Note 6 — Introduction

Heckewelder, Hist. Ind. Nations, p. 52. Brinton (op. cit., p. 37) is of the opinion, but on what grounds is not stated, that the extent of the territory of the Munsee as given here is too great. In his words, “that at any time, as Heckewelder asserts, their the Munsee territory extended up to the Hudson as far as tide-water, and westward ‘far beyond the Susquehannah’ is surely incorrect. Only after the beginning of the eighteenth century, when they had been long subject to the Iroquois, have we any historic evidence that they had a settlement on the last named river.” It seems, however, that even if the presence of the Munsee on or beyond the Susquehannah may be open to contention, their presence along the Hudson is well established. Gifford (Aborigines of New Jersey, p. 180) states that “the Minsi tribe extended as far on the west banks of the Hudson as Tappan.” Yates and Moulton (History of New York, I, p. 225) place the Minsi even farther east, “from Long Island to and beyond Minisink.” According to Ruttenber (History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson’s River, p. 50) the Munsee territory “extended from the Katskill mountains to the headwaters of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, and was bounded on the east by the Hudson; their council-fire was lighted at Minisink [about 10 miles south of Maghackemek, New Jersey.” The Unami joined the Munsee on the south, somewhere about Stony Point. Going farther than this, Ruttenber gives (p. 93 et seq.) the various subdivisions of the Munsee along the Hudson and their location: the Waoroneck, about Dans-kammer; the Warranawonkong, from Dans-kammer to Saugerties; the Mamekoting west of Shawangunk mountains; the Wawarsink, in the district which still bears their name; the Katskills, north of Saugerties.