NARRAGANSETT

The Narragansett, the “people of the small point,” occupied ancestral territory in the part of the Northeast that is now Rhode Island, especially between the Providence and Pawcatuck Rivers (see NORTHEAST INDIANS). They lived like other New England ALGONQUIANS. They stayed most of the year in stockaded villages of domeshaped wigwams. They combined farming with hunting, fishing, and gathering, making use of resources from forest, river, and ocean. Narragansett Bay is named after them. Their name, spelled with either one or two t’s, is pronounced nah-ruh-GAN-sit.

The Narragansett played an important part in early colonial history and suffered many of the same consequences as the other tribes of the region. When the English began settling the area in the 1620s, the Narragansett had six main divisions, with six sagamores (subordinate chiefs) under one principal chief, or grand sachem. The Narragansett managed to avoid the first smallpox epidemic of 1616—20 that ravaged many of the Native peoples after contacts with Europeans. But in 1633, about 700 tribal members died in a second outbreak.

The Narragansett were early allies of the English colonists, and some of their warriors fought against the PEQUOT in the Pequot War of 1636—37. In 1636, Canonicus, the grand sachem, sold tribal lands to Roger Williams, a renegade Puritan who broke away from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded Rhode Island Colony. Williams urged his fellow colonists to treat Indians humanely and to pay them fairly for their lands. In 1643, his dictionary of the Algonquian language was published, which helped further communication with tribal members.

Because of continuing appropriation of their lands, however, the Narragansett joined the WAMPANOAG and NIPMUC in King Philip’s War of 1675—76 against the colonists. Canonchet, a later grand sachem of the Narra-gansett, became the Indian chief King Philip’s most important general in battle, with 3,500 warriors under him.

The Narragansett suffered the most devastating defeat, which virtually ended the war—the Great Swamp Fight of December 1675. On a snowy day, a force of almost 1,000 Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth colonists under Josiah Winslow, plus about 150 MOHEGAN warriors, attacked the Narragansett village near Kingston, Rhode Island. It was a bitter standoff for many hours, with the colonial militia unable to breach the Indian village’s thick log walls standing on high ground in the middle of a swamp. But the attackers finally broke through the rear entrance and drove the Narragansett into the swamp by setting most of their 600 wigwams on fire.

The Narragansett lost more than 600 men, women, and children, with 400 others captured and sold into slavery. Canonchet, the grand sachem, was brave to the end. When taken prisoner and sentenced to death, he said that, “It is well. I shall die before my heart is soft, before I have said anything unworthy of Canonchet.”

When a Narragansett warrior died, he was wrapped in skins or woven mats, along with his tools and weapons, so that he would be equipped for the journey to the Creator, who the Narragansett believed lived to their southwest.

After King Philip’s War, some of the surviving Narragansett settled among ABENAKI, MAHICAN, and NIANTIC. Those who lived with the Niantic continued to use the Narragansett name. Some of their descendants joined the Brotherton Indians, a band of Mahican and other Algonquians, in 1788. Other descendants still live in Rhode Island, near Charlestown.

In 1978, after a lengthy lawsuit the state of Rhode Island returned to the Narragansett tribe two pieces of land of 900 acres each in the Charlestown area, land that had been taken away from them in 1880. At the time of the official transfer, the tribal secretary, Lawrence Ollivierre, expressed his feelings: “It’s pretty difficult to be an Indian and not have your own land. It’s like being a people without a country.” In 1983, the Narragansett Indian Tribe gained federal recognition. Two years later, they were given trust status. The tribe sponsors an annual Green Corn giving in August and an annual Harvest Festival of giving in October.