012 INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES [eth.ann. 18 



were very large. It was adiiiitteil by good judges at the time, that they paid more 

 than the laud was worth, even alter tlie irai>rovenients were made ; aud hirge estates 

 were expended by some of the settlers iu buyiug laud at such prices as should pre- 

 vent any dissatisfaction among the natives. At the same time, they allowed them 

 the right of hunting and fishing on the ground they had sold, as freely as the Eng- 

 lish, and to dwell and cut wood on it for more than a century ; and required the 

 towns, by law, to reserve proper tracts for the Indians to cultivate. Laws were 

 made to protect them from in.iury and insult. 



As it is apparent from this statement, which is in accord witli the 

 earlier histories and original documents so far as preserved, that the 

 attempt to unravel the various purcha.ses would be au almost hopeless 

 undertaking, no effort to do this will be made here. All that is neces- 

 sary to the object of this article is that suflflcieut data be presented to 

 show clearly the policy adopted aud the practical treatment of the 

 Indians by the colonists in regard to their lands. 



The hrst attempt on the part of the people of Plymouth colony to 

 settle Conuecticvit was made iu 1633 by William Holmes, who fixed 

 upon the site of the present city of Windsor, but no buildings were 

 erected or permanent settlement made until the ground had been pur- 

 chased from the Indians. The extent of this i>urchase is not given. 

 The title, however, was not obtained from the Pequods, who had driven 

 the original owners from the territory and claimed it by conquest. 

 Holmes, probably aware of this fact, brought back the original owners, 

 and, having placed them again iu possession, ijurchased of them the 

 lands he wished to obtain. Tbis proceeding on his part greatly incensed 

 the Pequods and was one of the complaints on which they based their 

 subsequent war against the colonists. 



About the same time, or perhaps a little prior to the date that 

 Holmes fixed his trading post at Windsor, the Dutch of New York 

 made a purchase from Nepuquash, a Pequod sachem, of 20 acres at 

 Hartford. 



Macauley' says that, according to the author of "The Xew Nether- 

 lands," printed in Amsterdam in 1651, the Dutch, in 1632, jiurchased 

 from the natives the, lands on both sides of Connecticut river. How- 

 ever, as they failed to establish their claim to this region as against 

 the English, their purchases were disregarded by the latter. 



In order that a somewhat clearer idea may be given of the subsequent 

 purchases mentioned, Trumbull's statement ^ in regard to the location 

 of the different tribes of Connecticut at this early day is quoted : 



From the accounts giveu of the Connecticut Indian.s, they cannot be estimated at 

 less than twelve or sixteen thousand. They might possilily amount to twenty. 

 They could muster, at least, three or four thousand warriors. It was supposed, in 

 1633, that the liver Indians only could bring this number into the iield. These were 

 principally included within the ancient limits of Windsor, Hartford, Weathersfield, 

 and Middletown. Within the town of Windsor only, there were ten distinct tribes, 

 or sovereignties. About the year 1670, their bowmen were reckoned at two thousand. 



> History of Xew York (1829), vol. n, p. 304. 

 2 History of Connecticut (1818), vol. i, pp. 40-43. 



