Mohicans
Total population | |
---|---|
c. 3,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States (Shawano County, Wisconsin) | |
Languages | |
English, formerly Mohican | |
Religion | |
Moravian Church | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Lenape, Munsee, Abenaki |
The Mohicans (
They combined with Lenape Native Americans (a branch known as the Munsee) in Stockbridge, MA, and later the people moved west away from pressure of European invasion. They settled in what became
Following the disruption of the
The tribe identified by the place where they lived: Muh-he-ka-neew (or "people of the continually flowing waters").[2] According to Daniel G. Brinton and James Hammond Trumbull "two well-known authorities on Mohican history", the word Muh-he-kan refers to a body of water that flows in both directions, being tidal to most of its Mohican range, so they named the Hudson River Mahicanuck, or the river with waters that are never still.[3] Therefore, they, along with other tribes living along the Hudson River (such as the Munsee to their west, known by the dialect of Lenape that they spoke, and Wappinger) to the south, were called "the River Indians" by the Dutch and English.
The Dutch heard and transliterated the term for the people of the area in their own language, variously as: Mahigan, Mahinganak, Maikan, among other variants, which the English later expressed as Mohican, in a transliteration to their own spelling system. The French, adopting names used by their Indian allies in Canada, knew the Mohican as the Loups (or wolves). They referred to the
In the late twentieth century, the Mohican joined other former New York tribes, including the
Territory
In their own language, the Mohican identified collectively as the Muhhekunneuw, "people of the waters that are never still".[4]
At the time of their first contact with Europeans traders along the river in the 1590s, the Mohican were living in and around the Hudson River (or Mahicannituck). After 1609, at the time of the Dutch settlement of New Netherland, they also ranged along the eastern Mohawk River and the Hoosic River, and south along the Hudson to the Roeliff Jansen Kill,[5] where they bordered on the Wappinger people. This nation inhabited the river area and its interior southward to today's New York City.[6]
Most of the Mohican communities lay along the upper tidal reaches of the Hudson River and along the watersheds of Kinderhook-Claverack-Taghkanic Creek, the Roeliff Jansen Kill, Catskil Creek, and adjacent areas of the Housatonic watershed. Mohican territory reached along Hudson River watersheds northeastward to Wood Creek just south of Lake Champlain.
Culture
The Mohican villages were governed by hereditary
A general council of sachems met regularly at Scodac (east of present-day Albany) to decide important matters affecting the entire confederacy.[4] In his history of the Indians of the Hudson River, Edward Manning Ruttenber described the clans of the Mohican as the Bear, the Turkey, the Turtle, and the Wolf. Each had a role in the lives of the people, and the Wolf served as warriors in the north to defend against the Mohawk, the easternmost of the Five Nations of the Iroquois.[citation needed]
Like the Munsee-speaking communities to their south, Mohican villages followed a dispersed settlement pattern, with each community likely dominated by a single lineage or clan. The villages usually consisted of a small cluster of small and mid-sized longhouses, and were located along floodplains. During times of war, they built fortifications in defensive locations (such as along ridges) as places of retreat. Their cornfields were located near their communities; the women also cultivated varieties of squash, beans, sunflowers, and other crops from the Eastern Agricultural Complex. Horticulture and the gathering and processing of nuts (hickory, butternuts, black walnuts and acorns), fruits (blueberries, raspberries, juneberries among many others), and roots (groundnuts, wood lilies, arrowroot among others) provided much of their diet. This was supplemented by the men hunting game (turkeys, deer, elk, bears, and moose in the Taconics) and fishing (sturgeon, alewives, shad, eels, lamprey and striped bass).
Language
The formally extinct Mohican language belonged to the Eastern Algonquian branch of the Algonquian language family.
History
Mohican Confederacy
The Mohican were a confederacy of five tribes and as many as forty villages.[4]
- Mohican proper, lived in the vicinity of today's Albany (Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw, "the fireplace of the Mahican Nation") west towards the Mohawk River and to the northwest to Lake Champlain and Lake George
- Mechkentowoon, lived along the west shore of the Hudson River above the Catskill Creek
- Wawyachtonoc (or Wawayachtonoc, "eddy people" or "people of the curving channel"), lived in Dutchess County and Columbia County eastward to the Housatonic River in Litchfield County, Connecticut, main village was Weantinock, additional villages: Shecomeco, Wechquadnach, Pamperaug, Bantam, Weataug, Scaticook
- Westenhuck (from hous atenuc, "on the other side of the mountains"), the name of a village near Housatonic Valley in Connecticut and Massachusetts and in the vicinity of Great Barrington, which they called Mahaiwe, meaning "the place downstream"[7]
- Wiekagjoc (from wikwajek, "upper reaches of a river"), lived east of the Hudson Rivers near the city of Hudson, Columbia County, New York[8]
Conflict with the Mohawk
The Algonquians (Mohican) and
In September 1609 Henry Hudson encountered Mohican villages just below present day Albany, with whom he traded goods for furs. Hudson returned to Holland with a cargo of valuable furs which immediately attracted Dutch merchants to the area. The first Dutch fur traders arrived on the Hudson River the following year to trade with the Mohicans. Besides exposing them to European epidemics, the fur trade destabilized the region.[4]
In 1614, the Dutch decided to establish a permanent trading post on Castle Island, on the site of a previous French post that had been long abandoned; but first they had to arrange a truce to end fighting which had broken out between the Mohicans and Mohawks. Fighting broke out again between the Mohicans and Mohawks in 1617, and with Fort Nassau badly damaged by a freshet, the Dutch abandoned the fort. In 1618, having once again negotiated a truce, the Dutch rebuilt Fort Nassau on higher ground.[10] Late that year, Fort Nassau was destroyed by flooding and abandoned for good. In 1624, Captain Cornelius Jacobsen May sailed the Nieuw Nederlandt upriver and landed eighteen families of Walloons on a plain opposite Castle Island. They commenced to construct Fort Orange.
The Mohicans invited the Algonquin and Montagnais to bring their furs to Fort Orange as an alternative to French traders in Quebec. Seeing the Mohicans extend their control over the fur trade, the Mohawk attacked, with initial success. In 1625 or 1626 the Mohicans destroyed the easternmost Iroquois "castle". The Mohawks then re-located south of the Mohawk River, closer to Fort Orange. In July 1626 many of the settlers moved to New Amsterdam because of the conflict. The Mohicans requested help from the Dutch and Commander Daniel Van Krieckebeek set out from the fort with six soldiers. Van Krieckebeek, three soldiers, and twenty-four Mohicans were killed when their party was ambushed by the Mohawk about a mile from the fort. The Mohawks withdrew with some body parts of those slain for later consumption as a demonstration of supremacy.[11]
War continued to rage between the Mohicans and Mohawks throughout the area from Skahnéhtati (Schenectady) to Kinderhoek (Kinderhook).[12] By 1629, the Mohawks had taken over territories on the west bank of the Hudson River that were formerly held by the Mohicans.[13] The conflict caused most of the Mohicans to migrate eastward across the Hudson River into western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Mohawks gained a near-monopoly in the fur trade with the Dutch by prohibiting the nearby Algonquian-speaking tribes to the north or east from trading.
Stockbridge
Many Mohicans settled in the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where they gradually became known as the "Stockbridge Indians". Etow Oh Koam, one of their chiefs, accompanied three Mohawk chiefs on a state visit to Queen Anne and her government in England in 1710. They were popularly referred to as the Four Mohawk Kings.
The Stockbridge Indians allowed
In the eighteenth century, some of the Mohicans developed strong ties with missionaries of the
On a 1738 visit to New York, the Mohicans spoke to Governor
Revolutionary War
In August 1775, the
In 1778 they lost forty warriors of their Stockbridge Militia, around half "Stockbridge Indians" who were remnants of both Mohican and Wappinger tribes, in a British attack on the land of the van Cortlandt family. (In 1888, the property became Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York.) The Battle of Kingsbridge decimated the troop's ranks.[18] It received a commendation from George Washington,[19] was paid $1,000 and dismissed.[20]
Move to Oneida, New York
After the Revolution the citizens of the new United States forced many Native Americans off their land and westward. In the 1780s, groups of Stockbridge Indians, today regarded as
The central figures of Mohican society, including the chief sachem, Joseph Quanaukaunt, and his counselors and relatives, were part of the move to New Stockbridge. At the new town, the Stockbridge emigrants controlled their own affairs and combined traditional ways with the new as they chose. After learning from the Christian missionaries, the Stockbridge Indians were experienced in English ways. At New Stockbridge they replicated their former town. While continuing as Christians, they retained their language and Mohican cultural traditions. In general, their evolving Mohican identity was still rooted in traditions of the past.[21]
Removal to Wisconsin
In the 1820s and 1830s, most of the Stockbridge Indians moved to
Their 22,000-acre reservation is known as that of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians and is located near the town of Bowler. Since the late twentieth century, they have developed the North Star Mohican Resort and Casino on their reservation, which has successfully generated funds for tribal welfare and economic development.[22]
Land claims
In the late twentieth century, the Stockbridge-Munsee were among tribes filing land claims against New York, which had been ruled to have unconstitutionally acquired land from Indians without Senate ratification. The Stockbridge-Munsee filed a land claim against New York state for 23,000 acres (9,300 ha) in Madison County, the location of its former property. In 2011, outgoing governor David Paterson announced having reached a deal with the tribe. They would be given nearly 2 acres (0.81 ha) in Madison County and give up their larger claim in exchange for the state's giving them 330 acres of land in Sullivan County in the Catskill Mountains, where the government was trying to encourage economic development. The federal government had agreed to take the land in trust, making it eligible for development as a gaming casino, and the state would allow gaming, an increasingly important source of revenue for American Indians. Race track and casinos, private interests and other tribes opposed the deal.[22]
In 2011, the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of the Mohican Indians regained ownership 156 acres along the Hudson River, a tract known as Papscanee Island Nature Preserve near
Representation in media
James Fenimore Cooper based his novel, The Last of the Mohicans, on the Mohican tribe. His description includes some cultural aspects of the Mohegan, a different Algonquian tribe that lived in eastern Connecticut. Cooper set his novel in the Hudson Valley, Mohican land, but used some Mohegan names for his characters, such as Uncas.
The novel has been adapted for the cinema more than a dozen times, the first time in 1920.
In 2016, German metal band Running Wild released their 16th album Rapid Foray. The last song in the album is 'Last of the Mohicans'.
Notable members
- Etow Oh Koam, Mohican sachem and one of the Four Indian Kings, who, with three Mohawk leaders, made a state visit to Queen Anne and her government in England in 1710.
- Hendrick Aupaumut, (1757–1830) sachem, historian, and American Revolutionary War captain
- Yippieactivist
- Brent Michael Davids, (b. 1959) composer/flautist
- Bill Miller, (b. 1955) musician
- Electa Quinney, (1798–1885) first public teacher and school mistress in Wisconsin
- John Wannuaucon Quinney, (1797–1855) diplomat
- Don Coyhis (born August 16, 1943), addiction specialist, Native American health activist and author.[24]
- Anthony Kiedis (born November 1, 1962), lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
See also
References
- ^ EB-Mohicans "Mohican" (history), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007 Archived 24 June 2007 at archive.today
- ^ Stockbridge, Past and Present; Electa Jones
- ^ Electa F. Jones, "Mohican Oral Tribal History as recorded by Hendrick Aupaumut", in Stockbridge, Past and Present: Or, Records of an Old Mission Station, Springfield, MA: Samuel Bowles & Company, 1854
- ^ a b c d "Mahican". www.dickshovel.com. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
- ^ Ruttenber, E.M. (1906). "Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names in the Valley of Hudson's River, the Valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware: Their location and the probable meaning of some of them". Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association - the Annual Meeting, with Constitution, By-Laws and List of Members. 7th Annual. New York State Historical Association: 40 (RA1–PA38). Retrieved 31 October 2010.
- ^ Sultzman, Lee (1997). "Wappinger History". Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ISBN 978-0403098774
- ISBN 978-0803294318
- ^ Brandon, William. American Heritage Book of Indians, (Alvin M. Josephy, ed.), American Heritage Pub. Co. 1961, p. 187
- ^ "Mahican Confederacy", The History Files
- ISBN 9781438450971p. 113
- ^ Reynolds, Cuyler. Albany Chronicles: A History of the City Arranged Chronologically, J.B. Lyon Company, 1906 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Burke Jr, T. E., & Starna, W. A. (1991). Mohawk Frontier: The Dutch Community of Schenectady, New York, 1661–1710, SUNY Press. p. 26
- ISBN 978-0-521-47149-7.
- ^ Dunn (2000). The Mohican World 1680–1750. pp. 228–230.
- ^ Dunn (2000). The Mohican World 1680–1750. pp. 232–235.
- ^ Philip H. Smith, "Pine Plains", General History of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876, inclusive, Pawling, NY: 1877, accessed 3 March 2010
- ^ "Death In the Bronx, The Stockbridge Indian Massacre August, 1778", Richard S. Walling, americanrevolution.org
- ^ Aupaumut, Hendrick. "From George Washington to Captain Hendrick Aupaumut, 4 July 1779". Archives.gov.
- ^ Frazier, Patrick. The Mohicans of Stockbridge. p. 225.
- ^ Dunn, Shirley (2000). The Mohican World 1680–1750. Fleischmanns, New York: Purple Mountain Press, Ltd. p. 213.
- ^ a b Gale Courey Toensing, "Seneca Upset Over N.Y. Casino Agreement", Indian Country Today, 26 January 2011
- ^ Crowe, Kenneth C. II "Mohicans reclaim a key part of their New York ancestral lands" Albany times-Union. May 8, 2021 https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Mohicans-reclaim-a-key-part-of-their-New-York-16161219.php
- ^ Don Coyhis, 2009 Purpose Prize Winner
Bibliography
- Aupaumut, Hendrick. (1790). "History of the Muh-he-con-nuk Indians", in American Indian Nonfiction, An Anthology of Writings, 1760s–1930s (pp. 63–71). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Nekatcit. The Celestial Bear Comes Down to Earth: The Bear Sacrifice Ceremony of the Munsee-Mahican in Canada as Related by Nekatcit Edited by Frank G. Speck in collaboration with Jesse Moses, Delaware Nation. Pub. 1945, Reading Public Museum.
- Jones, Electa. (1854). "Stockbridge Past and Present".
- Ruttenber, E. M. (1872). "History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson's River; Their Origin, Manners and Customs; Tribal and Sub-Tribal Organizations; Wars, Treaties, Etc., Etc." Albany: J. Munsell History Series.
- Starna, William A.: From Homeland to New Land: A History of the Mahican Indians, 1600–1830. University of Nebraska Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0803244955
- Brasser, T. J. (1978). "Mahican", in B. G. Trigger (Ed.), Northeast (pp. 198–212). Handbook of North American Indian languages (Vol. 15). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- Cappel, Constance, "The Smallpox Genocide of the Odawa Tribe at L'Arbre Croche, 1763", The History of a Native American People, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007.
- Conkey, Laura E.; Bolissevain, Ethel; & Goddard, Ives. (1978). "Indians of southern New England and Long Island: Late period", in B. G. Trigger (Ed.), Northeast (pp. 177–189). Handbook of North American Indian languages (Vol. 15). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- Salwen, Bert. (1978). "Indians of southern New England and Long Island: Early period", in B. G. Trigger (Ed.), Northeast (pp. 160–176). Handbook of North American Indian languages (Vol. 15). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- Simpson, J. A.; & Weiner, E. S. C. (1989). "Mohican", Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (Online version).
- Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978–present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1–20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- Trigger, Bruce G. (Ed.). (1978). Northeast, Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 15). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.