USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 14
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > East Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 14
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > South Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 14
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bloomfield > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 14
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor Locks > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 14
USA > Connecticut > Tolland County > Ellington > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 14
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The only one of the tribe who is in any way prominently connected with our history was Toto, a grandson of Nassacowan. This friendly Indian, during King Philip's war in 1605, having learned the purpose of the savages to attack Springfield, disclosed the plot to the Windsor people on the very evening preceding the attack. Messengers were promptly sent to Major Treat at Westfield, and Toto ( so tradition says ) was himself sent to bear the news to Springfield. Tradition further relates that he accomplished this perilous feat, running the whole dis- tanee there and back, in a single night. Be this as it may, his timely warning was all that saved the town of Springfield from utter destruc- tion. The people of Farmington have erected a monument to the mon- ory of the " ancient warriors " of the Tunxis Valley. Surely it would not be inappropriate if, either at Windsor or Springfield, some marble
1Or Nassacowan - which we consider as a different spelling of the same name.
2 It is probable that the Poquonnoc Indians were owners of Simsbury, as the deed of Simsbury, in 1680, is given by Nassahegan, Toto, and Seacett - and there are other evidences of their being closely ailied with the Massaco and Farmington Indians.
3 Col. Rec., ii. 470.
111
THE INDIANS OF WINDSOR.
column should preserve to posterity the name and the fame of faithful Toto.
Tradition tells us that the Indians who resided on the high grounds bordering on the Pine Meadow (now Windsor Loeks), between Pine Meadow Brook and the foot of the Falls, numbered one hundred war- riors. We learn from a deed of confirmation, signed in 1687 by the widow of Coggerynosset, sachem of Poquonnoe, that all the land north of that bought of the Plymouth Company (two and a half miles north of the meeting-house ) to "Stony Brook, opposite the great Island at the falls " was bought by the Windsor people of her father, Tehano (or Ne- hann), previous to the Pequot war, in 1637. It is not improbable that Tehano resided at Pine Meadow, but we feel confident that not an Indian . family lived in Pine Meadow at the time of the English settlement at Windsor.
"There was a time when Pine Metdow, as other river meadows above and below, was cultivated by the Indians. Corn was their principal erop, and this received only the rudest cultivation. About thirty years ago, the encroachment of the river on its west bank in the " great meadow " in Windsor, exposed one or two bushels of charred corn. It had been buried two or three feet deep, probably by the grave of some one. It was probably charied to prevent its decay. The kernels were very many of them like those growing on a stalk standing by it-elf, where there is not enough of pollen that reaches the cut te fill the cob. Many of the kernels of that charred corn were rounded on one or both sides, showing that the kernels grew separately or in patches on the cob. It must have been a starved field of corn that did not furnish tassel enough to produce full ears. Of course, there was no plowing for corn, for the Indians had neither plows nor teams to draw them. They had no steel or iron for spades or hoes. The sqnaws culti- vated the ground, and they probably had nothing better to work with than a sharpened stick, and they had no edged tool to sharpen it with. Stone axes and arrowheads are turned up occasionally in and around Pine Meadow, as they are almost everywhere, but they may have been lost as long before Pine Meadow was settled by the English as the time that has elapsed since.
" Indian graves have been discovered at several points in and around the meadow. About fifty years ago the breaking of the river bank a little below Pine Meadow brook, exposed an Indian skeleton, and with it a little copper kettle, having a capacity of about two gills. Several skeletons were uncovered while digging sand on the brow of the hill wuth of Mr. Francis's. About twenty-five years ago this town graded and "stoned " the river bank near the Osborne house. A little to the north was the highest point in the meadow, and had been an Indian burying place. In digging material from the road- bed to grade the bank a dozen or more graves were discovered ; some contained only a litt !- di-colored earth; one or more skeletons or parts of skeletons were found. Three years ago, two skeletons were found in the sand bank on the south side of South street, marly opposite Mrs. Prouty's. There was a rare collection of Indian relies found in these graves but, unfortunately, most of them fell into the hands of those who failed to Appreciate them. Among the articles saved was a stone whistle, probably a call whistle. It was an inch or more in diameter, and had a tapering hole through its length. By placing the widest end on the palm of the hand, and blowing into the other end a singularly shrill call was sounded. There was a piece of plumbago (black-lead), Nul for war paint, curious shaped stones for knives and other purposes, beads made from pottery and bone and a considerable number of copper beads, etc."-J, H. Hayden.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Another tradition relates that the Indians who resided in this vicinity had a custom of burying the aged and decrepit members of their tribe before life was extinet. When old age had enfeebled the stern warrior, when he could no longer follow the chase, draw the bow, or wield the tomahawk in defense of his people, he requested his friends io accompany him to the place of his burial. An excavation was made in the earth on Sandy Hill, in which the old man stood ereet, while his friends replaced the earth about him to the top of his shoulders. Then. placing the implements he had carried in war and the chase, with a little provision before him, they bade him a final adieu, and returned to their wigwams. Nor did they visit the spot again, until the wretched devotee had taken his last look on the dark woods which overshadowed him, and his ears had ceased to catch the voice of the Great Spirit whispering among their branches.
This is all very well for a tradition - and such it undoubtedly was one hundred years ago-but we do not believe a word of it. It is en- tirely unsupported by any evidence whatsoever, and, although, as the reader is aware, we place no very high estimate upon the Indian charac- ter, we believe that by giving credence to this tale of the " olden time " we should do the Indians of Windsor a very serious injustice.
As we have previously remarked. the greatest number of Indians, within the bounds of Ancient Windsor, resided on the east side of the Connecticut River. These were the Podunks,' situated at or near the month of the Podunk, a small stream entering the Conneeti- eut in the southwest corner of the present town of South Windsor. Here, just north of the stream where it crosses the road to Hartford, and on the west of the road. is still visible an elevation of some twenty-five feet, and about half an aere in extent, which was the site of their fort. On the same side of the road, south of the stream, and beyond the swamp, is an elevation, now occupied by the house of Mr. Eli Burnham, which was once the ancient burying-ground of the Podunks." This was
' Spelled (1636) Potaecke ; later (1671). Potunke, Potunk, Podunk, meaning fire or warmth under the trees, or place of fire or warmth if we accept an inference from Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull's " Indian Names" (p. 57). that " polu " means fire or hent ; and " unk," standing tree, or " place of." Located on the southern slope of a range of low hills, beside a stream protected on the north and surrounded by a thick ever- green growth, this Indian village may well have derived its name thus.
2 Burber's Hist. Coll. of Coun, says: "A few years since, a number of skeletons were discovered by digging from one to four feet. These skeletons were found lying on one side, knees drawn up to the breast, arms folded, with their heads to the south. A cover- ing of bark seems to have been laid over them, with some few remains of blankets; in one instance a small brass kettle and hatchet were found in good preservation; the re- mains of a gun barrel and lock, a number of glass bottles, one of which was found nearly half tilled with some sort of liquid. There were also found a pair of shears, a pistol, lead pipe, wampum, smali brass rings, glass beads, a female skeleton
113
PODUNE BURIAL PLACES IN WINDSOR.
their summer residence, but their winter home was a mile and a half eastward over the high land.' Their jurisdiction extended over the present towns of East and South Windsor and East Hartford, where they had another fort. They bore the reputation of being a ferocious and warlike people. Tontonimo, their first sachem with whom the English had any acquaintance. commanded two hundred bowmen .? The Span- tirx, a small tribe residing in the present town of East Windsor, near the month of the Seantie River, were either a part of the Podunks, or so closely allied to them that there is scarcely any distinction to be made Intween thein.
Dr. H. C. Gillette, in his Historical Sketches, in the Hartford Times, (Nos. 1 and 2), says :
"Their ancient places of burial are rich in antiquarian relies. Of these there are two: the north one is the most ancient, and is situated half a mile north of the Congre- gational meeting-house on the east bank of the Connecticut River, opposite the mouth of the Farmington. As the river has eut into the bank, many skeletons have been dis- interred. This, with the excavations that have been made, has revealed the position which the bodies occupied at burial. They were all buried with their heads to the
with a brass comb ; the hair was in a state of preservation wherever it came in contact with the comb. After the Podunks had removed from these parts, in one instance they were known to have brought a dead child from towards Norwich and interred it in this burying place. There was also another burying place on the river bank, on either side of the month of a small brook or drain known as Moore's drain. The pottery and arti- eles found in the graves on the north side of this drain were of superior workmanship to those in the graves on the south side, which possibly may be considered as indicative of some difference of rank in those there buried.
Barber also mentions a well on the bank of the Connecticut River, at Bissell's Ferry. near the mouth of the Scantic River, " supposed to have been made before any English settlements were attempted in Connecticut. The lower part of the well is walled by stones hewn in a circular manner, and the manner in which they are laid together is be- lieved to be entirely different from that in which any Englishman would lay them." Barber's version is the one generally adopted by the inhabitants of the town -who con- sider the well as having a Dutch origin. As the well is now destroyed, having been gradually washed out and broken up by the river, we have not had an opportunity of examining it ourselves. We have conversed, however, with several careful investigators, in whose judgment we have entire confidence, and who have at various times examined it These gentlemen concer in stating their conviction that there was nothing unusual in its formation. The stones which were represented as " hewn in a circular manner," were simply h diowed - slightly and roughly, as is often done in these days - for better adaptation to their places, and there was nothing in the appearance of the well which ir restrily indicated an origin anterior to the date of the English settlements on the river.
' Barber, who also says. " the path between these two places still retains the name of the " King's Path." This name, I think, is not an Indian name, as is generally sup- posed, but is derived from Edward King, an Irishman, one of the first settlers in this vicinity, who owued land here.
" Trumbull's Hist, Conn. De Forest considers Wahquinnacut, who first visited the English at Boston in 1631, with an invitation to settle in Connecticut, as a chief of the East Windsor tribes.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
north, the body lying on the right side, facing the river, and the average depth of the graves was about two feet.
" Many of these sketetons are of gigantie size, as indicated by the speeimens pre- served. The teeth are in a fine state of preservation, and rarely was one found defer tive. From the remains of ashes and coals found in these graves, it may be inferred that some combustible substance was placed upon the body after it was covered with soil. The skulls and horns of elk and deer were found in these graves, and most of them contained shells of the fresh-water clam, according with the Indian tradition that food was placed in the graves of the departed to sustain them in their dark journey to the spirit land. Rude stone hoes, axes, skiuning hatchets of curious make, arrowheads, and bgured pottery, are yeniy washing from this bank. No wampum has been discov. ered.
"Tue south burial ground is in the south part of the town of South Windsor, on the banks of the Podunk stream, on the farm, at preseut (1890). of Willard G. Burnham, which farm was also crossed by the Indian trail used by the Podunk tribe in passing be- tween their sminmer and winter villages. It is a mound, evidently formed of surface earth to the depth of several feet. It is more modern than the other burial place. and contains many articles that must have been obtained from the Dutch or English. such as guus, knives, bells, buckles, etc. The dead were buried in a semi-ereet position, facing the south, their lower extremities flexed and supported on one knee; some held the remains of a gun iu their hands. Specimens of the bones from these graves may be seeu at the Atheneum, Hartford. Pottery, unbroken, evidently made of the same material as the Dutch tiles. and holding about a quart, were found in these mounds. The writer of this article, twenty-five years ago, in company with the late Dr. William Cooley of Manchester. took out of these grounds what was supposed to be a female skeleton. A short blanket, interwoven with wampni, enveloped her shoulders. and a wampum belt encircled her waist. Attached to the belt on her right side were six or eight small round hells fastened with a string composed of raw deer skin. A band of brass, two and a half inches broad, scalloped at the top, and bearing evidence that it had been decorated with feather-, encircled her head. Underneath the band the raven locks of the dead female were as perfect as when she was placed in her grave. These articles were in Dr. Cooley's possession until his death, when, with other effects, they were sold at quetion at Hartford, and purchased by Erastus Smith and R. G. Drake, Esq., for the Connecticut Historical Society. Placed temporarily in the State House, they were un- fortunately lost, and have never been received by the society."
It will be seen by reference to the deed of the land between Po- dunk and Seantic, that Tontonimo is called a sachem of the Mohegans. On our early records, this tribe is never called " the Podunk Indians." The first settlers undoubtedly called them Mohegans, which has led some writers to infer that the friendly Indians who accompanied Capt. Mason in the Pequot war, resided near New London. Uneas, their leader in this expedition, was indeed a Pequot or Mohegan, of the " blood royal."1 Previous to the coming of the English, however, having quarreled with the Pequot monarch, Sassaeus, he had found a home with the river tribes, among whom his high lineage, talents, and the dominant charae- teristics of his race, rendered him an important personage. He identi- fied himself at an early day with the interests of the white settlers, whom his sagacious mind foresaw it would be safer to have as friends
1 Both in the paternal and maternal line. Trumbull thinks that the Mohegans were a part of the Pequot nation, so named from their location.
115
FEUDS BETWEEN PODUNKS AND MOHAWKS.
than as enemies. And when the Pequot expedition was proposed, the wily savage eagerly seized the opportunity which it offered, to testify his - allegiance to his new friends, and at the same time to avenge his own wrongs upon his kindred.
Nor from that hour, whatever may have been his faults, is there any reason to doubt his fidelity to the whites. He was probably, for a longer or shorter time, a resident in this neighborhood : and at all events allied by marriage to the Matianuek and Poduak Indians. We are therefore inclined to believe that the seventy Mohegan warriors who followed Un- cas into the Pequot fight, were mostly, if not all, from the Podunk and Scantic clans. This opinion is strengthened by a sentence in a letter written by Mr. Ludlow of Windsor, during the absence of that expedi- tion, wherein, speaking of the latest advices from the army, he says that the enemy had killed " one Siacock Indian that went with us." ? The word Siacock we think was a synonym for Seantic.
Be this a's it may, however, Uneas and Tontonimo were not always on friendly terms. In 1656. "a Podunk Indian, named Weaseapano. murdered a sachem, who lived near Mattabeseck, now Middletown. Sequassen, the existing sachem of that tribe, complained of the outrage to the magistracy of Connecticut, and said that the Podunk Indians en- tertained the murderer and protected him from merited punishment. Sequassen at the same time engaged Uncas in his cause, who also com- plained that Tontonimo enticed away many of his men. and protected an Indian who had murdered a Mohegan. Upon these complaints the magistrates summoned the parties before them. Sequassen and Uneas, after observing that the murderer was a mean fellow, and that the man murdered was a great sachem. insisted that ten men, friends of Wease- apano, should be delivered up, to be put to death, as a satisfaction for the crime. Tontonimo insisted that the satisfaction demanded was ex- cessive, particularly as the murdered sachem had killed Weaspapano's unele. The governor endeavored to convince the complainants that the demand was excessive, observing that the English, in cases of murder, punished only the principal, and such as were accessory to the crime.
Tontonimo then proposed to make satisfaction by the payment of wampum; but it was refused. They fell, however, in their demands to six men, instead of ten. This proposition was rejected by Tontonimo. The magistrates then urged him to deliver up the murderer. This he promised to do. But, while the subject was in agitation, he privately withdrew from the court, with the rest of the Podunk sachems : and re- tired to the fortress belonging to his nation. Both the magistrates and
1 Aramamet, chief of Matianuck in 1672, deeded lands on which he resided at Po- dunk, to Nautahan, alias Joshua, his son-in-law, the son of Uncas.
" See Massachusetts Historical Collections.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
the complainants were offended by this behavior of Tontonimo. How- ever, the magistrates appointed a committee to persuade the Indians to continue at peace with each other. At their solicitation. Uneas at length consented to accept the murderer, and promised to be satisfied, if he should be delivered up; but the Podunk Indians told the English they could not comply with the condition, because the friends of Wease- apatio were numerous and powerful, and would not agree to the pro- posal. The governor then addressed them in form: urging them to con- tinue in peace. and endeavoring to persuade the complainants to accept the wampum. Thuis they again refused and withdrew, after it had been agreed on all hands that the English should not take any part in the controversy, and after the Indians had promised that they would not in- jure either the persons or possessions of the English, on either side of the river.
Soon after, Uncas assembled an army for the purpose of avenging his wrongs: but being met near Hoekanmm River by an equal number of the Podunks, and considering the issue of the battle as doubtful, he pru- dently retired, after having sent a message to Tontonimo, in which he declared, that if the Podunk sachem persisted in withdrawing the mur- derer from justice, he would send to the Mohawks to come and destroy hot! him and his people.
Not long after, the crafty Mohegan accomplished his purpose in the following manner: He sent a trusty warrior, furnished with some Mo- hawk weapons. to Podunk, directing him to set fire in the night to a house near the fort, and then to leave the weapons on the ground in the vicinity, and immediately return. The warrior executed his commission. When the Podunks came in the morning to examine the ruins. they found the weapons; and knowing them to belong to the Mohawks, were so alarmed with the apprehension that Uneas was about to execute his threat, that they delivered up the murderers and sued for peace.1
The independent and fearless character of the Podunks kept them constantly embroiled in war, not only with their weaker neighbors, but
" This is the story as told in Dr. Dwright's Tracelx, and is authenticated by the colo- nial records.
President Stiles, however in his Itinerary, preserves the following version of the story: " About 1654, he [ Uncas] had a quarrel with Arramemet, sachem of Mussaco or Simsbury, which brought on a war. Lucas sent one of his warriors to take and burn an out-wigwam in the night, kill and burn, and leave the marks of the Mohawks. Ilis orders were executed. Arramemet, supposing the Mohawks had done the mischief. went in search of them to the northwest. Uucas gained time to equip his men, and afterwards subjugated Arramemet. Podunk, near Hartford, was erer afterwards tribu- tary to U'heux."
It is easy to see that this is a garbled account of the affair, and not so well entitled to credence as Dwight's. Pres. Stiles was somewhat credulous, and not always a safe guide in matters of tradition. Yet however mistaken in the name, it is quite possible that there may be a germ of truth in the last line, which we have italicized.
117
FEUDS BETWEEN PODUNES AND MOHAWKS.
even with the powerful and dreaded Mohawks. Tradition says that a party of the latter once visited the tribe who resided at the mouth of the Svantic River. " As one of the Mohawk women was crossing the river on a log she was pushed off into the stream and drowned ; upon this the Mohawks withdrew, determined upon revenge. In the meanwhile the Seantie Indians sent a runner to the Podunk Indians for assistance; after collecting their forces, a battle took place, in which the Mohawks were defeated and fled; they remained in the vicinity, and whenever they found a strageler from either tribe, they inflicted summary ven- grance. As one of the settlers by the name of Bissell was at work at hay in the meadow, a Seantie Indian came running toward him and im- plored his protection. Directing him to lie down, Mr. Bissell rolled a cock of hay upon him, and he was in this manner effectually concealed." He had hardly done this, before the Mohawks came running furiously in pursuit, who wished to know of Mr. Bissell if he had seen the fugitive. He pointed in a particular direction, in which he gave them to understand he had seen him run, which they eagerly followed, and thus the life of the poor Seantie was saved. .
" The feud which had thus arisen between the Podunks and the Mo- hawks at length resulted in the utter defeat of the former. It seems that a young Indian and a squaw of the Podunks having been to gather whottleberries. it was so late before they had gathered a sufficient quan- tity, that they were afraid to cross the meadows after dark on account of the Mohawks, who were prowling in the vicinity. They accordingly remained for the night at the house of Rev. Mr. Williams of East Hart- ford, and early in the morning the young woman set out upon her re- turn. Soon after, the report of a gun was heard by the inhabitants in the neighborhood, and they immediately set out to ascertain the cause. They found the young squaw weltering in her blood, having been shot by two Mohawks. The Podunks were aroused, and having mustered some six- tren or eighteen warriors, went in pursuit. After being ont several days, they came to a corn-fieldl, and began plucking the eats. A party of Mo- hawks, who were lying in ambuscade. rose upon them, and killed the whole party, with the exception of two who made their escape. This severe Wow had the effect of breaking up the Podunks as a distinct tribe. They separated into two parties, one of which joined the Pequots towards New London."" The time of this occurrence cannot be very accurately stated. A remnant of the tribe existed in East Windsor, in 1745, but had quite disappeared in 1760. Tradition says that Coggery, the last male survivor of the Podunks, lived in a swamp not far from the site of the church in the First Society, and while intoxicated murdered his
1 Barber's Hest. Coll. of Conn., 78.
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118
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
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