Plausawa

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Plausawa (c1700-1754) was a Pennacook Indian from what is now New Hampshire. In 1728 he was the last known Native American living in the town of Suncook. With the start of King George's War in 1740 Plausawa moved to St. Francis in Quebec and fought against the British settlers.

During a raid on Epsom, New Hampshire on August 21, 1747, Plausawa and his companions Sabattis and Christo captured Isabella McCoy and burned her farm and the neighboring farms while her husband Charles McCoy was away serving in the New Hampshire Militia. Isabelle McCoy told of the very good treatment she received by Plausawa on her way to Quebec where Plausawa sold her as a servant to a French Canadian family.

In 1752 Plausawa led another raid that captured two African-American slaves from a field in Canterbury, New Hampshire. One of these slaves escaped to warn the town militia and Plausawa, Sabattis and Christo returned to Quebec where they sold their captive to a French officer.

In 1754 King George's War was over and the French and Indian War had yet to start, and Plausawa and Sabattis were in Canterbury again to trade furs with the townspeople. After some altercations (including pulling a knife on a woman) they were told to leave or else.

Then Plausawa and Sabattis went to Boscawen, New Hampshire to the home of Peter Brown. Brown planned to trade with them and gave them rum to drink and when they were drunk removed the musket balls from their muskets. On the morning of February 9, 1754 Peter Brown killed Sabattis and then Plausawa with a tomahawk during a fight. To this day it is still unclear if this was done in self-defense as Peter Brown claimed, or in order to rob the Indians of their furs. Peter Brown was charged with the murder of both Plausawa and Sabattis and brought to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for trial but was broken out of jail the night before the trial by his friends and neighbors and never stood trial.

Plausawa Hill in Pembroke, New Hampshire where he once lived is named for him. The National Weather Service operates a radio tower near its summit at an elevation of 1,000 feet (305 meters).