It was the Pequot threat that united all the different settlers of the
Windsor, Hartford, Wethersfield area. On May 1, 1637 the first Connecticut
General Court convened to discuss the Pequots. An army was gathered which
consisted of only 90 able men. Of these, 77 went to the battle. The rest were
left to guard the three towns. The Indians gathered 70 more. Some of those were
even Mohawk mercenaries who did not like the Pequots and would fight for Uncas,
the Mohegan,
But they were still hopelessly outnumbered by 800 Pequots. Captain John Mason
and Uncas stopped at Fort Saybrook to add about 50 soldiers. Proceeding along
the coast they found all the Pequots waiting for them at Mystic, so they prudently
continued toward Narragansett (Rhode Island). There they gained 200 Narragansett
Warriors which doubled their ranks to 400 men.
While marching overland to the Pequot territory the Narragansetts couldn't believe
the noisy way soldiers move through the woods. They almost gave up and left but
Uncas compelled them to stay and help fight the Pequots. When they got to the Pequot
fort they found the Pequot Warriors out on a raiding party. So they trapped about 700
inside and burned the fort, killing all who came out. It was a massacre of mostly
women and children. When that was done they ran to their boats at a rendezvous on
the Thames River just barely ahead of 300 of Sessacus's warriors. They made it to
the boats and had only 2 casualties and 20 wounded. Then in June 1637, Sessacus
took the remainder of his tribe (about 400) and went west to find sanctuary among
another tribe. He was chased by Thomas Stoughton with 120 men, John Mason with 40
men, and Uncas and his 70 Warriors. The Pequots were caught at a Poquonock Fort in
Fairfield, and all but 80 were killed or captured. Sessacus and his 80 people
ended up at Mohawk village where Sessacus was beheaded by Mohawk. That was the end
of the Pequots. The captured Pequots were placed under control of the Mohegans for
several years until 1655 when the English removed them to separate locations. These
became the Mashantucket Pequots who now own the casino in Ledyard.
As a result of the Pequot war of 1637 the remains of the tribe were split up. Their
numbers were so diminished and scattered that they could hardly be called a tribe.
They were not allowed to call themselves Pequots and their choice was to be sold as
slaves or join the winners. Mohegans, whose blood is from the same stock as Pequots,
were the natural recipient of captured Pequots. They were friends of the English and
helped the settlers in every way. Mohegans were the settlers' closest allies. Therefore
we did nothing to stop their growing power.
Uncas and the Mohegans suddenly became the most dominant tribe in southern New England,
displacing the Narragansetts. Because the Mohegans allied themselves with the White
settlers in Connecticut and Massachusetts, there was nothing to stop them, and they
began seizing territory and exacting tribute from the smaller Mattabesic and Nipmuc
tribes in the area. Rather than stop this, the English looked the other way. However,
the Narragansetts grew increasingly alarmed at the growing power of Uncas and in 1640
formed an alliance with the Pocumtuc and Tunxis (Mattabesic) tribes against Mohegans.
Sensing that the Narragansetts were on the verge of starting a war, the Boston Puritans
forced them to sign a treaty promising not to go to war with the Mohegans without
consulting them beforehand.
Despite this agreement, Miontonimo continued his efforts to recruit more allies
to fight the Mohegans. Accompanied by 100 of his warriors, he attended councils with
the Metoac on Long Island, Mattabesic in western Connecticut, and Mahican and
Wappinger of the Hudson Valley during 1642. These tribes weren't willing to join him,
but his visits spooked the Dutch in New Netherlands who were already
nervous from the growing hostility they were encountering with the Wappinger and
Unami Delaware along the lower Hudson River. The Dutch mistook Miontonimo's
intentions and, wrongly concluding that a general uprising was being planned
against themselves and the English, passed their suspicions along to Massachusetts
and Connecticut. That winter, the Dutch decided to strike first and their surprise
attack on a sleeping Wecquaesgeek (Wappinger) village (Pavonia Massacre) started
the Wappinger War (1643-45).
When Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Hartford, and New Haven joined together in a
defensive alliance known as the New England Confederation in 1643, Rhode Island
was deliberately excluded. Completely isolated, the Narragansett decided they
would have to deal with the Mohegan by themselves. Meanwhile, the Wappinger War
had spread to include nearly 20 tribes, and the Dutch were very close to being
overwhelmed. After concluding a treaty of friendship with the Mahican and Mohawk,
they offered 25,000 guilders to the English colonists in Connecticut for soldiers
to help put down the uprising. Captain John Underhill organized two companies,
with Mohegan scouts and joined the war in 1644.
With the departure of the English soldiers and Mohegan warriors to fight the
Wappinger, Miontonimo decided the time had come, and without consulting the English,
who were certain to warn the Mohegans, he led 900 of his warriors in a surprise attack
on the Mohegan capital at Shetucket. The Mohegan were pushed back and near defeat
until, with a last desperate effort, they managed to capture Miontonimo. With the
loss of their sachem, the Narragansetts stopped the battle. The Narragansetts quickly
requested that Miontonimo be delivered to the English, to decide his fate, for they
knew that Uncas would kill him.
Uncas decided to deliver his important prisoner to the English at Hartford who locked
him in a jail, but the Connecticut colonists were uncertain what to do with him until
they had consulted with their counterparts in Massachusetts. After much discussion, it
was announced that Miontonimo would be released and allowed to return to his people
under a combined English and Mohegan escort. That's the official story anyway. The
English took Miontonimo from Hartford to pick up the Mohegan part of the escort on
the way to Shetucket. The moment they crossed the border into Mohegan territory the
brother of Uncas stepped forward and tomahawked Miontonimo from behind, killing him
instantly. It is very doubtful this execution could ever have taken place without
the express approval of the English authorities.
The death of Miontonimo marked the end of the Narragansett power in southern New
England. For their violation of the treaty, the Narragansett were forced to pay an
annual tribute of wampum to Massachusetts after 1645.
Uncas was now the most powerful sachem in southern New England. He acquired the
Narragansett Prisoners of war the same way he acquired the Pequots. He now controlled
all of Rhode Island, half of Massachusetts, and most of Connecticut. His plan was to
move west peacefully and acquire tribes into a nation.
I can be mailed to at
S. Clark Pickens