by Jill Lepore
1651 Sassamon becomes a schoolmaster at Natick.
1653 Sassamon attends Harvard College.
1654 Eliot publishes his first book in Massachusett.
1655 The Indian College is built at Harvard.
1658 Eliot imports press, fonts, and a pressman.
1659 James Printer begins an apprenticeship at the Cambridge Press.
1662 Massasoit dies; Alexander succeeds him.
Sassamon begins working for Alexander.
Alexander dies.
Philip assumes the sachemship and Sassamon begins working for him.
1663 The first edition of the complete Massachusett Bible is printed at Cambridge.
1664 Eliot reports that Sassamon is teaching Philip to read.
Sassamon continues to serve Philip as scribe and translator.
1671 Philip is reported arming for war but is subdued.
Eliot orders Sassamon to attempt to convert Philip.
1673 Sassamon is deeded land in Namasket, where he becomes minister.
1675 Sassamon is killed; war breaks out.
Soon after John Sassamon left Cambridge, a special Indian College was opened at Harvard. Although a college specifically for Indians had been proposed as early as 1635, no concrete arrangements were made until 1651, when Harvard president Henry Dunster began soliciting funds for the Indian College to be built. It was finally erected in 1655. Yet, of the four other Indians who attended Harvard in the seventeenth century, all that we really know is that three fell victim to the fatal consequences of extended contact with the English: one died of consumption, one died of unknown causes, and one was killed by other Indians.55 As Daniel Gookin, superintendent of the Indians in Massachusetts explained, many colonists attributed the deaths of “these Indian scholars” “to the great change upon their bodies, in respect of their diet, lodging, apparel, studies; so much different from what they were inured to among their own countreymen.”56 While Sassamon’s academic career at Harvard remains a mystery, surely his survival alone must be counted a success.
Despite surviving Harvard, John Sassamon may have fallen from Eliot’s favor in 1654. As part of his plan for Christian Indians’ full participation in the Puritan religious community, Eliot had scheduled a day of examination for members of the Natick church. Unhappily for Eliot, about ten days before the examination, three Natick Indians became drunk and, to make matters worse, forced liquor on the young son of a more pious Natick resident. Eliot lost heart, “For one of the offendors (though least in the offence) was he that hath been my Interpreter, whom I have used in Translating a good part of the Holy Scriptures; and in that respect I saw much of Satans venome, and in God I saw displeasure.”57 If he committed these shameful sins and acts of apostasy, Sassamon would have sorely disappointed Eliot.58
Meanwhile, Eliot’s missionary work continued. Beginning in 1647 he had been involved in the publication of a set of promotional pamphlets printed in London and designed to solicit funds for the propagation of the gospel in New England. Almost immediately he began funneling these funds into printing supplies. While the first books in the Indian Library had been printed on the colony’s only press at Cambridge, the press was inadequate for the great works Eliot planned. In 1658 he arranged for the purchase of a new printing press and extra trays of fonts to refresh a supply of worn type (and possibly to accommodate, ms, and ws of the Massachusett language). He also sent for a typographer from England, Marmaduke Johnson, and in 1659 a former student of Eliot’s joined the press as Johnson’s apprentice.59 (As Eliot wrote, “we have but one man, viz. the Indian Printer, that is able to compose the sheets, and correct the press with understanding.” By virtue of his employment, this Indian apprentice soon became known as James Printer.60) By 1663 Eliot, having been aided by former schoolmasters Job Nesutan and John Sassamon as translators and by James Printer as typesetter, had produced two editions of an Indian primer, two books of psalms, and the entire Bible—the first Bible printed in North America. In coming years he would also translate works of devotion popular in England, including Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted and Bayly’s Practice of Piety. In 1669, in his Indian Primer, Eliot was able to recommend a sequential program of study:
Wa-an-tam-we us-seonk ogke
-tam-un-at. Cate-chi-sa-onk.
Ne-gon-ne og-kee-tash Primer.
Na-hoh-to-eu og-kee-tash
Ai-us-koi-an-tam-oe weh-kom-a-onk
Ne-it og-kee-tash Bible.61
[Wise doing to read Catechism
first, next read Primer. Next
read Repentance Calling next read Bible.]
The labor behind the Indian Library was phenomenal, and the output of the Cambridge Press unparalleled. (The paper used to print two editions of the complete Bible was more than the total amount of paper used at the Cambridge Press since its beginning in 1639. Each of the instructional and devotional books in the Indian Library was printed in huge print runs, resulting in more copies than, on the face of things, seems necessary: all told, one Bible was printed for every 2.5 Christian Indians.62 Today, precious few copies of any of these works survive (and most of those that do can be traced to English, not Indian owners), a situation that has puzzled historians and bibliographers alike. The mystery of the surplus Indian Bibles is made all the more intriguing when it becomes clear that the vast majority of Christian Indians were likely not as literate as Eliot wanted his benefactors in England to believe. While Eliot boasted that “we have schools; many can read, some write, sundry able to exercise in publick,” he may well have exaggerated.63 A survey conducted in 1674 revealed rather low literacy rates for Indians living in praying towns in Plymouth Colony, where Richard Bourne served as missionary. Of 497 converted Indians, 142 (29%) could read the Massachusett language, 72 (14%) could write, and 9 (2%) could read English.65 (These numbers are decidedly lower than literacy rates among New England’s colonists; in 1660, about 60% of English men and 30% of English women in New England seem to have been literate.66) Unfortunately, no data exist for native literacy rates in Massachusetts Bay, where Eliot himself preached. Rates there must have been higher than in Plymouth, but probably not by much.
The Massachusett Bible printed in Cambridge in 1663. Courtesy of the Houghton Library, Harvard University
A CENSUS OF CHRISTIAN INDIAN TOWNS IN 167464
While these literacy rates only further complicate the question of why Eliot printed so many Indian Bibles (and why so few survive), they do clarify another matter: they suggest that John Sassamon, who could speak, read, and write both the Massachusett and the English language, was undoubtedly among the elite of Christian Indians, especially in the 1650s twenty years before this survey was taken, when the number of literate Indians was smaller. Yet, just as Eliot ushered in his biggest success, the completion of the printing of the Indian Bible, John Sassamon left him. In 1662, a year that marked a dramatic turning point in Indian-colonial relations in southeastern New England, John Sassamon seems to have switched sides. That year the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit died and his eldest son, Alexander, succeeded him. While Massasoit’s fidelity to the English had been reasonably well assured, the colonial authorities were unsure of the loyalty of Alexander, alias Wamsutta, and his younger brother Philip, alias Metacom. Now, during this critical transition in power, John Sassamon appeared on the scene. On a land deed between Alexander and the town of Providence from March 1662, John Sassamon signed as a witness. Since Alexander signed with a mark, Sassamon probably also served as Alexander’s scribe and translator.67 Soon after this land deal, Alexander died under suspicious circumstances (some Wampanoags believed the English had poisoned him), and Philip assumed the sachemship.68Later that same year Sassamon set his signature down as witness to Philip’s oath of loyalty to the English.69 Perhaps Sassamon had a falling out with Eliot. William Hubbard claimed that Sassamon had “upon some Misdemeanour fled from his Place [at Natick] to Philip, by whom he was entertained in the Room and Office of Secretary, and his Chief Councellor.”7
0 Whether as scribe, interpreter, secretary, counselor, or some combination thereof, Sassamon assumed a role of considerable importance to Philip because in 1664, 1665, and 1666 Sassamon’s name appeared again and again as witness in Philip’s land transactions.71 Cotton Mather would later report that Sassamon “apostatiz[ed] from the profession of Christianity, [and] lived like an heathen in the quality of a Secretary to King Philip; for he could write, though the King his master could not so much as read.”72
In other words, the same skills that had made Sassamon valuable to Eliot now made him almost indispensable to Philip: the ability to speak, read, and write both English and Massachusett. But, while Sassamon used his literacy skills as a tool in acquiring status and prestige in the Indian community, it is difficult to know if Sassamon’s work for Philip at this time represents a genuine change of heart or whether he was essentially acting as a spy for the English (attempting to evaluate Philip’s loyalty) or as a missionary for Eliot (infiltrating Philip’s counsel in order to convert him). That Eliot wanted passionately to convert Philip is clear. Most missionaries believed that “when a sachem or sagamore is converted to the faith, and yields himself up to embrace the gospel, it hath a great influence upon his subjects.”73 Philip, however, apparently had no desire to be converted. An anecdote recorded by Cotton Mather told of Philip taking a button off John Eliot’s coat and declaring defiantly “that he cared for his gospel, just as much as he cared for that button.”74Nonetheless, Eliot at one point rejoiced over an indication that Philip was finally succumbing. In 1664, at the very time when Sassamon was working closely with Philip as a scribe and witness to treaties, Eliot asked the commissioners of the United Colonies “to give incouragmt to John Sosaman, who teacheth Phillip and his men to read.” Eliot claimed that Philip “did this winter past, upon solicitations and means used, send to me for books to learne to read, in order to praying unto God, which I did send unto him, and presents with all.” Sassamon, Eliot believed, was “a means to put life into the work.”75
Apparently neither Sassamon’s work nor the books Eliot sent were successful in converting Philip, because seven years later Eliot made the same attempt all over again, sending even more Indian missionaries to visit Philip at a time when tensions between Philip and Plymouth were high and war was rumored. In March 1671, after Philip’s men marched through Swansea displaying their weapons, Plymouth called Philip to court, where he admitted he was preparing for war. On April 10 at Taunton, Philip signed a treaty in which he agreed to turn his arms over to Plymouth. The crisis was not well resolved, however, and in the coming months Massachusetts authorities attempted to arbitrate. In September 1671 Philip, encouraged by John Eliot, traveled to Boston to solicit support in his conflict with Plymouth. Failing to find it (and instead finding himself facing the wrath of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth), he opted instead to sign yet another treaty with Plymouth, agreeing to pay £100 in fines over three years.76
The events of 1671 were, in effect, a dress rehearsal for the events of 1675—except that in 1671 Philip backed down. John Sassamon played a critical role in both conflicts, serving as both messenger and missionary. At the height of the 1671 conflict, in August, the Natick church sent Anthony and William Nahauton to preach to the Wampanoags at Plymouth and requested “John Sausiman to join them.”77 (This, of course, was the same William Nahauton whose testimony would later become so pivotal at the trial of Sassamon’s alleged murderers.) Philip was apparently not pleased to see Sassamon and had come to consider him untrustworthy. In September Massachusetts emissaries sent to Mount Hope found that Philip “exclaimed much against Sausiman” for giving him false information (about the whereabouts of several Narragansett sachems, who were, at this time, enemies of the Wampanoags).78
Perhaps enraged with Sassamon for his seeming duplicity in 1671, Philip may well have blamed Sassamon for his troubles with the English; meanwhile, since Philip was not converted, Eliot may have blamed Sassamon for this failure. Later in 1671 Eliot published a tract called Indian Dialogues, a set of conversion conversations he claimed were “partly historical, of some things that were done and said, and partly instructive, to show what might or should have been said, or that may be (by the Lord’s assistance) hereafter done and said.” In one lengthy, imaginary dialogue, two barely fictionalized Praying Indians, “Anthony” and “William Abahton,” speak with “Philip Keitasscot,” sachem of “Paganoehket.” That Eliot left Sassamon out of his Indian Dialogues suggests either that Sassamon left the company of Anthony and William Nahauton and never made it to Plymouth to preach to Philip, or that Eliot considered Sassamon’s contributions unworthy.
Indian Dialogues, however, remains interesting, if only for how much it reveals about Eliot’s frantic desire to convert Philip. In one scene “Philip” expresses his “serious thoughts of accepting the offer, and turning to God, to become a praying Indian,” but is concerned about whether his conversion would mean a diminishment of his authority as a sachem. The eloquent and persuasive Indian missionaries assuage his every fear and soon a very humbled “Philip” confesses, “I am drowned and overwhelmed with the weight of your reasonings.” Much of the dialogue concerns the goodness of the Bible, to which “Philip” meekly and gratefully responds, “Your discourse doth breed in my heart an admiration at that excellent book.” Again and again, “Philip’s” objections to conversion are defeated by the wisdom of Anthony and William: “Who can oppose or gainsay the mountainous weight of these arguments?” a helpless “Philip” asks. Finally deferring to the missionaries’ superior knowledge, he proclaims, “I am more than satisfied. I am ashamed of my ignorance, and I abhor myself that ever I doubted.”79
Yet, in spite of the shipment of books, the visits by William and Anthony Nahauton, and Eliot’s richly detailed fantasies, neither Sassamon nor Eliot nor any other missionary ever converted Philip to Christianity. But the missionary work continued. During the early 1670s Eliot continued to expand the Indian Library, while Sassamon apparently left Philip’s employ to return to the Christian fold (or was told by Eliot to give up trying to convert Philip), and became minister in the praying town of Namasket. In 1673 he was given a tract of land to induce him to stay, and the same year he deeded this land to his daughter Betty and her husband, Felix.80 Two years later Sassamon was either working for Philip or spying on him when he found out about Philip’s plans to attack the English and nervously confided them to the governor of Plymouth. Just four years after Eliot published his fictional dialogues, Philip, instead of peaceably and humbly converting to Christianity, waged war against the English settlers.
IV
WE HAVE COME full circle and arrived once more at icy Assawompset Pond. Here we must ask yet again: Why was John Sassamon murdered? Was he killed simply because he betrayed Philip’s plans to the English? Remember, Increase Mather was convinced that “No doubt but one reason why the Indians murthered John Sausaman, was out of hatred against him for his Religion, for he was Christianized, and baptiz’d, and was a Preacher amongst the Indians, being of very excellent parts, he translated some part of the bible into the Indian language, and was wont to curb those Indians that knew not God on the account of their debaucheryes.” Daniel Gookin agreed, claiming that “this John Sasamand was the first Christian martyr of the Indians; for it is evident he suffered death upon the account of his Christian profession, and fidelity to the English.” And Nathaniel Saltonstall argued that Philip’s men killed Sassamon because they didn’t wish to be converted. According to Saltonstall, Sassamon “was by the Authority of New-Plimouth sent to Preach … to King Philip, and his Indians: But King Philip (Heathen-like) instead of receiving the gospel, would immediately have killed this Sosomon, but by the Perswasion of some about him did not do it, but sent him by the Hands of three of his Men to Prison.” On the way to “prison,” Sassamon preached to his three captors, who, “not liking his Discourse, immediately Murthered him after a most Barbarous Manner” and returned to tell Philip of their deed.81
This last explanation provides perhaps the most unequivocal instance of Sassamon’s exploitation of his literacy. Pretending to write down what Philip dictated, Sassamon instead substituted his own words and then, when asked to read the document aloud, read as though he had written what Philip requested. No “will” of Philip’s exists, but Sassamon did serve as scribe and witness for important land deeds in 1666 and 1668 in which Philip authorized certain lands to be sold. (Philip may have even drawn the map on the 1668 deed, in which he declared, “I Phillip ame willing to sell the Land within this draught,” but it was probably Sassamon who “set downe all the principall names of the land wee are not willing should be sold,” and he may not have followed Philip’s orders.) This was the power that Sassamon wielded, “for he could write, though the King his master could not so much as read.”84 While it may or may not be true, this particular story about the writing of the will, told to Easton by a group of Wampanoag Indians, suggests that it had special significance for them. To the Wampanoags, at least, Sassamon’s literacy was mysterious, potent, and dangerous. And it marked him as a man who could not be trusted.