Lenape - Munsee - Delaware

Ethnic Cleansing & Wartime Refugees in the Hudson Valley, 1754-1763

May 27, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the French and Indian War (1754-1763), many Mahican and Munsee-speaking people in the Hudson Valley felt themselves pressured to relocate to new areas both inside and outside of the Valley as the result of an ethnic cleansing project conducted by Sir William Johnson.

This created a refugee crisis that led to a varied of responses from both colonial officials and the Mohawks and other members of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Six Nations. [Read more…] about Ethnic Cleansing & Wartime Refugees in the Hudson Valley, 1754-1763

Pontiac’s Uprising: The American Indian War for Independence

January 7, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In April 1763, the American Indian War for Independence (1763-1766) — also called Pontiac’s Rebellion or Pontiac’s Uprising for the Ottawa Nation leader who organized a coalition against European colonial powers — started with the siege of Fort Detroit.

In July 1764, an English colonial force that included 500 Native fighters departed from Oswego for operations against Pontiac’s forces to the west. Attacks by Native forces spread east and south as a result of continued European colonists’ trespassing and settlement on Native lands. [Read more…] about Pontiac’s Uprising: The American Indian War for Independence

Evert Wendell Account Books Reveal Life in 1695-1789

December 19, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York Historical Society has digitized their Evert Wendell collection, including five account books in Dutch and English covering the period from 1695 to 1758 and one docket book (in English).

Evert Wendell (1681-1750) was a Dutch-descended Albany merchant, fur trader, and attorney, who conducted business with Native Americans in upstate New York and with colonists in Albany, Schenectady, New York City, and Boston. [Read more…] about Evert Wendell Account Books Reveal Life in 1695-1789

William Starna’s History of the Mahican

October 13, 2025 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

From Homeland to New Land: A History of the Mahican Indians, 1600-1830 (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), is by William A. Starna, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the State University of New York College at Oneonta.

This history of the Mahicans begins with the appearance of Europeans on the Hudson River in 1609 and ends with the removal of these Native peoples to Wisconsin in the 1830s. [Read more…] about William Starna’s History of the Mahican

The Stockbridge – Munsee Community in New York State

April 7, 2025 by Richard Williams 1 Comment

Most readers well be familiar with Oneida people occupying major parts of Oneida County in the colonial period and up to the present day having purchased much land back from locals in towns of Vernona and Vernon which were part of the original Oneida (Iroquois – Haudenosaunee) lands. [Read more…] about The Stockbridge – Munsee Community in New York State

DEC Relations with Indigenous Nations

November 22, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

November is Native American Heritage Month, a nationwide celebration of the contributions of Indigenous peoples and celebration of their heritage, traditions, culture, art, and history while acknowledging how society has impacted Indigenous peoples and culture. New York State was the first state to recognize “American Indian Day” in 1916, originally observed on the second Saturday in May. [Read more…] about DEC Relations with Indigenous Nations

‘Sodomy’ & Colonial America Crime and Punishment

October 21, 2024 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

The early conquest of overseas territories led to the application of European directives regulating life in the colonies.

Imposing rules on sexual behavior served as tools of social control and dominance. Prohibitions on “sodomy” entered legislation in New England and New Netherland with severe penalties attached. [Read more…] about ‘Sodomy’ & Colonial America Crime and Punishment

Oneida County’s Coxe Patent: Some History

March 28, 2024 by Richard Williams Leave a Comment

To really understand the Oneida County‘s 1770 Coxe Patent, we should start with Heath Patent, granted some 140 years earlier by King Charles I. The 1629 document gave Sir Robert Heath (1575-1649) the patent for the Province of Carolana (Carolina) “to enlarge the Christian religion as our empire and increasing the Trade and Commerce of our Kingdom.” [Read more…] about Oneida County’s Coxe Patent: Some History

Nieuw Dorp, Now & Then: Dutch History in Ulster County

February 24, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Traveling from Washington D.C. to Milwaukee, Dutch journalist Bas Blokker makes a stop-over in Hurley, Ulster County, NY, and discovers its Dutch history. His curiosity is piqued and he dives into the past to find the nineteenth-century views of the Dutch colonizers very different from modern ones.

During the last five years, I always crossed the Susquehanna River just north of Baltimore when driving from my house in Washington DC to New York. Once on the bridge the same scene unfolded again and again in my mind’s eye: a sailing ship changing course from the Chesapeake Bay to enter the river’s mouth and drop anchor at what is now Havre de Grace or Garret Island. [Read more…] about Nieuw Dorp, Now & Then: Dutch History in Ulster County

The American Revolution in the Finger Lakes

September 10, 2023 by Guest Contributor 3 Comments

Initially, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois) claimed neutrality during the conflict between Britain and the colonists, seeing the disagreement as a civil war and valuing loyalty to their families and to their lands above all else. When the political discontent erupted into the American Revolutionary War, the member nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy split their support between the British and newly formed American forces. [Read more…] about The American Revolution in the Finger Lakes

Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

August 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

According to archeological records, groups of nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled through the Finger Lakes region approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Small bands of these hunters and gatherers followed large game during the last stages of the Ice Age when the glaciers that formed the area’s notable lakes were receding.

Somewhat more recent early archaic archeological sites scattered across Western New York reflect a culture that was highly mobile and left little in terms of an archeological record. [Read more…] about Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

Fort Delaware: An Early Theme Park, Now A Museum

June 27, 2023 by John Conway Leave a Comment

Although some consider California’s Disneyland, which opened in 1955, to be the first American theme park — not to be confused with an amusement park, which dates back far earlier — most argue that the first was actually Santa Claus Land in Santa Claus, Indiana, which opened in 1946. [Read more…] about Fort Delaware: An Early Theme Park, Now A Museum

Ulster County, Ramapough Lenape Renewing 1665 Esopus Treaty

August 2, 2022 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

On October 7, 1665, a peace treaty was signed between the indigenous Esopus people (the Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation / Ramapough Lenape Nation) and European settlers in what is now Ulster County, NY. The treaty brought to a close hostilities between the two parties that had begun in 1659, known as the Esopus Wars. [Read more…] about Ulster County, Ramapough Lenape Renewing 1665 Esopus Treaty

Kieft’s War: Mass Murder on Manhattan

July 20, 2022 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

In the evening of February 25th, 1643, soldiers and settlers of the colony of New Netherland massacred a large number of Native American men, women, and children belonging to Munsee nations on and around Manhattan. The victims were surprised in their sleep. They had assumed they were safe because they had recently sought shelter near New Amsterdam from Indigenous enemies. Dutch sources indicate that at least eighty and perhaps up to one hundred and twenty Munsees were murdered. [Read more…] about Kieft’s War: Mass Murder on Manhattan

Saratoga Area Ethnohistoric Survey Nears Completion

July 18, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In 2018, Saratoga National Historical Park received funding to produce an ethnohistorical study of the Saratoga area. Professor Karim Tiro from Xavier University was chosen to conduct the research and compile the report.

Dr. Tiro specializes in North American history during the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods with a focus on the history of Native Americans, the War of 1812, and epidemics. [Read more…] about Saratoga Area Ethnohistoric Survey Nears Completion

Father Isaac Jogues, Pastor Johannes Megapolensis & Native People

December 21, 2021 by Peter Hess 6 Comments

By 1642, the number of inhabitants of the van Rensselaer Manor Rensselaerswyck had grown and Patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer willingly complied with a requirement of the Dutch West India Company to secure a clergyman for a Dutch Church to conduct services for the settlers.

The Reverend Doctor Johannis Megapolensis, Jr., the dominie (pastor) of the congregation of Schorel and Berg, belonging to the classis of Alkmaar in Holland, was selected and accepted the call. He was to serve for six years at a salary of one thousand guilders (about $400) per year. He was also to receive a yearly donation of thirty schepels (22 ½ bushels) of wheat and two firkins of butter. [Read more…] about Father Isaac Jogues, Pastor Johannes Megapolensis & Native People

Kieft’s War Against Native People: A Primer

July 2, 2020 by Jordan Baker 5 Comments

The series of conflicts known as Kieft’s War (1643-1645) owe their origins to several factors.

Primary among these was the Dutch inability to understand the concepts of land use among native people. When the Dutch gave wampum, muskets, and other trade goods during land negotiations, they believed they were purchasing the land. Native people however, considered the Dutch to have, at best, leased the land. Convinced they had purchased the land in and around Manhattan, Dutch settlers drew ever closer to Native American villages. And, when Native Americans hunted on the ground the Dutch believed they had purchased, the New Netherlanders sought to punish the offenders. [Read more…] about Kieft’s War Against Native People: A Primer

Storytelling: Using Your Documents To Tell A Story

August 9, 2018 by Peter Feinman 1 Comment

We are a storytelling species. Recently, I shared an example of the potential for storytelling in our communities using primary source documents.

In subsequent posts, I intended to share examples from different formats and venues that show how some historians are reaching audiences in ways that go beyond the standard tour. [Read more…] about Storytelling: Using Your Documents To Tell A Story

Shad: The Founding Fish Returns

May 13, 2014 by John Conway 1 Comment

There was a time when Lenape fishermen – or women, since they did much of the fishing in that culture— would use nets woven from branches, saplings or wild hemp to catch huge numbers of shad in the Delaware River. Much of their catch would be preserved by a unique smoking process that would keep them edible through the winter. The Lenape designated March as the month of the shad and celebrated with a festival that often lasted six weeks or more.

The early European settlers learned the importance of shad from the Natives and quickly picked up the technique of smoking them to provide food for the harsh winters when game was scarce. Some historians, including William E. Meehan writing in Fish, Fishing and Fisheries of Pennsylvania in 1893, have noted that virtually every Colonial era homestead in a broad area bordering the Delaware River “had its half-barrel of salted shad sitting in the kitchen with some choice pieces of smoked shad hanging by the kitchen chimney.” [Read more…] about Shad: The Founding Fish Returns

Munsee Indian Trade in Ulster County

December 29, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Munsee Indian Trade in Ulster County, New York 1712-1732 (Syracuse Univ Press, 2013), edited by Kees-Jan Waterman and J. Michael Smith offers the full, annotated translation of a recently discovered Dutch account book recording trade with Native Americans in Ulster County, New York, from 1712 to 1732.

The ledger contains just over two-thousand transactions with about two-hundred native individuals. Slightly more than one-hundred Indigenous people appear with their names listed. The volume and granularity of the entries allow for detailed indexing and comparative analysis of the people and processes involved in these commercial dealings in the mid-Hudson River Valley. [Read more…] about Munsee Indian Trade in Ulster County

Lenape - Munsee - Delaware

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