USA > Maine > Ancient dominions of Maine : embracing the earliest facts, the recent discoveries, of the remains of aboriginal towns, the voyages, settlements, battle scenes, and incidents of Indian warfare, and other incidents of history, together with the religious developments of society within the ancient Sagadahoc, Sheepscot, and Pemaquid precincts and dependencies > Part 8
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ANTIQUITIES THERE.
On the south-eastern slope, which is sometimes called wood end, it is said the remains of an ancient fortification -an earth-work-were traceable ten years ago ; and lifting the covering of the shallow soil, a smooth rock appears, whereon the washing of the sea has laid bare numerous inscriptions, in writing apparently cut by human art in characters from one to four inches long, one-eighth of an inch deep, and covering a surface of ten feet. 1 The local- ity of the inscriptions is assigned to the summit of the cliff, on the right of the harbor, as it is entered, 'by Thos. Cun- ningham, U. S. Collector, Wiscasset.
POPULOUS AND CENTRAL POINTS. n
Sagadahock, Sheepscot, and Pemaquid were now the radiating centers to the settlement of the circumjacent region.
1 Dr. B. S. Cushman of Wiscasset.
ANCHORAGE OF CAPT, LEVETT, MOUTH OF THE SHEEPSCOT, 1623-4.
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SETTLEMENT.
SAGADAHOCK.
From the Sagadahock, population flowed upward and onward, till Phipsburg, Bath, Georgetown, and Woolwich became populous towns.
SHEEPSCOT .
From Sheepscot have sprung the offshoots, Wiscasset, Dresden, Alna, Newcastle, Edgecomb, Westport, Boothbay, and Southport.
PEMAQUID.
From Pemaquid have grown Bristol, Nobleboro', Damaris- cotta, and perhaps the more eastern towns of Waldoboro', Warren, Thomaston, and St. George.
INFLUX OF POPULATION.
The various points of occupancy, in favorable locations, which became the nucleus of these several towns, now rapidly appear in the historic scene, filling in with busy life and enterprise, which have beautified our landscape with cities, villages, hamlets, and homes of refinement and lux- ury. Titles had become attached to favorite localities, creating claims which were subjects of legal transfer, in the forms of deeds, charters, and patents.
LEVETT'S VISIT TO SHEEPSCOT.
The mouth of the Sheepscot has been made par- 1623. ticularly conspicuous by the narrative of Levett's voyage and visit to Cape Ne-wagen - the present towns of Boothbay and Southport1-where nine ships fished at the time.
LEVETT'S NARRATIVE.
Says Levett, " I like it not for a plantation, for I could
1 Me. Hist. Soc., vol. ii. p. 86. Levett's Voyage.
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see little good timber and less good ground." There he remained four nights, and was visited by many of the natives, their wives and children, - Somerset or Samosset, Menawormet, father of Robinhood, and Cogawesco, the Sagamores of Sheepscot and Casco, - were among the chiefs who paid their respects to Levett, while tarrying at Cape Ne-wagen and exploring the Sheepscot. One Coke had a stage or store for truck there, with whom Levett formed an intimate acquaintance. It was ascertained that the Sagamores "had some store of Beaver coats and skins," which they were taking to Witherage, a ship master and spar dealer at Pemaquid. Coke was desirous the furs should not be taken out of the harbor. To aid Coke in securing the beaver robes, Levett sent for the Sagamores, giving them to understand he would " truck " with them for their beaver coats. The savages at first declined all over- tures, till Somerset " swore there should be none carried out of the harbor, but his cousin Levett should have all."
Levett, thus supported, prevailed ; but two coats of beaver were stolen from the Indians. The Sagamores complained grievously. Cabins and chests were ransacked and searched ; but the beaver was not found. Appreciating Levett's inter- est, as exhibited in his efforts to recover the stolen furs, the magnanimous chiefs thanked him, and desired him to for- bear, saying the " rogues had carried them into the woods where he could not find them."
The natives also informed Levett that no good place for trade now remained in the neighborhood, as the place he was in - Pemaquid and Monhegan - was in the possession of others. "The next day the wind came fair," says Levett, " and I sailed for Quack or York with the king, queen and prince, bow and arrows, dog and kitten, in my boat ; his no- ble attendants rowing by us in their canoes."
On hearing that Capt. Levett was about to depart from
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the country, the Sagamores gathered about him, among whom were Samosset, Cogawesco, Conway and others, and asked him " why he would be gone out of their country ?" Levett answered -" his wife would not come thither except he went to fetch her." The chiefs retorted -" pox on her hounds," and told the captain "to beat her." "But," re- plied Levett, " God will be angry." "Then let her alone and take another," returned the savages; Samosset adding the additional plea, " that his new-born son and Levett's should be brothers," if the captain would remain, and that there should be " mouchicke legamatche-i. e. friendship - be- tween them, till Tanto carried them to his wigwam " -i. e. till death ! These people, it would seem, had two Deities. " Tanto" is the god they hate, because to him is ascribed all their ill-fortune. When any are sick, hurt, or die, they say -"Tanto is hoggery "-i. e. angry. Squanto is be- loved of them, because he is the source of all good fortune to them. When asked where is his abode, they say, "we cannot tell," and pointing up, add -" on high," but Tanto " far in the west; " and no one sees either, but their Pow- wos or medicine men when they dream, which they do by placing a marten skin under their heads.
These savages are very subtile, slow of speech and quick and keen of apprehension ; and when they meet a great talker, as an object of contempt and derision they point to him and say -" he is mechecum"-i. e. a fool ! Very aristocratic - they will hardly speak to a ordinary man, but point and say -" Sanops must speak to Sanops, and Saga- mores to Sagamores."
They are polygamists and believe that he that hath the most wives is the bravest fellow ; and their wives are their slaves, -a feature of all barbaric life, where the influence of the Bible is not felt. Levett told them "it was no good fashion, having so many wives;" and the chieftain replied by asking " how many wives King James had ?"
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They were clad in skins, wearing the hair side inwards in winter and outwards in summer. They wear a piece of skin about their loins as a girdle ; " and between their legs goes another, made fast to the girdle before and behind, which covers their nakedness." "They go bare-headed, with long hair, and sometimes you shall not know the men from the women but by their breasts."
When their children are born, they bind them to a board and set it upright, either against a tree or other place ; and thus do them till three months old. They are entirely na- ked till from five to six years of age ; and their little ones the parent often buries in snow, all but the face, to harden them, and when two years old will cast them into the sea, like a little dog or cat to learn to swim.
ACQUISITION OF A TITLE TO BRISTOL.
Fifty skins of beaver paid by Brown of New-Har- bor to the Pemaquid Sagamore, Sommerset, pur- 1625. chased the present territory of the towns of Bristol and Damariscotta. Edward Ashley, agent, and William Pierce, assistant, in right of a grant under the Muscongus Patent, took possession of the eastern margin of the St. George's river, five miles below the head of tide water. There they erected a truck-house, and established a trading post, employing five persons and a small new-made vessel in the trade. Thus the site of the present thrifty and popu- lous town of Thomaston was selected and improved.
CONDITION OF SOCIETY.
The state of society in these newly settled plantations was chiefly distinguished for its lawlessness. Every man did that which seemed right in his own eyes, and rapine, vio- lence and crime prevailed. The royal commissioners tell of the most unblushing immoralities, alleging that the fisher- men had as many shares in a woman as they did in their
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boats ; probably an exaggeration of a prejudiced and parti- zan report.
MEASURES TO CORRECT ITS ABUSES.
The rumor of such a state of things at length reached England, and moved the Plymouth company to attempt the reduction of society to a state of law and order. An admiral was appointed ; and Robert Gorges commissioned lieuten- ant general, with instructions to prevent and reform abuses committed by the fishermen and others, who not only fre- quented the coast without leave, " but when there, brought reproach upon the nation by their lewdness and wickedness among the savages, abusing their women openly, and teach- ing their people drunkenness, with other beastly demeanors.1 " While the Pilgrims were struggling for life at Plymouth, and Conant founding Massachusetts at Cape Ann," says Thornton, " Pemaquid was probably the busiest place on the coast."
WRECK AT BOOTHBAY HARBOR.
A small vessel sent from Plymouth to fish, on reaching the harbor of Boothbay, near Damariscove, where " ships used to ride," met many ships there from England. While at anchor, a fierce storm drove the Plymouth ship ashore, where she was wrecked and sank, and the crew came near being lost.
The ship-masters, however, aided the Plymotheans in rais- ing their sunken vessel by casks lashed at low water to the hulk. Thus floated on the beach, she was recovered, refitted, and did good service to her owners. 2
ACQUISITION OF LANDED ESTATE.
The head waters of the Sheepscot had now received a con-
1 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. v, p. 86, 2d series.
2 Prince's Chron., p. 145.
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siderable accession to its population ; and it is believed that the Mary & Jolin and the fly-boat Gift of God, of the Popham immigration, furnished original European planters here, as well as at the mouth of the Sagadahock, some of whose col- onists may have made explorations and began clearings near Sheepscot Falls, which subsequently grew into what was called the " plantation of the Sheepscot Farms." . 1 Har- vest being ended around the margins of Plymouth Harbor, the full garners of the Puritans suggested a system of gain- ful commerce with the eastern savages ; and a sloop laden with corn was dispatched to the Kennebec, which returned with a cargo of furs of great value, at immense profit ; and this circumstance led to the subsequent acquisition of an immense landed territory on both banks of the Kennebec, by charter and patent rights, and the establishment of a trading station at Cushnoc, on its upper waters, called the Plymouth purchase .*
The tide of emigration naturally flowed inland and up the more frequented and accessible water- 1626. courses to those localities most fertile and secure, as well as to those most favorable for native trade, and had now begun to set strongly in, and favorite points had acquired intrinsic value, and become desirable for possess- ion. Acquisition and transfer of titles were indeed a great feature of this period.
1 Controversy Pejepscot and Plymouth Proprietors, p. 12.
* NOTE .- " Monquine," alias Matahanada, " son of old Matawormet, sagamore of Kennebeck river, in consideration of two hogsheads of pro- visions, one of bread and one hogshead of pease, two coats of cloth, two gallons of wine and a bottle of strong waters," conveyed to William Brad- ford, Edward Winslow, Thomas Prince, Thomas Wil'ett, and William Paddy. from Cusenock up to Wesserunskick, for the New Plymouth Com- pany .- Copy of Deed, Register's office, Lincoln Co., vol. i. p. 6.
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SETTLEMENT.
THE PLYMOUTH ESTABLISHMENT AT KENNEBEC.
The Plymotheans, allured by the profits of their 1628. trade, sought and secured large landed interests on the margins of the Kennebec, covering each bank ; and having perfected their arrangements for occupancy, erected a trading house and established a post up the river, and named the settlement New Plymouth, where was deposited a store of corn and merchandise. With the natives this company bartered their goods for furs, and introduced the article of " wampum peag,"-" strings and bracelets of blue and white periwinkle shell,"-afterwards replaced with glass beads, which at length served the use and possessed the value of coin, in trade with the savages. 1
ALDWORTH AND ELBRIDGE AT PEMAQUID.
The wilds of Mavooshen now began to excite the 1631. interest and absorb the capital of land speculators in the Old World. Pemaquid, now the property of Bristol merchants-Aldworth and Elbridge-under titles from the President of the Council of New England, on con- dition that they have and will transport, and do undertake to transport at their own cost and charges divers persons into New England, and there erect and build a town and settle inhabitants, at once became a noted place. Abra- ham Shurt, agent for the Bristol merchants, represented their interests there, and received the transfer of title and possession from Walter Neal, the agent of the Council.
This acquisition and the conditions thereof laid the foun- dation for the existence and importance of Pemaquid, where Thomas Elbridge subsequently resided and held a court, to which the residents on Monhegan and Damariscove "re- paired and continued their fishing." 2 Thus Pemaquid'
1 Young's Chronicle, p. 14.
2 Shurt's depo. pp. 39, 40. L. Records. 8
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SETTLEMENT.
THE PLYMOUTH ESTABLISHMENT AT KENNEBEC.
The Plymotheans, allured by the profits of their 1628. trade, sought and secured large landed interests on the margins of the Kennebec, covering each bank ; and having perfected their arrangements for occupancy, erected a trading house and established a post up the river, and named the settlement New Plymouth, where was deposited a store of corn and merchandise. With the natives this company bartered their goods for furs, and introduced the article of " wampum peag,"-" strings and bracelets of blue and white periwinkle shell,"-afterwards replaced with glass beads, which at length served the use and possessed the value of coin, in trade with the savages. 1
ALDWORTH AND ELBRIDGE AT PEMAQUID.
The wilds of Mavooshen now began to excite the 1631. interest and absorb the capital of land speculators in the Old World. Pemaquid, now the property of Bristol merchants-Aldworth and Elbridge-under titles from the President of the Council of New England, on con- dition that they have and will transport, and do undertake to transport at their own cost and charges divers persons into New England, and there erect and build a town and settle inhabitants, at once became a noted place. Abra- ham Shurt, agent for the Bristol merchants, represented their interests there, and received the transfer of title and possession from Walter Neal, the agent of the Council.
This acquisition and the conditions thereof laid the foun- dation for the existence and importance of Pemaquid, where Thomas Elbridge subsequently resided and held a court, to which the residents on Monhegan and Damariscove "re- paired and continued their fishing." 2 Thus Pemaquid'
1 Young's Chronicle, p. 14.
2 Shurt's depo. pp. 39, 40. L. Records. 8
.
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became the chief center of trade, law, and authority-a larger and more important settlement than Quebec, the cap- ital of Canada. Eighty-four 1 families besides fishermen, embracing a population of more than five hundred souls, now occupied Pemaquid and its vicinage ; and at the harbor entrance on the cast margin of the Damariscotta, formed by Pemaquid point, four years before a fortress, whose walls of mud and timber trees of pine enclosed a small brick-built castle, for the defense of Boston Harbor, a castle at Pemaquid frowned over the waters of Johns Bay.
ยท DESCRIPTION OF PEMAQUID.
Pemaquid, the nearest and most eligible mainland site to Monhegan, is a romantic and picturesque site. Imagine a gentle river winding its way to the sea, and gathering its waters into a nearly circular basin before mingling with those of the bay, through a passage one hundred and fifty feet wide and many fathoms deep, - a basin rimmed and shut out from the sea by a spur or projection of rocks from the main on the west, encircling it like an arm, with a soli- tary clump of trees on its outmost point, and on the east traced by a peninsula (parallel to the main, and with which it is joined at the lower extremity,) flat and worn, of light and fertile soil, and it will afford some idea of Pemaquid harbor ; opposite the entrance to which on the east shore, are still to be seen the outlines of its fortified works.
The west shore of this basin is a rugged, rocky eminence, terminating in the narrow, rocky, extended, arm-like point, shutting in the harbor's mouth, anciently called the " Barbi- can ;" and on this the first settlements were made. The peninsula, which was the site of the ancient town and for- tress of Pemaquid, is oval shaped, and obviously made by the sands and debris of the river, brought down and accu-
1 Thornton's Pemaquid, p. 65.
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SETTLEMENT.
mulated by its tides, in the rotary motion given by the interposing and curved shores of the Barbican point on the west, and immense projecting strata of inclined gran- ite forming the eastern shore. The peninsula has evi- dently, at some period, been entirely circumvallated with water, and thus separated from the main, with which it prob- ably connected by an artificial way. It has also been walled in ; the outline of its defenses can still be traced. Its streets were paved with pebble stones; and many of its buildings were of like material. The principal street, pass- ing longitudinally between the extremes of this peninsula, north and south, was paved, and is still to be traced, though nearly overgrown with grass or covered with earth. The outlines of the fort, and the position of its tower in the south-westerly extreme of the peninsula, and immediately fronting the harbor's entrance, are in distinct detail, trace- able in every curve and square, amid mouldering lime and rock, - the fragments of its masonry.
It is a most interesting spot, not only in its historical re- mains and associations, but in its physical aspect - its stern and rock-bound shores-its gentle curves and sunny slopes and level approaches from the east.
The whole peninsula is now converted into a mowing field, except a small enclosed parcel, where are gathered the ashes of the ancient dead.
About this devoted spot armies have gathered like eagles to the carcass, and the din of war, in all its accumulated horrors of blood and carnage, has raged. The ships of con- tending nations have tinged its waters with human gore, and poured their iron hail in destructive broadsides upon its fortified places, till the ruthless storm has swept its streets, and crushed out at once the life and energy of its defenders. Here the red man, with a howl of defiance, and the white man, with the subdued voice of prayer, have bitten the dust together, amid the shrieks of forlorn women and helpless
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children, when not drowned by the terrible whoop of savage war. The details of the scenes here sketched we shall give as fully as circumstances will allow, in weaving out the thread of history.
Pemaquid, Monhegan and their dependencies had now passed from the title of the original occupants, to the pos- session of two Bristol merchants. The section began to fill up with rapidity from a class very different from the ship-dis- charged and deserting seamen and fishermen. Agriculturists and artisans had come in ; and wealth began to accumulate. Abraham Jennings, an original occupant of Monhegan, had sold his right to the purchasers of Pemaquid. Having thus acquired the titles to the most desirable localities in this now important and attractive section, with true business tact, these merchants sought to turn their purchase to the most valu- able account, by concentrating there both trade and the tide of emigration.
TRADE AT PEMAQUID.
A brisk trade had opened between the colonists of Plym- outh and the settlements within the ancient dominions of Maine, where provisions, at first sought to supply the Mas- sachusetts settlers, were finally sent in exchange for furs. Corn by the shallop load, within six years of its settlement, was sent from Plymouth up the Kennebec river, for which beaver skins and other furs were traded.
As centers of trade, money or valuable furs and mer- chandise, accumulated at Pemaquid and Monhegan ; and this circumstance, together with their isolated position, ex- posed them to plunder. The commercial enterprise of the period had spawned the ocean with sea-faring life ; and much of it developed in lawlessness, freebooting and pira- cy. Pemaquid had become a place of so much importance,
1 Thornton's Pemaquid, p. 65.
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that, as a measure of safety, fortifications were erect- 1631. 1 ed to cover the entrance to its harbor.1
Allerton, a Plymouth renegade, early this year, " set up a company of base fellows,"2 and made 1632. them traders along the coast, at Kennebec with other places east. The French seized the shallop of Dixy Bull, one of these fellows, greedy of illicit trade, and made it a prize. Bull, gathering to himself a companionship of kin- dred spirits, hoisted the black flag, and went prowling over the waters of the main, as the first New England pirate. He captured several vessels at sea, and plundered the plant- ers on shore.
The rumors of piracy disturbed the planters all along the coast ; and in the west, Hilton and Neal, from Piscataqua, equipped four pinnaces and shallops, enrolled a crew of for- ty men, and sailed for Pemaquid. Arrived there, for four weeks wind-bound, this naval force - these battle ships, the earliest afloat on the waters of New England - rode at anchor in Pemaquid harbor.
LAWLESSNESS OF THE PLACE.
The inhabitants of Pemaquid, many of whom were strangers, speculators, and transient persons, with a consid- erable admixture of sea-faring adventurers, were without a local government. Lawlessness overrode all order, a fea- ture of all new settled places-the product of commercial adventure.
The town, therefore, became much disturbed by scenes of rapine and plunder. De Bull, with an English crew of free- booters, like birds of prey, lighted on the place and plun- dered its shipping.
DE BULL, THE PIRATE.
Dixy Bull and his followers were resisted in their descent
1 Thornton's Pemaquid, p. 65.
2 Thornton's Pemaquid.
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on Pemaquid, and a ringleader was shot from the palisade. Their success gave them boldness. Though temperate in the use of intoxicating drink, their sense of moral responsi- bility was deadened by infidel sentiments. "When others have prayers," said they, " we will have a story or a song." This bandit crew hovered around the new settlements on the coast, a year or thereabouts, till the inhabitants were aroused by their atrocities-the excitement became so great against them that four vessels were armed and manned, and the pirates pursued till driven out of the eastern waters. Dixy Bull was subsequently brought to justice in England, and his crew were scattered forever. Shurt was still the chief man of the East, whose intelligence, integrity, and prudence entitled him to the respect and esteem of the whole community ; and under his administration the inter- ests of the colony and its patrons throve.
SHURT'S PERILS IN THE PISCATAQUA.
An untoward event came near depriving Pemaquid 1633. plantation of the life and services of Abraham Shurt, the agent of the proprietors and a magistrate of the peace. With Capt. Wright he embarked in June for Bos- ton. On nearing the harbor of Piscataqua, as they were entering the river's mouth, a scaman, addicted to smoking, in attempting to light a pipe of tobacco, fired a cask of pow- der. The vessel was blown to atoms, and the reckless sailor was afterward seen only in the mangled and scattered re- mains of his blackened body. The others escaped with their lives, and Shurt among them.
IMPRUDENCE OF THE SETTLERS.
The still infant settlements at Pemaquid, Sheepscot, and Sagadahock, though striking their roots and spreading their branches abroad, were made to feel the force of many a storm, which now began to brood in the savage wilds about
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them. A brisk and profitable trade with the peaceful wild men of this region had begotten a presumptuous security - a recklessness and temerity of intercourse - a wantonness of gain, sure to disturb amicable relationship.
NAMES OF EARLY PLANTATIONS AND LOCATIONS.
From the settlements at Pemaquid, thrifty off- shoots had started along the Damariscotta ; at Saga- 1634. dahock, on the islands to the eastward adjoining ; and upon the banks of the Sheepscot, "were many scattered planters." Above Wiscasset, the fertile water-courses and bottoms of this considerable river had already a population of fifty families, numbering probably some two hundred souls. "Newtown," on the southern extreme of the Arrow- sic Island, had already begun its existence. At the entrance of the Kennebec into the sea, - at Richmond's landing, - near the junction of Eastern river with the waters of the Kennebec,- and the site of our capital - trading houses were opened, and in full and profitable operation, within thirty years after Popham's decease at the mouth of the Kennebec. The St. George's river had at this early date become attractive to lumber-men, on account of its mighty bordering forests and stately spar timber. Commerce sent her ships thither for masts, among which the ship Hercules of Dover loaded there.
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