John Underhill

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John Underhill (born October 7, 1597 in Warwickshire , England , †  July 21, 1672 in Killingworth , Connecticut ) was an English puritan , colonist and captain in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in North America . Captain John Underhill is best known for his engagements in two wars against the Indians ; on the one hand in 1637 in the Pequot war against the Pequot , on the other hand in 1644 in the Wappinger war against the Massapequa .

biography

Early years

John Underhill was probably born on October 7, 1597 in Baginton near Kenilworth , Warwickshire , England . Due to her puritanical beliefs, his widowed mother Leonora had to flee into exile in the Netherlands ; he lost his father, John Underhill, at the age of 11. In the registry offices of Gorimchen and The Hague there is a document that confirms Underhill's engagement on November 28, 1628 to Heylken, daughter of Willem de Hooch, and in which he is named cadet of the Prince of Orange's guard . In the records of the monastery church of The Hague there is an entry about Underhill's marriage on December 12, 1628.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Southern New England in the 17th century.

It is certain that John Underhill and John Winthrop went on board a ship to New England on April 8, 1630 in England. On August 27, 1630 he joined the First Church (First Congregation) of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , while his wife (now called Helena), presumably due to a lack of language skills, did not become a member of the church until October 1633.

On September 7, 1630, Underhill was commissioned by the authorities of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to set up the colony's militia together with Daniel Patrick . As leader of the militia, he was awarded the rank of captain and his duties included accompanying Governor John Winthrop on official occasions, arresting criminals and selecting suitable locations for forts on Castle Island, Charlestown and Dorchester. In May 1634 he was elected a deputy to the Massachusetts General Court and in July 1634 to the Boston City Council. In November 1634, Governor Winthrop sent him to England to replenish the colony's arsenal because the colony was expecting an armed conflict with the British. In August 1635, on his return, he brought a shipload of gunpowder to Boston. In the following winter he was commissioned by the General Court to advance the expansion of the forts. He was also supposed to arrest his friend Roger Williams , who had fled to Salem . Williams was considered a free thinker and separatist by the Puritans . He was banished from Massachusetts and wanted a short time later with an arrest warrant, but escaped imprisonment by fleeing to Narragansett Bay , where he founded a branch in 1636 and later Rhode Island .

Pequot war

When the ship's captain John Oldham was killed on July 20, 1636 by some Narraganset on Block Island , the leadership of the colony sent a punitive expedition of 80 volunteers under John Endecott , John Underhill and William Turner with orders to send the Indian warriors to Block Island kill, capture the women and children and occupy the island. The troops then drove back to the mainland, moved to Pequot land and demanded the extradition of the murderers to several colonists, plus 1,000 fathoms (1 thread = 1.83 m) of wampum as reparation and some children as hostages.

The operation was unsuccessful, but ended the peace that had existed between the Pequot and the British and put the crew of Fort Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut River in mortal danger. Both Connecticut and Massachusetts subsequently launched campaigns against the Pequot, with each colony hoping to destroy this tribe before the other. Captain John Mason with 90 men from Connecticut and Captain John Underhill with 20 men from Massachusetts marched with several hundred Native American allies to a fortified Pequot village on the Mystic River . On May 26, 1637, the fort was surrounded by the besiegers and set on fire. The residents tried to flee, but were driven back into the flames. The number of Indians killed in the Mystic massacre is given in recent research with up to 700 victims.

In September 1637, Underhill was suspended from further service, demoted and disarmed. The General Court accused him of signing a "seditious document". It was a petition in favor of the Reverend John Wheelwright , who had broken Puritan rules in a sermon and was to be banned as a punishment. After a brief stay in England in 1638, he returned, sold his house in Boston and followed Wheelwright to Dover , New Hampshire . After his exile from Massachusetts, he was excommunicated from the First Church of Boston in 1640 . In March 1640 he was elected governor of the Dover Colony. Around 1642 he settled in Stamford , Connecticut and represented the place in the General Court of the New Haven Colony .

Wappinger War

In 1643 the Wappinger War broke out between Indians and Dutch colonists in Nieuw Nederland . In October 1643 the situation became critical for the Dutch. Governor Willem Kieft therefore offered the English colonists in Connecticut 25,000 guilders if they would help him put down the Indian rebellion. Underhill asked then a mercenary force of 120 volunteers consisting of Mohegan - Scouts and Connecticut colonists took the lead and intervened in the fighting at the beginning of the 1644th

In the summer of 1644, Captain Underhill's troops moved to South Oyster Bay to attack the Massapequa fort there. At dawn, Underhill's 120 men stormed the fort and slaughtered about the same number of Massapequa. Underhill wanted to set an example in order to prevent possible further uprisings of the Indians. His people therefore piled the bodies of the Massapequa warriors on a neighboring hilltop. With the support of Underhill and his mercenary troops, the Indian uprising in Nieuw Nederland was suppressed.

Governor Stuyvesant

Underhill received two land grants from Governor Kieft for his services, the island of Bergen Island and a plot of land on which Trinity Church in Manhattan now stands and where he and his family lived from May 1644. The next year he was elected to the City Council (Council) of Nieuw Amsterdam and was a member of an eight-member committee that advised on measures against the Indians. When Kieft was replaced by Governor Petrus Stuyvesant in 1647 , Underhill was appointed sheriff of Flushing , his residence until 1653. That year he learned of Stuyvesant's plans to ally with the Indians against the British. Underhill's relationship with the Dutch governor deteriorated and he was arrested for "a seditious pamphlet to the people of Long Island". His imprisonment was short-lived and charges against him have been withdrawn.

long Island

He offered his services to the United Colonies in Newport , Rhode Island, and left Flushing in May 1653. The authorities in Rhode Island appointed him commander of the land forces. On June 27, 1653, with Connecticut's approval, he occupied a Dutch fortified trading post between Hartford and Saybrook . In 1654 the brief First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654) ended with a peace treaty and Underhill moved with his family to Southold on Long Island. In 1658 his first wife, Helena, died and was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery . The next year he married his second wife, Elizabeth Feake, sold his property and moved to Setauket . In the last years of his life he acted as sheriff, justice of the peace and several times as a member of parliament. In addition, he worked as a consultant for the remaining Indians on Long Island. On October 1, 1666, he submitted a petition to the jury on behalf of the Matinecock . His last residence was in Killingworth , Connecticut. John Underhill died there on July 21, 1672 and was buried in Locust Valley on Long Island.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Life of Captain John Underhill
  2. ↑ Montauk Magazine: Pequot War
  3. ^ A Tale of the Massapequa Indians

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Underhill, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English puritan and colonist
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1597
PLACE OF BIRTH Warwickshire , England
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1672
Place of death Killingworth , Connecticut