John Mason

Learning that it had gone to New England, he forced the withdrawal of Warwick from the council and from that time forward for five years bent all his efforts to overthrow the Puritan colony by obtaining the annulment of its privileges.

In this attempt he was aided by Captain John Mason, an able, energetic promoter of colonizing movements who had already been concerned with settlements in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and who was zealous to begin a plantation in the province of Maine.

Mason had received grants from the council both individually and in partnership with Gorges and had visited New England in the interest of his claims.

Through the influence of Gorges he was now made a member of the council and joined in the movement to break the hold of the Puritans upon New England.

But except for occasional Indian forays and for house burnings and scalpings in the more remote districts, there were only two serious wars in the 17th century, that against the Pequots in 1637 and the Great War of King Philip in 1675-1676.

The Pequot War, which was carried on by Connecticut with a few men from Massachusetts and a number of Mohican allies, ended in the complete overthrow of the Pequot nation and the extermination of nearly all its fighting force.

It began in June 1637 with a successful attack by Captain John Mason on the Pequot fort near Groton and was brought to an end by the Battle of Fairfield Swamp, July 13, where the surviving Pequots made their last stand.

Sassacus, the Pequot chieftain, was murdered by the Mohawks, among whom he had sought refuge, and during the year that followed, wandering members of the tribe, whenever found, were slain by their enemies and Mohicans and Narragansetts.