How the wars of the Indians and the colonialists began, and How did the English soldiers slay the aborigines

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The war between the British and the Pequot Indians opened a series of confrontations between the colonists and the aborigines. Native Americans did not understand that they were opposed by a powerful and insidious enemy who was ready to do anything to win.

"Communal apartment" in the Connecticut Valley

In the early seventeenth century, relations between Indians and Europeans began to deteriorate. But the fragile peace was still managed to be maintained, since no one wanted to destroy the usual way of life. The Europeans (English and Dutch) traded actively with the peoples inhabiting the Connecticut Valley without making any obvious attempts to subdue the Aborigines. Therefore, the Pequots, Narragansetts and Mahegans perceived overseas guests not as enemies, but as trading partners.

But gradually the situation in the region began to heat up. The reason for this is the Indians themselves. They, not realizing that the main enemy has a white face, began to fight each other. By the early twenties, the Pequots and Narragansetts had become the most influential, overshadowing the rest of the tribes. I must say that the seventeenth century turned out to be difficult for Native Americans, as a terrible epidemic swept across Connecticut, claiming the lives of entire villages. Only the Pequots and Narragansetts were not affected. They quickly took advantage of the gift of fate to strengthen their own power.

But the equality between the tribes was rather conditional, since the Pekots were much richer than their competitors. Financial prosperity was achieved thanks to a more favorable territorial position. Possessions of the Pequots directly bordered on the lands occupied by the Dutch and the British. And this allowed the peoples to establish strong and mutually beneficial trade.

The Pequots had the closest contacts with the Dutch. The aborigines supplied the Europeans with animal skins on a huge scale. In fact, all the tribes subordinate to the Pequots worked for the Dutch. Another important element of mutually beneficial cooperation was the shells of mollusks with an artificially made hole, which were called wampum. Initially, these top hats played a purely religious purpose. They were amulets that bring good luck and happiness, and also served as a payment for shamans. But gradually the wampum turned into a full-fledged currency, recognized by both Indian tribes and Europeans.

Subordinate tribes mined shellfish in Narragansetts Bay and Long Island Sound, and then turned the shells into money. So the Pequots became monopolists, they completely controlled the production of the wampum and their wealth grew day by day.

The Narragansetts, of course, were jealous, but they were afraid to go into open conflict. They believed that in case of war, the Dutch would side with the Pequots. There was a certain grain of truth in this, since the Europeans were interested in their old allies, but they practically did not know the Narragansetts. And trade between them was chaotic.

The British introduced the imbalance in the region. If at first they did not play an important role in the Connecticut Valley, then in the thirties they began to increase their power. First of all, the British began to carefully and unobtrusively populate the lands that belonged to the Dutch. Those, naturally, were indignant, but the matter did not go further than this. They silently watched as more and more English settlements appeared on their territories and did not know what to do. The Dutch could not solve the problem by military means, since they were inferior in strength. And then they decided to act through the pequots.

The Dutch forbade the Indians to trade with the British. They thought that such a move would weaken both Europeans and Aboriginal people. Then the representatives of the Netherlands bought out to the Pekots the territory through which the trade route partially passed. At the same time, an agreement was concluded, according to which the aborigines freely pledged to let traders from all the tribes of the region to the Europeans, regardless of their relationship with the Pekots. But the Indians did not care much about the demands of the Dutch, so they mercilessly exterminated the representatives of the Narragansetts.

The Dutch were offended and killed the leader of the Pequots in response. It would seem that now the war will begin, but no. The Pequots did not react to the death of their leader. The only ones who embarked on the warpath were the relatives of the deceased ruler. They, without betraying the precepts of their ancestors, decided to take revenge. And it was this decision that predetermined the fate of both the tribe and the entire region.

How to fight: a master class from the British

I must say that for the Indians, all Europeans were the same. They saw no difference between the Dutch and the British. And therefore, the relatives of the deceased leader, going on a "hunt", had no idea who they needed to send to the next world. The only thing they knew was that the murder had taken place aboard a merchant ship.

The Pequots found the ship, climbed onto it, and massacred the entire crew. But the ship was not Dutch, but British. This is how the war began. The British could not "forget" the act of the Pequots, so they decided to show the natives all their might.

The power of the Pequots, meanwhile, began to melt. The fact is that after the death of the leader, there was no such strong leader in the tribe. Because of this, the former tributaries suddenly refused to pay and went over to the side of the Narragansetts. Moreover, even several Pekot tribes went over to their side. The leaders, realizing that war with the Europeans was inevitable, chose to become allies of their yesterday's enemies.

The mighty Pequot empire, which seemed indestructible, in fact was as fragile as a soap bubble. And she burst. Among all the Indian tribes, the Narragansetts took the leading role. And the Pekots were finally finished off by the betrayal of their kindred Mohegan people. Interestingly, the Mohegan chief Uncas tried to become the ruler of the Pequots, deciding to kill their new leader Sassakusu. But he didn't succeed. And then he, together with his tribe, went to the Narragansetts.

The constant skirmishes between the Pequots and the Narragansetts weakened the former considerably. Therefore, the war with the British was more like a massacre. The Indians fought the Europeans the way they used to, that is, they set up ambushes, raided. This tactic bore fruit in the confrontation with other Indians, but it did not work with the British.

The Europeans did not accept the rules of someone else's game, they acted at their own discretion. At the end of May 1637, the British dealt only one blow to the Pekots, but it was so powerful that the war could be considered over. They attacked the village of Mystic, massacring the entire population. The British did not spare any children, women or old people. This event made an indelible impression on the Indians. Even the aborigines who were in alliance with the Europeans were horrified. No one from the native population of America has ever done this. The Indians did not fight wars of annihilation, where murder was committed precisely for the sake of murder.

The Pequots were psychologically broken. It was not difficult to finish them off. All the other Indian tribes of the Connecticut Valley only watched as the Europeans methodically and cynically burned Pequot villages along with all the inhabitants. And no one dared to interfere. The Indians were seized by a wild horror that clouded their minds. In their naivety, they believed that the fate of the Pekots would not befall them.

The last chieftain of the Pequots, Sassakus, having lost the Great Swamp Battle, tried to hide from the Iroquois. But they betrayed him and killed him, and presented the severed head to the British as a gift. The war officially ended in the fall of 1638, the Pequots were almost completely exterminated, and the survivors were turned into slaves. And in order to finally close the history of the confrontation, the Europeans banned the Pekot language, and those who break the law were threatened with the death penalty.

The British freely occupied their lands, erected several forts and … and fixed their gaze on the territory of the Narragansetts. By that time, the attitude of Europeans towards aborigines had changed a lot. If at first they perceived them as people, albeit wild ones, the missionaries, by their fruitful activity, moved them into the category of "servants of the devil." And the war took on a religious connotation. The English became the crusaders of the New World, who lit the fire of Christianity on the land that belonged to the devil.