USA > Maine > A brief history of Maine > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
8
1747
164
HISTORY OF MAINE.
been sent from Canada to act with the fleet; but, discouraged by its not arriving at the time agreed upon, all except four hundred of them had returned. The Duke D'Anville, commander of the expedition, was so overcome by these disasters that four days after the arrival he died of chagrin. In a council of war held by the officers after his death, the vice-admiral propos- ed to return at once to France, but Jonquiere, the gov- ernor of Canada, and third in command, wished to attack Annapolis. A majority joined with the gov- ernor; and the vice admiral fell into a delirious fever, and threw himself upon his sword. When off Cape Sable, on the way to Annapolis, the fleet was again overtaken by a storm, and so scattered that the vessels were obliged to return to France. The Indians caught the fever of the French, and it raged fearfully among them, and great numbers of them died. Thus Provi- dence itself scemed to war against the designs of the French, utterly defeating their great fleet, and destroy- ing their troops without the aid of man.
4. The next spring the garrisons in Maine were increased by five hundred men, but the country was already swarming with savages. Thirty men under Captain Jordan were stationed at Topsham, but with this exception the inhabitants from Kennebec to Wells were left to their own defense. A few volunteer com- panics were raised at various times ; that of Captain Ilsley of Falmouth being among the'most useful. Yet these received neither pay nor rations; their only re- ward being the bounties for the Indians and French captured or killed.
In May a second fleet sent from France to retrieve the misfortunes of the first, was met and defeated by a fleet of the British ; so that the hopes of the French in America were again doomed to disappointment. Yet the French and Indians made attacks upon the forts at Pemaquid and St. George's, though without success; and predatory bands harassed the settlers until July,
165
1750
KING GEORGE'S WAR CONTINUED.
1748, when the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle closed the war. Early in the spring of the next year a delega- tion of chiefs appeared at Boston, desiring to make a treaty ; and again a treaty was made.
5. In December, 1749, a quarrel happened between some Indians and English in which one of the Indians was killed. The guilty parties were placed in prison to wait their trial; yet, being incited by the French authorities, the St. Francis tribe the next season sent a band of warriors into Maine to glut their still unsat- isfied vengence. They were joined by some young Canibas fighters, swelling the party to about one hun- dred. Their first attack was in September, 1750, upon Fort Richmond, in the present town of that name. The garrison consisted of only fourteen men; but while the greedy savages were killing cattle and burn- ing houses in the vicinity a reinforcement reached the fort. As soon as the Indians learned this, they gave up the attempt, and departed down the river, destroy- ing property and killing or capturing all who came in their way.
6. One party attacked Wiscasset, setting some of the houses on fire, and taking two prisoners. An- other party went to Parker's Island, at the mouth of the Kennebec. Coming to a house just within call of the fort they were discovered, and dared not approach nearer; for they feared the cannon with which the garrisons were now generally supplied. The owner of the house was at that time its only occupant, but he fought bravely against his savage assailants. When at length they had cut down the door with their hatchets, he escaped through a window in the
rear. Being cut off from the fort, he ran toward the river and plunged in, with the intention of swimming to Arrowsie Island. The Indians pursued him to the shore; and two of them, springing nimbly into a canoe, continued the chase. They came rapidly up with him, and could almost reach him with their pad-
166
HISTORY OF MAINE.
1750
dles ; but he suddenly turned upon them and upset the canoe, then resumed his course,-leaving the dis- comfited savages floundering in the water.
7. Passing from the Kennebec region, the Indians visited Falmouth, Gorham and Windham, committing the usual acts of destruction, and carrying away twenty or thirty prisoners. On their return to Canada they came upon the camp of two hunters, named Snow and Butterfield, in what is now the town of Paris. Startled by a hideous yell, the two men looked up to discover a pack of savages close upon them. The foremost wore upon his head a hood formed of a hawkskin, the wings and tail reaching down to his shoulders and back. He was the chief. Snow was sitting down with his gun in his lap, picking its flint, at the moment he discovered the Indians; and he deliberately rose and aimed at the leader. He had been a captive once, and found the experience too painful to be repeated ; so he deter- mined to fight to the death. There was a flash and a report ; and the haughty form of the chief pitched forward and lay stretched upon the ground. The infuriated Indians instantly poured a volley upon the bold hunter, and he fell dead beside his companion, pierced through and through with bullets.
8. So much alarm was created by this incursion, that one hundred and fifty men were detailed from the Yorkshire regiment to scour the woods between Saco and St. Georges', and the forts were restocked with ammunition, in readiness for the savages, should they come again. But this raid proved the last ; though a few revengeful individuals continued to rob, murder and burn, wherever they dared, until the sum- mer of 1751; when a new treaty settled all difficulties and confirmed the peace.
What settlement was attacked by the Indians in the spring of 1746? What place was attacked in May? For what purpose did the French send a powerful fleet to America in 1746 ? What happen-
1
167
1753
THE SIXTH AND LAST INDIAN WAR.
ed to this force ? What happened to the fleet sent out. by France the next year ? What treaty closed this war ? What was done by a band of Indians from St. Francis River ? What happened on the return of this party ? What was the conduct of the Indians from this time until the treaty of 1751 ?
CHAPTER XXI.
1. Hardly had the afflicted settlers of Maine joined again the broken links of business, when the actions of the French filled them with fresh alarm. Among the captures of the last war were two families of children, taken in Frankfort, now Dresden. Their fathers vis- ited Canada in search of them, finding the children in Montreal, to their great delight. But now the French governor interfered, and would not let them go. This was in violation of the treaty and of humanity; and when the afflicted parents returned and made the facts known to Governor Shirley, he sent a messenger to Canada, who brought the children away by authority.
Then the French began to form settlements along the river Chaudiere, which has its source near the head waters of the Kennebec; and the Indians on this river resorted to the French for supplies. In Nova Scotia their actions were warlike, but the first positive art of hostility was the murder of some English set- tlers on Lake Erie. The messenger sent to protest against these outrages was George Washington, now appearing for the first time in national affairs; but all the reply he could obtain from the French comman-
168
HISTORY OF MAINE.
1754
der was that the territory was French, and that he had orders to expel all intruders.
2. There were unsettled questions about bounda- ries, both on the east and north of Maine and in the valley of the Ohio River; and these were now under discussion at Paris. In the meantime France was pushing her settlements and forts in every direction, with the evident intention of holding all she had and getting all she could. There were Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island, which had been restored to her by the last treaty, four forts in Nova Scotia -thongh by the same treaty this province had been ceded to England; on the St. Lawrence were the strong cities of Mon- treal and Quebec -while southward were Crown Point on lake Champlain; Ticonderoga, between lakes Champlain and St. George ; Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario; Fort Niagara, just be- low the great falls; and Fort Du Quesue, [du kane] on the site of the present city of Pittsburg, in Penn- sylvania.
3. The greatest efforts were made by the authori- ties of Maine to keep the natives peaceful, conferences being held with them, and many valuable presents given; so that at the last of these conferences, held in July, 1754, the Indians, in seeming good faith, placed five young savages in the hands of the English as hostages for the good behavior of the tribes. Three of these were Canibas, and two Tarratines; and they were taken to Boston to be educated.
Yet the authorities thought well of the old adage, "In time of peace prepare for war"; so they strength- ened the old forts and built several new ones. The first, called Fort Halifax, was situated at the junction of the Sebasticook River with the Kennebec, in the present town of Winslow. It was a quadrangular structure of hewn pine, one hundred feet long and forty feet wide. It contained two block houses, and was mounted with several small cannon and a swivel.
1754
THE SIXTH AND LAST INDIAN WAR.
169
LAST BLOCK HOUSE OF FORT HALIFAX.
4. The proprietors of the Plymouth Patent had built a fort a year before at Cushnoc, (Augusta) on the eastern side of the river, which they named Fort Western. It was constructed in nearly the same man- ner as Fort Halifax, but was not quite so large, and had only four guns. This year the same proprietors built another within the present town of Dresden, about a mile above the northerly end of Swan Island. This they named Fort Shirley, in honor of the gov- ernor. It was formed of stockades, and enclosed a parade ground two hundred feet square, together with two block houses. Another small fort was built at the second falls of the Androscoggin, in the present town of Lisbon.
On the sixth of November, 1754, before the fortiti- cations were entirely finished, the Indians attacked a detachment of the garrison at Fort Halifax, as they
170
HISTORY OF MAINE.
1755
were hauling wood. The governor immediately sent them a reinforcement of one hundred men with five cohorn mortars, while six companies of minute men were ordered to be in readiness to march at the short- est notice; but no further attack was made at this time.
5. Early in the year 1755 occurred the famous de- feat of General Braddock by the French and Indians, when Colonel George Washington behaved so gal- lantly. The war soon raged from the castern to the western settlements, on land and water; and two thousand men were raised, chiefly in Massachusetts and Maine, to drive the intruding French from Nova Scotia. Forty-one small vessels conveyed them to Chignecto Bay, at the northeastern extremity of the Bay of Fundy, where Colonel Monkton, a British offi- cer, joined them with a few pieces of artillery and about three hundred men. Monkton took the chief command, but the New Englanders did the fighting.
A strong fortification on the Missiquash River, well garrisoned with French troops, was attacked by them with such spirit that the French fled to Bean-sejour, a fort farther up the river. This fort mounted twenty- six guns, and was supplied with plenty of ammunition and soldiers; but after a siege of four days it was sur- rendered. The troops soon appeared before the re- maining forts, all of which surrendered in turn. It was an easy victory; and the total loss of the English in the campaign was only twenty men.
6. Much the larger portion of the inhabitants of this province lived about the bays of Minas and Chig- necto, where were several populous villages. But the people were of French parentage, and would not take the oath of allegiance,-and from this cause they were generally spoken of as the French Neutrals. They were a peaceful people when left alone; yet, longing to be under the government of their own nation, they were always ready to rise in rebellion at the bidding
171
1755
THE SIXTH AND LAST INDIAN WAR.
of French authority. This rendered them an exceed- ingly dangerous community to the English; therefore it was now decided by the British authorities of the province, that they must be removed. So the Acadi- ans were forced to leave forever their pleasant homes, with their houses and lands, their flocks and herds,- and were scattered among the English colonies from Maine to Louisiana. The poet Longfellow has in "Evangeline" told us their touching story.
7. Meanwhile the Indians flitted like shadows among the settlements of Maine. There was scarcely a town where houses were not burned, and men, women and children killed or carried into captivity. Fifty men scouted constantly from the Piscataqua Ponds to Saco River; fifty more from New Boston (Gray) by way of Sebago Pond and New Gloucester; ninety from New Boston to Fort Shirley, in Dresden; and one hundred from thence to St. George's River. All these could not wholly prevent the destructive rage of the savages from making many victims; but when the fate of the French in Nova Scotia became known, the Indians, alarmed for themselves, forsook the frontiers and retired to the northern wilds.
8. The Indians who had been engaged in these hostilities were the Anasagunticooks, Canibas and St. Francis. The Tarratines still remained neutral, and no hostile acts had been committed by them dur- ing the war; yet a Captain Cargill, who had raised a company to fight the northern Indians, coming upon a party of Tarratine hunters near Owl's Head on Penobscot Bay, immediately shot down twelve of them. There was no call for such a force as Cargill's in that region; neither was any care taken before they fired upon the hunters, to learn whether they were friends or foes. Cargill was very justly arrested for this act; but though he was kept in prison for two years, no Indian appeared against him, and he was at last discharged. Government did what it could to
ยท
172
HISTORY OF MAINE.
1736
avert vengeance for the outrage, sending a letter of condolence to the families of the slain Indians, and loading with presents a party of the tribe who soon after visited Boston.
9. The governor not long after required the Penob- scot Indians to furnish a number of warriors to join the English against the hostile tribes, according to their agreement in the last treaty; threatening to treat them as enemies if they refused. They were unwilling at any time to take up arms against their brethren of the Kennebec and St. Francis, and were now especially bitter against the English; while the French, who were of the same religion, were urging them to join their cause ;- yet they decided to remain neutral. So government declared war against them because they did not fulfil their treaty obligations.
The next spring [1756] the Indians again com- menced hostilities against the settlements, small par- ties of them being heard from in every quarter, from St. Georges to Saco. New Gloucester, especially, was so perilous a place that the inhabitants were offered the value of two pounds colonial money each, if they would stay in the town through the year.
10. In Windham one morning in May ten men started to work upon the farm of one of their number, about a mile and a half from the garrison. They were all armed with guns, as usual, and had with them a yoke of oxen attached to a sled,-for carts were ditil- eult to be got in those days. When nearly to the field two of them went ahead to let down the bars for the oxen, and were shot down by the Indians from an ambush. One of them having two balls lodged in his heart, died instantly; the other, named Winship, had one ball pass through his head near the eve, that another lodge in his arm; and he also fell. The in- dians scalped them both; but Winship was conscious- all the time, though feigning to be dead, so as to escape the knife or tomahawk of the savages. At the report
173
1750
THE SIXTH AND LAST INDIAN WAR.
of the guns four of the men ran back to the fort, while the others, led by Abraham Anderson and Stephen Manchester, crept silently forward to the spot, and hid behind a great log. Manchester put his cap on the end of his gun and pushed it into view of the In- dians, from behind a tree; and one of them instantly fired at it, thinking it covered a white man's head. As the Indian turned aside to load, Manchester stood up and shot him dead on the spot. The other Indians instantly gave a loud shout and ran into the woods, supposing that a large company was after them. The Indian who was shot proved to be a chief named Poland, who claimed all the lands on the Presump- scot River, and had refused to make peace with the English until they allowed his claim.
11. The two men now placed the bodies of their companions on the sled and returned to the fort. After these had gone, the Indians returned. Bending down a small tree until its roots at one side were lifted from the ground, they thrust the body of the chief underneath; then the tree, being released, sprang back and covered it up; but they had first cut off an arm, to be placed in some consecrated burying ground of the Catholic church.
It would weary you if I should relate the incidents of this year in Maine. Everywhere the inhabitants fell singly, or by twos and threes, before the lurking foe; their buildings were burned, their cattle slaugh- tered,-and whatever crops escaped the Indians were badly damaged by worms, while in many localities the inhabitants were wasted by disease. There had been no military successes; forts with many regiments of troops had been surrendered in the west, the expedi- tions up the Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers had accomplished nothing; and the people were over- whelmed with public debt. It was a terrible year.
In 1758 several events took place which quite revived the spirits of our people. The first was the
174
HISTORY OF MAINE.
1758
capture of Fort Du Quesne, at Pittsburg, by Gen- eral Forbes,-followed by that of Louisburg, which now fell the second time into the hands of the English. In the siege of the latter place the famous General Wolfe took a brilliant part; and the six hundred sol- diers furnished by Maine also did themselves honor.
12. Maine raised at about the same time, three hundred men for her own defense. There was need of them; for in August the fort at St. George's was attacked by four hundred French and Indians. For- tunately the governor got wind of the movement just in time to throw a strong reinforcement into the fort : and, unable to gain any advantage, the foe withdrew in great rage. Their next attack was on the fort at Meduncook, (Friendship) where they killed or cap- tured eight men, but failed to take the fort. This was
the last notable attack of the Indians upon the Eng- lish settlements; and with this season the outrages and massacres by the tribes of Maine forever ceased; and the Abnaki, Etechemin and Mikmak have ever since been peaceful subjects of the English race.
13. But the result was not yet secured. Indians and French still held their ground, the one in Canada and about the great lakes, and the other in the remote forests of Maine. Therefore, in 1759, Governor Thomas Pownal, who had succeeded Shirley, sailed up the Penobscot River, looking for a site whereon to erect a fortress. It was the season when the fine scenery of this river is at its finest; and the governor expressed his regret that this noble region had been left so long to the savages.
The place chosen for the fort was a crescent-like hill on the western side of the river, in what is now the town of Prospect. The fortification was ninety feet on each side, and the breastwork was ten feet in height. Around it was a ditch fifteen feet wide and five feet deep; and in the midst of the ditch was a high palisade, making a fatal obstacle to an Indian
1759
175
THE SIXTHI AND LAST INDIAN WAR.
enemy. At each corner was a flanker thirty-three feet square, and in the center stood a block house forty-four feet square and two stories high, having a sentry box on the top. This fortification was named Fort Pownal, in honor of the governor who was its builder.
14. While the fort was being built, Governor Pow- nal and General Waldo with a guard explored the river to the first falls, in Bangor. General Waldo was much interested in the new fort, because it was within the Muscongus, or Waldo Patent, in which he was a large owner. The northern limit of this patent was then thought to be near the point on the east of the river where the party halted. General Waldo, walking out a little distance from the others, stopped, looked about, and made the remark, "Here is my bound." He soon after dropped down in a fit of apoplexy, and died on the spot.
Meanwhile great battles were in progress at the west; and soon the glad news came that Fort Niagara had surrendered to the English, and that General Amherst had driven the enemy from Ticonderoga and Crown Point, while a strong force was besieging Que- bec. Then the tidings came that the intrepid General Wolfe had won a victory over the French on the plains of Abraham, sealing the triumph with his life.
15. A few days before the fall of Quebec, Colonel Rogers was sent from Ticonderoga with two hundred rangers to destroy the Indian villages about the St. Francis River, just northwest of Maine. For twenty- one days they marched through unbroken wilds, when, from the top of a tall pine, one of the men discovered the village three miles distant. That night the In- dians held a great feast and dance; and while this was going on Colonel Rogers with two of his officers wandered through the village unnoticed. Towards morning, when the weary savages were sunk in a drunken sleep, the rangers fell upon them, killing a
1759
176
HISTORY OF MAINE.
large number, and putting the rest to utter rout. In the morning the victors beheld a sight which made their blood run cold; for before them, on tall poles in the midst of the village, several hundred English scalps hung swinging in the wind.
16. The fall of Quebec filled the whole country with joy, for it was the harbinger of security and peace, and of many prosperous years. The towns of Maine celebrated the event with illuminations, while a day of public thanksgiving was held throughout the British dominions.
The power of France was broken in the north, and the long-suffering settlers of Maine no more met the Frenchman as a foc. When the trying days of the revolution came, the French forces, led by the gallant Lafayette, made amends to our young and struggling nation for the evils their countrymen had inflicted on the fathers, while subjects of Great Britain.
What unsettled questions brought on the last war with the French and Indians ? How far southward had the French ex- tended their fortresses ? What noted man first appeared in national affairs at this period ? What forts were built in Maine about this time ? Where did the Indians make their first attack in Maine ? What events occurred in Nova Scotia during this war ? Why was war declared against the Tarratines ? What Indian vil- lage at the northwest of Maine was destroyed ? What effect did the fall of Quebec have ? How did the French nation atone for their injuries to our forefathers ?
1760
THE DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION.
177
CHAPTER XXII.
1. After years of bloody strife the sun of the eastern tribes had set in darkness, and the power which had urged them on to useless wars was overthrown. It is with a feeling of relief that we turn from scenes of savage cruelty to scan the fair fields of peace and prosperity.
The population of Maine in 1742 (a few years before the last Indian war commenced) was twelve thousand souls,-aside from the Indians, who at the close of this war numbered nearly fifteen hundred. The towns and plantations at this date had increased to about twenty-five ; extending as far castward as St. George's River, northward to Cushnoc (Augusta), and west- ward to Tow-woh (Lebanon) and New Gloucester. The population of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut had increased greatly beyond that of Maine ; for their settlements had not suffered for more than a century from the incursion of an enemy, except on their extreme northern borders. But Maine was all border; her small hamlets stretching in a slender line along an hundred miles of coast, with a vast wil- derness behind them. I think that Massachusetts could well afford a few men to garrison our forts ; for if the settlements of Maine had been overrun, the sav- age foe would have carried terror and destruction into her own villages. Surely there was much of heroism in the founders of our State, or they would not have chosen to come where forests must be felled, and the rough earth swept by fire before the seed could be planted and crops grown, and where they were ever Hable to sudden destruction from the revengeful and bloodthirsty savage. No wonder that their bodies grew sturdy and their manners rude! Yet if their
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.