In the mid-1760s what is now Putnam County became a literal and figurative battleground as Wappinger Indians, colonial tenant farmers, and Philipse family landlords fought over the past, present, and future of these lands. First Natives and their tenants combined forces to contend for their rights in New York courts. Losing that fight, they took separate paths. On the one hand, tenant farmers organized resistance against the landlords, unrest that during the summer of 1766 culminated in a firefight with British redcoats and a show trial of these “Mob Men” in Poughkeepsie. On the other, the Wappingers, led by Daniel Nimham, sailed to England to plead their case with British leaders. This controversy, long forgotten, has much to tell us about Natives and newcomers, about power and resistance, about connections between then and now.
Speaker Bio:
Jim Merrell is the Lucy Maynard Salmon Professor of History Emeritus at Vassar College. The author of a number of books and articles on the Native experience in early America, he is currently researching the land battles fought by Wappinger Indians and colonial tenant farmers against Hudson Valley landlords—including the Philipse family.
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