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John Sassamon, also known as ''Wussausmon'' (in Massachusett), was born circa 1620.〔Kawashima, Yasuhide. ''Igniting King Philip's War: The John Sassamon Murder Trial''. (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2001), 76.〕 He became a Christian convert, a praying Indian who helped served as an interpreter to the colonists, . In January 1675, Sassamon was assassinated. A mixed jury of colonists and Indian elders convicted and executed three Wampanoag men for his murder. These events helped spark the conflict known as King Philip's War, in which the English defeated the Wampanoag and ended armed resistance by the Native Americans of southeastern New England. == Early life and education == John Sassamon was a Massachuset, born at the Massachuset, Punkapoag Plantation to Punkapoag parents.〔John Eliot's Journal.〕 Historians believe that he was then raised in the home of Richard Callicot, where he may have been indentured.〔Lepore, Jill. ''The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity''. 1st ed. (New York: Knopf, 1998), 22.〕 By his early teen years, he had been introduced to Christianity and learned to speak English. He is believed to have met and been mentored by the Christian missionary John Eliot during this period, and may have known and worked with him for as long as 40 years. Eliot mentioned the death of Sassamon in his diary.〔Kawashima, ''Igniting King Philip's War'', 76.〕 By the Pequot War in 1637, a joint effort by colonists and Native American allies to suppress the Pequot in present-day Connecticut, Sassamon was skilled enough to serve as an interpreter for the colonists. He fought with them alongside Richard Callicot in the service of Captain John Underhill.〔Drake, James D. ''King Philip's War: Civil War in New England, 1675-1676''. (Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999), 68.〕 Following this war, Sassamon began to teach Eliot the Indian language in exchange for learning English and the Christian way of life.〔Kawashima, ''Igniting King Philip's War'', 77.〕 In 1651, John Eliot established Natick as the first praying town. Praying towns were reserved for Native Americans who had converted to Christianity and were willing to live according to English custom in permanent agricultural settlements. Eliot recruited Sassamon as one of two schoolmasters to teach both English and Christianity to the residents.〔Kawashima, ''Igniting King Philip's War'', 78.〕 Because of Sassamon's intelligence and ability to speak English, Eliot arranged for Sassamon to take classes at Harvard College in 1653. This was two years before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in partnership with Harvard, founded a special "Indian College" there. Sassamon studied at Harvard for a year.〔Lepore, ''The Name of War'', 22.〕 He may have studied alongside young Puritan men such as Increase Mather, Samuel Bradstreet, and John Eliot, Jr.〔Kawashima, ''Igniting King Philip's War'', 78.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Sassamon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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