When Long
Island was first discovered by the white man it was occupied by
13 tribes or groups of Indians, who inhabited the north and
south shores.
On the north
side from west to east were the Matinecock, the Nissequog, the
Setalcott, and the Corchaug (Cutchogue) tribes. On the south
side in the same order were Canarsee, the Marsapeague, the
Secatogue, the Unkechaug, the Shinnecock, and the Montauk tribes
or groups. The Manhassets occupied Shelter Island.
Wyandanch, the
Montauk chief, was the grand sachem of all the Long Island
Indians, except possibly the Canarsees. The settlers of the
various towns almost always secured his signature to their deeds
in addition to that of the chief of local Indians from whom
their land was purchased.
The Montauks
were supposed to have subdued all the Indians on the Island east
of the Canarsee territory, and were under tribute to the
Pequots, in eastern Connecticut. The Canarsee group were under
tribute to the Mohawks, which consisted of an annual payment of
wampum and dried clams.
Wyandanch, the
grand sachem of the Island, was the true friend of the white
settlers, and on this account was hated by Ninicraft, sachem of
the Narragansett’s, across the sound, who had tried to get
Wyandanch to help wipe out the first early settlements of the
white men on eastern Long Island. Wyandanch refused to join him
and exposed his plots to the English, so Ninicraft opened war on
the Montauks in 1652, which continued for several years, and
nearly destroyed that once powerful tribe.
In one of
their raids upon the Montauks during the marriage ceremony of
the daughter of Wyandanch, the bridegroom was killed and the
bride captured and carried back across the Sound. Lyon Gardiner
afterward rescued her and restored her to her father. In
gratitude for this act, Wyandanch gave Gardiner a deed for a
tract of land which now forms part of the Town of Smithtown.
During the
latter part of 1658, the Montauks, already weakened by this long
war, were still further reduced by a disease that is said to
have killed more than half of their number. About this time,
Wyandanch died from poison, and the supremacy of the Montauks
began to decline rapidly. The reign fell to his widow, called
the Sunk Squaw, who died in 1660, and the remaining members of
the tribe fled for protection to the settlement of their white
neighbors at East Hampton. They were kindly received and in
return gave their white friend liberal grants of pasture, and
finally conveyed their land to them, with certain reservations.
The customs,
habits and dispositions of the Indians of Long Island were
similar to those of other tribes on the continent, but seemed to
have been more friendly to the white settlers than those on the
other side of the sound were. This was no doubt because the
whites were careful to treat them with justice and fairness.
On only one
occasion did the government attempt to interfere with the
religious exercises of the Indians, and this was in 1665, when
an act was passes that “no Indian should be suffered to pow pow,
or perform worship to the devil in any town within the
government.”