USA > Maine > Knox County > Warren > Annals of the town of Warren; with the Early History of St. George's, Broad Bay and the Neighboring Settlements on the Waldo patent > Part 30
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On Sunday, the 18th of Aug. 1811, a contribution for the sufferers by a recent destructive fire in Newburyport was had at the Congregational meeting, and $80 collected, which was farther augmented by a similar contribution from the Baptist society.
Among the casualties of this period, may be noted the death by drowning, of William, son of Ebenezer Wells, April 21, 1808, aged 3} years ; a child of Isaac Spear, one 25
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year old, scalded to death, June 21, 1808 ; and a son of Aaron Davis, nine years old, drowned in the river, nearly opposite his house, May 29, 1811. Aug. 5, 1809, the barn of Capt. N. Williams was struck by lightning, and consumed with all its contents. On the 7th of March, 1812, the dwelling- house built by Thomas Kirkpatrick, and then occupied by Mrs. L. Wilson, near the Court-house, took fire, as was sup- posed from ashes, and was entirely consumed, together with two of her children, sleeping in an upper chamber, whence they could not be rescued. The fire was discovered about 2 o'clock, A. M. and it was with difficulty that the Court- house was saved. Later in the season, a new dwellinghouse, nearly finished, belonging to Samuel Libbey, was totally con- sumed in the night-time, from some cause not ascertained.
Some physical appearances during this period, may be worthy of notice. On Sunday, the 22d of Feb. 1807, soon after the commencement of divine service in the afternoon, a shock of an earthquake was sensibly perceived, which shook the house and produced a noise like the rattling of a carriage on frozen ground.
On the 2d of May following, in consequence of high freshets which prevailed, the old saw-mill at the village, with the adjacent dam, was carried away.
In Sept. of the same year, a small comet was visible in the west at evening, appeared to be approaching the sun, and disappeared about the first week of December.
On the 10th of October, 1808, the atmosphere, during the day, was very smoky, with a S. W. wind. At night, the wind shifted to the N. E. and produced rain, with the most profound darkness. Neither man nor beast could discern the way, and many accidents happened. January 19th, 1810, after a long spell of moderate weather, a storm of snow com- menced from the N. W. with a tremendous gale and the most intense cold. The next day was clear, but still colder. The change of temperature was so sudden as to occasion many deaths both at sea and land. Among the latter, was that of Patrick Pebbles, Esq. who died suddenly from the chill received in going out to feed his cattle. In the winter and spring of that year, the measles prevailed very exten- sively and with great severity, attacking many adult persons who had escaped former visits of the disease. On the 2d November, a snow-storm commenced and continued for three days. Though there was no frost in the ground, the snow was sufficiently deep to afford good sledding for a week or two, after which it dissolved, and many finished housing pota-
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toes and other vegetables. The month of March, 1811, was distinguished for its remarkably warm, dry, and pleasant weather. On the 8th, the snow was chiefly gone; on the 15th, it was so warm as to make it necessary to open the windows of school and dwelling houses ; and robins, black- birds, and bluebirds appeared about the same time. Before the month was out, the roads were settled and dusty ; but the latter part of April and the most of May, were cold and un- propitious, especially to grass, and the crop of hay turned out exceedingly small. There was, consequently, a great scarcity of that article in the spring of 1812, and, as the weather was cold and backward, before the grass started in May, numbers of cattle died, or were sustained only by browsing in the woods.
During the whole autumn of 1811, a splendid comet was observed in the north-western part of the sky in the evening, and after a time, as its declination increased, was visible also in the morning in the N. E. It was noted by the author as early as the 5th of September. Its train, which appeared to the common observer two or three yards in length, was estimated by the scientific at 40,000,000 of miles, and the time of its periodical revolution round the sun at 3000 years. For weeks and months it continued to glare down terror to the superstitious, who thought it the precursor of evil, and still, perhaps, consider it the harbinger of the war that ensued.
On the 4th of April, 1812, an embargo was again imposed upon all American shipping ; and this, on the 18th of June, was followed by a declaration of war against Great Britain. Deeper gloom was thrown over the maritime parts of the country, and new bitterness added to political contests. Town and county conventions were held by one party to express their disapprobation of the war, and by the other to denounce such proceedings as treasonable, and to sustain the govern- ment. In this county, in consequence of a circular issued by the selectmen of Bath, a convention was held, August 3d, at Wiscasset, and passed resolutions condemning the policy of the general government in the most pointed manner. The delegates to attend this convention from Warren, chosen at a legal meeting on the 27th of July, were S. Thatcher, C. Eaton, J. W. Head and J. Page. In November, the Presi- dential electors were chosen by districts throughout the State, and unanimously gave their votes for De Witt Clinton of New York for president. Mr. Clinton was a member of the dem- ocratic party, but nominated in opposition to Mr. Madison, as in favor of peace, if it could be honorably obtained, or other-
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wise, of a more energetic prosecution of the war ; and re- ceived the votes of the federal party. The nomination was, however, unsuccessful, and Mr. Madison was re-elected.
CHAPTER XVII.
INCLUDING EVENTS DURING THE WAR, AND AFTER ITS CLOSE, DOWN TO THE DIVISION OF THE STATE.
1813 to 1820. The first two years of this period were filled with the incidents, difficulties, and privations, attendant on a state of war. Many of the poorer classes, now thrown out of employment, enlisted into the army. Others enlisted as volunteers to act as "coast guards," for a period of one year. Navigation, confined in port as it was, yielded no income, and became of little value. Yet a precarious busi- ness was carried on by the old and least valuable coasting vessels. During the first year of the war, these had expe- rienced little molestation. They were boarded and examined by British cruisers, and, when either vessel or cargo was deemed of sufficient value, seized as prizes; though in gen- eral they were allowed to proceed. When captured, the crews were generally well treated, and sent ashore the first opportunity. Capt. Thomas Morison of this town, taken in this manner, was some time on board the " Africa," a ship of the line, and had the satisfaction of witnessing Capt. Hull's celebrated escape from the British fleet.
To protect this remnant of trade, the town, March Ist, 1813, voted " to choose a committee to instruct the represen- tatives to the General Court to use their influence to furnish some armed vessel to protect the coasting trade, and to confer with other towns on the subject ;" and R. C. Starr, J. W. Head, and W. Lermond, were chosen a committee accord- ingly. The subject was discussed before a committee of the Legislature ; but it was thought that, considering the superior force of the enemy, such a vessel would only invite an attack, and expose the trade it was intended to protect.
Such was the scarcity of money, the high price of pro- visions and clothing, and the difficulty of obtaining employ- ment, that the town voted, May 29th, 1813, to distribute $20 worth of alewives gratuitously, to such applicants as the
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committee chosen for the purpose should deem to be in the most necessitous circumstances, and an additional $80 worth, on credit, to any applicants therefor. Some idea of the difficulty of procuring provisions, may be formed from the following quotation from a Boston price current of May 14th of that year ; viz : - corn, $1,70, rye, $2,30, oats, 75cts., beans, $2,20, per bushel, and flour, $17 to $173 per barrel. When freight, risk, and profits, were added to these prices, bringing corn up to $2, and flour to $20, it is not wonderful that many in this and the neighboring towns were unable to sup- ply themselves with bread, and some that were able restricted its use to one meal a day, for the sake of others.
On the 5th of Sept. of the same year, many persons on Stahl's hill, in this town, had a distinct view of the action off Pemaquid Point between the British brig Boxer, Capt. Blythe, and the U. S. brig Enterprise, Capt. Burrows ; in which, after a brisk contest of 35 minutes and the death of both command- ers, the Boxer surrendered and was carried into Portland.
Before the close of 1813, a less lenient policy was adopted by the British cruisers towards vessels and seamen employed in the coasting trade. Many were deterred from putting to sea, and others captured and sent to Halifax. Among the latter was the sloop Peggy, of this place, which sailed in October, under the command of Capt. W. O. Fuller, with D. Lermond and A. Wyllie, hands, and Z. Bosworth, passenger. Whilst wind-bound in 'Townshend harbor, Bosworth, in con- sequence of a dream which he thought ominous, left the vessel and returned home by land. The vessel proceeded cautiously, running from point to point near shore. On the 3d of November, when within two hours sail of Portsmouth, she was captured by two gun-brigs, the Epervier and the La Fontaine, and, with all on board, taken to Halifax. They were there imprisoned, and the Captain, after an illness of five days, died on the 21st, of the typhus fever. The others remained at Halifax till the following August, when Lermond, with 400 others, was put in the 74 gun ship, Le Hogue, Capt. Keplar, sent to England, and confined in Dartmoor prison. Wyllie was at that time out of prison, employed in the family of the commander, and, not long after, returned in a cartel. Lermond remained at Dartmoor, till the close of the war, was present at the bloody tragedy enacted by Capt. Shortland, and finally returned in a gov- ernment vessel, reaching home on the 1st of July, 1815, after an absence of one year and nine months.
At the time war was declared, William Lermond was 25*
.
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building a schooner at Oyster river, called the Rubicon, which he at first concluded not to risk at sea, and let her re- main on the stocks. But so little injury was received by the coasters during the summer, that he yielded to the Captain's importunity, and had her rigged and launched. On her first trip to Boston, a short time after the Peggy, she too was cap- tured, and her commander, Capt. Laizdell, and crew, sent to Halifax. The danger to which vessels were now exposed at sea, their deterioration from exposure to the weather, and the expense required to preserve them, together with appre- hensions of their being seized or burnt by the enemy, in- duced Mr. Counce, ever fertile in expedients, to remove the new brig Alexander to Oyster river, where he sunk and kept her submerged till the war was over ; on the principle that " though there is trouble on the waves, beneath them there is none."
In April, 1814, the town voted to furnish the militia soldiers with ball cartridges in lieu of the blank ones then required by law at each regimental muster. On the 2d of July, a meeting was held for the express purpose of taking measures for the public defence. At this meeting, J. W. Head, John Libbey, M. Smith, R. Crane, and Gilbert Hall, were appointed a committee of safety to confer with similar committees in the neighboring towns as to the mode of spreading alarms and repelling invasions, if any should be made ; to make up from the town stock 25lbs. of powder into cartridges, with balls and a sufficient supply of flints, to be used only in cases of invasion ; and deposit the same in suitable places, to be made known to the militia officers only. This committee issued circulars to those of the neighboring towns, to meet at Mrs. Trowbridge's in Waldoboro' on the 11th of the same month, to consult upon measures proper to be adopted for the general safety. The result of this movement was the placing of guards at McCobb's narrows, and other suitable places for observation, and the adoption of a mode of spreading the alarm, in case of any hostile movement. At a meeting on the 8th of August, the town voted to make up the wages of any soldier of this town called into the public service to $13 a month, including what should be received from the gov- ernment.
During the season of 1814, though beef, pork, and W. I. goods, remained high, the scarcity of bread was greatly miti- gated by an abundant crop of wheat, rye, and other English grain, which from the high prices of the preceding years and low rate of wages, had been extensively sown on lands lately
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cleared up. But the collection of a direct tax of $3,000,000, levied the preceding year on real estate, detracted somewhat from the otherwise ample returns of the farmer ; and the in- ternal duties bore hard upon other classes of the community. The amount of this latter class of duties collected in this town in 1815, was as follows : viz. - Lore Alford, $25,58; S. C. Burgess, $15,13 ; Burgess & Copeland, $22,50 ; Dr. E. Bux- ton, $2; I. Brakely, $11,67; R. B. Copeland, $1; John Counce, $2; M. Copeland, $1; William Crane, 77cts. ; Samuel Davis, $2 ; William Hovey, $21,87 ; Alfred Hovey, $22,50; Ivory Hovey, $5,44; J. W. Head, $24,50; Hatevil Libbey, Jr. $1; John Libbey, $2; J. Leeds, 38cts. ; W. McLellan, $21,87 ; J. Miller, $21,87 ; Jesse Page, $34,94 ; T. Rawson, $22,50 ; and J. Wetherbee, $2,47; making a total of $296,49. These sums were paid for retailer's licenses, carriages, the manufacture of hats, boots, saddles, bridles, and leather, and were exclusive of those paid on furniture, stamps, and watches .*
In July, a body of men, despatched in barges from two armed ships lying at the mouth of our river, entered, in the night-time, the fort in St. George where they found only one man, spiked the guns, destroyed the munitions of war and buildings, set fire to one vessel, and towed away two others. They then proceeded up the river towards Thomaston, but, at the dawn of day, deceived by Curtis, a young man whom they compelled to act as pilot, and who represented the dis- tance much greater than it was, they abandoned farther operations and returned, without molestation. So bold was this adventure, that it excited alarm in other places ; and Col. Foote called out the most of his regiment for the defence of Camden and vicinity.
On the 1st of Sept. a British force took possession of Cas- tine and Belfast, and proceeded up the Penobscot. Orders having been issued by General Payson to the militia of his brigade, to defend the country wherever invaded, without waiting for farther orders, Col. Thatcher ordered out his regiment, which on the 5th was mustered in this town. At night, the first battalion, under Major Reed, advanced to Thomaston, and encamped. The next day, an express arriv- ed with the news that an attack was expected on Camden from several ships of war, which had anchored there in a menacing position. Upon this, the other battalion under
* Statement of E. Thompson, Collector.
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Major Hawes, made a rapid march, and arrived at that place in the evening. Reed's battalion, and the artillery company had arrived before them ; and Col. Foote had his regiment under arms. A company of volunteers, organized in this town from those who were by law exempt from military duty, to whom had been committed this town's quota of the arms furnished by government, also mounted their horses, rode over, and reported themselves to Col. Thatcher, about 10 o'clock in the evening. Some of them had seen service in the army ; others had held commissions in the militia ; and yet others* had scarcely done duty at a militia training in their whole lives. The officers of this company were W. Blake, Captain ; A. Davis, Lieut. ; and N. Buckland, Jr., Ensign ; two of whom had been soldiers of the revolution, and all, Captains in the militia. John Miller, orderly sergeant, and most of the subordinate officers, had also held commissions. During the night, an alarm was raised that the enemy were preparing to land. The different corps were paraded, loaded their muskets, and stood prepared for action. Col. Thatcher held a consultation with his subordinates, and for a time all were in breathless expectation of an immediate skirmish. It proved a false alarm, however, and the troops returned to their repose. They were reviewed the next day by Major Gen. King, and, as the hostile fleet got under way and put to sea, the regiment commenced its return, and on the 8th were discharged at Thomaston. Rations were fur- nished on this excursion by the selectmen ; and the expense incurred, as well as the soldiers' wages, with the exception of the volunteers, was afterwards paid by the State.
On Sunday, Sept. 11th, an express arrived at the village, from McCobb's Narrows, with the intelligence that the British were coming up the river. Guns were immediately fired, the court-house bell rung, the people generally turned out with their muskets, and the artillery promptly took its station on the wharf at Thomaston. After waiting till daylight, however, it was ascertained that the alarm was without found- ation.
On the 2d of Nov. a demand was made upon the town of Camden, by the British brig of war Furieuse, Capt. Mount- joy, despatched from Castine, to surrender a prize which had been taken and brought in there the preceding day by Major Noah Miller and four or five men in a barge from Lincoln-
* " Quorum pars magna fui."
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ville. This prize had a cargo of bale goods valued at $40,000 ; and in case of a refusal to surrender it, the de- struction of Camden and Lincolnville was threatened. The selectmen of Camden, representing that an immediate com- pliance was impossible, as the cargo was already removed to Warren and Waldoboro', and the vessel sent round to George's river, obtained a delay of three days to consider the matter, two of their number remaining on board as hostages. In the mean time, a request for aid was sent on, and on the 3d the militia here partially assembled at Thom- aston, but returned at night. On the 4th they again assem- bled, and were joined by the Waldoboro' companies. The same day, the company of exempts in this town had a meet- ing, and agreed to repair to Thomaston for the protection of this river, as soon as the other troops should march on to Camden. On the 5th, the troops, organized into a battalion under Major Reed, advanced to Camden. In the neighbor- hood of Clam Cove, observing several British vessels in sight, Major Reed threw his force into an open column, with long intervals between the sections, so as to make as great a display as possible ; but on arriving at Camden, he learnt that the danger was over, the brig having sailed for Castine with the two hostages on board. On the next day, therefore, the battalion was dismissed.
So dependent were the people along this eastern coast, on the profits of trade and navigation, that many contrived, by one means or another, to participate in them during the war. Whilst the British kept possession of Castine, a brisk trade was kept up between that and the neighboring ports on the Penobscot, in Swedish neutral vessels. But in this, as in the various other modes of trading with the enemy, such as by British licenses at one time freely granted, a Swedish flag and neutral papers easily obtained, or by the purchase of British goods by a partner abroad, to be captured at a given place and signal by a partner at home, the citizens of this town, it was believed, had little or no connexion. A brig of Col. Head's, G. Hall commander, having cleared for St. Bar- tholomew's, was complained of for having touched at a British port ; but on trial, was cleared by the jury. Some few, pro- bably, visited Castine from curiosity, and might have made use of the opportunity to obtain a suit of clothes, or make a few purchases on speculation. All the world was engaged in doing the same thing, and it required no great sophistry to excuse the doing directly, what the government openly allow- ed to be done indirectly, under color of a neutral flag. But
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though not engaged to any considerable extent in the trade thus carried on, the people of this town largely participated in the benefits indirectly flowing from it. Farmers found ample employment and high remuneration for all the teams they could muster, in transporting goods from the Penobscot to Portland, Boston, and other places ; laborers were sought for to supply their places on the farms; the price of cattle rose ; money became abundant ; and preparations were mak- ing to engage still more extensively in the business.
But whilst gleams of prosperity were thus dawning upon some, and others were filled with anxiety and mourning, for husbands, sons, and brothers, exposed in the army, detained in distant prisons, or fallen in the battle-field, on the 14th of Feb. 1815, the joyful news arrived that a treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent, on the 24th of Dec. The tidings, brought to this place by the driver of the western mail stage, were heralded by the sound of trumpets ; crowds followed with shouts of joy to the village, guns were fired, the bell sounded, instruments of music were put in requisition, houses were illuminated, bonfires were kindled, and general demon- strations of joy were exhibited. The General Court appoint- ed the 22d of Feb. as a day of thanksgiving for the joyful event.
Though the war was now over, it was but slowly that the country recovered from its effects ; and such is the conse- quence of sudden changes, that even peace was not without its disappointments. Such of the shipping as had escaped capture, was now refitted and sent to sea ; commerce revived, and an extensive importation of European fabrics reduced prices so low as to check domestic manufactures and impair the value of wool, sheep, factories and manufacturing stock ; capital had disappeared, and the country, as well as individ- uals, was in debt. A great deterioration of morals, insepara- ble from a state of war, and still less so from the fluctuations of fortune incident to privateering, gambling speculation, and illicit trade, was now sensibly felt through the community. To counteract this, moral societies were formed, discourses delivered, and measures adopted to prevent violations of the Sabbath, and repress intemperance, profanity, gambling, and other immoralities. Such a society was formed in this town, held numerous meetings, and exercised a salutary influence for some time. By its recommendation, such tithingmen, in all parts of the town, were chosen as could be depended upon for a faithful and judicious discharge of their duty. In a dis- course delivered in 1815 before this society, by Rev. Mr.
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Mitchell of Waldoboro', the doctrine of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquor, was, for the first time at this place, openly advocated, and the maxim laid down that whoever was in the habit of daily drinking a glass of spirit at regular hours, would, unless prevented by death, inevitably become a drunkard. This sounded strange at that time, and was not generally admitted till some twenty or more years later.
As calamities seldom come single, so the late commercial embarrassments and the war that succeeded, were accom- panied by a series of unpropitious seasons for agriculture. It was a common remark with farmers, that the seasons had never been as they used to be, since the great eclipse. Some were too cold and wet for Indian corn, and others too dry for grass and potatoes. In 1813, a drought prevailed from June till September, and in some places there was less than half an ordinary crop of hay. The spring of 1815 was backward. On the 19th of May, it commenced snowing in the forenoon, and continued through the day, with such violence as to compel persons who were plowing the ground for corn, to break off their labor. But the coldest and most disastrous season on record, was that of 1816, in which frost occurred with more or less severity in every month in the year. On the 12th of April, there was a storm of snow, which lay for nearly a week, and made good sleighing. In the latter part of the month, there was a spell of fine, dry, warm weather, which was followed by cold again in May ; the rain-drops on the 24th being congealed to ice on the fruit trees, then nearly ready to blossom. On the 5th or 6th of June, a spell of wintry weather suddenly commenced with squalls of wind, snow, and hail, from the N. W., which chill- ed and destroyed martins and other birds, froze the ground, cut down the corn and potatoes, and compelled workmen to put on their great coats and mittens. This continued for many days; and the whole month was so cold that the apple- trees, which began to bloom at its commencement, were not out of blossom at its close. This gloomy spell commenced about the usual time for the yellow cucumber-bug to make its appearance ; and that insect was so effectually destroyed as not to be again seen here for ten years. On the 8th and 9th of July, when corn was being hoed the first time, there was frost and cold sufficient to kill it down a second time. Such as deemed it worth while, hoed it again about the end of the month, when it was not spindled out. Haying, in general, began the first week in August, and the crop was everywhere light. There were slight frosts in that month,
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