End of Service
That engagement was the last of the war for the militia; Abraham's father, Daniel Nimham, was a man of great standing among the Wappinger, and the other casualties represented a significant loss to the total population of the tribe back in Massachusetts. Requesting leave to return home to help the families of the dead, the company was paid $1,000.00 for their service and discharged by order of George Washington in September 1778.
After the war, the militia saw brief action once more as they defended Stockbridge from insurgents during Shays' Rebellion. It has been suggested that their service created strong support for Indian suffrage in the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts; although article five of the first draft of the state's new constitution excluded Indians as eligible voters, it was soundly defeated and the second draft gave all men the right to vote.
Most of the Indian survivors eventually settled in Oneida County, New York and were later moved to Wisconsin, forming the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe.
Read more about this topic: Stockbridge Militia
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“Service ... is love in action, love “made flesh”; service is the body, the incarnation of love. Love is the impetus, service the act, and creativity the result with many by-products.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 3, ch. 3 (1962)