USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > North Brookfield > History of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Preceded by an account of old Quabaug, Indian and English occupation, 1647-1676; Brookfield records, 1686-1783 > Part 5
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1 " A Farther Discovery of the present State of the Indians in New England," 165r. Sabin's Re- prints, III.
4I
ESTABLISHMENT OF PRAYING TOWNS.
sachem and his chief men at Natick, or Punkapaug, or Hassanameset, where the apostle's influence was then paramount ; and the Gospel news, which spread through all these connected towns, became a quickener of thought, and a pervasive leaven.
Six years later, i.e., in 1655, Mr. Eliot must have made a special visit and exploration of the Quabaug territory, of which a record is pre- served. In Ancient Plans, I., 285, is found a plot of John Eliot's 1000 Acres, endorsed : " Purchased by Rev. John Eliot, the 27th of Sept., 1655, of Wattalloowekin and Nakin, Indians - said 1000 Acres of land lies Southward of, and contiguous to the Township of Brookfield alias Quabaug, at a place called Pookookappog Ponds." The north-east corner bound was two perch from the north-west corner of Great Alum pond ; the line ran thence 402 rods to a point north of Little Alum pond ; thence S. 5º W. 400 rods ; thence E. 27° S. 460 rods ; thence northerly through Great Alum pond, 460 rods, to the first- mentioned bound. Eight hundred acres of this land lie in Sturbridge, and two hundred in Brimfield. Dec. 5, 1715, the title to this land was confirmed by the General Court to the heirs of Mr. Eliot.
Mr. Eliot's plan for evangelizing the Indians was a broad one, looking to the establishment of what were called "Praying towns " throughout the Massachusetts limits. The first and model town was built at Natick. Others were selected as fast as suitable men - white or Indian - could be found, to carry them on. For, like a common-sense Christian, as he was, he laid careful foundations, and " made haste slowly."
The facts in the case clearly show that he had in mind to establish a Praying town, either at Quobagud, or at the Indian settlement on his purchased land [see ante, p. 31]. The latter place was near the old southern trail ; and it had much to recommend it for permanent habi- tancy. It was of easy approach from Maanexit, and Wabbaquasset ; and it had fine cornland, which was regarded as a better agent of civilization than hunting-ground and other sources of native food supplies.
That the Massachusetts authorities were cognizant of his interest in the Quabaugs, and approved his plan for bringing them under Christian instruction, appears from the action of the General Court in 1661, ear- nestly requesting Wassamegin, the ruling sachem, to send some of his young men, and some returned captives to the Christian towns, where they might learn "to know and love God" under the ministration of Mr. Eliot.
It was in furtherance of this plan that Mr. Eliot petitioned the General Court, in 1664, for a large grant of land, which should take in his pur- chase of 1655. The record is : " In answer to the petition of Mr. John Elljott in behalfe of the Indians of Putikookuppogg, the Court judgeth it meete to grant this petition : vizt, a plantation to the Indians, not
42
QUABAUG : INDIAN OCCUPATION, 1647-1665.
exceeding fower thousand acres, and that it prejudice nott Ipswich grant [at Brookfield], or any former grant, in the place desired nere Quo- boag, & for the ordering and setling thereof have appointed & empow- ered Mr. Samuel Smith, Mr. Elizur Holjoke, & Mr. William Holton, who may, vpon the place, determine the sittuation & ljmitts of the sajd Indian plantation, & so to state & order the same as maybe for the accomoda- tion both of English & Indians, & that the sajd committee shall give notice to all persons concerned to attend at the time of their meeting, if they see cause, provided the sajd Indians engage nor sell it wthout leave first obteyned from this Court." [Mass. Col. Rec. IV-2. p. 109.] The record of the laying-out of this 4,000 acre plantation has not been found. But the purpose of establishing Christian institutions at one of the Quabaug towns was not abandoned ; and as appears from Mr. Gookin's statement (already quoted), the plan was near a successful issue, when King Philip's War broke out, and clouded so many fair pros- pects and dashed so many bright hopes !
The next document in our series is dated September, 1659 ; and is valuable as giving the name of a Quabaug sachem, not elsewhere found. " In answer to a petition of Robert Ashley of Springfield for satisfaction for a horse killed by a Nipanett Indian the last year : The Commission- ers being informed by Mr. John Pynchon that the said Indian liveth at Quabage, under the sachem Annoackamor ; doth think twenty pounds should be demanded of the said sachem, or the man that killed the horse to be delivered into the hands of the said Ashley to be by him disposed of as he sees cause. Mr. Pynchon is desired to take care that satisfaction be demanded, and the party secured if there be opportunity, which if he cannot attain, we desire the Mass. Government to effect the same as they shall see cause." [Acts of Com. of U. Cols. II. 225.]
It is not known of which of our Indian towns Annoackamor was sachem.
We now come, in chronological order, to the grant of a part of the Quabaug territory, May 30, 1660, to the inhabitants of Ipswich. But the particulars of this transaction properly belong to the next chapter.
The next year, and before any whites came upon the ground, a war party of Mohegans, under Oneko, son of Uncas, with the knowledge and consent of his father, made an assault upon our Quabaugs (written Quabaconk), killing three, and carrying away six captives. The real motive for the assault is not apparent. The pretended motive was, to satisfy an old grudge against Onopequin, a native of Quabaug, but then living at Pacomptuck, some of whose men, as Uncas asserts, were then with the Quabaugs. If this was in fact true, Uncas had a plausible excuse. For in the spring of 1658, Onopequin had led a war party into the Mohegan country, and killed and taken several of Uncas' people -
43
DEALINGS WITH UNCAS.
much after the fashion of this return raid of Oneko. But it is more likely that Uncas intended the expedition as a defiance to Wassamegin (Massasoit) and the English authorities, to whom he bore no love, and whose interest just then, as he well knew, would prevent them from resorting to severe measures against him. He was a shrewd, turbulent, imperious man, and a daring warrior, skilled in making and breaking combinations ; generally favoring the English ; but feared and distrusted by all parties. He seems to have gained his end, whatever it was, in this business ; and got off with a severe scolding, and a solemn injunc- tion " not to do so again."
"A DECLARATION OF THE DEALINGS OF UNCAS AND THE MOHEGAN INDIANS. TO CERTAIN INDIANS THE INHABITANTS OF QUABACONK. MAY 21, 1661.1
About ten weeks since, Uncas's Son, accompanyed with 70 Indians set upon the Indians at Quabaconk, and slew three persons, and carried away 6 prisoners, among which prisoners was one squa with her two children, whom when he had brought to the fort, Uncas dismissed the squa, on conditions that she would go home and bring him 25 1b. in peage, two guns and two blankets, for the release of herself and her children, which as yet she hath not done, being retained by the sagamore of Washakeim, on hopes that their league with the English will free them; at the said time he carried away also in stuffe and moneyes, to the value of 37 Ib. And at such time as Uncas received notice of the displeasure of the Eng- lish in the Massachusetts, by the worshipfull Mr. Winthrop, he insolently laughed them to scorn, and professed that he would still go on as he had begun and assay who dares to control him. Moreover, 4 days since there came home a prisoner that escaped ; two yet remaining whom Uncas threat- ens, the one of them to kill, and the other to sell away as a slave ; and still threatens to continue his war against them, notwithstanding any prohibition whatsoever, whose very threats are so terrible that our Indians dare not wan- der far from the towns about the Indians, for fear of surprise.
From the relation of PAMBASSUA and testimony of WASSAMEGIN, QUAQUEQUUNSET, ET ALS."
This paper was received by the General Court, and referred to a com- mittee, viz., Humphrey Atherton, Joseph Hills, William Parkes. The committee reported June I, as follows :
"We the committee, in the case respecting the Indians at Quabaconk, think meet
Ist, That letters from this Court be sent unto Uncas; signifying how sensible we are of the Injuries by him done unto us, in the Outrages by him committed by his hostile invading our subjects the Indians at Quabaconk, who
I Mass. Archives XXX .: 85.
44
QUABAUG: INDIAN OCCUPATION, 1647-1665.
there live under Wassamagin their sagamore, by destroying and killing of some, by carrying away and keeping others captives, and by spoiling them of their goods to the value of 37 1b. as they complain ; willing and requir- ing of him the said Uncas to yield and deliver up the said captives, and to make restitution for the goods by him so taken from our said subjects : And that for time to come, he forbear all hostilitie and unlawful violence towards the persons, lands and goods of our said subjects the Quabaconk aforesaid. Signifying also to the said Uncas that if Wassamagin or his subjects have done or shall do any Injury to him or his subjects, that on complaints to us and due proof thereof he shall be righted.
2d, That Uncas be given to understand and be assured from this Court that if he refuse or neglect to release or deliver up the foresaid captives, and also to make restitution for the goods taken from our said subjects, that we then are resolved, the Lord assisting, to right our foresaid Injuries upon him and his subjects for the same. And for all the charges whatsoever that shall arise in the prosecution thereof.
3d, That if the said Uncas shall put us to right ourselves by war upon him, that we shall then require satisfaction also for the lives of our subjects by him slain as aforesaid.
4th, That for the encouragement and safety of the said Wassamagin and his subjects there be by order of Maj. Willard, 3 or 4 armed men well accommodated in all respects, with a proportion of powder, bullets and match, sent from Lancaster to Quabaconk unto the said Wassamagin, there to stay a night or two, and to shoot off their muskets so often and in such wise as the Major shall direct, to terrify the enemies of Wassamagin, and so to return home again.
5th, That either the Major or the soldiers by his order advise Wassa- magin and his subjects there, that the General Court, the Govr and dep. Govr and Magistrates shall take it as an assured token of their hearty love and fidelitie to the Englishi, and of their thankful acknowledgment of all favors extended to them, if they would let the English have the bringing up of those captives now to be released, and of some of their sons also, by means whereof they may the better know and serve God, and be the more helpful to their own kinsfolk, friends and countrymen afterwards. And that Mr. Eliot be desired to second and forward the motion to Wassamagin and his subjects as often seasonable occasion shall be ministered.
6th, That either the Major General, or Maj. Willard, or the soldiers to be sent as aforesaid, in the name of this Court advise and require Wassa- magin and his men to be very careful of injuring or in any ways provoking of Uncas or any of his men, as he will answer our displeasure therein, and incur due punishment for the same. And that if, notwithstanding his inno- cence that way, that Uncas shall invade or injure him as formerly, that he give notice thereof unto Maj. Willard, who upon manifest invasion and assault of the enemie, shall act and do according to law in case of Alarm, so far as to him seems necessary, and this shall be his sufficient warrant for the same.
The Deputies approve this answer.
Consented to by the Magistrates.
EDW. RAWSON, Secy."
45
DEALINGS WITH UNCAS.
The matter was taken in hand by the Commissioners of the United Colonies ; as appears from the following communication sent to Uncas, and his reply through Capt. John Mason.
" Upon a complaint made to the Commers of the Massachusetts against Unkas, this following message was sent to him : - We have received infor- mation and complaint from the General Court of the Massachusetts of your hostile invading of Wasamequen and the Indians of Quabakutt, who are and long have been subjects to the English, killing some and carrying away others captives, spoiling their goods to the value of 33{. as they allege : and all this contrary to your covenant and promise to the Commers several times renewed ; not to make war on any of our tributaries without the allow- ance of the Commers ; we also understand that the General Court of the Masstts, whose subjects the said Indians are, have formally signified their offence unto you, Requiring the return of your captives, and satisfaction for the wrong you have done, to which you have not returned any answer, which seems to be an insolent and proud carriage of yours, we cannot but wonder at it, and must bear witness against it, and do hereby will and require you forthwith to return said captives with due satisfaction for other wrongs done them, or to make out sufficient grounds and Reasons for your invad- ing the said Indians, the which you are to speedily to send to the Governor of Massatts, and if it appear they have done you any wrong, upon due proof we shall take care that they make you satisfaction : if you shall neglect to observe our order and injunctions herein contained, we must leave the Massa- chusetts to right themselves, as formerly they signified unto you : in which case we must own and if need be assist our confederates.
Signed. The Commissioners of the United Colonies. Plymouth, Sept. 13, 1661."
" Since this order agreed and entered concerning Uncas, this follow- ing answer was given by Major Mason on behalf of Uncas : --
Whereas, There was a warrant sent from the Court of Boston, dated in May last, to Uncas, sachem of Mohegan, wherein it was declared upon the Complaint of Wesamequen a sachem subject to the Massachusetts, that the said Uncas had offered great violence to their subjects at Quabauke, killing some, and taking others captive : which warrant came to Uncas not above twenty days before these presents. who being summoned by Maj. John Mason in the full scope of the said warrant, wherein he was deeply charged if he did not return the captives and 33 pounds Damage, then the Mas- sachusetts would recover it by force of arms, which to him was very grievous : professing he was altogether ignorant that they were subjects belonging to the Massachusetts ; and further said that they were none of Wesamequen's men, but belonging to Onopequin, his deadly enemy, who was there born : one of the men then taken was his own Cousin, who had formerly fought against him in his own person ; and yet set him at liberty : and further said that all the captives were sent home: also that Wesame- quen's son and divers of his men had fought against him divers times : this he desired might be returned as his answer to the Commissioners.
46
QUABAUG: INDIAN OCCUPATION, 1647-1665.
N. B. Alexander alias Wamsutta, Sachem of Sowamsett, being now at Plymouth, he challenged Quabauke Indians to belong to him : and further said that he did war against Uncas this summer on that account.
Signed by JOHN MASON."
A special interest attaches to the above papers, because the events recorded happened in our territory at the time when the white settlers were just taking possession of their new homes in Brookfield ; and we thus get an idea of the Indian life with which they came in contact. Nothing could better illustrate the daring courage of the Ipswich men and women who first pitched on Foster's hill, than this picture of their surroundings, with, on the one hand, savage vengeance and duplicity, and on the other, the timorous policy of our State authorities. It surely did not promise well for substantial help and support to an infant colony away in the wilderness, when the powerful Uncas could murder and despoil a peaceable tribe, and the English Governor, who claimed said tribe as his subjects, instead of demanding and enforcing redress, only devised a way to scare the haughty chieftain, by " stationing 3 or 4 men with fire-locks and plenty of ammunition " at Wekabaug, who should " stay there a night or two, and shoot off their muskets so often and in such wise as Major Willard should direct, and then return home again !"
And these papers have additional and great value, in that they clear up what has been a mystery in the life of Wassamegin (Massasoit), and at the same time disclose the reason why the Quabaugs so earnestly espoused the cause of his son Philip, and why that chieftain fled hither for aid and protection, immediately on his defeat at Pocasset in the summer of 1675.
Massasoit, it will be remembered, was the Wampanoag sachem first to visit the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621, and then became and continued their firm friend. The treaty of peace and mutual defence, made be- tween him and the whites, was carefully observed for above fifty years, and was an important factor in the prosperity of the colony. He was the father of Alexander, who married the distinguished Weetamoo, and was ever the friend of the English ; and the father of Philip, who be- came their deadly enemy. In 1632, when he made war upon the Nar- ragansetts, Massasoit changed his name to Ousamequin (often written Wassamegin), by which name he is afterwards known in history. His home-seat was in the present town of Bristol, R.I. But he lived at various points in Bristol and Plymouth counties, Mass. There is evi- dence that in 1643-4 he was living in the western central part of Wor- cester County. And we found that in 1648, Cutshamakin, one of his leading under-sachems, asserted the claims of his chieftain to jurisdic-
47
DEATH OF MASSASOIT.
tion over our Quabaug tribe. From 1649 to 1657, he appears on the records as selling lands in Bridgewater, Rehoboth, Hogg Island, and elsewhere. At the latter date, he disappears from the affairs of his old home. Mr. Drake [Bk. of the Inds. II. 28] suggests that he had then disposed of most of his lands, and given up the sachemship to his son Wamsutta (Alexander). Did he then take up his abode with the Quabaugs? The evidence in the case, as given in the papers under consideration, favors such a conclusion. From his high standing, and former relations, he would of course be acknowledged by our tribe as chief sagamore. And the only fair construction of the statements - which are official - contained in these papers, renders it certain that he was living here and was sagamore in May, 1661. The best authorities give the date of his death in 1661, or early in 1662. He probably died at Quabaug. His age could not have been less than 80.
The next important item in the annals of our tribe is the sale, Nov. 10, 1665, by the sachem Shattoockquis, to the English settlers, of a tract of land about six miles square, covering the original town of Brook- field. But the particulars of this transaction properly belong to the next chapter.
And this brings us to the end of the sole Indian occupation, and the beginning of the joint occupancy of the township by the red and white races.
And it is a singular fact that the history of our Indian tribe for the next ten years is substantially a blank. We know that the natives re- mained in their villages, and cultivated their cornfields as before. We get a glimpse, now and then, from the Court records, of a drunken brawl, or a minor crime committed by or upon them ; of a leading Indian of Naunotuk perpetrating a theft at home, and fleeing for concealment to Quabaug. And we know, in a general way, that these ten years were years of peace between the Indians and the English in this neighbor- hood.
The condition of Quabaug, and its relations to the outside world, were greatly changed as compared with 1647. It was now on an estab- lished English bridle-path between the Bay and the Connecticut. The single horseman, or a cavalcade of riders and pack-horses was a common sight to our Indians. They had taken part in matters of diplomacy and traffic, and had seen the features of English social life and customs, and felt the power of civilization, by actual contact. English towns had been established above Springfield. Northampton was purchased of the Naunotuks in 1653, and settled the next year. Hadley was settled in 1659. Deerfield was purchased in 1667, and a settlement made in 1669 ; but the Dedham committees had been passing to and fro since 1665, and had added to the bustle of our quiet settlement.
48
QUABAUG: INDIAN OCCUPATION, 1647-1665.
Savage man instinctively holds civilized man in reverence, as a higher order of intelligence and power. The records of all original explora- tions and discoveries prove this. Suitable clothing is a moral force ; good tools and weapons are a moral force ; habits of industry are a moral force ; ownership of a horse or ox is a moral force ; a fixed home is a moral force : they indicate prescience and providence, and they imply dominion, as a consequent of intelligence, and thus directly, as well as by contrast, awaken awe in the untutored child of nature.
For this reason, and for another to be named presently, our natives welcomed the white settlers. They sold their lands in good faith, and as a rule were satisfied with the price received. It was understood - perhaps stipulated - by both parties that the Indians retained the right to hunt, fish, and plant corn ; and the high sense of justice then preva- lent among the better class of our Puritan fathers, led them to respect these aboriginal rights ; and thus many of the possible frictions of the two races were prevented. The Indian men bartered their furs and venison, for guns and hatchets ; and the women exchanged their baskets, brooms, and mats, for trinkets and kettles. The tidy housewife tolerated the dirty squaw in her kitchen, from womanly pity for her hard lot ; and the farmer made friends with the dusky trapper who trampled his meadows, as a matter of policy, to save complaints about his roving cattle trespassing on the unfenced native cornfields - though it must be said, he could not always resist the temptation to sell the said trapper when very thirsty a mug of beer for two fathoms of wampum (equal to five shillings in money) ; and the thrifty trader would accept the offer of a good beaver-skin for four quarts of rum. But the public frowned upon such practices. The squaws sometimes hired the English to plow their cornfields, so that better crops were raised with less labor. And it was not uncommon for them to take English fields to plant on shares ; allowing the owner one-half the crop, divided on the ground.
But both races held the other at arm's length. They had too little in common, to invite mutual sympathy, and cement mutual interest. Our people learned the Indian words in ordinary use sufficiently to carry on conversation about the daily wants of life, and simple matters of barter and labor. And the Indian caught enough of our words to comprehend the subject of talk, and make known his thoughts, when he chose to be communicative. The more formal transactions, like the sale of lands, were made through the medium of interpreters, who had in some way become skilled in the two languages. Some of these interpreters were Indians, educated by Mr. Eliot.
Seen from the distance-this picture has features which to one of romantic turn, are strange and pleasing. But there was little of romance, and much of hard reality in the life of those times. By both whites and
PEACEFUL CO-OCCUPATION. 49
red men, it was a struggle for food, and raiment, and a shelter ; the for- mer looking forward with hope to better times, and a competence and a comfortable home ; the latter taking " no thought for the morrow."
But probably the more weighty motive with our Indians for desiring the coming among them of the English in 1662-5, was fear of Uncas and his Mohegans from Connecticut, and of the Mohawks from New York. The grounds of their fear of the Connecticut sachem have been suffi- ciently indicated by the papers already quoted in full. And the Indians would naturally reason that the Governor at Boston would interfere to protect his own colony, when he might hesitate and parley, in avenging the wrongs of a native subject tribe. And his observation had taught him that the white settlers always carried their fire-arms with them to a new plantation. But Uncas was less dreaded by our Indians than the Mohawks, a powerful and blood-thirsty tribe living on the river of that name in New York, who were at this date, the special enemies of the western Massachusetts Indians.' In 1664, these Mohawks came in force to the Connecticut valley, destroyed the native fort at Deerfield, and inflicted great injury upon the Pacomptucks, and neighboring tribes. This bloody raid extended as far eastward as the Nashaway and Merri- mack valleys. And for several years, scouting parties of the victors made frequent descents upon the Indians in these parts, and kept them in constant alarm. The presence, and friendship, and guns of the Eng- lish were looked upon as a safeguard and defence.
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