I would like to dedicate my art to the spirit of the past. A long time ago,
before the settlers came, information and mutual respect was
exchanged. It all resulted with disrespect, greed, crime and murder.
With honor I walk this ground knowing that mutual respect will crown
the knowledge of the unknown.
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A story by a good friend of mine James Figlarz:
I would like to dedicate my collection of information received, to the tribes of Connecticut, who in the past, in the early 1600’s, were
treated so harshly by the Dutch & English they encountered. I like to speak about Connecticut in these early years. & New York State.
Long ago, before the white man came, the Sinawa tribe, who is part of the Mahican tribe, won & claimed a great part of present day,
Quinnehtukqut ( Connecticut ) & parts of New York State. The Sinawa held alliances with smaller tribes throughout the regions to
keep the peace. When the white man came in the early 1600’s they brought smallpox fever to the native peoples of the lands and
plenty of troubles to the Indian tribes. The white people wanted the Indians to sign treaties at first to keep the peace, but as more
Europeans came to these shores, these treaties were easily broken. As the Indians were finding out that the Europeans were taking
advantage of them, in more ways than one, small wars broke out throughout the northeast.
I like to speak about a couple of events that took place in Connecticut years ago, when the forest was all natural and the rivers ran
fast and free. There was but a few, very bad wars at first with the English in the east and then with the Dutch in the west. The Pequot
War which involved the English war held in and around the famous Mystic Connecticut, area in the year 1637 to 1638. Many brave
Indians fought and died and many families were burnt out of their villages. Those who escaped were hunted down and massacred.
The war officially ended in September 1638 when a few survivors of the Pequot tribe were forced to sign the treaty of Hartford, also
called the The Tripartite Treaty, which officially dissolved the Pequot tribe. When these treaties were signed, there was a shaky
peace throughout the land. The so called peace only lasted until the war of February 1643, also known as the Strickland Plains War.
In 1638 a new Gov. General Wm. Keift of New Netherlands arrived. His plans were to remove all Indians from his territories. Between
those years small skirmishes took place on both sides and on a cold February night of 1642 right outside the city gates of new
Amsterdam and cross the river in Pavonia, Jersey City outside the fort, many Indian refugees who were invited by the acting Governor
to come to the City for refuge were slaughtered by the government guards while sleeping in their tents. Every human being alive, no
one was allowed to live…. children, woman, man.
When the Indian’s throughout the lands had heard of this massacred, their blood boiled for vengeance against all whites. They
planed their own attack upon the Dutch. A great Indian chief known as Mayn Mayanos who survived the Pequot war and who was the
chief Sachem of the Petuquapaen village in Greenwich at this time. He called together over 11 tribes to meet at petuquapaen they
were gathering there and planning future attack on New Amsterdam.
Some time just before the war on an evil day Chief Mayanos, out in the woods near his village, saw three white men walking and
wearing shinny armor. He knew the men as settlers of the nearby white village known as Greenwich. One of them being Captain
Daniel Patrick, founding father of the Village of Greenwich (who’s ship ran a ground near the shores of Monakewego now known as
Greenwich Todds Point.
Capt. Patrick and a Mr. Freaks landed in 1640 and met with the Sinawa Indian’s and the sons of the local Indian chiefs at that time
and struck a bargain with them for the land between the rivers. Payments to the Indians would be only twenty five fur coasts. This
contract had no northern boundaries!
Later ten families soon settled the area near Petuquapaen village.
Chief Mayanos saw the three men dressed in their military uniforms bearing their guns and pistols. His blood ran cold and he went
in to action armed with only his tomahawk, he attacked the three solders. The first he killed, the second he disabled but the third,
the captain in the steel helmet turned the tomahawk. He had little to do but to step and stand 10 feet aside and shoot our Chief
Mayanos though the heart. Both men were survivors of the Pequot war, they knew each other well, but there he was Chief Mayanos…
dead in the woods near his home. Shut by his friend.
Yonder by that hill, on the highway to Stamford where he fell, his widow burried his body by the river that hears his name to this day.
Later in February 1643 the war started at Cos Cob at the mouth of the Mayanos river in Greenwich and they moved on to the Indian
village’s nearby. Over a thousand Indians braves and woman and children lost their lives and their homes were burnt down over
them and their bodies were left to rot in piles under burnt lumbers. Never to be buried. To history this became known as the battle of
Stickland Plains at Greenwich, CT.
For a short time in history between 1638 and 1643 the Indians and the whites lived in the kind of peace. They both shared and
worked together and each lived in their own villages they lived side by side and for a short while they had peace.
But only for a short time. Only small remnants of the Indian peoples existed after this time in Greenwich and only for another 100
years or so before moving to the west.
It would be nice if some where still around.
copyright James Figlarz
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Background
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The Mianus River gorge was formed in the ice age by
glaciers moving together. The gorge was named after
Indian Chief Mayanos. The Mianus River begins in
Greenwich, CT and flows north through North Castle then
turns around in Bedford, NY and continues its course
flowing south through the gorge and into the Long Island
Sound. In 1984 the Mianus River gorge was registered a
national natural geographic landmark. It was the first
national landmark in the history of the United States of
America
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Environmental Thread
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Townhall meeting with Congressman,
Christopher Shays, CT's 4th District,
Saturday, April 12, 9:00 – 10:30 A.M,
Greenwich Town Hall, Meeting Room
101 Field Point Road, Greenwich, CT
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According to the New York Times article of
December 12, 2007 by Jad Mouawad
Exxon Mobil said that it would like to build a $1 billion
floating terminal for liquefied natural gas about 20
miles off the cost of New Jersey, a move meant to
deflect safety and environmental concerns about
proximity to populated area
UPDATE:
The Federal Government approved the plans
Connecticut is fighting it.
Please join this fight against this distruction.
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A r t
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P r a y e r
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Dear Creator
hear us
Let us receive power to create good
With obstacle in the way
Who can not touch our spirit
on the way to find magic
the sacred messenger crow
Came flying in four directions flow
Sacred circle below
The spirit to guide us through
To honor the natives who walked this ground
before many moons
Circle within the 3 corners
Prayers of healing and
Peace for all humans
To see that destructions is not
the key to be found
But through honor of past
The future to be found
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