TERRITORY OF THE PEQUODS--Their Character--Sassacus--His hatred of the English--Cruelties practised towards them--War declared by Connecticut--Expedition of Captain Mason--Surprise and destruction of the fort--Further prosecution of the war--Happy consequences resulting from it. The Pequods are supposed to have emigrated from the interior parts of the country, towards the sea-shore of Connecticut. They inhabited more or less of the territory now constituting that state, as well as a part of Rhode Island, and New York as far west as the Hudson river. At what time this emigration took place, is not known. Being a fierce, cruel, and warlike people, they made all the other tribes stand in awe of them, though they were fewer in number than their neighbors, the Narragansets. The principal seat of the Pequod sagamores was near the mouth of the Pequod river, now the Thames, where New London is built. There was said to be one principal sagamore, or sachem, over the rest. He who sustained this distinction, at the time of the English settlements in Connecticut, was Sassacus. His name alone was a terror to all the neighboring tribes of Indians. At the height of his power, he had twenty sachems under him. Sassacus ever regarded the English with feelings of jealousy and hatred. As he considered them, intruders on his domains, he was determined to expel them, if possible. Fired with rage, he breathed nothing but war and revenge. The utmost effort and art were employed by him to produce a combination of Indian power against them. The Narragansets, as related in another place, barely escaped the snare. But though unable to effect any extensive union, Sassacus was firm in himself, and inspired all the Indians under his influence with the resentment that burned in his own bosom. Finding war with this powerful and exasperated chief unavoidable, the Connecticut people prepared for it with such means and resources as they could command. A court was summoned to meet at Hartford on the 1st day of May, 1637, at which it was resolved, that an offensive war should be immediately commenced against the Pequods. Ninety men were ordered to be raised from the three towns on Connecticut river, and Captain John Mason was appointed to command an expedition into the heart of the Pequod country. At the same time, the report of the slaughter and horrid cruelties, committed by this savage tribe against the people of Connecticut, roused the other colonies to exertions against the common enemy. Massachusetts resolved to send two hundred men, and Plymouth forty, to assist the sister-colony in prosecuting the war. Captains Stoughton, Trask, and Patrick, were appointed their commanders.