Stewart Huntington
ICT

Mohican Indians joined the Stockbridge Militia, the first group of Native Americans to fight in the Continental Army for independence from Great Britain.

What did the grateful new United States nation do to thank them after the war? 

It gave them the boot.

To upstate New York. To Indiana. And finally to the Great Lakes.

After many stops over decades the Mohicans ended up today on the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans reservation in Wisconsin – far from their homelands in present day Massachusetts and New York.

Now, a group of tribal citizens is working to reestablish a relationship with their ancestral territory – for the people and the land.

“There’s a feeling that the lands and the waters, they need us,” said Shawn Stevens, a Stockbridge-Munsee citizen. “They need the original stewards of the land to come back and to help with the restoration of a lot of wounded ecosystems out there.”

Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans citizen Shawn Stevens walks on the powwow grounds during the 2025 Homeland Powwow in New Lebanon, N.Y. Steven is part of a group working to to honor and reconnect the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican people with their ancestral lands. Credit: Joe Plante/Homelands Powwow

Stevens is one of the organizers behind the effort to re-establish Indigenous connections to the eastern homelands. A central element of the work is the Homelands Powwow scheduled for Oct. 3-4 in Lennox, Massachusetts.

Nearly 200 tribal citizens are planning to make the journey from in-and-around Bowler, Wisconsin, for the two-day event that Stevens said is full of deep meaning.

“To call it a powwow, on its own, doesn’t seem to do its justice,” he told ICT. “Because from my people’s point of view it’s actually coming home to the homelands, our ancestral land where our ancestors lived. It’s almost like a pilgrimage for a lot of our people who’ve never been back to the ancestral lands – to be able to walk the lands of our ancestors, to actually sing and dance on the lands of our ancestors.”

Stevens grew up in Wisconsin and didn’t visit his homelands until more than two decades ago. He said the feeling he got then was hard to describe.

“It’s one of those things that words just don’t do it enough justice to come home. Standing on the land by yourself … you feel that you’re very welcome. You feel echoes of the past, vibrations of the present. You feel the presence of the ancestors,” he said. “And even though a lot of the history there is sad, it’s still also a very good, warm, welcoming, amazing feeling. You can’t describe how it is for anybody who’s gone back to where their ancestors are from. … It’s like reconnecting from being disconnected for so long.”

Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans stand in a group after the 2025 Homelands Powwow in New Lebanon, New York. Members of the band have been working on re-establishing a connection with their original homelands in New York and Massachusetts. Credit: Joe Plante/Homelands Powwow

He knew he wanted to share that feeling.

Stevens has been traveling back and forth from Wisconsin to his homelands for years now. He’s built relationships with community members and brought youth groups from his nation to experience the re-connection for themselves.

“Many of our people have never had that chance to come home,” he said. “I’m 57 years old. I was probably 30 the first time I was actually able to get out to the homelands. So to be able to see these young people get out there much earlier in life and to understand the history and the connections and everything that’s out there, it does my heart really good. They didn’t have to wait so long, as long as I did and many others.”

In 2025, the first Homelands PowWow brought more than 60 tribal members and descendants back to the lands of their ancestors. More than two thousand visitors joined them, creating an opportunity to share culture and build connections. 

A man dances on the grounds of the 2025 Homelands Powwow in New Lebanon, N.Y. The powwow’s second running will take place Oct. 3-4 in Lennox, Massachusetts and is part of a campaign to reunite Wisconsin-based Stockbridge-Munsee Indians with their original territory. There is “something powerful about standing together in our ancestral Homelands – dancing, singing, reconnecting, and feeling that undeniable sense of being home,” said Mysti Hammer, Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican. Credit: Joe Plante/Homelands Powwow

“Last year, there was something powerful about standing together in our ancestral Homelands – dancing, singing, reconnecting, and feeling that undeniable sense of being home,” said Mysti Hammer, Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican. 

This year’s event looks to be larger and even more vibrant.

“This is a reclamation,” said Stevens. “You feel that pain and that sorrow but you have to put that stuff aside. To be a part of this blooming again is phenomenal.”

IF YOU GO…

What: The Second Annual Homelands Powwow: Tending the Fire
When: Oct. 3-4
Where: Shakespeare & Company (70 Kemble Street, Lenox, Massachusetts)
Admission: Adults: $20. Youth (5–12): $10. Seniors (65+): $10. Veterans: Free
Hours: Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6 p.m. Grand Entry: Noon; Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 5 p.m. Grand Entry: Noon

Stewart Huntington is an ICT producer/reporter based in central Colorado.