1637 – May 26, Massacre, Eng. Colonists Attack Pequot Village, Mystic River CT –400-700

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard January 6, 2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 500-700  Childs. A History of the U.S. In Chronological Order…1492…to…1885. 1886, 8.

—      ~700  McMurtry, L.  Oh What a Slaughter–Massacres in the American West…, 2005,16.

— 400-700  The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut. 1637 – The Pequot War.

— 400-700  Wikipedia. “Mystic massacre.” 11-24-2023 edit. Accessed 1-6-2024.

—      ~600  Willsey and Lewis.  “Connecticut,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, p. 195.

— 500-600  Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America. In Drake 1836, p. 156.

— 400-600  Wikipedia. “List of Indian massacres in North America.” 12-31-2023 edit.[1]

—        400  Ojo, Praise. “For Fur and Beads: The 1637 Mystic Fort Massacre in Connecticut.”

–Several hundred.  US National Library of Medicine. Native Voices. “Timeline. AD 1637…”

Narrative Information

Childs: “English colonists commanded by John Underhill, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, launched a night attack a large Pequot village on the Mystic River in what is now Connecticut, burning the inhabitants alive and killing the survivors, with about 600-700 killed.” Mostly women and children.

“The Pequot Indians having murdered some of the colonists and committed some depredations, the colonists of the three towns on the Connecticut River organized a body of troops who, with about five hundred friendly Indians, marched into the Pequot country and attacked one of their forts. In this conflict about seventy wigwams were burned and between five and seven hundred of the enemy perished, either by the sword or flames.” (Childs. A History of the U.S. In Chronological Order…1492…to…1885. 1886, 8.)

Drake:  “1637….May 24. – About 77 English, 200 Narragansetts and 60 Mohegan Indians go forth to conquer the Pequots.

“May 26. – The Pequots are attacked in their fort at Mistic and routed with great slaughter; 5 or 600 Pequots fall by the sword or are burned to death in their houses.”

(Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America, From its First Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: 1836.  In Drake, S. G. The Old Indian Chronicle; Being a Collection of Exceeding Rare Tracts Written and Published in the Time of King Philip’s War, by Persons Residing in the Country; to Which are Now Added Marginal Notes and Chronicles of the Indians From the discovery of America to the present time. Boston: Antiquarian Institute, 1836, p. 156.)

McMurtry:  “The elimination of some seven hundred Pequots, many of them burned alive in a stockade, is one of the most frequently mentioned Eastern massacres.”  (McMurtry, Larry.  Oh What a Slaughter — Massacres in the American West: 1846-1890.  New York, NY:  Simon & Schuster, 2005, p. 16.)

The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut. 1637 – The Pequot War:

“In 1633 the English Puritan settlements at Plimoth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies had begun expanding into the rich Connecticut River Valley to accommodate the steady stream of new emigrants from England. Other than the hardship of the journey and the difficulty of building homes in what the Puritans consider a wilderness, only one major obstacle threatened the security of the expanding settlements: the Pequots.

“Despite early attempts to reconcile differences, continued confrontations precipitated the first war between Native Americans and English settlers in northeastern America and set the stage for the ultimate domination of the region by Europeans. The War not only involved the Pequots and the English Puritans, but several other Indians tribes, some of which, including the Mohegans, aligned themselves with the English.

“Based on archaeological and linguistic evidence, the Pequot and Mohegan Tribes, indian peoples of the Algonquian language group, probably have lived in what is now southeastern Connecticut for several hundred years. Mohegan oral tradition holds that the Mohegan-Pequots, originally the same tribe, migrated into the region some time before contact with Europeans. Anthropological evidence shows that the two groups were very closely related. Just before the outbreak of war with the English, the Mohegans under a sachem named Uncas split from the Pequots and aligned themselves with the English.

“At the time of the Pequot War, Pequot strength was concentrated along the Pequot (now Thames) and Mystic Rivers in what is now southeastern Connecticut. Mystic, or Missituk, was the site of the major battle of the War. Under the leadership of Captain John Mason from Connecticut and Captain John Underhill from Massachusetts Bay Colony, English Puritan troops, with the help of Mohegan and Narragansett allies, burned the village and killed the estimated 400–700 Pequots inside.

“The battle turned the tide against the Pequots and broke the tribe’s resistance. Many Pequots in other villages escaped and hid among other tribes, but most of them were eventually killed or captured and given as slaves to tribes friendly to the English. The English, supported by Uncas’ Mohegans, pursued the remaining Pequot resistors until all were either killed or captured and enslaved. After the War, the colonists enslaved survivors and outlawed the name “Pequot.”

“The story of the Pequot War is an American story, a key element in our colonial history. As noted historian Alden T. Vaughan wrote in his book New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians 1620–1675:

“The effect of the Pequot War was profound. Overnight the balance of power had shifted from the populous but unorganized natives to the English colonies. Henceforth [until King Philip’s War] there was no combination of Indian tribes that could seriously threaten the English. The destruction of the Pequots cleared away the only major obstacle to Puritan expansion. And the thoroughness of that destruction made a deep impression on the other tribes.””

US National Library of Medicine: “English settlers, working with the Narragansetts and Mohegans, set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River in what is now Connecticut. The settlers kill several hundred Pequots. A few escape. Others survive only to be captured and sold into slavery in the West Indies.

“A year earlier, an armed expedition left Boston to attack the Narragansett Indians on Block Island. The English killed some, but others hid in the thick forests of the island. The English went from one deserted village to the next, destroying crops. Then they sailed back to the mainland and raided Pequot villages along the coast, burning crops.” 

(United States National Library of Medicine. Native Voices. Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness.  “Timeline. AD 1637: English settlers burn Pequot village.” Bethesda, MD:   National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.)

Willsey/Lewis:  “Wethersfield attacked by the Pequots, several [9] killed…Apr. 1637.

“The court at Hartford, bent on offensive war against the Pequots, call for 88 men – 42 from Hartford, 30 from Windsor, 16 from Wethersfield…1 May, 1637.

“These are joined by Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, with 70 warriors, at Saybrook fort…15 May, 1637. (The plan was to attack the Pequots in their 2 strongholds; one on Fort hill, in Groton, about 4 miles east of New London; the other on the west side of Mystic hill, near Mystic village.)

“Captain John Mason of Windsor commanding, the expedition sails from fort Saybrook for Narragansett bay, to surprise the Pequot fort…19 May 1637.

“At Narragansett bay about 200 Narragansett warriors join him. He approaches the Pequot fort on the evening of 25 May, and next morning, at early light, he attacks and completely destroys it, together with about 600 Indians, men, women, and children; losing 2 killed and about 20 wounded, 26 May 1637.”  (Willsey/Lewis. “Connecticut,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 195.)

Willsey/Lewis:  “Capt. John Mason, with some 60 men from the Connecticut colony, and capt. John Underhill, with 20 men from the Massachusetts colony, accompanied by 200 Narragansett warriors, attack the Pequot fort on the Mystic, capture and destroy it with all its occupants, numbering 600 and over…26 May 1637.”  (Willsey & Lewis. “Massachusetts,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 486.)

Sources

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Drake, Samuel G. Chronicles of the Indians of America, From its First Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: 1836.  In Drake, S. G. The Old Indian Chronicle; Being a Collection of Exceeding Rare Tracts Written and Published in the Time of King Philip’s War, by Persons Residing in the Country; to Which are Now Added Marginal Notes and Chronicles of the Indians From the discovery of America to the present time. Boston: Antiquarian Institute, 1836. Google preview accessed 2-22-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NUwMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

McMurtry, Larry. Oh What a Slaughter — Massacres in the American West: 1846-1890. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2005.

Ojo, Praise. “For Fur and Beads: The 1637 Mystic Fort Massacre in Connecticut.” War History Online. 8-4-2018. Accessed 1-6-2024 at:

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/fort-massacre-connecticut.html

The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut. 1637 – The Pequot War. Accessed 1-6-2024 at: https://www.colonialwarsct.org/1637.htm

United States National Library of Medicine. Native Voices. Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness.  “Timeline. AD 1637: English settlers burn Pequot village.” Bethesda, MD:   National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed 9-17-2012 at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/208.html

Wikipedia. “List of Indian massacres in North America.” 12-31-2023 edit. Accessed 1-6-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_massacres_in_North_America

Wikipedia. “Mystic massacre.” 11-24-2023 edit. Accessed 1-6-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic_massacre

Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World.  New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Additional Reading

Cave, Alfred A. The Pequot War. University of Massachusetts Press, 1966.

[1] One must assume that the source for the fatality range of 400-700 is Alfred A Cave, The Pequot War, University of Massachusetts Press, 1966, pp. 144-154, in that this is the only source cited.