Why did Electa and other Stockbridge Indians move to Wisconsin? To answer this question, it’s helpful to understand the history of the tribe.
For more than 2,000 years, the Stockbridge lived along the Muhheakantuck River in New York. At that time, they were known as the Mohican Indians. They made maple syrup, hunted, fished, and grew just enough food to feed their families. They got along well with other Indian tribes.
Making maple syrup
In 1609, the world changed for the Mohicans. They met the explorer Henry Hudson along the Muhheakantuck River. He was the first white person they had ever met. It was a meeting that the Mohicans had long expected.
“Wise men foretold the coming of a strange race, from the sunrise, as numerous as the leaves upon the trees,” Electa’s brother John said in a speech in Reidsville, New York, in 1854. John and other Stockbridge Indians believed this prophecy came true when Europeans arrived in North America.
“Their number was small, but their canoes were big,” John said.
Henry Hudson’s ship on the Muhheakantuck River
In 1609, when they met Henry Hudson, the Mohican Indians wore belts made of wampum. These belts were traded among Indians at marriages or other special occasions. When white people came, the Mohicans traded wampum with them for things like blankets, iron tools, and guns. The Mohicans also took part in the fur trade with the new arrivals.
But later in the 1600s, lots of new white settlers began arriving in eastern New York. Life got harder for the Mohicans.
White settlers brought with them terrible diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, and measles. Native people had never had these diseases before, and many Mohican Indians died from them. White settlers also sold alcohol to Indians, which upset tribal leaders. And they cut down forests in New York to make room for homes and farms.
The Mohicans became surrounded by settlers. They were no longer free to hunt and fish wherever they pleased. Settlers farmed the land and put up fences. By the 1700s, many animals that the Mohicans depended on for food, clothing, and trade began to disappear from New York’s forests. This was due to hunting by settlers and Indians and loss of the animals’ habitats as new towns and farms were built.
For many years, the Mohicans had especially relied on beaver fur to trade. The fur was turned into beautiful coats and hats. As beavers became harder to find, and as more white settlers crowded into eastern New York, the Mohicans had to make a big decision.
Journey of the Mohican Nation, Stockbridge-Munsee Band
In 1730, the Mohicans decided to move away from New York. Their new home was in the mountains in remote western Massachusetts, amid quiet lakes and rivers. There they could hunt and fish on their own.
In Massachusetts, the Mohicans first lived in a few scattered villages along the Housatonic (haw suh ton ik) River. The few white people who lived nearby called them the Housatonic Indians, after the river, or simply River Indians.
But the Mohicans were not alone for very long. In 1734, a missionary named John Sergeant visited them. He wanted to live with them and teach them about the Christian religion. The Mohicans had another big decision to make. Should they let John Sergeant teach them?
Many Mohicans liked that John was well educated and that he had gone to college. Others were interested in becoming Christians.
John Sergeant promised to start a school for Mohican children. He would teach them to be Christians and to speak, read, and write in English. Many Mohican parents liked that idea. Giving up some native ways might be worth it if their children could read and write in English.
But not all Mohicans were sure that letting John live with them was a good idea. They worried that if they learned to live more like white people, their Mohican culture would be lost.
John Sergeant came to live with the Stockbridge Indians in 1734.
Mohican leaders came together and talked for 4 days. In the end, they decided to let John Sergeant come live with them. Soon, many Stockbridge Indians became Christians, and their children began going to school and learning English.
In 1737, the colonial government of Massachusetts created a new Indian town called Stockbridge. It was along the Housatonic River, near where the Mohicans lived. Colonial leaders invited all Mohicans to live in this town together. They said having all of the Mohicans living together, rather than in scattered villages, would make the work of missionaries and schoolteachers easier. There could be one church and one school building for everyone.
But the colonial leaders had another reason to suggest this. Many white settlers were afraid of Indians. Having the Mohicans all live in one place made white settlers feel safer. They would be less likely to run into them.
The Mohicans agreed to live in the town of Stockbridge. Soon, people started calling them the Stockbridge Indians.
The Stockbridge lived in Massachusetts for 55 years. During that time, some Stockbridge Indians fought on the side of the American Colonies in the Revolutionary War. In the war, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, the American Colonies won their independence from Great Britain. The United States of America was born.
A Stockbridge Indian who fought on the side of the American Colonies in the Revolutionary War
But after the war, as had happened in New York, life in Massachusetts got harder for the Stockbridge.
When they returned from fighting, some Stockbridge Indian soldiers found white settlers living on their land. And all around them, new settlers were building homes and farms. Massachusetts was getting crowded.
In 1785, the Oneida Indians in New York invited the Stockbridge to live near them. The Oneidas gave the Stockbridge a few acres of land to live on. They called their new home New Stockbridge.
For a few years the Stockbridge were happy. But once again, their happiness didn’t last. In 1785, only 2 white families lived nearby. By 1796, New Stockbridge was entirely surrounded by the farms of white settlers.
Where did all these people come from? Many new immigrants were arriving in America. Ships full of people came to the United States every day. During the years 1780 to 1860, more than 5 million immigrants arrived in the United States. Most were from European countries such as Ireland and Germany. They came to the United States to escape famine, religious persecution, and revolutions in their own countries.
The Erie Canal helped bring many immigrants to New York. It was built between 1817 and 1825. The canal stretched for 363 miles across New York, from the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo. It allowed boats to travel nonstop all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. This was much quicker and safer than traveling by land.
All along the Erie Canal, new towns sprang up. One section of the canal passed by Utica (yoo ti kuh), New York, just a few miles north of New Stockbridge.
The Erie Canal
Immigrants wanted to build their homes and farms on Indian land. Companies that made money buying and selling land and government leaders in New York agreed with the immigrants. They pressured Indian tribes to sell their land and to leave the state.
The Stockbridge agreed to move. The pressure on them was great. Had they refused to move, the US government could have forced them to go anyway.
In Wisconsin, the Menominee Indians said they had land that the Stockbridge, Oneida, and other Indians from New York could live on. In 1822, the Stockbridge accepted the Menominees’ offer. They left New York for Wisconsin. A few Stockbridge Indians who had moved to Indiana in 1818 came to Wisconsin, too.
Some Stockbridge Indians were glad to leave New York. White people selling alcohol to Indians was still a problem. And white settlers often trespassed on tribal members’ land.
One Stockbridge woman said she was eager to get away. She said that white people treated Indians like children who needed taking care of. “We want none of their care, we are quite capable of caring for … ourselves,” she said.
In 1829, John Quinney, Electa’s brother, helped bring the last members of the Stockbridge tribe to Wisconsin. They had a new home and a new life.
