Montauk (meaning uncertain). A
term that has been used in different senses, sometimes limited to
the particular hand or tribe known by this name, but in a broader
sense including most of the tribes of Long Island, excepting those
about the west end. It is occasionally used incorrectly as
equivalent to Metoac.
The Indians of Long Island were closely related to the
Indians of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Tooker (Cockenoe-deLong
Island, 1596) says that the dialect of the Montauk was more nearly
related to the Natick of Massachusetts than was
the Narraganset.
The Montauk, in the limited sense, formerly occupied
Easthampton township, Suffolk county, at the east end of Long
Island, and controlled all the other tribes of the island, except
those near the west end. That these so called tribes were but parts
of
one group or tribe, or the loosely
connected elements of what had been an organized body, seems
apparent. Ruttenber, speaking of the Montauk in the limited sense,
says: "This chieftaincy was
acknowledged both by the Indians and the Europeans as the ruling
family of the island. They were indeed the head of the tribe of
Montauk, the other divisions named being simply clans or groups, as
in the case of other tribes. Wyandance, their sachem, was also the
grand sachem of Paumanacke, or Sewanhackey, as the island was
called. Nearly all the deeds for lands were confirmed by him. His
younger brothers, Nowedonah and Poygratasuck [Poggatacut], were
respectively sachems of the Shinecock and the Manhasset." The
Rockaway and Cannarsee at the west end were probably not included.
It is doubtful whether he is correct in including the west-end
Indians in the confederacy.
The principal Montauk village, which probably bore the
name of the tribe; was about Ft Pond, near Montauk Point. The Pequot
made them and their sub ordinates tributary, and on the destruction
of that tribe in 1637, the Narraganset began a series of attacks
which finally, about 1659, forced the Montauk, who had lost the
greater part of their number by pestilence, to retire for protection
to the whites at Easthampton. Since 1641 they had been tributary to
New England. When first known they were numerous, and even after the
pestilence of 1658-59, were estimated at about 500. Then began a
rapid decline, and a century later only 162 remained, most of whom
joined the Brotherton Indians of New York, about 1788, so that in
1829 only about 30 were left on Long Island, and 40 years later
these had dwindled to half a dozen individuals, who, with a few
Shinnecock, were the last representatives of the Long Island tribes.
They preserved a form of tribal organization into the 19th century
and retained their hereditary chiefs until the death of their last
"king," David Pharaoh, about 1875. A few mixed bloods are still
officially recognized by the state of New York as constituting a
tribe under Wyandanch Pharaoh, son of David.
