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Uncas
First of the Mohegans
Michael Leroy Oberg
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
ITHACA AND LONDON
Copyright © 2003 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a
review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be
reproduced in any form without permission in writ
ing from the publisher. For information, address
Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State
Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2003 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oberg, Michael Leroy.
Uncas : first of the Mohegans / Michael Leroy Oberg,
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8014-3877-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Uncas, Chief of the Mohegans, d. 1684.
2. Mohegan Indians—Biography. 3. Mohegan
Indians—History. 4. Connecticut—History—
Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775. I. Title: First of the
Mohegans. II. Title.
E99.M83 U536 2003
974.6'02'092—dc2i
2002015646
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Contents
Preface vii
Introduction: Uncas in Myth and Memory i
i. World in Balance 15
2. The Mohegans’ New World 34
3. The Rise of the Mohegans 63
4. Killing Miantonomi 87
5. To Have Revenge on Uncas 110
6. Amongst the English 139
7. Uncas, the Mohegans, and King Philip’s War 171
Conclusion: Uncas’s Legacy 204
Abbreviations Used in Notes 217
Notes 219
Index 259
v
Preface
Uncas, the Mohegan Indian sachem who flourished in seventeenth
century Connecticut, led his people through the tremendous changes
produced by the coming of the Europeans and forged a regional
power in colonial New England. Employing diplomacy, rumor, the
threat of violance, and war, Uncas was tremendously successful in
dealing with a great variety of Native New Englanders and English
colonists. By examining his Ufe and the world in which he lived, this
book aims to broaden our understanding of Native American history,
American colonial history, and the many ties that bind these impor
tant stories together.
Writing the biography of an American Indian leader is fundamen
tally a difficult task, especially when that leader was born over four
hundred years ago. The evidence is ambiguous and, at times, difficult
to decipher. Almost all of it is second-hand, in that Uncas's words and
deeds come to us translated by English observers who did not always
understand the language and culture of their native neighbors. Even
with attention to archaeological research and oral tradition, impor
tant ethnohistorical sources, one still must rely on evidence that
raises all sorts of interpretive challenges: the problems of bias, per
ception, and incompleteness that historians and ethnohistorians
have long confronted in their attempts to reconstruct the early Amer
ican past. That Uncas is a historical figure about whom generations
of New Englanders have had strong feelings, and whose life has
taken on mythic proportions, makes writing his life history all the
more challenging. What observers of his life knew, and what they
wanted to believe, often are difficult to distinguish. My goal has been
to tell a good story based upon the extant sources. In places, gaps in
the evidence have forced me to make certain interpretive leaps of
viz
Preface
faith, and as a result not everyone will agree with the interpretation
of Uncas’s life and career that appears in these pages. I am comfort
able with that. But I hope that all who read this book will share my
appreciation of the significant role Uncas and other Native American
leaders played in the history of colonial North America.
I did not confront the challenges of this project alone. A great many
friends and colleagues have generously given support and assis
tance. In the department of history at SUNY-Geneseo, Tzi-ki Hon
read the entire manuscript, taking time from his own research to give
me advice. David Tamarin and my fellow American historians in the
department, Carol Faulkner and Kathy Mapes, read and commented
upon portions of the manuscript. Jim Williams has been a supportive
department chair. I have been talking with Stephen Saunders Webb
about this project for over eight years now, and I am grateful to him
for taking the time to read the manuscript, and for allowing me to try
out early versions of several chapters with the students in his gradu
ate seminar in early American history at Syracuse University. The
members of the Rochester U.S. Historians’ Group strengthened the
second chapter with their criticism, and I thank audiences at SUNY-
Geneseo and SUNY-Brockport for commenting on early versions of
the introduction. Peter Mancall, Alden T. Vaughan, and Pat Cleary
all read the manuscript. Wendy St. Jean was always willing to share
with me her own research on the Mohegans, and Francis Bremer of
Millersville University and the Winthrop Papers project helped track
down crucial citations at the last moment. At Cornell University
Press, Sheri Englund, Karen Laun, and Kay Scheuer have done a won
derful job of seeing the manuscript through to publication.
Harriet Sleggs runs an outstanding interlibrary loan department
in Milne Library at SUNY-Geneseo. Librarians and archivists at the
Connecticut State Library, the Huntington Library, and at the Massa
chusetts State Archives all helped in the search for source material. I
am grateful as well to the staff at the Huntington for granting me a
Michael J. Connell Foundation Fellowship in the summer of 1999,
which allowed me to complete much of the research. Additional sup
port for travel to archives and libraries in southern New England was
provided by a Geneseo Presidential Summer Fellowship and smaller
grants from the Geneseo Foundation.
Finally, I thank my family. Leticia Ontiveros willingly allowed me
viii
Preface
to skulk off to the University of Rochester Library to work on “the Un-
cas thing." My two younger children, Adam and Eliana, could not care
less about Indian leaders in seventeenth-century New England, but
they have made my life much richer by their presence. And last, I
need to thank my oldest son, Nathan, who listened to all I had to say
about Uncas and who wants to write his own books someday.
