History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog
History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog
History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
The Indians 19<br />
<strong>of</strong> their cultivated fields or fishing stations. Roger WiUiams<br />
says that on returning at night to lodge at one <strong>of</strong> them, which<br />
he had left in the morning, it was gone, and he was obliged to<br />
sleep under the branches <strong>of</strong> a friendly tree. It can be truthfully<br />
said <strong>of</strong> the Indians that they had no continuing city or abiding<br />
place, but like the Indians <strong>of</strong> the Northwest <strong>of</strong> our day, outside<br />
<strong>of</strong> reservations, wandered about from place to place as<br />
their physical necessities or caprice moved them. As they had<br />
no land titles, each family was at liberty to go and come,<br />
within tribal hmits, with none to let or hinder. It is certain<br />
that there were fixed haunts or rendezvous, inland and on the<br />
shores <strong>of</strong> the Bay, called villages, where they spent considerable<br />
time, either in summer or in winter. Thus Philip passed the<br />
summer in and about Mt. Hope Neck, and it is popularly<br />
stated that he lived at Mt. Hope; while in winter his home, if<br />
we may so call a movable wigwam, was about the inland lakes<br />
or ponds <strong>of</strong> his possessions. One <strong>of</strong> these favorite winter resorts<br />
<strong>of</strong> King Philip is said to have been in the pine forests on the<br />
banks <strong>of</strong> Winneconnet Pond, in the town <strong>of</strong> Norton, Mass.,<br />
within the Pokanoket Territory. Banks <strong>of</strong> clam and oyster<br />
shells, Indian arrowheads and stone implements <strong>of</strong> husbandry<br />
and housekeeping are the best evidences <strong>of</strong> the localities where<br />
the Wampanoags made their residences.<br />
— BicknelL<br />
SowAMS IN Pokanoket<br />
At the period when the Mayflower came to anchor in<br />
Plymouth harbor, Massasoit exercised dominion over nearly<br />
all the south-eastern part <strong>of</strong> <strong>Massachusetts</strong> from Cape Cod to<br />
Narragansett Bay. The south-western section <strong>of</strong> his kingdom<br />
was known as Pokanoket, Sowams, or Sowamsett. It included<br />
what now comprises the towns <strong>of</strong> Bristol, Warren, Barrington,<br />
and East Providence in Rhode Island, with portions <strong>of</strong> Seekonk,<br />
<strong>Swansea</strong>, and Rehoboth in <strong>Massachusetts</strong>. Though its area<br />
was only about 500 square miles Pokanoket, owing to its many<br />
natural advantages, was more densely populated than any<br />
other part <strong>of</strong> the Wampanoag country. Its principal settlement<br />
was the village <strong>of</strong> Sowams, where Massasoit maintained<br />
his headquarters, and where, without doubt, the greater<br />
portion <strong>of</strong> his life was passed.<br />
For many years the exact location <strong>of</strong> this village was a<br />
disputed point, authorities variously fixing it at Bristol,<br />
Barrington, and Warren. The late General Guy M. Fessenden<br />
was the first to demonstrate, conclusively, that Sowams