How The Wappingers People Shaped the Hudson Valley, New York

Traditionally, the Wappinger were semi-sedentary, moving seasonally between fixed sites as food resources required. They depended largely on corn (maize), cultivated by women, for their subsistence; this was supplemented by hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plant foods. The tribes were divided into bands, each governed by a sachem (chief) and a council of elders.

Spiritually, the people were aware of the powers and spirit-souls in all living things and considered all living beings as relatives. They believed in a Great Creator who loosely controlled the natural world and the cycles of life. Natural things such as the river waters, the land, mountains, the sky and all living things had sacred spirits which were acknowledged and respected. Many of the Wappinger and Lenape rituals, rites of passage, ceremonies and food hunts were directly tied to honoring and interacting with these spirits for the benefit of the entire community. Acknowledging the seasons and the bountiful production of nature, especially food-giving animals and plants, was central to their customs.

Wappingers wore warm clothing made of deerskin and slept on bearskin blankets in the snowy winters. They sometimes covered their bodies in animal grease as insulation from the cold (and insects) and they wore moccasins in winter and deer skin leggings to stay protected from thorns and sticker bushes. The women watched over small gardens and fields, took care of the children, wove fine baskets and platters made of local grasses, tended to the animal hides, and handled much of the food gathering, preparation and food storage. Men hunted, went on seasonal fishing trips and trade expeditions to other Native communities and protected the community from enemies.

Pressure from Dutch settlers caused the Connecticut Wappinger to sell their lands and join other Algonquian-speaking tribes elsewhere in what are today the United States and Canada. The Dutch settlers took control of and then inhabited traditional Lenape and Wappinger lands as part of the New Netherlands Colony from 1609-1664. During that time, Wappinger life turned very bitter as they gradually lost their traditional ways and lands. Many left their lands to move away from European settlements, migrating with other Native communities further north and west.

Many died of the new diseases the settlers unknowingly brought from Europe. Some Natives gave up their ancient Indian culture and were converted to Christianity by missionaries. Others were killed in numerous brutal wars with the Dutch, or were captured and sold into harsh slavery in other parts of the New World including the Caribbean Islands, from where they never returned. By the end of Dutch rule in America, the Wappingers had become terribly weakened.

The western bands refused to do so; they fought the Dutch between 1640 and 1645, suffering severe losses. In 1666, the Dutch New Netherlands permanently became part of the British Empire. The Dutch settlers declared their loyalty to the British Crown, as did the Wappinger Indians, but the Wappinger people were being quickly pushed out of their lands by the colonists.

On August 8, 1683 an "Indian Deed of Sale" was written, selling 85,000 acres of Wappinger lands in present Dutchess County, NY, to Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck. Twenty-two Wappingers made their marks on the Deed (they could not write in English), which was recorded among the State papers at Albany, NY on August 14th, 1683. In return for 85,000 acres of land, the Wappingers received perhaps $1,200 worth of trade goods, including wampum, guns, gunpowder, cloth, shirts, rum, tobacco and beer. It is unknown for certain if the Wappingers understood that this “sale” meant that they had to leave their ancestral lands permanently.

In 1756 the majority of the Wappinger remaining in Westchester county joined the Nanticoke at Chenango, N.Y., and then merged with the Delaware; others joined the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe.Today, there is no recognized Wappinger tribe because of war, resettlement, merging of tribes, and disease. The rich Wappinger culture is something that deserves recognition as this tribe has an interesting history that contributes to the formation of the region we know today. It is crucial to learn about those who came before us, especially when their voices are being erased from history.