JUNE 4:

 June 4, 1647: Chief Canonicus, Chief of the Narrangansetts when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, dies today. He is approximately 88 years old.
 

BACKGROUND:
 

From http://www.dickshovel.com/Narra.html
 

... In 1621 the Narragansett sachem Canonicus sent a war challenge to Plymouth in the form of some arrows wrapped in a snakeskin. William Bradford sent back gunpowder wrapped in the same snakeskin, and the Narragansett, after much puzzled discussion among themselves, decided to leave these strange people alone for the moment. The English took the precaution of building a fort, but the crisis, which may well have destroyed the tiny Plymouth colony, was ended through the timely intervention of other enemies which forced the Narragansett to turn their attention elsewhere. In 1622 the Pequot attacked the Narragansett who seized a disputed hunting territory in southwest Rhode Island from them. The following year the Narragansett were drawn into in a prolonged war with the Mohawk during which Pessacus, an important sachem, was killed. By the time the Narragansett were free to deal with the English at Plymouth, they were firmly established, and large numbers of Puritans were settling at Massachusetts Bay.

In the beginning, the English were content to leave the Narragansett alone. In 1627 Plymouth made an agreement with the Dutch not to trade in Narragansett Bay. Canonicus remained aloof from the English colonists, but he could not ignore the defection of the Wampanoag. In 1632 he decided to reassert his authority over them, but when the English colonists supported the Wampanoag, the Narragansett were forced to abandon the effort. The English had altered the balance of power in the region but would soon make themselves felt in other ways. In 1633 the Narragansett, for the first time, felt the full blow of an epidemic when they lost 700 of their people to smallpox. A second epidemic struck in 1635, but the Narragansett were still able to drive the Pequot from the southwest corner of Rhode Island that year and reclaim the territory which they had surrendered in 1622 .... The following year, a major change occurred in relations between the English and Narragansett.

Rogers Williams was a man of uncommon integrity who believed the English king had no right to claim to native lands, and because he did not hesitate to express this in public, the Puritans banished him from Massachusetts as a dangerous radical. Forced to move to Rhode Island in 1636, his negotiations to purchase land from the Narragansett initiated a long period of mutual trust and respect which continued until the King Philip's War (1675-76). Williams' accommodation with the Narragansett was timely, since the beginning of English settlement in Connecticut had provoked a serious confrontation with the Pequot. Open warfare erupted in 1636 following the seizure of the boat of a Boston trader near Block Island by the western Niantic (Pequot allies). That August, an English retaliatory expedition was sent to Block Island and killed 14 Niantic, burned their village and crops, and then made a similar attack on a Pequot village in eastern Connecticut. During the winter the Pequot planned their retaliation and sent war belts to the Narragansett asking their help. Because of Roger Williams, the Narragansett not only refused the Pequot request, but sent warnings to Boston of impending war, and allied themselves with the English. Narragansett support proved a key factor in the English victory the following year.

In April, the Pequot attacked the settlements along the Connecticut River killing 30 colonists, and the General Court at Hartford formally declared war. In May a small army of 90 colonists and 70 Mohegan warriors assembled at Hartford under the command of John Mason with the intention of attacking the main Pequot fort at Mystic. Mason's command travelled by boat down the Connecticut River to Fort Saybrook and, after adding a few more men, following the coastline east to Mystic, only to find the Pequot waiting for them. Outnumbered, the expedition continued east to the Narragansett villages in Rhode Island. Canonicus took one look at Mason's tiny command, pronounced it much too small, and provided 200 of his own warriors to be led by his son Miontonimo. Canonicus also gave permission for the English to travel overland through Narragansett territory to make a surprise attack on Mystic from the rear. Once enroute, the Narragansett became concerned about the bumbling manner in which English soldiers moved through the woods and considered leaving the expedition before it was discovered and ambushed. A fiery speech by the Mohegan chief Uncas, however, challenged their courage, and they decided to stay.

Mason's army eventually reached Mystic undiscovered. Trapping 700 Pequot inside while its warriors were absent on a raid against the Connecticut settlements, Mason and his men set it afire killing all who tried to escape. The massacre broke the Pequot, but the Narragansett were disturbed by the unnecessary slaughter of Pequot women and children. Unable to plant their crops afterwards, the Pequot abandoned their villages, separated into small groups, and fled for their lives. They were easy prey and few of them escaped. The English joined with Narragansett and Mohegan warriors to track them down, capturing some and killing the rest in a series of small, but deadly, skirmishes. The English were determined to destroy the Pequot. Warriors were executed, and the women and children sold as slaves to the West Indies. In the treaty signed at Hartford in 1638, the Narragansett were given 80 of the captured Pequot as slaves. The Mohegan received an equal number, but the 1,500 Pequot and Western Niantic who had managed to surrender were placed under the control of Uncas and the Mohegan. Since their hosts were required to pay an annual tribute to the English for each Pequot living with them, they were not treated well.

With the addition of so many Pequot to their ranks, the Mohegan suddenly became a serious rival of the Narragansett as the dominant tribe in southern New England, but except for his friendship with the English, the ambition of Uncas differed very little from the Pequot where other tribes were concerned. After the Mohegan allied themselves with the Puritans in Connecticut and Massachusetts, there was nothing to stop them, and they began seizing territory and exacting tribute from the smaller Mattabesic and Nipmuc tribes in the area. Rather than stop this, the English looked the other way, since the Mohegan stood ready to crush any resistance as English settlement took lands from the Mattabesic. However, the Narragansett grew increasingly alarmed at the growing power of Uncas and in 1640 formed an alliance with the Pocumtuc and Tunxis (Mattabesic) against the Mohegan. Sensing the Narragansett were on the verge of starting a war, the Puritans forced them to sign a treaty promising not to go to war with the Mohegan without consulting them beforehand.

Despite this agreement, Miontonimo, continued his efforts to recruit more allies against the Mohegan. Accompanied by 100 of his warriors, he attended councils with the Metoac on Long Island, Mattabesic in western Connecticut, and Mahican and Wappinger of the Hudson Valley during 1642. He found few of these tribes willing to join him, but his visits spooked the Dutch in New Netherlands who were already nervous from the growing hostility they were encountering with the Wappinger and Unami Delaware along the lower Hudson River. The Dutch mistook Miontonimo's intentions and, wrongly concluding that a general uprising was being planned against themselves and the English, passed their suspicions along to Massachusetts and Connecticut. That winter, the Dutch decided to strike first and their surprise attack on a sleeping Wecquaesgeek (Wappinger <http://www.dickshovel.com/wap.html>) village (Pavonia Massacre) started the Wappinger War (1643-45). The outbreak of fighting between the Dutch and lower Hudson tribes only added to the tensions in New England, and the Narragansett friendship with Roger Williams, still considered a radical by most Puritans, only made things worse.

When Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Hartford, and New Haven joined together in a defensive alliance known as the New England Confederation in 1643, Rhode Island was deliberately excluded. Completely isolated, the Narragansett decided they would have to deal with the Mohegan by themselves. Meanwhile, the Wappinger War had spread to include nearly 20 tribes, and the Dutch were very close to being overwhelmed. After concluding a treaty of friendship with the Mahican and Mohawk, they offered 25,000 guilders to the English colonists in Connecticut for soldiers to help put down the uprising. Captain John Underhill organized two companies, with Mohegan scouts and joined the war in 1644. With the departure of the English soldiers and Mohegan warriors to fight the Wappinger, Miontonimo decided the time had come, and without consulting the English, who were certain to warn the Mohegan, he led 900 of his warriors in a surprise attack on the Mohegan capital at Shetucket. The Mohegan were pushed back and near defeat until, with a last desperate effort, they managed to capture Miontonimo. With the loss of their sachem, the Narragansett became confused and broke off the battle.

Uncas delivered his important prisoner to the English at Hartford who locked him in a jail, but the Connecticut colonists were uncertain what to do with him until they had consulted with their counterparts in Massachusetts. After much discussion, it was announced that Miontonimo would be released and allowed to return to his people under a combined English and Mohegan escort. The English took Miontonimo from Hartford to Shetucket to pick up the Mohegan part of the escort, but the combined party had scarcely departed when the brother of Uncas stepped forward and tomahawked Miontonimo from behind, killing him instantly. It is very doubtful this execution could ever have taken place without the express approval of the English authorities. The death of Miontonimo marked the end of the Narragansett power in southern New England. For their violation of the treaty, the Naragansett were forced to pay an annual tribute of wampum to Massachusetts after 1645. They attempted to pay this in the same manner as the Pequot by crossing Long Island Sound during 1653 and conquering the Montauk (Metoac) on the east end of the island, but the warfare upset the English colonists who had settled at Southampton in 1640. Threatened with war by the English in 1654, the Narragansett conquest of the Metoac was incomplete. Canonicus died in 1647 and was succeeded by his grandson Canonchet (Nanuntemo). Despite their bad experiences with the Puritan colonists, the Narragansett still loved and trusted Roger Williams. Canonicus had sold him additional land during 1643, and this friendship continued under Canonchet.