History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868

USA > New York > Dutchess County > History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 4

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The horrible, cruel and remorseless tortures with which they, in common with other Indians, per- secuted their prisoners, forms one of the blackest pages in their history ; while the heroism and forti- tude with which they endured these tortures is the marvel of civilization. Even women were not exempt from them ; for both men and women were inexorably subjected to the most revolting and ignominious tortures, even to burning alive, though the latter less frequently than the former. Not all their captives, however, were subjected to torture ; for many were adopted into the families of those who had lost friends and relatives in the war. Ter- rible as were these tortures, they are not without a parallel in the history of civilized nations; and there is the added virtue that they were measura- bly free from that vindictiveness which was the in- spiring genius of the latter. With them it was a

matter of education ; for, says De Witt Clinton, "to produce death by the most protracted suffering was sanctioned among them by general immemo- rial usage." Bancroft significantly says : "We call them cruel ; yet they never invented the thumb- screw, or the boot, or the rack, or broke on the wheel, or exiled bands of their nations for opinion's sake ; and never protected the monopoly of a medi- cine man by the gallows, or the block, or by fire,"*

As each tribe had its sachem and chief or cap- tain, so also each had its specific device or totem, denoting original consanguinity. The totems of the Mahicans were the Bear, the Wolf and the Turtle. The former, which, says Ruttenber, "appear to have been in occupation in the vicinity of Albany,"t was according to Mahican tradition, " considered the leading totem and entitled to the office of chief sachem." These totems were universally respected, and were often tatooed on the person of the In- dian and even rudely painted on the gable-end of his cabin, some in black, others in red. They en- titled the wandering savage to the hospitality of the wigwam which bore the emblem corresponding with his own. These devices consisted of ani- mals, birds, etc. They had various uses, but the most important was that which denoted tribal relation.

CHAPTER III.

ABORIGINES OF DUCHESS COUNTY - DIVISIONS OF THE MAHICANS-THEIR TERRITORIAL POS- SESSIONS-THE WAPPINGERS-SUPPOSED IDEN- TITY WITH THE SANHIKANS AND SANKIKANI- CONFLICTING STATEMENTS RESPECTING THEIR LOCATION - DEPOSITION OF DAVID NIMHAM REGARDING IT - CHIEFTAINCIES OF THE WAP- PINGERS-THE HEAD CHIEFTAINCY LOCATED IN DUCHESS COUNTY-VILLAGES OF THE WAPPIN- GERS - DANS-KAMMER POINT - TRADITIONAL INDIAN VILLAGES.

T HE territory embraced within the present limits of Duchess County was the home at different periods of the Mahicans, who have been styled the first inhabitants of Hudson River,# the Wappingers, who originally lived west of the Hudson, and subsequently joined the Mahicans, and a remnant of the Pequots, the earliest victims

* Colden's Five Indian Nations.

* History of the United States, II, 447.

t Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, 50, (note.) # Col. Hist. IV., çoz.

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

to the Europeans, who were nearly exterminated May 26, 1637, and the remnant subsequently driven from their homes in Connecticut. The latter dwelt in the present town of Dover, and are still repre- sented by their descendants in the valley of the Housatonic, to which they subsequently removed. Their sachem was Gideon Mauwee, whose grand- daughter, Aunt Eunice Mauwee, died in 1860, at the age of 103 years.

The Mahicans were a confederacy,* although the several nations composing it have never been desig- nated, says Ruttenber, who adds that certain gen- eral divisions appear under the titles of the Mahi- cans, Soquatucks, Horicons, Pennacooks, Nipmucks, Abenaquis, Nawaas, Sequins, and Wappingers. The former, the representative nation of the con- federacy on the Hudson, appears, he says, to have taken original position there, and to have sent out snbduing colonies to the south and east, originat- ing other national combinations. Their ancient council fire was kindled at Schodack, opposite the city of Albany, the country in the vicinity of which they occupied. The Soquatucks occupied the country east of the Green Mountains; the Hor- icons, the Lake George district ; the Pennacooks, f the territory " from Haverhill to the sources of the Connecticut ; the Nipmucks, the country "about Worcester, Oxford, Grafton, Dudley, &c., in Mas- sachusetts ;"# the Abenaquis, "the inland country on the upper part of the Kennebec River, in Maine;"§ the Nawaas and Sequins, the country bordering the Connecticut, the latter immediately south of the former ; and the Wappingers, the coun- try east of the Hudson and immediately south of the Mahicans, extending from Roelaff Jansen's Kill, or Livingston Creek, to the sea. The first of these general divisions was again divided into at least five parts, as known to the authorities of New York, viz : the Mahicans, occupying the country in the vicinity of Albany ; the Wiekagjocks, described by Wassenar as "next below the Maikens ;" the Mechkentowoons, lying above Catskill and on Beeren or Mahican Island; the Wawyachton-

ocks,* who apparently resided in the western parts of Duchess and Columbia counties ; and the Westenhucks, subsequently known as the Stockbridges, who held the capital of the confed- eracy, and occupied the village of Kaunaumeek, where the missionary Brainerd labored, and which he describes as "near twenty miles from Stock- bridge and near about twenty miles distant from Albany eastward ;" Potatik, located by the Mora- vians on the Housatonic " seventy miles inland ;" and Westenhuck or Wuahktakook, the capital of the confederacy, located on Sauthier's map, among the hills south of Stockbridge. The villages of the Wawyachtonocks, says Ruttenber, are without designation, but it is probable that Shekomeko, about two miles south of the village of Pine Plains, and once the seat of a flourishing Moravian mis- sion, was classed as one of them, as well as Wech- quadnach, also the seat of a Moravian mission, described as "twenty-eight miles below Stock- bridge." He adds, "that their villages and chief- tancies were even more numerous than those of the Montauks and Wappingers," there is every reason to suppose, but causes the very opposite of those which led to the preservation of the location of the latter, permitted the former to go down with so many unrecorded facts relating to the tribe,"f

The Wappingers, or Wappingis, were, like the Mahicans, with whom they united, a branch of the Delawares, and are supposed by Messrs. Yates and Moulton # to be identical with the Sanhikans, whom De Laët describes as residing on the west side of the Hudson, " within the Sandy Hook," § and with the Sankikani, who, when the Dutch arrived at New Netherland, another Dutch author, Joost Hartger, who wrote in 1651, twenty-six years after De Laët, describes as residing " on New York Bay, on the Jersey shore, opposite Manhattan's Island, and thence some distance up the river, lining the shore." Both authors say they were deadly enemies of the Manhattans, occupying the island to which it is supposed they gave their

* Bancroft says, "the country between the banks of the Connecticut and the Hudson was possessed by independent villages of the Mohegans, kin- dred with the Manhattans, whose few 'smokes' once rose amidst the forests on New York Island."-History of the United States, II., 396.

+ " The Pennacooks," says O'Callaghan, (Col. Hist. N. Y., III., 482,) " were a New Hampshire tribe, and inhabited Concord and the Merrimac country above and below that town." A full account of them will be found in Moore's Annals of Concord, 73 ; and in Collections of New Hamp- shire Historical Society, I., 218."'

# Holmes' Annals, I., 423.

§ Col. Hist. N. Y., III., 482, note, which also says: "They were called Onagonques by the Dutch, Owenagungas by the English, and Abenakis by the French."

* "This name," says Ruttenber, "is local," and is applied, in a peti- tion by William Caldwell and others in 1702, to a "tract of unappropriated lands in ye hands of ye Indians, lying in Duchess County to ye westward of Westenholk's creek, and to ye eastward of Poughkeepsie, called by ye Indians by ye name of Wayaughtanock."-Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, 85, note.

1 Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, 41, 85-86. A tract of land called Westenhook was patented to Robert Livingston, Jr., and others in 1735, and that as well as Livingston Manor, patented in 1686, became the subject of controversy between this State and Massachusetts .- Smith's History of New York, 283-288.

# History of the State of New York, 221. They strengthen this sup- position by quoting Gov. Clinton.

§ Nieuwe Wereldt, Book 3, Chap. 9.

2 1

TERRITORIAL LOCATION OF THE WAPPINGERS.

name,* and were, says Hartger, a much less ferocious and sanguinary people. De Laët testifies that they were a better people than the Manhattans, who, he says, were a wicked nation having "always conducted towards the Dutch in a cruel and inimi- cal manner." O'Callaghan says the Dutch dis- tinguished the Delawares by the name of Sankhi- cans.t

The Rev. John Heckewelder, who says the Sankhicanni derive their name from Sankhican, who signifies fire-works, adds, they and the Wabinga or Wapinga, sprung from the Delawares and Min- sis, and, living opposite the Mahicanni, on the Hudson, (the latter the most southerly, up the Pachsájeck-i.e. a valley, Passaic,) intermarried with them, till at length their language betrayed more of the Mahicanni, than the Delaware. The Wappingis, occupied the highlands on the west side of the Hudson, from which they were known by the Dutch as Hocklanders, (Highlanders.) The Sankhicanni extended their settlements towards the site of Albany. In course of time these two tribes were under the necessity of leaving their country, when they went over to the Mahicanni, with the exception of a few families, who again joined the Delawares, but for fear of being again driven from their settlements by the whites, went first to the Susquehanna, and subsequently to the Ohio. The Wappingis says Heckewelder derive their name from the opossum, which in the language of the Delawares, is called Waping. Wappingi signifies " the opossummani." §

Mr. Charles Thompson, Secretary of the first American Congress, locates the Wappingers be- tween the west branch of the Delaware and the Hudson, from the Kittatinny Ridge (Blue Mts.) down to Raritan. | Prof. Ebeling observes that the Esopus Indians, who proved so troublesome

* Heckewelder, in Ms. Comm. to Dr. Miller, says his inquiries in re- spect to a nation or tribe of Indians called Manhattos or Nanathones were fruitless. They were unknown at the middle of the eighteenth century to both the Mahicans and Delawares. He was convinced that the Delawares and Minsis occupied Manhattan or New York Island, which the former then called Manahattani or Manahachtanink. The Delaware word for island, he says, is Manatey ; the Minsi word, Man- achtey. Early writers, however, are emphatic in naming this tribe, and De Rasieres, who wrote in 1626, intimates that they were conquered " by the Wappenos."

+ History of New Netherland, I., 48.

# Ms. Communication to Dr. Miller in 1801 now in possession of the N. Y. Hist. Soc.

§ Wappingers, says Ruttenber, is a corruption of wabun, east, and acki, land, which, as applied by the Indians themselves, may be rendered Eastlanders, or Men of the East. The French preserved the original very nearly in Abenaque, and Heckewelder in Wapanachki. The Dutch historians are responsible for Wappingers, perhaps from their rendering of the sound of the original word, and perhaps as expressing the fact that they were, in the Dutch language, wapen, or half-armed In- dians .- Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, 370-371.

|| Note 5, Appendix to Jefferson's Notes on Virginia.

to the early Dutch settlers, were supposed to be Wappingers .* Ruttenber says : "Although it is so stated on Van der Donck's map of New Nether- land, and assumed by Gallatin as a fact, there is no evidence that the Wappingers extended west of the Hudson, but, on the contrary, the conclusion is certain that they did not. The record of the Esopus wars and the sales of lands show what and who the latter were. The error of Van der Donck's in- formants was in confusing totemic emblems, and similarity of dialect, with tribal jurisdiction." t

Whatever may be the fact with reference to the Wappingers having once possessed lands west of the Hudson, it is certain that their later settle- ments were on the east side of that river, as is shown by the following deposition of David Nim- ham, whose father, Daniel Nimham, was made chief sachem of the Wappingers in 1740, and dis- tinguished himself not less by his persistent efforts to recover lands in Putnam county, of which his tribe were defrauded, than by his tragic death at the battle of Cortland Ridge, in Westchester county, where he and some forty of his followers, including his son, were killed or wounded August 31, 1778, by the British, against whom they had espoused the cause of the Colonists.# The deposition reads as fol- lows :-

"DAVID NIMHAM, aged thirty-six years, being duly sworn, maketh oath, that he is a River Indian of the tribe of the Wappingers, which tribe were the ancient inhabitants of the east shore of Hud- son's River, from the city of New York to about the middle of Beekman's Patent ; that another of River Indians, called Mahiccondas, were the an- cient inhabitants of the remaining east shore of the said river ; that these two tribes constituted one nation. That the deponent well understands the language of the Mahiccondas. It is very little different from the language of the Wappings tribe. That the Indian word Pattenock signifies in the language of the Mahiccondas, a fall of water, and has no other signification. And this deponent says that he is a Christian, and has resided some years with the Mahiccondas at Stockbridge. his "DAVID x NIMHAM. mark.

"Sworn the second day of August, 1762, before WILLIAM SMITH." me.

The chieftaincies of the Wappingers, say Rut- tenber, § were the Reckgawawancs, who occupied Manhattan Island and a portion of the mainland, with their principal village,|| says Bolton, at the

* Yates and Moulton's History of the State of New York, 221.

Indian Tribes of Hudson River, 84.

# Simcoe's Military Fournal.

§ Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, 77-84.

I History of Westchester County.

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

mouth of Neperah (Neperhan *) or Saw Mill Creek, where the village of Yonkers now stands, and at whose strong stockade fort, which stood on Berrien's Neck, on the north bank of the Spuyten Duyvel commanding the romantic scenery of that creek and the Mahicannituck, Hudson first dropped anchor on his ascending voyage, and was attacked by the Indians on his return ; the Weckquaesgeeks, who, as early as 1644, had three entrenched castles, ¡ one of which remained as late 1663, and was then garrisoned by eighty warriors. Their principal village, named Weckquaskeck, was on the site of Dobb's Ferry, and its outlines, it is said, can still be traced by numerous shell beds ; a second one called Alip Conck, occupied the site of the village of Tarrytown. Their territory seems to have extended from Norwalk on the Sound, to the Hudson, and to have embraced considerable portions of the towns of Mount Pleasant, Greenburgh White Plains and Rye, or, according to O'Calla- ghan,¿ from the North to the East River, "on the banks of two smaller streams, called the Sintsinck, and the Armonck, a few miles north of the fierce Manhattóé or Manhattans, a ' cruel nation,' who held their council fires on an extensive island im- mediately south, which, retaining their name, was afterwards called Manhattans ;" the Sint-Sinks, who, apparently, were not numerous, but had two villages, one Ossing-Sing, on the site of the present village of Sing Sing, the other, Kestaubuinck, located between Sing Sing Creek and Croton River ; the Kitchawongs or Kicktawancs, whose territory ap- pears to have extended from Croton River to An- thony's Nose, embracing a principal village named Kitchawonck, located at the mouth of the river bearing their name; another named Sackhoes, on the site of the village of Peekskill, and a fort, which stood at the mouth of Croton River, and is represented as one of the most formidable and an- cient Indian fortresses south of the Highlands ; the Tankitekes, whom Brodhead locates at Haver- straw, O'Callaghan on the east side of Tappan Bay, and Bolton, in the eastern part of Westchest- er, (the latter of which, from the deeds given by them, Ruttenber affirms is correct,) and who, says the latter, occupy "a prominent place in the Dutch history through the action of Pecham, 'a crafty man,' who not only performed discreditable service for Director Kieft, but was also very largely instrumental in bringing on the war of 1645 ;" the Nochpeems, who occupied the highlands north of

Anthony's Nose, (where Wassenar locates the Pachany, and Brodhead the Pachimis, whom-the Pachamis -- O'Callaghan locates on the east side of Tappan Bay,) and to whom Van der Donck assigns three villages on the Hudson-Keskistkonck, Pasquasheck and Nochpeem-but whose principal village, says Ruttenber, situated in what is now known as Canopus Hollow, in the town of Putnam Valley, appears to have been called Canopus, from the name of their sachem; the Siwanoys, also known as "one of the seven tribes of the sea coast," who were one of the largest of the Wap- pinger subdivisions, and occupied the northern shore of the sound, "from Norwalk twenty-four miles to the neighborhood of Hell-gate;" the Sequins, who took their name from one of their chiefs, who occupied a large extent of country, with their principal seat on the west bank of the Connecticut, and had jurisdiction over all the south-western Connecticut clans; and the Wap- pingers, the acknowledged head of the chieftaincies of the tribal organization of that name, whose ter- ritory covered the major portion of Duchess County. The location of their principal village is not known, but presumably on the creek which perpetuates their name, on the south side of which -the Mawenawasigh, its beautiful Indian name --- Van derDonck's map locates three of their villages. Others of their villages were located in the town of Fishkill, and at Fishkill Hook. "Until quite recent- ly, there were traces of their burial grounds, and many apple and pear trees are still left standing."* Here, on a farm of three hundred acres, adjoining Putnam County, which was claimed as a reserva- tion, the Indians lingered long after the sale of their lands in that locality; and even after their removal to the West, a few came occasionally to renew their claims, remaining a few weeks to hunt and fish, while plying the vocation of mendicants. North of Wappinger's Creek they appear to have been known as the Indians of the Long Reach, and on the south as the Highland Indians. Of their possessions on the Hudson there is but one perfect transfer title on record, that being for the lands which were included in the Rombout Patent, of which further mention will be made in a subse- quent chapter.

Messrs. Yates and Moulton, after referring to the former residence of the tribe on the west side of the Hudson, say, at a later period, they "occupied that part of the east side of the Hudson, near a

* French's Map of the State of New York.

1. Journal of New Netherland, Doc. Hist., IV., 15.

# History of New Netherland, I., 47.

* Historical Sketch of the Town of Fishkill, by T. Van Wyck Brink- erhoff, 51-52,

RIVALRY BETWEEN THE DELAWARES AND IROQUOIS.

hill called Anthony's Nose, in the Highlands which embraced what was called Phillips's upper patent in Duchess County, including Pollipel's Island. Although formerly numerous, they had in 1767 dwindled to 227 persons. Their occupation was principally planting and hunting. The Highlands afforded fine hunting ground, and the surrounding soil was excellent for planting. *

* * It was their fate, though a similar fate with others, to be compelled to abandon their once pleasant Wickapy, (which was the name of the lands where the tribe chiefly resided,) and to seek refuge in remote, and to them, strange places .* Dunlap, in his History of New York, speaks of them as occupying the Highlands, called by them Kittatinny Mountains, and says, their principal settlement, designated Wicapee, was situated in the vicinity of Anthony's Nose. Brodhead says: "It would seem that the neighboring Indians esteemed the peltries of the Fishkill f as charmed by the incantations of the aboriginal enchanters who lived along its banks, and the beautiful scenery in which those ancient Priests of the Highlands dwelt is thus invested with new poetic associations."

Tradition locates other villages in various parts of the county ; but it is mostly vague and unsat- isfactory, though there is little doubt that many more than those indicated existed within the limits of the county. Wassenar locates the Pachany, Warenecker and Warrawannankoncks at Fisher's Hook,¿ a projection into the river formed by the confluence of the Fishkill in the town of that name. DeLaët agrees substantially with him in the location of the former, whom he calls the Pachami; but the latter two, named by him Waoranecks and Warranawankongs, he locates on the west side, on the Dans-Kammer point,§ in which he is unques- tionably more nearly correct. Van der Donck locates the Waoranecks on the south side of Wappingers Creek, while above them, on both sides of the river, he places the Wappingers. The Minnisinks, a clan of the Minsis, are said to have lived in vari- ous parts of the county, probably not as a clan, however ; while the Sepascots are credited to Rhinebeck, and the Shenandoahs to Red Hook.

CHAPTER IV.

CONTEMPORANEOUS EMIGRATION OF DELAWARES AND IROQUOIS FROM THE WEST-THE IROQUOIS BECOME JEALOUS OF THE DELAWARES AND CLANDESTINELY SEEK THEIR HUMILIATION - WARS BETWEEN THE DELAWARES AND IROQUOIS -THE IROQUOIS MAKE WOMEN OF THE DELA- WARES-THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS ACT-DIF- FERING VIEWS RESPECTING THE SUBJUGATION OF THE DELAWARES BY THE IROQUOIS-THE DELA- WARES RESENT THE PERFIDY OF THE IROQUOIS -WARS BETWEEN THE IROQUOIS AND MAHI- CANS - THE MAHICANS UNSUBDUED - THEIR SUBJUGATION ASSERTED BY VARIOUS HISTORI- ANS-THEIR STATEMENTS REFUTED BY DOCU- MENTARY PROOF-TRADITIONAL REVERSES OF THE MAHICANS-THEIR LOSSES AND DISPERSION -WAR OF 1755-RELATION OF THE DELAWARES AND MAHICANS TO IT-THE DELAWARES IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

I N a preceding chapter we have shown that the Iroquois and Delawares, according to tradi- tion, emigrated at the same time from the west- ward; and, having defeated and dispersed the Al- ligewi, who disputed with them the passage of the Mississippi, that they divided and occupied the conquered territory. The Iroquois, increasing in numbers, extended their settlements below the lakes along the St. Lawrence, from which, tradi- tion asserts, they were driven by the Adirondacks, to the interior parts of New York .* The Dela- wares had also moved farther eastward, and, with their kindred tribes, occupied the valleys of the Delaware, Susquehanna and Hudson.

In these relative positions they resided peace- ably for many years. At length the Iroquois be- came jealous and distrustful of their southern neighbors, who were rapidly increasing in numbers, and sought to lessen their growing power by em- broiling them and other tribes, especially the Chero- kees, who then lived on the banks of the Ohio and its branches, and between whom and the Dela- wares a most bloody war was waged, as the result of this Iroquois perfidy, until the treachery of the latter was discovered. The Delawares determined to revenge themselves by the extirpation of that deceitful race ;f and so successful were they in the violent wars which ensued between them and the Iroquois,¿ that the latter, who at a later period,

* History of the State of New York, 221.

t The Indian name of this stream was Matteawan, by which it is still sometimes called. The word has been said to signify " good furs," and Moulton has endeavored to associate it with the incantations of Indian priests, but, says Ruttenber, on no positive authority. + Doc. His. III, 28.

§ This name, which means "dance-chamber," was given to a point of land, six miles north of Newburgh, where the aborigines were accus- tomed to dance the Kuite-Kaye, a species of devil-worship, on the eve of engaging in expeditions of war or hunting, and when, as prisoners, they were about to suffer torture .- Doc. His. IV, 63.

* Smith's History of New York, 77.

t Heckewelder's Historical Account of the Indian Nations, 37,

# Loskiel's History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians in North America, Part I, Chap. X, p. 124. Heckewelder, 38.

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

had also become involved with the French colon- ists in Canada, were constrained to resort to a stratagem to terminate them, being convinced that if they continued, "their total extirpation would be inevitable."* Heckewelder even attributes to the severity of these wars that great Amphyctonic league-the Iroquois confederacy-which, he says, on the authority of Pyrlaus, a missionary among the Mohawks, was formed " sometime between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries"; and adds that the different tribes of the Iroquois had hitherto acted independently. t

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History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868