Uncas, Isaiah
Mohegan; Moor's Indian Charity School
Moor's Indian Charity School (1760-1762)
Mohegan
- Lebanon, CT (from 1760)
Isaiah Uncas was the son and heir apparent of the Mohegan sachem Ben Uncas III. He was at Moor’s Indian Charity School from 1760 until at least 1767. Unlike most other Moor’s students, Isaiah was not in training to be a missionary; rather, Wheelock’s purpose in admitting him was likely to strengthen his ties to the Mohegan ruling family. However, Isaiah proved to be such a poor student that he only received two years of education before being transferred to farm work. Isaiah died in 1770, and the Mohegan tribe elected to install a tribal council rather than selecting another sachem, in large part because ties between the Uncas family and the government of Connecticut had resulted in vast land losses for the Mohegans (these land losses were the cause of the Mason Case).
Fisher, Linford. The Indian Great Awakening: Religion and the Shaping of Native Cultures in Early America. New York: Oxford University Press 2012. Love, Deloss. Samson Occom and the Christian Indians of New England. Pilgrim Press 1899. McCallum, James. The Letters of Eleazar Wheelock’s Indians. Dartmouth College Press 1932.