The Deadly Ambush of John Sassamon

When John Sassamon heard rumors of impending danger for Plymouth Colony, he had to warn them. Sassamon was pivotal in the complicated relationship between colonists and Native Americans. Born in the Massachusett tribe around 1620 when the Pilgrims arrived, Sassamon became a living symbol of the collision of European and ancient American cultures.

Sassamon was mentored in the English language and Christian religion, becoming an interpreter and intermediary between settlers and native people. As an intelligent and eager learner, he was sent to Harvard College. He worked closely with missionary John Eliot to establish communities for Native American Christians and helped translate the Bible into native languages. 

The aging Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader who first formed the alliance with Plymouth Colony, relied on Sassamon as an interpreter and advisor. When Massasoit died, his son Metacom (known as King Phillip) eventually became chief, and the bridge of peace between the two communities fractured even more, with Sassamon caught in the middle. 

In the cold of winter, Sassamon went to warn Plymouth leaders of an impending attack by Metacom, but his warning was dismissed and he was sent home unprotected. On January 29, 1675, John Sassamon was found dead in an icy pond, his neck twisted. A native American said he witnessed three of Metacom's men kill Sassamon. The men were put on trial, and a jury of six colonists and six Wampanoags found them guilty. Their execution ignited one of the bloodiest conflicts on American soil – King Philip's War. 

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“The wicked watched the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.”

(Psalms 37:32; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Heathen English and Godly Indians

Rev. William Leverich was appalled by his fellow Englishmen at Cape Cod, whose behavior was a stumbling block to converting the Wampanoag Indians there. 

September 22, 1651, Leverich wrote to Boston minister, John Wilson, complaining of the shameful lives of colonists who undermined his outreach to Natives, claiming their “rejection of all churches and ordinances” was a “plot of the Devil to undermine all religion.”  

Leverich was a young, educated minister in England when he left to America in 1633. Four years later, he led a group of settlers to establish a community at Sandwich, Massachusetts as part of the greater Plymouth Colony, sixteen miles southeast of Plymouth village. 

Eventually Leverich saw more openness to Christian teachings among the Indians than the English settlers. In his letter to Wilson, he reported he convinced several Natives of their sin, “exhorting them to repentance.” One Indian “fell into bitter weeping,” and another confessed he was bound in sin as “a man tied in cords, and prays to God to be unloosed.” Some became so guilt-ridden over their wrongdoings, their companions wondered what was wrong with them. These newly religious Natives even built a longhouse at Sandwich to stay in when they traveled the several miles to attend day-long church activities each Sunday led by Leverich. 

In 1658 William Leverich relocated again, leading settlers southwest to begin a new community on Long Island. He continued his work as a minister to both English and Native Americans until his death in 1677. 

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“But I favored mine holy Name, which the house of Israel had polluted among the heathen, whither they went.... Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy Name’s sake, which ye polluted among the heathen, whither ye went.”

(Ezekiel 36:21-22; 1599 Geneva Bible)