New England Colonists and Native Americans: From Cooperation to Conquest (1620–1763)

A Complex, Evolving, and Ultimately Tragic Relationship

Interactions between English colonists and Native nations in New England (Wampanoag, Narragansett, Pequot, Mohegan, Abenaki, Pennacook, Massachusett, Nipmuc, and others) passed through distinct phases over 150 years.

Phase 1: Early Contact & Mutual Utility (1620–1635)

• Survival dependence: Pilgrims relied on Wampanoag (Massasoit, Squanto) for agriculture (corn/beans/squash), diplomacy, survival skills.
• Trade: Furs (beaver, otter), wampum (shell beads = currency), corn for English goods (metal tools, cloth, kettles, later guns).
• Alliances: Plymouth-Wampanoag treaty (1621) held 50+ years; Mohegans (Uncas) allied with English vs. Pequots.

Phase 2: Escalating Conflict (1636–1676)

• Land pressure: Great Migration (20,000+ Puritans 1630–40) → relentless expansion. Deeds often misunderstood (usufruct vs. fee simple).
• Pequot War (1636–38): CT/MA forces + Mohegan/Narragansett allies destroyed Pequot nation; Mystic massacre (400+ killed). Precedent for total war.
• Disease: Smallpox (1633–34, 1648–49), influenza, measles—mortality 50–90% in some communities.
• King Philip's War (1675–76): Metacom (Philip) led pan-tribal resistance. 52 towns attacked; 8% of colonial men killed; Native power broken in southern NE. Metacom killed; thousands enslaved/sold to Caribbean.

Phase 3: Northern Frontier & Imperial Wars (1688–1763)

• Wabanaki Confederacy (Abenaki, Penobscot, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet) resisted English expansion into Maine/NH.
• Four "French and Indian Wars": Natives allied with French (trade, missions, less settlement pressure) vs. English.
• Deerfield Raid (1704), Norridgewock (1724), Lovewell's War (1722–25): Brutal frontier cycles.
• Treaty of Portsmouth (1713), Dummer's Treaty (1727): Temporary boundaries; English violated repeatedly.

Structural Injustices

• Legal asymmetry: Colonial courts rarely upheld Native testimony; "praying towns" (Christian converts) lost land anyway.
• Enslavement: War captives → Caribbean slavery; "apprenticeship" of children.
• Broken treaties: 50+ agreements; colonists/state consistently encroached.

Phase 4: Survival & Resistance (Post-1763)

• Remnant communities persisted (Mashpee, Aquinnah, Mohegan, Schaghticoke, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy).
• 19th-century: State "detribalization" laws, wardship, land loss.
• 20th–21st century: Federal recognition (6 NE tribes), land claims settlements (Maine 1980, CT 1990s), cultural revitalization (language, wampum, canoe journeys).

The arc—from interdependence to dispossession—was driven by colonists' insatiable land hunger, racialized property concepts, and imperial rivalry. Native resilience persists despite 400 years of structural erasure.