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Northeast Fish and Wildlife Service Natural Resource Preservation - Native American Tribal Consultation

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Northeast Fish and Wildlife Service Natural Resource Preservation - Native American Tribal Consultation

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Under Indigenous Peoples' History there is a section devoted to the Northeast Indigenous Nations.

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Map of CT - 1625 Native American Trails, Villages 

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Map of CT - 1625 Native American Trails, Villages 

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Scarce pictorial map of Connecticut, published by the Connecticut Society of the Colonial Dames of America.

The following description appears on the Connecticut Historical Society museum website, describing the original artwork for this map:

Gallery Copy: In 1930, Mary Pierson Cheney, president of the Colonial Dames, asked Mathias Spiess, a tobacco broker and the unofficial historian of the town of Manchester, to compile a map based on his extensive research on the Indians of Connecticut. The map itself was drawn by Hayden L. Griswold, a prominent Manchester civil engineer, and incorporates decorative details from early Dutch maps of New England. The Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames of America distributed more than 2000 copies of this map to libraries and historical societies throughout the state.

Description : Manuscript map of Connecticut circa 1625, divided into Native American sachemdoms and showing trails and villages. The tribes whose names appear on the map are the Siwanogs, Paugussetts, Quinnipiacs, Tunxis, Massacoes, Agawams, Sicaogs, Poquonocks, Podunks, Wangunks, Menunkatucks, Hammonassetts, Nipmucks, Mohegans, Uncas, Nehantics and Pequots. Elevation is conveyed through drawings of groups of hills. A bear, beaver, turkey, deer, fox and what appears to be an otter are depicted on the map. Around it are a baby on a cradleboard, fenced-in clusters of wigwams, a bow and two arrows, a pipe decorated with feathers, and a decorated shield and spear. Tribal names also appear outside of the borders of Connecticut, and probably refer to the tribes that lived in what is now New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island: Mohicans, Agawams, Nipmucks and Nehantics. Native Americans in three dugout canoes appear below the landmass, in what is unlabeled Long Island Sound. The cartouche depicts the title on a stretched skin, with two Native Americans on either side, dressed in loinclothes and wearing feathers in their hair. The one on the right is standing and holds a bow. In the lower left corner is a legend that explains the lines and symbols representing main and secondary trails, villages and sachemdom boundaries.

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Map of Connecticut Circa 1625 Indian Trails, Villages, Sachemdon . . . .

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Scarce pictorial map of Connecticut, published by the Connecticut Society of the Colonial Dames of America. The following description appears on the Connecticut Historical Society museum website, describing the original artwork for this map: Gallery Copy : In 1930, Mary Pierson Cheney, president of the Colonial Dames, asked Mathias Spiess, a tobacco broker and the unofficial historian of the town of Manchester, to compile a map based on his extensive research on the Indians of Connecticut.

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Username and password can be obtained from your teacher
Title: Explore Native American Cultures!
By: Anita Yasuda

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The Pequot - Part 1 - Native American Stories - One Minutes History

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The Pequot - Part 1 - Native American Stories - One Minutes History

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The Pequot - Part 1 -  Native American Stories - One Minutes History

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New England Before Europeans - Native Americans

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New England Before Europeans - Native Americans

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Select your language to auto-translate:

Map © 2008 DeLorme (www.delorme.com) TOPO USA® - Annotations by the Author

By the time white Europeans arrived, New England had been inhabited by Native Americans for over a thousand years. Migrating here after the retreat of the last ice age, by 1500 they had a population likely in excess of 100,000. Originally hunters and gatherers, they had become more agricultural - with extensive fields of corn (maize), beans, and squash. By this time the tribes were fundamentally stationary, but shifted dwellings several times year based on weather - winter, autumn hunting, and summer.

The New England tribes had a common heritage and belonged to the Algonquian family. Their language was fairly common, and although each tribe had nuances, there was the ability to be understood from Cape Cod to Canada.

Politically, each tribe and sub-tribe had a single primary ruler, called "sachem" or "sagamore". These sachem were usually men, but sometimes there were squaw, or female, sachem. Within the tribal hierarchy, there were sub-sachems for functions such as the military (for war), powwows (medicine), and other functions.

At the time of the white man's arrival, there were a number of principle tribes, many peaceful, but some warlike and in competition with their neighbors. The names of these tribes have been inherited by many New England towns, rivers and lakes. Those tribes included:

The Abnaki, also known as the Tarrantine to other tribes, inhabited western Maine, especially the Kennebec Androscoggin & Saco River valleys, as well as portions of neighboring New Hampshire. As this is the colder and more mountainous portion of New England, the Abnaki tended more to hunting than farming. More warlike than their southern neighbors, many tribes, and particularly the Massachusetts, lived in dread of Tarrantine raids. They had a reputation for cruelty and were accused of cannibalism by the English.

The Penacook inhabited southern and central MA, northeastern MA and southeastern ME, with the principle subdivision around Concord, NH. The Penacook had many subordinate tribes including the Nashua, Piscataqua, and the Winnepesaukee.

The Massachusett (in Algonquian, "people of the great hills"), from whom the state of Massachusetts got its name, inhabited the eastern area of state, around Boston. Originally one of the more powerful tribes, it was devastated by the plague and wars with the Abnaki. Their population declined from about 3,000 to 500 between 1615 and 1630.

The Wampanoag inhabited the areas of southeastern Massachusetts near where the Pilgrims landed in current Plymouth. They were also devastated by the plague. Metacom (King Philip of "King Philip's War") was Wampanoag.

The Narragansetts were a powerful tribe that lived in present-day Rhode Island.

The Niantics were a largely coastal tribe lived on Narragansett Bay, and extended as far west as the Pequot tribe in Connecticut.

The Pequots, of eastern Connecticut were originally part of the Mahican (known as Mohegan, a corruption of the Mahigan name) a tribe of the of upper Hudson River valley in New York. They were warlike and aggressive and the primary protagonist in the Pequot War in 1637-1638.

The Nipmucs who inhabited central MA, were a comparatively weak tribe who frequently paid tribute to their neighbors.

The Pocumtucks were a loose association of tribes that lived west of the Nipmucks in the areas around Deerfield, MA.

South of the Pocumtucks along the Connecticut River Valley lived the "River Indians", another loose association of tribes.

Bordering the River Indians to the west was the Wappinger Confederacy, which extended from the west bank of the Hudson River as far south as Manhattan and north to Poughkeepsie. Tribes of the Wappinger included the Mattabesic, Quinnipiac, Paugusset, and Tunxis.

North of the Wappinger Confederacy were the Mahicans, (Mohecan), the parent tribe to the Pequots. They inhabited the western Connecticut and the upper Hudson Valley in New York.

The Nausets were a smaller tribe that lived on Cape Cod.

The Montauks inhabited eastern Long Island.

The Mohawks, who spanned most of eastern New York State, were the easternmost tribe of the Iroquois confederacy, e.g., they were not Algonquin. Extremely warlike, they were formidable and feared by the Algonquin tribes.

Between 1616 and 1619 a plague, or the "Great Dying," wiped out almost ¾ of the New England Native American population, with the devastation worse in the coastal areas where mortality was as high as 95%. A major effect was that when white settlers began arriving, starting in 1620, they encountered very little of the indigenous population. The Native American's ability to resist the Europeans was very weak.

For Part 2, the Early Exploration of New England, click here.

Sources and for additional reading:

Bragdon, Kathleen Joan, Native People of Southern New England, 1500-1650. University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.

Vaughan, Alden T., New England Frontier Puritans and Indians 1620-1675. Little Brown and Company Boston, 1965.
http://iweb.tntech.edu/kosburn/History-201/Puritans%20&%20Indians.htm http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/classroom/curriculum_6th/lesson2/bkgdessay.html http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/squanto.htm

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New England Before Europeans - the Native Americans

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Select your language to auto-translate: Map © 2008 DeLorme (www.delorme.com) TOPO USA® - Annotations by the Author By the time white Europeans arrived, New England had been inhabited by Native Americans for over a thousand years. Migrating here after the retreat of the last ice age, by 1500 they had a population likely in excess of 100,000.

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The Pequot - Part 2 - Native American Stories - One Minutes History

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The Pequot - Part 2 - Native American Stories - One Minutes History

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The Pequot - Part 2 - Native American Stories - One Minute History

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Native American language Native American culture Native American art
Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Pequots for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our mainPequot page for in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Pequot pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.

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Pequot Nation

Pequot is pronounced "PEE-kwott." It is sometimes also spelled Pequod, Pequat, or Pequott. Most historians think it comes from the Narragansett wordpequttoog, which means "destroyers." The Narragansetts often fought with the Pequots, so they might have called them this name because they were fierce warriors. On the other hand, many Pequot people believe that the real origin of the name is a different word from their own language which has been lost to time. If so, perhaps the original name may have been similar to the Abnaki-Penobscot wordbôgwad, which means "shallow" (like shallow water.)

The Pequots and Mohegans are two different tribes. They were once the same tribe, but the Mohegans broke away from the Pequots and formed their own tribe. The two tribes still speak the same language and share many cultural traits, but they have different leadership, similar to American and British people today.

There are two Pequot Indian bands inConnecticut, which is the original homeland of the Pequot tribe. Here is amap showing the location of Pequot and other tribal territory in southern New England.

The Pequots fought against English colonists in a conflict called the Pequot War. The Pequot War didn't end well for the Pequots. In 1637, the English Puritans led an attack on the Pequot capital at Mystic River and massacred everyone living there. Many Pequot people in other villages fled from the Puritans and hid in the wilderness or took refuge with other tribes. Other Pequots surrendered to the Puritans and were sold into slavery.

Like all wars, there were complicated reasons. Tensions were high among Native American tribes in the 17th century, when many indigenous people were harmed by diseases and social changes caused by colonization. Also, there were significant cultural miscommunications on both sides. The Pequots blamed the English for a murder that was committed by the Dutch, while the English blamed the Pequots for murders that were committed by Niantic and Narragansett people. Overall, though, the cause of the Pequot War was simply that the Europeans wanted to take the Pequots' land and resources for themselves. Unlike some of their neighboring tribes, the Pequots fought back instead of trying to compromise, but they were defeated. You can read a more detailed account of the Pequot War atthis history site.

There are two Pequot bands in Connecticut: the Mashantucket Pequots and the Eastern Pequots. Though both bands belong to the same cultural group, they live in different locations and each one has its own government. Like other Native Americans in the United States, Pequot Indian tribes have their ownreservations. A reservation is land that belongs to an Indian tribe and is under their control. But all the Pequots are also US citizens and must obey American law.

Pequot Indians all speak English today. In the past, the Pequots, Mohegans, Montauks, Niantics, and other tribes of Southern New England all spoke theMohegan-Pequot language. This language died out more than 100 years ago, but some young Pequot and Mohegan people are working to revive it. If you'd like to learn an easy word in Mohegan-Pequot, aquy (pronunciation similar to ah-quoy) is a friendly greeting. You can also read a Mohegan-Pequot picture glossaryhere.

Here is a link to theMashantucket Pequot Museum, which has information about the heritage and traditions of the Pequot people.

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They do the same things any children do--play with each other, go to school and help around the house. In the past, Indian kids had more chores and less time to play, just like early colonial children. But they did havecorn-husk dolls, ball games, and toys such as kid-size bows and arrows. Pequot mothers, like many Native Americans, traditionally carried their babies incradleboards on their backs--a custom which many American parents haveadopted now.

What were men and women's roles in the Pequot tribe?

Pequot men were hunters and sometimes went to war to protect their families. Pequot women were farmers and also did most of the child care and cooking. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. In the past, Pequot chiefs were always men, but today a Pequot Indian woman could be chief too.

The Pequots didn't live in tepees. They lived in small round houses calledwigwams. Here is some more information aboutthe wigwam. Pequot villages were usuallypalisaded, which means it was surrounded by a wall of upright logs to protect against attack. Besides wigwams, each village included a larger council hall, a central square for tribal gatherings, a granary pit to store corn, and several small farms.

Today, Native Americans only build a wigwam for fun or to connect with their heritage, not for shelter. Most Pequots live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you.

Pequot women wore knee-length skirts and the men wore breechcloths with leggings. Here is a website with pictures ofNative American breechcloths. Shirts were not necessary in the Pequot culture, but Pequot people did wear deerskin mantles in cool weather. Pequot men and women both wore earrings andmoccasins on their feet. Here is apicture of Pequot clothing and some photographs and links aboutNative apparel in general.

The Pequots didn't wear long headdresses like theSioux. Usually they wore anIndian headband with a feather or two in it. Sometimes a Pequot chief wore a headdress of turkey feathers pointing straight up from a headband, likethis. Pequot men, especially warriors, often wore aMohawk hairstyle or shaved their heads completely except for ascalplock (one long lock of hair on top of their heads.) Pequot women usually had long hair. Here is a website with pictures ofNative Americans' hair.
What was Pequot food like in the days before supermarkets?
The Pequots were farming people. Pequot women plant
Today, some Pequot people still have a traditional headband or moccasins, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths... and they only wear feathers in their hair on special occasions like a dance.

Yes, the Pequots madedugout canoes by hollowing out large trees. They used them for transportation and for ocean fishing trips. Here is a website aboutwooden Indian boats. Over land, the Pequots used dogs as pack animals. (There were no horses in North America until colonists brought them over from Europe.) Pequot Indians used sleds and snowshoes to help them travel in the winter. (They learned to make those tools from northern neighbors like theCree Indians.) Today, of course, Pequot people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.

ed corn, squash and beans and also gathered nuts and fruit to eat. Pequot men did most of the hunting. They shot deer, turkeys, and small game, and went fishing on the coast. Pequot Indian recipes included soup, cornbread, and stews. Here is a website with more information aboutNative American food recipes.

Pequot hunters and warriors used bows and arrows, spears, and tomahawks. Here are pictures and information about theNative American tomahawk and other traditional weapons. Fishermen used pronged spears, nets, and bone hooks.

The Pequot tribe was known for theirbasket making andbeaded necklaces. Like other eastern American Indians, Pequots also craftedwampum out of white and purple shell beads. Wampum beads were traded as a kind of currency, but they were more culturally important as an art material. The images on awampum belt often told a story or represented a person's family.

What other Native Americans did the Pequot tribe interact with?
The Pequots liked to trade with other Algonquian tribes in the New England area, such as theMohegan andWampanoag Indians. But they were also powerful warriors. Some of the tribes they fought against most frequently were theNarragansett andMontauk tribes. Some Narragansett and Mohegan warriors ended up forming an alliance with the Puritans against the Pequots during the Pequot War. Others offered refuge to the surviving Pequot people.

I read that the Thanksgiving holiday is really celebrating the massacre of the Pequots. Is that true?
This is hard to say for sure, because early English colonists used the word "Thanksgiving" for many different celebrations. The Puritans really did hold a thanksgiving festival to celebrate the Pequot massacre. However, the event that is usually defined as the "First Thanksgiving" took place in 1621, which was sixteen years before the massacre, and was simply celebrating a good harvest. Hopefully most people who celebrate Thanksgiving today are thinking about the earlier harvest festival, not about innocent families being murdered.
Can you recommend a good book for me to read?
You may enjoy
There are many traditional Niantic legends and fairy tales. Storytelling is very important to the Niantic Indian culture. Here's onelegend about the Makiaweesug, who were mythical creatures like brownies or fairies. All the Mohegan-Pequot speaking tribes told stories about little people like these..

Spirituality and religion were important parts of Pequot life, and some people continue to practice traditional beliefs today. It is respectful to avoid imitating religious rituals for school projects since some Pequot people care about them deeply. You can read and learn about them, however. You can visit this site to learn more aboutNew England Algonquian traditions and symbols or this site aboutNative religions in general.

Where The Great Hawk Flies, which is a novel for young adults about a half-Pequot boy living in the 18th century. If you want to know more about Pequot history and culture,The Pequot Tribe is a good book for young readers, or there's a more comprehensive history of the Indian tribes of Connecticuthere. You can also browse through our recommendations ofNative American history books in general. Disclaimer: we are an Amazon affiliate and our website earns a commission if you buy a book for sale at one of these links. Most of them can also be found in a public library, though!

You will need to ask your teacher for the format he or she wants you to use. The authors' names are Laura Redish and Orrin Lewis and the title of our site is Native Languages of the Americas. We are a nonprofit educational organization working to preserve and prote ct Native American languages and culture. You can learn more about our organizationhere. Our website was first started in 1998 and last updated in 2020.

Thanks for your interest in the Pequot Indian people and their language!

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Mohegan-Pequot
An overview of the Pequot tribe's language and history.

Pequot Language Resources
Pequot Indian language samples, articles, and teaching tools.

Pequot Culture and History Directory
Related links about the Pequot Indian community past and present.

Pequot Words
Pequot Indian vocabulary lists.

Return to American Indians for Kids
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Facts for Kids: Pequot Indians (Pequots, Pequod)

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Native American language Native American culture Native American art Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Pequots for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our mainPequot page for in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Pequot pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.

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The Year: 1636

Image: Connecticut Tribes Map

There were originally many small American Indian tribes in Connecticut, including the Nipmuc, Mohegan, Pequot, and the Niantic. Though all of them spoke related languages and shared many cultural similarities, each tribe had its own leadership and its own territory. European epidemics and warfare devastated the Connecticut Indians, and the survivors had to merge with other tribes to survive. All of their languages have been lost, but native people continue to preserve their cultural heritage in Connecticut today.

Nipmuc
The northeast section of Connecticut and part of Massachusetts was occupied by the Nipmuc tribe. This group actually includes four tribes or bands - the Nipmucks, Nashaways, Quabaugs, and Wabaquassets. Since the Nipmuc homeland starts only thirty miles west of Boston harbor, contacts with English colonists began almost immediately after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620 and increased dramatically after the settlement of Massachusetts Bay by the Puritans in 1630. Boston traders reached the Connecticut River in 1633, and Puritan missionaries were close behind them.

Large purchases of Nipmuc land by the Puritan colonists during the 1640s and 1650s steadily eroded the tribe's land base, but unregulated settlement (squatters) took even more. Whites took the best farm lands in the river valleys leaving the Nipmuc - who depended heavily on agriculture - unable to properly feed themselves. After 1640, the Nipmuc got Christianity from John Eliot and other Puritan missionaries. After their involvement in King Philip's War (1675), the Nipmuc were forced to flee their homes, and their lands were redistributed among the settlers.

Mohegan
The southeastern section of Connecticut was occupied by the Mohegan and Pequot tribes. Often these two groups were thought of as one group, but the name Mohegan probably referred to a particular Pequot clan that eventually gained control of the Pequot Nation. The Pequot, Montaukett, Narragansett, Niantic, Nipmuc, and Shinnecock that were referred to indiscriminately as Mohegan were originally distinct tribes, each with several autonomous bands.

The Mohegan and the Mohican were not the same tribe. They were kinfolk and shared many cultural traits, like other Algonquian peoples of New England, but they were no more closely related to each other than other New England tribes whose names were less confusingly similar. The Mohegans called themselves Mahiingan, meaning wolf, and the Mahicans called themselves Muheconneok, which was their name for the Hudson River.

Though most of the Mohegan tribes quietly assimilated into New England society, they never gave up their identity, and have retained several small reservations in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island. In recent years the Connecticut Pequot and Mohegan tribes have become some of the wealthiest Native American bands due to successful management of tribal casinos.

Pequot
The Pequot Chief, Sassacus, ruled both the Pequot tribe and the Mohegan tribe. The division into two distinct tribes seems to have been accomplished when a subordinate chief named Uncas rebelled and withdrew into the interior with a small group of followers, and the Mohegan gained their independence.

The Pequot then went south to invade the Niantic tribe, and eventually expanded their territory to the Connecticut River, and Sassacus became the ruler of 26 subordinate chiefs and all of Connecticut east of Connecticut River and the coast westward to New Haven, and part of Long Island.

At first, British settlers and the Pequot lived together peacefully, but more colonists came, and the aggressive manner in which they claimed more and more land upset the Pequot. The Pequot soon found themselves stuck between the Narragansett Bay and the Connecticut River, and resentment began to grow within the tribe.

Before their conquest by the English in 1637, the Pequot were the most dreaded of the southern New England tribes.

Statue of an 18th Century Pequot Man
At the Pequot Museum

Niantic
The Niantic were a tribe of Native Americans living in Connecticut during the early colonial period. Due to intrusions of the Pequot, the Niantic were divided into an eastern and western division. The Western Niantic were subject to the Pequot and lived just east of the mouth of the Connecticut River, while the Eastern Niantic became close allies of the Narragansett.

The tribal name Nehantickmeans long-necked waters, believed by local residents to refer to the peninsula of land now known as Black Point in Long Island Sound. These natives likely spent their summers there fishing and digging for shellfish. They lived on corn, beans, and squash, supplemented by hunting, fishing, and gathering.

The Pequot War resulted in almost total destruction of the Western Niantic, whose 100 remaining members merged into the Mohegans and Pequots. Some of the Niantic who joined the Mohegan and Pequot fled west to escape further English harassment.

Quiripi Language
The language of the Quiripi tribes of Western Connecticut and southern Long Island has been extinct for more than two centuries. The Quiripi language was certainly Algonkian and seems to have been closely related to the Mohegan dialects. The Quiripi-speaking tribes were devastated by smallpox and other European diseases. Some villages suffered more than 90% casualties.

Connecticut Native American Culture:
Agriculture
The Indians of Connecticut were a resourceful people who made extensive use of the land's riches. They were hunter-gatherers, and they were farmers. They were capable of cultivating maize, beans, squash, pumpkins, artichokes, and tobacco. Everyone in the tribe worked at turning up the soil in the fields. Their tools were simple: sticks, clamshells, and the shells of horseshoe crabs. After the planting was finished, the women would had the responsibility of caring for the crops, except tobacco which was cultivated by the men. It was customary to fertilize the land with fish.

Gathering
The Indians used various nuts and berries for food - like walnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. They were often boiled and eaten, or ground up and used in breads. Wild strawberries, gooseberries, and huckleberries were also part of their diet. These were eaten raw or mixed in corn meal.

Hunting
Tribes that lived near a river or on the Sound fished in the summer months, and hunted for deer and moose in the fall and winter. If fishing wasn't available, they subsisted on land animals throughout the year. Weapons and snares were used to catch their prey - deer, moose, raccoon, rabbit, squirrel, otter, and beaver. Bows were made of hickory, and arrows were fashioned from reeds and tree branches with sharp stone points at the end. Snares were made with hemp rope and small bendable trees. With spears and nets, many of them feasted on fluke, lobster, bluefish, salmon, bass, and cod.

Dress
In the summer, the most common type of dress was the breechcloth, which was made from squares of skin that was attached around the waist with a snakeskin. Sometimes they wore leggings or a mantle around their shoulders. Male children went naked until about twelve years old, and female children wore a small breechcloth from birth.

The skins were sometimes decorated with paintings. Winter dress was made of skins that were fashioned into leggings, moccasins, and robes. The robes were made of furs and skins from deer, bear, moose, beaver, and fox.

They often decorated themselves, by wearing feathers and seashells in their hair, and painting their faces and other parts of their bodies. Some were tattooed by scratching themselves with a sharp object and adding a dye to the open sore. Earrings, necklaces, and bracelets were commonly worn by males and females.

Native American Homes
The most common shelter built by the Native Americans of Connecticut was dome-shaped. The men collected saplings and placed them in the ground in an upright position. The saplings formed a circle of from ten to sixty feet in diameter, and were then bent and tied together to form the dome. Tree bark and large mats woven by the women were placed over the saplings. A hole was cut in the top to allow the smoke of the campfire to escape. Entrance to the wigwam was made from the skin of an animal hung over an opening.

Travel
The tribes changed their eating and hunting habits according to the seasons. Footpaths to and from their favorite hunting and fishing grounds were the most used mode of travel. Using little more than a stone ax and muscle, an Indian brave could make a dugout canoe. This was the simplest and most widely used type of boat. Birch bark canoes were also used, but were not as common as the dugout.

Puritan Colonists
Many British people believed that the Church of England had become corrupt, and they had split into various factions that were experiencing religious persecution in their homeland. Conditions became so intolerable that a group of Separatist Pilgrims migrated to the New World, and established Plymouth Colony. The largest faction believed that changes should be made from within the church. They were called Puritans, and they were eager to return power to the members of the congregations by having ministers, elders, and other officers elected by the congregation.

Thomas Hooker, the Father of Connecticut, was a lecturer in the Church of England. He was a powerful and popular preacher, but he was constantly warned by his superiors to curtail his Puritan tendencies. He fled from England in late 1629 and went to Holland, but he didn't stay long. The promise of a fresh start in the New World attracted his attention, and he return to England to settle his affairs before sailing to New England. By disguising himself, Hooker was able to make his departure for Massachusetts aboard the ship, Griffin.

Shortly after they arrived, Thomas Hooker and his congregation were ready to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony and settle in the rich lands of the Connecticut River Valley, because living conditions were becoming cramped in the Boston area. The land around the Connecticut River was spacious enough for cattle raising and agriculture. In June of 1636, Thomas Hooker and 100 people, 160 head of cattle, and a number of goats and swine left for Connecticut. They settled an area they called Newtown (now Hartford). The trip took them more than two weeks, traveling ten miles a day.

The Pequot War
In 1633, a small English trading party was wiped out by the Pequots, and they had other skirmishes with Dutch traders during this period. Fearing reprisals, the Pequots sent emissaries to Boston to assure the English that they still wished to carry on trade with them. They offered to give up those who were guilty of the slaughter in return for peaceful relations. Peace was effected, but not for long.

In 1636, John Oldham, an explorer and trader, went on a trading expedition. When his vessel was close to Block island, it was overrun by Indians who killed everyone aboard. A special expedition was then dispatched under the command of Captain John Endecott. They discovered that the Block Island Indians, not the Pequot, had slaughtered Oldham's party, but the Pequots had given refuge to the perpetrators. Endecott's party wiped out Pequot villages, and burned their homes and crops, which led to further hostilities.

In April 1637, a party of Pequots traveled up the Connecticut River, and attacked the settlers there, killing six men and three women. Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay Colony was urged by many to undertake an action against the Pequot. On May 1, 1637, the General Court at Hartford ordered an attack, and Captain John Mason was put in charge of a force of about ninety men. After a fierce engagement, many Pequot were killed, but some escaped. Those who survived fled westward toward the Hudson River.

Mason's group was joined by at least 200 men from Massachusetts, and together they pursued the fleeing Indians, whose travel was impeded by their women, children, and elderly. In a swamp in Fairfield, the English surrounded the tribe. Thomas Stanton, who knew the Indian language, convinced the tribal leaders to allow their women, children, and elderly to leave. A pitched battle followed, and all but sixty or seventy Pequot were killed.

Most of the captured warriors were executed, and the English sold the remainder as slaves to the West Indies. Some of the women and children were distributed as servants to colonial households in New England.

Due to heavy population losses and aggressive colonial expansion, the Native American tribes of Connecticut were scattered, merged, and assimilated to such a degree that they lost their languages and much of their individual tribal character.

SOURCES
Nipmuc History
Native American Tribes of Connecticut
The History of Connecticut Through 1690

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Native Americans in Connecticut | History of American Women

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The Year: 1636 Image: Connecticut Tribes Map There were originally many small American Indian tribes in Connecticut, including the Nipmuc, Mohegan, Pequot, and the Niantic. Though all of them spoke related languages and shared many cultural similarities, each tribe had its own leadership and its own territory.

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Indian languages Indian cultures Indian art
Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Niantics for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our mainNiantic page for in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Niantic pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.

Sponsored Links

Niantic Tribe

Niantic is pronounced "Nee-ANN-tick." It comes from a Mohegan-Pequot placename, which means "people of the point."

Not originally. They spoke related languages and shared similar cultures, but the Niantic and Narragansett used to be distinct tribes, each with its own leadership. But after Europeans arrived, many Native American people of the east coast died from disease and warfare. The survivors merged together, and many of their original tribal distinctions were lost. This happened to the Niantic and Narragansett. Today, they share a single tribe.

The Niantics are original people ofRhode Island andConnecticut. Most of their descendants are still living in Rhode Island today.

The Narragansett and Niantic Indians share areservation in Rhode Island. A reservation is land that belongs to an Indian tribe and is under their control. The Narragansett tribe has its own government, laws, police, and other services, just like a small country. But the Niantics and Narragansetts are also US citizens and must obey American law. There are about 2500 members of the combined tribe today.

Niantic Indians all speak English today. In the past, the Pequots, Mohegans, Niantics, Montauks, and other tribes of New England all spoke theMohegan-Pequot language. This language died out more than 100 years ago, but some young people are working to revive it. You can read a Mohegan-Pequot picture glossaryhere.

Here is the homepage of theNarragansett Indian Tribe. On their site you can learn about the heritage and traditions of the Narragansett and Niantic people.

Sponsored Links

They do the same things any children do--play with each other, go to school and help around the house. In the past, Indian kids had more chores and less time to play, just like early colonial children. But they did havecornhusk dolls, ball games, and toys such as kid-size bows and arrows. Niantic mothers, like many Native Americans, traditionally carried their babies incradleboards on their backs. Here is a website with pictures of cradleboards and otherNative American baby carrier technology.

What were men and women's roles in the Niantic tribe?

Niantic men were hunters and sometimes went to war to protect their families. Niantic women were farmers and also did most of the child care and cooking. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. In the past, Niantic chiefs were always men, but today a Niantic Indian woman could be chief too.

The Niantics didn't live in tepees. They lived in small round houses calledwigwams. Here are some pictures ofAlgonquian wigwams like the ones Niantic Indians used. Today, Native Americans only build a wigwam for fun or to connect with their heritage, not for shelter. Most Niantics live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you.

Niantic women wore knee-length skirts and the men wore abreechcloth and leggings. Shirts were not necessary in the Niantic culture, but Niantic people did wear deerskin mantles in cool weather. Niantic men and women both wore earrings andmoccasins on their feet. Here is apicture of Niantic clothing and some photographs and links abouttraditional Indian dress in general.

The Niantics didn't wear long headdresses like theSioux. Usually they wore a beadedNative American headband with a feather or two in it. Sometimes a Niantic chief wore a headdress of feathers pointing straight up from a headband, likethis. Niantic men, especially warriors, often wore aMohawk hairstyle or shaved their heads completely except for ascalplock (one long lock of hair on top of their heads.) Niantic women usually had long hair. Here is a website with pictures ofNative Americans' hair.
What was Niantic food like in the days before supermarkets?
The Niantics were farming people. Niantic women harvested corn, squash and beans and also gathered nuts and fruit to eat. Niantic men did most of the hunting. They shot deer, turkeys, and small game, and went fishing on the coast. Niantic Indian recipes included soup, cornbread, and stews. Here is a website with more information about
Today, some Niantic people still have a traditional headband or moccasins, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths... and they only wear feathers in their hair on special occasions like a dance.

Yes, the Niantics madedugout canoes by hollowing out large trees. They used them for transportation and for ocean fishing trips. Here is a website aboutNative canoe styles. Over land, the Niantics used dogs as pack animals. (There were no horses in North America until colonists brought them over from Europe.) Niantic Indians used sleds and snowshoes to help them travel in the winter. (They learned to make those tools from northern neighbors like theCree Indians.) Today, of course, Niantic people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.

American Indian corn and other foods.

Niantic hunters and warriors used bows and arrows, spears, and clubs. Fishermen used pronged spears, nets, and bone hooks. Here is a website with pictures and information aboutIndian ancient weapons.

The Niantic tribes were known for theirAmerican Indian beading andbasketry. Like other eastern American Indians, Niantics also craftedwampum out of white and purple shell beads. Wampum beads were traded as a kind of currency, but they were more culturally important as an art material. Thedesigns and pictures on wampum belts often told a story or represented a person's family.

What other Native Americans did the Niantic tribe interact with?
The Niantics liked to trade with other Algonquian tribes of southern New England, such as theNarragansett,Wampanoag, andMohegan tribes. Although they were closely related to each other, these tribes were not always friends. ThePequot tribe was one tribe that often fought with the Niantic tribe.
Can you recommend a good book for me to read?
I don't know of any good books specifically about the Niantic tribe, but the Niantic culture was always very similar to the Narragansett culture and is even more so today, so maybe you will enjoy reading one of these books about the Narragansetts. If you like scary stories, you can try
There are many traditional Niantic legends and fairy tales. Storytelling is very important to the Niantic Indian culture. Here's one legend aboutthe Makiaweesug, who were mythical creatures like brownies or fairies. All the Mohegan-Pequot speaking tribes told stories about little people like these..

Religions are too complicated and culturally sensitive to describe appropriately in only a few simple sentences, and we strongly want to avoid misleading anybody. You can visit this site to learn more aboutNew England Algonquian traditions and symbols or this site aboutNative American religion in general.

Whisper in the Dark, which is a suspense novel by an American Indian author about a Narragansett girl confronting a traditional monster. Younger kids may like readingNickommoh, a book about traditional Narragansett Thanksgiving festivities. If you want to know more about Niantic and Narragansett culture and history,The Narragansett is a good choice for kids. You can also browse through our recommendations of Native American books in general.

You will need to ask your teacher for the format he or she wants you to use. The authors' names are Laura Redish and Orrin Lewis and the title of our site is Native Languages of the Americas. We are a nonprofit educational organization working to preserve and protect Native American languages and culture. You can learn more about our organizationhere. Our website was first created in 1998 and last updated in 2015.

Thanks for your interest in the Niantic Indian people and their language!

Sponsored Links

Mohegan Tribes
Historical overview of the Niantic and other Mohegan-speaking tribes.

Niantic Language Resources
Niantic Indian language samples, articles, and indexed links.

Niantic Culture and History Directory
Related links about the Niantic Indians past and present.

Return to American Indians Facts for Kids
Return to our menu of North American Indian tribes

Native American Genealogy Indian Names Tribal Tattoo Design

Would you like to help support our organization's work with endangered American Indian languages?

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Facts for Kids: Niantic Indians (Niantics)

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Indian languages Indian cultures Indian art Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Niantics for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our mainNiantic page for in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Niantic pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.

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The Mohegan Tribe's History

When does history begin? Like humanity everywhere, Native American people trace their past in more than years. Scientific evidence shows Native American presence in the area for 10,000 years. But oral history begins with creation, when the Great Spirit created the earth. The earliest clans of the Delaware Tribe included the Wolf clan, or Mohegans, who settled in upstate New York. After migrating to Connecticut this group became today's Mohegan Tribe.

The Mohegan story can be told through the history of its remarkable people.

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Our History | Mohegan Tribe History | The Mohegan Tribe

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When does history begin? Like humanity everywhere, Native American people trace their past in more than years. Scientific evidence shows Native American presence in the area for 10,000 years. But oral history begins with creation, when the Great Spirit created the earth.

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Indian language Indian culture Indian crafts
Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Nipmucs for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our mainNipmuc page for in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Nipmuc pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.

Sponsored Links

Nipmuc Tribe

Nipmuc is pronounced "NIP-muck." It comes from a Nipmuc place name, which meant "by the freshwater lake."

Not originally. They spoke similar languages and shared similar cultures, but the Nipmucs, Mohegans, Pequots, Narragansetts, and other tribes of New England all used to be distinct tribes, each with its own leadership. But after Europeans arrived, many Native American people of the east coast died from disease and warfare. The survivors merged together, and many of their original tribal distinctions were lost. Today, there are people of Nipmic heritage living among other tribes such as the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes -- and vice versa.

The Nipmucs were original people ofConnecticut,Rhode Island andMassachusetts.

The Nipmuc tribe is notfederally recognized by the United States. That means the Nipmucs don't have reservations or their own governments. But there are still communities of Nipmuc people living in Southern New England. Here is a link to onecommunity in Massachusetts.

Nipmuc Indians all speak English today. In the past, the Nipmucs spoke a dialect of theNarragansett language. This language died out more than 100 years ago, but some young people are working to revive it. You can read a Narragansett picture glossaryhere.

Here is the homepage of theNarragansett Indian Tribe. On their site you can learn about the heritage and traditions of the Narragansett and Nipmuc people.

Sponsored Links

They do the same things any children do--play with each other, go to school and help around the house. In the past, Indian kids had more chores and less time to play, just like early colonial children. But they did havecornshuck dolls, ball games, and toys such as kid-size bows and arrows. Nipmuc mothers, like many Native Americans, traditionally carried their babies incradleboards on their backs. Here is a website with pictures of cradleboards and otherAmerican Indian baby carrier technology.

What were men and women's roles in the Nipmuc tribe?

Nipmuc men were hunters and sometimes went to war to protect their families. Nipmuc women were farmers and also did most of the child care and cooking. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. In the past, Nipmuc chiefs were always men, but today a Nipmuc Indian woman could be chief too.

The Nipmucs didn't live in tepees. They lived in small round houses calledwigwams. Here are some pictures ofwigwam houses like the ones Nipmuc and Pequot Indians used. Today, Native Americans only build a wigwam for fun or to connect with their heritage, not for shelter. Most Nipmucs live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you.

Nipmuc women wore knee-length skirts and the men worebreechcloth and leggings. Shirts were not necessary in the Nipmuc culture, but Nipmuc people did wear deerskin mantles in cool weather. Nipmuc men and women both wore earrings andmoccasins on their feet. Here is apicture of Nipmuc clothing and some photographs and links aboutIndian apparel in general.

The Nipmucs didn't wear long headdresses like theSioux. Usually they wore beadedNative American headbands with a feather or two in the back. Sometimes a Nipmuc chief wore a headdress of feathers pointing straight up from a headband, likethis. Nipmuc men, especially warriors, often wore aMohawk hairstyle or shaved their heads completely except for ascalplock (one long lock of hair on top of their heads.) Nipmuc women usually had long hair. Here is a website with pictures ofAmerican Indians' hair.
What was Nipmuc food like in the days before supermarkets?
The Nipmucs were farming people. Nipmuc women harvested corn, squash and beans and also gathered nuts and fruit to eat. Nipmuc men did most of the hunting. They shot deer, turkeys, and small game, and went fishing on the coast. Nipmuc Indian recipes included soup, cornbread, and stews. Here is a website with more information about
Today, some Nipmuc people still have a traditional headband or moccasins, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths... and they only wear feathers in their hair on special occasions like a dance.

Yes, the Nipmucs madedugout canoes by hollowing out large trees. They used them for transportation and for ocean fishing trips. Here is a website aboutNative boat styles. Over land, the Nipmucs used dogs as pack animals. (There were no horses in North America until colonists brought them over from Europe.) Nipmuc Indians used sleds and snowshoes to help them travel in the winter. (They learned to make those tools from northern neighbors like theCree Indians.) Today, of course, Nipmuc people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.

Indian corn and other crops.

Nipmuc hunters and warriors used bows and arrows, spears, and clubs. Fishermen used pronged spears, nets, and bone hooks. Here is a website with pictures and information aboutNorth American Indian weapons.

The Nipmuc tribe was known for theirNative American beading andbasketry. Like other eastern American Indians, Nipmucs also craftedwampum out of white and purple shell beads. Wampum beads were traded as a kind of currency, but they were more culturally important as an art material. Thedesigns and pictures on wampum belts often told a story or represented a person's family.

What other Native Americans did the Nipmuc nation interact with?
The Nipmucs liked to trade with other Algonquian tribes of southern New England, such as theNarragansett,Wampanoag, andMohegan tribes. Although they were closely related to each other, these tribes were not always friends. ThePequots were one tribe that often fought with the Nipmuc tribe.
Can you recommend a good book for me to read?
I don't know of any good books specifically about the Nipmuc tribe, but the Nipmuc culture was always very similar to the Narragansett culture and is even more so today, so maybe you will enjoy reading one of these books about the Narragansetts. If you like scary stories, you can try
There are many traditional Nipmuc legends and fairy tales. Storytelling is very important to the Nipmuc Indian culture. Here's one Nipmuc legend abouthow the world was made.

Religions are too complicated and culturally sensitive to describe appropriately in only a few simple sentences, and we strongly want to avoid misleading anybody. You can visit this site to learn more aboutNew England Algonquian traditions and symbols or this site aboutNative American religions in general.

Whisper in the Dark, which is a suspense novel by an American Indian author about a Narragansett girl confronting a traditional monster. Younger kids may like readingNickommoh, a book about traditional Narragansett Thanksgiving festivities. If you want to know more about Nipmuc and Narragansett culture and history,The Narragansett is a good choice for kids. You can also browse through our recommendations of Native American Indian books in general.

You will need to ask your teacher for the format he or she wants you to use. The authors' names are Laura Redish and Orrin Lewis and the title of our site is Native Languages of the Americas. We are a nonprofit educational organization working to preserve and protect Native American languages and culture. You can learn more about our organizationhere. Our website was first created in 1998 and last updated in 2015.

Thanks for your interest in the Nipmuc Indian people and their language!

Sponsored Links

Narragansett Tribes
Historical overview of the Nipmuc and other Narragansett-speaking tribes.

Nipmuc Language Resources
Nipmuc Indian language samples, articles, and indexed links.

Nipmuc Culture and History Directory
Related links about the Nipmuc Indians past and present.

Return to Native Americans Facts for Kids
Return to our menu of North American Indian tribes

American Indian Genealogy American Indian Names Tribal Design

Would you like to help support our organization's work with endangered American Indian languages?

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Facts for Kids: Nipmuc Indians (Nipmuck)

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Indian language Indian culture Indian crafts Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Nipmucs for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our mainNipmuc page for in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Nipmuc pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.

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Arts of Eastern Woodland Indian Peoples, providing historical & contemporary background with instructional how-to's & references

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Arts of Eastern Woodland Indian Peoples, providing historical & contemporary background with instructional how-to's & references

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NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art

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Native American Technology & Art: An internet resource for indigenous ethno-technology focusing on the arts of Eastern Woodland Indian Peoples; providing historical & contemporary background, technical instruction & references.

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The Year: 1636

Image: Connecticut Tribes Map

There were originally many small American Indian tribes in Connecticut, including the Nipmuc, Mohegan, Pequot, and the Niantic. Though all of them spoke related languages and shared many cultural similarities, each tribe had its own leadership and its own territory. European epidemics and warfare devastated the Connecticut Indians, and the survivors had to merge with other tribes to survive. All of their languages have been lost, but native people continue to preserve their cultural heritage in Connecticut today.

Nipmuc
The northeast section of Connecticut and part of Massachusetts was occupied by the Nipmuc tribe. This group actually includes four tribes or bands - the Nipmucks, Nashaways, Quabaugs, and Wabaquassets. Since the Nipmuc homeland starts only thirty miles west of Boston harbor, contacts with English colonists began almost immediately after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620 and increased dramatically after the settlement of Massachusetts Bay by the Puritans in 1630. Boston traders reached the Connecticut River in 1633, and Puritan missionaries were close behind them.

Large purchases of Nipmuc land by the Puritan colonists during the 1640s and 1650s steadily eroded the tribe's land base, but unregulated settlement (squatters) took even more. Whites took the best farm lands in the river valleys leaving the Nipmuc - who depended heavily on agriculture - unable to properly feed themselves. After 1640, the Nipmuc got Christianity from John Eliot and other Puritan missionaries. After their involvement in King Philip's War (1675), the Nipmuc were forced to flee their homes, and their lands were redistributed among the settlers.

Mohegan
The southeastern section of Connecticut was occupied by the Mohegan and Pequot tribes. Often these two groups were thought of as one group, but the name Mohegan probably referred to a particular Pequot clan that eventually gained control of the Pequot Nation. The Pequot, Montaukett, Narragansett, Niantic, Nipmuc, and Shinnecock that were referred to indiscriminately as Mohegan were originally distinct tribes, each with several autonomous bands.

The Mohegan and the Mohican were not the same tribe. They were kinfolk and shared many cultural traits, like other Algonquian peoples of New England, but they were no more closely related to each other than other New England tribes whose names were less confusingly similar. The Mohegans called themselves Mahiingan, meaning wolf, and the Mahicans called themselves Muheconneok, which was their name for the Hudson River.

Though most of the Mohegan tribes quietly assimilated into New England society, they never gave up their identity, and have retained several small reservations in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island. In recent years the Connecticut Pequot and Mohegan tribes have become some of the wealthiest Native American bands due to successful management of tribal casinos.

Pequot
The Pequot Chief, Sassacus, ruled both the Pequot tribe and the Mohegan tribe. The division into two distinct tribes seems to have been accomplished when a subordinate chief named Uncas rebelled and withdrew into the interior with a small group of followers, and the Mohegan gained their independence.

The Pequot then went south to invade the Niantic tribe, and eventually expanded their territory to the Connecticut River, and Sassacus became the ruler of 26 subordinate chiefs and all of Connecticut east of Connecticut River and the coast westward to New Haven, and part of Long Island.

At first, British settlers and the Pequot lived together peacefully, but more colonists came, and the aggressive manner in which they claimed more and more land upset the Pequot. The Pequot soon found themselves stuck between the Narragansett Bay and the Connecticut River, and resentment began to grow within the tribe.

Before their conquest by the English in 1637, the Pequot were the most dreaded of the southern New England tribes.

Statue of an 18th Century Pequot Man
At the Pequot Museum

Niantic
The Niantic were a tribe of Native Americans living in Connecticut during the early colonial period. Due to intrusions of the Pequot, the Niantic were divided into an eastern and western division. The Western Niantic were subject to the Pequot and lived just east of the mouth of the Connecticut River, while the Eastern Niantic became close allies of the Narragansett.

The tribal name Nehantickmeans long-necked waters, believed by local residents to refer to the peninsula of land now known as Black Point in Long Island Sound. These natives likely spent their summers there fishing and digging for shellfish. They lived on corn, beans, and squash, supplemented by hunting, fishing, and gathering.

The Pequot War resulted in almost total destruction of the Western Niantic, whose 100 remaining members merged into the Mohegans and Pequots. Some of the Niantic who joined the Mohegan and Pequot fled west to escape further English harassment.

Quiripi Language
The language of the Quiripi tribes of Western Connecticut and southern Long Island has been extinct for more than two centuries. The Quiripi language was certainly Algonkian and seems to have been closely related to the Mohegan dialects. The Quiripi-speaking tribes were devastated by smallpox and other European diseases. Some villages suffered more than 90% casualties.

Connecticut Native American Culture:
Agriculture
The Indians of Connecticut were a resourceful people who made extensive use of the land's riches. They were hunter-gatherers, and they were farmers. They were capable of cultivating maize, beans, squash, pumpkins, artichokes, and tobacco. Everyone in the tribe worked at turning up the soil in the fields. Their tools were simple: sticks, clamshells, and the shells of horseshoe crabs. After the planting was finished, the women would had the responsibility of caring for the crops, except tobacco which was cultivated by the men. It was customary to fertilize the land with fish.

Gathering
The Indians used various nuts and berries for food - like walnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. They were often boiled and eaten, or ground up and used in breads. Wild strawberries, gooseberries, and huckleberries were also part of their diet. These were eaten raw or mixed in corn meal.

Hunting
Tribes that lived near a river or on the Sound fished in the summer months, and hunted for deer and moose in the fall and winter. If fishing wasn't available, they subsisted on land animals throughout the year. Weapons and snares were used to catch their prey - deer, moose, raccoon, rabbit, squirrel, otter, and beaver. Bows were made of hickory, and arrows were fashioned from reeds and tree branches with sharp stone points at the end. Snares were made with hemp rope and small bendable trees. With spears and nets, many of them feasted on fluke, lobster, bluefish, salmon, bass, and cod.

Dress
In the summer, the most common type of dress was the breechcloth, which was made from squares of skin that was attached around the waist with a snakeskin. Sometimes they wore leggings or a mantle around their shoulders. Male children went naked until about twelve years old, and female children wore a small breechcloth from birth.

The skins were sometimes decorated with paintings. Winter dress was made of skins that were fashioned into leggings, moccasins, and robes. The robes were made of furs and skins from deer, bear, moose, beaver, and fox.

They often decorated themselves, by wearing feathers and seashells in their hair, and painting their faces and other parts of their bodies. Some were tattooed by scratching themselves with a sharp object and adding a dye to the open sore. Earrings, necklaces, and bracelets were commonly worn by males and females.

Native American Homes
The most common shelter built by the Native Americans of Connecticut was dome-shaped. The men collected saplings and placed them in the ground in an upright position. The saplings formed a circle of from ten to sixty feet in diameter, and were then bent and tied together to form the dome. Tree bark and large mats woven by the women were placed over the saplings. A hole was cut in the top to allow the smoke of the campfire to escape. Entrance to the wigwam was made from the skin of an animal hung over an opening.

Travel
The tribes changed their eating and hunting habits according to the seasons. Footpaths to and from their favorite hunting and fishing grounds were the most used mode of travel. Using little more than a stone ax and muscle, an Indian brave could make a dugout canoe. This was the simplest and most widely used type of boat. Birch bark canoes were also used, but were not as common as the dugout.

Puritan Colonists
Many British people believed that the Church of England had become corrupt, and they had split into various factions that were experiencing religious persecution in their homeland. Conditions became so intolerable that a group of Separatist Pilgrims migrated to the New World, and established Plymouth Colony. The largest faction believed that changes should be made from within the church. They were called Puritans, and they were eager to return power to the members of the congregations by having ministers, elders, and other officers elected by the congregation.

Thomas Hooker, the Father of Connecticut, was a lecturer in the Church of England. He was a powerful and popular preacher, but he was constantly warned by his superiors to curtail his Puritan tendencies. He fled from England in late 1629 and went to Holland, but he didn't stay long. The promise of a fresh start in the New World attracted his attention, and he return to England to settle his affairs before sailing to New England. By disguising himself, Hooker was able to make his departure for Massachusetts aboard the ship, Griffin.

Shortly after they arrived, Thomas Hooker and his congregation were ready to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony and settle in the rich lands of the Connecticut River Valley, because living conditions were becoming cramped in the Boston area. The land around the Connecticut River was spacious enough for cattle raising and agriculture. In June of 1636, Thomas Hooker and 100 people, 160 head of cattle, and a number of goats and swine left for Connecticut. They settled an area they called Newtown (now Hartford). The trip took them more than two weeks, traveling ten miles a day.

The Pequot War
In 1633, a small English trading party was wiped out by the Pequots, and they had other skirmishes with Dutch traders during this period. Fearing reprisals, the Pequots sent emissaries to Boston to assure the English that they still wished to carry on trade with them. They offered to give up those who were guilty of the slaughter in return for peaceful relations. Peace was effected, but not for long.

In 1636, John Oldham, an explorer and trader, went on a trading expedition. When his vessel was close to Block island, it was overrun by Indians who killed everyone aboard. A special expedition was then dispatched under the command of Captain John Endecott. They discovered that the Block Island Indians, not the Pequot, had slaughtered Oldham's party, but the Pequots had given refuge to the perpetrators. Endecott's party wiped out Pequot villages, and burned their homes and crops, which led to further hostilities.

In April 1637, a party of Pequots traveled up the Connecticut River, and attacked the settlers there, killing six men and three women. Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay Colony was urged by many to undertake an action against the Pequot. On May 1, 1637, the General Court at Hartford ordered an attack, and Captain John Mason was put in charge of a force of about ninety men. After a fierce engagement, many Pequot were killed, but some escaped. Those who survived fled westward toward the Hudson River.

Mason's group was joined by at least 200 men from Massachusetts, and together they pursued the fleeing Indians, whose travel was impeded by their women, children, and elderly. In a swamp in Fairfield, the English surrounded the tribe. Thomas Stanton, who knew the Indian language, convinced the tribal leaders to allow their women, children, and elderly to leave. A pitched battle followed, and all but sixty or seventy Pequot were killed.

Most of the captured warriors were executed, and the English sold the remainder as slaves to the West Indies. Some of the women and children were distributed as servants to colonial households in New England.

Due to heavy population losses and aggressive colonial expansion, the Native American tribes of Connecticut were scattered, merged, and assimilated to such a degree that they lost their languages and much of their individual tribal character.

SOURCES
Nipmuc History
Native American Tribes of Connecticut
The History of Connecticut Through 1690

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Native Americans in Connecticut | History of American Women

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The Year: 1636 Image: Connecticut Tribes Map There were originally many small American Indian tribes in Connecticut, including the Nipmuc, Mohegan, Pequot, and the Niantic. Though all of them spoke related languages and shared many cultural similarities, each tribe had its own leadership and its own territory.

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The Society of Colonial Wars History of American Indians in CT

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The Society of Colonial Wars History of American Indians in CT

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The Indians of Connecticut

As Indian legends tell it, and as anthropologists theorize, a great Indian migration from the west began in the l5th century. There appears to be conflicting information concerning the origination of the tribes of Connecticut due to the lack of good records on the subject.

The Indians who settled in Connecticut had migrated in series bringing four distinct groups of Algonkians. The Delaware Indians pushed back and/or mingled with the Algonkians, who were already living in this area. Over a period of time, people from earlier migrations formed affiliations with each other. This led to further localization of smaller tribes scattered throughout this area. The Pequots were the last migrating indians settling in Connecticut in 1600. Each Indian group can be identified and placed in the proper location on a map of Connecticut. But it is important to realize that because of friendly and unfriendly relations between various groups of Indians it is impossible to define exact boundaries of each tribe.

The northeast section of Connecticut and part of Massachusetts was occupied by the Nipmuck tribe. The southeastern section of Connecticut was occupied by the Mohegan and Pequot tribes. Often these two groups were thought of as one group, probably because Uncas, son-in-law of a Pequot tribe chief, led a band of renegades and formed the tribe known as the Mohegans.

When discussing the Indians of the valley region, confusion arises. Some experts group them with the Wappinger Confederacy, and others refer to them as a separate and distinct group. The Dutch called them the Sequin, or River Indians. For the purpose of this unit, we will distinguish them as a separate group.

The western part of the state was occupied by two groups, the Mahican, who occupied a small section of the northwest and much of New York, and the Mattabesec-Wappinger Confederacy. The latter was a loosely knit affiliation of smaller, more localized tribes, which had settled along several rivers in that section of the state.

One more event which occurred before the arrival of settlers tipped the balance of Indian influence over territories. The Pequot Conquest extended the fierce influence of the Pequot tribe over more than half of the state. Figure 6 should be of great help in illustrating this situation.

The Indians of Connecticut were a resourceful people who made extensive use of the land's riches. They were hunter-gatherers, and they were farmers. They were capable of cultivating maize, beans, squash, pumpkins, artichokes, and tobacco. When it was time, everyone in the tribe worked at turning up the soil in the fields. Their tools were simple: sticks, clamshells, and the shells of horseshoe crabs. When the planting was finished, the women would have the responsibility of caring for the crops, excepting tobacco which was cultivated by the men. It was customary to fertilize the land with fish, and periodically to leave the fields unplanted. In some cases, hawks were used as guards of the fields to protect the crops from other birds.

The Indians used various nuts and berries for food. There was a variety of nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, and acorns. In some cases they were boiled and eaten, and in other cases they were ground up and used in breads. Wild strawberries, gooseberries, and huckleberries were also part of their diet. These were eaten raw or mixed in meal.

Those tribes which lived near a river or on the Sound fished in the summer months, and hunted for deer and moose in the fall and winter. Those tribes which did not have fishing sites subsisted on land animals throughout the year. Weapons and snares were used to catch animals. The bow that the Indian used was made of hickory, and their arrows were fashioned from reeds and tree branches with sharp stone points at the end. Snares were constructed from hemp rope and small, bendable trees.

The Indian diet was a varied one; they ate deer, moose, raccoon, rabbit, squirrel, otter, and beaver. With their spears and nets, many of them feasted on fluke, lobster, bluefish, salmon, bass, and cod. Turkey, duck, pheasant, owls, and crows were also a part of the Indian's diet. Occasionally, seals were hunted for food and skins. The preparation of these foods was as varied as the kinds of food. Some of it was boiled, roasted, or dried in the sun; and some of it was smoked and preserved.

In the summer, the most common type of dress was the simple breech-cloth. This was made from squares of skin that was attached around the waist by a snakeskin. Occasionally, they wore leggings or a mantle about the shoulders. The type of winter dress was generally made of skins that were fashioned into leggings, moccasins, and robes. Skins were sometimes decorated with paintings. The robes were made of furs and skins from deer, bear, moose, beaver, and fox. Male children went naked until about twelve years old, and female children wore a small breechcloth from birth.

In addition to decorating their clothing, they often decorated themselves. Many would wear feathers and seashells in their hair, paint their faces and other parts of their bodies. Some were tattooed by scratching themselves with a sharp object and adding a dye to the open sore. Earrings, necklaces, and bracelets were commonly worn by male and female.

The most common shelter built by the Indians was a type that was generally dome-shaped. The men would collect saplings and place them in the ground in an upright position. The saplings formed a circle of from ten to sixty feet in diameter. They were then bent and tied together. The women were given the task of weaving mats with which they would cover the dwelling. The wigwams were very good protection from the elements, and are said to have kept out the hard rains that fell on Connecticut. They also covered their dwellings with the bark of trees. A hole was cut in the top to allow the smoke of the campfire to escape. Entrance to the wigwam was made from the skin of an animal hung over an opening. The Indians usually slept upon skins or mats that were laid on the ground or upon planks of wood.

Some Indian footpaths still exist in Connecticut. It is believed that the Post Road that lies between Boston and New York closely follows an old Indian trail. The Indians would change their eating and hunting habits according to the seasons; these footpaths were the main mode of travel to and from their favorite hunting and fishing places.

Using little more than a stone ax and muscle, an Indian brave would make, in several weeks, a dugout canoe. The dugout canoe was the simplest and most widely used type of boat . Birchbark canoes were also used, but were not as common as the dugout. The birchbark canoe was made by forming a "skeleton" of a canoe with saplings, and covering the skeleton with bark. There are also reports that some Indians made use of a birchbark sailboat.

Many of their implements (axes, gouges, arrowheads, knives, and pipes) were made of stone. To start a fire, the indins would scratch a piece of flint onto a piece of rock containing iron to produce a spark.

The Indians who lived near the shore also made extensive use of shells as tools. Clamshells and the shells of horseshoe crabs were used for digging and skinning animals.

Wood was a commonly used material for making utensils. Maple wood was used to make bowls and spoons. They used wood to make pipes with beautiful carvings on them. The bark of trees was also used to make containers for holding liquids or for making arrow quivers.

Mats and baskets were woven by the women. They were fashioned from a variety of materials such as bark, leaves,and twigs. In some cases, even porcupine quills were woven into baskets. These handicrafts were often dyed.

The use of earthenware was not common in southern New England. Pipes and bowls made from clay have been found; but these were not representative of the common utensils used by Connecticut Indians.

THE PEQUOTS

MASHANTUCKET PEQUOT TRIBAL NATION TIMELINE

The Pequots occupied the Pequot River (currently the Thames River) drainage basin in Southern New England prior to contact with Europeans. The Pequots hunted, fished, traded and prospered on their traditional lands: 250 square miles bordering the Long Island Sound. The word "Pequot" has been translated to mean "people of the shallow waters." They numbered about 8,000 just prior to European contact, which began in the early 1600s.

The Pequots develop trading relationships with European and Native neighbors in fur and wampum.

A smallpox epidemic kills thousands of Natives in Southern New England.

The English burn a Pequot village along the Pequot River in retaliation for the murder of an Englishman and earlier conflicts, initiating hostilities that lead to the Pequot War.

The colonies of Connecticut and Massachusetts prepare for an offensive against the Pequot Tribe.

The combined forces of the English, Narragansetts and Mohegans attack the Pequot fort at Mystic, killing nearly all but a few of the inhabitants - about 600 Pequots.

The Pequot War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Hartford. Surviving Pequots are forbidden to return to their villages or to use the tribal name. The Tribe is divided between the Native allies of the English - the Mohegans and the Narragansetts - or placed into slavery among English colonists.

Robin Cassacinamon becomes the most influential Pequot leader in the decades following the Pequot War. As a diplomat, he negotiates for the return of the Pequots to some of their traditional lands in 1666.

The Mashantucket Pequots are given back some of their land in Noank by the government of Connecticut.

The Pequots establish a reservation of approximately 3,000 acres at Mashantucket, at the headwaters of the Mystic River.

The Pequots ally themselves with the colonists in King Philip's War, a conflict between some New England tribes and the colonists.

Pequot Sachem Robin Cassacinnamon dies.

After decades of constant dispute with English settlers over the Pequot lands at Noank, the Pequots formally give up their planting rights there but retain their fishing rights in exchange for clear title to Mashantucket.

Pequots fight in the French and Indian War.

Reservation land is reduced to 989 acres by the colony of Connecticut.

Pequots fight in the Revolutionary War.

Indians of Connecticut Bibliography

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society of colonial wars in the state of connecticut

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union of new haven and connecticut colonies

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Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut - The Indians of Connecticut

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The Indians of Connecticut As Indian legends tell it, and as anthropologists theorize, a great Indian migration from the west began in the l5th century. There appears to be conflicting information concerning the origination of the tribes of Connecticut due to the lack of good records on the subject.

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Native American Cuisine Saves the Colonists

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Native American Cuisine Saves the Colonists

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By Dale Carson

(c) Connecticut Explored Spring 2006

All images courtesy of the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, UConn

In 1620, English Separatists came ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. These newcomers arrived in a land of plenty-if only they knew how to take advantage of its bounty. The 101 souls of Plymouth Plantation would have died out that first winter had it not been for Wampanoag leader Massasoit and his people.

The indigenous peoples taught the early colonist culinary survival techniques and deeply influenced their traditional diet. In turn, the colonists introduced the Native Americans to European foods. Today we might recognize this blend as the first fusion cuisine in America.

The colonist's English diet largely consisted of meat, fish, and bread. There was abundant game, both large and small, and the shoreline teemed with fish and shellfish. But the newcomers were not able to recognize local edible plants and vegetables. In addition, the storm-swept sea journey, lingering disease that claimed half their number, and a severe New England winter took a heavy toll on the group. It was the Wampanoag who introduced the colonists to the variety of edible plants and vegetables. They taught the English how to plant the "Three Sisters"-corn, beans, and squash-and how to identify and harvest chestnuts, watercress, strawberries, wild grapes, jerusalem artichokes, and various shoots and roots that were indigenous foods. The term vegetable was not in use yet; edible plants were called herbs, roots or wallet and were generally cooked to death or served raw.

The colonists brought wheat, oats, rice, and other grains to the table, along with sugar and molasses from Europe. They also brought cabbage, turnips, and other root crops. In turn, the Native Americans shared their cornmeal and other flours made from acorns, cattails, and amaranth. Maple sugar and syrup were the sweeteners most often used in Native cooking.

Crab apples were indigenous to North American, but they were so bitter that the Native people did not place much value on them as a food. Ten years after the colonists came to Massachusetts, the first apple seedlings were brought to this country toy the colonists. Soon apple trees were common in both colonial and Native gardens. Dutch explorers sailing on Long Island Sound in the early 1700s noted orderly orchards all along the shoreline of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Birds and wind married the seeds westward, and as the Europeans moved that direction themselves they found wild apple trees growing in the northwestern woodlands.

Apples were cherished by the colonists not just as fruit but for the cider they yielded. Cheap and plentiful, cider became a staple drink in New England. When it "hardened," it became an intoxicating beverage, even more so when colonists mixed it with rum. The introduction of hard cider was not good for Native people, who had no experience with intoxicants and therefore no tolerance for intoxication's effects. Until they sampled hard cider, Native people had generally consumer herbal teas made from indigenous plants such as sassafras, birch, maple, mints, reships, bee balm, and elderberry. Coffee and cocoa are both indigenous to the Americas but wee not known to the Native people of New England in early colonial times. The first known coffee house in colonial America was opened in Boston in 1670; that establishment also served hot chocolate.

Many of th Native Americans who lived in Connecticut in the early 17th century were not easy to distinguish by tribal group. Many tribes were collectively called "River Indians" because they lived on both sides of the Connecticut River. Other tribes of note also lived along the other rivers of this state; the Pequots alone the Thames, Hammonassets along that river; Quinnipiacs gave their name to that river, and so on. The northwest woodland hills of Connecticut were virtually uninhabited at that time because of raids by the Mohawks of New York State. By the end of the 1700s the Mohawks had ceased their excursions eastward, and tribes from all over Connecticut began to relocate to the northwest of the state.

Native Americans of Connecticut were, and are, skillful cooks and quite adept at preserving food by various means to sustain themselves during the harsh winters. The primary methods of preservation were drying and smoking. Squash and pumpkin were sliced in large rings and hung; corn, cranberries, beans, mushrooms, and the delights were also dried. Many foods were buried in bark or skin containers to be retrieved as needed.

A goodly amount of inter-marriage between colonists and Native Americans occurred. The Europeans brought with them iron pots, freeing Indian women from using birchbark containers and clay pots and greatly extending their natural cooking ability. Colonial women learned much about seasonings from the herbs and fruits Native women taught them to identify and use. The culinary melding of these two cultures produced some unusual and delicious recipes that we all enjoy today.

The Europeans took Native American foods and seeds-crops like maize, potatoes, wild rice, amaranth, tomatoes, cacao, and peppers-to other parts of the world. These Native American agricultural products now feed millions. It would be a wonderful thing if the broad contributions of these indigenous foods and cooking methods of modern Native American culture were better understood. Some Native American foods have become so integrated in the culture at large that their origin is blurred. For example, Boston baked beans and New England clam chowder historically derived from the Native cupboard. What would pizza be without the tomato, or French fries without the potato, dessert without vanilla flavor? But who ever stops to consider these ingredients' origins in Native American cooking?

Dale Carson is of Abenaki descent and is the author of Native New England Cooking (Peregrine Press, 1980), New Native American Cooking, and A Dreamcatcher Book. She was the weekly food columnist for Indian Country Today.

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Native American Cuisine Saves the Colonists

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By Dale Carson (c) Connecticut Explored Spring 2006 All images courtesy of the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, UConn In 1620, English Separatists came ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. These newcomers arrived in a land of plenty-if only they knew how to take advantage of its bounty.

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CT State Library Native American Tribes in CT

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CT State Library Native American Tribes in CT

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The Encyclopedia of Connecticut: A Volume of Encyclopedia of the United States lists the following Native American groups (Indians) found in Connecticut:

Nipmunks

Sequin or "River Indians" which included the following tribes:

Matabesec or Wappinger Confederacy which included the following tribes:

Pequot-Mohegan

Further information about these tribes and their location in Connecticut at the turn of the sixteenth century is listed below.

Eastern Nehantics, located along the border of Connecticut and Rhode Island, (Gale, p. 157); (also mentioned in De Forest, p. 61 but not identified as Eastern Nehantic).

Hammononassetts, located in the Clinton and Killingworth area (De Forest, p. 52).

Matabesecs (or Wappingger) Confederacy, located in the Western part of Connecticut/Eastern New York (De Forest, p. 31).

Mohegans, found in the Thames River valley between Norwich and Uncasville. This tribe was associated with the Pequot tribe before the two tribes split in the 1630's (Gale, p. 153).

Narragansetts, A Rhode Island tribe which clashed with the Pequots (De Forest, p. 62).

Nipmunks, found in Tolland and Windham counties, they were subject, sometimes to one, sometimes to another, of the more powerful communities around them (De Forest, p. 57).

Paugussetts, (Golden Hill) of Stratford (De Forest, p. 47) and Huntington, and surrounding townships (De Forest, p. 49) lived in villages on both sides of the Housatonic River in New Haven and Fairfield counties (Gale, p. 229), Language Algonquian.

Pequots, (Mashantucket) the most numerous, the most warlike, the fiercest and the bravest of all the aboriginal clans of Connecticut. Found from the Niantic River, west ... along the hills of New London County to a point ten miles east of the Paucatuc River, and North ten to twelve miles from Long Island Sound (De Forest, p. 58).

Podunks, "river tribe" (De Forest, p. 46) found on the East side of the Connecticut river, in East Windsor, South Windsor and East Hartford (De Forest, p. 55).

Quinnipiacs, extended along the shore from Milford to Madison (De Forest, p. 48).

Schaghticoke, located in West-Central, Litchfield County, near present day Kent (Gale, p. 276).

Sepous, see Tunxis Indians.

Tunxis, located on the Farmington river 8-10 miles west of the Connecticut (De Forest, p. 52).

Wangunks, "river tribe" (De Forest, p. 46) found in Wethersfield and Middletown (De Forest, p. 54).

Wappinger Confederacy, see Matabesec Confederacy.

Wepawaugs, Indian tribe that lived on the East bank of the Housatonic river, probably part of the Paugussett tribe (De Forest, p. 49).

Western Nehantics, located from the Connecticut River, eastward along the seashore, to a small steam which retains their name (De Forest, p. 57).

Note: The spelling of Native American tribal names varies. The spellings above are as given in the publications cited.

Sources:
DeForest, John W. History of the Indians of Connecticut from the Earliest Known Period to 1850 [CSL call number: HistRef E 78 .C7 D4 1991].

The Encyclopedia of Connecticut: A Volume of Encyclopedia of the United States [CSL call number: HistRef F 92 .E53 1994].

Malinowski, Sharon and Anna Sheets, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Volume I [CSL call number: E 77 .G15 1998 v.1].

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LibGuides Home: Native American Research: List of Historical Connecticut Tribes

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The Encyclopedia of Connecticut: A Volume of Encyclopedia of the United States lists the following Native American groups (Indians) found in Connecticut: Nipmunks Sequin or "River Indians" which included the following tribes: Matabesec or Wappinger Confederacy which included the following tribes: Pequot-Mohegan Further information about these tribes and their location in Connecticut at the turn of the sixteenth century is listed below.

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Slavery and the Pequot War - CT History.org

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Slavery and the Pequot War - CT History.org

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Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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For some, the existence of slavery in New England is still a little known fact. Even fewer realize that Native peoples in the region, including those in Connecticut, were also enslaved. Diaries, letters, and other sources from the early colonial era document cases of Native enslavement. One of the most notorious incidents followed the Fairfield Swamp Fight of July 1637.

Earlier, in May of that year, colonial forces and their Native allies had attacked a Pequot community in Mystic (a campaign colonists called the Battle of Mistick Fort). They then pursued the remaining Pequot men, women, and children across southern New England until July when the last major engagement of the war took place in what is today the town of Fairfield. During this time and throughout the war, many captured Pequot men were killed, while women and children were given to colonists as spoils of war, placed in captivity under other tribes who had pledged their allegiance to the English, or transferred to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sold into slavery, and shipped to the Caribbean islands and other British outposts.

Some of the Pequot held in Connecticut and the other colonies managed to escape. As Major John Mason, an English settler and a central military figure in the Pequot War who had made Connecticut colony his home, reported, "The Captives we took...we divided, intending to keep them as Servants, but they could not endure that Yoke; few of them continuing any considerable time with their masters.

Mashantucket Pequot oral tradition has played a key role in preserving memory of this history, which until fairly recently, had not been widely studied.
Contributed by staff for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center's Battlefields of the Pequot War project.

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Slavery and the Pequot War | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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For some, the existence of slavery in New England is still a little known fact. Even fewer realize that Native peoples in the region, including those in Connecticut, were also enslaved. Diaries, letters, and other sources from the early colonial era document cases of Native enslavement.

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Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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By Jason R. Mancini for Connecticut Explored

On July 17, 1710, Peter Wayamayhue, a Pequot Indian who had served as an apprentice to Lieutenant John Faning of Groton, indentured himself with the permission of his mother and her husband to Major John Merrett and Mrs. Mercy Raymond of Fishers Island, New York, for a period of two years. Though few other details are known, the terms of the agreement did stipulate that Peter would be permitted two weeks out of the year to visit his mother and other relations on the mainland.

Indentured Service and Indian Resistance

On his return to Fishers Island early in his second year of service, however, he encountered a man-of-war sloop entering Long Island Sound under the command of Lieutenant Daniel Allyn, likely of the British Royal Navy (the origin of the vessel is not noted in the court records). The crew of the vessel beckoned Wayamayhue to come onboard, which he did. One of the men then "turned his canoo adrift," and they continued on their voyage, impressing him into service and effectively terminating his indenture-or trading one form of indenture for another, according to court records. Trickery was often used to lure men of any race into maritime work, as it was difficult, low-paying labor.

Two and a half years later, on January 1, 1713, while in Boston, one Peter Faning, "an Indian man late of New London," in the company of several seamen, became very drunk on "Slip and punch" and indentured himself as a mariner's apprentice to Lieutenant Daniel Allyn for a period of three years. Shortly thereafter, according to New London County court records, "in May 1713 he did Run away and absent himself from his [second] master...& his service." His whereabouts were unknown until nearly three years later, when he appeared in Groton on March 27, 1716. At this time the sheriff of New London was instructed to seize Peter's property or arrest him so that he could be arraigned before the county court. Peter then provided a sworn statement before a local justice of the peace explaining the events that had brought about his current situation.

Peter Wayamayhue and Peter Faning were, of course, the same person. Now entangled in two lawsuits resulting from his having abandoned his first indenture on Fishers Island and his second indenture with Lieutenant Allyn, Peter could easily be cast as a victim of a harsh, indifferent, and discriminatory labor market and colonial legal system that was constructed by and for the English. But Peter had picked up a few tricks of the trade to help him beat the system: an alias, an apparent willingness to violate his contractual obligations, and a seaman's knowledge and mobility.

The experience of Peter Wayamayhue, alias Peter Faning, provides insight into the ways Indians and other people of color were adapting to and resisting a power structure that attempted to place them near the margins of Anglo-American society.

This article examines important ways that Indian people forged their existence and community structure on land, in port, and at sea. In an era of dispossession (when Indians lost their lands) and diminishing autonomy on the land, Indian mariners, as a class of transient laborers, rapidly learned to use Anglo-American structures and institutions to establish for themselves a degree of power and personal freedom. And by the end of the 18th century, as the number of Indian mariners increased, they had created maritime-based social networks that included other men of color.

Indian Mariners Navigate Colonial Legal and Economic Systems

The Treaty of Utrecht, which ended Queen Anne's War in 1713 and terminated inter-colonial conflicts between the French and English, also transformed the power structure between the English and Indians in New England. By the mid-18th century, every Indian community in Connecticut experienced significant loss to their remaining reservation lands or a challenge to their land rights that directly resulted in dispossession. This affected the Pequot communities at Mashantucket (present-day Ledyard) and Lantern Hill (present-day North Stonington), the Mohegan in present-day Montville, Niantic in present-day East Lyme, Wangunk in Middletown, Tunxis in Farmington, Paugussett in Derby, and Schaghticoke in Kent. The loss of this land caused many Indians to leave their reservations and find new ways to live and survive in colonial society. Importantly, the dispersion of the Indian population may have contributed to the perception that Indians were vanishing. Census records, however, indicate that the Indian population, albeit small compared to the English and African populations, was clearly increasing.

As the century progressed and their depth of experience with English ways increased, Indians developed a clearer understanding of English legal and economic systems. With this, they began to regain some control over their lives and livelihoods (which at this time was largely limited to voluntary or involuntary servitude, military service of some type, or peddling crafts). Indians throughout the region were engaged in numerous court cases involving land loss and encroachment, and trials for theft, murder, and breach of service (runaways). In the first quarter of the 18th century, they also participated in the colonial legal system by appearing occasionally as jurors of inquest. Consequently, Indians became better equipped on their own or with the assistance of white overseers/legal counselors to take matters into their own hands and this extended to situations in what, ironically, was one of the more appealing work options, given the low-paying and menial work that it was, going to sea.

Twenty years after Peter Wayamayhue was defending his actions in court, George Jobe, an Indian mariner from New London, was exercising his rights as a plaintiff. Demonstrating his experience with English law, in 1733 Jobe sued the master of the Brigantine London, Naboth Graves, after he refused to pay the agreed-upon wage of 55 shillings per month. As a foremast man on a 12-month, 14-day voyage, Jobe was part of a crew that sailed to "Ireland, Madeira, Cape deVerd Island, Soranam Boston and New London" between July 11, 1732 and July 25, 1733. A writ attaching "the goods or Estate" of Graves suggests that his complaint was not quickly brushed aside. The case was later adjudicated in favor of Jobe and settled when Graves's father-in-law "John Prentice gave special bail £68 for abiding judg.mt," according to New London County court records.

Work at Sea an Attractive Option amid Limited Opportunities

Maritime work was not only more lucrative than other labor options for Indians, it was a good way to avoid certain types of servitude. One such case involved an Indian boy of Lyme named Tantipinant, alias Philip. In 1732, Tantipinant was bound to the service of John Lay 2nd, also of Lyme, for a term of six years and one month. At some point in December 1734, Lay and Tantipinant were on board Capt. John Sears's sloop Elisabeth, and Lay, court records suggest, "Considering yt his Indian had so Great a Desire to Go to Sea he Thought it would be more for his Profitt to Let him go Than to keep him att home." From that point, Tantipinant continued on as one of Sears's hands to the West Indies islands of Antigua and Saint Christopher.

During his service to Sears, when their sloop was "providentially frozen in att Rocky Hill [along the Connecticut River]," Tantipinant was released with two other sailors "to go home until ye vessel was thawed out and he [Sears] would take them on board att Saybrook." It is not clear from the court records reporting the release if he went home to the Indian community in Lyme or if he returned to the service of John Lay. It might appear from the legal proceedings that Tantipinant did not return to Lay's service, which was likely the source of the dispute between Lay and Sears. Tantipinant had selfish motivations to go to sea, and he must have recognized that placing himself in a situation between "masters" gave him a certain amount of power. He also knew that the power of his two masters was situational and could not extend to both land and sea.

As commerce increased around the Atlantic world, more vessels required more men. Men of color frequently ran away or deserted service on the land to pursue opportunities in maritime occupations. Runaway or deserter advertisements in local newspapers increased in the middle through late 18th century and often contained warnings to "masters of vessels" not to "harbor" or "carry away" these men.

Sailors often adopted aliases that helped conceal their identity; many were willing to desert unwelcome or unwanted situations at sea as well as on land, and this contributed to the mobility and "disappearance" of Indians. David Pompey, for example, "a light complexioned Indian...was bro't up to the sea," noted the New London Summary newspaper. At 22 years old, he had an alias (Thomas Ginnings), and on March 5, 1760 he had deserted from the Schooner Three Sisters. The captain, Simon Rodes, knowing that Pompey would head to sea on another ship, used particularly harsh language in a newspaper advertisement warning his fellow "masters of vessels ...against harbouring, concealing or carrying off said indian on the utmost penalty of the Law." Tracking down runaways and deserters may have been next to impossible as it had "become very fashionable for Sailors to assume some fictitious name by which they ship and are known before they sail," as Elmo Holman notes in The American Whaleman (Longmans, Green & Co, 1928). That Pompey easily disappeared at sea suggests that there may have been many other Indians serving as sailors and thus he was easily able to go unidentified.

Communities of Color

Thus far, these accounts reflect a few individual experiences but don't provide a sense of whether Indian sailors were a sizeable group or community nor whether they were able to form durable social networks or communities of color at sea. Fortunately, other sources are beginning to reveal a fuller picture. According to war enlistment records, by the American Revolution opportunities for men to aggregate in military-oriented companies began to emerge both on land and at sea. Among the earliest documented instances of community-level presence and involvement of Indians in New London's maritime industry appeared during the construction of the Continental Frigate Confederacy along the Thames River in Preston. A number of the workers were associated with the Mohegan community directly across the river. Many of these men, including Peter Neshoe, Thomas Mosset, Turtle Hunter, Gurden Wyaugs, Ebenezer Tanner, Daniel Uncas, Dennis Mohegan, Simeon Ashbow, and James Jeffrey, were almost exclusively employed as ships riggers between October 1778 and February 1779. The nature of this work, which involved detailed knowledge of ship engineering and operation, suggests that these men were all by this time experienced mariners and recognized as such.

Furthermore, men from various Indian communities, including some of those involved in the construction of the Confederacy, later sailed as crew members: Simeon Ashbow and Daniel Uncas as marines, Ebenezer Tanner as a cook's mate, and William Fagins, Jonas Peege, and Turtle Hunter as seamen. Other vessels such as the Continental Frigate Trumbull, Connecticut Frigate Oliver Cromwell, Connecticut Galley Shark, and Connecticut Brigantines Defence and Marshall had groups of Indian mariners such as Gurden Wyaugs, John Wampy, Abimelech Uncas, John Jeffords (alias Jacob Sowwas), Benjamin Cinamon, and Indian Peter serving in various capacities. The growing presence of Indians working in the maritime industry and their demonstrated ability to perform well in difficult circumstances impressed their white captains and officers. Thus, with their reputation for hard work in a merit-based industry Indians and other men of color became an important part of New London's maritime labor force in the late 18th century.

New London also became a place where Indians could revive and adapt their social networks. The port of New London was located within 22 miles (as the crow flies) of six Indian reservations: four in Connecticut (Mohegan, Western Niantic, Mashantucket Pequot, and Lantern Hill Pequot); the Narragansett reservation in Rhode Island; and the Montauk reservation in New York. Arguably, this consortium represents and anchors one of the densest concentrations of Indian people in the Northeast. Living not just on reservations but throughout the surrounding towns of southern New England and eastern Long Island, many Indian men gravitated toward New London's waterfront and developing urban economy.

The extent to which Indians were drawn to New London's maritime industry was never directly mentioned in historical records, but it was, in part, reflected by the absence of Indians living on reservations. Commenting on the state of Pequot Indians at Mashantucket in May 1804, Colonel Edward Mott of Preston noted in a letter to William Hillhouse, a member of the Connecticut General Assembly, that "a Considerable Number of Aged & a Number of Females & some Males (sic) Invalids" remained on the Indian reservation and "a great part of their able & Smart Men are gone..."

Ample Evidence Discredits the Myth of "Vanishing" Indian

With the drastic reduction of Indian lands in Connecticut in the mid-18th century, so many Indians had dispersed that the English began to misunderstand and misrepresent both reservation life and the social networks that were developing to keep Indian people connected to each other. Recent work with the Records of the Collector of Customs for the Collection District of New London, Connecticut 1789-1938 has begun to illuminate Indians' off-reservation activity. Between August 1796 and the date of Mott's letter in 1804, nearly 80 Indian men from across the region had registered for a Seamen's Protection Certificate or appeared on a vessel crew list arriving at or departing from New London. Hundreds more would follow.

A comparison of customs records with tribal documents and federal census records indicates that of 224 individuals specifically identified as "Indian" in the customs records between 1796 and 1860, only 28 appear on tribal lists, records, or petitions. This means that 88% of New London's seafaring Indians never appear on tribal documents but nonetheless were born in or resided in the towns surrounding these Indian lands. Though customs records alone don't fully reveal the way people of color identified themselves, many Indian mariners declared their tribal affiliation in other sources such as tribal petitions, census records, and legal proceedings. In the customs records, men of Indian descent were often placed in categories associated with African ancestry such as "black" or "Negro" and in categories typically associated with European ancestry such as "fair" and "light." Further complicating this picture is the inconsistency with which many individuals were perceived and labeled. Between 1810 and 1818, Henry Fagins of Bozrah was labeled on various crew lists as "negro," "of color," "mulatto," and "dark." Similarly, in the period between 1819 and 1834, David Rogers of New London was listed as "Indian," "colored," "dark," "mulatto," and "yellow."

Though Indian voices were strangely silent during this time, their actions were not. Beginning in 1796, with the initiation of the New London Customs Records, family and community connections can be observed and documented in the maritime industry. While the registration lists were maintained in alphabetical order over a period of decades, each mariner (often with an alphabetically different surname) received a numbered protection certificate on a certain date. When the protection certificates are reorganized sequentially and by date, a startling pattern emerges where it has become clear that many of these "vanished" men were appearing and enlisting together in New London.

This cohesion can be seen in the crews of merchant vessels reported in the New London customs records between 1796 and 1822 and principally on whaling vessels after 1821. As with other seamen, men of color appeared on these vessels in groups of three to six men. On board, they filled a variety of roles such as able seaman, ordinary seaman, cook, steward, boy, and occasionally cooper or mate. But as these fraternities were forming, they were also being obscured by the arbitrary classification of race or "complexion" by white customs officials.

At a time when the Indian population was perceived by Anglo-Americans to be vanishing, these individuals and groups were adapting and redefining themselves in ways not recognized or documented in contemporary historical accounts. The nature and extent of these connections are only realized by considering Indian reservation populations as part of a larger regional network of Indians and people of color. Assessment of the Indian presence in Connecticut has been hindered by our inability to recognize individuals as "Indians." By considering various biases, including those of race, identity, and mobility, and by framing Indians in a population- and community-level study, we allow their rich and detailed histories to emerge.

Jason R. Mancini, PhD, is senior research with the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center and author of the forthcoming article "'Preserved on the mighty Waters': Ethno-fraternities, Transnationalism, and Memory of New England's Indian Mariners." "New London's Indian Mariners" is excerpted from his article "Beyond Reservation: Indians, Maritime Labor, and Communities of Color from Eastern Long Island Sound, 1713-1861″ in Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Power in Maritime America (Glenn S. Gordinier, editor; Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport, 2008).
Author's Note: To better connect readers to the historical documents that serve as the foundation of this article, the term "Indian" is used to describe the indigenous people of New England (and their descendants). This is interchangeable with "Native American." While tribal affiliation is preferred as a descriptor, both terms are considered acceptable.
© Connecticut Explored. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Connecticut Explored (formerly Hog River Journal) Vol. 7/ No. 2, SPRING 2009.

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New London's Indian Mariners | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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By Jason R. Mancini for Connecticut Explored On July 17, 1710, Peter Wayamayhue, a Pequot Indian who had served as an apprentice to Lieutenant John Faning of Groton, indentured himself with the permission of his mother and her husband to Major John Merrett and Mrs.

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Quinnipiac: People of the Long Water Land

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Quinnipiac: People of the Long Water Land

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Quinnipiac: The People of Long Water Land | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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Once a common sight in Connecticut's towns, itinerant Indian crafters walked miles across the state, selling all sorts of brooms, baskets, herbs, and other Native goods. In the late 18th century, several such vendors were known to the people of Guilford as town residents.

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CT Declares War Against the Pequot - 1637

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CT Declares War Against the Pequot - 1637

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Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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On May 1, 1637, Connecticut Colony declared war against the Pequot. This marked the first declared war in Connecticut between an indigenous people and English colonists. The conflict, though, had started well before the colony's 1637 declaration. It stemmed from decades of tension and antagonism between not only the English colonists and the Pequot but involving Dutch settlers and other Native tribes as well. Although the war's key battles in 1636 and 1637 marked the start and conclusion of the Pequot War, this still-controversial conflict quite literally bled beyond these chronological markers.

In addition to the English colonists and the Pequot, the conflict drew the Narragansett, Niantic, Mohegan, Mohawk, Sasqua, and other tribes into the fray. Over its course, thousands would fight dozens of battles in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Confrontations occurred in the present day towns of Old Saybrook, Groton, Wethersfield, and Fairfield as well as in Mystic and on Block Island. The outcomes of the war, which included the enslavement and servitude of Native captives, influenced the future development and settlement of Native communities, especially the Pequot, and Connecticut society and culture. The Pequot War had long-term ramifications in colonial policy toward Native groups and had bearing on how additional American colonies, states, and our future Nation interacted with the Pequot and other Native tribes.
Contributed by staff for the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center's Battlefields of the Pequot War project.

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Connecticut Declares War Against the Pequot - Today in History: May 1 | Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project

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On May 1, 1637, Connecticut Colony declared war against the Pequot. This marked the first declared war in Connecticut between an indigenous people and English colonists. The conflict, though, had started well before the colony's 1637 declaration.

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Native American Collection Book Collection on Epic

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View the Native American Collection collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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This is a series of webinars to build teacher knowledge.

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This series of videos are facilitated by educators (most of them Indigenous) and focused on the five major recognized tribal nations in CT.

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This CSDE webpage has resources on the Eastern Woodland Tribes of CT.

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CT.gov - Connecticut's Official State Website

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It seems that JavaScript is not working in your browser. It could be because it is not supported, or that JavaScript is intentionally disabled. Some of the features on CT.gov will not function properly with out javascript enabled.

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These are the slides from our first virtual PD with Samantha Tondreau of the Mohegan Tribe.