POCOMTUC

Algonquian-speaking Indians who lived in what is now western Massachusetts and adjoining parts of Connecticut and Vermont in the United States. In 1600 they were estimated to number 1,200. Like other New England tribes they were semisedentary, moving seasonally between relatively permanent sites. Their main diet was corn (maize), cultivated by the Pocomtuc women, and fish and game. In 1675 the Pocomtuc joined in King Philip's War against the colonists and, after the war, fled to Scaticook, along the Hudson River. Some remained there until 1754, when they joined other Indian tribes at Saint-Franois-du-Lac, Canada.