pose. This treaty was signed by the parties, but hostages were not taken to secure the performance of the articles, and the Pequots never performed one of them. Whatever their designs were at that time, they afterwards became more and more mischievous, hostile and bloody.

The next year, John Oldham, who had been fairly trading at Connecticut, was murdered near Block Island. He had with him only two boys and two Narraganset Indians. These were taken and carried off. One John Gallup, as he was going from Connecticut to Boston, discovered Mr. Oldham's vessel full of Indians, and he saw a canoe, having Indians on board, go from her, laden with goods. Suspecting that they had murdered Mr. Oldham, he hailed them, but received no answer. Gallup was a bold man, and though he had with him but one man and two boys, he immediately bore down upon them, and fired duck shot so thick among them, that he soon cleared the deck. The Indians all got under the hatches. He then stood off, and running down upon her quarter with a brisk gale, nearly overset her; and so frightened the Indians, that six of them leaped into the sea, and were drowned. He then steered off again, and running down upon her a second time, bored her with his anchor, and raked her fore and aft with his shot. But the Indians kept themselves so close, that he got loose from her; and running down a third time upon the vessel, he gave her such a shock, that five more leaped overboard, and perished, as the former had done. He then boarded the vessel, and took two of the Indians, and bound them. Two or three others, armed with swords, in a little room below, could not be driven from their retreat. Mr. Oldham's corpse was found on board; the head split, and the body mangled in a barbarous manner. He was a Dorchester man, one of Mr. Warham's congregation.1 In these circumstances, Gallup, fearing that the Indians whom he had taken might get loose, especially if they were kept together, and having no place where he could keep them apart, threw one of them overboard. Gallup and his company then, as decently as circumstances would permit, put the corpse into the sea. They stripped the vessel, and took her rigging, and the goods which had not been carried off, on board their own. She was then taken in tow, with a view to carry her in; but the night coming on, and the wind rising, Gallup was obliged to let her go adrift, and she was lost. The Indians who perpetrated the murder were principally the Block-Islanders, with a number of the Narragansets, to whom these Indians, at this time, were subject. Several of the Narraganset sachems were in the plot, and it was supposed that the Indians whom Oldham had with him, were in the conspiracy. Several of the murderers fled to the Pequots, and were protected by them. They were, thereiore, considered as abettors of the murder.

1 See note, p. 16.-J. T.

The governor and council of Massachusetts, therefore, the next year, dispatched captain Endicott, with ninety volunteers, to avenge these murders, unless the Indians should deliver up the murderers, and make reparation for the injuries which they had done. The Narraganset sachems sent home Mr. Oldham's two boys, and made such satisfaction, and gave such assurances of their good conduct, for the future, as the English accepted; but the other Indians made no compensation. Captain Endicott was, therefore, instructed to proceed to Block-Island, put the men to the sword, and take possession of the island. The women and children were to be spared. Thence he was to sail to the Pequot country, and demand of the Pequots the murderers of captains Stone and Norton, and of the other Englishmen who were of their company. He was also to demand a thousand fathoms of wampum for damages, and a number of their children for hostages, until the murderers should be delivered, and satisfaction made. If they refused to comply with these terms, he was directed to take it by force of arms. He had under him captains John Underhill and Nathaniel Turner. They sailed from Boston on the 25th of August. When he arrived at Block-Island, forty or fifty Indians appeared on the shore, and opposed his landing; but his men soon landed, and, after a little skirmishing, the Indians fled to the woods. The Indians secreted themselves in swamps, thickets, and fastnesses, where they could not be found. There were two plantations on the island, containing about sixty wigwams, some of which were very large and fair. The Indians had, also, about two hundred acres of corn. After the English had spent two days on the island, burning the wigwams, destroying their corn, and staving their canoes, they sailed for the Pequot country. When they had arrived in Pequot harbour, captain Endicott acquainted the Pequots with the design of his coming, demanded satisfaction for the murders which they had committed against the English, and compensation for the damages which they had done them. In a few hours, nearly three hundred of the Pequots collected upon the shore; but soon after they were fully informed of his business, they began to withdraw into the woods, and, instead of treating, answered him with their arrows, from the adjacent rocks and fastnesses. He landed his men on both sides of the harbour, burnt their wigwams, and destroyed their canoes, but made no spirited attack upon them, nor pursuit after them. As their corn was standing, no pains were taken for its destruction. They killed an Indian or two, and then returned to Boston. They all arrived on the 14th of September, unharmed either by sickness or the sword.1 Enough, indeed, had been done to exasperate, but nothing to subdue a haughty and warlike enemy. Sassacus and his captains were men of great and independent 1 Winthrop's Journal, p. 105, 106, 107.

spirits; they had conquered and governed the nations around them without control. They viewed the English as strangers and mere intruders, who had no right to the country, nor to control its original proprietors, independent princes and sovereigns. They had made settlements in Connecticut without their consent, and brought home the Indian kings whom they had conquered, and restored to them their authority and lands. They had built a fort, and were making a settlement, without their approbation, in their very neighbourhood. Indeed, they had now proceeded to attack and ravage their country. They were now, therefore, all kindled into resentment and rage; they determined upon, and breathed nothing but war and revenge. They determined to extirpate, or drive all the English from New-England.

For this purpose, they conceived the plan of uniting the Indians generally against them. They spared no art nor pains to make peace with the Narragansets, and to engage them in the war against the English. They represented, that the English, who were merely foreigners, were overspreading the country, and depriving the original inhabitants of their ancient rights and possessions: that, unless effectual measures were immediately taken to prevent it, they would soon entirely dispossess the original proprietors, and become the lords of the continent. They insisted, that, by a general combination, they could either destroy, or drive them from the country. With great advantage did they represent the facility with which it might be effected. They said there would be no necessity of coming to open battles: that, by killing their cattle, firing their houses, laying ambushes on the roads, in the fields, and wherever they could surprise and destroy them, they might accomplish their wishes. They represented, that, if the English should effect the destruction of the Pequots, they would also soon destroy the Narragansets. So just and politic were these representations, that nothing but that thirst for revenge which inflames the savage heart, could have resisted their influence. Indeed, it is said, that, for a time, the Narragansets hesitated.

The governor of Massachusetts, to prevent an union between these savage nations, and to strengthen the peace between the Narraganset Indians and the colony, sent for Miantonimoh, their chief sachem, inviting him to come to Boston. Upon this, Miantonimoh, with another of the Narraganset sachems, two of the sons of Canonicus, with a number of their men, went to Boston, and entered into the following treaty.

That there should be a firm peace between them and the English, and their posterity: That neither party should make peace with the Pequots, without the consent of the other: That they should not harbor the Pequots, and that they should return all fugitive servants, and deliver over to the English, or put to death,

all murderers. The English were to give them notice, when they went out against the Pequots, and they were to furnish them with guides. It was also stipulated, that a free trade should be maintained between the parties.

Captain Underhill and twenty men,1 appointed to reinforce the garrison at Saybrook, lying wind bound off Pequot harbor, after Mr. Endicott's departure, a party of them went on shore to plunder the Pequots, and bring off their corn. After they had plundered a short time, and brought off some quantity of corn, the Pequots attacked them, and they fought a considerable part of the afternoon. At length, the enemy retired, and they returned to their boats. They had one man wounded, and imagined they killed and wounded several of the Indians.

About the beginning of October, the enemy, concealing themselves in the high grass, in the meadows, surprised five of the garrison at Saybrook, as they were carrying home their hay. One Butterfield was taken and tortured to death. The rest made their escape; but one of them had five arrows shot into him. From this disaster, the place received the name of Butterfield's meadow.

Eight or ten days after, Joseph Tilly, a master of a small vessel, was captivated by the enemy, as he was going down Connecticut river. He came to anchor two or three miles above the fort, and taking a canoe, and one man with him, went a fowling. No sooner had he discharged his piece, than a large number of Pequots, arising from their concealment, took him, and killed his companion. Tilly was a man of great spirit and understanding, and determined to show himself a man. The Indians used him in the most barbarous manner, first cutting off his hands, and then his feet, and so gradually torturing him to death. But as all their cruelties could not effect a groan, they pronounced him a stout

man.

The enemy now kept up a constant watch upon the river, and upon the people at Saybrook. A house had been erected, about two miles from the fort, and six of the garrison were sent to keep it. As three of them were fowling, at a small distance from the house, they were suddenly attacked, by nearly a hundred Pequots. Two of them were taken. The other cut his way through them, sword in hand, and made his escape; but he was wounded with two arrows.2

Before winter, the garrison were so pressed by the enemy, that they were obliged to keep almost wholly within the reach of their guns. The Pequots razed all the out-houses, burnt the stacks of hay, and destroyed almost every thing, which was not within the

1 Underhill's narrative makes no mention of this affair. It is a mistake to suppose that he was engaged in it. The twenty men were evidently those furnished by Lieutenant Gardiner at Saybrook, as appears by his narrative.-J. T.

war.

2 Hubbard's Narrative, Winthrop's Journal, and Mason's History of the Pequot

command of the fort. The cattle which belonged to the garrison, were killed and wounded. Some of them came home, with the arrows of the enemy sticking in them. Indeed, the fort was but little better than in a state of siege, a great part of the winter. The enemy so encompassed it about, and watched all the motions of the garrison, that it was dangerous, at any time, to go out of the reach of the cannon.

When the spring came on, they became still more mischievous and troublesome. They kept such a constant watch upon the river, that men could not pass up and down, with any safety, without a strong guard. They waylaid the roads and fields, and kept Connecticut in a state of constant fear and alarm.

In March, 1637,1 lieutenant Gardiner, who commanded the fort at Saybrook, going out with ten or twelve men, to burn the marshes, was waylaid by a narrow neck of land, and as soon as he had passed the narrow part of the neck, the enemy rose upon him, and killed three of his men. The rest made their escape to the fort; but one of them was mortally wounded, so that he died the next day. The lieutenant did not escape without a slight wound. The enemy pursued them in great numbers, to the very fort, and compassed it on all sides. They challenged the English to come out and fight, and mocked them, in the groans, pious invocations, and dying language of their friends, whom they had captivated, when they were torturing them to death. They boasted, That they could kill English men "all one flies." The cannon loaded with grape shot were fired upon them, and they retired.

Some time after, the enemy, in a number of canoes, beset a shallop, which was going down the river, with three men on board. The men fought bravely, but were overpowered with numbers. The enemy shot one through the head with an arrow, and he fell overboard; the other two were taken. The Indians ripped them up, from the bottom of their bellies to their throats, and cleft them down their backs: they then hung them up by their necks upon trees, by the side of the river, that as the English passed by, they might see those miserable objects of their vengeance.

The Pequots tortured the captives to death in the most cruel manner. In some, they cut large gashes in their flesh, and then poured embers and live coals into the wounds. When, in their distress, they groaned, and in a pious manner committed their departing spirits to their Redeemer, these barbarians would mock and insult them in their dying agonies and prayers.

On the 21st of February, the court met at Newtown, and letters were written to the governor of Massachusetts, representing the dissatisfaction of the court with Mr. Endicott's expedition, the

1 The exact date of this affair appears to have been the 22d of February, as shown by Winthrop's Journal, and Lion Gardiner's narrative.—J. T.