Strafford News

In celebration of Dover’s 400th Anniversary, the Dover Public Library has partnered with Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective representatives to present a short documentary about Major Richard Waldron. The documentary “Pennacook Retribution: Who Shall Judge” will screen at the library on Monday, June 12 at 6:30 p.m. and will be followed by a panel discussion by the filmmakers. The panel will feature Paul and Denise Pouliot, Charles and Anne Jennison, Kathleen Blake, and the filmmaker Catherine Stewart. The event will be a hybrid offering meaning it can be viewed in person or by registering to view at home. See the library’s website to register for the event.

“Pennacook Retribution – Who Shall Judge the Indians Now?” was written by Anne Jennison, a traditional Abenaki storyteller, and historian, in collaboration with the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People and the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective. The documentary reframes a moment in history through the eyes of the people who have lived on this land for over 12,000 years.

In 1689, Major Richard Waldron was executed by the Pennacooks in an event known as the Cochecho Massacre. Waldron’s story usually paints him as a tragic hero and the Pennacook Indians as the “savages” who murdered him. But what does this story look like from their perspective of the Pennacook?

Once known to the Pennacook Abenaki as Cochecho (meaning “place of the rapid current”) and known to early English colonists as the Cochecho Plantation, Dover is a city familiar with Major Richard Waldron. Many streets, buildings, and civic properties bear his name.

The film is supported by the University of New Hampshire Humanities Center, which administers a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), and generous donations from individuals. Pennacook Retribution is produced by Film Unbound.

Original source can be found here.