Massasoit's Town Sowams in Pokanoket, Its History Legends and TraditionsBaker, Virginia
History
Massasoit's Town Sowams in Pokanoket, Its History Legends and Traditions
Baker, Virginia
Massasoit, 1580-1661; Sowams; Wampanoag Indians
But it was at the moment of his guests’ departure that Massasoit
demonstrated the depth of his gratitude to his preservers. Calling
Hobbamock, the guide, aside he, in the presence of two or three of his
most trusted counsellors, charged him to acquaint Winslow with the
existence of a plot originated by the Massachusetts Indians against
Weston’s colony at Wessagusset and the settlement at Plymouth.
Hobbamock faithfully obeyed his sachem’s instructions. What would have
been the fate of the Pilgrims had this timely warning not been given,
we can only conjecture. Massasoit advised his white allies to “kill
the men of Massachuset who were the authors of this intended
mischief,” and this advice they were constrained to follow.
This second visit of the English to Sowams marks an epoch in the
history of both red men and white. It firmly cemented, by mutual
gratitude and esteem, the friendship first established on a political
basis. Previous to it, Massasoit appears to have cherished some
misgivings regarding the good faith of his Christian allies. But his
restoration to health by their ministrations removed every doubt from
his generous mind. Witness his words, “Now I see that the English love
me and are my friends, and whilst I live I will never forget this
kindness they have showed me.” He never did forget it.
Less than a decade after this eventful visit, an English trading house
was established within the limits of Sowams of which at one period,
Thomas Prince, afterwards governor of Plymouth colony, was “master.”
The location of this trading house has caused historians as much
perplexity as the location of Sowams village itself. William J. Miller
in his “History of the Wampanoag Indians” says (p. 24), “The trading
post was supposed to have been located on the Barrington side of the
river (Warren River) on the land known as Phebe’s Neck.” A little
thought will convince anyone familiar with the Sowams region that the
trading house would never have been placed in Barrington, for the
reason that a wide, deep, and unfordable river lay between Phebe’s
Neck and Massasoit’s town which the white men would have been
compelled to constantly cross and recross in their traffic with the
Indians. Moreover, as early as 1652, an English settlement had been
planted in what now constitutes the north-easterly portion of Warren
on the banks of the Kickemuit River, and it seems only reasonable to
suppose that the colonists placed their homes in close proximity to
the trading house, which, probably, was also a fort.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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