New Britain herald., 1927-10-08
INDIANS FRIENDLY
 10 WHITE MEN HERE
LlVen on Terms Of Peace and
 Amity With Settlers

territory now included within the
 city limits was the hunting ground
 of two tribes, neither Of which was
 or anything approaching a warlike
 character and one of which won its
 only recorded battle through
 change of squaws Most of New
 Britain and all of Berlin were at
 one time part of the hunting
 grounds of the Mattabesetts, clan
 of Wangunk Indians who lived along
 the Connecticut river and had a
 trail near the present Christian lane.
 Lodges were located in Beckley and
 Kensington. The Tunxis Indians
 along the Pennington river hunted
 through the northern section. The
 Quinnipiacs from the south hunted
 through here some, while there
 were also raids from the Mohawks
 from the west and the Pequots from
 the south
 Neither the Tunxes nor Mattabe-
 setts were numerous, the strength of the former being estimated at only % warriors or about 40U indivdu- als. In fact, only some 5000 or 1000 Indians seem to have been residents of Connecticut in spite of the cxag- gerated reports of great warrior bands in the early Indian wars.
 Friendly Toward White Men
 Both tribes were friendly toward the white men and no instances of any battles or massacres are record ai ok; ;rF |, of 1,o river confederacy, sold land along the river to the whites in 1885 for 24roats and five years later the i settlers did something which later generations might have taken as an example. They purchased some land q second time from the Indians, , buying into Pennington from the ! Tunxis tribe. The Tunxs were har- 1 rassed by both Mohawks and Pc !! quots and were glad to have the | white men as their allies. The Pc l quots were practically destroyed by | colonists' campaign but other In | dians made frequent incursiors.
 In 1857 occurred one of the two authentic killings in this section | FroWling Indians from the north. i looking for captives to be held for | ransom, captured a man named 1 Scott in the marshes between Plain i vile and Southington and killed him | when he called for help. The region | las since been known as Scott | swamp. A TunXis had murdered a. man the previous year but the h. ! dian escaped and the tribe paid the eXaCted tribute laxly
 Life for Life
 The Tunxes were subject 10 strict regulations. They could not bear arms and they must not injuro whites even accidentally, the penalty being a life for a life even if the settler were killed through careless ness or ignorance. They were forbid den to enter the settlements at night and had to surrender or be shot if they violated this provision. No white was allowed to buy wood from them nor to sell them liquor. The fine for this first prohibition law vas S25 a pint. But the whites were kind 10 the Indians and held town meeting in 1873 10 save the redskins lands from schemers. Two years later the Indians sent six war rors with the expedition against King Philip, the defiant red chief tain. The chief trouble with the h. Gians came from their habit of en- tertaining strange Indians by shoot ing bullets into the towns. Their reservations were gradually reduced.
 The great battle occurred in I'll. tribe from the neighhorhood of Stockbrdge, Mas came south look ing for trouble, and the Tunxis warriors met the invaders on what is now a portion of the Pennington Country club golf course. The strug- gle was a sanguinary one. the in vadors slowly pressed the defenders hack. Then the Tunxis squavs collec- ted and charged the Stockbridge tribe, putting it to flight by their remarkable Amazonian powers Great quantities of arrowheads and spearhcads have been found on the battlefield
 The God fearing Puritans who settled this section naturally felt great concern for the souls of the Indians and made early plans for the conversion of the redskins 10 Christianity. A law was passed in l127 requiring whites who had In- olan children living with them to . teach and catechise them. while 6 ri 1 1ftarNtar6 t&blished tor them. The records tell us that 1t had nine pupils, three of whom tried writing and one Of whom actually could write By 1751 tie Indians were so Christianized , that they were given the right 10 , build a seat in the old church gal f lcry. and shortly aftcrward an In- { dian teacher took over the school
 Become Numerically Weak
 About this time. the group of r TunXis Indians in Simsbury dropped out of existence, the individuals hay ing drfted away 10 other tribes. But a number of Quinnipiacs came to I; live with the Pennington tribe and . land was bought for this race, EhlCh is now cNtlnct. men came the Y Siccaoes from Hartford and Wind Sor and the remnants of the Matta- r. Lcsetts from Middletown and Berlin. |, all joining forces 10 prevent utter Ii extinction, which now threatened. h With all these additions, by 1761 S there were only 9 families in the Il TunXis tribe, many having moved ( to Stockbridge, and 13 years later the census showed 43 individuals. n Only 35 Wangunks were left at this C time. h
 In the last year two TunXes, Ell S iah Wimpey and Solomon Mossuck, L pctitioned the general assembly for D T copy of the Connecticut laws, a saying that the Indians could now a read and write, understood the Bi- a