Wampanoag
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...
settlement, located between present-day Tiverton in
Newport County, Rhode Island
Newport County is one of five counties located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,643. It is also one of the seven regions of Rhode Island. The county was created in 1703. Like all of the counties i ...
Bristol County, Massachusetts
Bristol County is a county in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 579,200. The shire town is Taunton. Some governmental functions are performed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, othe ...
. Pocasset is also the band of Wampanoag who lived in the settlement.
This village site should not be confused with Pocasset, Massachusetts, a
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Barnstable County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 228,996. The county seat is Barnstable, Massachusetts, Barnstable. The county consists ...
, about 50 miles east of this Pocasset. The site of Bourne, Massasschusetts was first a
Praying Town
Praying towns were settlements established by English colonial governments in New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert local Native Americans to Christianity.
The Native people who moved into the towns were known as Praying Indi ...
settled in 1674, possibly also known as Pispogutt.
Name
Pocasset is a Wôpanâak name which translates as "Where a strait widens out." It is also spelled Paugusset, Pocasicke, Pocasett, Pocassitt, Pokeesett, and Powakasick.
The band of Wampanoag people associated with Pocasset were also called the Troy Indians, Weetemore Indians, and Fall River Indians.
History
Precontact
The area is part of the Sapowet Point-Almy Brook Area which contains more than 40 archaeological sites, dating back to 4000 years ago.
17th century
From about 1618 to 1630,
Corbitant
Corbitant was a Wampanoag sachem under Massasoit. Corbitant was the sachem of the Pocasset tribe in present-day North Tiverton, Rhode Island, c. 1618–1630. He lived in Mattapuyst or Mattapoiset, located in the southern part of today's Swansea ...
(c. 1595 – 1630) was the chief or ''
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...
'' of Pocasset.
In 1659, the Plymouth Colony purchased Wampanoag lands near Fall River from Wamsutta (c. 1634 – 1662), a Wampanoag sachem, in the "Freeman's Purchase."Dubuque, 18 Wamsutta was the brother of
Metacomet
Metacomet (c. 1638 in Massachusetts – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip,Westamore (Wampanoag, c. 1635 – 1676), a ''sunksqua'' or woman chief, governed the community. Westamore, also known as Weetamoo, was the daughter of Corbitant and widow of Wamsutta.
Leading up to the
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
(1675–1676, the Pocasset populations "were so numerous that her armed men, able to go out upon the war path, were supposed to number three hundred." British colonists encroached on Wampanoag land and cleared forests, which reduced local game for subsistence. When war broke out, Westamore sent warriors in support of Metacomet. Her husband at the time, Petonanuit, sided with the English, and his followers became the Fall River Indian settlement.
A skirmish took place near the village between the Pocasset Wampanoag warriors loyal and English and Fall River Indian volunteers, under the command of Colonel Benjamin Church.
Westamore drowned in the Tehticut River while fleeing English soldiers in 1676. Immediately after the fighting, the Pocasset Wampanoags fled to Narragansett territory for temporary refuse from the English.
After the battle, the
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...
allowed the Fall River Indians who fought under Church to settle among the English colonists. In 1679 and 1680, the Colony of New Plymouth bought the "Pocasset Purchase."
Notable Pocasset
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Corbitant
Corbitant was a Wampanoag sachem under Massasoit. Corbitant was the sachem of the Pocasset tribe in present-day North Tiverton, Rhode Island, c. 1618–1630. He lived in Mattapuyst or Mattapoiset, located in the southern part of today's Swansea ...