Great Leader: Samoset of the Abenaki

At many points during their history, American settlers owed their survival to the timely assistance of Natives who were more than willing to help.  On March 16, 1621, the Pilgrims in Plimouth Plantation, Massachusetts were in a dire situation.  They had not brought seed or farm implements with them in the Mayflower, and many of them were townspeople who wouldn't have had the faintest idea how to farm back in England, let alone in America.  As they set about building crude shelters and worrying about defense, a Native walked into the camp and greeted them, "hello, Englishmen."

By their own account, the shocked Pilgrims collected their scattered wits and prevented Samoset from entering into one of the cabins.  They were even more shocked at his extensive knowledge of English and Englishmen, even knowing the names of several fishing captains who frequented the Maine coast.  Had they known more about Samoset, they would've solved the mystery immediately.  The Abenaki, an Algonquian-speaking people, inhabited what is now Maine and portions of New Hampshire and Vermont.  The Wampanoag and Massachusett tribes were also Algonquian speakers, so it would've been easy for Samoset, a Sagamore or sub-chief of the Abenaki, to converse and communicate with Massassoit Ousamequin.  Samoset had been visiting the Great Sachem of the Wampanoag throughout the winter and his handy grasp of English would help both Settlers and Natives immensely.

The Gulf of Maine has always been a bountiful fishing area.  Soon after Jean Cabot's expedition in 1497, word had arrived back in England and Europe of the shoals of cod, herring and other fish just waiting for the taking.  Herring in particular could be salted down, preserved and used as bait fish or food.  Often, these fishermen had landed on the coast and had interacted with the Abenaki.  The Abenaki were experiencing White foodstuffs and trade goods for the first time.  They and other coastal peoples were also experiencing a few other things, like diseases and the fact that some unscrupulous captains weren't above snatching Native people to sell to passing Spanish slavers.  That had happened to a young Patuxet warrior named Squanto, who was sold into Spanish slavery and arrived home to discover that his tribe had been wiped out by disease.  Whenever Samoset approached the fishermen, he was taking life and liberty into his own hands.  But he was lucky.

Unlike Massassoit, no one knows for sure what Samoset's real name was.  Samoset may be a corruption of an Algonquian word.  Or, it may be a corruption of the English name Somerset.  Some of he Pilgrims would've been familiar with the city of Somerset back home and might have found it a convenient nickname.  Samoset stayed with them overnight and two days later, brought back other Natives offering deerskins in trade.  As it was Sunday, the Pilgrims refused any deals but that didn't put Samoset off.  He persuaded Massassoit, who had every reason to view these strangers as a threat, that they were harmless.  He introduced Squanto to the Pilgrims, and Squanto agreed to help them learn the Native ways of agriculture and hunting.  This was all free hospitality on the part of the Natives.  Squanto didn't have to help.  Samoset didn't have to talk Massassoit out of any hostile moves.  They all could have stood by and let the Pilgrims become the next Lost Colony.

Samoset appears in the record again when English sea captain Christopher Levett entertained him and other ranking Abenaki leaders to a feast aboard Levett's ship while docked near what is now Portland, Maine.  Rumors of Samoset's death reached the colonists around 1653, in what is now Bristol, Maine.  The Boy Scouts of America maintain a Samoset Council named after Samoset.  Some schools and a town in Florida of all places are named for him. 

Terminology: Sachem versus Sagamore

One of the more common names for a Native leader next to chief is the term sachem or sagamore and the misconceptions about these men and their role in Native life.

Sachem is a cognate of several Algonquian-based words, sakima (Lenape/Delaware), sachem (Narragansett), sakema (Abenaki), etc.  It denoted a leader who was a paramount chief, who held authority over several villages, each run by a headman, and assisted by war leaders, elders, medicine men and other prominent men and women in the tribe.  Early English sources described them as kings, implying absolute authority and royalty.  However, absolute power in Native societies was rare, most leaders having to prove their right to lead and to continue to exercise their authority by consensus and example.  Royalty in the sense of a hereditary royal family didn't exist in most Native societies.  The right to appoint sachems might be hereditary in some matrilineal societies, but the men so chosen still had to prove and keep proving themselves worthy to hold the honor.  They could be deposed by their people if they were tyrannical or otherwise unsatisfactory in how they carried out their role.

Some early sources, again seeing Natives through the lens of European hierarchy, tried to differentiate between it and a similar title, sagamore, by saying that one was a higher authority than the other, usually sachems over sagamores but it could be the other way around.  In fact, sagmo is a cognate of the same word, as seen in Western Abenaki, sogmo, or Algonquian ogima, and the terminology depended on the tribe or the locality and not on the rank of the person.  Though it was an Algonquian term, the 50 Lords of the Iroquois were also called Sachems because of their similar position in their society.  Famous sachems included Massassoit Sachem (Great Sachem) Ousemaquin, of the Wampanoag, Uncas, Sachem of the Mohegan and the last Sachem of the Wappinger, Daniel Nimham.  Iroquois sachems included Red Jacket of the Seneca.

As with other Native symbols, cultural appropriate of this word and its supposed authority were common, particularly in the 19th century.  Leaders of Tammany Societies, including the famous or infamous Tammany Hall in New York, were called sachems and the word became synonymous with a political boss, particularly one with an element of corruption.  Sagamore of the Wabash is a honorary title bestowed by the governor of Indiana similar to the Kentucky Colonel designation.  A higher honor, Sachem of the Wabash, is given to one distinguished Indiana resident each year.  Many sports teams in the Northeast also call themselves the Sachems.  An Algonquian Sachem, with all the despotic overtones that White culture has assigned to the word, is a character in the book and movie of Last of the Mohicans.