Museum Preserves Mohegan Legacy

“I let the cause down. I never married, never had any children,” sighed Gladys Tantaquidgeon, one of the last of the Mohegans still living here in the traditional home of the once-powerful tribe.

The lively 91-year-old is the ninth-generation direct descendant of Chief Uncas and a descendant of a long line of Mohegan chiefs. Her brother, Harold, who died last year, was a chief of the Mohegans for many years.

The small village (population 1,600) on the Thames River 15 miles upstream from New London and the Atlantic Ocean, is named after Uncas, the grand sachem of the Mohegans who lived at the time of the first English settlement here in the 1600s.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon is the official caretaker and protector of the the Mohegans’ traditions, heritage and artifacts. A three-room stone museum was erected on Mohegan Hill in 1931 by her father and brother to house the tribe’s treasures. The name Mohegan means wolf people.

“Contrary to James Fenimore Cooper’s famous book ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ published in 1826, my tribe, obviously, did not die out. And, I might note, one of the heroes of Cooper’s historical novel was a Mohegan named Uncas,” the museum curator said.

She lives in a modest home near the crest of Mohegan Hill. The museum is in her back yard. Only 35 Mohegans are left in Uncasville. The Mohegans are a relatively small band of Indians with only 600 scattered throughout the United States. An annual homecoming of Mohegans is held in Uncasville every August.

Tantaquidgeon Mohegan Museum is filled with baskets, bowls, beadwork, jewelry, clothing, dolls, wampum, eagle-feather headdresses, hand-crafted stone, bone and wood objects, axes, tools, arrowheads, war clubs, bows, arrows, a birchbark canoe, caribou bone necklaces and other artifacts.

“My family has the responsibility to care for and protect the legacy of the Mohegans, to inform all who come here about our people, about the rich Mohegan culture and traditions,” explained Gladys, who added with a chuckle:

“Most people who come here are amazed that Mohegans are still alive. All their lives they’ve heard the old saying about the last of the Mohegans.”

The name Tantaquidgeon was a family name among the Mohegans long before the Mayflower came to New England shores. The name means going fast. Gladys Tantaquidgeon’s aunt, Fidelia Fielding, who died in 1908, was the last speaker of the ancient Mohegan language. Gladys’ father, John Tantaquidgeon, who lived from 1865 to 1949, was the last Mohegan basket maker.

“My father was a quiet man. He would sit for hours weaving his baskets out of oak splints,” she recalled. Many of his baskets are in the museum and a photograph of him at work weaving is prominently displayed.

Also on exhibit are several traditional Mohegan dolls and colorful tribal dress created by the museum curator when she was a young woman. For her work in preserving the heritage of the Mohegans, Gladys Tantaquidgeon received the prestigious Distinguished Connecticut Citizen Award this year. Three years ago, the University of Connecticut awarded her an honorary doctorate degree.

When her brother died last year, President Bush sent a letter of condolence to all members of the Mohegan tribe. The letter, which hangs in the Mohegan Museum, says in part:

“It was with great sadness I noted the passing of Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon. He will always be remembered as an American hero. In World War II he led comrades out of the jungles of New Guinea with skills taught by his Indian forefathers. He exemplified the proud history of the Mohegans.”

During World War II, Harold Tantaquidgeon was an Air Force combat gunner. When his plane was shot down over New Guinea, he and surviving crew members were trapped behind enemy lines for 23 days before he led them out of the jungle to rescue by U.S. forces.

Years later, he ran a summer camp in the woods behind the museum where he taught young people about Indian life. They all slept in wigwams.

In her younger years, Gladys Tantaquidgeon was a librarian. During the 1930s, she worked with Plains Indians in the Dakotas. But for the last 50 years, she has dedicated her life to the Tantaquidgeon Mohegan Museum.

She opens the museum to the public six days a week. Last year, she said, there were 1,002 visitors from 38 states and 17 foreign countries. Scholars, researchers, historians and writers seeking information about Mohegans generally find their way to the little museum in Gladys Tantaquidgeon’s back yard.

Nearby at Ft. Shantok State Park is the Mohegan burial grounds with the monument and grave of Chief Uncas. In the park is peaceful Tantaquidgeon Pond, the Samson Occum Bridge over the Thames River named after a Mohegan chief and a memorial boulder to Fidelia Fielding, the last speaker of the Mohegan language.

And, a few hundred yards from Gladys Tantaquidgeon’s home and the Mohegan museum is the picturesque 1831 Mohegan Congregational Church, where services are still held every Sunday.