Kitchawak (perhaps akin to
Chippewa Kichŭchǐwǐnk
'at the great niybtaub.' (W. Jones).
Apparently a band or small tribe, or, as Ruttenber
designates it, a "chieftaincy" of the Wappinger confederacy, formerly
residing on the east bank of the Hudson in what is now Westchester County,
N.Y. Their territory is believed to have extended from Croton river to
Anthony's Nose. Their principal village, Kitchawank, in 1650,
appears to have been about the mouth of the Croton, though one authority
(N.Y. Doc. Col. Hist., xiii, 24, 2882) locates it at Sleepy Hollow.
They also had a village at Peekskill which they called Sackhoes.
Their fort, or "castle," which stood at the mouth of Croton river, has
been represented as one of the most formidable and ancient of the Indian
fortresses south of the Highlands. Its exact situation, according to
Ruttenber, was at the neck of Teller's, called Senasqua. The
Kitchawank were a party to the treaty of peace made with the Dutch, Aug.
30, 1645.
Mattabesec (from massa-seguēs-et, 'at a [relatively] great rivulet
or brook. Trumbull). An important Algonquian tribe of Connecticut,
formerly occupying both banks of Connecticut river from Wethersfield to
Middletown or to the coast and extending westward indefinitely. The
Wongunk, Pyquaug, and Montowese Indians were a part of this tribe.
According to Ruttenber they were a part of the Wappinger, and perhaps
occupied the original territory front which colonies went out to overrun
the country as far as Hudson river. The same author says their
jurisdiction extended over all southwest Connecticut, including the
Mahackeno, Uncowa, Paugusset, Wepawaug, Quinnipiac, Montowese, Sukiang,
and Tunxis.
Manhattan ('the hill island,' or 'the
island of hills,' from manah 'island', -alin ` hill.'-Tooker). A tribe of
the Wappinger confederacy that occupied Manhattan island. and the east
bank of Hudson river and shore of Long Island spund, in Westchester
county, N. Y. Early Dutch writers applied the name also to people of
neighboring Wappinger tribes. The Manhattan had their principal village,
Nappeckamack, where Yonkers now stands, and their territory stretched to
Bronx river. From their fort, Nipinichsen, on the north bank of Spuyten
Duyvil creek, they sallied out in two canoes to attack Hendrik Hudson when
he returned down-the river in 1609. Manhattan island contained several
villages which they used only for hunting and fishing. One was Sapohanikan.
The island was bought from them by Peter Minuit on May 6, 1626, for 60
guilders' worth of trinkets (Martha J. Lamb, Hist. City of N. Y., 1, 53,
1877). Their other lands were disposed of by later sales.
See Ruttenber, Ind. Tribes Hudson R.. 77, 1872.
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Handbook of American Indians, 1906
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