Edward Culver (Colliver/Colver) born 1600-1610, probably in the vicinity of Middlesex England near London. He came to America with John Winthrop Jr., son of John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts, in 1635, after Winthrop Jr. had obtained the land grants for Connecticut from King Charles I. He may have come across on the Mary and John in 1635.

Edward was a member of Massachusetts Bay Colony and was a signer of the "Covenant" on 20 Sep. 1636, a group that was formed to settle Dedham, ten miles up the Charles River. The town of Dedham was setup that you had to apply to move there and get approval from the council. They were very selective and ensured that the signers were of like religious views.

According to "Colver-Culver Family Genealogy, Valerie Dyer Giorgi" he was a millwright and wheelwright by trade.

He served in several of the earliest Indian wars of New England.

New England was populated by many Indian tribes, the main one's were the Wampanoag, Pequots, Narragansett, Mohegans and Nipmuc . The mighty Iroquois nation was to their west in New York (this included the Mohawks) and the Mohawks kept the New England tribes from uniting by playing the tribes off against each other. Thus, there was a lot of border squabbles between the tribes and mutual distrust.

The dominant New England tribe in the 1630's was the Pequots. The English would trade "barter" land from the local tribes, but wouldn't always immediately occupy it. The Indians would see that the land was not being used, so they would continue to grow crops and hunt the land. This led to a series of misunderstandings and the Pequots, who felt that the whites were arrogant and a threat to the existence of Indians in general, thus attacked the villages of Saybrook (in which Edward had just helped to build a fort there) and Weathersford Connecticut, causing the colonists to lock themselves in their newly created fort. Negotiations failed (apparently the English Settlers were rather arrogant in their dealings with the natives) and skirmishes occurred and emissaries attacked. This caused an uproar and the Pequot campaign was formed.

In a book called "The Pequot War", the reproductions of documents describing the events in John Masons hand are available. Major John Mason was appointed command of the expeditionary force as he had experience at war in Europe. Mason gathered 90 men and some Indians mostly of Mohegan and Narragansett lineage and took the force up a river (Mystic River?)in the general area of present day New London, Connecticut. The march inland as described by Mason brings an almost comical vision to mind, as they were ill dressed and supplied for this mission and of course were unseasoned and largely untrained soldiers. Most of the men were new to America and didn't have much in the way of wood craft and they feared to venture far from their boats. But they happened on the main Pequot stronghold and burned it to the ground with many Men, Women and Children inside, forcing the Pequots to sue for peace.

Apparently, Edward was noted as an Indian scout and was to supposedly had good relations with the Indians. According to Valerie Dyer Giorgi, he was sent by Major Mason to enlist the aid of warriors from Chief Uncas of the Mohicans ( I think he was chief of the Mohegans actually). He must have been successful as Uncas provided about 150 men.

Edward married Ann Ellis (Elles) on Sept. 19, 1638 by the Rev. John Allyn. His Father-in-law John Elles was also a signer of the Covenant.

In 1645, they moved to Roxbury Mass. and in 1650, he constructed a Grist Mill for Governor Winthrop (jr.). In 1653 they moved again, this time to Pequot (present day New London, Conn.), where he again built another Grist Mill. The reason they moved, was because he received land grants in 1652 and 1654 in the upper Mystic River, for his earlier service in the Pequot War. He traded this lands for other land in the general area, closer to the town of Pequot. In about 1654 Edward built a water power grist mill at the head of the cove of New London which was in daily use until 1897, or perhaps later. Records also show that he was embroiled in some land disputes with the Winthrops over property boundaries which affected the ownership of one of the Grist Mills.

The Connecticut Colony was still under Winthrop's control under the Massachusetts Bay charter. In 1662, Hooker successfully received a Crown Colony charter for Connecticut, thus severing control from Massachusetts. John Winthrop Jr. was asked to move to Connecticut with encouragement from his father and was elected governor. The colonies were basically on their own for a number of years due to the Civil War in England. Charles I was overthrown by Cromwell thus ending self-rule (Charles I had dissolved parliament). The colony wisely remained neutral during this time and arrested people causing problems from either faction. Thus, they retained power when Charles II ascended the throne.

The New England Colonies now consisted of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and Rhode Island with Massachusetts being the dominate one. They were bordered to the south and west by the New York Colony with whom they had poor relations with due to the ambitions of its governor. The areas to the northwest were still dominated by the mighty Iroquois, chiefly the Mohawk tribes.

Many of the Indians in the region were chaffing under the imposed rule of the colonists. The colonists tried to convert many of the Indians to Christianity and place them in tightly controlled towns. They also imposed English laws upon them, and of course the Indians didn't understand most of them. The summer of 1675, “King” Philip an Indian Sachem (Chief) was called upon to answer to authorities over a series of grievances and most notably the murder of a Christian Indian leader. Rather than face the stern arm of English law, he openly rebelled and attacked several villages South East of Plymouth. Other Tribes who had been facing similar circumstances also took the chance to attack.

To the English this was a rebellion of the Indians (whom they believed were subject to the crown and English law) over land rights issues, but to the Indians it was a matter of sovereignty and divine rights, thus they were fighting for a way of life.

The Indians gained the initiative and was destroying village after village and farm after farm. The whites would board themselves up in a stockade until help would arrive. Many times, this came too late as the Indians would burn them out. The Indians had a habit (acquired long before the whites came) of cutting of the heads and hands of the enemy and putting them on poles outside the destroyed village as a warning. The Colonies quickly formed regiments to deal with this crisis but were quite ineffective as they tried to use European techniques of warfare, basically marching in columns and trying to bring volley fire on an elusive enemy. The accounts of the battles seem small in comparison to modern warfare, but the population of New England at this time was somewhere around 50,000. They did outnumber the Indians by almost two to one though, and of course they were much more organized.

Edward and his four sons, Edward Jr., Ephraim, Joseph and Samuel where listed as being soldiers during the King Philip Wars and the Great Swamp Fight. Records showed that either Edward or Edward jr. had been commissioned as a lieutenant.

The first big break came for the colonists on Dec 16, 1675 during the great swamp fight, near Triverton, Rhode Island. A joint colonial expedition was setup in the late fall and put under the control of General Winthrop of the Plymouth Colony. They gathered on the shores of Rhode Island in what turned into the first big snow storm of the season. Supply was difficult and they were running short fast, so they decided to attempt to engage the Indians directly with over a 1000 men, before their supplies exhausted. With a captured Indian to lead them to the main fort of the Indians they struggled through the forests and bogs. The fort they found was massive and the colonists were surprise that the Indians were capable of building such a structure. Luckily the swamp was frozen and the soldiers could attack at an exposed corner of the fort. The battle raged for hours with many casualties on both sides. The commander decided that enough was enough and ordered the torching of the city. Many innocent women and children died with the warriors in this fire, but such was the nature of the war with the Indians, as they hadn't shown much mercy on white families until much later in the war when they were starting to lose.

The accounts of this battle and the subsequent lose of life of the wounded on the march back due to injuries and the bitter cold was tremendous. I find that if Edward Culver really fought in this battle, he would have had to been one rather tough old buzzard as he would have been somewhere between 65 and 75 years of age. But the population of that region was rather scarce and every able bodied man who could be spared was sent, plus his experience in the Pequot War probably ensured his participation in the war. But this battle was grim and treacherous, especially for someone of his age.

The ineffectiveness of the colonial governments due to infighting, finally turned around with experience and sheer magnitude of their dire situation. The war went for two years, meaning little farming was occurring and commerce ceased to exist. Families joined into fortified homes for protection and impressment of soldiers was occurring to raise an army. The Indians suffered as well, as they couldn't build any permanent villages, grow crops or hunt and fish in their usual places. The English in retaliation to the destruction of their farms would look for the food caches of the Indians, further worsening the situation. After sickness and famine took its toll, the Indians surrendered in droves. The prisoners were mostly sold into slavery by the Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies, while Connecticut and Rhode Island imposed an indentured servitude for 10 years on their captives, to help rebuild the damage they caused. But the proud Indians of that area didn't make good slaves and would tend to run off for Northern and Western destinations.

One of the factors that lead to the defeat of the Indians was that the colonist finally found the right formula for battling the Indians. The famous Indian fighter Benjamin Church formed up a select company of troops that also consisted of captured Indians who swore allegiance to him. This group was responsible for the capture of many chiefs and even the wife and son of King Philip himself (they were both sold into slavery). He was the one who finally ambushed King Philip's party resulting in the chiefs death. It is interesting that the best Indian fighters happened to have the best relations with the Indians and treated them with great respect. At wars end, there was scarcely a family in New England that was not touched in some way by the war. As payment to many of the soldiers of this war, they were given land grants, as many men didn't wish to return to their burned towns and homes (of which there was many). Over 2000 colonists died in this war, which doesn't sound like a lot, but considering that of a population of 50,000, that would be around 4% died, not accounting for the wounded and maimed. The government set up a pension for those that were disabled from the war, mostly in the form of jobs (tax collectors in which they would receive a percentage) and patents.

It appears that in his old age he became a bit cantankerous and maybe a little senile. He was given a license to sell bread and beer. He died 1685 at Mystic River, New London CN. Ann died in 1682, also at Mystic. A monument was erected in honor of Edward and Ann in 1982 by descendants at the Wightman Burying Ground near Groton Connecticut. The original tombstones are there, but they are nothing more than large stones with the initials E.C. and A.C. engraved on them, church records verify the plots as theirs.