64

Settlement of Connecticut.

which had been productive of much contention and anarchy, and peaceably submitted to Massachusetts.

CHAP. X.

Settlement of Connecticut-Character of the Reverend Mr. Davenport.

THE present territory of Connecticut, at the time of the first arrival of the English, was possessed by the Pequot, the Mohegan, Podunk, and many other smaller tribes of Indians. The Pequots were numerous and warlike. Their country extended along the sea coast from Paukatuck to Connecticut river. About the year 1630, this powerful tribe extended their conquests ever a considerable part of Connecticut, over 'all Long Island and a part of Narraganset. SASSACUS, who was the grand monarch of the whole country, was king of this nation. The seat of his dominion was at New London; the ancient Indian name of which was Pequot. The Mohegans were a numerous tribe, and their territory extensive. Their ancient claim comprehended most of New London county, almost the whole of the county of Windham, and a part of the counties of Tolland and Hartford. UNCUs, distinguished for his friendship to the English, was the sachem of this tribe. The Podunks inhabited East Hartford, and the circumjacent country. The first sachem of this tribe, of whom the English had any knowledge, was Tatanimoo. He was able to bring into the field more than two hundred fighting men.

The first grant of Connecticut was made by the Plymouth council to the Earl of Warwick, in 1630, and confirmed by his majesty in council the same year. This grant comprehended "all that part of New England which lies west from Narraganset river, one hundred and twenty miles on the sea coast. The year following, the Earl assigned this grant to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and nine others, who held it in trust for the Puritan emigrants from England.

In the year 1631, Wahquimacut, a sachem of one of the tribes upon the Connecticut river, visited the governors of Massachusetts and Plymouth, and earnestly besought them to make a settlement upon that river. Wahquimacut was induced to make this request from a hope that the English might protect him and his nation against the Pequots, who, from their number and power, threatened to exterminate the river

Grant of Connecticut.

65

tribes. To persuade the English to comply with his request, he represented to them the fertility of the country, and its advantages for trade, and promised to give them eighty beaver skins, and an annual supply of corn. Mr. Winthorp, the governor of Massachusetts, was not inclined to accept, the offer. Mr. Winslow, the governor of Plymouth, thought it worthy of consideration, and, that he might judge of the truth of the sachem's representations, he visited the river in the latter part of this year.

In 1632, a more particular examination of the river and adjoining territories was made by the people of New Plymouth, with a design to fix upon a proper site for a trading house. Having found a suitable situation, they endeavoured to engage governor Winthorp and his council to unite with them in this new settlement; but not having succeeded in this attempt they resolved to undertake it by themselves. Accordingly, in October, 1633, William Holmes of Plymouth, with a small com

pany of inen, sailed up the Connecticut, and erected a trading

house a short distance below the mouth of the little river in Windsor. This was the first house that was erected in Connecticut. The English, thus established, treated the Indians with justice and kindness; and the Indians in return testified to them, in every possible manner, affection and good will. The fierce and high spirited Pequots were the only people who refused this interchange of good offices, and who thus early manifested a deep animosity toward the English. The same year, a little before the arrival of the English, a company of Dutch traders came to Hartford, and built a house which they called Good Hope, and erected a small fort, in which they planted two cannon. The remains of this settlement are still visible on the bank of Connecticut river. They erected another fort among the Indians at Totoket, now Branford. These were the only settlements of the Dutch in Connecticut in these ancient times. The Dutch, and after them the province of New York, for a long time, claimed as far east as the western bank of Connecticut river. The justice of this claim has ever been disputed by the English. Douglass says, "The partition line between New York and Connecticut, as established December 1st, 1664, runs from the mouth of Memoroncok river, (a little west from Byram river,) NNW., and was the ancient easterly limits of New York, until November 234, 1683, when the line was run nearly the same as it is now settled."

66

Settlement of Connecticut.

In 1634, Lord Say and Seal, &c. sent over a small number of men, who built a fort at Saybrook, and held a treaty with the Pequot Indians, who, in a formal manner, gave to the English their right to Connecticut river and the adjacent country. The same year the inhabitants of Dorchester, Watertown, and Newtown, applied to the general court of Massachusetts for permission to remove to Connecticut. After warm and ong debates, this permission was refused. Nevertheless, the body of the people of Dorchester, and of the towns of Newtown, Cambridge, and Watertown, determined to remove.

In the summer of 1635, many of them performed the dangerous and laborious journey across the wilderness to Connecticut river. At the time of their removal, the Dutch had extended their claim to the river, and made a settlement a few miles below Windsor. The fortitude of those pious adventurers was truly wonderful, About one hundred men, women, and children took their departure from the three towns beforementioned, to travel through an unexplored wilderness. They were fourteen days performing the tedious journey. The wilderness, through which they passed, for the first time, resounded with the praises of God. They prayed, and sung psalms and hymns as they marched along; the Indians following and looking on them in silent admiration. They arrived at this river, the object of their ardent expectation, near the mouth of Scantic river in East Windsor. The Dorchester people, with Mr. Wareham for their minister, began the settlenent of Windsor on the west side of the river; they suffered great hardships the first winter, and their cattle perished for want of food; for to carry much provision or furniture through a pathless wilderness was impracticable. Their principal provisions and household furniture had been put on board several small vessels, which, by reason of delays, and the tempestuousness of the season, were either cast away, or did not arrive. Several vessels were wrecked on the shore of New England, by the violence of the storms. Every resource appeared to fail, and the people were under the dreadful apprehensions of perishing by famine. They supported themselves in this distressing period with that heroic firmness and magnanimity, for which the first settlers of New England had been so eminently distinguished. The Indians on and near the river were numerous. Three sachemdoms were in the vicinity. The seat of one was near the mouth of Podunk river, lying in the southwest corner of East Windsor. A second at Middletown, twenty

the

Constitution formed.

67

miles below; and the third at Farmington, about twelve miles west of Windsor. Some of the first settlers of Windsor were gentlemen of opulence and education, as were also those of Hartford and Weathersfield. The right of settling here they purchased of the old Plymouth company in England, and they paid the Indians for the soil. They had sent some men, year preceding their removal, to make the purchase of the natives, whom they looked upon as the only rightful proprietors. In October following, a number of people from Watertown, scttled Weathersfield. The 31st of the next March, Mr. Hooker, with most of his congregation, removed from New town and settled Hartford. Mrs. Hooker was carried in a horse-litter; they drove one hundred and sixty cattle, and fed on their milk by the way. The inhabitants of these towns met and formed a constitution of government, and entered into a solemn agreement, dated January 14, 1638. Under this original constitution, formed by the people themselves, an independant government was established and administered till 1662. During this time many more towns were settled, and christian churches organized. Application was then made to the king of England for a charter, that they might enjoy the protection and liberties of free born Englishmen. The peti tion was heard, and the charter granted, on condition the people paid to the king one fifth part of the gold and silver ore which should be discovered. Under this charter, which established the substance of the constitution they had formed for themselves, the people of Connecticut have lived secure and happy for almost two centuries. It has retained its force in periods of political fanaticism and revolutionary madness; it has seen the constitutions of neighbouring states rise and fall like billows of the deep; itself, like a rock in the surge, unmoved and unhurt. Notwithstanding its strong democratic features, it is the pride of its subjects, and the boast of legis lators.

The first settlers of Connecticut encountered serious difficulties, though not so great as their brethren of Massachusetts and Plymouth, nor perhaps so great as they themselves had experienced before, on their arrival. There is no account of such fatal sickness among them as the other colonies had suffer ed. Still had they full opportunity to exercise their self-denial and fortitude. In November, two shallops, going with goods to Connecticut, were cast away in a north-east storin on Brown's Island, near the Gurnet's nose, and the men all drowned. The

68

Sufferings of the Settlers.

same month, a pinnace, returning from Connecticut, was cast away in Manemit Bay, the men, six in number, were saved, and wandered ten days in extremely cold weather, and a deep snow, before they reached Plymouth, without meeting even an Indian. Soon after, ten men arrived in Massachusetts from Connecticut. They had been ten days on the journey, having lost one of their number, who fell through the ice and was drowned, and had they not found a friendly wigwam, all would have been starved. On the fifteenth of November, Connecticut river was frozen over. The people of Windsor, who removed their cattle, lost the greater part of them this winter; yet some, which came too late to be carried over the river, took good care of themselves, and looked well without hay. They lost £2000 worth of cattle, and were reduced themselves to great sufferings for want of food, being obliged to eat acorus, malt, and grains. The next fall, a bark sailing down the river, the people went on shore, and were assaulted by the Indians; one was killed, another made a prisoner, whose hands and feet they cut off, and tortured to death. The following spring the Pequots, near Weathersfield, killed six men while at work in the field; three women also were killed, and two maids taken captive; at the same time they killed twenty cows and a horse. The first court held in Connecticut was at Weathersfield, April 26, 1636. The next year the colony carried war into the country of the Pequots.

Upon the forced surrender of the Plymouth Company's patent to the crown, in 1635, the whole territory of New England was regranted in large partitions to a number of lords and proprietors; and among the rest, were granted to the duke of Hamilton all the lands between Narraganset and Connecticut rivers, and back into the country indefinitely. This covered a part of the Earl of Warwick's patent, and occasioned some disputes in the colony. There were several attempts to revive the Hamilton claim, but they were never prosecuted. The patent of Lord Say and Seal prevailed. Ir. consequence of the Pequot war, 1637, the English obtained the country east of the Dutch settlements, by right of conquest. The pursuit of the Indians led to an acquaintance with the lands on the sea coast, from Saybrook to Fairfield. It was reported to be a very fine country. Messrs. Eaton and Hopkins, two very respectatle London merchants, and Mr. Davenport, a man of distinguished piety and abilities, with their company, who arrived this year (1637) from London, made choice of this part of the country