The Greatest Works of Charles Carleton Coffin. Charles Carleton Coffin
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the looks of those muskets peeping through the loop-holes, and refused to begin the fight. Van Corlear thought the matter over, and concluded that it would be better to let Wouter van Twiller settle the matter peacefully, rather than shed his blood for a few beaver-skins, and marched his men back to Good Hope. So it came about that the English and Dutch both obtained a foothold in the Connecticut valley in 1633.
Three years before this little flurry the Plymouth Company in England had given the land, from Narragansett Bay northward to the Massachusetts line, and westward to the Pacific Ocean, to the Earl of Warwick. The gift took no notice of the Dutch on the Hudson. The Earl of Warwick, in turn, transferred it to Lord Say-and-Seal and Lord Brooke.
The Dutch claimed to have purchased it of the Pequod Indians. They did not care anything about cultivating the land; they only wanted to buy beaver-skins.
Who should have it — the Dutch or English? The people of Massachusetts settled the question. Emigrants were leaving England by the thousand, and settling along the coast of Massachusetts. A colony from Newbury, in England, had selected a beautiful site on the south bank of the Merrimac, and named it for their old home. Another colony from Salisbury had looked for the last time on the lofty spire of their grand old cathedral, and had settled a new Salisbury on the north bank of the Merrimac.
South of Newbury the settlers from Ipswich had started a new Ipswich. South of Boston the settlers from Dorchester had begun a new Dorchester. There were emigrants at Cohasset, at Hingham, up the Charles River, at Newton, Watertown, and Brookline.
The settlers in Boston wanted more pasturage for their cattle. They heard of the fertility of the Connecticut Valley, and in October, 1635, nearly sixty of them, with their wives, children, and cattle, started on their journey to begin a settlement. No Englishman had ever threaded the pathless wilds. It was a wearisome journey. There were hills to climb, and streams to cross. The bright-colored leaves were falling; the chill winds of autumn swept through the forest; the rains were cold. There were many obstacles — rocks and fallen trees. Winter had set in before they reached the Connecticut, and they must construct rafts before they could cross. In December they reared their log-cabins on the western bank, and called the place Hartford. The snow fell, whirled by the wind into blinding drifts. Their cattle had nothing to eat, and began to die. Provisions failed. A vessel which was to have reached them did not come. The river froze. Death stared them in the face. They ate the bark of trees, scraped the snow from the ground beneath the oak-trees in search of acorns. The Indians were kind, and sold them a little corn; but they saw that if they attempted to remain, all would die of starvation. Some of them started through the forest; others went down the river and found a small vessel frozen in the ice, but it was two days before they could cut a channel with their axes to clear water; but they reached it, and, with almost the last morsel of food gone, reached their old homes.
The men of Massachusetts who had suffered such hardships in their journey gave glowing reports of the valley — of its wide meadows and fertile soil — and when spring opened a second party Started to occupy the fertile acres. Their minister, Rev. Thomas Hooker, went with them. He had been an eloquent preacher in England. Earls and nobles often travelled many miles to hear him. He was as good as he was eloquent, but, because he could not conscientiously use the form of service which the bishop had prescribed, had been driven out of England. He had been at Cambridge, Mass., two years, and was greatly beloved. The flowers were in bloom, and the forest clothed in its richest verdure in June, when Rev. Mr. Hooker and his company, with their wives and children — one hundred in all — and cattle and sheep, struck out into the wilderness, travelling, as the compass guided them, through swamps, over hills, and across rivers. The men carried heavy packs on their backs. Some of the women walked, carrying infants in their arms. Mrs. Hooker was weak, and rode in a litter. The boys and girls drove the cattle and sheep, while their fathers cleared the way with their axes. Feather-beds were strapped upon the backs of the cattle and horses, together with pots and kettles. At night great fires were kindled beneath the trees. Morning and evening they had prayers. Two weeks passed before they reached the beautiful stream and began to rear their homes. It was midsummer. There were myriads of salmon and shad in the river; the woods were full of turkeys, pigeons, and herds of deer; the meadows green with grass. Amidst such riches of nature, and with such a company, began the settlement of Connecticut.
Charles I. was carrying things with so high a hand in England that John Hampden and his cousin, Oliver Cromwell, resolved to emigrate to Connecticut. They sent out young John Winthrop, son of the Governor of Massachusetts, to make a beginning. He built a fort on the west bank of the Connecticut at its mouth, and named it Saybrook. A little colony was started, and John Winthrop, Jr., was elected governor.
Hampden and Cromwell were ready to leave England. The vessels were in the Thames, at London, with their goods on board, when the king, exercising his arbitrary authority, stopped them. Far better for him if he had permitted their departure. One of the gentlemen who came with John Winthrop was Colonel Fenwick, who was accompanied by his beautiful young wife, Lady Alice. What a change it was for her, to leave the old country home, with all its luxury and refinement, and make her home in a log-cabin inside the fort at Saybrook! But she was always light-hearted. She knew how to fire a gun, and could ride horseback at a breakneck speed. She tamed the rabbits: the squirrels were her friends. She was the life of the little company while she lived. She died in 1648. Matthew Griswold erected a memorial stone above her grave. Her husband went back to England, and was one of the judges that condemned Charles I. to death.
The Pequod Indians lived along the sea-shore, east of Connecticut River. They occupied a fine country. In the woods were deer, turkeys, and pigeons; in the rivers salmon, shad, and alewives. In calm weather they paddled their canoes along shore, and caught cod and mackerel. The bravest and proudest of the Pequods was Sassacus, lord of twenty-six sachems. He built two forts for the safety of the tribe; one was on a hill near Mystic River, the other near Connecticut River.
Sassacus was a statesman, and saw that sooner or later the English would be in possession of their hunting-grounds. The English were at Saybrook, at Weathersfield, Hartford, Windsor, and Springfield; they were in Rhode Island, and all along the shore to Plymouth, Boston, and Piscataqua. How long would it be before there would be no more deer in the woods, and no more flocks of turkeys? Quite likely, if we had been in Sassacus’s place, seeing people from a foreign country taking possession of all the beautiful lands, we might have resolved, as he resolved, to make war upon them. He knew very little of natural rights, or that the only right which men can have in land is in its cultivation. Sassacus knew nothing of physical or moral laws. He was in possession of the lands of his fathers; they were his. Why should he not drive out the English? Relying upon the power and bravery of his warriors, he resolved to make war upon the English. He began by inciting his followers to murder Captain Stone, and the crew of a vessel, ten in all, who had come from Virginia to Connecticut to trade. The Governor of Massachusetts demanded the surrender and punishment of the murderer, but Sassacus put him off with fair speeches, and the murderers were not surrendered.
On a midsummer’s day, 1636, John Gallup, with another man and two boys, were sailing past Block Island. when they discovered a vessel moving about strangely as if those on board did not know how to manage the craft. Getting nearer, they saw that the deck was crowded with Indians. They knew that John Oldham, of Watertown, Massachusetts, was on a trading cruise to Connecticut, and that this was his vessel. What should they do? There were fourteen Indians on board, armed with bows, arrows, spears and guns. John Gallup was brave. He had two guns, two pistols, and some shot, but no balls. They were four against fourteen; but they ran along-side, and so peppered the Indians with shot that they all crept beneath the hatches.
“Run them down!” shouted Grallup to the boy at the helm of his vessel. The wind filled the main-sail, and the prow came against the hulk of the other with a thump, which so frightened the Indians that six of them leaped into the sea. There came a second thump, and four Indians sprung overboard. Gallup leaped on board the vessel, and two of the Indians gave themselves up as prisoners. The other two would not come out from the hold, and he shut the hatches upon them. He found Oldham’s body on board, still warm, the head split open, and feet and hands chopped off!
The Governor of Massachusetts sent John Endicott and Captain John Underbill to chastise the Indians. They burnt