Putnam patriot., 1920-10-15
HISTORY STORIES OF CONNECTICUT
 For the Boys and Girls
THE PEQUOT WAR

' wanted protection from their enemies the Pequots.
 How do you think the Pequots liked this?
 They said to themselves, These new people will protect our enemies and we cannot be the masters of many other tribes as we have in the past g
 Sassaeus their proud chief thought, "These English will in time grow to be a great people and they will want our land for homes. We will kill them while we can"
 For time the white people with theri guns guarded themselves and hteir homes so carefully that the h. dians were unable to kill many of them. Later Sassacus began sending little bands of his warriors to hide near the homes of the white men and shoot them as they went to their fields to work. After killing the men the In- dians would go to their unprotected homes and murder the women and children.
 One day John Oldham from Dor chester sailed down to Block Island to trade with the Indians. Indians from the Narragansett tribe murdered him in his boat. The Massachusetts peo- pie thought that the Pequots at Grot- on and Mystic had helped plan this murder so they sent John Endicott to punish the PUequots and the Block Is- land Indians.
 He sailed first to Block Island The surface of this island is like that of the ocean when a storm is raging and the waves are rising and falling in long hills and valleys. At that time the hills were covered with shrubs and dwarf oaks. As Endicott and his ship approached the island, the Indians ran to hide in the valleys and behind the trees Soon they began firing their arrows at the white men who had landed and were trying to find them. After pursuing them for two days the white men killed fourteen Indians. There were two villages and sixty wig wams on the island Two hundred acres of corn ready for harvest were found in the fields and along the shore were many canoes.
 What happened to these homes and this property?
 Some of the white men rushed into the fields and began destroying the corn, others pounded the canoes and ,,,tA yyhtln still others set fire to the villages.
 Did they burn all the wigwams?
 Yes, every one that they could find was son in flames.
 Some of the Indians escaped ir their canoes and padded for the home of the Pequots. Captain Endicott fol lowed them, bue he was thinking more of punishing the Pequots than of find ing the Indians who were fleeing. Or the way he stopped at Saybrook ane persuaded Captain Gardner to sene twenty men from the fort to help him
 Captain Gardner did not believe that the Pequots had anything to do with the murder of John Oldham anc said that it was wrong for Captain Endicott to punish them for 1t. Hs thought it would only make trouble for the Connecticut settlers.
 You come here" he said to Cap tain Endicott, "and raise these wasp' about my ears and then you tak' wings and flee away
 Captain Endicott took the twent! men with his party and sailed fo Groton Heights The Indians met hin at the shore He told them that h' had come to get the heads of the In dians who had killed John Oldham.
 He told them that they must bring | him these heads at once and give hin an opportunity to talk with Sassacu or he would fight
 For nearly four hours some of th' Indians talked with the white men ant delayed making them any promise During this time the rest of the In dians were busy hiding their womer and children and their goods in tht woods where the white men could not find them.
 Suddenly the Indians who were witt the white men turned and ran to joir their friends in the woods.
 The English started in pursuit. From their hiding places behinc rocks and trees the savages let fly 1 shower of arrows. Endicott chased them no farther He was very angr, and rushed toward the deserted wig wams and set them on fire. In shor while nothing remained but ashes Captain Endicott next destroyed al the corn that was growing in th' fields. The following day he crossed the river and burned the homes of th' Indians who lived where New Londol is today. When he had done all thi damage he sailed for home. His ex petition did little good but mucl harm. He did nothing to weaken O frighten the Indians or to make then behave better. All that he did mad them hate the white mer and caused them to commit more murders.
 The twenty men from Saybrool who were with Captain Endicott wer' left to return home alone. They load ed their small boats with corn belong ing to the Indians and soon returned to the Saybrook fort. The Indians angered by the loss of their corn, fol 1 lowed them. They found some whit