Content: (music) (As the Jingle fades away), introduce Stacks: The Study of History – Season One: The Hidden History of Colonial America - Episode 01: The Pequot War.

Segment: Welcome

Time Allotted: 2-5 Minutes

Content: Welcome scholars, historians, and history lovers to Stacks: The Study of History. I am your host, Jeni Kirby. A bit about me, I am a historian and graduate student at Southern New Hampshire University. What is presented here is my own research and does not have any affiliation with SNHU or other institutions. In today’s episode: The Pequot War, I will discuss how this war came to be, why it was fought, and explain the end results of the war. This historical topic is quite graphic due to genocidal content, viewer discretion is advised.

Segment: Introduction to the Pequot War:

Content: Black smoke bellowed toward the skies for all to see. Agonizing screams of men, women, and children being burned alive echoed across the wooden enclosure. Outside the fortress, English men, from various religious groups, many of them Puritans, slaughtered their fleeing victims with their guns and swords, hacking to death: men, women, and children.[1] The Pequot nation, who once dominated the fur and wampum trade, through their numbers and military force, was brutally conquered and destroyed. With the death of the Pequot tribe, the Pequot War ended. But with its end, the colonist transformed themselves from a weak force to the most savage and feared people in the New World.

Segment:How did the Pequot War begin?

Time Allotted: 5-20 minutes

Content: In 1630, due to the increase of European population growth, tensions grew among the English Puritans and other colonist. As a result, the English began settling along the Connecticut River where the Dutch and Pequot Indians conducted trade in wampum, fur, and other goods. The Pequot, being the most powerful tribe in the area, with over 500 tribal members, controlled the lower Connecticut, Mystic, and Thames (Tims) Rivers. Around these areas, the Pequots had built forts which guarded their villages, crops, and inhabitants. These elaborate forts were spiral with camouflaged front and back entrances. This forced armies to enter single file, which proved to be a challenge for the Pequot enemies (both Indian and European).[2]

In 1633, the Niantics (NIGH-an-tics) (a small band or branch from the Pequot Tribe) killed traders John Oldman, John Stone, and Walter Norton. It is not clear why they were killed by the Indians. Many historians speculate that these English captains were capturing Indians to sell to trading companies. Captain John Stone was not liked by the English. He caused a great deal of problems with the Puritans. He was a womanizer, alcoholic, a cheater, swindler, and murderer. When the Indians killed Stone, they also destroyed his ship. With his slaughter, the English decided to use his death as an excuse to attack the Pequots to gain ownership and dominance of their trade routes. Yet, it was never proven that Pequots destroyed Stone’s goods, or that they took the goods for themselves. Still the English and Puritans demanded punishment by forcing the Pequots to pay the English colonist in wampum, fur, and to hand over the warriors responsible for Stone’s death.[3]Thus, the English and Puritans used Stone’s death as an excuse to declare war on the Pequot Indians. Again, the English had no desire to revenge Stone and the others. They wanted to annihilate the Pequots to gain economic wealth from the wampum and fur trade that the Pequots controlled.

In the first campaign against the Pequots, the English and Puritans, attacked Pequot villages along the Connecticut River. Like most Indian wars, the Pequots retaliated by attacking individual colonists and the English fort, Fort Saybrook. When spring came, the English and Puritans created an alliance with the Mohegan tribe. From there, John Underhill and John Mason created a larger alliance with the Narragansetts (NAR-a-gan-setts) and Niantics (NIGH-an-tics).These alliances were easily made because the Pequot Tribe was the most aggressive and largest tribe in the area.They heavily dominated the other tribes in trade, manpower, and military might.[4]

However, it was never proven that the Pequots were the ones that attacked and killed Captain Stone and his crew. The Pequots refused to cooperate and sealed their own destruction.[5] However, there is evidence that suggests that a different tribe murdered Captain Stone and his crew. John Mason, an English Chief-Commander who led the attack on the Pequots at Fort Mystic, stated in his book called A Brief History of the Pequot War (1736), “This tribe traded with the Pequot many times, and eventually they traded the goods from Captain Stone’s two ships.”[6] Through this trade, the Pequots eventually possessed these goods, which the English and Puritans used as evidence to declare war on the Pequot nation.

The enemies of the Pequot Indians, the Narragansett (NAR-a-gan-setts) and Niantics (NIGH-an-tics), told the English that they witnessed the Pequot’s attack and murder of Captain Stone. Wrongly accused and with great fear of retaliation, the Pequot took the blame for the murder of Captain Stone and his crew.[7] To show the Pequots that they were superior to them, the English demanded that they pay for the death of Captain Stone and his crew.[8] However, the Pequot Nation did not relinquish these warriors, nor did they pay their debt in full.[9] In response to their defiance, the English sent out a group of men to demand the payment. John Mason, a military commander that led the second campaign of the Pequot War, stated, “Commander and Chief John Enicot (In-ee-kit), Captain Underhill, Captain Turner, and 120 men punished the innocent Pequot Nation for the death of Captain Stone; these white men murdered one Pequot warrior and burnt some wigwams.”[10]

In response to these attacks, Mason said that “The Pequot tribe ambushed and killed nine men and captured two white women.”[11] This back-and-forth retaliation, led to a horrible genocide. Lion Gardener, English engineer who was hired to build English forts along the Connecticut and Massachusetts River, wrote about the tensions caused by white and Indian alike.In his letter called, “Relation,” Gardener describes one such account, “In great numbers, the Indians, without arms, talked with my men, and all of a sudden, the Indians ran away; however, my men stood in rank and file until all the Indians were gone.”[12] This clearly shows that the Indians and English men were pestering each other.Tiring of these games, the English called for war.[13]

At a meeting, the English decided that a campaign of men would go out and rid the country of the Pequot Nation.[14] But the English already knewthat the Pequots were innocent, and still wanting to demonstrate their power, they forced the Narragansett (NAR-a-gan-set) warriors to guide them to the Pequot village. Thus, the English organized a second campaign, and the Pequot War was born. The second campaign consisted of a small army under Captain Underhill, Captain Mason, Lieutenant Gardner, and all their men marched toward Fort Mystic.[15] In the book A Brief History of the Pequot War, written by Captain Mason, Mason describes their numbers, “Their numbers exceeded ours, having sixteen guns with powder and shot.”[16] It took them about a week to reach the Pequot fort, Mystic. Once there, the English immediately started to attack the Pequot Indians.[17]

On the dawn of May 26, 1637, Mason and Underhill, along with their Indian allies, aggressively attacked the surprised Pequots at Fort Mystic. They killed men, women, and children with their swords and guns, but they also burned wigwams, with people still inside. The English watched as Indians were burned alive. Mason wrote, “Captain Underhill decided that the best way to kill the Pequot was to burn them alive; as they began to set fire to the fort, many Indians began running into the burning wigwams to protect their families, and theyall perished in the fire.[18]

Without remorse or regret, the men decided to leave the fort due to the “violent smoke and flames,” but as they were leaving another group of Pequot’s, from a different fort, started to attack; five white men were wounded, and forty warriors were killed.[19] After the slaughter, the English men found 103 Pequot men, women, and children hiding near the Pequot River; the English captured the women and children, killed the men, and forced the survivors into slavery.[20]

At the end of the Pequot War, only fourteen Pequot Indians survived. The men were sold to the East Indian Trading Company to slave in the Caribbean areas. The women were placed under slavery in homes of the English.[21] Many of these women escaped their bondage and took refuge with nearby tribes like the Narragansetts (Nar-a-gan-sets). These tribes were horribly disturbed by the aggression, destruction, and the lack of humanity shown by the English during the Pequot War.[22] Indians did not annihilate their enemies, and they had never participated or seen total warfare before. Soon after, the Narragansetts (Nar-a-gan-sets) broke their alliances with the English.[23]

Over the years, the Pequot women and children ran away from their bondage in hopes of joining and being adopted into other tribes.[24] Through the years, they forgot their language and customs. Once a strong and fighting tribe, the Pequot Nation was destroyed in one year. The English had better weapons, and they were very sufficient with the European tactic of “dividing and conquering.” Because of the superiority of their weapons and brutality, the English destroyed the Pequot Nation. The Pequot’s did their best to protect their homes, lands, and loved ones, but they were no match for the English.

Segment: Conclusion

Time Allotted: 2-5 minutes

Content: Looking deeper into these events, the Pequot War formed America’s culture and society. Not only was this total-warfare, but it was the first total-warfare with Indians on American soil. But it was also the door that opened-up the New World to the Indian Slave Trade and African slavery. Thus, the Pequot War formed the identity of America’s strength, traditions, warfare, society, and culture.

Segment: Closing/ Conclusion

Time Allotted: 2-5 minutes

Content: As seen throughout this episode, the Puritans and English annihilated their major opponent in America’s first bloodiest war - The Pequot War. Through this annihilation the Puritans and English burned, killed, sold, and enslaved their competitors. Out of these actions, America’s first genocide was born. As the wampum and fur trade continued to be a major economic asset to the European colonist, Indian skirmishes and major wars began to be fought for dominance, survival, and wealth. From this growth, slavery soon joined in the trade, both Europeans and Indians took part is selling each other for alliances, pivoting tribes and Europeans against each other. From these issues, the French and Indian War was formed and fought. But as African slavery became more suitable for the colonist needs, Indian and white slaves became less valuable. In the next episode: The Indian Slave Trade, I will discuss how wampum, fur, and human beings formed a global trade system, and how it transformed slavery and European dominance over the New World.Please tune in on January 17, 2020 at 11:00 PM for the continuation of the Hidden History of Colonial America.

Segment: Outro

Time Allotted: 1-2 minutes

Content: (Closing Music) You may visit jenikirbyhistory.com to access my research, episode content, and bibliography of the Pequot War. While there, be sure to check out my history blog about socialism. Remember, always Research. Learn. Discover.

Bibliography

Fickes, Michael L. “‘They Could Not Endure That Yoke:’ The Captivity of the Pequot Women and Children after the War of 1637.” The New England Quarterly 73, no. 1 (March 2000): 59, 68-69, 76-77. https://www.jstor.org/stable/366745.

Gardener, Lion. Relation of the Pequot Warres (1660), edited by W. N. Chattin Carlton. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2007. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=etas.

Mason, John. A Brief History of the Pequot War (1736), edited by Paul Royster. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2007. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=etas.

Vaugahn, Alden T. “Pequots and Puritans: The Causes of the War of 1637.” The William and Mary Quarterly 21, no. 2 (April 1964): 258-259. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1920388.

Weidensaul, Scott. The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.

[1]John Mason, A Brief History of the Pequot War (1736) ed. Paul Royster (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2007), viii-ix.

[2] Scott Weidensaul, The Frist Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America (New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012), 115-141.

[3]Alden T. Vaughan, “Pequots and Puritans: The Causes of War of 1637,” The William and Mary Quarterly 21, no. 2 (April 1964): 258-259, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1920388?origin=crossref.

[4]John Undershill, Newes from America; Or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England; Containing, A Trve Relation of Their War-like Proceedings These Two Yeares Last Past, with a Figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado, ed. Paul Royser (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2007), 1-2.

[5]Lion Gardener, Relation of the Pequot Warres (1660), ed. W. N. Chattin Carlton (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2007), 6.

[6]John Mason, A Brief History of the Pequot War (1736) ed. Paul Royster (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2007), viii-ix.

[7] Mason, A Brief History, ix.

[8]Vaughan, “Pequots and Puritans,” 258-259.

[9]Gardener, Relation, 6.

[10]Mason, A Brief History, ix.

[11]Mason, A Brief History, x.

[12]Gardener, Relation, 10.

[13]Mason, A Brief History, viii-ix.

[14]Mason, A Brief History, x.

[15]Mason, A Brief History, 2.

[16]Mason, A Brief History, 2.

[17]Mason, A Brief History, 7.

[18]Mason, A Brief History, 8-9.

[19]Mason, A Brief History, 9.

[20]Michael L. Fickes, “‘They Could Not Endure That Yoke:’ The Captivity of Pequot Women and Children after the War of 1637,” The New England Quarterly 73, no. 1 (March 2000), 59.

[21]Undershill, Newes from America, 1-18.

[22]Underhill, Newes from America, 1-18.

[23]Fickes, “They Could Not Endure,” 76-77.

[24]Fickes, “They Could Not Endure,” 76-77.

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