are with us in Pequot River, 
 and we shall the next week joine in seeing what we can do 
 
 [312] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 Mystic by Mason, and the destruction of his own 
 village by himself. 1 This state of affairs, it is 
 claimed, in some degree forced him to abandon his 
 people, against his real inclination. The argument 
 is a specious one, and does not seem to be founded 
 upon a real condition. Sassacus had been the in 
 veterate enemy of the English; and following the 
 settlement along the Connecticut River, the out 
 rageous attacks upon the English by his people, 
 manifestly at his instigation, and oftentimes by his 
 actual participation, had so incensed the English 
 that to him remained but two courses of action. 
 The one was to place himself beyond the reach of 
 
 against Sassacus and another great sagamore, Monowattuck 
 [Mononotto]." 
 
 Massachusetts State Papers. 
 
 1 Johnson, 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv., pp. 49-51. 
 
 Mason, 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. viii., pp. 146-148. 
 Gardener, 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., pp. 150, 151. 
 
 Morton s Mem. 
 
 Trumbull, vol. i., pp. 83-85. 
 
 Barry says: "On the return of the Massachusetts troops, 
 a day of Thanksgiving was ordered to be observed, and the 
 soldiers were to be feasted by their several towns." 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts, vol. i., p. 229. 
 
 Massachusetts Records, vol. i., p. 204. 
 
 Morton s Mem., pp. 99-106. 
 
 Increase Mather piously observed, "It was supposed that 
 no less than 500 to 600 Pequot souls were brought down to 
 hell that day." 
 
 Mather s Relation, p. 47. 
 
 [313] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the hated English; and the other was to meet them 
 at the head of his warriors, to share with them the 
 disasters which were so surely bound to overtake 
 them. 
 
 As a race, the Pequods were feared by all tribes 
 adjacent to their domain, and at some time or 
 another all had suffered more or less by reason 
 of the ferocious dispositions of this people. They 
 were really the buccaneers of that part of the coun 
 try spoiling wherever spoil was to be had, and 
 annihilating wherever power was to be obtained. 
 Once the power of the Pequods was broken, they 
 were a race of wanderers, without friends, and the 
 sport of every barbarous circumstance. No one 
 knew this better than Sassacus; and no one knew 
 better than he, by reason of the neighboring tribes 
 joining themselves to the English as allies, the pur 
 pose of that confederate movement. 
 
 Some authors, in writing of him, have argued 
 that, seeing there was no salvation for him or his 
 people except in an abrupt flight, he took occasion 
 to urge upon his people that it was the best course 
 to be pursued, and applied himself to the following 
 out of his own advice only when he discovered 
 that it was not acceptable to his people. He was a 
 fugitive from justice; by an unwritten law he was 
 doomed. When he made his asylum with the 
 Mohawks, from whom he had no particular reason 
 to expect other than treachery, it is evident that his 
 action was based, not upon sound consideration, 
 
 [314] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 but upon the spur of the moment. Shortly after, he 
 found himself, much to his satisfaction, in the midst 
 of the Mohawk tribe, who possibly with the de 
 sire to gratify the English, and perhaps to pay off 
 some old scores which until then they had no op 
 portunity of settling surprised him and his war 
 riors, all of whom were killed by the Mohawks, 
 with the exception of Mononotto, who, although 
 wounded, made his escape. In the following 
 August the Mohawks sent to the English on the 
 Connecticut River the scalps of Sassacus and one 
 of his brothers; also the scalps of five of his 
 sachems. 1 The captive Pequods taken by the Eng 
 lish were made servants. Common parlance would 
 denominate them slaves. The restless disposition, 
 however, of these wild people of the woods was 
 productive of so much discomfort to their task 
 masters that but few of them were held for any 
 length of time in a condition of servitude. 2 Such as 
 were not retained by the English in their service 
 were shipped away to the West Indies by the 
 Massachusetts government, where they were sold 
 as slaves. 
 
 1 Winthrop, vol. i., p. 35. 
 
 "The few that fled with Sasacus to the westward were 
 totally destroyed by the Mohawks. The scalp of Sasacus 
 was in the fall of 1638 presented to the governor and council 
 of Massachusetts." 
 
 Trumbull, Indian Wars., p. 59. 
 
 2 Mason, Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., p. 148. 
 [315] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Among these prisoners who were captured in 
 the Fairfield Swamp were Mononotto s wife and 
 daughters. As has been recorded in a note to one 
 of the preceding pages, it was credited to her that 
 her influence had saved the lives of the two girls 
 who w r ere captured and taken away in the attack 
 upon Wethersfield. Her modesty and intelligence 
 attracted to her the interest of the English, and her 
 humanity won something of their gratitude. 1 Un 
 obtrusive in her gentleness and patient in her un 
 complaining, she commended herself to her cap 
 tors, preferring to them but two requests. The one 
 
 1 Mononotto s wife was known among her people as Win- 
 cumbone. She seems to have been noted for her pity and 
 humanity for those who were in trouble or in danger. Besides 
 the incident of the two English maids, Gardener relates an 
 incident of some men who went up the Connecticut River to 
 trade, and, landing in the neighborhood of the tribe over 
 which Mononotto held sway, one "Thomas Hurlbut stepping 
 into the Sachem s wigwam, not far from the shore, enquiring 
 for the horses, (these horses had been stolen from a man 
 whose name was Eltow,) the Indians went out of the wigwam, 
 and Wincumbone, his mother s sister, was then the great 
 Pequit Sachem s wife, who made signs to him that he should 
 be gone, for they would cut off his head ; which, when he per 
 ceived, he drew his sword and ran to the others, and got 
 aboard, and immediately came abundance of Indians to the 
 water-side and called to them to come ashore, but they im 
 mediately set sail and came home, and this caused me to keep 
 watch and ward, for I saw they plotted our destruction." 
 
 Gardener s Pequot Warres, p. 12. 
 
 Stoughton Letter, State Papers. 
 
 [316] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 was that the sanctity of her person might be re 
 garded; the other, that her children might not be 
 separated from her. Her final disposition is un 
 known, but like many of the most tractable of her 
 race, she probably became a servitor to some Eng 
 lish family; and it is with a very considerable satis 
 faction that one finds it recorded that Governor 
 Winthrop enjoined upon those having her in serv 
 ice to treat her with the utmost kindness. 1 
 
 This battle of the Fairfield Swamp was the end 
 of the Pequod race, it being estimated that in that 
 fight fully seven hundred Pequods had been taken 
 captive or killed. It was given out by those who 
 were captured that out of the twenty-six sachems 
 of the Pequod nation, only thirteen were known to 
 
 ^ubbard relates: "Amongst the rest of the prisoners 
 special notice was taken of the wife of a noted Indian called 
 Mononotto, who with her children submitted herself, or by 
 the chance of war fell into the hands of the English: it was 
 known to be by her mediation that two English maids (that 
 were taken away from Wethersfield upon Connecticut River) 
 were saved from death, in requital of whose pity and human 
 ity, the life of herself and her children was not only granted 
 her, but she was in special recommended to the care of that 
 honourable gentleman, Mr. John Winthrop, for that time be 
 ing the worthy Governour of the Massachusetts; who taking 
 notice of her modest countenance and behaviour, as well as 
 of her only request (not to suffer wrong either as to the honour 
 of her body, or fruit of her womb) gave special charge con 
 cerning her according to his noble and Christian disposition." 
 
 Hubbard s Indian Wars, pp. 37, 38. 
 
 [317] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 have survived; and it is probable that these survi 
 vors were among those who fled with Sassacus to 
 the Mohawks, only to perish in the massacre which 
 took place shortly after their arrival in that coun 
 try. 1 From this on, the few wandering Pequods 
 scattered here and there through their old domain 
 from time to time became the easy prey of the 
 Mohegans and the Narragansetts, who for some 
 time after were bringing the heads and hands of 
 their Pequod victims into the settlements of the 
 English, as the gory relics of their man-hunting ex 
 peditions. It is recorded that among these was the 
 hand of the sachem who directed the massacre of 
 Stone and his crew off the Manisses. 
 
 Of the Pequods who escaped this slaughter, some 
 found asylum among those from whom they had 
 formerly exacted tribute, the western Nehantics, 
 some of the tribes on Long Island, and some on the 
 Hudson River. It is possible that some found their 
 way as far south as Virginia and the Carolinas. 
 Many gave themselves up to Uncas, and, possibly, 
 to the eastern Nehantics and the Narragansetts; 
 although by treaty the latter had covenanted not to 
 receive them, and it is recorded that they kept their 
 agreement with varying fidelity. It was the habit 
 
 1 Drake says that Sassacus destroyed his habitations, and, 
 with some eighty of his warriors, "fled to the Mohawks who 
 treacherously beheaded him." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 106. 
 
 [318] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 of the latter to deliver all Pequods who came to 
 them into the custody of the English at Boston, for 
 disposition at the hands of the Puritan magistrates 
 upon one occasion as many as eighty of these un 
 fortunate people, among whom were one consider 
 able sachem and twenty warriors. 
 
 Outside of the Narragansetts, the other tribes 
 were under no obligation to the English, and, as 
 was the custom with such people, the refugees were 
 taken into these tribes by adoption. This fact led 
 to a controversy between the Nehantics and the 
 Massachusetts people, which developed into an 
 open quarrel. This occurred in July of 1637. 
 Ninigret, the sachem of the Nehantics, made no 
 pretension of secrecy in his harboring of the 
 Pequods. 1 
 
 1 Drake makes note that there was a manifest disposition 
 on the part of the sachems of the Narragansetts and Mohe- 
 gans (it will be remembered here that the Nehantics were of 
 the Narragansett race) to afford an asylum for the homeless 
 Pequots. One finds in the Mass. Hist. Coll. some of the cor 
 respondence between Roger Williams and the Governor of 
 Massachusetts, wherein it is apparent that Williams was em 
 ployed to explain to the sachems of these tribes what they 
 might depend upon if they did not adhere strictly to the terms 
 of their agreement concerning the Pequots, which was, evi 
 dently, that all Pequots happening within their domain 
 should be brought to Boston, to be dealt with by the magis 
 trates. It is apparent that Massachusetts Bay was not averse 
 to the slave traffic. Williams received a letter from the Massa 
 chusetts governor upon this subject at the hands of an Indian, 
 
 [319] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 With every accession of Pequods, the numerical 
 strength of these tribes, or clans, was increased; 
 and so it came about that the clan of Uncas, which 
 was notably weak upon the breaking out of the 
 
 whose name was Otash. It is to be noted here as one of the 
 inconsistencies of the Bay government that they should solicit 
 the assistance of Williams, who had been exiled by them. 
 While they objected to his presence, they were still willing to 
 take advantage of his offices with a people to whom the pres 
 ence of Williams was more grateful, evidently, than their 
 own. Williams, obliging as he apparently always was, went 
 to the Narragansetts; and he says in his report to the Massa 
 chusetts authorities: "Having got Canounicus and Miantun- 
 nomuh, with their council together, I acquainted them faith 
 fully with the contents of your letter, both greivances and 
 threatenings ; and to demonstrate I produced the copy of the 
 league (which Mr. [Sir Henry] Vane sent me,) and with break 
 ing of a straw in two or three places, I showed them what they 
 had done." 
 
 The reply of the sachem to Williams was that when the 
 Governor of Massachusetts understood what they had to ex 
 plain, their conduct would be satisfactory to him; they had 
 not wished to make trouble, but they "could relate many 
 1 particulars when the English had broken their promises." 
 
 Since the ending of the Pequot War, Canonicus admitted 
 that he had heard of some squaws escaping from the English, 
 and had ordered them to be returned, but knew nothing more 
 of them ; he would have the country searched for them. Mian- 
 tunnomoh had heard of six. He had seen four of them. When 
 they were brought to him he had showed anger and demanded 
 why they had not carried them to Mr. Williams, that they 
 might be delivered up to the English. They told him the 
 squaws were lame and unable to go; upon which the sachem 
 
 [320] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 war of the earlier spring, the first real conflict of 
 which took place at Fort Mystic, began to be as 
 formidable, by reason of the number of refugees 
 being absorbed into it, as it had been hitherto 
 
 had sent to Mr. Williams to come and take them. Williams 
 evidently did not care for the office and in turn ordered the 
 sachem to attend particularly to that matter, whose reply was 
 that he was busy and could not. "The sachem was," says 
 Williams, "in a strange kind of solemnity, wherein the sachem 
 eats nothing but at night. While these festivities were being 
 carried on, the squaws made their escape." This sachem 
 said that he was sorry that the governor should charge him 
 with wanting these squaws, for he did not. When Williams 
 told him that he knew of his sending for one at least, Mian- 
 tunnomoh said that the squaw was not for himself, but for 
 Saussamun, who at that time had been at his house, who on 
 some occasion had lamed himself, and that the latter "fell in 
 there on his way to Pequt, whither he had been sent by the 
 governor." The squaw he desired was the daughter of a 
 sachem who during his lifetime had been a great friend of 
 Miantunnomoh, and it was in a spirit of kindness that he 
 wished to ransom her. 
 
 He assured Williams that himself and his people were true 
 "to the English in life or death," whereupon he charged 
 Uncas and his Mohegans had long since played false, and he 
 was afraid they would continue to be so. He said that the 
 Mohegans had never yet found a Pequot; to which he added, 
 "Chenock, ejuse, wetompatimucks!" ("Had ever friends dealt 
 so with friends ! ") Williams wished for a more lucid explana 
 tion, and the sachem replied: "My brother, Yotaash, had 
 seized upon Puttaquppuunck, Quame, and 20 Pequots, and 
 60 squaws; they killed three and bound the rest, whom they 
 watched all night. Then they sent for the English, and de- 
 
 [321] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 feeble. To the English, once the Pequods had be 
 come amalgamated with the Mohegans or Ne- 
 hantics, it was a matter of difficulty to distinguish 
 them as individuals from those of the tribes upon 
 
 livered them in the morning to them. I came by land, accord 
 ing to promise, with 200 men, killing 10 Pequots by the way. 
 I desired to see the great sachem, Puttaquppuunck, whom 
 my brother had taken, who was now in the English houses, but 
 the English thrust at me with a pike many times, that I durst 
 not come near the door." 
 
 "Mr. Williams told him that they did not know him, else 
 they would not; but Miantunnomoh answered, All my 
 company were disheartened, and they all, and Cutshamo- 
 quene, desired to be gone. Besides, he said, two of my men, 
 Wagonckwhut and Maunamoh (Meihamoh) were their 
 guides to Sesquankit, from the river s mouth. Upon which, 
 Mr. Williams adds to the governor: Sir, I dare not stir coals, 
 but I saw them too much disregarded by many. 
 
 "Mr. Williams told the sachems they received Pequts and 
 wampom without Mr. Governor s consent. Cannounicus 
 replied, that although he and Miantunnomu had paid many 
 hundred fathom of wampom to their soldiers, as Mr. Governor 
 did, yet he had not received one yard of beads nor a Pequt. 
 Nor, saith Miantunnomu, did I, but one small present from 
 four women of Long Island, which were no Pequts, but of 
 that isle, being afraid, desired to put themselves under my 
 protection." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 107. 
 
 In 1637 Miantunnomoh went to Boston, where he met the 
 officials of the colony, who treated with him, and with whom 
 he parted upon "fair terms." He evidently carried with him 
 a complaint against the Nehantics; and in Winthrop s 
 Journal, vol. i., p. 243, it is noted: "We gave him leave to 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 whose mercy they had thrown themselves. They 
 were practically the same people; and, once their 
 interest became common, they were identical. It 
 was only through the Narragansetts, who were 
 
 right himself for the wrongs Janemoh [Ninigret], and We- 
 quash Cook had done him, and for the wrongs they had done 
 us, we would right ours in our own time." 
 
 The following year the Long Island Indians who paid 
 tribute to the English complained that this same Ninigret 
 had robbed them of some of their property, whereupon Cap 
 tain Mason was despatched from Connecticut to the Nehan- 
 tics to obtain satisfaction. Ninigret responded by going to 
 the English without delay; and so the matter was disposed 
 of in a friendly fashion. When, afterward, the English were 
 advised that Miantunnomoh was conspiring against them, 
 and making some endeavor with some other tribes that they 
 assist him in his enterprise, the English sent to learn the 
 truth of the report. This sachem satisfied the English as to 
 his own fidelity; but Winthrop says in his Journal, " Janemoh, 
 the Niantick sachem carried himself proudly and refused to 
 come to us, or to yield to anything, only he said he would not 
 harm us except we harmed him." Drake finds in this attitude 
 of the Nehantic sachem the occasion of unqualified approval. 
 
 On this occasion Winthrop says: "So the governor gave 
 him a fair red coat and defrayed his and his men s diet, and 
 gave them corn to relieve them homeward, and a letter of 
 protection, &c., and he departed very joyful." 
 
 It is apparent, in the dealings of the English with the 
 Indians to the westward, that they had very little consider 
 ation for those of the Narragansett race, except in so far as 
 they might be able by their adroit use of them to carry out 
 their purpose, which was evidently the annihilation of the 
 aborigines. The people nearest the English were the Wam- 
 
 [323] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 bitterly hostile to the Mohegans, that this condition 
 of affairs was revealed; and so it came about that 
 just a year after the quarrel of the Massachusetts 
 government with the Nehantics had transpired, 
 
 panoags, of which tribe Massasoit was the ruling sachem. 
 It was for the interest of the English that they should main 
 tain the most amicable relations with these latter people, 
 who acted as a buffer between them and the more aggressive 
 tribes of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The English were 
 aware of the animosities existing between the Pequots, the 
 Mohegans, and the Narragansetts, and were not averse to 
 fomenting their alleged differences into causes which might 
 lead to their engaging each other in war. In such case, the 
 English inclined toward one side or the other, but always to 
 the disadvantage of the savages. Winthrop s attitude in 
 dealing with these sons of the forest was that of an astute 
 diplomat. He looked upon the extinction of the red man as 
 inevitable. He exacted tribute from them; gave them in re 
 turn very little of value, and much questionable advice. His 
 captains slaughtered them in their distant fastnesses; and, 
 not content with having reduced them to a state of defence- 
 lessness, he traded upon the freedom of their women and 
 children, by which they were condemned to a future worse 
 than had overtaken the warriors of their tribe. This traffic in 
 Pequot women and children for money on the part of the 
 Massachusetts Colony has left a stain upon its integrity that 
 neither time nor the most friendly historian can effaces 
 
 Winthrop s Journal, under his own hand, is the indubitable 
 evidence upon which this criticism is based. The carefulness 
 ,/ which he exhibits in recording this evidence is indicative of 
 the conscience of the times. 
 
 Winthrop s Journal, vol. i., pp. 265, 266. 
 
 However punctiliously devout the Puritans might have 
 [324] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 and while the scattered Pequods were being 
 hounded by their enemies to destruction, Uncas 
 with thirty-seven of his most notable warriors 
 found their way to Boston. They made it a cere- 
 been in matters of religious observance and consolation, the 
 "Covenant of Works," and such like cleansings of the "out 
 side of the platter," they were experts in twisting their con 
 sciences when it came to matters of business with the Indians. 
 
 Referring again to Miantunnomoh, it will be noted that 
 early in 1637, to show the English at Boston how well he was 
 keeping his promise of making war against the Pequots, he 
 sent them a Pequot s hand by one of his men. This war, as 
 the current chapter indicates, was of short duration, to the 
 accomplishment of which the Narragansetts lent one hundred 
 warriors. For their services they received a portion of the 
 prisoners as slaves. Miantunnomoh received eighty, accord 
 ing to Mather s Relation, p. 39. After the Pequot War was 
 over, this sachem still maintained his allegiance to the Eng 
 lish by seizing upon such Pequots as made their escape from 
 their masters, who were promptly returned to the English. 
 They also relinquished their right of conquest in Block 
 Island and such other territory as they had taken from the 
 Pequots. 
 
 It was in March, 1637, that Miantunnomoh, with four 
 other sachems, sold to William Coddington and others the 
 island of Rhode Island, also other islands in Narragansett 
 Bay, "for the full payment of 40 fathom of white peag, to be 
 divided" between the five sachems. In addition to "eight 
 fathom of peag," Miantunnomoh was to "have 10 coats and 
 20 hoes to give to the present inhabitants, that they shall re 
 move themselves from the Island before next winter." 
 Specific description of the lands include, "the great Island 
 of Aquidneck lying from hence [Providence] eastward . . . , 
 
 [325] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 monial visit; and when admitted to the presence of 
 the Colonial Council Uncas presented to it twenty 
 fathoms of wampum as a gift for the governor. His 
 gift was refused, upon the ground, as the council 
 informed him, that until he had discovered to them 
 fully his transactions with the Pequods in receiving 
 and harboring them they could not receive him 
 with friendly consideration. 
 
 Uncas was in a quandary. It was plain to him that 
 he was to be tried by the council upon the question 
 of his sincerity. A man of quick resource, he at 
 once decided that to bring upon himself the anger 
 of the English people was to invite the fate of 
 Sassacus. Likewise, determined not to allow him 
 self to be separated from any of his followers there 
 present, he protested with great earnestness that all 
 the warriors with him were of the Mohegan race. 
 
 also the marshes, grass upon Qunnonigat and the rest of the 
 islands in the bay excepting Chabatewece, formerly sold unto 
 Mr. Winthrop, the Gov. of Mass., and Mr. Williams of 
 Providence, also the grass upon the rivers and capes of Citac- 
 kamuckqut, and there thence to Paupasquat." 
 
 It appears that the aged Massasoit joined in this con 
 veyance, by reason of the following memoranda in the deed : 
 "I, Osemequon freely consent that they may make use of 
 any grass or trees on the mainland of Pacausit, having re 
 ceived 5 fathom of wampum also." To this memoranda is 
 attached the sign-manual of Osemequon. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 60-70. 
 
 Winthrop s Journal, vol. i., p. 267; vol. ii., p. 8. 
 
 State Papers, Boston. 
 
 [326] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 His grief was as evident as were his protestations, 
 which the magistrates accepted, as they did his 
 gift, a few moments later. Acquiring a new cour 
 age, he covered his heart with his hand and said to 
 the governor: "This heart is not mine; it is yours. 
 I have no men; they are all yours. Command me 
 any hard thing and I will do it. I will never believe 
 an Indian s words against the English. If any 
 Indian shall kill an Englishman, I will put him to 
 death, be he never so dear to me." 1 
 
 In accordance with his usual habit when dealing 
 with others, Uncas maintained his protestations to 
 the extent of his own interest, which he found was 
 furthered by yielding to the demands of the Eng 
 lish. Uncas was far-seeing in this respect, in that 
 he recognized the power of the English. It is evi 
 dent that he adhered to them for the reason that 
 that adherence would be to his own advantage. As 
 DeForest says, "He was faithful to them just as the 
 jackal is faithful to the lion; not because he loves 
 the lion, but because it gains something by remain 
 ing in his company." 
 
 The letters of Roger Williams throw some light 
 upon Uncas s sincerity; for, as the sachem was re 
 turning into his country from Boston, his journey 
 homeward took him into the near neighborhood of 
 where Williams lived. One of his company, falling 
 lame, found his way to the latter s house. The 
 
 ^inthrop s Journal, vol. i., pp. 265, 266. 
 [327] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 name of this savage was Wequaumugs, being by 
 birth of mixed blood. His father was a Narragan- 
 sett and his mother a Mohegan, which fact accorded 
 him a friendly reception as he happened to be 
 with either tribe. He informed Williams, having 
 reference to Miantunnumoh, that there were only 
 two Pequods in the company of the latter, both of 
 whom had been captured by the Narragansett 
 sachem s men. He also said that among the Ne- 
 hantics there were about sixty Pequods under 
 Wequash Cook, the same alluded to by Drake as 
 "the renegade Pequot who betrayed his people at 
 Fort Mystic into the hands of Mason, and as well 
 those who had taken refuge in the Fairfield, or 
 New Haven swamp." 1 Being asked if Uncas had 
 taken along with him to Boston any Pequods, he 
 told Williams there were six in the company, two 
 of whom, Pematesick and Weaugomhick, had 
 killed some of the English. Williams made a note 
 of these, also an account of the conversation, which 
 he despatched to Winthrop, evidently with the in- 
 
 1 In a letter to Winthrop, Roger Williams alludes to "We 
 quash (whose name signified a swan,) and Wuttackquiack- 
 ommin, valient man, especially the latter, who have lived 
 these three or four years with the Nanhiggonticks, and know 
 every pass and passage amongst them, who desire armor to 
 enter their houses." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 105. 
 
 Drake says in a note to his extract, "the same elsewhere 
 called Wequash Cook, which Wequash (says Dr. I. Mather) 
 
 [328] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 tention of verifying the statement of the Mohegan 
 sachem before the magistrates. 1 Williams felt that 
 this was due to Uncas by reason of the gifts and 
 hospitable treatment which had been extended to 
 him and his warriors by Winthrop. 
 
 A portion of the Pequod tribe, notwithstanding 
 the disasters which had befallen them at the hands 
 of Mason and Stoughton, had endeavored to main 
 tain a precarious independence; but, finding them 
 selves a continual prey to the Mohegans and Narra- 
 gansetts, who harried them from one hiding-place 
 to another, they came to the inevitable conclusion 
 that their only safety lay in establishing some sort 
 
 was by birth a sachem of that place, (where Sassacus lived,) 
 but upon some disgust received he went from the Pequots to 
 the Narragansetts, and became chief captain under Mian- 
 tonomoh." 
 
 Mather s Relation, p. 74. 
 
 Hubbard s Indian Wars, vol. ii., p. 20. 
 
 He became a noted praying Indian after the Pequot War, 
 and was supposed to have died from poison. 
 
 Vide note to Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 94. 
 
 In New England s First Fruits, pp. 5-7, "he is made a 
 Saint of/ 
 
 Gardener refers to him, in his relation of the foray of 
 Stoughton upon the Pequots at the Fairfield Swamp: "I sent 
 Wequash after them, who went by night to spy them out, and 
 the army followed him and found them at the Great Swamp." 
 
 Gardener s Pequod Warres, p. 22. 
 
 1 R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., pp. 140, 141. 
 
 [329] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of friendship with the English. 1 To that end, some 
 of their chief men went to Hartford, where they pro 
 posed to the English to become their servants, upon 
 the condition that their lives might be preserved 
 to them. To the great credit of the English this 
 offer of surrender was accepted, whereupon Uncas 
 and Miantunnumoh were called to a conference 
 with the magistrates as to the final disposition of 
 these Pequods. 
 
 This concession to Uncas indicates in a degree 
 the importance of the Mohegan sachem at that 
 time. His star was in the ascendent; otherwise a 
 request to attend the English in their deliberations 
 would not have been extended to him. DeForest 
 suggests that the English had come to regard him 
 as an ally upon whom they could safely depend as 
 against such other of the New England aborigines 
 as might entertain hostile designs against them. 
 
 ^ Mather says, in his boastful account of troubles with 
 Pequots: By such methods as these was a period put to 
 the war; the few Pequots that survived submitted themselves 
 to English mercy, and the rest of the Indians who saw a little 
 handful of Englishmen massacre and capture seven hundred 
 adversaries and kill no less than thirteen Sachems in one 
 short expedition ; such a terror from God fell upon them that 
 after, for near forty years together, the land rested from war, 
 even unto the time when the sins of the land called for a new 
 scourge, and Indians, being taught the use of guns, were 
 capable of being made instruments of inflicting it." 3 
 
 Freeman s Civilization and Barbarism, p. 66, note. 
 
 [330] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 He was to be the savage watch-dog; to sound the 
 alarm of possible savage invasion. This writer sug 
 gests, as well, that as the Pequods and Mohegans 
 had already ceased their wars against each other, 
 and had placed themselves under the authority and 
 protection of Uncas, they were not averse to using 
 this circumstance as a means to future tranquillity. 
 It was also apparent that new quarrels were upon 
 the point of breaking out between the Mohegans 
 and the Narragansetts. The differences between 
 these two savage races resulted in their chief sa 
 chem s being called to Hartford with a view to ad 
 justing them, their controversies having degener 
 ated into a series of personal injuries and insults by 
 reason of which the situation was most acute, and 
 which threatened to break out into open warfare. 
 In addition to this, the distribution of the Pequods 
 was no less important. 
 
 The Narragansett sachem attended upon the 
 Hartford Commission, accompanied by his entire 
 family, several sachems, and a retinue of some one 
 hundred fifty fighting-men. He had three English 
 men in his company, Roger Williams being one of 
 them. The taking along of this considerable num 
 ber of warriors is an indication of his apprehension 
 in regard to Uncas. On his way to Hartford he 
 was met by numerous Narragansetts, who told him 
 that they had been robbed by the Pequods and 
 Mohegans. At one of his camping-places a party 
 of Wunnashowatuckoogs, probably of the Nip- 
 
 [331] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 mucks, who were subject to Canonicus, came to 
 him with the tale that they "had been robbed two 
 days before by a band of six or seven hundred 
 Indians composed of Pequots and Mohegans, and 
 others who were their confederates. This great 
 band had spoiled twenty-three fields of their corn 
 and had rifled several Narragansetts who were 
 staying among them. Now they were lying in wait 
 to stop Miantinomo on his journey; and some of 
 them had threatened to boil him in a kettle." 
 
 As they continued their way these stories were 
 augmented, to the degree that Williams and the 
 other two Englishmen recommended a discontinu 
 ance of their journey and a return, with a view to 
 avoiding a possible encounter with Uncas and his 
 people. The suggestion of Williams and his friends 
 was disregarded by the Narragansett sachem, for 
 the reason that he had accomplished a large part 
 of his journey and was determined to continue the 
 same, indifferent to any hostile action on the part 
 of Uncas. They renewed their journey, the Narra 
 gansett sachem occupying the center of the march, 
 with Roger Williams and the two Englishmen in 
 the van. As they proceeded, forty or fifty scouts 
 were sent in advance ; and in this way they pursued 
 their journey without obstacle, to finally reach the 
 Connecticut, which they crossed, to find themselves 
 at the end of their present perplexities. 
 
 Once at Hartford, Miantunnumoh sought out 
 the English magistrates, and, without hesitation, 
 
 [332] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 entered his complaints to them against Uncas, go 
 ing over in detail, not only acts of actual violence 
 and injustice, but as well those which had been re 
 ported to him. Uncas was not present at this hear 
 ing. He had avoided the contentions of the Narra- 
 gansett sachem by sending a messenger to say that 
 he was disabled by a lameness and could not come. 
 This excuse was not acceptable to the council, es 
 pecially to Mr. Haynes, who afterward became 
 governor of the Connecticut Colony. A request, 
 which was equivalent to a command, was des 
 patched to Uncas that he should attend upon the 
 council. The result was, the recovery of Uncas 
 from his lameness was accelerated, so that shortly 
 after he was able to reach Hartford. Upon his ap 
 pearance, the charges preferred against him by the 
 Narragansetts were taken up, and the examination 
 of their integrity begun. One of the Mohegans was 
 produced by Uncas in his defence, who, going over 
 the story of the Wunnashowatuckoogs, declared 
 there were but a hundred men; and as for the de 
 struction of the corn-fields, they took a few ears to 
 roast; and as for anything else that they might have 
 done, it was of a harmless character. The Narra 
 gansetts asserted this story of the Mohegan to be 
 untrue, the consequence of which was that the 
 hearing became almost immediately a scene of 
 violent recrimination. 
 
 Awearied by this war of words, the council finally 
 dismissed the charges, after which an attempt was 
 
 [333] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 made to reconcile the two sachems. It is recorded 
 that they shook hands, after which the Narra- 
 gansetts cordially twice asked Uncas to a venison 
 feast. One is compelled to observe, in passing, 
 that the instincts of a gentleman were more appar 
 ent in the Narragansett than in the Mohegan. 1 
 Whatever of hostile design the latter may have had 
 against the Narragansett sachem, it is evident, in 
 this refusal to accept of the proffered hospitality, 
 that he reserved the right to undertake whatever 
 design he had in mind, unfettered by the restraint 
 which this breaking of bread with Miantunnumoh 
 might impose upon him. In a private conference 
 with the council the latter revealed the names of 
 the six Pequod sachems remaining, as well as the 
 surviving Pequods who had been mixed up in the 
 killing of the English. This list, afterward written 
 out, was read to Uncas, who acknowledged its cor 
 rectness. The sachems were Nausibouck, of Long 
 Island; Puppompogs, a brother of Sassacus; Kit- 
 hansh; Nanasquionwut at Mohegan; and Maus- 
 aumpous at Nehantic. 
 
 The result of this was an investigation to dis 
 cover the number and whereabouts of the remain 
 ing Pequods. The Narragansetts said Canonicus 
 
 1 Hubbard says of Miantonomoh, he "was a very good 
 personage, of tall stature, subtil and cunning in his con- 
 trivements, as well as haughty in his designs." 
 
 History of New England, p. 446. 
 
 [334] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 had no Pequods; Miantunnumoh, ten or eleven, 
 who were those left of the seventy who had made 
 submission to him at one time and another, but 
 who had never actually come into his country, else 
 they had left him of their own accord. With the 
 exception of these above enumerated, the Narra- 
 gansetts asserted that the remainder of the Pequods 
 held their ancient territory in occupancy, or were 
 to be found among the Mohegans. Wlien Uncas 
 was questioned as to his knowledge of this, he 
 avoided it after his characteristic fashion. As an 
 adept in duplicity Uncas was a savage Talleyrand. 
 He did not know the names of his Pequods; he 
 could not state them. He had but a few, anyway. 
 He said Ninigret and three other Nehantic sa 
 chems had Pequods. As for himself, he had "only 
 twenty." 
 
 He was bluntly charged by Thomas Stanton with 
 lying about the matter. Others present charged 
 Uncas with bringing over thirty to forty Pequods 
 from Long Island at one time; whereupon he then 
 acknowledged that he had thirty, but still asserted 
 that he did not know their names. Such was the 
 uncertainty involved in this examination that the 
 council directed him to appear before them again 
 at the end of ten days, at which time he was ex 
 pected to be able to inform it as to the names and 
 exact numbers of the Pequods in his country. 
 
 A special messenger was sent to the Nehantics 
 to obtain a census of the Pequods who were with 
 
 [335] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 that tribe. 1 Whether or not these conditions were 
 afterward fulfilled is somewhat obscure, as there is 
 no existing record of any further transactions in this 
 direction by the Hartford Council. A subsequent 
 meeting, however, was held, at which the remaining 
 number of the Pequods was agreed upon, which 
 number was finally estimated at two hundred, not 
 including the women and children. 
 
 On October 31, 1638, what was at that time re 
 garded as the final act in the consummation of the 
 purpose of the English with the Indians was en 
 tered into by John Haynes, Roger Ludlow, and Ed 
 ward Hopkins, as the English representatives of 
 Connecticut; by the sachem of the Narragansetts, in 
 behalf of his people; and by Uncas, for himself and 
 his sagamores. This was a tripartite agreement, by 
 which was to be preserved a lasting peace between 
 all parties, by means of which all past provocations, 
 controversies, and quarrels were to be forever for 
 gotten. 
 
 The English, undoubtedly realizing that this lat 
 ter was an impossible condition, so modified the 
 treaty that in case differences should arise between 
 the Narragansetts and the Mohegans the com 
 plaining party was to appeal to them as the court 
 of last resort, whose findings in any matters brought 
 before them, affecting the interest of either of these 
 
 1 Roger Williams s Letters. 
 R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., pp. 145-148. 
 
 [336] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 tribes, should be accepted as final. A proviso 
 was inserted as well, that should either the Narra- 
 gansetts or the Mohegans refuse to be guided by the 
 judgment of the English, the latter would be justi 
 fied in employing force to compel submission. It 
 also provided that the Mohegans and Narragan- 
 setts were to engage in the common cause against 
 such of the Pequods as had killed any of the Eng 
 lish; and they agreed to cut off their heads and 
 bring them to the magistrates at Hartford. The two 
 hundred male Pequods mentioned as at that time 
 being distributed among the Mohegans, Narragan- 
 setts, and Nehantics were to be divided. Ninigret 
 was to have twenty; Miantunnumoh, eighty; the 
 remainder were given to Uncas. 1 An annual tribute 
 was exacted of a fathom of wampum for each male, 
 a half-fathom for each youth, and a hand for each 
 male child. The Pequods were prohibited from 
 occupying any portion of their former country, and 
 stripped of their name. They were thereafter to be 
 known only as Narragansetts and Mohegans. 
 
 With their usual disposition to drive a good, stiff 
 bargain upon every favorable opportunity, the 
 English prevailed upon the Narragansetts and the 
 Mohegans to relinquish any rights of conquest they 
 might have to the Pequod territory, which, by that 
 treaty, was to pass into the hands of the English of 
 Connecticut. 2 When this treaty was concluded, 
 
 1 Mason, 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. viii., pp. 148, 149. 
 2 R. 7. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., p. 177. 
 
 [337] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and the sachems of the Narragansetts and the Mo- 
 hegans had bidden the council farewell, and had 
 betaken themselves upon their journey to their 
 several domains, the curtain had for the last time 
 fallen over the fortunes of the Pequods. /IF is safe 
 to assume that a peace obtained in such manner, 
 the foundations of which were almost wholly made 
 up of acts of injustice, hatred, and bloodshed, could 
 not be otherwise than of short duration. Within a 
 year and a half the national existence of a coura 
 geous, yet savage race had been obliterated; and 
 while the wars of the English and the Pequods were 
 forever at an end, the rival jealousies of Uncas and 
 Miantunnumoh were to afford a no less disreputable 
 chapter of history for the English than that which 
 records their dealings with the Pequods. 
 
 From that moment when Holmes passed the 
 Dutch fort at Hartford, as he sailed up the Connec 
 ticut with his handful, of colonists, the English had 
 sown to the wind. ( The harvest was inevitable. 
 Blinded by self-interest, indifferent to the red man, 
 taking refuge behind pretense, adepts in dissimula 
 tion, and not above the degrading meanness in 
 volved in the trafficking in their own kind, 1 it was 
 fortunate for the English, at this time, that to them 
 
 1 "Although Governor Winthrop tells us how the male chil 
 dren were disposed of/ and also what disposition was made 
 of the women and maid children, he is si ent in regard to the 
 disposal of a great body of the adult males. Hutchinson says, 
 
 [338] 
 
THE PEQUOD WAR 
 
 the future was an unknown quantity; for across the 
 wall of every English cabin was already written in 
 invisible letters the prophecy that the sins of the 
 fathers should be visited upon the children. 
 
 Many of the captives were sent to Bermuda and sold as 
 slaves. Enslaving Indians had become a mania with spec 
 ulators. Felt, in his annals of Salem and Ipswich, informs us 
 that it was a common occurrence for voyages to be made to 
 sell captured Indians, and bring back cotton, tobacco, salt, 
 negroes, etc. Mather enlightens us by the fervor with which 
 he relates, under the caption Arma virosque cane, 9 troubles 
 which the churches have undergone in the wars with the 
 Indians. He says, The dispersed became as so many un 
 kenneled wolves. However, Heaven so smiled upon the 
 English hunting after them that here and there whole com 
 panies were trepanned into the hunter s hands. Particularly 
 at one time some hundreds of them were seized by Captain 
 Stoughton, with little opposition, who, sending away the 
 females and children as captives, put the men on board a ves 
 sel of one Skipper Gallup, which proved a Charon s ferry-boat 
 unto them, for it was found the quickest was to feed the fishes 
 with em. Our forces had frequently the satisfaction of cutting 
 them off by companies." 3 
 
 Freeman s Civilization and Barbarism, p. 64, note. 
 
 [339] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 TO fully comprehend the policy of the English 
 toward the aborigine it is necessary to follow 
 somewhat further the fortunes of the Indians of 
 Connecticut, who, like so many dogs, were to be set 
 at the throats each of the other, as occasion offered, 
 which the English were not slow to encourage. 1 
 From the close of the Pequod War, in 1637, to the 
 outbreak of King Philip, 1675, the English settle 
 ments along the Connecticut River westward, and 
 those extending east of the Piscataquis River as far 
 as Pemaquid, are to be regarded as forming the 
 frontier of the English occupation in New England. 
 East, and north of Narragansett Bay, the attitude 
 of the Indians toward the English was pacific. 
 South and west, jealousies of long standing between 
 
 1<c Only because the Indians were set against the Indians, 
 giving opportunity to the whites to find most effective allies 
 in their forest warfare, could the early colonists from Spain, 
 France or England have been so uniformly the conquerors. 
 . . . The policy of the whites was to aggravate the dissen 
 sion of the tribes, and to make alliance with one or more of 
 them." 
 
 Ellis, Memorial History of Boston, vol. L, p. 252. 
 
 It is evident from the dealings of the English with the 
 Narragansetts that, as to this particular tribe, from the first 
 their policy was to leave it to its fate so far as any interference 
 on their part might be called for. 
 
 [343] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the Narragansetts, Mohegans, and latterly the 
 Mohawks had shifted to Western Connecticut 
 those savage activities which became not infre 
 quently a source of much anxiety and uneasiness 
 to the Rhode Island and Connecticut colonies. Im 
 mediately after the subjection of the Pequods the 
 Narragansetts largely outnumbered the other Con 
 necticut tribes. Either by reason of their discon 
 tent; or realizing, perhaps, that the English had not 
 taken them into their full confidence, as seemed to 
 be the fact with the Mohegans; or possibly because 
 their importance in numbers had not procured for 
 them sovereignty over the smaller tribes; or possibly 
 out of a spirit of envy against Uncas, a Mohegan 
 sachem, who had been able to ingratiate himself 
 with the English, 1 and who seemed always to be 
 
 144 The alliance into which the whites had entered in order 
 to divide their savage foes were the occasions of future en 
 tanglements in a tortuous policy, and of later bloody struggles 
 of an appalling character." 
 
 Ellis, Memorial History of Boston, p. 254. 
 
 The religious belief that their possession of New England 
 was fortified by "Divine Rights" was the Puritan excuse for 
 a duplicity and inhumanity which proved but steps to a sav 
 agery to which that of the untutored aborigine was incom 
 parable; for while they read their way to the complacent 
 heights of faith taught by the Nazarene, they besmeared their 
 Bibles with the blood of helpless women and children. Even 
 clergymen like Mather, Hubbard, and some others were no 
 less malignant in their exultant comment over the destruction 
 of a "subtle Brood and Generation of Vipers." 
 
 [344] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 engaged in some mischievous machinations against 
 them; or incapable, as well, of forgetting the ancient 
 traditions of their people; or dissatisfied with the 
 distribution of the spoils of the Pequot enterprise; 
 for some one, or perhaps all, of these reasons, 
 it was inevitable that the inveterate hatred of the 
 savage for his enemy should terminate in an open 
 and disastrous quarrel. 1 
 
 Between the advent of Massasoit and the later 
 assumption of power by Philip of Mount Hope, the 
 Mohegan sachem Uncas may be regarded as the 
 most prominent and influential of the New Eng 
 land savages; for it was about 1638 this sachem 
 was nearing the zenith of his power. His career 
 may be regarded as having begun the previous 
 year, upon the extinction of the Pequods by the 
 English, before which time he was overshadowed 
 by the prestige of Sassacus and his fear of that 
 belligerent sachem. After the massacre of Sassacus 
 and his warriors by the Mohawks a tragic inci 
 dent which no doubt had its inspiration in the de 
 sire of the Mohawks to obtain some friendly footing 
 
 "Impartial history has entirely and fully decreed that the 
 Narragansetts were the aggrieved and wronged party." 
 Hubbard s Indian Wars, vol. ii., p. 39, note. 
 Mather s Relation. 
 
 Governor Hopkins, in Mass. Hist. Coll. 
 Arnold, Rhode Island. 
 Drake, Book of the Indians. 
 Hubbard, History of New England, p. 446. 
 
 [345] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 with the English Uncas, relieved from the perils 
 of the war-path, cherishing the traditional enmity 
 of his people for the Narragansetts, and anxious to 
 maintain his prerogative with the English, began to 
 plot the downfall of his rival, Miantunnumoh. 
 
 For reasons that are somewhat obscure as attach 
 ing to the policy of the English toward the Narra 
 gansetts, the course of which was so uneven that it 
 might well have aroused suspicion on the part of 
 that people, as it inevitably did at a later day, 
 it may be regarded as the cause of much of the ill- 
 feeling which finally deprived the Narragansetts of 
 their leader. 1 Drake has remarked that "the con 
 tinual broils which prevailed between them" (hav 
 ing reference to the Narragansetts and the Mohe- 
 gans), of which the English were generally the in 
 stigators and not infrequently the aggressors, may 
 
 J "The English seem to always have been more favorably 
 inclined toward other tribes than the Narragansetts, as ap 
 pears from the stand they took in the wars between them and 
 their enemies, and so long as other tribes succeeded against 
 them, the English were idle spectators; but whenever the scale 
 turned in their favor, they were not slow to intercede." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, p. 60. 
 
 To accomplish the death of Miantunnumoh the English 
 were actively allied to the Mohegan sachem Uncas. Mian 
 tunnumoh disposed of, afterward, when the Narragansetts 
 and Nehantics had Uncas penned in his fort, to finally achieve 
 a considerable victory over the Mohegans, the English left 
 Uncas to get out of his difficulty as he might. 
 
 Ibid, p. 68. 
 
 [346] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 be regarded as among the causes which led King 
 Philip ultimately to question the integrity of his 
 English neighbors. The old Narragansett sachem 
 Canonicus, 1 like Massasoit, had shown toward the 
 English a most friendly disposition. The Narra- 
 
 1 After the incident of 1622, when Canonicus sent to Brad 
 ford a bundle of arrows tied with the skin of a rattlesnake, 
 which might have been a ruse to try the temper of the Plym 
 outh Colony, the Narragansett sachem became an avowed 
 friend of the English. The act may have been occasioned by 
 a feeling of jealousy against Massasoit, who had been taken 
 into open favor by the Plymouth government. His sending 
 the Narragansetts to Neponset may have been actuated by a 
 more honest purpose than was credited by Winthrop, recalling 
 the killing of Oldham by the Pequots, and the commission of 
 other outrages by them upon the Connecticut River settlers, 
 following so closely upon the departure of this savage em 
 bassy. 
 
 "While the murder of Oldham was the work of the Nehan- 
 tics, Cannonicus and Miantunnumoh were fully exonerated 
 from any connection with the crime." 
 
 Hubbard, History of New England, p. 250. 
 
 "Lieut. Gibbons and Mr. Higginson were sent soon after, 
 with Cushammakin, the sachem of the Massachusetts, to 
 Cannonicus, to treat with him about the murder of J. Oldham. 
 They returned with acceptance and good success of their 
 business; observing in the sachem much state, great com 
 mand of his men, and marvellous wisdom in his answers; and 
 in the carriage of the whole treaty clearing himself and his 
 neighbors of the murder, and offering revenge of it, yet upon 
 very safe and wary conditions." 
 
 Ibid, p. 251. 
 
 [347] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 gansetts had not been known as a warlike people, 
 yet there were not lacking those who set all sorts of 
 rumors afoot, alleging their hostility toward the 
 early settlers. An instance of this is afforded, in 
 1631, when Boston was thrown into a sudden fer 
 ment over a report that three hundred Narragan- 
 setts were concealed in the neighborhood of the 
 Watertown marshes, whose errand was hostile, and 
 who were biding the favorable moment when they 
 might descend upon Charlestown, which was just 
 across the Mystic. 1 
 
 As early as 1632, Miantunnumoh, who at this 
 time had assumed the leadership of the Narragan- 
 setts, paid the English a visit in Boston, where he 
 remained two nights. He was known at that time 
 as Mecumeh. While here he attended church with 
 the English, and it was during this absence from his 
 warriors, twelve of whom had kept him company on 
 his journey thither, that some of them broke into a 
 
 ^utchinson says, "The colonists were frequently alarmed 
 this year (1631), but happily for them in their feeble, infant 
 state, only alarmed." The Tarratines made a descent on 
 Agawam (near Ipswich) , and there was some trouble between 
 the English traders and some of the Narragansetts at Sowam 
 (near Bristol) . These disturbances impelled the settlers to be 
 constantly watchful. 
 
 Ellis says, "There was never any serious collision on the 
 spot between the natives and the occupants of Boston and its 
 immediate neighborhood." 
 
 Winsor s Memorial History of Boston, p. 250. 
 
 [348] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 house and committed some depredations which 
 were complained of to the English governor, "who 
 told the sachem of it and with some difficulty caused 
 him to make one of his sannaps [attendants], beat 
 them." Those who had been engaged in this mis 
 chief were immediately sent out of the town, after 
 which Miantunnumoh and those warriors who had 
 remained behind were entertained by the governor 
 at his house, "who made much of them." 1 
 
 That the English had nothing to complain of on 
 the part of the Narragansett sachem is evidenced 
 by the alacrity of the latter in assisting the English 
 in the carrying out of their purpose against the 
 Pequods. Miantunnumoh was not only generous 
 toward them as to his service, but likewise as to his 
 lands a generosity of spirit which certainly was 
 
 ^ Amongst the rest, August 5, 1632, one of the great sa 
 chems of the Narragansetts, (that most populous company 
 of all the Indians in those parts,) called Mecumeh, but after 
 ward Miantunnumoh, came down to Boston to make peace 
 or a league with the English, either of fear or love. While 
 himself and his followers were at the sermon, three of them 
 withdrew from the assembly; and being pinched with hunger, 
 (for venter non habet aures, ) broke into an English house in 
 sermon time to get victuals. The sagamore, (an honest 
 spirited fellow as his after actions declared,) was hardly per 
 suaded to order them any bodily punishment; but to prevent 
 the shame of his attendants, forthwith sent them out of town, 
 and followed himself not long after." 
 
 Hubbard, History of New England, p. 144. 
 
 [349] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ill requited at the hands of the English. 1 Miantun- 
 numoh s errand to Boston was to obtain the assist 
 ance of the English in the settlement of some 
 claims for grievous wrongs inflicted upon him and 
 
 1 The Narragansetts were generously disposed toward the 
 English settler. In the disposition of their lands, Roger 
 Williams had fared well; also Samuel Gorton and some of 
 his friends, who purchased Shawomet (afterward Warwick) of 
 Miantunnumoh and Canonicus. The Puritans did not ap 
 prove of Gorton and his settlement, and they put Pumham^ 
 sachem of Shawomet, forward to claim the territory conveyed 
 to Gorton. Supported and advised by the English, Pumham 
 claimed the chief sachemship of the Narragansetts. The 
 government at Massachusetts Bay, to lend to their contention 
 the appearance of disinterestedness, which, from their subse 
 quent effort at self- vindication, they "thought there was a 
 chance to doubt," made entry of the transaction. "Send for 
 the foresaid sachems [who had complained of Mr. Gorton and 
 others through the instigation of the English] and upon exam 
 ination find, both by English and Indian testimony, that 
 Miantunnumoh was only a usurper, and had no title to the 
 foresaid lands." Drake says this is "against the testimony of 
 every record and the annulment of the powers fully vested in 
 Cannonicus." Miantunnumoh was the son of the sachem 
 Mascus, nephew of Canonicus. Pumham was sachem of 
 Shawomet, and had received somewhat of the consideration 
 paid by Gorton. To complicate matters, the Plymouth Col 
 ony laid claim to Shawomet through Massasoit. In the con 
 troversy Pumham was stabbed by the Wampanoag Naw- 
 washawenck, while the commissioners of the United Colonies, 
 after several years of delayed consideration, decided "that 
 though said tract of land fell within Plimouth bounds, it 
 should henceforth belong to Massachusetts." Drake remarks, 
 
 [350] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 his people by Wequash Cook, the Pequod spy, and 
 the Nehantic sachem Ninigret. In this instance 
 the Narragansett sachem was sent home with the 
 assurance that he might right his own wrongs as 
 he pleased; 1 and it is to be noted here that in the 
 following year, when Ninigret was complained of 
 to the English by the Long Island Indians, that 
 the former had committed some robberies upon 
 them, Captain Mason was at once despatched 
 from Connecticut with seven men to require satis 
 faction from the Nehantic sachem forthwith, with 
 the result that the matter was amicably settled. 2 
 This is the last we hear of the Nehantic sachem 
 until after the death of Miantunnumoh. 
 
 The following three years passed without inci 
 dent. The overthrow of the Pequods had opened 
 up large areas of land to the English occupation; 
 considerable numbers of immigrants were arriving 
 from England; and the natives, grateful for their 
 delivery from the robberies of the Pequods, and as 
 well impressed with the power of the English, were 
 
 that "by reason of this conveyance the Puritan government 
 soon made evident its resentment toward Miantunnumoh, 
 and here we cannot but discover the germ of all the subse 
 quent disasters of that sachem." 
 
 Drake, Book of the Indians, vol. iii., pp. 71, 72. 
 
 Massachusetts State Papers. 
 
 Hutchinson, and Hazard Papers. 
 
 1 Drake, Book of the Indians, vol. iii., p. 68. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 [351] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 silent while this absorption of their lands was being 
 consummated. With their usual improvidence, 
 they failed to forecast the results of this establish 
 ment of so many of the English in their country; 
 nor did it occur to them, as a further result of this 
 occupation, that their hunting-grounds would be 
 depleted of game, while their extinction as a race 
 was no less inevitable. They valued their lands 
 lightly, but looked with childish admiration upon 
 the gauds and ornaments and some common uten 
 sils which the English offered them; and without 
 thought or regret they accepted the latter for vast 
 areas of lands; nor had they come to a realizing 
 sense of their condition, by reason of this impover 
 ishment of natural resources, until the situation was 
 beyond their recall. 
 
 In the treaty mentioned in the preceding chapter, 
 the English were to retain the country of the Pe- 
 quods as by right of conquest; and being situated 
 between the Niantic and Paucatuck streams, which 
 was comprised in the once considerable townships 
 of New London, Groton, and Stonington, it is not 
 made clear by the English that they otherwise ever 
 obtained any of these lands by legitimate title; and 
 while no one disputed their title under these pre 
 tenses, it was not until some time thereafter that 
 any settlement of importance was erected within 
 these boundaries. 
 
 It was a fine country, with which the English be 
 came better and better acquainted as they carried 
 
 [352] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 on their hunts for the refugee Pequods. Its climate 
 was mild, and its soil fertile and well disposed 
 toward the seacoast west of the Connecticut River. 
 Reports of the excellence of the territory reached 
 Boston, from which place there came, in the spring 
 of 1638, a colony of planters. They preempted the 
 lands about the little Bay of New Haven, which 
 was the habitation of the Quinnipiacks, who raised 
 no objection. As a matter of fact, the Indians wel 
 comed these white strangers ; for the reason, doubt 
 less, that their coming would lend them greater 
 security against the incursion of marauding savages 
 to the westward, especially the Mohawks. 
 
 At the close of this year, December 4, the Quin 
 nipiacks entered into a treaty with these planters. 
 Monauguin, the Quinnipiack sachem, under this 
 treaty gave to the English all the lands of Quinni 
 piack, their rivers, ponds, and trees; and, for this, 
 stipulated that they were to hunt and fish through 
 out the domain as had been their custom; and, in 
 addition, a reservation was made of a small tract 
 on the east side of the harbor, which was to be used 
 by them as their planting-grounds. The English 
 were to use the meadows, and cut down trees; nor 
 were the savages to set traps and other snares which 
 would cause injury to the cattle of the English; 
 along with numerous other conditions too unimpor 
 tant to be considered here. They agreed that each 
 should not molest the other; and in case any per 
 sonal injury or damage was committed, suitable 
 
 [353] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 reparation should be made. As a singular part of 
 this treaty, a census of these people is mentioned, 
 by which one learns that the men and youths of the 
 Quinnipiacks were forty-seven, which is followed 
 by a curious condition, that the Quinnipiacks 
 would allow no other Indians among them without 
 first obtaining leave of the English. To this treaty 
 are attached the totems of the sachem, his four coun 
 cillors, and his sister. The sachem s totem was a 
 bow; the others were comprised of a fish-hook, a 
 crooked line, a war-club, and a curious hieroglyphic 
 which as much resembles a tobacco-pipe as any 
 thing else. 1 
 
 The consideration for this large tract of land was 
 made up of twelve coats of English trading-cloth, 
 twelve alchemy-spoons, twelve hatchets, twelve 
 hoes, two dozen knives, twelve porringers, and four 
 cases of French knives and scissors. From the 
 English point of view, these considerations repre 
 sented the value received. It is probable that this 
 savage people were practically ignorant of the Eng 
 lish ways of living; and it is evident that it did not 
 occur to them that the English would endeavor to 
 obtain a living by any other means than trading, 
 fishing, and hunting. Had they for a moment been 
 gifted, like the Cobbler Keezar, with a lap-stone to 
 have given them the vision of a seer, they would 
 
 ^eForest, p. 164, and Appendix, pp. 231-236; also art. iv. 
 Records of New Haven Colony. 
 Bacon s Historical Discourses. 
 
 [354] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 have looked in vain for the wigwam of their own 
 race; the graves of their forefathers would have been 
 obliterate; and whatever vestige of themselves 
 remained would have become charges upon the 
 State. Their immense forests would have disap 
 peared; the wild animals that haunted their recesses 
 would have vanished with them; the rivers would 
 have been barren of their fish; while for every rude 
 cabin of the white settler would have arisen a pop 
 ulous city from which stretched away toward the 
 hills the spacious open places of cultivated lands. 
 Only the far horizon of the hills would have re 
 mained to them as familiars, upon which the flying 
 clouds painted their pictures of mystery, from 
 which they had many of their tribal traditions. Had 
 they thus been able to have broken the veil of the 
 future apart, to have discounted the vast ambitions 
 of this alien race with its unscrupulous greed of 
 aggrandizement, its indifference to the commonest 
 claims to humanity wherever the savage was con 
 cerned, and its hypocritical pretenses, they possibly 
 would have preferred the Pequod as their tax- 
 collector and the scalping-knife of the Mohawk as a 
 lesser peril ; for wherever the white man set his foot 
 the trail of the savage was forever blotted out. In 
 the white man s cup they were to discover the 
 poison for which their knowledge supplied no 
 antidote. 1 
 
 1 It was the story of Sinbad and the Old Man of the Sea in 
 [355] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 The Puritans of the New Haven Colony, in their 
 peaceful and friendly disposition toward the sav 
 ages, have been likened to the Quakers of Phila 
 delphia, between whom and the Indians with whom 
 they transacted business was an invariable peace 
 and quietness. It is recorded that between the 
 settlers at Quinnipiack and their savage grantors 
 no difficulty or dispute arose, so long as the In 
 dians remained in their immediate neighborhood. 
 These people occupied their little reservation before 
 mentioned, on the east side of the Bay, and here 
 they made habitat for a long time in unnoticed se 
 clusion, making their living mostly upon the shell 
 fish which were abundant in the harbor. With a 
 fort to lend them a sense of security, they felt them 
 selves immune from invasion. A few days after the 
 Quinnipiack treaty, or, to be more exact, Decem 
 ber 21, the land northeast and northwest of the 
 tribe was conceded to the New Haven settlers. It 
 comprised an area of possibly one hundred thirty 
 square miles. In return for it the usual considera 
 tion of coats and small tools was given; and in this 
 case, as with the Quinnipiacks, a small reservation 
 
 a more modern version. "A few years back an Indian was 
 recognized as a brother, and a friend and ally of King James; 
 now he is liable to charge of sedition if he does not tamely 
 submit to injury. Mather confesses There were near ap 
 proaches to war between the English and several nations of 
 Indians, but war was happily avoided by an obsta printipiis. " 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 66. 
 
 [356] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 was retained, which was to afford a living-place for 
 the savages. 1 
 
 In the following year, in February, for some 
 coats, blankets, a kettle, some hoes, knives, hatch 
 ets, and a looking-glass, the Paugessets conveyed to 
 the English what is now a large part of Milford. 
 The ancient custom of delivery by twig and turf 
 was observed in this case. The sachem Ansantawae 
 stuck the twig into the turf and gave both into the 
 hands of the English. By this he had passed to the 
 English the land and all that it sustained. 2 This 
 tribe at this time was so numerous that the colonists, 
 after laying out their village, which compassed a 
 mile square, surrounded it with a palisade evi 
 dently that they might be better protected by re 
 quiring the Indians to enter the town at certain 
 designated places. 
 
 This same year a small tribe had their habitat in 
 what is now Fairfield, which compassed a large 
 tract; but as the records of Fairfield were destroyed, 
 
 1 This treaty was made on the part of the Indians by 
 Montowese, a son of Sowheag, the sachem who was the cause 
 of the foray on the Wethersfield settlement. His totem was a 
 bow with an arrow fitted to its string. In this treaty he says 
 that he obtained his land from his deceased mother, which 
 allows the inference that the savages observed certain rights 
 in heredity. 
 
 Records of New Haven Colony. 
 
 DeForest, p. 166. 
 
 2 Lambart s History of New Haven Colony, p. 86. 
 [357] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the particulars are unknown. One other settle 
 ment was made during this year, at what is now 
 Guilford, the date of its purchase being October 9. 
 It probably included some part of the present East 
 Haven. The usual consideration was varied in this 
 case by the addition of some wampum, some shoes, 
 stockings, hats, and spoons. As a part of the con 
 sideration, the savages agreed to abandon the prop 
 erty to the English, which they did, joining their 
 kindred further to the west. 1 
 
 In the previous pages, the differences between 
 Sowheag and the planters of Wethersfield have 
 been referred to in the relation of an incident which 
 preceded, by a short interval of time, the breaking 
 out of the Pequod War. While the Pequod War 
 was going on this matter was brought before the 
 General Court of Connecticut, which adjudicated 
 finally that the settlers of Wethersfield had been the 
 aggressors. An offer of friendship was sent to the 
 Waugunk sachem (whose warriors had been im 
 plicated in the raid on Wethersfield), providing he 
 would surrender those concerned in the attack. The 
 issue between the English and the Pequods being 
 at that time somewhat uncertain, Sowheag, relying 
 upon the former prowess of the Pequods, and as 
 well in the fighting-men of his own tribe, declined 
 to listen to the English; but in August, 1639, the 
 Pequods having been thoroughly vanquished, this 
 matter was again renewed, by the resolve upon the 
 
 1 Vide Guilford Records. 
 
 [358] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 part of the Connecticut magistrates to mete out to 
 Sowheag the same punishment which had been 
 visited upon the Pequods. The General Court 
 ordered a levy of one hundred men; and the differ 
 ent settlements were notified so they might provide 
 for their own defence. 
 
 It is evident that the mantle of peace set lightly 
 upon the English shoulders. This course of action 
 on the part of the Connecticut magistrates was not 
 agreeable to Governor Eaton and his friends, who 
 hitherto had been inclined in a friendly way to the 
 Indians, nor had their experience taught them 
 either to hate or fear the savages. They protested 
 with great earnestness against this design, summing 
 up with the relation of the great expense and suffer 
 ing which had been the natural outcome of the war 
 with the Pequods, urging upon the settlers the fact 
 that to prosecute the development of the country 
 successfully, they not only needed all the means at 
 their command, but their men as well. The argu 
 ment was so convincing that all preparations for 
 war were laid aside, to be followed by an amicable 
 adjustment of the differences between the Wethers- 
 field settlers and Sowheag, who, having removed 
 to Mattabesett (Middletown) , was left to his own 
 devices. 1 
 
 1 The treaty with Montowese Records of New Haven 
 Colony. 
 
 Colonial Records, vol. i., pp. 19, 31. 
 Truinbull, vol. i., p. 108. 
 
 [359] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Following this, it was reported to the court that 
 the Pequods were violating the treaty of 1638, by 
 reason of their having united themselves into a 
 considerable body, after which they established 
 themselves anew in their ancient country. They 
 had set up their wigwams adjacent to the Nehantics 
 along the shore of the Paucatuck, with the consent 
 of this latter tribe, to which they had become tribu 
 tary. They had not only broken the treaty, but had 
 become trespassers on that part of the Pequod 
 territory claimed by the English; and it was ordered 
 by the court that they should not only be punished, 
 but should be ejected from these lands. John 
 Mason, with forty men, who was at once joined by 
 Uncas, with twenty canoes and one hundred Mohe- 
 gans, was despatched to the mouth of the Pauca 
 tuck, where he encountered a party of three Pe 
 quods. To these he committed a message which 
 they were to carry to the Pequod settlement, which 
 was that they "must leave the country immedi 
 ately or he would drive them away by force, carry 
 off their corn, and burn their wigwams." These 
 involuntary messengers pledged themselves to re 
 turn with the answer; but, once free of the English, 
 they forgot their promise to Mason. Mason, wait 
 ing somewhat, landed his men to make a sudden 
 attack upon the village, where he captured a few 
 old men who through their infirmities were unable 
 to escape. They found in the wigwams an abun 
 dance of corn, which was given over to Uncas and 
 
 [360] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 his people; and, while engaged in securing this 
 plunder, sixty of the Pequods broke over the crest 
 of a neighboring hill, to charge into their midst. 
 The Mohegans awaited this onslaught until the 
 Pequods were some thirty yards from them, when 
 the silence was broken by a tumult of war-whoops. 
 Swinging their weapons above their heads, they 
 met the Mohegans, to engage in the confusion of 
 noise and conflict, while Mason and his men re 
 mained passive spectators. 
 
 It was an almost bloodless conflict, in which no 
 lives were lost. A movement on the part of Mason 
 and his men caused the Pequods to take instant 
 flight. In this melee seven Pequods were captured. 
 None were killed by the English, Mason s anxiety 
 being, evidently, not to arouse the Pequods to a 
 spirit of revenge; but those captured were so insult 
 ing that Mason was about to "make them a head 
 shorter" when Yotaash, a brother of Miantunnu- 
 moh, interceded, saying, "They are my brother s 
 men. He is a friend to the English. You shall have 
 the heads of seven murderers in their stead." 
 Mason gave the Pequods into the hands of Uncas; 
 but as to their final fate, history is silent. 
 
 Nightfall found Mason and his men here on the 
 bank of the river, where they spent the night; and 
 early in the morning, as they looked across the 
 stream, they were surprised by the appearance of a 
 considerable body of Indians, whose number they 
 estimated at three hundred. They at once caught 
 
 [361] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 up their muskets, but the Indians had disappeared. 
 In response to the hail of the English, who ex 
 pressed a desire to hold a parley with them, some 
 few of the savages emerged from their hiding places 
 and came to the edge of the stream; and to these, 
 Mason, through his interpreter, related the reason 
 for his apparently hostile expedition among them, 
 which was that the Pequods, having broken the 
 Hartford treaty by organizing themselves as a 
 separate community, and as well by making their 
 ancient country their habitat, had compelled the 
 English to this action. The reply which came across 
 the waters was, "The Pequots who live here are 
 good men, and we will certainly fight for them and 
 protect them." Mason challenged them at once by 
 saying, "Very well; it is not far to the head of the 
 creek; I will meet you there, and you may do what 
 you can at fighting ! " To which the savages returned, 
 "We will not fight with the English, for they are 
 spirits; but we will fight with Uncas." 
 
 As it turned out, the savages with whom Mason 
 was holding his conference were of the Nehantics 
 and Narragansetts, who had interfered in behalf 
 of their tributaries in this effort to drive them from 
 their country. They were loth, however, to engage 
 in the fight with the English, whom they regarded 
 as Manittos (supernatural beings). In reply to 
 this, Mason announced that he should occupy him 
 self that day in the destruction of the Pequod vil 
 lage, and the carrying away of the Pequod harvest; 
 
 [362] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 moreover, that if they wished to attack him they 
 could do so at their leisure. The roll of the English 
 drums filled the woods with their vibrant echo, 
 while the English took up their work of devasta 
 tion, which they accomplished without further in 
 terference. When he had destroyed the Pequod 
 village and loaded his vessel with the product of 
 their harvest, Mason sailed away up the river, fol 
 lowed by his allies, who had accumulated for them 
 selves a considerable store of mats, kettles, and 
 other property of the Pequods, which they had 
 loaded into their own canoes and, as well, into thirty 
 others which the Pequods had left behind them in 
 their flight. 1 This, evidently, was the last foray 
 against the Pequods, of whom little or nothing is 
 recorded for almost a decade after; unless one may 
 attach something of importance to the isolate in 
 stances wherein perhaps punishment was meted 
 out to those who were regarded by the English (and 
 not always justly) as worthy of peremptory dis 
 position. 2 
 
 1 Mason s History. 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xviii., pp. 149-151. 
 
 DeForest, p. 172, note: "The band thus broken up was 
 probably under Wequash, or Wequash Cook, who, as we 
 learn from Roger Williams Letters [R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., 
 p. 141] had collected, even during the previous year, about 
 sixty Pequots in the Nehantic country. After this disaster, 
 Wequash removed to near Saybrook on the Connecticut, 
 where he died in 1642." 
 
 2 A Connecticut historian notes that the New Haven settle- 
 [363] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 As the years grew, the population along the Con 
 necticut River increased. Purchases of lands from 
 the Indians were being consummated, and the pur 
 chase of 1636 from Sequassen was followed by 
 another purchase of the same territory in 1640 
 evidently with the intention of putting the Indians 
 into better humor. During this and the follow 
 ing year other convenient and fertile lands were 
 bought by the English; and it has been noted by 
 one historian that while private sales and gifts at 
 
 ment never had any quarrels with the Indians in its vicinity, 
 but it was not without its instance of manifest injustice. 
 
 A Pequot sachem, Nepaupuck, was apprehended as a 
 criminal, and summarily executed. He fought the English 
 with his people, and was noted as among the bravest of their 
 warriors. He had killed a Wethersfield settler, one Abraham 
 Finch, and as well other white men, whose hands he had cut 
 off and carried to Sassacus. His tribe disrupted, he wandered 
 about for some time homeless and probably without friends. 
 On one of these occasions he happened into the New Haven 
 settlement, accompanied by another Indian. He was no 
 sooner recognized than he was deprived of his liberty. The 
 English bound him, as they thought, securely; but by the 
 assistance of his companion he had nearly gained his freedom 
 when he was fastened in the stocks, and his savage acquaint 
 ance was dismissed with a flogging. The authorities sum 
 moned the Quinnipiacks to tell what they knew of the pris 
 oner. The evidence was conclusive; but one of his kinsmen 
 interceded, only to be compelled to confess that the charges 
 against the Pequot accused were true. Nepaupuck was put 
 upon his explanation, but declared that he was not Nepau 
 puck. He was confronted with his kinsman, Mewhebato, 
 
 [364] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 one time were not infrequent, they were less so 
 during these early years than afterward. To ob 
 viate any possibility of fraud being perpetrated upon 
 the Indians, the General Court of Connecticut, in 
 1638, passed an order that no one was to take a 
 conveyance of land from the Indians without the 
 authority of the court. 1 These laws were not always 
 observed, and it is no doubt true that wherever the 
 
 and Wattone, a Quinnipiack, which latter asserted that he 
 saw the Pequot kill Abraham Finch. The Pequot s identity 
 was so thoroughly established that he confessed: "He knew 
 he must die; he was not afraid of death; the English might 
 cut his head off, or kill him in any other way; only fire was 
 God, and God was angry with him; wherefore he desired not 
 to fall into his hands." The Pequot was returned to the 
 stocks, to be brought before the General Court the next day 
 to be tried for his life. He was found guilty of murder and 
 sentenced, and his head was cut off and fastened upon a pole 
 in the market-place. 
 
 New Haven Records. 
 
 The crime for which this savage was tried and executed, 
 as a matter of fact, was committed not only outside the juris 
 diction of the New Haven Colony, but even before there was 
 any such colony. This is a fair specimen of the English 
 justice. His head was set up on a pole as a barbarous token 
 because he had been loyal to his own nation, and had openly 
 helped to fight its battles. He was in no particular amenable 
 to the English law. By this farcical trial the English but car 
 ried out a policy which was as unmerciful and relentless as it 
 was unjustifiable. The English demanded absolute submis 
 sion, or extermination. 
 
 1 Dr. Johnson mentions this law. He was at one time the 
 [365] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Indians had reason to make complaint that they 
 had been unfairly used, or cheated of their lands, 
 the private individual might be regarded as the 
 source of the same. Having in view the disposition 
 of the English to increase their territorial holdings 
 at whatever cost, the question may arise, to the un 
 prejudiced observer, as to whether the General 
 Court, in promulgating this order, had the welfare 
 of the Indians so much in view as the desire to con 
 trol the unoccupied lands of the colony. 
 
 In 1640 the Norwalk tribe disposed of the land 
 from the Norwalk to the Saugatuck River, which 
 extended back into the country a day s walk from 
 the sea. The consideration for the same was of the 
 usual kind, except that it varied in that ten jew s- 
 harps and ten fathoms of tobacco might be regarded 
 as an innovation. In the same year Captain Daniel 
 Patrick, who had a hand in the adventures of the 
 English against the Pequods, secured by purchase 
 two islands at the Norwalk River mouth; also a 
 
 Connecticut agent in England in the trial of the so-called 
 Mohegan Case. 
 
 Indian Papers, vol. i., doc. 277. 
 
 While it is distinctly referred to in at least one place of the 
 Colonial Records, it does not appear to have been recorded. 
 
 Colonial Records, vol. i., p. 214. 
 
 Trumbull mentions the restriction as having been adopted 
 both by New Haven and Connecticut. 
 
 Trumbull, History of Connecticut, vol. i., p. 117. 
 
 [366] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 tract of land on its west shore. 1 The following 
 year, that part of the country now Stamford was 
 sold for a lot of merchandise of the usual descrip 
 tion, the value of which Trumbull estimates to be 
 about thirty pounds. 2 
 
 While to the observer these various commodities 
 are seemingly of slight value as compared with the 
 large areas of territory which in these later years 
 have become of enormous value, it will be remem 
 bered that at the time of the conveyance these lands 
 were undeveloped, and that whatever of value has 
 attached to them since has been the result of well- 
 directed labor and investment. Outside of the 
 sequestration of the Pequod lands, the hands of the 
 Connecticut settlers seem in these transactions to 
 be comparatively clean, these lands were not ob 
 tained by coercion, neither by that process of de 
 bauchery which was practised by the English upon 
 the Indians to the eastward, and as for the com 
 modities themselves, they were brought from over 
 the water at some expense in those days, when a 
 very considerable value was attached to what in 
 times of greater abundance was an apparently insig 
 nificant article. There appears as a part of each 
 individual consideration, in all these transactions 
 with the savages, a certain number of hoes and 
 hatchets (probably axes). By the use of the latter 
 
 fall s History of Nor walk, pp. 30, 41. 
 2 President Stiles s Itinerary, vol. ii. 
 [367] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the lands were to be cleared of their forests, and by 
 the use of the former the clearings were to be 
 wrought into productive fields. We do not find it 
 a matter of record that at this time the plow was 
 sufficiently common to have become a matter of 
 notice. If there were any in Connecticut they were 
 so few in number as to hardly take their place 
 among the tools common to cultivation. It is a 
 matter worthy of curious remark just here that in 
 1637, as Trumbull notes, there were but five or ten 
 plows in use in Connecticut; and in Massachusetts, 
 with its considerable population for the time, 
 there were only thirty plows in use among its in 
 habitants. 1 
 
 No one knows how long the Indians had occu 
 pied this country, which at the coming of the Eng 
 lish was but a vast and unimproved wilderness, 
 whose history was comprised in the unwritten tra 
 ditions of its savage dwellers; nor is it less uncer 
 tain as to the span of the centuries to come, through 
 which the same wild, untutored conditions might 
 prevail. But the English came, and with their ad 
 vent began the rude and strenuous civilization be 
 fore which the Indian was to disappear ultimately. 
 Whatever of humane observation may arise out of 
 these considerations as to whether the English are 
 to be regarded as trespassers without right upon 
 these wild domains of the aborigine, or as to 
 
 1 Trumbull, History of Connecticut, p. 69, note. 
 [368] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 whether they should have taken a milder course 
 with the latter, is generally discarded as an idle 
 discussion; for wherever civilization has obtained 
 a foothold upon the shores of barbarism the con 
 flict between the two has been no less unequal than 
 that which resulted in the annihilation of the red 
 men and the redemption of the wilderness, which 
 afforded him at best but a precarious livelihood. 
 Whatever may be said as to the influence of the 
 Christian faith among the Indians, the results as 
 anticipated by Eliot and those who wrought with 
 him cannot be regarded as other than meager. 
 The Indians were a superstitious race, without 
 religious traditions, and absolutely devoid of those 
 traits of character without which soundness of 
 religious principles cannot exist. 1 
 
 *"It so happens, that in attempting to substitute one faith 
 for another, in the minds of the Indians, that the one pro 
 posed admits of no better demonstration than the one already 
 possessed by them; for their manner of transmitting things to 
 be remembered, is the most impressive and sacred, as will be 
 elsewhere observed in our work. . . . That anything false 
 should be handed down from their aged matrons and sires, 
 could not be for a moment believed ; and hence, that the stories 
 of a strange people should be credited, instead of what they 
 had heard from day to day from their youth up, from those 
 who could have no possible motive to deceive them, could not 
 be expected ; and therefore no one will wonder for a moment 
 that the gospel has met with so few believers among the Indi 
 ans. All this aside from their dealers in mysteries, the pow 
 wows, conjurers or priests, as they are variously denominated, 
 
 [369] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 It may be noted in this place, in reference to this 
 assumption, that at the time of the breaking out of 
 King Philip s War, some forty years later than the 
 period of which we are writing, there were some 
 thirteen thousand of what were known as the 
 " praying Indians " in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
 and Connecticut. Notwithstanding their religious 
 intercourse with the English, and the teaching of 
 the Word which had been so conscientiously car 
 ried on by Eliot and Mayhew; notwithstanding the 
 softening influences, and the refinements of sensi 
 bility and feeling, by which one is made his broth 
 er s keeper, to become the possessor of the "peace 
 that passeth all understanding," it is unfortunate 
 as an illustration of the futility of these most com 
 mendable efforts toward the Christianizing of a 
 savage people which perhaps is the only re 
 deeming spot in the fabric of events in the shaping 
 of which the English were almost the sole arbiters 
 
 whose office is healing the sick, appeasing the wrath of the in 
 visible spirits by charms and unintelligible mummery. These 
 characters took upon themselves, also, the important affair 
 of determining the happiness each was to enjoy after death; 
 assuring the brave and the virtuous that they should go to a 
 place of perpetual spring, where game in the greatest plenty 
 abounded, and everything that the most perfect happiness 
 required. Now, as a belief in any other reKgion promised no 
 more, is it strange that a new one should be slow in gaining 
 credence ? " 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 110, 111. 
 
 [370] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 that after the breaking out of hostilities in Swan- 
 zey the larger portion of these "praying Indians" 
 at once attached themselves to the cause of King 
 Philip. Whether the difficulty in this matter was 
 primarily chargeable to the soil, or whether the 
 seed sown by Eliot was lacking in spiritual efficacy, 
 is not within human knowledge; but the fact re 
 mains, that, like the leopard s spots, the instinct of 
 savagery in the Indian was ineradicable. 1 
 
 *" Notwithstanding one of the ostensible objects of nearly 
 all the royal charters and patents issued for British North 
 America was the Christianizing of the Indians, few could be 
 found equal to the task on arriving here; where wants of every 
 kind required nearly all their labors, few could be found will 
 ing to forego every comfort to engage in a work which pre 
 sented so many difficulties. Adventurers were those, generally, 
 who emigrated with a view to bettering their own condition, 
 instead of that of others. 
 
 "At length Mr. John Eliot, seeing that little or nothing 
 could be effected through the medium of his own language, 
 resolved to make himself master of the Indian [tongue], and 
 then to devote himself to their service. Accordingly he hired 
 [Neal, History of New England, vol. i., p. 222] an old [New Eng 
 land Biographical Dictionary, art. Eliot] Indian, named Job 
 Nesutan, to live in his family and teach him his language." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 111. 
 
 "It was in 1685 that the second edition of the famous 
 Indian Bible was completed. From the following testimony 
 of Mr. Eliot will be seen how much the success of that under 
 taking was considered to depend on James-the-printer. In 
 1683, in writing to the Hon. Robert Boyle at London, Mr. 
 Eliot says, *I desire to see it done before I die, and I am so 
 
 [371] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 It was through the train of events enumerated in 
 this chapter that one is led to a consideration of the 
 influence of the Mohegan sachem Uncas. After the 
 spoiling of the Pequods, Uncas claimed the leader- 
 deep in years, that I cannot expect to live very long; besides, 
 we have but one man, viz. the Indian Printer, that is able to 
 compose the sheets, and correct the press with understanding. 
 In another, from the same to the same, dated a year after, he 
 says, Our slow progress needeth an apology. We have been 
 much hindered by the sickness the last year. Our workmen 
 have been all sick, and we have but few hands, (at printing,) 
 one Englishman and a boy, and one Indian, &c. 
 
 "This Indian was undoubtedly James-the-printer. And 
 Mr. Thomas adds, Some of James s descendants were not 
 long since living in Graf ton; they bore the surname of Printer 
 [History of Printing, pp. 292, 293]. 
 
 "There was an Indian named Job Nesutan, who was also 
 concerned in the first edition of the Indian Bible. He was a 
 valient soldier, and went with the English of Massachusetts, 
 in the first expedition to Mount Hope, where he was slain in 
 battle. He was a very good linguist in the English tongue, 
 and was Mr. Eliot s assistant and interpreter in his transla 
 tion of the Bible and other books in the Indian language* 
 [Gookin, History of Praying Indians]." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 57. 
 
 Eliot s first attempt at Christianizing the Indians was 
 made October 28, 1646. Near what was once Watertown Mill, 
 upon the south side of Charles River, in Roxbury, was the 
 habitat of the Nonatum Indians, of whom Waban was one of 
 the leading men. It was in Waban s wigwam that Eliot con 
 ducted his first service, which was attended by a considerable 
 number of natives, to hear what Neal calls " the daybreak of 
 the Gospel in New England" (Neal, vol. i., p. 223). After 
 
 [372] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 ship of their country by reason of his connection 
 with the royal Pequod family. He relinquished his 
 right to that portion along the sea-coast which had 
 been appropriated by the English, but that lying in- 
 
 prayers, Eliot read the ten commandments and explained 
 them. This was followed by some pertinent questions on the 
 part of the Indians, one of which was, if "Jesus Christ could 
 understand prayers in Indian? Whether Englishmen were 
 ever so ignorant of him as the Indians? " 
 
 November 11, of the same year, Eliot held a second service, 
 at which the Indian children were catechised, and which was 
 followed by a sermon of an hour s length, after which the 
 Indians put this question to him, "How the English came 
 to differ so much from the Indians in their knowledge of God 
 and Jesus Christ, since they had all at first but one father?" 
 Another wanted to know, "How it came to pass that sea-water 
 was salt and river-water was fresh?" 
 
 On. the 26th of this month fell the third meeting, which 
 Drake notes was not so well attended; which fact was due 
 undoubtedly to the influence of the powwows and the sachems, 
 by whom threats and persuasions were used. Eliot had won 
 the friendship of the savages, to whom came Wampas and 
 two others, bringing their children, whom they desired to be 
 instructed in the Christian faith. 
 
 At the next meeting, those Indians who were present 
 "offered their children to be catechised and instructed by the 
 English." Eliot upon this motion resolved to set up a school 
 among them. One of Eliot s remarks at the inception of this 
 work was that the Indian must be civilized as well as be, if not 
 in order to being, Christianized. This allows one to infer 
 that he was aware that something other than preaching was 
 necessary to accomplish the reformation of this savage people. 
 
 The first Indian mission was established at Natick. The 
 
 [373] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 land he regarded as absolutely his own. He thus 
 acquired the control of much of northern New 
 London County, and as well the southern portions 
 of Tolland and Windham Counties. While the 
 
 following curious code of conduct by which the Indians, be 
 coming residents at the mission, were to be guided in their 
 pursuit after the civilization of the English is as here quoted : 
 "I. If any man be idle a week, or at most a fortnight, he 
 shall pay five shillings. II. If any unmarried man shall lie 
 with a young woman unmarried, he shall pay twenty shillings. 
 III. If any man shall beat his wife, his hands shall be tied 
 behind him, and he shall be carried to a place of justice to be 
 severely punished. IV. Every young man, if not another s 
 servant, and if unmarried, shall be compelled to set up a wig 
 wam, and plant for himself, and not shift up and down in 
 other wigwams. V. If any woman shall not have her hair 
 tied up, but hang loose, or be cut as men s hair, she shall pay 
 five shillings. VI. If any woman shall go with naked 
 breasts, she shall pay two shillings. VII. All men that wear 
 long locks shall pay five shillings. VIII. If any shall kill 
 their lice between their teeth, they shall pay five shillings." 
 
 In the following January another mission was established 
 at Concord. After that, several other meeting-places were 
 established from Cape Cod to Narragansett [Neal, vol. i., pp. 
 226-230]. These formed a circuit which Eliot visited as he 
 could. The arduous character of his work may be inferred 
 from a letter which he wrote to Winslow: "I have not been 
 dry night or day from the third day of the week to the sixth, 
 but so travelled, and at night pull off my boots, wring my 
 stockings, and on with them again, and so continue. But 
 God steps in and helps" [Magnalia, vol. iii., p. 196]. 
 
 His chief obstacles in the prosecution of his work were the 
 powwows and the sachems, whose opposition would have 
 
 [374] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Pequods were in power they had numerous tribu 
 taries, who, relieved of the dominancy of the former, 
 were inclined to assume independence. Some, 
 however, remained tributary to Uncas. Some were 
 
 been more marked had they not been afraid of the English. 
 Neal accepts this as a condition, "for if it be very difficult to 
 civilize barbarous nations, it is much more so to make them 
 Christians: All men have naturally a veneration for the relig 
 ion of their ancestors, and the prejudices of education (among 
 the Indians this word is taken in an opposite sense to its com 
 mon meaning. Instruction in superstition is the antithesis of 
 education) are insuperable without the extraordinary grace of 
 God." 
 
 Eliot s zeal had not only enabled him to translate the Bible 
 wholly into the Indian vernacular, but, as well, Baxter s Call, 
 Shepherd s Sincere Convert and his Sound Believer, a gram 
 mar, psalter, some primers and catechisms, also the Practice 
 of Piety (Mather s Magnolia, bk. 3, p. 197). Mather, in 
 speaking of the Bible, says, "It was printed here at our 
 Cambridge, and is the only Bible that was printed in America 
 from the foundation of the world." He goes on to observe 
 that "the whole translation was written by one pen, which 
 pen, had it not been lost, would certainly have deserved a 
 richer case than was bestowed upon that with which Holland 
 writ his translation of Plutarch." The vernacular alluded to 
 was that of the Natick or Nipmucks. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 114. 
 
 Drake also notes that a census of these "praying Indians" 
 was calculated the year before King Philip s War, and they 
 were estimated to have been at that time about 1,150. At the 
 close of King Philip s War, 1677, Gookin locates there were 
 "seven places where they met to worship God and keep the 
 Sabbath, viz. at Nomantum, Pakemit or Puncapag, Cowate, 
 
 [375] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 forced to submit. Others yielded by reason of 
 policy. The one hundred Pequods allotted to him 
 by the treaty of 1638 considerably increased his 
 tribe. Other Pequods, of whom the English had no 
 account, came to the Mohegans; and, as one writer 
 has said, "It was natural that the Pequots, rather 
 than fly from their country or become servants to 
 the English, or join their natural foes, the Narra- 
 gansetts, should choose to identify themselves with 
 
 alias, Fall of Charles River, Natik, Medfield, Concord, at 
 Namekeak, near Chelmsford." 
 
 At the breaking out of this war the "praying Indians" 
 were removed for better supervision to one of the islands in 
 Boston harbor; but upon the death of Philip they were allowed 
 to return to their habitats; and Drake notes that their en 
 feebled condition from this enforced isolation made them 
 unable to carry on religious worship at so many places. 
 Drake further observes, "We have seen that 1150 * Praying 
 Indians were claimed before the war in the end of the year 
 1674, but not half of this number could be found when all 
 such must come out of their towns and go by themselves to a 
 place of safety." Mr. Gookin says that "at one time there 
 were about five hundred upon the islands, but when some had 
 been employed in the army, and other places, generally such 
 as were indifferent to religion," there were but about three 
 hundred remaining. Six years after that disastrous war Mr. 
 Eliot could claim but four towns. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 115. 
 
 Ellis designates Eliot s work as a "fond experiment" (Me 
 morial History of Boston, p. 271), "which movement was 
 most seriously affected by King Philip s War." 
 
 Ibid, pp. 267-273. 
 
 [376] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 the fragment of their own tribe, even though that 
 fragment had been rebellious and hostile. Wander 
 ers from other nations, too, collected around Uncas, 
 and increased the numbers and influence of the 
 Mohegans. Among these warlike and unsettled 
 communities, wherever a sachem distinguished 
 himself by his abilities and success, he was sure to 
 attract many adventurers from the neighboring 
 tribes. Some came out of a desire for protection, 
 some from a wish to distinguish themselves under 
 so fortunate a leader, and some, doubtless, because 
 they were forced to come by the sachem himself in 
 his efforts to increase the number of his followers." 
 Uncas had married the daughter of Sebequanash, 
 the Hammonassett sachem. By this action he 
 came into possession of the lands bordering on the 
 sea as far as East River, in Guilford; but in 1641 
 he had sold nearly all that entire tract, and the most 
 of the tribe to which his wife belonged had become 
 a portion of the Mohegans. 1 He had made himself 
 so useful in the Pequod War that he had com 
 mended himself to the favor of the English colonies, 
 and his services were repaid whenever opportunity 
 happened, with or without justice, according to 
 circumstance; for the colonies were not indifferent 
 to the advantages arising from having so powerful 
 a sachem under their direction. An ally in war, he 
 was as useful in more peaceful times, when he acted 
 
 l Guilford Records. 
 
 [377] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 as a spy upon his neighbors. So long as Uncas 
 could gratify his desire for power and greed, he 
 was willing to act as such for the English. 
 
 The treaty of 1638 has been mentioned. Another 
 agreement was entered into October 8, 1640, which 
 afterward became a source of litigation between the 
 Mohegans and the Connecticut Colony. The Eng 
 lish regarded it as a deed of conveyance; the In 
 dians, as according the simple right of preemp 
 tion, by which Uncas was restrained from disposing 
 of any portion of his realty to any but the Con 
 necticut Colony, or its settlers. The English 
 claimed that Uncas had given them title to the en 
 tire territory over which he exercised control, with 
 the exception of that portion which the Mohegans 
 were using as planting-lands. The consideration 
 for this alleged conveyance was "five yards of 
 cloth and a few pairs of stockings." 1 
 
 It is a question as to the validity of the Mohegan 
 title, as it had been in his hands less than three 
 years. There was no doubt as to his subjection by 
 Sassacus, which, according to the Indian custom, 
 created a forfeiture in these lands. But these con 
 siderations had small effect upon Uncas; for during 
 his lifetime the English were satisfied to leave the 
 matter in a quiescent state, while his power and 
 influence were augmented to the extent that among 
 the surrounding chieftains he was not only looked 
 
 ^eForest, Appendix, art. v. 
 [378] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 upon with feelings of jealousy, but the fear of his 
 ultimate purposes with them w r as alike entertained, 
 and not without reason. The old spirit of the feud 
 actuated the Narragansetts, and for TJncas, who to 
 them was a Pequod, they entertained nothing but 
 an inveterate hatred. He was disliked bitterly by 
 Sequassen, the Connecticut River sachem, who 
 was a kinsman and ally of the Narragansetts. 
 Whatever ambitions the Narragansett sachems 
 may have entertained upon the overthrow of the 
 Pequods, they were buried under the exaltation of 
 Uncas. It was not unnatural that these sachems 
 should be actuated by a common sentiment toward 
 the Mohegan sachem, and that they should engage 
 in a conspiracy for his destruction. As an offset to 
 this disposition on the part of his enemies, he caused 
 it to be reported to the English that the Narragan 
 setts were entertaining hostile designs against the 
 settlers; one of which was that Miantunnumohwas 
 plotting to "make himself sachem of all the Indians 
 in New England. Miantunnumoh is trying to 
 bring all the Indians into a great conspiracy against 
 the white men." 1 
 
 As a result of these stories circulated by the Mo- 
 hegans at the instigation of TJncas, in November, 
 1640, the Boston authorities ordered the Narra- 
 
 1 "When it was reported, in 1640, that Miantunnumoh was 
 plotting to cut off the English, as will be found mentioned in 
 the account of Ninigret, and several Englishmen were sent to 
 
 [379] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 gansett sachem to appear before them, forthwith. 
 Miantunnumoh s obedience to this summons was 
 immediate, and his prompt compliance was pro 
 ductive of a good impression in his favor. He was 
 interrogated as to the reports which had reached 
 them, his answers to which were well considered; 
 nor would he reply when questioned, unless some of 
 his councillors were present, that they might hear 
 what he said. His observations were well chosen, 
 
 him to know the truth of the matter, he would not talk with 
 them through a Pequot interpreter, because he was then at 
 war with that nation. In other respects he complied with 
 their wishes, and treated them respectfully, agreeing to come 
 to Boston, for the gratification of the government, if they 
 would allow Mr. Williams to accompany him. This they 
 would not consent to, and yet he came, agreeable to their de 
 sires. We shall presently see who best acted the part of civil 
 ized men in this affair. He had refused to use a Pequot in 
 terpreter for good reasons, but when he was at Boston, and 
 surrounded by armed men, he was obliged to submit. The 
 governor being as resolute as he, refused to use any other in 
 terpreter, thinking it a dishonor to us to give so much way to 
 them. The great wisdom of the government now displayed 
 itself in the person of Gov. Thomas Dudley. It is not to be 
 expected but that Miantunnomoh should resent their proceed 
 ings; for to the above insult they added others; would show 
 him no countenance nor admit him to dine at our table, as 
 formerly he had done, till he had acknowledged his failing, 
 &c., which he readily did/ By their own folly the English 
 had made themselves jealous of a powerful chief, and they 
 appear ever ready afterwards to credit evil reports of him." 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 62. 
 
 [380] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 and his perception of what was wise and equitable 
 in policy was commendable. He protested that 
 Uncas and the Mohegans were the authors of these 
 damaging reports against him, and offered to prove 
 the fact, demanding that his accusers should be 
 brought before him that he might see them and 
 hear what they had to say; and he further demanded 
 that upon their inability to prove their charges, they 
 should be put to death. "His dignity, his frank 
 ness, and the justness of his remarks silenced the 
 complaints of the magistrates; they acquitted him 
 of all suspicion of conspiracy, and he returned to 
 his own country." 1 
 
 His success in this affair could have no other in 
 fluence upon Uncas than to add fuel to his hatred. 
 Uncas had become to the Narragansetts a marked 
 
 l " In 1642, Connecticut became very suspicious of Mian- 
 tunnomoh, and urged Massachusetts to join them in a war 
 against him. Their fears no doubt grew out of the consider 
 ation of the probable issue of a war with Uncas in his favor, 
 which was now on the point of breaking out. Even Massa 
 chusetts did not think their suspicions well founded; yet, 
 according to their request, they sent to Miantunnomoh, who, 
 as usual, gave them satisfactory answers, and, agreeably to 
 their request, came again to Boston. Two days were em 
 ployed by the court of Massachusetts in deliberating with 
 him, and we are astonished at the wisdom of the great chief, 
 even as reported by his enemies. 
 
 "That a simple man of nature, who never knew courts of 
 law, should cause such acknowledgments as follow, from the 
 civilized and wise, will always be contemplated with intense 
 
 [381] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 man; for one evening, not long after the return of 
 Miantunnumoh from Boston, as Uncas was making 
 his way between the wigwams in his fort, an arrow 
 whistled through the air, by which he was wounded 
 in the arm. No further attempt was made upon 
 his life at that time, and the wound was so slight 
 that it soon healed. There was no clew to the 
 would-be assassin. It fell out later that a young 
 Pequod was discovered to be the possessor of a 
 large quantity of wampum. Suspicion falling upon 
 
 admiration. * When he came, 5 says Winthrop, the court was 
 assembled, and before his admission, we considered how to 
 treat with him, for we knew him to be a very subtle man. 5 
 When he was admitted, he was set down at the lower end of 
 the table, over against the governor, but would not at any 
 time speak upon business unless some of his counsellors were 
 present; saying, he would have them present, that they might 
 bear witness with him, at his return home, of all his sayings. 
 The same author further says, In all his answers he was very 
 deliberate, and showed good understanding in the principles 
 of justice and equity, and ingenuity withal. 
 
 "He now asked for his accusers, urging, that if they could 
 not establish their allegations, they should suffer what he 
 expected to, if they did ; but the court said they knew of none, 
 that is, they knew not whom they were, and therefore gave no 
 credits to the reports until they had advised him of a former 
 agreement. He then said, If you did not give credit to them, 
 why then did you disarm the Indians ? Massachusetts having 
 just then disarmed some of the Merrimacks under some pre 
 tence. He gave divers reasons, says Gov. Winthrop, why 
 we should hold him free of any such conspiracy, and why we 
 should conceive it was a report raised by Uncas, &c., and 
 
 [382] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 him, he was asked how he came by the wampum, 
 to which he could give no satisfactory reply. At the 
 first opportunity he left the Pequods, to take refuge 
 
 therefore offered to meet Uncas, and would prove to his face 
 his treachery against the English, &c., and told us he would 
 come to us at anytime, although he said some had tried to 
 dissuade him, saying that the English would put him to death, 
 yet he feared nothing, as he was innocent of the charges 
 against him. 
 
 "The punishment due to those who had raised the accusa 
 tions, bore heavily upon his breast, and * he put it to our con 
 sideration what damage it had been to him, in that he was 
 forced to keep his men at home, and not suffer them to go 
 forth on hunting, &c., till he had given the English satisfac 
 tion. After two days spent in talk, the council issued to the 
 satisfaction of the English. 
 
 "During the council, a table was set by itself for the In 
 dians, which Miantunnomoh appears not to have liked, and, 
 * would not eat, until some food had been sent him from that 
 of the governor s." 3 
 
 Drake s Book 0} the Indians, pp. 62, 63. 
 
 "That wisdom seems to have dictated to Massachusetts 
 in her answer to Connecticut, must be acknowledged; but 
 as justice to Miantunnomoh abundantly demanded such deci 
 sion, credit in this case is due only to them, as to him who 
 does a good act because it is his interest so to do. They urged 
 Connecticut not to commence war alone, alleging how dis 
 honorable it would be to us all, that, while we were upon 
 treaty with the Indians, they should make war upon them; for 
 they would account their act as our own, seeing we had for 
 merly professed to the Indians, that we were all as one; and 
 in our last message to Miantunnomoh, had remembered him 
 again of the same, and he had answered that he did so account 
 
 [383] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 with Miantunnumoh, whereupon Uncas reported 
 the matter to the Massachusetts authorities, who 
 charged Miantunnumoh with the instigation of 
 this attack. This being reported to the Narragan- 
 sett sachem, he at once went to Boston, taking 
 along with him the Pequod, who was examined by 
 the magistrates in his presence. His story was that, 
 having been at Uncas s fort, the latter engaged him 
 to tell the English that he had been engaged by the 
 
 us. Upon receipt of this our answer, they forbare to enter 
 into a war, but (it seemed) unwillingly, and not well pleased 
 with us. The main consideration which caused Massachu 
 setts to decide against war was, That all those informations 
 (furnished by Connecticut) might arise from a false ground, 
 and out of the enmity which was between the Narraganset 
 and the Mohigan sachems. This was no doubt one of the 
 real causes, and had Miantunnomoh overcome Uncas, the 
 English would, from policy, as gladly have leagued with him 
 as with the latter, for it was constantly pleaded in those days, 
 that their safety must depend upon a union with some of the 
 most powerful tribes. 
 
 "There can be no doubt, on fairly examining the case, that 
 Uncas used many arts, to influence the English in his favor, 
 and against his enemy. In the progress of the war between 
 the two great chiefs, the English acted precisely as the Indians 
 have been always said to do stood aloof, and watched the 
 scale of victory, determined to join the conquerors." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 63. 
 
 "Miantunnomoh had a wretched enemy in Waiandance, a 
 Long Island sachem, who had assisted in the destruction of 
 the Pequots, at their last retreat. He revealed the plots and 
 plans of Miantunnomoh; and, says Lion Gardener, he told 
 
 [384] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Narragansett sachem to kill Uncas; and that to 
 make his arm appear as if it had been wounded by 
 an arrow, he took the flint of his musket and cut 
 the flesh of his arm on two sides. This story was 
 regarded with distrust, and the Narragansetts fell 
 under suspicion; and in a like degree the Mohegans 
 were advanced in the esteem of the English. 
 Miantunnumoh found himself under a deeper 
 load of suspicion; for the story of the Pequod was 
 regarded as a concoction of the moment, whereby 
 it was hoped that the animus of the conspiracy 
 might be removed from themselves. The magis 
 trates were satisfied with the guilt of the Pequod, 
 and decided that he should be delivered to Uncas. 
 
 me many years ago, as all the plots of the Narragansetts had 
 been discovered, they now concluded to let the English alone 
 until they had destroyed Uncas and himself, then, with the 
 assistance of the Mohawks, and Indians beyond the Dutch, 
 and all the northern and eastern Indians, would destroy us, 
 man and mother s son." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 64. 
 
 "Mr. Gardener relates that he met with Miantunnomoh at 
 Meanticut, Waiandance s country, on the east end of Long 
 Island. That Miantunnomoh was there, as Waiandance 
 said, to break up the intercourse with those Indians. There 
 were others with Miantunnomoh, and what they said to 
 Waiandance was as follows: 
 
 "You must give no more wampum to the English, for 
 they are no sachems, nor none of their children shall be in 
 their place if they die. They have no tribute given them. 
 There is but one king in England, who is over them all, and 
 
 [385] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Miantunnumoh protested against this, using the 
 argument that as the man was under his protection 
 he should be allowed to take him into his own 
 country, where he would surrender him to Uncas. 
 
 if you should send him 100,000 fathom of wampum he would 
 not give you a knife for it, nor thank you/ Then said Waian- 
 dance, They will come and kill us all, as they did the Pequits ; 
 but replied the Narragan setts, No, the Pequots gave them 
 wampum and beaver, which they loved so well, but they sent 
 it back, and killed them because they had killed an English 
 man; but you have killed none, therefore give them nothing. 
 
 "Some time after Miantunnomoh went again with a 
 troop of men* to the same place, and, instead of receiving 
 presents as formerly, he gave presents to Waiandance and 
 his people, and made the following speech : 
 
 " Brothers, we must be one as the English are, or we shall 
 soon all be destroyed. You know our fathers had plenty of 
 deer and skins, and our plains were full of deer and of turkeys, 
 and our coves and rivers were full of fish. But, brothers, since 
 these English have seized upon our country, they cut down 
 the grass with scythes, and the trees with axes. Their cows 
 and horses eat up the grass, and their hogs spoil our beds of 
 clams; and finally we shall starve to death; therefore, stand 
 not in your own light, I beseech you, but resolve with us to 
 act like men. All the sachems both to the east and the west 
 have joined with us, and we are all resolved to fall upon them, 
 at a day appointed, and therefore I have come secretly to 
 you, because you can persuade the Indians to do what you 
 will. Brothers, I will send over 50 Indians to Manisses, and 
 30 to you from thence, and take an 100 of Southampton 
 Indians with an 100 of your own here. And, when you see the 
 three fires which will be made at the end of 40 days hence, in 
 a clear night, then act as we act, and the next day fall on and 
 
 [386] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 He was allowed to depart with the Pequod, who was 
 killed by Miantunnumoh on the way homeward. 
 
 Whatever motives may have prevailed in the 
 accomplishment of this act of bad faith, it is safe to 
 assume that Miantunnumoh was not unaware of 
 the use to which Uncas might have put the treacher 
 ous Pequod in the way of involving himself irre 
 trievably with the Massachusetts authorities. One 
 is left to infer that the Pequod was killed for the 
 reason that dead men tell no tales. 1 From this on, 
 
 kill men, women and children; but no cows; they must be 
 killed as we need them for provisions, till the deer come 
 again. 
 
 "To this speech all the old men said, Wurregen, i.e., It is 
 well. But this great plot, if the account given by Waiandance 
 be true, was by him brought to the knowledge of the English, 
 and so failed. And the plotter, says Gardener, next spring 
 after, did as Ahab did at Ramoth-Gilead. So he to Mohegan, 
 and there had his fall. " 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 64. 
 
 l lbid, pp. 89, 90. 
 
 "When the commissioners of the United Colonies had met 
 in 1643, complaint was made to them by Uncas, that Mian- 
 tunnomoh had employed a Pequot to kill him, and that this 
 Pequot was one of his own subjects. He shot Uncas with an 
 arrow, and, not doubting but that he had accomplished his 
 purpose, fled to the Nanohiggansets, or their confederates, 
 and proclaimed that he had killed him. But when it was 
 known Uncas was not dead, though wounded, the traitor was 
 taught to say that Uncas had cut through his own arm with a 
 flint, and hired the Pequot to say he had shot and killed him. 
 Myantinomo being sent for by the governor of the Massa- 
 
 [387] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the tide of animosity between these two savage 
 nations rose higher with every day, until the overt 
 act was committed by some of the warriors of 
 Sequassen. A leading Mohegan warrior was killed. 
 Uncas himself was waylaid with a shower of arrows 
 as he was paddling down the Connecticut River in 
 his canoe. He complained of these matters to the 
 Hartford authorities, and Governor Haynes went 
 so far as to require the two sachems to attend him 
 at Hartford, where he attempted to reconcile them. 
 Uncas demanded six Narragansetts for every 
 Mohegan who had been killed, which he finally 
 reduced, at the urgent solicitation of Governor 
 Haynes, to the one who was acknowledged to have 
 committed the crime; and it fell out, as well, that 
 the murderer was a man of some consequence, and 
 a relation and prime favorite of Miantunnumoh. 
 Sequassen declined to deliver him up to Uncas, pre 
 ferring to defend him even if he had to go to war. 
 The two sachems were dismissed, and Uncas was 
 
 chusetts upon another occasion, brought the Pequot with 
 him: but when this disguise would not serve, and that the 
 English out of his [the Pequot s] own mouth found him 
 guilty, and would have sent him to Uncas his sagamore to be 
 proceeded against, Myantinomo desired he might be taken 
 out of his hands, promising [that] he would send [him] him 
 self to Uncas to be examined and punished ; but, contrary to 
 his promise, and fearing, as it appears, his own treachery 
 might be discouerted, he within a day or two cut off the 
 Pequot s head, that he might tell no tales/ 3 
 
 [388] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 given the usual permission to right his own wrongs, 
 in his own way. Uncas took advantage of this per 
 mission by making an immediate invasion of Se- 
 quassen s territory. He defeated Sequassen, killed 
 seven or eight of his warriors, wounded more, then 
 burned his wigwams, getting away with a quantity 
 of plunder. 1 
 
 This incident was not long in finding its way to 
 the Narragansetts, and it fanned their animosity 
 against the Mohegans into a hotter flame. Mian- 
 tunnumoh, brooding over his real or fancied wrongs, 
 
 144 After this some attempts were made to poison Uncas, 
 and, as is reported, to take away his life by sorcery. That 
 being discovered, some of Sequasson s company, an Indian 
 sagamore allied to, and an intimate confederate with Myanti- 
 nomo, shot at Uncas, as he was going down Conectacutt 
 River with an arrow or two. Uncas according to the foresaid 
 agreement, which was, in case of difficulty between them, 
 that the English should be applied to as umpires, complained 
 to them. They endeavored to bring about a peace between 
 Uncas and Sequasson; but Sequasson would hear to no over 
 tures of that kind, and intimated that he should be borne out 
 in his resolution by Myantinomo. The result was the war 
 of which we have given an account in the life of Mian- 
 tunnomoh (post, p. 393). 
 
 "These things being duly weighed and considered, the 
 commissioners apparently see that Uncas cannot be safe while 
 Miantunnomoh lives; but that, either by secret treachery or 
 open force, his life will be still in danger. Wherefore they 
 think he may justly put such a false and bloodthirsty enemy 
 to death; but in his own jurisdiction, not in the English plan 
 tations. And advising that, in the manner of his death, all 
 
 [389] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 was plotting how he might obtain his revenge. To 
 him, war seemed the only resource. He complained 
 to Governor Haynes that Uncas had committed 
 serious acts of depredation upon Sequassen and his 
 allies, to which the governor replied that the Eng 
 lish had been in no way concerned in that affair, 
 nor had they justified Uncas in such conduct as 
 he had intimated. Miantunnumoh followed this 
 complaint with another directed to Winthrop, the 
 then governor of Massachusetts, to whom he put 
 the question directly as to whether the Massachu 
 setts Bay people would take umbrage should he 
 make war upon the Mohegans. Winthrop s reply 
 was what might have been expected from what has 
 gone before, and was more to the point than the 
 reply of Governor Haynes. Winthrop replied that 
 if Uncas had done injury to himself and his friends, 
 and persisted in refusing to make reparation for 
 the same, he might take his own course to repair 
 his injury. 1 
 
 It is not to be questioned for a moment but what 
 in these communications to the authorities of Con- 
 mercy and moderation be showed, contrary to the practice of 
 the Indians who exercise tortures and cruelty. And Uncas 
 having hitherto shown himself a friend to the English, and in 
 this craving their advice; [therefore] if the Nanohiggansitts 
 Indians or others shall unjustly assault Uncas for this execu 
 tion, upon notice and request the English promise to assist 
 and protect him, as far as they may, against such violence." 
 
 1 Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 129. 
 
 [390] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 necticut and Massachusetts Bay Miantunnumoh 
 made the most of his opportunity. It is, as well, 
 evident that the former did not regard the matter 
 as of sufficient seriousness to make any special 
 investigation as to the truth of the specifications 
 set out by the Narragansett sachem, who had con 
 formed in all respects to the treaty of 1638, one of 
 the clauses of which was, that, before appealing to 
 arms, he should submit his complaints to the Eng 
 lish. Miantunnumoh at once set about perfecting 
 his plans by which the punishment of Uncas and 
 the Mohegans might be accomplished. With a 
 notable promptness and energy he gathered to 
 gether a considerable band of Narragansett war 
 riors, with which he made a rapid and unexpected 
 advance into the domains of the Mohegans. There 
 is no question but what Uncas was anticipating this 
 movement on the part of Miantunnumoh, for the 
 reason that he had posted sentinels along the hills 
 of Norwich, from which points of vantage the mo 
 tions of the Narragansetts might be clearly dis 
 cerned. They had not long to wait. As the Narra 
 gansetts broke the shadows of the woods along the 
 banks of the Shetucket River, where it shallows a 
 little way above its outlet into the Quinnibaug, they 
 left the invaders to take their course, while they 
 made their way hastily, some to the sachem, and 
 some among the uncollected warriors of the tribe, 
 to whom they communicated the news of the in 
 vasion. 
 
 [391] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 About five miles below the present city of Nor 
 wich, on the shore of the Thames, was one of Un- 
 cas s forts. It was here, possibly, that his Indian 
 runners found him. So thoroughly had Uncas 
 taken his precautions, that the result of this news 
 spread rapidly among the warriors of his tribe, and 
 they came in rapidly, leaving their villages and 
 wigwams in the care of their old men and squaws. 
 A large body of Mohegans being collected at this 
 place, Uncas at once took up the advance, with the 
 purpose of intercepting Miantunnumoh, whose 
 force is reputed to have numbered some nine hun 
 dred or a thousand fighting-men. Such as have 
 written the story of that incident have credited 
 him with about half that number. Later historians 
 have questioned the accuracy of this estimate. 
 
 The Mohegan sachem advanced to a place now 
 known as the Great Plain, within the boundaries of 
 Norwich. It was some four miles from his fort. 
 Coming to a rising ground, he gathered his warriors 
 about him, where he instructed them in the strata 
 gem by which he anticipated the Narragansetts 
 might be defeated. These latter had crossed the 
 Yantic River, to soon betray themselves by de 
 scending a small rise of ground opposite that which 
 was occupied by the Mohegans. Upon this dis 
 covery, Uncas at once despatched a messenger to 
 Miantunnumoh for the purpose of a parley. The 
 Narragansett sachem consented, and the leaders 
 of the savages met on the open ground in full view 
 
 [392] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 of their fighting-men. Hardly more than a bow 
 shot separated them. Unsuspicious of the treachery 
 of Uncas, the Narragansetts awaited the result of 
 the conference; while the Mohegans were as atten 
 tive upon the movements of Uncas, whose signal 
 for action they were awaiting. After a protest upon 
 the part of Uncas against engaging in a contest 
 w^hich must result in the death of many of their 
 warriors, he suggested to Miantunnumoh : "Let us 
 fight it out. If you kill me, my men shall be yours; 
 if I kill you, your men shall be mine." This prop 
 osition was not favorably received by Miantunnu 
 moh, who has been described by Hubbard as "a 
 very good person of tall stature," whose courage 
 was not to be questioned. He was so confident 
 in the strength and prowess of his warriors that he 
 was not inclined to disappoint them in making use 
 of an opportunity which seemed so favorable to his 
 cause. His attitude was one of certainty, and he 
 replied abruptly to the Mohegan sachem, "My 
 men came to fight, and they shall fight." 
 
 It was evident that Uncas knew his man; for he 
 regarded the moment as having come when he 
 should put into execution the plan for the defeat of 
 the Narragansetts. No sooner had Miantunnumoh 
 delivered this reply than the Mohegan sachem 
 dropped to the ground, and his warriors, drawing 
 their bow-strings to their shoulders, let fly a shower 
 of arrows upon the Narragansetts. The latter were 
 taken by surprise, especially when tineas, leaping 
 
 [393] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 to his feet with a shrill war-whoop, led his men 
 against the astonished Narragansetts, who at once 
 took refuge in flight. Pursuing their enemy re 
 lentlessly, the Mohegans drove them across the 
 fords of the Yantic into the depths of the woods be 
 yond. Miantunnumoh s efforts to escape proved 
 futile. An English corselet which he had put on 
 for better protection against the weapons of the 
 Mohegans so impeded his flight that the two Mo 
 hegans at his heels might have captured him; but 
 that privilege was to be accorded only to Uncas. 
 The first of the Mohegan sagamores to overtake 
 Miantunnumoh was named Tantaquigeon. In 
 Hazard s account, this sachem is designated as a 
 Mohegan. 1 Drake has it that Miantunnumoh was 
 
 1 "By way of preliminary to his communication, Mr. Hyde 
 says, The following facts being communicated to me from 
 some the ancient fathers of this town, who were contemporary 
 with Uncas, &c. That before the settlement of Norwich, the 
 sachem of the Narragansett tribe (Miantunnomoh) had a 
 personal quarrel with Uncas, and proclaimed war with the 
 Mohegans: and marched with an army of 900 fighting men, 
 equipped with bows and arrows and hatchets. Uncas being 
 informed by spies of their march towards his seat, Uncas 
 called his warriors together, about 600, stout, hard men, 
 light of foot, and skilled in the use of the bow; and upon a 
 conference, Uncas told his men that it would not do to let the 
 Narragansetts come to their town, but they must go and meet 
 them. Accordingly, they marched, and about three miles, on 
 a large plain, the armies met, and both halted within bow 
 shot. A parley was sounded, and gallant Uncas proposed a 
 
 [394] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 intercepted in his flight by two of his own men, who 
 hoped by their treachery to save their own lives; 
 that they were able to distinguish him from the 
 others by reason of the coat of mail which he wore; 
 and that Miantunnumoh was delivered up by these 
 to Uncas. Drake goes still further into the matter 
 by asserting that Uncas slew these Narragansetts 
 instantly. However this may be, Uncas, being a 
 man of robust and powerful physique, seized Mian- 
 conference with the Narragansett sachem, who agreed. And, 
 being met, Uncas said to his enemy words to this effect : * You 
 have got a number of brave men with you, and so have I. 
 A nt it a pity that such brave men should be killed for a 
 quarrel between you and I ? Only come like a man, as you 
 pretend to be, and we will fight it out. If you kill me, my 
 men shall be yours; but if I kill you, your men shall be mine. 
 Upon which the Narragansett sachem replied : * My men came 
 to fight, and they shall fight. 
 
 "Uncas having told his men, that if the enemy should 
 refuse to fight him, he would fall down, and then they were 
 to discharge their arrows on them, and fall right on them as 
 fast as they could ; this was done, and the Mohegans rushed 
 upon Miantunnomoh s army like lions, put them to flight, 
 and killed a number on the spot. They pursued the rest, 
 driving some down ledges of rocks. The foremost of Uncas 
 men got ahead of Miantunnomoh, and impeded his flight, 
 drawing him back as they passed him, to give Uncas oppor 
 tunity to take him himself. 
 
 "In the pursuit, at a place now called Sachem s Plain, 
 Uncas took him by the shoulder. He then set down, knowing 
 Uncas. Uncas then gave a whoop, and his men returned to 
 him; and in a council then held, twas concluded by them, 
 
 [395] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 tunnumoh by the shoulder, whereupon the latter, 
 realizing his powerlessness in the presence of his 
 enemy, showed his submission by sitting down upon 
 the ground. His feelings at that moment can only 
 be imagined. With the stoicism for w r hich the 
 Indian has always been noted, his lips were closed. 
 The number of Narragansetts reported as slain in 
 this fight was thirty; many more were wounded; 
 and without any attempt to rescue Miantunnumoh, 
 they continued their retreat into their own domain. 
 Miantunnumoh still maintained his silence, al 
 though some of his warriors were brought before 
 him, where they were killed by the Mohegans. 
 
 that Uncas, with a guard, should carry said sachem to Hart 
 ford, to the governor and magistrates, (it being before the 
 charter,) to advise what they should do with him. Uncas 
 was told by them, that as there was no war between the Eng 
 lish and the Narragansetts, it was not proper for them to 
 intermeddle, in the affair, and advised him to take his own 
 way. Accordingly they brought said Narragansett sachem 
 back to the same spot of ground where he was took: where 
 Uncas killed him, and cut out a large piece of his shoulder, 
 roasted, and eat it; and said, "it was the sweetest meat he 
 ever eat; it made him have strong heart." There they bury 
 him, and made a pillar, which I have seen but a few years 
 since/" 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 66, 67. 
 
 Drake says this MS. letter of March 1, 1833, of Mr. Hyde, 
 as "a tradition is a valuable paper," but expresses his sur 
 prise "that Dr. Trumbull should have inserted it in his His 
 tory of Connecticut" as "a matter of fact." 
 
 [396] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Uncas could not contain his disappointment that 
 his enemy should treat him with such silence and 
 disdain. If he looked for any expression of waver 
 ing or fear, he certainly had reason to be disap 
 pointed. He finally broke the silence himself, by 
 asking the Narragansett sachem, "Why do you not 
 speak? If you had taken me, I would have be 
 sought you for my life." The Narragansett made 
 no response to this, and shortly after Uncas con 
 veyed his prisoner to his fort, after which he was 
 taken to Hartford, where he was delivered 1 into the 
 hands of the English, by whom he was held as a 
 prisoner until his case should be disposed of by the 
 authorities in Boston. 
 
 After the capture of Miantunnumoh a truce was 
 agreed upon between the Narragansetts and the 
 Mohegans, which was observed until the case of 
 
 1<4 The war brought on between Uncas and Miantunnomoh 
 was not within the jurisdiction of the English, nor is it to be 
 expected that they could with certainty determine the just 
 ness of its cause. The broil had long existed, but the open 
 rupture was brought on by Uncas making war upon Sequas- 
 son, one of the sachems under Miantunnomoh. The English 
 accounts say (and we have no other) that about 1000 warriors 
 were raised by Miantunnomoh, who came upon Uncas un 
 prepared, having only about 400 men; yet, after an obstinate 
 battle, in which many were killed on both sides, the Narra 
 gansetts were put to flight, and Miantunnomoh taken pris 
 oner; that he endeavored to save himself by flight, but having 
 on a coat of mail, was known from the rest, and seized by 
 two of his own men, who hoped by the treachery to save their 
 
 [397] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the Narragansett sachem was finally disposed of. 
 While the latter was in captivity, his people sent 
 him several packages of wampum, which he gave 
 away. One relation says that he gave some to Un- 
 cas, and some to the wife of Uncas, and some to the 
 principal councillors. Whatever inference may be 
 drawn, it is clear that his generosity was possibly 
 for the purpose of repaying Uncas for his fair treat 
 ment of him; and as well, perhaps, as an induce 
 ment to the latter to refer his fate to the decision of 
 the English. The people of his own tribe, accord 
 ing to Hazard, were strenuous in their assertion 
 that the wampum was given to Uncas as a ransom ; 
 and as DeForest says, "They subsequently made 
 it a strong ground of accusation against the Mo- 
 hegan sachem." 1 
 
 own lives. Whereupon they immediately delivered him up 
 to the conqueror. Uncas slew them both instantly; probably 
 with his own hand. This specimen of his bravery must have 
 had a salutary effect on all such as afterwards chanced to 
 think of acting the part of traitors in their wars; at least 
 among the Narragansetts. 
 
 "Being brought before Uncas he remained without speak 
 ing one word, until Uncas spoke to him, and said, If you had 
 taken me, I would have besought you for my life. He then 
 took his prisoner to Hartford, and at his request left him a 
 prisoner with the English, until the mind of the United 
 Colonies should be known as to what disposition should be 
 made of him." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 65. 
 
 ^ It does not appear from these records, that Uncas had 
 [398] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Among the English of Rhode Island, Miantunnu- 
 moh s defeat and capture attracted to him a great 
 deal of sympathy and interest. The Connecticut 
 colonists, those especially who had come from 
 Massachusetts, had found their way hither by 
 reason of the religious intolerance of the Puritans, 
 and it was within the domain of the Narragansetts 
 
 any idea of putting Miantunnomoh to death, but to extort a 
 great price from his country-men for his ransom. That a 
 large amount of wampum was collected for this purpose, ap 
 pears certain, but before it was paid, Uncas received the de 
 cision of the English, and then pretended that he had made 
 no such agreement, or that the quantity or quality was not as 
 agreed upon, as will more at length be seen in the life of 
 Uncas." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, p. 67. 
 
 "The Narragansetts had, prior to the unfortunate decision 
 against Miantunnumoh, paid a great sum, hoping to ransom 
 their chief. They had also, besides what had been paid to 
 Uncas, given to the Commissioners 40 sterling to insure his 
 safety. They had not before the humiliating event of the 
 Chief s murder, so much as dreamed that anyone could be 
 faithless in the case. Faithful themselves, and trusting to the 
 honor of their white allies, they continued in all simplicity, to 
 attribute the act to Uncas. They did not for a long time sus 
 pect the Commissioners of having secretly corrupted the 
 false Indian and employed him and [his] men to do the 
 bloody deed." 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 75. 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 9. 
 
 DeForest, pp. 192, 193, 212. 
 
 [399] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 that they had set up their homes. This unfortunate 
 sachem was a savage of generous characteristics, 
 his manner was quiet and dignified, and his atti 
 tude towards the English in his immediate neigh 
 borhood had been that of the most friendly and in 
 viting disposition, which had attracted to him 
 much good-will on the part of these settlers; and 
 no doubt, being best acquainted with the story of 
 the Narragansetts wrongs from their nearness to 
 them, they were confirmed in the belief that the 
 cause of Miantunnumoh was a righteous one, and 
 that those who were trying to destroy his power and 
 influence with the English authorities were entirely 
 in the wrong. 
 
 One Samuel Gorton had settled at Warwick. 
 He was a man of most generous instincts, enthu 
 siastic, and, like many of similar characteristics, his 
 actions w r ere not always founded upon a due con 
 sideration of their results. 1 He is said to have 
 written to Uncas commanding him to give the 
 Narragansett sachem his freedom, which letter also 
 
 1 Mr. Gorton s career is a part of the Indian history of the 
 period. He came from London to Boston in the year 1636, 
 where he was not long after adjudged a heretic and expelled 
 from that Puritan community. He went to Plymouth, where 
 the charge of heresy was renewed, and he was chastised pub 
 licly by judicial order, after which he sought asylum with 
 Roger Williams, at Providence. The Massachusetts Bay 
 people, not content with driving Gorton out of Plymouth, 
 drove him out of Providence upon the pretense that that plan- 
 
 [400] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 contained the threat that upon his refusal he would 
 be compelled to do so by the English. Uncas re 
 ceived this letter; and when it was explained to 
 him by the messenger who had brought it, he was 
 much troubled over the matter. Unwilling to give 
 Miantunnumoh his freedom, for personal reasons 
 no doubt, he had not the courage to carry out his 
 desire upon him, which was to get him out of his 
 way by killing him. The letter of Gorton as well 
 aroused the apprehension in his mind as to whether 
 he might be able to keep him safely in his custody, 
 perhaps anticipating that an attempt at a rescue 
 might be made under the wild-headed leadership 
 of Gorton. In his dilemma, he conferred with the 
 English authorities, taking the Narragansett sa- 
 
 tation was within the Massachusetts jurisdiction. Gorton and 
 eleven others, "in order to be yet further removed," pur 
 chased the tract called Shawomet. It turned out the land 
 purchased was already claimed by the Massachusetts govern 
 ment, who asserted it to be under its jurisdiction. Gorton s 
 deed was from Miantonomoh, Chief Sachem of the Narra- 
 gansetts, January 17, 1642; and purported to have been given 
 in consideration of one hundred forty-four fathoms of wam 
 pum. A fathom of wampum was a string of beads two yards 
 in length, the value of which was five shillings, eight pence, 
 sterling. Gorton s purchase was subsequently known as 
 Warwick, after the Earl of Warwick, by whose friendly in 
 fluence the former had his Rhode Island home restored to 
 him in 1648. 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 69. 
 
 DeForest, p. 193. 
 
 [401] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 chem along with him to Hartford, where he ex 
 plained matters to his own satisfaction to the 
 governor and council, with the request that they 
 indicate to him the course he was to pursue with 
 his prisoner. He was told by the magistrates that it 
 was not for them to interfere in the matter, as there 
 was no open rupture between the Connecticut 
 authorities and the Narragansetts. They advised 
 him, however, that the first meeting of the com 
 missioners of the United Colonies of New England 
 would take place in the September following, and 
 they suggested to him that the case be referred to 
 them for final disposition. 1 Miantunnumoh, well 
 aware of the animosity of the Mohegan sachem, and 
 distrusting his purpose with him, appealed to the 
 Hartford authorities that the English would take 
 him into custody. His reasons were fairly well 
 founded that his life would be safe in their hands, 
 and he felt equally as certain that, once returned 
 with Uncas to the Mohegan country, the latter 
 would not be satisfied until he had removed him 
 from the path of his ambition. The magistrates 
 sustained this plea of the Narragansett sachem, 
 to which Uncas reluctantly consented, stipulating 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 7, 8. 
 Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 131. 
 
 As to Gorton s threatening Uncas in his letter, Winthrop 
 at first stated that to be the fact; but he later erased the pas 
 sage, as if in doubt over the matter. 
 
 [402] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 that Miantunnumoh should be regarded as a cap 
 tive to the Mohegans. 1 
 
 September 17, 1643, the Court of Commissioners 
 opened the session at Boston. The commission was 
 made up of John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley, 
 of Massachusetts; Edward Winslow and William 
 Collier, of Plymouth; Edward Hopkins and John 
 Fen wick, from Connecticut; and Theophilus Eaton 
 and Thomas Gregson, from New Haven. After 
 deliberating upon the articles of confederation of 
 the May previous, they took up the case of Mian 
 tunnumoh. Their judgment was not rapid in this 
 matter. They were apprehensive of the power of 
 the Narragansett sachem and, as well, aware of his 
 independent disposition. Prejudiced in favor of 
 the Mohegan sachem, they came readily enough to 
 the decision that it was a matter of doubtful policy, 
 and perhaps against the public safety, to give Mian 
 tunnumoh his freedom. They were, as well, con 
 vinced that the evidence was entirely lacking which 
 would justify them in imposing upon him a death 
 sentence. As was usual in cases of this kind, their 
 disposition was to shift the responsibility to the 
 shoulders of others, and they decided to call in the 
 clergy, of which as many as fifty from all parts of 
 New England were then assembled at Boston in a 
 general convocation. Of these, a commission was 
 chosen to adjudicate the matter in conjunction 
 
 Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 131. 
 
 [403] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 with the Court of Commissioners; and when they 
 had been informed of such matters appertaining 
 to the case as the court thought necessary, their 
 opinion was desired. These pious gentlemen, evi 
 dently desirous to please the court and to carry out 
 the policy so thoroughly inaugurated in the Puritan 
 behalf against the Indians, decided offhand a 
 matter at which not only laymen, but the magis 
 trates, had balked. They "all agreed that he ought 
 to be put to death." 1 
 
 This decision of the ministers that Uncas might 
 commit murder upon the Narragansett sachem 
 shows how well trained they had been at the hands 
 of Winthrop. Lacking the garb of judicial function, 
 and contrary to the faith which should have been 
 the foundation of their labors, they essayed to de 
 termine the question of life and death, assuming a 
 responsibility which those appointed for that par 
 ticular province declined to perform. It was an 
 other illustration that fools are prone to rush in 
 where angels fear to tread. Their excuse was that 
 the prisoner was at the head of a dangerous con- 
 
 "The manner of the final sentence was base. Such de 
 cision respecting an ancient ally has been justly stigmatized 
 as both ungenerous and iniquitous. No wonder if the in 
 dignation of Canonicus and Pessicus be stirred when they 
 came to understand the circumstances; nor will it be strange 
 if such proceedings foster in their breasts a contempt for 
 Christianity." 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 173, note. 
 
 [404] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 spiracy, in which the safety of the United Colonies 
 was involved. Although this was a mere rumor, 
 which could be readily traced to Uncas, yet they 
 accepted it as a fact; and, over-credulous as minis 
 ters in this late day are apt to be as to the adminis 
 tration of public affairs, and the like uncertain 
 course of public events, and possibly for the time 
 only too willing to serve the magistrates, they ad 
 vised the perpetration of this crime. It was urged 
 against the Narragansett sachem that he was 
 "proud, turbulent and restless; that he had be 
 trayed the confidence of the English in killing the 
 Pequot he had promised to deliver to Uncas." As 
 one of the insignificant facts upon which they 
 hinged their decision, it was alleged that he had 
 made an assault upon one of Pumham s men, and 
 taken his wampum from him, and challenged him 
 to make complaint if he dared to the Massachusetts 
 authorities. 1 Pumham was a sachem who had sub 
 mitted to the English, and for that reason he was 
 entitled to their protection, if he claimed it. They 
 
 " Pumham lived on land adjoining those sold by Mian* 
 tonomoh, but Mr. Winslow decided that Pumham had re 
 ceived no consideration. It is not probable that either of the 
 Indians conveyed to Boston understood the nature of the 
 alleged transactions. They were both tributary to the 
 sachem." 
 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 70, note. 
 
 It was a matter of Indian comity that the sachem might 
 dispose of the lands of his tribe as he saw fit. 
 
 [405] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 also concluded, in summing up the case, that, by 
 all Indian customs and those as well of other coun 
 tries, he had forfeited his life; and it was upon such 
 foundation of false, unjust, and frivolous pretense 
 the commissioners of the Connecticut Colony 
 sought a vindication of their action in this disposi 
 tion of Miantunnumoh. It was false, for the reason 
 that the general conspiracy among the Indians had 
 not been discovered; nor could it be discovered, 
 for the reason that it had no existence; and further, 
 in Miantunnumoh s examination on that point, the 
 Boston magistrates had acknowledged his inno 
 cence. It was unjust, because Miantunnumoh was 
 possessed of an independent and dignified spirit. It 
 was frivolous, because in order to bolster up the 
 case against the Narragansett sachem, an event 
 of no importance, especially in a matter of a death 
 sentence, they were driven to consider a trifling 
 matter of alleged personal dispute, which may have 
 been true or untrue, between Miantunnumoh and 
 a noted chief of his own tribe. 1 
 
 Carrying out this decision of the clergy, the 
 commissioners directed that Uncas should be 
 called to Hartford, where the Narragansett sachem 
 was to be surrendered to him, and where he was to 
 be informed, as well, that the latter was to suffer the 
 punishment of death outside the limits of the Eng- 
 
 charges and accusation against the Narragansetts 
 will be found at large in the Records of the Commissioners of 
 
 [406] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 lish settlements; that some of the English should 
 go along with Uncas and his party, to see that he 
 performed this despicable service, "for the more 
 full satisfaction of the commissioners." This sur 
 render to Uncas was conditional. If he refused to 
 kill his prisoner, Miantunnumoh was not to be de 
 livered to him, but was to be taken to Boston by 
 ship, and there held in custody until a further de 
 cision of the court. Uncas was advised that if he 
 
 the United Colonies. There is no more detestable character 
 in all our Indian history than that of Uncas. But affairs were 
 so conditioned that it appeared all important to the English 
 of Connecticut and Massachusetts to espouse the cause of 
 that miscreant and thus was compassed the ruin of one of the 
 noblest Indians of that or any other period." 
 
 Hubbard s Indian Wars, vol. i., p. 40, note. 
 
 "This is in accordance with the cold-blooded records of 
 the time. The English had not, nor did they claim jurisdic 
 tion over those Indians then at war, and could not rightfully 
 interfere in their quarrel. The battle which decided the fate 
 of Miantonimo was fought in the end of the summer, 1643. 
 The precise day and month does not appear. Being taken 
 prisoner, Miantonimo was conducted to Hartford by Uncas, 
 and there held until the English should direct how he should 
 be disposed of. The meeting of the Commissioners of the 
 United Colonies being near at hand, the matter was deferred 
 to that body. It met at Boston on the 7th of September, 1643. 
 Nearly the first business brought forward was that of the 
 disposition of Miantonimo. Before coming to a decision the 
 Commissioners went over all the array of testimony fur 
 nished during several years by Uncas and others of the most 
 malignant of Miantonimo s enemies, in which was enumer- 
 
 [407] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 would carry out the wishes of the magistrates in 
 this matter Connecticut would undertake the bur 
 den of defending him against such enemies as 
 might thus be aroused against him; and as a coin 
 cident condition, Plymouth agreed to restore to 
 Massasoit all the lands to the westward which had 
 been encroached upon by the Narragansetts; while 
 Massachusetts was to take upon itself the onus of 
 notifying the Narragansetts that the Mohegan sa 
 chem was acting under the direction of the Eng 
 lish and would be protected by them. The tribunal 
 to which the decision as to the fate of the Narra- 
 gansett sachem was left, especially that part com 
 posed of the clergy, suggests a moot court from the 
 point of view of sound judicial procedure, and is 
 suggestive not only of the animus which prevailed 
 against the Indians, indiscriminately, but as well 
 
 ated all the vague charges of plots, treasons, poisons and 
 sorceries. The commissioners then continue: These things 
 being duely weighed and considered, we apparently see that 
 Uncas cannot be safe while Miantonimo lives, but that either 
 by secret treachery or open force, his life will be still in danger. 
 Whereupon they think he may justly put such a false and 
 bloodthirsty enemy to death; but in his own jurisdiccon, not 
 in the English plantacons; and adviseing that in the manner 
 of his death all mercy and moderation be shewed, contrary 
 to the practice of the Indians, who exercise tortures and 
 cruelty. " 
 
 Records of the Commissioners, United Colonies, vol. i., pp. 
 11, 12, 15. 
 
 Ibid, p. 43, note. 
 
 [408] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 of the timidity of the English wherever the savage 
 was concerned. 1 To these colonies there was al 
 ways impending, along the horizon of their living, 
 the threat of savage invasion, which had a tendency 
 to beget in their minds a host of baseless appre 
 hensions, the dominant one of which was that a 
 general conspiracy among the Indians against the 
 English was continually existent. It is a trite say 
 ing that a guilty conscience needs no accuser, and 
 
 l " The sorrowful part of the tale is yet to be told. The 
 commissioners of the United Colonies having convened at 
 Boston, taking into consideration, they say, what was safest 
 and best to be done, were all of the opinion that it would not 
 be safe to set him at liberty, neither had we sufficient ground 
 for us to put him to death. The awful design of putting to 
 death their friend they had not yet fixed upon, but calling to 
 their aid in council, five of the most judicious elders/ they 
 all agreed that he ought to be put to death. This was the 
 final decision, and to complete the deed of darkness, secrecy 
 was enjoined upon all. And their determination was to be 
 made known to Uncas privately, with direction that he 
 should execute him within his own jurisdiction and without 
 torture. 
 
 "We will now go to the record, which will enable us to 
 judge of the justness of the matter. When the English had 
 determined that Uncas should execute Miantunnomoh, Un 
 cas was ordered to be sent for to Hartford, with some con 
 siderable number of his best and trustiest men, to take him 
 to a place for execution, carrying him into the next part of 
 his own government, and there put him to death: provided 
 that some discreet and faithful persons of the English gov 
 ernment accompany them, and see the execution, for our 
 
 [409] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 it is not to be questioned that there were many dis 
 senters from the rigorous policy which the authori 
 ties had maintained against the savage from the 
 beginning. So possessed were the English with the 
 idea of a common danger from this source that any 
 unusual noise at night was the occasion for instant 
 alarm. An instance of this is recorded by Hub- 
 bard, who relates that, "September 19, 1642, a poor 
 
 more full satisfaction; and that the English meddle not with 
 the head or the body at all. 
 
 "The commissioners at the same time, ordered that Hart 
 ford furnish Uncas with a competent strength of English to 
 defend him against any present fury or assault, of the Nano- 
 higgunsetts or any other. And that in case Uncas shall 
 refuse to execute justice upon Myantenomo, that then Myan- 
 tenomo be sent by sea to the Massachusetts, there to be kept 
 in safe durance till the commissioners may consider further 
 how to dispose of him. 
 
 "Here then we see fully developed the real state of the 
 case. The Mohegans had by accident captured Miantunno- 
 moh, after which event they were more in fear of his nation 
 than before; which proves beyond doubt, that they would 
 never have dared to put him to death, had they not been 
 promised the protection of the English. 
 
 "When the determination of the commissioners and elders 
 was made known to Uncas, he readily undertook the execu 
 tion, and taking Miantunnomoh along with him, in the way 
 between Hartford and Windsor, (where Uncas hath some 
 men dwell,) Uncas brother, following after Miantunnomoh, 
 clave his head with an hatchet. Mather says they very 
 fairly cut off his head. " 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, pp. 65, 66. 
 
 [410] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 being, near the swamp at Watertown hearing the 
 howling of a kennel of wolves, was so frightened 
 that his calls for help occasioned alarm that ex 
 tended remotely, even to towns near Boston." 
 
 Through all these years the Puritan community 
 was a seething-pot of religious disputes and ani 
 mosities; and as between the colonies themselves, 
 there was much of variant policy, which, together 
 with the continual reaching out after individual 
 gain, could not but prejudice the Indians against 
 the English and, as well, arouse the suspicions of 
 the savages as to the ultimate purpose of the Eng 
 lish with them. These conditions gave rise to en 
 actments of courts and the inserting of provisional 
 restraints in treaties between the English and the 
 savages, which undertook the control of savage 
 freedom, especially in matters of the disposal of 
 lands occupied by the savages. With the English 
 it was an epoch of greed and aggrandizement. With 
 these influences prevailing in the relations between 
 the English and the aborigine, it is not singular that 
 these apprehensions should exist; and so it came 
 about that this decision as to the final disposition of 
 Miantunnumoh was not revealed by the members 
 of the commission until it was made certain that 
 those members who resided in Connecticut and 
 New Haven had arrived safely at their respective 
 homes. The reason for this was, it was feared that 
 Miantunnumoh s people would make an effort to 
 intercept them and to hold them as hostages for 
 
 [411] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the safety of their sachem should they in any way 
 obtain that information. That such a purpose had 
 been entertained upon the part of the Narragansetts 
 was doubtless a fact, and it was Miantunnumoh 
 himself who with remarkable frankness and hon 
 esty notified Governor Haynes of the same. 
 
 As soon as the New Haven and Connecticut com 
 missioners were safe from such interference, Uncas 
 was summoned to Hartford, where he appeared 
 shortly after with Wawequa and some of his favorite 
 warriors. He was at once informed of the intended 
 disposition of Miantunnumoh, which no doubt 
 conformed to his own desire; and he, without ob 
 jection, entered with them into immediate plans for 
 the murder of the Narragansett sachem, who was 
 delivered to him. Leaving Hartford, accompanied 
 by the two Englishmen who were designated to be 
 the official witnesses of the crime, they wound their 
 way over the forest trail toward the Mohegan coun 
 try, until they came to the locality where the capture 
 of Miantunnumoh was consummated. Leaving the 
 shadows of the woods, they came into an opening 
 which has since widened into a stretch of country 
 known as Sachem s Plain, where had taken place, 
 as it turned out, the last battle of Miantunnumoh 
 with his enemies. Wliat may have been the thought 
 that occupied the sachem s mind as he recalled his 
 disaster, which was no doubt colored by his mo 
 mentary conjecture as to the meaning of this singu 
 lar return, it was punctuated by the stealthy 
 
 [412] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 tread of Wawequa at his heels. The eyes of the 
 latter were upon his brother. He was awaiting the 
 fatal signal. At a motion from Tineas, Wawequa 
 swung his tomahawk w r ith fatal swiftness, and in 
 the twinkling of an eye the messenger of death 
 claimed its victim. 1 
 
 Such was the barbarous hatred entertained by 
 Uncas. Sachem s Plain was not only the site of 
 Miantunnumoh s assassination, but, as well, the 
 place of his burial. The place where they laid him 
 was marked by a heap of stones, and it was the cus 
 tom of every Narragansett who passed that way to 
 pay tribute to the memory of his sachem by adding 
 one more stone to this rude cairn. 2 It was a custom, 
 as well, through the subsequent years of the Narra- 
 gansetts, to make a pilgrimage to this spot with every 
 recurring September, notwithstanding the hostility 
 which still existed between them and the murderers 
 
 1 See note ante, p. 396, as to the act of cannibalism alleged 
 to have been committed by Uncas. 
 
 Drake notes (Book of the Indians, p. 66) : "That this is a 
 tradition may be inferred, from the circumstance of an emi 
 nently obscure writer s publishing nearly the same story, 
 which he says, in his book, took place upon the death of 
 Philip. Oneko, he says, cut out a pound of Philip s bleeding 
 body and ate it." Referring to Henry TrumbulFs book, 
 Drake asserts, "There is barely a word of truth in it." 
 
 See, also, Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 74, note. 
 
 2 Drake notes (Winthrop s Journal, vol. ii., p. 134) : "As to 
 the place of Miantonomoh s execution Winthrop seems to 
 
 [413] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 of their leader, where they indulged in lamenta 
 tions and added new stones to the pile which they 
 consecrated with cries of mourning and with ges 
 tures of grief. This mound remained for many 
 years, to finally disappear at the hands of the 
 owner of the land, by whom the stones were used 
 as a foundation for one of his farm buildings. 1 
 
 Such was the end of this Narragansett sachem , 
 who had won the respect and affection of English 
 and savage alike, except so far as they were appre 
 hensive of his power. DeForest says, "There can 
 be no doubt but that his death was perfectly in ac 
 cordance with the Indian customs." He says fur 
 ther, "Had Uncas killed and scalped him on the 
 field of battle, or had he tortured him to death in 
 cold blood on his own responsibility, no one would 
 have had occasion for surprise." Had Uncas fallen 
 into the power of Miantunnumoh, it is doubtful if 
 the latter would have appealed to the English, but 
 the rather would have treated him in accordance 
 with the customs of the Indians toward a captive 
 
 have made a mistake. It is not very likely that he was taken 
 in an opposite direction from Uncas own territory, as Wind 
 sor was from Hartford. It is also unlikely that Uncas had 
 near dwell so far from his country upon the Thames." 
 
 Book of the Indians, p. 66, note. 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 11-13. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 134. 
 
 DeForest, p. 198. 
 
 1 History of Norwich, p. 20. 
 
 [414] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 enemy. The attitude of the authorities in this par 
 ticular matter was cowardly in the extreme; and as 
 a single incident of their double dealing with the 
 Indians, indiscriminately, is devoid of justification. 
 It was an unjust and deliberately cruel action, and 
 it is evident that it was from fear of him they were 
 led into the error of receiving him into their hands; 
 but, once committed by their unwarranted inter 
 ference, they became accomplices of the savage 
 Uncas, and by no stretch of law, reason, or imagi 
 nation could these magistrates be regarded other 
 than as particcps criminis. The excuse urged in 
 palliation of this outrage upon justice was that 
 Miantunnumoh was hostile to the colonies a 
 statement which is not borne out by fact; and it 
 has, as well, been suggested that their action was 
 likewise influenced by the fact that this sachem had 
 been notably friendly to the settlements of Gorton 
 and his community of Pautuxet. 1 
 
 With Miantunnumoh disposed of and the spec 
 ter of a powerful conspiracy stalking before them, 
 Governor Winthrop, with the advice of the com 
 missioners, sent messengers to the Narragansetts, 
 who accused them of having betrayed their faith 
 with the English and, as well, of having agreed with 
 Miantunnumoh in his purpose to involve the Eng- 
 
 1 The career of Samuel Gorton is very closely interwoven 
 with the history of the Indians of Connecticut. In 1644 
 Gorton went to England with his deed from the Narragan- 
 
 [415] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 lish colonies in destruction. They also served notice 
 upon the Narragansetts that Uncas had the ap 
 proval of the English in the execution of their sa 
 chem, and that it was their purpose to afford him 
 complete protection. As has been noticed already, 
 the English recognized Canonicus as having con 
 ducted the affairs of the tribe toward the colonies 
 peaceably; and the Narragansetts were informed 
 that, as to the late hostilities, they were due en 
 tirely to the turbulent disposition of their late 
 sachem. They further conveyed to the Narragan 
 setts an offer of peace, which should not only extend 
 to the English, but comprise the Mohegans and 
 
 setts, by which the whole territory was transferred to the 
 king of England. By order of Parliament, Gorton was given 
 peaceable possession, and later he assumed the office of min 
 ister for the Warwick Plantation. Vide p. 400 ante, note 1. 
 
 For the story of Gorton and his supporters, vide Gorton s 
 Simplicitie s Defence. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. ii., pp. 139, 140, 146-148, 318-320, 322, 
 323. 
 
 Winslow s Hypocricie Unmasked. 
 
 Palfrey, History of New England, vol. ii., pp. 133-140, 
 note, 209-214. 
 
 Massachusetts Records, vol. ii., pp. 51, 52, 54. 
 
 Records in Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 10, 25-27. 
 
 Coddington s Letter to Winthrop, Aug. 5, 1644, in Massa 
 chusetts Archives, vol. ii., pp. 4, 5. 
 
 R. I. Hist. Coll, vol. ii., pp. 110, 204. 
 
 Johnson, Wonder-working Providence of Zion s Saviour, 
 pp. 182, 188. 
 
 [416] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Massasoit, as well as all other Indian tribes allied 
 to the English. 1 While this was ostensibly a state 
 ment of conditions from the English point of view, 
 it was no less a threat; and as they were at that time 
 without organization and leadership, they accepted 
 the dicta of the commissioners in apparently passive 
 obedience. This nation at this time was panic- 
 stricken with the blow which had fallen upon them. 
 They were alike sorrowful and uncertain as to the 
 future; yet the English entertained the idea that 
 notwithstanding their defeat by the Mohegans, they 
 would yet be victorious over them, from the fact 
 that they were the more numerous people and still 
 had Canonicus and other brave warriors to direct 
 their movements. While Canonicus was alive, he 
 had, as well, arrived at a great age, and it was in 
 evitable the direction of his people should soon pass 
 into the hands of younger and more active sachems. 
 With the tragedy of Sachem s Plain, the relation 
 of the wars of Uncas is not wholly closed; therefore 
 it seems necessary to continue this narrative some 
 what further. Miantunnumoh was killed in 1643, 
 and there is no doubt that, as time went on, the 
 Narragansetts entertained more deeply their sense 
 of injury toward the Mohegans and, as well, that 
 their hatred of that sachem grew more implacable. 
 Whatever may have been their design, they did not 
 discover it to the Mohegans until 1644, when they 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 12. 
 
 [417] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 made an alliance with the Niantics against their 
 ancient enemy; sometime prior to which event 
 (wholly unsuspicious of the duplicity of the English 
 in the death of their sachem), Pessicus, who had 
 succeeded Miantunnumoh, sent to Governor Win- 
 throp a valuable gift of furs and wampum, which 
 he accompanied with the request that the colonies 
 remain neutral "in an expiatory war" which he felt 
 himself compelled to undertake against the Mohe- 
 gans, which he regarded as a sacred duty. 
 
 Recalling the old saw, everything that came from 
 the Indians to the Puritan mill was "grist;" and 
 while the offering of the Narragansett sachem was 
 at first accepted, it was very coolly suggested to 
 him that "peace must be preserved." This was not 
 satisfactory to the savage chieftain, and he again 
 sent to the Puritans, urging upon them what to him 
 seemed to be a reasonable request. While the con 
 ditions upon which the gift depended were refused 
 by the governor, the latter, however, permitted it 
 to be left; and the sachem s messengers were re 
 quested to wait, upon the plausibility that they 
 wished "for time to advise with the sachems of the 
 tribes involved in this controversy." The governor 
 finally informed Pessicus, "If you or your people 
 make war upon Uncas the English will fall upon 
 you." The attitude of the English was so distaste 
 ful to the Narragansetts that they at once declared 
 their intention to follow their own design in the 
 matter. Their reply was, "We will not listen to 
 
 [418] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 peace so long as the head of Uncas remain upon 
 his shoulders." These gifts and conferences of the 
 Narragansetts with the English afford a sufficient 
 proof that at that time they had ample confidence 
 in the good faith of the latter; that their suspicions 
 were unaroused. There is no question as to the 
 fidelity of the Narragansetts in the main to the 
 English, and, being themselves faithful, they did 
 not look for treachery at the hands of their accepted 
 friends. They were, however, in the way of being 
 undeceived. 
 
 It is to be noticed that at this time the habits of 
 the Indians were undergoing a change. Their in 
 tercourse with the whites so far had not been very 
 beneficial. They had acquired the habit of spend 
 ing much of their time loitering about the settle 
 ments, to the inhabitants of which they became a 
 source of much annoyance. They entered the 
 houses of the settlers with the same lack of formality 
 that they would show in entering their own wig 
 wams. Their barbarous aspect and their uncouth 
 manners upon these occasions inspired among the 
 women and children a sense of constant insecurity. 
 They were apt to desire whatever they saw, and 
 were not above getting deplorably into debt; but 
 they had as well, in too many instances, a disposi 
 tion to pilfer. They were not unlike the debtor of 
 modern times. Once the savage became indebted 
 to any considerable amount to the white men, he 
 was sure to take his custom elsewhere, at the slight- 
 
 [419] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 est suggestion of his indebtedness. The musket of 
 the English settler possessed a great attraction for 
 the savage, and if by chance one was left within his 
 reach, he was not satisfied until he had the weapon 
 in his hands, upon which occasion accidents were 
 not only possible, but actual. 
 
 To prevent these annoyances, stringent laws were 
 enacted by the colonial courts, and as well by some 
 of the settlements; one of which was that the 
 handling of a weapon by an Indian made him liable 
 to a fine of a half -fa thorn of wampum. If his care 
 lessness occasioned injury he was to pay the cost of 
 the cure. If death was occasioned by the accident 
 his life was forfeited. 1 In many of the towns watch 
 men were employed; and if an Indian happened 
 within the town limits after dark, and was sum 
 moned by the watch to surrender, upon refusal he 
 might be killed without hesitation. 2 In many in 
 stances these ordinances were given to the sachems 
 of the neighboring tribes, that they might notify 
 their people of the same. 
 
 In 1642, upon rumor of a conspiracy against the 
 English among the savages, the head-center of 
 which was located at Tunxis, the Connecticut court 
 prohibited the ordinary citizen from admitting a 
 savage into his house. Only magistrates were ex- 
 cepted from this restriction, who might receive a 
 
 ^Colonial Records, vol. i., p. 52 (June, 1640). 
 2 Ibid, pp. 46, 240. 
 
 [420] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 sachem if he were not accompanied by more than 
 two men. 1 This law was somewhat amended in 
 1644, when it was permissible that traders, as well 
 as magistrates, might entertain sachems when not 
 accompanied by over four of their people. An excep 
 tion was made, however, in the case of Uncas. He 
 was permitted to come into the English houses with 
 twenty; and his brother Wawequa, with ten. 2 
 Three years later the savages were prohibited from 
 hiring lands of the English, it being alleged that by 
 this freedom of intercourse they "corrupted the 
 young men." 3 The moral example of the savage 
 was more corrupting than otherwise. Within the 
 jurisdiction of the colony, trade with the Dutch and 
 French was prohibited. 4 These restrictions were 
 undoubtedly with a view to preventing the savage 
 from acquiring possession of, or becoming ac 
 quainted with the use of, fire-arms. In 1650 the 
 boundary line of intercourse between the Indian and 
 the whites was so closely drawn that the latter were 
 prohibited by law from buying even wood from the 
 Indians. 6 By this time the Indians had acquired an 
 unnatural appetite for intoxicating liquors. Where- 
 ever they could obtain it they drank greedily, and 
 
 ^Colonial Records, vol. i., p. 73. 
 *Ibid, p. 110. 
 *Ibid, p. 149. 
 *Ibid, pp. 197-218. 
 Ibid, p. 402. 
 
 [421] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 in 1654 the penalty for selling a pint of liquor to a 
 savage was five pounds; for a sip, even, the penalty 
 was forty shillings; and it has been noted that, not 
 withstanding all these restrictions, as liquor grew 
 more abundant in the colonies the Indians were 
 able to obtain it, and at a less expense. 1 
 
 To go back somewhat : before the time when Pes- 
 sicus was conferring with the English and making 
 them rich gifts of furs and wampum, or, to be more 
 exact, in 1642, some Dutch traders, after getting a 
 savage drunk, robbed him of his garb, which con 
 sisted of some valuable beaver-skins. In return for 
 this outrage the Indian killed two white men, after 
 which he betook himself to a distant tribe for safety. 
 The Dutch governor demanded the surrender of 
 the murderer, which demand, not being promptly 
 acceded to, finally resulted in his being able to take 
 revenge into his own hands. The following winter 
 some Hudson River Indians were surprised by the 
 Mohawks. Many were killed; some were taken 
 prisoners; while the remnant of several hundred 
 sought protection of the Dutch at New Amsterdam. 
 The Dutch governor at first afforded them a gen 
 erous relief, but it was not long before it occurred 
 to him that here was an opportunity to avenge the 
 savage insult to the Dutch government. Broaching 
 the matter to his councillors, they were agreeable to 
 the project, which was that these dependents upon 
 
 Colonial Records, vol. i., p. 263. 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 his bounty should be annihilated. Surprised in 
 their sleep by the Dutch soldiery, over one hun 
 dred of the savages were massacred in cold blood 
 a treachery which was not likely to go unpun 
 ished. 
 
 The Indians of the Hudson River Valley, joined 
 by some of the Long Island tribes, in all, a con 
 federacy of fifteen hundred warriors, began an 
 attack upon the Dutch settlements which were 
 scattered along the Sound from Manhattan down 
 the Long Island and Connecticut shores, and as 
 well up the Hudson. These ravages of the Indians 
 extended as far east as Stamford, and in this foray 
 to the eastward no discrimination was made be 
 tween the Dutch and the English. It was in this 
 raid that Ann Hutchinson, of Puritan fame, was 
 killed. 1 This was followed by an expedition of the 
 Dutch from New Amsterdam, the Dutch troops 
 landing at Greenwich. They had received infor- 
 
 1 In this raid on Stamford Village the savages appeared at 
 the Hutchinson house after their customed manner, out 
 wardly friendly; but a moment later, once they had gained the 
 inner threshold, the tomahawk was bespattered with the 
 blood of this unfortunate woman. After that the massacre 
 became general, and seventeen of the Stamford people were 
 killed. The live stock was impounded in the barns and out 
 houses, which were afterward set on fire. 
 
 DeForest, p. 205. 
 
 In Boston, Anne Hutchinson lived on the spot so long occu 
 pied by the Old Corner Book-store, at the corner of Wash- 
 
 [423] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 mation of an Indian encampment in that vicinity, 
 and marched all night in the hope of surprising it. 
 
 ington and School Streets. Governor Winthrop s home was 
 nearly opposite, on the other side of Washington Street. She 
 was among the most prominent of the Boston Antinomians. 
 Antinomianism was to the Puritans the worst of heresies, 
 and was dealt with most ruthlessly. In Boston Anne Hutchin- 
 son s name was to the Puritans the synonym of this detestable 
 cult. She was a woman of great excellency and pure morals, 
 to whose "person and conduct" no stain attaches. She had 
 a strong following. The persecution which ended in the ex 
 communication and banishment of this gifted woman was 
 of the most bitter character. She was held in custody, pend 
 ing her trial, in a house of the brother of the Rev. Thomas 
 Welde, who was her most virulent accuser and the first pas 
 tor of Roxbury Church. While there, she was allowed to see 
 neither her husband nor her children, unless by leave of 
 court. Her most frequent visitor was the "holy inquisitor." 
 Francis Drake notes that Welde s grandson married a grand 
 daughter "of the woman he had stigmatized as an American 
 Jezebel." 
 
 Memorial History of Boston, vol. i., pp. 173, 174, 413. 
 
 "The sequel to Mrs. Hutchinson s history is melancholy 
 and tragical. Remaining at Aquidneck until the decease of 
 her husband, she removed thence to the * Dutch country 
 beyond New Haven; and the next year, with all her family 
 save one daughter, was killed by the Indians. Her friends 
 charged the guilt of her murder upon those who expelled her 
 from Massachusetts; her enemies pronounced it a judgment 
 of God. No one, it is presumed, will exonerate either party 
 from blame in this affair. Encompassed with the privations 
 of a wilderness life, and invested with the cares of a young 
 and numerous family, the gentleness of her sex should have 
 
 [424] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 They had their labor for their pains. The Indians 
 had escaped; 1 but this expedition was not entirely 
 
 moderated the enthusiasm of Mrs. Hutchinson s zeal, and 
 have restrained it within those bounds which can never be 
 exceeded without detriment to the character of woman, how 
 ever extraordinary her genius or brilliant her accomplish 
 ments. On the part of her judges, too, there was inexcusable 
 severity, and unnecessary virulence; and, had they profited 
 by their own experience in the land of their nativity, they 
 would have tempered their conduct with more charity and 
 forbearance. The same spirit, doubtless, which, in 1646, 
 adjudged Mrs. Oliver to be whipped for reproaching the 
 magistrates, and which actually inflicted the disgraceful 
 punishment, and even added the indignity of placing *a cleft 
 stick upon her tongue for reproaching the elders/ might have 
 hurried our fathers into similar excesses in their dealings with 
 Mrs. Hutchinson, had it not been for the number and re 
 spectability of her friends." 
 
 Barry, History of Massachusetts, First Period, pp. 260, 
 261. 
 
 Winthrop, vol. i., pp. 338-340. 
 
 Morton s Mem., pp. 106-108. 
 
 *On this account the Dutch believed that they had been 
 intentionally misdirected by Captain Daniel Patrick, the 
 same who led the Bay soldiers against Sassacus, who, with 
 famous John Underbill, had removed from Massachusetts 
 to Greenwich, a neighboring village. One of the Dutch 
 soldiers, meeting Patrick, upbraided him with his supposed 
 duplicity; whereat the Englishman retorted in kind, and, un 
 able to control his anger, spit in the face of his accuser, who 
 killed the former with a pistol-shot. This was the end of the 
 Puritan Captain Patrick. 
 
 DeForest, p. 206. 
 
 [425] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 unsuccessful, for before they returned to Man 
 hattan they had surprised a small Indian village, 
 which they destroyed. 
 
 The hostilities between the Dutch and the In 
 dians assumed such importance that a new relay of 
 troops was raised, and despatched to Connecticut, 
 with the anticipation of surprising and destroying 
 a large Indian encampment in that vicinity. This 
 body of soldiers was under command of Captain 
 Underbill and Ensign Van Dyck. They found the 
 encampment, and Underbill, recalling Mason at 
 Fort Mystic, wanted the village fired. It was a 
 night surprise, and those savages who escaped the 
 flame of their blazing wigwams were compelled to 
 return to them by the guns and sabers of the Dutch. 
 It was afterward asserted that in this foray five 
 hundred savages were killed, men, women, and 
 children, and that only eight escaped. The Dutch 
 camped that night by the glowing embers of this 
 carnage, and the following morning set out for 
 Stamford, which they reached in the late forenoon. 
 The gratitude of the Dutch for this victory led 
 them to express themselves much as had the Puri 
 tans upon receiving the news of the Fort Mystic 
 massacre. Public thanksgivings were ordered at 
 New Amsterdam, where the event was celebrated 
 as a special act of Providence. This incident closed 
 the war between the Dutch and the Indians; the 
 latter invoking the good offices of Underbill, whose 
 hand had fallen thus heavy upon them, with the 
 
 [426] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 result that in April of this year a peace was agreed 
 upon. 1 
 
 This was followed by an outrage committed at 
 Stamford in daylight. An Indian, entering one of 
 the Stamford houses, found there a woman alone 
 with her child. Leaving her for dead, he plundered 
 the house and went away. This was followed by 
 other minor offences upon the part of the savage, 
 whereat the settlers were very much alarmed, and 
 were finally led to request a conference by which 
 they hoped to obtain some reparation. The savages 
 paid no attention to their demands, and, leaving 
 their fields untilled, they indicated their continued 
 hostility by discharging muskets in proximity to the 
 settlements, and by assuming, whenever they ap 
 peared among the whites, a turbulent and threat 
 ening aspect. They did not conceal their design to 
 make a later attack upon the English, and the set 
 tlers at once called upon the Hartford and New 
 Haven authorities for aid. In many places the 
 English posted guards day and night. New Haven 
 responded with alacrity, raising a small contingent 
 of soldiers which was immediately despatched to the 
 settlements most in danger, and another and more 
 strenuous demand was made for the surrender of 
 Ashquash, who had murdered an English servant 
 near Fairfield. While the Stamford woman recov- 
 
 1 Callaghan s History of New Netherlands, bk. iii., chaps, 
 iii., iv., and v. 
 
 [427] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 ered, her reason was destroyed. She was able after 
 an incoherent fashion to describe the appearance of 
 her assailant. The description was that of a savage 
 named Busheag, whom the Indians were finally in 
 duced to deliver into the hands of the English. He 
 was taken to New Haven, where he was convicted 
 and sentenced to have his head cut off. 1 His execu 
 tion was followed by a period of tranquillity. 
 
 While these somewhat tumultuous affairs were 
 transpiring the Narragansetts were carrying on a 
 guerilla warfare with the Mohegans. At the time 
 of Miantunnumoh s death his brother Pessicus was 
 about attaining his majority. We have noted his 
 communication with the English at Boston, which 
 was followed by a body-guard of some fourteen 
 Englishmen being sent out of Hartford for the pro 
 tection of Uncas a proceeding which did not 
 deter the Narragansetts from making frequent 
 forays into the Mohegan country. Conditions be 
 came so serious, finally, that in September, 1644, 
 the commissioners summoned Uncas and Pessicus 
 to Hartford, and an investigation was begun into 
 the rights in contention between these two sachems. 
 These tribes were ordered to maintain a peace until 
 their cause was decided, and were enjoined, fur- 
 
 1 When Busheag was executed he sat erect, motionless. 
 The executioner was so unused to his office that it was only 
 after eight blows that he was able to sever the head of the 
 savage from his body. 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 23. 
 
 [428] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 ther, not to interfere with the messengers of the 
 court as they went to deliver the proper summonses. 
 The Narragansetts, advising with Ninigret as to 
 the course to be taken by them, sent Weetowisse 
 and three councillors, who were to file their accusa 
 tion against Uncas, who appeared before the magis 
 trates for himself. The case opened before the 
 commissioners, and the Narragansetts charged Un 
 cas with breaking his bond to them in the matter of 
 his killing Miantunnumoh ;* also alleging that the 
 latter s ransom had been agreed upon between 
 themselves and the Mohegans, and that a consider 
 able portion of this ransom had been paid. The 
 reply of the Mohegan sachem was that no ransom 
 had been agreed upon, and that the amount of 
 wampum sent was totally inadequate, and that, 
 having been left to Miantunnumoh for disposition, 
 the latter had disposed of it for the purpose of ob 
 taining future favor, or as a recompense for favors 
 already received. 
 
 There is no doubt that the court was disposed to 
 declare the innocence of Uncas, for they finally de 
 cided that the evidence of the complainants failed 
 to maintain the charge. They told the Narragan 
 setts, as well, that had Uncas been found guilty they 
 would have compelled him to give satisfaction, and 
 that whenever the Narragansetts were able to 
 prove their contention the magistrates held them- 
 
 1 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 25. 
 
 [429] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 selves ready to compel Uncas to make ample repara 
 tion. They followed this up with the suggestion 
 that the Narragansetts and the Nehantics were not 
 to attack Uncas until they were able to satisfy them 
 that he was guilty as alleged. Otherwise, they 
 would incur the active hostility of the United Colo 
 nies. The Narragansett deputation after a brief 
 consultation agreed not to attack the Mohegans 
 until the next planting- time was over; nor would 
 they then, until they had given thirty days notice 
 of their intention to the Massachusetts governor. 1 
 
 ^ Before the Narraganset deputies left the court, the Eng 
 lish made them sign an agreement that they would not make 
 war upon Uncas, Untill after the next planting of corn. 
 And even then, that they should give 30 days notice to the 
 English before commencing hostilities. Also that if any of 
 the Nayantick Pecotts should make any assault upon Uncas 
 or any of his, they would deliver them up to the English to be 
 punished according to their demerits. And that they should 
 not use any means to procure the Mawhakes to come against 
 Uncas during this truce. At the same time the English took 
 due care to notify the Narraganset commissioners, by way 
 of awing them into terms, that if they did molest the Mohe 
 gans, all the English would be upon them. 
 
 "The date of this agreement, if so we may call it, is, Hart 
 ford, the xviiith of September, 1644, and was signed by four 
 Indians; one besides those named above, called Chimough. 
 
 "That no passage might be left open for excuse, in case of 
 war, it was also mentioned, that, proof of the ransom 
 charged, must be made satisfactory to the English before 
 war was begun. 
 
 "The power of Pessacus and Ninigret at this time was 
 
 [430] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 They agreed, further, that they would not use any 
 inducements with the Mohawks against the Mohe- 
 gans, and that if the latter were attacked by the 
 Nehantic Pequods they would deliver the trans 
 gressors to the English for punishment. This treaty 
 bears the date of September 29, 1644. The commis 
 sioners signed it for the colonies. The sachems 
 Weetowisse, Pawpiamet, Chimough, and Pum- 
 mumshe, as councillors of the Narragansetts, signed 
 for that tribe. 1 
 
 Once the Narragansett deputation had returned 
 to their own country, indifferent to their promises 
 to the English, hostilities were again renewed and 
 their warriors were once more scouring the domains 
 of Uncas. Along in the spring following, without 
 notice to the Massachusetts authorities, Pessicus 
 led a large force of warriors against the Mohegans. 
 
 much feared by the English, and they were ready to believe 
 any reports of the hostile doings of the Narragansets, who, 
 since the subjection of the Pequots, had made themselves 
 masters of all their neighbors, except the English, as the 
 Pequots had done before them. The Mohegans were also in 
 great fear of them, as well after as before the death of Mian- 
 tunnomoh; but for whose misfortune in being made a prisoner 
 by a stratagem of Uncas, or his captains, the English might 
 have seen far greater troubles from them than they did, judg 
 ing from the known abilities of that great chief." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 92. 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 25, 26. 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 92. 
 
 t 431 ] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Wherever they went destruction followed. Not a 
 wigwam or village lay behind their path; all were 
 obliterated. The Mohegans sought safety in flight, 
 and their sachem was obliged to hasten to one of 
 his forts for safety. The site of this fort is Shantok 
 Point, a ragged headland on the western shore of 
 the Thames, in the building of which the English 
 had assisted. As against the armament of the Nar- 
 ragansetts, it was practically impregnable, and they 
 had no way of reducing it except by starving its oc 
 cupants. With that in view, they possessed them 
 selves of the canoes of the Mohegans, to afterwards 
 occupy the country adjacent with numerous bands 
 of warriors. They had driven Uncas into one of his 
 dens, where they proposed to keep him until star 
 vation should deliver him into their hands. This 
 proving futile, by reason of the Mohegans receiving 
 substantial relief in the way of supplies from the 
 English, they raised the siege to return to their own 
 country. 1 
 
 1 " At the time the Mohegan tribe of Indians were besieged 
 by the Narraganset tribe, in a fort near the River Thames, 
 between Norwich and New London, the provisions of the 
 besieged being nearly exhausted, Uncas, their sachem, found 
 means to inform the settlers at Saybrook of their distress, and 
 the danger they would be in from the Narragansets, if the 
 Mohegan tribe were cut off. Ensign Thomas Leffingwell, 
 one of the first settlers there, loaded a canoe with beef, corn 
 and peas, and in the night time paddled from Saybrook into 
 the Thames, and had the address to get the whole into the 
 
 [432] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 This invasion was followed by another comprised 
 of several hundred warriors, thirty of whom carried 
 muskets. They came upon the Mohegans with 
 great secrecy; and by a ruse of sending into Uncas s 
 vicinity some forty of their warriors, who, upon 
 being pursued, took to their heels, in this manner 
 drew the Mohegans within their reach, the Narra- 
 gansetts meeting them with a hail of bullets and 
 arrows. It was the turn of the Mohegans to run, 
 which they did to such purpose that they were able 
 to regain their fort with a loss of four of their saga 
 mores, two warriors killed, and some forty wounded. 
 The Narragansetts continued the pursuit to the 
 fort; but there happened to be a few Englishmen in 
 the vicinity, upon the appearance of whom the 
 Narragansetts at once retired. The wounded in 
 the fort had their wounds dressed by John Win- 
 throp, Jr., and Thomas Peeters, who were among 
 the earliest of the New London settlers. 1 TJncas 
 related to these the story of the fight, remarking 
 that had it not been for the guns he would not 
 have run for the Narragansetts. 
 
 fort of the besieged ; received a deed from Uncas of the 
 town of Norwich, and made his escape that very night. In 
 consequence of which, the besiegers, finding Uncas had pro 
 cured relief, raised the siege, and the Mohegan tribe were 
 saved, and have ever proved strict friends to the New Eng 
 land settlers. " 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 94. 
 
 DeForest, p. 215. 
 
 [433] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 For the remainder of this season the English kept 
 a small force under arms in the Mohegan country. 
 These incursions of the Narragansetts aroused the 
 colonies to make some more strenuous exertion for 
 the protection of Uncas, who had so many times lent 
 himself to their purposes. At a meeting of the com 
 missioners of the United Colonies at Boston in 
 May, 1645, this matter was considered, and mes 
 sengers were despatched to the Mohegans, Narra 
 gansetts, and Nehantics, with the invitation that 
 they attend once more upon the magistrates for the 
 purpose of settling the difficulties existing between 
 these tribes. Benedict Arnold accompanied them 
 as interpreter. When they arrived in the Narra- 
 gansett country they were received with indiffer 
 ence by Pessicus. 1 
 
 *" These messengers, Sergeant John Dames [Davis?], 
 Benedict Arnold, and Francis Smyth, on their first arrival 
 at Narraganset, were welcomed by the sachems, who offered 
 them guides to conduct them to Uncas; but, either having 
 understood their intentions, or judging from their appearance 
 that the English messengers meant them no good, changed 
 their deportment altogether, and in the meantime secretly 
 despatched messengers to the Nianticks before them, giving 
 them to understand what was going forward. After this, say 
 the messengers, there was nothing but proud and insolent 
 passages [from Ninigret]. The Indian guides which they had 
 brought with them from Pumham and Sokakanoco were, by 
 frowns and threatening speeches, discouraged, and returned; 
 no other guides could be obtained/ The sachems said they 
 knew, by what was done at Hartford last year, that the Eng- 
 
 [434] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 When the messengers had fully informed Pessicus 
 as to their errand, he replied: "The reason I did 
 not meet the English sachems at New Haven last 
 year, is, they did not notify me. It is true I have 
 broken my covenant these two years, and that now 
 is constantly, and has been, the grief of my spirit. 
 The reason I do not meet them now, at Boston is 
 because I am sick. If I were but pretty well, I 
 would go. I have sent my mind in full to Ninigret 
 and what he does, I will abide by. I have sent 
 Powpynamett and Pumumsks to go and hear, and 
 testify that I have betrusted my full mind with 
 Nenegratt. You know full well, however, that 
 when I made that covenant two years ago, I did it 
 in fear of the army that I did see; and though the 
 
 lish would urge peace, but they were resolved, they said, 
 to have no peace without Uncas his head/ As to who began 
 the war, they cared not, but they were resolved to continue it; 
 that if the English did not withdraw their soldiers from Uncas, 
 they should consider it a breach of former covenants, and 
 would procure as many Mohawks as the English had soldiers 
 to bring against them. They reviled Uncas for having 
 wounded himself, and then charging it upon them, and said 
 he was no friend of the English, but would now, if he durst, 
 kill the English messengers, and lay that to them. There 
 fore, not being able to proceed, the English messengers re 
 turned to the Narragansets and acquainted Pessacus of what 
 had passed, desiring he would furnish them with guides; he, 
 (in scorn, as they apprehended it,) offered them an old Pea- 
 cott squaw. " 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., pp. 92, 93. 
 
 [435] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 English kept their covenant with me, yet they were 
 ready to go to Narragansett and kill me and the 
 commissioners said they would do it if I did not 
 sign what they had written." 
 
 From Pessicus the messengers went to Ninigret, 
 who received them with a contemptuous derision. 
 It was evident, in the behavior of the Indians to this 
 embassy, that they held the treaty but lightly; and 
 it was no less apparent that their distrust of the 
 English was about to take a definite shape. So im 
 pressed were the messengers with the attitude of 
 these two sachems that they were afraid to continue 
 their journey into the Mohegan country, and re 
 turned to Boston, where they related their experi 
 ences, not unmixed with indignation and some 
 anger at the insult put upon their station. 1 On 
 their way back they met Roger Williams, who gave 
 
 messengers now thought themselves in danger of 
 being massacred; three Indians with hatchets standing be 
 hind the interpreter in a suspicious manner, while he was 
 speaking with Pessacus, and the rest frowning and expressing 
 much distemper in their countenance and carriage. So, 
 without much loss of time, they began to retrace their steps. 
 On leaving Pessacus, they told him they were to lodge at an 
 English trading house not far off that night, and if he wanted 
 to send any word to the English, he might send to them. In the 
 morning, he invited them to return, and said he would furnish 
 them with guides to visit Uncas, but he would not suspend 
 hostilities. Not daring to risk the journey, the messengers 
 returned home. Arnold, the interpreter, testified that this 
 was a true relation of what had happened, which is necessary 
 
 [436] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 them a letter to the Massachusetts authorities, in 
 which he declared that war with the Indians was 
 about to ensue; and that the Narragansetts, in 
 anticipation of its results, had entered into an ami 
 cable treaty with the Providence and the Rhode 
 Island tribes. This aroused the commissioners to 
 lay out an immediate campaign against the Narra 
 gansetts, the first step of which was to impress 
 forty men, who were despatched three days later 
 to take the place of the garrison at Mohegan, which 
 was about to return to New Haven. 1 This little 
 party was accompanied by two Massachusetts Indi 
 ans as guides. They had along with them four 
 horses. Forty men from Connecticut and thirty 
 from New Haven were to join them at Mohegan, 
 
 to be borne in mind, as something may appear, as we pro 
 ceed, impeaching the veracity of Arnold." 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 93. 
 "Meanwhile the commissioners set forth an armament to 
 defend Uncas, at all hazards. To justify this movement they 
 declare, that, considering the great provocations offered, and 
 the necessity we should be put unto of making war upon the 
 Narrohiggin, &c. and being also careful in a matter of so 
 great weight and general concernment to see the way cleared 
 and to give satisfaction to all the colonists, did think fit to 
 advise with such of the magistrates and elders of the Massa 
 chusetts as were then at hand, and also with some of the 
 chief military commanders there, who being assembled, it 
 was then agreed : First, that our engagement bound us to aid 
 and defend the Mohegan sachem. Secondly, that this aid 
 could not be intended to only defend him and his, in his fort 
 
 [437] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 and, under the command of John Mason, the com 
 pany was to march at once against the Nehantics, 
 who were designated as the instigators of the antici- 
 
 or habitation, but (according to the common acceptation of 
 such covenants or engagements considered with the ground 
 or occasion thereof,) so to aid him as hee might be preserved 
 in his liberty and estate. Thirdly, that this aid must be speedy, 
 lest he might be swallowed up in the meantime, and so come 
 too late/ 
 
 " According to the counsel and determination aforesaid, 
 the commissioners, considering the present danger of Uncas 
 the Mohegan sachem, (his fort having been divers times 
 assaulted by a great army of the Narrohiggansets, &c.) 
 agreed to have 40 soldiers sent with all expedition for his 
 defence. Lieut. Atherton and Sergeant John Davis led this 
 company, conducted by two of * CutchamakinY Indians as 
 guides. Atherton was ordered not to make an attempt upon 
 the town otherwise than in Uncas defence/ Capt. Mason 
 of Connecticut was to join them, and take the chief com 
 mand. Forty men were ordered also from Connecticut, and 
 30 from New Haven under Lieut. Sealy. In their instructions 
 to Mason, the commissioners say, We so now aim at the pro 
 tection of the Mohegans, that we would have no opportunity 
 neglected to weaken the Narragansets and their confederates, 
 in their number of men, their cane canoes, wigwams, wam 
 pum and goods. We look upon the Nianticks as the chief 
 incendiaries and causes of war, and should be glad they might 
 first feel the smart of it. The Nianticks, therefore, were 
 particularly to be had in view by Mason, and he was informed 
 at the same time that Massachusetts and Plimouth were 
 forthwith to send, another army to invade the Narragan 
 sets/" 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 93. 
 
 [438] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 pated hostilities, and who were to be the first to 
 experience the displeasure of the English. In addi 
 tion to this enterprise, another was to be projected 
 against the Narragansetts from the Massachusetts 
 side, under the command of Major Edward Gib 
 bons, with one hundred ninety men. 1 
 
 It was thought fit to make a final effort with these 
 people toward a possible adjustment. Two other 
 messengers were sent to Pessicus, who informed 
 him of the plans and preparations of the English. 
 That sachem, upon being informed that the English 
 force being despatched against him was four times 
 as great as that which overthrew the Pequods, lost 
 his courage. A brief cessation of hostilities was the 
 
 1 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 28-32. 
 
 "The commissioners now proceeded to make choice of a 
 commander in chief of the two armies. Maj. Edward Gib 
 bons was unanimously elected. In his instructions is this 
 passage: Wheras the scope and cause of this expedition is 
 not only to aid the Mohegans, but to offend the Narragan- 
 sets, Nianticks, and other their confederates. He was directed 
 also to conclude a peace with them, if they desired it, provided 
 it were made with special reference to damages, &c. And 
 they say, But withal, according to our engagements, you are 
 to provide for Uncas future safety, that his plantations be 
 not invaded, that his men and squaws may attend their 
 planting and fishing and other occasions without fear or in 
 jury, and Vssamequine, Pomham, Sokakonoco, Cutchamakin, 
 and other Indians, friends or subjects to the English, be not 
 molested, &c. " 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 94. 
 
 [439] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 result. Immediately, Pessicus, with several of his 
 councillors, went to Boston, where before the com 
 missioners their defence was resolved into their old 
 complaint against Uncas. 1 Still holding to their 
 animosity against the Mohegan sachem, they 
 offered to refrain from making further attack upon 
 the Mohegans until after next planting-season. 
 Extending the time to a year, and then to a year and 
 a quarter, all of which propositions were unfavor 
 ably received by the commissioners, one of them 
 delivered to the commissioners a stick, the signifi 
 cance of which was that it was for the commission 
 ers to tell them what they should do. 2 The com- 
 
 l " It was in the end agreed, that the chiefs, Pessacus, 
 Mexam, and divers others, should proceed to Boston, agree 
 ably to the desire of the English, which they did, in company 
 with Harding and Welborne, who brought back the old pres 
 ent, and for which they also received the censure of the con 
 gress. They arrived at Boston just as the second levy of 
 troops were marching out for their country, and thus the ex 
 pedition was stayed until the result of a treaty should be 
 made known." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 96. 
 
 2 "It appeared, on a conference with the commissioners 
 that the sachems did not fully understand the nature of all 
 the charges against them before leaving their country, and in 
 justice to them it should be observed, that, so far as the 
 record goes, their case appears to us the easiest to be defended 
 of the three parties concerned. They told the commissioners 
 of sundry charges they had against the Uncas, but they said 
 they could not hear them, for Uncas was not there to speak 
 
 [440] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 missioners replied to them that the price of peace 
 with the English would be two thousand fathoms 
 of wampum and a full indemnification of such ex 
 penses as had been incurred in the preparation for 
 war; that they should restore all captive Mohegans 
 and Mohegan canoes; and, as well, must not only 
 put their contention with Uncas before the next 
 session of the court, but they must abide by its 
 ruling. The wampum was to be paid in quarterly 
 
 for himself; and that they had hindered his being notified of 
 their coming. As to a breach of covenant, they maintained, 
 for some time, that they had committed none, and that their 
 treatment of the English had been misrepresented. But, 
 (says our record) after a long debate and some priuate con- 
 ferrence, they had with Serjeant Cullicutt, they acknowledged 
 they had broken promise or couenant in the afore menconed 
 warrs, and off erred to make another truce with Uncas, either 
 till next planting tyme, as they had done last yeare at Hart 
 ford, or for a yeare, or a yeare and a quarter. 
 
 "They had been induced to make this admission, no doubt, 
 by the persuasion of Cullicut, who, probably, was instructed 
 to inform them that the safety of their country depended 
 upon their compliance with the wishes of the English at this 
 time. An army of soldiers was at that moment parading the 
 streets, in all the pomposity of a modern training, which must 
 have reminded them of the horrible destruction of their kin 
 dred at Mystic eight years before. 
 
 "The proposition of a truce being objected to by the Eng 
 lish, one of the sachems offered a stick or a wand to the com 
 missioners, expressing himself, that therewith they put the 
 power and disposition of the war into their hands, and de 
 sired to know what the English would require of them. They 
 
 [441] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 instalments, the last payment to be within twenty 
 months. Four sons of Pessicus, Ninigret, and other 
 chief sachems were to be delivered up as hostages 
 within fourteen days; and until this last provision 
 was complied with four sachems of the Narragan- 
 sett party were to be retained as prisoners at Bos 
 ton. This was followed up by the imposition of a 
 tax in the nature of a poll, which was that for every 
 Pequod man among the Narragansetts and the 
 Nehantics they were to pay annually a fathom of 
 white wampum, a half-fathom for every youth, and 
 a hand-length for every child. The only point 
 made in their favor was that the Mohegans should 
 be obliged to restore to them whatever of plunder 
 
 were answered that the expenses and trouble they had caused 
 the English was very great, besides the damage Uncas had 
 sustained; yet to show their moderacon, they would require 
 of them but twoo thousand fathome of white wampom for 
 their owne satisfaccon, but that they should restore to Uncas 
 all the captives and canoes taken from him, and make restitu 
 tion of all the corn they had spoiled. As for the last-mentioned 
 offence, the sachems asserted there had been none such; for 
 it was not the manner of the Indians to destroy corn. 
 
 "This most excellent and indirect reproof must have had 
 no small effect on those who heard it, as no doubt some of the 
 actors as well as the advisers of the destruction of the Indians 
 corn, previous to and during the Pequot war, were now pres 
 ent; Block Island, and the fertile fields upon the shores of the 
 Connecticut, must have magnified before their imaginations." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., pp. 96, 97. 
 
 [442] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 or captives they might have taken from these tribes. 
 As to all other matters, the commissioners were un 
 yielding, and on the fifth of September, 1645, a 
 new treaty was signed on the part of the Indi 
 ans, with manifest reluctance. 1 
 
 The following year Sequassen occupied the atten 
 tion of the English in a minor way, being a rival of 
 Uncas, whom he hated thoroughly, while he dis 
 liked the English because they were friendly to the 
 Mohegans. He concocted a plot with a Potatuck 
 savage, by which the latter was to accomplish the 
 death of Uncas. This fell through, on account of 
 the cowardice of the proposed perpetrator of the 
 crime, who, instead of going into the Mohegan 
 country, took his way to Hartford, where he dis 
 closed the matter to the magistrates. Sequassen 
 was summoned to Hartford. The court had been in 
 session some time when two sagamores made their 
 appearance, avowing that they were friends of 
 Sequassen, and announcing that they had just re 
 turned from Massachusetts, where they had been 
 with the former. They had carried a present to the 
 governor, who, while he refused to accept it, "con 
 sented to give it house-room," which was in accord 
 ance with the traditions of the Bay authorities. 
 Sequassen was afterward captured and brought to 
 Hartford, where he was imprisoned; but, nothing 
 
 *For copy of this treaty see Drake, Book of the Indians, 
 vol. ii., pp. 97, 98. 
 
 [443] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 being proved against him, he was set at liberty. 1 
 While the incident is not important, it shows how 
 credulous the English were in matters of accusation 
 by one Indian against another, and how readily 
 they clothed with the garb of veracity such as in 
 formed them of these so-called plots. The Potatuck 
 "was unquestionably a liar and a villian." 
 
 In the same year the Milford people maintained 
 a daily and nightly guard about their settlements, 
 and when attending church Sundays took their mus 
 kets and side-arms along with them, fearful of an 
 inroad by the Wepawaugs or Paugussets, who had 
 grown uneasy, by reason of real or fancied wrongs 
 imposed upon them by the English. The nearest 
 approach to hostilities on the part of the savages 
 was their setting fire to the woods about the town, 
 which the settlers finally succeeded in extinguish 
 ing before it reached the palisades. The principal 
 damage was the destruction of a large area of tim 
 ber-lands and the burning of several meadows. 2 
 
 With an occasional inroad from the Mohawks 
 upon the settlements along the coast, nothing of any 
 importance happened until about 1648, when a 
 body of Mohawks hid themselves in a swamp in the 
 neighborhood of Stratford Ferry. They were dis 
 covered by some of the settlers, who informed the 
 
 1 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 60, 61. 
 Winthrop, vol. ii., p. 333. 
 
 2 Lambart s History of New Haven Colony, p. 128. 
 
 [444] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Wepawaugs, who went out against them, by whom 
 the Mohawks were defeated. As a curious inci 
 dent of Indian torture, one captive Mohawk was 
 stripped, tied hand and foot to a tree in one of the 
 meadows, and left to the mercies of the mosquitoes, 
 which at that season of the year were abundant. 
 Thomas Hine, an English settler, came across the 
 Mohawk, whom he relieved from his uncomfortable 
 situation, afterward feeding him, and thereby 
 enabled him to escape. For this kindness the Mo 
 hawks held the family of this settler in great esteem, 
 and were wont to remark that the "Hines did not 
 die like the other pale-faces, but went to the west, 
 where the Great Spirit took them into his big wig 
 wam and made them great men." 1 
 
 In 1649 a murder was committed by an Indian 
 at Stamford. John Whitmore, a member of the 
 General Court of New Haven, went to look over 
 his cattle one day, and that was the last ever seen 
 of him. The son of a neighboring sagamore was 
 suspected of the crime; but he throwing the guilt 
 upon another, who was absent, the matter was held 
 in abeyance. Two or three months later TJncas 
 came down to Stamford, accompanied by some 
 of his fighting-men, and, being informed of this 
 offence, began an investigation with the demand 
 to know where the body was concealed. The saga- 
 
 Trumbull, vol. i., pp. 162, 163. 
 Barber s Hist. Coll. Conn., Milford. 
 
 [445] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 more s son and another savage who was suspected 
 led the w r ay directly to the place where the body 
 was finally discovered. Nothing, however, was 
 done in the matter. 1 By this time Uncas had be 
 come so confident of the English favor that his un 
 rest and turbulency, his oppression of the Pequods 
 subject to him, his abuse and despoiling of those 
 who were not under his subjection, made him ob 
 noxious to the colony. He deprived one man of his 
 wife, another of his corn and beans; he failed to de 
 liver to the English wampum which had been en 
 trusted to him for that purpose; and, together with 
 his brother Wawequa, he lost no opportunity of 
 committing every possible depredation upon his 
 neighbors. These acts on his part brought upon 
 him the reprimands of the English, and, in one or 
 two instances, punishment. 2 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 127, 128. 
 Colonial Records, vol. i., p. 197. 
 
 2 At the same court Obechiquod complained that Uncas 
 had forcibly taken away his wife, and criminally obliged her 
 to live with him. Foxon being present, as Uncas deputy, 
 was questioned about this base and unsufferable outrage; he 
 denied that Uncas either took or kept away Obechiquod s 
 wife by force, and affirmed that [on] Obechiquod s withdraw 
 ing, with other Pequots, from Uncas, his wife refused to go 
 with him; and that, among the Indians, it is usual when a 
 wife so deserts her husband, another may take her. Obechi 
 quod affirmed that Uncas had dealt criminally before, and 
 still kept her against her will. 
 
 "Though not satisfied in point of proof, the commissioners 
 
 [446] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Uncas was inclined to carry things with a high 
 hand, and from this time on gave the commission 
 ers of Connecticut more or less trouble. In 1646 he 
 made an inroad upon the country about New Lon 
 don with three hundred Mohegans, in reprisal be 
 cause Cassasinamon had been driving the woods 
 for game, that the people at New London might 
 have something to eat, Thomas Peeters being ill 
 and some of the other settlers being out of provi 
 sions. This was resented by Uncas on the ground 
 that the Indian hunter was not an independent 
 sachem and had assumed too much freedom in 
 conducting this forage for game. Peeters com 
 plained to the commissioners, who had him before 
 them at the next session, which resulted in very 
 little other than the court s promising to take up his 
 grievances. 1 Uncas had hardly been dismissed by 
 the commissioners before a new complaint was 
 made against him by William Morton, of New 
 London, who brought along three Pequods to sub 
 stantiate his complaint. The hearing resolved itself 
 into a "labyrinth of lies," in which Uncas ap- 
 
 say, Yet abhoring that lustful adulterous carriage of Uncas, 
 as it is acknowledged and mittigated by Foxon, ordered that 
 he should restore the wife, and that Obechiquod have liberty 
 to settle under the protection of the English, where they should 
 direct." 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 100. 
 
 1 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 65. 
 
 [447] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 peared to his usual disadvantage, and the affair 
 was dismissed. 1 
 
 These incidents were followed by a series of 
 petty tyrannies on the part of Uncas. He abducted 
 the wife of Obechiquod ; defiled the wife of Sanaps, 
 one of his subjects; and to these injuries he added 
 the robbery of the latter s harvest. The Indians 
 were great gamblers, a pastime that was carried on 
 quite generally between the Pequods and the Mo- 
 hegans, and whenever the former won at play he 
 (Uncas) justified the latter in not paying their 
 debts. In his not infrequent excursions against the 
 Long Island Indians he was wont to demand of the 
 Pequods that they join him; when they refused to 
 do so he cut up their fishing-nets, and committed 
 other depredations upon their possessions. It was, 
 however, of small importance to the English what 
 happened to the Pequods, and these abuses were 
 passed without reparation, so indifferent were the 
 English to these tributaries. 
 
 The following year, 1647, a child of Uncas died, 
 whereupon, after the custom of the tribes, the sa 
 chem carried gifts of consolation to the mother, 
 and, threatening the Pequods, Uncas ordered them 
 to do the same. Tassaquanot, a brother of Sassa- 
 cus, who had survived the butcheries of the Eng 
 lish and the Mohawks, refused to comply with this 
 demand of Uncas, excusing himself with the ob- 
 
 1 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 66. 
 
 [448] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 servation that if he had any wampum it were better 
 to give it to the English, as the obtaining of their 
 favor would give them security against Uncas. 
 Others of the Pequods, being fearful of Uncas, and 
 knowing his retaliatory disposition, collected some 
 one hundred fathoms and disposed of it as Uncas 
 directed. 
 
 A few days later Wawequa came into the Pequod 
 settlement with a message from Uncas that the 
 latter and the Mohegan council had decided to put 
 a number of them to death. Recalling the advice 
 of Tassaquanot, they set about collecting a quan 
 tity of wampum to be given to the English, hoping 
 thereby to purchase their safety from Uncas, who, 
 being acquainted with their design, the following 
 day appeared before their fort with his warriors. 
 The Pequods succeeded in making their escape, to 
 take up their residence under the protection of the 
 New London settlers. 
 
 In July of this year, upon the meeting of the com 
 missioners at Boston, Cassasinamon and Obechi- 
 quod, with forty-six Pequods and eighteen Ne- 
 hantics, complained of the abuses of Uncas. Their 
 relation comprised all the wrongs inflicted upon 
 them by Uncas: his abduction of their wives; his 
 robberies of their corn and beans; his destruction of 
 their fishing-nets; his extortions of wampum; and 
 his threats of personal injury. They alleged in their 
 petition that they had refused to engage in the wars 
 of Sassacus against the English settlers, and that 
 
 [449] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 they were not guilty of killing any of the English, 
 and they claimed the English protection. 1 The 
 chief councillor of Uncas, whose name was Foxon, 2 
 represented the Mohegan sachem at this hearing. 
 Some of the charges he denied, and some he ex 
 cused; of some he pretended ignorance; and with 
 much plausible speech he defended the outrages of 
 Uncas. He declared that Obechiquod, having fled 
 the territory of Uncas, had forfeited his wife by 
 Indian custom; that the Pequods had never sent 
 wampum to the English, unless they had joined in 
 so doing with the Mohegans; he was unaware of 
 the destruction of the fishing-nets; it was a lie so 
 far as Uncas favored the Mohegans against the 
 Pequods in gaming. As for the statement of the 
 Pequods regarding their attitude toward the Eng 
 lish, it was false; for he alleged that some of them 
 were in the fort destroyed by Mason, and under 
 cover of the smoke they escaped to engage in other 
 places against the Mohegans and the Narragan- 
 setts. 3 
 
 The commissioners were not deceived by this de 
 fence; and though recognizing the shortcomings of 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 87-89. 
 
 2 Foxon, Foxun, or Poxen was a crafty, plausible coun 
 cillor, who is mentioned in one of the Apostle Eliot s letters 
 as being considered among the Massachusetts tribes as "the 
 wisest Indian in the country." 
 
 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. xxiv., p. 57. 
 
 3 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 90. 
 
 [450] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 their favorite, they were slow to deprive Uncas of 
 the credit accorded him by the colonies. They 
 directed the Pequods to return to the Mohegan 
 country, and further directed Uncas not to inter 
 fere with them. They afterwards despatched a 
 deputy to Uncas with a verbal reproof that the Eng 
 lish would not support him "in such unlawful and 
 outrageous courses." 1 
 
 But this was not all; for John Winthrop, of New 
 London, entered a new complaint against Uncas, 
 and Foxon was again obliged to plead in extenua 
 tion of the Mohegan sachem. Winthrop s com 
 plaint was that Wawequa, with one hundred thirty 
 Mohegans, had made a foray upon the Nipmucks, 2 
 from which tribe they had carried away thirty-five 
 
 , vol. ii., p. 91. 
 
 2 This tribe dwelt mainly in the eastern interior of Massa 
 chusetts, occupying many of the lakes and rivers. Their 
 exact limits have not been defined; but they must have been 
 very extensive, as there is proof that their boundaries reached 
 as far as Boston on the east, as far south as the northern por 
 tion of Rhode Island, westward as far as Bennington in Ver 
 mont, and as far north as Concord, N. H. 
 
 Douglas-Lithgow, Dictionary of American Indian Names, 
 p. 375. 
 
 The Nipmuck tribes of New Hampshire, occupying the 
 southern part of this territory, constituted, with some of the 
 Massachusetts tribes, what was known as the Pennacook 
 Confederacy, of which the illustrious Passaconaway was the 
 Bashaba. They lived along the intervales of the Pennacook, 
 in the region of present Bow, Concord, and Boscawen, in 
 
 [451] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 fathoms of wampum, ten copper kettles, ten large 
 hempen baskets, and a considerable quantity of 
 valuable furs. Foxon admitted the offence, but 
 urged that Uncas with his chief men at that time 
 were at New Haven and were ignorant of the affair; 
 that he had no share in the plunder; and that some 
 of the Mohegans had been robbed about the same 
 time. 1 Winthrop complained, further, that this 
 same brother of Uncas, with a band of men, some 
 armed with guns, had at Fisher s Island frightened 
 an Indian and broken a canoe. Another settler 
 averred that Wawequa, upon his return from 
 Fisher s Island, had halted his canoes off the settle 
 ment; that his movements had been such as to 
 cause the Indians and some of the English settlers 
 to immediately betake themselves and their goods 
 into the houses of the colonists for safety. Win 
 throp was a man to whom the commissioners felt 
 bound to listen, and Uncas was sentenced to pay 
 a fine of one hundred fathoms of wampum. This 
 
 Merrimac County. Of the other confederated tribes were the 
 Nashuas and the Sowhegans, on the Merrimac; the Namaos- 
 keags, at Amoskeag Falls; and the Winnepesaukees, who 
 lived about the lake of that name. Confederated with them 
 were the Agawams (Ipswich), Wamesits .or Pawtuckets 
 (Lowell), and the Pentuckets (Haverhill). Passaconaway died 
 about 1660. 
 
 Douglas-Lithgow, Dictionary of American Indian Names, 
 Int., p. xii. 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 91. 
 
 [452] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 fine was to be divided among those of the English 
 and Indians who were injured in the foray of the 
 Mohegans against the Nipmucks; and Foxon was 
 dismissed with numerous reproofs and admonitions, 
 which he was to convey to the avaricious and un 
 scrupulous tineas. 1 
 
 The Pequods refused to return to the territory 
 of the Mohegans, against whom Uncas made com 
 plaint at the next court, which, in October, 1648, 
 authorized him to reduce the Pequods to obedience, 
 a resolution being passed, as well, which forbade 
 any one from offering the Pequods shelter. Uncas 
 profited little by this order, as neither by force nor 
 persuasion would the Pequods again live with the 
 Mohegans. After this they distributed themselves 
 indiscriminately among the Nehantics and Narra- 
 gansetts, where they maintained a precarious ex 
 istence, or herded in communities unrecognized by 
 the English. 
 
 Soon after these incidents the commissioners were 
 again called upon to defend Uncas. Uncas had 
 abducted Sequassen 2 from the territory of the 
 Pocomtucks of Deerfield. The latter, instigated by 
 gifts of wampum from the Narragansetts and the 
 Nehantics, in August, 1648, gathered a large body 
 of warriors of that tribe. Gifts had been sent to the 
 
 1 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 91. 
 
 2 A sachem of the Tunxis tribe, who sold Hartford to the 
 English. He was also known as Sequen, or Sequeen. 
 
 [453] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 Mohawks, as well; and with the coming of this 
 latter tribe the combined forces were to march 
 against the Mohegans. Rumor placed the number 
 of this hostile body at one thousand; that three 
 hundred of these warriors were armed with mus 
 kets; that the Narragansetts were sending their old 
 men, women, and children into the neighboring 
 swamps for security, and had mustered a force of 
 eight hundred men, who were to join the Pocom- 
 tucks and the Mohawks. A portion of the Narra 
 gansetts, however, under Sachem Hermon Garret, 
 separated themselves from the alleged conspiracy 
 to occupy a portion of the Narragansett territory at 
 a distance from the possible scene of action. 
 
 Connecticut became alarmed, and apprehensive 
 of danger to the colony, as well as the ruin of Un- 
 cas; and they despatched Thomas Stanton, with 
 two other Englishmen, to the rendezvous of the 
 belligerents, who were directed to obtain informa 
 tion as to their designs, and if such were hostile to 
 the Mohegans, to make strenuous protest against 
 their carrying out of that purpose. They found at 
 Pocomtuck a large body of warriors who were 
 making preparations for some sort of an expedition. 
 The sachem received them politely. Stanton laid 
 great stress upon the power of the English in war, 
 their disposition to fairness, and finally declared 
 that the English would defend Uncas with all the 
 resources at their command. The reply of the sa 
 chem was that they were aware of these things, and 
 
 [454] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 had no desire to displease the English; and for that 
 reason they would delay their purpose for a further 
 consideration. This willingness on the part of the 
 Pocomtucks to accede to the demands of the Eng 
 lish messenger was not that they cared so much to 
 oblige the English, as it was based upon a report 
 brought in by a Mohawk runner that his tribe had 
 been attacked by some eastern Indians, instigated 
 by the French, and that they were obliged to keep 
 their warriors at home as a matter of self-defence. 
 This incident dissolved the league, nor was Uncas 
 ever after "threatened by so formidable a combina 
 tion." This conspiracy on the part of the Narra- 
 gansetts resulted in their being ordered to make 
 good their tribute, the arrears of which amounted to 
 two thousand fathoms of wampum. 
 
 The feeling against Uncas, however, did not 
 stop here; for the Indians of Rhode Island, con 
 vinced that Uncas was not to be disposed of by an 
 open attack, began to plot for the riddance of their 
 enemy after another fashion. The following year, 
 1649, numerous complaints of the Narragansetts 
 were made by Uncas to the commissioners. He 
 said they were plotting against him. They were 
 trying to bring the Mohawks upon him. They 
 were trying to put an end to his life by witchcraft. 
 They had neither restored his canoes nor his prison 
 ers. After this, Uncas boarded an English vessel 
 which lay at anchor in the Thames. A Narragan- 
 sett, Cuttaquin, who was also on the vessel, dis- 
 
 [455] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 covering Uncas, made a sudden attack upon the 
 latter with a sword, by which Uncas got a wound 
 in his breast which was at the time supposed to be 
 fatal. Cuttaquin was arrested, and upon being in 
 terrogated by some of the English, among whom 
 was John Mason, as to why he committed this as 
 sault, he replied to Mason: "I am a Narragansett; 
 the Narragansett sachem is my sachem; they came 
 to me and wished me to kill Uncas; they offered 
 me a large quantity of wampum, and I accepted it; 
 this wampum I spent, and was placed in their 
 power; had I not fulfilled my bargain and attempted 
 to kill him, they would have slain me." 1 The 
 savage was thereupon delivered to the Mohegans, 
 and was taken into the Mohegan territory, along 
 with the sachem he had attempted to kill. 
 
 The statement of Cuttaquin so directly involved 
 the integrity of the Narragansett sachems that Nini- 
 gret felt himself obliged to present himself before 
 the commissioners at Boston, where he endeavored 
 to clear himself and Pessicus. The commissioners, 
 however, gave little credence to his arguments, and 
 his protest that he was innocent impressed them but 
 
 1 "A Narragansett Indian named Cuttaquin, in an English 
 vessel, in Mohegan River, ran a sword into his [Uncas s] breast, 
 wherby hee receeved, to all appearance, a mortal wound, 
 which murtherus acte the assalant then confessed hee was, for 
 a considerable sum of wampum, by the Narragansett and 
 Nianticke sachems, hired to attempt/" 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 72. 
 
 [456] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 slightly. His assertion that the Mohegans had dis 
 torted the tale from Cuttaquin by torturing him 
 was met upon the part of the commissioners by the 
 reply that the savage gave his relation to Mason 
 before he was delivered into the hands of the 
 Mohegans. Ninigret was dismissed with numerous 
 reproofs and threats, and a message was despatched 
 to TJncas, who was on the high road to recovery, 
 that his Narragansett prisoner was at his disposal. 
 There is no record of his fate at the hands of the 
 Mohegans. 1 
 
 Notwithstanding the restrictions which the Eng 
 lish had been continually putting upon the Indians 
 since their settlement of the country, the independ 
 ent spirit of the Narragansett sachems was not 
 quelled in any degree. Whatever externals of sub 
 mission might have been apparent, underneath 
 was a current of unrest and a harboring of revenge. 
 Ninigret 2 was one of those spirits whose yielding to 
 the English was entirely superficial. It was now 
 rumored that this sachem was about to bestow his 
 daughter in marriage upon the brother of Sassacus, 
 who had begun to exercise some influence upon the 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 129, 130. 
 
 2 Ninigret, or Ninicraft, was the great-sachem of the Nian- 
 tics, of the Narragansett family; he lived at Wekapaug 
 [Westerly], R. I., and married a sister of Cashawashett [Her- 
 mon Garret]. 
 
 Douglas-Lithgow, Dictionary of American Indian Names, 
 p. 333. 
 
 [457] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 wandering Pequods by collecting them about him, 
 as if he intended to take up the mantle of his an 
 cestors. The English surmised the object of this 
 to be the weakening of the Mohegans by with 
 drawing from that tribe such Pequods as had made 
 a common interest with them, which would natu 
 rally result in the building up of a new tribe, which 
 could not be other than actuated by its ancient 
 hatred for the Mohegans, and who for that reason 
 might possibly become a formidable factor for war 
 or peace. The English, taking this rumor for a 
 certainty, with their usual celerity in heading off 
 designs of this character, despatched messengers 
 into the country of the Narragansetts and Nehan- 
 tics, whose sachems were charged with the fact. 
 They further purposed to carry on such inquiry of 
 the matter as would afford them full knowledge of 
 existing conditions, and, as well, to demand of the 
 Narragansetts the tribute of wampum, which was 
 greatly in arrears. Whatever basis there may have 
 been for the origin of the report to the English as to 
 the marriage of Ninigret s daughter, or the amalga 
 mation of the Pequods, there is no further record 
 to be had. 1 
 
 Uncas had become to the English a necessary 
 evil, and his complaints against the tribes neighbor 
 ing upon the Mohegans had become almost con 
 tinuous. In September of 1650 he complained to 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 152. 
 
 [458] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 the commissioners that a sachem of Long Island, 
 named Monhansick, had taken the lives of several 
 of his people, and had bewitched others, among 
 whom was himself. It was evident that the com 
 missioners were not prepared to give much credence 
 to the charge of witchcraft; but the killing of the 
 Mohegans was a different matter, and proceedings 
 were taken to ascertain the innocence or guilt of 
 the Long Island sachem. If found guilty he was to 
 give Uncas such satisfaction as he required; and if 
 he refused the English were to resort to their usual 
 method of intimidation by threatening him with 
 their active displeasure. 1 
 
 These incidents in the career of Uncas delineate 
 his character with a singular completeness. Tyran 
 nically ambitious, he was deeply suspicious; jealous 
 of the prosperity of others, he was absolutely with 
 out honesty, mean to a nicety, and inordinately 
 greedy. Hated by the sachems of the surrounding 
 tribes, they neglected no opportunity of injuring 
 him, the real cause of which was undoubtedly his 
 secure standing with the English, whose dirty work 
 he had performed without question. It was he who 
 led Mason, under cover of the darkness of the 
 night, to the fort of the Pequods. The accuser of 
 Miantunnumoh, and his murderer as well, at the 
 instigation of the English; the oppressor of such 
 Pequods as had been allotted to him as his share of 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 150, 151. 
 [459] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 the spoils; the abductor of Sequassen, by whom he 
 was surrendered to the Connecticut magistrates; 
 the unmitigated slanderer of every neighboring sa 
 chem who was too troublesome and too dangerous 
 for him to attack openly; a brute, physically; thor 
 oughly inoculated with the serum of cowardice ; 
 this was the man to whom the English through all 
 these early years lent their countenance and pro 
 tection. 
 
 In 1651 Sequassen had returned to his own coun 
 try, having been set at liberty, and the white settlers 
 seemed to have done him some favor, which 
 greatly grieved Uncas, who, after his usual fashion, 
 carried his complaint to the commissioners. He 
 said, "Sequassen was set up and they were going 
 to make a great sachem of him; and yet he refused 
 to pay their friend Uncas, an acknowledgment of 
 wampum, which he owed him as his conqueror." 
 The commissioners descended from their position 
 so far as to avow to this low-bred sachem that they 
 had no intention of lending to Sequassen any aid 
 to greatness ; and with their customary subservience 
 to the whims of this fellow, they recommended to 
 the government of Connecticut to see that Uncas 
 received his rights, following this with the dis 
 claimer that as to the tribute of allegiance claimed 
 by Uncas they were wholly ignorant. 1 
 
 Two years later, 1653, in the early spring, Uncas 
 
 , vol. ii., p. 190. 
 
 [460] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 made his way to the residence of Governor Haynes, 
 at Hartford, to deposit a new complaint against the 
 Narragansetts and the Nehantics, the burden of 
 which was that the latter were confederating with 
 the Dutch of New Netherlands against him. He 
 said, "Ninigret has been to Manhattan and formed 
 a league with the Dutch governor. He made the 
 governor a present of a great quantity of wampum 
 and the governor made him a present of a large 
 box of powder and bullets. Then Ninigret went to 
 a council of Indians over the Hudson River, and 
 made a speech to them, asking their help against 
 Uncas and the English." 
 
 He also related this circumstance, which is in 
 dicative of savage custom and superstition. He 
 said that, two years before, Ninigret had made a 
 gift of wampum to the Monheag sachem, 1 asking 
 him to send him a man skilful in the use of poisons 
 and magic. He promised one hundred fathoms of 
 wampum additional upon the return of the sorcerer. 
 Informed of this plot, Uncas set a watch both by 
 land and by sea, by which the canoe containing the 
 Mohican medicine-man was intercepted and that 
 individual captured. With the savage empiric 
 were six other savages, one of whom was a Pequod ; 
 another was a brother of the Monheag, whose name 
 was Wampeag. The remainder were of the Narra- 
 
 1 Probably the Mohican tribe whose habitat was along the 
 Hudson River. 
 
 [461] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 gansetts. The prisoners were carried to Mohegan 
 by his men for examination. The Monheag and 
 one of the Narragansetts confessed the plot; and 
 upon identifying the sorcerer, the Mohegans, with 
 unrestrained rage, killed him. 1 
 
 The quarrel between Ninigret and the English 
 continued through this year, 1653; until, in the 
 following year, the commissioners declared war 
 against this sachem, and a force of two hundred 
 seventy infantry-men and forty good cavalry-men 
 were raised to prosecute him. Major Willard was 
 in command, and as he advanced into the Nehantic 
 country the Nehantics made no defence, but left 
 their dwellings and crops to the mercy of the Eng 
 lish, in their flight taking refuge in a swamp for 
 safety. Willard was accompanied by a number of 
 Pequods. As a party of Willard s Pequods were 
 going through the woods, while endeavoring to 
 locate the hiding-place of the Nehantics, intending 
 to use their persuasion with the Pequods who had 
 found asylum among the Nehantics, and if possible 
 cause their desertion, they came across three Pe 
 quods who were of Ninigret s party. After a parley 
 between the Nehantic Pequods and those of Wil- 
 lard s force, seventy-three Pequods who had been 
 allied to Ninigret came into Willard s camp, and 
 the day after they were followed by sixty-three 
 more. The character of this war was not marked 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., p. 211. 
 
 [462] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 by any particular energy, and the destruction of 
 Ninigret and his people, as was intended by the 
 colonies, was not consummated, Ninigret was 
 allowed to become a party to a peace by which his 
 power was practically broken, and the records of 
 those times have very little more to mention of him. 1 
 It is evident that the Pequods who came over to 
 Willard were not delivered to Uncas, as the latter 
 complained of that fact to the commissioners, who, 
 willing to please Uncas anew, remanded all arrears 
 of tribute to such of the Pequods as should return 
 to the Mohegan country. 
 
 In 1656 Uncas had made a compact of friend 
 ship with Sequassen, the same delivered by him 
 into the hands of the English previously. A Podunk 
 had killed a relative of Sequassen; he, taking um 
 brage at this outrage, made an effort to apprehend 
 the murderer, which the Podunks prevented, where 
 upon Sequassen requested Uncas to assist him in 
 the matter. Uncas, who was always open to oppor 
 tunities which would enable him to get into a 
 profitable broil with his neighbors, entertained the 
 complaint of Sequassen, and bringing the matter 
 before the English as a preparatory step in his 
 aggression, the commissioners summoned all the 
 
 1 For a relation of the various difficulties in which Ninigret 
 became involved at one time and another with the English 
 and the neighboring savage tribes, vide Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 
 308-381, passim. 
 
 [463] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 parties interested. Webster was governor of Con 
 necticut at that time, and when he sought to be in 
 formed of the character of the satisfaction required, 
 Uncas s advocate, Foxon, alleged that the murdered 
 sagamore was a great sachem; and, as well, that the 
 man who killed him was a very "mean fellow." 
 They insisted upon the surrender of the murderer 
 and nine of the Podunk tribe. These latter entered 
 a plea that Weasepano had done righteously, be 
 cause the dead sachem had killed one of his uncles. 
 The court was divided in its opinion; the governor 
 laid down the law that the man who committed the 
 crime was the only one liable to punishment, and 
 urged upon the savages that a friendly settlement 
 of the matter be had. The Podunks then offered 
 wampum in settlement, which was refused by Un- 
 cas and Sequassen, who reduced their demand for 
 victims by four. They insisted upon six Podunks 
 being delivered to them for punishment. Wearied 
 with the long and uninterpretable harangues of the 
 contending parties, the commissioners urged Ton- 
 tonimo, the Podunk sachem, to surrender the mur 
 derer. Pretending to consent, he evaded the imme 
 diate fulfilment of his promise by withdrawing him 
 self and his followers, unnoticed by the magistrates, 
 after which he hastened away to his fort. 
 
 This was not only displeasing to Uncas and 
 Sequassen, but the commissioners regarded it as a 
 deception practised upon themselves, and imme 
 diately despatched a messenger to Tontonimo with 
 
 [464] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 an order that they should observe their compact. 
 Uncas finally was persuaded to accept of the mur 
 derer alone; but still denied by the Podunks, upon 
 the plea that the friends of the criminal were so 
 powerful, and there were so many of them in the 
 fort, that he w r as unable to make this concession. 
 After thinking the matter over, the commissioners 
 came to the sensible conclusion that it was n t any 
 matter of theirs; and, calling the complainants be 
 fore them, they urged Uncas to take the wampum 
 which had been offered. If he decided not to do that 
 the Mohegans were to dispose of the matter among 
 themselves, in accordance with their own ideas of 
 justice a license that was limited by a condition 
 that none of the English should be interfered with, 
 and that in case they should come into open conflict 
 with the Podunks, no fighting should take place on 
 the west side of the river. This was agreed to by 
 the deputies, and the court adjourned. 1 
 
 This was in accordance with Uncas s desire, 
 whereupon he assembled a war-party with the 
 purpose of invading the country of the Podunks. 
 With his usual cowardice, being intercepted in the 
 neighborhood of the Hockanum River by the enemy, 
 whose numbers were apparently equal to his own, 
 he decided that discretion was the better part of 
 valor. After sending a message to the Podunk 
 sachem that he would bring the Mohawks down 
 
 l Colonial Records, vol. i., pp. 304, 305. 
 [465] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 upon him, Uncas made his way back to Mohegan. 
 However, by means of a stratagem, he obtained the 
 surrender of Weasepano. 1 
 
 In the following year, 1657, Uncas again found 
 himself threatened by the Narragansetts and the 
 Nehantics, the number of whose fighting-men had 
 been increased by detachments from the Pocom- 
 tucks and the Norwootucks, two Massachusetts 
 tribes, who at the outset, with the assistance of 
 some Pequods, surprised a canoeful of Mohegans 
 and massacred them. 2 It was in this raid that 
 Pessicus 3 made an invasion of the Mohegan coun 
 try, and, driving Uncas into one of his fortresses, 
 was in a way of finally getting him into his power. 
 
 *A Mohegan warrior supplied with Mohawk weapons was 
 sent into the Podunk country, where he set fire to a wigwam 
 under cover of the darkness. Dropping his weapons near the 
 place, he quietly made his way back to his own people. The 
 next day the Podunks left their fort to investigate the ruins, 
 and possibly to discover some sign by which the incendiarist 
 might be pursued. Seeing the weapons, they were at once 
 satisfied that the Mohawks were out on a raid and that Uncas 
 had begun to carry out his threat. They were so disturbed 
 over the matter, and the possibility of having to maintain a 
 dreaded war with the Iroquois, that they at once sent the 
 murderer to Uncas and made peace with the Mohegans. 
 
 Dr. Dwight s Travels, vol. ii., p. 282. 
 
 2 Hazard, vol. ii. 
 
 3 Pessicus was a noted Narragansett sachem after the death 
 of his brother Miantunnumoh. Before that, he was a Niantic 
 sachem. Born in 1623, he was killed across the Maine border 
 
 [466] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 He probably would have succeeded had it not been 
 for the appearance of a small party of English, 
 which had been despatched by the Connecticut 
 Colony to the relief of Uncas. Upon the approach 
 of the English the Narragansetts at once retired; 
 and the Mohegans, encouraged likewise, began a 
 furious pursuit of the Narragansetts, overtaking 
 many of them, whom they at once put to death. 1 
 
 This quarrel grew out of the differences between 
 Uncas and the Podunks, who were in a rage once 
 they had discovered how easily they had been 
 duped into surrendering Weasepano. Uncas again 
 found himself in court to answer to the complaint of 
 these two Massachusetts tribes, who alleged that 
 Uncas had made war upon and driven their old 
 friends the Podunks from their country. By the 
 direction of the commissioners the government of 
 Connecticut notified the Podunks to return to their 
 country, and directed Uncas to let them alone. 
 The Pocomtuck and Norwootuck sachems were 
 informed of this proceeding, and were likewise en 
 joined from entering into any hostilities upon Uncas 
 until the Court of the Commissioners should again 
 
 convene. 2 
 
 during the Indian wars which prevailed in that section of the 
 country, by the Mohawks. He was known by the name of 
 Pissacus, as well. 
 
 Douglas-Lithgow, Dictionary of American Indian Names. 
 
 ^History of Norwich, pp. 30, 31. 
 
 2 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 384, 385. 
 
 [467] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 The result of this action could not but reveal to 
 the English the futility of any attempt to harmonize 
 these warring factions among the savages; for in 
 1658 the Mohegans were again invaded by prac 
 tically the same confederation that had driven 
 Uncas into his fort the previous year. The Mohe- 
 gan sachem again took refuge in his fort, 1 while 
 those besieging him made the serious mistake of 
 committing some violence upon neighboring Eng 
 lish settlements. Upon being informed that two of 
 the settlers, Brewster and Thompson, had supplied 
 the Mohegans with ammunition, and that Brewster, 
 especially, had lent his house to some of the Mohe 
 gans as a temporary refuge, some musket-shots as 
 well coming from the side of the river where Brew- 
 
 1 "During the war between the Narragansets and Uncas, the 
 former once besieged the fort of the latter, until his provisions 
 were nearly exhausted, and he found that his men must soon 
 perish, either by famine or the tomahawk, unless speedily 
 relieved. In this crisis, he found means of communicating an 
 account of his situation to the English scouts, who had been 
 despatched from the fort in Saybrook to reconnoitre the 
 enemy. Uncas represented the danger to which the English 
 would be exposed, if the Narragansets should succeed in de 
 stroying the Mohegans. It was at this critical juncture that 
 the greatest portion of the English troops in Connecticut were 
 employed on an expedition abroad. A Mr. Thomas Leffing- 
 well, however, a bold and enterprising man, on learning the 
 situation of Uncas, loaded a canoe with provisions, and under 
 cover of the night paddled from Saybrook into the river 
 
 [468] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 ster s house was located, their suspicions were 
 aroused, and a few Pocomtucks forded the river to 
 discover the source of these attacks. Not finding 
 any one, they went to Brewster s house; and being 
 balked in trying to gain entrance to the same, they 
 repaid themselves for their trouble by carrying off 
 a quantity of corn and some other property. The 
 Pocomtuck sachem Annapecom reprimanded those 
 engaged in this foray, and made them return the 
 property so taken. Brewster, still dissatisfied, after 
 the invading forces had retired, complained to the 
 commissioners, who imposed a fine of forty fathoms 
 of wampum upon the confederates. When that 
 portion of the fine which was to be exacted of the 
 Pocomtucks was levied upon their sachem, Annap 
 ecom made the following dignified response: "We 
 desire the English sachems not to persuade us of a 
 peace with Uncas, for we have experience of his 
 
 Thames, and had the address to get the whole into the fort. 
 The enemy soon after, discovering that Uncas had received 
 supplies, raised the siege. For this piece of service, Uncas 
 presented Mr. Leffingwell with a deed of a very large tract of 
 land, now comprising the whole town of Norwich." 
 
 Trumbull, Indian Wars, p. 62. 
 
 Trumbull states this as history. Drake quotes Rev. Wm. 
 Ely, who regards it as a tradition of respectable origin, yet 
 open to doubt. 
 
 Ely, MS. Letter. 
 
 Drake s Book of the Indians, vol. ii., p. 95. 
 
 [469] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 falseness, and we know that if he promise much, he 
 will perform nothing. Also, if messengers are sent 
 to us from the English, we desire that they may not 
 be liars and tale-bearers, but sober men and such 
 as we can understand." 1 This last attempt termi 
 nates the invasions of the Mohegan country, and 
 no more conflicts between the Mohegans and the 
 Narragansetts are mentioned. 
 
 It is recorded that the restless spirit of Uncas 
 would not allow him to observe a peaceful demeanor 
 toward his neighbors for any length of time, and he 
 was no sooner out of one complication than he be 
 came involved in another. 
 
 It was in August of this same year that some of 
 his warriors killed a man and two women, savages 
 of two Narragansett sachems who were tributary to 
 the Massachusetts government. Other Mohegans 
 made captive six Nipmucks, killing one and wound 
 ing another. The Narragansetts and the Nipmucks 
 complained to the commissioners, before whom 
 Uncas was ordered to appear at the next court; but 
 w T ith their usual compliance in all matters where 
 Uncas was concerned, this was the last heard of 
 that complaint. 2 
 
 Possibly emboldened by this indifference of the 
 commissioners, or impelled by a disposition for 
 aggression, which seemed to have no bounds, in 
 
 Hazard, vol. ii., pp. 396-423. 
 2 Ibid, p. 388. 
 
 [470] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 1661 Uncas attacked the Quabaugs, a tribe of 
 eastern Massachusetts, some of whom he killed 
 and some of whom he made captives, despoiling 
 their settlement and carrying off plunder which 
 was estimated at thirty-three pounds sterling. The 
 tribe attacked by Uncas was subject to Massasoit, 
 who at this time was nearing the end of his career, 
 having arrived at a ripe old age. Massachusetts, 
 upon being informed of this raid, made immediate 
 demand upon the Mohegans to restore the captives 
 to liberty; and, as well, to return the property they 
 had carried away. Uncas did not reply to this de 
 mand; and, the affair being some time after com 
 mitted to the commissioners, John Mason was des 
 patched to the Mohegans for satisfaction. Uncas, 
 with his usual duplicity, responded that the previous 
 order of Massachusetts had been received by him 
 some twenty days before Mason s arrival, and he 
 denied any knowledge of the Quabaugs being under 
 the protection of the English, asserting that it was 
 not a fact that they were tributary to Massasoit, 
 but, on the other hand, they were the subjects of 
 Onopequin, who was regarded by the Mohegans 
 as one of their worst enemies. He excused himself 
 with the assertion that Massasoit s people, along 
 with Wamsutta, the eldest son of the Wampanoag 
 sachem, had made many attacks upon the Mohe 
 gans, and that he had anticipated the demands of 
 the English by giving the Quabaugs their liberty. 
 This was the end of the matter; for it is evident that 
 
 [471] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 no further reparation was made upon the part of 
 Uncas. 1 
 
 In the years following, various regulations were 
 adopted by the Connecticut government by which 
 the intercourse between the Indians and the whites 
 was to become more limited. The Indians were 
 not allowed to live within a quarter of a mile of any 
 English settlement; and if they brought their guns 
 into the settlement they were to be confiscated. 
 One tribe was not allowed to entertain wandering 
 members of other tribes; and in no case was a 
 strange Indian to be admitted to the settlements, 
 unless fleeing from his enemy. Drunkenness pre 
 vailed among the savages, and the settlements were 
 at times disturbed by their attempts to obtain 
 liquor, and all Indians were forbidden to walk 
 about the streets after nightfall, under penalty of 
 a fine or flogging. The English were not allowed to 
 take the property of an Indian for debt without 
 consent, or upon legal warrant; and later it was 
 enacted that such as trusted an Indian with goods 
 were deprived of all right to appeal to law for the 
 recovering of the same. 2 
 
 It was during these years that the efforts for the 
 Christianizing of the Indians were going on under 
 the auspices of the Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel in New England; and it is noted that at 
 
 , vol. ii., pp. 450, 451. 
 2 Colonial Records, vol. iii. 
 
 [472] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 this time the Mohegans, as well as the other Con 
 necticut tribes, had little if any knowledge of Chris 
 tianity, and were still to be regarded as among the 
 heathen. Their practices were confined to their 
 belief in God and other spirits. Charms, incanta 
 tions, their dances and powwowings, were in con 
 formity to their ancient superstitions. Under the 
 teachings of Fitch, in 1674, the religious converts 
 among the Connecticut Indians were estimated at 
 thirty men and women and some few children. In 
 1671 Uncas was approached, and the permission of 
 the sachems was gained, by which Mr. Fitch began 
 his religious teachings at Mohegan, which was re 
 ported to the General Court of Connecticut. As 
 an inducement to the Mohegans to receive Mr. 
 Fitch, the General Court notified the Mohegans 
 that all those who received the Christian religion 
 would be especially favored, while those who op 
 posed and rejected it would be afforded their dis 
 pleasure which is not suggestive of the meek 
 and lowly spirit conveyed in the teaching of the 
 Nazarene. 
 
 Whatever may have been the opinion as to the 
 conversion of Uncas, the wish being doubtless 
 father to the thought, contemporary writers upon 
 this subject have held to the idea that the Mohegan 
 sachem had a "theoretical belief in the doctrine of 
 Christianity." 1 
 
 "In 1674, Daniel Gookin and John Eliot, while on a mis- 
 [473] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 It is to be noted that in these last days of Uncas 
 he was the leading spirit in all the warlike disposi- 
 
 sionary tour among the aborigines, came to a village of 
 Christian Indians at Wabequasset in what is now the south 
 eastern part of Woodstock. The two clergymen spent a 
 great part of the night with the principal inhabitants praying, 
 exhorting and singing psalms. There was one Indian present, 
 a stranger, who took no part in the devotions, and for a long 
 time remained silent. At last he rose and announced that he 
 was a deputy of Uncas, sachem of Mohegan; and that in his 
 name he challenged a right to, and dominion over, this people 
 of Wabequasset. And, he said to the two ministers, Uncas 
 is not well pleased that the English should pass over Mohegan 
 River to call his Indians to pray to God. 
 
 "Gookin replied that Wabequasset was not subject to 
 Uncas, but belonged under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 
 And no harm need be feared, he continued, were it otherwise; 
 for the only object of the English in preaching to the Indians 
 is to bring them to a knowledge of Christ, and suppress among 
 them the sins of drunkenness, idolatry, powwowing, witch 
 craft and murder. Gookin told the messenger to report this 
 answer to his master; and he no doubt meant it, in part, as a 
 lecture to the sachem upon his own habits and character. 
 This circumstance took place nine years before the death of 
 Uncas, and when he was already an old man of probably 
 seventy summers. In another passage, Gookin mentions the 
 Mohegan sachem as an old, wicked and willful man, a drunk 
 ard and otherwise vicious, and tells us that he had always 
 been an opposer and underminer of praying to God ; and he 
 suspected him of being a great obstruction to the labors of 
 Mr. Fitch." 
 
 DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pp. 276, 
 277. 
 
 [474] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 tions on the part of the Mohegans; that at the 
 breaking out of King Philip s War, they, with the 
 Pequods, remained loyal to the English. It was 
 discovered by some of the settlers of Rhode Island, 
 in the course of this war, that some of the Narra- 
 gansetts disappeared at times, to return to their 
 tribes wounded. Their conclusion was that the 
 Narragansetts were friendly to Philip; and they 
 were convinced of it upon the fact being made ap 
 parent that this tribe was sheltering Philip s old 
 men, women, and children, and it was decided that 
 an expedition should be made against the Narra 
 gansetts. A force of one thousand men was mobil 
 ized. One hundred fifty Mohegans and Pequods 
 under the command of Oweneco and Catapazet, a 
 son of Hermon Garret, went with this army against 
 the Narragansetts. It was in mid-winter; and this 
 expedition being entirely successful, the Pequods 
 had the intense satisfaction of watching the Narra- 
 gansett fortress disappear in fire and smoke, as 
 their own had been destroyed years before. 1 
 
 Canonchet was captured in this expedition; and 
 of the Narragansetts, some fifty were killed and 
 captured. Among these were the leading men of 
 the Narragansetts. During the open season of this 
 year the Narragansetts were practically driven out 
 of their country. 2 Only the Nehantics remained, 
 
 Hubbard s Indian Wars, pp. 129-144. 
 2 Thus circumstanced and harassed by the Pequots, by the 
 [475] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 by reason that they had taken no part in King 
 Philip s War. It is recorded that of the Narragan- 
 setts in these various expeditions, two hundred 
 thirty-nine were killed or captured; one hundred 
 bushels of corn and fifty muskets were taken. The 
 singular fact remains that not a single English 
 man, Pequod, or Mohegan was killed or died of 
 wounds in these various forays. 
 
 Among the prisoners taken by the Mohegans 
 was a young warrior whose remarkable courage 
 had singled him out for the torture, to which the 
 English gave their consent. Hubbard says: "Lest 
 their denial should disoblige their Indian friends, 
 of whom they had lately made so much use; partly 
 that they might have ocular demonstration of the 
 barbarous cruelty of the heathen." 1 
 
 English, who had evidently forgotten their aid in subduing 
 the Pequots, the prey of the rapacious Mohegans, the Narra- 
 gansetts appealed to the Crown. Charles n. received the 
 agents of this unfortunate tribe, who besought the royal coun 
 tenance and protection; nor was the appeal disregarded by 
 the king, whose sympathies were not over-stirred in favor of 
 his New England subjects. Instructions were despatched to 
 the Royal Commissioners of New England to make a special 
 inquiry into the case of the Narragansetts. They came, how 
 ever, too late: the people over whom Canonicus had ruled 
 were beyond relief. They had well-nigh ceased to exist; but 
 their wrongs, by this appeal to the Great Father across the 
 waters, had reached for them the court of last resort. 
 Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, p. 79. 
 "The young captive, unappalled by the dreadful fate 
 [476] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 Most of the captives were first given in charge of 
 Uncas, but were finally withdrawn from his guard 
 ianship, to whom three hundred acres of land were 
 assigned upon a point formed upon the junction of 
 the Shetucket and Quinnebaug Rivers. Others 
 were scattered among the Pequods; and it was 
 about this time that one of the Shetucket Colony 
 was killed, along with seven others who were 
 employed by Mr. Fitch upon his Norwich farm. 
 Uncas was suspected of the outrage, but, protesting 
 
 which awaited him, stood up, after the fashion of Indian 
 warriors, and boasted his exploits. I have shot nineteen 
 English with my gun. I loaded it for the twentieth. I could 
 not meet another and let it fly at a Mohegan. I killed him 
 and completed my number. Now I am fully satisfied. 
 
 "The Mohegans formed a circle, and placed the victim in 
 the center where all could gaze upon his tortures. They de 
 liberately cut round one of his fingers at the joint, where it 
 united with the hand, and then broke it off. They cut, in a 
 similar manner, another and another, until only the stump of 
 the hand was left. The blood flowed in streams, sometimes 
 spirting out a yard from the wounds. Some of the English 
 wept at the horrid sight, but no one interfered. The victim 
 shrunk not from the knife and showed no signs of anguish. 
 * How do you like the war ? tauntingly asked his tormentors. 
 I like it well/ he said; *I find it as sweet as Englishmen do 
 their sugar. They cut off his toes as they had done his fingers, 
 and then made him dance round the circle till he was weary. 
 At last they broke the bones of his legs. He sank upon the 
 ground, and sat in silence until they dashed out his brains." 
 
 DeForest, History of the Indians of Connecticut, pp. 284, 
 285. 
 
 [477] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 his innocence, intimated that these crimes had 
 been committed by some guerilla savages who occa 
 sionally were to be discovered wandering about the 
 woods. In regard to this matter, Mr. Fitch wrote 
 a letter to the General Court in which he said that 
 Uncas "was even worse than before the war." 1 
 
 This war with Philip was the ending of warfare 
 upon the part of the Indians of Connecticut, espe 
 cially among their own race. There may have 
 been, here and there, some unimportant hostile 
 actions, the last of which was in 1678, when the 
 Mohawks made a raid upon the Mohegans. Sev 
 eral of Uncas s people were carried away captive, 
 including one of his sons. 2 Mason died in 1672, 
 and with his death seemingly passed away the 
 necessity for further resort to force upon the part 
 of the white people to keep the Indians within their 
 proper bounds. 
 
 Uncas died in 1682 or 1683. Regarding this 
 event very little is known. He was a man of 
 
 ^Indian Papers, vol. i., docs. 32, 33. 
 
 2 Ibid, doc. 37. 
 
 Uncas, one day conversing with Thomas Stanton of his 
 own children, remarked that the three eldest were legitimate. 
 "As for Ben Uncas, he poquiom," is half -dog, his mother 
 being a poor, beggarly squaw, not his wife. By common 
 report, Ben s mother was the daughter of Foxon, his chief 
 councillor. 
 
 Ibid, doc. 173, p. 57. 
 
 [478] 
 
WARS OF THE MOHEGANS 
 
 marked and disagreeable characteristics, whose 
 memory went back beyond the time when Adrian 
 Block made his discovery of Rhode Island and 
 Connecticut, and he died, doubtless, cherishing the 
 traditions of his race. 1 
 
 The Indian warriors in Connecticut in 1680 were 
 estimated at five hundred, by which one infers that 
 the total Indian population of Connecticut did not 
 exceed, at that time, four to five times that number. 
 
 1 "Mr. Washington Irving says, The Indian obeys the im 
 pulses of his inclination and the dictates of his judgment. 
 The early records mention with great bitterness the doings 
 of the Indians, and with strong approval the strides of civil 
 ization in the blood of the red man. They show us but too 
 clearly how the white man was moved to hostility by the lust 
 of conquest, and how merciless and exterminating was the 
 warfare. Imagination shrinks at the idea how many intellec 
 tual beings were hunted from earth; how many brave and 
 noble hearts of nature s sternest coinage were broken down 
 and trampled in the dust. Treated by the colonists as if wild 
 beasts of the forest, writers have endeavored to justify the 
 outrage. The colonist found it easier to exterminate than to 
 civilize; his apologists have found it easier to vilify the Indians 
 than to discriminate. The appellations savage and pagan have 
 been deemed sufficient to sanction hostilities; and thus the 
 wanderers of the forest were persecuted and defamed, not 
 because they were guilty, but because they were ignorant. . . . 
 The rights of the savage have seldom been properly appre 
 ciated or respected by the white man. ... A proud inde 
 pendence formed the main pillar of savage virtue; it has been 
 shaken down, and the whole fabric lies in ruins." 3 
 
 [479] 
 
INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 It will be recalled that Trumbull, upon the coming 
 of the English, estimates the Indian population of 
 this section of the country from twelve to twenty 
 thousand. This estimate, however, is not accepted 
 by the conservative historian; and, as one writer has 
 said, "It was founded in a large part upon tradi 
 tion." DeForest notes that "on the death of Uncas 
 all unity which our subject possessed, entirely dis 
 appears." Between the different tribes conflicts 
 had ceased, and animosities were apparently buried; 
 but the destruction of the Indians and the disinte 
 gration of the forces which combined to make these 
 people a formidable obstacle to the settlement of 
 the country were still perpetuated by the pander 
 ing of the English to their depraved appetites 
 through the inordinate use of intoxicating liquors, 
 despite all laws to the contrary; for the traders had 
 the same liking for money that the savage had for 
 rum. What the bullets of the English did not ac 
 complish was ultimately arrived at in another and 
 more reprehensible way. 
 
 How far the English race is responsible for the 
 obliteration of the aborigine is not in question. It 
 is more than probable that he would have fallen 
 by reason of his own barbarism; and while the 
 Indian never forgot a kindness or forgave an in 
 jury, his treachery and his cruelty to a conceived 
 enemy were entirely consistent with his mode of 
 living and his environment. 
 
 [480] 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abenake, 25, 31, 42, 45 
 Aborigine, estimation of, 176 
 Accomack, 111, note 
 Accomintas, 51, 174 
 Acquidneck (Rhode Island), 185, note 
 Acquidy, origin of name uncertain, 185, note 
 Adams on Indian titles, 63, note 
 Agamenticus, General Court of, 259, note 
 
 Agawams, attacked by the Tarratines, 170, note, 172, note, 348, 
 note 
 
 mentioned, 452, note 
 Agowaywam, 84, note 
 
 Agreement, tripartite, between Connecticut, the Mohegans, and the 
 Narragansetts, 335 
 
 with proviso, 337, 352 
 Ahab, mentioned, 287 
 "Akornes," dried for food, 104, note 
 Alden, John, 78, note 
 Alexander, 50; also 81, 121 
 Algonquin, 46, note 
 Algonquin trails, 264, note 
 Allerton, Isaac, 65, note 
 
 at Pentagoet, 175 
 Alligwe, 26, note 
 Ameda, 32, note 
 Ammacongins, 42 
 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, 257, note 
 Androscoggin, 42 
 Anglo-Saxon, traditions of, 80 
 
 folk-mote, 82, note 
 Annapecom, fined for raid on Brewster and Thompson, 469 
 
 his reply to the court, 469 
 Ansantawae, 357 
 
 Antinomianism, 250, note, 424, note 
 Appanow (Epenow), see 129, note 
 Aramouchiquois, 42 
 Archipelagoes (Norwalk River), 184 
 
 [483] 
 
INDEX 
 
 "Armour," 95, note 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, 434 
 
 Arrow-heads, 29, 106, note, 108, note 
 
 Ashquash, murders a woman at Fairfield, 427 
 
 Aspinet, 80, 125 
 
 Assacumet, 70, 73 
 
 Asson-neck, 30, note 
 
 Atherton, Lieutenant, 438, note 
 
 Attitude of English toward Indians that of spoilers, 175 
 
 Authorship of Mourt s Relation, 85, note 
 
 Awashonks, 50 
 
 Bagnall, Walter, 76; also note 
 
 "Barnes" of the Indians, 95 
 
 Barnstable, 51 
 
 Barricade, first built by Standish and his men, 95, 102, 103, 104, 105 
 
 Bashaba, The, 73, 264, note 
 
 Bay Colony, indifference of, to engaging in Pequod War, 245 ; also 
 
 227, 249, 290, 297 
 Bay-men, 239, note 
 Beacon Hill, 22, note 
 Beads, 98, 101 
 Beans, 41 
 
 Billington, John, 38, note, 124, 125 
 Bjarne, 29, note 
 
 Blackstone, William, 22, note, 102, note 
 Block, Adrian, Dutch explorer 
 
 his vessel burned, 183 
 
 builds another, 183 
 
 names it the Restless, 183, note 
 
 discovers Connecticut, 184 
 Block Island, 199, 208, 212, 216, 227, 228, 234, 249, 311, note 
 
 expedition planned against, 227, 228 
 
 Underbill s fight at, 228, note, 229, note 
 
 could have but one result, 234 
 Blue Hills, 51, note 
 Bonighton at Saco, 174 
 Boston alarmed, 203, note, 410 
 
 citizens of, armed and marched to Neponset, 203, note 
 
 mentioned, 231, 232, 233 
 Boston Colony, as peace-makers, 203, note 
 Boston Harbor, Weston s party at, 134, 137, 143 
 
 [484] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Boules, 98 
 
 Bound Brooke, 78, note 
 Bounty for Indian scalps, 170 
 Bow-strings, 32 
 Boyle, Robert, 371 
 
 Bradford, William, 62, 78, 89, 95, 102, 106, note, 193, 194, note, 
 210 
 
 account of Hudleston s Letter, 139, note 
 
 notes distress of Pilgrims in his Journal, 139, 140 
 
 goes to Pemaquid for provisions, 140, note 
 
 returns answer to hostile message of Canonicus, 142 
 
 his and Winthrop s Letters on the Pequod War, 210-227 
 Branch, Arthur, 237, note 
 Brewster, Elder William, died, 65, note 
 Brewster, Fear, 65, note 
 
 Brewster and Thompson, settlers, attacked by Pocumtucks, 468 
 Bristol, Me., 77, note 
 Broches, 97 
 
 Brook, Lord, 205, note, 206, note, 251 
 Brown, John, 77, note, 110, note 
 
 at Pemaquid, 174 
 Browne, James, 78, note 
 Bull, Lieutenant, at Fort Mystic, 275, note 
 Burdett, George, 259 
 Burial-places, 167 
 
 Indian veneration for, 99, note 
 
 mode of burial, 107, note 
 Burning at stake, 44, 45 
 Busheag, attacks a woman at Stamford, 427 
 
 is surrendered to the English, 427 
 
 executed, 428, note 
 Butterfield, Samuel, capture and torture of, 236, 237, 283, 295 
 
 Calendar, correction of, by Pope Gregory, 90, note 
 
 Indian s, 31 
 
 Calumet, origin of, 158, note 
 
 Cambridge, Vane defeated for governor at, 250, note 
 Cammock, Thomas, at Black Point, 174 
 Cannibalism, 44, 45, note 
 Canonchet, 475 
 
 Canonicus, 21, 47, 48, 120, note, 129, 142, note, 192, note, 196, note, 
 208, 209, 231, 232, 233, 260, 416, 417 
 
 [485] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Canonicus, sends message to Plymouth, 129 
 
 declares war with English, 142 
 
 afraid of English; accords them occult powers, 143 
 
 breaks the sticks before Williams, 143, note 
 
 goes to Boston, 233 
 
 calls council of Narragansetts for extermination of English, 
 235, note 
 
 reply to Roger Williams as to harboring Pequods, 320, note 
 
 his entertainment of Williams, 321, note 
 
 charges Uncas with duplicity, 321, note 
 
 conference with Williams, Miantunnumoh, and Cassasinamon, 
 322, note 
 
 disposition toward English, 347 
 
 with Miantunnumoh, exonerated of Oldham murder, 347, 
 note 
 
 his warlike message to Bradford mentioned, 347, note, 416, 417 
 Capawack, island of, 84, note 
 Capawick, 71, 72 
 
 Cape Ann, Conant goes to, 192, note 
 Capemanwagen, 77, note 
 Capoge, 73 
 Carolinas, 318 
 
 Cartier, Jacques, 31, 32, note, 46, note, 69 
 Carver, John, 102 
 Casacke (blouse), 99 
 Casco Bay, 77, note 
 Cassasinamon, 447, 449 
 
 with Obechiquod complains of Uncas, 449 
 Catapazet, 475 
 Caunacone, 129, note 
 Cellars, aboriginal, 94, note 
 Chabatewece, 326, note 
 Chalons, Henry, 70 
 
 Champlain, Samuel de, 38, note, 46, note, 124 
 Chapman, Robert, 237, note 
 Charity, The, and The Swan, in Plymouth Harbor, 143 
 
 in interest of Weston, 143 
 Charles n., 250, note 
 Charlestown, 348 
 Charon s Ferry-boat, 292, note 
 Charter of Runnymead, 83, note 
 Chatham, 51 
 
 [486] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Checatawbeck, 151 
 Chikatawbut, 106, note, 129, note 
 
 his mother s grave, description of, 97 
 
 his harangue to his people after the desecration of his mother s 
 grave, 107, note 
 
 instigates butchery of English, 155 
 Chimough, 431 
 
 Christian faith among Indians, meager influence, 369 
 Church commission, 232, note 
 Citackamuckqut, 326, note 
 Cleve, George, ejected from Spur wink, 174 
 Coddington, William, 325, note 
 Coins, ancient, found in Dorchester, 136 
 Coke, Sir Edward, 261, note 
 Collier, William, 403 
 Colonies, action of, in Pequod War, 248 
 Colonists, rejoice at destruction of Fort Mystic, 291 
 
 frequently alarmed by rumors of savage raids, 348, note 
 Common House at Plymouth takes fire, 108 
 Conant, Roger, goes to Cape Ann, 192, note 
 Conbatant, 149 
 Coneconum, 72 
 
 Conectecott, 240, note, 241, note 
 Conightecute, 211, 213 
 Conightecutte, 220 
 Conighticutt, 226 
 Conjurors, 129, note 
 
 Connecticut, mentioned, 184, 186, 189, 193, 198, note, 204, 205, 
 206, 207, 227, 229, 244, 246, note, 290, 420, 467, 472 
 
 estimated number of aborigines, 52 
 
 settlers suspicious of Miantunnumoh, 381, note 
 
 inclined to war with Narragansetts, 383, note 
 
 advice of Massachusetts regarding, 383, note 
 
 alarmed by the Narragansetts conspiracy, 454 
 
 restricts intercourse with the Indians by legal enactment, 472 
 
 Indian census of 1680, 479 
 Connecticut coast, 184, 197 
 Connecticut Colony 
 
 comprised of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, 244 
 
 settlers afflicted with poverty, 245, 246, 247 
 
 decides war against Pequods, 246 
 Connecticut Court, 244 
 
 [487] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Connecticut River, 186, 188, note, 190, note, 191, 192, 193, 194, 
 198, 199, 207, 228, 241, note, 248, 251, 281, 288, 311, 313, 
 343, 353, 364, 388 
 Connecticut River Indians, 343 
 Connecticut settlers, 282 
 Connecticut Valley, 186, 191, 196 
 Cook, Wequash. Vide Wequash 
 
 betrayed Fort Mystic, 328 
 
 described by Mather, 328, note 
 
 supposed to have died of poison, 329, note 
 
 captain under Miantunnumoh, 329, note 
 
 a Pequod spy, 351 
 
 his band broken up, 363 
 Copper knives, 41 
 Corbitant, 49, 126, 127, 129, note 
 
 eludes Standish, 128 
 Corn of Indians, taken by Bradford and Standish, 94, 95, 102, note 
 
 seed- ears, 94, note 
 Corstiaensen, Dutch explorer, 183 
 Cotton, Rev. John, 51, note 
 
 his estimate of Roger Williams, 232, note 
 Court of Commissioners for United Colonies 
 
 its personnel, 403 
 
 aroused by a letter from Roger Williams, 437 
 
 to despatch a company to Mohegan Garrison, under Mason, 
 438 
 
 Drake s account of this expedition, 438, note 
 
 sends two messengers to Pessicus, 438 
 Covenant of Works, 325, note 
 Cowate, 375, note 
 
 Cradock, Governor, message to Endicott, 165 
 Cromwell, Israel Stoughton commander under, 293, note 
 Cudworth, James, 78, note 
 Cullicutt, Serjeant, 441, note 
 Cummaquid, 38, note, 124, 125 
 
 Cushammakin, Cutshamequin, Cutshamoquen, 322, note, 347, note 
 Cutchamekin, 438, note 
 Cutshamekin, 173, note 
 Cutshamoquene, 322, note 
 Cuttaquin, attempts to kill Uncas, 456, note 
 
 captured by John Mason, 456 
 
 delivered to the Mohegans, 457 
 
 [488] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Damariscotta, shell-heaps of, 27, 29 
 
 Dames, John, 434 
 
 Davenport, Lieut. Richard, 293, note 
 
 on the march to Fairfield Swamp, 305 
 
 engages the Pequods and is repulsed, 306, 307 
 Davenport, Nathaniel, 307, note 
 Davis, Sergeant John, 438, note 
 Death-song, 45 
 Deerfield, 270 
 Dehamda, 70 
 Delaware Bay, 183 
 Delawares, 26, note, 35 
 Denonville, 49 
 De Razier, the Dutch factor, 204, note 
 
 visits Plymouth; opens a trade in wampum with Pilgrims, 204, 
 
 note 
 Dermer, Capt. Thomas, 74, 93, note 
 
 account of coming to Cape Cod, 74 
 
 redeems Frenchman at Masstachusit, 122, note 
 Dighton Rock, 28, note, 29, note 
 Dike, Anthony, 238, note 
 Discovery, The, arrives at Plymouth, 144 
 Distance from Plymouth Harbor to Boston by water, 131, note 
 "Dogge," Indian, 90 
 Dogs, suggested for hunting Indians, 170 
 Donnacona, 69 
 Dorchester, 206, 208, note 
 Dorchester church removed to Windsor, 207 
 Dudley, Gov. Thomas, 380, note, 403 
 Dutch, The, 
 
 navigators, 183 
 
 fort at Hartford, 194, 195 
 
 courage, 195, note 
 
 oppose Holmes on the Connecticut, 198, note 
 
 lose their trade on the Connecticut, 200, note 
 
 mentioned, 200, 210, 242, 253, 254 
 
 use stratagem to obtain two English girl captives, 261, note 
 
 their traders cheat the Indians, 422 
 
 savages retaliate; two Dutchmen killed, 422 
 
 tiie Indians punished in turn; Dutch settlements attacked by In 
 dians in force, 423 
 
 expedition from New Amsterdam against Indians, 423 
 
 [489] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Dutch, soldier kills Captain Patrick, 425, note 
 war between, and Indians closed, 426 
 
 Eastham, 39, note 
 
 East River, Guilford, 377 
 
 Eaton, Governor, friendly to Indians, 359 
 
 Eaton, Theophilus, 403 
 
 Eencluys, Hans, of Manhattan, 185 
 
 Egyptians, mentioned, 97 
 
 Eliot, John, 124, note, 166 
 
 his Bible, 271, note 
 
 and Mayhew s efforts to Christianize the Indians, 370 
 
 completes second edition of English Bible, 371 
 
 writes Robert Boyle, 371 
 
 his first attempt to Christianize the Indian, 372, note 
 
 first meeting in Waban s wigwam, 373, note 
 
 described by Drake, 373, note 
 
 first mission at Natick, 373, note 
 
 his work designated by Ellis, 376 
 
 vide 473, note 
 Eltow, Jack, 316, note 
 Ely, Rev. William, 469, note 
 Embaulment, red Powder, 99 
 
 Endicott, John, 22, 63, note, 227, note, 228, note, 282, note 
 England, William, 77, note 
 English, begin career at Plymouth by robbing the natives, 93, note 
 
 supposed by Indians to be in collusion with evil spirits, 129 
 
 vindictiveness of the, 293 
 
 their advantage over the savage, 295 
 
 their incentives to retaliation, 295 
 
 their characteristics, 296, 297 
 
 determine upon the annihilation of the Pequods, 299 
 
 prowess boasted of by Mather, 330, note 
 
 capacity to drive a stiff bargain, 337 
 
 sowing to the winds, 338 
 
 enslaving the Indian a mania with them, 339, note 
 
 Mather s fervor instanced, 339, note 
 
 attitude of the Indians toward the, 343 
 
 policy of, with Narragansetts, notes on, 343, 344 
 
 their religious belief in "Divine Rights" to New England, 344, 
 note 
 
 causes of savage activities against, 344 
 
 [490] 
 
INDEX 
 
 English, their alliances with the Indians of an entangling character, 
 344 
 
 plot with Uncas the downfall of Miantunnumoh, 346, note 
 
 have trouble at Sowams with the Narragansetts, 348, note 
 
 timidity of, 408 
 
 greed of, 411 
 
 order Narragansetts, Mohegans, and Niantics before magis 
 trates, 434 
 
 plan a campaign against the Narragansetts, 437 
 
 expedition against Narragansetts delayed until results of treaty 
 are known, 440, note 
 
 aroused by rumors of plotting of Narragansetts and Pequods, 
 458 
 
 declare war against the Nehantics, 462 
 
 give command to Major Willard, 462 
 
 intend to destroy power of Ninigret, 463 
 Enslaving of the Pequods, 293 
 Epanow, Epenwe, Epenow, Gorges account of, 72, 73, 74 
 
 escape, 75 
 Escholl, 95 
 Etow, Jack, captures two Pequods, 303 
 
 Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 245, note 
 
 Fairfield, 289, 357 
 
 Fairfield Swamp, 177 
 
 Famine pinches Plymouth, 139 
 
 Farmington Stream, 194 
 
 Fenwick, John, 403 
 
 Finch, Abraham, 364, note 
 
 First Encounter, The, 105 
 
 Fisher s Island, 452 
 
 Fish-hooks, 138 
 
 Fitch, James, mentions Uncas, 247, note 
 
 Fitch, missionary, 473, 474 
 
 efforts of, to Christianize Mohegans, 473 
 
 writes General Court of Uncas, 478 
 Five Nations, 27, note 
 Florida, 264, note 
 
 Fort Mystic, attacked and destroyed by Mason, 177, 271 
 Fortune, The, 142 
 Foxon, a deputy of Uncas, 446, note, 450 
 
 defends Uncas, 452 
 
 [491] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Freeman, John, 77, note 
 
 French vessel cast away at Cape Cod, 92, note 
 
 Fresh River, 196, note 
 
 Frontenac, 15 
 
 Fryeburg, Me., 85, note 
 
 Gallop, John, 292, note, 339, note 
 
 John, the son, 292, note 
 Gallup, "Skipper," 339, note 
 Gardener, Lion, 229, 230, 251, note, 252, note 
 
 relation of attack on party at Saybrook Fort, 237, note 
 
 relation of Miantunnumoh s plotting, 384, note, 385, note, 
 
 386, note 
 
 Gardener s Island, 252, note 
 Gardener s Manor, Lords of, 252, note 
 Gardiner, Richard, 87, note 
 Garret, Hermon, 454, 475 
 Gauntlet, running the, 47 
 
 Gibbons, girls of that name killed by savages, 242, note 
 Gibbons, Major, elected commander-in-chief of forces sent against 
 the Narragansetts, 439 
 
 his instructions, 439, note 
 Godfrey, at York River, 174 
 Gookin, Daniel, 473, note 
 Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 70, 72 
 Gorton, Samuel, 350, note, 400; also 415 
 
 driven from Plymouth, 400 
 
 settled at Warwick, 400 
 
 writes Uncas, 400 
 
 effect of his letter, 401 
 
 Winthrop s comment on same, 402 
 
 his offence outside Massachusetts jurisdiction, 401, note 
 
 entertained by Earl of Warwick, 401, note 
 
 demands release of Miantunnumoh, 401 
 
 vide, 402, note 
 
 Parliament sustains his contention against the Puritans, 416, note 
 Gouch, John, 259, note 
 Gouch, Ruth, 259, note 
 Grampus, at Wellfleet Bay, 103 
 Graves of Indians desecrated by Standish, 97 
 Great Lakes, tribes about, 40 
 Great Patent of New England, 64 
 
 [492] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Great Spirit, 445 
 Greenwich, 423 
 Gregson, Thomas, 403 
 Groton, 43, 246, note 
 Guilford Harbor, 302 
 Gulf of Maine, 34 
 
 Hampden, John, 205 
 
 Hanging of the weaver at Wessaguscus, 145 
 
 Morton s account of same, 146-148 
 Harford (Hartford), 243, note 
 Harley, Henry, 72 
 Harlow, Captain Edward, 71 
 
 kidnapped three Indians, 71 
 Hartford, 179, 186, 242, 244, 246, 249, note 
 
 Indian fort at, 184 
 
 General Court at, 243 
 
 establishes quota for Pequod War, 245 
 Hartford Commission, 331 
 
 Uncas and Miantunnumoh attend upon, 331 
 
 its attempt to reconcile Uncas and Miantunnumoh, 334 
 Hawkins, the buccaneer, 99, note 
 
 at Pamlico, 264, note 
 Haynes, John, 335 
 Head of the Mystic, 268 
 
 Heathen, savages so regarded by Puritans, 300, note 
 Heckwelder, 25, note 
 Hellegat (Hell-gate), 184, note 
 Hell-gate, 184, note 
 Heydon, William, 271 
 Hieroglyphic writings, 23, 29, note, 31 
 Higginson, Rev. Francis, 66, 67, note 
 
 his book, 67, note 
 Hilton, at Piscataqua, 174 
 Hinckley, Thomas, 78, note 
 Hine, Thomas, 445 
 Hobbamocco, 58 
 Hobbomock s feat at Wessaguscus, 158 
 
 vide 125, 126, note, 150, note 
 Hobbomok, 125, 126, 127, 128, 153, 155, 157 
 
 warns the English, 84, note 
 Hobbomoko, 116, note 
 
 [493] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Hobson, Captain, 73 
 Hockanum River, 186, 465 
 Holmes, William, 186 
 
 goes to the Connecticut River, 193 
 
 opposed by the Dutch at Hartford, 194 
 
 erects a trading-house, 194, note 
 
 his return to Plymouth, 196, note 
 
 Pequods affronted by his purchase of land from their enemies, 
 
 197, 338 
 
 Hood, Robin, 64, note 
 Hopkins, Edward, 335, 403 
 Hopkins, Stephen, 36, note, 37, note, 89 
 
 Samoset lodged with when at Plymouth, 112 
 House of The Good Hope, 187 
 Hubbard s account of the capture of a small body of Pequods by 
 
 Stoughton, 292 
 "Hudibras," Butler s, 145 
 
 Hudleston s letter to the Plymouth Colony, 139, note 
 Hudson, Hendrick, 184, note 
 Hudson River, 183, 188, note, 318 
 Hunt, Captain, 39, note, 68, 114, note 
 
 his kidnapping raid, 114, note, 116, note 
 Hurlburt, Thomas, 238, note, 316, note 
 Hutchinson, Ann. murdered by the Indians, 423 
 
 her Boston house located, 423 
 
 her banishment, 424, note 
 
 lived at Acquidneck, 424, note 
 
 removed into the Dutch country, 424, note 
 
 her zeal, her friends, 425, note 
 Hutchinson set, 48 
 
 Hutchinson s account of the enslaving of the Pequods, 339, note 
 Huttamoida, 129, note 
 
 Hyde s account of the battle of Sachem s Plain and the capture of 
 Miantunnumoh, 394, note 
 
 Increase of English population after 1626, 171 
 Indian, The, 22 
 
 language, 22 
 
 music, 22 
 
 picture-painting, 23, 31 
 
 his traditions, 24 
 
 picture-writing, 24, note, 25, note 
 
 [494] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Indian, The, arts, 26 
 superstitions, 28 
 literature, 30, 31 
 letter-paper, 31 
 
 character and attainments, 32, 176 
 spun his thread from the spruce, 33 
 mint-masters, 35 
 habits, 36, 37, 40, 57 
 physique, 38 
 mood, 39 
 implements, 40 
 agriculture, 41 
 laws, 42 
 cannibalism, 44 
 mode of torture, 45, 47 
 scalping, 46, note 
 government, 54 
 
 Thomas Lechford s description of, 54 
 weapons, 57 
 religion, 58 
 
 treatment of, by English, 63, note, 79, 82, 95, note 
 land-titles from, 63, note, 64, note, 166-168 
 absorption of lands of, by English, 67 
 Indian "corne," 92, 93 
 seed corn, 94, note 
 burial-places, 99 
 veneration of same, 100 
 habitations, 103 
 sold as slaves, 114, note 
 garb, 121, note 
 doomed race, 165 
 their right to the soil, 166 
 as to the rights of others, 196, note 
 their highways, 264, note 
 manner of fighting, 278 
 attitude of the Church toward, 299, note 
 a superstitious race, 369, note 
 Christian faith among, 369, note 
 traditions, transmission of, 369, note 
 comity as to disposition of lands, 405 
 habits were changing, 419 
 laws for the restraint of; fines established, 420, 421, 472 
 
 [495] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Indian, The, settlers forbidden to entertain, 420, 472 
 
 inordinate appetite for liquors, 421 
 
 penalty for selling liquor to, 422 
 
 attack of, on Dutch settlers in 1642, 422 
 
 curious instance of torture by, 445 
 
 addicted to gambling, 448 
 
 efforts to Christianize the, 472 
 Indian Bible, 371, note 
 Ingram, marooned at Pamlico, 264, note 
 Initial labors of New England colonists, 175 
 
 their distribution, 174 
 Iroquois, 35, 44 
 
 Irving, Washington, description of the Indian, 479 
 lyanough, 84, note, 125 
 
 James, the King, 118, 120 
 James- the-Printer, 371, note 
 
 his descendants known in Graf ton, 372 
 Janemoh, Janemo (Ninigret), 265, note, 323, note 
 
 is entertained by Winthrop at Boston, 323, note 
 Jaques, Lieutenant, 24, note 
 Jeffery (and "Sargante Rigges"), 223 
 Johnson, Edward, 146 
 
 mentioned, 229 
 Jones, Captain, 88, note, 144 
 
 Kennebec (River), 216 
 
 Kennebequi, 42 
 
 "Ketle," great, Standish takes it, after filling with corn, 94 
 
 Kichomiquim (Cutshamequin), 230, note, 312 
 
 Kie vet s Hook, 185 
 
 origin of name, 185, note 
 King Philip, 343 
 
 his war, 476 
 
 remarkable fortunes of English in Narragansett expedition,476 
 
 his downfall ended Indian troubles, 478 
 Kings, 58 
 Kiswas, captured by Uncas, 251 
 
 who he was, 252, note 
 
 tortured by the Mohegans, 253, note 
 Kitan, 58 
 Kithansh, 334 
 
 [496] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Lalemant, 46, note 
 
 Laudonniere, 46, note 
 
 Laws enacted affecting Indian, 420 
 
 fines established, 420, 472 
 
 settlers forbidden to entertain Indians, 420, 472 
 
 Uncas and Wawequa excepted, 421 
 
 forbid Indians to trade with French or Dutch, 421 
 Lee, Lord, 226 
 
 Leffingwell, Thomas, 432, note, 468, note 
 Leif, 29, note 
 Leni-Lenape, 25, note 
 Lescarbot, 46, note 
 "Lether," Indian, 104, note 
 Levett, Christopher, 77, note 
 Little Compton, 50 
 Lobsters, 131 
 
 Lockett, Moll, 84, note, 85, note 
 Long Island Sound, 184, 188, note, 311, 318 
 Louis xiv., ambitious schemes of, 49, 75 
 Lovewell s Pond, battle of, 85, note 
 Ludlow, Deputy-Governor, receives Pequod messenger, 201 
 
 demands the murderer of Stone, 202 
 
 enters into a treaty with the Pequods, 202 
 
 mentioned, 223 
 Ludlow, Roger, 64, note, 335 
 
 Maize, 41 
 
 Manana, 29 
 
 Manasconomo, his submission, 170, note, 175, note 
 
 Manhattan, 183, 204, 259, note 
 
 Manisees, 208, 292, note, 318 
 
 Manitou, 28 
 
 Manittos, 362 
 
 Manomet, 84, note, 159 
 
 Mascus, 350, note 
 
 Mashpee, 51 
 
 Mason, John, 164, 239, 241, note, 245, note, 312 
 
 advances into Pequod country, 250 
 
 commander-in-chief, 251, 255 
 
 holds conference with his men, 257 
 
 leaves decision to chaplain as to immediate advance, 257 
 
 decides to march against Pequods, 257 
 
 [497] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Mason, John, joined by Underbill, 257 
 
 leaves Saybrook, 258 
 
 interviews Canonicus, 260 
 
 attitude of Miantunnumoh, 260 
 
 renews march into Pequod country, 263 
 
 at Nehantic fort, 264 
 
 joined by the Narragansetts, 265 
 
 discovers signs of the Pequods, 266 
 
 fords Paucatuck River, 267 
 
 camps at Porter s Rocks, 268 
 
 plans advance, 270 
 
 advance on Pequods at daylight, 269, note, 271 
 
 the surprise and attack, 271 
 
 Pequod fort given to the torch, 272 
 
 massacre of the Pequods, 272; also note 
 
 his dangerous position, 275 
 
 saved by his helmet, 275 
 
 attacked by Sassacus, 276 
 
 describes manner of Indians in battle, 278 
 
 joins Stoughton in final campaign against Pequods, 278 
 
 retreat from Fort Mystic, 280 
 
 joins Patrick on the vessels, 280 
 
 return to Connecticut, 287 
 
 criticised for his barbarous treatment of Pequods, 282 
 
 his idea of punishment of the Pequods, 282, note 
 
 his action justified, 284 
 
 Johnson s relation of march to Fairfield Swamp, 304 
 
 discovers Sassacus s hiding-place, 305 
 
 fight at Fairfield Swamp, 306-310 
 
 goes to the Nehantics, 323, note, 351 
 
 sent to the Nehantics, 351, note 
 
 ordered to march against the Nehantics, 438 
 
 mentioned, 471 
 
 died in 1672, 478 
 Massachusetts, 246, 249, note 
 Massachusetts, The, 51 
 
 origin of the name, 51, note 
 
 alleged plot of, against Plymouth, 149 
 Massachusetts Bay, 189, 197, 231, note, 290, note 
 
 not averse to slave traffic, 319, note, 324, note, 350, note 
 Massachusetts Bay Colony, 83, note, 204, 205, 214 
 
 notified of conditions in Connecticut, 246 
 
 [498] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Massachusetts Bay Company, 175 
 
 Massachusetts Colony sends vessels to the Connecticut River, 191 
 
 mentioned, 231, 248 
 Massachusetts Fields, 131 
 
 Massacre of French sailors at Peddock s Island, 136 
 Massasoit, 21, 36, note, 37, note, 47, 48, 51, 62, 66, note, 77, 81, 84, 
 note, 96, note, 102, 116, note, 120 
 
 gives land to English, 66 
 
 gives hostages, 118, 123 
 
 is entertained by the Pilgrim governor, 119 
 
 described by Morton, 120 
 
 his decease, 121, note 
 
 leaves Plymouth, 122 
 
 mentions no English as coming before Pilgrims, 122, note 
 
 visited by English, 124 
 
 mentioned, 125, 127, 128 
 
 demands surrender of Squanto, 137, 138, note 
 
 his friendship for the English cools, 141 
 
 healed by Winslow, 152 
 
 generous of his lands, 168 
 
 vide 417 
 
 Massasoits, The, 112 
 Masson, Captaine (John Mason), 223 
 Masstachusit, 122, note 
 
 "Matchit" (evil), English manner of fighting, 279 
 Mather, Cotton, 39, note 
 
 mentions fight at Fort Mystic, 274, note 
 
 Mather, Rev. Increase, 50, note, 81, 82, 84, note, 292, 299, note, 
 300, note 
 
 his perturbations of spirit, 299, note 
 
 his comment on the Fairfield Swamp fight, 313, note 
 "Matt" found by Standish, 97 
 Mattabesett (Middletown), 359 
 Mattachees, 51 
 Mattachiest, 84, note 
 Maunamoh, 322, note 
 Mausaumpous, 334 
 Mavericke, Samuel, 22, note 
 Mawhawkes (Mohawks), 430, note 
 
 Mayflower, The, 39, note, 61, 64, 90, 93, note, 95, 123, 144 
 Mayflower Compact, 64, 65 
 May-pole at Merry-Mount, 172 
 
 [499] 
 
INDEX 
 
 May-pole, revelries at, 146 
 
 Meanticut, 385, note 
 
 Mecumeh (Miantunnumoh), 349, note 
 
 Medicine-man, 28, 129, note 
 
 Mengwe, 25, note, 27 
 
 Menunkatucks, 52 
 
 Menunketuc, 301 
 
 Merchants Adventurers Company, 63, 137 
 
 Merrimacs, 382 
 
 Merry-Mount, 22, 86 
 
 Morton, Thomas, of, 145 
 Metacomet, 48 
 Mettapoisett, 128 
 Mewhebato, 364, note 
 Mexam, 440 
 
 Mey, the Dutch explorer, 183 
 Miamis, 44, note 
 
 Miantunnumoh, 48, 120, note, 189, note, 192, note, 209, 233, 247, 
 note, 248, note, 249, note, 260, 265, note 
 
 complains to the Boston government of the Nehantics, 322, note 
 
 his allotment of Pequods, 325, note 
 
 sells land to Coddington, 325, note 
 
 attends conference at Hartford, 331 
 
 threatened by Mohegans, 332 
 
 at Hartford, 332 
 
 controversy with Uncas, 333 
 
 invites Uncas to feast, 334 
 
 described by Hubbard, 334, note 
 
 has permission from Winthrop to right his own wrongs with 
 Mohegans, 340 
 
 and Canonicus exonerated of complicity in murder of Old- 
 ham, 347, note 
 
 assumes leadership of Narragansetts, 348 
 
 known as Mecumeh, 348 
 
 generous with his lands, 349 
 
 depredations by the Narragansetts, 349 
 
 his errand to Boston, 350 
 
 visits Boston, 1640, 379, 380, note 
 
 summoned to Boston, 380 
 
 his behavior and success, 381 
 
 demands his accusers, 381, 382, note 
 
 guest of Governor Winthrop, 383, note 
 
 [500] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Miantunnumoh, takes suspected Pequod to Boston, 384, note 
 
 latter s story disbelieved, 385 
 
 ordered to deliver the suspect to Uncas, 385 
 
 kills the Pequod on his way homeward, 385 
 
 complains of aggression of Uncas to Governor Haynes; also to 
 Governor Winthrop, 390 
 
 plans to punish Uncas, 391 
 
 attacks the Mohegans, 391 
 
 number of his fighting-men, 392 
 
 compelled to retreat, 394 
 
 betrayed by two of his men, 395 
 
 is captured, 395 
 
 is silent before his captor, 396 
 
 his attitude toward Uncas, 397 
 
 taken to Hartford, 397 
 
 to be disposed of as the Boston magistrates order, 397 
 
 Drake s relation of his capture, 397, note 
 
 has the sympathy of Connecticut settlers, 399 
 
 appeals to Hartford authorities, 402 
 
 his trial at Boston, 403 
 
 court is inclined to shift responsibility, 403 
 
 and leave question of guilt to clergy, 404 
 
 final sentence characterized, 404, note 
 
 its farcical character, 404-406, 407, note 
 
 convicted under false pretenses, 406 
 
 clergy declare his death necessary, 406 
 
 decision of commissioners, 408 
 
 Drake s review of the case, 409, note 
 
 provision for safety of New Haven commissioners, 411 
 
 delivered to Uncas, 412 
 
 murdered by Wawequa, 413 
 
 place of his murder and burial, 413 
 Michell, Mr., 243 
 
 Michell, old Mr., 237, note, 238, note 
 Micmacs, 31, 42 
 Middleborough, 50 
 Middletown, 359 
 
 Midnight alarm at Wellfleet Bay, 104 
 Minci (Monseys) The, 26, note 
 Minisink, 26, note 
 Mint-masters, 35 
 Mishawam, 22, note 
 
 [501] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Mitteneague (Windsor), 206 
 
 Mohawks, 44, 52, 53, 311, 312, note, 318 
 
 surprise and kill Sassacus and his party, 316 
 
 send his scalp to the Massachusetts governor and council, 316; 
 
 also note 
 Mohegans, 43, 169, 246, note, 247, note, 248, note, 318, 322 
 
 acts of cannibalism doubted by Drake, 253, note 
 
 at Fort Mystic, 273, 277 
 
 release rights to Pequod lands, 337 
 
 their wars, 343 
 
 increased by Pequod accessions, 376 
 
 their title to Pequod lands questioned, 378 
 
 controversy over former conveyance by Uncas, 378 
 
 maintain a guerilla warfare with the Narragansetts, 428 
 
 the tribe weakened, 458 
 
 have little knowledge of Christianity, 473 
 
 mission work by Fitch among, 473 
 Mohicans (Hudsons), The, 26, note 
 Monchiggon (Morathiggon, Monhegan), sagamores, or lords of, 
 
 110, 138, 139 
 Monhansick, 439 
 Monheag, 461 
 Monhegan, 29, 68, 72 
 Monhiggs (Mohegans), 226 
 Monomoys, 51 
 Mononotto, 255, 288 
 
 his wife and daughters, 225, 316 
 
 escapes with Sassacus, 310 
 
 Drake s account of this sachem, 310, note 
 
 children of, 311 
 
 known as Monowattuck, 313, note 
 
 escapes from the Mohawks, 315 
 Monowattuck, same as Mononotto 
 Mon-taup, 14, note, 48, note, 84 
 Montowese, 357, note 
 Montville, 246, note 
 Monuments, 28 
 
 Morathiggon, a Mohegan sachem, 394 
 Morton, Thomas, 22, note, 76, 145, note; also 86, 98, note, 145 
 
 his New English Canaan, 145 
 
 account of Wessaguscus, 146 
 
 its famous trial, 146 
 
 [502] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Morton, Thomas, relates hanging of the weaver, 146-148 
 
 mentioned, 172 
 
 Morton, William, complains of Uncas, 446 
 Morton s Relation, quoted, 87, 102, note 
 
 Mount Hope, same as Mon-taup, 14, note, 48, 84, 345, 372, note 
 Mourning, manner of, 55 
 
 Mourt s Relation, authorship of, 85, note, et seq. 
 Mowhakes (Mohawks), 226 
 Mugg, 76, note 
 Munisses (Manisees), 212 
 Mystic, the Indian a, 33 
 Mystic Fort, 312, 321, note 
 
 site of, 287, note 
 Mystic River, exploration of, by Standish, 133 
 
 Nacook Brook, 159, note 
 
 Nahanada, 70, 74, 75 
 
 Nahicans (Nehantics), 184, note 
 
 Nahiggonticks (Narragansetts), 188, note 
 
 Namaskeags, 452, note 
 
 Namasket, 126, 128 
 
 Namaskets, 50 
 
 Nanasquionwut, 334 
 
 Nanepashemet, 132 
 
 his grave, 132 
 
 widow of, 132, 133 
 
 power of, 133, note 
 
 Standish finds his village deserted, 133, note 
 
 his house at Rock Hill, 133, note 
 
 killed by the Tarratines; house described, 133, note 
 Nanepashemets, The, 117, note 
 Nanohiggansets (Narragansetts), 387, 390, note 
 Nantasket, 192, note 
 Napoitan, 78, note 
 Nariganset Indians, 222 
 
 Narigansets (Narragansetts), 210, 211, 218, 219, 220, 226, 231 
 Narragansett, 256, 258, 260, 262, 265 
 
 Narragansetts, 34, 35, 43, 47, 48, 49, 129, 169, 187, 189, note, 199, 
 note, 209, 229, note, 234, note, 235, note, 244, 248, 249, 
 253, note, 257, 261, 263, 267 
 
 rumored conspiracy of, against Plymouth Settlement, 127, note 
 
 appear about Neponset, 203, note 
 
 [503] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Narragansetts, afraid, at Fort Mystic, 270 
 join in massacre of the Pequods, 274 
 after fight, turn homeward, 275 
 reengage the Pequods, 277 
 Mason aids them, 278 
 Underbill, also, 279 
 
 object to being left in the Pequod country, 281 
 intentions of Pequods against, 285 
 errand of Roger Williams to, 320 
 English indifference to, apparent, 323 
 radical difference between them and Mohegans, 331 
 accuse Pequods and Mohegans of robbery, 332 
 release rights of conquest to Pequod lands, 337 
 jealousies between them and Mohegans, 344 
 approval of Uncas by English arouses their suspicions, 346 
 at Neponset, 347 
 
 their disposition toward the English, 350, note 
 natural foes of Pequods, 376 
 
 defeated by Mohegans at battle of the Great Plain, 394 
 their sachem captured, 394 
 
 unsuspicious of duplicity of commissioners, 399, note 
 . trial and murder of Miantunnumoh, 403-413 
 
 made annual pilgrimage to the scene of Miantunnumoh s death, 
 
 413 
 
 their sorrow at the death of Miantunnumoh, 414 
 the particeps criminis, 415 
 notified not to molest Uncas, 416 
 offer of peace, extended to, by English, 416 
 threaten Uncas, 417 
 hatred for Mohegans grows, 417 
 Pessicus becomes leading sachem, 418 
 
 their reply to Winthrop s answer to overtures of Pessicus, 418 
 their resentment aroused, 418 
 habits of Indians undergoing change, 419 
 women and children of English fear the savages, 419 
 English enact stringent laws to control the savages, 420 
 at war with Mohegans, 428 
 
 Pessicus summoned to Hartford to meet Uncas, 428 
 complain to commissioners at Hartford, 429 
 compelled to sign agreement not to molest Mohegans, 430, note 
 hostilities again renewed against Mohegans, 431 
 attack Mohegan fort on the Thames River, 432 
 
 [504] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Narragansetts, attack abandoned, 432 
 
 a later invasion stopped by appearance of English, 433 
 
 conspire with Mohawks against Mohegans, 454 
 
 conspiracy fails, 455 
 
 friendly to King Philip, 475 
 
 appeal to the Crown, 475, note 
 
 as a nation practically destroyed, 476 
 
 torture of a Narragansett warrior, 476, note 
 Narragansett Bay, 184, 188, note, 192, note, 196, note, 343 
 Nashacowam, 173 
 Nashuas, 51, 451, note, 452, note 
 Nassau Bay, 184 
 Natick, first mission established at, 373, note 
 
 rules for conduct of converted Indians at, 374, note 
 Nations, The Five, 27, note 
 Nattawahunt, 129, note 
 Naumkeags, 51 
 
 Nauset, locality, 79, note, 84, note, 107, note, 129 
 Nausets, 38, note, 106, note, 125, 129 
 Nausibouck, 334 
 Nawaas, 184, note 
 
 Nawwashawenck, assaulted Pumharn, 350, note 
 Nehantic, 264 
 
 fort at, 264 
 
 visited by Mason, 323, note 
 Nehantics, 52; also 184, note, 119, 319 
 
 to avoid Patrick and Mason, abandon their village, 281 
 Nepaupuck, his trial and execution, 364, note 
 
 accused of murdering Finch, 364, note 
 
 jurisdiction of New Haven Colony questioned, 365, note 
 
 convicted and beheaded, 365, note 
 Nepenett sachems, 225 
 Neponset, 203, note 
 Neponsets, 51 
 Nesutan, Job, 372, note 
 New Amsterdam, 256 
 
 Thanksgiving at, 426 
 New Brunswick, 264, note 
 New Canaan, quoted, 146, 148, 161, note 
 New England Charter, 191 
 New England Coast, 197 
 New England Company, Endicott s Letter to, 63, note 
 
 [505] 
 
INDEX 
 
 New Hampshire, 259, note 
 New Harbor, 71, 77 
 
 Pemaquid Point, 70, 140, note 
 New Haven, 302 
 
 settlers of, 356 
 New Haven Bay, settlement of, 353 
 
 consideration for land about, 354 
 
 settlers, 356 
 Newichawannock, 174 
 Newichawannocks, 51 
 
 New London, 188, note, 246, note, 287, 351, 352 
 New Netherlands, Manhattan to be capital of, 184, note 
 New Plymouth, 205 
 Newtowne, 206 
 
 colonists go to Connecticut, 207 
 
 Niantics (Nehantics), 199, note, 246, note, 318, 319, 322, note, 324 
 Ninicraft, 457, note 
 
 visits the Mohicans, 461 
 
 solicits their aid against Uncas, 461 
 
 continues his quarrel with the English, who declare war against 
 
 him, 462 
 
 Ninigratt, 435, note 
 
 Ninigret, 199, note, 252, note, 264, 265, note, 319, 323, note, 351, 
 357, note 
 
 his treatment of the government messengers, 436 
 
 goes to Boston, 456 
 
 denies Cuttaquin s charges, 456 
 
 dismissed by magistrates with threats, 457 
 Nipmucks, 51, 52, 451, note 
 
 located, 457 
 
 raided by the Mohegans, 470 
 Nobsquassetts, 51 
 
 No-ke-chick ("parched-corn-meal"), 114 
 Nonantum, 375, note 
 Nonantums, 51 
 Norridgewock, 40 
 Norse Occupation, 29, note 
 North Shore, 290 
 North Stonington, 246, note 
 Norton, Captain, killed, 198, 207 
 Norwalk Indians, sell land to Roger Ludlow, 64, note 
 Norwalk River, 184 
 
 [506] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Norwootucks, 466 
 Nyantick Peacots, 430, note 
 
 Obbatinewat, 132, 133, note 
 
 Obbatinua, 129, note 
 
 Obechiquod, complains that Uncas has taken his wife from him, 
 
 446, note, 448, 449, 450 
 Obtakiest, 149, 160 
 
 the fate of his people, 161 
 
 his embassy to Plymouth, 162 
 Ocquamehud, 129, note 
 Oldham, John, 193, 209, 210, 212, 233, 235, note, 283, 295 
 
 butchery of, 189, 192, note, 208, note 
 Oldom (Oldome, Oldham), John, 212 
 Oliver, Mrs., whipped, 425, note 
 Oneko, cannibalism of, 413, note 
 Onopequin, 471 
 Oompaum, 111, note 
 Osemequon, Oosamequin, Massasoit joins in conveyance of Rhode 
 
 Island lands, 326, note 
 
 " Owanux! Owanux!" alarm-cry of Pequods at Fort Mystic, 271 
 Oweneco, 475 
 
 Pakemit, 375, note 
 
 Pakonokick (Pawkunnawkutt, Pokonoket), 124, note 
 
 Pamlico, 99, note 
 
 Paniese, 125, note 
 
 Panises, 157 
 
 description of, 158, note 
 Pankapogs, 51 
 Paomet, 84, note 
 Parnall, William, 77, note 
 Passaconaway, 451, note 
 
 died, 452, note 
 Passamaquoddy, 41 
 Passongesit, 100, note 
 Patackost (Patackoset), 111, note 
 Patrick, Captain Daniel, 223, 249, 261, 262 
 
 march delayed by a curious incident, 249, note 
 
 reaches Providence, 261 
 
 joins Mason at Narragansett, 281 
 
 too late for Fort Mystic fight, 281 
 
 [507] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Patrick, Captain Daniel, goes to Saybrook by land, 281 
 
 mentioned, 366 
 
 killed by a Dutch soldier, 425, note 
 Patuxet, 111, note, 115 
 Paucasit, 326, note 
 Paucatuck River, 196, 267 
 
 English at, 266 
 
 Mason fords this stream, 267 
 
 location of their forts, 267 
 
 Narragansetts and Mohegans withdraw across, 268 
 Paugessets, 52 
 
 sell land to the English; delivery by turf and twig, 357 
 Paugus, 84, 85 
 Paupasquat, 326, note 
 Pawkunnawkut, 48, note 
 Pawpiamet, 431, 435 
 
 Pawtucket (Petuhqui, Puttukque), 111, note 
 Peacott (Pequod), 247, note 
 Peas, given the Indians in payment for corn taken by Standish, 96, 
 
 note 
 Pecksuot, 84, 85, note, 128, note, 155, 156, 157, 171 
 
 massacre of, 148 
 
 his message to Standish, 155 
 Peddock, Leonard, 98, note 
 Peddock s Island, 98, note 
 
 Frenchmen wrecked on, 98, note 
 Peeters, Thomas, 433, 447 
 Pekoath, 191 
 
 Pell, Mr., mentioned, 238, note 
 Pemaquid, 70, 343 
 
 destroyed, 16 
 
 settlement at, 140, note 
 
 considered, 141, note, 183, note 
 Pematesick, 328 
 
 Pennacook Confederacy, 451, note 
 Pennacooks, 51, 451, note 
 Penobscot Bay, 138 
 Pentagoet, 45, 175 
 Pentuckets, 452, note 
 Pequakets, 85 
 
 Pequents(Pequods), 210, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 219, 220, 221, 226 
 Pequin, Pequetan, 191, note 
 
 [ 508 ] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Pequit, 241, note 
 
 Pequits (Pequods), 238, note, 240, note 
 
 Pequods, 34, 35, 43, 81, 169, 189, 194, note, 196, 197, 198, 200, 201, 
 203, note, 204, 207, 227, 228, 230, 232, 233, 234, note, 236, 
 237, 240, 242, note, 250, 252, 253, 254, 255, 257, 260, 267 
 
 claim country about Connecticut River, 186 
 
 by conquest, 186 
 
 sell to the Dutch, 186, 187 
 
 their treachery, 187 
 
 at climax of power, 197 
 
 open negotiations with English, 201 
 
 number of warriors estimated, 207 
 
 plot to exterminate the English, 231, 234, note 
 
 frustrated by Roger Williams, 231 
 
 conference with Narragansetts, 235, note 
 
 extent of the domain of, 246, note 
 
 disposition of women and children, 249 
 
 outwitted by the Dutch, 254 
 
 give up two English girls taken at Wethersfield, 255 
 
 protected by squaw of Mononotto, 225, 316 
 
 regard Uncas as a renegade Pequod, 267 
 
 hold a feast at Fort Mystic, 268 
 
 their fort attacked by Mason, 271 
 
 women and children massacred, 273, 274, note 
 
 grief at destruction of Fort Mystic, 276 
 
 Mason relieved by arrival of the English fleet, 276 
 
 described by Mather, 277 
 
 punishment inevitable, 279 
 
 method of fighting, 279 
 
 punishment of, regarded as merited by Endicott, 282, note 
 
 their destruction as a people considered, 284 
 
 their plans anticipated by the English, 285 
 
 hold council after destruction of Fort Mystic, 285, 286 
 
 determination to abandon country to invaders, 286 
 
 destroy the royal village, 287 
 
 its location, 287, note 
 
 revenge upon Uncas, 287, note 
 
 location of fort destroyed by Mason, 287, note 
 
 portion of nation go to the westward; their fate, 288 
 
 capture three colonists; the torture, 288 
 
 direction of their flight, 289 
 
 take shelter in Fairfield Swamp, 289 
 
 [ 509 ] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Pequods, racial characteristics, 296 
 
 an object of slender sympathy, 296 
 
 a race of wanderers, 298 
 
 harassed by the English, 301 
 
 Sassacus s hiding-place betrayed by Pequod spy, 303 
 
 surrounded at Fairfield Swamp, 307 
 
 defy Mason, 308 
 
 attempt an escape in the fog, 309 
 
 make a night sortie against Patrick, 309 
 
 repelled by Patrick s men, 309 
 
 captured by Mason, 310 
 
 power broken, 314 
 
 feared by adjacent tribes, 314 
 
 sold into slavery, 315 
 
 end of the, as a nation, 317 
 
 number taken and killed at Fairfield Swamp, 317 
 
 their dispersion, 318, 319, note 
 
 efforts of a portion to maintain independence, 329 
 
 conference held at Hartford for their final disposition, 330 
 
 their troubles exploited by Mather, 330, note 
 
 their number agreed upon, 336 
 
 their final disposition, 337 
 
 their lands appropriated by the English, 357 
 
 break treaty with English, 360 
 
 attacked by Mason and Uncas at Paucatuck River, 360 
 
 for locating on Paucatuck River, 360 
 
 Mason plunders their village, 360 
 
 attack Mason, 361 
 
 the parley, 362 
 
 their village at Paucatuck destroyed by Mason, 363 
 
 last foray against, 363 
 
 sequestration of Pequod lands, 367 
 
 allotment of, among the neighboring nations, 376 
 
 male children, how disposed of, 398, note 
 
 dispersed by Uncas, 452, note 
 
 refuse to return to the Mohegans, 453 
 
 desert the Nehantics and surrender to Willard, 462 
 Pequod Harbor, Mason orders a landing at, 256 
 
 mentioned, 257 
 
 forts on the Mystic reenforced by Sassacus, 268 
 Pequod River (The Thames), 230, 263 
 
 Mason is relieved by appearance of fleet, 274 
 
 [510] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Pequod War, 164, 343 
 
 English at Wethersfield the aggressors, 357, 359 
 Pequots, 34, 43, 81 
 
 described, 188, note 
 Perkins, John, 173, note 
 Pessicus, sends gifts to Winthrop, 418, 466, note, 467, note 
 
 warned not to war against Uncas, 418 
 
 summoned, with Uncas, to Hartford, 428 
 
 inspires fear among English, 430, note 
 
 invades Mohegan country, 431 
 
 destroys Mohegan villages, 432 
 
 driving the Mohegans into their forts, 432 
 
 messengers sent from Boston to, 434, note 
 
 his reception of them, and his reply, 435, note 
 
 explains non-appearance before magistrates, 435 
 
 Roger Williams warns the Boston authorities of by a letter, 436 
 
 commissioners send two other messengers, 439 
 
 goes to Boston, 440 
 
 English impose conditions, 441 
 
 hostages demanded of; poll-tax levied on Narragansetts and 
 allied tribes, 442 
 
 enters into treaty with English, 443 
 
 invades Mohegan country, 466, note 
 
 killed across the Maine border, 466, note 
 Pettuck s Island, 136 
 Pewee (Kieveet), 185, note 
 Pharmacy, Indian, 31 
 Philip, King, 49, 50, 62, 75, 81, 84, 162 
 Phoenician navigators, 30, note 
 Picture-painting, 24, note, 31 
 
 Pierce, Mr., attends Sir Richard Saltonstall, 206, note 
 Pierce Patent, 65 
 
 Pierce, William, takes captured Pequods to Bermuda, 225 
 Pigwacket, 40, 42, 43 
 Pilgrim compared with Puritan, 82, note 
 Pilgrim Fathers, 22 
 Pilgrims, how they wrought with Puritans, 79 
 
 first landing of, 90 
 
 their perilous condition at Plymouth, 138 
 
 apprised of Virginia massacre, build a fort, 142 
 
 description, 142, note 
 
 on verge of starvation, 142 
 
 [511] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Pilgrims, believed Indian supernaturally endowed, 157, note 
 
 Pincheon, M., mentioned, 240, note 
 
 Pinnace, Oldham s, 292, note 
 
 Piscataquay River, 172 
 
 Piscataquis River, 130, 343 
 
 Piscataways, 51 
 
 Plague, The, 49, 66, note, 112, 130 
 
 Squanto only survivor at Pawtuxet (Plymouth), 116, note 
 Plows in use in Connecticut, 1647, 368 
 Plymouth, population of, 1630, 72 
 
 distance by water from Boston to, 130, note 
 
 threatened with famine, 139 
 
 fort built at, 142, note 
 
 mentioned, 158, 159, 160, 161, 198, 246 
 
 Winthrop s discouraging attitude, 193 
 
 governor of, 234, note 
 Plymouth Colony, 248 
 Plymouth traders, 35 
 
 settlers, 62 
 
 people go to Nauset to buy corn, 79, note 
 
 profit by Indian generosity, 164 
 
 suggest to Winthrop to plant colony of Connecticut, 193 
 Pocanokit (Pokonoket), 122, note 
 Pocassets, 49 
 Pocumtucks, 466 
 Podunks, 52 
 
 driven from their country, 467 
 Pokonoket, 176 
 
 derivation, 124, note 
 Pokonokets, 48, 49 
 
 Policy of English with the aborigine, 169 
 Pomeroye, Eltwood, 265, note 
 Popham, Lord chief justice, 73 
 Porter s Rocks, where Mason camped night before attack on Fort 
 
 Mystic, 268 
 Powahes, 56 
 Powows, 129, note 
 
 meeting of, after fight at Nauset, 129, note 
 Powpynamett, 435 
 Prat (Pratt), Phineas, 159 
 Pratt, Phineas, 159 
 Praying Indians, 54, 370 
 
 [512] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Praying Indians, attached themselves to Philip, 371 
 
 census of, 375, note 
 
 places of worship, 375, note, 376, note 
 
 removal of, to island in Boston Harbor, 376, note 
 Presumpscot, 42 
 Prin, Martin, 71 
 
 Prophecy of the French sailor, 130 
 Providence, Roger Williams settlement at, 261, note 
 Puckanokick (Pokonoket), 149 
 Puddington, Mary, 259, note 
 Pumham, used by English against Miantunnumoh, 350, note 
 
 claimed to be sachem of Narragansetts, 350, note 
 
 killed by Nawashawenck, 350, note 
 
 mentioned, 405, 434 
 Pummumshe, 431 
 Pumpions, 41 
 Pumumsks, 435 
 Puncapug, 375 
 Puppompogs, 334 
 Purchas, Samuel, 122, note 
 
 Puritan, 21, note, 62, 63, 64, 82, 232, note, 248, note, 282, note, 
 296, 298, 324 
 
 bullets, 82, note 
 
 his avowed purpose toward the Indian, 163 
 
 why he failed, 164 
 
 compared with the Pilgrim, 164 
 
 his creed exemplified in John Mason, 164 
 
 the opposite of the Indian, 165 
 
 as a slave-catcher, 294, note 
 
 government shows resentment against Miantunnumoh, 351, note 
 Puritans, expected to be missionaries of Christian religion, 166 
 
 their conscience, 232, note, 294, note 
 
 considered in relation to the destruction of the Pequods, 282, 
 note 
 
 their bigotry, 299 
 
 claim Shawomet, 350, note 
 
 of the New Haven Colony, 356 
 
 their community considered, 411 
 
 their influence on the Indian, 411 
 Puttaquppuunck, 321, 322, note 
 
 Quaboags, raided by Uncas, 471 
 
 [513] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Quaboags, captives liberated, 471 
 Quadequina, 116, 117, 118, 129 
 Quahag, 35, note 
 Quame, 321, note 
 Quincy, 131 
 Quinepaug, 287 
 Quinipeac, 391 
 Quinnebaug River, 477 
 Quinnipiacks, 52, 289, 303, 353, 354 
 
 sell land to the English, 354 
 
 consideration, 354 
 
 treaty with English, 356 
 Quonehtacut, 189 
 Qunnonigat, 326, note 
 
 "Racounes," 104, note 
 Rale, Sebastian, 14, 23, note, 31 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 190, note 
 Ralph, of Nobscussett, 78, note 
 Red Island, The (der Rood Eylandt), 185, note 
 Relation of debarkation from Mayflower, by Morton, 87 
 Restless, name of Block s vessel built at Manhattan, 183, note 
 Rhode Island, mentioned, 47, 48, 233, note, 238, note, 246, note, 
 261, note, 325 
 
 discovered by Block, 185 
 
 trade established there by the Dutch, 185 
 
 origin of the name, 185, note 
 
 alarmed by the Mohawks, 344 
 Richmon, George, 75, 76 
 Richmond Island, 75, 76, note 
 Rigges, Sargante (and Jeffery), 223 
 River of Red Mountain (Housatonic), 184 
 Robin, of Ipswich, 173, note 
 Robin, of Massachusetts, 78, note 
 Robinson, Rev. John, writes Captain Standish of the massacre at 
 
 Wessaguscus, 162 
 
 Rock Hill, Medford, 132, 133, note 
 Rumble, Sir Thomas, 237, note 
 
 Sabino, 26 
 
 Sachem s Head, capture of Pequods at, 301, 302 
 
 Sachem s Plain, battle of, 394 
 
 [514] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Sachem s Plain, Miantunnumoh captured at, 394 
 
 Miantunimmoh killed at, 413 
 
 his burial-place, heap of stones, 413 
 
 pilgrimages of Narragansetts to, 413 
 Saco, 42 
 
 Saconet, 84, note 
 Saconets, 50 
 
 Sagadahoc River, 26, 70, 71, 109, note 
 Sagadahoc settlement, the first, 71 
 Sagamore, John, reveals plot of Narragansetts to Plymouth, 234, 
 
 note 
 
 Salem, population of, 1630, 172 
 Saltonstall, Sir Richard, 205 
 
 comes to Boston, 206 
 
 made assistant; returned to England; the portrait, 206, note 
 Samoset (John Somerset), 21, 33, note, 47, 48, 62, 77, note, 96, 
 note, 106, note, 112, note, 413 
 
 his first visit to Plymouth, 109 
 
 deed to John Brown of Pemaquid lands, 110, note 
 
 entertained by the Pilgrims, 111 
 
 gifts to, 112, note 
 
 brings his friends to Plymouth, 113 
 
 Mourt describes their garb, 113 
 
 singing and dancing, 113 
 
 their food, 114 
 
 mentions the Nausets, 114, note 
 
 remains at Plymouth, 115 
 
 English give him a hat, etc., 115 
 Sampson of Nobscussett, 76, note 
 Sanaps, the wife of, and Uncas, 448 
 Sasco, 303 
 
 Sassacouse (Sassacus), 226 
 
 Sassacus, place of residence, 267, 286; vide 43, 188, 200, 201, 202, 
 226, 246, 254, 255, 263, 449 
 
 attacks English at Fort Mystic, 276 
 
 planned to invade Narragansetts, 285 
 
 holds a council of war, 285 
 
 abandons his home, 286 
 
 Mason s attack unexpected, 286 
 
 former power as a sachem, 287 
 
 takes refuge in Fairfield Swamp, 288, 289 
 
 betrayed by Pequod spies; their fate, 301 
 
 [515] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Sassacus, escapes capture by the English, 310 
 
 the swamp battle, 311 
 
 his fame, 311, note 
 
 his desertion of his people considered, 312. 314 
 
 inveterate enemy of Pequods, 313 
 
 flees to the Mohawks; surprised and killed by them, 315 
 
 his scalp sent to the Massachusetts authorities, 315, note 
 
 beheaded by the Mohawks, 318 
 Saugatuck River, Patrick buys land at mouth of, 366 
 Saukatucketts, 51 
 Saunders, John, 149 
 
 Say and Seal, Lord, 205, 206, note, 251, note 
 Saybrook, fort at, 235, 236 
 
 mentioned, 228, 229, note, 235, 250, 251, note, 255, 256, 275, 
 281, 363, 432 
 
 attacked by Pequods, 236 
 Scalping-knife, 46 
 Scalps, 46, note 
 Scarborough marshes, 75 
 Schegichbi (New Jersey), 26, note 
 Schenectady, 270 
 
 Scurvy-stricken followers of Cartier, 31, 32, note 
 Sebequanash, 377 
 Seekonk, 233, note 
 Seely, Lieut., 438, note 
 Seely, Sergeant, 241, note 
 <4 Sentinells"set, 93 
 
 alarmed at Wellfleet Bay, 104 
 Separatists, 21, 62 
 Sequassen, sells Connecticut lands to English, 187, 247 
 
 defeated by Uncas, 288, 289 
 
 Uncas and, 379 
 
 feud between Uncas and, 379 
 
 plots against Uncas, 443 
 
 summoned to Hartford, 443 
 
 his capture and release, 443, 444, 453, 460 
 
 vide 453, note 
 
 relative killed by a Podunk, 463 
 
 Uncas deputy, Foxon, appeals to Governor Webster, 464 
 
 matter settled, 465, 186, note 
 Sequeen, same as Sequassen 
 Sequen (Sequassen), 453 
 
 [516] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Sequen (Sequassen), returned to his own country, 460 
 Sequin (Sowheag), 241, note 
 
 Settlers, two hung in trees on Connecticut River, 295 
 Shallop, the Mayflower s, 87, 88, 96, 101 
 
 Standish sails with it to Cape Cod, 96 
 
 also to Wellfleet Bay, 102 
 
 mentioned, 112, 124, 131, 228, note, 236, note, 243, note, 251 
 Shantok Point, 432 
 Shawmut, 83, note 
 Shawomet, 350, note 
 
 Miantunnumoh sells same to Gorton, and begets enmity of the 
 English, 350, note 
 
 claimed by Plymouth Colony, 350 
 Shell-heaps, 27 
 Shetucket Indian killed, 477 
 
 Uncas accused of the crime, 477 
 Shetucket River, 391 
 Shoes of Indians, how made, 121, note 
 Shurts, Abraham, at Pemaquid, 110, note, 174 
 Sickenames (Mystic) River, 186, note 
 Six-mile Island, 237, note 
 
 Skeleton of Indian found at West Medford, 132, note 
 Skittwarroes, 70 
 Slaine, John, 116, note 
 Slave- traffic, Indian, 324, note 
 
 Massachusetts Bay not averse to, 319, note, 324, note, 350, 
 
 note 
 
 Slaves, Pequods sent to Massachusetts as, 293 
 Smith, Capt. John, 68, 72, 98, note, 111, note, 122, note, 135, 136 
 
 his visit to Massachusetts Bay, 135 
 Smith, Mr., mentioned, 213 
 Smyth, Francis, 434 
 Snaphance, 105 
 Sochoso, 196, note 
 Sohegans, 452, note 
 Sokaknoco, 434, note 
 Sokoki, 42, 43 
 
 Solon, Me., rock-tracings at, 29 
 Sommers, Will, 151 
 Southport, Me., 77, note 
 Southworth, Constant, 78, note 
 Sowaams (Puckanokick), 149 
 
 [517] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Sowgans, 452, note 
 
 Sowheag, 52, 241, note, 357, note, 358, 359 
 
 cause of attack on Wethersfield, 357, note 
 Sparrow, The, at Plymouth, 144 
 
 Weston s vessel, sails later for Wessagusset, 144 
 Spencer, John, 238, note 
 Spurwink, 75 
 Squanto, 36, note, 74, 75, 115, note, 116, 140 
 
 comes into Plymouth, 115 
 
 only survivor of plague at Patuxet, 116 
 
 a plotter, 116 
 
 as a pilot, 117 
 
 as an interpreter, 117 
 
 sent to Aspinet, 125, 126, note, 127, 128 
 
 plots, 126, note 
 
 rumor of his death, 127 
 
 Standish goes to Nemasket to his rescue, 127 
 
 Standish attacks Corbitant s village, 128 
 
 wounded Indians taken to Plymouth, 128 
 
 goes with Standish to Massachusetts Bay, 130 
 
 suggests robbing the Massachusetts Indians, 134 
 
 arouses anger of Massasoit, 137 
 
 who demands of Winslow his surrender, 137 (Drake s note), 
 138, note 
 
 interprets the message of Canonicus to Bradford, 142 
 Squantum Headland, 131 
 Squashes, 41 
 
 St. Bartholomew massacre, 296, note 
 St. Castin, 45 
 St. Charles River, 32 
 St. John s River, Ingram at, 264, note 
 St. Lawrence River, 42 
 Stadacone, 31 
 Stamford, 259, note, 367 
 Stamford, outrage at, 427 
 Stamford village, Indian raid on, 423, note, 427 
 
 Dutch at, 426, 427 
 
 settlers call on Hartford for help, 427 
 
 Standish, Miles, 67, 79; also note; likewise notes on 80, 84, 89, 92, 
 102, 115, 118, 128, 129, 130, 134, 149, 153, 245 
 
 experience in Low Countries, 80, note, 95, note 
 
 discovers Indians, 92 
 
 [518] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Standish, Miles, his party finds great " Ketle," 92 
 
 also a basket of corn, 93 
 
 description of same, 93 
 
 his acts of vandalism, 99, note 
 
 ghoulish curiosity, 100 
 
 shoots his first Indian, 105, note 
 
 given full authority in military matters, 109 
 
 attacks Namasket, 128 
 
 conveys wounded Indians to Plymouth, 128 
 
 explores Massachusetts Bay, 130 
 
 raids Wessaguscus; massacre of Wittuwamet and Pecksuot, 
 149-157 
 
 disposition with savage, 152 
 
 alleged valor, 153 
 
 informs Weston s men of Indian s plot, 154 
 
 derided by Wittuwamet, 156 
 
 mentioned, 157, 160 
 
 returns to Plymouth safely, 158 
 
 died at Duxbury, 89, note 
 Stanton, Thomas, 224, 239, note, 240, note, 307 
 
 parleys with Pequods, 224, 239, note, 240, note, 307 
 
 sent by the Massachusetts Commissioners to the Narragansetts, 
 
 454 
 
 Stoddard, Rev. Solomon, his letter to Governor Dudley, 170 
 Stone, Captain, murder of, 188, 189, note, 197, 199, 202, 203, 207, 
 
 210, 211, 228 
 
 Stone, chaplain of Mason s company at Fort Mystic, 257 
 Stonington, 246 
 Stonington, North, 246 
 Stony Brook, 78, note 
 Stoughton, Captain Israel, sent into the Pequod country, 290 
 
 mentioned, 225, 295 
 
 his force reduced, 290 
 
 his movements, 291 
 
 lands at Pequod River, 291 
 
 joined by the Narragansetts, 291 
 
 captures a small party of Pequods, 292 
 
 Hubbard remarks upon his disposition of, 292, note 
 
 his letter to Winthrop, 292, note 
 
 reserving some of the captive savages to his own use, 292, note 
 
 Drake suggests his motive in this, 294, note 
 
 joined by Mason in his pursuit of the fleeing Pequods, 298 
 
 [519] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Stoughton, Captain Israel, extracts from MS. letter of, 312, 
 
 note 
 
 Stratford Feny, Mohawks at, 444 
 Straw, Jack, 190, note 
 Strong waters, 57, 117 
 Succonet, 150, note 
 
 Taretines (Tarratines), 133, note, 174 
 Tarratines, 42 
 
 their foray against the Massachusetts, 132 
 
 marauding excursions, 172, 173, note 
 Tassquanot, 448 
 Tatobam, 43, 246, note 
 Taunton, 30, note 
 Taunton River, 28 
 Thames River, 414 
 
 Mason retires to mouth of, 275 
 
 Thanksgiving ordered on return of soldiers from fight at Fairfield 
 Swamp, 313, note 
 
 at New Amsterdam, 426 
 Thistle, totem, 26, note 
 
 Thompson s House raided by the Pocumtucks, 469 
 Thompson s Island, 131 
 Thorfinne Karlsefne, 29, note 
 Thorvald, 29, note 
 Tille, 243, note 
 Tilley, Edward, 89 
 Tilley, John, captured and tortured at Saybrook, 242, 244, note 
 
 incensed with Gardener, 243, and note 
 
 mentioned, 283, 295 
 Tilley s Folly, 243, note 
 Tisquantum, 70, 74, 115, note 
 
 Tobacco, 37, note, 41, 57, 114, 121, 258, note, 339, note 
 Tolland, county of, 246, note 
 Tomahawk, 46 
 
 Tontinimo, Podunk sachem, 464 
 Torture of victims, 44 
 
 manner of, 46 
 Trask, Captain, 223 
 Treaty, between English and Massasoit, 119 
 
 with Corbitant and other sachems, 129, note 
 
 of October 8, 1640, source of litigation, 378 
 
 [520] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Treaty, Mohegan title questioned, 378 
 between Pessicus and English, 443 
 Trelawney, Edward, 76, note 
 Trumbull s account of torture of colonists captured by Pequods on 
 
 Connecticut River, 288, note 
 Tunxis Conspiracy, 420 
 Turkey, totem, 26, note 
 Turner, Captain, his expedition against Block Island, 227 
 
 Unalatchgo, 26, note 
 
 Unamis, 26, note 
 
 Uncas, 43, 188, and note, 200, 226, 246, 248, 252, 263, 431, note 
 
 character, 246, note 
 
 feud between and Miantunnumoh, 247, note 
 
 buried, 247, note 
 
 exploit of, on march to Saybrook, 250 
 
 his integrity doubted by Gardener, 251 
 
 foray at Bass River, 251 
 
 captures Kiswas, 251 
 
 a renegade Pequod, 267 
 
 wounded at Fort Mystic, 270, 273 
 
 joins in pursuit of the Pequods, 300 
 
 captures a party of Pequods at Sachem s Head, 302 
 
 weakness of the Mohegans, 320 
 
 goes to Boston, 325 
 
 accused by Massachusetts authorities of deceit, 326 
 
 his protestations of good faith, 327 
 
 called to Hartford by English, 330 
 
 his star of fortune in the ascendent, 330 
 
 commanded to appear before Council, 333 
 
 Stanton charges him with lying, 335 
 
 prominence of, 345 
 
 arouses suspicions of Narragansetts, 346 
 
 claims leadership of Pequod country, 372 
 
 married Sebaquanash, 377 
 
 hatred of Narragansetts for, 379 
 
 accuses Miantunnumoh of conspiracy, 379 
 
 attempt upon life of, 382 
 
 charges his injury to Miantunnumoh, 384 
 
 complains to Massachusetts authorities, 387 
 
 his duplicity suspected, 387 
 
 alleged assailant killed by Miantunnumoh, 387 
 
 [521] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Uncas, second attempt on life of, 388 
 
 Governor Haynes investigates, 388 
 
 his demands of the Narragansetts, 388 
 
 other attempts to kill him, 389 
 
 invades Sequassen s territory, successfully, 389 
 
 is advised of march of Narragansetts against him, 392 
 
 collects his warriors, 392 
 
 surprises the Narragansetts by a ruse, 393 
 
 the parley, 393 
 
 fight at Sachem s Plain, 393, et seq. 
 
 account of fight by Hyde, 394, note 
 
 takes Miantunnumoh to Hartford, 401 
 
 his fears, 402 
 
 advised by Connecticut magistrates, 402 
 
 character of, reconsidered, 407, note 
 
 summoned to Hartford, 412 
 
 agrees to kill Miantunnumoh, 412 
 
 his alleged acts of cannibalism, 413 
 
 Miantunnumoh murdered by Wawequa, a brother of, 413 
 by direction of the Connecticut Commissioners, 412 
 
 English appoint witnesses to the act, 412 
 
 Pessicus and, summoned to Hartford to settle their differ 
 ences, 428, 430, note 
 
 besieged by Pessicus, 432 
 
 released by Leffingwell, 432, 468, note 
 
 appears at Stamford with his warriors, 445 
 
 investigates murder of Whittemore, 446 
 
 inclined to be troublesome, 447 
 
 complained of by Peeters and Morton, 447 
 
 defiles the wife of Sanaps, 448 
 
 a child of, dies; custom, 448 
 
 sends Wawequa to the Pequods, 449 
 
 complained of by Obechiquod and Cassasinamon, 449 
 
 is defended at Boston by Foxon, 450 
 
 complained of by John Winthrop, Jr., 451 
 
 involves Wawequa, 451 
 
 reproved by magistrates and fined, 452 
 
 authorized to reduce the Pequods to obedience, 453 
 
 attacked by Cuttaquin, 456 
 
 a necessary evil to the English, 458 
 
 his character again under discussion, 459 
 
 jealous of Sequassen, 460 
 
INDEX 
 
 Uncas, visits Governor Haynes, 461 
 
 is given powder and bullets, 461 
 
 complains of Ninigret, 461 
 
 makes a compact with Sequassen, 463 
 
 assembles a war-party against the Podunks, 465 
 
 driven into his fort by Pessicus, 466 
 
 makes a raid upon the Narragansetts, 466, note, 467 
 
 Canonchet notifies Uncas to let the Podunks alone, 467 
 
 surrender of Weasapano demanded by, 467 
 
 refused, he obtains Weasapano by a ruse, 467 
 
 ordered into court, 470 
 
 raids the Nipmucks, 470 
 
 also the Quabaugs, 471 
 
 ordered by John Mason to release Quabaug captives, 471 
 
 Mason anticipated, 471 
 
 last days of, 474 
 
 described by Gookin, 474 
 
 accused of murder of Shetucket Indian, 477 
 
 protests innocence, 477 
 
 described by Fitch, the missionary, 478 
 
 death of, 478 
 Uncass (Uncas), 226 
 
 Underbill, Captain John, expedition against Block Island, 227, 228, 
 note, 229, note, 230 
 
 relieves Saybrook Fort, 240 
 
 joins Mason s expedition against Pequods, 257 
 
 a description of, 257, note 
 
 reproved by Cotton, 258, note 
 
 punished by the church, 259, note 
 
 enters employ of the Dutch, 259, note 
 
 settlers at Stamford, Conn., 259, note 
 
 at Dover, 259, note 
 
 assumes governorship of New Hampshire, 259, note 
 
 delegate to New Haven Court, 259, note 
 
 appointed Assistant Justice for colony, 259, note 
 
 commanded Dutch against Indians, 260, note 
 
 battle of Strickland s Plain, 260, note 
 
 settled afterward at Flushing, 260, note 
 
 delegate from Oyster Bay to Assembly, 260, note 
 
 under-sheriff, Queen s County, 260, note 
 
 died at Oyster Bay, 260, note 
 
 mentioned by Hubbard, 260, note 
 
 [523] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Underbill, Captain John, the attack of Fort Mystic, 270, 273 
 
 described by Vincent as a poltroon, 279 
 
 rescues the Narragansetts and Mohegans from Pequods, 279 
 
 vide 425, note, 426 
 
 destroys an Indian village, 426 
 Ungongoit, 77, note 
 
 Van Curler, Jacob, 186, 187 
 
 builds fort on Connecticut River, 187, 293, note 
 Van Dyck, Ensign, 426 
 Van Twiller, Wouter, 186, 191 
 Vane, Gov. Harry, defeated by Winthrop, 249, note 
 
 mentioned, 208, 214, 226, 238, note, 246 
 
 the election, 293, note 
 Vane, Sir Henry, 380, note 
 Verrazano, Foster s story of capture of a boy, 69 
 Vincent, description of Underbill, 279 
 Vines, Richard, 174 
 Virginia settlers, massacre of, 141 
 
 Waban s wigwam, Eliot held first church service among the Indi 
 ans at, 373, note 
 Wabequasset, 474, note 
 Wachusett, 171, 174 note 
 Wagonckwut, 322, note 
 Wahginacut, a Podunk sachem, 190 
 
 makes overtures to Winthrop, 191 
 Waiandance, 252, note 
 
 his daughter captured by Ninigret, 262, note 
 
 betrays Miantunnumoh s purpose to Gardener, 385 
 Walford, Thomas, 22, note 
 Wamesits, 452, note 
 
 Wampanoags, 48, 121, note, 125, 126, 128, 163, 323, note, 324 
 Wampan-oke, 124, note 
 Wampas, 373, note 
 
 Wampeag, Monheag medicine-man, captured by Mohegans, 461 
 Wampompeag (wampum), 203, note 
 
 Wampum, wampumpeag, 35, note, 56, 64, note, 203, 204, note, 211, 
 383, note, 386, 405, 449, 452, 456, note, 464, 469 
 
 Plymouth buys, 204, note 
 
 how made, 205, note 
 
 [524] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Wampum, given to Uncas to ransom Miantunnumoh, 398 
 
 also to commissioners, 399, note 
 Wamsutta, 471 
 Wanape, 73 
 
 War declared against the Massachusetts, 149 
 Wars of the Connecticut Indians ended, 478 
 Warwick, Earl of, 205, 401, note 
 Wassamaquin (Massasoit), 173 
 Wassapinewat, 149 
 Waterford, 246, note 
 Watertown, 192, note, 411 
 Watertown Mill, 372, note 
 Wattone, 365 
 Wawequa, 412, 413, 449 
 
 depredations on neighboring Indians, 446, 451 
 
 complained of by Nipmucks, 452 
 Way, Thomas, 77, note 
 Waymouth, Captain George, 115, note, 140 
 Weasapano, 466, 467 
 
 kills relative of Sequassen, 464, 466, note 
 Weaugomhick, 328 
 Wecapaug Brook, 196 
 Wedgewood, John, 307, note 
 Weeks family, murdered, 207, note 
 Weetamoo, 81, 84 
 
 death of, 50, note 
 Weetowisse, 429, 431 
 Wekapaug (Westerly), 265, note 
 
 seat of the Nehantics, 199 
 Welde, Rev. Thomas, 424, note 
 Wellfleet Bay, 102 
 Wepawaugs, 289 
 
 Wequash, 189, note, 270, 287, note; also, note in full, 328; 351, 363, 
 note 
 
 various estimates of his character, 270, note 
 Wequaumugs, 328 
 Wessagusset (Wessaguscus), 22, note, 128, note, 143, 144, 145, 146, 
 
 149, 153, 155, 170 
 Wessagussets, 51 
 West India Company, 185 
 Westerly, 199, note, 265, note 
 Weston Settlement, 22, note 
 
 [525] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Weston, Thomas, 135, 138, 144, 151 
 
 his connection with the Plymouth Settlement, 135 
 
 sails along North Shore, 135 
 
 terminates his connection with Plymouth venture, 136 
 
 his shallop puts into Plymouth, 138 
 
 sends a colony to Wessagusset, 143 
 
 his company made up of profligates, 144 
 
 hanging of the weaver, 144 
 
 Hubbard denies the fact, 148, note 
 
 his plantation at Wessaguscus, 146 
 
 disposition of Plymouth toward his colony, 150, note 
 
 suffering of his men at Wessaguscus, 153 
 
 threatened by Indians, 153 
 
 sell their clothes for corn, 153 
 
 doubts Standish s story of plot, 154 
 
 betrayed Standish s confidence, 154 
 
 his colony, and its dispersion, 158 
 Wethersfield Colony, 241, 244, 254, 258, 283, 316 
 
 settlement warned, 242, note 
 
 man killed at, 242, note 
 
 surprised, 242, note 
 
 quota for Pequod War, 245 
 
 mentioned, 283 
 
 Weymouth, at Sagadahoc River, 70 
 Wheelwright, antinomian pretender, 250, note 
 Whittemore, John, murdered at Stamford, 445 
 
 his body found, 446 
 Wigwams, 57, 103, 167, 229, note, 241, note 
 
 interior of, 103, note, 104, note 
 
 burning of, at Fort Mystic, 271, 272; also, 272, note, 283, 316, 
 
 note, 360, 382 
 
 Willard, Major, despatched against the Nehantics, 462 
 Williams, name of family massacred near Hartford, 207, note 
 Williams (Williamson), John, 118, note 
 
 Williams, Roger, 41, note, 48, 124, note, 143, note, 188, note, 208, 
 209, 261 
 
 visits Canonicus in behalf of Plymouth, 231, 232, 234, note 
 
 banished from Plymouth, notes on 232 and 233 
 
 his career, 261, note 
 
 compared with the two Mathers, 261, note 
 
 forbidden the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, 262, note 
 
 finds asylum in Rhode Island, 262, note 
 
 [526] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Williams, Roger, the prophet of his time, 262, note 
 
 employed by Winthrop as ambassador to Narragansetts, 319, 
 note, 320, note 
 
 vide, also, 327, 328, 329 
 
 accompanies Narragansetts to Hartford, 331 
 
 goes to Boston with Miantunnumoh, 380, note 
 
 sends a letter to the magistrates, 436 
 
 warning them that war is imminent, 437 
 Williamson, Master, 118, note 
 Willson, Mr., 225 
 Winchester, 132 
 Wincombone, wife of Mononotto, 316; also note 
 
 Hubbard s relation of her, 317, note 
 Windsor s quota for Pequod War, 245 
 
 vide, 194, 207, 244 
 
 settled, 207 
 Wine, 57 
 
 Winge, John, 78, note 
 Winnepesaukees, 452, note 
 Winslow, Edward, 36, note, 37, note, 62, 84, note, 102, 149, 193, 194 
 
 compensates Massasoit for corn taken by Standish, 101 
 
 meets Massasoit first time, 117 
 
 gifts to, 117 
 
 his entertainment of, 117 
 
 his display, 119 
 
 visits Massasoit, 124 
 
 refuses to surrender Squanto to Massasoit s messengers, 137, 
 138, note 
 
 plays Esculapius, 152 
 
 Relation referred to, 154 
 
 his narrative of the precarious existence of Obtakiest and his 
 
 people, 161 
 
 Winter, John, 76, note 
 
 Winthrop, John, Gov., 22, note, 81, 83, note, 190, 191, note, 194, 
 note, 198, note, 203, note, 212, 218, 222, 226, 229, 293, 
 note, 403, 452 
 
 at Salem, 174 
 
 protests against the Dutch settling on the Connecticut, 191 
 
 claims country under New England Charter, 191 
 
 discourages settlement of the Connecticut lands, 193 
 
 his and Bradford s Letters on the Pequod War, 210-227, 294, 
 note 
 
 [527] 
 
INDEX 
 
 Winthrop, John, Gov., interest in Mononotto s wife and children, 
 225 
 
 convicted of leniency to Roger Williams, 232, note 
 
 his disposition of Miantunnumoh, 248, note 
 
 engineers his own election, 249, note 
 
 the son of a lawyer, 262 
 
 Barry s description of, 262 
 
 his acquiescence in enslaving Pequods, 294, note 
 
 his guiding hand in affairs, 297 
 
 attitude toward the aborigine, 324, note 
 
 description of Miantunnumoh before the court at Boston, 382, 
 note 
 
 after death of Miantunnumoh threatens the Narragansetts, 415 
 
 his reply to Pessicus, 418 
 Winthrop, Jr., John, of New London, 207, 433 
 
 complains of Uncas, 451 
 Witchcraft, 57, 459, 461 
 Wittuwamet, 84, note, 85, note, 129, note, 150, note, 156, 160, 171 
 
 massacre of, 149-158 
 
 boasts of his knife to Standish, 155 
 
 his head set up on Plymouth fort, 158 
 "Wolves unkennelled," 339, note 
 "Woman," used in contumely, 37 
 Wongungs, 52 
 Woodstock, 474 
 Woosamequin, 120, note 
 Wopigwooit, a Pequod sachem, 186, 188, 200, note 
 
 sells Connecticut lands to the Dutch, 186 
 
 the price given, 187 
 
 his death, 189, 200 
 Wopowags, 52 
 
 Wunnashowhatuckoogs, 331, 333 
 Wunnaumwauonck (faithfulness), 143, note 
 Wurregen, 387, note 
 Wuttackquiackommin, 328, note 
 Wuttamaoug, 41 
 
 Yarmouth, 51 
 Yotash, 321, note, 361 
 
 [ 528] 
 
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