WHEN RELATIONSHIPS Weren’t built upon the mutual benefit of trading, the situation between the native people and the colonists worsened. Colonists, particularly the English Puritans, took the land they wanted and captured native people as slaves. Eventually the Pequot of Connecticut, who had already lost half of their people to smallpox and had not signed any treaties or agreements with the colonists, fought back against the Europeans.
The Pequot War was the first war between colonists and native people. Skirmishes began as early as 1634 as the Pequot tried to regain trading rights lost to other tribes by attacking Narragan-sett people trading at a Dutch fort. The Dutch retaliated by kidnapping and killing a Grand Sachem. Later, an English pirate kidnapped sev-
A battle in the Pequot War.
Eral Pequot and held them for ransom. Again, the Pequot retaliated against the English.
The battles continued until May of 1637 when the Pequot had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival. Many English and Dutch colonists surrounded the native people as they slept. When the Pequot awakened, they were ordered outside. As the men exited the dwelling, they were killed by guns and clubs. Fires were set to approximately 80 dwellings, killing the women and children who remained inside. Approximately 600 died. The surviving Pequot were sold into slavery or went to live with neighboring Wampanoag bands. Their descendants spent more than 300 years trying to get their land back. The Mashantucket Pequot reached their goal in 1983, when they finally received federal recognition and a reservation.
The Pequot War was the first of many wars between Europeans and Native Americans in New England. Wamsutta, Massasoit’s son, became sachem after Massasoit’s death in 1660. Wamsutta was more independent than his father, which worried the colonists. After the colonists invited him to Plymouth for talks, Wamsutta died of suspected poisoning.
World History
