Schaghticoke – “Gathered Waters”

Name:

• Schaghticoke First Nations is how the tribe refers to themselves today.

Language:

• They are a part of the Algonquian Linguistic Group, speaking an eastern dialect of Algonquin (Pishgachtigok)

Organization:

• The Schaghticoke are a part of Mohican tribe, like the Stockbridge Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indans.

• Mohicans – Consisted of 5 bands and 3 matrilineal clan lines

• Today, the Schaghticoke First Nations is governed by a Tribal Constitution and has established a separate 501c3 non-profit entity called Schaghticoke First Nations Inc.

Land:

• Prior to colonization, the Schaghticoke lived in southeastern New York and northwestern Connecticut

• Some of the lands on which they lived were taken as portions of the following Dutch Manors between 1620 and 1664:

  • Rensselaerwyck Manor

  • Livingston Manor

  • Cortlandt Manor

  • Philipsburg Manor

  • Morrisania Manor

• As well as lands taken as portions of English between 1664 and 1776:

  • Beekman Patent

  • Oblong Patent

  • Philipse Patent

• Post-colonization – Kent, CT

• Between 1675 and 1677, New York Governor Andros granted lands northeast of Albany, along the northwestern Connecticut border, as a refuge area

• A land parcel of 400 acres was granted to the Schaghticoke in 1736 by the General Assembly of Connecticut between the Housatonic River and Connecticut’s border with New York state

• After all of the previously-granted lands were taken, the Schaghticoke First Nations, Inc. purchased land in Columbia County, New York which they named Caskoak.

Contact Period

• The Schaghticoke first encountered Europeans in the early 1600s.

• They faced continual, forced, resettlement throughout the colonial period.

 

Schaghticoke Online Sources

The official website of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation (STN), a Native American Eastern Woodland Tribe rooted on land in present day Kent, Connecticut (Quinnehtukqut)
http://schaghticoke.com/

Schaghticoke First Nations: Working with Seven Generations into the Future in Mind
https://www.schaghticoke.info/

Schaghticoke First Nations History
https://www.schaghticoke.info/schaghticoke-history-1

“Founding Schaghticoke and Odanak” by Margaret Bruchac
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1146&context=anthro_papers

Schaghticoke First Nations. “Columbia Collaboration"
https://www.schaghticoke.info/columbia

Schaghticoke First Nations. “Schaghticoke Land Reclamation Project”
https://www.schaghticoke.info/conservation-sustainable-developmen

 

Bibliography

King, David C., The Indians of the Berkshires and the Hudson River Valley. Troy: The Troy Book Makers. 2014.

Trelease, William A., Indian Affairs in Colonial New York: The Seventeenth Century. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1997.

 

Schaghticoke Summary:

The purpose of this entry is to provide general information about the Schaghticoke tribe of the Hudson River Valley. This is an ongoing effort; HRVI will add and update these pages as often as possible based on additional research, access to new materials, and new scholarship. Readers are encouraged to learn more from the online resources, books and articles listed here.

The Schaghticoke prior to colonization lived in northwestern Connecticut, or Quinnehtukqut. They called themselves Pishgachtigok, meaning “gathered waters” or “mingling of waters.”  They speak an eastern dialect of Algonquin, which is in the same language group as the Munsee and the Wappinger tribes, and first encountered Europeans in the late 1600s.

An early clarification is necessary to understand the history of the Schaghticoke: the Schaghticoke First Nations differs from the refuge area of Schaghticoke, New York in Rensselaer County; however, throughout the process of colonization, the Schaghticoke were pushed off their original land towards the region of Schaghticoke, New York, which would become a haven for many different Native American tribes affected by European settlement.   The Dutch granted land and created manors between the 1620s and 1664; the development of Rensselaerwyck Manor, Livingston Manor, Cortlandt Manor, Philipsburg Manor, and Morrisania Manor all took portions of Schaghticoke lands. These manors were located along the Hudson River between Troy, New York south to the Bronx. The British later granted royal land patents on the east side of the river; the Beekman Patent, Oblong Patent, and Philipse Patents were created between 1664 and 1776 located in present day Columbia, Dutchess, and Putnam Counties.

After King Philip’s War, New York Governor Andros delegated an area in eastern New York on the Hoosic River as a refuge from war and from the colonists. Andros served as governor between 1674 to 1683, and at this time, “New York’s colonial leaders were already maneuvering with Mohican and Kanienkehaka leaders to purchase Schaghticoke lands for English settlement.” Andros was a businessman who wanted to expand the European settlements, so his creation of a refuge at Schaghticoke allotted land perceived as less desirable to Native Americans but close enough in proximity to be encourage trade and make the indigenous people dependent on European goods.  Eventually, Schaghticoke would grow to five- or six hundred people because the area became a haven for many displaced, indigenous people of various tribes.  Then Governor Benjamin Fletcher, who served as New York governor from 1692 to 1697, began to chip away at the land previously given to Native Americans.  However, for the next several hundred years, some of the Schaghticoke lived on the designated land and participated in trade while trying to maintain their identity.

The Schaghticoke began the process to be federally recognized in 1981 and formally filed in 1994. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Federal Acknowledgement approved the Schaghticoke on January 29, 2004, but rescinded their decision on Columbus Day the following year. They are still fighting for tribal recognition today.  Presently, the Schaghticoke live in Kent, Connecticut as colonization forced them off the New York lands which they had been granted.  In 2019, the Schaghticoke First Nations purchased seventy-three acres in Columbia County, New York, now called Caskoak, meaning “a safe place.” This significant achievement was the first part of the Schaghticoke Land Reclamation Project  and the second involves the development of an agro-food-forestry initiative.  Columbia University adjunct professor of architecture, Vanessa Keith, had her students design variations of a Schaghticoke community and conservation center to be constructed in the future.

The Schaghticoke First Nations is one-third of the “remaining Schaghticoke Tribes of the Eastern Woodlands Algonquin Language group Nations,” which is, “the only indigenous representative institution of Schaghticoke descendants based in the New York Hudson and Harlem Valley Regions.” Presently, Schaghticoke First Nations is governed by a Tribal Constitution and other social, economic, and political aspects are handled under a 501 c3 non-profit called Schaghticoke First Nations Inc.

 

-Jessica Mild, Marist '23