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MAY

 1, 1503 --Italy. At Cirie, Cello Secondo Curione is born. He will become a reformer in Italy. At a festival where relics were usually exhibited, he will place a copy of the Bible in the shrine with the words, “This is the Ark of Salvation.” When it is discovered, he will be forced to flee.
In July 1542, the bull “Licet ab Initio” will be published and which will begin a general persecution. By August, Bernadino and Peter Martyr will have already fled. Mr. Curione will escape when the bailiffs stand at his very door. At that time he will be forced to leave his family and cross the Alps.

1, 1637 --Connecticut. As the Pequod Indians have continued their murderous outrage, the courts of Connecticut’s three infant towns declare war. Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, is their ally.
       At Hartford, Thomas Hooker delivers the staff of command to John Mason, and at the request of the soldiers, Samuel Stone leads the command in importunate prayer nearly all night.
Sixty men, about one-third of the entire colony, aided by John Underhill and twenty recruits whom Henry Vane had with forethought sent from the Bay colony, will sail past the Thames, and desiring to reach the Pequod fort unobserved, will enter a harbor near Wickford in the Narragansett Bay. The following day being the Lord’s Day will be kept sacred for worship and rest.
Early the following week, the captains of the expedition will seek the help of the Narragansetts to accomplish their aim against the common enemy, but the Bay Indians, knowing well the subtlety of the Pequods and that the designs of the English will likely fail, resolve to remain neutral. “Your design”, Miantonomoh will say, “is good, but your numbers are too weak to brave the Pequods who have mighty chieftains and are skillful in battle.” Another tribe along the Mystic River also declines any aid.
The night preceding the attack, the Pequods will spend rejoicing over their bloody assaults, and their partying will be able to be heard by the English sentinels. But on May 26th, two hours before day, the soldiers will set themselves in motion and as day breaks, they will make their attack on the principal Pequod fort, which stands in a strong position at the summit of a hill. The colonists will be fighting for the security of their wives and children who, if they fail, will be subjected to the scalping-knife and the tomahawk.
As they rise to attack, a watchdog barks at their approach. The Indians awake, rally, and resist with superior forces. The fighting will be close, hand-to-hand combat, and victory will appear evasive, when suddenly Mr. Mason cries out, “We must burn them out!” and will cast a firebrand to the wind which easily ignites their light mats of the cabins. So suddenly will the fort be ablaze, the colonists will encounter difficulty in withdrawing in order to surround the place. The murderous Indians who succeed in climbing the palisades will be shot, while English broadswords will cut down those attempting to make an attack.
Six hundred Indians—men, women, and children will perish. Seven will be captured, while seven more will make good their escape. All will be the result of a little more than an hour. Only two soldiers will be killed.
     The following morning, three hundred Pequods will approach from a second fort and expecting to find their brethren victorious, will be filled with horror at the conflagration. They will stomp the ground, and tear their hair, but knowing resistance will prove ineffectual.
     The remnants of the Pequods will be hunted down being pursued into their hiding places. About two hundred who survive will surrender in despair and will be enslaved by the English, or incorporated among the Mohegans and Narragansetts.

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