BULL. 30] 



WAMDITANKA WAMPANOAG 



903 



Black Eagle ['s band]. — Flandrau in Minn. Hist. 

 Coll., 111,387,1880. Ink-pa-du-ta['8 band].— Ibid. 

 Ink-pah-doo-ta band. — Hatch in H. R. Misc. Doc. 

 167, 44th Cong., 1st sess., 424, 1876. Wam-di-sapa's 

 people. — Flandrau, op. cit. 



Wamditanka ('Great war eagle'). A 

 chief of one of the bands of Mdewakanton 

 Sioux at the time of the Sioux uprising 

 in 1862; commonly called Big Eagle, and 

 sometimes known as Jerome Big Eagle. 

 According to his personal narrative, re- 

 corded by R. L. Holcombe (Minn. Hist. 

 Soc. Coll., _ VI, pt. 3, 382-400, 1894), he 

 was born in 1827 at the Indian village 

 near the site of Mendota, Dakota co., 

 Minn., and on the death of his father, 

 Gray Iron, succeeded' him as chief. In 

 his youth he often went with war parties 

 against the Chippewa and other enemies 

 of his tribe, and on occasion wore a head- 

 dress with six feathers representing as 

 many Chippewa scalps taken by him. 

 Although Wamditanka took part with 

 the Sioux in the uprising of 1862, he 

 claims that he did not participate in the 

 massacres of the settlers, but even used 

 his influence, in some instances, to save 

 from death both whites and converted 

 mixed-bloods. The evidence shows this 

 claim to be substantially correct, and 

 that he was perhaps pressed into the war 

 by his people. At this time his village 

 was on Crow cr., in McLeod co., Minn. 

 His band consisted of about 150 to 200 

 persons, including about 40 warriors. 

 Soon after the battle of Birch Coolie, 

 Minn., in 1862, Wamditanka and his 

 band, with others, surrendered to Gen. 

 Sibley. He was tried, convicted, and 

 sentenced to three years imprisonment, 

 part of the time at Davenport, Iowa, the 

 remainder at Rock Island, 111. After his 

 discharge he was converted to Christi- 

 anity. He was twice married; his second 

 wife was still alive in 1894, at which time 

 his home was at Granite Falls, Yellow 

 Medicine co., Minn. He visited Wash- 

 ington with a delegation of his tribe in 

 1858, and was one of the signers of the 

 treaty with the Sioux negotiated June 19 

 of that year. (c. t. ) 



Wamesit. An important tribe of the 

 Pennacook confederacy, occupying the s. 

 bank of Merrimac r. below the mouth 

 of Concord r., Mass. In King Philip's 

 war of 1675 they suffered severely and 

 decreased so greatly that in 1686 they 

 sold their territory and probably joined 

 the other Pennacook at St Francis in 

 Canada. 



Facotucketts. — Sanford, U. S., cxxxix, 1819. Paw- 

 tucketts.— Farmer in N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll., I, 219, 

 1824. Wambesitts.— Kidder in Me. Hist. Soc. Coll., 

 VI, 236, 1859. 



Wamesit. The village of the Wamesit, 

 situated near the present Lowell, Mass. It 

 was the gathering place of the confeder- 

 acy during the fishing season; hence the 

 name. It was one of the Praying towns 



before the outbreak of King Philip's war 

 in 1675. 



Pautuket.— Eliot (1651) in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 

 3d s., IV, 123, 1834 (from pautuk, 'falls'). Paw- 

 tucket.— Eliot (1651), ibid., 168. Pawtukett.— 

 Gookin {ca. 1674) quoted by Vater, Mith., pt. 3, 

 sec. 3, 377, 1816. Wagmesset.— Writer of 1676 

 quoted by Drake, Ind. Chron., 126, 1836. Wama- 

 sit— Salisbury (1678) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., .\iii, 

 526, 1881. Wameset.— Record of 1676 in N. H. Hist. 

 Soc. Coll., in, 99, 1832. "Wamesit.— Gookin (1674) 

 in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1st s., i, 163, 1806. Wam- 

 meset.— Hubbard (1680), ibid., 2d s., v, 32, 1815. 

 "Wamesut. — Tooker in Am. Anthr., x, 285, 1897. 

 Waymessiok,— Deed of 1686 in Mass. Hist. Soc. 

 Coll., Ists., VI, 278, 1800. 



Wammikan. A raft of hewed logs, upon 

 which is constructed a chanty, provided 

 with cooking and sleeping arrangements. 

 See Wanigan, of which the word is a cor- 

 ruption, (w. R. G.) 



Wamnughaoin ('sliell ear pendant'). 

 A band of the Sihasapa or Blackfoot 

 Sioux. 



"Wamnuga-oig.- Dorsey in 15th Rep. B. A. E., 219, 

 1897. ■Wanmuxa-oi".— Ibid. 



Wampampeag. See Wampum. 



"Wampanoag ('eastern people'). One 

 of the principal tribes of New England. 

 Their proper territory appears to have 

 been the peninsula on the e. shore of Xar- 

 ragansett bay now included in Bristol co., 

 R. I., and the adjacent parts in Bristol 

 CO., Mass. The Wampanoag chiefs ruled 

 all the country extending e. from Narra- 

 gansett bay and Pawtucketr. to the Atlan- 

 tic coast, including the islands of Nan- 

 tucket and Martha's Vineyard. Rhode 

 Island in the bay was also at one time 

 the property of this tribe, but was con- 

 quered from them by the Narraganset, 

 who occupied the w. shore of the bay. 

 On the N. their territory bordered that of 

 the tribes of the Massachuset confed- 

 eracy. The Nauset of Cape Cod and the 

 Saconnet near Com pton, R. I., although 

 belonging to the group, seem to have 

 been in a measure independent. Gos- 

 nold visited Martha's Vineyard in 1602 

 and "trafficked amicably with the na- 

 tives. ' ' Other explorers, before the land- 

 ing of the Pilgrims, vi.«ited the region 

 and provoked the natives by ill treat- 

 ment. Champlain found those of C. Cod 

 unfriendly, probably on account of pre- 

 vious ill treatment, and had an encounter 

 with them. When the English settled 

 at Plymouth in 1620 the Wampanoag 

 were said to have about ,30 villages, 

 and must have been much stronger 

 before the great pestilence of 1617 nearly 

 depopulated the southern New England 

 coast. Their chief was Massa.*i>it, who 

 mad^ a treaty of friendship with the 

 colonists, which he faithfully observed 

 until his death, when he was succeeded 

 by his son, known to the English as 

 King Philip. The bad treatment of the 

 whites and their encroachment upon the 

 lands of the Indians led this chief, then 

 at the head of 500 warriors of his own 



