- Sassacus is also a genus of jumping spiders.
Sassacus (Massachusett: Sassakusu, "fierce") (c. 1560 – June 1637) was a Pequot sachem[1] who was born near present-day Groton, Connecticut. He became grand sachem after his father, Tatobem, was killed in 1632. The Mohegans led by sachem Uncas rebelled against domination by the Pequots.[2] Sassacus and the Pequots were defeated by English colonists allied with the Narragansett and Mohegans in the Pequot War.
Sassacus | |
|---|---|
| Pequot leader | |
| In office 1632 – June 1637 | |
| Preceded by | Tatobem |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1560 |
| Died | June 1637 (aged 76–77) Present-Day New York |
| Cause of death | Murdered by the Mohawk Tribe |
| Military service | |
| Battles/wars | |
Sassacus fled to what he thought was safety among the Iroquois Mohawks in present-day New York state, but they murdered him and then sent his head and hands to the Connecticut Colony as a symbolic offering of friendship.[3]
Sassacus possibly had a brother who married Ninigret's daughter, and his sister-in-law may have married Harman Garrett.[4][5]
Footnotes
edit- ^ "Pequot Indian Chiefs and Leaders". Handbook of American Indians. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ Oberg, p. 48
- ^ Vaughan, Alden T. (1995). New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 1620–1675, p. 150. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2718-X, 978-0-8061-2718-7.
- ^ Glenn LaFantasie, The Correspondence of Roger Williams, (1988) 311-312
- ^ Pulsief, ed., Acts of the Commissioners, I, 100, 169
References
edit- Oberg, Michael Leroy, Uncas, First of the Mohegans, 2003, ISBN 0-8014-3877-2
- Vaughan, Alden T. (1995). New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 1620-1675, p. 150. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2718-X, 978-0-8061-2718-7
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