By: Anthony Zepperi
September 11, 2020
Windsor Journal
The Town Council on Monday voted 5–4 to remove the 9‑foot-tall bronze statue of Major John Mason from its place on the Palisado Green and relocate it to the Windsor Historical Society. All five Democratic council members voted to remove the statue, while all four Republicans wanted it to remain where it is.
Mason, an English settler, militia leader, colonial governor, and founding father of Windsor, headed the colonial forces during the 1637 war against the Pequots, that resulted in the destruction of what was then the most powerful Native American Tribe in the area.
Following attacks by the Pequots against a number of Indians and settlers, Mason forged an alliance with the Mohegans under Chief Uncas and together with the Narraganset tribe they attacked a Pequot fort in Mystic, and massacred the defenders — among them women and children.
Many modern historians consider this an act of genocide, since the attack, which caused the deaths of between 400 and 700 Pequot men, women, and children, nearly took out the tribe. Following the battle many of the defeated Pequots were enslaved and sold into captivity.
Other historians point out that war at that time — and particularly among Indian tribes — involved the massacre of the opponents and the enslaving of the surviving ones and that Mason’s forces’ brutality must be seen in that context.
While Mason is considered one of the founders of Windsor, the statue was originally erected in Groton in 1889, near the area where the controversial battle was fought.
In 1992, a group petitioned to have it removed from what they saw as sacred ground. Others, among them Richard “Skip” Hayward, then the Mashantucket chairman, wanted the statue to remain in Mystic, so that the massacre would not be forgotten.
The state spent several years working to identify and evalu- ate sites for relocation of the statue, until in 1996, Windsor granted the state a 50-year easement that allowed the then-107- year-old statue to be relocated to the Palisado Green, which is close to Mason’s original 1630s home lot.
During the Monday meeting. Agnes Pier, president of the Windsor Historical Society, said that the society’s board still has to vote on whether or not to accept the statue, a decision that would likely happen at the board’s next meeting on Sept. 21.
Pier stressed that if and when the historical society accepts the statue, it will be displayed with accompanying information about Mason and the role he played in history.
“There’s a much larger story here that must be told, not just the side of the Pequots or the side of the colonials,” Pier said.
According to Town Manager Peter Souza, the State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection would be able to cover the cost of moving the statue but the cost of preparing its new location is still undecided.
Republican Councilman Lenworth Walker, who voted to keep the statue where it is, said he did not see how Mason contributed to systemic racism in 2020.
“Toppling statues is part of a national partisan political agenda,” Walker said. Hes aid that instead of moving the statue, additional signage informing visitors of the full scope of Mason’s actions should be added.
Mayor Don Trinks, a Democrat, who worked to find a middle ground between those who wanted the statued destroyed and those who wanted it to remain in place (some of them descendants of Mason himself) voted to move the statue and said the local historical society would be able to provide an objective perspective on the statue and on Mason himself in an exhibit featuring him