Hi All: Some Pilgrim historical trivia: one of my Oldham ancestors, John, migrated to the Plymouth Colony at the age of 12 with his 10 year-old younger brother when their widowed father (Thomas) stayed in England and married a woman who didn't want his sons. They were sent to their "Uncle John Oldham" (who arrived in Plymouth in 1623), among other things, was a literate Indian trader in and around that area. He was a very interesting character and it was his murder off Block Island (by Perquot Indians) that contributed to the Perquet Indian War. (I've been to Block Island and have seen the memorial that includes John Oldham; the local historian also shared further information, which I haven't input included into my computer yet). The two boys were with him when they were assaulted while traveling by boat to the island for trading purposes. His murder was very brutal; his body was dismembered and they took his two nephews captive. Soon after his murder, the boys were rescued by a trade agreement with the indians; they were then sent to live with their Aunt Lucretia Oldham (their father's sister) who married Johnathan Brewester. Here is an excerpt about his murder which provides some insight into the hostilities between the Pilgrims and Indians. Source: Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691 Part Three: Biographical Sketches Biographical Sketches Taken from: Biography of GALLOP, John, Page 9, Account of John Oldham's death " IN THE SPRNG of 1636, John Oldham loaded his pinnace with trade goods and set sail from Plymouth for Long Island Sound. A few days later John Gallop, bent on a similar spring trading cruise, cast of from his wharf in Boston Harbor in his sloop with two of his sons-4 and a hired man as crew. Having rounded Cape Cod he laid course by dead reckoning for Say- brook Point. A brisk wind was blowing and leaden clouds in the west promised rain and a stormy afternoon. Off Block Island they sighted a small ship anchored in a broad cQve close inshore. She appeared to be deserted: there was no watch on deck. Her rigging was loose and her gaff swung wildly to and fro as she rocked in the choppy sea. Gallop hove to and on approaching recognized Oldham's pinnace with a score of Indians lying asleep on the deck. He hailed and a couple of Indians jumped into a heavily laden canoe lashed -17- alongside and paddled away for the shore. There was great confusion aboard the pinnace, but the natives succeeded in slipping the cable and standing off before the wind headed for Narraganset Bay. Convinced that Oldham was in trouble, Gallop hauled up alongside and was greeted with a shower of spears and arrows and a volley from several muskets. His sons opened fire with two great duck guns mounted on swivels--no mean armament --and the savages took refuge below deck. The odds were too great to risk boarding so Gallop put up his helm and beat to windward, then, coming about, bore down on the pinnace before the wind. The 20-ton sloop rammed the smaller vessel with such force that she heeled over on her beam end and water poured dGwn the hatchway. Panic-stricken, the Indians scrambled on deck; several leaped overboard and were drowned; the others hid in the hold. Gallop withdrew to repeat his ramming maneuvre. He had the sudden inspiration to make the blow more devastating by lashing his anchor to the bow, its sharp flukes pointing outward, thus improvising an iron-clad ram two centuries before naval architects adopted this idea. The pinnace was now virtually adrift, falling off to leeward, and when the sloop again crashed into her windward quarter the flukes of the anchor-ram penetrated the hull. The two ships were clamped fast together. The Gallop boys double-loaded the duck guns, but their shots into the hold had little effect, and their father loosened his fasts and hauled up to windward a third time. Several more Indians jumped overboard, but one, obviously a sachem, stood up on the deck making signs of surrender. Capt. John drew up alongside; took the prisoner aboard and bound him hand and foot. Another came on deck, but fearing to keep two such wily savages, hovever securely shackled, together in the tiny cabin, -18- he was thrown overboard. Two of the redmen still lurked in the hold, but Gallop and his sons boarded the pinnace, and leaving one of the boys on guard with a pistol at the hatchway, they inspected the shambles. In the cabin they found John Oldham's head, the skull crushed, hacked from the body which lay in a corner, stripped naked, slashed with wounds, disgracefully mutilated. "God give you peace Brother Oldham," prayed Capt. John as they lowered the corpse into the ocean. --------------------------------------------------- Souce: Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33 > Search Results May 10, 2001 Search Results Top Things to Do @ Ancestry.com I have some information on the military/militia action taken after this incidence; unfortunately, it's packed away somewhere, but if there is some interest, I could probably find it. Sandy sandrajmueller@worldnet.att.net > Bill: > > I had started a response to your previous message but didn't get it > finished. However, I was going to say that you had jumped to about 50 > years later than what we were discussing concerning the Plymouth > settlement in 1620. > > The Pequot War in 1637 would serve better to show that the people in the > Plymouth Colony were not as tolerant of the Native Americans as has > generally been assumed. > > From The American Heritage History of the Thirteen Colonies. (1967), p. > 162: > The first. settlers found the coastal tribes so decimated by an epidemic > that they made little resistance to the white invaders. Occasional > quarrels between white traders and Indians caused trouble to outlying > settlements. A series of murders and punitive measures by the whites led > in 1637 to an outbreak of war with the Pequot Indians in the lower > Connecticut Valley in which that tribe was virtually annihilated. Captain > John Mason led an; expedition that surrounded more than four hundred of > the Pepuots in a palisaded fort on the Mystic River. Setting fire to the > fort in the night, Mason's men burned all but seven of the occupants to > death. William Bradford, describing; this episode, commented: "It was > conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearfull > sight to see them thus frying in the fyer, and the streams of blood > quenching the same, and horrible was the stinck and sente ther of; but > the victory seemed a sweete sacrifice, and they gaye the prays thereof to > God, who had wrought so wonderfuly for them, thus inclose their enimise > in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and > insulting an enimie." > > "Before the campaign against the Pequots was over, militiamen had killed > or captured more than seven hundred Indians. Indian Captives were highly > prized, for they could be sold as slaves in the West Indies or traded for > more tractable Negro slaves. The Reverend Hugh Pater wrote to Governor > Winthrop requesting a few slaves for himself: "Sir, Mr. Endicot and > myself salute you in the Lord Jesus. Wee have heard of a dividence of > women and children in the bay and would bee glad of a share viz: a young > woman or girle and a boy if you thinke good. I wrote to you for some > boyes for Bermudas, which I thinke is considerable." They got seventeen > Indian slaves fifteen boys and two women." > > In the time line for the Plymouth Colony for 1637 we have: > January: William Bradford chosen governor. > March: The first mention of Cohannet, which became known as Taunton. > April: A group of ten men from Saugus in Massachusetts Bay Colony > received permission to settle in Plymouth Colony. They chose the future > Sandwich. > Plymouth and Mass Bay disputed over the border between the two colonies. > The line was finally established between Hingham and Scituate in June, > 1640. > June: Duxbury was declared a township. > The Plymouth Court declared that it would send a force to help the men of > Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut against the Pequots, but the war was > over before the force was sent out. > > More later, > Thurmon > > On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 15:43:58 EDT Sackettbill@aol.com writes: > > I would like to apologize to Mary Lou and everyone else, for the angry > tone > > of my posting about Pilgrim tolerance in relation to King Philips War. > My > > friend Chief Frank Whiteeagle of the Wampanoag (Seaconk), can tell of a > different > > perspective about these events of American history. Sorry. Bill > > > ==== SACKETT Mailing List ==== > RootsWeb blocks HTML formatting in email messages. 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