Simeon Simons
| Simeon Simons | |
|---|---|
| Pokanoket leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1759 Pachaug |
| Died | 1835 Connecticut |
Simeon Simon (1759-1835) was George Washington's bodyguard and tribal chief of the Pokanoket people.
Simeon Simon was born in Pachaug in 1759, during the French and Indian Wars, and died in 1835 at the age of 76. A card file at the Providence Public Library in Rhode Island states that Simeon Simon was a (colored man). Noted at the bottom of this card is: (“Colored” as distinguished from Negro. He was said to have been a full blood American Indian, Wampanoag Tribe.)
Simeon Simons was a descendant of OsaMequin, the Massasoit at the time of the Pilgrim’s landing, and also of Metacomet. Simons carried the royal blood of the Pokanoket in his veins and was the leader of the Pokanokets at Pachaug. (FN—Affidavit, 5/15/98, Paul Weeden) His Revolutionary War Pension states he was born in Norwich ; however, at that time Norwich comprised the present town of Norwich and included Bozrah, Franklin, Lisbon, Sprague, and the western border of Griswold and Preston, Jewett City, Long Society and a part of Poquetannock. Griswold (Pachaug) was incorporated in 1815 from Preston, which was incorporated from Norwich in 1686.
According to local Griswold history, on a late June day in 1775 General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, stopped to refresh himself at the little hamlet of Pachaug on the way to Boston. Word of his arrival spread rapidly throughout this small community. While looking out the front window of his room, Gen. Washington noticed a group of young men engaged in exercises such as leaping, wrestling, throwing the quoit and other such pastimes as were common at that time. One of them, Simeon Simons, a full-blooded Indian and descendant of Massasoit, impressed the general with his athletic carriage. Washington summoned the young man to his room, and asked him to be his bodyguard. Simon accepted and remained with the General throughout the Revolutionary War.
Simeon Simons' position as an intimate of Washington’s is confirmed by Phillips that on August 22, 1824 the Marquis de Lafayette, who served with General Washington, visited Johnson Tavern in Jewett City and met many comrades who knew the General from the Revolutionary War. Among them was Simeon Simons. A letter published from Miss Alice Brown on behalf of the Annie Brewster Fanning Chapter of the D.A.R., Jewett City, Connecticut invited Mrs. Ella Peek (Princess Red Wing), the Squaw-Sachem of the Pokonoket, to a pageant on August 17, 1935. This pageant portrayed the meeting of General Washington and Simeon Simons at Pachaug, Connecticut.
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