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<div class="timestamp"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/nyregion/connecticut/12pequotct.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mashantucket&st=cse&oref=slogin">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/nyregion/connecticut/12pequotct.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mashantucket&st=cse&oref=slogin</a><br>
<br>
October 12, 2008</div>
<div class="kicker"><nyt_kicker>History</nyt_kicker></div>
<h1><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" ">
A Move to Get Pequot Battle Sites Listed in National Register
</nyt_headline></h1>
<nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" ">
</nyt_byline>
<div class="byline">By JOE WOJTAS</div>
<nyt_text></nyt_text>
<p>MASHANTUCKET</p>
<p>JUST a short stroll from the modern-day shops and restaurants of
downtown Mystic, English settlers and their Indian allies attacked a
fort of Pequot Indians in June 1637 and then set it on fire, killing
500 men, women and children. Battles continued throughout the day as
Pequots from other villages counterattacked the English as they
retreated to the west.</p>
<p>That battle and others across <a linkindex="2"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/connecticut/index.html?inline=nyt-geo"
title="More news and information about Connecticut.">Connecticut</a>,
Rhode Island and New York marked some of the fiercest fighting in the
1636-38 Pequot War, a little-known conflict that allowed the English to
defeat the mighty Pequot and set the stage for how the emerging nation
would treat Indian tribes over the next three centuries.</p>
<p>Now, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in
Mashantucket and a host of other groups are trying to get the battle
sites included on the <a set="yes" linkindex="3"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_park_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org"
title="More articles about National Park Service, U.S.">National Park
Service</a>’s
list of national battlefields. They would be the oldest battlefields on
a list that includes well-known sites like Antietam from the Civil War.</p>
<p>“The Pequot War really set the stage for the subsequent
relationships the colonists had with native people,” said Kevin
McBride, the museum’s research director. “This was the first time
native people experienced total warfare and cultural genocide. The
English wanted to eliminate the Pequot as a force.”</p>
<p> Walter W. Woodward, the Connecticut State historian, said that
while Indian tribes in New England had engaged in violence against one
another, they had never encountered the type of warfare employed by the
English, who would wipe out entire villages. </p>
<p>“It’s a battle that reverberated through the next 250 years of
American history,” Mr. Woodward said. “It needs to be firmly placed in
the American consciousness.” </p>
<p> Mr. McBride and Mr. Woodward, along with Nicholas F. Bellantoni,
the state archaeologist, and various local and regional historical
societies, are using a $27,000 grant from the National Park Service to
begin documenting the boundaries of the battlefields and recovering
artifacts. They are searching accounts of the battles for clues about
their locations. A sound engineer even helped plot the location of a
hollow where Mohegan and Narragansett warriors heard the Pequots
singing as the two tribes camped with English soldiers before the
Mystic attack.</p>
<p>Other sites being considered for the designation are in Old
Saybrook, Wethersfield, Fairfield, Plainfield, Stonington, Dover
Plains, N.Y., and Block Island, R.I. Mr. McBride said researchers were
trying to pin down the locations of camps, routes of march and retreat
and places where battles were planned.</p>
<p>“History is so much more meaningful when there are places where
people can go and feel it,” Mr. Woodward said. </p>
<p>The last major battle of the war was fought in Fairfield. Today
Interstate 95 passes through the middle of the large swamp where the
battle occurred.</p>
<p>“The history of the battle was instrumental in the founding of
Fairfield,” said Michael Jehle, the executive director of the Fairfield
Museum and History Center. “Many English soldiers involved came back a
year later and founded the town so there’s a tremendous amount of
interest in the story in this community.” Researchers are reviewing any
written accounts by and about commanders in the battles, the English
soldiers, the Colonial governors and others. </p>
<p> They are also looking for information about military tactics and
weapons that can help them identify a site. Their search has uncovered
information about native alliances and social and political
organizations.</p>
<p>Even with the clues, Mr. McBride said researchers still have to find
artifacts to prove the soldiers and Indians were actually at the
battlefields and camps, where they may have only spent a few hours.</p>
<p>“We’re prepared to be patient and plug away because evidence of the
battles will be minimal,” he said. </p>
<p>Researchers will use metal detectors to look for lead shot, musket
balls, brass arrowheads and tools. Work is scheduled to begin next
summer at the well-known site of Mystic fort, where researchers will
look for artifacts and try to establish the fort’s borders. Examining
all the sites is expected to take years.</p>
<p>Some Mystic landowners are concerned they will lose control of their
property if it is included in a battlefield designation, but Mr.
McBride said the demarcation would not restrict the use of property.
Mr. McBride must get the permission of landowners to search their
property. The park service requires that any artifacts found be donated
to an acceptable repository, like a museum. </p>
“Most people understand this is part of our national heritage and they
should be kept together,” Mr. McBride said.
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w:st="on">Alyssa</st1:GivenName> <st1:middlename w:st="on">Mt.</st1:middlename></st2:PersonName>
Pleasant, Ph.D.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Assistant Professor</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">American Studies Program</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><st2:place w:st="on"><st2:PlaceName w:st="on">Yale</st2:PlaceName>
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<p class="MsoNormal">P.O. Box 208236<br>
New Haven, CT 06520-8236</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">203-436-8169</p>
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P.O. Box 208324<br>
New Haven, CT 06520-8324</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:alyssa.mt.pleasant@yale.edu">alyssa.mt.pleasant@yale.edu</a></p>
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