The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut
Why was the Mohegan tribe forced to undergo injustices by their English allies who they backed during the war? No matter who the rivals were, the Mohegan always faithfully defended the English colonists. The Mohegan were willing to do whatever was needed to ensure that the English would maintain a colony, assuming only that their partnership during the war would become greater during peace time; however, this partnership did not continue because the growing population of English colonists had no need for "primitive" allies. Once the need for the Mohegan's war efforts diminished, the conditions on the Mohegan lands deteriorated. The English deceived the Mohegan during several wars in New England, seeking only to gain control over additional land. It took one-hundred and fifty years before the English stepped in to help.
Around 18,000 B.C., the first humans walked onto North America (Martin et. al. 15) and the people who would become the Narragansett Indians eventually colonized the New England area. The Pequot Indians, who were once a part of the Narragansett, lived near the top of the Thames River in Connecticut, forming strong roots along the river edge. However, in 1630, there was an argument between Sassarus, the Pequot leader, and his brother-in-law, Uncas. Uncas argued that he had greater ancestral descent and should have been given the throne after his father, Wopigwooit's death. This conflict, along with a smaller disagreement over trade, eventually caused Uncas to leave the Pequot nation and take the pro-English trade part of the nation with him (leaving the pro-Dutch trade behind). This new tribe called themselves the Mohegans, meaning "Wolf," and could possibly also have the meaning "People of the waters which are never still." Beginning as a large group in the northeast they are estimated to have begun with as much as two percent of the population in the New England area, until Smallpox became an epidemic within the Mohegan tribe in 1634, causing their numbers to drop thirty percent. Smallpox, Influenza, Diphtheria, and Measles had all refined themselves for thousands of years in Europe and faced no immunity among the disease-vulnerable Native Americans.
As Sultzman describes, in 1637 the nearby and nearly related Niantic tribe killed a colonist for trading natives as slaves. The death of this Englishman motivated Massachusetts troops to march into Connecticut and burn a Niantic village. The troops then burned a nearby Pequot village before returning north. When war was declared, the Pequot requested the help of the Mohegan and the tribes of the area, but the English had already guaranteed a part of the soon-to-be-conquered land to their allies. The Narragansett allowed all of the English led troops to pass through their hunting grounds and were able to raid the Pequot village without meeting a single warrior (Sultzman). Before the English and Mohegan could track the remaining Pequot warriors, the General Court at Hartford had the head of Sassacus, surprisingly, delivered by a Mohawk Indian.
After the Pequot War, it became known that the English were interested only in gaining land; conquered land was taken property by the English along with part of the Narragansett land as well. Due to their loss of land, the leader of the Narragansett, Miantonomi, tried to bring together Native Nations to fight against the English. Proving their loyalty to the English, the Mohegan chief informed the colonists of the plot and killed Miantonami. Soon after, the Narragansett attacked the Mohegan, and were fined by four neighboring colonies. Their payment of cash was rejected and land was demanded instead (Gale Encyclopedia 174). At the time, it was thought that the English were backing the Mohegan, but looking back, the English used their allies' situation as an opportunity to take even more land.
In 1675, about fifty Mohegan served as backup to the English when fighting against King Philip and his tribe, the Wampanoag (Peirce 21). Eventually a Mohegan warrior killed Philip, and was given parts of the slaughtered body as his prize (Mather 61), but his tribe was not rewarded for their dependability after the war, nor was the individual ever credited by name. Once again, the Mohegan's loyal services were used only so that the English could profit. By the turn of the nineteenth century, the family of Uncas had died, and the entire Mohegan population became in doubt of who they were.
Would the English have stepped in to help the Mohegan if there was nothing the colonies could profit from? During the Pequot War, the Narragansett War, and the King Philip War, the Mohegan asked for nothing in return for their services other than space to live; meanwhile, the English were looking only for ways to inhabit lands, caring very little about who were allies during milestones of their revolution. When the English could use the help of the Mohegan, they were treated with respect and equality, but once the use of the Mohegan diminished, they were unheard on their lands, and their condition worsened.
For almost 25 years after Uncas' death, there was no effort to build upon the strength of the remaining Mohegan in Connecticut. Had it not been for the interest of Sarah L. Hunnington and Sarah Breed in the Mohegan condition, the tribe would have surely become forgotten. Not until 1830, was the Sabbath School of Mohegan finally established for Mohegan children. Within fifteen years, the children were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, millinery, needlework, religion, composition, grammar and history. Mohegan children were being taught at the same rate as European children, which proved to many of the English that the natives were not as inferior as believed. Tragically, this small step of helping the next generation did not come one-hundred and fifty years earlier; several depressed generations would have had hope of future recovery.
Until the near present, Connecticut's native population has grown slowly but has been troubled by ongoing expenses. In 1996, building was completed on the Mohegan Sun casino, which stands next to the Thames River. The building owner's ancestors stood on the same location as a tribe only 150 years prior. The success of the casino is ironic since it is all that the natives posses after helping the Pilgrims during the first year in New England. Connecticut's "legendary gaming and entertainment destination" (Mohegan Sun) has greatly increased economic recovery for the Mohegan. It has brought financial success that has enabled the native peoples to live with a self-reliance that has not existed since the death of Wopigwooit.
Believing that they were ensuring their own survival, the Mohegan defended the colonists by killing tribes that were of the same blood at one time. The idea of a tribe killing another for the beliefs of the colonizing population was a concept that could have originated only in Europe. The colonists brought horrid things from Europe, such as disease, distorted and confused religion, and a need to convert new minds to European ways of life. Both disease and the need to take control over the minds of Native American's are much the same; both were brought to a new land that had no immunity to such epidemics.
Perhaps it would have been an ingenious but doomed concept to leave a culturally rich continent alone. A search for a refuge where freedom of religion reigned motivated English Puritans to colonize New England, but the freedom that was brought on English ships did not consider the freedoms already present in the Promised Land. Thousands of years of native traditions have been lost, and for one hundred and fifty years, the Mohegan were unheard. If the chance is ever given again, hopefully, we will have learned from our mistakes and not lose the opportunity to gain from other cultures.
Works Cited
- Mather, Increase. "A Brief History of the War with the Indian in New England." Negotiating Difference: Cultural Case Studies for Composition. Ed. Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1996. 50-66.
- "Narragansett." The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. 1st ed. 1998.
- Paul S. Martin, George I. Quimby, and Donald Collier. Indians before Columbus. The University of Chicago Press, 1967.
- Peirce, Ebenezer W. Indian History, Biography And Genealogy. North Abington, Mass: Zerviah Gould Mitchell, 1878.
- Sultzman, Lee. Mohegan History. 14 July 1997. Dill, Jordan S. 24 February 2000.
- Mohegan Sun. (no author listed) Mohegan Sun Casino. 24 February 2000
