The Pequot and their traditional enemies, the Mohegan, were at one time a
single socio-political entity. Anthropologists and historians contend that
sometime before contact with the Puritan English, the Pequot split into the two
competing groups.
In the 1630s, the Connecticut River Valley was in turmoil. The Pequot
aggressively worked to extend their area of control, at the expense of the
Wampanoag to the north, the Narragansett to the east, the Connecticut River
Valley Algonquians and Mohegan to the west, and the Algonquian people of
present-day Long Island to the south. The tribes contended for political
dominance and control of the European fur trade. A series of smallpox epidemics
over the course of the previous three decades had severely reduced the Indian
populations, due to their lack of immunity to the disease. As a result, there
was a power vacuum in the area.
The Dutch and the English were also striving to extend the reach of their trade
into the interior to achieve dominance in the lush, fertile region. By 1636, the
Dutch had fortified their trading post, and the English had built a trading fort
at Saybrook. English Puritans from Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies
settled at the newly established river towns of Windsor, Hartford and
Wethersfield.
1634-1638
Indian Tribes
- Pequot Tribe (contr. of Paquatauog, 'destroyers.'- Trumbull). An Algonquian tribe of Connecticut. Before their conquest by the English in 1637 they were the most dreaded of the southern New England tribes.
-
Algonquian Tribe (adapted from the name of the Algonkin tribe). A linguistic stock which formerly occupied a more extended area than any other in North America. Their territory reached from the east shore of Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and front Churchill River to Pamlico Sound.
- Mohegan Tribe (from maïngan, 'wolf.' Trumbull). An Algonquian tribe whose chief seat appears originally to have been on Thames river, Conn., in the north part of New London county. They claimed as their proper country all the territory watered by the Thames and its branches north to within 8 or 10 miles of the Massachusetts line.
- Narragansett Tribe ('people of the small point,' from naiagans, diminutive of naiag, 'small point of land,' with locative ending -et).
- Wampanoag Tribe ('eastern people'). One of the principal tribes of New England. Their proper territory appears to have been the peninsula on the east shore of Narragansett Bay now included in Bristol county, R. I., and the adjacent parts in Bristol county, Mass.
History of the War - Connecticut
- Chronology of the Pequot War (hosted at Barnard College, Columbia University)
- The Pequot War hosted at The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut)
- John Mason hosted at The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut)
- The Indian Wars in the Colonies (hosted at The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut)
- Another View of the Pequot War (hosted at The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut)
- Pequot History (hosted at First Nations)
- The Pequot War (hosted at The Descendents of Henry Dowds)
- Pequot War (hosted at Wikipedia)
- Timeline of the Pequot Tribe
- Who were the Pequot Indians (hosted at essortment)
- Narragansett Stalking Horse (hosted at Clayton Cramer's Web Page)
- Sargent William Hayden (hosted at Heydon, Haydon, Hayden, Keys Genealogy)
- Narrative of the Pequot War (hosted at Time Traveler's Genealogy Page)
History of the War - Massachusetts
- The Pequot War (hosted at The Descendents of Henry Dowds)
- Mystic Voices, Story of the Pequot War (hosted at Mystic Voices)
- Pequots and Puritans
- Timeline of Plymouth Colony, 1620-1692 (Includes the Pequot War)
- Indian Raids in New England and Essex County (hosted at Native American Deeds)
Suggested Reading for Pequot Tribe
- The Pequot Tribe
- Connecticut Soldiers in the Pequot War of 1637
- A Brief History of the War with the Indians in New England