USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 7
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Eventually the vessel arrived off the shore of Capewock, as Marthas Vineyard was then called, and again the Indians showed their curiosity, possibly their friendliness, by approaching with their canoes. This gave Epenow an opportunity to broadcast his message concerning his impressions of things abroad and call attention to the Englishmen he had induced to accompany him home. He also explained why he wore long trousers which Captain Harley had wished on him before he arose to make his speech. Whether he informed his red brethren that it was to enable members of the crew to lay hands upon him and hold him securely, in case he attempted to escape, or made some other explanation, the English crew was unable to say. Epenow had the advantage of them in that situation because they, not he, had become a "sight" and while he could understand a little of the English lan- guage, they could not understand any of his.
Epenow had his speech all prepared for him and it was to the effect that the English would like to trade for furs and entertain the Indians on ship board. Whether Epenow was a faithful interpreter or spoke extemporaneously is a matter of conjecture but the Indians pretended to be much impressed with the opportunity to trade and, according to Epenow, they would return the next morning with a liberal consign- ment of furs, possibly some samples of gold from the mine, but they were disappointed to see him wearing white man's garb and didn't care to come aboard unless he was properly dressed to receive his old friends. Formal party dress in those days, as in these, was more a matter of taking off than putting on. So Epenow was allowed to re- move his trousers, paint his exterior and whatever else he could do from his vanity case to make him look natural. Then he was allowed to walk out on the bowsprit, show himself unfettered and talk as one Indian to another.
The canoes filled with Indians circled closer and Captain Harley ordered Epenow to promise them liberal treatment if they would come
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on board with their furs. Epenow hailed them, twenty canoes formed a half circle and into this half circle the returning Indian dove, while the Indians covered his getaway by a shower of arrows directed at the onlookers on the deck. Captain Harley was clearly outwitted and his reputation definitely made known to an unknown number of war- riors. He returned to England without his cargo and without Epenow.
This was the same year that Captain John Smith quitted the colony of Virginia, on a whaling voyage which took him past the coast of Cape Cod. He made a map of the country which he presented to King Charles. It was called by him New England. What is now called New England was at that time supposed to be an island.
When Captain John Smith embarked for London, he left his own ship under command of Captain Thomas Hunt. The latter spent some time in fishing, enticed on board the vessel some Indians from Nauset, now known as Eastham on Cape Cod. Then he sailed for Spain, docked at Malaga and sold his Indian captives as slaves for twenty pounds per man.
These outrages were perpetrated years before the "Mayflower" sailed into Cape Cod Harbor. It is not to be wondered at that the natives were suspicious of the pale faces, although there are plenty of well authenticated stories to show that they were well disposed toward each new party of arrivals until each in turn gave them abundant cause for hatred.
Captain Thomas Dermer, one of Captain John Smith's captains, came to these coasts in command of a vessel fitted out by Sir Ferdinand Gorges in February, 1619, to fish off the New England coast. On that ship was Tisquantum, or Squanto, brought here as guide. He was one of the natives whom Captain Thomas Hunt had taken away from Nauset, or Eastham, in 1614. According to the "Life of Gorges," when Tisquantum arrived at his native village he found every member of his tribe had died from a scourge which had reduced the number of Indians in this vicinity to a small remnant. Concerning this incident, Captain Dermer reported: "When I arrived at my native savage's native country, finding all dead, I travell almost a day's journey westward to a place called Namasket, where finding inhabitants, I despatched a messenger a day's journey west to Pokanoket, which bordereth on the sea, whence came to see me two kings attended with a guard of fifty armed men, who being well satisfied with what my savage and I discoursed among them, and being desirous of novelty, gave me consent in whatsoever I demanded."
Captain Dermer rescued two Frenchmen who had fallen into the hands of the Indians when they were shipwrecked a few years pre-
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viously. They had been held as slaves. There had been a third captive but he had married and shortly afterward died and had been buried with his child. In Goodwin's "Pilgrim Republic," page 78, it is related : "The Pilgrims discovered the grave of this man. On opening it they found a bow between two mats, a painted board shaped like a trident, bowls, trays, dishes, etc., and two bundles which proved to be the bones of a man with fine yellow hair and a child. This caused much interest, as it showed them that white people had been there before them." One of the Frenchmen was found at Namasket, now the town of Middleboro; the other at Massachusetts Bay.
While in this vicinity the natives became suspicious of Captain Dermer and at least on one occasion would have killed him if Tisquantum had not saved his life.
The "Life of Gorges" also records that Captain Dermer sailed through the whole passage between Long Island and the main land, and was the first to demonstrate the insular position of Long Island. He touched at Capewock where he was recognized by Epenow as one of the men in the employ of Gorges. He went ashore on the island which Epenow had said contained a mine of inexhaustible gold and was attacked by the Indians who shot fourteen arrows into him. One story is that Captain Dermer died from his wounds and that all others of his boat's crew were killed in the affray. Another story is that he escaped, sailed for Virginia with the two Frenchmen, leaving Tis- quanto at "Tawahquatook," now the town of Brewster.
At this time there were at least three Indians in this vicinity who knew something about the English from personal experiences and a few English words. They were Epenow and Tisquanto, who will henceforth be referred to as Squanto, the name by which he was known to the Pilgrims, and Samoset. It was the latter who one day in March, following the landing of the Pilgrims, strode down the First Street in Plymouth, later called Leyden Street, apparently not at least afraid of Captain Myles Standish and his army and the frowning guns which had been mounted on the fort at the top of the hill. Samoset came all alone, as a modern hotel greeter, secretary of the Chamber of Com- merce or chairman of the reception committee of the Kiwanis. He surprised the inhabitants of Plymouth by calling out in broken English, "Welcome, Englishmen." He was the first resident of Patuxet, as Plymouth was called by the Indians, who had called upon them. He was a Sagamore who had come from Monhiggon, Maine, where he had learned something of the English tongue from captains of the fishing vessels who had touched at Maine. He became a frequent caller, and on his third visit was accompanied by Squanto. These Indians
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informed the Pilgrims of the extraordinary plague which, some four years before, had wiped out most of the Indian population in those parts. Squanto and Samoset arranged an interview with Massasoit, the most powerful of the Indian sachems.
The story of the meeting between Massasoit and the Pilgrims, which was conducted with considerable formality, how the treaty was made and faithfully kept as long as Massasoit lived, and other incidents in the early days concerning the Pilgrims and the Indians has already been told in the volume concerning Plymouth County. There are, however, historical incidents concerning the part the Indians played in the early life of the Pilgrims on Cape Cod soil which have not been related and which belong more especially to what is now Barnstable County.
Indians Became Incensed Against the English-History records that the few days following the signing of the Compact and the election of John Carver as governor, the Pilgrims spent in repairing the ship's boat and in making explorations near the shore. They came upon a quantity of corn in baskets, buried by the Indians, and helped them- selves. They also opened graves, taking away some of the most attractive trinkets, buried with the embalmed bodies. About ten bushels of corn were obtained, a bag of beans and a bottle of oil. They also entered the dwellings of the Indians, and took away whatever they thought they could use, including some venison which the Indians had secreted in a hollow tree.
It was therefore not at all surprising that about 5 o'clock in the morning of December 8, according to Bradford's "History," "on a sud- den he heard a great and strange cry. One of our company, being abroad, came running in, and cried: 'Indians, Indians,' and at once their arrows were flying amongst us, and our men hastily seized their arms. The cry of our enemies were dreadful."
One lusty Indian, and no whit less valiant, who was thought to be the captain, stood behind a tree within half a musket shot of us, and there let fly his arrows. He stood three shots of the musket. At length one took, as he said, full aim at him, when he gave an extraordinary cry, and away they all went.
Immediately after this "First Encounter" they took to the boat again, coasted along in search of a port which Robert Coppin, their pilot, assured them he had seen. It was rough weather, their masts broke in the gale and they were nearly cast away, but passed the Gurnet, at the mouth of Plymouth Harbor and eventually came safely to anchor under the lee of a small island. There they remained until morning when they landed, the master's mate of the "Mayflower,"
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Clark, being first to land. It was called after him, Clark's Island. He was the man who, the next day, preached the first sermon on that island. According to Bradford, "This being the last day of the week, December 9, they dry their stuff, fix their pieces, rest themselves, return thanks to God, and the next day, December 10, they keep the Christian Sabbath."
The Pilgrims, in their cruising about the Cape Cod shore, saw two abandoned forts, one near Pamet River, and the other south of Well- fleet River. They had evidently been abandoned during the plague, as the dead had been interred inside as well as outside the stockade. The Pilgrims thought the forts palisaded cemeteries until they became better acquainted with the habits and customs of the Indians.
Aside from the arrival of the Pilgrims in Provincetown Harbor and their explorations along the shore, the history of Cape Cod, if we are to exclude the anecdotes of antiquity, begins March 17, 1621, when information came to the Pilgrims through Samoset, a friendly Indian, that the Nauset Indians, southeast of Plymouth, were much incensed against the English. The Indians referred to inhabited that part of the Cape now called Eastham, which originally embraced Chatham. The antipathy on the part of the Indians was occasioned by Captain Hunt who had been left in charge of Captain John Smith's fleet when Captain Smith returned to England, having carried away twenty-seven Indians, seven of them from Nauset and sold them as slaves. Samoset informed the Pilgrims that the Indians, whom the party from the "May- flower" had had a battle with, were Nausets. About five months before the "Mayflower" arrived at Cape Cod, these Indians, remembering the treachery of Hunt and his crew, had slain three Englishmen.
Red Skins Returned Good for Evil-Another Indian, this time the great Sachem of the Wampanoags, Massasoit, became known to the Pilgrims for his friendliness in July, 1621, and remained a friend of the Pilgrims as long as he lived. He early made a treaty with the English colonists and this treaty was faithfully kept until his death. The incident referred to in July, 1621, was the disappearance of John Billington, a boy of the Pilgrim band who wandered away in the Plymouth woods and became lost. Massasoit, when his attention was called to the fact, caused inquiry to be made and reported that the boy was at Nauset. He had come to an Indian plantation in Sandwich, as it is now called, been fed by the Indians there and, by them, taken to Nauset.
In spite of the fact that the wanderer was in the hands of the same Indians who had the encounter with the party from the "Mayflower" the previous December, who had ransacked the Indian graves, opened
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their storehouses of grain, taken away whatever they wished, he was unharmed, and they waited in patience the arrival of the shallop from Plymouth sent to take him home. Massasoit sent with the Pilgrims on their errand to Nauset two of his braves, Tisquantum and Tockama- hon, to act as guides and interpreters. Tisquantum has usually been written Squanto. On their way they anchored for the night in what is now Barnstable Harbor, then called Cummaquid, and, while anchored there, were left in shallow water by the ebbing tide.
Early in the morning they were approached by Indians who beckoned to them to come ashore and partake of the hospitality of their sachem, Iyanough. Six of the boat's number went with the messengers, but four of the Indians were confined on board as hostages. It is related that Iyanough received the Pilgrim party hospitably and was "a man very personable, gentle, courteous and fair conditioned-about twenty- six years of age-indeed not a savage, save in his attire. His enter- tainment was answerable to his parts, and his cheer plentiful and various."
A messenger was sent by this sachem to Nauset and, in response, Aspinet, the Nauset sachem, appeared with the boy and one hundred of his tribesmen. A knife was presented to Aspinet and another knife to one of the Indians who had entertained the boy, treated him kindly, brought him back on his shoulders, after decorating him with orna- ments, Aspinet established a firm friendship with the English neighbors.
It seems a great pity that the forbearance of the Indians, under the provocation which they had had from the Englishmen, even from those of the "Mayflower" party, to say nothing of the perfidy and treachery visited upon them by Captain Hunt and other earlier naviga- tors, should have finally been replaced by enmity and its long trail of suffering and atrocities, which form a part of history involving the early settlers and the Indians.
In this connection, it is related by Frederick Freeman in his "History of Cape Cod," "There was present on this occasion an Indian woman who was more than one hundred years of age. She had come from Nauset on purpose to see the English, as she had never seen an Englishman before; but, seeing them, she wept with great and sore lamentation. The English, inquiring the cause, found that she was the mother of three of the men stolen away by Captain Hunt, and that the remem- brance of her loss had overpowered her."
Before returning to Plymouth with the boy Billington, Iyanough showed the party every courtesy and gave a party in their honor, at which all his people joined, with dancing, singing and merrymaking. The final act was that of the sachem taking a bracelet from his own
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neck and placing it upon the neck of the leader of the Pilgrim party, thus denoting his friendliness and best wishes for a safe return and prosperity.
The Indians upon the Cape were not considered a part of the Wam- panoags under Massasoit although it appears that they were more or less overawed by his genius and power. Before the landing of the Pilgrims, the territory, afterwards called the Old Colony, was occu- pied by the Wampanoags, or Pawkunnawkuts, generally written Pokanokets. According to Gookin, "The Wampanoags were a great people heretofore. Their chief sachem held dominion over divers other petty sagamores or sachems, as upon the Island of Nantucket and Nope, or Marthas Vineyard, Nauset, Manomayick, Saukatucket, Nobsquasset, Mattakees, and others, not excepting some of the Nip- mucks. This people was a potent nation in former times, and could raise about 3,000 fighting men. Great numbers of them were swept away by an unusual pestilence, which prevailed in the years 1612 and 1613."
It is related that September 13, 1621, nine sachems, as well as Mas- sasoit and many petty sachems under him subscribed an instrument of submission to King James. In the "Relation" by Mourt, he says : "Yes, Massasoit has owned the King of England to be his master, both he and many kings under him, as of Pamet, Nawset, Cummaquid, Namasket, with divers who dwell about the bays of Patuxet and Massachusetts."
The Nauset Indians, occupying the territory about the present towns of Eastham and Chatham, had outlying territory and one of their principal seats was within the present limits of Orleans. They occupied a prominent position and were greatly feared by the other Indians. It is said that there were two sachemdoms or cantons of the Cape Indians, one extending from Plymouth to Sandwich, taking in Mashpee, Barnstable and Falmouth; the other extending from Mattachiest to Cape Cod Harbor. The Nausets were in this latter division. Mat- tachiest was the northwest part of Yarmouth and Barnstable Harbor. The Mashpee has long been the principal body of Indians residing in the Old Colony and is at present the one town on Cape Cod known as an Indian town. The Indians in Dukes County, taking in the Elizabeth Islands as well as Marthas Vineyard, were separate tribes. The Mat- tachiest Indians were under Iyanough who so royally treated the party from Plymouth who went into his domain in search of the missing John Billington.
In connection with the Cape Cod Indians it is well to remember that, while it is supposed they were in some way under the general
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direction of the Wampanoags and the sachem Massasoit, in the time when Massasoit's son Metacomet, alias King Philip, engaged other Indians in King Philip's War, in 1675, he was unable to induce them to join him.
According to some historians the Indians were given to gambling, especially fond of two games, one called Puim, the other Hub-bub. "They are so bewitched with these two games, that they lose, some- times, all they have; beaver, moose-skins, kettles, wamponpeage, mi- whackies, hachets and knives, is all confiscated by these two games."
As we proceed with the history of Barnstable County it will be ยท
shown how many times the item appears, in records of early town- meetings, of the requirement that male inhabitants destroy a certain number of blackbirds each year. It is reasonable to infer that, by blackbirds, the vote may have been intended to include crows, of which there were great flocks. One reason for such a large number may lie in the explanation given by Hutchinson who says: "The Indians had a tradition that a crow brought the first grain of corn, Indian corn ; and although this bird often robbed their fields, not one Indian in a hundred would kill them."
Like the "Mayflower," the ship "Fortune," which arrived in No- vember, 1621, touched at Cape Cod before reaching Plymouth Harbor. The first news of the coming of the "Fortune" reached the Pilgrims by Indian runners from Cape Cod, who fancied that the new arrival was for no good purpose, possibly the taking away of the Plymouth colonists as Captain Hunt had on previous years taken away Indians from Patuxet and Nauset. This should be set down as an especially friendly act on the part of the Indians. Indeed, their fear was shared by the Pilgrims who at first thought the ship might be a French vessel. The governor ordered guns fired to warn all the inhabitants and plans were made for defence, until it was learned that the ship "Fortune" had thirty-five new settlers on board and provisions which were sadly needed.
EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIMS
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CHAPTER XXXIII "A SMALL CHIMNEY EASILY HEATED"
How Captain Myles Standish Repaid Assistance From Indians in Time of Famine by Threats of Revenge When Beads and Pair of Scissors Were Missing-Head of Witawamet Displayed on Plymouth Fort- Massacre at Wesagusquaset Caused Red Men to Take to the Swamps and Lose Confidence in Pilgrims' Sincerity-Why or What was Megansett ?- Why Cape Codders are not French.
There are many important instances in Pilgrim history centred about Nauset on the Cape, now the town of Eastham. The Nauset Indians were especially friendly and helpful and the Pilgrims had many occa- sions for being thankful that they had such good friends and willing providers of foodstuffs. Plymouth had no fertile acres and the harbor was not convenient. Indeed, as late as 1645, it was proposed to move the capital to Nauset.
Eastham was one of the first towns in the Plymouth Colony, some say as early as 1622, that decreed that a part of every whale cast ashore should be appropriated to the support of the ministry. The early colonists' theological instruction was founded on whales and their secular education largely on cod fish-another reason for the belief that "fish make brains."
The first time the Plymouth colonists ventured around the Cape was in November, 1622, in search of food, which they hoped to obtain from the Indians. In this they were not disappointed for it is recorded they put into the harbor of Manamoyk and "the same evening the governor, with Squanto and others, went ashore to the Indian houses, stayed all night, traded with the natives, and obtained eight hogsheads of corn and beans. Here Squanto, their early friend and faithful guide, was taken sick and died." From the Cape Cod Indians Governor Bradford wrote that twenty-eight hogsheads of corn and beans were obtained in all, largely at Nauset.
It is well for the reader to bear in mind all the kindnesses bestowed upon the Pilgrims by the Indians at Nauset and the treatment these same Nauset Indians had received from the white men, even the Pil- grims from Plymouth, as it was while collecting this generous supply of provisions which they so sorely needed, that they lost their shallop and were obliged to stack their supplies, intrusting all to the care of the Indians, as there was no way of transporting the corn and beans
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and other things to the ship. The Indians provided them with a guide and they "set out on foot, fifty miles, receiving all respect from the natives by the way, and weary and with galled feet," arrived safely at the Plymouth settlement. Three days later the ship arrived, bringing the provisions first obtained. The condition of the Pilgrims at that time is told in Bradford's records: "A famine begins to pinch us, and we look hard for a supply, but none arrives. The want of bread had abated the strength and flesh of some, and had swelled others, and had they not been where are divers sorts of shell fish, they must have perished."
The following January, Captain Myles Standish led a party in a ship to Nauset, where they found the Indians had not disturbed the store of corn and beans left there the previous November. The shallop was also found and, after being repaired, used in getting the corn and beans on the ship. Captain Standish spent the night on shore and, upon returning, missed from the shallop some beads and a pair of scissors.
This incident was sufficient in the mind of Myles Standish to cause him to visit the sachem, accompanied by some of the men in the party, and demand restitution or he would "revenge it on the Indians before he left them." The next morning the sachem restored "the trifles," stated that the thief had been punished, expressed his regret that the offence had been committed, and directed that refreshments be brought the captain and his men, which was done.
The next month Captain Standish and six men went to Mattachiest in a shallop and procured "a good quantity of corn from the natives. Through extremity, he and his men were forced to lodge in the Indians' houses, which they much pressed, as he thinks, with a design to kill him." Again some beads were missing and the hot little captain, "beset the sachem's house, where most of the people were, and threat- ened to fall upon them without delay if they did not forthwith restore them, signifying that, as he would not offer the least injury, so he would not receive any without due satisfaction." The sachem sought out the offender, had the beads restored, an extra quantity of corn given the captain, and he departed.
Massacre Caused Consternation Among Indians-If Myles Standish was looking for trouble, as seems to have been the case, he found it the next month, as March 25, 1623, found him at Manomet, in the house of the sachem, Caunacum, in search of corn, bought by the governor. While there Witawamet and another native arrived from the Massa- chusetts. They were, according to Standish, insulting in their behavior, and he came to the conclusion that their errand was to induce Caunacum to join in a conspiracy against the English. His opinion was confirmed
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