A Map of the Mohegan Sachems Hereditary Country, Plotted Aug 1st 1705, John Chandler, Surveyer.


Source:
Front-piece, Governor and Company of Connecticut and Moheagan Indians, By their Guardians, Certified Copy of Proceedings Before Commissioners of Review MDCCXLIII (1743), London : MDCCLXIX (1769)

Note that North is at the bottom.

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This map of Mohegan country was done for the 1704 Dudley Commission that was convened to hear the Mohegan challenge of Major John Mason's transfer, as the trustee of Mohegan Reserved Lands, of those lands to the government of the Colony of Connecticut.


This is an important primary source document that helps explain Roger Williams 1637 description of the overland connection between Massachusetts Bay and the Connecticut River valley English settlements.


This map by Chandler places the southwest corner of Wabaquassett Country at Moshe nup suck, the outlet of mishi nippe or the Great Pond (present day Shenipsit Pond - mishi-nipe-set, at or near the great pond). Prior to the English war against the Pequot, Wabaquassett Country was in the southern part of Nipmik Country, called Shetucket Country, as attested to by Mohegan, Nipmuck Wabaquassett, and Shetucket inhabitants. The country reportedly extended forty five miles, which if measured from Moshe nup suck would have run to the Blackstone River. From the outlet, Moshe nup suck, to the Connecticut River valley would have most likely been part of several Connecticut River valley communities such as those at or near Hockenum, Podunk and Scantic.


Roger Williams described the route linking Connecticut (ostensibly Hartford and Windsor although it could be valid for Springfield as well) as passing through the Nipnet lands of Hassanemesit and Shetucket countries.

Williams identified the Hassanemisco and Shetucket as Nipmuc - as differentiated from the Massachusett, in other words, inland communities as opposed to coastal communities. Taken at face value, the western bound of the Massachusett could have been Natick, as the compound word was used as a bound name. If so, this would suggest that Hassanemesit Country extended from Natick to the Blackstone River. If Hassanemesit and Shetucket countries were so defined, it would explain William's description of the route through the greater Nipmuck Country.

For a comparison, the northwest bound of Wabaquassett Country was called Natick Hill, which could have been a bound between Nipmuck and Connecticut River valley communities near the Freshwater Brook and Chicopee River, as Moshe nup suck would have been for the more southerly Connecticut River valley communities around the Scantic and Hockanum Rivers as noted. The place name Natick shows up in Rhode Island as well.


From early English records concerning the bounds of Native American lands, it would seem that Native American country bounds used pond/lake outlets, hills and rivers to denote the extent of hereditary land tenure.

A broad Shetucket authority over the country apparently reverted to local control following the collapse of the Pequot - Shetucket alliance. Colonial records show Massachusetts Bay authorities negotiating with local leaders individually throughout this part of Nipnet. The allegiances to the Bay Colony that were collected allowed the piecemeal English assimilation of these Nipnet lands.

Separate communities were involved with the English acquisition of the various Dudley, Stoughton and Thompson tracts in Webster and Thompson.


Major James Fitch acquired the southern Nipnet Wabaquassett country in 1684 from Owaneco but there is no mention of him or the Wabaquassett claiming authority over or ownership of land to the Blackstone. However, according to English narratives the Mohegan apparently attempted to exert their influence into Quaboag country, or tried to check any Narraganset infulence there that extended along the Blackstone River watershed.

Once the English intruded in the relationships of the various communities of Pequot, Shetucket, Nipmuck, Mohegan and Narraganset, if these can be considered some of the major alliances circa 1636, the dynamics changed. What has come forward is mostly a record of the changes, however there are clues pointing to how these long-standing traditional communities interacted prior to English colonial expansion.


Roger Williams talked about specific relationships and John Chandler's 1705 map of Moghean country draws a similar picture.



Mark A. Palmer


Resources:

Bowen, Clarence Winthrop, The Boundary Disputes of Connecticut, Boston 1882.

Gookin, Daniel. Historical Collections of the Indians in New England. Cambridge, 1674, Sandwich 1792.

Governor and Company of Connecticut and Moheagan Indians, By their Guardians, Certified Copy of Proceedings Before Commissioners of Review 1743; London,1769

Grafton, Town of. Documenting Hassanamesit Woods, Its History and Cultural Resources, the Town of Grafton Hassanamesit Woods Management Committee. Grafton, 2006.

Town Reconnaissance Survey Reports. Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1979 – 1987.

Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England, Vol. I 1628 – 1641. Ed. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff M.D.. Boston 1853.

Trumbull, J. Hammond, The Composition of Indian Geographical Names, Illustrated from the Algonkin Languages, Hartford, 1870.

Trumbull, J. Hammond, Indian Names of Places Etc., In and On The Borders Of Connecticut: With Interpretations Of Some Of Them, Hartford, 1881.

Williams, Roger. A Key into the Language of America. London, 1643.

Williams, Roger. Letters of Roger Williams. 1632-1682. Now First Collected, Ed. by John Russell Bartlett. Providence, 1874.