Religious Justification For War In American History. A Savage Embrace: The Pequot War 1636-37 by William A. Adler

Author:William A. Adler [Adler, William A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782899501
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Golden Springs Publishing
Published: 2015-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Wrapped in Flames: The Defeat of the Pequot

On Saturday the 20th the Connecticut men under Mason arrived in Narragansett Bay. They stayed afloat for the Sabbath and a storm prevented their landing on Monday. Finally on Tuesday the 23rd, they landed and marched to meet the Narragansett sachem Miantonomi to secure passage through Narragansett territory. Miantonomi agreed to the English passage but did not initially commit forces to the venture. Mason was anxious to move against the Pequot before they could determine the location and size of his force.{176} On Wednesday the 24th Mason’s force, composed of ninety English and seventy Mohegan, began an overland march to the west to enter Pequot territory and eliminate the seat of Pequot power, the fortified villages at Mystic and Weinshauks.{177} In the course of their two day march the force absorbed a force of approximately 500 Narragansett warriors. Many of the Narragansett drifted off the further the force penetrated into Pequot territory; however, the Mohegan force remained with the militia.{178} Mason received information that an additional English force from Boston had arrived and was following, yet he decided not to wait. His concern at this point was detection by the Pequot, which would, at the least, cause his quarry to flee. At the worst it could open his small force to ambush in the heart of the Sassacus’ territory. Mason and his captains determined that Mystic was the easier of the two villages to reach and attack quickly. This force of 300-400 soldiers and Indian braves approached to within two miles of the fortified village before halting.{179}

In this case the decision to approach from the east was a sound one. The English set out to execute their assault on the village at about one in the morning on the 26th of May. Their Mohegan and Narragansett allies guided the English into position. Mason’s plan was to divide his force, surround the village, and begin his assault. There was no consideration at this point to any further parley with the Pequot. This would be an attack to overcome the defenses and crush any resistance. Captain Underhill, leading one portion of the English force, gives us his account:

“Captain John Mason, approaching to the west end, where it had an entrance to pass into it; myself marching to the south side, surrounding the fort, placing the Indians, for we had about three hundred of them, without side of our soldiers in a ring battalia [sic], giving a volley of shot upon the fort. So remarkable it appeared to us, that we could not but admire at the providence of God in it that soldiers so unexpert [sic] in the use of their arms, should give so complete a volley, as though the finger of God had touched both match and flint. Which volley being given at break of day, and themselves fast asleep for the most part, bred in them such a terror, that they brake forth in a most doleful cry; so as if God

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