ENDICOTTS IN THE MILITARY PART I – U.S. MILITARY By William T. Endicott © Copyright William T. Endicott 2019. Non-commercial use of this information is authorized.

Special Thanks

A number of people, all Endicott Family Association members, helped me put this book together and I’d like to thank them here. First, is former EFA President Gordon Harmon. As an expert on the Endicott family, a retired career Army officer, and a genealogist, he gave me many insights about how to look for material. Another former EFA President, Teddy Sanford, gave me a lot of help, especially on the migration of Endicotts to the Midwest. But I’d really like to single out a third EFA member, Kyle Elwood, who repeatedly provided me with many sources that were easy to turn into stories, thus saving me countless hours of work. Many others contributed to individual stories and their names are mentioned in the sources for each story.

Of course, any mistakes in this work are my own and not the fault of the above-mentioned persons. This is still a work in progress, and I encourage readers to send me corrections and additions.

Table of Contents ENDICOTTS IN THE MILITARY PART I – U.S. MILITARY.................................................. 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4

Pyramid of Honor ...................................................................................................................... 6 Migration of the Endicott Family in America ................................................................................ 9 The Pequot War ........................................................................................................................... 13

Puritans and Indians ................................................................................................................. 13 How the War Unfolded ............................................................................................................ 13 Endicotts in the Pequot War .................................................................................................... 14

Colonial Militia ............................................................................................................................ 33 Endicotts in the Colonial Militia .............................................................................................. 35

King Philip’s War ........................................................................................................................ 37 Endicotts in King Philip’s War ................................................................................................ 39

French and Indian War ................................................................................................................. 41 Endicotts in the French And Indian War ................................................................................. 42

American Revolution ................................................................................................................... 43 Endicotts in the Revolutionary War ......................................................................................... 46 Migration of Endicott family ................................................................................................... 54 Other Endicott Descendants in the Revolutionary War ........................................................... 57

War Against the Barbary Pirates .................................................................................................. 58 Endicotts in the Barbary Pirates War ....................................................................................... 58

War of 1812 ................................................................................................................................. 62 Atlantic Theater ....................................................................................................................... 64 Endicotts in the War of 1812 ................................................................................................... 65 Special Unit of Endicotts ......................................................................................................... 75 Other Endicotts in war of 1812 ................................................................................................ 77

First Sumatran Expedition ........................................................................................................... 79 Blackhawk War ............................................................................................................................ 82

Endicotts in the Blackhawk War.............................................................................................. 82 Mexican War ................................................................................................................................ 83

Endicotts in the Mexican War .................................................................................................. 85 Other Endicott Descendants in the Mexican War .................................................................... 87

Civil War ...................................................................................................................................... 89 Abolitionists ............................................................................................................................. 89 Costs of the War....................................................................................................................... 90 Hallek versus Napoleon ........................................................................................................... 92 Destruction of the Southern Economy ..................................................................................... 94 Nature of the Union Army ....................................................................................................... 95 Immigrants and Blacks in the Union Army ............................................................................. 96 Researching Civil War Soldiers ............................................................................................... 97 Endicotts Who Served in the Civil War on the Confederate Side (12) ................................. 104 Variant Spellings (3) .............................................................................................................. 112 Endicotts Who Served on the Union Side (109) .................................................................... 115 Variant Spellings (9) .............................................................................................................. 219 Other Endicotts (2) ................................................................................................................. 230

Secretary of War: William Crowninshield Endicott (November 19, 1826 – May 6, 1900) ...... 234 Salem Light Infantry .............................................................................................................. 234

W.C. Endicott, Secretary of War ........................................................................................... 239 Descent from John Endecott .................................................................................................. 244

Spanish-American War .............................................................................................................. 247 Pacific Theater ....................................................................................................................... 247 Cuban Campaign .................................................................................................................... 247 Endicotts in the Spanish-American War ................................................................................ 248

Philippine-American War .......................................................................................................... 252 Endicotts in the Philippine-American War ............................................................................ 255

World War I ............................................................................................................................... 256 Effects of the War on the U.S. ............................................................................................... 257 The American Army in WWI ................................................................................................ 258 Endicotts in WWI .................................................................................................................. 261 Others Endicotts Serving in WWI ......................................................................................... 302

Banana Wars .............................................................................................................................. 308 Endicotts Serving During the Banana Wars .......................................................................... 308

World War II .............................................................................................................................. 311 Island Chains and Battles ....................................................................................................... 314 U.S. Merchant Marine ............................................................................................................ 318 U.S. Bombing Campaign ....................................................................................................... 319 What ‘s the right name for the US Air Force in WWII? ........................................................ 319 The War in Europe ................................................................................................................. 321 US Bombing Campaign ......................................................................................................... 323 Endicotts in World War II...................................................................................................... 324 Variant Spellings .................................................................................................................... 436 Other Endicott Descendants in WWII: .................................................................................. 449

Cold War .................................................................................................................................... 486 Endicotts Serving During the Cold War ................................................................................ 491 Variant Spellings .................................................................................................................... 494 Other Endicott Descendants Serving During the Cold War: ................................................. 494

Korean War ................................................................................................................................ 496 Endicotts Serving During the Korean War ............................................................................ 500 Variant Spellings .................................................................................................................... 519 Other Endicotts in the Korean War ........................................................................................ 521

Vietnam War .............................................................................................................................. 522 Intense Controversy ............................................................................................................... 523 Endicotts Serving During the Vietnam War .......................................................................... 528 Variant Spellings .................................................................................................................... 554 Other Endicott Descendants in the Vietnam War .................................................................. 554

Gulf War .................................................................................................................................... 559 Endicotts Serving During the Gulf War ................................................................................. 560 Variant Spellings .................................................................................................................... 560

War in Afghanistan .................................................................................................................... 562 Endicotts Serving in Afghanistan .......................................................................................... 562

Iraq War ..................................................................................................................................... 566 Endicotts in the Iraq War ....................................................................................................... 567 Variant Spellings .................................................................................................................... 570

Introduction This volume is Part I of Endicotts in the Military, being a collection of stories about American Endicotts, most of whom served in this country’s armed forces. In two cases, however, they were Americans serving in allied armies. And in three wars (the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War), they actually fought for enemies opposing the United States.

Another volume, Part II of Endicotts in the Military is about non-American Endicotts who fought in foreign militaries, namely the militaries of Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. Like the American Endicotts, many of these foreign Endicotts were in famous battles, ranging from Trafalgar in the Napoleonic Wars, to Sevastopol in the Crimean War, to the Somme, Jutland, Gallipoli and Vimy Ridge in WWI, to the fall of Singapore, D-Day, and the bombing campaign in Europe in WWII.

Although great efforts have been made to make accurate statements, the book is not meant to be the last word in professional scholarly or genealogical research but rather to be simply readable accounts for family members to enjoy and a “database” to stimulate further research. Needless to say, the book is directed at those who may have a special interest in military history: the Endicotts have certainly played a large role in it.

Part I begins with Governor John Endecott and his military duties in the Pequot War. It also includes soldiers in the American Revolution, on both the American and British side (including Moses Endicott on the American and John Endicott on the British side); to high-ranking officers (Admiral Mordecai T. Endicott); and even a Secretary of War (William C. Endicott).

Part I describes Samuel Endicott’s service in the war against the Barbary Pirates (the WWII destroyer USS Endicott was named after him). It also lists more than 130 Civil War veterans, several of whom were killed, one who escaped from a Confederate prison camp, several who were Confederates — and even two African-American Endicotts (Joseph Endecott and Henry Clay Endicott).

During WWI, two Endicotts (David Endicott Putnam and Thorndike Endicott), enlisted in the French military before the U.S. got into the war. David later switched to the American Air Force, won the Distinguished Service Cross, and was America’s leading fighter ace before being shot down and killed. Burtis A. Endicott won not one, but two Distinguished Service Crosses fighting in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that helped to end the war. Lt. Colonel Francis Cassius Endicott won the Silver Star in WWI.

More than 250 Endicotts fought in WWII. At least one Endicott and maybe more were at Pearl Harbor, including Ronald B. Endicott, who was killed aboard the USS West Virginia. Another, Joseph W. Endicott, was on Midway Island on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese shelled it, too.

Endicotts served in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force (the Air Force was part of the Army then), the Marines, and even the Merchant Marine (Gerald Endicott). For example, Thomas Alvan Endecott was a waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber, was shot down, became a German POW, and lived through a death march to survive the war. Leslie D. Endicott fought in North Africa and in Italy. Leslie J. Endicott was killed in the battle of the hedgerows after the D-Day landings, and George W. Endicott, a Marine, was killed on Iwo Jima. Another Marine was James Endicott, who fought on Saipan. Another relative, Endicott Peabody, served on the submarine USS Tirante during World War II, won the Silver Star, and was later elected

Governor of Massachusetts. The destroyer USS Samuel Endicott, commanded by Medal of Honor winner John D. Bulkeley, sank three German ships during the invasion of southern France. And if that weren’t enough, the Endicott-Johnson shoe company made all the footwear worn by all U.S. military personnel in WWII.

Several Endicotts served in the Korean War, including Marine Milton C. Endicott, who was killed in the Punchbowl, and the destroyer USS Endicott, which had also served in WWII.

A number of Endicotts served In Vietnam, including “Tal” Endicott, a helicopter Gunner, and his brother, George W. Endicott, who was an intelligence analyst there and later became the mayor of Redmond, Oregon. Four Endicotts (Danny G. Endicott, Franklin D. Endicott, Michael L. Endicott, and West Point graduate Richard L. Endicott) were killed in Vietnam.

George Woodhull Endicott was an Army medic in the Gulf War and was deployed three times to Iraq. Brian R. Endicott battled the Taliban in Afghanistan, where another Endicott, Joshua Endicott, was awarded the Purple Heart. Marine Nicholas Endicott served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, was blown eight feet in the air by an IED and died as the result of taking Seroquel cocktails as a treatment for PTSD. Ryan Endicott, also a Marine, served in Iraq but was so disillusioned by the war that he became an anti-war activist.

Altogether, as of this writing, more than 600 Endicotts have served in 21 American wars. (More than 300 others have been identified as serving in the militaries of foreign countries – see Part II.)

They’re not all men, either. For example, in World War II, at least four Endicott women enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). They were: Elizabeth Endicott, Genevieve M. Endicott, Ruth E. Endicott, and Violet M. Endicott. Betty J. Endicott served as WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). A sixth woman, Delilah B. Endicott, was a civilian who was captured by the Japanese in Manilla and thrown into a Japanese prison camp.

The book also includes some Endicott descendants whose surname is not Endicott. They are every bit as much descendants of Governor John Endecott as those who bear the Endicott surname, it’s just that they descend from maternal lines. And while I cannot hope to capture all of them in this book or even many of them, it did seem reasonable to include the few I knew about to at least represent all the others. So, for the few cases like this that I know about, I have simply included them in the book.

All of these stories are just samples of the kinds of things Americans have gone through in defense of the United States, but as seen through the eyes of one family.

As a sidelight, the stories parallel the peopling of America, in that they show how the Endicott family started out in New England during the colonial period but then moved in succession to New Jersey, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Indiana and then from Indiana to all over the United States: to the Pacific Northwest, for example, or to California, or even to the deep South by the time of the Civil War.

In short, a family that started out in Massachusetts and saw one wing become “Boston Brahmins” has now become America writ large.

Some observations. First of all, this book would not have been possible without the Internet – the general internet, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS), Ancestry.com, or Fold3, for example. It’s amazing how much information is on it these days, if only you know where to look. The bulk of Parts I and II of this book was assembled in three years of pretty constant research. The internet may not be the last source you should depend on, but it can be the first. At lot of it is free, too, although the best sites are often subscription sites, such as Ancestry.com. In many cases it was possible to use internet sources to supplement information contributed by Endicott family members themselves.

A second observation is how vast the Endicott family is in America and in English-speaking countries around the world. This volume deals with just those Americans who served in the military. Think of how many thousands of other family members there are who aren’t mentioned here at all because they weren’t in the military. The numbers grow even larger when you include those Endicott descendants who don’t have Endicott as a surname. That’s what happens when a family has been in a country for 300 years and many generations have a member or two who has 5 to 10 children. Also, when you have that many descendants, it also means that there is probably someone who has done just about anything you can imagine.

And lastly, a study of the Endicott family, even if it is just those who served in the military, is a fascinating way of seeing the vast scope of American history, and even to some extent the history of the British Empire (in Part II). What otherwise might be too big to fully grasp becomes a bit more manageable and personal when seen through the eyes of one family, in just one connection, military service.

A note on how Part I is organized. With one exception, each chapter in the book represents a war in this nation’s history. Starting with the American Revolution, the chapters are broken into two main sections. First there is a piece about the war in question and a listing of the key battles in the war, so that the Endicott involvement can be put in context. Then, there is a listing of all the Endicotts that we know of who have served during that period, with stories about each where we have them.

Pyramid of Honor The following are the U.S. Military’s major awards for valor and outstanding achievement that are still in existence today and many of which Endicotts have won. They are listed in order of precedence, with a brief history of each, plus the Endicotts who have won them.

MEDAL OF HONOR. Begun in the Civil War with the Navy medal first and the Army shortly thereafter. No Endicotts have won it.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS (Navy Cross and Air Force Cross are co-equal). The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is the second only to the Medal of Honor as highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. It was first established during WWI by Act of Congress on July 9, 1918, although at that time it was also made retroactive to events as far back as the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902). WWI: two Endicotts won Distinguished Service Crosses. They are Burtis A. Endicott

(see below) who won two DSCs and David Endicott Putnam (see below), who won one. Less than 7,000 DSCs were given out during WWI. Burtis A. Endicott was one of only several dozen servicemen (out of 4.7 million who served during the war) to received two

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awards_and_decorations_of_the_United_States_militaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_ArmyLaurie ThomasHere’s a link to a particular source: https://valor.defense.gov/Portals/24/Documents/ServiceCross/ArmyDSC-WWI.pdf

Distinguished Service Crosses (Source: https://valor.defense.gov/Portals/24/Documents/ServiceCross/ArmyDSC-WWI.pdf)

SILVER STAR. The Silver Star didn’t exist before 1918, and it didn’t assume its current form until 1932. On July 9, 1918, Congress authorized the wearing by Army personnel only of a small silver star, three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, on the service ribbon of a campaign medal, to indicate "a citation for gallantry in action.” Known in the Army as the "Citation Star," the award was made retroactive as far back as the Spanish-American War in 1898. On Aug. 8, 1932, Congress authorized the redesign of the Silver Star into the medal we have today, and recipients of the Citation Star then had to apply to get the new medal. The following Endicotts have won the Silver Star: WWI: Francis C. Endicott (see below) WWII: Endicott Peabody (see below; his skipper won the Medal of Honor for the same

engagement) Vietnam: Richard Leroy Endicott (below).

LEGION OF MERIT. The Legion of Merit, created by Act of Congress on July 20, 1942, is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct while performing outstanding services and achievements. It is typically awarded to officers and to a lesser degree senior enlisted personnel, in command or very senior staff positions. Vietnam: John E. Endicott (see below)

BRONZE STAR. The Bronze Star was established by President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order of February 4, 1944 and it can be awarded for either combat or non-combat action, but in the case of the former, a combat “v” is worn on the service ribbon for the medal. Vietnam: John E. Endicott (see below) Gulf War: George Woodhull Endicott won 2 of them (see below)

PURPLE HEART. The Purple Heart stems from the Badge of Military Merit, a cloth badge in the shape of a purple heart devised by George Washington for meritorious service in the U.S. Revolution. But Washington awarded only 3 of them and the award was forgotten. However, a version of the Purple Heart was revived by Executive Order of President Herbert Hoover in 1932 on the 200th anniversary of Washington’s birth as an award for military personnel wounded or killed in action. Application for those personnel who had been wounded or killed in WWI had to be made in order for them to get the medal retroactively. The following are just some of t the Endicotts who have won it: WWI: Burtis A. Endicott (see below); David Endicott Putnam (see below); Murray

Endicott Hart (see below). WWII: George William Endicott (see below); Ronald B. Endicott (below); Warren H.

Endicott (below); William Endicott Huntley (see below); Endicott Peabody (below); Lawrence Robert Endicott (see below); Leslie David Endicott (see below); Leslie J. Endicott (see below).

KOREA: Milton Charles Endicott (see below) VIETNAM: Danny Endicott (see below), Franklin David Endicott (see below), George

Wayne Endicott (see below), Michel Lee Endicott (see below), Richard Leroy Endicott (see below).

AFGHANISTAN: Joshua Endicott (see below), Nicholas Lewis Endicott (see below)

https://valor.defense.gov/Portals/24/Documents/ServiceCross/ArmyDSC-WWI.pdfLaurie ThomasTeddy Sanford Sr won one?

In order to put this in context, Table 1 shows the number of various Medals awarded from WWI through Iraq:

Table 1. Number of Medals Issued by the U.S. Military to U.S Servicemen in Various Wars

WWI WWI Korea Vietnam Afghanistan Iraq Medal of Honor

124 464 135 247 6 4

Distinguished Service Cross

6,309 5,000 800 1000 10 15

Navy Cross 1,658 3,645 246 485 ? ? Silver Star ? ~100,000 20,000? 24,000 ? ? Purple Heart 320,518 1,075,245 118,650 351,794 7,027* 36,321* * As of June 5, 2010

Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor

• http://www.history.navy.mil/medals/navcross.htm

• http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/04_SS/3_Korea/01_main.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honorhttp://www.history.navy.mil/medals/navcross.htmhttp://www.homeofheroes.com/members/04_SS/3_Korea/01_main.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_HeartLaurie ThomasCan we update this and give a source?

Migration of the Endicott Family in America There are two things to bear in mind about the Endicotts in America. First of all, there are many different spellings of the name, including Endacott, Endecott, Endicott, Enticott, Indicut, etc. (In fact, Kyle Elwood says that there are dozens of variant spellings going back to the Middle Ages.) So, in this book, where the name Endicott is mentioned, it really means all members of the family with the various spellings, not just the spelling Endicott. The second thing to bear in mind is that not all Endicotts in America descend from Governor John Endecott; there are multiple lines here. For example, according to Charles M. Endicott, Esq, of Salem, Massachusetts, writing in 1847, in The Endicott Family:

It is the general impression that all having this name in this country are descended from Governor Endecott. This is a mistake. There were families of “Indicotts,” distinct from his, residing in Boston and its vicinity, some time previous to 1700. The two names probably had the same origin, though so different in orthography. Of these there was a “John Indicott,” warden of King’s Chapel, and a man of some consequence in 1691; “Gilbert Indicott,” yeoman, of Dorchester, born in 1658; and a “William Indicott,” They appear to have been brothers, and contemporaries of Governor Endecott’s grandchildren but could not have been derived from him.

Indeed, they were brothers and not derived from the Governor. But they were nephews, or more precisely, half-nephews of John Endecott. Ted Sandford, former President of the Endicott Family Association, has explained how this happened in his article Out of the Mists of Times Past. According to Ted, Governor John had a half-brother (believe it or not, also named John), who lived from January 30, 1616 and died on February 24, 1683, and this half-brother was the father of the aforementioned John, Gilbert, and William.

According to Ted, after this John (baptized in 1642) came to America, he owned an inn near Boston and was also a cooper (i.e., a barrel-maker). He became the Junior Warden of King’s Chapel in Boston in 1698-1699 and the Senior Warden in 1699-1700. This is the evidence that the family line he came from had remained loyal to the Church of England, unlike Governor John, who was a Puritan.

Gilbert (1648-1716) fought in King Philip’s War (see below). After the war, he lived successively in what is Maine today, then Dorchester, Reading, and Canton, Massachusetts, where he died.

William (1658-1709) may have come to Boston like brother John, but he moved to Canton, Massachusetts area. He was also an innkeeper. He is believed to be buried in the King’s Chapel cemetery like his brother. Here is evidence of yet another Endicott line, Ronald Burdette Endicott, who was killed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 (see below). His ancestor, James M. Endicott, came from England around 1820, and the line in America is documented after that. Here is yet another Endicott line in America: the Reverend John Endacott (1865-1934), who was born in Devon, England, emigrated to America, and by 1887 was a Methodist preacher in Eudora, Kansas.

In addition to these lines, a lot of Endicotts emigrated to Canada, and some of them might have subsequently come to the United Sates. On the other hand, it’s also likely that descendants of the Governor immigrated to Canada. Take, for instance, John Endicott, who fought for the British Queen’s Rangers in the American Revolution (see below). He appears to have been born in the American colonies, fought for the British, and then had to flee the country when Britain

http://endecottendicott.com/out-of-the-mist-of-times-past-pdf/http://endecottendicott.com/out-of-the-mist-of-times-past-pdf/Laurie ThomasCan we get this in eletronic form? https://www.worldcat.org/title/endicott-family/oclc/181160446?referer=di&ht=edition

Charles M. Endicott, "The Endicott Family," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 1 (October 1847), pp. 335-342.

lost the war. To complicate matters even further, it may be that some people assumed the name Endicott when moving to Devon from another place and are not really Endicotts at all, and then had descendants move to America. This information comes to us in the form of a note on a genealogical chart written by a John Endacott (1840-1924), dated 1898. On the bottom, right of the chart is this message:

Foot-note: the following paragraph explains what appears to be an intermarriage. The original and several copies of the document from which this paragraph is taken, are now held by various members of the family. To understand fully, one needs to know the conditions at Chagford, England, where the ancestral home of the Endacotts is located and where there are many people by that name, today. Outsiders coming into the settlement often took the name of Endacott, for along with the name would go certain privileges in that particular community. The two families of Endacotts united in 1832 were before that distinct lines. John and Jane held the Gidley Mill and Greber estates from their families for 300 years. Edward and Jane came from the North of England and settled in Exeter during the French War in 1814, as a "Smith" and about 1830 bought land at Dockham near Moreton, where he followed the life of a farmer and where James and Susan met each other. The land he bought is called "Manavers"; he also farmed "Coswick" and "Hill", two farms in the parish of Moreton, Hamstead, at the same time. "The other branch of Endicotts, into which Susan Maria married, should more properly be called Hannaford, but they chose to adopt the name Endicott, about 1848. No one but myself could have furnished these particulars. "Signed John Endacott, dated June 1898"

So, while it's likely that there are multiple separate non-Governor John Endecott lines in the U.S., not enough is known about this at the present time to speculate as to what percentage of the Endicotts in America descend from these other lines. However, it also seems probable that these lines and Governor John Endecott are related in the more distant past. This is because in almost every case, whether it be Endicotts in the U.S. military, or Endicotts in the militaries of Australia, Britain, Canada or New Zealand, they all trace back to the area around Devon, England.

Having said all this, it is safe to say that the Endicott family in America began in Salem, Massachusetts, with the arrival of John Endecott in 1628. He was the first (and only) Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company residing in America and then later the longest-serving Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to Charles M. Endicott (1793 –1863) writing in 1847, the spelling of the surname Endecott in John Endecott’s immediate line was changed from Endecott to Endicott in 1724, although other lines may have changed it at other times or not at all.

(Charles Moses Endicott was educated at the Phillips Andover Academy and then had a seafaring career. In 1831, his ship Friendship was captured in a famous incident by pirates in Sumatra, but he was able to attack the pirates later and get it back again. He wrote a 76-page story about the incident called Sumatran Pirates and the Friendship (1831): A True Tale of Piracy and Pepper that was published in 1856. He is also the father of Ingersoll Bowditch Endicott (see below), a Union soldier in the Civil war – see the Civil War chapter.)

We know more about the Governor John Endecott line than any of the others. Some of John’s descendants moved successively to New Jersey by 1700; to North Carolina by 1759; to Kentucky by 1786; to Indiana by 1815, and after that to Missouri, especially Clay County,

http://endecottendicott.com/books/sumatran-pirates-and-the-friendship-a-true-tale-of-piracy-and-pepper/http://endecottendicott.com/books/sumatran-pirates-and-the-friendship-a-true-tale-of-piracy-and-pepper/Laurie ThomasDo we have a copy of this for linking and proofreading?

before the Civil War. Colonies of Endicotts exist in all of those places to this day. From there, the clan dispersed all over America, with a group migrating as far as to the Pacific Northwest and others to Louisiana (probably Missouri Endicotts going down the Mississippi River prior to the Civil War) and to California.

Endicotts owned slaves in Missouri, and an African-American by the name of Alvin Eugene Collins is a descendant of one of those Clay County Endicotts, Lewis Endicott (1793 – 1858), a descendant of Governor John Endecott, and one of Lewis’s slaves. Alvin is alive today and a member of the John Endecott Family Association.

Here is an “up close and personal” look at some of the people involved.

Governor John Endecott had two sons, John, Jr. and Zerubbabel. But only Zerubbabel had children, so it is thought that a plurality of Endicotts in the United States today descended from John through Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel had 10 children, so there was a lot of “descending,” too. Since it is thought that most Endicotts in America descend from one of these lines, it’s worth mentioning the names of the children of Zerubbabel Endecott and Mary Smith here:

John Endecott (b. 1657) Samuel Endecott (b. 1659) Zerubbabel Endecott (b. 1664) Benjamin Endecott (b. 1665) Mary Endecott (b. 1667) Joseph Endecott (b. 1672, Salem, Mass.; d. 1747, Northampton, Burlington County, New

Jersey) Sarah Endecott (b. 1673) Elizabeth Endecott (b. 1675) Hannah Endecott (b. 1676) Mehetabel Endecott (b. 1677) In 1698, Zerubbabel’s son Joseph left Massachusetts and settled in Northampton, Burlington County, New Jersey. Joseph had married a Quaker (a member of the Religious Society of Friends) and become a Quaker himself. Since his grandfather, Governor John Endecott, had hanged some Quakers in his day, Joseph’s religious conversion may have had something to do with his decision to leave Massachusetts.

In 1759, Thomas Endicott, grandson of Joseph, moved to Surrey County, North Carolina, just on the border between Virginia and North Carolina.

His eldest son was named Moses, and Moses fought in the American Revolution (as described in the American Revolution chapter below). An affidavit signed by Moses indicates that he was born in Burlington County, New Jersey in 1759, the same year that his father moved the family to North Carolina.

Thomas wrote that after the Revolution, he moved the family a second time (in 1786), this time to Kentucky, and Moses went with them, as did Moses’s son Joseph, who was only two years old at the time.

And then, shortly after 1799, his first wife having died, Thomas moved a third time, this time to Posey County, Indiana. In 1814, Thomas returned to Kentucky to marry his second wife and at some point thereafter went back to Posey County. While the exact date of his return to Posey County is not known, it is known that he died there and that his will was dated October 1827.

It is also known that on September 1, 1815, Moses’s son, Joseph, grandson of the aforementioned Thomas, left Harrison County, Kentucky for Posey County, Indiana.

After reaching Indiana, other Endicotts went on to Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oregon, Colorado, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and California.

The Pequot War The Pequot War (1636-1638) was between the Pequot Indian tribe and an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies, who were aided by their Indian allies, the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. About 700 Pequots were either killed or captured in the war, with those captured being forced into slavery. This decimated the Pequots. More than 300 years later, however, a branch of the Pequots, the Mashantucket Pequots, regained some economic and political power through the establishment of a gambling casino called Foxwoods in Ledyard, Connecticut that opened in 1986.

Puritans and Indians The Pequot War and the much worse King Philip’s War that came later (see below) were the unintended but probably inevitable outcome of the Puritan (and Pilgrim) attitude towards the Indians they encountered. It wasn’t racist, though, because the Puritans believed the Indians were not a separate race, but instead white men whose skin had been darkened by the weather. Furthermore, Puritans strongly suspected the Indians were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel; and while the Devil might have gotten hold of them temporarily, they deserved to be saved.

The original Puritan task, therefore, was not to exterminate or enslave, but to civilize and convert. Conversion was especially important to the Puritans because it would be the first step in extending true Christianity to a new community.

So, the Puritans made sincere efforts in the early years (i.e., from 1628 to 1675) to treat the Indians equitably. That meant entering into treaties with them that the Puritans upheld, enrolling some Indians at Harvard College, putting Indians on juries in trials that had Indian litigants, and actually executing Englishmen who murdered Indians. This compared favorably to what was happening in other English colonies like Virginia, for example, where there was constant warfare staged by greedy colonists not encumbered by religion who were interested only in acquiring land.

It all changed, however, as a result of King Philip’s war in 1675-1676, and Puritan policy towards the Indians then became similar to other English colonies’ policy: intermittent warfare along an advancing frontier; confinement of Indians to reservations; debasement and even enslavement of Indians.

How the War Unfolded In the 1600s, the Pequots were competing with other Indian tribes as well as with English settlers for control over the Connecticut River Valley.

In 1634, John Stone (an Englishman who had been kicked out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) was killed, along with seven of his men, by a branch of the Pequots. These Indians said that they thought he was not English, but Dutch and that one of their men had been murdered by the Dutch. Colonial officials demanded that the Pequots turn over to them the Indians who had killed Stone, but the Pequots refused.

On July 20, 1636, the Massachusetts trader John Oldham and several of his crew were killed off Block Island by Narragansett-allied Indians who were trying to discourage the colonists from trading with their rivals the Pequots. But the Narragansetts were able to fool the colonists into thinking that the perpetrators were being protected by the Pequots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pequothttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saybrook_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narragansett_(tribe)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moheganhttps://www.mptn-nsn.gov/tribalhistory.aspxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Oldham_(colonist)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_Island

This and other actions of the Pequots that the colonists disapproved of produced calls for action against them; and in August 1636, Massachusetts Governor Henry Vane sent John Endecott on a mission of revenge against the Pequots. After a small raid, he returned to Massachusetts.

In retaliation for the raid, from late 1636 to 1637, the Pequots raided Connecticut towns, killing or capturing about 30 people. In response, the colonists dispatched John Mason with 90 militiamen and 70 Mohegan Indians, enemies of the Pequots, to punish the Pequots. Mason was joined by 20 more men led by John Underhill, and they staged a surprise attack on the Pequots.

Furthermore, on May 26, 1637, Mason, with a force of about 400 colonists and Narragansett and Niantic Indians, surprised and massacred several hundred Pequots at Mystic, Connecticut.

In mid June, Mason led yet another attack, this time with 160 colonists and 40 Mohegan Indians, and killed or captured 180 more Pequots near present-day Fairfield, Connecticut. This broke the Pequot tribe, and the captives were either sold into slavery in the West Indies or given as slaves to the Indian allies of the colonists.

Endicotts in the Pequot War John Endecott (1588 - March 15, 1665) John was not only the first and longest-serving Governor of Massachusetts, he was, of course, the main progenitor of the Endicott family in America. (According to Charles Endicott, writing in 1847, John’s great-grandson, Samuel Endicott, changed the spelling from Endecott to Endicott in 1724, which is the earliest known such spelling in America. However, a probate record for Throwleigh, Devon, England shows that the spelling existed in England at least as early as 1620).

Unfortunately, not much of John’s early history is known with certainty, even including his birth year. It has traditionally been given as 1588, an auspicious year since it was the year of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. But today some historians say this cannot be documented for sure, although a majority believe it is true. The fact that the year of his death is sometimes given as 1664/5 is more simply explained; it refers to differences between the old Julian calendar and the modern Gregorian calendar that came into use in 1582. The year to the left of the slash is the Julian calendar date and the year to the right of the slash is today’s Gregorian calendar date.

During all of his years in the colony but one, John held some form of important civil, judicial, or military high office in Massachusetts. He also held important posts representing the colony as part of the New England Confederation, a military union of several New England colonies, and all of this has led some, such as William Bentley (1759-1819), the noted Salem, Massachusetts minister, scholar, columnist and diarist, to say “Above all others he deserves the name of the father of New England.” Joseph B. Felt (1789-1869), born in Salem and arguably Salem’s first professional historian, also called him “The father of New England.” Thus, it is important to realize that criticized as he often is today for being a religious fanatic who hanged four Quakers, John’s actions continuously earned the approval of the people he represented.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Confederation

The “Commonwealth Portrait” of Governor John Endecott in the Massachusetts State House (Courtesy Massachusetts Arts Commission)

Original Portrait of John Endecott, before restoration, thought to have been done in 1665, the last year of his life (Courtesy Massachusetts Arts Commission)

Original Portrait of John Endecott, after restoration by John Hartmann in 2015 (Courtesy Massachusetts Arts Commission)

Origin of John Endecott

In the nineteenth century, it was thought that John Endecott came from Dorset. Then, during the twentieth century, it was thought to be neighboring Devon, and today at least one historian feels we can’t be sure which of the two it is.

In 1901, the distinguished English historian Sir Roper Lethbridge (1840-1919), wrote a 31-page booklet called Hands Across the Sea: The Devonshire and Early Homes of the Family of John Endecott, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, 1629. In this booklet Lethbridge wrote:

Before leaving England he was a follower and disciple of a notable pastor of Dorchester, the Rev. John White; and for this reason he has sometimes been spoken of as a Dorsetshire man, and the family founded by him in America, that has held a most distinguished position there both in Colonial and in Republican times, as Dorset folk. As a matter of fact, there can be no doubt whatever that Governor Endecott came from the well-known tin-mining family, whose name was variously spelt Endicott, Endecott, and Endacott, that owned tin-mines and other lands in Chagford, Throwleigh and Moreton-Hamstead, and belonged to the Stannary of Chagford.

Lethbridge also spoke with the same assurance about the immediate family of John Endecott, identifying a John Endecott (1541-1635) as the Governor’s grandfather and Thomas Endecott (ca 1660 - 1631) as the Governor’s father., saying this was “practically certain.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roper_Lethbridgehttp://endecottendicott.com/books/hands-across-the-sea-the-devonshire-ancestry-and-early-homes-of-the-family-of-john-endecott-governor-of-massachusetts-bay-1969/http://endecottendicott.com/books/hands-across-the-sea-the-devonshire-ancestry-and-early-homes-of-the-family-of-john-endecott-governor-of-massachusetts-bay-1969/

Lethbridge goes on to say that

…the young John in early life came under the influence of the great Puritan divine, the Rev. John White, of Dorchester, and that ultimately he became, probably on this account, alienated from his grandfather, and was disinherited by him. Perhaps for the same reason he fought for the Protestant religion against the Spaniards in the Low Countries, and after his return very probably married Anne Gower.

Based on this, Chagford now has a large building named Endecott House. And in fact, if you look at the graveyard in Chagford today, you will see many Endicotts there, although the name is spelled Endacott.

Lethbridge was an Oxford graduate, an academic, civil servant in India, a Member of British Parliament, and a British Knight. He was also a president of the Devonshire Association, and said he explored correspondences with 300 people to gather information on John Endecott, and the correspondence was given to Exeter University College at Oxford University. So, Lethbridge’s credentials seem to be in fine order.

However, in his 1995 book, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Robert Charles Anderson of the New England Historic Genealogical Society disputes the Lethbridge findings. According to this research, John may have been born in or near Chagford, but there is no firm evidence for it, nor is there evidence that identifies his parents. Anderson concludes that John was probably born no later than 1600.

Difference Between Puritans and Pilgrims

Many people ask what was the difference between these two groups, both of whom disagreed with the Church of England, and both of whom emigrated to America for religious freedom, but who then maintained separate settlements for many years in Massachusetts.

Simply put, the Puritans like John Endecott at least nominally wanted to reform the Church of England from within, while the Pilgrims thought that was hopeless and chose to live outside of it. At first, the Pilgrims emigrated to the Netherlands, which was more tolerant of their views. But as the years went by and their children became more and more Dutch, the Pilgrims feared they might face eventual extinction if they remained there. On top of this, they feared (correctly) that that the truce in the Eighty Years' War was ending and that Spain might take an antagonistic attitude toward them.

Consequently, in 1620, the Pilgrims sailed to America on the Mayflower and founded the colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and it existed separately from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for 71 years: that is, for 26 years after the death of John Endecott. During this period, it never had a royal charter. Although for many years Massachusetts and Plymouth were separate colonies, some Endicotts from Massachusetts married Plymouth colonists and thus their descendants stem from both.

In 1691, however, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony was reorganized as the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth ended its history as a separate colony and was absorbed into Massachusetts Bay.

http://endecottendicott.com/books/the-great-migration-begins-immigrants-to-new-england-1620-1633-volume-i/http://endecottendicott.com/books/the-great-migration-begins-immigrants-to-new-england-1620-1633-volume-i/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Historic_Genealogical_Societyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years%27_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Bay_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Massachusetts_Bayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Massachusetts_Bay

The Title “First and Longest-Serving Governor”

Of the two, the title “longest-serving” is the easiest to document. Some people say that Michael Dukakis was the longest-serving Governor of Massachusetts, serving from 1975-1979 and then again from 1983-1991: a total of 12 years. But this is true only if you ignore the period of Massachusetts history when it was a colony under royal charter, the period when John Endecott was Governor. John served 16 years, and he also won more public elections to that office than anyone in history: 15 (he was chosen by a small board to the office for his first year). This was facilitated by the fact that the governor served a one-year term then, not a four-year term as today.

The following are the 16 years that John Endecott served as Governor, both chosen by the Company board (1 year) and popularly elected (15 years):

1629-1630 = 1 year 1644-1645 = 1 year 1649-1650 = 1 year 1651-1654 = 3 years 1655-1665 = 10 years Total = 16 years

The title “first governor” is more complicated. Actually, three men can claim the title “First Governor of Massachusetts”: Matthew Cradock, John Endecott, and John Winthrop. In 1628, a group of seven men, including John Endecott, came together to form “The New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts” and elected Matthew Cradock as Governor. The men were primarily Puritan merchants interested in setting up a trading settlement in the New World. They had received a grant of land in America from the Plymouth Council for New England, then the umbrella organization overseeing English colonization in North America between 40 and 48 degrees latitude.

But Cradock governed only in England. These seven men also chose John Endecott to sail to America on June 28, 1628 to establish the trading company there, and he took about 50-100 people with him. The area he organized was already occupied by settlers of the failed Dorchester Company, some of whose backers also participated in the New England Company. This group of earlier settlers, led by Roger Conant, had migrated from a settlement on Cape Ann (near present-day Gloucester, Massachusetts) after it was abandoned.

The settlement John and his settlers organized was first called Naumkeag after the local Indian tribe but was renamed Salem in 1629.

In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Company acquired a royal charter from King Charles I, in order to guarantee its grant against other claims, and chose Endecott as the first Governor actually serving in Massachusetts, while Cradock continued to be Governor of the Company in London. In other words, both Endecott and Cradock were not elected in a public election, the way governors are today, but by a small group, the way corporate officials might be. Also in 1629, about 300 more people emigrated to Massachusetts, making the total under John’s charge now about 350-400. A copy of the royal charter was also brought to him at this time. So, at this point, John was the appointed Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company, with a copy of the royal charter (but not the original) in hand to prove it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Cradockhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Council_for_New_Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Council_for_New_Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorchester_Companyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Planters_(Massachusetts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Conant_(Salem)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Annhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Annhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucester,_Massachusetts

In August 1629, amidst rising religious persecution of the Puritans in England, the Company recognized that not only could Massachusetts be a profitable trading company, it could also be a haven for Puritans to escape to for purely religious reasons. Accordingly, the Company reorganized so that the original royal charter could be sent to Massachusetts and there would be only one Governor, the one residing in Massachusetts.

The Company also chose John Winthrop as the new Governor, and he arrived in Massachusetts on June 12, 1630, bringing with him the original copy of the royal charter and between 700- 1,000 new settlers and took over from John Endecott. Thus, Winthrop was the first of governor of a new entity now called Massachusetts Bay Colony, as opposed to Massachusetts Bay Company. Shortly after his arrival, Winthrop also moved the capital of the Colony from Salem to Boston. In the ensuing decade, 16,000-20,000 settlers emigrated to America due to the turmoil in England and this became known as the “Great Migration.”

Thus, up to this point, Winthrop had been chosen the same way Cradock and Endecott had been, by a small board and not in a public election. In 1631, however, the system changed so that instead of being chosen by the seven men of the Company, Winthrop became the first Governor of Massachusetts to be elected by the people he actually governed in America. (Later, John Endecott was also elected Massachusetts Governor in this way – more than anyone in history.)

On top of this, Winthrop was a wealthy Cambridge University graduate and a deep religious thinker and writer. He made famous the phrase “A city upon a hill,” to describe the ideals to which the colonists should strive, which U.S. Presidents have since cited to prove American exceptionalism. He also wrote a history of Massachusetts in the 1630s and 1640s. For all these reasons, some people call John Winthrop the first Governor of Massachusetts.

Historian Joseph Felt, however feels differently. On page 106 of his Annals of Salem, he talks about a May 28, 1629 letter from the Company to John Endecott and says it was directed to”:

“Captain Jo: Endecott Esquire, Gouernor,” and others of his council. This address is thus particularly quoted in order to notice an error of rank. Various authorities have placed Mr. Winthrop, as first in the series of magistrates for our commonwealth. But the same body, who conferred on him this station, did so no less previously for Mr. Endicott. Besides the latter was alike empowered by the Dorchester patentees, before the former had a connection with the settlement of this soil. The rule, which required John Carver to be accounted Governor of Plymouth colony prior to William Bradford, gives Mr. Endicott similar precedency to Mr. Winthrop. The quotation just made from the Company’s letters shows that they who elected both of these gentlemen had no doubt but that such order of rank should be observed. True, these worthies, conversant with realities far above those of earth, cherish no anxious thoughts on this question. Still, mistakes in the record of their temporal honors should be corrected and stand out on the page of history.

Another way to put it is that John Endecott was the first and only Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company, the pioneer plantation which preceded the transfer of the whole Massachusetts government from Old England to New England and as such he must always hold a unique place in Massachusetts history. He then went on to be elected to the governorship more than anyone else in history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalismhttp://endecottendicott.com/books/annals-of-salem/

Much has been written elsewhere about John’s general activities as Governor; but since space is limited here, we focus now primarily on his military service.

The Title “Captain”

It has traditionally been thought that John had some kind of military experience prior to coming to America, and that is why he is often referred to as Captain Endecott. For example, one of the major historians who perpetuated this notion was Samuel Eliot Morison, who in his Oxford History of the American People said, referring to the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Company”:

Under a stout soldier named John Endecott, this group settled Salem. This would be similar to Captain Miles Standish, say, whose military record is documented and who was hired by the Pilgrims as military advisor to help settle the Plymouth colony.

As we can see above, Sir Roper Lethbridge, alluded to the title Captain in Hands Across the Sea. But the only source he gives for John being a captain is an 1847 paper in the “New England Historical and Genealogical Register,” vol. I., page 335, where it says:

It is also stated that Governor John Endecott – who is always styled ‘Captain’ in the early American records – had probably held the rank of Captain when fighting against the Spaniards in the Low Countries, and his corselet had evidently been preserved at Drewston, for it was appraised at £1 in the inventory of the household effects of John Endecott, senior.” Other than this, there is no direct corroborating evidence of any prior military service for John and specifically for the story that he fought the Spanish in the Netherlands prior to coming to America.

However, there is more circumstantial evidence. When the matter was put to David Trim, Director of Archives. Statistics and Research, General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, and a world authority on Puritans serving in the “States Army,” that is, the Dutch army in their war of independence against Spain, he deemed the story “plausible.” He said it was quite common for leaders of Puritan settlements to have been veterans of the Dutch war for Independence.

According to Trim, though, it is unlikely that John was a Captain in the States Army (as opposed to an ensign, lieutenant, or NCO, say) because Trim has a database of hundreds of English soldiers serving in that army and there is no John Endecott listed there. But he adds:

Thus, while I have never come across an Endicott serving in the Netherlands, that certainly does not mean that he did not. In fact, given that perhaps a majority of the early officials in both Virginia and Massachusetts had some experience serving the Dutch and/or the Huguenots, on the face of it, it is plausible. What one can say is that almost certainly he had not been a captain in Dutch pay. He may have served in the Netherlands either as a gentleman volunteer or an ensign, lieutenant, or indeed an NCO, since in this period gentlemen very often served as corporals and sergeants.

Trim goes on to say:

As to whether he might be called "captain" if he hadn't been a captain, the answer is, probably not. The key would be when he first is called that in sources. If after he arrived in the New World, then it might simply be that he had been appointed (or elected)

http://endecottendicott.com/books/oxford-history-of-the-american-people/http://endecottendicott.com/books/oxford-history-of-the-american-people/http://endecottendicott.com/books/hands-across-the-sea-the-devonshire-ancestry-and-early-homes-of-the-family-of-john-endecott-governor-of-massachusetts-bay-1969/http://endecottendicott.com/books/hands-across-the-sea-the-devonshire-ancestry-and-early-homes-of-the-family-of-john-endecott-governor-of-massachusetts-bay-1969/https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-trim-a09b2515/Laurie ThomasCan we get a link to this document? Is this the Charles M. Endicott document?

captain of the local militia. If he is called captain before that, then he might have been a captain in the English trained bands (the militia), or possibly in Ireland - or, of course, in the Netherlands.

It turns out there is evidence that the title Captain was first used in England. For example, we have the 1629 letter below from page 89 of Joseph Felt’s Annals of Salem, a legal document referring to John as a Captain:

GENERAL COURT IN LONDON April 30 They order that thirteene of such as shalbe reputed the most wyse, honest, expert and discreete persons resident upon the said Plantacon shall haue the sole managing and ordering of the gouerment and our affairs there, who to the best of their judgments are to endeavor soe to settle the same, as may make most to the glory of God, the furtherance and advancement of this hopeful Plantacon, the comfort, encouragement and future benefit of vs and others, the beginners and presecutors of this, soe laudable a worke. The said thirtene persons soe appointed, to bee entytled by the name of the Gouernor and Councell of London’s Plantacon in the Mattachusetts Bay in New England. And having taken into due consideracon the merit, worth and good desert of Capt. John Endecott, and others lately gone over from hence with purpose to resyde and continue there, wee haue with full consent and authoritie of this Court and by ereccon of hands, chosen and elected the said Capt. John Endecott to the place of present Gouernor of our said Plantacon.

That is not the only document using the term Captain. There is a February 28, 1628 bill of lading for John’s trip to the New World, including some of the people on the trip:

“… besides ye charge of Capten John Endecott, his wife….” Another document is the May 28, 1629 Second General Letter of Instruction from the Council of London Planters in Massachusetts Bay that refers to John as Captain, appoints him governor of the plantation at Salem, and directs him to undertake the military organization of the trading post and settlement.

In sum, because the title Captain is used to refer to John before going to America, David Trim believes that John did, indeed, have some kind of military experience prior to coming to the New World and that the only question remaining is what kind of military service.

Surviving in America

When John and his small group arrived in Naumkeag, their first task was to convince Roger Conant and his small band of settlers who were already there that Endecott’s authority ought to now prevail. This was done; and to commemorate the peaceful transfer of power, the name Naumkeag was changed to Salem, the Hebrew word for peace.

The next task was simply to survive. Many were sick from the voyage to America and indeed, John’s first wife, Ann Gouer, was among those who died in the first year. As far as military preparedness goes, the only thing the group accomplished was to provide local security in and around their dwellings. It was fortunate that, at this early stage, the Native American population

http://endecottendicott.com/books/annals-of-salem/Laurie ThomasWhere is this document. Can we have a copy on the Web site?

remained passive. In fact, for the first two years of the colony, the militia was only used for defense.

Winthrop Arrives With Soldiers

When John Winthrop arrived in 1630 to take over the Governorship of Massachusetts Bay, he brought with him over several weeks about 1,000 new settlers and two men with documented military records, John Underhill (1597-1672) and Daniel Patrick (1605-1643). Underhill had served as a cadet in service to Prince William, the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands. Patrick had served as a common soldier in the Prince of Orange’s Guard.

These two men were charged by Winthrop to “instruct the men of the new colony in military tactics and direct any warlike operations which might be necessary in defense of the settlement.” This has led some, such as Teddy H. Sanford, Jr. to conclude in his article The Military History of John Endecott that Winthrop would not have done this had John Endecott been an experienced soldier. On the other hand, in 1634, John was nominated to be one of the seven military commissioners for the colony.

John Endecott Defaces the King’s Colors

In 1634, Charles I, the King of England, tried to force the Puritans in Massachusetts to celebrate the ceremonies of the Church of England. John, being a staunch Puritan, opposed the Church of England because he thought it was too much like the Catholic Church. Furthermore, since mixing religion, soldiering, and politics, as was common at that time, John may have been inflamed by the fiery eloquence of the Puritan preacher Roger Williams, to the point that John ordered that the Cross of St. George in the colonial banner be defaced because, as he put it, it “savored Popery.”

Even though Governor Winthrop was a good friend of John Endecott’s, Winthrop explained why something had to be done to punish John: “Much matter was made of this, as fearing it would be taken as an act of rebellion, or of like high nature, in defacing the king's colors; though the truth were, it was done upon this opinion, that the red cross was given to the king of England by the Pope, as an ensign of victory, and so a superstitious thing, and a relic of Antichrist."

In other words, Winthrop sympathized with his friend’s actions, but he knew he had to do something official to punish John, lest the King do something drastic, such as revoking the colony’s charter. It must be remembered that this was a period of religious turmoil in England, with Charles having married a Catholic and supporting the Catholic-like Church of England in one camp, and the Puritans who opposed the Catholic Church in another other camp.

So, a committee of four magistrates was convened to consider John’s act, and they found "his offence to be great, namely rash and without discretion, taking upon him more authority than he had. . ." and John was barred from holding any public office for one year, thus showing the King that it was not the colony’s intent to revolt. After this one year, however, John was elected to high office again and again.

Furthermore, following John’s actions, Massachusetts standard bearers were given permission to devise any kind of flag they wanted, and, without exception, they removed the red cross of

http://endecottendicott.com/the-military-history-of-john-endicott/http://endecottendicott.com/the-military-history-of-john-endicott/Laurie ThomasTried to restrict emigration to conforming churchmen?

Laurie ThomasWhat source do we have for this information? The Charles Moses Endicott book?

St. George from their flags and for the next 50 years, the flag of Massachusetts Bay was a red rectangle with an unadorned white square in the upper left hand corner.

Since this flag has become known as the “Endicott Flag,” and is one of the oldest personal ensigns in America today, it is worth explaining in more detail what the flag looked like because there have been several misconceptions.

The Endicott Flag

Unfortunately, however, there is no definitive contemporary statement as to exactly what the colonial flag in question looked like either before or after defacement, and one can only guess. The traditional guess – but not the only guess -- is that it was the red British naval ensign with the red cross of St. George in a white square in the upper left-hand corner. So, tradition is that when John cut out the cross, what was left was a blank white square on a red banner, which has become known as the “Endicott flag.”

The problem, however, is that we don’t know with certainty what the background color of the flag in question was, and we know from a contemporary account that only “a piece” of the cross was removed, not the whole cross. So, it may be that the immediate result of John’s handiwork did not entirely resemble what has come to be known as the Endicott flag. However, it is known with certainty that what John did expressed a commonly held feeling at the time that the red cross of St. George smacked of popery and thus should be removed from the Massachusetts flag, which it was.

This act of defacing the flag became a legend in the early history of the United States, especially since the noted author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), who was from Salem, Massachusetts., wrote a story about it in 1837, called John Endecott and the Red Cross. Hawthorne had been deeply influenced by Salem historian Joseph B. Felt’s Annals of Salem. Hawthorne’s story ends like this:

With a cry of triumph, the people gave their sanction to one of the boldest exploits which our history records. And for ever honored be the name of Endicott! We look back through the mist of ages, and recognize, in the rending of the Red Cross from New England's banner, the first omen of that deliverance which our fathers consummated, after the bones of the stern Puritan had lain more than a century in the dust.

There is one more story associated with the defacing of the King’s colors, one having to do with the sword that John supposedly used to do it.

In 1935 William Crowninshield Endicott willed both the sword and the original portrait of John Endecott to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which finally got the items in 1941; and for many years, they publicly displayed the sword (but not the portrait).

http://endecottendicott.com/books/annals-of-salem/Laurie ThomasNeed to put a copy of the story on the Web site.

In his 1924 Memoir of Samuel Endicott, William C. Endecott, Jr. says this about the sword :

The portrait has been handed down from the oldest son to the oldest son through nine generations as well as the sword with which the Governor cut the cross out of the King’s colors.

In 1991, however, thinking it might be interesting to make copies of the sword for himself and a few relatives, William T. Endicott asked Massachusetts about the authenticity of the sword. But he abandoned the project after Massachusetts informed him that a noted expert, Walter J. Karcheski, Jr (died 2006), said the sword had been made sometime in the 1700s and thus could not possibly have been used by John Endecott. In other words, the vaunted sword was a fake. Today, Massachusetts still has the sword, but it has been removed from public display and banished to a storeroom out of sight. It is noted that the sword clearly resembles the German Hirschfänger design, a short sword used to dispatch wounded deer, and which first appeared in the mid-17th century.

Illegitimate Son

On pages 67-70 of his 1936 John Endecott: A Biography, author Lawrence Shaw Mayo lays out the case that John Endecott had an illegitimate son, also named John, sometime prior to 1628 when Governor John came to America. It raises interesting speculation as to whether there could be any Endicott descendants from this line. Here are excerpts from what Mayo wrote:

…John Endecott must have experienced days of introspection when his mistakes present and past weighed heavily on his mind. On such occasions his gloomy thoughts sometimes took him back across the Ocean to Old England and focused now and then upon a small boy, named John Endecott, who was growing up there. That boy’s existence was due to an amorous episode in earlier years of which Endecott was now ashamed….

And then Mayo quotes a letter by John showing how he contributed £40 to the maintenance of this child:

Dear Sir: I was bold formerly to address one letter unto you concerninge one Roger Dandy in Shooe Lane, at the Cockpitt yard. The business I doubt not you know, and myselfe ashamed to write of. I beseech you according to my former request, which is the same I make you now againe, that you will be pleased to end that business: you shall receive 40£ of Mr. Emmanuel Downing, Esq., one of the Attorneys of the Court of Wards, or more if it be needful. If you can agree cheaper, I shall think my selfe much bound unto you. Onely I would not by any meanes have this boy sent over: Mr. Peter hath taken order for the money. If there be any thing wherein I may doe you service here, I shall not be backward. The Lord in mercie keepe you, to whose blessed protection I commit you and rest You much obliged ffriend To command Jo: Endecott

http://endecottendicott.com/books/memoir-of-samuel-endicott-with-a-genealogy-of-his-descendants/http://endecottendicott.com/books/john-endecott-a-biography/Laurie ThomasDo we have a copy to proofread these passages? Don’t have a link to an electronic copy on the Website.

I pray you call for a writing of Roger Dandy it is a deede of sale of a house now fallen into my hands Salem the 25th of 10th moneth

At the bottom of the page, Mayo says Dr. Reed made the following notation:

“Re febr. 16th 1635 -- answeared the 2d of May 1637.” And finally, Mayo adds this:

Thirteen years later – in March, 1650/1 – a man named John Endecott died in Barbados. It has been conjectured that this was the person who as a “poore boy” had been so much on the mind of John Endecott of Salem in New England in the early years of the Bay Colony.

(Note. The following confirms Mayo’s statement. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, January 1913, page 369, has this entry:

From the Registers of Christ Church Parish 1650 John the son of John Indicott buried 6 March [1650/1] )”

Would having an illegitimate son be a big obstacle to John Endecott being chosen to head the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Company in Massachusetts, or being elected by his constituents many times later? Here is what Dr. Francis Bremer, Professor Emeritus at Millersville University of Pennsylvania and an expert on the Puritans, had to say about it:

There is no provable answer to those questions, but my gut feelings based on lots of years studying these folk are: 1] people knew of the transgression. Certainly there is little evidence that Endecott tried to hide it — he named the child after himself, he made a point of working through intermediaries to take care of the youth, and he preserved copies of the correspondence (which made it to the Massachusetts Historical Society for Mayo to use). 2] what was important to the puritans was not the transgression but repentance. At the core of their beliefs was the acknowledgment that all men were sinners and unworthy of God's grace. Even after a "born-again" sense of God's caress they knew they were far from perfect and would stumble. Winthrop in his diary, Thomas Shepard in his autobiography, and numerous other Puritans recorded examples of their transgressions. John Cotton's son had a number of sexual affairs with members of his congregations and yet was eventually forgiven and ended his life in the ministry. So given Endecott's repentance and efforts to serve God in New England I don't think knowledge of an illegitimate son would have precluded his being elected.

When asked whether this ironically means that society today is probably more prudish on this score than the Puritans were, Bremer agreed:

I think that American society has become more prudish and more unforgiving about sexual offenses than seventeenth century New Englanders. The modern stereotype about the Puritans is a mistaken image that evolved at the height of the Victorian era and reflected Victorian morality. You could be censured or excommunicated from the church for sinful behavior and yet still vote and hold office. This isn't to say that Puritans didn't have high moral standards, but they accepted themselves as sinful, which

http://endecottendicott.com/books/the-new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register-vol-67-january-1913-classic-reprint/http://endecottendicott.com/books/the-new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register-vol-67-january-1913-classic-reprint/

was the point I was trying to make…and his rehabilitation was clearly sufficient for him to marry a cousin of Matthew Cradock, who was not only to be head of the Massachusetts Bay Company but a prominent London merchant. So, the point here would be that whatever rehabilitation was done it was accomplished before he was sent to Massachusetts to head the colony.

From August 11-15, 2014, William T. Endicott, the author of this book, found himself in Barbados and attempted to research the John Endecott who had died there. Not only did William find records at the Department of Archives in Black Rock, St. James Parish, indicating that a “John Indicott” (note the difference in spelling from what Mayo had) had indeed died there in 1650/1, the records state that this man’s father was also named John Indicott, which has led some to think this was Governor John Endecott. William also saw the original Christ Church parish graveyard where this John Indicott was buried. The actual grave, though, had been washed out to sea long ago. Finally, William found that this John Indicott was married and had a son, also named John, and even two grandchildren, all of whom lived in Barbados. The records showed no other Endicotts living in Barbados after that, though.

So, in sum, while William found that there was indeed a John Indicott living in Barbados and that he was the right age and name to have been the illegitimate son of the Governor, William found no evidence either proving or disproving the theory.

Touching off the Pequot War

While John Endecott didn’t participate in the main part of the Pequot war, a raid he maide in 1636 was what started it. In August 1636, Massachusetts Governor Henry Vane placed John Endecott at the head of a force and ordered him to make an amphibious landing on Block Island and kill all of the Indian men there and take captive the women and children.

The attack was nominally punishment for two separate killings of English traders, John Stone and his 7-man crew in 1634, and John Oldham in July 1636. Pequots were held responsible for both.

But these events occurred in a larger context, the decades-long struggle for control of modern-day Connecticut between the aggressive and expansionist Pequots and two groups of European settlers, first the Dutch and then, the New England Puritans and Pilgrims.

Through the use of diplomacy, coercion, intermarriage, and warfare, by 1635 the Pequots had exerted their economic, political, and military control over the whole of modern-day Connecticut and eastern Long Island and, in the process, established a confederacy of dozens of tribes in the region.

But this was an uneasy confederacy because some of the subservient tribes resented their Pequot masters. When English settlers from Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth moved to Connecticut, some of these subservient tribes saw allying with them as a way to get out from underneath Pequot control.

This was the combustible situation that John Endecott entered into when attempting to carry out Governor Vane’s orders.

Captain John Underhill, who was a part of the Endecott raiding party, later wrote an account of it, in 1638, called Newes from America. He describes a raiding party of “100. well appointed

http://endecottendicott.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/News-from-America-underhill.pdf

Souldiers under the conduct of Captaine Iohn Hendicot.” He goes on to say that when Underhill and an advance team of “dozen armed souldiers” approached the shore, suddenly “50. or 60. able fighting men” appeared and let fly a barrage of arrows at the intruders, striking one of them in the neck.

Underhill himself received an arrow through his coat sleeve an another in a glancing blow to his helmet. He says the English were not able to return fire until they got up on the shore, but when they finally did discharge their muskets, the Indians fled. He does not say that anyone was killed in this landing, either Indian or English.

Meanwhile, he says,

“Colonell Hindecot made to the shore, and some of this number [of Indians - ed] also repulsed him at his landing, but hurt none.”

The account goes on to say that the English broke in to separate groups on shore and one of them, unable to find any Indians, “burnt and spoyled both houses and corne in great abundance.” Another group exchanged fire with some Indians, and Underhill reports that one Indian was killed.

Later, Underhill reports about more burning of houses, cutting down of corne and “destroyed some of their dogges instead of men.”

All told, Underhill says the English killed 14 Indians over several days “& maimed others.”

John Endecott had also been ordered to raid the Pequot harvest stores near the mouth of the Thames River, demand that the killers of John Oldham be turned over to him, demand a payment of 1,000 fathoms of wampum, and demand that some Pequot children be turned over to him as hostages.

Underhill reports that when the Pequots saw the English approach, they sent an “Ambassadour” to enquire why the English had come. After hearing the above, the Ambassadour admitted the murder of John Stone, but said he had it coming for some previous misdeed, plus the Pequots thought he was Dutch, not English.

The English did not accept this explanation, claiming the Pequots knew full well the difference between an Englishman and a Dutchman and demanded the murderers be turned over to them. The Ambassadour said he would take the message back to discuss with others.

After a period of time, the Englishmen determined the Pequots were stalling, and destroyed the Pequot village and seized its crop stores.

Underhill concludes this portion of his report as follows:

No Indians would come neere us, but runne from us, as a Deere from the dogges but having burnt and spoyled what we could light on, wee imbarqued our men, and set sayle for the Bay, having ended this exploit came off, having one man wounded in the legge; but certaine numbers of theirs slaine, and many wounded…”

Thus ends John Endecott’s part in the Pequot War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_River_(Connecticut)

On December 13, 1636, the Massachusetts General Court divided the Massachusetts militia into three regiments, appointed John Endecott Colonel of one of them, the East Regiment – Salem, that included the areas of Salem, Saugus, Ipswich, and Newberry. Some have cited this as John being the first commander of the National Guard, but in order not to interrupt the flow of this narrative, the matter will be addressed in more detail in the Colonial Militia chapter below.

By 1637, John’s 1636 expedition against the Pequots had provoked a larger war with the Pequots, but one in which John himself had no further role. The tribe, which had already been significantly reduced in size due to the smallpox epidemic of 1633, was defeated and scattered. Many were also captured and sold into slavery or were given as slaves to tribes allied with the colonists. Remnants of the tribe survived and can be found in parts of Connecticut to this day.

New England Confederation

In military terms, the next few years were quiet for John, although rumors of war with the Indians led to the formation in 1643 of the New England Confederation, in which John played an important role. The Confederation was designed to facilitate united action by the New England colonies against common external threats as well as internal matters such as dealing with escaped slaves and fugitives from justice.

English Civil War

Fallout from the English Civil War, which began in 1642, also permeated Boston during John’s tenure and led to a sort of military action on John’s part. Two ships, one with a Royalist captain, the other with a Parliamentarian captain, arrived in Boston at the same time, and the Parliamentarian sought to seize the Royalist ship. After much deliberation, John's councils essentially supported the Parliamentarian position. Thus, the Parliamentarian was permitted to seize the Royalist vessel, and the colony also began seizing other Royalist vessels that came into port.

Governorship and Role in Militia

In 1645, Thomas Dudley was elected governor of Massachusetts and John, as a consolation, was made Sergeant-Major General, that is, given command of the colonial militia, reporting to the governor, a position he retained until 1649 when he was elected Governor ag