Quaiapen ( July 2, 1676), also known as Magnus, Matantuck, Old Queen, or Watowswokotaus, was a Narragansett-

Niantic Niantic may refer to: * Niantic people, tribe of American Indians * Niantic, Inc., mobile app developer known for the mobile games ''Ingress'' and ''Pokémon Go'' * Niantic Correctional Institution, now known as York Correctional Institution ...

female

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 ...

(saunkskwa) who was the last sachem captured or killed during King Philip’s War.Quaiapen
by Katharine Kirakosian and Tomaquag Museum

Early leadership and family

Quaiapen was the sister of

Ninigret Ninigret (also known as Juanemo according to Roger Williams) (c. 1610 This source confirms 1662 as the date of his land sales.-1677 This source suggests a date of 1667 for his land sales and a 1647 war against the Mohegans.) was a sachem of the ea ...

and Wepitanock, and in 1630 she married the eldest son of her uncle

Canonicus Canonicus (c. 1565 – June 4, 1647) was a chief of the Narragansett people. He was wary of the colonial settlers, but he ultimately befriended Roger Williams and other settlers. Biography Canonicus was born around 1565,Benjamin J. Lossing ...

, Mriksah, known as Mixan (or Mexanno). After Mixan died in 1657, Quaiapen took control of his lands around Cocumscussoc. Quaiapen and Mixan had at least three children, a daughter Quinimiquet, and sons, Quequakanewett and Scuttup. Quaiapen had another daughter, Mary Oskoosooduck, possibly with the Eastern Pequot leader Mamoho, and this daughter married Ninigret II, Ninigret's eldest son. In 1667, Quaiapen and Ninigret waged an effort opposing Metacom’s goal of forming an alliance between the Wampanoag and Nipmucks, and she sent warriors to fight the Quinnatisset Nipmuck. John Eliot attempted to mediate a dispute regarding a tribute between the Quantisset Nipmucs and Quaiapin.

King Philip's War and death

In June of 1675 Quaiapen and several other Narragansetts, including

, Quinnapin, and Quaunochu, reached an agreement at Worden Pond with the colonial authorities not to ally with the Wampanoag King Philip and to deliver him to the English if Philip sought refuge with the Narragansetts. Despite the agreement, war broke out, and after the Great Swamp Fight in December of 1675, many Narragansetts including Quaiapen retreated to southern swamps and the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

valley. Quaiapen also likely spent time in Queen's Fort on what is now the Exeter–North Kingstown line, which was a place where she had resided. In the summer of 1676, Quaiapen went with one hundred Narragansetts to northern Rhode Island to recover caches of planting corn. While there, the Connecticut militia with three hundred colonial troops and one hundred

Mohegan The Mohegan are an Indigenous people originally based in what is now southeastern Connecticut in the United States. They are part of the Eastern Algonquian linguistic and cultural family and historically shared close ties with the neighboring ...

and

Pequot The Pequot ( ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut includin ...

soldiers attacked Quaiapen's group in the Second Battle of Nipsachuck in what is now North Smithfield. Quaiapen, her advisor Stonewall John, and many others were killed by Major John Talcott's forces while seeking refuge in a swamp. A history of the War published in 1676 stated: "In June Major Talbot flew and took Captive Four and Twenty of the Enemies in one Weeks Time, and also killed the Old Queen of Narraganset." In his July 4, 1676 letter Major Talcott reported how his forces surrounded the great spruce swamp at "Nipachooke" where that "ould piece of venum, Sunck squaw Magnus was slaine.""Letter from Major Talcott: July 4, 1676, at Mr. Stanton's Farm house at Monacontauge," The public records of the colony of Connecticut from 1636-1776, Volume II (1850), pg. 459 accessible at https://archive.org/details/publicrecords02conn/page/458/mode/2up

Early leadership and family

King Philip's War and death

References

Further reading