History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 5

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317


USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 5


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177 | Part 178 | Part 179 | Part 180 | Part 181 | Part 182 | Part 183 | Part 184 | Part 185 | Part 186 | Part 187


The Dutch arms at Saybrook were torn down by the English in 1634 and replaced with a fool's head. Thus ended practically the power of the Dutch in Connecticut, and the hopes of the haughty Pequots in that direction were blasted forever. But they were so incensed at Holmes for bringing back Attawanott and his sachems to Windsor that they kept him and the friendly Indians continually on the defensive, and at every opportunity attacked the English set- tlers, and murdered such as they could lay their hands on.


In 1633, as two English traders, viz., Capt. Stone and Capt. Norton, were ascending Connecticut River in a vessel, being unacquainted with the channel, they hired Indian pilots to direct them ; but faithless and treacherous guides they proved to be, for they murdered both officers and crew, consisting of nine men.


Soon after the murder of Capt. Stone the old feud between the Narragansetts and Pequots began to ex- hibit itself, which alarmed Sassacus and his sachems, so that they sought an alliance, offensive and de- fensive, with the English in Massachusetts, and sent a messenger to Boston to propose a treaty. But the Governor, distrusting the position of the ambassador, ordered him to return and say to the Pequots that they must send men of more consequence or he would not treat with them.


Soon after two Pequots of royal blood appeared with an acceptable present. Negotiations were en- tered into, which resulted in a treaty by which the Indians were to give the English all their title to the


lands on the Connecticut River if they would send men to live there and trade with them ; they would also give them four hundred fathoms of wampum, forty beaver-skins, and thirty other skins.


Soon after the conclusion of this treaty, and during the year 1635, four English plantations were com- menced upon the Connecticut River, three of them by congregations that came with their ministers from the Massachusetts settlements, and the other was ef- fected by John Winthrop, Jr., at Saybrook, under a commission from Lords Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and others.


Notwithstanding this treaty, the government of Massachusetts distrusted the friendship of the Pe- quots, and inasmuch as Sassaeus did not use his in- fluence to procure the murderers of Capts. Stone and Norton and deliver them to the English, as was promised by the Pegnots preliminary to said treaty, they sent instructions to Mr. Winthrop, then at Say- brook, to demand of the Pequots "a solemn meeting of conference," and lay before them certain charges, which, if they could not refute or render suitable rep- aration therefor, then all the presents made by the Pequots to the Massachusetts government were to be returned to them with a protest, equivalent to a dec- laration of war.


Their instructions were dated at Boston, July 4, 1636, and were brought to Saybrook by Mr. Fenwick, Hugh Peters, and Capt. Oldham, with whom came Thomas Stanton, to act as interpreter.


The Pequot sachem was sent for, who appeared; the conference was held, but no satisfaction could be obtained from him; whereupon the presents were re- turned, but war was not declared, though they sepa- rated with unfriendly feelings towards each other.


About the time that Mr. Fenwick left Boston for Saybrook to treat with the Indians, Capt. Oldham, while on a trading expedition, was murdered by the Indians near Block Island, and all on board his vessel perished with him. Another trader, Capt. John Gallup, of Boston, speedily avenged his death, and sent his murderers to the bottom of the deep.


The brutal murder of Capt. Oldham was traced to some of the Narragansett sachems, who had contrived the plan to murder him. It is not probable that the Pequots had anything to do with it. It is more prob- able that he was murdered by the Narragansetts be- cause he was supposed to favor peace with the Pe- quots, having visited them a short time before with Mr. Fenwick for that purpose.


The Governor, acting under the advice of the mag- istrates and ministers of Massachusetts, resolved that the Block Island Indians should be chastised. John Endicott, with ninety men, was ordered to sail for Block Island, and put to death all the men, and take the women and children prisoners, after which he was directed to sail for Pequot Harbor, and demand of the Pequots the murderers of Capt. Stone and his crew ; if the Pequots failed to comply, to use force.


25


THE PEQUOT INDIANS.


Endicott repaired to Block Island, killed fourteen Indians, destroyed their corn, and burned their wig- wams; then sailed for Pequot Harbor via Saybrook, and reported to Lyon Gardener, who commanded the fort there, what he had done at Block Island. Gar- dener, who believed the Narragansetts, and not the Block Island Indians, guilty of the murder of Old- ham, complained bitterly of this rash act.


Endicott lost no time in reaching Pequot Harbor, and took the Indians by surprise. He landed on the east side, and ascended the hill, where he found In- dian corn-fields, dotted here and there with wigwams, and demanded the heads of the Pequots who had killed Capt. Stone or he would fight. He demanded an interview with Sassacus, and was told that the chief was at Long Island and could not be seen. After a fruitless attempt to find a responsible sachem with whom to confer, he advanced and burned all the wigwams that he could find, and at night re-embarked his men.


The next day they landed on the west side of said harbor, probably where the city of New London now stands, and burned and desolated the country. Gar- dener, while disapproving Endicott's expedition, fur- nished him with twenty men, and instructed them to bring back corn, if not Indians. In undertaking to get the corn, after Endicott and his men had left, they were attacked with such force by the Indians that it was with the greatest difficulty that they reached their vessel with their plunder. Endicott and his men re- turned to Boston, and thus ended an unwise expedi- tion, fruitful of unhappy events.


The Pequots lost but one man, which, with the de- struction of their wigwams and corn, made them all the more troublesome and dangerous. They first at- tacked Saybrook Fort, whither some of their corn had been transported, and in October took one Butterfield prisoner, and roasted him alive with horrible tortures. Soon after they captured a man by the name of Tilly, who commanded a vessel. They killed his attendant outright, then cut off Tilly's hands, amputated his feet, and then by the most infernal ingenuity that devils could invent tortured him to death. They in- vested the Saybrook fort so closely that Gardener lost a number of his men, who were ambushed and slain by the Indians. So closely was he pressed that during the winter of 1636 and '37, Capt. Mason and twenty men were sent down to reinforce the garrison at Say- brook.


In March the Indians took a shallop as she was sailing down the river with three men. One was killed in the fight, and the other two were murdered, cut to pieces, and hung upon the branches of the trees, to taunt and defy the power of the English.


In April following the Pequots went up to Weth- ersfield and waylaid the planters. They killed six men and took two girls captive, whom they finally allowed the Dutch to ransom, when they returned home.


About this time Massachusetts sent John Underhill to reinforce the garrison at Saybrook. When he reached the fort Mason and his men returned to Hartford.


On the first day of May, 1637, the General Court of Connecticut assembled at Hartford. These hor- rible Indian massacres had aroused the English, and caused them to make a desperate effort to save them- selves from a like fate. The four English plantations on the river consisted of less than three hundred souls, surrounded by more than ten thousand savages resident within the present limits of our State. The frequent secessions that had occurred among the In- dians had torn them into a large number of tribes and clans, antagonistic to each other.


For a long time previous to the coming of the English, Uncas and the Mohegans had been subject to the Pequots. They had made four attempts to secede and establish an independent tribe, but failed ; but as soon as the English had commenced their set- tlement on the Connecticut River, Uncas with his adherents seceded and joined the Connecticut River Indians, in the vicinity of Hartford and Windsor, who had previously invited the planters to come and settle among them.


The failure of the Pequots to make a satisfactory treaty with the English, who had restored the Con- necticut River Indians to their rightful territory and ousted the Dutch from the land sold them by the Pequots, and finally had sided with and sheltered Uncas, the arch rebel, who had so often defied them, was too much for the proud, warlike Pequots to en- dure; so they resolved to extirpate the English, not by a bold, manly effort, but by cutting them up piece- meal, with fire and torture the most diabolical and inhuman.


So when the General Court assembled they de- clared war, offensive war, against the Pequots, and raised an army of ninety men to invade the territory of the most warlike and cruel of all the New Eng- land tribes, and appointed Capt. John Mason com- mander-in-chief of the expedition. The soldiers were enlisted, equipped, and provisioned in ten days, and sailed from Hartford May 10, 1637, accompanied by Uncas and seventy friendly Indians. The fleet con- sisted of three vessels, and the English, being unac- quainted with the navigation of the river, ran their vessels aground several times, but after five days they reached Saybrook Fort.


Uncas and his men were so impatient of delay that they begged to be set ashore, promising to meet the English at Saybrook, to which Mason consented. Uncas kept his word, and on his way down fell in with a clan of Pequots, killed some of them, and took one prisoner, who happened to be a spy, whom he executed in true Pequot style.


Capt. Underhill tendered to Mason his services, with nineteen men, for the expedition, on condition that Capt. Gardener, the commander of the fort,


26


HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.


would consent, which was cheerfully granted. Mason then sent back twenty of his own men to guard the wellnigh defenseless settlement during his absence.


His little fleet lay wind-bound near the mouth of the river until the 18th, during which time Mason summoned and held a council of war, which, after protracted discussions and advice of their chaplain, decided to change the order of the General Court, and set sail for Narragansett Bay. They left Friday morning, and reached there Saturday evening, but were not able to land on account of the weather be- fore the next Tuesday evening, May 23d, when they set out for the residence of Miantonomoh.


During the night an Indian runner brought news to Mason that Capt. Patrick, with forty men from the Massachusetts colony, had reached Providence, on their way to join the expedition against the Pequots. But Mason decided not to wait, but marched the next morning, May 24th, for the Pequot fort. As he pro- ceeded he was joined by a large party of Narragan- setts sent on by Miantonomoh.


He reached the Niantic fort the next evening, which he surrounded until morning, when, after a fatiguing march of twelve miles, he reached the ford- ing-place on Paweatuck River, when Mason and his army halted and rested. After dinner they marched on to Tangwonk, in Stonington, where they found a field just planted with Indian corn; here they halted and held another council of war. Mason now learned for the first time that the Pequots had two forts, both of which were very strong. At first it was decided to attack both, but after learning that the one where Sassaeus commanded was too remote to be reached in time, they resolved to go ahead and attack the fort at Mystic.


Their line of march all the way from Narragansett had been along the old Indian path, traveled from time immemorial by the natives, until they crossed Pawcatuck River and reached Taugwonk. But from Taugwonk onward they deployed to the north, to avoid being discovered by the Pequots at Mystic fort, and at carly evening they reached a place now known as Porter's Rocks, in Groton, where between two high ledges " they pitched their little camp." The night was clear, with a shining moon, and after Mason had set his guards he and his men lay down and slept. About two hours before day the men were called and ordered to get ready, and after commending them- selves to the keeping of the all-wise Disposer of events they set out for the fort, which was about two iniles off.


There were two entrances to the fort, and it was decided that Mason should enter on the northeast side and Underhill on the southwest side. Mason went forward, and when within a rod of the fort was dis- covered by a Pequot, who cried out, "Owanux ! Owanux!"


Mason and his men entered the fort through the northeast passage, while Underhill and his men passed


in at the southwest. A hand-to-hand contest ensued on both sides of the fort. Mason soon saw that his only hope of complete success lay in burning their fort and wigwams, and immediately set fire to them, which spread with wonderful rapidity. The scene which followed was awful beyond all human descrip- tion, the result of which was the complete overthrow of the Pequots as a tribe, and the consequent salva- tion of the English settlement on the Connecticut River. It was the most fearful chastisement that any tribe of Indians ever received; but they were the Modoes of their day, and when we consider the ter- rible cruelties perpetrated by them, the awful tor- tures that they inflicted upon their English captives, who shall say that justice did not overtake them ?


After the close of the battle, and while Mason and his men were consulting what course to take, they discovered their vessels sailing before a fair wind for Pequot Harbor, and immediately resolved to reach them by a march across the present town of Groton. But before they were ready to move they were attacked by about three hundred Pequots from the other fort at Weinshawks. Capt. Mason, with a file or two of his men, repelled the attack, and then began his march towards his vessels.


As soon as he had left the scene of the battle the Pequots visited the site of the fort, and after behold- ing what had been done by the English stamped their feet and tore their hair from their heads, and then pursued them down the hill with all the power that their thirst for vengeance could inspire.


As soon as Mason discovered their approach he ordered his rear-guard to face about and engage them, when, after a few volleys, they retired, giving the little army time to rest and refresh themselves by a brook at the foot of the hill on the top of which the fort stood. Then after a little while they again commenced to march, and on their way fell in with and burned several wigwams. The Pequots followed but kept at a distance, trying in vain to reach and kill some of Mason's men with their arrows, receiving in return severe punishment, for every Pequot that fell by their deadly aim was scalped by the friendly Indians.


Getting tired of their pursuit and of its fatal conse- quences to them, they abandoned it when Mason was within about two miles of the harbor, after which he was unmolested until he reached the Pequot River.


Capt. Patrick, with his men, who reached Narra- gansett soon after Mason left, and before the fleet set sail on their return, embarked his men on board the shallop, and came in her to Pequot Harbor.


Some difficulty arose between Capt. Underhill and Capt. Patrick about re-embarking Underhill's men, which, after high words, was arranged so that Under- hill, with all the Connecticut men but about twenty, set sail for Saybrook, while Mason and twenty of his sol- diers, joined by Capt. Patrick and his men, with the friendly Indians, marched overland to the Connecti- cut River.


27


THE PEQUOT INDIANS.


About midway they fell in with the Niantic In- dians, who fled on their approach, and being ex- hausted with their long march they did not pursue them, but passed on to the river, reaching it about sun- set, where they encamped for the night. The next morning they crossed over to Saybrook, and were welcomed back by Capt. Gardener.


After providing for the safe return of the Narra- gansett Indians, Mason and his men returned to Hartford, where they were received with great re- joicing and praising God.


After the Pequots abandoned the pursuit of Mason they immediately returned to Sassacus' fort, and charged him with being the sole cause of all the troubles that had befallen them, and would have slain him on the spot but for the entreaty of their sachems and counselors. After a long consultation they concluded to destroy their fort and flee from their homes into various parts of the country. The largest portion fled to the westward, crossing Con- necticut River some ways above Saybrook, where they took and slew three Englishmen that they cap- tured in a shallop.


The Governor and Council of Massachusetts de- cided to follow up Mason's success. They raised and sent forward one hundred and twenty men, under the command of Mr. Stoughton, with instructions to prosecute the war to the bitter end. They reached Pequot Harbor in June, 1637, and landed on the west side, where they encamped, and from which they pur- sued the remaining Pequots with unrelenting ven- geance.


Capt. Stoughton was joined by Miantonomoh and one of his sachems, called Yotash, with a band of Narragansett warriors, who proved a most efficient aid in hunting out the concealed Pequots. They drove a large number of them into a swamp in Gro- ton, and took about one hundred prisoners. One sachem was spared on condition that he would con- duct the English to Sassacus. The women and chil- dren were reserved for bondage, and the men, thirty in number, were walked overboard on a plank from a vessel at the mouth of the Thames River.


The General Court of Connecticut met at Hartford in June, and ordered that forty men should be raised and put under the command of Mason to prosecute the war. They soon joined the Massachusetts men under Stoughton at Pequot. A council of war was held, which decided to pursue Sassacus in his flight towards the Hudson River. They soon found traces of the Pequots, who were evidently moving at a slow pace, doubtless encumbered with their women and children. But it was difficult to tell, from the num- ber of trails they were pursuing, which was the trail of Sassacus' band. So they called up the sachem that Stoughton had spared on condition that he would point out the trail of the great chief, but he refused to give any information, and was put to death.


They still pursued the flying Pequots, and drove


them into a swamp in the town of Fairfield, where they surrounded them, and after a severe conflict they captured about one hundred and eighty prisoners ; twenty lay dead upon the field, and about sixty war- riors escaped. Most of the property that the Pequots were endeavoring to take with them fell into the hands of the English.


Sassacus was not in the swamp, for he had pre- viously fled to the Mohawks for protection, but in vain. He had defied them in his prosperity, and now in his evil days they avenged themselves. They be- headed him, and sent his scalp as a trophy to Con- necticut.


On the 21st of September, Uncas and Miantonomoh, with the remaining Pequots, met the magistrates of Connecticut at Hartford. A treaty was then entered into between Connecticut, the Mohegans, and Narra- gansetts, and by its terms there was to be a perpetual peace between those two tribes and the English. Then, with imposing ceremonies, the magistrates divided the remainder of the Pequots among the Nar- ragansetts and Mohegans ; to Uncas they gave eighty, to Miantonomola eighty, and to Ninigret they gave twenty.


They were to be called Pequots no more, but Mohe- gans and Narragansetts ; nor were they ever to dwell again in their old haunts, or occupy their planting or hunting-grounds. Nearly all of those that were as- signed to Miantonomoh left him almost immediately after they went with him to Rhode Island, and sought a home in the old territory of the Pequots, in what is now the town of Westerly. The most of the Pequots given to Ninigret remained with him until 1654, when, upon the demand of the English, they were given up. They located themselves on both sides of Massatuxet Creek, where they built a large number of wigwams, and when the spring returned again they planted their Indian corn and lived quietly, disturb- ing no one.


But the General Court of Connecticut in 1639 sent Capt. Mason, with forty men, and Uncas, with one. hundred friendly Indians, to break up this new set- tlement of the Pequots, burn their wigwams, and carry off or destroy their corn, claiming that it was in violation of the treaty between the English, Nar- ragansetts, and Mohegans for the Pequots to occupy any of the old Pequot lands.


Mason and Uncas set sail from the Connecticut River for Pawcatuck River, and first landed their forces on the Connecticut side of the same, then marched up to Pawcatuck Rock (so called), where they drew up their Indian canoes, and in them crossed the river, and marched immediately up to the wig- wams and corn-fields of the Pequots, which, after a parley with them, they burned and destroyed, carry- ing off all the corn they could and twenty of the Pe- quot canoes.


The destruction of their wigwams did not cause them to abandon their new home, but as soon as Ma-


28


HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.


son and Uncas left they commenced rebuilding their wigwams, and from the corn that they had stored and the fish and game at hand they managed to subsist until another harvest gave them food in abundance.


Notwithstanding the displeasure of the Connecticut authorities, they continued to reside at Westerly until some time after that town was settled by the English, in 1661-62. They cultivated at different times over a hundred lots. Their principal village was located near Massatuxet Creek.


It is not known that any sachem was chosen by or placed over these Indians by the English for several years. Wequash, who guided Mason to the Pequot fort, was an Eastern Niantic sachem, who had a younger brother, known by the name of Harmon Garret. They were the sons of Momojoshuck, a Ni- antic sachem, who had a younger brother, Ninigret, or Ninicraft.


After the death of Wequash, Harmon assumed the name of Wequash Cook, and claimed to succeed his father as the sachemdo of the Niantics, but his uncle Ninigret, having married Wequash's sister, outranked him, and became the recognized sagamore of the Niantics.


Wequash Cook then mingled with the Pequots, and soon became their recognized chief. Subsequently he was appointed by the commissioners of the United Colonies and the General Court of Connecticut Gov- ernor of the Pequots at Pawcatuck.


That portion of the Pequot Indians assigned to Uncas by the Hartford treaty of 1638 refused to live with the Mohegans. They sought a home where they had formerly lived, on a portion of the territory now embraced within the limits of the towns of New Lon- don and Waterford. They were known by the name of the place they then occupied, viz., Nameaugs, or Namearks. Another portion of the tribe, containing some that were given to Uncas, with others who es- caped from the fort under cover of the smoke, and quite a number who were not there at the time of its destruction, located themselves at Noank. They re- fused to amalgamate with the Mohegans, for they could not bear the tyranny of Uncas, who lorded it over them with a high hand.


In 1643 the Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven plantations entered into a combina- tion or confederation under the name of the United Colonies of New England, for purposes offensive and defensive, mutual advice, protection, and support, with power to regulate and adjust all matters con- cerning the welfare of the Indians.


In 1649 a missionary society was formed in Eng- land, under the influence of Governor Winslow, of Plymouth, and was incorporated by an act of the Long Parliament, passed July 27th of that year, under the name of "The President and Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England."


In March, 1650, this society appointed the commis- sioners of the United Colonies agents to assist them


in disseminating the gospel among the Indians of New England.


When Governor Winthrop began the settlement of New London, in 1645, he found a small portion of the Nameaugs still occupying their old haunts, with a nominal chief by the name of Cassasinamon, whom the English called Robbin. They were not only held tributary to Uncas, but subject to every indignity that his savage ingenuity could invent.


Notwithstanding the Nameaug Pequots had so re- cently been at war with the English, they now re- ceived them with open arms, and extended to them every accommodation in their power. Cassasinamon became the servant of Governor Winthrop, and many of his subjects rendered the English all the assistance they could.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.