History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 3

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

which the eye rests as we sweep the circle, all of which are half enshrouded in the mist of distance, that distance which "lends enchantment"-the most elaborate description of all these, we say, cannot give the charming and inspiriting im- pression which this cycloramic view inspires.

Abounding as it does, in some of the most enchanting scenery that picturesque New England can present, the local story and circumstance and character of its people, of former as well as present generations, are no less full of enrapturing interest. The part that Windham has played in affairs concerning the state and nation has ever been an honorable one, and the sons of Windham have inscribed their names high among those whom Columbia delights to honor. Well may those whose nativity is here be proud of their honorable birthright, and those who at later periods have made this county their home may safely feel that they have gained a place in a grander so- ciety than that to which men aspired in ancient times when " with a great price " they purchased the liberty of Roman cit- zenship.

The geological resources of this county are not rich. The 1 valuable minerals which add to the wealth of many sections in the central and western parts of the state are almost entirely wanting here. The surface is of secondary formation, and con- tains no minerals such as are found in the ranges of trap rock which pass through the central and western parts of the state. It may be that underlying the surface formation at considerable depth there are layers of red sandstone or freestone such as ap- pear on the borders of and underlying the trap ranges along the valley of the Connecticut river. It is not probable that coal formation exists at all beneath the surface of this county. Widely differing from the ridges of western Connecticut, so rich in their varied deposits of building stone, micaceous slate, copper, lead, silver, bayrites, hydraulic lime, cobalt, hematite iron ore, mont- mental limestone, slate and marble, this whole section is granitic and metamorphic, and is thrown into gentle and sometimes rugged hills which are capable of cultivation to their very sum- mits. Clay, suitable for the manufacture of bricks, is found in different parts of the county, and this is being worked to some extent, especially in the valley of the Quinebaug. In the valleys may be seen evidences of glacial action, and immense drift de- posits. One of the most curious examples of this kind may be

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

seen in the valley just northeast of Hampton hill, where an almost perfect dome of earth an acre or more in extent rests upon the bosom of the deep valley, plainly showing that it was deposited there by the settling of a glacial burden beneath the flood of pre-historic waters, and then its sides were smoothed and rounded by the action of those waters as they receded. This mound is now beautifully occupied as a burial place for the dead. The azoic rocks, which are of granitic or gneissoid character, are with very few and inconsiderable exceptions, buried many feet beneath the surface with these drift deposits.

The general trend of these hills and valleys is north and south, though they are in many places so very irregular as hardly to have any perceptible uniformity in this respect. They are gen- erally composed of sand, varying in fineness, gravel and coarser stones, all of which bear evidences of attrition with water. In some of the valleys a loamy soil appears, and as we have pre- viously stated beds of clay are found in some places. These hills rise to a height of from fifty to three hundred feet, and their western slopes rise gradually from the average level, while their eastern slopes are generally more decidedly abrupt and sometimes precipitous.

CHAPTER II.

THE ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS.

Algonquin Tribes .- The Mohegans .- The Nipmucks .- The Wabbaquassets .- Nar- ragansett Claims .- The Quinebaugs .- The Pequot Ascendency .- Language and Customs of the Indians .- Their Implements and Arts .- Superstitions .- Indian Allegiance .- The Whetstone Country .- Intertribal Warfare .- Aveng- ing an Insult. - Uncas and Owaneco .- Christian Influence and the " Praying Indians."-Visit of Eliot and Gookin .- King Philip's War .- Its Disastrous Effect upon the "Praying Towns."-Unjust Treatment of the Indians by the English .- Indian Shrewdness .- Close of King Philip's War.

W HEN our eyes look abroad over the beautiful scenery which has been made still more beautiful by the arts of civilized man, it is but a natural instinct that prompts us to inquire what were the conditions under which civilization was planted here, and what was the social condition which preceded it. We know that but a short quarter millennium has passed since the country now occupied by grand old Wind- ham county was the home and undisputed domain of the un- lettered savage. But where he had come from, or how long he had occupied these commanding hills and graceful valleys, or whom he had supplanted, or what had been the vicissitudes of his weal and woe in the dim and distant past, were questions that evoked no response beyond their own echoes. The story of human love and hatred, hope and despair, success and failure, which made up the lives of those who had for unknown cen- turies occupied these hills and valleys, brooks and lakes, forests and glens, was to the civilized world a sealed book, which noth- ing but the thunder that shall wake the dead at the last day will ever open. But the students of Indian history have expended great labor and pains upon the subject, and to them we are indebted for the translation of some of the Indian traditions which had · well nigh passed into oblivion, from which we may gather ma- terial for conjecture amounting to even probability in regard to some of the Indian history of the dark period.

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

The North American Indians were subdivided into a great many tribes of more or less numerical magnitude. These were scattered over the country with no organized association what- ever, and took their names from the natural features of the country where they frequented, whether mountain, lake, river, bay or island. But from similarity in language and some other respects it has been possible to group these fragmentary tribes into some show of order in a few great families or nations of aboriginal people. Of these the Algonquin tribes were numeri- cally the most powerful in America, though others may have been superior in warlike vigor and prowess. All the Indians of New England were branches of this stock, those of the territory occupied by Windham county being generally included in the Mohegan tribe, a subdivision of the Algonquin. The Indian neighbors on the south were the famous and fiercely warlike Pequots, whose sachem held his residence in a large fortress on a commanding hill in what is now Groton, thence making fre- quent incursions into the surrounding country and retiring to his stronghold whenever he could not safely keep the field. To the honor of the Mohegan tribe it may be said that they from first to last proved friendly to the whites. It is asserted that no other Indian tribe in New England can claim this honor. The Mo- hegans had gained by conquest a portion of the territory of the Nipmuck tribe, to which the Indians of this locality had be- longed, and thus the Mohegan jurisdiction was made to corres- pond generally with the northern border of Connecticut. The Nipmuck Indians were named from the circumstance that they occupied land remote from the seashore, in "the fresh water country." One of their favorite resorts was the great lake, Chaubunnagunggamaug or Chabanakongkomuch, meaning the " boundary fishing place." This was recognized as the dividing line or bound between the Nipmuck and the Narragansett ter- ritory. It lies a few rods north of the present northern boundary line of Windham county, and the Nipmucks at one time claimed land some eighteen or twenty miles south of it.

The northwestern part of the present county was called by the Indians Wabbaquasset, meaning the "mat producing coun- try," on account of the reeds or rushes that grew abundantly in some of the marshes. The natives living there, as was usually the case, took the name of the locality. This Wabbaquasset country was bounded on the east by the Quinebaug river, and

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

extended as far south as a line running northwesterly from the junction of the Assawaga with the Quinebaug.

The hills of this Wabbaquasset country were then, as now, abundant in fertility and famous for their product of maize. Some of these friendly Indians, it is said, were among the first of the natives of the interior to meet the New England settlers at Boston in commercial transactions. It is related that as early as 1630 a party of Indians from here, with Aquittimaug, one of their number as leader, loaded themselves with sacks of corn and tugged it on their backs all the way to Boston to sell to Winthrop's infant colony, which happened then to be in great need and stood ready to pay a good price therefor.

The Narragansetts claimed the territory east of the Quine- baug, and at times fiercely contested it with the Nipmucks. A quarry of rock which possessed qualities for grinding or sharp- ening tools lay in this section near the mouth of a branch of the Assawaga which from this circumstance took the name Whet- stone brook. This quarry was called Mahumsqueeg, or Mahmun- squeeg, which name soon became applied to a considerable stretch of land north and south on the east side of the Quine- baug, the limits of course being altogether indefinite.

On the south of Wabbaquasset and Mahmunsqueeg lay the Quinebaug country, the principal part of which was the territory now occupied by Plainfield and Canterbury. To the west of this and covering the southwest part of the county as well as parts of neighboring divisions, was an indefinite tract of country bear- ing the name Mamasqueeg.

Some twenty years or more before the settlement of Connec- ticut by white men the Pequots had subdued the Quinebaugs and Wabbaquassets and assumed jurisdiction over all the terri- tory now occupied by Windham county, supplanting here both the Nipmucks and the Narragansetts. But their reign was to be a short one. They in turn were soon supplanted by the su- perior forces of English civilization.

Of the Indians but little is known. They were subject clans of little spirit or distinctive character. They were few in num- bers and scattered in location of their favorite residences. The most favorable localities were occupied by a few families while large sections were left vacant and desolate. Their dwellings were poor, their weapons and utensils rude and scanty. They raised corn and beans and made baskets and mats. A few rude

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

forts were maintained at different places. They were evidently on the decline.

But little has been preserved of their language or their cus- toms. They lived by hunting the wild game upon the land and fishing from the lakes and cultivating in a rude way the soil. As none of the Indians of the country knew anything of the art of working iron or any of the metallic ores, for making imple- ments of any kind, they were compelled to supply this want with sharp stones, shells, claws of birds and wild beasts, pieces of bones and other things of that kind whenever they wished to make hatchets, knives and such instruments. These early implements were at once abandoned as soon as the Europeans came and brought them metal instruments. These were at once eagerly sought by the Indians in exchange for skins, corn, the flesh of animals or whatever nature had placed at their disposal that was of value to the whites.

The primitive hatchets were made of stone, and were nothing more than clumsy wedges about six inches long and of pro- portionate width. For a handle a stick was split at one end and the stone inserted in the cleft, where it was firmly tied. A groove was generally made around the hatchet to receive the jaws of the split stick. Some were not handled at all, but were held in the hand while being used. Thongs made of sinews of animals, strips of skin or perhaps twisted or braided shreds of grass or bark were used in the place of cords or ropes to tie with. The hatchets were mostly made of a hard kind of rock stone, but some were made of a fine, hard, apyrous stone.

One of the most important uses which the hatchet served was for girdling trees. The object in this was to prepare ground for maize fields. Trees thus treated would soon die, and then, if small trees, they were pulled out, root and branches, but if too large for that they were not materially in the way so long as they were dead so that their roots drew no sustenance from the ground, and their branches, bearing no leaves, could offer no shade to the growing corn. In this way they cleared the land they used for cultivation, which was done by the use of sharp sticks, with which the ground was rudely and imperfectly torn up. For the purposes of knives they used sharp pieces of flint or quartz or some other kind of hard stone, and sometimes sharp- ened shells or pieces of bone.

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

Narrow, angulated pieces of stone were fastened to the ends of their arrows so as to form sharpened points. These stones were inserted in a cleft in the end of their arrows and firmly bound in place with fine cords. They were commonly made of pieces of flint or quartz, but sometimes other hard stones were used, and sometimes these were substituted by the bones of ani- mals or the claws of birds and beasts.

For pounding maize they generally used stone pestles, which were about a foot long and as thick as a man's arm. Sometimes wooden pestles were used. Their mortars were made of the stumps or butts of trees, the end being hollowed out by means of fire. The pounded maize was a common article of food with them. The Indians were astonished beyond measure when they beheld the mills erected by the Europeans for grinding corn or other grains. When they saw the first windmills they came in numbers, some of them long distances, to view the wonder, and it is said they would sit for days together observing the mill at its work. They were slow to believe that it was driven by the wind. Such an assertion was nonsense to them. For a long time they held the opinion that the mill was driven by the spirits who lived within it. With something of the same in- credulity they witnessed the first water mills, but as water is a more tangible element than wind they were more ready to ad- mit its physical effect in driving the mill.

The old boilers or kettles of the Indians were made either of clay or of different kinds of pot-stone (Lapisollaris). The former consisted of a dark clay mixed with grains of white sand or quartz and burnt in the fire. Many of these kettles had two holes near the upper edge on opposite sides, through which a stick could be passed, by means of which the kettle was hung over the fire. They seldom had feet and were never glazed either outside or inside. Many of the stones used in the manu- facture of the implements spoken of were not found in this locality but were brought hither from some other part of the country, either in the raw material or in the manufactured form, some of them perhaps from quite remote localities.

The old tobacco pipes were also made of clay or pot-stone, or serpentine stone. The first were shaped like our common pipes of that material, though they were of much coarser texture and not so well made. The stem was thick and short, often not more than an inch long, though sometimes as long as a finger.

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

"Their color resembled that of our clay pipes that have been used for a long time. Some of the pipes that were made of pot-stone were well made. Still another kind of tobacco pipe was made of a very fine, red pot-stone or a kind of serpentine marble. These were formed with great ingenuity, were very scarce, and were almost never used by any others than the chiefs. The stone of which these were formed was brought from a long dis- tance and was very scarce. Pipes of this material were valued by the Indians higher than the same bulk of silver. The cele- brated "pipe of peace " was made of this kind of stone.

After the overthrow of the Pequots their lands, according to custom, lapsed to their conquerors. Uncas, having joined the English against the Pequot chieftain Sassacus, now claimed his land on the ground of relationship, and to his claim the timid Wabbaquassets quite readily yielded, "and paid him homage and obligations and yearly tribute of white deer skins, bear skins and black wolf skins." With the Quinebaugs Uncas was not so successful. His right to their allegiance was disputed by the Narragansetts, and for many years the land was in contention, Uncas extorting tribute when he could, and the Quinebaugs yielding homage to whichever power happened for the time being to be in the ascendency. For a time " they had no resi- dent sachem and went as they pleased." Afterward they con- sented to receive three renegade Narragansetts whom Uncas allowed to dwell among and exercise authority over them. These were Allumps (alias Hyems), Massashowett and Aguntus. They were wild, ambitious and quarrelsome. They built a fort at Egunk hill, another near Greenwich Path, and a third at Wanun- gatuck hill, where they were compelled to dwell a whole year for fear of the Narragansetts.

The Whetstone country was also in conflict. Uncas claimed that his northern bound extended to the quarry, and his fol- lowers were accustomed to resort thither for whetstones, but its Nipmuck inhabitants "turned off to the Narragansetts." Nemo and Azzogut, who built a fort at Acquiunk, a point at the junction of the Quinebaug and Assawaga rivers, now in Danielsonville, " carried presents sometimes to Uncas, sometimes to Pessacus." The latter was at a time sachem of the Narragansetts, being the successor of Miantonomi. This fort was eleven rods fifteen inches in circumference, four or five feet in height, and occupied by four families. Tradition also marks this spot as an aboriginal

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

battle field, the scene of the only Indian rencontre that is re- ported with any fair degree of distinctness.

The tragedy referred to appears to have developed on this wise. The Narragansetts invited their Nipmuck tributaries to visit them at the shore and partake of a feast of shell-fish. The Nipmucks later returned the civility by inviting the former to a banquet of lamprey eels. The shell-fish were greatly relished by the Nipmucks but the eels, for lack of dressing, were dis- tasteful to the Narragansetts. Glum looks and untasted food roused the ire of the Nipmucks. Taunts and retorts were soon followed by blows and developed into a free fight, in which the visitors, being unarmed, suffered most disastrous conse- quences. With such terrible vengeance did the Nipmucks fall upon them that only two of their number escaped to carry home the news of the massacre.

The Narragansetts now determined to avenge the blood of their fallen comrades. A body of warriors was at once dis- patched to the land of the Nipmucks, where they found them intrenched at Acquiunk, on the east of the Quinebaug. Unable to cross the stream that lay between them and their foes they threw up embankments and for three days waged war across the stream. Many were slain on both sides, but the Nipmucks were again triumphant and forced their assailants to retire with loss, leaving their dead on the field. The bodies of the slain Nipmucks were buried in deep pits on the battle ground, which has ever since been known as the Indian Burying Ground. Nu- merous bones and trinkets found on that spot give some credulity to this legend, which aged Indians took great delight in relating to the first settlers of Killingly.

During the years of settlement of the neighboring country, and while attempts were occasionally being made by the strange white people to establish themselves in possession of some of this land, and while sanguinary conflicts were depleting the numbers of the neighboring tribes, the Wabbaquassets patiently submitted to the authority of Uncas, and when his oldest son, Owaneco, was grown up, received him as their sachem, "their own chief men ruling in his absence." In 1670 a new light dawned upon them. The influence of the faithful Indian apostle, Eliot, reached this benighted region. Young Indians trained at Natick went into the Nipmuck wilderness and gathered the natives into "new praying towns" and churches. Of seven

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

churches gathered three were in the territory now covered by Windham county. These were Myanexet or Manexet, now the northern part of Woodstock, Quinnatisset, now Thompson, and Wabbaquasset, now the southeastern part of Woodstock.

Joseph and Sampson, only sons of Petavit, sachem of Haman- nesset, now Grafton, came as Christian missionaries to Wabba- quasset, and for four years labored and preached faithfully throughout this region. The simple and tractable Wabbaquassets hearkened willingly unto the gospel thus preached, and many were persuaded to unite in church estate and assume some of the habits of civilization.

They observed the Sabbath, they cultivated their lands, they gathered into villages. The largest village, comprising some thirty families, was called Wabbaquasset. Its locality has not been exactly identified, but it is known to be included in the present town of Woodstock, either on Woodstock hill or in its vicinity. The teacher Sampson had his residence here, and un- der his direction wigwams were built, the like of which were seen in no other part of the country. Of the magnitude or ex- act location of the settlement of Myanexet we have still less knowledge. It is said to have been upon the west side of the Quinebaug river in a very fertile country, and comprised about one hundred souls. The third settlement, Quinnatisset, is sup- posed to have been on Thompson hill and to have been about equal in size with the second. These villages and their in- habitants were under the care and guidance of the faithful Sampson, who held religious services statedly, and endeavored to civilize and elevate them.

In September, 1674, Major Daniel Gookin, who had been ap- pointed by the general court of Massachusetts as a magistrate over the Praying Indians, with power to hold courts and dis- charge other similar functions, visited these villages on this errand. He was accompanied by Mr. Eliot and several others, who were deeply interested in witnessing the effects of civili- zation and Christianity upon the Indians. The object of the visit was to confirm the churches, settle teachers over them and to establish civil government. Religious services were held, Mr. Eliot preaching in the Indian tongue. On September 15th they reached Myanexet, where John Moqua was appropriately installed as their minister. Difficulties being in the way they did not visit Quinnatisset, but appointed a young man of Natick,

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.

called Daniel, to be their minister, the appointment being ac- ceptable to the people there.

The party arrived at Wabbaquasset on the evening of the 15th. Here they found a good soil and a ripening crop of corn which would yield not less than forty bushels to the acre. A spacious wigwam, about sixty feet long and twenty wide, was the resi- dence of the sachem, who was inclined to religion and had the meetings on Sabbath days at his house. The sachem was absent but his squaw admitted them and hospitably entertained them. The people were called together, among them Sampson, their teacher, and a good part of the night was spent in religious ex- ercises and conference. One grim Indian alone sat mute and took no part in what was passing. At length, after a great space, he arose and spoke, declaring himself a messenger from Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, who challenged right to and dominion over this people of Wabbaquasset. "Uncas," said he, " is not well pleased that the English should pass over Mohegan river [Quinebaug] to call his Indians to pray to God."

The timid Wabbaquassets quailed at this lofty message from their sovereign master, but Mr. Eliot answered calmly, " that it was his work to call upon men everywhere to repent and em- brace the Gospel, but he did not meddle with civil right or juris- diction." Gookin, with the authority befitting his office as magistrate, then declared unto him and desired him to inform Uncas "that Wabbaquasset was within the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts, and that the government of that people did belong to them, and they look upon themselves concerned to promote the good of all people within their limits, especially if they em- brace Christianity-yet it was not intended to abridge the Indian sachems of their just and ancient rights over the Indians in respect of paying tribute or any other dues, but the main design of the English was to bring them to the good knowledge of God in Christ, and to suppress among them their sins of drunkenness, idolatry, powwowing and witchcraft. As for the English, they had taken no tribute from them, nor taxed them with anything of that kind." At this the meeting ended and no more was heard of the messenger from Uncas.

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History of Windham County, Connecticut, Part 3

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: New York, Preston Number of Pages: 1506

Author: Bayles, Richard M. (Richard Mather)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: New York, Preston
Number of Pages: 1506