Account of the Pawtucket confederacy in New Hampshire--Passaconaway,
their Chief Sachem--He is disarmed by order of the Massachusetts
Government. His residence, age and authority--He maintains a good
understanding with the English--Visits Boston--The Apostle Elliot's
acquaintance with, and notice of him--His views of
Christianity--Festival, and Farewell speech to his tribe in 1660--Death
and character--His son and successor, Wonolanset.--Anecdotes of the
family--Legend of Passaconaway's feats as a Powah.
Turning our attention to a part of the country and to a people which have
not yet been the subject of special notice, we shall now introduce, with
the following passage from Winthrop's Journal, an individual of far too
much distinction to be wholly over-looked. The date is of July, 1642:--
"There came letters from the court at Connecticut, and from two of the
magistrates there, and from Mr. Ludlow near the dutch, certifying us that
the Indians all over the country had combined themselves to cut off all
the English--that the time was appointed after harvest--the manner also
they should go, by small companies to the chief men's houses by way of
trading &c. and should kill them in the house and seize their weapons, and
then others should be at hand to prosecute the massacre. . . . Upon these
letters the Governor called so many of the magistrates as were near, and
being met they sent out summons for a general court to be kept six days
after, and in the meantime it was thought fit, for our safety, and to
strike some terror into the Indians, to disarm such as were within our
jurisdiction. Accordingly we sent men to Cutshamkin at Brantree to fetch
him and his guns, bows &c. which was done, and he came willingly, and
being late in the night when they came to Boston, he was put in the
prison, but the next morning, finding upon examination of him and divers
of his men, no ground of suspicion of his partaking in any such
conspiracy, he was dismissed. Upon the warrant which went to Ipswich,
Rowlye and Newberry to disarm Passaconamy, who lived by Merrimack, they
sent forth forty men armed the next day, being the Lord's-day, but it
rained all the day, as it had done divers days before and also after, so
as they could not go to his wigwam, but they came to his son's and took
him, which they had warrant for, and a squa and her child, which they had
no warrant for, and therefore order was given so soon as he heard of it,
to send them home again. They fearing his son's escape, led him in a line,
but he taking an opportunity, slipped his line and escaped from them, but
one very indiscreetly made a shot at him, and missed him narrowly."
The Sachem here mentioned, and commonly, called Passaconaway, [FN] was
generally known among the Indians as the Great Sagamore of Pannuhog, or
Penacook--that being the name of a tribe who inhabited Concord, (New
Hampshire) and the country for many miles above and below, on Merrimac
river. The Penacooks were among the most warlike of the northern Indians;
and they, almost alone, seem to have resisted the occasional ancient
inroads of the Mohawks, and sometimes even to have carried the war into
_their_ territories. One of their forts, built purposely for defence
against these invasions, was upon Sugar-Ball Hill, in Concord; and
tradition indistinctly preserves to this time the recollection of an
obstinate engagement between the two tribes, which occurred on the banks
of the Merrimac in that vicinity.
* * * * *
[FN] Hubbard writes Passaconnawa; Mr. Elliot, Papassaconaway; Wood, in
that most singular curiosity, New England's Prospect, has pointed out
Pissaconawa's location on his map, by a cluster of marks representing
wigwams.
The Penacooks were one member of a large confederacy, more or less under
Passaconaway's control, which, beside comprising several small tribes in
Massachusetts, extended nearly or quite as far in the opposite direction
as the northern extremity of Lake Winepissiogee. Among those who
acknowledged subjection to him were the Agawams (at Ipswich,) the
Naamkeeks (at Salem,) the Pascataquas, the Accomintas, and the Sachems of
Squamscot, Newichwannock and Pawtucket,--the latter being also the
National name of all the confederates. Passaconaway is supposed to have
resided, occasionally, at what is now Haverhill (Mass.) but he afterwards
lived among the Penacooks.
He must have been quite advanced in life at the date of the earliest
English settlements on the coast, for he is said to have died, about 1665,
at the great age of one hundred and twenty years, though that statement
indeed has an air of exaggeration. The first mention of him is in the
celebrated Wheelwright deed of 1629--the authenticity of which it is not
necessary to discuss in this connexion. In 1642, Passaquo and Saggahew,
the Sachems of Haverhill (Mass.) conveyed that township to the original
settlers, by deed sealed and signed,--the consideration being three
pounds ten shillings, and the negotiation expressly "_wth ye consent of
Passaconaway._" [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] The original is still in the possession of a gentleman in Haverhill.
See Mirick's History of that town.
It was about the time of this conveyance that the measures already
mentioned were taken for "disarming" the old chieftain. That was clearly
a most unexampled stretch of prerogative, especially as Passaconaway had
hitherto maintained his independence equally with his apparent good will
for the English. There is some apology for the outrage in the excitement
of the period, which was so powerful, it appears, even with the
well-informed and well-meaning citizens of Boston, that they hesitated not
to entertain the Braintree Sachem, their most obedient servant on all
occasions, in the town-jail. Even the report of a gun, in the night-time,
in the neighborhood of the town, was now sufficient to rouse the good
citizens far and wide; and the shouts of a poor fellow at Watertown, who,
having lost himself in the woods, cried out somewhat lustily for
_help!--help!_--against an apprehended assault of the wild-cats round
about him, produced an alarm hardly less serious than would probably have
followed an actual foray of the Mohawks.
This excitement, we say, furnishes an apology for the harsh treatment of
the Grand-Sachem. The government, upon cool reflection, appears to have
been sensible of having gone too far, and what is creditable to them, they
were not ashamed to make such explanations of the matter, promptly and
politely, to the injured party, as were fitting their own true dignity as
well as his. Governor Winthrop, speaking of the treatment of the Squaw and
the Son as "an unwarranted proceeding," and conceiving "that Passaconamy
would look at it as a manifest injury," called the court together, and
proposed measures of reparation. Cutchamequin was accordingly sent to the
old Sachem, to disclaim any order for kidnapping the woman and child, and
discharging a musket at the boy, and to explain to him the real purpose
and principle of the warrant. Passaconaway listened with composure, and
returned answer that whenever the two absent members of his family should
be returned, he would of his own accord render in the required
artillery,--(and this, it would seem, the war-party which went out from
Boston on the Sabbath, had not after all been able to effect.) One of
them was still in custody, and the other had taken refuge in the woods.
"_Accordingly,_" adds our authority, "about a fortnight after, he sent his
eldest son, who delivered up his guns," &c. The fair inference is, that
the conditions made by the Sachem were performed to his satisfaction.
At all events, he considered it a good policy to maintain peaceable
relations with his much excited neighbors; he was too old, as most of his
near relatives--children or grand-children--seem to have been too young.
On the other hand, the English movements in this case, taken together,
certainly indicate a respectful estimate of his character; and in fact the
policy by which he was gained over, was so much valued, that either Mr.
Winthrop alludes to his one act of submission repeatedly, or else the
Government troubled itself to have the scene actually rehearsed as many
times:--
"At this Court," says the Journal, for the spring of 1644, "Passaconamy,
the Merrimack Sachem, came in and submitted to our Government, as Pumham
&c. had done before."
And again, in 1645--"At this Court, in the third month, Passaconamy, the
Chief Sachem of Merrimack, and his sons, came and submitted themselves
and their people and lands under our Jurisdiction, as Pumham and others
had done before."
One of the most distinct notices of the old Sagamore occurs in that
ancient tract, "The Light Appearing &c." most of which was written by the
apostle Elliot, in 1649. He preached about that time at Pawtucket, that
being "a fishing place where from all parts they met together."
"The Chief Sachem at this place," says Mr. Elliot, "and of all Mermak, is
Papassaconaway, whom I mentioned unto you the last yeere, _who gave up
himself and his sonnes to pray unto God;_ this man did this yeere show
very great affection to me, and to the Word of God." The writer adds,
that the Sagamore even urged his solicitations importunately, using withal
many "elegant arguments, with much gravity, wisdome and affection." He
observed, among other things, that the preacher's coming there once a year
did them but little good, "because they soone had forgotten what he
taught, it being so seldome, and so long betwixt the times." Another sound
suggestion was, that the Sagamore had many subjects who "would not beleeve
_him_ that praying to God was so good," whereas as no doubt they might be
convinced by the preaching itself. Nor did Mr. Elliot, he thought, allow
himself leisure enough to explain and _prove_ what he asserted. It was
"as if one should come and throw a fine thing among them, and they
earnestly catch at it, and like it well, because it _looks_ finely, but
could not look into it, to see what is within,--whether something or
nothing,--stock, stone or precious jewel." So it was with praying; it
might be excellent, as it seemed,--but on the other hand it might be
hollow and empty,--he wished to see it _opened._
Whether this sensible advice was followed as far as it could be, is
uncertain; but there can be little doubt that the Sagamore himself became,
if not almost a Christian, yet strongly prepossessed in favor of the
English. In 1660, an English gentleman, who had been much conversant among
the Indians, was invited to a great dance and feast, at which among other
ceremonies, Passaconaway, now very old, made a farewell speech to his
people. He cautioned them especially, as a dying man, to take heed how
they quarrelled with the English. He said, that though they might do the
whites some damage, it would prove the sure means of their own
destruction; and that, as for himself, he had formerly tried his utmost by
the arts of sorcery to hinder their settlement and increase, but all to
no purpose.
It is remarkable, that when Philip's War broke out, fifteen years after
this transaction, Wonolanset, the Sagamore's son and successor, withdrew
both himself and his people into some remote place, where he wholly
escaped the disasters and excitement of the times. Probably there was no
other instance of the kind among all the tribes.
The allusion made by Passaconaway to the arts of sorcery should be
explained, by observing that he had formerly been, for a long term of
years, one of the most noted Powahs, or Conjurors, ever heard of among the
Indians of New England. Perhaps his dominion itself, and certainly the
greater part of his influence, was acquired by his talents exercised in
that capacity. He indeed excelled his contemporaries, as all historians
allow, in general sagacity and duplicity, as well as in moderation and
self-command; [FN] but these were the very qualities proper for playing
off that game on the extreme superstition of the Indians, which has so
frequently been tried among them, and yet so rarely with a very prevalent
or very permanent success.
* * * * *
[FN] See Hubbard, Hutchinson, Belknap, &c.
But Passaconaway's attempt was no failure. He induced the savages to
believe it in his power to make water burn, and trees dance; to
metamorphose himself into a flame; and to raise, in winter, a green leaf
from the ashes of a dry one, and a living serpent from the skin of one
which was dead. Few modern practitioners, we presume, have surpassed the
old Sagamore in the arts of legerdemain. These, however, were not his
substantive profession, or at least not long. The politician soon emerged
from the slough of the juggler. The Priest became a Sachem; the Sachem,
the Grand Sagamore of Penacook; and the Sagamore preserved not only his
own power, but his son's after him, by a series of diplomatic
demonstrations, and a few words of "elegant" civility, which, without
disparaging his importance with his countrymen, made him the most
agreeable neighbor to the English.
That Passaconaway was living as late as 1662, appears from the following
anecdote of that date. Manataqua, Sachem of Saugus, made known to the
chief of Panacook, that he desired to marry his daughter, which being
agreeable to all parties, the wedding was soon consummated, at the
residence of Passaconaway, and the hilarity was closed with a great feast.
According to the usages of chiefs, Passaconaway ordered a select number of
his men to accompany the new married couple to the dwelling of the
husband. When they had arrived there, several days of feasting followed,
for the entertainment of his friends, who could not be present at the
ceremony in the first instance, as well as for the escort; who, when this
was ended, returned to Pennakook.
Some time after, the wife of Manataqua expressing a desire to visit her
father's house and friends, was permitted to go, and a choice company
conducted her. When she wished to return to her husband, her father,
instead of conveying her as before, sent to the young Sachem to come and
take her away. He took this in high dudgeon, and sent his father-in-law
this answer: "When she departed from me, I caused my men to escort her to
your dwelling, as became a chief. She now having an intention to return to
me, I did expect the same." The elder Sachem was in his turn angry, and
returned an answer which only increased the difference; and it is believed
that thus terminated the connexion of the new husband and wife. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] Manuscript documents, cited in Drake's Indian Biography.
In the Third Volume of Farmer and Moore's Historical Collections, may be
seen an account of the death of an Indian, called Saint Aspinquid, May
1st, 1682, at Mount Agamenticus on the coast of Maine, where his tombstone
is said to be still visible. It is also stated, that he was born in 1598,
and of course died aged about ninety-four; that he was over forty years
old when he was converted to Christianity; that from that time he employed
himself in preaching the gospel among the Indians; and that his funeral
obsequies were attended by many Sachems of various tribes, and celebrated
by a grand hunt of the warriors. [FN]
* * * * *
[FN] At which were slain "ninety-nine bears, thirty-six moose,
eighty-two wild-cats, thirty-eight porcupines," and a long list of other
animals of various names.
We are inclined to hazard the hypothesis, that this Saint was no other
than our Sagamore; that Agamenticus was the retreat of Wonolanset, or at
least of his father, during and subsequent to Philip's war; and that the
latter obtained his new name from his new friends, and the title attached
to it from an English source. It certainly would be remarkable, that so
many and such particulars should appear of the death of a man never before
heard of. And on the other hand, the reputation and the age attributed
to Aspinquid, agree strikingly with those of Passaconaway. By his
"preaching" must be meant his sacred character and the great exertions he
made to keep peace with the English; and the date of the alleged
"conversion," we suppose to have been the same with that of his first
acquaintance with the whites in 1629.
Our sketch may be fitly concluded with one of those popular traditions
concerning the old Chief, which happens still to be in such preservation
as to form now and then, in some sections of the country, the burden of a
fireside tale. It is probably a fair illustration of the opinion
entertained of his abilities by the credulous of his own era.
He said, that Sachem once to Dover came,
From Penacook, when eve was setting in.
With plumes his locks were dressed, his eyes shot flame;
He struck his massy club with dreadful din,
That oft had made the ranks of battle thin;
Around his copper neck terrific hung
A tied-together, bear and catamount skin;
The curious fishbones o'er his bosom swung,
And thrice the Sachem danced, and thrice the Sachem sung.
Strange man was he! 'T was said, he oft pursued
The sable bear, and slew him in his den;
That oft he howled through many a pathless wood,
And many a tangled wild, and poisonous fen,
That ne'er was trod by other mortal men.
The craggy ledge for rattlesnakes he sought,
And choked them one by one, and then
O'ertook the tall gray moose, as quick as thought
And then the mountain cat he chased, and chasing caught.
A wondrous wight! For o'er 'Siogee's ice,
With brindled wolves, all harnessed three and three,
seated on a sledge, made in a trice,
On mount Agiocochook, [FN-1] of hickory,
He lashed and reeled, and sung right jollily;
And once upon a car of flaming fire,
The dreadful Indian shook with fear, to see
The king of Penacook, his chief, his sire,
Ride flaming up towards heaven, than any mountain higher. [FN-2]
* * * * *
[FN-1] The Indian name applied to the White Mountains. There is a
curious tradition, preserved in Josselyn's New England, of the
veneration of the Indians for the summits of these mountains. They
considered them the dwelling places of invisible beings, and never
ventured to ascend them. They had also a tradition, that the whole
country was once drowned, with all its inhabitants except one Indian with
his wife, who, foreseeing the flood, fled to these mountains, were
preserved, and afterwards re-peopled the country.--_Ed._
[FN-2] See F. and M. His. Coll.
END OF VOL. I.
End of Project Gutenberg's Indian Biography; Vol. 1 of 2, by B. B. Thatcher