History of the Indians, of North and South America

by Samuel G. Goodrich

On the 26th of May, 1637, Mason, after a fatiguing march, surprised Mystic, near the present town of Stonington, one of the principal Indian forts. After a volley from their fire-arms, they entered the place, sword in hand, their Indian allies leaving them to make the assault alone. Captain Mason, with his company, had approached on the east side, and Captain Underhill, with his men, on the west side. When they were within about a rod of the fort, the barking of a dog awakened the sleeping sentinel, who cried out, “Owannux! Owannux!” Englishmen! Englishmen! The Indians, roused by the cry, rallied, and fought bravely, and victory for a time hung in suspense, till Captain Mason, observing that the wigwams were covered with mats, or other combustible materials, had recourse to the expedient of setting them on fire.

This decided the fate of the Pequods. In an hour, about seventy wigwams were destroyed, and most of the Indians, estimated at four or five hundred, were burned to death, shot down, or slain by the sword. Sassacus, the Pequod sachem, and his warriors, were so panic-struck by the loss of their fort and the destruction of their men, that they burned their remaining wigwams and the royal fortress, and fled towards the Hudson River. They were pursued to a swamp near Fairfield, where another battle took place, in which the Pequods were entirely vanquished. The Mohawks, treacherously hired, as has been supposed, by the Narragansets, then fell upon the remnant of the tribe, and cut them to pieces. It was calculated, that, in the whole, not less than seven hundred Indians fell in this war. A few, who still lingered on their ancient grounds, at last united with the Mohegans, under Uncas. This chief had shown himself a friend to the English, and some of his descendants have remained, till within a few years, among the few Mohegans who still hold lands in the vicinity of Norwich, Connecticut.

This effort of the Pequods, under the renowned Sassacus, was the first great attempt of the Indians to destroy the settlers of New England. So speedy and terrible was the retribution which followed this attempt, that the humbled Indians remained at peace for many years after. Other circumstances aided to promote this state of things. Sassacus, the monarch of the country, reigning over twenty Indian kings, had maintained a long and successful war with Miantonimoh, the sachem of the Narragansets, and was an object of terror to that people. Miantonimoh and his nation, therefore, desired a league with the colonists, to defend them against the Pequods. Massasoit, also, and his people, had sought the same alliance as a defence against their bitter and dangerous foes, the Tarratines of Maine; and all the New England Indians desired, especially, to secure themselves against the attacks of the terrible Mohawks. Thus mutual weakness and mutual fears led to general peace.

Attempts were early made by the colonists to instruct the Indians in the Christian religion. About the year 1644, Mr. Mayhew and Mr. Eliot began, successfully, to engage in labors for the conversion of the Indians on Martha’s Vineyard and at Natick. At first, there was great opposition by the sachems and powows, or priests, who used every effort to baffle and discourage the devoted missionaries. But, in 1660, there were whole towns of “praying Indians,” and in 1687, there were more than twenty assemblies of these savages who worshipped the true God. Eliot, with vast labor, translated the Bible into the language of those among whom he preached. This was printed, and a copy of it may occasionally be found treasured up as a curiosity in our public libraries. In 1695, there were not less than 3,000 adult Indians, reckoned as converts to the Christian religion, in the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

About the year 1675, another Indian war began, which proved the most serious contest in which the colonists had ever been engaged. For several years previously, the Indians had been silently forming a general conspiracy for the extermination of the New England colonies. Massasoit, the good friend of the English, was dead, and his grandson Philip, sachem of the Wampanoags, whose chief seat was in Rhode Island, did not inherit the kindly feeling of his ancestor toward the whites. He was a man of great abilities, and, had his means been equal to his skill and bravery, the result might have proved fatal to the now flourishing colonies.

A Christian Indian, named John Sausaman, discovered to the English the mischiefs he was plotting against them. Philip, burning with rage that his plan should be revealed, caused Sausaman to be murdered. The English detected the murderers, apprehended them, and after a trial, in which their guilt was sufficiently apparent, executed them. This still further incited Philip to revenge. On the 20th of June, he commenced open hostilities on the town of Swansey, near his territory.

The torch of war, thus lighted, continued to rage over the whole extent of New England, for several years, with unabated fury. Its details would fill a volume. Philip,[8] who was the master spirit of the league against the whites, displayed a courage, sagacity, and perseverance, worthy of a king and a patriot. Nor was he ill seconded by the tribes whom he drew into the conspiracy by his eloquence and his intrigues. Though often defeated, he was never discouraged, and, while his foe seemed about to trample him to the earth, he frequently arose with renewed vigor and more desperate resolution. He was at length slain, and, though the struggle was maintained for some time longer, it at last resulted in a general defeat of the Indians, from which they never recovered. The war had extended from Rhode Island to Maine, and, throughout the whole extent of this region, the smoke of the dwellings and the cries of the victims were seen and heard on every hand. Many of the most flourishing English villages were laid in ashes. The struggle was not finished till the spring of 1678. Six hundred of the flower of the colonists perished, and three hundred houses were consumed. The Mohegans and a few other tribes remained friendly, but the rest shared in the war and its fatal consequences.

The next efforts of the Indians against the New England colonies took place during the long and bloody wars between the French and English, called the wars of William and Queen Anne. In June, 1689, instigated by the French, they surprised Cocheco, part of the town of Dover, New Hampshire, and killed and took captive about fifty of the inhabitants. They began depredations, also, in various parts of Maine, plundering, burning, and carrying off captives, wherever they were able. For ten years the provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts were subjected to the fury of the savages. Deerfield, on the Connecticut River, was surprised and burnt, forty persons were killed, and nearly a hundred men, women, and children led away captive. The eastern settlements, also, were again ravaged and depopulated. A treaty was at last concluded in the year 1699. From time to time, however, the war was renewed, as the French often succeeded in engaging the Indians in their plans. In 1713, a peace having been agreed upon between the French and English, the Eastern Indians, who had again been involved in hostilities with the colonists, sent a flag, desiring peace. A general pacification ensued, to the great joy of all parties.

We must now turn our attention to the severe contest with the Indians along the northeastern border, which commenced in 1722. Before the subjugation of Canada by the British, the New England settlements, as we have seen, were exposed to the hostilities of the Eastern Indians, and a spirit of jealousy and revenge was kept up, not only between the different nations, but between individuals. The boundaries of the different territories being loosely defined, both sides were left exposed to real or fancied encroachments, so that pretexts for war were always at hand. The French Jesuits had planted themselves among the Indian tribes at an early period; and at the beginning of the eighteenth century, they had two churches among the Eastern Indians,—one at Penobscot, and the other at Norridgewock, within the boundaries of the present State of Maine.