THE PEQUOT WAR
Shortly after the founding of Providence, Roger Williams had an
opportunity to show the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony what
he thought of them. It was in his power to seriously injure them; to
“pay them back,” as it were, for all he had suffered at their hands.
Instead, with his usual sweetness of disposition, he returned good for
evil, “good measure, pressed down, and running over.” For injustice, he
had nothing but forgiveness, for ill-treatment, only love and service.
It required true nobility of character to act as he did.
Grave danger threatened all New England at this time--the possibility
of a widespread Indian outbreak. In reality, it was more than a
possibility--it was almost a certainty. Already there had been several
indications that the savages meant to make trouble. Of all the
neighboring tribes, the colonists had most to fear from the Pequots.
These were a powerful and dreaded people who occupied territory at
the west of the Narragansetts in what is now the eastern part of
Connecticut. Some time before this, they had been suspected of having
a hand in the murder of a number of white traders on the Connecticut
River. Now, the same year that Roger Williams’ new settlement was
begun, another English trader, John Oldham by name, was killed off
Block Island under circumstances similar to those of the first outrage.
At this point Roger Williams comes into the story. He sent news of
the tragedy to Governor Vane of Massachusetts Bay and thus hastened
the preparations of that colony to protect itself. A force under the
command of the doughty John Endicott was sent into the Pequot country
to bring the natives to terms. The Massachusetts men inflicted losses
by burning wigwams and destroying crops, but failed to punish with any
degree of thoroughness. The expedition had but one effect--to madden
the Pequots to further activity.
A feeling of alarm and insecurity spread throughout all the
settlements. The Indians had signed treaties, it is true, but it was
no longer safe to trust their word. There was reason to think that
the enmity of the Pequots was only the first step toward a general
massacre. To better carry out their purposes, the Indians tried to
form an alliance with their near neighbors and former enemies, the
Narragansetts.
What could be done? Who had influence enough to break up this proposed
league--to turn the friendship of the Narragansetts from their red
neighbors to their white neighbors? One man, and one only, possessed
that power. He was the “dangerous” founder of Providence, who had been
turned out of Massachusetts in disgrace.
In spite of this fact, the magistrates of the Bay Colony lost no time
in appealing to Roger Williams to save them. He responded promptly,
willingly. The story of his perilous mission among the Narragansetts
reads more like a chapter from some exciting book of imaginary
adventure than sober history:
“The Lord helped me immediately to put my life into my hand, and,
scarce acquainting my wife, to ship myself, all alone in a poor
canoe, and to cut through a stormy wind, with great seas, every
minute in hazard of life, to the sachem’s house. Three days and
nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequot
ambassadors, whose hands and arms, methought, reeked with the blood of
my countrymen, murdered and massacred by them on Connecticut River, and
from whom I could not but nightly look for their bloody knives at my
own throat also. God wondrously preserved me, and helped me to break
to pieces the Pequots’ negotiation and design, and to make, promote
and finish, by many travels and charges, the English league with the
Narragansetts and Mohegans against the Pequots.”
So successfully indeed did Roger Williams risk his life that in
the autumn of that same year a party of Narragansetts, including
Miantonomo, journeyed to Boston to form a treaty with the English.
Among other things, it provided for a peace between the Narragansetts
and the colonists and contained a promise that neither party should
make peace with the Pequots without the other’s consent, or that, in
case of war, due notice should be given. The old records say that after
the treaty was concluded, the visiting Indians were given a dinner,
then “conveyed out of town by some musketeers and dismissed with a
volley of shot.”
Still the matter was not entirely closed, for the colonists, lacking
a thorough knowledge of the Indian tongue, could not make the
Narragansetts understand certain parts of the compact, which was
written in English. An interpreter was needed, so a copy of the treaty
was sent to Roger Williams that he might clearly and simply explain
it to the Narragansetts. He might be a dangerous neighbor, but he was
certainly a most convenient one!
The Pequot War took place, after all, but without the alliance of
the Narragansetts. Instead of resulting in the wholesale destruction
of the whites, it marked the doom of the tribe which was foolhardy
enough to attempt it. The three colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth and
Connecticut, united to crush the Indian menace.
A detachment from the Bay Colony in charge of General Stoughton
marched to Connecticut by way of Providence. Roger Williams hospitably
entertained them, giving the visitors of his best. Poor Mrs. Williams
must have been put to her utmost resources to act as hostess to one
hundred and twenty soldiers! As they continued on their way, Roger
Williams accompanied them some distance in order to bring about a
meeting with their allies, the Narragansetts, and so establish good
feeling.
Under Captain John Mason, the Connecticut settlers, aided by both
English and Indian allies, surprised the Pequots at Fort Mystic, May,
1637, and with fire and sword, practically wiped them out in an hour’s
time. A swamp battle soon afterwards completed the extermination of
this once brave and valiant tribe. The few who escaped were distributed
as captives. The very name Pequot disappeared from the map of the
Connecticut country. The Pequot River became the Thames and the town
of that name was changed to New London.
During the Pequot War and the period just preceding it, Roger Williams
was kept busy. No one could give better advice than he at this time,
aided as he was by his friendliness with the Narragansetts. He became,
in fact, a news agency, continually sending the latest bits of
information to Massachusetts and in other ways serving as a valuable
go-between. He kept the English informed of the Pequots’ designs as far
as he knew them and once submitted a rude map showing the positions of
the Indians.
He occupied himself, too, with another matter--keeping the Narragansett
sachem, Canonicus, in good humor. In one of the interesting old letters
of Roger Williams written to his friends at the Bay, he tells how he
“sweetened the spirit” of the aged chieftain in a very literal way. The
superstitious Canonicus, it seems, had blamed the English for sending
the plague among his people, but Roger Williams convinced him of his
mistake and then requested some sugar for the sachem. “I find,” said
he, “that Canonicus would gladly accept of a box of eight or ten
pounds of sugar, and indeed he told me he would thank Mr. Governor for
a box full.”
There was great rejoicing throughout New England when the Pequots were
finally disposed of. A day of solemn thanksgiving and rejoicing was
appointed in Massachusetts, the successful warriors were feasted, and
services held in all the churches. And what reward was given the man
who, more than anybody else, had saved his countrymen from a dreadful
massacre by winning over the Narragansetts? Winthrop and others debated
whether it would not be well to recall him from banishment or show some
other mark of favor. Nothing came of the discussion. The decree of
banishment remained in force and not so much as a vote of thanks was
given Roger Williams.
Still the main thought in his tender heart at this time seems to have
been that too much severity had been used in dealing with the Pequots.
“I fear that some innocent blood cries at Connecticut,” he wrote his
friend Winthrop. Again, when hands of the vanquished Indians were sent
to Boston and few, if any, of the Bay people protested against this
horrible custom, Roger Williams once more raised his voice. He feared
“those dead hands were no pleasing sight” and regretted that he could
not have prevented such a display of barbarism without offending the
Indians. “I have always shown dislike,” he added, “to such dismembering
the dead.”
After the war, Roger Williams repeatedly acted as peace-maker in lesser
differences between the English and the natives. To all he meted out
the same measure of fairness and justice. If the Indians inflicted
injuries, he demanded that they “make good” with the whites; if it
was the whites who ill-treated the Indians, he was no less insistent
that they do the right thing in turn. No grievance of the red men
was too trivial for him to investigate. Thus he straightened out a
matter of some missing kettles and a disputed canoe, concerning which
Miantonomo’s feelings had been hurt, with all the seriousness he would
have given a matter of state.
One interesting event of the year 1638 that meant much to Roger
Williams was the birth of his oldest son. He was the first male child
born within the limits of the new colony and was therefore named
Providence after the settlement his father had founded. An appropriate
name, surely, but what a curious one for a poor child to carry around!
There is no record that any church building existed in the earliest
days of Providence. Poverty may have been one reason for this lack.
Meetings were held in different homes, however, and as Roger Williams
was the only ordained minister, he conducted the services. There was
no persecution for non-attendance--of that we may be sure. Among the
people who came to Providence because they could not enjoy their
religion unmolested elsewhere, were the Anabaptists or Baptists, as
their name was shortened in later years. Their views were much more
liberal and attractive than strict Puritanism and therefore interested
Roger Williams. He allowed one of their number, Ezekiel Holliman, to
baptize him in the new faith and he then baptized Holliman and several
others. For this public profession, Roger Williams and his wife were
excommunicated from the Salem church. He is generally regarded as the
first pastor of the Baptist Church, but he was not actively connected
with it for more than a few months. No doctrine of the day could quite
satisfy a man of his open mind and earnest determination to search for
the truth. He became what was then known as a “seeker.”
The Baptists, however, continued to prosper and increase in numbers.
They still claim Roger Williams as the founder of the First Baptist
Church of America. The ancient meeting-house bearing that name (though
it is not the original edifice of the society) has a bell with a quaint
inscription which proclaims to the world the principles upon which both
the city and the Baptist congregation were founded:
“For freedom of conscience the town was first planted,
Persuasion, not force, was used by the people;
This church is the eldest and has not recanted,
Enjoying and granting bell, temple, and steeple.”
[Illustration:
The First Baptist Church of Providence is a dignified and venerable
white structure on North Main Street, the “Town Street” of Roger
Williams’ day. It is modeled after St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, London.
Its bell still rings the curfew at nine o’clock each evening.
The First Baptist Society, the first in America, was founded in
1638, and met either in the open air or at the homes of its members
during the first sixty-two years of its existence. Roger Williams is
generally considered the first pastor of the church.]
To rightly understand the last line, we must know that in England in
the seventeenth century those worshippers who had separated from the
established church had neither bell, temple nor steeple. This is only
another instance of the liberal spirit of the early inhabitants of
Providence.