Waiving a statement of the charges which Ninigret made, or might have made, on the other hand, against the English, we shall only observe in conclusion that whatever may be thought of his political course, there are points in his personal character not unworthy of esteem and even of admiration. It was noble in him, according to the principles of a warrior and king, to revenge, as far as he was able, the cool-blooded massacre of his relative and predecessor. That purpose he pursued with undaunted courage and indefatigable energy. He would gladly have avoided a contest with the English; but he would not sacrifice his honor either to his friendship or his interest. The spirit with which he repulsed their attempts to interfere in his contest with the Long-Islanders, indicated a soul of the same stamp. His reasoning upon that occasion—assuming the truth of his premises, which we have no means either of proving or falsifying—appears to us wholly unanswerable.
[CHAPTER XIII.]
The Pequot tribe—Their first chief-sachem known to the English, Pekoath—succeeded by Sassacus—An embassy sent to Boston in 1631—Residence and strong-holds of Sassacus—His earliest intercourse with the English—Murder of Captain Stone—Justification of it by Sassacus—He proposes a treaty of peace in 1684—Sends deputies to Boston twice—Treaty concluded—Anecdotes—His wars with the Narraghansetts—Fresh controversy with the English—They send an armed party to demand damages—Conduct of the party, and consequences of it—War with the Pequots in 1636—Political movements of Sassacus—English expedition against him in 1637—He is defeated—Driven from his country—Killed by the Mohawks—The English policy in his case briefly considered.
The Pequots, or Pequods, inhabited that part of the southern coast of New England, which is now comprehended within the limits of Connecticut. They are said to have been originally an inland tribe, and to have gained possession by mere force of arms of the fine territory which they occupied at the date of their first acquaintance with the English. They were in the meridian of their glory and power about forty years previous to that period, and were then the most considerable tribe in New England, mastering as many as four thousand bowmen. Their principal settlements were now about New London and Groton; the former of which was their chief harbor, and called by their own name. The Nipmuck Indians, on their north, were still tributary to them. So also were a part of the Long Islanders, and most of the Indians on the Connecticut river. The Narraghansetts alone of the neighboring tribes had been able to oppose them with success, and against that nation they waged an implacable and almost perpetual war.
The first great sachem of the Pequots known to the English was Pekoath, from whom they probably derived the national name. He appears to have been a great warrior. He was going on conquering and to conquer, when the earliest settlements of the English were made upon the Massachusetts coast. Tribe after tribe retreated before him as he advanced, till his terrible myrmidons were at length in a situation to locate themselves at their ease on the best soil, and beneath the most genial skies, of New England.
As early as 1631, Waghinacut, a sachem of one of the expelled or subject tribes just mentioned, travelled across the wilderness to Boston; and attended by a Massachusetts Sagamore, and one Jack Straw (an Indian who had formerly lived with Sir Walter Raleigh in England,) made application for the alliance or assistance of the Massachusetts government against Pekoath. He gave a glowing description of his native land; and promised, if some of the English would go there and settle, that he would supply them with corn, and pay them eighty beaver-skins yearly. This proposition being rejected, he desired that at least two men might be permitted to accompany him, with the view of examining the country. He showed great anxiety to effect that object, but to no purpose; the governor suspected some stratagem, and politely dismissed his visiter with the compliment of a good dinner at his own table. [FN]
[FN] Winthrop's Journal. Waghinacut persevered, however, and succeeded. He went to Plymouth, and Governor Winslow sent out a party, at his suggestion, who are understood to have been the first discoverers of Connecticut river and the adjacent parts.
The successor of Pekoath, and the last as well as first great sachem of his tribe known personally to the whites, was Sassacus, a warrior of high renown, who, when the English commenced their settlements in Connecticut, soon after the transaction last mentioned, had no fewer than twenty-six sachems or war-captains under his dominion, and could at that time muster, at the smallest calculation, seven hundred bowmen. The site of his principal fortress and residence, was on a most beautiful eminence in the town of Groton, commanding one of the best prospects of the Sound and the adjacent country which can be found upon the coast. Another strong-hold was a little farther eastward, near Mystic river; and this also was finely situated upon a verdant swell of land, gradually descending towards the south and southeast.
Sassacus, and his warlike Pequots, are almost the only American chieftain and tribe who, in the light of history, seem to have been from the outset disposed to inveterate hostility against all foreigners. They were, as Trumbull observes, men of great and independent spirits; and had conquered and governed the nations around them without control. They viewed the English especially, as not only strangers but mere intruders, without right or pretence of right to the country, who had nevertheless taken the liberty to make settlements and build forts in their very neighborhood, without asking their consent—and even to restore the Indian kings whom they had subjected, to their former lands and authority. Under these circumstances, it is no matter of wonder, that the whites had scarcely located themselves within the bounds of Connecticut, when "that great, spirited and warlike nation, the Pequots, began to murder and plunder them, and to wound and kill their cattle." [FN]