A Brief History of the Chaubunagungamaug Nipmuck People
The territory of Chaubunagungamaug was first inhabited about 12,000 years ago by what are now called "Paleo Indians". These people travelled and lived in family groups, hunting the animals that inhabited the subarctic environment. Descendants of these first settlers became what is now known as the Algonquian family, in which the Nipmuck tribe is included, among many others.
Throughout the Archaic Period from 7,000 BC to 500 BC, the climate gradually warmed. New plants and animals appeared, reflecting changes in human culture and lifestyle. Nipmuck people began to visit certain territories on a systematic basis, ate a wide variety of plants and animals, and developed an advanced system of agriculture and herbal pharmacology. They were also producing a wide variety of stone bowls and tools, and implemented a complex writing system of symbols and designs.
The introduction of pottery some 2500 years ago signified the beginning of the Ceramic Woodland Period. Major villages were established along the major lakes and rivers. The bulk of the Nipmuck population was concentrated along the Quinebaug, Blackstone (Nipmuck), Quabaug, and Nashua rivers. The "Three Sisters" (corn beans and squash) were introduced, the bow and arrow supplemented the use of spears, and a spiritually centered lifestyle harmoniously integrated the people, animals, elements and environment into a balanced ecosystem.
Nipmuck country, or "Nipnet" meaning "fresh pond place" of "fresh water place", extended from Central Massachusetts northward past the Wachusett Hills, to about the southern line of New Hampshire; northeastward to the Pawtuckets on the lower Merrimack; eastward to the Massachusetts Bay, and to the Wampanoags east of the Blackstone; southward to the northern Rhode Island bands of the Narragansett, and to the Mohegans of east central Connecticut; and westward to the Pocumtucks and Norwottucks of Western Massachusetts.
The Indians of Southern New England spoke languages related to the Eastern Algonquian family, which extended along the Atlantic drainage from the Maritime provinces to North Carolina. Speakers of one Eastern Algonquian dialect could generally converse in the one spoken by their neighbors, but communication became difficult the farther one traveled away from home.
Contemporary linguists have identified three Eastern Algonquian languages: Massachusett (including the dialects spoken from the Saco River to Massachusetts Bay, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and southeastern Rhode Island); Narragansett (primarily on the west side of Narragansett Bay); and Mohegan-Pequot (including a range of dialects in southeastern Connecticut from the Pawcatuck to the Connecticut rivers)
The arrival of European settlers brought with it a lucrative trade industry, and for a time the relationship was quite peaceful. Nipmucks were well known to be quite friendly and hospitable to their new neighbors. As early as 1630 there is a record of a Nipmuck known as Acquittamaug who walked all the way to Boston with his elderly father carrying a bushel and a half of corn to the starving settlers there.
Unfortunately, many Native people had fallen victim to smallpox and other diseases which accompanied the new settlers on their journey from their homeland.
As time progressed, relations between Natives and Europeans quickly worsened as the settlers began to force Native people from their ancestral lands and way of life. New laws were created by the newly established Massachusetts General Court for the sole benefit of themselves, and for their growing need for the acquisition of land.
The conflict known as "King Phillip's War" erupted in Nipmuck country in 1675, and large numbers of Nipmucks fought and died in an effort to preserve their homeland and their culture. In retaliation, villages and cornfields were destroyed, and women and children were not spared. "Praying villages" were set up to remove large numbers of Nipmucks from their homelands to make way for the growing number of European settlers, and also in attempt to convert Native people to Christianity. Many were sold into slavery, or were shipped by the thousands to a desolate island off the coast of Boston known as Deer Island. Most of them never returned. Nipmuck leaders were brutally shot, drawn, and quartered on Boston Common, and their heads were displayed on poles to discourage any further resistance. The remaining Nipmuck lands at the end of the King Plillip War were eventually “allotted” to the new European arrivals by the Massachusetts General Court without the consent of the Nipmuck people.
In spite of the tragic events of the last 300 years, the Nipmuck people have survived extinction. The few families that remained assimilated into the new society in order to survive, while still keeping their culture alive within the privacy of their own homes. To the detriment of all human beings, much of our once rich culture has been lost or forgotten, but the foundations that made us who we are; that of Respect, Honor, and Integrity, can never be taken away, and still survive to this day within the hearts of our children, and for Seven Generations to come.