John Mason. men, forty-two of whom were furnished by Hartford, thirty by Windsor, and eighteen by Wethersfield, was placed under the command of Captain John Mason.1 This May 1. officer had served in the Netherlands under Sir Captain Thomas Fairfax, who had such esteem for him, that, when he was General, several years after, of the forces of Parliament, he wrote to urge him to return to England, and help the patriot cause.2 Coming over to Massachusetts and joining Ludlow's settlement, he was employed with Gallup, who has just been mentioned, in an unsuccessful cruise after a piratical vessel, and was a member of a committee to direct fortifications at Boston, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Castle Island.3 He was two years a Deputy from Dorchester to the General Court, before he accompanied his fellow-townsmen to the bank of the Connecticut. 1632. Mason was first despatched with twenty men to reinforce the garrison at the river's mouth; but meeting Underhill there, who had just arrived with an equal force from Massachusetts, he returned with his detachment to Hartford, whence he proceeded down the river a 1636. second time, taking with him now all his levy, May 10. besides seventy friendly Indians. The whole were embarked in three small vessels. The Reverend Mr. Stone, chaplain of the expedition, acted a part in it second only in importance to that of the commander. Uncas, the Mohegan chief, led the Indian allies. An apprehension of their treachery weighed heavily on the spirits of the troops; but they proved faithful, though they rendered no effective service. From the fort, Mason took along with him Underhill with his twenty men, sending back twenty of his own 1 The preparations for this war constituted the business of the first General Court held in Connecticut. (Conn. Col. Rec., 9, 10.) 2 Prince's Introduction to Mason's History of the Pequot War. 3 Mass. Col. Rec., I. 106, 124. His move party for the better security of the exposed settlements. Here a question of great importance divided the ments against opinions of the council of officers. Mason's orthe Pequots. ders were express to land at Pequot River, and attack the enemy on their western frontier. He knew that to be the side from which they were expecting to be invaded, and which they had strengthened accordingly, and he was desirous of approaching them through the Narragansett country, in their rear. His officers shrank from taking the responsibility of disobeying the instructions, and leaving their homes so long undefended as the protracting of the campaign through several days would require. Mason, finding himself left alone, proposed to defer the decision till the next morning, and that, during the night, the chaplain should seek Divine direction in prayer. Without doubt the devout Stone prayed earnestly; it may be supposed that he also took care to inform himself, and make up an opinion, on the merits of the case. Early in the morning, he went on shore to head-quarters, to declare that the Captain's plan of the campaign was the correct one. A council of war was forthwith called, which unanimously determined on its prosecution. May 20. Accordingly, the little squadron set sail from the fort, and arrived on the following evening at its destination, near the entrance of Narragansett Bay, at the foot of what is now called Tower Hill, which overlooks Point Judith. The next day, they kept their Sabbath quietly on shipboard; and then came a storm which prevented them from disembarking till Tuesday evening. Mason had an interview with the sachem of the friendly Narragansetts, who engaged to reinforce him with two hundred men of his own and as many of the neighboring Nyantic tribe. Here, too, Mason received a message from Providence, informing him of the arrival of a Massachusetts party at that place under Captain Patrick, and requesting But a rapid move him to wait till it could come up. ment was thought to be of even more consequence than an augmented force. May 24. On the day following his debarkation, Mason, at the head of seventy-seven brave Englishmen (the rest being left in charge of the vessels), sixty frightened Mohegans, and four hundred more terrified Narragansetts and Nyantics, marched twenty miles westward towards the Pequot country, to a fort occupied by some suspected neutrals. For fear lest intelligence should be conveyed, this fort was invested for the night. On Thursday, after a march of about fifteen miles, to a place lying five miles northwest of the present principal village of Stonington, they encamped, an hour after dark, near to a hill, upon which, according to information received from their allies, (who, "being possessed with great fear," had now all fallen behind,) stood the principal strong-hold of the Pequots. It was evident that no alarm had been given, for the sentinels could hear the noisy revelling within the place, which was kept up till midnight. The savages, who from the heights had seen the vessels pass to the eastward along the Sound, supposed that the settlers had abandoned their hostile intentions in despair. Their fort was a nearly circular area of an acre or two, enclosed by trunks of trees, twelve feet high or thereabouts, set firmly in the ground, so closely as Assault on fort. to exclude entrance, while the interstices served the Pequot as port-holes for marksmen. Within, arranged along two lanes, were some seventy wigwams, covered with matting and thatch. At two points for entrance, spaces were left between the timbers, these intervals being protected only by a slighter structure, or loose branches.1 1 I recently walked over this ground. Porter's Rocks, among which the party lay hid over night, make a picturesque feature of the scenery at the head of Mystic River. The site of the fort, two or three miles down the western side of the river towards Mystic Village, is a gentle elevation near the road-side, — At these points, Mason and Underhill were to force an entrance, each at the head of half the Englishmen, while those of the Indian allies who remained (the Nyantics and Narragansetts having mostly disappeared) should invest the fort in a circle, and arrest the fugitives. The anxieties of a night, which was to be succeeded by a fierce and momentous conflict, did not prevent the weary soldiers from sleeping so soundly, that, when the commander roused himself and them, he feared that the propitious hour for a surprise had been lost. But still, before breaking up their camp, they took time to join in prayer. Two hours before dawn, under a bright moonlight, the little band was set in motion towards the fort, two miles distant. Mason had come within a few feet of the sallyport which he was seeking, when a dog barked, and the cry of Owanux! Owanux! "Englishmen! Englishmen!" which immediately followed, showed that the alarm was given. With sixteen men, he instantly pushed into the enclosure. Underhill did the same on the opposite side. The terrified sleepers rushed out of their wigwams, but soon sought refuge in them again from the English broadswords and fire-arms. Their number was too great to be dealt with by such weapons. Snatching a live brand from a wigwam, Mason threw it on a matted roof, Underhill set fire in his quarter with a train of powder, and the straw village was presently in flames. All was over in an hour. The muskets of the English brought down those who escaped the conflagration, and most of the stragglers who avoided this fate fell into the hands of the native allies, who had kept cautiously aloof from the conflict, but had no mercy on the fugitives. "It is reported by themselves," says |