Garrett, Harman, - 1678

Harman Garrett, alias Cashawashett or Wequashcook II, governor of Eastern Pequot. Garrett was the son of the Eastern Niantic sachem Wepitanock, and the brother of Wequashcook, the renegade Pequot who led English forces to Mystic during the Pequot War. After Wequashcook's death, Cashawashett assumed his brother's name as well as his leadership, which was contested by his uncle, Ninigret.  In September of 1655, the Commissioners of the United Colonies appointed Garrett governor over a band of Pequots and Eastern Niantics residing at Pawcatuck and Wekapauge and required that he enforce colonial law among them and collect annual wampum tributes from them.  The lands given these bands were a source of continuous controversy, for they were claimed by a number of colonial settlers.  Records reveal that Garrett was continually plagued by problems from encroaching English settlers, which forced him to apply to the courts and commissioners for redress.  In 1663, some local landowners allowed Garrett's followers to plant at fields at Southertowne (Stonington), but this too raised problems as other colonists attempted to evict the Indians once and for all.  Finally in 1683, after his death, Garrett's Indians were settled on land in the northern part of Stonington.  Garrett died around 1678.  He was survived by his son Cattepeset.  Pulsifer, ACUCNE, Vol.2 (1859), 283; LaFantasie, The Correspondence of Roger Williams, 324.  Harold M. Chapin, Sachems of the Narragansett (Providence, 1931).