208
HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
tercourse with the English ; the game that abounded there ; the noisome serpents that startled the traveler from his lonely trail with hiss or rattle — all afforded an inexhaustible field whence an ingenious mind could extract, in details of anec- dote and adventure, the honey of discourse ; and who was more likely to listen with a pleased ear to the agreeable nar- rator of such wonders, than the boyish, fun-loving king ? who more likely than Winthrop to cause the full, flashing eye of Charles Stuart to dance with merriment second only to that which flowed from the exhilaration of the wine-cup, or cause it to dilate sometimes with a pleased sympathy such as could merge for a moment the ambition of mistress Palmer in a softer passion, or tame to a feebler fluttering the gentle heart of Nelly Gwynne.*
An English gentleman, however accomplished, who had lacked the interesting experience that afforded Winthrop the opportunity to excite the curiosity and play upon the imag- ination of his sovereign, might have failed, as a man of unre- fined manners, however well his memory might have been stored v/ith facts relating to American life, certainly would have done ; for the monarch had inherited not a little of his father's fastidious refinement, though it was gradually soiled and finally lost in the debaucheries of a later day.
With all these happy advantages, Winthrop might perhaps have failed in accomplishing his purpose but for a simple ap- peal to the filial piety of the king. He had in his keeping a ring of rare value, that had been presentedto his grandmother by the unhappy Charles I. This ring, as if to set the seal to the favorable impression that he had made, he humbly proffered to his royal master. The king's heart melted at the sight of this touching memorial that brought to his mind the dark hours and sorrowful fate of the noble donor, who had most need of such a loyality as that gift betokened. With a gracefulness that rendered his munificence doubly wel-
* The influence of tliese artful courtesans over the opinions and acts of Charles II. was often observable in public affairs. See Camden's Imperial Hist, of England, ii. 221 ; Wade, 229.
u —
tlw.-
I
laai.
I
[1662.]
THE PATENTEES AND THE PATENT.
20^
come, he accepted the ring and granted the prayer of the colony.*'
On the 23d of April, 1662, letters patent under the great seal received the royal signature, giving to the petitioners the most ample privileges.! They confirmed in the patentees the title and jurisdiction of the whole tract of land granted to the earl of Warwick in free and common socage, and to their successors, forever. The names of the patentees in the charter were John Winthrop, John Mason, Samuel Wyllys, Henry Clarke, Mathew Allen, John Tapping, Nathan Gold, Richard Treat, Richard Lord, Henry Wolcott, John Talcott, Daniel Clarke, John Ogden, Thomas Wells, Obadiah Bruen, John Clarke, Anthony Hawkins, John Deming, and Matthew Canfield — nineteen in all — to whom, together with all the other freemen of Connecticut then existing, and who might afterwards be admitted electors or freemen to the end of time, were given the irrevocable privileges of being "one body corporate and politic in fact and name, by the name of the governor and company of the English colony of Connecticut in New England in America, and that by the same name they and their successors should have perpetual succession."
By these letters patent they are made persons in law, may plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in all suits whatsoever ; may purchase, possess, lease, grant, demise and sell, lands, tenements, and goods in the same unrestricted manner as any of the king's subjects or corporations in Eng- land. They are annually to hold two general assemblies — one on the second Thursday in May, and the other on the second Thursday in October — to consist of the governor, deputy governor, and twelve assistants, with the more popu- lar element of two deputies from every town or city.
The company or colonial corporation thus constituted, might choose a common seal, establish courts for the admin- istering of justice, make freemen, appoint officers, enact laws, impose fines, assemble the inhabitants in martial array for the common defence, and exercise martial law in all necessary
* Trumbull, i. 2iS.
t A copy of the charter is to be found in the appendix (B.) 14
7- \
\ V
Ene - for Holhsters Historv of Conneolicut.
THE
HISTOEY
OF
CONNECTICUT,
FROM THE
FffiST SETTLEMENT OP THE COLOXY TO THE ADOPTION OE THE
PRESENT CONSTITUTION.
BY G. H. HOLLLSTER,
3n Stoo l)olume0:
VOL. I.
"I wish [this task] had fallen into some better hands, that might have performed it to the life. I shall only draw the curtain and open my little casement, that so others of larger hearts and abilities may let in a bigger light; that so at least some small glimmering may be let\ to posterity what difficulties and obstructions their forefathers met with in first settling these desert parts of America." — Jilason's History of the Pequot fVar.
NEW HAVEN:
DURRIE AND PECK
1855.
Ns«. r4
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855,
BY G. H. HOLLISTER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut.
R. H. HOBB8,
Btereotyper, Hartford, Ct.
CASE, TIFFANY & CO.,
Printers, Hartford, Conn.
TO THE HON. I. T\1LLIAM STUART.
MTDEAESIE:
It gives me the highest pleasure to dedicate this work to you.
I KNOW NO GENTLEMAN IN THE StATE WHOSE LOVE FOR ITS HiSTORY IS SO MUCH LIKE A POET'S PASSION FOR HIS ^NIuSE, AS YOUR OWN. ThE SoNS OP
Connecticut will agree with me in thanking you for your filial care OF the dear old Charter Oak, Nor will that genius of "Wyllys Hill forget to reward the tender offices that nursed its second childhood. Every russet leaf that lingers aeiong its hoary locks to receive the caresses of the Indian Summer, will whisper your name ; every acorn that drops from its aged hands to germinate and perpetuate its line, will keep
your, MEMORY ALIVE IN THE HEARTS OF ITS CHILDREN.
Accept this slight token of my grateful regard, And believe me ever
Your Friend,
G. H. HOLLISTER.
PREFACE.
It is not without much reluctance that I submit this work to the examination of the public. The difficulties that beset the path of the author of a local history, are not likely to be appreciated by the majority of readers whose avocations are for the most part connected with the stirring scenes of the present day and with the bustle of active life. Tlie historian of the United States is at liberty to choose those facts that, from their large proportions and prominence, can be seen as the Green Mountains, the AUeghanies or the White Hills m.ay be, beyond the boundaries of states or other arbitrary lines that designate their locality upon the map. He may speak of Washington, of Laurens, of Putnam, or of Warren, and feel that the northern and southern reader alike is quickened with the theme. So free is he to choose from the materials before him, that common events may be passed by, common incidents may be left out of view, without awakening personal animosity or enkindling local jealousies.
The task that I have undertaken is widely different. The following pages are not a record of the doings of a mighty nation, stretching over a continent; but rather of a people humble in their beginnings, unambitious in their aims ; content with the moral grandeur that alone attends the discharge of their duty, and in silent unconsciousness building up a political structure more sublime in its beauty than the towered palaces of kings.
I have often been inquired of if I could find material for a history of so small a state ? My answer is, that I have found quite too much, and I have been more at a loss what I should be justified in leaving out, than how I should find interest- ing matter to insert.
I am much indebted to Dr. Trumbull, for going before me and gathering as he did whatever the most untiring diligence could glean from records, family papers, oral communications, and even traditions. But Trumbull did not touch upon the American revolution — that part of our historj' by far the most interesting to the people. From the close of the last French war, down to the adoption of our State Constitution, I have been obliged to shape my course without any general guide, but not without many local ones, who have pointed out the way to me for a little distance and then smilingly committed me to the care of others.
My main object in undertaking this work was to turn the attention of the descendants of the Connecticut emigrants from the present to the glorious past ; to remind them of the sacrifices, the toils, the sufferings of their fathers' fathers ; and to awaken, though it be with a momentary breath, the coals that once glowed like the vestal fire day and night upon the altar of Freedom. Those who read these pages, will find that they have little need to be ashamed of their origin, and that it can be said of them as truly and in a higher sense than the fifth Henry
Yl PEEFACE.
could say to his troops on the eve of battle, that " their blood is fet from fathers of war-proof." Indeed, no state since the fall of Lacedeemon has ever, in the history of the world, waged so many wars in the same number of years, with equal success, or voluntarily borne such heavy burdens, as Connecticut. If I have failed to prove these facts, I am sure they are capable of proof when some author more worthy of the theme shall address his energies to the task. Meanwhile, I humbly commend my labors to my brothers who stiU remain upon the soil of the State, and to those who, in regions far remote, yet turn their eyes with a fond regard toward the green hills and soft valleys where he the bones of the men who felled the forest and planted the vines.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Fags
Settlement offhe Connecticut River "T^ZZe^/.— Wah-qui-ma-cut visits the governors of Massachusetts and Plymouth ; he describes the Valley of the Connecticut ; he wishes the English to settle there ; Gov. Winslow visits the Valley; the Warwick patent; Massa- chusetts planters straightened for room ; their removal to Con- necticut opposed ; Wethersfield settled ; leave granted Hooker to remove ; first settlement of Windsor ; march through the wilder- ness ; arrival of Winthrop ; severity of the winter ; sufferings of the settlers ; construction of the General Court; journey of Hooker to Hartford ; the valley of the Connecticut ; its primitive appearance ; its aboriginal inhabitants ; their Anglo Saxon successors 17
CHAPTER II.
Connecticut a Wilderness : Tlie Pequot War and its causes. — Con- trast between the past and present; number and characteristics of the Indians ; murder of Captains Stone and Norton ; Narragansetts and Pequots ; John Oldham killed ; Gallop captures Oldham's vessel ; Endicott sent to Block Island ; he lays it waste ; remon- strance of Gardiner ; Endicott invades the Pequot country ; But- terfield roasted alive ; Tilley tortured to death ; Gardiner wounded ; an English shallop captured ; interview between Gardiner and the Indians at Saybrook ; Indians attack Wethersfield ; declara- tion of war against the Pequots ; Mason sails for Pequot ; it is decided to sail to Narragansett ; their arrival, and interview with Miantinomoh ; conduct of the Nihanticks ; Mason reinforced by Narragansetts ; boastings of Uncas ; desertion and cowardice of the Narragansetts ; the English reach the Pequot fort ; Mason burns the fort ; terrible destruction of life ; sad condition of the English soldiers ; return to Hartford 32
CHAPTER III.
Prosecution of the Pequot War. — Sassacus disgraced in the view of his tribe ; the Pequots burn their remaining fort and disperse ; Massachusetts prosecutes the war ; Mason joins Stoughton at Pequot harbor; pursuit of Sassacus; sachems murdered at "Sachem's Head ;" the " swamp fight" at Fairfield ; bravery of Captain Mason ;
vi PEEFAOE.
could say to his troops on the eve of battle, that " their blood is fet from fathers of war-proof." Indeed, no state since the fall of Lacedsemon has ever, in the history of the world, waged so many wars in the same number of years, with equal success, or voluntarily borne such heavy burdens, as Connecticut. If I have failed to prove these facts, I am sure they are capable of proof when some author more worthy of the theme shall address his energies to the task. Meanwhile, I humbly commend my labors to my brothers who still remain upon the soil of the State, and to those who, in regions far remote, yet turn their eyes with a fond regard toward the green hills and soft valleys where he the bones of the men who felled the forest and planted the vines.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTE.R I.
Faok
Settlement oftTie Connecticut Elver Valley. — Wah-qui-ma-cut visits the governors of Massachusetts and Plymouth ; he describes the Valley of the Connecticut ; he wishes the English to settle there ; Gov. Winslow visits the Valley; the Warwick patent; Massa- chusetts planters straightened for room ; their removal to Con- necticut opposed ; Wethersfield settled ; leave granted Hooker to remove ; first settlement of Windsor ; march through the wilder- ness ; arrival of Winthrop ; severity of the winter ; sufferings of the settlers ; construction of the General Court; journey of Hooker to Hartford ; the valley of the Connecticut ; its primitive appearance ; its aboriginal inhabitants ; their Anglo Saxon successors IT
CHAPTER II.
Connecticut a Wilderness : The Pequot War and its causes. — Con- trast between the past and present ; number and characteristics of the Indians ; murder of Captains Stone and Norton ; Narragansetts and Pequots ; John Oldham killed ; Gallop captures Oldham's vessel ; Endicott sent to Block Island ; he lays it waste ; remon- strance of Gardiner ; Endicott invades the Pequot country ; But- terfield roasted alive ; Tilley tortured to death ; Gardiner wounded ; an English shallop captured ; interview between Gardiner and the Indians at Saybrook ; Indians attack Wethersfield ; declara- tion of war against the Pequots ; Mason sails for Pequot ; it is decided to sail to Narragansett ; their arrival, and interview with Miantinomoh ; conduct of the Nihanticks ; Mason reinforced by Narragansetts ; boastings of Uncas ; desertion and cowardice of the Narragansetts ; the English reach the Pequot fort ; Mason burns the fort ; terrible destruction of life ; sad condition of the English soldiers ; return to Hartford 82
>
CHAPTER III.
Prosecution of the Pequot War. — Sassacus disgraced in the view of his tribe ; the Pequots burn their remaining fort and disperse ; Massachusetts prosecutes the war ; Mason joins Stoughton at Pequot harbor; pursuit of Sassacus; sachems murdered at "Sachem's Head ;" the " swamp fight" at Fairfield ; bravery of Captain Mason ;
viii CONTENTS.
Facb
and Patrick ; the English triumph ; the captives and booty divi- ded ; sufferings of the captives ; Sassacus killed by the Mohawks ; his scalp sent to Boston ; the remnant of the Pequots distributed among the captors ; the war unnecessary ; Endicott's expedition ill-advised ; Connecticut compelled to take the field in self-defense ; it became a war of extermination ; the Pequot tribe extinct. ... 66
CHAPTER IV.
TJie first American Constitution. — Civil and religious liberty had their rise in England ; their progress ; Henry VIII. ; his character and career ; his destruction and confiscation of Monastic buildings and estates ; his rehgious affinities ; progress of the Reformation ; death of Henry VIII.; the "reformation party;" the English liturgy framed ; accession of Elizabeth ; the liberal party divided ; character of the queen ; strict conformity required ; the High Court of Commission established ; its despotic nature ; clergymen executed for non-conformity ; James I. ; union of Eng- land and Scotland ; many clergymen silenced, imprisoned, or exiled ; conduct of the king ; both parties intolerant ; the puritans compelled to take repugnant oaths, or to leave the country ; their motives in coming to the new world; origin of human government; the founders of our government; their character- istics ; the Constitution of Connecticut; its objects and provisions ; two annual assemblies or General Courts; mode of nominating candidates for office ; requisite qualifications for office ; the several towns to send four deputies ; convening of regular and special courts ; deputies chosen by ballot ; the supreme power of the commonwealth vested in the General Court ; our Constitution com- pared with those of Europe ; it recognizes all power as vested with the people ; no taxation without representation ; the king not named in it ; our early laws ; Bancroft's tribute to Connecticut. . 74
CHAPTER Y.
Founding of New Haven Colony. — People threatened with famine ; corn purchased of the Indians ; colony in debt ; heavy taxes ; John Mason appointed commander-in-chief of the militia ; Hooker presents him with the staff of office ; the scene described by Dr. Bushnell ; Davenport, Eaton and Hopkins arrive in Massachusetts ; efforts made to retain them in that colony ; they settle in New Haven ; their first Sabbath there ; Davenport's discourse ; plantation covenant ; earthquake ; purchase of the land at Quinnipiack ; char- acter of the planters ; meeting in "Mr. Newman's barn ;" constitu- tion adopted; the "seven pillars" of the church; the charge of
CONTENTS. ix
Paqb
bigotry considered ; purchase and settlement of Guilford and Mil- ford ; principal settlers of Milford and Guilford ; Whitfield, Des- borough, and Leete ; Ludlow ; settlement of Fairfield and Stratford. 91
CHAPTER VI.
Colonel Fenwich establisJies a government at SayhrooTc. — Arrival of Colonel Fen wick, Lady Fen wick, and others, at Say brook ; a civil government organized ; the first proprietors and other settlers ; quarrel between Sowheag and the people of Wethersfield ; attempts at reconciliation ; the remnant of the Pequots take possession of Pawcatuck ; a war against them resolved on ; Mason and Uncas invade their territory, burn their wigwams, carry off their corn, wampum, and other valuables ; attempt to forma "general con- federation" of the colonies ; the several towns incorporated ; all deeds, mortgages, and conveyances of lands to be recorded ; the ofiice of town clerk established ; provisions made for settling estates of deceased persons ; difficulties arising from Indian titles ; purchase of Norwalk and Greenwich ; purchase of lands on Long Island ; purchase of Stamford ; Captain Turner sent to Delaware Bay to buy lands ; character of the Wethersfield people ; Mr. Ware- ham and other proprietors of Windsor ; attempts to quiet the dis- turbances at Wethersfield ; many remove to Stamford ; principal proprietors who remained ; a union of the New England colonies effected ; New England Congress ; how constituted ; its powers ; Miantinomoh and Uncas ; the former invades the territory of the latter ; stratagem of Uncas ; the Narragansetts put to flight ; Miantinomoh captured ; his death, and burial-place 106
CHAPTER YII.
Progress of Settlement. Troiibles icltli the Dutch and Indians. — Claims of the English and Dutch ; discoveries of Adrian Block ; the Dutch visit and purchase lands in Connecticut ; war between the Dutch and Indians ; how it originated ; the Indians murder Mrs. Hutchinson and her family ; the Dutch are aided by Captain Underbill ; Indian depredations and murders upon the English ; settlement of Branford ; commissioners of the united colonies meet at Hartford ; agreement with the Narragansetts and certain Long Island Indians; the jurisdiction of Westfield, and South Hamp- ton ; purchase of Say brook fort, Sec. of Col. Fen wick ; a duty to be paid Col. Fenwick ; Death of George Wyllys, Esq. ; sketch of his history ; the Charter Oak Place ; the Narragansetts commence hostilities against Uncas ; interference of the English ; declaration of war against the Narragansetts ; the Narragansetts ask permis-
X CONTENTS.
Page
sion of the commissioners to fight Uncas, and are refused ; new treaty with them ; settlement of Farmington ; controversy with Keift, the Dutch governor ; complaints of the commissioners against him ; his reply, and the response of the commissioners ; the Indians attempt the murder of Gov. Hopkins and others; the Mohawks ; first commercial attempt at New Haven ; ship, cargo, and passengers lost ; " the phantom ship ;" summons to Ninigret andPessacus; Springfield; Winthrop's claim ; death of Lady Fen- wick ; her history ; her tomb : 126
CHAPTER VIII.
Founding of New London. — Settlement commenced by John "Win- throp, Jr., and Thomas Peters ; disputed territory ; Peters returns to England ; Winthrop's commission ; settlers exempt from taxa- tion ; threatened Indian war ; Indian depredations ; the impost for repairing Saybrook fort ; the controversy decided in favor of Con- necticut ; controversy with Gov. Stuy vesant of New Netherlands ; burning of the Saybrook fort ; attempt to assassinate Uncas ; Uncas' story concerning a union between the Narragansetts, Nihanticks, and Pequots ; complaints of the Pequot captives ; Oapt. Atherton sent into the Narragansett country ; his interview with Pessacus ; Ninigret ; Gov. Stuy vesant visits Hartford ; his claims ; negotia- tions with him ; Norwalk ; Middletown ; attempt to sail for Dela- ware Bay ; Stuy vesant interferes ; French agents visit New Haven ; rumored conspiracy between the Dutch and Indians to extermin- ate the English ; the commissioners in favor of a declaration of war ; Massachusetts opposes the declaration 161
CHAPTER IX.
Departure of Ludlow. Death of Eaynes, Wolcott, and Eaton. — Fair- field and Stamford alarmed by the Dutch ; Fairfield determines upon war; Ludlow appointed commander-in-chief ; sketch of Roger Ludlow ; death and history of Gov. Haynes ; arrest and trial of Manning ; arrival of Sedgwick and Leverett in Boston ; the war with the Dutch to be carried on ; war against Ninigret ; Willard appointed commander-in-chief by Massachusetts ; his expedition a failure ; the commissioners disappointed ; the refugee Pequots ; Ninigret's movements watched ; death and history of Henry Wol- cott, Esq. ; Cromwell desires the New Haven people to settle in Jamaica ; Greenwich ; restlessness of Uncas ; death of Gov. Eaton ; sketch of his life and character ; Gov. Hopkins' decease ; his pub- lic services, and benevolence ; Chesebrough settles at Stonington ; the Mistick river made the boundary between Connecticut and
co:n'tents. XI
Fagb
Massachusetts ; death of Gov. Welles and removal of Gov. "Web- ster ; Pessacus surrounds Uncas in his fort ; Pessacus defeated ; settlement and settlers of Norwich 177
CHAPTER X.
The Charter. — Great; events in England ; accession of Charles II. ; Connecticut makes a formal avowal of allegiance ; petition for the charter ; Gov. Winthrop appointed agent to present it to the king ; he arrives in England ; obtains the cooperation of the Lord Say and Seal, and the Earl of Manchester ; presentation of a ring to the king ; the prayer of the petitioners granted ; the charter receives the royal signature ; the patentees ; main features of the charter ; its reception in the colony ; several border towns, and towns on Long Island, petition to be, and are, received under its jurisdiction ; remonstrances of New Haven ; Davenport a principal opponent of the union ; proceedings of the legislatures of Connecticut and New Haven ; Connecticut lays claim to Westchester, and Wickford ; committees appointed to treat with the towns ; Gov. Winthrop's return ; Gov. Stuyvesant protests ; Thomas Pell's commission ; Killingworth named; New Haven still resists ; Connecticut attempts to collect taxes within the New Haven jurisdiction; resistance; "the New Haven case stated ;" Duke of York's Patent ; the colo- nies alarmed ; Col. Nichols arrives from England ; he, with others, is authorized "to determine all controversies;" interview between Gov. Winthrop and Col. Nichols ; New Amsterdam is surrendered to Nichols ; the power of the Dutch in America is annihilated ; New Haven reluctantly yields up her territorial government ; the two colonies are united under the charter ; the bounds of Connec- ticut defined ; the last General Court of New Haven colony. . . . 202
CHAPTEE XL
The Regicides. — Policy of Charles II. ; his endeavors to conciliate all parties; presbyterians admitted to his counsels and share the offices ; the house of lords except the regicides from the general pardon ; some of them fled, and some were taken and executed ; Whalley and Goffe arrive in Boston ; treated with high considera- tion ; the king's proclamation against them reaches Boston ; the judges escape to New Haven ; they are pursued by Kellond and Kirk ; the pursuers are detained at Guilford over the Sabbath ; they reach New Haven ; are bafiled by the authorities ; they re- turn to Boston ; the judges are concealed in various places ; the search for them still kept up ; they propose to surrender them- selves ; they are concealed in Milford ; they proceed to Hadley ;
XU CONTENTS.
Page
are there concealed ; sketch of "Whalley ; sketch of Goffe ; Col. Dixwell ; sketch of his life and services ; he is concealed in New Haven ; Sir Edmund Andross' visit at New Haven ; death of Dix- - well 234
CHAPTER XII.
King Philip^s War. — Conduct of the king's commissioners; they annul purchases of the Indians ; attempt to form an independent government in Narragansett ; counties established ; Lyme named ; Haddam, Simsbury, and "VYalhngford incorporated ; controversy about Paugasset (Derby ;) the town incorporated ; dispute in the church at Stratford ; the parties separate ; settlement of Pamperaug (Woodbury ;) adventures of the emigrating party ; Philip, the sachem of the "VYampanoags ; his conspiracy ; attempts to chris- tianize the Indians ; the prospects of Philip ; apprehensions of the English ; the crisis approaches ; Swansey, Taunton, Middleborough, and Dartmouth destroyed by the Indians ; Philip attacked and pursued ; Captains Hutchinson and Beers, and several of their men killed; Major Treat; services of Connecticut; the Narragansetts and Wampanoags ; treaty with the Narragansett sachems ; rewards offered for Philip ; Capt. Lathrop slain ; Mosely attacked and driven back; Major Treat's timely arrival ; the enemy repulsed ; means for the general defense; Springfield destroyed; Major Treat drives the enemy from the place, and saves the people from promis- cuous slaughter; vote of thanks to Major Treat; Philip attacks Hadley ; he is driven back by the Connecticut troops ; defense of the eastern towns ; Congress decided to raise one thousand men ; the Narragansetts to be attacked in their principal fort ; union of the forces from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth ; attack upon the fort ; dreadful slaughter ; the enemy dispersed — six hun- dred wigwams burned ; three Connecticut captains killed ; a dearly bought victory ; the war continues ; Nanuntenoo captured ; he spurns a conditional offer of life ; he is executed ; Major Talcott's expedition ; " the long and hungry march ;" he is stationed at West- field ; he attacks a party of the enemy near the Housatonick ; the sachem of Quoboug and twenty-four of his warriors killed 258
CHAPTER XIII.
Andross attempts to land at Sayhrooh. — The Duke of York's new patent ; the duke commissions Andross as governor of New York ; Andross disregards previous boundaries; war with Philip still pending ; Andross approaches Saj^brook ; the militia rally ; legisla- tive instructions to Capt. Bull and Mi*. Chapman ; they are to act
CONTENTS. XUl
Page
in self-defense ; the protest of the General Assembly ; Andross and his suite permitted to land; his object; his clerk is ordered to read aloud his commission, &c. ; Capt. Bull prevents him ; the militia escort Andross to his boat ; a statement to be made to the king ; death of Gov. Winthrop ; his public and private life ; the Winthrop letters 288
CHAPTER XIV.
Administration of Andross. — The colony involved in debt ; heavy taxes levied ; she takes possession of the country of Nanuntenoo; the Andross affair; committee on claims and jurisdiction appoint- ed ; their decision in favor of Connecticut ; a new enemy appears ; the marquis of Hamilton's claim ; complaints against the colonies; Waterbury settled and incorporated ; the Naugatuck valley ; James II. ; Writs of quo warranto ; Mr. "Whiting appointed agent to Eng- land ; conduct of the king; charters annulled ; Connecticut alarm- ed ; the General Assembly refuse to direct ; Mr. Whiting's efforts unavailing ; Andross arrives in Boston as governor of New England ; he informs Connecticut of his appointment ; is " commissioned to receive their charter;" appeals to their loyalty ; they petition the king, without avail ; Andross visits Hartford ; his reception by the General Assembly ; he publicly demands the charter ; remonstrance of Gov. Treat ; debate prolonged until evening ; the charter sud- denly disappears ; Andross assumes the government ; he proceeds to appoint officers ; many odious measures adopted and enforced by him ; he declares the land titles of the colonists valueless ; or- ders that new titles or patents shall be purchased ; abdication of James II. ; Andross seized and confined in Boston ; the charter officers resume the government ; the advent of king Wilham wel- comed by the colonists ; the charter oak ; Indian legend ; the charter concealed by Capt. Wadsworth 300
CHAPTER XV.
Frontenac's Invasion. AttenijJt wpon Quebec. — The French and In- dians threaten northern New York ; Leisler asks the aid of Con- necticut ; assistance rendered ; Count Frontenac invades the fron- tier settlements ; Schenectady destroyed ; horrible massacres ; set- tlement at Salmon Falls broken up ; Massachusetts asks the assist- ance of Connecticut ; she responds to the call ; Glastenbury incor- porated ; New England and New York determine to invade the enemy's country ; plan of operations ; Fitz John Winthrop appoint- ed commander-in-chief; he arrives at Wood Creek; the "five na- tions" refuse to cooperate with him ; no canoes in readiness ; he
XIV CONTENTS.
Fags
retreats to Albany ; Sir "William Phipps' fleet reach Quebec ; he at- tacks the city, but soon re-embarks ; conduct of Leisler and Mil- born ; Leisler seizes and court-martials Winthrop ; he is rescued by the Mohawks ; letter from the authorities of Connecticut ; the General Assembly sustain Winthrop ; vote of thanks ; "Windham incorporated ; Frontenac invades the Mohawk country ; Col. Schuy- ler pursues the French ; Connecticut sends more men to Albany ; Gov. Phipps asks for more men ; Capt. "Whiting sent to his aid ; Gov. Fletcher of New York ; he claims the command of the militia of Connecticut ; Gen. "Winthrop sent as agent to England ; his in- structions ; Fletcher visits Hartford ; attempts to enforce his authority over the militia ; scene between him and Capt. Wads- worth 325
CHAPTER XVI.
Conspiracy of Dudley and Cornbury. — Money raised for the defense of Albany ; it is paid to Gov. Fletcher ; result of Winthrop's mis- sion to England ; satisfactory to Connecticut ; services of the colony ; enormous taxation ; dishonorable conduct of Fletcher ; the Earl of Bellamont ; committee appointed to wait upon him ; Win- throp elected governor ; two houses of the legislature established ; Plainfield, Colchester, and Durham incorporated ; New York and Connecticut boundary line; "Oblong;" "V^oluntown, Mansfield, Danbury, and Canterbury, incorporated ; war against France and Spain ; the colonies involved in the conflict ; Connecticut sends troops to aid Massachusetts and New York ; friendly Indians to be enlisted ; Dudley and Cornbury ; their hatred to Connecticut ; Dudley's charges against her ; his attempt to reunite all the char- ter governments to the crown ; interference of Sir Henry Ashurst ; Dudley fails in his project; further attempts to rob Connecticut of her charter; new charges preferred against her; Bulkley's "Will and Doom;" the colony charged with oppressing the Mohegans; the queen appoints commissioners to investigate the charge; survey and map of the Mohegan country ; meeting of the commis- sioners ; Connecticut not officially notified ; an ex parte trial ; ver- dict against Connecticut ; the trial of the colony for her charter ; noble defense by Sir Henry Ashurst ; the decision favorable to Connecticut ; her enemies fi-ustrated 843
CHAPTER XVII.
Death of Treat. Surrender of Port Royal. — Colonies again alarm- ed ; rumors of a French and Indian invasion ; removal of Indians ; Dudley's proposed expedition against Canada ; death of Gov. Win-
CONTENTS. XV
Page
throp; Gurdon Saltonstall chosen governor; sketch of the Hfe and services of Gov. Treat; Connecticut raises troops for Canada; Nicholson commands the land armv ; non-arrival of the fleet from England ; failure of the expedition ; Bills of Credit issued ; Congress of governors ; address to the queen ; Gov, Saltonstall appointed agent to England ; Ridgefield incorporated ; sachems visit England with Col. Schuyler ; their interview with the queen ; more troops raised ; provincial fleet reaches Port Royal ; the fort surrenders ; fleet arrives from England ; it is destitute of supplies ; men and provisions speedily raised ; expedition against Canada ; wreck of the English fleet ; land army return ; Hebron, Kilhngly, Coventry, New Milford, and Pomfret incorporated 367
CHAPTER XYIII.
War with the Eastern Indians. — French Jesuits ; their influence with the Indians ; Father Ralle ; incursions of the French and Indians ; eastern Massachusetts alarmed ; Col. Walton sent to defend the eastern frontier ; complaints of the Indians against the Enghsh ; expedition against Norridgewock ; the enemy had fled ; the Eng- lish carry off the books and papers of Father Ralle ; the Indians retaliate ; they burn Brunswick, and capture sixteen English fish- ing vessels ; war formally declared ; Governors Shute and Burnett call upon Connecticut for troops ; she determines to defend her own frontiers and the county of Hampshire ; expeditions of West- brook, Moulton, and Lovell ; Ashford, Tolland, Stafford, Bolton, and Litchfield, incorporated 382
HAPTER XIX.
War with Finance. Capture of Louishourg. — Prospect of a war be- tween England and Spain ; the colony takes measures to defend herself ; the war declared ; Admiral Vernon sent against the Span- ish West Indies ; measures for raising troops in Connecticut ; BiUs of Credit issued ; union of Lord Cathcart's fleet with that of Ver- non ; unsuccessful attack upon Carthagena ; pestilence ; fearful mortality among the troops ; Gov. Oglethorpe ; England declares war against France ; French privateers ; the commerce of New England destroyed by them ; the English determine to capture Louisbourg ; measures adopted to that end ; arguments for and against the project; the enterprise temporarily abandoned ; the determination is renewed ; troops raised and ofiBcers appointed in Connecticut; Sir William Pepperell appointed commander-in-chief; the troops sail for Louisbourg ; they are joined by Commodore Warren's fleet ; a part of the troops effect a landing ; they take
xvi CONTENTS.
PAoa
surrender of Louisbourg ; services of Connecticut ; England resolves to pursue her conquests ; French fleet sails for America ; sudden death of D'Anville and D'Estournelle ; Jonquiere's plans defeated 390
CHAPTER XX.
Early Manners and Customs in Connecticut. — Preliminary remarks ; the undistinguished men and women of the colony ; the early plan- ters were of good descent ; their heraldric bearings ; their disre- gard for the past ; servants ; the pedigree of the first settlers ; their industry and privations ; the dignity of labor ; civil, military, and ecclesiastical titles ; classes or grades of society ; architecture ; superstitions of the people ; their meals ; furniture ; modes of conveyance ; the charge of bigotry considered ; Fast and Thanks- giving ; customs at funerals ; peculiarities of dress and ornament. 415
CHAPTER XXI.
The established Religion of Connecticut. — Religious opinions of the settlers ; their motives in coming to New England ; the first churches and ministers of Connecticut ; the specific duties of pastors, teachers, ruling elders, and deacons ; quali- fications for church-membership ; the half-way covenant ; con- struction and views of the churches ; religious controversies ; Rev. Henry Smith and the people of Wethersfield ; death and character of the Rev. Thomas Hooker ; Rev. James Pier- pont ; the Hartford controversy ; dissensions at Wethersfield ; the Russell and Hollister controversy ; Mr. Russell removes to Hadley ; assembly of ministers ; difficulties at Windsor ; the Saybrook platform ; the Ruggles controversy at Guilford ; the " Great Revival ;" opposition to the measures of the re- vivalists ; errors and irregularities ; laws passed to suppress the "new lights ;" difficulties at Branford, Milford, New Haven, and Wallingford ; religious toleration ; practical operation of the new system ; concluding remarks 446
APPENDIX.
The Patent of 1631 : 475
The Charter of 1662 476
Letter from Charles H 484
New Haven Case Stated. 484
HISTORY
OF
COIIECTICUT
CHAPTER I.
SETTLEMENT OF THE CONNECTICUT RIYER VALLEY.
Some time during the year 1631, an Indian Sachem visited the governors of the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies in the guise of a suppliant. He said his name was Wah-qui- ma-cut. He described the country occupied by his own and kindred tribes as a rich, beautiful valley, abounding in corn and game, and divided by a river called "Connecticut," which he represented as surpassing all other streams, as well in its size and in the purity of its waters, as in the excellence and variety of the fish that swam in it, and the number of the otter and beaver that might be found along its banks. He begged that each of the colonies would send Englishmen to make settlements in this valley. He even offered to give the new emigrants eighty beaver skins annually, and supply them with corn, as an inducement to make the trial ; and proposed that two men should first be delegated to view the country, and make report to the governors, before any steps should be taken towards a removal there.
The governor of the Massachusetts received him courte- ously, but declined to entertain his proposition. Governor Winslow, of Plymouth, without directly acceding to it, was unable wholly to dismiss it from his mind ; and not long after went himself to spy out the riches of this Indian Paradise.* He found it in primitive loveliness. All that his eye rested on was wild and coy, as if no foot save that of the savage
* Morton's Memorial, 395 ; Brodhead, i. 210, 233 ; Trumbull, i. 30.
2
18 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
had trodden there since the dawn of creation. So Winslow doubtless thought, for he named himself the " discoverer" of the River and the Valley.
Governor Winslow must have made a very favorable report of the country, for we find during the following year other explorers, from Plymouth, searching the Connecticut river up and down ; and, as early as October, 1633, they had, under the sanction of the colony, established a trading house near the mouth of the Tunxis river in Windsor, and were already carrying on a successful traffic in furs with the Indians, in defiance of the Dutch, from Manhattan, who just before had erected a house called " Good Hope," at Hart- ford,* but six miles below, and w^ho vowed vengeance against the English traders, who had encroached upon the rights of the "original discoverers of The Fresh River." William Holmes was the man who had been selected by the Governor of Plymouth to build the trading house at Windsor. With the frame of this house fitted, and all the materials requisite for completing it. Holmes, with his commission in his pocket, set sail for the mouth of the Connecticut. He passed up the river without meeting with any resistance, until he arrived at the Dutch fort at Hartford. This fortification was not very formidable, having only two small pieces of ordnance ; but, such as it was, its little garrison bristled with opposition at sight of the ill-omened sail, stood gallantly by their guns, and commanded Holmes " to strike his colors, or they would fire upon him."| But Holmes was not a man to be intimi-
* Brodhead, (in his " History of the State of New York," vol. i. p. 238,) states that this Dutch trading house was projected in 1623, but was not built until 1633, when the new director general, Van Twiller, " dispatched John Van Curler, one of his commissaries, with six others, to finish the long-projected fort on the Connecticut river, and to obtain a formal Indian deed for the tracts of land formerly selected." Through the negotiations of Van Curler, the Dutch claimed to have purchased a tract of land of the Pequots, as conquerors, " with the good- will and assent of Sequeen." A few years afterwards, however, (July 2, 1640,) Sequasson, son of Sequeen, testified before the court at Hartford, " that he never sold any ground to the Dutch, neither was at any time conquered by the Pequots, nor paid any tribute to them."
f Bradford, in Hutchinson, vol. ii. p. 435 ; Brodhead, vol. ii. p. 241.
[1634.] holmes' expedition-. 19
dated by words. He had, he said, a commission from the governor to go up the river, and he should go. A fierce rep- lication from the Dutch followed ; but, whether their guns had no powder and ball in them, or whether they thought it best to save their ammunition against a time of greater need, they suffered the English to sail by, and erect their trading house, and surround it with palisades, before they made any further attempt to restrain them. But Holmes soon found difficul- ties beginning to thicken around him. The sachems of the river tribes had been driven away from their territories by the Pequots, and Holmes, after bringing them back in his vessel, had purchased of them such land as he found requisite for carrying out his enterprise. Enraged that their old mas- ters were restored by the English to their former dominion, the petty chiefs along the river incited the Indians to acts of violence against the traders.
Meanwhile, the news of Holmes' expedition reached the ears of the Dutch governor, Wouter Van Twiller, at Fort Amsterdam. Astonished at the presumption of the intruders, his excellency immediately sent a detachment of troops to the infested district, with instructions to drive the English traders from the river. It is probable that this company was joined by allies from " Good Hope," for when it presented itself without the palisades at the mouth of the Tunxis, its ranks numbered full seventy armed men, under spread ban- ners, inflamed with a noble ardor, that boded no good to Holmes and his men. But all this martial array, so near his gates, though attended with the promise of utter annihilation unless he acceded to their terms, like the threats at " Good Hope,'' produced an effect the very reverse of what had been intended. The fur trader and his men stood on the defen- sive. It was obvious there must be bloodshed before the colors of the States General could be displayed inside of the palisades — an awkward situation for an invading army, from which it was prudently extricated by a parley, and a well- timed retreat.*
* De Vries' Voyages, p. 150 5 Winthrop, vol. i. pp. 123, 148, 153, 386; Brodhead, Vol. i. p. 242.
20 HISTOKY OF CONNECTICUT.
Thus ended the exploits of Wouter Van Twiller and the garrison at " Good Hope," against the Plymouth traders, leav- ing the latter in the bloodless and peaceful possession of the soil, to contend, as best they might, with the rigors of impending winter, and to abide their time for the coming on of the calam- ities that awaited them, of which I am to speak in their order.
Sometime before Winslow discovered the Connecticut river and the lands adjacent, the country — possibly from the repre- sentations of Indian runners, who had enlarged upon its beauties at Boston and Plymouth, or perhaps from that love of the marvelous that causes men to desire most earnestly whatever is unexplored and untried — had been sought after with no ordinary solicitude by men of no vulgar rank. In the course of the year 1630, the famous Plymouth Company, the mother corporation that gave life to all the New England grants, conveyed the whole territory of what was subse- quently called the colony of Connecticut, and much more, to Robert Earl of Warwick ; and the better opinion is, that this grant was, during the same year, confirmed to him by a patent from Charles I. But as no trace can be found of any such patent, it has been doubted if it ever had an existence.* On the 19th of March of the next year, Robert of Warwick executed under his hand and seal the grant since known as the old patent of Connecticut, wherein he conveyed the same territory to Viscount Say and Seal, Robert Lord Brooke, John Hampden, Pym, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and others, whose names still shed a mild light over the clouds of revo- lution that darkened the sunset of the most graceful, yet err- ing, of all the monarchs that have ever sat upon the throne of England. Men they were, who may well be said to have been as free from the incendiary spirit that sought to unsettle the old order of the British constitution, as their souls were abhorrent of the oppressive acts of the Court of High Com- mission. One of them, the muse of Gray has named as the
* As the validity of the patent granted by the Earl of Warwick to Lord Say and Seal and his associates, seems never to have been called in question, it is rea- sonable to infer that he was vested with full power to grant such a patent.
[1634.J APPLICATION DENIED. 21
poet's ideal of the patriot ; and another, even Milton, who condescended to flatter no one, could not forbear to write, "with honor may I name him, the Lord Brooke." Such were the original grantees of the soil now known — may it ever be ! — as Connecticut. Such were the illustrious men, who looked to the seclusion of her shades for a retreat for themselves and their friends from the grasp of a too stringent political and ecclesiastical domination. But, before the new proprietors could find time to take possession of their pur- chase, it was pre-occupied, as we have seen, by the Dutch and the fur traders from New Plymouth.
By this time, such numbers had come over from Eng- land, and planted themselves in the vicinity of Boston, that the people at Watertown, Dorchester, and Newtown, (Cambridge,) began to find themselves crowded into such close neighborhoods, that they had neither land enough fit for culture, nor pastures for their cattle.* Especially they were in want of meadow lands. They began to cast about them for a more ample domain ; and, from the rumors that reached them from time to time of the rich intervals that lay on either bank of the Connecticut, described in such glowing terms by all w^ho brought tidings of their lux- uriance, what meadows so likely to make glad their flocks and herds, and what fields promised to yield a more grateful recompense to the toil of the planter ? They dwelt upon these pictures until they could no longer banish them from their minds. They hesitated, they debated with one another, whether they should a second time face the exposures that must meet them in a wilderness. But the motives for a removal were too strong to be resisted, and, besides, as their history has since proved, they were strangers to fear. They resolved to go. But would they be allowed to go ? At first, the General Court of Massachusetts consented to it; yet, when it was made known that these adventurers proposed to plant a new colony upon the Connecticut river, their enter- prise was stoutly opposed. In September, when the court
* Trumbull, vol. i. p. 58.
22 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
again met, the matter gave rise to a hot debate. The Houses were divided.* There appeared in the field two champions of no ordinary character. In 1630, the Rev. Thomas Hooker, for some time a minister of the EstabUshed Church at Cheknsford, in the county of Essex, " was silenced for non-conformity." Forty-seven conforming clergymen presented a petition in his behalf to the Bishop of London, wherein they vouched for the soundness of his doctrines and the purity of his life. But their efforts proved unavailing, and to save himself from the severities likely to follow his recusancy, he fled to Holland. As, in later days, Boling- broke and Chesterfield attended upon the preaching of Whitefield, and Montague and Mackintosh upon that of Robert Hall, so did the Earl of Warwick, and other men of note, often go many miles to yield themselves up to the fas- cinations of Hooker's eloquence. It is not to be wondered at, that the whole body of his parishioners, from whom he had been so suddenly torn, felt the keenest anguish at the separation, and that a large proportion of them, with the ex- pectation that their pastor would follow them, embarked soon after for America. Many personal friends and ad- mirers of his genius, who had never been connected with him by so delicate a tie, were of the same party. A few came over at first, and commenced a plantation at Wey- mouth. Afterwards, a larger number arrived in the year 1632, and, with the former, all established themselves at Newtown. At their earnest solicitation, to come over and place himself at their head. Hooker finally sailed for America, with Samuel Stone, his assistant, and arrived in Massachu- setts on the 4th of September, 1633. He had been in Mas- sachusetts, therefore, only a year, when this interesting ques- tion, of the propriety of allowing the petitioners to found a new colony, came up for a second discussion. Hooker, who had already made up his mind to be of the emigrating party should the petition be granted, advocated the cause of the people. Most of the other ministers, at the head of whom
* Winthrop, (Savage's Ed.,) i. p. 168.
[1634.] DEBATE BETWEEN HOOKER AND COTTON. 23
was the famous John Cotton, strongly opposed the project. Hooker argued their want of room in which to expand themselves. It was a vital error, he said, that so many- towns should be crowded into so small a space. They had neither land to till nor for pasturage. The people were poor. They were unable, so long as they remained as they were, to support their own ministers, much less to give any thing in aid of others, who should afterwards come over from England in a destitute condition. He set eloquentlv before them the advantages of the country whither it was proposed to remove ; the importance of the river, in a mili- tary and political point of view ; the close neighborhood of the Dutch at Manhattan ; the fact, that they had already a trading house in the richest part of the country ; and the urgent need there was that immediate possession should be secured.* We may well believe, too, that he did not omit to set forth in bright colors, the facilities presented by a large and navigable stream for commerce ; the rich furs supplied by that stream and its many tributaries, in its flow of hun- dreds of miles through a wild region, accessible, indeed, through the medium of savages, but long to remain unex- plored by civilized men.
On the other hand, Cotton, the most learned and per- suasive of the clergy, urged the weakness of Massachu- setts ; that its principal poverty was a poverty of men, to subdue and cultivate a wilderness large enough to support many times their number, and to make a successful stand against the tribes of savages that lurked in its solitudes ; that those who had sought to leave the colony in this defenseless state, had taken a solemn oath to promote the interests of the Massachusetts, and that they would violate their consciences, were they to desert the commonwealth in its infancy, and while it might well be said to be struggling for existence. Finally, let the case be as it might with those who remained, those who should go would be exposed to the horrors of war, both with the Dutch and Indians ; that it
* Savage's Wintlirop, vol. i. p. 167 ; Trumbull, vol. i. p. 58.
24 HISTORY OF CO]S'XECTICUT.
would be in a measure a suicidal act, and that it was the part of benevolence, rather than of tyranny, that the General Court should interpose and prevent a calamity so terrible.
The whole colony was thrown into a state of intense ex- citement by this discussion. Hooker's powerful eloquence, poured, as it was, into the popular current, carried along with it, as might have been expected, a majority of the rep- resentatives. The vote of the assistants was against the application, and so, as a matter of course, it was lost.* In looking back upon this debate, in which those who took a part and felt an interest have all been dead for nearly two centuries, and in looking over those vast regions, washed by the great lakes, the Pacific, and the gulf of Mexico, divided by magnificent rivers — regions teeming now with the pos- terity, as well of those who advocated, as of those who op- posed an emigration to the valley of the Connecticut — the large views and noble liberality of Hooker, exhibited on that occasion, assume the dignity of a sublime prophecy, as if he must have seen in his mind's eye the millions that were one day to inhabit them.
The fate of the application in the General Court gave a temporary check to the plans of Hooker and his friends ; but it was far from being satisfactory to the petitioners, and some there were who secretly set it at defiance, and resolved to remove at all hazards. A number of the inhabitants of Watertown, during the fall of the same year, set out for the interdicted country ; and, arriving in season to construct tem- porary houses in which to pass the winter,! made, it is be- lieved, at Pyquaug, (Wethersfield,) the first settlement on the Connecticut river.
In May of the following year, the old application of Hooker and his friends was renewed, and leave to remove reluctantly granted by the General Court, with the proviso, that those who emigrated should still "continue under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts."!
* Savage's Winthrop, i. p. 168. t Trumbull, vol. i. p. 59.
i Savage's Winthrop, vol. i. p. 191.
[1635.] HARTFOED SETTLED. 25
During the summer of the same year, several of the people belonging to the congregation of the Rev. Mr. Wareham, of Dorchester, removed to a point on the river near the Ply- mouth trading house, and, much to the alarm of Holmes and those whom he represented, prepared to lay the foundations of the town of Windsor.* The whole of that season, the Water- town settlers, in little parties of a few families, continued to make additions to the gallant little company of pioneers at Wethersfield. The planters at Newtown were getting ready, also, to remove to Hartford the next spring. Thus passed the eventful summer of 1635, in bustling preparation, until, in the middle of October, when the trees were half stripped of their leaves, and the chestnuts and acorns were dropping from the boughs in the lovely autumn weather, sixty persons, among whom were women and little children, set out on their tedious march to the new settlements. They took along with them such movable property as they could, in- cluding their horses, cattle, and swine. A slow, wearisome journey they made of it. They were delayed by so many obstacles, that frosts and snows were pressing hard upon them before thev reached the eastern bank of the Connecticut. And so much time was spent in making rafts, and crossing the river with their cattle, that they were not ready for win- ter w4ien it came. Most of them settled in Hartford.
In the fall of the same year, came over to America John Winthrop, the younger, a commissioned agent of Viscount Say and Seal, and the other noblemen, knights, and gentle- men, named in the original patent of the colony,t with in- structions to repair immediately to the mouth of the Connec- ticut river with fifty men, and commence the building of a strong fortification, and houses as well for the garrison as for gentlemen, expected to arrive in the course of the next year. The fort was to be built upon a very large scale, to embrace within its inclosure " houses suitable for the reception of men of quality," to be erected as soon as practicable. Win-
* Savage's Winthrop, i. p, 198; Trumbull, vol. i. p. 60. + lb. vol. i. pp. 202, 203.
26 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
throp was directed to take possession of a suitable tract of land, near the fort, containing from a thousand to fifteen hundred acres, that was to be reserved for the use of the for- tification. He was constituted by this commission, " Gov- ernor of the river Connecticut," for the space of a year after his arrival there.
When Governor Winthrop arrived in Massachusetts, he heard rumors that the Dutch were preparing to anticipate him in the erection of a fort at the place named in his com- mission. He waited only to collect about twenty men, and sent them by sea to take possession of the mouth of the river, and to erect embankments, and to plant their cannon there with all dispatch. They had much need of haste ; for, scarcely had they begun to make themselves ready for de- fence, when a Dutch sail from Manhattan was seen making for the mouth of the river. The current of the Connecticut, at this place, pressed close upon the western bank ; and here, upon a bluff that juts out boldly into the deep water, almost upon the very line where the river loses itself in the sea, Winthrop's men had hastily thrown up their embankments and mounted their guns. When the Dutch had approached near enough to the land to see the new fortress, with the English colors floating above it, they withdrew without any show of resistance, leaving the governor's forces in quiet possession of the key to the treasures of a country that had for some time tempted their cupidity, but was henceforth to be forever locked against them.
I have already alluded to the severity of that memorable winter. The garrison at Saybrook suffered severely ; but it was reserved to the three settlements further up the valley to encounter all the horrors of a winter in the wilderness.
By the middle of November, the river was frozen com- pletely over. The personal effects of the settlers, such as they could not well carry with them in their journey through the woods, had been forwarded by sea ; but the vessels that bore this precious lading, of beds, clothing, and provisions, for delicate women and little children, were either wrecked
[1635.] FAMINE ON THE CONNECTICUT. 27
upon that coast, even in this age of improved navigation, so fatal to mariners, or forced to put back again into Boston harbor. By the first of December, the pangs of famine began to be added to the numbing influences of cold. With a fru- gal hand, the father of the household measured out the stinted dole of bread and meat to his offspring, until both bread and meat were gone. Corn was bought, in small quantities, of the Indians ; but these simple-minded creatures, with their usual improvidence, had but too little to spare. Finally, in small parties, the inhabitants of the three settlements, regardless of all other enemies, fled, pallid with fear, from the agonies of starvation. Some crossed the river upon the ice, and, committing themselves to the pathless snows, waded back to the Massachusetts.* Seventy persons were induced to go down to the fort at Saybrook, with the hope of meeting the vessels that should have brought their provisions from Boston. But they looked in vain for the frail ships, that had proved unable to withstand the rocks and shoals whither the blasts that sweep the New England coast at that tempestuous sea- son of the year had driven them. They went aboard a small vessel of sixty tons burden, which they found twenty miles above the fort, hoping to be able to sail in her to Mas- sachusetts. But they saw that she was fast anchored in the ice, and it was two days before they could get her under way. With much difficulty, they reached Boston, after a dangerous voyage of many days. But of the few that re- mained, the condition was still worse. When they had spent their small stock of food, and could get no more from the Indians, the more hardy of them betook themselves to the woods, to hunt the bear and the deer ; and, when this resource failed them, they dug up acorns from beneath the snow, and ground-nuts from the banks of the streams. Many of their cattle died, and those that survived, like their owners, were sickly and drooping. Add to all this bodily suffering, the consciousness of utter helplessness. They were alone. The Indians, though kind to them, were kind only from motives
* Savage's Winthrop, i. 207.
28 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
of interest or fear. How long would they remain so, was a question asked doubtingly, and answered by an apprehensive glance of the eye. The vast forest, a familiar home to the sav- age, was to them frowning and bewildering. Besides, there was something terrific in the consciousness, that the very forces of nature, but a few weeks before so genial and smiling, were banded together to crush them. Still, they hoped and struggled on. In their darkest hours, they never forgot the promise, that seed-time and harvest shall not fail.
At last, the winds began to lull, the snow crumbled and slowly melted away, and a few scattered birds began to give token that April and the bursting buds were close at hand.
The Connecticut settlements were nominally under the rule of the mother country ; but they really, from the first, governed themselves. For three or four years, their courts consisted of magistrates, to a number not exceeding six, and from nine to twelve committee men, each town sending an equal number. On the 14th of January, 1638-9, it was or- dered that, in future, there should be two general courts in each year, viz. : on the first Thursdays of April and September — the first to be called a court of election, on which occasion seven magistrates should be chosen, the governor to be elected from among them. It was further ordered, that the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor, should be entitled to four deputies each; and that the number to be elected in such towns as might subsequently be admitted to the jurisdiction, should be determined upon according to their population.* The special or particular courts, holden in the interim, were variously constituted — sometimes a jury being substituted for the deputies — three or more of the magistrates being always present — the governor, deputy governor, or a moderator, pre- siding.! The general courts were invested with all the legisla- tive and judicial functions of the colony, including the power of
* Notwithstanding these provisions of the glorious constitution, (which was adopted at the preceding date,) the "committees" continued to attend the court until April, 1640, when " deputies" were substituted.
+ Vide J. Hammond Trumbull's " Colonial Records."
[1636.] HOOKER AND HIS COMPANY. 29
making treaties, a power much exercised in alliances with the Indians.
On the 26th of April, 1636, the first court was held in the colony. It met at Newtown (soon after named Hartford) Roger Ludlow, Esq., of whose liberal views and far-sighted policy, as a statesman, it will be our pleasure by and by to treat, was a member. At this court, it was ordered, among other excellent sumptuary regulations, that the inhabitants should not sell arms and ammunition to the Indians.
With the first springing of the green grass, and the unfold- ing of the leaves, so that their cattle could subsist in the woods, those who fled from the plantations in the winter, now hastened to return. Others came with them, and others still followed them, in little groups, through the whole month of May.
About the beginning of June, the first soft, warm month of the New England year, Mr. Hooker, with his assistant, Mr. Stone, and followed by about one hundred men, women, and children, set out upon the long-contemplated journey. Over mountains, through swamps, across rivers, fording, or upon rafts, with the compass to point out their irregular way, slowly they moved westward ; now in the open spaces of the forest, where the sun looked in ; now under the shades of the old trees ; now struggling through the entanglement of bushes and vines — driving their flocks and herds before them — the strong supporting the weak, the old caring for the young, with hearts cheerful as the month, slowly they moved on. Mrs. Hooker was ill, and was borne gently upon a litter.* A stately, well-ordered journey it was, for gentlemen of for- tune and rank were of the company, and ladies who had been delicately bred, and who had know^n little of toil or hardship until now. But they endured it with the sweet alacrity that belongs alone to woman, high-toned and gentle, when summoned, by a voice whose call can not be resisted, to lay aside the trappings of ease, and to step from a position that she once adorned, to a level that her presence ennobles.
* Winthrop, i. 223 ; Trumbull, i. 64, 65.
30 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
The howl of the wolf, his stealthy step among the rustling leaves, the sighing of the pines, the roar of the mountain tor- rent, losing itself in echoes sent back from rock and hill, the smoking ruins of the Indian council fire — all forcing upon the mind the oppressive sense of solitariness and danger, the more dreaded because unseen — all these, the wife, the mother, the daughter, encountered, with a calm trust that they should one day see the wilderness blossom as the rose.
At the end of about two weeks, they reached the land almost fabulous to them — so long had hope and fancy been shaping to their minds pictures of an ideal loveliness — the valley of the Connecticut. It lay at their feet, beneath the shadow of the low-browed hills, that tossed the foliage of their trees in billows, heaving for miles away to the east and west, as the breath of June touched them with life. It lay, holding its silvery river in its embrace, like a strong bow half bent in the hands of the swarthy hunter, who still called himself lord of its rich acres.
Let us, in imagination, stand by the side of those wander- ers, now in sight of a resting-place, and look with them on their new home. What glorious oaks pierce yonder hill- sides with their rugged roots, that, with the lapse of centuries, seem never to grow old. What clumps of tulip-trees, each shooting high into the air its cluster of quaint-fashioned leaves and yellow flowers. More than one of those smooth trunks might be hollowed to form as large a canoe as any in sight, that ripples over the eddies of the river, or is tied by its cord to the trees that grow by the cove. In the thatch grass at your feet, some Indian fishermen, with hempen nets or hooks of bone, are dragging ashore a score or two of yel- low salmon ; and near by, at the entrance of that wigwam, where the smoke rises so faintly, a few squaws are kindling a fire of drift wood to broil a meal for their lazy lords, that they will eat in approving silence. There are some fields of hemp growing ; and further on is a clearing in the woods, though here and there a scattered tree with its rough bark has escaped the fire that felled its companions, where
THE FUTURE. 81
you may see maize, and beans, and squashes, struggling with the grass that taxes the strength of the squaws to keep it down. Who ever saw such patriarchal elms, with such gracefully spreading branches, that droop till they dip their leaves in the brim of the river? At intervals, up and down the valley, are the log huts erected by their friends who pre- ceded them, that rest in the eye of these tired travelers more lovingly than the pleasant manor houses and cottages that thev have left behind them. Here these men shall found a city, the capital of a State that shall not be unknown to fame, that shall extend itself under the influences of mild laws, equally administered, contending bravely for its rights, sometimes for its existence, on fields of battle, against wild savages, against the armies of France ; and she confesses with tears, yet not with shame, that the most bloody conflict, in the course of two centuries, to be recorded by her histo- rian, was with the children of the country from which her founders fled, contending for principles planted, by Hooker and such as he, ineradicably in the soil.
CHAPTER II.
CONNECTICUT A WILDEENESS. THE PEQIIOT WAE AND ITS CAUSES.
The difficulties that were to be encountered by the Eng- Hsh in making settlements in Connecticut, can hardly be estimated by us who now occupy the same territory. We have our sea-ports, our cities, our villages, swarming with a thriving population. The steam engine is hurrying us from one great business centre to another with astonishing velocity, dragging in its train the products of our varied industry, and bringing back those of all nations in return. We have our banks and other corporations, that represent the accumulated earnings both of the dead and living ; our city mansions, our hospitable country houses, surrounded by their well-tilled acres, where the ploughshare, as it glides along, is scarcely obstructed by the roots of the forest trees, that once lay coiled like serpents beneath the sod.
Forest trees, standing alone, or in the scattered patches of our woodlands, we have still remaining, though constantly decreasing in number and size, and gradually withdrawing from our habitations to the tops of mountains or the beds of streams, where yet they may be safe for a little while, until the necessities of some newly-built furnace or manufactory shall follow them even there.
How different is the Connecticut of to-day from that of the first half of the seventeenth century ! With the exception of the clearings made by the Indians, by burning over the bent grass and dry leaves in the fall or spring, for the pur- poses of hunting or of their meagre tillage, the whole country was covered with primitive trees. The oak, the chestnut, the pine in all its varieties, the walnut, the cedar, the wild cherry, the maple, — these, with other sturdy trees that thrive in high or temperate latitudes, here shot up and grew luxuri- antly, extending over the rough country and the smooth for
GAME IX THE FOKEST. 33
hundreds of miles, — trees of no puny growth, for they fed on the decayed trunks of other trees, their predecessors, and on the leaves that annually fell and slowly mouldered above their roots. Every year their season of growth was brief, for then, as now, summer came late, and did not tarry long ; yet they grew with wonderful rapidity, usurping to them- selves all the richness of the soil. Many of them, especially oaks, pines, and elms, attained a vast size, for they stood in such close neighborhood that their branches intertwined and screened each other from the ice and snows that loaded them, and the winds that buffeted them in vain. Not broken, as our thin woods are in modern times, from exposure to the fierceness of the elements, they kept their vigor and grew for many ages. They sheltered a great variety of wild animals — for game, the moose, the deer, the bear ; along the streams, the otter, the beaver, and many other fur- producing animals, that requited well the labors of the trapper. There were not a few of the destructive order. Wolves, in thous- ands, infested the new settlements. They killed the cattle, they stole and carried off the sheep, and did what they could by their unearthly bowlings at night, to add to the horrors that thickened on the skirts of the w^ilderness. It will be a part of our task to call to the reader's mind the many stat- utes that our ancestors passed to regulate those unruly citi- zens— how they kept w^atch and ward to defend against them — how they set bounties upon the heads and ears of those who offended by coming within a given number of miles of their settlements, and how these depredators proved, after all, incorrigible, and with their fellow malefactors, the bears and catamounts, could only be brought into subjection by totally exterminating the whole race, the innocent w^ith the guilty. Wild-fowl also abounded in the woods. Tur- keys, more swift -footed than the Indian runners themselves, and of a size almost incredible, were nearly as numerous as the fallen logs beneath which they hatched their young. Pigeons innumerable might be seen on the wing constantly in the spring and autumn days, or startled in the midsummer
84 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
from the thicket where they had built their nests. In the lakes and rivers were plenty of wild geese, and the whole duck family in all its varieties.* All the little creeks and inlets of Long Island sound, sent ashore their treasures of lobsters, oysters, and other shellfish of all sorts, that how supply the tables of the inhabitants, as well of those who dwell inland, as of those who inhabit the sea-shore.
Within the limits of Connecticut, as its boundaries are now fixed, were probably from twelve to fifteen thousand f Indians, broken into many clans or tribes, speaking different dialects, that had a common basis, so that the individuals belonging to one tribe could understand the words spoken by those of another. All their gestures, too, and ordinary modes of life— their rules of war and of peace, their traditionary laws, their gods, their heaven and hell, had a common origin. They were quite unequally distributed in different parts of the com- monwealth. Those who lived on either bank of the Con- necticut, and were hence called river Indians, were nearly all within the old limits of Windsor, Hartford, Wethers- field, and Middletown. There were ten sovereignties of them in Windsor alone, who could muster, it was said, an aggregate of two thousand bowmen. Hartford swarmed with them. We shall name only a few of the tribes now, reserving a more particular notice of them when we come to treat of the places where they lived, as each, in its order of time, we gather the new plantations or towns into the con- stantly enlarging circle reclaimed by our fathers from the solitudes of nature.
We must not omit, however, to make allusion to the In- dians called Pequots and Mohegans, who occupied a large tract of countiy, about thirty miles square, extending from
* Hoyt's Indian Wars.
t The number has been variously estimated by different historians, some placing it as high as twenty thousand, while Mr. Deforest, in his " Histoiy of the Con- necticut Indians," estimates the number at from six to seven thousand only. A careful investigation of all the accessible authorities, leads us to the conclusion that the number stated in our text can not be far from the truth.
SASSACUS. So
the Connecticut river, on the west, to the Narragansett coun- try, on the east, and from the sea-coast, on the south, to the northern boundary hne of the colony — making up the whole of the counties of New London and Windham, with a large part of Tolland county. Though usually treated of by histo- rians as separate tribes, yet they do not appear to have been so, except that Uncas, the Mohegan chief, who was too am- bitious, himself, to favor the aspiring views of Sassacus, the head sachem of the Pequots, thought it best, from motives of policy, to take the part of the English settlers, in order that he might find in them an ally against the burdensome power of his superior chieftain. Uncas was a rebel chief, who was glad to avail himself of such aid as he could find, and the more powerful the better, against his master. Why he has received the laudations of so many writers, it is not easy to see, unless, in their love of the treason that helped them to crush a troublesome enemy, they have learned also to cherish the memory of the traitor. For ourselves, we set a much lower estimate upon the character of this Indian, than upon that of the Pequot chief, who fought the English to the last hour of his life, and scorned to ask quarter of those to whom he had himself denied it. As the event proved, Uncas was doubtless the shrewder politician of the two ; and was too cunning, after witnessing the prowess of his new allies, ever to think of deserting them. Uncas, both by his father's and mother's side, was descended from the royal Pequot line, and he also married a daughter of a Pequot chief; so that he is entitled to whatever honor can be derived from rejoicing over the downfall of the family and the nation from which he sprung.
Sassacus was the most intractable and proud of all the New England Indians. He is described as having excelled all the other men of his tribe in courage and address as a warrior, as much as that tribe surpassed all the neighboring ones in its haughty claims to dominion. Sassacus had twenty-six sachems under him, when the English settlers first came to the Connecticut river. His most familiar
36 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
haunts were in the present towns of Groton and New Lon- don. He had two harbors, one at the mouth of the Pequot river, (now called the Thames,) and the other at the mouth of the river Mistick. He had also two principal forts. The larger one occupied the summit of a high hill, that looks off upon the indented line of the shore and the quiet waters of that part of the Atlantic that is shut away from the main by the low sandy barrier of Long Island — a little archipelago, as viewed from this eminence, containing in its bosom a cluster of islands as lovely as any that lie in the embraces of the ocean. Here, in such rude state as savages know how to put on, lived Sassacus, keeping watch over his fishing- coast and hunting-grounds, administering justice after the rude manner of his ancestors, punishing rebels, bringing home the scalps of conquered chiefs, and sending his haughty messengers for hundreds of miles, into far off regions, whose inhabitants trembled at the terrors of his name. In the ex- pressive language of those who feared him, he was " all one god." Here, by the copious spring that still bubbles up to the lips of him who goes thither to read the lost memorials of a nation now extinct, he had gathered the grim trophies of his savage grandeur ; here, were his treasures of wampum, his armory of war clubs, and bows, and arrows pointed with bone or flint.
A few miles to the eastward of this fort, and having a pleasant lookout upon the adjacent country, and his harbor at the mouth of the river Mistick, was the other fort just named.
I have been thus minute in regard to this sachem and his tribe, because their fate is first in the order of events to be set forth in this work. But, before proceeding to the details of a story not so pleasant to dwell upon as to induce us to hasten our steps, let us premise a few words in reference to the personal appearance, character, and habits, of the Con- necticut Indians.
They were almost without exception athletic, well-developed men, tall, graceful in their movements, with not very regular features, high cheek-bones, thin lips, black eyes, and coarse
TEAIT3 OF THE INDIANS. 37
hair of the same color. They dressed in a fantastic, yet very becoming manner, in the skins of wild beasts, the warriors having an eye to the picturesque and the terrible, seeking to make themselves as frightful as possible when they went forth to make war. The women wore petticoats of skins about the loins, extending below the knees. The chiefs wore belts of wampum, some of them very costly and beautiful, and of a variety of colors. When dressed for a war council, they were decorated with great care and magnificence.
The Indian was roving and untamable in his disposition. He set a high value upon demeanor. Possessed of the most intense curiosity, he habitually hid it beneath the mask of a stony indifference. He was proud, beyond all other men, both by nature and education. He has been called cowardly in his mode of warfare.* But w^hen it is recollected how puny were his offensive weapons, how slight those of defense, how httle his dress protected his person, and how deadly were the guns of the English, we ought not to form hasty conclusions adverse to his valor. The Indians were not wantino- in intel- lectual endowments. They had "little sympathy with external nature, and yet they w^ere from necessity keen observers of all natural phenomena. They had a rude, wild gift of elo- quence, highly impassioned, abounding in metaphors some- times extravagant, always bold and striking. In all their allusions to the glory of their ancestors, and the places where their bones had been laid, they spoke with a delicate sim- plicity, that formed a striking contrast with the frigid selfish- ness that is stamped as indelibly upon the Indian character as it is written legibly in his face. They were too good tacti- tians to be trustworthy as friends. As enemies, they were
* From the frequent taunts made by the Indians to the inmates of the fortifica- tion at Saybrook, we may infer that they regarded it as the perfection of cow- ardice to fight from behind the walls of a fort. " Come out here, and fight like men," was their summons to the English ; yet, no sooner was the call complied wath, than the wily savages flew to the thicket for shelter, and there, skulking behind trees, or beneath the tall underbrush, sent forth the swift messengers of death upon their enemies. Self-protection was the object in both cases, though diiferent means were used to attain the end.
88 HISTORY OF CONKECTICUT.
implacable, and seldom suffered the embers of an old feud to go out in their bosoms. They schooled themselves to endure tortures, the most excruciating that can rack the human frame, with a grim composure of countenance, or smilingly courted still keener agonies by menacing gestures, scornful distortions of the lip, and the most insulting way of rolling the eye-balls in the presence of their tormentors. The most complex tortures known to the traditionary code of the Indian, called forth from the victim no confession of their efficacy. Limb after limb might be torn from him, his face mutilated, his tongue plucked out by the roots, his body scorched in the hot breath of the flames that wreathed around the stake, still, like the images of stone that embodied his rude ideal of a creating intelligence, he preserved his scornfulness of look, until his spirit left the shriveled body for such a heaven as the tradi- tions of his people had promised to the warrior whose brown cheek had never paled with fear.
The male Indians did little manual labor. They spent their time in hunting, fishing, contriving wars and executing them, or, when leisure was allowed for indulgence, in a dull round of animal enjoyments. They had no regular division of time, ate no regular meals, and had no hours set apart for social enjoyment. While her lord lay under the shade of a tree within sight of the cornfield, and snored away the hours of a summer afternoon, the squaw turned up the sods, and drew the dark, rich loam around the maize ; or, not far off, in the mortar that had been worn ages before in some earth- fast rbck, her stone pestle fell in regular strokes upon the shining kernels that she had raised the year before, and laid carefully aside, to furnish the requisite supply of "samp,'' that constituted the staple of the Indian's food. As might be inferred from their habits, the squaws were strong ana hardy, and more capable of enduring fatigue than the men, though their figures were not so slender and graceful. Of household furniture they had little. A few cooking vessels of wood and stone, a knife made of shell or a species of reed, made up nearly the whole inventory. They had stone axes,
INDIAN ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 39
too, and chisels. Their most dehcate manufactures were weapons of war. Of these, they had a good variety, and they were often wrought by the warriors themselves. The most graceful, as well as the most complex, appear to have been the bow and arrow. The bow was made of ash, oak, walnut, but especially of the sassafras, the most elastic and fragrant of all the kinds of wood known to them. Their bow strings were made of hemp, or of the sinews of the deer. The swamps supplied them with an abundance of reeds for arrows, and some of them were carefully wrought of wood. They were all loaded with a piece of flint stone, or bone, sharpened to a point, and shaped like a spearhead, that steadied their flight, and made them, in the hands of such good marksmen as the Indians were, formidable weapons.* They had, also, a prominent weapon, the well-known toma- hawk— a name terrible to us from associations of horrible cruelty connected with its use in all wars waged by them against the English. This weapon was made of various materials, and was of various forms of construction. It was either a short, strong club of hard wood, with one of its ends fitted to the hand, and the other in the form of a large knob of deer's horn ; or else it was a hatchet of stone, with a grooved neck for the reception of the little stick that was twisted around it as a handle. This weapon the warriors managed with a great deal of skill, and threw to a considera- ble distance with fatal dexterity and force. They made spears, too, several feet long, with heads of stone like their arrows. f Lastly, as connected with the science of war, they had some skill in the manufacture of canoes. In Connecticut, these do not appear to have been made of bark, but of the vast trunks of trees. The pine and whitewood, or tulip-tree, were usually selected. Some of these trees shot upw^ard seventy or eighty feet, straight as an arrow, before sending out a limb. As fire was the main agent in felling the tree and hollowing it, the task of making a canoe must have been almost as formidable as our own ship-building.
* Trumbull, i. 47, 48. f Deforest's History of the Indians of Conn. p. 6.
40 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
Like many other pagan nations, the Indian deities repre- sented the abstract idea of force — illimitable, indeterminate force. They worshiped the elements. The waters, whether rolling between the banks of rivers, or tossing, white capped, upon the shores of the sea ; the fire, the lightning, the thun- der, the wind — nature in all her rude forms — every phe- nomenon that seemed to bespeak a power superior to their own, they deemed worthy of homage, but propably not so much as gods as the symbols of gods. Of these deities, there were two of especial note. The first was called Kitchtan, or Kritchtan, and was believed to be the benevolent or " good god," who cared for them in this world, and received the souls of the good and brave when they died. He was the Great Spirit of the Indian's heaven. He lived in a lovely land, far away to the sweet south-west, beyond the hills where the haze of the Indian summer rested like a dim dream, inhabit- ing hunting grounds where the deer and the moose awaited his children ; a land of plenty, a land of rest from labor and freedom from care, where the warrior could sate himself in the enjoyment of those animal pleasures that could alone make up the Indian's heaven. To this land they made ready to go. The young brave had it in his eye when he went forth to battle ; the old chief spoke of it to his children when he laid himself down upon his mat to die. There they were to meet to part no more.
But the deity who received most of their offerings, was Hob- bomocko, the representative of the principle of evil.* Love him they could not, for not one of his attributes was lovely ; but, true to the instincts of the savage, they feared him, and, therefore, from motives of policy, they worshiped him. It has been thought that they sacrificed human victims to him. At any rate, they set apart a large share of their most valua- ble property for the festal days consecrated to him, and burned it wdth well-dissembled pleasure, in the hope of delud- ing him into the belief that they revered and honored him. These ceremonies were usually connected with some great
* Trumbull, i. 43.
/
GOVEEXMEXT OF THE ABORIGINES. 41
public event or threatened public calamity,* and were con- ducted by a class of men set apart for that purpose — a kind of priesthood, who were called Powaws. At these solemni ties, they danced in rings around great fires, and made a variety of such hideous noises that the English pioneers regarded with aversion and horror these unholy rites, where they had good reason to believe the devil presided.
The government of the Indians was an hereditary mon- archy, in theory absolute, and virtually so, where the chief, like Sassacus, was a man of great prowess in war, and supe- rior wisdom in council. f But in all cases he was surrounded by an aristocracy, who claimed a right to be consulted in matters of public importance. This aristocracy was made up of men selected from the wisest and bravest of the tribe, who constituted not only the privy counselors, but also the body-guard of the monarch. From childhood they were inured to hardships and fatigue, fed upon coarse fare, and made to drink decoctions of bitter roots and herbs, that they might be the "more acceptable to Hobbomocko." They were called Paniese. Thev, in common with the Powaws, exalted themselves in the estimation of the lower orders, by visions and revelations of a spiritual kind, and by interviews with Hobbomocko, face to face. These they related to the credu- lous multitude in the most extravagant language, enforced by the wildest gestures.
When Winslow and his handful of Plymouth men first made the acquaintance of the powerful Massasoit, and when, at a later day, the chiefs that lived in the neighborhood of Boston walked into the new settlement to sate their curi- osity, by looking upon the humble state of the governor of Massachusetts, it seemed a pleasant thing to them that this little company of pale-faced men had come among them. It broke up for a while the monotony of savage life, and, besides, it promised to the politic sachem the advantages of a lucra- tive traffic. It gratified, too, his vanity, that court should be paid to him by men of such strange attire, and of wealth to
* JMatlier's INIagnalia, iii. 192. t Trumbull, i. 51.
42 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
him so boundless. Even after he had learned how fatal to the moose and the deer, the wolf and the bear, were the weapons of the English planter, still it did not occur to him that the same weapons could be turned upon him with the like destructive effects ; and after he had learned that guns were more deadly in war than bows and arrows, his mind was directed rather to the injury they might do to his enemies than intimidated by the anticipation that they might one day be turned against himself. Hence, each chief courted an alli- ance with the new race, never once dreaming that a few farmers, who busied themselves with tasks fit, in his estima- tion, only for women, would soon get possession of the choicest lands that had been transmitted through a long line of Indian kings, and, finally, rising up as one man, would sweep whole tribes from the earth, and blot out their proudest names from remembrance. Uncas was doubtless leagued with the Connecticut river sachems in urging the English to make settlements there. He felt that he had nothing to lose, and much to gain, by calling to his aid new men and a new mode of warfare, well adapted to strike terror into the minds of his enemies.
Scarcely had the first log cabin been built by the pioneers in the valley of the Connecticut, when the high-spirited Sas- sacus, forecasting the growth and fruitfulness of resources incident to the English race, began to devise means for their destruction. An Indian runner would carry news through the woods at the rate of eighty, and sometimes an hundred, miles a day, and the nimble couriers of this ambitious chief- tain were seen flying in every direction. They represented the white men as rapidly advancing, driving the Indian as the fire drives the deer, when it sweeps over a hunting- ground — that one or the other of these races must give place. They advocated a war of extermination, as absolute as was destined to overtake them.
Sassacus also sent out little depredating parties, who lay in ambush near the new settlements, and committed sad rav- ages upon the inhabitants. They stole cattle from them.
[163-4.] MURDER OF STONE AXD NORTOX. 43
They shot arrows, from their secret lurking-places, at the farmer when he went into his field in the morning, or buried the stone hatchet in the forehead of his wife, and dashed out the brains of his little children, when they were left unpro- tected at home.
In the year 1634, two traders, Captain Stone and Captain Norton, came up the Connecticut river with the design of trafficking with the Dutch at Hartford. They hired Indian pilots to direct them, as they were ignorant of the channel. Two of the crew were sent forward to Dutch Point, with those pilots. Faithless guides they proved to be, for they murdered both the Englishmen at night while they slept.*
There were twelve Indians on board Stone's vessel, and while it was anchored near shore at night, and while Stone was asleep in his cabin, they stole upon him and murdered him, hiding his body beneath some rubbish. They then made an attack upon the crew, with little resistance, and killed them all except Norton, who betook himself to the cook room, and fought desperately, and with such address, that it seemed for a long time doubtful how the battle would end ; when, at last, his powder, that had been put in an open vessel, took fire, and so blinded and mutilated him that he was disabled and slain. The bootv that resulted from this treacherous skirmish was shared between the Pequots and the western Nihanticks. Sassacus and Ninigret, the sachems of these tribes, doubtless had a secret agency in the business, as they partook of the plunder.
Soon after this outrage, unprovoked, so far as can now be known, the deep-seated hostility that existed between the Narragansetts and Pequots began to exhibit itself. The Narragansetts had already dug up the hatchet, and were sending out their runners against their old enemy, Sassacus. They were making preparations for a general war. The Dutch, too, had paid an old debt of revenge for some injuries done to them, by killing a Pequot sachem, together with some
* Trumbull, i. 70 ; Winthrop, i. 146 ; INIiss Caulkins' Hist. New London, 27, 28 j Mass. Hist. Collections, viii. 130, new series.
44 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
of his warriors, and taking others captive. Sassacus and his paniese, began to be alarmed. What was to be done ? There was much need of a good ally. At last, it was re- solved by the Pequots to send a messenger to the English in the Massachusetts, with the view of making a league, offen- sive and defensive, with them. In November of the same year, the Pequot courier presented himself before the gov- ernor at Boston, and made proposals for a treaty. But the governor, not satisfied with the credentials of the ambassador, and, doubting his rank, put himself upon his dignity as the representative of the people, and told him frankly that he did not like his quality, and that the Pequots must send men of more weight and consequence, or he could not treat with them. The messenger, rather humbled, one would think, in being the bearer of his own disgrace at a foreign court, seems to have done his errand faithfully, for in due time two ministers plenipotentiary appeared, armed with an acceptable present, and of a gravity of character suitable to the business in hand. His excellency said he was not averse to peace, but that there were some old scores to be settled between the two powers. He charged the Pequots with the murder of Captain Stone and his crew, and said that the perpetrators of it must be given up to him for punishment. The ambassadors made answer, that Stone was any thing but what he should have been ; that he had abused the Indians, and tempted them to kill him. They further urged, that their nation was not re- sponsible for this murder, as they had neither plotted nor sanctioned it ; that it was the work of one of the inferior chiefs, who acted without authority from his master, and that he had already been slain by the Dutch. Finally, they alleged, that only two of the authors of this crime survived, and they promised to use their influence with Sassacus to induce him to deliver them up to justice. They begged the English to send a vessel with cloths to trade with them, and proposed to give them whatever title they had to the lands on the Connecticut river, if they would send men to live there. They also promised to give to their new ally four
[1635.] JOHN" OLDHAM KILLED. 45
hundred fathom of wampum, forty beaver skins, and thkty otter skins.
The treaty was at last estabhshed between the two powers, with the usual solemnities, much after the terms proposed by the Pequots.
How much sincerity there was on the part of the Indians in making these overtures, it is difficult to say. If honest at the time, their habitual fickleness and love of excitement pre- vented them from enjoying the blessings of an alliance that had cost them so much trouble in the making, and was liable to misconstructions of every sort, as well from the old jeal- ousies that beset it on every side, as from the different char- acter, habits, and languages of the contracting parties.
The next year, while Mr. John Oldham was trafficking with the Indians off Block Island, a large number of them made an attack upon him while on board his pinnace, and killed him. John Gallop, who was engaged in the same traf- fick not long after, sailing near enough to Oldham's vessel to see that her deck was swarming with Indians, readily divined what had happened. He bore down upon the pinnace, and, with one man and two boys, (his whole crew,) gave them such showers of duck shot that he soon drove them under hatches. He then stood off, and, with crowded canvas and a brisk sail, ran down upon the pinnace, striking her quarter with such violence that he nearly overset her. Six of the Indians, under the terrors inspired by this new mode of war- fare, plunged overboard and were drowned. He repeated this experiment, again striking the pinnace with such force that he bored her with his anchor, and might have had trouble in disentangling himself from her had not the terri- fied savages allowed him to have it all his own way. A third time he bore down upon her with such address, that several more of the savages leapt into the sea. Gallop then boarded her and took two prisoners, one of whom he bound and threw overboard.* Two or three others, who had taken refuge below and armed themselves, could not be driven from
* Miss Caulkins' Hist. New London, 29.
46 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
their retreat. Oldham's dead body was found on board, the head split in half, and the trunk and limbs brutally mangled. It lay hidden under a fishing net.* Gallop had no difficulty in recognizing the remains, and exclaimed, as he washed the blood from the ghastly features of the murdered man, " Oh, brother Oldham, is it thou ? I am resolved to avenge thee !"t Mutilated as was the dead body, Gallop committed it to the sea with reverent hands. After these simple obsequies were over, they stripped the pinnace of her rigging and what- ever lading the Indians had left on board, and proceeded to tow her into port ; but the wind rose as the sun went down, and they were obliged to cut her adrift.
There is little reason to doubt that Oldham was the victim of unprovoked, premeditated murder. He was from Dor- chester, and was a respectable trader. The Block Island and Narragansett Indians executed this plot, which was contrived, as was supposed, by several of the Narragansetts. Whether the Pequots helped to plan the murder, was never distinctly proved; but it is most probable that they did, as they secreted and protected several of the conspirators, who took refuge among them.
Had it been known to our ancestors, as it is known to us, how little power the great sachems had to control the con- duct of their petty chiefs, perhaps some of the darkest annals of our colony might never have been penned. Canonicus, the wise and noble sachem of the Narragansetts, disclaimed any knowledge of this murder, and felt keenly the suspicion that rested upon his tribe. He took the most stringent measures to find out the authors of it.
The governor, " by the advice of the magistrates and min- isters" of Massachusetts, resolved that the Block Island In- dians should be chastised. To execute this rash penalty, ninety men were sent under the command of John Endicott. Endicott was ordered to sail for Block Island, and put to death all the men on it, take the women and children prisoners,
* Savage's Winthrop, i. 226 ; History of Boston, by S. G. Drake, Esq., p. 198. t History of Boston, by Drake, 199.
[163G.] ENDICOTT'S EXPEDITION. 47
and carry them to Boston.* This was to avenge the death of Oldham. Having done this, he was directed to sail for Pequot harbor, demand of the Pequots the murderers of Cap- tain Stone, (whose death that tribe had already atoned for, as they supposed, by executing such terms of the late treaty as they could,) and one thousand fathom of wampum, as well as some Pequot children as hostages. If the Pequots failed to meet these demands, he was to use force.
Endicott repaired to Block Island, and arrived there on the last day of August. The surf rolled so high that he could scarcely land his men. Indian warriors, to the number of sixty, met him on the beach. But, in spite of the surf and the natives, he at length got his troops ashore. The island, called by the Indians Manisses, or the Island of the Little God, was mostly covered with small sand hills, that were over- grown with dwarf oaks. To the shelter afforded by this forbidding screen, the Indians betook themselves, firing their arrows behind them as they fled. There were two large plantations upon the island, with about sixty wigwams. The Indians had on these plantations two hundred acres of corn, a part of it piled in heaps and a part still standing. In two days, Endicott hunted out and killed fourteen Indians, de- stroyed the corn, staved in the canoes, and burned every wigwam that he could find.f He then set sail for the Pequot country. On his way he stopped at Saybrook, and reported to Gardiner, who commanded at the fort, what he had done. Gardiner, who thought the Narragansetts, and not the Block Island Indians, were guilty of the murder of Oldham, com- plained bitterly of this rash step. " You come hither," said he, " to raise these wasps about my ears, and then you will take wing and flee away."J This metaphor, as is often the case with figurative language, embodied a sad truth, that was but too well understood in Connecticut not long after.
The Massachusetts leader lost no time in reaching Pequot harbor. The Pequots were taken by surprise by this visit.
* Drake's History of Boston, 201. f Drake, 202.
i Savage's Winthrop, i. 231, 232; Trumbull, i. 73.
48 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
They came cautiously down to the shore, and there learned from the invader the nature of his errand. This landing- place was on the eastern side of the harbor, and the ascent that the English toiled to gain, has since been consecrated by the blood of Ledyard and his brave compatriots, who have given to fort Grisv/old a fame that will outlast the mon- ument that towers above the spot.* At length they reached a cultivated country, where the humble habitations of the natives rose out of the cornfields that stretched along the hill- sides, and looked off upon the harbor and river that bore the name of the Pequot, and afforded many a stealthy glimpse of the sea-shore.
Endicott had, from his first arrival, told the Indians that he must have the heads of the men who had killed Stone, or else, said he, "we will fight." He also demanded an inter- view with Sassacus. He was told that the chief was at Long Island and could not be seen.f He then asked to see the sachem who was next in rank ; and after much delay, and not until the English had reached the high land, whence they could see the Indian huts, were they told that the chief of whom they were in search, was found. Endicott ordered a halt, and here the cunning savages kept him in parley for four hours, while they could find time to remove their women and children to a safe hiding place, and secrete their most val- uble personal property. When this was done, the nimble- footed warriors began to retire, leaving the English leader in such ill humor with himself for having been outwitted, that he ordered the drum to beat and the troops to advance upon them. The savages let fly their arrows at a safe distance from behind the rocks and trees. Endicott now advanced upon the deserted wigwams, and burnt them to ashes. Then he destroyed the corn that was growing, and dug up that which had been buried in the earth by the Indians. He spent the whole day in this work of destruction, and at night re- embarked with his men. J
* Miss Caulkins' New London, 31. t Savage's Winthrop, i. 232.
t Drake, 202. This learned antiquarian and historian is free to acknowledge
[1636.] BUTTERFIELD CAPTURED. 49
The next day they landed on the west side of the river, upon the site of the town of New London, and burned and desolated the country in a similar manner. They then sailed for Narragansett bay, leaving the twenty men who had joined the expedition at Saybrook fort to return at their leisure. Gardiner had furnished these men, though he was opposed to the enterprise. He had also provided them with bags to be filled with corn. "Sirs," said he, after entering his protest against the enterprise, " Sirs, seeing you will go, I pray you, if you don't load your barks with Pequots, load them with corn."
Pursuant to this advice, soon after Endicott had sailed, the men furnished by Gardiner went ashore and filled their bags with corn. They were on a second visit to the corn-fields, and had filled their bags again, when they were startled by frightful yells. The owners of the property had caught them in the very act,, and their arrows sped so nimbly among the plunderers, that they were forced to drop their sacks and stand on the defensive. This they did so boldly, that the Indians, who fought in their usual irregular way, were soon checked. Yet the attack was so often renewed, that the English did not reach their shallops again until nearly night.
Thus ended this unlucky expedition of John Endicott; but it was followed by a long train of unhappy events. The wasps were indeed stirred up, and their sting was poisonous and deadly. The first attack was made upon the Saybrook fort, whither the corn had been transported. Perhaps the Pequots reasoned as the ministers and magistrates of Massachusetts had done, that they who shared the plunder were responsible for the bloodshed.
Early in October, as five men belonging to the garrison were carrying home hay from the meadows, the Pequots con- cealed themselves in the tall grass, surrounded them, ^d took one Butterfield prisoner. The rest escaped. Butterfield was
the impolicy as well as the injustice of Endicott's expedition. He did not cripple the enemy in the least, but only served to exasperate them, and arouse in their bosoms the most implacable hatred toward the Enghsh.
4
50 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
roasted alive, with the most brutal tortures. During the same month, one Tilly, the master of a small vessel, was taken captive by the Pequots, as he was sailing down the Connecticut river. He had anchored his craft about three miles above the fort, and imprudently gone ashore in a canoe with a single attendant to shoot wild-fowl. The first dis- charge of his gun was a signal for a large body of Pequots, who lurked in the woods, to rush upon him. They took Tilly alive and killed his attendant. They then set themselves to the task of destroying Tilly by piecemeal. The captive knew enough of their war customs to be aware that any show of submission on his part would be treated with scorn. He therefore remained passive, as an Indian brave would have done in his situation. First they cut off his hands. He made no complaint. Then, in their barbarous way, they amputated his feet. Not a groan escaped him. Thus they continued to follow him up with their most ingenious modes of torture, until he died. Even in death, his features showed no traces of pain. His admiring tormentors left his remains with the merited eulogy that he was a " stout man."*
Nothing could exceed the activity of these Indians, now that they were thoroughly aroused. They lurked in the low- lands that surrounded the fort like a malaria. They stole up and down the river by night and day, watching for vic- tims. A house had been built for the uses of the garrison about two miles from the fort, and six men were now sent to guard it. Three of them went out upon the same errand that had cost Tilly his life, when one hundred Pequots rose against them and took two of them. The other escaped, wounded with two arrows. Success finally made them so bold that they destroyed all the store-houses connected with the fort, burned up the haystacks, killed the cows, and ruined all the property belonging to the garrison that was not within the range of their guns. The fort was literally besieged through the entire winter.f
In February, the court met at Newtown, and ordered that
* Trumbull, i. 57 ; Savage's Winthrop, i. 238. + Winthrop.
[1637.] ENGLISH MUKDEEED BY THE INDIANS. 51
letters should be sent to the governor of Massachusetts, deprecating the evils resulting from Endicott's expedition, and calling on the governor for men to help prosecute the war with vigor. Soon after, Captain Mason was sent with twenty men to reinforce the garrison at Saybrook.
Lieutenant Gardiner went out one day in March, with about a dozen men, to burn the marshes. The Indians lav in wait for him, as he passed a narrow neck of land, killed three of his men, and mortally wounded another. Gardiner himself was also wounded. They pursued him to the very walls of the fort, and, surrounding it in great numbers, mocked the fugitives, imitating the dying groans and prayers of the English whom they had taken captive and tortured, and challenging the garrison to leave the fort and come out and fight like men. They said they could kill English- men "all one flies." Nothing but grape shot could quiet them.*
Soon after, the Pequots in canoes boarded a shallop as she was sailing down the river. She had three men on board. The Englishmen made a bold defence, but in vain. One of them was shot through the head with an arrow, and fell over- board. The Indians took the other two and killed them. They then split their bodies in twain, and suspended them all by their necks over the water, upon the branches of trees, hideous spectacles, to be gazed at by the English as they passed up and down the river.
The Indians united the keenest sarcasm with a power of imitation and grimace unrivaled even among children. They would put on the clothes of Englishmen whom they had roasted alive, and present themselves in little bands on the lawn in front of the fort, where they would enact over again the horrible drama, kneeling down and praying with the fervent voice and agonized gestures of the sufferers, and utter lamentations and cries indicative of the most unspeaka- ble anguish. This theatrical entertainment was usually ended with insults offered to Gardiner in broken English, or with
* Trumbull, i. 76.
62 , HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
peals of demoniac laughter. Then they would take to their heels and run into the woods.
About this time, Thomas Stanton, who could speak the Indian language so well that he often acted as interpreter for the colonies, arrived in a vessel at Saybrook. While waiting at the fort for a fair wind, a few Indians were seen to come down one day to a hill within musket range of the palisades, and hide themselves behind the trees. Gardiner ordered that the cannon should be pointed at the place where they lurked, and fired off when he waved his hat. Three of the savages soon rose and cautiously advanced towards the fort under pretense of a parley. Gardiner, wilhng, perhaps, to amuse his guest, walked out with him a little way, that they might come within speaking distance of the Indians. When the Englishmen had reached the stump of a large tree they stopped. " Who are you ?" asked the Indians. Stanton, replying to them in their own language, said, " That is the Lieutenant," and added that his own name was Thomas Stanton. The Indians replied, " It is false ; we saw the Lieutenant the other day shot full of arrows." But as soon as Gardiner spoke they saw their mistake, for one of the In- dians knew him well. They then cunningly asked, "Will you fight with the Nihanticks ? The Nihanticks are your friends, and we have come to trade with you." " We do not know one Indian from another," replied Stanton, " and we will trade with none of them." " Have you had fighting enough ?" asked the Indians. " We do not know that yet," returned the interpreter. "Is it your custom to kill women and children ?" rejoined the other party to the dialogue. " That you shall see hereafter."
A long pause ensued, when one of the Indians said, with a haughty air, " We are Pequots ; and have killed Englishmen, and can kill them as mosquitoes : and we will go to Connec- ticut, and kill men, women, and children, and carry away the horses, cows, and hogs." Gardiner then replied, with that good-natured irony so common with him, " No, no ; if you kill all the English there, it will do you no good. English
[1637.] ATTACK UP0:N" WETHEESFIELD. 53
women are lazy, and can't do your work. The horses and cows will spoil your corn-fields. The hogs will root up your clam banks. You will be completely undone. But look here at our fort. Here are twenty pieces of trucking-cloth, and hoes, and hatchets ; you had better kill us and get these things, before you trouble yourselves to go up to Connec- ticut."*
The Indians, enraged at this taunt, and unable to answer it, betook themselves to the thicket. They had scarcely reached it, when Gardiner gave the signal that was followed by a discharge of grape, that did the Indians little harm be- yond the fright that it gave them.
In April, they went as far as Wethersfield, and waylaid the farmers as they went into the fields to labor. They killed six men and two women, and took captive two maidens,f who were long and anxiously sought after, and were finally safely restored to their friends by the Dutch. They owed their lives to the wife of Mononotto, a chief second only to Sas- sacus. She protected them with a faithfulness and delicacy, that were honorably requited when it came her turn to be a prisoner. At Wethersfield, also, they killed twenty cows, and destroyed other property to a large amount.
Not long after, John Underbill, who had served under En- dicott in his attack upon the Pequots the year before, was sent from Massachusetts with twenty men, to reinforce the garrison at Saybrook. When he reached the fort. Mason and his men returned to Hartford.
With such an enemy hanging about the skirts of their three infant settlements — an enemy, growing every hour more darino; and reckless — it was evident that some decisive steps must be taken at once.
In the midst of these calamities the General Court met at Hartford, on the 1st of May, 1G37. This court represented the little republic of less than three hundred souls. An ex- cited session it was, and one fraught with doubts and teeming
* Gardiner. jNIass. Hist, Col. xxxiii. 144, 146 ; Mass. Hist. Col. xxxvi. 11. t Mass. Hist. Col. viii. 132, new series ; Trumbull, i. 77.
54 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
with weighty considerations. There is little evidence left us that there was a single faint heart in this company of fifteen picked men — six magistrates, and nine committee-men — who had in their hands the fate of Connecticut. Little evidence of fear, indeed, is to be found in the records of this body, for the first written memorial that we have of their doings, is in the following concise words : " It is ordered that there shall be an oftensive war against the Pequot, and there shall be ninety men levied out of the three plantations of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor ;"* a declaration of war of a phraseology so unmistakable in its simplicity, that we would joyfully recommend it to the legislative bodies of our own day — words that the reader will not be surprised to find employed by a body, including the names of Ludlow, Steele, Talcott, and Sherman. Of these troops, Hartford was to furnish forty- two, Windsor thirty, and Wethersfield eighteen. It was a short session, for long speeches were not then in fashion in any of the American colonies, where a sound head and a ready hand were in better request than nimble tongues. After providing for the munitions and supplies requisite to carry on the war, the court adjourned.
The little commonwealth was united as one man in the cause, and the preparations went forward with such prompt- ness, that in about a week after the war was resolved upon, the troops were ready to set sail.
It was on Wednesday, the 10th of May, that the heroic army embarked at Hartford, in " a pink, a pinnace, and a shallop,"! a hundred and sixty men ; the ninety English levied from the plantations, and seventy Mohegan Indian^, under the command of Uncas, and set sail for the mouth of the river. The renowned John Mason was Captain of the army, and Samuel Stone, scarcely less known to fame for his battles in a diflferent field of strife, was its chaplain, or spirit- ual guide.
The water was so shallow at this season of the year, that
* J. Hammond Trumbull's Colonial Records, i. 9. t Mason's " History of the Pequot War."
[1637.] AX INDIAN CAPTIVE EOASTED. 55
the vessels several times ran aground in dropping down the river. This delay was so irksome to the Indians, that they begged to be set ashore, to which Mason consented, on their promising to meet the English at Saybrook. It was not until the 15th of May, that Mason and his men arrived at Say- brook, having spent five days in sailing about fifty miles. Uncas kept his word, and joined the English at Saybrook fort. He had fought one battle during his absence, and killed seven hostile Indians. The report of this skirmish was veri- fied by Captain John Underbill, who came with Uncas, when he rejoined the English troops. Underbill also tendered to Mason his services, with nineteen men, for the expedition, if Lieutenant Gardiner, who as we have seen commanded at Sav- brook fort, would consent to it. Gardiner as readily granted him and his men leave to go. Mason was delighted with this new ally, and at once resolved to send back twenty of his own troops to protect, during his absence, the almost defence- less towns upon the river.* In his recent expedition, Uncas, in addition to the seven Indians that he had killed, had also taken one prisoner. Unluckily for the captive, he was known to be a spy. He had affected great friendship for the English, and had lived with the garrison at the fort long enough to acquire their lano-uacre. He then communicated to Sassacus their most secret counsels. Besides, he had been present at the horrid murders perpetrated by the Pequots at Saybrook. Uncas claimed the right to execute this Indian after the custom of his tribe. Never was justice meted out to a wretch with a more lavish hand. He was torn limb from limb, and roasted in a fire kindled for that purpose, and then passed around the council-ring, and eaten by Uncas and his Mohegans with a relish equaled only by the demonstrations of joy with which they threw the bones into the fire when they had completed their meal.f
Mason now began to be aware how critical was the task he had undertaken. From Wednesday, when he arrived at the mouth of the Connecticut river, until the next Friday,
* Mason ; Drake 207 ; Brodliead, i. 271. t Trumbull, i. SO.
56 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
his little fleet lay wind-bound near the fort, and within sight of the Pequot runners and spies who kept watch along the river. Mason's commission instructed him to sail directly for Pequot harbor, land his men there, and attack the enemy on their own ground. But the keen soldier saw at a glance the peril of obeying such orders. Had he not been kept so long at Saybrook, the case might have been different. But eight days had elapsed since he set sail from Hartford, and he well knew that a Pequot runner, could carry the news from the mouth of the Connecticut to that of the Thames in an hour, and that the shore would be lined with savages to meet them on their arrival. Besides, the shore was wild and rouojh, with rocks and trees that afforded a safe screen to the Indians. He also knew from the poor girls who had been taken captive at Wethersfield, and who had just been brought safely back to Saybrook by the Dutch, that the Pequots had sixteen guns in their possession, and had learned how to use them. The Pequot warriors, too, he was aware, many times outnumbered his own, and were swift of foot, and having the advantage of a favorable position on land, could offer a for- midable opposition to the English, who were more slow in their movements. The Pequots, too, could choose their ground, as their harbor was the only place within many miles where the English could land. Lastly, he saw, that if he could fall upon the enemy in the rear, and when they were not prepared for an attack, they would fall an easy prey into his hands.
Mason summoned a council of war, and assigned boldly these reasons, among others, why it was necessary to depart from the letter of the commission, and land at some other point than the one named in it. He said, in such an emer- gency, their necessities must be their masters. He urged the propriety of sailing past the Pequot country, as far as Narra- gansett bay, and, there landing his army, march through the Narragansett country, under the protection of the old here- ditary enemies of the Pequots, steal upon them in the night and crush them.
[1637.] THE CHAPLAIN CONSULTED. 57
This advice, backed as it was by such cogent reasoning, the other members of the council did not dare to second. The grim authority of the court haunted their minds hke a spec- tre. They were law-abiding men. How should they dare traverse the written will of the republic ? They saw the overwhelming force of Mason's arguments — they foresaw the death that awaited them, if they pursued the line marked out by the commission, yet those iron-hearted men, in the strong language of Mason, " were at a stand, and could not judge it meet to sail to Narra2;ansett." What was to be done ? A breeze might spring up at any moment, and then they must set sail. They had clearly no time to waste in debate. At last Mason remembers that these men, though they honor the authority of written laws, do so only because those laws are supposed to express the will of God. Is not Mr. Stone, one of the chosen servants of God, on board one of his vessels ? What so fitting as to consult the chaplain ?
Accordingly, Mason had an interview with Mr. Stone, and begged him " to commend their condition to the Lord that night," and ask advice of him.
The next morning, the chaplain came ashore, and told Cap- tain Mason "he had done as he had desired, and was fully satis- fied to sail for Narragansett." The council was again called, the case again stated, and with one consent they agreed to sail for Narragansett bay."^ It w^as on Friday morning that they set sail, and arrived in port on Saturday evening. But the wind blew with such violence from the north-west, that they could not effect a landing until Tuesday at sunset ; at which time Captain Mason landed and marched up to the resi- dence of Miantinomoh, the chief sachem of the Narragan- setts. Mason told the sachem, that he had not an opportu- nity to acquaint him beforehand of his coming armed into his country ; yet he doubted not the object would be approved by him, as the English had come to avenge the wrongs and injuries they had received from the common enemy, the Pequots. Miantinomoh expressed himself pleased with the
* Mason's Narrative.
58 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
design of Mason, but thought his numbers were too few to deal with the enemy, who were, as he said, " very great cap- tains, and men skillful in war."*
During the night, an Indian runner came into the camp with a letter from Captain Patrick, who had been sent from Massachusetts with a small body of men to assist Connecti- cut in prosecuting the war, informing Mason that he had reached Providence with the Massachusetts forces, and beg- ging him to remain where he was until they could unite. But the Connecticut troops were worn with fatigue and im- patient to return home ; and it was finally resolved that they would not wait for their Massachusetts allies, but would march for the Pequot country the next morning. The Nar- ragansett Indians entertained such a dread of the Pequots that they could not believe the English to be in earnest.
It was on Wednesday, the 24th of May, that the little army of seventy-seven Englishmen, sixty Mohegans and Connec- ticut river Indians, and about two hundred Narragansetts, began their march for the Pequot forts. They went that day about twenty miles, when they reached the eastern Nihantick, a country that bordered on the Pequot territory. Here was the seat of one of the Narragansett sachems, and here he had a fort. But he refused to treat with the English, or let them enter his palisades to pass the night. Mason, having good cause to think from their behavior, that these Indians were in league with the Pequots, set a strong guard about their fort, and would not allow one of them to escape from it during the night. f But the conduct of the Nihanticks, was attributable to suspicion and fear, rather than to any alliance with the Pequots, as the event proved ; for when they saw, the next morning, that the English were reinforced by a large party of Narragansetts, sent on by Miantinomoh, they took heart, and, forming a circle, declared that they, too, would fight the Pequots, and boasted with their usual bravado how many they would kill; so that when Mason resumed his march on Thursday, he had about five hundred Indian war-
* Mason's Narrative. f lb.
[1637.] MARCH TOWARD MISTICK. 59
riors in his train. The day was very suhry and oppressive, and some of the men fainted from heat, and the exhaustion that followed from a want of suitable provisions. After marching about twelve miles to a ford in the Pawcatuck river, the old fishing-ground of the Pequots,* the army made a halt and rested a while. The Narragansett Indians, had, from the first arrival of Mason among them, looked with ill-concealed contempt upon the scanty numbers and supposed weakness of the English. They had more than once hinted that Mason and his men had not the courage to fight the Pequots, and that whatever skill and firmness there was in the army, was confined to their own ranks. But, now that they had come into the country of Sassacus, and found that they were within a few miles of his principal fortress, the expedition seemed no longer to be a pleasant jest to them, but an earn- est reality, that grew more and more fearful with every step that lessened the distance between them and the chief, who was more terrible to their imaginations than Hobbomocko himself. Mason at last called Uncas to him, and asked him what he had to expect from the Indians. The chief replied, that the Narragansetts would all drop off", but that he and his Mohe2;ans would never leave the Eno;lish. " For which ex- pression and some other speeches of his," says Mason, "I shall never forget him."
After dining upon such coarse fare as was to be had, they marched about three miles to a field just planted with Indian corn. Here they made another halt and held a council, for it was thought that they drew near the enemy. The Indians now told them, for the first time, that the Pequots had two forts, and that they were "almost" impregnable. Nothing daunted by this intelligence, the council resolved to attack both these fortresses at once. But, on further inquiry, it ap- peared that the principal fort, where Sassacus resided, was too remote to be reached before midnight, so they were com- pelled to abandon this plan,^and attack the smaller one at Mistick.
* Johnson's Wonder- Working Providence, jNIass. Hist. Coll. xxiv, p. 47.
60 • HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
The prediction of Uncas, with regard to the Narragan- setts, was soon verified. Indeed, all the Indians, who had at first marched in the van, fell into the rear ; and soon not a Narragansett was to be seen. Wequash, a petty chief who had revolted from Sassacus, was the guide upon whom Mason most relied, and he proved worthy of trust. They marched on in silence until about an hour after sunset, when they reached a small swamp between two hills. Here, supposing that they were near the fort, "they pitched their little camp" between two high rocks, ever since known as " Porter's Rocks." It was a clear night, with a shining moon. Mason set his guards, and stationed his sentinels at a great distance from the camp, to prevent the possibility of a surprise. Then the tired soldiers, with no tents to shelter them from the dew, laid themselves down under the open sky and slept. " The rocks were our pillows," says the heroic leader of the expe- dition, " yet rest was pleasant." Mistick fort was farther off from the camp than they had been led to suppose. It was so near, however, that the sentries heard the enemy singing there till midnight, a wild strain of joy and exultation, they afterwards found it to have been, in commemoration of the supposed flight of Mason and his men — for they had watched their vessels a few days before, when they sailed eastward, and rationally enough concluded that they dared not meet the dreaded Pequot in battle. This night of festivity was their last.
About two hours before day, the men were roused up and commanded to make themselves ready for battle. The moon still shone full in their faces as they were summoned to prayer. They now set forward with alacrity. The fort proved to be about two miles off. A long way it seemed over the level though stony ground, and the officers began at last to fear that they had been led upon the wrong track, when they came at length to a second field of corn, newly planted, at the base of a high hill. Here, they halted, and " gave the word for some of the Indians to come up." At first not an Indian was to be seen ; but finally, Uncas and Wequash the
[1637.] ATTACK UPOX MISTICK FORT. 61
guide showed themselves. " Where is the fort ?" demanded Mason. " On the top of that hill/' was the answer. " Where are the rest of the Indians ?" asked the fearless soldier. The answer was, what he probably anticipated, " Behind, and very much afraid." " Tell them," said Mason, "not to fly, but to stand as far off as they please, and see whether Englishmen will fight."
There were two entrances to the fort, one on the north- eastern side, the other on the west. It was decided that Mason should lead on and force open the former, while Un- derhill, who brought up the rear, was to pass around and go in at the western gate.
Mason had approached within about a rod of the fort, when he heard a dog bark, and almost in a breath, this alarm was followed up by the voice of an Indian, crying, " Owanux ! Owanux !" — Englishmen, Englishmen ! No time was to be lost. He called up his forces with all haste, and fired upon the enemy through the palisades. The Pequots, who had spent the night in singing and dancing, were now in a deep sleep. The entrance near which Mason stood, was blocked up with bushes about breast high. Over this frail obstruction he leaped, sword in hand, shouting to his men to follow him. But Seely, his lieutenant, found it more easy to remove the bushes than to force the men over them. When he had done so, he also entered, followed by sixteen soldiers. It had been determined to destroy the enemy with the sword, and thus save the corn and other valuables that were stored in the wigwams. With this view, the captain, seeing no Indians, entered one of these wigwams. Here he found many warri- ors who crowded hard upon him, and beset him with great violence ; but they were so amazed at the strange apparition that had so suddenly thrust itself upon them, that they could make but a feeble resistance. Mason was soon joined by W^illiam Hay den, who, as he entered the wigwam through the breach that had been made by his impetuous captain, stumbled against the dead body of a Pequot, whom Mason had slain, and fell. Some of the Indians now fled from the
62 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
wigwam ; others, still stupefied with sleep, crept under mats and skins to hide themselves.
The palisades embraced an area of about twenty acres — a space sufficient to afford room for a large Indian village. There were more than seventy houses in this space, with lanes or streets passing between them. Mason, still intent on destroying the Pequots, and at the same time saving their property, now left the wigwam, and passed down one of these streets, driving the crowd of Indians that thronged it before him from one end of it to the other. At the lower extremity of this lane stood a little company of Englishmen, who, having effected an entrance from the west, met the Indians as thev fled from Mason, and killed about half a dozen of them. The captain now faced about, and went back the whole length of the lane, to the spot where he had entered the fort. He was exhausted, and quite out of breath, and had become satisfied that this was not the way to exterminate the Indians, who now swarmed from the wigwams like bees from a hive. Two of his soldiers stood near him, close to the palisades, with their useless swords pointed to the ground. Their dejected faces told him that they felt as he did, that the task was a hopeless one. " We shall never kill them in this way," said the captain ; and then added, with the same laconic brevity, " We must hum them ! " With these words the decree of the council of war to save the booty of the enemy was annulled ; for, stepping into the wigwam where he had before forced an entrance, he snatched a fire-brand in his hand, and instantly returning, applied it to the light mats that formed the cov- ering of their rude tenements. Almost in an instant, the little village was wrapped in flames, and the frightened Pequots fled in dismay from the roofs that had just before sheltered them. Such was their terror, that many of them took refuge from the English in the flames, and perished there. Some climbed the palisades, where they afforded but too fair a mark for the muskets of their enemies, who could see to take a dead aim in the light of the ghastly conflagration. Others fled from the beds of mats or skins, where they had sought a
[1637.] mason's victory. 63
temporary concealment, and were arrested by the hand of death in the midst of their flight. Others, still, warping up to the windward, whence the fire sped with such fatal velocity, fell flat upon the ground and plied their destroyers with arrows. But their hands were so palsied with fear, that the feathered messengers either flew wide of their aim or fell with spent force upon the ground. A few, of still stouter heart, rushed forth with the tomahawk, to engage the invaders of their homes in a hand to hand combat. But they were nearly all, to the number of about forty, cut in pieces by the sword. The vast volume of flame, the lurid light reflected on the dark background of the horizon, the crack of the muskets, the yell of the Indians who fought, and of those who sought vainly to fly, the wail of women and children as they writhed in the flames, and the exulting cries of the Narragansetts and Mohe- gans without the fort, formed a contrast awful and sublime, with the quiet glories of the peaceful May morning, that was just then breaking over the woods and the ocean.
Seventy wigwams were burned to ashes, and probably not less than five hundred men, women, and children were destroyed.* The property, too, shared the same fate. The long-cherished wampum-belt, with the beads of blue, purple, and white, the war-club, the eagle plume, the tufted scalps, trophies of many a victory — helped only to swell the blaze that consumed alike the young warrior and the superannuated counselor, the squaw, and the little child that clung helplessly to her bosom. Of all who were in the fort, only seven were taken captive, and about the same number escaped.
Notwithstanding their victory, the English forces were in no very enviable situation. Two of their men lay dead on the field, and about twenty had been wounded. The surgeon had been left at Narragansett bay with the vessels, and by
* As to the number of the Pequots who perished on that memorable morning, authorities widely differ. Mason, the chief actor in the transaction, (whose narra- tive of the expedition we have generally followed,) says " six or seven hundred as some of them confessed;" Winthrop puts the number at about three hundred. Brodhead, at six hundred. Trumbull, at five or six hundred. Underhill, at four hundred, &c.
64: HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
some misunderstanding had not arrived to attend upon such as needed his services. Nearly all the provisions, and other comforts required by men exhausted and wounded, were also on board the vessels. Without provisions, one quarter of his men disabled, in the midst of a country unknown to him, but familiar to his enemies, within a short distance of the fort of Sassacus, who had around him hundreds of fierce warriors, his ships far away, and his powder and ball almost spent, Mason found much to test the skill of a leader, and to call forth his courage.
While debating what measures should be adopted, it was with delight that he saw his little vessels, their sails filled with the welcome gale that blew from the north-east, gliding into Pequot harbor. The fainting soldiers hailed them with joy, as if they had been angels sent to deliver them.
By this time, the news of the destruction that had fallen upon his tribe at Mistick, heralded, no doubt, not only by the handful of men who had escaped from the fort, and by the clouds of smoke that floated from the fatal scene, but by the dismal cries that attended this exterminating sacrifice, had reached the fort of Sassacus, and three hundred warriors came rushing towards the English with the determination to avenge themselves for an injury not yet half revealed to them. Mason led out a file of his best marksmen, who soon gave the Pequots a check. Seeing that they could not stand his fire, he commenced his march toward Pequot harbor. Of the twenty wounded men, four or five were so disabled that it was necessary to employ about twenty other men to carry them ; so that he had but about forty men who could engage in battle, until he succeeded in hiring some Indians to take charge of the wounded. They had marched about a quarter of a mile, w^hen the Pequot warriors, who had withdrawn out of the range of their muskets, reached the spot where, not two hours before, their fort had sheltered so much that was sacred to them. When they came to the top of the hill, ven- erable to them from so many associations connected with the history and glory of their tribe — when they saw the smoking
[1637.] MASON RETURNS TO HARTFORD. 65
palisades, the flames of their wigwams, not yet extinguished, the blackened bodies that lay scattered where death had overtaken them — in their grief and rage, they stamped upon the ground, tore the hair from their heads, and then rushed madly down the hill, as if they would have swept the enemy from the face of the earth. Captain Underbill, with a file of the bravest men, was ordered to defend the rear. This he did with such efficiency that the Indians were soon com- pelled to fall back. Yet such was their resolve to have their revenge upon the English that, during their march for the next six miles, they pursued them, sometimes hanging on their rear, sometimes hidden behind trees or rocks in front, discharging their arrows in secret, at others, making desper- ate attacks, that could be repelled only by the too deadly use of the musket. They fought at fearful odds, as was evinced by the dead bodies of their warriors picked up by the Mohe- gans who followed in their train, while not an Englishman was injured during the whole line of their march. At last, wearied with a pursuit that only brought harm to themselves, they abandoned it, and left the English to continue their march unmolested, with their colors flying, to Pequot harbor. Here they were received on board their vessels with many demonstrations of joy.
In about three weeks from the day when the army em- barked at Hartford, to go upon this uncertain and dangerous enterprise, they returned to their homes, where the kindest congratulations awaited them.
5
CHAPTER III.
PROSECUTION OF THE PEQUOT WAR.
The Pequots, who had gone out to view the scene of the fatal conflagration at Mistick, and who had sought in vain to avenge it upon the heads of its authors, now returned to the principal fort, and told to Sassacus the details of the dismal story, as they had been able to gather it from the too certain indications that still remained. Their reverence for him, no longer kept them aloof from him. From having been his most abject servants, they now became his accusers. They charged it upon his arrogance and ambition, that his subjects had revolted and had called in to aid their rebellion, such ter- rible allies as the English were, with weapons that resembled the thunder and the lightning, who went upon the sea, and who made use of fire to execute their wrath. They said the ruin of the whole tribe would soon follow. They said that he merited death, and they would kill him. Indeed, it is probable that they would have done so, had not the counselors of the chief interposed with mild words to calm the excited passions of the warriors. They consented to spare his life, but the spell of his influence over them was broken forever. He had ceased to be " all one god," from the moment that it became known how inadequate he was to protect his people from the English. A consultation was now held of the most solemn character. What should be done ? Should they remain in the fort, and be exposed to the fate that had awaited their brothers at Mistick, or should they imitate the example of their enemies, and commit this their old retreat, and its royal wigwams and high palisades, to the flames, and then seek the fastnesses of the rocks and cedar swamps for a last refuge ? It was with a bitter struggle that they finally re- solved to burn the fort, and thus help to blot out the Pequot name. They burned it to ashes with their own hands, andj
[1637.] MASON FOLLOWS SASSACUS. 67
in little companies, as they could best agree to assort them- selves, they fled into the most inaccessible hiding-places. Sassacus, Mononotto, and about eighty of his friends and braves, making up the proudest of the tribe, who preferred to die rather than desert their chief in his misfortune, set their faces toward the west, and fled for their lives.
Meanwhile Roger Williams, always the good angel of those who persecuted him, sent an Indian runner to Boston with the tidings that Connecticut had gained a victory over the Pequots at Mistick.
The governor and council of the Massachusetts, resolved to follow up Mason's success, sent forward with all haste one hun- dred and twenty men, under the command of Mr. Stoughton, with instructions to prosecute the war, even to the destruction of the Pequot name. The famous Mr. Wilson of Boston went w^ith the army as chaplain. They reached Pequot harbor late in June, and soon found a party of the Indians, where they had secreted themselves in a swamp. They took eighty captives there — fifty women and children, whom they spared, and thirty men, every one of whom they killed with the ex- ception of the sachems, whom they saved on their promising to conduct them to Sassacus.
In June, the Connecticut court met at Hartford, and ordered that forty men should be raised, and put under the command of Mason, to carry on the war.* The wise Ludlow, and several of the principal gentlemen of the colony, went along with the party as advisers, for by this time the court had learned the folly of tying up Mason by the terms of a commission. They soon joined the Massachusetts men, under Stoughton, at Pequot harbor. A council of war was held, and it was resolved to follow Sassacus in his flight toward Hudson river. They soon found traces of the enemy. It was evident from the close proximity to one another of the rendezvous, where the Pequots spent the night, that they marched at a slow pace, and had their women, children, and movable property with them. The smoke that arose from
* J. H. Trumbull's Colonial Records, i. 10,
68 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
their fires, the prints of their fingers in the woods, where they had dug up the earth to search for roots to quell the cravings of hunger, and the marks that the tides had not obliterated where they had searched for clams in the wet sea sand, render- ed it no difficult task to pursue them. But the Pequots were scattered into so many parties, that it was impossible for the English to tell from these doubtful signs whether they were on the trail of Sassacus or of some petty chief. At last, in this perplexity, they summoned the sachems taken by Stough- ton at Pequot harbor, who had been spared under the prom- ise of pointing out the trail of the great chief, and called upon them to redeem their pledge. But they refused to give in- formation against him, and were put to death.* The place where this too summary execution took place was within the limits of the present town of Guilford, where the land, rising into a bluff, affords a grateful elevation for the sea-breezes that have long tempted the lovers of cool summer nights and good cheer to take up a temporary abode. It still bears the name of " Sachem's Head." A part of the army, guided by Uncas and some of his Indians, marched along the shore within sight of the vessels, that hovered as near them as the nature of the coast would allow. When they reached Quin- nipiack, now New Haven, they saw a great smoke curling up through the trees, and hoped to find the fugitives near at hand. But the fires, they soon found, had been kindled by the Connecticut river Indians.
Here was a good harbor, and as the march through the woods had proved toilsome, and had resulted in nothing, the English all went on board the vessels. Here they stayed several days, in doubt what they would do, and waiting for the return of a Pequot, who had been sent forward to spy out the enemy. At last he returned, and reported that Sas-
* Drake, in his History of Boston, p. 216, names Mononotto as one of the sa- chems beheaded at this time. Trumbull, however, mentions him as one of the survivors of the " swamp fight," which took place several days after 5 adding, that he was one of the twenty who fled to the Mohawks, all of whom were slain by the Mohawks, " except Mononotto, who was wounded, but made his escape."
[1637.]
THE SWAMP FIGHT. 69
sacus and his party, were secreted in a swamp a few miles to the westward.
The English were soon on the trail. They found the swamp without difficulty. It was situated within the limits of the old town of Fairfield. In this swamp were hidden about eighty Pequot warriors, with their women and children, and about two hundred other Indians. A dismal, miry bog it was, covered with tangled bushes. Dangerous as it was. Lieutenant Davenport rushed into it with his men, eager to encounter the Pequots.
The sharp arrows of the enemy flew from places that hid the archers, wounding the soldiers who, in their haste to retreat, only sunk deeper in the mire. The Indians, made bold by this adventure, pressed hard upon them, and would have car- ried off their scalps, had it not been for the timely aid of some other Englishmen, who waded into the swamp, sword in hand, drove back the Pequots, and drew their disabled friends from the mud that had threatened to swallow them up. The swamp was now surrounded, and a skirmish followed that proved so destructive to the savages, that the Fairfield Indi- ans begged for quarter. They said, what was probably true, that they were there only by accident, and had never done the English any harm — and that they only wished for the privilege of withdrawing from the swamp, and leaving the Pequots to fight it out.
Thomas Stanton, who knew their language, was sent into the swamp with instructions to oflfer life to all the Indians who had shed no English blood. When the Sachem of the Fairfield Indians learned the terms proposed by Stanton, he came out of the swamp followed by little parties of men, w^o- men, and children. He and his Indians, he said, had shed no English blood. But the Pequot warriors, made up of choice men, and burning with rage against the enemy who had destroyed their tribe and driven them from their old haunts, fought with such desperate bravery, that the English were glad to confine themselves to the border of the swamp.
There now sprang up a controversy among the officers,
70 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
as to the best mode of annihilating this Httle handful of Pequots. Some advised that they should plunge into the swamp, and there fight them. But the experiment of Daven- port discouraged others from so foolhardy a course. Others suggested that they should cut down the swamp with the hatchets that they had brought with them ; others, that they should surround it with palisades. Neither of these proposi- tions was adopted. They finally hit upon a plan that was more easily executed. They cut down the bushes that grew upon a little neck of firm upland, that almost divided the sw^amp into two parts. In this way, they so lessened the area occupied by the Pequots that, by stationing men twelve feet apart, it could all be surrounded by the troops. This was done, and the sentinels all stationed, before nightfall. Thus keeping watch on the borders of the morass, wet, cold, and weary, the soldiers passed the night under arms. Just before day, a dense fog arose, that shrouded them in almost total darkness. A friendly mist it proved to the Pequots, for it doubtless saved the lives of many of them. At a favorable moment they rushed upon the English. Captain Patrick's quarters were first attacked, but he drove them back more than once. Their yells, more terrible from the darkness that engulfed the scene of the conflict, were so unearthly and appalling, the attack was so sudden and so well sustained, that, but for the timely interference of a party sent by Mason to relieve him, Patrick would doubtless have been driven from his station or cut in pieces. The siege had by this time given place to a hand-to-hand fight. As Mason was himself marching up to aid Patrick, the Pequots rushed upon him from the thicket. He drove them back with severe loss. They did not resume the attack upon the man who had re- cently given them such fearful proofs of his prowess ; but turned upon Patrick, broke through his ranks, and fled. About sixty of the Pequot warriors escaped. Twenty lay dead upon the field. One hundred and eighty were taken prisoners. Most of the property that this fugitive remnant of the tribe had attempted to carry with them, fell into the hands of the
[1637.] SASSACUS BEHEADED BY THE MOHAWKS. 71
English. Hatchets of stone, beautiful wampum-belts, pol- ished bows, and feathered arrows, with the utensils employed by the women in their rude domestic labors, became at once, as did the women themselves, the property of the conquerors. The captives and the booty were divided between Massa- chusetts and Connecticut. Some were sent by Massachu- setts to the West Indies, and there, as slaves, dragged out a WTetched, yet brief existence. Among the captives taken in this battle, was the wife of Mononotto and her children. With much dignity, she begged them to save her honor in- violate and to spare her life and that of her offspring. She had been kind to the girls who had been taken from Weth- ersfield, and for this she and her little ones were recommended, not in vain, to the mercy of the governor of Massachusetts.*
Those who fell to the colony of Connecticut found their condition more tolerable. Some of them, it is true, spent their days in servitude ; yet its rigors softened as the horrors of the war faded from the recollections of the English. Sas- sacus seems not to have been present at this battle. Foiled and discomfitted at every turn, he fled far to the westward, and sought a refuge among the enemies of his tribe, the Mo- hawks. But he looked in vain for protection at their hands. He had defied them in his prosperity, and in his evil days they avenged themselves. They beheaded him, and sent his scalp as a trophy to Connecticut. A lock of his black, glossy hair was carried to Boston in the fall of the same year, as a witness that the proud sachem of the Pequots was no more !
On the 21st of September, Uncas and Miantinomoh, with the remaining Pequots, met the magistrates of Connecticut at Hartford. About two hundred of the vanquished tribe still survived. A treaty was then entered into between Con- necticut, the Mohegans, and the Narragansetts. By its terms, there was to be perpetual peace between these two tribes and
* The scene of this famous " swamp fight " lies on the borders of Long Island sound, about three miles from Greenfield Hill, in the town of Fairfield. President Dwight, (who celebrated the battle in his poem, " Greenfield Hill,") states, in the preface of that work, that the " swamp " was at that time a beautiful field.
72 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
the English. If the subjects of either tribe did wrong to those of the other, the injured party promised not to take summary justice into its own hands, but to appeal to the English. Then, with imposing ceremonials, the magistrates divided the remnant of the Pequots among the Narragansetts and Mohegans. To Uncas, their favorite, they gave one hundred, to Miantinomoh eighty, and twenty to Ninigret. These poor creatures, thus given over to their enemies and subjected to their bitterest taunts, were to be called Pequots no more, nor were they ever to dwell again in their old haunts, or pay their wonted visits to the burial-places of their dead, or meet on festal days to revive the traditions of their people around the embers of the council fire.
The thoughtful reader may feel disposed to ask us, if we can justify the story that we have told with such painful minuteness. We answer, that such a war should never have been begun. The expedition ot Endicott, the primary cause of this war, was ill advised, and carried on in defiance of the wishes of Connecticut. But, after the horrid murders that were committed by the Pequots, the sequel of this unhappy affair, Connecticut was compelled to take the field. The war was then one of extermination, for the enraged Pequot would give no quarter to the English. Some lineaments of the cam- paign are harsh and repulsive. Most gladly would we soften them with more delicate tints. But the features of truth have often a sharp, stern outline, as had the characters of those unflinching men, the fathers of New England, who struck down their enemies as they felled their forest trees, aiming at every blow of the axe at the annihilation of the wilder- ness. The roots of the brave old woods they could not at once destroy. A few years sent up a new growth, with fresh leaves, to wave in the breath of summer, and ripen beneath the August sun. But no new race of men sprung up to fill the places of the crushed and desolate Pequots. Let the reader decide the question of guilt or innocence as best he may ; but let him not forget to weigh against the fate of the Indians the atrocities that they had perpetrated, and the
[1637.] CLOSE OF THE PEQUOT WAR. 73
horror inspired by their war whoops as they mingled at night wfth the howl of the wolf around the farmer's dwelling. Let him also bear in mind how much the last two centuries have done to modify the rules of war and the social and political relations of the world. In this way he will be able to adjust the scales between the contending parties, in a struggle not so much for dominion as for a national existence.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST AMERICAN CONSTITUTIOK
Civil liberty, as Christian nations understand the term, seems to have had its seeds first sown with a liberal hand in England. But England, with all her health and vigor, bor- rowed from the feudalism of the continent, during the early and middle ages, many a constitutional taint, that showed it- self in the blood of the state, and sometimes threatened it with a speedy dissolution. The struggle between the villein and his lord — the oppressive power of the great barons— their disregard of the interests of the lower orders — their bloody wars, waged to make and unmake kings — kept her in a state of almost perpetual unrest for centuries. There, too, the religious sentiment, long meditating the mild studies of the scholar and the doctrines of the Prince of Peace, in the depths of the cloister, was roused by the blast of the clarion to follow the wildest of priests and the most romantic of kings to the wars of the Holy Sepulchre, and often kindled to acts of violence at home that have left marks still visible in every part of the island.
But, by slow degrees, often repulsed, and still gathering its forces anew, popular constitutional liberty gained ground. By a union of the people with the crown, the barons were subdued, and the kingly prerogative itself was at length con- fined to fixed channels. Sometimes, indeed, swollen by the strong passions of some imperious monarch like Henry VIII., it broke over its banks, and spread a temporary desolation among the people ; but the waters soon subsided into their calm and regular flow. But Henry VIII. was an exception to all rules. It is not often that a nation is governed by a monarch of such scholastic attainments, such intellectual en- dowments, such a strong and marked individuality, and such
HENRY VIII. 75
an imperious will. Never did a prince come to the throne with more flattering anticipations. A handsome person, a bold and gallant manner, a full exchequer, an undoubted title, all contributed to swell the popular shouts that hailed him king. With all these advantages, Henry was almost totally devoid of moral culture. He was also the victim of the most insatiate passions. It is idle to call him a Protestant, in any such sense as the term was understood in his day, or in that of his daughter Elizabeth. So far was he from being so, that he himself wrote what he called a refutation of Luther's tenets, in Latin, for which he was honored by Leo X. with the title of "Defender of the Faith." Nor is there any reason to suppose that he would have ever broken away from the Roman see, had he not been enrao;ed at the excommunication that followed a public disclosure of his secret marriage with Anne Boleyn. All that he then did was to declare himself the "Head of the English Church." Still he adhered as closely as ever to the theological tenets of the Roman Cath- olic Church. He executed Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher, because they refused to take the oath of supremacy to him, and at the same time caused hundreds of reformers to be burned at the stake. The cruel and barbarous destruction of the religious houses, and the confiscation of monastic property, in 1538, the expunging of the sainted name of Thomas a Becket, from the calendar, and the burn- ing of his bones to ashes, were acts of violence leveled not against the Roman Catholic religion, but against those who dared to dispute his own ecclesiastical supremacy. His alli- ance with Catherine Howard brought him still more imme- diately under the control of the Catholic party, and while the new queen retained his favor a fearful persecution was waged against the Protestants.
If he ever was a Protestant, it was while under the brief dominion of Catherine Parr, his sixth wife, whose heart was touched, though she dared not openly avow it, with the dawn- ing beams of the Reformation. Even this secretly-cherished preference had well-nigh proved her ruin. That the king
76 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
afterwards forsook his old friends, does not evince, that I am able to discover, any change in his religious tenets.
All this v^hile, the quick leaven of the Reformation was working in the minds of the English people. While the monarch was busy in freeing himself from the burden of one queen, only to become entangled in the toils of another, whose glory, alas, was to be equally evanescent ; while he was writing that darling word " supremacy," in characters red with the blood of bishops and statesmen adhering to their old allegiance, mingled, too, with that of reformers, whose pure souls were breathed forth in prayer, that the sickle might quickly be thrust in by other hands, since to them it was denied to reap the whitened harvest field — all this while, a large portion of his subjects, in the words of an English writer second to none, were "casting off the rags of their old vices," and were reading the Bible diligently to find the spirit and the form of the primitive church ; the spirit first, after that the form ; the weightier matters of the law, after these, tithes of mint and cummin. By this party I mean not the Puritans alone, but rather the Reformation party, embrac- mg the high-born and the lowly of every rank and name, who dared for themselves to search the Scriptures, and apply to the exposition of them the light of conscience and reason. This party was never able to make head against the self- willed monarch, but it grew in secret, and waited for his death with such patience as a fiery zeal is able to command.
With his death, this large party, made up of those who afterwards fell in with the established order of things under Edward VI., as well as of the Puritans, who fled from the pursuit of bloody Mary into Germany and Switzerland, dared to assert its claims to royal notice, and those claims were for a brief space in part allowed. During the mild reign of Edward much was accomplished. Articles of faith were compiled, that in later years served as the basis of a more complete and perfect system. In this reign, too, Cranmer and Ridley were associated with other divines to frame a liturgy, not in Latin, but in the vernacular tongue. The first
QUEEN ELIZABETH. 77
part of the homilies also, boldly setting forth the doctrines of Christianity, and defining with more certainty the then unsettled landmarks of the Protestant faith, were published under the same monarch.
But the mild reign of Edward and the fierce persecutions of Mary soon passed away. On the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, this large liberal party, that I have called the Reformation party, became severed, never to be united again. The queen, retaining in her mind too keen a remembrance of her own dangers and suflerings during her father's and sister's reign, ever to commit herself cordially to the arms of the Roman Catholic Church, yet wedded by the very state- liness of her character to its venerable forms of prayer, its lofty chants, its respect paid to externals, and the hold that it had upon the imagination, dating as it did from a remote antiquity, was ready to adopt some middle ground between the two extremes of the national mind — some safe ground where the more conservative elements of the state might blend themselves with the loyalty still inherent in the hearts of the lower orders — some sacred ground, fit for a shrine, where the sentiment of religion and that of patriotism might dwell together under the protecting shadow of the throne.
Where was this ground of union ? The queen was proud — for when was pride absent from the house of Tudor ? Yet in her, the loftiest pride was united with that sturdy sense, that keen, intuitive vision, that characterized her noble family, and enabled them to measure the English people, and judge with such accuracy how far they might push the royal pre- rogative, and note the line of foam that marked the danger- ous proximity of popular breakers. Besides, stern as she was, she was not deaf to the voice of those softer monitions that in perilous times whisper of weakness and danger in the ear of woman. Proud as she was, therefore, she had much need to consult her wisest subjects. I can not impugn the motives of this high-toned woman, placed as she was upon the verge of that fearful revolution whose swift wheels were stayed until
781 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
her eyes were closed in death — I can not blame her that she was not endowed with a prophetic vision ; nor did the Puritans, whom she subjected to the rigors of a legislation for which she was to a degree responsible, though they complained of her severity, ever speak of her in terms of disrespect. She took counsel of the most profound scholars and revered pre- lates, as well as of that circle of glorious statesmen and phi- losophers that have made her name and era forever illustri- ous. Doubtless, she felt an honest solicitude to place the church upon its original basis, and doubtless many of her advisers offered up earnest prayers that they might be led in the right way. She, and those who acted under her, did much for Christianity and the Protestant faith — more than had been effected under any monarch who had gone before her. She believed that the church and state were united in holy bonds. Had she contented herself with suppressing factions ; could she have distinguished between those who hated and those who sought to reform the abuses of the established church — abuses not inherent in the church, but resulting from its alliance with the state, that have since been gradually acknowledged and reformed — she might have saved herself many cares, and her people many deep wrongs.
Conformity, even in points that had long been carefully evaded, a most rigid, punctilious conformity, was required.* Many of the most learned of the clergy,f alarmed at the dis- regard paid to the rights of individual conscience, fled in dis- may from their places, to avoid the most severe penalties. Some flew to foreign lands ; others took refuge in the forests and caverns, where it was a crime not only for them to preach, but for the people to listen. In 1583, a Court of High Commission was established, to search out and suppress non- conformities, clothed with powers the most revolting to the spirit of men brought up under the philosophic rule of the common law of England, pronounced by Lord Coke to be the " perfection of human reason." Under this anoQialy, so foreign to the British constitution that Burleigh did not
* Neal's Puritans, i. 396. f Hallam's England, i. 270.
BIGOTRY AND PERSECUTION OF THE AGE. 79
scruple to liken it to the Spanish inquisition,* such outrages were practiced as would scarcely be credible, did not the blood of its victims cry out to us from the ground. Two men were hanged for distributing Brown's tract on the right of a free pulpit. f Ten years after that, Barrow and Green- wood were hanged at Tyburn for non-conformity. J These violent coercive measures quickened the growth of Puritan- ism. At first comprising but a handful of obscure men, in a few years it numbered many thousands, and not a few names that have since made the world echo with their renown.
The union of England and Scotland, under James I., was hailed by the Puritans as the harbinger of religious liberty. But the king soon took more decided grounds against them than his predecessor had done. The number of clergymen who were " silenced, imprisoned, or exiled," in a single year, has been estimated as high as three hundred. || Mad with the doctrine that attributed to kings a divine right, impatient of all opposition, this weak monarch evinced his hatred toward this now large and respectable portion of his subjects, by acts of severity, and language unworthy of a king.§ It is idle to attempt to deny these facts, authenticated as they are by vast treasuries of English record evidence. No less idle is it to reiterate the charge, equally false, that Episcopacy is wholly responsible for them. When will a day at last dawn upon us, of a light pure enough to dispel the mists of prejudice and bigotry that hang over the history of civil and religious lib- erty in England ? The puritans were the progressive party. They were impatient of the old order of things, just as the members of the established church under Elizabeth had them- selves a few years before been opposed to the order of things then existing. Both these parties were in their turn perse- cuted. Each in its turn was denominated radical and incen-
* Hallam's England, i. 271-273; Strype's Whitglft, 157.
t Strype's Annals, iii. 186 ; Fuller's Church History, b. ix. 169.
i Strype's Whitgift, 414 ; Neal's Puritans, i. 526, 527.
II Calderwood, Neal, &c,
§ Barlow's Sum and Substance of the Conf, at Hampden Court, 83.
i.
80
HISTOKY OF CONNECTICUT.
diary; and each persecution, though inflamed by rehgious zeal, was essentially political. The English mind, as a whole, was not then prepared for entire freedom of conscience. Those who were in power were timid and solicitous. They deemed every step taken by the popular party as an en- croachment upon their own limits, that they were called upon to check, or allow themselves ultimately to be sup- planted. It was a struggle between conservatism, fortifying and defending herself, and progress, advancing to drive her from her position. The outrages committed against the puri- tans in the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles L, on the one hand, and the shocking vindication of them on the other, by the iron-handed protector— a vindication revolting, as well from the blood that stained its grim features, as from the insults so shamelessly offered to the most ancient monu- ments of British glory, and the destruction of the most sacred temples and shrines — evince alike the wild fermentation out of which civil and religious liberty were at last to come. Both these parties, when dominant, were overbearing and cruel ; when in the minority, were sadly oppressed. Each was partly right and partly wrong ; and those writers furnish but a poor commentary upon human progress, and wretched evidence of that freedom of conscience which is the boast of our age, who at this day can find in any party of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries an expression of their ideal, either of loveliness or perfection.
The puritans then were driven to the alternative of giving up their own mode of worship, and taking oaths that were repugnant to their views of right ; they must renounce all political honors and emoluments, all prospects of social ad- vancement for themselves and for their children who held to the same belief, and remain in England the scoff of those who found it popular to deride them, or they must cast about them for a retreat, not straightened and accessible like the forests and caves of their native island, where in vain they had sought to hide themselves, but remote and open for the em- ployment of their faculties as well as for the exercise of their
Mi
CAUSES OF THE EMIGRATION,
81
religious rites. Some of them fled to Germany, some to Holland, and lingered there till this species of self exile be- came too painful to be borne. Then, one after another, sur- rounded by his little flock, many a clergyman, who had been nursed in the bosom of Oxford or Cambridge, who had long sat under the bowers of the manse and eaten of the fruits that grew upon the pleasant glebe, who had quickened his steps as he walked, when the sweet tones of his church bell warned him that the child waited at the font to be signed with the mystic sign, made ready to go to a wild, remote country, where he might be free from oaths save such as he should prescribe for himself, where he might pray and wor- ship by no formularies save such as he might choose.
Right or w^'ong, this was the leading motive. But other motives doubtless operated with greater or less force upon many of the emigrants. The mind of the old world was then turned toward the new. The various rumors that were rife in England with regard to the illimitable extent of this terri- tory, washed by the waves of the Atlantic and the South Sea, as they vaguely denominated the Pacific ocean, from its very vastness, took a strong hold of the imagination ; and these pu- ritans, stern and practical as they were, did not escape the contagion. There were also stories of exciting adventure to stimulate the desires of the young — visions of wealth, from rich acres tamed to the possession and uses of man, or from the furs of wild animals, floated in the dreams of the prudent and money -loving. To deny that the puritans alone were free from the promptings of motives such as these, is to claim for them what they never arrogated to themselves. They w^ere modest men, too earnest in the belief that they were sinners, ever to affix to themselves the attributes of God.
After their arrival here, they sought (why should they not ?) to avail themselves of the resources of nature. Hence, urged by no necessity, but simply to better their condition, the fathers of Connecticut left the Massachusetts for the alluvial meadows where they finally established themselves.
I have thought it best to premise thus much upon the
80 HISTORY OF CONKECTICUT.
diary; and each persecution, though inflamed by religious zeal, was essentially political. The English mind, as a whole, was not then prepared for entire freedom of conscience. Those who were in power were timid and solicitous. They deemed every step taken by the popular party as an en- croachment upon their own limits, that they were called upon to check, or allow themselves ultimately to be sup- planted. It was a struggle between conservatism, fortifying and defending herself, and progress, advancing to drive her from her position. The outrages committed against the puri- tans in the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles L, on the one hand, and the shocking vindication of them on the other, by the iron-handed protector— a vindication revolting, as well from the blood that stained its grim features, as from the insults so shamelessly offered to the most ancient monu- ments of British glory, and the destruction of the most sacred temples and shrines — evince alike the wild fermentation out of which civil and religious liberty were at last to come. Both these parties, when dominant, were overbearing and cruel ; when in the minority, were sadly oppressed. Each was partly right and partly wrong ; and those writers furnish but a poor commentary upon human progress, and wretched evidence of that freedom of conscience which is the boast of our age, who at this day can find in any party of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries an expression of their ideal, either of loveliness or perfection.
The puritans then were driven to the alternative of giving up their own mode of worship, and taking oaths that were repugnant to their views of right ; they must renounce all political honors and emoluments, all prospects of social ad- vancement for themselves and for their children who held to the same belief, and remain in England the scoff of those who found it popular to deride them, or they must cast about them for a retreat, not straightened and accessible like the forests and caves of their native island, where in vain they had sought to hide themselves, but remote and open for the em- ployment of their faculties as well as for the exercise of their
CAUSES OF THE EMIGRATION. 81
religious rites. Some of them fled to Germany, some to Holland, and lingered there till this species of self exile be- came too painful to be borne. Then, one after another, sur- rounded by his little flock, many a clergyman, who had been nursed in the bosom of Oxford or Cambridge, who had long sat under the bowers of the manse and eaten of the fruits that grew upon the pleasant glebe, who had quickened his steps as he walked, when the sweet tones of his church bell warned him that the child waited at the font to be signed with the mystic sign, made ready to go to a wild, remote country, w4iere he might be free from oaths save such as he should prescribe for himself, where he might pray and wor- ship by no formularies save such as he might choose.
Right or wrong, this was the leading motive. But other motives doubtless operated with greater or less force upon many of the emigrants. The mind of the old world was then turned toward the new. The various rumors that were rife in Eno-Iand with re2;ard to the illimitable extent of this terri- tory, washed by the waves of the Atlantic and the South Sea, as they vaguely denominated the Pacific ocean, from its very vastness, took a strong hold of the imagination ; and these pu- ritans, stern and practical as they were, did not escape the contagion. There were also stories of exciting adventure to stimulate the desires of the young — visions of wealth, from rich acres tamed to the possession and uses of man, or from the furs of wild animals, floated in the dreams of the prudent and money -loving. To deny that the puritans alone were free from the promptings of motives such as these, is to claim for them what they never arrogated to themselves. They were modest men, too earnest in the belief that they were sinners, ever to affix to themselves the attributes of God.
After their arrival here, they sought (why should they not ?) to avail themselves of the resources of nature. Hence, urged by no necessity, but simply to better their condition, the fathers of Connecticut left the Massachusetts for the alluvial meadows where they finally established themselves.
I have thought it best to premise thus much upon the
82 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
causes that led to the settlement of Connecticut, before in- troducing to the reader's notice her first written constitution, that was adopted at a general convention of all the planters at Hartford, on the 14th of January, 1639.
We read in treatises upon elementary law, of a time ante- cedent to all law, when men are theoretically said to have met together and surrendered a part of their rights for a more secure enjoyment of the remainder. Hence, we are told, human governments date their origin. This dream of the enthusiast as applied to ages past, in Connecticut for the first time upon the American soil became a recorded verity. Here, at least, we are permitted to look on and see the foun- dations of a political structure laid. We can count the work- men, and we have become familiar with the features of the master builders. We see that they are most of them men of a new type. Bold men they are, who have cut loose from old associations, old prejudices, old forms ; men who will take the opinions of no man, unless he can back them up with strong reasons ; clear-sighted, sinewy men, in whom the in- tellect and the moral nature predominate over the more deli- cate traits that mark an advanced stage of social life. Such men as these will not, however, in their zeal to cast off old dominions, be solicitous to free themselves and their posterity from all restraint ; for no people are less given up to the sway of unbridled passions. Indeed, they have made it a main part of their business in life to subdue their passions. Laws, therefore, they must and will have, and laws that, whatever else they lack, will not want the merit of being fresh and original.
As it has been, and still is, a much debated question, what kind of men they were — some having over praised, and others rashly blamed them — let us, w^ithout bigotry, try if we can not look at them through a medium that shall render them to us in all their essential characteristics as they were. That medium is afforded us by the written constitution that they made of their own free will for their own government. This is said to give the best portrait of any people ; though in a
[1639.] THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 83
nation that has been long maturing, the compromise between the past and present, written upon almost every page of its history, can not have failed in some degree to make the like- ness dim. Yet, of such a people as we are describing, who may be said to have no past — who live not so much in the present as in the future, and who forge as with one stroke the constitution that is to be a basis of their laws — are we not provided with a mirror that reflects every lineament with the true disposition of light and shade ? If it is a stern, it is yet a truthful mirror. It flatters neither those who made it nor those blear-eyed maskers, who, forgetful of their own dis- torted visages, look in askance, and are able to see nothing to admire in the sober, bright-eyed faces of their fathers who gaze down upon them from the olden time.
The preamble of this constitution begins by reciting the fact that its authors are, " under Almighty God," inhabitants and residents of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, upon "the river Connecticut." It also states that, in consonance with the word of God, in order to maintain the peace and union of such a people, it is necessary that " there should be an orderly and decent government established" that shall " dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons." " We do therefore," say they, "associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one public state or commonwealth." They add, further, that the first object aimed at by them, is to preserve the liberty and the purity of the gospel and the discipline of their own churches ; and, in the second place, to govern their civil affairs, by such rules as their written constitution and the laws enacted under its authority shall prescribe. To provide for these two objects, the liberty of the gospel, as they under- stood it, and the regulation of their own civil affairs, they sought to embody in the form of distinct decrees, substan- tially the following provisions :
1. That there shall be every year two general assemblies or courts, one on the second Thursday of April, the other on the second Thursday of September : that the one held in April, shall be called the Court of Election, wherein shall be
84: HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
annually chosen the magistrates, (one of whom shall be the governor,) and other public officers, who are to administer justice according to the laws here established ; and where there are no laws provided, to do it in accordance with the laws of God ; and that these rulers shall be elected by all the freemen within the limits of the commonwealth, who have been admitted inhabitants of the towns where they severally live, and who have taken the oath of fidelity to the new state ; and that they shall all meet at one place to hold this election.
2. It is provided that after the voters have all met and are ready to proceed to an election, the first officer to be chosen shall be a governor, and after him a body of magistrates and other officers. Every voter is to bring in, to those appointed to receive it, a piece of paper with the nam,e of him whom he would have for governor written upon it, and he that has the greatest number of papers with his name written upon them, was to be governor for that year. The other magis- trates were elected in the following manner. The names of all the candidates were first given to the secretary for the time being, and written down by him, in the order in which they were given ; the secretary was then to read the list over aloud and severally nominate each person whose name was so written down, in its order, in a distinct voice, so that all the citizen voters could hear it. As each name was read, they were to vote by ballot, either for or against it, as they liked ; those who voted in favor of the nominee, did it by writing his name upon the ballot — those who voted against him, simply gave in a blank ballot ; and those only were elected whose names were written upon a majority of all the paper ballots handed in under each nomination. These papers were to be received and counted by sworn officers, appointed by the court for that purpose. Six magistrates, besides the governor, were to be elected in this way. If they failed to elect so many by a majority vote, then the requisite number was to be filled up, by taking the names of those who had received the highest number of votes.
[1639.] THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 85
3. The men thus to be nominated and balloted for were to be propounded at some general court, held before the court of election, the deputies of each town having the privilege of nominating any two whom they chose. Other nomina- tions might be made bv the court.
4. No person could be chosen governor oftener than once in two years. It was requisite that this officer should be a member of an approved congregation, and that he should be taken from the magistrates of the commonwealth. But no qualification was required in a candidate for the magistracy, except that he should be chosen from the freemen. Both governor and magistrates were required to take a solemn oath of office.
5. To this court of election the several towns were to send their deputies, and after the elections were over, the court was to proceed, as at other courts, to make laws, or do what- ever was necessary to further the interests of the com- monwealth.
6. These two regular courts were to be convened by the governor himself, or by his secretary by sending out a war- rant to the constables of every town, a month at least before the day of session. In times of danger or public exigency, the governor and a majority of the magistrates, might order the secretary to summon a court, with fourteen days notice, or even less, if the case required it, taking care to state their reasons for so doing to the deputies when they met. If, on the other hand, the governor should neglect to call the regu- lar courts, or, with the major part of the magistrates, should fail to convene such special ones as were needed, then the freemen, or a major part of them, were required to petition them to do it. If this did not serve, then the freemen, or a majority of them, were clothed with the power to order the constables to summon the court — after which they might meet, choose a moderator, and do any act that it was lawful for the regular courts to do.
7. On receiving the warrants for these general courts, the constables of each town were to give immediate notice to the
86
HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
freemen, either at a public gathering or by going from house to house, that at a given place and time they should meet to elect deputies to the General Court, about to convene, and " to agitate the affairs of the commonwealth." These depu- ties were to be chosen by vote of the electors of the town who had taken the oath of fidelity ; and no man not a free- man was eligible to the office of deputy. The deputies were to be chosen by a major vote of all the freemen present, who were to make their choice by written paper ballots — each voter giving in as many papers as there were deputies to be chosen, with a single name written on each paper. The names of the deputies when chosen were indorsed by the constables, on the back of their respective warrants, and re- turned into court.
8. The three towns of the commonwealth were each to have the privilege of sending four deputies to the General Court. If other towns were afterwards added to the iurisdic- tion, the number of their deputies was to be fixed by the court. The deputies represented the towns, and could bind them by their votes in all legislative matters.
9. The deputies had power to meet after they were chosen, and before the session of the General Court, to consult for the public good, and to examine whether those who had been re- turned as members of their own body, were legally elected. If they found any who were not so elected, they might seclude them from, their assembly, and return their names to the court, with their reasons for so doing. The court, on finding these reasons valid, could issue orders for a new elec- tion, and impose a fine upon such men as had falsely thrust themselves upon the towns as candidates.
10. Every regular general court was to consist of the gov- ernor and at least four other magistrates, with the major part of the deputies chosen from the several towns. But if any court happened to be called by the freemen, through the default of the governor and magistrates, that court was to consist of a majority of the freemen present, or their deputies, and a moderator, chosen by them. In the General Court was lodged
I
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[1639.]
THE FIRST CONSTITUTION".
87
the '^supreme power of the commonivealth." In this court, the governor or moderator had power to command Hberty of speech, to silence all disorders, and to put all questions that were to be made the subject of legislative action, but not to vote himself, unless the court was equally divided, when he was to give the casting vote. But he could not adjourn or dissolve the court without the major vote of the members. Taxes also were to be ordered by the court ; and when they had agreed on the sum to be raised, a committee was to be appointed of an equal number of men from each town to decide what part of that sum each town should pay.*
This first written constitution of the new world was simple in its terms, comprehensive in its policy, methodical in its ar- rangement, beautiful in its adaptation of parts to a whole, of means to an end. Compare it with any of the constitutions of the old world then existing. I say nothing of those libels upon human nature, the so-called constitutions of the continent of Europe — compare it reverently, as children speak of a father's roof, with that venerated structure, the British constitution. How complex is the architecture of the latter ! here exhibiting the clumsy handiwork of the Saxon, there, the more graceful touch of later conquerors ; the whole colossal pile, magnificent with turrets and towers, and deco- rated wdth armorial devices and inscriptions, written in a lan- guage not only dead, but never native to the island ; all eloquent, indeed, with the spirit of ages past, yet haunted with the cry of suffering humanity, and the clanking of chains that come up from its subterranean dungeons. Mark, too, the rifts and seams in its gray w^alls — traces of convul- sion and revolution. Proud as it is, its very splendor shows the marks of a barbarous age. Its tapestry speaks a language dissonant to the ears of freemen. It tells of exclusive privi- leges, of divine rights, not in the people, but in the king, of primogeniture, of conformities, of prescriptions, of serfs and lords, of attainder that dries up like a leprosy the fountains of inheritable blood ; and lastly, it discourses of the rights of
* J. Hammond Trmnbull's Colonial Records, i. 20.
86 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
freemen, either at a public gathering or by going from house to house, that at a given place and time they should meet to elect deputies to the General Court, about to convene, and " to agitate the affairs of the commonwealth." These depu- ties were to be chosen by vote of the electors of the town who had taken the oath of fidelity ; and no man not a free- man was eligible to the office of deputy. The deputies were to be chosen by a major vote of all the freemen present, who were to make their choice by written paper ballots — each voter giving in as many papers as there were deputies to be chosen, with a single name written on each paper. The names of the deputies when chosen were indorsed by the constables, on the back of their respective warrants, and re- turned into court.
8. The three towns of the commonwealth were each to have the privilege of sending four deputies to the General Court. If other towns were afterwards added to the jurisdic- tion, the number of their deputies was to be fixed by the court. The deputies represented the towns, and could bind them by their votes in all legislative matters.
9. The deputies had power to meet after they were chosen, and before the session of the General Court, to consult for the public good, and to examine whether those who had been re- turned as members of their own body, were legally elected. If they found any who were not so elected, they might seclude them from their assembly, and return their names to the court, with their reasons for so doing. The court, on finding these reasons valid, could issue orders for a new elec- tion, and impose a fine upon such men as had falsely thrust themselves upon the towns as candidates.
10. Every regular general court was to consist of the gov- ernor and at least four other magistrates, with the major part of the deputies chosen from the several towns. But if any court happened to be called by the freemen, through the default of the governor and magistrates, that court was to consist of a majority of the freemen present, or their deputies, and a moderator, chosen by them. In the General Court was lodged
[1639.] THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 87
the ''supreme power of the commonwealth.'' In this court, the governor or moderator had power to command liberty of speech, to silence all disorders, and to put all questions that were to be made the subject of legislative action, but not to vote himself, unless the court was equally divided, when he was to give the casting vote. But he could not adjourn or dissolve the court without the major vote of the members. Taxes also were to be ordered by the court ; and when they had agreed on the sum to be raised, a committee was to be appointed of an equal number of men from each town to decide what part of that sum each town should pay.*
This first written constitution of the new world was simple in its terms, comprehensive in its policy, methodical in its ar- rangement, beautiful in its adaptation of parts to a whole, of means to an end. Compare it with any of the constitutions of the old v/orld then existing. I say nothing of those libels upon human nature, the so-called constitutions of the continent of Europe^ — compare it reverently, as children speak of a father's roof, with that venerated structure, the British constitution. How complex is the architecture of the latter ! here exhibiting the clumsy handiwork of the Saxon, there, the more graceful touch of later conquerors ; the whole colossal pile, magnificent with turrets and towers, and deco- rated with armorial devices and inscriptions, written in a lan- guage not only dead, but never native to the island ; all eloquent, indeed, with the spirit of ages past, yet haunted with the cry of suffering humanity, and the clanking of chains that come up from its subterranean dungeons. Mark, too, the rifts and seams in its gray walls — traces of convul- sion and revolution. Proud as it is, its very splendor shows the marks of a barbarous age. Its tapestry speaks a language dissonant to the ears of freemen. It tells of exclusive privi- leges, of divine rights, not in the people, but in the king, of primogeniture, of conformities, of prescriptions, of serfs and lords, of attainder that dries up like a leprosy the fountains of inheritable blood ; and lastly, it discourses of the rights of
* J. Hammond TrumbuH's Colonial Records, i. 20.
88 HISTOKY OF CONNECTICUT.
British subjects, in eloquent language, but sometimes with qualifications that startle the ears of men who have tasted the sweets of a more enlarged liberty. Such was the spirit of the British constitution, and code of the seventeenth century. I do not blame it, that it was not better ; perhaps it could not then have been improved without risk. Improvement in an old state, is the work of time. But I have a right to speak with pride of the more advanced freedom of our own.
The constitution of Connecticut sets out w4th the practi- cal recognition of the doctrine, that all ultimate power is lodged with the people. The body of the people is the body politic. From the people flow the fountains of law and justice. The governor, and the other magistrates, the depu- ties themselves, are but a kind of committee, with delegated powers to act for the free planters. Elected from their num- ber, they must spend their short official term in the discharge ef the trust, and then descend to their old level of citizen voters. Here are to be no interminable parliaments. The majority of the General Court can adjourn it at will. Nor is there to be an indefinite prorogation of the legislature at the will of a single man. Let the governor and magistrates look to it. If they do not call a general court, the planters will take the matter into their own hands, and meet in a body to take care of their neglected interests.
One of the most striking features in this new, and at that time strange document, is, that it will tolerate no rotten-borough system. Every deputy, who goes to the legislature, is to go from his own town, and is to be a free planter of that town. In this way he will know what is the will of his constituents, and what their wants are.
This paper has another remarkable trait. There is to be no taxation without representation in Connecticut. The towns, too, are recognized as independent municipalities. They are the primary centres of power, older than the con- stitution— the makers and builders of the State. They have given up to the State a part of their corporate powers, as they received them from the free planters, that they may
[1639.] THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. 89
have a safer guarantee for the keeping of the rest. What- ever they have not given up, they hold in absolute right.
How strange, too, that, in defining so carefully and astutely the limits of the government, these constitution makers should have forgotten the king. One would not suppose, that those who indited this paper were even aware of the existence of titled majesty beyond what belonged to the King of kings. They mention no supreme power, save that of the common- wealth, which speaks and acts through the General Court.*
Such was the constitution of Connecticut. I have said it was the oldest of the American constitutions. More than this, I might say, it is the mother of them all. It has been modified in different states to suit the circumstances of the people, and the size of their respective territories ; but the representative system peculiar to the American republics, was first unfolded by Ludlow, (who probably drafted the con- stitution of Connecticut,) and by Hooker, Haynes, Wolcott, Steele, Sherman, Stone, and the other far-sighted men of the colony, who must have advised and counseled to do, what they and all the people in the three towns met together in a mass to sanction and adopt as their own. Let me not be understood to say, that I consider the framers of this paper perfect legislators, or in all respects free from bigotry and in- tolerance. How could they throw off* in a moment the shackles of custom and old opinion ? They saw more than two centuries beyond their own era. England herself at this day has only approximated, without reaching, the elevated table-
* See Rev. Leonard Bacon's discourse on the Early Constitutional History of Con- necticut, p. 5. See, also, Rev. Dr. Ilawes' Centennial Address, which points out with great clearness and ability the distinct features of this document. Examine, too. Rev. Dr. Bushnell's "Historical Estimate," which should be read by all those unworthy sons of Connecticut, now residents here, who in traveling VvTite themselves down upon the books of hotels, as citizens of Boston, or New York. Such wretches, who, in the language of Wordsworth, would " botanize upon their mother's grave," are the only specks that need to be washed off from the surface of our history. However, we have occasion to rejoice that they do not indicate the degeneracy of Connecticut, as it is believed that none of them sprung from the early families.
90 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
land of constitutional freedom, whose pure air was breathed by the earliest planters of Connecticut. Under this consti- tution they passed, it is true, some quaint laws, that some- times provoke a smile, and, in those who are unmindful of the age in which they lived, sometimes a sneer. I shall speak of these laws in their order, T hope with honesty and not with too much partiality. It may be proper to say here, however, that for one law that has been passed in Connecticut of a bigoted or intolerant character, a diligent explorer into the English court records or statute books for evidences of bigotry, and revolting cruelty, could find twenty in England. " Kings have been dethroned," says Bancroft, the eloquent Ameri- can historian, " recalled, dethroned ao^ain, and so manv con- stitutions framed or formed, stifled or subverted, that memory may despair of a complete catalogue ; but the people of Connecticut have found no reason to deviate essentially from the government as estabhshed by their fathers. History has ever celebrated the commanders of armies on which victory has been entailed, the heroes who have won laurels in scenes of carnage and rapine. Has it no place for the founders of states, the wise legislators who struck the rock in the wilderness, and the waters of liberty gushed forth in copious and perennial fountains ?"
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CHAPTER y.
FOUNDING OF NEW HAYEN COLONY.
It has been found necessary to depart a little from the order of events as they transpired, for the sake of a more dis- tinct arrangement. Let us now return.
Although one powerful enemy had been subdued, the little commonwealth was threatened by others almost equally for- midable. Early in November, the ground was hidden with snow. It fell to a great depth during the winter, and re- mained until late in March. A second time the people were threatened with famine. There was an alarming scarcity of corn. Mr. Pyncheon of Agawam, (now Springfield,) a gentleman of great resources and tact, was deputed by the court to negotiate with the Indians for this then indispensa- ble staple of human food. Mr. Pyncheon contracted to fur- nish five hundred bushels. But this inconsiderable quantity would scarcely keep the inhabitants from starvation a week, and it was necessary to take other measures. A vessel was dispatched upon the same errand to the Narragansett bay, but it would seem with little success, for it soon became necessary to look further. A committee was finally sent to Pocomtock, (Deerfield,) where there was a large Indian vil- lage, and such large stores of corn, that all apprehensions of famine were soon at an end. vSuch quantities were bought there, that the natives came down the river with fifty canoes laden with it at one time.* But other troubles pressed hard upon the people. The colony, on account of the expenses of the Pequot war, was largely in debt. A further outlay of money was also needed to provide guns and magazines of powder and ball for future security. A tax of six hun- dred and twenty poundsf — the first ever levied in Connecti-
* Mason's History. f J- H. Trumbull's Colonial Records, i. 12.
92 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT.
cut — was ordered by the General Court to be immediately collected from the towns. This was done in February, 1638, and, in the March following, the court appointed John Mason commander-in-chief of the militia of Connecticut. He was directed to call out the militia of each town in the colony ten times during each year, and instruct and practice them in military affairs. For this arduous service he received a salary of forty pounds.* The eloquent Hooker was desig- nated as most fit to deliver to him the staff of his new official rank. The ceremony, simple as it doubtless was, must have been imposing and memorable to all who witnessed it. But I will not attempt to represent a scene that has been described by one of the most eloquent of American writers in words like the following :
" Here is a scene for the painter of some future day — I see it even now before me. In the distance, and behind the huts of Hartford, waves the signal flag by which the town watch is to give notice of enemies. In the foreground stands the tall, swart form of the soldier in his armor ; and before him, in sacred, apostolic beauty, the majestic Hooker. Haynes and Hopkins, with the legislature, and the hardy, toil-worn settlers and their wives and daughters, are gathered round them in close order, gazing with moistened eyes at