USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > History of Newport County, Rhode Island. From the year 1638 to the year 1887, including the settlement of its towns, and their subsequent progress > Part 23
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from his new prince, though it appears that Ninegret, the Nian- tic sachem, held the Niantic fort on Fort Neck in 1637, when Captain Mason, with his Connecticut troops and Mohegan and Narragansett allies, halted there on their march to the destruc- tion of the Pequot fort at the Portal rocks on the Mystic river, and the complete overthrow and destruction of this savage and warlike race.
The gnide on this expedition was Wequash, a revolted Pe- qnot. This man, who is said to have been "the first convert to the Christian faith among the aborigines of New England," was a brother of Ninegret, but it is presumed by a Pequot wo- man, and not of the blood royal of the Niantics. In 1637, soon after the fall of the Pequots, Roger Williams wrote to John Winthrop that his guide had slain Sassawwaw (Socho) treach- erously, and that Miantonomi was bent on revenge, but a few days later reported that Socho was still alive. This attempt of Wequash was probably before his conversion, and perhaps prompted by his jealousy of Miantonomi's favor to Socho to the detriment of his brother Ninegret's interest as the sachem of the Niantics. As of Canoniens, there does not appear to be any evidence that Miantonomi was ever within the limits of the Massachusetts colony, or had ever personally met Roger Wil- liams before his coming to the Narragansett country in 1636.
The first letters of Williams to the governor and deputy gov- ernor declare that Canonicus was by no means pleased to see him but that Miantonomi was more cordial. "At my first coming," he says, " Canoniens was very sour and accused the English and myself of sending the plague amongst them, and threatening to kill him especially. " * I discovered cause for bestirring myself and staid the longer, and at last (through the mercy of the Most High) sweetened his spirit. * Miantonomi kept his barbarous court lately at my house and with him I have far better dealings. He takes some pleasure to visit me and sent me word of his coming eight days hence." In the autumn of 1636 Roger Williams, at the request of the Massachusetts authorities, at risk and peril of his life, broke up the league the Pequots were seeking with the Narragansetts, and succeeded in forming an alliance between the English, the Narragansetts and the Mohegans against the Pequot power. Immediately afterward Miantonomi, at the request of Governor Vane, went up to Boston, taking with him two sons of Canonicus
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and a large train of attendants. He was received with military honors, and after the conclusion of a formal treaty of alliance, departed with the same honors. But it does not seem that the Indian prince put great faith in the English.
Williams wrote in the spring of 1637, just before the depart- ure of Miantonomi on the expedition against the Pequot fort, that Miantonomi had visited him with a great train and that the Narragansetts were "at present doubtful of reality in all onr promises." After the complete success of the expedition his trust seems to have been strengthened, for Williams then wrote, " If I mistake not I observe in Miantonomi some sparks of true friendship, could it be deeply imprinted into him that the English never intended to dispoil him of the country, I prob- ably conjecture his friendship would appear in attending of us with five hundred men (in case) against any foreign enemy;" and yet the proposal made by Miantonomi at this time that Governor Vane would send some English to take possession of the Pequot country and there inhabit does not seem to justify this hesitation.
Miantonomi proposed that the English should inhabit near the Connecticut and leave the Narragansetts free to hunt in the neighborhood of Mystic on their own immediate border; but to Williams' answer that the English might inhabit and the In- dians be free to hunt in the same places Miantonomi made no objection-"this satisfied." As Miantonomi was bold in war so he was generous in victory. It was he that proposed to his Massachusetts allies that " if the Governor were so minded they (the Narragansetts) incline to mercy and to give them (the Pequots) their lives;" and in all the negotiations that followed he showed a high sonled nature. In all the preceding years, he said, "we never killed nor consented to the death of an Englishman."
The destruction of the Peqnot stronghold left the range of country between the Pawtuxet and the Connecticut rivers with- out any certain jurisdiction. The Mohegans on the one side and the Narragansetts on the other roamed over it in pursuit of the scattered Pequots and not seldom came to blows themselves over their captives. This continued warfare was a source of alarm to the English, who were never at ease when any of the Indians were on the war path. Miantonomi, anxious that his good faith should not be doubted, proposed a visit to the Massa-
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chusetts governor, "if he may safely go." Williams assured him of good treatment. He returned satisfied of their good intentions. In his gratitude for Governor Winthrop's "loving carriage" to him, he ordered all the Indiaus off from Prudence island, which had been given to Williams and Winthrop, and upon which they were about to commence a little plantation for the drying of fish and the breeding of hogs.
The Pequot war ended with the murder of Sassacus, their chief sachem, by the Mohegans, to whom he had fled for shelter, and the division of the survivors of the tribe as slaves among the conquerors. The share of the Narragansetts Miantonomi left to the wisdom of Governor Winthrop. The correspondence of Williams shows that the Narragansetts, though they had a principal share in the captures, were not liberally treated in the division; Miantonomi's request for a Pequot squaw being haggled over if not refused. Nor does Williams' own temper seem to have been over kindly, as he advises Winthrop "if there be any just exception (to their demands) which they can not well answer that the use be made of it (if it may be with safety to the common peace) to get the bits into their mouths especi- ally if there be good assurance from the Mohawks." Of the possible enmity of this powerful confederacy the New England colonies were in daily dread. There was a bitter quarrel over the disposal of the captives. The Mohegans on the one side and the Niantics on the other wished for the additional strength this recruitment would bring to them. The Nianties refused 10 yield up any of those to whom they had promised life, either to the Mohegans or to the Connecticut government who sup- ported their Mohegan allies in all their demands. Canonions and Miautonomi in vain endeavored to persuade the Nianties to give up the Pequots, but they in turn threatened that for every life the English should take they would have revenge even in the settlements of Prudence, Aquidneck, Providence and elsewhere.
In 1640 Uncas, the Mohegan chief, having captured three Nianties, refused to give them up and Miantonomi determined to go himself with a sufficient force to Monhegan (Norwich) and bring them in. The Massachusetts government again summoned Miantonomi before them but he declined, not satisfied with in- terpreters whom he feared to trust, or to go up without being accompanied by Williams. Yet in all this period he lost no
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opportunity of propitiating the governor by an exchange of gifts. Canonicus and he sent beads to Winthrop and Mianto- nomi's wife a "basket" to Mrs. Winthrop. "In return Ca- nonicus asks for little sugar and Miantonomi for a little powder." In August of this year the general court of Massa- chusetts summoned the sachems to answer charges of a con- spiracy with the Mohawks against the colonies. These charges originated in Connecticut. Miantonomi answered in person, aconsed Uncas of the malicious intrigue, and entirely satisfied the court.
In 1642 Roger Williams sent to England to obtain a charter which might compose the dissensions of the Rhode Island set- tlements at home and secure them against the threatening ag- gressions of their neighbors of Massachusetts and Connecticut. In the summer of this year a war broke out between Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, and Sequasson, a sachem on the Con- necticut river, an ally of the Narragansetts. The English de- elined to interfere. Miantonomi, before going to the aid of his allies, faithful to his old engagement, sent to the governor of Massachusetts "to know if he would be offended if he made war on Uneas," and was answered " If Uncas had done him or his friends wrong and would not give satisfaction we should leave him to take his own course." In JJuly, 1643, Uncas began the war against Segnasson. Miantonomi, with a thousand braves, took the trail across the country toward Monhegan and came upon Uncas at a place about a mile and a half southwest of the Yantic river. According to tradition Uncas sent a mes- senger across the space which lay between the forces and asked an interview. Miantonomi is said to have consented but to have been ontwitted by a stratagem of the wily Pequot, and the Narragansetts being thrown into panic by a sudden charge, fell prisoner, being now no longer young, to his fleeter footed ene- mies and was carried by Uncas to his fort hard by. No violence was at the time offered to him. He was soon after taken by Uncas to Hartford, where he was held prisoner for judgment by the commissioners of the United Colonies. He was taken in July.
His defeat was ascribed by the good people of Connecticut to the prayers of their minister, Thomas Hooker, who was reck- oned by the colony as the " Moses who turned away the wrath of God from them and obtained a blast from heaven upon the
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Indians by his uplifted hands in those remarkable deliverances which they sometimes experienced." On the occasion of this war in which, it must not be forgotten, the English took no part, the "Magnatia" says: "Much notice was taken of the prevailing importunity wherewith Mr. Hooker urged for the ac- complishment of that great promise unto the people of God 'I will bless them that bless thee and I will curse him that curseth thee,' and the effect of it was that the Narragansetts received a wonderful overthrow from the Mohegans though the former did three or four to one exceed the latter. Such an Israel at prayer was onr Hooker."
The nnited commissioners met at Boston in August, when the case of Miantonomi was debated. They were all of opinion that "it would not be safe to set him at liberty neither had we sufficient ground to put him to death. In this difficulty we called in five of the most judicious elders and propounding the case to them, they all agreed that he ought to be put to death; and we agreed that upon the return of the commissioners to Hartford they should send for Uncas and tell him our determi- nation that Miantonomi should be delivered to him again and he should put him to death so soon as he came within his own ju- risdietion, and that two English should go along with him to see the execution and that if any Indians should invade him for it we should send men to defend him." It is to be regretted that the names of these elders are not known and that they escape their proper place in the pillory of history. The reason for the hatred of the elders to the Indian prince was the sale he had made of the Shawomet country to Gorton, the proscribed her- etic of the Massachusetts colony, and the consent of the com- missioners to the murder, their jealousy of the Narragansett power and their desire to promote animosity among the Indian tribes. With such a canse of quarrel and the aid of the Mohe- gan power, they might repeat upon the Narragansetts the story of the Pequot destruction five years before. It is said that the commissioners stipulated with Uncas that Miantonomi shonld not be tortured, but proof is lacking of any such humanity. It is of tradition that Uneas took Miautonomi back to the spot where he had been overtaken, when his head waseloven with a hatchet from behind and he was buried where he fell. A heap of stones was raised about his body, which disappeared many years after. Some citizens of Norwich have erected on the tra-
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ditional spot a monument about eight feet high, a solid cube of granite five feet square on a massive pedestal, with the simple inscription, " Miantonomi, 1643."
Thus fell the " noble souled," high spirited chief, whom Hop- kins calls " the most potent prince the people of New England had any concern with: and this was the reward he received for assisting them seven years before in their wars with the Pequots."
PESSICUS was the son of Mascus, the youngest of the brothers of Canonicus, and himself the brother of Miantonomi. After the murder of that prince in 1643 he shared the sovereignty of the Narragansetts with his uncle, now well advanced in years. His name first appears in an official way as " Chief Sachem and successor of that late deceased" Miantonomi, in the letter of submission to King Charles. Next in order comes the mark of " that ancient Canonicus, Protector of that late deceased Mian- tonomy during the time of his nonage," after which the " marke of Mixan, son and heire of that above said Canonicus." The mark of Pessiens is a strong bow and arrow, the head pointed downward, the mark of Mixan a hatchet or tomahawk, while that of the old chief is the familiar carpenter's instrument known as a T square. The act or deed, as it is styled in the record, was witnessed by two of the chief counsellors to sachem Pessicus; Awashoosse and Tomanic, Indians. It will be observed that Pessiens signed first in order. The paper is dated the 19th of April, 1644. It is followed on the record by a letter sent to the general court of Massachusetts on the 24th of May, 1644, which is signed by Pessiens and Canonicus, the formality of the signature of young Mixan probably being deemed un- necessary.
The power of the government was wholly in the hands of Pessicus. It fell to him when the affairs of the tribe were in a difficult financial and political situation. Financially they were impoverished by the large amount of wampumpeage they had paid and paid in vain for the ransom of Miantonomi. Politically the authority of the sachems was compromised by the contempt of their power which this breach of faith implied, and further by the disloyalty of Pumham in his denial of the validity of the sale made in 1642 by Miantonomi, as sachem of Shawomet. which he himself witnessed, and his more recent submission to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. This act brought the Narra-
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gansett chiefs face to face with the powerful and merciless Massachusetts colony; the general court of which improved the pretext thus given them, and which no doubt was of their own suggestion, to gain a footing on the shores and in the affairs of Rhode Island and "an outlet into Narragansett bay."
Gorton and his followers, who made the purchase of Mianto- nomi, were forcibly ejected from their settlement and banished on peril of their lives. After confinement at hard labor for a- while the leaders were released, but, being notified by Governor Winthrop that their own purchased territory was included in the ban, they took refuge at Aquidneck. The occasion seemed propitious to Canoniens and Pessicus. Messengers were sent to invite Gorton and his friends to visit the Narragansett chiefs assembled in council on the island of Conanicut. The question before this conference was one of the jurisdiction of Canonicus as against the claim of a subordinate sachem, Pumham; of Gor- ton and his associates as to the title to the land they had pur- chased and paid for. The result was the formal act of sub- mission to King Charles. "Our desire is," they say, " to have onr matters and causes heard and tried according to his just and equal laws in that way and order His Highness shall please to appoint; nor can we yield ever ourselves unto any that are sub- jects themselves in any case; having ourselves been the chief sachems or princes successively of the country time ont of mind." This voluntary and free submission, as they styled it, was placed in the hands of Gorton, who, with three others, his associates, were made attornies or commissioners for the safe custody, careful conveyance and declaration thereof unto his Grace. Gorton is supposed to have gone to England with this document in the ensuing winter.
After their murder of Miautonomi the general court of Massa- chusetts summoned the Narragansett chiefs to appear before it. To this Pessicus and Canonicus replied with a formal notice of their submission to King Charles and of their intention to refer any disputes to his royal decision. They decline to go up to the court and assign as their sufficient reason "Our brother (Miantonomi) was willing to stir much abroad to converse with men and we see a sad event at the last thereupon. Take it not ill therefore though we resolve to keep at home (unless some great necessity calls us out) and so at this time do not repair unto you according to your request." They give plain notice,
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however, that they intend to take revenge for the death of Miantonomi, and ask to know why they are advised "not to go out against their so inhuman and ernel adversary who took so great a ransom to release him and his life also when that was done." Alarmed at the new posture of affairs, the general court sent messengers to dissuade the Narragansetts from war. Pumham and Sacconoco, who had played the same part at Pawtuxet as the wily savage had done at Shawomet, were so fearful of punishment that they applied for and received a guard of soldiers from Massachusetts. In reply to the message of the court, the Narragansetts sent messengers to the commissioners of the United Colonies demanding the payment by Uncas of one hundred and sixty fathoms of wampum or a new hearing of the case within six weeks, threatening war in case of re- fusal.
In the spring the Narragansetts, one thousand strong, and partly armed with guns, defeated Uncas and his Mohegans with slaughter. The Connecticut colony sent troops to the aid of their old ally. Both the tribes were summoned to Boston to explain the cause of the troubles. Terms of neutrality were agreed upon between Rhode Island and the Indians, and a con- tinnation of the war was inevitable, although Roger Williams again exerted himself for peace. The Narragansetts were de- termined on the thorough subjection of Uncas. The United Colonies now declared war, sent back the peace offerings of the Narragansetts, who sought no quarrel with any but the Mohe- gans, and mounted troops were impressed and sent forward un- der Lieutenant Atherton. The Narragansetts, alarmed in their turn, songht for peace. Roger Williams, accompanied by Pes- sieus, two other sachems and a large Indian train, went up to Boston. Disappointed in their hope of exterminating the Nar- ragansetts by war, the commissioners imposed upon them a treaty which was their ruin. An indemnity was imposed upon them of two thousand fathoms of wampum, to be paid within two years, in four equal installments; each, it will be observed, three times and more the amount demanded of the Mohegans by the Narragansetts. They were required to give up all right to the Pequot territory, originally a part of their own domain, and recovered in great measure by their arms.
The next year (1647) the Narragansetts were charged with an attempt to engage the Mohawks in a war with the English.
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Canoniens, dying in June of this year, left Pessiens in sole command, aided, however, by young Mexham, the grandson of the old chief. Pessicus was summoned to Boston, but in his stead sent Ninegret, whom they held as a hostage until some wam- pum was forced from him. The ensuing installments not being forthcoming, Captain Atherton, who seems to have been about the most brutal of the unscrupulous henchmen of the United Colonies, was sent with an armed band to collect it by force. Surprising Pessicus in his wigwam before he could summon as- sistance, he dragged him out by the hair of his head, and col- lected the debt in true highwayman fashion at the point of his pistol. Arnold considers this a courageous act, but we fail to see the courage in surprising an unarmed man, while holding his assistants at bay through fear of the murder of their chief. For his conduct on this occasion Captain Atherton was given a farm of five hundred acres, carved out of the lately stolen and newly annexed possessions at Warwick (Shawomet ).
Both Warwick and Pawtuxet were now attached to Ply- month by the commissioners of the United Colonies.
There is an entry on the Rhode Island records, May 23d, 1650, which shows the change in the attitude of the colonists to the Narragansetts princes which ten years had wronght. It is an order "that Pessicus shall have libertie to gett so many chesunt rinds, upon the common of the Island as may cover him a wigwam ; provided he take JJohn Greene with him that no wrong may be done to any particular person upon the is- land." In 1653 the council of Massachusetts sent messengers to question the Narragansett princes, among whom Mexham, son of Canonieus, now appears for the first time, and to do- mand reasons why they had taken up arms against the Long Islanders. A satisfactory answer not being received, war was declared by the United Colonies, but Massachusetts held back, refusing her quota.
In 1660 the commissioners of the United Colonies completed their work of spoliation. Under the pretense that the Mohe- gans had been injured by the Narragansetts they sent down an armed force, with instructions to collect a fine of five hundred and ninety-five fathoms of wampum within four months. To raise this sum the sachems mortgaged their entire country to a company consisting of Mr. John Winthrop the governor of Connecticut ), Major Atherton and their associates, who had al-
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ready purchased the previous year the northern tract known as Narragansett country and Coweset country ; but the signature of Pessicus does not appear in this instrument. In 1661, how- ever, we find his supreme authority again in his denial of the right of Ninegret, the Niantic sachem, to the Misquamicut lands lately conveyed to a party of settlers. Io 1665 the three royal commissioners appointed to settle all the colonial dis- putes, arrived at Pettaquamscot. The Narragansett sachems confirmed their submission to the crown, and the commissioners set up a new authority in the king's name over the entire terri- tory, from the bay to the Pawcatuck river, under the name of the "King's Province," the Rhode Island charter recognizing the validity of the Indian titles to the soil. The governor and council of Rhode Island were appointed magistrates until the May election. And what was of supreme importance, the mortgaged lands held by the Atherton company were ordered to be released on the payment of two hundred and thirty-five fathoms of peage by Pessions or Ninecraft, the purchase of the tracts being declared void for lack of consideration of the deed and because of prior cession to the crown.
In the report sent to England by the commissioners the same year they state that two of the sachems then living did actually in their own persons surrender themselves, people and country, into his royal majesty's protection before his commissioners, who had made the submission in 1644. To each of them a coat was presented in the name of his majesty. They in turn en- gaged thereafter, in token of subjection, to pay a tribute of two wolf skins to his majesty on a fixed day, and by the commis- sioners they then sent to the king two caps of peage and two clubs inlaid with peage as a present, and a feather mantle and a porcupine bag as a present for the queen. Pessiens also de- sired the commissioners to pray King Charles that no strong liquors might be brought into that country, for he had thirty- two men that died by drinking of it. At that time Ninecraft seems to have divided the authority with Pessicus. Pumham, however, maintained his independent position, and in spite of all the efforts of the English commissioners, declined to submit to Pessicus. He was supported in his resistance for twenty years by the counsel and force of the Massachusetts colony.
With this account of the commissioners Pessicus disappears from the scene. What part he played in the great war in which
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his kinsman, Canonchet, led the tribe is not known. Updike, in his account of this chieftain, says that " he was put to death by the Mohawks in 1676."
CANONCHET-Nanmunteno, "as he was last called." says Drake in his notes to Church's narrative, was the last sachem of the race of Narragansett princes. His name does not appear at all on the records of the Rhode Island colony. He was noted for his enmity to the English race, for which he had good and sufficient cause. His name appears tirst of the six subscribing sachems of the Narragansetts to the treaty forced upon them by Captain Hutchinson on behalf of the Massachusetts government, at the point of the sword at Petaquamscott in July, 1675. By this treaty they agreed to harbor none of King Philip's people in the course of the war which had broken ont in the spring. The tribe as a whole kept to their engagement but it is proba- ble that some of their young braves had a hand in the hot fights of this battle summer.
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