Chap. 1. 



INDIAN AND COLONIAL WARS. 



NEW YORK SETTLKD. 



PLYMOUTH SETTLED BY THE ENGLISH. 



PEQUOT WAR. 



denominated the country New England. 



In 1609, Capt Henry Hudson, at that 

 time in the service of Holland, discovered 

 and gave his own name to Hudson river, 

 now in the state of New York, and in 1614, 

 the Dutcli began a settlement on the isl- 

 and of Manhattan, where the city of New 

 York now stands. To the country they 

 gave the name of NewNetherlands and the 

 town they called New Amsterdam, in al- 

 lusion to the country and city they had 

 left in Europe. Aboutthe same time they 

 built fort Orange where Albany now is, 

 and soon after began settlements at Sche- 

 nectady and other places in the vicinity. 



In 1620, a band of English subjects, 

 who, to avoid persecution, had 20 years 

 before, taken refuge in Holland, and wlio 

 were denominated puritans from their 

 scrupulous religious conduct, embarked 

 for America, where they hoped to be al- 

 lowed the privilege of enjoying, undis- 

 turbed, their peculiar notions, and of wor- 

 shipping their Creator in that unadorned 

 eimplicity of manner, which they suppos- 

 ed the scriptures to inculcate, but more 

 perhaps to indulge the spirit of enterprise 

 inherent in the Saxon race, and to find 

 room for the exercise of bodily and mental 

 powers, whicli could not remain inactive 

 nor brook to be controlled. Tlieir place 

 of destination was the mouth of Hudson 

 river; and, as they contemplated forming 

 their settlement under the protection of 

 the English, they had obtained a patent 

 of lands from tlie Virginia company in 

 England previous to their embarkation. 



After encountering many difficulties 

 and delays they finally got to sea, but 

 their pilot, either through treachery or 

 ignorance, shaped his course so far to the 

 northward, that the first land they discov- 

 ered was cape Cod, distant more than 300 

 miles from the nearest civilized settle- 

 ment, and not within the limits of their 

 patent. The season was so far advanced, 

 it being now the 9th of November, that it 

 was deemed e.xpedient to attempt a set- 

 tlement in the section of country where 

 they were, and preparations for that pur- 

 pose were immediately commenced. Af- 

 ter spending some tijne in exploring the 

 coasts and harbors ; and after having 

 formed themselves into a body politic 

 under the crown of England and chosen 

 John Carver, their governor, they landed 

 on the 22d day of December, and began a 

 settlement, which they called New Plym- 

 outh, (now Plymouth in Massachusetts,) 

 in allusion to the town they had left in 

 England. 



This colony at first consisted of 101 

 persons ; but the severity of the climate, 

 the want of accommodations, tlieir unu- 



sual hardships and a mortal sickness 

 which prevailed, reduced their number to 

 •56 before the opening of the next spring. 

 Their drooping spirits were however re- 

 vived during the next summer, by the 

 arrival of supplies from England and by a 

 considerable addition to the number of 

 settlers. From this time the affairs of the 

 Pl3nnouth colony assumed a brighter as- 

 pect, and the settlements in these parts 

 were rapidly extended. 



As early as the year 1623, the English 

 had begun settlements at Portsmouth and 

 Dover in the present state of New Hamp- 

 shire, and, in 1633, they had penetrated 

 the wilderness to Connecticut river and 

 established themselves at Windsor in' 

 Connecticut. In 163.5, they had extended 

 their settlements northward up this river 

 as far as Springfield in Massachusetts, 

 and soon after they established themselves 

 atDeerfield. Tii us early were the French 

 on the north, the Dutch on the south and 

 the English on the east advancing their 

 settlements into the neighborhood of the 

 present state of Vermont. 



A short time previous to the arrival of 

 the Plymouth colony a mortal sickness 

 had prevailed among the natives, by which 

 the country, in the neighborhood of their 

 landing, had been almost divested of in- 

 habitants. But the natives, who remain- 

 ed, welcomed the English with demon- 

 strations of joy, and seemed disposed to 

 admit the new comers into their country 

 upon friendly terms. But tlie repeated 

 acts of injustice and extortion on the part 

 of the settlers, and the astonishing rapidi- 

 ty with whicli their settlements were ex- 

 tending over the country, at length arous- 

 ed the jealousy of the Indians, and in 

 1630, a general conspiracy was formed by 

 the Narragansets and other tribes, the ob- 

 ject of which was the total extermination 

 of the English. The settlers, however, 

 were seasonably informed of the plot, and 

 tlieir vigorous preparations to defeat it 

 effectually deterred the Indians from at- 

 tempting its execution. 



But, soon after this event, the English 

 settlers were involved in a war with the 

 Pequots, a powerful tribe of Indians, who 

 inhabited the northwestern parts of Con- 

 necticut. This war was prosecuted vnih 

 vigor on both sides, but was terminated in 

 1637 by the comjdete overthrow of the 

 Pequots. Seven hundred of the Indians 

 were slain, some fled to the Mohawks, by 

 whom they were treacherously murdered, 

 and the Pequots, who remained in the 

 country and the other tribes of Indians 

 were so much terrified at the prowess of 

 the English as to be restrained from open 

 hostilities for nearly forty years. 



