New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians 1620-1675

The Utopia That Never Existed by Mervin Liongco

New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians 1620-1675 by Alden T. Vaughan, was written to do one thing very well, and that was to bring a neutral perspective about the Indians and Puritans during the settling of the Americas. Contrary to popular belief, both sides had a lot of sins to hide, and Vaughan has no problem exposing them

One of the biggest things I appreciated most about Vaughan’s writing is that he kept things real. If something was gritty, he told all the details, painting the picture as if one were actually there with the Puritans and the Indians while they were having their conflicts. Also, because of Vaughan’s passion, everything was very factual, almost to the point where this could get very confusing for the reader. I found myself reading sections two or three times just to connect all of the details because of all of the dates and names. Amidst all of this information, Vaughan makes one thing very clear: conflict was inevitable.

The entire book is essentially a solid history book. The only real commentary exists in the introduction and conclusion when Vaughan explains why he’s written the book. There are just so many accounts of how both Puritan and Indian life were able to exist or not exist in harmony. By using a wide plethora of sources, Vaughan really wanted to expose both the Puritans and Indians for who they really were, and the facts do not lie. Areas in particular that these groups get exposed were cruelty in war, the keeping of law, and trade.

One war in particular that Vaughan covers is the Pequot War. It wasn’t one singular battle, but all of the events that lead to the battle offer new insight as to why exactly there was even the Pequot War in the first place. They Puritans and Pequot Indians were funny because most of them would smile and wave in the presence of the other, but while they were apart, it was obvious no one trusted the other. What was even worse was that the Pequot Indians even rubbed shoulders were other Indian tribes such as the Narragansetts and the Mohegans. Prior to the final battle, both the Puritans and Pequots were looking for reasons to cast doubt on the other. The tension kept building and building until there was finally the battle led by Captain John Mason.

Vaughan is particularly explicit with his details when explaining this skirmish. Captain Mason set up camp approximately 2 miles from Fort Mystic, one of the smaller footholds for the Pequot Indians. Early that morning, his troops made the trek to the encampment, and proceeded set up offensive positions around the perimeter of the fort. On Mason’s mark, shots were fired into the camp from in between the posts. In all of this fury, Mason torched one of the houses made of dry brush, which quickly caught ablaze, igniting the neighboring houses as well. As Indians were escaping from their homes, attempting to orient themselves with what was happening, Mason’s men picked off Indians one by one. Those who managed to survive getting shot down, were literally cut down by the Narragansett Indians assisting Mason. In total, it was estimated that only 7 Pequot Indians were able to escape. In terms of casualties, the Pequots suffered 700 causalities and 7 prisoners. This massacre was the breaking point for the Pequots and they were forced to disband and go into hiding. However, this wasn’t enough for the Puritans.

The Puritans and fellow Indian tribes continued to hunt down the remaining Pequot warriors, killing some 180 Pequot warriors as the Pequot Chief, Saccacus, refused to give up fighting with the Puritans. Of the remaining survivors of the war, most were unable to refuge with other tribes. They gladly offered to live as slaves in the homes of the Puritans. Because there were now Indians living with the Puritans, the Puritans felt the need for a system to keep them under their control.

For myself, the judicial system as an incredibly interesting aspect of these clashing cultures. Despite however much the Puritans claimed to want to achieve equality, Puritan laws were generally in favor of the Puritans. The only real equality that existed was in terms of the punishments associated with the related crimes. Though this may sound good, in reality, the Puritans were not convicted of crimes nearly as often as the Indians. The jury consisted of both Puritan and Indian men, but the Indian opinion was rarely considered, as the Puritan opinion was viewed as superior. This was because the Puritans believed that them being white, endowed them, by God, to pass judgment on this presiding in the colonies that they governed. Also, if ever an Indian made any claim that a Puritan had wronged him, the Indian claim was rarely taken seriously unless there was hard evidence against the Puritan who had wronged the Indian. There were cases where there were Indian judges, but they didn’t serve on nearly as high as a frequency as the Puritan judges.

The irony of the colonization of the Americas by the Puritans was that, although the Indians were the natives, they were the aliens forced to integrate themselves into a new, alien society. Vaughan also makes a very valid point by saying that fellow Indian tribes were unable to get along with each other, and within these tribes, the differences were only subtle. How much more could a people with a different skin color, a single God, strange customs, and moral values get along? The answer is very simple: there was no realistic way for any type of colonization to have gone smoothly. The people, the Puritans and the different Indian tribes, were just too different, and on top of that, the Puritans were out for themselves. Though they may have had good intentions, the fact was that Puritans had ulterior motives, and these hidden motives really helped build up the walls of distrust between the people. Simple, easy colonization would have only been possible in a perfect world, and unfortunately, the Puritans and Indians didn’t live in a perfect world.