#115 The Pequot War 2: Blundering Into War
The History of the Americans
Jack Henneman
4.9 • 632 Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2023
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After the killing of John Oldham and his crew at Block Island, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony mobilized an expedition of 90 men under the command of John Endicott. The goal was to deter Pequot aggression, but Endicott would prove, yet again, to be a stern and inflexible man who would fundamentally blunder into full-scale war with the Pequots. In this episode we look at Endicott’s raid, the attempt by the Pequots to seduce the Narragansetts into an alliance, the skillful diplomacy of Roger Williams, and the attack by the Pequots on Fort Saybrook in retaliation. We end the episode with one last missed opportunity for peace.
There’s a map on the website in the episode notes that is useful for sorting out the geography, if you don’t know southern New England like the back of your hand.
Also, if you live in Austin or within a reasonable drive, please let me know if you will join our meet-up of listeners on June 1, 2023 at 6 pm, at a venue still to be arranged. Please send me a note by email or direct message on Twitter or Facebook to let me know if you can make it, so I can estimate attendance and pick the right place.
See Jack’s interview with Jon Gabriel
Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2
Facebook: The History of the Americans Podcast
Selected references for this episode
John M. Barry, Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul
Francis J. Bremer, John Winthrop: America’s Forgotten Founding Father
Alfred A. Cave, The Pequot War
Charles Orr, History of the Pequot War: The Contemporary Accounts of Mason, Underhill, Vincent and Gardener
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast episode 115. |
| 0:11.2 | I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on May 9th, |
| 0:15.7 | 2023 in New Orleans. |
| 0:18.5 | We are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States from the beginning |
| 0:23.9 | without presentism. |
| 0:26.1 | Before we get to the history, fun, a couple of quick announcements. |
| 0:30.0 | I was honored to be a guest on John Gabriel's podcast, The King of Stuff, which is, |
| 0:36.3 | suffice it to say, much bigger than this one, at least so far. |
| 0:40.8 | John and I spoke for about half an hour about this podcast, including the matter of presentism, |
| 0:46.8 | Sir Francis Drake, and a bunch of other topics in here and dear to our listeners. |
| 0:51.8 | Please go hunt it down by the usual means and I'll leave a link in the |
| 0:55.0 | episode notes on the website for those of you who are too old school to know what the usual means |
| 1:01.5 | might be. Also, the Washington meetup on April 11th was so much fun, we're going to do one on |
| 1:08.4 | June 1st in Austin. If you are able to join me at some |
| 1:12.9 | reasonably convenient spot in Austin for an ice cold beverage of choice that evening, starting |
| 1:18.3 | around 6 p.m. Please let me know by email at the History of the Americans at gmail.com |
| 1:25.3 | or by direct message on Twitter or Facebook. If I can get some |
| 1:30.6 | sense or estimate of the number of attendees that will help me pick the right spot, I hope you |
| 1:36.4 | guys can make it. This episode is about the fighting of the Pequot War in New England from 1636 |
| 1:43.2 | to 1638. It was brutal, by far the most |
| 1:48.0 | violent and frankly repulsive fighting in early colonial times, exceeding in its ugliness |
| 1:55.0 | anything that had transpired between Europeans and North American Indians since Hernando de Soto and his Entrada fought Chief |
... |
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