1

Matt Kushi

Native American Studies

The Pioneer Valley Native Americans

The Sons and Daughters of the Connecticut River Valley

and Their Understanding of the Land

"We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not

know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it

are soon worn out and gone."1 Throughout the course of history, many battles and arguments

have been instigated by the land that we stand on and its uses. The quote above is from a

member of one of the races that was involved in the primary, and most widespread, land dispute

on continental North America – the Native Americans.

The man who spoke this line was a man named Canassatego, leader of the Iroquois

Nations in 1744.2 This line was part of a speech that he was giving to a Native American-British

Assembly in Philadelphia. Though the United States had yet to be founded and the start of the

American “manifest destiny”3 was nearly 60 years in the future with the expeditions of Lewis

and Clark, Europeans had already started to displace and disrupt the lives of the Native

Americans nearly as soon as they had landed on the new land more than 100 years before.

What I would like to focus on is not so much the context in which Cannastego was

speaking but, rather, what he said. One thought that sticks out in this statement is where

Cannastego states. “The white people think we do not know their value…” This shows a

common misconception in the Native American‟s understanding of the land on which they lived.

1 http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/quotes.html (accessed 12/16/09)

2 http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi709.htm (Accessed 12/16/09)

3 Lecture Notes (Professor Richardson, UMass; Westward American Expansion)

2

There are often two generalizations made about Native Americans concerning the knowledge of

land. The first is that the Native Americans had no knowledge of the land; they merely lived on

it. The second is that the Native Americans only understood the physical nature of the land; as in

how to use it to best suit their needs. Both of these are false statements. First, all Native

American tribes had different cultures and therefore different levels of needs concerning the land

on which they lived. Second, there is proof that the Native Americans of the early colonial era

were, in fact, as knowledgeable about the land as the Europeans that invaded their lands. Another

generalization is that all Native Americans had the same concept of land value. This is a mindset

I also believe to be false as there are discrepancies in the theory of land sales between 17th

century northeastern Native Americans and the 19th

century Plains tribes. Overall, the point that I

will prove in this paper is that the Native Americans of the New England region had a full range

of knowledge concerning the value of land, both physically and financially. In order to do so, I

will be using the tribes of the northeastern United States and the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts

as the main examples.

The first aspect of how the Native Americans understood land value will be from the

physical perspective. What I mean by the “physical” perspective is the functionality of the land.

If Native Americans are given credit for being knowledgeable about land value in any manner,

this is the aspect that they are often given credit for. Yes, it is true that Native Americans

understood the function of the land on which they lived. The understanding of the environment

that the Native Americans had has been quoted from history book to popular media throughout

the years. However, unlike the movies of the 1950‟s, there was no one set way of understanding

the function of the land. This differed from tribe to tribe. Therefore, when studying how the

Pioneer Valley Native Americans understood the function of the land on which they lived, one

3

cannot look at the Plains Native Americans and say that the Plains tribes had the same physical

land value that the New England tribes had. No, one must look at who the Native Americans of

the Pioneer Valley were. How did they fit into the New England landscape of other Native

American tribes?

To answer this question, let us look at the root of the problem. Who were the Native

Americans of the Pioneer Valley? In the Pioneer Valley, the tribes consisted of the Norwottuck

(Nonotuck) in the present day Hadley and Northampton region. There were the Woronoco and

the Agawam to the south in the present day Springfield and Agawam region. Then were the

Pocumtuck, the Valley‟s most powerful tribe, in Deerfield. They were surrounded by the

Mohican and Mohawk tribes of the Iroquois nation in present day New York and the Pennacook

and the Abenaki to the north in present day New Hampshire and Canada.4 The specific tribe that

I would like to focus on is that of the Norwottuck in Hadley and Northampton and, later, the

Pocumtuck of Deerfield.

Who were the Norwottuck? We know that they were one of the tribes that called the

shores of the Connecticut River home and that they were connected with the Pocumtuck tribe.

But who were they? One source that will help us find this out is a book by the late Mary Lou

Brockett Cutter of Hatfield, titled Life beside the Connecticut River: A Children‟s History of

Hadley, Massachusetts. While the book is slightly outdated and written for children, it provides

one interesting piece of information. This book states that the Norwottuck tribe was a member of

the larger tribe called the Nipmuc. The Nipmuc were a group of people that were under the

Algonquian family due to the language that they spoke.5

4 Pocumtuck: A Native Homeland, Historic Deerfield brochure

5 Brockett Cutter, Mary Lou Life Beside The Connecticut River: A Children’s History of Hadley, Massachusetts.,

4

So who were the Nipmuc? The Nipmuc tribes occupied regions in the interior part of

present day Massachusetts. The Nipmuc settled their villages and smaller tribes along streams

and rivers, leading the name that the Nipmuc call themselves – the Nipamaug. Nipamaug means

“Freshwater Fishing Place.”6 During the time of the 17

th century, the interior of portion of

Massachusetts was heavily wooded, much as it still remains today. Therefore, the Nipmuc were

not a war based tribe or roaming tribes like those of the plain. According to the book Scholastic

Encyclopedia of the North American Indian7 by James Ciment and Ronald LaFrance, the

Nipmuc were hunters, fishers and farmers. The Nipmuc defended their land when it was

necessary but were mainly an agriculturally based tribe.

So what happened to the Nipmuc tribes in the Pioneer Valley? What happened to the

Norwottuck and the Pocumtuck? Why did these tribes disappear in the 1670‟s? One can assume,

somewhat correctly, that this is when Europeans really started to settle the Pioneer Valley. As

will be discussed later on in this paper, the Native Americans encouraged Europeans to move

into the Pioneer Valley. What else could have happened? One has to only look in a history book

to find an event that happened in the 1670‟s – King Philip‟s War. What was King Philip‟s war

and how did it affect the Native American tribes of the Pioneer Valley?

To explain King Philip‟s War, I would like to quote two sources. One being a previous

observation that I typed and handed in to Professor Nash, my sponsor for this Independent study.

The other source being Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian by James Ciment

and Ronald LaFrance, which I referenced earlier. To explain the context of King Philip‟s war, I

pg. 23

6 Ciment, James and LaFrance, Ronald. Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian, pg.120

7 Ibid.

5

shall quote the above mentioned book. “In 1675, Wampanoag [powerful New England tribe

located in present day Eastern Massachusetts; known most for helping the Pilgrims in 1620 at

Plymouth] Chief Metacomet [named „King Philip‟ by Europeans] resisted Puritan land seizures

and taxes. His 500 warriors were joined by 20,000 men from neighboring tribes [including the]

Nipmuc.”8

To explain how King Philip‟s War eventually affected the Pioneer Valley and the series

of events that took place as a result of it, I will reference a speech that I attended on October 24,

2009 explaining Native American life in the Pioneer Valley. The man who gave this speech was

named Allan Zuchowski, a Hadley resident who studies history. This was part of Hadley‟s

history weekend as the Town of Hadley was celebrating its 350th

anniversary in 2009. I

described what Mr. Zuchowski had to say on the matter of King Philip‟s War in an observational

paper to Professor Nash.

The following is what I wrote in this paper concerning Mr. Zuchowski‟s speech. “This

[Metacomet‟s rebellion] worked its way westward to the Valley [as the Nipmuc were allies of

Metacomet and the Wampanoag]. English militia was dispatched to the Valley to make sure that

nothing went wrong. This is where it gets confusing. As Mr. Zuchowski pointed out, while the

Valley and New England tribes were generally agriculturally based and have been given the

image of “peaceful”, they were really no different than other Algonquin tribes. While they were

not always on the war path, they did fight fairly often. There was a complex alliance issue that

got more complicated with the addition of white settlers. The New England tribes hated the

Mohawks, who were known for their brutality. So, therefore, many raids were set up against the

Mohawks. However, at one point, the Mohicans were also an enemy so there was a temporary

8 Ciment, James and LaFrance, Ronald. Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian, pg.193

6

alliance with the Mohawks to down the Mohicans. On top of all of this, some of the Connecticut

tribes hated the Massachusetts tribes.

This made the King Phillip‟s War debacle even more complex [as there were many

political connections weaved throughout]. The English didn‟t know who to work with. The New

England tribes were rowdy, drunk with the idea of rebellion. The Connecticut tribes convinced

the English to disarm the Massachusetts tribes in the Valley. This went against the grain of the

Massachusetts tribes and they refused initially but relented. However, they got their weapons

back and said that they could not surrender their weapons again until their hunters returned [from

their hunting journey].

So the English waited but got impatient and shouted across the river, as the English were

in the Honey Pot [region] at Hadley and the Native Americans were at a fort located on an

embankment on the Northampton/Hatfield bank across from the [Hadley] river dike, and

demanded a surrender of arms. The Native Americans [would hear none of it]. Later that night

they fled to the north to meet up, presumably with the Pocumtuck. The English, led by Captains

Beer and Lathrop took off in pursuit. The tribe ambushed them at a swamp in Whately and a

series of battles followed as the chase went further north, and through Deerfield (Bloody Brook

Battle). This effectively ended Native American inhabitants in the Valley.”9

These resources above explain how the Norwottuck lived, who they were a part of, who

they worked with and how they left. Yet another aspect of their lives, which will be explored in

greater detail later, entails their interaction with Europeans and the reasons why they would sell

of their land to the Europeans. In order to understand the Norwottuck and Pocumtuck tribes

better, one has to be able to step outside the boundaries of their own mind and put themselves

9 Allan Zuchowski Speech, Native American Observation Report #3, Matt Kushi

7

into the Native American‟s shoes. One has to explore the environment that these people lived in

in order to understand how the physical knowledge that they had of the land.

Now that we have established the background and context of whom the Nipmuc were and

how they left the Pioneer Valley, it is time to explore the environment that they lived in during

the 17th

century. Since one cannot board a time machine and go back to this era, the best that one

can do is find the approximate landmarks of where historians believed certain events or villages

to have stood and explore the areas surrounding these landmarks. This was the course that I

chose to follow in order to better understand how the Nipmuc may have understood the land and

its function; its physical aspect. The following resources will concern the field research, as

explained above, that I conducted.

A resource that held many of the primary and secondary resources that I relied upon for

my research was held in the book Standing On History: Deerfield – Northampton – Hadley –

Hatfield – Northfield – Springfield & the Valley Indians by David Graci. One of the main

resources that I relied on to aid me in my field research was a fold-out map held in the front of

the book.10

This map provided a series of approximate locations of Native American villages and

fishing spots. Other text and maps guided me to the approximate locations of the battles in

Hatfield and Whately during the Native American‟s northerly retreat during King Philip‟s War.11

Yet another map, and section of text, gave me a detailed guide as to the approximate location of

Bloody Brook Battle in South Deerfield and a subsequent skirmish at the popular fishing spot at

10

Graci, David. Standing On History: Deerfield – Northampton – Hadley – Hatfield – Northfield – Springfield & the

Valley Indians, fold-out map.

11 Ibid, pps.92-106

8

Turners Falls.12

With these guides to the approximate locations of the locations and locations of

the battles of the Native American retreat during King Philip‟s War, I attempted to match them

up with current road maps to give myself a clear idea as to where to go to look over the land

where these landmarks would be. It must also be noted that these landmarks and events over the

land of the Pioneer Valley existed and took place some 330 years ago and more. The land likely

looked much different than it does now. The terrain was likely somewhat different in some areas

as well. Therefore, when I went to explore some of these locations, it was very likely altered

from that condition that it had been in 330 years ago. That being said, some of the general

environment such as locations of mountains, probably remained relatively the same.

The first piece of field research that I decided to conduct was to explore the Town of

Hadley. Being a Hadley resident, this was not too challenging. When I matched up the landmark

maps with road maps, I was familiar with much of the land that I would be exploring. The first

segment of land I explored was the alleged location of a small village within the Norwottuck

tribe led by one of the Norwottuck‟s sachem‟s named QuontQuont. Though he likely held

villages in various locations, one of his settlements was supposedly in present day North

Hadley.13

The reason we know this is from a land deed that was signed by QuontQuont

concerning a sale of land that describes this parcel of land. This land deed was reproduced in the

book Cultivating the Past: Essays on the History of Hadley, Massachusetts as edited by Marla R.

Miller. One of the articles within this book is written by Professor Nash, entitled QuontQuont’s

Mortgage of 1663. The fact that the Native Americans were involved in land transactions will be

12

Graci, David. Standing On History: Deerfield – Northampton – Hadley – Hatfield – Northfield – Springfield & the

Valley Indians, pps. 102-116

13 Ibid, fold-out map and pg. 70

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visited later in the paper and documents like these will help prove my theses. In this land deed,

the land described as QuontQuont‟s is described as a “parcel of land…thus bonded lying against

the great river westerly lying against a hill that is Hadlies men somewhat like a half moon

easterly running into a river called by the Indians „Won nac eag comasuck northerly lying

against a piece of meadow southerly.”14

This parcel of land, when I thought about it, sounded familiar. After searching the

Standing on History map that I have previously referenced, I discovered that the approximate

location of QuontQuont‟s fort and the area described in the land deed, were indeed the location I

had thought. The area, in its present state, is

now known unofficially as the North Hadley

sandbar. It is where the Connecticut River

narrows slightly, forming a sandbar. These

are ideal points for fording and fishing. What

advantages did QuontQuont‟s people have

l

living here? As one can see by standing on the land

and looking at the maps, the land provides security. It

is in a place where the soil is fertile, the fish run by

this location, the river is shallow enough to walk into

it but deep enough for transportation, and sheltered

enough so that an enemy attack would be difficult.

14

QuontQuont Land Deed; Nash, Alice. QuontQuont’s Mortgage of 1663; Miller, Marla R., Cultivating the Past:

Essays On the History of Hadley, Massachusetts, pps. 26-28

10

Since fortifications are usually located on a small hill, for better protection and visibility, one can

only speculate that perhaps this land that is now farmland was slightly more elevated 330 years

ago. This would have been the ideal location for a village as the “half moon shape” meant that

the river, as it does today, bends at this point in a half moon formation.

This would give a village protection on 3 of 4 sides. The fourth side, the back, would have been

protected by the hill that is now called Mount Warner. The pictures and map provided detail this

and they are similar to those found in the Standing on History book.

11

After concluding the exploration of the region of QuontQuont‟s fort, I moved to other

Hadley location. In the following map, the notable locations are circled and labeled.

There are a couple of notable locations on this map. The first, within the Town of Hadley,

would be the fishing spot located north of the Honey Pot. While this location may not seem

significant, it is in an underlying way. It is not so much important in the fact of where it is but,

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rather, in the function that it served. This

fishing spot is located on part of what is

now Klimoski Farm. While the land has

almost certainly changed, in the spot where

this fishing spot was located is a small

stream cut as one can see in the pictures

showing a stream river bed. This is an

example, no matter how of one it is, of

how the Norwottuck knew the function

of the land. They used the fresh water

streams, along with the river, as a food

source with their fishing.

There is a similar river bed cut,

along with the narrowing of the

Connecticut River, at a location south

of the Honey Pot. This location, circled

on the map but not shown here as a picture, is located at the end of present day South Middle

Street.

The remaining three locations circled on this map are three quite important locations. As

mentioned, agriculture was one of the Norwottuck‟s main past times. If one stands on the Hadley

River Dike and looks across the Connecticut River towards the Northampton and Hatfield

border, they will see two sets of farmland. This is not uncommon, as farming is as much a part of

the Pioneer Valley in today‟s era as it was over 300 years ago, but the significance of this

13

location is that these sets of farm fields

were one of the primary farming

segments for the Norwottuck. Yet again,

this shows an example of Native

Americans knowing the function of the

land they live on. To understand this,

one must look at the location of these

parcels of farm land. Much like farm

land in the current Pioneer Valley, much of the agricultural fields were located by the river.

Why? In modern times we understand that we plant near water as the soil is more fertile due to

its exposure to water due to its proximity. The Native Americans understood this same fact more

than 300 years ago. They knew that they were not suited to be roaming hunters alone. They lived

among forests where numerous small game lived. However, this small game was likely not

enough to suffice their needs so they took to growing their produce to complement their hunting

and fishing.

While one is walking down the Hadley River Dike, they are walking through the part of

Hadley that is known as the Honey Pot. As we read from what happened during King Philip‟s

War, we know that the Honey Pot is an important geological location. It is from these shores

where an English militiaman stood on the banks of the Honey Pot and yelled across the river to

the Native Americans in their fort in Northampton. The location of this fort is located just north

of the present day Calvin Coolidge Memorial Bridge. Just slightly up river from the bridge, the

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Connecticut River narrows as the river rounds into a half moon shape.

This picture is of the approximate area, on the Northampton side of the river, where the

fortification would have been located.

Before we continue the journey that the Native Americans took on their retreat north

during the course of King Philip‟s War, let‟s look at the settlement in Deerfield of the

Pocumtuck. The Pocumtuck were very similar to the Norwottuck except that they were a more

powerful and notorious tribe. They sold land to the Europeans and traded with them. The

Pocumtuck people were hunters, farmers, and fishermen like their brothers down the river.

15

The only

difference was that the

Pocumtuck did not live

upon the Connecticut

River. Rather, they lived

along the Deerfield

River, more towards the

mountains. The

Pocumtuck had the

Sugarloaf Mountain

range to their south and the Pocumtuck Mountain range to their rear. The Deerfield River

provided them with them with fish and supplied their fields with vital nutrients. The Pocumtuck

tribe was noted as the most powerful of the Valley tribes and had the most interaction with the

volatile Mohawk tribe. The Pocumtuck and Mohawk had attempted peace once but ended up

going to war with each other as a Mohawk sachem, Saheda, was killed at the peace treaty. Due to

this breach of trust, the Mohawk attacked Pocumtuck with great force, nearly wiping the tribe

out. The few that survived lived in the Pocumtuck region, with some going to Norwottuck. The

Pocumtuck tribe left along with the other Nipmuc tribes during the retreat north during King

Philip‟s War.15

So what was this retreat north during King Philip‟s War? We know what it was due to

Allan Zuchowski‟s speech and the information given in Standing on History that I have

referenced in previous pages. But what was the course taken. Fortunately, the approximate

15

Pocumtuck: A Native Homeland, Historic Deerfield brochure

16

locations of the battles that were fought on this retreat

north are in local areas such as Hatfield, Whately and

South Deerfield. The maps to the left and below details

the points of interests that were explored. kj

The battle at the Ravine in northern Hatfield

was the first battle to take place. While approximate

location of the battle is hard to get to on Chestnut Plain

Road, one can look over the property that the ravine is

within the boundaries of. When one looks over this

property, they will see a small hill behind them, as this

is the border of the Valley and a small ridge to their

front. This is the approximate location where the

Native Americans first ambushed the English militia.

This photo is located below.

The second battle took place in a swampy ravine in

Whately, just a few miles north of the ravine battle. This is located about 1.5 miles north from

the ravine battle at the intersection of Chestnut Plain Road and Christian Lane. A photo of this

approximate battle

location is located on the

next page. There is another

location about a .5 mile

east of this location that

17

also entails a swamp that could have been the battle location. Since there is not much

documentation of these events, finding the correct location can be a challenge.

The third stop, and the most infamous one, on the King Philip‟s War retreat was the battle

of Bloody Brook in South Deerfield. At this location, shown below, men under the command of

Captain Beer and Lathrop were near a brook that runs through the center of present day South

Deerfield.

These men were ambushed by Native Americans and essentially slaughtered. Among the

casualties was Captain Lathrop. Shown on the next page is a memorial honoring those dead.

18

So what can we conclude from all of this? What we can conclude is that Native

Americans in the Pioneer Valley had a full understanding of the physical value of the land in

which they inhabited. The Norwottuck and Pocumtuck tribes prove that the Native Americans of

this region were adept at working with their environment. They were agricultural societies that

went to war when it was necessary. By looking at the land that they inhabited and its proximity

to major geological features, such as rivers, one can see that they utilized the land well. What

looking at the course of the King Philip‟s War retreat shows is that the Native Americans knew

how to adapt to their surroundings. Military logic was not lost on them. The Native Americans

took the most efficient path north. One that they knew well from their traveling paths, as the map

in Standing on History shows.16

They then knew that the English would follow, so they waited in

16

Graci, David. Standing On History: Deerfield – Northampton – Hadley – Hatfield – Northfield – Springfield & the

Valley Indians, fold-out map.

19

wooded ravines and swamps, where they would be concealed, and waited to ambush the English.

At this time, the English were formed in what would become known as Napoleonic warfare.17

The Native Americans used what is now known as “guerilla warfare”; hit and run tactics. In

essence, the Native Americans conducted an orderly retreat. This strategy cannot be successful

unless the inhabitant knows how to utilize the land and knows its functional value, which the

Native Americans of the Pioneer Valley knew very well.

The other aspect of land value knowledge that is in dispute is how well Native

American‟s understood the actual value of land. If America‟s past is to serve as any marker, the

generalization that this country tends to make is that, no, Native Americans did not understand

land values. While I do give this latter argument some credibility, I would ultimately have to

disagree with this position. What I learned at the beginning of this project, and what the

American public should learn, is that this answer varies from tribe to tribe. Whereas one can

argue, much like I will, that Native Americans understand the value of land financially and

politically, one can also argue that they do not. That is because we are talking about different

people. The tribes of New England in the 17th

century may have understood land transactions

whereas the Plains tribes of the 19th

century did not. Consider these quotes from Santana, a

Kiowa Chief on the Plains in the 19th

century. “I love this land and the buffalo and will not part

with it…” and “I don't want to settle. I love to roam over the prairies. There I feel free and

happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.”18

As one can see by these quotes, the

Plains tribes did not want to give up their land. Therefore, when they were given corrupt treaties

and kicked off of their land or they made a bargain that they did not know the consequences of

17

Lecture Notes (Professor Richards, UMass, American Development to 1876)

18 http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/quotes.html (Accessed 12/19/09)

20

because they had been tricked, they cried foul. The New England tribes of the 17th

century

willingly traded their land. There lies the great difference.

What I say here will show that the New England tribes knew the value of land in terms of

financial and political terms. Why did the Native Americans in this region willingly sell their

land to Europeans? For political and financial reasons. They sold their lands for the very reasons

that history tells us they did not understand. The tribes sold their land mainly for political

purposes with the financial aspect being the formality or for supplies.

There are a few examples I will give. First, we have QuontQuont‟s land deed. In

Professor Nash‟s article, it states that we do not know the true reasons behind the land deed.

However, we can speculate. It is stated that it was a common practice for Native Americans to

loan their land to the Europeans and the Europeans would take care of the finances. The Native

Americans would have parts of their land loaned back to them for a fee. Therefore, the Native

Americans had sold the land and its assets to the Europeans but had retained the rights to use the

land for a fee. In this case, due to an infraction or tax, QuontQuont was paying a debt to the

Europeans for the land. 19

One must also remember that, as stated earlier in this paper, that King

Philip‟s War started due to Metacomet not wanting to be taxed anymore. King Philip‟s War was

not only a war about oppression of a race, but it was a war over land transactions and land value

as well.

Yet another example is the very case of how Western Massachusetts was settled. John

Pynchon20

, the European man responsible for establishing a trading post in Agawam and

19

QuontQuont Land Deed; Nash, Alice. QuontQuont’s Mortgage of 1663; Miller, Marla R., Cultivating the Past:

Essays On the History of Hadley, Massachusetts

20 Graci, David. John Pynchon – Early Settlements in Massachusetts ,Standing On History: Deerfield – Northampton

– Hadley – Hatfield – Northfield – Springfield & the Valley Indians, pps. 8-11

21

purchasing land deeds all along the Connecticut River in the 17th

century, did not just purchase

this land. The Native Americans had to agree to sell it. Why did they agree to sell it? For

political reasons. As Standing on History and Allan Zuchowski‟s speech stated, the Native

Americans thought with a savvy political mind.21

They knew which tribes were their allies and

which were there enemies. They knew how to form alliances in order to defeat an enemy. These

tribes knew who their enemies allied with. These tribes also knew that they would add more

power to their side if they could get a powerful European nation to side with them. This put a

buffer between them and their enemies. It was kind of like buying a security plan. A tribe would

ensure that they would get the trade benefits of a European nation while making their numbers

stronger in the case that they were attacked. This was one of the main reasons why there were

Native American land deeds.22

This is shown particularly well in Emerson Baker‟s 1989 Ethno

History article titled A Scratch with a Bear‟s Paw. This article talks about the same exact

situation as above, except it outlines tribes in Maine around present day York, Maine.23

So what does this show? It shows that, at least in New England during the 17th

century,

that Native Americans understood the concept of land transactions. This disproves the

generalization that all Native Americans were naïve to the idea of land transactions. While

certainly some were later on in the course of history, the New England Native Americans were

not. They may not have understood the European intentions at first, but they understood the

concept of land transactions very well, whether it be trading goods for sharing the land as they

21

Graci, David. Standing On History: Deerfield – Northampton – Hadley – Hatfield – Northfield – Springfield & the

Valley Indians

22 Allan Zuchowski Speech, Native American Observation Report #3, Matt Kushi

23 Baker, Emerson. A Scratch With A Bear’s Paw ,Ethno History

22

had done amongst themselves and eventually with the Europeans or selling the land for political

purposes as they did with the Europeans. What these arguments shows, throughout this whole

paper, is that the Native Americans of New England understood the concept of land value both

physically and financially/politically. This shows that the generalization that all Native

Americans were naïve to the value of land is false.

In conclusion, it can be stated that Native Americans, at least the tribes in New England

and the Pioneer Valley, understood more than the physical value of land. The Native Americans

understood the value of land financially and politically as well. What these arguments show,

throughout this whole paper, is that the Native Americans of New England understood the

concept of land value both physically and financially/politically. This shows that the

generalization that all Native Americans were naïve to the value of land is false. It can also be

said that the concept of land value for the New England tribes deeply differed with the concept

of land value held by the Midwest tribes during the 19th

century. Overall, the Native Americans

of New England understood more than many people give them credit for.

23

References

Graci, David. Standing on History: Deerfield – Northampton- Hadley –Hatfield – Northfield –

Springfield & The Valley Indians, Class A Graphics, 380 Union St. 32C, West Sprringfield, MA

01080, 2006

Ciment, James and LaFrance, Ronald. Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian,

Scholastic, Inc., New York, NY, 1996

Cutter Brockett, Mary Lou. Life Beside The Connecticut River: A Children‟s History of Hadley,

Massachusetts, Hatfield, MA, 1980;1990

Pocumtuck: A Native Homeland ,Old Historic Deerfield Brochure, 2009

QuontQuont Land Deed; Nash, Alice. QuontQuont‟s Mortgage of 1663; Miller, Marla R.,

Cultivating the Past: Essays On the History of Hadley, Massachusetts

Thomas, Peter Allen. In The Maelstrom of Change. The Indian and Cultural Process in the

Middle Connecticut River Valley: 1635-1665, Doctoral Thesis Dissertion, University of

Massachusetts-Amherst, 1979

Baker, Emerson. A Scratch With A Bear‟s Paw ,Ethno History, 1989

Microforms (University of Massachusetts-Amherst Library): Hampshire County Probate – 17c

And Massachusetts Archives – Vol. 30

Allan Zuchowski Speech, Native American Observation Report #3, Matt Kushi

Lecture Notes (Professor Richardson, UMass; Westward American Expansion)

Lecture Notes (Professor Richards, UMass; American Development to 1876)

Google Maps

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/quotes.html

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi709.htm Photos taken by Matthew Kushi during field research