Life among the Plymouth settlers
Pokanoket establish relations with Pilgrims
On Friday, March 16, 1620/21 o.s. Samoset, an Abenaki sachem from the coast region of Maine near the mouth of the Pemaquid River "bodly came" into the Plymouth settlement and greeted the startled men in English. He explained he was acting on behalf the Pokanoket, who were their neighbors to the west. [3] Through his and later Squanto's mediation, Massasoit with his brother Quadrquina and a train of 60 men arrive outside the settlement on Thursday, March 22 o.s. [4] It was during this encounter that the English settlers and the Pokanoket entered into a peace and mutual defense treaty. Hobomok is not noted to be among the 60 men accompanying Massasoit, but as a pniese it is more than likely that he was.
Hobomok comes to live with English
It was not until four or five months later that Hobomok's activities are recorded by the settlers, although Bradford makes clear that he had been living with them for a while, but how long he does not say. Bradford described him as "a proper lustie man, and a man of accounte for his vallour and parts amongst thed Indeans." [5] Squanto had been living among the English settlers since the establishment of amity between the English and the Pokanoket, and during that time had shown the settlers how to plant maize and other native crops, had acted as their guide and pilot to surrounding areas, facilitated understandings between the colony and its native neighbors and established trade relations with a number of villages. Both Bradford and Winslow first record Hobomock's actions in connection with a crisis in which Squanto was thought to have been kidnapped and possibly murdered. Bradford's and Winlow's accounts differ in important details, however.
Action to rescue Squanto from Corbitant
As Winslow told the story, word reached Plymouth that the Narragansett had driven Massasoit "from his country" and that a sub-sachem, tributary to Massasoit named Corbitant (written Coubatant by Winslow) (possibly conspiring with them) was at the nearby village of Nemasket attempting to disaffect the people their from their loyalty to Masassoit and attempting to foment hostility against the English and because of the recent peace treaty they made with the natives of Cape Cod, Squanto also because he effected the treaty. [6] Another Pokanet living among them, Tokamaham, set off to see Massasoit (or perhaps Corbitant, Winslow's account is not clear) but Squanto and Hobomok were afraid. Instead, they went to Nemasket to learn what they could about Corbitant's activities. When there Squanto was captured by Corbitant of whom Corbitant said "if he were dead, the English had lost their tongue." Hobomok saw Corbitant holding a knife to Squanto's chest, broke free of his restraints and ran to Plymouth, fearing that Squanto had been killed. [7] Bradford's account makes no mention of any threat to Massasoit> He only writes that Hobomok and Squanto returning from "bussines amonge the Indeans" met Corbitant at Nemasket where they began quarreling and Corbitant threatened to stab Hobomok, broke free and came running to Plymouth where he told Bradford that he feared Squanto had been killed, all on account of their friendship to the English. The Governor convened a council at which it was decided that this outrage could not go unavenged. They determined to send a group of armed men to Nemasket and if it turned out that Squanto had been kill, they would cut off Corbitant's head. [5]
Bradford commissioned a group of armed men (Bradford says 14 [5] ) under Captain Standish on a mission to raid Nemasket at night to round up Corbitant and any accomplices. The men set out on August 14, and Hobomok agreed to show them the route. [8] The day proved very wet, but they marched within two or three miles of Nemasket and hoped to rest before their midnight attack. Hobomok, however, lost his way in the night, which, together with the rain and fatigue, greatly discouraged the men. Fortunately, Winslow and Stephen Hopkins had been to Nemasket recently on their way to an embassy to Massasoit in Pokanoket. Though discouraged and wet, they arrived in time to eat what they brought, then fell on the town around midnight. [9]
Hobomok led them to the house where he suspected Corbitant would be found. The men burst into the house demanding to know where Corbitant was, but the occupants were too terrified to speak. They tried to explain that they were only looking for Corbitant and women and children would not be hurt, but several tried to escape and were wounded in the process. The settlers discharged their muskets at least twice "at random" which excited the entire village. Eventually, those in the house explained (to Hobomok) that Crobitant and his train had left. The settlers demanded a fire be built to search the corners of the house and commandeered it to stay the night. Hobomok mounted the roof and called for Squanto, who came together with Tokamahamon and others, who were disarmed by the settlers. The next morning the settlers gathered the village and warned them not to harbor Corbitant and threatened that if Massasoit did not return in safety or if Corbitant threatened or harmed him or his subjects (including Squanto and Hobomok), they would enact vengeance. They also apologized for the injuries they committed the previous night and offered to have those wounded be treated by the surgeon at Plymouth. Winslow said that a man and a woman returned with them to be treated, as well as Squanto and Nemasket villagers "offering all helpe that might be by carriage of anything wee had to ease us." [10]
Hostility of the Massachuset
Hobomok is next mentioned seven months later, in March 1621/22. Plymouth found itself in a precarious situation since the previous November when the Fortune brought an additional 35 settlers without any provisions. This required the colony to go on half rations throughout the winter. [11] The Narragansett soon learned of the weakened condition of the settlement and "began to break forth many threats against us," so much so that it was "the common talke of our neighbour Indians on all sides" that the Narragansett were making preparations "to come against us." [12] In January the Narragansett sachem Canonicus sent a messenger to deliver a declaration of war (a bundle of arrows wrapped in a rattlesnake's skin). But the Governor returned a threatening warning (the skin stuffed with powder and shot), and the Narragansett's resolve dissipated. [13]
The affair left the colony feeling exposed. They decided to impale the settlement by taking down tall trees, dragging them from the forest and sinking them in deep holes closely bound to prevent arrows from passing through. This they did while on half-rations. Moreover, Standish divided the men into four squadrons and drilled them on how to respond to an emergency, including instructions on how to remain armed and alert to a native attack even during a fire in the town. [14]
At the beginning of March, amidst this concern over possible attack, it came time for a promised visit to the Massachuset (a people to their north and outside the confederation led by Massasoit) to trade for furs. While they were preparing to depart, Hobomok advised the leaders that he had learned through rumors told to him while in the woods that the Massachusetts had joined with the Narragansetts, that the Massachusetts would cut off Standish and his men while abroad and that the Narragansetts would attack the settlement with Standish away. [15] Moreover, he claimed that Squanto was part of this plot. The Governor conferred with his advisors and determined that to cancel the promised trading trip was ill-advised both because they desperately needed to replenish their food stores and because it would project an image of fearfulness to "mew up our selves in our new-enclosed towne" [16] which might be invited attack. By the beginning of April Standish and 10 men set out in a shallop taking both Squanto and Hobomok with them (as Bradford put it) "in regarde of the jelocie between them." [17]
