#116 The Pequot War 3: Annihilation
The History of the Americans
Jack Henneman
4.9 • 632 Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2023
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the spring and summer of 1637, the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, the English settlers on the Connecticut River, and their Indian allies, the Narragansetts and the eastern Niantics, would wage a war of annihilation against the Pequot tribe of southern Connecticut. It would be the most brutal fighting between Europeans and the Indians of North America since at least 1599 (when the Spanish massacred the Pueblo Indians of the Acoma mesa). It would also be the first time that Europeans set out to extinguish an Indian nation. As such, it would be, arguably, the greatest stain on the legacy of the Puritans of Massachusetts. This is the military history of that war, the causes and run-up having been covered in the last two episodes.
[Errata (5/21/2023): A very longstanding and attentive listener from New Mexico corrected my pronunciation of “Acoma” – the emphasis on the first syllable rather than the second. This is especially embarrassing because I believe he has had to correct me twice, the first time a year and a half ago.
The same correspondent also points out the historical debate over the number of Indians who actually died at the Acoma massacre, and what the Spanish actually did to the feet of the captives. Perhaps the Spanish merely cut off their toes, rather than cutting the foot in half.]
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Selected references for this episode
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 116. |
| 0:11.1 | I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this episode on May 19th, 2023 in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:19.8 | We are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States |
| 0:24.0 | from the beginning without presentism. So, as we announced last time, we're going to do a meet-up |
| 0:30.9 | for listeners on June 1st in Austin. If you are able to join me at some reasonably convenient |
| 0:37.4 | spot in Austin for an ice-cold choice that evening starting around 6 p.m. |
| 0:43.7 | Please let me know by email at the History of the Americans at gmail.com or via the website or by direct message on Twitter or Facebook. |
| 0:54.0 | If I can get some estimate of the number of attendees that will help me pick the right spot, |
| 0:59.4 | and I hope you can make it. |
| 1:01.1 | The one we did in Washington was a lot of fun. |
| 1:03.8 | This is our third episode on the Pequot War of 1636 to 38. |
| 1:09.6 | Truth be told, I hadn't intended on devoting this much time to the |
| 1:12.9 | Pequot War, but as you have heard, I follow my muse in such matters, so here we are. Needless to say, |
| 1:20.6 | you'll find this episode more enriching if you've recently listened to the last two. At the end of the |
| 1:27.2 | last episode, in February and March 1637, |
| 1:31.4 | the Pequots and their allies, the Western Neantyx, |
| 1:34.3 | had effectively besieged a Sabrook Fort, |
| 1:37.5 | the palisaded English trading post at the mouth of the Connecticut River. |
| 1:42.6 | To support Lyon Gardner, commander of the fort, the Connecticut Rivertown sent Captain John |
| 1:49.0 | Mason with six men to reinforce it, and John Winthrop sent another 20 men from Massachusetts |
| 1:55.0 | Bay under the command of John Underhill. |
| 1:58.1 | Underhill, you will recall, had been the man sent to arrest Roger Williams in |
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