Weetamoe was ruler over the Pocasset Tribe which occupied present-day Fall River, Freetown, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Westport, and Middleboro, MA, and Tiverton, RI, territory to the east of Sowams.
Corbitant was the chief of the Pocasset Tribe under the Massasoit Osamequin when the English arrived in 1620. Though Corbitant was one of the original signers of the 1621 treaty at Plymouth. he was against the English and disagreed with Ousamequin’s alliance with them. By 1623, he was in disgrace on account of his hostility to Ousamequin, and may have died before his eldest daughter, Weetamoe, born in 1633, assumed the leadership over the Pocasset Tribe. [Map by Lisa Brooks]
Weetamoe (above, left and center) had married Alexander (Wamsutta, above right), and he became the Massasoit over all of the Pokanokets after his father, Ousamequin, died in 1661. He and his younger brother, Metacomet, petitioned the Plymouth Court to change their names to Alexander Pokonket and Philip Pokanoket, respectively, As Alexander’s wife, Weetamoe, who also used the names “Tattapanum” and “Nanumpum”) became the squa-sachem of the Pokanoket nation. Her sister, Wootonekanuske, married Philip (Metacomet, Wamsutta’s younger brother).
In 1662, Wamsutta was brought at gunpoint to Plymouth to answer for the crime of selling land to people other than the Plymouth government. While he was there, he became suddenly ill and died (above, left). Weetamoo and Metacom both believed he was poisoned, and they lost faith in the English as allies from that point forward. Metacomet, known as King Philip (above, right), became the Massasoit over the Pokanokets.
After the death of Wamsutta, Wetamoo married Quequequamanchet but left her new husband when he sided with the colonists at the beginning of King Philip’s War. Her next husband Quinnapin, a Narragansett, was a leading warrior in the infamous “Swamp Fight,” where he was captured by the English and put to death. During the war, he and Weetamoe had captured Mary Rowlandson (above, right) and held her captive. At the start of King Philp’s War, Awashunkes decided to side with the English.
In August 1676, an Indian traitor revealed the location of Wetamoo’s camp on the Taunton River, leading to the capture of dozens of her warriors. Though Wetamoe escaped down river, her raft collapsed, and she drowned on August 6th at the age of 44. When the soldiers found the body, she was beheaded. As was the English custom, Wetamoo’s head was displayed on a pole in Taunton. The sight of her head sent captive Native warriors into a frenzy of grief, proof of the love she inspired in her people. [Illustration from Native American Biographies]
Shortly after the war, Plymouth Governor Winslow sold the land to Edward Gray and seven other English men for the sum of £1,200. This was known as the “Pocasset Purchase” (pictured above). The southern portion of the town became known by its native name “Punkateest“. [Sakonet map by Lisa Brooks]
