MONTAUK

Long Island, which extends eastward from Manhattan about 118 miles into the Atlantic Ocean, is the largest island in the United States, not counting islands in either Alaska or Hawaii. There were once many Algonquian-speaking peoples living on Long Island, governed by as many as 13 chieftains. Many of their band names, or village names, are familiar-sounding because they exist today as place-names, such as Manhasset, Massapequa, Poospatuck, and Shinnecock.

Some of the bands in the western part of Long Island, such as the Canarsee and Rockaway, spoke dialects similar to those spoken by the Algonquians on Manhattan Island. For that reason, these bands generally are classified among the LENNI LENAPE (DELAWARE) or WAP-PINGER. But the bands in the central and eastern part of Long Island are classified in their own group. They were united in an alliance named after one of the most powerful bands, the Montauk Confederacy, and are referred to in history books collectively by the name Montauk (pronounced MON-tawk), possibly derived from meun-tauket for “at the fort.”

The Montauk lived along the flat Atlantic Coast Plain that stretches southward from Long Island. As a result, their way of life was most similar to that of those ALGONQUIANS living to the south, along the New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia shoreline, and they are grouped among NORTHEAST INDIANS.

The Montauk planted their crops in the sandy lowlands. They speared fish and collected clams in the many bays and lagoons. They also hunted small mammals and gathered wild plant foods in the piney inland forests. Here too they could find the materials they needed for dugout canoes and wigwams.

The Montauk hunted whales on the open sea in their large dugouts. They also took advantage of “drift whales.” The Montauk believed in a legendary figure named Moshup who stranded whales on beaches or in shallow waters in order to feed the people.

The Montauk also used their boats to cross the arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Long Island from Connecticut—Long Island Sound. Here they could trade with other Algonquians, such as the PEQUOT, NARRA-GANSETT, and NIANTIC who lived along the opposite shore. But contacts with the different groups were not always friendly. In the years just before non-Indian settlement, the Pequot attacked and conquered the Mon-tauk. Then in later years, after the Pequot were defeated in the Pequot War, the Narragansett and Niantic also made forays into Montauk territory.

The Montauk were generally on friendly terms with whites. Because of their location on the Atlantic, they had many early contacts with explorers from many European nations. They also traded with settlers, first the Dutch in the early 1600s, then the English after 1664. The Long Island Indians were among the most productive manufacturers of wampum (called seawan or sea-want by the Dutch), beads of polished shells strung together and used for ceremonial purposes, ornaments, and, after Europeans arrived, money. In fact, Long Island was known to its Native inhabitants as seawanhacky, that is, “place of seawan,’” since it was such a good place to collect the seashells that were ground into the purple and white wampum beads. In later years, the Indians began using glass beads imported from Europe to make wampum. European settlers also made wampum from glass beads to trade with the Indians for furs.

Montauk wigwam (unfinished, showing the sapling framework beneath a cattail covering)

The population of Native Americans on Long Island steadily declined after the arrival of whites. Part of the reason was intertribal warfare. In 1759, some of the Montauk took refuge from other Indians with settlers at East Hampton, Long Island. Others joined the Brotherton Indians up the Hudson River in 1788 (see MAHICAN). Still others lost their lives on whaling expeditions or in other maritime activities. One famous incident occurred in the winter of 1876, when Shinnecock Indians, who were part of the rescue team trying to save the grounded English cargo ship Circassian, lost their lives in a violent storm. Yet all in all, diseases spread to them by non-Indians took the greatest toll on the Long Island Indians.

The Shinnecock and Poospatuck (Unkechaug Nation) each held a small reservation on Long Island.

Like many of the reservations in the East, these are state reservations, not federal, with rights guaranteed by the state of New York rather than by the federal government. People of Matinnecock descent also still live on Long Island and maintain tribal identity.

The Shinnecock, who have 400 acres near Southampton, Long Island, sponsor a large annual powwow on Labor Day Weekend that draws Native American participants from all over North America. The Shinnecock National Museum helps further awareness of the tribe’s history and culture. In 1984, the tribe created a business enterprise, the Oyster Project, which was the first solar-assisted oyster hatchery ever developed. Many individuals of Montauk ancestry have integrated into public and professional life on eastern Long Island.