Awashonks

Awashonks ( mid-late 17th c.) was a saunkskwa, a female sachem (chief) of the Sakonnet (also spelled Saconet) tribe in Rhode Island. She lived near the southern edge of the Plymouth Colony on Patuxet homelands, not far from Narragansett Bay, In the mid-seventeenth century, English settlers of Plymouth Colony invaded her lands.

Awashonks as sachem Awashonks became a saunkskwa not by inheritance, but through quality of leadership. She was referred to as a saunkskwa, or female chief. During her tenure, she was challenged by both rivals within the Sakonnet as well as English colonists. A boulder was erected in Wilbur Wood, Little Compton, Rhode Island in the late nineteenth century, during a period of romantic settler interest in Awashonks' story stemming from their preoccupation with the myth of the "Vanishing Indian." The engraving reads, "In memory of Awashonks Queen of Sogkonate & friend of the white man."