This area was long the home of the Mohegan Indians, by settlement before the Colonial period and by reservation until more recent years. Prominent sachems included Owaneco and his father Uncas, who defeated the Narragansett chief Miantonomoh, destroying that tribe's will to fight and opening the land to occupation by the whites. Uncas aided the English in King Philip's War of 1675-76, their most difficult and widespread conflict with the Indians. About 1723, John Mason erected a school to educate Indians and teach the Christian religion. Samson Occum, a student trained at the Reverend Eleazer Wheelock's school in present-day Columbia, taught in New London, became the first ordained Indian minister, and served as a missionary to the Indians of New York colony. While visiting England, he raised $50,000, which was used to found Dartmouth College. In 1658, Uncas donated lands to English friends and urged them to settle. Samuel Rogers, the first settler, built a home in 1670 and reared six children, the first white persons born in Montville. Connecticut divided lands to each Indian family in 1790 and extended equal rights to all Indians as to whites in 1872. About 1827, Sarah Huntington and Sarah Breed established a school on Fort Hill and raised funds to build the present Mohegan Indian Church in 1831. Nearby are Fort Shantok State Park, the Mohegan Indian Burial Ground, the church, and the Tantaquidgeon Museum, preserving much Indian culture.