By Anne Jennison

Adapted from NH Historical Marker Application from the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective 

For several decades after the arrival of the first English colonists in Massachusetts in 1620, the Wampanoag sachem (leader), Massasoit, maintained peace with the English through diplomacy.¹ After Massasoit passed away in 1661, his son Pometacomet, known to the English as “King Philip,” was chosen as the next Wampanoag sachem.² Through the years since their first arrival, the English population continued to grow through immigration and natural increase, creating an English demand for more and more land to support their population.³  Increasing tensions and occasional skirmishes between the English and the Wampanoag accompanied the demand for more English-owned land. As a result, King Philip’s War broke out between the English and the Wampanoag peoples in 1675. 

At the same time, the first English settlement was established in New Hampshire in 1623. Pennacook sachem Passaconaway, like Massasoit, pursued a path of peace and diplomacy with the English.⁴ However, when King Philip’s War began, the English leaders in Boston accused the Pennacook people, and other tribes in their Wabanaki Confederacy to the north, of allying with Pometacomet and the Wampanoag tribe against the English.⁵  English colonists in New Hampshire sought assurances from the Pennacook that they would remain peaceful and not become embroiled in the warfare that was raging just to the south of them in Massachusetts.⁶ 

In June 1676 the Pennacook, then led by Passaconaway’s son Wannalancet, were invited to Cocheco to engage in negotiations to assure that the Pennacook would remain neutral in King Philip’s War and sign a non-aggression treaty with the English. Wannalancet and the Pennacook remained in Cocheco for about a month while these negotiations were in progress.^{7 8 9}  With Wannalancet as the principal signer for the Pennacook, the Treaty of Cocheco was signed on July 3, 1676.¹⁰ 

Only two months later, suspecting that there were refugee warriors of King Philip’s War being harbored by Wannalancet and the Pennacooks, Maj. Richard Waldron received orders from the Massachusetts General Court telling him to assist in the capture of the refugees from among the Pennacook.¹¹ Accordingly, Waldron invited Wannalancet and the Pennacook to come back once again to Cocheco.¹² On September 6, 1676, Waldron exhibited apparent hospitality^{13 14} by first offering the Pennacook a meal, leading them to believe Waldron was following the accepted way of receiving guests. Afterward Waldron urged the Pennacook to play war games, that Waldron referred to as a “sham battle,”¹⁵ with the two militia who happened to be there.¹⁶ 

The Pennacook were allowed to fire the first volley. However, as soon as they discharged their muskets, the Pennacook were immediately surrounded by the English militia and captured. Some historians, such as Jeremy Belknap and John Scales, report that 400 Pennacook were captured and that after separating Wannalancet and the friendly Pennacook from the entire group of Indigenous people who were present that day, only the refugee warriors from King Philip’s War–200 in all–were arrested and taken to Boston.^{17 18} However, Richard Waldron himself, contradicts that notion. In his written report¹⁹ to the Massachusetts General Court dated Sept. 6, 1676, Waldron related that: 

This day I drew up the Indians at Cocheco upon the open Ground before my house . . . upon assembled I made them eat & drink, & then surrounded them with the Army & calling the chief Sagamores into the Center I told them what must be done – only that the Innocent should not be damnified, they surrendered their Armes, 20 in Number. We have taken 80 fighting Men & 20 old men, & 250. Women & children 350 in all. 

By Richard Waldron’s own testimony in his letter to Boston, he held back about 10 “friendly”²⁰ Pennacook (and their families) to act as allies. Nevertheless, he recorded clearly that the English captured 350 Pennacook, comprising 100 men and 250 women and children, who were then imprisoned in Boston.²¹ Eight men who were believed to have killed an English person were executed.²² The 342 remaining Pennacook were sold into slavery.²³ Despite release requests,²⁴ those Pennacook prisoners never came home, leaving their remaining family members, many of who had not been at present at Cocheco, experiencing grief for the loss of their kin and harboring anger against the English, especially Waldron, for his treachery and what they also perceived as his deceit used in capturing the Pennacooks at Cocheco.²⁵ 

Although there were occasional ongoing acts of violence and retribution^{26 27} between the English and the Pennacook for the decade following the end of King Philip’s War, there was no overt outward sign of the bitterness held by the relatives of the stolen Pennacook. It appeared that the Pennacook made their amends with Waldron, as they continued to trade with him. There were no hints of the retribution to come unless one wishes to speculate about seemingly random events, such as this note recorded in the Journal of Rev. John Pike of Dover, “Jan. 3 [1682-3] Col. Waldron’s mills burnt down in a very rainy night.”²⁸ Be that as it may, it appears that the Pennacook bided their time before exacting revenge. 

King William’s War (1688-1697) created the circumstances that gave rise to the Pennacook raid on the Cocheco settlement (now known as Dover, NH) that happened on June 27 and 28, 1689. What the English colonial Euro-centric historical accounts^{29 30} report is that the night before the raid several Pennacook women who were very well known to the English colonists at Cocheco, divided up and went–with a coordinated strategy–to each of the garrison houses to ask to stay 

the night. But on June 27, 1689, all of the palisade fencing and fortified walls of the Cocheco garrisons could not protect the English colonists from surprise attack by the Pennacook warriors led by Kancamagus (the nephew of Passaconaway). The Pennacook women who had sought shelter in each of the garrisons waited until everyone was asleep, then unbarred the unguarded palisade gates from the inside to allow their men to attack.³¹ This is how the story has been told in first English colonial and later American accounts of this event for more than 330 years. It is portrayed as a seemingly unprovoked betrayal and attack by the “wild” and “savage”^{32 33 34} Pennacook who apparently – and “without cause”³⁵ – turned on their English friends. However, once the Pennacook captured their main target, Richard Waldron, they tortured and killed him in a way that revealed pent up anger and the need for retribution. As Waldron sat tied to a chair, having already had his skull bashed in, the Pennacooks asked him, “Who shall judge Indians now?”³⁶ Then each of the Pennacook warriors sliced a cut Waldron across his chest, saying “I cross out my account”³⁷ before they finished torturing and killing him and then burning his house down.³⁸ 

For over 330 years these events have been interpreted by the English colonists and their descendants as proof of the brutality and savagery of New Hampshire’s Pennacook peoples. However, from the Pennacook’s perspective, this manner of dealing Waldron his death clearly was the venting of long held anger, a balancing of accounts larger than those accounts of the financial transactions kept in Waldron’s trading post records. This is not a pretty story, but it is a true story that reveals the Pennacook in wartime as people not any more or less savage than the English colonists of 1689. However it also reveals the Pennacook as human beings with feelings and with families that they loved and grieved over as surely as did the English colonists felt for their own loved ones. 

Footnotes:
¹ Dorn, Nathan. 2017. “The Treaty That Saved Plymouth Colony.” In Custodia Legis, Library of Congress. <<https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/03/the-treaty-that-made-thanksgiving/>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022.
²Ibid. 
³ Norton, Susan L. 1971. “Population Growth in Colonial America: A Study of Ipswich, Massachusetts.” Population Studies 25(3):433-452. <<https://www.jstor.org/stable/2173077.>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022
⁴ New England Historical Society. 2021. “The Peace Policy of Passaconaway and the Founding of New England.” Politics and Military blog. <<https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/passaconaway-peace-policy.>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 
⁵Ibid. Passaconaway died in the early 1660s, sometime between 1661 and 1665, according to several sources each naming a different year, but all agreeing that Passaconaway was succeeded as sachem of the Pennacook by his son Wannalancet. 
⁶ Lesser, Mishy. 2022. “Bounty” Teacher’s Guide. The Upstander Project. p. 70. 
<<https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1bnjp31pb8lgrf/Bounty_Teachers_Guide_Apr_2022.pdf?dl=0>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 
⁷ Brooks, Lisa. 2019. Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War. Yale University Press.
⁸ Laforge, Allyson; Lauren Tuiskula, and Lisa Brooks. 2019. “Captivity at Cocheco.” Our Beloved Kin: Remapping a New History of King Philip’s War website. <<https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/cocheco.>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 
⁹ Treaty at Cocheco, July 3, 1676. Collections of the Massachusetts State Archives, Vol. 30, document 206b. 
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Bouton, Nathaniel. 1868. Provincial Papers: Documents and Records Relating to the Province of New Hampshire from 1686 to 1722. Volume II. Manchester: John B. Clarke, State Printer. 
¹² Ibid. 
¹³ LaForge et al., Op. cit. 
¹⁴ Bouton, Op. cit. 
¹⁵ Ibid. 
¹⁶ Ibid. 
¹⁷ Scales, John. 1923. History of Dover, New Hampshire. J.B. Clarke Co. 
¹⁸ Belknap, Jeremy. 1792. The History of New Hampshire. Boston. 
¹⁹ Waldron, Richard. 1676. “Letter to the Massachusetts Governor & Council, September 6, 1676.” Original letter held by Maine Historical Society (Collection 77).
²⁰ Ibid.
²¹ Waldron, Richard. 1676. “Letter to Gov. Leverett, September 2, 1676.” Original letter held by Newberry Library, Chicago (AYER Mss 962). 
²² Holley, Nia; and Lauren Tuiskula. 2019. “Wind-mill Hill.” Our Beloved Kin: Remapping a New History of King Philip’s War website. <<https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/copps-hill-burying-ground?path=wabanaki-coast>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 
²³ Ibid.
²⁴ Ibid. 
²⁵ Lauber, Almon Wheeler. 1913. Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States. New York: Columbia University. On page 13, Lauber cites the following sources for his section on Cocheco: Belknap, The History of New Hampshire, i, pp. 143, 245; New Hampshire Provincial Papers, i, p. 357; Williamson, The History of the State of Maine, i, p. 539; Sylvester, op. cit., ii, pp. 339-340; Shurtleff, [footnote continues on p. 147] op. cit., v, p. 115. Hubbard and Mather barely mention this affair. Hubbard, op. cit., pt. ii, p. 28; Mather, Magnalia, bk. 7, ch. 6. Williamson states that the propriety of the event was a “subject which divided the whole community; some applauded, some doubted, some censured, but the government approved.” 
²⁶ Scales, Op. cit. 
²⁷ Belknap, Op. cit. 
²⁸ Quint, A. H. (ed.) 1876. Journal of Rev. John Pike, Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son. 
²⁹ Scales, Op. cit. 
³⁰ Belknap, Op. cit. 
³¹ Bouton, Op. cit.
³² Penhallow, Samuel. 1722. History of the Wars With the Eastern Indians. Boston. 
³³ Scales, Op. cit. 
³⁴ Belknap, Op. cit. 
³⁵ Bouton, Op. cit., p. 49. 
³⁶ Ibid. 
³⁷ Ibid. 
³⁸ Ibid. 

Bibliography 

Belknap, Jeremy 
1792. The History of New Hampshire. Boston. 

Bouton, Nathaniel 
1868. Provincial Papers: Documents and Records Relating to the Province of New Hampshire from 1686 to 1722. Volume II. Manchester: John B. Clarke, State Printer. 

Brooks, Lisa 
2019. Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War. Yale University Press. 

Dorn, Nathan 
2017. “The Treaty That Saved Plymouth Colony.” In Custodia Legis, Library of Congress. <<https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/03/the-treaty-that-made-thanksgiving/>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 

Holley, Nia; and Lauren Tuiskula 
2019. “Wind-mill Hill.” Our Beloved Kin: Remapping a New History of King Philip’s War website. <<https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/copps-hill-burying-ground?path=wabanaki-coast>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 

Laforge, Allyson; Lauren Tuiskula, and Lisa Brooks 
2019. “Captivity at Cocheco.” Our Beloved Kin: Remapping a New History of King Philip’s War website. <<https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/cocheco.>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 

Lauber, Almon Wheeler 
1913. Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States. New York: Columbia University. 

Lesser, Mishy.
2022. “Bounty” Teacher’s Guide. The Upstander Project. p. 70. 
<<https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1bnjp31pb8lgrf/Bounty_Teachers_Guide_Apr_2022.pdf?dl=0&gt; > Accessed 7/15/2022. 

New England Historical Society 
2021. “The Peace Policy of Passaconaway and the Founding of New England.” Politics and Military blog. <<https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/passaconaway-peace-policy.>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022. 

Norton, Susan L. 
1971. “Population Growth in Colonial America: A Study of Ipswich, Massachusetts.” Population Studies 25(3):433-452. <<https://www.jstor.org/stable/2173077.>&gt; Accessed 7/15/2022

Penhallow, Samuel 
1722. History of the Wars With the Eastern Indians. Boston. 

Quint, A. H. (ed.) 
1876. Journal of Rev. John Pike, Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Cambridge: Press of John Wilson & Son. 

Scales, John 
1923. History of Dover, New Hampshire. J.B. Clarke Co. 

Treaty at Cocheco, July 3, 1676. Collections of the Massachusetts State Archives, Vol. 30, document 206b. 

Waldron, Richard 
1676. “Letter to Gov. Leverett, September 2, 1676.” Original letter held by Newberry Library, Chicago (AYER Mss 962). 

Waldron, Richard 
1676. “Letter to the Massachusetts Governor & Council, September 6, 1676.” Original letter held by Maine Historical Society (Collection 77).