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 24
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279
HAS TWO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS IN R. I.
must have been with Wanasquatuckqut it must have been a locality.
It is most frequently applied to the river, but not invariably so applied. In 1649 it is designated as a "Plain" upon a river; so also in 1652, and 1660, 1661, 1662, and in sundry other years. It is also certain that the earliest settlers did not regard the name Wanasquatuckqut as applying to the entire length of the stream ; later this is shown by a Deed of 1686 of land remote from the mouth of the stream. It describes lands on the "Wanasquatucket or Wiunkcake river," which means that where the river ran near Wionkeague Hill it bore the name of the Hill. Mr. Trumbull has defined the word as signifying "at the end of tide water" or "as far as tide water flows". This, of course, means not a stream in its entire length, but some point or locality upon a stream. In the case of the Wanasquatuckqut this point would be the great bend of the stream, at the spot where Olneyville now stands. But Mr. Trum- bull has given another, and very different, meaning to the word. He gives Wunnashowatuckqut as being the name of a locality in Worcester County, Mass., and meaning "at the crotch of the river," being where the two branches of the Blackstone river join. Of course, both definitions cannot be correct. This meaning seems to have been a favorite one with Mr. Trumbull. Besides Wunna- showatucket, he gives the same meaning to Pascoag, Chepachet. These words all refer to localities in this same Nipmuck country ; and if they mean that which Dr. Trumbull says they mean, they furnish a good illustration of the copious character of these Indian dialects.
In 1665 an agreement was made between the Pawtuxet "partners" and the Providence "proprietors" concerning a line between the two controverted sections. This language is used concerning the run- ning of a line: "Thence upon a straight line unto a rock called Hipses rock, which rock is about three-quarters of a mile westward from the farmhouse of Joseph Wise, where Henry Fowler now liveth; which house standeth upon the hill called Neotaconquonitt ; but if in the running of the said line the said rock shall fall nearer or further off from the midest (middle ) way betweene the river called Patuxett, and the river called Wanasquatuckett, then the line shall be fixed in the midest (midway between) the two rivers
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280
USQUEBAUG, IS SCOTCH WHISKEY.
against said rock" ( Early Rec. 3, 61). This cannot mean the entire length of either stream, but it must apply to some precise locality ; this will be shown to be true by the Smith plat of 1677 ( R. I. Hist. Tract Sec., Ser. 5, p. 100). This point, Olneyville, as the point of departure is clearly shown. There is a Deed of 1677 of land in that neighborhood, which we are attempting to describe, in whichi are the words, "the river called Wannassquatuckitt about so far up the river as the salt water floweth". The Indian name of the place which we now call Olneyville was Wanasquatucket. The extending of the name the entire length of the river was the work of the English settlers, just as was the confusion in spelling the name, for there are not less than thirty forms.
There seems to be confusion in the defining of the names of Indian localities. Mr. Trumbull gives ( Indian Names, 91) the Indian name "Wunnashowatuckqut as applied to a place in Worces- ter County, Mass., at the crotch of the river, as the name denotes, probably at the forks of Blackstone's river". In the case of the same name, at Olneyville, R. I., he says the word means "at the end of tide water" or "as far as tide water goes" ( Potter's Early Hist. Narr., sec. ed., 410). The name Pascoag, Mr. Trumbull defines as "land at the branch"; and Chepachet as "a place of division" on "the fork of Branch river" ( Early Hist. Narr., 411). The question at once arises, do not the same conditions exist in connection with the mouths of the Pawtuxet and Pawtucket rivers as existed in the case of the Wanasquatucket at Olneyville? Wherever in Rhode Island a narrow passage or crossing place existed it was called Wapwayset. There are three such places in the State. Would not like conditions determine the names above cited ?
USQUEBAUG-WOWOSKEPOG. (26)
(1) Usquepaug, or (2) Usquebaug, or (3) Osquepaug, or (4) Wawaskepaug, or (5) Wowoskepaug, or (6) Wauwoskepog, or (7) Wawwoskepog. It is a word of peculiar history. The word has been written in all the forms above given. The first form above is the name at present of a small river which forms the west-
1 1
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WORDS HALF INDIAN, AND HALF ENGLISH. 281
ern boundary of South Kingstown. It is also written in the second form. Dr. Trumbull did not record it in his "Indian Names in Connecticut," in which, however, he records many other Indian names of places in Rhode Island. But Dr. Trumbull has recorded the word in another essay in the forms 2 and 5 above given. He speaks of it as a word "with its flavor of Celtic." But concerning this later. The first occurrence of the word in the early English records is in the Indian Deed of Hall's, or Knight's purchase in the Narragansett country, in 1664 ( Potter's Narragansett, p. 70). As Potter has given it, it is in the first form above. It also appears in Davell's deposition concerning the survey of these same lands given in 1711, but the survey was made in 1664. Davell spells the word in the form 7 above. Now, concerning the "Celtic flavor". Sir Walter Scott in The Abbott, vol. 1, p. 101, Boston edition, 1858, says: "The smoky garret of your father that smells of peat smoke "and usquebaug like a Highlander's plaid." Scott again uses the word in The Abbot, v. 2, p. 219: "The Scottish returns being vested in grouse, white hares, pickled salmon, and usquebaug." It is a Scotch word and means "the water of life," to wit-whisky. Of course, from this history of the word, the origin is clear. It is a Scotch word given to the river because of a similarity in sound to Wawoskepog.
It has been suggested by some that the name Mount Hope came from the Icelandic word "Hop," meaning a bay, as applied to water, used by Thorfin Karlsefne A. D. 1008. Dr. Trumbull says "the suggestion is hardly entitled to serious discussion ; no instance can be shown of the adoption by Indians of a local name from a foreign language." The word Usquebaug comes pretty near to such an adoption. But concerning things, Roger Williams gives these forms : English, Cowes. Indian, "Cowsnuck"; English, Hog. Indian, "Hogsuck"; English. Pig, Indian "Pigsuck"; English, Neat Cattle, Indian, "Neatasuog"; English Goats, Indian, "Goatesuck". Not- withstanding what Dr. Trumbull said, the writer believes that the idea of the derivation of our Mount Hope from the Icelandic is worthy of serious discussion. So it is, too, with the word "Rum- stick," a "point" opposite Warren, in Narragansett Bay. Very strong arguments can be made for each of these words ; arguments
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282
WAUBOSETT PLAINE, NOW ELMWOOD.
along lines which have never yet been even touched-but far too elaborate for this short note.
WAUBOSETT PLAINE. (12)
There is scarcely any other Indian word which has come down to our days which has given rise to so much speculation as the word given above as "Waubosset" and which we now apply to a highway, but spelled "Weybosset"; a very short, but very crooked, street run- ning from its junction with "Westminster" at "Turks' Head" to Chestnut street. The meaning of the word as given by Trumbull was given in Book Notes, v. 8. p. 236, as "at the narrow passage, or crossing place, or fording place." Mr. Dorr, R. I. Historical Tract 15: P. 130, mentions a hill called "Waybossett" in which the Town Council gave liberty to certain men to dig clay "for to make bricks". This was in January, 1723. Mr. Dorr is of the opinion that this hill was the cause of the curve in Weybosset (now Broad) street. The earliest mention of a bridge at Weybosset, that is, by that name, appears in a vote of the Town Meeting in January, 1664. This was a conference as to "mending the bridge", which must of course have been built before that time, possibly in 1662; but the earliest men- tion of a bridge for this place appears in a letter from Roger Williams to Winthrop in 1654 (consult Dorr, in R. I. Hist. Tract 15, p. 67, 68 ). In 1725 a highway was ordered constructed "from Weybosset bridge to the Narragansett country so far as Warwick line". Now comes some fresh knowledge about these ancient things, which we derive from the Early Records, v. 1, p. 95. William Field, of Providence, sold in 1661 a tract of land to ohn Field, of the same town. This land is desbriced as "lying upon that plaine called by the name of Wau- bosset plaine and running all along the southeastwardly side of that pond called Long pond ( and still so called) from an oake tree at one end of the pond unto another oake tree at the other end of said pond". These are the lands on which ex-Judge W. S. Burges now lives, and near by him William D. Davis and other men. This shows the extent of territory in those early days to which the name Waybosset applied. This land was first laid out by the Town of
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283
WOONSOCKET, ONCE NISWOSAKET.
Providence to Adam Goodwin, who sold it, or a part of it, to James Bradish, who sold it to Richard Ozbone, who sold it to Edward In- man, who sold a portion to Zachary Rhodes. How William Field acquired his portion is not apparent from these Records. One other item of interest occurs in the deed, and this is it: "At this present tyme ( 1661), the pathway to Mashapaug goeth thorowit." In 1725 this pathway became "the highway to the Narragansett Country": in 1803 it was the Greenwich road"; in 1856 it became Greenwich street, but the name was altogether too plebeian to last, in fact, it is already styled "the" Boolevar. Thus the "Elmwood" of to-day was "Weybosset Plains" two centuries ago.
WEQUETEQUOCK. (28)
Is now a park near Westerly. R. I. It is located, as being a cove, "at the head of tidewater, half way between Stonington, Conn., and the Pawcatuck river. It was written by Roger Williams Wequa- tuck. (Trumbull's Indian names in Connecticut, 84.)
WECHIENAM.A. (17)
This was a tract of land, near Nachek ( R. I. Col. Rec. 5, pp. 52- 59). It is given by Parsons ( Indian names in Rhode Island) in this form, Wequechackomuck, and is located by Parsons on a speci- fic farm. It was a tract covering many farms as they existed when Parsons wrote in 1861.
WESTOTUCKET. (26)
This name was given to a river which bounded the Stanton-Gard- ner purchase in 1662. It has been applied to three different streams, and also to the Tract.
WOONSOCKET.
See "Niswosaket." Also printed in the Early Records Mis- hoasakitt, Miskoasakit, Misoaskit, Mashovsakit. (Prov. Early Rec. 5, pp. 56, 78, 284. )
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284
WAPWAYSET, NOW WEYBOSSET.
WEQUAPANOCK. (29)
Was an Indian village, or other Indian locality, in what is now Charlestown, R. I. It has also been written Wawattaquatuck.
WECAPAUG. (28)
An Indian name of the brook which formed the Eastern bound of the land known as Misquamicoke for the Indian Sachem Sosoa in 1660, which now forms the town of Westerly. In 1636 this brook was the bound between the lands of the Pequots and the Niantics. It runs into Quanacontaug pond. It has in the various early records many names. Here are some of them: Weecapaug. Wecapoag. Musqutah, Passpatanage, Tismatuc, Pachatanage, Passpataug, Waxcadowa.
WAYUNCKEKE. (5)
It is the name of a hill around which, in 1660, Roger Williams, in a letter to the inhabitants, told them there were lands which would afford "a new and comfortable plantation". ( Narr. Club 6, 315.) Parsons gives these extraordinary variations "Wiorickleague", "Winkheigues", and cites Potter's Hist. Narr. 163: but Potter gives the form at the head of this note. Parsons cites also (R. I. Col. Rec. 4, 271,) but that does not sustain him, being written slightly different, thus, "Wiorikleague". It was so written in 1720, by incompetent recorders, or by those who, in 1859. compiled the Colonial Records. No Indian ever used such a barbarous corrup- tion.
. WAPWAYSET. (12) (34) (20)
This name was given to three localities, all having the same nat- ural characteristics. Trumbull defines it as "at the narrow passage" or "the crossing place". where the river was "forded at low water". All these places were narrow, but not fordable. The name Wey- bosset street in Providence came from this word.
See the name "Waubossett Plaine".
285
WATCHEMOQUOT. OR MACHEMOQUT.
WANAMETONOMY. (32)
This was the name of a Sachem who gave his consent to the transfer of Acquidnec to Coddington and his friend, by Deed of Canonicus and Miantinomi ( Col. Rec. 1. 47). The name was given to a hill which is still known as Tonomy Hill.
WATCHEMOQUOT. (15)
This is derived probably from the Indian Word Machemoqut. defined by Roger Williams in his "Indian Key" ( Narr. Club 1, 71). It was the village of Saunknosecit, a Sachem otherwise called Tom of Wauchimoqut. He was selected by Ousamequin ; otherwise called Massasoit, to fix the bounds of Loqusquscit (6) (R. I. Col. + Rec. 1. 32). Another of the names borne by this Sachem was Mau- gin ; he used it in his surrender of all claim to land west of Provi- dence. As Tom of Wachamoqut he witnessed the Deed of Soco- nonoco to William Arnold, which the latter obtained as a leader against the title under the original Deed given to Williams ( Prov. Early Rec. 15. 75). The surrender of his claims was given in 1667 (Early Rec. 5. 286). At this time an effort was made to have the removal of the scattering Indians from the immediate localities around Providence, and Tom of Wachamoqut was used to assist in their removal.
WAMPANOAGS-LANDS.
The name Wampanoag is defined by Dr. Trumbull as meaning Eastlanders, and it was held by the Plymouth government to these tribes in what is now called Bristol County, Rhode Island, and at Tiverton, and Little Compton, and in fact the entire southern part of Plymouth Colony. On one map, we have taken the first letter of the name, W. across the Pawtucket river, into (6) the town of Lin- coln ; this was done because of the land transaction which Roger Williams, and three companions, made with Ousamequin in 1646. but which failed ( R. I. Col. Rec. 1. 31. 33). Under the name Lo- quassuck herein other details may be found.
286
THE MEANING OF HACKLETON.
In a preceding note, Setamachut (page 265), much attention is given to the name Hackleton's Lime Killne. The name first used in this form became Hackston's three years later, in 1665. The name Hackleton is composed of "Hackle", an English provincial word, in use in Lincolnshire, meaning "to dig up" ( Wright ), or, "to cut, or hack, into small pieces" ( Richardson), and "tun", an Anglo-Saxon word, meaning "town". This word "tun" was attached to names, and given to towns. The transformations were "tuyn", town, ton. We have many such illustration in Rhode Island. Westerly was claimed by the Massachusetts, and named Southertown; a part of it became subsequently Stonington. Fields of great boulders suggested the name. We also have Compton, Tiverton, Barrington, Johnston, Charlestown, Jamestown, Kingstown, Kingston, Cranston, first writ- ten Cranstoun, and Hopkinton. The latter name doubtless was given to the town in honor of Stephen Hopkins, who was Governor of the Colony at the time of its incorporation, 1757.
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QUETENIS NOW DUTCH ISLAND, AND THE TWO FORTIFIED TRADING POSTS BUILT BY THE DUTCH ON THE LANDS NOW KNOWN AS CHARLESTOWN, R. I.
.
QUATENUS, NOW DUTCH ISLAND.
Neither Ninigret nor any other Niantic ever built the Fort on the shore of Charlestown, Rhode Island, which is now called "Ninigret's Fort". It was built by the West India Company, a Dutch Trading Company, and used by them when trading with the Indians. This early connection of Dutch Traders with these Rhode Island lands is worth fresh consideration. Certain Dutch merchants, about the year 1614, sent a fleet of five merchant ships, on an exploring ex- pedition to America. The Dutch government had made a proposi- tion to give such companies, exclusive rights of trade, for four voy- ages. It was to secure these privileges that the expedition was sent out, and New Netherland, now called the city of New York, was discovered. On the 11th October, 1614. the States General, other- wise the Dutch Government, held a meeting at the Hague, to hear a report of the discovery "of New Netherland, situate in America". Thereupon the Government decreed that this trading company should have exclusive privileges from the ist of January next en- suing ( 1615), for three years. Thus the voyage of discovery, was counted as being the first of the four voyages. One of the five mer- chant vessels of which I have spoken, was the Tiger, commanded by Adrian Block, and to him has been given the credit of discover- ing the island which lies off the coast of Rhode Island, which now bears his name. The island had been discovered nearly a century before Block saw it, by Verrazano, in 1524. If Block discovered, or rediscovered, this island. it was while sailing west. towards New Netherland; or sailing east towards Amsterdam; and either way, he was sailing south of Long Island. and also of Long Island Sound ; for the Dutch at that time knew nothing of the Sound, or the Island.
On the 18th August, 1616, the States General were again assem- bled at the Hague, to hear another report. It was by Skipper HIen- rickszn, then in the service of the West India Company. It was a report of the "Second" voyage, and tells of the manner in which "the skipper hath found and discovered a certain country ; a Bay; and three rivers ; lying between the 38th and 40th degrees of Lati- tude" (Docs. Col. Hist. N. Y. V. I, p. 12).
289
290
SLOUP'S BAY IN 1616.
This skipper had built a small yacht of about eight (S) lasts (tons) burthen, and with this light draft boat he had made the dis- coveries. It was through Long Island Sound that he sailed. The country was what is now Connecticut. The mention of the dis- covery of a country, is confirmation of the opinion that Block and his companions went south of Long Island, and supposed it to be a portion of the main land. The Bay was what is now Narragansett. The skipper then called it Sloups Bay, and the three rivers were the Connecticut, the Thames and the Pawcatuck, as we now call them.
The Dutch called the Pawcatuck-Pequatoos river, and described it as "lying right opposite Fisher's Island" ( Docs. Col. Hist. N. Y. I, 545). The small yacht was named the Ourust, meaning "Rest- less". (Same Vol. p. 12.)
At the time of the presentation of this report a "Figurative Map" was laid before the meeting. For, two and a quarter centuries this inap was lost among the archives at the Hague. It was discovered in 18.11 ; copied, and reproduced by lithography, and now appears among the Holland Documents ( Doc. Col. Hist. N. Y. I. p. 13). I have reproduced thiat portion of this Dutch Chart of 1616, the earliest chart, or map, covering the lands of Rhode Island and Nar- ragansett Bay ever made.
Narragansett Bay was first called by the Dutch, Sloups Bay ; but this name was confined to the west passage. The middle passage was called Nassau Bay; but this name was soon transferred to the east passage, and the middle passage became Anchor Bay. In 1641, Miantinomi was described, in a Dutch Journal, as the principal Sachem of Sloops Bay ( Docs. Col. Hist. N. Y. 1, 183).
Mr. Brodhead says, "The Dutch shallops ( sloops ) constantly visited the shores of Long Island Sound, and trafficked with the native Indian tribes for peltry, as far east as Narragan- sett and Buzzards bays." This was in 1622. ( Brodhead's Hist. N. Y. V. I. p. 145. ) The West India Company in 1649 gave to the Dutch government an account of their properties, and especially lands in New England. Among the lands was "the island Quetenis. lying in Sloop bay, which was purchased, paid for, and taken pos- session of, in the year 1637 on the Company's account." ( Docs. Col.
291
THE FIRST MAP OF NARRAGANSETT BAY.
Hist. N. Y. 1, 544.) This Document was written in 1649. But on it is written, "This done at the Hague, the last of February, 1651." The Plymouth Colony, in 1627, made an agreement with the Dutch ; it would trouble the Dutch in nothing "if only they would forbear
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to trade with the natives of this Bay and River of Narragansett and Sowams, which is, as it were, at our doors." ( Brodhead Hist. N. Y. 1, 174.) Sowams was then a place where Dutch shallops could land their cargoes : hence it could not have been Barrington as some pretend ; but must have been Warren, R. I. In 1642, the Dutchi
THE "FIGURATIVE MAP" OF NARRAGANSETT BAY AND RHODE ISLAND, 1616.
292
QUETENIS, NOW DUTCH ISLAND.
claimed all the extent of country from Narragansett Bay to Hudson's river (Doc. Col. Hist N. Y. 1, 128). In 1656, the West India Com- pany complained to the Dutch government of the English encroach- ments as "absorbing Rhode Island ( Aquidneck ), Blocx Island, Martin's Vineyard, Sloops Bay, howbeit possession had been taken of it in the year 1636 for the Company, and of Haerlem on the island Quetenis, situate in the front of said Bay ; and Pequatoos ( the Paw- catuck ) river which they ( the English) pretend to have conquered by force of arms from the natives, inasmuch as they have wholly subjugated that nation." The date of this Document is January 2, 1656 (Doc. Col. Hist. N. Y. 1, 565). It is thus clear that the Dutchi were trading along the coast, and in Narragansett Bay, twenty years before the planting of Providence, or of the English occupation of the island of Rhode Island. The island Quetenis, now known as Dutch Island, is laid down, as here given, on Nicholaus Fischer's Map of New England, about 1656. (Sidney S. Rider Hist. Coll., now at Brown University. )
Quetenis is a corrupt form of the ancient latin word Quatenus ; one of the meanings of which was, "as far as". (Leverett's Lat. Lex.) This meaning is founded on this citation from Columella : "Præciditur superior pars (arboris ) qua apibus vacat deinde inferior quatenus videtur inhabitari." This was written during the first half of the first century, and first printed in 1472. The specific treatise was, "Liber arboribus". Cicero, who was cotemporary with Colum- ella, uses "quatenus" in the same sense as used by the latter. The Indian name for this island is not now known. It was used by the Dutch as a trading post, about twenty years, 1636-1656, and it was of material use to the first planters here.
In 1642, the Dutch saved the early settlements from destruction. The English colonies, Plymouth, Connecticut and Massachusetts. refused the English planters of Providence and Newport the neces- sary supplies which they required, and the Rhode Island settlers were forced to apply to these Dutch Traders for supplies.
It was bought in 1636, or 1637, both years are given in the Documents, and described as one of the lands "whereof they took possession by Forts and Hamlets, long before any Chris- tian nation had settled on them". (Docs. Col. Hist. N. Y.
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FISCHER'S DUTCH CHART OF NARRAGANSETT BAY AND RHODE ISLAND, ABOUT 1636.
"south shore". The other fortified post was on Chemunganock Hill, northwest about two miles from the Fort, on the sea side. The earth- work on Chemunganock was for defence against the Pequots. Both were earthworks, or rifle pits, as such defences are now called. The Indians never constructed such Forts, nor ever used them as de-
293
THE DUTCH FORTS.
1, 543.) Quatenus was fortified. Mr. Arnold, writing about 1856, states that "the Dutch also had two fortified trading posts on the south shore of Narragansett, in what is now Charles- town" ( Arnold's Hist. R. 1. 1, 155). One of these trading posts was that Fort, named "Ninigrets", in 1883, which stands on the
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294
CHALOUP BAY.
I have stated that the earliest known name for Narragansett Bay was Sloup's Bay, in 1616; and further that the name Narragansett was occasionally in use by the Dutch in 1622; and still further, it was used by the Plymouth government in 1627; but it was many years before it came into exclusive use.
"Sloops Bay" appears in different positions on the early Dutch Charts. A sloop is a small vessel, drawing little depth of water, and
Engelant
uins
hatoost
Evlant
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V
COLOM'S DUTCH CHART OF NARRAGANSETT BAY AND RHODE ISLAND, ABOUT 1648.
hence could use a little Bay for shelter. On one of these charts the name is given to the west passage of Narragansett. On another. Fischer's Chart, about 1656, it is given to a little bay, west from the Narragansett. On still another this west passage is called Chaloup Bay, doubtless from the German word Schaluppe. meaning Sloop. Sloops Bay may have been moved still further west ; as far possibly as the inlet Pawvaget ( Indian Map 29 ) in which is "Fort Neck" and on which is the Fort now called Ninegrets.
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295
TEXEL ISLAND.
Colom's Dutch Chart is in the Sidney S. Rider Collection at Brown University.
The name Texel appears on some of these Dutch Charts on the extreme western end of one of the Elizabeth islands at the point where vessels from the New Netherlands entered Buzzard's Bay, and Buzzard's Bay is named Zuyder Zee.
1
E
GIVM.
DERLANDT
Iroconfientis
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Nawacs
- Pa quatuos
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A DUTCH CHART OF NARRAGANSETT BAY AND RHODE ISLAND, ABOUT 1640.
The name Texel came from a small Island lying on the coast of Holland, near which every ship sailing from Amsterdam for the New Netherlands was obliged to pass. Many pilots lived there, to take ships from the North Sea into the Zuyder Zee. (Docs. Col. Hist. N. Y. 1, 625. )
The Fort now called "Ninigrets" was one of the two Dutch Trading Forts mentioned by Mr. Arnold ( Hist. R. I. I. 155). The idea of calling this Dutch Trading Fort "Nini- gretts", was first suggested by the Rev. Frederic Denison
296
A TRAVESTY OF HISTORY.
( Westerly and its Witnesses, 22). This led to a State Dedication, . August 30, 1883. In order to show the ridiculous nonsense of this dedication, I will cite Denison against Denison. He says, "Against Ninigret was sent (by Massachusetts) a force of 270 foot. and 40 horse; Ninigret secured (secreted) himself and his men (not in this Fort, but) in a swamp after the Indian custom. Ninigret had a Fort, but it was unsuited to meet the assault of English forces" (Denison's Westerly, p. 22). Again, the Long Island Indians made war on Ninigret. "The Savage Fleets of log canoes, were silently * the moon speeding their way across the foot of the Sound,
was high and clear in the southwest, and its beams were hence so reflected by the glassy waters, that the Niantic braves discovered the approaching Montauk fleet, while themselves remained nnseen : instantly Ninigret ordered his own force to silently and speedily fall back to their own shore, near Watch Hill, when hauling their canoes upon the beach into concealed positions they posted themselves in ambush over the sedgy and bushy banks to await the enemy. Scarce a remnant of the Montauk host escaped" ( Denison's Westerly, 23). Thus Ninigret must have constructed a fort, not for defence, and not to be used in war. These things were printed in 1878. In 1883 "Ninigret's Fort" was dedicated, and Mr. Denison said: "The Foes of the Niantics dreaded this stronghold and were never able to cap- ture it ; but for this fortification and the heroism displayed in it. the western boundary of Rhode Island would never have extended to the Pawcatuck. Herein we owe a debt to the patriotism and bravery of the Niantics" who betook themselves to the swamps as was their custom whenever attacked. On page 43, of his Westerly and its Witnesses, Mr. Denison speaks of the poetic license taken with tra- dition, these must be illustrations of such license. In his address, delivered at the Dedication, of the name Ninigret to this Dutch Fort, Mr. Denison says, "It was this Ninigret who gave hospitable en- tertainment in this Fort to the heroic Major John Mason and his bold band in May. 1637" ( Prov. Journal, Sept. 1, 1883). But the heroic John tells a different story. "They carried very proudly tow- ards us. not permitting any of us to come into their Fort ; ** we therefore caused a strong Guard to be set about their Fort, giving charge that 10 Indian should be supposed to pass in or out. We
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!
297
IMAGINARY PLUMED WARRIORS.
also informed the Indians that none of them should stir out of the Fort upon peril of their lives ; so as they would not suffer any of us to come into their Fort, so we would not suffer any of them to go out of the Fort" ( Mason's Pequot War, Mass. Hist. Soc. Col. Sec. Ser. V. 8, p. 136). Major Mason makes no mention of Ninigret in this connection in his narrative. The Sachem could not have been twenty-five years of age at the time; and he was not a Sachem at the time the earthworks were thrown up. Again this nonsense: "How must this old stronghold have then appeared manned by plumed and painted warriors, armed with their rude, barbaric weap- ons." Mr. Denison would have us believe that Ninigret had thrown up a regular agled Fort, with salient angles to be defended with bows and arrows. Such "history" is positively ridiculous.
Mr. Denison's statement of the influence of this Fort upon the established boundary of Rhode Island is mere "poetic license". It had not the slightest connection, or influence, with that act.
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845.755
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