While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Annawan. A Wampanoag sachem, the chief captain and
counselor of Philip, who under that chief s father had won a reputation for
prowess in wars with many different tribes. When King Philip fell Annawan
rallied the warriors and safely extricated them from the swamp where they were
surrounded. Afterward he ranged through the woods, harrying the settlers of
Swansea and Plymouth, until Capt. Benjamin Church raised a new expedition to
hunt the Indians as long as there was one of them in the woods. Some were
captured by Capt. Church s Indian scouts, but Anna wan eluded pursuit, never
camping twice in the same spot. Having learned from a captive where the old
chief was, Church went with his Indian soldiers and only one white companion to
capture him. When he reached the re treat, a rocky hill in the middle of a
swamp, he sent the captives forward to divert the attention of Annawan s people.
Church and his scouts then stole up, the noise they made being drowned by the
sound of a pestle with which a woman was pounding corn, and jumped to the place
where the arms were stacked. Anna wan and his chief counselors, thus surprised
and ignorant of the fewness of their assailants, gave themselves up and were
bound. The fighting men, who were encamped near by, surrendered when they were
told that the place was surrounded by English soldiers. Annawan brought the
wampum belts and other regalia of King Philip, which he gave to Capt. Church as
his conqueror, who had now overcome the last company that stood out against the
English. Annawan's captor interceded to have his life spared, but the
authorities at Plymouth, extracting from him a confession that he had put to
death several English prisoners, some of them with torture, beheaded him in 1676
while Capt, Church was absent. (F. H.)
Hobomok. A chief of the Wampanoag who was the life-long
friend of the English, from the time he met them at Plymouth in 1621. He helped
to strengthen the friendship of Massasoit for the colonists, but, unlike
Massasoit, he became a Christian, and died, before 1642, as a member of the
English settlement at Plymouth. He was of great service to the English in
warning them of Indian conspiracies. He was present at some of the battles in
which Standish performed valorous deeds, but was not an active participant. The
name is identical with Abbamocho, Hobbamoco, Habamouk, Hobbamock, Hobomoko, etc.
See the following. (A. F. C.)
Hobomoko. Whittier, in the notes to his Poems (464,
1891) cites the saying concerning John Bonython: Here lies Bonython, the
Sagamore of Saco, He lived a rogue and died a knave, and went to Hobomoko.
Mentioned by early writers as an evil deity of the Massachuset and closely
related Algonquian tribes. (A. F. C.)
Massassoit
('great chief'; proper name, Woosamequin [Wasainegin, Osamekin, etc.],
'Yellow Feather').
A principal chief of the Wampanoag of the region about
Bristol, R. L, who was introduced by Samoset to the Puritans at Plymouth
in 1621. He was preeminently the friend of the English. Drake (Aborig.
Races, 81, 1880) says of him: "He was a chief renowned more in peace than
war, and was, as long as he lived, a friend to the English,
notwithstanding they committed repeated usurpations upon his lands and
liberties." He had met other English voyagers before the advent of the
Puritans. While ill in 1623 he was well treated by the English. In 1632 he
had a brief dispute with the Narraganset under Canonicus, and in 1649 he
sold the site of Duxbury to the English.
His death took place in 1662. Of his sons, one,
Metacomet, became famous as King Philip (q. v. ), the leading spirit in a
long struggle against the English. See
Massassoit, Chief of the Wampanoago
King Philip, Metacom,
second son of Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoag, who attained that
office himself through the death of his father and elder brother in
1661-62, and to the English was better known as Philip of Pokanoket,
or King Philip. He was the most remarkable of all the Indians of New
England. For 9 years after his elevation to the chieftaincy,
although accused of plotting against the colonists, he seems to have
devoted his energies to observation and preparation rather than to
overt actions of a warlike nature. He even acknowledged himself the
king's subject. But war with the English teas inevitable, and the
struggle called King Philip's war (1675-76) broke out, resulting in
the practical extermination of the Indians after they had inflicted
great losses upon the whites.
The ability of King Philip is seen in the plans he made
before the war began, the confederacy he formed, and the havoc lie
wrought among the white settlements. Of 90 towns, 52 were attacked
and 12 were completely destroyed. The bravery of the Indians was in
many cases remarkable. Only treachery among the natives in all
probability saved the colonists from
extinction.
In the decisive battle, a night attack, at a swamp
fortress in Rhode Island, Aug. 12, 1676, the last force of the
Indians vas defeated with great slaughter, King Phillip himself
being among the slain. His body was subjected to the indignities
usual at that time, and his head is said to have been exposed at
Plymouth for 20 years. His wife and little son were sold as slaves
in the West Indies. Widely divergent estimates of King Philip's
character and achievements have been entertained by different
authorities, but he can not but be considered a man of marked
abilities. Weeden (Ind. Money, 12, 1884) says: "History has male him
'King Philip,' to commemorate the heroism of his life and death.
He almost made himself a king by his marvelous energy and statecraft
put forth among the New England tribes.
Had the opposing power been a little weaker, he might
have founded a temporary kingdom on the ashes of the colonies."
King Phillip has been the subject of several poems,
tales and histories. The literature includes: Church, History
of King Phillip's War, 1836; Apes Eulogy on King Phillip, 1836;
Freeman, Civilization and Barbarism, 1878; Markham, Narrative
History of King Philip's War, 1883.
Squanto. A Wampanoag (Drake Inds of
N. Am. 69, 1880) who is said to have been the only person in Patuxet that
escaped the plague of 1619. He was a friend of the English, and did
them much service besides acting as interpreter and guide, though he seems
to have been also at one time the agent or spy of Caunbitant, sachem of
Mattapoisett. He died at Chatham in 1622. The name Squanto was
contracted from Tisquantum.
