 The colony claimed land traditional to the Mohegans on the basis of a 1699 sale executed by Oneco to the son of Nathaniel Foote.The legality of the sale, however, was questioned as Oneco had reportedly been intoxicated at the time it occurred.Samuel Mason, the son of John Mason, had succeeded his father as protector of the Mohegan lands – an office into which he had originally been commissioned by the great sachem Uncas – and organized an appeal to the Great and General Court of Connecticut, which was rebuffed.