Date of this Version
This brief account of the major engagement of the Pequot War appeared about six months after the Mystic Massacre of May 26, 1637. Its authorship is attributed to Philip Vincent, of whom little is known, including whether he was a witness or even in America, or, if not, who his informant was. The work obviously enjoyed some popularity, going through three separate editions in 1637–38.
The Pequots occupied the region on the north shore of Long Island Sound around present-day New London, Connecticut. Hostilities began in late summer of 1636, when the Massachusetts authorities sent a punitive expedition under John Endicott that destroyed some Pequot villages and fields. The Pequots retaliated with attacks on English settlements along the Connecticut River. In the spring of 1637, the colonies of Connecticut, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay combined forces to carry on the war. Under commanders John Underhill and John Mason, they surrounded and burned the large Pequot town near Mystic, killing more than 700 Native inhabitants, shocking their Native allies with their wholesale slaughter of the entire population. Mop-up operations lasted the rest of the summer, but by fall the Pequot nation had been completely eliminated.
This online electronic edition is based on the text of the first edition published in London in 1637. It is short (about 4,000 words) and can be printed out on 14 letter-sized sheets.