pg 150
CHAPTER IV.
INDIAN WARS.
NATURAL CAUSES.
1667.
We have not reached the epoch particularly characterized by
collision between the races originally occupying and those
seeking a new home from a foreign soil.
This issue follows the great laws of nature, in that econ-
omy which forces the old to give place to the new, thus per-
petuating a renovating energy throughout her domain.
Disturbance is a natural consequence of the influx of popu-
lation, (especially where the elements are not homogeneous)
when it flows in with a force and fullness sufficient to re-
place original races.
p.151 Decay, change, renovation, are the constantly recurring
phases of nature; and of human society as a subject of
natural law, as marked and decided in the succession of
races, states, and nations as in the succession of genera-
tions or of vegetation. It ever has been, it ever will be,
that the fresh and new, with its excess of life and energy,
will in its season appear to replace the decay and waste of
the old.
Footnote. 1. Annals of Salem, No. iii. p. 250.
MORAL CAUSES.
THE PURITANS OF MASSACHUSETTS.
p.152 The Puritans1 of Massachusetts detected a source of public
calamities in the social customs of the day, which may excite
the admiration of this.
The General Court publish what they consider twelve evils, which
brought on the country, the burning and depopulation of several
hopeful plantations, and the murdering of many people by the
Indians - viz: "Long hair, like women's hair, is worn by some
men - either their own or other people's hair, made into peri-
wigs; and by some women wearing borders of hair, and their
cutting, curling and immodest laying out their hair, which
practice doth prevail and increase, especially among the young-
er sort."
Another evil, proclaimed the General Court, at Salem, Mass.,
was "pride in apparel, both for costliness in the poorer sort,
and vain new strange fashions, both in poor and rich, with
naked breasts and arms; or as it were pinioned with the addi-
tion of superfluous ribbons, both on hair and apparel."
But a more rational source of trouble was the conduct of the
early voyagers and the resident fishermen, by which all respect
for the superiority of the white race, conceived on a first and
superficial acquaintance, was dissipated, and savage resentments
provoked, till gradually a fearful and terrible climax was reach-
ed.
Gorges, in his plea at the bar of the House of Commons, complained,
"that the mischief already sustained by these disorderly persons
is inhuman and intolerable; being worse than the savages in their
manners and behaviour: impudently and openly lying with their women:
teaching their men to drink drunk; to swear and blaspheme the name
of God.1
IMPRUDENCE OF THE WHITES.
1675.
The herds and cornfields and meadows of Hadley on the Connecticut
river had suffered from savage depredation. Conjecture pointed to
the natives of
Footnote. 1. Gorges' Narrative, Maine Historical Coll., vol. ii,
p.38.
p.153 INDIAN WARS.
the remote east as the perpetrators of the mischief.
MO-HO-TIWORMET, OR ROBINHOOD.
Mohotiwormet, or Robinhood, the aged sachem of the lower Sheeps-
cot, or Sagadahoc waters, was threatened with vengeance, in a
message demanding redress for damages alleged to have been done.
This wanton disturbance of the natives of Maine excited the wild-
est alarm. Rumor had lent wings to the exciting intelligence, which,
in a thousand distorted forms of exageration, was flying through
the wilds of Maine, disturbing, exasperating and dissipating all
the elements of mutual confidence between the red and white races.
The planters and residents of Sheepscot and Sagadahoc became
greatly disquieted. The great Mo-ho-tiwormet, the aboriginal lord
of the soil where he dwelt, one of the most powerful native chief-
tains, on whose friendship their lives and fortunes depended, had
been wantonly and unreasonably provoked. The white residents called
a public meeting at the dwelling house of Captain Patishall (Padd-
ishall?) probably at his island-home in the lower waters of the
Sagadahoc, within the town of Phipsburg. Various plans were de-
vised to avert the impending storm-cloud.
The peril was common and imminent. It was finally resolved to
visit and disarm the savages - a plan, all the features of which
could not have been considered, or it never would have been adopted.
Volunteers for the delicate and dangerous service came forward,
who directed their efforts toward the natives of the Kennebec and
its tributaries, proposing to make reconnoissances or fight, as
necessity and expediency might suggest. Walker, an ancient Sheeps-
cot truckmaster, who, by his probity and experience with the sav-
ages, had acquired influence over them, was successful in persuad-
ing some of them to give up their arms and ammunition, as a guar-
antee of their pacific intentions. The plan was deemed feasible
and
p.154 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
expedient, as a measure of safety to the planters. But a savage
of the Androscoggin, at an interview, had with Lake, Patishall,
and others, who had gone out to execute the process of disarming
the Indians, sprang on one of the party with his up-raised battle-
axe, and aimed a blow at the head of Hosea Mallet, a Frenchman.
The blow was averted from its fatal effects, but Sowen, the daring
savage, was seized, bound and immured in a cellar. The Sanops and
aged men of the tribe deplored the aspect of affairs, declared
Sowen worthy of death, and offered to redeem his life with "forty
beaver skins." Some of their number were pledged as sureties. By
the dawn of the succeeding day, the wild woods of Sagadahoc rang
with the shouts and echoed with the savage notes of Mo-ho-tiworm-
et and his braves, who made the great dance and sang the song of
peace at the doors of the terror-stricken white man. Sowen was
released. But the hostages soon made good their escape, defying
the vigilance of their keepers, and the beaver skins were never
paid.
KING PHILIP'S WAR.
King Philip's war had been raging in Massachusetts. This fire,
kindled by the natives to consume the whites, had turned back
with devouring fury, until Philip and his braves had fallen and
been consumed.
The hostile bearing of the eastern savages was undoubtedly
assumed under the influence of fugitives from the scene of Philip's
disaster, with a hope of exterminating the whole race of white men,
which the brave and patriotic King Philip had inspired.
In the dance of peace, the emgers of war had not been extinguished.
Smothered in the savage breast, a most brutal outrage on the wife
and child of Squando rekindled them into quenchless flames.
p.155 INDIAN WARS.
THE OUTRAGE OF A SAVAGE MOTHER.
As the wife of Squando, the Lord of the native Sekokis, paddled
her fragile bark canoe across the waters of the Saco, some frol-
ickssome seamen overturned or cast the infant savage into the
water. It san to the bottom. The mother, urged by the instincts
of the maternal heart, plunged to rescue her darling from death.
She at last rose to the surface with the child alive, but so in-
jured by the wanton act as to die soon after.
The exasperated father, - the fierce chieftain - was provoked to
vengeance.
ASSAULT ON THE PURCHASE PLANTATION.
In September, the store-houses of Thomas Purchase, a Merry
Meeting planter, near the head of the New Meadows River, were
sacked. Twenty painted savages plundered the liquor, seized the
ammunition, ripped up the feather beds for the sake of the tick-
ing, butchered the calves, and slaughtered the sheep - leaving
the females - the only members of the family at home - unmolested,
but warned that "other savages were coming who would deal far
worse with them."
The Indians had taken a great aversion to Purchase, who had
ammassed great wealth, and much of it by hard dealing with the
natives in trade, one of whom charged "that for the water he had
drawn out of Purchase's well he had paid a hundred pounds!"
Retaliation followed. A party of twenty-five neighboring planters
manned a sloop and two boats, and at once proceeded to the scene
of recent outrage, by way of Casco Bay and New Meadows River, with
a view to gather and secure the growing crops, as well as to re-
connoitre. As the party drew near the deserted premises, the sound
of blows therein gave warning of the enemies' presence within the
ransacked
p.156 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
buildings. Very soon three savages were espied. The sloop and
boats lay moored below; and by a circuitous route, the party
sought to cut off the savages and intercept their flight to the
neighboring thickets by throwing themselves between the enemy
and the woods. Perceiving their retreat to the forest to be cut
off by the hostile white man's forces, the savages made for their
canoes at the water-side. They were pursued, and the first volley
brought one to the ground and wounded a second, who succeeded in
gaining his canoe and escaping with his life. The third savage, in
the confusion, under cover of the smoke of the blazing firearms,
gained the covert of the woods, and reached his comrades, who
immediately formed an ambuscade, while the unwary planters
scattered to gather their harvest.
Busied here and there, reckless of their peril, they gathered
their corn and loaded their boat. At this juncture, the ambushed
savages, with their accustomed yells and whoops of war, rose from
their concealment, and fired on the scattered workmen. Fortunately
some of the company were in a state of readiness for defense, and
under cover of their fire, the dispersed planters gained the sloop.
Several were wounded but no one was killed - all escaped. But the
corn-laden boats became a prey to the Indians, who burned the one
and plundered the other. Thus worsted in the battle - the first
battle-scene of the terrible drama now opened - the settlers fled,
and the victorious red-men, in small bands, more bold and pre-
sumptuous, sought trophies for the tomahawk and scalping knife,
in every direction, at the door of every plantation.
Sylvanus Davis, the agent of Clark and Lake, resident at the newly
laid out town on Arrowsic, enlivened with mills and trading houses,
and defended by fortified works, dispatched a messenger to secure
the arms and ammunition of a trading post up the Kennebec, near the
site of the capital of Maine. Encountering the Kennebec natives, he
p.157 THE INDIAN WARS.
The Indian, Modock-a-wando.
menaced them "with death," if they did not yield to the policy of
the white-man, come in and deliver their arms. Exasperated at such
bravado, the savages of the Kennebec waters sent runners to those of
the Penobscot under Modock-a-wando, and the St. Johns River.
A conference was held at the fortress of Baron de Castine. The
tomahawk was dug up, the scalping knife was unsheathed, and the
pipe of peace was flung away. Every wild forest echoed the note,
and every camp-fire glowed with the blood-red visage of Death!
All was commotion. Every heart was shaken with gloomy forebodings.
The venerable Shurt of Pemaquid, the chief magistrate of the
East, a man of age, discretion and probity of characher, as well
as experience, finally secured an interview with the disaffected
sagamores, at the eastern metropolis. Public indignation burned
withy reckless zeal and blindly turned against everyone who
counseled peace. Multitudes were bent on violence, utterly in-
different to the fearful issues of savage warfare. They malign-
ed the motives and misinterpreted the acts of those who would
restore confidence and preserve peace. But Shurt persisted in
his full overtures, and in defiance of opposition and false
accusation, he obtained a hearing at Pemaquid.
The Indians complained of "wrongs done them on the Kennebec,"1
the depot of the Puritan trading houses of Plymouth. Shurt gave
assurance that their wrongs should be addressed. By his assur-
ances, a prospect of continued tranquility was preserved.2 In
the promise of being "righted" in their wrongs, the savages were
diverted from their purposes of blood. (revenge)
Footnote 1. Hubbard, p. 302. 2. Williamson, vol. i, p. 526.
Hubbard, p. 293-303.
ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
p.158 THE SLAVE TRADERS OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Major Waldron.
Evil surmisings, jealousies and whispers of evil worked their
way into the ears of the government of Massachusetts. Major
Waldron, one of its officers, issued under authority of the
Massachusetts Bay, "general warrants" for seizing every native
know to be a "man-slayer."
The precepts of Waldron falling into the hands of unprincipled
seamen, were used as authority for kidnapping natives to sell
as slaves.
INDIAN SLAVE TRAFFIC.
A vessel lurked in the by-places about the harbors of Pemaquid,
with a view to this Indian-slave traffic. With the master, shurt
remonstrated - importunately desiring him to leave the region,
assuring him that peace now reigned which might be disturbed.
But these remonstrances were unavailing. What was the peace of
a community, the lives of women and children, the value of the
prosperity of these infant settlements of the distant East, com-
pared with the profits of slave trading?
1676.
IN MASSACHUSETTS AND MAINE, INDIAN SLAVES WERE BOUGHT & SOLD.
In Massachusetts and Maine, slaves were bought and sold - "born
in their houses and bought with their money." Why should not the
Indian red man, as well as the black man, be made a subject of
gainful speculation? The muscles and sinews of the Indian, as
well as the Negro, could be turned into gold. Furs were becoming
scarce.
The fisheries required diligence and perseverance to give a slow
but sure return. The slave market promised good pay, great profits
and little labor. The shrewd Yankee, with an eye to the benefit of
himself and owners, had no scruples in turning kidnapper, and his
sloops into a "slaver" on the coasts of Maine !
Several Indians were seized, carried into foreign parts, and sold.1
Incensed at this new and strange outrage, before attempting to meet
out retribution for the atrocious wrong, the Indians returned to
Abraham Shurt at Pemaquid
Footnote. 1. Williamson, vol. i. p. 531.
p.159 THE INDIAN WARS.
whose kind offices had won their confidence as an upright
Magistrate, and complained that "many of their brothers were miss-
ing - and were possibly miserable slaves in foreign lands."
DESTRUCTION OF THE ARROWSIC TOWNS.
August 12th.
The Indian, King Philip was dead. With him, the hopes of his race
had expired. To the East, in their disappointment, were borne the
embers of war, which were scattered through the wilds of Maine,
kindling anew, the resentments of the excited savages, now burning
with enthusiasm to revent their fallen chief.
August 13th.
A terrible blow was struck in the heart of Sagadahoc, whose rever-
berations wakened echoes, whose horrors have thrilled through genera-
tions, until they have reached the ears of our own
Richard Hammond, the Indian Trader.
About Spring Cover on Stinson's Point, jutting into the western
margins of Hockomock Bay, along the great thoroughfare from Pemaquid,
Hammond, an Indian trader, had established his post, planted the
nucleus of a town, and reared a fort.
Hammond's hamlet, the earliest of the settlements of Georgetown,
and one of the chief settlements within the limits of our region,
was the first object of attack. Prejudices had grown up between
the truckmasters and the Indians, on account of fancied or real
wrongs, which made them conspicuous objects of vengeance.
The hope of booty may also have stimulated the savage desires.
During the evening of Saturday, many Indians gathered at Hammond's
Town; and some of the women sought shelter for the night in Richard
Hammond's dwelling-house, desiring to lodge on the kitchen floor.
The appearances, conversation, or intimations of the savages, in-
pired the
p.160 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
kitchen maid, yet in early girl-hood, with presentiments of evil.
She left the house to secret herself abroad. Perceiving her trepi-
dation, the natives, to conceal the better their purposes and allay
suspicion, sought, found, and brought her home again.
Another band of painted red-men meanwhile joined their fellows
within this devoted hamlet. Fully persuaded of their treacher-
ous and bloody designs, the girl again left the house, and made
good her escape to a neighboring field of ripening corn. There
sheltered by the darkness, in close concealment, eluding the
search of the Indians, she was soon startled by the noise of
violence, the yells of death, and the piercing shrieks and
cries of the dying and wounded inmates of her master's house.
THE DAVIS PLANTATION AT WISCASSET.
RICHARD HAMMOND, SAMUEL SMITH & JOSHUA GRANT SLAIN BY THE INDIANS.
These terrible monitions added speed to her flight. Crossing the
tides of Hockomock, she fled to Sheepscot, and by morning reached
the Davis plantation at Wiscasset. The warning was timely. No
intelligence had come from the scene of death, till passers-by
discovered the dead and mangled bodies lying naked on the beach,
no one out of sixteen souls surviving death or captivity, save
the girl who had fled to the Sheepscot plantation, twelve miles
distant. It was afterward ascertained that the savage women who
lodged in the kitchen opened the fastenings of the garrison house,
and let the Indians in, to surprise the unconscious inmates above,
and Richard Hammond, Samuel Smith and Joshua Grant were killed at
once.
THE SACKING OF CLARK & LAKE'S VILLAGE.
FRANCIS CARD.
The savage band now divided. Eleven canoes turned into the Kenne-
bec and up that river. The house of Francis Card of Woolwich was
attacked, and himself and family led into captivity. The other
party crossed to the Arrowsic Island, after rifling and burning
Hammond's village. The home of a settler in their warpath was left
unmolested.
p.161 THE INDIAN WARS.
Turning adrift his canoes, before break of day on Sunday morning,
the party were concealed behind "a great rock," near the walls of
the fort which defended the settlement of Lake and Clark. The
sentinel retired earlier than he was wont from his post. On enter-
ing the gate, he was unconsciously followed by the stealthy tread
of an ambushed foe. The sentinel was silenced. The fortificatons
were secured. The port-holes were occupied, and all who passed or
repassed were shot down without warning. The savages were soon the
masters of the place.
AUGUST 14TH.
Mr. Lake, the partner of Clark, was above, asleep. Roused by the
noise and struggles of death below, with his agent, Captain
Sylvanus Davis, and two more, he escaped through a back passage
to the water-side. Here, seizing a canoe, they made for a neigh-
boring island. Lake, Davis and their companions were at once pur-
sued. The savages had the advantage in the pursuit with their light
bark canoes; and on coming within range, fired on the fugitives.
Davis was wounded. By extraordinary exertion, all reached the shore,
overcome by fatigue, terror and surprise.
The savages also landed and continued the pursuit. Unable to fight
or fly, Davis crawled into the cleft of a rock, under a sheltering
cliff. The sun had now risen, and look over the tree-tops of Reskea-
gan, poured its beams in dazzling luster on the cliff-side shelter
of Davis, blinding the eyes of his pursuers.
For two days Davis crouched within his hiding-place; and then
dragging himself along by the water's edge, he fortunately reached
a canoe, into which he rolled his body and drifted away, and thus
escaped detection.
The companions of Lake and Davis gained the northern extremity of
the island, and fled to the plantations above. Lake, left alone,
attempted to escape, but a swift-footed savage outstripped him;
and attempted to capture him.
p.162 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
Then Lake, turning on his pursuer, presented his pistols; but
before he could shoot, the unerring aim of the savage laid Lake
dead at his feet. Seizing the hat of his victim, he bore it on
his own head as a trophy of his success.
Lake had been an enterprising and excellent man, and it is said
that the savages had intended to take him alive, if possible.
Nor was it certainly known that Lake had been slaim, until he
who did the bloody deed confessed it to Captain Davis. A Saga-
more, Sam, was seized and sentenced to death in retaliation for
the murder of Lake, which sentence was executed.1
Seven monthys had elapsed when the body of Lake was found, where
he fell, in a state of good preservation, recognized by a leather
jacket he used to wear. It was taken to Boston for interment. The
May previous to his melancholy decease, this gentleman had been
appointed to the office2 of Associate....
1 From J. W. Thornton, Esq. Boston.
INSERT - J. W. THORNTON, BOND'S WATERTOWN
James Brown Thornton b. at Saco, Maine, Sept 26, 1794; studied at the
Berwick Academy and entered Bowdoin College in 1809. But before graduating,
he entered the United States Navy. He then engaged in mercantile pursuits
in Saco, Maine and became largely interested in navigation. He retired from
business and resided in Saco. He m. January 30, 1817, Eliza Gookin, b. July
23, 1795,
p.604
a daughter of the Honorable Daniel Gookin of North Hampton, N.H. (for her
lineage see "The Family of Gilbert, Wells, Thornton and Belcher by J. W.
Thornton, Esq." Also see Genealogical Register, I. 345, and II. 167)
Children:
1. John Wingate Thornton b. Aug 12, 1818; preliminary studies at
Saco, Maine; LL.B. at Harvard Univ., 1840; a lawyer of Boston, Mass.
married May 31, 1848, Elizabeth Wallis Bowles, a dau. of Stephen
Bowles of Machias, Maine and of Roxbury, Mass., and descended, through
a respectable line from John Bowles, an early settler of Roxbury, Mass.
2. Sarah Cults Storer Gookin Thornton b. July 22, 1820, m. J. G. Chase
and died March 10, 1847.
3. Daniel Gookin Thornton, b. Sept 20, died Sept 26, 1822.
4. Thomas Gilbert Thornton b. Aug 25, 1823, grad. Bowdoin College
1844; studied law with Bradley & Haines of Saco, Maine; was a lawyer of
Biddeford, Maine.
5. James Brown Thornton b. July 6, 1825; grad. Bowdoin College, 1846;
was the Pastor of the Congregational Church, Scarboro, Maine. He m. Dec.
17, 1851, Catherine Wolcott the only daughter of Wyllys Stoughton of
Windsor, Conn.
6. Albert Gookin Thornton, b. Dec. 25, 1827; grad. Bowdoin Coll, 1848;
studied law with Bradley & Haines and was admitted to the York, Maine
Bar in May, 1851.
7. Charles Cutts Gookin Thornton b. May 11, 1830 was a merchant of
Boston. He married Nov 27, 1851, Hannah Bartlett a dau. of Josiah
Calef Bartlett, Esq. of Saco, Maine.
8. Henry Thornton b. Aug 8, 1832, a merchant with his brother Charles
Cutts Gookin Thornton.
9. Eliza Gookin Thornton b. June 9, 1835.
10. Frances Anne Dudley Thornton b. Aug 1, 1837.
11. Frank Thornton born and died young.
1 From J. W. Thornton, Esq. Boston.
Ancient Dominions of Maine.
Letter from J. W. Thornton, Esq., Boston. Massachusetts.
Boston, ye 15th of September, 1676
To ye Honored Governor and Councill setting at Boston.
The humble petition of John Lake.
Whereas there hat been & is a common fame of my brother,
Thomas being captive among ye Indians & hearing nothing to
ye contrary, gives some hopes that it may be so, & hearing
ye Sagamore Sam is to receive a sentence of death (as it is
supposed), if so, ye fame thereof may go to those Indians
with whom my brother is - which may provoke them to proceed
with him to ye same sentence of death. Wherefore my humble
request is that you would be pleased to suspend his sentence
or at least ye execution thereof for about twenty or thirty
days; in which time if ye said Sagamore Sam can be instru-
mentall to procure ye return of my brother that you then
would be pleased to spare his life, and for that effecting
of this, that you would be pleased to let him have ye choice
of some Indians whome he knows may have most influence upon
them, and whom he can best trust for their return in that it
may concern his own life, so that upon their return, we may
certainly know how it is with my brother, which will oblige
your humble petitioner in duty bound to pray, etc.
Denied: 15th of September, 1676. E. R. S.
The original Commission in the hands of J. W. Thornton, Esq.
p.163 THE INDIAN WARS.
Judge, with Humphrey Davie and Richard Coleycote (Colicot?)
in holding courts in the county of Devonshire, under juris-
diction of the Goverment of Massachusetts Bay. Lawrence
Hunnewell was his assistant.
By this savage incursion, the large and beautiful estab-
lishment of Messrs. Lake and Clark - the mansion house -
the mills, the out-buildings - the entire village was re-
duced to ashes! Such was the fate of the Arrowsic towns
of more than half a century's growth.
THE PLANTATIONS ABANDONED.
Filled with dismay, the planters on the Sheepscot, on
learning the fate of Hammond and Lake, deserting their
fields of ripening corn, leaving their herds and homes,
at once fled. John Dale,1 a fugitive from the massacre
of the Arrowsic towns, reached the dwelling house of
Thomas Gent on Sheepscot Great Neck, and gave him warn-
ing of the hostility of the savages. Thence he hasted
to the house of Walter Philips, "which stood on the great
hill" overlooking the Damariscotta from the west, at the
"lower falls," bearing the terrible tidings, giving his
family the earliest and timely notice of their peril.
Thus warned, Philips, leaving his home in the midst of
a thriving orchard (from which apples were gathered
nearly a century after,) and great improvements, gather-
ed his family and his neighbors and fled to Salem, Mass.,
escaping "only with his life and the loss of all his goods."
John Dale continued his flight to Pemaquid, herealding the
approach of savage calamities.
James Gyles, brother of Judge Gyles.
Among2 the English emigrants to Maine, was James Gyles, a
brother of Judge Gyles, who was slain at Pemaquid. Gyles
had landed at the Kennebec and taken up his abode at
Footnotes. 1. Dale's deposition. - Lincoln Com. Reports, pp.
98, 100, 15. 2. Gyles' Manuscript Narrative from John McKeen,
Esquire.
p.164 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
...abode at Merry Meeting; and was an interested specator of
the opening scenes in this drama of deathh and devastation.
In the Merry Meeting plantation, he had taken up his abode at
the "Whisgeag House," and purchasing of the natives a home-
stead, finally built at "Muddy River." These localities all
were within the marginal circuit of the same body of water.
The outbreak of the Indians forced him, with his neighbors,
to desert their homes and go into the garrison house of
Samuel York. Thirty days these refugees of Merry Meeting
were crowded in this stronghold.
Every day the savages became more violent. The cattle and
swine were slaughtered and the deserted homes were burned.
Only nine persons remained to defend the place, the "faint
hearted" having left their garrisoned neighbors. So about
the middle of September, all retired to the "Rowsick House,"
down the river - the main defense of the region. From hence,
the frontier men were accustomed to visit their clearings
and plantation sites, to sow and reap. This was the year pre-
ceding the massacre described.
One of these planting expeditions brought the settlers in
collision with a body of natives. A skirmish ensued. Several
savages were slain and the remainder were put to flight,
which gave peace for the winter ensuing. Crowded in their
stronghold, at the "Rowsick House," the planters, five
families and Gyles among them, crossed to the west shores
of the Sagadahoc, opposite, and occupied the house of Sylvanus
Davis the balance of that winter. Peace, the result of the
Pemaquid conference, being in good promise, cheered these
pioneers of the Kennebec with strong hopes of a safe and
speedy return to their deserted planting grounds.
THE HOUSE OF MR. WISWELL.
But Gyles removed still further down the river, and occu-
pied the house of Mr. Wiswell, and planted his crop for the
season. "Early1 in the morning, when no English-
Footnote. 1. Gyles gives the date as August 9th, instead of
that given in history.
p.165 THE INDIAN WARS.
man had a thought of war," like an avalanche from the sides
of a sleeping volcano - the savages fell on "Rowsick" -
killing and destroying all in their way." Fifty people fell,
a sacrifice to savage barbarities in death and in captivity.
Gyles seized a canoe, lading his family therein, leaving all
else to the mercy of the Indians, fled for Damariscove, where
were congregated the fugitives from "Sheepscot," Pemaquid, and
all the surrounding regions. Three hundred souls, the fragments
of the neighboring plantations, now broken up, had made this
island at the mouth of Boothbay Harbor their refuge.
INCIDENTS OF THE RETREAT.
For a week they made ineffectual attempts to reach the planta-
tions on the main and recover something for subsistance, from
their former homes.
The entire circuit of the main, landward, was alive with
savages. Every point of approach was ambuscaded; and the hardy
and the suffering fugitives were beaten back to their island re-
treat.
WISWELL AND COLLICOTT.
By night, two days after the sacking of Arrowsic, an express
reached Pemaquid. The residents of the place, at the story of
Dale, at once took to the shipping in the harbor, designing
to fly to Monhegan. Adverse winds compelled them to turn
aside into Damariscove, where Wiswell and Collicott had gather-
ed with the Kennebec refugees.
The first attention was given to the fortifications of the
island. Forty days the people labored at the works. But diffi-
culties arose and a mutinous disposition, consequent on the want
of food, from the sudden accession of forlorn and destitute fugi-
tive men, women, and children, soon made it apparent nothing
effectual could be done to secure the island against savage in-
cursion.
It was therefore abandoned as a place of refuge. The larger
portion of the fugitives continued their flight to Monhegan;
p.166 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
and scarcely had the refugees from the Main and Damariscove
reached their sea-girt retreat, and removed from their desert-
ed houses at Pemaquid, a portion of their household stuff, when
the whole circle of the horizon landward was darkened and illumin-
ed by the columns of smoke and fire rising from the burning houses
of the neighboring Main and adjacent islands! The entire perspect-
ive was a scene of conflagration! Richard Padishall abandoned his
island home - an ancestral abode - and with his family and coast-
ing sloop, made good his escape to the better protected neighbor-
hood of Pemaquid. Worn out and discouraged, all but the Pema-
quidders yielded to the necessities of their condition and
scattered to remote parts westward.
THE DAVIS HAMLET NEAR WISCASSET.
The planters of the Davis hamlet near Wiscasset and on the
Sheepscot waters, first warned by the intelligence of the
tragedy at Stinson's Point, by the tale of the maid servant
who fled on the night of the massacre, retired to the fort at
Cape Newagen.
Proposing to maintain their position till succor could be
received from Boston, a guard of twenty-five men was kept out,
and measures of defense were organized. But the people were
panic-stricken, and all hope of speedy relief being crushed
out by the sad recollections and gloomy aspect of their state,
the newly launched ship of William Phips became, to them, an
ark of salvation. Embarked in the unfinished hulk, they put to
sea for a port westward, leaving the entire region to desola-
tion and solitude!
FRANCIS CARD'S ESCAPE FROM THE SAVAGES.
Francis Card, the captive of the savages who had destroyed
Hammond's Town, was taken near to the planting grounds of the
Kennebec Indians, up the river.
Card had been set to threshing out corn in a barn. These sav-
ages preferred horse-flesh to the best of beef. A captive was
employed to catch the horses of the planters,
p.167 THE INDIAN WARS.
now wild in the woods, to be butchered to satisfy the morbid
longings of his master's appetite. Card was permitted to aid
him; and while thus engaged in a horse hunt, the two captives
sent word to the lodge that their return at a given time could
not be expected, on account of ill-success. Thus finding the
coast clear, the prisoners secured a canoe, swept down the
river with the tide, crossed Casco Bay, and in two or three
days reached the fort at Black Point in Scarboro'.
Thomas Cobbet.
It was a full fortnight after the sacking of the Arrowsic
towns that the Norridgewock Indians, numbering eighty warr-
iors, returned from their retreat up the Kennebec, to de-
stroy the herds and burn the deserted houses of the planters
on the Main. Reaching Damariscove, they put fire to the
village on that island, killed two men, and captured their
shallop and ketch. Thomas Cobbet, the son of the Ipswich
minister, (a captive at the date of these events, and be-
cause, said the savages, "his father was a great preacher-
man," he could be redeemed only with a coat,) relates that
fifty to sixty captives from the Kennebec and Sheepscot
plantations were held in bondage; - the women being com-
pelled to make garments out of the plundered fabrics of
Hammond's and Lake's store-houses. These forlorn men and
women he met in December, on the Sheepscot, where he was
taken to navigate for his captors a small vessel they had
seized, and there he was compelled to walk overland to Dama-
riscotta, five miles and thence paddle a canoe fifty miles to
Penobscot, where his redemption was secured.
ABBOT'S ADVENTURES.
John Abbot, the master of the vessel in which Cobbet had been
captured, was also employed on the Sheepscot waters. After
Cobbet's departure for Penobscot, the vessel in use by the
natives lay moored for the winter, probably in the harbor of
the ancient Me-ni-kuk.
p.168 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
It was not the month of February. With their usual improvidence,
the savages had consumed both food and ammunition. The shallop
was a thirty-ton craft. They required Abbot to fit her for sea,
on a voyage to Penobscot for supplies. Ten savages embarked with
Abbot. Hardly had he put to sea when a storm arose, with wind
ahead.
It was a dead beat against a heavy sea, and Abbot so managed as
to increase the perils of the sea, and strike terror to the
hearts of his sea-sick Indian masters, who begged for land. The
nearest point, Cape Newagen, was reached and eight savages land-
ed. Two remained. Persuading these that their anchorage was peril-
ous, Abbot made sail for Damariscove.
On the passage he so used the helm as to ship a sea, wash his
decks and thoroughly frighten his savage companions and guards-
men, who, as soon as the vessel reached the harbor, hasted on
shore.
Two of the native children had died on board, and their bodies
were taken to land for burial. With the plea of the necessity
of his presence on board to save the ship, Abbot persisted in
remaining; but soon as the Indians were landed, greasing the
mast of his sloop with the pork taken for food, he ran up the
sails with his own hand, and with no living soul save himself
and a child some three years old, he pushed off with a free
sheet and stiff northeaster in his rear, which speedily wafted
him to the "Isle of Shoals," behond the reach of his Indian
masters.
WALDRON'S EXPEDITION.
1677.
February 17th.
These outrages on the eastern frontiers roused Government to
action. Major Waldron, the chief commander in this section, was
dispatched with a force deemed adequate to recover the lost
plantations and chastise the lawless savages, reduce them to
subordination and rescue the captive citizens of Sheepscot
p.169 INDIAN WARS.
and Kennebec. Waldron embarked for that river. Here was the
center of the Massachusetts interest. Two hundred and fifty
men accompanied his command. Cold and adverse winds, an icy
and perilous ocean, slowed his progress eastward. The waters
of Casco Bay, being free from ice, invited the fleet bearing
the little army to discharge its living freight on the shores
of the plains of Brunswick.
Bivouacked on "Mare Point,"1 amid the snows and frosts of mid-
winter, "Squando," the head of the Sekokis, and "Simon, the
Yankee killer," from the broken forces of King Philip, met
Waldron in a conference. A proposal for the recovery of the
captives was made. Suddenly a flotilla of fourteen canoes shot
up the bay toward a projecting headland. The parley was ended.
It had been Waldron's design to surprise the enemy; but the
fleet-footed, sharp-sighted Indian had long followed the fleet,
tracing the progress of the voyage from the headlands of Cape
Elizabeth.
CAPTAIN FROST.
The flames bursting from the roof of a solitary dwelling on the
point of landing clearly indicated the hostile purposes of the
savage flotilla. Shouts of mutual defiance went up. The scouts
came in.
Captain Frost was detached to cut off the enemy's retreat. De-
tecting this movement, the savages fled. The whole command
opened their fire, and several were supposed to fall. The fire
was returned, but without disaster: "though," it is added, "some
of their bullets hit some of our men," - the spent shot failing
of their design.
A flag of truce ended further violence. A parley opened with
mutual recrimination, but closed with the assurance on the part
of Simon, the Yankee killer, that the project to surrender the
captives, under discussiion when the skirmish began, should be
carried out in good faith.
Disheartened with the prospect of meeting the enemy
Footnote. 1. The residence of Mr. Mare.
p.170 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
where he was, Waldren set sail for Kennebec. At sunset the
same day, he anchored under the "Cliffs of Parker's Head,"
the southern point of Arrowsic Island, in the mouth of the
river.
The next day he pushed his way up the river; and on reach-
ing Merry Meeting, within twelve miles of "Abagadusset
Point," the ice barred his progress.
February 22nd.
The troops were landed and marched to the fort; and at eight
in the evening, the force entered the works, to find them
deserted. Here the little army quartered for the night. Be-
wildered by the numerous trails of the enemy crossing in every
direction, the scouts returned from their pursuit.
A council of war determined to push on to the Penobscot, with
a position of the troops, and fortify a position near the river's
mouth, with the remainder.
During the march of the troops around the bay, numerous fires
shot up their flames in the horizon, and a burning dwelling-
house below, indicated the proximity of the enemy.
FORTIFICATIONS ERECTED.
The next morning the commander-in-chief embarked and examined
the grounds, with a view to an eligible site for a fort. Near
the abode of John Parker, at a point on the Main opposite the
lower end of Arrowsic Island, in a cove convenient for a harbor,
easy of access, where the water for the supply of the garrison
abounded, a site was chosen. Here were moored the transports;
and a large portion of the command was detached to build the
works.
WALDRON AT PEMAQUID.
The Major with sixty men, while the remainder of his force was
thus engaged, sailed for Penobscot.
Off "Gyobscot Point," appeared an Indian canoe; and by the wav-
ing of the boatman's cap, it was understood
p.171 INDIAN WARS.
THOMAS GARDINER.
an interview was desired. The ship's boat soon returned, bear-
ing the intelligence that a considerable body of Indians with
captive English people were then at Pemaquid. The fortress had
survived the universal conflagration, or Captain Gardner had
returned and erected another defence. At all events, he was then
in command; and the village may have been spared. Thomas Gardin-
er had been made chief of the military forces of Pemaquid,1 in
the county of Devonshire, under a commission of the General
Court of Massachusetts Bay, two years before; and although in
the general conflagation of the deserted houses of the planters,
on the first startling intelligence of savage barbarities, "Pema-
quid, New Harbor, Corbin's Sound, and Widgin's were all seen on
fire within the same two hours,"2 yet the "castle," whose exist-
ence was prior to that in Boston Bay and its appendages, may
have and probably did escape destruction.
Waldron moored his transports in the bay. Descrying a canoe
speeding her way up the river, bearing a white captive, with
whom it was not permitted to communicate, a party was landed
for reconnoissance.
MODOCKAWANDO.
Word was returned that Modockawando, the native lord of the
Penobscots, and other sagamores, "and sundry sorts of Indians"
were encamped near the place. Modockawando sent specific mess-
ages to Major Waldron. Captain Davis and a volunteer ventured
on shore and three sagamores visited the transport ships. Thus
an interview was secured, and the pledges of good faith exchang-
ed to prepare the way for pacific overtures. The commander-in-
chief, with six unarmed men, next went on shore, where suspic-
ions of treacherous dealing were roused. Finding Waldron in
force, under the cogency of this argument, though the project
of the treaty was acknowledged, yet no captive was suffered
Footnotes. 1. Thornton's Pemaquid, p. 249. Maine Historical Soc.
2. Hubbard.
p.172 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
WALDRON.
William Chadbourn, John Wannick and Warwood were secured and set free.
to go on ship-board; and delay in executing the treaty on vari-
ous pretenses was contrived. Waldron and his attendants were
searched on landing. The emergency required promptitude and de-
cision. Waldron was peremptory and energetic. He demanded immed-
iate compliance with treaty stipulations, in the surrender of
the captive Sheepscot and Kennebec planters - and the enroll-
ment of a company of auxiliaries to fight the savages on the
Androscoggin. The auxiliary force was declined; and "twelve
beaver skins apiece," with "plenty of liquor," were required
as a ransom for the captives. The ransom was paid. William
Chadbourn, John Wannick and Warwood were secured and set free.
Suspiciouns of foul play augmented. On ship-board, it was de-
termined to secure the release of the captives, and then surprise
the savages and fight them. In pursuance of this design, Waldron
with but five men, with the ransom, went on shore, proposing, after
careful reconnoissance, to return to the ships and prepare for the
encounter. But the plot thickened faster than his calculations
matured.
The swing of the commander's cap was the signal of alarm agreed
upon, as a call for succor, should any emergency require it.
Waldron reached the place of conference, and cautiously observ-
ing the ground and the arrangement of things, with a view to
ascertain the purposes of the savages, discovered the exposed
point of a lance and other concealed weapons of war. He grased
the point and drew the lance from its hiding place, and with the
weapon in had, went to the savages, charging them with treachery.
The warriors threw off all disguise - rushed on Waldron to wrest
from his hold the tell-tale weapon of death. His resolute bearing,
determined attitude, and the fearful brandishing of the lance in
his hand, kept the savages at bay, until the signal cap called
succor to his side from the fleet. The devoted band were driven
to the wall, and destruction
p.173 INDIAN WARS.
Captain Frost and Lieutenant Nutter.
menaced them at every turn, from the overwhelming force of the
constantly increasing numbers of the Indians. The sqaws mingled
in the strife. One of the women seized a "bundle of guns," and
like a deer bounded away with her load, into the thickets. Many
of the Indians, at the outset, taken by surprise, and filled with
consternation, took to flight and deserted their comrades. It was
a hand to hand struggle. Captain Frost sprang on the Sagamore Me-
gun-na-way, a notorious and bloody barbarian. Aided by his Lieut.
Nutter, Me-gun-na-way was dragged to the ship's boat and forced
into the hold. Waldron had fallen on a pile of fire arms, with
which his men, now armed, successfully assailed the enemy; and
at this juncture, the landing of the force from the ships turned
the tide of battle.
The Indians fleeing on all sides, some made for the forest co-
verts, and others to their canoes. The fire of the whites strew-
ed the whole course of their flight with dead and dying. Those
fleeing to their canoes, encountered a boat's company from the
ships just as they were putting off from shore, whose deadly aim
riddled one birchen canoe with her living freight, burying five
savages in a watery grave, and many others were so disabled they
could not paddle away.
THE INDIAN CHIEF, MATAHANDO WAS SLAIN.
ME-GUN-NA-WAY, SHOT AND BURIED AT PEMAQUID.
The chieftain, Matahando, and with him, a Powwow, or Medicine-
man of the tribe, were slain. The sister of Modcocawando and
three others were made captives. Me-gun-na-way, hoary in years
of crime, was shot at once, whose bones and blood have mingled
with the soil of Pemaquid.
Much booty was taken, and the enemy received a blow from the
hand of Waldron they never forgot. His agency in this trans-
action, and the Dover sham-fight, where he again outwitted the
crafty red men, was never forgiven, till the savage with his
battle axe and knife, crossed out the bloody account in the
quivering flesh of this early and distinguished hero-pioneer
of the east!
Sheepscot was not visited by the returning fleet. At the
p.174 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
mouth of the Kennebec, after a four days' absence, it again
cast anchor. An expedition was here organized, to proceed to
Sheepscot, under Captain Fisk. It consisted of forty men.
The store houses of the Sheepscot planters remained; and
forty bushels of undamaged wheat were recovered. Two pieces
of heavy ordnance were taken away from Sagadahoc, and an
hundred thousand feet of boards at Arrowsic, the native
"Tuessicke"?1
In exploring the ruins of the recently sacked towns, the
remains of Judge Lake were found. Two savages, incautiously
paddling to the shore, were shot. One was killed. The other,
too, must have died, as the canoe, all bloody and torn, was
found the next day without an occupant.
Stationing Captain Sylvanus Davis with a force of forty men,
at the garrison on the Main, near the mouth of the Kennebec
River, Major Waldron returned to Boston without the loss of
a man. A captive squaw had been released and sent to the
Kennebec Indians. A week had elapsed since the sailing of the
fleet westward. A detachment from the garrison on the Main,
crossed over to bury the dead on Arrowsic, whose bodies and
mangled remains had lain where they fell, for more than half
a year. Unconscious of danger, unsuspicious of peril, the
detachment proceeded, perhaps incautiously, to execute the
last sad offices of humanity.
But the savage had made the place of the dead his lair for
the living prey. Hanging on the path of the burial party,
its retreat was intercepted by an ambuscade. The woods of
Arrowsic and the rock-bound shores of the lower Sagadahoc
once more mingled the whoops of war, with the echoes of
musketry, and the scream of the leaden messenger of death!
Nine of the burial party were laid dead in their tracks.
Panic stricken, and reduced by this unexpected blow, the
Footnote.1. Deed to Robert Gutch.
p.175 THE INDIAN WARS.
survivors, disheartened, deserted the garrison, and the re-
gion of the Sagadahoc was left to the mercy of the savages,
without an inhabitant, where towns and villages of half a
century's growth had caused the wilderness to bud and blos-
som.
RETURN OF THE INHABITANTS.
1677.
Andros1 had been appointed to the office of Governor of the
Ducal Territory in America. Half a year had elapsed since the
occurrence of the sad events above narrated. Fearing that his
master's estate, the Dukedom of the east, might be lost, if
permitted to remain void of inhabitants, in June, a military
organization was dispatched from New York, the seat of Guber-
natorial authority, to rebuild the fortifications and to re-
store Pemaquid.
CAESAR KNAPTON.
JAMESTOWN.
This was the first movement towards recovering the lost foot-
hold of the English settlements. Caesar Knapton2 commanded
the expedition. Landing on the margins of John's Bay, the
fortress at Pemaquid was rebuilt, a Custom House erected, and
a considerable body of troops stationed there. The place thus
revived rapidly filled up with population; and was called
Jamestown.
Tranquility reigned throughout the region; and the Indians,
disposed to peace, entered into arrangements for trade.
Prisoners and captured vessels were brought into Pemaquid
and surrendered to Captain Knapton.
Boston, Salem, Piscataqua, were visited by Government trans-
ports, "to invite and bring as many of the inhabitants,
particularly fishermen driven from the Duke's Territory, as
will come."2
Andros soon succeeded in reviving the settlements about Pema-
quid by facilitating the return "of ye fformer inhabitants."
Many fishing vessels, recovered from the natives,
Footnotes. 1. Williamson's History, vol. i. p. 552.
2. Pemaquid Papers, pp. 9, 11.
p.176 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
were restored to their owners. Stringent regulations of trade
and intercourse among the citizens and Indians were adopted; and
Captains Knapton and Brockholls, with fifty men and a ship of
war were stationed at Pemaquid, which force overawed the savages
and secured the peace.
"No one on any pretence whatever," it was ordained in Council,
"doe range or goe into the woods or creeks:" "Pemaquid and no
where else should be the place for trade." Fishing stages were
allowed on the fishing islands; but not on the Main, except at
Pemaquid, near the fort.
No Indian could visit the fishing islands; and no rum could be
"drunk on the side where the fort stands."
Trading houses, or stores, were ordered to be erected under
command, but at convenient distances from the fort, landward,
so that a street of good breadth be left directly from the fort
to the narrowest part of the neck, going to the great neck, to-
ward New Harbor.
"No buildings could be reared end-wise to the street," obstruct-
ing the water view from the fort; "but broadways, with all the
doors opening on the street; - none elsewhere." It was ordained
that all trade should be in the street and in front of the houses
between sun and sun;" and at the opening and closing of the hours
of trade, "a bell should ring, or a drum beat, every morning and1
evening."
Drinking and drunkenness were prohibited, both to the "Christians
and among the natives." All persons were forbidden "to lye ashore
in the night, upon the neck or point of land the fort stands upon;"
and no one, at any time, was to be admitted to the fort, except
some few on occasion of business below; "but none to go up into
the redoubt."
These regulations were decreed by the Governor
Footnote. 1. Pemaquid Papers, pp. 20-24.
p.177 THE INDIAN WARS.
1678.
FORT CHARLES.
in Council as measures of safety in the municipal arrangements
of the city of Jamestown, to be enforced by Caesar Knapton, the
commandant of its newly erected Fort Charles.
1680
The Massachusetts traders, however, attempted to set at defiance
the authority of the Duke of York; and one Alden, of Boston, in
violation of the regulations of trade at Pemaquid, guided by one
Mr. Roads, entered St. George's river to beat up trade with the
Indians. But Commander Knapton made a prize of the "Ketch and
cargo." In a quarrel on board the ketch, Cumberland, Israel
Dymot, master, in the waters of Pemaquid, Samuel Collins was
knocked overboard and perished.
The ship's master, of the ship Cumberland, and a confederate,
John Rashly, were charged with the homicide, arrested, and tried
before a special commission to the Court of Sessions at Pemaquid.
JOHN JOSELYN, JUSTICE.
Thomas Sharp, the officer now in command, presided over the comm-
ission, John Joselyn sitting as Justice-in-Chief. The Duke of York
extended his authority into Sagadahoc; and at New York, orders in
Council were passed in June, regulating magisterial jurisdiction
there.
The fugitive planters on the Kennebec must, therefore, at this
date, have returned to their former homes. But Pemaquid, with its
city of Jamestown and Fort Charles, was the legal center of all
intercourse with the natives, and all the rest of the world; and
was the only port of entry and clearance. Thus population, trade
and wealth were concentrated under her protection; and Pemaquid
became the metropolis of the East, and was invested with an in-
fluence and importance, as the mart of the eastern trade, never
before attained.
It was at this date that buildings of stone rose along her paved
streets, to replace those of wood, which gave to her land-locked
harbor, bristling with cannon at its entrance - enlivened with
commerce - ships of war riding in
p.178 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
its waters - a city-like aspect from the Bay below. Her courts,
arms, and trade, with legal and warlike appendages of Judges,
naval and military men, all conspired to make Jamestown of Pema-
quid a place of aristocratic importance. It was the climax of her
power and pride as the Queen City of the East.
1681.
FRANCIS SKINNER.
A change in the military arrangements of the force stationed at
Jamestown of Pemaquid, assigned Francis Skinner to the chief comm-
and.
This officer was required in general orders "to be very carefull
to prevent any disorders or trouble amongst the Indians and others -
to see that they be civilly used as formerly." Apprehension of
further hostilities now became rife. The public mind was excited,
and government began to strengthen the frontier defenses.
RETURN OF THE SHEEPSCOT PLANTERS.
1682.
The return tide of population had now fairly set and flowed freely
in to the eastern frontiers. The deserted farms of Sheepscot began
to draw back their ancient cultivators; and the Ducal Province was
swollen with the influx of population. All the fishermen and old in-
habitants, were, by order of Government, "to be restored and pro-
tected."1
AUGUST 19TH.
ROBERT GIBBERS, FORT HILL, BOSTON.
An extraordinary movement was this day made in behalf of the
interests of New Dartmouth. At the abode1 of Robert Gibbers,
Fort Hill, Boston, assembled according to previous notice and
arrangement,
John Alyen
Thomas Gent
Christopher Dyer
Thomas Mener
Robert Scott
William Lowering
John Whit
Daniel Gent
William Willcutt
John Brown
John Dyer
Caleb Ray
Elizabeth Phyps
Daniel Ranisford,
with "severall other of ye fformer inhabitants of Shippscutt
River, who did jointly
Footnote.1. Pemaquid Papers, p. 15; pp. 49-50.
p.179 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
TOWN OF MASON AND JEWETT'S NECK.
bind themselves to stand to severall articles of Agreement ffor
ye settling of a township on a neck of land surveyed, and a town
laid out thereon, generally known and called by ye name of Mason
and Jewett's Neck - lying and being in Shippscutt River."
Such were the preliminary proceedings to a re-settlement of New
Dartmouth and Edgecomb, embraced within the ancient out-laid town
of Mason and Jewett's Neck. Preparatory to a resumption of their
homes and improvements, articles of agreement were drawn, by which
their future government at Sheepscot was to be administered.
With the exception of "fruit trees, their barns and fencing
stuff," the previous inhabitants agreed for the common good "to
relinquish all former rights, titles and privileges."
Each settler, within a twelve-month, should resume his improve-
ments, or forfeit all right and title to a settlement, minors
and apprentices excepted.
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS REGULATIONS.
It was resolved, "a tract of land be laid out for a Ministree,
with a convenient place to set a meeting house to ye best ad-
vantage for ye town;" - and that they should have a man of their
own free choice; and such a man "as ye major part of ye town would
like."
"No person or persons whatsoever shall build any vessel, cut or
carry any timber, spars, fencing stuff, hay, thatch, etc., with-
out the leave, license and approbation" of the settlers. It was
further voted - "that every man, housekeeper and single persons,
at1 ye age of sixteen years, should provide three pounds of good
powder and twelve pounds of lead bullets and swan shot - and keep
a good fire locke musket and ffowling gonne (gun)."
This body of Sheepscot immigrants would seem, from the schedule
of the articles of agreement, to have been con-
Footnote. 1. Full act. P. Papers, pp. 49-57.
p.180 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
firmed republicans in their religious and civil proclivities,
thoroughly inbued with the sentiments and views of the colon-
ists of the Massachusetts Bay.
1684.
ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
It would appear that this body and their friends repaired
immediately to the occupancy of the Mason and Jewett's Neck
township on the Sheepscott River.
Their original articles of settlement were put on record at
Pemaquid - were there examined by William Shurt; and the sub-
scribing witnesses made their certificate at New Dartmouth,
on the 16th of September of this year.
At this date, therefore, the head waters of the Sheepscot
and the ancient clearings of the "Sheepscot farms," must have
been re-occupied, and these early plantations recovered from
the waste and solitude of nearly an entire decade. The sounds
of the hammer, the axe and the hoe- the ring of the blacksmith's
anvil, the voice and bustle of busy life, once more enlivened
the resuscitated town of New Dartmouth, in the County of Corn-
wall. It is not certain, however, that the Massachusetts emi-
gration of the Fort Hill gathering did not locate on the pooint
on the south side of Sheepscot falls, which was the head of the
neck of the Mason and Jewett claim, where, subsequent to this
period, we have mention of a small fortification. The proba-
bilities of a new location here, are much confirmed by the vesti-
ges of ancient and populous occupancy, still traceable on the
earth's surface, as well as from a petition1 made shortly after
this emigration, to the Ducal authorities, to have the rights of
the emigrants and their possessions there secured and quieted
against adverse claimants.
SEPTEMBER 8th.
By the energy of the ducal Governor, Andros, the plans for
effecting a recovery of the wasted plantations of the desola-
tions of King Philip's war in the eastern frontiers, were execut-
ed with success.
Footnote. 1. See Petition in Pemaquid Papers.
p.181 THE INDIAN WARS.
JAMESTOWN, THE CAPITAL OF PEMAQUID.
A Royal mandate issued through the Council at New York, to the
residents of "Jamestown," the capital of Pemaquid, to revive
the ancient "Merry Meeting" plantations. The inhabitants of
Pemaquid erected a block house fort, at that point. A file of
soldiers, under the command of John Rowden, was detached from
Fort Charles, to occupy the wooden defenses of this renowned
Kennebec hamlet; and thus resuscitated, "Merry Meeting" became
a central and principal point in the settlement of the interior
Kennebec precinct, but as an appendage to Pemaquid.1
All the central points within the ancient dominions were now
re-occupied.
FRESH INDICATIONS OF SAVAGE VIOLENCE.
As the return tide of population rushed in full and free, a
restlessness, foreboding renewed hostilities, was developed,
especially on the Kennebec.
Depositions, showing the actual state of feelings, were taken,
and put into the hands of government. One Dennes, a resident on
the Kennebec, swore, "that he heard one counted a captain among
the Indians, say, that his heart would never be well, until he
had killed some of the English again." This blood-thirsty savage,
Captain Antonie, further said, "he would burn the English houses
and make the English slaves as they were before."
John Hornibroke.
John Hornibroke testified, that, on a certain occasion, "four
natives lay one night at his house." One threatened to stab the
English with his knife; another said, "that the hatchet hung over
their heads," and "that he was weary of keeping the Indians from
falling out with the English, who did threaten to burn English
houses, and make them slaves, as they were, before."
Footnote. 1. Pemaquid Papers, p.205.
p.182 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
The House of James Andrews.
John Voarny and Will Bacon swore, that, in behalf of their
neighbors, "to search out ye truth of ye Ingen news that was
going, we did take our fiage from Kenybeck to Casco." At the
house of James Andrews, they learned from a native who was in
the habit of visiting at Andrew's house, and had received much
kindness at his hands, "that ye Indians was minded to rise in
rebellion again, and cut off ye English;" and that when the
time had been determined on, among them, "he would send them a
'burch rine', as though he had brought them a letter."
John Molton "testifyeth and saith, that, while working in his
field chopping, good wife Cutery called to him, to look to
himself, for there was an Indian would do him mischief." On
looking up, he saw a savage approaching across Mrs. Cutery's
field. Not saying a word, the Indian rushed on Molten with a
drawn knife in his hand, and attempted to stab "ye said John
Molton with ye same, twice." But Molton so fiercely defended
himself with the axe, "threatening ye said Indian, to cut out
his braines with ye same," that the savage took to his heels,
persuaded that discretion was, to him, the better of valor.
These facts would indicate that, despite the remembrance of
treachery and wrong, a degree of intimacy of intercourse, some-
what remarkable, existed between the natives and the pioneer
settlers of the eastern frontier, whose roofs sheltered and
whose bounty often fed the weary and hungry son of the forest.
IRREGULARITIES AT THE CAPITAL.
Joslyn, the head of the Judiciary at Jamestown of Pemaquid, as
well as the venerable Shurt, had now gone to the grave. Irregu-
larities had grown up at Jamestown, under the mal-administration
of military rule. The rumor of this state of affairs reached the
ears of the Governor at New
p.183 INDIAN WARS.
York, and led to a sharp reproof. Francis Skinner was admon-
ished "that1 the looseness and carelessness of his command,
gave strangers occasion to notice his extravagancies and de-
baucheries; that, for the future, "swearing, drinking and pro-
faneness, too much practiced and suffered, should be wholly
suppressed." Such were the sharp words of Captain Brockholls,
to Francis Skinner, commander of Fort Charles.2
PEMAQUID FOSTERED BY GOVERNMENT.
The residents of Jamestown at Pemaquid were chiefly of the
New York emigration. Being the capital of the Ducal Province
in the east, Governor Andros fostered the growth and import-
ance of the place. All native trade, all commercial trans-
actions, were required to be done at Jamestown. Under the
guns of Fort Charles, safety was assured to those who bought
and sold with the Indians. Here was the port of entry and
clearance, and the custom house; and here resided Alexander
Woodrop, as sub-collector and receiver of the public revenue.
John Allen was the commissioned Justice and Sheriff of Pema-
quid and its dependencies.
TEMPERANCE PRINCIPLES LEGALLY ENFORCED.
It was unlawful to sell ardent spirits, except under speci-
fied limitations. Strong drink had become a public evil; and
undoubtedly was feared as a source of public calamity and
savage outrage. Therefore, rum-boats were forbidden to trade
from harbor to harbor. An ordinary was to be
Footnotes. 1. Pemaquid Papers, p. 74. 2. Fort Charles was a
redoubt, "with two guns aloft, and an out-work about nine feet
high, with two bastions in the opposite angles, in each of
which were two great guns and another at the gate-way. There
were fifty soldiers, and sufficient ammunition, stores of war,
and spare arms and provisions for about eight months." - Thorn-
ton's Ancient Pemaquid, p.127.
p.184 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
opened on every island or fishing place, by an approved man
of the place, for the benefit of fishing crews, who should not
suffer "any man belonging to a boat's crew, to sit and tipple
to excessive drinking, or unseasonable hours."
LAWS OF TRADE AND TUNNAGE DUES.
Ownership of dogs.
A vessel not of the Dukedom could not make a voyage unless her
crew owned property in, or resided at Jamestown in Pemaquid.
One dog only was allowed to a family. The circle of trade was
enlarged and two places were now opened to the natives: one at
the Block House of the Merry Meeting settlement, and one at
Pemaquid. All vessels trading or fishing in the eastern waters,
were required to give an account of their voyage and take a
clearance at the Custom House at Pemaquid. No lands located on
any river, creek, or on the sea-board, could have more than four
acres front, and in that proportion for every fourscore acres.
Religious duties and habits were fostered by the government. "For
the promotion of piety it was ordered that a person be appointed
to read prayers and the Holy Scriptures." The rites and services
of the Church of England would, therefore, appear to have been
the established denomination feature of the religious character
of the population of Jamestown at Pemaquid.
All vessels1 not of the Ducal state were ordered to pay into
the public revenue - if a decked vessel - "four quintals, and
if an open boat, two quintals of merchantable fish."
No vessel could enter the Kennebec or any of its waters which
did not clear at Jamestown.
DONGAN'S ADMINISTRATION.
The Ducal interests had now fallen into the hands of the re-
cently appointed Governor of New York, - "Thomas Dongan
Footnote. 1. Pemaquid Papers.
p.185 INDIAN WARS.
THE DUKE OF YORK.
"Thomas Dongan,1 Vice Admiral under his Royal Highness,
of New York and dependencies in America," after a short
interregnum, under Lieutenant Colonel Brockholls. The
resendents in the Ducal territories had petitioned their
lord "to permit the people to have a share in the govern-
ment." The Duke of York granted the prayer so far as to
establish the popular branch of a House of "Assembly,"
chosen by the people.
"A man of integrity, moderation and genteel manners, though
a professed papist," Dongan was instructed to call an
"Assembly."2
GYLES GODDARD.
"The free-holders of Pemaquid and dependencies met," and
made election of Gyles Goddard3 to represent the Ducal
province of the East, in the Assembly at New York.
West and Palmer were commissioned to aid in the administra-
tion of the affairs of the Eastern Dukedom; and in the execu-
tion of the duties of their commission, they visited Pemaquid,
New Dartmouth and Sheepscot, to make and confirm grants of land,
to correct abuses - to quiet his Majesty's estates and possess-
ions - to see that garrison duty was faithfully done - to em-
power civil officers and to appoint Justices of the Peace and
Quorum - to let and establish excise and customs for revenue.4.
Such were the extraordinary powers of John West and John Palmer,
Royal Commissioners of the Duke of York, the abuse of which made
them odious to the citizens.
MILITARY AND CIVIL DESPOTISM.
The inhabitants of the Dukedom complained of the evils of their
condition, growing out of their subjection to the will and pleas-
ure of military authority, often exercised in a
Footnotes. 1. Pemaquid Papers, p. 95. 2. Holmes' American
Annals, Vol. i, p. 461, note 3. 3. Thornton's Pemaquid, p. 131,
4. Pemaquid Papers, see Commission, pp. 111-113.
p.186 THE ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
most reckless and arbitrary manner. It was a matter of complaint
to the Governor at New York, that it had been the practice of the
commander at Pemaquid to threaten the dissolution of the Courts,
at his pleasure - to threaten the Justices with imprisonment and
with irons - and to apprehend by force of arms the King's Just-
ices. The fishermen of "Sagadahoc Island" had, as was supposed,
at the instance of Richard Patishall, been forbidden to build
on the portion of the island used for preparing their fish, and
were required to remove their warehouses and salt stores. A con-
siderable population must have concentrated there, at the date
of this order, so that the place must have been crowded; and
although it is not easy to identify the island at this period,
yet it undoubtedly was an ancient and well-know locality, the
term Sagadahoc having possibly been used to designate the group
of islands at the mouth of the Kennebec, separating between it
and Sheepscot Bay.
NEW PORTS OF ENTRY DEMANDED.
At the same time the petitioners of Pemaquid requested the
Governor to assign, as ports of entry and clearance, two places
in addition to that at Pemaquid: one at "New Dartmouth in Ships-
Gutt river," where it was alleged a considerable population had
settled, "and many more coming" - promising a considerable trade
in shipping "ffor maste and lumber," and "an office," or some
person at Sagadahoc in Kennebec river, "ffor entering and clear-
ing."
At each point public defenses had been erected, at the cost and
by the enterprise of the new-comers, against the savages, "who
had begun to menace war," with a view to cut off the new race
of white men, before they should become too many for them.
CONFERENCE OF THE COLONIAL GOVERNORS.
The governors of New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts:
DONGAN, CRANFIELD AND DUDLEY.
p.187 THE INDIAN WARS.
Dongan, Cranfield and Dudley, with a Mr. Shrimpton, held a
conference in New York at "Fort James," to discuss and con-
cert measures of defense against the eastern savages, whose
restlessness and menaces foreboded another scene of savage
war. Dongan urged pacific measures, and cherished confid-
ence in the overtures that had been made, and in the success
of a rigid enforcement of the regulations made to guard the
intercourse between the red men and the white men in the Duke-
dom, and was adverse to all measures offensive to the natives.
No definite concerted plans were agreed on.
FIRST APPEARANCE OF EXISTING FAMILY NAMES.
PARSONS, GYLES, COOK, JOHNSON, NEAL, etc.
For the first time, the names of PARSONS, GYLES, COOK,
JOHNSON, NEAL and others, whose descendants still live in
in and about the heritage of their fathers, on the banks
of the Sheepscot, are found among the early inhabitants of
Dukedom, as petitioners for the public good, or remonstrants
against existing public evils.
FOOT, LOVERING, RAY, GUNNISON AND PAINE.
Foot, Lovering, Ray, Gunnison and Paine were now dwellers at
New Dartmouth.
NICHOLAS MANNING.
Nicholas Manning was put in commissiion as Commander of a
company of foot soldiers.
GYLES GODDARD.
Gyles Goddard as Lieutenant; John Allyen, John Dolling,
Lawrence Denni, Thomas Giles, Watrop, Thomas Sharp, Richard
Patishall, as Commissiioners and Justices for the County of
Cornwall.
JOHN BEATTERY.
At New Town, Sagadahoc, John Beattery was commissioned as a
Captain of Foot.
NICHOLAS MANNING.
Nicholas Manning was appoointed surveyor, sub-collector, and
searcher of his Majesty's Customs, 1686, under stringent
instructions and with great powers.
DUKEDOM MERGED IN MASSACHUSETTS.
The ancient plantations had now become generally re-occupied,
many families from the banks of the Hudson having removed into
Duke's Territories of the Eastern Province of Pemaquid. At this
juncture, the decease of
p.188 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
February 16, 1685.
King Charles II. elevated James II to the vacant seat of the
Throne of England, his views were arbitrary, and his rule was
despotic. Dongan, whose commission was renewed, was instructed
"to allow1 no printing press in New York.
1686.
Sir Edmund Andros was commissioned Governor of New England,
December 24th and had arrived at Boston; landing at Pools'
Whart, escorted by sixty "red-coats," he marched "to Gibbs'
house on Fort Hill."2 Andros was instructed to give tolera-
tion in religious sentiments, but to encourage the establish-
ment of the Church of England.3 Accordingly he applied for one
of the Boston churches for religious services, on the day of his
arrival.2 The Old South (church) was selected, but the propriet-
ors against its use, because it was private property, "and they
could not, with a good conscience consent that their meeting-
houses should be made use of for the Common Prayer worship."2
September 19.
A Royal order4 of this date directed that for the future the
"ffort and country of Pemaquid, with the Greate Gunns, ammu-
nition and stores of war," be delivered unto Sir Edmund Andros,
and annexted to and continued under the government, territory,
and dominion of New England.
Such was the aspect of the revived state of affairs, exhib-
iting all the varied phases of a fresh population, now fully
re-occupying the wild wastes of King Philip's war, in the East.
ANDROS RESTORED TO POWER.
Sir Edmund Andros, in virtue of his office as the Guber-
natorial head of New England, once more ruled the eastern
Footnotes. 1. Holmes' Am. Annals, pp. 467-8. 2. Judge
Sewall's MSS. Diary. 3. Holmes' Annals, p. 468. 4. Pemaquid
Papers, p. 131.
p.189 INDIAN WARS.
territory of this Ducal State, now merged in Massachusetts,
as the "District of Maine," - the Dukedom ceasing forever.
1687.
The act of annexation did not pass unnoticed or without
opposition by remonstrances from the inhabitants of the
late Ducal State. The citizens of "New Harbor," of the
town of Bristol, an ancient suburban precinct of Pemaquid,
convened in town meeting, ordered that a petition should be
forwarded to the "Honorable Governor and Councell of Assembly
at New York," in which the plea was urged, - "that Pemaquid
may still remain the metropolitan of these parts, because it
ever have been so before Boston was settled."1 But the pres-
tige of the ancient capital of New England had gone.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS BECOMES THE CAPITAL OF NEW ENGLAND.
The plea of hoary life and honors could avail nothing. Pemaquid
fell, and on her ruins Boston climbed to her position and emolu-
ments, as the capital of New England.
Andros made Boston the seat of his administration, and he deter-
mined on seizing the French possessions on the Penobscot, to swell
the bulk of his dominions.
THE RECKLESSSNESS OF ANDROS.
1688.
The frigate Rose, Commander George, at Pemaquid, was ordered to
be held in a state of readiness for the Governor's use. Embark-
ing in a sloop at Boston, Andros sailed among the islands of
Casco Bay, eastward bound. He entered and ascended the Kennebec
river. Thence cruising along shore, he joined the frigate at
Pemaquid.
From thence, he set sail for the Penobscot, and was soon safely
moored under the promontory of "Big-uy-duce," the site of the
French and Indian town of the Baron of Castine. That wild noble-
man was too wary to be surprised. Having descried the fleet
winging its way from afar, down the
Footnote. 1. Maine Historical Coll. vo. v. p. 137.
p.190 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
magnificent Bay, he had fled and secured himself and family
in the sheltering depths of the forests. Andros landed. He
entered the works: - viewed the deserted premises, where all
had been left as it was - household stuff, fire-arms, ammuni-
tion and clothes - the Chapel with its altar and pictures.
The church was held sacred. The booty was secured. Andros re-
turned to Pemaquid, met the natives and distributed presents.
The bay, the harbor, the situation of Pemaquid made a great
and favorable impression on the mind of the Royal Governor.
It struck him that Pemaquid might become the great mart of
the East. Portland, Bath, and Bangor had no existence in the
wildest visions of the most distant foreshadowings of the
Governor's speculations, as his imagination peered into the
distant future!
THE FORTS REBUILT.
Decay and time had reduced the fort to a ruinous state. Andros
ordered it rebuilt. Receiving the congratulations, and listening
to the complaints of the eastern people, Andros returned to
Massachusetts. But his unceremonious visit to the establishment
of the "Baron de Castine" was deemed a wanton outrage, to re-
revenge which Castine excited his savage retainers to prepare
for war.
MODOCKAWANDO.
Great efforts were made to heal the wounded honor of the semi-
Gaelic chieftain of Penobscot, and conciliate his dusky and
barbarous hordes. Modockawando was sent back to Boston, laden
with presents for himself and his braves. Peace was promising.
ENGLISH REVOLUTION.
But when William and Mary, having ascended the throne of England,
vacated by the fugitive, King James Stuart, who had taken refuge
from the furty of his exasperated subjects in the heart of France,
opened a new scene, and touched new springs of action in our blood-
stained history.
p.191 INDIAN WARS.
As a natural consequence of these facts, war ensued between
France and England, whose people were in a revolutionary state.
Rival religious organizations, Popery and Protestantism, the one
a religion of forms, the other a religion of faith - the one
sympathizing with prerogative and the other with power - the
other with the rights of conscience and humanity - met in a
desperate struggle for the supremacy in England.
FRENCH PRIESTS.
INCITE THE INDIANS TO BLOODSHED.
French priests lashed into fury, the savage hordes of New
England, until a wave of fire and blood swept with extermin-
ating fury over the fair reviving prospects of the eastern
frontiers.
COLONEL TYNG & CAPTAIN MINOT.
Colonel Tyng and Captain Minot, with one hundred and fifty-six
men, were detached for the eastern service and Captain Brock-
holls and Lieut. Weems were left in command of Fort Charles.
The collision in England between the rival houses of the Stuart
dynasty and the Prince of Orange, gave a shock which was felt in
the remotest hamlets and the rudest cabins of the frontiers of
New England.
THE TREACHERY OF GOVERNOR ANDROS.
A partisan warfare raged. The sympathies of all the office-
holders, appointees of the Stuart dynesty, were in the inter-
ests of King James, and, of course, sided with the French in-
fluence and the assumptions of Popery, which had espoused the
cause of the fugitive James.
Andros was suspected, indeed, was charged with giving aid and
comfort to the enemy. While at Pemaquid, it was said he was
visited by two squaws (one the sister of Modocawando, the
native lord of Penobscot,) who "remained with him two days at
the fort: leaving in half drunk under and escort - a file of
soldiers: and that they carried with them baskets and bundles
of gunpowder and bullets."
This story, taken in connection with Andros' expedition
p.192 THE ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
in the frigate Rose1 to the fort of Castine, wears an aspect
of improbability, to say the least. But everything fore-boded
evil. The heavens above glowed with unnatural and portentous
omens, "very terrible in appearance." A blazing star showed
its head through the clouds, but flung a tail thirty degrees
in length to the zenith; "growing continually broader and
broader, and brightest on its sides."2
1689.
APRIL 18TH.
The administration of Andros had become odious; and on the
report that the Governor's guards were "to massacre3 the citi-
zens of Boston," the yeomanry round about Boston poured in,
seized Captain George of the Rose frigate, surrounded the de-
fenses on Fort Hill, which were surrendered, and Andros captured
therein. The Governor was imprisoned; and the revolution in favor
of the Prince of Orange was completed in New England.
The consequences were most disastrous to the frontier planta-
tions of Maine. Anarchy ensued. This state of things encouraged
the savages to renew their barbarities. A considerable village
had grown up at "New Harbor," a suburg of the capital at Pema-
quid. The effacement of the ancient landmarks disturbed titles
and disquieted the returning inhabitants, who complained that
having been at great charge in rebuilding their houses, as yet
they had "no assurance of house lots nor bounds of place." The
"customs" were onerous. They desired they should be taken off,
"because it never used to be paid by any fishermen in the world,
that we know of," say they, in a petition to Government.4
Footnotes. 1. Holmes' Annals, vol. i, p. 474, note. 2. Hutch-
inson's Hist. vol. i, p. 313, note. 3. Holmes' Annals, vol i.,
p.475. 4. Maine Historical Coll. v. p. 137.
p.193 THE INDIAN WARS.
CENTRAL POINTS OF DEFENSE.
At Dartmouth, Captain Withington, with a company of sixty men,
had been stationed. A detachment of twenty-four men under the
command of Lieutenant John Jordan was assigned to garrison duty.
The small fort on the eastern Sheepscot shore - (the defense of
the township on Mason and Jewett's Neck) - was to be occupied by
a weekly relief from New Dartmouth.
Newtown on the Sagadahoc.
Newtown on the Sagadahoc, a Fort at Sagadahoc, a redoubt on the
Damariscotta, Pemaquid, New Dartmouth, and Sheepscot, were all
occupied as points of military defense.
COMMANDER BROCKHURST DENOUNCED AS A PAPIST.
But the excitement of the revolutionary changes in the English
government had pervaded the eastern settlements. The partisans
of William and Mary became suspicious of the Crown officers. The
appointees of the Stuart family were suspected. Commander Brock-
holls1 was denounced as a Papist, and as is alleged, was ordered
from Pemaquid, which order he disobeyed; and being suspected of
a design to desert the French, was seized by the inhabitants of
New Dartmouth, and sent to Boston - Lieutenant Weems being left
in command at the request of the people of Pemaquid.
The soldiery became demoralized. Desertion ensued and the forces
distributed by Andros at favorable points to overawe the hostile
natives, were dispersed. The state of things must have been known
to the Indians.
The Opening of Hostilities.
The first blow was struck at North Yarmouth, which was entirely
broken up. The northern margins of Merry Meeting were next swept
by the war trail of the infuriated savages, and the houses of the
settlers were burned, while those who made a
Footnote.1. Answer to Andros, Maine Historical Coll. vol v. p. 394.
13
p.194 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
show of defense were slain, and the remainder made captives,
many of whim were most barbarously murdered in a drunken car-
ousal, soon after. Nine persons were spared from the island
settlements and the mouth of the river below, to be led into
captivity. The mutinous proceedings at New Dartmouth had left
the defenses there unprotected, and the community exposed in the
height of its greatest peril to the fury of an excited, ruthless,
and barbarous foe, amid all the horrors of a religious and parti-
san warfare!
THE DESTRUCTION OF NEW DARTMOUTH.
SHEEPSCOT, CALLED THE GARDEN OF THE EAST.
These circumstances invited assault. A war party passed from the
bloody horrors and savage orgies of the sacking of the Merry Meet-
ing towns over to the thriving and populous plantations of Sheeps-
cot, "called the garden of the East."
SEPTEMBER 5TH.
HENRY SMITH & HIS FAMILY.
EDWARD TAYLOR & HIS FAMILY.
Cautiously approaching from the eastward to the attack, the
Indians surprised and secured Henry Smith and his family. The
next day Edward Taylor and his family fell into their hands.
By this time the alarm had roused the entire population; and
panic-stricken, all had fled into the forts, and secured their
retreat before a general onslaught could be made.
Very soon the surrounding forests echoed with the whoops and
yells of disappointed rage. The prey had escaped! The entire
village of New Dartmouth was consigned to the flames, with here
and there, a solitary house left as a monument of mercy, standing
alone amid the blackened ruins of a general conflagration! The
garrisoned inhabitants had vainly sought to treat with the enemy
for the security of their lives and property. The messenger, with
his life in his hand, who had gone from the fort on this mission,
was maltreated and murdered in the presence of his friends, who
were powerless to save.
How long the savages were held at bay, or by what means
p.195 THE INDIAN WARS.
those who had made the fort a refuge finally escaped, is not
stated.1 It is related, however, that the German population
retired from the scene of such desolation, never more to re-
turn; and the villages, so lately flourishing and so long in-
habited, were consigned to waste and solitude for a whole
generation.
The forts were destroyed; and to these ancient plantations
the catastrophe was a fatal and final overthrow; and to this
day, the Newcastle of the present, has not recovered the posi-
tion of influence and importance of her ancient fame.
THE OVERTHROW OF PEMAQUID.
1689.
Pemaquid, the ancient capital of New England, had not yet lost
the prestige of her position in the native mind; and had become
an object of special offense, as the point at which a death-blow
might be struck at the English interest in the East. It was there-
fore determined to blot out the capital of the Ducal territory,
which, though shorn of its importance and power by the revolu-
tionary issues of the British Empire, still was a central barrier
to the barbarism of the East.
LIEUTENANT WEEMS.
The anarchical condition of civil authority had left it as de-
fenseless and exposed as was its suburban village, New Dartmouth,
above. As we have before said, Lieutenant Weems, alone with
fifteen men, a stipendiary of the Government of the Massachusetts
Bay, held the post and defenses of Jamestown.
THOMAS GYLES.
Thomas Gyles, a large landed proprietor and Chief Justice of the
Pemaquid district, resided at this date in town. This eminent pio-
neer of the East at first had entered the Kennebec, and settled at
Pleasant Point in Merry Meeting, prior to King Philip's war. At
the opening of its tragic
Footnote.1. Tradition says they were suffered to construct a small
vessel, and retire in her, by agreement with the Indians.
p.196 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
scenes, Gyles had been made a prisoner, and his wife slain while
in her garden, picking beans.1 Redeemed or escaping, he re-
turned to England; but attracted back to his wild eastern home,
on reaching America, savage hostilities had again broken out, and
he took up his abode on the shores of Long Island.
The bleakness of the climate there disturbed him; and by the over-
tures of Governor Dongan, abandoning his Merry Meeting estates,
Gyles made a new home at Pemaquid, and held the chief seat of the
Judiciary there. He encountered much difficulty in the discharge
of his official duties, "from the immoralities of a people who had
long lived in lawlessness."
A descendant of Judge Gyles, made a captive at the time of the
sacking of Jamestown, has left a narrative of the terrible scenes
of blood enacted on this occasion. The savages, numbering about
one hundred warriors, had lurked in the suburbs of the town some
days. A wayfaring man, Starkie, by name, passing from Jamestown
of Pemaquid to New Harbor, was seized by them, from whom, with too
much truth, they learned the weakness of the public defenses; that
no suspicions of peril existed, and that Gyles had gone with his
workmen, fourteen in number, to his farms at the falls above.
The savages divided - the one party to follow Gyles, and the
other to assault the town. It was early in August. Those who
were assigned to attack the town finally gained a street and
effected alodgment. Ten or twelve houses of stone were occupied,
from which the Indians securely assailed the garrison till dark.
The fort was summoned to surrender. To this the defenders replied
with much san froid, - "we are now weary and must sleep."!2
Daylight dawned and the fort still held out.
Footnotes. 1. Vinton's MSS. Narrative, Archives Maine Historical
Society. 2. Williamson's Hist. vo. i.
p.197 THE INDIAN WARS.
Two days the assault was persistently continued and as vigorously
repelled. But the assailants could not be dislodged from their
coverts of stone, and had great advantage in the fight. Weems was
at length picked out and wounded by the sharp shooters of the en-
emy, and the bravest of his force were disabled.
A capitulation ws therefore concluded, on condition that Pati-
shall's sloop should be restored, and the garrison with their
captives and arms should be suffered to depart without molesta-
tion. The reduction of the place was thus effected, and it is
said the articles of capitulation were faithfully observed, and
that Weems and his handful of men retired in safety.
CAPTAINS SKINNER & FARNHAM SHOT DEAD.
CAPTAIN PADDISHALL TAKEN AND SLAIN.
Captains Skinner and Farnham returning from the islands, as they
leaped on shore, were shot dead; and Captain Patishall of "Paddi-
shall's Island near the mouth of the Kennebec,"1 whose sloop lay
at the Barbican, was taken therefrom and slain.
THE DEATH OF GYLES.
Meanwhile the party, some forty in number, led by Moxus, pursuing
Gyles, came up with him at the farm some three miles from town,
where he, with two of his sons, were overseeing the workmen, some
of whom were gathering the harvest of hay in one field, and nurs-
ing the young growing shoots of corn in another. The Indians came
upon them about noon. Gyles and his sons were still at the farm-
house, where dinner had just been served, when the roar of cannon,
the alarm guns of Fort Charles - arrested their attention and
awakened the solicitude of all.
The elder Gyles remarked, "that the alarm guns, he trusted, were
harbingers of good," - the announcement of aid from abroad. From
the crest of a hillock near the barn, the savages immediately
appeared, heralded by their
Footnote. 1. Clark's Deposition. Thornton's Pemaquid, p. 105, note.
p.198 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
wild whoops of war. Simultaneously with their appearance, the
flash of their fire-arms revealed their purposes of blood and
violence. Their demoniac yells mingled with the scream of bullets
through the air, and the wail of the dying workmen, opened a
scene under the lurid and sulphurous cloud of smoke, which hung
heavily over the bloody field, both grand and awful!
John Gyles and his brother, James, sought safety in flight, at
the first onset. Thomas, an older brother, reached the Barbican
opposite the Fort, gained a fishing boat, and sailed away the
same night.1 All who had not fallen sought safety in flight.
Pursued by the stout and painted red-men, with upraised tomahawk
and unsheathed scalping knives gleaming in the smokey sunlight,
all were scattered. The younger Gyles in his haste had fallen to
the earth, and was seized and bound hand and foot. The captive
boy was taken to a neighboring stack of hay. He pass his aged
father who had been shot, pale and bloody, still tottering on
his feet.
In the hayfield the men lay where they had been shot down; and
others tomahawked, still called upon God in their agony for
mercy! The Indians gathered with their captives, preparatory
to their departure for the East. Not long after, the elder Gyles
was brought in; and in answer to the taunts of Moxus, said, "I am
a dying man, and ask no favors but to pray with my sons"! This
request was granted. The captive boys were confided to the merci-
full protection of God Almighty. He gave them a father's counsel,
and took an affectionate farewell with the hope of meeting them
in that "better land," where the wicked cease from troubling.
With a cheerful voice he bade his children farewell, having now
become faint from the loss of blood, "which gushed out of his
shoes." The savages let him aside; and adds
Footnote. 1. Drake's Tragedies of the Wilderness.
p.199 THE INDIAN WARS.
the narrator, his own son, "I heard the blows of the hatchet,
but heard neither shriek nor groan." His body, pierced with
bullets was covered where it fell, with the branches of trees.
Such was the melancholy fate of Judge Gyles, a distinguished
resident of Jamestown at Pemaquid.
FATE OF THE TOWN.
Within a mile and one half of the town, all the captives were
now gathered, in full view of the smoke and flash of the muske-
try and cannon of the contending parties. Ambuscades between the
dwelling places and farms, and near the more frequented by-paths
to the town, had surprised, captured and killed most of the out-
settlers. A dozen houses or more adorned the hamlet of Brown at
New Harbor, the occupants of which generally escaped.
Another remove concentrated the captives in the heart of a
swamp, three-fourths of a mile distant from town - where the
lurid clouds of battle and the din of war, from burning homes
and butchered friends - the sacrifices to the orgies of war -
only greeted the forlorn victims of this savage demonical
demonstration. The fortifications had now fallen into the hands
of the assailants, and very soon, the works, the dwelling houses
and the shops of Jamestown of the Virginia of the north, the
capital of the eastern Dukedom, were reduced to a smouldering
remains and ruins. Such was the catastrophe which inflicted irre-
parable desolation on Pemaquid at the hands of the warriors of
Penobscot, who had been consecrated to this work by the benedict-
ions of Mother Church of Rome, and who went from her confessional
and her alters of hallowed sacramental rites to the work of
butchery and the blood of heretics, while their wives and children
performed the same holy rites, and raised their pure hands to
heaven in aid of their fathers and brothers in battle with the
heretics.1
Footnote. 1. Charlevoix, Williamson's note.
p.200 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
THE CAPTIVES' EXPERIENCE.
In the swamp to which they had been taken, the captive boys
met their mother and their two little sisters, also captives.
Many of their town's people were there gathered in sorrow and
dismay. From the lips of her boy, the wife learned the fate of
her husband. The natural burst of grief provoked the savage
masters. The captive son was removed and tied to a tree, out of
reach of his mother.
Once more he looked on her who gave him life, and heard her
voice as they all embarked for the East. "Poor babe," said she,
"we are going into the wilderness, the Lord knows where!" Their
canoes now parted, and with bursting hearts and swimming eyes
the mother and child were separated forever; - the mother and
sisters to be redeemed, and the child to wander in hopeless
captivity.
At Mata-wamkeag, up the Penobscot, they encountered a lodge of
dancing women. Young Gyles was flung into the midst of the circle.
An old squaw led him into the ring, when some seized him by the
hair of the head, and others by his hands and feet, with great
violence and menaces of evil.
At this moment his master entered, and brought the child off
from the horrors of the gauntlet dance, by flinging down a
pledge.
THE BEAR HUNT.
The flesh of the bear is much coveted, and is the favorite
game in the winter hunts of the natives of the Penobscot.
This animal burrows in the caves and dens of the earth in
autumn, with no store of food to break his long winter fast.
During the period of hibernation, it neither waxes nor wanes
in flesh. If fat and well fed when it seeks its wintry repose,
it will appear the same in spring, the tear and wear of life
being stayed in the suspended activity of its mechanism.
p.201 INDIAN WARS.
"I have seen some," says Gyles, "which have come out with
four whelps, and all very fat." The plunder of a bear's nest
makes a merry lodge. An old squaw and a captive are stationed
without the wigwam, who stand shaking their hands and bodies as
in a dance, singing - "Wegage oh nelo woh! - fat is my eating!
THE GAUNTLET DANCE.
JAMES ALEXANDER OF FALMOUTH.
Gyles, the second year of his captivity, was sent toward the
sea, with other natives, to plant corn near the fort. On reaching
the village of wigwams, he was greeted by three or four Indians
who dragged him to the great wigwam, where, with savage hells and
dances, the warriors were leaping about a man named James Alexander,
recently captured at Falmouth. Two families of Sable Indians, whose
friends had been lost by the attacks of English fishermen, had
reached this point on a scout westward, to avenge the blood of
their slaughtered friends. These savages were thirsting for the
blood of an Englishman.
They rushed upon Gyles and tossed him into the ring. He was then
dragged out by the hair of his head, his body bent forward by the
same painful process, when he was cruelly beaten over his head
and shoulders. Others, putting a tomahawk into his hands, bid
him "sing and dance Indian." The Sable Indians again rushed upon
him in great rage, crying - "Shall we who have lost relatives by
the English, suffer an English voice to be heard among us?" He
was then beaten with an axe. No one showed a spark of humanity,
save a Frenchman, whose cheeks were wet with tears of pity at
the sorrows of the captive white-men. The trials of this scene
lasted a whole day. Another dance was projected. Gyles had been
sent out to dress a skin for the manufacture of leather. A friendly
Indian sought him at his place of labor, and warned him that his
friend Alexander had fallen into the hands of his enemies
p.202 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
again, and they were searching for him. His master and mistress
bade him fly and hide himself, till they both should come and
call him, which they would do when the peril was ended. Gyles
retired and sought concealment in the fastnesses of a neigh-
boring swamp and had scarcely attained his refuge when deafening
whoops mingled with threats and flatteries told him that the
savages were on his track. They sought him till evening and then
called - "Chon Chon!: But Chon would not trust them. Thus he
escaped till the company had dispersed; when he went forth from
his covert, assured of his safety by the appearance of his master
and mistress.
THE FRIGHT.
Onerous and servile duties were required of captives. One of
these, in the case of Gyles and Alexander, was that of toting
water from a cool and distant spring to the village lodge.
Wearied with toil - in the language of Gyles - "being almost
dead, James and I contrived to relieve our toil by frightening
the Indians."
At this period, the Mohawks were a great source of alarm to the
eastern tribes - the rumor of whose alliance with the English
had now generally obtained. The traditions of this race were a
commentary of deeds of daring and success, handed down from re-
mote periods in the history of the aborigines of the American
coast.
The two prisoners adroitly turned this infirmity of their
savage masters to good account, on a dark night. Alexander,
having been sent out for water, set his kettle on the brow of
the declivity, ran back to the lodges and told his master, he
feared there were Mohawks lurking near the spring below, which,
by the way, was environed with stumps. The braves of the tribe,
with the master, accompanied the
p.203 THE INDIAN WARS.
the captive Alexander on a reconnoissance. Approaching the
brow of the hillside, whereon the kettle sat, James, pointing
to the stumps, gave it a kick with his foot, by which his toe
sent the iron vessel down the declivity toward the spring; and
every turn of the revolving bucket reared a Mohawk on every
stump, the clatter of whose arms was the signal of preparation
for battle; and he who could run fastest was the best fellow.!
The result was a regular stampede of thirty or forty warriors
into the interior forests, beyond the reach "of strange Indians."
THE CHASTISEMENT.
Natural admiration is excited in view of acts of personal cour-
age and physical prowess, and this would seem to be a spontan-
eous development of the human mind.
At one time, Gyles, during his captivity, encountered an ill-
natured savage. He had been cutting wood, which was bound up
with thongs, and borne in bundles to the wigwam. While thus en-
gaged, a stout, ill-natured young fellow pushed him on to the
ground backwards, sat upon his chest, pulled out his knife and
menaced him with death, saying - "he had never yet killed one of
the English."
Gyles replied - "he might go to war and that would be more manly
than to kill a poor captive who was doing their drudgery." But
the savage began to cut and stab him on the breast, in defiance
of all expostulation. Provoked to desperation, Gyles seized the
Indian by the hair of his head, and tumbling him off, followed
up the movement with his knees and fists, until copper-skin cried
enough. On feeling the smart of his wounds and seeing the blood
which fell from his bosom, "Gyles at him again;" bade him get up,
and not lie there like a dog; reproached him with his barbarities
and cowardly cruelties to other poor captives; and put him on his
good behavior hereafter, in the peril of a double dose of fist
and foot cuffs.
p.204 ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE.
Gyles was never after molested and was commended by the tribe
for inflicting the merited chastisement.
Metallic vessels for culinary use were not required by the
natives among whom Gyles was a captive. A birchen bucket filled
with water, heated by the immersion of red hot stones, would
speedily boil the toughest neck pieces of beef. The necessity
of lucifer matches was forestalled by rapidly revolving the
sharpened point of an upright piece of wood in the socket or
cavity of a horizontal base, until a blaze was kindled.
The incantations of the pow-wow, among the unchristianized
natives prevailed. For the dead, great mourning was made. In
the shadowy and somber stillness of evening twilight, a squaw
breaks the silence, wandering over the highest cliff-tops, near
her lodge, crying in mournful and long-drawn numbers, -"Oh hawe
hawe!"
But the season of mourning being ended, the relatives of the
dead end their said memories in a feast; and the bereaved is
permitted to marry again.
Purchased by a French trader, during the eastern expedition of
Colonel Hawthorne, Gyles, after a servitude of nine years captiv-
ity, was restored to his home and his surviving friends; and for
many years, served his government in the capacity of an Indian
interpreter, and in the army.
SAVAGE CRUELTIES.
Their captives were sometimes cruelly treated and barbarously
murdered. The elder brother of this captive Gyles, after three
years of captivity, attempted to escape and was re-taken.
Indian torture of captives.
On the heights of Castine, overlooking the waters of Penobscot
Bay, he was tortured by fire at the stake: his nose and his ears
were cut off and forced into his mouth, which he was compelled to
eat; and then he was burnt as a diversion to enliven the scene of
a dance.
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