Increasing Influence
In 1644 Wyandanch was still most likely a minor chief among the Montauketts, as evidenced by an agreement from that year in which the tribe sold 31,000 acres (130 km2) of land near Southampton to the English; a number of other sachems' signatures appear before his on the document, indicating their relative importance.
In 1649 and 1650 however, Wyandanch skillfully used his position as an "alliance chief" to increase his own prestige. He defused a tense stand off between the Shinnecock tribe and the colonists, over the killing of an English woman (which was itself done in retaliation for the murder of a Shinnecock Indian earlier). As a result he acquired the right to manage and sell Shinnecock land as his own, although he was also made responsible for preventing Shinnecock attacks on the colonists and other tribes.
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