{{Short description|Leader of the Nashaway tribe (d. after 1704)}} '''George Tahanto''' (died after 1704) (also known as '''Sagamore George''' or '''Tohanto''') was a leader of the Nashaway tribe within the Pennacook confederation in what is now Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Tahanto was the nephew of Sachem Sholan.
==Early life and background== Tahanto was baptized as a Christian, and eventually succeeded his uncle, Sholan, as leader of the Nashaway (Pennacook confederation).<ref>William O. Dupuis, Society Vice President and Director, "Lives Thus Spent" ( 1986). Boylston Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 6, 1 November 1999.https://www.boylstonhistory.org/email1-6.htm accessed 28 March 2024.</ref> The name "Tahanto" may have also been used by an earlier "Tahanto, Sagmore of Pencooke" who was living near what is now Concord, New Hampshire in 1636, when he "granted to William Hilton Seniour & William Hilton Juniour six Miles of Land lying on ye River River Penneconquigg being a rivulette running into Penacooke River."<ref>Dwayne W. Pickett, ''Captain William Hilton and the Founding of Hilton Head Island'', (2019), p. 20</ref> In 1668 Tahanto opposed drunkenness amongst the Pennacook and helped execute a tribe member who committed a murder while intoxicated.<ref>"THE history of the PENACOOKS, a powerful Indian tribe" pp. 34–37 https://www.concordnh.gov/DocumentCenter/View/672/Concord-History-Chapter-I?bidId=</ref>
==Conflict with settlers and leaving homeland== On January 27, 1699 George Tahanto and his cousin, Wattanummon, went to Boston and ratified a peace treaty with Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont.<ref>James Phinney Baxter, ''The Baxter Manuscripts - Volume 23'' (1916), p. 22 footnotes</ref> Although a large number of Native Americans met at Lake Winnipesaukee in the winter of 1699 to ally with the French and Iroquois, Tahanto and Wattanummon reassured the Massachusetts governor that they were not involved in the alliance and desired peace.<ref>Colin Gordon Calloway, ''After King Philip's War: Presence and Persistence in Indian ...'' (1997), p. 45</ref> In 1700 Tahanto and Wattanummon informed the Massachusetts governor that the Pennecook would not make war on the Mohegan tribe as was rumored.<ref>"Wattanummon Pennacook - Wôbanaki, c. 1660 – 1712" 1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/people.do?shortName=Wattanummon (accessed 3/28/2024)</ref><ref>April 16, 1700 'America and West Indies: April 1700, 16-20', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 18, 1700, (London, 1910) pp. 170-190. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol18/pp170-190 [accessed 24 March 2024]</ref> after "George Tohanto and Wattanuman, the two principal Indians of Pennicook" were ordered to go to Boston and report to the government about a possible war plot.<ref>July 1700 July 22. Boston 'America and West Indies: July 1700, 22-25', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 18, 1700, (London, 1910) pp. 424-430. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol18/pp424-430 [accessed 25 March 2024]</ref> In 1701 and 1702 Tahanto deeded large tracts of land to settlers, including the Nashaway homeland around the Waushacum ponds in Sterling, as well as land in what is now known as Boylston, Harvard, Leominster, and Lancaster.<ref>Nourse, Indian Names in Worcester County https://www.nipmuclanguage.org/uploads/5/0/7/7/50775337/indian_names_worc..pdf (accessed 3/28/24)</ref><ref>''The Story of Colonial Lancaster,'' p. 3, 60-61 https://ia601009.us.archive.org/31/items/storyofcoloniall00saff/storyofcoloniall00saff.pdf (accessed 3/30/24)</ref> In 1702 Tohanto and Wattanummon met with Governor Dudley regarding preventing the Pennacooks from joining a French and Iroqouis alliance.<ref>Evan Haefeli, Kevin Sweeney, Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid o, (2003), p.87</ref> By April 1703 Tahanto reportedly left for Canada,<ref>Historical Documents of Indians of the Far Northeast, accessed March 29, 2024, https://hrifne.avantlogic.net/digitalarchive/items/show/48262.Item54321</ref> but in June participated with Wattanummon in Governor Joseph Dudley's peace conference at Casco Bay.<ref>"Wattanummon Pennacook - Wôbanaki, c. 1660 – 1712" 1704.deerfield.history.museum/popups/people.do?shortName=Wattanummon (accessed 3/28/2024)</ref> In 1704 Tahanto was living in Cowass in what is now Newbury, Vermont, when his kinsman Wattanummon provided Tahanto with a hostage from the Deerfield Raid, 10-year-old Stephen Williams, as detailed by Stephen and his father John in their published narratives.<ref>Evan Haefeli, Kevin Sweeney, ''Captive Histories: English, French, and Native Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid'' (2006), p. 160</ref><ref>John Williams, ''The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion: Or, The Captivity ...''" (1908), p.50</ref><ref>"Revisiting The Redeemed Captive: New Perspectives on the 1704 Attack on Deerfield," Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney, ''The William and Mary Quarterly'', Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 3-46 (44 pages)</ref>
==Legacy== Tahanto Regional High School in Boylston, Massachusetts, the Tahanto neighborhood of Harvard, Massachusetts, Tahanto Point in Boylston on the Wachusetts Reservoir, and a locomotive<ref>''Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers' Monthly Journal'' (1888)p. 1020</ref> are named after Tahanto.<ref>Dupuis</ref> A temperance organization was named after Tahanto due to his opposition to intoxication.<ref>http://www.concordnh.gov/DocumentCenter/View/849/Lyford-V1-Chapter-12-Part-1?bidId= (accessed 3/29/24)</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:George Tahanto}} Category:17th-century Native American people Category:Native American leaders Category:Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts Category:People from colonial Massachusetts Category:Native American people from Massachusetts Category:Native American history of Massachusetts Category:Pennacook people