Harman Garrett
Harman Garrett was a Niantic sachem and then governor of the Eastern Pequots slightly east of the Pawcatuck River in what is now Westerly, Rhode Island. His chosen English name was very similar to that of Herman Garrett, a prominent colonial gunsmith from Massachusetts in the 1650s.
Early life
Garrett was the son of Eastern Niantic sachem Wepitanock and his unnamed wife and the grandson of sachem Saccious. Garrett was also the half-brother of Wequash Cooke, who helped the colonial military to defeat the Pequots during the Pequot War in 1637 before forming marriage alliances with several captured Pequot women. Either Garrett or his brother married the Pequot widow of Tattaopme and became stepfather of Tausquonawhut, the brother or nephew of Sassacus. Tausquonawhut eventually married Ninigret's daughter. After Wequash Cook's death in 1642, Garrett assumed his brother's name and attempted to assume his leadership role, but his uncle Ninigret contested this because Garrett's mother was not Niantic, making him only half Niantic.Involvement with Pequot at Pawcatuck
In the 1640s, Garrett worked with John Mason of the Saybrook Colony to negotiate Garrett's territorial boundaries with the United Colonies and his right to be a leader of some of the conquered Pequots and to some of their former territory. Despite opposition from the Narragansetts and Uncas who claimed he didn't fight the Pequots or py his proper share of the 1645 indemnity, he began hunting in Pequot territory in 1646, and by 1648 with Mason's support, Garrett formed a small community of Niantics and former Pequots on the west bank of the Pawcatuck River, which was somewhat forced to be allied to Uncas against Ninigret. John Winthrop, Jr. and Robin Cassacinamon briefly held Garrett in 1648/49 on house arrest for unclear reasons, but Winthrop then reversed course and became Garrett's ally and advocated for his Pawcatuck settlement. Garrett's personal home was in Pawcatuck, to the north of the modern bridge connecting Westerly, Rhode Island and Stonington, Connecticut.Around this time, Uncas allegedly paid an Indian named Wampushet to attack another Indian with a hatchet and then to falsely blame Garrett for ordering the attack. Wampushet gave testimony before the United Colonies with Uncas present, but it was unclear who ordered the attack.