What a revelation the incoming of the whites must have been to the red men, who had lived on the island, probably from a very early age, among their own people, under their own laws, perpetuating their own habits and customs—living close to Nature—for the most part in peace and amity—simple in their lives, and knowing nothing, caring nothing for the external world beyond them!
Yet, on the arrival of the new people who had come to supplant them, they received them amicably, treated them justly, and as they treated one another, relying upon what they recognized as the instinctive and inalienable principles of humanity to govern their relationships and to promote the mutual good and harmony of all. I cannot stop to inquire who first took advantage of the racial differences which distinguished these two peoples, or how the greater intellectuality and experience of the one eventually overcame the other, but Time tells the story; and today, while the whites glory in the beauties of, and the opportunities afforded by their island home, where are the poor Indians, the aborigines? All gone—melted away like dew-drops in the sun, and not even one remains to tell the story of their past history!
The number of settlers who had arrived from Salisbury in 1660 and 1661 soon began to make themselves comfortable in their new and strange environment, while the Indians could not but admire the novel type of dwelling houses which the new-comers had set up in strange contrast with the humble wigwams of the aborigines; indeed the new procedure which was being introduced in many directions must have caused them much surprise.
For a time the English and the Indians—the civilized and the uncivilized—worked together amicably for the agricultural development of the island. Together they cleared and tilled the land (for the most part existing as a primeval wilderness), settling the allotments, cutting down the timber, which is said to have almost covered the island, and mutually performing the numerous farming operations involved in the reclamation and cultivation of the soil. In addition to farming they engaged also in fishing, in which art the natives were expert. Much time was also devoted to the raising of sheep, and thus while mutual forbearance was exercised, mutual trust was generated, and while the settlers acted faithfully and justly with the Indians, the latter were equally loyal in the discharge of their duties in their new relationships.
When King Philip visited the island in 1665 and tried to induce the natives to join in his contemplated war with the English, they emphatically refused to do so, expressing themselves as perfectly satisfied and desiring to be at peace with the whites. Indeed, at a town meeting, on October 10th, 1665, Attaychat (Autopscot) “signified that himself with all the Tomokommoth Indians subject to the English Government in Nantucket, acknowledge subjection to King Charles II. This was done in the presence of Metacomet, alias Philip, Sachem of Mount Hop.”
Unfortunately, civilization has too often brought in its wake habits and customs which have ever proved degenerative, if not destructive to the uncivilized races of the earth, and so they proved to the Indians, who were sober, industrious, and happy before the settlers introduced among them the iniquitous “fire-water,” to the abuse of which they fell a prey. Acting under its pernicious influence their primitive instincts were aroused within them, and never afterwards were they the same people. Discontent soon spread among them, and litigation in the Courts—to which they had equal access with the whites—became so very frequent that the records extend from 1673 to 1754.
I do not say that alcohol was at the bottom of all these cases, but that it made the natives excitable, litigious and dissatisfied I avow, without any reference to the misconduct and crime which it often prompted, and which frequently resulted from its influence. In many cases they found that the Courts decided against them, and they became discouraged. Moreover, they were astounded at the fastly-increasing number of whites on the island (so that offensive measures were out of the question), and as a matter of fact they never could be made to understand that the execution of a sale-deed of their property involved its absolute surrender to the purchaser, however many attempts they made to regain their land.
Mr. Thomas Macy wrote a forceful letter to the Governor, in May, 1676, as to the pernicious effects of drink upon the natives, but every effort made to mitigate the evil by legislative measures failed; the natives who craved for it would sacrifice all they possessed, and one way and another, they generally found means of obtaining it. Fines and whipping were the modes inflicted for drunkenness and misdemeanors, but the death-penalty was never exacted except in cases of deliberate murder. It is recorded that, between 1704 and 1769, ten natives were executed for capital crimes.[15]
On the other hand it has been stated that Quibby—who murdered Harry Gardner—was the first and only Indian executed in Nantucket since its settlement by the whites. Macy’s instances, however, seem well substantiated.[16]