Chief Wyandanch
Encyclopedia
Wyandanch was a sachem
of the Montaukett
Indians in the mid 17th century on eastern Long Island. Initially he was a minor chief among the Montaukett, but due to his skillful manipulation of various alliances and his accommodating stance towards the European colonists who gave him substantial military and economic support, he eventually became an influential "alliance chief" (a sachem who was responsible for maintaining friendly relations between his tribe and the settlers).
Wyandanch (sometimes spelled as Wyandance) was born on Long Island
roughly at the time of the pilgrims' arrival at Plymouth
in present-day Massachusetts. While still young, in the second half of the 1630s Wyandanch heard about the almost total destruction of the Pequot
in the Pequot War
. He concluded that it was best to come to an understanding with the English
colonists in southern New England
and on Long Island.
sachem Uncas
and the Niantic
sachem Ninigret
. Acting with the support of the colonists, Wyandanch was able to resist the Native American pressures. He kept his tribe in relation to the colonists.
Wyandanch was credited by Lion Gardiner
with being the sachem who prevented a rebellion by Miantonomoh
(sometimes spelled as Miantonomi) of the Narragansetts
. Miantonomoh supported the English during the Pequot War and in 1638 a tripartite treaty of peace and friendship was signed between the English, the Narragansetts and the Mohegans. However, upset by further expansion of English colonies and the founding of new settlements, in 1640 Miantomoh approached Wyandanch with an offer of an anti-English alliance and a surprise attack on the newly build colonial villages. Wyandanch however, reminded Miantomoh about the fate of the Pequots and of the Mystic river massacre
and in that way managed to dissuade him from attacking the English for the time being. In 1643 the Narragansetts went to war against the Mohegans, were defeated, and Miantomoh was captured by Uncas and executed with the approval of the British. Because Miantomoh had been trying to agitate other Montaukett chiefs against Wyandanch - to get their support against the Mohegans, which Wyandanch refused - his defeat and death strengthened Wyandanch's position within his own tribe.
to the English; a number of other sachems' signatures appear before his on the document, indicating their relative importance.
In 1649 and 1650 however, Wyandanch skillfully used his position as an "alliance chief" to increase his own prestige. He defused a tense stand off between the Shinnecock
tribe and the colonists, over the killing of an English woman (which was itself done in retaliation for the murder of a Shinnecock Indian earlier). As a result he acquired the right to manage and sell Shinnecock land as his own, although he was also made responsible for preventing Shinnecock attacks on the colonists and other tribes.
. After getting a tacit promise from the English (according to Roger Williams
) that they would not intervene in a Niantic-Montaukett war, Ninigret attacked a Montaukett settlement, killed thirty men and carried off fourteen prisoners, among whom were two of the tribes sachems and Wyandanch's own daughter. Soon, however, a peace settlement was reached and the captives released, though the exact terms of the agreement are uncertain. According to Ninigret, Wyandanch swore allegiance to him, agreed to pay tribute and allowed the Niantic chief to sell his land. Wyandanch however claimed that he had simply paid ransom for the captives, through the intermediation of Lion Gardiner. Additionally, Roger Williams gave the credit for the peace to English in their role as mediators.
Wyandanch broke the agreement in 1654, perhaps in a calculated move to demonstrate his independence, by launching a surprise attack against the Niantics. At the same time, Wyandanch brokered an agreement between members of his tribe and the English settlers on Long Island in relation to cattle grazing rights. As a result, by 1655, he received substantial military support from the colonists in his war against Ninigret. This included an English sloop
which patrolled Long Island Sound
and sank any Niantic canoes that were trying to make their way across.
Ninigret in turn attempted to use colonial institutions to get back at Wyandanch and accused the Montaukett sachem before the English. The three charges were that Wyandanch had broken the peace treaty, that he had personally murdered an Englishman named Drake, and that he had been practicing witchcraft in an attempt to kill the Mohegan chief Uncas (Uncas made a similar charge at about the same time). Wyandanch was exonerated on all three charges because Ninigret's witnesses failed to show up on time, and because the English colonists of Long Island testified on Wyandanch's behalf in the Plymouth court. The trial however did demonstrate the greater use and reliance of the Native American tribes in the area on colonial institutions.
In late 1658 Wyandanch let an Englishman, Jeremy Daily, use his canoe
(which may have been up to 40 feet (12.2 m) long) to transport goods across Long Island sound, in exchange for Daily carrying out some repairs on it prior to the shipment. After arriving on Gardiners Island
, Daily failed to properly care for the boat and in subsequent bad weather it became damaged. As a result Wyandanch sued Daily in colonial court, in what was one of the earliest trials with an English defendant and a Native American plaintiff in the history of the English colonies in North America. Wyandanch won his case and Daily had to pay him ten shillings for damages and additional fines for court fees.
In 1659, he deeded a portion of his land to Lion Gardiner which later became the town of Smithtown
and also appointed Gardiner the guardian of his young son, Wyancombone until he reached maturity. Gardiner later claimed that Wyandanch was poisoned but he did not state why or by whom.
Wyandanch's wife and son died soon after him, in the plague that struck the Algonquian
tribes in southern New England during this time. After his death the office of "chief sachem" and "alliance chief" went into decline and was completely eliminated by the English after they managed to conquer New Netherland
.
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
of the Montaukett
Montaukett
The Montaukett is an Algonquian-speaking Native American group native to the eastern end of Long Island, New York and one of the thirteen historical indigenous centers...
Indians in the mid 17th century on eastern Long Island. Initially he was a minor chief among the Montaukett, but due to his skillful manipulation of various alliances and his accommodating stance towards the European colonists who gave him substantial military and economic support, he eventually became an influential "alliance chief" (a sachem who was responsible for maintaining friendly relations between his tribe and the settlers).
Early life
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
roughly at the time of the pilgrims' arrival at Plymouth
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
in present-day Massachusetts. While still young, in the second half of the 1630s Wyandanch heard about the almost total destruction of the Pequot
Pequot
Pequot people are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England...
in the Pequot War
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
. He concluded that it was best to come to an understanding with the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
colonists in southern New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and on Long Island.
Three-way power struggle
Throughout most of the mid-17th century, Wyandanch was involved in a three-way political, and occasionally military, struggle against the famous MoheganMohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
sachem Uncas
Uncas
Uncas was a sachem of the Mohegan who through his alliance with the English colonists in New England against other Indian tribes made the Mohegan the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut.-Early life and family:...
and the Niantic
Niantic (tribe)
The Niantic, or in their own language, the Nehântick or Nehantucket were a tribe of New England Native Americans, who were living in Connecticut and Rhode Island during the early colonial period. Due to intrusions of the Pequot, the Niantic were divided into an eastern and western division...
sachem Ninigret
Ninigret
thumb|Ninigret in 1681, painting currently at the [[Rhode Island School of Design Museum]]Ninigret was a seventeenth century sachem of the eastern Niantic Native American tribe in New England. Ninigret allied with the English settlers and Narragansetts against the Pequots...
. Acting with the support of the colonists, Wyandanch was able to resist the Native American pressures. He kept his tribe in relation to the colonists.
Miantonomoh's plan and war
Lion Gardiner
Lion Gardiner , an early English settler and soldier in the New World, founded the first English settlement in what became the state of New York on Long Island. His legacy includes Gardiners Island, which is held by his descendants.-Early life:...
with being the sachem who prevented a rebellion by Miantonomoh
Miantonomoh
Miantonomoh , also spelled Miantonomo, Miantonomah or Miantonomi, was a chief of the Narragansett tribe of New England Indians, nephew of their grand sachem, Canonicus...
(sometimes spelled as Miantonomi) of the Narragansetts
Narragansett (tribe)
The Narragansett tribe are an Algonquian Native American tribe from Rhode Island. In 1983 they regained federal recognition as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island. In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against their request that the Department of Interior take land into trust...
. Miantonomoh supported the English during the Pequot War and in 1638 a tripartite treaty of peace and friendship was signed between the English, the Narragansetts and the Mohegans. However, upset by further expansion of English colonies and the founding of new settlements, in 1640 Miantomoh approached Wyandanch with an offer of an anti-English alliance and a surprise attack on the newly build colonial villages. Wyandanch however, reminded Miantomoh about the fate of the Pequots and of the Mystic river massacre
Mystic Massacre
The Mystic massacre took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War, when English settlers under Captain John Mason, and Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River...
and in that way managed to dissuade him from attacking the English for the time being. In 1643 the Narragansetts went to war against the Mohegans, were defeated, and Miantomoh was captured by Uncas and executed with the approval of the British. Because Miantomoh had been trying to agitate other Montaukett chiefs against Wyandanch - to get their support against the Mohegans, which Wyandanch refused - his defeat and death strengthened Wyandanch's position within his own tribe.
Increasing influence
In 1644 Wyandanch was still most likely a minor chief among the Montauketts, as evidenced by an agreement from that year in which the tribe sold 31000 acres (125.5 km²) of land near SouthamptonSouthampton (town), New York
The Town of Southampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, U.S., partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town had a total population of 54,712...
to the English; a number of other sachems' signatures appear before his on the document, indicating their relative importance.
In 1649 and 1650 however, Wyandanch skillfully used his position as an "alliance chief" to increase his own prestige. He defused a tense stand off between the Shinnecock
Shinnecock Indian Nation
The Shinnecock Indian Nation is a federally recognized tribe, headquartered in Suffolk County, New York, on the south shore of Long Island. Shinnecock are an Algonquian people from Long Island...
tribe and the colonists, over the killing of an English woman (which was itself done in retaliation for the murder of a Shinnecock Indian earlier). As a result he acquired the right to manage and sell Shinnecock land as his own, although he was also made responsible for preventing Shinnecock attacks on the colonists and other tribes.
Dispute with Ninigret
Soon after the sachem of the Niantics, Ninigret, tried to assassinate the chief of the Shinnecocks, Mandush, for his having made an alliance with Wyandanch. However, the would be assassin was captured before he could carry out his orders and was executed by Wyandanch and Mandush, who then burned his body as an insult to the Niantic leader. Ninigret attempted to get revenge starting in 1652, after the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch WarFirst Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
. After getting a tacit promise from the English (according to Roger Williams
Roger Williams (theologian)
Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...
) that they would not intervene in a Niantic-Montaukett war, Ninigret attacked a Montaukett settlement, killed thirty men and carried off fourteen prisoners, among whom were two of the tribes sachems and Wyandanch's own daughter. Soon, however, a peace settlement was reached and the captives released, though the exact terms of the agreement are uncertain. According to Ninigret, Wyandanch swore allegiance to him, agreed to pay tribute and allowed the Niantic chief to sell his land. Wyandanch however claimed that he had simply paid ransom for the captives, through the intermediation of Lion Gardiner. Additionally, Roger Williams gave the credit for the peace to English in their role as mediators.
Wyandanch broke the agreement in 1654, perhaps in a calculated move to demonstrate his independence, by launching a surprise attack against the Niantics. At the same time, Wyandanch brokered an agreement between members of his tribe and the English settlers on Long Island in relation to cattle grazing rights. As a result, by 1655, he received substantial military support from the colonists in his war against Ninigret. This included an English sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
which patrolled Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
and sank any Niantic canoes that were trying to make their way across.
Ninigret in turn attempted to use colonial institutions to get back at Wyandanch and accused the Montaukett sachem before the English. The three charges were that Wyandanch had broken the peace treaty, that he had personally murdered an Englishman named Drake, and that he had been practicing witchcraft in an attempt to kill the Mohegan chief Uncas (Uncas made a similar charge at about the same time). Wyandanch was exonerated on all three charges because Ninigret's witnesses failed to show up on time, and because the English colonists of Long Island testified on Wyandanch's behalf in the Plymouth court. The trial however did demonstrate the greater use and reliance of the Native American tribes in the area on colonial institutions.
Later life
In the second half of the 1650s, Wyandanch had acquired enough power and influence to be considered the main "alliance chief" on Long Island by the colonists. He acted as an intermediary between the English and the Native Americans; he defused a tense situation between the colonists and some Shinnecocks who had been accused of arson. After the Shinnecocks were ordered to pay an outrageous fine for restitution Wyandanch filed an appeal on their behalf which resulted in the fine being somewhat reduced. His other activities involved certifying land sales, making such sales himself and resolving disputes over deeds and payments. Eventually, the English accepted that any such transfer of land had to first be approved by Wyandanch.In late 1658 Wyandanch let an Englishman, Jeremy Daily, use his canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
(which may have been up to 40 feet (12.2 m) long) to transport goods across Long Island sound, in exchange for Daily carrying out some repairs on it prior to the shipment. After arriving on Gardiners Island
Gardiners Island
Gardiners Island is a small island in the town of East Hampton, New York, in eastern Suffolk County; it is located in Gardiners Bay between the two peninsulas at the eastern end of Long Island. It is long, wide and has of coastline...
, Daily failed to properly care for the boat and in subsequent bad weather it became damaged. As a result Wyandanch sued Daily in colonial court, in what was one of the earliest trials with an English defendant and a Native American plaintiff in the history of the English colonies in North America. Wyandanch won his case and Daily had to pay him ten shillings for damages and additional fines for court fees.
Death
Smithtown, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 115,715 people, 38,487 households, and 31,482 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,159.9 people per square mile . There were 39,357 housing units at an average density of 734.6 per square mile...
and also appointed Gardiner the guardian of his young son, Wyancombone until he reached maturity. Gardiner later claimed that Wyandanch was poisoned but he did not state why or by whom.
Wyandanch's wife and son died soon after him, in the plague that struck the Algonquian
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
tribes in southern New England during this time. After his death the office of "chief sachem" and "alliance chief" went into decline and was completely eliminated by the English after they managed to conquer New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
.
Works cited
- John A. Strong "Wyandanch: Sachem of the Montauks", in Robert Grumet ed., "Northeastern Indian Lives", University of Massachusetts Press, 1996, books.google.com
- Edith Hay Wyckoff, "The fabled past: tales of Long Island", Kennikat Press/University of Virginia, 1978.
- Jacqueline Overton, "Indian life on Long Island: family, work, play, legends, heroes", Volume 23 of Empire State historical publications series, I. J. Friedman, 1963.