The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-05-06
AS IN OLD COLONIAL DAYS


tribes to get the most favorable place
in the readjustment of things, the Mo-
hegans came in conflict with the strong
Rhode Island tribe of the Narragan-
sets, out OF which grew the romantic
rivalry and tragic duel between Uncas
and Miantonomo. They met in l643 on
the great plain Of Norwich the Nara
gansett forces being probably twice as
large as the MOhegan. Uncas challeng-
ed Miantonomo to a personal duel,
which was declined, following which
the Mohegans defeated their opponents
and drove them off the field with great
slaughter. Uncas captured Miantono-
mo, took him to Hartford and turned
him over to the English who referred
his case to the commissioners Of the
United Colonies at Boston, who took
the advice of Christian ministers there,
upon which he was returned TO uncas
for execution and was killed by the
brother of Uncas with a tomahawk.
Had his conqueror killed him in hot
blood on the field of battle 1t would
have saved the expenditure of vast
amount of sentimental eloquence and
argumentative sophistry in deciding the
right and wrong of Miantonomos fate,
and in apportioning to Uncas, the Con-
necticut authorities, the commissioners
of the United Colonies, and clergy as
sembled in convocation at Boston, their
due reward of condemnation or justifi-
! cation. Uncas was at this time between
forty and fifty years of age. File was
born somewhere near the beginning of
the century. and when he died, in 1882
or 1858, he was reckoned about eighty
years old.
| For nearly forty years after the death
of Miantonomo the English in Connect
| icut were engaged in no general Indian
war. During fifteen of these years the
Narragansetts sought every opportuni-
| ty to revenge the death of their chief.
Many times Uncas was besieged in his
fortress on the banks Of the Thames be-
| low Norwich, three times at least he
| narrowly escaped death at the hands
of assassins and he was constantly
serving as a sentinel on the outposts Of
the English settlements and as a spy
among the enemy, bringing in alarms
or rushing in for protection, as the case
might be. While all these conspiracies
and attacks against him were being
maui LUZ lldlly ears Ill ItpedlGu lpl Ills,
he, in his turn, was by no means idle or
innocent. He was proved guilty of de-
| bauching the wives of two of his sach-
ems, of abusing and plundering those
| too weak to resist his brutality and ra-
| pacity. of robbing a man of his corn
and beans, of embezzling wampum that
had been given him to deliver to the
English, of exceeding jealousy toward
the chiefs whom the English might
take into favor, of making false charges
and plotting to arouse prejudice against
| them.
During King Philips war, beginning
in 1875 although too old to be of active
service himself, the Mohegans, under
his son, Oneco, We're a powerful aid to
the English. and it is said with approx
innate if not with literal truth that by
reason of their faithfulness not a drop
of English blood was shed on Connect
cut soil during this war.
In his latter years Uncas suffered the
inevitable degeneracy of his race under
the influences of civilization. He was
more or less a drunkard, and he fire.
quently appears in a most demoralized
aspect. Gookin calls him IAN old and
wicked, willful man, who hath always
been an opposed and underminer OF
praying to Cod Drake calls him "a
detestable character and "miscre.
ant" Hubbard discredits the sincerity
of his friendship and bases it solely on
his sense of personal advantage.
Unfriendly judgments like these NIGH
be just without detracting from the
| er;1- tA h ,1, otI
ers, who tested him in time of stress
and without diminishing the honor an6
gratitude earned by life of consistent
loyalty and faithful service to the
whites. His vindication is found in the
record of forty years of comparative
peace following the Pequot war.
If I have made you see Uncas as he
has gradually revealed himself to me
you find not a saint, not a hero, nor yet
a villain, but an Indian with most OF
the qualities of his race, and one in ad
dition that seems almost peculiar t
him among Tndians-call it calculation
prudence, what you will-the instinc
tive mental power that takes the larger
view of self-interest.
If the modern schoolboy should BE-
asked, w no was UnCdS r ne WOulQ DC
apt to reply in characteristic simplicity
of description "a good Indian" If The
average reader of historical tales ant
biographical anecdotes were asked the
same question he might answer, "Tht
white mans friend" If a studious Gym
ic were asked, "Who was Uncas?" HI
might say, "a bird that fouled it's owr
rest; traitor to his people" Thi:
would be an Indians Judgment, too
We get the measure Of Uncas' unnatu
raj position by trying to imagine the in
conceivable. What would Uncas' stand
ing be had his people conquered the
white men and written the history ant
melted out the judgment?
All these answers may be interesting
but they are not comprehensive? Who
then, and what was Uncas? File was
man who acted within his limitations
as though he foresaw what was to be
a sachem who built up a tribe out O.
nothing, left it at his death the chic
native body in Connecticut with great
er possessions than any other, anc
whose posterity still survives in Con
necticut, respectable in numbers, char
acter and property; an Indian, UNIQUE
among his kind, who formed a consist
ent theory of conduct and pursued i
through life; a warrior whose persona
courage never faltered, who neve
!