Aspinet (Nauset)

Aspinet (died c. 1623) was a sagamore of the Nauset people.^[1]

On June 11, 1621, a child named Johnny Billington went missing from the Plymouth Colony after getting lost in the woods. Upon request from the colonists, Aspinet found the boy and brought him back to them.^[2]^[3] This act, alongside his willingness to provide the colonists with food, led to him being noted as a boon to the colonists.^[1]

Aspinet died sometime in 1623 after being driven into hiding by the Plymouth colonists. While it is unclear exactly what circumstances he died under, he was allegedly the leader of a group of sagamores seeking to drive out the Plymouth colonists, a plan which was foiled when Massasoit (sagamore of the Wampanoag) warned colonial leaders.^[1] Some writers, such as Alvin G. Weeks, believed that Aspinet was confused with Epenow as a member of this plot.^[4] He was succeeded as sagamore by a Nauset man named George.^[5]

Aspinet is named in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1858 poem The Courtship of Miles Standish as a sagamore, alongside Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, and Tokamahamon.^[6]^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Gille, Frank H., ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Massachusetts Indians: Tribes, Nations and People of the Plains Eastern Woodlands. Somerset Publishers. pp. 71–72. ISBN 9780403093304.
^ Heath, Dwight B., ed. (1963). A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth: Mourt's Relation. Cornith Books. pp. 69–71.
^ Deyo, Simeon, ed. (1890). History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts. p. 16.
^ Weeks, Alvin G. (1919). "John Billington lost in the Woods". Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
^ Delucia, Christine (2019). "Terrapolitics in the Dawnland: Relationality, Resistance, and Indigenous Futures in the Native and Colonial Northeast". The New England Quarterly. 92 (4): 572. doi:10.1162/tneq_a_00789. JSTOR 26858281. S2CID 208223635 – via JSTOR.
^ Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1858). The Courtship of Miles Standish – via Wikisource.
^ Tucker, Edward L. (1983). "Longfellow's Bowdoin Dialogue". Studies in the American Renaissance: 94. JSTOR 30227510 – via JSTOR.

[Gille-1999-1] Gille, Frank H., ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Massachusetts Indians: Tribes, Nations and People of the Plains Eastern Woodlands. Somerset Publishers. pp. 71–72. ISBN 9780403093304.

[2] Heath, Dwight B., ed. (1963). A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth: Mourt's Relation. Cornith Books. pp. 69–71.

[3] Deyo, Simeon, ed. (1890). History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts. p. 16.

[4] Weeks, Alvin G. (1919). "John Billington lost in the Woods". Massasoit of the Wampanoags.

[5] Delucia, Christine (2019). "Terrapolitics in the Dawnland: Relationality, Resistance, and Indigenous Futures in the Native and Colonial Northeast". The New England Quarterly. 92 (4): 572. doi:10.1162/tneq_a_00789. JSTOR 26858281. S2CID 208223635 – via JSTOR.

[6] Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1858). The Courtship of Miles Standish – via Wikisource.

[7] Tucker, Edward L. (1983). "Longfellow's Bowdoin Dialogue". Studies in the American Renaissance: 94. JSTOR 30227510 – via JSTOR.

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