AUGUST 31:

August 31, 1666:  Mohawk Chief Agariata is attending a peace conference in Quebec between the Iroquois and the French. Governor Alexandre de Proville asks, during a dinner, if anyone knew who killed his son a few months ago. Agariata brags that he did it. The governor becomes so angry, he has Agariata seized, and hung. This ends the peace process. Governor de Proville leads French troops against the Mohawks, himself.

August 31, 1778:  Wappinger chief, Daniel Nimham, was killed fighting with American forces in the Revolutionary War battle at Kingsbridge.  At the time of his death he had been chief for almost 38 years.  While he sided with the British in the French and Indian War, English authorities would not help him retrieve lands appropriated by settlers in New York along the Hudson River.  Nimham (sometimes spelled "Ninham") and his warriors would fight on the American side during the revolution.

August 31, 1905:  Ely Samuel Parker (Donehogawa) died in New York City. During his lifetime he was a Seneca chief, an engineer, a lawyer, the New York City Building Superintendent, a Brigadier-General in the Civil War where he wrote the surrender papers signed at Appomattox, and the first indian Commissioner of Indian Affairs.  Born in 1828, he was buried in Buffalo, New York.

1990 Schreiber Ontario - CP Rail sues Pays Plat Ojibwa Band for $37 million for blockading rail lines Aug 21-23 in sympathy with Oka occupation; also suit against Pic Mobert band at White River.

1988 Ottawa Ontario - Canada-US Free Trade Agreement becomes law.
 

BACKGROUND:
 

From: http://www.ulster.net/~hrmm/halfmoon/lenape/effects.htm
 

In 1643 the Mohawks (part of the Iroquois Confederation) made a peace treaty with the Dutch and shortly thereafter attacked a band of Wappinger Indians. When this group fled to a Dutch shelter at Pavonia, they were executed. This atrocity, often referred to as the Pavonia Massacre, resulted in the deaths of 80 men, women, and children. After they were beheaded, the Dutch soldiers responsible for their deaths played kickball with the severed heads.  In retaliation for this brutal attack, the Wappingers joined with the Mahicans in what is now called Governor Keifts' War (since he was Governor of New Amsterdam when the Pavonia Massacre occurred). Although the Wappingers and Mahicans enjoyed a victory in this war, which took place between 1643-45, they nonetheless lost men, which further depleted their population.

The Esopus Indians had their share of battles in the Peach War, which began because a Dutch farmer killed an Esopus woman who stole one of his peaches. Fought between the years 1655-64, the war ended only because Governor Stuyvesant, the new Governor of New Amsterdam, took some Esopus children hostage.

In 1677, the Esopus Indians signed a contract with the Huguenots in which they agreed to sell a large portion of land for some European goods. The goods received included kettles, axes, stockings, gunpowder, lead, wine, blankets, and shirts, among other items. These simply prove that by this time there was great demand for European goods, especially weapons and alcohol, which helped decimate the Indian populations in the area.

In 1683, the Wappinger Indians signed a similar contract with Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck. The contract resulted in the loss of large parcel of land in return for items such as gunpowder, lead, wampum (beads), tobacco, beer, hatchets, knives, guns. This contract also shows the dependence upon European goods and the extent to which the Wappingers would go to obtain them.

Another problem that the Lenape people faced was food supply. Because of the fur trade, what was once a seasonal collection of furs became a frequent slaughter. As a result, the animal population dwindled (especially beavers). Since the Indians relied on these animals both for food, clothing, and for trade, they felt the impact of this animal shortage. Some Lenape starved to death as a result. Others were forced to trade their land for goods such as clothing and food.

By 1700, the Hudson Valley had already lost 90% of its indigenous population from death and migration. The remaining population was forced from their land. Throughout the late Seventeenth and early Eighteenth centuries, the amount of land accessible to the Lenape was decreasing as a result of sales to small settlers and through coercion or fraud.

For example, Livingston Manor was purchased from the Wappinger Chief Tatemshiat and the female Esopus Chief Mamanachqua between 1683-85. Although the chiefs agreed to sell only 2,000 acres, Livingston managed to increase the amount to 100,000 acres.

The Esopus Indians were better able to resist encroachment onto their land, however. With help from nearby allies, they managed to deter settlers from occupying the area. This work for a little while, as settlers were frightened by the sight of armed Indians upon their arrival. But this was only a temporary solution.

In the late Seventeenth century, there were two additional smallpox epidemic s and an outbreak of malaria. These diseases once again decimated the local tribes. Robert S. Grumet claims that "scarcely more than 3,000 Indian people were living in the Hudson Valley at the dawn of the Eighteenth century." His figure counts all Hudson River Valley Indians, meaning all of those from Albany to New York City. The populations of the Munsee-speaking tribes was even smaller by this time.

The Indians that survived the war, massacres, and the loss of their land were living in remote areas where settlers had not taken over. But an incident in Esopus terrified them enough to force them to leave. This incident involved white settlers arriving to occupy land in the Esopus area. Upon hearing of 'an impending French and Indian attack upon the Ulster county frontiers...[they] massacred several Indian families in their wigwams at Walden during the fall of 1745." The Wappingers tribe heard about this attack and decided that they had had enough. They migrated to Pennsylvania, but returned for a peace settlement in 1746. The leader of the Wappingers, Daniel Nimham, argued for their rights and even traveled to England, but to no avail. The lands were taken away all Hudson Valley Indians by 1758.  The only choice the Hudson Valley Indians had was to migrate. They traveled to five areas primarily: Ontario, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Ohio. When they settled in these areas, they lost their tribal distinctions, and they all became known as Munsee.

The Hudson Valley Indians suffered the fate of all Native Americans. Their numbers diminished over the years due to war, disease, massacres, and the acquisition of their lands. Although they were the original inhabitants of this area, hardly any traces of their existence remain. It is estimated that in 1950 there were only 525 Munsee speaking people left. Their original population is difficult to determine, but is estimated to have been 10,000. This total decimation of the original inhabitants of this area (and our country) is nothing less than a tragedy.