Niantic (tribe)
Encyclopedia
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
Native Americans, who were living in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
and Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
during the early colonial period. Due to intrusions of the Pequot
Pequot
Pequot people are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England...
, the Niantic were divided into an eastern and western division. The Western Niantic were subject to the Pequot and lived just east of the mouth of the Connecticut River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
while the Eastern Niantic became very close allies to the Narragansett
Narragansett
Narragansett may refer to:*Narragansett , a Pennsylvania Railroad train*Narragansett , an Amtrak train*Narragansett **Narragansett land claim*Narragansett, Rhode Island, a town*Narragansett Bay*Narragansett...
.
The division of the Niantic became so great that the language of the eastern Niantic is classified as a dialect of Narragansett while the language of the western Niantic is classified as Pequot-Mohegan.
The Niantic were an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
speaking people, speaking an Algonquian Y-dialect, similar to their neighbours the Pequot, Montauk, Mohegan
Mohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
, and Narragansett. The tribe's name "Nehantic" (Nehântick) means "of long-necked waters" believed by local residents to refer to the "long neck" or peninsula of land now known as Black Point; located in the village of Niantic, Connecticut
Niantic, Connecticut
Niantic is a census-designated place and village in the Town of East Lyme, Connecticut in the United States. The population was 3,085 at the 2000 census....
. The Nehântics spent their summers fishing and digging the shellfish which were once abundant there and for which the area is famous (see Millstone Nuclear Power Plant
Millstone Nuclear Power Plant
The Millstone Nuclear Power Station is the only nuclear power generation site in Connecticut. It is located at a former quarry in Waterford...
). They lived on corn, beans, and squash, supplemented by hunting, fishing, and collecting.
Conflict broke out between the Niantic and their colonial neighbors, leading to punitive military expeditions that dealt out massive destruction in contrast to the rather limited incidents that had provoked the conflict. As the violence became more widespread it evolved into the Pequot War
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
in 1637. This conflict resulted in almost total destruction of the Western Niantic, whose roughly 100 remaining members merged into the Mohegans and Pequots. There are members of these tribes who can trace their ancestry back to Nehântick members, especially in the vicinity of Lyme, Connecticut
Lyme, Connecticut
Lyme is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,016 at the 2000 census. Lyme and its neighboring town Old Lyme are the namesake for Lyme disease.-Geography:...
. Some of the Niantic who joined the Mohegan and Pequot fled west and joined the Brotherton Indians
Brothertown Indians
The Brothertown Indians are Native American descendants of the Pequot and Mohegan tribes in southern New England...
to escape further English harassment.
Following King Philip's War
King Philip's War
King Philip's War, sometimes called Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the...
(1675-76), surviving Narragansett
Narragansett (tribe)
The Narragansett tribe are an Algonquian Native American tribe from Rhode Island. In 1983 they regained federal recognition as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island. In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against their request that the Department of Interior take land into trust...
fled to the Eastern Niantic in such great numbers that the tribe became known as the Narragansett, however, many modern-day Narragansett have significant Niantic blood.
By 1870, the Nehantics were declared extinct by the state and their 300 acres (1.2 km²) reservation, the Black Point peninsula of East Lyme, was sold. In 1886, their burial ground was sold and desecrated, and the Crescent beach community filled over it. As recently as 1988, Nehantic skeletal remains were uncovered by new construction.
The East Lyme
East Lyme, Connecticut
East Lyme is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 18,118 at the 2000 census. The latitude of East Lyme is 41.353N...
Public Library has some information, mainly as small booklets that were researched and written by local historians and that reference Mercy Matthews and many other Nehantic Indians.
In 1998, about 35 Connecticut families claiming Nehantic descent incorporated as a nonprofit association, the Nehantic Tribe and Nation, established a three-person governing board, researched their history more fully, and began the petition process of seeking recognition from the Federal government as an Indian tribe.