THE TOWN OF BEDFORD. 7 



worked in- dark violet beads — of two men, one somewhat the stouter, 

 wearing a hat ; the other rather thin, having an uncovered head. The 

 figures stand erect, with hands clasped — symbolic of the contract which 

 will always live in History as — 'Not sworn to, but never broken.' 



"The use of 'Quauhaug' in the form of a wampum belt was the most 

 solemn purpose to which the Indians devoted the precious shell. 



"For more than one hundred years after the settlement of New 

 Netherland and New England it served as a circulating medium in the 

 affairs of trade and was received with equal good faith by the Indians 

 and Whites. 



" Until within quite a recent period wampum was manufactured in 

 Suffolk County, Long Island. As late as the Summer of 1831, several 

 bushels were sent from Babylon to be used by the Indians of the West- 

 ern Territories for the purpose of conventions and treaties. Although 

 Quauhaug is technically a plural — custom and usage long established 

 and now sanctioned by the best writers have made it a singular word."* 



The great Indian settlement of this town was called " Nanichiesta- 

 wack," which occupied the southern spur of " Indian Hill," sometimes 

 called the "Indian Farm," and "Stony Point or Hill," stretching toward 

 the north-west. There is a most romantic approach to the site of moun- 

 tain fastness, by a steep, narrow, beaten track opposite the Stamford 

 cart path, as it was formerly denominated, which followed the old Indian 

 trail called the "Thoroughfare." There is a tradition current in the 

 neighborhood that the south side of this hill was the scene of a bloody 

 fight between the early settlers and the aboriginees. Mrs. Martha Holmes, 

 an aged inhabitant of Bedford, living in 1848, remembered as far back 

 as 1765 to have seen several mounds at the foot of this hill, a little south 

 of the old school house, which were pointed out to her as the graves of 

 those who fell in the conflict; while another tradition says that a stream 

 of blood ran down on the south side of the hill, and many bones were 

 afterwards interred there. The truth is that a bloody fight actually took 

 place here between a hundred and thirty Dutch troops, led by the re- 

 doubtable Capt. John Underhill (who had fought under Maurice of 

 Nassau, Prince of Orange, in the Low Countries), one full moonlight 

 night in February, 1644, and a tribe of the Sinaroys Indians, on which 

 occasion seven hundred of the latter perished amidst the flames and 

 surroundings of " Nanichiestazvack."\ 



It appears that "the campaign of 1644 was opened by an expedition 



*An " Indian Talk " about Quahaug and Wampum, by Reuhkwehhehnwen, New Rocnelle. 

 July 13, 1S60. Taken from New Rochelle Pioneer, July 15, 1865. 



tSome say the village of " Petuguepaen." 



