Ralph Weston Sturges (December 25, 1918 – October 1, 2007) was an American

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 ...

tribal chief who helped gain

federal recognition This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

for the Mohegan people 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 capita ...

in 1994. He also helped to found and build Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Casino. He held the title of "chief for life." The Mohegan tribe, which is based in

Montville, Connecticut Montville is a town in New London County, Connecticut in the United States. The population was 18,387 at the 2020 census. The villages of Chesterfield, Mohegan, Oakdale, and Uncasville are located within the town; the latter two have their own ...

, is currently made up of approximately 1,700 people. The Mohegan's reservation is located in eastern Connecticut along the

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near the town of

Uncasville Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the ...

. The Mohegans are one of the wealthiest tribes in the

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, thanks to income from

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s and other facilities, whose construction was spearheaded by Sturges.

Personal life

Sturges was born December 25, 1918, in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...

. He traced his Mohegan ancestry to his maternal great-grandmother, Emma Baker, a Mohegan

medicine woman A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...

and early 1900s Native American activist who campaigned for the state to settle Mohegan land grievances. He served in the U.S. military in an

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be des ...

division in

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and the

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. He was awarded a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

for his service in the war. Sturges worked in a number of professions before becoming active in Mohegan tribal affairs late in life. He worked as a disaster relief coordinator for the Salvation Army and a payroll deliveryman for an armored car company, among other jobs. He was a skilled and active marble sculptor. His works were placed on display at the

Connecticut State Capitol The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the Ho ...

and other public buildings.

Connecticut Governor The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Connecticu ...

M. Jodi Rell issued a statement following Sturges' death in 2007 saying, "He will be forever remembered for his contributions not only as a wise leader ... but as a skilled sculptor."

References

External links

The Hartford Courant: Mohegan Chief Dies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturges, Ralph W. 1918 births 2007 deaths Native American leaders Native American activists United States Army personnel of World War II Native American United States military personnel Native American sculptors Sculptors from Connecticut People from New London, Connecticut 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors Native American male artists