:'' Sassacus is also a genus of

jumping spiders Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family Salticidae. , this family contained over 600 described genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiderscomprising 13% of spider species. Jumping s ...

.'' Sassacus (

Massachusett The Massachusett are a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...

: '' Sassakusu'', "fierce") ( – June 1637) was a

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 ...

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 ...

'' who was born near present-day

Groton, Connecticut Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...

. He became grand sachem after his father, Tatobem, was killed in 1632. The

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 ...

s led by ''sachem''

Uncas Uncas () was a '' sachem'' of the Mohegans who made the Mohegans the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut, through his alliance with the New England colonists against other Indian tribes. Early life and family Uncas was born ...

rebelled against domination by the Pequots. Sassacus and the Pequots were defeated by English colonists allied with the Narragansett and Mohegans in the

Pequot War The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place in 1636 and ended in 1638 in New England, between the Pequot nation and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Na ...

. Sassacus fled to what he thought was safety among the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

Mohawks The Mohawk, also known by their own name, (), are an Indigenous people of North America and the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the Five Nations or later the Six Nations). Mohawk are an Iroquoi ...

in present-day

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

state, but they murdered him and then sent his head and hands to the

Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...

as a symbolic offering of friendship. Sassacus possibly had a brother who married Ninigret's daughter, and his sister-in-law may have married Harman Garrett.Pulsief, ed., Acts of the Commissioners, I, 100, 169

Footnotes

References

* Oberg, Michael Leroy, ''Uncas, First of the Mohegans'', 2003, * Vaughan, Alden T. (1995). ''New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 1620-1675'', p. 150. University of Oklahoma Press. 1560s births 1637 deaths 17th-century Native American leaders Murdered Native American people People from Groton, Connecticut People murdered in New York (state) Pequot people People from colonial Connecticut Native American people from Connecticut People murdered in 1637 People murdered in the Thirteen Colonies {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub