Gazetteer of the state of Maine, Part 7

Author: Varney, George J
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Boston Russell
Number of Pages: 648

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THE STATE OF MAINE.

Arnold's expedition against Quebec by way of the Kennebec occurred in the autumn of 1775. It consisted of about 1,100 men, including three companies of riflemen under Captain Morgan, from Pennsylvania and Virginia, and ten companies of musketry from Maine and Massachusetts. The expedition sailed from Newburyport on the 18th of September, disembarking at Pittston, from whence the voyage was made in 200 batteaux to the Great Carrying Place, twelve miles below the Forks of the Kennebec. A part of the boats belonging to the first division, led by Arnold in person, were drawn by oxen across the carry of fourteen miles to Dead River. During a severe storm their encampment was suddenly flooded, and seven boats upset, by which the stores they contained were lost. They had but twelve days provisions left, while there were still thirty miles between them and the head waters of Chaudiere, and the French settlements where first they would find provisions, were seventy miles further. The sick were now sent back to Colonel Enos, who was in the rear with the second division of the army ; his orders being to forward the invalids to the settlements, and to follow the advance with fifteen days provis- ions. He had but three days provisions ; so instead of going back for supplies, he abandoned the expedition. The rain which had flooded Arnold's camp was quickly succeeded by snow and ice. They reached a small tributary of the Chaudiere on the 27th of October. In making the voyage down the river, they lost several boats, and came near per- ishing by starvation. Their attack upon Quebec was necessarily delayed too long, and failed of success. What remained of the force finally found its way back to the States by way of New York, where several months later, they shared in the movements preceding the cap- ture of Burgoyne's army.

Before the close of 1775, the Continental Congress had established a General Post Office and put it in operation from Georgia to Maine ; Samuel Freeman, of Falmouth (Portland), being the first postmaster in Maine. During the latter part of this year every department of the Provincial Government of Massachusetts which had been susceptible of revolution was given system, form and permanency. New judges and officers of the Courts were appointed, and the militia was arranged anew, Maine forming one of its four divisions. At its session, in May, 1776, the Provincial Congress enacted that after the first day of June all civil and military commissions, all writs, precepts and recognizances should be " In the name of the Government and People of Massachu- setts Bay in New England," and bear date in the year of the Christian era, without any mention of the British Sovereign. The oath of office was also changed to accord with the enactment. This is the true date of the declaration of the independence of Massachusetts. On the 4th of July, 1776, the Continental Congress declared the thirteen United Colonies to be free and independent. In Maine the ministers read the declaration to their people, and the town clerks entered it at full length in their records. The people of the colonies no longer consisted of two political parties, one of which was in rebellion,-but of British subjects or Tories, and of the American nation struggling against a for- eign nation. The people of Maine apprehended their different status, and acquired fresh spirit.

The town of Machias, on the very confines of the Union, nobly undertook to aid the people of the St. John's river, and of Chignecto

. GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

and Cumberland counties, in New Brunswick, to obtain freedom; and for nearly a year the contest was kept up. Finally, the British re- covered the St. John's and all the country east thereof ; but the noble Colonel John Allan, by great self-sacrifice, succeeded in retaining the attachment of the Penobscot and Passamagouddy tribes of Indians, and by their means, held the territory as far as the St. Croix for the American Union. In 1777, Machias was made a national military station, and supplied with a garrison of three hundred men under Colonel Allan, Fort Pownal on the Penobscot was also garrisoned by thirty men, ten of whom were Indians. A British force was soon after sent to visit with desolation this spirited section of the country. In August, before the garrison was collected together, a small British force consisting of a sloop, two frigates and a brig entered Machias River and made an attack upon the town. They succeeded in burn- ing a tide-mill and taking a coasting sloop, then sent several barges laden with soldiers up the west branch to effect further destruction. But the inhabitants had gathered in answer to the alarm, and the British were driven from the river with much loss.

The Continental currency had now fallen in value until it required thirty dollars in bills to equal one in specie. In 1778 the Hon. John Adams was appointed ambassador to the French Court. He was conveyed to France by the frigate Boston, commanded by Samuel Tucker, afterward a citizen of Bremen, in this State. Captain Tucker is said to have captured during the Revolutionary War, more of the enemy's vessels than any other commander. On this voyage he was chased by three armed vessels of the British, who were on the watch to capture the ambassador, but they failed. Later in the voyage, Captain Tucker captured an armed brig of the British. Mr. Adams's mission was followed by the sending of a French fleet under Count d'Estaing to aid the American cause.

Early in June, 1779, the British General McLean with a force of seven or eight vessels and nine hundred men came to Penobscot and took possession of Castine, building a strong fort there. At the last of July they were besieged by a fleet under Commodore Salstonstall, of Connecticut, and about one thousand Maine and Massachusetts mil- itia under General Lovell, of the latter State , and General Wadsworth, of Maine. The operations of the militia were brilliant and would have been successful but for the over caution of the fleet, by which the final assault was delayed until a strong British force from Halifax entered the bay, when the Salstonstall fleet scattered, and were mostly burned or captured ; while the army was obliged to abandon the siege, and make its way through the wilderness to the Kennebec. The British held the Penobscot until the close of the war ; but Machias remained unsubdued ; and the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, signed in September, 1783, placed our boundary at the St. Croix, instead of at the Penobscot.

The first newspaper published in Maine was the Falmouth Gazette, the first number being issued on New Year's day, 1785. In 1786, a large quantity of the public land in Maine was disposed of by lottery ; William Bingham, of Philadelphia, by purchase of tickets and of prizes, becoming the possessor of extensive tracts in eastern Maine,-he having purchased also about 1,000,000 acres in what are now the counties of Piscataquis, Somerset and Franklin. In 1790 a census of Maine under Federal authority showed it to have a population of 90,000.

THE STATE OF MAINE.

In the settlement of lands in several portions of the State much con- fusion of title had arisen from overlapping patents and incorrect surveys. Especially was this the case on the eastern side of the Kennebec above Merrymeeting Bay, and between the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers. A large part of the business of the courts for several years preceding 1809 arose from disputes in relation to land titles. The " Betterment Act " passed by the Masachusetts Legislature in 1808, at length settled these difficulties. Yet in the next year, some miles east of the Augusta, a surveyor was shot by a band of disguised settlers; and these having been arrested on a charge of murder, an armed band made a feeble attempt to rescue them; on which occasion several companies of militia were called out. The trial did not show which of the persons on trial committed the murder, and all were discharged. This affair was derisively called the " Malta War." The effect of the trial upon this class of disputes was excellent; and reverence to law and the consequent peace of the community was greatly enhanced by it.

The United States being still young and weak, France and England,- at this period intensely hostile in their measures against each other paid little attention to American rights on the sea, and their action was exceedingly injurious to American commerce. To induce them to recall their offensive edicts, in 1808 an embargo was laid upon our ports by Congress. This was regarded as useless by many of the people ; and after fourteen months it was superseded by the " Non- intercourse Act." This prohibited commerce with France and England only, but France having rescinded all obnoxious edicts, the act ceased on November 2, to have effect against that power. England still con- tinuing her oppressive measures, Congress, in April, 1812, laid another embargo for ninety days upon all vessels in our ports. This was followed in June by a declaration of war against Great Britain.

General Henry Dearborn, a citizen of Maine, was made commander- in-chief of the National army, and Congress called upon the States for 100,000 men of which Maine's quota was 2,500.

The population of Maine by the census of 1810 was 228,000, while her exports in the preeceding year amounted to $803,619, and the aggregate of her shipping, though it had fallen off, was still 141,057 tons. In June, 1812 six banks were incorporated in Maine; and on the same day the General Court laid a tax upon these new corpora- tions. When they commenced business, the banking capital of Maine was $1,620,000, which paid into the treasury annually a tax of $16,200.

The first notable affair in this war within the limits of our State was the battle of the American brig Enterprise and the British brig Boxer, near the mouth of the Kennebec, on September 5, 1813. The Boxer carried eighteen guns and one hundred and four men, while the Enterprise carried sixteen guns and one hundred and two men. The battle lasted but thirty-five minutes, when the Boxer struck her colors ; having lost forty-six men killed and wounded, while the loss of the Enterprise was but fourteen. Both commanders, Blythe of the Boxer, and Burrows of the Enterprise, fell early in the action.

On the 11th of July, 1814, a British force appeared before Eastport. The garrison and fortification were evidently insufficient to withstand the enemy ; and at the solicitation of the citizens, the commander, Major Perley Putnam, surrendered the place. A strong body of the

GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

British soon after marched to Robbinston. The garrison consisted of but twenty-five men under Lieutenant Manning; who, seeing the hopelessness of defense, destroyed his stores and retired to Machias. During the summer detached vessels of this fleet cruised off the coast ; and several of our privateers were successful in capturing their supply vessels.

On September 1, the garrison and inhabitants at the little village of Castine discovered a British fleet in the bay bearing toward their port. Any show of resistance would have been folly, and the place was soon in possession of the enemy.

The armament was under the chief command of Sir John Sherbrook, and consisted of the seventy-four gun ships Dragon, Spenser and Bulwark, the frigates Bacchante and Tenedos, the sloops Sylph and Peruvian, the schooner Pictu, a large tender, and ten transports; on board these were about four thousand troops, under the command of General Gerard Gosselin. On the afternoon of the same day, General Gosselin with two vessels and six hundred men crossed the bay and took possession of Belfast; while Captain Barrie in the Dragon, accompanied by the Sylph and Peruvian, with a small schooner as tender, and having on board about seven hundred troops, ascended the river to Marsh Bay. In the morning five or six hundred troops landed and took possession of Frankfort; whence they marched up river toward Hampden.

The alarm had been sounded through the neighboring towns, and the militia rallied to the defense of the village. An excellent plan of defense was formed, but when the guns from the British ships began to play upon them, and the steady column of regulars advanced upon their attenuated line, the militia gave way in a panic; and the place was lost. Without delay, the vessels and troops proceeded up the river to Bangor. No resistance was made here, but the enemy plundered both public and private property ; and 191 of the citizens were com- pelled to report themselves as prisoners of war. Fourteen vessels were burned and four carried away. There were also four vessels upon the stocks, which, if burned, would probably have involved the village in a conflagration. To avert this disaster, the selectmen of the town were obliged to give a bond of $30,000 to deliver the vessels at Cas- tine in the next month. On their return, the enemy again subjected Hampden to pillage ; taking away with them two merchant vessels with valuable cargoes, and much other spoil.

A squadron now set out for Machias, which was garrisoned at this time by about 100 men, including the militia and Lieutenant Manning's company from Robinston. After landing the troops at Buck's Harbor, the vessels ascended the river and opened a heavy fire on the fort, covering the advance of the land force, which was to make an attack in the rear. Finding that they were likely to be surrounded, the garri- son destroyed the guns, set the barracks on fire, and retreated through the country to Belfast. An attempt was now made to bring the people of the district between Penobscot and Passamaquoddy into entire subjection to the British crown. All males above sixteen years of age were requiried to take the oath of allegiance; General Gosselin was made governor of the new province, and Castine was made its port of entry. Yet the town sent its representative as usual to the General Court ; and the town records show no action produced by the British occupation.

THE STATE OF MAINE.

On December 24th, 1814, a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was signed at Ghent; but Castine was not evac- uated until the following April.

The winter of 1816-17 was unusually severe, the succeeding spring backward, and the summer cold,-which was very discouraging to all the people ; and there was a great furor for emigrating to Ohio, which was then offering favorable conditions to settlers. It is estimated that Maine lost by this emigration about 15,000 inhabitants.

In 1820, Maine had nine counties and 236 towns ; while its popu- lation was 298,335,-an increase of about 70,000 in ten years. In 1819, seventy towns joined in a petition to the General Court for the separ- ation of the district from Massachussets; and the Court passed a bill to forward the measure. Its conditions were that all the public lands and buildings in Maine, except such as were the property of the United States, should be divided equally between the proposed State and Massachusetts. Maine was also to have her proportion of the military stock, and one-third of all moneys which might be reimbursed by the general government for war expenses. On the fourth Monday of July, 1819, the citizens of the District of Maine voted on this question of separation ; and on counting the votes, above two-thirds were found to be in its favor. Therefore delegates from the towns met at the court- house in Portland on the second Monday in October, and adopted a constitution ; appointing the first Monday in December as the day for the towns to vote for or against this constitution. On the first Wed- nesday of January, 1820 the delegates again met, and finding the instru- ment to have been adopted, made application to Congress for ad- mission to the Union.

The struggle between the slave power and the party of freedom had already begun in Congress. Missouri, a slave territory, was an applicant for admission to the Union, like Maine. A large number of the people and of their representatives felt that it was time to take a stand against slavery. The party of freedom insisted upon the right and duty of Congress to make Missouri a free State; the party of slavery was equally urgent that Congress had no right to interfere. There was also an argument from the members of the two classes of States; the Union now consisting of twenty-tivo States, eleven free and eleven slaveholding. Therefore the partisans of slavery sought to join Maine in the same bill with Missouri, and thus overcome the opposition of the Houseof Representatives to the admission of the latter as a slave State. After a long and violent struggle the Missouri compromise was adopted, and Missouri admitted as a slave State; then Maine was admitted without opposition. In the election for State officers, General William King of Bath was chosen almost unanimously.

In 1831 Augusta was made the State capital instead of Portland ; the first session in Augusta being held in 1832, The current of State affairs went on smoothly until 1837. The settlements on the St. John's near the mouth of the Madawaska River were claimed both by the United States and by Great Britain. In June of that year an agent of the government while taking a census of the Madawaska settlements was arrested by a British constable, and taken to Fredericton, on a charge of exciting sedition. The agent had acted with entire propriety ; and the British authorities simply meant to show that Maine would na longer be permitted to exercise authority in that region. The claim of

GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

Great Britain extended southward nearly to the forty-sixth degree of latitude ; which, if allowed, would rob Maine of about one-third of her territory. Governor Dunlap of Maine immediately issued a general order declaring the State to be invaded by a foreign power, and notifying the militia to hold themselves in readiness for military service. But as no other act of hostility occurred, and the agent was set at liberty, the excitement in regard to the boundary was allayed for the time.

In 1838 was completed the first geological survey of Maine by Dr. Ezekiel Holmes and Dr. Charles T. Jackson. Early in 1839, a deputy of the land agent of Maine reported that a large number of lumbermen from New Brunswick were robbing the disputed territory about Aroostook River of its best timber; whereupon Sheriff Strickland of Penobscot County was ordered to dislodge the trespassers. He went to Aroostook with a posse of about 200 men; the trespassers retiring before him into New Brunswick. At Woodstock they broke into the government arsenal and armed themselves, then turned to meet the sheriff. They captured the Maine land agent, and Strickland, seeing that a meeting of these forces would be likely to lead to much. bloodshed, if not to a general war, set out for Augusta, and laid the matter before the governor. Very soon after, the proclamation of Governor Harvey arrived, which declared British territory invaded, and asserted his purpose to repel the invasion by force. The Legislature immediately appropriated $800,000 to defend the public lands, and the governor called out 10,000 militia. When the messenger from Maine laid the facts before the National House of Representatives, that body appropriated $10,000,000 to meet the probable expense, and authorized the President, in case Governor Harvey persisted in his purpose of maintaining exclusive jurisdiction, to raise 50,000 vol- unteers for a term of six months. On the 6th of March, General Scott and his staff arrived in Augusta, and opened communications with Governor Harvey. The matter was now soon settled on the basis of a withdrawal of the troops of both parties, and the protection of the lumber of the region by a civil posse of Maine. The question of boundary was finally settled in 1842, by Lord Ashburton, the British ambassador and Daniel Webster, American Secretary of State, to- gether with the commissioners appointed by Maine. The State also in due time received $ 200,000 from the national government as re- imbursement for the expenses she had incurred in defending the integrity of American territory.

MAINE IN THIE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

When the first gun of the slaveholders' rebellion was fired upon Fort Sumter, Israel Washburn, jun., was governor of Maine; and no one could have pressed the preparations for the defense of the Union more energetically or efficiently than did he. The towns, too, were as prompt in their action as the State authorities. In many, full companies of volunteers were ready to march within twenty-four hours after the tidings were received. The Lewiston Light Infantry was the first company accepted by the governor. Cherryfield enlisted fifty volunteers within four hours after the roll was opened. Mr Henry B. Humphrey,

THE STATE OF MAINE.

of Thomaston, offered to devote $15,000 to the arming and equipping of a company of artillery.

Maine had an enrolled Militia of about 60,000 men, but they were un- armed and unorganized to the degree that there were only about 1,200 men in any condition to respond to a call of military duty. At the first call of the President of the United States for 75,000 volunteers, on the 15th of April, 1861, Maine promptly sent her First and Second regiments of infantry so thoroughly armed and equipped as to elicit the commendation of the Secretary of War.

On the arrival of the first call of the President for troops, Governor Washburn found himself without authority of law to meet the emer- gency ; and he therefore immediately convened the Legislature. That body met on the 22d of April, and passed an act for the raising of ten regiments of volunteers to serve two years, unless sooner discharged ; and it authorized a loan of $1,000,000. Ten regiments were ac- cordingly called for by the Governor. The First regiment was must- ered into the service of the United States for three months, the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth, for two years. Subsequent orders from the War Department required all State volunteers to be mustered into service for three years, which made it necessary to contract for an additional year's service with all these regiments except the First and Second.

In the first battle of Bull Run, about one-fourth of the troors actually engaged on the loyal side were from Maine. The battle in- duced the completion at once of enlistments for the remaining four of the six regiments. Still more troops being found necessary, authority was given by the War Department for the organization of five more regiments of infantry (with power to increase to eight), a regiment of cavalry. six batteries of light artillery, and a company of rifle sharp- shooters. Thus, up to the beginning of the year 1862, Maine had raised and organized for service fifteen regiments of infantry, one regi- ment of cavalry, six batteries of mounted artillery, one company of sharpshooters, and four companies of coast guards.

From April 3, 1862, to May 21, the volunteer recruiting ser- geants ceased from their work; but at the latter date the War De- partment authorized the raising of the Sixteenth regiment of infantry for three years' service. Within a few weeks a requisition was made upon the State for its quota upon the call of July 2, for 300,000 vol- unteers for three years' service under the General Government. The Sixteenth regiment previously authorized, was admitted with the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth, and numerous recruits for regiments in the field, to satisfy this call. Before the organization of all these was completed, the President, on the 4th of August, called for 300,000 militia to be raised by draft, and to serve nine months, unless sooner discharged. The quota of Maine under this call was 9,609; a small deduction from which was authorized on account of the large number of our enrolled militia who were in the merchant marine and in the navy, with the privilege of furnishing vol- unteers instead of drafted men for the whole or any portion of that number.

Regulations for enrolment and draft under the requisition were issued by the War Department on the 9th of August, in general orders, which directed the designation of rendezvous for the troops

GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

and commandants of the encampments, and also required the enrol- ment of all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, the appointment of a commission from each county to supervise the drafting, and hear and determine the excuses of persons claiming exemption from military duty,-in case no provision was made by State law for carrying into effect the draft ordered, or if such provisions were defective. Our statutes being deemed sufficient, no commissioners were then appointed ; but the other requirements of the War Department were complied with. Portland, Augusta and Bangor were appointed the places of rendezvous for the troops. At the close of October, it being found that a few towns were remiss in furnishing the balance of their quotas upon calls of July and August, a general order was issued, appointing a commission for each county to make a draft on the 29th of November, in such towns as should not by that time enlist the required number of soldiers. Stimulated by the commissioners, the towns filled their quotas, and no draft was made under this order.

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Gazetteer of the state of Maine, Part 7

Author: Varney, George J Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Boston Russell Number of Pages: 648

Author: Varney, George J
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Boston Russell
Number of Pages: 648