| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 4000 enrolled (as of 2013)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States, ( Wisconsin) | |
| Languages | |
| English, formerly Mohegan and Pequot | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mohegan, Pequot, Narragansett, Montauk |
The Brothertown Indians (also Brotherton), located in Wisconsin, are a Native American tribe formed in the late 18th century from communities descended from Pequot, Narragansett, Montauk, Tunxis, Niantic, and Mohegan (Algonquian-speaking) tribes of southern New England and eastern Long Island, New York.[2][3] In the 1780s after the American Revolutionary War, they migrated from New England into New York state, where they accepted land from the Iroquois Oneida Nation in Oneida County.
Under pressure from the United States government, the Brothertown Indians, together with the Stockbridge-Munsee and some Oneida, removed to Wisconsin in the 1830s, mainly walking from New York State, some took ships through the Great Lakes. In 1839 they were the first tribe of Native Americans in the United States to accept United States citizenship and allotment of their communal land to individual households, in order to prevent another removal further west. Most of the neighboring Oneida and many of the Lenape (Delaware) were removed to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in this period.
Seeking to regain federal recognition, the Brothertown Indians filed a documented petition in 2005. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) notified the tribe in 2009 that the 1839 act granting the Brothertown United States citizenship and dissolving their communal reservation land, had effectively terminated the people as a sovereign tribe. In September 2012, in the final determination on the Brothertown petition, the acting Assistant Secretary determined that the group previously had a relationship with the United States, but had its tribal status terminated by the 1839 act which could only be restored by a new act of Congress. Because Brothertown could not satisfy mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment, the Department did not look to the other criteria in making its final determination. [4][5] The Brothertown Indians are continuing to pursue federal recognition.
The Brothertown Indians are one of twelve[6] tribes residing in Wisconsin and the only one that does not have federal recognition.[1] The tribe is estimated to have more than 4,000 members as of 2013.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Tri County Ottery Fosterswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Brothertown Indians Archived March 29, 2006, at the Wayback Machine"
- ^ Brothertown History, Life in New York, Indian Country
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 2, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Laverdure issues a final declaration regarding Brotherton Indian Nation petition for Federal acknowledgement" (PDF). Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs – United States Department of the Interior. September 7, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 2, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "American Indians in Wisconsin - Overview". Wisconsin Department of Health Services. August 12, 2014. Archived from the original on August 17, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2018.