Pumham, - 1676

Pumham was the Sachem of Shawomet, whose main fortified village was at Warwick Neck, near Providence, Rhode Island.  He had at least two sons, one of which was Cheesechamut.  Under the jurisdiction of the Narragansetts, Pumham's name appears as a witness on Miantonomo's deed of Shawomet to Samuel Gorton in 1642.  The following year he and Soconoco, the Sachem of Pawtuxet, rebelled against Miantonomo by submitting themselves and their lands to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Subsequently, both leaders complained to Massachusetts authorities about transgressions by Samuel Gorton and his followers, and through the Bay Colony's assistance, succeeded in having the Narragansetts renounce any authority over them in 1645.   This did not stop Pumham's problems with English colonists at Warwick.  In 1659 Warwick authorities attempted to arrest him for attempting an insurrection and in 1667 turned to the Royal Commissioners for help in ejecting the Shawomets.  Despite support by John Eliot and Richard Smith, Pumham was ordered to removed from Warwick Neck but he remained there for another decade.  During King Philip's War, Pumham threw his support to Philip's cause.  As punishment, Connecticut troops returning from the Swamp Fight in December 1675 burned his village.  Punham was killed by Captain Samuel Hunting's men on July 25, 1676 at Dedham Woods.  His young son was captured and sent into slavery. "Pomham and His Fort," Rhode Island Historical Society, 10:1 (January 1918), 31- 36.   Pulsipher, Subjects unto the Same King, 26-28.  Alden T. Vaughan, New England Encounters: Indians and Euroamericans, ca. 1600-1850 (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999), 98-100.