10 Days - Paper

10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America Summary: Massacre at Mystic The Massacre at Mystic took place on May 26, 1637; it was an attack from the English Puritans who arrived with Jonathan Winthrop in 1630 against the Pequot Indian tribe. Right from the start the puritans believed the natives to be ignorant savages. They came to the new world with a closed mind, believing God wanted the puritans to defeat the “savages” or convert them to their Christian faith. They arrived in Massachusetts with all of the workers, and tools they would need to start a war against the natives. Pequots were a superior Native American tribe. There were nearly thirteen thousand by the fifteenth century, and took up most of the space between Connecticut and Rhode Island. By 1637 Pequot Indians created strong hilltop villages including one in Mystic. They were strong, brave, and warlike; they organized trade throughout the region, they also came up with new forms of money. The massacre at mystic was in response to many years of hatred towards the Pequot. The Pequot would be accused of crimes and punished for them; the Englishmen would try to attack before but never succeeded. So one month after the Pequot brutally murdered a handful of Puritans. So Major John Mason was accompanied by John Underhill; on the night of May 26, 1637 Underhill went to the south entrance of the village to attack, while Mason went to the North entrance and attacked. Very few English soldiers were injured. Mason then saw that most of the Pequots were inside the wigwams, and decided to burn the village. Then Underhill torched his side of the village and by the end of the night the village and its people were burned to the ground. Mystic was ruined. Once the news of what the colonists did to the Pequot had spread- the other Indians revolted. Realizing this could happen again, but this time to one of their tribes. I understand why this event is considered to have changed America. After they murdered all