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from the ebook:THE CONCISE HISTORY OF ULSTER COUNTY

"Before the county with its Irish name and English Government came into being, the heart of the region which it covers was making history under the Indian name of Esopus and the supervision of the Dutch Government.

In the territory now covered by the city of Kingston, the combination of converging Indian trails, a safe harbor for sloops, river valleys and fertile, cleared lands, brought traders and settlers during the seventeenth century; brought also the liquor traffic, flashing tomahawks and fire brands, and two wars which nearly wiped out the early settlements."




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ULSTER COUNTY UNDER THE DOMINION OF THE DUTCH

Chapter I -- THE RED MEN

• THE English named the Indians, who occupied the greater part of New Jersey and Delaware, and the valley of the Delaware river in Pennsylvania, after that river upon whose banks, near the site of Philadelphia, blazed their council fire. They proudly called themselves Lenni-Lenape (original or pre-eminent men). Their Totem was the wolf from which the French called them Loups (wolves).

  The Indians, inhabiting Ulster County and the adjacent regions, belonged to the Munsee (at the place where stones are gathered together) tribe, one of the principal divisions of the Delawares. They occupied the head waters of the Delaware and the west bank of the Hudson from the Catskills to the borders of New Jersey. Their principal band was the Minisinks (the place of the Minsi), who occupied the southwest part of Ulster and Orange counties and the adjoining parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

  The other bands were the Catskills, Mamekotings, Warwarsinks, Waoranecs, and Warranawonkongs.
  They were called the five tribes of the Esopus country. These were the "Esopus Indians," whose war-whoops terrified the Dutchmen at Esopus; who laid Wildwyck in ashes and who battled for their hunting grounds against the troops of Martin Cregier.

• The Catskills had their principal village just north of the Esopus creek.
  
• The Warwarsinks were located in the town of Warwarsing, at or near the junction of the Warwarsing and the Rondout creek.
  
• The Mamekotings occupied Mamakating valley west of the Shawangunk mountains.
  
• The Waoranecs were located at the mouth of Wappingers creek and around the cove or bay at the head of Newburgh bay.
  
• The Warranawonkongs was the principal band of the Esopus Indians. They had a village in the town of Shawangunk and another in the town of Warwarsing. Their wigwams stood at and about Wildwyck, now Kingston. They frequented the mouth of the Rondout creek. The tribes were divided into clans or families, each having its chief. The names of some of these families have been preserved, as the Amogarickakan family, the Kettsypowy family, the Mahon family, and the Katatawis family.

  Each of these bands had its main village where their forts were erected. These were defended by three rows of palisades and the houses in the fort encircled by thick cleft palisades with port holes in them, and covered with the bark of trees. During the summer and fall they roamed over the surrounding country in search of game and built their temporary huts wherever trade, the chase or fancy called them.

  They did not subsist upon the chase alone. They cultivated their fields. They raised large quantities of corn and vegetables, which they stored in the ground for winter use. Monianac (Indian corn of Maize) was their main food supply.
  Martin Cregier, who destroyed their villages after the burning of Wildwyck in 1663, states that his troops cut down, near one of their forts, about two hundred and fifteen acres of growing maize and burnt above a hundred pits full of corn and beans.

For many years an old Indian lived in a shanty on the bank of the Rondout creek, a mile or so above the city of Kingston. He died there in 1830. He was buried beside his hut. He was the last of the Esopus.

Why should not a monument be erected to the memory of the Indians? To perpetuate the names of Preumaecker; Seweckenamo; Ankerop; and that old baldhead, Kaelcop. They were pure Americans. They were the first settlers. They owned the land. They battled for their homes, though they were but wigwams. They fought for their wives, though they were but squaws. With dauntless courage, they faced death for their children, though they were but papooses. All honor to them. To every one of them.

"A History of Ulster Under the Dominion of the Dutch" with good two chapter overview of the Indian way of life in Esopus. 146pp P $13.95

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To read an excerpt from The Delaware Indians or the Indian Tribes of Hudson's River.

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Copyright © 1995 by Richard Frisbie -- All rights reserved.