The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is a federally recognized American Indian tribe in the state of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
. They are descended from the
Pequot people, an Algonquian-language tribe that dominated the southern New England coastal areas, and they own and operate
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more t ...
within their reservation in
Ledyard, Connecticut. As of 2018, Foxwoods Resort Casino is one of the largest casinos in the world in terms of square footage, casino floor size, and number of slot machines, and it was one of the most economically successful in the United States until 2007,
[Jessica Durkin, "Mashantucket Election Returns Council Incumbents," ''Norwich Bulletin'', 7 November 2005] but it became deeply in debt by 2012 due to its expansion and changing conditions.
The tribe was federally recognized in 1983 through the Mashantucket Pequot Land Claims Settlement Act. The federal land claims suit was brought by the tribe against the State of Connecticut and the Federal government, charging that the tribe had been illegally deprived of its land through state actions that were not ratified by the Senate. As part of the settlement of this suit, Congress gave federal recognition to the tribe, in addition to approving financial compensation so that the tribe could repurchase lost land. Tribal membership is based on proven lineal descent of 11 Pequot families whose ancestors were listed in the 1900 US Census.
[Laurence M. Hauptman, "A Review" of Jeff Benedict’s ''Without Reservation: The Making of America’s Most Powerful Indian Tribe and Foxwoods, the World’s Largest Casino''](_blank)
, ''Indian Gaming'', 17 March 2009
The Mashantucket Pequot tribe is one of two federally recognized tribes in Connecticut, the other being the
Mohegan Indian Tribe
The Mohegan Tribe () is a federally recognized tribe and sovereign tribal nation of the Mohegan people. Their reservation is the Mohegan Indian Reservation, located on the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Mohegan's independence as a ...
.
Geography
The Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation is located in
Mashantucket, Connecticut, in southeastern Connecticut's New London County near the
Thames River. It is held in trust for the tribe by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
(BIA). The tribe also owns land in the adjacent towns of Ledyard, Preston and North Stonington, as well as in New London.
Demographics and membership
Today, the Mashantucket Pequot population consists of more than 1100 enrolled members. As a federally recognized tribe, the Mashantucket Pequots have the authority to determine their membership criteria. The tribe requires its members to be of proven lineal descent from 11 Mashantucket Pequot ancestors listed in the U.S. censuses of 1900 and 1910. In 1996, the tribal membership voted to close enrollment, with the exception of children born to currently enrolled tribal members.
The 2000 census showed a resident population of 325 persons living on reservation land, 227 of whom identified themselves as American Indian, while others identify themselves as having more than one ethnicity, including non-Pequot spouses. Since that time, the tribe expanded reservation housing, and members continue to relocate to the reservation as housing becomes available.
Government
As of 2020, the Mashantucket Pequot Elders Council officers are:
*Chair—Marjorie Colebut-Jackson
*Vice-Chair— Shirley "Laughing Woman" Patrick
*Secretary/Treasurer-Anthony Sebastian
The seven members of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council are:
*Chair—Rodney A. Butler
*Vice-Chair—Latoya Cluff
*Secretary—Matthew Pearson
*Treasurer— Merrill Reels
*Councilor—Daniel Menihan
*Councilor—Crystal Whipple
*Councilor—Richard E. Sebastian
The current administration's seven-member council has stated that the tribe's priorities are protecting tribal sovereignty, focusing on the educational, emotional, and physical well-being of members, and working to leverage the tribe's financial and economic strengths through partnership initiatives, both locally and abroad. Mashantucket Pequot's local investments include the Lake of Isles golf course and the Spa at Norwich Inn, both of which have proven to be positive additions to local municipal tax bases.
Council members are elected by popular vote of the tribal membership to three-year, staggered terms. There are roughly 600 eligible voting members of the tribe, which numbered 1086 in 2018. Tribal Members must be at least 18 years old and in good standing with the tribe to be eligible to vote.
Chairman
*
Richard Arthur Hayward Richard Arthur Hayward (born November 28, 1947), also known as Skip Hayward, was the tribal chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe from 1975 until November 1, 1998. He was replaced by Kenneth M. Reels. Before becoming the tribal chairman, he work ...
(1975–1998)
*Kenneth M. Reels (1998–2003)
*Michael Thomas (2003–2009)
*Rodney Butler (2010–present)
Economy
The Mashantucket Pequots have owned and operated one of the largest resort casinos in the world since 1992. The
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
analyzed the
Foxwoods casino's effects on the Connecticut economy, and their report stated that it had a positive economic impact on the neighboring towns of Ledyard, Preston, and North Stonington, as well as the state of Connecticut, which has received more than $4 billion in slot revenue.
History
The Mashantucket Pequots are descendants of the historic
Pequot tribe, an
Algonquian-speaking people who dominated the coastal area from the
Niantic River
The Niantic River is a mainly tidal river in eastern Connecticut. It is crossed by the Niantic River Bridge carrying Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. It separates the towns of East Lyme and Waterford. The river is long.U.S. Geological Survey. Nat ...
of Connecticut east to the
Pawcatuck River
The Pawcatuck River is a river in the US states of Rhode Island and Connecticut flowing approximately .U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 There are eight dam ...
which forms a border with
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
, and south to
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
. A second descendant group is the
Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation
The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation is an American Indian tribe in southeastern Connecticut descended from the Pequot people who dominated southeastern New England in the seventeenth century. It is one of five tribes recognized by the state of Connec ...
, which is not recognized by the Federal government.
During the colonial years, colonists recorded inter-tribal warfare, shifts in boundaries, and changes in power among the tribes. Scholars believe that the Pequots migrated from the upper
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
Valley into central and eastern Connecticut around 1500. William Hubbard wrote ''Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England'' in 1667 to explore the ferocity with which the Pequot tribe had attacked the colonists. He described them as invaders from "the interior of the continent" who "by force seized upon one of the places near the sea, and became a Terror to all their Neighbors." Contemporary scholars suggest that archaeological, linguistic, and documentary evidence show that the Pequots were indigenous for centuries in the Connecticut Valley before the arrival of settlers.
By the time that
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...
and the
Massachusetts Bay colony were being established, the Pequots had established military dominance among Indian tribes in central and eastern Connecticut. They numbered some 16,000 in the most densely inhabited portion of southern New England. The smallpox epidemic of 1616–19 killed roughly 90-percent of the Indians on the eastern coast of New England, but it failed to reach the Pequot,
Niantic and
Narragansett tribes, and this assisted the Pequots in their rise to dominance. But the
Massachusetts smallpox epidemic
The Massachusetts smallpox epidemic or Colonial epidemic was a smallpox outbreak that hit Massachusetts in 1633. Smallpox outbreaks were not confined to 1633 however, and occurred nearly every ten years.
__TOC__
European infection
Europeans bro ...
in 1633 devastated the region's Indian population, and historians estimate that the Pequots suffered the loss of 80-percent of their entire population. By the outbreak of the
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragans ...
in 1637, their numbers may have been reduced to about 3,000 in total.
Pequot War
In 1637, Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay colonies overwhelmed the Pequots during the
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragans ...
. This followed the Indians' attack on
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. Its population was 27,298 at the time of the 2020 census.
Many records from colonial times spell the name ...
that left several settlers dead. The military force of the two colonies was led by
John Mason and
John Underhill, and they launched an assault on the Pequot stronghold at
Mystic, Connecticut, killing a significant portion of the Pequot population.
The colonists enslaved some of the surviving Pequots, sending some to the West Indies as labor on sugar cane plantations, putting others to indentured servitude as household servants in New England. Most of the survivors, however, were transferred to the
Mohegan and
Narragansett tribes. A few Pequots returned to the reservation years later, and they intermarried with the colonists. Many of the Pequot descendants, while multi-racial, retained a sense of culture and continuity.
Present day
The Mashantucket Pequot reservation was created by the Connecticut Colony in 1666, but only 13 people lived on the reservation by the time of the
1910 United States Census. Elizabeth George (1894–1973) was one of the last Pequot living on the reservation and, when she died in 1973, the federal government started planning to reclaim the land which they presumed would be vacated upon the deaths of the last remaining Pequot residents.
Richard "Skip" Hayward, a grandson of Elizabeth George, led the Tribe's efforts in filing a federal land claims suit against the state of Connecticut which challenged the state's sale of 800 acres of reservation lands—an event which had occurred more than 100 years earlier in 1855.
The State of Connecticut agreed with the Tribe, and the US Department of Justice entered the suit, as it dealt with Federal issues and the legality of the state action.
On October 18, 1983, President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
signed the
Connecticut Indian Land Claims Settlement Act which included Federal recognition of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe. They were the eighth American Indian tribe to gain Federal recognition through an act of Congress rather than through the administrative process of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
(BIA) and Department of Interior. The Mashantucket Pequots have since added to their land holdings by purchase and placed the additional lands into trust with the BIA on behalf of the tribe. As of the
2000 census, their total land area was .
In 1994 it purchased, and later developed further, what is now known as
The Spa at Norwich Inn in Norwich, Connecticut.
Controversies
The Bureau of Indian Affairs had established criteria by which tribes seeking recognition had to document cultural and community continuity, a political organization, and related factors. Among the criteria are having to prove continuous existence as a recognized community since 1900, with internal government and tribal rules for membership.
In 1993,
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
said that the owners of Foxwoods casino "did not look like real Indians."
["Donald Trump's Long History of Clashes with Native Americans"](_blank)
''Washington Post'', 25 July 2016 He became a key investor with the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots who were seeking federal recognition.
In his book ''Without Reservation: The Making of America's Most Powerful Indian Tribe and Foxwoods the World's Largest Casino'' (2001),
Jeff Benedict
Jeff Benedict is an American author, a special features writer for ''Sports Illustrated'', and a television and film producer. He has written for ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times'', and his stories have been the basis for segmen ...
argues that the Mashantuckets are not descended from the historical Pequot tribe, but rather from the
Narragansett tribe.
[ Spokesmen for the Pequots denounced the book and asserted that Benedict's genealogical research was inherently flawed, as it failed to reflect the correct descendant lineages for the Mashantucket Pequot people identified on the 1900 and 1910 US Censuses. ]Laurence Hauptman
Laurence M. Hauptman is an American historian who is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at SUNY New Paltz. He is an expert on Native American history, specifically the Iroquois in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Biography
Hauptma ...
argued with Benedict's assertions on the genealogy of current members, and anthropologist Katherine A. Spilde also criticized it.
In 2002, the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation
The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation is an American Indian tribe in southeastern Connecticut descended from the Pequot people who dominated southeastern New England in the seventeenth century. It is one of five tribes recognized by the state of Connec ...
of North Stonington, Connecticut briefly gained federal recognition, as did the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation
The Schaghticoke ( or ) are a Native American tribe of the Eastern Woodlands who historically consisted of Mahican, Potatuck, Weantinock, Tunxis, Podunk, and their descendants, peoples indigenous to what is now New York, Connecticut, and Massa ...
in 2004. The State of Connecticut challenged these approvals, however, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs revoked recognition of both in 2005. It was the first time since the 1970s that the agency had terminated any federally recognized tribe.
Tribal membership rules
The Mashantucket Pequot tribe receives numerous requests from individuals applying for admission as members. They base tribal membership on an individual proving descent, by recognized genealogical documentation, from one or more members of eleven families included on the 1900 US census of the tribe.
Each federally recognized tribe has the authority to set its own membership/citizenship rules. Their descent rules are similar to the Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
's reliance on proven direct descent from those Cherokee listed in the early 20th-century Dawes Rolls. CBS News reported in May 2000 that the tribal membership had voted to drop the requirement that tribal applicants have a minimum percentage of Mashantucket Pequot blood. However, the tribe has since begun to require genetic testing of newborn children whose parents are tribal members, to establish maternity and paternity.Reprint: Karen Kaplan, "Ancestry in a Drop of Blood"
, ''Los Angeles Times'', 30 August 2005, RaceSciWebsite, accessed 17 March 2009
Foxwoods
![Mashantucket Pequot Museum Exterior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Mashantucket_Pequot_Museum_Exterior.jpg)
In 1986, Skip Hayward and financial backers built a high-stakes bingo hall on reservation land, and later they added other facilities. In 1992, the Mashantucket Pequots opened
Foxwoods casino, which is now one of the largest casinos in the world. Adjacent to Foxwoods is the
Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center
The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is a museum of Native American culture in Mashantucket, Connecticut, owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.
Overview
The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, l ...
which interprets Pequot history and culture. The museum hosts local and international indigenous artists and musicians, as well as mounting changing exhibits of artifacts throughout the year.
See also
*
Connecticut Indian Land Claims Settlement
*
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more t ...
*
Indian gaming Indian gaming may refer to:
*Native American gaming, gambling activities on indigenous tribal lands in the United States
*Gambling in India, gambling activities in the country of India
*Video games in India
Video gaming in India is an emerging m ...
*
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (, ''et seq.'') is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the act ...
*
Mashantucket Pequot Reservation Archeological District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark
*
Wetu
References
Further reading
Primary sources
*Hubbard, William. ''The History of the Indian Wars in New England'' 2 vols. (Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1845).
*Mason, John. ''A Brief History of the Pequot War: Especially of the Memorable taking of their Fort at Mistick in Connecticut in 1637/Written by Major John Mason, a principal actor therein, as then chief captain and commander of Connecticut forces; With an introduction and some explanatory notes by the Reverend Mr. Thomas Prince'' (Boston: Printed & sold by. S. Kneeland & T. Green in Queen Street, 1736).
*Mather, Increase. ''A Relation of the Troubles which have Hapned in New-England, by Reason of the Indians There, from the Year 1614 to the Year 1675'' (New York: Arno Press,
676
__NOTOC__
Year 676 ( DCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 676 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
1972).
*Underhill, John. ''Nevves from America; or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England: Containing, a True Relation of their War-like Proceedings these two yeares last past, with a figure of the Indian fort, or Palizado. Also a discovery of these places, that as yet have very few or no inhabitants which would yeeld special accommodation to such as will plant there . . . By Captaine Iohn Underhill, a commander in the warres there'' (London: Printed by I. D
wsonfor Peter Cole, and are to be sold at the signe of the Glove in Corne-hill neere the Royall Exchange, 1638).
Mashantucket Pequot Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, ConnecticutUnited States Census Bureau
*Vincent, Philip. ''A True Relation of the late Battell fought in New England, between the English, and the Salvages: With the present state of things there'' (London: Printed by M
rmadukeP
rsonsfor Nathanael Butter, and Iohn Bellamie, 1637).
Secondary sources
*Benedict, Jeff. ''Without Reservation: How a Controversial Indian Tribe Rose to Power and Built the World's Largest Casino'' (New York, NY: Perennial, 2001).
Review: ''Without Reservation'' Indian Gaming
*Boissevain, Ethel. "Whatever Became of the New England Indians Shipped to Bermuda to be Sold as Slaves," ''Man in the Northwest'' 11 (Spring 1981), pp. 103–114.
*Cave, Alfred A. "The Pequot Invasion of Southern New England: A Reassessment of the Evidence", ''New England Quarterly'' 62 (1989): 27–44.
*Cave, Alfred A. ''The Pequot War'' (Amherst, MA:
University of Massachusetts Press
The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...
, 1996).
*Eisler, Kim Isaac. ''Revenge of the Pequots: How a Small Native American Tribe Created the World's Most Profitable Casino'' (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2001).
*Fromson, Brett Duval. ''Hitting the Jackpot: The Inside Story of the Richest Indian Tribe in History'' (New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003).
*Hauptman, Laurence M. & James D. Wherry, eds. ''The Pequots in Southern New England: The Fall and Rise of an American Indian Nation (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).
*McBride, Kevin. "The Historical Archaeology of the Mashantucket Pequots, 1637–1900", in Laurence M. Hauptman and James Wherry, eds. ''Pequots in Southern New England: The Fall and Rise of an American Indian Nation'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993), pp. 96–116.
*McBride, Kevin. "Prehistory of the Lower Connecticut Valley" (Ph.D. diss., University of Connecticut, 1984).
*https://books.google.com/books/about/Facing_East_from_Indian_Country.html?id=NXCxAl75LfIC
Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America''">Facing East from Indian Country">Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001).
*Simmons, William S. ''Spirit of the New England Tribes: Indian History and Folklore, 1620–1984'' (Dartmouth, NH: University Press of New England, 1986).
*Spiero, Arthur E., and Bruce E. Speiss. "New England Pandemic of 1616–1622: Cause and Archaeological Implication," ''Man in the Northeast'', 35 (1987): 71–83.
*Vaughan, Alden T. "Pequots and Puritans: The Causes of the War of 1637", ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 3rd Ser., Vol. 21, No. 2 (April 1964), pp. 256–269; also republished in ''Roots of American Racism: Essays on the Colonial Experience'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
External links
Map of the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation, 2009 US Census Bureau
Foxwoods
*
Connecticut Indian Land Claims Settlement, Pub. L. No. 98-134, 97 Stat. 851 (codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 1751–60), 1983
Pequot History Dick Shovel
National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA)
{{authority control
Native American tribes in Connecticut
American Indian reservations in Connecticut
Algonquian ethnonyms
Algonquian peoples
Pequot