| Image Alt: | Hammonassett River |
| Total: | merged into Tunxis people in the mid-18th century |
| Regions: | Connecticut, U.S. |
| Languages: | Algonquian language |
| Religions: | Indigenous religion |
| Related Groups: | Quinnipiac, Tunxis |
The Hammonasset people were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands whose territory was along the west bank of the Connecticut River to the Hammonasset River in Connecticut.
The Hammonasset spoke an Algonquian language.
In their society, villages were organized by patrilineal clans with names appointed by animal totems.[1] The indigenous people who settled in the area named it Hammonasset, which roughly translates to “where we dig the ground.”[2]
They subsisted by fishing and hunting, and raised corn, beans, and squash.[3] The Hammonasset River was one of the few to have salmon runs.[4]
The first European colonists arrived in their territory area in 1638. In 1640, Uncas, sachem of the Mohegan, added the daughter of Sebequanash of the Hammonassets to his several wives. This marriage gave Uncas some type of control over their land which he promptly sold to New England colonists. The Hammonassets moved and became Mohegans.
They were once a band of Quinnipiac people, who were recorded living near Guilford, Connecticut. Their leader was named Sebequnash, or "The Man Who Weeps."[5]
In 1730, the band's population was 250 to 300 people. By 1774, they were reduced to only 38 people. They moved to Farmington, Connecticut, to live among the Tunxis in 1768.[6]