USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 5
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Uncas was on several occasions warned of the approach of his enemies by these friendly neighbors. By a concerted signal from the summit of a hill, by the firing of a gun, or by shouting across the river, they contrived to give him timely notice of impending danger, and prevent him from being taken by surprise .*
* Roger Williams and other planters, east of Paweatuck river, favored the Narra- gansetts. A letter from Rhode Island, dated July 4, 1657, observes : " We have at this instant a very solemn and serious information from the Narragansett sachems, by a ellief counsellor of theirs, that they take it ill of some English who live near Uneas his fort, for that (as they say) the English by their seouts discover to the Mo- hegans the approach of the Narragansetts, and thereby do defeat their designs in war against Uneas."
Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d Series, 7, 81. Potter's Narragansett, p. 54.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
But on the north and west of the Mohegans there were no friendly set- tlements, and the Narragansett war parties often came from that quarter, skulking through the woods and breaking in upon them with a sudden howl. The customary haunts of the Mohegans at Trading Cove, and along the river, were rendered so hazardous by exposure to these furious irruptions, that at length the wigwams were deserted and the tribe scat- tered abroad. Some of them, in groups or families, found temporary shelter and concealment in distant woods, but Uncas and the greater part of his people retired to Nayantick, (or Niantic,) on the western border of New London. This was a fishing station of the tribe, where they often encamped during the summer. Here they entrenched themselves in a fort, built after their usual mode with logs, stakes and stones, erected a few wigwams, and feasted on fish and clams. But the repose was of short duration.
Pessacus of Narragansett could not forget the murder of his brother, and was resolute not to bury the hatchet while his great enemy breathed the air of heaven. In August, 1657, he collected his forces for a fresh onslaught, and sweeping through Mohegan, came upon Uncas in his new entrenchments at Nayantick, and pressed him with a close siege. The sachem would probably have been compelled to surrender, had not a body of armed men from the neighborhood, headed by Mr. Brewster and Lieut. Avery, hastened to his assistance .* They threw themselves into the fort, and the besiegers, unwilling to engage in a contest with the English, retreated.
At the next session of the General Court of Connecticut, Major Mason presented a narrative of the beleaguering of Uncas by the Narragansetts at Nayantiek, and Mr. Brewster was regularly authorized to assist and protect the sachem, should he be again molested by his enemies. The Commissioners of the United Colonies, however, at their meeting disap- proved of this measure, and ordered that henceforth no colony nor indi- vidual within their jurisdiction should interfere in any Indian quarrel, unless in their own just and necessary defense.
It is exciting to the imagination to consider how many times in the course of these barbarous incursions, the peaceful hills and vales of our now populous and hospitable Norwich, which lay directly in the path of the invaders, were swept over by rushing bands of grim and stalwart warriors, horribly painted for war, brandishing their hatchets and war- clubs ; now creeping stealthily as a beast after his prey, and anon rushing down to the attack, or fleeing in disordered rout before the pursuer.
In the year 1659, Uucas was invaded by a combined force of Pecom- ticks and Narragansetts. They found him strongly intrenched in his fort
* Col. Rec. Conn., 1, 301. Hist. New London, p. 127.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
at Shantok, opposite Mr. Brewster's trading-house, and having laid waste his fields and plundered his wigwams, they departed.
An incident that occurred at the time of this inroad, was made the sub- ject of complaint before the Commissioners. Some of the young warriors, having been fired at by an Indian near Mr. Brewster's, crossed the river in pursuit of the offender, and chased him into the house and to the very feet of " Mistress Brewster," to whom he fled for succor, and slew him there, " to her great affrightment."
For this offence the Narragansetts were amerced by the Commissioners in eighty fathoms of wampum.
In a second irruption of the enemy at a later period of the same year, Mr. Brewster was plundered of both corn and goods. The Mohegans fled at first, but rallied, and gaining some advantage, obliged their enemies to retreat, pursuing them triumphantly into the wilderness. This was prob- ably the last battle fought at Mohegan. The long contest was drawing to a close.
The course of our narrative has now brought us to the verge of the settlement of Norwich. The soil had been purchased, the deed signed, and certain advance parties from Saybrook were exploring the banks of the Yantic, making surveys and measurements, and laying out lots for a future township at this very period, near the track of this last expedition. According to tradition, two of these English surveyors were upon the side hill, near the present residence of Daniel W. Coit, Esq., engaged in digging ground-nuts to satisfy their hunger, when they heard the noise of a tumultuous throng pressing furiously through the fords and wood-paths, and the distant shouts of pursuers driving them over the Yantic.
From this period the alarms of Uucas were at an end; the English, advancing beyond him, manned his frontier and became his bulwark. Capt. Mason, his patron and friend, stood ready with arms and influence to intercept the blows of his enemies. Stonington also on the eastern frontier had become a settled township, and a barrier against the Narra- gansetts in that quarter. The providence of God had prepared the way for the peaceable settlement of the Saxon race, by permitting for a while the deadly passions of the Indians to take their full scope, and make them instruments of each other's destruction. The wilderness was thus thinned of its obstructions, and prepared to receive the new race of inhabitants.
Although there does not appear to have been any destructive attack upon the Mohegans after 1659, incidental circumstances show that small scouting parties occasionally came into the neighborhood, sometimes plun- dering and alarming the white settlers as well as the Indians. One such hostile skulking party passed through Norwich early in the year 1660,*
* It was probably before the 25th of March, at which time the double dating of the year ceased, as the occurrence is by one authority assigned to 1659, and by others to 1660.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
and lingering in the way, made an attempt upon the life of Mason. The incident is thus reported in a document emanating from the General Court of Connecticut, dated June 9th, 1660 :
" Not many weeks now past, wee are by sufficient information certified, that one night at ye New Plantation at Monheage [Norwich,] some Indians, as will appeare, of the Narragansetts, shot 11 bullets into a house of our English there, in hopes, as they boasted, to have slaine him whome we have cause to honor, whose safety we cannot but take ourselves bound to promote, our Deputy Gov" Major Mason."*
. The same fact is mentioned in the Records of the Commissioners, (with some variation in the number of bullets,) as a complaint presented by the English, living at a new plantation at Mohegan, viz .:
" That some Indians did in the dead time of night, shoot eight bullets into an Eng- lish honse, & fired the same, wherein five Englishmen were asleep."t
This was a rough salute for the new settlers, and an appalling specimen of the hazards attending their enterprise. The house thus attacked must have been that of Major Mason, supposed to have been the first built in Norwich. It stood upon a knoll above the river, at the southwest corner of the Green, where is now the old Court-House.
The Narragansetts were summoned by the Court of Commissioners to answer for this outrage. The chiefs apologized, saying that the offence was committed without their consent or knowledge, and that they counte- nanced no such practices. It was decreed, however, that in expiation of the insult they should either deliver up the four principal offenders, or pay 500 fathoms of wampum.
Of one more, and perhaps the last irruption of Narragansett upon Mohegan, a glimpse is obtained from a passage in a letter of Roger Wil- liams to the younger Winthrop. Writing from Providence, Sept. 8, 1660, he intimates that a party of his barbarous neighbors had just returned from an expedition in which nothing had been effected :
" The Monhiggins would not sallie, and the Nanhiggs would not spoile the corne for feare of offending the English."#
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 1, App., 577.
t Hazard's Records of United Colonies.
# Winthrop Papers in Mass. Hist. Coll., 3, 10, 41.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
/
INDIAN NAMES.
Miantonomoh. A standard of authority for the spelling and accentua- tion of Indian names would be a great relief to writers, and an acceptable contribution to the history and topography of the country. But it is a desideratum to which we seem as yet scarcely to have made an approxi- mation. Hesitation and uncertainty hover over the pen whenever an Indian word is to be written or pronounced. And amid the throng of doubtful terms, there is no one more variable, and therefore more perplex- ing, than the name of Narragansett's greatest sachem.
The variations of the name are too numerous to quote at large. The old authors disagree with one another, and are not consistent in their own practice. But the difference of orthography might perhaps be accommo- dated to a common standard of sound, if they had given the name its proper accent. One of the forms used by Roger Williams, viz., Mianton- omi, may be pronounced in three ways, viz. :
Mi-anto-no-mi. Mi-anto-nom-i. Mian-ton'-o-mi.
The first of these forms, with the long o accented, is both sonorous and majestic, and if the termination o or oh be adopted, as used by the elder Winthrop, who usually wrote the name Miantunnomoh, the result is agree- able both to the eye and ear.
The second pronunciation coincides with that considered most authentic by J. H. Trumbull, Esq., who, after collating the various authorities, de- cides in favor of Me-ánto-nom'-y.
The third mode, with the accent on the antepenultimate, has been much in vogue of late years, and seems to be required by the orthography used by Hubbard in his Indian Wars and New England History, and by Dr. Trumbull,-Mian-ton'-imo, with or without a final h.
But this pronunciation is probably Anglican, and not aboriginal. It is entirely irreconcilable with some of the most ancient modes of spelling the name ; for instance, that employed by Mr. Thomas Peters in 1645:
Miantinomio.
On the Sachem's monument in Greeneville, the inscription is
MIANTONOMO.
This mode of spelling the name, with the three O's, and the finishing letter h, is adopted in this work. It affords scope for the accent to be placed either on the third or fourth syllable.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Uncas, Occom, Pequot, Niantic.
Roger Williams for Uncas wrote Okace. Other cotemporary writers supply the variations Onkos, Wonkus, Unkus, Uncas. The last form has prevailed and driven its rivals from the field.
When a mode of spelling has become current, it is undoubtedly wise to let it pass on to perpetuity, whether, abstractly considered, it is the best form or not. We should perhaps write Unkus, or Onkos, if the name was now for the first time to be embodied in letters ; and likewise Ankum, for the name of the Mohegan preacher; but Uncas and Occom are time-sanc- tioned, and we would therefore leave them as they are. For the same reason we use Pequot instead of Pequoadt, and Niantic instead of Nahan- tick or Nahanticut.
Owaneco, son of Uncas.
This name, as uttered by the Indians, commenced with the whistled W, 'Wuneco. There is a doubt where the accent should be placed. Oneco is a familiar abridgement of the name, and this seems to indicate the penultimate accent, Owane'co. But the modern Mohegans pronounce it Owan'eco, which harmonizes with the orthography sometimes found in old records, as Awaneca, Oaneca, &c.
Mohegan.
There are many forms of this name. Mohiccan is one of the best. The tribe is supposed to have been a branch of the Mohiccanni, or Mo- hickanders of Hudson river, that had migrated to the banks of the Con- necticut long before the English settled at Hartford.
The Indian names were all descriptive and significant. This portion of the country having been so recently in their occupation, every distinctive object, hill, stream, plain, forest, ledge of rocks, or sweep of river, seems to have had an Indian descriptive name. The early settlers being on friendly terms with their aboriginal neighbors, caught up and perpetuated many of these terms. This accounts for the number of Indian names that appear in old deeds and grants, some of which can not now be located.
The aboriginal name of the Thames has not been recovered. In the early records it is simply styled the Great River, in distinction from the Yantick, or Little River. This being used also in Indian conveyances, it may be inferred that the original name was an Indian term signifying great or large.
Quinebaug is literally Long Pond. In a deed of 1653 it is called "the river that comes from Quinabaug," and runs down toward Mohegan. In a deed of 1699 this phraseology occurs, " Quinabang river, alias Aspinook river, according to the Indian name."
4
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Showtuck, (passing through many variations to Shetucket,) is supposed to mean middle river. The determining part of the word, show or shaw, is a contraction of nashaw, between, or in the middle. The termination et, makes it applicable to the land between the rivers. Perhaps this was the original name of Norwich city. The situation is such as the Indians would describe by that word. The Indian settlement in the southern part of Lisbon was called Showtucket.
Yantick may have had its origin in Mishontuck, which means a roaring or noisy stream. Mishi-yon-tuck, great-noise-river, or loud-voiced-stream.
Mashipaug. This is the Indian name of a lake or pond, which was the south-western corner boundary of the nine-miles-square. Several other sheets of water in New England had the same name. It signifies Great Pond.
Massapeag-the same word in a different dialect-denotes a large cove at Mohegan, nearly surrounded by high land. Mr. Brewster in 1657 wrote the name Massapeack.
Waweekus. Two hills in Norwich bore this name : one, a range lying west of the town-plot, sometimes called Westward hill, and the other at the point where the rivers meet, now covered by the City. The latter was often written Weequaw's hill, and the name of both is supposed to be derived from Waweequaw, or Waweekus, the brother of Uncas.
Wequonuk. This name was given to a tract of land north of the town- plot, on the Shetucket. The brook which flowed through it bore the same name, which was familiarly abbreviated to Quonuk. The word is sup- posed to have some relation to wet or marshy land.
Pautipaug. This is the aboriginal name of a portion of the nine-miles- square, now included in the town of Franklin. The word is supposed to signify a bay, or cove, setting into the land, or at least to relate in some way to water. It is not easy therefore to determine why it should have been given to this inland district.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY HISTORY OF SAYBROOK; PURCHASE AND DEED OF NORWICH.
SAYBROOK is an old, substantial, euphonious name, interesting from its historical associations, and honorable in its derivation. It perpetuates the unity of sentiment and partnership in enterprise of two enlightened noble- men, Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brook, and the grateful regard of the first settlers of the place for these their benefactors. These noblemen, with their associates, were the patentees of Connecticut. Their right or privilege, technically called a Patent, was purchased of Robert, Earl of Warwick, in 1632, and extended along the New England coast, westward of Narragansett river, 120 miles, and "in latitude and breadth to the South Sea." The Earl of Warwick was President of the Council of Ply- mouth, incorporated by King James the First for the settlement of New England, and authorized to dispense grants and patents to others. The right of the patentees was therefore valid and clear.
The place of immediate importance in this patent was the Point at the mouth of Connecticut river ; and here John Winthrop the younger, acting under commission from the patentees, built a fort and commenced a plant- ation in 1635 and 1636. The Pequot war followed close upon this estab- lishment, and threatened the annihilation of the infant settlement. The fort was frequently surrounded by the savages. During one whole win- ter, that of 1636-7, it was kept in constant jeopardy like a besieged place. Several of the men were slain; others taken prisoners; and one, by the name of Butterfield, tormented to death. The place was however sus- tained by the prudence and bravery of Lieut. Lion Gardiner, the active and efficient agent of Winthrop in building the fort and beginning to cul- tivate the ground.
At the close of the Indian troubles, Col. George Fenwick, one of the patentees, clothed with the authority of the Company, came over to take the direction of affairs, hoping to revive the drooping spirits of the plant- ers, and give a fresh impetus to the undertaking. This gentleman arrived at New Haven in September, 1639, in the first European vessel that ever
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
anchored in New Haven harbor .* He was accompanied by his wife, Lady Alice Botler, the daughter of an English knight.t
The settlement now began to be known by the genial and enduring name of Saybrook. Previously it had been distinguished only as the fort or settlement at the river's mouth. New houses were now built, and the land more extensively cultivated. The Point was laid out into streets and blocks for a city. West of the fort a square was reserved for the dwellings of the magistrates and noble emigrants. Another square was set aside for the public service,-for churches, courts and schools. Across the neck of the peninsula a row of palisades was erected as a protection against the Indians.
It was expected that others of the patentees and devout Puritans would emigrate with their families, and that prosperous towns would spring up along the coast, within the 120 miles of the patent, which would become places of refuge for noble and generous spirits that might wish to escape from the vanities and perplexities of courtly life and feudal obligation, as well as for those who should flee from persecution, or seek by voluntary exile a sphere of religious freedom. But subsequently, a different turn of public affairs, and the fluctuations of fortune and opinion, effected a change in these designs. The higher classes of proposed emigrants found themselves more necessary or more comfortable at home. Statesmen and generals, princely merchants and titled noblemen, the Cromwells, Hamp- dens, Pymms and Hazlerigs remained behind, and left New England to be colonized, with a few exceptions, from the ranks of oppressed virtue, heroic faith, and adventurous poverty.
In December, 1644, Col. Fenwick entered into an agreement with the associated towns upon the river, forming the Colony of Connecticut, by which, for the sum of £1600, and the revenue for ten years arising from certain duties paid by vessels on entering the river, he transferred to them the fort and plantation at Saybrook, with all other rights and claims to the occupation, ownership and jurisdiction of lands upon Connecticut river, derived from the Warwick patent. He only reserved to himself certain personal privileges and especially the liberty of occupying his premises at the fort for ten years, if he should choose to remain for that time in the country.
From this period the settlement took a new start. It had been hitherto merely a military post ; it was now a plantation, and the inhabitants in- creased rapidly. In 1646, a church was organized, and Mr. James Fitch ordained for its minister. In 1647, at the special instance and request of
* See letter of Rev. Mr. Davenport of New Haven, to Lady Vere; printed in Hist. and Gen. Reg., App. 1855, p. 149.
t Among the English nobility, a lady married to a commoner is allowed by courtesy to retain her maiden title.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
the inhabitants, Capt. John Mason removed thither from Windsor, and was thereupon appointed by the Colony to the military command of the post. He was empowered to receive the fort and its appurtenances from Fenwick, who had apparently been left in possession until this time.
Saybrook Point, the part of the plantation first settled, is a neck of land, elliptical in form, and about a mile in length from east to west, spreading out between two coves or inlets from the river, of which the one on the north side affords a good harbor for shipping, and is known as Saybrook harbor. The fort stood on the eastern bank, or upland bluff, overlooking and commanding the flats and shallows at the mouth of the river.
This fort was built of wood. It caught fire in the winter of 1647, and was consumed, with the dwelling-house connected with it. Capt. Mason, with his wife and child, narrowly escaped from the flames.
Another fortification was soon afterward constructed, not on the same spot, but a few rods distant, upon a height which advanced more promi- nently toward the river, and was from that time called New Fort Hill. A portion of the walls and embankments of this second fort, (often, how- ever, renewed in later times,) may yet be traced. Lady Fenwick died at Saybrook, in 1648, and was interred within the inclosure of the old fort. A monument of red sandstone erected over her remains is still extant, and has given to the site the name of Tomb Hill.
Saybrook has no church records of the period of Mr. Fitch's ministry, and the town records before 1660, are also wanting. A few items only of earlier date may be found standing amid subsequent entries. One of these, (perhaps the earliest remaining of a municipal character,) is a no- tice of a town meeting, January 7, 1655-6, at which the following persons were present :
Tho. Adgate, Robert Bull,
William Hide,
Randall Marvin, William Parker,
Tho. Burchet,
William Bushnell,
John Post,
Robert Chapman,
Stephen Post,
John Clark, Sen., Tho. Dunke,
Jonathan Rudd, Richard Tousland,
Richard Edgerton, Francis Griswold,
Tho. Tracy, William Waller.
At the same time mention is made of Mr. Fitch and Mr. Lay. Nearly half of these are afterward found at Norwich. William Backus, Thomas Bliss, Morgan Bowers, the two Huntingtons, Thomas Leffingwell and John Olinstead, were probably inhabitants of as long standing as most of those in the list.
It is apparent that the plantation before 1660, had been extended over
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
a large area. The lands on Oyster river were cultivated ; planters had settled at Pautipaug, Deep River, Six-mile-island, and on the east side of the Connecticut, in Lyme, which was then a dependency of Saybrook. A division of lands made before 1650, gives a list of forty grantees, and this number must have been nearly doubled in 1660.
The removal of Mr. Fitch and his friends, though it weakened Say- brook, by no means left it desolate. She had stout and valiant hearts left and in the course of a few years the vacancies made by the Norwich emigration were filled by fresh purchasers, and new grants and divisions of the common land were necessary in order to accommodate the thick .coming planters. The church, however, languished under the loss of her golden head, and was scarcely kept alive until 1670, when the Rev. Thomas Buckingham, originally from Wales, but immediately from Mil- ford, was settled as the pastor .*
This preparatory sketch of Saybrook, the mother-town of Norwich, in- troduces us to the settlement of the latter place.
The project of establishing a plantation in the Mohegan territory, four- teen miles above New London, originated, in all probability, with Capt. Mason. When his previous adventures, his long familiarity with Uncas, and his frequent explorations of the Indian country, are considered, to- gether with his influence in the Colony, there can be no hesitation in affirming that he was the prime mover and ruling spirit of the undertak- ing. If any one of the first proprietors, more than another, has a special claim to be considered the founder of Norwich, the pre-eminence must certainly be accorded to Mason. He had been one of the founders of Dorchester and Windsor, had re-awakened the breath of life, in the dying settlement at Saybrook, and was now ready for the fourth time to erect his lodge in the wilderness.
At what period the plan of this new settlement was broached is uncer- tain. Probably it was for several years under consideration. A large proportion of the best inhabitants of Saybrook entered into it; a few names from other places were added to the list, and in May, 1659, appli- cation was made to the General Court for permission to begin the work. The proposition was favorably received by the Assembly, and sanctioned by the following enactment :
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