Massasoit's Town Sowams in Pokanoket, Its History Legends and Traditions — John Shaqi
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
Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts states in his “Journal,” under the
date, April 12, 1632; “The Governor received letters from Plymouth
signifying that there had been a broil between their men at Sowamset
and the Narragansett Indians who set upon the English house there to
have taken Owsamequin[8] the Sagamore of Packanocott, who fled
thither, with all the people, for refuge; and that Captain Standish
being gone thither, to relieve the three English which were in the
house, sent home in all haste for more men and other provisions, upon
intelligence that Canonicus, with a great army, was coming against
them; on that they wrote to our Governor for some powder, to be sent
with all possible speed; for it seemed they were unfurnished. Upon
this, the Governor presently despatched away the messenger with so
much powder as he could carry, viz., 27 pounds. The messenger returned
and brought a letter from the Governor (Bradford) signifying that the
Indians were retired from Sowamsett to fight the Pequots.”
The Narragansetts feared and disliked the white men. The Old Indian
Chronicle states that they were jealous of Massasoit “because he had,
from the first, been in high favor with the English.” Naturally they
would have viewed the establishment of an English trading post at
Sowams with displeasure. Whether their hostility to the whites led to
the “broil” at Sowams, or whether, as has been suggested,[9] they
invaded Pokanoket for the purpose of compelling Massasoit and his
warriors to assist them in repulsing the Pequots, may be only
conjectured. Standish, perhaps fearing a second incursion, remained at
Sowamset until some time in May.[10]
In course of time, the trail leading from Plymouth to Sowams became a
familiar path to the people of the Pilgrim settlement. The Plymouth
records show that Edward Winslow made, at least, one more visit to
Pokanoket, and that John Alden, Samuel Nash, and others, also
journeyed there. All who explored the Sowamset district perceived that
it was, like the valley of Eshcol, “a good land,” and the idea of
establishing a plantation within its limits seems to have been
entertained by the Plymouth government for some years before such a
settlement was actually begun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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