--,----_.. .. A WAR.M PLACE HELL" - Three ye<lr.~ alrer William Ellery burned II trio 01 Newporl stamp-tax t1JvlKdlr\ III 1'1f1~}' II'<1~e 1l9/l'aul Revere rn1.rtlved th ll IlIAAI'<lion for di ,'pmlng of roY<lIiH parriS<ln~. Like Ellery's action. Revere', calloon prole.lled flritai n's tlIxalJon ollhe colomes. The seventeen Mas.'idchusefts le1.ldalof .~ plCfllrtd hlld vnred 10 resCind a resotuuon authorlzrng Clfe ula tmn 10 fhl" orh!"! co ' nm l" ~ of a/Crier .Hron~y oh/l'e 'lIl1. 10 addJllOnal raxe'. Thi': nmery- rwo mrm1>I"TS 01 the M .H <idch u <eu .' lexi.dafure who staunchly voud 10 te.\/.\I D roydl co m men d to rtlcmd reflected popular ~tnllml"nr eJctmpJlfj t d hy £/lel}'. RHO DE ISLAND HISTORY Published by The Rhode Island Historical Societ y assum es n il RHorn I~LA!'.[D HISTORICAL SOCIETY no re_~ ponsjbi1jfY lor opJnlO ns of ccnm burors. 51 POw ElI nUH. PkO\10!]';C(, RHODE ISLA:-;D Issued Quarterly at Providence, Rhode Island, loseph K. On, pres ident February, May, August, and November. Second Bayard EWlOg, VIet' president class postage paid at Providen ce, Rhode Island. Mr s George E. Downing, vrce president Funk L. Hi nckley, [r.• secretary Mrs. Norma n T, Bolles, llHIS la nl secretary Table of Comenu Townes M. Harr is, Ir., treasurer Duncan H un ter M aur an, <.l .s.~i .uanr tuo5urer Alben T Klvberg, duector Mia monomu's Deat h and New England Politics 16JO-IM 5 PURUC"TION S CO MMITT EE by John A. Salm hu ry 111 Smarr C. Sherma n, chairman Hen ry l. P. Beckwith, Jr. william Ellery; Mrs. Phi lip Davis Ma kin g of a Rhod e Islan d Politicia n Wend ell Ga rren hy William M. Fow ler . !r. 125 Norman W. Smith Mutiny at Cam p Hubbard ~T AH by Claude M . M or,l!;an 136 Joel A , Co he n. Ph.D., editor Noel P. Conlon, ma naging editor Mildred C. Tilley, pic ture editor VO LU M E .\U, NU MIlER 4 NOVE MRER 1\'71 110 , -- c .. u"~,, COllnrcllClII 'J<-vr/opm..nl C"mm,...",n M ldlllmlOmo·<dl'arlJ J.< ml'CJloria/ized by thIS monument near NorwIch. Connecucur. III Miantonomo's Death and New England Politics 1630.1645 Th e co n flict bet ween th e Mohegan sachem Uncas an d friendship, n aturallv ha ve a ditfcr cu t perspcrtivc of the the Narragansett sachem Mianronornu possesses such nff.air from scvcmcvruh-ccn turv Massuchuscns chron­ dr.rmanc possibilities that the historical significance of iclers and their Hliopierisnc successors the event hJS been obscured hy the fictional quality T hese: Rhude Island ccrnmenturor-, charac terize III us subsequent accounts. ' In ad dition , m any descrip­ M ran eonom o .IS innocent victim of .\ t h sJch usetts tions w hich claim hrvrorical accuracy JTc vmarcd by ~tJ lecraft ..... ho, hv selling land to the heretical Samuel vpecral pleading. Inevitably , perhaps. seventeenth­ Gorton and his [oIIO\\'e:ts,o; madvcrrendv gave sanctuary cen ru rv chroniclers and h istorians oi the .\ t l ssachusctt s to an element which threatened pretensions of ....1assa­ colonv defend Puman pullcv and the rusncc oi the chusens onhodoxv ami hindered the aucmpr of the unucd colonies' deer-ron in au rhorizmg U ncas to Bay cnlony to secure control o i WAyward Rhode Island execut e M ianumomu 1 scnlemems.s later judgment IS more varied hut equally pred ict ­ T he pu rpose of this o:s!>ay i!> not ptim.rrilv tn revaluate able. I G Palfrey, lor example, views the alb ir w ith the: jus tic e of Mi.mto no mu-s execution, hut rather to appropr ia te distaste hu t argues that Miaum nomo's examine th e event and circumsta nces t hat surrou nded death was justifi ed bec ause it prevented ,111 Indian it , in light of an eyolvi n,g English policy tow ard Ind ians upnsmg. ' Consixrcm iconoclas ts of the Pu ritan colonial and as the most coherent e xa m ple of the in flue nce of e..rahliehrnent , such as lames T ruslow Adams, oppose intercolo nial politics on Indian alfairs <ouch a view.' They a re: generally supported by Oi th e many env ironmemal hazard... with which Rhud e: Isl.m d his torians who, rccognmng that their fledgli ng New England scrrlemems ....-ere threate ned, colony w as established by purchases of land from Indians ..... ere regarded as among the most dangerous.' ..\1 ian lOnom o and that its survival depended on his The situation was exacerbated by the cnsrs over the •~1r Samsburv - J ' KI,' ral candrdate al McGill Umversiw. N athaniel Monon , New England'I Memorial, ed . John Montreal - With some relu c tance, but lor purpose of DaVIS IRoMun, nU6) 227·130. Allthese follow closely the standardization, fullow s F W Hodge. S, E ""!Tisun, and official defe nse o f Eni:lish policy, John Winthrop , A T. Va ug hn i ll 'pCHllll' ,!,1ia lllonomo IJI'c/a fatJO/1 of F"/lII"/ P<l.mlxe.~ and 1'1,!C('('dJng., betwi x l lh e Enl'll,\11 an,] 11lr N<II w,\:<1 m clt, IRostlln, 1 r.4 5 1 I' a ~ ~ i m . .I John GOTha m I';lltr ey, HI'lury 0/ N,'w EnX/,lI1d IBoslOn, 18-60 1. Unabashed ficnonnl accounts uf Mianmnomo includ e a dra ma an d an eprc poem, "Miarnonomo," m Robe rt R 4 See Ada m, on Mtanronomc and Unea~ III DlttlOllafY 0/ Cave rly. R.mle ol lhe Rlhh [Bosto n. IH~ I 77·124. and in AIIJI'"eal1 HII!;>',r"l'hr INcw York . 192K-1'JSRI 12,58-9·590 S A Barren, M l<lnlono/llah and Other Po",,,, , (:-l'ew Yo rk, and 19:10\/.1 10. Adam" ind iJ{llalion IS shared hy Samuel 11W919·47, Mralllon"mn also has frequent and enrhusi­ G . Drake, Indrdn' ", ......"th AmcHea. ISth ed (Nt w York. 1%4 1 Ill·BI IU, I(,.~ .nllC references in' Fenimore Cooper's "Th e Wert of Wish-Ton·Wish " Unc;!, 100 has a hrghlv colored c:uloR" "> John R Bartlett. ed R ,'co r d~ III the Colony Ilf RllOdc William L Stone. Il!Ka' and .\lu1lJron o mo l;'\1 ew York. II/and dn d provld"fKt PI<lnltl(Jvnl [Providence, IS56­ 11W!1 pa',llln.....'any nrher accounts of the sachems arc: 1i'l6."> 11 IJO-I q Samuel Corron. "Simphcmes Defence 0 1 varymg deltre:o "j maccuracv agamst Seven-headed Pohcv" in Peter Futcc. H J>loric<JI 2 William Brad ford. HI'lorv 01 Plnnoulh PI"nldIJfJII . Twt:h (Wash,n J,: tnn, IIl461 14 1606- 1646 . ed. w rlll.rm T: Davies (;.Jew York, l%tl J8!­ r. Elisha R. Potter. "Early Hi'rory of l': arra~anse tl : ' ,~S9, William Hubbard, 1l1,'lOry of lhe lndtan W<lr.~ rn Col/aliom Rl/l.~ [Provid ence, I&~:il .L H·j S, Irvi ni: B N ew E/l~,1,md . lev with rmro. Samuel G Drake [Roxbury, Richman , Rlwde island, 11," Afa klll.l( lind 11~ !\-tel/niD,\: l"oS) J 8·4J. Ed wa rd Johnson , WOlld,'f·Wmk1ng Provi­ [New York an d London, 1901'1 184·229 S'lmucl G. Arnold, de nce, 1(,211 -)(,:;/ , cd l. Fran klin lame,oll INc w Yurk , /11.\wrr of RllOd.' /Ill/nil, -tth cd. [Providence, 1899) 1910\ 2 19·!!1. I n cr e a ~ e Mather, RdllllOll (Of tlu' Troll!> le.\ I 11 5·1 HI, 174·177 , f!ow 'lrd ."'1. Ch,lpm, Srld1l'ltl, of lht· which have h<lpned III .'-o'ew Enx1dnd /'Y Re'N'11 of the N<J/ldxanWII, !I'mv ldcnt:t:', 19.1 1144·.'i2. Indian., there lBoslnll. IM16l !!7-13o. EdwJfd Winslow, 7 I'e\er N, Carrnll, l'Ufl l<Jfwm alld the WI/liNne", llvpnctllif' Unnw"<e,J Irepn nr Providence, 1916) 71·74 INew York .Ina Londun , 1969) U7·1J9 112 MIANTONOMO'S DlATH Massach usetts charter in the mi ddle 16.305, wh ich people, 1Z thev showed an early hostile reaction to seve rely stra ined relation s wuh the English gov ern ­ English settlement : in 1(,21 the tribe th reatened the ment,San d by the outbreak of English civ il war in 1M2; newly established Plymouth colony!' and in 1629 they both events mean t colonists had to face threa t o f In dian were implicated in a plur to "cut off the E n ~ li sh . " 1 4 uprising without any prospect of mi litary support from Increasing power of the Na naganseus was connected the mother co untry. With the massacre of white sett lers not on ly w ith the ir relanv elv large po pu lation but also by Indians m Virginia in 1622 still fresh in their with their skrl l III the manufacture of wampum which, memories, it is not ha rd to understand settlers' in the middle decades of the sixteenth century, obsessive co nce rn for inu:rnal security d uri ng the early acquired considerable value as cu rrency and en abled pe riod of colonization Nar raganseus to purchase arms from " sund ry unworthy Despite this preoccupation, however, considerable persons Enghsh. Dutch and French."!" expansion of settlemen t took place within the first Following th e main Puruan emigranun to Massa­ decade of maier emigration to Massachusens in 1630.