cut Valley and provide a yearly tribute. The
harsh terms occasioned some grumbling in
the tribal councils, but at length Sassacus
consented, and he became a nominal English
ally. This bought the Pequots valuable time to
rebuild their strength—or so they thought.
As English settlers and traders trespassed
over Pequot territory in search of land and
trade, there was a corresponding increase in
friction. Events came to a head in July 1636
when a coastal trader, John Oldham, was
killed by unidentified Indians. Oldham’s boat
was subsequently discovered off Block Island
by another sailor, John Gallup, and he at-
tacked it, killing several Indians of the Narra-
gansett tribe. When Puritan officials of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony were informed of
this murder, they initially demanded addi-
tional wampum from the Pequots for the mur-
der but then largely forgot about it. However,
Uncas, still smarting from losing authority,
soon warned Puritan officials that the Pe-
quots were preparing for war. By this act, his-
torians concur that the Mohegan chief was
trying to ingratiate himself toward Europeans
in a bid to enhance his own power. Nonethe-
less, the information provided the Puritans a
convenient pretext to launch a preemptive
strike. The matter of Oldham’s death was sud-
denly resurrected, and the Puritans issued de-
mands that the murderers be surrendered up.
Sassacus respectfully replied that their
whereabouts were unknown. The colonies
then outfitted an expedition under Capt. John
Endicott with orders to punish the inhabi-
tants of Block Island. This was done with a
vengeance, but Endicott then sailed to the
Connecticut shore to attack the Pequots,
who, the English suspected, had also had a
hand in Oldham’s murder. Despite pleas from
settlers at Fort Saybrook to relent, the expedi-
tion stormed and burned several villages be-
fore returning to Boston. Sassacus was an-
gered by such wanton aggression, for he
denied all culpability for recent events and
even offered to help bring in the perpetrators.
Accordingly, the chief ordered Fort Saybrook
besieged throughout the winter of 1636–1637,
resulting in several English deaths. The ensu-
ing struggle, known as the Pequot War, had
commenced in earnest.
Acknowledging his weakness, Sassacus ini-
tially sought to ally himself with the powerful
Narragansetts and make a concerted effort
against the Europeans. However, his diplo-
macy was thwarted by Roger Williams of
Rhode Island, long viewed by that tribe as a
benefactor, and they remained neutral. Sas-
sacus remained unperturbed by this setback,
and in the spring of 1637 his warriors ravaged
the settlement of Wethersfield, on the Con-
necticut River, killing nine colonials. Their
success spurred Puritan leaders into mounting
a new expedition into Connecticut under
Capt. John Mason. Mason had only 80 well-
equipped English militia with him, but he so-
licited and received timely aid from 500 Narra-
gansett, Niantic, and Mohegan warriors
through the urging of Williams. En route they
were joined by a party of Connecticut militia
under Capt. John Underhill. On May 25, 1637,
this armed assembly attacked Sassacus’s main
village at Weinshaukc on the Mystic River. The
Indians fought back furiously from within
their palisade, defeating every English attempt
to enter. Then Mason resorted to setting the
Indian wigwams on fire. Those Pequots who
fled the flames were cut down at swordpoint.
This brand of total warfare, heretofore un-
known to Native Americans, stunned the Nar-
ragansetts, and Roger Williams pleaded with
Mason—unsuccessfully—to spare Indian
lives. By day’s end, Pequot losses were esti-
mated between 700 and 1,000 men, women,
and children, a crippling blow. The English, by
contrast, had two killed and 20 wounded. Sas-
sacus somehow managed to escape in the con-
fusion and carried off the tribal wampum.
In July, another Puritan force led by Under-
hill surrounded the surviving Pequots in a
swamp west of New Haven and dealt them an-
other telling blow. Sassacus eluded his antago-
nists again, but his tribe was virtually elimi-
nated as a regional power. Taking the tribal
wampum with him, he fled to the land of his
traditional enemies, the Mohawks, and triedSASSACUS