The Pequot War: Tribalcide
When the English came to what we recognize now as New England they observed in the natives many qualities which they saw in themselves. They recognized similarities within governmental structure as well as peaceful conversation and resourcefulness. Nevertheless, most Europeans held the natives in lower regard to themselves, often using terms such as savage and barbarian to describe them. Many believed that it was their god forsaken task to educate the natives with a so called European grace, in an attempt to make them more civilized. As time went on for natives such as the Pequots of southern Connecticut, this peaceful relationship slowly turned hostile. In the years of 1634-1636 tribes of the Pequot nation led…show more content… Grandjean recounts this event as “the morning that has earned the Pequot War its reputation as markedly ruthless, [and] even genocidal”(Grandjean 384). In May of 1637 a group of Englishmen led a surprise attack on the highly populated Pequot settlement of Mystic. Although “about five hundred” Mohegan and Narragansett Indians accompanied them, they demonstrated great fear following the previous battle at fort Saybrook(Mason 5). In his first hand account of the raid on the pequot fort and village at Mystic, Capt. John Mason recalls “the Narragansett Indians manifesting great Fear, in so much that many of them returned”(Mason 5). This act demonstrated by English allied natives suggests more than apprehension for brutal warfare, it suggest their own aversion to the English. Nevertheless, this does not rival with the fear the Pequots were to face in the massacre to come. Upon arriving to Mystic fort, “Mason and his soldiers quickly found themselves in over their heads...So Mason arrived at a fateful solution: ‘We must Burn them.’”(Grandjean 384). Much of Mason’s first hand account hereafter justifies his actions through religious context. He wrote “God was above them...making them as a fiery Oven...the Lord judge among the Heathen, filling the place with dead Bodies!” and that “indeed such a dreadful Terror did the Almighty let fall upon their spirits, that they would fly from us and run into the very Flames, where many of them perished”(Mason 8-9). When looking at the events of that day it is easy to judge the actions of Mason and his men as inexcusable. However, considering the religious significance it had to Mason and perhaps to his men, one can come to understand the English perspective as it pertains to the time period. Be that as it may, the massacre at Mystic resulted in an estimated “four to seven hundred [Pequot], men,
