Unfortunatley, this is going to be the conclusion on the blogs about Sarah Vowell's book, The Wordy Shipmates. There is a big part in the book that I believe deserves it's own blog. The Puritans had gotten into a war called The Pequot War. It happened between 1634 and 1638, and it was a monstrosity. "The Pequot War is a pure war. And by pure I don't mean good. I mean it is a war straight up, a war set off by murder and vengeance and fueled by misunderstanding, jealousy, hatred, stupidity, racism, lust for power, lust for land, and most of all, greed, all of it headed toward a climax of slaughter." (pg. 166). There isn't a better way to put it.
The first thing that I noticed about this war is that the Dutch seemed to have started it. Backing up, it started out of trade. Everyone wants to make the most money out of trading, so they fight eachother over land and people to barter with. Now, you could say the Pequot had started the war for they killed the first people. But a war can't be one way. As soon as the Dutch retaliated by killing the principal sachem of the Pequot, the start of the violence had begun. The retaliation from the Dutch is why it makes sense that they started the War. The interesting thing about this statement is that this is all I truly remember about the Dutch. They started it, but they don't stick around through the war.
After, the Pequots decided to get their revenge. They killed another Dutch man, but the only problem was that he wasn't Dutch, he was English. This is where the Puritans get involved. Unfortunatley, the start of the war between the Puritans and the Pequots was stupid. The Pequots had murdered a man who was banished from the community, why should the Puritans care. Pride. They cared because of pride. Who cares that he wasn't allowed to step foot in the community again, he was still English and the Pequots should pay. That is ridiculus, but that is war. "The Pequot War is just that- a destructive tantrum brought on by an accumulation of aggravation." (pg. 172).
The Pequot War continues with little fights and fatalities along the way, until the English decided to end it. While the war was going on, the English had formed an alliance with two other tribes, the Mohegan and the Narragansett, who wanted the Pequot gone. Then, on May 25th, 1637, The three alliances made their way to the Mystic River. There was where a little community of Pequots were living in a fort. Capitan John Mason had his army ambush the Pequots and set fire to their home. Every Pequot (including women and children) was burned alive. This was pure evil. This wasn't how I would have imagined the Puritans in the begining of the book. The very seal that the Puritans adopted was a native american asking if the puritans could help them. Is this what the Puritans call helping?
To make matters worse, John Underhill, who fought in the war, uses the Bible to explain what they did. "When a people is grown to such a height of blood and sin against God and man... there He hath no respect to persons, but harrows them and saws them and puts them to the sword and the most terrible death that may be." Even children? Yes. "Sometimes," Underhill continues, "the scripture declareth women and children must perish along with their parents." He concludes, "We had sufficient light from the word of God for out preceedings." (pg. 194). This is right up there with George W. Bush saying that we are invading Irag because they have weapons of mass destruction, and then finding none. This is just a huge "God told me to" type of thing, that is the reason the Enghlish told their fellow fighters that they had to kill innocents.
Finally, my last piece is about Thanksgiving. Kids love Thanksgiving. You get to eat lots of food, see your family, and get a break from school. Well, this isn't how Thanksgiving really was. It didn't happen once a year with the Puritans, it happened whenever the occasion called for a celebration. Celebrations are great for harvests and good things, but a celebration for slaughtering people, including innocents? We would never do that. That just goes to show how a tradition can change over time. I would like to say how the America today would never be as ruthless as killing innocent people, but if I did I would be lying.
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