The Naumkeag

Long before Roger Conant and his group arrived in the area that is now Salem, this land was home to an indigenous population known as the Naumkeag band of the Massachusett Tribe. Partially nomadic, the Naumkeag had seasonal homes throughout the present day North Shore and beyond, which they would travel to and from in order to ensure the most beneficial conditions for themselves throughout the year. This would sometimes result in their villages appearing “abandoned,” with clusters of empty wetus or wigwams dotting the landscape along the coast. This seasonal movement contributed to the confusion, and later tension, with English settlers, who would appropriate empty Naumkeag structures for their own purposes, modifying them as they did to suit their European tastes and styles.

Still, the Naumkeag were not an aggressive people. They did not seek war with Conant’s crew over the misunderstanding, which, tragically and in retrospect, may have sealed their ultimate fate of being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands by colonists. 20th century historian Sidney Perley describes the tribe as “affable and courteous and well-disposed, ready to devote the best of what they had to the general good.” This temperament was tested, but still remained, in the face of the loss of their homes and the devastation they faced from European diseases that decimated their numbers in the early 1600s. Despite the deaths of their own people, the Naumkeag treated the English with kindness, sharing with them the secrets of a good harvest in the local climate. Perley writes that the Naumkeag instructed the English in “the planting of corn, teaching them to select the finest seed, to observe the best season, to plant in the hills at a distance from each other and cultivate it through the season.” And all of this, again, while dealing with the illnesses foisted upon them unwittingly by the colonists they reached out to aid.

Tragically, disease was not the only destruction that Europeans wreaked upon the indigenous population. Although initial encounters between settlers and natives were courteous, if cautious, the displacement of peoples such as the Naumkeag led to violence. King Philip’s War (1675-1678) was prompted by a breakdown in relations between the Wampanoag tribe and their allies with the settlers of New England. Most, though not all, of the remaining members of the Naumkeag band were wiped out, with many dying from inhumane conditions as prisoners of war. The survivors have passed down their band name to living descendants, who today are represented in and by the Massachusett tribe.

The story of the Naumkeag, like many told about America’s indigenous peoples, is a sad one. Colonialism led to devastation, as European countries sought to extract as much “value” from indigenous ancestral land as possible. Today, we live with the consequences of European mercantile colonialism, and its twin descendants: capitalism and imperialism. Unlike the Naumkeag, who took from the land only what they needed, we carry on the shameful history of “value extraction” today as we drill for fossil fuels as the planet burns. We must hold on to the memory of the Naumkeag, therefore, for reasons both moral and selfish. We must never forget what white settlers did to an ultimately peaceful people so as to prevent the replication of historical horrors. We must also, however, keep the history of the Naumkeag alive so that we might learn from their practices of responsible cultivation of the earth. Otherwise, we will not only have nearly destroyed the people, but the very land itself that they call home.

We have been developing a relationship with the Massachusett Tribe for several years and are grateful they are such a vital part of the future of this place we all call home.

Timeline of the Naumkeag

  • 1590--Squaw Sachem, leader of the Massachusett Tribe is born. 

  • 1616-- Wenepoykin (also known as “Sagamore George) is born. Son of Squaw Sachem and Nanepashemet. His mother will place him as leader of the Naumkeag upon his father’s death.

  • 1619--Nanepashemet, leader of the Massachusett Tribe dies. In his place, his widow, Squaw Sachem, steps into the position of leader.

  • 1623--English colonists, led by Roger Conant and the Dorchester Colony, arrive in present day Cape Anne and incorporate Glouscester as a fishing village. Inhospitable conditions drive the settlers out after a few years.

  • Fall 1626--The remnants of the Dorchester Colony abandon Gloucester and travel south, settling in an area home to the Naumkeag. Naumkeag homes (known as wigwams) were discovered “abandoned” due to seasonal travel by the indigenous population, and the English took them over for their own dwellings. Conant leads this expedition south, and, with the establishment of the settlement, is named governor of the colony. 

  • June 24th, 1629--The ancestral Naumkaug land is officially incorporated by the English and renamed Salem. 

  • 1638--Matacom, sachem of the Wompanoag people, also known as “King Philip” is born.

  • 1639--Squaw Sachem deeds what will be known as Cambridge and Watertown to English colonists. 

  • April 1st, 1652--Wenepoykin sells the area now known as Nahant to Nicholas Davison of Charlestown.

  • June 20th, 1675--King Philip’s War begins.

  • 1675-1676--on Deer Island, captured Native Americans are held as prisoners, interred because of their race, which marked them as enemies during the war. Over 1000 natives are estimated to have died because of malnutrition and other cruel treatment during their internment.

  • August 12th, 1676--Metacom is killed by colonial militia.

  • 1676--Wenepoykin is captured while fighting the English in the war. He is enslaved and sent to Barbados

  • April 12, 1678--King Philip’s War ends.

  • September 1684--Wenepoykin dies.

Colonial Depositions on the Naumkeag

Further Resources

Online Resources:

Massachusett Tribe: http://massachusetttribe.org/

 Massachusett Center For Native American Awareness (MCNAA):https://www.mcnaa.org/

 Institute of New England Native American Studies: https://www.umb.edu/inenas/overview

North American Indian Center of Boston: http://www.naicob.org/resources.html

United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples: https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

 Institute of American Indian Studies Museum http://iaismuseum.org/

 Massachusett Indigenous Tribes:

 Mahican

Massachusett: http://massachusetttribe.org/

Nauset

Nipmuc: https://www.nipmucnation.org/

Pawtucket

Pennacook-Abenaki: https://www.cowasuck.org/history.html

Pocumtuc

Wampanoag: https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/

 Films

WE STILL LIVE HERE (Âs Nutayuneân): https://www.makepeaceproductions.com/wampfilm.html 

This film tells a remarkable story of cultural revival by the Wampanoag of Southeastern Massachusetts. Their ancestors ensured the survival of the Pilgrims in New England, and lived to regret it. Now they are saying loud and clear in their Native tongue, Âs Nutayuneân—We Still Live Here.

TRIBAL JUSTICE: https://www.makepeaceproductions.com/tribaljustice/ 

Two Native American judges reach back to traditional concepts of justice in order to reduce incarceration rates, foster greater safety for their communities, and create a more positive future for their youth. By addressing the root causes of crime, they are providing models of restorative justice that are working. Mainstream courts across the country are taking notice.

 DAWNLAND; https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/dawnland/ 

The untold story of Native American Child Removal.



Seventeenth Century Accounts of the Indigenous Population

 

JOHN ELIOT:

Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God  (Bible in the Massachusett Language), 1663 

Brief Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England, 1670

DANIEL GOOKIN:

Historical collections of the Indians of New England and their several nations, numbers, customs, manners, religion, and government before the English planted there.

Historical Account of the Doings and Sufferings of the Christian Indians in New England in the years 1670-1677. 

WILLIAM WOODS-New England’s Prospect, 1639

JOHN WINTHROP-Journal of John Winthrop, 1630-1649

JOHN SMITH-A Description of New England, 1616

EDWARD WINSLOW-Mourt’s Relation, 1621

ROGER WILLIAMS-A Key Into the Language of America, 1643

Books and Published Works

Richard W. Cogley-Eliot’s Mission to the Indians Before King Philip’s War. 1999

Dennis Connole- Indians of the Nipmuck Country in Southern New England 1630-1750: An Historical Geography. 2007

Samuel Drake-The History of King Philip’s War 1862 (includes accounts from Increase and Cotton Mather)

Wilburforce Eames -John Eliot and the Indians 1652-1657: Being Letters Addressed to Rev. Jonathan Hanmer of Barnstaple, England. 1915

Jill Lepore-The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity .1998

Dane Morrison, Emerson Baker(editors)-Salem: Place Myth and Memory 2004

Sidney Perley-History of Salem, Mass. 1924 http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/Perley/vol1/table/index.html

David Stewart-Smith - The Pennacook Lands and Relations: An Ethnography in The New Hampshire Archaeologist 33/34 (1994)

Christoph Strobel-Native Americans of New England: 2020


Additional Resources:

Mary Ellen Lepionka-Native Americans of Cape Ann https://capeannhistory.org/, 2018

 Mashpee Nine: A Story of Cultural Justice by Paula Peters 2016

Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time: Indigenous Thoughts by Mari Jo Moore, 2013

Early Native Literacies in New England: A Documentary by Kristina Bross 2008

Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England by Jean M. O’Brien 2010

The Common Pot: A Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast by Lisa Brooks 2008

Mother/Land by Cheryl Sageau 2006

Restitution, The Land Claims Of The Mashpee, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Indians of New England by Paul Brodeur 1985