{"id":116,"date":"2011-10-19T18:07:51","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T18:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/?p=116"},"modified":"2011-10-19T18:08:22","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T18:08:22","slug":"of-pequots-and-postscripts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/2011\/10\/19\/of-pequots-and-postscripts\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Pequots and Postscripts"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Posted by Emma Sternlof, ’13, a student in Jonathan Elukin’s History of the Book class.\u00a0 The class was allowed the signal honor of browsing the stacks to find their gem]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Even on my second visit, wandering through the basement archives of the Watkinson Library was a bewildering, bewitching experience.\u00a0 I slowly meandered past shelves of American novels, astronomy guides, and fairy tales before turning toward the stacks dedicated to Native American history.\u00a0 I\u2019m planning a thesis on the history of the Brotherton Indians, a group of Christian Native Americans drawn from several New England tribes, and I hoped to discover some helpful texts. A small dark book, no longer than my hand, caught my eye. Its worn spine proclaimed the title Uncas and Miotonomah in gilt. Born and raised in southeastern Connecticut, I recognized the first name as that of a famous Mohegan chief from the 17th century. Intrigued, I brought the book upstairs to the reading room for further examination.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The book\u2019s title page sums up its contents:\u00a0 Uncas and Miantonomoh; A historical discourse delivered at Norwich (Conn.,) on the fourth day of July, 1842, on the occasion of the erection of a monument to the memory of Uncas, the white man\u2019s friend, and first chief of the Mohegans<\/em>. \u00a0The discourse was delivered by William L. Stone, a man considered an expert on Native American history at the time.\u00a0 He dedicated the book to \u201cthe ladies of the city of Norwich,\u201d who organized the monument ceremony.\u00a0 In his introduction, Stone explains that he got completely carried away in the course of researching his speech.\u00a0 According to him, its excellent reception inspired him to publish an expanded version in 1842.\u00a0 Within the book, Stone praises Uncas for his nobility, noting that he possessed courage \u201cof a lofty and chivalrous character\u201d (153).\u00a0 He contrasts Uncas\u2019 loyalty to the white settlers with the duplicity of Miantonomoh, a Narragansett chief who conspired against the colonists.<\/p>\n

As I glanced through the book\u2019s appendix, I was very excited to discover that the section entitled \u201cOf the New England Indians in General\u201d included information about Samson Occum, a prominent Mohegan preacher during the late 1700s and a possible subject of my thesis.\u00a0 Stone offers details about Occum\u2019s groundbreaking preaching tours of England, his efforts to support himself financially, and his well-attended funeral; he also mentions a source, \u201cAllen\u2019s biography,\u201d which I hope to track down for my own research.\u00a0 The appendix also includes the June 6, 1659 deed recording Uncas\u2019 sale of Norwich to white settlers, reproducing the signature marks of Uncas and his sons Owaneco and Attawanhood. Another interesting and pertinent section, \u201cOf the Pequods,\u201d quotes a 1832 letter: \u201cThere is still a remnant of Pequods still existing\u2026 They are more mixed than the Mohegans with negro and white blood, yet they are a distinct tribe, and still retain a hatred for the Mohegans\u201d (204).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was more than pleased with my discovery, but this little book had more surprises in store.\u00a0 Throughout its pages, a previous reader penciled in several notes, often challenging Stone\u2019s perspective.\u00a0 At one point, Stone discusses the devastating Pequot War of the 1630s.\u00a0 Describing the capture of a Pequot band by colonial forces, he writes, \u201c\u2026 the women and children were spared\u201d (75). \u201cSent captive to the Bermudas!\u201d rejoins the incredulous reader in his marginal note.\u00a0 On one of the blank pages at the end of the book, the same pro-Pequot reader carefully hand-wrote a highly amusing account of his encounter with Stone.\u00a0 I can\u2019t resist giving the entire remarkable passage here:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the summer of 1842 or 4, I met Col. Stone at Stonington, in company with Hon. A.H. Tracy (of western New York).\u00a0 In conversation with Mr. T., I had expressed an opinion of Uncas, as unlike as possible to that which Col. Stone\u2019s researches had apparently led him to form, speaking of him as the most contemptible, worthless, and treacherous of all the Indians of Conn.\u00a0 Mr. Lacey, laughing, called the Colonel\u2019s attention to my heresies.\u00a0 \u201cSo you don\u2019t believe all I have said of Uncas?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 I was slightly \u2018cornered,\u2019 but put the best face on it.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sir: I do not believe any of it.\u00a0 I think Uncas was a very miserable Indian, hardly worth talking about; and not nearly deserving of a good monument as his father-in-law, Sassacus.\u201d \u201cWell! I do not know but it\u2019s so,\u201d said Col. S., \u201cbut see here my young freind [sic,] if the ladies of Norwich should send for you, to come and make a speech over Uncas\u2019s grave, and they were all present to hear you, do you think it would be well to all the truth about him?\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d I replied, \u201cI did not expect it from you.\u00a0 All that I object to is, that you have printed the blarney, and tried to make it pass for history.\u201d<\/p>\n

This unofficial afterword brings the author and his reader to quirky, quarrelsome life like no published postscript ever could.\u00a0 Almost 170 years ago, another historically-minded reader challenged on paper and in real life what he saw as a distortion of the past.\u00a0 His interjections inspire me to read critically and thoughtfully as I sit in the Watkinson now.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Posted by Emma Sternlof, ’13, a student in Jonathan Elukin’s History of the Book class.\u00a0 The class was allowed the signal honor of browsing the stacks to find their gem] Even on my second visit, wandering through the basement archives of the Watkinson Library was a bewildering, bewitching experience.\u00a0 I slowly meandered past shelves of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/rring\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}