Making War and Minting Christians: Masculinity, Religion, and Colonialism in Early New England

Chapter 4. “If he is Fat and Sleek, a Wife is Given to Him”

z 57 c h a p t e r 4 “If he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him” Colon i a l ma r r i age practices suggest some of the ways in which manhood was juxtaposed with womanhood. Marriage served—along with its other emotional, familial, economic, diplomatic, and religious dimensions—as an arena for masculine accomplishment. Instead of a comprehensive treatment of the various marital practices in colonial New England, however, I focus particular attention on two elite marriages—one English and one Native—to further consider the importance of honor, exchange, and hospitality to Indian masculinity.1 Written early in the history of the English colonization of New England, Emmanuel Altham’s brief description of the celebrations in Plymouth Colony commemorating the April 14, 1623, marriage of the widower Governor WilliamBradfordandthe recentlywidowedAliceSouthworthoffersanintimate view of Anglo-Indian interaction before European settlers flooded the region.2 Reflecting religious views in Plymouth, the Bradford-Southworth marriage was a civil contract rather than a religious sacrament. Though the evidence is lacking, the bride’s home appears to have been the typical location for a wedding ceremony. In English practice, feasting and celebration followed the wedding, but New England wedding celebrations tended to be more restrained and, for the most part, were not common until the middle to late eighteenth century. The Bradford-Southworth wedding thus appears 58 y chapter 4 have been something of an exception.3 Perhaps the scale of the celebration had something to do with the diplomatic nature of the gathering, which included the Pokanoket sachem Massasoit and one of his wives as well as a sizable contingent of warriors.4 Indian understandings of hospitality and exchange powerfully shaped the festivities. In 1623, the Plymouth colonists and Massasoit’s Pokanoket followers needed one another. Plymouth’s early existence turned on Indian assistance in procuring food and securing trade contacts, among other things. Massasoit did not visit the settlers with such kindness because he was naive or foolish. Rather, the Pokanoket leader hoped to use his trade and diplomatic ties with the English colonists to further his own ends.5 The 1623 wedding celebrations reflected this context. Neither the settlers nor the Indians could have known the eventual extent of English colonization and the impact of settlement on Indian communities. This wedding took place in an earlier time, when both the Plymouth colonists and the Pokanokets hoped to use one another to further their respective interests; hence the wedding observance served both to celebrate the couple’s union and to address diplomatic concerns. It was an occasion where divergent Native and Anglo-Americanunderstandingsofhospitality,comportment,andmarriage emerged. TheIndianpresencehelpedshapethecourseofthecelebration.Responding to Bradford’s invitation, the powerful Pokanoket sachem Massasoit, his primary wife (termed a “queen” in Altham’s account), four other sachems, and some 120 warriors arrived in Plymouth. (The Pokanokets no doubt remembered the site as Patuxet, as it had been home to an Indian village prior to the devastating 1616 epidemic.) The large size of the Pokanoket leader’s party well illustrated his power and ability to muster significant numbers of warriors, while also displaying respect for the Governor, as marriage remained an important transition for Indians and colonists alike.6 When the Pokanokets arrived, the settlers “saluted them with the shooting off of many muskets and training our men.” The account is silent as to how the Indian men reacted to the greeting. The men “training” may have appeared odd to the Indian warriors, who did not use regular formations or other practices integral to English-style warfare. Maybe they found such a performance, with its focus on group rather than individual displays of martial prowess, a special form of European foolishness. Regardless, the English denied the Indians an opportunity to reciprocate with similar displays of their own, as “all the bows and arrows was brought into the Gover- “If he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him” z 59 nor’s house” before the wedding, presumably for safety’s sake.7 Given the importance to Indian manhood of hospitality and individual displays of martial excellence, the warriors may have been slighted by the insult of not being allowed to present an analogous show of military prowess. More ominous was the fact that they had been forced to surrender their arms, whereas the English presumably enjoyed having guns within easy reach, should the occasion arise. (Or, it may...