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 15
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MOSKITUASIT. (15)
It is the name now given to a brook, or small creek, which flows into the Bay west of Popanomscut, or Peebe's Neck. Mr. Williams gives the word Maskituash as meaning "Grass, or Hay". But the name at the head of this note is defined as "a place of reeds and rushes" ( Bicknell's Hist. Barrington, p. II). Men ought to have more regard for Roger Williams, and for his knowledge of the language of the Indians, than to expose his ignorance with such rudeness.
The present writer has been charged with using this word, on his Indian map, as being Indian, when it is merely a corruption made from the English word mosquito. Massasoit in his Deed to Bradford and others in March, 1653, of Government lands describes it as "a ilttle brook of water called by the Indians Morskituash" ( Fessenden's Hist. Warren. R. 1 .. 57). Even if the charge that the word came from the Spanish mosquito was true, it would be no rea- son for the omission of it. The "Indian Key" by Roger Williams contains the word "Chicks" as being Indian for Hens ; moneash as being Indian for English money; neatsuog, for neat cattle; cows- nuck, for cows; goatsuck, for goats ; hogsuck, for hogs ; naynay- oumewot, for horse. This word came from the neighing of the animal ; and shottash, for the discharge of a gun, or for shot. Moreover, it is very doubtful whether the English generally knew the word mosquito; but Roger Williams knew it when he compared the action of John Whipple to "a muskeeto on your face or bosom". (R. I. Hist. Tract, Ser. 14. p. 43.)
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MANIPSCONASSET. (17)
Was the name of a large rock in the Pawtuxet river, a mile above the bridge over the Pawtuxet ( R. I. Hist. Tract, Ist Ser. 17, p. 104).
173
MOOSHAUSICK-MATUNUCK.
. MOOSHAUSICK. (6, 13, 12)
The name, clearly written as above, is in the original Deed written by Mr. Williams. Great changes in its structure have since been made. Here are the original forms on the Town Records, 1658: Moshausick, Mowshausuck ; in 1662, Moshosick. Trumbull says: "The name being so variously written, its original composi- tion is uncertain". He says it "denotes either Great Brook or Great Marshy Meadow". It would seem to be safe to accept as genuine the manuscript Deed which Mr. Williams wrote, and which is still almost perfect. The name written in 1642 by Samuel Gorton and printed in Simplicities' Defence (London, 1646) was Mooshawset.
MATUNUCK-MATTOONUC. (27)
This name is variously given to a neck of land and to a small river northwest from Wayanitoke, or as we now know the place, Point Judith. Roger Williams gives the form Yo-mt-unnock, and meaning "to the right hand." as used in travelling. This name, on the Walling map, 1854, is given to a brook which apparently flows into the most northerly part of Point Judith pond.
This name dates back to about 1662. It was given both to a "neck of land" and to a river. In these two forms it appears in the Land Evidence Record 1, 438. The original manuscript is among the State archives in Providence. There are the usual number of varieties in spelling.
MASCACHUGE-MASCACHUSETT.
(17-22)
This name was given to a point of land at the extreme south of Potowomut and also to the small river which forms the southern bound of that peninsula. The near approach of the second form above to the name of an adjoining State is owing entirely to Eng-
174
THE MASSACRE OF 2ND JULY, 1676.
lish corruptions. That form was, however, used in the Rhode Island printed Records (v. 3, p. 55). Mr. Arnold in the reprint of the Fones' Records gives five forms, all very corrupt ; but Potter ( Hist. Narrag .. p. 58) sustains Arnold. The fault was in the first recorder. A far better record of the Deed to Atherton of 11th June, 1659, can be seen in the Connecticut Colonial Records (v. 2, p. 540), where it was prepared by Mr. Trumbull. The pond in the south of Westerly ( 28), written Massachaug, is the same word in another form. So also is the stream Moscachuck near Nahet (18). Mr. Trumbull says these words all came from Muskechuge, mean- ing "a place where rushes grow".
Madam Knight, the Boston lady who, in 1704, made the journey from Boston to New York by the Pequot path which led through the Narragansett country, has left a very interesting Private Jour- nal, which has been twice printed. I will transcribe a few refer- ences to her travel in Rhode Island. Having left Providence, "we came to a river which they generally ride through ; but I dare not venture ; so the 'post' got a lad and cannoo to carry me to tother side and hee rid thro and led my horse ; the cannoo was very small and shallow so that when we were in she seemed redy to take in water which greatly terrified me". "Hee ( the postman ) told mee there was a bad river we were to ride thro which was so fierce, a hors could sometimes hardly stem it: but it was narrow and we would soon be over. I cannot express my concern of mind
* I perceived by the hors's going we were on the descent of a hill. twas totally dark with the trees that surrounded the bottom, but I knew by the going of the hors we had entered the water which my Guide told me was the hazzardos river he had told me of, and hee riding up close to my side bid me not fear, we should be over immediately. I gave reins to my nagg, and sitting as stedy as just before in the cannoo in a few minutes got safe to the other side, which hee told me was in the Narragansett country". Madame Kniglit had crossed the Mascachuge river.
MASSACRE OF 2ND JULY. 1676.
(17)
On our map we have located the scene of this awful massacre on
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175
INDIAN TORTURE AT NATIC, 1676.
the south bank of the Pawtuxet river, below Natick. The place is not known ; it was about seven miles from Providence. A troop of Connecticut mounted men, 300 in number, accompanied by sev- eral bodies of Mohegan and Pequot Indians, came suddenly upon the last remnant of the Narragansetts. Magnus, or Quiapen, the Squaw Sachem, was their leader. Major Talcott was in command. . Three hundred were killed or captured, among them Quiapen and all her counsellors ( Hubbard's Indian Wars, 1677, p. 97). It was a massacre (S. G. Drake, Book of the Indians, Book 3. p. 65). The Reverend Gentleman, Hubbard, describes it as "the greatest blow given to the Narragansetts". Thus he narrates the delightful pleas- antries of that New England Sabbath. For the 2nd July, 1676, was Sunday. "Amongst the rest of the prisoners then taken was a young and sprightly fellow. The Mohegans desired the English commander that this young fellow might be delivered into their hands that they might put him to death, more majorum; that is, in order that his death might be more painful. they would torture the sprightly young fellow. The English, though not delighted with". blood, were not unwilling to gratify their humor. They first cut one of his fingers round in the joint at the trunck of his hand, with a sharp knife. and then break it off : then they cut off another and another till they had dismembered one hand of all its digits. the blood sometimes spurting out in streams a yard from his hand: they dealt with the toes of his feet as they had done with the fingers of his hands, all the while making him dance round the circle and sing till he had wearied both himself and them; at last they brake the bones of his legs, after which he was forced to sit down which tis said he silently did till they knocket out his brains." Then con- tinues the Reverend gentleman : "Instances of this nature should be incentive unto us to bless the Father of Lights who hath called us out from the dark places of the earth" ( Hubbard's Indian Wars, 1677, unpaged postcript. 143). The clergyman should have con- tinued: "In order that we might permit such work to be done. by Connecticut Indians, in the barbarous town of Warwick, R. I.": and then these prayerful clergymen went back to Boston and de- scribed the damnable civilization which Samuel Gorton had planted in this barbarous wilderness.
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NAMCOOK-BOSTON NECK.
MINABAUG-MINABAUGE. (28-29)
Is a name applied indiscriminately to two inlets from the sea, in the earliest records of these two towns.
NINEGRET'S FORT. (29)
This name has been given in my own time to the earthworks, on the sea shore in Charlestown. It must have been a Dutch trading Fort, of about 1656. Near by, on Chemunganuck, is another sim- ilar earthworks of interest in a military sense against the Indians towards Connecticut. Ninegret had no use for such works.
NAMCOOK. (24-27)
Concerning the Indian name, Namcook, which name was applied in sundry forms to that land which subsequently became known as Boston-neck. It is that land along the western shore of Narragan- sett Bay from Wickford to Narragansett Pier. Namcook is a cor- ruption by the English from the Indian Vamcok. Here are some of the forms used by the English: Namcocke, Namococke, Nao- muck, Nameok ; these are given by Judge Potter ( Early Hist. Nar- ragansett, p. 304) ; there are no references to original sources, but we can safely vouch for the accuracy of Judge Potter. The fol- lowing are from Mr. James N. Arnold's edition of the "Fones' Records": Namecockenecke (p. 3). Namcock (p. 21), Namocock (pp. 6. 101), Namecock (p. 41). The first of these Fones' forms bears date 1659-61. the last one, 1685. Still other forms are given by Dr. Usher Parsons' "Indian Names," thus,-Namacoke, Noo- muck,-words which Dr. Parsons says signifies "a bank," which is doubtless without any foundation. Dr. J. H. Trumbull. in his "Indian Names in Connecticut," gives no word, Namcook, but he gives Nameock, with these variations-Nameaug. Namecocke. Nameugg. Nameacke, Nammiog, Namyok, all of which, Dr. Trum- bull says, refer to New London, and mean "Fishing Place," or
177
NASAUKET IN SHOWOMET.
"Where fish are taken." This is doubtless a correct definition. Williams gives in his "Key to the Indian Language," Namans as the Indian word meaning "Fish." Nameok is beyond question the correct Indian for Namcook, and it was and now is a place "where fish are taken." As to its application to New London, Dr. Trumbull is good authority, and so, too, is Roger Williams. Gov. John Winthrop of Connecticut dwelt at New London, and for many years Williams was a frequent correspondent ; all Williams' letters to Winthrop were addressed in one of these three forms, Nameug, Nameaug. Naumeng. Namcook was bought from Coginaquand, 11th July, 1659, by the Atherton Company. The purchase was in violation of a law of the Colony, but Atherton denied the jurisdiction of the Colony. The Charter of 1663 affirmed the jurisdiction, and placed the lands in control of Rhode Island. The King's commis- sion then came and set aside the Atherton Deeds because of a lack of consideration. A few years later the General Assembly affirmed the Deeds to the living members of the Atherton Company. Tower Hill, once one of the most celebrated localities in Rhode Island, is a part of this Namcook land.
NASAUKET.
(17)
I strolled unknown along the neatly kept avenues of a pretty seaside village; picturesque cottages covered the yellow sands of the beach and great hotels looked down paternally upon the little cottages lying around. Groups of men were gathered under the verandahs of the great hotel smoking their fragrant Soberanos; while, reclining in every conceivable style of easy laziness. were groups of women in lovely costumes beneath the piazzas of every cottage. The scene was enchantment itself. I was on the land Nasauket, and I wondered whether the native Narragansett, could he look upon the scene, would recognize the lands which he once loved so well ; and I bethought me of the ceaseless play of the waters along the sandy beach, and that even now these waters were playing just as the Narraganset saw them play two hundred years ago, and just as those who follow us as we shall follow the Narraganset, will
178
THE VALUE OF WAMPUM.
see them ceaselessly flowing. I was at the Buttonwoods and at the Oakland Beach. I looked at the new civilization and fell at once to a comparison with the ancient barbarism which it had succeeded, and I wondered whether these men and women, so restful, so peace- ful, so quiet, and so happy, ever thought of the terrible struggles and afflictions, the years of painful sufferings, which their ancestors in these very fields endured, to the end that these men and women inight find that peaceful quiet, which in lapse of years they found, and which I now saw around me. I am minded to tell the story. The sturdy Englishmen had dwelt nearly a dozen years on the lands of Showomet at perfect peace with the barbarians, but in a condition of perpetual war with their brethren, the Englishmen of the Massa- chusetts Bay. It was in 1642 that they came, and in 1653 it was when they bought from the Narragansetts these lands at Nausaucat, or as we now call them, Oakland Beach and Buttonwoods ; names which to my antiquated notions have no melody comparable with Nasauket. Not being learned in Indian linguistics, I cannot explain the meaning of the term; but Roger Williams gives the word, Nasaump, which he says was a thickened clam broth; this place was once famous for its clams, and I can but think that the two words are akin. In May, 1653, Nasauket was bought from the Indians for £12, 10s., and an agreement made with them "for the way of fencinge in the fields." This £12, 10s. was to be paid in peage, at four or eight the penny. as the peage was black or white. Thus, if the white man paid the Indian in white peage, he gave him .24,000 pieces, but if in black peage, he gave the Indian but half the number. 12,000 pieces, for this land of Nasauket. Another way or means of counting peage was used in the payment for Showomet. or. as we now call it, Old Warwick. There were twelve purchasers. and each gave twelve fathoms of peage, in all. one hundred and forty-four fathoms, as the old deed says.
Within a mile of the Buttonwoods hotels stood the house of a settler of Showomet upon which during a mid-winter night. in 1643-4. the Christian people of Boston kept a continual fire of musketry upon its defenders. The sole purpose of these Christian gentlemen was to wrench these fair lands from the English owners. The tale seems incredible. Humphrey Atherton led the assault.
179
THE GRAVE OF JOHN WICKS.
More details of these matters will be found under the name Showo- met herein described.
The Indian of this period was a very different creature from the degenerate beasts of a subsequent age. The people looked upon them without fear, in fact, employed them in many ways; they guarded the cattle in the woods, and found them when lost, both services for which they were well fitted, both by nature and by habit. They could hunt and destroy wild beasts, an intolerable trouble for the settlers. Wolves were terribly destructive to young cattle, goats and swine. The Indian could kill the wolf, but for this service the white men paid him only forty shillings, while they paid a white man for the same service eighty shillings. Thus, it was worth just twice as much to get rid of a wolf by the hands of a white man as it was by an Indian. For one "great gray wolf," a terrible scourge, the settlers offered five pounds, and John Sweete killed him. There is a very ancient house still in excellent condition at Buttonwoods in which there dwelt Mr. Henry W. Greene. In one of the bedrooms of this ancient house there is a very small window. From this little window Mr. Greene's grandfather used on moonlight nights to shoot the wolves when they came howling too ncar for squiet sleep. This house must have been one of the earliest built after the great destruction by the Indians, in March, 1675. The old stone castle, as they now call it, but which was, in fact, the stone house of John Greene, in which lived Joanna, who died. as 1 have written, was the only house left by the Indians. This stone house was torn down in 1795, and the stone used for the cellar of a house still occupied by the family of George Anthony, just by the Old Warwick Post Office. In the field by this house is the grave of John Wicks ; certainly one of the most singular graves in Rhode Island. The story runs thus: It was in 1675, Philip's war was just breaking out. The people had sought shelter in the house of John Greene. Mr. Wicks, a very "ancient man," as an old chron- icler writes, but who was, in fact, but sixty-six years old, went out at night to seek his cattle ; his people tried to dissuade him, but long habitation among the Indians had disarmed Mr. Wicks of any fear of them, a temerity which cost his life. He came not home at night. and the next morning his head severed from his body and thrust
180
THE NIPMUC COUNTRY.
on a pole was found in front of the house. The head was buried in a distinct grave before the body was found, which happened on the day succeeding ; thus, two separate graves were made and have existed almost to this day. In fact, they can still be discovered.
C Form of the grave of John Wicks.
It was on these same Nasauket lands that Captain Prentice, on the night of December 27th, 1675. the same year of John Wicks' murder, burned every wigwam of every Indian village, whereby Pomham and his few followers were driven to destruction by the very men who had used them to destroy the English.
Poetic Justice with her lifted scale In spite of men does in the end prevail.
THE NIPMUCK COUNTRY.
The Nipmucks, or Nopnats, or Nipnots, or Neepnucks, or Neep- moogs, as the name is variously spelled, occupied a territory cover- ing the northern portion of Rhode Island, extending to and beyond Worcester, and thence southwesterly into Connecticut, even to the banks of the Connecticut river. Roger Williams, in a letter to John Winthrop in 1637, writes of the "further Neepmucks" ( Letters, p. 28), and the "hither Nipmucks" (Letters. p. 29). He says, Wunnashowtucket is the place of the "further Neepmucks." and that there "the enemy shelters and has forts," and he tell Winthrop that these Indians are equi-distant from Providence and Boston. Trumbull. in his Indian Names, has this word Wunnashowatuckqut. which locality he says is in Worcester county, and says the word means "at the crotch of the river, and probably refers to the forks of the Blackstone." .
If by the forks of the Blackstone, Dr. Trumbull means the place ( where the Branch river falls into the Blackstone, it would be just on the border of Massachusetts and northwest from Woonsocket a
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181
THE NIPMUC BORDER LINE.
short distance. In the year 1637 Williams writes of a battle between the "further Neepmucks" and the "hither Nipmucks," and gives the result as a victory for the "hither Nipmucks." (Letters, pp. 38. 47.) Mr. Drake ( Book of the Indians, Book 2, p. 100,) gives a record of actions by the commissioners of Massachusetts, in which occurs mention of an Indian battle at Quabakut (now Brookfield, Mass.), which attack is described as "a hostile invasion of Wosame- quin ( Massasoit ) ; from this, Mr. Drake argues that at some period Massasoit dwelt among the Nipmucks, having left the Pokanoket lands, ( Bristol) to Wamsutta. This jurisdiction, but not the dwell- ing of Massasoit in this district, is confirmed by Roger Williams, by an agreement with Massasoit concerning a tract of land ; the agreement was "to buy the right which Ousamequin pretendeth to a parcel of land which lies between our bounds at Pawtucket and an Indian plantation northwest from thence, called Loquassuck" (Annals of Providence, 566).
It is stated in Drake's "Old Indian Chronicle," page 64. that both the Narragansett and the Wampanoag tribes laid claim to this por- tion of the lands of the Nipmucks ; and it appears by a letter written by Mr. Williams in 1668, that "the Nipmucks were unquestionably subject to the Narragansett Sachems" (Letters, 326). From all this it is clear that wherever else the Nipmuck lands lay, a part lay certainly in the northeastern part of what is now Rhode Island : and it is stated in the older histories, that one cause of trouble between those tribes consisted in the desertions from the Wam- panoag's to the Nipmucks, at this very spot which was the frontier. or border land of each tribe. From these facts may have arisen the word which Mr. Tooker says means "at the place of meeting." History thus corroborates philology. To fix the precise location of Loquasqusuck is now impossible.
NAMQUIT-CONIMICUT.
(17)
Projecting into the waters of Narragansett Bay from its western shore, in the town of Warwick, are two points of land. The most northern of these Points, on all recent maps or charts, bears the
182
THE "GASPEE" AND THE "HANNAH."
name Gaspe or Gaspee Point. The most southern reaching out towards Nayat, and stretching nearly half way across the Bay, bears the name Conimicut on these maps or charts. Upon one of these Points the British armed schooner Gaspee was destroyed during the night of June 9th or 10th, 1772, by men from Providence. The vessel while in pursuit of another ran aground, as I have stated, on . one of these Points. I am going to discuss the question which Point it was upon which the vessel grounded.
The map of Rhode Island, by Caleb Harris, the first made after the Revolution, in 1795, places the name Gaspe Point to the most northern of the two Points.
One of the men who assisted in the destruction of the British ship was Ephraim Bowen, then a young man twenty years of age. In 1839, Mr. Bowen, then in his 87th year, printed in the newspapers his recollections of the affair ( which took place after midnight of June 9th, sixty-seven (67) years before. Mr. Bowen relates that 'the chase (of the sloop Hannah by the Gaspec) continued as far as Namquit Point, which was off from the farm in Warwick about seven miles below Providence now owned by Mr. John Brown Francis, our late Governor." From these times to the present, the name Gaspe, or Gaspee, has been placed on all maps or charts on the northern Point, while the name Namquit as applied to either Point has entirely disappeared. In all the Documents concerning the affair, Namquit is the place always named. It was so by Mr. Bartlett ( Hist. Dest. Gaspee, 1861, pp. 16-21). It was so in the Deposition of Dep. Gov. Sessions ( same vol., p. 77). It was so in Lieut. Dudingston's account ( same vol., p. 34). But Dudingston spelled the name Namcutt. But on no map can the name be found. neither ancient nor modern. Nevertheless, the name, in the common understanding, as applied to a Point in Narragansett Bay, extend- ing from Warwick into the waters of the Bay, actually then ( 1772) existed. There were three localities in Rhode Island to which the name Namquit, or Nanquit, was given by the Indians. First, to a Point in Narragansett Bay ; second, to a pond in Tiverton ( Blasko- witz chart. 1777) ; third, to a neck of land projecting from Tiverton (35) into the Sugkonate passage, and the cove which it produced. This latter locality is named Fogland Point, on the latest Govern-
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IS3
FOGLAND POINT.
ment chart, 1878. Upon examining the same charts concerning Conimicut Point, it will appear that the same natural conditions prevail. Fogland extends 1200 yards into the waters of the East Passage. Conimicut projects 1000 yards into the Narragansett Bay, both making coves. The same natural conditions prevail. Ii Namquit was good Indian for the Fogland Point, it must inevitably be given to Conimicut. This latter name was first given to Points to which it is now attached by the King's commission, on the boundary questions, on their chart of 1741. ( Mass. Senate Doc. 14, January, 1848.) I come now to the conditions of navigation. The British ship was in chase of the sloop Hannah, the latter much the smaller vessel and drawing much less water. One writer says, "The Hannah crossed Namquit where there was water enough for the sloop, but not enough for the Gaspec" ( Staples, Annals of Provi- dence, 229). Relying upon the most recent Government surveys. Gaspee Point gives 221/2 feet of water 900 feet from the shore ; the Point below, Conimicut, gives only 7 feet of water 2550 feet from the land. The slightest examination will show the improbability that Lieut. Dudingston would run his vessel entirely out of her course, with no possible hope by so doing of overtaking the Hannah, she having by this act the interior lines, and the Gaspee the exterior lines. This is only true, however, of the most northern point. But at the lower Point, Dudingston's course would have given him the interior lines had he succeeded, and would have assisted him in overtaking the Hannah. Moreover, the broad waters between the Hannah and the western shore were most seductive to the adven- turous sailor. History must have transposed the locality; the Gaspee must have grounded on the lower point. In order to have grounded the Gaspee on what is now put upon all the maps as Gaspee Point, Dudingston would have been obliged to have run his vessel entirely off her course and within 300 or 400 feet of the land ; and had he not run aground, he would have destroyed all possibility of the capture of the Hannah.
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