Quarter-Acre of Heartache

by Claude Clayton Smith

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America will celebrate its 250th birthday in 2026; that year will also mark the fiftieth anniversary of what the late Chief Big Eagle of Connecticut’s Golden Hill Paugussett Indians called “the war for the quarter-acre,” a battle for one of the oldest (1659) and smallest Indian reservation in America. In July of 1976, at the height of the Bicentennial, while the Chief was tracing the Delaware language in Wisconsin, he learned of a lawsuit challenging the very existence of his tribe. Violence—from arson to bloodshed—soon erupted in sedate Trumbull, Connecticut, testing the limits of local, state, and federal authorities. Noted civil rights lawyer William Kunstler advanced the tribe’s legal case, while Clyde Bellecourt and Russell Means, of the American Indian Movement, joined the Chief in the reservation’s armed defense. Ultimately, the tribe was victorious, securing the status of the Golden Hill Paugussett Reservation in perpetuity. Quarter-Acre of Heartache uses the voice of Chief Big Eagle to recount the story of his tribe's survival.

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Indigenous
HISTORY / Indigenous / General

ISBN: 978-1-962082-71-6 (print; softcover; perfect bound )
ISBN: 978-1-962082-73-0 (ebook)

LCCN: 2025938359

Released June 17, 2025 | Copyright 2025

164 pages; 30 black-and-white images

Author Biography

Claude Clayton Smith, Professor Emeritus of English, Ohio Northern University, is the author of eight books and co-editor/translator of four. His own work has been translated into five languages, including Russian and Chinese. This is his fourth book with Shanti Arts. He holds a DA from Carnegie-Mellon, an MFA in fiction from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, an MAT from Yale, and a BA from Wesleyan. He was a finalist for the 2022 First Pages Prize and winner of the 2021 Great Midwest Fiction Contest. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife, Elaine—his first reader and editor.
His website is claudeclaytonsmith.wordpress.com.

Endorsements

“Quarter-Acre of Heartache’s blend of autobiography, cultural memory, and oral history crafts a timely reminder of the power of indigenous resistance.”
—Ellery Thomas Leary, Historian, Archeologist; M.A., University College London

“I am happy that Quarter-Acre of Heartache was translated into Russian in 1994 and is being republished in English for the crucial year of 2026, when America will celebrate its 250th anniversary. American Indians and the indigenous peoples of the Russian North, the Khanty and Mansi, are close in their mentality and history. Brother Wolf and Brother Tree, truth and respect, these values are of a different order than the power of capital, and bring our peoples together.”
—Marina Aypina, editor, Bulletin of the Assembly of Representatives of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Khanty-Mansiysk Region, Siberia

“This book is a testament to the persistent injustice Americans have served up to Native Americans. It’s also a witness to the reality that democracy can be used to disempower outsiders. Smith’s presentation enables the reader to hear directly the voice of this proud, courageous, clear-sighted, and stubborn Golden Hill Paugussett Indian chief who took a stand in twentieth century Connecticut against three hundred years of abuse to his people.”
—Jenny Rabodzeenko, Ph.D., Cultural Anthropologist; Shikaakwa, Miami-Illinois land

“I grew up in Stratford. I had no idea that modern day Indians lived there. Smith’s book made their presence all too poignantly clear.”
—Gary Kraut, Trustee, University of California Press

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