SEPTEMBER 21:

1992 Capilano BC - Brian Mulroney 1939- joins Premier Harcourt & First Nations in deal to set up BC Treaty Commission to broker land claims; to 'fast track' negotiations.

September 21, 1904:  Chief Joseph (Hinmaton-yalatkit or Hein-mot To-ya-la-kekt) died on this date.

September 21, 1638: The Treaty of Hartford is signed. After losing their battle with the English, and their Indians allies, the Pequots surrender. The surviving members of the tribe are given as servants to the Indian allies of the English.
 

BACKGROUND:
 

From http://www.providence.edu/polisci/projects/pequot/history.html
 

The History of the Pequot People

The Mashantucket Pequot Nation has called Southeastern Connecticut their ancestral land for thousands of years. The Pequot people have lived in an area between the Thames and Pawcatuck rivers, an area of about two hundred and fifty miles . The nation's language draws on the Algonquian language family, making it very similar to other southern New England tribes.

Before devastating diseases wiped out much of the tribe they numbered between ten and fifteen thousand people. The Pequots lived primarily along bays and tidal marshes of Long Island Sound and the estuaries of the Thames, Mystic, and Pawcatuck Rivers. They took advantage of their proximity to water by creating an economy based on fishing, shellfish and hunting. They also employed the cultivation of corn, squash, and tobacco as means to survival. The Pequot proximity to the previously mentioned waterways brought them easily into contact with European traders. Because of this, Pequots rose to economic and political control offer the region by controlling the Europeans access to such things as furs and Wampum. ...

... In the fall of 1636, war was declared on the Pequot people. A military force from the Massachusetts Bay Colony burned two Pequot villages along the Thames River. The reasons for the attack by the English were numerous. First, the Pequots refused to turn in the man involved in the killing of an English trader by the name of John Stone. The Pequots also refused to give a large payment of Wampum in payment for the killing nor would they supply hostages to the English to ensure compliance for their demands.

After this conflict, measures by the English were taken to subdue the adversity. The English attempted to force assimilation upon them, however this was not successful. The Pequot were split into two groups; the Mashantucket. Pequot were forced to live under Uncas and Mohegans and the Pawcatuck Pequot were placed under the control of the Naragansetts. Before the Pequot war, nearly half of the Pequot people as a result of small pox, plague, and other European diseases, and by the end of the war, only about 2,500 were left. After the Pequot war, the Mashantucket Pequot, with help from Connecticut Governor John Winthrop, were granted the right to return the Pequot land.

In 1638, the treaty of Hartford was signed. It divided the surviving Pequots among the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes and forbade the survivors from returning to their land and forbade them from ever again being called "Pequot." This attempt to force the assimilation of Pequots into other tribes was not successful. The Pequots managed to retain their cultural identity in spite of European attempts to the contrary (Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Literature 1997).
 

*****
 

Excerpt from Lee Sultzman's 'Compact History' at http://www.dickshovel.com/peq.html
 

The Pequot War (1637) actually began during the summer of 1636 when another Boston trader, John Oldham, was killed as the western Niantic captured his boat near Block Island. Richard Mather, in a sermon delivered in Boston, denounced the Pequot as the "accursed seeds of Canaan," in effect turning the confrontation in Connecticut into a "holy war" of the Puritans against the forces of darkness. With these fiery words urging them to action, Massachusetts, without bothering to consult the colonists in Connecticut, sent a punitive expedition of 90 men under the command of John Endecott (Endicott) to Block Island in August with orders to kill every man and take the women and children prisoners. The English soldiers managed to kill 14 Niantic and an undetermined number of dogs before they escaped into the woods and then burned the village and crops. Endicott then loaded his men back into the boats and sailed over to Fort Saybrook to add some additional soldiers for the second part of his mission - a visit to the Pequot village at the mouth of the Thames river to demand 1,000 fathoms of wampum for the death of Oldham and several Pequot children as hostages.

His arrival at Saybrook was the first indication the Connecticut colonists had of what had happened and since they would bear the brunt of the Pequot and Niantic retaliation, they were very upset. However, the situation was already beyond repair, so they reluctantly provided Endicott with the few men they could spare. Endicott then sailed up the coast to the Pequot village and came ashore to make his demands. The Pequot were just as stunned to learn what had happened as the English had been at Saybrook but managed to stall while everyone escaped into the woods leaving Endicott with an empty village to destroy. Satisfied he had "chastised" enough heathen for one day, Endicott loaded his men into the boats and returned to Boston. The Pequot, however, had recognized some of the Saybrook soldiers, who expecting a siege afterwards, had stolen their corn. Their fears were soon realized. Saybrook was surrounded by Pequot and Niantic warriors who killed anyone trying to leave.

Rather than feeling chastised, the Pequot were furious. During the winter they plotted revenge and sent war belts to the Narragansett and Mohegan asking their help in a war against the English. However, because of their past actions, the Pequot had few friends, and the English found it fairly easy to isolate them. In Rhode Island, Roger Williams used his influence with the Narragansett to convince them not only to refuse the Pequot belt but to ally with the English. Uncas and the Mohegan also declined and chose instead to fight their former tribesmen. Despite this, the Pequot were still formidable and claimed the nominal allegiance of 26 subordinate sachems from other tribes. However, the loyalty of many of their allies was suspect, and when the war began, many of them remained neutral to see "which way the wind blew" before committing themselves.

Early in 1637, Sassacus ordered a series of raids against the Connecticut settlements to retaliate for Endecott's raid of the previous summer. Two hundred warriors attacked Wethersfield on April 12th and killed nine colonists (six men and three women). Other victims were twenty cows and a horse. Taking two teenage girls hostage, the war party loaded their loot into canoes and went home via the Connecticut River. Passing the fort at Saybrook, they taunted the garrison by waving the bloody clothes of their victims. In all, the colonists lost 30 people in these raids, and in May the General Court at Hartford formally declared war. Despite doubts about the loyalty of the Mohegan, a joint expedition of 90 English and 70 Mohegan warriors under Uncas assembled near Hartford to attack the main Pequot fort at Mystic. Commanded by Captain John Mason, an experienced soldier, this tiny army departed on what seemed a suicide mission. Passing down the Connecticut River, it stopped at Fort Saybrook to add a few soldiers and then proceeded up the coast only to discover the Pequot waiting for them at Mystic.

Seeing he was badly outnumbered, Mason prudently decided not to land and continued east to Rhode Island. The Pequot watched his departure and became convinced the English had abandoned the attack and were retreating to Boston. As it turned out, this was a terrible mistake. When Mason reached the Narragansett villages, 200 warriors joined his ranks, and he received their permission to travel overland through Narragansett territory for a surprise attack on Mystic from the rear. With his force now numbering more than 400 men, Mason left the Narragansett villages and moved west across the hills of western Rhode Island. They had barely left before the Narragansett became alarmed by the clumsy manner in which the English soldiers moved through the forest and were certain their entire party would be discovered and ambushed. Only a fiery speech by Uncas challenging their courage kept the Narragansett from leaving the expedition. Despite becoming lost several times, the Mohegan finally located the Pequot fort on May 26th and guided Mason's army to it.

They had not only arrived undiscovered, but the Pequot warriors who normally would have defended Mystic were absent. Lulled into a sense of false security by the sight of the English retreat to the east, the Pequot had formed a war party and gone to raid the settlements near Hartford. Trapping 700 Pequot inside the fort (mostly women, children, and old people), Mason and his men set it afire. Those Pequot not burned to death were killed when they tried to escape. Following Mason's orders, the Narragansett and Mohegan finished any Pequot the English missed but were aghast when the English indiscriminately slaughtered Pequot women and children. Their grim work completed, Mason made a hasty retreat (actually, a headlong rush) to his boats waiting at a rendezvous on the Thames. Sassacus' village was only five miles away, and his warriors were in hot pursuit. During the race for the river, Mason almost stumbled into a returning 300-man war party, but the Pequot were distracted by the smoke from their burning village. The English reached their boats after suffering only two killed and 20 wounded and promptly left. Their native allies were not so fortunate. Abandoned to find their own way home, half of them never made it.

The massacre at Mystic broke the Pequot. Despite the obvious loss of life, the Pequot still had most of their warriors, but the attack demonstrated their fortified villages were vulnerable and deprived the Pequot of the support they needed from their allies. Starving and unable to plant their crops, the Pequot abandoned their villages, separated into small bands, and fled for their lives. As small groups, they were easy prey, and few escaped. After an abortive attempt to find refuge among the Metoac on Long Island, Sassacus in June led 400 of his people west paralleling the coast and its seafood because they were short of food. Slowed by their women and children, the Pequot crossed the Connecticut but killed three Englishmen they encountered near Saybrook. Unfortunate, because it told the English exactly where they were. Hartford declared June 15th as a day of prayer and thanksgiving for the "victory" at Mystic. The English, however, were not satisfied with merely winning the war and had decided to destroy the Pequot.

More than anything else, the English wanted Sassacus. At the end of June, Thomas Staughton landed at Pequot Harbor with 120 men. Finding the Pequot forts abandoned, he started west in pursuit. Mason joined him at Saybrook with 40 men plus Uncas and his Mohegan scouts. With the Mohegan pointing the way, they followed the slow-moving band of Sassacus west. Intent on capturing Sassacus, any Pequot encountered enroute were automatically smashed if they offered the slightest resistance or refused to cooperate - one Pequot sachem near Guilford Harbor was beheaded and his head placed in a tree as a warning (the location is still known as Sachem Head). The English finally caught up with him at Sasqua, a Pequannock (Mattabesic) village near Fairfield, Connecticut. The Pequot retreated to a hidden fort in a nearby a swamp but were surrounded. After negotiations, 200 Pequannock (mostly women and children) were allowed to leave, but the Pequot were well-aware of the fate awaiting them and refused to surrender. During the battle which followed, Sassacus gathered 80 warriors and managed to break free, but 180 Pequot were captured. The others were killed.

Sassacus and his escort fled west to New York. His logical choice for refuge should have been the Mahican (Dutch allies and close relatives), but the Mahican were subject to the Mohawk at the time, so Sassacus was forced to turn to his old enemies for help. The Mohawk, however, had never forgotten who the Pequot were, and they never stood a chance. The Pequot had no sooner reached the Mohawk village, than, without being allowed to speak in council, he and most of his warriors were killed. The few who escaped joined the Mahican at Schaghticoke. The Mohawk cut off Sassacus' head and sent it to Hartford as a gesture of their friendship with the English. Since the General Court in Hartford levied a heavy fine on any tribe providing refuge to the Pequot, there was no place for them to go. The remaining Pequot were hunted down by the English, Mohegan, and Narragansett, and the war ended in a series of small but deadly skirmishes. The remaining Pequot sachems asked for peace and surrendered. With the Pequot defeat, English settlement filled in Connecticut Valley and by 1641 had extended down the coast of western Connecticut as far as Stamford.

Less than half of the 3,000 Pequot alive in 1637 survived the war. Under the peace signed at Hartford in September, 1638, the Pequot were dismembered. The 180 Pequot captured near Fairfield were distributed as slaves: 80 to the Mohegan; 80 to the Narragansett; and 20 to the Eastern Niantic. Of the 80 Pequot which the English captured in other engagements, the 30 warriors were executed, and the women and children were sold as slaves to Bermuda and the West Indies. One Pequot band which surrendered was exiled to Long Island and made subject to the Metoac who by 1653 had become subject to the Narragansett. Other Pequot were distributed as "servants" to New England households where they remained until their deaths. The largest group of Pequot (perhaps as many as 1,000) were placed under the control of Uncas and the Mohegan. The additional manpower provided by the Pequot made the Mohegan the most powerful tribe in southern New England after they defeated the Narragansett in 1644.