USA > Rhode Island > The lands of Rhode Island : as they were known to Caunounicus and Miantunnomu when Roger Williams came in 1636 : an Indian map of the principal locations known to the Nahigansets, and elaborate historical notes > Part 1
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Gc 974.5 R430 1774477
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01114 9611
.THE LANDS OF RHODE ISLAND
AS THEY WERE KNOWN TO
CAUNOUNICUS AND MIANTUNNOMU ·
WHEN ROGER WILLIAMS CAME IN 1636.
AN INDIAN MAP
OF THE
PRINCIPAL LOCATIONS
KNOWN TO THE
NAHIGANSETS AND
ELABORATE HISTORICAL NOTES
BY SIDNEY S. RIDER.
PROVIDENCE, R. I. PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1904.
1774477
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F 845 . 755.
Rider, Sidney Smith, 1833- 1917.
The lands of Rhode Island as they were known to Cannonni- ens and Miantunnom when Roger Williams came in 1630. An Indian map of the principal locations known to the Nahigan- sets. and elaborate historical notes. by Sidney S. Rider. Prov- idence. R. I., The author, 1901.
4 p. 1., 297 p. front., illus., plates, maps, faccio. 21cm.
1. Rhode Island .-- Ilist .- Colonial period. 2. Indians of North Amer- iva-Rhode Island. 3. Narragansett Indians. 1. Names, Geographical --- Rhode Island. 5. Indians of North America-Names.
4-25120
SHELF CARD
Library of Congress Copy 2. The with photographs, and other manuscript notes, clip- Copyright 1 69056
FS2.153 author's own copy, extra illustrated prints, and largely extended with pines, etc.
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TO THE MEMORY OF CAUNOUNICUS AND MIANTUNNOMU, WHO GAVE THIS GREAT BOULDER TO ROGER WILLIAMS.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/landsofrhodeisla00ride
F845.755
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1903, BY SIDNEY S. RIDER, In the Office of the Library of Congress, at Washington.
181077
PRESS OF THE CHRONICLE PRINTING CO., PAWTUCKET, R. I.
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... ... .
TO THE PARTNER IN MY JOYS AND SORROWS THESE
MANY YEARS THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR HER HUSBAND. .
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PRELIMINARY NOTE.
The purpose of the writer is first to set forth the characteristics of the Narragansetts; their Government, Laws, and customs ; ties of consanguinity ; marriage custom, social relations, domicils, furni- ture, and housekeeping arrangements ; hunting and trapping meth- ods; sports, games and gambling ; occupations ; the moving about of their domicils ; their bath caverns : their medical system, wholly incantation ; business arrangements ; their numerical system, relig- ion, ranks, dress, war methods, deaths, burial, and many other mat- ters. In attempting to set forth these characteristics the writer has rested wholly upon Roger Williams, who knew these Indians more thoroughly than any other man ; but the writer has taken occasional illustrations from other writers ; not only has he used the works of other men, but he has attempted to apply the rules of reason to all researches. Further he has attempted to show the chronological acquisitions of these lands from the Indians, which placed the juris- diction in the Colony, and ultimately in the State. This has been followed by setting forth the political results so far as towns are concerned, which followed.
The accompanying Indian Map shows the outlines of these towns, practically as now existing. The towns are identified by numbers ; and an attempt has been made, with more or less success, to locate within these town lines, certain Indian localities which existed before the towns were created, or the lines established. In naming these localities practically there have been used those which were known in the time of Canonicus and Miantinomi, which means before 1650. . The purpose being to escape that density of ignorance in writing both English and Indian, at the opening of the 17th century.
The scope of these Indian lands is entirely outside of modern knowledge; nevertheless an attempt is made to place the lands of the Nipmucs; and the lands of the Wampanoags, so far as they played a part in the formation of the State; and also the lands of the Narragansetts, separating the Shawomet lands; and the Niantic
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lands are also indicated. The English tautologie corruptions of In- dian names, which developed about the year 1700, are noted and condemned ; and the folly of attempting definitions, under such con- ditions is set forth. Certain great events connected with Indian his- tory are mentioned, and their locations attempted on the Indian Map. These are the Nine Men's Misery : Michael Pierce's Fight and Ex- termination ; the Great Swamp Fight ; the Queen's Fort; the Mas- sacre of July, 1676, near Natick; the Murder of Miantinomi; the capture and murder of Anawon, and the shooting of Philip ( Meta- comet ) near Montop. In addition to these interesting matters, up- wards of a hundred and fifty historical sketches are given concerning these: Indian localities which appear upon the Map. Among the most interesting of these sketches are "Hipses rock" and its classical derivation. "Goatom" and its close connection with the most an- cient English dramatic literature. "Mount Hope", "Hopum", was the name which the Norse leader Karlsfinio gave to "an estuary leading into a Bay" ( the East passage) in this region. The attempts of John Crown to get possession of these lands are set forth under this same head.
Under Quetenis is given the Dutch accounts of "Dutch" island, and the two Dutch trading forts in Charlestown, one of which was christened "Ninigret's Fort" in 1883.
Under the name Aquidneck is given the origin of the name Rhode Island. Roger Williams first suggested it in 1637.
Under Chibachucsa is given the story of John Paine, and the "Sophy Manor".
Under Aspanansuck is given a history of the Indian Queen, Wa- waloam, whom Gov. Winthrop invited to visit and dine with him at Boston.
Under the "Queen's Fort" is given the History of the Fortifica- tion, and its supposed builder. It is the only structure built by the Narragansetts now in existence; it goes back to the time before the Charter of Charles the Second.
Under "Chachapacassett" is discussed the name Rumstick, and the singular geographical formation of the lands so suggestive of the Norse word "Rymstock".
Under Setamachut is given the history of Hackelton's, or Hack- ston's, Lime Kiln. It is the most ancient structure built by English- men now in existence in Rhode Island; it was built in 1662.
But the identification of the "Little Isle Nahiganset." from which came the name Narragansett, is one of the most interesting historical facts contained in the book.
The Forgeries connected with the original Deed are carefully re- considered, and reaffirmed. The reasons for this were two: First. the publication of the roth volume of the Collections of the R. I. Historical Society, the Harris Papers, in which exists documentary proofs of the Forgery. Second, this Forgery changes in a radical way the early history of Rhode Island as it has been continually written. It destroys instantly all that has been said against the first Rhode Islanders concerning their aversion to submit to any organ- ized government ; or how their aversions to a religious oligarchy. resulted in an individualism which destroyed civil government. These Forgeries explain all these pretended actions of the people.
Such in a general way is the outline of my work; in a work so original, it is not possible to escape error ; point out fearlessly these errors and they shall be turned at once from fiction into history.
I am under obligations to certain friends. It is but fair that I thank them in close connection with the work which they helped me in the construction. To Mabel De Witt Eldred, of Kingston College : to Maud Andrea Munster, a teacher in the schools ; to J. Raleigh Eldred, for the photographs of Nahigonset from a tree top; to Clarence S. Brigham, of the Historical Society; to George Parker Winship, of the John Carter Brown Library; and to Edward Field, Commissioner of the Providence Early Records, all for access to early authorities, and to John S. Hana for a photograph. All these friends I thank ; but I must not forget three others-Mabel Estelle Emerson, Eva Swift Gardner and Marguerite McLean Reid, of the Public Library corps, who have bent all their energies to help me.
CHAPTERS.
The characteristics of the Narrangansetts as set forth by Roger Williams in his Key to the Language of the Natives
Page 2
The acquisition of the Indian Lands now forming the State of Rhode Island, 1636-1672, when, how, and chiefly by whom acquired, with a few notes.
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The Political divisions into Towns and Counties which followed the acquisition of these lands.
67
The bounds of the Providence purchase as fixed by Mian -. tinomi in person, about 1642, four years after the original Deed was given.
The Forgeries by -William Arnold and William Harris, one, or both, in connection with the original Deed given by Canonicus and Miantinomi to Roger Wil- liams
.6 73
Notes concerning the localities on the Indian Map of Rhode Island, and also of certain places connected with early Indian history.
79
Quetenis, now Dutch Island, and the two fortified Trad- ing posts, built by the Dutch on the lands now known as Charlestown, R. I 287
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Concerning the Indian Names of Places on these lands and the meanings of the same. 45
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Pequot War Map, 1636-7, Page 4 Indian Map of the Lands of Rhode Island, 58 ..
Fac Simile of the Original Indian Deed,
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78
Map of the "Short" and the "Long" Bounds,
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100 The Grave of John Wicks, ..
180
Hipses Rock, the Rock Hesperus,
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152 The Little Isle Nahigonset, . ..
200
The Little Isle Nahigonset, from a tree top, 205
The Canonicus Boulder on Notaquonckanet,
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206 The Cascade of Pauchasset, ..
218
The Queen's Fort,
237
The Rock Pettaquamscut, . . .
233 Hackleton's Lime Kiln, . ..
269
The "Figurative" Dutch Chart of 1616, . .. 291
The Arnold Colom Dutch Chart, . 291
The Fischer Dutch Chart,
..
293
The Dutch Chart of 1640,
295
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THE
CHARACTER OF THE NARRAGANSETTS AS SET FORTH BY
ROGER WILLIAMS IN HIS
KEY TO THE LANGUAGE OF THE NATIVES 1643 .
SHOWING THEIR TIES OF CONSANGUINITY-TIHIER GOVERNMENT, LAWS, MARRIAGES, HOUSEKEEPING, HUNTING, TRAP- . PING, OCCUPATIONS, GAMES, SPORTS, SOCIAL CUSTOMS, BUSINESS SYSTEMS, METHOD OF WAR, MEDICAL SERVICE, RANK, DRESS, DEATH AND BURIAL
5
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NARRAGANSETTS
Five tribes, or parts of Indian tribes, dwelt upon these Rhode Island lands when the English came. The Pequots claimed and dwelt in the extreme southwest corner, near what is now Westerly. This tribe was exterminated in 1637 by foes from Connecticut and the Massachusetts. It was Roger Williams who chiefly laid the plan of assault upon it. This matter has been carefully stated by the writer in another place. ( Book Notes. v. 8, p. 129.) Here follows Mr. Williams's own account: "I had my service to the whole land in that Pequot business inferior to very few that acted. Upon letters received from the Governor and Council at Boston (by whom he had just been banished ) requesting me to use my utmost and speediest endeavors to break and hinder the league labored for by the Pequods against the Mohegans, and Pequods against the English, (excusing the not sending of company and supplies by the haste of the business. ) the Lord helped me immediately to put my life into my hand, and, scarce acquainting my wife, to ship myself all alone in a poor canoe, and to cut through a stormy wind withi great seas, every minute in hazard of life, to the Sachem's house. Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequod ambassadors, whose hands and arms me- thought wreaked with the blood of my countrymen, murdered and massacred by them on the Connecticut, and from whom I could not but nightly look for their bloody knives at my own throat also. God wondrously preserved me and helped me to break to pieces the Pequods' negotiation and design, and to make, promote and finish the English league ( alliance) with the Narragansetts and the Mohe- gans."-(Nar. Club, v. 6, p. 338. )
From this extermination Massachusetts founded her claim to Misquamicut, and established a town on the east of the Pawcatuck river , named it Smithtown, and added the country to Suffolk county ;
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THE NARRAGANSETT TRIBE DOMINANT.
just as that colony did, at a later date, with the town of Warwick. The Niantics dwelt along the southern border, on the seacoast, covering the present town of Charlestown, and the southern part of South Kingston, and in parts of Hopkinton and Richmond. The Nipmucs dwelt in the northeastern corner on the lands now forming Glocester and Burrillville, and a part of Smithfield. A fragment of the Wampanoags dwelt in Cumberland and extended to the
MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY
· BOSTON
CONNECTICUT COLONY
NIPMUCS
DE ISLAND
COLONY.
PROVIDENCE
PLYMOUTH COLONY
WARWICK
WAMPANO
PORTSMOUTH
PEQUOIS
NEWPORT
NIANTICS
western side of the river which we now call the Blackstone. But the Narragansett tribe was dominant over all the lands now em- braced in Rhode Island. It ruled all others. Its numbers were estimated to have been 30,000, with a fighting force of 5,000 men when in its greatest power. This was, however, their own estimate. There were some small groups of Indians to which were given specific tribe names, as, for instance, the Cowesets. These were the few Indians dwelling near and between the places which we now call East Greenwich and Apponaug-Cowweseuck-Williams called them, just as he gave the name Cawasumseuck, or found it applied to the people near what is now Wickford. These small groups were all Naragansetts. It may not be without interest to consider for a few moments the character, habits, mode of life, social condition, government, and laws of the great Indian tribe which dwelt upon these Rhode Island lands when the Englishmen came. For this
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HARTFORD.
NARRAGANSETTS
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A ROYAL FAMILY IN NARRAGANSETT.
purpose I shall rely wholly upon Roger Williams, and, particu- larly as he represented then, in 1643, before they had become utterly corrupted by rum and the "civilization" of the English. Their government was monarchical, and, as seen by the English, hereditary. It became extinct by the slaughter of all the sachems, or descendants of sachems: the last slaughter being the massacre of 2nd July, 1676. I will illustrate this succession of government. Canonicus was the ruling sachem when the English came. As age benumbed his limbs, he needed an as- sistant, and he selected Miantinomi, who was his brother's son. These two chiefs worked well together. "The old sachem will not be offended at what the young sachem doth ; and the young sachem will not do what he conceives will displease his uncle (Narr. Club, I, 163).
Miantinomi, being murdered in 1643, never succeeded to the position of the ruling chief. In 1647. Canonicus died, and his son Meika, or Mexanno, succeeded him. Meika died in 1667, and Cachanoquand succeeded : the latter was a brother of Meika and a son of Canonicus. There were grandsons and other blood relatives of Canonicus then living : they were given sachemdoms-that of Bassokutoquage to Scuttape is an instance. Scuttape was a son of Meika and grandson of Canonicus. Among sachems, below in rank, the chief sachem, was Pessacus. a brother of Miantinomi. Pessacus was appointed or selected to succeed his brother Miantinomi in the councils of Canonicus. In that capacity Pessacus, with Canonicus and Mexanno, a son of the latter, signed the famous submission of their people and their lands to the King of Eng- land, Charles the Second, in April. 1644. It saved the destruc- tion of Rhode Island. Others among these lower sachems were Quequaganet, a second son of Meika, and Quaiapen ; Quanopen. a son of Cachanoquand : Cachanoquand himself was one of them until the death of his brother Meika, or Mexanno, in 1677. At that time Cachanoquand became chief sachem. At his death. Canonchet, who was a son of a collateral line, came to the chief position. He was soon killed, when Quaiapen, the last member of the line by either family, she being a sister of the Niantic. Ninigret, came to be chief sachem; but she was murdered on
معالتى أطلشهيد
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6
THE LINE OF SUCCESSION.
the 2nd July, 1676. Thus ended the line of the sachems. These secondary sachems all seemed to preserve the right of disposing of their lands. Both Ninigret and Quaiapen were blood relatives of Conanicus.
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¿ In the female succession Were these peculiar circumstances- Quaiapen succeeded to the position of ruling sachem, or queen, while Wawaloam, the wife of Miantinomi, did not succeed. Both were of equal rank so far as ancestry went. It was tin- written law with the great sachems to marry no one beneath them in descent. "A sachem will not take any to wife but such an one as is equal to himself in birth." (Winslow's Good News from New England, London, 1624; Young's Chronicles, 361.) Quaiapen was by blood within the ruling family, while Wawa- loam came from some other tribe, possibly the Nipmucs, and was outside the line of succession. The quality of rank was clearly established. not only in government, but likewise in dwellings, a princes' house, which, according to their condition. is far different from the other houses, both in capacity or receit." (Narr. Club, 1, 163.) This word "receit" was English Provincial. meaning "a place of refuge." or. possibly, of some defence. Not only was it different from the common houses of the Indians in these respects. but the mats with which it was covered were distinguished by their fineness and quality. Only Indians of quality, whether male or female, were dignified with names. These names were changed from time to time, for some cause now unknown to us; perhaps as the person rose to power, or perhaps for some brave or worthy act which demanded com- memoration. Meika, Cachanaquand, Ninigret, Quaiapen had each four or five successive names. It was just the same with old Romans-Fabius. B. C. 250, was Fabius Rullus, then Ver- rucosus, because of a wart on his nose. then Ovicula, because of his lamblike disposition, and at last Fabius Maximus. because of the greatness of his actions ( Plutarch's Lives, 124).
Concerning their intellectual capacity. there was as much difference between individuals as there is among the English. Potack was described as being "a man considering his education' of wonderful subtlety." Cachanaquand is described as a "poor
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CANONCHIET "A HOPEFUL SPARK".
beast." He immediately became a common drunkard, which habit the English cultivated for the purpose of getting possession of his lands. Uncas is described as "a wicked, wilful man, a drunkard, and otherwise very vicious." He took the contract from the Massachusetts to murder Miantinomi while escorting him to his own home. Canonchet is described by Williams as "a very hopeful spark." The character of Canonchet as gathered from Hubbard, his bitterest enemy, is fine; he says "Canonchet had been driven out of his own country by the swords of the English . a very proper man, of goodly stature, and of great courage of mind" (Hubbard's Narrative, 1677, p. 141). Slipping upon a stone, in crossing the Blackstone, his powder was instantly destroyed : a young Englishman came up and asked him a question. This manly sachem replied: "You much child, no understand matters of war; let your brother or your chief come ; him I will answer," acting herein as if by a pythagorean motempsychosis some old Roman ghost had possessed the body of this western pagan; and, like Attilus Regulus, he would not accept of his own life when it was offered to him." the condition being that he should betray his friends. His answer was that he would "not deliver up a Wampanoag nor the paring of a Wampanoag's nail" ( Hubbard's Narrative, 1677. 141). Such was the character of an Indian hero, the last of the great sachems of the Narragansetts. He was murdered by the Massachusetts government. just as his father had been murdered twenty-three years before. Canonicus · is described by Williams as being "a wise and peaceful prince." He was characterized as being the "Father of his Country" by Roger Wiliams a century and a half before George Washington was so characterized. During the years of their nearness to the English, and despite their great preponderance of numbers, there was never a war against, nor a murder of one, of our people until the outside colonies had brought war upon their lands.
Mr. Williams, writing in 1674, says: "The Narragansetts stained not their hands with English blood ( Narr. Club. 6, 274). Concerning the Pequots, as a tribe, Mr. Williams says "their treacheries exceed Machavelli's" ( Narr. Club, 6, 39). and again
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CANONICUS "THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY".
concerning Sassacus, "he is all for blood." The members of the tribe (Narragansetts) held themselves in subjection to the highest Sachems, but also to the under Sachem, or "Particular protector" as Williams called them (Key to Indian Language 164). To these Under Sachems the ordinary Indian, one of the "rank and file", if I may use such a common expression, was wont to go with his complaints for injuries ; and by that Sachem justice was exacted, or punishment inflicted. Final operations, in great matters, wherein the whole tribe was concerned . whether in the matter of laws, or in subsidies ; or in wars, was wholly in the control of the Chief Sachem; but those Sachems never entered upon such matters, in execution, when the leading members of the tribe were averse to them; and to which by "gentle pressure" they could not be brought to consent (Indian Key 164). The Indian had no written language, hence there was no written law: but there were Indian customs, and these in effect were the laws. They traded among themselves, and with the English, for corn, skins, or coats, and tools and such other things as they desired, paying therefor in wampum, or beaver skins, or other things. They had an excellent system of ac- counting. It forms the fourth chapter in Mr. Williams's Key. It shows a system of enumeration from 1 to 100,000. Concern- ing it Mr. Williams says: "Having no letters nor arts 'tis ad- mirable how quick they are in casting up great numbers, with the help of grains of corn instead of Europe's pens or counters." The extraordinary nature of such a system aroused the curiosity of Mr. Williams, who said: "Let it be considered whether tradi- tion of ancient Forefathers, or nature hath taught them Europe's arithmeticke." (Key to Indian Language 53. 54.)
They were scrupulously exact in maintaining their tenures of land among themselves. But the English "Christian" held that a Heathen could hold no title to land, which a Christian was bound to respect-and that all Indians were Heathen. (R. I. Hist. Tract, 14. "Christenings make not Christians.")
The execution of punishments when necessary was "for the Sachem either to beat, or whip, or put to death with his owne hand, to which the common sort most quietly submit ; though
9
STONE WALL JOHN, THE FORT BUILDER.
sometimes the Sachem sends a secret executioner, one of his chiefest warriors to fetch off a head by some sudden blow of a hatchet." (Williams's Key, p. 166.) In this way Miantinomi was murdered by order of Uncas. in obedience to the reccommenda- tions of Massachusetts clergymen. With these words Williams sums up the political and legal conditions of these Indians: "The wildest of the sonnes of men have ever found a necessity for preservation of themselves, their families, and properties, to cast themselves into some mould or forme of government." (Key. p. 167.)
"Adulteries. Murthers, Robberies, Thefts, Wild Indians punish these And hold the scale of justice so That no man farthing leese. We weare no cloathes, have many Gods, And yet our sinnes are lesse ; You are Barbarians, Pagans wild, Your land's the wildernesse."
Having set forth the system of government in use among these Indians, together with the rude and unwritten laws under which barbarism, order was maintained, and how these laws were ex- ecuted, we will dwell a moment upon their social conditions. There seems to have been divisions of labor : some, pursuing one species of work. and some, other kinds. Some gave their time to the making of Bows; others to the making of Arrows: one, "Stone Wall John" was his soubriquet, became so skilful in the making of arrow-heads and in repairing the guns, that the fact appears in the English history. Some, made Earthen utensils : these were mostly women. Mr. Williams says, "An art with which some of the Indian women were acquainted." Baked earth, he calls such utensils. Possibly the "Trays" which the Indians called Wunnaug were thus made. Mr. Williams says : "Their women constantly beat all their corn with hand." in a stone utensil. or in a rounded hole in a rock, with a stone pestle : "they plant, dress, gather, burn, and beat it: and take as much
THE WORK OF INDIAN QUEENS.
pains as any people in the world, which labour is questionless one cause of their extraordinary care in childbirth. * It is * almost incredible what burthens the poor women carry of corn, fish, beans, or mats, and a child besides." (Indian Key, Narr. Club, 1, 66, 67.) It must be noted that in connection with such labors Mr. Williams uses the word "poor". Among the higher class the women seem to be differently occupied. This will pre- sently appear, in the occupation, herein narrated, of Weetamoe, the wife of Quanopen, a Narragansett Sachem.
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