The Narraghansett tribe; territory and power—Chief Sachems at the date of the English settlements in New England—Canonicus associates with himself Miantonomo, his nephew—Their treatment of Roger Williams in 1634—Hostility to the Plymouth Colony—Invited by the Pequots to fight the English—Treaty negotiated at Boston, in 1636, by Miantonomo—War with the Pequots and result of it—Subsequent hostility between Miantonomo and Uncas—Sequassen—Battle of the Sachem's-Plain—Capture of Miantonomo—Sentence of the English commissioners upon him—Execution of it.
Next to the Pokanoket confederacy, none has a stronger claim on the early notice of the historian, than the Narraghansett; a nation, composed of various small tribes, inhabiting a large part of the territory which afterwards formed the colony of Rhode-Island. Their dominion extended also over the islands in the bay of their own name; and the Sagamores of a part of Long-Island, Block-Island, Cawesit, and Niantick were either their tributaries or subject to them in some other way. They had once been able to raise more than four thousand warriors; and so late as Philip's time, we have seen they could muster two thousand, one half of whom were provided with English arms, and were skillful in the use of them. From time immemorial, they had waged war with both the Pokanokets on the North and the Pequots on the West.
It might be expected, that the rulers of such a confederacy, thus situated, should be men of talent and energy; and this expectation will not be disappointed. Throughout the history of the New England Indians, as we find no people more resolute in declaring what they believed to be their rights, or more formidable in defending them, so we find no sachems more ready and able than theirs, on all occasions, to sustain the high spirit of their subjects.
There is an unnecessary confusion in the information conveyed by some of our best annalists, respecting the particular personage who governed the Narraghansetts at the date of the first intercourse between them and the English. Governor Hutchinson, for example, speaks in one case of Canonicus as being their chief sachem. In another, alluding to the death of Miantonomo, while the former was yet living, he observes, that although they had lost their chief sachem, yet they had divers other stout ones, as Canonicus, Pessacus and others.
The ambiguity has arisen from the circumstance, that although Canonicus exercised the chief authority of the country when the English first arrived, he soon after became associated in the Government with Miantonomo, his nephew. What were the particular conditions of the royal co-partnership, or what was the occasion of it, cannot now be determined. Some writers suppose, that the sole authority belonged to the younger of the two, and that the elder acted in the capacity of regent; but considering that the association continued during the whole term of the joint lives of the two, it appears more probable, that Canonicus, finding himself far advanced in years, [FN] as well as encumbered with the charge of an extensive dominion, at the period of the first English settlements, thought proper to make such an alteration in his regal state as seemed to be required by the exigencies of the times. He therefore selected as an associate, the most popular and active prince of his own family.
[FN] Roger Williams tells us in his Key to the Indian Languages, first printed in 1643, that he was about fourscore years of age. Elsewhere, it is stated, that "Canonicus, being the sole governor or chief sachem, employed his nephew Miantonomy, to manage his warlike affairs, as general of his army, and in his declining years took him as a partner in his government for assistance." His. Narr. Country. Mass. His. Coll.
Mr. Hutchinson himself appears finally to adopt the conclusion we have just stated. In a part of his history [FN] subsequent to the passage above cited, he refers to information derived from authentic manuscripts, which furnished the opinion of the Narraghansetts themselves upon the subject. The oldest of that people reported, when the English first arrived, that they had in former times a sachem called Tashtassack, incomparably superior to any other in the whole country in dominion and state. This chieftain, said they, had only two children, a son and a daughter; and not being able to match them according to their dignity, he joined them together in wedlock. They had four sons; and of these, Canonicus, "who was sachem when the English came," was the eldest.
[FN] History of Mass. Vol. I. pp. 72. and 458.