Soon after this, Captain Mason and his company set out from
Saybrook on their expedition against the Pequots. After burning
the Indian fort at Mystic, in which many women and children lost
their lives, and killing several hundred Pequot warriors, they
returned victorious. They reached the bank of the Connecticut
opposite Saybrook at sunset, too late to cross the river that
night, but they were welcomed by a salute from the guns of the
fort; "being nobly entertained by Lieutenant Gardiner with many
great guns," as Captain Mason expressed it. The destruction of
the Pequots relieved Saybrook Fort from danger and secured the
safety of the colonists in Connecticut; there was never again any
serious trouble with the Indians. But the story is a cruel one,
and we can only forgive it when we remember that the settlers
felt that their own lives, and the lives of their wives and
little children, were in constant danger from the attacks of the
savages.
When the four years of his contract were ended, in the summer of
1639, Lieutenant Lion Gardiner left Saybrook Fort, which he had
defended so bravely, and went to live on an island he had bought
from the Indians. This island, still known as "Gardiner's
Island," is at the end of Long Island and must have been very
remote in those days, and far from any white neighbors. But
Gardiner was on the best of terms with the Long Island Indians,
and between him and their sachem, Waiandance, there was a true
and generous friendship, founded on mutual respect and trust,
which lasted throughout their lives.
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