Double Feature: Maintonomoh and Canonchet of the Narrangansett

These two Narragansett Sachems, father and son, both came tragic ends because of conflicts which weren't the fault of their own nation, but through the actions of others.  Maintonomoh, 1600-1643, was the son of Narragansett Sachem Canonicus, likely an English corruption of his real name.  Maintonomoh shared with his father in leading the Narragansett and later succeeded as Sachem in 1636.  Though the Narragansett were on friendly terms with Colonists in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, Maintonomoh himself was distrusted by the Settlers as somehow being treacherous.

At risk to his own personal liberty and safety, Maintonomoh traveled to Boston to convince Colonial authorities that his intentions were peaceful.  During the Pequot War of 1636-1638, he allowed the Settlers to march their army through his territory in a punitive strike on the Pequot, who were decimated as tribe due to the conflict.  In 1638, he was a signatory of a treaty with the English and Mohegan leaders to divide up Pequot land and captives.  Conflict developed between all three parties as to control of the former Pequot land.  Fed up, Maintonomoh approached other tribes to form a confederacy against the English.  Instead, in 1643, an outright war developed between the Mohegan and the Narragansett.  Maintonomoh led 1,000 warriors against the Mohegan in battle, but was capture by Uncas of the Mohegan.  When Maintonomoh broached to Uncas the idea of uniting against the English, Uncas turned Maintonomoh over to Colonial authorities at Hartford, Connecticut. 

Maintonomoh was tried in Boston for rebellion against Colonial authority.  His defense was that he had marched against the Mohegan on the orders of the Settlers, which was true.  He was found guilty and returned to the Mohegan for punishment.  They returned him to Norwich, where he was ritually clubbed to death with a tomahawk by Uncas' brother, Wewagua.  His daughter Minnetinka, was taken in by a Dutch family.  His son, Canonchet, succeeded Maintonomoh as Sachem of the Narragansett.  The place of his execution in Norwich is now a state park.  Four U.S. Navy ships have born his name.  Streets in Middletown, Rhode Island, bear his name and that of his father, Canonicus. 

Maintnomoh's son was able to restore some peace between the Narragansett and the Colonists.  The Narragansett tried to stay out of King Phillip's War, 1675, but did take some Wampanoag refugees, including members of Phillip's extended family, into their village near South Kingston, Rhode Island.  This led to an attack by the Colonists in the Great Swamp Fight in December, 1675.  The following year, 1676, he was captured by the Colonists and offered his life in exchange for a peace treaty with the English.  Canonchet refused and was instead sentenced to death.  Informed of his fate, he replied, "I like it well.  I shall die before my heart is soft, and before I speak any words unworthy of myself." 

Great Leader: Uncas of the Mohegan

Forever immortalized in James Fenimore Cooper's story, Last of the Mohicans, this Mohegan leader in fact lived a century earlier.  And his people, far from being extinct, are still alive and well today.

Uncas (c 1588- c 1683) was born near the Thames River in modern-day Connecticut.  He was the son of a Mohegan Sachem known as Owaneco.  Uncas comes from a Mohegan word meaning fox.  Otherwise, little else is known about Uncas' personal life.  The Mohegan were closely allied with the Pequots.  However, as Uncas became Sachem and began to exert his own authority, he aligned his tribe with the Narragansett and later, the English.  He developed a friendship with an early Connecticut settler, John Mason, and later sent word to Connecticut leader Jonathan Brewster that the Pequot were planning an attack on the English.  Throughout the Pequot War, 1637-38, Uncas led war parties of Mohegan warriors as auxiliaries of the English.  The Treaty of Hartford of 1638 divided the lands of the defeated Pequot between the English, the Mohegans and the Narragansett, causing further occasions for future conflict.

Though the Mohegan and Narragansett had been allies, disputes about the Pequot land drove them apart.  In 1643, war broke out between the two tribes.  Uncas' Mohegans defeated a much larger force of Narragansetts.  Uncas captured their Sachem, Miantonomo, and several of their leading warriors.  After executing Miantonomo's men in front of him, Uncas turned him over to the English.  Uncas requested the right of executing Miantonomo after his trial by the English, to prevent further fighting between the Narragansett and the English.  Miantonomo escaped before Uncas could kill him.  During the escape, Miantonomo leaped over the Yantic falls to get away from the Mohegans.  Later, Uncas' brother caught up with Miantonomo and killed him.  The leap was immortalized in the Cooper novel by Uncas leaping over a similar waterfall.  Uncas and the Mohegan allied with the English to escany reprisals by the Narragansett. 

A neighboring tribe, the Wampanoag under King Phillip/Metacomet, began a war against the Settlers in 1675.  During that War, the Mohegan remained allies with the English and often served as auxiliaries during the initial fighting.  However, Uncas later withdrew his people and chose to remain neutral as the conflict played itself out.  He died in 1683, near what is now Norwich, Connecticut.  A monument to his memory was erected in Norwich, with the foundation being laid by Andrew Jackson, of all people!  In 1907, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody laid a wreath on the monument in Uncas' memory.  Three U.S. Navy ships have born the name USS Uncas, as does the town of Uncasville, in Connecticut.  But the ultimate tribute was the role of the main Native character in Cooper's novel, as played by Eric Schweig, an Inuit/Ojibwe Native in the 1992 film, Last of the Mohicans.

Settlers versus Natives: the Wessagusset Massacre of March, 1623

The response of Natives to Settlers and Explorers who arrived on their shores was generally one of curiosity and hospitality.  Without the help of men like Squanto, Samoset and Massassoit, the first colonies in New England wouldn't have survived an entire winter.  The Natives would soon discover that no good deed went unpunished and the first of many bitter incidents between Natives and Whites would take place only two years after that first harvest feast in Plimouth (now Plymouth).

Plimouth Colony was a religious experiment.  Its purpose was to bring families to settle in a land where they might worship without persecution.  In contrast, what was then called the Weston Colony was founded for trade.  In those days, colonies were under the control of joint stock companies who funded them and provide settlers, support personnel, money, ships and supplies.  While Plimouth chose to order its life around the precepts of the Bible and a settled English town, the founders of the Weston Colony had one idea in mind, profit.  Thomas Weston was a prosperous London ironmonger (dealer in iron and iron ware), who was associated with a joint stock colony called the Plymouth Association for New England.  Several years before the Pilgrims, they had attempted to plant a trading colony in what is now Phippsburg, Maine.  That colony was short lived due to conflicts among the colonists rather than starvation or other factors and quickly abandoned.

Now, in 1623, Weston was ready to try again.  To avoid family bickering, he chose as colonists all able-bodied men.  However, none of them had any survival or wilderness skills to speak of.  There were fifty or sixty settlers, some military personnel to serve as scouts, a doctor and a lawyer.  They settled in an area known as Wessagusset, now Weymouth, Massachussetts in July, 1622.   At first, relations between Plimouth and Wessagusset were decent enough.  The men of Wessagusset helped Plimouth gather in its harvest, which, as we know from history was a scant one.  Plimouth soon accused Wessagusset of stealing part of the harvest and relations went downhill from there.  Apparently, there was other stealing going on.  Nearby Natives of the Masssachussett tribe accused Wessagusset of stealing their corn.  Plimouth promised to rebuke the neighboring colony and left it at that. 

The Wessagusset settlers were consuming their rations too quickly and asked Plimouth for help.  Plimouth, without Squanto to keep everyone focused on the job at hand, had spent more time on houses and fortifications and not sufficient time planting and harvesting.  Their harvest would not last the winter.  The two colonies pooled resources and negotiated a trade for foodstuffs with neighboring Natives, using trade goods brought from England by Wessagusset.  The colonies divided up the proceeds and called it good, or so everyone thought.  By January, those food stuffs were running out and the colonists were doing manual labor for the Natives in exchange for food.  There were reports of more stealing, and a man was hanged, but sources disagree as to whether he was the guilty party, or a man who was dying anyway.  Either way, the Natives were not appeased.  They only had enough corn and other foodstuffs to trade to see them through the winter, too.  Wessagusset approached Plimouth for a joint attack on the Natives, but Plimouth rejected the plan. 

The Settlers at Wessagusset could see that the Natives around them were becoming more hostile.  Rumors of an impending attack reached Wessagusset and they sent a representative to Plimouth, again demanding help.  Meanwhile, Massassoit had developed a good working relationship with Edward Winslow, the author of Mourt's Relation, who had cured him with English medicine during an illness.  Massassoit put Winslow wise that a gathering of Native tribes not under his control were planning to attack bot Wassagusset and Plimouth.  His message to Plimouth was clear.  They needed to get control of what was going on at Wessagusset.  In response, in late March, Plimouth dispatched a small force under Miles Standish to Wessagusset. 

On March 26, 1623, Standish called all the colonists at Wessagusset into their stockade.  He also invited Pecksuot, a Massachussett sachem from whom Weston's colony had bought their land, and four other Native leaders to the meeting.  What happens next depends on who told the story.  At some point the four Native leaders were in a room alone with Standish.  English sources later said that the Natives asked for the private meeting to have an opportunity or pretext of killing Standish.  More than likely, Standish had arranged the meeting as part of a parley, but things turned in a different direction.  Legend propagated by Longfellow's poem says that Standish became angry and lost his temper.  Standish struck first, killing Pecksuot with his own knife.  The other Native leaders were killed, as well as several Natives also in the stockade.  Five Englishmen were killed and the head of one of the Natives cut off and sent to Plimouth to be displayed as a warning to others inclined to rise against either colony. 

After the killings, the Wessagusset colonists knew they would face a general uprising and could no longer stay in the area.  Most opted to return to England, while others chose to move to Plimouth.  The Wessagusset colony was dissolved less than a year after it had started.  Tensions between Natives and Settlers were on a downward spiral that would lead ultimately to the Pequot War (1636-38) and King Phillip's War (1675-1678).