History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 11

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780

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+ Mass. Rec.

¿ The treaty of U'trecht was signed July 13, 1713; hostilities had ceased some time before.

FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS OF 1702 AND 1722.

to enter into a treaty with them, but insisted on their meet- ing him at Portsmouth. At that place articles of pacifica- tion were entered into July 13, 1713, by delegates on the part of the Indians from the tribes on the St. John, Ken- nebec, Ameriscoggin, Saco, and Merrimac, which were accepted and formally confirmed by a great body of Indians who were assembled at Falmouth waiting the result. When the several articles were read and explained to them, they expressed their satisfaction by loud demonstrations of joy. Thus was peace concluded after ten years of constant agita- tion in New England, under circumstances which gave hope of long continuance. By one of the articles the English were allowed to enter upon their former settlements without molestation or claim on the part of the Indians ; while to the latter was reserved the right of hunting, fishing, and fowling, as freely as they enjoyed in 1693. There was a stipulation in the treaty that the government should estab- lish convenient trading-houses for the Indians, where they might obtain their supplies without the fraud and extortion which had been practiced in former years. In pursuance of this article, a trading-house was established at Winter Harbor and another in Falmouth .*

" IFutchinson estimates the loss to the country by the three late Indian wars as follows: 'From 1675, when Philip's war began, to 1713, five thousand or six thousand of the youth of the country had perished by the enemy, or by distempers contracted in the service ; nine in ten of these would have been fathers of families, and in the course of forty years have multiplied to near one hundred thousand souls.'+

" In 1715, Governor Dudley having been superseded in the government of Massachusetts, the House of Represen- tatives seized the opportunity to secure the demolition of the fort at Casco, and passed the following resolve in June, 1716 :

"'This house being informed that the votes to demolish Casco fort and remove the stores from thence have oot been fully complied with, which this house apprehend may he of dangerous consequence by ex- posing his majesty's stores and the few people that still remain there, contrary to the acts of this court, to the insults of the Indians.

"' Resolred, that his Iton. the Lienteuant-Governor be desired to direct a full performance of the votes of this court, and order the re- moving of the stores to Boston, and the entire demolishing of the fort and the houses therein, without delay. '

" This order was immediately carried iuto execution, and a sloop was dispatched from Boston to remove the stores belonging to the government to that place. Maj. Moody, who had probably continued at the fort until it was demol- ished, and Benjamin Larrabee, the second in command, with the other persons who had occupied the houses which were ordered to be destroyed, removed their residences to the Neck, now Portland."

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OF 1722.

The peace of 1713 was of short duration. The French, taking alarm at the rapid encroachments of the English

upon territory which they were unwilling to surrender, employed the influence of two Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Râle and La Chassé, to aronse the opposition of the Indians to the extension of English settlements east of the Kenne- bec. Gov. Shute ealled the Indians together in council, at Arrowsic Island, in 1717, and although they nominally confirmed the treaty of Ryswick, which had been signed at the conclusion of the last war, yet they distinctly stated their objections to English settlements being extended be- yond certain mills which were then erected on the Ken- nebec, and to the construction of forts in that region for the security of the inhabitants.t In 1719, they demanded that the English settlers should be removed from their lands, and an outbreak was ouly then prevented by the presence of a small force on the frontiers. In 1720 they were persuaded by the French to commit open depreda- tions, and parties from the Norridgewock and Penobscot tribes killed some cattle and threatened the lives of the English.

The Nova Scotia Indians proceeded to further extremi- ties ; they surprised the English at Canso, robbed them of everything, and killed three or four persons. Further hos- tilities at this time were prevented by Col. Walton, of New Hampshire, who was detached with a force of two hun- dred men to guard the frontiers.§ In August, 1721, a party of two hundred Indians, accompanied by their spir- itual leaders, Rale and La Chasse, under French colors and armed, went to Arrowsie and held a " talk" with Capt. Penhallow, who commanded the fort there. This ended without satisfaction to either party ; the Indians being en- tirely under the influence of their priests, were permitted to do nothing which would infringe upon French power or influence. They left a letter for the Governor, in which they uttered serious complaints against the English for un- justly invading their property, depriving them of the coun- try which God had given them, and threatening if they did not remove from their lands in three weeks they would kill them, burn their houses, and destroy their cattle. The English endeavored to obtain a conference, but were unable to effect it without the presence of the missionaries. The Indians were accompanied by M. Crozier, from Canada, and a son of the Baron de St. Castine. The government, irri- tated by the conduct of the French, determined to attempt the removal of what they apprehended to be the cause of all the trouble. For that purpose a force of three hun- dred men was raised in 1721, and sent to Norridgewock, under Col. Thomas Westbrook, with orders to seize Father Râle and bring him to Boston. No other success attended this expedition than the seizure of the private papers of the Jesuit, among which was his correspondence with the Governor of Canada, which developed the secret machi- nations of the French to influence, and send upon our de- fenseless frontiers, a barbarous foc.

# 2 Itutehinson, 198, 237; 1 Douglass, 199.

¿ The government afterwards seut Col. Walton, Maj. Moody, Capts. Harmon, Penhallow, und Wainwright, to demand satisfaction of the chief's for these outrages. Patrick Rogers, in 1773, testified that he lived at Georgetown in 1720 or 1721, and at that time there was not one house that he knew of between Georgetown and Annapolis, ex- cept one at Damariscove.

# The government was at the expense of furnishing merchandise for these establishments, and providing a person to attend them, who was called a Truckmaster; they occasioned a continual expenditure, with but little satisfaction to the Indians. The one at Falmouth was not long continued, and the failure of the government in this par- tienlar became a subject of complaint. 2 N. H. Coll .. 240. + 2. 183.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

This invasion of their headquarters exasperated the enemy in an unusual degree, and although the government, perceiving by the ill success of the expedition that they had made a false step, endeavored by presents to conciliate the chiefs, their vengeance was visited in the following season upon the unoffending inhabitants of the frontiers. In June, 1722, a party of sixty men in twenty canoes cap- tured nine families in Merrymeeting Bay, and committed depredations on the coast cast of the Kennebee, which was soon followed by the destruction of Brunswick .*

Immediately after information of this latter event reached Boston, the Governor and Council made a formal declara- tion of war.t Col. Walton, of New Hampshire, was the com- manding officer of the forces on this coast, with whom Maj. Moody, of Falmouth, was associated as second in command. But disputes having arisen between Gov. Shute and the House of Representatives, the unhappy consequences were felt even in the management of the military service. Complaints were preferred against Walton and Moody ; they were sum- moned by the House to answer before it, and the Governor was desired to dismiss them from the service. The Gov- ernor contended that it was his prerogative, as captain-gen- eral of the province, to appoint military officers, and super- intend and control the military operations, and denied their right to interfere in it. They, on the other hand, threatened to withhold the resources for carrying on the war. In this difficulty, a sort of' compromise was made by which the two principal officers were ordered to Boston, where they underwent an examination before the House, and finally, after the departure of Gov. Shinte from the province, were dismissed from the service without any suf- ficient reason having been assigned for it, and Col. Thomas Westbrook, of Portsmouth, N. 11., appointed to the chief command. The principal ground of the opposition in the House to these officers seems to have been that they were disposed to follow the instructions of the Governor, rather than a branch of the Legislature; the complaints in faet proceeded from political and not personal considerations. The Governor was so much disgusted with the opposition he met with in the province, that he secretly obtained leave to return home, and left the country in January, 1723. The administration and the conduct of the war devolved upon Wm. Dummer, the Lieutenant-Governor.

" The Lieutenant-Governor, after some opposition, in con- sideration of the exposed state of the country, having grati- fied the House by the removal of Walton and Moody from command, the war from that time was carried on with spirit. Premiums were voted for sealps and prisoners,t and money raised for the enlistment and support of troops. In January, 1723, soldiers were stationed at Falmouth as fol- lows: on the Neck, twenty-four men in three garrisons, viz., at Maj. Moody's, Ingersoll's, and Wass'; in Purpoo- iluck, at Sawyer's and York's, four men and a corporal ; 'at

. In September they followed up their successes by attacking Georgetown ; they were not able to take the fort, but they killed fifty head of cattle and burst twenty six dwelling houses. - 2 Hutch .. 268. Penhallow. In 1722, thirty men were stationel at Falmouth, and twenty at North Yarmouth, -Williamson, 2, 115.

r July 20, 1722.

: 21 0 for each scalp was voted to the volunteers and £60 to reg- ulur soldiers.

Spurwink, at Mr. Jordan's, where a ferry is kept, three men, under the care of a corporal ;' at Black Point, nine men, and to be recruited. In September following the gar- risons at Purpooduck and Spurwink were increased, the former to twelve and the latter to nine men. These were placed under the command of Lieut. Dominicus Jordan. In February an expedition was sent to Penobscot, under Col. Westbrook, and another to Norridgewock, under Capt. Harmon, but both were unsuccessful. The enemy remained in their retreats until the weather became suitable to open the campaign, when they divided into small parties and har- assed the whole line of frontier settlements. In April they took eight persons in Scarborough and Falmouth, and killed some, among whom was Sergt. Chubb, of' the Scarborough garrison. They passed westward and committed depreda- tions in Berwick, Wells, and York. In June they attacked Roger Deering's garrison-house, in Scarborough, killed his wife, Thomas Larrabee, and his son, and took three of his children, and Mary Seammon, John Hunnewell, and Robert Jordan, prisoners. ' No further injuries were done in this neighborhood during the remainder of the season ; but on the opening of spring, in 1724, the enemy were again found renewing their desultory attacks. In May they killed one man and wounded another at Purpooduck. In July they mortally wounded Solomon Jordan as he was going out of the garrison at Spurwink. The next day Lieut. Joseph Bean, with a file of soldiers, went in pursuit of the enemy, and overtook a party consisting of thirty men. These he attacked, and having killed one of their leaders, the rest fled, leaving behind twenty-five packs, twelve blankets, a gun, and several other articles. The scalp of the slain In- dian was carried to Boston, for which Bean and his company received one hundred pounds. The early part of the eam- paign had been unfortunate to the English. Numerous par- ties of the Indians were scattered over the country, plundering and murdering the inhabitants and eluding all pursuit. The government, discouraged by the ill snecess which attended their efforts to check the progress of this marauder warfare, determined to beard the lion in his den. For this purpose they fitted out au expedition, in August, of four companies, consisting of two hundred and eight men, commanded by Capts. Harmon, Moulton, Brown, and Bean, to proceed to Norridgewock, the headquarters of this warlike tribe. The undertaking was crowned with complete success. On the 23d of August they surprised and entirely destroyed the settlement, consisting of the Catholic chapel, the cottages which were spread around it, together with all their canoes. The number of the enemy killed and drowned in the attack was about eighty, among whom was Father Râle, who, as he was considered the principal cause of the eruel visits of his flock, was regarded as the greatest trophy of the war.§

¿ Father Rale had lived among these people over thirty years, having first arrived from France at Quebee in October, 1689, during which period he had been unremitting in his exertions to convert the uatives to the Catholic faith. A few years before the time of which we are speaking he procured a chapel to he built nt Norridgewock, the sent of a numerous tribe, in which he had placed a bell. His in- tienee was very extensive, and deserved, not less for his zeal and entire devotion to their service, than for his learning and talents. He was master of the learned languages, and wrote the Latin with ela.steal purity. He taught many of his converts to write, and corre-

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OF 1744.

" This achievement was celebrated throughout New Eng- land, as the greatest performed since Philip's war, and it was no less distinguished in its consequences as breaking the power of a tribe which had exercised a commanding influence over Indian counsels, and over the late of our settlements .*

" The next and last considerable engagement in this war took place at Pequakett, now Fryeburg, in May, 1725, by a party of thirty-four volunteers, under Capt. Lovell. The company unfortunately fell into an ambush and many of them were destroyed ; but they rendered so good an account of their lives as to check all further depredations from that quarter during the war. Paugus, their cruel chief, and a number of his companions, were slain. The English, after sustaining themselves until the close of the day against more than double their number, were left in possession of the field ; they lost ten killed and six mortally wounded, among whom were Capt. Lovell, Lieut. Farwell, and Ensign Rob- bins : eight only returned home.t

"Soon after this unfortunate affair; the government, understanding that the Penobscot Indians were desirons of peace, sent commissioners to St. Georges to meet the head men of that tribe. A conference was held there, which resulted in a cessation of hostilities, and proposals for a peace to be entered into at Boston. A delegation of the tribe soon after proceeded to Boston, and a treaty was exe- euted Dec. 15, 1725. By one of the articles, it was agreed that the treaty should be ratified at Falmouth in the fol- lowing May, by all the eastern tribes. The time of the ratification was subsequently postponed to the 20th of June, and again to July ; at which time Lieut .- Gov. Dummer, with a majority of the council, and a number of the repre- sentatives, together with Lient .- Gov. John Wentworth, of New Hampshire, accompanied by a committee of the Council and House of that State, and Paul Mascarene, delegated by the Governor of Nova Scotia, proceeded to Falmouth. The Indians did not arrive until July 29th, when forty of the Penobscot tribe came in, and in the afternoon of that day the conference commenced. Several days were spent in negotiations, which were closed on the .Ith of August, and on the 5th, the peace was publicly ratified in the meeting- house. A public dinner, furnished by government, was

sponded with them in their own language. He said " he knew all the languages in this vast desert." The French writers place him among the saints, while his English contemporaries give him a place the very opposite. ITe died in the sixty-seventh year of his age. The die- tionary of the Abenaquis language, which he prepared, has been translated for publication at Cambridge, where it has been deposited more than one hundred and fifty years.

# A detailed account of the expedition may be found in 2 IIntch., 279, and Penhallow, 108.

+ Rev. Mr. Symmes, of Bradford, published an account of this unfortunate affair at the time. See also Belkn. N. IT. This event was commemorated at Fryeburg in May, 1825, by a large collection of people from different parts of the State; the late Governor Lincoln delivered a poem, and Charles S. Davies, Esq., of this town, an oration on the occasion ; the latter was soon after published. A procession moved to the scene of action on the margin of a pond, where appro- priate remarks were made by Col. Bradley, of Fryeburg: a publie dinner and a ball in the evening lent their attractions to the day. Two of our inhabitants, Matthew and William Scales, who had moved to North Yarmouth, were killed there in April, this year, in an attack on the garrison.

given at the commencement, and another at the close of the negotiations; the commissioners of Massachusetts and the Indians remained here a week after the ratification in interpreting the treaty and 'fully settling some other matters,' when the latter were transported by government to St. Georges, and the commissioners sailed for Boston.t The Penobscots ou this occasion acted for the Wawenocks, the Arreguntouocks, and the St. Francois. Penhallow, an accurate observer, says, ' In these conferences the discretion and prudence of the savages was discernible.' One instance of their prudence and sagacity deserves to be noticed. . One of the first things,' says Penhallow, 'that the Indians de- sired of our Governors, was, that they would give orders that the vessels in the harbor, as well as the taverns ashore, might be restrained from selling any liquors to their young men.' The Governor approved of this precaution, and gave the order accordingly. When the first day of the confer- ence, which was Saturday, was over, the Governor said to them, ' To-morrow is the Lord's day, on which we do no business.' 'Lorou,' their speaker, answered, 'To-morrow is our Sabbath ; we also keep the day.'

" In 1727, the tribes which had not been represented at the conference of the former year notified the government of Massachusetts of their desire to make a publie confir- mation of the peace. To this the Governor assented, and informed them that he would meet them at Falmouth, in July, for that purpose. Accordingly, with a delegation from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, he met the tribes of Arreguntonocks, Wawenocks, Norridgewocks, and Penob- scots in that place, when the articles of the peace were publicly and solemnly confirmed by the respective parties. There were over two hundred Indians present, and more than forty gentlemen in the delegation from the two pro- vinces. The conferences were held in a spacious tent on Munjoy's Hill, where on the close of the negotiations a publie dinner was provided at the expense of government, of which both parties partook. Mr. Smith, in his Journal, says the Indians appeared ' with French colors, and made a great show.' This was the largest collection of people that had ever assembled in town, and the inhabitants were ill pre- pared in provisions and accommodations for so large an addi- tion to their numbers; on their departure, Mr. Smith adds, ' they left us quite bare and nothing of the country's pro- duce left, ouly three bushels of corn and some small things.'"

CHAPTER IX.

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OF 1744.

Causes of the War-Preparations by the Government of Massachu- setts-Local and Foreign Events of the WarFort Loyal Armed and Garrisoned-Siege and Capture of Louisbourg-Final Conflict and Downfall of Canada.

" IN 1740, the death of Charles VI., Emperor of Ger- many, gave occasion for a fierce war for the Austrian suc- cession, in which, before its close, all the powers of Europe and North America were engaged. It was opened by Fred-

# Mr. Smith's Journal.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

erick, the young king of Prussia, for the recovery of Silesia from the chivalric Maria Theresa. The elector of Bavaria claimed to succeed Charles VI., and being supported by the electoral college, adverse to the pretensions of Maria The- resa, he soon enlisted a powerful alliance in aid of his eanse. The accession of France to this alliance was a signal not to be mistaken, that England, with the German possessions and prepossessions of her monarch, would throw herself into the confederacy of the opposite party. So general was the expectation of this event in this country, that for some months previous to the declaration of war by England against France in 1741, the General Court of Massachusetts had anticipated approaching danger, and made some prepa- rations to meet it. As early as April, 1712, the govern- ment ordered a breastwork and platform for ten twelve- pounders to be built on Falmouth Neck for the defense of the harbor, and appropriated four hundred pounds to pay the expense, the labor and stores to be furnished by the town. This work was erected on the bank, on the eastern side of King Street. In 1743, the General Court appro- printed twelve hundred and eighty pounds for the defense of the castern frontiers, and the same year commissioners were appointed to select suitable places for block-houses, of which six were ordered to be supplied between Berwick and Falmouth, and six farther east; the commissioners were here in December.

" The population of Maine at this time was short of twelve thousand ;* the territory furnished two regiments, the first extending as far east as Saco, containing sixteen hundred and fifty-five men, was commanded by Col. Wm. Pepperell ; the other, including the remainder of the soldiers, twelve hundred and ninety strong, was under the command of Col. Samuel Waldo. Falmouth supplied five hundred of this number, being more than any town in Maine ; We have nut been able to obtain the number furnished by the other towns.

" In May, 1744, news of the declaration of war by Eng- land reached this country, and gave increased activity to all the preparations for a vigorous defense. Our people were not yet exempted from the fear of Indian depredations, nor was it so long since they had experienced them that all memory of them had been lost ; they immediately entered with earnestness on those measures of security which former sufferings had taught them to appreciate, and so pressing did they regard the occasion that even the church-going bell was drowned in the busy note of preparation. The provincial government in June raised one thousand men, of which six hundred were designed for the defense of the eastern coun- try.§ Sixty-five of these troops were posted in different garrisons in Falmouth, of whom two were stationed in Rev. Mr. Smith's house, which had been constructed and used for a garrison some years before.

". In addition to these precautionary measures, the gov-

ernment entered into a treaty with the Penobscot Indians at George's Fort, in July, who bound themselves, as did also the other Indians on this side the Penobscot River, to remain neutral during the war. In faith of this treaty, the troops in this quarter were discharged, excepting one scout- ing company, under the command of Capt. Jordan. This officer was accompanied by three Indians of the Saco tribe, whose families were settled at Stroudwater, and supported by government. Pacific overtures were unsuccessful with the St. John and Cape Sable Indians, who had acquired the feelings and views of the French, and entered into all their plans. When it was found that they would not join the English, nor remain neutral, war was formally proclaimed against them in November, and the Penobscots were re- quired to render assistance to subdue them, in pursuance of former treaties. This requisition, as might have been ex- pected, was not complied with, and these children of the forest, by a natural attraction, were soon found fighting by the side of their red brethren against the English. War was therefore declared against them in August, 1745, and a high premium offered for scalps.

" This subtle and vindictive enemy being again let loose from all restraint, started up from their swamps and mo- rasses, harassing the whole line of settlements, and com- mitting depredations upon the undefended plantations. Two companies were employed as scouts between Saco and Brunswick, which were unable to find the Indians collected in any force ; but individuals and small parties would make sudden onsets for reprisal or revenge, and as suddenly dis- appear. In August a party was discovered in Gorham, which was then a frontier post containing but few settlers, and in September some scattered Indians were traced in the neighborhood of Falmouth; one was fired upon at Long Creek, and a few days after, a son of Col. Cushing of Pur- pooduck was killed by them. Four companies of volunteers were raised in Falmonth in September, and others in the neighboring towns to go in quest of them. They were all, however, unsuccessful ; for scarce had the presence of the enemy created alarm upon the whole frontier, than they suddenly retired far beyond the reach of observation. They were seen no more in this neighborhood during the year, but in the spring of 1746 they came in stronger force and hung round this vicinity the whole season. On the 19th of April, ten of them appeared at Gorham, where they killed a man by the name of Briant and his four children, and killed or carried away his wife and several other persons. In June they attacked the family of Wescott on Long Creek, killed and scalped two men and took their clothes and three guns; this was done by seven Indians, when there were twenty-five soldiers within a gunshot of the place. A day or two after, an Indian was fired at from Mr. Frost's garrison at Stroudwater, and five days after another was seen near the causeway at the foot of Bramhall's hill. These indications of the presence of so subtle and dangerous an enemy, together with the appearance of larger bodies on the coast at Georges and Sheepscot, created an unusual alarm among the people, and the inhabitants at Falmonth united vigorously in erecting a block-house for the common defense. They hovered around the town all the summer, seizing every opportunity to plunder property

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History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 11

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 780

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780