NIANTIC

The name of the Niantic, also spelled Nehantic and pronounced nie-ANN-tick, means “at a point of land on an estuary”—that is, on land near a water passage where the river current meets the ocean tide. The Niantic were a coastal people living on river outlets near the Atlantic Ocean, and their way of life resembled that of other coastal and river ALGONQUIANS of the Northeast Culture Area (see NORTHEAST INDIANS): They lived in palisaded villages of wigwams and planted fields nearby, fished and collected shellfish in the waterways, and hunted and gathered wild plants in the forests. The Eastern Niantic lived on the coasts of present-day Rhode Island and Connecticut; the Western Niantic lived on the coast of Connecticut between Niantic Bay and the Connecticut River. The two groups were separated by lands of the PEQUOT.

The Niantic attempted to remain neutral in conflicts between Indians and colonists, but the Western Niantic were caught up in the events of the Pequot War between the Pequot and colonists in 1636—37. Some Western Niantic fought alongside the colonists. Niantic warriors also helped precipitate the conflict with the 1634 killing of John Stone, a Boston trader, near the mouth of the Connecticut River because of his kidnapping of Niantic women and children to sell as slaves in Virginia. Despite their justification for the deed, English authorities held the Niantic and the Pequot, who spoke for them, responsible.

After the war, surviving Western Niantic were placed under the authority of the MOHEGAN, also of

Connecticut. Meanwhile, the sachem Ninigret of the Eastern Niantic, who was under the dominion of the more powerful NARRAGANSETT and related to them by marriage, provided auxiliaries along with the Narra-gansett to the colonial force that invaded Pequot lands. Some bands of Eastern Niantic, however, were accused of harboring Pequot refugees. In 1643, the Eastern Niantic declared war on the Mohegan, and the two peoples clashed occasionally until peace was made in 1647. Two years before, in 1645, the Eastern Niantic and Narragansett had entered into a treaty with the New England Confederation of colonies. In the 1650s, the Eastern Niantic also clashed with the MONTAUK of Long Island.

In the revolt of the WAMPANOAG, Narragansett, and NIPMUC against English colonists in 1675—76, known as King Philip’s War, the Niantic remained neutral. Confined to a reservation at Charlestown, Rhode Island, the Niantic allowed surviving Narragansett to join them in 1680. The two tribes merged shortly afterward under the name Narragansett.

More than a century later, in 1788, many Western Niantic joined the Brotherton Indians, a group consisting mostly of MAHICAN. A village including some Western Niantic was reported in 1808 near Danbury, Connecticut. Some Indians in the region claimed at least partial Niantic ancestry into the 20th century. Tribal descendants known as the Nehantic Tribe and Nation operate out of Chester, Connecticut.