USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement to the present time > Part 9
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The accounts of the commissioners were settled this year : they had expended £1043 10s. Con- necticut had exceeded her duc proportion in ex- penses for general defence by £155 17s. 7d., and NewHaven £7. The expense of defending Stam- , ford and its vicinity, and that of bringing the mur- derers to punishment, was not included.
A new Dutch governor (Peter Stuyvesandt) ar- rived at Manahadoes on the 27th of May ; and a letter of congratulation was addressed to him by the commissioners, in which they complained of the Dutch for supplying the Indians with arms and am- munition, and the high duties laid on goods, while the ports of the English colonies were free.
Saybrook Fort and its buildings were burned by accident in the winter, and Captain Mason, his wife, and child narrowly escaped. The loss was esti- mated at above £1000.
The settlement of New-London (Namcaug or Towawog) was commenced in 1646: but the number of persons was small, and some of them soon became discouraged and left the place. In ' 1647, however, a considerable number of perma- nent settlers came, in consequence of the arrival of Mr. Richard Blinman from Gloucester, who had been a minister in England. Some of the princi- pal men were John Winthrop, Esq., Thomas Mi- not, Samuel Lothrop, Robert Allyn, and James Avery. Mr. Winthrop was authorized to super- intend the colony, which was exempted from taxa-
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1648.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
tion for three years; and the next year he and Messrs. Minot and Lothrop were appointed judges of a court for small causes. The name of Pequod Harbour was conferred in 1754, when it embraced the present towns of New-London and Groton ; and, four years after, the name of New-London was given, when the Mohegan River was called the Thames.
This year the governor and deputy-governor of Connecticut were first paid for their services, re- ceiving £30 a year. Before that time all the civil officers appear to have served without reward, and from a sense of duty. Mr. Hopkins was chosen governor, and Mr. Ludlow deputy-governor.
The Indians caused a most serious alarm this season : for the Narragansets and Nehantics once more withheld their stipulated wampum from the English, and used it to hire the Mohawks and Po- comptucks to join them in a powerful assault on Uncas. Thomas Stanton was sent, with other men, by the governor and council to Pocomptuck, and found the Indians in arms waiting for the Mo- hawks, bringing 400 muskets, with whom they were to march for Mohegan, there to combine with 800 Narragansets and Nehantics. They admitted that they had been hired : but, as the Mohawks did not come, in consequence of having lost men in a battle with the French at the North, and the messengers declared that the English would fight to the last in the defence of Uncas, they at length abandoned their enterprise. It was found, on the other hand, that the Indians who had enlisted them had placed their women, children, and old men in swamps in their own country, and were ready to march, having insulted and robbed a num-
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NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA.
[1648.
ber of the English inhabitants, particularly in War- wick, where they killed about 100 cattle. The Rhode Islanders, indeed, were constrained by their danger to request the commissioners to be admitted into their confederacy : but were refused, unless they would join with Plymouth, in whose territory they were regarded as lying. The commissioners, still reluctant to resort to force, remonstrated with the Indians.
Governor Stuyvesandt in the mean time had re- turned no answer to the request and inquiries made by the commissioners : but, on the contrary, seized at Manahadoes a vessel of Mr. Westerhouse (a Dutch merchant and planter residing at New-Ha- ven) without reasonable ground. The commis- sioners therefore addressed him another letter, protesting against the Dutch claim to all the coast from Cape Henlopen to Cape Cod, &c., and declaring that, unless they should receive more satisfactory replies and conduct from him, they would treat Dutchmen and their vessels as the English were treated at Manahadoes.
The New-England colonies this year made a proposal to the governor and council of Canada to form a perpetual peace, to be uninterrupted by the dissensions between the parent countries. The governor of Canada sent a Jesuit priest to Bos- ton, expressing his willingness to comply, on con- dition that the New.England colonies would join in a war against the Six Nations of Indians : but, as this was refused, on the ground that they had no just reason for such a war, the project failed. IIad the French governor not insisted on that condition, the proposed step would have saved incalculable losses to both parties.
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1649.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
CHAPTER XIV.
Murder of Mr. Whitmore .- A new Fort built at Saybrook .- The Code of Laws .- Uncas complains to the Commission- ers against the Narragansets and Pequods .- Massachusetts lays an Impost on vessels and goods of the other Colonies .- Restrictions on Indian Traders .- Captain Atherton's visit to Narraganset and Nehantic .- Lands given to Captain Mason.
MR. JOHN WHITMORE, a representative in the General Court of New-Haven, was murdered at Stamford, where he lived, while searching for cat- tle in the woods. An Indian, the son of a sachem, brought in a report of his death, which he charged on Toquattoes. His body was sought for in vain until that Indian led the way to the spot ; and it was very evident that he was one of the murder- ers : but he made his escape.
It was determined that another fort should be built at Saybrook, on New Fort Hill, which is said to be that small eminence on which the remains of the last fort are still to be seen. This spot is reported by tradition to be a little farther west than the site of the first, which has been worn away by the waves. Money was appropriated by the court, and men were to be impressed to do the work. The practice of impressment, which had been de- rived from England, was not quite abandoned at that time.
A code of laws for the colony was established . this year, having been digested by Mr. Ludlow. Punishments had before been various and uncer- L
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UNCAS AND THE NARRAGANSETS. [1649.
tain. A jury of twelve men was required, who, if doubtful about the law, were to bring in a "non liquet," or special verdict, and the court was to declare the law. The court might empannel a new jury after several trials, if they thought they had mistaken the law, and increase or diminish damages. Twelve able and unanimous jurors were required in cases of life, limb, and ban- ishment.
This year an important measure was taken in England, the effects of which were of an interest- ing nature. This was the formation of the Society for propagating the Gospel in New-England. This association was formed through the influence of Mr. Edward Winslow. After publishing in Eng- land accounts of the success of the celebrated Eliot (called the Apostle to the Indians) and some of his collaborators, much interest was excited, and an act of Parliament passed. The society was to consist of sixteen persons, who could hold prop- erty not exceeding in value £200 a year, and goods and money without restriction. The com- missioners of the United Colonies of New-England were to receive and dispose of the money for preaching and propagating the Gospel among the natives, and for the maintaining of schools and nurseries of learning for the education of the chil- dren of natives.
Uncas, who had wonderfully escaped so many plots as were laid against him, had been assailed again at an unprepared moment, and had barely escaped with his life. He presented himself before the commissioners to make his complaint against his enemies for a new act of perfidy. He alleged
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1649.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
that neither the captives nor the canoes which they had taken from him had been returned; and he exhibited the marks of a dangerous wound, char- ging the sachems of the Narragansets and the Ne- hantics with having hired the Mohawks and the assassin who had inflicted it. While on board of a vessel in the Mohegan or Thames River, an In- dian had run him through the breast with a sword, leaving so severe a wound that it was thought for a time he would die. He declared that he had al- ways been a faithful friend of the English, and prayed that he might have justice, and be secured for the future. The presence of that noble-looking savage, with his athletic figure, the high character for faithfulness which he had so fully established, and the appeal he made for vengeance and protec- tion, must have made a strong impression on the assembly ; and the evidence which was furnished of the truth of his declarations was well calculated to increase it. The wily Ninigret underwent an examination before the commissioners, and was met with unanswerable proof of his perfidy : for the assassin confessed that he had been hired by him and Pessacus to kill Uncas ; and evidence was furnished to prove that the Mohawks had acknowl- edged they also had been paid to destroy him. He was therefore dismissed, with an assurance that it would be unsafe for him longer to delay the fulfil- ment of his promises.
A report was circulated through the colonies about this time, which increased the general alarm, as it led to the apprehension that the Narragansets and Nehantics intended to restore the nation of the Pequods : for it was rumoured that the son of Sas-
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CHARGES AGAINST UNCAS.
[1649,
1
sacus, or one of his brothers, was to be married to the daughter of Ninigret; and the Pequods who had been given to Uncas had revolted, and lived separately for two years. All these things seemed to indicate that an Indian war was ready to break out ; and the commissioners thought that prepara- tions ought to be made for any emergency.
They, however, listened to the complaints of Uncas's Pequods ; and it was found that they had heavy charges to make against him, which they substantiated. How much soever we may wish to indulge gratitude, respect, or admiration towards Uncas, we sometimes meet with facts in his history which put a strong check upon us. The great truth we are indeed often compelled to recall : that he was, after all, ignorant of the true God, and therefore necessarily ignorant of the first principles of vir- tue. The poor Pequods. being admitted to the presence of the commissioners, and finding that they were allowed an attentive and impartial hear. ing, stated that they had begun by serving Uncas faithfully, according to their promise, had been re- garded as his men, assisted him in his wars, and paid him tribute : but that he had been exceedingly extortionate, and made them pay him wampum forty times. They said that he had once prom- ised to treat them as Mohegans : but they had since been ill-treated in their plays and in other ways, and plundered, and even wounded by Uncas. Obachikquid, one of their chief men, declared that Uncas had taken his wife from him.
These charges, with the accompanying testi- mony, must have mortified the Mohegan sachem ; and the commissioners, with decision and firmness
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1649.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
4
highly becoming them, ordered that he should be reproved, restore the wife of Obachickquid, pay the Pequods damages, and be fined 100 fathoms of wam- pum. However, as Connecticut had determined never to allow the Pequods to be a nation again, they directed that he should receive them back, and treat them with moderation in all respects. This humiliation, it seems, they were extremely loath to submit to ; and, instead of obeying the de- cree of the commissioners, they withdrew from Uncas, and year after year sent in a petition re- questing to be made the subjects of the whites. Their plea had too much appearance of reason in it to be entirely rejected. They alleged that, al- though their tribe had done wrong, they had killed none of the colonists ; and that Wequash had prom- ised them, when sent by the whites, that they should suffer no injury if they would leave their country and not injure the English. The commissioners, therefore, to proceed as far as they felt at liberty to do, recommended to Connecticut to give them land to cultivate and live on, where they might be removed from the Mohegans, though still under the control of Uncas, repeating their injunction to him to treat them kindly.
Mr. Westerhouse applied for permission to make reprisals on the Dutch, by seizing some of their ves- sels in return for his which they had taken, as he had not been able to obtain any satisfaction from them : but the commissioners chose to negotiate before resorting to any such measure. They therefore resolved that no resident or foreigner should trade with Indians in their jurisdiction, un- der penalty of the confiscation of vessels and goods;
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THE BOUNDARY-LINE.
[1649.
and wrote to the Dutch governor to give him infor- mation of it, and of their adherence to the claim of Delaware. They added that they had greatly de- sired to make an accommodation of all difficulties with the Dutch, and that it might easily have been effected if he had accepted of their invitation to at. tend a meeting of the commissioners.
The question of the boundary-line between Mas. sachusetts and Connecticut was discussed at length, and settled in favour of Connecticut, so that Spring- field was decided to belong to that colony. The Massachusetts commissioners, when this was de- termined, produced an order of their General Court, imposing a duty on all goods belonging to any in- habitants of Plymouth, Connecticut, or New-Haven, imported within the Castle in Boston Harbour, or exported from any part of the bay. This act, which appears to have been dictated by an unbecoming spirit, was remonstrated against by the commis- sioners of the three aggrieved colonies in a calm but manly tone, concluding with these words : " How far the premises agree with the law of love, and with the tenour and import of the articles of confederation, the commissioners tender and rec- ommend to the serious attention of the General Court for the Massachusetts ; and, in the mean time, desire to be spared in all future agitations . respecting Springfield."
Connecticut also complained of Massachusetts for running their boundary-line six or eight miles too far south, so as to include a whole range of towns not belonging to her. The commissioners adopted the opinion that the line had not been fixed. The question, however, remained unsettled
,
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
1649.]
for nearly seventy years, and during that time Con- necticut was encroached upon, and several whole towns were settled in her territory by Massachu- setts.
The General Court of Connecticut declared that all foreign vessels found trading with the Indians should be forfeited, with their goods, according to the recommendation of the commissioners. The court also ordered out fifty men, to assist in meas- ures against the murderers of John Whitmore, of Stamford ; and this is the last intimation we have of trouble from the Indians in that town.
The General Court, which met in May at Hart. ford, gave to Captain Mason Chippachange Island in Mystic Bay, and 110 acres of land in Mystic ; and ordered that 500 acres of land, which had been granted to his five best officers and soldiers, should be laid out at Pequod or in the Neanticut country. Five hundred acres besides had been given to the captain the year before.
The commissioners sent Captain Atherton, of Massachusetts, with forty men, to the Narraganset country, to demand the tribute due, with orders to take that in property, the sachem Pessacus, or his children. The Indians made excuses as usual, and many began to assemble, when Atherton entered the hut of Pessacus, drew him out by his hair, and threatened to shoot any one who should interfere. The chiefs who were present were intimidated, and the tribute was paid. Atherton then visited Nini- grate, the Nehantic sachem, forbade him to seize any of the Pequod country, and even to hunt in it ; told him his designs were known, and that the col- onies would not suffer him to prosecute them.
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GOV. STUYVESANDT'S VISIT. [1649.
CHAPTER XV.
Governor Stuyvesandt meets the Commissioners at Hartford, and the Difficulties with the Dutch are settled by Arbitration. -A new Arrangement with Mr. Fenwick .- Mining Privileges granted to Mr. Winthrop .- Norwalk incorporated and Middle- town settled .- Governor Stuyvesandt's unfriendly Conduct .- Arrangements with the Pequods.
THE Dutch governor visited Hartford during the session of the commissioners, after having been often invited. He chose to communicate with them in writing, and, on the 13th of September, complained, in a letter, of encroachments on the West India Company, said the Dutch had pur- chased of the Indians the lands on the river before the English arrived, demanded the possession of them, objected to the law prohibiting trade with the Indians, and offered to settle a provisional line. The commissioners replied, that the Dutch claim was so indefinite and changeable that they did not understand it, but that they might be willing to re- peal the law objected to. They complained of the misconduct of the Dutch in the fort at Hartford : their agents having left debts unpaid, the men having assisted criminals to escape from the pris- on, &c. After some altercation, the differences were arranged by arbitrators : viz., Mr. Bradstreet, of Massachusetts, and Mr. Prince, of Plymouth, on the part of the colonies, and Mr. Thomas Willet and Mr. George Baxter on the part of the Dutch.
They drew up articles of agreement, dated at
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
1650.]
Hartford on the 19th of September, 1650, in which most subjects of complaint against the Dutch were deferred to the consideration of the States and com- pany in Holland, as having arisen under the gov- ernment of Kieft : Governor Stuyvesandt declining to answer them. The claims of New-Haven for land purchased of the Indians on Delaware Bay, and for damages done their trade by the Dutch, were deferred for the decision of Holland and England, for want of sufficient information ; and the parties were urged to conduct all things in love and peace. On an explanation by Governor Stuy- vesandt, declaring a mistake made by his secretary, the subject of the claim of the Dutch to New- Haven, which had been erroneously reported, was passed over. They agreed to run a line on Long Island between the English and Dutch settlements, from the castern part of Oyster Bay straight to the sea. They also made the line between them, on the main land, to extend from the west side of Green- wich Bay (in the southwestern corner of the pres- ent State of Connecticut), twenty miles north, to be extended by the Dutch and New-Haven colony, provided the line should not come within ten miles of Hudson's River. The Dutch were not to build within six miles of the line, and Greenwich was to remain for the present under the Dutch. The land at Hartford then actually in possession of the Dutch was allowed to them, and all else to Connecticut.
It was agreed that the rule respecting the deliv. ering of fugitives, established between the colonies, should be observed between them and the Dutch. Governor Stuyvesandt and his agents (Messrs, Wil- let and Baxter) promised to give back Greenwich to
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NORWALK NAMED. [1651.
New-Haven. He informed the commissioners that he had directions from Holland to cultivate friend- ship with the colonies, and proposed to form an intimate union : but this was declined until the will of the colonies should be known.
Difficulties, however, arose about the payment of the stipulated sums to Mr. Fenwick, and a new agreement was made with him, according to which £180 was to be paid annually for ten years, be- sides several sums from different towns, and an impost on beaver-skins, so that the whole amount paid for ordnance, arms, and stores at the fort, and the right of jurisdiction, was above £2000. Com- mittees from the towns met at Saybrook on the 5th of February, 1651, to hear an explanation of the agreements, by which the inhabitants obtained satisfactory information on the subject.
The General Court recommended to the com- missioners to consider the conduct of Rhode Island in receiving fugitive criminals. A Dutch vessel, commanded by Augustus Harriman, was seized this year at Saybrook for trading with the Indians, and confiscated with the cargo, while he was fined £40.
John Winthrop, Esq., at this early period hav- ing hopes of discovering mines, was authorized by the Assembly to possess any mines or salt-springs which he might discover and work, together with the land around them to a distance of two or three miles, if not within any town then settled.
The eastern and middle parts of Norwalk had been purchased ten years, but, as yet, contained few inhabitants. The western part was bought in 1650, on the petition of Nathan Ely and Richard
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131
1653.] HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
Olmstead, and the court named it and gave per- mission for its settlement.
Middletown was settled by families from Eng. land, Hartford, and Wethersfield about this time. Most of them went from Hartford. Numbers soon came from Woburn, Rowley, and Chelmsford, in Massachusetts. It was called by the Indian name, Mattabeseck, until 1653. There were only fifty- three householders in the town twenty years later.
Governor Stuyvesandt soon gave the people of NewHaven reason to change their opinion of him : for he seized and imprisoned a party from that colony who were on their way by sea to settle on Delaware Bay, and made them relinquish their design. He also forbade some of the people of Southampton to remove their property within their line. The commissioners, who met that year at New-Haven, addressed a protest to him, charging him with violating his agreement, and declaring their intention of sending 100 men or more to Del- aware, to protect settlers on the land owned by New Haven.
The commissioners now ordered Captain Mason to require of the Pequods the tribute of wampum which they had agreed to pay annually on their submission in 1638 ; and Uncas came to Hartford to arrange the difficulty, accompanied by some of Ninigrate's men. It was agreed that past dues should be given up, and that, after the payment of the tribute for the next ten years, no more should ever be required of them. The Pequods showed their satisfaction with this arrangement by their subsequent faithfulness in peace and war.
The celebrated minister John Eliot, commonly
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THE NAVIGATION ACT. [1651.
called the Apostle to the Indians, began his benev- olent and successful labours among the natives in 1646 as a missionary, under the patronage of the legislature of Massachusetts, who in that year passed an act for the encouragement of the Gospel among the savages. He afterward visited Hart- ford during the meeting of the General Assembly, when they invited the Podunk Indians to hear that excellent man explain the Christian religion in their own language. Numbers of them went from East Windsor to hear him : but, after listening to a long address, when they were asked to determine wheth- er they would receive the Gospel or not, the chief men replied that they had no wish to change the customs of their fathers ; and the tribe remained in their original heathen state.
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CHAPTER XVI. 1651-1652.
Th. Navigation Act passed by Parliament to restrict the Com- merce of the Colonies .- Disregarded .- Commissioners from Canada to invite the Colonies to join them in War with the Five Nations .- The Proposal declined .- in consequence of the War between England and Holland, Governor Stuvve- sandt assumes a hostile Attitude .- Apprehensions of the Col- ony from Dutch Intrigues with the Indians .- Explanations demanded by the Commissioners, but not made .- Troops or- dered to be raised, and War declared .- Massachusetts refuses to approve and to sustain the War .- The other Colonies pro- test .-- The Commissioners declare War against Ninigrate, Sachem of Nehantic .- A Dutch Fleet expected .- It fails to arrive.
IN 1651 the Navigation Act was passed by the British Parliament, forbidding anything to be ex- ported from the colonies to any place out of the
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1651.]
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
English possessions. New-England would not submit to this law, denying the right of Great Brit- ain to restrict her trade ; and the commerce of the Eastern colonies continued free with different parts of the world. The English complained, but never seriously attempted to suppress it.
Two petitioners of an uncommon description presented themselves before the commissioners this year. They were French Jesuits of good ad- dress from Canada, who had come to engage the colonies in a war against the Mohawks. Their names were Godfroy and Gabriel Druillets, and they came with commissions from the governor of Canada and the council of New-France. They re- quested that, in case the colonies should not en- gage in the war, volunteers might be enlisted and sent, and that the Acadians might be taken under their protection, promising a liberal reward from the French government, and an arrangement for free trade with Canada.
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