While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Mohegan (from maïngan,
'wolf.' Trumbull). An Algonquian tribe whose chief seat appears originally
to have been on Thames river, Conn., in the north part of New London
county. They claimed as their proper country all the territory watered by
the Thames and its branches north to within 8 or 10 miles of the
Massachusetts line, and by conquest a considerable area extending north
and east into Massachusetts and Rhode Island, occupied by the Wabaquasset
and Nipmuc. On the west their dominion extended along the coast to East
river, near Guilford, Conn. After the destruction of the Pequot in 1637
the Mohegan laid claim to their country and that of the western Nehantic
in the south part of New London county. The tribes west of them on
Connecticut river, whom they sometimes claimed as subjects, were generally
hostile to them, as were also the
Narraganset on their east
border.
The Mohegan seem to have been the eastern branch of
that group of closely connected tribes that spread from the vicinity of
Narragansett bay to the farther side of the Hudson (see Mihican), but
since known to the whites the eastern and western bodies have had no
political connection. At the first settlement of New England the Mohegan
and Pequot formed but one tribe, under the rule of Sassacus, afterward
known as the Pequot chief Uncas, a subordinate chief connected by marriage
with the family of Sassacus, rebelled against him and assumed a distinct
authority as the leader of a shall band on the Thames, near Norwich, who
were afterward known in history as Mohegan. On the fall of Sassacus in
1637 the greater part of the survivors of his tribe fell under the
dominion of the Mohegan chief, who thus obtained control of the territory
of the two tribes with all their tributary bands. As the English favored
his pretensions he also set up a claim to extensive adjoining territories
in the possession of rival chiefs. He strengthened his position by all
alliance with the English against all other tribes, and after the
destruction of the Indian power in south New England, by the death of King
Philip in 1676, the Mohegan were the only important tribe remaining south
of the Abnaki. As the white settlements extended the Mohegan sold most of
their lands and confined themselves to a reservation on Thames river, in
New London county, Conn. Their village, also called Mohegan, was on the
site of the present town of that name on the west bank of the river. Their
ancient village seems to have been farther up, about the mouth of the
Yantic. Besides the village at Mohegan, the villages of Groton and
Stonington, occupied mainly by the remnant of the Pequot, were considered
to belong to the Mohegan. They rapidly dwindled away when surrounded by
the whites. Many joined the Scaticook, but in 1788 a still larger number,
under the leadership of Occom, joined the Brotherton Indians in New York,
where they formed the majority of the new settlement. The rest of the
tribe continue to reside in the vicinity of Mohegan or Norwich, Conn., but
are now reduced to about 100 individuals of mixed blood, only one of whom,
an old woman, retained the language in 1904. They still keep up a
September festival, which appears to be a survival of the Green Corn dance
of the Eastern tribes. For interesting notes on this remnant, see Prince
and Speck in Am. Anthrop., 1903 and 1904.
In 1643 the Mohegan were estimated to number from 2,000
to 2,500, but this included the Pequot living with them, and probably
other subordinate tribes. In 1705 they numbered 750, and in 1774 were
reported at 206. Soon after they lost a considerable number by removal to
New York, and in 1804 only 84 were left, who were reduced to 69 five years
later. They were reported to number 300 in 1825, and about 350 in 1832,
but the increased numbers are probably due to the enumeration of Negroes
and mixed bloods living with them, together with recruits from the
Narraganset and others in the vicinity.
The Mohegan villages were
Groton
Mohegan
Showtucket
Wabaquasset
For further information and synonyms, see
Mahican.
