CHAPTER III.

WHEN the English became first acquainted with that tract comprised within the settled part of Connecticut, it was a vast wilderness. There were no pleasant fields, nor gardens, no public roads, nor cleared plats. Except in places where the timber had been destroyed, and its growth prevented by frequent fires, the groves were thick and lofty. The Indians so often burned the country, to take deer and other wild game, that in many parts of the plain, dry parts of it, there was but little small timber. Where lands were thus burned there grew bent grass, or as some called it, thatch, two, three and four feet high, according to the strength of the land. This, with other combustible matter, which the fields and groves produced, when dry, in the spring and fall, burned with violence and killed all the small trees. The large ones escaped, and generally grew to a notable height and magnitude. In this manner the natives so thinned the groves, that they were able to plant their corn and obtain a crop.

The constant fall of foliage, with the numerous kinds of weeds and wild grass, which annually died and putrified on the lands, yielded a constant manure, and exceedingly enriched them. Vegetation was rapid, and all the natural productions of the country luxuriant.

It abounded with the finest oaks of all kinds, with chestnut, walnut and wild cherry trees, with all kinds of maple, beech, birch, ash and elm. The butternut tree, buttonwood, basswood, poplar and sassafras trees, were to be found generally upon all tracts in Connecticut. White, yellow and pitch pine, white and red cedar, hemlock and spruce, grew plenteously in many places. In the north and northwestern part of the colony were excellent groves of pine, with spruce and fir trees. The white wood tree also, notable for its height and magnitude, making excellent boards and clapboards, was the natural growth of the country. In some towns white wood trees have grown in great abundance. All other kinds of small trees, of less utility, common to NewEngland, flourish in Connecticut.

The country abounded with a great variety of wild fruit. In the groves were walnuts, chestnuts, butternuts, hazlenuts and acorns in great abundance. Wild cherries, currants and plums, were natural productions. In the low lands, on the banks of the rivers, by the brooks and gutters, there was a variety and plenty of grapes. The country also abounded with an almost endless variety of esculent and medicinal berries, herbs and roots. Among the principal and most delicious of these were strawberries, blackberries of various kinds, raspberries, dewberries, whortleberries,

bilberries, blueberries and mulberries. Cranberries also grew plenteously in the meadows, which when well prepared furnish a rich and excellent sauce. Juniperberries, barberries and bayberries, which are of the medicinal kind, grow spontaneously in Connecticut. The latter is an excellent and useful berry, producing a most valuable tallow. It is of a beautiful green, and has a fine perfume. Beside these, there was a profusion of various other kinds of berries of less consideration. Some even of these, however, are very useful in various kinds of dyes and in certain medicinal applications.

The earth spontaneously produced ground nuts, artichokes, wild leeks, onions, garlicks, turnips, wild pease, plantain, radish, and other esculent roots and herbs.

Among the principal medicinal vegetables of Connecticut are the blood root, seneca snakeroot, liquorice root, dragon root, pleurisy root,1 spikenard, elecampane, solomon's seal, sarsaparilla, senna, bittersweet, ginseng, angelica, masterwort, motherwort, lungwort, consumption root, great and small canker weed, high and low centaury, sweet and blue flag, elder, maidenhair, pennyroyal, celandine, mallow, marsh mallow, slippery elm, adder's tongue and rattlesnake weed. Indeed a great proportion of the roots and plants of the country, with the bark, buds and roots of many of the trees, are used medicinally. There is a great variety of plants and flowers, the names and virtues of which are not known.

The country was no less productive of animals, than of natural fruit. In the groves there were plenty of deer, moose, fat bears, turkeys, herons, partridges, quails, pigeons, and other wild game, which were excellent for food. There were such incredible numbers of pigeons in New-England, when the English became first acquainted with it, as filled them with a kind of astonishment. Such numerous and extensive flocks would be seen flying for some hours, in the morning, that they would obscure the light. An American historian writes, "It passeth credit, if but the truth were written."

Connecticut abounded in furs. Here were otters, beaver, the black, gray, and red fox, the racoon, mink, muskrat, and various other animals, of the fur kind. The wolf, wild cat, and other animals, common in New-England, were equally so in Connecticut. Wolves were numerous in all parts of New-England, when the 'Esclepias decumbens.

? This is the Geum Urbanum of Linnæus. It is known in Britain by the name of Herb Bennet, or common Avens. Dr. Buchhave, from long experience, recommends it as much superior to the Peruvian bark, in the cure of periodical and other diseases. Medical commentaries by a society of Physicians in Edinburgh, vol. vii. p. 279 to 288. He represents three ounces of this root, as equal to a pound of the cortex.

The roots and flowers of America, would be the most valuable addition to the works of the celebrated Linnæus, which could be made.

settlements commenced, and did great damage to the planters, killing their sheep, calves, and young cattle.

The country afforded an almost incredible plenty of water fowl. In the bays, creeks, rivers, and ponds, were wild geese, and ducks of all kinds, wigeons, sheldrakes, broadbills, teal of various sorts, and other fowl, which were both wholesome and palatable. In the waters, on the shores, and in the sands, were lobsters, oysters, clams, and all kinds of shell fish in abundance. Most of these are reckoned among the dainties of the table.

In the seas, bays, rivers, and ponds, there was a variety, and an innumerable multitude of fish. Connecticut river, in particular, was distinguished for that plenty and variety which it afforded in the proper season: especially for those excellent salmon, with which its waters were replenished.

As Connecticut abounded in wild animals, so it did also with wild and savage men. In no part of New-England were the Indians so numerous, in proportion to the extent of territory, as in Connecticut. The sea coast, harbors, bays, numerous ponds and streams, with which the country abounded, the almost incredible plenty of fish and fowl which it afforded, were exceedingly adapted to their convenience and mode of living. The exceeding fertility of the meadows, upon several of its rivers, and in some other parts of it, the excellence of its waters, and the salubrity of the air, were all circumstances, which naturally collected them in great numbers to this tract. Neither wars, nor sickness, had so depopulated this, as they had some other parts of New-England.

From the accounts given of the Connecticut Indians, they cannot be estimated at less than twelve or sixteen thousand. They might possibly amount to twenty. They could muster, at least, three or four thousand warriors. It was supposed, in 1633, that the river Indians only could bring this number into the field.2 These were principally included within the ancient limits of Windsor, Hartford, Weathersfield, and Middletown. Within the town of Windsor only, there were ten distinct tribes, or sovereignties. About the year 1670, their bowmen were reckoned at two thousand. At that time, it was the general opinion, that there were nineteen Indians, in that town, to one Englishman. There was

a great body of them in the centre of the town. They had a large fort a little north of the plat on which the first meeting-house was erected. On the east side of the river, on the upper branches of the Podunk, they were very numerous. There were also a great number in Hartford. Besides those on the west side of the river, there was a distinct tribe in East-Hartford. These were princi1 Winthrop's Journal, p. 51. 2 Manuscripts from Windsor.

3 This estimate is considered by Stiles (Ancient Windsor, 1st ed. p. 86) as absurd. From church records unknown to Trumbull, Stiles shows that this computation would make the number of Indians in Windsor alone from 11,000 to 13,000, or as many as the whole colony of Connecticut was supposed to hold at that time. -J. T.

pally situated upon the Podunk, from the northern boundary of Hartford, to its mouth, where it empties into Connecticut river. Totanimo, their first sachem with whom the English had any acquaintance, commanded two hundred bowmen. These were called the Podunk Indians.

At Mattabesick, now Middletown, was the great sachem Sowheag. His fort, or castle, was on the high ground, facing the river, and the adjacent country, on both sides of the river, was his sachemdom. This was extensive, comprehending the ancient boundaries of Weathersfield, then called Pyquaug, as well as Middletown. Sequin was sagamore at Pyquaug, under Sowheag, when the English began their settlements. On the east side of the river, in the tract since called Chatham, was a considerable clan, called the Wongung Indians. At Machemoodus, now called East-Haddam, was a numerous tribe, famous for their pawaws, and worshipping of evil spirits.1 South of these, in the easternmost part of Lyme, were the western Nehanticks. These were confederate with the Pequots. South and east of them, from Connecticut river to the eastern boundary line of the colony, and north-east or north, to its northern boundary line, lay the Pequot and Moheagan country. This tract was nearly thirty miles square, including the counties of New-London, Windham, and the principal part of the county of Tolland.2

Historians have treated of the Pequots and Moheagans, as two distinct tribes, and have described the Pequot country, as lying principally within the three towns of New-London, Groton, and Stonington. All the tract above this, as far north and east as has been described, they have represented as the Moheagan country. Most of the towns in this tract, if not all of them, hold their lands by virtue of deeds from Uncas, or his successors, the Moheagan sachems. It is, however, much to be doubted, whether the Moheagans were a distinct nation from the Pequots. They appear to have been a part of the same nation, named from the place of their situation. Uncas was evidently of the royal line of the Pequots, both by his father and mother; and his wife was daughter of Tatobam, one of the Pequot sachems. He appears to have been a captain, or petty sachem, under Sassacus, the great prince of the nation. When the English first came to Connecticut, he was in a state of rebellion against him, in consequence of some misunderstanding between them; and of little power or consequence among the Indians.

The Pequots were, by far, the most warlike nation in Connecticut, or even in New-England. The tradition is, that they were,

1 Manuscripts of the Rev. Mr. Hosmer.

2 President Clap's manuscripts, and Chandler's map of the Moheagan country. Preface to Capt. Mason's history, and genealogy of Uncas, upon the records of Connecticut.

originally, an inland tribe; but, by their prowess, came down and settled themselves, in that fine country along the sea coast, from Nehantick to Narraganset bay. When the English began their settlements at Connecticut, Sassacus had twenty-six sachems, or principal war captains, under him. The next to himself, in dignity, was Mononottoh. The chief seat of these Indians, was at New-London and Groton. New-London was their principal harbor, and called Pequot harbor. They had another small harbor at the mouth of Mystic river. Their principal fort was on a commanding and most beautiful eminence, in the town of Groton, a few miles south-easterly from fort Griswold. It commanded one of the finest prospects of the sound and the adjacent country, which is to be found upon the coast. This was the royal fortress, where the chief sachem had his residence. He had another fort near Mystic river, a few miles to the eastward of this, called Mystic fort. This was also erected upon a beautiful hill, or eminence, gradually descending towards the south and southeast. The Pequots, Moheagans, and Nehanticks, could, doubtless, muster a thousand bowmen. The Pequots only were estimated at seven hundred warriors. Upon the lowest computation we therefore find at least three thousand warriors on the river Connecticut, and in the eastern part of the colony. If we reckon every third person a bowman, as some have imagined, then the whole number of Indians, in the town and tract mentioned, would be nine thousand; but if there were but one to four or five, as is most probable, then there were twelve or fifteen thousand.

West of Connecticut river and the towns upon it, there were not only scattering families in almost every part, but, in several places, great bodies of Indians. At Simsbury and New-Hartford, they were numerous; and upon those fine meadows, formed by the meanders of the little river, at Tunxis, now Farmington, and the lands adjacent, was another very large clan. There was a small tribe at Guilford, under the sachem squaw, or queen, of Menunkatuck. At Branford and East-Haven there was another. They had a famous burying ground at East-Haven, which they visited and kept up, with much ceremony, for many years after the settlement of New-Haven.

At Milford, Derby, Stratford, Norwalk, Stamford, and Greenwich, their numbers were formidable.

At Milford, the Indian name of which was Wopowage, there were great numbers; not only in the centre of the town, but south of it, at Milford point. In the fields there, the shells brought on by the original inhabitants are said to be so deep, that they never have been ploughed, or dug through, even to this day. On the west part of the town was another party. They had a strong fortress, with flankers at the four corners, about half a mile north of Stratford ferry. This was built as a defence against the Mo