The Pequot Massacres

On May 26, 1637, the Mystic Massacre began in the first battle of the Pequot Wars in Connecticut. About 500 Pequot Native Americans were killed by Colonial forces. From the article:

"Few American-history texts mention or discuss the Pequot War of 1636-37 between the Puritans and the Pequot Indians of Connecticut. Neil Asher Silberman argues, however, that it deserves examination. In both its degree of violence and its covetous motivation, this conflict set the pattern of Anglo-Native American relations through 1890. Marked by racial and cultural differences and often fueled by the settlers’ desire for more land, the Indian wars frequently concluded with the near or total extermination of their adversary. Although New England had seen noth­ing like the Pequot War before, the colonists to the south in Jamestown had already tasted the ferocity of the Indians wars when 350 settlers–the entire settlement numbered under 2,000–died from a surprise Indian attack in 1622. In this and in the Indian wars to come, neither side held the patent on brutality."