dine, mallow, marsh mallow, slippery elm, adder's tongue Book I. and rattlesnake weed. Indeed a great proportion of the the roots and plants of the country, with the bark, buds 1633. and roots of many of the trees, are used medicinally. There is a great variety of plants and flowers, the names and virtues of which are not known.§ The country was no less productive of animals, than of natural fruit. In the groves there were plenty of deer, Animals. moose, fat bears, turkies, herons, partridges, quails, pigeons, and other wild game, which were excellent for food. There were such incredible numbers of pigeons in NewEngland, when the English became first acquainted with it, as filled them with a kind of astonishment. Such numerous and extensive flocks would be seen flying for some hours, in the morning, that they would obscure the light. An American historian writes, "It passeth credit, if but the truth were written." Connecticut abounded in furs. Here were otters, beaver, the black, gray, and red fox, the racoon, mink, muskrat, and various other animals, of the fur kind. The wolf, wild cat, and other animals, common in New-England, were equally so in Connecticut. Wolves were numerous in all parts of New-England, when the settlements commenced, and did great damage to the planters, killing their sheep, calves, and young cattle. The country afforded an almost incredible plenty of wa- Fowl. ter fowl. In the bays, creeks, rivers, and ponds, were wild geese, and ducks of all kinds, wigeons, sheldrapes, broadbills, teal of various sorts, and other fowl, which were both wholesome and palatable. In the waters, on the shores, and in the sands, were lobsters, oysters, clams, and all kinds of shell fish in abundance. Most of these are reckoned among the dainties of the table. In the seas, bays, rivers, and ponds, there was a variety, and an innumerable multitude of fish. Connecticut river, in particular, was distinguished for that plenty and variety which it afforded in the proper season : especially for those excellent salmon, with which its waters were replenished. As Connecticut abounded in wild animals, so it did also Fish. Indians nu with wild and savage men. In no part of New-England merous in were the Indians so numerous, in proportion to the extent Connectiof territory, as in Connecticut. The sea coast, harbors, cut. bays, numerous ponds and streams, with which the country abounded, the almost incredible plenty of fish and fowl The roots and flowers of America, would be the most valuable addition to the works of the celebrated Linnæus, which could be made. BOOK I. which it afforded, were exceedingly adapted to their con venience and mode of living. The exceeding fertility of 1633. the meadows, upon several of its rivers, and in some other parts of it, the excellence of its waters, and the salubrity of the air, were all circumstances, which naturally collected them in great numbers to this tract. Neither wars, nor sickness, had so depopulated this, as they had some other parts of New-England. Their numbers. From the accounts given of the Connecticut Indians, they cannot be estimated at less than twelve or sixteen thousand. They might possibly amount to twenty. They could muster, at least, three or four thousand warriors.* It was supposed, in 1633, that the river Indians only could bring this number into the field. These were principally included within the ancient limits of Windsor, Hartford, Weathersfield, and Middletown. Within the town of Windsor only, there were ten distinct tribes, or sovereignties. About the year 1670, their bowmen were reckoned at two thousand. At that time, it was the general opinion, Situation. that there were nineteen Indians, in that town, to one En Forts glishman. There was a great body of them in the centre of the town. They had a large fort a little north of the plat on which the first meeting-house was erected. On the east side of the river, on the upper branches of the Podunk, they were very numerous. There were also a great number in Hartford. Besides those on the west side of the river, there was a distinct tribe in East-Hartford. These were principally situated upon the Podunk, from the northern boundary of Hartford, to its mouth, where it empties into Connecticut river. Totanimo, their first sachem with whom the English had any acquaintance, commanded two hundred bowmen. These were called the Podunk Indians. At Mattabesick, now Middletown, was the great sachem Sowheag. His fort, or castle, was on the high ground, facing the river, and the adjacent country, on both sides of the river, was his sachemdom. This was extensive, comprehending the ancient boundaries of Weathersfield, then called Pyquaug, as well as Middletown. Sequin was sagamore at Pyquaug, under Sowheag, when the English began their settlements. On the east side of the river, in the tract since called Chatham, was a considerable clan, called the Wongung Indians. At Machemoodus, now called East-Haddam, was a numerous tribe, famous for their pawaws, and worshipping of evil spirits. South of these, *Winthrop's Journal, p. 51. + Manuscripts from Windsor. Manuscripts of the Rev. Mr. Hosmer. in the easternmost part of Lyme, were the western Nehan- Book I. ticks. These were confederate with the Pequots. South and east of them, from Connecticut river to the eastern 1633. boundary line of the colony, and north-east or north, to its northern boundary line, lay the Pequot and Moheagan country. This tract was nearly thirty miles square, including the counties of New-London, Windham, and the principal part of the county of Tolland.§ country. Historians have treated of the Pequots and Moheagans, Pequot as two distinct tribes, and have described the Pequot coun- and Motry, as lying principally within the three towns of New-heagan London, Groton, and Stonington. All the tract above this, as far north and east as has been described, they have represented as the Moheagan country. Most of the towns in this tract, if not all of them, hold their lands by virtue of deeds from Uncas, or his successors, the Moheagan sachems. It is, however, much to be doubted, whether the Moheagans were a distinct nation from the Pequots. They appear to have been a part of the same nation, named from the place of their situation. Uncas was evidently of the royal line of the Pequots, both by his father and mother; and his wife was daughter of Tatobam, one of the Pequot sachems. He appears to have been a captain, or petty sachem, under Sassacus, the great prince of the nation. When the English first came to Connecticut, he was in a state of rebellion against him, in consequence of some misunderstanding between them; and of little power or consequence among the Indians. * The Pequots were, by far, the most warlike nation in Pequot saConnecticut, or even in New-England. The tradition is, chems. that they were, originally, an inland tribe; but, by their prowess, came down and settled themselves, in that fine country along the sea coast, from Nehantick to Narraganset bay. When the English began their settlements at Connecticut, Sassacus had twenty-six sachems, or principal war captains, under him. The next to himself, in dignity, was Mononottoh. The chief seat of these Indians, was at New-London and Groton. New-London was their principal harbor, and called Pequot harbor. They had another small harbor at the mouth of Mystic river. Their Forts and principal fort was on a commanding and most beautiful em-chief seat. inence, in the town of Groton, a few miles south-easterly from fort Griswold. It commanded one of the finest prospects of the sound and the adjacent country, which is to President Clap's manuscripts, and Chandler's map of the Moheagan country. *Preface to Capt. Mason's history, and genealogy of Uncas, upon the records of Connecticut. F Book 1. be found upon the coast. This was the royal fortress, where the chief sachem had his residence. He had an1633. other fort near Mystic river, a few miles to the eastward of this, called Mystic fort. This was also erected upon a beautiful hill, or eminence, gradually descending towards the south and south-east. The Pequots, Moheagans, and Nehanticks, could, doubtless, muster a thousand bowmen. The Pequots only were estimated at seven hundred warriors. Upon the lowest computation we therefore find at least three thousand warriors on the river Connecticut, and in the eastern part of the colony. If we reckon every third person a bowman, as some have imagined, then the whole number of Indians, in the town and tract mentioned, would be nine thousand; but if there were but one to four or five, as is most probable, then there were twelve or fifteen thousand. Milford Indians. Paugusset and Strat ford ludi ans. West of Connecticut river and the towns upon it, there were not only scattering families in almost every part, but, in several places, great bodies of Indians. At Simsbury and New-Hartford, they were numerous; and upon those fine meadows, formed by the meanders of the little river, at Tunxis, now Farmington, and the lands adjacent, was another very large clan. There was a small tribe at Guilford, under the sachem squaw, or queen, of Menunkatuck. At Branford and East-Haven there was another. They bad a famous burying ground at East-Haven, which they visited and kept up, with much ceremony, for many years after the settlement of New-Haven. At Milford, Derby, Stratford, Norwalk, Stamford, and Greenwich, their numbers were formidable. At Milford, the Indian name of which was Wopowage, there were great numbers; not only in the centre of the town, but south of it, at Milford point. In the fields there, the shells brought on by the original inhabitants are said to be so deep, that they never have been ploughed, or dug through, even to this day. On the west part of the town was another party. They had a strong fortress, with flankers at the four corners, about half a mile north of Stratford ferry. This was built as a defence against the Mohawks. At Turkey hill, in the north-west part of Milford, there was another large settlement. In Derby, there were two large clans. There was one at Paugusset. This clan erected a strong fort against the Mohawks, situated on the bank of the river, nearly a mile above Derby ferry. At the falls of Naugatuck river, four or five miles above, was another tribe. At Stratford, the Indians were equally, if not more nu merous. In that part of the town only, which is compris- Book 1. ed within the limits of Huntington, their warriors, after the English had knowledge of them, were estimated at three 1633. hundred; and, before this time, they had been much wasted by the Mohawks. The Indians at Stamford and Greenwich, and in that Stamford vicinity, probably, were not inferior in numbers to those Indians. at Stratford. There were two or three tribes of Indians in Stamford, when the English began the settlement of the town. In Norwalk were two petty sachemdoms; so that within these towns, there was a large and dangerous body of savages. These, with the natives between them and Hudson's river, gave extreme trouble to the Dutch. The Norwalk and Stamford Indians gave great alarm, and occasioned much expense to the English, after they made settlements in that part of the colony. In the town of Woodbury, there were also great numbers of Indians. The most numerous body of them was in that part of the town, since named South-Britain, It would doubtless be a moderate computation, to reckon all these different clans at a thousand warriors, or four or five thousand people. There must therefore have been sixteen, and it may be, twenty thousand Indians in Conmecticut, when the settlement of it commenced. set In East of Connecticut were the Narraganset Indians: Narragan these were a numerous and powerful body. When the dians. English settled Plymouth, their fighting men were reckoned at three or four thousand.* Fifty years after this time, they were estimated at two thousand. The Pequots and Narragansets maintained perpetual war, and kept up an implacable animosity between them. The Narragansets were the only Indians in the vicinity of the Pequots, which they had not conquered. To these their very name was dreadful. They said Sassacus was "all one God; no man could kill him."t On the northeasterly and northern part of the colony, Nipmuck were the Nipmuck Indians. Their principal seat was Indians. about the great ponds in Oxford, in Massachusetts, but their territory extended southward into Connecticut, more than twenty miles. This was called the Wabbequasset and Whetstone country; and sometimes, the Moheagan conquered country, as Uncas had conquered and added it to his sachemdom.‡ * Prince's Chron. p. 116. + Major Mason's history of the Pequot war. President Clap's manuscripts, and Chandler's map of the Moheagan country. |