service, under the command of their efficient leaders, Major Palms, and Captains George Denison, James Avery, and John Stanton. They were accompanied by some Mohegans, under Önecho, the son of Uncas; some Pequods, led by their chief Cassasinamon; and about twenty of Ninigrate's Narragansets, under Catapazet. These companies took turns in traversing the Narraganset country, keeping them in constant fear until they were driven out of it and went to the north.

Captain Denison performed most important service on one of these excursions. He left Sto. nington on the 27th of March, having learned that the chief sachem of all the Narragansets had come from the northern boundaries of Massachusetts for seed-corn, to plant the towns which had been laid waste and deserted, was lurking in the neighbourhood. This was Nanuntteenoo, the son of Miantonimoh, a man of large size, athletic frame, and a proud spirit. Captain Denison hunted him in vain for several days. Having reached Blackstone's river, some distance north of Providence, they found the tracks of Indians; and, having taken a squaw prisoner, she told them that Nanuntteenoo, or Canonchet as he was also called, was in a wigwam at no great distance. The chief was engaged in giving an account of the ambush in which Captain Pierce had been killed: for he was fresh from that dreadful scene of slaughter. As volunteers were pressing on to seize him, they were seen by several of his men, who ran away, except one, who gave Canonchet the alarm in season to allow him to get some distance before his pursuers.

186

DEATH OF CANONCHET.

[1676.

Catapazet, the friendly Narraganset chief, thought he recogniesd Canonchet by his manner of running, and immediately gave him chase; and the swiftest of the Indians coming rapidly on, he first threw off his blanket, and then a laced coat that he had received as a present at Boston, by which it was known who he was. He soon reached a stream, through which he attempted to dash his way: but, his foot slipping, he fell and wet his gun; and the foremost of his pursuers, Monopoide, a Pequod, in an instant rushed through the water and seized him. The sachem seems to have at once lost all hope of escape. He made no resistance; and, when the first Englishman came up, a young man, named Robert Stanton, he refused to answer any of his questions, looking with disdain upon his youthful countenance, and said, in broken English, "you too much child; no understand matters of war; let your captain come; him will I answer."

Several of Canonchet's chief counsellors also were taken; and the English endeavoured to induce them all to become their friends, and abstain from war. The sachem, however, rejected their offers, and chose to be treated as an irreconcilable and dangerous enemy. They thought they had no other course to take but to put him to death; and his execution was committed to the friendly Indians. When infomed that he must die, he replied that he "liked it well; that he should die be. fore his heart was soft, or he had spoken anything unworthy of himself.” He was taken to Stonington, and there Oneco, with his counsellors and the principal Pequods, shot him with their guns.

Another Narraganset sachem, a grandson of Pomham, was captured also by the volunteers, who, in the autumn, had made ten or twelve excursions, and killed and taken 230 of the enemy, got 50 muskets, and 160 bushels of corn, yet did not lose a single man. The enemy were now again driven out of the Narraganset country.

CHAPTER XXIII. 1676.

Death and Character of Governor Winthrop.-Governor Leet chosen in his Place.-The Indians pursued and destroyed in different parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts.-Battle of Northfield. Captain Church. Philip killed at Mount Hope, in Rhode Island.-The War terminated.

GOVERNOR WINTHROP died on the 5th of April, 1676. He was born in 1605, at Groton, in England, and was the eldest son of the first governor of Mas. sachusetts. He was educated in his native country at Cambridge, and travelled for improvement in France, Holland, Germany, Italy, and Turkey. "While he collected the literature and excellences of the various countries through which he passed," says Trumbull, "he cautiously avoided their errors and vices." His example we may therefore warmly recommend to every young man, who, in later times, may, like him, become a traveller. was a pious and learned man; and, being a Puritan, like his father, he accompanied his family to America in 1631. On a visit to England he re

He

188 MAJ. TALCOTT RELIEVES HADLEY. [1676.

ceived a commission to build Saybrook fort, and to be governor under the patent of Lord Say-andSeal, Lord Brook, and others. He was chosen a magistrate of Connecticut in 1651, and governor in 1657; and from 1659 till his death he was annually re-elected to that office. He was one of the most distinguished men of New-England, and regarded as one of the best physicians and chemists of the time. He was a member of the Royal Society for Philosophical Transactions, and com- " municated some of the earliest information concerning this country to that institution.

William Leet, Esq., was chosen governor, and Captain Mason magistrate in his place. A standing army of 350 men and the friendly Indians was ordered to be raised, to harass the enemy, under the command of Major John Talcott.

Early in June the army marched from Norwich northward, through Wabaquasset (or the Mohegan conquered country), and found only the deserted Indian fortresses, which they demolished, and 50 acres of corn, which they destroyed. Passing into Massachusetts, at Chanagongum they killed 19 Indians and took 33, and went to Brookfield, whence, not meeting the Massachusetts troops as they had expected, they proceeded to Northampton. They suffered much from want of food, so that the expedition was called "the Long and Hungry March."

The arrival of this force at Northampton was very opportune: for, four days after, their assistance was demanded at Hadley, where 700 Indians suddenly attacked the town, and would probably have destroyed it, with several others, but for the

appearance of Major Talcott, at whose approach they fled, and afterward attempted nothing farther. The Massachusetts troops at length arrived, and joined with those from Connecticut for three weeks in scouring both sides of the river up to Deerfield falls. They found quantities of fish and other provisions, which they destroyed, and also recovered some stolen property. The battle of Northfield, Massachusetts, gave the final blow to the Indians, as many were destroyed and all dispersed.

Major Talcott then marched his troops back to the Narraganset country, where, on the 3d of July, they surprised the main army of the enemy in a cedar swamp. They surrounded it, and fought them for two or three hours, killing and taking 171. Among the captives was Magnus, the Sunk or Snuke Squaw, an old Queen of Narraganset. According to the barbarous custom of the times, 90 of the captives were killed: only 40 or 50, being women and children, were saved. The troops then moved the same day to Providence Neck, and afterward to Warwick Neck, killing 18 and taking 49 prisoners. Among the whole 238, they found about 30 muskets. They then returned home. The volunteers, in the mean time, had killed and taken 182 Indians.

The Indians appear to have begun to despair from this time, being reduced to great distress by the loss of numbers, habitation, food, and secure retreats, as well as by the close pursuit of their enemies. The flesh of horses and other unwholesome fare had caused much sickness among them: so that, as some of them declared, more died of disease than in battle. They were now scattered about