USA > Maine > Knox County > Camden > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 6
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockport > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 6
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Not long afterwards an American privateer of about forty or fifty tons had an engagement with an English privateer of about the same size, somewhere to the eastward of Camden. The Ameri- can was victorious and brought her prize and prisoners into Camden or Goose River harbor. 1 We are not informed of the names of the two vessels, but they both showed evidence that the fight had been a bloody and desperate one. Both decks were covered with blood, spars were splintered with shot, and many balls were embedded in the hulls. One of our settlers is said to have boarded the vessels and on returning to have remarked that the shattered and gory crafts with their wounded sailors, pre- sented a sight that he did not care to behold again.
The winter of 1780 was one of extremely cold weather and the harbor and bay were covered with ice for a long period. Sometime during the previous fall, a young man by the name of Libby, who was a resident of Warren, was taken from an Ameri- can schooner and carried to Castine as a prisoner. Taking advantage of the ice-bound bay, Lieut. Benj. Burton, who was stationed at Camden Harbor, went over to Castine on the ice with a flag of truce to obtain the prisoner's release, and succeed-
1. Locke in his Sketches of the History of Camden, p. 4, says they came into Goose River. Fletcher in his Annals of Camden, Rockland Opinion, issue of Nov. 9, 1883, says they came into Camden Harbor.
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OTHER REVOLUTIONARY EVENTS
ing in his mission, returned to Camden with Libby in the same manner.
The following year, 1781, the notorious tory, Capt. John Long, who played such a treacherous part in the episode of the burning of the Harbor village before related, imprudently made his appearance at Camden Harbor, where he was captured, and, under charge of Philip Robbins of Union, was taken to Boston as a prisoner. Robbins' bill to meet the expense of going to Bos- ton with Long and return, which bore date of May 1 to May 5, 1781, amounted to 128 pounds and 2 shillings, which would be considerably over $600. This fact illustrates the great deprecia- tion at that time of the continental paper currency. Long after- wards escaped, but Robbins took him again and carried him back. 1
The end of the war was now at hand and the prospect that hostilities would soon cease and that the American colonies would enter upon their career as a new republic, an independent mem- ber of the great family of nations, filled the hearts of our settlers with joy. While they were willing to continue to face danger and sacrifice their material comfort and welfare to help on the great cause of liberty, the long drawn out struggle had become wearisome, and the bright dawn of peace was eagerly welcomed.
Although the death blow to British hope of subduing the col- onies was struck at Yorktown on Oct. 19, 1781, when Cornwallis surrendered, definite action towards arranging a treaty of peace was not taken until a year later when the commissioners of the two nations met at Paris and on Nov. 30, 1782, signed a pre- liminary treaty. It was April before Congress ratified the action of its commissioners, and not until Sept. 3, 1783 that the final treaty was signed, also at Paris, in which England acknowledged the Independence of the United States of America. In those days news traveled slowly, and it was several weeks later that Camden heard the joyful tidings, that the little settlement amid 1. Sibley's History of Union.
1
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
the Penobscot mountains, was at last actually a part of the long looked for free, untrammelled and acknowledged republic of the new world. When the news came, however, shouts of joy and acclamations of pleasure were heard on every hand. Guns were fired, drums were beat, and the one eighteen-pounder at Pine Hill thundered the glad tidings from its iron throat which, echoed from our lofty crags, were heard by the British at Biguyduce and by them joyfully echoed back again. The firing of cannon and guns was the signal for the gathering of the clans. In Camden the male population assembled from the Harbor, the River and the Cove, and with officers and soldiers from the barracks, met at the house of Robert Thorndike at Goose River. As night came on a goodly company had assembled, too large no doubt, to be accommodated within Mr. Thorndike's small house, but they had the starry canopy above them, a free soil beneath their feet, and they were citizens of a free and independent republic. Walls or roof, however broad or high, would be too narrow to bound their exhilaration or confine their joy. We are told that when the whole company was gathered, the host called for silence and in simple language related the details of the peace treaty, and told of the great rejoicing in the larger centers of population to which the news had earlier come, and invited his guests to partake of such refreshments as his table afforded, to "eat, drink and be merry" as was the custom in those days on all festive occasions. That they made a merry time, that they were not backward in partaking of the food nor slow in imbibing the liquor that was furnished for the celebration, we verily believe. That there was indeed, a "sound of revelry by night," that toasts were drunk and patriotic songs sung, we have no doubt. What if they raised the "flowing bowl," and marched with hilarity and song around the barrel ! A victorious peace which establishes the existence of a new nation, is not concluded every day and no law or sentiment forbade what was then the universal custom at nearly all festive gatherings, to "enkindle the feelings by pota-
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OTHER REVOLUTIONARY EVENTS
tions from the flowing bowl." Is it to be wondered at that our early settlers should on this occasion, if ever, indulge in the common custom ? Says Mr. Locke in writing of this celebration, "The actions of men are to be judged by the light of the influ- ence with which they are surrounded, and hence, no further apologies are here required for the way our patriot settlers gave vent to the ebullitions of their feelings at the success of their country's cause." A fragment of one of the songs sung upon this occassion is given us by Fletcher 1 as follows :
" The lords of haughty Albion May send their hordes for aye, The venal Hesse may bargain on
And his savage slaves obey ; Yet our fathers' sons will never swerve,
Nor brook a tyrant's sway, While Freedom's cause our sinews nerve,
Or there's one to shout, Huzza ! While there's left a hand to grasp a sword,
Or a voice to shout, Huzza !
While we breathe the fresh free air,
While our thoughts may wander free, While our souls disdain the chain to wear,
Shall our bodies bow to thee ?
No ! While our native sky hangs bright,
While the sun shoots down a ray. While on our fathers' graves we fight,
We'll battle and Huzza ! We'll make the tigers' blood their grave, Their knell our loud Huzza !"
The level sunbeams of a new day filtered through the treetops and painted the calm waters of "Goose Harbor" with the red streaks of the morning light, when the glasses were filled for the last time to drink the health of the generous host, and with three rousing cheers for their infant republic, the revelers separ- ated and made their respective ways through the forest to their several homes. Thus closed for the citizens of Camden, the period of the Revolution, through whose trying scenes they had passed with so much credit, and during which each, whenever called to take any share in the great fight for equal rights, had in his own humble way, acted well his part.
1. Fletcher's Annals, Rockland Opinion, issue of Nov. 16, 1883.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
CHAPTER X.
SOME HUNTING YARNS AND OTHER INCIDENTS.
Before proceeding to record the more important events in our history following the close of the Revolution, we will pause and relate a few stories of the chase and other incidents connect- ed with the early days of the plantation that have come down to us by tradition and otherwise. Although these
"Stories are old and oft been told,"
they relate to incidents entering into the lives of our early settlers and deserve a place, we believe, in any history of the days when our fair old town was young. The fathers knew nothing of modern sports. Their time was occupied in winning the soil from the forest, and subduing the rough, rocky, stumpy clearings. Hard work it was, and but little time they had for play. When, however, a day was devoted to recreation, it was not to the races and the ball field that they hastened, but when
" The mist has left the mountain gray Springlets in the dawn are streaming, Diamonds on the brake are gleaming,"
then with shouldered guns our settlers joyfully
" To the greenwood haste away,"
and scour the dim aisles of the primeval forest and the sides of the neighboring steeps for the big game then so abundant. There were, of course, some famous hunters in the ranks of the settlers, and among them none was superior to James Richards, the one who first dared to call this mountain wilderness his home. It is
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HUNTING YARNS
said that he killed, in Camden, at least thirty bears and more than seventy moose.
On one occasion during this early period, Mrs. Richards, late one afternoon, heard a terrible noise upon the mountain and run- ning to her door, saw a desperate conflict going on between a 'ranger bear" and one of the common variety. When her hus- band returned home, she told him of the occurrence, when he replied, "Well, I'll have a merry time with them in the morn- ing." In the morning he took his gun and started for the scene of the battle, accompanied by his little dog. On getting to the western side of the mountain, he saw traces of blood and pro- ceeding farther beheld a large piece of ledge covered with clotted gore. When Mr. Richards arrived in the vicinity of the final struggle of the hairy giants, he found that the ranger bear had evidently had a deadly fight with two others, both of which he had killed, and one of which he had partially devoured. Creeping up behind a large tree, unperceived by bruin, Mr. Richards discharged his piece at him and awaited developments. The bullet took effect in the beast's vitals, and writhing in agony he tore up the earth, wrenched up and broke the roots of trees, and at last, covered with blood and foaming at the mouth, he stretched himself out to his full length and expired. This bear was of immense size, and one old settler, describing him years after- wards, remarked that "one of his fore paws filled a peck measure,"
Another mighty Nimrod among the early settlers, rivalling Mr. Richards in woodcraft, his knowledge of the haunts and habits of the beasts of the forest, and the accuracy of his aim, was Leonard Metcalf. Many stories are told of his hunting exploits, all of which are interesting, although some of them may be of somewhat doubtful authenticity. One of the most familiar of these stories is the one which relates how Metcalf rode the bear down the mountain. This occurrence is said to have been in the winter of 1783-84, immediately after the close of the Rev- olution, and is told by Locke as follows :
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
"Leonard Metcalf and - Webber, in company with James Richards, went one day on a moose hunt. The only gun of the company was that carried by Richards, while the two others went armed with a hatchet each. As the company divided, Richards kept at the base of Mt. Battie, while the others ascended it and kept the same course, -towards Canaan. Mr. Richards' two dogs had scared up an old bear on the western slope of the mountain, and after shooting it, Mr. Richards went in search of his companions, to apprise them of his success. In the meantime, Metcalf and Webber had found the lair, where the two cubs of considerable size, were secreted. They tried to ferret them out of the den by building a fire and smoking the entrance. As one of the cubs essayed to come out, Metcalf made a dab at it with his jack-knife. It then rushed out of the den, when Metcalf seized it by the ears and hallooed to Webber to come and knock it in the head with his hatchet, but through fear he dared not approach to render assistance. Cursing Webber for his cowardice, Metcalf jumped astride the animal, which dashed with fright down the declivity, trying to throw off its tenacious rider. Finally, grasping the bear's neck with one hand, Metcalf tried to cut its throat with his knife, which he held in the other hand, but the blade kept shutting up, so that his attempts to despatch it were in vain. After thus riding down nearly to the base of the mountain, tearing his clothes and scratching his legs badly by the bushes and crust of the snow, he was met by Richards, who quickly approached and knocked the bear in the head with his hatchet, and thus relieved Metcalf from his critical situation. They then returned to the den and shot the other cub, and thus closed the exciting adventure. This occurred on the slope of the mountain near Timothy Fay's place."
Another incident that is said to have occurred soon after the foregoing adventure, is the following, also related by Mr. Locke :
"One day Mr.Richards and Jessum Wintworth ( who came from Bristol) went on a bear hunt. The dogs ferreting out a den,
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HUNTING YARNS
gave the alarm by barking until the men approached. Wintworth came up to the den with his axe, and struck at the bear, but his axe slipped out of his hands and bruin in return, struck at him, and hitting his snowshoes, tripped him up, and was in the act of pouncing on him when Mr. Richards rushed upon the bear, struck it upon the head and killed it. The two cubs then came out of the den and were despatched likewise."
On still another occasion a bear having a white face, -the only one so marked ever seen here, was shot by Mr. Richards and Leonard Metcalf upon Mt. Battie.
Both Mr. Locke in his Sketches of the History of Camden and Mr. Eaton in his Annals of Warren, 1 have an account of one Michael Davis, an old hunter formerly of Dover, N. H., whom they call the "Leatherstocking" of. the wilderness. He began to appear in the forests in this vicinity, sometime about 1784, and made occasional visits to the different settlements. He was a very eccentric character, and was always clad in hunting garb and subsisted upon the products of the chase which formed his sole occupation. He wandered through the forests from the Kenne- bec to the Penobscot and held no intercourse with the settlements except an occasional visit for the purpose of exchanging his fur for ammunition and other necessaries. The hunters often met him in the wilderness and he frequently entertained them with such refreshments as his camp afforded. His grotesque appearance was rendered more marked by a flowing white beard that reached to his waist. His behavior also was whimsical, one of his habits being that of bowing with great reverence when favored with the sight of bread, but whether this act proceeded from religious or other motives, his uncommunicative and taciturn behavior ren- dered it difficult to determine. All of these things aroused the curiosity of the children of the settlements and his appearances in their midst were considered memorable events. When his occasional guests appeared at his camps he proved a good enter-
1. Locke's Sketches, Page 50; Eaton's Annals of Warren, Page 208.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
tainer, and talked socially, relating his many adventures with apparent satisfaction, but it was evident he took the greatest pleasure in his own society, and sighed not at the departure of his visitors. His eccentricities were by some attributed to disap- pointment in love, but Mr. Locke relates another rumor which was to the effect that he became disgusted at the loss of his property at cards, and disappeared from his home to reappear in the wilds of Maine to spend his life as a hunter. The story is that he had considerable property, principally invested in a farm. Being at a tavern one night with some companions, engaged in a scene of festivity, cards were introduced, and, under the influence of strong drink, and the excitement of the game, he staked his money and lost it. He next staked his farm which he agreed to mortgage for ninety-nine years. His opponent won, the deed was soon after executed and he lost his farm, thus reducing him to poverty and leading him to forsake the society of his fellowmen. One of his stories is that after returning from a hunting tour he built a fire and sat down to silent meditation, when he was startled by a piercing cry proceeding from the fire. At first he thought it must be the foul fiend himself, but a huge tortoise crawling out from the ashes where he had made his bed, relieved his appre- hensions and afforded him a delicious repast. At another time he was confined to his camp several weeks by sickness and came near starving. During this sickness his traps were found by a hunting party from Warren, and from their neglected appearance, being supposed to be abandoned, were carried off. Recovering in season, however, the owner observed the tracks of the party, pursued them and obtained his property. One day while in the vicinity of Thomaston, he saw a moose entrapped by a line snare. On firing at him the bullet cut the line and the moose ran off. The settlers at Belfast used to "thorn" him about it, when he would retort, that "if they had their deserts they would all have halters about their necks." He particularly disliked some of the Belfast settlers, and when he would go there to sell moose meat
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HUNTING YARNS
and could not do so, he would point to the harbor significantly and say, "Yes, there's herring in the bay." With the settlers of Camden he was generally on good terms. He often coined words to express his ideas. One night he sheltered himself under a fallen tree, when a moose came browsing along over him. Turning, he fired at the animal and broke his leg, and he said the last he heard of him, "he was running off with a ker-shackelling noise." His long residence in the present town of Montville, gave that place, before it was incorporated, the name of "Davis- town." 1 After many years spent as a hunter his range became gradually more limited on account of the encroachments of set- tlers, and his natural powers failing from age, he abandoned his pursuit of game and fur, and, according to Eaton, ended his life as a pauper supported by his fellowmen with whom he had refused to mingle in the days of his strength. Mr. Locke, however, dis- putes this statement and claims that he passed his last days at the home of his son-in-law, a man by the name of Partridge, who was a farmer living somewhere near the Penobscot river.
The "Dark Day," May 19, 1780, so celebrated throughout New England, was in Locke's time (1859) well remembered by some of the older citizens of Camden who were children of the first settlers. One of these old people told Mr. Locke that the darkness was so great in Camden that his father who was plowing in his field, was obliged to unyoke his oxen and drive them into the barn. In the house his mother had to light a candle. The hens retired to roost and the domestic animals lay down to rest, as is usual with them at night. Many people believed it was the day of doom and were alarmed and refused to be comforted until their fears were dispersed by the joyfully welcomed re-appearance of the king of day.
1. Montville was described as Davistown in all the early deeds of land sold there by the " Twenty Associates."
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
CHAPTER XI.
SETTLEMENT REVIVES.
The tide of immigration to this settlement, which had ebbed to a very low point during the war, now began to flow again, and the few early settlers who had come to Camden prior to the Rev- olution, began to have accessions to their ranks. Gradually the great forest receded before the ringing axes of the sturdy pion- eers; one by one, the new cabin homes sprang up on shore and hillside ; year by year the waste land, mellowed by the plow and hoe, blossomed and brought forth fruit; corn tasselled in the clearings; grain ripened in the valleys; the millwheel turned by the water-fall; the keel of commerce plowed the waters of the bay; the merchant set up his wares; the doctor and the lawyer came to minister to the material and the preacher to the spiritual needs of the growing people, and
" Health and plenty cheered the laboring swain."
Romance, too, came forth from her mountain cloisters and shed her rose light over the rude scenes of those simple days.
In spite of the many hardships that the early settlers had to endure and the dangers that beset them, especially during the Revolution, so far as we can learn, no one died in the set- tlement for a period of some fifteen years. What the hardships of the forest, savage beasts and the wild scenes of war failed to accomplish, happened amid peaceful scenes of quiet beauty when Philip Hilt, an early settler living near Negunticook lake,
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SETTLEMENT REVIVES
was drowned in its waters. Thus death came, also, to remind our pioneers of the instability of earthly things, and of the supre- macy of its reign, even amid the beautiful scenery of a new land, far from the busy haunts of men.
The "Twenty Associates" being desirous of disposing of their land to actual settlers, agreed with Charles Barrett of New Ipswich, N. H., to grant to him "one half of the upper part of Camden, as then lately surveyed," 1 on condition that he would settle a certain number of families in that section within a certain specified time. At the same time they made with Bar- rett a similar agreement, relative to what is now the town of Hope, which was divided into 120 lots of 160 acres each. Mr. Barrett was to build a meeting-house and school-house, and settle forty families in Hope and have for his services, 80 of the 120 lots, leaving the remaining 40 lots to the original proprietors. He named the place Barrettstown, which name it retained until 1804 when it was incorporated as a town under the name of Hope. 2
Barrett at once proceeded to induce settlers to come to his grant, offering in turn to give to each settler 100 acres out of the 160 for settling each lot, with the option of purchas- ing the remaining 60 acres, inserting, however, as a proviso in the agreement, that every settler taking up land must, within a stipu- lated time, clear up three acres or forfeit his claim. Among those who were influenced by these inducements to settle in the west- ern part of Camden and in Hope, were Samuel Appleton, the Hosmers, Hodgmans, Russells, Saffords, Barretts, Mansfields and Philbrooks, names yet familiar in this vicinity.
Samuel Appleton became the most distinguished, perhaps, of these settlers, but nearly all of them left memorials to be pre- ferred above great riches, namely, good characters and reputations for sturdy integrity and moral worth. Appleton came here from
1. The Miller survey.
2. A part of the northwestern portion of the original town of Hope was annexed to Appleton in 1843.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
Boston about the year 1785 in company with several of the men whose names we have mentioned, all young men full of life and ambition, among them being Nathaniel Hosmer of Mason, N. H., with whom he shared his log cabin, and later several others who were destitute of a home, also found shelter beneath its roof during that winter, all living as one family, while they were com- plying with the provision in their agreement with the proprietors, which required them to clear three acres of land. This cabin stood on what has since been known as the Elisha Mansfield place now owned by Mrs. Wm. W. Justice of Philadelphia. After remaining in Camden for a year or two, Appleton decided to make a change and removed to Barrettstown, and took up a claim on the proprietors' land, on what was afterwards known as the Thomas Perry place, now owned by Mr. Perry's grandson, Mr. Alvin Perry. This place is on the road from Hope village to No. Appleton and now lies partly in Hope and partly in Appleton. Mr. Appleton, however, was not satisfied with frontier life. He thought that he could find more scope for the exercise of his many talents in the city from whence he came, and after living for about two years in Hope, he disposed of his holdings in this vicinity and returned to Boston where he entered into trade and became one of that city's most successful merchants and distin- tinguished citizens, and after living to a ripe old age, died a millionaire. From him the town of Appleton derived its name.
Nathaniel Hosmer, when he came here with Appleton, had good health, strong arms, shrewdness, common sense and excel- lent business qualities and very little else. When he had paid the expense of getting here, it was fortunate that his friend had a shelter for him, for he had only twenty-five cents in his pocket ; but he had just the qualities calculated to make a man successful in winning his way in the world. He selected as his claim a lot near the beautiful lake and grand old mountain, both of which have ever since borne his name. After living with Appleton for a time he went to work for a man by the name of Brooks who had
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