APRIL 24, 1638

THE QUINNIPEAC GREET REVEREND JOHN DAVENPORT & SETTLERS 

When puritan minister Rev. John Davenport and merchant Theophilus Eaton led 500 followers from Boston to what would become New Haven, Connecticut, the Quinnipeacs, weakened by epidemics, welcomed them as military allies.  On November 24, 1638, the Quinnipiacs sachems signed a treaty whereby the eastern side of the harbor became a reserve for the Momauguin band, but ownership of the remaining lands was given to the English.  The Quinnipeacs traded with the colonists, taught them to build dams to catch fish, and served as guides and messengers.  War never broke out between the two sides, even during King Phillip’s War.  Yet, when the Indians found it difficult to maintain their way of life while planting crops solely inside their reservation, the town, in 1657, rejected Momauguin’s proposal to buy back land for planting.  Eventually, the remaining Quinnipeacs were forced to sell their lands.  By the 1760s, the last of the Quinnipiacs migrated to join the Tunxis Indians in Farmington. 

Sources:  Second Company Governor’s Foot Guard, A Souvenir Of New Haven, 1908.  Retrieved 2/21/2020, https://Books.Google.Com/Books?Id=6qowaaaayaaj&Printsec=Frontcover&Source=Gbs_Ge_Summary_R&Cad=0#V=Onepage&Q&F=False
“1638 - Colonists from Massachusetts Meet the Quinnipiac Indians,” The Society Of Colonial Wars In The State Of Connecticut.  Retrieved 2/17/2020, https://Www.Colonialwarsct.Org/1638_Quinnipiac_Indians.Htm
Map:  Nikater, 11/25/2008.  Tribal territories of Southern New England tribes about 1600.  Permissive Use.