Daniel Gookin, the Praying Indians, and King Philip’s War: A Short History in Documents

Description

This volume presents a valuable collection of annotated primary documents published during King Philip’s War (1675–76), a conflict that pitted English colonists against many native peoples of southern New England, to reveal the real-life experiences of early Americans. Louise Breen’s detailed introduction to Daniel Gookin and the War, combined with interpretations of the accompanying ancillary documents, offers a set of inaccessible or unpublished archival documents that illustrate the distrust and mistreatment heaped upon praying (Christian) Indians. The book begins with an informative annotation of Historical Account of the Doings and Sufferings of the Christian Indians in New England, in the Years 1675, 1675, and 1677, written by Gookin, a magistrate and military leader who defended Massachusetts’ praying Indians, to expose atrocities committed against natives and the experiences of specific individuals and towns during the war. Developments in societal, and particularly religious, inclusivity in Puritan New England during this period of colonial conflict are thoroughly explored through Breen’s analysis. The book offers students primary sources that are pertinent to survey history courses on Early Americans and Colonial History, as well as providing instructors with documents that serve as concrete examples to illustrate broad societal changes that occurred during the seventeenth century. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents PART I: General Introduction Daniel Gookin and His Advocacy of Praying Indians During King Philip’s War PART II: Central Primary Source Document Daniel Gookin, An Historical Account of the Doings and Sufferings of the Christian Indians in New England in the Years 1675, 1676, 1677 PART III: Ancillary Primary Source Documents A. Superintendent of the Praying Indians The Irish Connection: Vincent Gookin Condemns Plan to “Transplant” Irish to Connaught, 1655 Daniel Gookin Questions Praying Indian Sarah Ahaton on Her Adultery Gookin Expresses Outrage over a Rumor That He Was Inciting Indians to Violence: Correspondence between Daniel Gookin and Thomas Prence/Prince, 1671 B. War and Internal Conflict The Reverend John Eliot Petitions against the Selling of Indian Captives as Slaves The View from Providence: Excerpts from the Letter of Mary Pray to Captain James Oliver, October 20, 1675 Job Kattenanit Humbly Petitions for Permission to Rescue His Children The Spy Mission: James Quannapohit’s “Relation” Death Threat against Daniel Gookin and Thomas Danforth Richard Scott Assails Gookin’s Character at the Blue Anchor Tavern William Harris, Refugee in Newport, Writes to English Secretary of State Sir Joseph Williamson C. Scant Mercy William Wannuckhow and Sons Petition for Their Lives John Lake Requests a Stay of Sagamore Sam’s Execution in Exchange for Help Finding His Brother Daniel Gookin Certifies the Courage of Two Praying Indian Men Wishing to Free Their Captured Niece from Prison, August 1676 William Ahaton Pleads for the Freedom of a Five-Year Old Relative, July, 1676 Daniel Gookin Certifies That Mary Nemasit, Wife of a Praying Indian Soldier, Was Sold by Mistake Gookin Helps a Natick Woman Get Compensation for a Confiscated Gun Wait Winthrop and Wamesit Land, 1679–80 Index