"The Bloody Man"
- Thread starter EdT
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The main difference being that it was the Puritans as a whole who tried to elbow out what most people would not recognize today as Christmas (Both versions which would then be laughed at by being pagan inspired) while the Nazis tried to squeeze out the religion period. Not sure which of them would get the puppy kicker award from stealing Christmas.
A very good parallel - and one that doesn't come to mind right away.
Oh, and to EdT - love your TLs; quite honestly, I find them so well crafted that there are few comments I could offer other than "Well done". looking forward to more of this.
TB-EI
Rather inaccurate re Nazis, I'm afraid; they loved religion, they just didn't like organised groups which were beyond their control!
I finished Hitler's Table Talk two weeks ago. If you want we can go somewhere else to discuss this.
Cromwell divides Parliament hugely, and that statue was hugely controversial when it was put up- indeed, the only reason it's there is that Lord Rosebery, who was Prime Minister at the time, secretly paid for the thing out of his own pocket after four years of angry debate failed to secure any public funding (at the time, the public were just told it was an 'anonymous donor'). About ten years ago MPs debated a motion to either melt the thing down or move it somewhere less obtrusive.
I can't find it at present, but somewhere there's a Royalist propaganda woodcut that shows exactly this- a horned and satanic Cromwell presiding over a meeting of the Army Council with his colleagues clearly completely in his thrall. I'll try and track it down and post.
Thanks, always great to hear! There will be more soon, I promise.
Something for a dull and depressing Saturday...
Chapter 28
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(Taken from “The History of Saybrook, 1635-1801” by Henry Armitage, Picador 1945)
“On May 24th 1645, a gloriously warm Sunday afternoon, the Bristolman Annabel sailed into Broughton bringing news of the King’s defeat at the battle of Longdon Green and his subsequent capture. The reaction was ecstatic; thanksgiving services were organised across the colony, bells were rung, and the normally stoic citizens of Broughton were even moved to organise a celebratory fast to mark the occasion. Oliver Cromwell, predictably, ascribed the victory to “great Providence”; Hugh Peter went further, writing to Henry Vane that “I hope now it is the day of Antichrist’s great overthrow at Armageddon”[1].
Saybrugians celebrated because their sympathies overwhelmingly lay with Parliament, but their satisfaction in victory was far outweighed by a powerful feeling of relief. The fighting in England had been hard on the Colony; trade had largely dried up, the result of privateering on both sides, and shortages of many imported items had become commonplace. More seriously still, the war had triggered a population crisis in the colonies. There had been only a handful of new arrivals since the fighting began in 1642, and the resulting labour shortages were exacerbated by the departure of hundreds of New Englanders across the Atlantic to fight for Parliament[2]. Saybrook was well enough established to weather these problems, but only for a limited time; if the settler drought continued, the future of the whole colony lay in doubt. Not for nothing did Cromwell, in one of his bleaker moments, write to his friend John Winthrop that New England risked being in “the saddest posture that ever they were for danger of ruin.” Peace in the mother country not only represented the victory of godliness over repression and popery; it also promised a return to the expansion and prosperity of the 1630s and a resolution to the demographic and economic problems that had dogged the colonies since the outbreak of war. Shrewder colonial observers made another, more subtle observation; while the fighting in England seemed at an end the political turmoil was not. As early as June 1645, Cromwell, a frequent correspondent with John Hampden in London and so extremely well-informed regarding Parliamentary affairs, wept as he related to Lion Gardiner “the new troubles about to invade England, appearing the most afflicted nation in the world”[3]. The Governor’s tears, however, were tempered with calculation. In the 1630s, the conflict between Parliament and King had driven many Englishmen across the Atlantic to the colonies. Might a renewed period of political tension have the same effect and swell the ranks of the colonists?
In the summer of 1645, however, such thoughts were premature. For the meantime, Saybrugians would be quite content with quiet enjoyment of the fruits of peace. Unfortunately for the colonists, their hopes of tranquillity were abruptly dashed; war abroad was unexpectedly exchanged for conflict at home…”
(Taken from “New England: A History” by Robert Talbot, Miskatonic University Press 1937)
“As the 1640s wore on, the Narragansett tribe, previously regarded as dependable allies of the English and far less of a threat than the Mattabesic of the western Connecticut valley or the Pocumtuc of the north, gradually began to present a more hostile face to the colonists. Missionaries who had previously been politely humoured were turned away, and the number of disputes regarding wandering livestock, a perennial feature of relations between native and coloniser, mushroomed. More seriously still, rumours began to spread of Indians stockpiling food and ammunition in the wilderness.
Why were the Narragansett suddenly behaving so differently? The reason was that the destruction of the Pequot people in 1636 had completely upset the balance of power amongst the native tribes of the region. Previously, the Narragansett and Mohegan had been frequent allies in their wars against the Pequot, whose lands lay between the two tribes’ territories; however, while the Narragansett sachem Miantonomi had adopted a position of benevolent neutrality towards the English as they annihilated their ancestral foes, the Mohegan had joined in the slaughter and had reaped a huge reward in consequence, being allotted more than a thousand captive Pequots as additions to their tribe. Their numbers swollen, the Mohegan suddenly became a serious rival to the Narragansett as the dominant tribe in the region. Uncas, the Mohegan sachem, had important friends in Broughton and Boston, and this allowed him considerable freedom of action in pursuing his own expansionist designs; in the early 1640s he began to seize territory and exact tribute from the Mattabesic and Nipmuc tribes to the west, all with the blessing of his English allies[4].
The growing power of Uncas appalled the Narragansett, and soon Miantonomi began to reach out to his neighbours in an attempt to form an anti-Mohegan coalition. In 1640, he formed an alliance with the Pocumtuc and Tunxis tribes, and two years later he travelled to Long Island and the Hudson Valley with more than a hundred warriors to rally support amongst the tribes there. This effort, though impressive in scope, was a complete disaster; Miantonomi returned home empty handed, his foreign tour having only served to alarm the colonists in New England and the New Netherlands alike, both of whom feared that a general native uprising was being planned against European settlement. This isolated the Narragansett still further, and in 1642 Miantonomi was summoned to Boston to defend himself against charges that he was planning war on the colonists, providing Oliver Cromwell with the ideal pretext to draw the English colonies together into the United Colonies of New England. The expedition also directly contributed to the outbreak of “Kieft’s War” between the Dutch and lower Hudson tribes in 1643, removing all chance of the Mohegan’s western neighbours providing the Narragansett with any support[5].
For the following eighteen months, the Narragansett, realising that they would have to deal with the Mohegan by themselves, made surreptitious preparations for war. Then an opportunity beckoned. By late 1644 the New Netherlands were in such a dangerous military situation that Governor Kieft realised desperate measures were required, and sent an emissary to Boston offering 25,000 guilders to the English colonists for volunteers to help them put down the uprising[6]. As Protestants, the Dutch were far better received than the French visitors Boston had hosted the previous year, and in the spring of 1645 Captain Mason, newly returned from the controversial expedition to Acadia, organised several companies of men to travel to the Hudson Valley[7]. In doing so, he provided another reminder of New England’s growing manpower crisis; so many men had left the colonies to return to England and fight the King that Mason was forced to draft large numbers of Mohegan warriors into his force to make up the numbers[8].
Miantonomi realised that the time had come; not only were the Mohegans weakened, but the English would be in no position to assist their allies. In June 1645, without consulting the English, who were certain to warn the Mohegan, Miantonomi led close to a thousand Narragansett warriors in a raid on the Mohegan capital at Shetucket[9]. The Mohegans were caught completely by surprise, and despite outnumbering their attackers heavily, were decisively defeated. Uncas himself was captured by the attackers, and while his immediate execution was judged too much of a provocation to the English, he was nonetheless hauled back to Naragansett territory in chains to be used as a bargaining chip…[10]”
(Taken from “The History of Saybrook, 1635-1801” by Henry Armitage, Picador 1945)
“The Narragansett coup against the Mohegan caused consternation and panic across New England. Worse still, emboldened by Miantonomi’s move, other tribes flocked to the Narragansett banner and began to launch their own raids on Mohegan territory[11]. Although the Narragansett sachem protested his innocence of any aggressive intent towards the English, stories of natives being spotted sharpening their tomahawks and repairing their firearms only fed colonial paranoia. In July John Clark of Wickford wrote to George Fenwick passing on breathless rumours of Indians from far and wide putting aside their differences and preparing for war;
“There now appears more danger than but from those Indians within our reach. To our grief we find by certain intelligence, within these few days, that those Indians have been and still are endeavouring (with offering vast sums of their wealth) to hire other Nations of Indians two or three hundred miles distant from us.
And not being able to guess where the storm will fall, for that all Indians as well our near neighbours as those more remote, giving us daily suspicions that it is not any private grudge, but a general combination, of all from Virginia hither, which we are the rather inclined to believe, since the defection their and here, though at least three hundred miles distant, one from the other happened near the same time; and we much fear that those Indians of Virginia having been unfortunately successful there, where yet by our latest intelligence we find affairs to have an ill aspect; is and will be a great encouragement to ours here.”[12]
While Uncas still lived the Narragansett still had a strong bargaining position, and in late June Henry Vane was despatched to open negotiations for a peaceful settlement. But Miantonomi was playing a high-stakes game, and had raised tensions to the point where he was no longer entirely in control of his own supporters. His son Canonchet was undoubtedly eager for a confrontation with the English colonists, and in this he was supported by the Narragansett’s religious leaders, the powwows[13]. In early July, after Vane had left for Broughton with the promise of a new treaty between Miantonomi and the colonists, Canonchet made his own intervention; a group of warriors fell on the unfortunate Uncas and butchered him with their tomahawks, rendering any agreement void. The Saybrook General Court quickly summoned Miantonomi to explain his actions. The messengers arrived at a bad time; the sachem and his allies had been drinking, and after ‘some words’ passed between the Miantonomi and Vane, Canonchet knocked off the Englishman's hat. When Miantonomi sobered the next day, he was more courteous but refused to indicate whether or not he would obey Saybrook’s summons.
By the time Vane returned to Broughton, he found the Governor already actively preparing for war. Cromwell’s reasons were largely pragmatic; he was convinced that the natives needed to be sent a message. The colonists would be “assured of their peace by killing the Barbarians… For having once terrified them, by severe execution of just revenge, they shall never hear of more harm from them.” This view was not based on the notion of the Indian as inferior to the Englishman, quite the reverse; they were of "the same constitution, & the sons of Adam, and that we had the same Maker, the same matter, the same mould. Only Art and Grace have given us that perfection, which yet they want, but may perhaps be as capable thereof as we."[14]
There was another, equally mercenary reason for Cromwell’s policy. Although Narragansett Country was largely comprised of rocky and marshy terrain and therefore undesirable, there was one exception along the western shore of Narragansett Bay. Here lay Boston Neck, containing some of the choicest pasture in New England, and a prime site for settlement. For most of the 1640s this upland region had also been left to the Indians, save for Richard Smith's solitary trading house along the Pequot Path that led from Providence to New London. The closest plantations were Ely and Warwick on the north end of Narragansett Bay and Newport and Portsmouth across the Bay, newly acquired by Plymouth Colony[15]. Securing this region was central to Cromwell’s grand design. The constant concern of the Saybrook Proprietors was that the communities on Long Island Sound were lagging behind those on Massachusetts Bay in population and wealth, with Saybrook and Plymouth crowded against each other, Long Island partly in the hands of the Dutch, and Narragansett Bay largely in the hands of the Indians. The great agricultural, commercial, and industrial potential of the region could only be realized if only the mainland towns along the Sound, the Connecticut River settlements, the Long Island plantations, and the unexploited Narragansett region could all be joined in one economic and political unit. As a result, even at a time of population contraction, it was a strategic necessity for Boston Neck to be integrated into the Saybrook plantation.
War was not merely a matter for Saybrook alone. Narragansett belligerence worried all the colonies, and as the news of Uncas’ assassination spread the authorities in Plymouth, who felt particularly vulnerable to any outbreak of violence, called for an emergency meeting of the New England Confederation. In the first week of August the Confederal delegates met in Newport on Aquidneck Island, the third time in successive years that the body had been called to deal with an exceptional circumstance...”
***
Newport
Plymouth Colony, August 1645
Oliver Cromwell leant back in his chair in the drafty meeting hall and let the other delegates bicker amongst themselves. His journey to Newport had worried him; the settlement had prospered, even after the expulsion of some of its more heterodox inhabitants the previous year, and its port was far superior to Ely, Saybrook’s outlet onto Narragansett Bay. Given time, the town might even rival Broughton itself. I cannot let that happen, he thought, with irritation, and this war is the key. The Lord has furnished me with the ideal opportunity for our plantations to prosper, and it is a sin to reject the gifts He bestows upon us. I will do it even without the Confederation, if necessary.
John Winthrop was holding forth about the dangers of conflict, and Cromwell watched him speak with a mixture of respect and sadness. Winthrop was a dear friend, and had been constant source of advice ever since the plantation of the Saybrook colony; yet his political star was on the wane in the Bay settlements. His support of the expedition to Acadia had been a grave political mistake, and his advocacy of peace with the Narragansett, while brave, would only give his opponents another weapon with which to beat him. I am sorry to do this to you, John, Cromwell thought, but God must come before friendship.
“The Indians do not know our true weakness,” Winthrop continued. “We cannot hope to defend every settlement; even though some of those who departed to fight the King are returning, we still have a severe shortage of men. All it would take is a few military victories, and the other tribes will reconsider their neutrality. If the Wampanoag…”
William Bradford cleared his throat. “We have good news there, at least; sachem Massasoit remains a friend to us, and we may be able to convince his warriors to assist us, once the harvest is in.”
“So what should we do?”
Now. Now is the time. Cromwell banged his fist on the table, making the other men jump. “I will tell you what we do,” he said, standing and leaning across the table. “We make war. You are all right. If Miantonomi realises that he can threaten us with impunity, we shall have all the natives rise up against us. We do not have the numbers for a long conflict, or an equal one. Instead, we need to strike hard, and fast, as we did when the Pequot threatened us seven years ago. We will bring in the harvest just as normal, winter our livestock in defensible locations near our settlements, stockpile food. Then, when we are done, we raid their settlements, and take every ear of corn we can carry. Everything else, we burn. We destroy the Narragansett’s capacity to feed themselves. They will have no harvest to bring in; so they will throw themselves onto our defences to capture our food stores, and drive their allies into our arms by raiding for food. Come the winter, they will starve- and then we will fall upon them in their weakened state and put those that are left of them to the sword. The few that remain will suffer the fake of the Pequot.”
There was silence around the table, as the delegates considered the proposal. Henry Vane cleared his throat. “The Saybrook delegates are resolved on this course,” he said, “uncomfortable though it may be. I have met Miantonomi. If he tries to draw back from war, his own sons will kill him. Strong action now will drive his allies into our arms.”
William Bradford frowned. “It will be a hungry winter, if we take this course.”
Cromwell shrugged. “Better hungry than dead. We will not starve. We shall have our own harvest to sustain us and if we need more, then we can buy grain from Virginia and our new friends amongst the French. De La Tour might be a papist, but he still likes the colour of money, and is in our debt in any case.”
John Winthrop stirred uncomfortably and exchanged doubtful looks with Bradford, but sitting next to them, John Endicott and Myles Standish nodded at Cromwell encouragingly. Plymouth and the Bay will moan and complain, but they will come along with me regardless, he thought with satisfaction, and New Haven is too distant to care. The vote will not be unanimous, but there will be no veto.
Winthrop sighed. “You would make a desert, and call it peace,” the Governor of Massachusetts stated, quietly.
Cromwell forced a chuckle, and met his friend’s gaze. He understands and forgives, he thought sadly, for he knows I do the Lord’s work. “Yes John, I would indeed. I could not have put it better myself.”
****
(Taken from “New England: A History” by Robert Talbot, Miskatonic University Press 1937)
“On September 3rd 1645, A few weeks after the New Haven conference, some Narragansetts approached the town of Salisbury in Saybrook colony and looted some abandoned homes. A young Englishman fired at the Indians and killed one. With that shot, the Narragansett War had begun. The Saybrugian response was swift; two weeks later, a small party of colonists, led by Mohegan guides, burnt two Narragansett villages, driving the inhabitants away and stealing as much food as they were able. The race was now on to reduce the other side to starvation. In late September, a colonial expedition to recover crops from fields along the Connecticut River was ambushed near Windsor, with major loss of life. At the same time, Narragansett warriors attacked and destroyed the settlements of Salisbury and Ely, causing terrified refugees to arrive in Aquidneck Island and Providence with lurid tales of Indian savagery. At this point the war seemed a disaster. William Berkeley in Virginia wrote, not entirely without schadenfreude[16], that the natives;
“have destroyed divers Towns in New-England, kilt more than a thousand fighting men, seldom were worsted in any encounter, and have made the New-England men desert above a hundred miles of ground of that land which they had divers years seated and built Townes on. I have not heard from thence this fortnight but expect to hear no very good news when I do, for they either have not or pretend not to have money to pay their soldiers. But whatever the success be, they will not this next twenty years recover what they have lost and expended in this war.”[17]
Yet while these setbacks were undoubtedly damaging to the colonial cause, they were nothing compared to the systematic destruction meted out by the colonists, who regularly raided Narragansett territories, burning any crops they found and slaughtering the animals. The psychological effect of these forays was multiplied by the presence of Oliver Cromwell, the dreaded ‘Musqiskisuq’ or ‘bloody-faced one’ who had exterminated the Pequot and now promised forgiveness for any Narragansett ally willing to defect, and certain death if they did not. While both sides launched constant raids, the colonists could rely on the stout defences of Fort Providence and Broughton to protect their food stores, while the Indians could only hope for concealment. Soon the Narragansett were beginning to go hungry; and Miantonomi, under pressure from the more militant members of his inner circle, began to make mistakes. In mid-November 1645, Narragansett warriors attacked Wampanoag and Nipmuc territories in the hope of finding food, turning these nations from cautious neutrals to active enemies in the process[18].
By now assailed on all sides, Miantonomi was forced into desperate action and allowed himself to be convinced into launching a desperate attack on Fort Providence in the hope of isolating Broughton from the coast and capturing the town’s considerable grain stores. The attack was a disaster; Governor Cromwell had just arrived at the settlement with a force of his own, and the Narragansett were driven off by cannon-fire from the fort and from the ships moored in the Connecticut River, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Miantonomi himself, easily identifiable by his ostentatious cloak of chainmail, was felled by a musket shot amidst the confusion[19]. His killer, James Avery, immediately became a colonial hero[20]. While his successor Canonchet led the remaining warriors on a confused retreat eastwards, the colonists boarded ships and launched their own amphibious raid on Narragansett territory. On December 21st, Cromwell’s force, guided by a disgruntled Niantic former vassal of Miantonomi, located the fort where the majority of the Narragansett had gathered, in an area of swamp a few miles from the sea[21].
The colonists easily traversed the swamp, which was frozen solid, and what followed was less of a battle, and more of a massacre. The few warriors Miantonomi had left behind could not hold off the colonists for long, and just as at Weinshauks, eight years earlier, a fire broke out which saw most of the trapped natives burned to death. Cromwell exulted in the victory. “It was a fearful sight to see them [Narragansetts] thus frying in the fire and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent thereof,” he wrote to Hampden, “but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and we gave the praise thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for us, thus to enclose our enemies in our hands and give us so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy.“[22]
The twin disasters at Ft Providence and what became known as the “Swamp Fight” broke the Narragansett nation. By the spring, the few survivors of the tribe had either fled northwards with Canonchet, their new sachem, or had been absorbed into their neighbours. The colonists had achieved a stunning victory at a comparatively low cost, and the Narragansett country had been cleared for European settlement[23]…”
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[1] Amusingly, IOTL pretty much every Parliamentary victory was greeted in the colonies as Armageddon at some point or another.
[2] The Colonies had the same problem during the period IOTL.
[3] Cromwell liked a good cry, to the extent that his critics would often accuse him of being able to bring tears forth at will. In reality he just seems to have been a very emotional man.
[4] This is all as OTL, although as discussed in earlier chapters, the details vary a little ITTL.
[5] Miantonomi’s expedition was a failure IOTL too, but as ITTL it was a contributory factor to the creation of the United Colonies, its consequences are even worse for the Narragansett.
[6] The same happened IOTL, although slightly earlier; ITTL as New England is more united, the Dutch are warier about asking for aid in case it comes with strings attached.
[7] The butterflies are beginning to kick in now; IOTL a Captain Underhill was put in command of the expedition.
[8] This is more or less what happened IOTL too.
[9] IOTL, the Narragansett did this in the summer of 1643; ITTL their attack is postponed because the creation of the United Colonies makes the diplomatic situation even more unpromising to them.
[10] This is a major divergence from OTL, where the Narragansett surprise attack occurred, but went badly wrong, leading to Miantonomi’s capture and eventual execution. A Mohegan defeat such as this will really put the cat amongst the pigeons.
[11] IOTL, the reverse happened; Miantonomi’s death frightened many of the smaller New England tribes, particularly in Massachusetts, into placing themselves under English protection.
[12] This sort of paranoid feeling was remarkably prevalent in the period; IOTL, the Virginians were perpetually convinced that King Philip’s War was about to spread southwards, the Indians of the Eastern Seaboard having somehow all united against English settlement.
[13] Canonchet was a hawk IOTL too, and played a major role in positioning the Narragansett against the English during King Philip’s War.
[14] These words were Phillip Vincent’s IOTL, but they reflect Cromwell’s views fairly well; again and again IOTL, Cromwell demonstrated that the only thing he did not tolerate was resistance, and would quite happily take an extremely harsh approach to opposition if it enabled him to extend the carrot later.
[15] Boston Neck became a hugely profitable centre of cattle herding IOTL, and was the scene of an failed land-grab by Connecticut during the 1650s and 1660s which eventually helped delineate the border between that state and Rhode Island.
[16] Both ITTL and IOTL, John Winthrop refused to sell the Virginians powder and shot to assist them in their war with the Powhatan; this left rather bad blood between the Virginian and New England colonists for quite some time.
[17] Berkeley wrote the same IOTL during King Philip’s War.
[18] This is a serious mistake and a major reason why the Narragansett war is far less destructive than OTL’s King Phillip’s War, which it resembles in some ways; ITTL the Narragansett are entirely isolated and confined to a much smaller area.
[19] Miantonomi’s cloak was just as fatal IOTL; when his surprise attack on the Mohegan failed and it was time to retreat, it slowed him down enough to let his enemies catch him.
[20] IOTL Avery became a renowned Indian fighter, and served bravely in King Philip’s War; at this point ITTL, he’s barely twenty years old.
[21] The Narragansett used the same site IOTL for refuge and it was the scene of the ‘Great Swamp Fight’ of King Philip’s War, although at this point in time the fort that characterised that engagement was nowhere near as large.
[22] IOTL William Bradford wrote something similar of the Pequots. It seems rather a Cromwellian sentiment.
[23] So why was this war so relatively painless compared to OTL’s King Philip’s war, which was hugely destructive for the colonists and went on considerably longer? There are several reasons. One is that ITTL the Narragansett were fighting alone, and eventually against their native neighbours; another that Miantonomi was considerably more unlucky than King Philip, in a worse strategic situation, and not as good a diplomat. The presence of Cromwell ITTL, ensuring an aggressive, ruthless colonial response to the threat, is also significant.
Chapter 28
And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.
Joshua 23: 5.
Joshua 23: 5.
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(Taken from “The History of Saybrook, 1635-1801” by Henry Armitage, Picador 1945)
“On May 24th 1645, a gloriously warm Sunday afternoon, the Bristolman Annabel sailed into Broughton bringing news of the King’s defeat at the battle of Longdon Green and his subsequent capture. The reaction was ecstatic; thanksgiving services were organised across the colony, bells were rung, and the normally stoic citizens of Broughton were even moved to organise a celebratory fast to mark the occasion. Oliver Cromwell, predictably, ascribed the victory to “great Providence”; Hugh Peter went further, writing to Henry Vane that “I hope now it is the day of Antichrist’s great overthrow at Armageddon”[1].
Saybrugians celebrated because their sympathies overwhelmingly lay with Parliament, but their satisfaction in victory was far outweighed by a powerful feeling of relief. The fighting in England had been hard on the Colony; trade had largely dried up, the result of privateering on both sides, and shortages of many imported items had become commonplace. More seriously still, the war had triggered a population crisis in the colonies. There had been only a handful of new arrivals since the fighting began in 1642, and the resulting labour shortages were exacerbated by the departure of hundreds of New Englanders across the Atlantic to fight for Parliament[2]. Saybrook was well enough established to weather these problems, but only for a limited time; if the settler drought continued, the future of the whole colony lay in doubt. Not for nothing did Cromwell, in one of his bleaker moments, write to his friend John Winthrop that New England risked being in “the saddest posture that ever they were for danger of ruin.” Peace in the mother country not only represented the victory of godliness over repression and popery; it also promised a return to the expansion and prosperity of the 1630s and a resolution to the demographic and economic problems that had dogged the colonies since the outbreak of war. Shrewder colonial observers made another, more subtle observation; while the fighting in England seemed at an end the political turmoil was not. As early as June 1645, Cromwell, a frequent correspondent with John Hampden in London and so extremely well-informed regarding Parliamentary affairs, wept as he related to Lion Gardiner “the new troubles about to invade England, appearing the most afflicted nation in the world”[3]. The Governor’s tears, however, were tempered with calculation. In the 1630s, the conflict between Parliament and King had driven many Englishmen across the Atlantic to the colonies. Might a renewed period of political tension have the same effect and swell the ranks of the colonists?
In the summer of 1645, however, such thoughts were premature. For the meantime, Saybrugians would be quite content with quiet enjoyment of the fruits of peace. Unfortunately for the colonists, their hopes of tranquillity were abruptly dashed; war abroad was unexpectedly exchanged for conflict at home…”
(Taken from “New England: A History” by Robert Talbot, Miskatonic University Press 1937)
“As the 1640s wore on, the Narragansett tribe, previously regarded as dependable allies of the English and far less of a threat than the Mattabesic of the western Connecticut valley or the Pocumtuc of the north, gradually began to present a more hostile face to the colonists. Missionaries who had previously been politely humoured were turned away, and the number of disputes regarding wandering livestock, a perennial feature of relations between native and coloniser, mushroomed. More seriously still, rumours began to spread of Indians stockpiling food and ammunition in the wilderness.
Why were the Narragansett suddenly behaving so differently? The reason was that the destruction of the Pequot people in 1636 had completely upset the balance of power amongst the native tribes of the region. Previously, the Narragansett and Mohegan had been frequent allies in their wars against the Pequot, whose lands lay between the two tribes’ territories; however, while the Narragansett sachem Miantonomi had adopted a position of benevolent neutrality towards the English as they annihilated their ancestral foes, the Mohegan had joined in the slaughter and had reaped a huge reward in consequence, being allotted more than a thousand captive Pequots as additions to their tribe. Their numbers swollen, the Mohegan suddenly became a serious rival to the Narragansett as the dominant tribe in the region. Uncas, the Mohegan sachem, had important friends in Broughton and Boston, and this allowed him considerable freedom of action in pursuing his own expansionist designs; in the early 1640s he began to seize territory and exact tribute from the Mattabesic and Nipmuc tribes to the west, all with the blessing of his English allies[4].
The growing power of Uncas appalled the Narragansett, and soon Miantonomi began to reach out to his neighbours in an attempt to form an anti-Mohegan coalition. In 1640, he formed an alliance with the Pocumtuc and Tunxis tribes, and two years later he travelled to Long Island and the Hudson Valley with more than a hundred warriors to rally support amongst the tribes there. This effort, though impressive in scope, was a complete disaster; Miantonomi returned home empty handed, his foreign tour having only served to alarm the colonists in New England and the New Netherlands alike, both of whom feared that a general native uprising was being planned against European settlement. This isolated the Narragansett still further, and in 1642 Miantonomi was summoned to Boston to defend himself against charges that he was planning war on the colonists, providing Oliver Cromwell with the ideal pretext to draw the English colonies together into the United Colonies of New England. The expedition also directly contributed to the outbreak of “Kieft’s War” between the Dutch and lower Hudson tribes in 1643, removing all chance of the Mohegan’s western neighbours providing the Narragansett with any support[5].
For the following eighteen months, the Narragansett, realising that they would have to deal with the Mohegan by themselves, made surreptitious preparations for war. Then an opportunity beckoned. By late 1644 the New Netherlands were in such a dangerous military situation that Governor Kieft realised desperate measures were required, and sent an emissary to Boston offering 25,000 guilders to the English colonists for volunteers to help them put down the uprising[6]. As Protestants, the Dutch were far better received than the French visitors Boston had hosted the previous year, and in the spring of 1645 Captain Mason, newly returned from the controversial expedition to Acadia, organised several companies of men to travel to the Hudson Valley[7]. In doing so, he provided another reminder of New England’s growing manpower crisis; so many men had left the colonies to return to England and fight the King that Mason was forced to draft large numbers of Mohegan warriors into his force to make up the numbers[8].
Miantonomi realised that the time had come; not only were the Mohegans weakened, but the English would be in no position to assist their allies. In June 1645, without consulting the English, who were certain to warn the Mohegan, Miantonomi led close to a thousand Narragansett warriors in a raid on the Mohegan capital at Shetucket[9]. The Mohegans were caught completely by surprise, and despite outnumbering their attackers heavily, were decisively defeated. Uncas himself was captured by the attackers, and while his immediate execution was judged too much of a provocation to the English, he was nonetheless hauled back to Naragansett territory in chains to be used as a bargaining chip…[10]”
(Taken from “The History of Saybrook, 1635-1801” by Henry Armitage, Picador 1945)
“The Narragansett coup against the Mohegan caused consternation and panic across New England. Worse still, emboldened by Miantonomi’s move, other tribes flocked to the Narragansett banner and began to launch their own raids on Mohegan territory[11]. Although the Narragansett sachem protested his innocence of any aggressive intent towards the English, stories of natives being spotted sharpening their tomahawks and repairing their firearms only fed colonial paranoia. In July John Clark of Wickford wrote to George Fenwick passing on breathless rumours of Indians from far and wide putting aside their differences and preparing for war;
“There now appears more danger than but from those Indians within our reach. To our grief we find by certain intelligence, within these few days, that those Indians have been and still are endeavouring (with offering vast sums of their wealth) to hire other Nations of Indians two or three hundred miles distant from us.
And not being able to guess where the storm will fall, for that all Indians as well our near neighbours as those more remote, giving us daily suspicions that it is not any private grudge, but a general combination, of all from Virginia hither, which we are the rather inclined to believe, since the defection their and here, though at least three hundred miles distant, one from the other happened near the same time; and we much fear that those Indians of Virginia having been unfortunately successful there, where yet by our latest intelligence we find affairs to have an ill aspect; is and will be a great encouragement to ours here.”[12]
While Uncas still lived the Narragansett still had a strong bargaining position, and in late June Henry Vane was despatched to open negotiations for a peaceful settlement. But Miantonomi was playing a high-stakes game, and had raised tensions to the point where he was no longer entirely in control of his own supporters. His son Canonchet was undoubtedly eager for a confrontation with the English colonists, and in this he was supported by the Narragansett’s religious leaders, the powwows[13]. In early July, after Vane had left for Broughton with the promise of a new treaty between Miantonomi and the colonists, Canonchet made his own intervention; a group of warriors fell on the unfortunate Uncas and butchered him with their tomahawks, rendering any agreement void. The Saybrook General Court quickly summoned Miantonomi to explain his actions. The messengers arrived at a bad time; the sachem and his allies had been drinking, and after ‘some words’ passed between the Miantonomi and Vane, Canonchet knocked off the Englishman's hat. When Miantonomi sobered the next day, he was more courteous but refused to indicate whether or not he would obey Saybrook’s summons.
By the time Vane returned to Broughton, he found the Governor already actively preparing for war. Cromwell’s reasons were largely pragmatic; he was convinced that the natives needed to be sent a message. The colonists would be “assured of their peace by killing the Barbarians… For having once terrified them, by severe execution of just revenge, they shall never hear of more harm from them.” This view was not based on the notion of the Indian as inferior to the Englishman, quite the reverse; they were of "the same constitution, & the sons of Adam, and that we had the same Maker, the same matter, the same mould. Only Art and Grace have given us that perfection, which yet they want, but may perhaps be as capable thereof as we."[14]
There was another, equally mercenary reason for Cromwell’s policy. Although Narragansett Country was largely comprised of rocky and marshy terrain and therefore undesirable, there was one exception along the western shore of Narragansett Bay. Here lay Boston Neck, containing some of the choicest pasture in New England, and a prime site for settlement. For most of the 1640s this upland region had also been left to the Indians, save for Richard Smith's solitary trading house along the Pequot Path that led from Providence to New London. The closest plantations were Ely and Warwick on the north end of Narragansett Bay and Newport and Portsmouth across the Bay, newly acquired by Plymouth Colony[15]. Securing this region was central to Cromwell’s grand design. The constant concern of the Saybrook Proprietors was that the communities on Long Island Sound were lagging behind those on Massachusetts Bay in population and wealth, with Saybrook and Plymouth crowded against each other, Long Island partly in the hands of the Dutch, and Narragansett Bay largely in the hands of the Indians. The great agricultural, commercial, and industrial potential of the region could only be realized if only the mainland towns along the Sound, the Connecticut River settlements, the Long Island plantations, and the unexploited Narragansett region could all be joined in one economic and political unit. As a result, even at a time of population contraction, it was a strategic necessity for Boston Neck to be integrated into the Saybrook plantation.
War was not merely a matter for Saybrook alone. Narragansett belligerence worried all the colonies, and as the news of Uncas’ assassination spread the authorities in Plymouth, who felt particularly vulnerable to any outbreak of violence, called for an emergency meeting of the New England Confederation. In the first week of August the Confederal delegates met in Newport on Aquidneck Island, the third time in successive years that the body had been called to deal with an exceptional circumstance...”
***
Newport
Plymouth Colony, August 1645
Oliver Cromwell leant back in his chair in the drafty meeting hall and let the other delegates bicker amongst themselves. His journey to Newport had worried him; the settlement had prospered, even after the expulsion of some of its more heterodox inhabitants the previous year, and its port was far superior to Ely, Saybrook’s outlet onto Narragansett Bay. Given time, the town might even rival Broughton itself. I cannot let that happen, he thought, with irritation, and this war is the key. The Lord has furnished me with the ideal opportunity for our plantations to prosper, and it is a sin to reject the gifts He bestows upon us. I will do it even without the Confederation, if necessary.
John Winthrop was holding forth about the dangers of conflict, and Cromwell watched him speak with a mixture of respect and sadness. Winthrop was a dear friend, and had been constant source of advice ever since the plantation of the Saybrook colony; yet his political star was on the wane in the Bay settlements. His support of the expedition to Acadia had been a grave political mistake, and his advocacy of peace with the Narragansett, while brave, would only give his opponents another weapon with which to beat him. I am sorry to do this to you, John, Cromwell thought, but God must come before friendship.
“The Indians do not know our true weakness,” Winthrop continued. “We cannot hope to defend every settlement; even though some of those who departed to fight the King are returning, we still have a severe shortage of men. All it would take is a few military victories, and the other tribes will reconsider their neutrality. If the Wampanoag…”
William Bradford cleared his throat. “We have good news there, at least; sachem Massasoit remains a friend to us, and we may be able to convince his warriors to assist us, once the harvest is in.”
“So what should we do?”
Now. Now is the time. Cromwell banged his fist on the table, making the other men jump. “I will tell you what we do,” he said, standing and leaning across the table. “We make war. You are all right. If Miantonomi realises that he can threaten us with impunity, we shall have all the natives rise up against us. We do not have the numbers for a long conflict, or an equal one. Instead, we need to strike hard, and fast, as we did when the Pequot threatened us seven years ago. We will bring in the harvest just as normal, winter our livestock in defensible locations near our settlements, stockpile food. Then, when we are done, we raid their settlements, and take every ear of corn we can carry. Everything else, we burn. We destroy the Narragansett’s capacity to feed themselves. They will have no harvest to bring in; so they will throw themselves onto our defences to capture our food stores, and drive their allies into our arms by raiding for food. Come the winter, they will starve- and then we will fall upon them in their weakened state and put those that are left of them to the sword. The few that remain will suffer the fake of the Pequot.”
There was silence around the table, as the delegates considered the proposal. Henry Vane cleared his throat. “The Saybrook delegates are resolved on this course,” he said, “uncomfortable though it may be. I have met Miantonomi. If he tries to draw back from war, his own sons will kill him. Strong action now will drive his allies into our arms.”
William Bradford frowned. “It will be a hungry winter, if we take this course.”
Cromwell shrugged. “Better hungry than dead. We will not starve. We shall have our own harvest to sustain us and if we need more, then we can buy grain from Virginia and our new friends amongst the French. De La Tour might be a papist, but he still likes the colour of money, and is in our debt in any case.”
John Winthrop stirred uncomfortably and exchanged doubtful looks with Bradford, but sitting next to them, John Endicott and Myles Standish nodded at Cromwell encouragingly. Plymouth and the Bay will moan and complain, but they will come along with me regardless, he thought with satisfaction, and New Haven is too distant to care. The vote will not be unanimous, but there will be no veto.
Winthrop sighed. “You would make a desert, and call it peace,” the Governor of Massachusetts stated, quietly.
Cromwell forced a chuckle, and met his friend’s gaze. He understands and forgives, he thought sadly, for he knows I do the Lord’s work. “Yes John, I would indeed. I could not have put it better myself.”
****
(Taken from “New England: A History” by Robert Talbot, Miskatonic University Press 1937)
“On September 3rd 1645, A few weeks after the New Haven conference, some Narragansetts approached the town of Salisbury in Saybrook colony and looted some abandoned homes. A young Englishman fired at the Indians and killed one. With that shot, the Narragansett War had begun. The Saybrugian response was swift; two weeks later, a small party of colonists, led by Mohegan guides, burnt two Narragansett villages, driving the inhabitants away and stealing as much food as they were able. The race was now on to reduce the other side to starvation. In late September, a colonial expedition to recover crops from fields along the Connecticut River was ambushed near Windsor, with major loss of life. At the same time, Narragansett warriors attacked and destroyed the settlements of Salisbury and Ely, causing terrified refugees to arrive in Aquidneck Island and Providence with lurid tales of Indian savagery. At this point the war seemed a disaster. William Berkeley in Virginia wrote, not entirely without schadenfreude[16], that the natives;
“have destroyed divers Towns in New-England, kilt more than a thousand fighting men, seldom were worsted in any encounter, and have made the New-England men desert above a hundred miles of ground of that land which they had divers years seated and built Townes on. I have not heard from thence this fortnight but expect to hear no very good news when I do, for they either have not or pretend not to have money to pay their soldiers. But whatever the success be, they will not this next twenty years recover what they have lost and expended in this war.”[17]
Yet while these setbacks were undoubtedly damaging to the colonial cause, they were nothing compared to the systematic destruction meted out by the colonists, who regularly raided Narragansett territories, burning any crops they found and slaughtering the animals. The psychological effect of these forays was multiplied by the presence of Oliver Cromwell, the dreaded ‘Musqiskisuq’ or ‘bloody-faced one’ who had exterminated the Pequot and now promised forgiveness for any Narragansett ally willing to defect, and certain death if they did not. While both sides launched constant raids, the colonists could rely on the stout defences of Fort Providence and Broughton to protect their food stores, while the Indians could only hope for concealment. Soon the Narragansett were beginning to go hungry; and Miantonomi, under pressure from the more militant members of his inner circle, began to make mistakes. In mid-November 1645, Narragansett warriors attacked Wampanoag and Nipmuc territories in the hope of finding food, turning these nations from cautious neutrals to active enemies in the process[18].
By now assailed on all sides, Miantonomi was forced into desperate action and allowed himself to be convinced into launching a desperate attack on Fort Providence in the hope of isolating Broughton from the coast and capturing the town’s considerable grain stores. The attack was a disaster; Governor Cromwell had just arrived at the settlement with a force of his own, and the Narragansett were driven off by cannon-fire from the fort and from the ships moored in the Connecticut River, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Miantonomi himself, easily identifiable by his ostentatious cloak of chainmail, was felled by a musket shot amidst the confusion[19]. His killer, James Avery, immediately became a colonial hero[20]. While his successor Canonchet led the remaining warriors on a confused retreat eastwards, the colonists boarded ships and launched their own amphibious raid on Narragansett territory. On December 21st, Cromwell’s force, guided by a disgruntled Niantic former vassal of Miantonomi, located the fort where the majority of the Narragansett had gathered, in an area of swamp a few miles from the sea[21].
The colonists easily traversed the swamp, which was frozen solid, and what followed was less of a battle, and more of a massacre. The few warriors Miantonomi had left behind could not hold off the colonists for long, and just as at Weinshauks, eight years earlier, a fire broke out which saw most of the trapped natives burned to death. Cromwell exulted in the victory. “It was a fearful sight to see them [Narragansetts] thus frying in the fire and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and scent thereof,” he wrote to Hampden, “but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and we gave the praise thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for us, thus to enclose our enemies in our hands and give us so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy.“[22]
The twin disasters at Ft Providence and what became known as the “Swamp Fight” broke the Narragansett nation. By the spring, the few survivors of the tribe had either fled northwards with Canonchet, their new sachem, or had been absorbed into their neighbours. The colonists had achieved a stunning victory at a comparatively low cost, and the Narragansett country had been cleared for European settlement[23]…”
_____________________________________________
[1] Amusingly, IOTL pretty much every Parliamentary victory was greeted in the colonies as Armageddon at some point or another.
[2] The Colonies had the same problem during the period IOTL.
[3] Cromwell liked a good cry, to the extent that his critics would often accuse him of being able to bring tears forth at will. In reality he just seems to have been a very emotional man.
[4] This is all as OTL, although as discussed in earlier chapters, the details vary a little ITTL.
[5] Miantonomi’s expedition was a failure IOTL too, but as ITTL it was a contributory factor to the creation of the United Colonies, its consequences are even worse for the Narragansett.
[6] The same happened IOTL, although slightly earlier; ITTL as New England is more united, the Dutch are warier about asking for aid in case it comes with strings attached.
[7] The butterflies are beginning to kick in now; IOTL a Captain Underhill was put in command of the expedition.
[8] This is more or less what happened IOTL too.
[9] IOTL, the Narragansett did this in the summer of 1643; ITTL their attack is postponed because the creation of the United Colonies makes the diplomatic situation even more unpromising to them.
[10] This is a major divergence from OTL, where the Narragansett surprise attack occurred, but went badly wrong, leading to Miantonomi’s capture and eventual execution. A Mohegan defeat such as this will really put the cat amongst the pigeons.
[11] IOTL, the reverse happened; Miantonomi’s death frightened many of the smaller New England tribes, particularly in Massachusetts, into placing themselves under English protection.
[12] This sort of paranoid feeling was remarkably prevalent in the period; IOTL, the Virginians were perpetually convinced that King Philip’s War was about to spread southwards, the Indians of the Eastern Seaboard having somehow all united against English settlement.
[13] Canonchet was a hawk IOTL too, and played a major role in positioning the Narragansett against the English during King Philip’s War.
[14] These words were Phillip Vincent’s IOTL, but they reflect Cromwell’s views fairly well; again and again IOTL, Cromwell demonstrated that the only thing he did not tolerate was resistance, and would quite happily take an extremely harsh approach to opposition if it enabled him to extend the carrot later.
[15] Boston Neck became a hugely profitable centre of cattle herding IOTL, and was the scene of an failed land-grab by Connecticut during the 1650s and 1660s which eventually helped delineate the border between that state and Rhode Island.
[16] Both ITTL and IOTL, John Winthrop refused to sell the Virginians powder and shot to assist them in their war with the Powhatan; this left rather bad blood between the Virginian and New England colonists for quite some time.
[17] Berkeley wrote the same IOTL during King Philip’s War.
[18] This is a serious mistake and a major reason why the Narragansett war is far less destructive than OTL’s King Phillip’s War, which it resembles in some ways; ITTL the Narragansett are entirely isolated and confined to a much smaller area.
[19] Miantonomi’s cloak was just as fatal IOTL; when his surprise attack on the Mohegan failed and it was time to retreat, it slowed him down enough to let his enemies catch him.
[20] IOTL Avery became a renowned Indian fighter, and served bravely in King Philip’s War; at this point ITTL, he’s barely twenty years old.
[21] The Narragansett used the same site IOTL for refuge and it was the scene of the ‘Great Swamp Fight’ of King Philip’s War, although at this point in time the fort that characterised that engagement was nowhere near as large.
[22] IOTL William Bradford wrote something similar of the Pequots. It seems rather a Cromwellian sentiment.
[23] So why was this war so relatively painless compared to OTL’s King Philip’s war, which was hugely destructive for the colonists and went on considerably longer? There are several reasons. One is that ITTL the Narragansett were fighting alone, and eventually against their native neighbours; another that Miantonomi was considerably more unlucky than King Philip, in a worse strategic situation, and not as good a diplomat. The presence of Cromwell ITTL, ensuring an aggressive, ruthless colonial response to the threat, is also significant.
Kaiphranos
Donor
Makes sense--Armageddon is supposed to be a victory for the forces of good, after all.
Awesome update!
Very interesting direction New England is taking, with Saybrook pretty much taking Massachusetts' role as leader of the colonies. It will be cool to see where this leads. I have to say, now that I love in Ohio instead of New York, the updates don't quite have the same sense of nearness. Can you give us any information on the fate of Ohio ITTL?
Scipio
Very interesting direction New England is taking, with Saybrook pretty much taking Massachusetts' role as leader of the colonies. It will be cool to see where this leads. I have to say, now that I love in Ohio instead of New York, the updates don't quite have the same sense of nearness. Can you give us any information on the fate of Ohio ITTL?
Scipio
Thande
Donor
Good to see it's back.
As always with your work, reading the stuff about forgotten areas of OTL is often as interesting as the AH itself: how the American colonies viewed and were involved in the Civil War in particular. And relations with the Indians, illustrating that the common view of 'colonists vs Indians' is rather simplistic, and most of the time it's 'Indians vs Indians with colonists getting involved in one side or the other and usually coming out on top in the end'.
As you said before, Cromwell's activities here are rather reminiscent of what he did in Ireland in OTL. The repercussions of a New England less damaged by the war will obviously be great.
As always with your work, reading the stuff about forgotten areas of OTL is often as interesting as the AH itself: how the American colonies viewed and were involved in the Civil War in particular. And relations with the Indians, illustrating that the common view of 'colonists vs Indians' is rather simplistic, and most of the time it's 'Indians vs Indians with colonists getting involved in one side or the other and usually coming out on top in the end'.
As you said before, Cromwell's activities here are rather reminiscent of what he did in Ireland in OTL. The repercussions of a New England less damaged by the war will obviously be great.
Evidently America's regionalist "We are struggling together" attitude started early on.
I had assumed at first glance this was related to the word 'mosquito' (the blood connection) but apparently that is pure Spanish. Odd coincidence then.
Where did the Indians get chainmail from I wonder? I don't think they had the ability to work it themselves...trade goods from Europeans?
Thande
Donor
As in the Battle of Armageddon, not just as a vague synonym for 'the end of the world' as it has tended to become in modern usage.
Yesssss
If this keeps up, by the time Cromwell dies he's going to rule a transatlantic empire and become a Skantarios to the Native American population.
If this keeps up, by the time Cromwell dies he's going to rule a transatlantic empire and become a Skantarios to the Native American population.
EdT
Fascinating if bloody update. What sort of state are the Mohegan's in? Able to recover now their enemies are destroyed or too weakened? I suspect even if still in some condition they won't be allowed to contest Cromwell's expansion of settlement.
Are they by any chance related to a famous fictional Indian tribe?
Steve
Fascinating if bloody update. What sort of state are the Mohegan's in? Able to recover now their enemies are destroyed or too weakened? I suspect even if still in some condition they won't be allowed to contest Cromwell's expansion of settlement.
Are they by any chance related to a famous fictional Indian tribe?
Steve
First of all, the Mohicans are real.EdT
Fascinating if bloody update. What sort of state are the Mohegan's in? Able to recover now their enemies are destroyed or too weakened? I suspect even if still in some condition they won't be allowed to contest Cromwell's expansion of settlement.
Are they by any chance related to a famous fictional Indian tribe?
Steve
Second, no, the Mohegan are a different Eastern Algonquian tribe living in the New England region
Ah. Up until now I had also been confused on the subject. Thank you!
(Reading Wikipedia, I learned that James Cooper also got them mixed up when he wrote his book. Yay?)
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