{{Short description|Native American tribe in Connecticut}} {{about|Native American tribe|other uses| Paugussett (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Paugusset | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_caption = | image_alt = | total = | regions = western Connecticut, U.S. | languages = Historically likely an Eastern Algonquian language,<ref name=hodge212/> now English | religions = Indigenous religion, Christianity | related_groups = Wappinger Confederacy including Potatuck, Schaghticoke people }} The '''Paugusset''' are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands in western Connecticut.<ref name="csdoe">{{cite web |title=Golden Hill Paugussett Tribal Nation History and Culture |url=https://portal.ct.gov/sde/publications/teaching-native-american-studies/golden-hill-paugussett-tribal-nation/gptn-history-and-culture |website=Connecticut State Department of Education |access-date=11 October 2025}}</ref> Paugusset is also the name of their principal settlement in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref name=hodge212/>
Historian Edward Manning Ruttenber wrote that they were a band of the Wappinger people and a subject of the Mattebesec.<ref name=hodge212/> Ethnographer John Reed Swanton described them as the '''Paugusset sachemdon'''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Swanton |first1=John Reed |title=The Indian Tribes of North America |date=1952 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=47 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Indian_Tribes_of_North_America/7BmTAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> A sachem was a leader among Eastern Algonquian-speaking peoples.
Today, Paugusset people are members of the stated-recognized Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation.<ref name=fleming/>
== Territory and settlements == thumb|300px|Map with location of Pauguset in Western Connecticut circa 1600 CE Historically, they lived along both banks of the Housatonic River near the Naugatuck River.<ref name=hodge212/>
Their primary town, Paugusset, was on the eastern bank of the Housatonic River and had 300 residents at its height.<ref name=hodge212/>
They had towns in present-day Milford and Derby in New Haven County<ref>Lavin (2013), p. 348.</ref> as well as Fairfield and Litchfield counties.<ref name=csdoe/>
Besides the principle village of Paugusset, their other villages included Meshapock, Naugatuck, Pequonnock (Pauquaunuch), Pisquheege, Pomerag, Potatuck (Poodatook), Squantuck, Turkey Hill, Wepowaug, and Woronock.<ref name=hodge212/><ref name="swanton">{{cite book |last1=Swanton |first1=John Reed |title=The Indian Tribes of North America |date=1952 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=45–47 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Indian_Tribes_of_North_America/7BmTAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> The Paugusset and Schaghticoke both lived in Chusetown, a Native settlement in present-day Seymour, Connecticut.<ref>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Connecticut_s_Indigenous_Peoples/mPi7d2Y4C2UC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Chusetown Lavin (2013), pp. 348–349].</ref>
== Name == Paugusset translates to "where the narrows open out"<ref name=hodge212>[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Handbook_of_American_Indians_North_of_Me/p-U-AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Paugusset%E2%80%93Paviotso%22 Hodge (1912), p. 212]</ref> or "place where forks in a river join."<ref>{{cite web |title=Glossary: Paugusset |url=https://1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/glossary.do?shortName=Paugusset |website=Deerfield History Museum |publisher=Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association |access-date=11 October 2025 |location=Deerfield, MA |date=2020}}</ref> The name Paugusset is also commonly spelled Paugussett. Their name was recorded in numerous other ways, including Pagasett, Paugasset, Wepawaug, and Wopowage.<ref>Hodge (1912), p. 1118</ref>
== Language == Anthropologist Frederick Webb Hodge wrote that the Paugusset spoke an Algonquian language.<ref name=hodge212/> The Connecticut State Department of Education states that they spoke an Iroquoian language related to Natick.<ref name=csdoe/>
== History == [[File:Falls Mountain on the Housatonic River 1886.jpg|thumb|300px|Engraving of the Falls Mountain gorge on the Housatonic River in present-day New Milford, Connecticut. Site of a 17th-century Paugussett fishing village]]
=== 17th century === The Paugusset's first recorded contact with Europeans was in 1637, when the English fought a war with the Pequot, who took refuge with Paugusset.<ref name=csdoe/> The English then attacked Paugusset villages.<ref name=csdoe/> After this war, the Paugusset lost 90 percent of their land, and the English enslaved 200 to 400 Paugusset people and sent them to the Caribbean.<ref name=csdoe/>
In 1659, the English granted the Paugusset 100 acres of land near Bridgeport, Connecticut.<ref name=csdoe/> In early historical times, their population was between 700 and 800 people. By 1660, they had sold most of their lands to English colonists.<ref name=hodge212/>
=== 18th century === About 127 Paugusset settled in the village of Scaticook in 1762, while about 60 remained in their earlier homelands.<ref name=hodge212/>
=== 19th century === The Paugusset retained very little of their land. Many moved further west in Connecticut, while others moved to nearby cities where they worked in factories.<ref name=csdoe/> By the mid-19th century, the tribe retained one acre of land in Nichols, Connecticut.<ref name=csdoe/> William Sherman (Paugusset) lived on this parcel with his family, which went into a tribal trust when he died in 1886.<ref name=csdoe/>
=== 20th century === Paugusset people organized as the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation, which is a state-recognized tribe in Connecticut. Ethel Sherman Piper Baldwin (Paugusset) became chief in 1933.<ref name=csdoe/> Aurelius H. Piper Sr. (1916–2008) became chief in 1959 and fought to regain historical lands for the Golden Hill Paugussett. Through grants, the tribe purchased 106 acres in Colchester, Connecticut, which the state put into trust.<ref name=csdoe/> Aurelius Henry Piper Jr. "Quiet Hawk" became active chief in 1991.<ref name=csdoe/>
=== 21st century === The Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation petitioned for federal recognition as a Native American tribe; however, their petition was denied in 2004.<ref name="fleming">{{cite journal |last1=Fleming |first1=R. Lee |title=Final Determination Against Federal Acknowledgement of the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe |journal=Federal Recognition |date=21 June 2004 |volume=69 |issue=34388 |pages=34388–34393 |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2004/06/21/04-13871/final-determination-against-federal-acknowledgement-of-the-golden-hill-paugussett-tribe |access-date=11 October 2025}}</ref> The final determination found that the state-recognized tribe was formed from Golden Hill Paugussets and Turkey Hill Paugussets, who had not constituted a single, unified government through history.<ref name=fleming/>
== See also == * Ansantawae (Wepawaug, fl. 1639–1665), leader who sold land where Milford, Connecticut, was established * Little Pootatuck Brook site, 18th-century Potatuck village site * Schaghticoke Tribal Nation
==References== === Notes === {{reflist}}
=== Bibliography === * {{cite book|last=Hodge |first=Frederick Webb |title=Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: N–Z |date=1912 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Handbook_of_American_Indians_North_of_Me/p-U-AAAAYAAJ}} * {{cite book |last1=Lavin |first1=Lucianne |title=Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples: What Archaeology, History, and Oral Traditions Teach Us About Their Communities and Cultures |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CT |isbn=9780300186642 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Connecticut_s_Indigenous_Peoples/mPi7d2Y4C2UC}}
== External links == * [https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/?edan_fq%5B%5D=set_name%3A%22Paugussett%20%28Paugusset%29%22 Paugusset artifacts], National Museum of the American Indian * [https://www.paugussett.com/ Golden Hill Paugessett Nation], state-recognized tribe
Category:Algonquian ethnonyms Category:Native American history of Connecticut Category:Native American tribes in Connecticut Category:Pre-statehood history of Connecticut Category:Paugussett