The 1855 Land Loss Mashantucket was already a small and extremely poor reservation in the middle of the 19th century, when state authorities took steps to make the reservation even smaller. “The reservation in 1855 consisted of 989 acres,” according to Dr. Kevin McBride, Director of Research at the MPMRC and Professor of Archaeology at the University of Connecticut.  “On that reservation there were probably about 50 people, and I believe about 5 houses.  And in 1855, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a law the result of which was that the Pequots were forced to auction off all but about 214 acres of land.” Mashantucket ca. 1855 The reservation consisted of 989 acres -- enough land to support roughly 50 Pequots year round. Mashantucket ca. 1856 All but 214 rocky acres are sold off by the State of Connecticut, forcing many Pequots to leave the reservation. The loss was devastating to the tribe, but in the eyes of the state, the land sale was meant to work to the Pequots' benefit. “The rationale,” says Dr. McBride, “was that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for us, the Connecticut government, to help to maintain these Pequots.  We’ve really got to do something to help them raise some money, so let’s sell this land off, and we’ll use the money that remains for their benefit.  In fact, they established a bank account at a local bank in Norwich, and the money in that account was used by the state overseers to help maintain the Pequots.” But with so little land left, it would be impossible for more than a handful of families to remain at Mashantucket.  The state was determined to improve the tribe's economic condition, even if it meant forcing many Pequots off the reservation and into the American mainstream.  “I think in the 19th century the state of Connecticut, like other states in New England, saw Indians as an anachronism”, says Dr. Jack Campisi of Wellesley College and the MPMRC.  “Their attitude was, ‘Let’s improve the condition of the Indians by making them non-Indians.’  So, from the state’s point of view, the sale of the Pequots’ land advanced that cause.”  But what the state didn't know was that it had sold the land in violation of federal law.  This illegal land sale forced most of the tribe to leave their tiny reservation, but 120 years later, the Mashantucket Pequots would sue for the return of their land and take a crucial step in their dramatic recovery.