Quinnipiac is the English name for the Eansketambawg (meaning "original people"; ''cf.''
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
: ''
Anishinaabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawat ...
g'' and
Blackfoot: ''Niitsítapi''), a
Quiripi
Quiripi (pronounced , also known as Mattabesic, Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian languages, Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of Gold Coast (Connecticut), southwestern Connecticut and ...
-speaking
Native American nation of the
Algonquian family who inhabited the ''Wampanoki'' (''i.e.'', "Dawnland"; ''c.f.'',
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
: ''Waabanaki'',
Abenaki
The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...
: ''Wabanakiyik'') region, including present-day
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 capita ...
.
Introduction
The Quinnipiac (occasionally spelled ''Quinnipiack'') people—also known as
Quiripi
Quiripi (pronounced , also known as Mattabesic, Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian languages, Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of Gold Coast (Connecticut), southwestern Connecticut and ...
and Renapi—are speakers of the
r-dialect of the
Algonquian language family. (The Algonquian Language Phyla was the largest in
North America and covered about one-third of the continent above
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.) The Quinnipiac/Quiripi/Renapi people are considered to be the first of the
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
peoples to be placed on a
reservation (by the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
in 1638), under the first of several treaties which resulted in additional reservations at
Branford,
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
Place names
* Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
,
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
, and
Farmington
Farmington may refer to:
Places Canada
*Farmington, British Columbia
* Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation)
United States
*Farmington, Arkansas
*Farmington, California
*Farmington, Connecticut
*Farmington, Delaware
* Farmington, Georgia
* ...
.
James Hammond Trumbull
James Hammond Trumbull (December 20, 1821 – August 5, 1897) was an American historian, philologist, bibliographer, and politician. A scholar of American Indian languages, he served as the first Connecticut State Librarian in 1854 and as Secr ...
was the first to recognize that the
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
band of the Quiripi was only one band or sub-sachemship and not the entire tribal nation. Linguist
Blair Rudes
Blair Arnold Rudes (May 18, 1951 – March 16, 2008) was an American linguist and professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte best known for his expertise in Native American languages. He was hired in 2004 to reconstruct the long e ...
found that the Eastern Algonquian r-dialect group's "territory extended "... up to the Hudson in the west, including a portion of land in present-day New York state.... Furthermore... the same people occupied a portion of ... western Long Island ...." Since 1997, more extensive research, based on linguistics and early historical records, has extended the boundaries of the 1500-1600 AD Quiripi/Renapi/Quinnipiac confederacies to include all of what is now Connecticut, eastern
New York, northern
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, and half of
Long Island (prior to the immigration of the
Pequot
The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or t ...
/
Mohegan
The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the east ...
peoples into eastern CT).
Quinnipiac River History
The
Quinnipiac River
The Quinnipiac River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 long river in the New England region of the United States, located entirely in the state of Conne ...
flows southward from Farmington, CT (Tunxis Sub-Sachemship) at Deadwood Swamp to the New Haven harbor on Long Island Sound. Its length is and its name means "long-water-country." The Quinnipiac people of the Long Water Land had several sub-sachemships and villages along its banks as well as main trails that criss-crossed its length. The Quinnipiac River and Quinnipiac Hiking Trail still run directly through
Sleeping Giant State Park
Sleeping Giant (also known as the Blue Hills and Mount Carmel), (''Hobbomock'' in Quinnipiac), is a rugged traprock mountain with a high point of , located north of New Haven, Connecticut. A prominent landscape feature visible for miles, the Sle ...
, a sacred site revered by the Quinnipiac people as the petrified body of their culture hero, the Stone Giant, Hobbomock.
Quinnipiac Settlements and Self-Identity
The
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
French called these people Quiripi (also spelled Quiripey), and the English knew them as Quinnipiac (also Quinnipiack, Quillipiac). Appellatives from the PEA-A (Proto-Eastern Algonquian/Archaic) dialects reflecting Self-Identity include the following:
* ''Eansketambawg'' (meaning "Original People") is a generalized term used by the
Dawnlanders (original inhabitants of NE USA and Eastern Canada) to identify the Algonquians of the NE Woodlands.
* ''Rennawawk'' (meaning "
rue
''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bluis ...
Men") is the indigenous term for "aboriginal Native Americans."
* ''Quiripi/Quiripey'' (meaning "long-water
land people) is the archaic equivalent of Quinnipiac (n-dialect) and Quillipiac (l-dialect).
* ''Renapi'' (also spelled ''Renape'', meaning "Real People") represents the true term of self-identity for the sachemships who spoke the r-dialect of the PEA-A region.
* ''Wampano'' (also spelled ''Wappinger'', ''Wampanoo'', ''Wabeno'', meaning "Easterner") refers generically to the sub-tribal Renapi/Lenape Dawnland Confederacy, also known today as the
Wappinger
The Wappinger () were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut.
At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutches ...
-
Mattabesec Mattabesset was a region and settlement once occupied by Algonquian language-speaking Native Americans called the Wangunk, along the Connecticut River. The Mattabesset River reaches the Connecticut River near Middletown, Connecticut. European s ...
Confederacy.
The place name "Quinnipiac" derives from regional variations of ''Quinni/pe/okke'' which is similar to ''Quinneh/tukq/ut''. The first indicates "long-water-land" and the second indicates "at the long water estuary" which are two locations of the Renapi bands. One linguist theorizes that the name "Quinnipiac" means "turning point" (i.e., where we change our route), however, there is no historical or cultural evidence to support this assumption. Evidence does exist, however, to indicate that the original "long-water-land" related to the entire shoreline along
Long Island Sound. Bands of the Long Water Land Renapi were situated in Eastern New York, Northern New Jersey, and Connecticut, where their summer camps were on the shores and along the estuaries that ran into the Sound. In
Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
times, after the
glaciers melted, there was a freshwater lake waterfall long. Legend has it that this was the derivation of the term "Long-Water-Land." Archaeological evidence of the ancient camps lie throughout the region. Quinnipiac River runs almost the width (top to bottom) of the state and the Connecticut (originally spelled Quinnehtukqut) River runs from the Sound all the way to the border between
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
and
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada.
Socio-political structure
The Quiripi/Renapi/Quinnipiac consisted of the following socio-political elements.
Primary sachemdom
A primary sachemdom (likened to a kingdom, aboriginal domain, etc.), where a hereditary Long-House Grand Sachem presided over an alliance of Stump-Chief Sachems (non-hereditary, but holding positions by virtue of marriage or appointment) and Sagamores/Sagamaughs (hereditary positions), all of whom acted as wise councilors. The Algonquian primary sachemdom was always located at the heart or center of the domain, where a traditional ''maweomi'' (central council fire) was positioned. The sachemdom was defended by Indian forts or ''menehkenum'' which the English called "entrenched castles."
Secondary sub-sachemships
Secondary sub-sachemships (bands) were genetically, culturally, politically, socially, economically, and linguistically related to and defended the central council fire. The central council fires in turn, were allied with a Great Grand Council known as a Confederacy.
Primary economic commodity
The primary economic commodity of the Long Water people was the production of ''wampum-peague'' or "shell-money" which has sacred origins. Huge piles of
clam
Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...
and
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...
shells were stockpiled and archaeologists erroneously identified them as "refuse dumps" for lack of understanding. Shipments of these shells were sent to regional Algonquian Trade Centers. One of the most renown was at
Cahokia
The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in south- ...
, where archaeologists found these stockpiles with drills and drill bits, as well as large quantities of finished beads. There were two types.
# Sun wampum were the red, white, and purple beads of cylindrical shape, drilled through the center, used to make strings of
wampum
Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western Nor ...
and to make belts or sashes. In the belts, the colors were manipulated so that
pictographic
A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and ...
images told a symbolic story and these were given to honor important actions by the Great Grand Councils and ''Maweomis'' for peace treaties, wars, marriages, and other significant events. In the colonies of New Haven and Boston, ''wampum-peague'' became the first legal tender and it was used in fathoms.
# Larger round beads like discs were known as moon wampum and they were strung together to make necklaces. Large crescent-moon wampums were hung from the necklaces to denote the ''maweomis'' which were set up in large crescent moon shapes, with the Grand Sachem at the center and his sachems at his side.
Other commodities included raw
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
, mined from West Rock (''Mautumpseck'') in large nuggets. Samples weighing a few tons can be viewed at the
Peabody Museum of Natural History
The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University is among the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It was founded by the philanthropist George Peabody in 1866 at the behest of his nephew Oth ...
on Whitney Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut. These nuggets were sent to regional trade centers where artisans turned them into beads,
amulets
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
, knives, and axes.
Long Water Land Renapi Sachemdom
The Long Water Land Renapi (Quinnipiac Algonquians of the Renapi Nation) Sachemdom included the following sachemships (circa 1500-1650 AD).
* Quinnipiac/Quirripeokke:
Quinnipiac River
The Quinnipiac River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 long river in the New England region of the United States, located entirely in the state of Conne ...
confluence,
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
* Meriden (meaning "Pleasant Valley")
Cheshire,
North Haven and
Meriden
* Mioonkhtuck:
East Haven,
Fair Haven
* Totoket: Branford,
North Branford
* Menunkatuck:
Guilford,
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
Place names
* Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
* Hammonasset:
Clinton,
Saybrook
* Nehantic:
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
,
Haddam
* Tunxis:
Farmington
Farmington may refer to:
Places Canada
*Farmington, British Columbia
* Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation)
United States
*Farmington, Arkansas
*Farmington, California
*Farmington, Connecticut
*Farmington, Delaware
* Farmington, Georgia
* ...
* Mattatuck:
Waterbury
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...
* Naugatuck:
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
,
Ansonia,
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
* Wepawaug:
Milford Milford may refer to:
Place names Canada
* Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia
* Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
* Milford, Ontario
England
* Milford, Derbyshire
* Milford, Devon, a place in Devon
* Milford on Sea, Hampshire
* Milford, Shro ...
* Paugusset:
New London
New London may refer to:
Places United States
*New London, Alabama
*New London, Connecticut
*New London, Indiana
*New London, Iowa
*New London, Maryland
*New London, Minnesota
*New London, Missouri
*New London, New Hampshire, a New England town
** ...
* Potatuck:
Housatonic River
* Wangunk: Mattabesec or
Middletown
* Podunk:
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
Throughout the sachemdom, the ''menuhkenumoag'' (Indian forts) were positioned along the main trail system, known as ''Mishimayagat''. Trails and rivers served as highways for war and trade.
The Mattabesec Sachemship in the heart of Wangunk sub-sachemships was the easternmost entrance to the Wappinger-Mattabesec Confederacy and prior to the major epidemics of the 16th-17th century, this eastern door was where
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
is now (and the eastern border of Connecticut).
Populations and treaty reservation land
Population prior to contact with Europeans
Prior to the devastating
epidemics
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics of infectious d ...
(according to contemporary scholars Snow, Grumet, Bragdon, et al.), the estimated population was about 25,000 in Connecticut, an additional 25,000 in Eastern New York and New Jersey (Northern Mountains). This equates to roughly 1,000 to 1,200 per band or sub-sachemship (called 'sub-tribes' by ethnologists). ''The Connecticut Scholar'', per Collier & Collier, indicates that the figures estimated by DeForest (and emulated by Townshend) circa 1850–1900, are no longer taken seriously.
The Quinnipiac Reservation
The Quinnipiac reservation at Mioonhktuck (East Haven) is said to be the first reservation in what would become the United States over a century later, as a result of the first Quinnipiac/English Treaty signed in November 1638. Additional reserved lands were recorded by the late John Menta in his thesis and subsequent work about the Quinnipiac. There were three major treaties, and one ratification by Naushop, the son of Shaumpishuh. These treaties were with the British Crown and, as such, were ratified by the U.S. Constitution, according to U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Reserved land locations included:
* reserve at Mioonkhtuck, East Haven
* reserved lands at Indian Head, Totoket, Branford
* reserved lands at Ruttawoo (East River), Madison
* reserved lands at Menunkatuck, Guilford, West Pond
* reserved lands at Derby, Orange, Turkey Hill
* reserved at Waterbury (negotiated but never solidified).
Quinnipiac refugees
The "Quinnipiac Trail of Heartaches" refers to the numerous relocations of the Quinnipiac people who became
refugees as a result of the encroachment,
religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...
, and
ethnic cleansing by the
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
. Large groups, who could not remain at the regional reserved lands, embarked on a series of removals to other Algonquian groups. Some of these included, but were not limited to the Schaghticoke enclave, which began in the year 1699, after old Joseph Chuse married Sarah Mahwee (Mahweeyeuh). Sarah told Ezra Stiles of
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
that she was born at East Haven and Dr. Blair Rudes confirmed that she was indeed Quinnipiac. Joseph was a Paugusset and they were a sub-sachemship of the Long Water People, as noted by James Hammond Trumbull. The last families who had been at Turkey Hill/Naugatuck moved to
Kent, Connecticut, where the Schaghticoke emerged. Today they have split into the
Schaghticoke Nation and the Schaghticoke Tribe.
Other groups of refugees migrated to Brotherton at
Oneida, New York
Oneida (, one, kanaˀalóhaleˀ) is a city in Madison County located west of Oneida Castle (in Oneida County) and east of Wampsville, New York, United States. The population was 11,390 at the 2010 census. The city, like both Oneida County an ...
, then to the
White River and
Muncie, Indiana; some to
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and
Stockbridge, Wisconsin; some to Odenak (St. Francis) and
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada.
Others who migrated went to
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, eastern
New York, and northern
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, at the Ramapo Mountain refugium (see
Ramapough Mountain Indians
The Ramapough Lenape Nation is a state-recognized tribe in New Jersey. They were previously named the Ramapough Mountain Indians (also spelled Ramapo), also known as the Ramapough Lenape Nation or Ramapough Lunaape Munsee Delaware Nation.
They ...
), by moving from rock shelter to rock shelter, in order to survive. From the 1850s to 1900, the Quinnipiac began to return to the Long Water Land.
War and peace
The Quinnipiac/Quiripi were known as "grandfathers" in the Dawnland Confederacy, with their
Lenape cousins. Although they were a people of peace and commerce, when forced into war, they were fierce warriors and outstanding soldiers. Eastern Connecticut, originally inhabited by the Quinnipiac Nation's sub-sachemships of the Eastern Nehantic, Podunk, and Wangunk, as well as the Narragansett, suffered more losses than western Connecticut, and so in 1506, after 80% population losses due to epidemics, the
Pequot
The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or t ...
oog moved into the area from the upper
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Henry Hudson, English explorer
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...
region and pushed the survivors of the Narragansett into what is now
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
, and the Nehantic wedged in close to the
Connecticut River (
Old Lyme
Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The main street of the town, Lyme Street, is a historic district with several homes once owned by sea captains. Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located in Old Lyme and the ...
). A rogue sachem, named Uncus, angry for having been passed over to lead the Pequotoog, took his followers and struck out on his own, founding the
Mohegan
The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the east ...
Band. Uncus and his warriors joined with Nepaupuck (a Quinnipiac War Captain) and entered into several treaties with the English. In the "Direful Swamp Fight," 150 Quinnipiac and Mohegan warriors joined with 350 English troops and, in December 1675, they defeated the powerful Pequotoog. Quinnipiac warriors served in many wars and battles as soldiers and sailors and as subsequent refugees, who migrated to Stockbridge, merged into an alliance to help the
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...
defeat the English in the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
because of the betrayal by English allies in land dealings. The Sons of Liberty changed their name to the Sons of King Tammany (a Munsee Grand Sachem whose title,
Tamanend
Tamanend (historically also known as Taminent, Tammany, Saint Tammany or King Tammany, "the Affable," ) (–) was the Chief of Chiefs and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley signing the Peace Treaty wit ...
, means "The Affable One"). The original
thirteen colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...
adopted the socio-political structure of the Quinnipiac Wampano Confederacy, with each state having its own totem and calling their leader a sachem.
Quinnipiac culture
The Long Water Land people lived in their fishing camps along the shores during the spring (''Sequan'') and summer (''Nepun''). Their
horticultural
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
patterns produced
corn,
beans
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes thr ...
,
squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
,
pumpkins
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...
, fruits, nuts, berries, all in a plantation-style setting. They used a
slash-and-burn
Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...
technique to replenish the soil and
rotated their plantation sites regularly. They used
horseshoe crabs
Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to arac ...
and ''menhadden'' (
alewives
The alewife (''Alosa pseudoharengus'') is an anadromous species of herring found in North America. It is one of the "typical" North American shads, attributed to the subgenus ''Pomolobus'' of the genus ''Alosa''. As an adult it is a marine spe ...
) as a natural
fertilizer
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
. They caught
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
- and scalefish and dried them in the sun or on racks over a fire. The Quinnipiac were avid falconers, using
hawks to keep
crows
The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) is a series of remote weapon stations used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle. ...
away from the corn. The bean and squash plants were planted in the valleys between rows of corn, so that the beans would curl around the corn stalks and weeding was unnecessary. Many other plants considered weeds today were used by the Long Water people for food, beverages, medicine, and for making mats.
In the fall (''Taquonck'') the Long Water people moved inland along their trails to the winter (''Pabouks'') grounds, and, along the way they hunted
fowl
Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl (Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; together ...
,
rabbits,
beaver, and other small game, until they came to Meriden "the Pleasant Valley," where
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s provided shelter against high winds and the
acorns were main staples for
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
and
wild turkey
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey, which was originally d ...
, another winter staple.
During the Colonial period, Quinnipiac men hired out as laborers, fishermen, and guides (the English often got lost), and Quinnipiac women sold their crafts.
The Quinnipiac and other Algonquians lived in dwellings known as
wigwams
A wigwam, wickiup, wetu (Wampanoag), or wiigiwaam (Ojibwe, in syllabics: ) is a semi-permanent domed dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes and First Nations people and still used for ceremonial events. The term ''wickiup'' ...
(elliptical houses with sapling frames covered with bark, mats, skins, or sod) and ''quinnekommuk'' (
longhouse
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from timber and often rep ...
s that were rectangular and two or three times as long as their width, covered with similar coverings). Quiripi/Quinnipiac longhouses averaged thirty to one hundred feet long, by twenty feet wide, and about fifteen feet high. The bigger dwellings were sachems' houses, which often had five or six fire pits in one dwelling (because they often had their
extended family
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household. Particular forms include the stem ...
living with them). Religious Society (Wampano or "Men of the Dawn," Powwauwoag,
Medarennawawg, and others) had the biggest longhouses for ceremonial purposes.The algongin use shells as money.
The Long Water Land people were well known for their
elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
bark canoes (light and fast for easy portage), and to
dugout canoe
A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' ( ...
s, used for trade and war.
They reckoned the passing of time by a
lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...
and an eight-part ceremonial cycle, using various lithic and earth features as observatories to determine the phases of the sun, moon, and stars for planting, harvest, and ceremonies.
Individuals of importance in Quinnipiac history
Momauguin, Quinnipiac Grand Sachem in 1638, signed the First Treaty with the English planters at Quinnipiac (New Haven), "along with others of his council," granting the English the use of Quinnipiac land at New Haven, the Central Council Fire of the Sachemdom, while retaining full rights to the "reservation" as well as full rights to fish and hunt all property.
Mantowese, sachem of Mattabesec (Middletown), to the north of New Haven, signed the Second Treaty with the English, granting them use of land in his sub-sachemship. Mantowese, the son of Sowheag, served on Momauguin's Grand Council and was the nephew of Sequin.
Shampishuh, sister to Momauguin, was the female sachem (sunksquaw) of the Menunkatuck (Guilford) Sub-sachemship, who signed the Third Treaty with the English, granting them the use of land near Madison and Guilford, but reserving land east of Kuttawoo River for her people. Shampishuh was the sister of Momauguin and niece of Quosoquonch, the sachem of nearby Totoket (Branford). Shampishuh' son, Naushop, signed the ratification of her treaty with the English.
Quosoquonch, the sachem of the Totoket Sub-sachemship and uncle of Shampishuh, worked with Shaumpishuh in 1639 to draw up a map (for Rev. Henry Whitfield and John Higginson) of the Quinnipiac sachemdoms from the Quinnipiac River in the west to beyond Hammonasset in the east, which included landmarks.
Sarah Mahwee (Mahweeyeuh), was born in East Haven (Mioonkhtuk Sub-sachemship). In 1699 she married Joseph Chuse (Paugusset Sub-sachemship) and together they began the Schaghticoke enclave.
Elizabeth Sakaskantawe Brown was born around 1850 and lived to be well over 100 years old, living on about near Branford, Connecticut. Sakaskantawe (Flying Squirrel) was the last matriarch of the Totoket Band and was a descendant of James Mah-wee-yeuh, a Sachem of the Mioonkhtuk Band (East Haven), who died near Cheshire in 1745.
[Ruth Mahweeyeuh Thunderhorse, ''Following the Footprints of a Stone Giant'', InfinityPublishing.com, 2007, p. 17.]
Language, religion, and folklore
The
Quinnipiac
Quinnipiac is the English name for the Eansketambawg (meaning "original people"; ''cf.'' Ojibwe: '' Anishinaabeg'' and Blackfoot: ''Niitsítapi''), a Quiripi-speaking Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the ''Wamp ...
Language is the PEA-A R-Dialect, known today as WAMPANO-QUIRIPEY. It was originally spoken throughout the Dawnland around 1500 to 1600 AD. After contact with the Europeans, which caused the epidemics and resulted in a shift of regional dialects, the language was spoken in western Connecticut, eastern New York, half of Long Island, and northern New Jersey. From 1770 to the 20th century, the dialect became a pidginized hybridization of the n, l, y, and r dialects, until ACLI began reviving the original dialect. Today QTC (Quinnipiac Tribal Council) Press (ACLI series) has a 295-page ''Complete Language Guide'' and has been training people to speak, write, and understand the archaic r-dialect.
The Quinnipiac people practiced a number of traditional religious ceremonies, hosted by seven medicine societies. Chapter 12 of the ''Complete Language Guide'' preserves these teachings according to linguistic and cultural traditions, while Chapter 13 preserves the ancient graphical writing systems of the Eastern Algonquians, used by the sachems and shamans. As noted by contemporary scholars, the Quinnipiac/Algonquians remained the strongest group to resist the
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
ethnic cleansing. Rev. Pierson was taught by Rev. John Eliot, who founded Puritan Praying Towns, where any Quinnipiac who "converted" had to renounce everything "Indian", including religion, language, dress, ceremonies, homes, businesses, freedom, and families, and live like Europeans in square houses, but with stringent rules of conduct not imposed on Europeans. Many converted just to stay alive; some pretended to convert in order to remain in their homeland and/or to avoid being sold into
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
; others converted but relocated at missionary refugee camps that boasted better treatment; still others migrated to refugiums on land of other Algonquian or Iroquoian peoples.
Contrary to popular assumptions, those who did relocate were not absorbed into the receiving tribe. They were made part of Dawnland Grand Council Fire Circles, which is their traditional mode of socio-political existence. This is known as socio-political preservation and is how many of the Algonquian groups obtained state recognition in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, after they had been rendered "extinct" with the stroke of a pen in the legislatures of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York.
Basically, Quinnipiac/Algonquian Shamans, called ''powawaus'', prayed and made offerings of
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
, etc., to the spirits (''
mandooak'') of game animals to ensure successful hunts. The warrior-shamans called ''Pinessi'' (plural is ''Pinessisok'') were dedicated to the Thunderer who bestowed supernatural powers on them. Offerings were also made to the ''mandooak'' of the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, oceans, the Little People, and the Stone Giants, Hobbomock and Maushop. Women tended all crops except tobacco and herbals, which were planted by shamans only. The Algonquians used over twenty herbals in smoking their ceremonial pipes.
The Quinnipiac Stone Giant Twins (Hobbomock and Maushop), as the primary culture heroes, acted as the epitomes of good and bad, right and wrong, honorable deeds and mischievous behavior. The Puritans refused to acknowledge any of this. Religious conversion and cultural ethnocide operated to redefine many Quinnipiac ancient traditions and language definitions. For example, the Puritan families refused to honor Quinnipiac teachings. Hobbomock was, to the Quinnipiac, a benevolent spirit who taught the people how to hunt, fish, and survive the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
, earthquakes, famines, etc., and he was the one prayed to when assistance was needed. The Puritans knew this, yet they forced the Long Water people to teach the children that Hobbomock was a "
Bogeyman
The Bogeyman (; also spelled boogeyman, bogyman, bogieman, boogie monster, boogieman, or boogie woogie) is a type of mythic creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearance and conceptions var ...
." The Puritans redefined Hobbomock, Maushop, and other Quinnipiac spirit helpers as "devils." Today some believe that the Quinnipiac have vanished from the earth. As the motto of the New England Algonquian Alliance proudly proclaimed after the passage of the
American Indian Religious Freedom Act
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Public Law No. 95–341, 92 Stat. 469 (Aug. 11, 1978) (commonly abbreviated to AIRFA), codified at , is a United States federal law, enacted by joint resolution of the Congress in 1978. Prior to the ac ...
in 1978, "WE ARE STILL HERE"; so today do the Quinnipiac.
Quinnipiac legacy in greater New Haven and Connecticut
Population and whereabouts today
The
Algonquian Confederacy of the Quinnipiac Tribal Council
The Algonquian Confederacy of the Quinnipiac Tribal Council (ACQTC) is an alliance dedicated to the history and culture of the Quinnipiac, the aboriginal peoples of the North American region now known as Connecticut. ACQTC, Inc. incorporated under ...
(ACQTC), the primary representative of the Quinnipiac people and heritage, has three forms of membership: full, confederate, and honorary.
Full membership includes those whose lineages trace back to the family names of Manweeyeuh, Mahwee, Cockenoe, Nonsuch, Soebuck, Redhead, Sock, Brown, Adams, Griswold, Parmalee, Curley, Skeesucks, LaFrance, Quinney, Ninham, Dean, Thompson/Tompson, Peters, Montour, Marchand, Klingerschmidt, Moses, Cornelius, Higheum, Waubeno, Douglas, Scott, Anthony, Butler, Burnham, Rouleau, and Hazel and these total about 50 to 100 families.
Confederate membership includes refugee families who trace their ancestry to the refugiums and enclaves cited above at NY, MA, PA, RI, IN, OH, WI, KS, TX, and Quebec (Canada)—which total about 100 families.
Honorary membership are adoptees who "enter into the sacred BOND OF THE COVENANT with the ACQTC Central Council Fire and ACQTC Grand Council Fire Confederacy to honor, protect, and revitalize our language, religion, and traditions, and to honor our traditional obligations as Gechanniwitank (aboriginal land-stewards), under our 'aboriginal title to land' rights, where Quinnipiac ancestors worshipped the creator and creation at certain landmarks within our ancestral sachemdom." These include about 25 to 50 families.
References
Bibliography
Digital and online
ACQTC online''We the People Called Quinnipiac'', QTC Press e-media e-book on CD-ROM (available through ACQTC)"Setting the Record Straight: A Linguistic-Ethnographic Study of the True Identity of the Quinnipiac/Quiripi/Renapi Nation Structure" by Iron Thunderhorse
Quinnipiac University — History and Mission Statement
Quinnipiac Dawnland Museum, Archives and LibraryBenjamin BRETON (2008) The Quinnipiac: New Haven's First Inhabitants. Communication on Contemporary Anthropology 2:e12.
In print
* ''The Complete Language Guide for Learning, Speaking, and Writing the PEA-A WAMPANO-QUIRIPI R-DIALECT'', 2007 revised ed, QTC Press/ACLI Series, ACQTC, Inc. 201 Church Street, Milltown, IN 47145.
* "The Quinnipiac of New England" by
Iron Thunderhorse
Iron Thunderhorse is an author and prisoner in Texas.
He has described himself as the CEO and Legal Sovereign of ACQTC, Inc., an unrecognized tribe, and Hereditary Grand Sachem and Powwamanitomp (Shaman) of the Quinnipiac Thunder Clan.
Ancestr ...
in ''Whispering Wind'', Vol. 32, No. 5, 2002.
* ''Cultural Conflict in Southern New England: A History of the Quinnipiac Indians'' by John Menta, Yale Press, New Haven. CT.
* ''Some Helps for the Indians 1658 Bilingual Catechism'', by Rev.
Abraham Pierson
Abraham Pierson (1646 – March 5, 1707) was an American Congregational minister who served as the first rector, from 1701 to 1707, and one of the founders of the Collegiate School — which later became Yale University.
Biography
He wa ...
, reprinted in "Language and Lore of the Long Island Indians" ''Readings in Long Island Archaeology and Ethnohistory'', Vol. IV, 1980. Stony Brook, NY, Suffolk County Archaeological Association.
* "East Rock (Wappintumpseck): A Sacred Landmark In the Traditions of the Quinnipiac and Its Relationship to the Algonquian Ethos" by
Iron Thunderhorse
Iron Thunderhorse is an author and prisoner in Texas.
He has described himself as the CEO and Legal Sovereign of ACQTC, Inc., an unrecognized tribe, and Hereditary Grand Sachem and Powwamanitomp (Shaman) of the Quinnipiac Thunder Clan.
Ancestr ...
, 1996. Paper submitted to Connecticut Historical Commission and University of Connecticut at Storrs, CT.
* "The Strange Case of Nepaupuck: Warrior or War Criminal?" in ''Journal of the New Haven Colony Historical Society'', Vol. 33 (2) 12–17, 1987, by John Menta.
* "The Quinnipiac Reservation: Land and Tribal Identity," by Richard Carlson in ''Rooted Like the Ash Trees'', Naugatuck, CT: Eagle Wing Press, 1987–1988.
* "Shaumpishuh, 'Squaw Sachem' of the Quinnipiac Indians," by John Menta in ''Artifacts'', 1988, Vol. 16, No. 3-4, pp. 32–37.
* "Resurrecting Wampano (Quiripi) from the Dead: Phonological Preliminaries" by Blair A. Rudes, in ''Anthropological Linguistics'', Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 1997.
* "Indian Names of Places, etc. In and on the Borders of Connecticut with Interpretations of Some of Them," by
James Hammond Trumbull
James Hammond Trumbull (December 20, 1821 – August 5, 1897) was an American historian, philologist, bibliographer, and politician. A scholar of American Indian languages, he served as the first Connecticut State Librarian in 1854 and as Secr ...
, 1881 (reprinted 1974 by Archon Books).
* "The intricate nature of sachemdoms" by
Iron Thunderhorse
Iron Thunderhorse is an author and prisoner in Texas.
He has described himself as the CEO and Legal Sovereign of ACQTC, Inc., an unrecognized tribe, and Hereditary Grand Sachem and Powwamanitomp (Shaman) of the Quinnipiac Thunder Clan.
Ancestr ...
in ''Branford Review'', 9-7-02.
* ''Itineraries and Memoirs of Ezra Stiles, 1760-1762''. Beineke Rare Books Library, New Haven, CT.
* ''Visible Saints: West Haven, Connecticut, 1648 - 1798,'' by Peter J. Malia, (Cheshire, CT: The Connecticut Press, 2009).
Further reading
* ''Native People of Southern New England, 1500-1650'', by Kathleen J. Bragdon, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.
* ''Algonquians of the East'', Time-Life Books, 1995.
* ''The New England Indians'', 2nd ed. An Illustrated SourceBook of Authentic Details of Everyday Indian Life by C. Keith Wilbur, Globe-Pequot Press.
* ''Wampano: Algonquian Dawnlanders of Southwestern New England, 1500-2000'', by Iron Thunderhorse. Birdstone Publishers, Institute for American Indian Studies (reprint by QTC Press Archives series, ACQTC, Inc. 201 Church Street, Milltown, IN 47145)
* ''Quinnipiac Lunar and Ceremonial Calendar'', 2003–2004, by Iron and Ruth Thunderhorse, QTC Press, 2003, ACQTC, Inc., 201 Church Street, Milltown, IN 47145.
External link
{{authority control
Wappinger
Native American history of Connecticut
Native American tribes in Connecticut
Algonquian ethnonyms
Algonquian peoples
Unrecognized tribes in the United States