The Native American Chief Who Stood with George Washington

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Manhattan became a skyline of steel and glass, it was home to the Wappinger tribe and one of its most courageous sons, Daniel Nimham. As a tribal chief and fierce defender of both his people and the emerging idea of America, Nimham fought alongside George Washington in some of the war’s harshest moments. Craig Du Mez of the Grateful Nation Project shares how this Native American chief became a symbol of loyalty, honor, and the complex legacy of America’s earliest defenders.

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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):
Nimhim 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 Mahie Kantuck, or the river
that flows both ways, because of the incoming flow of
the ocean tide against the river's natural current. As war,

(01:48):
epidemic diseases, and intermingling with other area tribes reduced the
Wappinger's numbers to the hundreds. Daniel Nimham was born sometime
around seventeen twenty six. By the mid seven eventeen hundreds,
Nimheim had encountered European settlers of the valley. As a
young man, he learned English and kept friendly relations with them.

(02:08):
As an adult, he became the setchem of his people.
An experienced warrior 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

(02:28):
the Wappinger people became embroiled in a dispute when the
family of Adolphus Phillips, a wealthy New York City merchant,
made an expanded land 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

(02:51):
with a questionable deed presented by the defendant Phillips, and
being reluctant to set an adverse precedent, the Council ruled
against Nimhim and the sad 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

(03:11):
England and declared independence on July fourth, seventeen seventy six,
Daniel Nimham and his people 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

(03:34):
essential in developing an important force for the American rebellion.
Having recruited warriors from native communities 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 van Ewald described the Native warriors.

(03:58):
Their costume was a shirt of coarse linen down to
the knees, long trousers, also of linen down to the feet,
on which they wore shoes of deer skin, 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

(04:20):
nose and in the ears. They wore rings, and on
their heads only the hair of 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 Nimham joined his son's Stockbridge Company militious scouts.

(04:43):
Daniel and Abraham served alongside 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 Charleston Scott. In seventeen seventy eight, the
Stockbridge Militia Company was assigned to patrol the northern border

(05:05):
of New York City, then controlled 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

(05:25):
of five hundred British Regular troops, Hessians, 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

(05:48):
drawn into the open when they 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 no up numbered 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. The Indians fought

(06:12):
most gallantly. They pulled more than one of the cavalry
from their horses. Simcoe recounted that Daniel Nimham called out
to his warriors that quote he was old and would
stand and die there end. 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

(06:35):
York City's Van Cortland Park, a Chief Nimheim 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, overlooking the Hudson River, Mount
Nimheim was named in his honor. After American independence was one,
General Washington wrote that the Stockbridge remained firmly attached to

(06:58):
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 nimmeem here
on our American stories. This is Lee Habibe, and this

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