Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | Pequots

On May 26, 1637, an English military force, supported by Native allies, attacked a Pequot settlement on the Mystic River in Connecticut, and set it on fire. Almost all the Pequots who escaped the flames were killed by the troops surrounding the village. Six to seven hundred Pequots died. Many Pequots who were not in the village at the time were killed later, and others were enslaved. In 1638 the Pequots were forced to sign a treaty officially dissolving their nation. The English forbade the use of the Pequot name.

Whether this incident was a case of genocide has been the subject of much dispute. Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn include it in their history of genocide. Steven Katz has argued that it was not genocide. Michael Freeman has challenged his argument. The dispute turns mainly on the question of whether the English intent was genocidal. This is difficult to determine, but most of the facts of what is usually called the...