Weetamoo
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2012) |
 | It has been suggested that this article should be split into articles titled Wenunchus (Weetamoo), Wattimore (Weetamoo) and Tatapanunum (Weetamoo). (discuss) (September 2015) |
Weetamoo | |
|---|---|
| Wampanoag leader | |
| In office 1675–1676 | |
| Preceded by | Corbitant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Namumpum Weetamoo 1635 present day North Tiverton, Rhode Island |
| Died | August 6, 1676 (aged 40–41) Taunton, Massachusetts |
| Cause of death | Drowning |
| Children | Massasoit |
| Nicknames |
|
| Military service | |
| Battles/wars | King Philip's War |
Weetamoo (c. 1635–1676), also referred to as Weetamoe, Wenunchus, Wattimore, Namumpum, and Tatapanunum, was a Pocasset Wampanoag Native American Chief. She was born in the Mattapoiset village of the Pokanoket and died at Taunton River. Her father was either Corbitant, sachem of the Pocasset tribe in present-day North Tiverton, Rhode Island, c. 1618–1630 or Passaconaway, a chieftain in the Pennacook.[1] She had five husbands, the most famous of whom was Wamsutta, the eldest son of Massasoit, grand sachem of the Wampanoag and participant in the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims.
According to the Tiverton Four Corners website, "the squaw sachem, Weetamoo" governed the Pocasset tribe, which occupied today's Tiverton, Rhode Island in 1620. Weetamoo joined "with King Philip in fighting the colonists" in 1680, in King Philip's War, also known as "Metacomet's Rebellion."[2]
Weetamoo's husbands
Weetamoo/Wenunchus was married five times.
- Montowampate, sachem of Saugus, Massachusetts, was the first. He died shortly after their marriage.[1] (However, according to one legend, Weetamoo died before him, having been lost in her canoe on the icy Merrimack River when returning to Montowampate from the home of her father, who is given as Passaconaway rather than Corbitant.[3])
- Chief Wamsutta was second. After his death, his brother Metacom (Philip) became Chief of the Wampanoag. The tribe allied with the English against the Narragansett, but the English broke this treaty. Wamsutta became sick and died during talks with the English. Believing that the English were somehow responsible for his death, Weetamoo and her brother-in-law, Metacomet— Wamsutta's younger brother and husband of Weetamoo's younger sister Wootonekanuske — attacked the English in June 1675. This began the conflict now known as King Philip's War. [citation needed]. Weetamoo is speculated to have had one child with Wamsutta, although the date of birth and name are unknown.
- Quequequanachet was third. Little is known of him.
- Petonowit was fourth. At the beginning of King Philip's War he sided with the English, prompting Weetamoo to leave their marriage.
- Quinnapin was last, grandson of powerful Narragansett sachem Canonicus. He was described as "a handsome warrior". This seemed to be a strong marriage. The pair had at least one child together, who died in 1676.
Eventually, the English defeated the Wampanoag in August 1676. Weetamoo drowned in the Taunton River trying to escape. Her dead body was mutilated, and her head was displayed on a pole in Taunton, MA.[4][5]
She became chief because her father had no sons
Weetamoo's legacy
Weetamoo's adolescent life was made into a children's historical novel in The Royal Diaries series entitled Weetamoo, Heart of the Pocasetts: Rhode Island-Massachusetts, 1653.[6][7]
Weetamoo/Wattimore also appears in print in Mary Rowlandson's The Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Rowlandson, who was captured 1676 and held by Weetamoo's relative Quinnapin for three months, left a vivid description of Weetamoo's appearance as well as personality:
"A severe and proud dame she was, bestowing every day in dressing herself neat as much time as any of the gentry of the land: powdering her hair, and painting her face, going with necklaces, with jewels in her ears, and bracelets upon her hands. When she had dressed herself, her work was to make girdles of wampum and beads."[8]
Weetamoo Woods Open Space in Tiverton, Rhode Island is named after Weetamoo.[9] A 50-foot vessel, Weetamoo, built in 1902, "was named after the daughter of an Indian Chief in John Greenleaf Whittier's poem Bride of Penacook." The vessel served on Lake Sunapee for 25 years before being scuttled.[10] Lowell YWCA Camp Weetamoo is located on Long-Sought-for Pond in Westford, MA.[11][12]
References
- ^ a b Beals, Charles Edward (1916). Passaconaway in the White Mountains. University of Wisconsin - Madison: R.G. Badger. p. 54.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Tiverton Four Corners, A Walking Tour". Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ "Myths and Legends of our Own Land: The White Mountains: The Loss Of Weetamoo". Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ Small, Dan. "What Exactly is a Weetamoo?". Friends of Lynn Woods, Lynn MA. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ Sultzman, Lee. "Wampanoag History". First Nations Histories. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ "An Interview with Patricia Clark Smith about Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets". Scholastic.com. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ "Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets Discussion Guide". Scholastic.com. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ ""A Severe and Proud Dame She Was": Mary Rowlandson Lives Among the Indians, 1675". History Matters. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ "Recreation Department and Open Space Areas". Official Web Site of Tiverton, RI. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ "Lake Sunapee History". Lake-Sunapee-Living.com. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ "The Greater Lowell YWCA, One Hundred Years of Service and Advocacy 1891-1991". University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Lowell History. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- ^ "Walter Cleven Obituary: Walter Cleven's Obituary by the Lowell Sun". Retrieved 2013-04-24.
- Articles to be split from September 2015
- 1635 births
- 1676 deaths
- People from Massachusetts
- Deaths by drowning
- Female Native American leaders
- King Philip's War
- Native American women in warfare
- 17th-century female rulers
- 17th-century Native Americans
- Women in 17th-century warfare
- Wampanoag people
- People of colonial Rhode Island