Saybrook fort, with twelve men, was attacked by them, ana three of his party killed. In April, another portion of this tribe assaulted the people of Wethersfield, as they were going to their fields to labor, and killed six men and three woTwo girls were taken captive by them, and twenty cows were killed.

men.

In this perilous state of the colony, a court was summoned at Hartford, May 1. After mature deliberation, it was determined that war should be commenced against the Pe quots.

Ninety men, nearly half the fencible men of the colony, were ordered to be raised; forty-two from Hartford; thirty from Windsor; and eighteen from Wethersfield.

On the assembling of this force at Hartford, the Rev. Mr. Hooker, previously to their marching, addressed them in the following manner:

"Fellow-soldiers, countrymen, and companions, you are this day assembled by the special providence of God; you are not collected by wild fancy, nor ferocious passions. It is not a tumultuous assembly, whose actions are abortive, or, if successful, produce only theft, rapine, rape, and murder; crimes inconsistent with nature's light, inconsistent with a soldier's valor. You, my dear hearts, were selected from your neighbors, by the godly fathers of the land, for your known courage, to execute such a work.

Your cause is the cause of heaven; the enemy have blasphemed your God, and slain his servants; you are only the ministers of his justice. I do not pretend that your enemies are careless or indifferent: no, their hatred is inflamed, their lips thirst for blood; they would devour you, and all the people of God; but, my brave soldiers, their guilt has reached the clouds; they are ripe for destruction; their cruelty is notorious; and cruelty and cowardice are always united.

There is nothing, therefore, to prevent your certain victory, but their nimble feet, their impenetrable swamps and woods; from these your small numbers will entice them, or your courage drive them. I now put the question-Who would not fight in such a cause? fight with undaunted boldness? Do you wish for more encouragement? more I give you. Riches waken the soldier's sword; and though you will not obtain silver and gold, on the field of victory, you will secure what is infinitely more precious; you will secure the liberties, the privileges, and the lives of Christ's Church, in this new world,

"You will procure safety for your affectionate wives, safety for your prattling, harmless, smiling babes; you will secure all the blessings enjoyed by the people of God in the ordinances of the gospel. Distinguished was the honor conferred upon David, for fighting the battles of the Lord; this honor, O ye courageous soldiers of God, is now prepared for you. You will now execute his vengeance on the heathen; you will bind their kings in chains, and their nobles in fetters of iron. But perhaps some one may fear that a fatal arrow may deprive him of this honor.

"Let every faithful soldier of Jesus Christ be assured, that if any servant be taken away, it is merely because the honors of this world are too narrow for his reward; an everlasting crown is set upon his head; because the rewards of this life are insufficient. March, then, with Christian courage, in the strength of the Lord; march with faith in his divine promises, and soon your swords shall find your enemies; soon they shall fall like leaves of the forest under your feet."

With these troops, together with seventy river and Mohegan Indians, Capt. Mason, to whom the command of the expedition was given, dropped down the river Connecticut, to Saybrook. Here a plan of operations was formed. On the 26th of May, about the dawn of day, Capt. Mason surprised Mystic, one of the principal forts of the enemy, in the present town of Stonington. On their near approach to the fort, a dog barked, and an Indian, who now discovered them, cried out," O wanux! O wanux!" Englishmen, English

men.

The troops instantly pressed forward, and fired. The destruction of the enemy soon became terrible, but they rallied at length, and made a manly resistance. After a severe and protracted conflict, Capt. Mason and his troops being nearly exhausted, and victory still doubtful, he cried out to his men, we must burn them!

At the same instant, seizing a firebrand, he applied it to a wigwam. The flames spread rapidly on every side; and as the sun rose upon the scene, it showed the work of destruction to be complete. Seventy wigwams were in ruins, and between five and six hundred Indians lay bleeding on the ground, or smouldering in the ashes.

But, though the victory was complete, the troops were now in great distress. Besides two killed, sixteen of their number were wounded. Their surgeon, medicines, and provisions, were on board some vessels, on their way to Pequot harbor, now New-London. While consulting what

should be done in this emergency, how great was their joy to descry their vessels standing directly towards the harbor, under a prosperous wind!

Soon after, a detachment of nearly two hundred men, from Massachusetts and Plymouth, arrived to assist Connecticut in prosecuting the war.

Sassacus, the great sachem of the Pequots, and his warriors, were so appalled at the destruction of Mystic, that they fled towards Hudson's river. The troops pursued them as far as a great swamp, in Fairfield, where another action took place, in which the Indians were entirely vanquished.

This was followed by a treaty with the remaining Pequots, about two hundred in number, agreeably to which they were divided among the Narragansetts and Mohegans.

Thus terminated a conflict, which, for a time, was eminently distressing to the colonies. This event of peace was celebrated throughout New-England, by a day of thanks giving and praise.

Sec. 31. The expedition against the Pequots made the English acquainted with Quinnapiak, or New-Haven; and the next year, 1638, led to the settlement of that town. This, and the adjoining towns, soon after settled, went by the name of the COLONY OF NEW-HAVEN.

Among the founders of this colony, which was the fourth in New-England, was Mr. John Davenport, for some time a distinguished minister in London. To avoid the indignation of the persecuting Archbishop Laud, in 1633, he fled to Holland. Hearing, while in exile, of the prosperity of the New-England settlements, he meditated a removal to America. On his return to England, Mr. Theophilus Eaton, an eminent merchant in London, with Mr. Hopkins, afterwards governor of Connecticut, and several others, determined to accompany him. They arrived in Boston in June, 1637.

This company were inclined to commence a new planta tion, and lay the foundation of a separate colony. Though the most advantageous offers were made them by the govern ment of Massachusetts, to choose any place within their jurisdiction, they preferred a place without the limits of the existing colonies. They accordingly fixed upon New-Haven for the place of their future habitation, and on the 8th of April, they kept their first sabbath in the place,

under a large oak tree, where Mr. Davenport preached to them.

Sec. 32. The following year, January 14, 1639, the three towns on Connecticut river, Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, finding themselves without the limits of the Massachusetts patent, met, and formed themselves into a distinct commonwealth, and adopted a constitution.

This constitution, which has been much admired, and which, for more than a century and a half, underwent little alteration, ordained that there should annually be two general assemblies, one in April, the other in September. In April, the officers of government were to be elected by the freemen, and to consist of a governor, deputy governor, and five or six assistants. The towns were to send deputies to the general assemblies. Under this constitution, the first governor was John Haynes, and Roger Ludlow the first deputy governor.

Sec. 33. The example of the colony of Connecticut, in forming a constitution, was followed the next June, by the colony of New-Haven. Both constitutions were essentially alike.

In October following the government was organized, when Mr. Eaton was chosen governor. To this office he was annually elected, till his death, in 1657. No one of the New-England colonies was so much distinguished for good order and internal tranquillity, as the colony of NewHaven. Her principal men were distinguished for their wisdom andegrity, and directed the affairs of the colony with so muc prudence, that she was seldom disturbed by divisions within, or by aggressions from the Indians from without.

Having been bred to mercantile employments, the first settlers were inclined to engage in the pursuits of commerce. With this view, they fixed their settlement at a port selected for that purpose. In these pursuits, they sustained many severe losses; particularly in the loss of a new ship, of 150 tons, freighted with a valuable cargo, and manned with seamen and passengers from many of the best families in the colony, which foundered at sea, in the year 1647. This severe loss discouraged, for a time, their commercial pursuits,

and engaged their attention more particularly in the employments of agriculture.

Sec. 34. This same year, 1639, Sir Ferdinando Gorges obtained of the crown a distinct charter, in confirmation of his own grant (Sec. 18) of all the lands from Piscataqua to Sagadahoc, styled the PROVINCE OF MAINE. He formed a system of government for the province, and incorporated a city near the mountain Agamenticus, in York, by the name of Georgeana; but neither the province nor city flourished. In 1652, the province was taken under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, by the request of the people of Maine.

It would exceed our limits to examine the different grants of territory, which were made at different times, of the state of Maine. In 1652, at the time the province was taken under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, it was made a county by the name of Yorkshire. It had the privilege of sending deputies to the general court at Boston. Massachusetts laid claim to the province, as lying within her charter of 1628, and, after various controversies, the territory was incorporated with her in 1691. In 1786, 1787, 1802, and 1816, efforts were made by a portion of the people of Maine to become separate from Massachusetts proper, but to this a majority of the inhabitants were averse. In 1818, however, this measure was effected; and, on the 3d of March, 1820, the district of Maine, by an act of congress, became an independent state.

Sec. 35. The next event of importance in our history, is the union of the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New-Haven, by the name of THE UNITED COLONIES OF NEWENGLAND. The articles of this confederation, which had been agitated for three years, were signed May 19th, 1643.

To this union the colonies were strongly urged, by a sense of common danger from the Indians, (a general combination of whom was expected,)