Mystic massacre

The Mystic massacre, also known as the Pequot massacre and the Battle of Mystic Fort took place on May 26, 1637 during the Pequot War, when Connecticut colonists under Captain John Mason and their Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to the Pequot Fort near the Mystic River. They shot anyone who tried to escape the wooden palisade fortress and killed most of the village in retaliation for previous Pequot attacks. There were between 400-700 Pequot civilians killed during the massacre, and the only Pequot survivors were warriors who had been with their sachem Sassacus in a raiding party outside the village.

The Pequots were the dominant Native American tribe in the southeastern portion of Connecticut Colony, and they had long competed with the neighboring Mohegan and Narragansett tribes. The European colonists established trade with all three tribes, exchanging European goods for wampum and furs. The Pequots eventually allied with the Dutch colonists, while the Mohegans and others allied with the New England colonists.

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