Note [438 — Chapter V
Reading edition
[438]
Winthrop,
Journal
, i, p. 225, in
Original Narratives of Early American History
; Bradford,
History of Plymouth Plantation
, p. 342, in
Original Narratives of Early American History
. Winthrop states the number of captives as eighty. This is evidently an error, for the sum of those whom he mentions as disposed of is eighty-three. Mason,
op. cit.
, in Orr,
op. cit.
, p. 39, gives the number of captives as one hundred and eighty.
A division of the Indian captives among the allies would tend to draw them nearer to the English. It was for this reason, and because the Indians enslaved at the first division of captives persisted in running away, that all the Indians of the second division were not enslaved. The Indians distributed among the friendly Indians did not become their slaves. In the case of the Narraganset, Roger Williams informed Governor Winthrop, June, 1637, that they did not desire to use the Pequot as slaves, but preferred to treat them kindly, and grant them houses and lands. Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, series 4, vi, p. 195.