Contemporary English Accounts of the Pequot War
Below are four accounts of the 1637 Pequot War and its aftermath by people who either participated in the war, or received their information directly from participants. Although they present the English perspective, they provide critical context.
Preceding the 17th-century-primary-source-accounts are two recent articles/chapters from books by State Historian Walter W. Woodward which provide recent research on: 1) the effects of the Pequot/Wangunk attack on Wethersfield in April, 1637, which led to Connecticut’s declaration of war, and the complicated Anglo/indigenous relations in the years immediately after the war.
Walter W. Woodward, “Which Man’s Land? Conflict and Competition in Pequot Country”
Wethersfield’s War: Hunger, Rumor, and the Cost of Battles Not Fought
Walter W. Woodward, “Wethersfield’s War: Hunger, Rumor, and the Cost of Battles Not Fought,” from Creating Connecticut, Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State (Globe Pequot Press, 2020).
Primary Source Accounts of the Pequot War
John Mason, “A Brief History of the Pequot War”
Lion Gardiner, Relation if the Pequot Warres
John Underhill, News From New England
Philip Vincent, A True Relation of the Late Battell Fought in New England
