KENT- In a striking if belated honor for Indigenous leader Daniel Nimham, a magnificent 4-foottall statue, cast in bronze and created by world-renowned sculptor Michael Keropian was dedicated Saturday outside Kent Town Hall.
The statue is one half the size of a statue honoring Nimham that proudly sits in Fishkill.
Two years ago, members of the Kent Conservation Foundation, the Kent Public Library, Kent Historical Society and Arts on the Lake, raised $75,000 to commission a statue of Nimham in Putnam County.
Daniel Nimham was the Wappingers Sachem who gave his life, along with his Algonquin speaking warriors, in the cause of the American Revolution. Nimham was born in the hamlet of Wiccopee in 1726 and was the final Sachem, or tribal leader, of the Wappinger people.
When the Revolutionary War began, Nimham and other Native Americans joined to fight alongside the Continental Army against the British and at the Battle of Kingsbridge on August 31, 1778, the 52-yearold Nimham, his son and dozens of militia warriors were ambushed and killed by British and Hessian soldiers, giving their lives for American freedom.
The name Daniel Nimham is well known in Putnam County thanks to the late Gil ‘Crying Hawk’ Tarbox, who founded the Daniel Nimham Pow Wow held every summer at the Veterans Memorial Park prior to COVID. Tarbox succumbed to COVID in 2021, leaving his wife, Penny, and family along with the entire Putnam community to mourn.
Keropian recalled how 20 years ago, Jim and Wilma Baker and George Baum visited his studio and requested that he create a statue of Daniel Nimham: “Funding could not be raised back then, and when I received a proposal in Fishkill, that’s where the statue ended up.”
Keropian said he was thrilled the new statue is calling Putnam home: “Putnam County has been focused on Daniel Nimham for decades – not just because of the mountain that bears his name but due to Gil and his wife who organized the Pow Wow celebrations for years. If any county deserves something regarded to Nimham, it is Putnam County.”
Keropian’s statue contains a combination of visual interests from every angle along with historical accuracy mixed with what the artist said were “symbolism and allegory to help tell Daniel’s story.”
The statue has a scroll in Nimham’s right hand which honors his advocacy for Native American land rights, while the musket in his left hand marked his courage in battle.
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