FISHKILL – Daniel Nimham, the final Sachem of the Wappinger people and one of America’s first combat veterans during the Revolutionary War, will take his place in American history on June 11 when a bronze statue commissioned by the Town of Fishkill is unveiled.
Nimham, born in 1726 near Wiccopee, was a leader and advocate for the enforcement of land treaties, who traveled to England in 1766 to make a case before the Lord of Trade on behalf of Native Americans whose lands were unfairly taken by settlers.
During the Revolutionary War, Nimham and other Native Americans fought alongside the Continental Army against the British.
On August 31, 1778, at the Battle of Kingsbridge in what is now the Bronx, Nimham, his son, and dozens of other Native Americans in the Stockbridge Militia were ambushed and killed by British and Hessian soldiers.
The Town of Fishkill commissioned an eight-foot bronze statue, to be installed at the Arrowhead intersection of Routes 52 and 82 in Fishkill, in a place where a memorial plaque has stood in his honor for more than 80 years.
The ceremony will be held at 11 a.m.
