Matoonas

Matoonas (? - died 1676 in Boston) (also spelled Matonas) was a sachem of the Nipmuc Indians in the middle of 17th century. He played a significant role in the Native American uprising known as King Philip's War.

Early life Matoonas had originally converted to Christianity and became a Praying Indian. He was even made a constable by the colonists of the Praying Indian village of Pakachoog. However, in 1671 his son was accused of murdering an Englishman named Zachariah Smith near the Neponset River in Dedham, and hanged, despite the fact that it was widely known that somebody else was responsible for the crime. After the execution the head of Matoonas' son was placed on display as a warning. When Metacom (King Philip) began organizing an armed movement against the English settlers in New England in 1675, Matoonas willingly joined and convinced other Nipmuc sachems to follow him. In July of that year he led a raid on the town of Mendon, which decided Nipmuc participation in the war on the side of Philip. Mendon was the first colonial settlement in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to be attacked during King Philip's War.

Execution Matoonas was betrayed and turned over to the English in Boston in autumn 1676 by another Nipmuc sachem. Most colonial sources list the name of the one who gave betrayed him as "Sagamore John," or "Chief John". In 1677 Rev. Thomas Cobbett wrote an account of the War stating that "Capt. John Jerthoag a Nipmuk Sagamor came in and some with him, and presently after fetched in old Matonas and his son, 120 more, which I think was before the thanksgiving day," and "Jerthoag" has been interpreted by Drake as meaning, "Jethro," possibly a family member of Nipmuc leaders Peter Jethro and Old Jethro. Some sources give the original Native American name of this person as Horowaninit, Schultz and Tougias state in their work on the King Philip's War however, that "...Muttawmp and Shoshonin, who had delivered Matoonas to the English, likewise fell victim to Waldron's treachery and were executed by firing squad at Boston." Matoonas' betrayer either volunteered to execute him personally, Matoonas' head, like his son's before him, was presented on a pole outside of Boston as a way to terrorize other Indians who supported King Philip.