Later on, the kindly disposed chieftain apparently associated his eldest son with him in the government of his small tribes, for together they came to Plymouth and requested that the Puritan fathers allow the ancient treaty between them to remain as it originally had been drawn up by the head men of the two races. So, too, their names are often found together upon deeds of conveyance of land to the English. In 1649, Massasoit had apparently less need of his possessions than he did of money, for he sold the territory of Bridgewater to the Plymouth Colonists, and took in payment seven coats and a half of a coat, nine hatchets, eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose skins, and ten yards of cotton—a small recompense indeed for such a large amount of territory disposed of, and one which must have been quickly used up. But he was a mere savage whose wants were few, and, with no regard for the future, or realization of the tremendous numbers of whites who were soon to invade the land about him, he doubtless believed that his people would have land and country enough to last them forever. In 1653, another deed was made out by him, conveying a part of the territory of Swansea to English grantees, and, as another record—in which his name appears—is in 1661, it is apparent that he was alive as late as this and still disposing of his ancestral holdings. But this is the last trace of the great chief which has been left to posterity, so it is evident that the kind-hearted and peaceable Massasoit—the true friend of the Puritans—died about this time. He must have been at least eighty years of age, and was beloved, respected and admired by both his own people and those who would have been his bitterest foes had he shown himself to be possessed of the same vindictive cruelty and hatred as other Indian chiefs.
The fact that this eminent red man was beloved as well as respected by his subjects and Indian neighbors, far and wide, is well shown by the fact that a great concourse of anxious friends flocked about him during the illness from which he was restored by good Winslow. "Some," says this Englishman, "came from more than one hundred miles for the purpose of seeing the great Massasoit before his death, and they all watched him with as much anxiety as if he had been their blood relation. That morning when he had partly recovered, he told me to spend my time in going from one to another, in the town of Sowams, requesting me to treat them as I had him, and to give to each of them some of the same medicine that I had given to him, for they were good folks." It is only too apparent, then, that he won the regard of his own race by his kindness, for even though he himself was near death, his first thought, upon his recovery, was for those about him who were ill and in distress.
His wealth and residence were no better than the meanest of his tribe; it is known that, with the exception of an ornament of bones around his neck, he was no more luxuriously dressed than the poorest of his subjects, yet the dignity and energy of his character was such that he controlled their wild passions and hatred for the whites, because of their personal confidence and affection in him. The authority of Chief Sachem was the free gift of the Indians and could have been taken away at any moment from him by the general vote of the people whom he ruled, but, never, during his long life, was such an act contemplated or apparently desired. As he must have been nearly eighty years of age at the time of his death, his rule of the barbarous and savage tribes was an extremely long one, and such was his influence for peace, that, during his life, there was scarcely an instance of an individual broil or quarrel with the English. Some of the Pokanokets—the Sachem Corbetant, in particular—were extremely hostile to the Puritans, even contemplating an attack upon Plymouth, and, although this warrior openly defied them, and fought them, upon one occasion, he was subsequently overcome with remorse and solicited the good offices of Massasoit to reconcile him with the English. Such was the great Sachem's influence over all the Massachusetts Chieftains that nine of them went to Plymouth, at his request, and made overtures of peace to the English, telling them that they recognized their possession to the land, and their authority to the perpetual holding of it.
Massasoit, the Good, was not distinguished as a warrior, and he is not known to have ever been engaged in any open hostilities with the unfriendly tribes about him. It is, therefore, surprising that he could have held the respect of the people, whose chief regard is for those who excel in warfare. For forty-five years he was at peace with the whites, and thus kept his tribe from the fate which befell every Indian tribe in New England, which warred with the men of another race—they succumbed to the superior ability of the men with muskets and ball. All the native nations of New England save his were, for many years, involved in dissensions and wars, not only with the whites, but among themselves, and the Pequots, the savages of Maine, the Narragansetts and the Mohegans continually fought and reduced their strength as if their only desire was to exterminate the Indian race and prepare ample room for the whites. "I know that the English love me—I love them—I shall never forget them," said the great Wampanoag to Winslow, after his first recovery from the severe sickness from which that amiable Englishman effected a cure, and thus, beloved by his own people and by those who would have been bitter enemies, had they been treated differently, the spirit of this kindly savage hovers over the dim pages of early Massachusetts history, as a bright and lustrous spark amid the gloomy reminiscences of this unfortunate period of bloodshed, suffering, and race enmity.
KING PHILIP, OR METACOMET
One day old Massasoit came to the settlement at Plymouth bringing with him two brown and sturdy Indian youths, and, taking them to the Governor's house, he said, with a great show of good will:
"These are my two sons. You English make fine names. Better names than Indian make. Ugh! Ugh! You give white name to my children."