Vermont Abenaki History
A Brief History from Contact to Present Many years ago, when the French and English came
to Ndakinna (Our land), they sought to take control of our territories that Kci Niwaskw,
the Creator, had put up on since time began.
They did this for a variety of reasons. The fur
bearing animals of Old Europe had long since been hunted almost to extinction. Many of the tallest
trees in Europe had been cut down for houses and firewood and for the great ships that they depended
upon to make money.
So it was that Jacques Cartier and Samuel De Champlain came her from France and
had much contact with the Mi’kmaz in Labrador and Nova Scotia at first, then spread inland along the
rivers of Quebec and Maine. But the 1600’s, Champlain had established a trading house at Quebec City.
After 1620, the English began spreading inland from the coast at Plymouth, after finding the
territory of the Patuxets vacant from an epidemic. The Dutch had already previously sailed their ships
up the Hudson River, and begun a trade in furs with the Mahican and the Mohawk Peoples.
At first, there was trade between the European and First Nations People. Iron tools and weapons, copper kettles
and woolen cloth quickly became desirable. Beaver and deerskins became a commodity to be used to barter
for trade goods. But with contact, diseases like whooping cough, measles, influenza and plague made their
way among all Northeastern Indian villages, killing many of our Ancestral families.
It soon became apparent to our Speakers and Elders that we were not prepared for all of this.
Over time, the Aln8mbak in the interior of Ndakinna became caught up in bitter struggles with our neighbors of the
Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee, now known by many as “Iroquois’.
In particular, the Ganienkahaga (Mohawk) now invaded our lands to gain control of the lucrative fur trade. After the Dutch ceded
their control of New York to the English, Aln8bak now saw that the English waged total war upon the Pequot Nation.
After this, they turned their attention to forcing their Protestant Christianity upon all of the Indian Nations that were their
neighbors.
Guns began to be acquired by Indians from the French, and from English renegade traders
(it was against English law). The Wampanoag in Massachusetts had at first allied themselves with the
Plymouth Colony, under their leader, Massasoit. But by the time of his death, most of the Indian
People of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island had been placed under the boot of the English.
Now, our Brothers the Pennacook in northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire were being oppressed by
Ministers and by Militia on the Merrimac and at Lake Winnepesaukee.
On the long river of the Connecticut, a trading house was built at Springfield. Soon enough, the Sokoki, Pocumtuck,
Mahican and other ‘River Indians’ were finding that their ancestral lands were being invaded. The son of Massasoit,
Pometacomet (‘King Phillip’) did not like what he saw. The English realized that their continued control of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony was threatened, and provoked the Wampanoag leader into a fight. Pometacomet
sent wampum belts to all of the First Nations People to rise up and get rid of the English. This resulted
in what is now called ‘King Phillip’s War’ in 1675.
For two bloody years, an alliance of Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Narragansett, and many other smaller groups fought the
original ‘guerilla’ war against the English. Some Aln8bak warriors ended up becoming involved, after the massacre at
Peskeomskut let by William Turner. Women, children and Elders were fishing at the falls now known as Turner’s,
when they were beset upon by the English and massacred. Many Sokoki were among the dead, and our warriors
now sought revenge… Pometacomet sought aid from the Mohawk, but they refused him due to their commercial ties
with the English, and because they were getting ready to make war upon the Huron Nation. In 1677,
he was killed in a swamp in Rhode Island. His head was placed upon a pole outside the walls of Plymouth, where it stood
for twenty years. Information On Vermont Eugenics, Ndakinna Resources
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