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THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 OF THE STATUE ERECTED 
 
 MAJ. JOHN MASON 
 
 J 
 
 A^^I) HIS COMRADES, 
 
 An Account of the Unveiling Ceremonies. 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 THOMAS S. COLLIE K, 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE SEW-LOXDOS rOlXTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 PIBLISHED 
 
 BY THE COMMISSION. 
 
 1889. 
 
/ 
 
 V 
 
CONTE NTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Beginning of the Statue 5 
 
 The ^^'oRK OF the Commission 12 
 
 The Unveiling Ceremonies 17 
 
 Prayer. Bv the Key. Charles J. Hill, of Stonington . . Ls 
 
 Address by Mr. Dyer, delivering the Statle to His 
 
 Excellency the Governor 20 
 
 The Governor's Reply, AccEi'TiNCr the Statie in the 
 
 Name of the State 20 
 
 Oration. By Mr. Isaac H. Bromley, of Boston .... 22 
 
 Poem. By INIr. Thomas S. Collier, of New London ... 51 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Frank B. (tAY, Secretary and Librarian of 
 
 the Connecticut Historical Society 57 
 
 Letter from Mr. Henry M. Hazen, Chairman of the Lil)rary 
 
 Comniittee, New England Historic Genealogical Society . 59 
 Letter from Mr. Amos Perry, Secretary and Librarian of the 
 
 Rhode-Lsland Historic Society 5i» 
 
 Letter from Mr. Thomas Bradkok-d Drew, I^ibrai-iau of tlie 
 
 Pilgrim Society, Plymouth (JO 
 
 Letter from Mr. S. S. Thresher, of Norwich, Conn. ... 61 
 
THE MA.T. JOHN MASON STATFK 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE STATUE. 
 
 The story of uational ami state testimonials of historic import^ 
 liow they came to be thought of, ami by what i)rocess of action 
 and argument they were evolved, is always interesting, and 
 deserves perpetuation in some lasting form ; for usually sucb 
 memorials are incentives to patriotism, and this is a feeling the- 
 natiou and state should cultivate by all the means at their com- 
 mand. 
 
 In regard to the statue lately erected to the memory of Maj. 
 John Mason and his comrades, on Pequot Hill, in the village of 
 Mystic River, and town of Groton, Conn., this i& particularly 
 true. It is the memorial of a most heroic action, — an action that 
 admitted of no delay, and which was caiTied out with a prompt- 
 ness, energy, and thoroughness that were the salvation of those 
 colonists who had made New P^ngland their home. 
 
 The menace of war had changed to its actuality. Two hundredi 
 and fifty fighting men of all ages were called on to confront a 
 nation numbering in its fighting men more than one thousand of 
 the most cruel, daring, and courageous warriors of the red race.. 
 
■6 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 ♦Several men, womeu, and ehiklreu of the inhabitants of Wethers- 
 field and Saybrook had already experienced the nobility and 
 kindness of the Pequot heart, and their ashes were stirred and 
 scattered by each wind that swept past their torture-posts. 
 
 The people assembled in council, and ninety men volunteered to 
 inarch against the foe. John Mason, a soldier who had served in 
 the Netherlands, — that great school of war where William and 
 Maurice of Nassau, Sir Francis Vere, Lord Fairfax, Sir Philip 
 Sidney, Don John, Alva, Alexander Faruese, and Spinola, battled 
 and marched, — was selected to command these men, and in 
 May, 1(337, set sail down the Connecticut Eiver, and, taught by 
 the experience of his previous campaigning, skirted the shore 
 -of the Sound until he had gained the rear of his enemy. There 
 he landed, and began his march through a country whose inhabi- 
 tants would, at the first appearance of disaster to his force, 
 become enemies. 
 
 But, undaunted by the discouraging environments, he kept on, 
 his force reduced, by the necessity of leaving thirteen of his 
 people in the small craft that had brought him to the Narra- 
 gansett shore, to seventy men. 
 
 Before him were the wilderness and a wily and courageous foe 
 numbering more than ten times his force ; around him, a large 
 gathering of red men, whose deceitfulness was too well known to 
 admit of trust in their assertions : behind him, a settlement in 
 the wilderness, over whose scattered homes the shadow of sudden 
 and cruel death lay dark and gloomy. 
 
 To him and his seventy men the assembled colonists had com- 
 mitted the safety of themselves, their wives, and children. It was 
 their duty to be firm and brave in the trust, no matter what fate 
 lay before them ; and with unfaltering step, and a heroism that 
 touched the sublime, they marched on, and fought, and con- 
 ■quered. 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE STATUE. 
 
 The colony was saved. Mason and liis seventy men bad met 
 and overthrown the nation whose warriors had never before known 
 defeat ; had met them when they were entrenched in their strong- 
 hold, and had vanquished them both in desperate fight and in that 
 cunning and strategy of which they were so proud. The homes 
 and families of the colonists were saved ; and, thanked by the 
 Assembly whose orders he had so promptly executed, and honored 
 by the entire community, Mason resigned his position as com- 
 mander of the expedition, to be immediately appointed commander 
 of the military forces of the colony, with the rank of major, a 
 position that he held during the remainder of his life. His com- 
 rades were the heroes of the colony ; and whenever occasion 
 presented to do them honor, their neighlwrs gladly testified their 
 respect and confidence by conferring office and trust to their 
 care. 
 
 From this action followed a long peace, in which the colony 
 thrived, and from which our present magnitude grew, and man- 
 kind derived the immense benefit that has resulted in the change 
 of this continent from savagery' to civilization. 
 
 It is a curious fact in our history that an event so pregnant 
 with results, so heroic in execution, and so beneficial to the 
 colonists, both of Connecticut and New England, should so long- 
 have remained without a memorial. But the agitation came ; 
 students of history proclaimed the fact that this was no unim- 
 portant affair, but one replete with significance ; and public thought 
 was turned to it. 
 
 The first article bringing the matter forward, that can be traced 
 to its fountain-head, was that written by Mr. Amos A. Fish, pub- 
 lished in the " Mystic Press," who sought to locate the site of the 
 destroyed fort, and narrated such testimony to its location as was 
 then existing in the neighborhood. This paper called forth many 
 comments, among them a suggestion, emanating from the Rev. 
 
THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 Frederick Denisoii, that the site should be marked by a bowlder 
 mouumeut. A little later, Mr. Horace Clift, of Mystic River, 
 published an aceouut of the traditions of his family, the owners of 
 the land, as to the location of the fort. These traditions, running 
 through three or more generations, elicited the warm sui)[)ort of the 
 Hon. William H. Potter, of Mystic River, who wrote a lengthy 
 account of them, and brought the matter before the attention of 
 the New- London County Historical Society, then presided over by 
 the Hon. Lafa3-ette S. Foster, of Norwich. The society took im- 
 mediate interest in the matter, and appointed a committee of its 
 members, consisting of the Hon. Richard A. Wheeler, of Stoning- 
 ton, Hon. William H. Potter, of Mystic River, and Daniel Lee, 
 Esq., of New London, to locate the site of the fort, and prepare 
 such reports as were necessary. These gentlemen called in to 
 their assistance such residents of the neighborhood as had made 
 the matter subject of study, among them Col. Amos Clift, the 
 owner of the land. The site was located by the charred remains 
 of the stockade, which still exist ; and this done, the necessity of 
 a monument to mark the spot was discussed, and agreed to ; and 
 Capt. William Clift, President of the Mystic-river Bank, deposited 
 in that institution one hundred and fifty dollars, subject to the 
 order of a monument committee. Drawings were prepared ; but, 
 owing to the excitement consequent on the l)eginning of our long 
 array of national centennials, the matter lagged, though Messrs. 
 Daniel Lee and William H. Potter made strenuous efforts to have 
 something done during the lifetime of the memorial's projectors, 
 and Capt. P21ihu Spicer made a generous offer to furnish a sum 
 sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 There was a divergence of opinion as to the design, however, 
 and several were suggested, prominent among them being a 
 combined representation of the Lulian and white races. This 
 difference led to delay, and one b}' one those who had interested 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE STATUE. 
 
 themselves in the mtitter joined the silent majority, Hon. L. F. S. 
 Foster, Hon. Henry P. Haven, Hon. AY. H. Starr, and Messrs. 
 Daniel Lee and Charles Allyn being of the number outside of 
 Mystic, and in tliat vilhige, Mr. A. A. Fish, Mr. Nathan Noyes, 
 Col. Amos Clift, and others. 
 
 This brought the matter to a further stand; but in 1886 the 
 New-London County Historical Society appointed a committee to 
 bring the matter before the Legislature at its 1887 session, and 
 the people of Mystic gave their aid. This committee consisted of 
 Messrs. Richard A. Wheeler and William H. Potter, and it was 
 associated with Messrs. Horace Clift, George AV. Tingley, and 
 others from the immediate vicinit}' of the fort's location. The 
 committee appeared before the Legislature, at its 1887 session, 
 and, though it met with much opposition, at last overcame all 
 (^Ijstacles, and obtained an appropriation, the Legislature passing 
 the following resolution : — 
 
 " Resolution concerning the erection of a monument to Captain 
 John Mason. 
 
 "General Assembly, January Session, A.D. 1887. 
 
 " Resolved by this Assembly : 
 
 "Section 1. That three commissioners be appointed by the 
 Governor to procure and cause to be placed on a bowlder monu- 
 ment, when such monument shall have been erected, on Mystic or 
 Pequot Hill, in the town of Grotou, Connecticut, a suitable bronze 
 statue, of heroic size, of Captain John Mason. 
 
 " Sec. 2. Said commissioners are hereby authorized to make a 
 contract, in the name and on behalf of the State, with some com- 
 [tetent artist, to be by them selected, for constructing such statue 
 and placing it in its position as aforesaid ; provided, that the 
 whole expense of the statue and placing it in position shall be 
 limited to a sum not exceeding four thousand dollars ; and j^rovkled 
 further, that the amount so appropriated shall be paid out of the 
 funds of the fiscal year of 1888." 
 
10 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 Acting under the antliority thus given, the Governor, Hon. 
 P. C. Lonnsbury, appointed Hon. Charles Augustus Williams, of 
 New London, Charles E. Dyer, Esq., of Norwich, and Hon. 
 Richard A. Wheeler, of Stonington. Mr. Williams was appointed 
 chairman, and, at its first meeting, Thomas S. Collier, of New 
 London, was elected the secretary of the Commission. 
 
 The New-London County Historical Society met, and appointed 
 a committee, consisting of Messrs. Richard A. AVheeler, of Ston- 
 ington, Oscar M. Barber, of Mystic Bridge, Henry Bill, of 
 Norwich, W. H. H. Comstock, of New London,- Rev. Charles 
 J. Hill, of Stonington, Capt. John E. Williams and Horace Clift, 
 of Mystic Bridge, and John J. Copp, of Groton, to solicit sul)- 
 scriptious and select a proper site for the monument ; and those 
 gentlemen quickly began work. Their solicitations were freely 
 responded to, and they were soon able to proceed to business. 
 The subscribers to the pedestal fund were — 
 
 William Clift $150 00 
 
 Elihu Spicer 500 00 
 
 Elizabeth G. Stillman 100 ()(» 
 
 C. H. Mallory 50 00 
 
 Horace W. Fish 50 00 
 
 C. A. Williams "25 00 
 
 Jeremiah Halsey . . . • • . 20 00 
 
 Henry Bill 20 OU 
 
 William L. Palmer . ' . . . 10 00 
 
 Charles R. Stark 10 OU 
 
 A total of nine hundred and thirty-five dollars. 
 
 With this sum, a bowlder, weighing twenty-three tons, was 
 transported to the spot selected, and a die of cut granite was 
 placed on it. The ground to place the statue in a striking position 
 
THE BEGINNING OF THE STATUE. 11 
 
 had been douated by Messrs. Horace and Edimind Clift ; and the 
 pedestal being completed, and a neat coping of granite placed 
 aronnd it, the committee reported to the Commission that the 
 pedestal was ready for inspection. 
 
 The Commission then met at the site of the proposed monument, 
 and, finding the pedestal a tine and notable structure, accepted 
 the same, and began tlie work of obtaining a suitaV)le statue to 
 1)1 ace thereon. 
 
12 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE C0:MMISSI0N. 
 
 The pedestal for the monument to Maj. John Mason l>eing 
 complete, and accepted by the Commissioners appointed by the 
 Governor of the state to procure a memorial to be placed thereon, 
 the}-, at their next meeting, invited artists to send in competitive 
 desio-ns for an heroic bronze statue, suitable for this purpose. 
 This was done liy advertisement and letter, and the day appointed 
 for selection was September 15, 1888. At that time, five models, 
 and one photographic reproduction of a model, were brought to 
 the rooms of the Commission, which failed to make selection, tlie 
 meeting adjourning for one week. 
 
 Mr. Robert Kraus, who had submitted a design, withdrew from 
 the competition before the adjourned date, and the competitors 
 were J. Scott Hartley, of New York, Karl Gerhardt, of Hartford. 
 H. K. Bush-Brown, of Paris, Alexander M. Calder, of Philadel- 
 phia, and J. G. C. Hamilton, of Westerly. After due exam- 
 ination and interchange of views, the model of Mr. Hamilton, 
 submitted by the Smith Granite Company, of Westerly, R.I.. was 
 made choice of, and the Commission entered into a contract with 
 that company and its sculptor, INIr. Hamilton, whereby the hist- 
 named parties agreed to furnish and place on the pedestal erected 
 on Pequot Hill, Groton, an heroic bronze figure of a Puritan 
 warrior, the statue to be in place by June 6, 1889. 
 
THE WORK OF THE COMMISSION. 13 
 
 During the work on the model, the Commissioners visited the 
 studio of Mr. Hamilton, and gave their personal attention to the 
 figure and costume. Mr. Hamilton's careful study had made 
 suggestion useless, however, and when the model was completed, 
 application for a sum sufBcient to unveil the statue with appropri- 
 ate ceremonies was made to the Legislature of 1889 and granted. 
 
 When assured of this, the Commission made the programme for 
 that occasion its study, and the following scheme was adopted : 
 A procession of civic and military bodies from the central part of 
 the village to the site of the statue ; music ; prayer ; the delivery 
 of the statue to the state ; its acceptance ; music ; oration ; poem ; 
 music ; procession to the central part of the village ; dinner to 
 military and invited guests. 
 
 It was decided to ask the Hon. John T. Wait to deliver the 
 oration, and in case he could not otticiate, Mr. Isaac H. Bromle}^ 
 was named as alternate. Mr. Wait was forced to decline, and 
 Mr. Bromley accepted the position. The Rev. Charles J. Hill 
 was invited to make the opening prayer; the Rev. G. H. Miner 
 was asked to offer the benediction, and Thomas S. Collier was 
 selected as the poet. The chairman of the Commission was asked 
 to take charge of the order of exercises, and to make the address 
 delivering the statue to the state, which was to be accepted by the 
 Governor, and the Rev. D. H. Miller, D.D., was invited to ask 
 the blessing at the dinner. 
 
 These gentlemen having accepted the duties asked of them, the 
 programme was satisfactorily arranged. The contractors report- 
 ing the statue ready for placing in position, the Commission set 
 June 6, 1889, as the date when they could attend and see it so 
 placed. Mr. C. A. Williams, chairman, being obliged to visit 
 California on business of importance, the Commission voted that 
 Mr. Charles E. Dyer should be chairman during his absence. 
 In compliance with their agreement with the Smith Granite 
 
14 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 Compauy, the Commission visited Mystic River on June Gtli, iind 
 saw the statue placed in position. They tlien met several gentle- 
 men of the village, and witli them made arrangements for the 
 unveiling ceremonies, which were set for Wednesday, June 20, 
 1889. 
 
 Gen. Edward Harland, of Norwich, to whom the marshalshii) 
 had been offered, having informed the Commission that it would 
 be impossible for him to serve, Gen. Charles T. Stanton, of 
 Stonington, was selected, and accepted. 
 
 The Commission then asked Capt. John K. Williams, Dr. Oscar 
 M. Barber, and Horace Clift, Esq., all of Mystic Bridge and 
 Mystic River, to act as a committee of entertainment, and assist 
 the Commission. Col. W. W. Packer, Capt. J. Alden Rathlwne, 
 Capt. George E. Tripp, and Elias Williams, Esq., were requested 
 to act as marshals and assist Gen. Stanton ; and E. Burrows 
 Brown, Esq., A. H. Simmons, Esq., and Col. James F. Brown 
 were asked to act as a reception committee. These gentlemen 
 very kindly assented, and the ceremonies of unveiling, and the 
 duties of the day were all cared for. The arrangements were 
 completed, and the guests invited by Thursday, June 20. 
 
 Among the people invited were the Governor and his staff, and 
 the state officers ; the Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of 
 Massachusetts and Rhode Island ; the Appropriation Committee 
 of the Legislature ; the senators and representatives from the 
 towns and districts contiguous to the place ; representatives of the 
 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut state historical 
 societies; and from the New-England Historic Genealogical Society; 
 the American Anticpiarian Society, of Worcester ; the New-Haven 
 Colony Historical Society ; the New-London County Historical 
 Society ; and the Plymouth Museum and Library. Citizens of the 
 state, and people interested in such matters, were generally in- 
 vited, and the list of guests numbered one hundred and fifty. 
 
THE WORK OF THE COMMISSION. 15 
 
 The day of the unveiling was foggy, but uot enough so to 
 prevent a successful celebration. The guests, military and civic, 
 reached Mj'stic l)y eleven a.m., and were quickly formed in column, 
 and, headed by the Governor's Foot-Guards, proceeded to the 
 site of the statue, where a platform and seats had been arranged. 
 The procession begun its march at 11.35 a.m., the time set in the 
 [)rograrame Ijcing 11.30. The ceremonies at the statue began at 
 12.30 P.M., the hour set, and were concluded in time for the dinner 
 to begin at the appointed time, 3.00 p.m. ; and at 5.30 the guests 
 were all in New London, the ceremonies having passed without 
 break or hindrance. 
 
 Among the guests present and not before mentioned were the 
 Hon. John T. Wait, of Norwich ; Hon. Charles A. IJussell, M. C, 
 of Killingly ; Hon. Charles Francis Adams, of Boston ; Hon. 
 Thomas R. Trowbridge, of New Haven ; Hon. Benjamin Stark, 
 of New London ; John C. W\-man, Esq.. of Valley Falls, R. I. ; 
 Elisha Turner, Esq., of Torringtou ; Rev. J. Gibson Johnson, D.D., 
 of New London, and many gentlemen from Norwich, New London, 
 Stonington, and the three villages of Mystic, Mystic River, and 
 Mystic Bridge. 
 
 Many descendants of Maj. John Mason were also present, 
 and sliared in the hospitalities of the Commission ; and the Hon 
 Richard A. Wheeler, one of the Conniiissioners, carried Maj. 
 ^Mason's sword on the i)latform. 
 
 The unveiling ceremonies were universally satisfactory, and the 
 statue was as unanimously decided to be a tine and suital>le repre- 
 sentation of the man whose heroic deeds it connnemorated. 
 
 The statue is a notal)le production, representing the typical 
 Puritan of history, — a man ready of purpose, courageous in action, 
 holding a firm faith in his mission as a propagator of the truth of 
 God's Word, and of the divinely bestowed right of freedom. 
 
 The figure is about nine feet high, with a fine poise, denoting 
 
16 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 •strength and action, willi the right hand grasping the lialf-dravvn 
 sword. The costume is that of the colonists of the period, and 
 :allows of freer scope in draper}- than the stiff garments of the 
 present permit. 
 
 The pedestal consists of a panelled die, standing on a doul)le 
 base, the upper cut, the lower a natural bowlder weighing more 
 than twenty-three tons. The total height of pedestal and statue 
 is aliout twenty feet. 
 
 The statue stands in a commanding position on the crest of 
 Peqnot (or Mystic) Hill, at the junction of two roads, in a circle 
 curbed with granite. The Sound, with its islands, the villages of 
 Mystic Kiver, Mystic Bridge, and Noank, the borough of Stoning- 
 ton, the picturesque valle}' of the Mystic, and the varied shore-line 
 of the Sound make the view an exceptionally fine one. 
 
 The battlefield lies a short distance north of the statue, but fi'ora 
 the fact that arrow-points are found thicklv scattered all over the 
 level space and gradual slope contiguous to the site of the monu- 
 ment, it seems safe to infer that the fight raged even beyond the 
 site selected as best suited for placing the memorial. 
 
 The inscription on the base is : 
 
 EKECTED A.D., 1889, 
 
 KY THE STATE OF CONNECTICCT, 
 
 TO COMMEMORATE THE HEROIC ACHIEVEMENT OK 
 
 MAJOR JOHN MASON 
 
 AND UIS COMRADES, "WHO NEAR THIS SPOT, 
 
 IN 1637, OVERTHREW TUF. TEQIOT INDIANS, 
 
 AND PRESERVED THE SETTLEMENTS FROM DESTRUCTION. 
 
 The statue is indeed a worthy memorial of a most heroic 
 action. 
 
THE UNVEILING CEREMONIES. 17 
 
 THE UNVEILING CEREMONIES. 
 
 The visiting companies formed as directed by the marshals, and, 
 headed by Gen. Charles T. Stanton, chief marshal, be'gan the 
 line of march at 11.3") a.m. The leading organization in line was 
 the First Company of the Governor's Gnards, commanded by 
 Maj. Kinuey, and headed by Colt's Band. The Guards escorted 
 the Governor and his staff, riding in carriages. 
 
 They were followed by a battalion of four companies of the 
 Third Regiment, Connecticut National Guard, and the Machine 
 Gun platoon of the regiment, which were headed by the regimental 
 band. 
 
 The Commission, orator, poet, state offlcers, members of the 
 Legislature, and invited guests, filling twenty-seven carriages, 
 formed the last division of the procession, and were headed by 
 Tubbs's Band. 
 
 Arriving at the statue, the invited guests took seats on the 
 platform, and at 12.30 the ceremonies were opened by the Third- 
 Regiment Band playing " America." 
 
 Mr. Charles E. Dyer, the chairman of the Commission, then 
 said : — 
 
 "It is eminently approi)riatc on this spot, around which cluster 
 so many hallowed recollections, consecrated by the blood of our 
 
18 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 forefathers, eonuectiiig intimately the present with the past, and 
 bringing to mind the watchful care of onr Heavenly Father from 
 the days of our colonial existence to the present hour, that the 
 blessing of God should be invoked. I therefore call upon the 
 Rev. Charles J. Hill, of Stoningtou, to open the exercises with 
 prayer." 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty and ever glorious God, we adore thee as the King of 
 kings and Lord of lords, the Governor of the universe, and the 
 Ruler of nations. 
 
 AVe recognize thy hand in the foundation of this nation. Wc 
 acknowledge our belief that thou didst bring our fathers across 
 the sea ; guide them through the wilderness ; deliver them from 
 their enemies ; and lead them by a way they knew not unto the 
 city of habitation. 
 
 One generation shall praise th}- works to auotlier, declare the 
 might of thy terrible acts, and utter the memory of thy great 
 goodness. Thou didst liring out fatliers to the borders of this 
 sanctuary, even to this mountain which tliy right hand had pur- 
 chased ; thou didst cast out the heathen before them, and divide 
 them an inheritance by line, and make them to dwell in safety. 
 Oh that men would praise the Lord for liis goodness ! and for 
 his wonderful works to the children of men I 
 
 thou who hast been our dwelling-place in all generations ! 
 grant that we may dedicate this monument and unveil this statue 
 not for worship, not for sacrifice, not for human glory, but as a 
 witness to tliis generation, and a testimony to our children's chil- 
 dren of our faith in the God of our fathers, who saved them from 
 destruction, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies. 
 O God ! we dedicate it to thee. 
 
PRAYER. 19 
 
 Let it be to all the people a memorial of tli}' faithfulness — a 
 token of thy mercy — a pledge of thy help in every time of need. 
 Let it be an acknowledgement of our gratitude to those who 
 fought our l)attles, and saved our fathers from death and our 
 mothers from suffering. May it teach ns to be loyal to duty, 
 brave in times of trouble, and heroic in saving those who are in 
 danger ! 
 
 O thou who art merciful ! we confess that all our deeds are 
 marred by ignorance and weakness, even when they are not defiled 
 by sin ; and we acknowledge with shame and confusion of face 
 that we have not been faithful to the high trust thou didst commit 
 to us, when thou didst send our fathers across the sea to teach the 
 ignorant savages thy Gospel, and declare unto them the true 
 character of the Great Spirit whom the}' ignorantly worshipped ; 
 but hear, Thou in heaven, thy dwelling-place, and pardon, we 
 beseech thee, the sins of the penitent people. We thank thee for 
 a clearer conception of the Gospel of Salvation, and pray that its 
 spirit, abiding in our hearts, may lead us to be kind to the weak, 
 just to the unfortunate, merciful to the erring, and atone, by an 
 enlarged Christian benevolence, for the wrongs that may have been 
 done in the past. Let schools, and institutions of industry, and 
 churches, reared by a penitent nation, be memorials of our obliga- 
 tions to " the children of the forest," into whose heritage we have 
 entered. And so we pray thee, let the memory of the past in- 
 spire our gratitude and promote our love for one another. And 
 may the time speedil}" come when the Gospel of Him who died for 
 the redemption of the world shall fill the whole land with peace 
 and good-svill to men, and the hope of life everlasting! 
 
 And unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy 
 Ghost everlasting thanks shall l)e given. And let all the people 
 say, Amen. 
 
20 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 Mr. Dyer then made the following address, delivering the 
 statue to his Excellency the Governor : — 
 
 "Your Excellency, — We are assembled to participate in 
 exercises appropriate to the completion of a statue erected in 
 memory of the heroic Maj. John Mason, who with his comrades, 
 near this spot, won a signal victory over their savage foes a little 
 more than two hundred and fifty years ago. Pequot Hill is a 
 locality that will he ever memorable. Here it was that the 
 decisive blow was struck by wliich the salvation of the infant 
 colony was secured, and the settlemeuts were preserved from 
 annihilation. 
 
 "The commissioners to whom the responsibility was assigned 
 to ' procure and cause to be placed on a bowlder monument, on 
 Mystic (or Pequot) Hill, in the town of Groton, Connecticut, a 
 suitable bronze statue of heroic size of Maj. .John Mason,' have 
 discharged the duty committed to their care. 
 
 "The structure is complete, and we now deliver it to you, sir, 
 the honored chief magistrate and official representative of the 
 state ; and may the God of nations, who guided and sustained 
 him whose memory and whose deeds we seek this day to perpetuate 
 in granite and in bronze, watch over and protect our beloved com- 
 monwealth and this united, happy, and prosperous nation, through- 
 out the years to come ; and may we, the citizens thereof, relying on 
 his unerring wisdom, be e\cr mindful of the motto emblazoned on 
 tlie ])auner of our state, (^ui Transtulit Susfinet.'' 
 
 To this the (Governor replied in the following words : — 
 
 "Memorials hastily erected to commemorate patriotic deeds or 
 distinguished services are not always the best evidence of the 
 gratitude of a nation or state, or unquestioned test of true merit. 
 
THE governor's REPLY. 21 
 
 The deeds aud services which are intended to recall the history of 
 a nation, written or unwritten, transmitted from one generation to 
 another, recounting the unseltish devotion and seif-sacificing, 
 patriotic zeal of her children, are broader and higher ground from 
 which to form a judgment of the men and scenes of the times in 
 which they were participants. We have met here to-day, after a 
 lapse of more than two centuries, to recall to our minds a man so 
 prominently identified with the history of the little colony which 
 developed into the broad and prosperous State of Connecticut, 
 that his acts and daring deeds have survived these centuries and 
 become part of the history of the state. A grateful people, 
 through its government, directed this memorial statue to be erected 
 here amid scenes of which Maj. John Mason was the leader and 
 the daring spirit. The skilful hand of the designer has well dis- 
 played, in silent bronze, the brilliant, daring Indian fighter. 
 Mr. President, on behalf of the state, I accept the charge of this 
 monument, and extend hearty thanks for the fidelity with which 
 the Commission has discharged its trust." 
 
 ^Music by Tubbs's Band followed, and Mr. Dyer then said : — 
 
 "Ladies and Gentlemen, — It gives me pleasure to introduce 
 to you, as the orator of this occasion, a native of New-London 
 County, a man whom you all know, — Mr. Isaac H. Bromley, of 
 Boston." 
 
22 THE MAJ, JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 For fourteen years, begiuuing with the-nineteenth of Ai)ril, 187o, 
 anniversary of the first bloodshed of the Revolution at Lexington , 
 and ending last month with a fitting celel)ration of the inauguration 
 of the first President of the Republic, we have been passing througii 
 a series of centennial observances. For all the great initial points 
 in the nation's history, we have set up our century-posts, while 
 around them we have ranged our memory-tents and built our 
 solemn altars. The fourteen years between the shot fired b^' the 
 embattled farmers — "heard round the world" — and the salvo of 
 artillery that punctuated the inaugural oath of the first President, 
 were filled with the travail pains which ended in the bringing forth 
 of a man-child among the nations. We have just finished cele- 
 brating that birthday of fourteen years. 
 
 During this period, the minds of sixty million people have been 
 occupied with memories of those whom they fondly call " the 
 fathers" ; Avith reverent admiration for their virtues, lofty appreci- 
 ation of their sacrifices, and boundless gratitude for the priceless 
 legacy they left to their descendants. It is doubtless true tliat, 
 looking somewhat through the medium of our own emotions down 
 the long perspective of a hundred years, we have magnified events 
 that in their day seemed but ordinary, and glorified men who, to 
 their contemporaries, were common mortals. But liave we erred in 
 
ORATION. 
 
 this? Is the glamour which a himdred years have thrown over 
 these events more misleading than the mists through which contem- 
 poraries viewed them ? Is the halo with which we surround our 
 heroes more unreal than the canvas of the artist who, with his 
 sitter close at hand, only painted him skin deep ? 
 
 If our judgments of the long-gone past and the actors in it are 
 not characterized by the cold, hard accuracy of scientific statement, 
 is it not also true that only in the historic perspective do we 
 discern the true proportions of character and the real relations of 
 events ? 
 
 The fathers builded indeed better than they knew. Of the 
 full meaning of their work, and of their own future fame as its 
 authors, none of them had an}' adequate conception, and but few 
 had dimly dreamed. Neither the}' nor their work could be 
 fairly judged in their own time, for with all the success that had 
 attended their endeavors, the fulfilment of their highest hopes in 
 the establishment of the Union, it must be remembered that they 
 saw but the beginning of an experiment. Onl}' in the light of a 
 hundred 3'ears of trial can the work of the fathers, and the 
 fathers themselves, be fairly judged. Looking back across the 
 3'ears, we see their figures stand out, clear cut, massive, dominant, 
 larger than human, on the sky-line of our history. We know now, 
 what the}' did not, the vast results that trembled in the balance 
 against their fortitude and faith ; and in that knowledge we have 
 said in the pride of our ancestry and the fervor of our gratitude, 
 "All these were 'Plutarch's men.'" It is not we who have 
 idealized them, but that silent, ceaseless process in the crucible of 
 time that never fails to purge the characters of the men who greatly 
 served their age of all the dross of human frailt}', leaving only the 
 pure gold of their lives for our admiration. Onl}' our ideals are 
 real. For that alone lives which we make live by remembering, 
 and that only is dead which has been forgotten. 
 
24 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 It SO happens that, at the close of this series of centenary anni- 
 versaries of the formative period of the government, we are bidden 
 by this occasion to take a more extended retrospect ; to review 
 some of the events, and to consider tlie cliaracter of another of 
 "Plutarch's men," of a still earlier time. We shall see that 
 largely through what happened on this hill two hundred and fifty- 
 two years ago, and through the courage, skill, and promptitude in 
 emergencies of the man whose memory we are here to honor, the 
 whole succession of events we have so lately commemorated was 
 made possible. 
 
 Just here upon this spot the tide was turned that, with gathering 
 force, threatened to overwhelm the small beginnings of that New- 
 England civilization which a hundred and fifty years later became 
 the vital force of a new nation. And it was he whose memorj- we 
 are honoring to-day who in the crisis of the fight gave the decisive 
 word. Fearful word it was ; it meant relentless fire and indiscrim- 
 inate slaughter ; but it said " Thus far, no farther," to the refluent 
 waves of barbarism, and cleared the way to fort}' years of peace. 
 
 Jolm ]Mason w\as born in England about 1601. Neither the 
 place nor the date of his birth is precisel}- known, nor do we know 
 anything definite of his family. Of the influence of local surround- 
 ings, hereditary tendencies, and early associations upo;i the devel- 
 opment of his character, we are accordingl}- left almost entirely to 
 conjecture. We may well suppose that he first saw the light in 
 one of those counties in the North of England, — Lincoln, York, 
 or Nottingham, — where such men as Robinson, Brewster, and 
 Bradford were bred, and that his youth was influenced by the 
 atmosphere of their pious teachings and austere lives. Or it 
 may be that his first infant cry was heard somewhere on the 
 banks of Severn, whose waters two hundred ^-ears before had 
 prefigured the dissemination of Wyckliffe's doctrines when they 
 bore his dust to the spreading sea. However that may be, we 
 
ORATION. 25 
 
 cannot be far wrong in assnming that his first breath was of an 
 air vital witli protest and dissent and strenuous assertion of indi- 
 vidual freedom of thought, belief, and speech ; that he inherited 
 from a vigorous though obscure ancestr}' his sound mind and 
 sinew}- frame ; that his training was strict and severe ; and that 
 his associations were with that common people of England who 
 stood up for their own against the menaces of the Stuart kings in 
 Parliament and Prince Rupert's fiery charge on Marston Moor. 
 
 The forward movement of the world in historj- is b}' cj'cles. To 
 long intervals of rest and inaction succeed periods of stormy 
 dispute, clashing of interests, social upheavals, political revolu- 
 tions, tempests and tumults of war. To these convulsions succeed 
 again the rest and rust of peace, too often paid for by intellectual 
 stagnation, deadened patriotism, and moral degeneracy. It is not 
 in tlie slothful contentment of these stagnant intervals that life is 
 most worth living. They furnish little illumination for the pages 
 of history, evoke no heroes or martyrs to elevate and ennoble the 
 race by grand examples of courage and self-sacrifice. 
 
 In our own time, who that lived in and was part of the great 
 contention that covered so man}' years of violent controversy and 
 hot debate culminating in civil war, does not thank God that his 
 lot was cast in such a stirring and eventful time? What good 
 fortune it was to the contemporaries of Washington and Putnam 
 and C4reen, of the signers of the Declaration and the authors of 
 the Constitution, to have walked abreast of that procession of 
 events in such grand company ! 
 
 It was the good fortune of John INIason to enter on the stage of 
 action, not in the piping times of peace when the king ruled 
 undisputed, the peasant meekly bore his yoke, and the world was 
 stagnant with content, but in a time that bristled with questionings 
 and quivered in every fibre with the tokens of a new revelatioii 
 and a new birtli. 
 
26 THE MAJ, JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 It was eight}' years since Martin Luther had uttered his im- 
 mortal answer: " Here stand I; I can none other; God help me. 
 Amen." The protest had made little stir in the visible England 
 which seemed so pliant to "Wolse}', so submissive to the king. 
 But though the momentar\- restlessness to which Wycklitte had 
 quickened the thought of England a hundred and fift}' ^-ears before 
 seemed to have utterl}' disappeared, he had not, as the result 
 showed, scattered seed on barren ground. The immediate impulse 
 which proceeded from him had mdeed ceased, but for a hundred 
 years thereafter manuscript copies of his translations and tracts 
 were in circulation among the common people, who met in groups 
 to hear them read, or passed them on from hand to hand. The 
 foundation for protest lay ver}' deep in English soil. When Henry, 
 pressed by political necessities, entered the lists in defence of the 
 Pope and against Luther, though he gained for himself the title 
 of "Defender of the Faith," outside the narrow circle of his 
 courtiers and dependents he was unheard and unheeded. But 
 when, a little later, he made his stand against papal supremacy, 
 and asserted for himself the Headship of the Church, the common 
 people of England, in whom the teachings of W^-ckliffe had been 
 slowly taking root through two hundred j'ears, smothering their 
 indignation and disgust at the shameful motives of the king, and 
 seeing only in the whole transaction the rescue of the English 
 government and people from subjection to papal domination, gave 
 him at once, and heartily, their sympathy and support. 
 
 But neither political nor religious freedom was to be established 
 in the lust of a royal liluebeard. The people had only changed 
 masters. The struggle against absolutism was to go on for 
 another hundred years, until a king's head lay upon the block ; 
 and the practice of religious toleration was to wait enforcement 
 until, in a land then almost unknown, a colony of refugees from 
 religious intolerance should drive out from among them, for a 
 
ORATION. 27 
 
 difference in belief, the founder of a state wliere "soul liberty'^ 
 was first established. 
 
 Tlie small gain secured to freedom of opinion b}- Henry's breach 
 with the Pope seemed hopelessly lost in the bloody reign of Mary ; 
 but Elizabeth's accession to the throne had revived the hopes of 
 the persistent heretics who had outlived Mary's persecutions. 
 P^lizabeth's reign, so fruitful of results of tremendous import to 
 England and to all mankind, was now, at John Mason's birth, 
 within tw^o Aears of its close. Never in the annals of the kingdom 
 had there been such intellectual activity, such rapid growth and 
 expansion of the mind and heart of the people as in the reign just 
 ending. The issue raised by Luther was still under discussion, 
 and the professed believers in a gospel of peace and good-will 
 were burning, shooting, and torturing one another over the ques- 
 tion which of the two parties into which Christendom was divided 
 was the rightful representative of that gospel's author. England, 
 though she had stood under arms on all her coasts at the approach 
 of the Armada, had not felt the contact of actual war. But she 
 had sent her soldiers over into the Netherlands to fight against 
 Philip, and these had brought back on their return a zeal for the 
 new religion quickened b}' their association wiih the Nether- 
 landers, and a hatred of the papacy intensified by what they had 
 witnessed of the cruelties of Alva. 
 
 It was onl}' natural that the intellectual movement of the period 
 should in these conditions revolve largel}- round religious themes. 
 The book most circulated and read among the common people was 
 the Bible, newly translated by Tyndale. With the unusual interest 
 attaching to it from its having been so long forbidden, and the sub- 
 ject of so wide and fierce contention, we may well imagine the eager 
 curiosity with which they fell upon the stirring recital of the trials 
 and triumphs of the chosen people in the Old Testament, and the 
 l>urning zeal with which they debated the doctrines of the New. 
 
28 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 Nor was it strange that to these people, painfull}- working out 
 their own deliverance amid cruel persecutions and blood}- wars, 
 the story of the chosen people, of their fierce and uncompromising 
 spirit, their merciless extermination of the enemies of Jehovah, and 
 the miraculous interferences bj- which they triumphed over their 
 foes, should have a special charm. For the}-, too, were a chosen 
 people, and there were not lacking seers among them in whose 
 bosoms throbbed the consciousness that their Passover was at 
 hand, and that for them also there waited the parted waters and 
 the promised land. They were of the Mosaic dispensation. It 
 was not the peaceful slope of Olivet that inspired their meditations 
 or occupied their view. It was Sinai that always stood over them, 
 black and gloomy with clouds, threatening with its thunders and 
 terrible with its swift lightnings. And we shall see them before 
 long, slaying their Amorites hip and thigh, smiting them with the 
 sword until none are left alive, and then possessing their land. 
 
 The great religious contention was at its height when John 
 Mason was born. Two j-ears after P^lizabeth's death, Grotius 
 wrote that theology ruled in England. It occupied the minds and 
 filled the thought of king and people to the exclusion of almost 
 everything else. A historian of the time writes : "Sunday after 
 Sunday, da}- after da}-, the crowds that gathered round the Bible 
 in the nave of St. Paul's, or the family group that hung on its 
 words in the devotional exercises at home, were leavened with a 
 new literature. Legend and annal, war-song and psalm, state- 
 roll and biography, the mighty voices of prophets, the parables of 
 evangelists, stories of mission journeys, of perils by the sea and 
 among the heathen, philosophic arguments, apocalyptic vision, — 
 all were flung broadcast over minds unoccupied for the most i)art 
 by any rival learning." 
 
 So much, in briefest outlines, of the intellectual environment in 
 which he first drew breath, and of the influences which shaped his 
 
ORATION. 29 
 
 career, is necessary to a proper uuderstanding of Mason's character 
 and conduct. 
 
 Our first knowledge of him — and that but vor}' scant}' — is as a 
 lieutenant under Sir Thomas Fairfax, serving in the Low Coun- 
 tries. How long he remaine<l there we do not know. He could 
 not have served long with Fairfax, as the latter's service, whicli 
 was somewhat in the nature of a youthful adventure, was but for 
 the few months of the siege of Bois-le-Duc, — from April to July, 
 1630. That he was of good extraction and a young man of 
 promise is indicated b}* his rank of lieutenant. The fact that 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax remembered him some fourteen or fifteen 
 years later, and sent to him across the ocean an urgent request to 
 return to England and accept a Major General's commission in 
 the Parliamentary Ai-mv, is proof that under the eye of Sir Thomas 
 he had demonstrated his courage and capacit}'. Lord Fairfax was, 
 even at that age, a keen observer and a shrewd judge of men, and 
 being himself one of the ablest and pluckiest soldiers of his age, 
 he knew a soldier when he saw him. 
 
 If Mason was in the Low Countries with Fairfax in 1630, he 
 could not have been in Warham's company, which arrived at 
 Massachusetts in May of that year and presently fixed themselves 
 at Mattapan, — afterwards called Dorchester. That he was among 
 the earliest accessions to the Dorchester colony is apparent, how- 
 ever, from the fact of his appearing in December, 1632, as engaged 
 under a commission from the governor and magistrates of Massa- 
 chusetts to search for a pirate named Bull, who had for some time 
 been harassing the settlers on the coast. 
 
 Two years later, he was one of a committee appointed to plan 
 the fortifications of Boston harbor, and was presently in charge of 
 the erection of a battery on Castle Island, from which it would 
 appear that lie had had some experience in engineering. 
 
 In INLirch, 1635, he represented Dorchester at the General 
 
80 THE MA.l. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 Court. Later in the same 3'ear, it is probable that he accompanied 
 the party of adventurers who made the difficult journe}' to the 
 banks of the Connecticut, opening the way for the larger emigra- 
 tion which, with Hooker and Stone, in June, 1636, settled at 
 Windsor. 
 
 It was not until after long and heated discussion — all discus- 
 sion was hot in those days — and a close vote of the General 
 Court, that permission was granted for this emigration. From 
 what happened later, from the character and subsequent career of 
 Hooker, and from the circumstance that the Connecticut emi- 
 grants, in the organization of their government, did not found the 
 civil franchise on church membership, it may be safely inferred 
 that a prime motive for this emigration was the desire to establish 
 a social system in which there should be an entire separation 
 between church and state. The part taken in it by John Mason 
 discloses the bent of his miud in the direction of freedom of 
 conscience. 
 
 At Windsor, as everywhere else in New England where colonies 
 were established, the church pastor was the leader. Hooker was 
 the prominent figure and chief factor in the early life of the 
 Windsor colony and of the state. For it was almost purely 
 a religious movement that colonized New England ; the colonists 
 were, in fact, religious exiles. And if, in the clearer light of 
 to-day, the founders of New England seem to have been at times 
 fanatical, bigoted, and intolerant, let us remember with profound 
 gratitude ihat we are largely indebted to the rigor of discii)line 
 and severity- of training which these qualities engendered for the 
 pure stock and distinctive New-England character of which we 
 are so proud. The half-breed races of Spanish America on one 
 side, and French Canada on the other, are illustrations of the 
 social conditions from which the rigid morality of the Puritan 
 delivered us. 
 
OKATION. 31 
 
 The immediate neighborhood of the Mathers, and Brewsters, 
 and Bradfords, could not have been especially attractive to persons 
 of a cheerful temper or livelj' disposition. The steady diet of the 
 psalm-singers was the wrath of God. To indulge in pleasantry 
 under such a dispensation was unpardonable levity, to be visited 
 with censure, and possibly with stripes. Doubtless the company 
 of ^Morton and his fellow roysterers at Merry Mount had largely 
 the advantage in point of liveliness and gayety. But these were 
 two extremes, and there was no mean. They could not get on 
 together. It was not quite in the spirit of what, in our da}-, is 
 called libert}', but it was clearly a good day's work, when Miles 
 Standish took Morton b}' the collar, faced him towards England, 
 and broke up his hold. The psalm-singer stayed. It was well he 
 did, for in that Puritan strain, which was simph^ the old Saxon at 
 white heat with religious zeal, and hardened with the hammer of 
 religious persecution, lay all that makes the nation great and 
 prosperous. 
 
 The three settlements, Hartford, Windsor, and Wetherslield, 
 which then constituted Connecticut, contained in 1636 about eight 
 hundred persons. They were surrounded b}- tribes of savage 
 Indians, estimated at from tlu'ee thousand to four thousand, most 
 of whom were unf riendl}-, some actively hostile. From their near- 
 est civilized neighbors they were fourteen daj-s distant, bej'oud the 
 hope of any succor against sudden attack. From the Connecticut 
 River to the Pawcatuck, the country was roamed over — the 
 pseudo-philanthropist will observe the distinction between roaming 
 over and occupying — b}' the Pequots and Mohegans ; the country 
 east of the Pawcatuck was claimed b}' the Narragansetts. Sassa- 
 cus, chief of the Pequots, had under him twenty-six sachems, 
 one of whom was Uncas, of the Mohegans. Jealousy between 
 the latter and his chief had caused bad blood, so that Uncas was 
 quite ready when the issue came to side with the whites against 
 
32 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE, 
 
 Sassacus ; and questions of boundary had kept the Pequots and 
 Narragansetts arra3'ed against each other. So it happened, or, as 
 the colonists devoutly l)elieved, was specially ordered by Provi- 
 dence, that Sassacus, in the war which soon broke out, was left 
 without the aid of two natural allies, with either of whom he 
 could have exterminated the white settlers of New England. 
 
 It is useless to deny that the whites had given good cause for 
 the hostility of the aborigines. It was a real grievance, and not 
 innate treacher}' and vindictiveuess, that lay at the root of the 
 whole business. It dated from Thomas Hunt's seizure and sale 
 into slaver^', in 1614, of twenty-four inoffensive Indians who had 
 trusted in his honor. The vindictive feeling aroused by this 
 brutal outrage, which had been somewhat alla^'ed in the breast of 
 Canonicus by tlae fair dealing of the Plymouth colonists, burned 
 unqueuched in the bosoms of Sassacus and the Pequots, who made 
 no discrimination between the unprincipled adventurer of 1614 and 
 the peaceably-disposed settlers of the later period. 
 
 In 1634, Captain Stone, a trader from Virginia, having put into 
 Connecticut River in a small vessel, was killed with his Avhole 
 crew by a party of Pequots. The demand of the Massachusetts 
 authorities for the surrender of the murderers was met by Sassacus 
 with excuses, prevarications, and delays, which continued through 
 two years, when the killing of John Oldham, of Watertown, 
 Mass., by a party of Pequots from Block Island, brought matters 
 to an issue and war was formally declared. 
 
 It was not a war, however, that the Massachusetts colonists had 
 any special cause to be proud of. An expedition was fitted out, 
 consisting of ninety men, in three small vessels, under command 
 of John Endicott, which, sailing away to Block Island, attacked 
 the Indians there, killing some fourteen of them, burning their 
 houses, cutting down their corn, and destroying their canoes. 
 They then proceeded west to the mouth of the Pcquot — now the 
 
ORATION. 
 
 Thames — River, where the}' burned more houses and destro3ed 
 more crops, after which they returned to Boston. Capt. Lion 
 Gardiner, in command of a garrison established at the mouth of 
 the Connecticut, accurately described the expedition and its 
 results, when he said: "You came hither to raise these wasps 
 about my ears, and then you will take wings and fly away." 
 
 In the three towns of Wetherslield, Hartford, and Windsor 
 were about two hundred and fifty white men capable of bearing 
 arms. They were surrounded by Indian tribes, who, between the 
 Hudson and Narragansett Bay could muster, if united, four or five 
 thousand warriors. Of these, from seven hundred to one thousand 
 Avere Pequots under Sassacus, now in open hostility. The wasps 
 were raised and Endicott had sailed awa3^ 
 
 The wily Sassacus made it his first endeavor to unite all the 
 Indian tribes in a war of self-preservation, which meant exter- 
 mination, against the colonists. To this end, he brought himself 
 to send ambassadors to his ancient enemies, the Narragansetts, to 
 induce them to come into the alliance. Meanwhile, the Pequots 
 in scattered bands were harassing the Connecticut settlers, way- 
 laying and killing them with the most savage barbarities. 
 
 It will not be amiss to observe here that the Pequot embassy to 
 the Narragansetts was defeated of its purpose through the active 
 and self-sacrificing labors of Roger Williams ; his infiuence with 
 the Narragansetts, among whom he lived and with whom he had 
 established relations of friendship and confidence, being sufficient 
 to restrain them from following Sassacus. In a letter to Capt. 
 Mason he says: "Three days and nights my business forced me 
 to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequot ambassadors, whose 
 hands and arms methought reeked with the blood of mj^ own 
 C'0untr3'men, murdered and massacred by them on Connecticut 
 River, and from whom I could not but nightly look for their bloody 
 knives at my own throat also." Bancroft gives Roger Williams 
 
34 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 the credit for "dissolving the conspirac}- " against the whites. 
 He adds : " It was the most intrepid achievement in the war, as 
 perilous in its execution as it was fortunate in its issue." So 
 the man whom the Massachusetts colonists had sent into exile 
 was able to save them from the extermination which had sureh' 
 been their fate had the Pequot-Narragansett alliance been 
 formed. 
 
 Some thirty persons belonging to the settlements on Connecticut 
 River having fallen victims to Indian barbarity, and it being 
 manifest that the Pequots had entered upon a war of extermina- 
 tion, the Connecticut colonists were confronted with the problem, 
 in its most practical and concrete form, of the survival of the 
 fittest. This situation explains the subsequent action of Capt. 
 Mason. What followed that action amply justified it. 
 
 The Pequot war was the first emergency the General Court of 
 Connecticut was called to meet. The aid of the 3Iassachusetts 
 and Plymouth colonies, which had "raised the wasps," naturally 
 was solicited. Massachusetts, at a special sessiou of its General 
 Court, responded with an order for a levy of one hundred and sixty 
 men and the sum of £600. Plymouth ordered a levy of forty men. 
 Connecticut raised a force of ninety men, forty-two of whom 
 were from Hartford, thirty from Windsor and eighteen from 
 Wethersfield, and placed them under command of Capt. Mason. 
 
 The formal declaration of war by the General Court of Connec- 
 ticut was on jNTay 1. On May 10, Mason, having completed the 
 levy, started with his expedition down the river, the intention 
 being to carry out the declaration literally by making an "offensive 
 war" against the Pequots. Hence they were to be attacked in 
 their stronghold here. 
 
 On the seventeenth of May, they arrived at Saybrook, where 
 they remained wind-bound until the nineteenth. Saybrook was 
 then simply a fortification with a small garrison under conuuand 
 
OEATION. 35 
 
 of Capt. Lion Gardiner, whicli had lately been re-enforced bj' 
 Capt. Underbill with nineteen men from Massachusetts. 
 
 Mason's army of ninety men was considered so absurdly inade- 
 quate to the task set before it that the trained soldiers, Gardiner 
 and Underbill, at first refused to send any of their own men upon 
 the expedition. Finally, Underbill with twenty of the garrison 
 joined Mason, and twenty' of Mason's original ninety were sent 
 back for the protection of their own homes and families. 
 
 At this point a question arose upon the decision of which, as 
 afterwards clearly appeared, the fate of the whole movement de- 
 pended. It was in its essence a question of obeying instructions. 
 Not only were the^' limited b}' the terms of their coimuission to 
 landing in Pequot River, but the order had been repeated by a 
 letter of instructions sent to Saj^brook. But Capt. Mason, ha\dng 
 made up his mind upon information received after leaving Hartford 
 that the Pequots were aware of this design and prepared to meet 
 them, was disposed to take the responsibilit}' of disregarding his 
 instructions in this particular and disembarking at a point farther 
 east. "Our council," says Mason, " all of them except the captain, 
 were at a stand and could not judge it meet to sail to Narragau- 
 sett," in the face of such positive and repeated instructious to land 
 at Pequot River. 
 
 Capt. Mason was a profoundly religious man, but there was 
 something like worldly wisdom in his piety when, as he says, 
 ^'Apprehending an exceeding great hazard in so doing," he 
 " earnestly desired Mr. Stone that he would commend our condi- 
 tion to the Lord that night to direct how and in what manner we 
 should demean ourselves in tliat respect, he being our chaplain and 
 lying aboard our pink, the captain on shore." It is safe to say 
 that before taking himself ashore, as he no doubt did to avoid the 
 suspicion of having unduly influenced the chaplain, he took good 
 care that Mr. Stone should have such knowledge of the facts as to 
 
36 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 be able to lay them intelligently before the Lord. At any rate, 
 the chaplain's prayer was answered in accordance with Capt. Ma- 
 son's view of the situation, and very early the next morning, by 
 unanimous agreement of the council, the expedition set sail for 
 Narragansett. 
 
 The strength of Mason's character, his manly self-reliance, and 
 his patient self-command, are finely illustrated by this episode. The 
 habit of his mind from his training as a soldier in the Low Coun- 
 tries under that famous disciplinarian. Sir Thomas Fau-fax, was 
 that of strict subordination and unquestioning obedience ; but here 
 was an emergency which called for something more. He must 
 take the risk himself of disobeying orders to save the cause, or, 
 avoiding responsibility, put the cause in serious peril by meek 
 obedience. He chose the former. He did it with no less modesty 
 than firmness. In his history of the Pequot war written thirty 
 years later, he seems more anxious that it should not be regarded 
 as a precedent than to take any credit for it to himself. After 
 relating the transactions just described, he quaintly says: "I 
 declare this not to eucourage any soldiers to act beyond their com- 
 mission or contrary to it, for in so doing they run a double hazard. 
 There was a great commander in Belgia who did the state great 
 service in taking a city, but by going be^'oud his commission lost 
 his life. His name was Grubbenduuk." 
 
 Leaving Saybrook on Friday, the nineteenth, they reached their 
 destination in the evening of Saturday, the twentieth. The next 
 day being Sunday, they remained on board their vessels, religiously 
 keeping the Sabbath. A storm coming up prevented their landing 
 until the evening of Tuesday, at which time they disembarked at 
 the foot of what is now called Tower Hill, overlooking Point 
 Judith. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, Capt. Mason called upon Canonicus, 
 the chief sachem of the Narragan setts, with whom peace had been 
 
ORATION. 37 
 
 firmly established through the diplomac}' of Roger Williams, and 
 in courtly phrase explaining his sudden intrusion asked permission 
 to pass through the Narragansett country on his way to punish 
 the enemies of the Narragansetts, the Pequots. Canonicus an- 
 swered, giving the desired permission and approving the design, 
 but adding that their numbers " were too weak to deal with the 
 enemy, who were very great captains and men skilful in war." 
 
 Here Mason received a message from Roger Williams, announc- 
 ing the arrival at Providence of a ^Massachusetts party of forty 
 men under Capt. Patrick, and requesting him to wait until they 
 came up. But, with Mason, celerity of movement whereby he 
 could take the enemy b}' surprise was of more importance than 
 reinforcements. It is not an improbable inference from what 
 subsequently happened, that Capt. Mason knew something about 
 Patrick and preferred going on without him. It seems " there fell 
 out a great contest" between Patrick and Underbill shortly after 
 the two parties united at the mouth of the Pequot. A few years 
 later, this same Capt. Patrick, having quarrelled with the Massa- 
 chusetts people, went over to the Dutch at New Amsterdam and 
 put himself under their protection. 
 
 Early Wednesday morning. Mason, with his seventy-seven white 
 men — thirteen having been left in charge of the boats — about 
 sixty Mohegans, and two hundred or more Narragansetts, took up 
 his march against the Pequots. At the end of the day's march they 
 came to a fort occupied b}- the Niantics, a tribe of the Narragan- 
 setts, it being on the frontier of the Pequots. These Indians showed 
 at first an unfriendly disposition. Mason says, "They carried 
 very proudly towards us ; hot permitting any of us to come 
 into their fort." The Captain accordingly set a strong guard 
 around the fort and ordered that no one should pass out during the 
 night ; a prudent precaution against the possibility of information 
 being conveyed to the Pequots. Mason had no confidence in 
 
38 THE MA J. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 Indian good faith ; he distrusted these Niantics, notwithstanding 
 they were at war with the Pequots against whom he was march- 
 ing. To him the Indian was a very squalid and repulsive 
 creature externall}', with a treacherous disposition in whicli cow- 
 ardice and blood-thirstiness were equally' mixed ; a verj' different 
 figure from that which excites our admiration in the sculptor's 
 marble or on the painter's canvas, or that attracts our S3'mpath3' 
 in the pages of romance. He saw him in the concrete : a stealth}' 
 wild beast lurking in thickets, with but one ambition higher than 
 slaughter, and that to torture his victim with refinements of cruelt}' 
 before killing him. The earl}' Puritan was somewhat deficient in 
 artistic sense. It probably never occurred to John Mason, seeing 
 this untutored child of nature with drawn bow or raised tomahawk, 
 that the pose was dramatic. The first swift suggestion was that a 
 funeral was impending, and his chief and immediate care was that 
 it should not be his own. 
 
 Capt. Lion Gardiner, in command at Saybrook, had even less 
 confidence in Indian professions than Mason. He would not trust 
 the Mohegans — sixty of whom with Uncas had come to Saybrook 
 by land from Hartford to join the expedition against their enemies 
 the Pequots — until a party of them, sent out against a straggling 
 band of Pequots, returned with one prisoner and the heads of five 
 others. Chaplain Stone also distrusted the Indians. Capt. 
 Underbill relates that going on board the chaplain's vessel, he 
 heard him wrestling in prayer with tlie Lord that some sign of the 
 good faith of the Mohegans might be given before they were 
 taken on board. When he rose from his knees, Underhill told 
 him his praj'er was alread}' answered, giving him the news of the 
 return of the Mohegans with their liloody trophies. 
 
 But Mason, who was a discriminating judge of character, as well 
 of the Indians as of his own countr3'nien, reposed much confidence 
 in Uncas. So when on the next morning some two hundred of the 
 
ORATION. 39 
 
 Niantics joined the little arm}', making about five hundred Indians 
 in all, while the}' were boasting how brave the}' were and how many 
 Pequots they would kill, he quietly asked the Mohegan chief what 
 he thought the Indians would do. Uncas answered that the Nar- 
 ragansetts would all leave, but that he himself would never desert 
 the English. "And so it proved," says Mason; "for which 
 expressions," he continues, " and some other speeches of his, I 
 shall never forget him. Indeed, he was a great friend and did 
 great service." 
 
 It may be mentioned in passing that Mason's friendship for 
 Uncas continued unbroken till his death in 1672. Uncas survived 
 him ten years, and with his tribe was always a loyal friend and 
 faithful ally of the whites. 
 
 At eight o'clock Thursday morning, Mason and his seventy -seven 
 white men, with their noisy and demonstrative escort of five hun- 
 dred savages, were on the march. The weather, it being the 
 fifth of June in our calendar, was very hot and oppressive ; there 
 was a lack of provisions, and some of Mason's men fainted by the 
 way. A march of twelve miles brought them to the Pawcatuck 
 River, where they " stayed some small time," Mason says, and 
 " refreshed themselves with their mean commons." Being now on 
 the borders of the Pequot country, the boastful Narragansetts 
 began to change their tune, " manifesting great fear," says Mason, 
 "insomuch that many of them returned, although the}' had fre- 
 quently despised us, saying that we durst not look upon a Pequot, 
 but themselves would perform great things." 
 
 Three miles beyond the Pawcatuck, they halted at a field lately 
 planted and held a council. Here they learned that the Pequots 
 had two forts " almost impregnable," but, says Mason, " we were 
 not at all discoui'aged but rather animated, insomuch that we were 
 resolved to assault both their forts at once." One of them, in 
 which was Sassacus the Pequot chief, was so remote that they 
 
40 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 could not reach it before midnight, so they were " constrained to 
 accept of the nearest," being " much grieved thereat." 
 
 Encamping that night at Porter's RocIvS "between the hills," 
 they established their outposts, and with the rocks for pillows 
 rested themselves after their weary march. Meantime the Pequots 
 in their fort were keeping up a great rejoicing until miduight, the 
 noise of which was heard by the sentinels. They had seen the 
 expedition pass the mouth of tlieir river some days before, and 
 supposed that the English had not dared attack them. Hence 
 their exultation. 
 
 Two hours before dawn they arose, joined in prayer, and began 
 again their silent march, the Indians keeping so far in the rear 
 that, upon reaching the foot of the hill, INIason sent for some of 
 them to come up to act as guides. Onl}' Uncas and the Niautic 
 sachem Wequash appeared, who being asked where the rest were, 
 answered, "Behind, exceedingly afraid." Whereat Mason sent 
 word to them, " That they should b}' no means fly, but stand at 
 what distance they pleased and see whether Englishmen would now 
 fight or not " ; a message imbued with the spirit, and almost in 
 the language of Hebrew prophecy ; as when Jahaziel said to the 
 affrighted hosts of Jehoshaphat, "Ye shall not need to fight in this 
 battle ; set 3'ourselves, stand ye still and see the salvation of the 
 Lord." 
 
 The fort, though a rude defensive work, was quite formidable ; 
 especially so considering the disparit}' in numbers between its 
 seven hundred defenders and the seventy-seven assailants. It was 
 circular in form, of an acre or two in extent, enclosed b}- trunks 
 of trees driven into the ground, some ten or twelve feet in height. 
 It contained about seventy wigwams along two streets or lanes, 
 and had two openings at opposite sides for entrance and egress, 
 which were closed by obstructions of light branches of trees. 
 
 The surprise was complete. The assault was made simultane- 
 
ORATION. 41 
 
 ously at both entrances, Mason at one and Uuderhill at the other, 
 ■with about sixteen men each, the remainder being ranged around 
 the enclosure to prevent escape, and the Indian allies at a con- 
 siderable distance where the}- had a safe point of observation and 
 could without danger intercept fugitives with their arrows, which 
 the}' did without mercy. 
 
 Capt. Mason on the northeast side was within a rod of the main 
 entrance when the barking of a dog in the enclosure gave the 
 alarm. Pushing his way through the opening, he found the camp 
 in confusion, some of the Indians hiding themselves in their wig- 
 wams, others running about and hastily assembling themselves for 
 resistance. There was some firing of muskets on one side aud 
 shooting of arrows on the other, but without much being accom- 
 plished, until Mason, realizing that the only chance his dozen or 
 two men had against their seven hundred foes was to take im- 
 mediate advantage of the panic, said, " We must burn them," 
 and seizing a fire brand from one of the wigwams put it into the 
 mats with which they were covered. The wind being from the 
 northeast, the fire spread rapidly aud overran the whole enclosure. 
 Underbill aud his detachment, being to leeward, were driven out 
 by the fllames. Mason, as soon as the whole fort was seen to be 
 on fire, withdrew also and joined the reserves who, at a little 
 distance, surrounded the stockade. Many of the Pequots were 
 burned in their wigwams ; many others, climbing the palisades to 
 escape the fire, met death at the muskets of Mason's men or were 
 brought down by the Indian allies in the rear of the lines. 
 
 Of the seven hundred Pequots, only seven were taken captive 
 and seven escaped. It is not probable that any women or children 
 were in the stockade. No mention is made of them in either 
 Mason's or Underbill's story of the fight. The only occupants 
 of the fort were Pequot warriors, who had gathered here to repel 
 Mason if he should land at the mouth of the river as was ex- 
 
42 THE MA J. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 pected. Their number had been increased the night before the 
 fight by the addition of some one hundred and fifty from the stock- 
 ade on Fort Hill, in plain sight from this point, a mile or two 
 distant, where Sassacus himself was. 
 
 Clearly, this was a bloody day's work ; a day of fire and slaugh- 
 ter. It is not altogether pleasant to think of, though two hundred 
 and fifty years have passed. At the best, war everywhere, iu all 
 its immediate aspects, is repulsive. War is waste. Its wisest 
 eeonom}' is often prodigalit}-. It stops not to count with exact- 
 ness, nor measures to the line, but scatters with reckless profusion 
 and rends its fabrics with tooth and claw. It is well to remember, 
 too, that from the beginnings of history, all progress has been iu 
 the wake of war, and every forward step in our boasted Christian 
 civilization has been in its blood}' footprints. And this was war 
 in its worst form ; a war of extermination on the one side, of self 
 preservation on the other. It was short, sharp, and decisive, — 
 none ever more so. And this is the comforting feature of it. that 
 bloody and terrible as it all was, it resulted in an enormous 
 saving of human life, and the prevention of barbarities beside 
 which what happened here would have seemed but tender mercies. 
 
 It is not strange, however, that long after the event, when the 
 ■conditions and surroundings were almost forgotten, and civilization 
 had begun to ameliorate in some measure the horrors of war, the 
 ■conduct of the fight should be criticized and the humanity of Capt. 
 Mason called in question. It did not occur to Mason's associates, 
 •or the General Court under whose orders he acted, that there was 
 -any occasion for criticism. Mason made no excuses or explana- 
 tions. The enthusiasm with which he was received on his return 
 was unstinted; the General Court raised no "Committee on the 
 Conduct of the War," but signified its approval thereof and its 
 ■confidence in INIason by appointing him to the chief militar}' com- 
 anand of the colonv- 
 
OEATION. 43 
 
 Roger Williams, who would surely- have beeu heard from had 
 there been any ground for criticism of the transaction on the 
 score of inhumanity, afterwards spoke of Capt. Mason, with whom 
 he was in controversy, as having been made b}- the Lord " a 
 blessed instrument of peace to all New England." 
 
 Capt. Underbill in his narrative of the fight, in a quaint and 
 characteristic way anticipates possible criticism: ''It may be 
 demanded," he says, '• Why should 3-ou be so furious? (as some 
 have said). Should not Christians have more mercy and compas- 
 sion? But I would refer you to David's war. When a people is 
 grown to such a height of blood and sin against God and man and 
 all confederates in the action, then he hath no respect to persons 
 but harrows and saws them and puts them to the sword and the 
 most terriblest death that may be. Sometimes the Scripture 
 declare th that women and children must perish with their parents. 
 Sometimes the case alters, but we will not dispute it now. We 
 had sufficient light from the Word of God for our proceedings." 
 The devout spirit of the Puritan preferred lodging his defence 
 upon Scriptural analogies and his own interpretation of them, to 
 the more natural and unanswerable appeal to the first law of 
 Nature. 
 
 It is not impossible that there are those living within sight of 
 this consecrated summit whose narrow view is confined to the 
 bloody details of the fight, excluding causes, conditions, and 
 results, and whose unreasoning sympathies are wholh' given to the 
 savage horde who onl}- received here the measure they meted out ; 
 who can see nothing in this passage in our early history upon 
 which we may dwell with grateful emotions ; nothing in the char- 
 acter of the chief actor in it to awaken our enthusiasm or tax our 
 admiration. 
 
 Looking out upon what has resulted from that morning's work 
 on this hill, they may, if urged to the confession, admit that the 
 
44 THE MA J. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 deliverance it accomplislied, the saving of tlie seeds of New- 
 England civilization from the hoofs of barbarism, has been of 
 some service to manlviud. But they would qualify the admission 
 by insisting tliat there was unnecessary bloodshed. For not 
 knowing the precise line to which the}' were required to hew on 
 the one hand, and might safely stop on the other, they censure 
 Mason and liis men. For all the beneficent results that flowed 
 from their action, they piously thank God who overrules all things 
 to his own glory aud who maketh the wrath of man to praise him. 
 It is our function here, while reverently acknowledging the over- 
 ruling Providence in histor}' to consider also with reverence and 
 gratitude the instruments and methods by which it works. And 
 we are here, too, amid these peaceful scenes whose peace was 
 bought at such a price, to rememl)er, first of all, that homely 
 axiom of common life, that " to have an omelet there must be 
 breaking of eggs." 
 
 Was it necessary to meet barbarians with barl)arity, to appl}' the 
 burning brand that consigned these seven hundred to destruction? 
 Could not the end have been accomplished at a less sacrifice ? Ask 
 Pastor Hooker, who at Hartford a fortnight before b}' a formal 
 religious ceremou}' had solemnly delivered the staff into Mason's 
 hands as the ensign of martial power, entrusting to his protection 
 the lives of the colonists. Ask Teacher Stone, chaplain of the 
 expedition, whose character and life assure us, even if his calling- 
 had not forbidden it, that he would not approve unnecessary blood- 
 shed. Ask the afl'righted settlers at Wethersfield, whose husbands 
 and brothers had been tortured and slain, and whose daughters 
 had been carried into captivity worse than death. Ask Lion 
 Gardiner, who from his little fort at Saybrook had seen his men 
 ambushed and put to death with horrible torture. Ask the peace- 
 loving Roger Williams, who afterwards hailed Mason as " a blessed 
 instrument of peace to all New England." Finally, ask John 
 
ORATION. 45 
 
 Mason himself, staudiug in the midst of overwhehning odds, within 
 the very touch of their tomahawks, every wigwam bristling with 
 arrows, and only restrained b}' momentary panic from bursting 
 forth in a stream of red death upon him and his companions. 
 Arrest his hand raised with the burning brand — ask him " cannot 
 this sacrifice be avoided ? " He need not speak. The scene itself, 
 the conditions and surroundings, above all the first great law of 
 nature, make instant answer. 
 
 Does 3-our justification still lag, my peace-preaching brother? 
 Lift up your eyes upon the scene spread out before you ; upon 
 these grassy hillsides sloping to the river and the sea, upon field 
 and meadow waving with ripening harvests, upon farm and cottage, 
 the rewards of toil and thrift, upon towns and villages teeming 
 with life and humming with industry, upon yonder waters white 
 with a commerce that keeps the world's remotest shores in constant 
 touch. Slowly broaden j'our view till the tired eye of your fancy 
 rests upon the Pacific shores ; gather in the vast intervening spaces 
 reclaimed from savagery and waste for the occupation of sixt}' 
 million people ; turn the pages of history ; note the growth and 
 development of the nation, its beneficent influence in the march of 
 human progress, its grand leadership in all that makes for the wel- 
 fare of the world, in all that elevates and enobles man. All this 
 had not been, had John Mason been less prompt or less resolute. 
 Justified by all the existing conditions that influenced his action, 
 he has been abundantly vindicated by the process of time, the 
 award of history, and the judgment of posterity. 
 
 The practical annihilation of the Pequot garrison assembled 
 here was not by any means the end of the perils by which Mason 
 and his brave companions were surrounded. At the other Pequot 
 camp on Fort Hill was Sassacus with several hundred warriors, now 
 maddened to ferocity by the fate of their kindred. An attack from 
 them in overwhelming numbers might be momentarily expected. 
 
46 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 The lueliau allies, with the exception of Uncus, had been found use- 
 less ; no help could be expected from them. In his histoiy, Mason 
 says : "And thereupon grew many ditficulties. Our provisions and 
 ammunition near spent; we in the enemy's country who did far 
 exceed us in number, being much enraged ; all our Indians except 
 Uucas deserting us ; our pinnaces at a great distance from us and 
 when they would come we were uncertain. But as we were con- 
 sulting what course to take it pleased God to discover our vessels 
 to us before a fair gale of wind, sailing into Pequot harbor to our 
 great rejoicing." 
 
 On their way to the boats, being encumbered with their wound- 
 ed, twenty in number, they wexe set upon by Sassacus and some 
 three hundred Pequots, through whom they painfully fought their 
 way to the shore. Here they found their boats, which had been 
 brought round from Narragansett Bay by Capt, Patrick of the 
 Massachusetts contingent, who, for some reason, was not disposed 
 to give Mason's men their own boats, whereupon a contention 
 arose between him and Capt. Underbill. It was at length settled 
 that the wounded should be taken in the boats, while Mason, with 
 twenty of his men already weary with long marches and desperate 
 lighting, should proceed on foot to Saybrook. They arrived there 
 on Saturday night, the twenty-seventh of May (0. S.), June 7 in 
 our calendar, and Mason says were " nobly entertained by Lieut. 
 Gardiner and many great guns." 
 
 The Pequot war was practically ended. It had been formally 
 declared by the Connecticut General Court on May 1 (O. S.). 
 Within ten days Mason had raised his levy of ninety men. On 
 the seventeenth he was at Saybrook, remaining there wind-bound 
 two days ; on the twentieth he reached Narragansett Bay, kept the 
 Sabbath next day on board, was prevented landing by the weather 
 till the evening of the twenty-third ; was on the march through 
 the twentv-fourth and twentv-fifth ; on the twenty-sixth destroyed. 
 
ORATION. 47 
 
 the Pequot force on this hill, and on the twent3'-seventh was at 
 Saj^brook, having marched the whole distance through an un- 
 broken wilderness from Xarragansett Ba}' to the Connecticut River. 
 He had received no assistance from Massachusetts or Ph-mouth, 
 and the Indian allies, except as guides, had been an incumbrance 
 and hindrance. Massachusetts had " raised the wasps," Connec- 
 ticut had burned them in their nest. The mischief kindled by 
 John Endicott had been quenched by John Mason. 
 
 Since 1633, Massachusetts had been endeaAoring to obtain satis- 
 faction from the Pequots for the murder of Stone and his com- 
 panions ; with the net result for the four years of fourteen Indians 
 killed, a few wigwams burned, some canoes sunk, standing crops 
 destroyed, and the Indians encouraged to active hostilities by the 
 impotence of these demonstrations against them. 
 
 In April, 1()37, the Pequots attacked Wethersfield. On May 
 first Connecticut declared an offensive war. On the twenty-sixth 
 she had finished it ; had made an end of the Pequot name and 
 nation, saved New England, and established [)eace for forty years. 
 If Connecticut has not been so forward as some sister common- 
 wealths in raising wasps on this and other occasions, she has been 
 behind none in the more difficult task of extinguishing them. 
 
 What followed is graphically described by Bancroft: "The 
 vigor and courage displayed by the settlers on the Connecticut in 
 this first Indian war in New England struck terror into the savages 
 and secured a long period of peace. The infant was safe in its 
 cradle, the laborer in the fields, the solitary traveller during the 
 night watches in the forest ; the houses needed no bolts, the settle- 
 ments no palisades." 
 
 Looking simply at the numbers engaged, the resources of mili- 
 tary science displayed, and the duration of the action, the fight on 
 this hill takes no rank in the annals of war. Pequot Hill does not 
 appear in the list of historic battlefields, nor John Mason's name 
 
48 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 among the world's great captains. But it is not by the numbers 
 engaged, the skill with wliich they are handled, or the stubborn- 
 ness of the contest, that the importance of such a struggle and 
 triumph as this can be rightl}^ measured. The decisive battles of 
 the world have been those on which the fate of races or the destiny 
 of nations hung ; the turning points of history. Such were the 
 triumph of Arminius that broke the Roman yoke and created 
 Germany, the rout of Attila at Chalons that arrested the Hun- 
 nish invasion and saved European civilization, the defeat of the 
 Saracens by Charles Martel at Tours that turned back the march 
 of Mahommedanism over Europe, the battle of Hastings which 
 peopled with a new race the British Islands. 
 
 It is the decisive character of such events as these, as shown in 
 their results, that gives them their highest importance. No less 
 decisive and no less important in its consequences than any of 
 them, or than the destruction of the Armada or the Ijattle of 
 Waterloo, was the speedy and effective work done by John Mason 
 on this hill two hundred and fifty-two years ago. 
 
 A hundred years earlier, a similar tragedy had been eracted on 
 a much more terrible scale when the soldiers of Cortez applied the 
 torch to the temples which had become the last refuge of the Aztec 
 people, and in the ashes of their capital extinguished the Aztec 
 race. The triumph of the Spaniard meant for the conquered 
 subjugation and slavery. The triumph of the P:uglish Puritan 
 meant freedom and peace. 
 
 Upon the departure of Mason and his men, Sassacus and his 
 followers, after some debate as to whether they should revenge 
 themselves upon the Narragansetts or seek safety in flight, decided 
 upon the latter and at once started westward to join the Mohawks 
 west of the Hudson. Having killed some white settlers on their 
 way, Mason with a force of one hundred and sixty men pursued 
 and overtook about three hundred of them near Fairfield, where 
 
ORATION. 49 
 
 they had taken refuge iu a swamp. Here they were surrounded, 
 many of them killed or taken captive, only about sevent}' of them 
 escaping, who made their way to the Mohawks. Sassacus was 
 soon afterwards killed by the Mohawks, and the Pequot nation 
 became extinct. In 1658, the name of the Pequot river was 
 changed b}' the General Court to the Thames, and the settlement 
 at its mouth to New London. 
 
 Returning to Hartford, Mason was appointed b}' the General 
 Court the chief military officer of the colony, with the rank of major, 
 which was equivalent to that of major general. This office he held 
 for the remainder of his life, thirt^'-five 3-ears. When the fort at 
 the mouth of the Connecticut was transferred to the jurisdiction of 
 the colony, Mason was placed in command, and removing there 
 became one of the first settlers of Saybrook. In 1659, he led in 
 the first settlement of Norwich, where he resided until his death in 
 1672. During this time he held a great number of public offices of 
 the first importance. In her " History of Norwich," Miss Caulkins 
 distributes his life on this continent in four portions. He was 
 " Lieutenant and Captain at Dorchester five and a half years. Con- 
 queror of the Pequots, Magistrate and Major at Windsor twelve, 
 Captain of the fort and Commander of the United Colonies at Say- 
 brook twelve, Deput}' Governor and Assistant at Norwich twelve." 
 He died at Norwich, Jan. 30, 1672. 
 
 To the storj- of Mason's life and public services, distinct as it is 
 in outline though scanty in detail, few words are needed in char- 
 acterization of the man. It is in that qualit}' or combination of 
 qualities that we call balance of mind, a certain intellectual equi- 
 poise, that he excels all his contemporaries. A trained soldier, 
 his whole life, with the exception of the brief intervals in which he 
 was engaged in his sharp and decisive encounters with the Indians, 
 was devoted to the pursuits of peace. The thirt^'-five j^ears in 
 which he held the chief military command of the colonj' were 
 
50 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 years of peace. A Puritan of the Puritans, he was no bigot. In 
 the din of ecclesiastical controversies with which the colonies were 
 filled, his only word was " that we look up to God to help us to 
 see our evil and great folly in our needless strife and contention." 
 A rigid disciplinarian, he did not hesitate to disobey the orders of 
 the General Court in an emergency, in spite of the fate of Grub- 
 bendunk. Resolute and undaunted in danger, he was yielding and 
 conciliatoi'3' when the danger had passed. With an indomitable 
 will that surmounted all obstacles, and courage that could inspire 
 his seventy followers to march against seven hundred, he com- 
 bined that rare modesty and self forgetfulness of which later 
 periods furnished such shining examples in Washington and 
 Grant. 
 
 There is no manlier or more heroic figure than this in all our 
 Colonial histor}'. As pioneer, soldier, statesman, we cannot too 
 greatly honor his memory. So, here, to-daj^, on the spot where, in 
 the crisis of New England's fate, his unshrinking courage and 
 decisive action determined the destiu}' of an unborn nation, we 
 raise the figure that perpetuates in lasting bronze the deliverer of 
 New England. But could the dead eyes be endowed with life, 
 and the mute lips clothed with language, looking out upon the 
 peopled continent and reading that wider tribute to his fame, he 
 might well say : Let this be my monument ! Exegi monumentum 
 cere jjerennius. 
 
 At the conclusion of the oration, Mr. Dyer introduced the 
 poet of the occasion, Thomas 8. Collier, of New Loudon. 
 
POEM. 51 
 
 POEM. 
 
 Out from the dust and the ashes, 
 
 Wherein we bur}' our dead. 
 Often an echo crashes, 
 
 Like the call by a trumpet sped ; 
 And deeds that were like the breaking 
 
 Of seas on a rock-bound shore, 
 Rush in on the spirit, waking 
 
 An ardor unknown before. 
 We feel that the past has spoken ; 
 
 That the men who were mighty here. 
 Though they lie in a sleep unbroken, 
 
 Have answered our triumph cheer. 
 
 Here, where the wild flowers cluster, 
 
 And cool from the sweet salt seas. 
 The winds of the south-land muster. 
 
 And harvest the song of bees, 
 Once there were blows, and the stinging 
 
 Of bullets, whose whistle keen 
 The anthem of death was singing 
 
 Through leaves that were fresh and green ; 
 
52 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 And high through the uight's dark spaces 
 
 The clamor of battle rose, 
 And the flames shone bright on the faces 
 
 Of men who were bitter foes. 
 
 The years, like a lierce flood, wielding 
 
 A power that no hand can stay. 
 Sweep on with a force unyielding. 
 
 Till the past is swept awa\- ; 
 But men who have shared the privation 
 
 That has founded a nation's fame. 
 And given their blood as libation. 
 
 Leave behind them more than a name. 
 They build for the future, unknowing 
 
 Where the field of triumph lies, 
 And the graves that finish the showing 
 
 Of their lives, seem a sacrifice ; 
 But the world with purpose is pregnant, 
 
 Each day has its work and needs. 
 And acts, not names, are the regnant 
 
 Role that the future reads. 
 
 "Who knows of the men who slumber 
 
 Because of the fight here won ? 
 How great or how small the number? 
 
 What deeds of valor were done ? 
 Yet on through the forest, lying 
 
 Like a snare before their feet. 
 With the wind in the new leaves sighing, 
 
 They marched their foes to meet ; 
 Marched on where no foot l^efore them 
 
 Save the bear's or the wolf's had trod, 
 
POEM. 53 
 
 With the purple deeps high o'er them, 
 
 And anemone stars in the sod. 
 These men who had left the beauty 
 
 And light of a love-lit home, 
 And died at the shrine of duty. 
 
 That peace with the 3-ears might come ; 
 They built with their lives the glory 
 
 And freedom wherein we share ; 
 It is ours to emblazon the story, 
 
 And to keep their high fame fair. 
 
 Who were the men that we honor? 
 
 Knights, with their lances at rest? 
 Princes, by Fame sought, to don her 
 
 Chaplets of bravest and best? 
 Warriors, whose plumes led the battle. 
 
 When from the flame-crested wall 
 Loud was the musketry's rattle, 
 
 Louder the cannon made call? 
 
 No ; they were only the toiling 
 
 Sons of the shop and the field, 
 Men on whose hands was the soiling 
 
 Privation and labor will yield ; 
 Yet when the call for this sounded. 
 
 Knights, aye, and princes were they. 
 Holding a faith strongly founded, 
 
 Ready for ambush or fray. 
 On through the wilderness, lying 
 
 Where the forest kings rose high. 
 And the shadows thrilled with the sighing 
 
 Of echoes that whispered by, 
 
54 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 The}" trod with a steru precision, 
 As though the triumph was sure, 
 
 Aud the}' saw, as one sees in a vision, 
 That they should increase, and endure. 
 
 The years have their seed and fruition. 
 
 Men who are rulers of time. 
 Strong for each day's high mission. 
 
 Fused in a mould sublime ; 
 Not theirs to stand idly waiting, 
 
 Far from the fields of strife. 
 Even though scorn and hating 
 
 Surge round each troubled life ; 
 For like the far stars o'er us. 
 
 Moving through cycles vast. 
 With the grand and resonant chorus. 
 
 They sang in the mighty past, 
 Deeds that mankind must be doing. 
 
 Come with the years that fly. 
 Always their end pursuing, 
 
 P>en though myriads die : 
 Man is the sword of the Maker. 
 
 He who is ruler of man, 
 He is the moulder, or breaker, 
 
 He is boundless and we are a span. 
 
 The rocks and the hills never perish, 
 For they are the work of the Lord, 
 
 And so are the deeds that men cherish. 
 Strong marks of the plough or the sword : 
 
 Each century keeps in its holding 
 A purpose that cannot be stayed. 
 
POEM. 
 
 And days, months, and years are uufolding 
 A record the ages have made. 
 
 Give them honor and praise and rejoicing, 
 
 These men who were steadfast and strong ; 
 The wide land their courage is Voicing, 
 
 From orchards now ringing with song ; 
 From factories filled with the clamor 
 
 Of engines and looms never still ; 
 From shops where the loud-sounding hammer 
 
 With the red mass of ore works its will ; 
 From shores where the white sails are gleaming ; 
 
 From marts where the world comes to trade ; 
 From broad streams with rich commerce teeming ; 
 
 From plain, mountain, hillside, and glade ; 
 From homes where love reigns with the olden 
 
 Fnchantment of beauty and trust ; 
 From farms where the wheat-fields are golden. 
 
 And only the sword gathers rust : 
 They sleep, but the nation is keeping 
 
 Their fame as a record and sign ; 
 They sowed what our hands now are reaping, 
 
 The harvests of honey and wine ; 
 And never the meed of their labor 
 
 In swift years shall lack fame or increase. 
 For they wrought with the musket and sabre 
 
 The glory and gladness of peace. 
 
 65 
 
66 THE MAJ. JOHN MASON STATUE. 
 
 The Rev. G. H. Miner, of Mystic River, then delivered the 
 benediction, after which Colt's Band played a patriotic selection. 
 
 The procession then re-formed, the Governor and his staff re- 
 viewing the same, and the line of march for the return was taken 
 up, the militia being dismissed at the central part of the village, 
 where a collation had been arranged for them in a large hall. The 
 Governor and his staff, and the other guests of the Commission, 
 partook of a dinner at the Hoxie House, and at five the visitors 
 took their trains for home, and the memorial was complete. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The Connecticut Historical Society, 
 
 Hartford, Conn., Juue 24, 1889. 
 
 Dear Sir, — My delay in ackuowledgiug the invitatiou from 
 your honorable committee to be present at the unveiling of Mason's 
 monument is certainly not due to a lack of appreciation of the 
 compliment nor to a failure to understand in a measure the high 
 significance, of the event. I had hoped to be present at the 
 exercises from the time when, a year ago, our society visited the 
 site of the Pequot fort and Mason's camp at Porter's Rocks. 
 But I am obliged reluctantly to give it up, as I must be here that 
 day. 
 
 To me there is no more interesting or picturesque deed in all 
 Connecticut history than Mason's expedition, if I except the meet- 
 ing of Washington, Trumbull, Lafayette, Count Rochambeau, and 
 others on the spot where I am now writing, which meeting re- 
 sulted in the Yorktown campaign and the overthrow of British 
 power. It always stirs me deeply when I think of that May morn- 
 ing in '37 : the little army of 90 men bidding good-bye to 
 wives, mothers, and sisters down on our "Dutch Point"; or, 
 gathered perhaps in the " Meeting-house Yard " or in the " Little 
 
58 APPENDIX. 
 
 Meadow," listening while Thomas Hooker exalted their spirits, 
 blessed their bodies, and exhorted their souls. What a mountain 
 of faith must have been in the prayers of that company, when the 
 three tiny ships slipped away from the improvised wharf and 
 sailed down the Connecticut, bearing away to what must have 
 seemed a veritable "Land of Divels " brave Mason, "New 
 England's radieut Crowne." Pastor Stone, and a large portion of 
 the men of the little colony, including, may I add, one or more of 
 my mother's ancestors in the company. It was almost sublime in 
 daring, heroic in achievement 
 
 The state does well to build memorials to Hooker, and Davenport, 
 and Mason. She adds to her dignity, and increases her honor and 
 respect in the family of states by taking an active part in such 
 celebrations as this, and the adoption of her, and the world's, first 
 written constitution. The money is well spent, and will bear fruit 
 in an object lesson not lost on us, youngsters and men of a later 
 but, thank God ! quieter day. 
 
 I trust our society will be represented by one or more of its 
 officers, on Wednesday. With regrets that I cannot be there. I 
 have the honor to be, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Frank B. Gay, 
 Secretarr/ and Librarian Conn. Hist. Society. 
 
APPENDIX. 59 
 
 AuBLRNDALE, Mass., Juiie 25, 1889. 
 
 Gentlkmen, — Your invitation to the librarian of the New- 
 England Historic Genealogical Society to attend the unveiling 
 of Capt. Mason's statue comes tardily to my hands as chairman 
 of its Library Committee. Our library just now has no librarian. 
 We should be glad to be represented on so interesting an occasion, 
 but it is not possible. Please be sure, however, that our interest 
 in your work and its successful completion is most heart}'. Con- 
 necticut honors herself and New England in such a memorial, as 
 she has done in her recent Putnam monument. It is to be hoped 
 that other states will emulate so good an example. 
 Yours very trul}', 
 
 Henry M. Hazen. 
 
 Cabinet of the Rhode-Island Historical Society, 
 
 Providence, R.I., .June 19, 1889. 
 
 Messrs. C. A. WiUidins, Charles E. Dyer, and Richard A. Wheeler y 
 Coramissiouers, etc. : 
 Gentlemen, — I thank you for an invitation to attend the 
 ceremonies at the unveiling of the statue in honor of Capt. John 
 IMason and his comrades on Pequot Hill, Mystic, Conn., the 2(jth 
 instant, and regret that a previous engagement at Cambridge, 
 Mass., will prevent my participating in the pleasures of that most 
 interesting occasion. This society would, if it could, extend its 
 cordial salutations to the citizens of Connecticut who have by this 
 movement made an enduring record of heioic action for the cause 
 of civilization and humanit}'. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Amos Perky, Secretary aud Librarian. 
 
60 APPENDIX. 
 
 Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, June 19, 1889. 
 
 Gentlemen, — A few clays ago I received, as librarian of tlie 
 Pilgrim Society, your invitation to be present at tlie unveiling of 
 the statue erected to the memory of Gen. John Mason, the hero 
 of the war with the Pequots, or as our Pilgrim Gov. Bradford 
 styled them, the Pequents. It will doubtless be an interesting 
 occasion, and although I shall not be able to be present, j'et I 
 thank you for the invitation. In our early colonial records I find 
 the following, which may be of interest to you : — 
 
 " 1637. At the Gen'all Court of o'' Sou'"aigne Lord, the Kinge, 
 holden at New Plymouth the vij"^ Da}' of June, in the xiij"' Yeare 
 of the Raigue of our Sou'"aigne Lord, Charles, by the Grace of 
 God of England, Scotland, France, & Ireland, Kinge, Defender 
 of the Fayth, &c. Before 
 
 William Bradford, gent., Gounor, Captaine Miles Standish, 
 
 Edward Winslow, Timothy Hatherley, and 
 
 Thomas Prence, John Jenney, gentlemen, 
 
 iustice of the peace of o'' soiiaigne lord the kinge, and assistants 
 in the goument. 
 
 "It is concluded and enacted by the Court, that the colony of 
 New Plymouth shall send forth ayd to assist them of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay and Conectacutt in their warrs against the Pequin 
 Indians in reveng of the innocent blood of the English w"^ the 
 s'^ Pequins haue barliarously shed, and refuse to give satisfatTon 
 for. 
 
 "It is also enacted by the Court, that there shall! )e thirty 
 psons sent for land service, and as many others as shalbe suffi- 
 cient to mauuage the barque. 
 
 " Lieftennant William Holmes is elected to goe leader of the 
 said company. 
 
 " Mr. Thomas Prence is also elected by lott to l)e for the 
 counsell c^f warr. and to soe forth w"' them." 
 
APPENDIX. 61 
 
 Then follow the names of forty soldiers who williugly offered 
 their services to go upon the said service, with three others who 
 ^^ will goe if they be prest.'" 
 
 Again thanking you for the invitation, 
 I am, 3'ours, etc., 
 
 Thomas Bradford Drew. 
 To Messrs. WiUiams, Dyer, and Wh^eJer, Commissioners. 
 
 P.S. — I said that Gov. Bradford styled that tribe of Indians 
 the Pequents. He does so in his history ; but this Court record has 
 still another name, — " Pequins." 
 
 XoKWiCH, Conk., June 15, 1889. 
 
 Messrs. C A. Williams, Charles Dyer, and Richard A. Wheeler: 
 Dear Sirs, — Your kind invitation requesting my attendance at 
 the ceremonies to be held on Tequot Hill, Mystic, Conn., on 
 Wednesda}', the 2Gth instant, at the unveiling of the statue erected 
 in memory of Capt. John Mason and his comrades, is received. 
 
 As a lineal descendant of early settlers in Plymouth Colony, 
 whose names are honorably recorded in the early history of New 
 England among those engaged in the wars waged by whites against 
 the Indians in defense of their homes, their families, and their 
 posterity ; with not a drop of any but Yankee blood coursing 
 through my veins, I take a lively interest in any event commem- 
 orative of the valor of those men who, by their strength and manly 
 courage, and with their own right hands, hewed out a home for us 
 who have come after them, in which we may dwell in peace and 
 security, with none to molest or make us afraid ; and particularly 
 
62 APPENDIX. 
 
 as the near frieud of one, now gone from us, who took so active 
 an interest in instituting the movement, and, while living, did so 
 much towards accomplishing the object, the culmination of which 
 is the event to be celebrated, do I feel especially honored by your 
 invitation, which is gratefully acknowledged. 
 
 AVith these feelings, I shall endeavor to be present on the happy 
 occasion, and participate in the ceremonies mentioned. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 8. S. Thkesher. 
 
^^">' 
 
 THE 
 
 Maj. John Mason 
 
 STATUE. 
 
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