Smith!"So I must end my miserable life.Take away your guns and swords,the cause of all our jealousy,or you may all die in the same manner. When the Pilgrims came to New England they too were coming not to vacant land but to territory inhabited by tribes of Indians.The governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,John Winthrop,created the excuse to take Indian land by declaring the area legally a "vacuum."The Indians,he said,had not "subdued"the land,and therefore had only a "natural"right to it,but not a "civil right."A "natural right"did not have legal standing. The Puritans also appealed to the Bible,Psalms 2:8:"Ask of me,and I shall give thee,the heathen for thine inheritance,and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."And to justify their use of force to take the land,they cited Romans 13:2: "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,resisteth the ordinance of God:and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. The Puritans lived in uneasy truce with the Pequot Indians,who occupied what is now southern Connecticut and Rhode Island.But they wanted them out of the way;they wanted their land.And they seemed to want also to establish their mle firmly over Connecticut settlers in that area.The murder of a white trader,Indian-kidnaper,and troublemaker became an excuse to make war on the Pequots 636. A punitive expedition left Boston to attack the Narraganselt Indians on Block Island, who were lumped with the Pequots.As Governor Winthrop wrote: They had commission to pat to death the men of Block island,but to spare the women and children,and to bring them away,and to take possession of the island;and from thence to go to the Pequods to demand the murdorers of Captain Stone and other English, and one thousand fathom of wampum for damages,etc.and some of their children as hostages,which if they should refuse,they were to obtain it by force. The English landed and killed some lodians,but the rest hid in the thick forests of the island and the English went from one deserted village to the next,destroying crops.Then they sailed back to the mainland and faided Pequot villages along the coast,destroying crops again.One of the offroeps of that expedition,in his account,gives some insight into the Pequots they encountered:The Indians spying of us came running in multitudes along the water side,crrig,What cheer,Englishmen,what cheer,what do you come for?They not thinkirg ve intended war,went on cheerfully...-" So,the war with the Pequots began.Massacres took place on both sides.The English developed a tactic of warfare used earlier by Cortes and later,in the twentieth century, even more systematically:deliberate attacks on noncombatants for the purpose of terrorizing the enemy.This is ethno historian Francis Jennings's interpretation of Captain John Mason's attack on a Pequot village on the Mystic River near Long Island Sound: "Mason proposed to avoid attacking Pequot warriors,which would have overtaxed his unseasoned,unreliable troops.Battle,as such,was not his purpose.Battle is only one of the ways to destroy an enemy's will to fight.Massacre can accomplish the same end with less risk,and Mason had determined that massacre would be his objective." So the English set fire to the wigwams of the village.By their own account:"The Captain also said,We must Burn Them;and immediately stepping into the Wigwam... brought out a Fire Brand,and putting it into the Matts with which they were covered,set the Wigwams on Fire.William Bradford,in his History of the Plymouth Plantation written at the time,describes John Mason's raid on the Pequot village:Smith!" So I must end my miserable life. Take away your guns and swords, the cause of all our jealousy, or you may all die in the same manner. When the Pilgrims came to New England they too were coming not to vacant land but to territory inhabited by tribes of Indians. The governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, created the excuse to take Indian land by declaring the area legally a "vacuum." The Indians, he said, had not "subdued" the land, and therefore had only a "natural" right to it, but not a "civil right." A "natural right" did not have legal standing. The Puritans also appealed to the Bible, Psalms 2:8: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And to justify their use of force to take the land, they cited Romans 13:2: "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." The Puritans lived in uneasy truce with the Pequot Indians, who occupied what is now southern Connecticut and Rhode Island. But they wanted them out of the way; they wanted their land. And they seemed to want also to establish their rule firmly over Connecticut settlers in that area. The murder of a white trader, Indian-kidnaper, and troublemaker became an excuse to make war on the Pequots in 1636. A punitive expedition left Boston to attack the NarraganseIt Indians on Block Island, who were lumped with the Pequots. As Governor Winthrop wrote: They had commission to pat to death the men of Block Island, but to spare the women and children, and to bring them away, and to take possession of the island; and from thence to go to the Pequods to demand the murderers of Captain Stone and other English, and one thousand fathom of wampum for damages, etc. and some of their children as hostages, which if they should refuse, they were to obtain it by force. The English landed and killed some Indians, but the rest hid in the thick forests of the island and the English went from one deserted village to the next, destroying crops. Then they sailed back to the mainland and raided Pequot villages along the coast, destroying crops again. One of the officers of that expedition, in his account, gives some insight into the Pequots they encountered: "The Indians spying of us came running in multitudes along the water side, crying, What cheer, Englishmen, what cheer, what do you come for? They not thinking we intended war, went on cheerfully... -" So, the war with the Pequots began. Massacres took place on both sides. The English developed a tactic of warfare used earlier by Cortes and later, in the twentieth century, even more systematically: deliberate attacks on noncombatants for the purpose of terrorizing the enemy. This is ethno historian Francis Jennings's interpretation of Captain John Mason's attack on a Pequot village on the Mystic River near Long Island Sound: "Mason proposed to avoid attacking Pequot warriors, which would have overtaxed his unseasoned, unreliable troops. Battle, as such, was not his purpose. Battle is only one of the ways to destroy an enemy's will to fight. Massacre can accomplish the same end with less risk, and Mason had determined that massacre would be his objective." So the English set fire to the wigwams of the village. By their own account: "The Captain also said, We must Burn Them; and immediately stepping into the Wigwam ... brought out a Fire Brand, and putting it into the Matts with which they were covered, set the Wigwams on Fire." William Bradford, in his History of the Plymouth Plantation written at the time, describes John Mason's raid on the Pequot village: No Profit Use Only