American Mordecai: Scriptural Allusion and the Work of Remembering in Lion Gardiner’s “Relation of the Pequot Warres”

Lion Gardiner’s “Relation of the Pequot Warres” is a written account of the Pequot War of 1636–38 and its aftermath, up to the date of the text’s composition in 1660. In it Gardiner makes several scriptural allusions, the most extensive of which is his comparison of the Montauk sachem Wyandanch (Waiandance) to Mordecai, the Jewish hero from the book of Esther. Although there are many early modern Protestant references to Mordecai and the Purim story, as well as New English Puritan descriptions of admirable Native American figures, Gardiner’s typological portrait of Wyandanch is remarkable for its enthusiastic embrace of indigenous alliance, as well as its open criticism of a New English political leadership that failed to recognize Wyandanch’s strategic value. Through the figure of Mordecai, who is both loyal servant and national hero, Gardiner could simultaneously pay tribute to Wyandanch and remind readers of his own role in ensuring the colonies’ survival.