BULL. 30] 



NARHAGANSET 



29 



a strip extending to the Connecticut line. 

 They also owned most of the islands in 

 the bay, some of which had been con- 

 quered from the "Wampanoag. The 

 Niantic, living in the western part of the 

 country, were a subordinate tribe who be- 

 came merged with the Narraganset after 

 King Philip's war. The Narraganset 

 esca})ed the great pestilence that in 1617 

 desoUUed the southern New England 

 coast, and, being joined by numbers of 

 ■the fugitives from the E., became a 

 strong tribe. The early estimates, as 

 usual, greatly exaggerate, but it is certain 



NARRAGANSET OF CONNECTICUT, BORN AT BROTHERTON, 

 WISCONSIN. (f. G. speck, PHOTO.) 



that they numbered, including their de- 

 pendents, several thousan<l wlien first 

 known to the whites. In 1633 they lost 

 700 by smallpox, but in 1674 they still 

 numl)ered about 5,000. The next year 

 saw the outbreak of King Philip's war, 

 which involved all the neighboring tribes 

 and resulted in the destruction of the 

 Indian power in southern New England. 

 The Narraganset threw their whole 

 strength into the contest and shared the 

 common fate. In the celebrated swamp 

 fight near Kingston, R. I., on Dec. 19, 

 1675, they lost nearly 1,000 in killed and 

 prisoners, and soon thereafter the survi- 



vors were forced to abandon their country 

 and take refuge in small bands among 

 the interior tribes in the N. and W. 

 It is probable that most of them joined 

 the Mahican and Abnaki, though 

 some may have found their way to Can- 

 ada. In 1682 a party of about 100 fugi- 

 tives at All)any asked permission to 

 return in peace. The Niantic had taken 

 no part in the war against the whites, 

 and in this way preserved their trilial 

 organization and territory. The scattered 

 Narraganset, as they surrendered, were 

 settled among them, and the whole body 

 henceforth took the name of Narraganset. 

 They were assigned a tract near Charles- 

 town, R. I., and constantly decreased in 

 numbers, as they were hemmed in by the 

 whites. Many of them joined the Broth- 

 erton Indians in New York in 1788. 

 Those who remained numliered about 

 140 in 1812, and 80 in 1832, but these are 

 now reduced to a few individuals of 

 mixed Indian and negro blood, some of 

 whom have joined the Mohegan near 

 Norwich, Conn. 



The Narraganset were ruled by eight 

 chiefs, each of whom had his own particu- 

 lar territory, but was subject to the head 

 chief, who lived at their principal village, 

 called Narraganset, about the site of 

 Kingston. Of the religion of the abo- 

 rigines of Rhode Island, Roger Williams 

 wrote, Feb. 28, 1638 (Mass. Hist. Soc. 

 Coll., 4th s., VI, 225, 1863) as follows: 

 "They have plenty of Gods or divine 

 powers: the Sunn, Moone, Fire, Water, 

 Earth, the Deere, the Beare, &c. I 

 lirought home lately from the Nanhig- 

 gonsicks the names of 38 of their Gods, 

 all they could remember." Denisonsays: 

 "They made no images; their divinities 

 were ghosts; they were extreme spiritual- 

 ists. Every element and material and 

 object had its ruling spirit, called a god, or 

 Manitou. These divinities seemed ever 

 passionate and engaged in war with each 

 other; hence the passionate and warlike 

 character of the worshippers. They 

 adored not intelligence and virtue, but 

 power and revenge. Every person was 

 believed to be under the influence of some 

 spirit, good or evil — that is, weak or 

 strong — to further the person's desires. 

 These spirits, or Manitous, inhabited dif- 

 ferent material forms, or dwelt at times in 

 them. The symbolic signature employed 

 by sachems and chiefs, in signing deeds, 

 represented, in many cases, the forms 

 inhabited by their guardian or inspiring 

 spirits; these were bows, arrows, birds, 

 fishes, beasts, reptiles, and the like." 



The following were the Narraganset 

 and Niantic villages: Charlestown, Chau- 

 batick, Maushapogue, Mittaubscut, Narra- 

 ganset, Niantic, Pawchauquet, and Sha- 

 womet. 



