^°-^<*-. •^^0^ ^^?S"f--^tC'? ^^0^ hy isr () T E s CONCERNING TIIK WAMPANOAG TRIBE OF INDIANS, fimm yinmni ot a l|utk yitlnra ON THE SIlOllH OF MOUNT HOPE BAY, IX IJKISTOL, K. I. WILLIAM J. MILLER. PROVIDENCE SIDNEY S . n I I) E K . 1880, Copyright by SIDNEY S. Ill I)E K 18 80. riH)Vii»i;N(|.; I'ltK.ss coMi'ANv, i'i;iNTi:i:s THE WAMPANOAG TRIBE OF INDIANS. [Read before the Rhode Island Historical Society, in Providence, March 17, 1874.] In any sketch of the Wampauoag Tribe of Indians, Massasoit, and his renowned son, Pomktacom, or King Philip, must of necessity be the central fig- ures. The first, as the early friend and sturdy ally and preserver of the Plymouth settlement in its years of feebleness, and the latter as the bold and intrepid leader of his race, in their wild and desperate eflx)rt to stay the march of civilization, and reclaim the huntin«: orrounds of their fathers from the adventur- ous intruders who had entered in and possessed the land. The first knowledge we have of the Indians in this section, is from Verrazzano, a Florentine pilot, who was sent out by Francis I, of France, in 1524, in command of the ship Dolphin, or Dauphin. He sailed from Madeira on the 17th of January, 1524, with fifty men and eight months' stores, and steer- ing west, in fifty days made land ; which proved to be what is now a portion of the Carolina coast. Sailino^ north alono^ the coast, occasionally stopping 2 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. to land, he discovered Block Island, and entered Narragansett Bay. In a letter to the King, of France, after his return, he o-ives an account of his visit to these waters, and a description of the natives, as follows : — " We discovered an Island in the form of a trian- gle, distant from the main land ten leagues, about the biirness of the island of Rhodes. It was full of hills, covered with trees, well peopled, for we saw fires all along the coast. We gave it the name of your Majesty's mother (Louisa). And we came to another land, being tifteen leagues distant from the Island, where we found a passing good haven (New- port harbor), where, being entered, we found about twenty small boats of the people, Avhich with divers cries and wonderings, came about our ship ; coming no nearer than fifty paces towards us, they stayed and beheld the artificialness of our ship, our shape and apparel, then they all made a loud shout to- gether, declaring that they rejoiced ; when we had something animated them, using their gestures, they came so near us, that we cast them certain bells and glasses and many toys, which when they had re- ceived, they looked on them with laughing, and came without fear on board our ship. "They were dressed in deer skins, wrought arti- ficially with divers branches like damask; their hair was tied up behind with divers knots. This is the goodliest people, and of the fairest conditions, that THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 3 we have found in this our voyage ; they exceed us in bigness ; they are the color of brass, some of them incline more to whiteness ; others are of yel- low color, of comely visage, with long and black hair, which they are very careful to trim and deck up ; they are of sweet and pleasant countenance. The women are very handsome and well favored, of pleasant countenance and comely to behold. They are as well mannered as any women ; they wear deer skins branched and embroidered, as the men use — there are also of them which wear on their arms very rich skins of Lucernes ; they wear divers orna- ments, according to the usage of the people of the " We bestowed fifteen days in providing ourselves ; every day the people repaired to see our ship, bringing their wives with them, whereof they are very jealous, and caused their wives to stay in their boats, and for all the entreaty we could make, we could never obtain that they would suffer them to come aboard our ship. There were two kings of so goodly stature and shape as is possible to declare ; the oldest was about forty years of age ; the second was a young man of twenty years old, and when they came on board the Queen and her maids stayed in a ver}' light boat at an island a quarter of a league off. "There was a little island near the ship (Goat Island,* probably) where the men went — the woods * Now used by the Uuiteil States Government for a torpedo station. 4 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. were oaks, cypress trees and other sorts unknown in Europe, damson and nut trees ; there arc beasts m irreat abundance, as harts, deer, Lucernes and other kinds. Their boats are made of one log, by the aid of tire and tools of stone, and of sufficient capacity to carry ten or tifteen men. "We saw their houses, made in circular form, ten or twelve paces in compass, covered with mats ot straw, wrou^sht cunningly together. They live long and are seldom sick, and if they chance to fall sick at any time, they heal themselves with tire, without any physician, and they say that they die for very age." Verrazzano describes the "entrance to the bay as lying open to the .south, half a league broad, and being entered within it, between the east and the north, it stretches twelve leagues, where it w^axeth broader and broader, and maketh a gulf about twenty leagues in compass, wherein are line small islands, very fruitful and pleasant, among which . islands any great navy may ride safe. This land is situated in the parallel of Rome, in forty-one de- » grees and two terces. The 5th of May we departed." This is a description of the inhabitants of the land bordering on our bay, of the Wampanoags, and probably of the ancestors of Massasoit, more than a hundred years before its settlement by the whites. The visits of the Northmen to our bay and shores more than live centuries before this visit of Ver- THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 5 razzaiio, of which we have so interesting an account, are also chiimed to be well authenticated. I have recently noticed that Iceland has it in contemplation to celebrate the present year (1874), the thousandth anniversary of the settlement of the island in 874. The Cologne Gazette makes mention of this proposed celebration, and says: "As early as 860, a Dane named Gardar was drifted from Scotland in stormy weather northwards to an unknown coast. lie win- tered in the country and called it Gardarsholn. Shortly thereafter a Norwegian, Nadod, was also drifted there. In >^Q^ the island was visited by another Norwegian, Floke, who remained for a year there and named it Iceland. Ingolf, driven into exile on account of cruelties perpetrated by the Norwegian King Hagar Haarsagar, proceeded in 874, with his foster brother to Iceland, and they founded the earliest settlements. These w^ere near the place where Reikjavik, the capital of the island, now stands. Others followed the two brothers, and the island was soon inhabited. From Iceland, Green- land, it is known, was discovered, and from it hardy Norse seamen, about the year 1000, reached that part of the coast of the American continent now forming Massachusetts. It is consequently," con- tinues the Gazette^ "not without some historical justi- fication that the celebrated Norwegian violinist, Ole Bull, has been collecting subscriptions among his countrymen to erect a monument to the Norwegian, g THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Leif Erikson, the first discoverer of America, as the latter touclied American ground from four to five hundred years before Columbus, and there are indi- cations that the Genoese was not only acquainted with the voyages of the old Norse sailors to America, but that they were not without influence on his plan and its execution." It is believed that the Leifs-booths of Erikson was at Mount Hope (Jlon Top of the Norsemen, Moni Haup of the Indians, and Mount Hope of the Eno-lish) in Bristol, where he and his crew landed and built houses and wintered at the very beginning of the eleventh century. There was known to the early English settlers in Bristol, a rock upon the west shore of Mount Hope Bay, on the surface of which were inscriptions in an unknown tongue. These inscriptions were believed to be traces of the Northmen's visit. This rock w^as lost sight of for many years, and it was supposed had been destroyed. Prof. J. Lewis Dinian, when a young student, wrote some historical sketches of his native town under the head of " Annals of Bristol," which were published in the Bristol Phenix in 1845-G. In these sketches he gives a detailed account of the visit of Thorfinn, a distinguished Northman, to these shores in 1007, with three ships and 160 men. The first ship was commanded b}^ Thorfinn and Snorre Thorbandson, also of distin- guished lineage. The second by Bjarne Grimalfson THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 7 and Thorhiill Ganilasoii, and the third by Thorward or Thorhall. The first and third retnrned to Green- land after an absence of more than three years. The second, commanded by Grimalfson, never re- tnrned to Greenland, and of her fate I shall here- after speak. Prof. Diman, in closing his account, says: "The only trace which has been left by the Northmen, of their wintering in Bristol, is a rock situated near the 'Narrows.' This rock was said to have been covered with characters in an unknown tongue, but was unfortunately destroyed by a heed- less hand. This circumstance can never cease to be regretted." This interesting relic has been recently rediscov- ered. The rock lies upon the shore of the farm of Doctor Charles H. R. Doringh, between Mount Hope and the Narrows. It is what is termed by geologists as "graywacke," and is about ten and a half by six and a half feet in size, of oblong shape, and about twenty-one inches thick, with a nearly flat surface. Jn company with Doctor Doringh, who takes a lively interest in the matter, I visited this rock for the first time, last autumn, and scanned the strange inscriptions upon its surface with much interest. They certainly bear marks of gi'eat antiquity. The rock is bare at low water, but its surface is washed by the full of the sea. The most prominent figure npon it is that of a boat, the outlines of which g THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. are cleurly cut, and it is of such peculiar shape that it possibly may aid iu the sohition of the problem of its nationality. Let us imagine that a boat's crew went ashore from the vessel at anchor in the bay for a stroll upon the land ; or it may be upon a more important mission, to explore the land and communi- cate with its inhabitants ; that they left one of their numl)er as boat keeper during their absence ; 'that to while away the time he engraved his name upon this rock, and the boat lying upon the shore, directly in front of him, he also engraved her outlines upon the rock. These characters cover but a very small por- tion of the surface of the rock, and being much worn by the action of the elements, during the long ages they have been there, it is not surprising that they were lost sight of for so many years. [S^ee Appendix A.'] Canon Kingsley introduced his eloquent and thril- linjr lecture on the Northmen as the first discoverers of America, which he delivered in Boston on the 23d of February last (1874) with a story, the scene of which was the North Atlantic 863 years ago. It runs thus : " Rjarne Grimalfson was blown with his ship into the Irish ocean, and there came worms and the ship began to sink under them. They had a boat which they had payed with seal's blubber, for that the sea worms will not hurt. But when they got into the l)oat, they saw that it would not hold them all. Then said Bjarne : 'As the boat will only THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 9 hold the half of us, my advice is that we should draw lots who shall go iu her, for that will not he unworthy of our manhood.' This advice seemed so good that none gainsaid it, and they drew lots. And the lot fell to Bjarne, that he should go in the boat with half his crew. But as he went into the boat, there spake an Icelander who was in the ship and had followed Bjarne from Iceland : ^Art thou going to leave me here, Bjarne?' Quoth Bjarne: ' So it must be.' Then said the man : ^Another thing didst thou promise my father when I sailed with thee from Iceland than to desert me thus. For thou saidst that we should both share the same lot.' Bjarne said : 'And that we will not do. Get thee down into the boat, and I will get up into the ship, now that I see thou art so greedy after life.' So Bjarne w^ent up into the ship, and the man down into the boat, and the boat went on its voyage till they came to Dublin in Ireland. But most men say that Bjarne and his companions perished among the worms, for they were never heard of after." "And this story," adds Mr. Kingsley, ' "should have a special interest for Americans. For, as American antiquaries are well aware, Bjarne was on his voyage home from the coast of New England, possibly from that very Mount Hope Bay, which seems to have borne the same name in the time of those old Norsemen as afterwards in the days of King Philip." 10 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Is this inscription, cut into the surface of the rock on Blount Hope B.iy, the name of one of the crew of Bjarne's worm-eaten ship? It thrills one to think that it may be even so. Not the name, we hope, of the craven who basely saved his own life at the sacriiice of that of his heroic commander, but rather the name of one of the fated company who accepted his hard lot without murmur, and went down to his watery grave without complaint. These Northmen were probably the first Europeans the Indians ever looked upon. The first Enoflishman known to have visited Mas- sasoit, was Captain Thomas Dermer, in 1619. The account says he sailed from Monhigon (Maine), thence in that month (May) for Virginia, in an open pinnace, consequently was obliged to keep close in shore. He found places which had been inhabited, but at that time contained no people ; and further onward nearly all were dead, of a great sickness, which was then prevailing, but had nearly abated. When he came to Patuxet (now Plymouth) all were dead. From thence he travelled a day's journey into the country westward to Namasket (now Mid- dleborough). From this place he sent a messenger to visit Massasoit. In this expedition he reclaimed two Frenchmen from Massasoit's people, who had been cast away on the coast three years before. In a letter, under date of December 27, 1619, Captain Dermer writes as follows : ''• When I arived at my THR WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 11 savage's (Sqiianto) native country, tinding all dead, I travelled alongst a day's journey, to a place called Nummastaguyt, where, tinding inhabitants, I des- patched a messenger a day's journey farther west, to Pokanokit, which bordereth on the sea ; whence came to see me two kings, attended with a guard of fifty armed men, who being well satisfied with that my savage and I discoursed unto them (being desir- ous of novelty), gave me content in whatsoever I demanded, where I found that former relations were true." The two kings mentioned, were probably Massasoit and his brother Quadaquina. Captain Dermer says that the savages would have killed him at Namasket, had not Squanto entreated hard for him. Squanto (or Squantum, alias Tisquantum, for he was known by all these names,) was one of the five natives carried from the coast of New England in 1G05, by Captain George Weymouth, who had been sent out from England to discover a northwest passage. Squanto, who had just returned from En- gland with Dermer, and who was a native of Patux- et, or Plymouth, was s:iid to have been the only per- son belonging in that section of country who sur- vived the great plague. He was very useful to the English as a guide through the Indian country from Plymouth to Narragansett Bay, and also as an inter- preter, in their early intercourse with the natives. He died in December, 1G22. At the time of the arrival of the English at Ply- 12 THF WAMPANOAG INDIANS. month, the territory of the Wampanoag Tribe of Indians, over whom Massasoit was Chief Sachem, extended over nearly all the sontheastern part of Massachnsetts, from Cape Cod to Narragansett Bay. The district of country under the immediate govern- ment of Massasoit, was what is now Bristol County and East Providence, in this State, and parts of Swanzey, Seekonk and Rehoboth, in Massachusetts. It was known by the Indian name of Pokanoket. The plague which broke out among the Indians in iniG, and was so fatal to many portions of the tribe, (and which, I may add, is regarded as a special in- terposition of Divine Providence in behalf of our Pilgrim Fathers, in opening up a large section of country for their occupation, with few or no natives to oppose them,) was comparatively mild in its rav- ages on Mount Hope Xeck. The fact that here was the head tribe of the nation, and the residence of its principal Chief, together with the fertility of the soil, and uncommon facilities for fishins:, caused it to be more thickly settled than any other portion of Mas- sasoit's domains. There were, probably, in 1620, not less than four large Indian villages on the Neck, — one at Mount Hope, another at the head of the Cove, near the Asylum in Bristol, a third at Kicke- muit, around the spring there, and a fourth at So- wams, or Sowamset, in Warren. In fact the whole Neck along the shore, on all sides, abounds in evi- dences of Indi^^n occupation, in the great mass of THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 13 shells mixed hi the soil to the depth of several feet. Human bones have been often disinterred in plough- ing up the soil, and Indian implements, warlike and domestic, have been unearthed in ahiiost every sec- tion that has been brought under cultivation. Forty or fifty years ago, these relics were very numerous and w^ere regarded with but slight interest. Of late, however, they have become scarce, and it is to be regretted that the towns which abounded in these evidences of aboriginal occupancy, did not, years ago, take steps to collect specimens of them. I have no doubt they would be regarded with deep interest by future generations.* Massasoit, it is known, visited the English in March following their landing at Plymouth in De- cember, 1G20, and readily entered into a treaty with them, which was faithfull}^ kept on his part to the day of his death, a period of more than forty years. He was undoubtedly prompted to make this treaty in order to gain an ally as important and valuable as the English, with their fire-arms would be, to protect him against his rival, Canonicus, the Sachem of the powerful tribe of Narragansetts, who inhabited the lands on the Avest side of the bay, and who had already, taking advantage of the weak condition to which the plague had reduced the Wampanoags, en- *The Faculty of Brown University have recently started a museum at that institution, in which, through the zealous efforts of Professor J. W. P. Jenks, Curator, are already gathered many articles of rare interest. Stone imple- ments and other Indian relics are a prominent feature of the collection. 2 14 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. crouched upon their domains. They had taken pos- session of Aquetneck (Rhode Island), and the ishmd was afterwards sold by JNIiantonomi to John Clarke and others for a settlement. A few months after this visit of Massasoit to the Pilgrims, Governor Bradford decided to send a depu- tation to return his visit, for the following specified objects : To make him a present ; to learn the exact place of his residence; to see the country; to con- firm the treaty made in March, and to procure seed corn. Accordingly, on the 3d of Jul}^ 1621, Ed- Avard Winslow (afterwards Governor of Plymouth Colony) and Stephen Hopkins, with Squanto for a guide, commenced their journey through the woods from Plymouth to Narragansett Bay. By consulting Winslow's narrative in Morton's Memorial, their route is easily traced. Their first stopping place was Namasket (Middleborough), at which point they arrived about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the inhabitants entertaining them with joy, in the best manner they could, with a kind of bread they called Maizium and the spawn of shads, which then they got in abundance; "insomuch," says Winslow, "as they gave us spoons to eat them ; with these they boiled musty acorns, but of the shads we ate heartily." They continued their journey, and at sunset arrived at a point on Taunton river now known as Titicut. Here they found many of the men of Namasket fish- ing upon a weir, which they made on the river, and THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 1,5 caught abiiiKliince of bass. "These welcomed us also," sa3^s the narrative, "gave us of their (ish and \ve theui of our victuals, not doubtinof we should have enousfh wherever we came. There we lods^ed in the open fields, for houses they had none, though they spent most of the summer there. Upon it (the river) are and have been many towns, it being a o^ood lens^th. Thousands of men have lived there which died in a great phigue not long since. Upon this river dwelleth Massasoit. It cometh into the sea at Narragansett Bay." The next morning, after breakfast, they continued their journey, being accom- panied by some half dozen savages, about six miles along the south bank of the river to a known shoal place for crossing. As they attempted to cross over, their passage was resisted by two savages on the opposite bank of the river, one of them a very old man, who with great courage demanded to know who they were. Finding they were friends, the savages welcomed them with such food as they had. Proceeding on their journey, the weather became very hot for travel ; "yet the country [was] so well watered that a man could scarce be dry, l)ut he should have a spring at hand to cool his thirst, besides small rivers in abundance. But the savages will not willingly drink but at a spring head." Passing along they met a man with two women which had been at rendezvous by the salt water, and they had baskets full of roasted crab fishes and other IG THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. dried shell fish, of which the party partook and then continued their journey. Not long after they came to a town of Massasoit's, called Mattapoiset, (at Gardner's Neck in Swanzey), where they ate oysters and other fish. From there they went to Pokanoket, but Massasoit was not at home. He was sent for, and when he arrived they saluted him with a dis- charge of their guns. "For answer to our message, he told us we were welcome, and he w^ould gladly continue that peace and friendship which was between him and us, and, for his men, they should no more pester us as they had done ; also, that he would send to Paomet and would help us with corn for seed, according to our request." He then made a "great speech" to his men, the substance of which was that he was Massasoit, com- mander of the country about them, naming some thirty different places, and they should bring their skins unto the English, as he desired. To all which they answered they were his, and would be at peace with the English, and bring their skins to them. "Late it grew, but victuals he offered none; for indeed he had not any, being he came so newly home. So we desired to go to rest. He laid us on the bed with himself and his wife, they at the one end and we at the other, it being only planks laid a foot from the ground and a thin mat upon them. Two more of his chief men, for want of room, THE WAMPANOAO IXDIANS. 17 pressed by aiul upon us, so that we were worse weary of our lodging than of our journey. "The next day being Thursday, many of their Sachems or petty governors came to see us, and many of their men also. About one o'clock Massa- soit brought two fishes that he had shot ; they were like bream, but three times so big and better meat. These being boiled, there were at least forty looked for share in them, the most eat of them. This meal alone we had in two nights and a day, and had not one of us bought a partridge, we had taken our journey [homeward] fasting. Very importunate he was to have us stay with them longer. But we desired to keep the Sabbath at home, and feared we should either be light-headed for want of sleep, for what with bad lodo:ino^, the savaofes' barbarous sins^- ing (for they used to sing themselves asleep), lice and fleas within doors and musquitoes without, we could hardly sleep all the time of our being there, we much fearing if we should stay any longer, we should not be able to recover home for want of strength. So that on Friday morning, before sun- rising, we took our leave and departed, Massasoit beins both ^ the certainty thereof, and withal to acquaint Corbatant of their presence at his house. The messenger returned just before sunset with the news that Massasoit was not dead, though there was no hope that they would find him living. Upon this they were much revived, and set forward w^ith all speed, though it was late within night ere they got thither. About two of the clock that afternoon the Dutchman departed, so that in that respect their journey was "frustrate." When they reached Massasoit's residence, they found the house so full of men that they could scarce get in, though the Indians used their best diligence to make way for them. "There were they in the midst of their charms for him, making such hellish noise, as it distempered us that were well, and there- fore unlike to ease him that was sick. When they had made an end of their charming, one told him that his friends, the English, were come to see him. Having understanding left, but his sight was wholly gone, he asked who was come? They told him. THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 21 He desired to speak with me. When I eame to him, he put forth his hand to me which I took. Then he said twice, though very inwardly : 'Keen Winsnow?' (for they cannot pronounce the letter 1), which is to say: 'Art thou Winslow?' I answered: 'Ahhe,' that is, 'Yes.' Then he doubled these Avords : 'O, Winslovy, I shall never see thee again.'" Then Hobbamok, under instructions from Wins- low, told Massasoit that "the Governor hearing of his sickness, was sorry for the same, and though, by reason of many businesses he could not come him- self, yet he sent me [Winslow] with such things for him as he thought most likely to do him good in this his extremity, and whereof if he pleased to take, I Avould presently give him, which he desired, and having a confection of many comfortable conserves, etc., on the point of my knife, I gave him some which I could scarce o^et throus^h his teeth. When it was dissolved in his mouth he swallowed the juice of it, whereat those that were about him much re- joiced, saying he had not swallowed anything in two days before." It would make this paper too long to give the details of the simple means used by Winslow for his restoration, although they are quite interesting. Suf- fice it to say, that God blessed these means, and his sight soon came to him, and he was so far improved the next day, as to desire food. Within two days thereafter, his restoration was so well assured, that 22 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Winslow and his conipjinion decided to return to Plymouth. Massasoit was very grateful, acknowl- edo-in«>- the Enoflish as the instruments of his preser- vation. He said: "Now I see the English are my friends and love me ; and whilst I live, I will never forget this kindness they have showed me." At their leaving, Massasoit called Hobbamok to him, and privately (none save two or three braves who were of his council being present) revealed a plot of the Massacheuseucks, against Weston's Col- ony, and so against them of Plymouth ; saying that the people of Nauset, Paomet, Succonet, Mattachiett, Manomet, Agowaywam, and the Isle of Capawack, were joined with them ; himself, also, in his sickness, was earnestly solicited ; but he would neither join them, nor give way to any of his. Therefore, as w^e respected the lives of our countrymen, and our own after safety, he advised us to kill the men of Massa- cheuseucks, who were the authors of this intended mischief. And whereas we were wont to say, we would not strike a stroke till they first began ; if, said he, upon this intelligence, they make that an- swer, tell them, when their countrymen at Wicha- guscusset are killed, they being not able to defend themselves, that then it will be too late to recover their lives ; nay, through the multitude of adversa- ries, they shall with great difficulty preserve their own, and therefore he counselled without delay to take away the principals, and then the plot would THE WAMPANOAO INDIANS. 23 cease. With this, he chtirged him thoroughly to :ic- quniut mc by the way, that I might inform the Gov- ernor thereof, at my first coming home. Being fitted for our return, we took our leave of him; who re- turned many thanks to our Governor, and also to ourselves, for our labor of love ; the like did all they that were about him. So we departed. " That night through the earnest request of Cor- batant, who till now remained at Sowams, or Poka- noket, we lodged with him at Mattapoiset. By the way I had much conference with him ; so likewise at his house, he being a notable politician, yet full of many jests and squibs, and never better pleased than when the like are returned again upon him. Amongst other things he asked me, if in case he were thus dangerously sick, as Massasoit had been, and should send word thereof to Patuxet for maskiet, that is, physic, whether then Mr. Governor would send it ; and if he would, whether I would come therewith to him. To both which I answered, yea; whereat he gave me many joyful thanks. Here we remained only that night, but never had better entertainment amongst any of them." The day following Hobbamok told Winslow of the private conference with Massasoit, and all that he charged him withal. They arrived home in time to prevent Capt. Standish from embarking on a friendly visit to the Massacheuseucks,atthe importunate solici- tation of an Indian of Paomet (a part of their plot to 24 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. get the "mail of war" in their power), who was still present on their arrival. The narrative concludes : " But their secret and villainous purposes, being, through God's mercy, now made known, the Gover- nor caused Capt. Standish to send him (the Indian) away without any distaste, or manifestation of anger, that he might the better effect and bring to pass that which should be thouirht most necessary." This timely disclosure of Massasoit enabled Miles Standish to organize his notable army of eight men, who surprised the Massacheusett Indians before they had time to execute their plottings, and by the vigor of his movements, and personal prowess, effectually suppressed all further attempts to carry them into execution. These reciprocal acts of kindness and friendship between the English and Massasoit, very naturally caused their relations to be more intimate, and the route through the woods between Plymouth and Mount Hope Neck, soon became a well-worn path. As early as 1632, the Plymouth settlers had a trad- ing post at Sowams. So warns was probably the name of the river (what is now known as Warren river), where the two Swanzey rivers meet, and run together for near a mile, when they empty themselves in the Narragansett Bay. The trading post was sup- posed to have been located on the Barrington side of the river, on the land known as "Phebe's Neck." THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 25 This hitter, Jiiul Aqiictneck, were the two places luiiiied by Roger Williams to John Clarke, and his associates, as desirable locations for settlement. Inasmuch, says Callender, "as they were deter- mined to go out of every other jurisdiction, Mr. Williams and Mr. Clarke, attended with two other persons, went to Plymouth to inquire how the case stood. They were lovingly received, and answered that Sow^ams was the garden of their Patent. But they were advised to settle at Aquetneck, and prom- ised to be looked on as free, and to be treated and assisted as loving neighbors." And so John Clarke, William Coddington, John Coggeshall, and the other gentlemen associated with them, who left Boston, "for peace sake, and to enjoy the freedom of their consciences," settled on Rhode Island in March, 1638. W^inslow's narratives of his two visits to Massasoit, were published in London, the first in 1622, and the latter in 1624. They are both republished in full in Morton's New England Memorial. There is no doubt that Massasoit's residence, at the time of these visits, was on the Sowams river, in what is now the village of Warren. The late Guy M. Fessenden, in his little History of Warren, which contains a num- ber of interesting facts in this connection, clearly demonstrates this. At the foot of Baker street, in that town, is a living spring of water, called Massa- soit's Spring, and doubtless he resided, during a por- tion of the year, neai- this spring. In the winter 2G THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. months, pro])al)ly most of the Iiidums on the Neck, made their liome at Monnt Hope, Avhich Avas heavily wooded, and the conformation of the surface such as to alford great protection from the cold north winds and storms. As soon as the shores were clear of snow and ice, in the spring, they would naturally flock to them, for shell-lish, and watch for the com- ing of the early sea fish. A note in Morton's Memo- rial, says Massasoit " resided at So warns, or Sowamp- set, at the confluence of two rivers in Rehoboth, or Swanzey, though occasionally at Mont Haup, or Mount Hope, the principal residence of his son Philip." That the Indians and their Chiefs changed their residences from plac6 to place, within their domains at diflerent seasons of the year, there is abundant proof. Clark, in his history of Norton, speaks of a Well known resort in that town, as the summer residence of King Philip. Roger Williams, when banished from Massachu- setts, left Salem and journeyed through the wilder- ness to Narragansett Bay, in mid- winter, and un- doubtedly visited Massasoit, or Ousemequin, at Pokanoket (whose acquaintance he had before made) , and perhaps spent days with him, visiting different portions of the Bay, and making himself familiar with the "lay of the land." It is known that he ob- tained from Ousemequin the grant of land at Seekonk upon which he first settled and built. Isaack De Rasicres, a French Protestant, who was THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 27 Secretary of the Colony of New NetherlaiKls, in 10)27 was dispatched on an embassy to New Ply- mouth, for the purpose of opening trade between the two colonies. This was the first interview or intercourse between the Dutch of New York and the Plymouth Pilgrims. De Rasieres made a favorable impression upon Governor Bradford, who speaks of him as "a man of fair and genteel behavior." On his return to Holland near the close of the same year, 1627, he wrote a very interesting letter, des- cribing the situation of New Plymouth, and the manners and customs of the Pilgrims. He also gives the following description of the customs of the In- dians — the Wampanoags. He says : "The savages [there] practice their youth in labor better than the savages round about us [meaning Ncav Netherlands] — the young girls in sowing maize, the young men in hunting. They teach them to endure privation in the field in a singular manner, to wit: when there is a youth who begins to approach manhood, he is taken by his father, uncle, or nearest friend, and is con- ducted, blindfolded, into a wilderness, in order that he may not know the way, and is left there by night or otherwise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and a knife. He must support himself there a whole winter with what the scanty earth furnishes at this season, and by hunting. Towards the spring they come again, and fetch him out of it, take him home, and feed him up again until May. He must then go 28 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. out again eveiy morning with the person who is ordered to take him in hand ; he must go into the forest to seek wild herbs and roots which they know to be most poisonous and bitter ; these they bruise in water and press the juice out of them, which he must drink, and immediately have ready such herl)s as will preserve him from death or vomit- ing; and, if he cannot retain it, he must repeat the dose until he can support it, and his constitution becomes accustomed to it, so that he can retain it. Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and women, all singing and dancing, before the Seckima, and if he has been able to stand it all out well, and if he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him." And we may add, that after passing through such an ordeal, he would be entitled to one, and a good one, too. The Esquimaux in Greenland have a custom, as Telated by Doctor Hayes, somewhat similar to this — where a young man must show his prowess by hunt- ing alone the Polar bear, and kill and return with his game to the settlement, before he is deemed worthy to have a wife — and then he must show his fleetness of foot, running the gauntlet of all the impediments the old women can put in his way to catch his loved one, who makes great efforts to escape him, but is finally caught, of course. Massasoit had a large family. Besides his wife, it is known that he had two brothers, Quadequina THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 29 aiul Akkompoin ; three sons, the first known by the names of Mooauum, Wamsitta and afterwards as Alexander, the second as Pometaconi, Metaconi and afterwards as Philip, and the third as Sunconewhew ; also a daughter [see Appendix ^], w^hose name is not known, but Philip in a letter to the Plymouth government, gives an excuse for not visiting them, as requested, that his sister is "verey sike." This letter was written in 1062, and was addressed to Governor Prince. It is, amono^ other interestinof memorials, in the archives of the Pilgrim Society at Plymouth. There is to be added to those already named of Massasoit's family, Namumpum or Weeta- nioe, "Queen of Pocasset," the wife of Alexander; Philip's wife, Wootouekanuske, sister to Weetamoe, and Philip's son. Quadequina is described, at the time he was first known to the English, as "a very proper, tall young man, of a very modest and seemly countenance." He held a high position in his brother's government. Akkompoin held an important position in Philip's ofovernment, sisfnino^ deeds of land and treaties made by Philip, and was also his counsellor in Philip's war. Wamsitta or Alexander, the oldest son of Massa- soit, was associated with his father in the Wam- panoag government for a number of years previous to Massasoit's death, and after that event succeeded to the Sachemship. 30 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Massiisoit died in IGlU. Published documents prove him to have been alive in May, 1661, and verv probably so late as September in that year. In a letter of Roger Williams, of the date of December 13, 1661, he refers to Massasoit as being dead. He writes: "Ausamaquin, the Sachem aforesaid, also deceased." If, when he first visited the English at Plymouth, and was described as "in his best years," he was about forty years old ; he must have been nearly or quite eighty years of age, at the time of his death. The personal appearance of Massasoit, when he first became known to the English, is thus given : "The King is a portly man, in his best years, grave of countenance, spare of speech." Trumbull, in his "Indian Wars," says: "He seems to have been a most estimable man. He was - just, humane and l)eneficent, true to his word, and in every respect an honest man." Other early writers also speak of him in a similar strain. That he was no ordinary man is abundantly evident. Fessenden, in his His- tory of Warren, to which I have before referred, pays him the following tribute : "Massasoit, though a heathen, proves himself true to the dictates which the light of nature suggested. He possessed all the elements of a great mind and a noble heart. With the advantages of civilized life and the light which a pure Christianity would have supplied, he might have achieved a brilliant destiny, and occupied a THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. ol high niche in the temple of fame. In all the memorials which have come clown to us, Massasoit's character stands above reproach. No one has ever charged him with evil. From the time when he repaired to Plymouth, March 22, 1621, to welcome the Pilgrims and to tender to them his friendship, till the time of his death, — when they were weak and defenceless, encountering sickness, want and death, when at ahiiost any moment Massasoit could have exterminated them, in no one instance did he depart from those plain engagements of treaty which he made when he plighted his fliith to strangers. He was not only their uniform friend, but their protec- tor, at times when his protection was equivalent to their preservation." I cannot more fittingly close this notice of Massa- soit than by showing how dearly his memory was cherished by the descendants of the Pilgrims, more than a hundred years after his death. At the first celebration of the "Landing of the Pilgrims," or " P'orefather's Day," which took place at Plymouth on Friday, December 22d, 1769, under the auspices of the Old Colony Club, which was organized in that year, the fifth regular toast was given as fol- lows : "To the memory of Massasoit— our first and best frientl, :ind ally of the natives.'- THE WAMPANOAG TRIBE OF INDIANS. PART II. [Uead before the Khode Island Historical Society, in Providence, March IG, 1875.1 In my first paper on the Wampanoag Tribe of Indians, read before this Society, on Tuesday eve- ning, March 17th, 1874, I stated that Wamsitta, the oldest son, was associated with his father, Massasoit, in the Wampanoag government, for a number of years previous to Massasoit's death, and after that event, which occurred in the hitter part of the year 1661, succeeded to the Chief Sachemship. In 1()62, Wamsitta, and his younger brother, Pometacom, repaired to Plymouth, and "professing great respect," requested that English names might be given them. The Court, in response to their request, named them respectively Alexander and Philip — it is supposed, after Alexander the Great, and Philip of Macedon. Very soon after this event, and in the same year, Governor Prince, of Plymouth, learning that Alexander was plotting rebellion against the English, sent Major Josiah Winslow, with an armed force, to arrest him, and bring him to Ply- THE WAMrANOAG INDIANS. 33 month, to answer to the charge. Some time before this, Governor Prince had sent a messenger to Alex- ander, at Monnt Hope, to inform him of these re- ports of his liostile intentions, and to request him to attend the next Court in Plj'mouth, to vindicate himself from these charges. Alexander, it is stated, denied the charges, and promised to attend the Court as requested. But when the Court met, instead of making his appearance, he was found to be on a visit to the Sachem of the Narragansetts, his pretended enemies. And let us here consider for a moment, the changed condition of the two races. The lands of the In- dians were rapidly passing away from the native pro- prietors to the new-comers, and English settlements w^ere everywhere springing up in the wilderness. As the forests were cleared, and the settlements in- creased, the wild game, on which the Indian largely relied for his subsistence, grew scarce, while the more valuable of the fishing resorts were monopo- lized by the English. It was evident that the Indian power was rapidly declining, while that of the white man was on the increase. And as is forcibly de- picted by Abbott, in his " History of King Philip," "with prosperity came avarice. Unprincipled men flocked to the colonies ; the Indians were depised, and often harshly treated ; and the forbearance 2chkh marked the early intercourse of the Pilgrims icith the mitives teas forgotten,'" It cannot be denied that 34 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. many of the savages had been greatly demoralized by contact with the Avhites, and were constantly committing depredations upon them, shooting their cattle, piUaging their houses, and sometimes com- mitting mnrder. We may imagine that it was quite as difficult for the Sachems to restrain these vaga- bonds, as it is for civilized society to keep in check its bad classes. It will thus be seen that there were constant sources of irritation upon both sides, and ample cause for alienation aud suspicion. When Governor Prince learned of Alexander's visit to the Narragansetts, and of his apparent treach- ery, he "assembled his counselors, and, after delib- eration, ordered Major Winslow, afterward governor of the colony, to take an armed band, go to Mount Hope, seize Alexander by surprise, before he should have time to rally his warriors around him, and take him by force to Plymouth." This was certainly a deliberate act ofivar. " Major Winslow immediately set out, with ten men, from Marshfield, intending to increase his force from the towns nearer to Mount Hope. When about half way between Plymouth and Bridge water, they came to a large pond, proba- bly Moonponsett Pond, in the present town of Hali- fax. Upon the margin of this sheet of water, they saw an Indian hunting lodge, and soon ascertainecj that it was one of the several transient residences of Alexander, and that he was then there, with a large party of his warriors, on a hunting and fishing excursion. THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 35 "The colonists ctiutiously approached, and saw that the guns of the Indians were all stacked outside' of the lodge, at some distance, and that the whole party were in the house, engaged in a banquet. As the Wampanoags were then, and had been for forty years, at peace with the English, and as they were not at war with any other people, and were in the very heart of their own territory, no precautions whatever were adopted against surprise. " Major Winslow despatched a portion of his force to seize the guns of the Indians, and with the rest entered the hut. The savages, eighty in number, manifested neither surprise nor alarm in seeing the English, and were apparently quite unsuspicious of danger. Major Winslow requested Alexander to walk out w^ith him for a few moments, and then, through an interpreter, informed the proud Indian chieftain that he was to be taken under arrest to Pl}^- mouth, there to answer to the charge of plotting against the English. The haughty savage, as soon as he fully comprehended the statement, was in a towering rage. He returned to his companions, and declared that he would not submit to such an indig- nity." There being some indications of resistance, the stern major presented a pistol to the breast of Alexander, and said : ''I am ordered to take you to Plymouth. God willing, I shall do it, at whatever hazard. If you submit peacefully, you shall receive respectful usage. If you resist, you shall die upon the spot." 3(3 TllK WAMPANOAG INDIANS. The Indians were disarmed, and could do nothing ; Alexander was almost insane with vexation and rage in finding himself thus insulted, and yet incapable of making any resistance. His followers, conscious of the utter helplessness of their state, entreated him not to resort to violence, which would only result in his death. They urged him to yield to necessity, assuring him that they would accompany him as his retinue, that he might appear in Plymouth with the dignity ])eHtting his rank. The colonists immediately commenced their return to Plymouth with their illustrious captive. There was a large party of Indian warriors in the train, with "Wetamoe, the wife of Alexander, and several other Indian women. The day was intensely hot, and a horse was tendered to the chieftain that he might ride ; but he declined the ofier, preferring to walk with his friends. When they arrived at Duxbiiry, as they did not want to thrust Alexander into a prison. Major Winslow received him into his own house, where he guarded him with vigilance, yet treated him courteously, until orders could be re- ceived from Governor Prince, who resided on the Cape at Eastham. At Duxbury, Alexander and his train were entertained for several days with the most scrupulous hospitality. But the imperial spirit of the \Vami)anoag chieftain w^as so tortured by the humiliation to which he was subjected that he was thrown into a burning fever. The best medical at- THE WAJIPANOAO INDIANS. 37 tendance was furnished, and he was nursed with the u m t eare, but he g.ew daily worse, and sorsoW ous f ars were entertained that he would die. hpin , , .''" '''"■'■'""'■'' ^""'^^y «l'"-med for their beloved ch.eftain, entreated that they nii geance „p„„ any who injn.-ed them or their kindrei vhenever opportunity oifered, though it mi^ht be a long t,me after the offence was committed. ^Goolin otheT:; t '" *'^^^^^-'-'— "If-ymurther ; gu.mty look upon themselves concerned to revenue hat wrong, or murder, unless the business be tak^n Lf- '' ^^^T''' "^ ^^^•"PompeHgue, or other sat- - action, which their custom admits, to satisfy for all wrongs, yea for life itself " ^ An incident is related of Philip, that occurred in 1665 by which we may judge something of his proud and miperious spirit. He learned that an In- dian had spoken disrespectfully of his father, Massa- soit. Traducing the dead, was by Indian law, an offence so grave as to demand the life of the offender by the hand of the nearest of kin of the party tra- di'ced. I hihp, accordingly, with a band of braves, repaired to Nantucket in search of liis victim, a Piaying Indian, named Assasamoogh. The latter was sitting at the table of a colonist, when a mes- senger rushed in and informed him that Philip, the avenger, was at the door. He fled from house to louse, closely pursued by Philip with uplifted toma- iiawk, to the great amazement of the English at this 40 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. exhibition of Iiulian vengeance. At length Assasa- moogh leaped a high bank and plunging into the forest eluded his pursuer. The English were anx- ious to save the life of the offender, and for that purpose sought an interview with Philip. But he refused to leave the island until a ransom was paid. The sum paid was nineteen shillings, that being all the money there was on the island. With this, it was said, he returned home to Mount Hope satisfied. Philip frequently visited Plymouth and the other English settlements in that colony, and became well acquainted with the inhabitants. He traded wnth them, and exchanged hospitalities. And yet, it is supposed, that all this time, the insult which had been offered to his brother Alexander was ranklino: in his heart, and calling for revenge. Where special acts of kindness had been shown him he remembered them, even after hostilities commenced, to the saving of a number of Eno^lish households. Fessenden relates the instance of Hugh Cole, who with others, in 1(>69, had purchased five hundred acres of land of Philip, in Swanzey, on the west side of Cole's river, and settled there. At the breaking out of the war, two of Cole's sons were made prisoners by the Indians, and taken to Philip's headquarters at Mount Hope. Philip, from his friendship for their father, sent them back, with a message that he did not wish to injure him, but as his young warriors might dis- obey his orders, advised him to repair to Rhode THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 4^ Island for siifetv. Mr Tnlo f.,ii,r ready and started with all his iinnily. Tlfev Ind proceeded hut a short distance, (probily i„ f b^ down the Bay,) when he beheld his housi i„ L^Z west s>de of Touisset Neck, on Kickemuit river in he present town of Warren, where the farm I, d the we,, he dug in 1677, are yet in the possei. f hshneal descendants. Philip^iso performed a sim- ilar act of kindness, m protecting the family of Mr James Brown, one of the constituent members if Uie Swanzey church. Clark, in his -History o Norton," states that not a house was burnt by the Indians m the town of Taunton during the war, for fear that some harm would come to ^he Leonards who resided in that town, and who had often re- paired guns, and performed other jobs in iron work or Philip gratuitously,_so strict were his orders in the premises. As early as 1671, the Plymouth colonists had be- come jealous of the growing influence Philip had obtained over all the New England tribes, with the exception, perhaps, of the xMohegans.-and profes- sing alarm at what they termed "increasing indica- tions that he was preparing for hostilities," sent an imperious command to him to come to Taunton and explain his conduct. For some time Philip made divers rather weak excuses for not compiyino- ^vith 42 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. this demand, at the same time reiterating assurances of his friendly feelings. " He was as yet," says Ab- bott, "unprepared for war, and was very reluctant to precipitate hostilities, which he had sufficient sagac- ity to foresee would involve him in ruin, unless he could first form such a coalition of the Indian tribes as would enable him to attack all the English settle- ments at one and the same time. At length, how- ever, he found that he could no longer refuse to give some explanation of the measures he was adopting, without giving fatal strength to the suspicions against him. Accordingly, on the 10th of April of this year, he took with him a band of warriors, armed to the teeth, and painted and decorated with the most brilliant trappings of barbarian splendor, and approached within four miles of Taunton. Here he established his encampment, and with native- taught punctiliousness, sent a message to the Ply- mouth <2fovernor, informinij him of his arrival at that spot, and requiring him to come and treat with him there. The governor, either afraid to meet these warriors in their own encampment, or deeming it beneath his dignity to attend the summons of an Indian chieftain, sent Roger Williams, with several other messengers, to assure Philip of his friendly feelings, and to entreat him to continue his journey to Taunton, as a more convenient place for their conference. Philip, with caution, which subsequent events proved to have been well-timed, detained THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 43 these messengers as hostages for his safe return, and then, with an imposing retinue of his painted braves, proudly strode forward toward the town of Taunton' When he arrived at a hill upon the out-skirts of the village, he again halted, and warily established sen- tinels around his encampment. "The governor and magistrates of the Massachu- setts colony, apprehensive, it would seem, that the Plymouth people nnght get embroiled in a war with the Indians, and anxious, if possible, to avert so terrible a calamity, had dispatched three commis- sioners to Taunton, to endeavor to promote recon- ciliation between the Plymouth colony and Philip. These commissioners were now in conference with the Plymouth court. When Philip appeared upon the hill, the Plymouth magistrates were quite eager to march and attack him, and take his whole party prisoners, and hold them as hostages for the o-ood behavior of the Indians. AVith no little difficulty the Massachusetts commissioners overruled this rash design, and consented to go out themselves and per- suade Philip to come in and confer in a friendly manner upon the adjustment of their affairs. "Philip received the Massachusetts men with re- serve, but with much courtesy. At first he refused to advance any farther, but declared that those who wished to confer with him must come where he was. At length, however, he consented to refer the diffi- culties which existed between him and the Plymouth 44 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. colony, to the Massachusetts commissioners, and to liold the conference in the Taunton meeting-house. But that he might meet his accusers upon the basis of perfect equality, he demanded that one-half of the meetino-.house should be appropriated exclusively to himself and his followers, while the Plymouth peo- ple, his accusers, should occupy the other half. The Massachusetts commissioners, three gentlemen, were to sit alone, as umpires. We can but admire the character developed by Philip in these arrange- ments. "Philip managed his cause, which was evidently a difficult one, with great adroitness. He could not deny that he was making great military prepara- tions, but he declared that this was only in anticipa- tion of an attack from the Narragansett Indians. But it was proved that at that moment he was on terms of more intimate friendship with the Narra- gansetts than ever before. When the English com- plained of Indian outrages, he brought charge for charge against them ; and it cannot be doubted that he and his people had suffered much from the arrogance of individuals of the dominant race. Philip has had no one to tell his side of the story, and we have re- ceived the narrative only from the pens of his foes. They tell us that he was at length confounded, and made full confession of his hostile designs, and ex- pressed regret for them." As the result of the conference, a treaty was THE WAMPANOAO INDIANS. 45 entered into, in which mutual friendship was pled-od and in which Philip consented to the extniordi.miy measure of disarming his people, and of surrender- ing their guns to the governor of Plymouth, to be retained by him so long as he should distrust the sincerity of their friendship. Philip and his warri- ors immediately gave up their guns, seventy in num- ber, and promised to send in the rest within a ^iven time. It is related of one of Philip's Captainsfthat when he learned that his Chief had consented to surrender their guns, he was so enraged, that he threw down his arms, and said he would never own him again, or fight under him : and from that time ever after adhered to the English. It was further agreed in the council, that, in case of future troubles, both parties should submit their complaints to the arbitration of Massachusetts. This settlement, apparently so important, amounted to nothing. It was said of the Indians, that they were ever ready to sign any agreement whatever which would extricate them from a momentary diffi- culty ; but such promises were broken as readily as they were made. It is certain that Philip sent in no more guns, but was busy as ever gaining resources for war, and entering into alliances with other tribes. He denied this, but the people of Plymouth thought they had ample evidence that such was the case. The summer thus passed away, while the aspect of affairs was daily growing more threatening. As 46 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Philip did not send in his guns according to agree- ment, and as there was evidence, apparently conchi- sive, of his hostile intentions, the Plymouth govern- ment, late in August, sent another summons, order- ing the Wanipanoag chieftain to appear before them on the loth of September, and threatening, in case he did not comply, to send out a force to reduce him to subjection. At the same time they sent commu- nications to the colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, stating their complaints against Philip, and soliciting their aid in the war which they thought evidently approaching. "In this affair," I quote again from Abbott, "Philip gained a manifest advantage over the Ply- mouth colonists. According to the terms of the treaty, all future difficulties were to be referred to the arbitration of Massachusetts as an impartial umpire. But Plymouth had now, in violation of these terms, imperiously summoned the Indian chief- tain, as if he were their subject, to appear before their courts. Philip, instead of paj^ing any regard to this arrogant order, immediately repaired to Bos- ton with his councilors, in strict accord with the treaty. It so happened that he arrived in Boston on the very day in which the governor of Massachu- setts received the letter from the Plymouth colony. The representations which Philip made seemed to carry conviction to the impartial umpires of Massa- chusetts that he was not severely to be censured. Ay hen the letters from Plymouth were read to him, THE WAMPANOAG JNDIANS. 47 he replied that his predecessors had always hv.n ineudly with the Plymouth governors, and that an engagement to that end was made by his father and renewed by his brother, and when he took the '<.ov- ernment, was made by himself; but it was only an agreement for «m%, not for subjection. He had acknowledged himself a subject of the Kin- of England, but he averred that he knew not thai he and his were subjects to the Plymouth govermnent. I'ra^rn^ Indians, he said, were subjects, and had officers and magistrates appointed for them, but he and his people had no such thing with them, and therefore were not subjects/^ The inference from this IS, that Philip having acknowledged himself a sub- ject of the King of England, the Plymouth govern- ment claimed that he and his tribe were under the government of that colony. Freeman, in his His- tory of Cape Cod, in a note, page 26S, says :— " Notwithstanding that in treaties from time to time, the Indians have acknowledged themselves subjects to the King of England, they seem not to have comprehended the meaning of the term. They ever retained an idea of independency to which English subjects had no pretence." Philip desired to be shown a copy of the engage- ment, and requested the governor of Massachusc^tts to procure it for him. As a result of this confer- ence, the Massachusetts authorities wrote to Ply- mouth as follows : — 48 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. "We do not uuderstand how Philip h;ith sub- jected himself to you. But the treatment you have o-iven him and your proceedings toward him, do not render him such a subject as that, if there be not a present answering to summons, there should pre- sently be a proceeding to hostilities. The sword once drawn and dipped in blood, may make him as independent upon you as you are upon him." Soon after this, a general council of the united colonies was called to assemble at- Plymouth on the 24th of September. Philip agreed to meet this council in a further effort to adjust their differences, and at the appointed time was present, with a retinue of warriors. Another treaty was made, similar to the Taunton treaty, and the two parties again sepa- rated with protestations of friendship ; but, says Abbott, "quite hostile as ever at heart." Three years now passed away of reserved inter- course and suspicious peace. The colonists were continually hearing rumors from distant tribes of Philip's endeavors, and generally successful endeav- ors, to draw them into a coalition. The conspiracy, so far as it could be ascertained, included nearly all the tribes in New England, and extended into the interior of New York, and along the coast to Vir- ginia. The Narragansetts, it w^as said, agreed to furnish four thousand warriors. Other tribes, ac- cording to their power, were to furnish their hun- dreds, or their thousands. Hostilities were to be THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 49 commenced in the Spring of IGTG, by ji simultaneous assault upon all the settlements, so that none of the English could go from one portion of the country to aid another. In the latter part of the year 1G74, the signs of the conspiracy were so palpable, that the Governor of Massachusetts sent an ambassador to Philip, demanding an explanation of these threat- ening appearances, and soliciting another treaty of peace and friendship. Philip's haughty reply to this ambassador was : "Your governor is but a sub- ject of King Charles of England. I shall not treat with a subject. I shall only treat with the king, my brother. When he comes, I am ready." The war was waged against the Indians by the "United Colonies," so called, which comprised the three colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, and New Plymouth. Rhode Island was not included. But as early as 1667, letters were received by the Rhode Island authorities from the neighboring colo- nies, calling their attention to the rumors that were rife of the treacherous designs of the Indians against the English, and invoking the good offices of Roger Williams and others to pacify them. In the inter- vals between the sessions of the General Assembly, says Mr. Bartlett,* the Governor and Council (which embraced the Governor, Deputy Governor, and Assistants), held frequent meetings, particularly during the periods when the colony was in danger * Rhode Island Colonial Records, volume ii, page 191. 50 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. from invasion, or from attacks of tlie Indians. (England was at war at this time, 1667, with the French as well as the Dutch.) A separate record was kept of the proceedings of this Council. It was entitled : "The Book of Records, containing the acts and orders made by the Governor and Council, both general and particular, since the first of May, 1667." At the second meeting of the Council, held on the 10th of May : "It is ordered that Thomas Willmott (probably Willett) of 8ecunk, hath informed the Council, now sitting, of such deportments of the Indians, especially of Philip, which giveth great occasion of suspicion of them and their treacherous desiofus. It is therefore ordered that the Indians residing upon the island shall be forthwith disarmed of all sorts of arms, and that the captain and mili- tary officers meeting with any Indian armed, they are authorized to seize the arms, and by the authority from the magistracy of either town, the constables or their deputies, are to search and seize any arms to them belonging ; and the said arms, wherever so seized, to be delivered to the Governor or some magistrate, that so they may be safely kept, and at his or their discretion to be restored. It is also left to the magistrates of Providence and Warwick to do as they shall think meet, as referring to disarming the Indians among them. And it is ordered, that if in Khode Island, or in any other towns, any Indian shall be taken walking in the night time, he shall be THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. f)! seized by the wiitcli {ind kept in custody till morn- ing, and brought before some magistrate, which said magistrate shall deal with him according to his dis- cretion, and the demerit of the person so offending." On the 21st of May, 1667, "at a meeting of the Council," it is ordered that a letter be sent to the Commissioners of Plymouth, of thankful acknowl- edgment for their civility in writing to us concerning their proceedings with Philip and his men with respect to the rumors of their conspiracies ; and it is further ordered that one of each town of the Colony be chosen to treat with Mosup, Nennecraft (Ninne- grit) and Cothannequant (Canonchet) concerning the rumors aforesaid; and the parties chosen are, for Newport, Mr. Peleg Sandford ; for Providence, Mr. Wm. Harris; for Portsmouth, Mr. Wm. Baulston ; and for Warwick, Mr. John Green; and these or the major part of them, are fully empowered to appoint the place of treaty, and time or times there- of, and to appoint interpreters, and to make return thereof with all convenient speed to the General Council ; but in case the said Sachems shall refuse to meet and treat, then the Commissioners are to protest in his Majesty's name against the said Sachems." A copy of the letter sent to the Sachems follows : " Loving Friends and Honorablk Neighbors : — The Governor and Council having met this 21st of May, have thought fit and necessary to acquaint you 52 THK WAMPANOAG INDIANS. that they have commissionated four of themselves to treat with you conceruing the reports of the con- spiracies of the Indians against the English, that so if it may l)e, they may be better informed of the truth and extent thereof; and for that end and purpose desire and require you in his Majesty's Dame, to give them a meeting at Warwick on Tues- day next, which will be the 28th of this instant, where accordingly you may expect to meet with them. So we take leave and remain your friends. "By the appointment of that Council. "W. Dyke, Secretary." In 1669 letters were received by the Governor and Council, from the Governors of Connecticut and New York, and also from Major Mason, charging that Ninnicraft and the Lonsf Island Indians were plotting against the English, in combination with the French ; and further, that he, Ninnicraft, had held a great dance, at which Philip was represented by seven of his chief men. The authorities of Rhode Island at once took steps to examine Ninnicraft and other Sachems, and after a most searching inquir}^ became satisfied there was no real ground for the charge, and so informed the authorities of Connecti- cut and New Y(U'k. Before this, however, they sent the following letter to Governor Prince, of New Plymouth, under date of 22d July, 1669 : — " Sir : — These coming in safety to your hands. THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 53 will inform you that whereas, we have had informa- tion of a plot of the Indians to cut off the Eno-lish which we doubt not but you have also had the full report of; and we having used endeavors to search out the thing, have sent some discreet persons over to see if they could find Ninnicraft's temper at this juncture ; and in examination they received indiffer- ent answers by way of excusing himself, and denyino* any knowledge of such a plot ; only when he was asked why and to what end seven of Philip the Sachem's ancient men had been with him, the said Ninnicraft, for nine or ten days, then together, some of them being of Philip's Council, he gave no satisfac- tory answer to that point, but put it off with a laugh and very slight return, which gives us some further cause of suspicion ; and have therefore sent for him to be examined before us, and dealt with as we may find cause thereupon ; and do represent thus much to yourselves that you may, if you think fit, question Philip, of Mount Hope, upon the premises. And whereas. Major Mason writes that it is too apparent there is a plot contriving or contrived between the French and almost all the Indians in the country ; it doth the more allarum us to take notice of it, seeing such an eminent person doth so repre- sent it; and do entreat if anything do appear to yourselves, you will be pleased to communicate it to (Sir), *' Your affectionate friends and servants, "EiCHARD Bailey, Secretary." 54 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Governor Lovelace, of New York, addresses a let- ter to Governor Benedict Arnold, under date of Au- gust 24th, 1669, in which he acknowledges the receipt of the hitter's letter of 29th July, in answer to his, and says : — " I must render yon my most particular thanks for those civilities you were pleased to afford me in your friendly expressions ; next, I cannot Init kindly resent that care you have shown in settling the minds of some over-credulous persons amongst us (who being possessed with a panic fear), were apt to entertain very melancholy thoughts accordingly as they were instilled by the intelligence and infor- mation of some fond Indians to the great disturbance of the public peace ; and by it animating the heathens, who take courage from our fear, might be apt to break forth into extravagances not to be redressed without a war, and all the miseries attending it ; but those apprehensions are now vanished, and men's minds, by reason of your excellent letter, well paci- fied and settled, neither do I believe they will too hastily again give credence to the information of a faithless and false generation." All which clearly in- dicates that even as early as 16(59, the public mind was greatly agitated about the Indians, and ready to believe the most extravagant and unreasonable stories of their plottings. At a meeting of the Governor and Council at New- port, August 30th, 1671, in response to a letter re- ceived from the General Assembly of New Plymouth, the following reply was made : — THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 55 "Much Honored Gentlemen: — Yours, by the much respected Mr. Thomas Hinckley and Mr. Con- stant Southworth, we have received, and by confer- ence with those gentlemen and our own observations, are sensible that there are more than ordinary causes to suspect and believe the Indians are treacherousl}^ inclined against the English in general, and that therefore we are bound by the highest obligations, with united hearts and hands to use our uttermost endeavors to resist and defeat (through the assistance of the Almighty) their bloody and perfidious de- signs. In order whereunto, our General Assembly did, in theirs by Mr. Cornell of the 16th of June last, propose unto you that some persons might be em- powered by yourselves and us, to meet and confer upon the reasons, ways and means, why and how it ought, and may be accomplished. And to that end, did nominate and appoint our honored Governor, Capt. John Cranston, Mr. William Baulston, Mr. William Carpenter, and Capt. John Greene, Assist- ants ; or any three or four of them to meet and treat with so many of yours at Taunton. This act of our General Court is still in force, and is that which we conceive may be the only expedient to come to a se- rious debate and agreement in a matter of so great concern ; and which, if you please to embrace, we shall readily attend, where all difficulties may be examined, advantages considered, reasons on both sides weio^hed, and such an agreement concluded, as 56 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. we hope by the blessing of God, may be for the secu- rity and peace of these parts and the English inhabi- tants ; and if in the meantime, and before this be accomplished, the Indians shall make any attempts upon any of his Majestj^'s subjects, we shall use our utmost endeavors in our stations and places to sup- press and subdue them. " Honored Gentlemen, — you have our real inten- tions herein, which as these proceed from our hearty and unfeigned desires of the peace and safety of our countrymen in general, and of yourselves our loving neighbors in particular, so we shall, to the best of our abilities (God willing), perform the same." The letter above referred to, of the 16th of June, to Plymouth Colony, does not appear in our Colonial Records, as published. The next day, the 31st of August, steps were taken to put the Colony in a state of defence, and to notify the several towns to be watchful, and keep such an eye over the Indians, as to prevent being surprised by them. At a session of the General Assembly at Newport, November 2nd, 1671, a letter was ordered to be sent to the Governor of New Plymouth, of which I give the major portion : — "These are to give you to understand that your loving and wellcome lines, both of September 14th, and 2yth last past, have been communicated unto us THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 57 by our honored Governor, &c., the contents of both being very much obliging, and doth indeed move us to be thankful unto the Most High for preserving us yet in peace, and diverting the cloud which he was pleased to let hang over the country, threatening a storm of war, or the sad effects that attend thereupon, as massacreing, and destrojn ng persons and estates, which would inevitably have followed upon an abso- lute breach with the natives, as we were well aware of, and it exercised our minds and put us upon labor and charge to withstand or prevent it. Neither can we, but together with you, acknowledge the goodness of the Lord in so mercifully sparing the country. We also acknowledge your prudent and patient pro- ceedings in that matter, and your candid respect and great affection expressed unto us, in giving us sea- sonable information of your apprehensions, resolu- tions, and conclusions had, taken and made concern- ing those mtttters. And you may assure yourselves, that you may expect from us, as occasion shall re- quire it, such demonstrations of our love and duty to yourselves, as is becoming us, not only as we are English subjects to one and the same King : but also as neighbors and friends very nearly obliged to love and serve 3^our Honors in all sincerity. And it is not a little grievous unto us, that we cannot procure the like cause from our Honored the Colony of Con- necticut, from whom we met with very hard, harsh, and undesirable passages, which we would be glad 58 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. they would forbear. But they nre put upon it by the ambition and coveteousness of some few." This misunderstanding with Connecticut grew out of the conflicting chiims of the two Colonies to the King's Province of Narragansett. A person not familiar with the geography of our country, might meet with some difficulty in finding the State of Rhode Ishmd on a map of the United States, even with her present boundaries ; but if the claims of Massachusetts on the east, and Connecticut on the west, had been made good before the King in Coun- cil, you would have had to search for it with a micro- scope. We were being ''ground between the upper and the nether millstone." They have been elbowed back, somewhat, upon both sides of our Bay. It would be interestino^ to know the cause or causes which operated to prevent Rhode Island from being invited to join with the United Colonies in the war against Philip, or if invited, why she did not respond. This Colony suffered, in common with her sister Colonies of Massachusetts and New Plymouth, from the attacks of the natives, and the forces of the United Colonies marched into her territory, and at- tacked and destroyed the Indian Fort at South Kinofs- town, without her consent. I do not know if there be papers in the archives of the State, explaining these points ; if so, they do not appear in the R. I. Colonial Records as published, and from which I have copied the foregoing correspondence. In fact, THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 51) no letters are given, if any passed, between Rhode Island and the other New England Colonies on the Indian troubles, after the year 1671, up to the close of the war. Can it be there was no correspondence between them during all these years of dread alarm and woe? It is probable, I think, that the disputed boundaries between Rhode Island and her adjoining neighbors, was one cause, if not the chief cause, of the non-affliation. But I must not dwell longer upon this matter, or I shall weary your patience. According to Gookin (Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. i.), there were live principal Tribes of Indians in New England, when the Pilgrims landed at Ply- mouth, viz. : — The Pequots, the Narragansetts, the Pokanokets, or Wampanoags, the Massachusetts, and the Pawtucket. The Pequots, as a distinct tribe, were annihilated in 1637, leaving only four at the time of which we write. Of the Pawkunnawkutts, Gookin, writing in 1674, says : "They were a great people heretofore. They lived to the east and northeast of the Narragansetts ; and their chief Sachem held dominion over divers other petty saga- mores ; as the sagamores upon the island of Nan- tucket, and Hope, or Martha's Vineyard, of Nawsett, of Mannamoyk, of Saw^kattukett, Nobsquasitt, Mat- akees, and several others, and some of the Nipmucks. Their country, for the most part, falls within the jurisdiction of New Plymouth Colony. This people were a potent nation in former times, and could raise, 60 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. as the most credible and ancient Indians affirm, about three thousand men. They held war with the Nar- ragansetts, and often joined with the Massachusetts, as friends and confederates, against the Narragansetts. This nation, a very great number of them, were swept away by an epidemical and unwonted sickness in the years 1612 and 1613, about seven or eight years before the English first arrived in those parts, to settle the colony of New Plymouth. Thereby Divine Providence made a w^ay for the peaceable and quiet settlement of the English in those nations. What this disease was, that so generally and mortally swept away, not only these, but other Indians, their neigh- bors, I cannot well learn. Doubtless it was some pestilential disease. I have discoursed with some old Indians, that were then youths, who say that the bodies all over were exceeding yellow, describing it by a yellow garment they showed me, both before they died and afterward." One writer gives the English population of New England, in 1674, at about fifty-live thousand, and that of the aboriginals at less than one-half that number. If this l)e so, together with the great ad- vantage possessed by the whites in provisions, disci- pline, and munitions of war, it Avould seem that there could not, at any time, have been a doubt as to the final result of the struggle. Many of the In- dians had been converted to Christianity, and had adopted the habits of civilized life, and schools and THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Ill churches were established among thein. Of these "Praying Indians," the Christian life, it would seem, w^as somewhat irregular, and there were frequent lapses among them, to barbarism again. So much so, that some of the colonists always persisted in spelling the word "praying" with the letter e. Af- ter the Indians were suitably instructed, some of the more intelligent and energetic among them, received appointments to office, such as petty judges and con- stables. With such commissions they were said to be highly pleased, and would sometimes discharge their official duties with ludicrous pomposity. The following warrant, directed to an Indian constable, was issued by one of these native magistrates. For "sententious brevity" it is in striking contrast with our modern writ : — "I Hihoudi, you Peter Waterman, — eJeremy Wicket, quick you take him, fast you hold him, straight you bring him before me, Hihoudi." As has already been stated, it was the intention of Philip to commence the war in 1676, but the death of John Sassamon, a Christian Indian, early in the spring of 1675, hastened the event. Sassamon, who was a Wampanoag Indian, but who had been "bred up in a profession of the Christian religion," and educated at Harvard University, was employed as a school -master at Natick, the Indian town. Upon some misdemeanor, however, he fled from his place to Philip, who at once employed him as his private 6 ()2 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. secretary. He is represented to have been a cun- ning, plausible fellow, and it is stated that Philip trusted him with all his affairs and secret counsels. After a time, ms J find it recorded in "Barber's His- tory of 2s'ew England," — and from which I quote — " whether upon the sting of his own conscience, or by the frequent solicitations of Mr. Eliot, that had known him from a child, and instructed him in the princi- ples of our religion, who w^as often laying before him the heinous sin of his apostacy, and returning back to his old vomit, he was at last prevailed with to for- sake Philip, and returned back to the Christian In- dians at Natick, where he was baptized, manifesting public repentance for all his former offences ; and did apply himself to preach to the Indians. Yet having occasion to go up with some others of his countrymen to Namasket (Middleborough), whether the advan- tao'e of fishing, or some such occasion, it matters not. Being there, not far from Philip's country, he had the occasion to be much in the company of Philip's Indians and Philip himself; by which means he dis- cerned that the Indians were plotting anew against us ; which, out of ftiithfulness to the English, the said Sassamon informed the Governor of ; adding, also, that if it were known that he revealed it, he knew they would presently kill him." There had been so many alarms which had not proved serious, that this story of Sassamon was not at first believed ; but there appearing much concur- THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 03 rent testimony from other sources, made it appear the more probable. Philip, by reason of the inquiries made of him, concerning these fresh rumors of trouble, was convinced that Sassamon had betrayed him, and it was said, took steps to have him killed for his perfidy. Early in the spring of 1675, Sassamon was miss- ing, and his friends, in searching for him, not long after, found his hat and gun upon the ice of Assa- wompset Pond in Middleborough, near a hole, and in such position as to leave the impression that he had accidentally broken through the ice, and was drowned. His body was soon found, and although his friends, particularly one David, observed some bruises about his head, they buried him without further inquir^^ However, these stories comins: to the ears of the Gov- ernor some time after, he had the body taken up, and upon examination, became satisfied that Sassa- mon had been murdered. The English decided that this was a crime which came under the cognizance of their laws. Three Indians connected with the coun- cil of Philip, were arrested on suspicion of being his murderers. The prisoners were tried before the Plymouth Court, in June, and were all adjudged guilty and sentenced to death, the jur}^ consisting of twelve Englishmen and four Indians. The con- demned were at once executed, two of them contend- ing to the last that they were entirely innocent, and knew nothinof of the deed. One of them, it is said, 04 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. when upon the point of death, confessed that he wiis a spectator of the murder, which was connnitted by the other two. Barber says that, " by a strange provi- dence, an Indian was found, that by accident stand- ing unseen upon a hill, had seen them murdering the said Sassamon, but durst never reveal it, for fear of losing his own life likewise, until he was called to the Court at Plymouth, or before the Governor, where he plainly confessed what he had seen. The murderers were convicted by his undeniable testi- mony, and other remarkable circumstances.^^ One of these " remarkable circumstances " is thus stated by Dr. Increase Mather : — "When Tobias (one of the accused) came near the dead bod}^ it fell a bleeding on fresh, as if it had been newly slain, albeit it was buried a considerable time before that." It was a superstition with our Pilgrim Fathers, that the body of a murdered person would commence bleeding afresh on the approach of the murderer. AVhether guilty or not, the summary execution of three of Philip's subjects, greatly enraged and alarmed him, as, knowing that he was charged with ordering Sassamon's death, he feared that he also might be kid- napped and hung. His young warriors were roused to frenzy, and could no longer be controlled. They commenced a series of amioyances upon the whites, such as shooting their cattle, frightening the women and children, and insulting wayfarers wherever they THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. ()5 were met. They had imbibed the superstition, prob- ably taught them by their powwows, that the party which should commence the war and shed the first blood, would be defeated. They therefore endeav- ored, by a show of force and by insult, to provoke the English to strike the first blow, Philip keepino* his men constantly armed, marching them from place to place, and receiving all the strange Indians that he could gather from all quarters. The Court of Plymouth took no further note of these proceedings than to forbid, on a penalty, the lending of arms to the Indians, and to direct a mili- tary watch to be established in the towns borderino- on Philip's territory, hoping that Philip, finding himself not likely to be arraigned by the Court on account of the murder, would remit his hostile pre- parations, and this war cloud would blow over, as others had before it. On the 14th of June, at the urgent solicitations of Mr. James Brown, of Swanzey, the Governor dis- patched a letter to Philip, filled with amicable profes- sions, and disclaiming all hostile intentions, but com- plaining of his movements, and advising him to dismiss all the strange Indians that had resorted to him, and to give no credit to the sinister reports made to him of the English. This letter, it is said, he answered only with threats and menaces of war. Church, in his history of Philip's war, in which he acted so im- portant a part, relates that at this interview Philip's gg THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. youni? men "would fain have killed Mr. Brown," who, Avith Samuel Gorton (son of Samuel Gorton of Warwick) as interpreter, and two other men, bore the letter, "but Philip prevented it; telling them that his father had charged him to show kindness to Mr. Brown." Church was also informed at the same time, by Peter Nannuit, the second husband of Alexander's widow, Wetamoe, that the Indians with Philip were so impatient for war, that "Philip was forced to promise them that on the next Lord's day, when the English were gone to meeting, they should rifle their houses, and from that time forwiird, kill their cattle." Wetamoe and her husband were at variance in the war, she taking sides with her own race, and he fighting under Church with the English. Church received this information on the 15th of June, and was so impressed with its importance that he immediately started for Plymouth, to com- municate it to the Governor, where he arrived early the next morning. Governor Winslow, now con- vinced that a war with Philip was unavoidable, ordered the whole force in the vicinity to march towards Mount Hope, and dispatched messengers to the Governor of Massachusetts, informino: him of the hostile movements of the Indians, and soliciting immediate assistance. On Sundav, the 20th of June, accordinsf to Philip's promise, eight of his men, fully armed, . left Mount Hope, and made a raid into the adjoining THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 67 town of Swanzey, now Warren, in this State. They called at the door of a colonist, and demanded per- mission to grind their hatchets. He informed them that it Avas the Lord's day, and that it would be a violation of God's command if he should let them do it. They replied : " We know not who your God is, and we shall grind our hatchets, for all you or your God either." They then went to another house, and demanded and helped themselves abundantly to food. Proceeding along the road they chanced to meet a colonist Avhom they took into custody, and kept for some time, and then dismissed him, de- risively telling him he "should not work on the Lord's day, and that he should tell no lies." As they continued on the road, they began to shoot the cattle which they saw in the fields. They encoun- tered no opposition, as the houses were at some distance from each other, and most of the men were absent at public worship. At last they came to a house where the man was at home. They shot his cattle, and then entered the house and demanded liquor. This was refused, and they attempted to get it by violence. The man, at last provoked beyond endurance, seized his gun and shot one of them, inflictins: a serious thouiifh not mortal wound. The first blood was now shed, and by the English, and the drama of the war was opened. The savages retired, bearing their wounded companion with them, and threatening war and slaughter to all the colonists. THE WAMPANOAG TRIBE OF INDIANS. PART III. [Read before the Khode Island Historical Society, in Providence, March 28, 1876 ] My second paper, read before this Society, on the evening of March 16th, 1875, closed with an account of the raid made by a niuiiber of Philip's Indians, from Mount Hope, upon the inhabitants of Swanzey, on Sunday, June 20th, 1675 — the opening scene in Philip's War. The news of these outrages quickly spread through Plymouth Colony, and led the au- thorities to take prompt measures to protect the in- habitants of the towns bordering on Mount Hope. Church, in his ^'Indian Narrative," says, "an express came the same day (June 20th) to the Governor of Plymouth Colony, who immediately gave orders to the captains of the towns to march the greatest part of their companies, and to rendezvous at Taunton on Monday night, where Major Bradford, (son of Ex- Governor William Bradford,) was to receive them, and dispose them under Captain Cudworth, of Scituate. The Governor (Josiah Winslow) desired Mr. Church to give them his company, and to use his THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 69 interest in their behalf, with the gentlemen of Rhode Ishiiicl. He complied with it, and they marched next day, Monday, June 21st." The Court of Plymouth, besides ordering the forces of the Colony to march toward Mount Hope, sent word to the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, to hurry forward their forces ; and also proclaimed a fast, in view of the threatened difficulties with the Indians, to be observed throughout the Colony, on the following Thursday, June 24th. The proclamation reads as follows : — "The Council of this Colony, taking into their serious consideration, the awful hand of God upon us, in permitting the heathen to carry it with inso- lency and rage against us, appearing in their great hostile preparations, and also some outrageous car- riages, as at other times, so in special, the last Lord's day, to some of our neighbors at Swanzey, to the ap- parent hazard, if not real loss of the lives of some already ; do therefore judge it a solemn duty, incum- bent upon us all, to lay to heart this dispensation of God, and do therefore commend it to all the churches, Ministers, and people of this Colony, to set apart the 24th day of this instant, June, which is the 5th day of this week, wherein to humble ourselves before the Lord for all those sins whereby we have provoked our good God sadly to interrupt our peace and comfort, and also humbly to seek his face and favor in the gra- 70 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. cious continuance of our peace and privileges, and that the Lord would be entreated to go forth with our forces, and bless, succeed, and prosper them, deliverinof them from the hands of his and our ene- mies, subduing the heathen before them, and return- ing them all in safety to their families and relations again ; and that God would prepare all our hearts humbly to submit to his good pleasure concerning us. " By order of the Court of N. P., "Nathaniel Morton, Secretary, "Plymouth, June 22, 1675." Massachusetts, before the actual outbreak occurred, had determined to raise one hundred men for the assistance of Plymouth ; but before complying with the urgent appeal of Plymouth to hurry them for- ward, they thought it best to send messengers to Philip, at Mount Hope, to divert him, if possible, from his designs. But the messengers, seeing some of the Swanzey men lying murdered in the road, did not think it safe to go any further, and returned as fast as possible, with their intelligence to Boston. The people of Swanzey and Rehol)oth, in anticipa- tion of an outbreak, had selected certain houses to garrison, and immediately after the raid of the 20th of June, the inhabitants beffiin to srather into these retreats. There were two permanent garrison houses in Rehoboth, and one in Swanzey, into which the people gathered, and where they rendezvoused dur- ing the war. They were continually guarded in time THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 71 Of danger, unci were so strongly fortified and well- pro visioned, as to enable a few men to sustain a lor... seige against a large body of savages. Woodcock't garrison in Rehobotli (now Attleborough), was named from John Woodcock, who built the house and occupied it before the war and after it, durinc. h.s hfe, for a public tavern. Bliss, in his "History of Rehoboth," says, "this garrison was in Attle- borough, near the Baptist Meeting House, on the spot where Hatch's Tavern now stands. A public house has been kept there, without intermission from July 5, 1670, to this time, September, 1835, a period of nearly one hundred and sixty-five years! "It is situated on the Boston and Providence turn- pike. The old garrison was torn down in 1806, and a large and elegant building erected on the spot, bS feet by 60, three stories high. The old garrison had stood one hundred and thirty-six years, when it was pulled down ; yet a great part of the timber was said to be perfectly sound— 'pierced, however, by many a bullet received in Philip's war.' A small remnant, one room of the old garrison, may still be seen adjoining the old wood-house. A relict of it, also, it is said, is preserved in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society." So wrote Bliss, in 1835, but whether the "small remnant, one room of the old garrison, adjoining the wood-house," may still be seen, I am unable to say. The other garri- son house, in Rehoboth, stood on the southeast side 72 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. of the Common (Seekonk), on the spot occupied by the house of Phanuel Bishop. The principal garrison-house in Swanzey was near Miles' Bridge, in the northern part of the town. It was called " Miles' Garrison," from Rev. John Miles, the minister of Swanzey, whose house was garri- soned. It stood a short distance west of Miles' Brido-e, near the site of the residence of the late Mason Barney. This Bridge is over Palmer, or So warns river, about three miles north of Warren, and connects the northwestern part of Swanzey with Mount Hope Neck. Bliss, in a note on page 77, "History of Rehoboth," says : — "In the year 1833, in digging or enlarging a cellar on this spot (the site of the Miles' Garrison), a large number of cannon balls were dug out of the ground ; which leads me to suppose that this was the site of the garrison. It is not mentioned by any historian, that cannon were used by the English at Swanze}^ at the time of Philip's war. But I know of no other purpose for which those balls could have been deposited there. The place where they were found, I conjecture to have been the spot of Mr. Miles' cellar." Several other houses were occupied temporarily as garrisons ; but the three above described were the strongest, and were always resorted to in the times of greatest danger. Bourn's garrison at Mettapoiset, was one of the former, and Brown's garrison at Wan- namoiset, was another. Mettapoiset was what is now THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 73 known .s Gardner's Neck, in Swanzey, east of War- ren. It IS SIX miles from Mount Hope, and about the same distance from Miles' Bridge. The exact site ot Bourn s house is not known, but was probably well down the neck, and near the shore, convenient for the transportation of the women and children in boats down Mount Hope Bay, to Rhode Island. Brown's garrison was in what is now the southern part of East I^rovidence, on the road from Providence to W^arren near to and on the opposite side of the road of the residence of Samuel Viall. Mr. Viall's house is well known as the site of the Thomas Willett house Bicknell, 111 his "Historical Sketches of Barrinirton," says the bricks in the chimney of Mr. Viall's "house are the same ones used by Mr. Willett, and were either made by the Dutch in New York, or imported from Holland. There are two doors in the present house that were taken from the old house, and which still preserve the somewhat ftmtastic and ornamental paint- mgof two hundred (or more) years ago. One of the original doors taken from Captain Willett's dwelling, and his sword, are in the possession of the city of New York." A few words in description of Mount Hope Neck, and we will return to the events of the war. Mount Hope Neck is about nine miles in length, two miles wide at the north end in Swanzey, and nearly three miles wide at the south end in Bristol, and narrowing to less than one mile in Warren, at a point where the 74 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. railroad track crosses the main street at the southern entrance of the compact part of the town. About one-half of the neck projects into the Bay — bounded on the east by Mount Hope Bay, and on the west by Narragansett Bay. The remaining part of the neck is formed by the Kickemuit river on the east, and Warren, or Palmer's river, on the west. About one mile of the northern end of the neck is in Swanzey ; the next three miles, including the "narrow of the neck," are in Warren ; the remaining five miles are in Bristol. Kickemuit is in Warren, east of the vil- lage. Near Kickemuit Spring, before the advent of the English, there was, probably, a large Indian vil- laofe. There was an English settlement within Mount Hope Neck, in the northern part, appertaining to Swanzey. It contained eighteen houses, all of which were destroyed in the early part of Philip's war. Warren, it will be recollected, was set off from Swan- zey when the boundary line between Khode Island and Massachusetts was adjusted in 1746-47. The first troops that arrived at Swanzey at the beginning of the war, Avere a Bridgewater Company. The express sent on the 20th June to Plymouth, to notify the Governor of the threatened danger, on its return the next day, left a requisition at Bridgewa- ter, for twenty well armed men to repair forthwith for the defence of Bourn's garrison at Mettapoiset, which contained seventy persons, sixteen only of THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 75 whotn were men, the remainder being women and children. This garrison, it will be remembered, was within six miles of Mount Hope proper, and was probably considered to be in most imminent peril. Seventeen of the Bridgewater troops immediately started on horseback, "and were the first that were upon their march in all the country." Baylies, in his "Memoirs of Plymouth Colony," says the Bridge- water Company reached Swanzey (Mettapoiset) on the 21st June, and were ordered there by Captain (Major) Bradford. On their way, they were met by a number of people of Swanzey, who had abandoned their homes, and were flying from the enemy, " wring- in2: their hands, and bewailins: their losses." On the next day (22nd), as a part of these troops were re- turning to the garrison from another part of the town, where they had been to escort Mr. Brown, (a son of the Assistant), their pilot of the previous day, home, they fell in with a party of thirty Indians. As their orders were positively to act only on the defensive, they quietly passed them, and reached the garrison without molestation. Before reaching the garrison, however, they met a part}' of the English with carts, going to a barn, about one-fourth of a mile distant, for corn. The soldiers informed the drivers that the Indians were out, and advised them not to proceed. But, heedless of the advice, they went on, and were surprised and attacked at the barn, and six of their number killed or mortally wounded. The troops 76 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. hearing the attack, mounted their horses, and rode towards the barn, hut before they could reach there, the affair was over, and the enemy had fled. One Jones escaped with a mortal wound, and barely reached his friends to die in their arms. This tragi- cal affair, in which the first English blood was shed, occurred on Tuesday, June 22nd. "The gathering storm," says Baylies, "had now burst upon the devoted town of Swanzey. The first blood was shed at Mettapoiset." The troops re- mained at Bourn's garrison until they were rein- forced, and then the house was abandoned, and its inmates transported in safety to Rhode Island. On Thursday, June 24th, the day appointed for the fast, as the Swanzey people were returning from church, "where they were met in the way of humil- iation that day," they were tired upon by the Indians, and one man was killed, and another wounded. Two men going for a surgeon to attend the wounded man, were killed in the way. Six men were killed in another part of the town ; and in a short time, so closely were the colonists beset, that the Indians would "shoot at all the passengers, and killed many that ventured abroad." Some writers have supposed that the troops could not have been in Swanzey on the 24th, because of these occurrences; but Captain Church states that the Plymouth forces were there on the 24th, and a letter of Nathaniel Thomas, in "Morton's Memorial," page 429, dated June 25th, THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 77 speaks of the tragical affairs of the previous day, and adds : — " The forces here are dispersed to several places of the town, and some toRehoboth, which this da}^ we intend to draw into a smaller compass." Swanzey was a large town, being not less than twelve miles in length, and the Plymouth forces were probably quartered in detached companies, in differ- ent parts of the town. They had reason to believe that the Indians were in too large force at Mount Hope, for them to venture down the Neck to attack them, until reinforced b}^ the Boston troops. Hub- bard says, referring to these early attacks of the In- dians, " all which outrages were committed so sud- denly, that the English had no time to make any resistance." On the 26th of June, a company of foot, under Captain Henchman, and a troop of horse, commanded by Captain Prentice, marched from Boston towards Mount Hope. During their march, they observed an eclipse of the moon, and some of the soldiers im- agined that they discovered a black spot on the face, resembling the scalp of an Indian ; while others fancied that they saw the form of an Indian bow. "But (says Hubbard) after the moon had waded throngh the dark shadow of the earth, and borrowed her light again, by the help thereof, the two compa- nies marched on towards Woodcock's house, thirty miles from Boston, where they arrived next morn- ing." They remained until afternoon, when they 78 THE WAMrANOAG INDIANS. were joined by a company of volunteers, under Cap- tain Samuel Mosely, and on the next day, 28th, they all arrived at Swanzey, at Mr. Miles' house. "They arriving there some little time before night," con- tinues Hubbard, "twelve of the troop, unwilling to lose time, passed over the bridge for discovery in the enemy's territories, when they found the rude wel- come of eight or ten Indians firing upon them out of the bushes, killing one William Hammond, and wounding one Corporal Belcher, his horse being shot down under him ; the rest of the said troops having discharged upon those Indians that run away after their first shot, carried off their two dead and wounded companions, and so retired to their main guard that night, pitching in a barricado about Mr. Miles' house." Captain Benjamin Church was one of this company, and displayed that coolness and daring: that afterwards so distini^uished him in the war, and made him its great hero. On the next day, Tuesday, 29th June, several In- dians showing themselves near the garrison, the troop of horse, and Mosely's volunteers, pursued them a mile and a quarter beyond the bridge, killing five or six of the Indians, and then returned to headquarters. It is said that this chars^e of the Ens^lish force alarmed Philip, and determined him to abandon Mount Hope Neck. But to me it seems more probable that the squad of Indians near the bridge were sent there to give Philip notice of the arrival of the English forces, THE WAMPANOAO INDIANS. 79 to enable him to make his arrangements to abandon Mount Hope Neck. For, had he remained, he would have been caught in a cul de sac, and compelled to fight a decisive battle with the colonists, who he knew were much better armed and drilled than his forces. Pitched battles might do for the English, but they w^ere not the Indian mode of warfare. That ni^ht Philip and his forces abandoned Mount Hope Neck, and in their canoes passed over Taunton river to Po- casset. On Wednesday, June 30th, the whole English force crossed the bridge and marched down the neck towards Mount Hope. Near what are now known as King's Rocks, a mile and a half from the bridge, they came to some houses newly burned ; and a Bible newly torn, and the leaves scattered about, "by the enemy in hatred of our religion therein re- vealed," says Hubbard. Two or three miles further, at the '' narrow of the neck," in Kickemuit, they saw the heads of eight Englishmen that were killed near the head of Mettapoiset Neck, stuck up on poles, near the highway. Fessenden says this was near the pound on Kickemuit river. The pound, he adds, did not then exist, but was first built in 1685. These were taken down and buried. Marching on two miles further, they came to the " narrows " (of the river) "where they found divers wigwams of the enemy, amongst which were many things scat- tered up and down, arguing the hasty flight of the 80 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. owners." Half a mile further, passing tbrongh stately fields of corn the while, which they trod down and destroyed (one writer says there were a thousand acres of corn growing), they came to Philip's own wigwam, at Mount Hope. Two miles further the}^ came to the seaside (Bristol Ferry), and Captain Cudworth, with some of the Plymouth forces, passed over to Rhode Island. Major Savage and his command bivouacked all through a rainy night, in the open field, and the next morning, July 1st, returned to their head- quarters at Miles' garrison, seeing many stray dogs on the Neck without masters. On the next day (Tuesday, July 2d), a portion of the troops scoured the country north of Miles' bridge, and killed four or five Indians. One of the Indians killed in this . raid was said to be a brother of Philip, though Hubbard speaks of him as "a chief counsellor of Philip." If his brother, it must have been Sun- conewhew. All that is known of him is, that his name appears, signed to a deed of Philip, of lands on both sides of Palmer's river, in 1668. "The mark of Sunconewhew, Philip's brother," appears on this deed. Another of the killed, says Hubbard, was ''Thebe, a Sachem of Mount Hope." This was undoubtedly Peebee, whose name is also attached to the same deed as "counsellor." Peebee resided in Barrington, opposite Warren, on what is known as Peebce's neck — usually spelled on modern maps, THE WAMPANOAO INDIANS. 81 "Phebe." This deed may be found entire in Bliss' "History of Rehoboth," pp. ()4, 65. On Sunday, July 4, Captain Cudvvorth returned from Rhode Island to the garrison, leaving forty men under command of Captain Church, to l)uild a fort at the "Narrows," much to the disgust of Church, who "told them that Philip was doubtless gone over to Pocasset side to engage those Indians in a rebellion with him, which they soon found to be true." Church continues : — " A strand council was held, and a resolve passed, to build a fort there, to maintain the first ground they had gained, by the In- dians leaving it to them. And to speak the truth, it must be said, that as they gained not that field by the sword, nor their bow, so it was rather their fear than their courage, that obliged them to set up the marks of their conquest." He looked upon the fort and talked of it, with contempt, and urged hard the pur- suing the enemy on Pocasset side.* The site of this fort, at the "Narrows" (Bristol side), is still pointed out, though the hill on which it was located has been so badly washed by the action of the water at its base, as to remove nearly every vestige of the fort. I have within two years picked up some pieces of stone, half way down the bank, dis- colored by heat and smoke, which were probably used in the fire-place. Church urged the pursuit of the enemy on the Po- * Church's Philip's War, p. 35. 82 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. casset side, with the greater earnestness, becanse of a promise he had made to Awashonks, the Squaw Sachem of the Sogkonnate Indians, a few days before hostilities commenced, that he would see her again within a few days ; and he believed, if he could keep his promise, he would be able to secure her and her tribe as allies of the English ; or at least to prevent them trom taking an active part with Philip. After some delay, orders came for Captain Fuller, with six tiles, to cross the Bay, and "try if he could get speech with any of the Pocasset or Sogkonnate Indians, and that Mr. Church should go his second." They drew out the number assigned them, 36 in all, and marched the same night (6th July) to Bristol Ferry, and were transported over to Rhode Island ; and the next night passed over to Pocasset, in Rhode Island boats. On the morning of the 8th, Church, with nineteen men, marched down the neck into '•Punkatee's Neck," the southern part of Tiverton, where he and his little party were attacked by a large body of Indians, in " Almy's Peas-field." Notwith- standing the great disparity in numbers. Church suc- ceeded in withdrawing his little company to the sea- shore, though hotly pressed by the Indians, where they were discovered by Captain Golding, of Rhode Island, who came to their rescue with his sloop, and transported them, without loss, back to the Ishuid. Captain Fuller and his squad of seventeen men, also encountered a large body of the enemy, but for- THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 83 tiinately was in the vicinity of the water, and near an old house, in which he and his men sheltered them- selves, until a vessel discovered and conveyed them oflf, with no other loss than havins: two men wounded. The Massachusetts forces, distrusting the Narra- gansetts, marched into their conntry, and by force of arms, compelled such of their Sachems as they could reach, to unite in a treaty with them against the Wampanoags, and stipulating that all of that tribe that should be found among them, should be deliv- ered up. This treaty was of no account, and was broken as soon as the Massachusetts forces withdrew from their country. The treaty was signed at Peta- quamscot, July 15, 1675, and bore the marks of Tawageson, Agamaug, and Wampsh, alias Corman, who, in the body of the treaty, are represented as Counsellors and Attorneys to Canonicus, Ninigret, Matataog, old Queen Quaiapen, Quananshit, and Ponapham, " the six present Sachims of the whole Narragansett country." It took four days to conclude this treaty, and which could only have been regarded, even by the representatives of Massachusetts and Connecticut, as the merest sham. On Monday, July 18th, the Massachusetts and Plymouth forces combined, reached the swamp in Pocasset where Philip and his forces were encamped. As the colonists entered the sWamp, they were fired upon, and six of their number killed, and seven wounded. After the first shot, the Indians retired ^4 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. deeper into the swamp, deserting their wigwams, about one hundred in number, newly made of green ])ark, so as they would not burn. The English, tind- ine: it difficult and dangerous to pursue the Indians further into the swamp, abandoned their plan of direct attack, and withdrew with the intention of starving them out. To quote from Hubbard: — "It was judged that the enemy being by this means brought into a pound, it would be no hard matter to deal with them, and that it would be needless charge to keep so many companies of soldiers together, to wait upon such an inconsiderable enemy, now almost as good as taken ; whereupon, most of the companies belonging to the Massachusetts were drawn ofl'; only Captain Henchman, with an hundred foot, being left there, together with Plymouth forces, to attend the enemy's motion, being judged sufficient for that end." To prevent Philip's escape, the English forces be- gan to build a fort. Church had no better opinion of this movement, than of the erection of a fort at the "Narrows" in Mount Flope Neck. He says; — "The army now lay still to cover the people from nobody, while they were building a fort for nothing." Philip at once suspected their design, and took prompt steps to efiect his escape. "The swamp where they were lodged," I again quote from Hubbard, "being not far from an arm of the sea, coming up to Taunton, they, taking the advantage of a low tide, either waded over one night in the end of July, or else THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 85 wafted themselves over upon small rafts of timber very early before break of day, by which means the greatest part of the company escaped away into the woods, leading into the Nipmuck country, altogether unknown to the English forces that lay encamped on the other side of the swamp. About an hundred or more of the women and children, which were like to be rather burthensome than serviceable, were left be- hind, who soon after resigned up themselves to the mercy of the English." It was said that by arrangement, the Wampanoags sent their wives and children over the Bay to the Narragansetts, for protection, before hostilities com- menced. But the above incident clearly indicates that it was not so. The " arm of the sea" where Philip crossed, is supposed to have been Taunton river, near the "Dighton Writing Rock." "Philip, in crossing the great plain of Seekonk," says Bliss, "was discovered by the people of Reho- both, who, headed by the Rev. Noah Newman, their minister, and accompanied by a small party of Mohe- gans, gave him a close and brisk pursuit, killing twelve of his men, without sustaining any loss on their part." Hubbard says : — "The Mohegans, with the men of Rehoboth, and some of Providence, came upon their rear over night, slew about thirty of them, took much plunder from them, without any considerable loss to the English." This force consisted of 74 English, 34 86 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. of whom were from Providence, and 54 friendly In- dians. Captain Henchman, who, it will be remembered, was stationed at Pocasset, hearing of Philip's flight, as soon as he could get over the river with six files of men (6S in number), "rowing hard all or most part of the day to get to Providence, followed after the enemy." At Providence he was joined by the Mohe- gans, and they pursued Philip to JSfipsacket (in Rur- rillville), when they gave over the chase. Adds Hubbard : — "By this means Philip escaped away to the westward, kindling the flame of war in all the w^estern plantations of the Massachusetts Colony, wherever he came." In the pursuit of Philip from Providence, Captain Henchman was supplied with provisions by Captain Andrew Edmunds, of Provi- dence, and Lieutenant Brown, " w^io brought pro- visions after him to the Nipmuck Forts." There was great complaint that Philip was per- mitted to escape from Pocasset; and also, that he was not more vigorously pursued. Hubbard re- marks : — "But what the reason was wh}^ Philip was followed no further, it is better to suspend, than too critically inquire. This is now the third time when a good opportunity for suppressing the rebellion of the Indians, was put into the hands of the English ; but time and chance happeneth to all men, so that the most likely means are often frustrated of their desired end." THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 87 We must now pass rapidly over events, tracing Philip in his movements as far as we are able to cio so. On the 5th of August, in a swamp, not far from Quabaog, (Brookfield,) Philip, with forty of his men, forms a junction with the Nipmucks. On the same day, a severe fight takes place at Sugar Loaf Hill, in which 9 or 10 English, and 26 Indians are slain. August 2 2d, Lancaster is attacked, and eight of its inhabitants are killed. Part of the town of Deer- field is burned, and one man killed, on the 1st ot September. On the same day the Indians attack the town of Hadley, but are repulsed. It was in this action that General Goffe, one of the regicide Judges, is said to have left his hiding place in Rev. John Russell's house, and rallied the inhabitants at a criti- cal moment of the fight, and drove them ofi". His sudden presence in the fight, and his equally mysteri- ous disappearance after the fight was over, was a great mystery to the people of Hadley. They re- garded the circumstance as a direct interposition of Divine Providence in their behalf. God had sent one of his angels to succor them. It is -most remark- able that Generals Whaley and Gofie could remain secreted in the house of Rev. Mr. Russell so many years, without discovery. And Mr. Russell nuist have been a sturdy man to harbor them, at the risk of the swift and sure vengeance of Charles II, his king, if discovered. Mr. Russell's son Jonathan was pastor of the church at Barnstable, and his son 88 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Joseph came to Bristol a young man, and resided there the remainder of his life. He was many years Town Clerk and Treasurer of Bristol. He also served ten years as one of the Assistant Justices of the Supreme Court of this Colony, and three terms as Chief Justice. He died July 31st, 1780, in the 78th year of his age, leaving three children, two sons and a daughter. His son Jonathan was the first Collector of Customs of the Port of Bristol, ap- pointed by Jefferson. Neither Jonathan or his sister Nancy ever married. Nathaniel, the other son, mar- ried a daughter of the late Bishop DeHone, and their descendants are connected with Bristol famdies. Descendants, also, of Rev. Jonathan Russell's oldest daughter Rebecca, are now living in Bristol. On September 2d, 9 or 10 English are kdled at Northfield, and the next day. Captain Beers and 20 men are surprised near the same place, and all ot them are slain; and soon after the town is entirely destroyed. On the 18th of September, Captain Lothrop, with a company of about 90 men are cut off almost to a man at Deerfield. The next day, the Indians are repulsed from Deerfield, but they soon after return, and destroy the town, together with Hatfield* and a portion of Hadley. On the *The attack upon Hatfield, ended, after killing and burning, "in the carry- ing away, northward, of seventeen captives, mostly wives, mothers, and young children." ****** ,,+ 1,0,1 "Two brave and patient men, whose wives and children had been snatciiea from them into the horrors of this exile-Benjamin Wait and Stephen Jennings -after suffering their solitude for a month, in the vain hope ot someettecm THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 81) 19 th of October, Had ley is again attacked by 700 or 800 Indians ; but they are repulsed with the loss of many of their number. Thirty-two houses in Sprino-- field are burnt about this time. Philip is the o-reat leader in all these actions. On the 18th of October, Canonchet and other Chief men of the Narragansetts, visit Boston, and make a treaty with the English. As early as the middle of November, the United Colonies, con- vinced that the Narragansetts were affording shelter to Philip and his Nipmuck allies contrary to their treaty stipulations, determined to make war upon them. An army having been gathered at Dedham, on the 9th of December, they take up their line of march for Narragansett. Arriving at Providence, a portion of the army proceed to Wickford b}^ water, while the remainder march down through the country on the west side of the bay, to the same rendezvous, which was Major Richard Smith's garrison at Sowgan, pursuit or negotiation, arose and went forth together with their grief. Their first point was Alban}^ where the unfeeling autliorities not only discouraged them, but sent them by force to New York, to Gov. Andros. The dear faces were farther off than ever ! Every day was a fresh anguish. A month more, and they were back at Albany, with permission to proceed. But new hindrances met them. Winter was setting in. .At last they hired a Mohawk to guide them to Lake George, where he left them, with a canoe and a rough sketch of tlie route. They were the first New Englanders that passed that way to Caia- ada. Over the two Lakes, over the hills, and the streams, and through the ice and frost, paddling their canoes, or bearing them on their backs, sleeping be- tween the snow and the stars, with only God's hand to lead them, and the faith in Him to uphold them, and the love of the dear ones to urge tliem on,— they made their difficult way, till, at last, in January, at Sorell, they overtook and greeted the lost. Who of us would not give some tears to see that meeting? The captives were all redeemed, save three that had perished. Protected by a 90 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. (Wickford). General Winslow, (Governor of Ply- mouth Colony,) was commander-in-chief of the ex- pedition. He hoped in the night to surprise and capture Pumham, a noted chief of the Narragansetts, and his town at Shawomut, (Warwick). But Pum- ham was made aware of their approach and escaped. Seven of the Indians were killed, and 8 taken pris- oners, and 150 wigwams burned. On the 16th of December, the Indians attacked and burned Jireh Bull's garrison at Petaquamscot, (Tower Hill, South Kingstown,) and killed 15 persons, only two escaping. This was a heavy loss to the army, as they expected to find good quarters here on their march to attack the Indians in their swampy retreat. On Saturday, the 18th of December, the entire army, numbering about 1,000 men, (the Connecticut forces having joined the army at Wickford the same day,) commenced their march to attack the Narra- French guard, they traveled back to Albany, in May. One day a messenger appeared at Hatfield, and the news spread from, honse to house, awakening anxious inquiries, heart-throbs of new fear, and weepings of joy, that the res- cued prisoners were safe! Two touching letters were brought, which were sent forward to Boston, were read publicly in the churches of the Colony, where thanksgivings were offered up, and with apostolic charity collections were taken for the ransom, for the heroes, and for their families. Benjamin Wait wrote from Albany to his Hatfield neighbors :— ' Any that have love to our condition, let it move them to come and help us. We must come very softly, because of our wives and children. I pray you hasten — stay not for the Sabbath, nor shoeing of horses— stay not night nor day.' The Hatfield people met tlie party at Kinderhook, and led them in with praises to God who ' loos- eth tiie prisoners, and bringeth them by a way they have not known.' "—^ic- tract from the Address of Prof. Hantington, at the Two Hundredth Anniver- sary of the settlement of Hadley, Mass., June 8th, 1859. THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 91 gansetts. That night the army bivouacked on the now desolate Tower Hill, without shelter for officers or men. The night was bitter cold, and there was a heavy fall of snow. All suffered severely, and some of the men were so badly frozen in their hands and feet as to be disabled. The snow was from two to three feet deep when the army renewed their forward movement on Sunday morning. Hubbard says : — " Through all these difficulties they marched from the break of the next day, December 19th, till one of the clock in the afternoon, without either fire to warm them, or respite to take any food, save Avhat they could chew in their march." They reached the swamp in which the Indians had built their winter home and fort, about one o'clock p. m. The severe cold of the previous night had frozen the swamp, which greatly facilitated its passage by the English. But for this, the Indian retreat would have been al- most inaccessible. Aided by an Indian guide, they soon reached the fort, and commenced the attack. Hubbard says : — "There was but one entrance into the fort, though the enemy found many ways to come out. It was raised upon a kind of island of five or six acres of rising ground in the midst of the swamp ; the sides of it were made of palisadoes set upright, the which was compassed about Avith an hedge of almost a rod thickness, through which there was no passing. The place Avhere the Indians used ordina- rily to enter themselves, was over a long tree upon <)2 THK WAMPANOAG INDIANS. a place of water, where l)ut one man could enter at a time, and whicli was so w^aylaid, that they would have been cut off that had ventured there. But at one corner there was a gap made up only with a long tree, about four or five foot from the ground, over which men might easily pass." The work around the fort was not quite finished, for it had evi- dently been prepared with great labor, and this gap was the w^eak point. Here an entrance to the fort was finally effected, after a desperate struggle, the Indians defending it with deadly aim from a block- house which completely commanded it. The first to enter the fort was John Ra3^mond, of Middleborough, a soldier. Many of the English officers and men were killed either in passing over the tree or at the entrance of the fort. Those that first entered were soon forced to fall back, and prostrate themselves upon the ground to avoid the fury of the enemy's shot, until it " was pretty well spent." Captain Johnson was shot dead upon the tree, and Captain Davenport at the very entrance, the latter receiving three fatal wounds at the same instant, so deadly was the aim of the Indians. " But at the last," says Hubbard, "two companies being brought up besides the four that first marched up, they animated one another to fnake another assault, one of the command- ers crying out, ' tJieij run, they run;' which did so encourage the soldiers that they presently entered amain. After a considerable number were well en- THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 93 tered, they presently beat the enemy out of a flanker on the left hand, which did a little shelter our men from the enemy's shot till more company came up, and^so by degrees made up higher, first into the mid- dle, and then into the upper end of the fort, till at last they made the enemy all retire from their sconces, and fortified places, leaving multitudes of their dead bodies upon the place." A portion of the Connecticut forces cut a passage into the further side of the fort, and the Indians finding themselves at- tacked both in front and rear, finally abandoned the fort, after a three hours' struggle, and concealed themselves in a cedar swamp near by. The English having obtained possession, set fire to the wigwams, some five hundred or six hundred in number, and the whole fort was soon wrapped in flames, in which, it is said many Indian women and children perished. General Winslow oflfered Church a command in the expedition, which he declined, but accepted a position on his staflT. He took an active part in the fight, and was badly wounded. He was opposed to burning the fort, and urged that many of the wounded might be saved, if it was held. His advice was vio- lently opposed by "a certain Doctor, Avho, looking upon Mr. Church, and seeing the blood flow apace from his wounds, told him that if he gave such advice, he should bleed to death like a dog, before they would endeavor to stanch his blood."* * Church's Philip's War. 94 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Drake adds in a note : — "The General (Winslow) had already adopted Church's advice, and was about to ride into the fort himself, but as he was entering the swamp, one of his captains seized his horse, pay- ing he should not expose himself, and if he did not desist, he would shoot his horse under him. Thus it seems the General was commander-in-chief only in name. Doubtless the jealousy of this Captain and some others, had been excited, owing to the confi- dence the General had placed in Mr. Church's judg- ment." Was the captain referred to above, the son of ex- Gov. William Bradford, of Plymouth Colony? He was in the expedition, and commanded one of the Plymouth companies. A letter of his, published in the Journal of this city a few weeks since (the orig- inal of which is in the hands of his descendant. Gov. Van Zandt, of Newport), and made public for the first time, contains several sentences that indicate jealousy of Church. The letter is dated "Taunton, 24 July, 1G76." Captain (or Major) Bradford was then in command of the English forces, and there was great comphiint that these forces were inactive, while Church, at the head of a volunteer company, was constantly engaging the enemy, and bringing in large numbers of prisoners. Read in the light of these occurrences, the whole letter is very intelligible. I quote two sentences : — " We are going forth this day, intending Philip's headquarters. I shall not put THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. 05 myself out of breath to get before Ben Church." Captain Churcli's wife (Alice Southworth) was re- lated to Captain BradforcVs mother, who was the widow Alice Southworth when Gov. Bradford sent for her to Leyden, to come over to this country, and married her. She came over in the ^' Ann," in 1623. Mrs. Southworth had two sons by her first husband, and Church's wife was a daughter of her son Con- stant. This is a digression, and we will return to the fort. Daylight was now almost gone, but as the army had no shelter, or provisions, save what they had carried in their march, they were necessitated to re- turn to their quarters at Major Smith's garrison, "full fifteen or sixteen miles oflf, some say more, whither with their dead and wounded men, they were to march; a difficulty scarce to be believed, as not to be paralleled almost in any former age," says Hubbard. Church says : — " The wigwams were musket proof, being all lined with baskets and tubs of grain, and other provisions, suflicient to supply the whole army until the spring of the year." Many of the wounded died from exposure in the terrible return march, "which might otherwise have been preserved," says Hubbard, "if they had not been forced to march so many miles in a cold and snowy night, before they could be dressed." When we recall what the arni}^ had passed through in the past twenty-four hours — 9() THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. their exposure the previous night without shelter, the long morning miirch through deep and damp snow, and the prolonged and deadly struggle at the fort — we may well believe that their endurance had scarcely a parallel " in any former age." The Eusflish sustained a loss of more than two hundred in killed and wounded. The loss of officers was very heavy. Six commanders of companies were slain in the assault, viz. : — Captains Davenport, Gardner and eJohnson, of the Massachusetts forces, and Captains Gallop, Siely and Marshall, of Con- necticut. The fall of Captain Gardner is thus touch- ingly related by Church : — " Seeing Captain Gardner, of Salem, amidst the wigwams in the east end of the fort, I made towards him; but on a sudden, while we were looking each other in the face. Captain Gardner settled down ; I stepped to him, and seeing the blood run down his cheek, lifted up his cap, called him by his name. He looked up in my face, but spake not a word, being mortally shot through the head." The loss of the Indians, including women and children who perished in the flames, was supposed to be quite three times that of the English. After the army returned to VVickford, nearly one hundred and fifty of the wounded, after their wounds were dressed, were sent over to Khode Island, where they Avere kindly received by the Governor and others, and cared for. "Only some churlish Quakers were not THE WAMPANOAO INDIANS. 97 free to entertain them, nntil compelled by the Governor."* It is not positively known that Philip was in the fort, though there is a tradition that he was there, and left after the fort was fired. It is supposed that the Wampanoags very generally returned from the western frontier along the Connecticut, and took up their winter quarters with the Narragansetts ; but whether Philip did, is uncertain. Some suppose that he visited the Mohawks and Canada Indians for assistance. We next hear of him on the 10th of February, when he surprised Lancaster, killing lifty people, and carrying away a number of captives. Among the latter was Mrs. Rowlandson, the wife of the minister of Lancaster. Accordins^ to Lidian custom, she was a slave to her captor, who sold her to the husband of VVeetamoe, Queen of the Pocassets, and she became the servant of that "severe and proud dame." When first captured, she suffered much from hunger and ill-usage, but after Philip joined the party into whose hands she had fallen, she was more humanely treated. He called upon her, and expressed regret at her capture, and bargained with her to make some articles of clothinof for his little boy. When the work was completed, he paid her for it; and this example of Philip was followed by others, until Mrs. Rowlandson soon had means to purchase food, and make her condition more tolera- * Old Indian Chron,, pp. 74, 75. 1)8 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. ble. As soon as negotiations were opened for her release, Philip informed her of the fact, and ex- pressed the hope that thej might be successful. The next mornin^^ ^.\y The first or left-hand letter or character, may not be and probably is not entire . It is at the edge of the rock, which appears ragged, as though one or more pieces had fallen or been broken from it. It will be noticed, that between the second and third characters, there is a space. There may have been and prob- ably was another letter in here, as there are marks on the rock, indicative of its presence, but so much worn by the action of the elements as to preclude its being traced. While there are grave doubts in the minds of many scholars as to whether the rock inscriptions found upon the New England coast are traces of the Northmen's visits to these shores, of the fact of such visits there can be no question. They are matters of record. R. B. Anderson, himself a Norwegian, Professor of Northern Languages in the University of Wisconsin, in a little work, 120 THE WA>JPANOAG INDIANS. published at Chicago in 1874, entitled, "America Not Discovered by Columbus: A Historical Sketch of the Discovery of America by the Norsemen in the Tenth Century," gives, translated from the Icelandic Sagas, an account of these voyages of the Norse- men to the American coast. " The manuscripts which have the Sagas relating to America," he says, " are found in the celebrated Codex Flatokensis, a skin-book that was finished in the year 1387. This work, written with great care, and executed in the highest style of art, is now preserved in its integrity in the archives of Copenhagen, and a carefully printed copy of it is to be found in Minies's library, at the University of Wisconsin." Alexander Von Humboldt, discussing the pre-Columbian dis- covery of America by the Norsemen, in Cosmos, vol. ii, pages 269-272, says:— "We are here on historical ground. By the critical and highly praiseworthy efforts of Professor Rafu and the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries in Copenhagen, the Sagas and documents in regard to the expeditions of the Norse- men to Helluliind (Newfoundland), to Markland (the mouth of the St. Lawrence river and Nova Scotia), and to Vinland (Massachusetts), have been published and satisfactorily com- mented upon. * * * The discovery of the northern part of America by the Norsemen cannot be disputed. The length of the voyage, the direction in which they sailed, the time of the sun's rising and setting, are accurately given. While the Chali- fat of Bagdad was still flourishing under the Abbasides, and while the rule of the Samanides, so favorable to poetry, still flourished in Persia, America was discovered, about the year 1000, by Lief, son of Erik the Red, at about 4U degrees of north latitude." So much from Baron Von Humboldt, who is recognized as authority the world over, upon all subjects of which he treats. Malte Brun, and many other distinguished scholars also fully acknowledge the authenticity and authority of the Icelandic Sagas. By these Sagas, it appears that America was first discovered by Bjakne, son of Hekjulf, or Bjarne Herjulfsox, as he is called, in the year 986, who, on a voyage to Greenland from Iceland, was driven off his course to the south and west, and APPENDIX. 121 enveloped in a fog which lasted many days, " and they knew not where they were sailing to." The account continues : — "The sun at length appeared again, so that they could determine the quarters of the sky, and lo ! in the horizon they saw, like a blue cloud, the outlines of an unknown land. They approached it. They saw that it was without mountains, was covered with wood, and that there were small hills inland. Bjarne saw that this did not answer to the description of Greenland ; he knew he was too far south. So he left the land on the larboard side and sailed northward two days, when they got sight of land again. The men asked Bjarne if this was Greenland; but he said it was not. 'For in Greenland,' he said, ' there are great snowy mountains; but this land is flat and covered with trees.' They did not go ashore, but turning the bow from the land, they kept the sea with a fine breeze from the southwest for three days, when a third land was seen. Still Bjarne would not go ashore, for it was not like what had been reported of Green- land. So they sailed on, driven by a violent southwest wind, and after"* four days they reached a land which suited the description of Greenland. Bjarne was not deceived, for it was Greenland, and he happened to land close to the place where his father had settled," who had preceded him to that island from Iceland. "It cannot be determined with certainty what parts of the American coast Bjarne saw; but from the circumstances of the voyage, the course of the winds, the direction of the currents, and the presumed distance between each sight of land, there is reason to believe that the first land that Bjarne saw in the year 986, was the present island of Nantucket; the second. Nova Scotia ; and the third, Newfoundland. Thus Bjarne Hehjulfson was the first European whose eyes beheld any part of the American Continent." — America Not Discovered by Columbus, pp. 46-47. The report of Bjarue's adventure, which he carried to Norway a few years later, aroused in the mind of Leif Erikson, son of Erik the Red, a determination to solve the problem, and find out what kind of lands these were that were talked so much about. He bought Bjarne's ship, and with a good crew of 11 122 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. thirty-five men, set sail and found the lands just as Bjarne had described them, far away to the southwest of Greenland. They landed in Helluland (Newfoundland) and in Markland (Nova Scotia), and gave them names, and then proceeded into the open sea with a northeast wind, and were two days at sea before they saw land again. They sailed into a sound and up a river into a lake, where they cast anchor, brought their skin cots out of the ship and raised their tents. This lake where they cast anchor, is claimed to be Mount Hope Bay. The account farther says that they took counsel and resolved to remain through the winter, and built a large house. The nature of the country was, as they thought, so good that cattle would not require house-feeding in winter. It must have been a mild winter, not unlike the one just past (winter of 1875-76). Day and night were more equal than in Greenland or Icehind, for on the shortest days the sun was above the horizon from half-past seven in the morning till half-past four in the afternoon ; which indicates the latitude of the place to be 41° 24' 10'^, the latitude of Mount Hope, where Leif 's house is thought to have been situated. Erikson called the country Vinland. Tlie reason for giving it this name was that one of the crew named Tyker, a German, rambling in the woods, discovered, to his great joy and surprise, grapes growing wild. This circumstance gave the land the name of Vinland, and, adds Professor Anderson, ** history got the interesting fact that a German was along with the daring argonauts of the Christian era." This expedition took place in the year 1000. In this centennial year of our country's independence, when the struggles and trials and glories of the past are recalled to mind, it is but just that Leif Erikson, who was the first pale-faced man to plant his feet on the American continent, should be remembered and honored. Let a person visiting Mount Hope on a bright, clear day, and looking out upon the beautifully -blended stretch of land and water that opens to his view — unsurpassed in its loveliness — and banishing from the scene every vestige of man's cultivation — picture to himself how it appeared, in all its native wildness, to the hardy Northern rovers who first landed on these shores, APPENDIX. 123 almost nine hundred years ago. If not content with this " reach of years," he has only to cast his eyes to the earth at his feet to see where nature's great planes have grooved their way into the hard quartz rock on the very summit of the hill, as they swept over it in the great glacial drift. [B.— Page 29.] The daughter of Massasoit, Philip's sister, was named Amie. The date of her birth is not known. She became the wife of the Black Sachem, so called, the chief of the Assawamset Indians. His name appears in history as Tuspaquin. He was one of Philip's captains, and was captured by the English and put to death at Plymouth, some time in September, 1676. He had a son named Benjamin Tuspaquin, who married an Indian named Weecum. These latter also had a son named Benjamin who married Mercy Felix. Mercy was the daughter of an Indian named Felix, who married Assowetough, a daughter of John Sassamon. Benjamin and Mercy Tuspaquin had one child named Lydia. Lydia married an Indian named Wamsley, and they had a daughter named Phebe, who was born February 26, 1770, and died August IG, 1839. She was twice married, — first to Silas Rosier, an Indian of the Marshpee tribe. After his death she married, March 4, 1797, Brister Gould. They had a daughter Zerviah, who was born July 24, 1807. She married Thomas C. Mitchell, October 17, 1824. She now resides, or did in 1879, in North Abington, Mass., and is the publisher of a book entitled, "Indian History, Biography and Genealogy: pertaining to the Good Sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoag Tribe, and his de- scendants." The book is compiled by Ebenezer W. Peirce, of Freetown, Mass., and from it is derived the above recited bio- graphy of tlie descendants of Massasoit. It was published in 1878. Two daughters of Zerviah Mitchell, Melinda and Char- lotte, canvassed for subscribers to their mother's book, and by their intelligence and modest behavior, won universal respect. The Indian name of Melinda is Teweelema, and that of Charlotte, Wootonekanuske. 124 THR WAMPANOAG INDIANS. [C. — Page 116.] CAPTURE OF ANNAWON. After the capture and death of Philip, Capt. Church, while at Plymouth, learned that old Annawou was with his company, rang- ing about the woods in Rehoboth and Swanzey, and being solic- ited by the Government, consented to engage in an expedition for his capture. He enlisted Mr. Jabez Rowland, his old Lieutenant, and some of his soldiers, and ranged through the woods to Po- casset. It being the latter end of the week, he proposed to go on to Rhode Island and rest until Monday. "But early on the Lord's day morning," I quote again from Church's history, "there came a post to inform the Captain, that early the same morning a canoe with several Indians in it passed from Prudence Island to Poppasquash Neck. Captain Church thought if he could possibly surprise them, he might probably gain some intel- ligence of more game ; therefore he made all possible speed after them. The ferrj'- boat being out of the way he made use of canoes. But by that time they had made two freights and had got over the Captain and about fifteen or sixteen of his Indians, the wind sprung up with such violence that canoes could no more pass. The Captain seeing it was impossible for any more of his soldiers to come to him, he told his Indians if they were willing to go with him, he would go to Poppasquash and see if they could catch some of the enemy Indians. So they marched through the thickets that they might not be discovered, until they came unto the salt meadow * to the northward of Bristol town, that now is. Then they heard a gun, the Captain looked about not knowing but it might be some of his own company in the rear; so halting till they all came up, he found 'twas none of his own company that fired. Now though he had but a few men, was minded to send some of them out on a scout. He moved it *At Silver Creek, near where the Gas Works are now located. APPENDIX. 125 to Captain Lightfoot to go with three more on a scout; he said he was willing, providing the Captain's man Nathanael (which was an Indian that they had lately taken), miglit be one of them, because he was well acquainted with the Neck (Mount Hope Neck), and coming lately from among them knew how to call them." Dexter, in his " History of King Philip's War." in a note says : " The Indians were accustomed to have some call— like a wolf's howl, a loon's cry, or something of that sort — by which they could signal each other in the woods. This was changed as often as there w^as danger of its becoming known to their ene- mies. Nathanael, being recently captured, would know what that signal of his tribe now was." " The Captain bid him choose his three companions and go; and if they came across any of the enemy not to kill them if they could possibly take them alive; that they might gain intelligence concerning Annawon*. The Captain with the rest of his com- pany moved but a little further toward Poppasquash, before they heard another gun, which seemed to be the same way with the other, but further off; but they made no halt until they came unto the narrow of Poppasquash Neck; where Captain Church left three men more to watch if any should come out of the Neck, and to inform the scout, when they returned, which way he had gone. " He parted the remainder of his company, half on one side of the Neck, and the other with himself, went on the other side, until they met; and meeting neither with Indians nor canoe, re- turned big with expectations of tidings by their scout. But when they came back to the three men at the narrow of the Neck, they told their Captain the scout had not returned, and they had not heard nor seen anything of them. This tilled them with thoughts of what should become of them. By that time they had sat and waited an hour longer it was very dark, and they de- spaired of their returning to them Some of the Indians told their Captain they feared his new man Nathanael had met with his old Mount Hope friends, and turned rogue. They concluded to make no fires that night (and indeed they had no great need of any), for they had no victuals to cook, not so much as a morsel 12G THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. of bread with them. They took up their lodgings scattering, that if possibly their scout should come in the night and whistle (which w\as their sign), some or other of them might hear them." Church says they had a very solitary, hungry night, and as soon as the day broke (Monday, 11th of September, 1676), they drew off through the brush to a hill without the Neck (probably where the cemetery is now located), and soon discovered an In- dian running somewhat toward them. The Captain ordered one man to step out of the brush and show himself, upon which the Indian ran right to him, and proved to be Captain Lightfoot. He reported that he had captured ten Indians, and that they guarded them all night in one of the " flankers of the old English garrison," — the English fort at the Narrows that Church had be- fore ridiculed. Their prisoners were a part of Annavvon's com- pany who had left their families in a swamp above Mattapoiset Neck. As they were going towards the Narrows, Lightfoot gave Captain Church a particular account of their exploit, as follows : *'That presently after they left him, they heard another gun which seemed to be towards the Indian burying place,* and mov- ing that way they discovered two of the enemy fleeing of an horse. The scout clapping into the brush, Nathanael bid them sit down, and he would presently call all the Indians thereabout unto him. They hid, and he went a little distance back from them and sat up his note and howled like a wolf; one of the two immediately left his horse and came running to see who was there; but Nathanael howling lower and lower drew him in be- tween those that lay in wait for him, who seized him. Nathan- ael continuing the same note, the other left the horse, also fol- lowing his mate, and met with the same. When they caught these two, they examined them apart, and found them to agree in their story, that there were eight more of them come down into the Neck to get provisions, and had agreed to meet at the bury- ing place that evening. These two being some of Natlianael's old acquaintances, he had great influence upon them, and with his enticing story (telling what a brave Captain he had, how * There was an Indian Burying Ground at the Narrows, and this was un- doubtedly the one referred to. It is on the farm of Loring B. CoggeshalL— 1877. APPENDIX. 127 bravely he lived since he had been with him, aud how much they might better their condition by turning to him, etc.), persuaded and engaged them to be on his side, which indeed now began to be the better side of the hedge. They waited but a little while before they saw the rest of them coming up to the burying place, and Nathanael soon howled them in as he had done their mates before." At the garrison, Captain Church met Lieutenant How- land and the rest of his company, who, "on getting across the ferry and following Church, may have fallen in with one of Lightfoot's scouts, or may have gone to the old garrison at a venture, as a likely place for meeting him or news from him," saj'^s Dexter, before quoted. The next move was to capture the women and children, that the prisoners reported they had left at Mattapoiset Neck, which they succeeded in doing, together with some others who had newly come to them They all held to one story, that it was hard to tell where to find Annavvon, for he never " roosted twice in a place." One of Church's Indian sol- diers asked liberty to go and fetch in his father, whom he said was about four miles from that place, in a swamp with no other than one young squaw. Church concluded to go with him, think- ing he might gain some intelligence of Annawon, " and so taking one Englishman and a few Indians with him, leaving the rest there, he went with his new soldier to his father. When he came to the swamp, he bid the Indian go see if he could find his father. He was no sooner gone but Captain Church discovered a track coming down out of the woods, upon which he and his little com- pany lay close, some on one side of the track, and some on the other. They heard the Indian soldier make a howling for his^ father; and at length somebody answered him, but while they were listening they thought they heard somebody coming towards them ; presently saw an old man coming up with a gun on his shoulder, and a young woman following of him in the track which they lay by. They let them come up between them, and then started up and laid hold on them both. Captain Church imme- diately examined them apart, telling them what they must trust to if they told false stories. He asked the young woman what company they came last from. She said from Captain Anna- won's. He asked her how many were in company with hira, I 128 THK WAMPANOAG INDIANS. when she left him ; she said fifty or sixty. He asked her hovy many miles it was to the place where she left him ; she said she did not understand miles, but it was up in Squaunaconk Swamp. The old man, who had been one of Philip's Council, upon exami- nation, gave exactly the same account. Captain Church asked him if they could get there that night. He said if they went presently and travelled stoutly, they might get there by sun set. He asked whither he was going. He answered that Anuawon had sent him down to look for some Indians that were gone down into Mount Hope Neck to kill provisions. Captain Church let him know that those Indians were all his prisoners. By this time came the Indian soldier and brought his father and one In- dian more. The Captain was now in great straight of mind what to do next. He had a mind to give Annawon a visit, now he knew where to find him ; but his company was very small, but half a dozen men beside himself, and was under a necessity to send somebody back to acquaint his Lieutenant and company with his proceedings. However, he asked his small company that were with him, whether they would willingly go with him and give Annawon a visit. They told him, they were always ready to obey his commands, but withal told him that they knew this Captain .Vnuawon was a great soldier, that he had been a valiant Captain under Asuhmequin, Philip's father, and that he had been Philip's'Chieftain all this War; a very subtle man. and of great resolution, and had often said that he would never be taken alive by the English ; and moreover, they knew that the men that were with him were resolute fellows, some of Philip's chief soldiers, and therefore feared whether it was practicable to make an attempt upon him with so small a handful of assailants as now were with him. Told him further, that it would be a pity that after all the great things he had done, he should throw away his life at last, etc. Upon which he replied, that he doubted not Annawon was a subtle and valiant man; that he had a long time but in vain sought for him, and never till now could find his quarters, and he was very loth to miss of the op- portunity, and doubt not but that if they would cheerfully go with him, the same Almighty Providence that had hitherto pro- tected and befriended them, would do so still. Upon this with APPENDIX. 129 one consent tliey said, tliey wonld go. Captain Church then turned to one Cook of Plymouth (the only Englishman then with him), and asked him what he thought of it, who replied. Sir, I am never afraid of going anywhere when you are with me. Then Captain Church asked the old Indian if he could carry his horse with him. He replied that it would be impossible for an horse to pass the swamps. Therefore he sent away his new Indian soldier with his father and the Captain's horse to his Lieutenant, and orders for him to move to Taunton with the prisoners, to secure from them there, and to come out in the morning in the Rehoboth road, in which he might expect to meet him, if he were alive and had success. The Captain then asked the old fellow if he would pilot him to Annawon. He answered th:it he having given him his life, he was obliged to serve him. He bid him move on then, and they followed. The old man would out- travel them so far sometimes that they were almost out of sight ; looking over his shoulder and seeing them behind he would halt. Just as the sun was setting, the old man made a full stop and sat down, the full company coming up also sat down, being all weary. Captain Church asked what news. He answered that about that time in the evening Captain Annawon sent out his scouts to see if the coast was clear, and as ^oon as it began to grow dark the scouts returned, and then, said he, we may move again securely. " When it began to grow dark the old man stood up again, Cap- tain Church asked him if he would take a gun and fight for him? He bowed very low, and prayed him not to impose such a thing upon him, as to fight against Captain Annawon his old friend. But says he, ' I will go along with you, and be helpful to you, and will lay hand on any man tlrat shall offer to hurt you.' *' It being now pretty dark, they moved close together ;— anon they heard a noise. The Captain stayed the old man with his hand, and asked his own men what noise they thought it might he? They concluded it to be the pounding of a mortar. The old man had given Captain Church a description of the place* * '• This solitary retreat is in the southeasterly part of the town of Rehoboth^ but being near Taunton line, some, in relating the story, report it to be in this 130 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. where Annawon now lay, and of the difficulty of getting at him. Being sensible that they were pretty near them, with two of his Indians he creeps to the edge of the rocks, from whence he could see their camps. He saw three companies of Indians at a little distance from each other; being easy to be discovered by the light of their tires. He saw also the great Annawox and his company, who had formed his camp or kenneling place by falling a tree under the side of the great cliffs of rocks, and setting a row of birch bushes up against it ; where he himself, his son, and some of his chiefs had taken up their lodgings, and made great fires without them, and had their pots and kettles boiling, and spits roasting. Their arms also he discovered, all set together, in a place fitted for the purpose, standing up an end against a stick lodged in two crotchets, and a mat placed over them, to keep them from the wet or dew. The old Annawon's feet and his sou's head were so near the arms, as almost to touch them. " The rocks were so steep that it was impossible to get down, as they lowered themselves by the boughs, and the bushes that grew in the cracks of the rocks. Captain Church creeping back town. It is about eight miles from Taunton green, and nearly in a direct line to Providence. The northwest corner of Dighton runs up between Taunton and Relioboth, througli which we pass in going from Taunton to Annawon'S KOOK. (By this name it is known throughout that part of the country.) It is in a great swamp, called Squannaconk, containing nearly three thousand acres, as I was informed by Mr. A. Bliss, the nearest inhabitant to it. The road passes round the northwesterly part of the swamp, and within six or eight rods of the rock. This immense rock extends northeast and southwest seventy or eighty feet, and to this day the camp of Annawon is approached with difficulty. A part of its southeast side hangs over a little, and the other, on the northeast part, seems in no very distant period, to have tumbled down in large clefts. Its height may be thirty feet. It is composed of sand and pebbles. A few scattering maple, beech, birch, &c., grow about it; as also briars and water bushes, so thick as almost to forbid approach. Formerly, it was, no doubt, entirely surrounded by water, as it is to this time in wet seasons. The north- west side of the rock is easily ascended, as it gradually slopes away from its summit to its base, and at an angle, perliaps, not exceeding thirty-five degrees. Small bushes grow from the seams in its steep side, as in the days of Church. Near the southwest extremity is an opening of an angular form, in which, it is said, Annawon and the other chiefs were encamped. This opening now con- tains the stump of a large tree, which must have grown since those days, as it nearly fills it up. APPENDIX. 131 again to the old man, asked him, if there were no possibility of getting at them some other way? He answered, 'No.' That he and all that belonged to Annavvon, were ordered to come that way, and none could come any other way without difficulty, or danger of being shot. " Captain Church then ordered the old man and his daughter to go down foremost with their baskets at their backs, that when Annawon saw them with their baskets he should not mistrust the intrigue. Captain Church and his handful of soldiers crept down also, under the shadow of those two and their baskets. The Captain himself crept close behind the old man, Avith his hatchet in his hand, and stepped over the young man's head to the arms. The young Annawon discovering of him, whipped his blanket over his head, and shrunk up in a heap. The old Captain Annawon started up on his breech, and cried out ' Howoh.' And despairing of escape, threw himself back again, and lay silent until Captain Church had secured all the arras, etc. And having secured that company, he sent his Indian soldiers to the other fires and companies, giving them instructions, what to do and say. Accordingly they went into the midst of them. When they discovered themselves, told them that their Captain Annawon was taken, and it would be best for them, quietly and peaceably to surrender themselves, which would procure good quarter for them ; otherwise, if they should pretend to resist or make their escape, it would be in vain, and they could expect no other but that Captain Church, with his great army, who had now entrapped them, would cut them to pieces. Told them also, if they would submit themselves, and deliver up all their arms, unto them, and keep every man in his place until it was day they would assure them that their Captain Church, who had been so kind to themselves when they surrendered to him, should be as kind to them. Now they being old acquaintance, and many of them relations, did much the readier give heed to what they said ; complied, and surrendered up their arms unto them, both their guns and hatchets, etc., and were forthwith carried to Captain Church, " Things being so far settled, Captain Church asked Annawon, 'what he had for supper?' 'For,' said he, ' I am come to sup 132 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. \vitli yoii.' * Taubut' (said Anuawou), with a big voice, and looking about upon hib women, bid them hasten and get Captain Church and his company some supper. Then turned to Cap- tain Church and asked him whether he would eat cow beef or horse beef? The Captain told him cow beef would be most ac- ceptable. It was soon got ready, and pulling his little bag of salt out of his pocket, which was all the provision he brought with him. This seasoned his cow beef. So that with it and the dried green corn, which the old Squaw was pounding in the mor- tar, while they were sliding down the rocks, he made a very hearty supper. And this pounding in the mortar proved lucky for Captain Church's getting down the rocks ; for when the old squaw pounded, they moved, and when she ceased to turn the corn, they ceased creeping. The noise of the mortar prevented the enemy's hearing their creeping, and the corn being nov#* dressed, supplied the want of bread, and gave a tine relish with the cow beef. " Supper being over, Captain Church sent two of his men to in- form the other companies, that he had killed Philip, and taken their friends in Mount Hope Neck, but had spared their lives, and that he had subdued now all the enemy, (he supposed) ex- cept this company of Annawon ; and now if they would be orderly and keep their places until morning, they should have good quar- ter, and thi\t he would carry them to Taunton, where they might see their friends again, etc. " The messengers returned, that the Indians yielded to his pro- posals. '' Captain Church thought it was now time for him to take a nap, having had no sleep in two days and one night before. Told his men, that if they would let him sleep two hours, they should sleep all the rest of the night. He laid himself down and en- deavored to sleep, but all disposition to sleep departed from him. " After he had lain a little while, he looked up to see how his watch managed, but found them all fiist asleep. Now Captain Church had told Captain Annawon's company, as he- had ordered his Indians to tell the others; that their lives should all be spared, excepting Captain Annawon's, and it was not in his APPENDIX. 133 power to promise him his life, but he must carry liim to his masters at Plymouth, aud he would entreat them for his life. " Now when Captain Church found not only his own men, but all the Indians fast asleep, Annawon only excepted, who, he per- ceived, was as broad awake as himself; and so they lay looking" one upon the other, perhaps an hour. Captain Church said noth- ing to him, for he could not speak Indian, and thought Anna- won could not speak English. " At length Annawon raised himself up, cast off his blanket, and with no more clothes than his small breeches, walked a little way back from the company. Captain Church thought * * * i^q would very soon return. But by and by he was gone out of sight and hearing, and then Captain Church began to suspect some ill design in him ; and got all the guns close to him, and crowded himself close under young Annawon ; that if he should anywhere get a gun, he should not make a shot at him, without endangering his son. Lying very still awhile, waiting for the event, at length, he heard somebody coming the same way that Annawon went. The moon now shining bright, he saw him at a distance coming with something in his hands, aud coming up to Captain Church, he fell upon his knees before him, and offered him what he had brought, and speaking in plain English, said, ' Great Captain, you have killed Philip, and conquered his coun- try; for I believe that I and my company are the last that war against the English, so suppose the war is ended by your means; and therefore these things belong unto you.' Then opening his pack, he pulled out Philip's belt, curiously wrought with wom- pom, being nine inches broad, wrought with black and white wompom, in various figures, and flowers and pictures of many birds and beasts. This, when hanged upon Captain Church's shoulders, reached his ancles ; and another belt of wompom he presented him with, wrought after the former manner, which Philip was wont to put upon his head. It had two flags on the back part, which hung down on his back, and another small belt with a star upon the end of it, which he used to hang on his breast, and they were all edged with red hair, which Annawon said they got in the Mohog's country. Then he pulled out two 12 134 THE WAMFANOAG INDIANS. horns of glazed powder, and a red cloth blanket. He told Cap- tain Chnrch these were Philip's royalties, which he was wont to adorn himself with, when he sat in state; that he thought him- self happy that he had an opportunity to present them to Captain Church, who had won them, etc. Spent the remainder of the night in discourse. And gave an account of what mighty success he had formerly in wars against many nations of Indians, when he served Asuhmeqnin, Philip's father, etc. " In the morning, as soon as it was light, the Captain marched with his prisoners out of that swampy country towards Taun- ton. Met his Lieutenant and company about four miles out of town, who expressed a great deal of joy to see him again, and said it was more than ever they expected. They went into Taunton, were civilly and kindly treated by the inhabitants. Refreshed and rested themselves that night. '• Early next morning, the Captain took old Anna won, and half a dozen of his Indian soldiers, and his own man, and went to Rhode Island ; sending the rest of his company, and his pris- oners by his Lieutenant to Plymouth." After tarrying two or three days upon the island, Capt. Church went to Plymouth, taking Annawon with him. He had been there, however, but a few days, when he was informed of a par- cel of Indians in the woods between Plymouth and Sippican, and started in pursuit of them. They soon came upon the track of an Indian, and following it, discovered a party of about fifty sit- ting around their fires, whom they captured, not one escaping. An examination proved these Indians to belong to Tispaquin [or Tuspaquin], one of Philip's captains, and the husband of Philip's sister. Tispaquin himself was gone with two or three others, to Agawam and Sippican — Wareham and Rochester — for provisions, "and were not expected back in two or three days." Captain Church was desirous of securing the services of Tispa- quin to fight the eastern Indians, and " left two old squaws of the prisoners, and bid them tarry there until Tispaquin returned, and to tell him that Church had been there, and had taken his -wife and children, and company, and carried them down to Ply- mouth, and would spare all their lives and his too, if he would APPENDIX. 135 come down to them, and bring the other two with him, and they should be his soldiers." Captain Church returned to Plymouth with his prisoners, and two da.ys after went to Boston. " The same day Tispaquin came in and those tliat were with him. But when Captain Church returned from Boston, he found, to his grief, the heads of Anna- won, Tispaquin, etc., cut oft", which were the last of Philip's friends."* And these few lines chronicle the annihilation of a once power- ful and haughty people. One after another, their great leaders had been betrayed by the foulest treachery, and slain without mercy. In the case of Tispaquin, the plighted faith of Church was broken, apparently without the least hesitation, by the Ply- mouth authorities. Drake, in a note, says :—" The conduct of the government in putting to death Annawon, Tispaquin, etc., has ever been viewed as barbarous ; no circumstance now made it necessary. The Indians were subdued, therefore no example was wanting to deter others. It is true, some were mentioned by the government as unmeriting mercy ; but humanity forbade the execution of laws formed only for the emergencies of the moment." Gov. Hutchinson says: — "Every person, almost, in the two colonies [Massachusetts and Plymouth], had lost a relation or near friend, and the people in general were exasperated; but all does not sufficiently excuse this great severity." f Hubbard, on the contrary, justilies these executions, as he does every act of treachery and cruelty against the Indians. • * Church's Philip's War, p. 146. t Hist. Mass. i., 277. NINE MEN'S MISERY. AN EPISODE OF PIERCE'S FIGHT. *' This name is given to a spot in Cumberland, where nine men were slain by the Indians, on the same day with Pierce's Fight. This place is in what is called ' Camp Swamp,' so named from 13(3 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. the fact tliat the Indians frequently made it a place of retreat durin*^ Pliilip's war. There are two or three traditions respect- ing this event, but the one which seems the most probable, and the best suppoited by circumstances, is, that these nine men were a remnant of Pierce's brave band, who were taken prison- ers by the Indians, and reserved for torture. They were taken to the spot, and seated upon a rock. Its position is said to be precisely defined on the maps ; but there is nothing to indicate a natural ampitheatre, as described by some early writers The savages commenced the war-dance around their prisoners and were preparing to torture them; but, disagreeing about the manner of torture, they fell into a quarrel among themselves, during which some of the Indians despatched the prisoners with the tomahawk. This story is said to have been related to the English by an Indian who was soon after this taken prisoner. The Indians having scalped them, left their bodies upon the rock where they had slain thein, and here they remained uuburied till they were discovered by the English some weeks after. They were then buried, all in one grave on the higher ground, fifteen or twenty rods from the rock on which they were slain. A heap of small stones in the shape of the earth on a newly made grave marked the spot where they were buried. A part of these bones, about the time of the American Revolution, were disinterred by some physicians of Providence. One of the men was ascertained to be a Bucklin, of Rehoboth, from his very large frame, and from a set of double teeth all around. In the Rehoboth town record of deaths and burials the names of four individuals are recorded as ' slain on the 26th of March, 1676,' viz. : John Reed, Jr., John Fitch, Jr., Benjamin Buckland, and John Miller, Jr. Between the first two of these names and the last two, are in- serted the names of seven other persons, bearing a later date; which leads me to infer that John Reed, Jr., and John Fitch, Jr. were found with the main body of the slain of Pierce's army, and that Benjamin Buckland and John Miller, Jr., were found among the nine, at ' Nine Men's Misery,' and interred at a later period than the other two." * * Bliss' History of Rehoboth, pp. 94 and 95. APPENDIX. 137 A skull of one of the men slain at "Nine Men's Misery," is in the museum of Brown University, at Providence, and plainly shows the " cut" of the tomahawk. CAPTURE OF CANONCHET. On the 9th of April, 1676, Canonchet was found on the Black- stone river, not far from the village of Pawtucket. Hubbard gives the following account of his capture: — " Captain George Deunison, of Stonington, and Captain Avery, of New Loudon, having raised forty-seven English, the most part volunteers, with eighty Indians, twenty of which were Narragansetts belonging to Ninigret, commanded by one Cata- pazet; the rest Pequods, under Casasinamon, and Mohegins under Oneco, son to Uncas, being now abroad upon their third expedition, which they began March 27, 1676, and ended on the 10th of April following. They met with a stout Indian of the enemy's whom they presently slew, and two old squaws, that confessed Nanuntenoo, alias Canonchet, was not far off; which welcome news put new life into the wearied soldiers, that had travelled hard many days, and met with no booty till now; especially when it was confirmed by intelligence the same instant, brought in by their scouts, that they met with new tracks, which brought them in view of some wigwams, not far from Pautuket, by some called Blackstone's river, in one of which the said sachem was at that moment diverting himself with the recital of Captain Pierce's slaughter, surprised by his men a few days before. But the alarm of the English, at that time heard by himself, put by that discourse, appalled by the suddenness thereof, as if he had been informed by secret item from heaven, that now his own turn was come. So, as having but seven men about him, he sent two of them to the top of the hill, to see what the matter was ; but they, affrighted with the near approach of the English, at that time with great speed mounting over a fair champagua on the other side of the hill, ran by, as if they wanted time to tell what they saw. Presently he sent a third, 238 THR WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Avho did the like ; then sending two more on the same errand, one of these last, endued with more courage, or a better sense of his duty, informed him in great haste that all the English army was upon him. Whereupon, having no time to consult, and but little to attempt an escape, and no means to defend him- self, he began to dodge with his pursuers, running round the hill on the contrary side. But as he was running so hastily by, Catapazat, with twenty of his followers, and a few of the Eng- lish, lightest of foot, guessed by the swiftness of his motion, that he fled as if an enemy, w^hich made them immediately take the chase after him, as for their lives. He that was the swifter pursuer, put him so hard to it, that he cast off first his blanket, then his silver laced coat (given him at Boston, as a pledge of their friendship, upon the renewal of his league in October be- fore) and belt of peag, which made Catapazat conclude it was the right bird, which made them pursue as eagerly as the other fled ; so as they forced him to take to the water, through which, as he over hastily plunged, his foot slipping upon a stone, it made him fall into the water so deep, as it wet his gun ; upon which accident, he confessed soon after, that his heart and his bowels turned within him, so as he became as a rotten stick, void of strength; iusouiuch as one Monopoide, a Pequod swift- est of foot, laid hold of him within thirty rod of the river side, without his making any resistance, though he was a very proper man, of goodly stature, and great courage of mind as well as strength of body. One of the first English that came up vfith him, was Robert Stanton, a young man that scarce had reached the twenty-second year of his age, yet adventuring to ask him a question or two, to whom this manly sachem, looking with a little neglect upon his youthful face, replied in broken English, ' You much child, no understand matters of war ; let your brother or your chief come, him I will answer ;' and was as good as his word ; acting herein, as if, by a Pythagorean me- tempsychosis, some old Roman gho^t had possessed the body of this western pagan ; and, like Attilius Regulus, he would not accept of his own life, when it was tendered him, upon that (in his account) low condition of compliance with the English, re- fusing to send an old counsellor of his to make any motion that APPKNDIX. 139 way, saying he knew the Indians wouki not yield; but more probably he was not willing they should, choosing rather to sac- rifice his own, and his people's lives to his private humour of revenge, than timely to provide for his own, and their safety, by entertaining the counsels of peace, so necessary for the general good of all." * He was afterwards carried to Stonington, Ct. When up- braided with his breach of faith to the English, and with having said that •' Tie would not deliver vp a Wampanoag, or the paring of a Wampnnoag's nail," and " that he would burn the English alive in their houses," ho replied that " others were as forward for the war as himself, and that he desired to hear uo more thereof." When told, his sentence was to die, he said " he liked it well, that he should die before his heart was soft, or he had spoken anything unworthy of himself." He was shot at Stoning- ton, under the eye of Denlson, and the friendly Indians were his executioners. * Hubbard, pp. 1*^7, 128, 129. On the 24:th* of August, 1876, the Rhode Island Historical Society commemorated the two hundredth anniversary of the death of King Philip, by planting a memorial treef on the sum- mit of Mount Hope. The exercises were of a highly interesting character, and were participated in by His Excellency Governor Lippitt, Hon. Samuel G. Arnold, President of the Historical Society, and other distinguished gentlemen. The following beautiful and appropriate poem, written for the occasion, did not reach the Committee of Arrangements in sea- sou to be presented and read " amidst the scenes and associa- tions it describes " : — * The 23d of August was the anniversary of the death of King Pliilip. Eleven days only should be added to change the date from old to new style. t The tree did not live. 140 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. KING PHILIP. BY ISABEL E. TABODIE. On Pokanoket's height All life is hushed beueath the summer heat; No human step is heard from morn to night, And echo can repeat Naught but the lonely fish-hawk's piercing screams, As swooping downward to the placid bay, To touch the water's breast he scarcely seems. Then slow flies homeward with his struggling prey, Where mate and clamorous young hang eager o'er Their nest upon the blasted sycamore. You little grove of trees Waves soundless in the breeze That wanders down the slope ; Hushed by the countless memories Which cluster round thy crest, renowned Mount Hope. How fair the scene! The city's gleaming spires, the clustering towns, The modest villages, half hid in green. Soft hills and grassy downs ; The dark-blue waves of Narragansett Bay, Flecked with the snow-flakes of an hundred sail, And southward, in the distance, cold and grey, Newport lies sleeping in her foggy veil. Beyond the eastern waves. Where Taunton river laves The harbor's sandy edges, Queen of a thousand iron slaves, Fall River nestles in her granite ledges. But not to look on these- — Not for the azure lustres of the bay, Not for the beauty of the waving trees. We gather here to-day. APPENDIX. 141 Two centuries have strengthened our weak siirht, And showed us virtues where we saw but crimes ; Two centuries have thrown a clearer light On the dark secrets of those troubled times. Once blinded, now we see, And to one memory A tribute late we bring, And plant this poor memorial tree To Metacomet, warrior, sachem, king. When here King Philip stood. Or rested in the niche we call his throne. He looked o'er hill and vale and swelling flood, Which once were all his own. Before the white man's footstep, day by day, As the sea-tides encroach upon the sand. He saw his proud possessions melt away. And found himself a king without a land. Constrained by unknown laws, Judged guilty without cause, Maddened by treachery. What wonder that his tortured spirit rose. And turned upon his foes. And told his wrongs in words that still we see Recorded on the page of history : — " The English, when they came, ^ Were but a handful, poor, distressed, forlorn ; My father, who was Sachem, gave them corn ; To serve them was his aim. He gave them lands to build upon, and plant, Hospitable and kind, relieved each want. As others came across the seas. He watched their feeble strength increase. "My father's counsellors were wise and old; They saw the power the deadly firearm gave ; They saw the whites grow proud, and uncontrolled, 142 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. And dreaded lest the Indian be their slave. As yet their numbers were not great; They said, destroy them, ere it be too late. But to my father's mood, Their counsel seemed not good ; Gently he answered then : ' My country has, in vale, and hill, and wood, Room for both Indians and for Englishmen.' '*His words prevailed, although with ruin fraught. And so he gave the English room, and food ; But as they flourished, soon experience taught The wise men's words were good. By various means, I know not how, each day Some part of our domain was taken away; But still my father could not see the end, And till he died, remained the white man's friend. **My elder brother, next, Wamsutta, was the Sachem of our race, And on some false pretext. Made captive even in his dwelling place. With pistols at his breast, Dragged rudely from his rest A prisoner, with a soldier on each side. Fatigued, enraged, sore wounded in his pride, What wonder that he died? "Now, the last Sachem of our tribe, I see Our strength and power decay. My people tried by laws they did not make, And forced to see the cruel white man take Their lands for damages they cannot pay. Whose ever herds transgress the boundary line, I rudely am confined and forced to sell Tract after tract, to pay an unjust fine. Nought but the whole, the white man's greed can quell; APPKNDIX. 143 But a small part remains to give Of the dominions of ray father's race, I am determined not to live Until I have no country and no place." Such were King Philip's wrongs, Told by himself to one who plead for peace ; To the ungrateful white man's treacheries Surely all blame belongs. Then swelled the death-song of Pometacora, Upon the site of his ancestral home, Before he plunged into the fatal strife, AVhich ended only with his life : Then the war-cry rang out. With shriek, and yell, and hideous battle shout, The silent arrow hurtled through the air, In every copse there lurked a secret foe; From hill and valley, rose the smoky glare Which told of peaceful villages laid low. The mother clasped her babfes in mute affright, And dreaded, lest before the coming night. There might be seen, where now her dwelling stood, But dying coals and embers quenched in blood. How many mourned the dead? The tale has oft been read In stories and in songs, How raged the conflict fierce and dread ; How the roused Indians avenged their wrongs. O'er hill and plain. The years rolled on, amid the cruel strife ; One fought their ancient heritage to gain. One fought for life. At first the Indians triumphed; but at last The tide of battle turned ; the skill and strength And numbers of the whites increased so fast The red men fell before them, till at length 144 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. Pometacom, subdued but undismayed, Saw wife aud sou consigned to slavery ; Saw the brave chiefs who rallied to his aid, Some lifeless ftill, some lost by treachery ; Cauonchet, captured, vilely tortured, burned; (Such savage treatment, Indians would have spurned :) Awashonks, queen of foir Seaconnet's shore, False to her race, was his ally no more ; And one true woman, ever at his side, With grief enraged. Wamsutta's widowed bride. Found dead beside the river flow. Was it a broken heart that laid thee low, Pocasset's warrior queen, unhappy Weetamoe? Nearer and nearer came The fatal end; they weaker grew each day. Despair, disease, starvation made their prey Upon each feeble frame ; And white men saw with hearts exulting high, The haughty race of Wampanoags fly Before their gathering force, from swamp to fen ; Hunted like some wild beast, from den to den ; The last weak remnant of the proud red men. At last, in yonder swamp that skirts this hill, Betrayed, despairing, but undaunted still. Circled by stealth, with hostile bands. King Philip fell by traitor hands. Shot through the very heart. He looked towards his ancestral throne, His fair Mount Hope, no more his own, From which he must depart. His spirit fled to seek some happier place. The last great Sachem of the Wampauoag race. And lies he here? Is this tree planted o'er the chieftain's breast? Did they, on leafy bier, Bear their dead foeman to his peaceful rest? No! base insult and injury APPENDIX. 145 Were lavished freely on him then ; While Indians stood aghast, to see The tender mercies of the Englishmen. Of all the boundless lands he gave, They could not spare him even a shallow grave. His remnants from four neighboring trees hung down. And severed head and hands, oh ! shameful story ! Sent to far Plymouth, and to " Boston towne," As trophies to display the conqueror's glory. We know not where on earth his bones may be, But plant upon Mount Hope King Philip's tree, And give this tribute to his memory: — A chieftain, politic and wise, A faithful friend in time of peace. An enemy without disguise, Too proud to yield to injuries ; A leader, daring in the strife. Loving his country more than life, A conqueror, kind to gentleness. As all his captive foes confess ; Humane in battle as in peace, — oh! where Is there a liing could better record bear? And so, to-day, a little band. On Pokanoket's height we stand. And look back o'er the page of history, On proud Pometacom. Perchance his spirit hovers nigh, Come from the " happy hunting grounds " to view What more the white man's hand can do To desecrate his home. Shade of King Philip ! to thy bitter wrongs. This tribute of a late regret belongs. No marble stone, or monument, bring we, Nor polished shaft of granite; but, to thee. Son of the forest, plant this forest-tree; Long may its life perpetuate thy name. Green as tliy memory, deathless as thy fame. 13 146 THE WAMPANOAG INDIANS. As a fitting close to these " Notes concerning the Wampanoag Tribe of Indians," I copy from the " Proceedings of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1877-78," the following REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO EUECT A MEMORIAL OP KING PHILIP ON MOUNT HOPK. Soon after the commemoration of the two hundredth anniver- sary of the death of King Philip it was proposed by Rev. Dr. Caswell that the place of King Philip's death should be marked by a boulder, inscribed with his name. At tlie quarterly meet- ing, October 3d, 1876, Dr. Alexis Caswell, Dr. George L. Collins, and Hon. Samuel W. Church, of Bristol, were appointed a Com- mittee for this purpose, and a subscription of $105 was sub- sequently obtained, principally by Mr. William G. Williams, to meet the expense. After the death of Rev. Dr. Caswell, Mr. William J. Miller, of Bristol, Dr. William F. Channing, and Prof. J. L. Dimau were added to the Committee. The Committee found that there were no suitable boulders on or near Mount Hope to move to the " Miery Swamp," where King Philip met his death, or to its immediate margin. Having full authority from the Society, the Committee therefore separ- ated the objects originally proposed ; first selecting a boulder on the top of the Mount, cutting therein a recess about two feet square, until a plain surface was obtained, and marking thereon in bold letters, this inscription : " KING PHILIP. Au<;usT 12, 1G7(). O. S." The boulder was a breccia containing quartz pebbles and very hard to cut. Second, the Committee placed beside the Cold Spring, on a cemented foundation, a massive granite block, weighing probably two-thirds of a ton, with rough sides, bevelled edges and smooth top, sloping like a desk, bearing the following inscription : ArrENDix. 147 "In the Miery Swamp, IHG feet W. S. W. from this Spring, according to tradition, King Philip fell, August 12, 1G7G. O. S." '* This stone placed by the Rhode Island Historical Society, December, 1877." The Cold Spring is itself one of the landmarks of Mount Hope, and one of the principal feeders of the Miery Swamp, (spvlt 31 i c r y, in the old deeds). The stream runs out from under the bank of the comparatively smooth terrace at the western foot of Mount Hope. This terrace is the natural route for a future road. Tradition and history both point to the place assigned, — mimely, tlie intersection of a northerly line from the grove where King Philip camped, with the overflow of the Cold Spring, — as the spot, or very nearly the spot, of his death.* * By request of the Society tlie following historical note has been prepared ).y Mv. William J. Miller, of Bristol : Note. — It is well known that Captain Benjamin Church, the bold and suc- cessful " Indian tighter," commanded the expedition that surprised the Indians at .Mount Hope on the morning of the 12th of August, 1676, and which resulted in riiilip's death. In Church's "Entertaining Passages relating to Philip's War," the place of the Indian encampment is described as " a little spot of upland that was in the south end of the Miery Swamp, just at the foot of the Mount, which was a spot of ground that Captain Church was well acquainted with," The Indian " shelter was open on tliat side next the swamp, built so on purpose for the convenience of tlight on occasion." When the Indians dis- covered that the English were upon them they fled into the swamp, " and I'tiilip, the foremost, who, starting at the first gun, * * * ran as tast as he could scamper, * * * and directly upon two of Captain Churcli's ambush. They let him come fair within shot, when, the Englishman's gun failing to go oir, he " bid the Indian tire away," and the latter shot Philipthrough the heart. '' He Ml upon his face in the mud and water, with his gun under him." The Indian "ran with all speed to Captain Church and informed him ot his ex- ploit, wlio commanded him to be silent about it, and let no man more know it, until they had drove the swamp clean; but when they had drove the swamp througii and found the enemy had escaped, or at the least the most of them, and the sun now up, and so the dew gone, that they could not so easily track them, the whole company met together rt< the place utfhere the enemy's niyht shelter was; and then Captain Church gave them the news of Philip's death," and " ordered his body to be pulled out of the mire on to the upland." Hubbard, and other contemporary writers, make mention of a severe drought along the New England ccjast, during the month of August, 1070. The growing " corn curled in tlie fields," it was said, lor lack of moisture. This 148 THE WAMPANOAG INDIA^^S. The work above described 1ms been thoroughly and durabl.v done under the superintendence of Mr. E. W. Tingley, who made no charge for his own time. The expenses were necessa- rily increased by the very bad transportation, at all seasons, be- tween Bristol and Mount Hope. The amount of subscription was $105 with 62 cents interest accruing in the Treasurer's hands. The total cost, included in the receipted bill of the Tingley Marble Co., is $103.33, leaving a balance of $2.29 cents in the treasury. For the Committee, William F. Channixg. Providexck, R. I., January 15, 1878. being the case, it is probable that there was no water in the swamp wlien Pliilip was killed, except the overflow from " Cold Spring." This we know has been the condition of the swamp, on one or two occasions, in a very dry time within the past thirty years. And this historical fact goes far towards fixing the spot, as the spring is near the southern end of the swamp. So much for history. In 1080, four years after the close of the war, four merchants of Boston purchased that part of Mount Hope neck wiiicii had been condemned by Ply- mouth Colony, as "conquered territory," and laid out the township of Bristol. Among the first settlers was Captain Benjamin Church, who built a house and resided in Bristol probably more than twenty years. It is natural to suppose that the early settlers would be interested to know the spot where so renowned a warrior as Philip fell; and that Captain Church would take pride in pointing- it out. And further, that this important incident would be kept in remem- brance from generation to generation. Somewhere about 17.55, Doctor William Bradford became a resident of Bristol. At that time there must have been persons living in Bristol who remembered Captain Church as a resident. As Doctor Bradford, (afterwards Lieutenant Governor, anO one of the two Sena- tors who lirst rei)resented this State in the Congress of the United States) was the great-grandson of Major WMlliam Bradford, who commanded the combined Plymouth and Bay forces in Pliilip's War, we may well assume that he would feel a deep interest in the tradition, and would acquaint himself with the spot. Governor Bradford purchased the Mount Hope estate, and after the close of the "War of the Revolution resided on the farm where Philip fell, and died there in 1S08. Governor Bradford's son .John inherited the farm from his father, and it is through John's youngest son William, who was born and reared upon the farm, that the tradition comes to us. He points out the spot, and says,—" this is the place where my father always told mo Philip fell." I will only add, in conclusion, that as this presumably direct tradition as to tlie spot is in accord with history, we nuty reasonably accept it as reliable. WiJ.LiAM .J. .Arn.i.Ki:. .January 1."). 187^*. 9i " ^.l3o. 0^ .^!,*°' ^> V < =^^^^^' i vr_ V V oV .^^ ^o t AT ^ • ©lis * 'C'F Kp- o V J§AF * A v" *^ . -^0 •l°*> V - ' * » - ^ V « ^oV^ t> H O DOBBS BROS. V. LIBRARY BINDING ^^ % -^^^ ST. AUGUSTINE --f/k, ^^ FLA. f LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 010 524 422 8 •