Golden Hill Paugussett Tribal Nation
Image courtesy of Golden Hill
Paugussett Tribal Nation
The Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation has reservations in Trumbull and Colchester. Tribal members first encountered Europeans during the beginning of the Pequot War (1637). The final battle of the war, the “Swamp War,” was fought between Europeans and their tribal allies and the Pequots and their Sasqua allies (the Sasqua were part of the Paugussett tribe). This battle was fought in Paugussett territory in present-day Fairfield County. Recent Paugussett leaders include William Sherman, who restored tribal lands in Trumbull in the 1870s; Sherman was succeeded by his daughter, Chieftess Rising Star. Aurieulus H. Piper, Chief Big Eagle, established the tribe’s reservation in Colchester in 1980 and encouraged the renewal of the Paugussett language.