Genealogy of the Fitch family in North America - citizen hylbom blog

104 APPENDICES.
settled at Dorchester, Mass., in 1630; and in 1032, was sent by
the General Court, in company witn John Gallop, and twenty
men in a shallop of 20 tons burden, to break up a gang of
pirates which had infested the coast, an undertaking which he
prosecuted with courage and prudence, despite the hardships
of the winter season. For this he received £10 from the
Government, and, in November of that year, was made Captain.
In September, 1(534, he was one of a commitie of military men
who were appointed to select sites for fortifications in Boston
harbor, and personally superintended the erection of works
on Castle Island. In 1635 he represented the the Town of
Dorchester in the General Court, and while a member of that
body, June 3d, the second application of the Rev. John Wareham
and his church, of Doi-chester, for permission to remove
to and found a colony on the Connecticut River was received
and granted. In this enterprise, Mason was the leader, and
an honored and much trusted participant in the trials of the
tedious journey through the woods, in October, 1635, and the
subsequent hardships of the winter of 1835-6, which resulted
in the founding of the present Town of Windsor, Connecticut.
Soon the three new settlements of Hartford, Wethersfield and
Windsor, were threatened by the Indians, and then Mason
led the gallant little band of settlers against the savages-
tracking them to their fastness; and, in the celebrated
"Swamp Fight," completely crushing out the the Peqreots.
This brilliant campaign and battle forms so conspicuous a
page of New England history that it is unnecessary for us to
give the details, interesting as they are. Mason, was on this
occasion the Savior of the Infant Colony, and his services
were properly recognized by the General Court at Hartford,
which created him the "public military officer of the Planta-
tions of Connecticut," with a salary of £40 per annum, a
position which he held until within two years of his death,