TWO INDIAN WARRIORS


The two Indian chiefs of whom we hear most in the early history
of Connecticut were Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, and Miantonomo,
sachem of the Narragansetts. A great Indian battle called the
"Battle of the Plain" took place once, near Norwich, between these
rival tribes led by these two rival chieftains.

The Mohegans were a part of the Pequot tribe, and the Pequots, or
"Gray Foxes," were the fiercest, most cruel, and warlike of all
the Indians who roamed through the forests of Connecticut before
the English came. The white settlers soon had trouble with them,
and when the Pequot War, which was a war between the settlers and
the Indians, began, in 1637, Uncas came with some of his Mohegan
warriors and offered to guide the English troops through the
woods to the Pequot fort.

Now Uncas was himself a Pequot by birth and belonged to the royal
family, and it seems strange that he should not take part with
his own people. But not long before this he had rebelled against
the chief sachem, Sassacus, and had tried to make himself
independent. "He grew proud and treacherous to the Pequot
sachem," says the old chronicle, "and the Pequot sachem was very
angry and sent up some soldiers and drove him out of his
country." Afterward, when "he humbled himself to the Pequot