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Show 61 [E1II. AX.V. 18 more estates 6 1 2 INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES Z"n S T ' U Wa8 a'lmittcd 1>y g00<1 j u < 1Se s ftt the t i m«. « ' " tu°y P»id "i were 1™ M / , " ' '' eVC" '""* ^ ira^ove.„ents were made; and large est vent anv di'l«t ' f T " °f ^ Bettl6r8 iU b " y i " e k " d a t 6»c l 1 ^ c e 8 a° • ' " " * P«- the ri" I t f 7 'fa c t , 0ym u n f f t h e » " " « . . At the same time, they allowed them Uh S i t \ u* T fi8hiDS °U th6 gr0UD'1 tLpy had 80,d- '" A "« the Eug-own bv la! * " CUt W ° ° d °U " f ° r D10r0 t h i 'U ^ ee»tur>-i a»d requtart the toTin. by law to reserve proper tracts for the Indians to cultivate. Laws were made to protect them from injury and insult. As it is apparent from this statement, which is in accord with the earlier histories and original documents so far as preserved, that the attempt to unravel the various purchases would be an almost hopeless undertaking, no effort to do this will be made here. All that is necessary to the object of this article is that sufficient data be presented to show clearly the policy adopted and the practical treatment of the Indians by the colonists in regard to their lands. The first attempt on the part of the people of Plymouth colony to settle Connecticut was made in 1633 by William Holmes, who fixed upon the site of the present city of Windsor, but no buildings were erected or permanent settlement made until the ground had been purchased from the Indians. The extent of this purchase is not given. The title, however, was not obtained from the Pequods, who had driven the original owners from the territory and claimed it by conquest. Holmes, probably aware of this fact, brought back the oiiginal owners, and, having placed them again in possession, purchased of them the lands he wished to obtain. This proceeding on his part greatly incensed the Pequods and was one of the complaints on which they based their subsequent war against the colonists. About the same time, or perhaps a little prior to the date that Holmes fixed his trading post at Windsor, the Dutch of New York made a purchase from Nepuquash, a Pequod sachem, of 20 acres at Hartford. Macauley1 says that, according to the author of "The New Netherlands,*' printed in Amsterdam in 1651, the Dutch, in 1C32, purchased from the natives the lands on both sides of Connecticut river. However, as they failed to establish their claim to this region as against the English, their purchases were disregarded by the latter. In order that a somewhat clearer idea may be given of the subsequent purchases mentioned, Trumbull's statement2 in regard to the location of the different tribes of Connecticut at this early day is quoted: From the accounts given of the Connecticut Indians, they canuot be estimated at less than twelve or sixteen thousand. They might possibly amount to twenty. They could muster, at least, three or four thousand warriors. It was supposed, in 1633, that the river Iudiaus only could bring this number into the field. These were principally included within the ancient limits of Windsor, Hartford, Weathersfield, and Middletown. Within the town of Windsor only, there were ten distinct tribes, or sovereignties. About the year 1670, their bowmen were reckoned at two thousand. 1 History of New York (1829), vol. n, p. 304. 1 History of Connecticut (1818), vol. I, pp. 40-43. |