  Indians who submitted to Massachusetts—The Gortonists—Pomham, Sachem of Shaomet, and Saconoco complain of them—Submit to the Government—Their examination and entertainment—Policy of Massachusetts in the case of Pomham—He and Saconoco much harassed by their neighbors—Subsequent history—Pomham takes part in Philip's war and is killed—Canonchet, son of Miantonomo—His agreement of October, 1675—Weetamore, Squaw-Sachem of Pocasset—Canonchet's career during Philip's war—Particulars of his surprisal and death—His character—Anecdotes—His reputation with the English—Defence of his conduct. Among a considerable number of chieftains who submitted to the Massachusetts Government, were several whose territory was without their jurisdiction, and in some cases within that of other Governments. The most notorious case of this kind is connected with that much-discussed transaction in which the notorious Gorton and his associates were engaged; and by which they brought themselves into a disagreeable collision with civil and martial authorities in all directions. To explain that affair very briefly,—Gorton, having become obnoxious as the founder of a new religious sect, left the Massachusetts jurisdiction for Plymouth. Here he met with much the same treatment. He was whipped for disturbing the Church, and required to find sureties for his good behavior; which not being able to do, he either removed or was driven to Rhode Island. There he treated the Court with contempt, and by order of Governor Coddington was imprisoned and again whipped. He then took refuge in Providence, where Roger Williams, though he disliked his principles, yet gave him shelter. But he had hardly located himself, and begun to gather a company of disciples around him, when the neighboring English settlers complained of him to Massachusetts, under the apprehension that he was about to supplant their own possessions by purchasing the Patuxet territory from the Narraghansett original owners. Massachusetts issued a warrant to the Providence people to submit to their jurisdiction. Gorton denied their authority to interfere with him or his company, where they now were, and signified this opinion in a contemptuous letter. But, perhaps for the sake of being still farther out of the reach of Massachusetts, or from discord among themselves, the Gortonists soon removed to a tract of land called by the Indians Shaomet or Showamet, (since Warwick in Rhode Island,) having previously purchased it of Miantonomo, for the consideration of one hundred and forty-four fathoms of wampum; "with the free and joint consent, [as the deed itself is expressed] of the present inhabitants, being natives." The instrument was dated January 12, 1642-3, and was subscribed with a bow and arrow as the mark of the grantor, and of a hatchet, a gun, &c., as the marks of "the Sachem of Shaomet, Pomham," and other Indians. Possession was given upon the premises, at the same time. From this moment, Pomham,—who, though he signed the deed of conveyance, and was offered a share of the consideration, (which he would not accept,) affected to consider himself aggrieved,—neither gave rest to his neighbors, nor found any for himself. Whether, according to the relation which existed between himself and Miantonomo, and the customary degree of subjection attached to it, he had reason to complain of that chieftain in the present case, cannot well be decided. But it may be safely said, that the part soon afterwards taken by Massachusetts, was at least an unusual stretch of authority, however it might correspond with the general policy of that government wherever the formidable Narraghansett Sachem was concerned. Whether at his own suggestion or that of others, Pomham, and Saconoco, a Sachem equally interested in the land, but otherwise of no note in history, went to Boston a few months after the sale, and by an interpreter, made complaint of the manoeuvres of the Gortonists whereby, as they alleged, Miantonomo had been induced to compel them to an arbitrary disposal of their territory. They further desired to be received under the protection of Massachusetts, and withal brought a small present of wampum. The matter being referred to the next Court, and Gorton and Miantonomo notified to attend, the latter made his appearance. He was required to prove the interest he had claimed in the Shaomet Sachems and territory, but it is said he could prove none; and upon the testimony of Cutchamequin and other Indians who were present, it appeared that the Shaomet chiefs were not tributary to the Narraghansett, though they sometimes made him presents,—a mark of deference and not of subjection. Upon this an order was passed, authorizing the Governor and certain magistrates to treat with the applicants at their discretion. [FN] [FN] Winthrop's Journal, Vol. II. These Commissioners soon after conferred with the Sachems; and, giving them to understand upon what terms they should be received, "they found them very pliable to all." So, indeed, it might be inferred from the answers made by the Sachems to the requisitions touching the ten commandments. The servility which some of them indicate—as represented in the Commissioners' report, at least,—is hardly redeemed by the shrewd simplicity of others. Being asked if they would worship the true God, and not blaspheme him, they waived the first clause, and replied thus to the latter. "We desire to speak reverently of the Englishman's God, and not to speak evil, because we see Englishman's God doth better for them than other Gods do for others." As to "swearing falsely," they replied, that they never knew what swearing was, or what an oath was. As to working unnecessarily on the Christian Sabbath,—"It is a small thing," answered they, "for us to rest on that day, for we have not much to do any day, and therefore we will forbear on that day." In regard to honoring parents and seniors, they said, "It is our custom to do so, for when if we complain to the Governor of the Massachusetts that we have wrong, if they tell us we lie, we shall patiently bear it." The following articles are also part of the report: 5. Not to kill any man but upon just cause and good authority, &c. Answer. It is good, and we desire to do so. 6. Not to commit fornication, stealing &c. Answer. Though they be committed among us, we allow it not, but judge it evil. 8. For lying, they say it is an evil, and shall not allow it. And finally, as to being Christianized, they said, "as opportunity serveth by the English coming among us, we desire to learn their manners." Whatever may be thought of the right of Massachusetts to interfere in this case, and especially of the policy of interfering as regarded the Narraghansetts and the other colonies, it must be admitted, that the submission itself, so far as concerned the applicants, was conducted with the honesty, as well as civility, generally characteristic of the intercourse of that Government with the natives. The Governor having sent for the Sachems to appear at Boston on the 22d of April, (1643) they attended, with their interpreter. The submission was then explained to their entire satisfaction. They were also expressly informed, that they were not to be considered confederates, but subjects, to which they manifested their assent. So, adds the historian, they dined in the same room with the Governor, at a table by themselves, and having much countenance shown them by all present, and being told that they and their men should always be welcome to the English, provided they brought a note from Benedict Arnold (their interpreter,) and having some small things bestowed upon them by the Governor, they departed joyful and well satisfied. The submission was as follows: "This writing is to testify, that we, Pomham, Sachem of Showamet, and Sachonocho, Sachem of Patuxet, have and by these presents do voluntarily and without any constraint or persuasion, but of our own free motion, put ourselves, our subjects, lands and estates under the government and jurisdiction of Massachusetts, to be governed and protected by them according to their just laws and orders, so far as we shall be made capable of understanding them; and we do promise, for ourselves, our subjects, and all our posterity, to be true and faithful to the Government and aiding to the maintenance thereof to our best ability; and from time to give speedy notice of any conspiracy, attempt, or evil intentions of any we shall know or hear of against the same, and do promise to be willing from time to time to be instructed in the knowledge of the worship of God. In witness whereof, we have hereunto put our hands the 22d of the 4th month, 1643.
Thus was consummated the title of Massachusetts to the jurisdiction of the Shaomet land. It was at this very time, as well as afterwards, claimed also by Plymouth, and by Rhode Island. [FN] Gorton always alleged, that it belonged to Miantonomo, and that Pomham was secretly influenced by Massachusetts to withdraw from him and seek protection under their authority. No doubt that Government was sufficiently aware of the interest they had, not only in humbling the Gortonists, but in extending their jurisdiction as far as possible towards or into the territory of the Narraghansett chieftain, then, as Hutchinson calls him, the greatest and most powerful sachem of New England. Speaking of the petition of certain settlers, in 1645, for permission to begin a plantation, where Gorton and his company had erected three or four small houses "on the land of Pomham, who had submitted himself," &c. Mr. Winthrop himself states, that the Court readily granted their petition, promising all encouragement, &c.—"for it was of great concernment to all the English in these parts, that a strong plantation should be there, as a bulwark &c. against the Narraghansetts." It may be that this consideration assumed, in the view of the Massachusetts Government, the imperious interest of what is commonly called State-necessity. [FN] Winthrop, Vol. II. pp. 251. and 317. Hence the measures occasionally adopted subsequent to the submission, for affording Pomham the promised relief; a policy which certainly accorded better with their stipulations to him, than with their relations to some other parties. The Gortonists harassed him beyond measure, but they were at length subdued. The Narraghansetts, (after Miantonomo's death,) threatened and frightened him still more. In April 1645, "that it might really appear that the Massachusetts did own and would protect him," which would seem to have been heretofore doubted, an order was taken for sending men and an officer to Shaomet, to stay there a few days, and act on the defensive against the Narraghansetts. [FN] These men being volunteers, however, refused to go, unless they were each paid ten shillings a week, furnished with arms and ammunition, and allowed such booty as they might be able to collect in case of fighting. Whereupon the Court, not choosing to establish such a precedent, sent word to Pomham, that the required force would be at his disposal, whenever he should forward sufficient funds to enable then to perform. On the earnest importunity of the Sachem, early in May, his request was finally granted; and, with the aid of the English, he erected a fort upon his lands. [FN] Winthrop. This was in 1646. But Pomham and Saconoco were not destined quietly to enjoy their possessions, as the following detail from Mr. Winthrop's records for 1647, will abundantly illustrate. The Gortonists had at that period returned to Shaomet, which they now named Warwick; and, as the Sachems alleged before the Commissioners of the United Colonies, manifested a decided disposition "for eating up all their corn, with their cattle," &c. These functionaries hereupon wrote to certain persons in the vicinity of the premises, to view the damages, and require satisfaction; which process, however, had scarcely been commenced; when Justice Coggleshall and others from Rhode Island came to Shaomet, claimed jurisdiction for that colony over the land in question, and forbade the appraisers to proceed. Upon this, the latter returned home. Another warrant was issued, with the same result. Pomham was reduced to extremities; but still undiscouraged, he renewed his complaints once more. Massachusetts now sent three special messengers, to demand satisfaction of the trespassers, and to warn them to leave the territory. The application did no good; and therefore, "as we could do no more at present," writes Mr. Winthrop, "we procured the Indians some corn in the mean time." The measures subsequently taken for redress, it would be alike tedious and needless to enumerate. As to Pomham, with whom we have chiefly to do, it must be confessed, that his character assumes, but little dignity throughout this proceeding. In after times, his career was occasionally more independent, while at the same time it gave evidence that his early attachment to the English was by no means, one of indissoluble affection, or of principle sacred in his own eyes. It is not a little remarkable, that after all the trouble and expense taken and incurred by and between the colonies, and especially by Massachusetts, for his protection; and notwithstanding the authorities of the latter government fondly an we trust sincerely represented his submission as the fruit of their prayers, and the first fruit of their hopes, in the great process of civilizing and Christianizing the natives; [FN] this incorrigible savage not only loosened his connexion with the English, but engaged against them, with his whole force and influence, in the great war of King Philip. [FN] Winthrop. That course, fatal as it was to himself and his, interests, was upon the whole the most creditable passage of his life. And once adopted, he pursued it with an energy that altogether sets aside any doubts which his former course might suggest, in regard to his real temperament and genius. Even Philip was scarcely more feared than Pomham. Historians universally, while they now call him a Narraghansett, as evidently he had determined to consider himself, place him in the highest rank among the Sachems of that warlike and powerful tribe. He did not even pretend to neutrality in the early part of the war, as they did. He did not sign either the treaty of July, (1675) negotiated at the point of the English bayonet in his own territory, or the submission executed in October following at Boston, although upon the latter occasion one of his fellow-chieftains affected to sign for him. This, at best, like every other part and circumstance of the compromise, was a mere artifice, meant to divert the Government by a show of satisfaction and amity. During Philip's war the territory of Pomham was ravaged far and wide, and one hundred and fifty wigwams destroyed by fire at one time, in December, 1675. Whether this chief was in the decisive and bloody battle of the 19th, or in what other engagements he was during the war, history does not determine. He was finally slain in July, 1676, a few weeks previous to the death of Philip, and the consequent close of that contest, the most critical and the most furious ever waged between the red man and the white. Great was the exultation of the conquerors over this first success, so encouraging to themselves, and so disastrous to their savage and terrible foes. The event took place in the neighborhood of Dedham, (in Massachusetts) where Pomham, with a small band of faithful warriors, half-starved and desperate, were still roaming the woods in the close vicinity of the English settlements. About fifty Indians were captured; and the Sachem seems to have been the only man of the company who would not be taken alive. "That which increased the victory," says Mr. Hubbard, "was the slaughter of Pomham, which was one of the Stoutest Sachems that belonged to the Narraghansetts." [FN] [FN] Narrative of Indian Wars. It will be observed in what terms the true allegiance of the Sachem is mentioned. His spirit and strength were such, that after being mortally wounded in the fight, so that he could not stand, he caught hold of an English soldier who came near him, and had nearly destroyed him by his violence, when the poor fellow was rescued by his comrades, and the dying chieftain relieved at once from his agony and his foes. He had little to live for, had there been a disposition to spare him. His territory was long since subjected to a foreign plower by his own act, and afterwards desolated. His subjects were dispersed and destroyed. His grandson had been slain in the field within a few months; and among the captives at the time of his own fall, historians particularly notice one of his sons, "a very likely youth, and one whose countenance would have bespoke favor for him, had he not belonged to so bloody and barbarous an Indian as his father was." This unfortunate lad was probably executed, by order of the Plymouth government, together with the other principal captives of the last months of the war. At best, he was spared, like the son of Philip, only to be enslaved in a foreign land. Among other distinguished chieftains of the Narraghansett tribe, who perished much in the same manner, and about the same time with the last named, was Nanutenoo or Quananshett, commonly called by the English Canonchet. He was the son of Miantonomo, and probably, after the death of Mexham and Pessacus, succeeded to his father's high rank,—being generally entitled by historians the Chief-Sachem of his tribe. His reputation, both with his countrymen and his foes was worthy of the noble blood in his veins. Mr. Trumbull observes, that he inherited all his father's pride, and all his insolence and hatred towards the English. What is still more conclusive in his favor, Mr. Hubbard calls him a "damned wretch," enlarges upon his cruelty and blasphemy, and exults over his final destruction. This—not the facts alleged, (which are wholly without proof,) but the assertion—furnishes, as a modern writer has aptly remarked, irresistible evidence of his heroic character. There is abundant other evidence, however, to the same effect. The only ostensible deference of any description which he even paid to an English authority—detesting, as unquestionably he did, their very name—was the act of subscribing the celebrated treaty of October 1675, negotiated at Boston. The object of it was to quiet the jealousy of the English, who suspected him of having contracted engagements with Philip. One provision went to ratify a treaty executed at Hartford during the month of July previous, (by four of the Narraghansett Sachems, nominally in behalf of all.) Another, and the principal one, was expressed thus: [FN] [FN] Records of the Colonies. "And wheras a considerable Number of people both men weomen and Children appertaining to those Indians who haue bin in actuall hostillitie aginst the English are now fled to the Narraghansetts Countrey; and are vnder the Custody of the said Sachems there; after a full and long Conference had concerning that matter, wee doe in the Name and by the Power to vs giuen and betrusted in the behalfe of the Sachems of the aboue said Countrey fully and absolutely couenant and promise to and with the abouenamed Comissioners att or before the 28th Day of this Instant month of October to deliuer or cause to be deliuered all and euery one of the Said Indians, whether belonging vnto Phillip, the Pocasset Sqva [FN-1] or the Saconett [FN-2] Indians Quabaug hadley or any other Sachems; or people that haue bin or are in hostilitie with the English or any of theire Allies or abettors; and these wee promise and Couenant to deliuer att Boston to the Gouenor and Councell there by them to be disposed in the behalfe of and for the best securitie and peace of the Vnited Collonies.
[FN-1] Weetamore, Weetamoe, or Weetanno, a kinswoman of Philip, and the active ruler of the tribe, though married to an insignificant fellow named Peter Nunnuit. All her subjects joined Philip with herself, excepting Alderman, who had the honor of shooting that Sachem with his own hand. Weetamore was drowned in August, 1675, attempting to escape from the English over a stream in Swanzey; and her head, in the barbarous style of the times, was set upon a pole at Taunton, much to the chagrin of such of her tribe as were compelled to witness the spectacle. Pocasset, now Tiverton, was on the coast, opposite the north of Rhode Island. [FN-2] Or Sogkonate; a tribe on the same coast with the Pocassets, governed also by a Squaw-Sachem named Awashonks, or Awasunck, somewhat celebrated for her masculine qualities, and for the part she took in Philip's war, first against the English and then with them. Captain Church, who effected this change in her politics, has given a minute account of his interviews with her. Ten of her tribe were living in Compton, as late as 1803. It is well known, how speedily the execution of this instrument was followed up by sending a strong English force to invade the Narraghansett territory, and subdue that spirited people at the point of the bayonet. Canonchet is supposed to have been engaged in the great swamp-fight, the most fatal to the Indians, and they most desperately fought upon their part, of the whole war. It continued to rage with the utmost violence for three hours from the moment of assault, until the enemy's wigwams, to the number of five or six hundred, were fired, and the field of contest became almost instantaneously an immense mass of terrific conflagration. The Savages, inspirited by their leaders, defended every wall and post with the fury of maniacs; and when they at length slowly retreated, they left the ground behind them encumbered with heaps of the slain. Quarter was neither asked nor given. Three hundred of the Narraghansetts, at the least estimate, are supposed to have been killed, besides more than double that number wounded, and an unknown multitude of women, children and old men burnt in the wigwams. But the victory was dearly bought. Of the one thousand English soldiers of which the civilized portion of the invading army consisted, according to their own statement, eighty were killed and one hundred and fifty wounded. Abandoning the captured fort, they retreated sixteen miles the same night—and that in the depth of winter—leaving the enemy to return the next day to their former position. It is not our intention to discuss at length the propriety of the summary course adopted by the colonies in this case. The principal offence of the Narraghansetts, as set forth in the Manifesto, was their evasion and delay in surrendering the hostile Indians who took refuge in their country. This refusal was certainly inconsistent with the stipulations of July and October preceding; but these stipulations were enforced in the first instance by the presence of an English army, which had already invaded the Narraghansett territory. Those of the tribe who made proposals of peace, immediately after the swamp-fight, imputed the blame of hostilities wholly to Canonchet. He had made them believe, that by the former treaty they were not obliged to surrender Philip's followers, until his brother, (who, with three other Indians of rank, was detained as a hostage at Hartford,) had been released. Probably, Canonchet did not himself misunderstand the plain provisions of that instrument, although, as he does not appear to have been present at the execution of it, it might be misrepresented to him. It is more likely, that he considered it an absolute nullity, as having been obtained by force, unjustly and insultingly imposed. The construction referred to by his subjects, he countenanced with the view of overcoming scruples on their part in the protection of Philip's Indians. Whether that protection—independently of the forced promise to surrender the refugees—was or was not a sufficient cause for the war which ensued, it must be allowed at least to do no dishonor to the humanity and honor of Canonchet, and the other Sachems, who persisted in that policy at every hazard and almost in the very face of their enemy. With him and them it was unquestionably a measure of sacred principle. No noble-minded chieftain upon the Continent, educated as an Indian chieftain always is, would have given up men who appealed to their hospitality—their own brethren, in distress and nakedness, driven before the bayonet of a mortal enemy of a distinct race and of vastly superior power—and least of all, when, if surrendered, they were surrendered to a certain alternative of slavery or death. Some of his tribe would have compromitted their dignity through fear, but not the son of Miantonomo. "Deliver the Indians of Philip!" said the haughty Sachem at one time—"Never! Not a Wampanoag will I ever give up. No!—Not the paring of a Wampanoag's nail!" Those who are familiar with the history of the war will recollect, that the most critical period of it was immediately subsequent to the swamp-fight. This was owing to the desperate exertions of the Narraghansetts, and especially Canonchet and their other Sachems. They were indeed driven about the country far and wide, and reduced to such extremities for food, that corn sold for two shillings a pint; but their sufferings only made them the more ferocious, and the more bold. "That young insolent Sachem, Canonchet, (writes Mr. Hubbard, in his usual complimentary style,) said they would fight it out to the last man, rather than they would become servants to the English." The destruction of Lancaster took place early in February. Medfield was desolated ten days afterwards; and in March happened that memorable engagement, not far from Providence and upon ancient Narraghansett ground, in which Captain Pierce with his detachment, to the number of fifty English soldiers, were cut off to a man. Canonchet commanded in this affair. The spirit of his warriors, as well as the superiority of the English skill in the use of their arms, appears from the fact that the Indians lost between one and two hundred killed. Warwick, Seekonk, and Providence were next successively ravaged by the victorious foe. Plymouth was assaulted, and eleven of the inhabitants slaughtered; and another party had the courage to commit horrible ravages within eleven miles of Boston itself. The prospects of Philip were never so flattering to himself and so disastrous to the English, as at this memorable juncture, when the exasperated and fearless son of Miantonomo was supporting him with the whole force of his dominions. The manner in which the Narraghansett Sachems treated Roger Williams, at this period, amid all the excitement of suffering on the one side and success on the other, is worthy of everlasting remembrance. That gentleman was one of the few English who remained at Providence, exposed to the full torrent of war, and with no other security than such as he attributed to long acquaintance, friendship, and good faith, with those who were now become the inveterate enemies, and were openly calculating upon the utter extermination of his race. He had even the hardihood to reproach some of the Sachems who frequently came to converse with him, for their cruelties; and to threaten them with the sure, though it might be lingering vengeance of the English. "Massachusetts," said he, "can raise thousands of men at this moment; and if you kill them, the King of England will supply their place as fast as they fall." "Well!" answered one of the chieftains, "let them come. We are ready for them.—But as for you,—Brother Williams,—you are a good man,—you have been kind to us many years.—Not a hair of your head shall be touched." This noble pledge, bearing upon the face of it the mark of the chivalrous spirit of Canonchet, was regarded throughout the war with the most sacred fidelity. It was not in vain that the young Sachem remembered the warm affection which his father had entertained for his English neighbor and confidant. But to resume the narrative;—"It was now full sea with Philip's affairs," says Mr. Hubbard, "for soon after the tide of his successes began to turn about the coast, which made way for the falling of the water up higher in the country." The disasters of the Pokanoket Sachem commenced with no less a misfortune than the death of Canonchet. And a matter of rejoicing indeed it was to the Colonies of the English—if we may credit the historian last cited—"that the ring-leader of almost all this mischief; and the great incendiary betwixt the Narraghansetts and us, died himself by that sword of war which he had drawn against others." The last assertion might perhaps have been spared to advantage, but the epithets furnish the best evidence in favor of the subject of them which the case could be supposed to present. Early in April, it seems, Canonchet, weary of desolating the towns of the English had betaken himself to the Indian haunts on the Connecticut river. Here he continued to take a most active part in the war; the whole body of the savages to the Westward trusting, (as our eulogist expresses himself) under the shadow of that aspiring bramble. Nor was it in battle only that they placed reliance on his courage and genius. It was necessary, as it was difficult, to provide the means of sustenance, from day to day, for something like one thousand five hundred warriors, with their women and children. Canonchet suggested the plan of planting the lands on the West bank of the river, recently taken from the English. But how should even the means of planting be obtained? A council was summoned to solve this question; but not a man could be found who would hazard his life, at this season, in that section of the country where corn must be procured. The Sachem himself went forward, and proposed, with the assistance of thirty volunteers, who soon found courage to second him, to undertake a journey to Seekonk, in the immediate vicinity of Montaup, the old residence of Philip. The adventure proved fatal to him. On the 27th of March Captain Dennison of Connecticut, had commenced a volunteer expedition against the enemy, with about fifty English soldiers, and eighty Niantick, Pequot and Mohegan Indians, severally commanded by Catapazet, Casasinamon and Oneco. [FN] By the time Canonchet, reached Seekonk, where he encamped on Blackstone river near the Pawtucket falls, Dennison's party, following the sea-coast, had arrived in the same neighborhood. The former was so little apprehensive of danger, that he dismissed all his thirty attendants but seven. The English, on the other hand, received the first intimation of his being near them, from two old straggling squaws, who confessed, on being captured, that Canonchet was not far off. The intelligence put new life into the weary soldiers, and they pressed forward till they came upon fresh tracks, and these brought them in view of a cluster of wigwams on the bank of the river. [FN] The son of Uncas. The Pequot Sachem was a man of no particular note. Catapazet was subordinate to Ninigret. In one of those wigwams Canonchet was at this moment reposing from the fatigues of his journey. His seven remaining followers sat around him; and he entertained them with the recital of the bloody victory over Pierce's detachment, which had taken place but a week or two before. [FN] Suddenly the speaker suspended his narrative. His silent audience started to their feet, and stood aghast. The trained ear of the savage had already detected the approach of an enemy. Two of the company were immediately despatched to the summit of the hill, at the foot of which the wigwam was situated. These men, frightened by the near approach of the English, who were now (says Hubbard,) mounting with great speed over a fair champagna on the other side of the hill, ran by, as if they wanted time to tell what they saw. A third was sent, who executed his errand no better. But of two others who were sent up, one had the courage to return and inform the Sachem, in great haste and trepidation, that the whole English army was upon him. [FN] So writes Mr. Hubbard, and Trumbull and others follow his authority. Baylies (Memoir of Plymouth Colony,) doubts the correctness of the statement, alleging that Canonchet did not leave the Connecticut river until April, whereas Pierce's defeat happened on the 26th of March. We do not however conceive that the distance was so great, but it might have been traversed more than once after the battle and before the surprisal. Canonchet had no means of defence, and no time for deliberation. He could only attempt an escape by running round the hill opposite his pursuers; and he had not gone far in that direction, when Catapazet, with twenty of his followers, and a few of the English who were lightest of foot, nearly intercepted him as they descended the hill, and immediately commenced a vigorous and close pursuit. Canonchet was a fleet runner, but the swiftest of Catapazet's men began to gain upon him. He threw off his blanket, and then a silver-laced coat which had been given him on the renewal of his league at Boston. His wampum belt was finally abandoned; and this betraying his rank to his pursuers, they redoubled their efforts, until they forced him to betake himself to the river, in which he plunged forward with great haste. Unluckily, his foot slipped upon a stone, and this not only delayed him, but brought him down so far at to wet the gun which he still carried in one hand; upon which accident, he confessed soon after we are told, that his heart and his bowels turned within him, so as he became like a rotten stick, void of strength. [FN] [FN] Hubbard's Narrative, p. 129. Thenceforth he submitted to his destiny without a struggle. He was a large, muscular man; and as Hubbard himself allows, of "great courage of mind," as well as strength of body; but the foremost of the hostile party, one Monopoide, a Pequot, laid hold of him without his making the slightest resistance. The first Englishman who came up was Robert Stanton, a young man of some twenty years old; yet adventuring to ask him a question or two, (continues the historian, with a touch of feeling which does him credit,) the manly Sachem looked somewhat disdainfully upon his youthful face, and replied in broken English, "you much child—no understand war—let your chief come—him I will talk with." The English offered him his life if he would submit to their government, but he would make no submission of any kind. They suggested his sending one of his men to propose terms to his Narraghansett warriors in the west; but he refused with scorn. He was then told of the enmity he had manifested towards the English. "And many others," he replied haughtily, "will be found of the same mind with myself. Let me hear no more of that." When informed of what his fate must inevitably be, he only answered, "It is well. I shall die before my heart is soft.—I shall speak nothing which Canonchet should be ashamed to speak.—It is well." Even those who have censured the Sachem most, touched with the the dignity of his last hours, would fain search in the theory of a Pythagorean Metempsychosis for the secret of his greatness. Some old Roman ghost, say they, must have possessed the body of this Western Pagan. [FN] [FN] Hubbard. He was soon afterwards taken to Stonington, in Connecticut, where Dennison's expedition had been fitted out; and there was executed upon him the sentence of death. That all concerned in the capture of so proud a victim might be gratified with a share in the honors of his slaughter, the English contented themselves with being spectators of the scene, while the Pequots were permitted to shoot him, the Mohegans to behead and quarter him, [FN] and Ninigret's men to kindle the pile upon which he was burned. As a token of love and fidelity to their civilized allies, his head only was reserved, to be presented to the English council at Hartford. It is remarkable, that Oneco, on this occasion, took the same part in the execution of Canonchet, and under very similar circumstances, which, near forty years before, his father Uncas had taken in that of Miantonomo, the father of Canonchet. [FN] Baylies' Memoir of Plymouth Colony. Thus fell, in the prime of his manhood, the last Chief-Sachem of the Narraghansetts, the grand-nephew of Canonicus, and the son of Miantonomo. The English historians of his own period may be excused for the prejudice with which they regarded him (as they did all who fought for the same cause with the same courage,) and which nevertheless affords to the reader of these days the most satisfactory proof of his high reputation and formidable talents. "This," says one writer, "was the confusion of a damned wretch, that had often opened his mouth to blaspheme." Again:—"as a just reward of his wickedness he was adjudged by those who took him to die." It were useless to dispute these positions, for every reader of history possesses the means of forming a just opinion whether or not they are sound. But at all events, (as an author of a more liberal period has observed,) [FN] we may surely at this day be permitted to lament the unhappy fate of this noble Indian, without incurring any imputation for want of patriotism. In the entire compass of Indian, and we might perhaps add, civilized history, there is no finer instance of that generous and chivalrous character, which—whatever it might be termed under other circumstances—in the situation of Canonchet, and with his sincere and strict principles, can only be approved and admired, as humanity to the suffering who sought his protection; as fidelity to his own and his father's friends; as a proud and lofty sacrifice of royalty, liberty and life itself to honor; as patriotism to his country, and as religion to his gods. [FN] Baylies' Memoir of Plymouth Colony. |
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