The Native American Who Fought Alongside George Washington—Daniel Nimham

On this episode of Our American Stories, Native Americans of the inhabitants of Manhattan served with George Washington at Valley Forge, and many battles besides. Hear stories of family, and of historic valor. Here is Craig Du Mez, president of the Grateful Nation Project.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American People.
An often overlooked fact about the Revolutionary War is that
over thirteen thousand Native Americans took part in the conflict,
the majority on the side of the British. But today,
Craig Dumay of The Grateful Nation Project tells the story

(00:33):
of one man who broke ranks and fought alongside Washington's army.
Let's get into the story, take it away.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Craig Daniel Nimham was a diplomat, a warrior, and the
last sechem or leader of the Wappinger tribe in New
York's Hudson Valley, fighting for the British during the French
and Indian War and later against them in the Revolutionary War.

(01:01):
Nimham was commissioned as a captain in the Continental Army.
He was with General George Washington at Valley Forge and
later gave his life for the American cause, refusing to
surrender in the Battle of Kingsbridge in August seventeen seventy eight.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, the Wappinger people lived along

(01:24):
the eastern banks of the Hudson River from New York's
Manhattan Island to Connecticut. In most Algonquin languages, Wappinger can
be translated as Easterner. Their name for what was later
called the Hudson River was Mahee Kanuck, or the river
that flows both ways, because of the incoming flow of
the ocean tide against the river's natural current. As war, epidemic, diseases,

(01:49):
and intermingling with other area tribes reduced the Wappinger's numbers
to the hundreds. Daniel Ninmham was born sometime around seventeen
twenty six. By the midside seventeen hundreds, Nimhim had encountered
European settlers of the valley. As a young man, he
learned English and kept friendly relations with them. As an adult,
he became the setchem of his people. An experienced warrior

(02:13):
and diplomat, Nimhim and some three hundred Wappinger men fought
on the side of the British during the French and
Indian War. At that time, New York and Connecticut were
colonies under the British crown. Nimheim and the Wappinger people
became embroiled in a dispute when the family of Adolphus Phillips,
a wealthy New York City merchant, made an expanded land

(02:36):
claim into Wappinger territory. Daniel Nimheim had developed a reputation
for diplomacy and traveled to England to petition his case.
Returning home, his dispute came before the New York Common
Council in seventeen sixty five. Even with a questionable deed
presented by the defendant Phillips, and being reluctant to set

(02:56):
an adverse precedent, the Council ruled against Nimhim and then
the Wappinger people. Having fought for the British crown, the
decision left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Wappingers.
When the colonies revolted against England and declared independence on
July fourth, seventeen seventy six, Daniel Nimham and his people

(03:17):
joined the cause. He saw the value of the patriot
cause and likely understood the possibility of negotiating the return
of Wappinger Land if he was to fight alongside the colonists.
Nimhim was given a commission as the captain in the
Continental Army. He was essential in developing an important force
for the American Rebellion. Having recruited warriors from native communities

(03:40):
stretching from Canada to the Ohio Valley, Daniel's son, Abraham Nimham,
was given command of the sixty men Stockbridge Indian Company,
based out of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. A Hessian officer, Johann ivan Ewald,
described the Native warriors. Their costume was a shure of
coarse linen down to the knees, long trousers also of

(04:03):
linen down to the feet, on which they wore shoes
of deerskin, and the head was covered with a hat
made of bast or plant fiber. Their weapons were a
rifle or musket, a quiver with some twenty arrows, and
a short battle axe, which they know how to throw
very skillfully. Through the nose and in the ears. They
wore rings, and on their heads only the hair of

(04:24):
the crown remained standing in a circle the size of
a dollar piece, the remainder being shaved off bare. They
pull out with pincers all the hairs of the beard,
as well as those of all the other parts of
the body. When the fighting began, Daniel Nimhem joined his
son's Stockbridge Company Malicious Scouts Daniel and Abraham served alongside

(04:45):
General George Washington at Valley Forge, fought in the Battle
of Saratoga in New York, and in the fighting at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
They also supported troops led by the Allied French general
Marquis de Lafayette, serving under Virginian General Charles Scott. In
seventeen seventy eight, the Stockbridge Militia Company was assigned to
patrol the northern border of New York City, then controlled

(05:07):
by the British, and gather intelligence on enemy movements. On
August twenty, seventeen seventy eight, the Stockbridge Company ambushed a
British force north of New York City, killing one light
cavalryman and wounding another. News of the attacks spread, The
British put together a force of five hundred British Regular troops, Hessians,

(05:28):
which were German troops hired by the British, and Loyalists,
which were colonists loyal to the crown. Eleven days later,
on August thirty one, seventeen seventy eight, the British set
a trap for the Stockbridge Militia on Cortland's Ridge in
what is today the Bronx Borough of New York City.
Nimham's sixty warriors were drawn into the open when they

(05:50):
saw a group of Hessian forces and British Lieutenant Colonel
John Graves. Simcoe's light infantry struck and hit the Stockbridge
Company's left flank. Surrounded and n outnumbered more than eight
to one, the Stockbridge Company fought back in hand to
hand combat. Simcoe later described the bloody scene that became
known as the Battle of Kingsbridge or the Stockbridge Massacre.

(06:11):
The Indians fought most gallantly. They pulled more than one
of the cavalry from their horses. Simcoe recounted that Daniel
Nimhim called out to his warriors that quote he was
old and would stand and die.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
There. He was cut down and killed by Private Edward White.
A British light cavalryman. Abraham Nimhim would also be lost
in the battle. In New York City's Van Cortland Park,
a Chief Nimhim Memorial monument has been placed on the
field where the Wappinger now called Stockbridge Warriors, gave their
lives for the American cause. In Putnam County, New York,

(06:48):
overlooking the Hudson River, Mount Nimhim was named in his honor.
After American independence was one, General Washington wrote that the
Stockbridge remained firmly attached to us and have fought and
bled by our side. That we consider them as friends
and brothers.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
And a special thanks to Craig Dumay. He's the president
of the Grateful Nation Project. And what a story he told,
and an untold story as well, the story of the
Native American who fought alongside General Washington, Daniel Nimeem here
on our American stories. This is Lee Hibib, and this

(07:34):
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(07:54):
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