Roger Williams and Separation of Church and State.

Frederick N. Brown

An essay regarding a distinguished American Founder. 

Information from general readings and insights by the Author.

We have found that the man who lived the United State's earliest colonial era and whom we so often refer to as a vital resource to this Vinland study is not so well known as he might be.  This is an unfortunate situation as he is a world figure whose contribution to American life is immense.  Besides this, he was certainly the first of colonists who was in intimate contact with Native Americans and to write about them as human beings - he was to the English invasions what famed humanitarian Bartolome de Los Casas had been to the Spanish.  His writings are so voluminous and influential that, in fact, his work has had a continual adverse impact on all later studies of American "Indians" since that time.  For the people of whom he wrote were a long way from typical Native Americans - they were, indeed, so unusual in many respects that they constitute an episode of European History in combination with American. He surprises and startles us with his recorded opinion so early as 1643 that Narragansett Indian origins had been in Iceland

Geography is a vital element in the following, so it is strongly advised that a map of southern New England be available for reading and immediate comparisons. Even a road map will serve.

Roger Williams, English commoner, was a classically educated Londoner who arrived an ordained minister at Salem (near what is now Boston) at age 28 in 1631. This is quite early in American history - famed Plymouth colony having been founded but a decade before. He had been so fortunate as to be retained while young in clerical service to one Lord Coke, then serving in parliament.  At this time the governing authorities of Massachusetts colony followed the standard draconian form of English justice, especially as it related to religious doctrine. This is the group who later went on record as executing "witches" as well as others of other denominations such as Quakers, "Free-thinkers", Catholics, Jews, other "heretics" while Indians were thought sub-human - unworthy of consideration. Massachusetts colony at that time extended to all of northern New England inclusive of Maine and New Hampshire by Royal Charter. Generally the aspect of European settlements was a thin and barely tangible presence along the coastline with small colonies and outlying farms at Salem, Plymouth, Thames River of Connecticut (actually an outpost of the Massachusetts Bay Colony), Connecticut River, and the likely eldest, New Amsterdam at the lower Hudson (maybe even a New Sweden, in Delaware). All of these can be viewed as essentially coastal or riverine settlements with communications being by boat. There seems to have been another colony not formally recognized or chartered located in Narragansett Bay on the Island of Aquidneck (now Rhode) which was in two parts; that at what is now Newport and another at the northern end at Portsmouth. This is a rather large island comparable in many ways to Manhattan in New York Harbor. Otherwise, what is now Rhode Island - the State - was wholly Indian territory with Narragansetts residing on the west side and Wampanoags on the east. This is a scholastic division perhaps oversimplified - Narragansett Bay is not so large as to separate populations.  The two groups were only rarely, if ever, at war, and intermarriage was common among them. A more reasonable outlook is to view them as a "Narragansett Bay Community" with certain distinct variations around the waterway.

As with Manhattan, Aquidneck (Rhode) Island has a peculiar geomorphology, having a very narrow strait at its northern -Wampanoag - end. For this reason it most probably was accepted - perhaps strained - as lands in common between the two tribes, the nautical, monarchal, and militarily powerful Narragansetts, with limited homeland territory; and the more typical woodland Wampanoags with a quite large one, from Narragansett Bay to outer Cape Cod. Some historians claim Aquidneck Island was entirely Wampanaog, while others aver that it was Narragansett dominated. Apparently, the unsettled political nature of the island wrought a situation where European exiles and malcontents from other colonies could escape and reside not only tolerated by the natives, but encouraged, quite likely as possible allies in Indian dealings with other Europeans. These independent minded pioneers - renegades, if you will - were constrained by circumstances to toleration of other beliefs (the oldest synagogue in North America is in Newport - active then and active now). Oceanside Newport until the 1776 revolution was the Major City, seaport and nominal capital of the colony. Shortly another small colony was founded on the West Side of the bay at Warwick, which town has peculiarities of its own - now it is in two sections separated by a waterway. Otherwise, for quite some time, most of what is now the present state of Rhode Island was Indian Territory and remained so until 1676.

Narragansetts are one of the better known of eastern tribes and the reason for this is because of a number of cultural advancements and also military strength. Rhode Island's borders are the only ones of all the states established by reality of Indian presence and not by English political dictum. Densely populated, the tribe was noted as residing in towns not far apart and in small, crowded dwellings containing as many as 28 persons, some few larger dwellings containing extended families, and large waterside estates.  These dwelling places were often quite advanced, being cleared of forest in wide tracts by planned fire programs and possessing cultivated, orderly fields.  They kept captive wildlife for food and, apparently, sometimes as pets. Near 1670 colonial authorities conducted a census of Narragansetts for military purposes at which time the tribe felt themselves sufficiently secure in their alliance with the Newcomers that they participated in the count. They could field, it was found to the horror of English authorities, as many as 5000 armed warriors, which means their population must have exceeded at least 15,000 and likely many more - maybe as many as 50,000. Their territory was essentially what is now the southern part of the present State - some 15 x 20 miles - and included Block Island and the islands of Narragansett Bay. As well, they were inveterate travelers both on land and sea where their martial and nautical outlook permitted them to journey more or less freely through and around other populations and to great distances. Strong cultural markers of the tribe have been observed on Long Island, Marthas Vinyard, and Nantucket. They were also the "bankers" of a wide area - over 600 miles - being the manufacturers and regulators of the native American currency called "Wampum (peague)", finely crafted and standardized beadwork of shell fragments from Narragansett Bay. One major historian says they were one of two "greatest" tribes on the American Continent, (-- but this was written before the civilizations of Central and South America were discovered.)

About 1615 a devastating epidemic had stricken the aborigine populations of the eastern seaboard. Sometimes theorized to have been smallpox, whatever it was commenced a terrible scourge afflicting the Indians of America and extending all the way to the South Seas as varied European diseases progressively struck aborigine "naïve" populations. New World human depletion from disease alone is sometimes estimated at up to 95%, the unfortunate Wampanoags suffering 80 % or more. (For comparison, the terrible epidemic of Old World Bubonic Plague accounted for some 30%.) All of the territory of southern Massachusetts from Cape Cod to near Rhode Island was essentially depopulated - nearly derelict villages. The Plymouth colonists at arrival in 1620 recorded only occasional sightings of individuals or small parties and the remains of numerous abandoned villages. The "Puritan" colonists, indeed, survived for a time on abandoned grain pits of these depopulated villages. And yet in the area surrounding Narragansett Bay populations seem to have held at least steady - Narragansetts especially maintaining a record of public health comparable with the colonial invaders.

Such were the conditions when Roger Williams arrived in 1631. Graduate of Cambridge University, he would have been expected to be part of the ruling clique, but early on he made the blunder of suggesting that perhaps Europeans had  moral obligations to pay the Natives for seized lands. The general dismay and resultant discomfort of such a suggestion seems to have been immediately felt with the result that he removed to the new Plymouth Colony, some twenty miles south. His life seems to be a chronicle of perpetual contentions and he gained enemies wherever he went. They gained quickly in Plymouth with the result that he remained there but a short time before removal back to Salem whose governor was one John Winthrop (the elder). Tensions seemed to be running high. This was a period of beheadings, hangings, drawings and quarterings in more or less wholesale amounts - make no mistake, it was dangerous times to be independent, outspoken or heretic in England or in English territory - or Spanish, for that matter - no matter where you were. Most towns both in America and Europe maintained permanent gibbets and execution grounds; heads of heretics impaled on pikes on town walls; pirates hung in chains near seaports until skeletonized and beyond. The final result was that Roger Williams was sentenced to transport back to England but, instead, departed "post haste" with the aim of joining other exiles in Rhode Island. His relationship with Governor Winthrop (elder) seems mixed. There exist letters between the two suggesting friendship or at least high regard, yet Winthrop must have been a participant in the judgment of transport and threat of death that that implies.

His seizure had been ordered and it might be supposed that had he been captured by the sheriff sent to apprehend him, that would have been his end. But he received warning - apparently from Governor Winthrop himself - and made rapid departure without his family but with a small group of companions - records say either 5 or 12. Williams was fourteen weeks in transit of the mere 50 mile distance over what must have been desolate territory of pestilential Wampanoag lands. He apparently reached an area near the tip of Narragansett Bay, decided to settle there but discovered that he was still within the territory claimed by Massachusetts and subject to seizure yet.

The headwaters of Narragansett "Bay" (geologically a fjord) divide into a "Y" shape.  The eastern arm is Seekonk "River", actually a wide salt estuary with a restricted mouth, while the western arm is so-called "Providence" River.  At that time the latter widened into a rather large nearly landlocked cove and it was upon the eastern shore of this cove that Roger Williams landed after an initial encounter, settled and where his commemorative museum exists today.  The river still flows, but the cove has been filled in.

Now, Roger Williams is revered in Rhode Island to this day as the founder of the state. Conventional "education wisdom" says that he crossed Seekonk River at a site called "Round Rock" or "Slate Rock" into the area of what is now Providence and was greeted by several Narragansett Sachems or perhaps guardian warriors there with the words "What Cheer, Netop", "Netop" being a N. term for "friend". They were so impressed with him that he was able to negotiate the tract of lands which are now the Capital City of the State.

This is the dramatic story line that is fed to innocent Rhode Island schoolchildren to this day.  Not being quite so innocent a schoolboy, I queried this early on as Seekonk River was well within my extensive wanderings and I knew nothing of any such place where a rock of that description was or could have been. A primary school teacher took up the cudgels to set me straight with the result that she also became mystified, found that no one she knew could identify the place or the rock, and eventually discovered some reference that the rock was actually some distance south and well out of range for our class to visit in those days before extensive bussing. I have since been informed, but remain unconvinced, that the alleged first landing place - the rock - in Providence is actually well known. I do not know on what basis my old teacher (bless her) made her remark.

As with so many items of sanitized historical doctrine, the tale makes little sense to me, although reputable historians are reluctant to discount it. It is just as simplistic as the assumed situation of shipwrecked 26 year old Columbus swimming naked to shore at Lagos, Portugal and instantly convincing those there that he was the future Grand Admiral of the Ocean Sea. For one thing, the rock, if it ever existed, has disappeared, even though just about everything else that RW touched has become a monument. For another, the tract granted was huge - bigger than the present city and would require a full day’s travel just to walk one side of it. Certainly, some of those chieftains dwelt within that large territory. Why would they negotiate their own homes away to a doubtless poverty stricken exile one jump ahead of the executioner? Moreover, this place was actually near the northern border of Narragansett territory. The tribe’s origin, seats of power and population was well south near the sea. The word Narragansett is derived from the name of a revered island (now uncertain which) in one of two estuaries near Point Judith, down on the coast.

It was 50 years before I discovered what might have been the true situation, or at least as plausible a one, which is a bit more prosaic. My opinion is that Williams clearly saw Indian sentinels on the opposite shore, approached them, perhaps was greeted there with "What Cheer, Netop", and was directed to the second landing out of sight of possible pursuers.  The "narrows" of this river are not so wide that a zealous sheriff might not hazard a crossing. 

This crossing has always been a factor of interest in Rhode Island, but it was only when I took it under study for this work that I realized just how important it is for all Americans.  For it was here at this spot - Roger Williams' Rubicon - that a major upheaval in American political thought became empowered: separation of Church and State.  His life to that time had been as an Englishman attempting to turn the dominion of an established Church toward mercy rather than arbitrary tyranny; apparent in hindsight that he likely would not have survived and also failed in the attempt.  But once across the river, he was American in the New World of the Indian where his success, while not yet assured, was much more probable.  His attempt to plant a crop before the crossing demonstrates his unease at the move - wavering, wavering - his tentative landing on the opposite shore his trepidation; his destiny for American future thereafter established and successful.

His thinking was doubtless influenced by his realization of good in the common man, since he came from them.  His relationship with the noble and royal class of England apparently showed him lack of this realization in what must have been a painful collaboration with other youths of that royal/noble class while in service to Lord Coke.  According to Mrs. Settle (see notes below), he either witnessed in England while still a youth, or was intimately aware of the actual burning at stake for heresy of a man who had befriended and mentored him as a boy.  For someone of even normal sensitivity, this monstrous act, common in that day, would be something to alter a life view to a great degree and even risk life itself to correct.  It surely must have affected Roger Williams' thinking.

Something seems to have occurred during those 14 weeks of wandering through desolate lands that changed Roger Williams’ fortunes dramatically. He was no stranger to either Narragansett or Wampanoag Sachems at Salem and Plymouth as at that time there was intimate contact and frequent trade between colonists and Indians. Massasoit - he we Americans celebrate at Thanksgiving holidays, whose residence was actually near Narragansett Bay - was a regular visitor there. Rogers’ humanitarian instincts might have appealed to the Natives; his opinion for payment for lands was doubtless appreciated; perhaps Mrs. Williams, back in Salem, brought formidable political gifts into the arena; maybe Roger Williams’ intimate connection with a rising faction in England became known; but for whatever reason his arrival at Narragansett Bay was triumphal. In an amazingly brief time - near immediately - he had been deeded lands of two huge tracts by two tribes, a medium size island in the Bay, and lands near the Tribal center for a trading post.

Narragansetts ceded what are now lands of the City of Providence, the Island "Prudence" in the Bay, and a trading site at Wickford; while Wampanoags ceded an equal area that is now the City of Pawtucket and seem to have been influenced to deed the colony of Portsmouth (on the island "Rhode Island) to one Mr. Coddington in 1637. The two Wampanoag deeds were signed by the same Massasoit so well known otherwise. The considerations were not large. At least one deed says that Indians must remove themselves from the areas "---- or fence" and it would seem by this that the difficulty in understanding of land ownership by English which included the concept of "trespass" was not fully comprehended by the Indians. A thorn in the side of the agricultural Natives were incursions of English cattle which occasionally escaped their bonds and entered unfenced Indian fields to raise havoc with the unguarded crops - far from a minor grievance.  Part of the payment for Portsmouth included, besides quite modest monetary considerations, the proviso of "four coats".  Four coats were delivered but were not appreciated for some reason. They were to be replaced but were unavailable for some time, at which Massasoit conceded the sale without them. Seems like a reasonable enough fellow. Williams in one place says that he paid "thirty pounds" (sterling) for Providence, while other records say that the grant was from " -- love alone of Canonicus (Sachem)."

The presumption that the sachems who deeded the lands to Roger Williams were the same as those who greeted him at Providence, may not hold true. Records show that while Williams did, indeed either land or pass closely the landing on the western shore of the Seekonk with some communication, he then sailed or rowed a moderate distance around a southern point ("Fox") and then made his permanent landing at another place along the shore of a cove in Providence now commemorated by a preserved spring and a museum maintained by the United States National Park Service.

But the deed to the Providence grant is noted upon it that it was done "--- at Narragansett --" which is some 25 miles nearer the coast near Point Judith and was the epicenter of Narragansett Indian Tribal lands. It is more than likely that these negotiations actually occurred down there and at a revered place called Pettaquamscutt Rock, which may be fairly called a "Round Rock" (--- and impressive, too. Tradition holds that a popular alternative name for it was "Treaty Rock".  Its huge eastern face provides a background for a natural amphitheater ideal for negotiations and ceremonies.)  It is my opinion that the confusion surrounding the true whereabouts of "Round", or "Slate Rock", supposedly in Providence proper, is from an oversimplification of events by series of historians.  

Williams, with a partner named Willcox, commenced trading with Narragansetts and found them by no means so isolated, and also more astute than might be expected as the wild and pioneer era infer. While they held their territory secure and were militarily competent, they were friendly and welcoming to the incomers, indeed, showing a considerable political sophistication in where they allowed the new settlements to exist. There is little record that any European was injured or harassed in all the time from 1635 when RW appeared, until 1676 - forty one years. They were adapting well and cooperating with Europeans to the extent that they were entering trades such as locksmiths, farriers, and stonemasons. As well, they were adopting European dress. They owned their own muskets in considerable numbers, which RW attributes to trade with the French, nowhere nearer than two hundred miles distant. One, possibly two, Dutch (-- from New Amsterdam) trading posts were in existence within their lands.

About the time that RW appeared, Narragansetts - and their muskets - were enlisted as mercenaries against the Pequots of Connecticut, with the result that that tribe was near annihilated. Williams appears to have been an accessory in this alliance. He did not think highly of the Pequots and says that at a meeting with some he was barely able to restrain himself as he felt he was in the presence of robbers, thieves, and "murtherers". While records do not seem to exist as being of that type which might become embarrassing, it occurs to this writer that the high regard for Williams by the Narragansett Sachems may have been an appreciation for their success over what they felt was a hated adversary. The attack upon the Pequots was a joint colonial/Narragansett assault in full force.

For many years RW maintained his trading post near the tribal epicenter and became on intimate terms with the Narragansetts, living among and traveling with them to distances.  He found them not only astute but honest and meticulous traders both among themselves and the colonials. Their crafted shell wampum, for a time, had a regulated rate of exchange with English coin. It may have been a number of years before he was well settled in his new grant. "Backwater" Providence developed at a slow pace - not even appearing on a navigational chart of 1717. Possibly the small settlement of only perhaps 20 or 30 domiciles, in those early days at some thirty miles from the coast, a deep penetration of colonial settlements into the hinterland. It was quite some time before the settlement, whose motto is "What cheer, Netop", became well enough established that it equaled in influence Newport Colony, hence, the official name of the present "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" whose motto is "Hope". Williams seems to have lived for a time in Warwick, not too far from the post, but eventually did remove to Providence for at least the later part of his life. He was instrumental in founding of the still extant First Baptist Church in Providence but removed himself after a few short months from the congregation and declared himself a freethinker, or "seeker" despite which he was elected Governor for a time. The impression one might get from readings is that he had a "contentious" personality - frequent spats and conflicts with co-colonists occurred with some regularity. He even wanted to debate peaceable George Fox of Quaker origin, and would have if he had had his way - Fox beat a strategic retreat from the encounter.

In 1643 RW traveled to England to promote the cause of establishing the colony as a chartered entity. At this time England was embroiled in its civil war and RW seems to have become intimate with Oliver Cromwell. Indeed, I have been informed that the two were cousins. He wrote a dictionary of the N. language on shipboard in transit, which was published in London in 1643, "Keys to the Indian Language" (specifically Narragansett). I am uncertain of events while he was there but I strongly suspect that he engaged in political affairs with Cromwell. There were several key battles fought between the parliamentarian "roundheads" and royalists in which it is recorded that New Englanders participated (series of battles commencing with Grantham, May 13, 1643, Gainsborough, July 28, 1643, Winceby, October 11, 1643, and Battle of Marsten Moor, July 2,1644). In my opinion, one of these New Englanders might well have been Roger Williams. Not only that, I also strongly suspect that perhaps several of his Narragansett friends were along with him. For one, the structured dictionary bears all the hallmarks of much closer and immediate collaboration than might have been done on shipboard b memory.  It is true that it could have been written from memory, but 1643 was only eight years after his residence among them and the dictionary seems much deeper and more extensive than this experience might explain.  Secondly, the battle at Marsten Moor was won by Cromwell himself by reason of an unorthodox and dashing cavalry "end run" around a flank into the rear of the enemy, conventionally arrayed in the set-piece manner of the day. This type of maneuver was more typical (except for the horses) of Indian combat than European. It is also the type of thing that, if successful, would necessitate some recognition in the form of a grand reward. American Indians were beginning to appear in European streets and courts - there is good reason to think, though apparently unrecorded, that one or two perhaps were there with their European benefactor. The result of these battles was the loss of the royalist cause and the head of their King Charles I. I do not know how long Williams was in England on this visit, but at some later time, possibly 1651, he returned there where King Charles' I son Charles II had been re-established on the throne. (It is said that he traversed the Atlantic Ocean five times.) The result of this adventure was that he - or an associate, one Clarke, or the two together - returned to America in 1663 with a Royal Charter for what is now the State of Rhode Island.  

And in that charter is enjoined that citizens of the colony enjoy, as the polytheist and independent minded settlers had already established by conditions there, religious freedom and that that freedom was extended to the Narragansett Tribe - staunchly pagan and neither Biblical nor Christian!

This is the basis of how this separation of church and state originated in America. It appears to have been the result of initial Indian tolerance of invaders, followed by a reciprocal respect, tinged, perhaps by fear of the dominant Aborigines, Roger Williams’ humanitarian instincts, a new and insecure King of England whose headless father's body was only recently buried; and a considerable upheaval and religious rebellion back all through the realm.

Near the period of the 1660’s, there seems to have been a rather large movement of Narragansetts selling large tracts of their homelands to Rhode Island and other colonists. Roger Williams, in his capacity as elder statesman and Governor, together with the Rhode Island legislature (at Newport), made efforts to prevent this. This seems a strange reversal for one whose prosperity originated in the first of the native grants. My own idea, which I cannot substantiate, is that at the same time, just before the Royal Charter was delivered (1663?), both Massachusetts and Connecticut Colonies had been quite aggressive in attempts to seize Wampanoag lands westward to Narragansett Bay and Narragansett lands eastward to the same waterway. Connecticut (actually Massachusetts) Colony policy seems to have placed such extreme pressure on the Narragansetts to a degree of support for  periodic military attacks upon Native towns and persons at the western side of N. territory. It seems plausible to me that the sale of lands within would make for good alliances against these outside pressures. Narragansett victory over the Pequots thus became a Pyrrhic one, although this was not yet recognized.

One of these tracts - still very much coastal - was to one Jirah Bull, of Newport, of lands near Point Judith - Pettaquamscutt - where he built a small shipyard and settlement of some 17 artisans. This tract was to become a historically important place. And also a place of mystery, for upon it were remains of two stone structures very unusual for Indian endeavor.  This spot is one mile south of the huge rock called Treaty Rock where, it seems, the deed to Providence had been negotiated.

Narragansetts thrived for a few years more. In the early 1670’s tensions were increasing between other tribes and the Massachusetts pioneers. It looked like war and this is the reason the invaluable census of the Narragansetts was taken. Massasoit, Wampanoag of Narragansett Bay died of old age. He had two sons who were called by the English "Alexander" (after the great one) and "King Phillip" (after the Macedonian father of Alexander - his Indian name, I think was "Metacom[et]). Realizing that the invaders were overcoming Aborigines both through guile and disease, they attempted to form an alliance of survivors of disease-riven tribes of New England to drive them out. Colonial authorities soon suspected this. Alexander [Wamsutta] had been invited to a banquet at Plymouth and became ill of something that he did not survive - indications are in plenty that he had been poisoned and I tend to believe it.

King Phillip duly arose with many allies but indications there are that Narragansetts were reluctant and came in late. The war was extremely destructive to both sides - the very first and said to have been the worst (proportionately) of Indian Wars in America north of Mexico. It lasted a year and ended with the death of King Phillip near Bristol, RI - shot by an Indian mercenary in colonial employ. In fact, not one Indian leader alive in 1670 still drew breath in 1677, which gives some hint on how the politically sophisticated English later built their empire on collapsing native cultures.

A party usually assumed to have been Narragansetts attacked Jirah Bull’s small shipbuilding settlement at Pettaquamscutt, killed 15 of the 17, and burnt it. To indicate the relations of the Rhode Island colonists, the relieving force to this attack came from Connecticut who arrived two days too late. This seems strange, as the smoke pall must have been seen at Newport. Rhode Islanders did not participate in the war to any degree except as victims.

This attack had been in the fall and on a cold December day a party of militia from Massachusetts congregated at RW old post in Wickford and marched overland to where a large party of Narragansetts had a Winter encampment. The militia attacked the palisaded encampment, located on an island in a swamp, and after a bitter fight overcame the wall, entered the camp and slew all who could not escape - something in the order of 400 to 900 persons, mostly old men, women, and children. This seems to have been the very first of such American engagements by calculated genocidal policy. While for a time Narragansetts did marshal an army of as many as 2000, for the most part they seem to have fought Indian style in small raiding segments and at long distances. If they had formed, deployed, and sustained a cohesive army in the European manner, it would have been by far the largest force in New England. Perhaps reluctant participants, their position might have been forced upon them by circumstances. They did attack and burn both the Warwick and Providence settlements but seem to have taken few lives. RW confronted one party and entreated for peace. He was told that no hair of his head would be harmed.

Williams' confrontation was at Providence proper and took place while the few small dwellings were actually burning.  Williams described the incident in a famous letter and remarks on his remonstrances to the chiefs that his own house was burning before their eyes.  Of interest is that this episode took place just about where the great marble State House now stands. The fledgling "city" of Providence consisted then of a row of dwellings at the base of a steep hill along the east (opposite) side of a river that passes north there.  The present museum for Roger Williams is along the eastern riverbank extended then from just north of the State House south to what is now called Fox Point - some 3/4 of a mile.  At the southern end the colonists had built a fortified block house to which most had adjourned at approach of the huge Narragansett war party intent on revenge for the earlier assault and annihilation of their own winter village further south.  Some died, but all who took refuge in the blockhouse survived, as did Williams himself and some few others who braved the Indian presence.  The imbalance of power is evident here in the size of the Native party which is estimated at over 1500 warriors - perhaps the largest Indian war party ever formed from a single tribe north of Mexico, and perhaps even larger than those.  Residents of Providence numbered perhaps 300 in total.  Narragansett respect for individual colonists seems evident at lack of murderous intent not only here but elsewhere.  Those interested may want to seek out a narrative of one Mrs. Mary (?) Rowlandson who was captured by a Narragansett warrior and kept captive for ransom for some 9 months.  She was a tough one but had a wholesome attitude toward her captors, giving them much credit for humanity even though she had been starved for the first several weeks. Invincible woman! She also had been shot in the side but hardly mentions it in her narrative as, when captured, she had been holding an infant in her arms with the ball traversing through the child and entering her side.  The child survived for only a few days but Mrs. Rowlandson, wife of a clergyman, lived to a ripe old age.  Her ransom was for 20 pounds sterling, which was paid.  Her captor, one Qanopen, was captured in his turn and hung, but Mrs. Rowlandson seems to infer that he was a most amiable fellow.  She was never molested in any way and there is a bit more of her in our pages on "The People".

The size of this Narragansett War Party is extraordinarily significant to this study, for it demonstrates more or less conclusively the high degree of public health enjoyed by the tribe - which is also an inherited trait.  At this time - 1676 - most New England tribes were reduced to small percentages of their previous numbers.  From what I can gather, during the whole of King Phillip's War, no other tribe, or even combination of tribes in New England, was able to muster as many as 80 warriors at any given time.  The colonial militias, mustered by towns and allied townships, sometimes numbered as many as 150, generally for temporary service only.  The key to victory by the colonials lay in logistics - Indian food supply collapsed in the Spring, since they were unable to plant, and that spelled the end of the war.  

At the defeat of the confederation, those Indians who could escaped, some were slain, some were enslaved even to as far as the West Indies. Left were a few hundred cooperative survivors and a legacy of religious freedom, which may have been not solely a result of a new tolerance, but a fear of consequence from a powerful adversary.

These episodes predated those of the developing Colony of Pennsylvania, which some histories aver was the origin of enlightened and tolerant governance. William Penn (1644-1718) was of a generation younger than Roger Williams, and his Colonial Charter, granted in 1681, was two decades later than Rhode Island’s. Penn was a convert to Quakerism and without doubt was well aware of their (Society of Friends) tribulations in Massachusetts and liberation in Rhode Island.

The renegade colony had long been a haven for, among others, Quakers who in these early days were quite numerous in Rhode Island.  Their relations with the Indians here and in Pennsylvania were governed by their pacifist beliefs, and in the main, seem to have been the key to much less conflict in these two colonies than elsewhere.  Most Rhode Islanders survived, whereas the neighboring settlement of Rehoboth was virtually annihilated - just about all farms burnt out.  Quaker tolerance is based on the belief that since Christianity is the true religion and Christ Devine, God will, in his own good time, guide everyone to it.  This, and pacifism, engenders a philosophy of patience - perhaps more than most of us can muster.  Peaceful, it is true, but just a bit short of tolerance.

Roger Williams, while tolerant, had not been a good friend to the Quakers in Rhode Island, but his developing experience, along with the colony's independent minded residents, led him to accept just about every type of religious thought by the time he entered Indian territory and government. (His brother had been resident in Turkey for a time, just for a taste of Islam.)

A bit over a century after these events, that small band of magnificent and classically enlightened men who formulated our Constitution at Philadelphia considered the success of those two original colonies, and found the result worth transmuting to a national right to be enjoyed by all, "Congress shall pass no law ---".

The consequences and their resultant formulation into political rights, rare to non-existent at any time and any place even in the present day, strike me as an American treasure. Perhaps it is our major source of strength, for wherever man organizes (usually) with political dynamism for a common good or gain; he seems constrained by forces within human nature to at some time ally with a dominant (usually) conservative religious faction as well - an alliance near impossible to be broken even should it ever be desired - King and God and Country hopelessly intertwined in the minds of the body politic ----

---- and the body politic under perpetual tension for peace of mind as opposed to questing for answers to changing fortunes and changing circumstances. Only in the United States of America can one choose courses of action to salve, or indeed choose several, in good conscience and safety.

Our separation of church and State serves us well.

Frederick N. Brown            all rights reserved         July,    2000, Revised 2003

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For more information on this remarkable man;  <   www.nps.gov/rowi   >

Also Mr. John McNiff;  <   mailto:ShrffNntghm@aol.com  > at the same museum.

New information arrives with a book titled "I, Roger Williams" by Mary Lee Settle; pub.W.W.Norton,2001.  While a novel, it is so detailed that extensive research is evident, appearing more a partial Biography than a novel.  It seems to be a quite superior work, possibly a classic, and is quite successful in yielding insights into the man himself.  It is highly recommended to those interested. 

In the main, it deals with his life in England and only the last quarter on his life in America.  And, unfortunately, very little of his life among the Narragansetts.  But what it does describe is extremely interesting, answering, for instance, the question of what happened during the lost first 14 weeks of his exile.  The answer is that he did not travel far enough, actually planted a crop, but then was forced to move on into Narragansett territory of what is now Providence.

His early years are well developed and explanatory of why this humble born Briton was enabled to move among the higher classes and succeed in political aims in establishing the colony that is now "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"  

Certain alterations in the text above are influenced by this book.  In particular, Williams' relationship with Lord Coke had been unknown to me, but Mrs. Settle's extensive development of it apparently stems from extensive research in England.  I bow to her accuracy and diligence.  The novel comments also on the river crossing where Williams is to have said that he positioned the bow of his canoe into a small place protected by a sort of rock and spoke to five Narragansett sentinels. 

I have remarked above that the west side of the Seekonk River had been entirely within the scope of my youthful curiosity and meanderings.  It also happens that in later years, but much before engaging in this study, I made my home afloat on the east shore of these same narrows for the better part of seven years.  In a sense it was my own Rubicon in transition from landsman to waterman for a period . This is where the crossing assuredly took place.  It is where successive bridges were built and ferries existed in times gone by.  For this reason, the adventures of Roger Williams have been brought home closely to me.  I have made the crossing with him.

It need not be inferred that my reference to the Roger Williams Museum and its curator John McNiff is claim for endorsement to this work.  In fact, Mr. McNiff is, in my opinion, a superior scholar in superb command of his subject. For the most part I bow to his knowledge, but our difference is entirely on the matter of RW crossing where Mr. McNiff's position is the scholarly one while mine is in the spirit of a man on the spot attempting to make sense of confused information available.  Unless some information arises indicating some factor as to why Williams was so successful in so short a time, my view will remain as written above.  The celebrated rock of landing is no longer there.  I suspect it never was except as an insignificant device to hold a canoe against a current and that the rock of history is actually "Treaty Rock" in Narragansett, twenty five miles to the south.  But I now realize that this issue - this rock - is not so important as the crossing site itself, which is still pretty much as it was.  I marvel that this narrow crossing place, which was my home for a time, constitutes one of the major historical sites of all time for we Americans.  And perhaps someday for all who dwell on earth, for the crossing - manageable in seconds by canoe - is the absolute dividing line between separations of Church and State.  As the peoples of the Earth increase, as we become closer to one another in all ways, conflicts and cruelties stemming from intolerance of other's spiritual views, whether indoctrinated or not, must pass from the scene.  Until and unless that it does, human life and mutual regard will be forfeit in ever increasing aggregates - periodic violence will be the prevailing human condition  --  true and meaningful civilization forever out of reach.

FNB