Photo Robert David Lion Gardiner and David Cooper, descendants of Lion Gardiner and Montaukett leader Wyandanch (Newsday Photo/Bill Davis) More Coverage Audio

The Pequot War behind him, Lion Gardiner took the first step into his new life and into Long Island history.

For reasons not known today, Gardiner decided that he would not return to England once he had completed building a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River. As spring awoke in 1639, he began searching for a home for his wife and their baby son, David.

``I have always understood that Lion began his search by visiting islands,'' said his 20th-Century descendant, Robert David Lion Gardiner. Paddling away from the Connecticut coastline, Lion Gardiner visited the islands of eastern Long Island -- Fishers Island, Plum Island, and then Shelter Island. But none suited his needs.

``He needed fresh water and these islands did not have streams,'' Robert Gardiner said.

There was another island, called by the Montaukett Indians Manchonat, or the Island of Death, most likely because many Indians had died there during an epidemic. It was the easternmost island in the archipelago enclosed by the North and South Forks of Long Island. When Lion Gardiner paddled around that island, he was struck by its shape.

``He thought it resembled the Isle of Wight, in England,'' Gardiner said. ``When he walked over it, he found it had magnificent forests, saltwater ponds and freshwater streams that he could dam and use for his livestock.''

Gardiner had found his new home. Early in May, 1639 -- four years after he and his wife, Mary, had sailed from Europe -- Gardiner sat down with the Algonquian Indians who lived near the island and bought all 3,000 acres. From Gardiner's point of view, anyway, it was a real-estate purchase. In exchange for a place as magnificent and untrampled as any great estate in his native England, Gardiner gave the Indians a quantity of cloth, a gun, gunpowder and ``a large black dog.'' To the Indians, who had no understanding within their culture of selling land, it may have been little more than an agreement to share the beautiful island with the Englishman.

The deed for the island contains Gardiner's signature and has the mark of the ``sachem of Pomanocc,'' a man identified as Yovawan. Pomanocc is an Algonquian word that is untranslatable today; a linguist earlier in this century believed it meant ``Island of Tribute.'' In buying the island for his small family, Gardiner had created the first English settlement on eastern Long Island. Soon after settling on the island, his daughter, Elizabeth, was born -- the first English child born in what is now New York State. Gardiner's purchase was later ratified when he received a grant from King Charles I of England.

Historians say Gardiner's acquisition of the island -- which he called the Isle of Wight before giving it his own name -- could not have taken place without the consent of Wyandanch, the Montaukett Indian Gardiner met in the aftermath of the Pequot War. Wyandanch, whose people had been under the thumb of the Pequots, befriended Gardiner after their destruction -- the enemy of his enemy was indeed his friend.

``Wyandanch's role in the transaction is not recorded, but he undoubtedly was the one who brought the two parties together,'' writes scholar John Strong in ``The Algonquian Peoples of Long Island From Earliest Times to 1700.''

Wyandanch had made the deal possible. Gardiner would later return the favor in dramatic fashion.

In the spring of 1653, a party of Niantic Indians attacked Wyandanch's village on Montauk Point, killing more than 30 in a place known for years after as ``massacre valley.'' Prisoners were taken, one of whom was Wyandanch's daughter. To get her back, Gardiner traveled to Rhode Island and paid a handsome ransom.

Just what the circumstances of the daughter's kidnaping were are not known today. David Gardiner, Lion's descendant, wrote in 1840 that she was grabbed on her wedding day and her intended husband was killed. Indian history scholar John Strong has written that there is nothing in the records that supports that account.

The bond between the Indian and the Englishman seemed genuine. Based on appearances, it was a true friendship, one that was depicted -- apparently by Wyandanch -- in a number of deeds for large tracts of land the Montaukett sold to Gardiner. On these deeds, Wyandanch drew stick figures of two men, one an Indian, the other an Englishman.

One of the deeds was for a huge tract of land in modern-day Smithtown, which Wyandanch conveyed to Gardiner in the aftermath of his daughter's return to Montauk. On that deed, the stick figures are holding hands. Near the end of his life, Gardiner would be the largest landowner in Long Island history -- nearly 100,000 acres.

No European ever got so much from any Indian as Lion Gardiner got from Wyandanch.

Last summer, a day rich in history, descendants of both men met. Robert David Lion Gardiner and Robert Cooper, a descendant of Wyandanch who lives in East Hampton, traveled together to Gardiner's Island. There, they talked about the friendship between their ancestors.

``They were blood brothers,'' Gardiner said.

``I believe that, too,'' Cooper said. Both men were sitting on a bench overlooking a saltwater pond on the island.

``When Wyandanch died, Lion wrote a letter to a friend in Connecticut and said his heart was broken, his best friend was dead,'' Gardiner said.

When Gardiner got up from the bench, he said to Cooper, ``Why don't you walk with me?''

``I'll walk with you anywhere,'' Cooper said, smiling.

Copyright © 2006,

Photo The Lion Gardiner sarcophagus at Old Cemetery, East Hampton (Newsday Photo/Bill Davis)

Lion Gardiner died in East Hampton in 1663, two years after writing his memoirs. In 1888, a descendant, Sarah Gardiner, exhumed his grave in the South End Cemetery and made an important discovery -- he had red hair.

``Sarah was my grandmother,'' said Robert David Lion Gardiner, the 16th lord of the manor. ``She was concerned that Lion's sandstone grave marker was becoming badly eroded.

She hired the architect who had designed St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan to design a Gothic granite tombstone. But she wanted to make sure Lion's remains were really there, so when the workers were putting the tombstone in place she asked them to dig deeper.

``Lion was buried in his red British army officer's uniform, which was still visible even then. He was wearing a steel corset, a steel helmet, with a beautiful sword hitched to his belt. And she discovered he had a gray beard streaked with red. Some of the hairs were clipped off and distributed to members of the family inside a Tiffany crystal and diamond case.

Lion Gardiner's tombstone sits near the center of the cemetery. Historians say there is no tombstone like it anywhere in America.

Designed by James Renwick -- who in addition to designing St. Patrick's Cathedral also designed the Smithsonian Institution's original building in Washington, D.C. -- the tombstone is carved in granite in the shape of a cathedral. Under the roof of the cathedral is a recumbent knight in steel hat and corset -- the very image of Lion Gardiner, the engineer and warrior of the Pequot War.

Gardiner's is one of only a few marked graves on Long Island of people born in the 16th Century -- he was born in 1599.

Copyright © 2006,

Narrative of the Pequot War,
by Lion Gardiner
(1660)

(Part 1)

Gardener's Narrative

[from History of the Pequot War: The Contemporary Accounts of Mason, Underhill, Vincent and Gardener. Reprinted from the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. With additional notes and an Introduction by Charles Orr, Librarian of Case Library. 1980. Reprint of the 1897 ed. published by Helman-Taylor Co., Cleveland, from an original in the collection of the Newark Public Library.]

[Captain Lion Gardener's account of the war (as will be seen from his letter of June 12, 1660, printed herewith,) was drawn up partly from old papers and partly from memory. It remained in manuscript until 1833, when it was printed in 3. Mass. Hist. Coll., III, 131-160. It is reprinted also in Penhallow's Indian Wars (edited by Dodge, Cincinnati, 1859,) as an appendix. It is, after Mason's, perhaps the best account. Gardener was a man of ability, a good soldier, and an actual participant in the leading events of the war. In the present reprint, Gardener's own spelling of his name is used in preference to that of a later date.-EDITOR'S NOTE.]

INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS TO JOHN WINTHROP ESQR FIRST GOVERNOUR OF CONNECTICUT TO TREAT WITH THE PEQUOTS.

[The following manuscript Letter and Commission directed to John Winthrop Jun. Esq., the first Governor of Connecticut, and signed by Sir Henry Vane, the Governor, and John Winthrop Esq. the Deputy Governor of Massachusetts, were found among the papers of the elder Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut in the year 1809 and were kindly furnished to the Publishing Committee of the Massachusetts Historical Society for publication in its Collections, by William T. Williams, Esq. of Lebanon, Con. The Society is also deeply indebted to Mr. Williams for several other manuscripts of interest published in this collection. These papers, it is understood, formerly belonged to the Connecticut branch of the Winthrop family.-Publishing Committee, Mass. Hist. Soc.]

" Whereas it so falls out by the good Prouidence of God, that the place of your present residence is neare adjoyning unto certaine of the Natiues who are called the Pequots, concerning whom we haue diuers things to enquire and satisfy ourselues in; our request to you therefore is, and by these presents we do giue you full power, authority, and commission to treate and conferre with the sayd Pequots, in our names according to the instructions to these annexed, as if wee ourselues were present: and to make report backe agayne unto vs of the issue and successe of the whole before the next Generall Court (which, God willing is intended in the beginning of the 7th month). Thus, recommending you, and your affayres to the blessing of Allmighty God, wee rest
Your louing freinds
H Vane. Govr
Jo: Winthrop Dept
Massatuchets the 4th day
Of the 5th month. 1636."

114 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

" Massatuchets Month: 5th. 4.1636

The instructions which are recommended to John Winthrop Junr Esqr in his negotiation with the Pequots.

" 1. To giue notice to the principall Sachem that you haue receaued a commission from vs to demaund a solemne meeting for conference with them in a friendly manner about matters of importance.

" 2. In case they slight such a message and refuse to giue you a meeting (at such place as yourself shall apoynt) then you are in our names to returne backe their present, (which you shall receaue from vs) and to acquaint them with all, that we hold ourselues free from any peace or league with them as a people guilty of English blood.

" 3. If they consent, and giue you a meeting as afore sayd, that then you lay downe vnto them how unworthily they haue requited our friendship with them; for as much as that they haue broken the very condition of the peace betwixt vs, by the not rendring into our hands the murtherers of Capt Stone, (which we desire you once agayne solemly to require of them), as also in that they so trifled with vs in their present which they made proffer of to vs, as that they did send but part of it, and put it off with this, as to say the old men did neuer consent to the giuing of it; which dealings sauour so much of dishonour and neglect, as that no people that desire friendship should put them in practice.

" 4. To let them know first what credible relation hath beene given vs, that some of the cheif of them were actors in the murder of Mr Hamond and the other vpon Long Iland; and since of another English-

GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 115

man there: and of their late determination to haue seized vpon a Plimouth Barke lying in their harbour for trade; as by the more large descriptions of these things, which we also send vnto you, will more distinctly appear. Of all these things we desire you to take the relation from their owne mouths, and to informe vs particularly of their seuerall answers: giuing them to vnderstand that it is not the manner of the English to take reuenge of injury vntill the partys that are guilty haue beene called to answer fairely for themselves.

" 5. To let them know that if they shall cleare themselues of these matters, we shall not refuse to hearken to any reasonable proposition from them for confirmation of the peace betwixt vs. But if they shall not giue you satisfaction according to these our instructions, or shall bee found guilty of any of the sayd murthers, and will not deliuuer the actours in them into our hands, that then (as before you are directed) you returne them the present, and declare to them that we hold ourselues free from any league or peace with them, and shall reuenge the blood of our countrimen as occasion shall serue.
H: Vane Govr
Jo: Winthrop Dept "

Leift Lion Gardener his relation of the Pequot Warres.

[The original manuscript of this "Relation" and a copy in the handwriting of Gov. Trumbull were furnished to the Publishing Committee by William T. Williams, Esq. The Committee, on account of the difficulty the printer would find in deciphering the original, have followed the orthography of the copy, excepting in the proper names, where they thought it of more importance to adhere to the ancient orthography. Mr. Williams in his interesting letters of July 19 and 23, 1832, addressed to a member of the Committee, has given some few particulars in relation to Lion Gardener; also a description of the battle-ground where the Pequots were destroyed, and of the burial place of Uncas and Miantunnomoh, together with a succinct account of the present condition of the remnant of the ancient and powerful tribes of the Pequots, Mohegans and Narragansets. These portions of the letters are of historical value, and the Committee therefore take the liberty of publishing the following extracts.-Publishing Committee, Mass. Hist. Soc.]

"Lion Gardener was sent over by Lords Say and Seal and Lord Brook to construct a fort at the mouth of Connecticut river, to command it, &c. He was said to be a skilful engineer, and on that account was selected. He had seen some service in the Low Countries under Gen. Fairfax. He came into this Country about the year 1633 or 16341 and erected the fort at Saybrook in Connecticut, which was so named in honour of Lords Say and Seal and Lord Brook: but how long he continued to command the fort I do not recollect.2 He commanded it when Capt. John Mason conquered the Pequots, for Mason in his history, you recollect, says, 'he, Lt. Gardiner, complimented or entertained him with many big guns,' on his arrival at the fort after the conquest of the Pequots.

1Gardener arrived in Boston 28., Nov. 1635.
2He remained at Saybrook four years. A son was born to him 29., April 1636, which was the first white child born in Connecticut.

GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 117

"Gardener continued some time in the command of the fort, but it does not appear when he left it. While he commanded it, he once very narrowly escaped being captured by the Pequots. He had five men with him, one of whom was taken and tortured; the fort was burnt down, and he and his family narrowly escaped being burnt in it. Gardener's Island, lying in Gardener's Bay, to which he removed and where he died, was taken possession of by him soon after his coming into this country. You will perceive he has reference to his island: it is a very beautiful island of good land, perhaps twenty-five hundred or three thousand acres, with a long sand point of not much value. It now wholly belongs to the family and was until the decease of the last proprietor, Jonathan Gardiner, an entailed estate; but I am told that the entail is now broken. The proprietors have always been called Lords.

"In the mouth of Mistic river there is in island, now and always called Mason's Island from old Capt. Mason, containing five or six hundred acres. This island he took possession of by right of conquest, and the most of it is now possessed by his descendants. I believe it is the only spot in Connecticut claimed in that way.

"Summer before last I went to the battle-ground on purpose to view it. The spot where the fort stood is in the present town of Groton, Connecticut, on the west side of Mistic river. Sassacus had this fort in the eastern part of his dominions to look after the

118 HISTORY OF PEQUOT WAR.

Narragansetts. The hill is commanding and beautiful though not steep. The land is now owned by Roswell Fish, Esq. of Groton. There are no remains of the fort; Capt. Mason says it was of timber mostly, and of course when he burnt it, it must have been principally consumed. Mr. Fish told me that within his recollection (and he is about sixty) some few Indian arrowheads and spears have been found on the ground, and also some bullets. The river is at the bottom of the hill, less than half a mile, I should think, from the site of the fort, and perhaps three miles from the head of the little village of Mistic in the town of Stonington, where the small streams that form the river meet the tide water. The river is the dividing line between the towns of Groton and Stonington. Porter's rocks, where Capt. Mason lodged, are near the village, and perhaps two miles above the site of the fort.

"Sassacus had another fort, about two miles west of the one taken by Mason, in the town of Groton, from which the one taken was recruited on the night before the attack. The whole of the shore of Mistic river, which is about six or seven miles from what is called head of Mistic, to its mouth, and particularly the west side, is rough, rugged, and rocky, but particularly pleasant, and filled with dwellings wherever they can be placed, inhabited chiefly by sailors and seamen. There is a pretty meeting-house among the rocks.

"There is a remnant of the Pequots still existing. They live in the town of Groton, and amount to about forty souls, in all, or perhaps a few more or less; but do not vary much from that amount. They have

GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 119

about eleven acres of poor land reserved to them in Groton, on which they live. They are more mixed than the Mohegans with negro and white blood, yet are a distinct tribe and still retain a hatred to the Mohegans. A short time since, I had an opportunity of seeing most of the tribe together. They are more vicious, and not so decent or so good looking a people as the Mohegans. This however may be owing to their being more mixed with other blood. It is very rare that there are any intermarriages with either of the tribes to each other, they still, so far as circumstances admit, retaining the old grudge. The most common name among them is Meazen; nearly half call themselves by that surname.

"The Indians formerly called Ninegrate's men, seem to be now called the Narragansetts, and live principally in Charlestown, Rhode Island. There are perhaps eighty, or more; though I am not so well informed concerning them, as of the Pequots or Mohegans.

"Considerable exertion is making now in favor of the Mohegans. A small, but neat church, has lately been erected by charity for them, and the United States have appropriated nine hundred dollars to build a school-master's house, and for his salary. The house for the school-master is erected and a schoolmaster hired, who also preaches to the tribe. All of the tribe are anxiously sought out, and the benevolent are trying to bring them all together to their ancient seat. There are about seventy men on their land, or perhaps a few more. They own about three thousand acres of good land in Montville, about three miles below Norwich landing. The Trading Cove brook is their north-

120 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

ern bound; their eastern is the Thames river. The General Assembly of this State, immediately after the Pequot war was finished, declared, and I think unfortunately, that the name of the Pequots should become extinct; that the river that used to be called Pequot should be called Thames; and the place called Pequot should no longer be so called, but its name be changed to New London, in "remembrance," as the records declare, and as the Assembly say, of the chief city in our dear native country."

"I have visited the ground where the rival chiefs, Uncas and Miantunnomoh, are buried. Uncas is buried in the royal burying ground, so called, which was appropriated to the Uncas family. It is just by the falls in the Yantic river in Norwich city; a beautiful and romantic spot. Calvin Goddard, Esq. of Norwich, owns the ground, and has (honorably) railed it in, and keeps it appropriated to its use. I saw him a few days since; he intends to enlarge it, and I hope to have an appropriate stone to mark the place. Miantunnomoh is buried in the east part of Norwich, at a place called Sachem's Plain, from the event of his death; and is buried on the spot where he was slain. But a few years since a large heap of stones, thrown together by the wandering Indians, according to the custom of their country, and as a melancholy mark of the love the Narragansets had for their fallen chief, lay on his grave: but the despicable cupidity of some people in that vicinity has removed them to make common stone wall, as it saved them the trouble of gathering stones for that purpose. The spot of his sepulture is, however, yet known."

GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 121

"East Hampton, June 12, 1660.

"Loving Friends, Robert Chapman and Thomas Hurlburt, my love remembered to you both, these are to inform, that as you desired me when I was with you and Major Mason at Seabrooke two years and an half ago to consider and to call to mind the passages of God's Providence at Seabrooke in and about the time of the Pequit [Pequot] War, wherein I have now endeavoured to answer your Desires and having rumaged and found some old papers then written it was a great help to my memory. You know that when I came to you I was an engineer or architect, whereof carpentry is a little part, but you know I could never use all the tools, for although for my necessity, I was forced sometimes to use my shifting chissel and my holdfast, yet you know I could never endure nor abide the smoothing plane; I have sent you a piece of timber scored and forehewed unfit to join to any handsome piece of work, but seeing I have done the hardest work, you must get somebody to chip it and to smooth it lest the splinters should prick some men's fingers, for the truth must not be spoken at all times, though to my knowledge I have written nothing but truth, and you may take out or put in what you please, or if you will, may throw it all into the fire; but I think you may let the Governor and Major Mason see it. I have also inserted some additions of things that were done since, that they may be considered together. And thus as I was when I was with you, so I remain still Your loving friend,
LION GARDENER.

122 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

"In the year 1635, I, Lion Gardener, Engineer and Master of works of Fortification in the legers of the Prince of Orange, in the Low Countries, through the persuasion of Mr. John Davenport, Mr. Hugh Peters with some other well-affected Englishmen of Rotterdam, I made an agreement with the forenamed Mr. Peters for £100 per annum, for four years, to serve the company of patentees, namely, the Lord Say, the Lord Brooks [Brook,] Sir Arthur Hazilrig, Sir Mathew Bonnington [Bonighton?], Sir Richard Saltingstone [Saltonstall], Esquire Fenwick, and the rest of their company, [I say] I was to serve them only in the drawing, ordering and making of a city, towns or forts of defence. And so I came from Holland to London, and from thence to New-England, where I was appointed to attend such orders as Mr. John Winthrop, Esquire, the present Governor of Conectecott, was to appoint, whether at Pequit [Pequot] river, or Conectecott, and that we should choose a place both for the convenience of a good harbour, and also for capableness and fitness for fortification. But I landing at Boston the latter end of November, the aforesaid Mr. Winthrop had sent before one Lieut. Gibbons, Sergeant Willard, with some carpenters, to take possession of the River's mouth, where they began to build houses against the Spring; we expecting, according to promise, that there would have come from England to us 300 able men, whereof 200 should attend fortification, 50 to till the ground, and 50 to build houses. But our great expectation at the River's mouth, came only to two men, viz. Mr. Fenwick, and his man, who came with Mr. Hugh Peters, and Mr. Oldham and Thomas Stanton,

GARDENER'S NARRATIVE 123.

bringing with them some Otter-skin coats, and Beaver, and skeins of wampum, which the Pequits [Pequots] had sent for a present, because the English had required those Pequits [Pequots] that had killed a Virginean [Virginian], one Capt. Stone, with his Bark's crew, in Conectecott River, for they said they would have their lives and not their presents; then I answered, Seeing you will take Mr. Winthrop to the Bay to see his wife, newly brought to bed of her first child, and though you say he shall return, yet I know if you make war with these Pequits, he will not come hither again, for I know you will keep yourselves safe, as you think, in the Bay, but myself, with these few, you win leave at the stake to be roasted, or for hunger to be starved, for Indian corn is now 12s. per bushel, and we have but three acres planted, and if they will now make war for a Virginian and expose us to the Indians, whose mercies are cruelties, they, I say, they love the Virginians better than us: for, have they stayed these four or five years, and will they begin now, we being so few in the River, and have scarce holes to put our heads in? I pray ask the Magistrates in the Bay if they have forgot what I said to them when I returned from Salem? For Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Haines, Mr. Dudley, Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Humfry, Mr. Belingam [Bellingham], Mr. Coddington, and Mr. Nowell; these entreated me to go with Mr. Humfry and Mr. Peters to view the country, to see how fit it was for fortification. And I told them that Nature had done more than half the work already, and I thought no foreign potent enemy would do them any hurt, but one that was near. They asked me who that was, and

124 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

I said it was Capt. Hunger that threatened them most, for, (said I,) War is like a three-footed Stool, want one foot and down comes all; and these three feet are men, victuals, and munition, therefore, seeing in peace you are like to be famished, what will or can be done if war? Therefore I think, said I, it will be best only to fight against Capt. Hunger, and let fortification alone awhile; and if need hereafter require it, I can come to do you any service: and they all liked my saying well. Entreat them to rest awhile, till we get more strength here about us, and that we hear where the seat of the war will be, may approve of it, and provide for it, for I had but twenty-four in all, men, women, and boys and girls, and not food for them for two months, unless we saved our corn-field, which could not possibly be if they came to war, for it is two miles from our home. Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Fenwick, and Mr. Peters promised me that they would do their utmost endeavour to persuade the Bay-men to desist from war a year or two, till we could be better provided for it; and then the Pequit Sachem was sent for, and the present returned, but full sore against my will. So they three returned to Boston, and two or three days after came an Indian from Pequit, whose name was Cocommithus, who had lived at Plimoth, and could speak good English; he desired that Mr. Steven [Stephen] Winthrop would go to Pequit with an £100 worth of trucking cloth and all other trading ware, for they knew that we had a great cargo of goods of Mr. Pincheon's, and Mr. Steven Winthrop had the disposing of it. And he said that if he would come he might put off all his goods, and the Pequit Sachem

GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 125

would give him two horses that had been there a great while. So I sent the Shallop, with Mr. Steven Winthrop, Sergeant Tille [Tilly], (whom we called afterward Sergeant Kettle, because he put the kettle on his head,) and Thomas Hurlbut and three men more, charging them that they should ride in the middle of the river, and not go ashore until they had done all their trade, and that Mr. Steven Winthrop should stand in the hold of the boat, having their guns by them, and swords by their sides, the other four to be, two in the fore cuddie, and two in aft, being armed in like manner, that so they out of the loop-holes might clear the boat, if they were by the Pequits assaulted; and that they should let but one canoe come aboard at once, with no more but four Indians in her, and when she had traded then another, and that they should lie no longer there than one day, and at night to go out of the river; and if they brought the two horses, to take them in at a clear piece of land at the mouth of the River, two of them go ashore to help the horses in, and the rest stand ready with their guns in their hands, if need were, to defend them from the Pequits, for I durst not trust them. So they went and found but little trade, and they having forgotten what I charged them, Thomas Hurlbut and one more went ashore to boil the kettle, and Thomas Hurlbut stepping into the Sachem's wigwam, not far from the shore, enquiring for the horses, the Indians went out of the wigwam, and Wincumbone, his mother's sister, was then the great Pequit Sachem's wife, who made signs to him that he should be gone, for they would cut off his head; which, when he perceived, he drew his sword

126 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

and ran to the others, and got aboard, and immediately came abundance of Indians to the water-side and called them to come ashore, but they immediately set sail and came home, and this caused me to keep watch and ward, for I saw they plotted our destruction. And suddenly after came Capt. Endecott, Capt. Turner, and Capt. Undrill [Underhill], with a company of soldiers, well fitted, to Seabrook and made that place their rendezvous or seat of war, and that to my great grief, for, said I, you come hither to raise these wasps about my ears, and then you will take wing and flee away; but when I had seen their commission I wondered, and made many allegations against the manner of it, but go they did to Pequit, and as they came without acquainting any of us in the River with it, so they went against our will, for I knew that I should lose our corn-field; then I entreated them to hear what I would say to them, which was this: Sirs, Seeing you will go, I pray you, if you don't load your Barks with Pequits, load them with corn, for that is now gathered with them, and dry, ready to put into their barns, and both you and we have need of it, and I will send my shallop and hire this Dutchman's boat, there present, to go with you, and if you cannot attain your end of the Pequits, yet you may load your barks with corn, which will be welcome to Boston and to me: But they said they had no bags to load them with, then said I, here is three dozen of new bags, you shall have thirty of them, and my shallop to carry them, and six of them my men shall use themselves, for I will with the Dutchmen send twelve men well provided; and I de-

GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 127

sired them to divide the men into three parts, viz. two parts to stand without the corn, and to defend the other one third part, that carried the corn to the water-side, till they have loaded what they can. And the men there in arms, when the rest are aboard, shall in order go aboard, the rest that are aboard shall with their arms clear the shore, if the Pequits do assault them in the rear, and then, when the General shall display his colours, all to set sail together. To this motion they all agreed, and I put the three dozen of bags aboard my shallop, and away they went, and demanded the Pequit Sachem to come into parley. But it was returned for answer, that he was from home, 'but within three hours he would come; and so from three to six, and thence to nine, there came none. But the Indians came without arms to our men, in great numbers, and they talked with my men, whom they knew; but in the end, at a word given, they all on a sudden ran away from our men, as they stood in rank and file, and not an Indian more was to be seen: and all this while before, they carried all their stuff away, and thus was that great parley ended. Then they displayed their colours, and beat their drums, burnt some wigwams and some heaps of corn, and my men carried as much aboard as they could, but the army went aboard, leaving my men ashore, which ought to have marched aboard first. But they all set sail, and my men were pursued by the Indians, and they hurt some of the Indians, and two of them came home wounded. The Bay-men killed not a man, save that one Kichomiquim [Cutshamequin], an Indian Sachem of the Bay, killed a Pequit; and thus began the war be-

128 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

tween the Indians and us in these parts. So my men being come home, and having brought a pretty quantity of corn with them, they informed me (both Dutch and English) of all passages. I was glad of the corn. After this I immediately took men and went to our corn-field, to gather our corn, appointing others to come about with the shallop and fetch it, and left five lusty men in the strong-house, with long guns, which house I had built for the defence of the corn. Now these men not regarding the charge I had given them, three of them went a mile from the house a fowling; and having loaded themselves with fowl they returned. But the Pequits let them pass first, till they had loaded themselves, but at their return they arose out of their ambush, and shot them all three; one of them escaped through the corn, shot through the leg, the other two they tormented. Then the next day I sent the shallop to fetch the five men, and the rest of the corn that was broken down, and they found but three, as is above said, and when they had gotten that they left the rest; and as soon as they were gone a little way from shore, they saw the house on fire. Now so soon as the boat came home, and brought us this bad news, old Mr. Michell was very urgent with me to lend him the boat to fetch hay home from the Six-mile Island, but I told him they were too few men, for his four men could but carry the hay aboard, and one must stand in the boat to defend them, and they must have two more at the foot of the Rock with their guns, to keep the Indians from running down upon them. And in the first place, before they carry any of the cocks of hay, to scour the meadow with

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their three dogs,-to march all abreast from the lower end up to the Rock and if they found the meadow clear, then to load their hay; but this was also neglected, for they all went ashore and fell to carrying off their hay, and the Indians presently rose out of the long grass, and killed three, and took the brother of Mr. Michell, who is the minister of Cambridge, and roasted him alive; and so they served a shallop of his, coming down the river in the Spring, having two men, one whereof they killed at Six-mile Island, the other came down drowned to us ashore at our doors, with an arrow shot into his eye through his head.

In the 22d of February, I went out with ten men, and three dogs, half a mile from the house, to burn the weeds, leaves and reeds, upon the neck of land, because we had felled twenty timber-trees, which we were to roll to the water-side to bring home, every man carrying a length of match with brimstone-matches with him to kindle the fire withal. But when we came to the small of the Neck, the weeds burning, I having before this set two sentinels on the small of the Neck, I called to the men that were burning the reeds to come away, but they would not until they had burnt up the rest of their matches. Presently there starts up four Indians out of the fiery reeds, but ran away, I calling to the rest of our men to come away out of the marsh. Then Robert Chapman and Thomas Hurlbut, being sentinels, called to me, saying there came a number of Indians out of the other side of the marsh. Then I went to stop them, that they should not get the wood-land; but Thomas Hurlbut cried out to me that some of the men did not follow me, for

130 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

Thomas Rumble and Arthur Branch, threw down their two guns and ran away; then the Indians shot two of them that were in the reeds, and sought to get between us and home, but durst not come before us, but kept us in a half-moon, we retreating and exchanging many a shot, so that Thomas Hurlbut was shot almost through the thigh, John Spencer in the back, into his kidneys, myself into the thigh, two more were shot dead. But in our retreat I kept Hurlbut and Spencer still before us, we defending ourselves with our naked swords, or else they had taken us all alive, so that the two sore wounded men, by our slow retreat, got home with their guns, when our two sound men ran away and left their guns behind them. But when I saw the cowards that left us, I resolved to let them draw lots which of them should be hanged, for the articles did hang up in the hall for them to read, and they knew they had been published long before. But at the intercession of old Mr. Michell, Mr. Higgisson [Higginson], and Mr. Pell, I did forbear. Within a few days after, when I had cured myself of my wound, I went out with eight men to get some fowl for our relief, and found the guns that were thrown away, and the body of one man shot through, the arrow going in at the right side, the head sticking fast, half through a rib on the left side, which I took out and cleansed it, and presumed to send to the Bay, because they had said that the arrows of the Indians were of no force.

Anthony Dike, master of a bark, having his bark at Rhode-Island in the winter, was sent by Mr. Vane, then Governor. Anthony came to Rhode-Island by land, and from thence he came with his bark to me

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with a letter, wherein was desired that I should consider and prescribe the best way I could to quell these Pequits, which I also did, and with my letter sent the man's rib as a token. A few days after, came Thomas Stanton down the River, and staying for a wind, while he was there came a troop of Indians within musket shot, laying themselves and their arms down behind a little rising hill and two great trees; which I perceiving, called the carpenter whom I had shewed how to charge and level a gun, and that he should put two cartridges of musket bullets into two sakers guns that lay about; and we levelled them against the place, and I told him that he must look towards me, and when he saw me wave my hat above my head he should give fire to both the guns; then presently came three Indians, creeping out and calling to us to speak with us: and I was glad that Thomas Stanton was there, and I sent six men down by the Garden Pales to look that none should come under the hill behind us; and having placed the rest in places convenient closely, Thomas and I with my sword, pistol and carbine, went ten or twelve pole without the gate to parley with them. And when the six men came to the Garden Pales, at the corner, they found a great number of Indians creeping behind the fort, or betwixt us and home, but they ran away. Now I had said to Thomas Stanton, Whatsoever they say to you, tell me first, for we will not answer them directly to any thing, for I know not the mind of the rest of the English. So they came forth, calling us nearer to them, and we them nearer to us. But I would not let Thomas go any further than the great stump of a tree, and I stood by him;

132 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

then they asked who we were, and he answered, Thomas and Lieutenant. But they said he lied, for I was shot with many arrows; and so I was, but my buff coat preserved me, only one hurt me. But when I spake to them they knew my voice, for one of them had dwelt three months with us, but ran away when the Bay-men came first. Then they asked us if we would fight with Niantecut Indians, or they were our friends and came to trade with us. We said we knew not the Indians one from another, and therefore would trade with none. Then they said, Have you fought enough? We said we knew not yet. Then they asked if we did use to kill women and children? We said they should see that hereafter. So they were silent a small space, and then they said, We are Pequits, and have killed Englishmen, and can kill them as mosquetoes, and we will go to Conectecott and kill men, women, and children, and we will take away the horses, cows and hogs. When Thomas Stanton had told me this, he prayed me to shoot that rogue, for, said he, he hath an Englishman's coat on, and saith that he hath killed three, and these other four have their cloathes on their backs. I said, No, it is not the manner of a parley, but have patience and I shall fit them ere they go. Nay, now or never, said he; so when he could get no other answer but this last, I bid him tell them that they should not go to Conectecott, for if they did kill all the men, and take all the rest as they said, it would do them no good, but hurt, for English women are lazy, and can't do their work; horses and cows will spoil your corn-fields, and the hogs their clam-banks, and so undo them: then I pointed to our great house,

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and bid him tell them there lay twenty pieces of trucking cloth, of Mr. Pincheon's, with hoes, hatchets, and all manner of trade, they were better fight still with us, and so get all that, and then go up the river after they had killed all us. Having heard this, they were mad as dogs, and ran away; then when they came to the place from whence they came, I waved my hat about my head, and the two great guns went off, so that there was a great hubbub amongst them. Then two days after, came down Capt. Mason, and Sergeant Seely, with five men more, to see how it was with us; and whilst they were there, came down a Dutch boat, telling us the Indians had killed fourteen English, for by that boat I had sent up letters to Conectecott, what I heard, and what I thought, and how to prevent that threatened danger, and received back again rather a scoff, than any thanks, for my care and pains. But as I wrote, so it fell out to my great grief and theirs, for the next, or second day after, (as Major Mason well knows,) came down a great many canoes, going down the creek beyond the marsh, before the fort, many of them having white shirts; then I commanded the carpenter whom I had shewed to level great guns, to put in two round shot into the two sackers, and we levelled them at a certain place, and I stood to bid him give fire, when I thought the canoe would meet the bullet, and one of them took off the nose of a great canoe wherein the two maids were, that were taken by the Indians, whom I redeemed and clothed, for the Dutchmen, whom I sent to fetch them, brought them away almost naked from Pequit, they putting on their own linen jackets to cover their nakedness; and

134 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

though the redemption cost me ten pounds, I am yet to have thanks for my care and charge about them: these things are known to Major Mason.

Then came from the Bay Mr. Tille, with a permit to go up to Harford [Hartford], and coming ashore he saw a paper nailed up over the gate, whereon was written, that no boat or bark should pass the fort, but that they come to an anchor first, that I might see whether they were armed and manned sufficiently, and they were not to land any where after they passed the fort till they came to Wethersfield; and this I did because Mr. Mitchel had lost a shallop before coming down from Wethersfield, with three men well armed. This Mr. Tille gave me ill language for my presumption, (as he called it), with other expressions too long here to write. When he had done, I bid him go to his warehouse, which he had built before I come, to fetch his goods from thence, for I would watch no longer over it. So he, knowing nothing, went and found his house burnt, and one of Mr. Plum's with others, and he told me to my face that I had caused it to be done; but Mr. Higgisson, Mr. Pell, Thomas Hurlbut and John Green can witness that the same day that our house was burnt at Cornfield-point I went with Mr. Higgisson, Mr. Pell, and four men more, broke open a door and took a note of all that was in the house and gave it to Mr. Higgisson to keep, and so brought all the goods to our house, and delivered it all to them again when they came for it, without any penny of charge. Now the very next day after I had taken the goods out, before the sun was quite down, and we all together in the great hall, all them

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houses were on fire in one instant. The Indians ran away, but I would not follow them. Now when Mr. Tille had received all his goods I said unto him, I thought I had deserved for my honest care both for their bodies and goods of those that passed by here, at the least better language, and am resolved to order such malepert persons as you are; therefore I wish you and also charge you to observe that which you have read at the gate, 'tis my duty to God, my masters, and my love I bear to you all which is the ground of this, had you but eyes to see it; but you will not till you feel it. So he went up the river, and when he came down again to his place, which I called Tille's folly, now called Tille's point, in our sight in despite, having a fair wind he came to an anchor, and with one man more went ashore, discharged his gun, and the Indians fell upon him, and killed the other, and carried him alive over the river in our sight, before my shallop could come to them; for immediately I sent seven men to fetch the Pink down, or else it had been taken and three men more. So they brought her down, and I sent Mr. Higgisson and Mr. Pell aboard to take an invoice of all that was in the vessel, that nothing might be lost. Two days after came to me, as I had written to Sir Henerie Vane, then Governor of the Bay, I say came to me Capt. Undrill [Underhill], with twenty lusty men, well armed, to stay with me two months, or 'till something should be done about the Pequits. He came at the charge of my masters. Soon after came down from Harford Maj. Mason, Lieut. Seely, accompanied with Mr. Stone and eighty Englishmen, and eighty Indians, with a commission

136 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

from Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Steel, and some others; these came to go fight with the Pequits. But when Capt. Undrill [Underhill] and I had seen their commission, we both said they were not fitted for such a design, and we said to Maj. Mason we wondered he would venture himself, being no better fitted; and he said the Magistrates could not or would not send better; then we said that none of our men should go with them, neither should they go unless we, that were bred soldiers from our youth, could see some likelihood to do better than the Bay-men with their strong commission last year. Then I asked them how they durst trust the Mohegin [Mohegan] Indians, who had but that year come from the Pequits. They said they would trust them, for they could not well go without them for want of guides. Yea, said I, but I will try them before a man of ours shall go with you or them; and I called for Uncas and said unto him, You say you will help Maj. Mason, but I will first see it, therefore send you now twenty men to the Bass river, for there went yesternight six Indians in a canoe thither; fetch them now dead or alive, and then you shall go with Maj. Mason, else not. So he sent his men who killed four, brought one a traitor to us alive, whose name was Kiswas, and one ran away. And I gave him fifteen yards of trading cloth on my own charge, to give unto his men according to their desert. And having staid there five or six days before we could agree, at last we old soldiers agreed about the way and act, and took twenty insufficient men from the eighty that came from Harford [Hartford] and sent them up again in a shallop, and Capt. Undrill [Under-

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hill] with twenty of the lustiest of our men went in their room, and I furnished them with such things as they wanted, and sent Mr. Pell, the sergeon, with them; and the Lord God blessed their design and way, so that they returned with victory to the glory of God, and honour of our nation, having slain three hundred, burnt their fort, and taken many prisoners. Then came to me an Indian called Wequash, and I by Mr. Higgisson inquired of him, how many of the Pequits were yet alive that had helped to kill Englishmen; and he declared them to Mr. Higgisson, and he writ them down, as may appear by his own hand here enclosed, and I did as therein is written. Then three days after the fight came Waiandance, next brother to the old Sachem of Long Island, and having been recommended to me by Maj. Gibbons, he came to know if we were angry with all Indians. I answered No, but only with such as had killed Englishmen. He asked me whether they that lived upon Long-Island might come to trade with us. I said No, nor we with them, for if I should send my boat to trade for corn, and you have Pequits with you, and if my boat should come into some creek by reason of bad weather, they might kill my men, and I shall think that you of Long Island have done it, and so we may kill all you for the Pequits; but if you will kill all the Pequits that come to you, and send me their heads, then I will give to you as to Weakwash [Wequash], and you shall have trade with us. Then, said he, I will go to my brother, for he is the great Sachem of all Long Island, and if we may have peace and trade with you, we will give you tribute, as we

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did the Pequits. Then I said, If you have any Indians that have killed English, you must bring their heads also. He answered, not any one, and said that Gibbons, my brother, would have told you if it had been so; so he went away and did as I had said, and sent me five heads, three and four heads for which I paid them that brought them as I had promised.

Then came Capt. Stoten [Stoughton] with an army of 300 men, from the Bay, to kill the Pequits; but they were fled beyond New Haven to a swamp. I sent Wequash after them, who went by night to spy them out, and the army followed him, and found them at the great swamp, who killed some and took others, and the rest fled to the Mowhakues [Mohawks], with their Sachem. Then the Mohawks cut off his head and sent it to Hartford, for then they all feared us, but now it is otherwise, for they say to our faces that our Commissioners meeting once a year, and speak a great deal, or write a letter, and there's all, for they dare not fight. But before they went to the Great Swamp they sent Thomas Stanton over to Long Island and Shelter Island to find Pequits there, but there was none, for the Sachem Waiandance, that was at Plimoth when the Commissioners were there, and set there last, I say, he had killed so many of the Pequits, and sent their heads to me, that they durst not come there; and he and his men went with the English to the Swamp, and thus the Pequits were quelled at that time. But there was like to be a great broil between Miantenomie [Miantunnomoh] and Unchus [Uncas] who should have the rest of the Pequits, but we meditated between them and pacified them; also Unchus

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challenged the Narraganset Sachem out to a single combat, but he would not fight without all his men; but they were pacified, though the old grudge remained still, as it doth appear. Thus far I had written in a book, that all men and posterity might know how and why so many honest men had their blood shed, yea, and some flayed alive, others cut in pieces, and some roasted alive, only because Kichamokin [Cutshamequin], a Bay Indian, killed one Pequit; and thus far of the Pequit war, which was but a comedy in comparison of the tragedies which hath been here threatened since, and may yet come, if God do not open the eyes, ears, and hearts of some that I think are wilfully deaf and blind, and think because there is no change that the vision fails, and put the evil-threatened day far off, for say they, We are now twenty to one to what we were then, and none dare meddle with us. Oh! wo be to the pride and security which hath been the ruin of many nations, as woful experience has proved.

But I wonder, and so doth many more with me, that the Bay doth no better revenge the murdering of Mr. Oldham, an honest man of their own, seeing they were at such cost for a Virginian. The Narragansets that were at Block-Island killed him, and had, £50 of gold of his, for I saw it when he had five pieces of me, and put it up into a clout and tied it up all together, when he went away from me to Block Island; but the Narragansets had it and punched holes into it, and put it about their necks for jewels; and afterwards I saw the Dutch have some of it, which they had of the Narragansets at a small rate.

And now I find that to be true which our friend

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Waiandance told me many years ago, and that was this; that seeing all the plots of the Narragansets were always discovered, he said they would let us alone 'till they had destroyed Uncas, and him, and then they, with the Mowquakes and Mowhakues and the Indians beyond the Dutch, and all the Northern and Eastern Indians, would easily destroy us, man and mother's son. This have I informed the Governors of these parts, but all in vain, for I see they have done as those of Wethersfield, not regarding till they were impelled to it by blood; and thus we may be sure of the fattest of the flock are like to go first, if not altogether, and then it will be too late to read Jer. XXV. -- for drink we shall if the Lord be not the more merciful to us for our extreme pride and base security, which cannot but stink before the Lord; and we may expect this, that if there should be war again between England and Holland, our friends at the Dutch and our Dutch Englishmen would prove as true to us now, as they were when the fleet came out of England; but no more of that, a word to the wise is enough.

And now I am old, I would fain die a natural death, or like a soldier in the field, with honor, and not to have a sharp stake set in the ground, and thrust into my fundament, and to have my skin flayed off by piecemeal, and cut in pieces and bits, and my flesh roasted and thrust down my throat, as these people have done, and I know will be done to the chiefest in the country by hundreds, if God should deliver us into their hands, as justly he may for our sins.

I going over to Meantacut, upon the eastern end of Long Island, upon some occasion that I had there, I

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found four Narragansets there talking with the Sachem and his old counsellors. I asked an Indian what they were? He said that they were Narragansets, and that one was Miannemo [Miantunnomoh], a Sachem. What came they for? said I. He said he knew not, for they talked secretly; so I departed to another wigwam. Shortly after came the Sachem Waiandance to me and said, Do you know what these came for? No, said I; then he said, They say I must give no more wampum to the English, for they are no Sachems, nor none of their children shall be in their place if they die; and they have no tribute given them; there is but one king in England, who is over them all, and if you would send him 100,000 fathom of wampum, he would not give you a knife for it, nor thank you. And I said to them, Then they will come and kill us all, as they did the Pequits; then they said No, the Pequits gave them wampum and beaver, which they loved so well, but they sent it them again, and killed them because they had killed an Englishman; but you have killed none, therefore give them nothing. Now friend, tell me what I shall say to them, for one of them is a great man. Then said I, Tell them that you must go first to the farther end of Long-Island, and speak with all the rest, and a month hence you will give them an answer. Meantime you may go, to Mr. Haines, and he will tell you what to do, and I will write all this now in my book that I have here; and so he did, and the Narragansets departed, and this Sachem came to me at my house, and I wrote this matter to Mr. Haines, and he went up with it to Mr. Haines, who forbid him to give any thing to the Nar-

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raganset, and writ to me so. -And when they came again they came by my Island, and I knew them to be the same men; and I told them they might go home again, and I gave them Mr. Haynes his letter for Mr. Williams to read to the Sachem. So they returned back again, for I had said to them, that if they would go to Mantacut I would go likewise with them, and that Long-Island must not give wampum to Narraganset.

A while after this came Miantenomie from Block-Island to Mantacut with a troop of men, Waiandance being not at home; and instead of receiving presents, which they used to do in their progress, he gave them gifts, calling them brethren and friends, for so are we all Indians as the English are, and say brother to one another; so must we be one as they are, otherwise we shall be all gone shortly, for you know our fathers had plenty of deer and skins, our plains were full of deer, as also our woods, and of turkies, and our coves full of fish and fowl. But these English having gotten our land, they with scythes cut down the grass, and with axes fell the trees; their cows and horses eat the grass, and their hogs spoil our clam banks, and we shall all be starved; therefore it is best for you to do as we, for we are all the Sachems from east to west, both Moquakues and Mohauks joining with us, and we are all resolved to fall upon them all, at one appointed day; and therefore I am come to you privately first, because you can persuade the Indians and Sachem to what you will, and I will send over fifty Indians to Block-Island, and thirty to you from thence, and take an hundred of Southampton Indians with

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an hundred of your own here; and when you see the three fires that will be made forty days hence, in a clear night, then do as we, and the next day fall on and kill men, women, and children, but no cows, for they will serve to eat till our deer be increased again.--And our old men thought it was well. So the Sachem came home and had but little talk with them, yet he was told there had been a secret consultation between the old men and Miantenomie, but they told him nothing in three days. So he came over to me and acquainted me with the manner of the Narragansets being there with his men, and asked me what I thought of it; and I told him that the Narraganset Sachem was naught to talk with his men secretly in his absence, and I bid him go home, and told him a way how he might know all, and then he should come and tell me; and so he did, and found out all as is above written, and I sent intelligence of it over to Mr. Haynes and Mr. Eaton; but because my boat was gone from home it was fifteen days before they had any letter, and Miantenomie was gotten home before they had news of it. And the old men, when they saw how I and the Sachem had beguiled them, and that he was come over to me, they sent secretly a canoe over, in a moon-shine night, to Narraganset to tell them all was discovered; so the plot failed, blessed be God, and the plotter, next Spring after, did as Ahab did at Ramoth-Gilead.-- So he to Mohegin, and there had his fall.

Two years after this, Ninechrat sent over a captain of his, who acted in every point as the former; him the Sachem took and bound and brought him to me,

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and I wrote the same to Governor Eaton, and sent an Indian that was my servant and had lived four years with me; him, with nine more, I sent to carry him to New-Haven, and gave them food for ten days. But the wind hindered them at Plum-Island; then they went to Shelter-Island, where the old Sachem dwelt - Waiandance's elder brother, and in the night they let him go, only my letter they sent to New-Haven, and thus these two plots was discovered; but now my friend and brother is gone, who will now do the like?

But if the premises be not sufficient to prove Waiandance a true friend to the English, for some may say he did all this out of malice to the Pequits and Narragansets; now I shall prove the like with respect to the Long-Islanders, his own men. For I being at Meantacut, it happened that for an old grudge of a Pequit, who was put to death at Southampton, being known to be a murderer, and for this his friends bear a spite against the English. So as it came to pass at that day I was at Mantacut, a good honest woman was killed by them at Southampton, but it was not known then who did this murder. And the brother of this Sachem was Shinacock Sachem could or would not find it out. At that time Mr. Gosmore and Mr. Howell, being magistrates, sent an Indian to fetch the Sachem thither; and it being in the night, I was laid down when he came, and being a great cry amongst them, upon which all the men gathered together, and the story being told, all of them said the Sachem should not go, for, said they, they will either bind you or kill you, and then us, both men, women and children; therefore let your brother find it out, or let them kill

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you and us, we will live and die together. So there was a great silence for a while, and then the Sachem said, Now you have all done I will hear what my friend will say, for [he] knows what they will do. So they wakened me as they thought, but I was not asleep, and told me the story, but I made strange of the matter, and said, If the magistrates have sent for you why do you not go? They will bind me or kill me, saith he. I think so, said I, if you have killed the woman, or known of it, and did not reveal it; but you were here and did it not. But was any of your Mantauket Indians there to-day? They all answered, Not a man these two days, for we have inquired concerning that already. Then said I, Did none of you ever hear any Indian say he would kill English? -- No, said they all; then I said, I shall not go home 'till tomorrow, though I thought to have been gone so soon as the moon was up, but I will stay here till you all know it is well with your Sachem; if they bind him, bind me, and if they kill him, kill me. But then you must find out him that did the murder, and all that know of it, them they will have and no more. Then they with a great cry thanked me, and I wrote a small note with the Sachem, that they should not stay him long in their houses, but let him eat and drink and be gone, for he had his way before him. So they did, and that night he found out four that were consenters to it, and knew of it, and brought them to them at Southampton, and they were all hanged at Harford, whereof one of these was a great man among them, commonly called the Blue Sachem.
A further instance of his faithfulness is this; about

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the Pequit war time one William Hamman [Hammond], of the Bay, killed by a giant-like Indian towards the Dutch. I heard of it, and told Waiandance that he must kill him or bring him to me; but he said it was not his brother' s mind, and he is the great Sachem of all Long-Island, likewise the Indian is a mighty great man, and no man durst meddle with him, and hath many friends. So this rested until he had killed another, one Thomas Farrington. After this the old Sachem died, and I spake to this Sachem again about it, and he answered, He is so cunning, that when he hears that I come that way a hunting, that his friends tell him, and then he is gone. --But I will go at some time when nobody knows of it, and then I will kill him; and so he did --and this was the last act which he did for us, for in the time of a great mortality among them he died, but it was by poison; also two thirds of the Indians upon Long-Island died, else the Narragansets had not made such havoc here as they have, and might not help them. And this I have written chiefly for our own good, that we might consider what danger we are all in, and also to declare to the country that we have found an heathen, yea an Indian, in this respect to parallel the Jewish Mordecai. But now I am at a stand, for all we English would be thought and called Christians; yet, though I have seen this before spoken, having been these twenty-four years in the mouth of the premises, yet I know not where to find, or whose name to insert, to parallel Ahasuerus lying on his bed and could not sleep, and called for the Chronicles to be read; and when he heard Mordecai named, said, What hath been done

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for him? But who will say as he said, or do answerable to what he did? But our New-England twelve-penny Chronicle is stuffed with a catalogue of the names of some, as if they had deserved immortal fame; but the right New-England military worthies are left out for want of room, as Maj. Mason, Capt Undrill [Underhill], Lieut. Sielly [Seely], &c., who undertook the desperate way and design to Mistick Fort, and killed three hundred, burnt the fort and took many prisoners, though they are not once named. But honest Abraham thought it no shame to name the confederates that helped him to war when he redeemed his brother Lot; but Uncas of Mistick, and Waiandance, at the Great Swamp and ever since your trusty friend, is forgotten, and for our sakes persecuted to this day with fire and sword, and Ahasuerus of New-England is still asleep, and if there be any like to Ahasuerus, let him remember what glory to God and honor to our nation hath followed their wisdom and valor. Awake! awake Ahasuerus, if there be any of thy seed or spirit here, and lot not Haman destroy us as he hath done our Mordecai! And although there hath been much blood shed here in these parts among us, God and we know it came not by us. But if all must drink of this cup that is threatened, then shortly the king of Sheshack shall drink last, and tremble and fall when our pain will be past. O that I were in the countries again, that in their but twelve years truce, repaired cities and towns, made strong forts, and prepared all things needful against a time of war like Solomon. I think the soil hath almost infected me, but what they or our enemies will do hereafter I know not. I hope I shall

148 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.

not live so long to hear or see it, for I am old and out of date, else I might be in fear to see and hear that I think ere long will come upon us.

Thus for our tragical story, now to the comedy. When we were all at supper in the great hall, they (the Pequits) gave us alarm to draw us out three times before we could finish our short supper, for we had but little to eat, but you know that I would not go out; the reasons you know.

2ndly. You Robert Chapman, you know that when you and John Bagley were beating samp at the Garden Pales, the sentinels called you to run in, for there was a number of Pequits creeping to you to catch you; I hearing it went up to the Redoubt and put two cross-bar shot into the two guns that lay above, and levelled them at the trees in the middle of the limbo and boughs, and gave order to John Freud and his man to stand with hand-spikes to turn them this or that way, as they should hear the Indians shout, for they should know my shout from theirs for it should be very short. Then I called six men, and the dogs, and went out, running to the place, and keeping all abreast, in sight, close together. And when I saw my time I said, Stand! and called all to me saying, Look on me; and when I hold up my hand, then shout as loud as you can, and when I hold down my hand, then leave; and so they did. Then the Indians began a long shout, and then went off the two great guns and tore the limbs of the trees about their ears, so that divers of them were hurt, as may yet appear, for you told me when I was up at Harford this present year, '60, in the month of September, that there is one of

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them lyeth above Hartford, that is fain to creep on all four, and we shouted once or twice more; but they would not answer us again, so we returned home laughing. Another pretty prank we had with three great doors of ten feet long and four feet broad, being bored full of holes and driven full of long nails, as sharp as awl blades, sharpened by Thomas Hurlbut. These we placed in certain places where they should come, fearing lest they should come in the night and fire our redoubt or battery, and all the place, for we had seen their footing, where they had been in the night, when they shot at our sentinels, but could not hit them for the boards; and in a dry time and a dark night they came as they did before, and found the way a little too sharp for them; and as they skipped from one they trod upon another, and left the nails and doors dyed with their blood, which you know we saw the next morning, laughing at it.--And this I write that young men may learn, if they should meet with such trials as we met with there, and have not opportunity to cut off their enemies; yet they may, with such pretty pranks, preserve themselves from danger, --for policy is needful in wars as well as strength.