1629 - 1634
Rumors of an Indian conspiracy to expel the
fledgling colony rise periodically. The Massachusett are beginning to recoup
their numbers decimated in the Great Sickness but are still too few to pose a
serious threat. The southern New England tribes – Wampanoag, Narragansett and
Pequot – have thousands of warriors. Besides enforcing a ban on the sale of
arms to Indians, Boston colonists form a militia company commanded by master
gunner John Underhill. Nat Steele serves as Captain Underhill’s
second-in-command. Adam Trane and Jacques Petit enroll as scouts and
interpreters.
In winter 1633/34, any immediate threat from the
Indians vanishes when a smallpox epidemic sweeps through their ranks. One of
the first victims is fifty-seven-year-old Chitanawoo, last sachem of the Shawmut,
who survived the horrors of the Great Sickness. A week later, Chickataubut dies
at his village in Blue Hills. Only two English families are affected by the
epidemic that spreads to the Wampanoag and Narragansett, until now mercifully
spared from European diseases.
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| New England Indigenous People |
No person shows greater solicitude toward the
Indians than a gray-haired Englishwoman who enters the wigwams on Boston
Common, separating the living from the dead and carrying them into the open.
Agnes Steele selflessly devotes herself to caring
for victims of the epidemic. She enlists the help of Recompense West, the pair
working at the Indian camp on the Common and crossing the Neck to Blue Hills,
where two-thirds of Chickataubut’s band is wiped out. – A stricken Jacques
Petit owes his survival to the help he gets from Agnes.
Thomas sees the hand of God raised against the
devil in New England. It disturbs him to witness his mother nursing the natives with a notorious sinner at her side, but he keeps silent. Nat is personally
involved with Samuel Maverick in aiding native groups north of the Charles.
At Blue Hills, the survivors of the Massachusett
greet Agnes Steele as a manitou of mercy. As is custom among their
people, they honor the Englishwoman with a praise name. “Chitanawoo,” they call
Agnes, not only in memory of their beloved tribeswoman, but a fitting tribute
to one they see as equally Strong-and-Bold.
When the epidemic passes, Agnes visits the Frog
Pond on Boston Common, walking beside the shimmering pool. She is not alone,
sensing the presence of Chitanawoo, whose spirit will live forever at
Sha-um-ut. Once on a moonlit night, Agnes catches sight, too, of Oshuam, Old
Dog, waiting patiently for his young master.
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