Synopsis

Spring 1634: Unidentified Indians kill John Stone, a scurrilous Englishman and pirate. The English blame the Pequots and for two years Colonial-Pequot tensions remain high. 1636: Block Island Indians kill John Oldham. The English send an expedition to punish the Block Islanders and to demand John Stone's killers from the Pequots. Talks with the Pequots break down and violence erupts. The Pequots attack English settlements, and the English declare war on the Pequots -- the first declared war in America. 1637: English Puritans, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, burn a Pequot village at Missituck (Mystic), massacring 400-700 men, women, and children. The English pursue the remaining Pequots until most are either killed or enslaved. Pequots are forbidden to use their tribal name and are subjugated to other Native Tribes allied with the English. With the help of sympathetic English leaders, they eventually are able to reestablish their own communities, which become the first Indian reservations in America.