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From Saybrook to Mystic
After the Block Island Raid, the Pequots sieged Saybrook, and attacked Wethersfield. Massachusetts and Connecticut declared war, and prepared a surprise attack in the heart of Pequot territory. They marched to the tribe’s biggest fort, Mystic, and over the course of an hour, burned it to the ground, killing nearly all of its 700 inhabitants. This was a fatal blow for the Pequot tribe, which subsequently dispersed.
Transcript
A month after the Block Island Raid, Saybrook’s corn crop ripened. Gardiner sent men to harvest it, and to build a small storehouse, and appointed a group of five to guard the precious grain overnight, planning to send the colony’s shallop to pick up the corn and guards the next morning.
He left them with plenty of weapons and ammunition, and strict instructions to stay in the house until the shallop arrived. That evening, though, three of the guards left the house to hunt ducks. As they were returning from a very successful trip, they were ambushed by 100 Pequots. Two were captured, and the other managed to fight his way back to the house using a sword. The three survivors listened helplessly as the captives were tortured to death, and Gardiner immediately sent a shallop to rescue the survivors. As they ran to the safety of the boat, the Pequots set fire to the storehouse and the corn, and then went on to destroy or shoot anything outside of the fort, itself, including Saybrook’s haystacks and cattle.
Introduction
On the same day, as another man led a small group to harvest corn, his party was attacked and three men killed, with a fourth being taken captive and roasted alive. As Gardiner had predicted, the siege of Saybrook had begun. Over the next six months, his men would endure ambush after ambush.
Gardiner issued an order that no one travel up the Connecticut River without being armed. He didn’t have authority beyond Saybrook, but his fort stood at the mouth of the river, and he was an experienced military engineer who, along with Connecticut’s John Mason, had trained under future Parliamentary leader Thomas Fairfax. Many of the area’s residents and traders still didn’t take the threat seriously, though. Captain Tilly was one of the two people who had gone ashore during the last attempt to trade with the Pequots, but he scoffed at Gardiner’s concerns. He went hunting on the banks of the river, and was ambushed. After killing his companion, Pequot warriors tied Tilly to a stake, peeled his off, cooked it and fed to him. Then they cut off his hands and feet, which was a standard killing technique, because it offered proof of death, and took the victim three days to die. Tilly did earn some respect from his captors when he refused to cry out in pain, but Gardiner was less impressed and named the place of his death “Tilly’s Folly.”
Gardiner himself was ambushed that spring, when he took 10 men to collect logs which had been cut the previous summer. He’d always pushed others to be cautious, and he spared no precaution for his own company. Nonetheless, they were attacked, and in the retreat five of the ten were injured, including Gardiner, another two killed, another captured and tortured to death, and another two threw down their weapons and ran. When they returned to the fort, one of the injured men died, and Gardiner told the deserters to draw lots and determine which of them would be hanged. Others urged a pardon, and Gardiner reluctantly agreed, acknowledging that Saybrook was weak enough that it needed every able-bodied man it had, even the cowardly. After he’d healed a bit, Gardiner went back to the site of the attack to collect the guns which had been dropped in the retreat. The English needed them, and they couldn’t afford the Pequots getting them, so it was worth the risk. While he was there, he found one of his men’s bodies with an arrow sticking through its rib, strongly enough that he couldn’t pull it out. He removed the rib, cleaned it and sent it to Boston to show Winthrop that, in fact, Pequot arrows weren’t harmless.
Such was the nature of the siege. Pequots taunted the settlers while wearing the clothes they’d taken from corpses, and morale dropped lower and lower. Saybrook residents had no food, and no money to buy food from the Dutch, and while Massachusetts sent weekly shipments of supplies to the Connecticut River settlements of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield every week, they sent nothing to Saybrook, which was a more independent colony. Gardiner wrote to Hartford in protest. He said they were protecting the entire mouth of the Connecticut River, keeping all the other settlements safer, and they were the ones enduring the siege. They had been promised provisions the previous summer, but they were being abandoned, and because of this, they were on the verge of needing to evacuate. They’d even taken in a couple Dutch settlers able to do work, but had neither food nor money to give them.
In March, after five months under siege, Gardiner and translator Thomas Stanton had a peaceful parley with the Pequots, but they didn’t know enough about Massachusetts plans to successfully resolve the crisis. Wearing the bloody clothes of the Englishmen they’d killed, the Pequots asked Gardiner if the English were at war with the western Niantics, if they were done fighting, and if they would kill women and children – and to each question Gardiner could only remain noncommittal. He just told the Pequots he didn’t know, and they’d see, but that he couldn’t trade with any tribe because he couldn’t tell the difference between tribes. The meeting ended with the Pequots boasting of their strength, and Gardiner responding by demonstrating his. Knowing the fort was the only place the Pequots hadn’t yet dared to attack, he challenged them to a battle at the fort, then shot off two cannons. A few days later, Saybrook received a shipment of supplies, and a few days after that, both Connecticut and Massachusetts sent reinforcements, under John Mason and John Underhill, respectively, as well as a group of Mohegans under Uncas.
Ever since Endicott’s Raid, Massachusetts and the Pequots had been working to recruit allies, especially the Narragansetts. Fundamentally, the Narragansetts had wanted to remain neutral. They didn’t have issues with either the English or the Pequots, and both groups were strong enough to damage the Narragansetts. They just wanted to stay out of it and maintain their own position of independence and strength.
Roger Williams, however, wrote to Winthrop to tell him he needed to persuade the Narragansetts to enter an alliance. In fact, he himself went to visit the Narragansetts, and there he found Pequots also meeting with the tribe. The Pequots told them that if the English were allowed to stay, they might exterminate all the Indians. They invited the Narragansetts to enter an alliance to drive the English out using a campaign of ambush and property destruction similar to what Saybrook had experienced. They couldn’t win in open combat, but they might be able to make the region unliveable for the English.
The Narragansetts were so swayed by this argument that Williams had to work hard even to keep the tribe neutral. The Narragansett sachem, Canonicus, asked Williams why the English had sent out the plague – an echo of Squanto’s old rumor, and something which strongly supported the Pequot argument – and Williams said the English hadn’t done that. The plague had been sent by God to European and Indian alike, and for the same reason. God was angry with their sins. It comforted and even pleased Canonicus to hear that God was also angry with the English.
Williams then pushed Canonicus to send a delegation to Boston to sign a treaty of alliance. He even wrote the treaty, with free trade, mutual defense, and the Narragansetts agreeing to only approach English settlements while accompanied by Englishmen or known Indians. That would keep both groups safer. In late October, a couple months after Endicott’s raid, Miantonomo led the delegation, and explained the Narragansett position to Vane and the General Court. The Narragansetts wanted neutrality, peace with both the English and the Pequots. Vane responded that if he wanted peace with the English, he needed to sign the treaty, and he needed to decide by the next morning. Miantonomo signed, but complained he didn’t even fully understand the treaty. Williams translated it, and reassured the tribe that signing had been the right thing to do. Williams said he thought highly of Vane, and he, himself had written it.
With the English and Narragansetts in an alliance, most of the region’s smaller tribes also took their side. Thanks to Williams’s work, the Massachusetts General Court put forward a motion recalling him from his banishment, and giving him a distinguished mark of appreciation, but the Court voted against the motion. The last thing the colony wanted in the middle of the Antinomian Controversy was the return of another religious radical. Williams still worked to strengthen relations, though. He, along with English allies like Massachusetts sachem Cutshamekin, Wequash and Wuttlackquiakommin also helped persuade Canonicus to maintain and strengthen his ties with the English. The Pequots would fight the war essentially alone. The western Niantics were the only Pequot allies with any real ability to fight back.
After the treaty, Massachusetts and Connecticut had worked to raise troops. Connecticut had conscripted 90 men under John Mason, along with armor and supplies. Massachusetts had followed, raising 160 men, 160 pounds for expenses, and supplies, with Hutchinson-supporting John Underhill as the leader. Then, Massachusetts had written to Plymouth, saying they expected help in bearing the burden of hostilities.
The message infuriated Plymouth. Plymouth rarely challenged its bigger, more affluent neighbor, but they had noticed Massachusetts’s repeated disregard of their interests. When they received Massachusetts’s message, Winslow traveled to Boston personally. He explained to the Court that while Plymouth wished them well, Plymouth shouldn’t be expected to make any contribution whatsoever to their war effort. Massachusetts had refused to help Plymouth defend its possessions or avenge its murdered citizens in Maine. And, Massachusetts itself had intruded into Plymouth’s trade in Connecticut. Furthermore, Plymouth was a poor colony, while Massachusetts was rich, and worst of all, Boston hadn’t bothered to consult with Plymouth prior to provoking the war. So, after so many betrayals, Massachusetts shouldn’t ask them for help in extricating themselves from Endicott’s mess. Before they even considered the request, they’d like to hear their friends’ response to their complaints.
In light of previous incidents, Vane’s response was almost insulting. Brushing off the former betrayals as the actions of individual traders who they couldn’t be expected to control, and re-characterizing Endicott’s raid as something so minor that they hadn’t wanted to trouble Plymouth, Vane called the brewing conflict “a matter of the common good,” something Boston had explicitly refused to call Plymouth’s calls for help.
It may not have been fair, but there wasn’t much Plymouth could do. If the English were unable to prove their military superiority, and if, in response, the region’s native inhabitants did unite to drive out the English, Plymouth would be one of the first victims. They were too small and weak to survive such an attack.
A few days after Winslow’s visit, Winthrop was elected governor, and as governor he wrote to Bradford to reiterate his support and continuation of Vane’s position. Bradford was angry enough to write his disagreement with Winthrop’s analysis in the margins of his letter, but he had no choice. Plymouth prepared to raise the ship’s soldiers and ship’s crew, but they did delay mobilizing them. That way, at least, they would only have to send soldiers if it really was necessary.
Of course, as we’ve mentioned, Boston Church members also refused to fight in the war. As we’ve mentioned, this was a reaction to Winthrop’s election and Wilson’s selection as governor, but it wasn’t just an ideological move or a tantrum. There were actual, tangible consequences of political leadership for the colony’s military. When the colony had prepared for a standoff with the king, it had put all military power into the hands of the general court. Before that, it was in the hands of professional soldiers, but the change had been permanent, even though the standoff had never happened. Now, the General Court had sole military power, and the power to determine who was an enemy of the commonwealth.
Because the Antinomian Controversy was raging, the Court had only named magistrates as commanding officers. Virtually none of them had any military experience, and virtually none of them actually took part in the conflict, but they got command, and for the sole reason that they opposed Hutchinson’s Opinionists. They totally bypassed professional soldiers, and the people who actually did the fighting were awarded with lesser rank and lesser payment than the magistrates who technically outranked them – and who micromanaged them. The political change in the colony had made the military a much worse place for the Bostonians, who had also been assigned a particularly dangerous part of the mission. And, the man who actually led the fighting for Massachusetts, John Underhill, was a dedicated Opinionist.
So, without Boston, and with Plymouth strategically delaying, Massachusetts and Connecticut sent Mason, Underhill and their troops and supplies to reinforce Saybrook.
A few days later, Connecticut experienced its first attack, and it was the biggest one thus far. The morning of April 23, a man from Wethersfield was riding his horse outside the town, when he saw dozens of Pequot warriors creeping toward the village. He galloped to the town to warn its residents, but before they could even process what he was saying, the warriors had entered the town. The women ran for cover, but three were immediately captured. One resisted and was killed on the spot, and the other two, both young girls, were carried away. The warriors then surprised a work party, killing 8 more people, and slaughtered the town’s cattle. By the end of the attack, 14 people were dead, and after the attack, the warriors sailed past Saybrook, hanging the clothes of the dead on their ships instead of sails. Saybrook fired a cannon, not knowing about the two English captives, but fortunately they missed.
The interesting thing about the Wethersfield attack is that Pequots had actually been invited to attack by the Indians the English had bought the land from. This tribe – one of the River Tribes, under a sachem named Sequin – had sold land to the English with the agreement that they’d be allowed to continue to live in the area under English protection. When they’d tried to settle near the village, though, the settlers had pushed them out, and to correct the injustice, Sequin’s people had turned to the Pequots. They’d invited the Pequots to attack the town, and offered their own help with planning and execution.
After the attack, Sequin was summoned before Connecticut’s General Court to explain his people’s actions. They explained their unfair treatment, and the English ruled that their war was just, decided not to punish anyone in the tribe for the attack, and to sign a new agreement with Sequin to right the wrongs.
So, it’s worth noting here that the Court was willing to hear the Indian side of the story, and even side with Sequin’s people when the evidence was on their side. But, the Pequots weren’t the wronged party, and worse, they were the people Sequin’s people had turned to to right the wrongs against them. Not to mention, everything that’s led up to this point. The Pequots had taken two girls hostage, war had been brewing for months, and now it was officially declared.
And with war declared, Uncas immediately offered 60 warriors to help the English, with many of the 60 having experience fighting the Pequots. He had been gambling on alliance with the English as the way to secure his leadership over Southern New England tribes, and this was his chance to solidify it. As Mason and Underhill arrived at Saybrook on boats, Uncas’s men arrived on foot, killing seven Pequots on the way.
So, the Siege of Saybrook was over, and the Pequot War had begun. And, after six months under siege, with few enough supplies he considered abandoning the colony, Gardiner had plenty of reinforcements. But, looking at the reinforcements he’d been sent, he refused to allow his men to accompany them. The English weren’t fit for service, and the Mohegans couldn’t be trusted. Mason couldn’t really deny the validity of Gardiner’s concerns. The two agreed to send half the Connecticut troops back to Hartford, and Gardiner demanded a tangible display of Mohegan loyalty. He told Uncas that he’d seen six Pequots near Saybrook the day before. If his men brought them back, dead or alive, he could accompany them. The warriors went out, and returned with the hands of four men, one prisoner, and one dying man. Gardiner recognized the prisoner, a man who had actually learned English while working for him at Saybrook, but who had evidently been working as a spy and been present at multiple murders, and ordered the man to be killed. So, Uncas’s men tied one of his legs to a stake, fastened a rope to the other one, and literally tore the man to pieces. Gardiner finished him off with a shot to the head, then declared his satisfaction with Uncas’s display of loyalty and paid him in trading cloth.
There were Mohegans who disapproved of Uncas’s behavior, though. They weren’t all that keen on an alliance with the English, and felt Uncas’s behavior was essentially pandering. They moved back to the Pequots, but after Uncas’s repeated betrayals, Sassacus turned most of them away. He did allow some to remain in Pequot villages, though.
Gardiner and Mason worked to plan the attack, but as they did so, a Dutch ship sailed by Saybrook on its way to trade with the Pequots. The English stopped them and told them that they would not be allowed to trade with the Pequots, period. They explained the situation, and the Dutch responded that if they were allowed to trade, they’d bring back the two English girls – and if necessary, they’d even resort to force to get them. The English allowed them to go, and though the traders did have to steal the girls against Pequot wishes, they were true to their word.
When they reached Saybrook, they asked the girls how they’d been treated. They said they’d been treated well, Sassacus’s wife had taken them under her wing, and they’d been taken around Pequot territory and encouraged to enjoy themselves. The girls were also able to tell the English about where the Pequots were spying from, where their guns were located, how many guns they’d had, and where their guards were stationed. This information changed the English plan of attack. Mason’s orders had been to sail up the Pequot River and attack the main Pequot forts from there, but the guards were stationed on the river. So, they decided to attack from the East, walking to the forts from Narragansett territory. Then, they’d attack the forts simultaneously.
There were downsides to this plan. It was a long walk, they’d run low on supplies, and they’d leave their own towns less defended for longer. But the English were relying on the element of surprise. They had a relatively small force – just 90 English and 70 Mohegan warriors – and their entire strategy revolved around striking so hard, so fast and so suddenly that the tribe couldn’t organize its defenses. In a more traditional war, the Pequots would benefit from their knowledge of the land, and their ability to strike or siege English settlements. The cost of the war would rise dramatically, so starting with one big, sudden strike was key.
Plan in place, Mason and Underhill sailed for Narragansett. Gardiner remained at Saybrook. They stayed on board just outside Narragansett for a few days, first during the Sabbath, and then because a strong wind prevented them from landing. When they did disembark, they ordered the captains to wait for them at the mouth of the Pequot River. Then, they marched five miles inland, to the home of Canonicus and Miantonomo. Mason, who was friends with Miantonomo, took the lead in speaking with the tribe. He apologized for walking through their territory without permission, and explained their plans, and their reasons for the war. Canonicus said he approved of the plan, and gave them permission to cross his territory, but said their numbers were too small to be successful. He’d offered to take care of the Pequots himself, for a payment in trading cloth, and though Williams had supported his idea, the English had refused. He was irritated by the rejection, as his own wellbeing was now tied to English success against the Pequots, but he offered to send his own warriors with them. They accepted. After a day’s marching, they reached the home of the Eastern Niantics, where there was a Narragansett fort on the edge of Pequot territory. The residents of the fort wouldn’t allow the English to enter, because while they disliked the Pequots, they also weren’t keen on the English. So, the English guarded the fort overnight to prevent anyone from leading and telling the Pequots about their plans, and in the morning a group of Niantics met with the English and said they were ready to join the expedition. The leader supported this, but wanted to maintain an officially neutral stance.
They had picked up 400 people in Narragansett territory, and they’d also received a message from a second person from Massachusetts named Captain Patrick, who was at Providence with a force of 40 men. Patrick asked Mason to wait so they could join the expedition, but Mason decided that surprise was more important than additional force, and to push on without him.
After two more days of marching through unseasonable heat, they were low on food, exhausted, and about half the Narragansetts had abandoned the mission. But, they’d arrived. They appointed 13 of the 90 soldiers to guard the ships and supplies. Then they scouted out the area. The two forts were too far apart to attack simultaneously, so they needed to decide which to surprise first. One of the forts housed Sassacus, himself. The other fort had just been reinforced by a transfer of 150 warriors, so it held the majority of Pequot warriors. They decided to attack the latter, named Mystic.
Mystic was a wooden fort made of two semicircles which had been offset to create a 4 foot entrance on each side. It sat on a hill, and tree branches blocked each entrance. The walls had gaps which allowed the Pequots to shoot arrows from the inside. The fort enclosed about two acres, and contained 70 wigwams, housing 6-700 people, including the reinforcements.
They’d reached Mystic in the evening, and planned to attack the next morning at dawn. Mason’s men would attack the northeast entrance, and Underhill’s men would approach from the southwest. Hot, hungry and tired, they slept as well as they could that night, but they could hear revelries and celebrations coming from the fort. To the Pequots, it had looked like the English had turned back after spending a few days with the Narragansetts. It looked like they’d avoided war.
The next morning, they approached the fort as planned. Dawn was just beginning to break, and the fort was silent as the Pequots recovered from their previous night’s celebrations. A dog barked, but the soldiers were already surrounding the fort, and before the Indians could organize, they had fired several volleys through the arrowslits. The Pequots panicked. They couldn’t fight the English from inside the fort, and with bullets flying in, they started to pull out the branches which filled the entrances. With nothing blocking their access, the colonists and their allies flooded into the fort. They fought through the small streets in hand-to-hand combat, and nearly half the English were injured. To clear the way for the English to fight more effectively, Mason decided to burn the fort. He threw some gunpowder and firebrands on a couple wigwams, and fire instantly spread until the whole fort was burning, inside and out. This threw the Pequots off balance. The fires burned their bowstrings, leaving them defenseless. Many were burned alive, and some even jumped into the flames. Others climbed to the top of the palisade, where they were picked off, and others were easily shot, their figures highlighted by the fire. The Narragansetts were virtually indistinguishable from the Pequots. A few had been issued yellow identification bands, but many were injured and killed in the chaos. The tribe did tomahawk the Pequots who tried to escape, though, and within one hour, before the sun had fully risen, nearly 700 Pequots were dead, including half the tribe’s sachems and most of its warriors. In contrast, two of the colonists had been killed.
They did, however, need to get to the ships at the mouth of the river. They were injured, hungry and tired, low on ammunition, and in the heart of enemy territory. Half of them couldn’t really walk, so Mason hired Uncas’s men to carry the rest. As they started to walk to the river, 300 Pequot warriors appeared from Sassacus’s fort. They rushed the troops, but were repelled by a volley of shot. As the warriors retreated, they found the ruins of Mystic, and the English could hear their cries of despair. The warriors followed them to the harbor, trying to pick people off from behind the trees, but inflicted little damage, while English and Mohegan counterfire killed or injured an additional 100 people.
When they reached the ships, they were greeted by a very offended Captain Patrick, who got in a shouting match with Underhill about who was in control of the ships, and refused to follow Mason’s instructions. They all ultimately arrived in Saybrook, though, and Gardiner fired his cannons in celebration.
For all intents and purposes, the Pequots had lost the entire war in the course of one vicious hour. They’d lost the majority of their warriors, and the majority of their leaders. They’d failed to resist their enemies – either Narragansett or English – and with such weakness, there was no chance of recruiting substantial help from other tribes. They also now knew that the English were willing to kill women and children. They did kill almost all of the Mohegans they’d allowed to live with them, and tried to attack the Narragansetts, but failed. The tribe scattered, forming groups of varying sizes who sought refuge elsewhere, from Long Island to the Narragansetts, or hid in swamps and made their way along the shore, gathering whatever shellfish they could for food.