USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bremen > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 20
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 20
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 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
" That their Majesties' subjects the English shall and may peaceably and quietly enter upon, improve, and for ever enjoy all and singular their rights of lands, and former settlements and possessions within the eastern parts of the said province of the Massachusetts Bay, without any preten- sions or claims by us, or any other Indians, and be in no wise molested, interrupted, or disturbed therein.
" That all trade and commerce, which may hereafter be allowed between the English and Indians, shall be under such management and regulation as may be stated by an act of the General Assembly, or as the governor of the said province, for the time being, with the advice and consent of the council, shall see cause to direct and limit.
195
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
" If any controversie or difference at any time hereafter happen to arise between any of the English and Indians, for any real or supposed wrong or injury done on one side or the other, no private revenge shall be taken by the Indians for the same, but proper application be made to their Ma- jesties' government upon the place, for remedy thereof, in a due course of justice ; we hereby submitting ourselves to be ruled and governed by their Majesties' laws, and desire to have the benefit of the same.
" For the full manifestation of our sincerity and integrity in all that which we have herein before covenanted and promised, we do deliver unto Sir William Phipps, their Majesties' governour as aforesaid, hassomba- meit, brother to Edgeremett, Wenongahewitt, cousin to Madockawando, and Edgeremett, and Bagatawawongon, alias Sheepscout John, to abide and remain in the custody of the English, where the governour shall direct, as hostages or pledges for our fidelity, and the true performance of all and every the foregoing articles, reserving liberty to exchange them in some reasonable time for a like number, to the acceptance of the governour and council of the said province, so they be persons of as good account and esteem amongst the Indians as those which are to be exchanged. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our several marks and seals, the day and year first above-written.
"The above written instrument was deliberately read over, and the several articles and clauses thereof interpreted unto the Indians, who said they well understood and consented thereunto, and was then signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of us,
EDGEREMETT, JOHN WING,
MADOCKAWANDO, NICHOLAS MANNING,
WASSAMBOMET of Norridgwock, BENJAMIN JACKSON,
WENOBSON of Teconnet, in behalf of Moxus.
KETTERRAMOGIS of Norridgwock, MADAUMBIS,
AHANQUIT of PENOBSCOT,
PAQUAHARET, alias, NATHANIEL,
BOMASEEN,
JOHN HORNYBROOK,
NITAMEMET,
JOHN BAGATAWAWONGO, alias,
WEBENES,
SHEEPSCOAT JOHN,
AWANSOMECK,
PHILL. OUNSAKIS, Squaw.
ROBIN DONEY,
/
Interp'ters."
This " was a treaty of perpetual peace and friendship, sanc- tioned by the most solemn asseverations of the parties;" -and we may believe that the Indians, as well as the English, were, at the time, sincere in their professions, and determined to observe its stipulations. In fact the peace thus inaugurated was main- tained nearly a year ; but the Indians had formed the treaty
196
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
without consulting the French, whose agents did not fail to censure them for their course. As we have seen (ante, p. 175), the governor of Canada [Frontenac] told Bomaseen that they should not have made the treaty, as they had done, but " they might carry it friendly to the English till they should meet with a convenient opportunity of having an advantage to do mis- chief."
The French missionaries before alluded to, Father Thury, and two brothers, V. and J. Bigot, nsed their utmost influence among the Indians to prevent a faithful fulfilment of the treaty ; and therefore, though a general quiet prevailed, the war spirit was not laid, and the English captives still held among them were not brought in.
The evil influences at work were not unobserved by the Eng- lish, whose feelings were becoming more and more exasperated, as they, by sore experience, learned more and more of the treachery and perfidy of the enemy they had to contend with.
Another important circumstance should also be noted here ; for several years previous to this, beginning with the capture of Port Royal, and the attack upon Quebec by Phips, a project for scizing upon Canada, and expelling the French therefrom was more or less discussed in New England and New York ; and, on the other side, the French were debating plans for sacking the cities of Boston and New York, and thus reducing to sub- mission all the English settlements as far south at least as Penn- sylvania.1
About this time too the coasts of New England, and farther south were seriously annoyed by privateers and pirates, the fa- mous Capt Kidd being one of the latter class.
Madockawando, chief of the Penobscots, was present at the Pemaquid conference, and signed the treaty there formed ; but, assured by the priests, as is affirmed by writers of the time, " that to break faith with heretics was no sin," his virtue could not withstand their evil influence. He at length consented to lead a hostile band against the English settlements ; - and soon some two or three hundred Indians, from the various tribes, were marching across the present state of Maine to fall upon the vil- lage at Oyster river in New Hampshire. This occurred July 18, 1694. The onset was terrible; the destruction of life and
1 Doc. Col. Hist. N. Y., Ix, 411, et seq., 574, et seq.
H
197
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
property enormous, the cruelties practiced upon the victims never before surpassed ; - but further description is not required in these pages. 1
The Indians having thus taken up the hatchet without re- serve, other outrages upon the neighboring settlements followed in quick succession ; and a barbarous war, without any decla- ration of war, was inaugurated.
This statement is necessary in order to understand the true condition of affairs when (Nov. 19th, 1694), Bomaseen and two other Indians made their appearance at Pemaquid, pretending to have just come from Canada, and to know nothing of any of the outrageous violations of the Pemaquid treaty.
They came with a flag of truce, Mather says, "loving as bears and harmless as tigers," and hailed the fort from the west side, desiring to speak with Capt. March. After parleying with them some time, a white flag was raised on the fort, and the In- dians received within, and immediately made prisoners. Sub- sequently, Bomaseen was sent a prisoner to Boston, where he was long confined in jail. His companions were also sent to Boston as prisoners, but it is believed they were soon liberated. Bomaseen was one of the signers of the treaty at Pemaquid, the year preceding ; and now he had just come from the bloody attacks upon the Oyster river and other settlements in shameful viola- tion of that treaty. Shall we justify Capt. March in the course he took with the savages ? The unanimous answer would be in the negative ; - no excuse can justify a violation of a flag of truce ; - in all circumstances it is to be held sacred ; - and yet the circumstances of this case deprived the offense of much of its enormity. And the authorities in Boston bestowed no censure upon March, but rather justified his action, by receiving the prisoner, and holding him as such for a number of years.
Capt. March and his men, though never receiving direct cen- sure from the government, felt themselves in the wrong, as the following labored effort in justification of their conduct will show. ?
1 Charlevoix's Hist. N. F., III, 212-215; Will. Hist. Maine, 1, 640; Belknap Hist. N. II., 1, 215; Magn. II, 544.
2 Letter of Rev. John Pike, chaplain of the fort, to governor and council, dated, Pemaquid, Jan'y 7, 1694 [should be 169}].
.
198
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
" November 19, Bomaseen, with ten or a dozen Indians, called over the Barbican, desiring to speak with Capt. March, and set up a flag, by which they did implicitly own themselves enemies and breakers of the peace. [If it was a time of peace between the parties, as it should have been ac- cording to the treaty of Pemaquid, what need was there of a flag of truce ?] We did not put out ours until an hour or two after theirs ; would have pursuaded them there was no reason for it; that flags were used between enemies in time of war, not friends in time of peace; minding them of the late agreement at Pemaquid ; but they called earnestly for it. We resolved to seize Bomazeen at any rate, except positive violation of promise. We made no other promise before he came over but that he should be welcome, we should be glad of his company, would treat him kindly, and do him no hurt. After he was seized, we told him the same, and observed it punctually, so long as he staid here; but withal told him we must know who did the mischief at Oyster River and Groton, &c., of which they made themselves ignorant ; why the peace was so soon broken and by whom ; that they must go to Boston and abide there till Sheeps- cote John was sent to fetch in the Sagamores, and then they should come again with some English to treat, &c. We thought it not unlawful, nor culpable to apprehend such perfidious villains and traitors (though under a white rag) that have so often falsified their promise to the English, viz : at Cocheco, at Casco fort, at Oyster River and other places ; that make no conscience of breaking the peace whenever it serves their turn, although never so solemnly confirmed with subscriptions and oaths. They have no regard to the law of nations, and therefore deserve no human respect. Besides, we are credibly informed, they came with a certain design to be- tray their majesties' fort here, under pretence of trade, friendship, &c., and so they are fallen into a pit of their own digging. Neither did we aim at anything more than their detainment as prisoners, supposing some advantage might accrue to the poor captives, if not the country thereby. If your honors judge it not fairly done, they are now in your hands to dispose of and deal with them as may be for their majesties' honor, and as the circumstances of the case may require." 1
Of the Indians there were now in prison in Boston the hos- tages given at Pemaquid at the adoption of the treaty, and Bomaseen, with such as may have been sent there at the same time with him. These the tribes greatly desired to see at liberty again, to which the English were willing to agree, provided ouly that sufficient security could be given against the repetition of
1 Hutch. Hist. Muss., II, 81.
199
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
future outrage. Early in the spring therefore (1695), it was ar- ranged that Sheepscot John, should be sent on a tour among the various tribes, with the view of effecting some arrangement looking towards the restoration of peace. As the result, May 20th, 1 a flotilla of some fifty canoes, with many Indians, made their appearance at Pemaquid and encamped on an island ---- some say, Rutherford's Island - a league from the fort. Some officers from the fort met them there and received from them eight English captives whom they freely gave up; they also confessed the grevious wrongs of which the Indians had been guilty, and agreed to a truce of thirty days, until commissioners from Boston might arrive to negotiate further with them.
The conference met as agreed upon, the English commis- sioners being Col. Phillips, Lt. Col. Hawthorne, and Major Converse ; but on the part of the English it was claimed, un- wisely as many thought, that all other captives still held by the Indians must be given up, according to the former treaty, before any negotiations with reference to a new one could be even be- gun. The Sagamores had already freely restored eight cap- tives, and were very angry that so hard a condition should be required of them; they complained bitterly that Bomaseen and other Indian prisoners in Boston were not restored, and abruptly departed to enact other scenes of carnage and blood. 2
The Indians now were ready for the indiscriminate murder of English people wherever found, and too often the English, in their exasperation showed a disposition not less diabolical. Within a period of about six months not less than forty persons connected with the different settlements were either killed or taken captive by the savages.
.
September 9th (1695), as a number of men were rowing a gondola " around a high rocky point above the barbacan," they were fired upon by some Indians, and four killed and six wounded. The killed were Serg. Hugh March, Ed. Sargeant, John Linkhorn, and Thos. Johnson. 3
About this time Capt. March, at his own request, was relieved of his command at the fort, and Pascho Chubb appointed in his place. He proved to be a man with scarcely a single quali-
1 May 22d, Pike's Journal, Hist. Coll. N. II., INI, 46.
' Hutch. Hist. Mass., 11, 84; Magn., II, 548.
3 Journal Rec. John Pike, Hist. Coll., N. H., II, 47 ; Mogn., It. 548. The gon- dola (usually pronounced gundalow), is still much used in the vicinity.
..
200
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
fication for so important a trust, as will shortly be shown. Al- most at the very beginning of his administration, occurred a transaction that we cannot contemplate without shame. Sun- day, Feb. 16 (1696), there appeared at the fort a company of Indians among whom were Edgeremet, a Machias' chief, Aben- quid,2 a Penobscot chief, and Toxus, chief of the Norridgwocks, with several others, having for their object professedly to nego- tiate for an exchange of prisoners. The two first mentioned had signed the treaty at Pemaquid in 1693.
The English, it is believed, met the Indians a little distance outside of the fort; - and soon an altercation began between the parties, in a manner that cannot now be very well determined ; but resulted in the death of the two chiefs first mentioned above, and two other Indians, and, perhaps, of one or two En- glishmen. Some Indians were taken prisoners, but Toxus and a few others rescued themselves from their grasp and escaped.3
Some accounts of the transaction represent that Chubb and his men, having engaged in a free and friendly conversation with the Indians, without any provocation, fell suddenly upon them with their weapons, killing several and wounding some others, and that the Indians in the struggle acted only in self defence; but this is questionable. But it is certain that the people of New England, much as they were exasperated against the Indians at the time, considered the conduct of Chubb and his men very reprehensible, which clearly shows that they must have been entirely in the wrong.
The following account is from Drake's Book of the Indians (Book III, p. 122), which, however, he does not consider as worthy of implicit reliance. He suggests that it may be Chubb's own statement of the transaction.
" An Indian sagamore's son appeared with a flag of truce, and Capt. Chub went out to them without arms, man for man. . An Indian asked for rum and tobacco : the captain said, ' No ; it is salbath day' They said, ' We will have rum, or we will have rum and you too.' Two Indians laid hold on the captain. Then he called to his men, to fall on, for God's sake. Then he made signs to his men, to come from the fort. One of the English had a hatchet under his coat, took it out and killed an In-
1 Others say, a Kennebec chief, though often residing at Machias.
2 Abenquid, Ahenquid, Ahanquid, &c. Torus, Turons, Torons, Honqui, &c.
3 The original letter, which was written only a month after the event, is pre- served in the archives of the Mass. Hist. Soc.
201
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
dian ; and then ours killed two more Indians, and took another alive, and wounded another, supposed mortally. Then many of the enemy came near to the English, who retreated all safe to the fort."
The French officials in this country, in their correspondence with their own government, gave a very different representa- tion of the affair. The Indians were very desirous at this time to effect the return of their friends, still held in Boston, and to this end sought to open a correspondence in regard to a general exchange of prisoners. To open the way a number of Indians were sent [probably from the Penobscot] to Pemaquid with a letter from English captives in the hands of the enemy; but here they were debauched by the captain of the fort, and by fair promises induced to enter into trade, contrary to the en- treaty of their friend, M. Thury, who accompanied them in the expedition, but withdrew into the woods, when he saw they were determined to reject his advice. -
The parties traded together in good faith for several days ; but at length " the English, perceiving the principal chiefs grouped under the guns of the fort, began by killing Ejere- met [Edgeremet] a famous chief and his son by pistol shots. Taxous [Taxus] was seized by three soldiers, and some others were laid hold of iu like manner, one of whom was carried alive into the fort. Two more armed with knives liberated themselves from three of the enemy who had hold of them, and four Englishmen lost their lives. One of our Indians was killed by the shots which were fired from the fort ; another saved Taxous after having killed two more of the enemy with his knife. Thus we lost four, and the enemy six, men by their treachery. It is to be hoped that the Abenakis will not place any confidence hereafter in English promises."
The account goes on to say that " some Micmacs and other Kennebec Indians surprised a detachment belonging to the gar- rison of Pemkuit in some islands opposite the fort, and killed twenty-three of them." 1
Doc. Col. Hist. N. Y., Ix, 643. What transaction the last statement has refe- rence to cannot now be determined. M. Thury was probably the real author of the whole statement. Charlevios ( Hist. N. F., III, 233) is exceeding confused in what he says of the matter.
26
202
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
A little time previous to these tragical events at Pemaquid, Gov. Stoughton, of Massachusetts (Jan'y 21st, 1695), addressed a short letter to the Indians, hoping in some measure to restrain their ferocity ; and it called forth a reply remarkable for its malignity, from which we give some extracts below. The go- vernor in his letter charged upon them " the late tragical out- rages and barbarous murders," called them "enemies of the crown of England," and threatened them with severe punish- ment if they failed to restore the captives still in their hands, and also to arrest and bring in the guilty authors of the late atrocities.
The reply was signed by one of the Indians ; but of course it was not written by him. The two brothers, Vincent and James Digot were at this time serving as missionaries among the Abenakis, and very probably to one or the other of these we may trace the real authorship of the letter. 1
" Lord who writest to me, listen and understand what I am about to say, and write, to you. Thou wilt easily recognize my words, and why wilt thou not recognize them. It is thou (so to express myself ) that furnishest them to me. Writing with too much haughtiness, thou obligest me to reply to thee in the same style. Now, then, listen to the truths I am about to tell thee of thyself; of thee, who dost not speak the truth when thou sayest that I kill thee cruelly. I never exercise any cruelty in kill- ing thee, [as I kill thee] only with hatchet blows and musket shots. Thy heart must have been ever addicted to wickedness and deceit. No other proof is necessary than the acts last autumn at Saco and Pemkuit, taking and detaining those who were going to obtain news from thee. Never in the universal world has it been seen, never has it been related of a man being taken prisoner who bears a flag [of truce] and goes to parley on public business. This, however, is what thou hast done ; in truth, thou hast spoiled the subject of discussion. Thou hast covered it with blood ; as for me, I could never resolve to act in that manner, for therein I have even an extreme horror of thy unparalleled treachery. How then dost thou expect that we would talk. * *
What thou sayest I retort on thyself. There, repent and repair the grave fault thou hast committed ; seize those who killed me at Saco, and made me prisoner at Pemkuit. I will do the like by thee. I will bring thee those who killed thee when I shall be able to find them. Fail not to do what I require of thee; of thee, I say, who killest me without cause ; who takest me prisoner when I am off my guard. Here, again, is what
1 Doc. Col. Hist. N. Y., IX, 613-615.
203
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
I say to thee. Bring, or send me back my relatives whom thou detainest without cause. * As for me, thou canst not inflict much injury on me except by your treachery. My houses, my stores, my pro- perty are in inaccessible countries. If thou wilt confiscate them, they will cost thee a great deal of labor and fatigue."
Several events of minor importance that occurred at Pema- quid while fort William Henry stood there in all its grandeur may be mentioned here.
Governor Phips made an excursion east as far as Pemaquid in 1693, but was not present at the negotiation of the treaty of that year, as has been sometimes said; the next year, 1694, he made another visit here. He went as far east as St. George's river, calling at several of the settlements. His object seems to have been, by personal inspection to acquaint himself with the general condition of affairs in those settlements. At Pema- quid he met the Penobscot chief, Madockawando, and pur- chased of him a large tract of land on the Penobscot and St. George's rivers, which like other transactions of this character afterwards became the subject of much controversy. Long after Phips's day the proprietors of the claim, and those holding un- der the grant of the council of Plymouth, March 30th, 1630, to Beanchamp and Leveret agreed to unite their interests ; and the united claim came to be represented by Waldo, and finally by Gen. Henry Knox of revolutionary fame. The claim was for a tract thirty miles square.
March 28th, 1695, two men, Sergeant Tilton and Peter Dill ventured out into the sound in a birch canoe, and were over- taken by a sudden snow squall and both drowned. The caution of the natives in not venturing, as a general thing, to go around the point in their small craft seems to have been wise.
204
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
CHAPTER XIX.
Condition of affairs at Pemaquid in the spring of the year 1696 - Fort William Henry a great annoyance to the Indians - Plans for its reduction, and a naval and military force sent by the French for its capture - Strength of the force - Capture of an English ship, the Newport, by two French frigates - The French ships anchor at a respectful distance from the fort, and Castine with his Indians ready to make an attack from the land -Capture of the fort and surrender of the garrison - Chubb, the commander of the fort, severely censured - He peti- tions to be released from jail - Killed by the Indians - A military and naval expedition sent to the eastward from Boston - Plans of the French and Cana- dians to reduce all the northern English settlements to subjection - The people of Massachusetts not altogether inexcusable for the disastrous result at Pema- quid - John Palmer, John West, James Graham, Henry Jocelyn and Sir Wil- liam Phips.
The year 1696 was ushered in with unusual quiet for these parts; but plans for the reduction of New England and New York continued to be earnestly discussed by the French officials in Canada aud Acadia. The Indians early in the season com- mitted several murders in New Hampshire and the western part of Maine ; and the peace that prevailed in the region of Pemaquid was due to the fortress there, which was considered the " strongest fastness of the British in North America." 1 The French could expect to maintain their hold in Acadia and Nova Scotia only by retaining the Indians in their interest ; and the friendship of the latter would be of little consequence un- less they could be kept in active hostility against the English. Several times some of the Indians indicated a disposition to transfer their allegiance from the French to the English ; but such a tendency was always promptly met by the French offi- - cers, and the French missionaries, by efforts to bind them more closely to themselves, or else to excite in their breasts a more deadly hatred of the English.
To the Indians the fort at Pemaquid was a source of much annoy- ance, as we have seen heretofore, being situated directly on their line of travel, along the coast in their canoes. This will be better
1 Hist. of Canada, 1, 349.
-
205
HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
understood when it is known that the natives seldom ventured around the point in their canoes, but chose rather to carry them, and whatever effects they had, across the land from New Har- bor to the outer Pemaquid Harbor. In their small light canoes of birch bark it was not safe, except in the very finest weather, to venture so far out to sea as to pass around the point. The fort, therefore, being exactly in their path, would almost pro- clude any communication between the eastern and western tribes by their canoes, at least in time of war. To obtain pos- session of it was, therefore, a matter of great importance, both to the Indians and the French ; and to this end preparations now began to be made in good earnest.
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.