Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainBronx park field where 37 Stockbridge Indian patriots fell in a British ambush in 1778 — their common grave marked by a DAR cairn since 1906.
Van Cortlandt Park East and Oneida Avenue, Bronx, NY 10471
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public park; no admission charge.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Mostly flat park terrain; monument is a short walk from parking areas
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1778 · Battle of Kingsbridge (August 31, 1778) · Burial Ground of Stockbridge Indian Patriots · Death of Sachem Daniel Nimham and His Son Abraham · DAR Memorial Cairn 1906; Restored 2016
By the mid-18th century, the Wappinger confederation under sachem Daniel Nimham had joined Mohican allies at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and at the start of the Revolution pledged loyalty to the American cause. By the summer of 1778, Nimham led a company of roughly 60 Stockbridge men attached to American forces in the Bronx.
On August 31, 1778, Colonel John Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers orchestrated an ambush in what is now Van Cortlandt Park. Simcoe divided his approximately 500-man force to encircle the American contingent along a ridge near Kingsbridge. The Stockbridge men, outnumbered roughly five to one, fought hand-to-hand — accounts describe them leaping onto horses and using tomahawks when there was no time to reload. Sachem Daniel Nimham was shot dead; according to contemporary accounts he refused to retreat, declaring he was old and could die there. His son Abraham was also killed. The British reported taking 10 prisoners, though some accounts indicate surrendering men were executed.
Burial accounts vary between 17 and 40 killed. Local residents covered the Stockbridge graves with stones to prevent animal desecration. The 2-to-3-acre plot became known as Indian Field. In 1906, the Bronx Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a stone cairn and bronze plaque dedicated on Flag Day, June 14. The plaque reads: 'August 31, 1778. Upon this Field Chief Nimham and Seventeen Stockbridge Indians, as Allies of the Patriots, Gave their Lives for Liberty.' The monument was restored by the NYC Parks Monument Conservation Program in 2016.
The battle effectively ended the Stockbridge Indian Company's participation in the Revolution. Nimham is separately commemorated at a monument in Woodlawn Cemetery, erected by the DAR in 1907.
Sources
The park's ghost lore is documented in regional sources including the Riverdale Press and several New York haunted-places compilations. The Van Cortlandt House — the 1748 manor house that served as Washington's headquarters and is now the Bronx's oldest surviving structure — is described in multiple accounts as the park's most active paranormal site. Reports include dolls in the children's room found displaced with no one having moved them, and whispering or chanting in a language visitors cannot identify, heard in the park's heavier wooded sections.
Wheather any of these reports attach specifically to Indian Field is not well documented in available sources. The Indian Field area is treated in regional haunted-place coverage primarily as a site of historical gravity rather than active paranormal claims — the documented history of the ambush and mass burial carries its own weight. The Bronx Borough Historian, when asked about the park's ghost reputation, reportedly stated he had no knowledge of paranormal lore there, which suggests the haunting tradition is informal and community-level rather than institutionally acknowledged.
The fable_build_note for this venue directs history-first treatment: the Stockbridge massacre memorial is the primary reason to visit, and any paranormal framing is secondary to that documented history.
Notable Entities
Walk to the northeast section of Van Cortlandt Park to the monument and burial ground at Indian Field, where 37 Stockbridge Indian patriots allied with the Continental Army were killed in a British ambush on August 31, 1778. The site features a stone cairn and bronze plaque erected by the Bronx DAR in 1906, restored in 2016 by the NYC Parks Monument Conservation Program.
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