3. The English were to send a vessel immediately, "to trade with them as friends, tho' not to defend them," and the Pequots would give them all their "custom."
The agreement was put in writing, and subscribed by the two messengers with their marks. The chief object proposed by Sassacus in effecting it, appears to have been, not the assistance of the English in his wars, but their commerce in peace. He thought himself competent to fight his own battles; and perhaps would have made no attempt to conciliate even the English, but for having quarrelled with the Dutch of New York, who had hitherto supplied him, and thereby lost their trade as well as incurred their hostility.
Meanwhile, he was at deadly war, as usual, with the Narraghansetts. The very next morning after the treaty was concluded, and while the messengers still tarried in Boston, news came, that a party of two or three hundred of the tribe last named had come as far as Neponsett, (the boundary between Milton and Dorchester) for the purpose of laying wait and killing the Pequots on their way home. The English immediately despatched a small armed force, to request a visit from the Narraghansetts; and two sachems, with about twenty of their men, obeyed the summons. They said they had been hunting round-about the country, and came to visit the Indians at Neponsett, according to old custom. However this might be, they showed themselves quite ready to gratify the English in their requests; and the Pequots were permitted to return home unmolested.
A passage in the Journal of Winthrop, relating to this occasion, illustrates the spirit of Sassacus and his subjects. The Narraghansetts were privately told by the Governor, that if they should happen to make peace with the Pequots, they should receive a goodly proportion of the wampum just sent.—"For the Pequots held it dishonorable to offer them any thing as of themselves, yet were willing we would give it them, and indeed did offer us so much to that end."
Thus matters remained until 1636. During that season one Oldham, an Englishman who had been trading in Connecticut, was murdered by a party of Block-Island Indians; several of whom are said to have taken refuge among the Pequots, and to have been protected by them. On the strength of this fact and this supposition, the Governor of Massachusetts—Mr. Oldham being a Dorchester resident—despatched a force of ninety men, under Captain Endecott, commissioned (as Mr. Winthrop tells us,) to put to death the men of Block-Island, but to spare the women and children, and bring them away, and take possession of the Island. Thence they were to go to the Pequots, "to demand the murderers of Captain Stone and other English, and one thousand fathom of wampum for damages &c. and some of their children as hostages which if they should refuse the were to obtain it by force."
The proceedings which ensued upon the attempt to execute these orders ought not to be overlooked. From Block-Island, the English sailed to Pequot harbor. Here an Indian came out to them in a canoe, and demanded who they were, and what they would have in the country of the Pequots. Endecott replied, that he came from the Governor of Massachusetts, to speak with the Pequot sachems. The Indian answering that Sassacus was gone to Long-Island, he was directed to communicate Endecott's message to another sachem. He returned to the shore, and the English meanwhile made a landing. The messenger came back, and the Indians began to gather about the English. Several hours passed in desultory conference, until Endecott, growing impatient, announced his commission to the crowd which surrounded him, and at the same time sent word to the sachem, that unless he would come to him or satisfy his demands, he should try forcible measures. The messenger, who had been several times running to and fro between the parties, said that the sachem would come forward if the English would lay down their arms, the Indians also leaving their bows and arrows at a distance.
Endecott was incensed by the proposal, considering it a pretext for gaining time. He therefore bade the Pequots begone, an take care of themselves; they had dared the English to come and fight with them, he said, and now he was ready for the battle. The Pequots withdrew peaceably to a distance. When they were beyond musket-shot, "he marched after them, supposing they would have stood it awhile, as they did to the Dutch," [FN]—but they all fled, letting fly a few arrows among the English, which did no damage. Two of their own number were killed and several more wounded; and the English then marched up to their village, and burned all their wigwams and mats. At night, concludes the historian, they returned to their vessels; and the next day they went ashore on the west side of the river, and burnt all their wigwams and spoiled their canoes in that quarter; and so set sail and came to the Narraghansett country. There they landed their men, "and on the 14th of 7ber they came all safe to Boston, which was a marvellous providence of God, that not a hair fell from the head of any of them, nor any sick nor feeble person among them."
[FN] Winthrop.
The sequel of the tragedy must be gathered from other authorities. A detachment of Endecott's party was appointed to reinforce the English garrison at Saybrook. Lying wind-bound off Pequot harbor, after his departure, a part of these men went on shore to plunder the Pequots, and bring off their corn. Their ravages were interrupted by an attack from these Indians. The skirmish lasted till near evening, and then both parties retired, the English with one man wounded, and the Pequots with a loss unknown. We have given the particulars of this transaction, (according to the English version of course) because it throws light upon the subsequent relations between Sassacus and the English.