Source: Encyclopedia Mahicans a confederacy of Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands (see NORTH AMERICA, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF) with an Algonquian language of the Algonquian-Wakashan stock (see NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES). They occupied both banks of the Hudson R., almost to Lake Champlain. The MOHEGANS were a tribe of the Mahican group; both have been called Mohicans. By 1664 the Mohawk had driven the Mahicans E to Massachusetts. Their complete dispersal was hastened when their enemies were armed by the Dutch.