Banking On New Regulations, Golden Hill Native American Group Rekindles Recognition Effort

The U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs is revisiting regulations so Native American groups must prove continued existence back to 1934, not the rigid 1790 standard federal petition supporters of the Bridgeport-originated Golden Hill Paugussett tribe claim cost federal recognition and opportunities for economic expansion including gaming enterprises that exist for Connecticut’s currently recognized two tribal nations. That and the vociferous intervention of then-Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, now United States senator, whose campaign of opposition has not wavered.

The Golden Hill Paugussetts currently occupy a one-quarter-acre reservation in the town of Trumbull, one of the oldest reservations in the country. Supporters of federal recognition are saying very little publicly as they prepare a new petition for federal recognition, but express confidence of a breakthrough, based on revised regulations. The recognition process has been an exercise in resiliency with lots of starts and setbacks. This time, as a result of new federal standards, Golden Hill supporters say connecting a timeline of credibility in conjunction with state records will bolster claims. Where’s Golden Hill? The area of present-day City Hall.

Background on the nation from my book Only In Bridgeport:

… colonial descendants discovered a village of 500 Pequonnock Indians, who took their name from the “clear fields” where they had settled and farmed years earlier. The area’s reservoir of resources–thick forests, abundant fish and wildlife, a mild climate and waterways such as the Pequonnock River–had drawn the Pequonnock tribe from their northern locations.

The Pequonnock was one of five tribes of the Paugussett nation–a group of blood-related tribes that once controlled much of the southwestern part of Connecticut. In 1637 English colonists met the Pequonnock tribe for the first time in the Pequot War, a conflict caused by the Indians’ trading problems with the English and Dutch. The war, fought near the Mystic River along the state’s eastern shore, killed hundreds in the tribe and brought a bloody end to the Pequot’s power, forcing the tribe to flee westward. A group of Pequot refugees reached what later would become Stratford and were joined by a number of Pequonnock Indians who aided them against the colonists in a later battle. It was while the colonists were pursuing the tribes that the colonists became aware of the excellent areas for settlement along the Connecticut coast.

The tribes flourished in the warmer southern New England climate. Roasted, boiled and fresh corn dominated the Indian diet. They braided the husks into mats for sleeping or covering houses, and used cobs for scrubbing. The Indians ate a wide range of animals killed by bow and arrow, and trapped, snared and hunted in communal drives.

Skins and feathers were used for clothing and decoration, and as tools. They ate fresh and saltwater fish caught in weirs strung across streams or speared from shore or from canoes. For the winter months, corn was dried and buried in pits in woven sacks or baskets. Even fish and shellfish caught in times of abundance were dried for use in other seasons. Indians drank only water until the colonists introduced them to corn whiskey.

Indian settlements were always near cornfields or fishing, hunting and gathering areas. A typical home was a dome-shaped wigwam made by planting a circle of flexible poles into the ground and bending the tops together to form a dome-like frame. It was then covered with bark, hides or woven mats, leaving a doorway and rooftop smoke hole. Simple furniture, mats, skins, woven items and a few wooden bowls and spoons filled the wigwam.

Not everything went smoothly for the Indians during this relatively quiet period. The lack of a common language among the tribes made it difficult for them to form solid bonds and left room for a great deal of animosity. The strong tribes dominated the weak and entered into loose alliances to strengthen themselves against enemies.

The arrival of white men from Massachusetts settlements reinforced the intertribal rivalry rather than promoting mutual support. In fact, the Indians greatly outnumbered the colonists for a few years, and, had they joined forces, could have driven them out of the area. But the colonists exploited the rivalries, playing tribes off against each other, weakening the Indian power and halting the threat to white settlement in Connecticut. This “divide and conquer” policy throughout the years drove the Indians farther westward.

…T hey were being caught in a squeeze between the expanding settlements of Fairfield to the west, and Stratford to the east. Because many Indians had an intense desire to learn more about the white man, it wasn’t uncommon for a settler to look up from his chores and find an Indian peering right back at him. But before any major disruptions between the two groups occurred, the General Assembly in 1659 ruled that Stratford’s parcel of land known as Golden Hill (that lay within the Pequonnock area) should be given to the Indians. The 80-acre parcel today lies within Bridgeport on Washington Avenue, and was the first such reservation established in Connecticut.

Since Stratford was ordered to hand over property to the Indians, the court also ruled that Fairfield should compensate its neighbor with $100 worth of beef, pork, wheat and peas. In return for the reservation, the Indians promised never to steal any cattle, corn or peas, and to maintain their fences so cattle wouldn’t break through to destroy settlers’ crops.

To keep the peace, settlers were forbidden to sell arms, ammunition, liquor, horses or boats to Indians. Indians were forbidden to enter the settlers’ houses or handle their firearms. Any Indians prowling near settlers’ homes after dark could be shot.

Regardless of the new rules, by the early 1700s all of the tribes in the Paugussett nation had been disturbed enough by contact with white men to move west. The remaining Golden Hill Indians complained to the General Assembly about losing parts of their reservation through white encroachment and illegal land sales. To compensate, the court granted the Indians a supplemental land parcel on Corum Hill in Huntington, Connecticut. But white settlers continued to move into the Golden Hill area, driving out the Indians. In 1769, with but a few wigwams remaining, settlers invaded the reservation, claimed all but six acres and forced out every Indian by tearing apart their wigwams. Town authorities took no action.

In 1854 the tribe bought a twenty-acre reservation in Trumbull and for the next 100-plus years battled in court to retain their land. In June 1979 the tribe purchased a 69-acre strip in upstate Colchester–an effort to maintain a natural environment incorporating riding trails, timber management efforts and wildlife habitats as federal and state authorities stepped up protection to the Indians and their property. The present-day history buff would be hard pressed to find concrete remains of the Indians’ life in Bridgeport. But while few Indian relics may be unearthed between the high-rise buildings and paved roads, the Indians’ legacy survives in names such as the Housatonic and Pequonnock rivers, Golden Hill Street, and Chopsy Hill, named after an Indian whose wigwam stood in that North End area.