{{Short description|Niantic sachem and then governor of the Eastern Pequots (c. 1610 – c. 1678)}} thumb|right|Watch Hill in Westerly was part of Garrett's claimed lands thumb|1676 declaration of Harman Garret unto the General Court requesting that his lands, which were usurped by Ninigret, not be taken by conquest by the colonists '''Harman Garrett''' (c. 1610<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldstatesmen.org/US_NativeAM.html|title = United States Native American Nations}}</ref> – c. 1678) (also known as '''Cashawashett''' or '''Wequashcook II''' or '''Herman Garrett''' or '''Harmon Garrett'''<ref>see: Consolidated Index to Plymouth County Records for other variations of these named are also used: Cassawashet, Cashawashed, Caushawashed, Cusawashset, Caushewashett, Cawshawshett, Caushawasett, Caushawashott, Caushawesett, Casshawashet, Coushawashett</ref>) was a Niantic sachem and then governor of the Eastern Pequots slightly east of the Pawcatuck River in what is now Westerly, Rhode Island. His chosen English name (taken by at least 1654) was very similar to that of Herman Garrett, a prominent colonial gunsmith from Massachusetts in the 1650s.
==Early life== Garrett was the son of Eastern Niantic sachem Wepitanock (also known as Momojosbuck or Wettamozo) and his unnamed wife (who may have been a Pequot and died in 1648<ref>LaFantasie at 274</ref>) and the grandson of sachem Saccious.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forest |first=John William De |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNxf4YjU35AC |title=History of the Indians of Connecticut from the Earliest Known Period to 1850 |date=1853 |publisher=W. J. Hammersley |language=en}}</ref> Garrett was also the half-brother of Wequash Cooke, who helped the colonial military to defeat the Pequots during the Pequot War in 1637 before forming marriage alliances with several captured Pequot women. Either Garrett or his brother married the Pequot widow of Tattaopme and became stepfather of Tausquonawhut, the brother or nephew of Sassacus. Tausquonawhut (Tassaquanot) eventually married Ninigret's daughter.<ref>LaFantasie at 311-312</ref> After Wequash Cook's death in 1642, Garrett assumed his brother's name and attempted to assume his leadership role, but his uncle Ninigret contested this because Garrett's mother was not Niantic, making him only half Niantic.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Thatcher |first=Benjamin Bussey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw0TAAAAYAAJ |title=Indian Biography, Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals who Have Been Distinguished Among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable Characters |date=1832 |publisher=J. & J. Harper |language=en}}</ref>
==Involvement with Pequot at Pawcatuck== In the 1640s, Garrett worked with John Mason of the Saybrook Colony to negotiate Garrett's territorial boundaries with the United Colonies and his right to be a leader of some of the conquered Pequots and to some of their former territory.<ref>Acts of Commissioners II, 417</ref> Despite opposition from the Narragansetts and Uncas who claimed he didn't fight the Pequots or pay his proper share of the 1645 indemnity, he began hunting in Pequot territory in 1646, and by 1648 with Mason's support, Garrett formed a small community of Niantics and former Pequots on the west bank of the Pawcatuck River, which was somewhat forced to be allied to Uncas against Ninigret.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from John Mason to the Commissioners of the United Colonies {{!}} Native Northeast Portal |url=https://nativenortheastportal.com/annotated-transcription/digcoll3724 |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=nativenortheastportal.com}}</ref> John Winthrop, Jr. and Robin Cassacinamon briefly held Garrett in 1648/49 on house arrest for unclear reasons, but Winthrop then reversed course and became Garrett's ally and advocated for his Pawcatuck settlement.<ref>Shawn G. Wiemann, ''Lasting Marks: The Legacy of Robin Cassacinamon and the Survival of the Mashantucket Pequot Nation'' (University of New Mexico, Dissertation, 2011) http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=hist_etds</ref> Garrett's personal home was in Pawcatuck, to the north of the modern bridge connecting Westerly, Rhode Island and Stonington, Connecticut.<ref name="Carlton">{{cite journal |last1=Carlton |first1=William R. |last2=Winthrop, Jr. |first2=John |date=September 1940 |title=Overland to Connecticut in 1645: A Travel Diary of John Winthrop, Jr. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/360195 |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=494–510 |doi=10.2307/360195 |jstor=360195 |access-date=23 October 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Around this time, Uncas allegedly paid an Indian named Wampushet to attack another Indian with a hatchet and then to falsely blame Garrett for ordering the attack. Wampushet gave testimony before the United Colonies with Uncas present, but it was unclear who ordered the attack.<ref>Shawn G. Wiemann, ''Lasting Marks: The Legacy of Robin Cassacinamon and the Survival of the Mashantucket Pequot Nation'' (University of New Mexico, Dissertation, 2011), pp. 146-148 http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=hist_etds</ref>
==Governorship of Eastern Pequots== In 1654 Captain Simon Willard led a mission from Massachusetts against Ninigret's Niantics and forced him to turn over control of the Pequots under his jurisdiction to the United Colonies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nativenortheastportal.com/bio/bibliography/willard-simon-1605-1676|title = Willard, Simon, 1605 - 1676 | Native Northeast Portal}}</ref> By at least May 18, 1654<ref>Summary under the Criteria and Evidence for Proposed Finding Eastern Pequot Indians of Connecticut (2000) p. 17 https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/as-ia/ofa/petition/035_easpqt_CT/035_pf.pdf</ref> Garrett had taken the name of former Massachusetts gunsmith Herman Garrett, who had been an associate of Simon Willard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yipp.yale.edu/bio/bibliography/garrett-harman-englishman|title = Garrett, Harman (Englishman) | Native Northeast Portal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HX0FAAAAQAAJ |title=collections of the rhode island |date=1835 |language=en}}</ref> Some Native Americans adopted the firearm related names as "another way for a man to call attention to his martial achievements."<ref>David J. Silverman, ''Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America'' (2016)</ref> In September 1655, the Commissioners of the United Colonies appointed Herman Garrett governor over these Pequots and Niantics (at Pawcatuck and Wekapauge)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nativenortheastportal.com/bio/bibliography/garrett-harman-1678|title = Garrett, Harman, - 1678 | Native Northeast Portal}}</ref> to collect tributes (owed by the Pequots since the Pequot War) and to mediate disputes, and they appointed Thomas Stanton to work with him. In 1661, Massachusetts authorities mediated a territorial dispute between Garrett and his uncle Ninigret regarding the land in and around Westerly.<ref name=":0" /> By 1663 encroachments and land disputes occurred with nearby settlers, causing Garrett to move to Southertowne (Stonington).
==King Philip's War and later life== In 1676 Garrett, Oneco, and Cassasinamon jointly executed Narragansett Sachem Canonchet during King Philip's War, while fighting alongside colonial forces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wheeler |first=Richard Anson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJAsAAAAYAAJ |title=History of the First Congregational Church, Stonington, Conn., 1674-1874: With the Report of Bi-centennial Proceedings, June 3, 1874. With Appendix Containing Statistics of the Church |date=1875 |publisher=T. H. Davis & Company |language=en}}</ref> Garrett's group of Indians were given land in northern Stonington in 1683 after Garrett's death. His will left his property to his son Cattepeset, but Garrett's deputy Mamaho took power after Garrett's death, and a power struggle ensued with Cassacinamon's group.<ref>Pulsifer, ACUCNE, Vol.2 (1859), 283</ref><ref>LaFantasie, The Correspondence of Roger Williams, 324.</ref><ref>Harold M. Chapin, Sachems of the Narragansett (Providence, 1931)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Garrett, Harman, - 1678 {{!}} Native Northeast Portal |url=https://nativenortheastportal.com/bio/bibliography/garrett-harman-1678 |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=nativenortheastportal.com}}</ref><ref>Garrett's will is dated 1677 and states " He leaves all his land and business to his oldest son Cattapesett and instructs him to be faithful to the English despite the consequences he himself has endured in doing so." https://www.indianandcolonial.org/vewebsite/vex4/A822BDE4-B741-46FE-9AB6-168090924526.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604052913/https://www.indianandcolonial.org/vewebsite/vex4/A822BDE4-B741-46FE-9AB6-168090924526.htm |date=2019-06-04 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett, Harman}} Category:17th-century births Category:17th-century Native American leaders Category:Native American people from Rhode Island Category:Niantic people Category:Year of death unknown