Stockbridge Militia The Stockbridge Militia was a military unit from Stockbridge , Massachusetts which served in the American Revolutionary War . The militia was composed of American Indians , mostly Mahican , Wappinger , and Munsee from the Stockbridge area . While most northeastern tribes , such as Joseph Brant ' s Mohawks , aligned themselves with the British , the Stockbridge tribes cast their lot with the colonies . Led by Jehoiaikim Mtohksin and Abraham Nimham , it was the first native unit to fight against the British during the revolution . Early history . In 1774 , as the revolution began to get under way in Massachusetts , members of the Stockbridge tribes met at the Red Lion Inn to pledge their loyalty to the American cause : Wherever your armies go , there we will go ; you shall always find us by your side ; and if providence calls us to sacrifice our Lives in the field of battle , we will fall where you fall , and lay our bones by yours . Nor shall peace ever be made between our nation and the Red - Coats until our brothers - the white people - lead the way . This first incarnation of the militia served at the Siege of Boston and the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 . This militia disbanded soon thereafter , with some Indians returning to their homes and others continuing to serve as scouts for various units . In 1777 , a new militia was gradually formed as Stockbridge men from the 8th Massachusetts Regiment , Nixon ' s Brigade , and other units gathered under the command of Major General Horatio Gates . This new , loosely - organized Stockbridge Militia , now part of the Continental Army , was led by Jehoiaikim Mtohksin . Abraham Nimham , son of famed sachem Daniel Nimham , joined the unit as Mtohksin ' s second - in - command . From 1777 to 1778 they participated in the Siege of Ticonderoga , the Battle of Saratoga , and the Battle of Monmouth . The Stockbridge Massacre . In August 1778 , the Stockbridge Militia was stationed at an outpost in what is now Yonkers , New York . Their opposition came mainly from the Queen ' s Rangers , a unit descended from Rogers ' Rangers , in which many Stockbridge had served during the French and Indian War . On August 31 , nearly forty Indians — including Abraham Nimham , his father Daniel , and twelve other Stockbridge natives — were killed in an ambush by the Rangers in the area of The Bronx that is now Van Cortlandt Park . Lieutenant colonel John Graves Simcoe led the British attack ; although he was wounded along with several others , the skirmish was a decisive British victory . After the fighting , Hessian captain Johann Von Ewald sketched a Stockbridge warrior based on one of the dead who had been left behind . The picture is the only known contemporary depiction of a Revolutionary - era Stockbridge militiaman . Von Ewald described the Indian casualties after his examination : Their costume was a shirt of coarse linen down to the knees , long trousers also of linen down to the feet , on which they wore shoes of deerskin , and the head was covered with a hat made of bast . Their weapons were a rifle or musket , a quiver with some twenty arrows , and a short battle - axe , which they know how to throw very skillfully . Through the nose and in the ears they wore rings , and on their heads only the hair of the crown remained standing in a circle the size of a dollar - piece , the remainder being shaved off bare . They pull out with pincers all the hairs of the beard , as well as those on all other parts of the body . The bodies of the Indians were left on the battlefield . Soon after , local residents discovered the corpses being scavenged by dogs , and they buried them in a mass grave . By the 19th century the spirit of their sachem was said to haunt the land of " Indian Field " . End of service . That engagement was the last of the war for the militia ; Abraham ' s father , Daniel Nimham , was a man of great standing among the Wappinger , and the other casualties represented a significant loss to the total population of the tribe back in Massachusetts . Requesting leave to return home to help the families of the dead , the company was paid $ 1 , 000 . 00 for their service and discharged by order of George Washington in September 1778 . After the war , the militia saw brief action once more as they defended Stockbridge from insurgents during Shays ' Rebellion . It has been suggested that their service created strong support for Indian suffrage in the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts ; although article five of the first draft of the state ' s new constitution excluded Indians as eligible voters , it was soundly defeated and the second draft gave all men the right to vote . Most of the Indian survivors eventually settled in Oneida County , New York and were later moved to Wisconsin , forming the Stockbridge - Munsee tribe .