Awashaw

Awashaw was a chief counselor to sachems Pessicus and Ninigret and served as a Narragansett diplomat.  He is regarded by some scholars as “perhaps the most influential non-sachem among the Narragansett or Niantic.”  In 1644, he was a witness to the Narragansett’s treaty with Charles I.  From 1644 to 1645, he was one of several Indian ambassadors who went to Boston to negotiate a peace with the English and the Mohegans.  He had at least one son, whom he offered to deliver as a security for the tribe’s faithfulness to the proceedings.  Awashaw frequently represented both the Narragansetts and the Eastern Niantics before the Commissioners of the United Colonies, and his name appears on several deeds from 1657-1661.  With the Indian Newcom, Awashaw was the owner of a parcel of land called Nisquitianxsett.  Drake, The Book of the Indians, Chapter IV, 77.  Campbell and LaFantasie, Sachems and Sanaps, 115-118.