:''

Sassacus :''Sassacus is also a genus of jumping spiders.'' Sassacus (Massachusett: '' Sassakusu'' (fierce) (c. 1560 – June 1637) was born near present-day Groton, Connecticut. He was a Pequot ''sachem'', and he became grand sachem after his father, '' ...

is also a genus of

jumping spiders Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family Salticidae. As of 2019, this family contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders at 13% of all species. Jumping spi ...

.'' Sassacus (

Massachusett The Massachusett were a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...

: '' Sassakusu'' (fierce) (c. 1560 – June 1637) was born near present-day

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...

. He was a Pequot ''

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 ...

'', and he became grand sachem after his father, ''sachem'' Tatobem was killed in 1632. The Mohegans led by ''sachem''

Uncas Uncas () was a ''sachem'' of the Mohegans who made the Mohegans the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut, through his alliance with the New England colonists against other Indian tribes. Early life and family Uncas was born n ...

rebelled against domination by the

Pequots The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or th ...

. Sassacus and the Pequots were defeated by

English colonists The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the American Revolutionary War, ...

along with their Narragansett and Mohegan allies in the

Pequot War The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragans ...

. Sassacus fled to what he thought was safety among the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

Mohawks The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America ...

in present-day

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, but they murdered him. They sent his head and hands to the

Connecticut Colony The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

as a symbolic offering of friendship. Sassacus possibly had a brother who married

Ninigret Ninigret (also known as Juanemo according to Roger Williams) (c. 1610 This source confirms 1662 as the date of his land sales.-1677 This source suggests a date of 1667 for his land sales and a 1647 war against the Mohegans.) was a sachem of the ea ...

's daughter, and his sister-in-law may have married Harman Garrett.Pulsief, ed., Acts of the Commissioners, I, 100, 169

Footnotes

References

* Oberg, Michael Leroy, ''Uncas, First of the Mohegans'', 2003, * Vaughan, Alden T. (1995). ''New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 1620-1675'', p. 150. University of Oklahoma Press. , 1560s births 1637 deaths 17th-century Native Americans Murdered Native American people Native American leaders People from Groton, Connecticut People murdered in New York (state) Male murder victims Pequot People of colonial Connecticut Native American people from Connecticut Murder in 1637 Murder in the Thirteen Colonies {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub