USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > History of the state of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Vol. I > Part 33
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Yor friend and servantt uncerimoniouslye John Scott.
384
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
The foregoing letter is the most important evidence that has yet been brought to light upon this subject. Nothing could more clearly explain the whole conspiracy against Clarke, its authors, their plans, and the means adopted to accomplish their purpose. Their motive is shown in previous letters, the desire "to be freed from Rhode Island " in whatever way, and " the way " is here explained after the lapse of two hundred years. Parties who could adopt such means, " uncerimoniouslye," in- deed, would hesitate at no other degree of baseness to shield their crime. Why the character of Clarke was traduced in every mode that unscrupulous corruption could devise, can no longer remain a mystery. That the slanders originated by these violators of both moral and statute law, and eagerly perpetuated by their sympa- thizing brethren in the adjoining colonies, by some, no doubt, through ignorance, but by all with a zeal that does no honor to their hearts, should now be traced to their source after so long an interval, must be gratifying to those who have steadily defended the purity of Clarke in this matter of the charter, reasoning from his exalted character in all the other relations of life. It furnishes one more proof of the fact, that the general character of a man is no unsafe criterion of his conduct in particular circumstances, and that the reputation which he holds in his own community is a tolerably safe standard of his real character. It thus affords a triumphant vindication of what Mr. Quincy (pamphlet on Grahame, p. 36) is pleased to term " a studied eulogy on the general character of Clarke," in Mr. Bancroft's 2d vol. p. 64, which must be grateful to that eminent historian who, in the face of so much printed evidence on the other side, has examined our records for himself, and in this, as in other disputed points, has dared to do Rhode Island justice.
The letter opens with a striking acknowledgment of Winthrop's purity, for although Winthrop had had diffi-
CHAP. IX. APP. E.
385
SCOT'S INFAMY EXPOSED.
culty with Clarke, he was so averse to the writer's scheme, CHAP. that Scot dared not pursue them until Winthrop had IX. APP. E. embarked for America. He then gave an interest in the company to "a potent gentleman," preferred charges against Clarke and his principals as enemies to the crown, with what purpose is evident, and, these two points se- cured, he doubted not of speedy success. But to render assurance doubly sure, he adopts another form of bribery to apply to other powerful personages, whose taste for cu- riosities he supposed to be greater than their sense of right or their pride of character, and invests the sum of sixty pounds for that purpose. The object of all this nice cal- culation was twofold ; to hide his own infamy under the ruin of Clarke, and to obtain a letter from the King plac- ing the Narraganset country under the jurisdiction of the United Colonies. No description could be more accurate in every item than is here given on the 29th April, of the royal letter of the 21st June following.
Corruption moved apace to further the plans of Scot. In seven weeks the character of Clarke was branded with infamy to remote posterity, and the Atherton company had accomplished their selfish purposes by a baseness that cannot easily be surpassed. We have no clue to the mean- ing of the paragraph about Mr. Sedgwick. Possibly it relates to some private matter, but not unlikely it refers to some other disbursement in connection with this nefa- rious scheme. A letter of this stamp might well be con- fined to the one subject of its infamy. It concludes with a doubt as to Winthrop's agreement being satisfactory, even if Clarke were authorized to make it ; and the last word it contains implies the confidential nature of the topic and the free and easy character of the writer. "Un- ceremoniously " indeed ! A cooler stab at all that an honest and honorable man holds most dear, or a clearer exposition of successful bribery was never made ; and but for the sometimes dangerous habit of preserving private VOL. 1-25
386
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
APP. E.
CHAP. papers, which Capt. Hutchinson possessed, we might never IX. have known, in this world, the secret and real history of this transaction.
The agreement between the two agents was signed on the 7th April. That Winthrop had implicit confidence in Clarke's honor is evident from his embarking for home immediately afterwards, leaving Clarke, unfortunately for the latter as it proved, still in England. The above let- ter was written on the 29th April. The King's letter to the United Colonies, so accurately predicted and described in that of Scot was issued on the 21st of June, and the charter of Rhode Island passed the seals on the 8th of July.
387
TREATY WITH MASSASOIT.
CHAPTER X.
1675-1677.
April 7.
FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF PHILIP'S WAR, JUNE 1675, TO THE TRIAL OF THE IIARRIS CAUSES, NOVEMBER 1677.
To trace the causes of the most disastrous conflict that ever devastated New England, it will be necessary to take a rapid review of the intercourse between the English and the Indians from the time of the landing of the Pilgrims. Shortly before this event, a pestilence had wasted the strength of the natives of this region, and caused them to become an easy prey to the martial spirit of the Narragan- sets. Soon after their landing, Massasoit, Sachem of the Wampanoags, a powerful tribe who had formerly ruled the whole country east of Narraganset bay, and extending north to the territory of the Massachusetts, but who were now, with their dependent tribes, subject to the conquer- 1621. ors, made a treaty with the Pilgrims, which he kept in- March 22. violate for forty years till the time of his death.1 He left two sons, Wamsutta, by the English called Alexander, and
1 In the winter of 1661-2, Drake's Indians, B. 3, ch. ii. Varions dates from 1656 to 1660 are assigned by different authors as the period of the death of Massasoit, but the diligence of Drake entitles his opinion to the greatest weight, and the reasons given for it in Book 2, ch. ii., p. 28, are con- clusive that the death of Massasoit did not occur till later than Sept., 1661.
CHAP.
1620.
388
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. x Pometacom or Metacomet, whose English name was Philip.1 The faith with which Massasoit or Ousamequin, as he was 1621. also called, maintained the treaty on his side, was not so well kept on the other. He quietly submitted to repeated aggressions upon his land and liberties, and besides having sold large tracts of territory at various times to the Eng- lish, he witnessed the gradual withdrawal of his subject tribes to a condition of independence. The fatal alliance which had released him from his recent subjection to the Narragansets, was destined to place a severer yoke upon his own neck, to weaken, instead of strengthening, his in- fluence over the subordinate tribes, and finally to effect the extermination of his race. He had several residences, the principal of which, in the town of Bristol, was called So- wams by the Wampanoags, and Pokanoket by the Narra- gansets, and by the English Mount Hope. The decay of the nation, and the proportionate increase of the English, made a deep impression upon the minds of the two sons of Massasoit. Wamsutta, the elder, succeeded his father, 1662. but survived him only a few months. The manner of his death added to the sting which the accumulated wrongs of forty years had planted in the hearts of Philip and his councillors.
We have seen that Massasoit claimed portions of the land of Providence, west of Seeconk river, and that Wil- liams and others had satisfied his claims, although the Narraganset supremacy was undoubted, and their Sachems
1 The Indians often changed their names. Wamsutta was first called Mooanam, and later Wamsutta or Sepauquet, both of which latter names are signed, together with his English name, to the deed of March, 1661-2, to Providence men. Any great event in life seems to have given occasion to these changes ; as Massasoit, upon commencing his war against the Narragan- sets in 1632, took the name of Ousamequin, by which he was afterwards more generally known. This custom complicates the difficulties of Indian history very much. The English names of Alexander and Philip were be- stowed on the two young sachems at Plymouth Court about 1656, although Mather says it was not till 1662 when the two sachems came to Plymouth. Morton's Memorial, 286-7, and Drake, Book 3, p. 6.
389
WAMSUTTA OR ALEXANDER.
had conveyed a clear title to the original purchasers.1 CHAP. X. 1662.
There is reason for more than suspicion that these claims were instigated by our neighbors, in their desire to possess themselves of an outlet to Narraganset bay, and that they were not well pleased with their faithful ally that he should consent to release his pretended right to those who already held it from his superiors. Wamsutta was associated with his father in the government for some years before the death of Massasoit, and joined with him in conveying lands to Plymouth.2 Upon the death of his father he became the chief Sachem, and conveyed to the town of Providence some land on the west of Seeconck river, which had been claimed by Massasoit as belonging to the Wampanoags.3 This act was never specifically charged against him as the cause of the harsh treatment which he received under pre- tence of his plotting against the English, and which re- sulted in his death ; but in the absence of any proof of the truth of those charges, and in view of the murder of Mian- tinomi, a few years before, whose greatest crime was his kindness to Gorton, and his having sold Shawomet to the " arch-heretic," we are inclined to think that this deed of sale was one cause of the prejudice against him. He had strengthened his position by marriage with Weetamo, squaw sachem of the Pocassets, who inhabited what is now Tiverton. This was a step towards restoring the ancient unity of the tribes, which was still further effected at a later day, by the marriage of Metacomet with the sister of Weetamo.
It was soon after the sale to Providence that "some of Boston, having been occasionally at Narraganset, wrote to Mr. Prince, who was then Governor of Plymouth, that Alexander was contriving mischief against the English,
1 This satisfaction occurred Sept. 10th, 1646. See ch. iv. ante.
" March 9th, 1653, these two sachems joined in the sale of a large tract including Papasquash neck. Drake, Book 2, p. 27-8.
3 The deed is dated 12th March, 1661-2, and is given in Staple's Annals, p. 574.
390
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. X. and that he had solicited the Narragansets to engage with him in his designed rebellion."1 We know that " some 1662. of Boston " were at this time anxious to gain possession of Narraganset, and also that the Wampanoags claimed a portion of that country, and had long had a feud with Pumham about the lands of Shawomet .? These rumors furnished sufficient grounds for the arrest of Wamsutta upon the charge of conspiracy. Capt. Willet, who resided near Mount Hope, was sent to require his presence at the next Court at Plymouth. He did not appear, but, it was said, continued his intercourse with the Narragansets. Upon this, Governor Prince despatched Major Josiah Winslow, afterwards governor, with a small force, to seize Alexander and bring him to Plymouth. Winslow found him at one of his hunting stations, a few miles distant, and captured him without resistance, although the anger of the Sachem at this interference obliged the Major to adopt the same resolute means resorted to by Atherton in his visit to Pessicus twelve years before, and to present a pistol at his breast. The Sachem yielded, and with his whole train of warriors and women, some eighty in number, who were allowed to accompany him, was carried a prisoner towards Plymouth, and stopped at Winslow's house in Marshfield. Here the haughty chieftain, under the combined effects of rage, fatigue and heat, was taken ill. The day was very hot, and although Winslow offered his horse to the Sachem, it was gallantly declined, because there were none for his squaw or the other women to ride. On account of his sickness, his attendants entreated that he might be sent home. This was granted upon his promise to appear at the next Court, and meanwhile to send his son as a host- age. But his death ensued almost immediately. Hub- bard says he "died before he got half way home." 3
1 Increase Mather's Relation, p. 70.
2 President R. Williams' letter to Mass., May, 1656. Knowles, 290.
3 Hubbard's Narrative, London, 1677, p. 10. Mather's Relation, p. 70-1 See also Davis's Morton, 287-9, note, and Drake's Indians, Book 3, p. 6-9.
391
PURITAN DEALINGS WITH THE INDIANS.
Thus ended the brief and bitter reign of Wamsutta, CHAP. X. the eldest son and successor of the earliest and firmest friend of the Pilgrims. Dr. Mather, in the passage before 1662. cited, accuses Alexander of not being " so faithful and friendly to the English as his father had been." Forty years had changed the condition of the tribe. They were no longer in fear of the Narragansets, from whose power old Massasoit had sought refuge in a friendly alliance with the white man. Yet during his own life, he had more than once been called on to explain his conduct. Their jealousy of the natives was natural in view of the immense dispar- ity of numbers between them ; but had their care in pre- serving the terms of treaties been as great as was that of their savage allies ; had there been less of the old theo- cratic spirit of dominion, " the saints shall judge the world " -' we are the saints,' and more of the religion they pro- fessed, in their dealings with the red man ; had there been the same strict regard to the letter and spirit of their agreements that was shown upon the other side; or had the temper of the founders of Rhode Island, in their inter- course with the aborigines, been displayed by the other col- onies, there would have been less occasion, perhaps none at all, for the alarms that so often distracted New England, and the hope of the old Canonicus would have been real- ized, " that the English and my posterity shall live in love and peace together." The jealousy with which the Puri- tan colonies regarded the powerful Sachems around them, was signally displayed towards those who showed kindness to any whom they had placed under the ban of pro scrip- tion. The style of their negotiations with Canonicus, the clerico-judicial murder of Miantinomi, the savage treatment of Pessicus, and now the unfeeling harshness that hastened the death of Wamsutta, are examples of this, which it is in vain that the Puritan writers attempt to justify or ex- plain. That Major Winslow conducted himself with cour- tesy towards his royal captive, or that the best medical at-
392
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
1662.
CHAP. X. tendanee and careful nursing was obtained for him in his illness, does not palliate the manner of his arrest, or miti- gate the insult offered to a sovereign prinee upon his na- tive soil. Nor did the peculiar allies of the Puritans es- cape the frequent evidence of their displeasure. Uncas, their willing tool, Pumham, their abject slave, and even old Massasoit their most faithful friend, were often called before their severe tribunals, to answer for suspected trea- son or alleged misconduct. One eardinal error prevailed in all their treatment of the Indians. They regarded the submission of the tribes to the British crown, always cheer- fully and often voluntarily made, as being an act of sub- jeetion to themselves. Nothing could be farther from the intention of these haughty Saehems. Repeatedly they asserted that they were the allies, not the subjects, of the colonists ; but the latter, taking the servility of Pum- ham, himself a renegade, as the type of the conduet they desired from all, insisted upon a like submission from his superiors, and when this was denied, they construed the at- titude of equality into an aet of hostility, and busied them- selves in conjeeturing plots where none existed. This was a certain method of producing the result they so much dreaded. What was only suspected in regard to Wam- sutta was clearly proved, a dozen years later, in the ease of Metacomet.
The treatment of Alexander was openly condemned, even among the Puritans, for its harshness and impolicy, although their own conduet towards Miantinomi had been if possible, yet more unjustifiable. Upon the savages, it produced a deep and lasting influenee. They did not hes- itate to charge the English with having poisoned their vietim. False as this aceusation was, it was less unjust than the aet upon which it was grounded. Weetamo, the widow, although she subsequently soothed her sorrows by a second marriage with an Indian of lower rank, never for- gave the death of her royal husband, but secretly nursed
393
METACOMET OR KING PHILIP.
her feelings of revenge, and gave currency among the CHAP. tribes to the story of English perfidy. X.
Metacomet, or King Philip as he was now called, suc- 1662. ceeded his brother as chief Sachem of the Wampanoags. Aug. 6. Being sent for by the Court at Plymouth, he appeared and renewed the treaty of amity with the English. He was a prince as politic in counsel, as he was undaunted in war, and he was a man too high-spirited tamely to submit to private injuries or public wrongs, without seeking the means of redress. His designs required concealment until they could ripen into a general union of all the tribes against the English. There were local jealousies to ap- pease, and ancient rivalries to adjust, for which time and diplomacy were requisite. Meanwhile he preserved, in a measure, the same friendly aspect to the colonists that his father had done ; and even after the demonstrations that had led to the first disarming of the Indians, and to the 1667. subsequent alarms in Plymouth, he freely made a treaty, confessing his fault, and agreeing to surrender all his guns, 1671. April 10. to be kept by the English so long as they saw fit. But seventy of them were given up. Strange Indians contin- ued to resort to Mount Hope. The Court of Plymouth again sent for Philip to require his presence. He, with his counsellors, chanced to be in Boston when news of this order was received there, and so favorably did he state his case that the government of Massachusetts suggested to Plymouth, that instead of commencing hostilities as threat- ened, that colony should refer the dispute to the arbitra- tion of the other colonies. When the mediators met at Sept. 29. Plymouth, Philip signed an agreement to pay one hundred pounds within three years, and five wolves' heads annually to that colony, to refer to them all disputes between his tribe and the English, and neither to sell lands nor to make war without their consent. This was a forced arrange- ment on the part of the Sachem, made under the alter- native of war for which he was not yet prepared. That he
394
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. so considered it, is evident from his remarkable reply to Mr. X.
John Borden of Rhode Island, an intimate friend of Philip,
1674. who, when the war was about to commence, attempted to dissuade him from it by urging the reciprocal benefits that would result from peace. "The English who came first to this country were but an handful of people, forlorn, poor, and distressed. My father was then Sachem. He relieved their distresses in the most kind and hospitable manner. He gave them land to build and plant upon. He did all in his power to serve them. Others of their own countrymen came and joined them. Their numbers rapidly increased. My father's counsellors became uneasy and alarmed lest, as they were possessed of firearms, which was not the case with the Indians, they should finally un- dertake to give law to the Indians, and take from them their country. They therefore advised him to destroy them before they should become too strong, and it should be too late. My father was also the father of the English. He represented to his counsellors and warriors that the English knew many sciences which the Indians did not ; that they improved and cultivated the earth, and raised cattle and fruits, and that there was sufficient room in the country for both the English and the Indians. His advice prevailed. It was concluded to give victuals to the Eng- lish. They flourished and increased. Experience taught that the advice of my father's counsellors was right. By various means they got possessed of a great part of his ter- ritory. But he still remained their friend till he died. My elder brother became Sachem. They pretended to suspect him of evil designs against them. He was seized and confined, and thereby thrown into sickness and died. Soon after I became Sachem they disarmed all my people. They tried my people by their own laws, and assessed dam- ages against them which they could not pay. Their land was taken. At length a line of division was agreed upon between the English and my people, and I myself was to
395
EXTENSIVE INDIAN PLOT.
be responsible. Sometimes the cattle of the English CHAP. would come into the cornfields of my people, for they did X. not make fences like the English. I must then be seized 1674. and confined till I sold another tract of my country for satisfaction of all damages and costs. Thus tract after tract is gone. But a small part of the dominion of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live till I have no country." 1 This is the preamble to a declaration of war, more striking from its origin, and more true in its statements, than any with which we are acquainted. It is the mournful summary of accumulated wrongs that cry aloud for battle, not for revenge alone, but for the very ex- istence of the oppressed. It is the sad note of preparation, sounded by a royal leader, that summons to their last con- flict the aboriginal lords of New England. It is the death song of Metacomet, chanted on the site of his ancestral home, before plunging into the fatal strife that was to end only with his life, and to seal for ever the fortunes of his race.
The fact that the war broke out before the conspiracy was complete, has caused some historians to doubt whether there was really any concerted design among the Indians ; but the evidence of Col. Church, in his interviews with Awashonks and Weetamo, queens of Seaconnet and Po- casset, appears conclusive of Philip's intrigues in that direction, while other cotemporary writers adduce the testi- mony of captives, taken at Hadley and elsewhere, to show that the plot embraced the remoter Indians of the Con- necticut River, as well as the powerful tribe of the Narra- gansets. An event that precipitated the war probably averted the utter destruction of the English, by distracting the yet incomplete alliance of the Indians. Sausaman, one of Mr. Elliot's "praying Indians," a man of unstable mind, after being educated at the college, and employed as a teacher at Natick, returned to savage life, and re-
1 Foster papers, MSS., vol. ix. last page.
396
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
CHAP. mained for many years with Philip as his secretary and X. chief counsellor. The persuasions of Elliot induced him 1674. to abandon Philip, and resuming civilized habits, he be- came a preacher. Being thrown in company with some 1675. of his old companions, he discovered the plot that was June. forming against the English. This he made known to Governor Leveret. He was soon afterwards murdered, as a betrayer of his tribe. Three Indians who committed the deed were seized and executed at Plymouth. Philip expected his own arrest as the instigator of the crime. Enraged at his subjects being thus tried by English laws for fulfilling his commands, in executing the vengeance denounced by Indian custom against all traitors-that they should suffer death, and determined not to submit to the indignity of personal violence, Philip mustered his warriors and commenced to scour the country in all direc- tions. His forces rapidly increased by accessions from the neighboring tribes, and at length the border town of Swan-
20. zey received the first blow in this sanguinary war. Houses were robbed and cattle killed. Four days later the mas- sacre commenced. Nine of the inhabitants were slain and seven wounded. The troops of Plymouth marched at once 28. to the defence of Swanzey. Forces were also despatched from Boston, who attacked the Indians and drove them to a swamp. The next day other troops arrived, the whole were placed under the command of Major Savage, and marched into the Indian country to break up the head quarters of Philip at Mount Hope. The savages fled be- fore them leaving the traces of their retreat in burning buildings, and the heads and hands of slaughtered English stuck upon poles by the wayside, but not an Indian could be seen. The wigwams were found deserted, with evident marks of haste. A few prowling dogs were the only ves- tiges of life that remained. A fort was thrown up at Mount Hope, much against the advice of Church, and a small garrison left to guard it. The enemy had crossed
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