Land Heist in the Highlands: Chief Daniel Nimham and the Wappinger Fight for Homeland Researched and written by Peter Cutul, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation or the Hudson Highlands Land …

Daniel Nimham is believed to have born in 1726 and reportedly was baptized in 1745 when he likely received his Christian name Daniel. 2 One of his allies was a pioneering and intrepid woman named Catheryna Brett, who, as a widow, ran a mill, managed thousands of acres of land in Fishkill, and set up the first produce cooperative in the Hudson River Highlands. 3 Catheryna was friends with Nimham's …

He became notorious among supporters and enemies alike as the energetic and assertive defender of his people's land rights... Betrayed and abandoned by Crown officials appointed to look after his interests, he subsequently took common cause with colonists struggling to free themselves from royal authority." 5 Nimham's Fight for His People and Their Homeland In 1687, two Dutch traders, Jan Roelof …

Putnam County, with the stipulation that an Indian deed be acquired by June 2, 1688 and letters patent by July 1, 1688. 6 The property was described as a strip of land along the Hudson shore in the Highland, "beginning at the north side of a hill called Anthony's Nose at a marked Red Seader Tree, and along said River Northerly to the Land belonging to Stephanus Van Cortlandt and the Heirs of Franc…

Taking advantage of the hazy description of the eastern boundary, one story even suggests that Philipse cut down the tree marking the eastern border, rode all day and remarked a tree near the CT border. 12 Although Adolph Philipse managed to acquire a patent for the enlarged property, no deed was ever recorded as he likely realized it would have been considered invalid due to the fuzzy Eastern bou…

Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767", Ethnohistory, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer 1964), Published by Duke University Press: 198. Henry Noble MacCracken, Old Dutchess Forever! The Story of An American County (New York: Hastings House), 52. Bernis Nelson, local real estate attorney at law/researcher, email correspondence, January 2019. …

Some of the tenants had leases with the Wappinger going back 30 years or more. 16 When the Wappinger returned from fighting for the Crown in the French and Indian War they were dismayed to discover that not only had their hunting grounds been disturbed, but that their land had also been claimed by Robinson, Morris and Philipse. Their consternation led Chief Nimham, representing the tribe, to file…

However, in an 11th hour surprise, Beverly Robinson reached into his coat pocket and produced a deed dated August 13, 1702 which included language covering the whole 205,000 acre parcel and extended the Eastern border all the way to CT. 20 Nimham and Munroe were allowed to briefly inspect the document and just as Munroe "was about to point out some mark of Fraud attending it... one of the Gentleme…

Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, "Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767", Ethnohistory, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer 1964), Published by Duke University Press: 199. Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, "Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1…

The Hudson Valley Land Riots of 1766 Taking advantage of the favorable Council ruling, Robinson and Sheriff James Livingston wasted no time in evicting tenants unwilling to sign one to three year leases and pay rents in cash (traditionally rents were paid in agricultural products). 26 Resistant tenants were harshly dealt with, some even being burned out of their homes. A Connecticut lawyer, who an…

And upon a Sabbath day, long to be remembered, arrived among the inhabitants aforesaid, and in a hostile manner, drove them out before them, burnt and destroyed some of their houses pillaged and plundered others, stove their cyder barrels, turned their provisions out into the open streets, ript open their feather beds, laid open their meadows and fields of grain, and either took, or destroyed the …

The new Robinson leases were far less desirable than those the tenants had with the Wappinger. In a shrewd attempt to garner widespread tenant support and counter the harsh terms of Robinson's and Morris's leases, Nimham, representing the Wappinger, began offering leases to tenants with terms as generous as "2 peppercorns per annum to be paid on the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel for 999 yea…

In the spring of 1766 Prendergast led an angry group of approximately 200 men to New York City to free rioters that authorities had imprisoned. 32 Prendergast and the mob threatened to burn down New York City if the men were not released. 33 Governor Moore acquiesced to the rioter's demands to deescalate the situation, but because of landlord pressure, soon reneged on his word and proceeded to put…

**Handlin and Mark state in the Introduction to their 1964 paper that the narrative they present is taken from an anonymous firsthand source that evidence indicates was a young, lawyer from CT sympathetic to the Wappinger (believed by Dutchess Historian, Henry Noble MacCracken, to be Asa Spalding, the attorney who represented the Wappinger in 1767). Handlin and Mark's version is based on a Library…

Sometime in late January or early February of 1767 word arrived from the King declaring, "His Majesty has been gratiously pleased to grant him [Prendergast] this pardon, relying that this instance of His Royal clemency will have a better effect in recalling these mistaken people to their duty than the most rigorous punishment." 37 Although Prendergast was now free, stripped of any ability to lead …

Although "graciously received and maintained at the Government's expense," because they had arrived without the invitation of the King and had no letter of introduction from New York authorities, the Natives were met by the Lords of Trade instead of the King himself. 38 Nonetheless, the Secretary of State and the Lords of Trade viewed the Wappinger and their cause in a favorable light. On behalf o…

Nimham struggled to find an attorney as all local attorneys had been put on retainer by Morris and Robinson. 40 Finally, just a week before the trial, Nimham was able to hire a bright young lawyer, a Yale graduate from Connecticut named Asa Spalding. Considering the circumstances Spalding argued an impressive case for the Wappinger, bringing forth "clouds of witnesses," some of which gave quite d…

Further, he "lived peaceably, and quietly under them for the space of about seventeen years; and that in all his life he never saw Mr. Adolph Philipse, to his knowledge." An old, well-respected, attorney and local resident, James Brown testified that years earlier Adolph Philipse himself had stated that "the land was never owned by him." A local judge, Judge Terbos, who even had learned to speak t…

Tenant farmer Peter Anjuvine went on to vouch for the good character of the tribe, declaring them "remarkably Honest, Loyal, and Faithful." 42 Building on that, Spalding had this to say, "By some of these and some other Evidences, methinks it, also clearly appeared to have been the invariable Custom of these Indians, never to make an absolute Sale of the same piece of Land twice; but always (by Tr…

In addition to the parade of credible witnesses, in his closing arguments Spalding gave a rousing vindication of the Wappingers' claim to the land, punching holes through the landlord's sketchy and scant defense that hinged upon the questionable 1702 deed to the property: "Was this Instrument ever acknowledged before lawful authority? No. Was it ever Inrolled or Recorded? No... And are not all the…

the convincing case made by Spalding the Council ruled as it did, "observing upon the Dangerous Consequences of admitting such Kind of Complaints... This (said he) will be of Dangerous Tendencey; Twill open a Door to the greatest Mischiefs, inasmuch as a great part of the Lands in this Province are supposed to lie under much the Same Situation; and upon the whole intimated, that it would therefore…

"Upon the whole Matter, his Excellency the Governor and the Council, are unanimously of the Opinion, and do declare, that the Indians now living of the Wappinger Tribe, have no Right, Title, or Claim to the Lands granted as aforesaid by Letters Patent to the said Adolph Philipse..." 47 Despite the guidance of Secretary Shelburne and the Lords of Trade, the verdict was in; a summary and conclusive…

As early as the spring of 1775 Nimham traveled to Boston to declare his loyalty to the Patriot cause. 50 Joined by his son Abraham, both joined the Stockbridge Militia Company, a Native American military unit comprised of Munsee, Mohican and Wappinger largely from the Stockbridge area. As early as 1774, Native Americans from Stockbridge had met at the Red Lion Inn (later made famous in Norman Rock…

The unit served with distinction in two iterations: first in the siege of Boston and the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, and second, as a reformed company in 1777 making significant contributions in the battles of Saratoga and Monmouth. The unit even earned the praise and respect of George Washington, who personally asked the company to assist Major General Sullivan in his expedition against …

In the ferocious struggle that ensued, the overwhelming British force outnumbering the natives five to one, however, proved to be too much. 54 Estimates suggest that the Stockbridge lost anywhere between 17 to 40 men, including Chief Nimham and his son. After wounding Captain Simcoe, Nimham was killed by Simcoe's orderly, Private Edward Wight. However, before succumbing, Nimham had wounded Captain…

Katharine Mixer Abbott, Old Paths and Legends of the New England Border: Connecticut, Deerfield, Berkshire (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1907) 228- 230. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockbridge_Militia ) Bryan Rindfleisch, "The Stockbridge-Mohican Community, 1775- 1783", Journal of the American Revolution (Feb. 3, 2016), https://allthingsliberty.com/2016/02/the-stockbridge-mohican-communi…

According to Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Band of Mohicans tribal history, "A group of Stockbridge Mohicans, fearing the inevitable, moved to Kansas and Oklahoma in 1839. Many died while making this journey. Some reached Kansas and Oklahoma and married into other tribes. Most simply gave up and returned to Wisconsin, which had gained statehood in 1848. During this period a group of Munsee joined …