Roger Williams (theologian)

:For other men named Roger Williams, see Roger Williams.

Relations With Native Americans

Williams's respect for the Native Americans' dignity as men and his willingness to deal with them on a basis of equality won their lasting friendship. He insisted always that any land settled by Europeans should be purchased fairly from the local tribe.

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While in Plymouth he spent much time among the Indians, his "soul's desire" being "to do the natives good." He wrote: "God was pleased to give me a painful, patient spirit, to lodge with them in their filthy, smoky holes . . . to gain their tongue." During his early years in New England, he mastered the language of the natives to a remarkable degree.

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During that time his mediation at the request of Massachusetts prevented a coalition of the Pequot with the Narragansetts and Mohegans. He wrote of this service in later years: "Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequot ambassadors, whose hands and arms methought reeked with the blood of my countrymen murdered and massacred by them on Connecticut River.” Williams served other colonists as a mediator numerous times. When Indian troubles would increase in the colonies, he was called to mediate these difficulties.

Related Topics:
Massachusetts - Pequot - Narragansett - Mohegans - Connecticut River

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