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{{Infobox American Indian chief
| name            = Ninigret
| image           = Ninigret.jpg
| image_size      = 
| caption         = Ninigret in 1681 (collection of [[Rhode Island School of Design Museum]])
| tribe           = [[Niantic (tribe)|Niantic]]
| lead            = 
| birth_date      = 
| birth_place     = 
| death_date      = 
| death_place     = 
| predecessor     = 
| successor       = 
| native_name     = 
| nicknames       = '''Juanemo'''
| known_for       = 
| death_cause     = 
| resting_place   = "Burying Hill" near [[Charlestown, Rhode Island]]
| rp_coordinates  = 
| religion        = 
| party           = 
| education       = 
| spouse          = 
| partner         = 
| children        = Son Ninigret; daughter
| parents         = 
| relations       = Nephew [[Miantonomo]]
| signature       = 
| footnotes       = 
}}

'''Ninigret''' (also known as '''Juanemo''' according to [[Roger Williams]]) (c. 1610<ref name=nie>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Ninigret |year=1905}} This source confirms 1662 as the date of his land sales.</ref>-1677<ref name=ea>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Ninigret}} This source suggests a date of 1667 for his land sales and a 1647 war against the [[Mohegan]]s.</ref>) was a sachem of the eastern [[Niantic (tribe)|Niantic]] Indian tribe in New England at the time of colonization, based in Rhode Island. In 1637, he allied with the colonists and the [[Narragansett people|Narragansetts]] against the [[Pequot]] Indians.  

Ninigret is credited with keeping the Niantics out of [[King Philip's War]], in which the colonists fought to prevent their homes and settlements from being destroyed by certain Indian tribes.<ref>Frederic Denison, ''Westerly (Rhode Island) and Its Witnesses: For Two Hundred and Fifty Years, 1626-1876: Including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond Until Their Separate Organization, with the Principal Points of Their Subsequent History,'' (J.A. & R.A. Reid, Providence: 1878), pg.22 [https://books.google.com/books?id=oNAaMBIFWtcC&q=Juanemo+ninigret+westerly] (accessed June 19, 2009)</ref>

==Biography==
Ninigret was the son of [[Sachem]] Saccious, the cousin or the uncle of [[Miantonomo]], and the uncle and brother-in-law of [[Harman Garrett]]. He was first known to the colonists as Janemo and was sachem of the Niantics, a tribe of the Narragansett people. He did not participate in the [[Pequot war]] of 1632, and he aided the colonists in the Pequot war of 1637. About a year after the death of Miantonomo, he formed a plan for expelling the colonists and sent a messenger to Long Island sachem [[Wyandanch (sachem)|Waiandance]] to engage him in it. Waiandance tied up the messenger and sent him to the fort at [[Old Saybrook, Connecticut|Saybrook]]. They sent him on to [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]], but the party was forced to put in at [[Shelter Island (town), New York|Shelter Island]], where the messenger escaped.<ref name=acab>{{Appletons|wstitle=Ninegret|year=1900|inline=1}}</ref>

In 1644, the [[New England Confederation]] raised an army to protect their ally, Uncas, against Ninigret.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=D3MUAAAAYAAJ&q=humphrey+atherton.biography&pg=PA143|title= Collections, Topographical, Historical, and Biographical Relating ..., Volume 2|year=1823|last1= Moore|first1= Jacob Bailey}}</ref> [[Humphrey Atherton]] lead the expedition into Narraganset country with the aim of renewing alliances. Ninigret and his men abandoned their siege. Atherton, who held the rank of Captain at the time, marched into the wigwam of Ninigret and threatened Ninigret’s life. This step had the desired effect and the sachem allegedly begged for his life, and promised submission.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42410/42410-h/42410-h.htm?fbclid=IwAR0OHnXwTMggF1a4V9VCDkybC9vRjOVqRuJvVucicsgCqWOdflfeYmum3Do|title=Great Events in the history of North and South America; from the alleged discovery of the continent, by the northmen, in the tenth century to the present time by Charles A. Goodrich|year=1851}}</ref>

[[File:Captain Humphrey Atherton and his men attack the sachem Ninigret.jpg|thumb|300px|Captain Humphrey Atherton and his men enter Ninigret’s wigwam using force]]

Ninigret passed the winter of 1652-53 among the Dutch colonists in [[Manhattan]] and the western Indians. New England's colonists suspected Ninigret of plotting against them, and suspected that he was seeking stockpiles of guns and forming alliances with other well-armed Indian groups.<ref>Dr. David J Silverman, "Guns, empires and Indians Multilateral imperial politics triggered an indigenous arms race and led to the violent transformation of Native America" (Harvard University, 2016 Press) https://aeon.co/essays/how-did-the-introduction-of-guns-change-native-america</ref> Ninigret waged war against the Long Island Indians who had placed themselves under the protection of the New England colonists. In September 1654, the Connecticut colonists demanded his appearance in Hartford and the payment of tribute that had long been due from his Pequot subjects. Ninigret refused to appear and sent them a haughty answer. The Massachusetts Bay Colony then declared war against him and put 270 infantry and 40 horsemen under the command of Major [[Simon Willard (first generation)|Simon Willard]]. Willard's instructions were to go to Ninigret's quarters, demand the tribute, and insist that he end the war against the Long Island Indians. On the approach of the troops, Ninigret fled to a distant swamp and was not pursued,<ref name=acab/> but the [[Pequots]] who had been under his control were transferred to [[Harmon Garrett]] to oversee.<ref>Shawn G. Wiemann, ''Lasting Marks: The Legacy of Robin Cassacinamon and the Survival of the Mashantucket Pequot Nation'' (University of New Mexico, Dissertation, 2011), p. 204 http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=hist_etds ; citing ―Simon Willard to John Winthrop, Jr., with Enclosures, 1654,‖ Winthrop Papers, 6: 458; ―Agreement of Captive Pequot Indians, Pauquatcuck, 16.8.1654,‖ WP, 6: 459-462; ―Agreement of Ninigret, 18.8.1654,‖WP, 6: 463-464; ―Order for Resettling the Pequots, with Enclosure, October 23, 1654,‖ WP, 6: 465-466;―Pequots Submitting Themselves to English Rule, October 23, 1654,‖ WP, 6: 467. </ref>

On October 13, 1660, Ninigret gave [[Pettaquamscutt Historical Society Museum|Pettequamscot]] to the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Colony of Rhode Island]]. He took no part in [[King Philip's War]] (1675-76) and so escaped the ruin which overtook the other tribes. His remains are said to be buried at a place near [[Charlestown, Rhode Island]], called Burying Hill.<ref name=acab/>

The Puritans achieved little in trying to convert the Narragansetts and Niantics to Christianity. [[Roger Williams]] recorded his discouragement about it. [[Thomas Mayhew]] asked Ninigret to allow him to preach to his tribe, and he replied: "Go and make the English good first."<ref name=ea/><ref name=acab/>

==Successors==
Ninigret's daughter succeeded him as sachem. At her death, she was succeeded by her half-brother Ninigret, who granted a large portion of his people's lands to the colony of Rhode Island in 1709. This cession of land later created difficulties for the Niantics. The younger Ninigret died about 1722, leaving sons Charles Augustus and George. Charles Augustus died shortly afterward and left an infant son. Some of the tribe acknowledged the boy as their sachem, while another portion adhered to his uncle George, who assumed the entire government in 1735.<ref name=acab/>

George's son Thomas Ninegret became chief in 1746. He sold additional Niantic lands to the colony of Rhode Island which caused discontentment among his people, some of whom tried to depose him. They appealed for relief to [[Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet|Sir William Johnson]], the colonial superintendent of the Indians in the Northeast (he was based in upstate New York). They made the case that the Niantic lands which Thomas Ninegret had sold were needed to support the families of men who had died serving the English king in the [[French and Indian War]]. In one letter to Johnson, they addressed the question of whether they had the authority to depose a sachem: “As it was in the power of the nation to put him in, we think it in the power of the nation to turn him out.” The controversy continued for several years, but Rhode Island ultimately obtained the lands.<ref name=acab/>

A small remnant of the Niantic people were still living in Rhode Island in 1812.<ref name=acab/> The tribe no longer exists, but some descendants are still among the residents of New England today.

==Places named after Ninigret==
[[Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge]]
*[[Fort Ninigret]]
*[[Ninigret Pond]]
*Ninigret Park
*Ninigret Beach
*Ninigret Cove (in Quonochontaug Pond, at the Charlestown/Westerly border)

==Legacy==
The local oysters are referred to as Ninigret Nectars. They are smaller than most other oysters from New England.

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==

* Harold M. Chapin, ''Sachems of the Narragansett.'' Providence, 1931.
* Julie A. Fisher and David J. Silverman, ''Ninigret, Sachem of the Niantics and Narragansetts: Diplomacy, War, and the Balance of Power in Seventeenth-Century New England and Indian Country.'' Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014.
* Michael L. Oberg, ''Uncas, First of the Mohegans.'' (New York, 2003). Glen LaFantasie, ed., The Correspondence of Roger Williams, 1629–1653, Vol. 1 (Providence, 1988).
* Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 2nd Ser. VIII (1826), 59.
* Lafarge, Oliver. (MCMLVI). ''A Pictorial History of the American Indian'' Crown Publishers Inc. Page 81.
* [http://www.library.yale.edu/yipp/search_collection/docu_annotations.html Yale University Brief Biography]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ninigret}}
[[Category:1610s births]]
[[Category:1677 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Native American leaders]]

[[Category:Niantic people]]
[[Category:Native American people from Rhode Island]]
[[Category:People from colonial Rhode Island]]