Miantonomo

Uncas kills the captured Narraganset sachem Miantonomo.

Miantonomo , (* around 1600; † August 1643), also Miantonomoh , Miantonomah or Miantonomi , was a sachem of the Narraganset , an Indian tribe in New England . He was the nephew of Canonicus , with whom he shared the tribal leadership and in 1636 became the sole sachem.

After the Mohegan allied themselves with the English in Connecticut at the instigation of Uncas , they began subjugating smaller neighboring tribes and taking tribute from them, as from various Mattabesic and Nipmuck groups. With the addition of so many neighboring tribes, the Mohegan suddenly became a serious rival to the Narraganset, who viewed these activities with increasing suspicion. As a result, Miantonomo tried to win allies against the Mohegan. Accompanied by 100 warriors, he visited the Montauk on Long Island in 1642 , the Mattabesic in western Connecticut and the Mahican and Wappinger in the valley of the Hudson River . However, only a few of these tribes were ready for the alliance.

When Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Hartford and New Haven merged to form the New England Confederation in 1643 , Rhode Island was deliberately ignored. Despite Miantonomos' best efforts, the Narraganset were almost on their own and decided to subdue the Mohegan alone. Without informing the English, who presumably would have warned the Mohegan, Miantonomo led 900 warriors to a surprise attack on the main Mohegan village of Shetucket, where Uncas also resided. The Mohegan were on the verge of defeat when they managed to catch Miantonomo. The loss of their sachem shocked the Narraganset and they broke off the fight. Uncas surrendered his prominent prisoner to the English at Hartford . After consulting with their compatriots in Massachusetts, they decided that Miantonomo could return to his people. The colonists escorted him to Shetucket when Miantonomo was killed from behind by Uncas' brother with a tomahawk in August 1643 . It is very doubtful that this execution took place without the express permission of the English authorities.

With the death of Miantonomos, the domination of the Narraganset in southern New England came to an end. In 1653 Narraganset warriors crossed Long Island Sound and subjugated the Montauk at the east end of the island. But the campaign angered the English, who had settled on the south coast of Long Islands from 1640. They threatened the Narraganset with war and so they withdrew again across the sound. Canonicus died in 1647 and was succeeded by his son Mriksah as a sachem.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Miantonomo. Retrieved September 5, 2016 .