Less than a decade after this eventful visit, an English trading house was established within the limits of Sowams of which at one period, Thomas Prince, afterwards governor of Plymouth colony, was “master.” The location of this trading house has caused historians as much perplexity as the location of Sowams village itself. William J. Miller in his “History of the Wampanoag Indians” says (p. 24), “The trading post was supposed to have been located on the Barrington side of the river (Warren River) on the land known as Phebe’s Neck.” A little thought will convince anyone familiar with the Sowams region that the trading house would never have been placed in Barrington, for the reason that a wide, deep, and unfordable river lay between Phebe’s Neck and Massasoit’s town which the white men would have been compelled to constantly cross and recross in their traffic with the Indians. Moreover, as early as 1652, an English settlement had been planted in what now constitutes the north-easterly portion of Warren on the banks of the Kickemuit River, and it seems only reasonable to suppose that the colonists placed their homes in close proximity to the trading house, which, probably, was also a fort.
Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts states in his “Journal,” under the date, April 12, 1632; “The Governor received letters from Plymouth signifying that there had been a broil between their men at Sowamset and the Narragansett Indians who set upon the English house there to have taken Owsamequin[8] the Sagamore of Packanocott, who fled thither, with all the people, for refuge; and that Captain Standish being gone thither, to relieve the three English which were in the house, sent home in all haste for more men and other provisions, upon intelligence that Canonicus, with a great army, was coming against them; on that they wrote to our Governor for some powder, to be sent with all possible speed; for it seemed they were unfurnished. Upon this, the Governor presently despatched away the messenger with so much powder as he could carry, viz., 27 pounds. The messenger returned and brought a letter from the Governor (Bradford) signifying that the Indians were retired from Sowamsett to fight the Pequots.”
The Narragansetts feared and disliked the white men. The Old Indian Chronicle states that they were jealous of Massasoit “because he had, from the first, been in high favor with the English.” Naturally they would have viewed the establishment of an English trading post at Sowams with displeasure. Whether their hostility to the whites led to the “broil” at Sowams, or whether, as has been suggested,[9] they invaded Pokanoket for the purpose of compelling Massasoit and his warriors to assist them in repulsing the Pequots, may be only conjectured. Standish, perhaps fearing a second incursion, remained at Sowamset until some time in May.[10]
In course of time, the trail leading from Plymouth to Sowams became a familiar path to the people of the Pilgrim settlement. The Plymouth records show that Edward Winslow made, at least, one more visit to Pokanoket, and that John Alden, Samuel Nash, and others, also journeyed there. All who explored the Sowamset district perceived that it was, like the valley of Eshcol, “a good land,” and the idea of establishing a plantation within its limits seems to have been entertained by the Plymouth government for some years before such a settlement was actually begun.
The most famous sojourner at Pokanoket, in those early days, was Roger Williams. Banished from Salem, in January, 1636, he “fled from the savage Christians of Massachusetts Bay to the Christian savages of Narragansett Bay.” In “a bitter winter season,” he made his way through the wild forests to seek a new home in the domains of Massasoit, the friend of white men. The best authorities believe that Massasoit gave him shelter at Sowams village until the spring broke. Williams himself, writes, “When I came (to the Narragansett) I was welcome to Ousamequin,” and “I testify and declare, that, at my first coming into these parts, I obtained the lands of Seekonk of Ousamequin.” If circumstantial evidence be of any value, Warren has certainly good grounds on which to base its claim to the honor of having been the first spot in Rhode Island pressed by the foot of the State’s illustrious founder. It is a fact worthy of note that, one hundred and twenty-nine years after Roger Williams sought refuge with Massasoit, Rhode Island’s great educational institution (Rhode Island College, now Brown University), began its career within a few rods of the site of the royal wigwam which, presumably, sheltered the Salem exile.
On September 25, 1639, Massasoit and his eldest son, then known as Mooanam, “appeared at Court and renewed the ancient league with the Plymouth government,” Massasoit “acknowledging himself a subject of the King of England.” Thirteen years later, as we find by the records of the colony, an English plantation, “rated” at the value of £01:10:00, existed at Sowams. This settlement was located on the banks of the Kickemuit River in the north-easterly part of the present town of Warren. It was completely destroyed by the Indians during King Philip’s war;[11] but, as late as Revolutionary times, the remains of its cellars and hearth stones were still visible. Its northern limit extended to what now constitutes the boundary line separating Warren from North Swansea. Its southern limits approached within less than a mile of the Indian village of the same name. At just what date the first log cabin of a white settler was erected at Sowams we have no means of ascertaining; but it is not unreasonable to suppose that the little hamlet grew up, slowly, around the old trading house.[12]
The Kickemuit River is a picturesque stream which, rising in Swansea, winds along the shores of Warren and Bristol and empties into Mount Hope Bay at a point called by the Indians “Weypoiset,” by the English the “Narrows.” On the west bank of the river, near the site of the old boundary line of Warren and Bristol, is a living spring still known as Kickemuit Spring.[13] The soil in the vicinity of this spring is mixed with oyster, clam, and quahaug shells to the depth of several feet, and from it various aboriginal implements have at different periods been exhumed. It is evident that an Indian village once occupied the locality.[14]
The main trail winding from Kickemuit to Sowams was intersected by shorter paths leading to various sections of Pokanoket. The Metacom Avenue of today, familiarly known as the “Back Road,” is identical with the trail worn by moccasined feet in travelling to and from Mount Hope. Another trail closely following the lines of the present Kickemuit Road, School House Road, and Swansea Road, led to what is now North Swansea, and passed the “national grinding mill” of the Wampanoags,[15] a large flat rock located on the west side of the Swansea Road at a point very near the line separating Massachusetts and Rhode Island. There were other paths leading to Birch Swamp in the north-easterly part of Warren, to Poppasquash (the name then applied to the westerly part of Bristol), and to a ferry over Sowams River by means of which connection was made between Massasoit’s town and Chachacust, (a neck of land in what is now Barrington). The two last mentioned trails are identical with North and South Main Streets in Warren.
From the “wading-place” a trail ran eastward a short distance and then branched off towards Touiset, Mattapoisett, and other localities. A careful study of the early records of Swansea and Warren has convinced the writer that, in laying out highways, the original settlers of the towns, in many instances, merely widened the ancient trails used by the Wampanoags for no one knows how many centuries prior to the arrival of the Mayflower in Cape Cod Bay.
The Plymouth government having established a settlement at Sowams, “the garden of their patent,[16]” granted “certain worthy gentlemen” of the colony leave to purchase land in the Sowamset district. Negotiations were immediately entered into with the Wampanoag chief, which resulted in the sale of “Sowams and Parts Adjacent” by Massasoit and his oldest son Wamsutta (Mooanam or Alexander), in March, 1653. The purchasers of these “Sawomes Lands,” which included the greater part of Pokanoket were Thomas Prince, Thomas Willett, Miles Standish, Josiah Winslow, William Bradford, Thomas Clark, John Winslow, Thomas Cushman, William White,[17] John Adams and Experience Mitchell. The price paid was thirty-five pounds sterling, and the reader scarcely needs to be told that the Englishmen “got the best of the bargain.” Why Massasoit consented to “sell his birthright,” is a question more easily asked than answered; gratitude probably influenced him, in part. He never forgot that he owed his life to his English allies. Possibly, too, the wise statesman, realizing the superiority of the white man’s civilization, believed his people would be benefitted by closer relationship with them. He is said to have warned his sons that if they ever engaged in war against the English they would meet with defeat.