Rethinking Colonialism by Craig N. Cipolla

Author:Craig N. Cipolla
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Published: 2019-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Magunkaquog and Hassanamesit

This chapter focuses on the Nipmuc communities of Hassanamesit and Magunkaquog, two of fourteen settlements incorporated in English missionary John Eliot’s early attempts to Christianize Native peoples of southern New England during the seventeenth century. The first such community, Natick, was established in 1650 through Eliot’s efforts, followed by his efforts to Christianize Nipmuc people at Hassanamesit a few years later. Magunkaquog, the seventh such community, was acknowledged in 1669 as a Christian Indian settlement. By the 1670s, Eliot’s influence was felt in fourteen settlements across Massachusetts and northeastern Connecticut.

Each of these communities was different, yet all shared a connection to Eliot’s larger enterprise of converting Native peoples to Christianity. Eliot had a particular vision of religious conversion that was part of an eschatology that held that the conversion of all non-Christian believers would happen during the latter stages of the seventeenth century (Cogley 1999:9–22). This process was to follow a particular path, with Jews and Muslims converting first. Like many religious figures of this period, Eliot was not sure where Native peoples of North America fit into this larger scheme. Therefore, he chose a particular path for their conversion that began with their adopting the cultural practices of the English into their own daily lives. This was the primary purpose of what would come to be called the “Praying Indian” communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut (map 7.1). The outbreak of war in 1675 between the Native peoples of southern New England and the English, commonly known as King Philip’s War, or Metacom’s Rebellion, temporarily halted Eliot’s work. Once the war ended in 1676, he returned to working with the communities including many whose daily lives were severely disrupted by the war. Magunkaquog, which never had been much larger than fifty to sixty people, did not regain its prewar vitality, although it seems to have remained viable until the middle of the eighteenth century (Mrozowski et al. 2005, 2009).

At the conclusion of King Philip’s War, the English governments of the Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies moved to limit the remaining Native American communities from controlling their own destinies. Most importantly, they passed laws that established state-appointed guardians for many Indian communities to handle the legal and commercial affairs of the various groups and manage proceeds of land sales and other economic activities. Magunkaquog and Hassanamesit worked with guardians, but there is little in the documentary record concerning Magunkaquog before the eventual takeover of the community’s lands by Harvard College—today Harvard University—in 1719. Harvard leased some of this land to English settlers in the 1720s to provide the college with income (Mrozowski et al. 2009).

Excavations conducted at Magunco Hill revealed the remains of a dry laid foundation built into the sloping hillside. It appears the building could be entered either at ground level or through the lower room or cellar opening on the northeast, downhill side of the yard (figure 7.1). The building appears to have been constructed after 1650 and was occupied for several generations. Excavations of the foundation

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