(Part 1)
Gardener's Narrative
[from History of the Pequot War: The Contemporary Accounts of
Mason, Underhill, Vincent and Gardener. Reprinted from the
Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. With
additional notes and an Introduction by Charles Orr, Librarian of
Case Library. 1980. Reprint of the 1897 ed. published by
Helman-Taylor Co., Cleveland, from an original in the collection
of the Newark Public Library.]
[Captain Lion Gardener's account of the war (as will be seen from
his letter of June 12, 1660, printed herewith,) was drawn up
partly from old papers and partly from memory. It remained in
manuscript until 1833, when it was printed in 3. Mass. Hist.
Coll., III, 131-160. It is reprinted also in Penhallow's Indian
Wars (edited by Dodge, Cincinnati, 1859,) as an appendix. It is,
after Mason's, perhaps the best account. Gardener was a man of
ability, a good soldier, and an actual participant in the leading
events of the war. In the present reprint, Gardener's own
spelling of his name is used in preference to that of a later
date.-EDITOR'S NOTE.]
INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS TO JOHN WINTHROP ESQR FIRST
GOVERNOUR OF CONNECTICUT TO TREAT WITH THE PEQUOTS.
[The following manuscript Letter and Commission directed to John
Winthrop Jun. Esq., the first Governor of Connecticut, and signed
by Sir Henry Vane, the Governor, and John Winthrop Esq. the
Deputy Governor of Massachusetts, were found among the papers of
the elder Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut in the year 1809 and were
kindly furnished to the Publishing Committee of the Massachusetts
Historical Society for publication in its Collections, by William
T. Williams, Esq. of Lebanon, Con. The Society is also deeply
indebted to Mr. Williams for several other manuscripts of
interest published in this collection. These papers, it is
understood, formerly belonged to the Connecticut branch of the
Winthrop family.-Publishing Committee, Mass. Hist. Soc.]
" Whereas it so falls out by the good Prouidence of God,
that the place of your present residence is neare adjoyning unto
certaine of the Natiues who are called the Pequots, concerning
whom we haue diuers things to enquire and satisfy ourselues in;
our request to you therefore is, and by these presents we do giue
you full power, authority, and commission to treate and conferre
with the sayd Pequots, in our names according to the instructions
to these annexed, as if wee ourselues were present: and to make
report backe agayne unto vs of the issue and successe of the
whole before the next Generall Court (which, God willing is
intended in the beginning of the 7th month). Thus, recommending
you, and your affayres to the blessing of Allmighty God, wee rest
Your louing freinds
H Vane. Govr
Jo: Winthrop Dept
Massatuchets the 4th day
Of the 5th month. 1636."
114 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.
" Massatuchets Month: 5th. 4.1636
The instructions which are recommended to John Winthrop Junr Esqr
in his negotiation with the Pequots.
" 1. To giue notice to the principall Sachem that you haue
receaued a commission from vs to demaund a solemne meeting for
conference with them in a friendly manner about matters of
importance.
" 2. In case they slight such a message and refuse to giue
you a meeting (at such place as yourself shall apoynt) then you
are in our names to returne backe their present, (which you shall
receaue from vs) and to acquaint them with all, that we hold
ourselues free from any peace or league with them as a people
guilty of English blood.
" 3. If they consent, and giue you a meeting as afore sayd,
that then you lay downe vnto them how unworthily they haue
requited our friendship with them; for as much as that they haue
broken the very condition of the peace betwixt vs, by the not
rendring into our hands the murtherers of Capt Stone, (which we
desire you once agayne solemly to require of them), as also in
that they so trifled with vs in their present which they made
proffer of to vs, as that they did send but part of it, and put
it off with this, as to say the old men did neuer consent to the
giuing of it; which dealings sauour so much of dishonour and
neglect, as that no people that desire friendship should put them
in practice.
" 4. To let them know first what credible relation hath
beene given vs, that some of the cheif of them were actors in the
murder of Mr Hamond and the other vpon Long Iland; and since of
another English-
GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 115
man there: and of their late determination to haue seized vpon a
Plimouth Barke lying in their harbour for trade; as by the more
large descriptions of these things, which we also send vnto you,
will more distinctly appear. Of all these things we desire you to
take the relation from their owne mouths, and to informe vs
particularly of their seuerall answers: giuing them to vnderstand
that it is not the manner of the English to take reuenge of
injury vntill the partys that are guilty haue beene called to
answer fairely for themselves.
" 5. To let them know that if they shall cleare themselues
of these matters, we shall not refuse to hearken to any
reasonable proposition from them for confirmation of the peace
betwixt vs. But if they shall not giue you satisfaction according
to these our instructions, or shall bee found guilty of any of
the sayd murthers, and will not deliuuer the actours in them into
our hands, that then (as before you are directed) you returne
them the present, and declare to them that we hold ourselues free
from any league or peace with them, and shall reuenge the blood
of our countrimen as occasion shall serue.
H: Vane Govr
Jo: Winthrop Dept "
Leift Lion Gardener his relation of the Pequot Warres.
[The original manuscript of this "Relation" and a copy
in the handwriting of Gov. Trumbull were furnished to the
Publishing Committee by William T. Williams, Esq. The Committee,
on account of the difficulty the printer would find in
deciphering the original, have followed the orthography of the
copy, excepting in the proper names, where they thought it of
more importance to adhere to the ancient orthography. Mr.
Williams in his interesting letters of July 19 and 23, 1832,
addressed to a member of the Committee, has given some few
particulars in relation to Lion Gardener; also a description of
the battle-ground where the Pequots were destroyed, and of the
burial place of Uncas and Miantunnomoh, together with a succinct
account of the present condition of the remnant of the ancient
and powerful tribes of the Pequots, Mohegans and Narragansets.
These portions of the letters are of historical value, and the
Committee therefore take the liberty of publishing the following
extracts.-Publishing Committee, Mass. Hist. Soc.]
"Lion Gardener was sent over by Lords Say and Seal and Lord
Brook to construct a fort at the mouth of Connecticut river, to
command it, &c. He was said to be a skilful engineer, and on
that account was selected. He had seen some service in the Low
Countries under Gen. Fairfax. He came into this Country about the
year 1633 or 16341 and erected the fort at Saybrook in
Connecticut, which was so named in honour of Lords Say and Seal
and Lord Brook: but how long he continued to command the fort I
do not recollect.2 He commanded it when Capt. John Mason
conquered the Pequots, for Mason in his history, you recollect,
says, 'he, Lt. Gardiner, complimented or entertained him with
many big guns,' on his arrival at the fort after the conquest of
the Pequots.
1Gardener arrived in Boston 28., Nov. 1635.
2He remained at Saybrook four years. A son was born to him 29.,
April 1636, which was the first white child born in Connecticut.
GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 117
"Gardener continued some time in the command of the fort,
but it does not appear when he left it. While he commanded it, he
once very narrowly escaped being captured by the Pequots. He had
five men with him, one of whom was taken and tortured; the fort
was burnt down, and he and his family narrowly escaped being
burnt in it. Gardener's Island, lying in Gardener's Bay, to which
he removed and where he died, was taken possession of by him soon
after his coming into this country. You will perceive he has
reference to his island: it is a very beautiful island of good
land, perhaps twenty-five hundred or three thousand acres, with a
long sand point of not much value. It now wholly belongs to the
family and was until the decease of the last proprietor, Jonathan
Gardiner, an entailed estate; but I am told that the entail is
now broken. The proprietors have always been called Lords.
"In the mouth of Mistic river there is in island, now and
always called Mason's Island from old Capt. Mason, containing
five or six hundred acres. This island he took possession of by
right of conquest, and the most of it is now possessed by his
descendants. I believe it is the only spot in Connecticut claimed
in that way.
"Summer before last I went to the battle-ground on purpose
to view it. The spot where the fort stood is in the present town
of Groton, Connecticut, on the west side of Mistic river.
Sassacus had this fort in the eastern part of his dominions to
look after the
118 HISTORY OF PEQUOT WAR.
Narragansetts. The hill is commanding and beautiful though not
steep. The land is now owned by Roswell Fish, Esq. of Groton.
There are no remains of the fort; Capt. Mason says it was of
timber mostly, and of course when he burnt it, it must have been
principally consumed. Mr. Fish told me that within his
recollection (and he is about sixty) some few Indian arrowheads
and spears have been found on the ground, and also some bullets.
The river is at the bottom of the hill, less than half a mile, I
should think, from the site of the fort, and perhaps three miles
from the head of the little village of Mistic in the town of
Stonington, where the small streams that form the river meet the
tide water. The river is the dividing line between the towns of
Groton and Stonington. Porter's rocks, where Capt. Mason lodged,
are near the village, and perhaps two miles above the site of the
fort.
"Sassacus had another fort, about two miles west of the one
taken by Mason, in the town of Groton, from which the one taken
was recruited on the night before the attack. The whole of the
shore of Mistic river, which is about six or seven miles from
what is called head of Mistic, to its mouth, and particularly the
west side, is rough, rugged, and rocky, but particularly
pleasant, and filled with dwellings wherever they can be placed,
inhabited chiefly by sailors and seamen. There is a pretty
meeting-house among the rocks.
"There is a remnant of the Pequots still existing. They live
in the town of Groton, and amount to about forty souls, in all,
or perhaps a few more or less; but do not vary much from that
amount. They have
GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 119
about eleven acres of poor land reserved to them in Groton, on
which they live. They are more mixed than the Mohegans with negro
and white blood, yet are a distinct tribe and still retain a
hatred to the Mohegans. A short time since, I had an opportunity
of seeing most of the tribe together. They are more vicious, and
not so decent or so good looking a people as the Mohegans. This
however may be owing to their being more mixed with other blood.
It is very rare that there are any intermarriages with either of
the tribes to each other, they still, so far as circumstances
admit, retaining the old grudge. The most common name among them
is Meazen; nearly half call themselves by that surname.
"The Indians formerly called Ninegrate's men, seem to be now
called the Narragansetts, and live principally in Charlestown,
Rhode Island. There are perhaps eighty, or more; though I am not
so well informed concerning them, as of the Pequots or Mohegans.
"Considerable exertion is making now in favor of the
Mohegans. A small, but neat church, has lately been erected by
charity for them, and the United States have appropriated nine
hundred dollars to build a school-master's house, and for his
salary. The house for the school-master is erected and a
schoolmaster hired, who also preaches to the tribe. All of the
tribe are anxiously sought out, and the benevolent are trying to
bring them all together to their ancient seat. There are about
seventy men on their land, or perhaps a few more. They own about
three thousand acres of good land in Montville, about three miles
below Norwich landing. The Trading Cove brook is their north-
120 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.
ern bound; their eastern is the Thames river. The General
Assembly of this State, immediately after the Pequot war was
finished, declared, and I think unfortunately, that the name of
the Pequots should become extinct; that the river that used to be
called Pequot should be called Thames; and the place called
Pequot should no longer be so called, but its name be changed to
New London, in "remembrance," as the records declare,
and as the Assembly say, of the chief city in our dear native
country."
"I have visited the ground where the rival chiefs, Uncas and
Miantunnomoh, are buried. Uncas is buried in the royal burying
ground, so called, which was appropriated to the Uncas family. It
is just by the falls in the Yantic river in Norwich city; a
beautiful and romantic spot. Calvin Goddard, Esq. of Norwich,
owns the ground, and has (honorably) railed it in, and keeps it
appropriated to its use. I saw him a few days since; he intends
to enlarge it, and I hope to have an appropriate stone to mark
the place. Miantunnomoh is buried in the east part of Norwich, at
a place called Sachem's Plain, from the event of his death; and
is buried on the spot where he was slain. But a few years since a
large heap of stones, thrown together by the wandering Indians,
according to the custom of their country, and as a melancholy
mark of the love the Narragansets had for their fallen chief, lay
on his grave: but the despicable cupidity of some people in that
vicinity has removed them to make common stone wall, as it saved
them the trouble of gathering stones for that purpose. The spot
of his sepulture is, however, yet known."
GARDENER'S NARRATIVE. 121
"East Hampton, June 12, 1660.
"Loving Friends, Robert Chapman and Thomas Hurlburt, my love
remembered to you both, these are to inform, that as you desired
me when I was with you and Major Mason at Seabrooke two years and
an half ago to consider and to call to mind the passages of God's
Providence at Seabrooke in and about the time of the Pequit
[Pequot] War, wherein I have now endeavoured to answer your
Desires and having rumaged and found some old papers then written
it was a great help to my memory. You know that when I came to
you I was an engineer or architect, whereof carpentry is a little
part, but you know I could never use all the tools, for although
for my necessity, I was forced sometimes to use my shifting
chissel and my holdfast, yet you know I could never endure nor
abide the smoothing plane; I have sent you a piece of timber
scored and forehewed unfit to join to any handsome piece of work,
but seeing I have done the hardest work, you must get somebody to
chip it and to smooth it lest the splinters should prick some
men's fingers, for the truth must not be spoken at all times,
though to my knowledge I have written nothing but truth, and you
may take out or put in what you please, or if you will, may throw
it all into the fire; but I think you may let the Governor and
Major Mason see it. I have also inserted some additions of things
that were done since, that they may be considered together. And
thus as I was when I was with you, so I remain still Your loving
friend,
LION GARDENER.
122 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.
"In the year 1635, I, Lion Gardener, Engineer and Master of
works of Fortification in the legers of the Prince of Orange, in
the Low Countries, through the persuasion of Mr. John Davenport,
Mr. Hugh Peters with some other well-affected Englishmen of
Rotterdam, I made an agreement with the forenamed Mr. Peters for
£100 per annum, for four years, to serve the company of
patentees, namely, the Lord Say, the Lord Brooks [Brook,] Sir
Arthur Hazilrig, Sir Mathew Bonnington [Bonighton?], Sir Richard
Saltingstone [Saltonstall], Esquire Fenwick, and the rest of
their company, [I say] I was to serve them only in the drawing,
ordering and making of a city, towns or forts of defence. And so
I came from Holland to London, and from thence to New-England,
where I was appointed to attend such orders as Mr. John Winthrop,
Esquire, the present Governor of Conectecott, was to appoint,
whether at Pequit [Pequot] river, or Conectecott, and that we
should choose a place both for the convenience of a good harbour,
and also for capableness and fitness for fortification. But I
landing at Boston the latter end of November, the aforesaid Mr.
Winthrop had sent before one Lieut. Gibbons, Sergeant Willard,
with some carpenters, to take possession of the River's mouth,
where they began to build houses against the Spring; we
expecting, according to promise, that there would have come from
England to us 300 able men, whereof 200 should attend
fortification, 50 to till the ground, and 50 to build houses. But
our great expectation at the River's mouth, came only to two men,
viz. Mr. Fenwick, and his man, who came with Mr. Hugh Peters, and
Mr. Oldham and Thomas Stanton,
GARDENER'S NARRATIVE 123.
bringing with them some Otter-skin coats, and Beaver, and skeins
of wampum, which the Pequits [Pequots] had sent for a present,
because the English had required those Pequits [Pequots] that had
killed a Virginean [Virginian], one Capt. Stone, with his Bark's
crew, in Conectecott River, for they said they would have their
lives and not their presents; then I answered, Seeing you will
take Mr. Winthrop to the Bay to see his wife, newly brought to
bed of her first child, and though you say he shall return, yet I
know if you make war with these Pequits, he will not come hither
again, for I know you will keep yourselves safe, as you think, in
the Bay, but myself, with these few, you win leave at the stake
to be roasted, or for hunger to be starved, for Indian corn is
now 12s. per bushel, and we have but three acres planted, and if
they will now make war for a Virginian and expose us to the
Indians, whose mercies are cruelties, they, I say, they love the
Virginians better than us: for, have they stayed these four or
five years, and will they begin now, we being so few in the
River, and have scarce holes to put our heads in? I pray ask the
Magistrates in the Bay if they have forgot what I said to them
when I returned from Salem? For Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Haines, Mr.
Dudley, Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Humfry, Mr. Belingam [Bellingham], Mr.
Coddington, and Mr. Nowell; these entreated me to go with Mr.
Humfry and Mr. Peters to view the country, to see how fit it was
for fortification. And I told them that Nature had done more than
half the work already, and I thought no foreign potent enemy
would do them any hurt, but one that was near. They asked me who
that was, and
124 HISTORY OF THE PEQUOT WAR.
I said it was Capt. Hunger that threatened them most, for, (said
I,) War is like a three-footed Stool, want one foot and down
comes all; and these three feet are men, victuals, and munition,
therefore, seeing in peace you are like to be famished, what will
or can be done if war? Therefore I think, said I, it will be best
only to fight against Capt. Hunger, and let fortification alone
awhile; and if need hereafter require it, I can come to do you
any service: and they all liked my saying well. Entreat them to
rest awhile, till we get more strength here about us, and that we
hear where the seat of the war will be, may approve of it, and
provide for it, for I had but twenty-four in all, men, women, and
boys and girls, and not food for them for two months, unless we
saved our corn-field, which could not possibly be if they came to
war, for it is two miles from our home. Mr. Winthrop, Mr.
Fenwick, and Mr. Peters promised me that they would do their
utmost endeavour to persuade the Bay-men to desist from war a
year or two, till we could be better provided for it; and then
the Pequit Sachem was sent for, and the present returned, but
full sore against my will. So they three returned to Boston, and
two or three days after came an Indian from Pequit, whose name
was Cocommithus, who had lived at Plimoth, and could speak good
English; he desired that Mr. Steven [Stephen] Winthrop would go
to Pequit with an £100 worth of trucking cloth and all other
trading ware, for they knew that we had a great cargo of goods of
Mr. Pincheon's, and Mr. Steven Winthrop had the disposing of it.
And he said that if he would come he might put off all his goods,
and the Pequit Sachem
This page last updated August 9, 2000.