CANTO THIRD.
War! War! my brother.
Williams says that, at the time of his first entering the Narraganset country, a great contest was raging between Canonicus and Miantonomi on one side, and Massasoit or Ousamequin on the other. Williams, at this time, had come to the resolution of settling at Seekonk, on a part of the lands belonging to the latter sachem. But should actual hostilities be commenced between these tribes, his situation would become peculiarly dangerous, occupying as he would, lands on the frontiers of the weaker party. The Narragansets might regard his settlement as a mere trading establishment, supplying their enemies with arms. Besides, the Narragansets and Wampanoags, in many instances, laid claim to the same lands. [See [note to stanza thirty-third, canto fourth].] To obtain a peaceable possession of these lands it was necessary to have the consent of both. A reconciliation, therefore, of the contending tribes became indispensable. Williams incidentally mentions that he travelled between them to satisfy them of his intentions to live peaceably by them, and it is hardly possible that the equally necessary object of their reconciliation was neglected. Indeed, we find, shortly after Williams entered their country, these chiefs, so recently hostile, amicably granting their lands to him and his associates, and one of them yielding to the authority of the other. Hence we may infer that Williams not only attempted to pacify them, but that his efforts were crowned with success.
Ousamequin, or Ashumequin, was the name of the Wampanoag chief, until about the time of the Pequot war, when he assumed the name of Massasoit, or Massasoyt, for it is variously written. The latter is used in the text as that by which he is most generally designated. It was common for the Indians to change their names. That of Miantonomi was originally Mecumeh.
The Narraganset hatchet stained with gore—
Miantonomi lifts it o’er his head,
Gives the loud battle yell, and names our valiant dead.
To name the dead was considered a great indignity, and, among chiefs, a sufficient cause for war. Philip pursued one who had thus offended to Nantucket. The life of the offender was saved only by the interference of the whites. To avoid uttering the names of the dead they used circumlocutions, such as Sachem-aupan, Nes-mat-aupan; the sachem that was here, our brother that was here.
And Annawan, who saw in after times
Brave Metacom, and all of kindred blood,
Slain, or enslaved and sold to foreign climes.
Metacom was the original name of Philip. Anawan was the last of Philip’s captains that fell into the hands of the English. He was with Philip at the time he was surprised and slain. Church, giving an account of the battle, says, “By this time the enemy perceived they were waylaid on the east of the swamp, and tacked short about. One of the enemy, who seemed to be a great surly old fellow, hallooed with a loud voice, and often called out, ‘Iootash! Iootash!’ Captain Church called to his Indian, Peter, and asked who that was that called so. He answered that it was Annawan, Philip’s great captain, calling to his soldiers to stand to it, and fight stoutly.”
Scarce do they leave a scant and narrow place,
Where we may spread the blanket of our race.
“We have not room to spread our blankets,” was a phrase by which the Indians signified that they were straightened in their possessions.—See Heckewelder.
“’Tis not the peag,” said the Sagamore,
“Nor knives, nor guns, nor garments red as blood,
That buy the lands I hold dominion o’er—
Lands that were fashioned by the red man’s God;
But to my friend I give.”
Williams says the Indians were very shy and jealous of selling their lands to any, and chose rather to make a grant of them to such as they affected; but at the same time expected such gratuities and rewards as made an Indian gift often times a very dear bargain.
Of Peag there were two sorts—the white and black. The former was called Wampom or Wampum, the latter Suckauhock. The first was wrought from the white, the last from the black or purple part of a shell.
Westward till now his course did Waban draw;
He shunned Weybosset, the accustomed ford.
I am informed that Weybosset, in the Indian language, signified a ford, or crossing place. It is now the name of a street in Providence, extending southwesterly from the place in the river so designated by the Indians.
And fast doth Indian town to town succeed,
Some large, some small, in populous array.
“In the Narraganset country (which is the chief people in the land) a man shall come to many townes, some bigger, some lesser, it may be a dozen in 20 miles travell.”—Williams’ Key.
For they were gone to Potowomet’s fires.
The words Note or Yote signified fire; Potowash, to make fire; Wame signified all, and Et is a termination denoting place. If this be so, it would seem that Potowamet, signified the place of all the fires, or places where all the tribes assembled and kindled their council or festal fires. The shell-fish, in which the shores of Potowomet abound, and the numerous remains of Indian feasts found on the upland, offer additional proof of the correctness of this inference.
[CANTO FOURTH.]
There bristled darts—there glittered lances sheen.
Lances were arms which distinguished their sachems and other leaders. At this early period the Indians had scarcely become familiarized to the use of fire-arms. The French and Dutch had indeed begun to supply them with these strange implements of death; but the English colonists had taken every precaution to prevent their being furnished with them. There were, however, no restraints on the trade of knives, hatchets, lances, &c.
On settles raised around the mounting blaze
Sit gray Wauontom, Keenomp, Sagamore.
Wauontom, a counsellor; Keenomp, a captain; Sagamore, a chief or sachem.
Is sage Canonicus.
Williams considered Canonicus, at the time he wrote his Key to the Indian Languages, about fourscore years old.
The Neyhom’s mantle did his shoulders grace.
“Neyhomaushunck, a coat or mantle curiously made of the fairest plumes of the Neyhommauog, or turkies, which commonly their old men make, and is with them as velvet with us.”—Williams’ Key.
Yes, ere he came, Pocasset’s martial band
Did at our bidding come to fight the foe,
And the tall warriors of the Nipnet land
Rushed with soft foot to bend our battle bow;
And e’en the dog of Haup did cringing stand
Beside our wigwam, and his tribute show.
The reader will not expect in the text minute historical accuracy, yet it has been the wish of the author, throughout, not to violate KNOWN historical truth; and the following facts, he thinks, give something more than mere probability to the presumption, that Massasoit was, before the arrival of the whites, in some sense, one of the subject sachems of the Narraganset chiefs. The following extract of a deposition of Williams, dated at Narraganset, the 18th of June, A. D. 1682, will shew that Canonicus had authority of some sort over Massasoit, and that the latter had claims, subordinate to those of Canonicus, to certain lands which Williams procured of the last named chief. In this deposition Williams says, “I desire posterity to see the most gracious hand of the Most High, (in whose hands are all things,) that when the hearts of my countrymen and friends and brethren failed me, his infinite wisdom and merits stirred up the barbarous heart of Canonicus to love me as his own son to the last gasp, by which I had not only Miantonomi and all the Coweset sachems my friends, but Ousamequin also, who, because of my great friendship for him at Plymouth, and the authority of Canonicus, consented freely, (being also well gratified by me,) to the Governor Winthrop’s and my enjoyment of Prudence, yea of Providence itself, and all other parts I procured which were upon the point, and in effect, whatever I desired of him.” A distinction seems here to be intended between Prudence and other places. It is probable that Prudence was conquered by the Narragansets, whilst in possession of some under-sachem of Massasoit. And when the latter renounced all claims to this Island, he at the same time assured to Williams the peaceable enjoyment of Providence and all other places purchased of him.
A similar state of things appears in the deed, made by Canonicus and Miantonomi to the settlers of Aquidnay, to have existed both in reference to that island and a part of Pokanoket, where Massasoit resided. This deed or memorandum is as follows: “We, Canonicus and Miantonomi, the two chief sachems of Narraganset, by virtue of our general command of the Bay, as also the particular subjecting of the dead sachem of Aquidnick and Kitackumuckqut, [Kikemuet] themselves and lands unto us, have sold unto Mr. Coddington and his friends united, the great Island of Acquidnick, lying from hence eastward in this bay, as also the marsh or grass upon Quinnannacut, [Conanicut] and the rest of the islands in the bay, (excepting Chubackuweda, formerly sold unto Mr. Winthrope, Governor of Massachusetts, and Mr. Williams of Providence,) also the grass upon the rivers and coasts about Kitakamuckqut, and from thence to Pauparquatsh [Poppasquash] for the full payment of forty fathoms of white beads.”
Ousamaquin was present, and granted the use of the grass and trees on the main land, Pocasset side. Tradition points out the spot on which the battle was fought that decided the fate of Aquidnick, and assigns a date to the arrival of the English at Plymouth. Callender evidently considers it to have taken place during the great sickness or plague which prevailed among the eastern Indians before the coming of the Whites. When the English arrived, Massasoit was at Pokanoket, in a part of that territory so recently wrested by the Narragansets from (probably) one of his under-sachems. He was then in no condition to resist any of the demands of the victors, and there can be little doubt that he submitted to them as a tributary or subject chief. The arrival of the English, however, gave him allies, and enabled him to set the Narragansets at defiance. Hence the hostility of the Narragansets to the Whites; and hence Massasoit’s uniform adherence to them. That Massasoit was considered by the Narragansets a tributary chief, and bound to comply with the requisitions of their sachems, is rendered very probable by the following passage in Winthrop’s Journal. It is under date of April, 1632:
“The Governor received letters from Plymouth signifying that there had been a broil between their men at Sowamset and the Narraganset Indians, who set upon the English house, there to have taken Ousamaquin, the Sagamore of Pokanoscott, [Pokanoket] who fled thither with all the people for refuge, and that Captain Standish, being gone thither to relieve the English which were in the House, sent home in all haste for more men and other provisions, upon intelligence that Canonicus was coming with a great army against them. On that, they wrote to our Governor for some powder to be sent with all possible speed, for it seemed they were unprovided. Upon this the Governor presently dispatched away a messenger with so much powder as he could carry, viz: twenty-seven pounds. The messenger returned and brought a letter from the Governor, signifying that the Indians were retired from Sowamset to fight the Pequins, [Pequots] which was probable; because John Sagamore and Chickatabott were gone, with all their men, to Canonicus, who had sent for them.”
Here Canonicus, on the point of marching against the Pequots, sent to certain sachems of Massachusetts to join him; there is little doubt that the same requisition was made of Massasoit, and attempted to be enforced. He took shelter, however, under the English, and the Narragansets finding that they could not compel obedience without involving themselves in a war with the English, retired and prosecuted the expedition without his assistance. But in 1636, when they were somewhat relieved from the pressure of their enemies, they were probably about engaging in a war with the Wampanoags, to punish this contempt of their chief’s authority. Hence the great contest to which Williams alludes.
As a further proof that Massasoit was in some sort a subordinate sachem of the Narraganset chiefs, it may be added, that the above deed of Aquidnick appears to have been made in his presence, and that he and his tribe were afterwards compensated for their rights in the lands conveyed. Those rights were therefore considered of a character subordinate to those of the Narraganset chiefs.
Since the foregoing remarks were written, the author has noticed a deposition of Williams, quoted by Backus, in his History of the Baptists, and dated twenty-five years after the settlement of Providence was commenced, which applies directly to the question here discussed, and abundantly confirms the views already taken. Williams, in his deposition, says, “After I had obtained this place, now called Providence, of Canonicus and Miantonomi, [the chief Nanhiganset sachems,] Osamaquin laid his claim to this place also. This forced me to repair to the Nanhiganset sachems aforesaid, who declared that Osamaquin was their subject, and had solemnly, himself in person with ten men, subjected himself and his lands unto them at the Nanhiganset, only now he seemed to revolt from his loyalty, under the shelter of the English at Plymouth. This I declared from the Nanhiganset sachems to Osamaquin, who without any stick acknowledged to be true that he had so subjected, as the Nanhiganset sachems had affirmed; [but] that he was not subdued by war, which himself and his father had maintained against the Nanhigansets; but God, said he, subdued us by a plague which swept away my people, and forced me to yield.”
They were the Yengee’s men, not ours, they said.
“He [Massasoit] also talked of the French, bidding us not to suffer them to come to Narrohiganset; for it was King James’ his country, and he was King James his man.”—Mourt’s Journal.
He speaks a Manitoo!
“There is a general custom among them,” says Williams, “at the apprehension of any excellence in men or women, birds, beasts, or fish, &c., to cry out Manittoo! that is, it is a god; as thus, if they see one man excel others in wisdom, valor, strength, or activity, they cry out Manittoo!”
And for the Pequot deeds Awanux grieves.
“News came to Plymouth that Captain Stone, who last summer went out of the Bay or Lake, and so to Aquawaticus, where he took in Captain Norton, putting in at the mouth of Connecticut, (on his way to Virginia,) where the Pequins [Pequots] inhabit, was cut off with all his company, being eight in number.”—Winthrop’s Journal.
If true he spake—that should his actions show—
May not his heart be darker than yon cloud,
And yet his words white as yon falling snow?
Still if his speech were true—
“Canonicus, the old high sachem of the Narraganset bay, (a wise and peaceable prince), once in a solemn oration to myself, in a solemn assembly, using this word, [Wannaumwayean, if he speak true,] said, I have never suffered any wrong to be offered to the English since they landed, nor never will. He often repeated this word, Wannaumwayean, Englishman, if the Englishman speak true, if he meane truly; then shall I goe to my grave in peace, and hope that the English and my posteritie shall live in love and peace together. I replied that he had no cause (as I hoped) to question the Englishman’s Wannaumauonck, that is, faithfulnesse, he having had long experience of their faithfulnesse and trustinesse. He took a stick and broke it into ten pieces, and related ten instances, (laying down a stick at every instance), which gave him cause thus to feare and say. I satisfied him on some presently, and presented the rest to the governors of the English, who I hope will be far from giving just cause to have barbarians question their Wannaumwauonck of faithfulnesse.”—Williams’ Key.
This fragment shows the serpent’s skin they sent,
Filled with round thunders to our royal tent.
“The people called Narragansets,” says the N. E. Memorial, “sent messengers unto our plantations with a bundle of arrows tied together with a snake-skin, which the interpreter told them was a threatening and a challenge, upon which the Governor of Plymouth sent them a rough answer, viz.: That, if they loved war better than peace, they might begin when they would; they had done them no wrong, neither did they fear them, nor should they find them unprovided; and by another messenger they sent the snake-skin back again, with bullets in it; but they would not receive it, but sent it back again.” Mr. Davis in a note adds: “The messenger was accompanied by a friendly Indian, Tockamahamon. The messenger inquired for Squanto, who was absent. The bundle of arrows was left for him, and the messenger departed without any explanation. When Squanto returned, and the dubious present was delivered him, he immediately understood the object.” The planters, however, seem to have considered themselves threatened. They immediately began to strengthen their defences, and every precaution was taken against a surprise.
This, when at Sowans raged our battle loud,
How their round thunders made that battle dumb.
See the passage from Winthrop, in [note to stanza xxxiii.]
This how amid the Pequot nation they
Build the square lodge, and whet him to the fray.
The Plymouth Company had established a trading house on the Connecticut, as early as 1633. Their trade with the Pequots in arrow points, knives, hatchets, &c., might very probably give offence to the Narragansets. “We found,” says Winthrop, “that all the sachems of Narraganset, except Canonicus and Miantonomi were the contrivers of Mr. Oldham’s death, and the occasion was because he went to make peace and trade with the Pequots.”