Esopus Wampum Belt Replica
Replicas of historic objects can exist for many reasons – the original may be too damaged, missing, or out of commission – yet they are vessels of the original’s story and significance. This recreation of a woven belt of wampum represents a historic record of the signing of the Nicolls Esopus Peace Treaty in 1665, conveying kinship between the Esopus and the English.
Description
The belt of "wampum,” a term that is the New England colonial interpretation of the Algonkian name wampomeag, meaning “string,” is constructed from a mix of acrylic white and purple shell beads, light buff colored elk hide lace, and imitation sinew. Though an imitation of the real belt, the thistle is a pale straw color. Seven rows of beads woven into the thistle rope are gathered at the ends of the belt in two sets of knots. The beads are cylindrical in shape, smooth and shiny, and measure about a quarter of an inch in length and one-eighth of an inch in diameter. There are three gaps in the belt, separating the woven beads into four distinct sections.
Provenance
Local historians have linked the original wampum belt to the peace agreements that occurred between the Esopus and the English in 1665. It would have been a supplementary component to a written treaty, acting as a visual record of the ideas presented at a diplomatic meeting. By 1732, the original wampum belt was acquired by the Ulster County Clerk’s Office by an order of the Court of Sessions. It remained in their possession until the mid-20th century, when it was placed on loan to the Senate House Museum and the New York State Museum until it returned to the Clerk’s Office’s in 1975.
In 2017, Historic Huguenot Street commissioned Tara Prindle, owner of Waaban Aki Crafting based out of Vernon, Connecticut. The replica remains in the possession of Historic Huguenot Street to this day.
Narrative
The wampum belt was a significant component of the diplomatic relations between the English colonizers and the Esopus peoples in Ulster County. It was a physical part of the peace treaty following the First and Second Esopus Wars when Dutch controlled New Netherlands was ceded to the English. The belt provides us with insight into Esopus artistic and diplomatic practices as well as the individual attitudes and principles of both the English and the Esopus.
The First Esopus War (1659–1660) was the first of two significant conflicts between the Dutch and the Esopus and was a reaction to continued Dutch encroachment on Esopus land. The Second Esopus War (1663–1664) was much deadlier and ended with the death of Chief Papequanaehen and the burning of many acres of native farmland. The Esopus and Dutch reached an uneasy peace on August 27, 1664. Headed by Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch surrendered the New Netherlands to the English, facilitating the creation of New York (named after the Duke of York). The first colonial governor of the Province of New York was Richard Nicolls. An ardent royalist, Nicolls immediately went to work instituting English reforms including trial by jury and ordained that all landowners apply for patents from the Duke of York. Nicolls was also tasked with negotiating a new peace with the Esopus, who were weary of white colonizers.
The Nicolls/Esopus Peace Treaty was signed on October 7, 1665. The text prohibited violence between the English and the Esopus and included a prescription for justice in the event that violence occurs. The treaty declared “that all past injuries are buried and forgotten on both sides,” ordained that settlers and natives found guilty of criminal activity would face equal punishment, and outlined exchanges of land and material goods. The Treaty also encouraged future renewals of the peace and solicited the presence of “Indyan Witnesses of the Esopes young men,” so that the younger generation may maintain the treaty. Between 1665 and 1745 the Nicolls/Esopus Peace Treaty was renewed thirteen times, demonstrating a commitment to peaceful relations. Belts of wampum were exchanged during these renewals, as well.
The white beads signify peace, harmony, and health; conversely, the purple beads convey mourning, war and destruction. In conversation with its colors, the orientation in which the beads are woven together also conveys a specific idea. Bead designs ranged from abstract geometric designs, such as linked diamonds or squares, to anthropomorphic imagery of human figures holding hands. This visual linkage references the Esopus people’s approach to diplomatic relations with their native and colonial allies, which was nonhierarchic and based on equality and kinship.
The treaty indicated that the sachems, the native chiefs, “presented a string of wampum in acknowledgement of renewing said peace and say they hope it may continue.” In diplomatic contexts, the wampum belt, once presented by one side and accepted by the other, acted as a record of what has transpired at an assembly or meeting. It would have been preserved and used at subsequent meetings. The belt may have been displayed on a rock or pole, and, in some contexts, was presented in multiples. The width and length of the belt conveyed the importance of the point it accompanied in relation to the belts positioned alongside it.
The practice of presenting wampum belts in diplomatic contexts originated between native tribes but was extended to relations between natives and colonizers. The presentation of the wampum belt at the Nicolls Esopus Treaty was just one instance of this cross-cultural diplomacy. A similar belt was presented at a peace agreement on May 15, 1664 between the Esopus and the Dutch at New Amsterdam following the Second Esopus War. The Esopus wampum belt provides us with insight into the underrepresented and little-known diplomacy between the Esopus peoples and European colonial forces. To this day, belts of wampum remain an integral part of Indigenous diplomatic and ceremonial proceedings.
~Ellie Cromling
Works Cited
Dubin, Lois Sherr, et al. North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment : From Prehistory to the Present / Lois Sherr Dubin ; Original Photography by Togashi, Paul Jones, and Others. Harry N. Abrams, 1999.
Keir, Ian. “An Agreement Made Between Richard Nicolls Esq., Governor and the Sachems and People Called the Sopes Indyans. 7th Day of October 1665.” Ulster County, Ulster County Clerk’s Office Records Management Program—Archives Division, 2015, clerk.ulstercountyny.gov/sites/default/files/resources/Nicolls%20Esopus%20Peace%20Treaty_2015.pdf.
Shannon, Timothy J. Iroquois Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier. 2008, ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB00248696.
Stessin-Cohn, Susan, and Luciano Valdivia. When Cultures Collide: The Story of the Esopus Natives and Their Encounter with European Colonialism in Ulster County. Ulster County Clerk’s Office, 2021.
“That It May Bee Kept in Perpetuall Memory” | Ulster County Clerk. clerk.ulstercountyny.gov/archives/exhibits/it-may-bee-kept-perpetuall-memory/slideshow.