USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from its earliest settlement to the present time. Ed. by W. H. Carpenter and T. S. Arthur > Part 3
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37
OLDHAM'S REPORT.
1633.7
two hundred passengers, who crowded the Griffin, during her long voyage, was the pure-minded, sagacious, tolerant John Haynes, " a gentleman of great state" in England, subsequently chief magistrate of Massachusetts, and, still later, the first governor of Connecticut.
Landing at Boston, on the 7th of September, Hooker did not long delay in joining his expect- ant flock. His affectionate people crowded about him with the most joyful welcomes. Embracing them with open arms, "Now I live," he exclaim- ed, in the gladness of his heart; " now I live, if ye stand fast in the Lord !" On the 11th of the following month a church was constituted, of which, after solemn fasting and prayer, Hooker was formally ordained pastor, with Stone as his assistant teacher.
It was during this same year, and while the agents of New Netherlands and Plymouth were fortifying themselves at Hartford and Windsor, that John Oldham, a famous Indian trader, with three companions, pierced through the wilderness lying between the then westernmost settlements of Massachusetts Bay and the valley of the Con- necticut. Returning home, they gave a very glowing description of the country they had visited ; extolling highly the richness and beauty of its meadow lands, and the variety and useful- ness of its natural productions. Charmed by this report, and already straitened for pasture
4
138
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1634.
lands, the Cambridge people immediately sent out explorers to Connecticut, intending to remove there if the accounts they had received of it were confirmed.
The report of these explorers substantially verifying that made by Oldham and his com- panions, the churches of Cambridge, Dorchester, and Watertown at once determined to undertake a settlement on the Connecticut. But permis- sion to remove was first to be obtained from the general court of Massachusetts Bay. Such per- mission being applied for in the spring of 1634, a feeling of decided opposition was immediately manifested. During the summer, discussions as to the necessity, expediency, and justice of the proposed movement agitated the whole colony. Before the general court, which met in Septem- ber, Hooker urged at length, and with much force, the considerations which, in his opinion, rendered it incumbent upon that body to grant the liberty asked for by his people. When the vote was taken, the deputies who composed a majority of the court agreed to authorize the removal, but the magistrates were unwilling to accede to the request of the petitioners. Angry contentions ensued as to the power of the magis- trates, under the circumstances, to enforce their negative. After a brief adjournment for the purpose of solemn and prayerful consideration, the reassembled court was addressed by the cele-
39
1635.]
WETHERSFIELD SETTLED.
-
brated Cotton, in a sermon strongly favouring the negative of the magistrates. Before this question could be decided, its discussion was temporarily quieted by the Cambridge people agreeing to relinquish their contemplated pro- ject.
Five or six of the Watertown people, how- ever, had so far completed their arrangements for removal, as to be impatient of further delay. On foot, and with great difficulty, they pushed their steps to the Connecticut. There, probably in the present town of Wethersfield, they built a few rude huts, sheltered by which they braved the severity of the ensuing winter.
Longing still to plant the pleasant meadows of Connecticut, Hooker and his friends, in the spring of 1635, again brought before the general court their petition of the previous year. On this occasion, after considerable difficulty, they succeeded in obtaining a favourable response ; leave being granted them to emigrate wherever they desired, provided they continued under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.
Immediate preparation was made for the de- parture of the pioneers of this new emigration. During the summer, several small parties thread- ed their devious way to the banks of the Con- necticut. But it was not until late in October, that the great company of pioneers, sixty in all -men, women, and children-had assembled
40
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1635.
prior to their final departure. Say's commis- sioners having arrived in the mean time, it was agreed with them, that, should the lords-pro- prietors remove to Connecticut, place was to be made for them on the river; full indemnity being guarantied to the settlers for any lands they might, in such an exigency, be compelled to vacate.
With this understanding, and having freighted several small vessels with their furniture and winter supplies, which they found it impracticable to carry with them through the wilderness, the Connecticut emigrants started upon their toil- some journey. Encumbered with their cattle, with a faintly-marked path to guide them, and delayed by the fording of numerous streams, their progress was but slow. After a fortnight's wandering, they struck the Connecticut opposite the trading-house at Windsor. Here, having crossed the river, the party divided. While the Dorchester families stopped at Windsor, those from Cambridge and Watertown proceeded lower down the stream; the former settling on the site of Hartford, and the latter at Wethersfield.
Unfortunately, the journey of the emigrants was begun too late in the year. Scarcely had they reached their new homes, when there fell a deep snow. Winter immediately set in with unusual severity, and much sooner than was ex- pected ; and before the vessels, bearing the fur-
41
1635.] SUFFERINGS OF SETTLERS.
niture and stores of the settlers, could enter the river, it was frozen up. Thus deprived of nu- merous necessaries, and imperfectly sheltered by their half-completed cabins, they soon began to experience almost the extreme of suffering. By the last of November, nearly all their cattle had perished. To escape impending starvation, a majority of the colonists resolved upon return- ing to Massachusetts. With this intention, early in December, some fifteen or twenty men started on foot through the snowy woods. On their way, one of them was lost by breaking through the ice in crossing a stream. Saved from perishing by the humanity of the Indians, the remainder reached their old homes in safety. A second company, composed of families, descended on the ice to Fort Saybrook, the building of which had been commenced about the time of their departure from Boston. After considerable difficulty and delay, they succeeded in obtaining a passage by sea to Massachusetts.
By the departure of these two companies, numbering about eighty persons, the situation of the few remaining emigrants was rendered comparatively easy. Still they endured much that was painful, and were not without cause for serious apprehensions. Though the return of their friends to Massachusetts had dispelled their fears of inevitable starvation, it had yet reduced their number to a mere handful, liable at any
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42
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1636
moment to be massacred by the savage tribes with which they were surrounded. The cabins they inhabited afforded but a poor protection from the storms of an intensely cold winter. Game, too, grew scarce, and then disappeared entirely, so severe was the weather. Their other provisions having now failed, the' unfortunate colonists were, for a time, compelled to subsist upon acorns gathered from the woods, or upon the grain they had brought with them to feed the cattle that had perished.
With the opening of spring, this last, the most alarming trial of the emigrants, was brought to an end. Cheered by the influences of the season, they began to prosecute vigorously the design of their coming. A form of government, under the general direction of Massachusetts, was presently adopted, providing for a repre- sentative court, with power to transact the ordi- nary business of the colony. This court was to be composed of two magistrates from each town ; but, on extraordinary occasions, such as the de- claring of war and the formation of treaties of peace and alliance, committees of three, from the several towns, were to act in conjunction with the regular magistrates.
After thus constituting themselves into a body politic, the little band of colonists, on the 26th of April, 1636, called the first meeting of their general court. Six members were present from
1636.] CAMBRIDGE CONGREGATION EMIGRATE. 43
the three towns, Roger Ludlow, formerly lieu- tenant-governor of Massachusetts, and leader of the last year's emigration ; John Steele, Wil- liam Westwood, Andrew Ward, William Phelps, and William Swain. All these were persons of considerable note and influence. During the brief session of the court, various ordinances were passed for the regulation and protection of the infant settlements, and to prevent the sale of arms and ammunition to the Indians.
Not at all discouraged by their previous ill- fortune, and accompanied by many new settlers, most of those emigrants who had been compelled to abandon the colony during the winter, hasten- ed to return when spring was fairly set in, with replenished flocks and household stores. These were the forerunners of a still greater emigra- tion, that of the entire Cambridge congregation under Hooker and Stone, the fathers, and next to Haynes-now governor of Massachusetts, but soon to join the colonists on the Connecticut-the most influential friends and promoters of the scheme.
Early in June, having disposed of their Cam- bridge property, this "goodly company," number- ing about a hundred souls, men, women, and children, began their journey through the rug- ged and dangerous forest. The wife of their pastor, being ill, had to be carried gently upon a litter ; the flocks they drove before them were large and troublesome; and many of their
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44
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1636.
number, having lived at home a life of affluent ease, were quick to grow weary; so that the seventh day, which was to have terminated their wandering, closed over them still in the midst of the wilderness. Another week of labour and anxiety elapsed before they rested upon "the delightful banks" of the Connecticut.
Having arrived at the little collection of cabins forming what was subsequently called Hartford, after the English birthplace of Stone, the Cambridge emigrants bought from Sequassen, a great sachem of the River Indians, an area of land about six miles square, and extending out from and along the west bank of the Connecti- cut. This was at once divided into town and farm lots. Of the former, which contained each about two acres, one was given to every settler, whether of the present or of the previous emi- gration. The farm lots were ranged around the nucleus formed by the town itself, and varied in size according to their services, contributions, necessities, and sometimes the dignity of those to whom they were apportioned. All lots not improved, or built upon, within a year's time, were to revert to the town.
But, without this latter stimulant to exertion, Hartford is already the scene of active and cheerful labour. Not unmindful of the calami- ties that had befallen their friends in the pre- vious year, the colonists are taking speedy steps
45
ACTIVITY OF THE COLONISTS.
1636.]
to prevent a repetition of them. Some are fell- ing trees, which others hew into massive timbers. These again are dragged off by sturdy labourers, to be used in constructing the new houses ; rude edifices, it may be, but lasting and comfortable, and stout defences against the assaults of Indian foes. Everywhere the axe, the saw, the ham-
mer, and the spade are busily plied. There is no one idle. Even the women and the little children, for whom a school-house is already contemplated, find something to keep them em- ployed. Upon the outskirts of the rising town
the cattle are grazing, under the care of watch- ful keepers. Farther beyond, some emigrant, better to do in the world, than his neighbours, with oxen and plough prepares his field for the future harvest. Not a few others, however, can perform this same labour only after the Indian manner, by tearing up the bushy soil with their hands and hoes. Here and there among the industrious labourers, groups of savages, gaudily painted and clad in skins, wander lazily about ; stopping at intervals to admire the doings of the paleface, or to exchange for his beads and trinkets the game they bear with them. Even- ing coming on, labour ceases. Before their tents, or at the houses of their friends who had wintered in the wilderness, the weary emigrants partake of their evening meal. Presently, un- der the open sky, or beneath some branching
46
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1636.
oak, they meet together to hear the voice of Stone, uttering the great truths and consoling words of Revelation. Then, having joined in Hooker's "rapturous pleadings with God, and praises of God," they set their watches for the night, and seek a brief repose from the toil and excitement of the day.
In the mean time, above and below Hartford, at Windsor and Wethersfield, an equally active spirit prevailed .. New emigrations from Dor- chester and Watertown were gradually increasing the population of these settlements. In both towns churches had been constituted ; but it was not until September that the Windsor people were joined by their pastor, the Rev. Mr. Warham. Of this settlement, as being planted on lands they had bought of the Indians, the Plymouth people complained loudly, demanding from the emigrants, as a compensation for the trading- house and the lands about it, one hundred pounds in money and a sixteenth part of the territory itself. This demand was considered too high ; and it was not until some time afterward that the dispute was quieted by the Plymouth men accepting a partial indemnification.
While thus the interior of the future common- wealth was being planted by a pious and labo- rious people, Winthrop, in the fulfilment of his commission, was providing means for their safety, by urging forward the construction of Fort Say-
47
RENEWED TRIALS.
1636.]
brook, at the mouth of the Connecticut. So actively did he bestir himself, that long before the opening of winter the entire work was com- pleted, garrisoned, and provisioned. In addition to the fort, a number of houses were at the same time erected, and the lands surrounding them improved to a considerable extent.
CHAPTER III.
Renewed trials-Prospect of an Indian war-Indians of Con- necticut-River tribes-Mohegans-Pequods-Population- Origin of the Pequod war-Captain Stone killed by the Pequods-Oldham murdered by the Block Island Indians- Massachusetts despatches Endicott against them -- He de- stroys their villages-Proceeds to Thames River-Calls upon the Pequods to surrender the murderers of Stone- His demand being refused, he burns two of their villages- Exasperation of the Pequods-They lurk around Fort Say- brook-Colonists massacred-Fortitude and death of John Tilley-Outhouses of the fort destroyed-Party under Lieu- tenant Gardiner attacked-Alarm of the Connecticut towns - Regulations adopted to prevent surprise-Indians attack Wethersfield-Connecticut towns raise troops-Headed by Mason, they depart against the Pequods-Cruelty of the Mohegan auxiliaries-Narraganset warriors join the expedi- tion-Mason advances into the Pequod country-Attacks and burns Fort Mistic-Terrible slaughter of the Indians- Pursuit of the fugitives-Close of the war.
NOTWITHSTANDING their exertions, the Con- necticut colonists were unable to do all things needful to render their life during the winter
48
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1636.
N
wholly free from discomforts. Unacquainted with the nature of the soil, and with the crops best suited to it, their farming operations had resulted in a scanty harvest. Though nothing like starvation ensued from this partial failure, the price of provisions rose to a height which, to the poorer class of emigrants, was not far from distressing.
But in addition to troubles of this kind, the prospect of serious difficulties with their Indian neighbours excited in their minds the liveliest alarm. For this there was abundant cause.
No part of New England thronged more with native inhabitants than Connecticut. Among the interior hills, and along that portion of the river settled by the whites, dwelt some fifteen or twenty small tribes, known to the colonists by the general name of River Indians. The war- riors of these tribes were at least a thousand ; but they were a timorous race, with no single- ness of interest. The year previous to the coming of the whites, they had been conquered by their enemies, the Pequods. Some of their sachems, having fled to the English settlements of Massachusetts and Plymouth, had been rein- stated in their sovereignty by the people of those colonies. They had therefore welcomed the emi- grants in a friendly spirit ; but rather in the hope of securing their protection, than with the de-
1.
49
INDIAN TRIBES.
1636.]
sign or courage to afford them any effective aid as allies.
Inhabiting the greater portion of what is now the county of Windham, were the Mohegans, a powerful tribe, numbering some five hundred war- riors. These were the irreconcilable enemies of the Pequods, of whom they appear to have been a revolted clan. Uncas, their chief, belonged to the line of Pequod kings.
Southward of the Mohegans, and chiefly upon what is now Thames River, dwelt the Pequods, the most powerful, warlike, and hostile to the English, of all the New England aborigines. The Pequods, strictly so called, could bring into the field at least seven hundred fighting men; but there were besides, under the authority of their great sachem Sassacus, twenty-six smaller tribes, who inhabited both shores of Long Island Sound as far west as the Connecticut, and even beyond it, nearly to the Hudson.
The aggregate population of all these divisions and subdivisions of the Connecticut Indians was full sixteen thousand. Of this number, one- half, perhaps, entertained friendly feelings toward the whites ; but the hatred of the remainder was deadly and implacable, and had already mani- fested itself.
During the year 1634, one Captain Stone and his crew, having entered the Connecticut to trade, were put to death by a party of Pequods. With
5
50
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1636.
some show of justice, the Indians, when charged with this murder, pleaded the necessity of self- defence. Subsequently quarrelling with the Dutch, who, until this time, had been the only Europeans to traffic with them, they sent mes- sengers to Massachusetts, asking a trade with that colony, and also the good offices of its magistrates in bringing about a peace between them and the Narragansets of Rhode Island, with whom they were then at war. With both re- quests the Massachusetts authorities readily complied ; the desired reconciliation being effect- ed, and a vessel despatched to the Connecticut to trade. Winthrop, however, soon complained that the murderers of Captain Stone had not been given up, according to a promise which, it was asserted, the Pequod ambassadors had made. If they had made such a promise, the tribe now resolutely refused to fulfil it, tendering a pre- sent of furs and wampum in satisfaction for the murder.
In this shape the affair rested for nearly two years. But, about the time that Hooker's con- gregation arrived at Hartford, Oldham, the In- dian trader, having been murdered by a party of Block Island Indians, subjects of the Narra- gansets, Massachusetts called out a military force of ninety men, to proceed to Block Island and chastise the offending tribe. The circumstances of this murder recalling that of Stone to their
51
ENDICOTT'S EXPEDITION.
1636.]
minds, the magistrates ordered Endicott, the commander of the contemplated expedition, to visit the Pequods, after he had put all the male inhabitants of Block Island to the sword, and obtain from them, either amicably or by force, the murderers of Stone, a thousand fathoms of wampum for damages, and several of their children as hostages.
Having landed, after a slight skirmish, on Block Island, Endicott remained there two days; destroying, meanwhile, sixty wigwams and nearly two hundred acres of standing maize, but killing no Indians. He then sailed to Saybrook, whence he marched his party to a Pequod village on the Thames. This, his demands being refused and his troops assailed, he burned. One Indian was slain in the skirmish. Returning to the Con- necticut, he laid a second village in ashes, and then embarked again for Boston.
In this expedition no Englishman lost his life, and much harm was done the Indians. But, instead of being overawed by the energetic en- forcement of what were claimed as just demands, the Pequods, a warlike and sanguinary people, under the sway of a high-spirited and haughty prince, were exasperated to madness by an attack which they deemed without provocation. During the whole autumn and winter their war-parties lurked in the vicinity of Fort Saybrook, cutting off almost every person who ventured beyond the
52
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1637.
protection of its artillery. Fifteen or twenty of the English were thus taken and put to death, in many instances with the most horrible cruel- ties. One of these unfortunate persons, John Tilley by name, suffering his hands and then his feet to be cut off, and gashes to be made in his body and filled with live coals, without exhibit- ing, even by a groan, the intensity of his an- guish, is said to have drawn from his tormentors the declaration that he was " a stout man," by which they conveyed the idea that he possessed the highest attributes of a great warrior.
Following up a series of similar murders, the Indians, toward the spring of 1637, pressed still more closely the siege of Fort Saybrook. The houses, barns, and haystacks belonging to it were set on fire and destroyed ; and, in March, Lieu- tenant Gardiner, the commandant, having gone out with thirteen men to burn over the marshes, was ambushed, and regained the fort only by. hard fighting, and with the loss of three of his party. Thus beleaguered, the garrison suffered unceasingly from alarm and anxiety ; of which, however, they were presently relieved by the arrival of Captain Underhill from Massachusetts with reinforcements.
Though during the winter the three Connecti- cut towns were happily exempted from Indian attacks, they were yet in a state of fearful ap- prehension, on account of the sanguinary scenes
53
INDIAN TROUBLES.
1637.]
enacted such a short distance below them, Every precaution was taken to prevent surprise. All the able-bodied males, numbering about two hundred and fifty, were ordered to train regu- larly. Constant and strict watches were kept; and the town-officers were required to see that every inhabitant was well supplied with arms and ammunition. No one went into the fields without a gun upon his shoulder. On Sabbath days, the people came to church armed and equipped, in apprehension of being attacked before the ser- vice was concluded. This practice, as well as others of a similar character adopted during the same period, was kept up for many years subse- quent to the events that rendered it necessary.
Meeting at Hartford, late in February, 1637, the general court of the Connecticut towns sent to the Massachusetts authorities a letter, in which they complained bitterly of Endicott's expedition as the cause of their present distress. Expressing their desire that Massachusetts would prosecute the war more effectively, they intimated their own design to prepare for a vigorous cam- paign against the Pequods.
In the following April the alarm of the colo- nists was raised to the highest pitch. The lands occupied by the Wethersfield planters had been given to them by Sequeen, a sachem of the River Tribes, on condition that he might live with them, and enjoy their protection. Having been
5*
54
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
[1637.
driven away when about to build his wigwam, and being refused satisfaction for the wrong thus done him, Sequeen, burning for revenge, at the head of a party of Pequods, waylaid the We- thersfield people as they were going out in the meadows to work, and killed nine of their num- ber, six men and three women. Two girls were taken prisoners at the same time ; but they were presently restored to their homes, through the kindness of some Dutch traders.
In the mean time, the Massachusetts general court had raised two hundred troops with which to renew the war. Early in May, forty of these, under Captain Patrick, were despatched to the Pequod country. Through the active interfe- rence of Roger Williams, the founder and father of Rhode Island, who, at the risk of his life, had visited the Narragansets, a pending alliance be- tween that tribe and the Pequods was broken off, and Canonicus and Miantonimo, its chief sachems, induced to promise auxiliaries to Mas- sachusetts in the contemplated expedition.
But before Patrick and his command could reach the scene of hostilities, the Connecticut people had taken the field and nearly completed the war. Fully aroused by the attack upon Wethersfield, a court of committees and magis- trates met at Hartford, on the 1st of May. Premising with the declaration that they had good reason to believe that the Pequods were
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