USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. I > Part 10
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* New Haven Colony Records.
8
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Their conduct in leaving the jurisdiction of the Massachu- setts, in opposition to the decision of the General Court, had elicited the remark from their friends at Cambridge, " that it was the opportunity of seizing a brave piece of meadow," that led them with such precipitate haste to seek the valley of the Connecticut-a remark not entirely disinterested, we may infer from the fact, that these very neighbors had an eye upon that same brave piece of meadow-land. This restlessness of the citizens of Wethersfield, so much spoken of by our early writers, was attributable, among other causes, to the fact, that they left Massachusetts without a clergyman to lead them.
We have seen how the settlement of Hartford was begun. Windsor had a similar origin, being led into pleasant past- ures, and to lie down by the still waters, under the mild authority of the Rev. John Wareham, that melancholy shepherd, whose desponding eye, lenient and gentle towards the faults of others, was yet so stern and austere when turned upon his own, that he did not dare at all times to partake of the bread and wine that he administered at the sacrament, fearing, in the beautiful words of his biographer, that the seals of the covenant were not for him. Aside from the salutary influence of Mr. Wareham upon the people of Windsor, he was seconded by a large number of gentlemen, at the head of whom stood Henry Wolcott and Roger Lud- low, Esquires, and Captain John Mason. That the reader may see of what choice materials the population of this town was composed, I may add to these, the names of Whitefield, Eggleston, Holcombe, Marshall, Pomeroy, Strong, Tudor, Parkham, Buckland, Palmer, Terry, Watson, Phelps, Gris- wold, Moore, Hurlbut, Williams, Denslow, Loomis, and Thornton. The Ellsworths arrived there at a later day. The other early towns in Connecticut and New Haven colonies had the same advantage. But Wethersfield was without this balance-wheel to steady her motions. Her people had left Mr. Phillips behind them in Watertown, and in the hurry to emigrate, (who that ever saw the Naubuc meadows, and the
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FIRST SETTLERS OF WETHERSFIELD.
fields of Nayaug, or drank of the healing waters of the pools of Neipsic, can blame them for it ?) that they forgot their dis- cipline, and for awhile broke their ranks, in the eager pur- suit of treasures so dazzling to the eye. Hence, the unhappy troubles and strifes during the first few years after they es- tablished themselves there. Hence, too, it fell out that scarcely a new plantation was made in the colony, for a long time, that did not receive some of its most opulent and best planters from the discontented of Wethersfield. The clergy- men and more influential members of the church, both of Hartford and Windsor, did what they could to tranquilize those differences. At last, in 1641, the Rev. Mr. Daven- port, and other gentlemen, from New Haven, were called in as advisers. Mr. Davenport, who seems to have had a quick knowledge of the governing motives of men, and a happy fa- cility in giving good advice in difficult emergencies, proposed that the contending parties, as they could not well be reconcil- ed, should separate ; and that one of them should go away, and make a new settlement by themselves. At first this council did not avail, for they could not decide which party should go. The church at Watertown, Mass., now took them in hand, but without much better success. At length, as matters were all the while growing worse, Mr. Andrew Ward, Mr. Robert Coe, and twenty other planters, with their families, followed the advice of Mr. Davenport, and removed to Stamford, thus placing themselves under the protection of New Haven colony. Among those gentlemen who removed were the Rev. Richard Denton, Matthew Mitchel, Thurston Raynor, Richard Law, and Richard Gildersleeve. Among the prin- cipal gentlemen of Wethersfield, who remained or soon after arrived, were the names of Welles, Wyllys, Talcott, Good- rich, Hollister, Wright, Kimberly, Kilbourn, Hale, Treat, Bel- den, Deming, Smith, and Bacon. Most of these proprietors owned land on the eastern bank of the Connecticut, in that part of the town now embraced within the boundaries of Glastenbury ; and several of them built upon those estates and removed there long before the incorporation of the last
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
mentioned town. Almost all of these families, before 1700, intermarried, and from their blood have sprung many of the brightest ornaments of Connecticut .*
The Dutch and English had so many difficulties during the years 1641 and 1642, and the Indians assumed such a hostile attitude towards our colonies, that in 1643 the old proposition for a confederation of the New England colonies was renewed on the part of Connecticut, and pressed with great earnestness .; Indeed, she had for several years pre- vious annually appointed delegates to go to Massachusetts to urge forward this project that appeared to be of such vital importance to all the colonies, especially to the weaker ones.
Massachusetts, from her independent resources and com- paratively dense population, was not so much exposed as the other colonies to foreign invasion. She therefore felt less anxiety to form an alliance that might impose upon her some unpleasant burdens. But Connecticut and New Haven, with their towns scattered along the coast, planted remote upon Delaware Bay and Long Island, where the Dutch, the Swedes, and the Indians had an easy access to them, were warned early by their critical situation, to adopt some per- manent measures for self-protection. Massachusetts claimed a part of the Pequot country by right of conquest. She also claimed Springfield and Westfield, which towns it was in- sisted belonged to the jurisdiction of Connecticut. By de- laying to comply with the urgent request of Connecticut in reference to the desired confederation, this powerful colony hoped the more readily to bring her weaker sister to admit both these claims.
But clouds now gathered darkly over all the colonies. In May, four of them, Connecticut, New Haven, Saybrook, and Plymouth, all sent commissioners to Boston. Connecticut selected Governor Haynes and Edward Hopkins; New
* See Rev. Dr. Chapin's History, in which the genealogies of nearly all those families are fully given.
t Colony Records.
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FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS.
[1643.]
Haven chose Governor Eaton and Mr. Gregson ; Governor Winslow and Mr. Collier represented Plymouth ; Col. Fen- wick went in behalf of Saybrook; and Massachusetts con- fided her interests to the care of Governor Winthrop, Dud- ley, Bradstreet, associated with Hawthorne, Gibbons, and Tyng-a body of men whom I name with pride, as worthy to represent the American Colonies in their first association against foreign encroachment ; worthy, too, to prefigure and typify that other body of men who, at a later day, affixed their names to a paper which was at once a protest against the tyranny of proscription, and a memorial of the rights of man, that will gradually extend its benign dominion, until, of the strong holds of despotic power, whether American, Euro- pean, or Asiatic, there shall not be left one stone upon another that is not thrown down.
These articles of confederation commence by stating the object of all the colonies in removing to America, and then proceed to name them " The United Colonies of New Eng- land." They go on to declare, that they do jointly and severally enter into a firm and perpetual league of friendship and amity, offense and defense, mutual aid and service .*
The distinct sovereign jurisdiction of each contracting power is not only provided for, but it is expressly stated, that no two colonies shall be united in one, nor any other colony be received into the confederacy, without the consent of the whole. Each colony, without reference to size, is to send two commissioners, and no more. These commissioners are to meet once every year. They are clothed with power to make war and peace, laws and rules for the protection and regulation of the confederacy. In case there should be a war offensive or defensive, involving the interests of the whole, or any one of the allied powers, the expense was to be borne according to the number of the male inhabitants in each colony, between the ages of sixteen and sixty years. When any member of the confederation was invaded, all the
* For a copy of the articles of confederation, see Hazard's State Papers, vol. ii. first article.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
others were bound to send troops to its assistance-Massa- chusetts, one hundred; each of the others, forty-five men. Before more could be demanded, there must be a special meeting of the commissioners.
In this New England Congress, the vote of six commis- sioners upon any measure was binding upon the whole body. If those who voted for it were less than six, and yet consti- tuted a majority, the matter should be referred to the General Court of each colony, and should not be binding, unless the courts unanimously ratified it. It was provided, too, that all servants running from their masters, and all criminals flying from justice, from one colony to another, should, upon de- mand and proper evidence of their character as fugitives, be returned-the servants to their masters, the accused to the colonies whence they fled.
From this brief synopsis of these articles of confederation, it will be seen how analagous they are to the articles of con- federation of the thirteen colonies, as well as to the present Constitution of the United States of America.
The new government was soon put in requisition. The Pequots and Narragansetts, as will be remembered, had been enemies long before the Pequot war. After the overthrow of Sassacus, and the division of the little remnant of his people among the Narragansetts, the Nihanticks and Mohe- gans, the two most powerful tribes who shared the spoils, soon began to entertain the most vindictive feelings towards each other. Miantinomoh represented the Narragansetts, and Uncas the Mohegans. Whether Miantinomoh was angry at the unequal distribution of the Pequots, or whether his more open and generous nature was goaded to acts of violent recrimination by the arts of his more subtle antagon- ist, or whether the Narragansett sachem had become tired of the monotony of peace, and sought an occasion to prac- tice himself and his warriors in the old pastime, that made life so full of pleasant incident to them, I am unable to say.
One cause of this ill blood was probably the attack made by Uncas upon Sequasson, a Connecticut river sachem, who
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UNCAS AND MIANTINOMOH.
[1643.]
was a kinsman of Miantinomoh. It appears that Uncas had killed several of Sequasson's warriors, and burned his wigwams; and that the haughty Narragansett took up the quarrel, and determined to punish Uncas for these acts of violence. Whatever may have been the cause of Miantino- moh's hostile feelings towards Uncas, and whether they were justifiable or not, it is certain that the Narragansett chief violated the very condition on which he had received his share of the Pequots-that of maintaining perpetual peace with all the contracting parties-and had commenced open hostilities against Uncas. At the same time it was believed, that he used all his eloquence and address to incite a general insurrection of the Indians against the English. It was thought, too, that the Indians were em- ployed in preparing guns and ammunition, and were making a general preparation for war. The people of Connec- ticut thought themselves obliged again to keep watch and ward every night, from sunset to sunrise, in all their towns.
Connecticut sent letters to the Court at Boston, asking for one hundred men to be sent to Saybrook Fort, to be ready for any emergency. But the Court of Massachusetts was not satisfied that it was necessary to take such a step, and declined complying with the request.
Miantinomoh made no declaration of war against Uncas. His preparations were all secret. He collected a choice army of not less than six hundred warriors, and stealthily set forth for the Mohegan country. It was hot summer weather, when some of the enemy might be expected to linger in the shade, to protect their squaws, while they were in the fields taking care of the growing corn, others to be found loitering under the shadows of the rocks that overhung the Yantic, and leisurely drawing up the speckled trout from its dark pools. The invading chief knew the habits of the Indians too well, not to be aware that this was a season of indolent repose to them, and that then, if ever, Uncas would be found off his guard. He must have known, too, the Mohegan re-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
treats, and places of resort, almost as well as they did 'them- selves. He intended, therefore, to steal upon Uncas slily, and take him by surprise.
But whatever faults the Mohegan sachem had, a neglect to see after his own interests certainly did not constitute one of them. His spies were on duty night and day. A party of them, probably stationed upon a high hill within the present limits of Norwich, discovered the Narragansetts as they were crossing a ford in the Shetucket river, near where it unites itself with the Quinnebaug. This post was called Wawekus Hill, and a path led from it to the Little Plain, a spot hallowed as the burial place of the Mohegan sachems. I follow the account of Miss Caulkins, as I find it in her history of Norwich. " A cleft or ravine from this spot, once the bed of a rivulet, came out directly by the Indian landing- place at the foot of Yantic Falls, whence a canoe could glide in a few minutes to Shantok Point, five miles below, where Uncas had a fort. In this way the intelligence may have been communicated to the sachem with great rapidity."
In whatever way the presence of this hostile force in his territory was detected and disclosed to Uncas, the chief lost no time in arming himself. Nor did he merely stand on the defensive. With about four hundred warriors, he was soon on the march to meet the enemy. He was not long in as- certaining that Miantinomoh had crossed the fords of the Yantic with his men, and that he was in hot pursuit of him. He was a mile and a half from the Yantic on the "Great Plain," when he received this intelligence. Immediately he drew up his warriors on a little eminence, and hastily in- formed them of his plan of conducting the battle.
The Narragansetts were soon visible upon a neighboring hill, pressing on to meet him. Uncas sent forward a courier to demand a parley with Miantinomoh. He assented to it, and the two chiefs at once stepped forth to meet each other upon the plain, between the two armies, while Narragansetts and Mohegans alike stood still and awaited the result of the
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UNCAS AND MIANTINOMOH.
[1643.]
interview. As Uncas had sought the parley, so was he the first to open it.
" You have some stout men with you," said he to his ad- versary, with well-dissembled magnanimity ; " so have I with me. It is a pity that such brave warriors should be killed in a private quarrel between you and me. Come like a man, as you profess to be, and let us fight it out. If you kill me, my men shall be yours ; if I kill you, your men shall be mine."
" My men came to fight, and they shall fight," replied the haughty sachem of the Narragansetts. Uncas instantly fell flat upon the ground, a signal well understood by his war- riors, who in a breath discharged a whole flight of arrows into the ranks of the Narragansetts, who afforded the fairest possible mark for them, standing as they did in a listening attitude, with their eyes fixed upon the two sachems. Before the astonished Narragansetts could rally to defend themselves, the Mohegans, with Uncas at their head, gave the war-whoop, and rushed furiously upon them with their tomahawks .*
In such a confused state of mind, a successful resistance was impossible. The out-witted invaders fled toward the fords of the Yantic. Their lamentations mingled wildly with the victorious shouts of the Mohegans, who pursued them, across the Yantic, and, like greyhounds running with the game in sight, followed them as they sped over hills, covered with prickly bushes, along dangerous precipices, and across sharp ledges of rock, in their flight towards the fords of the Shetucket. Some of the Narragansetts were driven down these precipices and impaled as they fell upon the jagged corners of the rocks that bristled upon their sides. Others were shattered to atoms in the ravines below.
Miantinomoh had on a corselet of mail that he had pro- cured of the English, and, encumbered by its weight, he ran with difficulty. It was probably a part of Uncas' stratagem
Trumbull, i. 131 ; Miss Caulkins' History of Norwich, 16.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
to take him alive. He was accordingly singled out by two swift-footed Mohegan captains, who followed him remorse- lessly until they finally came up with him near the river, and impeded his progress by throwing themselves against him. It was a desperate wager that he ran for, and, out of breath as he was, he rallied and resumed his flight only to be checked again and again by his tormentors, who were seeking to pander to the vanity of their chief by keeping the royal game at bay until he should arrive and claim the honors of the chase.
As soon as Uncas came up and laid his hand on his shoulder, the flying sachem stopped, and without attempting to offer resistance, when he knew it would be hopeless, sat quietly down upon the ground, and looked his conqueror calmly in the face ; he did not deign to utter a single word.
Uncas gave the whoop of victory. His warriors gathered around him, eager to look upon the features and figure of the noble captive, whose scornful eye regarded them with a frigid apathy.
The battle, if it could be called one, was over. . In the short space of twenty minutes, thirty Narragansett warriors had been slain, and besides Miantinomoh, many prisoners had been taken, among whom were his brother and two sons of his uncle, the venerable Canonicus. Uncas affected sur- prise at the conduct of his prisoner. " Had you taken me," said he, "I should have besought you for my life." Mianti- nomoh made no reply.
Uncas now returned to his fort with his captives, whom he treated with kindness. The chief of so powerful a tribe was not an easy prize to keep, and Uncas hastened to Hart- ford, and committed him into the hands of the English. Samuel Gorton, of Rhode Island, had urged him to this step, hoping in this way to spare the prisoner's life. Uncas agreed to be governed by the decision of the English in the disposition to be made of the sachem, who was accordingly lodged in jail at Hartford until the Commissioners of the united colonies should meet in September, at Boston.
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[1643.]
DEATH OF MIANTINOMOH. 123
At last the day came when the question was discussed whether Miantinomoh should be put to death. The charges adduced against him were these ; that he had killed a Pequot who had testified against him in reference to his treatment of Uncas ; that he had again and again tried to take the life of Uncas by assassination and poison ; that he had broken his league in making war upon the Mohegans without first taking his appeal to the English ; and lastly, that he had con- ceived the horrible design of cutting off at a blow the whole English population, and had hired Mohawks and Indians of other tribes to assist him in its execution .*
That Uncas imposed upon the too ready credulity of the commissioners by acting upon their fears in this delicate matter, and that several of these charges were sustained by the most wicked perjury, I cannot doubt. The story in most of its details, I believe to have been a Mohegan fabrication and backed up by the testimony of Mohegan witnesses. It seems that the commissioners questioned its truth, and hesitated to act upon it. At last it was referred to five principal clergymen of the several colonies, who, after a solemn, and I doubt not an honest debate, advised that sen- tence of death should be passed upon the accused. The com- missioners followed this unfortunate advice, and deputed Un- cas-a delightful privilege, and a good reward he no doubt esteemed it, of all his exertions in the premises-to execute the sentence. Uncas repaired to Hartford, took the cap- tive into his custody, and, accompanied by a file of English soldiers, who were sent to protect him from the vengeance of the Narragansetts, proceeded to execute the warrant. Two other Englishmen were also sent to remain by the prisoner, and see that no barbarities were practiced at the execution. Uncas took Miantinomoh, and led him to the place where he had been taken. When they had reached the fatal spot, the brother of Uncas, who was
* Winthrop appears to give full credit to the testimony of the Mohegans, es- pecially in regard to a conspiracy against the English, and adds that " he was a turbulent and proud spirit, and would never be at rest."
-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
marching behind Miantinomoh, split his head with a hatchet and killed him at a blow.
Notwithstanding the presence of the two Englishmen, Uncas cut a piece from the shoulder of his fallen enemy, and ate it in savage exultation. "It was the sweetest meat he ever ate," he said, and added complacently, that "it made his heart strong."
Where the chief of the Narragansetts was taken captive, where he was killed, there, too, they dug his grave. The place is still memorable as the "Sachem's Plain." A tumu- lus of stones was heaped high above the mound, by the pious hands of his tribe, who, year after year, made their pilgrim- ages to the grave. Regularly they came in September, and celebrated the anniversary of their chief's death, adding each a stone to the pile, with lamentations and gestures expressive of the deepest sorrow.
Such was the death, and such the obsequies of the sachem of the Narragansetts.
Two oak trees also, long after marked the spot; but even these stern monuments are gone, as well as the stones .* But the memory of the dead still lives, and tradition still fixes the locality where a great wrong was done by New England, under the sanction of a judicial decision. Had the commissioners, honest men as they were, viewed this act in the sober light of history, it never would have been perpe- trated. Says the historian of Norwich, whose keen sense of right will not allow her to sanction this deed, " The sen- tence of Miantinomoh is one of the most flagrant acts of in- justice that stands recorded against the English settlers. He had shown many acts of kindness towards the whites ; in all his intercourse with them he had evinced a noble and magnanimous spirit, and only seven years before his death,
* Miss Caulkins, in her "History of Norwich," to which I have before adverted, says : " A citizen of Norwich, still living, N. S. Shipman, Esq., re- members this tumulus in his youth, a conspicuous object, standing large and high, between two solitary oak trees, about sixteen rods east of the old Provi- dence road."
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MIANTINOMOH.
[1643.]
had received into the bosom of his country, Mason and his little band of soldiers from Hartford, and greatly assisted them in their conquest of the Pequots." For myself, were it possible, I would gladly come to a different conclusion, and whatever human fears, exercised at a time when their do- minion was most to be excused, whatever the evil influences of false or prejudiced testimony may do towards palliating the decree, I shall joyfully take into the account, to qualify but never to justify it.
CHAPTER VII.
PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT. TROUBLES WITH THE DUTCH AND INDIANS.
THE relations existing between the English colonies and the Dutch of New Netherlands, were never of a very ami- cable character. I do not propose to follow the example either of the Connecticut or New York historians, in com- plaining of the motives or conduct of either party. I can only say, that the claims set up by each, being inconsistent with those of the other, and the blood of different nations flowing in their veins, it was not to be expected that they should entertain amicable feelings towards each other. It must be admitted, that the Dutch navigators first visited the coast of Connecticut and Long Island. Adrian Block, a spirited, daring adventurer, in a little yacht, named the Rest- less, that he had built on the bank of the Hudson river, as early as 1614,* ventured to pass through Hell Gate, and sailed as far eastward as Cape Cod. He probably did not sail very near the main-land, until he had left New Haven to the westward of him, as he has left us no traces from which we can infer that he touched upon the coast of western Connec- ticut. He was, probably, the first European discoverer of Montauk Point, to which, he gave the name of Fisher's Hook, and of the little cluster of brilliants, sparkling upon the bosom of Long Island Sound-that inland sea, that annually drifts its smooth pebbles and pearly sands upon the Southern line of Connecticut. One of these he called Fisher's Island ;} an- other he named after himself, and it still bears the name of
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