CHAPTER XVI.
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.
Rival Claims to Connecticut.
THE history of Connecticut begins with the year 1630. The first grant of the territory was made by the council of Plymouth to the earl of Warwick; and in March, 1631, the claim was transferred by him to Lord Say-and-Seal, Lord Brooke, and John Hampden. Before a colony could be planted, the Dutch of New Netherland reached the Connecticut and built a fort at Hartford. The people of Plymouth immediately sent out a force to counteract this movement of their rivals, for the territorial claim of the Puritans extended over Connecticut and over New Netherland itself.
Early Settlements in Connecticut.
2. In October of 1635 a colony of sixty persons from Boston settled at Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield. Earlier in the same year the younger Winthrop, son of the governor of Massachusetts, arrived in New England. Under his direction a fort was built at the mouth of the Connecticut. Such was the founding of Saybrook, named in honor of Lord Say-and-Seal and Lord Brooke.
3. To the early annals of Connecticut belongs the sad story of the Pequod War. The country west of the Thames was more thickly peopled with savages than any other portion of New England. The warlike Pequods were able to muster seven hundred warriors. The whole force of the English did not amount to two hundred men. But the superior numbers of the savages were more than balanced by the courage and weapons of the English. In the year 1633 the crew of a trading-vessel were murdered on the banks of the Connecticut. An Indian embassy went to Boston to apologize; a treaty was made, and the Pequods acknowledged the king of England. But soon they began to violate the treaty. Outrages were committed, and war began in earnest.
The Pequod War.