[Peter Cutul (2025)] expansion of Philipse holdings by Governor Fletcher. As the case wrapped up, it was looking favorable for Nimham. However, in an 11th hour surprise, Beverly Robinson reached into his coat pocket and produced a deed dated August 13, 1702 which included language covering the whole 205,000 acre parcel and extended the Eastern border all the way to CT. 20 Nimham and Munroe were allowed to briefly inspect the document and just as Munroe “was about to point out some mark of Fraud attending it... one of the Gentlemen of Council took the Same from him, and turning himself to the Petitioners told them that they had best go Home about their Business...” 21. The deed having never been seen before, nor recorded or registered with New York State, was either entirely fake or had been “surreptitiously obtained” from the named Indians, likely under duress or by Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and Liberty, Hudson Valley Riots In The Age of Revolution (Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press), 66. 17 Thomas F. Maxon, Mount Nimham: The Ridge of Patriots, Historical Timeline (New York: Thomas Maxon, 2009), 27. 18 Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and Liberty, Hudson Valley Riots In The Age of Revolution (Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press), 66. 19 Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and Liberty, Hudson Valley Riots In The Age of Revolution (Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press), 10. 20 Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, “Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767”, Ethnohistory, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer 1964), Published by Duke University Press: 199. 21 Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, “Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767”, Ethnohistory, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer 1964), Published by Duke University Press: 204. 16 means of bribery. 22 Although some of the Indian names on the document were indeed authentic, according to an observer present at the hearing, Nimham stated that “he never knew, nor heard of their making any Conveyance of said lands, nor of their having any authority to dispose the same.” 23 Despite the questionable nature of Robinson’s 1702 “Indian Deed,” an investigation by New York Attorney General John Kempe, favorable to the landlords, was enough to persuade the Council to rule against Nimham and the Wappinger. 24 Befuddled by Indian descriptions of land that confused him, Kempe concluded that the land claimed by Nimham seemed not to agree with the description of the area in question. His interpretation led the New York Common Council in 1765 to reject the Wappinger’s petition. Adding insult to injury, two days later, New York colonial authorities arrested the Wappinger’s attorney, Samuel Munroe on seemingly bogus charges of “Champerty and Maintenance.”* 25 The Hudson Valley Land Riots of 1766 Taking advantage of the favorable Council ruling, Robinson and Sheriff James Livingston wasted no time in evicting tenants unwilling to sign one to three year leases and pay rents in cash (traditionally rents were paid in agricultural products). 26 Resistant tenants were harshly dealt with, some even being burned out of their homes. A Connecticut lawyer, who anonymously wrote a firsthand account of the situation made this observation:** “The said Mr. Robinson without any manner of legal warrant, or authority for so doing, thereupon having collected a body of upwards of 200 soldiers, consisting partly of regular troops and partly of militia of the said province, all well armed, and supplied with ammunition, and other warlike apparatus besides wagons and wagoneers; in a warlike posture march’d up against the poor, defenceless people, under a pretence of subduing the rebels, giving out, that they had acted in open rebellion to the Crown of Great Britain, that were a pack of Rebels! Damned Rebels! And Traitors! And upon a Sabbath day, long to be remembered, arrived among the inhabitants aforesaid, and in a hostile manner, drove them out before them, burnt and destroyed some of their houses pillaged and plundered others, stove their cyder barrels, turned their provisions out into the open streets, ript open their feather beds, laid open their meadows and fields of grain, and either took, or destroyed the greater part of the effects of this poor, but loyal people.” 27 Henry Noble MacCracken, Old Dutchess Forever! The Story of An American County (New York: Hastings House), 283. 23 Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, “Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse - An Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767”, Ethnohistory, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer 1964), Published by Duke University Press: 205. 24 Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and Liberty, Hudson Valley Riots In The Age of Revolution (Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press), 66. 25 Ibid, 206. 26 Thomas J. Humphrey, Land and