USA > Connecticut > New London County > Ledyard > History of the town of Ledyard, 1650-1900 > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
254
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LEDYARD.
jured party promised not to take summary justice into its own hands, but to appeal to the English. Then, with imposing cer- emonies, the magistrates divided the remnant of the Pequots among the chiefs of the other tribes. To Uncas, their favorite, they gave one hundred; to Miantinomoh eighty; to Ninigret, sachem of the eastern Nehantics, twenty. These poor crea- tures, thus given over to their enemies and subjected to the bitterest taunts, were to be called Pequots (powerful ones) no more, nor were ever to dwell in their old haunts or pay their wonted visits to the burial places of their dead, or meet on festal days to revive the traditions of their people around the embers of the council fire." (I. 71, 72.) Of course they were not at all satisfied with the arrangement; and as the years went by it became more and more irksome to them. They could ill endure the treatment received from the chiefs in whose hands they had been placed. They were frequently at variance with them and as frequently appealing to the English people for re- dress of grievances. At length, in the year 1655, seventeen years after their defeat at Mystic, they were permitted again to settle on their old territory, and to maintain tribal existence in two separate bands, one located in Groton, the other in Stonington. Cassacinamon became the successor of Sassacus, as the head of the Groton band (which was the larger of the two), and Hermon Garret the head of the Stonington band. Their privileges were at first a good deal restricted, but were at length gradually enlarged, and more definitely defined, until after a while they assumed pretty nearly the form in which they exist to-day. The Groton Pequots in due time had a reserva- tion of two thousand acres set apart for them, in the north part of the town, to which the name of Mushantuxet was given. The Stonington Pequots had a reservation of two hundred and eighty acres given them on the east side of Lantern Hill. The reservation in Groton (now Ledyard) has from time to time been reduced in size, until at present it contains only about one- tenth as much as it did at first. The permanent fund, created by the sale of their land, amounts at the present time to about six
255
THE PEQUOT INDIANS.
thousand dollars. The annual income of it is expended for the benefit of the Indians.
Though the Pequots were so signally and thoroughly de- feated in their first decisive conflict with the English, they did not remain in permanent antagonism to their conquerors. On the contrary, they entered, in the course of a few years, into alliances with them and rendered important assistance in several difficult and trying emergencies, e. g., in the King Philip War, and later, in the French and Indian Wars; and at length in the Revolution. In the great swamp fight of King Philip's War, which occurred in 1675, it has been stated that "they performed prodigies of valor under the leadership of Gallup and Avery." (R. A. Wheeler.) When the French and Indian War broke out not a few of them enlisted in the service of the English and Americans and fought against the French, and the Indian tribes that were assisting them. And in the Revolutionary War a con- siderable number of them fought in the ranks of the Colonists against our British oppressors, and several of them laid down their lives in the service. In the record of deaths that occurred in North Groton (now Ledyard), in the year 1776, I find nine Indian names, and it is stated upon the record that "These nine natives all died in the army this year." The same record for 1778 contains the names of six Indians, who died in the army. From the time of their memorable defeats at Mystic and at Fairfield, the number of the Pequots had been constantly diminishing. Immediately after those defeats, in the year 1637, two hundred, as already remarked, were apportioned to neighboring chiefs. This of course did not by any means include all who were still living, as they had scattered in all directions, and taken up their abodes in a great many different places. Almost a hundred years later, in 1731, the tribe, according to one account, numbered one hundred and sixty-four persons, and the number of wigwams on the reservation was thirteen. Some eighteen or twenty in- dividuals were living in English families outside of the reserva- tion. The reservation at this date contained one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven acres. During the next thirty years, if we may credit the reports that have come down to us, their
256
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LEDYARD.
numbers remained about the same that they had been. For in 1762 there were twenty or thirty families containing one hun- dred and sixty-seven persons.
In the year 1766 a committee, appointed by the State to ex- amine and report on their condition, stated that they found one hundred and fifty-one Indians living on the lands at Mushantuxet, of whom about half were under sixteen years of age. All were in poverty-stricken circumstances, and many were widows whose husbands had died or been killed in the colonial armies during the late wars in Canada. Their houses were chiefly within a mile square; their land was by no means the best ; yet some of it was good and cultivated after the English fashion. There was a small school-house in which one Hugh Sweetingham was now teaching, having been hired for that purpose at twelve pounds a year by the Missionary Society in England. From the same source Rev. Mr. Johnson (pastor of the Congregational Church near by) received six shillings and eight-pence for every sermon which he preached to the Indians. A considerable number of the Pequots were willing to hear the Gospel and send their children to school, but were generally so poor that they could not provide them with decent clothing for that purpose. The committee ex- pended the twenty pounds which they had been authorized to draw from the colonial treasury in buying clothing and school- books for these children, and they stated in their report to the Assembly that further appropriations would be needed in the winter. The compensation of the teacher, Mr. Sweetingham, was, in their opinion, insufficient, and so also was that of Mr. Johnson who preached to them, especially as he attended the Indians in sickness and at funerals. Accordingly twenty pounds additional were appropriated in October, 1766, for the benefit of the Pequot children, five pounds to Rev. Mr. Johnson, and four pounds to increase the salary of Mr. Sweetingham the teacher. (De Forest 438.) In the year 1786 a large number of Pequots, with a few Mohegans, accompanied by Indians from other parts of Connecticut, from Rhode Island, and from Long Island, re- moved to Oneida County, N. Y .; and, by invitation of the Six Nations, settling on some of their unoccupied lands, formed the
257
THE PEQUOT INDIANS.
nucleus of what has since been known as the Brothertown Tribe. A prominent actor in this movement was Samson Occum, a native of Mohegan, who had been educated and regularly in- ducted into the gospel ministry. As we come down into the present century we find the numbers of this ever-diminishing tribe very much smaller than they had been reported previously. In 1820, e. g., only fifty are reported as belonging to them. In 1832, the number has fallen to about forty. In 1848, their over- seer,* Col William Morgan, gave their numbers as twenty-eight, of whom twenty lived in Ledyard and the remaining eight in other places. At the present time there are eighteen persons.
In my boyhood the wigwams of earlier years had all disap- peared. There were, I think, about half-a-dozen houses, rather small, but fairly comfortable, standing in what we then and ever since have called "Indian Town." In these houses were living some twenty or thirty persons. Some of them were full-blooded Pequots. A large portion, however, had more or less white or negro blood in them. And some had scarcely any Indian blood whatever. Evidently they were not very particular as to the race with which they commingled and amalgamated. One pure- blooded Indian man, I remember, who had a pure-blooded white wife. And one man, who was about half Indian and half white, had at one time a white woman (for, I believe, he was never married), after that a full-blooded squaw, and finally, a full- blooded negress. Marriage, in the proper sense of the word, was not very strictly observed among them, neither was it en- tirely ignored. As a general thing one man and one woman would, by mutual consent, take each other for better or for worse. And they would live together as long as they conveniently could ; then they would quarrel and separate. After a while they would come together again ; or each would look out a mate for himself or herself elsewhere. Some, however, who wished to be some- what like white folks, would be married in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth; and frequently would keep their marriage vows as sacredly as any of their white neighbors.
*Previous overseers were Henry Hallett and Gurdon Bill.
17
258
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LEDYARD.
One of the leaders in this remnant of the Pequots at "Indian Town," was Mark Daniels. He lived at the northerly end of the reservation near Capt. Henry Hallett's farm. He occupied the most pretentious of the dwellings and was very friendly with the English residents. He was a convert to the Christian church and it was at his house that "meetings" of local preachers and exhorters were held. He frequently led such meetings himself and was a man quite generally respected. He was of mixed blood, though recognized as a member of the tribe, and as prev- iously stated, pure-blooded members were few. An amusing anecdote relating to this man occurred years ago. A certain medical student and practitioner embarked in the patent medi- cine business, and among his printed recommendations was one from "Rev. Mark Daniels." The people who knew the parties smiled rather broadly, but its value as an indorsement increased in proportion to the distance from the particular locality. Poor Mark was innocent, doubtless, but the medicine-man flourished and became both famous and wealthy and from this slender foundation, in part.
The decline of the tribe, which has already proceeded so far as to threaten its entire extinction at no distant day, is parallel with what has occurred to many other tribes in different parts of the country. Even in places where there has been no serious collision between them and the whites, as was the case at New Haven and Philadelphia, the same thing has happened. This decline has resulted from various causes. Prominent among them has been the fact that they were a conquered people, and all the ends for which they had been accustomed to live were utterly defeated. More than this, "civilization" brought among them temptations to which they easily gave place, and this, in many cases, was the utter ruin of them. The use of intoxicating liquors soon became a besetting sin with them. And further, the diseases of dissolute white people, when introduced among them, were often terribly destructive. They did not have the medical skill at hand to resist them and hence became easy victims.
259
THE PEQUOT INDIANS.
But a few words about the employments of these people, after they were conquered by the English. Of course they hunted and fished as they had done. But I do not remember many of them who were specially fond of these pursuits. They tilled the soil to a limited extent, but in all the cases that I can recall it was very limited; the work was very imperfectly done and with the most indifferent results. An Indian's corn-field was to me a thing unknown; and an Indian's garden was anything but a model for others to go by. But, while they did not like very much to work for themselves, they were often excellent help when employed to work for others. Some of them I recall as good farm-hands, especially when employed for a few days at a time. If engaged for a month or for several months the quality of their services would often deteriorate before the close of the time, and, likely as not, they would break their engagement by leaving in the very midst of some piece of work to which they did not happen to take a liking, thus causing their employers great inconvenience, perhaps considerable pecuniary loss. The women, too, were often excellent servants in the household, and were more or less frequently employed by families living in the neighborhood. Occasionally an Indian boy or girl was brought up in a white family, and sometimes with good results to all con- cerned. In such cases the Indian children often took the names of the families with which they lived. And this accounts, in part at least, for the fact that so many have borne the names of white people, their Indian names having been practically forgotten. One employment and a source of revenue to which many of them were accustomed was basket-making. In this employment they often developed a good deal of skill, and in some instances a fair degree of industry. They made baskets of all shapes and sizes, from tiny ornamental ones holding only a pint or even less up to strong oaken baskets for farm use, holding one or two bushels apiece. I remember, when I was quite a small boy, one Ann Wampy used to make an annual trip in the early spring past my home up through Preston City, Griswold and Jewett City, selling the baskets she had made during the previous winter. When she started from her home she carried upon her shoulders a
>
260
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LEDYARD.
bundle of baskets so large as almost to hide her from view. In the bundle would be baskets varying in size from a half-pint up to five or six quarts, some made of very fine splints, some of coarse, and many skilfully ornamented in various colors. Her baskets were so good that she would find customers at almost every house. And after traveling a dozen or twenty miles and spending two or three days in doing it her load would all be gone. Then she would start on her homeward journey, and, sad to relate, before she had reached her home a large part of what she had received for her baskets would have been expended for strong drink. Akin to basket-making was the making of wooden trays, bowls, ladles and spoons which they carried about and sold from house to house as they could find buyers. Many of the young men enlisted in the whaling business which was then carried on very vigorously from the port of New London. Sev- eral, whom I knew, became boat-steerers and harpooners on whale ships, and as such their services were highly prized by their employers. Sometimes one of them would return from a long voyage with several hundred dollars in his pocket, and frequently, instead of laying it away for future needs or investing it in a comfortable home, would spend it all in a few weeks in lavish generosity or gross dissipation. From the time that the Pequots were settled upon their reservation in 1655 on to 1740, a period of eighty-five years, they had leaders from their own number invested with a sort of governmental power over them. Each of these leaders had one or more assistants. And then, too, at length there was a white man, sometimes two white men, appointed in each of the two bands, to give advice and assistance to these native rulers. As the years went by, and those who had filled these official positions passed away, and others were called to take their places, the governmental power seemed gradually to slip away from the hands of the Indian leaders and slip into the hands of the white leaders, until, in the year 1740, Scadaub, the last of the Groton band, who held the office of governor or sachem, died. Since then the ruling power has been for the most part in the hands of a white overseer, who is appointed by the Superior Court.
261
THE PEQUOT INDIANS.
A few words in regard to the religion of the Pequots, or rather of the great Algonquin race to which they belonged; for what was true of one tribe was true of another in this matter throughout all this part of North America, at the time that the European nations began to settle among them. Generally speaking they were a very superstitious people. But they were not idolaters. They believed in one Great and Good Spirit, who ruled over the world and who dealth with men according to their deserts, bestowing good upon the upright and inflicting evil upon the wicked. They believed also in a Spirit of Evil, or rather in a considerable number of such Spirits, standing closely con- nected with the various calamities which are wont to come upon the children of men. Practically, they interested themselves much more in the doings of these numerous Evil Spirits than in the doings of the one Great and Good Spirit. The former must be propitiated that the evils of which they were the authors might be averted ; but the latter was so good, so averse to evil of every sort that he would deal kindly with them whether they took special pains to please him or not. They believed in a future life, which would be a life of happiness to the good, of wretchedness to the bad; though they conceived of happiness in the one case and wretchedness in the other as consisting in just about the same things that they enjoyed and suffered in the present life. An anecdote, which I have met with in my reading, will illustrate this point. A young Indian of the Ojibwa tribe, while sleeping one night in the open air, had a dream. He dreamed he saw a very beautiful female come down from the clouds and stand by his side. Calling him by name, she said, "I am come for you, step in my tracks." The young man did so, and presently felt himself ascending above the tops of the trees ; he mounted up, step by step, in the air and through the clouds. His guide at length passed through an orifice and he following her found himself standing on a beautiful plain. A path led to a splendid lodge. He followed her into it. This was her home and the only occupants of it were herself and her brother, who just then was absent. Upon his return the young visitor was united in marriage to the beautiful damsel and became exceed-
262
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LEDYARD.
ingly happy in this relationship. Every thing in his situation and surroundings was eminently congenial to him. There were flowers on the plains. There were bright streams. There were green valleys and pleasant trees. There were gay birds and beautiful animals, but they were not such as he had been accus- tomed to see. This was indeed but a dream, and from it the dreamer presently awoke; but it was a dream which accorded very nearly with the general belief of the Aborigines in regard to the future life of those who are upright and good.
When our ancestors came here it was very natural that they should present to the natives the Christian religion and recom- mend it as much superior to that which they possessed. Their efforts were often attended with a good deal of success. The labors of Elliot, the Mayhews, and others, who preached the gospel to these natives and gathered them in schools where they were instructed in the rudiments of human learning, and into churches where the gospel was preached and the ordinances ad- ministered, these labors, with the happy results of them, form a bright page in our early New England history. But when, at length, alienations sprang up between the Whites and the In- dians, and especially after war had broken out and a number of battles had been fought, with the most disastrous results to the Indians, they became more or less averse to the religion which was offered by those who had brought such disasters upon them. As a rule those who embraced the Christian religion were not very stable. Too often was it true that their goodness was as the morning cloud and as the dew that goeth early away. There were, however, some very bright and beautiful exceptions to this remark, examples of piety which were exceptionally excellent. In the Great Awakening of 1740 and adjacent years the Indians as well as others were specially interested and considerable num- bers of them were gathered into the churches. (De Forest.)
The history which we have thus outlined is indeed a sad history. Still we may, if I mistake not, recognize in it an over- ruling Providence,
"From seeming evil still educing good,
And better thence again, and better still, In infinite progression,"
263
THE PEQUOT INDIANS.
In the events which we have reviewed, many of which it is exceedingly painful to contemplate, we see how He who doeth according to his will, in the army of heaven and among the in- habitants of the earth, causes the wrath of man to praise him and restrains the remainder thereof, illustrating most forcibly the truth of a declaration of the famous Indian chief, Tecumseh, of the Shawnee tribe, who, in the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury, contended long and earnestly for the permanent establish- ment of his people against the encroachments of the Whites, but was at last convinced of the folly of his efforts. Some of the words which he uttered, not long before his death, were:
"All dreams of perpetuating savage life in opposition to civili- zation are futile. Civilization produces a dense population. It is not desirable that a savage race, which spreads itself thinly in squalid hunting bands, should possess a fertile country capable of supporting one hundred times as many people in the comfort and enlightment of civilization."
ORDER FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PEQUOT RESERVATION, 1720-1.
Whereas at town meeting holden in Groton february the 13 Day 1720-I, there was a Committee chosen to perambulate with ye proprietors ye to ye common or undivided Land in said Groton & also to set out to the Pequot Indians a suffi- cencie of Land for there use &c pursuent to said vote we whose names are here under written a Committee as aforesaid do set out to ye Pequot Indians their Heirs and Successors all the west part of ye Land wch is Scituate in Groton and Northward from Capt. John Morgans new dwelling house in said Groton & ad- joining on ye North of said Morgans and in part with Saml Packers Land and in West partly with said Morgans Land and so Running according to ye former surveigh to ye Northwest corner bounds as well as all ye Land that Butts upon Capt. Morgans and Saml Packers is set out according to ye ancient surveigh . . and from sd Norwest Corner tree to run according to ye former surveigh on ye North Easterly to a tree
264
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF LEDYARD.
standing near ye Cedar Swamp sometimes called a side line tree and from said tree Southwardly by said Swamp till it comes to ye Southwardstermost part of sd Swamp and from thence South Eastwardst till it comes to a Rock wth stone Laid on't and a Chest- nut bush or stoddle standing by sd Rock marked and also two springs of water arising out of ye Earth under sd Rock and run- ning East and ye other west said Rock being about ninety Rods Eastward of Samuel Packer Junr his new dwelling house in said Groton said Land by Estimation being one Thousand acres ye Pequot Indians shall have full Liberty of Farming & planting or Living upon said Land and of their Orchards. They bearing ye Damage yt shall or maybe due them by the English Creotures by meens of ye Insufficiency of their fence the summer feed of ye above said Land which said Indians do not see feed to belong to said Town of Groton and of their fields after Indian harvest and ye above said Indians are to have & shall have the use of their Orchards wch stands on ye Eastward part of the Land which they had fomerly Liberty of planting of near Lanthorn hill till they or any of them see cause to sell said trees or said trees shall Dye and further we do agree and order yt there shall be Six hundred acres of Land part on ye hills Eastwardly from Pine Swamps and part on Walnut hill which when it is Layed out shall be for ye use of ye Pequot Indians to plant and Live on if they see cause and ye herbage thereof for ye use of ye Town of Groton as above said in Confirmation whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 20 Day of March in ye Seventh year of his Majestie's Reighn Anno Dommin 1720-1.
Signed Sealed in NEHEMIAH SMITH, (L. S.)
Prence of JOSHUA BILL, (L. S.)
SAML AVERY, NICHOLAS STREET, (L. S.)
JOHN MORGAN,
SAML LESTER, (L. S.)
Committee.
[From Book I, of Groton Records.]
CHAPTER XV.
The Norwich & Worcester Railroad,
THE Norwich & Worcester is one of the oldest railroads in the country. A few, however, are a little older. Among them are the Hartford & New Haven, and the Boston & Worcester. The building of this last named road, begun in 1831, and pushed through in the early thirties, hastened the building of the Nor- wich & Worcester; though the project was by no means a new one, a survey of the route having been made as early as 1824.
On the eighth day of October, 1835, the ceremony of break- ing ground for the road was observed in Norwich; and it was one of the most demonstrative affairs of its kind that the city has ever witnessed. A procession, formed and started on Frank- lin Square, completed its march on ground prepared for public services at Greeneville. Here a large platform had been erected, upon which the officials and the invited guests were seated.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.