Battle of Saybrook
The Battle of Saybrook, part of the larger conflict known as the Pequot War, was rooted in treaties and territorial disputes involving the Pequot tribe and colonial powers in the 17th century. Following a 1634 treaty that established trade and peace agreements between the Pequots and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, tensions escalated over unmet wampum deliveries. In 1636, John Winthrop, Jr., the nominal governor of Fort Saybrook, issued ultimatums to the Pequots that were not intended to be accepted, leading to increased hostilities. The situation deteriorated further after the killing of Captain John Oldham by the Narragansetts, prompting colonial militias to target the Pequots, who then isolated Fort Saybrook for several months.
In April 1637, following further conflict and a Pequot attack on Wethersfield, colonial forces launched an offensive against the Pequots. With the support of the Narragansetts secured by Roger Williams, colonists attacked the Pequot stronghold at Mystic, resulting in significant casualties and a decisive defeat for the Pequots. This conflict ultimately led to the Treaty of Hartford in 1638, which dissolved the Pequot Nation, marking a significant moment in colonial and Indigenous relations in New England. The battle and subsequent treaties reflect the complexities of early colonial expansion and the violent struggles over land and power during this period.
Battle of Saybrook
Date: September, 1636-May, 1637
Place: Saybrook, Connecticut
Tribe affected: Pequot
Significance: Defeat in this battle, actually a nine-month siege of Fort Saybrook, led to the destruction of the Pequots as a power in the Northeast
The roots of the Battle of Saybrook are found in the 1634 treaty between the Pequots and Massachusetts Bay. The treaty granted the Pequots trade with Massachusetts and peace with the Narragansetts. In exchange the Pequots were required to deliver a specified amount of wampum to Massachusetts. When the Pequot wampum delivery did not meet expectations, Massachusetts officials viewed the wampum delivery as proof of the Pequots’ subordinate status. John Winthrop, Sr., former and future governor of Massachusetts, said that the Pequots relinquished their right to Connecticut to Massachusetts in 1635. This claim provided the justification necessary for Massachusetts to involve itself in the settlement of the Connecticut Valley, a region beyond the boundary of the Massachusetts royal charter. Working in conjunction with the Saybrook Company, Massachusetts officials built Fort Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut River.
In July, 1636, John Winthrop, Jr., nominal governor of Fort Saybrook, met with the Pequots and issued an ultimatum. Winthrop demanded that the Pequots meet English expectations regarding wampum demands and hand over the killers of Captain John Stone. Winthrop knew that Western Niantics had killed Stone a few years earlier; his demands were not meant to be accepted. To avoid trouble, the Pequot sachem Sassacus placed the Pequot territory under Massachusetts’ domain. Shortly thereafter, events occurred that produced the First Pequot War. Block Island Narragansetts killed Captain John Oldham in July, 1636. In August, 1636, colonial militiamen sailed to Block Island and looted and burned empty villages. Colonists then turned their attention to the Pequots. They wanted the Pequots’ land, and they used Oldham’s murder to justify an expedition against the Pequots. The expedition failed to subdue the Pequots, and the Indians saw the expedition as an injustice.
In September the Pequots took up arms, and by November, 1636, they had isolated Fort Saybrook. The Pequots chose not to attack more northerly communities such as Hartford. The militiamen stationed at Saybrook spent the next nine months cut off from the rest of the colonies, begging for help; none was forthcoming. The Pequots could isolate the fort for that long because the sponsor of the post, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was distracted by an internal matter concerning the antinomian crisis.
Then in April, 1637, everything changed. In that month colonists drove the Connecticut Valley sachem Sequin and his followers off their land. This ran contrary to the agreements Sequin and the colonists had reached concerning the land. Sequin then appealed to the Pequots, to whom he paid tribute, to aid him. The Pequots did and on April 23, 1637, the Pequots attacked Wethersfield. Connecticut then used the Pequot attack on Wethersfield to justify an offensive war against the Pequots on May 1, 1637. The Pequots hoped their rivals the Narragansetts would support them in their war against Connecticut Valley settlers. The Narragansetts almost did, but Roger Williams secured a Narragansett-Massachusetts alliance that isolated the Pequots. This alliance allowed Connecticut soldiers to attack the Pequots at Mystic in late May, 1637. The predawn attack killed between three hundred and seven hundred Pequots and destroyed the remaining Pequots’ will to continue the war. The peace treaty that followed, the Treaty of Hartford (1638), declared the Pequot Nation dissolved.