The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language, probably the Loup language. Their historic territory Nippenet, meaning 'the freshwater pond place', is in central Massachusetts and nearby parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The Nipmuc Tribe had contact with traders and fishermen from Europe prior to the colonization of the Americas. The first recorded contact with Europeans was in 1630, when John Acquittamaug took maize to sell to the starving colonists of Boston, Massachusetts.Larnad, E. D. (1874). History of Windham County, Connecticut: 1600-1760. (Vol. I, p. 59). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. After the colonists encroached on their land, and introduced legislation designed to encourage further European settlement, many Nipmucs joined Metacomet's war, known as King Philip's War, in 1675, though they were unable to defeat the colonists. Many Nipmuc were held captive on Deer Island in Boston Harbor and died of disease and malnutrition, while others were executed or sold into slavery in the West Indies.
Christian missionary John Eliot arrived in Boston in 1631. After learning the Massachusett language, which was widely understood throughout New England, he converted numerous Native Americans to Christianity, and with the help of Wawaus, also known as James the Printer, published a Bible translated in Massachusett and a Massachusett grammar. Backed by the colonial government, he established several "Indian plantations" or praying towns, where Native Americans were induced to settle and be instructed in European customs and converted to Christianity.
The state of Massachusetts has a diplomatic relationship with the Hassanamisco Nipmuc and the Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nipmuc Indians.
Name The tribe is first mentioned in a 1631 letter by Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley as the Nipnet, 'people of the freshwater pond', due to their inland location. This derives from Nippenet and includes variants such as Neipnett, Neepnet, Nepmet, Nibenet, Nopnat and Nipneet. In 1637, Roger Williams recorded the tribe as the Neepmuck, which derives from Nipamaug, 'people of the freshwater fishing place,' and also appears spelled as Neetmock, Notmook, Nippimook, Nipmaug, Nipmoog, Neepemut, Nepmet, Nepmock, Neepmuk, Nepmug, as well as modern Nipmuc(k). Colonists and the Native Americans themselves used this term extensively after the growth of the praying towns.Connole, D. A. (2007). Indians of the Nipmuck Country in Southern New England 1630-1750, an Historical Geography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. pp. 7 - 8.Hodge, R. W. (2006). Handbook of American Indians, North of Mexico. (Vol. II). Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Pub. p. 74. The French referred to most New England Native Americans as Loup, meaning 'Wolf [people]'. But Nipmuc refugees who had fled to French Colonial Canada and settled among the Abenaki referred to themselves as ȣmiskanȣakȣiak, meaning the 'beaver tail-hill people'.Day, G. M., Foster, M. K., & Cowan, W. (1998). In Search of New England's Native Past: Selected Essays. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, p. 181
Language
The Nipmuc most likely spoke Loup A, a Southern New England Algonquian language. The language is undergoing revival within the communities. There are several second-language speakers.
Tribal divisions
Daniel Gookin (1612–1687), Superintendent to the Native Americans and assistant of Eliot, was careful to distinguish the Nipmuc (proper), Wabquasset, Quaboag, and Nashaway tribes.Connole, D. A. (2007). Indians of the Nipmuck Country in Southern New England 1630–1750, An Historical Geography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. pp. 8–10. The situation was fluid since these Native groups were decentralized, and individuals unhappy with their chiefs freely joined other groups. In addition, shifting alliances were made based on kinship, military, and tributary relationships with other tribes.Hodge, F. W. (1910). "Nipmuc" in Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. (Vol. III, p. 74). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
The formation of the praying towns dissolved some tribal divisions, as members of different tribes settled together. Four groups that are associated with the Nipmuc peoples survive today. Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck, Dudley Indians Descendants of the Praying town of Chaunbunagungamaug, now part of Webster, on lands returned by the town of Dudley, Massachusetts. The tribe's reservation spans 2.5 acres in Thompson, CT, where its office is located, and across the border in Thompson, Connecticut. Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band, Grafton Indians Descendants of the Praying town of Hassanamessit, now part of Grafton, Massachusetts. The tribe's reservation spans 3.2 acres and this parcel has never been out of the hands of the Nipmuc People. {} Natick Massachusett, Natick Nipmuc The descendants of the praying town of Natick, Massachusetts do not retain any of their original lands. The Natick are primarily descended from the Massachusett in addition to having Nipmuc ancestry. They qualify for state services as Nipmuc.Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, Commission on Indian Affairs. (n.d.). Tuition waiver guidelines. Retrieved from Commonwealth of Massachusetts website: www.mass.gov/hed/docs/dhcd/ia/tuitionwaiver.doc. Connecticut Nipmuc Descendants of various Nipmuc who survived or relocated to Connecticut. The Nipmuc of Connecticut are not recognized by the state.Blumenthal, R. Connecticut Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Indian Affairs. (2002). Comments of the state of connecticut and the northeastern connecticut council of governments on the proposed findings on the petitions for tribal acknowledgement of the nipmuc nation and the webster/dudley band of the chaubunagungamaug nipmuck indians. Retrieved from http://www.ct.gov/ag/lib/ag/press_releases/2002/indian/nipmuc_brief.pdf. The related Quinebaug band, believed to have Algonquian origins, lived in both Connecticut and Massachusetts at the time of European contact. As of 1774, the last remaining Quinebaugs, numbering about 25 members, were recorded living near present-day Plainfield, Connecticut. Descendants of the Quinebaug are thought to be living in Nipmuc communities near Gay Head, Mashpee, and Worcester, Massachusetts.
Legal status
State recognition Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued Executive Order #126 in 1976, which proclaimed that 'State agencies shall deal directly with ... [the] Hassanamisco Nipmuc ... on matters affecting the Nipmuc Tribe'(much progress has happened since and other Nipmuck bands have been acknowledged by the state), as well as calling for the creation of a state 'Commission on Indian Affairs.'Mass. Executive Order #126. Dukakis 65th Governorship, 1976. The all-Indian Commission was established; it conferred state support for education, health care, cultural continuity, and protection of remaining lands for the descendants of the Wampanoag, Nipmuc and Massachusett tribes.Massachusetts General Laws, pt. I, Title II, Chapter 6A, § 8A. The state also calls for the examination of all human remains discovered in the course of construction and other projects, requiring notification of the Commission, who after the investigation by the State Archaeologist (in part in an effort to determine age of remains, decide the appropriate course of action.Massachusetts General Laws, pt. I, Title II, Chapter 7, § 38A.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts also cited the continuity of the Nipmuc(k) with the historic tribe and commended tribal efforts to preserve their culture and traditions. The state also symbolically repealed the General Court Act of 1675 that banned Native Americans from the City of Boston during King Philip's War.Massachusetts Session Laws. 181st General Court, 2005, Chapter 25. The tribe also works closely with the state to undergo various archaeological excavations and preservation campaigns. The tribe, in conjunction with the National Congress of American Indians were against the construction of the sewage treatment plant on Deer Island in Boston Harbor where many graves were desecrated by its construction, and annually hold a remembrance service for members of the tribe lost over the winter during their internment during King Philip's War and protest against the destruction of Indian gravesites.Nipmuc Nation. (1994). Remembering deer island: A cause worth of nipmuc support. Nipmucspohke, I(2), 2-3. Retrieved from nipmucspohke.homestead.com/Vol.I_Is.2.pdf
Federal recognition efforts On April 22, 1980, Zara Cisco Brough, a landowner of Hassanamessit, submitted a letter of intention to petition for federal recognition as a Native American tribe.
On July 20, 1984, the BIA received the petition letter from the 'Nipmuc Tribal Council Federal Recognition Committee', co-signed by Zara Cisco Brough and her successor, Walter A. Vickers, of the Hassanamisco, and Edwin 'Wise Owl' W. Morse Sr. of the Chaubunagungamaug. In January 2001, a preliminary finding was made by the BIA in favor of the Nipmuc Nation of Sutton, Massachusetts, which had most of its membership in Massachusetts, while a negative preliminary finding was issued for the Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck Band of Dudley, Massachusetts, which had its membership about evenly split between Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 2004, the BIA notified the Nipmuc Nation that they had been rejected for federal recognition.
Colonial-era history
17th century
European sailors, fishermen, and adventurers began visiting New England during the early modern period. The first permanent settlements in the region did not begin until after the settling of Plymouth Colony in 1620. These early seafarers introduced several infectious diseases to which the Native Americans had no prior exposure, resulting in epidemics with mortality rates as high as 90 percent. Smallpox killed many of the Native Americans in 1617–1619, 1633, 1648–1649, and 1666. Similarly influenza, typhus, and measles also afflicted the Native Americans throughout the period. In 2010 researchers developed a new hypothesis on epidemics between 1616 and 1619 as being from leptospirosis complicated by Weil syndrome.
As shown by the writings of Increase Mather, the colonists attributed the decimation of the Native Americans to God's providence in clearing the new lands for settlement, but they were accustomed to interpreting their lives in such religious terms.Kohn, G. C. (2010). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence. (pp. 255-256). New York, NY: Infobase Publishing. At the time of contact, the Nipmuc were a fairly large grouping, subject to more powerful neighbors who provided protection, especially against the Pequot, Mohawk and Abenaki tribes that raided the area.Sultzman, L. (2008, October 29). Nipmuc history. Retrieved from http://www.dickshovel.com/nipmuc.html.
The colonists initially depended on the Native Americans for survival in the New World, and the Native Americans rapidly began to trade their foodstuffs, furs and wampum for the copper kettles, arms and metal tools of the colonists. Puritan settlers arrived in large numbers from 1620 to 1640, the 'Great Migration' that increased their need to acquire more land. Since the colonists had conflicting colonial and royal grants, the settlers depended on having Indian names on land deeds to mark legitimacy. This process had serious flaws, as John Wompas deeded off many lands to the colonists to curry favor, many of which were not even his.Mandell, D. R. Behind the Frontier: Indians in Eighteenth-Century Eastern Massachusetts, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1996, p. 151
Indian plantations