When was mystic connecticut founded

Charles W. Morgan, last of the old time whaling ships, arrived in at the Mystic Seaport Museum. The Liberty Flagpole on Main St. Ghostly Strolls with Seaside Shadows. Falloween in Mystic. A Saturday in Stonington Borough. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. In , hostilities escalated between the Pequot and Narragansett tribes. The Narragansett passed through or near Pequot territory on their way to the Dutch post, and the Pequot resented the Narragansett's ability to encroach upon their territory to the point that a Pequot band attacked and killed a Narragansett band on its way to trade at Good Hope.

In revenge for this attack, the Dutch captured and seized Tatobem, Pequot's uppermost chief, and held him at ransom to be paid in wampum. The ransom was paid immediately, but Tatobem was executed anyway; they retaliated by killing an Englishman named John Stone at the Connecticut River.

There are many assumptions to why Stone was chosen in retribution. Some historians say that, while trading on shore, Stone kidnapped a handful of Pequots with intentions to sell them into slavery, and was beaten and slaughtered by their rescuers.

The Massachusetts Bay colony interpreted the killing of Stone as a declaration of war. In October , Pequot delegates took a trip to Massachusetts Bay to guarantee the colonists that they had not intended nor planned to go to war with the English. They took full blame for Stone's death, and offered Governor Roger Ludlow payment for his death. The Massachusetts Bay colonists refused to accept the payment as justice for Stone's death.

The Massachusetts Bay government "demanded that Stone's killer be handed over to meet European justice, that a ransom in wampum worth pounds sterling be paid; that the Pequot cede all of their land to the Massachusetts Bay Colony ; that the Pequot only trade with the English; and that all disputes between the Pequot and the Narragansett be mediated by the English.

The Pequot delegation seemed to agree to the settlement and returned home, but Tatobem's successor, Sassacus, rejected and thereby nullified the agreement. Tensions increased among local Indian tribes, especially towards the Pequot. In , John Oldham was murdered in his boat off Block Island , a trader and friend of the Narragansetts.

The murderers were Block Islanders, a branch of Narragansetts; however, they escaped capture and were given safe haven by the Pequots. This outraged the Narragansetts. In May , captains John Underhill and John Mason led a retaliatory mission through Narragansett land along with their allies, the Narragansetts and Mohegans, and struck the Pequot settlement in Mystic in the event which came to be known as the Mystic massacre.

Uncas and Wequash also joined the fight, bringing seventy of his own men. The settlement was decimated. Mason set fire to eighty homes, killing — Pequots. Seven were taken captive and seven escaped.

Two Englishmen were killed, while were wounded. Captain John Underhill, one of the English commanders, documents the event in his journal Newes from America :. Down fell men, women, and children.

Those that 'scaped us, fell into the hands of the Indians that were in the rear of us. Not above five of them 'scaped out of our hands. Our Indians came us and greatly admired the manner of Englishmen's fight, but cried "Mach it, mach it! On September 21, , the colonists signed the Treaty of Hartford , officially ending the Pequot War. It outlawed the name Pequot, forbad the Pequot from regrouping, and required that other Indians in the region submit all their intertribal grievances to the English and abide by their decisions.

Gradually, with the help of sympathetic English leaders, the Pequot were able to re-establish their identity, but as separate tribes in separate communities: the Mashantucket Western Pequots and the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots, the first Indian reservations in America. As a result of the Pequot War, Pequot control of the Mystic area ended and English settlements increased in the area.

By the s, Connecticut Colony began to grant land to the Pequot War veterans. John Winthrop the Younger , the son of the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was among those to receive property, much of which was in southeastern Connecticut.

Settlement grew slowly. With the removal of the Pequots, the Narragansetts, led by Miantonomo, claimed some of the former Pequot territory, which had been held by the Mohegans. Tensions increased between the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes, and war broke out between them, resulting in Miantonomo's death and the Mohegans' victory.

The Connecticut government and Massachusetts Bay government began to quarrel over boundaries, thus causing some conflicting claims concerning governmental authority between the Mystic River and the Pawcatuck River. In the s and s, "Connecticut" referred to settlements located along the Connecticut River, as well as its claims in other parts of the region.

Massachusetts Bay, however, claimed to have authority over Stonington and even into what is now Rhode Island. Connecticut did not have a royal charter that separated it from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; the Connecticut General Court was formed by leaders of the settlements.

The General Court claimed rule of the area by right of conquest, but the Massachusetts Bay Colony saw matters differently. The Bay Colony had contributed to the war by sending a militia under captains John Underhill and Thomas Stoughton, which would enable them territorial rights.

This would have made John Winthrop Jr. With conflicting views, both colonies turned to the United Colonies of New England to resolve the dispute.

The United Colonies of New England was formed in , established to settle disputes such as this one. It was voted to create the boundary between the claims of the Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut at the Thames River. As a result, Connecticut would be positioned west of the river, and Massachusetts Bay could have the land to the east, including the Mystic River. Throughout the next decade, colonists were beginning to settle around the Mystic River.

John Mason, one of the captains who led the colonists against the Pequots, had previously been granted acres 2 km 2 on the eastern banks of the Mystic River. He also received the island that now bears his name, though he never lived on the property.

In , John Gallup, Jr. Both Mr. Burrows and Mr. Denison farmed, first clearing their land and using the lumber as a cash crop; then grazing livestock; and finally planting crops. Other early families were Williamses on Quoketaug Hill in what is now Old Mystic; Gallups and Masons on the east side of the river; Packers and Fishes on the west side. The area continued in this rural vein until after the War of When the first Mystic Bridge was installed in , the west side of the river near the bridge several miles south of Old Mystic was called Portersville no one knows why.

The east side at this point on the river became known as Mystic Bridge when the first drawbridge was built ca. Shortly thereafter, ca. Mystic River and Mystic Bridge continued as they were until ca.