The Puritans Beheaded Grandma

More by way of curiosity than anything else, we should note that one of our grandmas was beheaded by the Puritans of Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1676. Even more curious is that these Puritans did this to her after she drowned trying to escape from them - and then they put her head on a pole to show off what they had done.

Yes, this is a curious story, but these were brutal times. Just fifteen years earlier, in 1661, Grandma Weetamoo's husband, Alexander (otherwise known as Wamsutta, grand sachem of the Wampanoag) was invited to a dinner party in Plymouth, hosted by the same Puritans, for some "talks." After eating that dinner in Duxbury, Alexander (whom the Puritans feared was getting just a bit too independent) became violently ill and died. Although the Puritans told the Wampanoag that he had died of a fever, the records of the Plymouth Council make note of an expense for poison "to rid ourselves of a pest." Poor old Grandpa Alexander!

You see, Massasoit, Alexander's father, had cultivated a relationship with the Pilgrims of Plymouth starting in 1621. He was the grand sachem of the Wampanoag (that means he was their main chief) when they came via the ship named “Mayflower” to Plymouth and settled in the deserted Wampanoag village of Patuxet in November of 1620.

One of the Wampanoag sachems, a mid-level chief named Samoset, had stumbled upon these Pilgrims in the winter of 1620. Since Samoset had learned a bit of English from some English fisherman in the Kennebec River area a few years earlier, he surprised the Pilgrims by walking into their badly suffering settlement with the greeting, “Hello Englishmen!” Although Samoset just stayed that night with the Pilgrims and left early the next morning, he soon returned with Squanto, one of the Wampanoag who had been captured by the European, Thomas Hunt, in 1614, and sold as a slave to Spain. Squanto had learned English during his captivity, had earned his freedom through a missionary endeavor by some Spanish priests, and had eventually made it into the employ of a British expedition to Newfoundland as an interpreter. From Newfoundland Squanto ultimately made his way back to Massachusetts only to find everyone in his native village of Patuxet had perished due to an epidemic disease. Squanto then went to live with his fellow Wampanoag in neighboring villages until summoned by Samoset.

Well, once Squanto found the Mayflower Pilgrims living in his deserted village, he set in to help them learn how to survive the brutal Plymouth winter. He also acted as an intermediary, together with Samoset, between the Pilgrims and the grand sachem of the Wampanoag, Massasoit (and that’s Grandpa Massasoit for us Allens).

Massasoit thought that these Englishmen were a godsend. You see the Wampanoag nation had consisted of about 14,000 souls in the early 1600’s, prior to the string of epidemics (diseases inadvertently brought in by the European immigrants). Then, with the wars with neighboring tribes, the Wampanoag nation had dwindled to only about 4,000 by 1620. This left them vulnerable to the not-so-friendly Narragansetts, who emerged as the most powerful tribe in the area – and who were forcing the Wampanoags to pay them tribute.

Massasoit thought that these English settlers might make an interesting ally against this Narragansett domination, so in March of 1621, accompanied by Samoset, Massasoit, the grand sachem of the Wampanoag, visited Plymouth and entered into a treaty with the Mayflower Pilgrims. He granted them permission to occupy the 12,000 acres that later became the Plymouth Plantation. The land was deserted anyway because of the disease among the Wampanoag; and these hapless Englishmen who were barely surviving the cold Massachusetts winters... they couldn’t be much of a threat to him.

As the history books show, the friendship between Massasoit and the Pilgrims grew, and to celebrate their first harvest in 1621 the Pilgrims invited Massasoit to dinner. Grandpa Massasoit and 90 of his men brought 5 deer and stayed to enjoy a 3 day feast (the first Thanksgiving Feast).

The Narragansett were occupied for several years fighting other surrounding tribes (the Pequot and the Mohawk). But, in 1632 when the Narragansett turned their attention to the Wampanoag, the Pilgrims came to their aid and the Narragansett turned their attention elsewhere.

Beginning in about 1630 there was a massive migration of Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony near Boston. These Puritans virtually absorbed the old Pilgrim population. They also displaced the Pilgrim’s tolerant attitude with the militant Puritan worldview. Remember that Puritans were barely tolerant of other Christians (and you can’t forget how they hated witches). Well, these Puritans didn’t feel too friendly toward any of the native inhabitants – and instead of asking permission to settle like the Pilgrims, the Puritans just seemed to take.

These new European immigrants brought strange customs into Massachusetts. During the 1640’s, in particular, many of the local tribes became Europeanized. Several groups even embraced Christianity (these were known as the “praying Indians”). By 1660 even Massasoit had given his two sons European names to go with their Wampanoag names. His older son, Wamsutta, was renamed Alexander (our grandpa), and his younger son, Metacomet, was renamed Philip.

The immigration of Puritans accelerated after 1660 when the military dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell ended in England. With all of these stiff and unfriendly Puritans coming into the Plymouth area the nature of the relationship between the settlers and the Wampanoag began to change.

In 1661, when Massasoit finally died and Grandpa Alexander (Wamsutta) became the grand sachem of the Wampanoag, the Puritans thought that they would “adjust” the local politics by inviting Alexander to his ill-fated dinner. The first effect of their poisoning Grandpa Alexander was that Uncle Philip became the new grand sachem of the Wampanoag. Philip had taken just about all that he could take of these strange, intolerant Puritans.

Uncle Philip realized that the Wampanoag alone could not stand up to the encroaching English – especially since the Wampanoag nation had further dwindled to only about 1,000, thanks to even more epidemics spread by the visiting Europeans. So, Philip sought alliances with some of the bordering tribes; the Nipmuc, the Pocumtuc and even the Narragansett. This all came together by 1676, but by this time the Europeans numbered about 35,000 and the natives, together, only about 15,000.

While this was going on, the Puritans became more and more intolerant of the native population, and in 1675 caught three Wampanoag young men (OK, they were warriors), and hung them for the supposed murder of one of the “praying Indians” who had turned informant for the Puritans. This offence caused Philip to convene a council of war at Mount Hope and he could barely restrain his warriors. The Narragansett asked for more time to prepare weapons, and while they delayed another Wampanoag was killed near the English settlement of Swansea. With that began an all-out war, known as the King Philip’s War.

The war was first felt by the English with the ambush and slaughter of a British relief column. There were a few other raids, and the English realized that they had a real problem on their hands. Most of the tribes in the surrounding areas joined up with Philip (all except the Mohegan, who remained loyal to the English). Even the “praying Indians” abandoned the English and joined with Philip’s warriors.

The English assembled a major army and in July of 1675 began their offensive against Philip’s home at Mount Hope (near Bristol, Rhode Island), burning every Wampanoag village between there and Plymouth. They trapped the Wampanoag in a swamp on Pocasset Neck, but the women and the children managed to escape by canoe across the bay to the Pocasset of Queen Weetamoo (Alexander’s widow). Philip and his warriors were also able to get away, and this left the English besieging an empty swamp!

The battles raged back and forth, with Philip first gaining the allegiance of nearly all of the surrounding tribes, then one by one losing that support as the English fought the alliance with both guns and intrigue. As both armies wore down in 1676, the British army surrounded Philip’s village on August 1st and captured Philip’s family. Philip escaped, but five days later the English captured the Pocasset near Taunton, and with them, Grandma Weetamoo. She tried to escape, but drowned in the attempt. When the English recovered her body, they chopped off her head and put it on display in Taunton. By August 12th the English had trapped our dear Uncle Philip in a swamp near his home of Mount Hope, where he was betrayed and finally shot to death by John Alderman. John Alderman, by the way, was rewarded by being given one of Philip's hands which was chopped off for that purpose.

The English beheaded Philip and quartered his corpse. His head was kept displayed on a pole at Plymouth for 25 years. Only 400 Wampanoag survived this war.

Fortunately, for us, Weecum, the daughter of Grandma Weetamoo and Grandpa Alexander (Wamsutta) survived the war. She had married Benjamin Tuspaquin in 1674. Through their daughter, Mary, and six generations later, Clarissa Reed was born. Clarissa married Levi Ward Hancock in 1833 at Kirtland, Ohio and the two went across the plains to Salt Lake City, Utah as early Mormon pioneers. These two pioneers were the great, great grandparents of Ida Perkins, who is our own Grandma Watkins.