Wappinger Confederation
The Wappinger Confederation was an amalgamation of 20 small Indian tribes in the northeastern United States , who had allied themselves in the Wappinger War (1643–1645) against Nieuw Nederland . These tribes lived east of the lower Hudson River in the early 17th century , in what would later become the state of New Jersey, and in western Long Island .
The war was triggered by retaliation by the Dutch after the Wecquaesgeek had destroyed an 80-strong punitive expedition of the colonists. On February 25, 1643, Dutch troops raided an Indian village at dawn, killing all 120 Wiechquaeskecks and are said to have played football with their heads in Fort Nieuw Amsterdam . The so-called Pavonia massacre went down in history and contemporary sources report that the Dutch governor Willem Kieft praised and honored his soldiers for the action.
The news of the massacre spread like wildfire in New Netherland and southern New England . The Hackensack and Tappan joined the seven Wappinger tribes and raided lonely colonist farms. This broke out the Wappinger War, also known as the Gouverneur Kiefts War . Many of the Dutch colonists fled to Fort Amsterdam and were preparing for a siege. Governor Kieft also made enemies of the Metoac on Long Island when he had corn confiscated from them and three Canar Sea warriors were killed in the process. The war widened and finally twenty tribes united to fight the Dutch:
- New Jersey tribes: Hackensack, Haverstraw, Munsee , Navasink, Raritan, and Tappan
- Tribes east of the Hudson River: Wecquaesgeek, Sintsink, Kitchawank, Nochpeem, Siwanoy, Tankiteke and Wappinger
- Long Island tribes: Lake Canar , Manhattan , Rockaway , Matinecock , Massapequa , Secatoag, and Merrick .
In February and March 1644, a mixed British-Dutch force destroyed a large number of Indian villages throughout Nieuw Nederland. In April 1644, the Wappinger Sachems came to Fort Amsterdam to sign a peace treaty. Together with their allies, they mourned over 1,600 tribal members dead, making the Wappinger War one of the bloodiest and cruelest wars of extermination in the history of the North American colonies. Under pressure from the Mahican, the Sachems finally signed a peace treaty in Fort Orange in August 1644 .
After the war, the alliance fell apart, and some of the previously allied tribes even became enemies. The Wappinger and Western Metoac became tributaries to the Mahican and had to make a substantial payment annually to the Mahican in the form of wampum . It was common among the tribes in southern New England and Long Islands for the weaker groups to pay tribute to the stronger groups in the form of wampum. The Mahican had no losses of their own and the Treaty of Fort Orange enabled them to control the wampum trade in southern New England and Long Island. To heighten the humiliation, the Mahican did not collect the due tribute themselves, but instead sent the Wappinger to the Metoac as their collectors. The failure of payments resulted in raids by the Wappingers on their villages without the Dutch intervening.
Over the next hundred years, all tribes were driven from the region by white colonists or died from diseases and wars introduced. Descendants of the Wappinger Confederation tribes can now be found in Oklahoma , Kansas , Wisconsin and Ontario .
See also
List of North American Indian tribes
Individual evidence
literature
- Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Vol. 15: Northeast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1978. ISBN 0-16004-575-4