The Massachusett were a
Native American tribe
In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, tribal nation, or similar concept is any extant or historical clan, tribe, band, nation, or other group or community of Native Americans in the Unit ...
from the region in and around present-day
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern a ...
in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. The name comes from the
Massachusett language
The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family, formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people ...
term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the
Blue Hills overlooking Boston Harbor from the south.
As some of the first people to make contact with European explorers in New England, the Massachusett and fellow coastal peoples were severely decimated from an outbreak of
leptospirosis circa 1619, which had mortality rates as high as 90 percent in these areas. This was followed by devastating impacts of
virgin soil epidemic
Virgin soil epidemic is a term coined by Alfred Crosby, who defined it as epidemics "in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenseless." His c ...
s such as
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
,
influenza,
scarlet fever and others to which the Indigenous people lacked natural immunity. Their territories, on the more fertile and flat coastlines, with access to coastal resources, were mostly taken over by English colonists, as the Massachusett were too few in number to put up any effective resistance.
Missionary
John Eliot converted the majority of the Massachusett to Christianity and founded
praying town
Praying towns were a settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity.
The Native people who moved into these towns were known as Praying I ...
s, where the converted Native Americans were expected to submit to the colonial laws and
assimilate to European culture, yet they were allowed to use their language. Through intermediaries, Eliot learned the Massachusett language and even published a
translation of the Bible. The language, related to other
Eastern Algonquian languages
The Eastern Algonquian languages constitute a subgroup of the Algonquian languages. Prior to European contact, Eastern Algonquian consisted of at least 17 languages, whose speakers collectively occupied the Atlantic coast of North America and adj ...
of southern New England, slowly faded, ceasing to serve as the primary language of the Massachusett communities by the 1750s. The language likely went extinct by the dawn of the 19th century.
The last of Massachusett common lands were sold in the early 19th century, loosening the community and social bonds that held the Massachusett families together, and most of the Massachusett were forced to settle amongst neighboring
European Americans
European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent E ...
, but mainly settled the poorer sections of towns where they were
segregated with
Black Americans, recent immigrants and other Native Americans. Surviving Massachusett assimilated and integrated into the surrounding communities.
Name
Endonyms
![Great Blue Hill in Milton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Great_Blue_Hill_in_Milton.jpg)
The native name is written () —singular (). It translates as "at the great hill,"
[ referring to the ]Great Blue Hill
Great Blue Hill is a hill of 635 feet (194 m) located within the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, Randolph and Canton, Massachusetts, about south of downtown Boston. It is the highest point in Norfolk County and the Greater Boston area.
The ...
, located in Ponkapoag.
Exonyms
English settlers adopted the term for the name for the people, language, and ultimately as the name of their colony which became the American state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. John Smith first published the term ''Massachusett'' in 1616.[Bert Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 172] Narragansett people
The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. Today, Narragansett people are enrolled in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. They gained federal recognition in 1983.
The tribe was nearly la ...
called the tribe Massachêuck.[
]
Territory
The historic territory of the Massachusett people consisted mainly of the hilly, heavily forested and comparatively fertile coastal plain along the southern side of Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...
in what is now eastern Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. Major watersheds in Massachusett territory included the Charles River
The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...
and the Neponset River
The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...
.[Bert Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 161.]
The Pennacook
The Pennacook, also known by the names Penacook and Pennacock, were an Algonquian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. They were not a united tribe but a netwo ...
lived north of the Massachusett tribe, the Nipmuc
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby part ...
to the west, Narragansett to the southwest in Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
, and Pokanoket
The Pokanoket (also spelled PakanokickKathleen J. Bragdon, ''Native People of Southern New England, 1500–1650'', page 21) was the village governed by Massasoit (Wampanoag, c. 1581–1661). The term broadened to refer to all peoples and lands g ...
, now known as Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 1 ...
to the south.[ Anthropologist ]John R. Swanton
John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and et ...
wrote that their territory extended as far north as what is now Salem, Massachusetts
Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...
, and south to Marshfield and Brockton. He wrote later they claimed lands in the Great Cedar Swamp (near present-day Lakeville), previously controlled by Wampanoag.[John R. Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America'', pp. 19–20.]
By the 1660s the Massachusett moved into praying towns
Praying towns were a settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity.
The Native people who moved into these towns were known as Praying I ...
, such as Natick
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
and Ponkapoag (Canton).
Swanton lists the following: Massachusett settlements.
Divisions
Massachusett people settled in villages; however, these were organized into larger bands.
Swanton writes about six major bands named for their ''sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
s'' or leaders.
* Chickatawbut, later led by his son Wompatuck
Wompatuck (ca. 1627 - 1669), also spelled Wampatuck, was sachem, or paramount chief, of the Mattakeesett band of Massachusett Indians.
Names
Wompatuck was also known as Wampatuck, Josias Wampatuck, and Josiah Sagamore. ''Wampatuck'' translates ...
and subsequent heirs, additional region/band led by Obtakiest; Massachusett territory south of the Charles River and west of Ponkapoag Pond
Ponkapag Pond is a 203-acre impoundment in the Blue Hills Reservation. The pond is located on the border of Canton and Randolph, Massachusetts about a half mile south of Route 128 and a half mile east of Route 138. It has a maximum depth of se ...
* Nanepashemet
Nanepashemet (died 1619) was a sachem and ''bashabe'' or great leader of the Pawtucket Confederation of Abenaki peoples in present-day New England before the landing of the Pilgrims. He was a leader of Native peoples over a large part of what is ...
, south of the Charles River. His territory was divided between his three sons:
::* Winnepurkit
Wenepoykin (1616–1684) also known as Winnepurkett, Sagamore George, George No Nose, and George Rumney Marsh was a Native American leader who was the Sachem of the Naumkeag people when English began to settle in the area.
Early life
Wenepoykin w ...
, Deer Island and Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
::* Wonohaquaham
Wonohaquaham also known as Sagamore John was a Native American leader who was a Pawtucket Confederation Sachem when English began to settle in the area.
Early life
Wonohaquaham was the oldest son of Nanepashemet and the Squaw Sachem of Mistick. ...
, Winnisimmet and Saugus
::* Montowampate
Montowampate (1609–1633), was the Sachem of the Naumkeag or Pawtucket in the area of present day Saugus, Massachusetts at the time of the Puritan Great Migration. The colonists called him Sagamore James. He was one of three sons of Nanepashem ...
, Massebequash and Lynn
* Manatahqua, around Nahant
Nahant is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,334 at the 2020 census, which makes it the smallest municipality by population in Essex County. With just of land area, it is the smallest municipality by are ...
and Swampscott
Swampscott () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population was 15,111 as of the 2020 United States Census. A former summer resort on Massachusetts Ba ...
* Cato, east of the Concord River
* Nahaton, around the area of Natick
Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...
* Cutshamekin
Cutshamekin (died in 1654) (also spelled Kitchamakin, Kuchamakin, or Cutshumaquin) was a Native American leader, who was a sachem of the Massachusett tribe based along the Neponset River and Great Blue Hill in what is now Dorchester, Massachuse ...
, around Dorchester, Sudbury, and Milton.
The appointment of guardians to administer the assets of the Praying Indians and represent them before the colony in 1743 ended the authority of local chiefs and the last vestiges of traditional tribal organization.[Order Accepting the Report in Regard to the Timber and Land of Natick Indians and Appointing a Committee Thereon, Province of Massachusetts. Session Laws § 257.]
Language
The Massachusett language, () ), was an important language of New England as it was also the native language of the Wampanoag, Nauset
The Nauset people, sometimes referred to as the Cape Cod Indians, were a Native American tribe who lived in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They lived east of Bass River and lands occupied by their closely-related neighbors, the Wampanoag.
Although the ...
, Cowesset and Pawtucket people. Due to its similarity with other closely related languages of the region, a simplified pidgin of it was also used as a regional language of trade and intertribal communication. By the 1750s, Massachusett was no longer the predominant language of the community and by 1798, only one Massachusett elder of advanced age spoke the language at Natick. Factors that led to the decline of the spoken language include the rapid rates of intermarriage with non-Indian spouses outside the speech community in the mid-18th century, the need for English for employment and participation in general society, the lack of prestige regarding the Indian language and the dissolution of Indian communities and outmigration of people leading to greater isolation of speakers. The Wampanoag on Noepe, with its more secure land base and larger population, held onto Massachusett as the communal language into the 1770s and went extinct with the death of the last Wampanoag dialect—and last speakers of any Massachusett dialect—in the 1890s.[Speck, F. G. (1928)]
"Territorial Subdivisions and Boundaries of the Wampanoag, Massachusett, and Nauset Indians."
Frank Hodge (ed). Lancaster, PA: Lancaster Press. p. 46. (PDF)
Early subsistence
The Massachusett occupied fertile flatlands. Men and women cleared fields first by burning trees, then by removing stumps. Women grew food crops, but men were involved in tobacco cultivation.[ Women used clamshell hoes. Women cultivated crops such as northern flint corn, called ''weachimineash'' in Massachusett, a variety of brands, squashes, and pumpkins. They planted corn in mounds, then planted beans that grew up the cornstalks, and finally the ]cucurbits
The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are:
*''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds
*''Lagena ...
, which protected roots and discouraged weeds.[Bragdon, ''Native People of Southern New England'', p. 108.] This companion planting
Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is the planting of different crops in proximity for any of a number of different reasons, including pest control, pollination, providing habitat for beneficial insects, maximizing use of space, a ...
method is called the Three Sisters.
Other regional plant foods included grapes, strawberries, blackberries, currants, cherries, plums, raspberries, acorns, hickory nuts, chestnuts, butternuts, and leafy greens and pseudocereals
A pseudocereal or pseudograin is one of any non-grasses that are used in much the same way as cereals (true cereals are grasses). Pseudocereals can be further distinguished from other non-cereal staple crops (such as potatoes) by their being pro ...
such as chenopods.
Massachusett people lived in conditional sedentary villages built along rivers. Families lived in domed houses, called '' wétu'' in Massachusett. The base structure of curved wooden support beams was covered with woven mats in the winter or chestnut bark in the summer. Inside, possessions were stored in hemp dogbane
''Apocynum cannabinum'' (dogbane, amy root, hemp dogbane, prairie dogbane, Indian hemp, rheumatism root, or wild cotton) is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows throughout much of North America—in the southern half of Canada and through ...
bags and baskets of all sizes.[Bragdon]
''Native People of Southern New England''
pp. 105. Men carved wooden bowls and spoons as dining utensils.[
Water transport was by both either carved ]dugout canoes
A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (t ...
and birchbark
Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus ''Betula''.
The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, craftin ...
canoes.
History
European exploration of the 16th century
The first known European encounter may have been in 1605 when French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
. Champlain met with Massachusett leaders on several of the Boston Harbor Islands and anchored off Shawmut Shawmut, according to 19th-century scholarship, is a term derived from the Algonquian word ''Mashauwomuk'' referring to the region of present-day Boston, Massachusetts.Forsford, Eben Norton, ''The Indian names of Boston, and their meaning''Univer ...
to conduct trade. Champlain was accompanied by an Algonquin
Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to:
Languages and peoples
*Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia
**Algonquin la ...
guide and his "Massachusett-speaking"—wife who helped translate. Despite mapping the region to promote French interest, colonization support was deterred by the dense population and resistance to contact by some of the Massachusett leaders The region was later mapped as "New England" by John Smith who followed in many of Champlain's footsteps, but also made landfall at Wessagusset
Wessagusset Colony (sometimes called the Weston Colony or Weymouth Colony) was a short-lived English trading colony in New England located in Weymouth, Massachusetts. It was settled in August 1622 by between fifty and sixty colonists who were ill-p ...
and Conohasset where he conducted trade and met with the chiefs, and helped promote further English colonial settlement in the region.
17th-century epidemics
With increasing levels of contact with European fishermen and explorers, the Massachusett and neighboring tribes were increasingly affected by infectious diseases. With minimal livestock, Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
lacked immunity to many zoonotic
A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...
diseases carried by Europeans and the animals they brought. These introduced diseases quickly became a series of virgin soil epidemic
Virgin soil epidemic is a term coined by Alfred Crosby, who defined it as epidemics "in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenseless." His c ...
s that devastated populations.
The deadly epidemic of 1616–1619 may have been caused by leptospirosis, a lethal blood infection, likely spread invasive black rats. This epidemic killed between 33 and 90 percent of the Native American population of New England.
The Massachusetts smallpox epidemic
The Massachusetts smallpox epidemic or Colonial epidemic was a smallpox outbreak that hit Massachusetts in 1633. Smallpox outbreaks were not confined to 1633 however, and occurred nearly every ten years.
__TOC__
European infection
Europeans bro ...
of 1633 further decimated Native populations, as did subsequent smallpox outbreaks, occurring almost every decade.
Devastation by disease and European encroachment upset political balances among New England tribes.
Relations with the Plymouth Colony (1620–1626)
English settlers established their first permanent foothold in New England with the founding of the Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...
by Pilgrims in 1620 near the site of the former Wampanoag village of Patuxet,[T.J. Brasser, "Early Indian-European Contacts," p. 82] just a short distance south of the historic boundary with the Massachusett. In 1621, the Pilgrims, led by Myles Standish, met Obbatinewat (Wampanoag), a local sachem loyal to Massasoit. The colonists signed a peace treaty with Obbatinewat, who in turn, introduced the Pilgrims to the Squaw Sachem of Mistick (Massachusett, c. 1590–1650), another leader.
The Wampanoag chief Massasoit
Massasoit Sachem () or Ousamequin (c. 15811661)"Native People" (page), "Massasoit (Ousamequin) Sachem" (section),''MayflowerFamilies.com'', web pag was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. ''Massasoit'' means ''Great Sachem''.
Mas ...
(c. 1581–1661) decided to ally with the Pilgrims.[ The Pilgrims also met with Chickatawbut (Massachusett, d. 1633), the most powerful Massachusett leader of the time. Unlike Massasoit, who favored increasing ties with the new English settlers to help assist against increasing power struggles with the Pequot and the Narragansett, Chickatawbut and other Massachusett leaders were wary of the Pilgrims and their intentions.
Chickatawbut's fears were confirmed when the Plymouth Colony expanded to ]Wessagusset
Wessagusset Colony (sometimes called the Weston Colony or Weymouth Colony) was a short-lived English trading colony in New England located in Weymouth, Massachusetts. It was settled in August 1622 by between fifty and sixty colonists who were ill-p ...
, in Massachusett territory, with the arrival of a new ship of colonists. The new settlers were ill-prepared, even more so than the first Pilgrims, and quickly resorted to trading supplies with the Massachusett. As their situation worsened, the Pilgrims began raiding Massachusett villages for food and supplies. To prevent an attack, Standish ordered a preemptive strike in 1624, which led to the deaths of Pecksuot Pecksuot (died c. 1623) was a warrior of a Massachusett tribe led by Chickatawbut in the early 17th century until his death c. 1623. He was killed by Myles Standish either in 1624 in the battle at Wessagusset Colony (citation irretrievable) as immor ...
, Wituwamat, and other Massachusett warriors who were lured under the pretense of peace and negotiation to meet with the colonists.[Tremblay, R. (1972).]
Weymouth Indian History.
Weymouth, MA: 350th Anniversary Committee Town of Weymouth. Standish further angered the Massachusett when he led his men deep into their territory to suppress the nascent colony of Merrymount, which had been established by Thomas Morton and which had friendly relations with neighboring Indian tribes. These activities caused the Massachusett to halt trade with the Pilgrims for many years.
Relations with the Massachusett Bay Colony (1629-1676)
The Massachusett were unable to isolate themselves from the English settlers. Despite cutting off relations with the Pilgrim settlers, dissenting English settlers, mostly Puritans who wished to reform the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
to conform with their view of the Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
as opposed to separate from it, began arriving, with the first settling in Wonnisquam in 1623 and later expanding to Naumkeag
Naumkeag is the former country estate of noted New York City lawyer Joseph Hodges Choate and Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate, located at 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The estate's centerpiece is a 44-room, Shingle Style ...
in Pawtucket territory. In 1628, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was legally established, with a claim over the lands north of the Plymouth Colony. The boundary between the two colonies mirrored the traditional boundary between the Massachusett and Wampanoag, although many Massachusett, such as those at Titicut and Mattakeesett, were under the claim of the Plymouth Colony.
The Massachusett sachems gave many land deeds to the Pilgrims since they served to rebuff attacks from other tribes. In most cases, it was because the land had already been opened to English colonial settlement, often because the Indians living there had already died off from disease. The ''sachems'' began selling land at a price, often with stipulations allowing the Indians to collect, gather, fish or forage, but these arrangements were seldom honored by the Pilgrims. The colonists also did not understand the Indian concept of leasing land from the sachem, and instead thought of their arrangements as permanent land sales. As a result of the rapid loss of land, the Massachusett and other local tribes sent their leaders to Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
for the 1644 Acts of Submission, bringing the Indians under the control of the colonial government and subject to both its laws and conversion attempts from Christian missionaries. By the time of the submission, the Massachusett, a coastal people, had lost access to the sea and their shellfish collection sites.
Demographic changes
The Native peoples of New England faced increasing pressures with the increasing levels of colonists in New England. In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony greatly expanded with the arrival of the Winthrop Fleet
The Winthrop Fleet was a group of 11 ships led by John Winthrop out of a total of 16 funded by the Massachusetts Bay Company which together carried between 700 and 1,000 Puritans plus livestock and provisions from England to New England over th ...
of 11 ships and almost one thousand colonists beginning the " Great Migration." By the end of 1640, the colonial population, more than doubled to almost twenty thousand due to the continued arrival of ships bearing Puritan settlers fleeing the increasing levels of religious persecution during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of related conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, then separate entities united in a personal union under Charles I. They include the 1639 to 1640 B ...
and natural increase, as settlers often arrived as family units and raised large numbers of children.
The Pilgrims feared the Native presence, as they were a numerical majority when all the different groups of New England were taken together and were dependent on them for survival and trade and the colonists were unable to expand. The Native populations continued to fall, with diseases such as scarlet fever, typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
, measles, mumps, influenza, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
, whooping cough
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...
taking large tolls. However, a smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic in 1633 and 1634 also took a very heavy toll, afflicting not only peoples of the coast still recovering from the losses of 1617-1619 but far inland. The Massachusett population dwindled to fewer than two thousand individuals.[Bragdon, K. J. (2005). pp. 130-133.] Other epidemics occurred in 1648 and 1666, although not as devastating, outbreaks of disease continued to inflict heavy tolls well into the 19th century. With so many areas depopulated, the Pilgrims believed that God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
had cleared New England for their colonization efforts. By the 1630s, the Indians of New England were already a minority in their own lands.
The Massachusett put up little armed resistance to colonial settlement, but other Native peoples of New England who did were subjugated during and after Pequot War in 1638. The colonists aided local Indian tribes in subduing the Pequot, resulting in massacres of Pequot non-combatants, such as in the Mystic Massacre
The Mystic massacrealso known as the Pequot massacre and the Battle of Mystic Forttook place on May 26, 1637 during the Pequot War, when Connecticut colonizers under Captain John Mason and their Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to th ...
, and the selling of many of the Indians into slavery in Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = "Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, es ...
. The war resulted in the complete destruction of the Pequot as a tribal entity, opening up further land in New England to colonial settlement.
Adoption of Christianity
As stated in the royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1628, "according to the Courſe of other Corporations in this our Realme of England ... whereby our ſaid People, Inhabitants thee ... maie wynn and incite the Natives of Country, to the Knowledg and Obedience of the onlie true God and Savior of Mankinde, and the Chriſtian Fayth, which ... is the principall Ende of this Plantation." The colonists were more occupied with their survival and propagation of a Puritan refuge. Although not the first to attempt to Christianize the Natives, it was not until the missionary John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians", arrived in the colony and attained considerable success before colonial authorities truly began to invest in the project. Eliot began to learn the language, employing the help of two Indian indentured servants fluent in English, including Cockenoe
Cockenoe (also known as Cockeno, Cockenow, Chachaneu, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino, Chekkonnow, Cockoo) (born before 1630 and died after 1687) was an early Native American translator from Long Island in New York where he was a member of the Mon ...
, a Montaukett
= Montauketts =
An indigenous Native American People.
Name and Identifications
The Montaukett (" Metoac" or Matouwac), currently more commonly known as Montauk. The meaning of the name ''Montauk'' is unknown.
Native Americans living on Long ...
originally from Long Island that also spoke Massachusett, and John Sassamon
John Sassamon, also known as Wussausmon (), was a Massachusett man who lived in New England during the colonial era. He converted to Christianity and became a praying Indian, helping to serve as an interpreter to New England colonists. In January ...
from a Neponset family. Once confident in his abilities, Eliot tried to preach to the Neponset tribe led by Cutshamekin
Cutshamekin (died in 1654) (also spelled Kitchamakin, Kuchamakin, or Cutshumaquin) was a Native American leader, who was a sachem of the Massachusett tribe based along the Neponset River and Great Blue Hill in what is now Dorchester, Massachuse ...
in 1646 but was rebuffed. Later, after resuming more language studies, Eliot preached to the Nonantum tribe led by Waban
Waban (16041685) was a Native American of the Nipmuc group and was thought to be the first Native American convert to Christianity in Massachusetts.
Life
Waban was born about 1604 at Musketaquid, near the present town of Concord. While there i ...
and had better success, bringing Waban and most of the tribe into Christianity.
The reaction to Christianity was mixed, with many Native leaders continuing to be wary of the Pilgrims and urging their people to remain traditionalists whereas many wholeheartedly embraced it. Those that did embrace the new religion often did so because the traditional medicines and rituals conducted by healers known as '' powwow'' () failed to protect them from settler encroachment of their lands or the novel pathogens to which they lacked resistance. These Indians hoped that the new God of the settlers would protect them the way that it had protected the settlers and often bought into the belief that they were punished for their wickedness. Other Indians likely joined because they thought they had to. The colonial government had forced the tribal leaders of Indians as far west as Quabaug (Brookfield, Massachusetts
Brookfield is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Brookfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. The population was 3,439 at the 2020 census.
History
Brookfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660 and was officiall ...
) to sign the 1644 Acts of Submission which forced upon the Indians acceptance of the authority of the colonial government and its protection as well opening their people to missionary activity, with many Indian leaders likely still fearful of the settlers due memories of the Pequot War and the fate of the Pequot. Others converted in hopes of removing the stigma of heathenism to improve relations with the settlers, but due to synchretism and cryto-traditional practices conducted in secret by some, the Puritans continued to mistreat the Indians and cast suspicions on the sincerity of the new believers who came to be referred to as "Praying Indian
Praying Indian is a 17th-century term referring to Native Americans of New England, New York, Ontario, and Quebec who converted to Christianity either voluntarily or involuntarily. Many groups are referred to by the term, but it is more commonly ...
s" or () .
Praying towns (1651–1675)
Eliot urged Waban and the other newly converted Massachusett to settle along a bend of the Quinobequin River but were immediately sued as squatters by the residents of Dorchester. By the time Eliot began to establish the Indian mission, the Massachusett had lost access to the shellfishing beds along the coast and were soon to lose most of their remaining hunting and foraging lands due to the opening of all unfenced, "unimproved" lands. Eliot petitioned the General Court to set aside grants of lands for the Indians "in perpetuity." Natick was established in 1651, with Ponkapoag following shortly thereafter in 1654. An additional 13 settlements were created, mostly in Nipmuc areas. These communities, settled by Praying Indians, came to be known as "Praying towns" or in Massachusett, () . Ponkapoag, also spelled Punkapog, had 60 residents including Massachusett people in 1674.
The establishment of the Praying towns accomplished several goals. It helped facilitate the goals of Christianization and acculturation as it allowed for easier distribution of the Massachusett-language translations of Eliot's Bible and other works. The inhabitants were forced to observe the eight tenements of the "Leaf of Rules" distributed in the Bibles which forbid Indian cultural norms such as consenting pre-marital sex, cracking lice between teeth, avoidance of agriculture by men and re-enforced adoption of Puritan-style modesty and hairstyles. For the colonial government, it brought the Indians fully under the control of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the Praying towns occupying a status similar to autonomous English colonial settlements. The traditional power structures remained somewhat intact, as Native peoples recognized both the traditional power systems, but the chiefs and the tribal élite maintained it by adopting the roles of administrators, clerks, translators, teachers, constables, jurors and tax collectors. The confinement benefitted both the desires of Eliot and the colony, and Eliot was often accompanied by Daniel Gookin
Major-General Danyell “Daniel” Gookin (1612 – 19 March 1687) was a Munster colonist, settler of Virginia and Massachusetts, and a writer on the subject of American Indians.
Early life
He was born, perhaps in County Cork, Ireland, in the ...
, the Superintendent to the Indians appointed to ensure cordial relations with the Indians and their adherence to the colonial laws, during his tours of the Praying towns. Similar settlements were established in the Plymouth Colony, such as the Massachusett Praying towns of Titicut and Mattakeeset.[Cogley, R. W. (1999). pp. 111–113.]
The Massachusett benefited from clear titles of common land where they could plant, hunt and forage, and this likely attracted even more converts since the Praying towns established safe zones away from the constant encroachment, requests for sales of land and harassment. The Massachusett also were able to revive their prestige, which they long held prior to English colonial settlement. Many of the Praying towns were established by Native missionaries drawn from Natick's old powerful families, affording them much respect in their adopted communities. The Massachusett began to replace the language of the Nipmuc and greatly leveled dialectal differences across the Massachusett-speaking area, due to the spread of Indian missionaries, but also because Massachusett became the language of literacy, prayer and administration, likely facilitated by its historic use as a regional second language and backed by its use in the translation of the Bible. The Massachusett leaders were also closer to the colonial authorities and thus often chosen to spread official messages, restoring the old power dynamic ''vis-à-vis'' other tribes.
Life in the Praying towns became a mix of European and Indian customs. The Indians were forced to adopt Puritan habits of modesty, hairstyle, dress, and other cultural norms. They were encouraged to learn European methods of woodworking, carpentry, animal husbandry, and agriculture and Eliot arranged for many Indians to apprentice under settlers to learn these skills. Natick had an independent congregation with a Christian-style church, but the services were conducted in Massachusett with Indian preachers and the parishioners were called by Native drumming. The Praying Indians maintained many aspects of Indigenous culture, such their customary cuisine and foraging and hunting, but melded them with the European culture and Christian religion they were forced to adopt. The mix of religious, cultural, and political control over the Indians was in many ways a precursor to the Indian Reservations that later developed.
Humiliation of the Indians
The truce that had existed between the English colonists of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies and the local Native peoples was tested. The submission of the local chiefs to the respective colonial governments and adoption of Christianity allowed the Indians to seek redress in the colonial legal system and removed one of the prejudices against them. The Praying Indians of Natick were brought to court several times by colonists living in settlement of Dedham who claimed some of the surrounding land, but with Eliot's assistance, most of these attempts failed. Most of the time, however, the Indians failed, as some of the Indian interpreters and chiefs ceded lands to curry favor from the settlers to maintain special privileges, such as the Nipmuc John Wampas, who betrayed the Nipmuc and Massachusett people by selling land to the settlers to which he had no claim, but these sales were upheld in later court challenges. The Pawtucket sachem Wenepoykin, son of Nanepashemet
Nanepashemet (died 1619) was a sachem and ''bashabe'' or great leader of the Pawtucket Confederation of Abenaki peoples in present-day New England before the landing of the Pilgrims. He was a leader of Native peoples over a large part of what is ...
and Squaw Sachem of Mistick, through kinship and family ties laid claim to much of Massachusett territory, and tried several times to petition the courts for lands lost in the turbulence of the 1633 epidemic that took both of his brothers to no avail, with most cases simply dismissed.
King Philip's War (1675-1676)
The outbreak of King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
from 1675 until 1676 was disastrous for both the Indians and colonists of New England. By the early 1670s, Waban
Waban (16041685) was a Native American of the Nipmuc group and was thought to be the first Native American convert to Christianity in Massachusetts.
Life
Waban was born about 1604 at Musketaquid, near the present town of Concord. While there i ...
and Cutshamekin
Cutshamekin (died in 1654) (also spelled Kitchamakin, Kuchamakin, or Cutshumaquin) was a Native American leader, who was a sachem of the Massachusett tribe based along the Neponset River and Great Blue Hill in what is now Dorchester, Massachuse ...
had begun to address Daniel Gookin and warn of the increasing discontent of the interior Indians such as the Nipmuc
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby part ...
people. However, the rebellion was started by the Wampanoag () Metacomet
Metacomet (1638 – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip,[Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both Edward Winslow and ...]
and the Pilgrims. Metacomet maintained the peace of his father but turned after the never-ending requests for land, but especially the execution of his brother Wamsutta
Wamsutta ( 16341662), also known as Alexander Pokanoket, as he was called by New England colonists, was the eldest son of Massasoit (meaning Great Leader) Ousa Mequin of the Pokanoket Tribe and Wampanoag nation, and brother of Metacomet.
Life
...
for selling land to Roger Williams, seen by the Wampanoag as a very harsh measure for something outside the Plymouth Colony's jurisdiction. In defiance, Metacomet murdered his interpreter to the colonial government, the Massachusett John Sassamon, before fleeing and seeking the support of the disgruntled tribes, culminating in the raid of Swansea in June 1675. Metacomet was able to bring the Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Podunk, Tunxi peoples into his forces, organizing attacks on numerous outposts such as Sudbury, Lancaster, Turner's Falls
Turner syndrome (TS), also known as 45,X, or 45,X0, is a genetic condition in which a female is partially or completely missing an X chromosome. Signs and symptoms vary among those affected. Often, a short and webbed neck, low-set ears, low hair ...
and other colonial settlements, leading many settlers to flee their lands for fortified towns. The settlers quickly responded by organizing units to attack the Indians loyal to Metacomet, leading to further conflict.[Drake, J. D. (1999). pp. 87–105.]
The Massachusett, all of whom had become Praying Indians confined to praying town
Praying towns were a settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity.
The Native people who moved into these towns were known as Praying I ...
s, remained neutral during the war but suffered heavy casualties. The Praying Indians were attacked in their fields and harassed by neighboring colonists who had become overwhelmed with panic, hysteria, and anti-Indian sentiment. The Praying towns were also targets of Metacomet's forces, raided for supplies, and persuaded or forced to join the fighting. To appease the settlers, the Praying Indians accepted confinement to the Praying towns, curfews, increased supervision, and voluntarily surrendered their weapons.
As the war progressed, the settlers decided to recruit some of the Praying Indians as scouts, guides and to fill the ranks of the colonial militia, with a regiment of Praying Indians, including many Massachusett, recruited by Daniel Gookin
Major-General Danyell “Daniel” Gookin (1612 – 19 March 1687) was a Munster colonist, settler of Virginia and Massachusetts, and a writer on the subject of American Indians.
Early life
He was born, perhaps in County Cork, Ireland, in the ...
sent to face Metacomet's warriors at Swansea, but it is known that other Massachusett aided the colonial militias in Lancaster, Brookfield and Mount Hope battles of the war. Metacomet was ultimately killed.
Guardianship of the Indians
Instead of being absorbed into the general affairs of the now predominantly European region, the colony appointed a commissioner to oversee the Natick in 1743, but commissioners were later appointed for all the extant tribes in the colony. Originally, the commissioner was charged to manage the timber resources, as most of the forests of New England had been felled to make way for farm and pasture, making the timber on Indian lands a valuable commodity. Very quickly, the guardian of Natick came to control the exchange of land, once the domain of the ''sachems'', and any funds set up by the sale of Indian products, but mainly land. As the guardians assumed more power and were rarely supervised, many instances of questionable land sales by the guardians and embezzlement of funds have been recorded. The appointment of the guardians reduced the Indians to colonial wards, as they were no longer able to directly address the courts, vote in town elections and removed the power of the Indian chiefs.
Loss of land continued. As forest lands were lost, the Indians could no longer resort to seasonal movements on their land or eke out a living, forcing many into poverty. Land was their only commodity and was often sold by the guardians to pay for treatments for the sick, care of orphans, and debts incurred by Indians, but Indians were also the victims of unfair credit schemes that often forced the land out of their hands. Without land to farm or forage, Indians were forced to seek employment and settle in the ''de facto'' segregated sections of cities.
19th century
Most of the remaining lands set aside "in perpetuity" for the Native peoples had been alienated, leaving a messy patchwork of a few remaining common lands, individual allotments, leased lands, and numerous colonial proprietors in between Indian households.
The end of tribal land did not remove the restrictions of the guardians even if it was the original purpose to have stewards of the land on the Native peoples' "behalf." As wards of the colonial and later state government, the Indians were restricted from voting in local elections or seeking redress through the courts on their own. Some of the Indians were supported by annuities established from the funds generated by land sales or initiated by the guardians for their support. The guardians, however, no longer had to maintain the rigorous lists of people associated with the land, which long had been used to segregate the Indians from the non-Indians especially as rates of intermarriage had increased.[Earle, J. M. (1861). pp. (supplementary list) XLI-XLVII, LXI-LXII.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ordered reports on the condition of the Indians, including the Briggs Report (1849), also known as the Bird Report. These did not mention the Massachusett or the Praying Town of Natick The Praying Indians of Natick were a community of Indigenous Christian converts, known as Praying Indians, in the town of Natick, Massachusetts, one of many Praying Towns. They were also known as Natick Indians.
Natick was founded by John Eliot (1 ...
, where Massachusett people had joined in the 17th century.
John Milton Earle launched a far more detailed report in 1859 and published in 1861.
Earle writes, "Of all the tribes which held reservations, and were placed under guardianship by the States, the Natick Tribe is nearest extinct. ... ly two families remain, and one of these is descended equally from the Naticks and the Hassanamiscoes. Their whole number is twelve. ..." He continues, "This tribe has no common lands," and recommends their remain funds be divided equally among the two surviving families. Earle observes that a few Natick descendants merged into the Nipmuc people
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby par ...
and also writes, "There are some others, who claim to be of the Natick Tribe, but the claim appears to have no foundation other than that one of their ancestors formerly resided in Natick, but it is believed that he never was supposed to belong to the tribe."
20th and 21st centuries
In the 105 years between the Massachusetts Enfranchisement Act of 1869 and the creation of the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs by legislative act in 1974, records on the Massachusett people are very few. In 1928, anthropologist Frank G. Speck published ''Territorial subdivisions and boundaries of the Wampanoag, Massachusett, and Nauset Indians'' which included 17th-century Massachusett history. At Ponkapoag, Speck met Mrs. Chapelle (died 1919) who identified as a Massachusett Indian and whose husband was Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...
. Speck estimated that in 1921 a dozen Massachusett and Narragansett descendants of the Ponkapoag praying town lived in what is now Canton.
Several organizations claim descent from historical Massachusett peoples; however, these are unrecognized, meaning they are neither federally recognized tribes
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
nor state-recognized tribes
State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under ...
.
See also
* Southern New England Algonquian cuisine Southern New England Algonquian cuisine comprises the shared foods and preparation methods of the indigenous Algonquian peoples of the southern half of New England, which consists of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, but also included po ...
* History of Massachusetts
The area that is now Massachusetts was colonized by English settlers in the early 17th century and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Before that, it was inhabited by a variety of Indian tribes. The Pilgrim Fathers wh ...
* Native American tribes in Massachusetts
Native American tribes in Massachusetts are the Native American tribes and their reservations that existed historically and those that still exist today in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Narragansett term for this region is Ninn ...
Notes
References
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External links
''Encyclopedia of North American Indians:'' Massachusett]
"Massachuset"
''The Menotomy Journal''
{{authority control
Algonquian ethnonyms
Algonquian peoples
Extinct Native American tribes
Native American history of Massachusetts
Native American tribes in Massachusetts
Unrecognized tribes in the United States