USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > New London's participation in Connecticut's tercentenary, 1935 > Part 8
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have echoed and re-echoed through the years, and are engraved in this stone to endure for all time: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
May I express a few more intimate and personal words in my con- nection and experiences with the World War, both as the War Mayor, and also serving as the Secretary of the Local Exemption Board No. 9, covering New London and Groton, for the entire period from my appointment by President Wilson on June 20, 1917, to the 31st of March, 1919. During that period, it was my duty, as a member of the board, to see personally every man examined, and my privilege, as Mayor of the City, personally to see entrain every man called to the colors from this division. I promised to write every man who wrote me, and I have letters from different sections of this country, from Canada, from Europe, and even Siberia. When meeting these patriotic men on the street, it is a great pleasure to grasp them by the hand, for I have knowledge of their patriotism. Not only do I know of their heroism, but also of the sacrifices of their families and relatives. I shall never forget the Jong hours of service performed by the women of New London in connection with Red Cross duties, with the knitting of sweaters and stockings and a multiplicity of patriotic duties. Their efforts should not be forgotten nor unheralded just because they were not accompanied by the sound of the trumpet.
Officers and members of the Connecticut Department of the Vet- erans of Foreign Wars, the ideals of Nathan Hale, I feel confident, are your ideals. May I implore you to live as nobly for your country as Hale died for it. I will close with the last paragraph of the American creed by William Tyler Page, " I therefore believe it my duty to my country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag; and to defend it against all enemies."
The Fife and Drum Corps played at the opening of the ceremony. Invocation and benediction were pronounced by Harry Downing, Past Chaplain of the local post.
Spencer W. Moon, Murphy-Rathbun Post Bugler, played taps after the wreaths had been laid, and the ceremony ended with the National Anthem, played by the Drum Corps.
George Desrosier, Patriotic Instructor of the Department of the Murphy-Rathbun Post, had charge of the exercises.
Mohegan Day
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1935
T HE remnant of the Mohegan Indians, through their lay pastor, Herbert W. Hicks, requested their long time friend, the General Chairman of the New London Tercentenary Area, to assist them in planning for a Tercentenary Celebration. Through the efforts of Mr. Hicks and Mr. Rogers, an interesting program was arranged, and the few Mohegans and their friends, under the direction of Mr. Hicks, made the occasion a memorable one for Mohegan.
The account is included in the New London record as it was spon- sored by Mr. Hicks and General Chairman Rogers, and it is doubtful if it will be made permanent in any other way.
Governor Cross and the other speakers were welcomed upon arrival by Burrill Fielding of Mohegan, now residing in the little house under the hill, originally built in 1831, as a parsonage and schoolmaster's residence. After the death of his brother, Lemuel Occom Fielding, of Norwich, who was known as "Chief Occom," Burrill was called "Chief Fielding."
A white birch wigwam was built adjacent to the church, and in it were served, on both Friday and Saturday, succotash, clam chowder, ice cream with yokeg, and many other dishes. Fancy articles were also for salc.
The weather was ideal, and the views from the historic eminence were superb. The visitors were so numerous that only a small portion could enter the church building, where the exercises were held.
The only written addresses were those of Mrs. Sawyer and Mr. Rogers. Governor Cross complimented the Mohegans on their parti- cipation in the State's 300th Birthday Celebration, and commented upon their history, which is of much importance in the story of Connecticut.
Arthur L. Peale of Norwich, a member of the State Park and Forest Commission, announced a plan for improving the old Mohegan Burial Ground near Fort Shantok.
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MOHEGAN DAY
TERCENTENARY EXERCISES
OF THE MOHEGAN COMMUNITY, TOWN OF MONTVILLE, IN CELEBRATION OF CONNECTICUT'S TERCENTENARY HELD IN THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MOHEGAN
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1935, 3 P.M.
HERBERT W. HICKS Lay Pastor. Presiding
"GOD OF OUR FATHERS"
INVOCATION-Rev. J. Romeyn Danforth, New London
ADDRESS-Arthur L. Peale, Norwich
SELECTION-Jordan Singers
ADDRESS-Mrs. Roswell P. Sawyer, Noank. A descendant of the Mohegans
ADDRESS-Hon. Ernest E. Rogers, New London, former Lieutenant Governor
SELECTION-Jordan Singers
ADDRESS-Governor Wilbur L. Cross
"AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL"
BENEDICTION-Rev. J. Romeyn Danforth
ADDRESS
MRS. ROSWELL P. SAWYER
Your Excellency, the Governor, the Hon. Ernest E. Rogers, Mr. Chair- man, ladies and gentlemen :
Three hundred years ago, 1635, no little white church stood on this hill, no busy city just a few miles above this village, no thriving Harbor Town at the mouth of the Thames, or Pequot, River, but as far as eye could reach was the boundless forest, interspersed here and there with the small clearings, or Indian fields. Here the red man lived his life; here he hunted, fished, and fought his wars; here he lived, in total ignorance of an alien race, who would one day walk over his paths and fish in his streams. To one, in whose veins the blood of the conqueror and the conquered, the victor and the vanquished alike, flows, sympathy
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MOHEGAN DAY
and sentiment are divided about equally. When my father's ancestors were founding the town of Groton, my mother's ancestors were sharpen- ing their arrow-heads and stringing their bows on Mohegan Hill. When Uncas was making his protests to the General Court about the encroach- ments of the English, my paternal ancestor was wondering how near the Pequots would come toward his dwelling on Poquonnock plains.
Through the medium of the strange laws of heredity, we inherit from a vast number of forebears, and often in our veins must flow the blood of our aboriginal forebears, and often some thought, some act, some mannerism, must portray the same thoughts and acts and man- nerisms of those who have gone before us. The black eyes, the black hair, the high cheek bones of one sister speak to us of the grandmothers who stepped lightly over the forest's soft carpet, while the blue eyes and fair hair of a brother speak to us of an ancestor who, for religion's sweet sake, left England to cast his lot in the strange new country, which he and his friends called, in loving remembrance, New England.
It is altogether fitting that, in this year of our Lord, one thousand, nine hundred and thirty-five, the year of our beloved State's Tercentenary, we should have a celebration here on Mohegan Hill; that we should build a wigwam here; that we should turn our thoughts backward, not only to the white settlers, but also to those who possessed the land countless ages before the coming of the English.
We can have a Tercentenary for the English settlers, but what shall we call the celebration for the Indians? No man knows whence they came, or so final and conclusive a thing as the date of their coming! For countless ages they lived their simple nomadic lives-content in time of good harvests-wanting very little, for their wants were few, and easily satisfied. For countless ages life moved on in the same manner, they did what their ancestors before them had done. They plied their tasks; they fought with hostile tribes; they listened to the tales of strong men of old; they were satisfied and content. They con- sidered themselves the world; foreign complications, European wars and rumors of war simply did not exist for them. They lived from one ocean to the other, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, on the world's finest continent, without knowing how large it was, how boundless its re- sources, how important it would become in after years to an old, old world, encumbered with an old, old civilization.
They made few improvements on their stone implements; they copied the ways of their ancestors and it sufficed them. Slowly, slowly, the Stone Age moved in America, slowly gliding from the old Stone Age to the new. The sun, moon, and stars looked down on its slow revolutions, but a mighty change was coming, swift as the returning
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MOHEGAN DAY
tide. One of the great crises in history was about to open wide the door and rush in upon the wholly unprepared Indian.
In 1620, the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock; in 1630, the Puritans settled Boston; in 1635, Hooker's band traveled overland from Massachusetts to our beautiful Connecticut River Valley. Then, in rapid succession, settlements were made in the country of the Mohegan and of the Pequot tribes. The Indians found these new comers different in color, in dress, in speech, in mannerisms, and quite different in dealing in lands. At first they were amazed at the appearance of the new comers. Soon they came to imitate them.
With the remarkable facility which the human mind has for adjust- ing itself to drastic changes, the Indians started to move out of the Stone Age, and, by imitation, enter the age in which the English moved. We find Uncas, Chief of the Mohegans, to whom land must have been the cheapest thing he knew of, carly entangled in lawsuits and court proceedings and petitions, couched in most extraordinary language, written in so English a manner, by such English Englishmen, and cleverly sealed with "Uncas-His Mark"! God save the Mark !
Could he have known what these clever pen and ink marks really signified ! Could he have known what acres of land meant, or miles in English terms? How blithely he deeded away his best lands by the thousand acres! Then, too, how ready he was for a journey to Hartford, to lay his claim before the Governor for speedy redress, little realizing how binding a deed really was. Formerly he had had no need of deeds and quit claims and clear titles. Now he needed all his wits about him, for the Englishmen had the advantage of having come out of the Stone Age many, many centuries before.
Time passed on in its regular majestic course, the seasons came and went, the Indians knew the English had come to stay. Uncas thought it the better part of valor to be friendly with certain groups of English- men, and in many ways he was able to keep up his end with them. But the Indians saw their best land taken over by the white men, saw their best fields fenced in and claimed by strangers, saw that land, which they held to be as cheap as air, change to a valuable asset, subject of many a controversy. They saw the new comers build frame houses, and soon the Indian long houses gave way to houses very like the Englishman's. Gradually they gave up old ways of dress and imitated the new comers in matters of costume.
The years glided by. The Colonists lived through Indian Wars and raids, the Indians fought with the Colonists in the War of the Revolu- tion. Indian sailors shipped before the mast on Connecticut's famous ships. Gradually they became part of the whole picture of civilization, instead of a separate motif on the pattern. Except for the distinguishing
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MOHEGAN DAY
marks of race they were fast losing their identity. White men married handsome Indian girls, their children bore an Anglo-Saxon name and their children's children often bore little or no resemblance to the Indian ancestors. But pride of race is as strong in the Indian as in the English- man, and we, who have Indian blood entirely or in part, can point with pride to our ancestors as lords of their fields and forests, long before the time of the Barons of Runnymede, long before the coming to England of William the Conqueror, ages before the Roman occupation of Great Britain.
Three hundred years are, like the Biblical thousand, but a day compared with eternity, but the past 300 years have been filled with historic scenes for Indians and Americans. The vanquishing of one and the survival of the other, another survival of the fittest. The White race inhabits and dominates the hunting grounds of the Indians. The Indians made no world progress, sailed no great ships, but the impression they made on America and American literature, song and art, as trans- lated by the white men, will last forever. And, to those of us who have Indian blood, our ears will often hear some far-off call, our souls will often feel an indescribable longing for the cool sequestered forest, far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife. We, who have Indian blood, welcome this most distinguished company to our wigwams, in this year of the Connecticut Tercentenary.
Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple Who have faith in God and nature, Who believe, that in all ages Every human heart is human That in even savage bosoms, There are longings, yearnings, strivings
For the good they comprehend not, That the feeble hands and helpless, Groping blindly in the darkness, Touch God's right hand in that darkness.
And are lifted up and strengthened, Listen to our simple story, Listen to our Song of Mohegan.
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MOHEGAN DAY
ADDRESS
HON. ERNEST E. ROGERS
General Chairman New London Tercentenary Committees
As General Chairman of the Tercentenary Committees of the New New London Arca, which includes Montville, may I express my gratifi- cation upon hearing that you, my Mohegan friends of long standing, wished to be identified with Connecticut's Tercentenary Celebrations. It was a pleasure also to learn it was your desire that I participate in the program of today. Our neighborly contacts for 40 years have brought many happy experiences and rich memories.
Our first public appearance together was on May 6, 1896, upon the occasion of New London's 250th Anniversary of its founding. The New London Day said: "A distinct feature of the celebration today has been the little group of Mohegan Indians who were in the especial charge of Ernest E. Rogers, of the committee. They were present at the laying of the corner stone of the Winthrop statue and subsequently at the dedication of the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument. The chief rode in the procession, his face painted, and wearing a head dress of feathers. Two of the Indians were dressed in Indian costume, and one of them was mounted. They made an eloquent picture, representing the passing of the aboriginal tribes of red men who once inhabited this country, and the all-conquering advance of the pale faces."
There were 22 men and boys in the company, with the sign "The Last of the Mohegans." It may be interesting to you to have their names, which were: Eliphalet Fielding, Alonzo Cooper, Charles Matthews, Ed- win C. Fowler, Edwin E. Fowler, John L. Fielding, Zachcus Nonesuch, Donald Meech, Lemuel Fielding, Julian Harris, John W. Quidgcon, Burrell Fielding, Lloyd Harris, Roscoe Skeesuchs, Frank Fielding, Nelson J. Congdon, Lester Skeesuchs, W. W. Fielding, Burrell Quidgeon, Everett Fielding.
These 22, with some women members of their families, numbering 34 in all, and myself as Chairman of the Committee, were guests at a banquet, furnished by the late Henry R. Bond, who was the trustee in charge of the Mohegan Church. You have participated in several public occasions since then, both in New London and Norwich.
On January 17, 1899, Mrs. Rogers and I attended the golden wed- ding of Mr. and Mrs. Eliphalet Fielding, at Mohegan, in the old homestead of Mr. Fielding's ancestor, Lucy Occom Tantaquidgcon, the sister of the celebrated Indian preacher, Samson Occom. On that occasion I met Mr. Gleason, the son of "Father" Gleason, the first minister of this church, who had formerly been a missionary to the Indians in North
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MOHEGAN DAY
America. A feature of that occasion was the singing by members of the Fielding family and others, including Mrs. Bela Peck Learned of Norwich.
While all of the older generation which I knew have passed away, yet it is a satisfaction to know that there are enough of you, although only a few, to again build a birch tree wigwam and conduct a two days'. wigwam festival, serving meals including chowder, succotash, yokeg, and the sale of both substantial and fancy articles as formerly, and all of this being done under the management of the Ladies' Sewing Society of the Mohegan Church. This Sewing Society was organized in 1860, with Mrs. Delana Miller as the first president. She was succeeded by Mrs. Emma T. Baker, who was followed by Mrs. Phoebe Fowler, the incumbent. Thus there have been only three presidents in 75 years. Under the auspices of the society the wigwam festival was conducted annually until the last eight years, when the members were too few to attempt such a large undertaking. The white birch wigwam occupies a large space in front of the church, and this year the work was per- formed by Burrill Fielding with but little assistance. Your lay pastor, Herbert W. Hicks, is deserving of commendation for his encouragement of this Tercentenary Celebration.
The brief time at my command will allow only a glimpse into the past. The two outstanding figures are Sachem Uncas, the friend of the white man, and Samson Occom, the first regularly examined and ordained Indian preacher and missionary to the Indians. While the Indians naturally resented the white people coming into their lands, yet the far-seeing Uncas saw that the preservation of the Mohegans would depend upon his friendliness to the English if he were attacked by the Narragansetts and Pequots, and he was always known as a friend, since he assisted the English in capturing the Pequot Fort in 1637.
Samson Occom was born about half a mile north of the church, in the wigwam of his father, in 1723. He was converted when 17 years of age at the time of the revival of religion, conducted by the Rev. Mr. Davenport. Soon after, his mother went to the Rev. Dr. Eleazar Wheelock, the minister in the north parish of Lebanon, asking that he teach her son to read. Occom went to Dr. Wheelock's home and remained there four years. He proved to be a very apt pupil in English, Latin, and Hebrew; commenced school teaching in New London ; then went to the Montauk Indians in the capacity of a teacher and missionary; was licensed to preach by the Windham Association and examined and ordained by the Suffolk Presbytery at East Hampton, L. I. After a period as missionary to the Oneida Indians in New York State, he went with the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Whitaker of Norwich to England, Scotland, and Wales to raise funds in behalf of Dr. Wheelock's Indian Charity
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MOHEGAN DAY
School. He was successful to the extent of about £12,000 before de- ducting the expenses. The Indian school was removed by Dr. Wheelock from Lebanon North Parish, known as Lebanon Crank, to Hanover, New Hampshire, and thereafter known as Dartmouth College. Later, Occom founded a new settlement in the rich lands of New York State, given to the Mohegans and their allies, where they might have the opportunity of engaging in agricultural pursuits, and to be withdrawn from the "contaminating influences of the English." After Occom's death, the Brothertown Indians, as they were known, sold their land and emigrated to government lands awarded them in the vicinity of Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, where some of them reside today, in a settle- ment known as Brotherton.
It was in the year 1831 that Miss Sarah Lanman Huntington suc- ceeded in obtaining funds from benevolent friends in Norwich and New London to the amount of nearly $700, and the present meeting house was completed. She also obtained $500 from the United States Government from the National Indian Fund, with which a house was built for the school teacher. The position of the minister of the church and school teacher was occupied by the Rev. Anson Gleason, whose picture is now before you, and who said "that I can say for a certainty that the native children are as apt to learn as any children I ever taught, and bid fair for intelligent men and women." Previous to the erection of the chapel, Miss Huntington started a day school in the Fort Hill farmhouse, and a Sunday School in the home of Lucy Tantaquidgeon. She was assisted by Miss Sarah Breed of Norwich and Miss Elizabeth Raymond of Montville. Miss Huntington was married to the Rev. Eli Smith of the American mission of Beyroot, Syria, in 1833, and died in 1836.
Mohegan was a part of the North Parish of the Town of New London until Montville was set off in 1786. It has never contained many houses, but its name has been famed far and near. I have seen letters from England addressed to Samson Occom, Mohegan, North America, which reached their destination. Usually they were addressed to him at New London. When writing at home, he headed his letters either Mohegan or New London. The Mohegans were never a numerous tribe. Their preservation through all these years was occasioned by their cooperation with the English. They did not originally live in villages, but in scattered wigwams throughout this region, which was better adapted to their pursuits of hunting and fishing. Occom said his father was the first to live in the locality where he was born. The Indians used the forts at Mohegan and Shantok as rendezvous for defense.
Not many of the ancient houses remain. The older part of the Tantaquidgeon house is gone, the Fort Hill house is still standing, so are the Matthews, Dolbeare, Storey, and a few others. The house Samson
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Occom built was taken down in the '80s, and the schoolhouse removed to that location and used as a residence, being occupied now by Henry W. Baker. At the golden wedding of Eliphalet Fielding, in the old Lucy Occom and Tantaquidgeon homestead where he was born, he told me that, when a small boy, there were five generations living in the house, the oldest over 100 years old.
The church has been well preserved and through all the years has been the religious and social center of the community for both Indians and whites. Mrs. Lydia Huntley Sigourney wrote of it when building:
"Lo! where a savage fortress frown'd Amid yon blood-cemented ground, A hallowed dome, with peaceful claim, Shall bear the meek Redeemer's name."
Miss Sarah Lanman Huntington started the Mohegan trust fund August 26, 1833, by a deposit of $183.24. General William Williams of Norwich bequeathed $500, Mrs. Harriet Peck Williams, widow of General Williams, bequeathed $1,000. The fund in 1934 amounted to $5,668.64, and the income is used for the support of the minister. There is also $2,000 bequeathed by Mrs. Anna E. Rogers, the income to be used for the upkeep of the church property. There have been four trustees, General William Williams, Henry R. Bond, the Rev. J. Romeyn Danforth, and the present trustee, the Missionary Society of Connecticut.
At the present time there are 31 people of Indian blood residing at Mohegan, nine of whom are members of the church. The family of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Tantaquidgeon, with their children and grand- children, constitute 16 of the 31. This family has direct descent from one of the warriors of the first Uncas, who personally captured Mian- tonomo in the renowned battle between the Narragansetts and Mohegans at Norwich in 1643. The following lines by Mrs. Sigourney are equally appropriate :
"Ye say they have all passed away. That noble race and brave, That their light canoes have vanished From off the crested wave; But their memory liveth on your hills, Their baptism on your shore, Your everlasting rivers speak Their dialect of yore.'
Mohegan is now famous as the home of Miss Gladys Tantaquidgeon, who is in South Dakota on Indian affairs in behalf of the United States Government. She is a graduate of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. Last year Professor
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Frank G. Speck, the Director of that Department, wrote me that "Miss Gladys Tantaquidgeon, of Mohegan Hill Place, is the successor of my interests in Connecticut Indian life." Her brother, Harold, is teaching woodcraft to the Boy Scouts.
The Mohegans were patriotic, and served in all the wars of our country, which service greatly depleted their numbers. They are merging into the white race and gradually fading away. In the not distant future, The Last of the Mohegans will be an inevitable reality.
Joint Tercentenary Celebration
NEW LONDON AND GROTON
COMMEMORATING 154th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BURNING OF NEW LONDON AND THE BATTLE OF GROTON HEIGHTS AT FORT GRISWOLD, GROTON HEIGHTS
6.00 P.M., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1935
(On account of rain, exercises were postponed to Saturday, September 7)
W HEN the first cutline of the program of the Tercentenary events was planned early in the year, a joint celebration by the towns of New London and Groton was considered for September 6, in Fort Griswold, in commemoration of the 15-1th anniversary of the Battle of Groton Heights and the burning of New London.
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